Purchasing boons for other players?

[Mark Stratton]

I GM’ed a game yesterday and one of the characters died. The player has very few ACPs. I have plenty available - is it permissible for me to buy the Second Chance boon for him? If so, how do I do that?

TIA!

[cavernshark]

There's a FAQ on this:

"Can party members help purchase a Second Chance boon?"

Answer wrote:

Party members may contribute gold to any costs incurred as part of the resurrection ritual. They may also sell the deceased characters’ items to help contribute to the cost if the player consents.

The implications of the above is "No" you can't buy the boon but others can help cover the costs. Since you're the GM, it's even further removed and it sounds like you probably can't do anything.

I don't love that answer, but that's all I could find.

[Cordell Kintner]

Party members (not GMs) may contribute in game currency to help revive a character. ACP is personal and no boons can be transferred.

Unfortunately, death is a real threat in Pathfinder. One should always have a plan to deal with it, especially at higher levels. Luckily at level 9 all PCs gain access to the Resurrect ritual, which I believe any character can use the Learn a Spell action to learn. Players casting Resurrect is currently the cheapest in game method to bring a player back from the dead.

[cavernshark]

Cordell Kintner wrote:

Luckily at level 9 all PCs gain access to the Resurrect ritual, which I believe any character can use the Learn a Spell action to learn. Players casting Resurrect is currently the cheapest in game method to bring a player back from the dead.

This is news to me. Where do we gain access to Resurrect from?

[Cordell Kintner]

The Character Options page, all Pathfinder Agents have access to the ritual as well as the Raise Dead spell.

[cavernshark]

Cordell Kintner wrote:

The Character Options page, all Pathfinder Agents have access to the ritual as well as the Raise Dead spell.

I found it right after you posted (cleaned up my edit above to make this thread easier to follow). I didn't think any of the rituals were allowed.

--

Regardless, I'd hardly call level 9 very accessible given that 7 or so is the effective soft-cap for most characters right now. And by the time you get there most of us have AcP.

As you noted, death at high levels is a thing but death for a new player is pretty rough (as noted in the guide) and that's really the point of this thread. GM's are all but explicitly advised to pull punches to avoid killing a new player.

I think more generally it'd be nice to be able to gift boons somehow.

[Cordell Kintner]

We are literally getting a level 9-12 in a couple of months, and I have two level 9s and a level 8. Level seven is hardly a soft-cap lol

Yea I would love to be able to gift ACP boons, and I think they're working on a method of being able to do it, but at the moment it's just not possible without opening the door to infinite duplication of boons.

[cavernshark]

I have a level 11, a level 8, and a level 7. Those are at that point because of AP and one-shot credits. I'm also capable of understanding that I'm probably far on the outside curve of what most players are experiencing.

*Most* characters will hit an effective soft-cap around level 7. At that point you've dropped out of the 3-6 band where we have the highest scenario density. You can probably take 1-2 others up to 8-9 with the few 5-8s we have. A single 9-12 in a few months isn't changing that. My point isn't to complain about that, it's just to acknowledge that the people most impacted by death are the ones who are much lower level.

[Mark Stratton]

This player is relatively new to PFS, so he doesn’t have enough ACPs. Another player suggested he just make another character, but basically make it the same character with a different number. He didn’t like that option because he felt like it was “cheating” -not his word, but mine. He just found doing so not within the spirit of the game. As well, there just weren’t enough resources among the remaining characters to be able to pool together.

In PFS 1e, if I had a boon (as a player or GM), I could just give that boon to another player or GM and they could benefit from it. That’s what led me to ask.

I mean, I’d just gift this guy 40 ACPs so he could buy the boon himself, but I can’t do that.

I’m aware that death is a very real consequence. But, he’s also relatively new to PFS and I don’t want him to be turned off to PFS (and even the guide makes that very point.). In this fight, all of the players’ dice all went cold, and this particular PC who was at Dying 2 crit failed his recovery check. I mean, there was literally nothing I could to do justify saving him, and he didn’t have a hero point available. It was just a bad situation all the way around.

I appreciate everyone’s input and feedback! Thanks!