Flash's Fire Starters

Game Master AFlashInTime

You know the thought of retraining didn't even cross my mind until you mentioned it.

I've looked into it.

Solarian shield vs Vanguard one:

Targets KAC vs EAC
Deals only blunt damage vs acid and/or blunt damage
Isn't an operative weapon (so no using dex for to hit)
Does get a slightly bigger damage die and more damage from solarion crystals
Use str for damage instead of con

So it sounds like a nice option, but unless I switch my play style around to being a punching bag/tank (which I could build towards) it doesn't quite do what I was aiming for. And could be done just as well or maybe even better with an armor solarion - which I already have in society play and prefer to not repeat, even though it's fun to play.

@Farol, unfortunately you only get one day job roll for the whole chronicle, even though it grants 3 XP. You end up missing out on a few credits, but I think it's a small price to pay for credit for the AP with the flexibility it provides.

I threw together a quick interlude post in case you all want to share what you're all doing in character over in Gameplay.

Also, definitely not rushing anything, but do you think you all will be leveled up by the middle of this week? Say, Wednesday? Once updates are made we could kick off book 2 on Wednesday or Thursday if everybody's ready.

As an aside, having ship upgrades completed is not a requirement for starting book 2. It won't be relevant for a bit, unless you want to go way off the rails :)

Thanks for the update, GM Flash. I've been mulling over a post to wrap up the events at end of Book 1 and will try to post something shortly.

Puzzle is all levelled and the profile updated (I think - I always seem to find something later that I've overlooked). I'll be good to go when everyone else is.

Character update should be done by Wednesday since I know what I want now ;)

And we can discus ship upgrades later then.

I have Kit leveled (not many decisions to be made on a straight-ahead mechanic build at this level). I'll get his profile updated by Wednesday.

Same here, I lvl Vedrir already. Just need to make the decision on feat and gear.

I will level Nomyra tonight! I got behind with ConCurrent.

I will level Nomyra tonight! I got behind with ConCurrent.

How was ConCurrent? Anyone else here participate?

I only played two scenarios (3-01 and 3-02). They were both good. 3-02 in particular!

I GMed a few SFS games (2-11 twice and 2-17 once), plus one table of PF2 Q7. Kate and I also played the two parts of Passing the Torch on Friday.

I didn't play anything, to be honest I forgot it was last weekend.

Just F.Y.I. Wyrd bought an ability crystal (magic) and raised his dex by +2 so his initiative went up with +1 to a total of +2. I've updated it on the slides, not sure that's what is used to copy&paste when we roll initiative though so possibly that needs to be updated somewhere else as well.

I only play pbp so I didn't take part in ConCurrent :(

Welcome back!

Somewhat awkwardly, I can't get the PDF to give me just the map - I keep copying the book border instead of what I want to copy, which is the map without the room designators. Fortunately it makes sense you'd have access to a map of the DCI, but I'm hoping I can rectify it before we move ahead past this. Any tips welcome on making it do what I want in Adobe.

Please place your character in one of the rooms in A1: Dormitories. Somebody's getting to improvize a bunk bed, it seems.

The other rooms are:
A2: Resident Lounge
A3: Museum Administration
A4: Waiting Room
A5: Exhibit Balcony
A6: Geology Exhibits
A7: Renovation Area
A8: Endosolar Science Lab
A9: Exhibit Lab

Also, to better facilitate initiative and skill checks to ID creatures, please update the slide that has your initiative, perception, and sense motive on them. I've also added a second slide with monster ID skills: culture, engineering, life science, mysticism, and physical science. If you are trained in those skills please add your modifier; for skills you aren't trained in, please delete your character line.

Thanks!

Update: I got the image out but don't want to re-write all of the room numbers. So now the map with room numbers is your reference map and the clean one is the actual map for exploration. Please use the clean map!

Purchases:
Officer Ceremonial Plate (We can do Level +1 from the Core Rulebook, right?)-2275
5 x serums of healing-250

Have from the beginning: semi-automatic pistol, survival knife, light reaction cannon, industrial backpack, everyday clothing, travel clothing, fire extinguisher, flashlight, medpatch

And I have Nomyra leveled. I don't know why I was procrastinating. Leveling soldiers is so easy!

This still confuses me in how they write it down

1-1/2* = 0,5* and not 1,5* right?

Because assuming we face lvl 4 enemies (since we are lvl 3 facing 2 lvl 4 enemies sounds about right for an encounter to me) that's either a DC of

DC = 15 + 1*2 per target + (0,5* × 4) = 19
which seems doable and Wyrd should manage that about 1/2 them time
DC = 15 + 1*2 per target + (1,5* × 4) = 25
which seems a bit hard and Wyrd might make that 1/4th of the time

Just F.Y.I. Wyrd bought an ability crystal (magic) and raised his dex by +2 so his initiative went up with +1 to a total of +2. I've updated it on the slides, not sure that's what is used to copy&paste when we roll initiative though so possibly that needs to be updated somewhere else as well.

I forgot I also get a +1 insight bonus to initiative from Operative Edge. I've adjusted the slide to a total bonus of +3

And yet another question;

Since I'm carrying an AI around in my personal datapad now and artificial personalities are sophisticated enough that the computer can attempt Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks with a total bonus equal to 2 × its tier (tier 2 computer)

....does that mean I can have Alice try to aid on my computer skill checks? (for 1d20+4 vs DC 10)

I find the way they write 1-1/2 for 1.5 a little messy too!

Haha I wish it was 1-1/2 = 0.5! ;p

For any players interested in talking strategy (no peeking GM Flash! ;p):

Revvy, "1-1/2" in Starfinder is "1,5" or "1.5" aka "one and a half" or "3/2".

As for Alice, sure, feel free to bring her along for computer checks aiding and however you want to reflavor things. We're probably not going to be doing starship stuff or a bit, so this is a good way to keep her "on stage".

And enjoy your strategizing. Remember to keep "close the door" on your list of back up plans... :p

Yeah, I thought so but when I put in calculations so I can fill in the DC it starts to mess up the order because multipliers go because subtractions and 1 - (1/2 * something) means you end up with lower numbers.

And prevents me from reading it as one half.

It would (in my opinion) be waaaaaay more handy if they just wrote 1,5. Probably saves on word count as well....

It would (in my opinion) be waaaaaay more handy if they just wrote 1,5. Probably saves on word count as well....

Agreed, except they explicitly style to American English/conventions, so it would be 1.5, not 1,5 :P

My apologies if it is a bit messier with the way I rolled the Clever Feint - the new Convincing Liar Talent allows the option to roll the Bluff check and after seeing the result decide between rolling Expertise die or rerolling the Bluff check.

When you attempt a Bluff check, you can choose not to roll your expertise die until later. After you determine what the check’s result would be, you can choose to either roll your expertise die and add the result to the total or forgo the expertise die and reroll the check (see page 243). At 9th level, you can spend 1 Resolve Point to reroll the check and add the result of your expertise die.

Nice work, Nomyra!

Now let's hope it doesn't explode...

Given we have cashed in all the gear from Book 1, I created a new blank workbook sheet in the Loot doc for Book 2.

If that is a problem for what you had in mind GM Flash, please let me know and I'll switch it back.

Puzzle, thank you and please continue doing loot tracking! And Clever Feint is fine like that.

Revvy, I think ALICE aiding on normal computer checks is fine, but having a 75% chance to get an additional +2 to trick attacks is a little too much of a mechanical benefit in combat, in my opinion. She can help on checks outside of combat.

Puzzle, thank you and please continue doing loot tracking! And Clever Feint is fine like that.

Revvy, I think ALICE aiding on normal computer checks is fine, but having a 75% chance to get an additional +2 to trick attacks is a little too much of a mechanical benefit in combat, in my opinion. She can help on checks outside of combat.

Ok, sounds fair to me.

I'll keep her for in combat banter/flavor and not use her for mechanical benefits

A search of the thugs' personal effects yields no clues, but it does yield:

...
-2x pulsecaster pistol with one high capacity battery (40 charges) each
...

Can I assume that these are unusual high-capacity batteries that work in guns that normally take 20-charge batteries? Otherwise, that's very odd loot to drop.

Kit, feel free to take both high capacity batteries.

I had looked right past the high-capacity part, since pulsecasters normally can't take batteries of more than 20 charges.

Very true. It seemed a great pick up when I read it. I immediately thought, "Kit will love these!"

Okay, now down to strategy. Puzzle is not particularly stealthy (I don't know if anyone in the party is?), but I thought it would be good to try and head up the stairs for a sneak peek to scope out what awaits us in the museum space.

I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a scenario or AP offered treasure that wasn't normally legal gear (I'm sure I've seen at least a couple potions of shield floating around, for example).

Okay, now down to strategy. Puzzle is not particularly stealthy (I don't know if anyone in the party is?),

Wyrd actually isn't bad at it..racial bonus and the ability to darken an area.....stealth for +11.

As a standard action, the tiefling causes light within 20 feet of him to decrease one step. This gloom lasts for up to 1 minute, but the tiefling can dismiss it as a swift action. Nonmagical light sources can’t increase the light level in this area.

Not sure if that would just create a patch of moving darkness..but it sounds like it would be a benefit for party group stealth move

Wyrd actually isn't bad at it..racial bonus and the ability to darken an area.....stealth for +11.

Good to know for future reference!

I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a scenario or AP offered treasure that wasn't normally legal gear

This one is actually on me. The first group of thugs was using Pulsecaster rifles, not pistols, but I described it wrong, and so the batteries worked with the weapons they were using by the book.

Got it, sounds like this must have been written before the errata that changed the Pulscaster Rifle.

Page 176: In Table 7–4: Longarms, in the shock category, change the pulsecaster rifle's capacity to 20 charges and its usage to 1.

Is it safe to assume, then, that these should be regular 20-capacity batteries? Those are more useful to us at this level anyway, even if they're worth a little less.

That makes sense to me. Regular 20-capacity batteries it is.

Huh, I'd totally missed that. Picked up the pulsecaster rifle for Puzzle at level up. I hadn't realised the info at AoN didn't include the errata.

Thanks for the info!

Yeah, I'm surprised AoN hasn't updated. I just sent them an email pointing it out, though who knows what their update process/workload is.

I'll admit that trying to blind him again or entangling would be more effective to prevent the thug from running away..but I'm trying to do different things during combat to prevent it from going stale..and well, the displays mentioned radiation so this seemed thematically appropriate to try to sicken him.

If we didn't shoot him down this round I'll try entangle next round..even though I haven't quite thought of a way how to do that with the use of a computer skill....maybe in the future most belts are voice activated and computer controlled so I can hack his pants and remotely make him trip over them?

Or maybe he's wearing environmental protections as part of his armor which include boots clamps and I can turn those on so he's stuck to the floor...now that I think of it, that last one sorta makes sense. I'm going to have to use that one somewhere down the road.

Short post tonight but should have more tomorrow. I assume you're all good to go to A7?

Short post tonight but should have more tomorrow. I assume you're all good to go to A7?

Two thumbs up

After checking the baddies for goodies, of course.

Been a bit snowed under with RL at the moment. Will catch up on the new posts shortly.

Hey folks,

Check my math here, but I think Nomyra is at 1 HP. Starting at 21/21 SP and 25/25 HP, in post 1038 she's hit with a longsword for 8 and is critted with a pulsecaster for another 9. Then last round (post 1098) she was hit with jolting surge for 7, then in my most recent post (1108) she got hit with robot arms (10) and another jolting surge (11). My math works that out to 8+9+7+10+11 = 45, which is one less than her 21+25 total SP/HP combined, putting her at 1 HP.

Just wanting to make sure I didn't miss something and that we were all on the same page as the combat progresses. Please let me know if I messed up somewhere!

Seems legit! I think I missed one of those attacks tracking in her header. (The pulsecaster crit, based on how many points I had.)

I moved up to where Nomyra had been to try to disable the arms; based on your comment that they would likely take a swing at anyone trying to do so, I figured that's where I needed to be. Let me know if that's not right.

I'm a little behind in posting and the current situation may have progressed past where this is possible.

If the arms seemed suitable (which I now know they are), my intention had been to double move to the public control panel for Rd 1, then activate them to attack a foe in Rd 2.

Does this fly with what we have in play? And if so, what would be needed when making this attack roll?

Whoops! So in Round 1 Puzzle could definitely have moved over to a terminal in this room (move) and attempted to access the arms (standard). They would have found the Bloodshots had hacked them, and it would be the same Computers (but not Engineering) check to take control of them from this room. So if you want to place Puzzle pretty much anywhere in the room as their action for the first round, feel free to do so.

In Round 2, Kit has deactivated the arms, resolving this particular situation for the time being.

Thanks GM Flash.

Just want to check I have understood correctly - after going back and making the Computers check from Rd 1, Puzzle would gain access to the robotic arms but not be able to use them until Rd 2? Or was there an opportunity to activate them as part of that Computers check?

Sorry about complicating things - I should have just stuck with Get 'em and fired the rifle... XD

Sorry for not replying Puzzle - I just remembered this was here and it sort of got overcome by events. I think the standard would've been to just take control of the arms (sort of like "pick up the gun" only with a standard?) and then use them next round. I admit that I was sort of adapting a "trap/hazard" from the book that didn't really translate to PbP that well (or maybe it would have, but here we are), so the rules were a little squishy on this one.

Also I'm planning to post an actual update tomorrow, hopefully in the AM (so some time about 8-12 hours from now) - got later quicker than I thought it would tonight!

No problem. The action moved faster than my post rate and it kind of became a moot point.

I had noticed the reference to the arms a couple of times and thought it might be fun to try out something different.

There's always next time!

Sorry! I had missed the 'take control' bit, and had just seen the 'shut them down' and 'clobbering Nomyra' bits and rushed to do that.

All good, Kit. We both had the chance to interact with the robot arms in the end, so that was fun in itself!

Also, anyone else also interested in Vadak's armour? Seems a waste to just scrap... ;p

Which brings up the discussion of how we would like to decide on such things. Interested individuals roll for item in question, group discussion for determining and addressing greatest party point of need, or... something else?