Gameday XI - GM Valen's Starfinder Society Special #4-99: A Time of Crisis (Tier 3-4) (Inactive)

Game Master Lysle

A thread for out-of-character discussions.

This a Tier 3-4 table for the Starfinder Society Special #4-99: A Time of Crisis. It is being run as part of the Gameday XI Play-by-Post convention.

To sign-up for this table, please first fill-out the official sign-up sheet here.

Hey, just checking in. Looking to playing with all of you.

So I was planning to play the iconic precog, when I found out that Paizo isn't making a pregen for her (or any other classes going forward). We have an operative, solarian and technomancer, so I was thinking of grabbing Navasi and being the face for the party.

^ I love your tagline (I am ERROR). Play what you like. Half of the fun of society play is the weird mix of random characters that come to play. If we are all space wizards (or operatives) then so be it. :)

I cannot wait to get started.

@GM Valen - I am getting a Google login prompt in for the slides of this game so I am thinking that they are not ready for public consumption yet. :)

cmlobue, Glad we're playing together instead of you GMing for me. I mean, you're a great GM, the change is just nice.

Please be nice to Lendtech.

The last time I used this alias, it was in Starfinder Four, and I was playing Err0r. Sadly, not one of the ones that lets you reuse the pregens later (I was a Band on the Run character in 1-00). Navasi is good, since I have used her before, and it's fun to yell at your problems.

Hi, sorry for joining this late, I hadn’t realized they had lifted the limit on specials.

I’m hesitating a bit on the character, but as the game starts tomorrow, I think I’ll play Bleu.

He’s a Skittermander janitor.

Super sorry I’m late.

To be honest: I forgot I signed up. :-/

I will need a day to read the posts.

Will be ready and steady from tomorrow onwards.

I’m confused a bit; aren’t we supposed to have 2 successes by obstacle to bypass them?

My apologies. The confusion was mine. You are correct.

During these rounds, the PCs face a series of obstacles, which they must overcome in the order presented below to carry out their mission. To defeat an obstacle, the PCs must accrue a number of successful checks equal to half the number of PCs (rounded down). Each PC can attempt a skill check or a check to aid another PC each round. Once the PCs have succeeded at enough skill checks to advance to the next obstacle, any PC who hasn’t attempted a check that round can begin working to overcome the next the next obstacle. Creative solutions are allowed and may even result in an award of an automatic success for a creative or otherwise appropriate uses of spells or other limited daily abilities.

Again, you are correct. The PCs need 2 successes to move on to the next obstacle. I will try to do my best to retroactively adjudicate and get us on the right course.

Obstacle 1—Approach: PCs who succeed at an Easy Piloting check can navigate the shuttle through the debris falls near the freighter and line up with an airlock (only one PC can attempt this check each round). PCs who succeed at an Average Computers or Perception check can help the pilot navigate safely to the airlock.

Navasi quickly hops into the pilot's chair, does some not-entirely-regulation pre-flight checks, and flies the ship through the debris field.

Navasi navigates the shuttle through the debris and lines up with the airlock.

He tries to help immediately!

I will apply Donovan's first Perception check to Obstacle 1. Unfortunately, it is a failure.

BOTTING Ears - As he has not yet gone and has an applicable skill with a high modifier.

Ears, Computers v Obstacle 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Second success! Obstacle 1 has been bypassed.

Obstacle 2—Airlock: PCs who succeed at an Easy Engineering, or Hard Physical Science or Sleight of Hand check can disengage the magnetic locks holding the airlock door closed. PCs who succeed at an Average Athletics check can pry the airlock door open.

George 09-23 attempts to bypass the primary controls of the airlock which appears to be seized. Fortunately for him he has the appropriate tools on his belt.

One success.

Being 2 feet tall, Bleu can readily access some panels and he’s willing to pick any cable including some with dangerous fluids or high voltage.

I will apply Bleu's first Athletics check to Obstacle 2. It is a success! Obstacle 2 has been bypassed.

CORRECTION - I obviously posted this in the wrong thread. I will move it to Gameplay, noting the check result.

Sorry. Full weekend and 2 tough days at work. On it now.

@GM Valen - I am a bit unclear on how to clear this condition as this is my first character with his first condition. Now checking the boon list I noticed a Remove Radiation boon for 4 achievement points. Can I just click on that when we get back to ship to clear the condition?

Also my character seems to have 104 achievement points total. Although I never used any points up to now that seems like a huge pile of points. A manual count of his achievement points earned is 24.

I played in the demo and there was some sort of point update conversion as well but the number still seems high.

@GM Valen - I am a bit unclear on how to clear this condition as this is my first character with his first condition.

I will do my best to try and help. The first thing you should know is that conditions pop up with some frequency, particularly in higher-level scenarios.

Next, many conditions and other negative effects can be cured or removed with successful checks during the course of an adventure (Radiation sickness is among them.)

In some instances, a negative effect (including death) can be removed/addressed by someone or something within the scenario, often by using a capable NPC contact, a spell, or a magic item.

Once an adventure has concluded, if the condition still persists, then the condition must at that time be removed or the PC is reported as dead and no longer playable at a table of Starfinder Society Organized Play.

I have not purchased any of the "remove" boons, so I do not know their exact wording, but I believe these boons are intended to come into play at the conclusion of a scenario to avoid the situation above where an afflicted PC must be reported as dead.

As a general rule, boons must be slotted during the adventure. However, again without having read them, I suspect that the "remove" boons are slotless boons that don't need to be slotted beforehand. I also suspect that the "remove boons" are one-time service boons similar to those in Pathfinder Society play, which have to be used at the time of purchase.

In short, if your PC is still suffering from radiation sickness at the conclusion of the scenario, you can look into acquiring the applicable boon at that time.

Also my character seems to have 104 achievement points total. Although I never used any points up to now that seems like a huge pile of points. A manual count of his achievement points earned is 24.

I played in the demo and there was some sort of point update conversion as well but the number still seems high.

It is absolutely correct. In May 2022, it was announced that by Paizo that every new player should start with 80 Achievement Points for both Pathfinder and Starfinder Society and that current players would retroactively be granted those points as well!

24 earned +80 bestowed = 104 total ACP to spend as you wish!

Thanks for the clarification. It is much appreciated. :)

My character also did slot his active boons as soon as the mission started in earnest. :)

That kind of affliction can also cause the character death with bad rolls and the characters are too far from any place to get a cure. That almost happened to one of my characters, I think it was a mission in the Vast.

The Spellcasting boon text can be found at: https://organizedplayfoundation.org/Lorespire/sfsguide._.Factions-and-Reput ation#Spellcasting_Service

It seems the boon is to be used at a lodge.

...

Granted I am new to this game but I do not get the appeal of this spell at all. The action economy is terrible or you need to coordinate with a teammate. Also the attack can miss completely negating the spell. Magic Missile on the other hand is generally auto-hit and auto-damage with a nice range. Of course if it is about style then I get it and it certainly seems cool. :)

Can't argue the points in bold. You're right. But coordinating with a teammate to obliterate an enemy can be a fun team bonding experience. So I like this spell a lot at low levels. It won't be worth much in another level or two; even in the level 3-4 range it's weakening relative to other options.

The key is to have the right teammate ally and /blø/ will do nicely.

@GM Valen - I am confused about how the Radiation Sickness works. How often will my character have to make a save against it and is there anything he can do immediately to help his situation? Also does the +4 bonus from his armour still apply to possible future rolls?

@GM Valen - I am confused about how the Radiation Sickness works. How often will my character have to make a save against it and is there anything he can do immediately to help his situation? Also does the +4 bonus from his armour still apply to possible future rolls?

Here are the rules for radiation sickness.

George's last check was for today. 3 consecutive successful saves will cure the condition (as could other potential intervention).

The +4 armor bonus applies just to exposure and do not apply to saves made once you have radiation sickness. "No armor’s bonuses apply to saves against radiation sickness, regardless of the level of radiation exposure that caused you to contract it."

Unfortunately, not much you can do at present except eliminate the creature that could inflict it upon others.

Thanks for this. Alright my character should be able to use his medicine skill and with the advanced medical kit we found treat all the character's radiation sickness. So with a total of 21 on Medicine with a take 10 that should give everyone a +4 bonus to their saves going forward. At least that is something. :)

@GM Valen - Are we going to deal with the radiation sickness for the party or not? If so how, as the time line seems to be loosely defined.

@GM Valen - Are we going to deal with the radiation sickness for the party or not? If so how, as the time line seems to be loosely defined.

No need to deal with it further. The scenario expressly states, the PCs with radiation sickness "can receive free treatment at the Starfinder camp". Sorry, I missed this earlier in my haste to keep us moving.

Even better. :)

Hello everyone.

As GM Valen mentioned I'll be helping out to run the table in GM Valen's absence.

I'm looking forward to running this bit for you!

Thanks for stepping up. :)

Blazej, good to play with you again. Welcome aboard.

Hi, I’m playing the blue skittermander, Bleu, IPA /blø/. Thanks for taking care of us.

Just to keep things moving, I wanted to check in to see what mission you would like to go on after this one?

The available Recovery Missions (and a clue as to their nature) are as follows:
□ Improve the Camp (Construction)
□ Gather Supplies (Survival and combat)
□ Transport Materials (Transport and combat)
□ Guard Duty (Camp defense)

I've seen suggestions for both Guard Duty and Improve the Camp, is there a preference from anyone else on any?

Ears mentioned that Guard Duty was the next mission (in his order) which he would like to attempt so I will add my vote to keep this scenario rolling. :)

After the guard duty, maybe transport materials?

George had also pitched Improve the Camp last round. When we finish Guard Duty let's roll with Improve the Camp, then Transport Materials, then Gather Supplies.

Sounds good to me. :)

Yes. Sounds good.

I do not play Starfinder often so if you guys have suggestions what Don should do or how he should use his abilities then please tell me! :-)

GM Blazej, thank you for taking care of our table.

Agreed! Thanks a lot!!

Blazej. Thanks for helping out. Looking forward to playing with you again someday.

My character has really crappy skills although I should actually be a skill monkey. :-)

I only have two characters in Starfinder that I actively play and the operative feels so much more flexible and useful sometimes. :-/

^Dumping INT to 8 is not a great start for a skill monkey especially as so many of the important non-combat skills are INT based. :)

It is not exactly fair to compare the Operative to the Envoy anyways as one is at the very top of the power scale of the system while the other class is at the bottom. This helps to explain why you prefer one over the other.

My character has really crappy skills although I should actually be a skill monkey. :-)

I only have two characters in Starfinder that I actively play and the operative feels so much more flexible and useful sometimes. :-/

PCs with lower skill modifiers may, under some circumstances, be more useful as support by using the Aid Another action.

To do so, you must attempt your skill check before the creature you want to help, and if you succeed at a DC 10 check, that creature gains a +2 bonus to his check, as long as he attempts the check before the end of his next turn. You cannot take 10 or take 20 on an aid another check, but you can use aid another to help a creature who is taking 10 or 20 on a check.

Using aid another actually makes a lot of sense!

And I have little knowledge of the Starfinder power levels of classes. It was just a subjective assessment but of course Int is useful so you are correct George! ;-)

But I can pump that up by 2 next level which is really nice in Starfinder.

Using aid another actually makes a lot of sense!

Given the nature of PbP and the timed nature of the special, I do allow the Aid Another action to be taken to help a check even after the "primary" check has been rolled by another player.

Thanks!! ;-)

I had really forgotten how fast paced starfinder specials are compared to pathfinder specials.

Saved by the bell.

The speed is one thing I like about the specials. Can't do this in all my games, but it's a very nice change of pace.

I also like the table interaction.

It is certainly a change and the need to complete the mission is not the same as in a regular game. I am glad that people are having a good time. :)

Guys, I unfortunately have to cut down some gaming until next week Thursday as the workload in my job has expanded tremendously currently.

I will be back to normal again next Thursday! Please bot me until then.

Thanks for your understanding!!

Have a great week!

@Ears - Just keep in mind that we are no longer recovering all of our spells between encounters so the spells that you used on the recovery mission are gone. I am saying this as you header information needs to be updated to reflect this fact and with the changing rules and fast pace of this scenario it is easy to forget. :)

Good point. Thanks.

Game has been reported for Gameday and should appear within the next few days for ACP.

Chronicles may be found here.

Please let me know of any corrections or revisions.

Players are responsible for Day Jobs and any other Downtime activities per the Organized Play Guide.

I will keep this campaign active until I have confirmation of receipt of chronicles by all players or one week, whichever comes first.

Thanks again all for playing! I had a lot of fun and look forward to sharing tables with each of you in the future!

Happy Gaming!

Trying to download my chronicle, but it keeps showing up as unable to open. The ever helpful "Something went wrong" error. Anyone else having issues?

Yes, there is clearly something wrong. It would not let me preview the file as well when I tried to click into it.

Perhaps the GM can re-roll his Computers skill check and upload the files again? It must have been those Ship Gremlins we encountered earlier on. They are responsible, I know it. :)

Thanks for running GM Valen. It is much appreciated.