For soldier class skills drop Engineering and add Perception.
For Mechanic, well this is a pet peeve of mine. How did you create a limited AI with 1 rank in Computers/Engineering?
I'm all for letting the player build his drone but they need to come up with some other story of how they acquired the AI module. Found it, stole it, inherited it, etc...
I want to figure out a way to use abstract ammunition, and not force players to keep track of every single charge or bullet they use.
I'm also not sure if there's a way to implement the automatic bonus progression thing from Unchained, since I don't want to shower the players in magic items to be required to be APL appropriate.
All Lashunta armor in my games will be super-skimpy (for both genders) and consists mainly of force fields.
For Mechanic, well this is a pet peeve of mine. How did you create a limited AI with 1 rank in Computers/Engineering?
I'm all for letting the player build his drone but they need to come up with some other story of how they acquired the AI module. Found it, stole it, inherited it, etc...
Technically, Computers don't seem to have an Item Level... Unless Tiers count, but since there's only 10 tiers, that doesn't seem right.
Given crafting rules are based on Item Level, then Rules as Written, making an AI is trivially easy. Assuming no Item Level is equivalent to Item Level 0, then if it weren't for the "trained only" factor, then one wouldn't even need to put a point in it.
... Expensive perhaps, but easy.
For Mechanic, well this is a pet peeve of mine. How did you create a limited AI with 1 rank in Computers/Engineering?
I'm all for letting the player build his drone but they need to come up with some other story of how they acquired the AI module. Found it, stole it, inherited it, etc...
Technically, Computers don't seem to have an Item Level... Unless Tiers count, but since there's only 10 tiers, that doesn't seem right.
Given crafting rules are based on Item Level, then Rules as Written, making an AI is trivially easy. Assuming no Item Level is equivalent to Item Level 0, then if it weren't for the "trained only" factor, then one wouldn't even need to put a point in it.
... Expensive perhaps, but easy.
That's even worse. If it's trivial then everyone would have one.
Everyone can pretty much buy one at 1st level. Mechanic gets one for free and it can be used for more, and are better at it.
Pretty sure I'll calculate resolve based on the key ability score of the class you have the most levels in.
For Mechanic, well this is a pet peeve of mine. How did you create a limited AI with 1 rank in Computers/Engineering?
I'm all for letting the player build his drone but they need to come up with some other story of how they acquired the AI module. Found it, stole it, inherited it, etc...
Technically, Computers don't seem to have an Item Level... Unless Tiers count, but since there's only 10 tiers, that doesn't seem right.
Given crafting rules are based on Item Level, then Rules as Written, making an AI is trivially easy. Assuming no Item Level is equivalent to Item Level 0, then if it weren't for the "trained only" factor, then one wouldn't even need to put a point in it.
... Expensive perhaps, but easy.
Well, technically no one but a Mechanic can make an AI. A true AI in Starfinder (at least Default Setting Starfinder) has its own implications, namely that it has a soul. As such basically a Mechanic's AI is probably a standard drone that they built, but by some quirk (or sometimes possibly intentional), some (literal) ghost in the machine a soul took refuge in the code. How'd this happen for the Mechanic? Well... why does an Eidolon come to a Summoner, or a Phantom latch on to a Spiritualist? Either Sheer Chance or some Higher Power. Meanwhile the backups a Mechanic has in their custom rig function kinda like Clones did in Pathfinder, a backup body for the soul to take refuge in if their normal body is destroyed. Then when the Mechanic builds a new drone, the soul transfers over. If the drone was destroyed *and* an enemy managed to wipe your backups, then that would probably be true death for the ghost in the machine.
Off that tangent though, basically the code itself probably doesn't have to actually be *that* complex, since the soul itself functions as a sort of upgrade. Its progression as you level is partially the soul itself growing stronger, and partially you upgrading the hardware it has to work with, much more than trying to upgrade the code itself.
For Mechanic, well this is a pet peeve of mine. How did you create a limited AI with 1 rank in Computers/Engineering?
I'm all for letting the player build his drone but they need to come up with some other story of how they acquired the AI module. Found it, stole it, inherited it, etc...
Technically, Computers don't seem to have an Item Level... Unless Tiers count, but since there's only 10 tiers, that doesn't seem right.
Given crafting rules are based on Item Level, then Rules as Written, making an AI is trivially easy. Assuming no Item Level is equivalent to Item Level 0, then if it weren't for the "trained only" factor, then one wouldn't even need to put a point in it.
... Expensive perhaps, but easy.
Well, technically no one but a Mechanic can make an AI. A true AI in Starfinder (at least Default Setting Starfinder) has its own implications, namely that it has a soul. As such basically a Mechanic's AI is probably a standard drone that they built, but by some quirk (or sometimes possibly intentional), some (literal) ghost in the machine a soul took refuge in the code. How'd this happen for the Mechanic? Well... why does an Eidolon come to a Summoner, or a Phantom latch on to a Spiritualist? Either Sheer Chance or some Higher Power. Meanwhile the backups a Mechanic has in their custom rig function kinda like Clones did in Pathfinder, a backup body for the soul to take refuge in if their normal body is destroyed. Then when the Mechanic builds a new drone, the soul transfers over. If the drone was destroyed *and* an enemy managed to wipe your backups, then that would probably be true death for the ghost in the machine.
Off that tangent though, basically the code itself probably doesn't have to actually be *that* complex, since the soul itself functions as a sort of upgrade. Its progression as you level is partially the soul itself growing stronger, and partially you upgrading the hardware it has to work with, much more than trying...
The book specifically says otherwise:
"This AI is the product of your own genius,
far more advanced and complicated than any available for sale
to consumers (though it falls short of being truly self-aware),
and only you know the secrets of its creation and operation."
Huh. Must have missed that line. Shame.
That said, the part about being a quirk that may or may not be reproducible still stands as an option. Heck, that's a system that's downright common in many media, the one-in-a-billion quirk that gives someone superpowers/allows their tech to go beyond what should be possible/etc.
I'll give players who want to play a Solarian the option to decide at first level if they want to treat their Solar Weapon as a normal weapon or an operative weapon.
This reduces MAD a bit for the Solarian, but comes at the cost of a lot of damage over the course of a campaign. For example, a 10th Solarian who starts with STR 16 would have a flat +14 (assuming he upped STR at lvl 5) to all his other damage, while a 10th level Solarian who started with DEX 16 would only have +5 to all other damage.
I still have the image in my head of dexterity being the more appropiate stat for what amounts to lightswords.
I am still toying heavily with the notion of allowing a Solarian to use their Cha mod for their solar weapon (+hit/+dmg) or for their solar armor (+AC).
I am also contemplating an expansion bay that allows "piggy-backing" of much smaller ships rather than depending on a bay or hangar (thus allowing the Serenity/Companion Shuttle type situation).
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm going to expand the list of variable-level spells by merging any spells whose description starts “This spell functions as X, except/but…” with spell X. (So, for example, the Hold Monster description starts “This spell functions as Hold Person, except…”, so Hold Person and Hold Monster would be merged.)
This adds 17 variable-level spells to the 9 given in the CRB. So we end up with the following expanded list of variable-level spells (new entries bolded):
- Variable-Level Spells:
- Charm (1,3) [Charm Person, Charm Monster]
- Command (1,5) [Command, Greater Command]
- Confusion (1,4) [Confusion, Greater Confusion]
- Creation (4-5)
- Daze (0,2) [Daze, Daze Monster]
- Discharge (3,6) [Discharge, Greater Discharge]
- Dismissal (4-5)
- Dispel Magic (3,5) [Dispel Magic, Greater Dispel Magic]
- Fear (1-4)
- Flight (1-6)
- Hold (2,4) [Hold Person, Hold Monster]
- Holographic Image (1-6)
- Inflict Pain (2,6) [Inflict Pain, Mass Inflict Pain]
- Invisibility (2,4,6) [Invisibility, Greater Invisibility, Mass Invisibility]
- Mending (0,2) [Mending, Make Whole]
- Mind Thrust (1-6)
- Mystic Cure (1-6)
- Mystic Cure Mass (5-6)
- Planar Binding (4-6)
- Remove Condition (1,2,5) [Lesser Remove Condition, Remove Condition, Greater Remove Condition]
- Resistant Armor (3-6) [Lesser Resistant Armor, Resistant Armor, Resistant Aegis, Greater Resistant Armor]
- Restoration (2,4) [Lesser Restoration, Restoration]
- Rewire Flesh (4,6) [Rewire Flesh, Mass Rewire Flesh]
- Suggestion (3,6) [Suggestion, Mass Suggestion]
- Synaptic Pulse (3,5) [Synaptic Pulse, Greater Synaptic Pulse]
- Teleport (5-6) [Teleport, Interplanetary Teleport]
I got to the bit about starships, and literally laughed out loud at the cargo bay description. The spaceships as shown have TINY carrying capacity. It's a minor issue, but one that as a logistics professional I found hilarious. Does everyone know those 40' steel intermodal containers that are moved via truck, ship, and rail? Each and every one of those has a larger carrying capacity than a SF ship's cargo hold. A 20' container can just about beat it with the right commodity.
The average bulk ocean freighter has easily 200 times the capacity of a SF "bulk freighter," and that's using some fairly conservative estimates. The biggest might haul more than a thousand times that of a bulk freighter.
Instead of 25 tons per cargo hold, I'm houseruling they hold at least 10 times that. Maybe 20. Otherwise space trading is limited to the smallest and lightest commodities, and is basically just mail service instead of actual commerce.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Unfortunately, neither myself nor my players were very sold on the setting, so the first on my list is setting and race info. In particular, I would like to (at least partially) recreate one of the greatest accomplishments of Golarion: Making humans interesting.
In addition to that:
Races: Removing ability score penalties for races and giving humans a second +2. Yes, this is more powerful, but as published dump stats still exist - just not for humans - which runs counter to the decision to remove the ability to gain extra points by dumping stats below 10.
Ability Scores: As a big fan of 20 and 25pt gen for Pathfinder, I'm bumping the discretionary points from 10 to 15, but leaving the cap at 18 at character gen.
Character Themes: The concept is akin to traits or the 5th edition background, and has some clever ideas... but I can't say I'm huge fan of the implementation, as they are very narrow, few in number and the most useful ability - the ability to recover Resolve - is rarely (if ever) going to come into play. Instead I'm more interested in having them grant two abilities at 1st level - Theme Knowledge and a means of recovering Resolve (equal to key ability modifier, but once per day). And as the Themes are less work to design, adding in another dozen or so (the very limited number of character options is one of the biggest turnoffs for some of my players - they were hoping for a lot more in the CRB than 7 classes and 9+1 themes).
Resolve Points: Considering the rate you can haemorrhage through these, I find starting with 1 + Key modifier, and increasing by +1 at 4th level is a little too skewed towards infant mortality than I would like. I am house ruling that starting Resolve Points is 3 + Key ability score modifier, and increases by +1 at 2nd level and every 2 thereafter, both to increase the base value and cut down on the 'lag' between 1st and 4th. Giving a bit more longevity to characters usually helps extend the working day.
Envoy: The envoy is solid, but feels like it is missing a class ability - specifically a means of differentiating between envoys, like the operative, mystic and soldier possess. The choice of improvisations is 'not enough' in my book, and the fact that they have among some of the worst weapon and armor proficiencies is a bigger handicap than they need. Throwing in the option of grabbing proficiency in longarms and perks with ranged combat, or proficiency with advanced melee and perks with melee combat, or even heavy armor proficiency means that they aren't burning precious feats or multiclassing just to use decent equipment right out of the gate.
Also:
Long-Term Stability
You can use Medicine to tend a creature that is unconscious
but stable, ensuring that it doesn’t die while it remains
unconscious. Each hour, before the unconscious creature
attempts its Constitution check, you can attempt a DC 15
Medicine check. If you succeed, the unconscious creature can
treat its Constitution check result as if it were 10, allowing the
creature to attempt another Constitution check the following
hour. For more about long-term stability, see Stabilizing on
page 250.
Long-Term Stability
If you are unconscious and stable but lack the Resolve Points to
stay in the fight, there is a chance you will eventually recover on
your own. After 1 hour elapses, you must attempt a Constitution
check (see Ability Checks on page 242). If the result of this
check is 20 or higher, you regain 1 HP and become conscious
again. If the result of the check is at least 10 but less than 20,
you don’t regain any Hit Points, but you remain stable and you
must attempt another Constitution check 1 hour later. If the
result of the check is 9 or lower, you die. You must continue
attempting a Constitution check once per hour until you regain
consciousness or until you die. After 8 hours, if you have not
regained consciousness or died, you regain consciousness and
recover 1 HP per character level, as if you had a full night’s rest
(see Recovering Hit Points Naturally below).
If a healer or medic is tending you are while you are
unconscious and stable, the attendant can attempt a DC 15
Medicine check each hour before you attempt your Constitution
check. If the Medicine check is successful, you gain a +2 bonus to
your Constitution check, and if your Constitution check result is
less than 10, you treat it as if the result were a 10.
The bolded second of the latter description isn't included in the description of the Medicine skill. Which was confusing.
Resolve Points: Considering the rate you can haemorrhage through these, I find starting with 1 + Key modifier, and increasing by +1 at 4th level is a little too skewed towards infant mortality than I would like. I am house ruling that starting Resolve Points is 3 + Key ability score modifier, and increases by +1 at 2nd level and every 2 thereafter, both to increase the base value and cut down on the 'lag' between 1st and 4th. Giving a bit more longevity to characters usually helps extend the working day.
I like the idea of starting with a higher base.
I planned on mitigating the 1-4 pause by using (half your level round up) ie gaining one every odd level. Perhaps it should be (half your level, round up plus two).
Don't compare them with modern transport ships. Look at this as a period comparable to anything from the 16th century to the middle of the 19th, where the largest ships in the world are under 5,000 tons (RMS Atrato, 1853, 3467 GRT, was the largest passenger ship in the world when built). And it's not as if there wasn't oceanic trade in those days.
I suppose if we're using historical comparisons, SF ships do fit in along those lines, easily matching and even slightly exceeding the cargo capacity of ships 10% of their size built in the 1400s.
1500s era carracks and galleons beat them though.All sarcasm aside, you make a decent point, but this issue is more rooted in limitations of the ship rules, namely that all ships have armaments and shields that scale with size and are more meant for players and other combatants, which greatly restricts how many expansion bays are available in even the largest ships. And that's the correct approach to take for this game.
I do wonder if someone is going to put out a supplement that has a line of freighters and passenger ships that ditch most of their arms and armor in exchange for a lot more expansion bays. Most sci-fi that I read has at least a few classes of ships that have only token defenses but can haul a huge amount of cargo like food or ore.
I'm scrapping the entire setting for my own. I'm dropping Magic in favor of Psychics. I'm changing Technomancer to be Psychic, obviously. I'm dropping Mystic and Solarians, adding in Chemists and one more (not sure what yet), then maybe another 1 to 3 after that because I want a nice round number. I love the system. Adore it actually. I'm really not feeling the setting though.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
How will I change it?
Here's how: making it so that players actually have a reason to invest in things like Skill Focus and Skill Synergy instead of making every freaking bonus an insight bonus.
I noticed that too. We actually did a search for divine bonuses in the pdf, and found the only place it exists is in the description of bonus types <_<
Pretty much everything is an insight bonus: Magic items, feats, class abilities, even the bonus for being acclimatised to an environment. I appreciate the desire to avoid the outrageous stacking madness of Pathfinder... but it feels a little excessive to me, too.
Edit: I'd also add to my list:
Archetypes: Pathfinder's archetypes were complicated, but added an extra layer of flexibility of character design. 5E archetypes were somewhat more smoothly integrated. Starfinder's archetype design looks more like the Variant Multi-Class rules from Pathfinder Unchained and really, really isn't my thing. I'd be more inclined to just create some actual archetypes for the listed classes to give some much needed extra character options.
Dual Wielding: I appreciate the billion-attacks phenomenon is something Starfinder was avoiding... But as written there is no reason to use a small arm unless you're playing an operative. It isn't even a choice of style statement - small arms are simply inferior, and by a significant margin; less range, less base damage, half level with Weapon Specialisation.
Something I am contemplating is allowing a character wielding more than one weapon to make one additional attack with a different weapon with the following caveats:
- Regardless of the number of weapons you are holding (I am looking at you, Kasatha), you can only make one additional attack.
- You cannot use this ability if any of your weapons is two-handed
- The bonus attack can only be made with a small arms weapon or a one-handed melee weapon possessing the operative special quality.
Something like Red Star IN SPAAAAACE. http://theredstar.com/
Well, technically no one but a Mechanic can make an AI. A true AI in Starfinder (at least Default Setting Starfinder) has its own implications, namely that it has a soul.For Mechanic, well this is a pet peeve of mine. How did you create a limited AI with 1 rank in Computers/Engineering?
I'm all for letting the player build his drone but they need to come up with some other story of how they acquired the AI module. Found it, stole it, inherited it, etc...
Technically, Computers don't seem to have an Item Level... Unless Tiers count, but since there's only 10 tiers, that doesn't seem right.
Given crafting rules are based on Item Level, then Rules as Written, making an AI is trivially easy. Assuming no Item Level is equivalent to Item Level 0, then if it weren't for the "trained only" factor, then one wouldn't even need to put a point in it.
... Expensive perhaps, but easy.
THIS is actually something that I will probably change in my game, because I think leaving it ambiguous creates too many plot possibilities to ignore. Now I kind of want to do a big arc with some kind of Deus-level AI that becomes obsessed with finding the answer and starts conducting brutal expiriments on other AI to figure it out. When it concludes (rightly or wrongly) that they don't, it's sole aim is ensure and safeguard its continued existence. And guess how it decides the best way to guarantee that is? Watch out, other forms of sentient life!
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
One thing that I dislike about the archetype system is that different classes lose very different things from it, making the system feel very unbalanced overall: a Soldier who takes Phrenic Adept simply loses bonus feats, keeping all their main class features and not really losing anything important from it; a Solarian who takes Phrenic Adept doesn't get their first non-Zenith Revelation until level 8 and their second until level 14, practically crippling the class, given how strongly it is reliant on Revelations; an Envoy who takes Phrenic adept is stuck with only one Improvisation until level 8, which is very harsh when Improvisations are nearly the only class feature Envoys get.
I would have strongly preferred if it worked like VMC in Pathfinder, giving up feats for archetype features.
As a potential homebrew adjustment that makes archetypes more like VMC, here's this:
Features gained at levels 2, 4, 6, 12, and 18 are moved to 3, 5, 7, 13, and 17 respectively.
Features gained at level 9 stay at their original level, not being moved anywhere.
All features replace feats gained at respective levels instead of class features.
Since replacements are tied to feats, archetypes are linked to character level instead of class level, applying across all classes instead to only one class of the player's choice.
Quick Crafting House Rule: I'd allow a PC with ranks in Mysticism and another PC with ranks in Engineering to cooperatively craft Hybrid Items. It seems like the kind of thing that should work.
|
I'm going to play Starfinder as an addition to Pathfinder, instead of as a separate game. Golarion isn't gone, it's just interdicted by gods-level magic in the form of a shell that appears to be generated in the Spire on Absalom Station.
Since the Gap, on the planet below, the city of Absalom is a ruin, with the Starstone Cathedral utterly destroyed. The people of Golarion don't know what happened to it. And they are afraid to go find out because most who go there never return. The Pathfinder Society now runs out of two chapterhouses, one in Almas, and the other in Korvosa. And the society, for reasons no one understands, from the top down, absolutely prohibits Pathfinders from exploring the ruins of Absalom. All contact with the other worlds of Golarion's system has been lost since the time of the Gap.
The rest of the setting will remain mostly as is, except that occasionally bewildered natives of Golarion appear in buildings in Absalom Station, and have to be retrained to be able to function in their new home.
I will be allowing all Pathfinder classes and races, as well as all Starfinder classes and races (with possible mods as I see how they play).
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
I find it mildly amusing to see all these people who want to play Starfinder but don't want to play Starfinder.
I my games, I will make the following basic changes;
Setting: I will use a different setting then Starfinder. It will be in a future our universe with Humans coming from Earth. Also while supernatural forces and magic do exist its at less common level. Magic is not something that every person deals with often in their daily lives. Rules wise this has little effect as pretty much nearly any spell or equipment fusion can be done technologically. Simple hand waving is all needed.
Attributes: All players get a standard array for attributes, which is: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 The then add race, and theme modifiers.
(Note: I am fully comfortable with the players having slightly elevated abilities, it merely means encounters with greater numbers, and tougher beasts)
Credits: I am basically turning credits into "Omni-Gel" from Mass Effect. This works in effect like build points from Starships but for players. Each player gets their level amount. Credits lost from expendable items, can be restored by throwing captured gear into the recycler in the player's ship. Recycling items only yield 10% of its total value. Excess of this "Omni-gel" go into the ships stores, and can be used to replicate items they have designs for. Items players specifically own can be recycled at 100% value. Recycling and replication takes hours or days, so it usually will be a in between adventure thing, subject to flexibility as the drama may require naturally.
I am never a fan of wasting adventure time going shopping, except when its the focus for a particular session.
Things that come to mind...
Including D20 Future for some technology, cybernetics, genetic adaptions, mutations, etc...
Adding Farscape races like:
Luxons
Delvians
Hynerians
Kalish
Nebari
Interions
Probably make them a lot like reskins of current races but the D20 Farscape stuff looks pretty easy to translate. Most humanoids would have 4 hp with Luxons getting 6 like Vesk and Hynerians getting 2 like other small races.
Tentative class changes:
Solarians -
1) 6+ Int per level on skills. This would match the trend of class skill list divided by 2 = base modifier. Skill Adept bumps them to 12 class skills. Sidereal Influence can only function on a limited number of skills and it doesn't remain active in combat. So having 2 more skill points hardly seems like it steps on the toes of the Operative, whom gets an insight bonus to *everything*, or the Envoy.
2) May allow manifestation of both Solar Armor and Weapon. I find it no more disruptive to starting wealth than a player just picking the Weapon. Since grabbing the mote is the same action for both, I'd also allow it to work with Quick Draw.
3) May change the level perks for Defy Gravity to make it function a lot more like the different spell tiers of the Flight spell. I just see no reason why you can't maintain more control over your own personal gravity than what is currently stated. Graviton mode would be required to remain aloft, but that is the most significant change there.
Operatives -
1) Tweak Debilitating Sniper to include some form of damage bonus. Either half the Trick Attack dice or maybe change the Weapon Specialization to 1.5x character level. Full Dice to the current highest level sniper weapon averages 120 dmg. Adding 1.5x Weapon Specialization makes it somewhere around 85 dmg (still less than Item level 20 small arms), and adding half the TA dice is about 95-99 dmg. Either way, I have a feeling that a player of mine that likes sniper concepts will be very underwhelmed by the default rules. Also, I don't care if an Operative using a single shot on a sniper rifle can out damage a Soldier using a single shot on a sniper rifle. The Soldier is already a monster at ranged combat and a trick attack is once per round. Verdict is still out because adding debilitating tricks at extreme range is also really potent.
2) Also may allow for a called shot with Sniper Rifles to allow for a sort of ranged Coup De Grace only applicable to targets not in combat and unaware of the shooter. Because, if you're just sitting at a dinner table and someone puts you in their cross hairs you are at their mercy. Still, the conditions on this need to be crystal clear to not be abusive in a combat scenario, but if players want to be creative then snipers should be lethal... like they are. Said Coup De Grace is just a Sniper Rifle perk of the weapon and not limited to the Operative. As a full action it isn't a Trick Attack, etc... As written, sniper weapons just irk me. I don't mind the unwieldy quality, but the rest of it is just unimpressive.
I'm sure I'll find other quirks to question and change like why the Technomancer has less stamina than the Mystic yet both classes have the same saving throw progression. I guess because Technomancers can cast 1 more spell per day through their class features they're durability is further penalized? --I'll have to look a lot closer at this before I decide.
That's what's rattling around in my mind so far. The class stuff may not happen, but I'd love to dust off my D20 Future book for kicks.
I find it mildly amusing to see all these people who want to play Starfinder but don't want to play Starfinder.
...What does this mean, exactly? Mind being more specific? Is wanting to adjust some of the rules or not use the default Starfinder setting "not playing Starfinder"?
|
I find it mildly amusing to see all these people who want to play Starfinder but don't want to play Starfinder....What does this mean, exactly? Mind being more specific? Is wanting to adjust some of the rules or not use the default Starfinder setting "not playing Starfinder"?
Personally I find it amusing when people start talking about adjustments to the setting that sound like they didn't read the setting because they're already in the setting (like wanting the Pact Worlds to have multiple conflicting/contradicting military forces when they already do in the Knights of Golarion, the Stewards, and the Starfinder Society)
I find it mildly amusing to see all these people who want to play Starfinder but don't want to play Starfinder....What does this mean, exactly? Mind being more specific? Is wanting to adjust some of the rules or not use the default Starfinder setting "not playing Starfinder"?
Some people have suggested making major changes to the rule system to make Starfinder more like Pathfinder.
Some people have suggested making major changes to the rule system to make Starfinder more like Pathfinder.I find it mildly amusing to see all these people who want to play Starfinder but don't want to play Starfinder....What does this mean, exactly? Mind being more specific? Is wanting to adjust some of the rules or not use the default Starfinder setting "not playing Starfinder"?
Personally Id rather do it the other way around.
Combining Starfinder with DSPs Ultimate Psionics to revive my old DragonStar campaign, as well as start new games in the continuity. The trickiest part is converting some closed content to keep the original dynamics even as the new classes are made available alongside all of the additional content that's become available.
For Mechanic Specific Stuff:
I am making a lot of custom crafts and weapons to fill out what I feel are holes in the list.
I am working on a Techno-monk class that I am calling the Nukaku.
For Campaign Stuff:
I am running a whole custom setting with almost all homebrewed monsters.
I change the "Drift" mechanics to better fit the cosmology of my setting; essentially the Drift came into existence because someone tried f@&#ing with a sealed planet/demi-plane that a bunch of gods created near the beginning of time. You can only travel FTL in the areas where the drift overlays reality, but the drift is expanding steadily which results in new star systems being reachable over time. This is true for other planes as well: things from hell and the abyss can only enter the prime material plane in certain star systems, for example.
"Magic" is essentially a localized phenomenon and the expansion of the drift has also expanded the area of the universe where magic is possible. A new system that had magic was probably visited by a God at some time in its history while systems without magic generally developed without any meaningful divine intervention.
I have my own stats for Halflings and Half-Orc's that I will use rather than the book standard.
I am considering removing Half-Orc's entirely and just calling my half-orcs Orcs.
Characters add their Intelligence bonus for skills. (Rather than modifier.)
I use group initiative rather than individual initiative. (I find it inspires better teamwork, and it makes it so that not every last PC takes Improved Initiative.)
Characters add their Reflex save to initiative instead of their Dexterity bonus.
Improved Unarmed strike removes the Archaic tag from unarmed strikes and gives you the option of inflicting lethal damage.
Considering removing the Archaic tag from the game altogether.
Crew members of tiny spacecraft (i.e. fighters) may take two actions per turn.
I gave my players 2 attribute points at the start since we are all used to higher level play
and I allow them to use multiple stations at the starship if it does not hinder one another (captain + pilot + front guns; mechanic/science officer- but only one per turn)
Setting wise, I will probably have the Gap not happen and have Golarion stay right were it is. It will still be ruled by multiple Nations and The Pact Alliance will still be a thing, but Golarion will have multiple ambassadors representing major nations (kind of like the United Nations). The Pact Alliance still serves for the various factions and Governments within the system to interact together.
I also plan to change how Drift Drives work. In my head I imagining a Drift Engine working similar to the Shadow Walk spell. Only on an a scale that could never be done by a mortal person. So the Drift works by skimming, or DRIFTING along the edge between the material plan and the plan of Shadow. Hence the greatly increased speed.
Because of this I also plan to change how space travel, near space and the Vast work. Instead having near space be defined by how many "drift beacons" are at a location, Near space will space that is withing a certain range increment. Beyond this distance travel time will be increased, with each distance increment adding more to the travel time. Because of this I would have the Vesk Empire be Relatively Close to the Pact System.
Because of this I DO plan to add things such as Worm Holes, Starship Sized Jump Gates, and other "cheats" that can be used to travel between SPECIFIC locations faster [Think Mass Effect]. Locations such as these have the benefit of creating Trading Routs, Strategic locations, etc. Which I think adds more to a setting.