The Pathfinder Society team announced the Retail Incentive program on September 26th, 2016.
The Retail Incentive program encourages players (and GMs) to patronize the stores and other venues that are hosting Pathfinder Society games. The entire table gains some minor mechanical benefit as a way of thanking you for supporting the stores that act as venues for PFS.
Information current as of February 15th, 2017.
Retail Incentive Program Benefits
Table purchases of $10 or more qualify for the standard benefit. $50 earns enhanced benefits. See the rules below for more details.
Automatic Benefit—Entire Table
Every PC at the table benefits from this ability for the duration of the scenario.
- Harder to Kill Treat the character’s Constitution as 5 points higher than normal for the purpose of determining when hit point damage would kill him. For the enhanced benefit, treat the character’s Constitution as 10 higher.
Pick One—One Benefit Per Player, Per Game
Each player may also choose to use one of the following during the game:
- Cheaper Healing Before the end of the session, you can use the benefit to reduce the Prestige Point cost of one spellcasting service of the healing subschool by 1 (minimum 0). For the enhanced benefit, you can instead reduce the cost by 2.
- Recover from Wounds The PC recovers hit points equal to twice their character level. For the enhanced benefit, each PC also recovers 2 points of ability damage to one ability score. This benefit can only be used outside of combat.
- Bonus Wealth If you do not use one of the subsidized healing benefits above, you can instead choose to roll twice and take the higher result when rolling a Day Job check. For the enhanced benefit, you also increase the gold you earn from the day Job result by 50% (maximum 300 gp total).
Retail Incentive Program Rules
These rules have been lightly edited from the original post for clarity.
At any time during an event, players may redeem receipts from their purchases worth $10 or more to gain a single-use benefit that applies to all of the PCs at the table. If the total combined receipts provided by one or more players are $50 or more, all players receive an enhanced benefit. No matter how many receipts the players have, the table can never use the same benefit more than once during a game session; they can, however, gain both benefits during a session.
Redeeming a receipt simply involves showing it to the GM, who marks the receipt to denote that it was used. A player can only use a receipt in this way on the same day as she made the purchase, and only for events held at that venue. A player can acquire and redeem a receipt during play so long as doing so would not significantly disrupt gameplay, though it must occur before an encounter begins. The receipt need not be for Paizo products; the storeowner may include any products the venue sells as qualifying purchases.
This proposal grants a benefit to the entire table, scaling depending on how much money someone spent.
Game stores and other retail locations are an important part of the Pathfinder Society community, and it’s important to support them so that there’s always a public venue for organized play events. Players can now redeem receipts in exchange for a modest benefit shared by the entire table—all as a way of thanking players for supporting their game stores.
Clarifications for Pittsburgh PFS Games
- There is no per-purchase minimum; the $10 and $50 values refer to the minimum benefit thresholds. If you add up all of the purchases from people at your table and the total is greater than or equal to $10, then the entire table receives the standard benefits. If the total is greater than or equal to $50, then the entire table receives the enhanced benefit.
- Purchases by the GM may be redeemed to meet the table’s thresholds.
- Players may only select one single-use benefit (Cheaper Healing, Recover from Wounds, or Bonus Wealth) even if they use a standard benefit and their table later unlocks the enhanced benefit.
Retail Incentives in the Pittsburgh Area
GASP Game Days
Purchases from Chuck the Castle Merchant may be redeemed. Purchases from other businesses may not be redeemed.
Players and GMs should remember that a purchase only counts toward the benefit for one table. If you want your character to gain the benefits for the second table of the day, your tablemates must make additional purchases.
Phantom of the Attic
Any purchases made at Phantom of the Attic (Greentree only) may be redeemed, including candy but excluding the vending machine. Purchases made at other businesses may not be redeemed.
Victory Pointe
Food and drink purchases made at Victory Point may be redeemed. Purchases made at other businesses may not be redeemed.
New Dimension Comics
Any purchases made at New Dimension Comics (hosting location only) may be redeemed. Purchases made at other businesses may not be redeemed.