Kishmo's page

Thanks for the table, everyone, and thanks for running, cmlobue! A pleasure as always :)
Life Science Lore Earn Income: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Ha, well, would you look at that XD

(Link to the Post and the Vote in question)

Of the choices, I think I like "comet" the most. They're all appropriately Space-y, of course, but comets are out there, zipping around, visiting space systems, and doing things. They're dynamic, in a way that rings, nebulae, and moons just aren't.
(I liked my Singularity suggestion, but I guess it wasn't to be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Like you, I also think my favourite scenarios have been the non-meta ones, so far! 1-02 and 1-06 have been delightful, and while I haven't played or GM'd 1-10 yet, it looks fun, too! Of the upcoming releases I think I'm most excited about non-meta ones, as well, like 1-17 Corpse Fleet Conflict, or 1-23 Psychic Echoes as a follow-up to 1-02. Nothing against the metaplot, mind you - Akiton and First Ones just aren't gripping to me, personally.

Campaign Coins, and other accessories, are officially back on the table, now! They updated the Accessories Page to make it clear PF2 and SF2 perks are in line now :)

I can't find a specific post to point to online, but, I am 90% sure I remember Alex saying at GenCon at the launch that Starfinders don't get provisions.

Happy holidays, for those who're into that!

Alex posted in the Venture Officer discord that 1-19 was cancelled.

...how very curious! I wonder what the story there is. Thanks for sharing!

In case anyone was still wondering about this but hadn't seen it yet - upcoming scenarios are back on the Starfinder Society scenarios store page :)
(And there's even a suspicious absence, between 1-18 and 1-20!!! Ominous XD Did somebody say 1-19: Perplexity Two: Perplexity, Too?)
Yes I know there was a Perplexity 2, and apparently even 3, in 1e, don't @ me, it's just wordplay :D

I will also admit I, too, am snared by the siren's song of GM Widgets...but, for me, I think the bigger draw for wanting sanctioned adventures is getting XP. It would be nice to get GM prestige for, say, running my home group through Murder in Metal City - buy it would be great to add +12 XP to one of my sweet, beautiful, precious, -27XX babies for running my home group through Murder in Metal City (and I'm pretty sure most players would prefer gaining XP as well.)

While it's still early days for SF2 org play and there literally aren't any scenarios for levels higher than 2, this is less meaningful. But that content is right around the corner - and, the more higher tier content there is, having ways of getting to those tiers becomes more and more valuable. Sure, we now have the ability to make PCs at higher level, and that's great. But I think, given the choice, players will always prefer to play a PC that got to any given level organically, rather than one that is seeing play for the first time at a higher level. (Again, stressing that being able to make higher level PCs is amazing; I just find that so much of my PCs' characters, and growth, and mannerisms, come from natural stuff organically happening at the table.)

I was wondering this, too.

I hear there's room for a +1 in here now, once Ye Olde Forumes return? I can sub-in and play Obozaya still, for fun and ease.

I think Frog is on to something. Verdant says:

You don't need to eat, drink, or sleep if you're exposed to natural sunlight for at least 4 hours per day.

Which is all well and good, but, it doesn't mention breathing. Which makes sense - khizars are plants, and plants still need to breathe. Heck, in 1e, they had a species ability called "Carbonic Respiration" which specifically called out that while they do breathe, they breath CO2, not Oxygen.

While slowly learning about all of the stuff in PF2, I had a thought: conrasu really feel like a Starfinder species. In SF1 they were mentioned as an important part of the Nebula Union, the civilization on the other side of the Jatembe's Jaunt Drift Lane, but that was never really explored.
In the same way that humans, ysoki, androids, etc., exist in both rules, but have different options in both, it'd be really cool to see conrasu get a full Starfinder species entry in this book!

They very explicitly said:

Additionally, Starfinder Society will not have a GM ranking system akin to the previous system of stars, glyphs, or novas at launch. This will return at a future date in some form, though not necessarily the one you may be used to.

So we know it's coming. Just not yet. That whole blog post is worth reading, if you haven't seen it.

Who gave the Hellknights the right to look that stylish?! Harrumph, I say!

*The Order of the Drip has entered the chat*

to add to that, the precog was combined with the Witchwarper, so we have 9 of the original 13 Sf1e classes.

Yeah, but ... all that the 1e and 2e Precogs have in common are the name :( The 1e precog was beautiful - playing with predestination with your banked Paradox d20 rolls, interesting and useful applications for even low Paradox rolls, and incredible build diversity: there was support for blasty casters, utility casters and/or off-healer, ranged attackers, or even (my personal favourite) a dodge-tank style melee build.

Ooof. I wonder if there's something in the big blocks of Starship Combat this breaking the forum's formatting?
In the old Game, it looked like it was just the one page of SSC that was breaking - maybe if we just post a bunch to start a new page, the new pages will behave?

Khajiit did Kishmo did nothing wrong! Kishmo is innocent of this crime! What is the charge? Enjoying a sanctioned adventure? Enjoying a succulent, generically sanctioned, adventure?
(Maybe some s#@!posts will help the cause? I'm trying here, ok? XD)

Just so it isn't buried behind a spoiler - I rolled a 1 for our Piloting Init, womp womp. Is everyone okay if I use one of the rerolls we earned from Mustering on that?

Those of you saying “this isn’t a big deal” - it may not be a big deal for YOU. But as someone who organized conventions, sometimes you have to hand a GM a scenario and ask them to run it on the fly. “But, Mark, they can use their phone to get the stat blocks!”. It isn’t that simple. Some convention halls don’t have good cell reception, and most don’t have available wi-fi. I can’t tell you how many times *I* have been asked at a con to run something on the fly.

Mark, I agree with everything you just said. I started in 2010 and my experiences have been the same. This is a significant barrier to growth and participation.

That's fair enough - running something cold, with no prep time, feels like a very fair and valid reason to want to have all the stat blocks in the scenario.

I get it happens, but - does it really happen often enough, to warrant being a major, or even a significant, driver of policy?

I'm excited, but I also really hope some sort of shared ancestry feat system is on the books so that they don't get overshadowed by the core races.

I really agree - this would be a great way to add more "Starfinder" flavour to the game. At one point during the Playtest I thought it would be neat to see groupings of feats for Species with similar physiologies or characteristics, called, I dunno, "Phylum feats" or "Clade feats" or something. (Don't @ me biologists, I know that different species couldn't possibly share taxonomic categories; it's just an easy short-hand for "species must be similar to take these feats.) But like, a handful of feats for Flying species, or multi-armed species, or a handful of feats for Plant or (plant-like) species, or aquatic / amphibious species, etc etc, would be both flavourful, and distinguishing for Starfinder.

(also: please gib stellifera) (...or hanakan) (🤍)

A player at one my games pointed out that, although they have a Campaign Coin, by RAW, it doesn't do anything at a SFS2 table, since there is no RAW. Which leads me to ask: are Accessory Perks still a thing for SFS2e? To be honest I had just default assumed "use the same Accessory Perks as PFS2." But it would be good to have something official to point to, or relevant SFS2 entries on the Accessory Perks page.
...asking for the small pile of skittermander dice pouches beside my desk a friend.

I'm honestly surprised at how big of a deal so many people think this is. I just bring a side-device with me (in my case, an older mobile phone from two upgrades ago) to have stat blocks available on. If I'm going to be GMing somewhere with no / questionable internet, then part of my scenario prep is to rip said stat blocks from a PDF/AoN ahead of time, and plop them onto my side device as a local file (pdf, jpg, whatever.)

I dunno, doesn't feel especially onerous or deal-breaking to me. Maybe I'm just used to doing a bunch of digital prep work ahead of time, from all those years of Pandemic VTT, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Kishmo, you could spend a hero point to reroll your diplomacy check.

Oh, that I could! I spent all of my space-hero points on frivolous re-rolls of the Operation: Seaside Park gacha boon, trying to get a jumbo plush squox XD no ragrets

Are there any updates on the "can SF2 adventures/modules/APs be run for Society credit?" issue? Asking since that is a big factor on if I pick up Guilt of the Grave World or not.

With the release of SF2 GM Core, and its Character Options Entry listing everything in it as Limited for use in Society, I find myself wondering: what does Limited mean? Same with Restricted, for that matter.

Unless my search-fu critically failed, these terms aren't defined anywhere. They're mentioned, but not defined, on the Character Options page. Same goes for the Starfinder Society 2e Guide - those terms are used, but not defined. I even tried the Pathfinder Society Second Edition guide, and same thing: it tells you that some deities or items may be Limited or Restricted, but again, no further details. I don't think it's a Rules thing (that's what common, uncommon, and rare are for, which are defined) but I even tried SF2 AoN. Same thing - some stuff is listed as Limited or Restricted, but not what it means to be Limited or Restricted, or the difference between the two.

It's gotta be somewhere, right? Someone help a space-enjoyer out?

Oh, just wait until you see the boar creature's actual name. That Alex understood the assignment XD

I don't disagree that Wild Bond's additional movement speeds are great, but - it's really the 2 abilities from Eldritch Bond vs only 1 from Wild Bond that shoot EB way ahead in usefulness. Eldritch Bond granting, say, Mental Resistance and 10 ft Reach, or Darkvision and 10 ft Reach, or ... literary anything and 10 ft Reach, at lvl 2? Pretty hard to say no to that.
(Especially considering how the prevalence of flight options devalues the usefulness of a Fly Speed at lvl 2. (Not that I'm complaining, Starfriends!! Thank you for letting shirren and dragonkin et al fly!))
Although, saying that out loud, maybe the Ranged Meta devalues the usefulness of melee reach..? I dunno, there were still loads of melee in the games I played/GM'd at GenCon.

I think Eldritch Bond and Wild Bond need some errata, even beyond Perpdepog's excellent point, above. Or, at least, Wild Bond does, because it is just empirically worse than Eldritch Bond.
EB grants two abilities, from the list; WB grants only one, although the list of possible abilities seem roughly on par with each other. EB bumps up the number of targets to 5, and increases number of damage dice for granted attacks, at level 4. WB has the exact same - at level 5. One of EB's options is a ranged attack; WB only has melee options.
The only thing that I can see that "balances" WB is that is lacks the Concentrate and Manipulate traits, which doesn't feel big enough to justify it being worse is nearly every other way.

I'm also hopping onto the bandwagon!
I admit that, when I found out all of the four SFS2 scenarios available at GenCon had custom content on the boons, I was pleasantly surprised, since we haven't had bespoke content on every chronicle since, like, season 1 or 2, in SFS1. While it would be amazing if SF2 Adventures/APs had custom Chronicle stuff too, I think it's more important that they just provide generic rewards: XP, Credits, and ACPs Spacey-Ps. I would gladly accept "generic" chronicles for Adventures/APs, with no custom items, boons, spells, etc., if that's what it took to get Org Play credit for running or playing them.

Oh, dang! New lore dropped! Well, that's fairly conclusive, then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I am not sure that is true that AI have a soul in game. Anacite's at least in descriptions I have seen are called sentient but didn't have souls or at least mostly didn't I think some SRO may be anacites that acquired one.

I am 90% sure that somewhere, in some long ago Starfinder Wednesday (GOSH, who remembers Starfinder Wednesdays <3 "He's trying, folks!" XD ) Rob G McC or Owen K.C. Stephens clarified that yes, SROs and Anacites are complex, ensouled, creatures. I('m pretty sure I) remember this, because I am 90% sure I asked this very same question, once, in The Before Time :D

What Perpdepog said. To expand on that, in First Edition, there was a distinction between:
VIs, virtual intelligences, which are effectively what we in the real world would call large language models but are not truly independent, innovative, ensouled, creatures,
and
AIs, artificial intelligences, which are self-aware, sapient, sophonts with souls. If you have access to Tech Revolution, there's a good overview on VIs, and how they differ from AIs, on page 163.

In short, though: as computers/software/machines/whatever gain more and more complexity, the odds that they attract actual souls from the River of Souls and stop being tech or VIs, and become true AIs, increases.

The write-up specifically says "This weapon is an extension of yourself, and you can change its form with meditation," so you can determine its general shape and appearance, however you like. It's probably still recognizable as a weapon made of coherent energy, so it probably wouldn't pass as, like, a physical mundane sword made of metal or whatever; but that feels like the kind of thing you could discuss with your GM.

For what it's worth, in 1e, it was generally the same, but the write-up had more details:
This weapon appears to be made out of glowing light or solid darkness, as determined by the appearance of your solar manifestation, but it can be whatever general shape you choose. Normal melee weapons like axes, swords, and spears are most common, but other shapes, such as a large rune of stellar energy, a mass of writhing energy tendrils, or an energized fist that fits over your own hand, are possible as well. Your solar weapon’s general design has no impact on its function, and doesn’t give the weapon any special abilities such as reach. Once you’ve selected the general design, you can’t change it until you gain a new solarian level.

I think you just roll with it. In 1e, there was a blanket rule that said "unless specifically stated, all gear works with all physiologies." I haven't read the 2e Core book cover-to-cover yet, so I'm not sure if that wording is still in there, but I think the spirit is, for weirdo offbeat species like Astrazoan.
Oh, also, FWIW, there is the flavour text for Swarmsuit armour, which specifically says it is designed to work with transformable physiologies.

I'm sure they're coming, but, I can't wait for some of the more whacky super-science / super-magic-science weapons from 1e. Stuff like: the black hole cannon! Man-portable rods-from-gods deliverers! The transmutation rifle that turns your enemies' kidneys into stones! The sniper rifle that doesn't fire projectiles, but instead targets bits on your enemies' insides, and teleports them to their outsides! And like others have pointed out, stormcaller, my beloved <3 Can you imagine a 2e Soldier with the flexible line?
(I would like to take this opportunity to say, maybe that could be better named projected line, rather than flexible line? To me, "flexible" implies, like, bendy or curved lines. The actual mechanical effect is still a straight line from Point A to Point B; it's just projected away from the attacker, rather than starting at the attacker, as with a regular Line Attack.)
I've said it before, but, I'm also excited to get some of the crazier weapon descriptions back, too. Like, a really wild super-science "reverse E=mc²" write-up is what made the energy converter so, so, flavourful and cool. At its base it's just a zero cannon; but making it a boxy nerd science project that converts energy into matter gave it style beyond compare.

The Burning Archipelago doesn't come up in Galaxy Guide, but, there is some stuff to do with Mataras, the Pact Worlds' star.

IIRC, Perplexity Parts 2, and even 3, exist, and have been run, but are "Thursty Exclusives." Part 2 has Chronicle sheets (I've seen them!) but Part 3 does not (unless that's a recent development.)

I remain in the "disgruntled about the 2e Environmental Protections nerf" camp. Especially because many of us pointed this out as a potential massive problem in the Playtest. It doesn't make sense in-universe (outside of convoluted "Megacorps said so" rationalizations) and I struggle to understand the nerf outside of universe, either. I am left to conclude that this is another sacrifice on the altar of "to make the game more compatible with PF2's meta-states?" but even that doesn't feel satisfactory.

It's basic starfaring exploration gear, and enabled the kinds of stories that Starfinder is meant to tell: exploring arctic moons, the chromosphere of a star, a super-chilled server farm, or who knows what else! If a Pathfinder character got access to it - they should be able to laugh their way through environmental challenges!

And to those who say "oh 1e Environmental Protections were too powerful, they obviated too many classic environmental hazards" - if that's your attitude, why are you even playing Starfinder? If you want to worry about a room flooding with water, or smoke, or poison gas, go play Pathfinder. Not mention - you can still have meaningful environmental hazards in Starfinder! You just have to come up with a rationale that makes sense. And - it's Starfinder! That's not even hard! Breathing in poison gas can just as easily be breathing in protections-shattering nanites. Room filling with water just as easily becomes room filling with acid. If an atmosphere-impermeable shell stymied all of your environmental threats, then it's time to sit down and dream up different environmental hazards!

Bah. Environmental Protections didn't deserve this.

(And don't even get me started on

Amazing - thanks, Jessica & everyone who made this happen!

So, all told, that's what - ten ancestries in the Core, six in Galaxy Guide, one in Metal City, and now two here in the Player's Guide, for a total of nineteen species available at launch? (And that's not even counting the PF2 ones?) Including some mechanically bonkers, or very iconic "Starfinder" species, like Contemplative, Skittermander, Astrazoan, and Barathu?

It feels like a Cantina up in here :)

It's not always (or even often) possible, but I like to try and experience things first as a Player, and then GM it - either for home / IRL groups, or Online, or whatever.

In practice, this ends up looking like playing new scenarios as they come out at the big online conventions (either VTT or PbP) and then GMing them, in whatever medium you want.

One piece of advice, though - when you're juggling which PCs can play a scenario or receive credit for GMing them with multiple play modes, do recall that, although the rules are very clear on PCs only being able to participate in one adventure at a time, Chronicles from GMing can still be assigned, even during a long PbP adventure - they just don't take effect until after.
(At least, that's how 1e works. TBD if there'll be changes in 2e, once that campaign's rules come out!)

I wonder if there'll still be physical copies of The Gap for purchase at Gen Con...

Echoing others: I like the idea of a casual AMA stream with just whatever random stuff going on for visuals. The chibi-Iconics were lovely, and it was pretty cool to see their creator getting rep'd in Chat!

But, also like others: I don't know much about Warframe, and didn't get much out of that specifically. Especially since that aspect was mostly watching hyper-acrobatic space-ninja jumps. Made me a little motion sick :D Something a bit less ... frenetic, may be a better choice. I'd def watch again with, I dunno, Darktide or Helldivers 2 or something!

Thank you, everyone, for your congratulations - and thanks to all those who've played in my games! I couldn't've done it without you, and the Online Region (because I live in the city from Footloose that hates dancing, but also TTRPGs, strangely? Some day, our Kevin Bacon prince will come.)
Congrats to our new coin-holders, and my fellow Five Thingy-Havers!

As the dust cleared, she heard, “Navasiiiii!” echo from the extemporary exit Trace’s grenade had blown in the wall

Na-va-siiiii! *shakes fist at projected sky*

Hey Kishmo! To clarify, are you referring to vouchers or other stored Paizo store credit?

I appear to have a voucher from Outpost VIII; but it would be good to know for either, really :)

Yes, all Gen Con releases will be available in the Paizo booth during Gen Con. :)

Related question: do you know if there'll be a way to use Paizo Store Credit (like for having GM'd at PaizoCon) at the Paizo Booth at GenCon?

We are not doing pickups at Gen Con this year. Sorry, Kishmo!

Oh, boo. Well, follow-up question then: do you know if there'll be a way to use Paizo Store Credit (like for having GM'd at PaizoCon) at the Paizo Booth at GenCon this year?

Is there a way to pre-order this now, but for pick up at Gen Con, rather than to be shipped?

Johnny Spacebucks who used his 2000 Pathfinder AcP to unlock a whole bunch of stuff

Well, that's my -2701's inspiration sorted XD

I can't wait to browbeat cordially invite a handful of like-minded players into making an all morlamaw party for this. Surely, politely forming orderly queues is a winning strategy for this high pressure reality TV race, and who better than The Dapper Flappers to do so? XD