Yokel60's page

I've been involved in D&D Encounters from March 2010 (when it started) until right before the 5e Playtest around August 2013. I came back in May of this year and started running 5e Encounters on Weds at my local stores back in August using the Hoard of the Dragon Queen Adventure. I've also played about 50 PFS Scenarios since playing in March 2013. I've also played in various Organized Play programs through RPGA, Living Greyhawk, Living Forgotten Realms and recently ran some 13th Age public play too.

I know Erik Mona talked about it in an interview at the beginning of summer that D&D's new edition would bring a lot of new players surging back to try it, and from everything I've seen at our store, it's absolutely true. The biggest issue we have is GMs. We only have two, and the other one prefers 4e so is still running that. I've been running a table of 7 players every week and having to turn some of them away because we don't have another GM at the moment. My experience when 4e Encounters was going is that we had about 4 tables and around 20-25 players on a Wednesday but we always had room for new players. A lot would stay and play for a month or two, then start asking about other games. The issue is that Pathfinder never took hold here because of...a lack of GMs willing to run in stores. There's a lot of home games going on with Pathfinder (including one I'm currently playing in) but you have to go about 35 miles away to find a PFS Game that only plays on Tues and Weds.

I think Encounters was one of the most successful things to come out of 4e. It's a good 2 hour format with an overarching plot that lasts for around 15 weeks that's perfect for the middle of the week for those with day jobs who can't stay out late or for new people to try out the game in little segments.

WOTC is developing both the Encounters and Expeditions (closer to what PFS scenarios are now) and I don't see why Paizo cannot do both. Yes, some players and GMs for PFS will see it as a compromise and probably won't play or run them, but for other players, it would be ideal. I played 3 PFS scenarios over this weekend, and saw a lot of players that normally play PFS playing the Organized Play for the Pathfinder Card Game instead, and at least 3 of them playing were our regular GMs for PFS.

This doesn't have to be a zero sum game. I prefer the hobby to grow and add new players or bring old ones back, and if both WOTC and Paizo have solutions to that, great, I'll point the players to either and let them choose. I'll continue to play both and bring new players into both Pathfinder and D&D 5e. As stated in previous posts, D&D still has the name recognition and can bring players in, and when 4e was being ran at the store, a lot of them went to play Pathfinder. I think that will still happen with 5e, but besides the breadth of options available in Pathfinder due to the fact of it's longevity, 5e and Pathfinder are closer in experience to a lot of players compared to Pathfinder and 4e.

I'd like to see some of the modules or APs broken down into 2 hour segment chunks or maybe going forward, some of the new ones developed that way. For those that play the regular PFS Scenarios, it might be something they'd be interested in or maybe not, but for new players or busy ones that would like to try it, maybe a 2 hour format is warranted.

Page 23

Beyond the gear noted above, your character is restricted
to purchasing additional items from his accumulated
Chronicle sheets, or by capitalizing on his fame. Weapons,
armor, equipment, magic items and so on that are outside
of these lists are not available for purchase at any time.

Page 24

Fame is a non-expendable number
that functions similarly to an ability score—the higher
your Fame, the greater your renown. Higher Fame scores
unlock resources that can be purchased from your faction
with Prestige Points and increase the maximum cost of
items you can purchase with gold.

Page 25

A character’s Fame score determines the
maximum gp value of any items she can purchase from her
faction, as detailed in Table 5–3 below. The character must
still actually spend the gold to receive the desired item

I think these passages help make my case for the confusion. The first paragraph states you cannot purchase anything outside of the chronicle sheets at any time, unless you capitalize on your fame. How do you do that? Well, if you read it, it tells you how MUCH gold you can spend on an item, and that it will increase with level, but it needs to say at some point "Fame allows you to purchase additional magic items from sources such as the Core Rulebook or Ultimate Equipment". It needs to spell that out, and it never does.

It's like a brand new, never played before, player cracking open a Core Rulebook and seeing that he needs to roll 3d6 for Stats. Without any reference, he has no idea what 3d6 is.

Thanks for the help everyone. I do appreciate it. I want it to be clear, that's all.

Yokel

Read the Guide to Organised Play. You can buy anything that costs equal to or less than the value dictated by your fame score provided it is legal. Chronicle items are generally irrelevant with a few small exceptions, generally partially charged wands or things which might not be in additional resources. There may have been a time when they were relevant but that time is long past and probably mythical.

Andrew,

I HAVE read the Guide to Organized Play, as I pointed out in my original post. I cannot find anywhere where it is clear that you can buy ANYTHING as long as you have the fame. Could you please point me to the paragraph where it talks about this? This may be clear to players who have played a lot of PFS, but to us new guys, it's not clear at all. You have to make certain assumptions that are not clearly spelled out in the text. You would think about 6 seasons, this would be a little more clear.

Thanks for the help though.

Yokel

I've played PFS for around a year, and I'm still confused about buying magic items. Most of the time I play, we don't always have time to ask the GMs questions in depth, so I thought I would throw this one out there and get a clear answer from the community.

What magic items can I buy? Can I ONLY buy what's on my chronicle sheets plus the always available list or when my fame is high enough, can I buy anything I want, as long as I don't go above the spending limit per item.

I'll give an example: I've got an 8th level character and I still have +1 armor and weapons. Nothing has been better on the chronicle sheets in the games I've played through, so I've been waiting to get through a scenario with better weapons and armor, and have not played through one yet. It was brought to my attention by another player that as long as my fame score is high enough, I can crack open the books I own and start buying. This information was new to me. It's not really clear even in the updated 5th Season Guide to Organized Play. As a relatively new player, I want to be sure I'm doing this right so I don't cheat.

If what I posted above is correct, what is the point of the items on the chronicle sheet?

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

Yokel