
daphnetrodon |
daphnetrodon wrote:I read a couple interviews with brief mentions of ways to get druid-style spellcasting in Starfinder, and I'm curious as to how they'll handle the aspect of druids I was more concerned about: wild shape. If converting creatures back and forth is relatively easy, then I imagine I can still create something similar to a wild shape druid in Starfinder as long as an ability that lets me turn into an animal (or alien, in this context) exists. Any word on shapeshifting in Starfinder?The Mystic probably has a Beast Shape spell on his list.
But for longer durations, in a sci-fi game, I would expect shapeshifting to be a racial ability.
Granted. I haven't heard about any shapeshifting racial or class abilities, not to mention spells, hence the question.

The Gold Sovereign |

Are there rules to create new playable races in the CRB?
The core races sure are cool, as are pathfinder core. But in a space exploring setting, I suppose we will need dozens and dozens of races to represent the main inhabitants of the many planets out there. And if we can build our own planets, rules to create inhabitants will be pretty much useful.
If it's ease to port races from Pathfinder to Starfinder, than it would be even better.

Mashallah |

For a racial ability it would seem a lit strong to me
spells seem the way to go
but I sure wouldn't mind a class that can shapeshift
the mystic seems the most likely choice...maybe as one of the talent class abilities
All the cool things being spells was the biggest problem of Pathfinder in the first place. I really hope that won't be the case in Starfinder.

Torbyne |
Seisho wrote:All the cool things being spells was the biggest problem of Pathfinder in the first place. I really hope that won't be the case in Starfinder.For a racial ability it would seem a lit strong to me
spells seem the way to go
but I sure wouldn't mind a class that can shapeshift
the mystic seems the most likely choice...maybe as one of the talent class abilities
Agreed, why cant martials learn to cut space and time? :P
But i do wonder, will we have the same classifications of (EX) (SP) (SLA)? a tech device that generates a force field or recombinates dna, is that (EX) or are we in a tagless system now?
Either way i hope narrative influence isnt so heavily restricted to the realm of magic.

Torbyne |
I was honestly really really hoping that they'd do away with ability scores entirely and just have the ability modifier.
Such an easy bit of streamlinging to do! We use the modifier for almost everything anyway! Having a SCORE and a derived MODIFIER just seems like some legacy cruft to me :|
On one hand i agree that having the full score is not all that nessacary anymore. i think in AD&D there were instances were you would roll a D20 and try to match or roll lower than your score to pass... but its been close to twenty years since that was the main edition. (wow, feeling old now!) But using the full stat still comes in a few ways, for one it makes rolling a lot easier for those who still use that method. Another is that encumbrance still needs granularity that the larger numbers provide (not that everyone uses those rules but still..) They also make it a lot easier to have ability penalties or ability damage. And scaling is more controllable when it takes a two point difference to shift.
In the end i think i like having the added granularity.

David knott 242 |

I was honestly really really hoping that they'd do away with ability scores entirely and just have the ability modifier.
Such an easy bit of streamlinging to do! We use the modifier for almost everything anyway! Having a SCORE and a derived MODIFIER just seems like some legacy cruft to me :|
Keeping the ability score does help maintain compatibility with Pathfinder at a very low overhead cost -- and there may still be some game mechanics in which the actual score matters.
Otherwise, the only problem I would see with using the modifier alone without the ability score is explaining why -5 is the lowest legal ability modifier.

Azih |

It is all personal preference of course and it's a fun discussion to have.
It's just, man, having two sets of numbers one of which can be derived exactly from another, is just so very very redundant. It raises the barrier of entry for new players and takes up space on the character sheet, making it more intimidating. You get used to it of course but it's definitely a thing and it makes the ability score tables a bit harder to read as well. Every bit of ease helps.
I'm also convinced though that we'd all get used to the change really fast (tweaks would have to encumberance and dying/dead rules of course but not that many.)
Knott: For me "If any of your ability scores hit -5 you're dead/in a coma!" is very easy and a very nice explanation :)
Shisumo: I think it becomes very clear the first time you need to make a Strength check and the barbarian gets to use his +4 modifier/score while your bard gets no bonus at all because of the 'zero' strength while the minmaxing wizard gets a -2.

CKent83 |

You'd have to rework a lot of things to get rid of the Ability Score/Ability Modifier dynamic. Ability damage would have to be reworked. If you had a 5 Con, you'd be dead at -20HP, but you could also not be dead until at -21, or if you have a 0 Con, you're dead at -10/-11. Sure you could work out a formula for it, but it's much easier to say you're dead when your HP = -Con. Encumbrance would have to be reworked. Lets not forget that in Path/Starfinder a part of leveling up is increasing Ability Scores, and sometimes you increase an Ability Score without increasing your Modifier, so that will have to be addressed. Do you just give the power boost to the PC's? How does that affect combat math (can be much more beneficial to Martial types than caster types)?
Check out Mutants and Masterminds 2nd and 3rd Edition for examples of what I'm talking about.

Seisho |

My preference for the numbers system is that it doesn't feel right to have an ordinary person, healthy and happy, walking around with Strength and Constitution 0.
In Mutants and Masterminds 0 would always be human average while the scores could go to -5 (and basically no limit in the other direction) So that would be no problem for me

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Shisumo wrote:My preference for the numbers system is that it doesn't feel right to have an ordinary person, healthy and happy, walking around with Strength and Constitution 0.In Mutants and Masterminds 0 would always be human average while the scores could go to -5 (and basically no limit in the other direction) So that would be no problem for me
Well, it's definitely a question of personal preference, but I don't really like it much in M&M either. It bothers me less there than it would in a hypothetical Pathfinder 2.0 (for instance), but that's just because so rarely do you have a PC with a 0 in any of their scores.

ENHenry |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Sounds good (though I will always find it weird when cultures will make tonnes of different weapon enchantments and never think up "Hit harder" or "make me more accurate" as enchantments).
Truthfully, there are other ways to represent 'more accurate' and 'hit harder' than straight-up '+1's, and the game may be pursuing those - dice rerolls, removal of penalties in certain conditions, etc. and it sounds like that's what they're pursuing.
A lot of our PF games have been stopping around 10th to 12th level... honestly, due to math and option fatigue, more than being tired of the story or changing rosters. Hopefully, slowing bonus progression over the whole system will help that for our group.

ENHenry |

Balderdash! I knew a guy who forgot his towel, we call him Louder. Went deaf from listening to vogon poetry, wouldn't have happened if he had a towel to muffle it.
Dammit, I _so_ want to give my players an improbability drive now. By its very nature it wouldn't even need to be statted out, either. :)

QuidEst |

Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:Balderdash! I knew a guy who forgot his towel, we call him Louder. Went deaf from listening to vogon poetry, wouldn't have happened if he had a towel to muffle it.Dammit, I _so_ want to give my players an improbability drive now. By its very nature it wouldn't even need to be statted out, either. :)
The Drift is basically improbability drive lite.

ENHenry |

ENHenry wrote:The Drift is basically improbability drive lite.Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:Balderdash! I knew a guy who forgot his towel, we call him Louder. Went deaf from listening to vogon poetry, wouldn't have happened if he had a towel to muffle it.Dammit, I _so_ want to give my players an improbability drive now. By its very nature it wouldn't even need to be statted out, either. :)
Random encounter roll table excerpt:
41 - Goblin Warship
42 - Sperm Whale spontaneously exists
43 - Bowl of Petunias spontaneously exists
44 - Shirren Trading Vessel

1d4 Goblin Babies |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

ENHenry wrote:
Random encounter roll table excerpt:41 - Goblin Warship
42 - Sperm Whale spontaneously exists
43 - Bowl of Petunias spontaneously exists
44 - Shirren Trading Vessel...
57 - Bowl of Goblins spontaneously exists
{1d4 ⇒ 1 baby goblins adjust their glasses sagely} If cats are liquids that seek their own containers, space goblins are oobleck.

Azih |

So if you took 1 pt of strength damage, how would that represent without the score? Or if you get the boost at level 4 and 8 and 12, are those 1/2 boosts? Then reverse compatibility... much easier to keep the scores
There definitely would have to be adjustments. But considering the number of changes that are already in Starfinder (such as AC, and the entire Hit point system with Three different pools of health now!) this is a very mechanical change that isn't that hard to adjust in other places.
Starfinder is QUITE different from Pathfinder so this would have been an amazing place to just sand away a legacy artifact of having two numbers for each ability.

AxDeath |
It is now Nov 2018, and I dont really see Starfinder and Pathfinder combining. The consensus seems to be that it's like combining Pathfinder and 3.5 because although they look similar on the surface, the mechanics just wont add up without a ton of work.
I just thought I'd commemorate this for the launch of Pathfinder 2nd Edition.