The Dire GM's [SFS] #1-12: Ashes of Discovery (OutPost II 2019) (Inactive)

Game Master CanisDirus

This is the discussion thread for #1-12: Ashes of Discovery (Tier 1-4) as part of the Outpost II, set to begin on March 11, 2019!

Recruitment for this game is handled through the OutPost II Google spreadsheet located HERE.

Feel free to pop in and say hello if you're part of the game!

Because this scenario has a Starship encounter, I wanted to post the following to help you familiarize yourselves with how I like to run these in Play-by-Post.

GM Instructions for Starship Combat: Because this is PbP and Ship combat can be somewhat slow even in person, I'm going to allow everyone to declare actions and make rolls at once. However, in copying another great GM's idea that I've seen, I'm going to ask that all of your dice rolls be kept behind [spoiler ] tags. When declaring your actions, though, please write those so your fellow Starfinders can see them (to allow you to work together with what each other are doing), and also feel free to post as many contingencies as you'd like, using a similar format as below.
~~~~~

Example:

Phase: Helm
Role: Pilot
Action: If our ship is forced to move first, I will attempt the "Evade" maneuver to increase our AC/TL and then try to get around very wide to the "south" of target X, making sure our front arc is facing it. If we can move second, I will instead attempt to increase our maneuverability to accomplish the same thing while making sure to not end up adjacent to the enemy.

~~~~~

Exception:

Because you all know the DCs that you are rolling for, if you succeed at taking an action that has an effect for a crewmember in a phase of starship combat that occurs after the one you act in, you may edit your post (or make a second post if you'd rather do it that way) to indicate such.

Example 1: The Engineer successfully diverts power to the shields (let's say +6 shields). The Engineer can post this visibly so that the Science Officer knows how many shield points they have to play with should they decide to utilize the "Balance" action during that Helm phase.

Example 2: The Science Officer wants to move all your shields to one quadrant to fend off an enemy - they can either tell the Pilot that they are doing so or ask the pilot to set them up to do things that way. Alternatively, the Science Officer can make their post with a details on how they want to move the shields once they see the positions of the enemy ship(s) in relation to theirs.

I know this is a lot to take in all at once. If you want a more thorough look at the Starship rules you can find them on the Paizo SRD site:

Starship Rules

Starship Crew Actions

Dire's PbP "Table Rules" -

0 - RL > Game. No other rules trump rule 0! :D

1 - I'd like it if everyone posted once a day Mon-Fri. Friday night through Sunday night is eh-whatever (I am in US Eastern Time, for reference). I'll try to post when I can over weekends, but I know people have lives and won't always be online, so no worries.

2 - If you don't post in the middle of an "action" scene for a day, you get skipped once (or botted if your action would be super obvious or you leave a note to me or another player "proxying" your character). If you don't post a second time, you get "botted" by me to do something simple (usually just attack or aid another). If we get into the 3-5 range, I'll probably drop you a line off-list to see what's up. If it goes on too long...well, I hate dropping people from games, but it unfortunately happens :(

3 - When you've got a saving throw to make, please roll that first before posting any other actions/rolls (unless it can occur before the save).

4 - Feel free to roll perception and sense motive whenever you want, and if you have a reroll, feel free to use that anytime as well.

5 - Have fun! Rule 5 trumps all other rules! :P

~~~~~

Also, please post the following information in this discussion thread:

Player Name/Alias:
Character Name:
Character Level:
Organized Play # / Character #:
Perception Modifier:
Initiative Modifier:
What is your favorite color:
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll:

After the briefing and initial info/culture checks, I'll ask you about slotting boons and such, but until then - the above is all I need.

Thanks very much, and I look forward to running this scenario for you! :)

Player name/Alias: Farol
Character Name: Spike 'Croaker'
Character Level: Mystic 1
Organized Play #: 2359780-703
Perception Modifier: +8
Initiative Modifier: +1
What is your favorite color: mine is green, Croakers is white, as it means that the bandages are holding
Day job (if any) Roll: gambler ;) Gambling: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Player Name/Alias: Anxa
Character Name: Akkedis Dauðlaus
Character Level: Soldier (Shock&Awe/Forerunner) 1
Organized Play # / Character #: 2352348-703
Perception Modifier: +4
Initiative Modifier: +2
What is your favorite color: Steel blue.
Day Job (if any) Roll: Prof (Orator): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Player Name/Alias: Elektra
Character Name: Kaylee Kanta
Character Level: Mechanic 3
Organized Play # / Character #: 57894-702
Perception Modifier: +6
Initiative Modifier: +3
What is your favorite color: Red
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll: Profession mechanic: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Player Name/Alias: Otha
Character Name: Qwyn
Character Level: Operative (Ghost) 1
Organized Play # / Character #: 239913-701
Perception Modifier: +5
Initiative Modifier: +9
What is your favorite color: Green
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll: N/A

I've played a lot of Pathfinder PBP but it's my first time playing Starfinder...and first time creating a character so hope I didn't make too many mistakes. Still putting the finishing touches on him...

Player Name/Alias: Jim Crase
Character Name: Kitkul
Character Level: Solarian 3
Organized Play # / Character #: 56565-702
Perception Modifier: +3
Initiative Modifier: +2
What is your favorite color:
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll:Profession (guard): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18 (and apparently doing a bad job at it this week....)

Player Name/Alias: Lysle/GM Valen
Character Name: Master Filament
Character Level: Solarion 2 (he is awaiting one more XP from GM credit and will undergo a rebuild before leveling up)
Organized Play # / Character #: 90900-709
Perception Modifier: TBD
Initiative Modifier: TBD
What is your favorite color: I'd say a navy blue, but I am also fond of green; Master Filament prefers a nice, warm yellowish-orange, but is also found of green.
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll: TBD

I forgot the favorite color. Myself--Blue. Kitkul, probably something in the near IR.

Dear Dire GM,

Sorry for messing your stats, but I decided to reposition my ability points by Moving 2 points from Wisdom to Dexterity. That resulted in the following changes

Player name/Alias: Farol
Character Name: Spike 'Croaker'
Character Level: Mystic 1
Organized Play #: 2359780-703
Perception Modifier: +8 +7
Initiative Modifier: +1 +2
What is your favorite color: mine is green, Croakers is white, as it means that the bandages are holding
Day job (if any) Roll: gambler ;) Gambling: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Gambling: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Sorry if it causes you inconvenience. When you will face a situation when you need to drop one PC into a chasm killing them instantly, recall that I felt sorry for my action. The hero was unplayed, brand new.

Hmm, well, as least you aren't asking to play a Goblin.

I'll keep One-Eye on this, but might remain Silent as long as you're not planning on making too extreme of a change. All in all, I think you're in good Company here.

You're totally fine. I GM with a style best described by the comedian Eddie Izzard - "relaxed and groovy" :)

Also major points for referencing my favorite book series of all time in your character!

The first time I build this character, I think I had it's DEX, CON and CHA higher. Found out that I couldn't hit the broad side of a spaceship...or about anything else, except when I Supernova'ed. Before level 2 I swapped around my stats to the current. Still not 100% happy, but such is life. Once I can get that augment stat bonus, and level 5 I will be much happier.

Solarians....let's make a great class, but make them dual stat AND give them a okay skill list, but no extra skill points than a soldier (who isn't dual stat class....).

UPDATED:
Player Name/Alias: Lysle/GM Valen
Character Name: Master Filament
Character Level: Solarion 2
Organized Play # / Character #: 90900-709
Perception Modifier: +5
Initiative Modifier: +4
What is your favorite color: I'd say a navy blue, but I am also fond of green; Master Filament prefers a nice, warm yellowish-orange, but is also found of green.
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll: Profession (professor): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Yeah, I hear you with the Solarian dilemmas and the whole character issues. However, I am a big supporter of creating a character that is interesting more than a character that has the highest stats possible. Overall I remember how people played and not how they rolled, and even with the highest modifiers ever you might miss everything ;) Statistics hold true for large numbers, at least this is what they told me.

Overall in RPG, I am a big supporter of a though spoken throughout my favorite book series:
It's all about showmanship

Question to Master Filament, it is completely irrelevant and not important but as you changed your abilities to be Dex based why are you using only thrown weapon (which uses strength to hit and to calculate dmg)?

Question to Master Filament, it is completely irrelevant and not important but as you changed your abilities to be Dex based why are you using only thrown weapon (which uses strength to hit and to calculate dmg)?

I thought thrown weapons used Dex to hit and Str for damage, no? If I am wrong, I may need to re-think.

The choice was primarily a character motivation/decision than a mechanical one. I want an "old school" sensei type character, who views firearms as "uncivilized" and who relies primarily on his attunement with the stars to get by.

I've tried a couple of way to make this quirky character fit. I'm not sure how well it can be done. In earlier scenarios, I tried to have him get by without wearing any armor at all, but found that such was pretty impractical. Also, spreading points over three stats, Str, Dex, and Cha made a fairly ineffective character (especially with the ysoki Str mod), so I opted for high Dex to ensure that he can hit (and more likely not be hit himself) and figured damage can come at higher levels when he adds solarian powers to attacks.

I never considered him to be a ranged fighter. Instead, his primary strategy at low levels is to sneak up, get in close, soak a hit or two, go nova, then get out. Not optimal mechanically, but fun to play -- and he adds cryptic pseudo-mystical/philosophical/astronomical adages as he does so!

Got it.

How about using things like Bow then? It fits into no firearm way, you can swap it with something melee when the nova time comes.

Got it.

How about using things like Bow then? It fits into no firearm way, you can swap it with something melee when the nova time comes.

I had missed the bow! And I see now in the Armory that he can get explosive arrows!

I'd welcome any other suggestions/additions/revisions to this build.

I would like to give you more advice but I am completely new to this game I simply pointed out what I read. The obvious issue of the bow is that it has no upgrades :( Meaning on the higher levels you would hit the same issue as you have now.

Heya gang. Sorry for not keeping up on the discussion here before now - busier weekend than I expected! Regarding the weapon discussion, using weapons with the operative quality will also lend themselves well to a dex-build, even though they still use strength for damage (in terms of melee weapons, at least). Another fun subtlety is that grenades don't have the "thrown" quality, so you do use your dexterity for them (despite intuitively going "wait...but you throw them, right?").

We will soon be under way. I've heard that this will be a first game for at least one person here, so definitely feel free to let me know if there's anything I can help out with!

The newbie would be me...Kayla's been very helpful answering my questions thus far but I'm sure more will pop up. I have played lots of Pathfinder PBP but, while I know there are some similarities, I know there are lots of differences, so I'll try not screw up too much...but please let me know when I do. Looking forward to playing...

UPDATED:

Player Name/Alias: Lysle/GM Valen
Character Name: Master Filament
Character Level: Solarion 2
Organized Play # / Character #: 90900-709
...
What is your quest Day Job (if any) Roll: [dice=Profession (professor)]1d20+5

Forgot to include professional clothing and tool kit (cumulative +5 bonus) so, final result:

Something I forgot to mention - my local PFS/SFS events are on Monday nights (and every other Sunday), so Sun/Mon I'll often post less often than other days of the week. No matter what, though, I'll make sure we keep moving! :)

Look for an IC post shortly!

I know I crammed a lot of information in this post about Starship combat, so feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

I keep a Dropbox Folder with (mostly) pre-filled out starship crew sheets for players to use. For games I run in-person, I have several sets of these laminated that I hand out plus dry-erase markers for players to use

The stats for the Tier 2 Drake and Tier 2 Pegasus are also in that folder. Because many starship boons can overlap with each other, it might be good if you coordinated any that you want to use (if you have multiple options). Other than that, you can now slot your boons. Just post the list here in the discussion thread. A "template" if you want for listing them (copied from a PC of mine that I'm currently playing in another PbP) -

Chip's Slotted Boons
-------------------------------
Ally - Dream Whispers
Faction - Acquisitives Champion, Improved
Personal - Nufriend Skittermander (Dex +2)
Promotional - Promotional Service Award (#801)
Social - Contractor's Respect (Box 1 of 3 - Basic Hardplate Armor)
Starship - Weapons of a Lost Civilization
Slotless - Starfinder Insignia, Marked Field Agent, Star Sugar Heartlove!!!, Private Vault

Ally - Gun Runner
Faction - Wayfinders champion
Personal - none
Promotional - none
Social - Faction's friend
Starship - Solar powered weapon system
One of our ship's lasers gets a +1 to damage or if the gunner spends a resolve a +4
Slotless - Marked field agent, Star sugar heartlove!!!, Ghibran linguist, Society contract, Claimant to Salvation, Abysshead Download

Croaker Slotted Boons (wait for it....)
-------------------------------
Ally - none
Faction - Acquisitives Champion
Personal - none
Promotional - none
Social - none
Starship - none
Slotless - none

Btw. When do we want to decide who plays what role on the Starship?

Croaker's stats on a ship are as follows:
Diplomacy +5
Bluff +5 (taunt can be made with Bluff or Intimidate which for me is a Bluff).
Intimidate +1
Engineering +4
Gunner +2

And as a gambler, I can gamble with our lives as a Pilot +2 :D

This is also in my profile description:

Ally: Duskmire Allegiance (Yeti)
Faction: ExoGuardians
Personal: Formian Race
Promotional: Shirt Reroll
Social: Faction Friend
Starship: Solar Powered Weapon System
Slotless: Marked Field Agent, Star Sugar Heartlove

Note if we take the Pegasus, I will slow that Starship Boon. With Kaylee slotting one also, the Pegasus is the only ship that can take 2 or more of these. If we take the Drake, either I will not slot any Starship Boon (since Drake only has one "laser" at tier 2 I believe), unless Kaylee has another starship boon.

On roles:
Kitkul is likely going to be a gunner (+4 to hit), as its piloting is +3, has no Engineering or Computers, and honestly is a decent captain (+7 Dip or Intim), but realizes that there are likely better.

New character, no boons that I'm aware of...

As for ship roles:

Pilot +10 (I think Kaylee has the highest mod there though)
Gunner +5 (thanks, Kitkul)
Computers +5
Engineer +5

If I had my preference, I'd probably go with gunner as that seems pretty straightforward and this is my first space travel experience...but I'm new to this and am good with whatever everyone thinks is best for the team...

Qwyn,

I believe your Pilot is correct, but your Gunner is not. Unfortunately it is either "BAB + Dex" or "Piloting RANK (not skill) + BAB", so that should likely be +5 (1 Rank +4 Dex modifier). Still not bad, better than me (and I am 3 levels higher than ya :-)).

Faction: Exo-guardians Champion
Social: Faction's Friend
Slotless: Marked Field Agent; Star Sugar Heartlove!!!

No other boons to slot.

Akkedis is not the best starship combat character... I've got a +1 BAB, or +2 Pilot. As captain I could Intimidate at +5, an effective if unpleasant leadership style.

Qwyn,

I believe your Pilot is correct, but your Gunner is not. Unfortunately it is either "BAB + Dex" or "Piloting RANK (not skill) + BAB", so that should likely be +5 (1 Rank +4 Dex modifier). Still not bad, better than me (and I am 3 levels higher than ya :-)).

Ah, gotcha, thanks. I've corrected it in my original post.

Ally: Dream Whispers
Faction: Second Seekers Champion
Personal: N/A
Promotional: Record Keeper
Social: Faction’s Friend
Starship: Hero of the Stars
Slotless: Marked Field Agent, Starfinder Insignia

Starship skills: Gunnery +6 (although he prefers not to use them). Otherwise, he is a mediocre captain, at best with Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate all at +2 untrained.

To sum up, who can play what role, as we have some square pegs here.

Captain: Kitkul (+7), Croaker (+5), Akkedis (+5 Intimidate), Kaylee (+10 Diplomacy, +1 Bluff/Intimidate), Master Filament (+2)
Gunner: Master Filament (+6), Qwyn(+5), Kaylee (+5), Kitkul(+4), Akkedis (+3), Croaker (+2)
Engineer: Kaylee (+10), Qwyn (+5), Croaker (+4)
Science Officer: Kaylee (+10), Qwyn(+5)
Pilot: Kaylee (+13), Qwyn(+10), Kitkul (+3)

I most likely missed something but above are the names and their ranks in respective roles. The least represented roles are the bottom 3, so probably we should decide there.

I think Croaker has it right.

If you look at it that way, then Pilot should be looked at first.
Qwyn is likely the best there (as Kaylee is more important in the other 2 roles).

IMO between Engineer and Science officer, Engineer often becomes more important as the fight goes on. Maybe Kaylee is Science officer for the 1st round or 2, then goes 100% Engineer.

Croaker, Akeedis and Master Filament should probably be Gunners (with maybe Croaker as a 2nd Engineer if needed).

Kitkul is likely the best at Captain (weird as that is....). Though if we don't care about that, Kitkul can go to Gunner if Master Filament is adverse to guns, and wants to attempt to be a Master Splinter to us....

Part depends on the ship we take (and how many guns we can bring to bear), but I generally think it best to fill the role with best pilot, followed by the best gunner, followed by the best engineer, with the rest "filling in". However, as Kaylee is so skilled at so many things, we may want to make an exception.

I humbly suggest the following:

Pilot: Qwyn(+10)
Captain: Kitkul (+7) (can encourage Qwyn with Piloting (DC 10) or the rest of us with Diplomacy (DC 15).
Gunner: Master Filament (+6), Akkedis (+3), Croaker (+2)
Engineer: Kaylee (+10)
Science Officer: Vacant (helpful role, but not vital--especially if Engineer can keep shields coming); Kaylee could even start in this role, get us a good scan of the whatever we face, then move to Engineering once we start taking damage

Kitkul is likely the best at Captain (weird as that is....). Though if we don't care about that, Kitkul can go to Gunner if Master Filament is adverse to guns, and wants to attempt to be a Master Splinter to us....

Ninja'd by Kitkul! (I thought that I was the one playing the ninja!) As a matter of roleplaying, Master Spinter Filament would love being captain, but I don't want to inflict that on the party (at the expense of a strong gunner) unless folks are up for it.

One last thing that I didn't include in my original description and I learned just now. The pilot rank has an impact on AC of a ship. Just putting it out there, so that we work with accurate data. So in that aspect

Pilot: Kaylee (+13, +3 AC), Qwyn (+10, +1 AC)

I don't know if it changes the above.

Honestly, it both does and doesn't. +2 to AC is nice, but as in Pathfinder (or Starfinder) that extra +2 going from say a 13 to 15 is not a huge deal (when you get to the 20's I know it matters). If we feel we need more AC, Qwyn can always do evasion pilot maneuvers.

Except for Croaker, Kaylee is really the only one who CAN do the Engineer position. And knowing that shields are super important (ran as a GM more than a few Space combats, and played them as a player too), Shields >> AC. It is free HP effectively. That is also why a Science Officer can be essential. Engineer diverts to get shield points back, and Science Officer moves them around like a Human fighter would move a shield to deflect swords.

Don't want to pigeon hole Kaylee into the engineer position--except that she mentioned she was a grease monkey, had grease smudges on her when she came in from working on an engine I believe :-) --so I wasn't the first one to do that.

Qwyn has +5 on Engineering so he could do that in a pinch if it'd be better for Kaylee to be pilot...but I have no problem doing whatever is needed...

Selecting your starship roles is something that should be done early for this scenario (hint hint). I am aware that Kaylee's player generally only posts very late at night, but looking at her sheet she does have another option for a starship boon if you guys end up picking the Drake.

So far it looks like most are okay with either vessel, with one solid vote for the Pegasus. Let's do this - if you'd like to pick one or the other, post that in this thread. If by tomorrow morning it's still mostly "either/or" we'll pick the Pegasus and get you all air/spaceborne!

Argh! Please excuse the last in-game post...I just now noticed I posted something many hours ago meant for another of my characters (Dylph) in a different session...sorry 'bout that...

No worries. If I had a dollar for every time I've done that...well, I'd probably be getting sushi for dinner tonight, to be honest.

The GM is right about both. I'm usually only online late-night to post, and I also have other starship options. I'll slot my automated defenses (once per combat the science officer can reduce speed of tracking weapon by 50% and use resolve for extra uses) starship boon instead if we take the drake.

I love being the pilot but I also know that mechanics have an unfair advantage in almost all starship positions so I'll do what's best for the team! <3

Here's a crazy idea, rather than try to optimize, just have the PCs take the roles "they" want. It may be more fun and make the battle a little more interesting. Allow the PCs to discover during combat (or perhaps if no if rolls go well) where they are best suited. PCs can switch roles each turn. Sure, it may be hard to pull off in PbP, but I'm game.

And I'd happy with the Drake, it being all the more attractive with the extra boon.

Dire's PbP Rule #5 (also Mike's VC Rule #1 for his local lodges) is "have fun!" How you go about that is up to you, though I like Filament's suggestion quite a bit!

Dire's PbP Rule #0 is also Mike's VC Rule #0, interestingly, but with a "do as I say not as I do" caveat.

Seems like pilot is the most essential role and, since Kaylee loves to be pilot and is also our best pilot, it might be best if she do so. Not having done Starfinder before, this rookie might be better off in a less vital role so he can watch the pros do the other roles and learn from them. If Kaylee is the pilot and if it's best to have all the roles filled, Qwyn could be Science Officer and then that'd leave Croaker as the Engineer...

I'll play whatever role y'all deem best...but I'll probably need a little guidance no matter what role I have...

Here's a crazy idea, rather than try to optimize, just have the PCs take the roles "they" want. It may be more fun and make the battle a little more interesting.

And this is how you try to rat yourself out of being a gunner :P (pun intended)

I am fine with that approach. And fine with us picking a Drake.

Just a note on roles. Pilot and Captain--like the Highlanders, there can only be one. For Science Officers, Engineers and Gunners there can be as many as you want...from zero to effectively the whole team.

Honestly I wouldn't mind being the Captain....I get to use the whole "One suggests you do better..." (diplomacy), to "Grub! One DEMANDS you do better!" (Intimidate). Kitkul will likely go into itshive mentality/way of thinking as the combat evolves. That should make things....interesting.

And as people have said this and it looks like it is moving that way, I am find with the Drake over the Pegasus. At least I don't have the unlock--yet--for the Gorgon (shudders at the level 2 version).

And this is how you try to rat yourself out of being a gunner :P (pun intended)

Can't blame a guy for trying! ; P

But, Master Filament will gladly serve under one more attuned with the stars than he is and gladly receive instruction from her.

And as the other stations are more complex and require training he does not have, he will accept the Gunner role as he has done in the past.