Vanity characters & the use of Hero Lab

[Geb the Skald]

Hello there! Quick questions to the knowledgeable members - Vanity characters in Pathfinder Society, so far as I know, don't have any in-game value. They're flavor, correct? So, several queries..

1) Does it really matter what level I put them at in Hero Lab?
In other words, if I'm only doing this for, say, my Seneschal who never leaves my Farmstead, can he or she have several levels? It occured to me for extra 'flavor' I could do some small 'missions' as my seneschal - "The Great Absalom Filing Misadventure" or the like ....lol. Since they're flavor characters, what happens to them doesn't seem as well regulated.

2)Do these characters ever have a chance to level up normally, or is HeroLab just bonkers including ones with a statblock?

3)Is there Pathfinder society documentation delineating all this, or is it just word of mouth?

Thanks, all!

[BigNorseWolf]

Some vanities actually do things in game: like give you a bonus to a skill roll or let you use an unusual skill for a dayjob.

The characters deliberately don't even HAVE a statblock. They have no hit points, skill points unless specified, cant be killed, can't do anything other than their exact, specific function. Unless they publish an "imrpoved seneshal" there's no chance to up it.

I could go digging around monday but I'm sure you'll hear a chorus saying the same thing before then.

[Geb the Skald]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Some vanities actually do things in game: like give you a bonus to a skill roll or let you use an unusual skill for a dayjob.

The characters deliberately don't even HAVE a statblock. They have no hit points, skill points unless specified, cant be killed, can't do anything other than their exact, specific function. Unless they publish an "imrpoved seneshal" there's no chance to up it.

I could go digging around monday but I'm sure you'll hear a chorus saying the same thing before then.

Fantastic! :) To paraphrase the old saying, that which is not prohibited is allowed. If they don't have a statblock in society, and they have only have the _specific_ boost to whatever you do, then as long as I don't infringe on that, I can play around with the _idea_ of them in Hero Lab to my heart's content...or at least so I shall assume until otherwise reprimanded! Thanks, BigNorseWolf!

[Mystic Lemur]

As long as the character you sit down to play with is rules-legal, what you do to your NPCs in HeroLab is your business. You just can't say "Wait, my porter is a level 5 Expert with 5 ranks in Knowledge (Dungeoneering). He would know what that monster is!"

[Andreas Forster]

When I buy a follower vanity, I usually build an NPC for flavor reasons, mostly a level 1 NPC class that reflects what the vanitly actually does (giving a seneschall ranks in Heal or giving a Herald ranks in Perform (oratory), for example).
Of course, those stats are purely flavor and won't be able to affect the game in any way, all that counts is the rules text for the vanity.
Also, all my characters' followers have a name ^^

[Victor Zajic]

You could start a new PFS character whom you say is your previous character's seneshal. But when you play your original character the second character's stats wouldn't have any game effect.

[BigNorseWolf]

Having survived bonekeep, Flutter will be picking up a knowledge arcana scholar and knowledge dungeoneering scholars that are apprentice druids (A bird and a small bat, that she takes out of her pocket for a consult)

[Richard M. Harris]

We have a player here in Mobile, that his first character always bought slaves (paid them well and treated them well) but he called them all Phillipe. Eventually one of them became notable and started standing out from the others, so decided to join the Pathfinder Society and became his next character.

[Angry Wiggles]

Richard Harris wrote:

We have a player here in Mobile, that his first character always bought slaves (paid them well and treated them well) but he called them all Phillipe. Eventually one of them became notable and started standing out from the others, so decided to join the Pathfinder Society and became his next character.

The Phillipes have proven their competence time and time again, it's only fitting they try and join up.

Most of the Phillipes use their real names after the society, being Rupert, Almaya, and Shrrf. However, this specific Phillipe didn't even bother to correct anyone for calling her that. Partially because her birth name is somewhat difficult to pronounce, and partially because she didn't particularly care. She's done quite well for herself, though. As my -2, she has clawed her way all the way to seeker tier and taken up management of a small pathfinder lodge. Not a bad end for someone purchased from Chelish slavers.

That being said, I'm very fond of using vanity creatures in play. My characters often buy chroniclers, scholars, slaves, mundane animals, and hirelings. As they take no place in combat, they very rarely effect the pace of the game. However, I always feel like I can enjoy my characters more when I can interact with NPCs and the environment more, even in trivial fashions that don't effect the actual gameplay.

I see no reason why you could not build the NPCs out in herolabs, especially if it helps you flesh out the roleplay and stories around them. The important part to remember is that apart from roleplay, they cannot affect the game mechanically in any way other than what is specified in the description of that specific NPC.