Director of Brand Strategy
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Just feeling out to see what sorts of character background things might be worth spending prestige points on to have as little in-game extras.
If you could spend PA to add codified bonuses to your character, things like owning a bar, belonging to a famed hunting lodge, or having a herald announce your arrival at a social gathering, what sorts of things would you like?
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Just feeling out to see what sorts of character background things might be worth spending prestige points on to have as little in-game extras.
If you could spend PA to add codified bonuses to your character, things like owning a bar, belonging to a famed hunting lodge, or having a herald announce your arrival at a social gathering, what sorts of things would you like?
OOH...Good question.
Right now, the first thing that pops into my thick skull is a (probably meaningless) promotion within the Pathfinder Society.
I have yahoo characters who would love a title (Headtracker, Party Leader etc.) within the Society.
-Pain
p.s. I love the idea of adding more earned flavor and out-of-combat benefits to characters.
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Hrmm ...
My sorceress would love her own little shop, from owning said shop she could be a bonus on her profession merchant roll at the end of the week
My fighter would love some sort of weapon boon that she could activate as she's goring her enemy with one of her sawtooth sabers. -- I know you said non-combat .. but she's a figher....
My oracle would love a boon that once per day she gets to channel like a cleric (since she's not a life oracle) but due to her background would be a negative channel.
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As I've been thinking about my characters and from whence they demonstrate or show their personalities and whatnot, they usual come from either skill point allocations or traits.
I know that some traits/skills are more combat focused, but most are out of combat and for me, are good fun fluff.
As such, I'd be willing to spend PA to get more skill points (especially when I play low skill classes like Pallies, Sorcs, and Clerics) or additional training in the form of an additional trait.
In short, I think PA could be spent to have your faction train you...the results of which would be an extra trait or more skill points.
-Pain
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Just cross-posting what I suggested in chat...
I think the ability of making contacts who would get you bonuses to your Knowledge skills or allow you to make Knowledge checks you couldn't otherwise would be great. You would have contacts in various regions potentially building a network of friends and allies to provide a variety of services.
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3 PA and $XXX dollars to have a portrait of your character added to PFS canon (The $XXX dollars is to cover the cost to Paizo to have the art created), at which point your character's icon can then appear on the board (exclusive to you).
8 PA (includes the 3 above): Entry of your character into the PFS 'yearbook' with a listing of chronicles they've been on, and a 'brief recounting' of their heroic deeds.
In short, I think PA could be spent to have your faction train you...the results of which would be an extra trait or more skill points.
I like this one, especially if it is limited to being able to getting the traits that are unique to your Faction.
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I like the idea of bonus traits or even bonus feats.
How about buying the ability to retrain or swap out old feats/traits that have proven to be dead ends?
I'd love an exclusive list of magic items only available to folks with high enough ranks in factions or the society (the original PFS rules had something like this), but stuff unique to PFS, not even in the Core Rule book.
Diplomacy bonuses for being recognized as a mucky-muck.
Titles and ranks would be a lot of fun. Especially if they could be associated with message board aliases.
How 'bout the ability to get "published" in the Pathfinder Chronicles? Spend 5 PA per title and players can make up some crazy title and register it a Paizo. Writes could use this a resource list, selecting any that strike their fancy, and sprinkle these titles into their adventures like Easter Eggs. Basically pay to have your name dropped.
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Choosing your home region has a competence bonus to Knowledge(local) or Survival while in your home region. If you want to add a PA cost, how about +1/2 the PA spent per skill. You can purchase up to +2 bonus.
Being able to purchase magical tools or instruments.
1 PA = +2 competence bonus item (about 400 gp)
2 PA = +3 competence bonus item (about 900 gp)
4 PA = +4 competence bonus item (about 1600 gp)
7 PA = +5 competence bonus item (about 2500 gp)
Die rerolls
1 PA, reroll a d4 to d8
2 PA, reroll a d10 to d20
Purchase magic item at cost.
1 PA per 1,000 pg of item cost. You still need to pay the item cost. The PA is just getting you a discount.
For example, the price to add Frost to a +1 longsword is 6,000 gp. The 'cost' is 3,000 gp. So by spending 3 PA, the PC only needs to spend 3,000 gp to upgrade their longsword.
How about buying the ability to retrain or swap out old feats/traits that have proven to be dead ends?
+1
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
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Being able to purchase magical tools or instruments.
1 PA = +2 competence bonus item (about 400 gp)
2 PA = +3 competence bonus item (about 900 gp)
4 PA = +4 competence bonus item (about 1600 gp)
7 PA = +5 competence bonus item (about 2500 gp)
Don't forget that you can get a Masterwork Tool for virtually any skill.
Tool, Masterwork: This well-made item is the perfect tool for the job. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on a related skill check (if any).
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After I brought it up to my party, these are the thing I remember them mentioning. Hopefully I understood them and didn't change what the meant.
Owning their own alchemist's shop was on the list as one being able to have people that you could go to for knowledge and spellcraft checks.
One that I didn't see mentioned on here was having contacts in a thieves guild to gather intelligence on what you may be walking into.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Thanks for all the great feedback, folks. I won't promise everything here will actually make it into print or become legal for PFS play, but quite a few of the elements people have suggested are in line with what I already had in mind.
I hope people enjoy additional, flavorful uses for PA instead of just hoarding them for a potential resurrection late in their career.
How about a heavy warhorse with more than 19 hp for all those non-pet classes?
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Thanks for all the great feedback, folks. I won't promise everything here will actually make it into print or become legal for PFS play, but quite a few of the elements people have suggested are in line with what I already had in mind.
I hope people enjoy additional, flavorful uses for PA instead of just hoarding them for a potential resurrection late in their career.
Under current rules PA allows access to items and spell casting costs. I would very much like to see more flavor uses for PA as well. Also, perhaps even some "pebble in the pond ripples" type bonuses in CHA-based checks starting from Absolom at +X going out to e.g.Varisia at +Z to account for the Pathfinder Lodge being prevalent in Absolom but less so in Sandpoint. A person's prestige then has more influence around the City than towns in the fringes of Golarion.
How about the ability to spend PA to learn your native language? Or other regional languages?
The native language thing will be changing once the new Inner Sea Guide comes out and is made legal for PFS play. In other threads Paizo people have said that the new book will give the different human ethnicities their native language and "Common" as automatically known, rather than just "Common".
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Titles would be the big thing for me. A few PA so my Taldan could insist that he be called "Lord" would be pretty cool. If you guys were to provide an extensive list of potential titles, I can think of a number of Players who would chose those rewards. Heck anything which would provide fodder for backstory would be pretty cool (ownership of property, boats, "friends in high places", etc.).
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How about the ability to spend PA to learn your native language? Or other regional languages?The native language thing will be changing once the new Inner Sea Guide comes out and is made legal for PFS play. In other threads Paizo people have said that the new book will give the different human ethnicities their native language and "Common" as automatically known, rather than just "Common".
I don't think that you can assume that, though you may be right.
The problem is that, of the 5 factions, 3 of them have Common as their regional language (Taldane = Chelaxian = Common). So characters native to Osirion or Qadira get an automatic (albeit minor) boost.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Titles would be the big thing for me. A few PA so my Taldan could insist that he be called "Lord" would be pretty cool. If you guys were to provide an extensive list of potential titles, I can think of a number of Players who would chose those rewards. Heck anything which would provide fodder for backstory would be pretty cool (ownership of property, boats, "friends in high places", etc.).
Can't your character already insist he be called "Lord"? And even if you spent some PA to get this as a more concrete benefit, I don't see it helping make other PCs who don't like nobles, Taldans, or your PC personally call him "Lord" (unless they're being sarcastic).
If you could spend PA to add codified bonuses to your character, things like owning a bar, belonging to a famed hunting lodge, or having a herald announce your arrival at a social gathering, what sorts of things would you like?
I'm not crazy about the idea of spending PA to be a bar owner (say), since it implies that there's a new rule saying "your character can't be a bar owner unless you spend PA" and what's the point of a restrictive rule like that?
Trading PA for extra traits or contacts or retraining feats (as other folks have suggested) sounds reasonable, though.
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I'm not crazy about the idea of spending PA to be a bar owner (say), since it implies that there's a new rule saying "your character can't be a bar owner unless you spend PA" and what's the point of a restrictive rule like that?
naw, its just using your prestige to make the bar more profitable. Similar to the Micheal Jordan Steakhouses or when Arnold own(owns?) Planet Hollywood. (there are similar restaurants in any sports town, with names from celebrity sports stars - in MA we have "Big Papi Grill" which is for David Ortiz, and the Red Sox announcer and former second baseman Jerry Remmy has a restaurant with his name on it as well)
basicly, normally you can use your profession checks to see the income from the bar you own, but if you use your prestige and reputation to promote it, you get more customers, which means more money
- Membership of mystery cults(with layers of initiation)
- Marriage into major families
- Ownership of Mythos or occult tomes
- control of units of troops
- diplomatic immunity
- a personal team of porters.
- Maps
I'm not crazy about the idea of spending PA to be a bar owner (say), since it implies that there's a new rule saying "your character can't be a bar owner unless you spend PA" and what's the point of a restrictive rule like that?naw, its just using your prestige to make the bar more profitable. Similar to the Micheal Jordan Steakhouses or when Arnold own(owns?) Planet Hollywood. (there are similar restaurants in any sports town, with names from celebrity sports stars - in MA we have "Big Papi Grill" which is for David Ortiz, and the Red Sox announcer and former second baseman Jerry Remmy has a restaurant with his name on it as well)
basicly, normally you can use your profession checks to see the income from the bar you own, but if you use your prestige and reputation to promote it, you get more customers, which means more money
But I am sure nothing will be added that will throw off the wealth balance between characters. For example, if you could spend PA or gold to buy a tavern or inn, you are not suddenly going to be able to add more wealth to your total by way of a larger or alternate day job roll. Ownership of property should be a fluff-only item and not something that can increase your wealth.
Some very interesting possibilities posted here. I particularly like the following:
Retraining a feat, trait or skill points.
Gain an additional skill point, so long as it doesn't take you over the max for your level.
Gain the ability to consider a new skill a class skill.
Ownership of property or a minor title.
More impressive mounts and dogs, or access to more unusual trained creatures.
Contacts for regional bonuses on knowledge, diplomacy or intimidate checks.
My lawyer would like to set up her own legal practice along the lines of Ally Mcbeal, albeit without the neuroses, which i grant you means it's nothing like Ally, but there. She's already attached to the church of Abadar, but they'd approve her maximising her income I'm sure. It could provide a bonus on day job rolls, which become irrelevant cash wise by high levels anyway.
My barbarian priestess of Lamashtu wants a bleak mountain top to call her own so she can build a blasted temple, and my wizard would happily invest PA in a library if she hadn't blown it all on a Raise Dead.
I'd use all the above. At the moment I collect wands of unusual spells using PA to obtain them. Expeditious excavation may come in useful one day...
I'd also like to be able to donate PA to help another character get a raise dead if they don't have enough PA or gold. It's great that we can all kick in gold to do this, but sometimes you don't have the gold. If you could kick in PA towards the same goal, that would be nice.
The only way I could see this working is if you are from the same Faction. After all, PA is prestige within your Faction, not within the Pathfinder Society itself.
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Retraining a feat, trait or skill points.
Gain an additional skill point, so long as it doesn't take you over the max for your level.
Gain the ability to consider a new skill a class skill.
Ownership of property or a minor title.
More impressive mounts and dogs, or access to more unusual trained creatures.
Contacts for regional bonuses on knowledge, diplomacy or intimidate checks.
I personally love this idea.
One issue I see a bit at my table is people really wishing to retweak their characters. Nothing life changing, but when things aren't what you thought they were (Looking at the player with a cleric with knowledge dungeoneiring, not religeon), you sometimes wish you could redo them.
Count skills as class skills. Traits can usually do this, but not all skills are covered by a trait bonus. Burning PA for a trait equivilent (+1 to skill, skill is a class skill) would be nice.
Ownership of a property? Heck yeah! "The Red Hill" is a bar that has found its way into several of my groups non-PFS games, and I would love my Redhammer Dwarf (the clan that runs the bar) to own The Red Hill in Golarion.
There was debate on how druid/cavalier worked in another thread. This could easily rectify that issue. Player wants a stegosaurus mount? He can get it once he proves himself to his faction.
Would deffinately help with certain missions. My dwarf is NOT charismatic, and having "a guy for that" would be a boon.
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I still like the idea of combining retraining with prestige.
Something like:
*A small amount of PA to retrain a feat or a certain number of skill points.
*A moderate amount of PA to retrain a class feature (domains, rogue talents, favored enemy, etc).
*A large amount of PA to retrain an archetype or alternate class (paladin into divine servant or cavalier into samurai).
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Dibs on the Blackros twins ;-)
- Marriage into major familiesDibs on the Blac....AH CRAP!
::shakes fist at TwiLiKnight::
Damn you, Knight!!!
You may have gotten them first, but, as KyleBaird as my witness, I'll get you yet!!!! You've gone too far this time!
-Pain
Well, there are two of them. Doubt 1 PC could afford the dowry for 2.
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I think something I would like to see would be 5 points: Gain a faction title or rank which gives you some bonuses like +2 TPA when calculating maximum cost to buy, skill bonuses for diplomacy/intimidate, with the title gain additional faction quests where the rewards would be something like an extra item on a chronicle instead of PA or gold. It might work better to split a lot of that up though
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Well after Penumbra Accords, they owe me ;-)
Well, there are two of them. Doubt 1 PC could afford the dowry for 2.
I found them rather vapid, myself. Now, the girl who got squirmy about having shackles on her wrists...
A pity the uptight Andoran zealot couldn't wait to get the shackles off of her and her clothes back on. How that country has managed to not die out from lack of procreation is a mystery indeed.
-- Corben Senjak, of the House of Senjak, Lions of Taldor.
