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Maybe i´m just translating things wrong, because english isn´t my native language, but does that really mean, that i can´t use classes from... for example... ultimate combat, until i´ve bought it?
Correct, you need to have access to The Paizo Developed Legal Source of the content you are using. Which is only as listed in the Guide and Additional Resources.
d20pfsrd is not a legal source, neither is the PRD for a player.
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Maybe i´m just translating things wrong, because english isn´t my native language, but does that really mean, that i can´t use classes from... for example... ultimate combat, until i´ve bought it? I mean, it´s not like it would be legally avaiable for free at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
Two things on this:
1. You are correct. In order to use a class, item, feat, or other feature from a book outside the Core Rulebook, you need to own (PDF or physical) a copy of that book or resource.
2. The http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ is NOT a legal source, as it is a 3rd party site and not administered by Paizo. Paizo has the PRD (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/) but you still need to own the books.
Ninja'd like a boss :(
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That is exactly what it means. Although GMs may be lenient and allow you to play options once or twice if a copy of the book or watermarked pdf is at the table. However, I know of no GM who allowed this to continue to happen. It is best to own a personal copy of books that you use material from. Online content, such as d20pfsrd, Archives of Nethys, and the Paizo PRD, are not an official source.
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So Paizo itself is giving away that cool classes for free at the prd, but i can´t use it to play with those classes at their organized game? Oo
edit:
obviously you guys mean something else then me with legal.
I meant legal like... its illegal to go to piratebay to download that pdfs.
Correct.
Not Everything in Additional Resource is Open Source so it will not be in the PRD, and though most of what is in the Pathfinder Rule books is Open Source, not all of it is. For example the Gods are not Open Source.
The idea behind the rule is there so the GM can ask the player for the source if they need to understand what the player is using.
We mean legal as in Printed/Developed by Paizo and bought legally.
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obviously you guys mean something else then me with legal.
I meant legal like... its illegal to go to piratebay to download that pdfs.
When you buy a PDF from Paizo, they watermark it with your name. So, using a pirated PDF of a book would be both illegal in a copyright law sense, as well as illegal under the campaign rules.
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Dragon,
Remember that the PRD is out there not just for people playing PFS, but people with homegames, etc...
Organized play is at the end of the day a marketing tool. It gets people who could otherwise not play Pathfinder a chance to come and play, and maybe eventually to buy some books. And guess what? You can make an effective and sound character using only the classes in the Core Rulebook. You want to play a ninja? I bet you can come up with something pretty close using the basic Rogue class.
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Look at it this way:
Pathfinder Society play exists, in large part, as a way to encourage players to buy Paizo's products. Paizo spends quite a lot of money to support PFS play, and it's not entirely out of the goodness of their hearts, after all.
If you want to play using a class (or whatever), they want you to buy the book that contains it.
If that's abhorrent to you, well, remember, it's *their* sandbox.
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The PDFs of the hardcover books are just $10. For a while, I purchased one or two a month even though I already had physical copies of the books. I keep them on my iPhone so I can produce them whenever a GM wants to make sure I have Ultimate Magic for the mad monkeys summon I just dropped on the BBEG.
Gods, I love that spell.
Remember that Paizo expends a good amount of resources supporting PFS.
I don't think it's too much for them to expect support in return.
-j
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i guess it´s needless to say, what i think about this rule.
But the one way or the other, thanks for your time to clarify this to me.
Responses like this really annoy me. You want to play Pathfinder? You want to enjoy an organized play environment? You want to jump into a scenario that someone spent time on and got paid to come up with?
Then the least you can do is support the people that brought this all to you.
Get a job, ask your parents for money, whatever. It's really not asking a lot. If everyone thought the same as you we wouldn't have Pathfinder Society to begin with.
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The rule is there but few GMs enforce it. I think that is the way it should be. I do not like the idea of holding new people to getting the books. But if you use an ability you should have the resources to prove it is an ability that is PFS you should be able to prove it is a legal rule.
That is not fair to a DM or table for you to bring in references people can not prove is legal. The other 3rd party sites are 3rd party sites. They are not run and maintained by paizo. If someone on another site decided to cheta and add extra things Paizo could not stop them.
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This is also why (or one of the reasons) the people at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ show references for everything at the bottom. That feat or prestige class you found there and liked? Look at the bottom of its entry, and it will show you what Paizo resource it came from - no need to go slowly searching through a hundred publications trying to find it. Then you can go get that book and have it at the table for your character (or photocopy, or page printed from the pdf).
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This is also why (or one of the reasons) the people at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ show references for everything at the bottom. That feat or prestige class you found there and liked? Look at the bottom of its entry, and it will show you what Paizo resource it came from - no need to go slowly searching through a hundred publications trying to find it. Then you can go get that book and have it at the table for your character (or photocopy, or page printed from the pdf).
Photocopy is not legal for PFS unless you also have the actual book with you.
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This is also why (or one of the reasons) the people at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ show references for everything at the bottom. That feat or prestige class you found there and liked? Look at the bottom of its entry, and it will show you what Paizo resource it came from - no need to go slowly searching through a hundred publications trying to find it. Then you can go get that book and have it at the table for your character (or photocopy, or page printed from the pdf).Photocopy is not legal for PFS unless you also have the actual book with you.
stick --> dead horse
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Besides the fact that i don´t want to have the entire book, but only 2-3 pages, which would be pretty expensive, even if i go for the 10$ version.
Then you get to use stuff from the Core Rulebook. Simple as that. You've made a choice and you get to abide by it.
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stick --> dead horseThis is also why (or one of the reasons) the people at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ show references for everything at the bottom. That feat or prestige class you found there and liked? Look at the bottom of its entry, and it will show you what Paizo resource it came from - no need to go slowly searching through a hundred publications trying to find it. Then you can go get that book and have it at the table for your character (or photocopy, or page printed from the pdf).Photocopy is not legal for PFS unless you also have the actual book with you.
You know darn well this is an undead horse. A regular stick just wont cut it.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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I'll inform people of the rule, but fortunately it's not my job to police it. And for some players I really wouldn't want to - we've got a couple of players who only play at one of our local game stores because the $4 table fee the other store charges is something they would have to budget for. For those players I'll lend them my copy of an optional rulebook rather than turn them away (especially since one of them is now GMing for us occasionally).
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I'll inform people of the rule, but fortunately it's not my job to police it. And for some players I really wouldn't want to - we've got a couple of players who only play at one of our local game stores because the $4 table fee the other store charges is something they would have to budget for. For those players I'll lend them my copy of an optional rulebook rather than turn them away (especially since one of them is now GMing for us occasionally).
Hey, I have all kinds of empathy for folks down on their luck. I’ve been there, even as recently as 2 years ago. Where you have to budget $5 or $10 sometimes. I get it.
And while I empathize, they can make perfectly reasonable, well-adjusted, competent characters without all the various optional books out there.
Why can’t they just use the Core Rule Book?
-> "If you want to use anything from paizos prd, you have to have a device which is able to look the rules up ONLINE"
Problem solved. Besides, i would fear more about cheating dice then someone manipulating a rule which (in my experience so far) most likely someone at the table knows by rote.
How, exactly, does this solve the issue that Paizo wants you to buy their stuff if you want to use it in their campaign?
-j
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-> "If you want to use anything from paizos prd, you have to have a device which is able to look the rules up ONLINE"
Problem solved. Besides, i would fear more about cheating dice then someone manipulating a rule which (in my experience so far) most likely someone at the table knows by rote.How, exactly, does this solve the issue that Paizo wants you to buy their stuff if you want to use it in their campaign?
-j
Also doesn't address that a good 2/3 of the public places I have played PFS in do not have cell service or public internet access...
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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I'll inform people of the rule, but fortunately it's not my job to police it. And for some players I really wouldn't want to - we've got a couple of players who only play at one of our local game stores because the $4 table fee the other store charges is something they would have to budget for. For those players I'll lend them my copy of an optional rulebook rather than turn them away (especially since one of them is now GMing for us occasionally).Hey, I have all kinds of empathy for folks down on their luck. I’ve been there, even as recently as 2 years ago. Where you have to budget $5 or $10 sometimes. I get it.
And while I empathize, they can make perfectly reasonable, well-adjusted, competent characters without all the various optional books out there.
Why can’t they just use the Core Rule Book?
They can (and if they play somewhere else, they have to). They have the core rulebook, the Advanced Player's Guide, and a couple of the other player companions, &c. But Mike Brock has said that a group of friends at the same table can share a rulebook, so I don't think I'm violating too many guidelines by letting them try out their alternate characters if they are at my table.
I could, of course, suggest they go and GM at the other game store; as a GM there they would get store credit, so they'd be most of the way to a new rulebook. But that doesn't get us the extra GM at the store where I play most often.
I'm going to be having a word with a few of the other regulars there, to see if they'd like to chip in a few dollars towards a rulebook. Then everybody would be happy (and we'd probably lock in a couple of extra GMs for a while, which in itself would be worth quite a bit - I'm pretty sure we'll end up running four tables in the very near future).