I've been playing my druid as rather fresh off the boat from Hermea and unaccustomed to the life of an adventurer or the big city life in Absalom. A few years of training in Absalom would kind of cut into the believability for that. Do pathfinders HAVE to have a long period training in Absalom in their background, or are there exceptional circumstances where someone can get trained in the field by a more experienced pathfinder, or show up at absolom and get sent out for duties rather quickly because of Klingon promotions or someone saying "Hey, how much trouble can you possibly get into delivering medicine to an orphanage..."
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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IIRC, some pathfinders get to 'waive' the initiation period by being sponsored. I could see (using first steps) "Hmm, you come highly recommended, so lets use this to see if it is justified..."*
Edit: Thank you to Mr. Brock for saving me the effort of finding the reference.
*
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I've been playing my druid as rather fresh off the boat from Hermea and unaccustomed to the life of an adventurer or the big city life in Absalom. A few years of training in Absalom would kind of cut into the believability for that. Do pathfinders HAVE to have a long period training in Absalom in their background, or are there exceptional circumstances where someone can get trained in the field by a more experienced pathfinder, or show up at absolom and get sent out for duties rather quickly because of Klingon promotions or someone saying "Hey, how much trouble can you possibly get into delivering medicine to an orphanage..."
Hard to say exactly, but there's definitely some level of formalized training. If you check out the Pathfinder Society Field Guide (not to be confused with the Guide to Organized Play), you'll find references to some of the instructors (such as the Master of Blades), quotes from them as they address groups of recruits, and so forth.
Additionally, the opening mission briefing with Ambrus Valsin in First Steps Part I makes it clear that the PCs are recruits who have just finished their training and are being sent on their first real mission as sort of a final test before Valsin greenlights their Pathfinder status.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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My dad is Mr. Brock. He lives in Georgia and doesn't play Pathfinder. Please call me Mike.
Edit: Thank you to Mr. Brock for saving me the effort of finding the reference.
*** spoiler omitted **
Sarcasm aside, if I know a person's name, and I don't know them I try to call them Mr or Mrs until I get permission to use a first name, Mike. :-)
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Getting back on topic for a moment, the general idea is that Pathfinders either:
a) Had formal training, or
b) Were already so good at adventuring that they got recruited from the field.
You could still roleplay a character as being generally unaccustomed to adventuring - after all, sometimes your life changes drastically from how you grew up and you never fully adjust.
A more extreme character, however... Well, let's just say that if a player tries to get me killed and says he's "just roleplaying [his] character", I'm going to point to the training. I don't care if you DO have a 7 INT/WIS, there are certain things that would've been beaten into your head before they let you out the door.
But that doesn't sound like what you're going for.
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Does a Pathfinder's training have to take place in Absalom? What if the druid got his training at a small town Pathfinder lodge in the middle of nowhere, then got sent to Absalom to be headquartered there as a field agent only after his training was complete? That would play into the whole "naive about big city living" theme, while not avoiding the adventurer training necessary for all Pathfinders.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Does a Pathfinder's training have to take place in Absalom? What if the druid got his training at a small town Pathfinder lodge in the middle of nowhere, then got sent to Absalom to be headquartered there as a field agent only after his training was complete? That would play into the whole "naive about big city living" theme, while not avoiding the adventurer training necessary for all Pathfinders.
That sounds neat. You could even play up some tension between yourself and Ambrus Valsin, who maybe doesn't like pseudo-trained hicks getting added to his roster.
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I've been playing my druid as rather fresh off the boat from Hermea and unaccustomed to the life of an adventurer or the big city life in Absalom. A few years of training in Absalom would kind of cut into the believability for that. Do pathfinders HAVE to have a long period training in Absalom in their background, or are there exceptional circumstances where someone can get trained in the field by a more experienced pathfinder, or show up at absolom and get sent out for duties rather quickly because of Klingon promotions or someone saying "Hey, how much trouble can you possibly get into delivering medicine to an orphanage..."
I insist that all Pathfinders be toilet-trained.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Great, now look at all the inn floors which are going to be dug up now.I insist that all Pathfinders be toilet-trained.Or at least hole-in-the-ground-trained.
Actually, I'm more worried about when the durations expire on all those create pit spells...
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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According to Seekers of Secrets, just about all of a pathfinder's three years of training does take place in Absalom.
Upon taking the oath and being officially raised to initiate status, a Pathfinder’s training—and, many say, his true testing—begins immediately. Initiates are stripped of all but their most basic possessions, with the items placed in secure storage, and issued nondescript outfits of homespun gray cloth. They are then brought to the Quadrangle, the massive cluster of buildings in the northeast corner of the Grand Lodge, and assigned their new quarters, often packed three or more to a room. For the next several years, these austere cells, featuring only bunks, desks, and a lockable trunk for each of them, are their only homes. Food and drink are provided by the Society and, since the initiates lack the opportunity to leave the compound unless ordered, are of significantly higher quality than that which is normally offered for free within the lodge.
I'm sure there are exceptions. (Promising students who manage to tick off one of the deans may end up outside Absalom, for everybody's peace of mind.)
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I'm at work, so don't have it in front of me, but didn't Master of the Fallen Fortress outline one alternative method of becoming a Pathfinder?
Yes.
If the PCs rescued Balenar Forsend, he offers to take them to the Pathfinder Society’s Grand Lodge in Absalom, where he will sponsor them for membership in the Pathfinder Society, an organization of explorers, archaeologists, and adventurers. After a short evaluation that determines the PCs don’t need additional training, the leaders of the Society accept the them as initiates.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I'm at work, so don't have it in front of me, but didn't Master of the Fallen Fortress outline one alternative method of becoming a Pathfinder?Yes.
If the PCs rescued Balenar Forsend, he offers to take them to the Pathfinder Society’s Grand Lodge in Absalom, where he will sponsor them for membership in the Pathfinder Society, an organization of explorers, archaeologists, and adventurers. After a short evaluation that determines the PCs don’t need additional training, the leaders of the Society accept the them as initiates.
So even then, we're still looking at people who are already competent adventurers.
I'm at work, so don't have it in front of me, but didn't Master of the Fallen Fortress outline one alternative method of becoming a Pathfinder?
I think that was basically the field commission. You prove yourself worthy to someone important in the Society and they sponsor you in as a full member right away, letting you avoid all those years of initial training.
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I'm of the opinion that you can make your own back story for how you became a Pathfinder. I think it spells it out in SoS and the Field Guide that in general, you go through training with the three Masters and then become a full member. MotFF shows an alternate method and I think that gives some freedom with having your own MotFF-like background.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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(hope I'm not overquoting)
A lesser, more common brand of field commission applies when an unaffiliated adventurer makes some discovery on par with those of a Pathfinder and decides to report his findings to the Society. In this case, the Pathfinders will sometimes offer to accept him as an initiate and apply his findings toward his confirmation, though they may still require him to receive additional training, spend time scrubbing statues in the Grand Lodge, or perform additional tasks in order to bring him in line with the Society’s goals and methods. For this reason,
aspiring Pathfinders sometimes tag along behind Society members or conduct their own research rather than traveling immediately to the Grand Lodge for testing, fearing rejection before they can prove themselves.
So I could easily see Teth Adam, Pathfinder extrodinare telling 8 year old Billy Batson that he helped him 'find a clue to the Rock of Eternity' and that when he grows up, he'll sponsor him as a Pathfinder. Flash forward 10 years and Billy makes it to Absalom to make good on that. The Decembervate reads Teth Adam's notes, overestimate Billy's contribution and decide that in 10 years he *must* have proved himself. Shazam! Billy becomes a full pathfinder, no statue polishing required.
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(hope I'm not overquoting)
So I could easily see Teth Adam, Pathfinder extrodinare telling 8 year old Billy Batson that he helped him 'find a clue to the Rock of Eternity' and that when he grows up, he'll sponsor him as a Pathfinder. Flash forward 10 years and Billy makes it to Absalom to make good on that. The Decembervate reads Teth Adam's notes, overestimate Billy's contribution and decide that in 10 years he *must* have proved himself. Shazam! Billy becomes a full pathfinder, no statue polishing required.A lesser, more common brand of field commission applies when an unaffiliated adventurer makes some discovery on par with those of a Pathfinder and decides to report his findings to the Society. In this case, the Pathfinders will sometimes offer to accept him as an initiate and apply his findings toward his confirmation, though they may still require him to receive additional training, spend time scrubbing statues in the Grand Lodge, or perform additional tasks in order to bring him in line with the Society’s goals and methods. For this reason,
aspiring Pathfinders sometimes tag along behind Society members or conduct their own research rather than traveling immediately to the Grand Lodge for testing, fearing rejection before they can prove themselves.
Heh. Love the example.
Actually, this kinda reminds me of the back story of one of my characters. He didn't help a Pathfinder, but he was freed from slavery by a Pathfinder from Andoran at 9 years old. Since he was too young to go into official Pathfinder training, he lived in the home of the Pathfinder who saved him, who wasn't home half the time, because he was away on Society missions. He grew up doing odd jobs at the Grand Lodge in Absalom, learning whatever he could from every Pathfinder who passed through. This type of "jack of all trades" training led to proficiency in the more common weapons and light armor, along with some magical ability, a wide variety of non-combat skills, and "bardic" knowledge in just about every subject.
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Heh. Love the example.
Actually, this kinda reminds me of the back story of one of my characters. He didn't help a Pathfinder, but he was freed from slavery by a Pathfinder from Andoran at 9 years old. Since he was too young to go into official Pathfinder training, he lived in the home of the Pathfinder who saved him, who wasn't home half the time, because he was away on Society missions. He grew up doing odd jobs at the Grand Lodge in Absalom, learning whatever he could from every Pathfinder who passed through. This type of "jack of all trades" training led to proficiency in the more common weapons and light armor, along with some...
Ooh, ooh, lemme guess! You're... an inquisitor!