Creature Rarity


General Discussion


I was hoping the Alien Archive would include like a "default" rarity for each creature within to help determine Identify Creature DCs, but I don't see anything like that. I suppose that was something they decided to leave for each GM to decide for their own game.


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

When we're talking about Skill DCs to identify creatures, the rarity (and thus the DC) is contingent on the person making the check. To an off-worlder, much of the most common local fauna may be quite "rare". It's probably too subjective of a metric to throw in a stat block.


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Rarity may also vary with where you have been. Playable races native to Akiton might be "common" to player characters from there but in the middle category for characters who have never been to that planet, for example.

The Exchange

But the people making the check have been educated with materials beyond their own planet. They've had access to reports from a variety of planets and probably classes in and on them. If you base it on where they're from then a spacer suddenly has a D.C. At least 5 higher then everyone else. How many animals make their home on Absalon station? A person might have more personal knowledge about something from their world, but that doesn't mean an off world biologist doesn't have plenty of information too.

This is a space game, the default for the vast majority of games are going to be adventuring on different planets than your own, I don't think that means that all these checks should have an extra high DC because people are following genre norms of traveling to distant localities.

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