Welcome and thanks for signing up for this run of "Heart of the Foe" folks!
First off, I'd like to introduce myself a bit to those of you who haven't played with me before. I'm GM Mjolbeard. I've been playing SFS since its debut, much of which has included PBP as a venue. I highly value the game, and love to do as much as I can to throw in a lot of role-play with my roll-play, as the saying goes. With that in mind, here are a few expectations that I will hold for myself as well as my players in this game:
In order to make sure I am sticking as close as possible to the way you would want your character to be played, please include Botting Instructions in your character's profile, including descriptions of your usual strategies and dice macros for your most common combat actions.
We will begin play with the start of Gameday VIII on August 26, but in the meantime, please do me a favor and post the information for your character requested below using the template I've provided. This will make things easier for me when it comes time for reporting and putting together chronicles, so this is for your benefit too! You can also dot in on the Gameplay thread with your character of choice.
Player Name:
Character Name:
SFS#:
Starting XP:
Starting Fame:
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction:
Starting Credits:
Day Job Rolls (if applicable):
Special Notes/Abilities:
With all that out of the way, all that remains is for me to say thanks again for joining me, and happy gaming!
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Player Name: Pete H.
Character Name: Hef Sadir
SFS#: 123584-702
Starting XP: 7
Starting Fame: 10
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction: 13
Starting Credits: 217
Day Job Rolls (if applicable): None
Special Notes/Abilities: Bodyguard Feat is used very often, I should note in each of my combat posts when the reaction should trigger.
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Player Name: Cellion
Character Name: LINE-04 "Lynn"
SFS#: 233690-701
Starting XP: 11
Starting Fame: 21
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction: 20
Starting Credits: 5557
Day Job Rolls (if applicable):
Special Notes/Abilities: Lynn has Polymorph spells. You can check out her available forms at this link
Looking forward to playing with all of you!
Hey folks! In case you somehow missed it, the Online OP team has decided to postpone the start of Gameday VIII until September 9, due to delays in scenario support for the GMs. I can attest that, personally, I did not get my copy of this scenario until earlier this week, which, while it would be theoretically possible for me to prep in time for the start of the convention on Monday, is not an amount the amount of time I'd prefer to have.
So what do we do in the meantime?
Well, a couple of you have already checked in with your character information--thank you! Now that that part is done, feel free to go ahead and hop into the Gameplay thread and introduce yourselves to one another in character.
Thanks for your patience during this delay, folks! Looking forward to playing with you in September!
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Player Name: GM Red
Character Name: Galaxy S9 Plus
SFS#: 205498-703
Starting XP: 8
Starting Fame: 15
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction: 15
Starting Credits: 3681
Day Job Rolls (if applicable):
Special Notes/Abilities: Hmm, I don't think so.
Looking forward to it!
S9 was an Android in concept at some point, and when I decided to change her to a Shirren, I could no longer change her name because of post count and haven't thought of a schtick that would explain why she has a name like this. :)
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Player Name: RePete
Character Name: Xochitl T'zek
SFS#: 126566-702
Starting XP: 9
Starting Fame: 12
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction: 15
Starting Credits: 25c (500 BPU)
Day Job Rolls (if applicable): None
Special Notes/Abilities: I have a few bioteck augmentations; Climbing Suckers grants me 20ft climb speed, Ocucloak Processor makes me unflankable, and a wyrmling dragon gland grants me a 15ft cone acid breath that can be recharged during a 10 minute rest.
My gauntlet has the entangling infusion that can be used once per day.
And finally, I have the feat "Coordinated Shot". I grant my companions +1 ranged attack vs enemies I threaten in melee as long as I'm not blocking my companions line of site.
I think that's it for base stuff. :-)
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I'll edit this when I'm at my chronicle sheets at home, but figured I'd at least get the initial info in.
Player Name: Noah
Character Name: Ra
SFS#: 266667-1
Starting XP:
Starting Fame:
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction:
Starting Credits:
Day Job Rolls (if applicable):
Special Notes/Abilities: I've got a Wyrmling Gland
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Sorry for the delay.
Player Name: kuey
Character Name: Poppilo Moraeme
SFS#: 21076-702
Starting XP: 11
Starting Fame: 10
Starting Reputation with Slotted Faction: 24
Starting Credits: 1670
Day Job Rolls (if applicable):
Poppilo has a jetpack! He can fly!
He can spend RP to cast charm person (forced amity). After the effect of any mind-affecting spells (including from force amity) wears off, the target won't remember being magically controlled.
Hey folks! Sorry for the slow start, but things have gotten exceedingly and unexpectedly busy. I won't be able to post until tomorrow to move us along.
To make sure we don't have any big delays like this moving forward, I'm going to be working on pre-writing some posts for more story-based scenes like this.
Apologies again, and thanks for your patience!
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Slotted Boons:
Ally: Efficient Administrator - (While this boon is slotted, all other PC’s Ally boons gain an insight bonus to their skill checks equal to your current Reputation Tier with the Second Seekers faction. If the ally performs a combat role, then he instead gains an insight bonus to his ability DCs, attack rolls, and saving throws equal to half your Reputation Tier with the Second Seekers.)
Faction: Champion Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo)
Personal: Scoured Stars Survivor (Reduce RP to stabilize by 1. When used gain 1d6 HP per 2 character levels)
Social: Honorary Spider (+1 Intimidate)
Stotless: Society Shepherd; Team Spirit (When you or another character is killed during an adventure in which you participated, reduce the Fame cost of the raise dead spellcasting service by 2. This boon is not expended when used)
I have multiple options for Starship boons - but does this scenario have the starship tag?
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I do have the SS(LE) faction boon, but I really want to get my Acquisitives tier 3, so slotting that.
Boons Slotted this Adventure
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Ally: Dream Whispers
Faction: Acquisitives Champion, Improved
Social: Honorary Spider (Intimidation)
Starship: Mystical Guidance Systems Upgrade
Slotless: Marked Field Agent, Star Sugar Heartlove!!!, Starfinder Insignia, True Savior of Tasch, Salvation's Delver, Ghibran Linguist, Private Vault, Copaxi Linguist
Post will be up in the next few hours.
Hey folks! Just wanted to give a little more insight into what's going on with these explosions, since Lynn asked about ways to avoid the damage.
For this section of the scenario, where you are investigating different aspects of jinsul culture, there is a mechanic for failing the check by a certain amount. Thankfully, you haven't run into those consequences for the Culture and Mysticism checks, but the dice gods have not looked kindly upon you for the Engineering/Physical Science checks.
When you "severely fail" the check for those skills, there is an explosion, which acts like a grenade explosion. Everyone who was involved in making checks for that set of skills gets caught in the blast, including anyone who just does an aid roll. For the type of grenade that this explosion is based on, it is my understanding that you take the initial damage from the explosion of the grenade, but then have the opportunity to make a Reflex save against the additional burn effect.
So, is this damage unavoidable? Yes, but only if everyone who does a lead roll (i.e., not an aid roll) does not severely fail the check.
I hope that provides a little more clarity than my ambiguous answer from the Gameplay thread.
If you know something I'm forgetting/misremembering about how grenades work or anything like that, please let me know. I don't want to kill your characters...
YET!
Since it's only DC10 to aid, and I believe that it might be in the SF rules somewhere, that you can attempt an untrained skill check up to DC10, I'll say yes, you can aid if you're untrained.
Busy day at work today. Will get a post up this evening (in the next few hours).
Nope, you can choose a single PC to be the Leader for the entire chase! Good question though!
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So questions:
- How far away is the horde and/or what's the distance between zones and within a zone?
- As far as I understand, we're still on foot? Are there any vehicles nearby we could use?
- Are there penalties for firing weapons like there would be in a vehicle chase?
- I'm trying to work out what kind of illusion might give us enough time to escape. Does the jinsul horde make saves like a single creature or do they get to assume that some portion of the horde always saves (ie. they get to ignore having to make saves)?
- There's not a set distance between you and the horde, as it's pretty spread out. For rough purposes, let's say when you and the horde are in the same zone, you are within close spell range (approx. 30ft), and one zone away will be medium range (approx 100ft). Two or more zones won't be relevant, because the chase will end if you get two or more zones ahead.
- You are on foot, and there are no other vehicles nearby. Your opportunity for a ride just drove off! Also, even if you had gotten a vehicle, it wouldn't really give you any advantage, as it's assumed the horde is popping up from buildings and tunnels all along the chase route.
- I'm going to say there is no penalty for firing weapons, since you're not in a vehicle.
- I'm going to say the horde will make a single save against illusions. I'll use the statistics for the jinsul you just defeated for the save bonus. If the horde fails the save, it will impose a penalty on the horde's next action in the chase. Sound fair?
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"Each PC must spend a move action to follow the leader’s commands; otherwise, PCs can use standard actions to attack the incoming jinsuls or otherwise assist in the escape, including retrying a failed Leader action with a –4 penalty."
- GM
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On the slides, there are penalties in some of the effects fields, do they apply to the leader roll?
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Hef, by the way, is waiting to see if the 'leader' bombs the first roll to declare an action in case he needs to try a reroll with a -4.
Poppilo, yes, you will use your move action to follow the leader and may then use a standard to attack the horde or perform some other standard action that you think my aid in your escape.
Also, apologies! I totally missed that you had called the jinsul back. Since he is still under the effects of your ability, I'll still say combat is over. If you want, he will hand over the street crawler to you.
This functions as a level 2 vehicle with EAC 14, KAC 15, HP 24 (12), and a +0 modifier to Piloting checks. It also allows the PCs to treat the encounter as a conventional vehicle chase, with one PC using the Piloting skill to make Pilot actions instead of any listed Leader actions, while passenger PCs can take full actions during the chase (attack rolls will now have a -4 penalty). As I mentioned before, driving the street crawler won’t allow the PCs to automatically flee, as the jinsul swarm is cropping up everywhere, so added speed doesn’t ensure escape.
Hef - In case you all decide not to take the vehicle, yes, the penalties apply to the leader rolls.
Boon roll time! Winners on a 19-20!
No winners this time! Sorry folks!
Hiya Lynn!
Dec 6 would give us just over two weeks, part of which is over the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. I'm also going to be attending a wedding out of town this weekend, which could present some delays.
At this point we have the remainder of this chase, plus two more encounters. As much as I would like to say we'll get that all done by 12/6, I have some serious doubts about it. All that being said, I will do my utmost to move us along in the coming weeks, including taking a little bit more of an aggressive botting policy. If everyone can try to get in a couple posts each day, we may be able to pull it off.
Thanks to everyone for your patience as this scenario has run so long!
No kidding! Not to mention that even if the protean had hung on and gone for a ride, me casting a spell would have provoked an AoO from the protean which might've prevented the spell from going off anyway!
This does bring up an interesting question though. For any other GMs at the table, how do you treat grappling when it comes to creatures of different sizes? In this case, the protean is small, while the demon is large, a two size category difference. I couldn't find anything in an admittedly quick search of the SF rules about how size might affect grappling, but to me it does make sense that, without a special feat or creature ability, there should at least be some penalty or adjustment when that big of a size difference is involved. Anybody out there have any insights I missed out on?
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Grapple is actually very strong in SF (it was also strong in PF1E, but there were more ways to counter it), mostly because you can get a decent chance of delivering the pinned condition in just a single standard action. A character optimized for grappling can easily achieve a 30% or higher chance of pinning bosses on each attempt (with a consolation prize of grappled some of the time you fail to pin). While both grapples and pins are difficult to sustain round-by-round, on rounds they land they're so heavily crippling that they completely shut down most characters and enemies.
One of my non-SFS characters is built for grappling, and has been completely rolling over Dead Suns.
Wow! That's extremely valuable info! Thanks, Lynn.
As an aside, would that Dead Suns character of yours happen to be small, furry, and six-armed? ;P