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Or, what would you want to know before making a first PFS character, assuming players who are roughly familiar with PF and have done organized play campaigns for other game editions before. A handful of people that I'd played Living Greyhawk with back in the day (and myself) have been starting to talk about giving PFS a try and I'm hoping to soak up some of the established wisdom, if any, without discovering the hard way that paladins (or whatever) are much harder to play in PFS than you'd expect for whatever reason.
To give you an idea of the kinds of things I mean, here are a few of the kinds of things I might have said to someone making a character for our particular region in LG:
- Past the low levels, enemies that are subject to sneak attack, and to a slightly lesser degree critical hits, will be the exception. Ditto enemies subject to mind-affecting spells.
- There's a lot going on in the plot for elves; other races will probably feel like second-class citizens.
- There are some interesting opportunities for shifty/deceptive characters to do things. In turn this means there are interesting opportunities for smart but more forthright characters to interfere.
- Undead are reasonably common, but undead that a cleric could actually turn are not.
- Religions that have the most going on plotwise are X, Y, and Z.
- Number/difficulty of typical encounters per day are such that spellcasters look better/worse than normal.
Thanks for any insight offered!
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Prestige Classes
A fella at a con was hollering at me when I was complaining about the nerf on bladed scarf (reach went away, crit range went away, so it turned into something less than a short sword that I can trip with. What makes it exotic, it's the only melee weapon you can finesse and trip with that you can also take AOO with and doesn't provoke when you attack. (so if you are looking to do exactly that it's great, otherwise get a whip (scorpion) or a flail)), oh . . . and it's a scarf so it's easy to hide.
Wait but I could take improved unarmed strike and do that and I don't have to hide . . . Oh . . . right . . .
It's exotic because 1. It's a scarf (how cool is that!!) and 2. You can drop it if you fail to trip and they trip you back.
. . . ehem getting off topic.
He said (pointing at me with his 19-20x3 crit Falchata (Keened so it was 17-20/x3) that he was criting me with because he was charmed.) that the designers intended for exotic weapons to be weaker than regular weapons. . . I'm pretty sure he was wrong (See Ripsaw Glaive Gnomes of Golarion).
But later (after I calmed down) I remember them saying that about Prestige Classes.
Pay careful attention to class abilities you no longer get or the classes required to become that PrC. Master Chymist looses discovery in the latest update, Hell Knight's while seems great for Paladin's powers run off of Wisdom and has no spell progression making it unattractive for clerics (which became a dump stat for Paladin's in Pathfinder), Lion's Blade needs to be Bard and Rogue and possibly Fighter (which is a long trip) then sneak attack progression is much slower (Bye bye damage out).
Pathfinder prestige classes (with some notable exceptions- hello Living Monolith) are mostly role playing choices. They no longer hold the power level they had in 3 or 3.5.
If you want to play a PrC in Pathfinder Society get there as soon as you can and stay there. Only 12 levels makes it tight for those choices to pay off.
The power gamer in me is stay with the class your started with for maximum payoff.
Also if you are coming in new from 3.5 reread rules you think you know. You don't want a rug pulled out from under you (Cleave, Power Attack, Dispel Magic)
While that is all I have to offer in that I haven't run up against an "oh that's too bad for my concept." (Except out of the blue rules changes which happen from time to time (see spoiler above)) I do want to address the sneak attack issue.
- Past the low levels, enemies that are subject to sneak attack, and to a slightly lesser degree critical hits, will be the exception. Ditto enemies subject to mind-affecting spells.- There's a lot going on in the plot for elves; other races will probably feel like second-class citizens.
Are these fictional examples?
I haven't had the same issue as your re: Sneak attack (SA). In pathfinder virtually everything is subject to SA.
Exception are very specific: elementals and elemental subtypes, Oozes and incorporeal creatures. By the time it comes up to attacking more of the latter type you probably have enough cash and PA to purchase a +2 weapon of your choice and that would be Ghost Touch (especially if you rely on SA for your damage out.)
I also haven't seen the Elf issue you bring up at all.
Are these fictional examples?
They're non-fictional examples from a campaign that is not PFS. I'm looking for those kinds of things with respect to PFS -- classes, races, or options that for reasons of how adventures are written are bad ideas in PFS even if they might be decent in a different Pathfinder game.
We're familiar with Pathfinder and organized play in general but not PFS in specific.
Does that make more sense?
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We're familiar with Pathfinder and organized play in general but not PFS in specific.
I've run into this a few times where players were 'shocked' to learn about the level 12 cap. I'm sure you guys already have, but make sure you go over the Guide to Organized Play with a fine tooth comb. This may not be exactly what you had in mind (I'm stalling while my brain backgrounds what you really want).
Understand how XP works (1/mod, 3 XP = 1 level, level 12 cap).
Understand what is Always Available.
Understand how you can incremental build up your weapon. Masterwork, then +1 then +2. You can always buy any masterwork weapon for 300 + weapon cost. You can always enchant that masterwork weapon to +1 by paying 2000 gold. You can upgrade it to +2 for 4000 gold once you have 18 TPA.
Understand how the PA system works. As you gain PA you raise the price cap on magic items you can buy. These are magic items outside what is Always Available and what you get listed on your Chronicles.
Along with understand the PA system, understand what a 2 CPA purchase of a item up to 750 gp value can do for you (hint, a lot)! Also understand what it cannot do for you. It cannot give you 750 gp credit to something that cost more than 750.
Understand how consumables work. If you find a potion of cure moderate wounds during the mod, you can drink it 'for free' without having to buy one or affecting your gold total at the end. If you want a potion of cure moderate wounds after the adventure is over, you'll have to buy it assuming you have the total PA to allow the purchase.
Raise Dead doesn't come with negative levels as described in the Core Rules. The Guide talks about this.
Put a few ranks in your first few levels into a Craft/Perform/Profession skill so you can make a Day Job roll. Probably nothing more than 2-3 ranks really makes sense mechanically, but it's nice to be able to make the roll.
Spend INT bonus languages on Regional Languages listed in the Campaign Setting. Don't take Dragon, don't take Terran. Frankly Elven has been a waste to date.
Favorited Enemy = human.
Traits are good stuff, but I've not been a big fan of many of the Faction traits in the Guide.
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Here are my points, directly primarily to former LG players:
1) Be sure you know of all the options open to you in the game. Some of the weapons/feats/spells available in PFS are better than core options (such as ripsaw glaive/desperate battler/infernal healing, as an example of each of the above).
2) I've seen few traps. Those that I have seen are quite survivable, so a traps-focused character will have little chance to shine.
3) With a couple of exceptions, PFS scenarios tend to be on the easy side, particularly if you're familiar with some of the meatgrinders of later LG. So you've got some ability to make suboptimal character choices and still come out okay quite often.
4) PFS currently has very little inter-scenario dependency, even within the named "series" of scenarios. So don't worry too much about playing series with different characters, or out of order (one caveat: be aware that playing some scenarios prohibit you from playing others with that character; this is typically very clear from reading a scenario's entire blurb).
5) The two most critical skills you'll use are probably Acrobatics and Perception. I think about half of the non-knowledge skill checks you'll make will be these two skills (one caveat: getting Prestige Awards sometimes requires quirky skills at high DCs).
6) Most fights will be against level-appropriate creatures right out of the Bestiary. PFS has fairly little of the monsters-with-multiple-templates-plus-class-levels craziness that later LG had.
7) PFS scenarios have a widely varying amount of fights and roleplaying opportunities. On the whole, though, they tend to have four or more fights of varying difficulty. The cookie-cutter LG scenario model (aka "Three Fights and A Bag of Gold") is not present in PFS, so you can't easily metagame the amount of fights you'll have.
8) As a corollary to the above, PFS scenarios have their own predictability: very many PFS scenarios are short opening scenes depositing you at location-based mini-dungeons filled with several encounters.
9) You can generally ignore the text on your chronicle sheets. There are few "boons" or "favors" or "disfavors" or similar, and I haven't seen those few that exist come into play. You can also generally ignore the items listed on your chronicle sheets: any items that you can afford you can likely already purchase based on your Prestige Award limit anyway. Like with any version of 3rd edition, the system rewards multiple smaller purchases rather than big, expensive purchases, so saving up for a big, expensive thing on a chronicle sheet is usually a suboptimal choice.
10) Be aware that you get only 37 scenarios and 12 levels with any character you make. Characters that come into their own late in levels (such as arcane tricksters) are not likely to be enjoyable in PFS.
I hope this is helpful. As a disclaimer, this is based solely on my experience, playing about 50 scenarios and judging 25 or 30.
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Spend INT bonus languages on Regional Languages listed in the Campaign Setting.
I'll be glad to hear I'm wrong, but only humans, half-elves, and races with "open" bonus language choices can take these languages. Most races have a short list of bonus languages that you have to pick from.
Mark's points are very good.
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Spend INT bonus languages on Regional Languages listed in the Campaign Setting.I'll be glad to hear I'm wrong, but only humans, half-elves, and races with "open" bonus language choices can take these languages. Most races have a short list of bonus languages that you have to pick from.
Mark's points are very good.
I've been wrong before and I reserve the right to be wrong in the future. See what happens when you only play humans? :)
You are correct only Humans and Half-elves appear to have the 'open' language choice. Yucky. Otherwise put a point into Linguistics I guess. Boo. Draconic is lame. :)
And your points are also very good!
Director of Brand Strategy
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Just to clarify, wouldn't it be 6000gp once you have 27 TPA?
I think that this is a bit of a problem with the whole using TPA for access, 27 TPA is a bit much for a +2 weapon.
By the time you get to 27 TPA, you should have encountered at least a few +2 weapons on chronicle sheets. Whether it's your weapon of choice is a different matter, but one can get more powerful magic items through access before they open up via PA.
But yes, you must have enough TPA to purchase a band new item of the final cost, even if the difference between the original and the upgraded item is less.
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You can upgrade it to +2 for 4000 gold once you have 18 TPA.
Just to clarify, wouldn't it be 6000gp once you have 27 TPA?
I think that this is a bit of a problem with the whole using TPA for access, 27 TPA is a bit much for a +2 weapon.
Yeah, my bad. I'm full of them today. 8000 + masterwork + weapon cost. If you've already payed 2300ish it's a 6000 difference, but you must have TPA to cover the 8300ish total cost which is indeed 27. Now if I did this math correctly....27 PA at the estimated 1.5 per module is 18 mods or level 6 to be getting your hands on +2. Or as Mark pointed out, you'll have come across some on your Chronicles by then as well.
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A few things to think about:
Medium-size characters on Large-sized mounts is not going to happen very often in PFS. Small areas, dungeon crawls, etc.
Keep a careful eye on both your faction mission(s) and your pathfinder society mission.
Especially for faction missions, having a skill monkey in the party is never a bad thing.
Swarms are a frequent visitor, although a few mods don't have them, or only have them at certain tiers. The Advanaced Players Guide (APG) offers a solution for dealing with swarms, by the way, much cheaper but less wieldy than the armor enhancement in the 3.5E splat book to get DR vs swarms.
Understand the tier/sub-tier rules, along with how APL in PFS works. It is a bit different than LG.
Keep in mind the one combat companion per PC rule. This won't affect summoners, but will affect the herd of pigs or dog pack crowd.
Onthe 1 PA (150 GP) and 2 PA (750 GP) purchases, keep a few more things in mind:
You keep the item you purchased for PA, it is not just for use durign the mod you bought it during.
You cannot use the PA to partially fund a purchase, nor do you get a refund in GP if the purchase price is less than the PA would allow, and it is only for a single item.
While it is not totally clear, you can use PA to purchase a CL1 wand, like the wand of Cure Light Wounds, before you have the TPA to legally purchase it for gold.
Anything you purchase with PA has a market value of 0 GP, not half the normal price. You cannot use a purchase for 750 GP in multiple scenarios, sell the items off, and fund a lrge single purchase.
Wands of Lesser Restoration are not available from Paladins in PFS, you have to buy the CLerical version, so not for 750 GP.
Wizards (and similar classes) can scribe scrolls or spellbooks found during an adventure into their spellbooks for only the scribing cost during the adventure or immediately thereafter. If, at some future point, they decide that they want the spell after all, they will need to purchase the scroll in addition to the scribing cost.
Just like in LG, don't forget the consumables, especially things like alchemist's fire and tanglefoot bags, and the various emergency potions later. A consumable kit like the ones discussed on the old LG board is still a good idea, for many of the same reasons.
For players, along with the Core player's book, I would strongly recommend the Seekers of Secrets book; and, for additional crunch, the Adventurer's Armory. Depending on your needs, even a basic Core PC can find items of use in teh APG, as well.
Proviso: Keep a careful eye on chapter 13 in the PFSOP guide, the one that shows what items are "Open" for PFSOP, when you have enough TPA. Equally, remember that any mundane items allowed usually do not have a minimum TPA level.
Warning: Most special materials are always available, but can greatly slow the ability to enhance your equipment. You can have, when you have the gold for it, any of the normal armors, armor made of mithril or admanatine, and any of them enhanced to +1 for no TPA requirement.
However, you will rapidly see the difference in access between getting to a +5 Chain Shirt and a +5 Adamantine Full Plate, if the latter can even be achieved within the 12 level limit. The same goes for special material weapons, of course. It will be much quicker to bne able to get a +2 longsword than a +2 cold iron longsword.
There are plenty of undead in PFS, by the way, but many, if not most, of them are vulnerable to sneak attack.
For a Cleric, a good Charisma and the Selective Channeling feat are never a bad idea.
Siome things from LG are directly applicable to PFS, like the disirability of CLW wands at low level.
PFS access is much more open, in many ways, than LG. It also has some more severe restrictions, when they apply. You can't buy a Handy Haversack, for example, until you have enough TPA (9, I think) to cover 2000 GP purchases.
Hope this helps.
This is a big help already. It's especially interesting to me that skill characters are good for something, because IMHO they really were not in any of the WotC 3E Living games.
A couple more questions in response:
How frequently, if at all, are faction missions at odds with the faction missions of other factions? That is, to what degree can you expect that someone else at the table will be trying to sabotage yours?
Is the Day Job roll just some extra gold?
Some of the weapons/feats/spells available in PFS are better than core options (such as ripsaw glaive/desperate battler/infernal healing, as an example of each of the above).
Is there another thread or a list somewhere of what opinions on what some of these better options are, or a comparison along the lines of, no one picks core feat X because PFS-feat Y covers a similar base better?
7) PFS scenarios have a widely varying amount of fights and roleplaying opportunities. On the whole, though, they tend to have four or more fights of varying difficulty. The cookie-cutter LG scenario model (aka "Three Fights and A Bag of Gold") is not present in PFS, so you can't easily metagame the amount of fights you'll have.
I'll partially disagree with this one. PFS scenarios are almost always four encounters long (with maybe one optional encounter), in my experience, and the first fight is almost always a "gimme".
One comment I'd make is about faction missions: A fair number of them hinge on an obscure skill roll (e.g. Sleight of Hand or Disarm Device), and there's significant table variation on what happens no one in your party has that skill. Some GMs will let you use other techniques within reason, some will tell you "tough luck".
Another comment: Scenarios almost always have some sort of healing expendables in them, particularly healing potions. These are "free" in the sense that using them doesn't reduce your final treasure award. So don't worry too much if you don't have a healer, at low levels, anyways.
Also: I think that almost all of the scenarios I've played have had humanoid enemies (particularly humans) in at least one encounter.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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I approve whole-heartedly of this thread, because it tells me what trends people notice and what voids players and GMs feel there are in existing scenarios. I know of one whole creature type that's never appeared in a scenario, for example, and am ensuring it shows up soon. So hearing what happens rarely or too often is helpful from a development standpoint.
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How frequently, if at all, are faction missions at odds with the faction missions of other factions? That is, to what degree can you expect that someone else at the table will be trying to sabotage yours?Is the Day Job roll just some extra gold?
There should NOT be any deliberate sabotaging of faction missions, as that would be considered Player vs Player - Strictly Forbidden. Accidental sabotage sometimes happens (eg. a mission item gets fireballed).
Day job is just extra gold :)
There should NOT be any deliberate sabotaging of faction missions, as that would be considered Player vs Player - Strictly Forbidden.
Is this the case?
I come from a LG tradition wherein player vs player combat is forbidden, but players with opposing secret goals sabotaging each other in non-combat ways is par for the course.
Yes, unless future updates to the campaign guide change this, deliberate interference with another player's faction mission is forbidden and you can be asked to leave the table for doing so.
Wow. That really pulls the teeth out of the competing factions angle and makes it a lot less interesting. :(
Yes, unless future updates to the campaign guide change this, deliberate interference with another player's faction mission is forbidden and you can be asked to leave the table for doing so.Wow. That really pulls the teeth out of the competing factions angle and makes it a lot less interesting. :(
The whole competing factions angle to the PFS was majorly nerfed after Season 0. They had originally thought about keeping track of who did what for which faction and how many members each faction had, but they mostly threw that out with the start of Season 1.
The whole competing factions angle to the PFS was majorly nerfed after Season 0. They had originally thought about keeping track of who did what for which faction and how many members each faction had, but they mostly threw that out with the start of Season 1.
To me, that's too bad, but it's still good to know -- different kinds of things seem fun to play to me with that being the case.
For example, maybe skill monkey bard who's trying to help everyone nail their faction missions with his plethora of odd skills seems like a better pick than otherwise.
The whole competing factions angle to the PFS was majorly nerfed after Season 0. They had originally thought about keeping track of who did what for which faction and how many members each faction had, but they mostly threw that out with the start of Season 1.
Not only that, but the quality of equipment that you can acquire is very closely tied to your performance in faction missions. So blocking another PC's faction mission is about as polite as sundering another PC's favourite weapon. :-(
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You'll definitely be well loved by almost everyone if you play a character like that.
To me, that's too bad, but it's still good to know -- different kinds of things seem fun to play to me with that being the case.For example, maybe skill monkey bard who's trying to help everyone nail their faction missions with his plethora of odd skills seems like a better pick than otherwise.
I'm playing one right now. It's a Bard/Oracle (Lore). At level 3, he'll have at least +14 to every knowledge skill, and most charisma based skills will be at +10 or higher (including handle animal). He also has disable device as a class skill. :) Too bad he's horrible in combat, but I already love my little "faction monkey."
edit: I should mention that he's "personally" horrible at combat. With his knowledge skills he can give everyone an edge by knowing the monster's strengths and weaknesses. His Bless and Inspire Courage make everyone else better. A well timed grease, liberating command, saving finale, and eventually glitterdust will also help. So what if if I can only do nonlethal damage (1d3-3!)?
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Venture-Captain, Arizona—Tucson
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Yes, unless future updates to the campaign guide change this, deliberate interference with another player's faction mission is forbidden and you can be asked to leave the table for doing so.Wow. That really pulls the teeth out of the competing factions angle and makes it a lot less interesting. :(
They're trying to avoid the problems caused when a player gives his faction mission priority over the mission goals and party harmony. I've always enjoyed Paradigm Concepts' Arcanis campaign, but their conflicting secret society missions caused a lot of friction during games. Pathfinder Society has tried to avoid that, with only a couple of missions that directly oppose each other.
Keep in mind that your character's faction allegiance is not a good reason to screw over your fellow party members. The faction leaders may have a lot of influence, but your team will be the ones covering your back when you're in the field.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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The whole competing factions angle to the PFS was majorly nerfed after Season 0. They had originally thought about keeping track of who did what for which faction and how many members each faction had, but they mostly threw that out with the start of Season 1.To me, that's too bad, but it's still good to know -- different kinds of things seem fun to play to me with that being the case.
For example, maybe skill monkey bard who's trying to help everyone nail their faction missions with his plethora of odd skills seems like a better pick than otherwise.
You're not the only one who feels faction competition isn't being utilized as well as possible. We're exploring a few options but have nothing official to announce at the moment.
You're not the only one who feels faction competition isn't being utilized as well as possible. We're exploring a few options but have nothing official to announce at the moment.
If you'll entertain largely uninformed-about-PFS commentary that is based on my opinions of what worked and didn't work in the LG years:
Probably the faction missions themselves either have to stay the way they are, or be redesigned in a way that allows a certain level of failure to still hit the highest tier of success; now that I understand that character wealth is largely driven by faction mission success, it doesn't make a lot of sense design-wise for the players to compete or be cutthroat over them.
That being said, additional/secondary competitive faction goals could be interesting. One way to implement 'winning' one of these is to have a continuous story that players get involved in, and let a winning faction influence the plot. Maybe you pick one adventure that debuts at PaizoCon/GenCon and track results from tables that play it there -- the faction that does the best is the faction that's considered to have prevailed in canon and something follows from the story there.
Another option is competing for purchase access to an additional item, something that isn't crazy good but might be useful or available via that reward earlier than it would be otherwise.
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Personally I'm just waiting on the swarm of zombies on a boat. Then we will have completed the Pathfinder Trifecta. It would be a great April Fool's Day scenario.
No, if it's a Pathfinder Society mod it's a group of three ghoul swarms on a boat.
I swear Tim Hitchcock would sit there going, "I need an encounter, I know three ghouls" and forget that he had that conversation with himself the last mod he wrote.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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Low-level prepeared casters like wizards and witches can feel kind of slow (1st-4th, even 5th level). It is just that often you seem to be on a rush timeline or there aren't many opportunities to rest. If that doesn't bother you, no worries. I have a witch (4th) that always feels like a two trick pony, with evil eye and misfortune hexes. Oh and I have a few spells that I always seem to run out of by fight 3. I have the feeling it will pick up in a couple of levels, but I think he'll be semi-retired for a while, trying out a crazy Halfling Sorcerer so I can artillerize for a while!
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Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau
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All of the above is good advice. The only thing I can add is to stress how important Knowledge skills can be. This can be balanced out even with a class that only grants 2 skill points per level by taking 1) either an appropriate trait that adds a Knowledge to your class skill list or 2) taking the option for an extra skill point from Favored Class instead of the extra hit point. And remember that a point in Linguistics grants you an additional language.
Swarms are fairly common, undead are fairly common and yes, human enemies are too. So far I have yet to see an Aberration in a scenario. I HAVE seen a Ranger take Plants as his Favored Enemy based on his first two scenarios though!
The major changes to the rules and changes because of organized play have all been addressed by others. THIS has been a good thread to point new players to.
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Do not undervalue odd ability scores. You have only 3 chances to increase ability scores, so odd scores pay off when you get those precious stat bumps. The odd score can also partially protect you against ability damage. The first character I designed had all even scores, so the stat increase at level 4 did not increase any bonus.
Oil of Daylight is good. Anyone (not just casters) can use it to counter Deeper Darkness by pouring it on a weapon.
Grease and Color Spray are the most useful combat spells I have seen at low levels.
Someone suggested building a "future" version of your new first level character. This is an excellent idea. You may find that you will no longer want at 8th level something that looks attractive at 1st level. Case in point: I designed a human monk with the intent of taking "Heart of the Wilderness" as an alternate trait (APG). When I built an 8th level version of the character, I saw that the feat Deny Death (which I plan to take at 5th level) makes Heart of the Wilderness irrelevant. The extra skill point looks much better at 8th level.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I agree with much of that, but this:
Do not undervalue odd ability scores. You have only 3 chances to increase ability scores, so odd scores pay off when you get those precious stat bumps. The odd score can also partially protect you against ability damage. ..
Not in Pathfinder. Whether your ability score is 12 or 13, you don't suffer any disability until the attribute is drained 2 points.
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I agree with much of that, but this:
Do not undervalue odd ability scores. You have only 3 chances to increase ability scores, so odd scores pay off when you get those precious stat bumps. The odd score can also partially protect you against ability damage. ..Not in Pathfinder. Whether your ability score is 12 or 13, you don't suffer any disability until the attribute is drained 2 points.
If your ability score is 12, 1 point of ability damage causes a disability (+1 bonus at 12, no bonus at 11). If your ability score is 13, 1 point of damage does not cause a disability.
Is an ability score of 11 (original) not the same as an ability score of 11 (decreased from 12)?
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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If your ability score is 12, 1 point of ability damage causes a disability (+1 bonus at 12, no bonus at 11). If your ability score is 13, 1 point of damage does not cause a disability.
You'd be correct if you were playing D&D 3.5, my friend. Under Pathfinder rules, that's not the case. " For every 2 points of damage you take to a single ability, apply a –1 penalty to skills and statistics listed with the relevant ability."
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You'd be correct if you were playing D&D 3.5, my friend. Under Pathfinder rules, that's not the case. " For every 2 points of damage you take to a single ability, apply a –1 penalty to skills and statistics listed with the relevant ability."
If your ability score is 12, 1 point of ability damage causes a disability (+1 bonus at 12, no bonus at 11). If your ability score is 13, 1 point of damage does not cause a disability.
Far out. I've been doing this wrong for a long time, taking needless penalties. Thanks, Chris!
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Not to be a hater but seriously wish I understood how (crappy) Tactician class ability and Teamwork Feats are in PFS before I made a cavalier.
They're balanced assuming people might ever cooperate on builds to take advantage- most are either awful or outright useless in the context of being given out via tactician. At a table with random people, you can be sure you'll never meet someone with a matching TWF unless it's your own Animal Companion.
If tactician worked like the Strategist archetype's class ability.. more than 1/day, works on any TWF you know, and lasts for more than a couple combat rounds.. it'd be worth using.
So take it from me.. if you're looking at Cavalier make sure you're either a Strategist... or another archetype that dumps Tactician entirely for something useful. Oh yeah, or just play a Samurai instead.
