GM Cellion's Dawn of Flame AP (complete) (Inactive)

Game Master Cellion

Since Sammad rolled a 20 on his attack, he should get a critical if his shot got through their shields, right?

Also, not that I want this, but I think the winner of the piloting initiative roll gets to move second…

Thanks for the explanation on the hacking. With my understanding of the matcha ice, let’s keep the +2’s on the gunners for now, not that I think it matters in retrospect for that round.

Since Sammad rolled a 20 on his attack, he should get a critical if his shot got through their shields, right?

Yep, they're currently dealing with two stages of critical. One from the crit and the second from hitting a threshold.

Also, not that I want this, but I think the winner of the piloting initiative roll gets to move second…

My mistake (I previously had one additional roll in the post and forgot to preview again after removing it), so let's err in your favor. You guys are moving second.

Have a good trip, Cellion!

Safe travels!

Very happy with the upgraded shields, especially inside the sun!

Say, did we ever agree if I got that funky pistol from the elf cultist or was it sold for credits?

nope, that pistol is all yours Sammad!

I don’t know if it matters, but Cellion wanted us to be precise on what we had with us and Flint wants Ordyt to make the call on whether to bring the tablet with us or not. What do you say, Ordyt?

Oh good, just checking. Seems like it's got a perfect target, right off the bat XD

Now I just need to look it up and find the stats...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Ordyt would have the tablet, but not out and held in hand.

I think that seventh figure is the body that we first saw.

Marisol and me better be careful! It could do this to us!

I am genuinely flummoxed about this corpse. If the tablet is the key to enter Ezorod, by rights we ought to be the only ones inside, right? So how the heck did this woman get here?

I knew it was a good idea to keep the zero pistol!

Overnighting at the hotel I work at due to a snowstorm, so my posting is limited to my phone. Please feel free to bot me if necessary.

Hey folks, apologies again. I've been having a rough couple weeks IRL, but I'm good to go now. Thanks for your patience.

Good to hear things are better for you Mari!

Looking at the jetpack description, it gives an action to switch from cruising flight to tactical flight and back (standard action), but nothing on what it takes to go from "off" (not burning power) to "on" giving you a 30' fly speed. Any thoughts on action economy?

I think we decided it probably follows the usual standard rule of "things take standard actions to activate unless otherwise indicated."

Yep, its a standard action to activate things unless otherwise stated.

Flint you should definitely take the Jet Charge feat. 90ft charges is probably more than we'll need most of the time, but it's flashy and cool and definitely fits the Captain's style!

Cool, thanks! And I’ll look into the Jet Charge feat, although right now, Flint could activate haste as a swift, move 55 feet for positioning, then Stellar Rush another 55 feet as a standard action to Bull rush or attack at the end of his movement.

The feat does get around having to use the standard action to activate the jetpack, though, which is pretty sweet…

I'm sure others are in a similar situation, but Fri-Sun I'll be out of town for family holiday stuff, posting will be sporadic at best for me. Happy holidays to all who celebrate!

Merry Christmas all! I'll be taking it slow the next couple of days, but will kick back into gear on Monday.

I think Mari needs to roll her critical hit damage and effect with that breaching gun. Flint may need to modify his action if the creature is blown backwards…

I can, but I'm pretty sure that as incorporeal creatures they're probably immune to crits.

Yeah, sadly incorporeal creatures are immune to crits.

A couple of quick questions…

Was Flint’s Will Save of 21 enough to avoid the sickening effect?

I understand the attack as Flint moves through the creature’s threatened area, but if it is staggered, it shouldn’t get a reaction to attack Flint after the hit, right? Unless that was just flavor text for its next round actions and it gets the alien presence thing for free…

Staggered
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 277
You can take a single move action or standard action each round, but not both, nor can you take full actions. You can still take swift actions, but not reactions.

Not arguing here, just making sure I understand the mechanics a bit not really knowing anything about the monster’s capabilities.

Yep Flint, you're not sickened (though you did pick up the pyric curse again). I see how the way I worded it in my post makes it a bit vague, but the init tracker at the bottom of the post is accurate.

100% agree that staggered prevents aoos, but it wasn't staggered until you delivered your critical hit, and you provoked an aoo on the way into melee with it.

The alien presence is a free action on it's attack on it's turn.

Hope that clears things up.

Perfect, thanks. Strange mechanics fighting unknown beasties with weird abilities—but encountering such weird stuff is the bread and butter of Starfinder! Thanks for clearing it up…

So what options do I have for having my junksword more handy? I think spell gems are the Starfinder equivalent of scrolls, but aren't they also hella expensive?

Yeah, if you want a spell gem of an "up to date" spell level, they're quite expensive. The real answer is that its a spell that's better if you don't rest between encounters. You precast it before advancing into what you think will be dangerous, then push until you absolutely *have* to take a 10 min.

Another solution is taking the Extended Spell magic hack, which will at least make the spell last through 1 10 min rest, though at the cost of 1 RP.

What if, instead of a drow, Bel was three kobolds in a trenchcoat and each of them spent all their spell slots on Junksword? Whenever one of them runs out of spells they kobolds shuffle around so a different one is on top of the stack?

On a more serious note, what are Bel's melee weapon proficiencies? It might be worth it to have a dedicated "real" weapon as opposed to stretching out spell resources. The junksword deals 2d4 at 3rd level, which is generally equivalent to the other basic weapons at Lvl7 and lower than the powered weapons at Lvl7. Something like a Sintered Longsword would give Bel 2d8+10, and she could always do something like Supercharge Weapon for a whopping 2d8+10+4d6. That also uses a much lower-level spells slot, although it does run into the issue that we don't currently have a sintered longsword...

The benefits of junksword are essentially:
- It's "free"
- It has 1.5x "specialization" bonus damage scaling with caster level, rather than 1x specialization scaling with level (which means a 2d4 junksword and a 2d8 weapon end up being identical damage at level 8).
- It can attack vs. EAC by choosing the electricity damage option, and it can be a reach weapon. Both of these usually result in lower damage dice for normal weapons, so it gets to overperform in those areas.

Oh I definitely get why you would use the spell, but those 3rd-level spell slots are a very scarce resource. I'm not sure what the solution is.

Belmarniss has basic melee proficiency, so the closest we'd get is a dueling sword. I'll ask around and see what other peoples' advice is.

So apparently part of the issue is I read Junksword's duration wrong, thinking it lasted 1 minute per level when it actually lasts TEN minutes per level, meaning at 7th level it should last for 70 minutes.

Wow, I made the same mistake! I've always remembered it as minutes/level!

At the very least, that should alleviate SOME issues. Still, apparently I have one 3rd level spell more than I should because of my archetype, so that still limits things.

Hmm, so OOC it seems like maybe there were prison anchors for each of that solar system's planets that make (made?) up the bindings of Eshtayiv. Sort of like the various seals that bound Tar-Baphon in Gallowspire.

Which I guess raises the new question of whether those scratched-out other planets are just petty vandalism/resentment by something that's stuck here, or have the all the other prison 'seals' fallen one by one?

I know from experience that these situations (where you don't yet have enough info to make a clear choice and where the stakes seem very high) can put a damper on game activity due to being unsure about what to do. So to make a couple things clear out of character:
- There's still more to learn elsewhere that can help you making decisions regarding what to do next.
- I promise it'll be obvious if you're about to unleash an unfathomable eldritch god upon the Burning Archipelago and the Pact Worlds. No "gotcha" moments.

Ey, Cellion! I just got my copy of Galactic Magic and I was wondering if I could take the Alternate Theme Knowledge from Iomedae. It'd replace this:

Reduce the DC of Physical Science checks to recall knowledge about scientific questions concerning the sun and light by 5. Reduce the DC of Mysticism checks to recall knowledge about sun-focused religions, the Elemental Plane of Fire, and the Positive Energy Plane by 5.

With this:

Reduce the DC of Culture and Mysticism checks to recall knowledge about the history and religions of lost Golarion by 5.

She'd still get Perception as a class skill and the Wisdom bonus, but it'd tie in more with the kind of learning she did with the Knights.

Incidentally here's the ATK for Sarenrae, in case Flint or Ordyt wanna get in on this action! :)

Reduce the DCs of Culture checks to recall knowledge about sun worship and sun-based legends and religions by 5.

Most of us didn't use our revelation from the previous hall, do we still have access to that? Or did it expire when we rested?

@Bel I also got my physical copy of Galactic Magic yesterday and started working through it today :)

I also picked up Galactic Magic yesterday! Been having a blast looking through all the new spells and the Precog.

@Bel: Now that I've been able to read how the alternative theme knowledges work, I can confirm that that replacement is A-OK. Its a neat little flavorful switchout.

@Ordyt: Yep, you still have access to the revelation from the sunburst wing of the complex.

Sorry, could you clarify what you mean by "perhaps the opposite" please?

If they're opposing a statue of a Lovecraftian deity, I imagine they're doing stuff like "drawing Euclidean shapes" and "leaving things well enough alone."

Can we pray again this round, or have we busted that bubble?

You can definitely try mysticism again.

Posting this in all my games, so I apologize if you've seen it already.

I'm going through a difficult period right now with my mental health, and it's making it hard for me to keep up with my games on here. I am not planning to quit or anything, but I just need a day or two to kind of unplug from stuff so I can get myself back to where I can be a more active contributor. In the meantime, I ask for your patience, and I will be back soon.

Take all the time you need Mari, and if I can help with anything from far away, let me know. I know PbPs can be a burden when you're otherwise mentally overloaded. Enjoy the decompression time.

I'll do my best to bot you in the mean time.