Putting the Powered Armor in Armory!

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Powered armor—high-tech defensive suits that move under their own power rather than using the muscles of the wearer—have a long history in science-fantasy stories, dating all the way back to E.E. "Doc" Smith's 1937 Lensman novel Galactic Patrol (one reason the Lensman books appear in the Starfinder Core Rulebook's Inspirational Media list). The conceptually serve as armor, steed, and sometimes even weapon for super-advanced knight of high-tech settings, allowing a character to act as science-fantasy cavalry. There are five suits of powered armor in the Core Rulebook, which is just enough to give an idea of how such gear works in the game, but certainly isn't anywhere near enough to cover all your possible powered armor needs.

Happily, there's a good deal more in Starfinder Armory.


Illustrations by Leonardo Borazio

The book includes 18 total suits, from the scrapper's rig (item level 4) to the starguard (item level 20), with at least one at each item level and two at item level 17). Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan. While most of them are technological items five (celerity rigging, extradimensional armor, kyton bloodsuit, spellcaster's aegis, and stag-step suit) incorporate magic into their core design and are hybrid items.

In addition to providing more than three times the number of suits as the Core Rulebook, Armory provides some general power armor rules, covering weapon slots, hybrid powered armor… and how to improve a suit of powered armor to be a higher item level. This system allows a character to spend credits to boot a suit of powered armor's item level, EAC and KAC bonuses, and even (if you boost it by enough item levels) its maximum Dexterity, Strength bonus, and number of upgrade slots. These improvement rules are designed to allow a player who builds a character around a specific design of powered armor, they don't have to take a suit of a different size or environmental movement or operational range just to keep their armor relevant when gaining character levels.

In addition to just offering more suits at more item levels, Armory also provide powered armors design for specific situations. The explorer's cradle is design for days-long missions of investigation in harsh environments. The personal submersible operates underwater, and allows you to breath water and survive great depths even without using its environmental protections. The reactor guard similar protects you from radiation, even when its environmental protections aren't active. The spellcaster's aegis is specifically designed to allow magic-savvy characters to manipulate its built-in runes for more effective dispel efforts and greater protection against spells.

Whether you are an armor storm soldier looking for a suit to improve with you as you gain levels, or a mystic who has decided the best offense is a good defense, Starfinder Armory has the powered armor to meet your needs!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Starfinder Design Lead

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Leonardo Borazio Starfinder
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JiCi wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

- Avatar's mech suits are the same size as Na'vis, and they're around 10-12 feet high.

- Pacific Rim 2's Scrapper isn't close to be as high as the regular Jeagers :P

- The Mega Man X series had mechs (Ride Armors) that were roughly twice as big as X, Zero or Axl.

- Xenoblade Chronicles X's Skells look... Huge at first glance.

- The Metal Gears in Metal Gear Solid look Gargantuan at best.

- StarCraft has the Terran Goliath, Protoss Dragoon, Terran Viking, Protoss Stalker and Protoss Immortal.

- Rumble has a small mech in League of Legends.

- D.Va has one as well.

- The Titans in Titanfall are around 24 feet high, so ;)

I'm a fan of the

Spoiler:
Face units
from the first xenoblade as a comparison point for reasonable mechs (I'd estimate them as Huge), and a certain other robot from the same game for the upper limit on mech size.

Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

I didn't know it was that small. Still not massive, but quite a bit bigger than a typical character.


Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

I didn't know it was that small. Still not massive, but quite a bit bigger than a typical character.

You and I have very different definitions of massive

Grand Lodge

Tender Tendrils wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

I didn't know it was that small. Still not massive, but quite a bit bigger than a typical character.
You and I have very different definitions of massive

Pretty much anything in the Real Robots subgenre is Gargantuan or Huge (with a few Colossal outliers like the HWR-00 Monster from Macross). High-Rise-sized hugeness is mostly the province of Super Robots.


Tender Tendrils wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

I didn't know it was that small. Still not massive, but quite a bit bigger than a typical character.
You and I have very different definitions of massive

I'm Texan, our since of scale is skewed.


Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

- Avatar's mech suits are the same size as Na'vis, and they're around 10-12 feet high.

- Pacific Rim 2's Scrapper isn't close to be as high as the regular Jeagers :P

- The Mega Man X series had mechs (Ride Armors) that were roughly twice as big as X, Zero or Axl.

- Xenoblade Chronicles X's Skells look... Huge at first glance.

- The Metal Gears in Metal Gear Solid look Gargantuan at best.

- StarCraft has the Terran Goliath, Protoss Dragoon, Terran Viking, Protoss Stalker and Protoss Immortal.

- Rumble has a small mech in League of Legends.

- D.Va has one as well.

- The Titans in Titanfall are around 24 feet high, so ;)

Hopefully future books give us some huge sized power armours too ☺️

The last thing I am really wanting to know is if the armoury will have vehicles at all, or if a book covering those will come out soon (maybe a book called starfinder hangar full of vehicles and ships and customisation options for those, with added rules systems...

Well we happen to have both of those for you actually. Vehicles and we have a Ship expansion as well. both pretty much what you asked for on the money, 160k vehicles and the ship books pretty much a huge grabbag of ship hazards, new frames and bays. and as a kicker we have mecha coming out soon.

Ultimate Vehicle Books

Starships, Stations and Salvage Guide

Its also here on paizo but its currently on sale at drivethru as part of the Christmas in june special. Enjoy


Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
UnArcaneElection wrote:

Just now came back to this blog after sseing it earlier, and realized that I'd been misreading "Celerity Rigging" as "Celebrity Rigging".

4/5 Icons agree!

It does look like an icon's choice of power armor.


racs333 wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Tender Tendrils wrote:
JiCi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
JiCi wrote:

"Six of those suits are Medium, eleven are Large, and one is Gargantuan."

Mech confirmed :D

But not a very big one.
Well, mechs come in all sizes, so :P

The height entry for gargantuan is 32-64 feet, and the RX-78 Gundam (one of the most iconic mecha) is 60 feet tall, so that's actually conceivably as big as a Gundam.

It's not in pacific rim or evangelion territory (though evangelion is notorious for its inconsistent scale, which range between 40 and 200 metres) (I don't know the imperial conversion for that)

I think gundam sized mecha suit in an rpg where you are on foot most the time the best, as that's the biggest mecha you can realistically interact with. The Kyokor in the alien archive gets into weird territory with it being colossal but it's attacks all still only hit on person at a time when realistically it should be able to hit entire crowds with one sweep of its claws

- Avatar's mech suits are the same size as Na'vis, and they're around 10-12 feet high.

- Pacific Rim 2's Scrapper isn't close to be as high as the regular Jeagers :P

- The Mega Man X series had mechs (Ride Armors) that were roughly twice as big as X, Zero or Axl.

- Xenoblade Chronicles X's Skells look... Huge at first glance.

- The Metal Gears in Metal Gear Solid look Gargantuan at best.

- StarCraft has the Terran Goliath, Protoss Dragoon, Terran Viking, Protoss Stalker and Protoss Immortal.

- Rumble has a small mech in League of Legends.

- D.Va has one as well.

- The Titans in Titanfall are around 24 feet high, so ;)

Hopefully future books give us some huge sized power armours too ☺️

The last thing I am really wanting to know is if the armoury will have vehicles at all, or if a book covering those will come out soon (maybe a book called starfinder hangar full of vehicles and ships and customisation options for

...

The quote thing isn't working right (this is in reply to racs33). My group and I don't use third party as it's a bit spotty on quality/balance, so I will wait for Paizo's version to eventually come out :). Am glad that people do make third party for those who want to use it however, and that paizo supports it as much as they do.

Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo)

Re: vehicles
I'd love to see something like the 1984 NASA Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) or 1994 NASA Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) and / or maybe a zero-g brookstick or handheld 'sparkler' for zero-g movement (and maybe a note on using suit jump jets or descent thrusters in zero-g, too!).


Would have liked to see a colossal sized power armor as well as more huge sized ones. Shame that it isn't the case. Maybe there are options of upgrading the size category, and if not, it's very easy to homebrew a colossal sized one by just using the other ones as examples. Still would have liked an official one, though.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Would have liked to see a colossal sized power armor as well as more huge sized ones. Shame that it isn't the case. Maybe there are options of upgrading the size category, and if not, it's very easy to homebrew a colossal sized one by just using the other ones as examples. Still would have liked an official one, though.

Honestly don’t think colossal power armor is practically from a players point of view on a character scale. A single monster sure. But imagine the mechanics of even 2 colossal power armor vs medium sized targets on a standard map or table top. 30’ square with 30’ reach? It becomes a laughable situation of map gymnastics since most maps are what 120’ mAybe 160’. Imagine a player now wanting to actually use it on any map or AP. What’s he going to do stand outside and yell harsh language when the ship or adventure is designed for hallways of 10’ mAybe 15’ wise. Do the math. It’s a fun idea but impractical. I am currently doing the edit on the upcoming mecha book we are releasing and have a note that any above gargantuan effectively becomes hex mecha/ship scale fighting.


racs333 wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Would have liked to see a colossal sized power armor as well as more huge sized ones. Shame that it isn't the case. Maybe there are options of upgrading the size category, and if not, it's very easy to homebrew a colossal sized one by just using the other ones as examples. Still would have liked an official one, though.
Honestly don’t think colossal power armor is practically from a players point of view on a character scale. A single monster sure. But imagine the mechanics of even 2 colossal power armor vs medium sized targets on a standard map or table top. 30’ square with 30’ reach? It becomes a laughable situation of map gymnastics since most maps are what 120’ mAybe 160’. Imagine a player now wanting to actually use it on any map or AP. What’s he going to do stand outside and yell harsh language when the ship or adventure is designed for hallways of 10’ mAybe 15’ wise. Do the math. It’s a fun idea but impractical. I am currently doing the edit on the upcoming mecha book we are releasing and have a note that any above gargantuan effectively becomes hex mecha/ship scale fighting.

A lot of the potential problems you bring up also apply to gargantuan sized power armor, too. Plus, colossal sized ones would presumably be only available by the very late teens, so it wouldn't be an issue for most games, anyway.

I played in a 3.5 epic campaign a while back, and we had 2 druids that would wildshape into colossal dragons regularly while facing other colossal enemies. It took up more room, but nothing too serious. Sure, it wasn't in Starfinder, but we weren't always assumed to be in a castle/dungeon/room, either. If anything it's easier to handle in Starfinder as you can probably just store your armor on the ship for when it's useable.

I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree with this one.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

One item I've been wanting is some way to call your power armor from your ship, perhaps in a drop pod. Bonus points if the pod can smash an enemy when it lands.


Dracomicron wrote:
One item I've been wanting is some way to call your power armor from your ship, perhaps in a drop pod. Bonus points if the pod can smash an enemy when it lands.

Titanfall ;) ?

Then again, if you're exploring a wild planet, you... might want to ride the armor as you land :P


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

When you're in dire straights, why would you waste time and resources waiting for it to fall from orbit just so you can spend even MORE time putting it on when it arrives? You live in a world of MAGIC! Instead, have it teleport from your ship and assemble itself onto your person!

Much faster, far fewer resources/effort expended.


Ravingdork wrote:

When you're in dire straights, why would you waste time and resources waiting for it to fall from orbit just so you can spend even MORE time putting it on when it arrives? You live in a world of MAGIC! Instead, have it teleport from your ship and assemble itself onto your person!

Much faster, far fewer resources/effort expended.

Obviously, because of the damn cool factor.


Ravingdork wrote:

When you're in dire straights, why would you waste time and resources waiting for it to fall from orbit just so you can spend even MORE time putting it on when it arrives? You live in a world of MAGIC! Instead, have it teleport from your ship and assemble itself onto your person!

Much faster, far fewer resources/effort expended.

Clearly, because I want the drop pod to squish an enemy when it lands.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Ravingdork wrote:

When you're in dire straights, why would you waste time and resources waiting for it to fall from orbit just so you can spend even MORE time putting it on when it arrives? You live in a world of MAGIC! Instead, have it teleport from your ship and assemble itself onto your person!

Much faster, far fewer resources/effort expended.

Beamed down from an orbiting ship, becoming PC and machine, power Xtreme!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dracomicron wrote:


Clearly, because I want the drop pod to squish an enemy when it lands.

Strike from the sky, brother!


Pantshandshake wrote:
Dracomicron wrote:


Clearly, because I want the drop pod to squish an enemy when it lands.
Strike from the sky, brother!

Emperor guide my hand!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dracomicron wrote:
One item I've been wanting is some way to call your power armor from your ship, perhaps in a drop pod. Bonus points if the pod can smash an enemy when it lands.

That's an amazing idea and I tip my hat to you sir. Life boats can fit a large creature in them, which means a single set of power armor could probably fit into one. It has a computer and enough thrusters to land, ideally where you tell it. Even better, 1 expansion bay gets you 2 life boats which means 2 suits of armor.


If you want to pull a Power Armor down from your ship, is it as simple as putting a control module on the power armor (which has its own movement speed), and ordering it jump out the airlock? Perhaps add decent thrusters from Pact Worlds to slow its decent once it gets near the ground if it doesn't have a flight speed?


Hiruma Kai wrote:

If you want to pull a Power Armor down from your ship, is it as simple as putting a control module on the power armor (which has its own movement speed), and ordering it jump out the airlock? Perhaps add decent thrusters from Pact Worlds to slow its decent once it gets near the ground if it doesn't have a flight speed?

I wonder how much item damage it would take in re-entry.

Also, unless your ship is geo-synchronous or the armor can fly, it would likely not hit the ground where you want it.

It is a funny image, though.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Hiruma Kai wrote:

If you want to pull a Power Armor down from your ship, is it as simple as putting a control module on the power armor (which has its own movement speed), and ordering it jump out the airlock? Perhaps add decent thrusters from Pact Worlds to slow its decent once it gets near the ground if it doesn't have a flight speed?

Hey! an actual use for the Tensile Reinforcement


Ravingdork wrote:

When you're in dire straights, why would you waste time and resources waiting for it to fall from orbit just so you can spend even MORE time putting it on when it arrives? You live in a world of MAGIC! Instead, have it teleport from your ship and assemble itself onto your person!

Much faster, far fewer resources/effort expended.

Tell that to your 18th-level Technomancer after seeing his bill :P

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