Woot woot, all aboard the SF2 Hype Train!! Very interesting, to hear that SFS2 scenarios will be shorter! I fully intend to sign up to GM some SFS2, but - first I need to make sure I can actually get Housing at Gen Con this year, after getting burned when Housing sold out last year. I figure you'd rather have a GM sign up solidly later, rather than a GM sign up shakily, now.
In general, some vesk have the blunt, rounded, snout of an iguana (like 1e Obozaya,) whereas some have the same blocky, pronounced, underjaw of TriStar's 1998 Godzilla remake, and then there's the more 'draconic' ones like Tassada Kor from 3-11 or Enktuya Shipbreaker from 2-04, that have more of an anthropomorphic dog-snout lizard deal thing going on? When it's come up before, Paizo People have said that it varies depending on the artists and authors involved. There's talk of a "design bible" and consistent guidelines for 2e, so it could change, though, and maybe the blocky jaw that 2e Obozaya's sporting in her 2e pregen art will be the norm! I think we can all agree, though, that yeah, they're lizards, through and through. No mammalian chest stuff going on. Near Space talks a bit about vesk physiology, and we know they're a warm-blooded, egg-laying, species. I would assume they're scaled all over. One could guess that, like Earth lizards, they're less protected on the 'underbelly,' but then again - there are no bipedal lizards on Earth, so that may not be a safe assumption? If anything, the vesk's long history of war and conflict probably means evolution has weedled out any obvious weak spots in their natural armour, so it wouldn't be improbable for vesk to have tough scales all over with no 'underbelly' area, of softer/smaller scales.
Vlaka is an interesting choice, since that species is one of the If nothing else, I really, really, hope that the Starfriends make it super clear with vlaka verbiage on if you can gain a sense. Even with just the stuff in Playtest core, there's tons of stuff that I know is going to be asked about: "Can my blind vlaka see if they take the Predator's Eye lvl 7 Nature feat (p. 155) / the Spiritual Eye lvl 15 religion feat (p. 156) / an autorecognition lens or darkvision capacitor augments (both p. 198) / nano-optics node (p. 199) / retinal reflectors (p. 200) or crystal lens (p. 200) / psychoactive eyes (p. 201)?" (And, to be really clear, I don't care if the answer to that question is yes or no. I just want the answer to be clearly and plainly stated. Because, if it's not and if 1e is any indication, we're going to get a billion forum threads asking about it.) The time to set clear precedent is now - I hope we get many of the other zany Cantina species with funky senses (bantrids, khizar, stellifera, and so on) in the future, so the time to address all of this stuff is now. Ideally, in a way that doesn't just address sight & hearing with vlaka, but any sense, in future species.
I haven't checked the pregen sheet, but I know this is actually the case in foundry. I will contact the author to learn more about that Oh - I can answer this one, 'cause I too stumbled through figuring it out on Foundry - you need to find the Effect: Solar Weapon effect, and drag it onto your character token in Foundry. This will open up a window to choose your weapon's effects, which will then populate a solar weapon your Actions tab. You can find the Effect: Solar Weapon effect in a couple places - under the Attune action in the Actions tab's Encounter section, or under the Re-Forge Solar Weapon action in the Actions tab's Exploration section. It's probably in the Compendium too, if you search there.It's not a particularly intuitive way to handle this, and there's literally no guidance on this process anywhere that I found, so. I hope this is somehow improved in a future Foundry release.
I'm getting ready to GM this, and the adventure background makes it clear that the "Atuity Accords" aren't a formal, over-arching peace between the Azlanti Star Empire and the Veskarium. Rather, it's a ceasefire, and blueprint for shared governance, taxation, citizenry, etc., in Atuity. That's it. It's reach doesn't extend any farther than Kehtaria. And it's mostly the actors in Atuity that are pushing for it - the Veskarium captain and Azlanti commander that are stationed there, and have formed a sort of camaraderie in the two years since the Drift Crisis. Like, this isn't the Star Imperators and the High Despot converging to exchange formalities. The other thing to remember, is - Kehtaria is the link in the Conqueror's Path, the two new Drift Lanes from from Vesk-4 to Kehtaria, and Kehtaria to Oyojii in the Azlanti Star Empire’s Oyoya system. So all of a sudden, both empires have a brand new galactic highway dropped on them. Creating a sort of buffer / neutral zone where those two drift lanes meet is a good idea to prevent border friction, and allow some modest commerce and cultural exchange to take place in a way that is controlled, monitored, and taxed, by both empires.
For reference, here is the Solarian's Attune action, with emphasis mine: ATTUNE [One-Action]
I think a lot of people haven't realized that Degradant and Radiant solarians can only attune to Graviton Mode, and Photon Mode, respectively, with the Attune action. I've pointed it out to a couple solarian players at tables I've GM'd, and it's so far been met with "....oh, that messes up my routine." A lot of Solarian players have a default "script" for the first few rounds of combat, and one of the most common I've seen a lot is: a solarian that wants to stay in one Attunement will roll initiative, and assume that they can use the free-at-initiative Attune action to start in their non-favoured attunement, so that they can then use a Cycle action on their turn to finish in their favoured attunement. So, for example: a tanky degradant solarian starts off in Photon mode, then uses Stellar Rush to Cycle to Graviton mode, so they can be in Graviton mode in between turns for the tanky Graviton riders on Nimbus Surge or Solar Shield. But, that is not what the Attune action does - you can't start the fight off in your non-favoured alignment. A Degradant must start in Graviton mode. Now, solutions exists - the Attunement Control exploration action does let you begin combat in any attunement. But, this means every Solarian is going to basically always use that Exploration activity, which is kinda boring. They'll never be scouting, or sneaking, or whatever other fun stuff.
Where I'm going with this: I think Degradant and Radiant solarians should just get a reliable one-action Action with the Cycle trait, that they don't have to spend a Class Feat or Exploration Activity on. Or, the Attune action should let you attune to any alignment, not just your Arrangement's favoured one.
I'm putting this under the Soldier subforum, since it's the most likely place for it to come up, but I guess it's relevant everywhere. So: do attack penalties, like the multiple attack penalty, apply to DCs from that attack? For example: if a soldier makes a Strike, and then throws a grenade (which uses the Area Fire action, which has the Attack trait) would the grenade's DC be lowered, from MAP? Area Fire, for reference, p. 173:
Area Fire [two-actions] (area*, attack) You hit each creature in the designated area with a range equal to the weapon’s range increment (for cone or line) or the designated radius of the explosion (for burst). For burst, you can position the center point anywhere within your first range increment. Any creatures in the area must succeed at a basic Reflex save against your class DC plus the tracking value of the weapon (you do not roll an attack roll). This damage is area damage. Creatures who critically fail this save are subject to effects that occur on a critical hit with this weapon, including the weapon’s critical specialization effect. Area Fire has an expend equal to the value listed on the weapon.
* Side Note: is the Area trait defined anywhere? It's not on PF2e AoN, nor the SF2 Playtest Core, that I can find /shrug Reading through the available 2e stuff on AoN suggests no - I can't find anything in the MAP entry (linked above), nor in the section on calculating DCs. There doesn't seem to be a counterpart to SF1e's rule: any penalty you would normally take to your weapon attack roll also applies to this DC, including penalties from the weapon’s range increment. I don't know if this is intentional or not. It feels weird to me that if you throw a grenade and then Strike, your Strike takes a MAP; but if you Strike and then grenade, the grenade's DC is unaffected?
I also wonder, "why?" Not because I have any great attachment to either Shelyn or Zon-Kuthon, nor any great dislike of the new Zon-Shelyn. Mostly, I have a sort of bemused curiousity about why these two were chosen, and how the idea of merging deities came about. And, were other deity shake ups considered? I mean, definitely nothing against ol' Zonny Shales here, but - what if, instead, Iomedae and Meyel had merged, after a climactic battle to save Pulonis from Damoritosh, to become Iomeyel (...Meyelodae?) god of crusading to take the vengeance you are owed? (And, I dunno, dressage, 'cause horsey dancey.) What if Uvonn, the Welcome Oblivion, and Eloritu, the Hidden Truth, became Uvitu, Hidden Oblivion, nihilistic god of erasing all information from the universe? I dunno, just spitballing here, but I'd love to know what discussions led to Zon-Shelyn. Was deity merging always a goal they had in mind, or did it sort of come about because one of the Star Friends had Feelings™ about one of the constituent gods, or something else?
The only other issue I have seen, and that I personally agree is an issue, is fixed by Ungainly/Heavy weapons having a built-in limit of 1 at a time, that can be baked into the Traits/Rules for such weapons/items... Agreed. I've been saying it since last October, but shouldn't Flourish / Unwieldy / Whatever Other Space-Trait handle most of the problems, that stem from "what if a Skittermander did it three times?"
What would the Forum's reaction be to a compromise similar to the "vestigial arms" ability that some 1e species, like trox, had? Vestigial Arms: A trox’s four vestigial arms can be used to hold, draw, or put away items of negligible bulk, but not to make attacks, wield weapons, or use items. It might need a bit more polishing to clearly state what can/can't be done, but I think there's potential there. Being able to use the arms for "light duty" without having to spend an action to power on those arms feels better than what we have now, while still disallowing a lot of the more egregious issues in-thread (chiefly, it wouldn't allow those other hands to attack / wield items or weapons) while also solving the "it feels bad that a >2-armed species can't use >2 arms at once" verisimilitude issue.
Which, I mean, makes total sense when you stop and think about it. Still, it's helping me frame my interactions with the community.
Few things that came up from a Day 1 play session:
I'm so stoked to see the final release, and sink my teeth into the new witchwarper and precog!! I really don't like calling their "alternate [reality / timeline / spatiality / whatever]" schtick a Quantum Field. I have said it before, but, the word "quantum" is so overused and diluted in sci fi, it's lost all meaning. Especially given that quantum science and quantum computing are still burgeoning fields in real life, the more that those fields develop and mature (and usage of the word "quantum" along with that), the more that using "quantum" as a stand-in for "something weird, spooky, and/or high tech" will feel quaint and outdated.
Thanks for a great season, everyone! Honestly after several past seasons of "mysterious organization hounds Starfinders for unknown reasons" (s2 & s4) I went into s6 expecting it to feel repetitive, but - the Order's methods and gear, and the 'hunting down the Founders' bit helped to keep it fresh! Oh, also, I'd like to take this opportunity to loudly ask the devs to please give me more queer and political adventures, like 6-10.
"I am Jupitus, of Nchak. It is a pleasure to meet you, Baazo!" Jupitus is quite pleased with talking down a fight, and with a little skittermander, no less.
In the empty room, he'd take a look around, but mutters something to himself about getting lost in your own holograms.
Yup, that's the name! If you ask him, Jupitus says his parents named him that because of visions of some far-away gas giant they divined during his incubation, and named him after that gas giant that reminded them of their home's shepherd, Liavara. ...but if you ask me, as a player, it's because trox are big and have a commanding presence, so I wanted a name that also sounded big and impressive, too (and maybe kinda sorta also after British B-List comedian, Phil Jupitus.)
Once (digitally) settled, Jupitus would listen to the briefing, but at no point would he be able to put himself on mute. There's probably a bird chirping behind him, and you can hear his breath through his spiracles from the still-too-closely-held comm unit throughout. Jupitus scoffs at mention of The Orgnization, but is otherwise quiet. "DO WE HAVE ANY LEADS ON WHERE TO FIND THIS 'ONGIE' OR HOW TO START LOOKING? Professor, do you know anything about Vesk-7?" you can hear Jupitus ask someone off-screen, before he shout-talks back into the comm, "RADASZAM, I AM ASKING THE PROFESSOR ABOUT VESK-7, HE IS VERY LEARNÈD ABOUT THESE THINGS."
Ooh, ooh, pick me Teach, I know this one! There's an FAQ about it:
So yeah, you apply the relevant ability to only the specific creature it's affecting. In your example, Navasi would roll attack once, but yeah, apply a +2 to the role vs Red - so she'd have the one die roll, but a 21 vs Red and a 19 vs Blue. Fun fact: this character, Varuthalla, is the reason that that FAQ entry exists in the first place :D I asked the question when it came up while theory-crafting the character build that would become Varuthalla (i.e. using the selective explosions stunt & strike with AoE heavy weapons to avoid hitting allies.) I just got lucky and it happened to be on that magical day in 2020 when Joe Pasini fell into a Spice Trance and answered like, every FAQ ever :D
I'm honestly starting to think that people worried about ancestries with immunities are just doing so much pearl-clutching about maybe one or two ancestries (SROs and Living Holograms, mainly) who have a broad array of sweeping immunities. I'm pretty sure Thurston has specifically said that he knows SROs (and, by extension, holograms, since they have the same Robotic species ability, word for word) are too OP and that they'll be toned down in 2e (although I hope they still have some strengths against those effects; but maybe something more in line with a +2 vs bleed, poison, etc., that plant-like or undead-like or other X-like species have, rather than just blanket immunity.) So that case, we can safely assume, is dealt with. Beyond the broad suite of immunities SROs have - what else is there? I think most other species with immunities are, comparatively, few and far between, and where they exist, are niche. Like sure Elves are immune to magical sleep, but how often does that come up. Androids (and many others) are immune to inhaled stuff/vacuums, which does come up all the time, but any adventurer can buy that for cheap. Other, more esoteric things (like borai being immune to negative energy damage, or quorlu being immune to flanking) feels okay, in that they're relatively rare species, and those are very niche immunities that aren't going to be game breaking (because of either low occurrence, or low impact, or both.) Put another way: we know SROs are OP, and that they're being dealt with. But that one "bad apple" isn't enough to throw away the whole bunch, Sapient. Give it one more chance before you give up on ancestral immunities?
what if there were anti immunity spells and ammo? Instead of removing ancestral immunities giving GMs tools to easily and quickly fix encounters that would be rendered useless by an immunity. I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, it gives GMs more options - and, indeed, I have advocated for this in other threads. If you for whatever reason need poison to affect the SRO in your party, sure, say it's techno-magical poison that melts circuits as easily as flesh. Hell, there's even existing options for poisons and diseases for that already, like instant virus or circuit melter. Heck, the biohacker class's entire biohack class feature specifically says, from the get-go, that biohacks affect constructs, undead, and other non-living things because you're not just mixing in bioreactive crap, but also chemical compounds, nanites, and whatever else that affects non-organic physiology just as easily. There is room for this in the existing design space. But, on the other hand, it feels really bad, as a player, when you think you've prepared for something (by being the right ancestry to have, or you bought gear that grants, or cast the spell or whatever else to get resistances / immunities) and then the GM says "aha, but, this isn't just Fire Damage, this is Double-Plus Limit Break Fire Damage, that bypasses resistances!" This is an actual example, by the way.* If we start having different 'levels' of adverse conditions, it starts to feel very gamified. Like, for example, if you can get Resist X 1 from your ancestry, which lets you ignore Level 1 X. But, aha, the bad guys have figured out how to do Level 2 X, and you're still affected! So then you take the feat or buy the gear or whatever to get Resist X 2. And then oh noes the baddies now have upgraded to Level 3 X and you're still affected..! It turns into this weird arms-race treadmill that just...doesn't sound fun. * Spoilers for Dawn of Flame Book 3: My home group still grumbles anytime we discuss Book 3 of Dawn of Flame, in which you explore a dungeon inside the sun populated by special undead that deal 'pyric' fire damage, which ignores resistances and even damages fire-immune creatures. My party took to calling it "F**@ You" Fire Damage, to differentiate it from regular fire damage. The entire party has some level of Fire Resistance from gear, feat, spells, species, etc., since of course you would, you're in the sun. And then to be told it's useless for contrived plot reasons, is...bad.
I just wanted to comment that this was beautifully written. The general structure, the prose, and the vocabulary came together wonderfully. Right!? This passage was very nicely written, in particular: Death does not pause for the Lady of Graves. Death does not stop for anyone. Mortals succumb to the usual things—some in the arms of those who loved them, some at the hands of those who did not. Some in a show of bravery, some in a haze of regret, some drenched hot with sweat or fear or love or loss or anger. All plunge into the River of Souls like jagged rocks sent tumbling, leaving eddies in their wake that shift and roil the current.
A second reply, unrelated to stelliferas specifically: speaking as one of the 1e players giving SF2 ancestries side-eye, I don't think anyone doubts that the Paizo 3 Action System has the chops to accurately and faithfully port over beloved 1e species. Instead, the problems are twofold: one, the size/effort required for a SF2 ancestry compared to a SF1 species, and two, the "back-heaviness" of P3AS ancestries. I think this is generally well understood, but...just wanted to point it out. The problem isn't so much "no way SF2 can do the stellifera justice" but rather "will we have to wait for a book 7 years into SF2's lifecycle to get the SF2 version of stellifera?" PF2 is now at (per AoN, at least) 36 ancestries, and it's been out since Aug 2019, so, 4½ years now. By comparison, at 4½ years old, SF1 had just hit Alien Archive 4 - not even counting species from APs & scenarios, there were just shy of 90 (!) playable species. So: I don't think anyone is saying that the extra space and options devoted to each ancestry in the P3AS is bad - and, indeed, it fixes an existing complaint, that of species having so little to go on. Rather, SF1 Enjoyers are hesitant about if that trade-off, from higher quantity to higher quality, is worth it. Is it better to have 36 well-developed ancestries, or 90 less-developed ones. We're all waiting to see.
And that's the problem: how long will it take SF2 to get back to the 130ish species that 1e has, now? If the life span of a Paizo RPG Edition is in the decade-ish span (OGL garbage notwithstanding, laugh/cry) we might not ever get there, in SF2. Then again, we know the Star Friends have said that The Cantina Feel is a priority for them, so - who knows. Like I said - we'll all just have to wait and see. The second point has already been well-discussed, so I don't want to re-litigate that, but: it will feel bad if a SF2 ancestry needs to take a bunch of feats at up to level 9, to get an ability the SF1 species got at starting. Speaking personally, this one feels like less of a big deal. I can stomach a nerf to some abilities, in between editions. Stomaching a steep decline in how many ancestries there are, and the speed with which they're published, though, is a different matter.
This is excellent - well done! If this (or similar) were published in a SF2e product, I'd be perfectly happy with this! I think your heritages and feats accurately capture "the feel" of stellifera. It is more complex than your standard species/ancestry, but that's fine, imo: it was like that in 1e, as well. Some player options are just more challenging than others to use. And that's fine :) I want to point out one thing specific here, though: one of the hidden complexities of stelliferas, being "communication." This wasn't even a super-well sketched out facet of the species in 1e, and it's not really called out in the 1e write-up, so it's easy to overlook. But the general gist is: stelliferas can't talk, vocally. It's not mentioned in the mechanical species traits in 1e, but it's hinted at in the flavour text: "stelliferas normally converse through a complex color language, changing skin and nearby water to various hues, supplemented with limited telepathy, so they had to rely on augmentations to communicate with their planet’s invaders." (Hilariously, the augmentations mentioned in the write up have no rules accompanying them, so there's no item support for that fluff.) The species doens't have proper limited telepahy, like shirren or lashunta, but instead just have a spell-like ability to cast telepathic message, which, as a spell-like ability, takes time: it's a Standard Action. Usually it's more of a hand-waving peice of interesting character development - by convention, most GMs that come across a stellifera in their games will ask, "so, how does your cephalopod communicate?" It's interesting in combat, though: stelliferas can't combat banter, unless they take an Action to cast telepathic message, or someone else in the party takes the trouble to learn Stelliferan :D So, it might be fun to add in something along those lines: stelliferas lack the physiology to communicate vocally, and so to communicate tend to learn the signed versions of other languages, or rely on allies learning stelliferan, or similar. Usually by mid-level it's easy enough to buy an item or augmentation to grab actual limited telepathy, or pick up some other way of communication. Then again, this hindrance chaffed for some, so maybe it would be fine to just say stelliferas all grew mouths as part of the upgrade to 2e, in deference to playability.) Like I said, though - this is really well done!! I was half-contemplating taking a crack of convering a handful of interesting 1e species to the P3AS as a side project to put up on Infinite for the Playtest Release; I was thinking of trying stelliferas, but, seeing this, I think I'd better choose something else! :)
Year 7 Hype!!! I'm very excited to hear that it's a season of wrapping up loose ends and resolving dangling threads from past years - while also laying groundwork for SFS2e!!! I made a thread the other day about some of these loose threads; feel free to head on over, but watch out, the whole thread contains massive spoilers for, well, all of the first six seasons XD link Hmm, and is that a little symbol of Triune I spy on the crystal rock-gem-node thingy, to Sarmak's side, in the Season 7 banner image? I quite liked the "mini-arcs split by tier" format that we first saw in Season 3, so it's nice to see that making a return, as well. Plus, this seems like a fair compromise between resolving loose threads (which 'deserve' to feel high tier - like, ain't no way the Vault Lord is a CR 3 enemy :D) while also letting new First Seeker Sarmak and his mission statement get some limelight. (I imagine it would not have felt very good for Sarmak, and Sarmak's player, if their inaugural season was 'lol we're sidelining you to deal with past crap.') I'm hoping that we see a higher ratio of high-tier to mid- or low-tier scenarios this season; it's always nice to blow the dust off of our lvl 14 -701s, and whatnot. It's fun to think about a Tier 13-16 scenario, to let some more PCs apply Devastation Ark chronicles; but realistically, how many lvl 15-16 SF1 PCs can there really be. That said, a few more 11-14s would be pretty cool! Finally,
I think this is a solution to a problem that SF1 had already (mostly) solved. One of the chief ways this is handled in SF1 is a set of default assumptions that are laid out regarding what species can (or can't) be assumed to be able to do. There's this bit, which is printed (in one form or another) in all of the Alien Archives books: This book continues the Starfinder tradition of presenting players with a multitude of alien species to choose from when creating their characters. See page 158 for a list of the playable species in this book. As always, it’s up to the GM to decide whether to allow player-character versions of these aliens in their game. While there is a preponderance of nonhumanoid aliens with strange morphology, all playable alien races are considered to be able to hold and wield two hands’ worth of weapons and other equipment (unless otherwise noted). Similarly, any playable alien can purchase and use the equipment presented in the various Starfinder books regardless of their specific physiology. A character might have to adjust armor originally created for a different species before they can wear that armor effectively; see page 196 of the Core Rulebook for rules on adjusting armor. At the GM’s discretion, these rules can be used as a baseline for adjusting other types of equipment for similar reasons. The GM can also opt to treat nonhumanoid player races as humanoids for the purposes of spells and other abilities. (Emphasis mine.) The default assumption is everyone has 2 hands or hand-analogues, and exceptions to that are laid out in species' stat blocks. It makes it a bit funny to envision things lacking obvious appendages, like bantrids or embri, wielding equipment, but IMO, it's worth it in the name of standardization and having useable characters. Getting down to the level of having rules published for what kinds of locomotion different morphologies have seems a bit too deep in the details pool, especially given things like astrazoans, SROs, mechanics' drones, etc., can all have everything from footed lower appendages to tank treads to wheels, and so on.The default assumption of "has two hands" and "unless otherwise stated, every character can use every item regardless of physiology" has caused some consternation, but in general, has proven to handle most cases - which, for a system as varied and wild as Starfinder, is pretty good. Not perfect, though - and yes, this is one area that could see some improvement. I'm pretty that there isn't a published default assumption posted about "unless otherwise stated, characters need to sleep" or "exchange gases with their atmosphere" or whatever else, but in general the community has adopted that as a generally agreed-upon convention, as a sort of addendum to "every physiology can use every item." (Every species has some sort of speed entry listed in its write-up, though, so land speed is something that's detailed!) There are exceptions posted, such as species that don't need to breathe or don't need to sleep. It would be nice to have those included in the 'default assumptions,' assuming that those are included in SF2 - maybe somewhere in the creature type rules? Feels like that used to be included in Pathfinder creature types.
(I really need to watch that playtest stream to see if other operative mechanics have been teased). In the recent SF2e playtest that Jenny GM'd for Cosmic Crit (pt 1, pt 2) (I think this tidbit was in pt 2? The entire playthrough was great, though, def worth a listen) Jenny teased that different flavours of Operatives can do different things to get extra damage. It sounds similar in some ways to the 1e Trick Attack, only absent a Skill Check - you just take the action, and get bonus damage and/or bonus effects on your attack. The Operative in that playtest, ya boi Iseph, is apparently built as a sniper, and so they took the Aim action to do extra damage, but other Operatives may have other actions that aren't Aim - confuse or bluster the foe more like, say, a feint, or use the terrain to your advantage or make some kind of 'terrain attack,' and so on.
A time limit on air storage in low-level space armor would give an opportunity for dramatic tension that is classic in some space stories. We don't want to handwave it away. Having air in space is like having water and rations while traveling in barren wilderness. Usually it does not matter, but in some circumstances managing the resources is the challenge in the story. Stuff like this already exists, though, which is, I think, why the SF1-Enjoyers are tearing their hair out with a lot of the discourse. All armour in SF1 gives you environmental protections for a number of days equal to its item level, and there's any number of low-level options (gear, augmentations, spells) that can provide that same, with varying levels of additional (or subtracted) benefits, at different price points. But, it's very much still possible to have environmental tension at low levels; there's tons of Society scenarios that do just that. "You're in tier 1-4, so you're likely to have, at best, 5 days of environmental protections, and most of you will have less than that. Oh, but your ship crash-landed 8 days away from town. Well, good luck!" Having an android or SRO or whatever in the party helps, but unless the whole party is constructed, there's still tension. As Mathmuse points out, though, one party member being breathless doesn't remove the tension, though. Hell, maybe having a constructed party member actually increases the engagement: once the human's armour is out of batteries, the android gets to choose between keeping their own armour, or giving their armour and its seals to the human and being more vulnerable! Unless you really built your character around the idea of "I can survive any environment" and, I dunno, spend all your credits on extra environmental collars or something (in which case your preparedness should be rewarded by obviating the challenge) then there's still risk and challenge there. This is another case of Starfinder 1e already having an excellent set of narrative tools and items to tell these stories, which brings us back to the wailing and gnashing of teeth about why we're fixing something that isn't broken, and the default answer of "because that's the way it is in PF2" just doesn't satisfy. We can already tell those stories - and androids or SRO or whatever else lacking lungs doesn't kill the tension. (Unless you're some kind of specialist party that lacks lungs entirely, in which case - that's awesome, and you should be walking through air-based challenges, and your GM should be throwing you into EMP-rooms instead of poison gas rooms :D)
A lot of y'all are talking about androids, SROs, and other ancestries as if there hasn't already been seven years of Starfinder. In Starfinder, androids, SROs, and whatever else don't need to breathe nor do they suffer the normal environmental effects of being in a vacuum because that's what the currently published rules say. Like, literally, that's what it says. So, the issue isn't "come up with real-world physics to demonstrate why androids should be susceptible to vacuum-borne badness, for verisimilitude" (also: looool you can't, this is Starfinder*).
(All of this feels slightly academic, since Thursty has already said that this specific "lol androids breathe now" instance isn't necessarily something that they're seriously considering, and that it's maybe just a stalking horse, to gauge reactions. Which, honestly, from where I'm sitting...I don't know if I can take another *checks watch* 19 months of these. It feels like I need to be on here on pg 8 of these comments advocating for "stuff in the spirit of SF1," or else all the audience & devs will see are the PF2-only crowd, whose thoughts and opinions do not seem to align with the current Starfinder enjoyers'.) (Actually, I'd like to ask: do I need to be out here on Page 8 saying androids shouldn't lose breathless? How much decision making is being based on * It's Starfinder, there's some plausible in-universe explanation to rationalise practically anything XD You say they need to shed heat in a vacuum; I say they use magical perfect superconductors to relay electricity (or even some other strange esoteric thing!) without generating heat. You say corrosive gasses eat internal bits, I say non-reactive polymer super-meta-material. You say the cosmic background radiation would corrupt their hardware and software, I say there is no CMB in Desna's Path because Sarenrae, Desna, and Ibra love us (and we love them <3.) And so on, and so on.
The end of Season 6 is just on the horizon, and we have a pretty clear idea of what plots are, and what plots aren't, going to get some screentime. So, I thought I'd put down some thoughts about what's still up and 'unresolved,' for the (presumptive) final year of 1st Edition Starfinder Society. Do note that there's other unresolved threads hanging around, but I'm not including things that are more "Setting" mysteries that aren't specific to Society - things like the ongoing Gideron/Marixah cold war, or exploring Drift Lanes (although I do think it would be mean to dangle Conrasu and the Nebula Union in front of us in 6-02 and then not let us play a weird cosmic plant/construct thingy :D)
FORMAL STORYLINES
Salvation's End:
Last we heard, the Vault Lord was still ripping open the vaults of Salvation's End, and sucking up whatever delicious juices they found inside. The Guiding Intelligence remains mysterious.
Plus, as the setting that literally kick-started Starfinder Society, it would just be fitting if this was resolved in 1st Edition. Pulonis:
The winds of revolution blow on Pulonis! It's anyone's guess how much will happen On Screen or not, or in Society scenarios or not. It's not clear even if we'll see things happen in 1st Edition, or as part of an off screen "narrative update" between editions, or fully in 2E?
I almost didn't include this, since it's, like The Gap or The Swarm, more of an ongoing Starfinder-wide issue, and not necessarily something Society specific. But, some kind of giant conflict on Pulonis feels like the kind of thing that would be perfect as an Interactive Special, and we've been involved in Society scenarios already, so overall this felt safe to include. Rasheen:
As of the back half of season 4, Radaszam has encrypted data pointing towards the next beacon in the trail that Rasheen left. Presumably, once decrypted, it will lead us one step closer to Jelev Rasheen's fabled "treasure fleet"? INFORMAL RECURRENCES
Datch:
This one may yet get resolved in season 6, but the rat everyone loves to hate is still flapping in the breeze, as of season 5's breakout (and maybe kinda sorta helping the Society against the Order of Dawning Fate??) Third Herald:
Kadrical may be slowly waking up in the Scoured Stars with Ailuros and Jadnura helping out, and Dhurus is, well, dead - but that Third Herald is still, as far as we know, hanging out on Aballon? Hm, coincidentally, Aballon is facing increased unrest, struggling to deal with the fallout of the Drift Crisis, with new factions popping up... Historias-2, -3, -5, and -6:
We know how Historia-1 ended up, and Historia-4 has been saved, hinting that -2, -3, -5, and -6 may still be trapped somewhere. Celita has vowed to find them, making this one more likely than not to come back again. The Mechanizers:
The terrifying secret that Guidance and the Hellknight Order of the Pyre fought to reclaim in season 3, this was set up as a shocking revelation that would rock the Pact Worlds to its core. While that shocking reveal didn't seem to amount to much, the Mechanizers were mentioned in a recent Bounty in connection with the unrest on Aballon, so - maybe it'll come up in future Aballon / First Ones / Sarmak shenanigans? It's Ya Boi, Envar Tamm:
The Society finally caught up to Envar in season 5, so I'm guessing this one is 'resolved.' But, we don't know how, yet. It's possible we haven't seen the last of Envar - don't forget to ring that bell! Where's Luwazi?:
Okay this one I'm just putting in for funsies, but - fan favourite Luwazi Elsebo hasn't been seen since winking at the camera in 2-24 and saying "don't worry, I'm doing something different, once Ehu Hadif is in the saddle!" I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who would lose their shit if we got a dramatically-timed Elsebo reveal, with badass new "time has passed" wardrobe and style :D I'm sure there's more that I've missed; feel free to add on! Or, share which ones you'd be excited to see more of!
You simply can't for example heavily limit all two-handed weapons for everyone on their end, just because a few ancestries might cause shenanigans with them. Balancing it on the hands side is really the only reasonable way to approach that problem in its entirety. I still don't buy that every two-handed item needs to be re-balanced and re-evaluated because of kasatha, or skittermanders, or whatever else. I remain unconvinced that "a human with a 2H greataxe" is fine, but "a kasatha with a 2H greataxe and a shield" is broken. But we're re-treading old ground at this point, so. Shrug.
I'm confused why gonzo and balanced are being presented as mutually exclusive, particularly when it sounds like both sides have already found the middle ground they're happy with, sidebars. I'd rather have species be more powerful out of the gate than have sidebars. The main reason I'm not big on sidebars is: Organised Play. A lot of my Starfinderating is Org Play, and by necessity Org Play needs to have a consistent set of rules; so sidebars and house rules are of no help in a shared sandbox.As others have said, I'd rather have powerful options balanced against the existence of multiple arms (i.e. one big gun that takes multiple actions to fire, or has the Flourish / Open / Unwieldy trait, to prevent the skittermander from firing it three times) than multiple arms balanced against the existence of powerful options (i.e. "you have four arms, but only two of them are 'active' at a time.")
Oh sorry, I didn't realise you were following up on a previous thought or whatever. All I saw was
Aside from flight, multiple arms, and size: large - which have been addressed already - are there really all that many Starfinder ancestries that have special features? and I thought "my (and my deep love of gonzo species) time has come" :D'Cause, if you were, say, one of those "Only PF2 people" and were wondering what all is out there in SF1 land, then you'd have come to the right person!
Ohmygosh, yes. There are tons. Futzing with gravity (another thing that doesn't come up much in vanilla Fantasy, but is a bread-and-butter Science Fantasy thing) like copaxi, pathra, or even (space)-dwarves do.Weirdo senses, like blindsight/sense based off of vibration or thought or emotion (not to mention everything going on with khizars! <3) Enough 'non-biological lifeforms' to fill a database, like amrantah, holograms, SROs, and trinir. And then, there's the oddballs, that defy explanation and are each their own delicious category of "weird," like astrazoans, stellifera, barathu, novians or thyr! I could go on (and this doesn't even touch the "awwww" category of species, like brenneri, vulkarisu, scuridays, or bears!) It's a real casserole of bizarro species, and central to SF1's much-vaunted Cantina Feel. But playing around in that design space to come up with new, interesting, and fresh ancestries (that aren't just "human, with a weird forehead [or whatever]") was a big deal in SF1, and what a lot of SF1 Enjoyers fell in love with.
Value/lack of value judgements about the merits of atmospheric threats in gameplay notwithstanding: going from "androids do not breathe" in 1e to "you can take a feat, to hold your breath for an hour, at level 9" in 2e feels bad. People in the "PF2 Only" camp don't seem to mind, since that fits nicely into the existing PF2 ecology; but people who've played Starfinder are used to the former, and find the latter jarring.
Put another way: compared to PF2, this feels fine. Compared to SF1, this feels like a strict nerf to something that wasn't game breaking. Not to be too dramatic, but this feels like more "flattening" of species to all be at the same power level in all areas, which is one of the big worries SF1 people are apprehensive about. So, I guess this is yet another one of those areas where the devs get to thread that fine needle between keeping the 'feel' of 1e, and acquiescing to what is normal in PF2. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think atmospheric threats (vacuum, thick/thin, gasses, smoke, etc) should be trivial in Starfinder. It's the far future, of course there would be readily available armour seals and/or reliable magic to counter atmospheric issues. Sure, "lol, Life Bubble wins dungeons" was a fun joke/meme for the first bit of Starfinder's existence, but once Paizo adventure creators got used to it, we stopped seeing encounters that were foiled by environmental seals (or, those threats were written cleverly to neutralize seals/Bubble, which is exactly what you'd expect modern threats would do; seal-piercing nanites, targeted dispel first, etc.) And that's fine. Honestly, has anyone ever heard the sentence "god, I miss gaseous threats being a big deal" at a Starfinder table? I know I sure haven't. In short: easily overcoming atmospheric threats is another one of those "meta-states" things that Starfinder should keep. Just like sniper rifles make long-range encounters easier, and vehicles/starships make overland travel encounters easier, and universal translators make First Contact no-shared-languages encounters easier, and so on. It's the far future, and this is another easy way Starfinder can differentiate itself. Let androids be breathless; it's fine. If that means there's a discrepancy between PF2's androids and SF2's androids, oh well. That's a (pretty easy) problem for GMs crossing the streams to solve. Or, heck, just say that Ancient heritage androids lack breathless, but other heritages don't. (Maybe the edition chance is a good opportunity to introduce some downside to armour seals? Maybe the field that keeps out Bad Gasses also hinders mobility, and gives you a -1 Armour Check Penalty [is ACP still a thing in PF2?] or something. That could be interesting - like, imagine you're breaking into an AbadarCorp vault. What would you rather: be slightly more stealthy, or more impervious to gas attacks?)
I will admit, my initial reaction to the community voting for Androids and Vesk was :\ We had the chance to see how bonkers SF2 ancestries could be (Barathu, I choose you!) and we voted for...androids and vesk? Both Core species in 1e, and one of them already existing in PF2? Yeah, okay, really, this is fine, but - think bigger, you pepperonis XD ...but, honestly, the vesk entries are super cool. Love how flavourful and evocative a lot of the ancestry feats are. Plus, as a big fan of vesk saints (shameless plug :D), it's pretty cool to see that concept being introduced as a pillar of Veskarium society, and having mechanical support no less, right out of the gate! The Android ancestry feats are also very interesting. There's a number that rely on using nanites, and some even seem to "occupy" nanites; cf. Nanite Shroud, which says "while Nanite Shroud is active, you can’t use other feats that require the use of your nanites." But, it's not entirely clear which other feats require the use of your nanites. I'm a bit surprised that there isn't a "Nanite" trait to specifically call out those feats; this is the perfect use case for a "Nanite" trait, no? (Although, saying that out loud, having a "nanite" trait would feel very proscriptive for any presumptive future SF2e nanocyte class. And we certainly wouldn't want that..!) Vesk Weapon Familiarity mentions doshkos but I dont see any doshkos listed in any of the playtest. Seconded - was hoping a vesk preview would include some sweet sweet doshko action! I guess they have to save something for the Playtest :D
An operative with computers plays exactly like an operative sneaking up on people who plays just like an operative jumping out of the skylight with athletics. Disagree. Sure the actual Trick Attack works the same regardless of Skill used (mechanically, anyways) but I'm not even talking about only Trick Attacks in combat encounters. I'm saying that in 1e, it's nice to have a breadth of flavours of Operatives. It's pretty common in my experience to roll up to a Society table and find two+ Operatives that use different skills to Trick - and that (usually) also means they have different Stat distributions, and shine in different ways in skill encounters, too. And that's a good thing. I don't even buy your argument that RP doesn't matter for Trick Attacks. Sure, very few people come up with a unique description of how their Operative uses their Skill to get a momentary advantage for every single Trick Attack attempt (and, I'd argue, people probably shouldn't.) But, cool attack narration comes up often enough that it's nice that every Trick Attack description isn't a Stealth-based "I approach from the shadows and stab." 
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