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I think the point is, they wanted to do a sandbox, improvisational style game. If they were doing an adventure path, the GM would have to prep CERTAIN maps, encounters, etc. The GM would have to read the AP carefully so as to not miss anything. They wanted to rely on the GM's ability to fly by the seat of the pants, instead. It is a valid method of game play.
Still makes you wonder what happens when a bantrid loses a "leg." The Wound crit effect does it. I also happen to know, to my dismay, that there's at least one enemy in a Starfinder Society scenario that has an attack that requires a Fortitude save to avoid getting a limb destroyed.
Oh man: "...ended up in the claws of an Absalom Station pawnbroker." THAT GUY.
*facepalm* I think I need an exocortex for my reading comprehension. No, the exocortex does not take up an augmentation slot.
I played a dwarf from Salvation's End who, probably understandably, was extremely annoyed with the fact that the copaxi were lying to their people. She and one other voted against Protectorate status, but we were overruled.
Well, it takes 24 checkboxes to get a Nufriend and there haven't been 24 scenarios released since Skitter Shot, so the only people with skittermanders right now are people who GM, who generally also have a number of other race boons that they also want to try out, or people who only started playing since Skitter Shot, who have been burning through the pre-SS backlog. For example, I am not going to have mine until Halloween (GMing Cries from the Drift that night), and I have been both playing and GMing. I suspect that we'll see a lot more skitters fairly soon. The point is that Paizo pretty clearly doesn't want to put race boons on repeatable content.
Still makes you wonder what happens when a bantrid loses a "leg." A chunk of its pearl gets blown off and it's all wobbly, suffering exactly the same penalty as if a human lost a leg.
It takes up a slot. It actually specifies that you can also add a datajack if you install it in your brain, which implies that it is an exception to the rule of only having one augmentation in each slot.
I think that they effectively have two "legs" (each representing a bunch of tiny limbs) for game purposes. If they take a severe wound to the legs, then they are crippled just like a two-legged person (maybe several of the centipede legs are severed, hobbling them), and it assures that, while the specifics of leg augmentations might be different, mechanically they still only have the same number of slots.
Archives of Nethys. No, look at the two highest level shout projectors (in the book, not online). They have Stun instead of Nonlethal. Oooh. Good to know. My book is at home. 4 slots??? ...I wonder if I could convince a GM to let me get two Weaponized Prosthesises and put my arms together to use the 4-slot integrated weapons. :D
AoN? I think you're conflating the Shock Pad and the Shout Projector. The Shock Pads are all Stun weapons, but the Shout Projectors are always Nonlethal. Shock Pads are 1 integrated slot and Shout Projectors are 2.
I have been planning a Shock & Awe Soldier, and the Shout Projector is going to get a lot of use from me, I think. Nonlethal damage, but it's Explode, so there aren't concerns of actually hitting, and the Demoralize crit effect really goes well with Shock & Awe. Plus, you can install it in a weaponized prosthesis, which basically makes you a walking boombox. Just have to make sure to have options when nonlethal damage won't work.
Unlimited Skittermanders with UNLIMITED POWER!
True enough. In the Ramayana, Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) kills 14,000 full hordes of demons in an hour. Really, what does it matter if he uses his bow or a Capitol-Class Unstable Particle Howitzer? The demons are still pretty dead. The outer planes have always been about mortal perception. Back in the Planescape days, entire cities could be absorbed by one plane or another based on the balance of beliefs, and the afterlife for any individual can be based on their own subconscious beliefs.
There is already a boon that lets you start at 2nd level. Next issue?
You can run or play Skitter Shot as many times as you want. You just don't get credit for it. You don't NEED credit for Skitter Shot more than twice anyway (once for GMing, once for playing, once for your skittermander, once for the +2 stat buff). The boon is too good to just keep giving out.
I think that the planes evolve because creatures that die end up there, bringing their knowledge of technology and culture with them. I think that the afterlife is somewhat behind the technology curve because it has to wait for creatures to pass on in order to get the seeds of the ideas of new tech to grow into eternal concepts. I see this as a potentially fun plot device; heaven, the abyss, and hell might all be at odds trying to find the soul of a mortal who created a powerful new weapon, or a new way to store energy, or whatnot.
The Profession rules are for PC adventurers and don't accurately resemble what a true full-time professional would make. Remember that the PCs can go off on months-long expeditions to deserted xeno ruins and come back with no penalty, meaning that they're most likely freelance contractors rather than mainline employees. If PCs made NPC money, then why would they go adventuring? The PCs' main source of income should be knocking over bad guys, taking their stuff, and getting paid lump sums by grateful planetary governors.
I'm saying that biotech and cybernetic prosthetics are identical, insofar as what you can install in them. You were trying to make the argument that biotech cybernetic arms were "natural" and could therefore be argued to be valid recipients of augmentations. They are NOT natural, however, just because they were genetically tailored to the user. They are themselves augmentations. Ultimately it is your GM's call, but for things like Society play, the augmentation enhancements have no other abilities than what is specifically listed. In the case of cybernetic arms, you get an extra hand or hands to hold stuff. That's it. It's still REALLY good, but at this time you can't use it to double your number of arm and hand implants.
You got me thinking (dual)cybernetic arms say they count as a "full arm" ... but prosthesis or normal? can i combine it with normal augments (the text at the beginning of augments seems to imply it) ...or alternatively can i pay to combine it with a different prosthetic arm (like the stabilizer) ....and also what if they where made with adaptive biochains? Really are natural arms then, but would they count as such? The "full arm" bit is flavor text. The Cybernetic Arms let you hold extra hands worth of equipment. That's it. You don't get extra augmentations on top of that, because they are, in fact, augmentations themselves. Even if you used Adaptive Biochains to turn them into biotech, it doesn't mean that they are "natural." You can't even install cybernetics in a biotech prosthetic limb unless the description specifically says so.
If I were feeling like being especially mean, I'd treat prolonged life onboard a spaceship without proper recreational opportunities as a Mental Disease. Call it "Space Sickness" or "Stir Crazy". I'd probably replace the comatose and dead states with states of periodic and constant confusion, which on a spaceship would be even worse.
I believe that Thursty and Owen ruled that, for Starfinder Society, you could get essentially any destroyed organ replaced for the same cost as an arm or leg prosthetic, i.e. 100 credits, or 110 credits for a biotech version with Adaptive Biochains. The replacement has no other capability other than to replace the workings of your natural organ... so a replaced eye would only have darkvision if you had darkvision naturally. It also counts as your augmentation for that slot, so there is an incentive to upgrade or shell out for a regeneration spell or table.
"Uplifted Bear: A Little Too Good?" I don't understand. I mean, I know what each of those words means. But they don't make sense when strung together like that. Bears can never be "too good." Because bears are The Best. Objectively. Q.E.D.
I'm pretty sure it's just supposed to mean that you start with three missions worth of credit in addition to your starting jive.
In six thousand more years, their breath weapon will be acid. They're Time Dragons! Time is ever changing! They drag on over time!
701 (Vesk Armor Storm Soldier 7) - Called Throwing Opportunistic Holy Yellow Star Nova Lance, Mighty Vesk Fists (of the Natural Attacks AND Hammer Fist variety)
I realized fairly quickly that the Copaxi were basically the Quarians from Mass Effect. No biotics/wizards
And they have ruined their planet because of all this conflict, while the Quarians just lost their planet to the Geth.
It is a roleplaying item with roleplaying usages. You have it because you want the roleplaying benefits. Haven't you ever seen a holodeck episode of Star Trek? The Cosmic Crit podcast did an entire special episode about their recreation suite. If all you care about is mechanical benefits, they put it in basic ships like the Sunrise Maiden so that you can replace it with something else built to order, like a medical bay.
It depends on interpretation, but that looks like they can't make a melee attack at the end of the charge/bull rush. The Armor Storm ability is technically an unarmed or Hammer Fist attack at the end of the movement...unless you rule that the punching is sequenced after the bull rush and thus is not affected by the rule in Rolling Charge. I definitely like the idea though, and it super works with the Stellar Rush fire damage effect, no questions asked. I'm now imagining a Bolida Envoy Duck Under build that is just Repositions, all day long.
Also, a mechanic with the correct trick can turn a pile of laser pistols into a pile of grenades, and is the bombard soldier's best friend.
I would postulate that crafting is actually extremely important. If you're out of touch on a far-off world in the Vast, you're not likely to have access to Uncle Altronus's Ship Stop and Gunnery Shop. Using UPBs and repurposing 10% of your gear to make other stuff is how you get new equipment when you are incommunicado.
Not a Solarian, but as an Armor Storm Soldier, I have: Thermal Capacitor: Fire and Cold resistance are great; helpful because you didn't take Solar Armor. This is the slot that I am using my 50% off upgrades in, because those capacitors go up in cost pretty dramatically and are always useful. Electrostatic Generator: As you know, Electricity resistance and some thorns damage is very nice. Plus, if you have both the Thermal Capacitor and this, you're practically immune to Plasma weapons. Thrower Arms: This won't apply as much to you unless you keep a throwing weapon handy, but for me, with my Called Thrown Opportunistic Holy Yellow Star Nova Lance, the arms are invaluable for doubling the range increment on my only ranged attack. I recently got the Darkvision Capacitors augmentation so I could replace my Infrared Sensors with the Thrower Arms.
Please don't post spoilers for SFS Chronicle sheets in an open forum. This needs to be in the GM Discussion forum, or the Starfinder Society forum under spoiler tags. The question you're asking has been answered, though not conclusively To the current date, Spoiler: You may create a Halfling and then apply the +2 to a stat of 14 or below with your player and GM boons. Until ruled otherwise by Thursty, it is legal.
Also, remember that in November the legacy races will be legal to play without boons.
I don't have the book in front of me but I'm pretty sure that the advanced prosthetic stuff functions as a basic prosthetic, but isn't. The items that can be installed in a prosthetic limb call it out specifically by name as being compatible; even though the advanced items function as the basic item, since they don't have the same name, they aren't compatible in the same slot. The intent of the rules is pretty clear that you shouldn't have two items that have unique effects in the same slot (without a specific bonus ability like the Verthani racial or the Biotechnician level 12 theme bonus).
Something I'm curious about, for all of those who are saying the Stamina system allowed them to adventure longer without a healer, how many groups had an Envoy aka Stamina healer? I play Starfinder Society, and my group is never set. I love it when we do have an Envoy, but we pulled a dungeon crawl the other day with two soldiers, a technomancer, and an operative. No healers of any sort. That is not an unusual state of affairs in SFS. Also, not all Envoys are able to heal Stamina; they have to take a particular improvisation.
You don't get spells, resolve points, or most other things back. In fact you lose a Resolve point to get the Stamina back, which makes travelling on MORE dangerous: Resolve is what you use to stabilize from the Dying condition! It's actually a fairly good example of what you claim to want, a risk/reward system, because you can continue on, but you might run out of resolve in a tough fight and die. I've seen it happen. It also doesn't do anything for all of the poisons, diseases, and conditions that are the real threats in Starfinder. The stamina system is just a disingenuous way of letting the party have 5 min work days. "5 minute work day" doesn't mean what you think it means. It becomes extremely difficult to have attrition in your game with stamina systems, which in turn guts the game of a very strategic and gratifying part of the challenges, many traps and hazards will become meaningless, imagine trying to GM a Dark Sun game. My guess is that you haven't run into a trap in Starfinder yet. Every one I've seen does a ridiculous amount of damage and are intended to cut right through your Stamina and into your hit points. Regardless, even if it only hits your stamina, you're taking a risk moving on without spending a resolve point. Also there is a reason why hit points alone have been the way 95% of RPGs have handled the game, Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, stamina, the skill to turn a powerful strike into a lesser powerful strike, the will to live, and luck. So yes hit points are abstract, they have served the hobby well for many years "Don't change it, it's the way we've done it forever." That's about the WORST reason not to change something. Just because most systems were too lazy to come up with a better system, you don't want to change? And to be clear, Hit Points still exist with the Stamina system, it's just a slightly greater abstraction. With all the crunch of Pathfinder, you'd think that tracking two linear pools of health wouldn't be that big a deal. we also have temp hp, that can simulate stamina also. You're willing to simulate Stamina but not have Stamina? This isn't making any sense.
I'd like an explode weapon at the least.
I bet your healer felt like a champ after that. Not to mention that you didn't need everything they had left to heal you going into the final battle, because you got your stamina back from a rest. Great story, and a great illustration of the point here. There should be viable paths towards every problem, including healing issues.
I’m fine with a “hit point replenishment pool” type of mechanic, but I am not a fan of stamina (at least as presented in Starfinder). In that implementation, each character has FAR too many hit points, to the point that it get harder and harder to meaningfully challenge characters after about fourth or fifth level. That's just a matter of tweaking the exact numbers. PF2.0 doesn't have to have as high a stamina + hit point total as high as Starfinder. As I said earlier, though I did a Subtier 5-6 adventure for Starfinder Society where a dinosaur was hitting us for 35 per hit and my vesk soldier was out of Stamina and into hit points after 2 rounds... and that is WITH a second vesk soldier helping to tank. Believe me, Stamina isn't the shield some people think it is. What it did do is make it so that I just needed two mk. 1 healing serums after the fight instead of using all of the healing in the party and still moving on injured. 5th level is where damage starts ramping way up, too, to compensate for resistances and damage reduction. Society adventures are a little odd because they have to be written for a range of levels, while the APs know pretty well where the PCs will be, and a GM doing homebrew will know EXACTLY where they are, and be able to modify the encounter to issue a true threat.
With the Venom spur there is no language to indicate if it is a unarmed(or natural weapon) or a normal(integrated) weapon ...one would think its one or the other at least If it doesn't say either way, then it is neither. It gains no bonuses related to being a weapon. It also doesn't require proficiency. now as far as the polyhand i was leaning no until i realized they added weapons that are tools in the armory book (only one or two would actually work on the hand due to the polyhand's tool size limitation){welder 2d4 fire melee profession contractor)....whether or not you can turn the polyhand into that is more a matter of GM discretion(and not a stretch)...and at least in that form it would seem a worthy candidate for a fusion seal .... Keep in mind that a fusion seal must be in place for 24 hours before it works, and could fall off the moment the hand stopped being a weapon, depending on GM's interpretation.
The next level of Battle Glove is at 10th, and it has a pretty good progression after that, but I can't help but think that there was an intermediate level 5 or 6 glove that hit the cutting room floor. My Armor Storm vesk is going to pick up Improved Unarmed Strike at 8th level because going from 1d4 to 2d6 (plus the improved specialization) is a huge boost. I'll end up switching back and forth between unarmed and Hammer Fist a couple of times, depending on the level.
Actually the Armor Storm's Hammer Fist would essentially be garbage compared to any basic weapon you could get at that level. You'd need to be 18th level before it upgrades at all from 1d4, at which point you'd generally be rolling a handful of dice for damage with basically anything else. I was really hoping that Armory would have some intermediate level Battle Gloves, but no such luck.
Is there an official statement to that effect for Society play? There doesn't need to be a specific rule for Society play. Weapons are weapons. Armor is armor. Weapon fusions go on weapons. Armor is not a weapon, therefore armor cannot have weapon fusions. Augmentations are not weapons, unless they integrate weapons from the weapon list. Therefore augmentations cannot have weapon fusions. Not everything that does damage is a weapon, otherwise you would be able to slap a weapon fusion on a magic missile.
1) Yes, making casters more powerful is a solid option. If you read the boards, a lot of caster players are complaining that their spells have been nerfed so badly that they cannot make meaningful contributions in combat. This causes the battles to linger on and increases the chances of monsters hitting and depleting hit points. Its just another version of the 15 minute workday where the casters burn all their spells and the martials are damaged so much that the party has to constantly rest. Placing the band aid of stamina will not solve this issue. The issue is party efficiency. IF the party cannot deal with multiple encounters because caster spells are too OP... Ideally the martials and the casters can contribute approximately the same amount each, based on their roles. Ideally, you wouldn't even need a caster, honestly. The problem is that, historically casters have contributed considerably MORE to combat because they just spam all their best spells right away and then want to rest after two fights; since they are such a tremendous resource, the prospect of going on without their juice is not tempting. This is a resource management problem as much as it is a gameplay problem, but apparently asking caster players to not blow their loads like a kid with a pocket full of quarters at the video arcade is going to be too much to ask. No wonder the spells got nerfed. Stamina absolutely solves a good percentage of the 15-minute work day problem, because that's half the party's health the healer doesn't have to sit around healing after the fight (saving the healer's spells) so the martials can get in there and mix it up with more attacks, which don't expend considerable daily resources. I'm not sure how this is controversial. 2) Improving defenses only draws out combats when both sides have access to the same defenses. Improving defenses drags out combats because the martials are defending, not attacking. Your supposition only applies if you assume that the martials can't provide a meaningful amount of damage in the fight with their three actions. It has nothing to do with monsters with shields. 3) Temp hit points are much better than stamina if they are used correctly. Create a spell or better yet a feat that buffs recipients with temp hit points and call it Fortifying magic. Whenever a caster provides himself or an ally with a beneficial spell he bestows 1D6 temporary hit points per spell level on the target(s). Once a recipient has temporary hit points they are bolstered against additional temporary hit points equal to or less than their current temporary hit point total. Temporary hit points are exhausted when used or at the end of the encounter and cannot be regained with healing magic or any effect that restores hit points. An extra HP pool by any other name is still an extra HP pool. Stamina isn't that hard to keep track of. You can't say that you're against the added complexity and then create a whole extra system of extra magic that has to compete with all the other spells that the healer has to be slinging to keep up with the martials being nerfed by their relegation to meat shields for the casters. Can't you see how the solution to the 15 minute work day CAN NOT be "more spells?" 4) Martials have to allow casters to play in the combat sandbox too, especially if they want to play in other sandboxes of social, exploration and downtime activity. They cannot exclusively hog combat and then demand to have equality in all other fields. If you want extreme balance in other areas you have to give up dominance in combat. Its really not a complicated issue to understand. ...can't everybody contribute in every situation? Casters have historically been so dominant for so long in EVERY situation that I can't even conceive of martials having to be generous with "allowing" casters to participate in combat. Like, I just don't get it at all. It would be nice if they manage to work out the cantrip system so that there are abilities good enough for casters to use that don't waste daily resources, but I fear that many caster players will never use their unlimited resources if there are slightly more optimized limited resources available, and of course want to rest the moment those limited resources are half expended.
Powered armor would certainly count as a weapons for the purposes of fusions I would think. Powered armor is not a weapon. It is armor. The damage it does replaces your unarmed attack, which is a basic weapon that doesn't have a level (and thus can't receive fusions). Weapons can be mounted on power armor, or even integrated into armor slots in light or heavy armor, and THOSE can have fusions, but the armor itself cannot. Mind you, this is rules as written and for Society play. House rules and homebrew, well, go nuts.
Mystics can't do it, which led to one earlier in the thread complaining about how she couldn't use her heals very often. In my significant experience with Starfinder Society (which is pointedly not as dangerous as regular play, generally), you get clocked into hit point damage reasonably often. At 5th level I got bit by a dinosaur for about 35 damage... twice. When we were playing AP1, by the final encounter, we were being held together by duct tape and bailing wire, even with a dedicated healer... not to mention the two deaths from the BBEG. I think that any complaint that mystics not being able to heal as much as they want to be based on a small sample size... and also somewhat misguided, because GODS FORBID healers should have options for what to do other than buff out small dents in the tank's health. Clerics should absolutely not be able to heal both, at least not with the same spell; be wise about your spell usage and don't overheal.That's two spells to do the same thing and juggling to avoid overdoing it becausae you have two pools that don't overlap instead of one. That's a lot of extra complexity that isn't needed here. You have a point. Better to not let clerics heal Stamina at all. Worst case: the Stamina comes back with a rest. Best case: the Bard tops them off.
Nitpick: SFS limits your purchases to Level+1 from the CRB, Level+0 for supplements other than the CRB, and Level+2 for any item found on a Chronicle sheet from one of the SFS adventures.
I believe that after playing Starfinder , that Stamina is a more elegant and simple fix than hitdice, or short rests... Actually, there is a significant difference. 4E D&D used one health pool and healing surges that you could activate on a short rest, and Pathfinder players didn't seem to like it. Starfinder's Stamina system using two pools with different healing conditions is a feature, not a bug. It means that Envoys get to use their Stamina heal once per person per ten minute rest so that the Mystics don't feel obligated to blow their per-day spells if someone just gets scratched up by a feral cat. Clerics should absolutely not be able to heal both, at least not with the same spell; be wise about your spell usage and don't overheal. Bards should be the ones who heal Stamina with a rousing song or words of encouragement. Alchemists may be able to sling either a healing potion or a pot of potent black coffee, but while one would heal Hit Points and the other heal Stamina, one concoction should only do one or the other. I could see Barbarians regenerating Stamina during a Rage, but definitely not Hit Points. There's a lot you can do with it, really.
Wouldn't help Operatives much, either, since Trick Attack is part of a Full Action. I'm not sure why such a feat would be necessary. There's already a feat to add half your BAB to your damage; it's called Deadly Aim. That's almost as much damage as you're suggesting.
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