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At our local store, we are about to start a core campaign. So I have been digging through the forums looking for a few clarifications on core. I was originally curious if the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide was legal to give players something to actually spend their PP on outside the basic list in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide. As well as information on the Bestiary since we will have at least person with an animal companion.
The problem is that the guide never then gives a list of books you can use after character creation. When it comes to Core, we can only use what's listed as legal the guide, which does not include the Bestiary anywhere in the text. There are posts by Mike Brock clarify options back when Core was first introduced, but he then said that these option would appear in the guide (and did indeed make it into season 7). The new guide replaces the old one, so by the Bestiary not appearing as a resource in season 8, I can see where people are saying it's no longer a legal source for Core.
While I was looking for my clarification, I did see the PFS FAQ say:
What books are Pathfinder Society players and GMs assumed to have?
Pathfinder Society Organized Play assumes that every player has access to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and a familiarity with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide, and that every Game Master has access to the above plus the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. When designing and developing scenarios, we assume that references to rules or flavor in these books needn't be explained. Lack of access to these materials may prevent players or GMs from being able to participate in the campaign. All relevant content from both the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and Pathfinder RPG Bestiary may be found for free on the Pathfinder Reference Document at http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/.
So it seem the issue to both my question on the PFS Field Guide and the discussion here about the Bestiary would be solved if we could just get an official statement that the above applies to all PFS events including Core.
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So it seem the issue to both my question on the PFS Field Guide and the discussion here about the Bestiary would be solved if we could just get an official statement that the above applies to all PFS events including Core.
Unfortunately, per the Season 8 Roleplaying Guild Guide:
"Limited Resources: Core Campaign PCs are limited to using the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide, and Pathfinder RPG Character Traits Web Enhancement when building their characters. Some adventures’ Chronicle sheets also open access to other gear, feats, and other character options, which Core characters can use. Only such Chronicle sheets earned in the Core Campaign offer these expanded options to Core PCs."
So the Pathfinder Society Field Guide can only be used for material that is referenced in a Chronicle earned by a Core character.
The issue is that the Core Rulebook references rules that are found only in the Bestiary, which is not a legal resource. The common sense approach is to allow those rules that are cited in the CRB to be used as written in the Bestiary (pounce and grab rules for animal companions, stats for summoned creatures, stats for wild shape and polymorph spells, etc.); however, there are some who feel that this needs to be addressed directly by campaign management. My understanding is that they are revising the Roleplaying Guild Guide, so we'll need to wait for the update to see where we stand.
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I FAQ'ed the post above (technically speaking there IS an issue) but the answer is absolutely 100% obvious and clear. We all KNOW that they're just going to tell us to use the Bestiary.
The issue is that by playing/running PFS you agree to using and enforcing the Rules as laid out in the various Campaign rules documents and sourcebooks.
Given that, we don't "KNOW", we just know what makes sense to us.
Using the Season 7 Core Campaign language we KNEW that the Bestiary Animal Companions were legal. The Rules said so. We got a ruling saying they were not intended to legal and that the Season 8 Guide would have a revision of the specific language.
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Now we have the new language and are looking to fix the issues created by the new language. As well as fix other issue with the language for the Core Campaign.
What looks more authoritarian than deep lawful neutral? I think we now have our answer ... FOLLOW TEH RULES OR THERE WILL BE CHAOS!