[SFS - PbP Gameday VII] 1-99 The Scoured Stars Invasion - GM bigboom (Inactive)

Game Master bigboom

Sharmain, it's no problem!

Zac, when you're back, please give me a d20 to see if you've won a boon!!

Everyone, we're three days away from the start of part 4. I think we'll have no problem finishing the current mission but we probably won't have enough time for another evacuation mission after this.

So planning ahead without revealing too much, when part 4 starts, you'll have a choice of either a starship combat mission or a normal ground-based combat mission. It is really up to you but because this party hasn't participated in starship combat yet, I highly recommend that you go with the starship mission.

Please chime in with your preference, be it a starship or ground-based mission. I'll then go ahead and get your selection moving ASAP once part 4 comes around!

I think it is time this team worked out how we function as starship crew. :-)

I've put up an image of the jinsul on the slides. And with Historia-6 now rescued, I've got an image of him up as well!

Zac, when you're back, please give me a d20 to see if you've won a boon!!

Here you go:

Best roles for Kato are:
Pilot ( +9)
Gunner (+9 piloting)
Computer or engineering (+7)

Kato, my understanding is that for gunner you use your ranks in piloting not your actual modifier. For example, Sharmain has a +5 in piloting but only 1 rank so she would be +1 on guns, at least by my understanding. Oh, unless you have a really high Dex which I hadn't thought of when I looked at your initial post, just remembered I have to add the Dex mod as well.

If scans allow for Culture, Life Science, Mysticism, or even Physical Science then Sharmain could be useful there. No computers or engineering yet though so very much a backup pilot or secondary gunner.

Pilot +5
Gunner +2

What Sharmain stated is correct and it is a common mistake because the description is easily misread. The gunner modifier will be BAB or Pilot ranks + DEX bonus. Therefore, for Kato, your gunner stat will be 1 + 3 = +4

At level 1, that is good as I think the theoretical max gunner stat for a level 1 character is +5.

Aldane has:

Piloting +1
Engineering +4,

He will be even more useless in starship combat.

Thanks for the retcon on the serums, Big Boom. Really appreciated.

Breakdown of Starship roles (from previous posts):

Captain:
Twik: Diplomacy +9, Intimidate +9, Bluff +11
Odo: Diplomacy +8+1d6, Intimidate +4, Bluff +8
Sharmaine: Diplomacy +3, Intimidate +1, Bluff +1
Aldane: Diplomacy +5, Intimidate +1, Bluff +1

Pilot:
Twik: +11
Odo: +1
Sharmaine: +5
Kato: +8
Zac: +6

Engineer:
Twik: +6
Odo: +6
Aldane: +4
Kato: +7
Zac: +12

Science Officer:
Twik: +6
Odo: +6
Kato: +7
Zac+8

Gunner:
Twik: +7
Odo: +1
Sharmaine: +2
Aldane: +2
Kato: +4
Zac: +2

My Suggestion:

Aldane: Captain
Kato: Pilot
Zac: Engineering
Odo: Science/additional engineering
Twik: Gunner
Sharmain: Gunner

If we need a higher piloting check, we can switch Kato and Twik or move Of too Captain to increase chance to motivate pilot.

This is just a suggestion. What does everyone else think?

You are too fast for me today, Odo. I had just pulled the information to make a similar post. :-)

It is definitely important to remember we can switch roles as needed. Checking in before posting in any new round to make sure we are all where we are most needed without slowing the game is the challenge. Thankfully we have this discussion thread to hash things out during play to have a plan in place in a timely manner.

We also may not need every role filled every round. Depending on what we are facing and what positioning we can manage, sometimes a third gunner is more useful, or two people working engineering to hold our ship together. I am not sure if a copilot is allowed, providing assistance to boost the pilot when needed.

Fun in deep space, coming up!

Nope, there is no copilot position. There can only ever be one pilot and one captain. However, multiple people are allowed in all the other positions!

@Sharmain: That’s right. I had looked up that rule before about the pilot ranks counting for the gunner position if they are higher then the BAB. Just forgot about it. Thanks for the catch.

@Odo: those roles look perfect. Kato is ready to fly.

Oh hey, there's another question that needs the party to decide. Which ship would you prefer? The Pegasus or the Drake?

Do you have the uptodate specs for them handy?

I seem to recall that they were going to change the Drake at low levels to be less reliant on tracking weapons from what was originally printed in earlier scenarios. But I could be misremembering.

I heard there was talk about that but nothing confirmed. I'll check with the other GMs. But for now, assume the Drake and the Pegasus as printed in the Starfinder Roleplaying Guild Guide.

Initial response is no, we haven't heard anything about Drake updates.

Do we know anything about the situation we will be heading into?

I will be leaving in the way early hours of the morning to head to Skal Con. I understand we will be in a slow period for Friday and most of Saturday at least but feel free to bot me if needed. I will try to check in at least once a day.

Do we know anything about the situation we will be heading into?

No you don't know because IC, you're just running a bunch of evacuation missions. While IC, you don't know that there is a part 4 coming up!! Hahaha!

But OOC, as I mentioned, you have a choice between starship combat and ground combat. I highly recommend starship combat since this table hasn't had any starship battles yet. So feel free to prepare as you like for starship combat so that once part 4 comes around, we can hopefully hit the ground running!!

I will be leaving in the way early hours of the morning to head to Skal Con. I understand we will be in a slow period for Friday and most of Saturday at least but feel free to bot me if needed. I will try to check in at least once a day.

Will do!

My vote would be for the Pegasus instead of the Drake. The Pegasus is faster and has that nice long range coil gun in the turret. That gives us the ability to go fast, keep out of anything but long range weaponry and just pound away using the coil gun (with no ammo limits). Plus better sensors.

This is assuming we are using the tier 2 versions of the ships.

Opinions?

Yep, tier 2 versions!

Pegasus sounds good to me.

Pegasus

Sharmain has only experienced Pegasus and liked the scientific equipment on board. She trusts Zac and the other more mechanically minded to make the choice.

Will we be able to purchase any more serums when we transition? If not I may need to use a Mystic Cure to bring Sharmain's HP back up or take the risk of heading on with half points.

Of the choices given, I think she should recover a spell slot in case Life Bubble becomes needed for more than one team member. Though regaining an RP is tempting.

I am being indecisive, I know. It is a side effect of no sleep and being in unfamiliar surroundings.

Had to look it up, but yes! Purchases are allowed between missions in parts 1, 2, and 3 so go for it!

Sharmain will purchase three Serum of Healing MkI (150 credits total) and drink one immediately.

Edit: Actually, just deleted the gameplay that reflects that decision. She would definitely still purchase three. Is it possible to also spend the ten minutes to use Healing Touch? And is she able to use that on herself?

Odo will purchase 2 Serum of Healing MK 1. I'll reflect the totals in my profile.

@Sharmain, yup you can use healing touch and I think it is fine to use it on yourself.

Aldane  will purchase 2 Serum of Healing MK 1

Is there time to recharge Zac's laser rifle battery?

If there is, he will recharge it. Otherwise he will swap the battery for a fresh one (he carries two spares).

Zac, according to this post, I'm going to say yes. You can go ahead and recharge your laser rifle battery. Especially since the party's next encounter will be going into starship combat, everyone's batteries can be in the process of charging up while your blasting away at the enemy starship!

Sharmain has recovered her stamina, applied 5 points of healing, recovered 1 resolve points, and restocked her serums of healing.

Katrina (player) has experienced her first character death (701) during her first TPK. It was a good game though.

I believe Sharmain's character sheet is now fully updated.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Yikes! Which scenario was your 701 character in?

Kato buys 2 serums of healing my 1.

I have not been keeping track of shots but Kato will recharge his battery as well.

Sorry to hear about your 701. Character death is what keeps this game exciting.

Sharmain, maybe you've already taken it into account but in case you haven't, don't forget 701 characters have access to a few boons here: Welcome to Starfinder

And without spoiling too much, a boon from this special's chronicle may help lessen the blow a bit from losing your 701.

Thanks, guys. I had sufficient fame available to resurrect and restore levels so Naylor lives on. None of us knew we'd be able to be retrieved and resurrected when it all went down.

1-98 Into the Perplexity. May not say more. Oh, I could tell you I was playing with Hmm, so you know there was singing.

Thought there was a good chance of another TPK with my -1 PFS tonight in the last scene of 10-00 but we turned it around and all survived. :-)

Anyone who wants to consider it for the future, Skal Con is a great little (but apparently potentially deadly) convention. Plus it is a fundraiser.

Scenario 1-98 Into the Perplexity? I don't see that scenario on Paizo page.

Is that 3th party scenario?

Aldane, I found a description of it which I've copy and pasted below. Looks like an exclusive.

That's really cool, Sharmain! Well, aside from the TPK...

------------------

Over 150 years ago, First Seeker Lezosk disappeared into the proving ground that defined his tenure: the Perplexity. History records the Perplexity as being the creation of mad genius, a complex intended to prepare Society field agents against future threats. Once per year, the starmetal doors to the Perplexity admit entrants to test themselves against the mysterious challenges within.

This adventure details the first level of Starfinder Society Developer Thurston Hillman's Starfinder Society-themed adventure! Unique chronicle sheets are available to Starfinder Society characters that participate.

This exclusive scenario is only available at events attended by select Starfinder Society Organized Play staff.

Everyone, part 4 has started and you're currently engaged in starship combat! However, you will have another decision to make...

Part 4 consists of more than one encounter. So once you finish the current starship combat encounter, you have the option to either:

1) Continue to another starship combat encounter where you fight a delaying action to give Starfinder carrier ships enough time to escape the system, or

2) You engage in combat on the carrier ship to repel jinsul boarding parties.

It is entirely up to the party what you do after this current starship encounter is finished. And you can decide later, no need to make a decision this very moment. Just giving everyone a head's up!!

Not sure on final positions but Twik will fire the Coilgun at the most wounded vessel and also fire a LLC if we are in a position where we can fire 3 guns.

Im about to go to bed. Given that I don't typically update until I get to work in the morning that will be about 11 hours from now. Feel free to bot me if you are waiting.

Everyone, regarding the two +1 computer bonuses, if the party wants, it can be applied to Kato's pilot initiative rolls. If the party wants to do that, I'll apply it by default starting with round 4. That will leave one +1 computer modifier for someone else to use each round, which in my experience, usually goes towards one of the gunnery rolls.

I have had a couple of GMs rule that while a floating bonus can be applied to a piloting action it can not be applied to the initiative roll as it is not a "check" or not an "action". Do you know if there has been any official word on this?

As far as where we use them, I think if Twik is going to continue to use Fire at Will to try for two shots each round, then he should probably use both in an attempt to mitigate the -4 on each shot. That's a pretty significant penalty so anything that can offset it is probably worthwhile.

I had not fully realised that Twik had been using them or would not have had Sharmain use one. I thought they were going unused. Now I know better.

No, I haven't seen any official word yet, but this is how I justify it...

CRB pg. 297, Computer section: "In general, an ICM adds a flat circumstance bonus to one or more starship combat checks, decided just before the check is attempted."

CRB pg. 317, Helm section: "Each starship’s pilot attempts a Piloting check. The pilot with the lowest result must move his starship first, followed by the next lowest, until all starships have moved."

So based on the above, the computer bonus can be applied to any starship combat check. And as far as I can tell, the helm piloting check is, well, a check that is executed during starship combat. Therefore, until I see something definitive say otherwise, I'm okay with players using the computer bonus for the piloting check.

There is also talk of whether or not a Captain's encourage action can be applied to the piloting check. In that case, I agree with the interpretation that the Captain's encourage cannot be applied to the piloting check due to how 'aid another' works.

But since there is some ambiguity about both of the points above, different GMs may interpret this differently.

Thanks. I like your rationale. Mostly I was curious if you were aware of an official ruling. I will continue to go with the flow, however each GM decides it works. :-)

A carrier drone flies by and drops of a care package from back home

You receive an aid token

Everyone, part 4 has started and you're currently engaged in starship combat! However, you will have another decision to make...

Part 4 consists of more than one encounter. So once you finish the current starship combat encounter, you have the option to either:

1) Continue to another starship combat encounter where you fight a delaying action to give Starfinder carrier ships enough time to escape the system, or

2) You engage in combat on the carrier ship to repel jinsul boarding parties.

It is entirely up to the party what you do after this current starship encounter is finished. And you can decide later, no need to make a decision this very moment. Just giving everyone a head's up!!

Alrighty guys, we're getting close to the end of the current starship combat encounter. And like I said, there's another decision to make. The party can either continue on to another starship encounter (you'll get a fresh, brand new ship with all stats, such as shield and hull points, reset to max) or you can dock with the carrier and engage jinsul boarding parties in shipboard combat.

There's no wrong choice, it just comes down to whether you enjoy normal combat a bit more or starship combat a bit more. Let me know what you guys think and I'll proceed with whichever option gets the most votes!

I am good with either though slight preference for starship