Organized Play Rule Updates - Summer 2026 | Paizo Blog

Greetings, Pathfinders and Starfinders! As is an annual tradition, it’s time to announce changes coming to Pathfinder and Starfinder Society with the launch of the new program years in August. This blog is coming a little earlier than usual, because there are some big changes this year, and we want to give you all plenty of time to understand them, as well as why we’re making these changes.

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Pathfinder Society

Replayability

All scenarios will be repeatable, meaning you can play them more than once provided a different character earns credit each time. Previously-released scenarios, Quests and Bounties will also be made repeatable. This also applies to GM credit; GMs may award credit to multiple characters. This will also apply to all sanctioned adventures going forward, but we will not be applying this to sanctioned adventures retroactively.

Starting Levels

Players may create new characters at 1st, 3rd, 5th or 7th-level. Characters may be freely rebuilt until they begin a game having earned 12 or more XP. Pregenerated characters will be made available up to 7th-level.

Applying Pregen Credit

When playing an adventure with a pregenerated character, credit may be applied in one of three ways:

• Credit may be applied to a 1st-level character, reducing gold values to appropriate amounts
• Credit may be held until the character it applies to reaches the level of the pregenerated character, at which point it is immediately applied.
• Credit may be applied to a new character of the same level as the pregenerated character. This option was not previously available.

Pathfinder Provisions

Pathfinder Provisions will be removed. After mission briefings, players will receive a bespoke selection of consumable or otherwise useful items, which must be returned upon completion of the adventure. For adventures which take place before year 8, players will each receive a level-appropriate healing potion.

Statblocks

Pathfinder Society will once again publish stat blocks for enemies found in other sourcebooks. These will be in one combined appendix, sorted alphabetically by monster name.

Player’s Guide

Pathfinder Society will publish the Clockwork Mystery Player’s Guide prior to Gen Con, which will contain a quick-start guide to Pathfinder Society as well as custom backgrounds for Year 8.

 

Starfinder Society

Slow Track

Slow track advancement will be added, copying the text from the Pathfinder Society Guide. Players may elect to earn half credit for a scenario, earning half the XP and credits their character would otherwise have earned. This may be selected on a scenario-by-scenario basis.

 

Notable Differences

There are some areas where programs’ rulesets remain divergent, and we intend to keep them as they are for now. Specifically we want to mention the following:

• Pathfinder Society will retain its factions and Pathfinder Society Lore, will not institute a formal level cap, will continue using scenario tags, and will continue producing custom sanctioning documents for adventures
• Starfinder Society will maintain its open access to character options, level cap, and custom chronicle boons, and will not include previously-published statblocks.
• Both programs will allow playtest classes to continue being played after the playtest period closes. Rules on converting playtest characters to final publications will come soon.