PbP GameDay VI: GM S's "Claim to Salvation" (Inactive)

Game Master Chris Marsh

Welcome to my Play-by-Post!
Here's the ctrl+P for all my games:

1. I've been running games since the late 1980s, I've seen a lot of editions. I started playing PFS with Slot 1 Season 0 at Gen Con. I'm solid with the PFRPG rules, but everyone makes mistakes. I'll try to be as fair as possible. But this is STARFINDER! I'm brand new to the game like the rest of you. Please do not be shy about pointing out rules, etc. THis is going to be a learning experience for all of us.
2. I'm a Venture-Lieutenant for Southern NH. If you're ever in the area, or you need help finding games/conventions there. PM me.
3. I post with a high rate of frequency. That being said, if you guys can post 2-3 times per day, awesome. If it's only 1/day I understand. No worries. Real Life Comes First (tm).
4. Feel free to preemptively roll Perception, Disable Device, etc. It makes the game run more efficiently. I ask only that you make sure minis are placed in their actual position in case your choices have consequences (good or bad.)
5. Let's get started:

Player Name:
PC Name:
PFS#:
Faction:
Boons Applied:
Day Job: Feel free to roll now.
Perception and vision/senses:
Initiative:
Notes: Anything I should know; passive abilities, boons that are way out there, etc. If you have abilities that are immediate actions that interrupt an enemy, I'll be as fair as possible, but you can help me out by telling me under what conditions you typically use it.

Pregenerated PCs for this (mandatory for this special) can be found HERE

Player Name: Lucklesshero
PC Name: MR. Scott
PFS#:184087-703
Faction: Second Seekers
Boons Applied: N/A
Day Job: day job mathematician: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Perception and vision/senses: +0
Initiative: +1

r we playing pregens for this one? If so someone will need to walk me through how to do that on PbP threads..(also since Mr. Scott is a technomancer, can I get dibs on the technomancer pregen?)

Based on the post from Game Master S above, I'd love to take Iseph, the 4th level Operative. I'm working on creating a Profile for him, and will have it ready to roll shortly. I'll be requesting that the chronicle sheet credit be applied to my Technomancer character noted with the PFS# below. The rest of the stats below are a reflection of Iseph's 4th level character sheet that Game Master S provided a link to.

Player Name: Steve Weston
PC Name: Iseph
PFS#: 260381-702
Faction: Exo-Guardians
Boons Applied: Not sure...
Day Job: Not sure...
Perception and vision/senses: Perception +9 / Darkvision & Low-light Vision
Initiative: +6

I wasn't sure how the Day Job works for the pre-gen. Can we roll one? Which skill applies? My own Operative has Profession (Archaeologist), but I'm guessing that won't apply here?

r we playing pregens for this one? If so someone will need to walk me through how to do that on PbP threads..(also since Mr. Scott is a technomancer, can I get dibs on the technomancer pregen?)

This game only uses level 4 pregens. The link is above, and you can make an alias under your account for the pregen. By all means grab the technomancer

-Posted with Wayfinder

I will happily wait for the others to claim a pre-gen, and work from the remainder.

I've had the good fortune of sitting through 2 good tables of Starfinder FtF already, having played an Envoy and an Operative, and got a feel for the ship combat, which isn't as bad as it first seems.

I'll get a nicer alias put together once I have a few moments to pick a pregen. For now I'm just dotting in so I'll see this in my campaigns tab.

I think I'll take the mystic for a spin and try it out. Already tried the Technomancer pregen in a game of The Commencement. Busy night, I'll get all my details posted later on this weekend.

I've got my character sheet up, hopefully didn't make any mistakes in the transition. I'll check in on the gameplay tab and I'm looking forward to my first play-by-post game on this board!

Operative, Mystic, Technomaster claimed.

Envoy, Mechanic, Solarion and Soldier left to choose.

2 who asked to delay choosing.

Seems like there was supposed to be 1 more picking first?

Ready to roll

I'll take the mechanic if no one else wants to play it.

*I'm also out of town this weekend and won't be able to put together my alias until tomorrow evening.

This is lucklesshero (A.K.A. Mr Scott) Her is a my pregen..let me know if you need me to add more info to Raia's tagline.
One question before we begin..will I need to wait till 4th level before I apply this chronicle to MR. Scott? Or can I apply it right away (taking 1st level credits ect..)

I figured I would start tomorrow morning EST (assuming everyone has characters.)

I'll probably take the Solarian. I heard at GenCon that the pregen had some issues though. Does anyone know if those were fixed?

-Posted with Wayfinder

Leaves Envoy, Solarion or Soldier.

I think I'll try the Solarion, leaving a choice between Envoy or Soldier for "caps's SFS Pregen".

Edit: Hah! Got ninja'ed!

Okay, leaves ME the Envoy or the Soldier. Let me double check which features they picked for the Envoy.

So, can anyone explain to me why a character with no Medicine skill is carrying equipment that requires a skill check of 25 to use properly?

Ha! Maybe your character is hoping to run across someone who can use it on your behalf? :)

My fighters always carry wands of Cure Light Wounds....

One more to go and we're ready!

So Far:
Iseph
Keskodai
Raia
Navasi
Queequig

Looks like everyone has made an alias, and we're ready to go.

This is, in effect, my fourth table, and I'm still really new. Don't be shy about speaking up on the rules.

Finally, there IS space combat. In my experience so far (having also played a few) this can go smoothly if the group trusts each other and people take to their roles well. I posted some cheat sheets at the top, and I strongly recommend that the pilot also be the player who is most comfortable with tactical board games. Without further ado, I'll make the opening post!

@GM S: Do you know if there is errata for the pregens? I've found some errors with save modifiers and attack mods.

I don't know... but I'll look around.

@tektite: No official errata yet, but by all means fix them. Also you can look at THIS

@tektite: No official errata yet, but by all means fix them. Also you can look at THIS

Yeah, I just found it as well. Apparently it was just Quig that has errors.

Finally, there IS space combat. In my experience so far (having also played a few) this can go smoothly if the group trusts each other and people take to their roles well. I posted some cheat sheets at the top, and I strongly recommend that the pilot also be the player who is most comfortable with tactical board games. Without further ado, I'll make the opening post!

I love tactical board games, and like my character Iseph I'm excited about the prospect of piloting a spaceship in Starfinder - I haven't yet had the chance to do it myself.

By the way, I lurk like crazy on play-by-post games, so do expect me to post often, several times a day if given the chance! :)

I fixed the sharing on the ship's roles.

I am about to leave for a Boy Scout Camp, where I will stay until late on Sunday (1 Oct). The area is notoriously bad for cell signals. I will be helping run a training event for other adults. Between the two, I will be surprised if I can update anything before then.

Then I go back to the same camp in the evening of Friday (6 Oct) for my troop's monthly campout, and will return earlier on 8 Oct.

Then I go back for the second half of the training program on the evening of 12 Oct and will stay until late on 15 Oct.

Then my wife and I will return to the same campground late on 20 Oct and stay until sometime on 22 Oct for an Order of the Arrow event.

Yeah. I do a lot with the Boy Scouts. I really wish even one of those weekends was at a different campground.

@GM. You could just superimpose some little arrows on top of the token to designate facing

To everyone else. Quig has a relatively decent firing bonus and really good Computers and Engineering, so I'm guessing Engineering or Gunner for him.

This is my first ship combat, so it's all new to me. Anybody know any useful tips or tactics to help us out? All I've really picked up on is that the turret gun is the most important.

Trust. Tables that debate over the exact right move end up having less fun.

Also, like regular combat, don't get flanked, and take out an enemy decisively instead of harming all of them a little.

Don't be afraid to change jobs. You don't NEED a captain.

Yep, sometimes having more folks at the guns is ideal - though a captain can be useful at times.

Big thing to remember is that IF you want to change position, do so at the beginning of the turn.

So are there four guns on the ship and if so, theoretically we could have four gunners?

Yep, 4 guns

Maybe instead of someone taking the captain's position, they could alternate between the port and starboard guns depending on position of enemy ships?

Quick question on that floating +2 the starship gives. If used for Pilot checks, can it be used for the maneuvering roll (i.e. initiative) or only for the ship's movement (i.e. stunts and the like) or does that bonus apply to ALL such Pilot checks made in the helm phase? I'm thinking since it says specifically 'one check', it can only be used for one Piloting check, but I'm not sure if I've ever seen it used to apply to the initiative roll or not (and I've never had the opportunity to pilot a starship yet, so my experience is only what which I've observed in a few games).

And in a similar vein, this starship grants +1 to Pilot rolls. Does that include the initiative roll, in addition to whatever other Piloting checks I might make during the helm phase?

Thanks!

I believe Navasai is out of contact until Sunday based on the post above.

Nice catch. Yes, I'll bot for this part.

The standard issue +1 think refers to ALL checks labelled piloting, so that would include initiative. The floating is a single use, either initiative or maneuvering.

Thanks S, I'm thinking then that Iseph will suggest we use one of those floating +2 bonus to get a boost to initiative every round, with the other bonus going to our big gun or to fixing shields as needed in each round.

Winning initiative seems to be key in these starship battles, so every bonus point I can get would be good, especially as the enemy will have three rolls each round.

As it stands, I'll have +17 to the initiative roll (+14 Pilot modifier, +1 ship, +2 floating bonus), unless the Captain wants to give another boost as well. Though admittedly +19 might be a bit overkill (unless I roll a '1'...)

By the way S, I saw this in the Flaxseed Station forum. Looks like a nice way to streamline space combat!

Here's how I handled each round of Space Combat. I'd start off like this:

We are now starting Ship Combat!
In order to make this run smoothly in PBP, I am going to have Engineering and Helm phases happen simultaneously.
Remember, there are summaries in the player handouts, or you can read up on Starship Combat on page 316 of the CRB.
★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★
HELM / ENGINEERING
Captain Keskodai:
The Duonode Computers on the Pegasus offers +2 to any two checks per round. Where would you like to apply them? To the pilot, the guns, sensors?
Also consider whether you want to taunt or encourage, and where you will give your bonus.
Engineer Quig:
Are you acting as Engineer or a Second Science Officer this round? What is your action?
Science Officer Raia:
Go ahead and let me know whether you acting as a Second Engineer or as Science Officer. What is your action?
Pilot Iseph:
Please do the Piloting Roll-Off versus the Goblins to determine who moves first! Iseph, can you beat this roll?
Goblin Pilot Initiative Check!: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
If you can’t... It’s your turn to move the ship!
Everyone, remember that the Pegasus also always offers +4 Computers, +1 Piloting checks.
Gunners Altronus & Obozaya:
Please put your gunnery rolls under spoilers now. (Though any RP can be outside spoilers for everyone to enjoy.) We'll add all modifiers to them when we resolve this round in the gunnery phase.
BOTH ENGINEERING AND HELM PHASES ARE UP!

Then everyone would tell me what they were doing. Meanwhile the pilot would make his rolls and I'd know if I had to move my ships first. If my roll was terrible like the one above, I'd tell the group that I was moving first because Iseph automatically beat the roll-off. Once we were done moving, I'd usually have all the rolls from the gunners and the modifiers to add to them, so then I'd resolve everything in the gunnery phase with the attack rolls from the goblin ships. To make this faster, the GM could do both piloting checks for both PCs and NPCs at the start... But I'd only do that with a slower moving group. My group was responsive enough that they had some fun in seeing if they beat the Goblin's piloting checks!

GM could you bot Navasi as the captain? I really would make a better science officer than captain. Please focus on encouragement instead of taunt I think..and perhaps take the pilot's advice on bonuses? for the first round I don't think we need bonuses on guns...I rolled bare minimum on my scans (15) but if you add the +4 static check the Pegasus offers on all computer checks and the +2 Duonode computers bonus...that takes the roll up to 21 possible getting some info off my first scan...

GM could you bot Navasi as the captain? I really would make a better science officer than captain. Please focus on encouragement instead of taunt I think..and perhaps take the pilot's advice on bonuses? for the first round I don't think we need bonuses on guns...I rolled bare minimum on my scans (15) but if you add the +4 static check the Pegasus offers on all computer checks and the +2 Duonode computers bonus...that takes the roll up to 21 possible getting some info off my first scan...

That strategy works for me. Would be good to get some intel!

All of the above looks good. Real life kicking my but this weekend, but I'll be to normal Monday

OK, so I think we've got the following boosts this round, if everyone is OK with it?

Queequig has 'Diverted' auxiliary power to the guns ('1's treated as '2's for damage rolls)

I'm taking one floating '+2' from the ship for the Pilot check (Initiative) to give us as much advantage as possible to acting last during the starship maneuvering phase.

The second floating '+2' from the ship could perhaps go to the turrent gunner, though using for the Science Officer's scan would be a viable option as well.

Maybe our captain can try to 'Taunt' this round and aim it at one of the enemy ships during their helm phase? That would give that starship a -2 to all Pilot checks as well as Science Officer checks (or a -4 if they try to 'push') for 1d4 rounds. GM S, would that penalty also apply to their initiative checks? I wasn't clear on that from the rules, but it seems likely.

I'm going to make my Pilot Initiative check now so that GM S can deal with the first part of the space combat Round 1 based on Queequig's action during the Engineering Phase and the first part of the Helm Phase to figure out who needs to move their ships first.

Dang! My rolls have not been good in this pbp game thus far... :(

Yes, Envoy's tend to make good Captains.

Yes, encouraging the crew is usually better than taunting the enemy. At least from what I've seen so far.

Early in the fight, I think having Engineering increasing SPEED (and thus maneuverability) is a bigger boost than having damage roll 1s be 2s.

I'm back and about to scan the gameplay thread.

Forgot about increasing speed, that's a good one.

I'll also likely use Evade unless there's something that needs to be done. Hopefully that +2 you gave me will do the trick, Navasi. Still can't believe I rolled a '3'...

I wasn't sure if speed or weapons would be more useful at first. Since the captain a cts first, feel free to redirect Quig with an order from the helm.

Sorry guys. Real life kicked my butt this weekend. Will get up and running ASAP.