Encounter Rewards

This page will be your bread and butter here at Varisia Living Campaign. You will use it to determine gold value of your loot points, experience to the next level, item access rules, and downtime rewards. While I'd highly suggest bookmarking the entirety of the Wiki, you will mostly be needing this and PFS rules.

So a quick summary of how these are gained, Encounters (ERs) are the main way to gain experience and will generally range between 1-3. An ER1 generally grants 1 Loot Point (LP), Experience Point (Exp), Item Access, and 1 Downtime Point. ER2 grants 2 and so on. Additionally, an ER gives the chance to earn Bonus Points (BP), which are explained in the Loot Point Section.

'''Most of this system has been greatly influenced by Cormyr Living Campaign. And I am very grateful for them allowing me to keep part of their system!'''

For an example log, look to the Examples page.

Experience
Pretty simple thing here. Experience is the amount needed of Experience points to reach the next level. To determine how many Experience Points you get is to check your ER report provided to you by the running GM. Generally, the number of Experience points will be listed at the bottom in the Summary. From there you will add this to your Experience log putting "#of Experience Points gained" - "Encounter Number" (ER Number will look something like "ER-GM-1119150232" and is generally listed as the Document Title). It is a necessity to have the ER Number on all log entries and not just Exp.

Also, once you reach Level 4 on your first character you unlock a second character sheet, and once that character reaches Level 4 or the first one reaches Level 8, you get a third sheet. Beyond that, you will only get a new sheet when a character either reaches level 20 or when you as a player decommission or retire them (Note: A decommissioned character can be brought back, so long as they did not use the Resurrect and Retire option.). Experience is NOT reset to 0 each time you level, it is cumulative.

Now for what you want to know, Experience needed to reach that level:

Loot
Loot points represent your currency but allows an easy to track scale-able way to keep track of it. Each time you earn a loot point you convert it to the level appropriate amount of gold displayed by the chart below. Furthermore, if you completed an ER3 at Level X and needed only 1 Exp to level up, treat 1 Loot point as if it were the original level and then the rest at the next level. Simple math is LP Gained - Exp Needed = # LP gained at the original level, and the rest are treated as your new level. Furthermore, all LP, including those gained through BP, are to be used instantly when you acquire them; this is not the gold received though it is what grants the gold, and the gold can be saved up until you are able to afford what you wish.

Bonus Points:
Bonus Points are a way of being rewarded for doing tasks in an Encounter besides the main goal. These tasks should relate to, but not always be completed, or if they do can be cancelled out by Failure's. You have the possibility to earn the same amount of BPs as you get Exp or LPs. On the flip side, you have an equal amount of Failure chances. Bonus Objectives cannot cause you to lose more than the standard loot, but the Failures negate BPs. If you get two successes and one failure, you only get one BP. Once you reach 5 BPs it becomes a loot point and is worth the amount of the level you got it at, even if the experience would level you up. The only exception is if an Encounter is split into multiple ERRTs. If this is the case, make sure to apply the ERRTs in the correct order, and you apply BPs at the level you are for the start of that ERRT.

Item Access
In an attempt to avoid the disaster that would be free access to all magical items, VLC has adopted a method similar to Cormyr Living Campaign which is inspired by Pathfinder Society:

"1. There are some Always Available Items 2. Item Access is granted from Encounters 3. Desperate Item Purchase is available at high cost. 4. Crafting is Prohibited 5. Trading and Selling Items Between Players is Prohibited."

'''Also similar to CLC, roleplay items do not count towards these rules and may be crafted, traded, etc. But you can not charge anyone for these items nor can they be sold to get money. If you wish to roleplay out your profession, that is fine, but roleplay cannot grant any bonuses to a character! You can also keep pets, clothing, and more from ERs this way, but once again, they should have no benefit in further ERs.'''

Always Available
Items you may purchase without needing access from an ER: Weapons, armor, equipment, magic items and so on that are outside of these lists are only available for purchase if an Encounter Report grants access to purchase the item, Unlocked and Approved via Downtime, or if it is instead purchased at drastically increased cost. See the sections below for more information on these options.
 * All basic armor, gear, items, and weapons from Chapter 6 of the Core Rulebook, including Small and Large-sized items. This does not include equipment made from dragonhide, but it does include equipment made from the other special materials, such as alchemical silver and cold iron (see the Special Materials section on page 154 of the Core Rulebook).
 * Unless you have the Gunsmithing Feat, Firearms are never available for purchase. (This is not a new rule, but a clarification of confusion.)
 * All mundane (completely nonmagical) weapons, armor, equipment, and alchemical gear found in any other source that is legal for play are considered always available.
 * +1/2/3/4/5 enhancement bonuses on weapons and weapon upgrades (Ex. +1 to +2) (2,000 gp + 300 for the masterwork weapon cost + item cost)
 * Abilities (Ex. Flaming, Adaptive, etc) must be unlocked through downtime or ERs.
 * Amulet of Mighty Fists is Always Available so long as you have access to the enhancement being applied.
 * +1/2/3/4/5 enhancement bonuses on armor and armor upgrades (Ex. +1 to +2) (1,000 gp + 150 for the masterwork armor cost + item cost)
 * Abilities (Ex. Shadow, Wild, etc) must be unlocked through downtime or ERs.
 * Bracers of Armor is Always Available so long as you have access to the enhancement being applied.
 * +1/2/3/4/5 enhancement bonuses on shields but not abilities (1,000 gp + 150 for the masterwork armor cost + item cost)
 * Belts (Str, Con, Dex) and Headbands (Int, Wis, Cha) are always available. This also applies to Belts and Headbands of multiples of the stats (So long as it is a legal item) like Belt of Physical Might and similar.
 * Wand of Cure Light Wounds is Always Available. At level 3, Cure Moderate. Level 5 for Cure Serious. (This changes to Inflict if you are attuned to Negative Energy, such as Dhampirs)
 * Potions and oils of 0- or 1st-level spells at caster level 1st (50 gp or less)
 * Scrolls of 0- or 1st-level spells at caster level 1 (50 gp or less
 * Edit (6/29/2017) Ring of Protection, Handy Haversack, Amulet of Natural Armor, Cloak of Resistance and Ioun Torch (Edit: 11/09/2017) are now Always Available, and if someone got them on an ER prior to the edit date. They may replace them with the following:

Item Access From Encounters
As you complete encounters, you will be given each time an Encounter Record that details the loot and experience you've earned. This will, as described above, include experience and loot (gold), but will also feature an item access section. For each point the encounter is worth, one item will be added to the item access section. When an item appears in the item access section on any Encounter Record you've run, you may forever purchase that item at the listed 'book' price. Your GM will select items for access on their encounters so that they fit reasonably well with the theme of their encounter and also so that they are obtainable by your character in a reasonable time frame.

Edit 5/30/16: This mentioned a lot but was not typed out here. Items that are upgrade-able and are given as Accessible from an ER grant access to the higher (And also lower) abilities. With a recent ruling, this also includes some Armor Enchants as well as things like Rings of Protection and Amulets of Natural Armor.

Edit 1/27/17: Clarification update. The above edit also applies to items like Ioun Stones (Though these are not upgrade-able), Stat Books, and similar items.

Edit 6/21/17: Scrolls, Wands, and Potions IAs will now be given at the effective spell level per class. I.E. Wizard 5th level Scrolls. And Each IA will give access to all Caster Levels.

Edit: 6/21/17: "If you received a scroll, wand, or potion IA from an ER, you now have access to all spells of that level from that class. If it is on the Cleric or Wizard spell list, it uses that class. If it is not on either of those, use the spell list of the class with the highest level version of the spell or the one with the highest level that the item can use (Wands up to 4th; Potions up to 3rd). If you instead purchased access or discount on a scroll, wand, potion, or other item that was made redundant with this alteration, you may amend the downtime to be for the proper item  (with GM approval needed). For example, if you used 25 days to get access to and discount Scroll of Fireball, you can swap it to be Wizard Level 3 Scroll Access. However, if you already have such access from another ER or Downtime expenditure, you may refund it or move the downtime to another item (Also requires GM Approval). For example, you used 15 days of downtime to gain access to Improved Shadow Armor Enhancement which is now merged into just Shadow Armor Enhancement, but you already have access to that, you may move that downtime to be 15% off Improved Shadow Armor Enhancement, refund it, or move it to be 15 days for access to another item. This retraining is free and may only be used on downtime expenditures prior to June 13th 2017."

Edit: 6/21/17: An IA with mulitple forms such as Tailsmens, Tomes, Armor Enchants (Shadow, Slick etc), and weapon enchants like Bane will now give all verisons instead of just one verison. Previous Version was edited to make the wording more clear.

Desperate Item Purchase
In the case where your character absolutely MUST have a certain item, but hasn't gotten access to purchase it from an Encounter Record, you may still purchase that item at an increased cost.

You may purchase any item from any of the PFS legal books (But be sure to check the ban list), but if you do not have access and it is not listed in the Always Available section of this thread, you must pay 1.5x the item's price.

The purpose of this is to prevent the imbalance that comes from some item combos and optimizations. Anyone who takes this option will get the item they want, but will have dipped further into their character wealth to compensate. The in-character reason for this increase is that the item is unavailable in Sandpoint or Magnimar and you're paying for the time to create the item or the time it takes to ship it from elsewhere.

Crafting is Prohibited
Crafting is something we all love, but the amount of tracking and GM approval involved, as well as the ability to disproportionately empower certain characters beyond their wealth level, is something that just can't work in a community based on very large amounts of players and an open door policy. Under no circumstances will crafting be allowed in Varisia.

However, if you want to roleplay your character as a crafter and claim to have crafted your items in character, that is perfectly fine, so long as the items are purchased behind the scenes at full book cost.

Trading and Selling Between Players is Prohibited
Again, because the first and foremost concern of VLC has to be equality and balance between a very large community of players, trading and selling items to other players, or giving them as gifts, is not allowed.

The purpose here is derived from the access system. If trading were allowed, only one character would need access to an item before the whole community could effectively purchase it freely.

Purchasing Consumable Magic Items
Purchasing Wands, Scrolls, and other Consumable Magic Items have always been confusing for players. One such example is buying a wand or scroll of Lesser Restoration. This is a 2nd level Cleric Spell (4,500 or 150 Gold) and a 1st level Paladin spell (750 or 25 Gold), so which cost do I use? Unless you are a Paladin, you use the Wizard, Cleric, or Druid level of the spell (And these three are the default go to classes should a spell not appear on your spell list; using the lowest of the three.). If the spell does not appear on any of these lists, you use the lowest level it appears on the spell lists of the other spellcasting classes. So, if a spell was a 2nd level Ranger spell and a 1st level Inquisitor spell, you would purchase it as a 1st level Inquisitor spell. However, there is an exception. If you are a Spellcasting class such as Ranger, you can instead purchase the spells at your Class' Spell Level. For example, a Paladin can buy a Wand or Scroll of Lesser Restoration for the 1st level cost (750 or 25) and so on. If you are unsure, you can always ask a GM.

Even though you are purchasing this from the normal class, you may select another class that the scroll is on the spell list for for the purpose of spell casting stat, as per this FAQ.

Gaining Downtime Points
Another form of reward from Encounters are Downtime Points. You need 3 Downtime Points for them to then be converted into 7 Days of downtime. On top of that, see the chart below for Downtime granted upon level up, this also means you start at level one with 3 Downtime Points. Each ER will grant the number of points equal to the amount of Exp Points or Loot Points. See below for their uses.

These are Downtime Points, and you do not gain any days until you get 3 points.

Downtime
Every adventurer has things they do in their off time. Some have day jobs of some sort and some improve themselves through training. Downtime is how we represent these acts in Varisia Living Campaign.

Gaining Downtime
Characters gain downtime from adventuring, as mentioned on the Encounter Rewards page right above this. All gained downtime should be recorded, in the same manner as any other part of advancement.

Using Downtime
The ways a character can use his downtime are fairly numerous, and can range from setting up discounts on items to more extensive retraining.

The basic two ways to spend it are detailed below.

Discounts and Item Access
Discounts are not retroactive to your purchases and they always require GM approval.

You may spend downtime days to reduce the purchase cost of an item. The amount of reduction depends upon the number of downtime days spend and your Item Access, as shown on the below table. Once you have done this, it applies to all purchases of the item thereafter. The max discount you can get is 25% if you have access through ERs. If you had to use downtime to get access, the max you can get is 10%; however, if you later get access from an ER, the 15 days spent to gain access is converted to discount, raising it back to a max of 25%. As stated above, if you should receive Item Access from an encounter, your discount increases to the one granted by having access to the item.

When purchasing an item that can be 'upgraded', such as a Cloak of Resistance, Ring of Protection, or magic weapon, you apply the discount to each level of the item separately. The cost of a +2 Ring of Protection if you own a +1 Ring of Protection is the +2's cost minus the +1's cost, and this is the cost that gets discounted, not the full price of the item. This goes for all upgrade-able items.

For example, if you discount a +3 enchantment bonus then upgrade your +1 Longsword to +3, you first subtract the +1 cost (2,000) from the +3 cost (18,000), getting 16,000 cost. Now apply the discount amount, for this example we'll go with 25%, which reduces the price by 4,000, making it 12,000 gold for the final discounted price. If you instead applied the discount to a +1 enchantment increase, you do not receive any discount on buying a brand new +2 Longsword.

And a Chart for example Discounts as well:

(Re)Training
Sometimes, a character has been built oddly. Perhaps that feat you chose doesn't work how you felt it should, or you realized that you missed the prerequisites for something you wanted to take next level.

By spending downtime days, you can alter choices made earlier in your character's career. Note that you must retain all prerequisites for feats or prestige classes, or you will LOSE ALL BENEFITS OF THEM until you meet the prerequisites once more.

The following table lists the retraining options available by default. Note that there is no gold piece cost to retaining in Varisia Living Campaign, only downtime days.

You do not need to have a trainer for feats, skills, or other abilities, but, if another character in the campaign possesses the feat, spell, or archetype that you desire to gain, they may tutor you, expending up to half of the downtime day cost from their own downtime pool to reduce your cost by an equal amount. If this cost is unable to be split equally, it is instead rounded down for the character providing tutoring, and rounded up for the one receiving it. For example, training costing 15 days would result in the tutor paying 7, and the trainee paying 8. The following retraining options require GM approval, and must be signed off on your sheet to be permitted. Other than the noted lack of gold piece cost, and the altered number of days required, retraining functions much the same as found here. Retraining racial traits is not currently allowed, though it may be in exceptional circumstances.

Edit 6/21/17: Amendment to Downtime Archetype, Bloodline, or Domain section to include the following features to be able to retrain. Patrons, Inquisitions, Blessings, Wizard Schools, Wizard Bond, Kineticist Elements, Cav/Sam Orders, Oracle Curses, Oracle Mystery, Summoner Eidolon, Druid Nature Bond, Vigilante Specialization, Shaman Spirit, Ranger Bond, Ranger's Favored Enemy/Terrain, Ranger Combat Style, James Bond, Paladin Divine Bond, Psychic Discipline, Occultist Implements, Spiritualist Phantom, Fighter's Weapon Training. Some archetypes add features similar to this, for ease of classification, if it functions similar to Medium's Outer Channeler's Outer Invocation or Bloodrager's Id Rager's Atavistic Avatar then it is a Major Class Feature and follows these rules. If you are ever unsure, ask a GM for assistance.

Downtime and Creatures
Characters who possess companions, such as Druids who selected an Animal Companion for Nature Bond, Cavaliers, and Summoners, may use their downtime days to retrain their companion. The allowed retraining options for these creatures are; Ability Score Increase, Feat, Skill Ranks, Hit Points, and Archetypes. If the character trades out their animal companion for any reason (Class feature, feat, death, or similar), the new animal companion receives the HP increases from downtime that the other had. (A Druid has put in 12 days retraining into the HP of their Wolf Animal Companion, granting it 4 HP. However, it dies. They then get a Bear Animal Companion to replace the Wolf. The bear receives the 4 HP from downtime.)

In addition, any character may spend 3 downtime days to teach an animal (including a special companion, like mentioned above) a Trick with a Handle Animal DC of 15, with no roll needed, 4 downtime days for a Trick with a Handle Animal DC of 20, or 5 days for a Trick with a Handle Animal DC of 25. This training does not require GM approval. You do not need to spend downtime to learn tricks your animal companion would gain from raising it's Int or when it gains new Bonus Tricks. Those slots are automatically filled once gained with whatever tricks you see fit and are legal options. These are treated like any other trick, including for maximum number of tricks known. This overrides the normal Handle Animal rules for training times.

For General Purpose training, the amount of downtime days required is altered based on the number of weeks usually required and the DC. See the below table for details. This replaces the normal training time for teaching an animal a general purpose.