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Hey all! Are you running one of the Season 6 scenarios dealing with the wonders of Numeria? There are plenty of new rules you're going to need to familiarize yourself with in order to run them properly. This is a quick rundown with links to pertinent forum discussions!
Learnin' Stuff!
The secrets of technology are difficult for the rest of Golarion to understand, and your average wizard is going to have a tough time identifying items and creatures without investing some resources.
Skills
No new skills are introduced to the Pathfinder RPG to model how characters interact with technology--rather, existing skills** are expanded to allow for such interaction. Additional rules for how skills interact with technology are listed below. Without the Technologist feat, a character is treated as untrained in the skill in question when using it on technology.**Includes Craft (mechanical), Disable Device, Linguistics (Androffan), or research skills like Heal, K:Engineering, and K: Geography.
Technologist
Benefit: You are considered to be trained in any skill used against a technology based subject. If the skill in question requires training to use even against non-technological subjects, you must still have ranks in the that skill in order to gain the benefit of Technologist.Normal: You treat all skill checks against technology as if they were untrained skill checks. This may mean that you cannot attempt certain skill checks, even if you possess ranks in the skill in question.
You may notice that Disable Device and Linguistics are both trained only skills, meaning that they may not be used against a technological subject at all unless you have the Technologist feat. Generally, you can only hit a DC 10 on an untrained Knowledge skill check, which means most PCs will be unable to learn about a technological subject.
For more information, check the Technology Guide. A lot of material has been added to the scenarios, but if you plan to GM Season 6 a lot, the book is completely worth it.
(forum post: Robot Knowledge Check DC)
I'll Take That There Space Gun
Using technology isn't a simple task either. Even if you manage to figure out what a particular item is, the item may not be properly charged and finding ammo isn't always easy. Regular ranged weapons take the Exotic Weapons Proficiency (Firearms) feat, though some will require an additional EWP (Heavy Weapons).
However, many of the items are also timeworn, meaning that they have the potential to glitch. These rules are outlined in full in the Guide to Organized Play, but the general idea is that a glitch occurs when:
- an item is used for the first time after a month of inactivity (50% chance)
- an item is used in such a way that drains the last charge (50% chance)
- an item requires a d20 roll which results in a natural 1
The glitch table is detailed in the Guide, and has some pretty random effects. See the Technology Guide for more specifics about weapons, armor, and items.
Because these items are subtyped as technological and not mundane, they aren't Always Available and must be found on a scenario chronicle sheet for purchase.
Them Gosh Darn Robots
Robots are constructs with the robot subtype, which means they must be identified using Knowledge: Engineering with the caveats listed above.
Further, Robots have hardness rather than DR, which we often see as a rule for objects rather than creatures. Since the rules here are confusing, and the forum post is heated, I'll personally go with James Jacobs here.
As it turns out, robots are not objects—they're creatures. And as such, energy damage is not halved when applied to them. That bit about halving energy damage is a quality of an object, not a quality of Hardness. (And in my opinion... it's a kind of silly rule anyway—the idea that fire deals half-damage to paper is ridiculous.)
I plan to use Hardness 10 to mean the same as DR 10/- and Resist All 10 for spell and other effects. Consensus remains mixed. :)
(forum post: Hardness Rules and Energy Damage)
Technological Scenarios
These rules currently apply to the following scenarios. There may be more specific information in their specific threads.
6-01: Trial By Machine (post 1/post 2)
6-02: The Silver Mount Collection (post 1)
6-03: The Technic Siege (post 1)
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Sooo... any suggestions or updates or arguments or official statements or requests to delete this thread and move on?