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Well, it's hard to ignore the Preview function of this forum when rolling dice, but it's up to the GM to create specific rules for these situations (for instance, roll 1d20 for the survival, and a 1d2 to determine if it's assist or primary, make it more random; or you have to choose if all roles are one or the other, no pick and choosing).
If we were going to be more strict about it, everybody would declare if it was primary or assist, roll once, wait to see how it ended up, then roll for the second time, etc... that would probably take a week - like a combat, but for a skill challenge.
I'm sure most online gaming is done in real time, but it wouldn't hurt to get some official Paizo rules for play-by-post, even if for society only. Like for skill challenges, should we roll an "initiative" to decide in which order we roll? Should we define who's going to be the main and the assists before any rolling is done? Perhaps we can Aid Another after the primary check, unlike in the regular game. Either way, they should take in consideration the amount of time spent as much as how "fair" such rules should be.
Right now, it's kinda murky. I like the way GMAFlashinTime handled it, since it sped things up, but it is pretty much a house rule.
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Regarding "preview", I try not to let it affect my in-character decisionmaking. If I decide I'm assisting or being the primary on a check I'll make that decision myself before rolling. I've never actually had a conversation about it in PbP, but I thought the preview button was more there to make sure the post looked right and allow you to make decisions/roll more dice on the basis of actions your character already decided to perform (the one that comes to mind is rolling extra damage for a crit), rather than check dice rolls and then assign them to future actions (if I'm understanding the conversation so far right - maybe I'm not). I don't know if this is the same type of thing as making a series of skill checks, but like I wouldn't roll an attack, check preview, and then if it was a high number decide retroactively that shot was at the BBEG, or (conversely) if it was a low number decide that shot was actually at the lightly-armored minion.
In any event, in this instance (not surprisingly given the Survival check had a DC of 17) it doesn't affect anything one way or the other. Interesting thing to discuss though.
REMORHAZ TIER 4
Medium transport
Speed 6; Maneuverability average (turn 2); Drift 1
AC 14; TL 14
HP 85; DT —; CT 17
Shields light 60 (forward 15, port 15, starboard 15, aft 15)
Attack (Forward) light laser cannon (2d4; 5 hexes)
Attack (Aft) heavy plasma torpedo launcher (5d10; 20 hexes), light plasma cannon (2d12; 5 hexes)
Attack (Turret) light laser cannon (2d4; 5 hexes), light plasma torpedo launcher (3d8; 20 hexes)
Power Core Pulse Blue (200 PCU); Drift Engine signal basic; Systems basic short-range sensors, crew quarters (good) mk 4 armor, mk 4 defenses, mk 1 tetranode computer;
Expansion Bays cargo hold, escape pods, passenger seating, guest quarters
Modifiers +1 any 3 checks per round, Piloting +1; Complement 1–7
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Reversed Mount (Ex) Unlike a standard transport base frame, the Remorhaz has been engineered to move its forward heavy weapon mount to its aft.
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Gunner +4
Chief Mate +6
Magic Officer +9 (What a charade!)
I'd like to apply the following boon:
Aeon Caster Launcher Upgrade (Starship Boon): You fought off a starship belonging to the Azlanti Star Empire and salvaged some of that ship’s technology. When this boon is slotted, select one light weapon onboard your starship. Replace this weapon with an aeon caster. An aeon caster is a light direct-fire weapon with medium range, and the mystical special property. An aeon caster deals 3d4 damage. This new weapon must go in the same arc as the replaced weapon.
Mystical starship weapon property — When attempting a gunnery check with a mystical weapon, which is a hybrid device, a gunner can use ranks in Mysticism in place of her base attack bonus or ranks in Piloting, and her Wisdom modifier in place of her Dexterity modifier.
My "gunnery" check with said weapon would be a +6. And the replaced weapon would be the turret light laser cannon.
Yeah, unfortunately the starship boon isn't allowed for this adventure. Though the prospect of you showing up to modify their developmental starship with your own weapons is pretty funny.
I'll post tomorrow for actual starship combat - give a shout if you want to make any changes to the list Ozelle put together.
Hey everyone,
For starship combat I'll just have everybody post what they're doing on their turn during the course of a ~24 hour period, and then I'll put them together in something resembling a normal turn sequence. Since there's only one opponent hopefully this shouldn't be too hard to make sense.
I updated the map with your starship (the Remorhaz) and the drone you'll be facing off against today (you're at the top of the map). Facing is determined by the direction of the turning device on each ship.
Positions at the beginning of the combat are:
Captain: Gulkyn (+10)
Engineer: Second-1 (+10)
Pilot: Rogers (+11)
Science Officer: Ozelle (+4)
Magic Officer: Oddman (+9)
Gunner: Chk'tarlsh (+8)
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I have a slide deck with all the starship roles that I find helpful. Sharing here in case it will help anyone else as well.
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Apologies, I should have made this more clear.
So the Remorhaz is flying around fighting a drone with "not real" missiles/plasma cannons, etc. So when you're shooting at the drone and being shot at, the ship isn't actually taking damage.
Separate for that, for a reason that isn't explained, the Remorhaz is flying around in this simulated combat with its shields turned off. Even though the simulated combat shouldn't involve anything that should damage the shields, out of character it seems a bit... unusual for me for any ship to be out in space with its shields down just because they don't expect to need them.
So when Second-1 "restored shields", you were restoring simulated shields in response to the simulated weapons attack. Now that you've realized you're flying around without real shields on (Which 100% isn't your fault, because why would you be flying with shields off? Who would even need to check that since shields default to always on in every other piece of Starfinder literature? Regardless, I didn't explain the situation properly.), Ozelle has turned on the shields. "Turning on the shields" is an action that can only be performed by a science officer that appears to have been made up specifically for this combat, because I've never heard of needing to turn them on for any other starship combat.
Sorry for the confusion!
Good news everyone! This scenario is almost over!
Please make day job rolls here in the Discussion. I don't think we'll quite be done by GenCon unfortunately, but you're almost to the end of the last of Venture-Captain Naiaj's five assignments!
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Peachy.
Blinded
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 273
You cannot see. You are flat-footed and take a –4 penalty to most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks and to opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. You can’t observe other creatures, which means (among other things) that you treat all creatures as having total concealment (50% miss chance; see page 253). You must succeed at a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. If you fail this check, you fall prone. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them. Creatures that become blinded but that have a precise sense (see page 260) other than vision still automatically fail all checks and activities relying on vision, but they suffer none of the other effects.
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Haha that is true!
I was wondering about that, too.
My understanding is that blindsense is classified as an imprecise sense and so can assist in situations where precise senses are impaired. His blindsense would allow him to sense vibrations in the air within 30 ft so that he could ignore any visual aid to concealment (camouflage/invisibility) but it doesn't guarantee that he detects them (ie. would still require an opposed stealth/perception check. And even on success the creature would still have concealment and Chk'd be flat-footed).
If, on the other hand, it was blindsight (vibration), I believe it would then be a precise sense.
I suppose it could be ruled to assist with moving across an area, but not sure about how the vibrations would work in the absence of moving creatures, except for maybe environmental phenomena.
The good news for Chk' in this particular combat is the ground has been specifically cleared of all obstacles and leveled, so he's got that going for him. The blindsense doesn't really help at this point, but as you pointed out it would kick in if you got within 30 feet of something moving around (as an imprecise sense).
And I don't think it's ever explicitly stated in the rules, but I think knowing you're getting hit with lasers from in front of you is something that makes sense even without seeing them. The impact plus burning feeling and all.
And we did it! Congrats, you've successfully completed Corporate Interests!
For that last fight, I have a bit of a mea culpa. The Arbani Personal Force Field functions as a force field armor upgrade, which apparently doesn't block laser beams.
The force field blocks solids and liquids but not gases or light (including laser beams).
I'm not sure if this was the scenario as intended or an oversight by the author of the quest, but the first shots against you shouldn't have activated the force field and, as a result, everybody but Ozelle shouldn't have been blinded for the first ~3 rounds of the fight. So you were already at a pretty extreme disadvantage compared how I should've ran the rules.
Regarding the robots being blinded, I think you should probably expect table variation. Under the personal force field, it reads:
"Any time the force field absorbs damage, the wearer and creatures within 10 feet must succeed a DC 16 Fortitude save... or be blinded..."
So the first step is that I would count the robots as "creatures" for the purposes of this item. Then, from Alien Archive 3 (according to the Archives on Nethys) on construct immunities:
"Constructs are immune to the following effects, unless the effect specifies that it works against constructs.... Any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect works on objects or is harmless)."
So at first it would seem that because the blinding effect doesn't specify constructs, it wouldn't work. But then we get down into the specific bullet about Fortitude saves "unless the effect works on objects" (it certainly isn't harmless). Presumably the robots are seeing via some sort of optic sensor and, like a camera for example, the sensor could be overwhelmed/temporarily blinded by flash(es) of bright light, so I feel okay going with the robots being able to be blinded (especially because I'd already made the combat much harder than it should have been for you all).
In any event, thanks for playing! To be frank I'm not sure this scenario was my best GM work, so I appreciate you all sticking it out. I should have chronicles posted for you all and the game recorded in the next 24 hours!
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My bad! Second-1's chronicle has been re-added to the folder with Skitter shot circled at the bottom of the boons section.
As an aside, I saw Thursty put something out (on Twitter?) about how he wished some of the repeatables could have had places where the current season storyline could be included. Like on this one, maybe it is Datch who sabotaged the ship during season 2, but in season 3 it's replaced by whoever is mucking things up in that season. I thought that was an interesting idea for how to keep the repeatables a little more fresh, and I agree that the quest packs don't really seem to flow very well, at least in my experience.
Again, let me know if anybody sees anything else that needs correcting!