Some not so random PFS beginner questions


Pathfinder Society

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Scarab Sages 1/5

So since i don´t know where to ask else i ask here, just recently started PFS, but know PF quite good.

1. Is owning Herolab and Add-ons enough to legalize stuff and additional resources for play in PFS?

2. With the character i´m posting, a serpentine gnome sorcerer, is it better for society play to invest in often used skills with feats or even take additional traits as a feat to get more class skills or get something like spell focus or other potentially offensive stuff?

3. There was a guide somewhere for the first levels of soceity play, but i can´t find it anymore. Someone can please point me to it?

4. Is a wand of infernal healing and infernal healing as spell usable as weapon vs undead?

5/5 *

I'll get the few I know of:

1. HeroLab is not a legal resource for PFS. Although it is still a great tool to help you. Printed books and Paizo watermarked PDFs are the two recognized legal sources. (with the exceptions presented in the Additional Resources document)

2. The general consensus (and some will differ) is that it pays off in the end to have a more well-rounded character than a super-specialized one-trick pony in PFS. You never know who is sitting with you at the table, so be ready for anything! I'd say spending a feat for Additional Traits is going a bit too far though, you should be fine with the Druid's class skill list and maybe an extra one from a trait.

4. infernal healing grants fast healing 1. Fast healing is actually treated as natural healing, not positive energy, so it does not harm undead.

Grand Lodge 4/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

3. I think one of these may be what you're looking for:

Painlords What to Expect at a PFS Table
Painlords What We Teach New PFS Players
What should I bring / know for my first Pathfinder society game?

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Welcome! As a fellow Gnomish sorcerer, I would encourage you to consider taking a trait to make Diplomacy a class skill. It can be a tough one to come by at times, and it's your casting stat anyway....just something to consider. You also get a racial trait bonus to it as well.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane

In addition to the information already mentioned here, I would like to add a suggested feat to cover knowledge skills. It is called Breadth of Experience and gives a +2 to all Knowledge and Profession skill checks. This also allows those checks to be made untrained. Since you are using a gnome character already, the only other requirement is that the character is 100+ years old. Just passing on some food for thought.

5/5 5/55/55/5

2. With the character i´m posting, a serpentine gnome sorcerer, is it better for society play to invest in often used skills with feats or even take additional traits as a feat to get more class skills or get something like spell focus or other potentially offensive stuff?

For a sorcerer, i would take 1 trait that gets you diplomacy as a class skill and keep max ranks in it.

Put a rank into bluff.

Max out disable device.

And then try some other skill. If its not on your list get it from a trait.

A sorcerer is not a skill monkey: no one expects them to be. Many of the skills can be replicated with bag full of scrolls (especially if your UMD is high enough to let you cast both arcane and divine spells)

4. Is a wand of infernal healing and infernal healing as spell usable as weapon vs undead?

Nope. near as i can see the wand will actually heal undead.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Yeah it´s also my first casting character actually.

Thanks for the hints so far!

BigNorseWolf, why disable device with a sorcerer?

I took the traits Etymologist and Excitable to have a better Initiative (obvious when planning to dominate enemies) and give me linguistics as a class skill with more languages, in addition to the gift of tongues gnome racial trait, to be able to understand and talk to "my subjects".

Also for some reason Herolab is showing me Diplomacy as a class skill, where i got +8 now. Perhaps because of the gift of tongues racial trait?

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

It shouldn't already be a class skill - Gift of Tongues doesn't give you that.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 *** Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant

Serpentine makes it a class skill.

Liberty's Edge 2/5

Preston Hudson wrote:
In addition to the information already mentioned here, I would like to add a suggested feat to cover knowledge skills. It is called Breadth of Experience and gives a +2 to all Knowledge and Profession skill checks. This also allows those checks to be made untrained. Since you are using a gnome character already, the only other requirement is that the character is 100+ years old. Just passing on some food for thought.

Thank you for pointing that out. I'd missed that and it's just what my character needed.

Scarab Sages 1/5

You know that 100 years counts as middle age and is a -1 to all physical atrributes?

Grand Lodge 2/5

^ Not in Society play ^

Scarab Sages 1/5

Oh. That makes it really interesting.
Perhaps i should read that Society Guide again, but i got the feeling that there is a crapload full of information pieced in small bits in so many different places all over the website too, that it´s pretty difficult to oversee it all.

Since i´m planning on opening the first PFS gaming group in Southern Germany over the course of this year and becoming its GM, seems like a lot of work.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Pai Song wrote:

Yeah it´s also my first casting character actually.

Thanks for the hints so far!

BigNorseWolf, why disable device with a sorcerer?

DOH! bad wolf, no doughnut. I meant USE magic device. (because you have charisma to spare, and pfs has VERY readily available magic items, and you never know when you and your wand of CLW ARE the party healer)

Quote:
I took the traits Etymologist and Excitable to have a better Initiative (obvious when planning to dominate enemies) and give me linguistics as a class skill with more languages, in addition to the gift of tongues gnome racial trait, to be able to understand and talk to "my subjects".

That works. Linguistics comes up reasonably often, and being able to diplomance yourself in multiple languages is pretty handy.

Quote:


Also for some reason Herolab is showing me Diplomacy as a class skill, where i got +8 now. Perhaps because of the gift of tongues racial trait?

Gift of Tongues: Gnomes love languages and learning

about those they meet. Gnomes with this racial trait gain
a +1 bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks, and they learn
one additional language every time they put a rank in
the Linguistics skill. This racial trait replaces defensive
training and hatred.

-Doesn't give diplomacy as a class skill.

+5 charisma +1 gift of tongues +1 rank hmmm.. doesn't add up. Whats your other trait?

2/5

BigNorseWolf wrote:

-Doesn't give diplomacy as a class skill.

+5 charisma +1 gift of tongues +1 rank hmmm.. doesn't add up. Whats your other trait?

Serpentine Bloodline

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Pai Song wrote:

Oh. That makes it really interesting.

Perhaps i should read that Society Guide again, but i got the feeling that there is a crapload full of information pieced in small bits in so many different places all over the website too, that it´s pretty difficult to oversee it all.

Since i´m planning on opening the first PFS gaming group in Southern Germany over the course of this year and becoming its GM, seems like a lot of work.

Don't worry too much about forgetting a few things in your first few games - it's completely understandable, and PFS doesn't really demand rule perfection.

2/5

Netopalis wrote:
Pai Song wrote:

Oh. That makes it really interesting.

Perhaps i should read that Society Guide again, but i got the feeling that there is a crapload full of information pieced in small bits in so many different places all over the website too, that it´s pretty difficult to oversee it all.

Since i´m planning on opening the first PFS gaming group in Southern Germany over the course of this year and becoming its GM, seems like a lot of work.

Don't worry too much about forgetting a few things in your first few games - it's completely understandable, and PFS doesn't really demand rule perfection.

I'll echo this. I've only played in a few scenarios and while I know the rules pretty well for a newbie, all the Judges have been really informative about helping me with the rules I wasn't so familiar with. Really, unless you're the Judge, cursory knowledge of the rules will get you through your first couple sessions. The nit picky details are what the Judge is there to adjudicate.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Sounds good. Hope i can have a nice learning curve^^

Diplomacy is a class skill because of the serpentine blood line i picked, like Drogos said.

Also i picked toughness as first feat and have 11 hp.
UMD i planned for level 2, cuz activating a wand is 20 and with a +7 that still needs a rolled 13 which i consider unreliable.
Therefore i got a wand of infernal healing with my first 2 PP.

Lantern Lodge 4/5

Pai Song wrote:
You know that 100 years counts as middle age and is a -1 to all physical atrributes?

Just remember that you don't get any of the bonus or penalties to attributes for being middle aged.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Another question:

How can i play a goblin or sylph or even grippli in PFS?
I read something about chronicle sheets, but how do i get there?
Especially since im not american and can´t just fly there for some con´s.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Pai Song wrote:

Another question:

How can i play a goblin or sylph or even grippli in PFS?]

I read something about chronicle sheets, but how do i get there?
Especially since im not american and can´t just fly there for some con´s.

There are some international PFS cons, they sometimes have lower requirements to get the cool race boons.

2/5 ****

Remember that in PFS, age is just a number. It never alters your physical or mental attributes.

Which is why I've got a cranky old one-eyed barbarian beating monsters with his walking stick and talking about what it was like in the Good Old Days...

2/5 ****

Here are the skills that seem to come up often - and can screw the party if nobody has them:

1) Diplomacy - remember, it's also Gather Information!
2) Perception
3) Disable Device
4) Sleight of Hand
5) Bluff
6) Stealth
7) Knowledge (history)
8) Knowledge (nature)
9) Knowledge (planes)
10) Knowledge (local)

5/5

11) Knowledge (arcana)
12) Knowledge (engineering)
13) Knowledge (dungeoneering)
14) Survival
15) Sense Motive

Scarab Sages 1/5

BigNorseWolf wrote:
Pai Song wrote:

Another question:

How can i play a goblin or sylph or even grippli in PFS?]

I read something about chronicle sheets, but how do i get there?
Especially since im not american and can´t just fly there for some con´s.

There are some international PFS cons, they sometimes have lower requirements to get the cool race boons.

So playing in a Con or gming there is the only way?

That´s kind of tough, cuz as far as i know, there are only 2 PFS groups in Germany so far, which are also not near me.
That´s why i hope to open one here in the south.

2/5

Pai Song wrote:

So playing in a Con or gming there is the only way?

That´s kind of tough, cuz as far as i know, there are only 2 PFS groups in Germany so far, which are also not near me.
That´s why i hope to open one here in the south.

Currently, yes. Such used to be the case for Aasimar and Tiefling too, from my understanding, but were later made open availability. In order to keep the campaign setting coherent, certain class archetypes and race choices are either limited or outright disallowed.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Is this right that no items can be selfcrafted?

Like if i were to play a ninja, i could not craft my own poison?
Only buy those at full price from the limited PFS poison list?

3/5

Pai Song wrote:

Is this right that no items can be selfcrafted?

Like if i were to play a ninja, i could not craft my own poison?
Only buy those at full price from the limited PFS poison list?

yes, crafting is usually (almost always) not allowed in pfs. poisons can be crafted but only in specific instances, outlined here

magic items can never be crafted, with the exception of the arcane bond class feature of wizards to upgrade their bonded item.

Scarab Sages 1/5

"rogues with the poisoner archetype and the Master Poisoner ability can use Craft (alchemy) to produce poisons"

So a ninja could never produce her own poison, even with the Master Poisoner ability that should be accesible via ninja trick rogue talent?

Edit: Nevermind, looked it up and found the mistake.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Pai, it seems that you need to read through the PFS Guide carefully. It is worth the effort as it contains most all the PFS campaign rules. The rest are in the PFS FAQ and Additional Resources pages on this website.

Be sure to get the latest copy. Check Monday's blog.

Grand Lodge 4/5 Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

Pai Song wrote:


So playing in a Con or gming there is the only way?
That´s kind of tough, cuz as far as i know, there are only 2 PFS groups in Germany so far, which are also not near me.
That´s why i hope to open one here in the south.

What part of Germany? I'm going to be there for 11 days in May and would love to drop in for a game or two.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Wow nice.

I´m in south-west Germany, in Freiburg.

We don´t have a FPS group here yet, but i just found out there seems to be one in Karlsruhe, about one hour from here.
Since i was mainly active on the Paizo boards so far, i just discovered there is a german board too and some kind of organization. Have to get in contact with them sometime soon.

I have two different gaming-groups here though for Pathfinder.
Since im quite busy writing my thesis, one is inactive at the moment.
The other one is playing pathfinder in a forgotten realms setting.

It´s my plan for 2013 though to establish PFS here though.
We´ll see what comes out of it.

When you are coming, please drop me a line!

I could also imagine translating some modules from March on.

Grand Lodge 4/5 Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

I will be in Germany from May 6-17.

Scarab Sages 1/5

If i were to start an online PFS Game, as a GM or player, how do i check aditional resources or show them?

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Pai Song wrote:
If i were to start an online PFS Game, as a GM or player, how do i check aditional resources or show them?

Well, you should only really be checking if you have an issue with something that a player is doing at your table - if you think that they are either using a rule that isn't PFS legal, or they are misunderstanding how something works. For those circumstances, ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF, I guess?

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/5

Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF

People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Paz wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF
People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.

That´s what i think too.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Paz wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF
People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.

In that case, there's no way to verify ownership, then.

5/5

Netopalis wrote:
Paz wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF
People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.
In that case, there's no way to verify ownership, then.

If they have the pdf and print pages from it, they can show ownership... they do not need to email the pdf to the GM... in fact it's against the terms of use to share pdfs so they really can't send the GM the file.

Scarab Sages 1/5

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So in online PbP games and the like, the rule of bringing proof of the used sources is changed into trusting players have them?
Seems legit to me. It´s quite difficult somehow, isnt it?
Trust makes for a more friendly environment anyway.

5/5

Pai Song wrote:

So in online PbP games and the like, the rule of bringing proof of the used sources is changed into trusting players have them?

Seems legit to me. It´s quite difficult somehow, isnt it?
Trust makes for a more friendly environment anyway.

I don't play the online versions, so going by the general rule -- that the burden of proof is on the player -- they would at least have to be able to provide something to the GM if there was a question -- book and page number more than likely

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Purple Fluffy CatBunnyGnome wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
Paz wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF
People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.
In that case, there's no way to verify ownership, then.
If they have the pdf and print pages from it, they can show ownership... they do not need to email the pdf to the GM... in fact it's against the terms of use to share pdfs so they really can't send the GM the file.

This question was asked specifically in regards to online PFS play, not in-person play. That makes this solution rather nonsensical...

1/5

Pai Song wrote:
So in online PbP games and the like, the rule of bringing proof of the used sources is changed into trusting players have them?

Pretty much...though, now that many people have cameras on their smartphones, or webcams on their laptops, it'd be pretty easy for them to send a picture to the DM of themselves holding up the book in question. :-)

5/5

Netopalis wrote:
Purple Fluffy CatBunnyGnome wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
Paz wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF
People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.
In that case, there's no way to verify ownership, then.
If they have the pdf and print pages from it, they can show ownership... they do not need to email the pdf to the GM... in fact it's against the terms of use to share pdfs so they really can't send the GM the file.
This question was asked specifically in regards to online PFS play, not in-person play. That makes this solution rather nonsensical...

Obviously there are going to be differing opinions, however, Please explain to me how your idea (which is illegal per the terms of use rules) is a better option?

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston

Purple Fluffy CatBunnyGnome wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
Purple Fluffy CatBunnyGnome wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
Paz wrote:
Netopalis wrote:
ask them to e-mail you the watermarked PDF
People shouldn't be e-mailing their watermarked PDFs around. I certainly wouldn't.
In that case, there's no way to verify ownership, then.
If they have the pdf and print pages from it, they can show ownership... they do not need to email the pdf to the GM... in fact it's against the terms of use to share pdfs so they really can't send the GM the file.
This question was asked specifically in regards to online PFS play, not in-person play. That makes this solution rather nonsensical...
Obviously there are going to be differing opinions, however, Please explain to me how your idea (which is illegal per the terms of use rules) is a better option?

Well, I generally don't verify during my online games, to be honest. I'm just saying that, to my knowledge, that would be the only way to do it.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Netopalis wrote:
I'm just saying that, to my knowledge, that would be the only way to do it.

PDF: player takes screenshot of relevant page (or part of page), saves as JPEG and e-mails to GM. Or just copies and pastes the text straight into an e-mail and sends to the GM.

Print: player takes photo of relevant page, or scans it, then e-mails the scan/photo as a JPEG to the GM.

Either of these options are preferable to sending the whole book as a PDF, as the amount being sent would qualify as fair use (I think - IANAL).

If the GM needs the info because he doesn't have the books with the relevant rules - that's a good reason to share the data.

If the GM has the rules source to hand but believes that the player doesn't have the correct rules (constant rules errors, etc.) and asks the player to verify his rules source - that's an acceptable reason to share the text.

If the GM already owns all of the rule books, but asks every player he encounters to send him all the additional resources they might use as a matter of course - that's a bad reason.

Scarab Sages 1/5

Wow this multicitations are confusing my eyes hahaha.

When i read and interpreted that right, in PFS a player should own the resources in book or pdf form. But since printed pages with the information are also allowed, the source could very well be the Paizo PRD or perhaps even D20pfsrg.com? Or is everyone really restricted on what she owns?

Else i would totally agree with Paz.

1/5

Pai Song wrote:
But since printed pages with the information are also allowed, the source could very well be the Paizo PRD or perhaps even D20pfsrg.com?

No, the various PRDs don't qualify. You need to actually own the rulebook in question (either a hard-copy version, or a watermarked PDF).

5/5

Mike Mistele wrote:
Pai Song wrote:
But since printed pages with the information are also allowed, the source could very well be the Paizo PRD or perhaps even D20pfsrg.com?
No, the various PRDs don't qualify. You need to actually own the rulebook in question (either a hard-copy version, or a watermarked PDF).

the PRD was put in as a reference for GMs at the table

Scarab Sages 1/5

I see. Thanks for the clarifications.

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