Class Boons and Bloat

[Matt Adams 259]

Bloat is one of those things that I really have no problem with. When I GM I take things from a lot of books to get as close to my vision of the campaign as possible. However, a lot of people do have an issue with the amount of content, which can be unwieldy at times.

The biggest issue with bloat and the hardest to get around is the fact that those who play Pathfinder Society can't get avoid it. To limit it's impact, does Paizo plan on making class boons? Like the racial boons it could allow players to bring in the new classes in small amounts. And the available classes could even rotate around like the available races do.

It might be a little late to limit the Hybrid classes this way, but the Occult classes could be scaled back. And I'm sure the Hybrid classes could be scaled back if Paizo looked into it.

What do you guys think?

[Imbicatus]

I sincerely hope not. I enjoy having more options, and not allowing content from the primary rules books released is not a way to sell them.

Also, flagged this to be moved to the PFS forum.

[Mikey V]

They currently have boons for certain prestige classes, such as the Assassin and Red Mantis Assassin. However limiting core classes would potentially dissuade PFS customers from purchasing that source book if they do not possess the required boon to play what they want out of it.

[William Ronald]

It is a good idea to make players bring resources with them. Indeed, it is required.

I view classes as different approaches to roles. So, I don't have a problem with new classes. The main thing is to check what is allowed and what is not.

As a courtesy, players should let GMs know about important aspects of new character classes. I recently GMed and a player (who also GMx) brought an occultist to the table. I think that common courtesy solves a lot of problems.

["Devil's Advocate"]

William Ronald wrote:

It is a good idea to make players bring resources with them. Indeed, it is required.

While that's partially true, it doesn't really help that the main issue tends not to be if the source material is available as it is the need to read it fully in the middle of the game, and likely to cross reference with other material, again, in the middle of the game. And the more and more bloat there is, the more there are various options to interact differently than was originally intended or planned for.

The other side is that, especially with books like the ACG, there is no definite answer as to how a lot of things are actually supposed to work, so reading the source is not a solution, as it's the source that's jacked up.

PFS is kind of caught between a rock and a hard place on that account, and well, should be "interesting times".