GM Jhaeman's SFS # 2-09: "Bluerise Breakout" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

General Notes:

I try to post every day to keep things moving, and if you can keep a similar pace, that would be great. We all have real life interruptions of course, so if you can't post and we're in the middle of something like a combat, please give me bot instructions or I'll assume your PC does Total Defense.

Please place a good array of information in your character header. Knowing your PC's EAC/KAC, Perception mod, Initiative mod, etc., saves me a lot of time when doing posts. If you need help figuring out how to format that, we can help you.

If you want to earn extra GM love, posting a full character sheet in your profile is great. That way I can look stuff up and answer my own "how did they do that?" questions. Related, if you have some crazy weird or complicated build and want to explain anything, here's a good place.

If you've made any purchases between the end of your last Chronicle and the start of this scenario, please post them here so I can reflect them on your new Chronicle.

You'll need a picture of your character for the grid scenes.

Finally, role-playing is good! Please give your PC some personality and engage with the other PCs and NPCs. I'll gently move us along if we're dwelling too much in one part of the scenario.

Any questions, ask away!

P.S. I'm going to be away for a week early in June, but otherwise we should have a consistent run.

Twila-4 purchased a Static Arc Pistol (750 credits), a Hacking kit (20), and Navigator's tools (20) after her last Chronicle.

Got it, thanks.

Just sent a PM to our other two PCs, and we'll get the briefing going on Sunday.

Does anyone know if there are any plans on bringing full casters into the game? I suspect the answer is no but it never hurts to ask. The Technomancer has cool flavor but plays more like a new-age Bard than a Sorcerer.

I think we're the only ones who expressed interest. Incidentally, it looks like Kaath is the most charismatic member of our team, with an impressive Charisma score of 10. So that'll be interesting, in a (potentially) hilariously dysfunctional way.

Boons
Personal: Brakim Admittance
Faction: SS Ehu Hadif champion
Social:Factions Friend
Ally: Dream Whispers
Promotional: t-shirt

Slotless. Marked Field Agent, Starfinder Insignia, Private Vault, Star Sugar heart Love

Well some (my self included) could spend some fame on a Diplomat amateur hireling if the party is interested. They would just take up an ally boon slot.

Boons:
Ally: Dream Whispers
Faction: Dataphiles champion
Personal: n/a
Promotional: t-shirt
Social: n/a
Starship: n/a
Slotless: Private Vault

@Scruffy: That sounds interesting. I didn't know about that option.

Boons:

Faction: Dataphiles Champion
Social: Faction's Friend
Slotless: Marked Field Agent

What a bunch of androids! :)

Not sure he has any applicable boons besides his faction slot boon.

Boons:

Ally: Dream Whispers
Faction: Dataphiles champion
Personal: n/a
Promotional: t-shirt
Social: n/a
Starship: n/a
Slotless: Private Vault

@Scruffy: That sounds interesting. I didn't know about that option.

Yeah there are 4 hirelings with preset skills you can acquire with fame. You can spend more fame as your reputation level increases to increase their skills. They are getting converted to boons you can buy with achievement points when starfinder switched over to that system, but if you have fame you can get them for as long as fame purchases continue to be a thing.

Now I really do not regret not buying a weapon. My casters like to cast spells anyways not fire some silly ray gun. :)

Sorry if I'm slow to post for the rest of this week. There's a lot of good RL stuff going on through Saturday, and it'll keep me pretty busy. Feel free to bot Twila-4 as necessary

Have never used or seen supernova utilized in combat so hopefully doing it right. Not seeing a DC for the reflex in my notes.

Something has come up, so it’ll be about 24 hours before my next post.

I imagine the Starfinders are thinking "whatever's on this stupid data stick better be worth it!" But seriously, you guys are making good progress in the scenario even though some of these foes can be pesky to wear down with small arms at this level.

^ I am thinking that casters do not get enough spells at level 1. :)

Indeed. Too both of you.

Crap, that was a critical hit and did 18 points of damage. Given her current hit points, under the "Massive Damage" rule that's enough to kill Twila-4. I'm really sorry!

To verify: Is this "you'll never play this character again" kill, or "you can be raised at the end of the scenario" kill?

The Starfinder Society guide goes through what it takes to have a character raised from the dead: a certain # of Prestige Points, credits, or a combination. They can use credits from the incoming Chronicle and sell gear (though for just 10%) to help out. Still, it's usually out of reach for low-level characters.

The guide is here. Once we get to the end of the scenario, we can talk over options in more detail.

@GM Jhaeman - Is paying for a Raise Dead spell 9,000 credits or 14,000 credits due to the cost of the spell component involved? I am just learning the game myself and I am trying to get a handle on all the rules and not confuse them with 1st edition pfs which I know so well.

It's a bit confusing!

The first way is to spend Fame. For some reason, they hide what you can spend Fame on in the "Basic Purchases Boon". Raise dead takes 14 Fame.

The second way is to spend credits for spellcasting services. Yes, it'd take 14,000 credits for raise dead.

I swear there used to be a way to spend some Fame and some credits, but that might have been in a previous version of the Guide or maybe I was thinking of PFS.

I should also add that with the beginning of Season Four, there's a whole new way things are being handled--Fame is gone, I think, and boons are purchased online with "Achievement Points" or something. This is the first scenario I've handled since the change, so I'm not 100% sure how it all works--there are some threads in the forums about it.

If you look at the boon tab under My Organized Play in your Account you will notice all the boons you can purchase for a character with these Achievement points. A raise dead spell is 28 points. This is well out of the reach of a low level character.

I think it would be difficult to raise a character before 4th level at the very earliest considering the very steep costs. In first edition pfs you could probably raise a character with a combination of prestige and gold at 3rd level or possibly 2nd level if you had some help or played up a bit and saved some gold.

Well, I could always use the same (or similar) stats and start her over as Twila-5. Tweak her personality a bit, etc. Losing a level 1 character doesn't feel like I've lost a huge investment.

The next iteration won't sigh so much. That's annoying to type. ;)

With an Android character Twila-5 makes perfect sense. She does not have to be wildly optimistic but tweaking her personality a little bit I think would make her more fun to play. You can essentially copy and paste her stats over in no time at all.

Driving cross country today. If Kaath comes up - attack with solar weapon on vesk again.

Hmm I was hoping to drop her oh well. If someone can attack then move in front of the door to the smoker to keep the vesk out for a bit that would be good.

I'm not sure if she can guarded step and draw a weapon as part of it. I'll go with whatever your call is but I think you can only combine drawing a weapon with charging or moving your full speed.

On review, I think you're right--let's assume she hasn't drawn the knife yet.

The doubling of hit points from level 1 to level 2 is a real problem for level design in both Pathfinder and Starfinder. Its ugly head is popping up again in this combat.

Watch out people. The GM's dice are smoking hot with yet another crit! :)

I'm finding that level 1 in Starfinder is way deadlier than level 1 in Pathfinder (1 & 2). I don't have much experience with Starfinder, as Twila-4 was my first character, but she'd been KO'd so often even before this scenario. I'm wondering if my build was flawed, but it seems mostly basic. It's hard to keep her back out of trouble because tight quarters and cover have been pretty common. Being a ranged fighter doesn't seem very viable so far. Ironic, with all the guns and all.

Yeah PF1 doesn't use massive damage which is part of it, but there are plently of PF1 scenarios where an ill times hit from a raging barbarian will totally flatten a 1st level character.

Low level particularly level 1 is just very swingy. A friend of mind described every first level adventure like this,
"I swing i miss. You swing you miss. Best game EVER!"

The dice gods definitely haven't been kind this round. For those of you who have some good boons or shirt rerolls, think about using them. I don't think it'll spoil anything to say this is the last encounter, so give it all you got!

This is going to be a close one. You guys are *really* close to taking out two different foes, but those vesk pack a punch!

It is a good thing that we have some level 2 party members or this adventure would have been a TPK for sure. It still might be. :)

@GM Jhaeman - I think that the Cleave action that the Vesks have been using is not legal with Doshko as it is a unwieldy weapon and you are not allowed to use such weapons to make multiple attack rolls (like with a Cleave) or opportunity attacks. I am very new to SF so I could be mistaken but if I am correct this can have a very material impact on our current combat.

Unwieldy weapons can't make full attacks, but Cleave is a special standard action when you have the right feat. It's also written into their tactics that they do it. I think sometimes scenario writers don't realise just how much damage output melee weapons in the hands of high-strength opponents can pump out at low levels. While a lot of PCs will be relying on 1d4 or 1d6 small arms, these 1d12+Str doshkos are pretty unfair.

Have a closer look at the text for unwieldy weapons. It does not allow for more than one attack per round under any circumstances. So you cannot take opportunity attacks or use a standard action to make multiple attacks rolls as with Cleave. Clearly the game designers were well aware of the danger of combining these high damage and low level weapons with feats such as Cleave or allowing people to attack multiple times a round with them. In fact a quick search of the Starfinder threads has led me to the discovery that the lead designer for Starfinder has confirmed that you cannot combine Unwieldy weapon trait and the Cleave feat.

However as the GM if you wish to go with the printed tactics in the scenario then I will support your right to do so. :)

On review, I think you're right! I'll go back through the Gameplay thread tonight and calculate who took how much damage from a second attack via Cleave and restore it.

Have a closer look at the text for unwieldy weapons. It does not allow for more than one attack per round under any circumstances. So you cannot take opportunity attacks or use a standard action to make multiple attacks rolls as with Cleave. Clearly the game designers were well aware of the danger of combining these high damage and low level weapons with feats such as Cleave or allowing people to attack multiple times a round with them. In fact a quick search of the Starfinder threads has led me to the discovery that the lead designer for Starfinder has confirmed that you cannot combine Unwieldy weapon trait and the Cleave feat.

However as the GM if you wish to go with the printed tactics in the scenario then I will support your right to do so. :)

Yeah Sounds like something that wasn't caught in development. There are plenty of early PF1 scenarios that have tactics combining spring attack with vital strike (which you can not do) and other stuff like that.

True. I guess the difference between PF and SF is that in Pathfinder you can really overbuild your character to compensate for the bumps in the roads you might encounter from poor scenario design.

Thanks for sticking with me guys--I know this has been a long encounter (and a long scenario!).

We are into the epilogue!

I'll start on Chronicles. For those of you with Day Job checks (or other things I should list), please roll in this thread.

prof(lab tech): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Thanks again for being the GM. George 09-23 has a lot of skills but not one of them can be used for a day job. :)

Twila-4's ghost was really worried about George 09-23 joining her. So glad you didn't!

^Thanks. Much appreciated! 2nd level will be so much better in Starfinder. :)

And that's a wrap! Thanks everyone for playing. I'll get these Chronicles out over the weekend.

Thanks GM Jhaeman. It was a tough one but fun. :)