Pathfinder Player Companion: Pathfinder Society Primer (PFRPG)

Read my full review on Of Dice and Pen.

The Pathfinder Society Primer is a bit of a dry read, but it does a good job of providing a player-centric overview of the society and how to create characters who are members of the society. As with other Player Companion books on types or groups of characters (like Knights of the Inner Sea or Pirates of the Inner Sea), it’s not vital for players to have the book in order to create such characters, but those who do will find some benefit from it. Perhaps the best aspect of the Primer is that it provides player-specific information in one place rather than mixing it in with GM material, like in Seekers of Secrets and the Pathfinder Society Field Guide.

This review is coming from a long-time PFS player, who was maybe hoping this book would be as good or better than the last two PFS-centric books before it: Pathfinder Society Field Guide and Seeker of Secrets.

What is in the book:

Front Inside Cover: Map of the Inner Sea region with all the Pathfinder Lodges marked, and whether they are active or not. I love this map, presents something I have always wondered and makes me want to know more about each lodge. Sadly, the book only ever expands on 6 lodges specifically in the book later.

Two-Page Spread: This is where those 6 lodges are expanded upon. Not bad, but I was really hoping for more. Wanted a bit more info on how the VCs got to their station, or more lodge back story.

Back Inside Cover: This seems totally out of place for this book. Methods of travel as a full-page spread? Who doesn't know this stuff? There are only two that are related to the PFS anyway.

Welcome to the Pathfinder Society: Neat information on these pages, but nothing that is not covered in the previous two books. Rehash.

Building a Pathfinder: Some interesting tidbits about generating a Pathfinder... but no crunch to go with the fluff. I actually think the Shattered Star Player's Guide is a better resource for how to build a Pathfinder, with some traits and such to go with it. the item kits here are not new. The sidebar here is allright, but generic.

Joining the Pathfinder Society: Allright! Finally something new! Here we talk about the two main ways to join the society, and with some crunch to go along with it. Sadly, the feats presented here I would never personally take, as they seem quite niche or lowpowered. Still, some flavor characters may benefit.

Scrolls, Spells, Swords: These three sections are about the crunchiest of the guide, with 3 feats, two traits and two spell each. I like the depictions of the glyph of the open road for each "groups", but I once again find the character options quite lacking. There are maybe two good feats, one which requires 12 ranks in a skill, which for PFS (the OP campaign) characters is pretty much unattainable. Some traits (like Clever Wordplay) are neat.

Pathfinder Field Agent: New (yay) Pretige class, also lacking any luster (aww). I will give it to the authors that it is thematic and pretty good flavor, but I would never want to play one. It is really a "super generelist" class, allowing you to pick what you want to advance every other level. Options include adding sneak attack dice, or getting a rogue talent, or getting wild empathy... basically a mix-and-match deal where you can add in things of multiple classes. I think the price is too high though.

Wayfinders: Section with new ones. I like this section, as it is all new stuff. My only gripe here is again, looking at this book from the perspective of a PFS OP campaign player, there are a bunch in here than are un-purchasable. Three of the seven wayfinders cost 39,000 gold or more...

Ioun Stones: I was super excited when they said new ioun stones were going to be covered in this book. Seeker of Secrets was an excellent source of info on the stones. The Primer adds 7 new ones, along with their cracked and flawed counterparts, and resonant powers. But like the crunch above I was a bit underwhelmed. A few are pretty neat, but otherwise they are quite dull and/or too pricey.

Magic Items: All-crunch section. Liked the new items. Some are actually both useful and affordable. lenses of situational sight are actually quite good.

Pathfinder Chronicles and Vanities: The next two sections I actually like a lot, providing both good fluff and some good options for characters. Some of the vanities especially are quite neat, and honestly, you can never have too many vanity options.

PFSOP: Two pages of pure marketing material for the OP campaign. Doesn't bother me that much, but with such a PFS centric book, I'd think most readers are already familiar.

Conclusion

I wanted to like this book, I really did. Maybe I came in with too high of expectations. But I barely found anything useful. Out of the fluff chapters, only the section about the two ways to get into the society felt fresh. Everything else felt like a reprint of either the Field Guide or Seeker of Secrets.

For the crunch, there was a lot of it which was geared towards more flavor characters, which I don't build often. I honestly felt like 95% of the feats, spells, traits and magic items were very low powered. It seemed like the authors were "holding back" on the power level on purpose due to the fact that the book is expected to become completely legal for the PFS OP campaign, so they wanted to make sure nothing was broken. I think it was dialed back a bit too much.

For now, I will keep to the Field Guide and Seeker of Secrets when someone asks for a recommendation on what to get for the PFS OP campaign.

Not terrible, but not fantastic either. It sort of reminds me of the GMG, where a lot of the time I felt like I was left wanting more, not because it was great, but more because it just felt incomplete, like lacking the good stuff.

The flavor really doesn't improve much on the other two books on the same material, and sort of lacks, in my opinion, one of the bigger aspects I had wanted: Why would someone actually want to join the Society, but particularly those (classes) that have other more important allegiances, like divine characters?

As a player's guide, it also seems that a great deal of the material is much more DM orientated. It's pretty hit or miss, more on the miss side, I think, but not a terrible book.

I'm writing this from the perspective of somebody who has spent over 2 years playing and running events in Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

After all that time this book made me look at the Society in a new light. For the first time the society seemed like a real organization in the world and not just a frame to hang adventure scenarios on.

5 stars for that.

Unfortunately, the society presented in the book isn't quite what one experiences in play. It is an idealized version of what one actually encounters at the table. Many of the characters at the table would NOT be accepted into the society described in the books. Although I doubt it will happen, I'm vaguely hoping that the guide to Organized Play 5.0 that is coming out in a week or 2 will have rules to somewhat enforce what the book implies should be the case.

The crunch in the book is worth significantly less than 5 stars. On the very bright side, there is nothing here that is significantly overpowered. Most of the options are very flavorful and clearly fit what the Society SHOULD be. Some are powerful enough mechanically to be worth considering, many are basically traps for the unwary. But there are feats, traits, magic items and spells that I'd at least consider taking for some of my characters. Even the Prestige Class is attractive enougn to consider.

As an aside, I'd point out that the Page Bound Epiphany spell so castigated by BPorter isn't all that bad. It explicitly says that it refreshes your memory so it does NOT obviate the need to go to WeirdLibrary in order to research TheLostMcGuffin.

So, should you buy this book?

If you're starting up a Home Camapaign featuring the Pathfinder Society then you ABSOLUTELY should buy this book. Reading it before character creation will give players all sorts of ideas with mechanics to back them up.

If you're new to Pathfinder Society Organized Play then the book gives a very good introduction to the ideal that is the Society. As I said, unfortunately the ideal isn't quite the reality. The book is very, very worth while as long as you take it with a grain of salt. Perhaps even 2 grains.

If you're a long time PFS player then the value of the book probably depends hugely on you. There is enough crunch that you're likely to find some options that you like. But there isn't anything that you'll really, really miss having. The fluff is very interesting but the cognitive dissonance between the book and what you've experienced may be large. All that I can say is that I definitely think that I got my moneys worth.

I'd like to give this book 3.5 stars. But I can't and rounded up to 4.

*Note: References to the Pathfinder Society in this review pertain to the organization in Golarion, not the organized play group.

Since the inception of the world of Golarion, the Pathfinder Society has been a great way to introduce new players to the setting. A built-in excuse for adventuring, exploring, and looting the dungeons and lost lands that pervade fantasy role-playing settings, the Pathfinder Society was a light-touch option open to any class and alignment. It also avoided the core-hook conceit that it was so hard-wired into the setting that it was assumed players were part of the society. Even though, to date, I haven’t had any players in my home campaigns opt to join the Society, I’m a fan.

There have been preceding products & Society material in other Pathfinder lines, the Pathfinder Society Field Guide from the Campaign Setting line being the most prominent. I don’t own that book but my take away from the messageboards & reviews is that some of the fluff about the Society is not popular, especially with respect to the apprenticeship/induction of new recruits.

With that context taken into account, does the Pathfinder Society fix things? Yes.

Unfortunately, it breaks even more things on the crunch AND fluff side, often simultaneously. Let’s get to it.

WHAT COMPRISES THE PATHFINDER SOCIETY PRIMER?
Per usual Paizo production values, it’s a very pretty book. Layout is per standard Pathfinder Companion format.

Front Inside Cover: A map of the Inner Sea with the location of active and inactive Pathfinder Lodges. A nice visual that conveys the info much better than text would have.
Two-Page Spread: Descriptions of prominent Pathfinder Lodges with a picture of the presiding Venture-Captain and Lodge building. It’s nicely done, although I question the reasoning behind some of the lodges highlighted.
Back Inside Cover: Discusses various modes of travel employed by Pathfinders and the pros and cons associated with them. It’s a nice thematic touch to the book.

The Pathfnder Society Primer opens with the For Your Character section that points out focus characters, questions to ask your GM, etc.

Welcome to the Pathfinder Society: This does a good job of introducing the Society, presenting some background, and explaining the organizational structure. All good stuff.

Building a Pathfinder: This section offers good advice on building a Pathfinder-focused character including a Pathfinder Role, some gear, and some advice for new players on how to take the Pathfinder values to heart in your role-playing.

Joining the Pathfinder Society: Here’s the section that seeks to right the perceived wrongs of the Pathfinder Society Field Guide. In addition to traditional apprenticeship/induction, field commissions are explained, thus giving a canonical in-game how-to for joining the Pathfinder Society without the perceived ills of prior setting fluff.

Here Comes the Crunch: The next few sections provide spells, feats, magic items & enhancements, all grouped according to different subgroups within the Pathfinder Society (Scrolls, Swords), a Field Agent prestige class, info on wayfinders, and ioun stones. It’s followed by a section on the Pathfinder Chronicles themselves and their in-game benefits for Pathfinders that utilize them. Then comes a section on Vanities, which expands on elements introduced in the products Paths of Prestige and the [/i]Pathfinder Society Field Guide.

The book closes with a section on Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

WHAT MAKES IT STAND OUT?
When focusing on the Pathfinder Society, the book hits its highest marks. PFS organization, core values, wayfinders, modes of travel, & tailoring your PC to be a Pathfinder rather than a run-of-the-mill adventurer are solid, evocative, and grounded in the setting -- jJust what you’d expect out of a Player’s Companion. These sections do a very good job of explaining what it means to be a Pathfinder and how to get into a Pathfinder’s mindset. Good stuff but given how ingrained in the setting the organization is, none of it is ground-breaking. Rather it is a solid reinforcement of getting the organization back on track in the minds of players and GMs.

WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?
Unfortunately, a lot more than I’m used to seeing.

Crunch & Fluff problems, no chocolate-and-peanut butter here:
Presumably, prepared and spontaneous casters exist as discreet entities in the PFRPG for a reason. Since the Pathfinder Society is open to characters of all classes, it seems odd that in a game-world that maintains that separation, that we’d have PFS-only game mechanics designed to bend the hell out of that distinction in favor of prepared casters. I’m referring to the Planned Spontaneity feat whereby a prepared caster gets some spontaneous-caster-style flexibility in spell selection.

A lesser offender is the Quick Preparation feat where spells can be prepped in half the normal time. Being such seekers of knowledge, I can see where Pathfinders might have picked this up, but it seems likely that it would be a universal feat, not one limited to Pathfinders and further limited to Pathfinders that gained entry via Field Commissions.

There’s also the ridiculous Page-Bound Epiphany, which “magically scours the world’s libraries for information”. Each round spent studying the focus book imparts a cumulative +1 Knowledge check bonus. Forget sages, research, and pouring through lost tomes – this spell is yours for the measly ability to cast 2nd level spells! Seriously, a 2nd level spell has the divination ability to scour the world’s libraries?!? Again, this one would get axed in my campaigns just for invalidating the need for characters to do research in-game, let alone for its ridiculous accompanying fluff-text.

Collective Recollection (Teamwork) – aka the “constructive back-seat driver” feat. If you’ve got the right Knowledge skill, improve a Knowledge skill check attempt. It’s not the worst mechanical offender but given that I can’t envision anyone taking this feat, it seems like wasted space.

Tapestry Traveler: Improved teleportation abilities based upon your many visits to the Hao Jin Tapestry. Only prerequisite: Character level 5th. Wait, what?!? I don’t actually have ever had to see/use the Hao Jin Tapestry? Oh, I guess I did it prior to being an adventurer. Yes, that’s it. I’m sure the PFS lets anybody access one of their most cherished magic items, especially pre-1st level nobodies. A prime example of ok mechanics and poor fluff colliding head-on.

Vanities: This one’s a minor quibble. Several of these are very good. Yet while this section is consistent with the preceding Paths of Prestige and Pathfinder Society Field Guide, the Vanities presented deal with things like property and day jobs. Given the Downtime System introduced in Ultimate Campaign, the lack of any synergies with that subsystem seems like a wasted opportunity.

Five Spells Every Pathfinder Should Know – Every Pathfinder? Really? I’m not a fan of uber-optimization in general, but I despise telling players that certain feats or spells or magic items are “must haves”. If you’re going to go that route, why do we keep adding spells and feats to the game? This section should not have made it into the book, period.

The Art: No complaints about the style employed by the artists, but I’m seriously underwhelmed by some of the art pieces.
Amiri – I know the giant’s sword is part of her write-up. I even like that detail and how it’s presented. I know she’s a bad-ass. However, as depicted, seeing her holding the sword one-handed with the arm fully-extended so she can see its power enhancement better just looks cheesy.

Eagle-Knight – Another oversized, too-wide greatsword? Does Amiri have an Eagle-Knight brother we don’t know about? At least his head hasn’t been shrunken. And I still don’t like the Revolutionary War era dress. YMMV.

Merisiel – Where do I even start with this one? Artistically, it’s one of the better pieces. It’s just that there’s so much wrong with this picture. Why is Merisiel serving food and drink? Maybe she’s enduring her Pathfinder apprenticeship. But why is she wearing her rapier why doing so? Why is she wearing her armor? Why is she tipping the plate towards the floor whilst looking in that direction? Going by this picture, Merisiel is either the dumbest yet most well-armed waitress in Golarion or she has critically failed her Disguise check.

CONCLUSION
The Pathfinder Society Primer provides valuable setting information for players that want to have their PCs belong to the namesake organization of the game. For campaigns that heavily utilize the Pathfinders, this is book is almost a must-have. However, the Primer is a missed opportunity. While it provides an effective intro to the Pathfinders, weak mechanics & over-powered or nonsensical fluff combine with some lackluster art choices to result in a seriously watered-down outcome.

Tastes vary, and I’m sure some will not view the offending content as harshly as I have. However, this is not a new product line or a brand new game system. This product should be high-polish & rock-solid and unfortunately, it isn’t. While all game products should be reviewed by a GM prior to inclusion in a campaign, a player’s companion should be a reasonably safe bet. However, more than any Companion in my recent memory, the mechanics in this one require GM oversight.

Finally, it is my sincere hope that things like the “Spells every Pathfinder should know” and the more egregious fluff-crunch pairings are not indicative of future Pathfinder product installments.

While not a bad book, the culmination of the various issues that I have with it bring it down from the average rating I would otherwise have given it. Two out of five stars.