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Gms may and do fudge the dice. That is, you roll a number and may choose to change that number up to and including a 20 or all the way down to a 1. That being said, that is the only fudging/cheating we are allowed. We can not change anything written in the scenario, such as changing the stats/save bonuses/feats/spells/etc.
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If you look in the Guide to PFS Play in chapter 7, "Dealing with Death" section, I bet you'll find your answer.
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GM's can (and do) fudge rolls sometimes. This doesn't mean we go easy on our players, or make the bad guys roll 4 crits in a row, it usually involves not killing new players, at least not on their first night.. :P.
With that said, I don't roll behind a GM screen and can't really fudge rolls. I let the dice fall as they may and whatever happens, happens.
If you look in the Guide to PFS Play in chapter 7, "Dealing with Death" section, I bet you'll find your answer.
While we do not advocate fudging die rolls, consider the experience of the player when deciding whether to use especially lethal tactics or if a character is in extreme danger of death, especially when such a player is new to the game.
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As a Pathfinder Society GM, you have the right and responsibility to make whatever judgements, within the rules, that you feel are necessary at your table to ensure everyone has a fair and fun experience. This does not mean you can contradict rules or restrictions outlined in this document, a published Pathfinder Roleplaying Game source, errata document, or official FAQ on paizo.com.
As you kindly pointed out. The Core allows GMs to fudge. The PFS Guide specifically calls out what things a GM can not change. Dice rolls is not one of them.
Thus, GMs can fudge their dice rolls.
However, they should only do it in rare cases. If you feel that a GM is fudging dice for the wrong reason, this is something to bring up to your Venture Officers.
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As a Pathfinder Society GM, you have the right and responsibility to make whatever judgements, within the rules, that you feel are necessary at your table to ensure everyone has a fair and fun experience. This does not mean you can contradict rules or restrictions outlined in this document, a published Pathfinder Roleplaying Game source, errata document, or official FAQ on paizo.com.As you kindly pointed out. The Core allows GMs to fudge. The PFS Guide specifically calls out what things a GM can not change. Dice rolls is not one of them.
Thus, GMs can fudge their dice rolls.
However, they should only do it in rare cases. If you feel that a GM is fudging dice for the wrong reason, this is something to bring up to your Venture Officers.
However ...
Do Not Cheat
Do not falsify rolls, do not falsify your chronicle results, and do not add mysterious new items to your inventory. Do not lie to a GM under any circumstances. Keep good records of your character and make sure to bring all of your Chronicle sheets to every event or session of Pathfinder Society Organized Play. If you forget your Chronicle sheets, you will be unable to play your character, though you may be able to play a pregenerated character or start another character within Society rules. GMs rely on accurately kept Chronicle sheets to keep the campaign honest, fair, and fun for everyone. So keep your records safe, keep them accurate, and keep them with you when attending Pathfinder Society Organized Play events. (We suggest a binder that can be completely sealed between scenarios.)
So if cheating is out, and fudging is in, how do you tell the difference?
Why, you expect table variation, of course.
Another thing to think about, is the player going to appreciate your fudging? What if he finds out?
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I say never cheat, never fudge. This is organized play. You play the module as is written. If they wanted the monsters to survive a save or suck spell it would be in the stat block. If they did not want a crit to kill a new player they would reduce the damage.
I am saddened some DMs still cheat. Even for the new player.
A dm or organizer should brace new people for the possibility of death. If you kill a new person of and they do not come back because it. Well someone did not explain the game to them.
Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
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I say never cheat, never fudge. This is organized play. You play the module as is written. If they wanted the monsters to survive a save or suck spell it would be in the stat block. If they did not want a crit to kill a new player they would reduce the damage.
I am saddened some DMs still cheat. Even for the new player.
A dm or organizer should brace new people for the possibility of death. If you kill a new person of and they do not come back because it. Well someone did not explain the game to them.
I don't care how much explaining you do, for someone who is truly invested in their character, a character death can be devastating. The kinds of players that we want to attract are often the types to whom character death is devastating.
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So emotionally attached people should get free chronicles? They should not fear death? SO you also speak for everyone and say we want people so emotionally attached that can not tolerate to lose their character.
If they are that attached and logic does not appeal to them they are not my prize players. I want people that can lose and have a fun time. Not spoiled sports.
If I play at a table with begginers and the DM cheats to spare them. I feel cheated because that GM gave me the game for free, I did not earn it. So you are also saying it is ok for a DM to wreck my fun for someone else? Seems fascist.
Different people enjoy different kinds of games. I like a good casual game where everyone sits down and has fun and its not a race to save the world but a general fun time. Character death isn't so fun for me, because I don't sit down to get emotional and deal with that kind of thing. I really hate things that are completely out of my control. Being crit and dying at level 1 would make me feel robbed, like I didn't have a say in the matter or control over what happened.
That said, I know many players who are perfectly fine with death and accept it as something. I know many people who play roguelikes and have a ton of fun dieing. Thats okay too, but its a very different playstyle to mine. Tipping the dice to kill me is something I wouldn't appreciate, but another player might find thrilling.
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Nosig: Quite Agree.
So if cheating is out, and fudging is in, how do you tell the difference?
Why, you expect table variation, of course.
1) I quoted rules for GMs. Notice how my paragraph is always referencing what the GM can do.
2) You quoted a rule for players. Notice how your paragraph is referencing what players should and should not do.That's the difference. GM's can fudge dice (though 99.999% of the time they shouldn't) while players can never fudge dice.
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Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
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It's not about winning and losing, Finlander, it's about the repercussions on the player's future. A scenario loss is not that big of a deal for me, if my character survives. You see, I play primarily for storytelling and roleplay. I could generally care less about combat. I, of course, know the rules and am reasonably skilled tactically - but I *hate* dungeon crawls and abhor scenarios that just don't have any interesting roleplay moments. Having a character die in the part of the game that I hate the most is highly depressing - I got little enjoyment out of it, but I lost something that is almost a part of me - a favorite role to act out, and the quirky personality, voice, speech pattern, history, etc. that is attached to it.
If you want to play PFS as a board game, fine, but some of us do enjoy getting into our characters and acting them out.
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It's not about winning and losing, Finlander, it's about the repercussions on the player's future. A scenario loss is not that big of a deal for me, if my character survives. You see, I play primarily for storytelling and roleplay. I could generally care less about combat. I, of course, know the rules and am reasonably skilled tactically - but I *hate* dungeon crawls and abhor scenarios that just don't have any interesting roleplay moments. Having a character die in the part of the game that I hate the most is highly depressing - I got little enjoyment out of it, but I lost something that is almost a part of me - a favorite role to act out, and the quirky personality, voice, speech pattern, history, etc. that is attached to it.
If you want to play PFS as a board game, fine, but some of us do enjoy getting into our characters and acting them out.
Please do not make assumptions of me. It is rude, and makes you look foolish. You using the either or fallacy makes you look foolish as well. Because I enjoy role play and combat. So you debasing me because I enjoy more parts of the game then you is ridiculous.
I am going to say something equally ignorant. If you just wanna role play then play a game that is only that.
