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Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-11: The Pathfinder Trials

2.90/5 (based on 16 ratings)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-11: The Pathfinder Trials

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for level 1.

Every year, the Pathfinder Society inducts new classes of recruits into their ranks. The three deans of the Society's schools, the Spells, Scrolls, and Swords, are responsible for ensuring that the new recruits have the basic skills and experience necessary to thrive in the field. PCs participating in this adventure will get to meet all three of the Society's deans and undergo their unique challenges, proving their worth and fitness to join the Pathfinder Society!

Written by Sean McGowan

Scenario tags: Repeatable

[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]

The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:

  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Wizard's Dungeon
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Arena
  • Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Noble Estate

    • An updated version of this product was uploaded on March 18, 2021. GMs with the older version should download the new file.

    Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Society Scenario Subscription.

    Product Availability

    Fulfilled immediately.

    Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

    PZOPFS0211E

    See Also:

    << Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-09: The Seven Secrets of Dacilane Academy
    << Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-10: In Burning Dawn
    Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-12: Snakes in the Grass Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-13: A Gilded Test Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-14: Lost in Flames >>
    11 to 15 of 16 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>

    Average product rating:

    2.90/5 (based on 16 ratings)

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    Edit: So much better!

    4/5 —

    Edit: The review below was written before the scenario underwent revisions, with these revisions the scenario is a much better, more player friendly excellent introduction to the Society. Paizo deserves much praise for going to these lengths and it is very much appreciated, if you've played it before and weren't happy then I urge you to give it another try now!

    Rating altered from 1 star to 4 stars.

    Original review follows:

    I understand that this scenario has had a troubled path to publishing, with drastic changes necessary due to the change from multi-table special to stand alone repeatable, however that doesn't excuse the numerous issues present. If changing it was that problematic it should have been shelved or pushed back to a later date imo. As well as the mechanical issues of DCs and monster stats and the sheer number of that seem... on the high side for some groups, this scenarios story is very out of place, though it would have fit very well into the early seasons of Pathfinder 1.

    Spoiler:
    Back then players expected and were used to having their characters be treated as disposable agents of a shady power, of not trusting their superiors, it was a plot point. However that was resolved, in the current story meta, there have been numerous efforts and examples to show that the Society has undergone some strenuous efforts to reaffirm their support for agents, to earn their trust, and to prove by its actions that it values those who are a part of it... ignoring all that on an institutional scale seems utterly bizarre.

    Whilst some of the adventure challenges are interesting and could perhaps have made for solid encounters with a bit more work and development, the overall scenario suffers from issues with both the level of the mechanical challenge and the story itself. This would have worked perfectly as "Aspis Consortium Trials", where the leaders didn't really care about survival, and just wanted the most skilled, paranoid, agents possible working for them. But for the Pathfinder Society... it's all sorts of wrong.

    For a scenario that goes out of the way to repeatedly stress non lethal is the intent it's utterly incredible that 6 level 1 players face a creature with a +14 to hit capable of doing 40 damage on a critical, of which it is likely to score quite a few, potentially causing death by massive damage to any level one character.

    Ultimately it's impossible to recommend this as a scenario for GMs to run, if a GM still wishes to persevere they should be very experienced to try and help smooth over the issues and should in no case run this for new players in my opinion, it easily has the potential to poison them against the Society for good, both from a character and player perspective.

    Deeply wrong in many ways

    1/5 —

    This is the sort of new-job onboarding where your boss congratulates you on making it through boot camp and you tell him you quit. I'm really ANGRY at this adventure. Seriously, I was playing this with a new character and I'm having trouble imagining even wanting to continue playing with the character after this.

    the Scrolls:
    What a pointless flogging of a flipmat. Also, what exactly is the replayability here? The exact same riddle in a random order. And you have to solve it by rolling dice because it's so simple that even on the first run you could otherwise solve it just from hearing the scene descriptions.

    the Spells:
    This section has some redeeming aspects and you're encouraged to come up with creative solutions. It's also marred by rules-technical mistakes with areas of effects. And in general it's written with the sort of "you better make all your checks" mentality that should have died in PF1 when characters could stack their bonuses to auto-succeed.

    the Swords:
    The fights started interesting and I thought this was going to be a good lesson about how you should be prepared for particular enemy types. But the main lesson here is that "the PCs have numerical advantage" is BS when confronted with a high-level enemy with an area attack that can easily drop half the party in the first round of combat.

    and then the ugly:
    The ending to this adventure needs to die in a fire. This sort of backstabbing crap pisses me off so very much. In any sane company this sort of behavior would lead to executives being fired and put in jail.

    Honorable mention for the monster that gets upgraded to level 4 for a 6-player party.

    Also, the adventure mentions that the enemies all use lethal force, although "the three deans observe from just far-enough away to intervene if things get out of hand". Like, how? Some of these enemies can easily kill a character instantly with massive damage.

    A culture change at the top

    5/5 —

    With the new updated version I am updating my review.

    This is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine. The wonderful characters to play in the scrolls trial, the massive variety of solutions in the spells trial, the changes to the swords trial and the rest of the scenario that brought the characters and their motivations in line with the sort of society someone would *want* to work with. This is an excellent redo.

    With the new factions, the Pathfinder society has largely moved from using their agents as disposable pawns and lackeys to supporting them as valued fellow explorers.

    Apparently however the Deans of the pathfinder college are of the old school, and engage in *outright* hazing of the PCs.

    The spells challenge was entertaining, and instructive. The scrolls challenge was a good test and teaching experience, the swords challenge devolved into outright hazing, and the final encounter was simply unacceptable from any agency that wants to develop the trust of their agents.

    1/5 —

    Not a well made adventure

    1/5 —

    This is a worst 1st level adventure I have ever seen. Good concept, but 1st level characters are subject to massive damage, even with non-lethal damage.

    TPK the party on the final fight, should have lost a character to massive damage.

    I would have given 0 starts if I could have.

    DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS ADVENTURE AND IT SHOULD BE PULLED BACK FOR REVISION.

    11 to 15 of 16 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>
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    Paizo Employee Webstore Coordinator
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Announced for May! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.
    Dark Archive
    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    Wait is this finally multiple table special were things don't end up going wrong or is this regular con special? :O
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    So this is convention-only? Shame.

    I assume we'll find out which conventions will have it?
    Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

    Will this scenario never be available to the general public, or is it just exclusive until some time next year?

    What's going to happen to this now that PaizoCon is cancelled?
    Silver Crusade

    Online tables?
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer
    3 people marked this as a favorite.
    Rysky wrote:
    Online tables?

    It'll really depend on a lot of factors. This special was written with some, I'll call them "performance pieces" in mind, and we haven't really had a chance to see yet how much effort it's going to take to transfer this format to a virtual experience, or whether that kind of experience is going to do the things we want this adventure to do.

    That's not to say we're not going to consider it or that it's not going to happen, but what a special looks like in a world where we don't have in-person conventions (particularly this specific special) is something we thought we'd have more time to consider and plan.
    Grand Lodge Premier Event Coordinator

    What is the reason for the $7.99 price tag?
    Scarab Sages

    Performance pieces, eh?

    Sounds like a BLAST! I'm totally up for helping that happen online if it can. Otherwise, I look forward to helping up in physical space.
    Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    So this is *only* for level 1 PCs?
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer
    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    caps wrote:
    So this is *only* for level 1 PCs?

    Correct. This adventure is essentially "Society training day", set in between initiation to the Society's colleges and graduation into full Pathfinder agent status.

    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    So I'm confused.

    It was slotted to be released in May 2020, but because of life events, it got pushed back to Octoberish. Now it's saying May 26. What's the story behind this scenario?
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer
    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Yrrej86 wrote:

    So I'm confused.

    It was slotted to be released in May 2020, but because of life events, it got pushed back to Octoberish. Now it's saying May 26. What's the story behind this scenario?

    It is indefinitely delayed until such time as we start having in-person conventions again. So the release date is projected for the next round of conventions, but until COVID is under control in the US, we can't guarantee when it will release. There are components of this adventure specifically tailored for meat space that won't translate to online play.

    Liberty's Edge
    Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Society Subscriber

    I would suggest that "The Pathfinder Trials" incorporate elements of the trials of Organized Play folks getting this scenario to table. There's a whole meta thing going on here that could be humorously exploited.

    Surely, real-life "Pathfinder Trials" have already happened with Venture Captains, agents, and developers adapting to online conventions.

    Do it!
    Michael Sayre wrote:
    Yrrej86 wrote:

    So I'm confused.

    It was slotted to be released in May 2020, but because of life events, it got pushed back to Octoberish. Now it's saying May 26. What's the story behind this scenario?

    It is indefinitely delayed until such time as we start having in-person conventions again. So the release date is projected for the next round of conventions, but until COVID is under control in the US, we can't guarantee when it will release. There are components of this adventure specifically tailored for meat space that won't translate to online play.

    I appreciate the reply. I haven't heard anything about it until just now. Thanks!

    Grand Lodge
    Sliska Zafir wrote:
    I would suggest...

    As far as we know, the scenario is already done and ready to release. The only thing holding it up is the isolation. They usually don't make changes, especially not significant development changes after a product is completed.

    RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4
    Sliska Zafir wrote:

    I would suggest that "The Pathfinder Trials" incorporate elements of the trials of Organized Play folks getting this scenario to table. There's a whole meta thing going on here that could be humorously exploited.

    Surely, real-life "Pathfinder Trials" have already happened with Venture Captains, agents, and developers adapting to online conventions.

    Do it!

    I would be perfectly happy to write an unofficial supplemental addendum doing just this, if Michael, Linda, James, and all other Paizoians involved would care to provide me with stat blocks for their real-life selves. ;-)

    Liberty's Edge
    Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

    I have a convention coming up in Febuary. (On Heart weekend)

    Will this be available then?
    Grand Lodge

    Any news regarding this scenario?
    Grand Lodge Organized Play Managing Developer
    15 people marked this as a favorite.

    When we concepted The Pathfinder Trials, we planned for it to be a new-player friendly interactive that introduced key aspects of Pathfinder Society lore, releasing early in the PFS Second Edition campaign.

    But then the pandemic happened. Instead of leaving this intro scenario on ice for an ever-increasing amount of time, we're going to convert it to a non-interactive scenario, to release as one of our two January scenarios. It will still be a level 1 repeatable adventure.
    The Exchange
    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

    With a very 'have my cake and eat it too' mindset, I'm glad to see The Pathfinder Trials finally get released...but I hope the original concept of a new player interactive gets revisited when we're all allowed in the same room together again.
    Grand Lodge

    I am totally in favor of this!
    Grand Lodge
    Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

    Huzzah!
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Associate
    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    Cover updated.
    Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

    I'm confused, is this now #2-11 as stated on the product page, or #2-12 as stated on the new cover?
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Associate
    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    2-11. We didn't bother updating the mockup cover a second time; the final cover will have the correct number.
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Associate
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Cover and map list updated!
    Grand Lodge

    Can a PC have a scenario or two under their belt (still at 1st level) and play this?
    Grand Lodge

    I found my answer in the recent blog:

    PFS Blog wrote:
    We took the time needed to turn this product into a repeatable scenario geared towards new players and experienced (but still 1st level) Pathfinder players.
    Dark Archive
    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    :'D Don't tell me that corona made us miss out on plush dragon prop... That would have been awesome

    It looks like this scenario uses Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Noble Estate rather than Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Castles Multi-Pack.
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Associate
    Cronax wrote:
    It looks like this scenario uses Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Noble Estate rather than Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Castles Multi-Pack.

    Thanks for pointing that out! It looks like the maps used were updated after I published the map list, my apologies. The list has been updated; for reference, this scenario uses the following flip-mats:

    Spoiler:
    Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Wizard's Dungeon
    Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Arena
    Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Noble Estate
    Dark Archive
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Has anyone corrected the treasure drops for this scenario? Reading the third encounter it says you get 1 treasure bundle for completing the first 3 waves (there are only 3 waves) and another 1 for completing the final combat. Even worse, the final encounter says you get 1 treasure bundle for each of the 4 combats that take place, but you only run 1 of the first 3, and then the final 1. So, it seems like there is no way for players to get all of the treasure bundles, which just seems to be written so wrong.
    Grand Lodge
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    This was a fun module, but that last combat is a doozy. I can see it scaring away some new players to have that deadly of an encounter in a system they may just be learning for the first time.
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Associate
    2 people marked this as a favorite.

    The PDF for this adventure has been updated. If you have already downloaded this file, click the "Problems downloading this file?" link to fetch a fresh version from the server.

    Changelog:

    Spoiler:
    Corrected the Treasure Bundles section to properly award Treasure Bundles
    Liberty's Edge
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    This is a worst 1st level adventure I have ever seen. Good concept, but 1st level characters are subject to massive damage, even with non-lethal damage.

    TPK the party on the final fight, should have lost a character to massive damage.

    I would have given 0 starts if I could have.
    Dark Archive
    Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
    Gary Bush wrote:

    This is a worst 1st level adventure I have ever seen. Good concept, but 1st level characters are subject to massive damage, even with non-lethal damage.

    TPK the party on the final fight, should have lost a character to massive damage.

    I would have given 0 starts if I could have.

    I would assume though that given :
    the deans intervening when characters would die that PCs in that situation would stabilize before death. TPK is kind of impossible because if character would somehow die, the combat would end.(though I do think it would be better if scenario just explicitly said "character can't actually die in this combat because of something on background" since deans intervening when combat is about to have lethal consequences can be interpreted as "if PC dies, deans immediately stop combat", but that'd be silly since someone is already dead then)
    Paizo Employee Designer
    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    CorvusMask wrote:


    RE: Interventions

    Response to previous spoilered content:
    The adventure was originally conceived with the dean's intervention being a literal assumed thing that was happening in an open game room, with e.g. Farabellus leaping into the fray to shield a PC from an incoming attack or Kreighton Shane using Battle Medicine to heal up a wounded player, all with accompanying LARP components in place for the event to be a big interactive special. I expect some of that struggles a bit with the scenario's pivot to a more standard adventure format.
    Owner - Fan Boy Three
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    Well... that adventure is, without a doubt, the single worst Pathfinder Adventure I have ever played.

    From now on I am playing Field Commissioned Agents. Because I don't want anything to do with any of those characters, in any adventure, ever again.

    hahaha what jolly japes.

    I cannot imagine who thought this was a good idea. People are going to buy this BECAUSE IT IS LEVEL ONE. Because it literally screams 'new players start here'.

    And literal screams is what they will hear
    Dark Archive
    Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    I very much agree that when you think about it:
    hiring mercenaries who have real chance of getting killed and putting players in (simulated) danger even if GM interprets is as players being unable to die IS pretty messed up for group of archaeologists.

    Scenario is written from perspective of "Well mechanically lethal combat is harmless if PCs can't die." Which from in universe perspective doesn't really work out ^_^; Its similar to certain scene in Wrath of the Righteous where writers didn't think that a character would come across badly if players take lethal damage everytime they fail a quiz

    I do think though there is no need to be spiteful towards characters(or writers. Because when you say things like that, it really sounds like you are being spiteful towards devs), I kind of treat society stuff like comic books: When there comes issue that doesn't make sense compared to overall, take it with broad strokes.
    Liberty's Edge
    Pathfinder Adventure Path, Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

    I have to say that this scenario was really enjoyable. AND, when I played it, my 24 hit point fighter got dropped in 2 hits in that final battle. Yeah, it's tough. It's supposed to be. If it's NOT challenging players lose interest. If your players want everything handed to them easily, well that's an issue for another conversation.

    I enjoyed both playing and running this scenario. Players have to get creative and work together to overcome each challenge. Not every character will be built to overcome everything, so, again, players have to cooperate.

    That's my pair of coppers, take it or leave it.
    Paizo Employee Organized Play Associate
    5 people marked this as a favorite.

    This product has been updated as of March 18. This is a significant revision which changes a number of encounters and brings the scenario more in line with what we believe the Pathfinder Society represents. GMs should download and use this new version and discard the old file.

    Changelog:

    *Reduced difficulty of several combat encounters, made one encounter optional
    *Modified several skill-based challenges to provide more routes to success and fix issues with the usage of spells
    *Removed betrayal element, made other tweaks to the way that Pathfinder Society leadership treats agents and others they work with

    Dark Archive
    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    I just want to thank the Organised Play team and developers for listening to the concerns, taking them seriously and somehow finding the time to make changes, which I know cannot have been easy and probably involved some hard decisions. Your willingness to hear feedback and act on it when needed is deeply appreciated and with these changes the scenario really shines as a great intro to Society play now, thank you all for your work and the efforts you take to ensure that players get the best experience they can. <3
    Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
    Alex Speidel wrote:
    This product has been updated as of March 18. This is a significant revision which changes a number of encounters and brings the scenario more in line with what we believe the Pathfinder Society represents. GMs should download and use this new version and discard the old file.

    Does this mean that GMs who ran this previously should go back and change the reputation reporting if

    Spoiler:
    their group survived the first fight in part 3 but not the second as the second fight is entirely optional?
    Sovereign Court Organized Play Manager
    1 person marked this as a favorite.
    alttprules wrote:
    Alex Speidel wrote:
    This product has been updated as of March 18. This is a significant revision which changes a number of encounters and brings the scenario more in line with what we believe the Pathfinder Society represents. GMs should download and use this new version and discard the old file.

    Does this mean that GMs who ran this previously should go back and change the reputation reporting if

    ** spoiler omitted **

    No, we are not changing anything that happened. There is no way to evenly apply the changes to all games played under the older version. As a replayable scenario, players can play the updated version and get the updated rewards.

    Grand Lodge Organized Play Managing Developer
    3 people marked this as a favorite.

    I'm glad to see the response folks have had to this revision, and I hope it runs much more smoothly at all of your tables.

    The revision wasn't just the work of OP developers; it also took the efforts of Alex and Tonya, as well as editors, art team members, project management, and customer service. I appreciate the hard work everyone put in to make this possible. A revision on this scale isn't something we can undertake lightly, but this scenario's unique circumstances of production combined with its role as an introductory scenario made it worthwhile.
    Dark Archive
    Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    Holy crap, didn't realize this got a revision :O I think it is email worthy

    But yeah, hopefully revisions help scenario and also turn reviews into more positive direction ^_^; I didn't find scenario as bad as most of the reviews, but I definitely saw were they were coming from, so I'm now interested in seeing how they fixed the glaring stuff
    Dark Archive
    Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

    Wow, there are indeed lot of great changes, both difficulty wise to feel less punishing to newbies but also in making society much MUCH more friendly with less hazing involved :'D
    Grand Lodge
    2 people marked this as a favorite.
    Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

    The hazing should definitely be left back in 4709/4710. The Society has grown past that.
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