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Not bad.
I especially like the point about always doing something. So often I see higher level characters founder on delaying because their player can't see what to do. That's when a higher CL wand of magic missile (if available) or the like comes in handy
I liked the point about reach weapons and assisting. AC10 never changes for assists.
Even if you are only casting Guidance you are doing something. But, find something better to do... And don't be a one trick pony!
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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When doing the calculations, it should probably take into account the subtiers. At 7th level, you would be playing 7-8 and therefore should treat your level as 8 for the calculations. If you were to attempt to play up, you would hit encounters as if you were an 11th level character.
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@sebastian, I have a dedicated "prep by tier" guide that distills the PFS forum wisdom to a handy list. I'll see if I still have a copy and add that as a seperate link.
@rei absolutely!
@breti the 'accepted' wisdom is to compare against (your level+2) CR for efffectiveness. If your character can cope with that, then they should be ok with at-level CR encounters (or under CRed foes). The CR system is obviously not perfect, but you don't want to build for encounters that aren't meant to challenge the party, but encounters that are. I'll clarify that point!
I'm off to play in Mummy's Mask, so I'll check back later tonight to answer any other thoughts and hopefully post a slightly updated draft!
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Updated document to version 1.1
-General spelling and grammar fixes
-Added special note to Mechanics section (re: CR comparison)
-Changed "headband of charisma" to "headband of intelligence" for Wanda the Wizard
ETA: I can't find the final doc right now, but below is the near-final text of handout I gave to our local player base
As you level your character in Pathfinder, you should make sure they are properly prepared for challenges they will encounter! Here's a basic guide for things you should keep in mind:
LOW LEVELS (1-3)
WEAPONS: Do you have both a ranged and a melee weapon? You don’t always choose the range at which you fight.
HEALING: Do you have self-healing? A Wand of Cure Light Wounds only costs 2 Prestige Points and has 50 charges--even if you can’t use it, someone else probably can. DO NOT expect other party members to provide healing for you.
DARKNESS: Do you have a way to see in the non-magical darkness? Whether it’s a torch, a sunrod, a light cantrip or just plain darkvision, you need to be able to see in unlit areas.
DAMAGE REDUCTION: Do you have a backup weapon with a different damage type? Some monsters have DR that can only be overcome by slashing, piercing or blunt damage.
SWARM/OOZES: Do you have anti-swarm weapons or anti-ooze options? Older seasons are notorious for swarms. Even a flask or two of Alchemist’s Fire, Acid Flask, etc. can make a difference.
DID YOU KNOW: …that a knotted rope reduces a climb check to DC 5? Always have a rope handy!
MID LEVELS (4-7)
HEALING: Do you have emergency self-healing? A single potion of Cure Moderate Moderate or Cure Serious Wounds can get you back in the fight…or keep you alive long enough to run away.
DARKNESS: Do you have a way to counter magical darkness? An oil of Daylight or the ability to cast Daylight will help counter Deeper Darkness…very important as not even darkvision will penetrate supernatural darkness.
DAMAGE REDUCTION: Monsters may have damage resistance that can only be overcome by cold iron/silver/adamantine. Oil of Bless Weapon or Align Weapon are helpful for alignment based DR.
INVISIBLE/INCORPOREAL: Monsters with these abilities begin to appear. Glitterdust, Faerie Fire and See Invisibility are hard counters to invisibility. Archers should invest in the weapon blanch Ghost Salt for some of their arrows for incorporeal foes.
DID YOU KNOW: …third level potions or oils such as Fly, Daylight, Remove Blindness, Water Breathing, Gaseous Form, etc. are only 2 PP away. While you can only make a 2 PP purchase once a scenario, you can slowly build up a cache of situational potions!
HIGH LEVELS (7+)
If you have out of combat healing, emergency combat healing and ways to counter darkness/DR/abilities, you are generally prepared for most combats at high level. Here are other things to be prepared for:
FLYING: Melee characters need the ability (by potion, spell or item) to combat flyers that prefer to stay at range.
GRAPPLING: Caster and ranged characters need options to avoid or escape grapples.
DID YOU KNOW: …a level 1 Protection from Evil flat out prevents domination by an evil spellcaster. This is very important because it’s one thing when your friend’s MurderDeathKill Machine is attacking foes, it’s another thing when he fails his save against Dominate Person and attacks the party.
(blah blah outro text I can't find)
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The time thing I have encountered. (I skipped a combat encounter to leave more time to roleplay in a 7-11 at PaizoCon last year.)
The "under-prepared" thing has not been very prevalent in my play-throughs, as some fights have been harder without certain options, but have generally left enough room for unoptimized parties to succeed.
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I actually haven't killed anyone in a 7-11 as far as I recall. High level characters are hard to kill.
Low level characters with 10 Con scores, on the other hand...
Don't get to be high level characters with low con scores.
This warning brought to you by Constitution. Everyone's second favorite date to the prom.
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You're a softy Steven! I've seen and experienced the high level kills.
I said I haven't killed anyone. My Life Oracle was the only reason we didn't TPK in King of the Storval Stairs, and the party had to use first aid gloves to get her back in the fight after being one rounded with 120 points of damage on a full attack.
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I'm not sure how your first sentence relates to the your second sentence.You're a softy Steven! I've seen and experienced the high level kills.I said I haven't killed anyone. My Life Oracle was the only reason we didn't TPK in King of the Storval Stairs, and the party had to use first aid gloves to get her back in the fight after being one rounded with 120 points of damage on a full attack.
It doesn't, it relates back to my earlier statement.
I actually haven't killed anyone in a 7-11 as far as I recall.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I'm glad to see that some GMs will skip combat for role play, though that is few and far between in my experience.
Some Tier 7-11 scenarios do give wiggle room for the unoptimized, and others don't. Even then, the ones that leave room often end in some character deaths even if there isn't a TPK.
I can recall quite a number of low level scenarios without any siginificant RP part, and a number of high level scenarios with quite a bit.
Not being properly prepare can be deadly in both.It sounds bad, bad undead shadows don't really care why a player character eschews certain magic items, they will just kill him and converse with their future shadow brother about it.
Ghouls will just paralize and eat you.
One of those examples came from a 7-11 and one from a 1-5 scenario.
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What's a suitable CON score?I actually haven't killed anyone in a 7-11 as far as I recall. High level characters are hard to kill.
Low level characters with 10 Con scores, on the other hand...
Don't get to be high level characters with low con scores.
This warning brought to you by Constitution. Everyone's second favorite date to the prom.
12 at the very least. I recommend 14 as your very least for a con score.
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What's a suitable CON score?I actually haven't killed anyone in a 7-11 as far as I recall. High level characters are hard to kill.
Low level characters with 10 Con scores, on the other hand...
Don't get to be high level characters with low con scores.
This warning brought to you by Constitution. Everyone's second favorite date to the prom.
I highly recommend the 14. Its only 5 points. Its not just dying that you need to worry abou, you also need to worry about having your hit points drop so low tha you're a liability to the party rather than an asset.
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This is statement is my whole issue. Characters are "required" to have certain features to be an "asset" to the party, irrespective of how the player wants to envision the charcter.
I highly recommend the 14. Its only 5 points. Its not just dying that you need to worry abou, you also need to worry about having your hit points drop so low tha you're a liability to the party rather than an asset.
oh knock it off with the video game dross. Its random, insulting, nonsensical blatherskite.
Everyone is role playing an adventurer. You go off to the middle of nowhere, hike through miles of wilderness, get attacked by weird monsters, infected with diseases and stabbed with poisonous appendages. If something about that screamed that it was a perfect time to play a sickly dilettante then what you're complaining about is the fruition of the narrative you chose to playing reaching its likely conclusion.
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There's a logical disconnect here.
As in, your statements seem to be made with a "home-game mentality;" you claim to want agency, while you expect a GM or some other player to play off of. You can't rely on someone else to sacrifice their enjoyment to satisfy yours.
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What's a suitable CON score?12 at the very least. I recommend 14 as your very least for a con score.
I will +1 this.
12 is the bare minimum a character should have, and that's if you're considering CON a "dump stat".
If you can't get your 18s or 20s in your prime stats if you're keeping that 12 or 14 CON, so what. It's PFS; you don't need an 18 or 20 in your prime stat to be successful.
With respect to the OP, his document has great advice but it advocates too much munchkinism for my palate. Forget what he said about being wrongbad if you can't solo the entire encounter by yourself in 3 or 4 rounds; you still have an entire party to help. And their players will be bored/resentful if you DO build a character that can solo the fights.
Focus instead on his good advice about being prepared and not falling into the trap of being one dimensional.
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With respect to the OP, his document has great advice but it advocates too much munchkinism for my palate. Forget what he said about being wrongbad if you can't solo the entire encounter by yourself in 3 or 4 rounds; you still have an entire party to help. And their players will be bored/resentful if you DO build a character that can solo the fights.
Focus instead on his good advice about being prepared and not falling into the trap of being one dimensional.
1) 'Munchkinism' is quite the pejorative term to be throwing around. Let's avoid that, shall we?
2) I never said you should solo the encounter nor did I state you're horrible if you couldn't. I also did state you would not be alone.
Remember, Fred is not fighting this monster alone. He has his fellow PCs at his side. But now, he actually fills the role of damage dealer versus thinking that he is one. While the both Freds would be absolutely fine for low levels, at higher tiers, Fred the Longsword fighter will become less and less effective (and probably less fun to play) while Fred the Greatsword fighter will continue to contribute in combat.
In fact, all my 'good' examples were pretty run of the mill competently built characters...built to do what the player intended their role to be vs trying to fill that role, failing and becoming frustrated. I purposely avoided min/maxed examples (unless you consider a L3 Fighter with 18 STR, 2H weapon & Power Attack / L7 Wizard with 20 Int, Spell Focus, Greater Focus / L11 Fighter Sword & Board Fighter with 30ish AC 'munchkin builds').
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Your first paragraph makes no sense.
It is perfectly clear, perfectly sensible, and all together true. Trying to claim "it makes no sense" is random flailing at an idea you find disagreeable without basis to express your disagreement.
As to your second paragraph, role playing to me is about acting out a personality, irrespective of being an adventurer. The fun is in interaction with other characters, and how they respond to your quirks, shortcomings and strengths. If all there was to role playing was being an adventurer and overcoming physical obstacles, then any suitable set of stats, abilities and classes will do. That is ho-hum for me without the interaction part. I've seen that and done that for a long, long time.
Then your stats shouldn't be required for you to role play. If you the player are not capable of bringing heart soul and depth to a character just because they have a modicum of optimization then you have no place faulting anyone elses role play. The game works best when the role and roll play elements work in harmony with each other. The stormwind fallacy you are trying to push as the height of superiority so you can deride others as being video gamey is what makes no sense, not people calling you on it.