Alfray Stryke's page

Hoping for but already not expecting:

Starfinder Unchained; specifically, a way to avoid the equipment treadmill. Where you can buy a weapon at level 1 and still use and gain use out of that specific weapon at level 20, even with upgrading or modifying it. I.e., Han Solo has his tricked out blaster and he derives benefits from having tricked it out, but even when he has to use an off-the-shelf Stormtrooper blaster, he isn't hopelessly crippled.

Page 8 of the Armory has rules for upgrading weapons.

Consider me interested! So far it seems good, though you’ll need to write up “spell list” as such for the class.

Ooh, hellknight dreadnoughts (dreadnought-anything is a plus in my book).

Start knight would be cool for the solarian class, I hope!

Brilliant! Fingers crossed then. I’ve been looking forward to more archetypes and themes since release.

Any idea when subscribers should be expecting the pdf?

Torbyne wrote:

i didnt check too carefully, is there a necrotic exploding weapon? something that you can use to buff the ghoul clawing melees while hammering the PCs? that'd be worth it right there.

There are no necrotic weapons with the blast property (I think that's an especially vicious combo, so I'm not surprised). The frailty cannons, however, have the line property, which is a bit of a consolation prize.

Dead Suns 3: Splintered Worlds has Necro Grenades, which have both the explode and necrotic properties, but unfortunately no blast necrotic weapons.

Thanks very much!

I appear to be missing the pdf for Scenario 1-04 from my downloads, which I should have due to being a Starfinder Superscriber.

Can this be looked into?

Alfray Stryke wrote:

Grave Knight wrote:

Anyone have a good Tiefling write up for Starfinder? The only thing I know is they probably should have 4 HP and that their energy resistance needs to be replaced with something.

The Starfarer's Companion by RGG has a write up for tieflings; http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/219461/Starfarers-Companion

It's not a very good one as it falls into the exact pitfall Grave Knight mentioned - they resist energy 5, making them nearly immune to most low-level ranged weapons.

Ahh, I haven't yet read the book so didn't know that. Sorry about that!

Anyone have a good Tiefling write up for Starfinder? The only thing I know is they probably should have 4 HP and that their energy resistance needs to be replaced with something.

The Starfarer's Companion by RGG has a write up for tieflings; http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/219461/Starfarers-Companion

I believe it's referring to small arms as in pistols, not limbs?

Anyone got a time machine that can take me to March quickly?

I haven't done a build yet, but am tempted to have a go at a sniper rifle technomancer, taking advantage of Spellshot.

Chris Lambertz wrote:

Correct. As a superscriber, you should receive your Paizo Advantage discount also.

I wasn't even thinking about it when I bought it, but looking over the receipt email I did not get the Advantage discount applied to the purchase.

Not that big a deal for me but it might be affecting other people as well.

Huh, I just checked and the same applied to my order of 1-00.

Everyone's needs with VTTs can be a little different and unique. What works at my table and with my players may be different than yours. That said... I'm new to using Roll20 but have a couple years of experience using d20Pro. I decided to switch to Roll20 due to the support for Hex grids.

I had no problems with any of the maps. For the fusion queen, I just switched the map image to "is drawing" and was able to get it all to line up in about a minute with some minor stretching and adjustments. I know exactly the issue Steel Wind is referring to because I wasn't at first aware of the "is drawing" function, but once I did that and was no longer locked to the grid, it wasn't hard at all. (PS/Edit: Had I been using d20Pro, however, I don't know how I would have fixed it. It would have been a giant pain. And I've even less of an idea as to how to fix it in other VTT platforms.)

Personally, I found the way the maps were presented and digitally stored in the pdf here to be great. The detail and artistry was generally fantastic (maybe not for the drift rock, but otherwise... loved them).

I never used the interactive maps, but if you did use them, I completely understand wanting to have them.

A tip for resizing and moving maps on the map layer in Roll20, hold down Alt and the image won’t stick to the grid.

Email received as of 18 minutes ago! You guys are great.

Just tested it in Roll20, you're right it's not perfect. There top-most row and right-most column are about 80% complete, and the image grid is ever so slightly out of alignment with the VTT grid, but it's good enough for my needs. :)

Alfray Stryke wrote:

I'm planning on running the AP via a VTT, all I've done is right-click on the map in Adobe Acrobat Reader -> Copy Image -> Paste into Paint.net and I have the map without any labels.

Yeah, you need to do more than that with these maps to get them optimized for VTT use.

I guess a video tutorial would probably be welcomed...

I've done the same with previous PF adventures and never had any complaints from the players :)

Cheers Chris!

I'm planning on running the AP via a VTT, all I've done is right-click on the map in Adobe Acrobat Reader -> Copy Image -> Paste into Paint.net and I have the map without any labels.

Spooky Vampire wrote:

I think the simplest single change from Vanilla (not basing this on Secret Wizard's houserules) that can be done to make Solarians much more appealing without a complete class rewrite is the following:

If you pick Solar Weapon, while using the Solar Weapon, you use Charisma for attack and damage instead of Strength.
If you pick Solar Armour, while using the Solar Armour, you use Charisma for AC and Reflex saves instead of Dexterity, following all the usual rules in place like Maximum Dexterity Bonus from Armour still applying to this Charisma.
This solves multiple problems at once:
1. The class becomes less MAD, and about on par with Soldiers in terms of how many Ability Scores they depend on.
2. The class gains a real reason to use either Solar Weapon or Solar Armour as opposed to ditching both and hanging out with a Two-Handed Advanced Melee Weapon and a set of Heavy Armour.
3. The class actually gets competitive save DC's due to being Charisma-reliant.
4. All of the above happens without giving Solarians significantly increased damage numbers.

Hah! That's almost exactly what I said in the post to which I linked, with almost the same justifications! (Though my version of solar armor only allowed Charisma to apply to AC, rather than Reflex saves; this may have been a mistake.)

Literally had the same idea last night! But am also considering giving them skill ranks equal to their level in whichever skills they chose with Skill Adept.

Same here!

I’m gonna go some number crunching once I have the scenarios to run characters through to test but am currently leaning on giving the solarian the following:

To Skill Adept, automatically gain skill ranks equal to your solarian level in the two skills chosen.

For Solar Weapon, Cha to hit and damage in place of Str.

For Solar Armor, Cha to AC in place of Dex.

Aim is to make the class less MAD.

For us Superscribers, when should we be getting the scenario PDFs?

Hmm... might that time include pre-flight checks, communications with local air/space traffic co-coordinators (if applicable) and such?

Space goblins as per First Contact have 6 hp, which is the same as PF goblins.

Am a fan of Background skills in PF, but have never used Hero Points.

Currently, I'm not planning on using Background skills as I want to run a few games with the Starfinder rules as written to see how it feels.

Haven't given any thought to Hero Points in SF.

There's "Improved Combat Maneuver" which adds +4 to one maneuver. Can be taken several times and each time pick a different maneuver.

Then that feat is a prerequisite for "Pull the Pin," which lets you make a disarm check to pull the grenade pin on an enemy.

So it's only one feat for each maneuver. There are seven maneuvers.

So look at some level one iconics.

Our level 1 Ysoki Mechanic, Quib, has a KAC of 14, meaning the DC to bull rush him is 22.

Our level 1 Vesk Soldier, Obozaya, has a melee attack of +4.

So for the soldier to successfully push around the mechanic, she needs to roll 18+. Looking at the rest of the iconics, the best chance she has, as the biggest and strongest of the iconics, is a 17+ to push around the weak technomancer.

As melee attack generally increases with AC, this will always be an issue.

Combat maneuvers will not be viable options in a game. And it's probably true if you also pick up the feat.

And the CR1 monsters in Incident at Absolon Station have KAC of 13 or 15, so same issue there.

Paladinosaur wrote:

That seems pretty cool.

It would be awesome if the Paladin could get a hoverbike as a divine bond.

Maybe in the future, but for now we stuck to companion critters because (A) it was a new system we wrote for the book and (B) we'd have to do some work figuring out how motorbikes would scale and the like. (So its a GREAT candidate for the Advanced Starfarer's Guide, but not so great for the first one.)

That being said, one cool thing that the paladin CAN do with her divine bond is:

** spoiler omitted **

I’m currently to write a bard/cavalier/mechanic mash up home brew class that gains a motorbike or hoverbike as a mount.

Is it still 3 feats to get all the combat maneuver (for one maneuver) stuff?

One feat per combat manoeuvre to get the +4 bonus.

Page 78 states that a drone is capable of reloading its weapons.

Page 168 states that weapons that use standard ammo come preloaded, which should save some starting cash.

Ahh, I missed the "until the beginning of your next turn." part of Debilitating Trick.

According to page 273, "You take the listed amount of damage at the beginning of your turn each round until this condition ends."

So I'm guessing, since there's no duration listed for Bleeding Shot the target would bleed until treated or healed.

If you're really pushed for more class skills, remember themes give a class skill each, and Themeless gives any chosen skill as a class skill!

Also Skill Synergy gives two class skills, and given the number of feats the solider gains, currently I wouldn't have an issue with grabbing it.

The d20pfsrd fan page on Facebook posted a link to the fan page for the Starfinder SRD, on which it's stated their site will be live roughly two weeks after the street date of Starfinder.

I’ve just had a look at D20Pro and it looks good. My issue with converting players from Roll20 would be convincing them to buy it.

Thrice level + Cha mod Stamina recovered (or 4x level + Cha mod with a Resolve Point) is pretty damn good, IMO.

Walk the Void (page 88) states "You also gain a fly speed of 20 feet while in space." Anyone got an idea what the manoeuvrability should be?

:) Glad I'm not missing anything.

TheGoofyGE3K wrote:

Holy cow, looking over the actual improvisations and talents, Im beginning to understand why there arent abilities for higher than 8th level-and it would be because there are. There are plenty of level one options that become amazing at level 12 to the point where they essentially are level 12 abilities. And powerful ones at that.

If I recall correctly from discussions, this was generally the idea. It actually makes an envoy more powerful at 12th than if the ability was only available at 12th with all the powerups (which was another alternative discussed at one point) because you can buy both of them using a lower-level slot and then they upgrade at 12th. 12th is a nice level for envoys with those builds.

The only "Improves at 12th level" abilities I can spot (searching the PDF for the string "12th level") are Don't Quit and Improved Hurry. Have I missed something, as two abilities are great, but I wouldn't call them plenty.

SnowHeart wrote:

Thanks, Sara. Is there any particular order or priority in which things are being shipped that you can share with us? (Alphabetical, time of order, internal customer ID #)?

It's all based on being as efficient as possible for the warehouse staff to ship. The simplified version is that packages are categorized by shipping methods, content, box size (and other internal factors). Warehouse staff might pull all the Standard postal International packages containing a Core Rulebook, an AP and the maps and jam out those, and then move on to UPS Domestic containing just a Core Rulebook because that the size of the next batch that they can finish before they're done for the day. We have staff working on larger batches of "simple" orders in assembly line fashion and then also staff working on "complex" orders or other orders that don't fall into large enough batches, (this is very over simplified and Will is probably shaking his head laughing at me). The pattern of which we ship sets of orders can vary from month to month depending on a number of factors.

So pretty much depending on our order we're somewhere in a lottery and it'll ship when it ships? :P

Thanks for the updates! Hope shipping everything out goes smoothly.

If I subscribe now, will I get the pdf? Or do would I have had to subscribe before now to get it? I've never understood this system, so sorry if it is explained somewhere better.

Subscriptions have always been, if you subscribe you get the pdf when the package ships - I don’t think this is any different.

Woohoo! Got my pdf :)

Wasn't sure how soon I would, but maybe international orders are going out early

If international orders are shipping hopefully mine will be soon.

*MASHES F5*

This may at 1st glance sound like a negative comment but it's not really. More of a generation issue perhaps. Back in the day running a game was a creative outlet, stories were written, maps were drawn, minis were painted & character development was worked out with the DM. Now prefix adventures are hastily read, low quality prepainted plastic minis are purchased in bulk & power gamers can dig through a rediculous number of options till they select for themselves the perfect game breaking combo.

What would be the point of reskinning Starfinder if the overwhelming majority of lazy & unimaginative players AND GMs want to be spoon fed their setting by Paizo? Put up your lonely flyer advertising your Home brew game at a Convention or FLGS Game night and you'll be Lucky to get a few divergent souls. Yet the place will be filled to bursting with scores of loud Starfinder Society tables. Paizo wove the setting into the Core Rulebook from the start and presented that's how Starfinder is played...& so 99.8% of the fan boy & fan girl culture follows suit. Observe closely & see if this is what comes to pass.

Because most of the games I play and run are in custom settings?

I've run a PF game in "new world" colonisation/exploration game (inspired by EU4), I've played Tales from the Loop in a game that used an ordinary rural British town instead of the Swedish or American settings with all the sci-fi gadgets they have.

I might end up using the Pact Worlds setting to inspire bits and pieces of what I run, or steal things from the SF scenarios or adventure paths, but I like putting my own spin on things (and having players contribute to the setting ideas).

Goes back to checking email every minute for shipment notification.

If what was previously said about what time the shipping department opens was correct, we’ve got another 90 minutes until they might be shipping anything today.

The two handed finesse blade adds 1.5 dex to damage.

Sense vitals is not a magus spell.

Forgotten trick is more for flexibility than build dependency. I do not get many of talents and pears of power are cheap.

Sense Vitals is on the Wizard spell list and the Eldritch Scoundrel casts off the Wizard list, so it shouldn't be a problem?

In reverse order:

Azih, my mapping so far is
Envoy -?
Mechanic - Engineer
Mystic - Adept
Operative - Infiltrator
Solarian - Vanguard
Solider - Solider
Technomancer - Sentinel

I'll be creating the ME races once I have my SF rulebook!

Luna, sounds like a good idea. I had also thought of just using the Ethics/Civics system to create societies for the PCs visit.