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I am building my first PFS character and wonder, to play a Aasimar Oracle, later at 10 to be a mammoth rider what materials are needed. Do I really need to go purchase the Advanced race guide, Advanced players guide, paths of prestige, in addition to the core, bestiary, and PFS field guide? Can I just make photo copies of the rules areas or does being broke really limit you? Just not sure as first time and all.
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If it is not in the Core Rulebook, PFS Field Guide, or Guide to Organized Play, you need to own the source you are getting the info from.
You'll need the Advanced Player's Guide to play an Oracle.
You'll need one of the books that gives you the race info for the Aasimar (Advanced Race Guide or Blood of Angels).
And Paths of Prestige for Mammoth Rider (so you can wait on that one).
Cool thing is, you can purchase the PDFs for significantly less than buying the books.
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If you want to use something from a book for your PC, then you must buy that book. Remember that all the core hardback books are available as pdf files for $9.99, so it's not as expensive as buying the dead tree versions.
That said, if you're playing with a friend who owns those books, I can't imagine any GM kicking you out of the game for using your friend's copy of the book instead of buying your own. Technically, it's against the rules, but most people are flexible about such things, especially if you just show up with a book and don't mention who the owner is.
But you definitely have to have a copy of any rules you're using with you at the table, in case the GM needs to look up the details to see how something works.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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This past weekend, at the SCARAB convention, I had a table of seven players. Four of them were playing non-core races and had no legal source.
me: Whatcha got?
player An Aasimar ranger.
me Super cool. Looks great. Do you have documentation?
player Yeah, I got a HeroLab sheet.
me No, that doesn't count. You need either the Advanced Race Guide or Blood of Angels. Heck, I'll take a page from the Bestiary.
player (a little put out) He's fourth level. I've had [that venture officer over there] run my character. He didn't have a problem with it. I've never had to have this before.
me On behalf of your previous nine or ten judges, sorry. But you have always needed to bring legal sources for non-core stuff. It's not up for negotiation.
player But I paid for them. I bought all the packages for HeroLab.
me HeroLab doesn't count as a legal source.
player But ... HeroLab...
Every one of them. HeroLab, HeroLab, HeroLab. So, I had four players running 4th-level pre-gens.
According to one fellow, later in the con, every one of those players had been told about the need to bring legal documentation, but their previous GMs let it slide "just this once".
Hey, fellow GMs. In particular, all you Venture Officers. Quit letting people slide on this.
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Sorry, but I'm not the copyright police.
If I'm GMing and need to look up how your stuff works, you'd better have the rulebook with you so I can see the exact wording. But I'll only ask if I need to look something up, and frankly, I rarely do that during a game, because it just slows things down. Usually, I just take the player's word for it, as long as they're not acting like a total munchkin.
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It doesn't and a player should always have the required material on hand just in case a GM needs to see the Material for reference of a rule. This is especially important at Conventions when you don't know the GMs.
Home Local games may vary, but for my local players they know they are required to own the material and to bring it when not playing locally, but during our games I only need a book and page number since more then one of us will always have all the PDFs on hand, and we don't need all our players bringing all their books when there are plenty on hand.
Even for my Local games I don't accept herolabs as a legal source and all our players know that (Though I had to tell a visitor that once).
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Thanks for all the clarifications, the PDF option sounds great and amazon has some of the pf materials used for reasonable. Question is I don't have a tablet as it was stolen durring a home invasion, and my laptop is way more expensive than I want to bring to a con so can I just have the PDFs on flash drive or my phone possibly?
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Strictly by the rules of the 4.3 Guide to Organized Play: Yes. You alternatively can buy the PDFs and photocopy those relevant pages to show the GM. Keep those, and a copy of the Additional Resources page with the character at all times. Present all of it to the GM before play begins so that he can familiarize himself with the new material.
In Reality: maybe. Most GMs aren't going to review every character before each game. While I'm pretty sure most GMs have bigger game book collections than the average player, it is up to you to provide the documentation for your character should the need arise. Depending on how strict your local GMs are, and realize that any time you play with a different GM you could run into one who enforce the rule to the letter, and without 100% proper documentation of every non-core race, class, archetype, feat, trait, weapon, and spell you have, you might end up playing a pre-gen.
Personally: I have much more important things to do with limited game time than harass players about bringing stacks of books to my table just in case a rule conflict occurs. I am also much more interested in finding ways to get more people to play with us than finding reasons to exclude characters over paperwork issues. I will NEVER turn someone away from a game because they forgot or don't even have proper documentation. I will, however, mention that there are harda$$e$ out there who will, and suggest strongly that they get their documentation ready in case of travel.
The rule is not designed to penalize poorer players, or even to sell X copies of the books, but to ensure that GMs have incontrovertible documentation they need to make rulings concerning your specific build. The rule is designed to make sure the actual rules are available; not copied from a fan website, smartphone app, or character generation program, as those often have errors in the translation from printed page to digital format. Yes, it is also worded to protect Paizo from piracy, but in practicality it is there to defend YOU as a player as well. GMs can't argue with printed, verified, legal copies of the rules, as much as we'd like to sometimes (stoopid broken Maguses.)
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ok cool so pdfs then print em up, I can handle the 20 or so dollars it will take and if I get some of the more general books like the advanced race guide or ultimate equipment that will cover much more than just supplements and such for later characters. Thanks to all that commented it has been revealing.
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First, thank you, FoxMcCloud, for asking how to do things properly and doing it that way!
Full disclosure: I usually don't ask for documentation until the rule in question comes up in the game; if the proper documentation is not present, the character can't use that particular feat/item/whatever (and anything it's prerequisite for). This is how I read the following text from Additional Resources:
In order to use these additional resources for your character, ...
I find it's easier than checking everything up front, and I hate making people play pregens. Maybe some clarity on this text could standardize how it's handled?
For me, the issue is not about being copyright police. This is a rule of the campaign, like any other "special" PFS rules (no synthesist summoners, no evil alignments, no PvP, don't be a jerk). If a GM isn't enforcing it, that GM is ignoring part of the job. I've seen GMs ignore the other examples I've listed, and usually someone puts their hand up and complains.
The rationale, of course, is twofold: having the official rules at the table to aid the GM, as well as the fact that encouraging piracy works against Paizo's interests, but the rationale shouldn't matter. It is a campaign rule, and GMs should play by the rules.