Varisian Barbarian

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10 posts. Alias of Tinkergood.


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Grand Lodge

12 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

I can't seem to find the "Flyby Attack" feat anywhere in the Alien Archive or Starfinder core rulebook feat. I'm assuming it works the same way as it did in Pathfinder, but very few things work the same so... what does "Flyby Attack" do?

It is only mentioned as the feat on the air elemental graft (p. 47 AA)

Grand Lodge

Every Guard soldier build I've put together has Mk X healing potion in his off-hand...

Grand Lodge

Keep in mind that monsters are built differently than PCs. They generally have lower AC compared to their CR. At this point, with only a single book out and relatively low feat options, deadly aim is a reasonable choice and would be most often used when you need to get into position and attack, i.e. when you're not making a full attack.

TL;DR - Deadly Aim is useful when:
- You moved and only have 1 attack anyway
- Your BAB is at least 6 for a -2/+3 ratio
- No other feats are screaming at you, "TAKE ME! TAKE ME!"

Grand Lodge

Here are the things I would try for Yoda:
Operative (Daredevil) with Phrenic Adept.
- Yoda did most of his fighting with acrobatics and using Acrobatics for your operative trick is very flavorful.
- Yoda was mostly dex and as much as operative weapons are pretty terrible, once you get shock batons, they do remind me more of lightsabers than any other weapon.
- you won't be able to reflect projectiles, just deflect them unfortunately.
- Pick up the "Mystic Connection" feat and the "Psychic powers" feats and you should be a pretty convincing Yoda

Sounds fun, and reminds me of when I made Obi-Wan as a Swashbuckler/Magi in Pathfinder.

Grand Lodge

Like Dragonchess said, buffs are mostly gone from spellcasting classes. Once Dwarf becomes available, the Desnan Star Shaman with the star knife was a build I was looking at with "heavy armor" and free advanced weapon at level 1. You got Magic Missile for free to take care of medium range and since dwarf is a con/wis race, the idea was to have good DCs.

The xenodruid's first level power is pretty much a throwaway, but the "entangle" at level 3 is pretty boss actually, if you go for more controller support, this is the way I'd go. Otherwise, envoy is the true support class.

Grand Lodge

VampByDay wrote:
Vrakk Kybosh wrote:
Jimbles the Mediocre wrote:
Ventnor wrote:

So, this thread has inspired a different character concept in my mind: the punch-mage.

She would be a vesk who runs up to others and punches magic into them. The only way magic should be done!

I've looked a bit into melee-casters before , but run into a bit of a hiccup where the races with Strength bonuses (Kasatha and Vesk) both have penalties to Intelligence, and Technomancers have more touch attack spells than Mystics do (although Mystics do have a large number of touch spells that focus on buffing or healing, so you could always punch someone's injuries away).

Keep in mind that "melee touch" still is just a regular melee attack vs. EAC as opposed to KAC. Generally bad guys only have a 1 to 2 AC difference between the 2. You also run into the problem at level 1 - 3 spells/day plus your spell cache.

If you're doing this more as a fun concept vs. an optimized concept - then I'm 100% for it, but... by the time your Vesk Soldier buddy can afford an ember flame doshko at second level, you'll be on pretty equal footing.

We are building a character that has the weakest HP and Stamina in the game, has a racial penalty to their casting stat, and turning them into an up-front melee combatant who 'punches the magic into them.' I don't think anyone here was under the delusion that we were making an optimized character.

I never know on these forumsn. People are trying eek free hardness and HP on an Android using tensile reinforcement.

This thread caught my eye because I keep making Vesk builds (I have an exocortex Vesk mechanic potentially for the AP) I was going to build the same thing except I ended up using the "supercharge weapon" spell instead. After playetesting it though, burning an action before punching wasn't effective until level 3 when you pick up specialization with your punches.

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Awesome, always nice to have a design lead clear things up.

Grand Lodge

Jimbles the Mediocre wrote:
Ventnor wrote:

So, this thread has inspired a different character concept in my mind: the punch-mage.

She would be a vesk who runs up to others and punches magic into them. The only way magic should be done!

I've looked a bit into melee-casters before , but run into a bit of a hiccup where the races with Strength bonuses (Kasatha and Vesk) both have penalties to Intelligence, and Technomancers have more touch attack spells than Mystics do (although Mystics do have a large number of touch spells that focus on buffing or healing, so you could always punch someone's injuries away).

Keep in mind that "melee touch" still is just a regular melee attack vs. EAC as opposed to KAC. Generally bad guys only have a 1 to 2 AC difference between the 2. You also run into the problem at level 1 - 3 spells/day plus your spell cache.

If you're doing this more as a fun concept vs. an optimized concept - then I'm 100% for it, but... by the time your Vesk Soldier buddy can afford an ember flame doshko at second level, you'll be on pretty equal footing.

Grand Lodge

I'm a little confused on how to interpret the reflex save DC for Grenade Arrows.
- Grenade Arrow I - Item Level 6, but uses the statistics of a level 1 grenade. Easy enough, you can attach a Frag, Shock, Smoke, or Sticky Bomb Grenade of Mk I stats and quality, so d6 to d8 damage or effect...
- However, do you calculate the DC using the arrow's level or the grenade's level? e.g. If my Dex is 18 (+4), is a Grenade Arrow I DC 14 (10+ 1/2 +4) or DC 17 (6/2 + 4)?

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1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

I have the exact same question. I'm under the impression starship combat is different than normal combat. Even the time scales are different. From the adventures that are being written, there is enough of an emphasis on starship skills that this would be the case. I'd honestly allow it in my home game. This power seems like a balance issue where Solarians would have something useful to do in starship combat aside from being a gunner. I'd really like to have this FAQed as well.