Because of MomoCon, we will not have a game day at HobbyTown in May. See you in June!

Will

I've seen some things that...irk me...when playing PFS that linger around from 3.5 rules that I've seen enforced at tables.  The main one I see is the trapfinding issue, where in Pathfinder you can find magical traps without it but cannot disable it, but in 3.5 you could not spot nor disable it.  I've had an entire table rally against me with this rule before and just brush me off even when I showed evidence!

So anyway, I want to try to make a list of commonly encountered mis-rulings in PFS play in an effort to minimize these situations in GAPFS.  This list is meant to be with the help of others, so I'd love some more input on these matters and additional rulings, or if you think one of them is wrong.  This is meant as educational and I think we can all learn a thing or two from it.  If a rule is too controversial, it probably won't make it on the list.

by Andrew Roberts, VL

Last update: December 4, 2018

What is PFS?

Pathfinder Society (PFS) is an organized play campaign, where a bunch of people that don't know each other play together with their characters. All characters start at level 1 and advance based on how many scenarios and modules they have played (a scenario is a half day affair, granting 1 xp, and a module is a full day affair, granting 3 xp. It always takes 3 xp to gain each level). At the end of each adventure you will get a chronicle sheet that details what your character earned during that adventure. You do not keep any items gained through the adventure, although the gold earned at the end of the scenario reflects the amount of treasure you accumulated during that scenario as if you had sold everything off. You can take your characters to any venue, state, or convention in the world where Pathfinder Society is being played.

The organized play follows completely strict rules of Pathfinder, and only allows Pathfinder rules (No 3rd party publisher content allowed). They do this because when you have multiple GMs, one GM may allow something while another may not. Having it completely strict as to what you can do makes it uniform and doesn't screw people over with their characters when playing with different GMs. Having said that, I was rather surprised by the amount of rules we got wrong or we missed in our home games, so be warned about that.

I'm interested! How to sign up for a game?

The best way to search for games is to look at our calendar. There, you can see all of our upcoming scheduled games. To sign up, click on the gameday you want to go to and reply to the thread telling them what scenario you want to play and your name, as well as character level and class if you know what you are going to play. That will reserve you a spot for that gameday. If there aren't empty slots on the game, then you will be put on a wait list. We strongly prefer you sign up ahead of time so that we can know who is coming. This helps us set up GMs and games so that everyone has the best experience. You can sign up friends too, but after the first couple times we prefer that they sign up individually (families and couples are an exception to this).

Our calendar for gamedays is located at the top of any forum page, or you can click the calendar link below:
http://gapfs.org/forum/calendar.php

Now I know how to sign up! Do I need to make a character?

For your first couple of games, it's up to you. You can either make your own character or play a pregenerated character. If you are playing at a higher level game, you will need to play a pregenerated character as all PFS character start at level 1. If you want to make your own, the links and tips below will help you out! There is also almost certainly someone at the gameday who can help you out as well if you are having trouble.

Useful Links:

If you would like to join, they have a guide to making your character here (Or you can look at the quick guide below):
http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/v5748btpy84k4

If you have a question about what's allowed from outside the core rulebook, consult this page:
http://paizo.com/pathfindersociety/about...lResources

This website is great because it tells you what is allowed or not allowed specifically in Pathfinder Society by putting a little symbol beside the feat/class/skill/archetype/whatever to show you it's allowed (technically if it's not the core rulebook you have to own the book for it to be allowed). I highly recommend it as the go-to site for rules:
http://www.archivesofnethys.com/

And most of the stuff here is allowed, but you will have to double check some of it (especially since some campaign setting-specific names have been altered):
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

Quick guide to making a level 1 character in PFS:

• All characters start at level 1 with 0 XP. If there's a higher level adventure you wish to play, pregenerated characters of higher levels are available. Here is some more information of how pregen credit works.
  
  
• 20 point buy (calculator here: http://tools.digitalightbulb.com/pbcalc.html)
  
  
• 150 starting gold, and you start with basic clothes as well (your basic clothes and gold do not contribute to your encumbrance, but everything else does). Certain classes also start with other free items (like Spellbook for Wizards).
  
  
• All mundane items always available for purchase except poisons, although characters with the "poison use" ability can purchase certain poisons (which are rare and illegal in the campaign world's major cities)
  
  
• All level 1 potions and scrolls are available for purchase from the start.
  
  
• All +1 weapons and armor are always available for purchase (not that you can yet anyway)
  
  
• You get two traits (found on the Archive of Nethys or PFSRD site). You cannot have two traits of the "same type," as in you can't have 2 religion traits or 2 combat traits (see here for most common traits: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advan...tml#Traits )
  
  
• You can only be the core races (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Gnome) and Tengu, Wayang, Nagaji, Kitsune, Ifrit, Oread, Sylph, and Undine.
  
  
• Almost all base classes and archetypes are allowed. The summoner from the Advanced Player's Guide is no longer legal. If you make a summoner, it must be the version from Pathfinder Unchained.
  
  
• Evil characters are not allowed.
  
  
• There are definitely situations where role-playing is encouraged in the scenarios, but keep in a mind a lot of them are combat-focused, and ALL will have some sort of combat.
  
  
• Crafting of items is generally not allowed. Magic item crafting is never allowed. You can still have ranks in the Craft skill, however.
  
  
• Some classes have specific changes: Wizards get Spell Focus instead of Scribe Scroll at first level, Alchemists get Extra Bombs instead of Brew Potion at first level, and Skalds get Extra Performance instead of Scribe Scroll at first level.
  
  
• If you end up not liking your character, you can always change anything about him/her until you play your character in a game at level 2.
  
  
• You can have as many PFS characters as you want! Each will have a different character number.
  
  
• You must choose a PFS faction for every character.
  

Here at Giga-Bites cafe, we host tables of Pathfinder Society every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Here is the line-up for May 6th, 2017 at Giga-Bites.

1. Edward - Oracle 1 or Slayer 5
   
2. Caleb
   
3. Kerney
   
4. Carloc C.
   
5. Tarrintino
   
6. Chris W.
   
7. Jordan
   
8. Curtis - Rogue 2
   
9. Dennis
   
10. Robert
    
11. Bart
    
12.  
    

1. Edward - Monk 5
   
2. Caleb
   
3. Carloc C.
   
4. Tarrintino
   
5. Chris W.
   
6. Jordan
   
7. Liam - Monk/Sorcerer
   
8. Curtis - Oracle 6
   
9. Dennis
   
10. Robert
    
11. Bart
    
12.  
    
    

Athens After Dark continues to rule the night at Little Kings, a great downtown venue.
 
We intend to run one session (possibly with multiple tables) - usually on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at Little King's Shuffle Club from 6:30pm-11:30pm.  Little Kings has been a very gracious host, so please show them your patronage.
 
Little King's Shuffle Club
223 W Hancock Ave
Athens, GA ‎30603
 
Buy drinks, responsibly, from the bar or display your genuine Paizo/Pathfinder swag and get a re-roll.
 
For May 9, 2017 we offer a brand new Season 8 scenario for levels 1-5:
 
#8-18—Champion's Chalice, Part 1: Blazing Dangerous Trails (1st-5th)  GM: Jim H.  
Players:
1. Douglas - Swashbuckler 1
2. Kristi - Rogue 1
3. Noah - ? ?  
4. Tiff H. - Phytokineticist 1/2
5. DaveB - ? ? 
6. Eric P. - ? ? 

 
Those new to the Pathfinder Society are free to bring a character made under the PFS rules or to simply come and play one of the pre-generated characters that we will have at the event.  
 
If you would like to participate, please reply to this post with: your name, the scenario you would like to play, your character class, and your level (color commentary is also encouraged).  Walk-ins are welcome and we will always do our best to accommodate, but if you reserve a slot you will be guaranteed a spot to play.
 
If you have any questions, please post them here or send them to me (Tiffany H.) on the forum.