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Foreward: I'm not new to GMing, but this is my first season of society play.

Now, I'm aware of the fact that death in society play is a much more significant threat than in regular play, since when a character is dead, they're gone, unless the group has access to a raise dead spell of some kind. The buildup of a chronicle that could be lost also adds weight to this. I'm also aware that most scenarios are designed to be run in 4 hours or less, so things can't get too in depth.

My home group, which I've been running exactly by the letter for each mission, has been utterly smashing every scenario, with one exception (I believe it was the end boss fight in 1-02 against Talbot). There's actually been a running joke that our Solarian is always frustrated because combat has never lasted longer than 3 rounds, so he's never gotten to use supernova or any of the other 3 charge solarian revelations. Most fights, the PC's take one or two good hits that eat up most of their SP, but then the sheer amount of damage they're putting out as level 4's (Example, our vesk has a damage code of 1d10+8 on their doshko, our mechanics have 1d8+4 on their rifles) just kills stuff too quickly for anything more to happen.

Is this intentional, that society play combat is usually pretty easy? Is this still just a growing experience, in that starfinder is a new system so the balance has to still be worked out? or am I missing some rules that should be making it more challenging? Does it get more difficult in the higher level scenarios?

So...for this mission, I figured I'd put together something to introduce the characters to all the viewers....it says there's a 15 min shuttle ride down to the "moon", and Wazasha lets the group see the intro. I decided to play up Bombastic Zo!...and my home group insisted I post it on here after hearing it. My home group composition is as follows...along with some of their more memorable moments and/or tendencies.

Goldie Ramsay: F Lashunta envoy, icon background (celebrity chef), personality consistant with her name. Fights with polearms

Cassandra: F Human Mystic, specialization in longarms, bounty hunter background.

Rick-1: M Android Mechanic, usually designated pilot and sharpshooter, personality consistant with another "Rick" of fame.

Gray-5: F Android Mechanic, more skill built than Rick, usually the group hacker/engineer

Rishkal: F Vesk Solarian. Has profession as "professional wrestler/gladiator. Born with the family "looks", so attractive, for a vesk.

Rishkar: F Vesk Soldier, older sister of Rishkal. All brawn, no brains or beauty. Body slammed her sister through a table during the gala in 1-05 to impress Zo!

Boom-Boom: M Ysoki operative. Made the lost children cry in "The commencement", and got high on helium at the gas bar in "The solar Sortie".

Anyways. Here's Zo!'s bombastic intro to the show.

Good evening, good afternoon, and good morning, whatever time it is wherever you are in this galaxy, good whatever, it doesn't matter, because this is the FIRST episode of Live Exploration Extreme! I'm your host, the one, the only ZO!!!! But you already knew that, so why don't I introduce you to the stars of the newest hit reality show as they prepare to delve into the depths of Salvations End! Big! Mysterious! Dangerous! Who in the galaxy would risk their lives to bring this experience to your holo-screens? First spotted as the pit crew of the starfinders contestant for the annual spire junkrace, they've since rocketed to fame and notoriety! Here they are, a team of the most experienced adventurers the starfinder society has to offer!

First, someone who many of you know, love and hate at the same time, this famous chef has decide to try her hand at adventuring. If you thought she wielded a mean meat cleaver, just wait until you see what she does with a lance! She's no idiot sandwich for sure, the one, the only GOLDIE RAMSAY!!!

Our next adventurer will blow your mind...literally! So don't get her angry! This mysterious mystic bounty hunter has a reputation for bringing in most targets in without a pulse...and I don't mean her targets are mostly eoxians! Deceptively friendly, a skilled healer, but an absolute dead-eye with a long rifle, if her powers don't get you her rifle will, give it up for CASANDRA!

Next up, we have one of the most mysterious of figures known on absalom. Found floating in space with no idea of who or where he came from, this murderous mechanical genius is an ace pilot, and a crack shot! He's the stone cold mechanic, the robotic fanatic, RICK-”the-D*ck”, 1!!

And who would he be without his associate and counterpart, a fellow mechanic that is just as cold and unnerving, who I'm told is one of the most talented targeters on a starship. There's no one else who could turn a pile of scrap into a winning racing machine as easily as she did....dead or alive, she's GRAY-5!

Now everyone, be seated and keep away from the screen, because this next duo is DANGEROUS. The first is one of the most popular gladiatorial fighters known on absalom. Beautiful, bold, exciting, the fighter known as the scaled supergiant, who else could I be talking about but RISHKAL!

Now, who you ask, could ever hope to challenge her for magnificence? Turns out, that while she got the family looks, someone else got the brawn! Stronger than a raging orc, taller than a kasathan, we were shocked and excited to witness this display of sisterly love at the starfinder gala (Screenshot). Give it up for newcomer, the other half of the blitzer sisters, RISHKAR!

And finally, last but not least, don't let his height decieve you, the sneakiest member of the team. Known for pulling off dangerous trick shots, a voracious appetite for helium, and making little children cry, this is one dangerous rodent! The most devious ysoki in the room-room, prepare for doom-doom, its BOOM-BOOM!

Sorry if this comes off as a complaint, because I really am enjoying SFS.

Up until starfinder scenario 1-08, there would usually be blank maps from the scenario, without designations of rooms, the locations of NPCs, etc. Now that no-longer seems to be the case. I see that it does mention which flip mat they belong to, but I just looked in the store and the blank maps, even in PDF form, cost more than the scenario itself! (4.99 for the scenario, 9.99 for a PDF of the flip mat). In the case of 1-09, there are 4 separate maps used during the scenario, meaning I have to spend over 40 dollars just for this one scenario if I want maps that are blank!

Is this now the norm, where if we want to use the official map in the scenario, we have to buy it separately? Or is this something that just got overlooked? I run most of my games on Roll20, the blank copies were a huge help for my prep work. I'm still going to be playing, I just need to know if I now have to budget for this.

I'm currently running my group through the shattered stars arc. We're about to tackle 1-07, and it's likely that 1-08 will be completed before 1-09 is released. Since 1-09 is more or less a sequel to the events of Claim to Salvation (1-00), I figured I'd do a "flashback" and run my players through CTS.

Now, I'm aware this scenario requires the use of the level 4 pregen characters. Easy enough to find those...but I'm a bit confused on how to apply the credit to their main characters, since I know that's what they're going to want to do.

Preface: My group are all sitting at 7 xp (CL 3), having run through scenarios 1-6, as well as the quest into the unknown.

Here's where I get confused.

On page 6 of the SFS guide, it says "Credit for playing higher-level pregenerated characters must be applied to a Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild character of a lower level than the pregenerated character or to a 1st-level character"

However, on page 7 it states "You may apply credit for an adventure once your Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild character reaches the level of the pregenerated character used to play through it"

These two seem to be in conflict with each other. After they finish 1-07, they're going to be 1xp away from hitting level 4. If we do 1-08 before 1-00, they're going to hit level 4, and by the first paragraph, be ineligible for the credit since they are no longer "lower level than the pregenerated character". And yet, by the second paragraph, the credit can't be applied until when they are level 4?

In any case. My two questions are as follows.

1. When should I have them run 1-00, so that they can apply it to their player made characters? After 1-07, so that the credit from 1-00 makes them level 4, or after 1-08, when they're already level 4?

2. When applying the 1-00 chronicle sheet, am I correct in my understanding that the name and number of the character will be that of the player made character the sheet is being applied to?

Thank you for any assistance

Didn't see anywhere specific to post this, so I'm just putting it in the general SFS forum. Mods, feel free to move this if it's not in the right place.

For society scenarios where players get a choice of starship....most of them are fairly balanced from what I can tell...but I'm seeing an issue with some of them. Part of this has been through experience in one scenario where we ran into the problem, but I can see it being an issue later.

Bottom line, I believe some of the ships need a re-design, balance and practicality wise. The most glaring issue is that some of the ships (Notably the tier 2 drake, where we first ran into this issue) have only a single missile weapon on an arc or turret. If the PCs have really bad luck with rolls, or run into enemies with point defense weapons in their scenarios...well, they've only got 5 shots. And once that weapon is depleted, even if it does have a big whammy when it hits, it's totally worthless.

In one scenario, where the group picked the tier 2 drake, they didn't finish before the combat ended....and then it was just their single forward mounted coilgun that could actually hit the target. The coilgun has an average damage of 8-9, vs an enemy ship that can regenerate 5 shield points if they succeed at a fairly easy engineering check. This makes for long and tedious combat, especially since in a group of 6, you have 2 gunners.

Other ships have really weird configurations. Sometimes it's just weapons that are different (Less of a problem, though it does mean more stats to look up since they're not listed on the sheets). Other times, it's a serious "Why would you design it like that when you could do it better".

Anyways. Both from the standpoint of a GM and a player, starship combat should feel fun and engaging, not confusing and tedious. I'm aware we aren't being given state of the art, min-maxed ships where victory is guaranteed, but an organization such as the starfinder society should probably go with practicality. Here's a list of the ships, and the issues I feel need addressing.

Drakes: Mostly limited fire weapon issues here.

Drake 2: Only weapons are fwd coilgun, aft gyrolaser, turret missile launcher. Once missiles are gone, this thing puts out less damage than the pegasus 2.

Drake 4: This one is actually good. Has a decent balance of weapons, and isn't totally neutered once missiles are gone.

Drake 6: Less of a problem than the Drake 2, since it has other weapons, but once the missiles are gone, the turret is useless. Designers spent 9 BP (3 for the new mount, 6 for the weapon) to add a weapon to the port arc. Was this really a better option than adding the mount to the aft arc, possibly the gyrolaser that we saw on the tier 2?

Drake 8: Mostly good, but again the odd port slot, instead of reinforcing the forward, aft, or turret arc

Drake 10: Awesome ship. No issues here.

Drake 12: Same as the 10 but better.

Pegasus ships: Most of these aren't reliant on missiles, so they can keep fighting longer. Most of them however, have very strange weapon placement. I understand it's usually maneuverable enough to face the way it wants vs. an opponent for special weapons, but initiative easily spoils that advantage. And turning your side for a shot with an EMP weapon instead of a big hit from your forward weapons...it just doesn't seem logical.

Pegasus 2: Solid ship, no issues, actually a better fighter IMO than the Drake 2 outside of the durability.

Pegasus 4: Weird placement for the laser net. Exceedingly short range (5 max), and it's only on the port arc. Why not put this in the turret, re-distribute points among the other weapons as needed? That way it can actually be a point defense weapon, not just if the players are lucky enough for a missile to hit their port side.

Pegasus 6: Again with the weird placement on the laser net, and a single missile launcher on the starboard side that is worthless once it runs out of ammo. Turret and fwd weapons are...functional.

Pegasus 8: AGAIN with the laser net. Turret and fwd weapons are good at least. EMP weapon is worthless against shields and limited to side arc, but if the shot is there, might as well take it.

Pegasus 10: Laser net again. Other weapons are decent.

Pegasus 12: Laser net, and that EMP weapon is back. Rest of weapons are solid.

Again, I understand players aren't being given min-max vessels. But there should be some thought as to where very specialized weapons (Such as the laser net) are placed. And again, in scenarios that are played with limited time, combat that becomes tedious due to limited ammo just isn't ideal.

We've started running into incorporeal creatures in scenarios and missions, and I haven't seen anyone flat out ask this.

How does "incorporeal" interact with personal force fields? I'm speaking of the brown, purple, black, etc. force shield armor upgrades.

The rules for incorporeal state that they cannot pass through force effects. Force shields, while not explicitly stated to be "force effects" are usually mentioned together with other force effects (Such as the spell "wall of force") that can block spells affected by force effects.

So in the scenario that an incorporeal creature attacks a character with a force field armor upgrade, which of the following occurs?

A: Nothing. The incorporeal creature can't pass through, nor affect the force field.

B: The creature can damage the force field, but can't do direct damage to SP or HP unless the field is taken offline first

C: Same as a normal attack, the incorporeal creature damages the target, going through the temporary HP first, with any additional damage rolling over into SP and HP.

Functionally, personal force fields are just a temporary hp reserve with fast healing, so although implied with similar language, it seems strange that a simple 1 THP brown force field upgrade could make someone immune to incorporeal attacks.

I didn't see any thread regarding this scenario, and the errata/faq thread for the "first wave scenarios" indicates it's just for the gen con released scenarios, so I'm starting this one. Mods feel free to move this to the errata/faq thread if it belongs there.

Anyways. Just a few questions that I feel need clarification. Add any that come to you guys.

Looking for some perspective from people that are familiar with society play from past pathfinder seasons.

So we've now got quite a lot of sanctioned content coming out. I'm seeing that there are 2 distinct story lines.

1. Scoured stars, the scenarios
2. Dead suns, the adventure path

Now, I understand the rule in that every scenario gives 1 xp, and every completed adventure segment gives 3xp (1 lvl). Is it generally possible to do both the adventure path and still do all the scenarios in a given season?

I see that since each dead suns adventure is tuned for increasing level brackets (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8,9-10,11-12), if we're using them in society play, it's assumed that we're going to have to do at least 3 scenarios between each adventure module just to keep up with the required level.

That being said, I see that while we're due for part 3 of dead suns soon (level 5-6), all of the scenarios released thus far have been tuned for 1-4. Will we start seeing content that accomodates players of level 5+ soon, or will using their characters in the adventure path negate the chance for them to experience the scoured stars story?

My current situation.

My players have completed commencement and into the unknown. They're going to hit level 2 after Fugitive on the red planet. After that, I've got Incident at absalom station, Yesteryear's Truth, and Cries from the Drift. Total of 5 xp there, enough to put them at lvl 3, one scenario away from level 4.

If then I then put them through temple of the twelve, they'll be level 4, which means they'll then be one scenario away from level 5, which makes them inelligible for all the current scenarios except Splintered Worlds, adventure path 3.

Again, my main concern, do I risk out-leveling available content? Or is it assumed that players will be able to enjoy everything without having to roll separate characters for each storyline? I'm wondering if I should hold off on doing temple of the twelve, let them hit level 4 and do one or two scenarios there before doing Splintered worlds.

Can't find the exact answer to this in the rules, but hopefully this should be relatively straightforward.

Can you "under mount" a weapon slot on a starship? That is, if you're short on BP or power, can you put a small weapon in a heavy slot, or put a small or heavy weapon in a capitol slot?

Currently the only one available is into the unknown, but these questions I imagine will pertain to future quest packs as well. Attempted to find the answers using "search", but couldn't find anything, so forgive me if I've somehow missed the answer somewhere.

1. On page 46 of the starfinder society guide (Appendix 6), it states;

Quests: Some quests award special types of boons. These boons
must be applied to the character you played for the quest. If your
character dies in a quest that grants 0 XP, the Chronicle sheet
can be applied to the character, but cross off the boon. The death
condition is not permanent for such quests. This is an exception to
the normal death rules (see page 17)

Does this mean that player death in quest scenarios is not permanent? Or should it be interpreted that player death is still permanent, UNLESS the quest grants only 0xp, in which case they don't receive any boon rewards, but still are usable for the next missions/scenarios/quests. Just need clarification on the rewards.

2. In between individual quests in a quest pack (Such as the 5 stages of Into the unknown), what kind of recovery is allowed? Common sense obviously dictates when a 10 minute short rest can be made, but what about long rests? Do we just look for narrative clues, implying that more than 24 hours pass for things such as travel on a starship?

3. No boons, does this mean flat out, no boons whatsoever? I'm aware that provisions are made for reputation and fame (Usually a faction boon), but what about slotless boons such as the implant received at the beginning of commencement? I'm assuming the intention is to prevent undue advantage by players who have accumulated a few, although the given scenario is only open to level 1s...

I'm running an event where one of the players will be joining us via a virtual tabletop online.

Is the proper procedure, in this case, or a purely online session, to fill out a chronicle sheet, scan it, and email a copy to him so that he has my signature in the GM block? Or is there some other procedure that should be followed?

I'm about to GM the first game of my home game groups Starfinder society tomorrow. We'll be running commencement.

Now, due to time constraints, it is highly likely that we will not be able to finish it in one setting. The most likely scenario is playing through about halfway, and then finishing the second half the following week. Same players, so I don't have to worry about different people and chronicle sheets, etc. The plan is for the players to receive their chronicle sheets at the end of the second session.

What would be the proper way to report this? I've already created the event on "My PF society", and I see the reporting tool, but I want to make sure that everyone receives full credit for what they accomplish.

Should I just hold off on reporting until the scenario is complete next week? Or should I be creating different sessions for each partial play?

So, cleave is one of those traditional feats that most heavy melee fighters get. A way for non-dual wielding characters to get an extra attack. As I understand it, story-action wise, you swing, and you hit them so darned hard that you cleave right through the target and carry through to another target on the same swing. This scenario, physics wise, is most likely with heavy weapons such as greatswords or heavy axes, since they're still going to have momentum.

It transfers over to starfinder...but due to the way it is written, I'm seeing a problem. The flavor text says that you hit an additional target with a single swing....and in the case of greater cleave, multiple opponents. It does however, require an additional attack roll.

The "unwieldy" special rule states that you can ever only make one attack per round with an unwieldy weapon, and can't use it for attacks of opportunity. This makes sense. But unwieldy melee weapons, such as the doshko, the ones most LIKELY to have enough momentum to continue on and strike something else, can't. Cleave states that they're only swinging once, which fits the flavor of a big heavy unwieldy doshko.

Is this intended? Doshko's without the unwieldy rule, such as flame or plasma are clearly usable with this feat. Is it intended that the regular ones aren't?

Will try to keep details to a minimum.

I asked about this in the errata thread, but didn't really get a clear answer. Most have said that any credit awards found are moot, that the only wealth gained by the pcs is what's listed on the chronicle sheet. Apparently credits are just for non society groups using the scenario, even if this isn't said anywhere. on a scenario specifically designed for society play. Yes, I'm aware of the rules on page 45 of the society rulebook, but it's not stated clearly in regards to credits, just in regard to items.

This strikes me as odd, particularly since a certain something in commencement that can be a long term reward requires the expenditure of credits, something 1st level pcs may not have access to depending on their starting equipment buy. It also feels weird telling them that they can't use any monetary rewards that are heavily implied to be there, such as the winnings from one of the missions.

So which is correct?

A. No credits whatsoever in scenario, only starting pocket credits may be used, no credit loot except for the end reward on the CS
B. credits found can be used, much like other mission loot, but anything left is turned in at the end, with the pcs then receiving the credit reward on the CS.
C. Credits found may be used, and any expenditures are subtracted from the final reward at the end on the CS.

Sent a similar email to customer service, but thought I'd try on here as well.

So, I recently picked up Starfinder from Gencon, and am interested in running society games with my usual basement game group (Myself and one other player trade off GM duties). I have a few questions, just to make sure I'm correct on how this all works, I'm having a somewhat difficult time understanding some of the society manual.

1. Am I understanding correctly that provided all the rules and regulations are followed, it's permitted to run a society game at home, ie. it doesn't have to be a public event at a game shop or other venue?

2. Do all of us involved, that is myself (the GM) and each player need to have an account, along with properly registered characters (Either pre-made or following standard level 1 character generation point buy rules)?

3. Despite not being a public "event", will all sessions will be reported as "events' to contribute to the advancement of the story line?

4. If players want to use the same character for the majority of the "Dead suns" adventure, should we take care not to accidentally out-level the content? I notice that there's the guideline of roughly 1 XP per scenario, and 3 XP per adventure path. The "Into the unknown" free content has 5 individual scenarios which would put characters on the cusp of hitting level 3, close to making them inelligible for the first book of "dead suns", if I understand correctly. On the other hand, since book 2 is designed for levels 3-4, am i understanding that they should actually also do some extra scenarios outside of this (Once they have their chronicle sheets of course), in order to get the required XP for them to be elligible for the second book?

Thanks for any information that you might have, or any other easily missed "Important things". Again, I'm one of two designated GMs in my group, and I'd really like to be able to do this with them, if possible.