CKent83's page

The complete overhaul of magic, AC, HP, iterative attacks, and weapons in Starfinder are far more than tweaks and all way more radical than what is proposed here.

Actually it's because switching that up brings it too close to being just a board game (like 4e was). I'm here to play tabletop RPG's, not Monopoly. It isn't a sacred cow as much as it is essential to what the game feels like when played.

Also, how would you roll ability scores? Assuming the point buy build from PF is relevant you can't go under a 7 (-2), and you can't go over an 18 (+4) before racial adjustments. That's 7 different modifiers (including 0), so let me break out my d7?

It isn't as revolutionary an idea as people are making it out to be. I'd say (again) that it isn't so much a missed opportunity as it is a dodged bullet. If they would have done that kind of a switch up, I'd probably just write Starfinder off as another 4e type failure and continue my Star Wars conversion for Pathfinder.

What they did was make a few adjustments to the Pathfinder system to accommodate ranged combat as the default, and streamline a few systems. That's all. They aren't completely overhauling magic, HP, or AC; they're tweaking them to better fit the setting. Iterative attacks are getting the biggest visible change, but BAB is still there with different progressions based on class. The actual biggest change is to gear. Reworking damage to scale from item levels is kind of a big deal, but that isn't going to change how the game feels to play the same way changing how Ability Scores work would.

Edit: Your assertion that the other tweaks are less radical than what you're proposing is subjective.

New blog post, Bringing Out the Big Guns.

Dragons confirmed.

Also, non-evil undead confirmed. ^_^

This is great, but I'd like to hear more about the melee options. I've always like playing the big guy with a sword when we're in sci-fi games (and when we're in fantasy games... I like big swords). I know that the Soldier gets proficiency with advanced melee weapons, and thus specialization with them at level 3, but what are the advanced melee weapons? Are they like the chainswords and power weapons from Warhammer 40k? Can more "mundane" types of weapons qualify as an advanced melee weapon like a fullblade or scorpion whip, or does it have to be battery powered?

Also, how does melee weapons damage stack up against ranged weapon damage? Apparently there's a rifle that does 7D8, is there a melee weapon that does a similarly huge ammount? Does Strength still add 1.5x it's modifier to the damage of melee weapons?

Charisma is a clear dump stat for virtually any Pathfinder class without Charisma-based class features, especially given how trivial it is to replace CHA with INT on skills. That, in my eyes, is poor design.

So what? If you want to say Ability Score consolidation is a bad thing, what about using Dex for Damage? Totally turns Str into a Dump stat, you'll never really need to have it on an optimized character. Instead of a greatsword, just have 2 swords and you're golden. Strength is a clear dump stat for virtually any Pathfinder class without Strength-based class features. That, in my eyes, is poor design.

I'm just ribbing you with that last part. Seriously though, there are plenty of classes that utilize Charisma, including my favorite class, The Paladin. Sure it has Charisma based abilities, but that also lets you put points into Skills that key off of Charisma so you can be more than a beat stick.

The truth is that not all Ability Scores are created equal. Some need classes that have abilities key off of them instead of being able to rely on core game mechanics. That's OK, because there are a lot of people that abhor any kind of dump stat. A friend of mine loves playing dwarves, but always has at least a 12 Charisma before racial modifiers so he never has a penalty. Personally, I've never used Charisma as a dump stat, but the next time I play a Ranger I will because I thought up a backstory that leaves him physically and mentally scarred and bitter.

Wow, that went on for a little longer than I thought it would. Apologies for the rant.

How do you know about R2?

Because I know way too much about Star Wars.

...after all R2D2 didn't have a gender...

Actually R2-D2 and C-3PO had male programmed personalities.

Found something!
Here

Who wants to bet that the Archetype we don't know about relates to being primitive?

Page 15, under Damoritosh, there's a typo. It should be "sacred" instead of "secred."

Hopefully because perception is no longer a skill, and so not something you need to spend skill points on...

Stealth is still a skill, so Perception should still be a skill also. Otherwise a 5th level Operative/Ghost may very well never be seen by anyone.

Any guesses on what fighting style Obozaya is? My guess is blitz.

For Obozaya, I'd guess arcane assailant since arcane and divine magic is all lumped together. She drifted away from Darmoritosh's faith, but still uses his symbol on her "holo-banner" and probably inscribes her "sacred doshko" with his symbol.

Why isn't Perception a class skill now? Shouldn't situational awareness be within a soldier's wheelhouse?

At least fighter types can do first aid now. Still can't stand watch for guard duty though. :'(

I was in a Saga Edition Star Wars game back in 2009 or so when I was able to sell some really valuable tech for enough credits to buy a "small" Star Destroyer (Venator-Class). There were only a few of us in the game so I was told it would be rigged for 1 jump to a system of my choosing.

Went to the game's version of Tython (I was a Jedi), and offered my services to the Jedi Council there in exchange for enough Jedi to crew my Star Destroyer. The game quickly fell apart after that. No coming back from giving your players a Star Destroyer crewed by Jedi.

A lot of GM's will watch Firefly/Serenity or Star Wars and think, "Aww, a ship that is falling apart and held together by duct tape and hope is awesome." Then the reality of starship combat sets in and TPK because the ship is a piece of junk that vented everyone into space. What you really need to do is give your players The Normandy or The Tempest.

It isn't a small ship, so you can have lots of cool things in it (eventually) like a laboratory, armory, even a place for a couple of land vehicles or smaller shuttles. It also isn't so big that it can trade blows with capital ships. You could strike a nice balance between having a cool ship that's powerful and upgradeable, and making the crew need to upgrade it to really get it's full potential. Plus if it looks pretty, players will develop, "Ooh, shiny," feelings towards it. So find out your player's favorite colors, paint the ship that way, and watch them fall in love.

I've already had a long planned out encounter that involves the PCs running across a Jaba the Hutt style Dragon - Obeese, obscenely wealthy, surrounded by ruffians to do his bidding. Taking huge breaths of hookah and laying on his side on a floating platform suspended in the air by hover technology. "Bring me Iseph and the Vesk!"

You forgot the laugh :D

Damoritosh the Conqueror.

Maybe: Destruction, Nobility, Scalykind, War, and whatever alignment is associated with the god.

I hope they put up a full gods list sometime. Maybe after the Iconics and Class previews?

Ah, so we'll have 2 APs and then Chk Chk will be an Iconic in their own right.

First off, Chk Chk is already iconic! ;)

Secondly, I'm guessing that since alignment is a thing, and that since Pharasma's alignment is neutral, that Keskodai is either Neutral Good, or Chaotic Neutral.

Personally, I'm betting on Chaotic Neutral since he's OK with death, and being a shirren automatically predisposes one towards chaos (option bars). Also, he does his best as a healer because you shouldn't die before your time, not because life has value, so Neutral.

And let's not forget that her followers value friendship and diplomacy. I'm gonna guess that her alignment is on the Good axis. In fact, with the "forever" and "friendship" angles involved here I am wondering if this is going to be the goddess of BFFs! :)

Which would probably give her the Charm and Community domains; so that's 3/5 we can discern from her, bringing us down to 12 domains currently unused.

look closer. ;)

Alright, let's do that.

It looks like he's cybered up one of his antennae to plug into a computer.

Impressive shirren 'stache.

He's got a glowing piston coming out of his back.

I guess he's technically an arachnid because of the 4 little appendages on his chest for a total of 8 limbs.

There are two jars, one with Chk Chk, and another filled with what looks like green pills... Maybe Chk Chk's food?

And then there is the insectile looking appendage that he's tied to his waist that's just kinda hanging there... What's that about? Do we have another person that obsesses with dead people like Navasi? Oh wait, he's a Pharasmin, of course he's obsessed with dead people. At least he's friendly about it.

Finally, the last thing I've noticed is the pokeball symbol that is all over his robe. Makes sense that he's a fan because he keeps his son in a jar.

New god from Meet: Keskodai!

Hylax, the Forever Queen

Meet the Iconics: Keskodai is up.

This is so awesome! I don't know if it's cause I'm maturing as a gamer, or if the Starfinder team is the best at what they do, but I'm finding that with every Iconic Character or Class reveal, I'm seeing something that I want to do that I wouldn't have considered before.

Not just the alignments of the gods, but also their domains. If the domains are the same in Starfinder (if they have domains), then finding out which ones are not represented by the current list of gods, we'd have a clearer picture of what to expect for the rest of the list.

So far we have these domains covered by the 7 Pathfinder gods: Chaos, Darkness, Death, Destruction, Earth, Evil, Fire, Glory, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Liberation, Luck, Magic, Nobility, Protection, Repose, Strength, Sun, Travel, War, and Water. That leaves: Air, Animal, Artifice, Charm, Community, Madness, Plant, Ruins, Rune, Scalykind, Trickery, Vermin, Void, Weather. 23 out of 37 domains, giving us a total of 14 domains unused. The remaining unknown gods will have these domains... assuming domains are still a thing in Starfinder.

Edit: For domains.

Under Skills: Pilot isn't mentioned. Is it a Skill, or is it something else? Pretty sure it's a Skill.

A typo under About Skill Design: the second sentence should read, "It is likely that there will not be as many skills."

Under Health and Stamina: spending a Resolve to regain Stamina took a 10 minute short rest during the demo.

Found out that all classes get Weapon Specialization. Just not with all weapons.

As will soon be clear, every class gets weapons specialization.... with some weapons. We'll discuss why that makes the soldier happy when we do the solider class preview. :)

I have a complaint about one of your in person customer service representatives. I'm not quite sure of the species, but he was about 2.95 meters, covered in dark brown fur, and clearly a predator of some sort. He spoke only in growls, but fortunately had some sort of golden translator robot with him. I was telling him that I wanted a refund as per your no receipt 3/year policy. I don't think it mattered why I was returning the datapad, but it was VERY unprofessional of him to lose his temper and yank my arm out of its socket! I'm letting you know that his name was Chew-something, and that I will be seeking monetary compensation for my hospital bills, newly acquired phobia of in person customer service, and pain and suffering from AbadarCorp. Also, I will be taking legal action against the employee, and I'm formally requesting that you identify him to the Stewards when they visit you. Have a nice day.

Indeed, having watched GotG2, I am totally sold on Starfinder.

I know you guys said we'd be able to use the Bestiaries in Starfinder, but will we also be able to use the race builder from the Advanced Race Guide?

I like the idea of the Starfinder elves having kinda 2 "factions." You've got the older elves that were affected by The Gap and are now withdrawn, and untrusting of outsiders. Then you've got the younger elves that didn't experience The Gap (who could be quite old even for elves since it happened 300 years ago), who aren't so xenophobic (xenointolerant?).

There could be a built in story of young vs old, Traditionals vs Forlorn, age vs experience. Seems like a good idea for conflict within groups of elves. Such a long lived species surely has wild ideas about youthfulness (with people at 100-200 years old still being told to respect their elders).

I can totally see a 150 year old elf going home and being shunned for their beliefs, but they know far more about the outside world. They probably know exactly how to better their civilization because they've had contact with other people, and seen elven ideas play out over the lifetimes of shorter lived races, so they'd know the path their culture was on. Trying to get the elders to see reason would be nearly impossible not only because they are "young" by elven standards, but also because of the way the very knowledge they have that could save them was gained in a way the elders deemed unsavory.

How has this change affected the outlook and number of half elves? What about other half human species?

As far as elves being "snooty" and "xenophobic" goes, that's probably an attempt to keep them as familiar to traditional elves as possible, which is probably because this setting is going to have lots of races to play as. Keeping "vanilla" fantasy races as close to their default settings as possible is a way to give new players something familiar to grab onto.

Besides, who cares about elves with their, "I'm so much better than you," attitudes? Pffft!!!

;)

Assuming the computer/ AI is purely technological (no magical components), and that the ghost is purely supernatural, I'd have to give it to the ghost.

The reason being is that technology is scientific, and science follows laws. Supernatural things are what break those laws, so they have a distinct advantage.

Magic > Science

Does anyone else think it's a little weird that Navasi kinda stole the identity of her dead lover? When the real Navasi died, she copied her hair, personality, name, and one eye.

I know everyone comes to grieve in their own way, but is that what's going on, or is this assumption of identity normal on Absalom Station?

If it isn't normal, would "Navasi" begin to acquire a collection of fallen companions traits? Sort of totemic-like? If so, will she be calling on her different "personalities" for different situations, like if she needs to be in charge and charismatic, then she's Navasi. If she needs to be in the gunner's seat during ship combat (and something unfortunate has happened to Obozaya) then she's sees herself as a vesk with knowledge of heavy weapons.

...A gate to another plane might not work in an accelerated frame of reference for example, so if a spaceship moves, it loses its connection to the plane of fire and an new one needs to be established...

Since Golarion did move around its solar system, and there were Gates on Golarion, it isn't too unreasonable to assume that a Gate on a moving ship would stay with the ship. At least it should be possible to tie a Gate to something physical (like a doorway, or some other object) that would keep it with the ship.

Magic kinda solves the problem of needing energy to power things, doesn't it? Think about it, how long does a sword of thunder stay magical? Say a word, and you've immediately got an unlimited, constant supply of electricity. Sure, this might not be enough to charge a rail gun to fire multiple shots each round, but after thousands of years of refining the process, why wouldn't there be a magical solution to the problem of limited resources?

I've heard that no one will go to wizard college for years to learn how to cast light since anyone can go out, and buy a flashlight. However, light is a cantrip, and you could cast it as often as you wanted. What about prestidigitation? That spell is extremely useful if you're creative enough! No more having to do laundry, your food & drink is always hot/cold, and all the thousands of little things you can do with it (using enough creativity) without using any kind of resources.

All of this is thinking that only going to "wizard college" can give you access to it, but that was back in the days of Old Golarion. Look at how much our world has changed just from having decent public education. Kids are being taught in elementary school things that would be considered advanced science and math 1,000 years ago, and Starfinder is set multiple 1,000's of years into its future. Add in wizardly magic to the public school's curriculum, and you've got a society that churns out mid level wizards by the time they're ready to join the workforce.

Think about what would happen in our world if we had a device that had a functionally limitless supply of light (like an everburning torch). Sure it takes years of study to be able to create something like that, but eventually, with the permanency spell, or just the creation of certain magic items, any technological item we have today could have a magical component that eliminates the need for batteries or fuel; just power it with magic. Have an electric car? Stick that thundering longsword in the battery slot, and drive forever!

Even if a magic item eventually runs out of power, how long would that take? A lot of spells have a duration of "permanent" so how long is that really? How long does a +1 sword of thunder stay powered? If I recall, most found magical items are already 1,000's of years old (that's some of the baggage of having a magical world with super ancient magic: permanent tends to be PERMANENT).

What do you think?

Please tell me that, even though they aren't listed here, there are rules for ramming.