Pathfinder Society (1e or Legacy)

Season of the Ten

What is Pathfinder Society (1e or Legacy)?

Pathfinder Society Organized Play (PFS1) was the original Organized Play Campaign from Paizo Publishing from 2009 to 2019 using the Pathfinder RPG 1st Edition ruleset. The premise of the campaign was the concept of placing you in the role of a brave adventurer working for the Pathfinder Society to explore and catalog the fantastic world of Golarion. Sign up to play short (4-5 hour) scenarios and modules using characters you can take from table to table, playing both here in our area and around the world. PFS1 uses the Season 10 Guild Guide.

The Pathfinder Society (1e or Legacy) campaign ended when the Pathfinder Society (2e) began. Essentially, the lore of the campaign merely advanced by 10 years to encapsulate all that had transpired in the past decade of play and product releases. The Legacy campaign’s 1e ruleset was incompatible with the 2e ruleset that is used in the new campaign. When Paizo began to publish the 2e ruleset in August of 2019, it completely stopped publication of all Pathfinder 1e products.

This does not mean the 1e campaign is considered defunct. There is still an active community of players for it, particularly those who enjoy Play-by-Post on the Paizo forums or through one of the online Discord servers like Roll For Combat where gaming is called Play-By-Discord. In addition, many home groups remain active as they continue to play the Pathfinder 1e Adventure Paths to completion. GMs and players can still earn credit for running and playing games, and quite a few GMs have managed to earn their Fifth Star award over the past two years. Paizo is just not publishing new scenarios or rules for the 1st Edition campaign which is why they are referring to it as the Legacy campaign.

What was Pathfinder (First Edition)?

Pathfinder Society (1e) used the the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game system, an evolution of the 3.5 rules set of the world’s oldest fantasy roleplaying game. It was the original Pathfinder edition to be published in 2009. Pathfinder Society predated the actual game by one year when it used the D&D 3.5 rules prior to the publication of the Pathfinder RPG. The reason we called it First Edition was due to the fact that Pathfinder Second Edition was published on August 1st, 2019.

Legacy Content

Information relating to the Pathfinder Society (first edition) Campaign.

What do I need to play?

If you want to play a pre-made (“pregenerated,” or “pregen”) character, you just need two things:

  • Dice
  • A Pathfinder Society ID

In order to get your Pathfinder Society ID (PFS ID), create an account at paizo.com. If you’re not sure what you need, we’re happy to help you before a game!

GMs and coordinators usually have pregens available, but we can’t guarantee that any specific pregen will be available for play. If you know ahead of time that you would like to play a pregen, you can download copies of each of the pregens from Paizo.

If you’d like to play a unique character, please bring a few more things:

  • A character sheet
  • Any chronicle sheets (chronicles) that character might have earned from previous adventures
  • An inventory tracking sheet, to track items your character has bought and sold
  • References and sources for the abilities the character has and the gear the character owns (these can be printed books, PDFs with your email address watermarked on them, or printouts from watermarked PDFs)
  • Something to take notes with, whether that’s a piece of scrap paper or a notebook, or a text editor on your tablet or computer

Both our coordinators and our community are happy to answer any questions you may have, but they are much easier to answer before  a game than during one! If you know you need help or advice, please try to arrive early.

A more complete list of what you need is available on Paizo’s About Pathfinder Society page.

The complete guide to Pathfinder Society is available as a PDF from Paizo’s site.

What if I have never played Pathfinder before or I am bringing a friend or relative who has not played Pathfinder but wants to join the Pathfinder Society?

No worries! We can issue a Pathfinder Society number on the spot. New members can register them online to activate the number. You can also use a pre-gen and get right into your very first PFS session. Don’t worry, most of us have done that to get started ourselves. You also do not need to bring a rulebook for that first PFS experience.

Code of Conduct

Both Paizo and the Pathfinder community are founded on a culture of respect. Please respect other players and play styles. Refusal to do so may result in warnings or expulsion from Society play.

Harassment is not tolerated on any basis, including but not limited to age, disability, gender, identity, race, or sex. If you are harassed, feel threatened, or have any other concerns, please do not hesitate to tell a volunteer or coordinator.

Neither Paizo nor the League of Aroden PFS community are responsible for the codes of conduct of the locations and venues that host Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but we reserve the right to remove players from Pathfinder Society Organized Play for violations of our Code of Conduct that do not violate the codes of conduct of the hosting venues.

Helpful Pathfinder 1e Links

  • Official Pathfinder Reference Document
  • Archives of Nethys This site features the Glyph of the Open Road symbol besides all PFS legal content. It also is now the official host of the Pathfinder SRD.
  • D20pfsrd Site  Make sure you scroll down to verify if the information is official Pathfinder (published by Paizo) or if it is third-party (3PP). 3PP is not allowed in PFS play.
  • HeroLab Charges a fee.
  • PC Gen Does not charge a fee.
  • Warhorn Sign-up site for games.
  • Pathbuilder is an Android app for mobile. Get it on Google Play.
  • Pathfinder Wiki A website for keeping up with the lore of Golarion.

Pathfinder Society 1e Player and GM Tools

Pathfinder Society 1e Reference Materials and Lists