Pathfinder Society GM. Starfinder Society GM. 2,894 posts (6,570 including aliases). 1 review. 1 list. No wishlists. 60 Organized Play characters. 22 aliases. 
Merry Christmas guys! =D
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Even if this precedent is the case, an ability like Retributive Strike isn't intended to work for yourself. Why do you think that? As a general rule, I tend to find it odd when you can affect an ally but not yourself with an ability. It should be harder to affect someone else with an ability than yourself.
Are you your own ally for the purposes of those reactions? I've seen the question asked in some other threads, but have not been able to find a firm answer. The opinions I've seen go either way (as tends to be the case in most rule questions). Does anyone if this has been answered somewhere?
Hey Dire, thanks for the fill-in. There's actually a "map" up for the vehicle chase which shows which zones the 2 vehicles and the worm are in. I'll leave that map up for your use. Edit: Nevermind, I see you've done your own map.
Both Alejandro and Astrator miss their shots due to the bumpiness of desert travel.
Rahdokama fires a little laser beam at the giant worm. It barely notices.
Alejandro and Rahdokama put the pedal to the metal, but the combination of the difficult desert terrain and the ponderous vehicles makes it hard to accelerate. They manage to keep pace with the monster for now, but do not outpace it.
Your drive through the desert is initially uneventful, and you are able to make decent progress through the desert towards the canyon where the lost Starfinders are potentially holing up. Just as you are about to think this will be an easy drive, however, you feel the earth beneath you begin to rumble... and moments later, an immense 40-foot-long creature that looks like an armored worm emerges from the sand behind your vehicles! The creature is large enough to easily crush a vehicle, so fleeing toward the destination at top speed is the best option!
Your landing craft touches down in an area unaffected by the storm. From there, you begin your drive through the desert to where you believe you may find some of your missing comrades...
Thanks for the heads-up.
You decide that there is nothing more to be gained from exploring this planet and decide to move on to Callion-1 on the strength of the new information that had been acquired by the other Starfinders. As you board your craft and chart a course to your new destination, Radaszam, leader of the Acquisitives faction, sends you a transmission. “Recon teams who visited an ancient city gained information on Starfinders who may be stuck on the desert planet Callion-1. We sent a ship closer to the planet to scan it and turns out, the intel was good; there are Starfinders down there. It’s a tidally locked world where one side is a frigid tundra and the other a blazing hot wasteland. If that doesn’t sound bad enough, our weather scans show there’s a gigantic magnetic storm raging in the part of the planet where our friends are. Flying vehicles won’t be safe to fly anywhere near the storm, which is why you’ll be using two all-terrain vehicles to reach them! Send word to the Intrepid Explorer what weapons you wish to have installed on the vehicles, and you should be able to pick them up on your way to Callion-1.”
All-Terrain Transport: Huge land vehicle (10 ft. wide, 20 ft. long, 7 ft. high) Speed 10 ft., full 450 ft., 50 mph EAC 13; KAC 16; Cover total cover HP 90 (45); Hardness 8 Attack (Collision) 7d8 (DC 12) Modifiers –4 Piloting, –3 attack (–6 at full speed) (see special rules above) Systems autopilot (Piloting +13), planetary comm unit; Passengers 7
"Query processed. The friends you seek are not here."
"Certainly. This is a manufacturing facility. If you are looking for information and history, perhaps the library will be more suitable."
As Rahdokama mentions Aone, the now-familiar hologram figure is projected behind him, startling him just a little as she speaks. "Query. You called for my attention?"
You move on to the factory district and find that it is full of activity: industrial robots building and repairing other robots. You can easily see that the level of robotics is highly advanced, and everything looks fully automated. It is not however apparent how you may find clues here.
Astrator learns that the ancient culture that once inhabited this planet was very advanced both culturally and technologically, and referred to themselves as 'izalguun'. He also finds a log entry about visitors whose description suggests the visitors were 'explorers who sought stars' or something along those lines, though the translation is hard to parse due to grammatical differences in the translation. The entry doesn’t reveal what happened to them. The date of the log slightly precedes the scoured stars incident.
The robots begin to deploy weapons when Z'han reaches for his grenade, but stand down when Rahdokama intervenes. They allow you to depart in peace as you back away from the military installation. You move on to the immense city library. The doors are open and you are able to enter without any trouble. With the exception of the ever-present alien music around the city, this enormous building remains completely silent. Digital and physical records from the planet’s past fill shelves and data archives stretching for the equivalent of city blocks. Are you poke around, you can each make Computers, Culture, Engineering, Life Science, Medicine, or Physical Science checks.
"Error. This personnel is not a recognised authority on this planet. All civilians are again requested to leave this facility."
"About your survivors of a war, I do not believe there is anything of the sort to be found here. A biological species once inhabited this planet, yes, but that was a long time ago. I do not know much about them, only that I am now in charge of the planet. Please do not damage anything during your visit. As for this military facility, I must inform you that it is out of bounds, for the safety of civilians, you understand."
As you make your way towards the military base, you catch glimpses of an androgynous human watching you from afar at semi-regular intervals, though it makes no moves to approach. At least, not until you come to the gates of the military station, where you find the figure standing behind the gates. It calls out to you in a soft, rasping, metallic voice as its form flickers every so often. "Hello. I am Aone. You appear to be looking for something. Who are you and what are you looking for?"
The imposing vesk Radaszam, leader of the Acquisitives, stands near a large screen that displays a tidally locked planet labeled as Callion-2. “Starfinders,” he greets, in his pleasantly low voice, “I’m sure you’ll find this mission interesting. Our sensors have detected numerous communication signals broadcast from Callion-2. Because one side of the planet is always facing the sun, only a narrow habitable zone exists, but here’s the interesting part: the entire habitable area is covered in one big, technologically advanced megacity. Finding survivors, or at least useful information in the city, seems likely. I’ll upload mission data on your ship’s computer. Good luck and come back safely!” Following the Radaszam’s instructions, you board your vessel and head to the planet Callion-2. You easily find the right location in the sprawling megacity to take your landing craft, and locate a suitable landing place on a rooftop. As you approach the destination, you realise the only living things in the city are plants and small insectile invertebrates. A quick scan of the area reveals that there are a few locations you can investigate within proximity of your landing zone, one of which is the shopping mall that you have landed on top of. You also notice that you can hear strange alien music (akin to distorted modern elevator
You locate a door leading down into the main shopping area and are surprised to find that the entire place seems fully automated - Robots mill around the place putting useless and deteriorated products on display, but no one is around to buy anything... You move through the shopping mall into the surrounding residential area, and still you see only robots making repairs and cleaning the residences, but no signs of sentient life... Culture, Perception, or Survival DC15:
It appears the city was abandoned long ago—likely millennia ago—and the original inhabitants left the machines to take care of the city.
Rahdokama:
Your speech is well-received by recruits, and they remember you and your words. Once during the adventure, when you use an aid token, you can gain 2 different benefits instead of just 1. Z'han:
You are able to catalogue and analyse the data very efficiently, and have some extra time to commit them to memory and note where they might be encountered. Once during the adventure, you can either choose to reroll a check to identify an enemy creature, or you can instead at the start of a battle give your entire party a +4 to initiative! Astrator:
You are able to make yourself incredibly useful to Historia-7, and as thanks she shares with you a priority code that allows you to divert CPU power from a carrier to your starship. Once during the adventure, when making a computers check, you can roll twice and take the higher result, and then add a +4 to the result. You are considered trained. Alejandro:
Zigvigix thanks you for your aid and allows you to take with you a special consignment of extra ammunition for your ship. Once during the adventure, you can grant your ship a +2 on all attack rolls, and limited fire weapons do not consume ammunition for that round. Rig:
You perform your task well enough that the chief engineer gives you a special power pack for your ship to give you an extra boost of power at a critical time. You can use it to give your ship a +4 bonus to all engineering and piloting checks for 1 round. Shaan: Your discovery of the burnt out spark plugs prevents vital equipment from potentially malfunctioning at a critical juncture.
As thanks, Radaszam grants you and your party permission to each requisition a single weapon and a single consumable item of item level equal to your character level. The weapon will come fully charged/loaded, but you will only have it during the phase in which you requisition it. There will be 4 phases to this scenario and you cannot make a requisition during the 4th phase.
The five of you head in different directions to cover more ground. Rather remarkably, you prove yourselves to be highly competent and are able to make substantial contributions to the crew.
Shaan, the factions work a little differently in Starfinder. Generally, to gain prestige with a faction, you need to have a boon for that faction slotted, and you can only slot one faction per adventure. You get your first faction boon for free, but can buy more for 2 prestige each. Fortunately, the pre-level 2 rebuild is still in effect, so you can still freely rebuild your character and select another faction boon if you didn't like your first one. Make a post in the gameplay thread once you have yourself slotted, and feel free to ask if you have more questions. =)
Naiaj nods as you introduce yourselves and describe some of your individual abilities. "Good to know that you're all adequately trained and eager to help, because we sure do need all hands on deck here. I've uploaded to each of your comms units a list of who needs what done on this ship, so pick someone and go help him or her."
List:
Historia-7:
Historia-7, leader of the Dataphiles, shows you the carrier ship’s science station on the bridge. “Thank you for your assistance. Once we jump into the Scoured Stars, we will need to scan the system to locate any survivors from the previous expedition. Please check connections and run tests on the ship’s computers to ensure the sensors, comms, and other critical systems are running without glitches.” Venture Captain Naiaj:
Venture-Captain Naiaj takes you to the hangar bay. “All right, let’s get to work. See all these ships here? Work with the chief engineer to check the engines of these transports, fighters, and scout ships, and help her make any necessary adjustments.” Radaszam:
Radaszam, leader of the Acquisitives, waits for you in the cargo bay. “As you’ve probably surmised, things might get hairy once we’re in the Scoured Stars. Ain’t no glamor in this task, but it’s important—check these weapons, armor, medical supplies, and survival gear, and replace any faulty gear so we all might just make it back home alive.” Zigvigix:
You meet with Zigvigix, leader of the Exo-Guardians, in the missile bay. “Hey! Thanks for showing up! I’ve got a special mission just for you! See those missile tubes? I need them checked to make sure that there’s nothing obstructing missiles from being launched, so could you climb or crawl in and have a look? I’m pretty sure it’s safe and we won’t accidently fire you into space!” Venture-Captain Arvin:
Venture-Captain Arvin briefs you in the access corridor just outside the bridge. “Many Starfinders, especially newer recruits, fear what might await us in the Scoured Stars. Talk to your colleagues and see if you can lift their spirits. You have my permission to be creative— pep talks, jokes, or playing some music through the comm system are each valid options.” Fitch: Her nose and whiskers twitching, Fitch, leader of the Wayfinders, reads something on a large screen in the science lab while her children operate other consoles and devices. “Hey, can you help me with something? What we have here is a database built from references to creatures in travelers’ logs and fragments of communication signals that were sent from the Scoured Stars before the force field appeared. Sift through the info and take notes on what kind of threats we might face.” Fitch then pats one of her nearby children on the shoulder. “See this red guy here, Kirkath? Your notes should be: This is a balor demon, if you see one… RUN!”
Introduction After a long voyage through the Drift, the bulk of the Starfinder fleet has arrived at the outer reaches of the Scoured Stars system. Several immense carriers form the core of the fleet and contain docked transport ships, fighter craft, and scout vessels. Each of the stored ships contains armor, weapons, provisions, and other equipment. There is an almost palpable feeling of tension and excitement as hundreds of Starfinders aboard the central carriers prepare themselves for the mission. Ahead, a shimmering veil of golden energy conceals the three stars known to be within. Venture-Captain Naiaj, a no-nonsense bleachling gnome, approaches with a datapad in hand. “Do you have all your gear? Are you ready? Good. Now let’s help our fleet get ready for the final journey into the Scoured Stars. But first, tell me your names and what special training you have so we can assign an appropriate task for you to assist with.”
Venture-Captain Naiaj, Venture-Captain Arvin, and the faction leaders Fitch, Historia-7, Radaszam “The Dealmaker”, and Zigvigix can be seen gathering groups around the ship, assigning tasks to help with the preparations.
List:
Discuss your tactics and cheese here. =D
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Oops my bad. Please abide by our nice Overlady's instructions.
This game will run from August 13th, 2018-September 30, 2018. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey guys, I've been granted the privilege of running this SFS special as part of PBP Gameday 7. I will be running one of the subtier 1-2 tables. To sign up, please follow this link (click here) to my sign-up sheet and fill in your info, and then make a post here. Priority will be given to those who have posted here, not to the names on the sign-up sheet. Please keep in mind that this is a time-sensitive special, so I will need to request that you endeavour to make at least 1 post per weekday or weekend during the game. Hope you guys are as excited as I am! =D
Player's name: Fiddlersgreen
My paladin may need to be allocated to play Solstice Scar C if I don't get a GM slot, otherwise he might be my choice for the game. Mate, could you make a game thread so we can dot in for notifications? Cheers. =D
Name: Fiddlersgreen
Ooo. Ooo. OoTS reference! Erm, throwing in my vote for this needing a clarification if only to clear it up once and for all. People base substantial portions of their character concepts on this feat (not me personally, none of my characters have it). If nothing else, it would be nice if those people had a clear word once and for all on whether or not it worked .
Have you seen the Netflix show Stranger Things? That show takes a very similar concept and takes it up to Eleven. =D
Am I alone in thinking that all the spellcasters really need is a way to regain the paltry allotment of spells during the day? I think their power level is fine as it is, but due to how few spells they have, their is a constant pressure to budget for the big fight. Meanwhile, they're left underperforming throughout the rest of the day. If they could spend resolve to get back a few levels of spells during the 10 min rest, I think they would be just fine.
I think a far simpler and easily balanced fix is to just introduce a mechanic (at this stage it will probably need to be via a feat or an item) that allows the existing casters to spend resolve to regain some spell slots when they rest for 10 min. I'd propose it be spending 1 resolve when taking a 10 min rest to regain spell slots with levels adding up to no more than 2 x the highest level spell he can cast. I was aiming for letting casters cast more often over the course of a day without increasing their maximum potential power in any single combat encounter. If the 10 minute rest is supposed to be a 'mini-rest' in which you spend resolve to recover from recent exertions,and is already an assumed part of an average adventuring day, why not allow spells to be regained in addition to stamina, while using the existing resolve mechanic to keep it in check? I had not taken into account resolve attunement, but that too can be easily fixed. Add the line 'resolve spent this way cannot be recovered except by getting a full 8 hour rest'.
I think a far simpler and easily balanced fix is to just introduce a mechanic (at this stage it will probably need to be via a feat or an item) that allows the existing casters to spend resolve to regain some spell slots when they rest for 10 min. I'd propose it be spending 1 resolve when taking a 10 min rest to regain spell slots with levels adding up to no more than 2 x the highest level spell he can cast.
There is some freedom indeed, though I do see a need to maintain an at least one up to date ring of resistance seeing as I am one of I think 2 classes that have 2 weak saves, so there's a tax there as well. Personally I intend to be keeping my armor up to date and then focusing on utility tools. Simple reasoning - if I have the worst potential attack bonus then my credits are best spent on items that work the same regardless of my attack bonus. Since you're using a 20th level projection, here's my projection of how much less utility I am getting out of a long arm at that level. My mystic's highest stat after wisdom will be dexterity. It will also be getting my second-highest augmentation as well. I'm projecting a max WIS of 28 and a max dex of 24. At 24 dex, taking the feats for long arm and spec, as well as weapon focus, I am looking at an attack bonus of +24. Soldier Joe with a 28 dex and 20 BAB and weapon focus will be sitting on a +30 to hit. Way I see it, that means my highest attack bonus would be what Joe's attack bonus would be if he full attacks for 3 attacks - i.e. he's looking at up to 3 times the utility I'm getting out of the same gun, and that's after I've spent 2 feats trying to catch up. Looking at it from another angle, a vesk-monolith-clad opponent with decent dex is sitting on an AC of 41 or 42. I need to roll a 17 or higher to hit him (20% chance) while Joe hits on an 11 (50% chance). Assuming neither of us full attacks, Joe's chance of hitting is 2.5 times my own. Sure it doesn't start at that degree of disparity - it actually starts out much smaller, but that's the end point, meaning as I gain levels I fall further and further behind and my feats feel more and more 'wasted'. Moreover, and this is the important part, none of my class abilities are gonna help close that gap. Unlike the technomancer who can use his spell slots to fire a few shots as well as a soldier a few times a day (with some extra damage to boot) or a mechanic who can track with his exocortex, if I'm aiming to do damage with my gun I have no option but to hope for the occasional high rolls. I'm not begrudging Joe his advantage - that's what his class does, and he does it well, good for him - otherwise there would be no point to the soldier class. But at that kind of disparity I'm inclined to think that I'm far more useful trying to make sure he gets to attack rather than trying to attack myself. Sure, ok, I can accept that is what my class is meant to do, and that's my best role in combat. But that still makes it hard to justify to myself the cost of spending on a weapon or the 2 feats to learn to use that weapon. Especially if my end point is (substantially) less than 50% chance to hit. If we think of the party's credits as a pool of which I get to decide how to spend a portion of, if I'm getting between 33% to 40% of the utility from purchasing that gun compared to Joe, the party's better off leaving the gun-spending part of the budget to Joe while I get the stuff that Joe isn't getting because he got that gun. If I was at least at the 60% mark, I'd still consider it, but as it stands, it doesn't really strike me a worth the cost. My biggest bang-for-cred is by far just using my gun for harassing fire to help Joe hit, which I can do with any cheap gun. So instead, I'm looking at things like rings of resistance, staff of mystic healing, tiara of translocation, null space chamber and force packs are on my list. Even spare haste circuits strike me as a better use of my creds since it might mean Joe might get to full attack when he otherwise might not be able to. I do also have my eye on the dragon glands since at least that's a damage item that works about equally well on either me or the hypothetical Joe, with a niche of being an AoE attack. I do wish they had more gland variants for the levels between 2, 9 and 17... But that doesn't change the fact that the metric of the value of my class lies far less in my use of a gun and far more in my use of my spells and connection abilities. I think I'm far better off budgeting to use a few spell crystals each mission than trying to play around with a gun.
Don't get me wrong there is alot I like about Starfinder. I'm even running a Dead Suns campaign and hoping to keep running it to the end of the AP. I do acknowledge that the mystic's spells are nice. I think it is more that spells are a very scarce resource, and also that mystics don't have any mechanic to squeeze more mileage out of their gun, such as the exocortex tracking or even that thing that technomancers do to sacrifice spell slots to boost their attack rolls and damage. And I cannot for the life of me figure out why only 1 of the 2 spellcasting classes in starfinder gets spellfocus for free, but that's another issue. I do wonder whether there should be a feat that allows spellcasters to spend a resolve point when resting to regain some of their spell slots to give them more lasting power throughout the day without increasing their 'nova' potential.
I think it is more that due to the way spells work now, only highest 2 levels of spells will be any good for damage. The lower level damage spells will get phased out for utility or healing as you increase in levels since they don't increase in damage. 2d10 damage ain't worth that much when the monster can save for half and has 150hp. Your highest level spells will still be very impressive when you cast them, so you'll still have some shine in boss fights. But considering what I can (or rather can't) achieve with a decent firearm I struggle to justify the cost of a firearm. Right now, I don't think I have any incentive for my mystic to shell out credits for anything more than an azimuth pistol.
Unless paizo publishes some spells that help my mystic hit with his gun I'm definitely gonna be in the "never touch the stuff" category. I mean, I ain't gonna spend any appreciable amount of creds on a decent gun just to be taking potshots and missing more often than not. I'm resigned to just using my gun for covering/harrying fire, which I can do just as well with an azimuth laser pistol as any other weapon. Summoning however might be pretty decent for damage-supplementation. Why buy a gun when I can summon an archon that shoots lasers for me? My damage output still ain't gonna be anything to write home about though, but at least I ain't gonna be blowing a hole in my creds account doing it.
Mmmph... ok, ok. I'm finalising my purchases from my last chronicle sheet now. ="( |