How many times have you run a Pregen?


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The Exchange 5/5

They get a lot of bad press, but I've noticed that a lot of it is from players who wouldn't play one if we payed them. So I got to thinking, would we be better judges - especially for giving advice on which Pregen a newbie should run - if we played them more?

So, just wondering, have you played them, and did you learn anything for It?

3/5

I played one pregen when I first started.

I prefer making my own characters and having a story with them. I have a friend who played almost everything and ONLY uses pregens.

I try to avoid pushing players toward using them, and just help them make their own characters.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Let's see..

I played Zadim during 5-99

Shardra during my first Silverhex

Kyra during my second Silverhex

Seoni in a home campaign for the first night of Burnt Offerings because I hadn't quite finished my character yet and it was faster to whip her out.

Zadim is what sold me on making my -1 a Slayer.

Shardra is what sold me on preparing for a Shaman at some point.

Kyra was more of a 'Oh, hey, someone should do some healing' consideration -- my -1 sort of fills the role sometimes, so it was an easier fit for me.

Seoni is crazy-fun blaster even when starting out, and is a much nicer introduction to arcane spell-casting than Ezren, imo.

However, I did see someone play Ezren at a session at GenCon, and they pretty much saved the party's second prestige point, and someone else played Seelah and boy, it would have been a lot tougher without her in a different scenario.

When I'm building a character for a particular class, I'll pull up the pregen to see how they're built to get a rough idea of what sort of considerations are made for the class, and then I'll tweak and adjust to make my own.

But in a pinch? Sure, toss me that binder! Faster into play!

Grand Lodge 4/5

Depending on how you define "play", I have run a pregen lots of times, and played one, as a player, multiple times, as well.

Silverhex Chronicles (varies)
Fane of Fangs (Unchained Summoner)
True Dragons of Absolom (Bard)
Sit in to make a legal table for a game I won't get credit for. (Usually Kyra or Lem)

GM a table of three (delegated, usually, to a player with a simple PC)

Silver Crusade 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I played Amiri through three modules when I did not have a character in tier. I had a blast and felt like I was able to develop a personality for her on par with any of the characters I've built myself.

My wife and I, and two friends of ours often play PFS scenarios just the four of us. So we obviously need to run a pregen as a fourth spot. We have played a variety of them in that case. We also have run some of the replayable 1st-level scenarios with a team of all pregens, just for fun. We talked about running a party of four Harsks through the first level of Emerald Spire, but we never did. We should do that.

Overall, I like the pregens.

Silver Crusade 1/5 Contributor

I played a Seoni at my second session, since I (obviously) didn't have any 7th-level characters yet.

I quite enjoyed myself. ^_^

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

I picked up Kyra for Silverhex last weekend to round out a party. Of course Kyra is solidly built so no sweat there. Apart from WBG that's the only time I've played a pregen myself since I have enough PCs to not need any most of the time.

But it was nice to notice that in the Quest environment Ezren is much more effective; he contributes with Knowledge and his limited spells per day are sufficient if you only have one encounter anyway.

I'm impressed by how well some of the pregens work - Kyra is just solid, Zadim does a very nice "will it blend" at level 4/7. Seelah's solid too. Lem is surprisingly tanky (67 HP at level 7!) and I've seen him intentionally provoke from a Grey Render Zombie so that the rest of the party could get into the room safely. Hakon's pretty fun and even carries a potion of fly at level 4.

I've even seen Harsk tank a shambling mound + company while all alone for three rounds with his axe (doing considerable damage) while the rest of the party was stuck in deep bogs and fogs. Surviving lots of damage and poison? Get a dwarf.

The Exchange 3/5

I have used pregens several times. I prefer Seelah and Crowe. They consistently can carry games on their own.

3/5

Ragoz wrote:
I have used pregens several times. I prefer Seelah and Crowe. They consistently can carry games on their own.

The games are meant to be beaten. Smart play is more powerful than strong builds.

Silver Crusade 5/5

I've played pregens a bunch of times, mainly when I was getting started in PFS.

I've played Merisiel 7 through From Shore to Sea as my 2nd or third PFS session, it was fine, I like rogues so that helped. I don't remember a whole lot from this session though.

A couple of days after that I played Kyra 7 through No Response from Deepmar, and it was hellish. Not because of Kyra though, who was phenomenal and saved a TPK once or twice because of the sheer amount of healing she can do (free empowered Cure spells off of the Healing Domain was instrumental in keeping our frontliners up, along with the 6d6 channels).

I've played and seen Amiri played to good effect before, she's fun and one of my favorite pregens.

I played through Lost at Bitter End online as Kyra 7, and it was pretty fun. A couple of the others were cheesed out, so I just cast alot of self buffs and went to town as a frontliner, it was a nice change of pace from healbot kyra.

When I ran The Golden Serpent a couple months back it was for three and a pregen. Instead of just grabbing one of the usuals, a grabbed Hakon and was impressed with him. He did a good job making the others better while being a competent character in his own right. Enough so that I'm thinking of making a skald with one of my GM credit babies.

4/5 **

I have played with pregens a lot in Silverhex and Phantom Phenomena. When we played through Silverhex we went trough all the pregens and it was quite clear that the newer ones were more powerful at least in the quests.

In society I've played Lem once in a tier 7-11 scenario and we have also had pregen with us a few times if we only have three players. I think that most of them can work if you just use one that works well with the rest of the team. Of course the best course is that everyone has their own character.

The Exchange 3/5

Finlanderboy wrote:
Ragoz wrote:
I have used pregens several times. I prefer Seelah and Crowe. They consistently can carry games on their own.
The games are meant to be beaten. Smart play is more powerful than strong builds.

And playing smart on a powerful build accomplishes even more, what's your point? I like contributing to the party even when I'm playing a pregen.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

Ascalaphus wrote:


I've even seen Harsk tank a shambling mound + company while all alone for three rounds with his axe (doing considerable damage) while the rest of the party was stuck in deep bogs and fogs. Surviving lots of damage and poison? Get a dwarf.

Oh, yeah, I remember that! It was quite epic!

3/5

Ragoz wrote:
Finlanderboy wrote:
Ragoz wrote:
I have used pregens several times. I prefer Seelah and Crowe. They consistently can carry games on their own.
The games are meant to be beaten. Smart play is more powerful than strong builds.
And playing smart on a powerful build accomplishes even more, what's your point? I like contributing to the party even when I'm playing a pregen.

My point is if you play something smart, it does matters less how well built a character is. A group of pregens can beat any scenario if played correctly. The players skill accounts more then build strength If you are smart you can contribute with anything.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

I played Returned to the Sky as Kyra to round out a melee party(and to acquire a certain component for my 5th lvl component seeker), buffing folks to hell and back. Used Ezren as magical strongarm in From Shore to Sea.

I never wanted to play In Service to Lore again, but turning Seelah into a fallen paladin has been fun so far and somehow makes it work again.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Muser wrote:


I never wanted to play In Service to Lore again, but turning Seelah into a fallen paladin has been fun so far and somehow makes it work again.

How does that work? Story-wise, is she doing the activities as part of an atonement?

4/5 5/5 Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Tampere

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:
Muser wrote:


I never wanted to play In Service to Lore again, but turning Seelah into a fallen paladin has been fun so far and somehow makes it work again.
How does that work? Story-wise, is she doing the activities as part of an atonement?

She kills a random passerby, uses their blood to draw a pentagram on her breastplate, chucks her sword and goes to buy a greataxe.

Silver Crusade 4/5

I've played pregens on a a fair few occasions, and I found myself frustrated with some of the choices made for Core/UC pregens, but the ACG pregens have so far proven to be very enjoyable.

For players new to pathfinder, I usually recommend Crowe or Zadim, but for players new to PFS, I'd recommend most of the ACG bunch.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Jack Amy wrote:
For players new to pathfinder, I usually recommend Crowe or Zadim, but for players new to PFS, I'd recommend most of the ACG bunch.

I typically give new-to-Pathfinder players one of the CRB pre-gens, typically Amiri, Seoni or Merisel, depending on what role they wish to play (usually presented as a choice between a melee fighter, a magic user, or a skill-focused character). I prefer to stick to the CRB for a couple reasons:

1) The Advanced Class Guide pregens bring in more complicated concepts

2) There are fewer moving parts and choices to make - for example, Zadim's studied target is rather complicated for someone not used to tabletop roleplaying games

3) If they do like the class, the player can stick just to the CRB after the game, rather than it becoming a hard sell for another 40+ dollar book

In all, learning Pathfinder means you're having to learn a lot of things all at once. While I like the ACG, UE, and Occult Adventures pregens, I just don't think it's the best route to give them to brand new players.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
nosig wrote:

They get a lot of bad press, but I've noticed that a lot of it is from players who wouldn't play one if we payed them. So I got to thinking, would we be better judges - especially for giving advice on which Pregen a newbie should run - if we played them more?

So, just wondering, have you played them, and did you learn anything for It?

I've run the cleric, the summoner from Master of the Fallen fortress, the fighter, the rogue archetype, and in most cases I learned a bit about running each class each time I did them.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

2 people marked this as a favorite.

My favorite pregen is Harsk, whom I've played easily a dozen times. Almost always to make a legal table size. I've run the other pregens probably a dozen times as well.

The reason why I pick Harsk is the same reason my first Core character was a Monk: I dislike people telling me that X is badwrongfun and isn't good enough to play in PFS, so I pick traditionally "bad" options and have fun with them, regardless of public opinion.

The pregens work perfectly for what they are--a way for people to play without having made their own characters. They are simple enough for people that haven't played an RPG before to pick up and roll with. And they're diverse enough to give people the opportunity to see many facets of the game.

And, for the record, Harsk is the best pregen because he has a tea set.

Grand Lodge 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic

Walter Sheppard wrote:
Harsk

The new Harsk is quite decent.

I too advice new players to take one of the core pregens. If they have any questions about what they could possibly do, I can usually give a few decent suggestions, without railroading the player too much.

Scarab Sages

I have played Oloch and Yoon, and I have played at tables with Kyra, Merisel, Crowe, Seoni, Ezren, Quinn, Hayato, Reiko, and the Psychic (I forget her name)

They were all able to contribute to the success of the mission, although the level one psychic is very rough if you are going against undead.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Walter Sheppard wrote:

My favorite pregen is Harsk, whom I've played easily a dozen times. Almost always to make a legal table size. I've run the other pregens probably a dozen times as well.

The reason why I pick Harsk is the same reason my first Core character was a Monk: I dislike people telling me that X is badwrongfun and isn't good enough to play in PFS, so I pick traditionally "bad" options and have fun with them, regardless of public opinion.

The pregens work perfectly for what they are--a way for people to play without having made their own characters. They are simple enough for people that haven't played an RPG before to pick up and roll with. And they're diverse enough to give people the opportunity to see many facets of the game.

And, for the record, Harsk is the best pregen because he has a tea set.

Sorry Walter he's been relegated to second best due to Yoon having a stuffed owlbear named Gom-Gom. ;p

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Stupid Annie rip-off!

shakes fist

Grand Lodge 5/5

Amiri - Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment
Harsk - Library of the Lion
Kyra - 5+ times
Yoon - Phanton Phenomena
Seelah (level 7) - 5+ times
Oloch - Silverhex
Enora - 2 or 3 times
Balazar (unchained) in Fane of Fangs
Valeros - Master of the Fallen Fortress

Also seen - Quinn, Crowe, Kess, Zadim, Ezren, Lem, Hakon, Merisiel, Samurai, Shardra, probably a few more

Also, designed a scenario that only used level 7 pregens.

Harsk, (post-update) is underrated. Most are okay. A couple are pretty bad A few have glaring holes, but work in the right situation. A couple have hidden gems on their sheets. Generally, I think they work as a way to introduce a class to people and get a general mix of their abilities. For new players I prefer to get them a Core character though.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 *** Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant

I like the Pregens and never bad mouth them. If I don't have my characters with me I'm fine with playing any of the Pregens.

4/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

If I run a pre-gen, I like to use Val, Ez or Harsk, mainly because of the Pathfinder Legends cds. I can emulate the voices in Legends which helps get the character across. I try the same thing when having a pre-gen complete a table when I GM.

Silver Crusade 4/5

I don't like playing pregens. I've only done it 3 times, one of which was We Be Goblins!, the most recent of which was this past weekend for a quest. I learned that Seelah kinda sucks at 1st level.

I put all this time into developing my own characters, both mechanically and personality-wise, so that's what I want to play.

Sovereign Court

A goblin a few times (rogue usually)
A kobold once (love the rogue)
Merisiel was my very first character
Ezram once, knocked a enemy from a 2nd story bldg with shout.
Kyra twice
Valeros once
Amiri once

The pregens are equipped well. They are built to explore. I wish some pc's spent similar time considering their equipment before adventuring.

Scarab Sages

Walter Sheppard wrote:

Stupid Annie rip-off!

shakes fist

Stupid Charlie rip-off!

shakes fist

5/5 5/55/55/5

NEEEEEVER!


I've played Kyra and Sajan (including unchained Sajan) a few times. I don't remember how many times or for which scenarios, though.

There was one time when I took a running leap and grappled a flying dwarf as Sajan lv.7. That was pretty fun.

The Exchange 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I've played plenty of pre-gens over the years, Its usually a lot of fun to kind of let loose and play a character without all of my backstory/build/worry baggage.

I played the quest that goes along with the Pathfinder Unchained book and played a summoner for the first time and it dramatically changed my opinion of the summoner. I had a lot of fun playing that little guy and his bizarre chicken thing.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Imbicatus wrote:
Walter Sheppard wrote:

Stupid Annie rip-off!

shakes fist

Stupid Charlie rip-off!

shakes fist

Stupid Stephen King inventing pyrokinesis!

shakes fist

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Walter Sheppard wrote:
Imbicatus wrote:
Walter Sheppard wrote:

Stupid Annie rip-off!

shakes fist

Stupid Charlie rip-off!

shakes fist

Stupid Stephen King inventing pyrokinesis!

shakes fist

This calls for some music...

Daddy's Little Girl (Julia Ecklar)

Lantern Lodge 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I've played (nearly) two turns as Level 1 Kess. Horsechoppers are REAL.

Aside from that, I've had a Level 7 Amiri get obiterated by a CL 14 Blasphemy followed by a CL 14 Blade Barrier. (But any level 7 in subtier 10-11 would, too).

And Level 1 Ezren sacrificed himself to cover the rest of the party's escape from a Yeti. That was back when "playing up" was an option and we got our faces kicked in (like we deserved).

Every other one of the 16-ish pregen runs I've ran have been passable. Most are better than the specialists I tend to make when they're outside their comfort zone.

I've played (with success):

Harsk (Silverhex and Comic Store Invasion)
Unchained Balazar (Fane of Fangs)
Seelah (Goblinblood Dead)
Kyra (Goblinblood Dead, Hall of the Flesh Eaters, The Confirmation)
Hayato (6 times, (or so), I dig Cavaliers).
Reiko (Legacy of the Stonelords)
Lini (Red Harvest w/ 2 other Lini)
Lem (Tower of the Ironwood Watch, at least one or two other times)
Amiri (Thornkeep: Sanctum of a Forgotten Age)

3/5 *

I played the Barbarian in my first PFS game ever. And died.

Now I don't play pregens anymore.

Dataphiles 3/5

Unfortunately my pfs group is small. 5 plus a GM when we have everybody, and we almost never have everybody so I have as a GM played Pregens quite a few times.

As a player I played Kyra at a table of Bonekeep 2 that I wasn't supposed to play at but needed a 4th.

Lem in one of the Emerald Spire levels because I walked into a store to browse and socialize, but found a game starting.

Alahazra in Master of the Fallen Fortress.

Also, I have played all the Goblins except Rita.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Poog or bust.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Think I've played pregen only 3 times (not counting We Be Goblins), Barbarian, Skald, and the Investigator (which died) during free RPG. Since I normally GM, when I do get to play I'd rather just play my own character instead of a pregen. Though locally I see pregens used a lot with my own group, sometimes to fill in 4th slot, new players, and in one case a player that struggles to level their characters.

The warpriest seems a local favorite, well built and able to handle more than one role.

We were short a player tonight so Lem was called to fill the missing slot. I killed Lem via drowning during the first encounter... He ever got a single action...

1/5

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

In the last three months, I've played a pregen four times (not counting WBG) and have at least two more (mandatory) pregen events scheduled here on PbP. One time, playing a pregen saved the party. (Yoon's defensive fire killed the mob than enchanted her.)

Scenarios:
Phantom Penomena and Serpent's Rise

Mostly, it's because a) the RL events here are higher tier than my characters have advanced, and b) as a chance to try some new things. (and c) some of the modules/quests require them).

So, I like pregens. (Although I'm starting to dislike Jirelle.)

5/5

Other than running a pregen as a 4th PC to make the table, I've probably played one only 1-2 times. However I have GM'd more than half the time, and am very organized as far as 'bringing all my characters' goes, so I don't think I've ever been caught without an appropriate level character. I enjoy the pregens immensely - partly from learning about them on the blog when they were initially released, and partially the interesting things they get.

Now as a 4th PC (GM'ing or Playing), I've probably run pregens another two dozen times at least.

Silver Crusade 5/5

Jayson MF Kip wrote:

I've played (nearly) two turns as Level 1 Kess. Horsechoppers are REAL.

Aside from that, I've had a Level 7 Amiri get obiterated by a CL 14 Blasphemy followed by a CL 14 Blade Barrier. (But any level 7 in subtier 10-11 would, too).

And Level 1 Ezren sacrificed himself to cover the rest of the party's escape from a Yeti. That was back when "playing up" was an option and we got our faces kicked in (like we deserved).

Every other one of the 16-ish pregen runs I've ran have been passable. Most are better than the specialists I tend to make when they're outside their comfort zone.

I've played (with success):

Harsk (Silverhex and Comic Store Invasion)
Unchained Balazar (Fane of Fangs)
Seelah (Goblinblood Dead)
Kyra (Goblinblood Dead, Hall of the Flesh Eaters, The Confirmation)
Hayato (6 times, (or so), I dig Cavaliers).
Reiko (Legacy of the Stonelords)
Lini (Red Harvest w/ 2 other Lini)
Lem (Tower of the Ironwood Watch, at least one or two other times)
Amiri (Thornkeep: Sanctum of a Forgotten Age)

Oh man, how could I forget the triple Lini shenanigan? That was a truly awesome run. Red Harvest had no idea what hit it!

Also, I've seen Lem save a party before, and in another table was almost forced to kill Lem while confused during Weapon in the Rift (Lem, as it turns out, fares poorly when he takes a falcata crit to the face, I'm glad I didn't kill him).

Silver Crusade 4/5

UndeadMitch wrote:
in another table was almost forced to kill Lem while confused during Weapon in the Rift (Lem, as it turns out, fares poorly when he takes a falcata crit to the face, I'm glad I didn't kill him).

Now I'm picturing Elmer Fudd singing "Kill Da Hobbit".

Silver Crusade 5/5

Fromper wrote:
UndeadMitch wrote:
in another table was almost forced to kill Lem while confused during Weapon in the Rift (Lem, as it turns out, fares poorly when he takes a falcata crit to the face, I'm glad I didn't kill him).
Now I'm picturing Elmer Fudd singing "Kill Da Hobbit".

You're not too far off. On one hand, I felt kind of awkard and bad that I came pretty close to killing him, on the other hand it was kind of liberating to just uncork on that little halfing with my Taldan Rondelero Duelist dressed to the nines with some glamered full plate.

Dark Archive 5/5

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I think the problem most people have with pregens is it kinda defeats one of the major selling points of a table top game which is the liberty to make creative and unique characters of your own.

It's one of the reasons I dislike all the special scenarios that require a pregen. They can be fun and quirky, but it's not as interesting. To some extent, I feel a little punished for not playing the season 6 aspis special, because now things like The Bronze House Reprisal scenario, make virtually no sense.

This and the pregens aren't optimal in any capacity, and in the more dangerous later seasons (6-7), they can be a liability. It isn't as noticeable at early levels, but the 7 pregens might as well be a detriment save like Kyra.

Shadow Lodge 1/5

I've played Lirianne the gunslinger at 4 and 7 due to not having the right level character, Jirelle the swashbuckler as a GM for a 3 player Silverhex table(wound up being the tank when Amiri went down in Crash), 7th level Seelah for both parts of Rats of Round Mountain, plus Poog and Reta.

Liberty's Edge 1/5 5/5

I mostly play iconics to round a table up to a legal four and/or to ensure that I can keep new players alive. For this reason, I predominately play Kyra .

Occasionally I'll play Seelah to tank or Merisiel to trapspot. But my favorite iconic to play to date is Yoon and I will play her every chance I get since its the only way to role play an 8yr old.

Liberty's Edge

Three times total, at my first three sessions.

Quinn at session 1, Out of Anarchy.
Merisiel at session 2, The Confirmation.
Zadim at session 3, The Darkest Vengeance.

Since then I have played my single character, Almarik the Slayer (now level 5.2). I look forward to power-leveling him to 7.1 during SkalCon as I'm signed up for all five time slots.

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