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Exactly what the setting needed

5/5

This book has all of the setting details to really turn the Starfinder Setting (Pact Worlds and Beyond!) into a truly Science Fantasy setting.

While there have been bits here and there about how magic is utilized in the setting, particularly in APs, most of the setting before felt highly technological compared to magical. This is even addressed some in the book itself, stating that the Pact Worlds right now do in fact have a bias towards the technological even though so much of their technology is intertwined with magic. All of the core 20 Starfinder deities get larger write-ups that are helpful for both players and GMs. Some of the Core 20 from Pathfinder also get a column each of space explaining what they've been up to, including a great reason why Asmodeus is no longer a top-tier deity!

We get 100+ new spells, some are old throwbacks from Pathfinder but others are brand new and are potentially game-changing when it comes to spellcaster builds.

The variant 0-level spells scaling is much needed! Now your spellcaster never needs to reach for a gun again if they don't want to!

The prepared caster variant is something that I hope SFS allows players to utilize. I've always been a fan of prepared casting and am happy to see it has made its way into publication here!


Amazing Book!

5/5

The artwork in this book is breathtaking.

It is really hard to express how great this book is to me! We get a ton of information about the peoples that live in the Expanse. Not just the humans, but so many pages spent on the Elves & Dwarves of the region as well!

My group is almost down with The Slithering, and beforehand I ran Troubles in Otari...but it was in Kibwe instead! This book would've been great to have beforehand! We're not done with The Slithering yet, and I plan to use the information in this book as the PCs make their way to a particular Tournament over in Tian Xia!


A plethora of story ideas

5/5

I don't think I've walked away from a single entry in this book that did not spark some story ideas as a GM that I could tie into new campaigns to come or my current campaigns!

This book has enough to entice players to work with their GMs to possibly be connected to these movers and shakers of Golarion, without forcing GMs to utilize everything in here.

I'll be the first to admit that most of my characters are "religious" in one way or another because it gives me a tent-pole to build that character around. With this book, I feel like I could have a non-religious character, and replace that tent-pole with one of the Legends in this book!


Fun Adventure for the most part

4/5

As has been mentioned, the starship combat in this scenario can drag. It took my group about 2 hours to finish it up. Rarely did the players feel like they were in danger, it just took that long to actually take out the main baddie.

The rest of the scenario was quick, flavorful and fun. My players had an awesome time having some first-contact and getting to interact with a species that none of them had messed with before.

The final decision at the end of the scenario resulted in near 15 minutes of discussion between the players to decide what to do. I loved it! I also think the players enjoyed it as well, getting to face a moral dilemma at the end of it all. We ended up determining how I would report it by table vote, and they went the Prime Directive route.


Not as Overpowered as you think

4/5

First, the bad. As other people have mentioned, this scenario runs a little short. We played through it in about 2.5 hours. This was all of my players at least second session, if not their third so folks were starting to get comfortable with the system.

The Good: Can't say this enough, the flavor of the Scenario was a lot of fun to play with. Most of the detail is in the spoilers below.

Spoiler:
My players distrusted the AbadarCorp group almost right away and never straight up told them why they were after the antagonist, however they did agree to hand the antagonist over to AbadarCorp once they got what they needed from him.

It was fun playing up the crusty downtrodden town in the midst of almost a celebration. Players felt uncomfortable right away when they heard who was the reason for it!

In regards to other reviews: I have listened to a fair number of interviews by the developers and they have made it abundantly clear that NPCs are not beholden to the same build rules the PCs are in Starfinder the same way they are in Pathfinder. So there is a good chance that when a GM breaks down a statblock, they will be unable to place where all of bonuses are coming from. Now for some details on the final fight:

Final Map:
First, let me talk about that 3d6 Laser Trap.
It can possibly knock some players to 0 right away, but with some friends around, they can probably get 1 HP back from the medkit that was found in C1 (or a Mystic can heal). Then they can spend Resolve to get their SP back. It also reminds player's that Traps are still a thing in Starfinder and the future. My players were not being particularly careful in the tunnels, and this was a harsh reminder for them.

As for Tasch,he was in the cart right away, dropped the first PC that he say with some help from his henchmen. This is including the fact that I gave the bad guys a surprise round because my PCs took 10 minutes after the laser trap blew the stamina away from the Mechanic. After the first full round and the first PC dropped, the players now knew combat was dangerous, and also quickly wanted to know how to get into the cart with Tasch. Remember, that cart holds three medium creatures. The Operative and Mechanic (Exo) both jumped into the cart with their survival knives, forcing Tasch to go from his fancy Static Arc Pistol to a survival knife as well. His damage tanked, and he only barely dropped the Operative in the last round of combat (Tasch himself only has 2 HP left).

EDIT: After reading some reviews though, it does appear that I overlooked his Holographic Clone, so he would've been a little tougher, but I still stand by this fight not being as tough as some make it out to be.

In closing, the last fight isn't necessarily as hard as some say, especially if your players have some tactical acumen. I can see though how it can be difficult for some players, especially if it is their first Starfinder session