What a new PFS player should know?

[Victor Zajic]

Blackbloodtroll, the fact that you are bothering to ask what the table etiquette is ahead of time makes me think you'll do just fine at PFS. The axe/perfume issue usually only really crops up at cons, and then only some of the time. I've been playing for two years and it's never been a problem.

One of the important things to remember about PFS is that your can't count on your party's makeup. You might show up to a table where everyone is fighters, or wizards, and no one else has another character they are willing to play. That's why it's important to have solutions to those problems, like swarms, incoporeal, invisibility, flight, and darkness, that in home games you usually can depend on some other party members to cover.

The other thing to remember is that consumables are your friend. I used to never, ever buy/use consumable, because I thought it was just throwing money away. PFS taught me different. Being prepared with the right tool for the job can mean the difference between an easy session and a TPK. My first couple PFS session, the scenario boss was an evil caster who cast obscuring mist the first round of combat, and it really turned off everything my level 1 sorceror could do. So from then on I always carried scrolls of Gust of Wind, and it's been extremely useful many, many times. The best part is that you are get some really good consumables for practically free in PFS. You can spend 2 prestige points once a session to get an item of value 750gp or less. This includes 1st level wands (cure light wounds, infernal healing, endure elements, magic missile, shield), 3rd level potions(fly), and scrolls with either 2 castsings of one level 3 spell, 5 castings of one 2nd level spell, or 30 castings of one level 1 spell.

[blackbloodtroll]

Well, I have a hard time having fun, when someone else at my table isn't.

For at least four of my DMs, I am the "inside man" as it were, for how the other players are doing. Unfortunately, that means I get to be the guy who help with other player's builds, and making sure they are legal.

I don't mind so much, but I end up with a lot of the "side work" for games.

Also, I happen to be the guy with the most Golarion lore knowledge at our tables.
Which means the DM both loves, and hates me for it.

Oh, and the guy who draws a number of the PC's pictures. Surprisingly, this has inspired many players to actually play female PCs.

[blackbloodtroll]

I am not going to get funny looks for bringing a hand-drawn pic of my PC, am I?

[kinevon]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

I am not going to get funny looks for bringing a hand-drawn pic of my PC, am I?

Unless there is something odd or unacceptable, probably not.

A near-naked female in a skimpy chainmail bikini may be good in the comics, but isn't really PFS appropriate.

An adventurerish drawing, male or female, in garb appropriate to what they actually use? Usually no problem.

I am not totally sure if a "real" drawing of Katisha or Gabrielle D'Apsher (I think it is) would be appropriate for public display...

[blackbloodtroll]

kinevon wrote:

blackbloodtroll wrote:

I am not going to get funny looks for bringing a hand-drawn pic of my PC, am I?

Unless there is something odd or unacceptable, probably not.

A near-naked female in a skimpy chainmail bikini may be good in the comics, but isn't really PFS appropriate.

An adventurerish drawing, male or female, in garb appropriate to what they actually use? Usually no problem.

I am not totally sure if a "real" drawing of Katisha or Gabrielle D'Apsher (I think it is) would be appropriate for public display...

So, Wayne Reynolds/F. Wesley Schneider PG-13?

Actually, my pics of male PCs are usually wearing the least. Conan fan.

I am not really a Chainmail Bikini guy.

[Matthew Morris]

David Bowles wrote:

2K gp is a lot at level 3. I can think of a lot of other things the money could have been spent on. I've had multiple characters not get a magic weapon until level 5,6,7. Oils of magic weapon, and even better, bless weapon, work just fine. Remember that the PCs usually have far more actions than the NPCs.

David,

You do know thei nfamous Squidcident came about because the fighter didn't have a magic weapon, right? ;-)

[blackbloodtroll]

Squid incident?

[Matthew Morris]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Squid incident?

Spoiler:

In an older scenario, the party encounters a ghost ship. The fighter/shadowdancer hadn't invested in a magic weapon yet, since it was a party of four, he left the ghosts to the Kyra, sorcerer and wizard and jumped into the water to go down to the wreck.

His stealth was high enough that he snuck past <redacted> and skipped to the final encounter.

A giant squid, with 30' reach. Against a fighter 6, shadowdancer 1. You can guess what happened.

I almost got a TPK. The ghosts killed Kyra, and the two casters went down. If they'd done one less point of damage for the final round, the squid would have killed them all.

This has been known locally as the 'Squidcident'.

[David Bowles]

Don't. Split. The. Party.

[graywulfe]

SlimGauge wrote:

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Is this really a common problem? I mean, that's really gross.

I've mostly encountered this one at summer cons. It's almost 100 degrees out and you're wearing black. You were slow getting up this morning so you skip the shower in order to make your event on time. Dousing yourself in Axe doesn't really help.

In fact for people like my wife, others dousing themselves in Axe, or any strong scent, and then being in her vicinity can make it hard for her to breath because of her allergies.

I don't have the allergies but I find it nauseating to be near people who OD on cologne or other scents.

[graywulfe]

Rapanuii wrote:

Humiliating people in front of others might fix the problem by having them not return to pfs, so if that's what you're doing, then I ask that you be more discrete. If people stop showing up, then it hurts everyone. I know it's hard to confront others about things, but try and make an effort to minimize the fallout from it.

If one persons lack of hygiene, or other bad behaviour, is causing other people to never return, it is better that the one never returns. Sometimes you have to do the unpleasant thing for the betterment of the community.

I am not suggesting humiliation as a solution, but I definitely think that something needs to be said to those people who come to events reeking due to a lack of hygiene, or the overuse of perfume/cologne.

I am more speaking of chronic offenders, everyone makes mistakes.

[blackbloodtroll]

I will have to mention it to my buddy, who is considering PFS.

He has a near super-human sense of smell. Seriously, he can smell if a woman is menstruating, name the brand of cigarette someone just smoked, and tell the age of any scotch, by smell.

[RAdeMorris]

David Bowles wrote:

Don't. Split. The. Party.

Especially when dealing with the later season scenarios without adjustments. (Had a 5 person table decide to split into two groups: one of three and the other two.)

[graywulfe]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

I will have to mention it to my buddy, who is considering PFS.

He has a near super-human sense of smell. Seriously, he can smell if a woman is menstruating, name the brand of cigarette someone just smoked, and tell the age of any scotch, by smell.

I should note that "gamer funk" is by no means omnipresent. It is just that when you encounter it and have to deal with it in close quarters for hours on end it becomes something you never want to deal with.

You may never encounter it, or only once in a Blue Moon, or it could be that one of the regulars is an offender and no one has the courage to say something to them. Every group is unique. I just feel that someone should talk to those people so that, hopefully, they change and get better.

[blackbloodtroll]

Okay.

I was wee bit worried there.

[graywulfe]

I have actually been pleasantly surprised at the cons I have gone to in recent years. I have in the past couple of years only encountered one example of "gamer funk." As it happens, the individual in question also tried to tell my wife how to play her character and couldn't stop talking out of character about his gaming exploits, so yeah lots of problems there.

[Vrog Skyreaver]

so what you're saying is the player stunk, eh?

[yes, so does that pun. deal with it.]

[blackbloodtroll]

Well, as long as there are no Kender jokes, and nobody tries to do any Beavis/Butthead or Gir impressions, I should be alright then.

[SlimGauge]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

I am not going to get funny looks for bringing a hand-drawn pic of my PC, am I?

Just so long as it's not a "Shirt Guy Dom" stick figure.

[zefig]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

I am not going to get funny looks for bringing a hand-drawn pic of my PC, am I?

I've never had any problems, but I generally just take them out for character introductions and occasionally people ask for a closer look to ooh and ah.

If the popularity of the Art of your PFS Characters thread is any indication, you should be fine. And you should contribute to the thread! :D

[Akerlof]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Well, I will be running a Warpriest.

Looks like choosing Cure and Channel Positive is a must.

Be sure to bring the ACG Playtest PDF or a printout of the Warpriest rules, and let your GM know what you're playing when you sit down, before the scenario starts. Not everyone knows how the new classes work, so give your GM the chance to familiarize himself with it at the beginning.

Channeling positive/spontaneously casting cures won't really be an issue once you get a wand of CLW, and unless it's _every PC's_ first game, someone should have a wand that you can activate if nobody else can. Of my three clerics, only one can really do the "standard" cleric healing. Another only has two channels and my favorite is a negative channeling Evangelist. Now that I have multiple 3rd level slots I've started memorizing a Cure Serious on my Evangelist for insurance, but the others do just fine without being healbots.

Quote:

Well, as long as there are no Kender jokes, and nobody tries to do any Beavis/Butthead ... impressions, I should be alright then.

Uh oh, stay away from my table if I'm running any Goblin NPCs then! :P

[blackbloodtroll]

Akerlof wrote:

Quote:

Well, as long as there are no Kender jokes, and nobody tries to do any Beavis/Butthead ... impressions, I should be alright then.

Uh oh, stay away from my table if I'm running any Goblin NPCs then! :P

Well, I had the terrible experience of dealing with someone who literally spoke, in nothing but Beavis/Butthead impressions. Seriously.

After two(or three) weeks, of telling him to stop, or stay away from me(he followed me), I told him I would punch him if he did not do one of the two. Eventually, I lost it, and punched him.

He stayed away after that, and when he was around, he remained silent. I regretted it, and would rather not be pushed to that point again.

[Rapanuii]

You like Monty python jokes and references? Too bad!

[rknop]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Well, I had the terrible experience of dealing with someone who literally spoke, in nothing but Beavis/Butthead impressions. Seriously.

After two(or three) weeks, of telling him to stop, or stay away from me(he followed me), I told him I would punch him if he did not do one of the two. Eventually, I lost it, and punched him.

He stayed away after that, and when he was around, he remained silent. I regretted it, and would rather not be pushed to that point again.

...and people say violence never solves anything!

[BigNorseWolf]

rknop wrote:

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Well, I had the terrible experience of dealing with someone who literally spoke, in nothing but Beavis/Butthead impressions. Seriously.

After two(or three) weeks, of telling him to stop, or stay away from me(he followed me), I told him I would punch him if he did not do one of the two. Eventually, I lost it, and punched him.

He stayed away after that, and when he was around, he remained silent. I regretted it, and would rather not be pushed to that point again.

...and people say violence never solves anything!

it amazes me that these people never opened a history book or attended elementary school...

[Muser]

Honestly, and this is totes honest: no Internet identity shenanigans, as long as you attend a public game, chances are whatever problems you might have/might happen/etc can be solved by simple talk. Global campaigns attract all kinds but for the most part the participants wouldn't be there were they not ready for that talk. It's only home games among tightly-knit groups where bow-wows can be problematic.

[kinevon]

RAdeMorris wrote:

David Bowles wrote:

Don't. Split. The. Party.

Especially when dealing with the later season scenarios without adjustments. (Had a 5 person table decide to split into two groups: one of three and the other two.)

And splitting the party can be bad, even in Season 0 scenarios.

Activating a second encounter, even if both encounters are "easy", can be bad, or not having enough actions available for part of the party...

Black Water:

6 player party, 2 players were investigating the sarcophagi, leaving the other 4 PCs to deal with the ghast. Lots of failed saves, and all 4 PCs, and the eidolon, are all paralyzed.

Party was only saved when the other two finally came in to play.