Farlanghn's page

Are we going to see Tieflings in this book? I would love to see some space tieflings added to the Starfinder universe.

Don't forget Uncanny Shooter. Pistol shooting while in Melee combat is a must.

Farlanghn wrote:

Redelia wrote:

4. The grey moral tone of the world. Sorry, but Eox should not be a Pact World, it should be the main enemy. Undead are evil, except in extraordinary circumstances, and then only for individual undead. Any character worth playing is going to smite undead on sight.

Ummm, That's racist.

Please don't belittle important real world issues by such flippant comparisons.

It's not when you think about what you are saying. You are instinctively thinking that Eoxians are evil because of who they are and that is the same thing the silver flame did to the shifters in Eberron. They wiped out thousands. Women and children, it didn't matter because of who they were. If that is how you want to play that is fine. But I for one, do not believe the sins of the father are the sins of the son.

If you do make them evil then all the Vesk should be evil only too. They did try to take over the galaxy and all.

4. The grey moral tone of the world. Sorry, but Eox should not be a Pact World, it should be the main enemy. Undead are evil, except in extraordinary circumstances, and then only for individual undead. Any character worth playing is going to smite undead on sight.

Ummm, That's racist.

Ick, so starfinder uses the "npcs are different from players" shortcut? That's a turn off for me both as a player and a gm, though I can understand why people would be alright with it. For me, it is really immersion breaking.

You gotta admit that coming to the realization that you can't be anything you want to be is probably the most immersive thing about this game. Sometimes the cards are against you. Do the players rise against the problem or do they say, "Man this ain't fair! How is that Solarian shooting a ranged energy blast at my EAC!? When do I get to unlock that? ...What??? Only he gets that? Alright man I quit. Take over the planet and keep this ship. I don't care."

Meta-Thinking is the definition of "immersion breaking".

The Starfinder NPC creation rules bug me as well. The fact that NPCs will generally have better attack rolls and skills (but fewer special abilities) would still make some players rather play an NPC.

How many special abilities should a grunt have when you are going to kill it in 1-4 rounds? You could give an NPC any amount of abilities you want but that doesn't mean they are going to use them all.

Farlanghn wrote:

Wrath wrote:

But, when the guys in the first encounter are rolling at +6 to hit and adding numbers to their gun damage when only my best player combatant can hope to hit with those numbers and still can't add damage to the guns.....well that doesn't fly with my players.

You let your players know what bonuses the enemies have?

I roll open dice, and my players can do math.

For someone who mentions immersion as much as you do, it seems like rolling out in the open is a pretty big immersion breaker. But that's just me. Do you also let your players role their own Stealth checks too?

But, when the guys in the first encounter are rolling at +6 to hit and adding numbers to their gun damage when only my best player combatant can hope to hit with those numbers and still can't add damage to the guns.....well that doesn't fly with my players.

You let your players know what bonuses the enemies have?

OP: Thanks, interesting points. I’m not sure why the responses are so defensive. Different folks can like different systems, and there’s no point in trying to argue taste.

Well know your audience. I mean if I walk in a Red Sox bar and start saying, "I am not a fan of baseball because of how slow it is and and I like soccer way better." I might get some double takes. Maybe someone says, "Well what about this aspect?" I wouldn't call that "defensive" but more confused of why come here and to start this discussion?

I think that's why everyone jumped to the easiest thing to counter which is the complaint about classes. 15 year old game vs 6 month old game.

Honestly, I could very much continue. This list is probably only 60-70% of what caused us to stop playing (don't get me started on ship combat). But I'm not here to do a full review of Starfinder. This list is just the top issues my group had with the game. I wrote it in the hope that maybe other people having these issues can see they're not alone, and to voice the issues that my tabletop friends and I had.

I read your lengthy post and I am wondering what you were trying to convey. I mean you posted this in General Discussion. So was your question, who else on the Starfinder threads agrees with your points? We're you looking for clarification on anything? Or was this just a complaint thread?

Or be a Solarian and have your Solar Weapon cover your fists. You can do this since it says you can form the Solar Weapon into any form you want as long as it doesn't change the mechanics. Even having it cover multiple limbs since it doesn't change gameplay.

^I would NOT call the Race Points system of Pathfinder solid . . . .

Well actually it is pretty solid. After reading and comparing the books for a couple months I came up with a conversion guide that I posted on reddit. It's not a science but I think it's pretty close. Check it out here, Conversion Guide.

So I have spent a lot of time in the past couple months studying the books and I wrote down some guidelines I put on my website. Disclaimer! I could be completely off on all of these. But this is just what I use and it has been working.

On p. 142 on the Alien Archive it states vision should be a free bonus. BUT it should tie into the race. So what I have done is referenced the creature type grafts on p.132. For Example: Outsiders get Darkvision 60ft. while Shirren types would get blind sense.

What Abilities to give and how many to give? I used these links below for reference. They are pathfinder stats but I feel “most” transfer over well.
example races

example traits
From what I have come up with, most abilities cost 2RP. Unless it is something like flight or something weaker. Like a 0lvl spell should be like 1 RP(depends). The key is to compare A LOT!
Vision (0 RP).
+2 to skills count as 2 RP.
If they have a penalty -2 RP.
If the race has 4HP that counts as the standard (0 RP). If they have 2HP (-2 RP). If they have 6HP (+2 RP).
I believe most races hover around 8 RP average.
EXAMPLES
Android: +constructed (3 RP), +2 Skill (2 RP), upgrade slot (2 RP)
Dragonkin: HP6 (2 RP), +2 saves (2 RP), Flight (4 RP) Partner bond (1 RP), Breath weapon (2 RP)
Human: Bonus feat (4 RP) Skills (4 RP).
Ryphorians: Resistances (2 RP), +2 Skill (2 RP), Bonus feat (4 RP)
Vesk: HP6 (2 RP), natural weapon (2 RP), Bonus AC (2 RP), +2 resist (2 RP)
Ysoki: HP2 (-2 RP), cheek pouches (2 RP), Moxie (2 RP), +2 Skills (6 RP)
Total average for all these is 8 RP.

For example here is a Tiefling I homebrew for my wife in my game.
Ability Score Racial Traits: Tieflings are quick in body and mind, but are inherently strange and unnerving. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, and –2 Charisma.
Hit Points: 4
Type: Tieflings are outsiders with the native subtype.
Size: Tieflings are Medium creatures.
Speed: Tieflings have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Tieflings can see perfectly in the dark for up to 60 feet.
Languages: Tieflings begin play speaking Common and either Abyssal or Infernal.
Skilled: Tieflings gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Stealth checks. (4 RP)
Fiendish Resistance: Tieflings have a natural resistance to certain energies: cold resistance 2, electricity resistance 2, and fire resistance 2. (3 RP) (This is only slightly better than damage resist +5 and only slightly better than Ryphorians +2/+2.)
Prehensile Tail: Tieflings have long flexible tails that can be used to carry items. While they cannot wield weapons with their tails, they can use them to retrieve small, stowed objects carried on their persons as a free action. (2 RP)
Alternate Racial Traits:
Fiendish Wings: A Tiefling may gain bat-like wings and gain a flight speed of 30 feet with average maneuverability. Until a Tiefling is 5th level, they must end their movement on the ground at the end of each turn or fall. Gaining wings replace prehensile tail and +2 in stealth checks. (4 RP)
Total RP: 9

I also homebrewed the Shifters from Eberron for my campaign. They are kind of like Aisha Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star with a hint of Predator race. They have already appeared once but the party ran from them.

1) Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.
2) Towel.

For the Sunbolt power: does using Solarian weapon crystals only allow you to change the damage type of the power, or does it also provide the weapon crystal damage bonus? (I'm leaning toward that latter answer for my game, since it makes the power more useful at the higher levels where it comes into play, but again the CRB is a bit ambiguous.)

What the text says,

It says you can switch the type of damage to the type of the Solarian Crystal. Issue is in the core rule book Solarain crystals only have a Fire type. So it should say, If you have a Weapon Fusion attached to your Solarian crystal and that weapon fusion adds a different type to your Solarian Weapon you can use that type instead of fire damage.

I praise Paizo for making Starfinder but I feel the book needed to be beta tested a little more. We are barely getting FAQs which is a little frustrating. Of course just my opinion.

Even going the Mystic route would be good. Thinking of Tetsuo from Akira because of the Mind Thrust they get. Plus abilities like Share Pain and Explode Head for going Mindbreaker. Then you have spells like Hurl Forcedisk (that bounces dealing more damage) or Psychokinetic Strangulation (darth vader) which are pretty much crazy psychic kid material.

Anyway, that's just how I read the request. I'm just trying to explain where I'm coming from, not argue that I'm right.

Ooops, My bad. I was thinking Tengu and Not Birdman from Rick and Morty **Foot/Mouth**

To me they are hybid classes because they are 3/4 BAB, and can do respectable damage on par with may classes by only investing 2 feats. Also they have skill focused features that a cater focused character traditionally doesn't have.

Did you ever wonder why they made them this way? When reading the book there are a lot of differences and when I read something that is vastly different I tend to sit back and wonder, "Why did they do that?"

I kind of view these spell casters as an evolution of the wizard and sorcerer. I think technology has kind of killed the typically wizard who spends years in magic school trying to learn that light spell. "Here's a flashlight!"
Here is an example of jobs that no longer exist because of technology. 10 extinct jobs. I see the old Wizard as a lamp lighter essentially.

I think having too low of a BAB could limit you in combat. Lasers seem pretty easy to use. Like if you sat down and built a Mystic you could build 7 vastly different characters. With the Technomancer you could build slightly less. That's at least 10 different casters out of only 2 classes.

Like you could build a psionic, druid, mage knight or even The Green Lantern! To me it seems just a little strange to build another class that is limited.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j462/PaladinDemo/IMG_20171115_220730686 .jpg

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So I clicked on these links on my laptop and they don't work but I sure got a lot of pop ups.

Pinterest Starfinder board

I have always been a fan of Lycanthropes. Favorite movie monster. I always wanted to play one when I was playing d&d but could never because of that power spike. But when Wizards released Eberron and I saw the shifter I was hooked. It is my favorite race!

Seeing the recent discussion about Lycanthropes being extinct or not I thought it would be a good time to convert the race to Starfinder. The shifter is kind of an evolution of the lycanthropes and I think they could have a good role in the galaxy. I see them as kind of a predator race. At the end of certain pieces I put a Reasoning section. I feel when homebrewing things you need to explain certain changes which helps answer questions before they are asked. Let's jump into it.

Shifter:
Ability Scores:
+2 Dex
+2 Wis
-2 Int
HP: 4
Skills: Shifters are naturally athletic and receive a +2 Athletics checks.
Vision: Low-light
Land Speed: 30ft

Ability Score Reasoning:
Shifters in D&D had a level adjustment of +0. They had this because their attributes were +2 Dex, -2 Int, and -2 Cha. Combing the internet and threads for already converted Shifters from D&D to Pathfinder it is pretty clear people think they should keep the +2/+2/-2 format. I went for the -2 to Int instead of a -2 to Cha because I looked at the skills in the game and I see them as less techie and more able to be more leaders in a pack if they went the Envoy/Solarian routes.

In General:
A shifters can tap into their lycanthropic heritage to gain short bursts of physical power. Once per day, a shifter can enter a state that is superficially similar to a barbarian’s rage. Each shifter has one of four shifter traits—characteristics that manifest themselves when a character is shifting. Each shifter trait typically provides a +2 bonus to one of the character’s physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) and grants some other advantage as well. Shifter traits are described in the following section.

Shifting is a move action and lasts for a number of rounds equal to 4 + the shifter’s Constitution modifier which starts counting down following the round in which you shift. (Temporary increases to Constitution do not increase the total number of rounds that a shifter can shift. Doing this for balance.) A shifter can take feats to improve this ability. Every shifter feat a character takes increases the duration of his shifting by 1 round. For every two shifter feats a character takes, the number of times per day they can tap into the ability increases by one. So, a character with two shifter feats can shift two times per day (instead of the usual one), and each use of the ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to 6 (instead of 4) + the shifter’s Con modifier.

Shifting, though related to and developed from lycanthropy, is neither an affliction nor a curse. It is not passed on by bite or claw attacks, and a shifter can’t be cured—shifting is a natural ability for the race.

Reasoning: I made it a move action to shift because I think it helps balance the class. Their is a feat below that lets you shift as a free action. I also upped the rounds slightly since Starfinder is a point buy system.

Shifter Traits:
Each shifter has one of the following special traits, which is selected when a character is created and cannot be changed thereafter.

Beasthide:
While shifting, a beasthide shifter gains a +2 bonus to Constitution and natural armor that provides a +1 bonus to EAC and +2 bonus to KAC.

In addition, They also gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against poisons, spells, and spell-like abilities even while not shifting.

Trait Reasoning: I decided to go with a +1/+2 AC bonus because I wanted the race to still have hmph compared to other races that have a consistent +1/+1.

Dreamsight:
The dreamsight trait is the rarest of all shifter traits, and many dreamsight shifters become Mystics within shifter communities. Unlike other shifter traits, which increase a shifter’s physical abilities, the dreamsight trait sharpens a shifter’s instincts and awareness. While shifting, a dreamsight shifter temporarily gains a +2 bonus to Wisdom and gains the ability to communicate with animals as if under the effect of a speak with animals spell (listed on page 89 in the core rule book).

In addition, the shifter gains a +2 bonus on Perception checks, even while not shifting.

Gorebrute:
While shifting, a gorebrute shifter temporarily gains a +2 bonus to Strength and manifests powerful horns that can be used as a natural weapon, but only during a charge attack. (The horns are too awkward to use as a natural weapon in any circumstance other than a charge.) If a gorebrute shifter uses his horns in a charge attack, the horns function as a natural weapon, dealing 2d6 points of damage (plus an extra 1 point for shifter feat the character has). A gorebrute shifter can’t combine a charge attack with his horns with any other attack, even if he has the ability to make more than one attack as part of a charge (such as from the Solarian's Stellar Rush ability). In addition Gorebrutes also get a +2 to grapple due to their increased strength in shifter form.

Gorebrutes naturally exude a strong presence wherever they go and in turn receive a +2 to Intimidate checks.

Wildhunt:
While shifting, a wildhunt shifter temporarily gains a +2 bonus to Dexterity, a bonus of +10 feet to their base land speed and the scent ability. This ability allows the shifter to detect approaching creatures, sniff out hidden creatures, and track by sense of smell. A wildhunt shifter can identify familiar odors just as a human does familiar sights.

A wildhunt shifter can detect creatures within 30 feet by sense of smell. If the creature is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at triple normal range. These stronger scents block other scents, so they can sometimes be used to confuse or hamper this shifter trait. When a wildhunt shifter detects a scent, the exact location of the source isn’t revealed—only its presence somewhere within range. The shifter can take a move action to note the direction of the scent. Whenever the shifter comes within 5 feet of the source, he pinpoints the source’s location.

While shifting, a wildhunt shifter can follow tracks by smell, making Survival checks to find or follow a trail. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10 (regardless of the surface that holds the scent). This DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures producing the odor, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail grows cold, the DC increases by 2. Shifters tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.

When not shifting, a wildhunt shifter gains a +2 bonus on Survival checks due to the lingering effects of the scent ability.

Trait Reasoning: There were a couple reasons behind the Wildhunt change. One of the main reasons is this trait was made to Hunt! Plus the Fleet feat gives you a +10 move speed and it would be redundant to mirror a whole trait after a single feat. Thus the change. Chalk it down to many years of shifter evolution.

4 Trait Reasoning: I only focused on 4 traits. Will most likely look at the others but since there is limited classes already it wanted to give these four a focused role. Especially since I combined and changed a few of these. You could always add in more if you want.

FEATS:
DREAMSIGHT ELITE
Your dreamsight shifter trait improves.
Prerequisite: Shifter with the dreamsight trait.
Benefit: While shifting, you can use a full-round action to gain extraordinary visual power. For the duration of your shifting, you gain a +5 bonus on Perception checks and can see invisible creatures and objects as if under the effect of a see invisibility spell.

BEASTHIDE ELITE
Your shifter trait improves.
Prerequisite: Shifter with the beasthide trait.
Benefit: While shifting, your natural armor bonus increases to +2 EAC/+4 KAC.
Normal: Without this feat, a beasthide shifter has a natural armor bonus of +1 EAC/+2 KAC while shifting.

GOREBRUTE ELITE
Your mighty charge attack can knock down foes.
Prerequisite: Shifter with the gorebrute trait.
Benefit: Any creature that takes damage from your horns during your charge attack must succeed on an opposed Strength check (you gain a +2 bonus for charging) or be knocked prone in its space. The defending creature gains a +4 bonus on its check if it has more than two legs or has some form of exceptionally stability (such as a dwarf’s). A creature that can’t be tripped also can’t be knocked down with this feat.

GREATER SHIFTER DEFENSE
By delving deeper into your shifter heritage, you develop the ability to ignore some damage from every attack.
Prerequisite: Shifter, Shifter Defense, three other shifter feats.
Benefit: When shifting, your damage reduction improves to DR 4/silver.

HEALING FACTOR
When your current period of shifting ends, you heal a limited amount of damage.
Prerequisite: Shifter, Constitution 13.
Benefit: When you stop shifting, you immediately heal a number of hit points equal to your character level. This benefit does not occur if you die (at –10 hit points) before the period of shifting ends.

REACTIVE SHIFTING
You can shift with a mere thought.
Prerequisite: Shifter, Dexterity 18.
Benefit: You can activate your racial shifting ability as an free action allowing you to begin shifting even when flat-footed or when it’s not your turn.

SHIFTER AGILITY
Your heritage of speed and ferocity has honed your reflexes, allowing you to avoid attacks.
Prerequisite: Shifter with the wildhunt trait.
Benefit: You gain a +1 dodge bonus to both EAC and KAC Class and a +1 bonus to Reflex saves while shifting.

SHIFTER DEFENSE
By delving into your shifter heritage, you have developed the ability to ignore a little damage from every attack.
Prerequisite: Shifter, two other shifter feats.
Benefit: When shifting, you gain damage reduction 2/silver.

SHIFTER FEROCITY
You are a tenacious combatant, continuing to fight when others would succumb to pain and injury.
Prerequisites: Shifter, Wisdom 13.
Benefit: While shifting, you continue to fight without penalty if you are disabled or dying. This benefit has the following specific game effects. When reduced to 0 hit points, you can act as if you weren't disabled (that is, you ignore the normal restriction of only a single move action or standard action per round). You do not lose 1 hit point for performing a standard or otherwise strenuous action while at 0 hit points.

When reduced to -1 to -9 hit points, you do not fall unconscious. You do not automatically lose 1 hit point each round when at -1 to -9 hit points.
When your current hit points drop to -10 or lower, you immediately die.

SHIFTER INSTINCTS
Your heritage has given you sharp senses and quick reflexes, and you have learned to trust your equally sharp instincts.
Prerequisites: Shifter.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on Perception and Survival checks, and a +2 bonus on initiative checks.

SHIFTER SAVAGERY
The bestial fury of your lycanthrope ancestors allows you to deal devastating strikes with your natural weapons.
Prerequisites: Shifter with the gorebrute trait, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: While shifting, the base damage dealt by your natural weapons improves by two steps, as if your size had increased by two categories. To determine the amount of the damage increase, find the natural weapon's damage value on one of the two progressions below and improve it by two steps (for example, from 1d4 to 1d8).
Progression I: 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 6d6, 8d6, 12d6.
Progression II: 1d10, 2d8, 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 8d8, 12d8.

SHIFTER STAMINA
Yours is a heritage of endurance and tenacity, and you can shrug off bruises and fatigue.
Prerequisites: Shifter with the base Fortitude save of +4.
Benefit: While shifting, you are immune to nonlethal damage, and the effects of fatigue and exhaustion are suppressed. When your shifting ends, any fatigue or exhaustion effects that would have taken effect during your shifting (or that were in effect when you began shifting) take effect normally.

WILDHUNT ELITE
Your shifter-enhanced instincts and senses allow you to detect concealed and invisible creatures.
Prerequisites: Shifter with the wildhunt trait.
Benefit: While shifting, your nonvisual senses improve to such a degree that you gain the blindsense ability out to 30 feet (see page 262 of the Core Rule Book). While shifting, your base land speed improves by an additional 10 feet.

EXAMPLE SHIFTERS:
BEASTHIDE:
These shifters excel in combat roles. With their high constitution and natural armor you want a beasthide on the frontline. If you are up against one be ready for a long fight.

DREAMSIGHT:
These shifters are perfect for mystics. Essentially space druids. They can play other classes but with the boost in Wisdom in battle you will be throwing more powerful spells while in combat compared to other Mystics.

GOREBRUTE:
With the boost in Strength they are great for Solarians or Soldiers. But this class could even go down the path of Envoy. Captaining their own ship and leading their team into battle.

WILDHUNT:
Typically the shifters should stay away from classes like Mechanic or Technomancer due to their -2 in Int. But the wildhunt could go the Operative route due to the bonus in Dex. While also being good in any other role due to Dex being a great choice in any situation.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.