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If you make Unarmed strike an operative weapon, the only class that has any use for it at all is the operative, because you are reducing specialization damage to 1/2 level.

ghostunderasheet wrote:

Theres non-lethal dmg. Touch ac would be EAC I think. Then theres ac vs. Comdat maneuvers which is KAC + 8. And the ageing rules ehere not that hard you get a or two positive and two nagitives which stacked with each age group. Just wondering when my pc will be having a mid-life crisis or should be having it now.

Nonlethal is not its own damage now, only the type of the final hit matters.

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Not exactly. For damage to living creatures, that’s true, but undead and constructs are immune to all non-lethal damage, so it is still a separate type of damage, it’s just applies to your normal hp+stamina pool.

It's an abstraction is several factors including licenses, black market connections, bribes, permits, aviailibilty, military or law enforcement rank, gang membership and so on.

Basically it's a simplified system to make gameplay easier without going into too much detail. If as a GM, you desire more detail and a more realistic and less abstract system for your arms sellers, you are free to do so.

Hell, if you need to you can just use a club for a backup melee weapon. Yes it's archaic, but it's free and better than an unarmed strike.

And while you don't get to keep them after the mission, you can use them for the remainder of the scenario you're in.

But what about the three seashells?

The biggest problem building link is there are no shields in starfinder.

A club is a level 1 weapon and can only accept level one fusions. If you wanted to transfer a level one fusion to a higher weapon you could save some cash that way, but the trick is useless for higher level weapons.

I can see needlers filling the same niche as crossbows with blessed bolts against rakashas. It's largely subpar against most enemies, but if you can load a dart with a specific dose designed for your target, it can turn the battle.

With the change to nonlethal damage I don't see any reason why a construct would be immune to it. Nonlethal damage is exactly the same as lethal damage, but it will never kill you if it drops you to 0 hp.

It doesn't exist. Starfinder two handed weapons tend to do more base damage, but they do not get 1.5 str bonus damage. There is a solder class ability that allows you to gain 1.5 str with any melee weapon regardless of hands, but it's soldier only.

Step up and strike allows you to defer your attack to allow another reaction. So a caster takes a guarded step to move 5', you use your reaction to use step up and strike to follow him. Step up and strike gives a bonus reaction you can use to either immediately attack or you can wait for another trigger. If the casternthan strikes, you can use the bonus reaction from step up and strike to interrupt the spell.

Or KAC + 2, if you spend a feat and carry an appropriate weapon. And if the enemy is spending a move action to remove the dirty trick or to stand up, then they have effectively staggered themselves to remove the condition. Meaning they can't full attack. They can't cast a full action spell. They can't make a trick attack if they have operative levels.

It's only KAC + 4 with an improved maneuver feat, the same accuracy as the -4 you would be taking on a full attack. You then get a +2 to that with a taclash. Possibly another +2 if they're flat-footed, which if you have an envoy or operative in your party they should be.

It's only difficult if you put no resources into improving it.

Imbicatus wrote:

Varun Creed wrote:

It's very powerful against ranged and spellcasters, as they'll keep provoking. :)

It doesn't matter if they keep provoking, you've already used your reaction to step up.

Step up and Strike gives you the option to hold the attack from SUAS until later...such as to interrupt a spell caster.

Yes, but I was referring to Step Up alone.

It looks like every melee character will end up missing limbs at some point.

This is an huge exaggeration. This is only going to happen if the enemy is using a wounding weapon, which is unlikely as npc damage is based on cr, not equipment. Then they need to roll an natural 20, you need to fail an easy fort save, and they need to roll that result on the critical wound table. You could play for years and never lose a limb to a weapon with the wound critical effect.

Absalom is actually pretty damn similar to the city in Dark City. It's got the huge city with towers and parks in the dome, and the artificial gravity and machines that run everything are down in the bottom of the spike.

Vesk are more Jem'hadar than Kilingon physically. Their culture is pretty close to Klingon though.

Andorians would be a good one to explore.

Accuracy bonuses are valuable because everyone can full attack. Mathmatically, you are always better off making a full attack than a single attack to do damage, so anything that makes those full attacks more accurate is very valuable.

You are both underestimating the value of "just" -2 to AC. Accuracy bonuses are very rare in the game, and to hit bonuses are much flatter. That -2 to AC will allow more full attacks to hit and is much more valuable that a +2 in pathfinder.i

Correct. Guarded Step is the pathfinder 5 foot step, but it requires a move action.

It's really pretty simple. Just pick solar weapon and flavor the weapon as a battle glove. The visuals would be like Iron Fist or ShoNuff.

In six out of eight Star Wars movies, someone loses a limb with a single lightsaber swing. Most of them survive it without any issues, other than getting some replacement parts.

It's a trope of the genre, and the stamina issue only applies to PCs. NPCs are built using different rules and have no stamina to worry about. PCs are supposed to made of sterner stuff. And you know, Luke seemed to be okay after he took a quick rest on the falcon after he was "disarmed".

Which tone does the core Pact Worlds setting most closely fit as written? Has their been any discussion on this?

Babylon 5. The system is a loose alliance of several worlds that have been enemies in the past but are working together for protection against a greater threat. However, they may go to war against each other at very little provocation.

followup question. After the trick attack, the operative does the 1d4 dmg, and the target is flatfooted. How long does that flat footed last? For clarity, is it for the operatives attack? Or is it until the operatives next turn?

Only for the single attack roll, unless they have debilitating trick.

It really only appears on mono-whips, lightsabers plasma swords, and vorpal weapons. It's a trope of the genre to lose a hand, and even then, it only happens on a crit and then you have to roll that effect. Regeneration, cybernetics, and necrografts are cheap.

Any kind of mechanical or computerized glitch. Maybe you trigger an alarm to distract you target. Maybe you cause an ad to pop up on his HUD. Maybe you cause his comlink to play "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Just any line of distracting cyberattack that would annoy someone enough to make them vulnerable to an attack while they're distracted.

Trick attack. Autocorrect strikes again.

For an operative, I don't think a solder dip is worth it. So much of your combat ability is level dependent, and you really have little need for heavy armor or advanced weapons because truck attacks don't work with them.
So you're delaying all of your class features in exchange for an extra 10 movement and +4 initiative. Those are nice things, but I don't think it's worth it.

The ability to survive in space without needing equipment or to breathe is not really that powerful in starfinder and it is my belief that it is absolutely intended for the Star Shaman to be able to not breathe in space. Any first level character with 95 credits can survive an entire day in space thanks to the cheapest armor in the game. A sacerian is a pc race from first contact, and they have that as a racial ability.

Starfinder has a different design paradigm than pathfinder. Where in pathfinder this was an appropriate ability for level 10 when a necklace of adaptation is available, in Starfinder it's appropriate for level one.

Also, most enemies are not built using pc rules, so you're not going to be facing very many enemies with weapon specialization.

I mean, my starting stats as a human are 16 Str, 14 Dex, 12 Con, 10 across mental (+1 to something from Theme).

For someone that wants to go into melee and try to not die, those physical stats seem pretty necessary.

They really aren't. Stamina + HP gives characters more survival than hp alone from pathfinder, making con less necessary. The extra resolve from having a good charisma is more valuable than the extra stamina from a con 12.

If you take heavy armor, the dex is less necessary. Or you can use an operative weapon and lower str while going dex primary.

For a human, 16 str 12 dex 10 con 10 int 10 wis 14 cha would be an array that will be fine in combat and give you decent DCs and resolve points without a soldier dip.

Kasatha Operative - Multi Weapon Fighting - 4 melee Weapons - 1st level

Total number of attacks please

Two. But they are at -3 / -3 instead of -4 / -4.

It's in the tactical combat chapter. A full attack allows you to make two attacks at a -4 penalty to both attack rolls.

Yep, you're the only one and likely to be so for at least a year, if not two.

Will you be called the Brain? Will you be a mechanic with a drone named Pinky?

Hmm

Pinky, are you contemplating what I'm contemplating?

I'm using Star Wars minis as well. Trandoshans are reasonable vesk replacements. Verpine and Rodians can be a Shirren replacement. It's not perfect, but it's close.

Armor Storm, Sharpshooter, and Blitz are all great at what the specialize in.

My big problem with the star shaman is the connection powers. They aren't... actually useful. Environmental protection is a given with basic armor, and fly 20', but only in space is... well. See the Hitchhiker's Guide for how big Space is.

Armor may give environmental protection, but the fly speed is useful. You aren't going to be going from planet to planet, but you can use it to go outside and circle around to another hatch, or sabotage an engine or vent.

Starlight form can blind party members at 7th level, and being a torch isn't actually that useful for minutes at a time. Concealment 20% is.. not as good as fog cloud. Also targeting computers are 4th level armor upgrades, and negate concealment. Next.

Starlight form is only going to blind your party members if they have the tactical acumen of lemmings. Anyone aware of the ability would have no problem maneuvering around it.

Stargazer isn't going to come up that often. In a ship? Not outdoors. Ditto space stations. Planetside? Often daytime, indoors or underground. Unless you know that your space-oriented mystic is going to be spending a lot of time standing around planetside on an open plain in clear weather at night... um, wait. This sounds like the setup for a bad space joke. Or a ranger favored terrain joke.

You have to be able to see the stars. In the day you can see a star quite well. Indoors is an issue, but it's not as big of an issue as you are presenting.

Starflight is useful, but... honestly, you've probably had a jetpack for a while now at level 9. (Also... technomancer spell)

Jetpacks are slow, and while a forcepack is also available at level 9, its expensive and doesn't match the duration of the ability.

Starry bond- er... see stargazer, but also spend resolve on top. No, that's a bad plan.

Sometimes a reroll is worth the resolve point.

Meteor shower- a rocket launcher that costs resolve points. No.

The resolve cost is an issue, but at level 15 you have a lot of resolve, and sometimes you need a big boom.

Interplanetary Teleport! Neat. But 18th level. Don't particularly care. Also, yeah, you should have just been a technomancer.

18 level is a long wait, but its a long wait for any other connection ability too.

It's really not that bad overall, and a hell of lot better than the Xenodruid.

I'm not seeing the benefit of the Unarmed damage die increase when improved Unarmed strike already has better scaling.

Operative weapons give the option of using dex to attack, but it doesn't force you to. However, a bigger issue with making it an operative weapon is that operative weapons only receive .5 x level to damage for weapon specialization instead of 1 x level. You're lowering the potential damage output by making the weapon an operative weapon.

No, casting a spell is a standard action, not an attack. Spells like energy ray allow you to make a free attack as part of casting the spell, but you can't combine two spells into a full attack.

Yes, a battleglove threatens, so the armor storm ability would too.

They don't interact at all. Hammer Fist specifically says it doesn't benefit from any other enhancement to unarmed strikes.

It's designed for four characters built using the default starfinder point buy of everything starts at 10, add race, add theme, and spent ten points on a one for one basis.

Battlegloves aren't operative weapons though.

A decanter of endless water makes a great outboard motor for a boat.

I don't really see how a 48% chance of one hit is better than a 60% chance of one hit.

It a 64% chance of at least one hit. 48% of the time it's one hit, plus 16% of the time it's two hits.

To look at it from the other side, with a single attack ou have a 40% chance of doing no damage. On a full attack you have a 36% chance of no damage.

If you hit 60% of the time on a single attack, you are better off on a for terms of making a full attack, absent any other tactical considerations.

Resolve points will do more for your survival than constitution. Because of the way stamina works you don't need a higher starting Con than 12, although a 10'is perfectly serviceable. The quick rest resolve point use is far more useful than most abilities that consume resolve.!

So a lashunta with +2 str/+2 cha could have a starting array of 16 str 13 dex 10 Con 10 int 8 wis 16 cha. You can shore up the low wisdom with iron will and ability increases at level up.

The class needs to be built to play to its strength, not be built as a second rate soldier.

I have a player in my group who is working on building a 1st level human soldier. He is finding that he has to make some hard choices in terms of equipment purchases, to the point that he initially is considering not bothering with a melee weapon (while being well aware of the possible resulting issues with doing that).

Maybe the theoretical soldier vs. solarian builds are overlooking important non-combat equipment?

At the very least he should pick up a club. It's free, and it's better than an unarmed strike.