The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is a worldwide fantasy roleplaying campaign that puts you in the role of an agent of the Pathfinder Society, a legendary league of explorers, archaeologists, and adventurers dedicated to discovering and chronicling the greatest mysteries and wonders of an ancient world beset by magic and evil. The campaign’s home base is Absalom, the so-called City at the Center of the World, which stands astride the great Inner Sea on the mountain-capped Isle of Kortos. A Pathfinder’s adventures range from exploring the dark alleys and political intrigues of Absalom to embarking on far-flung travels to the most interesting and exotic locales in the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is powered by the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This guide presents the information you need to participate in this exciting, dynamic campaign. Welcome to the Pathfinder Society!
In an organized play campaign, your character goes on adventures in a common setting shared by thousands of other gamers from around the world. These gamers gather in their homes, in game stores, at conventions, and online to play, report on their adventures, and influence the fate of the world of the Pathfinder RPG. You can take your character to any public Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild event anywhere in the world, and while the Game Master (GM) and your companions might change every time you play, your character continues to have new adventures, become more powerful, and acquire fantastic rewards. Over time, participating in an organized play environment offers a uniquely immersive experience, as your diverse companions add depth and character to the world of the campaign. It is also a great way to get in touch with other gamers, meet new people, and play regularly without the need to track an ongoing plot and schedule regular events as you would for a traditional campaign.
Alternatively, some players prefer to keep their Roleplaying Guild experience limited to a familiar group of friends, using the Roleplaying Guild’s character creation rules, adventure scenarios, and reward structure as the framework for a private campaign. Both approaches are valid ways to participate in the organized play campaign, and many players enjoy a combination of public and private adventuring.
Because an organized play campaign takes place in a shared-world environment, a few additional rules are required to ensure that players share a similar experience, regardless of where they are playing or who is running the game. This rest of this guide outlines these campaign rules, ensuring a level playing field for all players.
A dedicated team of Paizo staffers oversees the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. These include the Organized Play Coordinator, the Pathfinder Society development team, and the Pathfinder Society design liaison. Volunteers called Venture-Officers assist them by coordinating games worldwide. More information about the Venture-Officers is included in Appendix 7: Roleplaying Guild Guide Glossary.
Please read over the contents of this guide carefully. Questions may be directed to the Organized Play Coordinator at pathfindersociety@paizo.com.
Do you have a question about the rules in this guide, or want to find or set up a Pathfinder Society event in your area? Join the vibrant Pathfinder Society community online by participating in the official Pathfinder Society forums at paizo.com/pathfindersociety. Your feedback helps us improve the Pathfinder Society, so drop by and tell us what we can do to enhance your Pathfinder Society experience!
Pathfinder Society is an inclusive community with a diverse membership. We are committed to fostering a safe environment for everyone, regardless of gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnicity, religious beliefs or background, age, neurotypicality, physical ability, physical appearance, body size, or other differences. We also wish to give room for players to develop a wide variety of characters, trusting our players to regulate their actions in a public setting and to treat each other with respect. When participating in public Pathfinder Society events, be mindful of any controversial or edgy concepts in your character and consider limiting them to bylines or dice rolls. Dysfunctional or uncooperative play will not be tolerated. Behaving in a hateful or disruptive fashion simply because “It’s what your character would do” means you’ve probably lost sight of the purpose of organized play and may be asked to amend your behavior or leave the table. Extreme or repetitive cases of inappropriate behavior will be resolved by asking the offender to leave the table or venue.
The full Pathfinder Society Community Standards policy may be found paizo.com/pathfindersociety/policies. Roleplaying Guild games that take place on paizo.com are also subject to the Community Guidelines that exist for the forums in addition to the Community Standards policy, and may be subject to moderation as needed.
Maintain the integrity of the game and do not cheat. This includes, but is not limited to, falsifying rolls, altering Chronicle sheets, using unapproved resources, not owning the sources used by your character, and lying to event coordinators under any circumstances. Participants caught cheating will be barred from Roleplaying Guild events for a span of time commensurate with their offense. Repeat offenders will be banned from Pathfinder Society.
In Pathfinder Society, character sheets and Chronicle sheets are used to track character progression. GMs and event coordinators rely on these documents to keep the campaign honest, fair, and fun for everyone. It is your responsibility to maintain accurate records. You must bring the character sheet and all accompanying Chronicle sheets of any character you wish to play to Roleplaying Guild events. If you don’t, you will be asked to play a pregenerated character for that session. We suggest keeping your character sheets and Chronicle sheets in a binder with a dedicated pocket folder for each character. (More on Chronicle sheets and character progression can be found in Appendix 4: After the Adventure.)
There are several different classifications of games in the Roleplaying Guild.
Pathfinder Quests: Written for the Roleplaying Guild, quests are 1-hour introductory adventures.
Pathfinder Quest Arcs: Written specifically for the Roleplaying Guild, quest arcs include several quests that involve a common theme, typically culminating in a capstone adventure.
Pathfinder Society Scenarios: Written specifically for the Roleplaying Guild, scenarios each present a single episode in a continuing story and typically take 4～5 hours to complete.
Pathfinder Modules: Modules are 32- or 64-page adventures using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (RPG) rules set. The Pathfinder Society leadership team sanctions Pathfinder Modules on a case-by-case basis for use in the Roleplaying Guild.
Pathfinder Adventure Paths: Adventure Paths are sixbook Pathfinder RPG campaigns. The Pathfinder Society development team sanctions Adventure Path content on a case-by-case basis for use in the Roleplaying Guild.
The Roleplaying Guild requires all members to have the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide (this document). Players and GMs are also expected to familiarize themselves with the official Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild FAQ at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/faq and campaign clarifications at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/campaignClarifications. If a clarification or FAQ pertains to your character, you are expected to bring a copy of the relevant sections to any Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild game.
While GMs are not required to read every post on the forums, they need to keep abreast of clarifications. At no time may a GM ignore rules clarifications. Any clarification made in a forum thread will be added to the FAQ, campaign clarifications, or Roleplaying Guild Guide as soon as possible.
Paizo produces a wide range of sourcebooks that further explore the game rules and world of Pathfinder. These volumes contain a huge variety of options to help customize your character. You can view the list of all campaign-legal additional resources online at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/additionalResources. In order to use content from sources outside the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, a player must bring a physical copy of the resources or a name-watermarked Paizo PDF of the relevant pages, as well a current copy of the additional resources listing. You must inform the GM that you plan to use additional resource material before play begins and allow the GM to use your material to familiarize herself with any new material.
Join the vibrant Pathfinder Society online community by participating in the official Pathfinder Society forums at paizo.com/pathfindersociety. Discuss! Ask questions! Find events! Compare character builds! Your feedback helps us improve our program, so drop by and tell us what we can do to enhance your organized play experience.
As a Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild player, you must register your name and your characters online at paizo.com/pathfindersociety. When you register, you’ll receive an official Pathfinder Society Number. Keep your Pathfinder Society Number handy and bring it with you to every Pathfinder Society event you attend. Paizo uses this number to record the adventures your character has completed and the Prestige Points that character has gained. Each character you create is noted by a －X appended to your Pathfinder Society Number. For example, if your Pathfinder Society Number is 1234, your second character would be 1234‐2.
If you’re beginning your Roleplaying Guild experience at a public convention or game store event, the event coordinator may provide a card with a Pathfinder Society Number and confirmation code on it. This number is now your Pathfinder Society Number. Register online at paizo.com/pathfindersociety as soon as possible. Enter the number and the confirmation code and your early adventures will be automatically linked to your new official record.
As you sit down to begin an adventure, introduce yourself to the other players and the GM. Take this time to determine which of your characters within the adventure’s subtier you want to play; the GM should pass around a sign-in sheet to record your character’s name, Pathfinder Society Number, level, and faction. During this time, you should also decide whether you are going to take full rewards or half rewards for the session (the other players will choose this for themselves as well).
Appendix 1: Character Creation contains step-by-step instructions to help you create your own Roleplaying Guild character. Read these rules carefully, as they ensure that characters are suitable for the organized play campaign.
If you don’t have time to create a new character or simply wish to try out a new character class, you can use a pregenerated character. The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild offers pregenerated characters based on the Pathfinder RPG’s iconic characters, available at paizo.com/communityuse/package or from your local event coordinator. When using a pregenerated character in this way, the player applies the adventure’s credit (gp, Prestige Points, etc.) to one of her Roleplaying Guild characters. The following rules apply when playing pregenerated characters.
Making Character Choices: Before the game, make the following choices about your character.
Resolving Conditions: During play, you may need to resolve various conditions that affect your character.
Applying Credit: You may apply credit for an adventure once your Roleplaying Guild character reaches the level of the pregenerated character used to play through it. For example, if you played a 7th-level pregenerated character, you would apply the credit once your character reaches 7th level. To apply credit, follow the steps below.
Downtime: Pregenerated characters can participate in Downtime activities as long as they have the appropriate skills to do so. See Appendix 4: After the Adventure for more details.
Although you can have more than one active character in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, you can play only one of your characters during a specific adventure session. In situations that require a pregenerated character as the fourth character to make a legal table, the GM can assign a player to play that pregenerated character as well as his own character, or the GM can allow the group to choose the pregenerated character’s actions.
In keeping with the “cooperate” theme of the Pathfinder Society, player-versus-player conflict should be kept to a minimum. While circumstances may arise where friendly fire occurs, a player must always receive the other player’s consent before performing such actions. Deliberate death of a character at the hands of another character should never occur. This rule does not apply in situations where a character is not acting of his own initiative, such as being mind-controlled by an NPC and forced to attack a fellow Pathfinder.
After you finish an adventure, the GM tracks character advancement, wealth gained, and Prestige Points earned and spent. Record any item purchases worth 25 gp or more on the character’s Inventory Tracking Sheet.
As a player, you are expected to keep accurate, up-todate records of your character and make sure to bring all of your Chronicle sheets to every Roleplaying Guild event or session. If you forget your Chronicle sheets, you will be unable to play your character, though you can play a pregenerated character. We suggest keeping everything in a binder with an individual folder for each character.
See Appendix 4: After the Adventure for information on filling out your Chronicle sheet and resolving events at the end of an adventure.
You can receive credit――a Chronicle sheet with the adventure’s rewards――once for playing an adventure and once for running the same adventure as a GM, regardless of how many times you play or run that specific adventure. In certain circumstances, you may need to replay an adventure you have already completed. The following rules determine when replaying Roleplaying Guild adventures is legal, and what benefits you can gain from replaying.
Minimum Legal Table Size: You are permitted to replay an adventure in order to meet the minimum legal table size, with the following stipulations.
Rewards: You don’t earn any rewards beyond having a good time. You should (in this instance only) receive a Chronicle sheet for the adventure, though the GM will denote that you earned no gp, Prestige Points, Fame, XP, boons, item access, or any other benefits or disadvantages otherwise normally awarded by a Chronicle sheet. You do not receive Downtime with which to attempt a Day Job check. This Chronicle sheet serves only as a placeholder to indicate the character participated in the adventure and provides a place to track consumables, purchases, and conditions acquired by playing the adventure. This is the only exception to not having two copies of the same Chronicle sheet assigned to one character.
Notify the GM: You must inform the GM that you have already played the adventure or run it as a GM. GMs are encouraged to be as flexible as possible when replaying an adventure is the only method to run a legal table, but a GM has the right to deny replaying an adventure to players if she feels uncomfortable running an adventure for players who have foreknowledge of the story.
No Spoilers: Spoiling plot points or using insider knowledge to affect game play is grounds for the GM to remove players from the table. You should be very careful about character knowledge versus player knowledge. If you are concerned about possible spoilers, take the GM aside and ask her how she would like to handle it.
GM Star Replay: As a GM earns GM stars, she gains a limited ability to replay adventures (see Chapter 3: GM Basics). Note on the Chronicle sheet that you are using one of these limited replay opportunities (for example, “GM Star Replay #3”).
Most Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild games use the standard character creation rules――typically referred to as the Standard Campaign. Players and GMs can also participate in the Core Campaign, which comes with several advantages and limitations.
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.
The only exception to this rule are special race options. Boons that offer additional race options only apply to the Core Campaign if they were earned during an adventure; promotional boons and other Chronicle sheets that open up new race options otherwise can't be used in the Core Campaign.
No Mixing Campaigns: A session must accommodate only Core PCs or Standard PCs; characters from different campaign modes should not be part of the same adventure. The exception is that a Core PC can play at a Standard Campaign event, but the PC irrevocably becomes part of to the Standard Campaign, can no longer participate in Core Campaign events, and can now select any character options permitted in the Standard campaign.
Expanded Replay: A participant can earn credit once for playing and once for running an adventure as a GM in each of the two campaigns――a total of four possible credits.
Easy to Learn: With fewer options, the Core Campaign is less intimidating for players and GMs alike, especially those who are newer to the Pathfinder RPG.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a living game, and whether in the form of a playtest that varies from its final incarnation, conversion from the 3.5 rules set to the Pathfinder RPG, or errata or FAQ for the core rules, sometimes game elements change over the course of a PC’s career. The following guidelines allow players to update or convert existing characters to use the most current rules. When rebuilding your character in any way, you must describe all changes on your next Chronicle sheet in the Notes section, and your GM must initial that section.
Feats and Traits: If a feat or trait changes or is removed from the Additional Resources list, you have two options: You can switch the old feat for an updated feat of the same name in another legal source (if available), ignoring any prerequisites of the new feat you do not meet, or you can replace the feat (and any of the old feat’s prerequisite feats) entirely with another feat for which you meet all the prerequisites. If any of the feat’s changes directly reference one or more pieces of equipment you own (such as the weapon selected for the Weapon Focus feat), you can sell back that equipment at full market value.
Class Features, Prestige Class Features, and Archetype Abilities: If an ability-score-dependent feature of a class, prestige class, or archetype is altered at any time, you can rebuild your character to its current XP. Keep the same equipment, but you can resell any equipment that augments the altered ability score at its full market price.
If a class, prestige class, or archetype changes in such a way that you no longer have proficiency with a given weapon or armor type, you can sell back the affected equipment ――and only the affected equipment――at full market value. You can also retrain any feats directly associated with the affected equipment. If the price of an item becomes more expensive, you must sell back the affected equipment at its original full market value based on its remaining number of charges (if any). So long as you have enough gp and Fame, you can purchase the same item at its updated cost.
Spells: If the level of a spell changes, you must retrain the altered spell, replacing it with another spell of its original spell level. You can also retrain one spell of the altered spell’s new level, but only in order to learn the altered spell. You must sell back any potions, scrolls, or wands that use that spell at their current full market value based on the spell’s old level and the remaining number of charges. If a favored class bonus changes, you can reassign your entire favored class bonus at each level to any of the now-legal options.
This guide is not able to cover all possibilities with regard to playtests and errata. Additional topics not covered in this section are sometimes discussed on forum posts at paizo.com/pathfindersociety or in Pathfinder Society blog posts at paizo.com/paizo/blog. Please consult those sources and apply those changes if any of your characters are affected by errata or playtest material.
Running games in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is not that much different from running a regular campaign, with a few minor caveats. Be sure to familiarize yourself with Chapter 2: Player Basics and Appendix 1: Character Creation and Appendix 4: After the Adventure. You need to know what players know; what their expectations are; and how their characters are created, played, and advanced.
A Game Master (GM) is the person who adjudicates the rules and controls all of the elements of the story and world that the players explore. A GM’s duty is to provide a fair and fun game. In the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, a GM must also help players fill out their paperwork, ensuring each player has an accurate accounting of his character (PC), and must report the results of each game to the event coordinator or on paizo.com.
Anyone with a valid Pathfinder Society Number can run adventures in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. There are no tests to qualify as a GM. Neither are there feedback-based rating systems, wherein GMs are ranked by their players. While some players are hesitant to transition into the role of Game Master, local Pathfinder Society groups and the campaign as a whole benefit as the pool of Game Masters increases. In many cases, players sitting at a new GM’s table can offer guidance to help build that GM’s skills and confidence, so don’t be afraid to get behind the screen and give a whole table of players a great Roleplaying Guild experience.
As a Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild GM, you have the following duties.
Roleplaying Guild Scenarios are designed so that players of a variety of levels can participate in a given adventure together. Every scenario has a tier range and many have associated subtiers. Tiers indicate which character levels are legal for that scenario. If a PC’s level does not fall within the tier, that character cannot legally play in that scenario.
Within each tier, PCs or pregenerated characters should be used in the subtier in which they fall whenever possible, but they may be adjusted up or down, based on the average party level at the table, as outlined below. For scenarios with more than two subtiers, characters must be in adjacent subtiers to play together.
In order to determine which subtier a mixed-level group of PCs must play in, calculate the group’s average party level (APL).
APL = sum of character levels/number of characters
Divide the total number of character levels by the number of characters in the party, rounding to the nearest whole number. If the result of the average party level calculation ends with 0.5, the players should decide whether to round up or down.
Scenarios in Seasons 0 through 3 were designed for four characters. For these scenarios, if the APL is between subtiers, a party of six or seven characters must play the higher subtier. Parties with four or five characters must play the lower subtier.
Starting with Season 4, scenarios were designed for six characters and contained methods to adjust for tables with four players. When the APL of a table is between two subtiers (like APL 3 for a Tier 1～5 scenario), a party of four characters must play the lower tier without any adjustments for party size. A party of five to seven characters whose APL falls between two subtiers must play the higher tier with the four-character adjustments found throughout the scenario.
In the fringe case where there are no PCs that are high enough level to have reached the subtier level (such as a party of six 3rd-level characters), the group can decide to play the lower subtier.
The minimum table size for a Roleplaying Guild Organized Play session is four players. The recommended maximum is six players. In cases where you simply cannot seat four players, you may run a table of three players, and play an appropriate level pregenerated iconic character in order to meet the minimum table size of four PCs. Pregenerated iconic characters are available for level 1, level 4, and level 7.
If seven players show up to an event, rather than turning someone away, consider adding a seventh person to the table. Check with the players to determine their preferences before running a seven-person table, as sevenperson tables often overpower otherwise challenging adventures and limit the amount of time each player gets to shine in the given scenario.
Tables may not have eight or more players.
The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild has evolved over its lifetime. Below are instructions for making adjustments to Scenarios #1 to #5～25 to bring them up to date to the current season.
Season 0 (Scenarios #1～#28): Season 0 scenarios were written before the release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Scenarios are to be run with minimal changes by GMs, limited to adding CMB/CMD scores to NPCs and monsters and using newly combined skills such as Stealth and Perception instead of Move Silently and Spot. If a creature in the scenario also appears in a Pathfinder RPG Bestiary volume and has the same CR, you may use the stats from that volume. This is the only substitution allowed in these scenarios.
Prestige Awards and Faction Missions: Faction missions no longer count toward the success conditions of a scenario. The primary and secondary success conditions grant 1 Prestige Point each, for a maximum total of 2 Prestige Points. The primary success condition for a Season 0～2 scenario is the overall scenario’s goal; Season 3～4 scenarios instead use the Success Condition included after the scenario’s Conclusion section. A free supplementary document available for download at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/pfsproducts/pfsFreeProducts details the secondary success condition for each scenario.
Seasons 0～2: For the first three seasons of the campaign, only five factions were available for characters to ally with. As such, members of the newer factions introduced in Season 3 playing older scenarios can utilize faction missions from another faction, as follows.
Seasons 3～4: Two factions that are now retired――the Lantern Lodge and Shadow Lodge――were available for characters to ally with during Seasons 3～4; ignore these factions’ missions.
Seasons 0～5: After the first six seasons, the nation-based factions were replaced with ideals-based factions.
Slow Advancement Track Rewards: The option for slower advancement was introduced in Season 3. The maximum amount of gold a slow advancement track PC can earn from pre-season 3 scenarios is half the listed amount (or the Out-of-Subtier amount referred to below) rounded down. Similarly, a Pathfinder using the slow advancement track may only earn a maximum of 1 Prestige Point for completing both mission objectives: 1/2 for completing the primary mission objective and 1/2 for completing the secondary mission objective. The pre-entered +1 XP on Chronicle sheets from Season 0～2 scenarios should be changed to +1/2 for PCs using the slow advancement track.
Out-of-Subtier Gold: The Out-of-Subtier value was introduced in Season 5; therefore, Chronicle sheets from Seasons 0～4 do not include these wealth tables for normal or slow progression. The Out-of-Subtier gold value is the average of the high and low subtiers; for slow progression it is half the normal Out-of-Subtier value, rounded down.
In addition to scenarios, the Roleplaying Guild also offers sanctioned modules and Adventure Paths. This additional content works differently from standard scenario play as outlined below.
Characters: Depending on which mode the content is played, only certain characters are allowed.
Campaign Mode: For sanctioned modules and Adventure Paths, GMs are allowed to use their own rules for character creation and running the presented content (the entire book or series). Credit is applied to an appropriate Roleplaying Guild character as if the character created was a pregenerated character.
Module Mode: Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild characters are the only characters allowed. All Roleplaying Guild rules must be followed. Most modules only give credit to legal Roleplaying Guild characters.
Standard pregenerated characters are allowed for use in module mode play in any module for which the character would be in the module’s level range. Higherlevel content requires a legal Roleplaying Guild character in the appropriate level range.
Sanctioned Content: A document had been created for each sanctioned module and Adventure Path that outlines the content that players receive credit to be applied to legal characters as well as the Chronicle sheet(s) for that adventure. This document can be found on the product page for the sanctioned material or at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/additionalResources.
Time: Pathfinder Society sanctioned modules and Adventure Paths can take several sessions to complete. GMs are encouraged to work with players who miss one or more sessions when issuing Chronicles. Until applicable Chronicle sheets are handed out, these characters may not be used in any other Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild event.
All players receive a Chronicle sheet unless, at the GM’s discretion, they are replaying the module or Adventure Path for no credit.
Roleplaying Guild characters can only played in one scenario, module, or Adventure Path at a time. Characters are considered to be playing in a scenario, module or Adventure Path until they receive a Chronicle sheet for sanctioned content. GMs are advised to work with players who do not finish a scenario, module, or Adventure Path to receive their Chronicle sheets.
While the goal of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is to provide an even, balanced experience to all players, doing so would require all PCs to be exactly the same and all GMs to be restricted to a stiflingly oppressive script. We understand that sometimes a Game Master has to make rules adjudications on the fly, deal with unexpected player choices, or even cope with extremely unlucky (or lucky) dice on both sides of the screen.
Scenarios are meant to be run as written, with no addition or subtraction to the number of monsters (unless indicated in the scenario), or changes to armor, feats, items, skills, spells, statistics, traits, or weapons. However, if the actions of the PCs before or during an encounter invalidate the provided tactics or starting locations, the GM should consider whether changing these would provide a more enjoyable play experience.
As a Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild GM, you have the right and responsibility to make whatever judgments, within the rules, that you feel are necessary at your table to ensure everyone has a fair and fun experience. This does not mean you can contradict rules or restrictions outlined in this document, a published Pathfinder RPG source, errata document, or official FAQ on paizo.com. What it does mean is that only you can judge what is right for your table during cases not covered in these sources.
Additionally, the GM may consider utilizing terrain and environmental conditions when those effects have been written into the flavor of a scenario but the mechanics that are normally associated with them by the Core Rulebook have not been added to the encounters. GMs are always encouraged to reward role-playing when adjudicating the reactions of NPCs or the outcome of ingame encounters.
GMs may use other Pathfinder RPG sources to add flavor to the scenario, but may not change the mechanics of encounters. Specifically, the mechanics of an encounter are the creatures presented, the number of opponents in the encounter, and the information written into the stat blocks for those opponents. If an encounter is a trap, haunt, or skill check that needs to be achieved to bypass a situation then the listed DCs and results are not to be altered, as they are the mechanics of that encounter. Additionally, if an encounter already includes mechanical effects of terrain, weather, or hazards, please be aware that these things are also considered mechanics that may not be altered. Roleplaying Guild GMs cannot ban legal character options at public events.
If a particular issue comes up repeatedly or causes a significant problem in one of your games, please raise any questions or concerns on the Pathfinder Society forums at paizo.com/pathfindersociety, and the campaign management staff or the Pathfinder RPG development team will work to provide you with an answer to avoid confusion in the future. Even with unlimited time to address such concerns, however, there will always be slight table variation and Game Master fiat. The following sections provide advice on addressing some common table variations you should consider before running a Roleplaying Guild game.
Sometimes during the course of a scenario, your players might surprise you with a creative solution to an encounter (or the entire scenario) that you didn’t see coming and that isn’t expressly covered in the scenario. If, for example, your players manage to roleplay their way through a combat and successfully accomplish the goal of that encounter without killing the antagonist, give the PCs the same reward they would have gained had they defeated their opponent in combat. If that scene specifically calls for the PCs to receive gold piece rewards based on the gear collected from the defeated combatants, instead allow the PCs to find a chest of gold (or something similar) that gives them the same rewards. Additionally, if the PCs miss an NPC who carries a specific potion or scroll that the PCs might be granted access to on the scenario’s Chronicle sheet, don’t cross that item off the sheet ――instead, allow the PCs to find the item elsewhere as a reward for creatively resolving the encounter without resorting to combat.
The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild never wants to give the impression that the only way to solve a problem is to kill it. Rewarding the creative use of skills and roleplaying not only make Society games more fun for the players, but it also gives the GM a level of flexibility in ensuring players receive the rewards they are due.
But what if your players accidentally or intentionally kill an important NPC who was supposed to give them a crucial piece of information that’s needed for the scenario to progress? This is a tough problem for the GM and requires improvisation. Don’t decide the scenario is over just because the old man with the letter was caught in a magical crossfire and roasted alive, destroying both him and the important letter. Reveal that the letter survived by some freakish miracle (it was in a fire-proof pouch in his pocket) or maybe that the old man had a lackey who was watching from a nearby alley and knows everything the old man did, or another similar explanation. Improvisation will keep your scenario moving forward and help you work around unforeseen obstacles.
Players are responsible for their characters’ actions. “That’s just what my character would do” is not a defense for behaving like a jerk.
Alignment infractions are a touchy subject. Killing an innocent, wanton destruction, and other acts that can be construed as evil might be considered alignment infractions. Ultimately, you are he final authority at the table, but you must warn any player whose character is deviating from his chosen alignment. This warning must be clear, and you must make sure that the player understands the warning and the actions that initiated the warning. The PC should be given the opportunity to correct the behavior, justify it, or face the consequences. We believe a deity would forgive a one-time bad choice as long as the action wasn’t too egregious (such as burning down an orphanage full of children, killing a peasant for no good reason but sport, etc.). Hence, you can issue a warning to the player through a “feeling” he receives from his deity, a vision he is given, his conscience talking to him, or some other similar roleplaying event.
If infractions continue in the course of the scenario or sanctioned module or Adventure Path, an alignment change might be in order. If you deem these continued actions warrant an alignment change, you should note it on the character’s Chronicle sheet at the end of the session in the notes section The character can remove this gained condition through an atonement spell. If the condition is removed, you should also note it on the Chronicle sheet.
Characters who become wantonly evil by performing vile actions deliberately and without motive or provocation are retired from the campaign. This measure is a last resort; there is more than one way to play a given alignment.
If a character has become wantonly evil as defined above, you should escalate the report to the event coordinator, or the local Venture-Captain or Venture-Lieutenant. If they agree with you, then the character is deemed wantonly evil and considered removed from the campaign. Again, these measures should be taken as a very last resort.
In the event of a wantonly evil character, record the character as “dead,” and the person who enters the tracking sheet should check that box as well. If the event coordinator, Venture-Captain, or Venture-Lieutenant decides the character fits the criteria for being wantonly evil, she will then email the campaign coordinator to advise him of the situation, including the player’s name, Pathfinder Society Number, character number, and email address. She will advise the player of these actions and offer the player the campaign coordinator’s email address so the player may present his case.
Given the dangers characters face once they become Pathfinders, character death is a very real possibility (and a necessary one to maintain a sense of risk and danger in the game). Consider, however, that for a player new to Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, or to the Pathfinder RPG in general, having his character experience a violent death during his first game can sour him on the campaign and the game altogether. While we don’t advocate fudging die rolls, consider the experience of the player when deciding whether to use especially lethal tactics or if a character is in extreme danger of death, especially when the player is new to the game. Most players whose first experience in a campaign results in a character death don’t return to the campaign.
Similarly, if the entire party is killed and can’t be brought back to life, then the slot is over for everyone in the party. This means those players may have a substantial span of time before their next event at a convention with no game to play. Obviously, we hope that such total party kills never happen (and strive to balance the scenarios to make it unlikely)――but, sometimes, the dice just aren’t with you and everyone passes into the Great Beyond.
Regardless of whether you participate in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild at home or at a convention, your most important responsibility as a GM――other than providing your players a fair and fun gaming experience ――is to keep a careful record of events on every scenario’s Chronicle sheet.
Chronicle sheets record everything that a Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild character does over the course of her career and serves as the official record of each character in the campaign so a character can be played under a number of GMs at events all over the world. Chronicles also help prevent the rare unscrupulous player from cheating.
As you run your players through a Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild adventure, there are three important things you must keep track of: Prestige Points, treasure, and conditions.
Tracking Prestige Points is fairly simple; it requires you to read over the success conditions in the back of the scenario before play and then record whether or not the PCs accomplish these missions during the scenario. It’s important to note that scenarios from different seasons offer slightly different methods of gaining Prestige Points during play, as covered in Adapting Seasons 0～5 section above.
When you are looking over the character record sheets and Chronicle sheets of your players at the start of an event slot, if you notice anything that seems amiss, you can ask the player to explain any errors to you. If you believe a player to be cheating, please call over a coordinator to make a ruling.
If you are both the coordinator and the GM, it’s your call how to proceed, though we recommend that you do so calmly, nicely, and with an open mind. The player might have simply made a mistake, or you might have made a mistake in your understanding of her Chronicle sheet and character record sheet. Remember that the game is supposed to be fun, so waste as little time as possible on drama and spend as much time as possible providing an exciting, action-packed scenario for your players.
If you find a mistake on a Chronicle sheet or character record, resolve it as fairly as possible, such as having the character spend additional gold needed to meet the full purchase price of the item, retrain any feats using the rules presented in Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Campaign, or replace any prepared spells not legal for play.
Check with your event coordinator, Venture-Captain, or Venture-Lieutenant if you are unsure of how to fix a mistake.
If you believe the player to be cheating, ask her to leave your table and then send an email to the Pathfinder Society staff, detailing as much as you can remember about the sheet ――most importantly, get the Pathfinder Society Number of the player in question.
Following is a 10-step walkthrough of how to fill out a Chronicle sheet at the end of a scenario. Refer to the sample Chronicle sheet to the right for the locations of specific elements. Always fill out Chronicle sheets in pen, and write clearly and legibly at all times.
Step 1: Hand each of the players a blank Chronicle sheet and ask them to fill out the sections marked A～G, J, K, and P (Character Chronicle #, Advancement Track, Player Name, Starting XP, Initial Fame, Initial Prestige, Starting GP, etc.). When they’re done entering this information from their past Chronicle sheets, have them return the documents to you.
Step 2: Note the advancement track selected by each player at the beginning of the scenario (F).
Step 3: Award the character XP based on his advancement track. A PC receives XP only if he survives the scenario or is raised from the dead by the scenario’s conclusion and completed at least three encounters over the course of the adventure. A character using the standard advancement track earns 1 XP; a character on the slow advancement track earns 1/2 XP. Mark this value in the shaded XP Gained field and initial the adjacent box (H).
Step 4: Determine how many Prestige Points the character earned over the course of the scenario. A character on the standard advancement track can earn a maximum of 2 Prestige Points: 1 PP for each success condition completed. A character on the slow advancement track can earn a maximum of 1 Prestige Point: 1/2 PP for each success condition completed. Enter the number of Prestige Points earned in the shaded Prestige Gained field and initial the adjacent box (L).
Step 5: Determine the Max Gold for the scenario based on the PC’s advancement rate and the subtier played. Circle the applicable value (F). If the PC’s level is not within the subtier played (such as a 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-level character in Subtier 4～5), circle the Out-of-Subtier gold value or calculate the Out-of-Subtier value for Seasons 0～4 by taking the average of both subtiers and rounding down. Write this value beside area F and circle it. This value represents the total gold piece value a character receives for defeating all enemies and finding all treasure in a scenario.
If the player is playing a non-1st-level pregenerated character, he may choose instead to apply this Chronicle sheet to a 1st-level character by reducing this value to 500 gp (or 250 gp for the slow advancement track) for completing a scenario or 1,398 gp (or 699 gp for the slow advancement track) for completing a module. If the PCs failed to earn any of the rewards listed for an encounter, deduct the amount listed for the applicable subtier from the value circled in area F. If the resulting value is negative, use 0 instead. Place the result of this calculation in the shaded GP Gained field and initial the adjacent box (Q).
Step 6: Allow any PC who qualifies to attempt a Day Job check or engage in other downtime activity, and enter the result of this roll (determined by the table on page 34) in the Day Job field and initial the adjacent box (R).
Step 7: Mark any special boons the players did or did not earn (U) and cross out any treasure items the party didn’t find in the scenario (V); additionally, if you’re running the lower subtier, always cross out all of the items listed for the higher subtier.
Return the Chronicle sheet to the player.
Step 8: Have the player note gold spent or gained from buying and selling items including spellcasting services in the gold spent section (S). If the character gained an ongoing condition like a curse or disease during the scenario, the player should note that here as well. See Dealing with Afflictions below for more information on noting conditions gained and cleared during a scenario or after its conclusion. Additionally, the player must list any Prestige Awards his character gains by spending Prestige Points in the notes sections.
Sometimes a player must have you witness a roll to verify he successfully scribed a scroll into his spellbook or trained an animal companion to do a new trick. Write your initials next to any such entries in this sections to show that you witnessed the roll and that the PC was successful in the attempt. Any equipment purchased or sold (that is more than 25 GP) should be tracked on the character’s current Inventory Tracking Sheet, denoting the Character Chronicle # (A) next to the item purchased, sold, or expended during the course of the scenario or after its conclusion.
Step 9: Have the player finish the calculations on the right-hand side of the Chronicle sheet (sections I, M～O, and S～T).
Step 10: Review the completed Chronicle sheet and check the player’s math. Ensure that the character has access to any items bought and that the correct costs were paid. Verifying this information now helps prevent errors from going unnoticed on future Chronicle sheets. Once you’re satisfied with the information on the Chronicle sheet, fill in the gray box at the bottom of the sheet and sign (W). For “Event,” write in the name of the event you are playing at――if this is a home game or in-store game, just write “home game” or the name of the store. If it’s a convention, write the name of the show and the year. For “Event Code,” write in the event code associated with your event found on paizo.com/pathfinderSociety.
At the end of a scenario, a PC might have been afflicted with any number of possible afflictions, such as blindness, a curse, deafness, a disease, or a poison. Verify that the player recorded any conditions in the notes section on his Chronicle sheet and initial next to what he wrote (see below). It’s specifically important that conditions be written legibly so the player and subsequent GMs can understand them.
If the PC purchased the casting of a spell to remove the condition, you need to make sure the player recorded that information in the notes section at the bottom of the Chronicle sheet. If another PC cleared the condition by casting a spell, this information should be listed in the notes section with the casting character’s full Pathfinder Society Number written in next to the spell’s name. If, during this scenario, a character resolved a condition gained during a previous scenario, check that the condition is listed as cleared under the notes section on the Chronicle sheet for this scenario, and verify that the cost for resolving it or the PC who cleared it has been recorded.
Note: Any affliction that would result in an unplayable character must be resolved at the table once the game ends as explained in Chapter 5 of this document.
Once you have completed a scenario and filled out everyone’s Chronicle sheets, someone needs to report the results of the scenario. For home games, GMs are always responsible for reporting their results. For convention games and retail store games, the coordinator (who might also be a GM) is responsible for reporting the results.
Whether you are running a game at home or at a convention, you should have a scenario tracking sheet for each session you run. These can be found in the back of most scenarios or online at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/myAccount on the GM/Event Coordinator tab. As you’re checking over the players’ completed Chronicle sheets, make note of each character’s Pathfinder Society Number, character name, faction, and Prestige Points earned during the scenario.
As soon as possible after the session ends, go to the GM/Event Coordinator tab linked above, and click “Report.” Follow the instructions carefully, and enter the information from the tracking sheet into the form on the website. You’ll note that we collect far less information online than each player’s Chronicle sheets contains――this is intentional.
Beginning in Season 5, most scenarios have reporting notes at the end of the adventure. These instruct a GM to check one or more boxes (A, B, C, or D) based on the PCs’ choices and accomplishments, which help to shape the direction of the campaign. Be sure to check these boxes as instructed.
Event coordinators at retail stores and conventions are generally responsible for reporting the results of each session. As the session finishes, simply fill out the items that need to be tracked online on the convention tracking sheet and turn it in to the coordinator. The coordinator will then input all that information online either during the convention or shortly thereafter. In retail games and at smaller conventions, the coordinator is also often a GM. Regardless of the location of play, do not forget to report the results――reporting is very important to the success of Pathfinder Society!
In the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, we reward GMs for volunteering their time to run events. Starting with Version 2.2 of this guide (and not retroactive to any previous scenarios that were run), any GM who runs a scenario gets full credit for that scenario applied to one of her own characters. GMs also receive additional rewards based on the number of scenarios they have run and reported (See Reporting Scenario Results on page 15 and GM Star Rewards below).
“Full credit” means the GM gets the following: 1 XP for the scenario, 100% of the Max Gold for the subtier most appropriate to the GM’s PC, and 2 PP (or, for a slow advancement track character, 1/2 XP, 1 PP, and 50% of the Max Gold for the subtier most appropriate to the GM’s PC). For sanctioned modules and Adventure Paths, full credit is 3 XP and 4 PP (1 XP and 1 PP or as per the sanctioning document for Free RPG Day modules).
The GM can select any special boons bestowed by a Chronicle sheet, such as free magical treasure, regional boons, or future bonus die rolls. Boons for specific faction members may only be selected if the character that is receiving credit is part of that faction. The GM 's character does not engage in downtime activity.
The subtier for which a GM’s character receives credit depends on the character’s level. If a GM with a 1st-level rogue runs a Tier 1～5 scenario using Subtier 1～2, she takes a Subtier 1～2 Chronicle sheet for her 1st-level rogue. If she instead runs a Tier 1～5 scenario using Subtier 4～5, she still takes a Subtier 1～2 Chronicle sheet, as her PC clearly falls within the lower subtier.
A GM who receives a Chronicle sheet that indicates her character is between subtiers must always receive the Out-of-Subtier gold value and access to items and boons for the subtier at which the adventure was played.
If the GM with a low-level character runs any higher tier scenarios that don’t include a subtier for her 1st-level rogue, she takes the lowest subtier Chronicle sheet from that scenario and holds it for her PC. Then, once her PC achieves the appropriate level for that Chronicle sheet to be applied, it is immediately applied at that time. For example, if a GM with a 1st-level rogue runs a Tier 5～9 scenario, she would take a Subtier 5～6 Chronicle sheet (the lowest subtier for that tier) for running the scenario and set it aside. Once her rogue reaches 5th level, she can immediately apply the Chronicle sheet to her character. This means that GMs’ characters can potentially level up in bursts.
A GM can assign credit for running an adventure in any of the same ways a player can, and must follow the same rules as a player when applying credit to a character. When you choose to take a Chronicle sheet for GM credit, you must decide which of your characters receives the Chronicle sheet when you fill out the tracking sheet for that table. You must apply Chronicle sheets in the order they are received.
The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild offers a GM ranking system. This system uses stars to denote the activity and experience of a given GM. The stars are visible on your Pathfinder Society ID card. You can earn up to four stars for running a certain number of reported games, as follows.
To obtain a fifth star, you must accomplish the following achievements.
Paizo announces and recognizes all 5-Star GMs by name at both PaizoCon and Gen Con annually. In addition, there are special 4- and 5-star GM rewards, such as exclusive scenarios.
All GMs receive the following rewards based on the number of GM stars that they have earned.
All available Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild scenarios can be found at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/pfsProducts. Anyone can purchase a scenario PDF――all you need is a free paizo.com account. Scenarios are generally released during the last week of each month. At least two new scenarios are released each month, with extra events and specials released throughout the year.
The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild organized play campaign functions much like a home campaign played with the Pathfinder RPG, with the following adjustments.
All Tier 1 and 1-2 adventures can be replayed an unlimited number of times with a 1st-level character for credit. The Tier 1 and 1～2 adventures can also be played with a 2nd-level character once for credit in each campaign mode (Core and Standard Modes). GMs receive another Chronicle sheet each time they run one of the Tier 1 and Tier 1-2 adventures, but can only apply a Chronicle sheet to one 2nd-level character per adventure per campaign mode.
All roleplaying requirements for prestige classes, such as particular ceremonies or killing a devil, are waived in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Prestige class options and adjustments are found at paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/additionalResources.
In addition, the loremaster prestige class’s requirement of any three metamagic or item creation feats changes to any three metamagic or Spell Focus feats.
In certain cases, the events of an adventure can affect a character even after that adventure has ended.
Conditions: Unless noted otherwise, all conditions, including death, gained during an adventure must be resolved before the end of the session. A condition in this context includes an affliction, a negative effect, or an effect that is intended to mechanically affect your character in a negative way. If such a condition isn’t resolved by the end of play, the character should be reported as dead and becomes unplayable. However, a few conditions need not be resolved by the end of play, including permanent negative levels, ability drain that does not reduce an ability score to 0, becoming a fallen member of a class that requires an atonement spell to regain class features or spellcasting abilities, and conditions that impose no mechanical effect.
Permanent negative levels, ability drain, and nonmechanical conditions being carried over to the next session should be recorded on the Chronicle sheet.
Players are encouraged to share their physical resources in order to resolve any and all conditions. They may not pool Prestige Points, even if they’re from the same faction. Characters can also sell off gear, including the dead character’s gear, at 50% of its listed value to raise money to purchase a spell that will resolve the condition, though they can only do so in a settlement and they cannot sell off any items found during the current adventure that they haven’t purchased. Characters can use the rewards from the Chronicle sheet they earned in order to resolve any conditions. Characters who die during an adventure and are raised receive full XP for that adventure, as long as they completed at least three encounters.
A character who ultimately doesn’t resolve conditions during or immediately after the adventure must be marked as dead. That character’s player receives a Chronicle sheet for the adventure with no XP, Prestige Points, gold, and boons. The GM reports that character as dead on the Reporting Sheet provided with the adventure and on the character’s Chronicle sheet. The player will need to make a new 1st-level character or play a different character to continue playing in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.
Death: Death is a constant threat for characters who undertake dangerous missions such as those given out by the Pathfinder Society. Unfortunately, death can happen in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild play just like any regular Pathfinder RPG session.
The basic rule for the Roleplaying Guild is that if a character dies during the course of an adventure:
Expendables: Any wealth spent or resources expended during the course of an adventure must be tracked and recorded on either the Chronicle Sheet or Inventory Tracking Sheet as applicable.
In Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild play, you can never buy, sell, or trade items with another player. You can allow another player to borrow an item for the duration of an adventure. Characters can also expend consumables on behalf of their party members. Players are permitted to spend character gold to help a party member purchase spellcasting services such as raise dead or remove disease. This includes pooling money to buy breath of life or raise dead scrolls or potions for use in the game.
For ease of play, items of the same kind can be upgraded from a masterwork item to a magic item by paying the difference in cost of the two items. However, you can’t turn items of one type into another (i.e., you can’t turn a masterwork rapier into a +1 greatsword). Mundane items cannot be upgraded to masterwork items, nor can nonmagical aspects of equipment be upgraded, such as the strength rating on a composite bow.
Magic items that can be used less often than once per day (such as once per week or once per month and so on) are considered to be usable once per adventure.
All gear that is consumable or worth more than 25 gp is tracked on Inventory Tracking Sheets.
For simplicity’s sake, players can make purchases or procure spellcasting services if their characters are in a town of more than 5,000 residents. The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild assumes that every faction has at least one representative in every settlement that is at least the size of a small city. If outside of a town, PCs might be restricted from buying anything, though this varies by adventure.
Minimum Fame Required Maximum Item Cost Under 5 0 gp 5 500 gp 9 1,500 gp 13 3,000 gp 18 5,250 gp 22 8,000 gp 27 11,750 gp 31 16,500 gp 36 23,000 gp 40 31,000 gp 45 41,000 gp 49 54,000 gp 54 70,000 gp 58 92,500 gp 63 120,000 gp 67 157,500 gp 72 205,000 gp 76 265,000 gp 81 342,500 gp 85 440,000 gp 90 565,000 gp 94 680,000 gp 99 800,000 gpYou may always purchase the following items or equipment as long as you’re in an appropriately sized settlement (see above).
Beyond the gear noted above, your character is restricted to purchasing additional items either from his accumulated Chronicle sheets or by capitalizing on his Fame (see page 21). Weapons, armor, equipment, magic items and so on that are outside of these lists are not available for purchase at any time.
Items must be purchased at full value. You can’t buy broken weapons or armor; you can’t buy partially charged wands, rods, or staves; and you must buy ammunition in full lots (typically 10 or 20 for mundane ammunition and 50 for magical ammunition). You can purchase items of less than full value only if they appear that way on a Chronicle sheet.
All potions, scrolls, wands, and other consumables are made by clerics, druids, wizards, or psychics in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild play. The only exceptions are spells that are not on the cleric, druid, wizard or psychic spell lists. For example, a scroll of lesser restoration must be purchased as a 2nd-level scroll created by a cleric and can’t be purchased as a 1st-level scroll created by a paladin.
Use the following rules for purchasing potions, scrolls, and wands.
You may hire a spellcaster to cast a spell using the following rules.
You can hire a spellcaster to cast a spell for you at any time during an adventure as long as you’re in a settlement or have access to a temple, shrine, or wandering mystic at the GM’s discretion. For Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild play, settlements with fewer than 5,000 residents are presumed to have access to a caster who can cast spells that cost 3,000 gp or fewer, but never more. Characters can only purchase spells with a total cost of above 3,000 gp by visiting a settlement with more than 5,000 residents. Please note that PCs can never purchase the traveling service of a spellcaster―― in other words, a wizard from the local town is not going to accompany the PCs on their mission to investigate the nearby haunted castle or extraplanar breach for any price.
Award Cost1 +4 on any one skill check2 1 PP Dispel magic 1 PP Lesser restoration 1 PP Make whole 1 PP Remove blindness/deafness 1 PP Remove curse 1 PP Remove disease 1 PP Remove paralysis 1 PP Free purchase up to 150 gp3 1 PP Atonement 2 PP (8 PP to restore cleric/druid/inquisitor/paladin powers) Break enchantment 2 PP Greater dispel magic 2 PP Heal 2 PP Neutralize poison 2 PP Restoration 2 PP (4 PP to remove a permanent negative level) Free purchase up to 750 gp3 2 PP Regenerate 3 PP Have your body recovered 5 PP by a rescue team Raise dead 16 PP Greater restoration 16 PP Resurrection 32 PP True resurrection 77 PP1 Add 5 to this cost if this benefit is purchased outside of a settlement of 5,000 residents or more.
2 Does not include the Day Job check.
3 Once per session, you can acquire any single item of this cost or less from your faction by spending the appropriate number of Prestige Points. Items purchased this way are worth 0 gp and cannot be sold.
The following spells found in the Core Rulebook are not legal for play and may never be used, found, purchased, or learned in any form by characters of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: awaken, permanency, and reincarnate. All spells and effects end at the end of an adventure with the following exceptions.
While Fame and Prestige Points (PP) are related within the same system, they represent two different things within the Pathfinder Society or your faction and serve different purposes. Fame is a non-expendable score that represents your renown. Higher Fame scores unlock resources that can be purchased from the Pathfinder Society or your faction with Prestige Points and increase the maximum cost of items you can purchase with gold. If Fame represents the character’s overall reputation within the Pathfinder Society or a faction, then a character’s Prestige Points represent what the Pathfinder Society or her faction owes her in terms of boons, favors, and rewards. Since you spend Prestige Points to acquire goods, services, or awards, and since Fame and Prestige Points are gained at the same rate, your Prestige Point total will never exceed your Fame score. You earn Fame by completing missions for the Pathfinder Society or your faction, increasing your current Fame by that same amount. For example, your character has 5 Fame and 2 PP, then successfully earns 2 PP at the completion of an adventure. Her Fame score increases to 7, and she has 4 Prestige Points to spend at any time in the future.
A character’s Fame represents her renown and status within the Pathfinder Society and her faction. Fame grants the following benefits.
A character’s Prestige Points reflect the goodwill, political capital, and personal favors she has built up through service to the Pathfinder Society or her faction. While a character’s Fame can provide certain titles and privileges, the most tangible benefits are acquired by spending Prestige Points on aid, boons, favors, spellcasting, or other services that might enhance a character or an adventure. In addition to the generic Prestige Awards available to all Pathfinders regardless of faction (listed in the table on page 21), each faction offers specific Prestige Awards available only to members (see the Faction Appendix at the end of this document for more information).
Regardless of a character’s Fame, the Prestige Point cost for these boons and rewards remains the same ――a member of the Grand Lodge faction with a Fame score of 40 must spend 1 PP to have a remove curse or dispel magic spell cast on her behalf, just like a new initiate with a Fame score of 2. Once a Prestige Point is spent, it is spent permanently; it is not recovered automatically like lost hit points or ability score damage. The character may earn more Prestige Points by participating in additional adventures.
Prestige Points can be spent using the following rules.
When players achieve their 33rd experience point, they have leveled out of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild campaign. These characters have made it to the ranks of special agents known as Seekers. This august group of explorers participates in adventures to lands unknown within Golarion and beyond. They immediately gain the title Seeker and become special agents like Osprey, unfettered from faction and Pathfinder Society politics―― instead creating legends of their own, where every action or inaction becomes fodder for the Pathfinder Chronicles. Seekers are offered the opportunity to participate in one of three Seeker story arcs.
All for Immortality (Tier 12-15): As long as a character’s level falls within the Tier range, they may play any part of this Seeker arc. A character has no restrictions on playing other adventures in between parts of this Seeker arc as each part is a separate scenario.
Eyes of the Ten: Characters must start with exactly 33 XP and can’t participate in any other adventure until this Seeker arc has been completed.
Wardens of the Reborn Forge: Characters must start between 33 and 35.5 XP, complete the entire module with the same character, and can’t participate in any other adventure until this Seeker arc has been completed.
Characters that are 12th level and higher can also play higher-level scenarios, modules, and sanctioned Adventure Paths to reach levels higher than 13.
Any Seeker with sufficient Fame and experience can purchase scrolls containing 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-level spells, following the price guidelines in the Core Rulebook. Access to these spells is restricted to scrolls and is not available for spellcasting services. Upon reaching 13th level, Seekers are eligible to select spells or purchase 7th-level scrolls. Upon reaching 15th level, they are eligible to select spells or purchase 8th-level scrolls. Upon reaching 17th level, they are eligible to select spells or purchase 9th-level scrolls.
The Roleplaying Guild is a living campaign, and as such, is constantly evolving. In between versions of this guide, updates to policies may be necessary to keep the organization running smoothly. Any updates are announced in the Monday blog on paizo.com, which is dedicated to all things Pathfinder Society. After each announcement, copies of the new policy will be posted on the website at paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/policies. Current policies include the Pathfinder Society Community Behavior Policy, the Retail Incentive policy, and the Convention Support policy.
Oftentimes, changes to the campaign, whether through errata, additional resources, or campaign clarifications, are made just before a convention or game day comes about. Unfortunately, this occurs most often when members of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild aren’t able to easily access such information. When this occurs, the member does not have to implement the change until after that convention or game session. GMs should mark any Chronicle sheet earned at that event as ID, for “implementation delay.” Players then have the ensuing time to update their characters to meet current campaign guidelines.
This appendix details the steps for creating a character for the Roleplaying Guild.
The first step is to decide whether to use Core or Standard character creation rules. In Core mode, you use only the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook content and this guide in character creation. It reduces the amount of resources you must own, and provides a simplified version of the campaign by limiting choices. In Standard mode, you can use all products referenced in the Additional Resources document, found at paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/additionalResources.
Select your character’s race. The choices offered in the Core Rulebook are always available, as are ifrit, kitsune, nagaji, oread, sylph, tengu, undine, and wayang, provided you own a copy of the appropriate source book. Other races are available as campaign boons; the Chronicle sheet in which such a boon is available must be the first Chronicle sheet applied to a character.
No matter which race you pick, many options for each race exist beyond those in the Core Rulebook. See Additional Resources for a list of available options for your character’s race.
Characters must be between the ages of adulthood (see Table 7‐1 on page 169 of the Core Rulebook) and venerable (see Table 7‐2 on page 169 of the Core Rulebook).
Roleplaying Guild characters purchase their ability scores as detailed on page 15 of the Core Rulebook. Pathfinder Roleplaying Guild is a high-fantasy roleplaying campaign, so you have 20 points to spend on your character’s ability scores. The costs for ability scores are given in Table 1‐1 on page 16 of the Core Rulebook. You may not buy a score lower than 7 or higher than 18. Racial modifiers are applied after spending points; as a result of applying such modifiers, you could begin play with ability scores as low as 5 or as high as 20.
Do not alter your character’s ability scores as a result of her age category.
All Roleplaying Guild characters begin at 1st level. Most classes and archetypes are available, but a few have slight modifications to make them work within the Roleplaying Guild. Classes from the Core Rulebook have the following alterations.
Cleric: The abilities of clerics with certain domains or who worship Irori are as follows.
Druid: Druids with the Nobility domain get the Persuasive feat at 8th level instead of the Leadership feat.
Wizard: Wizards receive Spell Focus at 1st level instead of Scribe Scroll. Only items listed as always available (see page 19) can be selected as the free bonded object granted to a wizard at 1st level.
For classes outside the Core Rulebook and for all archetypes, see the Additional Resources document regarding which are legal for play within the Roleplaying Guild, as well as the Campaign Clarifications document (paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/campaignClarifications) for alterations.
Each character begins play with a single favored class of her choosing――typically, this is the same class as the she chooses at 1st level. Whenever a character gains a level in her favored class, she receives either +1 hit point or +1 skill rank. (See page 31 of the Core Rulebook for more information about favored classes.) Some races offer alternate favored class bonuses for certain classes.
Select one of the following alignments (Core Rulebook 166): chaotic good, chaotic neutral, lawful good, lawful neutral, neutral good, or neutral. Players may not play evil characters. When choosing an alignment, be sure it satisfies any alignment requirements for your character’s class.
Characters can worship any deity listed in the table of gods in the Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide, Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Gods and Magic, or any other source listed in the Additional Resources document.
Characters with any number of levels in any of these classes must select a deity.
This list is not exhaustive, and the Additional Resources document is updated with new classes, archetypes, and so on that require the worship of a deity as new Pathfinder RPG sources become available. As a general guideline, if a character receives any mechanical benefit connected to a deity, that character must worship the appropriate deity.
Characters who do not receive powers from a divine source may worship a deity, be agnostic, or worship no deities at all.
Regardless of class, each character must have an alignment within one step of her deity’s alignment. For characters who can channel energy, their deity’s alignment determines whether they can channel positive or negative energy―― those who worship good deities channel positive energy, while those who worship evil deities channel negative energy. If a character worships a neutral deity, the character’s player chooses which energy type her character channels. Once chosen, the type remains the same for the rest of the character’s time in the campaign.
Characters gain some languages based on their race, ethnicity, and homeland, but might speak additional languages depending on their Intelligence or class.
Characters gain certain languages automatically based on their race.
Human: Humans can speak Common, as well as any other modern human language associated with their ethnicity. These languages and their associated ethnicities are as follows.
Half-Human: Half-human characters (aasimars, ganzi, half-elves, half-orcs, ifrits, oreads, sulis, sylphs, tieflings, and undines) can choose a modern human language instead of the language of their nonhuman heritage. If they do not normally start with a language associated with their nonhuman heritage, they may still choose a modern human language.
Kitsune, Nagaji, Tengu, or Wayang: Kitsune, nagaji, tengu, and wayang characters who are from Tian Xia rather than Avistan or Garund can automatically speak both Tien and Common in addition to their racial languages.
A character with a high Intelligence score can select bonus languages from the list of modern human languages above, the bonus languages listed in the source for the character’s race, and Shadowtongue.
All druids speak Druidic as a free language (it does not count against their maximum number of languages known). Druidic is available only to druids.
Each class grants a certain number of skill ranks at each level to invest in skills. Characters with a high Intelligence score also receive bonus skill ranks (Core Rulebook 17). Review Chapter 4 of the Core Rulebook for the details of how to assign skill ranks and the benefits they grant.
Whenever a character invests a skill rank in Linguistics, she may choose a language from the Linguistics skill entry, any modern human language from the Languages section above, or any of the following ancient languages.
Ranks assigned to Craft skills are used only to perform Day Job checks, not to craft mundane items, with the following exceptions.
Each class grants characters feats as they advance in level――see individual class entries and Chapter 5 of the Core Rulebook for further details. However, the following feats from the Core Rulebook are not allowed.
For all other sources, reference the Additional Resources document regarding which feats are available for your character. While your character can take feats that enhance mundane Craft skills, unless noted otherwise in the Additional Resources document, your character can't craft items.
Your character belongs to one of seven factions (pregenerated iconic characters are members of the Grand Lodge faction). Detailed descriptions of all the factions, as well as benefits of membership and faction goals, can be found in Appendix 2: Factions. A brief summary of each follows.
Dark Archives: Members of the Dark Archives faction seek to catalogue, curate, and manage powerful artifacts and evil relics to better understand their properties, and possibly their applications in the future.
The Exchange: Members of the Exchange seek trade and economic advantages through a wide range of channels, calling upon both respectable business people and occasional underhanded contacts to further their goals.
Grand Lodge: Holding themselves above the petty squabbles of non-Pathfinders, this faction maintains the strongest allegiance to the Pathfinder Society, throwing their energy into the Society’s core efforts of exploration and reporting.
Liberty’s Edge: Members of this faction seek to plant the seeds of liberty across Golarion. They often infiltrate oppressive nations and organizations, recruiting dissidents, freedom fighters, and revolutionaries among the oppressed. They perform acts of both diplomacy and sabotage while carrying out their duties, and should be willing to bend the law and even employ questionable techniques to oppose tyranny.
Scarab Sages: Members of the Scarab Sages seek the lost sage jewels and worthy scholars to inherit the power of these specially prepared gems. They believe that once the gems are reunited, the sages can secure ancient secrets and disseminate that lore to modern innovators, sparking a new golden age of thought and technology.
Silver Crusade: Composed largely of paladins, clerics, and other servants of good-aligned gods, the Silver Crusade seeks to use the Society’s resources to further the cause of good in the world. Its members oppose factions that would drag the Society’s reputation through the mud in search of glory, and strive constantly to elevate the morals of their fellow Pathfinders.
Sovereign Court: Members of this faction seek to unite lesser nobles of many nations behind a common philosophy of excellence, progress, and ambition. In doing so, agents may be required to engage in both subtly inspiring and espionage actions.
Roleplaying Guild characters begin play with two traits――minor in-game advantages tied to their background in the campaign world. Complete trait rules can be found in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide or online in the free Character Traits Web Enhancement at paizo.com/download/pathfinder/CharacterTraits.zip.
A character can have only one trait from each category (or subcategory, in the case of basic traits). You can take an appropriate faction trait (listed in Appendix 2: Factions) as a campaign trait.
Follow the steps below to determine your hit points at each level.
All characters in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild begin with 150 gold pieces. See Chapter 4 for rules regarding purchases.
Now it’s time to fine-tune the details of your character’s appearance and background. Make a few notes on how your character appears to others that you can use to introduce your character at the table. Read through Appendix 3: The World of the Pathfinder Society for information on the campaign setting and consider incorporating that information into your character’s background.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game uses a standard 1-inch grid to determine movement and tactical positioning in combat. Choose a physical representation of your character to use on the grid. Paizo works with Reaper Miniatures and WizKids to offer a wide variety of gaming miniatures――metal and plastic, painted and unpainted――to help you find just the right figure for your character.
Over the years, factions have formed within the Pathfinder Society. Each seeks to use the considerable power and influence of the Pathfinder Society to advance its own goals and agendas. While every Pathfinder’s primary responsibilities are to explore, report, and cooperate, factions actively recruit agents to carry out additional tasks while performing their Pathfinder duties. In return, the faction exerts its influence to reward members who further its agenda. While no faction will tolerate Pathfinders sabotaging Society missions or other agents’ activities, factions encourage their representatives to keep their tasks and information to themselves, as not all faction goals are compatible.
The following pages describe the factions, their general objectives, their goals for the current season, and traits that members of the faction may choose during character creation. There are no restrictions on what factions characters can belong to, but the typical tasks set by a faction may be harder for characters of some classes to achieve. Iconic pregenerated characters belong to the Grand Lodge faction.
To represent the faction’s presence in the Society, each has a Faction Journal Card. Each card details the faction’s goals, the rewards for assisting the faction, and a list of objectives that they can achieve during play. Use of the cards is optional for each character. Season 8 Faction Journal Cards and detailed instructions for fulfilling faction goals are available online at paizo.com/products/btpy9dgw.
Show your support of your favorite faction. Pins of each faction symbol are available online at paizo.com/pathfinder/apparelGifts/pins. Wearing a pin that corresponds to the faction of the character you are playing confers the following benefit: once per session, you can add 1 to a skill check. If you apply this benefit to one of your faction’s favored skills (see below), you can instead roll 1d4 and add the result to a skill check. For this roll, you also treat the faction’s favored skill as if you were trained in it, even if you don’t have a rank in the skill.
The favored skill for each faction is listed below.
Dark Archive: Knowledge (arcana), Linguistics, and Use Magic Device.
The Exchange: Appraise, Intimidate, and Knowledge (local).
Grand Lodge: Diplomacy, Knowledge (history), and Survival.
Liberty’s Edge: Disable Device, Escape Artist, and Perform (any).
Scarab Sages: Knowledge (any).
Silver Crusade: Heal, Knowledge (religion), and Sense Motive.
Sovereign Court: Bluff, Disguise, and Knowledge (nobility).
If you ever become disillusioned with your faction, you may join a different one. This costs a number of Prestige Points (not Fame) equal to 3 × your character level. Payment of Prestige Points to change factions does not alter your Fame score. Characters who change their factions retain their faction traits but lose factionspecific Prestige Awards.
At the beginning of Season 6, several factions changed from nation-based to ideal-based factions. If you have not played a character since that change, you must choose a new, legal faction the next time you play that character.
Factions are sometimes retired in special scenarios designed to wrap up the factions’ stories. Any characters affected by faction retirement can retain any factionbased benefits but can't purchase new items specific to the retired faction. Such characters must choose a new faction at no cost prior to receiving credit for any further scenarios. GM credit can be applied to any character that belonged to the retired faction, regardless of level. Faction retirement is the only instance the tier requirement isn't relevant to the rules stating which characters GMs can apply credit to (see Game Master Rewards on page 16).
For players participating in scenarios in which the GM uses faction mission handouts, assign the missions to the members of the current factions as detailed below.
Andoran Faction: Assign these missions to members of Liberty’s Edge.
Cheliax Faction: Assign these missions to members of the Dark Archive.
Osirion Faction: Assign these missions to members of the Scarab Sages.
Qadira Faction: Assign these missions to members of the Exchange.
Taldor Faction: Assign these missions to members of the Sovereign Court.
For centuries the Pathfinder Society has accumulated powerful artifacts and evil relics deemed too dangerous to handle. It boxed up and stored these away in a series of vaults underground, intending to study them later. So many perilous finds in one place are bound to cause trouble, and it is the job of the Dark Archive to catalogue, curate, and manage these collections to better understand their properties―― and possibly their applications for the Society’s (or the faction’s) future benefit.
This significance is not lost on Zarta Dralneen, the manipulative and sultry head of the Dark Archive faction. Once infamous for her hedonistic parties as an envoy for Cheliax, she in now an independent operative with a chip on her shoulder and a wealth of ancient magic at her disposal.
Faction Leader: Paracountess Zarta Dralneen, formerly of Cheliax, who now resides in Absalom.
Motto: In Darkness Lies Enlightenment.
Objectives: Maintain order in the Vaults beneath the Grand Lodge of Absalom. Seek out other dangerous relics, and retrieve them for proper storage and research in the Dark Archive. Study and understand hazardous phenomena, and harness these occurrences’ power for the faction’s benefit. Build alliances with like-minded organizations to learn their techniques――or steal these secrets as the situation dictates.
Season 8 Goals: Expand on the Dark Archive’s understanding of the Elemental Planes and the power one might draw from them. Zarta Dralneen has pioneered a ritual to study and siphon these energies, which can be carried out once her agents have placed arcane foci where the elemental forces are the strongest.
Members of the Dark Archive faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
Arcane Archivist: You have spent years handling magic items and know how to test their functions while avoiding catastrophic results. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Use Magic Device checks, and this skill is a class skill for you.
Devil’s Mark: You bear the stain of a higher fiend upon you, and any evil creature that sees it may think twice before crossing you. You gain a +2 trait bonus on all Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks when dealing with outsiders of the evil subtype.
Librarian: You are trained to manage and maintain books, and you find it easy to obtain information from tomes. You gain a +1 bonus on Linguistics and Profession (librarian) checks, and one of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you. Once per day when you would gain a bonus on a skill check from reading a book, you can increase that bonus by 1.
Master of Pentacles: Your many years spent studying the art of summoning have given you a unique knowledge of this subtle and highly complicated discipline. Once per day, when casting a spell of the conjuration school, treat your caster level as 2 higher when determining the spell’s duration.
Soul Drinker: There is a dark hunger in you that rejoices when you or an ally slays a foe. Once per day when an enemy creature is killed, as an immediate action, you can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the slain foe’s Hit Dice. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. This is a supernatural ability.
The Exchange is an independent business with close ties to the Pathfinder Society. It seeks trade and economic advantage through a wide range of channels, calling upon its more respectable business people when honesty is best, but not flinching if it must employ the occasional underhanded technique to break an enemy monopoly.
Faction Leaders: Trade-Prince Aaqir al’Hakam, advised by Guaril Karela.
Motto: Dominance through Trade.
Objectives: Although the Exchange is small compared to many other trade organizations in the Inner Sea region, the faction aims to build an extensive commercial network that allows it to deliver nearly any kind of goods to any location―― for a price. Undermine or acquire rival monopolies while allying with powerful producers, merchants, and contacts to further grow the business.
Season 8 Goals: Pioneer new markets and establish contacts beyond the Material Plane. No doubt planar metropolises already boast strong trade networks, so use wit, acumen, and potentially underhanded tactics to carve out a mercantile foothold.
Members of the Exchange faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
Gold Finger: Your family comes from a long, proud tradition of housebreaking and thievery. You are a strong part of that heritage. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Disable Device and Sleight of Hand checks, and one of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.
Greasy Palm: You know how to get people to do what you want with little effort. When bribing an NPC, you can pay 10% less than a character without this trait would need to in order to garner the same results.
Smuggler: Whether you’re carrying illegal contraband or simply regulated products, you have a knack for sneaking goods past watchful eyes. You gain a +3 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks to hide an object, and Sleight of Hand is a class skill for you.
Tireless: You have become well-accustomed to working long hours and weathering difficult conditions to get the job done at almost any cost. You gain a +2 trait bonus on any Constitution checks to resist nonlethal damage from swimming, forced marches, starvation, thirst, and hot and cold environments. In addition, you gain 1 hit point.
Upstanding: Your preferred means of doing business involves giving your clients a fair deal and winning their continued business and good will. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks, and one of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.
Members of the Pathfinder Society consider the Grand Lodge in Absalom a second home, regardless of their national origin. Many Pathfinders have spent years training within the Grand Lodge’s walls, and those agents who reject distractions from outside political or religious factions are the pride of the Grand Lodge. Often, Pathfinders who acquire lost knowledge and forgotten treasures benefit directly from their discoveries, and consider the Decemvirate’s orders to be advice on how to maximize their own success.
Faction Leader: Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin.
Motto: Loyalty to the Decemvirate Above All.
Objectives: Members of this faction are the most dedicated members of the Pathfinder Society, embodying the key tenets of the organization above all else. Focused on exploring ruins and securing artifacts from those who don’t appreciate them, these Pathfinders have an insatiable sense of curiosity. Grand Lodge Pathfinders make excellent teammates for larger expeditions, and have filled the tomes of the Pathfinder Chronicles since the earliest volumes. They often take inspiration from the exploits of the early Pathfinder Durvin Gest, aspiring to become as famous as that legendary adventurer.
Season 8 Goals: Investigate the means by which the Society might release a powerful, benevolent outsider, and secure the means to set it free. Repel any rival organizations attempting to thwart the Society.
Members of the Grand Lodge faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
Insider Knowledge: Venture-Captain Valsin likes to keep abreast of situations within the Pathfinder Society, and you do your best to emulate him. Choose either Diplomacy or Knowledge (local). You gain a +1 trait bonus on all checks with the chosen skill, and the chosen skill is a class skill for you.
Loyalty: You resist attempts to dissuade you from obeying the Decemvirate’s will. You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells and spelllike abilities.
Observant: It helps to pay attention to your surroundings and the people you meet. Choose either Perception or Sense Motive. You gain a +1 trait bonus on all checks with the chosen skill, and the chosen skill is a class skill for you.
Proper Training: Your time training at the Grand Lodge of Absalom has served you well. Choose either Knowledge (geography) or Knowledge (history). You gain a +1 trait bonus on all checks with the chosen skill, and the chosen skill is a class skill for you.
Teaching Mistake: You know the consequences of failure and strive never to make the same mistake twice. Once per scenario, when you roll a natural 1 on any saving throw, you gain a +1 trait bonus on your next saving throw, which must be used before the end of the scenario.
The past century has ushered in a series of rebellions that founded revolutionary nations like Andoran and Galt. The Liberty’s Edge faction hopes to see all forms of tyranny and corruption wiped from the Inner Sea region. A Liberty’s Edge operative seeks to spread freedom’s ideals wherever he goes, which may mean bending oppressive laws. The faction now seeks to expand its message of hope and freedom to the Elemental Planes.
Faction Leader: Major Colson Maldris.
Motto: In Pursuit of True Liberty.
Objectives: Liberty’s Edge faction members seek to spark revolution in decadent old empires and to civilize and educate the ignorant peoples of lost and unknown lands. They press for the abolition of slavery and the punishment of those who perpetrate it. They bring the torch of freedom to the world’s darkest places and banish mysticism, diabolism, and fear. A member of this faction often performs acts of sabotage and diplomacy while carrying out her duties and should be willing to oppose tyranny in order to plant the seeds of liberty, even if doing so requires employing questionable techniques.
Season 8 Goal: Extend the message of freedom beyond the Material Plane, especially to societies with millenniaold traditions of slavery and subjugation.
Members of the Liberty’s Edge faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
Captain’s Blade: You were born aboard a ship and learned to fight beside the sailing men and women of Andoran’s Gray Corsairs. While on board any vessel afloat on water, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Acrobatics and Climb checks. One of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.
Freedom Fighter: Your family has long waged war against tyranny, and you learned a great deal about guerilla warfare in your youth. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Stealth checks and a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls during surprise rounds.
Indomitable: Your strong, self-reliant swagger makes you more resistant to domination and control. You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws versus enchantment spells and effects.
Rousing Oratory: You are adept at expressing your beliefs in a way that resonates with others. Perform (act, comedy, oratory, or sing) is a class skill for you. Once per day you can spend 1 minute addressing and inspiring your allies within 60 feet, after which you can attempt a DC 15 Perform (act, comedy, oratory, or sing) check. If you succeed, your allies gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against fear effects for 5 minutes. If you exceed the check DC by 10 or more, increase the bonus by 1.
Whistleblower: You are wise to the schemes of liars, thieves, and cheats. You gain a +1 bonus on Sense Motive checks, and that skill is a class skill for you.
Osirion is among the oldest nations, yet its greatness has waxed and waned over the ages. Recently, two scholars have revived the Jeweled Sages, an organization dedicated to recapturing Osirion’s lost glory and disseminating forgotten knowledge to bring about a new golden age in the Inner Sea region. Rebuilding the order depends on recovering more of the original sage jewels, recruiting extraordinary individuals to serve as new sages, and tapping into the elemental forces that ancient societies wielded to create their lost kingdoms.
Faction Leader: The Diamond Sage Tahonikepsu, advised by the Sapphire Sage Amenopheus.
Motto: Unlock the Wisdom of the Past for a Brighter Future.
Objectives: Seek and preserve the wonders of old civilizations such as ancient Osirion――especially the sage jewels that contain that desert kingdom’s precious secrets. Cultivate excellence in the faction, its allies, and the enlightened, as it is from these ranks that new sages will arise.
Season 8 Goals: Explore sites constructed with the assistance of elementals, and learn the past and present relationships between any mortal dynasties and elemental servitors.
Members of the Scarab Sages faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
Ancient Historian: You are well acquainted with the lore of fallen empires. Choose either Knowledge (history) or Linguistics. That skill is a class skill for you, and you begin play able to speak and read one of the following languages: Ancient Osiriani, Azlanti, Cyclops, Jistka, Tekritanin, or Thassilonian.
Attuned to the Ancestors: You were raised to believe that undead are nothing to fear――they are simply the unliving remnants of your honored ancestors. Once per day, you can surround yourself with an aura of unlife. Unintelligent undead ignore you unless you take an action against them, as per hide from undead. The protection lasts 1 round for every 2 character levels you have (minimum of 1 round). If you take any offensive action against any undead, this effect immediately ends. This is a supernatural ability.
Reverent Wielder: Some of the most powerful weapons are priceless and ancient, and you are vigilant in protecting your equipment as much as you protect yourself. You gain a +1 trait bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense against disarm, steal, and sunder combat maneuvers, and your equipment gains a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws.
Secrets of the Sphinx: Your ancestors paid the proper obeisance to Nethys, who granted their heirs special divinatory gifts. Once per day, you can gain a +2 trait bonus on any single Knowledge check. Additionally, choose one Knowledge skill. This skill is now a class skill for you.
Tomb Raider: You’ve spent most of your life exploring the ancient tombs and catacombs of Scarab Sages. You gain a +1 bonus on Perception and Knowledge (dungeoneering) checks, and one of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.
An influential group of Pathfinder clerics, paladins, and servants of good-aligned deities has assembled in a valiant effort to use the Society’s influence and resources to do good throughout the Inner Sea region and beyond. A crusade in name only, the faction models itself after the staunchly virtuous silver dragons by delivering aid, vanquishing evil, and leaving the indelible mark of good wherever its members go. Four tyrants have long ruled the Elemental Planes, and Ollysta Zadrian intends to shine the light of purity into these darkened realms.
Faction Leader: Ollysta Zadrian.
Motto: Use the Society for Good.
Objectives: Members of this faction seek to be more than just adventurers doing the bidding of the Decemvirate and the venture-captains. While other factions, such as the Exchange, may use the Society for personal gain, the Silver Crusade attempts to transform the Society into an organization that aids the weak, destroys evil, and makes the world a better place.
Season 8 Goals: For ages, four evil elemental lords have ruled the Elemental Planes without mercy. Defy them, spread hope, and support the forces of good that would restore balance to these planes.
Members of the Silver Crusade faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
A Sure Thing: Once per day, you gain a +2 bonus on a single attack roll against an evil creature. If the creature is not evil, this ability is wasted with no benefit.
Beneficent Touch: Once per day, when you cast a spell or use a class ability that heals hit point damage, reroll any 1s that appear on the dice. You must accept the new rolls, even if they result in 1s.
Comparative Religion: Your allies within the Silver Crusade have taught you a lot about Golarion’s deities and their followers. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks, and Knowledge (religion) is a class skill for you.
Force for Good: Your good-aligned spells are especially powerful, and they function as if your caster level were 1 higher. This trait makes your aura more powerful (one step higher), as outlined in detect evil.
Unorthodox Strategy: You are particularly quick on your feet, and gain a +2 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks to move through an enemy’s threatened squares.
Through techniques such as diplomacy, intrigue, deception, and the occasional act of sabotage, the Sovereign Court aims to unite the nobles of the Inner Sea, and eventually forge a new, glorious empire. Many monarchs would view the Sovereign Court as a rival, if not a criminal operation, so it is important that agents avoid publicizing the faction’s existence and goals except when dealing with potential recruits. Now that the organization has reached a critical mass, Lady Gloriana Morilla is accumulating magical and financial favors for an ambitious initiative.
Faction Leader: Lady Gloriana Morilla.
Motto: Nobility United for a Common Cause.
Objectives: Unite the nobility of the Inner Sea to serve as the powers behind their respective thrones and direct the nations toward prosperity, peace, and perhaps the creation of a new empire spanning Avistan and beyond. Avoid advertising the existence of the faction except to likely recruits, for many nations would see this organization as a threat.
Season 8 Goal: Seek allies beyond the Material Plane――especially those potential collaborators who can help finance or magically support the Sovereign Court’s fastgrowing ambitions.
Members of the Sovereign Court faction can take one of the following faction traits at character creation or by taking the Additional Traits feat.
Expert Duelist: Throughout your youth, you spent countless hours perfecting the art of the duel, focusing your efforts on defeating a single foe. You gain a +1 trait bonus to your Armor Class so long as you are adjacent to a single foe. This trait bonus is not applied to your Armor Class against touch attacks or when you are denied your Dexterity bonus.
Fashionable: You spent your formative years as a young blade in Oppara and learned the ins and outs of using fashion to improve your relations with others. As long as you are wearing clothing and jewelry worth more than 80 gp, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks. One of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.
Impressive Presence: Your grandiose posturing often makes it difficult for anyone to concentrate around you. Once per day as a full-round action, you can attempt to distract adjacent foes with a lengthy display of your martial prowess. All adjacent foes must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your level + your Charisma modifier) or gain the shaken condition. This condition persists for 1 round.
Influential: When you make a suggestion, strangers often assume that it was their idea to begin with. You gain a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks to make requests of a creature. Once per day, you can select one single spell you are casting with the language-dependent descriptor; you increase the saving throw DC of that spell by 1. Unflappable: Whether it is a result of your dedication to your work or just pure guts, nothing seems to shake you. You gain a +1 trait bonus on saves against fear, and the DCs of Intimidate checks to demoralize you increase by 3.
This appendix details the origins and mission of the Pathfinder Society and introduces the campaign world in which the Roleplaying Guild’s adventures are set.
The Pathfinder Society was founded over 400 years ago, and its members include explorers, historians, tomb raiders, and treasure hunters. Pathfinder history is rife with stories of adventurers who roam the farthest reaches of the world seeking lost relics of world-shattering power and answers to riddles older than the gods. These heroes brave vine-choked jungle ruins, ascend snow-capped peaks, and comb sun-seared desert sands in search of buried tombs and monuments of bygone ages.
Most Pathfinders are based out of regional headquarters called Pathfinder lodges, which dot the globe. Each lodge is home to a venture-captain and that officer’s staff, who provide direction and support for field agents and manage the day-to-day operations of the Society. The Grand Lodge of Absalom stands alone among its fellows. Unlike lesser lodges in towns throughout the Inner Sea, which often mask their purpose behind facades of commerce or domesticity, the Grand Lodge wears its affiliation proudly. The emblem of the Society, known as the Glyph of the Open Road, blazes above the gate of its sheer-walled redoubt at the heart of Absalom. The wall encircles seven sturdy fortresses that date back to the city’s founding,
The Grand Lodge of Absalom hosts the Decemvirate, an inner circle of 10 experienced Pathfinders who guide the Society’s activities. The Grand Lodge also houses the bulk of the Society’s treasures and a repository for its legends.
The Society recognizes no formal bylaws, but adherence to a general code of behavior is expected of all members, and reports of activity violating this code are grounds for removal from the organization. The three most important member duties are encapsulated in the Society’s motto: Explore, report, cooperate.
Explore: Pathfinders are expected to further the knowledge and reputation of the Society by unearthing forbidden secrets and lost ruins, traveling widely, and piecing together the history of the world.
Report: Pathfinders are expected to keep detailed journals, maps, and accounts of their exploits. At the conclusion of a mission, each agent sends a copy of his notes to his venture-captain superior. Accounts of especially noteworthy exploits make their way to the Decemvirate, the members of which compile the best tales into irregularly published editions of the Pathfinder Chronicles. These chronicles are in turn returned to the venture-captains for distribution to Pathfinder agents in the field.
Cooperate: The Society places no moral obligations upon its members, so agents span all races, creeds, and motivations. At any given time, a Pathfinder lodge might house a Dark Archive fiend-summoner, a Silver Crusade paladin, an antiquities-obsessed Scarab Sages necromancer, and a friendly Sovereign Court raconteur. Pathfinder agents, no matter which of the factions they belong to, are expected to respect one another’s claims and stay out of each other’s affairs unless offering a helping hand.
For more information on the Pathfinder Society, you should check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide, Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Seekers of Secrets, and Pathfinder Player Companion: Pathfinder Society Primer, which contain a wealth of additional information on the history, goals, and methods of the Pathfinder Society, including campaign-legal rules options to help you immerse your character in the campaign’s primary organization.
The teeming metropolis of Absalom, on the Isle of Kortos, is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the known world――and one of its most famous. According to myth, the Living God Aroden raised an artifact of unimaginable power called the Starstone――and with it, the Isle of Kortos――from the ocean depths, and ascended to divinity in the process. The city of Absalom grew up around Starstone’s resting place, and this artifact is currently enshrined in a cathedral at the heart of the city. Absalom sits in the largest natural harbor on the Isle of Kortos, in the eye of the Inner Sea. This location allows the city to control dozens of major shipping lanes and makes it a critical stop on any voyage across that sea. The confluence of mercantile, strategic, and religious influence in Absalom is the source of its title: “City at the Center of the World.”
Over the centuries since Absalom’s founding, nobles, merchants, and adventurers from the lands ringing the Inner Sea――which now constitute Andoran, Cheliax, Osirion, Qadira, Rahadoum, Taldor, and Thuvia ――settled in the city. Its culture now draws heavily from all these lands, and many of its noble houses identify closely with elements from those nations. The common folk represent an even wider array of cultural influences, from Mordant Spire elves to Tian traders to travelers from other planes. As a result, food, songs, and clothing from nearly every corner of Golarion and beyond can be found here if visitors know where to look. It is said with some seriousness that it is impossible to look out of place on the streets of Absalom.
Surrounding Absalom and the Isle of Kortos are the continent of Avistan to the north and the continent of Garund to the south. The Avistani nations of Taldor and Qadira border the sea to the east. Farther east of Qadira lie the continents of Casmaron and Vudra. The continent of Tian Xia lies far across Golarion from Avistan, and is reached from there by trekking across the Crown of the World. Past the Arcadian Ocean, west of Garund and Avistan, lie Arcadia and the shattered remains of the continent of Azlant. Far to the east and south, in little-explored oceans, lays the smallest continent, Sarusan. Together, these lands make up the world of Golarion, third planet from the sun and the home of the Pathfinder RPG.
Explore more of Absalom, the Inner Sea, and beyond in Pathfinder Player Companion: The Inner Sea Primer and Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide. For information on Absalom, the Pathfinder Society Field Guide features a brief overview of the city’s districts, presenting general information any Pathfinder might know. Consult the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Guide to Absalom for more information on the city’s history, inhabitants, and locales.
To complete a Chronicle sheet, follow the steps below.
When completing Chronicle sheets for a Core Campaign adventure, write or stamp “Core” at the top of each Chronicle sheet to verify that the adventure was run using Core Campaign rules.
Also mark the Reporting Sheet for ease of reporting games on paizo.com.
Roleplaying Guild players can choose between two different advancement speeds for their characters to customize their playing experience. Players can use slow advancement for their older characters to allow new players (playing on the standard advancement track) to catch up. The choice of advancement speed is made at the beginning of every adventure.
Standard Advancement: For every adventure that your character successfully completes, you receive full XP, gold piece, and Prestige Point awards.
Slow Advancement: For every adventure that your character successfully completes, you receive half the XP, gold piece, and Prestige Point awards.
Regardless of whether you choose standard or slow advancement, you will receive full Downtime awards. The choice of advancement is personal to your character, so it is entirely possible to have characters in the same adventuring party advancing at different rates. You can’t continue to play your character at the lower level once he has earned enough XP to gain a level.
Each time you play an adventure, your character will receive experience points (XP). Typically, you gain 1 XP for a completing Pathfinder Society scenario or 3 XP for completing a sanctioned module or Adventure Path. Characters advance 1 level for every 3 XP they earn, regardless of advancement track.
In each adventure, characters have the opportunity to earn Prestige Points. Fame is the total number of Prestige Points earned by a character over time. Prestige success conditions are located at the end of the adventure for Season 5 and later and in the secondary success conditions document at paizo.com/products/btpy928k.
Scenarios earn up to 2 Prestige Points, one per success condition achieved. Free RPG Day modules earn 1 Prestige Point, due to their length. Sanctioned modules and Adventures Paths earn 4 Prestige Points.
Track earned and spent Prestige Points and accumulated Fame in the spaces on the right-hand side of the Chronicle sheet. Chronicle sheets from older adventures don’t have a space for Fame. In these cases, list both Prestige Points and Fame in the same box separated by a slash (i.e., 4/16).
Not every Pathfinder works for the Society full time. Some are trained artisans, professionals, or performers and earn extra gold between missions. After each adventure that grants XP, you gain a period of Downtime before your next mission. During Downtime, you can attempt a trained Craft, Perform, or Profession check to see how much extra money you earn――this is called a Day Job check. At the end of each adventure in the Roleplaying Guild, you have the opportunity to make one Day Job check. Certain vanities (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Pathfinder Society Field Guide 60 and Pathfinder Player Companion: Pathfinder Society Primer 28) allow you to further modify your Day Job rolls, or even let you use skill ranks from other, more specialized skills like Heal or Sleight of Hand.
Permanent bonuses from the following list affect your Day Job check as they would any check for the rolled skill. Temporary bonuses from sources other than crafter’s fortune do not affect Day Job checks.
You can take 10 on a Day Job check, but you may not take 20 or use the aid another action. In order to determine how much gold you make as a result of a Day Job check, consult the table below. Add this amount to the Day Job box on your Chronicle sheet.
Day Job Check Result GP Award 5 1 gp 10 5 gp 15 10 gp 20 20 gp 25 50 gp 30 75 gp 35 100 gp 40 150 gpThere are additional ways to spend Downtime, many of which are performed in place of a Day Job check. These may include special boons that are earned during an adventure.
Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild play is unlike a standard roleplaying experience. Instead of dividing up treasure among the party, every Pathfinder has access to any piece of loot available in an adventure. Every Chronicle sheet lists all of the loot that can be found during the adventure, with the exception of minor items available to every character. After the scenario, the GM checks which items you and your fellow Pathfinders discovered, and each of these items immediately becomes available for purchase by all party members. If two players in the party want an item, they both can purchase their own. Items not discovered in play are crossed off by the GM. In addition, every player who completes a scenario receives a set amount of gold for the scenario that she can spend to acquire items from sources listed found at paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/additionalResources.
Use the following guidelines when making purchases between adventures.
You can use any item that you find during the adventure for free until the end of the adventure, but you must purchase the item when the adventure is over in order for your character to be able to continue to use the item. Items used during adventures remain the size they are and may not be resized unless purchased. Items consumed or destroyed for any reason are not crossed off on the Chronicle sheet. Items given to NPCs or that are used as spell components are crossed off.
See page 19 of Chapter 4 for more information on purchasing items.
Level 1 characters may be rebuilt per the rules in Appendix 1: Character Creation. This is not a necessary step to completing a Chronicle sheet after an adventure, but a Chronicle sheet is required in order to confirm the changes. The same is true for retraining, as described below.
Retraining: After 1st level, if you own a copy of Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Campaign, you can use the retraining rules beginning on page 188 to alter your character. All changes must be tracked on your Chronicle sheets or Inventory Tracking Sheets, made in the presence of a Roleplaying Guild GM, and initialed by the observing GM. The GM can audit your character before allowing changes, so bring your character sheet and all Chronicle sheets to the GM. Retraining may be limited by time constraints. When retraining, players must expend wealth as outlined in the Retraining section of Ultimate Campaign, as well as 1 Prestige Point per day of retraining since time between adventures is undefined.
In addition to boons gained by participating in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild sessions, players can earn additional rewards.
Boons are small in-game rewards given for a variety of different occurrences, including attendance at events, holidays, supporting charities, and reading novels.
Convention: You can’t assign multiple copies of a convention boon to the same character. If the only difference in the Chronicle sheet is the title of the convention or event listed at the top, it is the same boon.
Holiday: You must participate in a Roleplaying Guild session in order to attach the holiday boon to one of your characters. You receive only one copy of the boon, but can assign it to any one of your characters during the dates specified on the boon. It doesn’t have to be the character you played during that session.
Pathfinder Tales: To encourage reading of Pathfinder Tales novels, which provide rich glimpses into the world of Golarion, many of the books allow players access to one single-use boon. Players can access each boon by showing her copy of a Pathfinder Tales book to the GM of any sanctioned Pathfinder Society event and having the GM initial the box next to the corresponding boon. Once a GM has initialed that box, you do not need to continue bringing the novel to use the boon. Once all four boxes have been initialed, the player can apply the Prolific Reader boon to a single character. This Chronicle sheet may only be applied once per player, not once per character, but the player can choose to apply the boon to any character. As a result, the player doesn’t need to fill out a character name, character number, or faction until she decides to apply the Prolific Reader boon to one of her characters.
Quests: For Quests, the boon must be applied to the character played. If your character dies in a Quest that grants 0 XP, the Chronicle sheet can be applied to the character, but cross off the boon. The death condition is not permanent for such Quests. This is an exception to the normal death rules (see page 19).
Refer to Appendix 2: Factions for more information on these pins and their meaning and function.
As a way of rewarding players who show their support for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign by purchasing and using items featuring campaign insignia, faction logos, or Pathfinder branding, a player utilizing any of the items on paizo.com/pathfindersociety/rerolls can reroll one d20 roll during the course of that scenario. Recognize that this reroll must happen before the original result is determined and the player must use the reroll result, even if the result is lower. Game Masters are also invited to wear Pathfinder Society Organized Play shirts, but gain no additional benefits other than supporting Pathfinder.
With over 65,000 players spread across the globe, the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild would not be a success without the assistance of volunteer regional coordinators known as Venture-Officers. The top level, regional Venture-Coordinators, look after large geographical areas. Under them are Venture-Captains, responsible for countries, states, or large metropolitan areas. Their right hands, the Venture-Lieutenants, assist in the coordination efforts. The lowest level, Venture-Agents, coordinate activities in one location.
Anyone may join the volunteer team. A list of recommended duties and benefits of each position can be found at paizo.com/coordinators/volunteer. If you read it over and are interested, contact a Venture-Officer in your area and let them know! The current roster of Venture-Officers is online at paizo.com/pathfindersociety/coordinators. If you are unsure who your local Venture-Officer is, find your location on the list below and contact your Regional Venture-Coordinator. If your location is not on the list, email pathfindersociety@paizo.com for assistance.
The regional Venture-Coordinators and their associated regions are listed below.
Great Lakes (Bob Jonquet): Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Ontario, and Wisconsin
Midwest (Todd Morgan): Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and South Dakota
Northeast (June Soler): Atlantic Canada, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Rhode Island, and Vermont
Northwest (Walter Sheppard): Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming
South (Jon Cary): Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas Southeast (Del Collins): Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
Southwest and Central and South America (Eric Brittain): Arizona, California, Central America, Colorado, Mexico, Nevada, New Mexico, South America, and Utah
Africa and East Eurasia (Auke Teeninga): Iceland, Netherlands, Denmark, Scandinavia, Latvia, Russia, and South Africa
Asia-Pacific (Stephen White): Australia, China, Hawaii, India, Japan, New Zealand, Okinawa, Singapore, and Eastern Asia
Central Europe (Dan Simons): Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
West Eurasia and Middle East (Dave Harrison): Belgium, Croatia, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom
Like the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild uses a number of terms, abbreviations, and definitions. The following are some of the most common.
Additional Resources：The Additional Resources page lists what items, classes, spells, feats, and other character options are legal from books published by Paizo, Inc. To use such an option, you must have a legal source in which it appears, as well as a copy of the current version of the Additional Resources list (paizo.com/pathfindersociety/additionalResources).
Adventure：Adventures collectively refer to scenarios, sanctioned modules, and sanctioned Adventure Paths.
Affinity (regional affinity)：Some feats, traits, or other mechanical items require an affinity with a specific country or region of Golarion. Others require membership in a certain ethnic group of people (e.g. a Shoanti tribe or Mammoth Lord following). All of these are considered regional affinities. Your PC may acquire any affinity you wish during Downtime, but may have only one regional affinity at any given time. Note any affinities gained, lost, or changed on your next Chronicle sheet after making such a change.
Alignment Infraction：Any single egregious action, or consistent pattern of lesser actions, that the GM believes would cause your PC’s alignment to change constitutes an alignment infraction. (See page 12 for further rules on how to adjudicate alignment infractions.)
Always Available Items：While Fame limits what your PC can purchase, you can always purchase certain items regardless of your Fame total as long as you are in a settlement of 5,000 people or more. See page 19 for a list of these items.
Average Party Level (APL)：APL represents the average level of all PCs participating in the adventure; this number determines which subtier to use when playing a scenario. (See page 10 for rules on how to determine APL and how APL determines sub-tier.)
Boon：A boon is an in-game reward other than XP, gp, Prestige Points, or item access. Boons appear on Chronicle sheets, typically earned as part of an adventure or when attending conventions or other special events.
Class Feature Entity： Any permanent companion creature (e.g. animal companion, eidolon, familiar, mount, phantom, etc.) that accompanies the PC, can take its own actions in combat, and is acquired through a PC’s class features is referred to as a class feature entity. In the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, a character may have only one class feature entity active during a session. See the FAQ for more information on interactions between familiars and other class feature entities. See the Pathfinder Society FAQ at paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/faq for information about what magic items such creatures can use.
Chronicle Sheet：This is a record of adventures that a character has completed, recording any XP, gp, Prestige Points, boons, or item access the character earned. Some Chronicle sheets grant special rewards that are not associated with an adventure but are rather earned for attending conventions, participating in holiday events, or reading Pathfinder Tales novels. These records allow a player to play any PC at any Pathfinder Society event of the appropriate level anywhere in the world.
Clergy：This term refers to a PC with one or more cleric class levels.
Core Assumption/Core Tenets：These are the basic expectations of conduct to which everyone must adhere when participating in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.
Core Campaign： This mode of play utilizes all of the campaign’s currently sanctioned material, but only allows the use of the Core Rulebook, Character Traits Web Enhancement, and Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide in regards to PC creation, gaining levels, and purchasing equipment. (See page 8 for the complete rules for the Core Campaign.)
Day Job：Your PC may attempt Downtime in order to attempt a trained Craft, Perform, or Profession check――often referred to as a Day Job check――to earn additional gold pieces.
Downtime：A PC gains a unit of time called Downtime after each XP-granting adventure. You can spend this Downtime to perform one of several actions, such as attempting a Day Job check. See page 34 for more information on the Day Job check.
Evergreen Adventure：Evergreen adventures are those that a player may replay (or be the GM for) any number of times at a certain level and still earn full rewards. Unless otherwise noted, you treat any Tier 1～2 (not Tier 1～5) adventures with 1st-level PCs as evergreen; you can earn credit with a 2nd-level PC for that adventure only once. See page 18 for more information about the evergreen adventures.
Evil Act：An evil act represents an act that, on it’s own or as part of a pattern, would push your alignment toward evil. An individual evil act may or may not also result in an immediate alignment infraction.
Exclusive：An exclusive is an adventure that requires a GM to meet certain criteria to run――typically possessing a certain number of GM stars. Exclusives, together with specials, also contribute to a GM’s earning a fifth GM star.
Faction：The Pathfinder Society is comprised of seven active factions and nine retired factions. Choosing your faction defines your PC’s secondary loyalties in the campaign. See Appendix 2: Factions for more information on the factions and their goals.
Faction Journal Card：This is a card that summarizes the faction’s aims, a variety of tasks the PC can complete during adventures, and rewards the PC can earn.
Fame：Fame represents the total Prestige Points (PP) your player character has earned during her adventuring career. Fame grants minor reputation bonuses and increases her access to powerful magic items. See page 21 for more details.
Game Master (GM)：A GM adjudicates the rules and controls the elements of the story and world that the players explore, providing a fair and fun game. In the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, a GM must also help players accurately fill out their paperwork and reports the results of each game to the event coordinator or on paizo.com/pathfindersociety.
GM Stars：GM stars are a measure of how many Pathfinder Society games that person has run, ranging from 10 sessions (one star) to 150 sessions (five stars). GM stars grant access to several exclusive adventures and grant a bonus on free rerolls. Earning the fifth star also requires several additional steps described on page 16.
Interactive：Interactives are special adventures in which multiple groups of players participate in the same adventure, and their combined results impact each other’s experience and the adventure’s results. New interactives are typically introduced at PaizoCon and/or Gen Con, and are available at other conventions that meet a given adventure’s minimum number of participating tables.
Inventory Tracking Sheet (ITS)：You must track your PC’s purchases over 25 gp on an item tracking sheet. A sample sheet is located on page 44, or you can use a sheet of your own design so long as it tracks the same information.
Legal Source：A legal source is a physical copy of a book, name-watermarked PDF of the book, or a printout of one or more pages from a name-watermarked PDF. In order to use a character option――especially in conjunction with the Additional Resources page――you must own and possess a legal source that contains that option.
Organized Play Coordinator (OPC)：The organized play coordinator administers any organized play campaigns, including the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and Adventure Card Guild.
Pathfinder Reference Document (PRD)：This is a free online version of all the rules contained within the Core Rulebook and other RPG hardcover books, available at paizo.com/prd. The PRD is not a legal source for players to reference rules or PC building purposes. GMs may reference the PRD as they wish for ease of preparing and running an adventure.
Pathfinder Society Number：Each participant in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is provided a Pathfinder Society Number. The number is often hyphenated; the first, longer number represents your player number, and the second number represents your individual characters (e.g. # 123456‐2 refers to player number 123456 and her second PC). This number is used when reporting completed adventures and should appear on each Chronicle sheet and inventory tracking sheet associated with your PCs.
Player Character (PC)：These are the characters portrayed by the players, rather than by a GM.
Player versus Player (PVP)：Player-versus-player conflict occurs when one PC attempts, of his or her own volition, to kill, harm, or otherwise contribute to the injury of another PC. Player-versus-player conflict is strictly prohibited. See page 7 for more details.
Pregenerated Character：These are pre-made characters of levels 1, 4, and 7 designed for quick use by players who may not have a character of their own or want to try a new character class. Some exclusive events also provide special pregenerated characters.
Prestige Points： Prestige Points represent favors owed to you by the Pathfinder Society, and you may spend these to acquire items or services you could not otherwise purchase――even if you would not otherwise possess sufficient Fame. See page 21 for a list of ways in which you can spend Prestige Points.
Priest：See Clergy.
Rebuilding：This is the process of changing any aspect of your character except his or her Pathfinder Society Number. Each character may freely rebuild anytime before playing an adventure at level 2 or higher. More information about rebuilding can be found on page 8.
Regional Venture Coordinator (RVC)：Regional Venture-Coordinators, under the guidance of the Organized Play Coordinator, supervise a large section of the world and support Venture-Captains and Venture-Lieutenants in their duties.
Replay：A player replays a scenario when they play it more than once. The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild allows only limited forms of replay. See page 7 for the limited replay rules.
Replayable Scenarios：See Evergreen Adventure.
Reroll：This refers to any chance to reroll a d20 and use the new result. In the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, this often refers to the free reroll provided when a play wears or uses certain Pathfinder merchandise during an event. See page 36 for rules about free rerolls.
Retraining：This is the process for changing aspects of your character after 1st level, following the rules presented on page 188 of Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Campaign. See page 35 for additional rules and costs of retraining.
Quest：Quests represent short adventures designed to last about 1 hour.
Sanctioned：Sanctioned material has been approved for use within the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.
Sanctioned Module/Adventure Path：These are adventures other than Pathfinder Society scenarios for which characters can receive credit. The list of which modules and Adventure Paths are sanctioned for play appears on the Additional Resources page, where you can download each such adventure’s Chronicle sheets and any special rules involved.
Scenario：These are adventures that typically take 4～5 hours to complete, written specifically for the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Most adventures in the campaign are scenarios.
Season：A season is a yearlong period that begins at Gen Con (typically August). Most seasons have a unifying theme and contain about 25 scenarios, with two usually released per month.
Slow Advancement：A player may opt to use the slow advancement at the beginning of an adventure, in which case the PC earns only half the normal XP, gp, and Prestige Points. Doing so extends the effective “lifespan” of a character. You still receive the full benefits of any Downtime activities, such as Day Job checks.
Special：This is a catch-all term used to refer to exclusives and interactives.
Standard Advancement：This is the typical rate at which a PC earns XP, gp, and Prestige Points at the end of an adventure. A player may opt to use the slow advancement instead.
Subtier：This is a small level range within a tier used to scale the difficulty of an adventure for groups of different average party levels.
Tier：This is a range of character levels that can participate in an adventure. Scenario tiers are usually subdivided into subtiers. A PC cannot participate in an adventure if the PC’s level at the start of the adventure is outside that adventure’s tier.
Venerate： Venerate refers to the relationship between a PC and a specific deity, pantheon, or philosophy of some sort where the PC follows the cause but gains no specific mechanical reward as a result of doing so. Player characters are able to venerate any Golarionspecific deity, pantheon, or philosophy they wish without alignment concern.
Venture-Agent (VA)：Venture-Agents (VA) are dedicated volunteer coordinators who direct operations at one venue.
Venture-Captain (VC) (In-Game)：Rather than travel widely, some Pathfinders establish lodges where they can coordinate local agents, store regional lore, and provide a safe refuge for their colleagues. In scenarios, venturecaptains are often the NPCs who brief the PCs on their next mission or opportunity.
Venture-Captain (VC) (Real Life)： Named after the in-game leaders of the Pathfinder Society, Venture-Captains are the many dedicated volunteer coordinators who oversee large geographic regions that contain a large number of players.
Venture-Lieutenant (VL)： Venture-Lieutenants are dedicated volunteer coordinators who assist the Venture-Captains in their efforts.
Worship： In this context, worship refers to a relationship held between a PC and a deity where the PC, in exchange for his dedicated worship, gains a mechanical benefit (e.g. a cleric’s spells and abilities, a deity-specific feat or trait, special functions of magical weapons, or prerequisites for a prestige class). PCs may only worship one campaign-legal deity and must always be within one step of their chosen deity’s alignment. See page 24 for more rules on worshiping a deity and how to change the deity a PC worships.
訳注：キャラクター・シートが掲載されているが、翻訳しない。
