Bringing Out the Big Guns in Starfinder

Well... I'm just a simple farmer...
but this looks like it will give me a chance against housecats!

I like the streamlining. A lot.

Can't wait to take it for a spin in August.

Ooooooo....

SQUEEEEE! You have pleased this humble gear junky.

"Ooooo, guns, guns, guns! C'mon, Sal! The Starfinders are playing... tonight. I never miss a game."

A 7d8 sniper rifle sounds fun.

Dragons confirmed.

Also, non-evil undead confirmed. ^_^

This is great, but I'd like to hear more about the melee options. I've always like playing the big guy with a sword when we're in sci-fi games (and when we're in fantasy games... I like big swords). I know that the Soldier gets proficiency with advanced melee weapons, and thus specialization with them at level 3, but what are the advanced melee weapons? Are they like the chainswords and power weapons from Warhammer 40k? Can more "mundane" types of weapons qualify as an advanced melee weapon like a fullblade or scorpion whip, or does it have to be battery powered?

Also, how does melee weapons damage stack up against ranged weapon damage? Apparently there's a rifle that does 7D8, is there a melee weapon that does a similarly huge ammount? Does Strength still add 1.5x it's modifier to the damage of melee weapons?

Advance melee weapons range from then humble 1d8 longsword at 1st level, to sintered longswords, grind blades, zero-edge weapons, all the way to the two-handed 12d10 slashing (6d6 bleed on a critical) dimensional slice curve blade and 14d10 bludgeoning and fire (knockdown on a critical) mach III swoop hammer at 20th level.

Advance melee weapons range from then humble 1d8 longsword at 1st level, to sintered longswords, grind blades, zero-edge weapons, all the way to the two-handed 12d10 slashing (6d6 bleed on a critical) dimensional slice curve blade and 14d10 bludgeoning and fire (knockdown on a critical) mach III swoop hammer at 20th level.

And melee weapons just add Strength bonus, regardless of number of hands, but that does boost their damage output. Soldiers can take a melee gear boost that adds another bonus equal to half their Strength bonus... again, regardless of number of hands.

Damage on tiered weapons? Sounds video gamey.

I like it.

This raises a question. What about armor? Presumably it will also have levels, but I doubt it increases too much in bonus to kac and eac. Extra abilities? Also, DR and Energy Resistance confirmed.

This raises a question. What about armor? Presumably it will also have levels, but I doubt it increases too much in bonus to kac and eac. Extra abilities? Also, DR and Energy Resistance confirmed.

Armor bonuses do indeed scale significantly as you get higher-level armor. They also have longer durations of life support (measured in days), and more upgrade slots for significant improvements.

I've got to say, these previews are making me excited about high level play. I usually don't play above 12 in pathfinder, but the lack of 9th level casting and the removal of iterative attacks and redoing damage scaling on weapons really looks exciting.

Advance melee weapons range from then humble 1d8 longsword at 1st level, to sintered longswords, grind blades, zero-edge weapons, all the way to the two-handed 12d10 slashing (6d6 bleed on a critical) dimensional slice curve blade and 14d10 bludgeoning and fire (knockdown on a critical) mach III swoop hammer at 20th level.

HOLY DRAGON BALLS!!!

(And I mean the kind that you get a wish when you collect them all and not some kind of innuendo type of thing.)

So lots of the weapons we've seen so far have critical hit riders, like laser pistols setting people on fire or dimensional slice curve blades adding bleed damage. Is this in addition to or replacing the PF ×2/3/4 critical multipliers?

Gotta say though, I love having extra stuff happen on crits. And replacing the multipliers with other stuff would be neat, and possibly keep some of the disappointing fights I've seen from repeating themselves.

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Advance melee weapons range from then humble 1d8 longsword at 1st level, to sintered longswords, grind blades, zero-edge weapons, all the way to the two-handed 12d10 slashing (6d6 bleed on a critical) dimensional slice curve blade and 14d10 bludgeoning and fire (knockdown on a critical) mach III swoop hammer at 20th level.

And melee weapons just add Strength bonus, regardless of number of hands, but that does boost their damage output. Soldiers can take a melee gear boost that adds another bonus equal to half their Strength bonus... again, regardless of number of hands.

So is there ever a purpose to wielding a weapon two handed beyond the obvious of it must be used two handed? Thanks.

Well given I assume most of the tech weapons will turn into things like force lances and plasma pokers I assume they scale at a similar rate or even faster than ranged. I believe it was mentioned that melee attacks tend to be higher damage attacks than ranged ones. So some benefit if you can close range to bring one to bear.

Are there any shields? With modem riot shields are pretty protective, and with future tech they can be capable of blocking a lot of things. Captain America or Guardian should have a place in starfinder. That said, if they are there do they add to KAC or EAC? Can you bash with them?

Critical hits have been changed to a natural 20 is always a critical (no confirmation roll, and no threat ranges beyond 20), and on a critical all damage (yes ALL DAMAGE -- no exceptions) is doubled.

Many weapons also have critical hit effects, the most common being (in no particular oder) burn, corrode, knockdown, deafen, staggered, bleed, and wound. There are a few others.

Different categories of weapons have different % of weapons that have critical hit effects. They're rare for 1-handed simple weapons. They are much more common among energy small arms, longarms, and heavy weapons.

And some magic fusions let you add one.

Is there a synergy between Soldiers and weapon specialization possessed by other classes as was hinted at in an earlier blog, or is the Soldier simply happy everybody gets weapon specialization at 3rd level because the Soldier gets WS with more things?

I like this... because it provides an indirect mechanism for upgrading your cheesy little blaster you have at first level, if you're playing a sentimental sort... (Which is to say, pay the difference and tell me you're spending your time upgrading your gun in your workshop, and I'll say your new weapon that does the same type of damage is simply an upgraded version of Old Betsy, your trusted sidearm)

Is improved critical in the game as a feat or ability? Critical effects are cool, but if they only trigger on a 20, they're not very reliable.

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Advance melee weapons range from then humble 1d8 longsword at 1st level, to sintered longswords, grind blades, zero-edge weapons, all the way to the two-handed 12d10 slashing (6d6 bleed on a critical) dimensional slice curve blade and 14d10 bludgeoning and fire (knockdown on a critical) mach III swoop hammer at 20th level.

And melee weapons just add Strength bonus, regardless of number of hands, but that does boost their damage output. Soldiers can take a melee gear boost that adds another bonus equal to half their Strength bonus... again, regardless of number of hands.

So is there ever a purpose to wielding a weapon two handed beyond the obvious of it must be used two handed? Thanks.

I would assume that two handed weapons have higher base damage than 1 handed weapons. And given how attacks work now with one attack normal or two at -4/-4 having a big two hander may be more efficient damage wise than two small one handers if they are not improving your attack speed much.

So is there ever a purpose to wielding a weapon two handed beyond the obvious of it must be used two handed? Thanks.

No.

Something I've been wondering since the reveal game on Tuesday, are there any differences between weapons sized for small, medium, and large races?

Something I've been wondering since the reveal game on Tuesday, are there any differences between weapons sized for small, medium, and large races?

I to am curious about this. I mean I would assume a halfling is going to have trouble using some large pole arm just physics wise but for laser pistols/rifles as long as they are capable of lifting them no real reason to have different small/medium/large damage differences.

Even for melee weapons if you have dimensional slicer sword I am not sure how much if at all the size of the blade actually matters for final damage it is doing.

I would like to compliment the individual up thread on the Robocop quote.

Is there a synergy between Soldiers and weapon specialization possessed by other classes as was hinted at in an earlier blog, or is the Soldier simply happy everybody gets weapon specialization at 3rd level because the Soldier gets WS with more things?

The main thing is how expensive it is for other classes to get WS, since they must fist be proficient, and sometimes they must be proficient with multiple things.

So, for example, no class but soldier is automatically proficient with long arms or heavy weapons. Remember that small arms add half your level as specialization damage, but long arms and heavy weapons add your full level.

So at 3rd, a soldier gets to add +3 to long arms and heavy weapons attacks. A envoy who wants to do the same thing must take Longarm Proficiency, Weapon Specialization (longarms), Heavy Weapon Proficiency (which has a 13 Str, and small arms and longer proficiency as prerequisites), and then likely Versatile Specialization (so the envoy will be specialized in any other weapon picked up later on).

That means the envoy *can't* do that by 3rd level. Even a human envoy can't.

Now at 5th, a human envoy can have spent his 1st, 3rd, 5th, and human bonus feat -- that is, ALL feats, to have the same damage options as the soldier. Of course by now the soldier has 3 universal feats, and two combat feats, and a gear boost, and two style technique powers.

And the difference between small arms and long arms stays relevant. This isn't like Pathfinder where the difference between a +2 bane flaming morningstar and a +2 bane flaming two-handed sword is 2.5 hp per attack and double the critical change. The highest-damage 10th level small arm does 3d6 and gets +5 from specialization. The highest-damage 10th level longarm does 3d10 and gets +10 from specialization. The highest-damage heavy weapons do 2d12 in a cone or radius, and still gets +10 from specialization.

While other classes can chase the soldier in terms of feats, they begin at least 4 behind, and never get access to the soldier's combat oriented class-features, which are on top of additional bonus feats and getting all the specializations free.

Something I've been wondering since the reveal game on Tuesday, are there any differences between weapons sized for small, medium, and large races?

All weapons are scaled for use by Small and Medium creatures, since those are the two most common sizes of things with money to buy weapons.

Small and Medium creatures can try to use weapons built for Tiny or Large creatures, but take a -4 to attack. However, such weapons don't do any more or less damage, and there is no change in handedness. In other words, there is no benefit to trying it as a tactic, though it can be done if you are in a spot.

I'm liking what I'm reading.

Sounds like my gatling laser, and plasma caster are definately options.
From Owen's post about the swoop hammer I'm positive that I can emulate a super sledge.

Only things left to find out now are if I can make a gauss sniper rifle and how power armor is going to work and my Brotherhood of Steel paladin is set.

Critical hits have been changed to a natural 20 is always a critical (no confirmation roll, and no threat ranges beyond 20), and on a critical all damage (yes ALL DAMAGE -- no exceptions) is doubled.

Does this include spells?

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:

Something I've been wondering since the reveal game on Tuesday, are there any differences between weapons sized for small, medium, and large races?

All weapons are scaled for use by Small and Medium creatures, since those are the two most common sizes of things with money to buy weapons.

Small and Medium creatures can try to use weapons built for Tiny or Large creatures, but take a -4 to attack. However, such weapons don't do any more or less damage, and there is no change in handedness. In other words, there is no benefit to trying it as a tactic, though it can be done if you are in a spot.

So I can one-hand a large longsword but it still deals only 1d8 damage?

EDIT: I have a weird question. Psionic weapons. Yes or no?

Now at 5th, a human envoy can have spent his 1st, 3rd, 5th, and human bonus feat -- that is, ALL feats, to have the same damage options as the soldier.

This, or more likely the middle-ground build into just longarm proficiency and specialization for two feats, is incidentally a really solid combat build that any envoy not planning on running full buff should strongly consider. But it's costly compared to a soldier. Even if you just go longarms, that takes care of all a non-human's feats until 5th level. You could consider taking some soldier to help (1 level and you're only down two feats to get all the specializations you need, 3 levels and you've got everything, but then you are the soldier that's happy about getting specialization at 3) but of course, that delays your awesome features from your main class.

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:

Something I've been wondering since the reveal game on Tuesday, are there any differences between weapons sized for small, medium, and large races?

All weapons are scaled for use by Small and Medium creatures, since those are the two most common sizes of things with money to buy weapons.

Small and Medium creatures can try to use weapons built for Tiny or Large creatures, but take a -4 to attack. However, such weapons don't do any more or less damage, and there is no change in handedness. In other words, there is no benefit to trying it as a tactic, though it can be done if you are in a spot.

OOO very nice to know for my future space ratman.

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Critical hits have been changed to a natural 20 is always a critical (no confirmation roll, and no threat ranges beyond 20), and on a critical all damage (yes ALL DAMAGE -- no exceptions) is doubled.

Does this include spells?

If the spell requires a to-hit roll, yes. That's called in "Spells With Attack Rolls" on page 335. :)

So I can one-hand a large longsword but it still deals only 1d8 damage?

With a -4 penalty to hit, and it still deals only 1d8 damage as I read it yes.

EDIT: I have a weird question. Psionic weapons. Yes or no?

There is no psionics, so no?

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:

Something I've been wondering since the reveal game on Tuesday, are there any differences between weapons sized for small, medium, and large races?

All weapons are scaled for use by Small and Medium creatures, since those are the two most common sizes of things with money to buy weapons.

Small and Medium creatures can try to use weapons built for Tiny or Large creatures, but take a -4 to attack. However, such weapons don't do any more or less damage, and there is no change in handedness. In other words, there is no benefit to trying it as a tactic, though it can be done if you are in a spot.

So I can one-hand a large longsword but it still deals only 1d8 damage?

And you are at -4 to use it. Yes.

EDIT: I have a weird question. Psionic weapons. Yes or no?

Weapon fusions are magic bolt-ons to weapons. We don't really distinguish between arcane, divine, and psychic, so if you want your ominous fusion on your ultra thin dueling sword to be psychic, it is.

There is no psionics, so no?

So I imagined the psychic mystic specialization? :P I'm joking.

Weapon fusions are magic bolt-ons to weapons. We don't really distinguish between arcane, divine, and psychic, so if you want your ominous fusion on your ultra thin dueling sword to be psychic, it is.

What I meant is weapons that use mental energies or directly attack the psyche, like a "brain scrambler" in some other games.

IonutRO wrote:

So I can one-hand a large longsword but it still deals only 1d8 damage?

With a -4 penalty to hit, and it still deals only 1d8 damage as I read it yes.

IonutRO wrote:

EDIT: I have a weird question. Psionic weapons. Yes or no?

There is no psionics, so no?

Like the Pathfinder RPG, Starfinder uses 'psychic' rather than 'psionic' as the term for mental magic.

That said, I'd be stunned if Dreamscarred doesn't do a psionic Starfinder-compatible book.

Like the Pathfinder RPG, Starfinder uses 'psychic' rather than 'psionic' as the term for mental magic.

That said, I'd be stunned if Dreamscarred doesn't do a psionic Starfinder-compatible book.

To me they'll always mean the same thing conceptually.

Damanta wrote:

There is no psionics, so no?

So I imagined the psychic mystic specialization? :P I'm joking.

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Weapon fusions are magic bolt-ons to weapons. We don't really distinguish between arcane, divine, and psychic, so if you want your ominous fusion on your ultra thin dueling sword to be psychic, it is.

What I meant is weapons that use mental energies or directly attack the psyche, like a "brain scrambler" in some other games.

Ah. Not so much, in the core rulebook, though I expect to see more such things as the game matures.

Damanta wrote:

There is no psionics, so no?

So I imagined the psychic mystic specialization? :P I'm joking.

Hehe, I was more referring to the fact that Starfinder doesn't differentiate between Arcane, Divine, Psychic/Psionic, Wordcasting (and whatever other forms of) magic but makes it all player "fluff" choice, even if the name of the ability (like the arcane fighter and the psychic mystic) would suggest otherwise.

Huh, so large melee weapons do the same as their small and medium counterparts? Bummer.

Huh, so large melee weapons do the same as their small and medium counterparts? Bummer.

Yeah, that isn't a plus in my book either.

It does make a lot of sense though for tech weapons. A photon foil(totally not a light saber) the damage being done is by the energy and the size of the blade overall would have little impact on the damage it does.

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:

Huh, so large melee weapons do the same as their small and medium counterparts? Bummer.

Yeah, that isn't a plus in my book either.

Well, there is a certain logic to it. Feasibly, while a larger creature could swing a weapon much harder the mass of the weapon along with atmospheric resistance and diffusion of force from a larger striking surface would reduce the actual damage done. That said I'm still going to have a dragonkin envoy with horde of kobold lackeys in my campaign.

It would still make sense that the physical damage of a hammer like weapon that weights about 8 times as much as its smaller counterparts would increase
but that would make a lot of things more complicated
I think I am actually okay with that

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:

Huh, so large melee weapons do the same as their small and medium counterparts? Bummer.

Yeah, that isn't a plus in my book either.

I see it large or tiny is still humanoid scaled. If you managed to have a giant with a portable starship scale weapon, I'd expect it to be much more damaging than a character scale weapon.

Stone Dog wrote:

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:

Huh, so large melee weapons do the same as their small and medium counterparts? Bummer.

Yeah, that isn't a plus in my book either.

I see it large or tiny is still humanoid scaled. If you managed to have a giant with a portable starship scale weapon, I'd expect it to be much more damaging than a character scale weapon.

This would certainly be a solution to the whole problem... :P

Owen, how does "item creation" work?
I think it is one of the most broken things in Pathfinder and hope it is different in Starfinder.

I could also imagine, that you can´t manufacture some things at all without heavy industrial machines and even then, it won´t be possible if you are no expert.

Thx a lot. :-)