In society play are you allowed to craft in the middle of a scenario? Given the times can be quite short (i.e. 4 hours or even 1-2 hours), and that you sometimes have access to a tech workshop (like on the Pegasus), can you go back to your ship and craft if you have UBP's on hand? I can't seem to find anything in the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide or FAQ prohibiting it. Only the section letting you craft during downtime.
For example, you are a level 5 character with 5 ranks in Engineering, arriving on a planet somewhere in the vast, and run into a bunch of fire creatures. Can you go back to the Pegasus where you've stashed 4,000 UBP and craft a Thermal Capacitor Mk 1 (level 5 item) and add it to your armor, and then go back to face the fire creatures? Seems a lot more reasonable than flying back to Absalom then flying back out.
Could you also be handed 3,600 UBP owned by another level 5 player who doesn't have Engineering and craft a set for them as well?
What if it is a 3-6 tier scenario and a level 3 character is playing with a level 5 character. Could the level 5 craft a Thermal Capacitor Mk 1 for the level 3 (assuming the level 3 character had 3,600 UBP on hand?).
Or is crafting supposed to be limited to downtime and personal use only?
What is the benefit of crafting at all? It cost N UBPs to build an item costing N credits right? And it costs N credits to purchase N UBPs, so there doesn't appear to be a net gain going on here, right? Or am I missing something here?
The first advantage is the durability of the item in question:
Page 235 of the CRB:"When determining the hardness, Hit Points, and saving throws of an
item you have crafted, treat its item level as if it were 2 higher."
If you crafted it yourself, you can repair it in half the normal time as well.
In a normal home campaign, the other advantage is flexibility while out in the vast away from technological civilization. You can build exactly what you need when you need it (or in a few hours anyways) rather than spending Xd6 days getting back to Absalom, buying it, and flying back out to the vast.
The thing that confused me (as Whew pointed out), is that the Pegasus comes with a Tech workshop. The only CRB rules associated with a tech workshop are 1) It counts as a workshop and tools necessary for crafting technological items and 2) Cuts the time to craft them in half.
Why does the ship have that if characters are not intended to craft during a scenario with it? Was it intended just as fluff?
The only thing that makes sense to me is that choosing the crafting downtime option provides you a guaranteed workshop and tools for free (without having to pay lodging prices to rent such an area), in case the scenario did not provide such an area for free or did not provide sufficient time. At least that is one interpretation that seems self consistent, but Kevin's argument also occurred to me.
Hence my question. It honestly is not clear to me whether the intention was for us to be able to craft or not during a scenario.
Starfinder Society Developer
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Just a heads up, this is something I'll be looking at internally. It's an omission from the guide and something the team doesn't have a concrete answer on yet.
I think there's some room for crafting DURING a scenario, especially (as some people have pointed out) since the Pegasus frame has a tech lab. I hope to have a more concrete answer in the near future.
Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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What is the benefit of crafting at all? It cost N UBPs to build an item costing N credits right? And it costs N credits to purchase N UBPs, so there doesn't appear to be a net gain going on here, right? Or am I missing something here?
1. Availability to acquire items while away from civilization.
2. Increased Hardness and Hitpoints.3. Being able to buy level+0 goods when you have 2 infamy.
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My Ace Pilot/Operative/Daredevil Society character earned a boon whereby he can earn bonus UPBs towards crafting. As a character heavily vested in piloting naturally he'd like to craft a custom ride (vehicle). This brings up a few questions:
* Increased Hardness and Hit Points are significant when it comes to vehicles. How is this calculated for vehicles? Or more pertinently, how would this add to the existing example vehicles?
* The second question, the vehicles listed are rather limited "examples". What if I don't want a police cruiser but still want a Level 4 vehicle? What about selecting my own systems and weapons? (similar to Starship creation)
Currently I'm at a loss on how to do this and come to the conclusion that I'll need to wait until the vehicle/crafting rules are developed more.
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Venture-Agent, Georgia—Atlanta
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Just a heads up, this is something I'll be looking at internally. It's an omission from the guide and something the team doesn't have a concrete answer on yet.
I think there's some room for crafting DURING a scenario, especially (as some people have pointed out) since the Pegasus frame has a tech lab. I hope to have a more concrete answer in the near future.
Question - For new characters - can they spend their 1000 credits on 1000 UPBs, and then start the game with crafted gear, if they have the skills necessary to craft?
Venture-Captain, Illinois—Fairview Heights
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You're right: I'm assuming that "an item" means "one item". I also agree that I was wrong about the GM needing to sign it. And I hope you're right that equipment damage is very rare.
That's not an assumption. The statement is written in the context of singular, thus to believe anything otherwise would require a negative assumption to become plausible and would beg the question of justifying the assumption. Given there are probably few facts to make the assumption evident at this point (i.e. SFS precedent or previous rulings specific to SFS crafting), it requires a much further stretch to disbelieve what was written, as it was written.
With regard to the GM needing to sign it, step 8 of filling out a chronicle sheet on page 15 of the RPGG states "Additionally, the player must list ... as well as the benefits of any activities undertaken during Downtime other than a Day Job on the Chronicle sheet." This would implicitly include crafting during downtime.
Step 10 states "Review the completed Chronicle sheet and check the player’s math. Ensure that the character has access to any items bought and that the correct costs were paid. Verifying this information now helps prevent errors from going unnoticed on future Chronicle sheets. Once you’re satisfied with the information on the Chronicle sheet, fill in the gray box at the bottom of the sheet and sign off on the sheet".
When the GM signs your sheet (wether they hand it to you blank or not) they have certified that you paid the appropriate cost, even in UPBs, for any item you acquired. All purchases in excess of 50 credits have to be accounted for on your chronicle sheets. I suppose you could rules lawyer and say that UPBs are not credits, but this would be a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent and bypass transparent accountability of player resources. The whole reason a GM has to sign a chronicle in the first place is accountability, because we live a world where not everyone has integrity, despite the fact that the vast majority of players are honest.