Proposal: Slow Advancement Track


Pathfinder Society

3/5

To the campaign leadership,

Can we please revisit the rules for Slow Advancement?

Currently, the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play reads

GTPFSOP, p. 21 wrote:
At character creation and each time your character gains a level, you decide if you would like your character to be on the standard or slow advancement track for the entirety of that level.

I believe it would be better for the campaign if this rule instead read as

Proposed Change wrote:
At character creation and at the start of every scenario (when you sign in), you decide if you would like your character to be on the standard or slow advancement track.

Why?

The Emerald Spire Problem is well-known, so I won't rehash that here.

We also have cases like this where not being allowed to change to slow advancement between levels is actually causing a player to choose not to play.

Here is another instance of a player choosing to not play because he cannot switch to slow track mid-level. In this case, he wanted to play slow so that he wouldn't leave his girlfriend's character behind. That is the purpose of slow track to begin with, as far as I understand it, so that we can play when our friends cannot and not get too far ahead of them.

Searching the boards, there are many other such instances, I don't think I need to link them all.

Please consider making this change.

Silver Crusade 5/5

It sounds like you're lobbying to switch from slow to fast (or vice versa) after every scenario. Is that correct, Fox?

I think that might be allowing too much, I think allowing the choice for the first time you play a certain character might be cleaner.

How about this?

At character creation and the first time you play your character at each level (when you sign in), you decide if you would like your character to be on the standard or slow advancement track for the entirety of that level.

I think this would allow a bit more flexibility than the current rule (since with this revision one wouldn't have be exactly at XX.0 to switch over) while keeping it simple.

Silver Crusade 3/5

UndeadMitch wrote:
It sounds like you're lobbying to switch from slow to fast (or vice versa) after every scenario. Is that correct, Fox?

Correction: before each scenario.

Why? So that if my wife cannot make it one day (which is pretty common, given her work schedule) then I can switch to slow advancement for that day and for the next day she can play. After that, if I switch back, we are both on the same track.

But I don't mind making that declaration at the start of the scenario.

Silver Crusade 5/5

The Fox wrote:
UndeadMitch wrote:
It sounds like you're lobbying to switch from slow to fast (or vice versa) after every scenario. Is that correct, Fox?

Correction: before each scenario.

Why? So that if my wife cannot make it one day (which is pretty common, given her work schedule) then I can switch to slow advancement for that day and for the next day she can play. After that, if I switch back, we are both on the same track.

But I don't mind making that declaration at the start of the scenario.

Yeah, I meant to say before, but my mind blanked.

Silver Crusade 3/5

Here are two situations: My wife and I have two pairs of characters that are adventuring together in pairs. One pair are level 2.0, the other pair are level 4.1.

One day my wife cannot play but I can.

If I play the 2.0, I can either be 1 XP ahead of her, or I can choose to play on slow. So I play the next 6 scenarios on slow. 5 of those, my wife plays with me. I earned 3 XP, she earned 5. So now she is 2 XP ahead of me and cannot play slow. So playing slow didn't help us get our characters to level at the same rate.

If I play my 4.1, I cannot play slow. So I will be ahead of her until I reach level 5. At that point, I will be level 5.0, she will be 4.2. Leaving aside the problem that we cannot both play in Tier 5-9 scenarios, there is no way for us to get back on track with each other, unless I also drop out of a scenario.

So playing on slow doesn't currently achieve the goal of allowing one player to advance more slowly so that his friend (or in my case, my wife) can catch up.

Edit: Allowing a player to play on slow for one or two scenarios at a time, instead of forcing 3 in a row, would allow their friends to catch up.

Also: If you can conceive of some potential abuse under the rule that I'm suggesting, given that you would need to declare slow at the start of the scenario, please add it to the discussion.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 *

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

Another issue with not being able to switch between at the beginning of the scenario. Both myself and various players at times have played pre-gens' to help even out tables, and ended up playing a level 4 or 7 pregen when lower tables got canceled. Putting that sheet at normal and a new number, you then get up to levels and then that sheet determines that level @ 4 and/or 7 if you can be slow or normal? regardless of which choice is appropriate for the players and their groups?

Silver Crusade 3/5

UndeadMitch wrote:

How about this?

At character creation and the first time you play your character at each level (when you sign in), you decide if you would like your character to be on the standard or slow advancement track for the entirety of that level.

I think this would allow a bit more flexibility than the current rule (since with this revision one wouldn't have be exactly at XX.0 to switch over) while keeping it simple.

I felt this deserved its own response.

So, I think that suggestion is also better than the current rule. It would solve the Emerald Spire Problem. :)

But it won't solve the problem that two players have if they want to stay the same level, but one of them can't make it one day.

(Or if it does solve that problem, I'm not seeing how it does so. I'd be happy to see it explained.)

For me, this is the larger issue that the current rule has. I'm open to anything that helps solve that issue. :)

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
The Fox wrote:
But it won't solve the problem that two players have if they want to stay the same level, but one of them can't make it one day.

Player that's there acan always run a different character or a pre-gen.

Silver Crusade 5/5

Adding to the end of the suggestion "Characters that begin a scenario with a fractional amount of xp (EG x.5 experience points) MUST choose to play using the slow advancement track" would likely solve most problems that the suggestion would cause.

Grand Lodge 4/5 Global Organized Play Coordinator

11 people marked this as a favorite.

We've already made some changes to the new Guide in regard to this.

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

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Michael Brock wrote:
We've already made some changes to the new Guide in regard to this.

You have me intrigued...

Silver Crusade 3/5

Michael Brock wrote:
We've already made some changes to the new Guide in regard to this.

Thanks, Mike. I look forward to seeing what you've come up with. :)

Silver Crusade 4/5

Michael Brock wrote:
We've already made some changes to the new Guide in regard to this.

I'm looking forward to seeing these changes. There are certainly players at our local lodge that would play on the slow track every now and again so that others can catch up (we're a small group), but wouldn't want to commit to it for a full level.

We have once had a player miss out on playing part III of shades of ice because she was on 13 XP when we started part 1. It would be great is this was no longer an issue.

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

Michael Brock wrote:
We've already made some changes to the new Guide in regard to this.

Thank you for taking the time to deal with this issue, it is very much appreciated.

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