My players encountered the Darkside mirror
Started with one PC getting swapped by it. Combat starts with the shatterling and I let the PC control their evil version(I tell them what's going on). So the replaced PC stays near the north exit of the building, opposite the darkside mirror and pretends to fight a shatterling as well. He calls for help and another PC comes running, said other PC fails their save, I let them in on what's going on...
and it snowballed
the only PC not corrupted by the mirror was already evil...
It's so much fun to terrify veteran players by telling them that there is a powerful demon that apparently grants wishes with(in some cases) no drawback, consequences, or strings attached.
They get so skeptical and nervous and looking for whatever the drawback is. But the best way to run him AFAIC is to have him basically be a near divine drug dealer. The first sample is free, want another? Tell your friends :) that way more people can have a taste. More? Don't worry, it's not hurting your soul. I promise.
in the final fight with Karzoug, the players gave up because he intentionally changed the rules of spells with the intention of defeating players. Overrode the established motivations of an accompanying npc, and(upon looking into the book later) ignored the morale conditions of the cloud giants.
He had a tendency to run encounters as deadly as he could, killing PCs whenever possible. And then when new PCs came in more powerful(as a kind of min maxing evolution), would taunt the players about being minmax'ers, insult us for looting dead comrades due to how he ran loot and the selling of it and eventually complain about PC power. Leading him to be MORE aggressive, forcing further minmax'd character design evolution that he refused to acknowledge.
and when a new player(new to tabletop gaming in general) joined in the final book of the AP, he was told to make a character with no guidance beyond the players guide. Leading to a character that was devorced from the themes of the campaign and mechanically lacking in the end. At which point the DM proceeded to rub the players face in the fact that the character was not as balanced as the rest of the pcs(the ones he insulted for being TOO powerful) and eventually used the PC as a punching bag in order to drain party resources regardless what the best tactical choice in the situation was. The player left the game at the top of the mountain at the end of the game, before the final dungeoncrawl to the boss fight. Which the DM then took as a moment to have the quite honourable character; run away in the middle of the night.
overall, not pleased with the campaign.
Signed: Artemis Lahs, Erik Armos, Eugeni, Nedrin, Salma al-Khashramyah, and Xeveg Kishalq
kinda wish I could buy 5 of these, so that when my big campaign finally ends, I can give them to the players as a thank you for the memories. But the limit is 1/customer XD
"An ancient, crashed starship on a new Pact Worlds colony in the Vast draws the attention of the sinister Azlanti Star Empire, who invade and annex the colony, remove an experimental starship drive from the crash site, and kidnap one of the colonists."
So says "Against the Aeon Throne", an official Paizo adventure path for the Starfinder Roleplaying game. This campaign however, offers the Aeon Throne as a starting point for a much longer and darker story. Moving through "Signal of Screams" and then into a third, entirely custom adventure path. In all, the campaign intends to take PCs from level 1 to level 18 or even 20!
This is a long term campaign! Elements of each of the three adventure paths are woven together for a more cohesive story, designed for a full party of adventurers willing to see what the universe truly has to offer. You will travel into the darkness in more ways than one, and must decide for yourself whether you will emerge back into the light.
There are two groups for this game;
5PM EST Sunday's and
5PM EST Monday's
Hey folks! I miss playing/running Starfinder, so I'm here to present a One Shot I'm looking to fill.
Looking for 3-5 players(I already have one so it makes 4-6) for a game to be run via discord and roll20 on Tuesday 12th @ 8am(GMT +10)
"A mysterious message from the god of travel leads to the discovery of a pocket of space hidden frightfully close to the homes of thousands. Signs point to it being linked to an ancient enemy only defeated by the cooperation of two civilizations. What's it doing there? Has it been there this whole time? and What secrets have been left within from the war long forgotten?
A sci-fi mystery action session perfect for learning the mechanics of Starfinder or just flexing a character you haven't gotten to use for a while! Has light horror themes but nothing that can't be toned down on request."
Character Creation rules: SFS rules are fine. Level 1 character for this one(though I'm open to running it again for any level if you and your friends want to play high level SFS characters with nothing in tier for them).
Message me if you're interested :)
Thanks for reading
If you're one of my players, and I know you know who I am, don't read this please.
Hey folks! I'm looking to start preparing a post game adventure for after my gestalt Ruins of Azlant campaign! The players know and are excited for a postgame, it has been on the table since book 1 afterall. A way for them to play up to level 20 and still face challenges and something interesting xD
my original ideas have petered out as being too tied to specific PCs. I have an idea I want to look into but may need help achieving it;
Some time around the end of the campaign, elsewhere in the ruins of old azlant, some explorers unearthed and reactivated an ancient elfgate. As a result, the surviving Azlanti empire on New Thespera has turned its attention back to Golarion.
I like the instigation, and want to show the progression of Azlant tech over 10,000 years, and the disparity between it and modern Golarion.
Of course, I'm not sure exactly what to do here xD I feel like a militaristic invasion makes sense, but I have no idea where to start statting these new devices or even what to draw inspiration from. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
"I have no idea where the sudden idea to go after Longtooth's hoard came from"
You ask us to RP and then don't actually pay attention to the course of an RP that brings up information about a dead dragon? nice
"my guess would be someone looking over old recaps or reading previous chapters of the AP"
It's acusations like this that eventually made me give up giving you any feedback at all in sessions. You seemed unwilling to believe we could come up with stuff on our own.
"I thought it inevitable that the hoard would have already been looted. A classic snooze and lose situation."
to quote yourself in another thread:
"many adventuring parties do not ruthlessly collect and sell every piece of available loot, and thus their wealth will eventually fall below Wealth by Level"
so which is it? snooze you lose? or take everything?
Who'd have guessed that the new player to PF1e, asked to make a level 15 character with no idea what's happening in the game(no plot information beyond the players guide, no information about monsters encountered recently or guide as to the sort of characters that fit the game at this level) would make a character who could be seen as a 'liability'
Especially when the DM, around that time, declared that all current characters were the last characters for each of those PCs. So there was no chance for him to adjust the character based on actual information to make someone of use to the party and interest to the story.
And the way you worded that commentary does really read like you only had Yuzo's player and Morgiana's player around because you had a number of seats you wanted filled.
Just thought I'd chime in, since I usually remain very quiet regarding this thread.
Signed,
Xeveg, Nedrin, Eugeni, Artemis, Salma, and Erik
Just looking for a somewhat qualified ruling on a question I have;
How does Retraining Rogue to Unchained Rogue work in society? I am aware that there was a free retrain period but I clearly long-missed that boat.
Is it:
1) Unchained Rogue is an archetype of Rogue?
2) Separate classes, but Rogue can be retrained directly to Unchained Rogue(provided all levels are done in one block)?
3) Separate classes, but due to the multiclassing restriction a buffer class is required(retrain Rogue X -> bard X-1, Rogue 1 -> URogue 1, bard X-1 -> URogue X-1)
I haven't been able to find official rulings and am quite curious.
Hi everybody,
I'm running a gestalt campaign of Ruins of Azlant. But, sadly, everyone I know IRL who would be of use to talk about the GM secrets of the game(I have to talk about stuff) is part of the campaign. So I am making this thread to just kind of throw my little notes at. Somewhere for me to talk about what's happening. So if you are one of my players, and you'll know who you are by now. Please don't read this.
Not so much a play-by-play, more just a place to shout at the void. If the void shouts back, so be it.
The party at the moment(though they are constantly afraid of dying xD) are:
Tyrael, an Angelblooded Aasimar Paladin|Mesmerist
Narissa, a Merfolk Bard|Oracle. Through agreement with the player, the oracle's deity is Elion, which will slowly be revealed to her.
Kildris, a Tiefling Unchained Monk|Arcanist
Zolon, an Aquatic Elf Unchained Rogue|Magus
Some caveats and side notes:
This is gestalt, I have to adjust the CR of encounters to make up for the power of the PCs, and the players are aware of this and accept that sometimes I am going to make mistakes in difficulty.
Spoilers for the entire Ruins of Azlant adventure path. This is about my personal additions and tweaks, but in some cases they are heavily intertwined with the story of the game.
We're using group XP, so everyone levels up at the same time.
Zolon's player can only make it every two weeks, so has given me permission to run his character in the off times. This causes Zolon to leave the party to do his own thing apparently at random. This point may come up at later points.
So, first thing to put in:
THE BOAR
Introduction:
Since session #2, the PC's have been finding signs of a great beast on the island of Ancorato. Starting with Kildris finding glass hoofprints on the beach, leading inland. The group started to suspect something bad when, when hunting boars and dire boars for food, they found the creatures were already beaten and bruised and in some cases heavily scarred with burnt flesh. They have also found a strip of burnt plantlife circling the entirity of the Talmandor's Bounty colony at a range of 400ft.
Status:
To the relief of Kildris' player, the creature in question has been revealed to not be a nalfeshness but instead a "Giant Hellfire Titanboar" which is subjugating all the wild boars and daeodon on Ancorato. Tyrael and Zolon were captured by the creature, Tyrael awoke to find himself crucified. Zolon tucked away an empty flask after Tyrael came too and informed him that he was forced to do this or be killed himself. When Zolon was moved away from Tyrael's sight by the boar, the Aasimar freed himself and fled. In freeing himself, he heard "the boar" talking to an intimidating force of some discription that threatened to call down 'its allies' on it if the boar didn't obey as agreed. This is also the first namedrop of 'Ochymua'
Plans:
The Giant Hellfire Titanboar considered itself a 'big fish' in the azlant islands and is now very threatened by several growing forces, and is attempting to assemble an army to protect itself. I hope for the boar to simply be a sideplot arching villain until the party are able to take it on face-to-face. At which point I can give the group a nice epic landscape for a fight against a typical big brute enemy with lots of little ones, without it seeming like something I just threw in as a random encounter.
Acavna's Soulgate
Introduction:
In exploring the temple to Acavna and chatting to the celedons, Tyrael succeeded at a "Gatefinding" skill unlock attempt and found a LG soulgate at the centre of the temple. The Celedon's claim it leads to the home of their mistress and was the portal through which she brought them to the material plane.
Status:
Tyrael is very interested in this notion, as the soulgate is LG and yet Acavna was CN
Plans:
Starting as an error on my part, I had to figure out how this soulgate became LG in case the group ends up going through eventually. The idea I came up with is as follows; according to lore, when Acavna died, her herald 'Olhondias' wandered the Maelstrom collecting pieces of acavna's former realm that were raided following her death. Eventually he settled down in the Maelstrom city of 'Basrakal' and has been actively attempting to ensure Acavna does not return. With that in mind the goddess Myr recruited the assistance of a Lillend Azata to guard one of the remaining temples from acavna's domain. This temple is the one linked to the material plane, and through the eons of upholding its agreement, the lillend has become LG(not unusual for Basrakal inhabitants to be 'wrong' alignments) and her change has infected the soulgate.
The Choker
Introduction:
When initially clearing Talmandor's Bounty, the players located a crevice in the well near the levin farm. After signs pointed to this being a bad idea to explore just yet, they continued cleaning the village and eventually retrieved the Peregrine and the remaining settlers. Once the town was filled, the very first decision by the party was to explore the well. Zolon was missing somewhere in the woods, so only three went down and were quickly swarmed and almost TPK'd by a group of choker children! Eventually they returned as a full group, with proper tactics. Sealing one passage and having Kildris buff his AC to all hell(ha), they were able to bottleneck and eventually wipe out most of the choker children. After readying themselves, the group moved through the complex a little further and got in a fight with the remaining children and the choker 'parents'. When only one adult(the father) and one child remained, the choker father literally begged to be allowed to leave in peace. Tyrael, Narissa, and Zolon agreed and did not attack as the two fled on their turn.
Kildris did not agree. He followed the chokers a short distance, and after killing the child, he turned to the adult and stated. "Now you may leave"
Status:
Since that point, the Choker has appeared in the background several times. Most notably, he was present outside the boar 'grove' and gave a signal to Tyrael on when best to extridite himself from the crucifix. When Tyrael, moments before escaping, asked why. The choker responded "I will have my revenge." At this point the party is convinced that the Choker will be returning for a 1-on-1 duel with Kildris, and the entire party agrees that no-one will interfere with this fight.
Plans:
This is the prime opportunity to trick the players even a little bit.
The choker has no interest in fighting Kildris or any member of the party! In fact, he does not blame them for what happened. Instead, his reasoning is a little more complicated; The party cleared the well cave not because they were bloodthirsty, but because the creatures down there were a threat to the colony. They only thought to consider the things down there a threat, because the colony had been cleared out once already. Basically, the creatures to blame are the ones that cleared out Talmandor's Bounty initially, not the PC's which were a consequence of those actions. The Choker wants revenge on the Faceless Stalkers that will be attacking the colony in book 2. I intend to boost the power of the final boss of that adventure a little more than I should and give the choker class levels, so the choker feels like a necessary/useful component of the battle.
My only thought reading this was "has Noone brought up taking 10?".
Let's imagine that previously mentioned basic Baker with a +4/+6 on profession. If he's doing the same thing every day, he's not rolling. That guys taking 10 for a 14/16. Easily makes sense of DC 10 and 15 tasks.
I'm not sure why so many people forget about taking 10 outside combat. Tis very strange to me. I realise the topic has moved on, just wanted to note that.
The canonical reason Elion stopped being a thing in Golarion was "after Earthfall, he lost interest in Golarion and ventured out to the edge of the Great Beyond". Great Beyond being the term for all of the multiverse beyond just Golarion. However there are a few pieces of information that exist that I believe challenge this idea.
Firstly, Elion and Desna were/are allies, though Elion's worshippers often find Desna's to be "flighty" and "unfocused".
Second, Elion's church became interested in space travel apparently. Given that Elion was worshipped mainly in Azlant and left shortly after its fall, this is an interesting thing to note.
Third, It's believed that after Earthfall, Elion's followers basically led the exodus out of azlant and across the world.
This information, plus his portfolio, would imply that Elion would have become more interested in Golarion after earthfall, not less. So what happened?
Well, there are three main traceable groups that left Azlant;
(1) Aroden's expedition. Aroden left Azlant after Earthfall to head east to Avistan, to salvage the Azlanti culture. Interestingly, Aroden himself became the god of this expedition and it thus did not need Elion's help
(2) Smaller groups of Azlanti likely did leave with Elion's clergy at their helm. But just because Azlant was the first human civilization, does not mean it was the first or only civilization of its time. Thassilon at least also existed prior to earthfall, as did civilizations of Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and Giants. So these Azlanti humans, attempting to colonise new lands, would easily find themselves in conflict with any number of these groups. Or maybe they were taken in as refugees by these other cultures. Meaning either a shift of worship toward war deities, or toward the local deities. In either case; Elion was not needed at that time.
The third group however, is not traceable during the time of the campaign. In fact, it remains unknown to even us the players for thousands of years.
(3) New Thespera. Revealed in Starfinder, a number of Azlanti had been colonising other planets before Earthfall. Chief among these was New Thespera, a completely foreign planet with unfamiliar flora and fauna and unclear natural resources. After the travesty of Earthfall, the connection between Golarion and New Thespera would have been severed, leaving the people there without any support from the established empire and rendering them very much alone and isolated.
I believe it makes more sense that after Earthfall, as the azlanti culture on Golarion slowly began to die away and it's people called for him less and less, that Elion would hear the calls of his people marooned among the stars more strongly and left to help them.
And now, during a period where his people have conquered their own planet and are looking at how to enter space and explore the rest of their star system; the Azlanti god of Colonization hears the brief echo of a colony being born on ancient azlanti soil. And so he returns, even only partially, to look over the new settlement and guide it with the knowledge and changes he's undergone over the past 10,000 years.
Maybe this Elion while still a god of Colonization, exploration and discovery, has gained some more aspects necessary to helping his people; invention, diplomacy, and the stars.
So I have an interesting situation I plan to have fun with. Firstly; I'm running Ruins of Azlant. Second; one of my players is running an Oracle without a deity. He and I agreed before the game began that his character will be recruited, over the course of play, by "Elion".
Elion is/was the Azlanti god of "Colonization, Discovery, and Exploration". After Earthfall, he grew tired of Golarion and left to wander the universe. So we like the idea that he starts coming back to this situation when a colony returns to Azlant and the history of that civilization is discovered and clashed with.
So I was hoping to get some input/ideas/feedback on how to expand this god into the campaign both flavour, lore, and mechanics-wise.
E.g. My current thought is that Elion left because he had been pushing people to explore and colonise, and when they were finally forced to, he felt they no longer needed him and left. But now people have returned to his soil, acting under his domain and so he returns to help and guide them.
Flavour-wise I'd love to know how you folks think he should interact with this first disciple(Currently thinking of having him interact with her in her dreams, as she's looking to go into lucid dreaming and that kind of stuff). How his return would influence Talmandor's Bounty(the colony) etc.
Mechanically I'd love ideas on things like alternate spell list options, Deific Obedience, stuff like that.
Clearly I have a lot of time and can do this slowly. But I would enjoy an open discussion about this god of exploration and colonisation, and how to bring him into the campaign and the world. Thanks :)
Hey, I know this is probably really obvious somewhere but rather than make any assumptions either way, I figured I'd ask the more experienced members of the society.
I want to apply a race boon(Or Rescued starfinder, the question holds the same weight there) to a new character. I get this race boon from a sheet from an adventure and it states:
"A copy of this Chronicle sheet must be the first Chronicle sheet for the given character." Which is fair enough, I'll just get a second copy of the chronicle and use it as Chronicle 1 for this character.
But my question comes from the rest f the sheet. The sheet has other boons and purchasable items. Does the character get those as well, or do I cross them off of the copied sheet? I realize it's probably obvious but I figured I'd ask.
Looks like I can't keep myself away. I mean no ill tone in this, just trying to help.
I'm going to make a response of a type I've not seen so far in this thread; constructive advice.
I understand the idea for this character(henceforth 'Kipe') came to you after noticing the flaws rules, so in your mind Dex 1 is married to the concept. But rather than tell you "just change it to a 10, nbd" I'd like to go over the things that would be changed by doing so, and how a difference of +5(for a mod of +0) can be explained flavourwise.
So the following things are adjusted mechanically: Initiative, Ac, Reflex, and Skills
Initiative: Just because Kipe can't move most his body, doesn't mean he can't respond quickly to a situation and present actions to his chair at a reasonable speed. If you do want him to be slow in this regard, just delay until the end of the round(if you always play with the same group, the DM/s would probably be happy to make that a standing agreement).
Ac: He's already laiden with Heavy Armor, just leave it on him and there's no visual difference. The characters see his not getting hurt as a result of the armor anyway. Only lithe or graceful characters actually call attention to their dex being the reason the attack failed.
Reflex: Two ways to approach this, 1) same as option 1 for Initiative, he can physically command his chair fast enough and the chair performs the motion needed. or 2) He has preprogrammed the sensors and motors of his chair to react to a particular stimulus in a certain way. A success means the character programmed the chair well, a failure means the sensors, motor, or programming need tweaking.
Skills: There are 4 dexterity based skills:
Acrobatics: Just don't roll, or if asked to roll, 'take 1'. Unless it makes more sense that it's the chair rolling, at which point; the chair rolls.
Piloting: I feel like it makes less sense in a technological age for a character like this to be bad at piloting. The characters in world don't see skill points or dex scores, so to them there's no difference between okay ranks and good dex and great ranks and no dex. He's just great at navigating or driving by use of his computer interface and likely a list of existing pre-programmed complex actions.
Sleight of Hand: You don't have to roll it, if a scenario does somehow call for Kipe to use sleight of hand(such as removing something that's placed delicately) then his chairs robot arms are already programmed with high manual dexterity.
Stealth: Kipe himself doesn't make much noise. Just set his chair into Airplane Mode and you're good.
Properly flavoured, the other PC's aren't going to see a difference between -5 Dex Kipe and +0 Dex Kipe. I do understand that the idea doesn't mesh at an innate level(character with this disability being more dextrous than someone allowed to have an 8 Dex), but remember that even if someone leans into their disability, they find a way to function in our world. Basically, locking the character concept to Dexterity=1 is like saying that Kipe has given up and isn't interested in accounting for his shortcomings.
Aside: the Vlaka culturally don't repair their blindness or deafness because they don't see it as a weakness, and they find ways to accomodate this difference in their everyday life. No-one is saying Professor Kipe can't be a part of the Starfinder Society in the capacity he has been, they're just saying that the stat sheet needs a slight update. There would be no flavour difference, just an understanding that in this case; Intelligence and Wisdom are offsetting Dexterity.
(don't know what an Uatu is, but I agree with the above sentiment on that as well)
he's referring to Jhaeman's hypothetical situation involving a "watcher"(also called uatu) from marvel comics
I believe the point of the hypothetical is that this non-interactive character is rules legal, while what he's arguing for is not despite one being useful and the other not.
Other than this note, I'm not weighing in on this conversation.
I'm a huge fan of Library Chips on my operative, and have all five installed on a negligible bulk computer. That's probably the most I use my computer ingame.
In addition it's also the same characters spell cache(technomancer dip)
Another option, instead of making running away easier; is making boarding more common. If your PC's ship is wrecked, the enemy boards in an attempt to kill or capture the PC's and then repair and claim the ship themselves. Afterall; starships and their parts are expensive, you don't want to just scrap one right?
So losing a starship combat can lead to a traditional combat encounter. With knowledge that this can happen, parties could then organize their ships in such a way as to be more defensible during boarding defenses.
There are plenty of alternatives to "you lose the combat, you die"
I've been considering writing a 3p adventure path for levels 13-20 actually. About a stellar empire attempting to genocide three other stellar empires but strangely enough leaving the PC's home system alone.
With intentions of large space battles, infiltrations, and various planar interactions galore
Logically the character isn't going "what do I know about this thing among other living things?"
it's more "Given these pieces of evidence, what is this thing and what do I know?"
So I don't think you even CAN roll the wrong skill. If the DM is being a pain about it, just roll the die once and list the result as if each skill modifier was applied in order( "It's a 22 on Engineering, or a 25 on life science, or an 18 on mysticism, whatever applies" )
Heck, when I'm DM'ing and I want to keep the kind of creature secret in PF1(because just knowing a thing is K(religion) is somewhat of a giveaway to its resistances/immunities if its otherwise difficult to tell it's undead), I just ask the players to do that. Don't tell me what the skill is, just read out the effective totals in order and I pay attention to the sequence and pick the numbered slot I need.
Due to the wording of the archaic ability(mostly "Archaic weapons are made of primitive materials such as wood or common steel." ), does that mean that if a normally archaic weapon(kish axe, club, etc) is made from a special material, most likely a starmetal, that it would no longer be archaic?
Asking mainly for society use, but it'd be good to know regardless.
@BigNorseWolf
That's all well and good for the pact worlds, but what about other civilizations? Planets where the they aren't as advanced and magic is still in fashion, or empires that have as rich a heritage as golarion? Surely explorers would think that elemental languages are going to be common, and learn some for that exact reason.
@Nefreet
No it was meant for here as this is more a complaint at the extant society scenarios than anything else.
I know this is a really simple observation, and I understand to some extent why it's the case but; Why don't more alien species speak planar languages on first contact?
That sounds strange, let me back up.
Back in Golarion, the planes had a grand old time romping across the world. Angels and devils and demons showed up constantly. Spellcasters could easily call on various elementals to perform tasks for them, etc. From these interactions, it made sense that the languages these creatures spoke(Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal, Auran, Aquan, Ignan, and Terran) became known across the planet.
In Starfinder, there is still the spellcasting capacity to contact these creatures. In fact, with the addition of Planar Scions, we know for certain it happens. So it's very strange that when you encounter a new alien civilization that has at least Pathfinder level tech, no-one thinks "Hey, what about the alignment or elemental languages?"
Obviously these cultures should have the same means available to contact the other planes, there should be some measure of spread of planar languages through their civilization. Yes I know Comprehend Languages and Share Languages are a thing, but spellcasters have a tendency to be greedy with their slots. If you know the same language as someone, you don't need to cast comprehend languages or share languages constantly. You can use those spells for things potentially more important to your daily life.
As I said, I understand some of the design decisions why it's not used(but it was used in at least one adventure that I'm aware of... Hello dwarves who speak 'Terran'). It just irks me slightly. Forgive my complaining
The non archetype version would not be nearly as good at identifying things with life science, and doing so with Mysticism would be a near impossibility.
Atlas-1's Computers, Life Science, Mysticism, Engineering, Medicine, and Physical Science mods are all +19. It is possible for non archetype to do it just as well.(Though this is due to multiclassing to make them class skills, but the "skill synergy" feat would do the same thing)
Sean Castor wrote:
Besides I'm past the point where a mnemonic editor would allow me to undo the archetype. So there isn't much value in trying to convince me I made a bad decision. I'd rather think about ways that I can continue to push my vision for this character, that I'll enjoy and the people I play with will appreciate going forward. It's okay if he's not perfect.
Not trying to convince you to rebuild or anything. Just explaining why it doesn't necessarily suit all Hacker Operatives. I apologize if it came across that way.(as a note, I'm past the point where the editor would help. There is one change I wish I could make but sadly cannot because he's level 8 and the decision was at level 2 xD)
I'd be willing to help pick out a feat, but it's really based on the whole build that you have.
To put bluntly what I don't like about archetypes (and this may or may not help the wolf); for many classes you're giving up your customisable options for a locked in sequence of abilities. If those abilities fit the concept better than the options for customising, I'll take it, otherwise I see no reason.
I'll be honest, I keep looking at archetypes for my characters and deciding they just don't suit. For the most part I feel like the archetype abilities just aren't worth the lost abilities for most of my builds. But I'm not against archetypes as a mechanic.
Though I do have a similar situation with multiclassing; I get looked at as weird because most of my characters are multiclass. So I can understand the concern over the reception of a mechanic.
Very much agreed, and for much of the combat it did play out like that; Raia as the pilot, Atlas-1 as the Gunner. But at times Raia did swap to do engineering as Atlas-1 continued trying to shoot the damn ship that seemed to have displacement xD
#21 "1-27 King Xeros of Star Azlant" coming later this week.
#22 "1-29 Honorbound Emissaries" coming some time next week.
Just want to make a note regarding 1-28("It rests beneath"), which I ran. I know this is more a place for my recaps of sessions, but I just wanted to note that I found it quite amusing(and sad) that the first scenario I've seen in a while that has a allowance for PC vehicles is one that Atlas-1 was too high level for.
I did quite enjoy the way vehicles were allowed to be used, but not required, in 1-28("It rests beneath"), it made for a nice bit of player freedom that I'd love to see more of.
The only thing I wish was different, was that the colour palette closer matched the Acquisitives faction logo. That said, I can understand the choice of palette and it looks great.
2. There is no use (that I'm aware of) of the Pathfinder Skill Mastery talent to double/triple/quadruple damage and automatically inflict conditions on targets in combat. I could be wrong as I have not played not GM'ed a Rogue above 10th level.
Hope that clears up your confusion.
A build designed to make feinting a move action, combined with Skill Mastery, basically functions exactly the same as here.
Feint -> Target is flat-footed -> Flat-footed is subject to sneak attack.
There are probably others, but that is the automatic first to mind.
Until it's posted in the FAQ it isn't official. That's what these forums are for. Debating and getting clarity but also to get this kind of stuff in the FAQ.
I can understand the joy the "Take 10 in combat" statement gives to Operatives. Well at least until NPCs start lighting them up with their own guaranteed bonus damage. Bummer about that.
Later.
I find it interesting that you quoted Owen but forgot to include a clarifying side remark he made:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Interestingly it's almost exactly the same wording as the rogue skill mastery advocated talent in Pathfinder, and I've never seen anyone question how that ability works.
But new game, new context.
Though I do understand the source of the problem; The change of the wording of "Take 10"
Taking 10: When your character is not in immediate danger or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure—you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn’t help.
Most of the time, you attempt skill checks while under pressure or during times of great stress. Other times, the situation is more favorable, making success more certain.
When you are not in immediate danger or distracted, the GM might allow you to take 10 on a skill check. When you take 10, you don’t roll a d20, but rather assume that you rolled a 10 on that die, then add the relevant skill modifiers. For many routine tasks, or for tasks you are particularly skilled at, taking 10 ensures success. If you still fail when taking 10, you might require more time and energy to succeed at that task (see Take 20 below).
Unless you have an ability that states otherwise, you cannot take 10 during a combat encounter. Also, you can’t take 10 when the GM rules that a situation is too hectic or that you are distracted, and taking 10 is almost never an option for a check that requires some sort of crucial effect as a key part of the adventure's story.
(Emphasis mine)
The change of the structure of the wording is likely what's causing the issue. Because in Starfinder Combat is being called separate to the information on immediate danger or distraction(at least at first glance), it's being considered a separate clause by some.
However, I notice that the second clause states that you cannot do it in combat [em]unless you have an ability that states otherwise[/em] and then goes on to clarify that you simply can't do it at all if the GM rules a situation too hectic or you are distracted.
If ANYTHING, I would assume people would assume this means the ability in question specifically bypasses the first part(because that part mentions the existence of something that would do so) rather than the second part(which does not).
I have to admit to often being dim, but I can't for the life of me glean what the symbols on the Second Seekers logo are supposed to represent. Does anyone know? Or is it just completely abstract like the Nike "swoosh"?
I just assumed it was a more recent symbol, like one specifically for Luwazi, and the top shape is the Scoured Stars (it's basically a square missing one side. Three sides = trinary star system) and the bottom shape is the godshield, protecting the system.
Is there an extant adventure path( or do you know of a DnD published campaign) focused on hopping among planes? I'd love to play a game that focuses on visiting a variety of unique and energetic magical locales
I hope someone knows of one. Thanks for listening.
Mission #19 problem: When it comes to writing these, I've been reading the associated PDFs, as well as talking to the players who were there, to get as much right as I can. The problem is, Mission #19 is "1-99; The Scoured Stars Invasion" Which I played a Paizocon Asia-Pacific with a group that is distinctly not my group.
I have been unable to find any of the people who were in that with me, and obviously I can't get a pdf of 1-99. As such, it might just work out for me to say that the report has been misfiled or lost, until such time as I can get into a situation where I can write it.
Mission #20: And this one is "1-23; Return to Sender" which the scenario specifically calls "Off-the books". As such, given his personality as shown so far, I don't feel it would fit Atlas-1 to write and submit a "mission report" on this.
As such, I'll pick up with #21 in several weeks. #19 and #20 will both be "Scoured Stars Invasion", one for the first half, the other for the second I think.
Some games have the design mentality of making it harder the better the player is. Most often occurs in computer games, where the game can track how well you're doing, and set itself up to juuuuust push you. I wonder if it'd be possible to write adventures like this? Where doing well earns you harder challenges, without it seeming like a punishment for success.
Reading the Star Watcher archetype(Ultimate Wilderness) for Investigator, and I'm wondering if they can use Knowledge(Geography) for day job checks?
The archetype is built around horoscopes, and replaces Alchemy with Astrology. They don't get the standard competence bonus on Craft(alchemy) but instead on Knowledge(Geography).
So I was wondering if it's clarified anywhere that they can use Knowledge(Geography) for day job checks as that's the archetype's replacement for Craft(Alchemy)[Which the Organized Play guide specifically says Investigators can use for Day Job checks]
Kind of disappointing. I think it would be better if they had some words from their own language, like say, "Xev" for singular and "Xov" for plural. Would make them seem more, you know, alien.
That might be the case in their native language. But the words translate to "They", "Them", and "Themself" in 'common'(english) as those are the 'common' language pronouns that are not male or female.
But since it's not, it will eventually be impossible.
Or at least such a high level of improbability to essentially be impossible.
At every table you'd need someone to sit down who was a perfect Pilot. Another who was a perfect Gunner. Another who was a perfect Engineer. Another who was a perfect Science Officer, with perfect backup skills. And a perfect Captain, with perfect backup skills.
When that doesn't happen at Level 1, it's doable. When that doesn't happen at Level 8, you're in for a frustrating 2 hours.
Our group is usually 3 PC's and a DM Pregen(to pad us to 4)
roles: Pilot, Engineer, 2 Gunners
and even at high levels and one of the characters being a pregen, we do fine, great even. I think it really does matter on the group, not the system. Which is both a good and bad sign.
Starfinder Society GM. 155 posts (189 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 13 Organized Play characters. 
