From reading through all of the scenarios, most encounters end with something like this:
Rewards: If the PCs [success condition], give each PC [gold amount] gp.
Does this mean, the NPC gives the players money when they finish the task or does that mean the players get rewarded at the end of the task by the Pathfinder venture-captain when I add the gold to their Chronicle?
Or do they get the gold at the end of each encounter?
It matters because the players could use the gold after first encounter to buy something versus not having any extra gold until the end of the scenario.
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I don't know the official answer, but it really depends on where the GP reward is coming from.
Sometimes that GP reward is from items sold later that equals that reward, sometimes it is actual GP that the adversary is caring from the encounter.
If it is the later I would allow them to use it during the scenario, but make sure they mark it off on the Chronicle sheet at the end.
This has never come up in any game I have ever run.
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Does this mean, the NPC gives the players money when they finish the task or does that mean the players get rewarded at the end of the task by the Pathfinder venture-captain when I add the gold to their Chronicle?
The gold at the end of an encounter usually comes from the gold the PCs loot from the bodies of the enemy, or the gold they get when they sell loot. The gold never comes from a VC, Pathfinders aren't paid (which is a running joke with my group).
Or do they get the gold at the end of each encounter?
Technically the PCs get the gold at the end of each encounter, but for bookkeeping purposes the GM gives the PCs the gold at the end, in their chronicle.
If they need the gold to purchase something, it still has to marked on a chronicle and the gold they used is still part of the chronicle gold.
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I always assumed that the GP total was there mostly to help GM's in case a party did not complete the encounter as written. If say a party talks their way past what was intended to be a combat they GM can just reference the total GP for the encounter and subtract it from the Max gold on the chronicle sheet.
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If say a party talks their way past what was intended to be a combat they GM can just reference the total GP for the encounter and subtract it from the Max gold on the chronicle sheet.
If the party talks their way past combat, you still give them the gold. They find it in a chest, etc.
PFS rewards creative solutions to problems.
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But Evan's point is that it's possible to miss the gold in an encounter, which is true. If they beat the encounter as expected, but don't even look for the hidden loot, then they don't get it. The GM should only invent creative ways to make sure they get the loot if they beat the encounter in a creative way that would rule out finding it normally, as above.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Jason,
I agree with your principle, but not your example. Let's say there's a rough-neighborhood bar, and the party needs to extract a jolly reveler from the bar, and the author expects the party to get into a fight, and there's a sack of gold and silver receipts under a hidden trapdoor (Perception check 15) behind the bar.
If the party barges in, gets in the fight, searches afterwards, and finds the receipts, then the PCs get the GP, which is part of their reward on the Chronicle.
If they search but don't get the DC of 15, then they don't get the treasure.
If they fight, but don't even think to search the bar afterwards, they don't get the treasure.
If they use Diplomacy to get the guy out without starting a fight, and they don't then try to rob the bar, they don't get the treasure.
The "reward creative solutions" passage in the Guide encourages GMs to allow the players to use that Diplomacy skill and get the guy out without bloodshed, even if the scenario as written proceeds under the assumption that a fight erupts. It doesn't mean that there's a magical treasure chest waiting outside the door for them.
Rewards: If the PCs [success condition], give each PC [gold amount] gp.
My understanding is that "If the PCs [success condition], give each PC [gold amount] gp". It doesn't matter who the PCs achieve the [success condition], if they do it, then they get the gold.
My question is just when do they get it: a) end of encounter; or b) end of scenario?
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Rewards: If the PCs [success condition], give each PC [gold amount] gp.
My understanding is that "If the PCs [success condition], give each PC [gold amount] gp". It doesn't matter who the PCs achieve the [success condition], if they do it, then they get the gold.
My question is just when do they get it: a) end of encounter; or b) end of scenario?
They get to use the items they find until the end of the scenario when they turn them into the pathfinders. So the pathfinders wouldn't pay for the items before the PCs turn them in. They get it at the end of the scenario
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If they use Diplomacy to get the guy out without starting a fight, and they don't then try to rob the bar, they don't get the treasure.
I respectively disagree. They might still have to make a Perception check to get it (at a different encounter location), but the opportunity will be there.
Sometimes during the course of a scenario, your players might surprise you with a creative solution to an encounter (or the entire scenario) that you didn’t see coming and that isn’t expressly covered in the scenario.
If, for example, your players manage to roleplay their way through a combat and successfully accomplish the goal of that encounter without killing the antagonist, do not punish the PCs for their creativity. If that scene specifically calls for the PCs to receive gold piece rewards based on the gear collected from the combatants, instead allow the PCs to find a chest of gold (or something similar) that gives them the same rewards.
Additionally, if they roleplayed past a bad guy who carries a specific potion or scroll they might be able to later purchase off their chronicle sheet, don’t cross that item off the sheet—instead, allow them to find it elsewhere as a reward for creatively solving the encounter without resorting to combat.
Pathfinder Society Organized Play never wants to give the impression that the only way to solve a problem is to kill it—rewarding the creative use of skills and roleplay not only makes Society games that much more fun for the players, but it gives you, the GM, a level of flexibility in ensuring your players receive the rewards they are due.
If they roleplay and you don't even give them the chance to get the rewards, you're punishing their playstyle.
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If a group utterly fails an encounter, eg starts a brawl in what was supposed to have been a diplomatic social encounter, and gets hauled away by the town guards to spend the night in the lockup, then I do take the trouble to remove the GP and items for that encounter (if any) from the chronicle sheet. Otherwise, I simply award full GP and all items listed, because it's too much bookkeeping for the GM at the end of a scenario when all the players are in a hurry to leave the table.
Ie, I favour the reward creative solutions approach (as long as creative solutions don't include insulting allied NPCs and spending a night in the lockup).
There are also instances where I might start a table at a lower level (the level most appropriate for the table) and during the scenario, I might bump them up to the higher tier (in the event that they are blasting past efficiently and I can tell they are outperforming the lower tier. Then, I go back through and adjust the gold that they receive for the scenario.
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There are also instances where I might start a table at a lower level (the level most appropriate for the table) and during the scenario, I might bump them up to the higher tier (in the event that they are blasting past efficiently and I can tell they are outperforming the lower tier. Then, I go back through and adjust the gold that they receive for the scenario.
I'm sorry to say that such behavior is not permitted in PFS play. Once they pick a subtier, they play that subtier the whole module, and get the rewards for that subtier. Giving them full rewards for a subtier up when they didn't play that whole subtier opens up a whole lot of problems.
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There are also instances where I might start a table at a lower level (the level most appropriate for the table) and during the scenario, I might bump them up to the higher tier (in the event that they are blasting past efficiently and I can tell they are outperforming the lower tier. Then, I go back through and adjust the gold that they receive for the scenario.I'm sorry to say that such behavior is not permitted in PFS play. Once they pick a subtier, they play that subtier the whole module, and get the rewards for that subtier. Giving them full rewards for a subtier up when they didn't play that whole subtier opens up a whole lot of problems.
Not only that, they could not play up anyway if they don't qualify for it per PFS rules.
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Jason,
I agree with your principle, but not your example. Let's say there's a rough-neighborhood bar, and the party needs to extract a jolly reveler from the bar, and the author expects the party to get into a fight, and there's a sack of gold and silver receipts under a hidden trapdoor (Perception check 15) behind the bar.
If the party barges in, gets in the fight, searches afterwards, and finds the receipts, then the PCs get the GP, which is part of their reward on the Chronicle.
If they search but don't get the DC of 15, then they don't get the treasure.
If they fight, but don't even think to search the bar afterwards, they don't get the treasure.
If they use Diplomacy to get the guy out without starting a fight, and they don't then try to rob the bar, they don't get the treasure.
The "reward creative solutions" passage in the Guide encourages GMs to allow the players to use that Diplomacy skill and get the guy out without bloodshed, even if the scenario as written proceeds under the assumption that a fight erupts. It doesn't mean that there's a magical treasure chest waiting outside the door for them.
I think I know which scenario you are referring to, and our GM, when we hit that encounter, was appalled by the scenario requirements for the PCs obtaining a significant amount of the scenario's gp rewards.
Suppose the party is entirely made up of LG characters? There is no possible justification, IMO, for them to rob the bar, despite a minor bar fight, when they are there to rescue NPC X.
Indeed, robbing the bar, for almost any party of PFS legal alignments, would tent to run into alignment infringements. Especially since robbing the bar is neither good nor lawful. Nor is there any real in-0character or in-scenario justification for robbing the money from the bar, especially since, from what I recewll, the bar owner is actually supposed not get involved in the fight.
The whole requirements for the gold reward, robbing the neutral/innocent bar owner, left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, from GM to player, when we played that scenario.
Marty