Into the Void

Game Master Peet

Still paranoid about the weak defensive abilities of Laboni's racer, Thuldas finds a alpha-particle emitter amongst the tools and goes about trying to harden the armor plating at the vehicle's most sensitive points.

Thuldas will use his fourth and final action to attempt to optimize the physical armor.

Physical Science check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Just as things are about to get underway, Thuldas takes one last walk around the pit, trying to get a sense of how the other racers are feeling. He focuses on the Android, since he hasn't heard much about them from his companions.

Thuldas will use his fourth and final secondary action to attempt to size up Velocity.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Another idea instead of reporting Niazin's illegal modification to get her disqualified, we could threaten to do that unless she forms an alliance with the team to beat Ratrod.

Just checking something. At this point we're out of actions, right? So we cannot do anything about Velocity's, uh, speed :-). Right?

Yes, the only one with an action left was Thuldas, and he worked on your own racer instead.

Just waiting for Iolas' secondary action.

Do we want to try and eliminate Nyizin? I'd offer to threaten her but my social skills aren't great.

Stell votes for reporting the illegal modification on Nyizin's racer. If the odds are accurate, she is better than all but Ratrod and Orzis, so if we don't think we can get an alliance, probably better to thin the field. But if it will take diplomacy to make a successful challenge, perhaps it would be better to try to get Nyizin on our side.

In other words, if just reporting the illegal modification can get her disqualified with no roll required, then it's more likely to help us to report. But if the odds are just as bad that Iolas can convince the race stewards of the illegal modifications as that he can get Nyizin on our side, then might as well go for what will give us another ally.

Going to the officials would also require a roll, but it could be one of a wide variety of rolls: Diplomacy, Intimidate, a relevant Profession skill, or Engineering, or perhaps Physical Science or Mysticism. Or possibly another skill if you can convince me it would apply. Basically you need to convince the officials that there is grounds to believe that some components on Nyizin's racer are not from the scrap heap - you could do that with persuasion or knowledge.

Anyone else have a suggestion?

Nyizin is not a great pilot, but she is a military veteran and is a good gunner. She seems to have something of a death wish and plans to win the race to honor a former friend who died in battle.

Rising Dawn wrote:

"And perhaps you could grant me some insights as to the 'special modifications' you have made to your racer?"

"Yeah, those are dragon bone, enhanced with a bit o' magic. In honor of my partner. He died... yeah."

It doesn't look (to me, at least) that Nyizin is terribly persuadable, open to threats, or nervous about her magical modifications. Iolas can either attempt to report her, attempt that Culture check to socialize with her, or just leave her be and hope she tangles with the other racers. Your call, Nuar man.

I have no strong feelings one way or another but I'd say not go for it. If we try and fail we've made an enemy of Nyizin. Downside seems greater than upside to me

I say try the Culture check.

Okay, guys, I'm going to move ahead.

The remaining options are:

1. Size up Velocity (many have failed at this).
2. Intimidate Ratrod (Iolas doesn't feel that he has the skill though).
3. Socialize with Nyizin with a Culture roll.
4. Report Nyizin using a variety of rolls.

It looks like several people are against the reporting option since it might fail and antagonize Nyizin. And the sizing up option won't really get you much, and Iolas has mentioned that he is not confident about his intimidate ability. So let's try the culture roll:

Iolas Culture: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Iolas visits Nyizin on his break and finds the magical augmentations on Nyizin's junkracer to be... interesting. He soon realizes that, though he doesn't speak the language, the runes are Draconic, and then realizes that the "partner" Nyizin spoke of must have been a Dragonkin, who form a psychic bond with a partner who they work together with in battle. The Skyfire Legion is traditionally composed of such pairings.

When Iolas mentions this, Nyizin nods. "That's right. My partner was a dragonkin. Though I rode on his back he was not a servant to me; we were equals. Bonded pairs are meant to die together. When one dies and the other lives, it leaves a gap in your heart, one that no one else can fill."

Though Iolas has no experience that allows him to relate directly to Nyizin, he is able to ask the right questions and Nyizin confides in him that, "In the end, you must be willing to sacrifice to win. If you inject Magnesium Chromite dust into your ignition chamber, you can get a sudden burst of speed, but it can wreck your engine. You'll be lucky to get half your output after that. But sometimes betting it all on one push is what it will take to win."

Meanwhile, Thuldas successfully upgrades the junkracer's armor. But like everyone else, he finds the android pilot unreadable.

Final stats:

LABONI'S RACER

Speed 50 ft., full 500 ft. (Improved by 10/100 ft.)
EAC 14 (Improved by 4)
KAC 14 (Improved by 2)
Attack: energy weapon (a hit gives target –4 to Piloting)
Attack: kinetic weapon (a hit gives target –4 to Piloting) (added)
Steering: +3 Piloting (Improved by +1)
Targeting: –3 Attack

Boons:
* Wint has +2 to hit Ratrod or if piloting, Ratrod has -2 to hit Wint.
* Lemgem has offered an alliance and will settle for second place
* Orsis' tips grant +2 insight to whoever is piloting.
* Watching the incoming feeds allows a character to use an aid another action.
* Stell has given Ratrod a hookup to which you can send false information during the race.
* Nyizin has shown you how to double your vehicle's speed for one round, but afterward there is a 50% chance that your racer's speed will be cut in half for the rest of the race.

We'll start off the race tonight.

HOW THE RACE WORKS:

The track is 3000 feet long. Whichever racer crosses the finish line first wins. If multiple racers cross the finish line in the same phase, whichever racer covered the greatest total distance is the winner.

The race is run in rounds, and each round has 2 phases:

PHASE 1: All vehicles may fire each weapon they have once. All other vehicles are always considered to be in range. The roll is the same as an attack with a ranged weapon you are proficient with (i.e. DEX + BAB). Full attacks are not allowed. Any hits cause the vehicle to have a penalty to its piloting roll in phase 2.

You also have two "special" actions contrived by Stell which also get resolved this round:
* A character studying the video feeds may make an aid another roll to a gunner or pilot
* A character can roll computers skill (DC 16) to feed false data to Ratrod. This will either grant Ratrod a -2 penalty to something (an attack or a piloting roll) or grant you a +2 to hit Ratrod with an attack. Failure will give Ratrod a roll to realize the feed is bogus.

(This is good because everyone has something to do every round!)

PHASE 2: The pilot of each vehicle makes a DC 16 piloting roll, modified by the vehicle's steering and the cumulative penalty for each hit.

* A success means the vehicle travels full speed (in your case, 500 feet).
* A failure means the vehicle moves at half speed (250 feet for you).
* Failing by more than 10 points causes your vehicle to get stuck and not move at all for that round.

Rinse, repeat, until someone crosses the finish line.

It's worth noting that since you are using a remote computer setup, you can switch jobs between rounds if you want.

Any questions before we get started?

Can a character act in both phase 1 and phase 2?

Is there any advantage to beating that 16 piloting check by lots?

Can a character act in both phase 1 and phase 2?

Is there any advantage to beating that 16 piloting check by lots?

1. Nope. Each character only gets to do one thing each round.

2. Not mechanically, but you could show off roleplaying-wise. :)

No questions here. Ready to race!

Do we have an updated statblock for Laboni's racer? Other than that, I'm good to go!

Labonis Racer stats are here

Sorry for the delay, guys... should have something in a few hours.

Sorry once again... someone called in sick and I had to work a double shift. I'll post something late tonight. Got all the stats together that I need but I need some sleep.

Stell pulls the team together. "We need to work out our jobs during the race. Based on what I can tell of everybody's abilities and strengths, I think Wint should fire the kinetic weapon and Iolas should pilot the vehicle. Thuldas should handle the information feed to Ratrod while Dawn and I can fire the energy weapon and study the video feeds to aid the pilot or one of the gunners. I think Dawn and I are about equally qualified for either job."

"That's just my suggestion, of course. If others have a different idea of the division of labor, let's hear it."

Wow. TWO of us have piloting +10 AND the Ace pilot theme. Hadn't realized that :-)

"I think maybe Iolas and I should switch. If we're firing at Ratrod, I'll fire the weapon and he pilots. But if we're firing at somebody else, I can pilot (we KNOW Ratrod is going to be shooting at us :-)"

Not sure when I'll be able to check in, so making conditional attack assuming everybody ok with Stell's suggestions.

So, assuming that we decide to shoot ratrod just about every turn

Bonuses are Dex +4, 1 rank Piloting, +2 vs Ratrod, -3 targetting
to hit on Ratrod: 1d20 + 4 + 1 + 2 - 3 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 1 + 2 - 3 = 19

Wow. TWO of us have piloting +10 AND the Ace pilot theme. Hadn't realized that :-)

Also it's worth mentioning that one point of Wint's skill is an insight bonus from the Operative class. Iolas does not have an insight bonus.

This is relevant because Orsis' tips to you grant a +2 insight bonus to piloting which doesn't stack with other insight bonuses. So after adding this, Wint has a +11, and Iolas has a +12. Plus there is the +3 steering bonus.

Bonuses are Dex +4, 1 rank Piloting, +2 vs Ratrod, -3 targetting

FYI this is not starship combat, and piloting ranks won't help you shoot the junkracer's weapons. It just counts as a ranged weapon you are proficient with, so you get DEX + BAB (minus the -3 targeting penalty).

Regardless, Wint has the best DEX in the party with +4. Iolas has +3, Dawn and Stell have +2, and Thuldas has +0. Everyone's BAB is +0.

"...I think Dawn and I are about equally qualified for either job."

Dawn does not have piloting, while Stell does. So arguably this makes Stell the better "aider."

FYI this is not starship combat, and piloting ranks won't help you shoot the junkracer's weapons. It just counts as a ranged weapon you are proficient with, so you get DEX + BAB (minus the -3 targeting penalty).

Paizo - why in the heck would the vehicle rules NOT match the starship rules? THAT is needless complexity :-) :-).

@GM - you're right on both counts, of course.

At the concept of piloting, Iolas becomes very exited. He says with a wide smile, "Oh, sure. I'd love to! Guess I won't be right in the action, but it'll still be nice to drive again." He grabs the controller, briefly testing the handling before revving the engine.
Piloting: 1d20 + 10 + 3 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 10 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 31

Iolas is quite alright with piloting.

[ dice=Piloting]1d20+10+3+1+2

Iolas is quite alright with piloting.

What is the +1 from? If it's the steering upgrade, that is included in the +3. You had +2 originally.

So I'm getting the following sense of character roles:
* Iolas: Pilot (total bonus +15)
* Wint: Kinetic Weapon (total bonus +1 / +3 vs. Ratrod)
* Dawn: Energy Weapon (total bonus -1)
* Stell: "Aider" bonus +2 shooting or +6 piloting (aiding won't benefit from modifiers the vehicle has because these are already included in the rolls of the people she aids).
* Thuldas: Computer "fakeouts" against Ratrod. (total bonus +7)

Is that right?

Looks good to me.

My apologies, I though that the +1 wasn't factored into the total bonus.

Thuldas: Computer "fakeouts" against Ratrod. (total bonus +7)

Looks right to me. I also have +0 to aid (shooting or piloting), if for some reason we're down a man or two.

Looks good. At what point does Stell have to decide if she will aid the weapon firing or the piloting? Can she wait to see what someone rolls or does she need to commit to one or the other at the start of the turn?

Stell is probably going to aid one of the attack rolls since Iolas has such a high piloting bonus, he's likely to succeed unless we take a lot of hits. I assume I can only aid one of the two weapon attacks.

Looks good. At what point does Stell have to decide if she will aid the weapon firing or the piloting?

I looked it up, and Aid Another actions always have to be made before the check being made. HOWEVER: due to the nature of PbP that may not be practical, so I will assume that you intend to Aid the Gunner shooting the kinetic weapon at Ratrod if I don't hear from you before other rolls are made. If you wish to set a different "default" mode for the following round it will come into effect the turn after you declare it.

And yes, you only get one aid roll per round. The DC will always be 15.

Strictly speaking there's also no reason that the pilot can't make his roll at the same time as the gunners. He just won't know how many hits he has taken (and thus what penalties are applied) until all the attacks are resolved.

And this counts as a combat, so Taking 10 is not allowed.

Void GM wrote:

Thuldas: Computer "fakeouts" against Ratrod. (total bonus +7)

FYI the DC for this check will be the same as the piloting check: DC 16. If you fail, Ratrod will not automatically know that you are feeding false data, but gets a Computers roll to detect that, and will ignore the feed from then on only if he succeeds.

Alternately you can send him REAL data with the same roll, which will give him a +2 BONUS to one of his rolls. The only reason you would do this would be to make him think the system works well. Each round that you do this will make him ignore one failure later and continue believing in the data.

Stell notices that things begin to pick up at the track. Crowds start filing in to the stands, and the camera drones begin buzzing around shooting video. Many of the drones look like they have been assembled from scrap parts.

One of the drones whizzes over to Laboni's pit.

**bzzzt***! "Five minutes to Air Time, folks," it says, before speeding off.

Laboni turns to the crew.

"This is it," says Laboni. " You guys better head to the maintenance shed and get the remote rig going. I'll need one of you to stay here to help me roll the junkracer to the starting grid when they call. You can't start your engine until they say so. But after that whoever it is should head to the shed too. Don't let anyone see the remote rig."

She stops for a moment, and lowers her head bashfully.

"And look... ah... whatever happens, I really appreciate your help. Really. With everything."

She shakes her head.

"Now go on," she says, looking away. "We need to be ready!"

"You are welcome," Dawn says with a gentle smile. "Let us do our very best!"

She pulls up the junkracer's targeting display on her computer as she prepares to fire the gun.

"Win or lose, this'll be one hell of a story, eh?" Thuldas smiles and slaps Laboni on the back. "Try not t' die. I'm sure Iolas will take care o' ya - in all m' life, I've never seen 'im crash a racer."

Thuldas heads back to the shed, looping his personal computer into the camera feed and prepping his technomantic real-time video editor.

"I was VERY glad to help you. I LOVE helping people, especially Pathfinders. Now lets go win this thing!! Down with Ratrod!!"

As the group heads for the pit he tries to start up a chant
"Laboni! LAboni!! LABoni!!! LABOn!!!! LABONi!!!!! LABONI!!!!!! LABONI !!!!!!"

Stell gives Laboni an affectionate touch to her shoulder. "Fortune favors the bold! It was bold of you to boast that you could win. So we are your 'fortune ' and we are definitely in your favor. I'll write a song in your honor win or lose."

Stell takes a detour to the pits to swing by Ratrod's pit. She catches his eye while taking a picture of him, then gives him a wink and departs.

Back in Laboni's pits, she dons her communication ear-bud and checks the systems. "Let's do this!"

As the group heads back to the shed, they can see that a silent countdown has begun appearing on the vidscreens in the stands.

10...9...8...7...6...

The audience hushes with expectation.

5...4...3...2...1...

There is a moment of silence, and then the loudpspeakers begin blasting!

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome... to This Week's Edition of... ... RATROD'S SCRAP BATTLE!!!!!"

The audience goes wild with cheering and applause, and you think they probably would do so even if the vidscreens did not show the word "APPLAUSE" in flashing letters. The crowd is very excited.

"We have a very special race for you today! The championship title is on the line once again! Today's contestants are..."

"Lemgem, that wily gnome with all the tricks is back! Will her clever design win her the championship?"

"Nyizin, our favourite Ryphorian, is back from injury and ready to risk it all on the race!

"Orsis is looking good today, but can he back it up? This Lashunta is more than just good looks and this might be the one for him!"

"Velocity returns to the track again with a new design. She can sure drive, but is her new racer up to scratch?"

"And today's challenger, her first time on the junkrace circuit, Laboni!! This young Starfinder has thrown down the gauntlet and given our champion a challenge! Can she back it up? Or is this the overconfidence of youth?"

"And finally, our reigning champion, and host of this show, you all know and love... RATROD!!!"

There is generous cheering for all the racers (even Laboni gets a few), but the crowd goes mad when Ratrod's name is called out. It takes a while for them to settle down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the racers are on the starting grid now. Are we ready to race? Are we ready for... RATROD's SCRAP BATTLE???!!!"

The crowd continues to cheer as officials get in position and signals are thrown indicating that the drivers should get ready. The announcer calls out again:

"Drivers... Start Your Engines! On Your Mark! Get Set! GO!!!!"

The engines roar and the junkracers leap forward onto the track. The race has begun!

Junkrace Round 1

Okay, time for some rolls!

* Iolas: Piloting (total bonus +15)
* Wint: Kinetic Weapon (total bonus +1 / +3 vs. Ratrod)
* Dawn: Energy Weapon (total bonus -1)
* Stell: "Aider" bonus +2 shooting or +6 piloting (aiding won't benefit from modifiers the vehicle has because these are already included in the rolls of the people she aids).
* Thuldas: Computer "fakeouts" against Ratrod. (total bonus +7)

* Gunners please declare who you are shooting at when you make your rolls.

Dawn takes aim at Orsis' junkracer and opens fire with the energy weapon.

Energy Weapon: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19

What the heck... I don't think it's supposed to work that way but I'm going to call that a crit and say it gives double the normal penalty!

Woo! Go team! ;)

Thuldas keys into the video footage and uses his computer to analyze vehicle positions in real time, predicting which vehicles will go where, and sends the information unadulterated to Ratrod's HUD.

Gotta build some rapport so I can hurt him later at a more critical juncture.

Computers check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Stell watches Ratrod closely and updates Wint on track obstacles that could get in the way of a hit.

Aid Wint's kinetic weapon attack (BAB + Dex: 1d20 + 0 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 0 + 2 = 3

Iolas puts in a pair of headphones, listening to the rolling bassline of Pipetown racing music. He revvs the engines again, a small smile on his face as the racer speeds past the starting line.

Piloting: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20

If the DC for driving is 16, then there's no way I can fail it. Is there some benefit for going above the DC?

If the DC for driving is 16, then there's no way I can fail it. Is there some benefit for going above the DC?

If your junkracer takes hits, each hit gives you a -4 penalty to this check (or possibly worse). So with this roll, 2 hits would make you fail and move half speed. 3 hits would make you fail by more than 5 which would mean no progress at all. It is easier for me to just roll all the enemy attacks after you guys roll yours.

"NOBODY insults my friends and gets away with it!"

Wint shoots the kinetic weapon at, of course, Ratrod (if you ever need to bot me that is definitely my default for this race :-))

attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Sigh :-)

The junkracers surge forward amidst a flurry of blaster fire as the various racers shoot at one another!

Lemgem fires twice but misses both times. Orsis and Velocity both score hits on Ratrod! Ratrod and Velocity both also fire at Laboni, but miss. Laboni's energy weapon strikes Orsis' racer with a shower of sparks and Orsis' racer wobbles and he loses ground!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Ratrod takes an early lead... but wait! Nyizin is inching closer... Now Nyizin and Ratrod are neck in neck! Ratrod is taking fire but keeps control! Laboni and Lemgem are both close behind, followed by Velocity, and Orsis has fallen into last place, after that deadly hit from Laboni!"

PROGRESS ROUND 1
LABONI - 500 feet
LEMGEM - 500 feet
NYIZIN - 550 feet
ORSIS - 250 feet
RATROD - 550 feet
VELOCITY - 400 feet

Okay. time for round 2! Gimme some rolls!