5) Luck. Being in the right place at the right time. It has been posted before, probably before Seekers came out, that field appointments to the Pathfinder Society are possible, though not common. How else would you explain a 16 year old 1st level fighter or rogue already being a member of the Society? Or have I missed reading about a minimum age requirement for the Society?
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Nope, no minimum age requirement. If you show up at the front door and you're 13 they'll be more than happy to teach you how to be a fighter, incidentally.
You just need to be able to account for 'a few years' in your character background to travel to Absalom and become a Pathfinder. As mentioned field-commission is rare.
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As a caveat I do't have the Seekers of Secrets tome handy with me and that might contradict the above statements.
It does.
In order to even begin the application process, those who seek to join the Society must present themselves at the gates of the Grand Lodge of Absalom. How they get there is entirely up to them, but for those not born in the City at the Center of the World, this is frequently a massive undertaking, and many are the hopeful adventurers who wash out before ever reaching the Pathfinders’ seat of power. While it has been argued that this gives residents of Absalom an unfair advantage, the Society’s answer has always been that anyone who objects to walking a thousand miles to begin training obviously has no idea what it means to be a Pathfinder.
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Particularly grating is a minor trend, as people get more experienced with the setting, to try to declare languages other than Taldane as their 'common' and either not understand the VCs or be unable to otherwise participate in the adventure and expecting the GM and group to accomodate them.
This really should be codified in the Guide. It's sorely missing.
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Step 9 in the character creation section of the guide might benefit from a short "Do/Don't" section outlining general items that are necessary for the character to be a Pathfinder (either by career or faction machinations to embed them) such as the three year training period, literacy, etc. and those that disqualify them (refusal to learn to read/speak Taldane). This shouldn't be long or expansive, but should most likely cover basic items from SoS along with other things that are necessary in every PC or are known to make for a character incompatible with organized play/the campaign premise.
EDIT: The last sentence originally read in way that I realize implies I was advocating for character concepts incompatible with the campaign.
Well, the language argument will at least go away in February once the new Inner Sea book comes out and the Guide has been updated to include it, since they are changing it to say that all humans start with their native language AND Common, if Common is not their native language.
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Well, the language argument will at least go away in February once the new Inner Sea book comes out and the Guide has been updated to include it, since they are changing that to say that all humans start with their native language AND Common, if Common is not their native language.
That is assuming the PFS follows that...
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If the point is to get people more interested in the Pathfinder Society, I think that you would want to look beyond setting some minimum bar.
It would be interesting to have some sort of mechanic for advancing within a lodge, based on skill or specific mission objectives achieved.
This would help give people a mechanics reason to work for the society, instead of for themselves.
I don't yet have the faction guide, so I don't know what is covered in there, but it seems like there are three basic elements out of SoS:
Sword, Spell and Lore. Standard fantasy archetypes, right?
So one could have minimum skill ranks, abilities or deeds necessary to achieve entry and then advance in one of those three categories. Upon advancement into those categories, one could gain something, perhaps free equipment, skill bonuses, favors or traits, or even just a title. Something like this could be done concurrently with the current faction system. I always thought this sort of thing was fun in LG (my archetype of OP, for better or worse).
(I hesitate at the thought of introducing a punishment mechanism for those who don't meet basic requirements. It would make things more interesting, and would provide a "stick" for GM's, but it would take some of the fun out of things. Besides, it seems issues of that nature would best be handled OOC, even before play starts is possible.)
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I don't yet have the faction guide, so I don't know what is covered in there, but it seems like there are three basic elements out of SoS:
Sword, Spell and Lore. Standard fantasy archetypes, right?
There are 3 new Pathfinder prestige classes as well in SoS.
Although I do wish there was a PA system (or similar mechanic) inside the Society as well.
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Hmmm....I guess the idea behind my original post is that I would like some idea of where to put my foot down and say "I'm sorry, we really need to work some more on your concept. As things stand right now, you're not meeting the minimum legal character requirements."
We agree that the bit about Common should be spelled out, but otherwise, isn't everything else in the Guide pretty well cover it? What other kinds of issues are you running into?
Since you know that it has been posted how Common should be treated, I would invite any player who wanted to challenge you about it to either a) roll with your GM ruling (which you would be happy to reverse if provided evidence post-facto) or b) leave your table to go look it up and return when they found the answer. If they are going to be so clearly disruptive and anti-social you are probably just saving yourself future headaches anyway :)
Yep, Josh specifically posted more than once that every Pathfinder knows Common as their starting language even if that means they do not know their native language without putting a point into it or using a bonus language to pick it. And he said this would change only when the new Inner Sea book came out, and not before then.
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EDIT: I guess I should say that this has steadily decreased as Season 1 wore on and the Faction system faded in importance in people's minds. At the beginning of the year it was nearly insufferable, and by this point the issues have all but disappeared with the exception of occasional jabs that there really isn't anything to do but shrug and move on. And again, tying back into the original thread that inspired these questions, this is why I will probably still cease playing in Season 3 once the new system is announced.
I haven't run into this so much, and I've been running for a lot of new, new players so I'm trying to make sure and go over with the whole table at the start kind of where my expectations are and my practical experience as a Pathfinder player.
First thing, faction secrecy pretty much out the window. You are Pathfinder first and foremost. Explore. Report. Cooperate. Some of your faction missions will instruct you to do something 'secretly' or 'in private' or 'so nobody else knows.' Fine. Otherwise it's in your interest as well as their interest that they earn their PA. You are likely going to be gaming off and on with these people for the next several months (or longer) and you need to be able to support each other. If they aren't keeping up with the PA curve (or you aren't helping them keep up when you can) then you really are hurting yourself and the rest of the party.
Second thing, Common (Taldane) is the language of the land speak it. I also pass around the Languages page from the Campaign setting and advise players that things like Draconic and Aybssal sound cool for your character but as a practical matter are useless. Players like to feel like their choices matter. Take Kelish instead. Take Osiriani (or Ancient Osiriani!). Those choices will matter in the future and you'll be glad you took them. I allow them to change out something at that point. I also pass out copies of the pronunciation guide pages as well.
Finally I make sure and explain to them about Absalom and the Grand Lodge and the training they just recently graduated from. I reinforce Explore, Report and Cooperate. If there is a mixed table of new and prior players I have the Venture-Captain engage the priors in leadership roles. How they are being looked at to lead these promising new recruits and the like.
For my newbie players I've tried to stick to mods set in Absalom for them to get their feet under them before throwing them around the Inner Sea and back, and around and back again.
Personally I'd stick around if I were you, but as I said elsewhere: when it stops being fun for you, don't do it any more.
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Yep, Josh specifically posted more than once that every Pathfinder knows Common as their starting language even if that means they do not know their native language without putting a point into it or using a bonus language to pick it. And he said this would change only when the new Inner Sea book came out, and not before then.Wouldn't it be a general rule that racial and Common would be freebies any way?
The key difference is racial vs. regional. Core rules state everybody knows common plus your racial language (if you're human your racial language is common though). What's often being questioned is for that Osirion to know Osiriani and Common (and maybe Dwarf if they're a dwarf). In those instances, you'll need to spend a bonus language to learn your regional language.
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Yep, Josh specifically posted more than once that every Pathfinder knows Common as their starting language even if that means they do not know their native language without putting a point into it or using a bonus language to pick it. And he said this would change only when the new Inner Sea book came out, and not before then.Wouldn't it be a general rule that racial and Common would be freebies any way?
The reason to not give everyone their regional language is simple.
Characters who don't have a regional language would effectively be one skill point behind those that do. If that doesn't seem like a big deal, then flip the situation. Why is it a big deal that you need to spend a skill point to get a regional language?
As for Seekers of Secrets, it IS Core Assumption. To my mind, that means that it's assumed you're familiar with the material therein, as both a player and a GM. I'm willing to cut some slack for newbies. BUT, when I tell them that this is in the book they're assumed to be using and pointing out specific passages as a reason for vetoing their speshul character idea to make them different from everyone else, I expect to be listened to on that.
Yeah, from my understanding, all books labeled as Core Assumption (the Core Book, Bestiary and Seekers of Secrets) are required by GMs to own. And while players should own the Core Book and Seekers and be familiar with their content, a player showing up at a table without them can't be blocked from playing.
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I guess using that logic then Elves with an Int of 10, don't get Elven as a free language because "tht would put them a skill point a head". My main character is Taldor. I really don't care that the Chelaxian players have one language up on me, the scheming scumbags they are. :)
1) Elves (and other demi-humans) are granted bonus languages to balance their race vs. other races.
2) If you "really don't care," then why care that the some human characters DON'T get their regional language?|
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I guess using that logic then Elves with an Int of 10, don't get Elven as a free language because "tht would put them a skill point a head". My main character is Taldor. I really don't care that the Chelaxian players have one language up on me, the scheming scumbags they are. :)[
Characters who don't have a regional language would effectively be one skill point behind those that do. If that doesn't seem like a big deal, then flip the situation. Why is it a big deal that you need to spend a skill point to get a regional language?
Actually, Chelaxian = Taldane = Common
Now, Osiriani and Qadiran scumbags would be one up on you... :)