Kishmo's page

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)

SPOILERS for basically all Society scenarios, past and present!

FORMAL STORYLINES
I'm calling these "formal," in that they're clearly identified storylines that have been hanging around for multiple seasons, and are still unresolved. It would be surprising if these aren't addressed, one way or another, at some point.

INFORMAL RECURRENCES
The following are less obvious in their need for a resolution. I think of these more as story seeds that may or may not be picked up again. Unlike the Formal Storylines above, I don't think it would be surprising if any of these plotlines are left untouched.

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!

Cool new feat from Enhanced: Firing Solution, which lets you use your ranks in Physical Science instead of ranks in Piloting to shoot weapons in space. Pretty cool flavour; math to the rescue!
My question is: does the feat allow you to use your Int mod instead of Dex mod for calculating your Gunnery bonus? At face value the feat only lets you swap ranks from one skill to another, so RAW, no. So, more of a RAI check, similar to how Mystical starship weapons let you sub in Wis for Dex. (Maybe we'll get another magical round of FAQ updates? Maybe? Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi Dustin-Wan Kitsune, you're my only hope!)

I've just listened to the interview Thursty and Dustin did for the Rise of the Runelords podcast, and wanted to bring up something Dustin mentioned: Hero Points in Starfinder! It was just an offhand mention without going into further detail, but it got me thinking. I'm so used to playing with "one free re-roll per session," either via Promo Boons in Society games, or as a ubiquitous house rule everywhere else, that it's easy to forget that Hero Points aren't already "a thing" in the SF1 rules! It'll be nice to have that codified.

Anyways, I did some looking in the Paizo Three Action System rules, and it looks like Hero Points are just for pulling yourself out of death, or re-rolls. No further uses that I saw, but I also didn't look super deep. So, I wanted to ask: people more versed in PF2 play than me, are there other uses for Hero Points? Are there feats or class features that cost Hero Points? I guess that's sort of the space Resolve Points occupy in SF1, but it's not exactly 1:1, both in use and intent.

I'm not sure that I have a preference between "Hero Points are sacrosanct and only used for re-rolls and saving oneself from death" and "Hero Points can be used to power ridiculous abilities." I suppose the latter is more interesting, as it forces people make tactical decisions between uses resources or keeping them for a rainy day, but that also means that anything that is powered by Hero Points needs to be really good, or else run the risk of people never using Hero Points. If there are additional uses for Hero Points, it'll be neat to compare/contrast with the expanded RP uses, in Enhanced!

I've said before that Starfinder's biggest problem is that it lives in PF2's shadow, and boy do the past four days really bring that home.

As someone who only plays Starfinder, and doesn't play PF2, it feels like this announcement isn't for me; its for PF2 Enjoyers. The language in the blogs and Field Test #1 aren't directed at me, a Starfinder player - they're directed at PF2 Players. "We’ve included some rules for futuristic weaponry and a couple of creatures for you to toss into your games" (from the Blog) or "feel free to whip up a soldier and give it a test and let the team know whatcha think!" (from Field Test #1) have an implicit "have fun with the new toys, Only PF2 Players!" attached, because the stuff released obviously isn't for the existing SF(1) rules.

An announcement for Starfinder players could have addressed some of the current Starfinder pain points, like speaking to the plan for Starship Combat, or Operatives overshadowing other class's skills, or enemies reliably and consistently saving against PC Spell DCs starting at mid-level (since NPC saves are built to measure against 10+½ character level, not 10+spell level).

Now I get why: ORC and all that, plus Paizo is a business, and it's allowed to want to make money. And, if you're trying to grow the Starfinder player base, then the nearest well to drink from is the PF2 player base (and, vice versa - although I'd wager that there probably aren't many others in my boat of only playing SF.)

Perhaps I am looking at this wrong. After all, when most systems have a new edition announced, existing players usually don't get immediate rules stuff to play with; so that is just par for the course, I suppose. PF2 players getting a sneak peak, as it were, isn't a dig at SF players, but rather a bonus for the PF2 players who are in the happy position of already knowing the rough shape of the final rules engine.

To finish on a positive note, I do have a huge amount of faith in, and goodwill for, the SF Team: the Star Chamber is the best Chamber, after all. Plus, there's still like, two years to go, so it's super early days. Too early for the doom-and-gloom. Mostly, I just wanted a place to put my thoughts down. I looks forwards to future announcements and reveals that speak to me - and, in the meantime, I guess I need to learn what a Free Archetype is :D

The Arc Strike drone mod from Interstellar Species is listed as a basic mod, both on AoN and in IS. It states:
As a standard action, you create a devastating energy stream that arcs between your custom rig and your drone, creating a line effect; to use this ability, your custom rig must be in your possession and your drone must be within 30 feet of you. For each advanced drone mod your drone has, the arc deals 1d8 electricity damage to each creature in the line; affected creatures can attempt Reflex saving throws to halve the damage (DC = 10 + half your mechanic level + your Intelligence modifier). The damage increases by 1d8 at 4th level and every three levels thereafter. You can instead activate this ability as a full action to increase the damage dice to d10s.

It's the bold bit I'm questioning. Since this is a basic mod, you can take it at level 1; but since you can't take advanced drone mods until lvl 11, and you haven't yet hit the damage increase at level 4...does it do zero damage at levels 1 - 3? Or is the "advanced" bit in there a typo, and should read "basic"? Or should be just removed altogether and have the damage increase for any mod, regardless of basic/advanced? Or, is the "advanced" bit supposed to stay in there, and it's missing its base damage before lvl 4 and before advanced mods?

I'm guessing it's supposed to do a base 1d8 dmg, increasing as written at level 4+, and then increasing on top of that with each advanced drone mod. But clarification would be nice.

Question about 1-99's Scoured Stars Veteran Boon (because yay getting to run it again for Outpost VI!) The Scoured Stars Field Experience option of the boon states (spoiler for 1-99 of course):

!!! MAJOR SPOILERS for 3-00 The Last Bite, 3-14 Hollow Lies, the s4 Data Scourge metaplot, and the Drift Crisis !!!
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I'm prepping to run 3-14, and wow, re-reading that scenario now, with a few years of hindsight: it's wild, the seeds that were planted in that adventure!
During the adventure, PCs get the opportunity to view some scrying mirrors, as well as read a space-lich's thoughts on them.

At the time, we didn't really know what 1, 2, or 3 referred to, and we had some hints about 4. I do remember, at the time though, thinking that 1 could be a reference to the shadowy not-Starfinders that were alluded to by a certain elf from the end of 3-00. From where we now are, in s5, we know that 1 refers to Historia-Prime and his force of muder-nano-bots.

In retrospect, 3 also looks like a reference to the Drift Crisis: the 'fringe element' mentioned is the Architects, the secret cadre of Triunite 'innovators' who sought to 'upgrade' the Drift, but instead just Crashed it. 3-14 was probably written and developed mid-2020, meaning that this Drift Crisis foreshadowing came a good year and a half before Drift Crisis came out? I don't have an exact timeline, but I think this was well before Drift Crisis was even teased or announced? Wild how far back this one goes!

Makes me excited for what we haven't seen yet: to my knowledge, neither the Corpse Fleet nor "Captain Kovlov" have come up since 3-14, but "fighting Veskarium Corpse Fleet out for vengeance" sounds fun! And I mean, if what we suspect about #4 is true, who knows what that could turn into! Of course, just because a seed was planted two years ago, doesn't mean it's guaranteed to come up; it's still neat to think about, though!

Can Agile Casting be used for spell-like abilities that aren't just "you can cast an existing spell"?

The Agile Casting feat lets you cast a standard-action spell during movement, as part of a Full Action. It also explicitly allows Supernatural abilities, as long as they're a standard-action or less. My question is regarding spell-like abilities: can you cast those using Agile Casting?

Spell-like abilities are treated like spells, except in that you usually get them in a different way than by having levels in a spellcasting class. Their entry says:
Spell-like abilities are magical abilities that function very much like spells do ... A spell-like ability has a casting time of a standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description ... In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell.

I think it's pretty clear that SLA are intended to be useable wherever you can use a spell (and IIRC that was an explicit rule in Pathfinder 1E?) so, for example, a lashunta with Agile Casting could cast their species Detect Thoughts SLA with Agile Casting.

My question is about funkier SLAs, that aren't just "cast an existing spell." For example, can you use Agile Casting for something like a Shaper Mystic's Apportation, which doesn't have any Action listed, and so gets caught under the SLA's default of "Standard unless stated otherwise"? Could you use Agile Casting with some of the technomancer magical hacks that combine spells with attacks in one standard action, like Spellshot or Spell Grenade (in which you cram a spell into a grenade using the spell's usual casting time, and then throw the spell grenade as a standard action?) I think the RAW are ok with either, as long as the spell in question is a standard action (spellshot requires is to be; spell grenade less so) but figured I'd do a pulse-check on the Fora to see.

Maybe I'm missing something, but - how is the First Seeker's Final Request boon supposed to work, within the Spacey-P ecosystem? For context, the boon is from the chronicle sheet for 2-24, and after the Fame Overhaul, is now in the "rewards purchaseable with Achievement Points" section on the My Org Play Boons tab.

My -702 meets requirements and spent the Fame to buy this boon back in the day. Now, when my other Starfinder PCs try and use Spacey-Ps to buy the boon that has been shared with them, I get the "that character does not meet the requirements for that boon" error since, of course, they don't have the required rep with SS (Luwazi Elsebo) and the backend boon system doesn't know that they're only eligible because of First Seeker's Final Request. I did check the FAQ, and First Seeker's Final Request is just listed there as one of the boons that should work with "minimal modification" (which is true for just convering Fame -> Spacey-Ps, but not so much with the online eligibility determination.)

Since Spacey-Ps are tracked by the online system, it's not as easy as "chronicle sheets are what matters, just write it down and decrement your Spacey-Ps." Can VOs or someone in Org Play, like, manually debit my Spacey-Ps, or manually grant PCs eligibility?

I was digging around trying to find the paradigm shift that let Witchwarpers change the damage type of their spells. I fell into a bit of a rabbit hole (as it turns out, I was thinking of a technomancer magic hack instead of a witchwarper thingy, whoops) and got to re-reading the lvl 1 Witchwarper-exclusive spell, Shifting Surge:

You touch a willing creature and affect one of its energy damage attacks or weapons, changing the energy damage type of one of its attacks to one other type until the end of your next turn. Even if you don’t change the damage, the next affected attack that hits deals 2d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 1d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets.

Attacks

Some spell descriptions refer to attacking. All offensive combat actions, even those that don’t damage opponents, are considered attacks. Anytime you would need to make an attack roll to determine whether your spell hits a target, you are considered to be making an attack.

I think, from that reading, that spells that deal energy damage and require attack rolls definitely count as an "energy damage attack" for purposes of Shifting Surge. The first line ("offensive combat action") arguably includes even spells without attack rolls, like Explosive Blast or Magic Missile.

If this works like I think it does, then a 300 credit Shifting Surge spell amp just became a really great thing for any spellcaster to carry a bunch of on hand! (For maximum cheese, carry one around in an auto-injector to self-buff as a Move action!)

In case you missed it, during Paizo Live #7 this past weekend, new Most Esteemed Star Daddy Starfinder Society developer Jessica dropped a spoiler that next year (i.e. Season 5) we'll be getting two new minor factions! That's exciting!!

Based on exactly nothing other than the fact that they're new, and their leaders are 'already known' to us - anyone have any wild, baseless, speculation? I'll start!
1. Galactic Gourmands
Everyone knows that one-in-three Starfinders has a side hustle as a chef, cook, exotic meat procurer, or some other job in the food industry. It's about high-time that this growing, influential, group of Starfinders get representation! Led by VC Arvin, whose foodie tendencies have always manifested as sharing fancy intoxicants and niche snacks with his teams, these hungry hunters are all about scouting, sourcing, and cooking with, high-quality (and often questionably legal!) ingredients, methods, and cookware. Look forwards to boons like "Mithral Waffle Maker Supplier" to get discounts buying special materials!

2. All-Excellent Trustworthy Troupe of Incorruptibility
Does a mission call for Starfinders of impeccable judgment, with moral character above reproach? Trust these trustworthy adventurers, who are practically guaranteed to be 100% honest and dependable, and also you should tell them your secrets! These hearty stalwarts, who you can be sure are probably all space-paladins basically incapable of lying, are always happy to help! Their exact values or mission statement aren't written down anywhere, but they say they've done so much great work, so it's gotta be true, right?
The Faction leader? Hey, that's not important! What is a 'leader,' anyways, but a symbol! And you don't ask a symbol what their name is, right? Exactly! Anyways, whoever this worthy faction Grandmaster is, they sure seem to need a lot of Torches - to make sure there's no Shadows, of course! That's how bright and great this minor faction and their leader is!
Unrelated, but just a head's up - if you hear any wild stories about increased bandwidth being funneled to the Adamantine Bastille prison inside the Lorespire Complex, or strange shipments of magical masks - the Troupe is already investigating those. You can trust their unbiased findings! No need to worry about any of that, they'll keep you posted!
Members of the All-Excellent Trustworthy Troupe of Incorruptibility can take boons like the "PvP Flag" meta-boon, which lets them target unwilling allies without Player consent once per Reputation tier, and [REDACTED]

The Defensive Striker feat lists 'armour training trait' as a prerequisite.

As it stands currently, I think this is, unintentionally, limiting. Unless I'm missing something, the only characters that get Armour Training as a racial trait are Hobgoblins, who, as of Near Space, can replace their default Battle Hardened racial trait with the Armour Training trait. (For those keeping track, this trait gives them a +1 racial bonus to AC while wearing armour.)

Soldiers who take the Guard fighting style also gain Armour Training (which does something different - reduce ACP by 1, and increase max Dex by 1) but, it's a Class Feature and not a Trait, so it technically doesn't count as the prereq for Defensive Striker, under a very strict RAW interpretation?

Further complicating things: the Hobgoblin entry's fluff mentions that the reason some Hobbos have Armour Training is from training with Kanabo. So, in-universe, hobgobins get their Armour Training via Kanabo. But, Kanabo don't even get Armour Training. They get Armour Savant, which grants a +1 AC while wearing armour, like the Hobgoblins' one, but also reduces ACP, like the Guard soldiers'. Since Kanabo have the Armour Savant trait, and not the Armour Training trait, RAW they can't take the feat? I know fluff != crunch and one doesn't necessarily justify the other, but: is this intended?

Moving on: if Kanabo qualify for the feat, does that also mean Vesk qualify for the feat, since they also have an Armour Savant racial trait? And, for bonus points, do PCs who buy the Armour Savant species graft also qualify for the feat?

Hobgoblins with the alternate species trait definitely qualify for the feat, but: do Kanabo, Guard-style soldiers, Vesk, or Vesk-augmented PCs?

Space Hot Take: what if the main design space of the Evolutionist, namely to adopt some advantages and a disadvantage of a different type, could better serve the Starfinder game as an archetype (or number of archetypes,) rather than a class?

Let me back up a bit. I was thinking about how you could mesh an Evolutionist with a Biohacker - I know that the playtest specifically says "don't think about multiclassing," but the flavour of "tinkering with your own body" is so strong in both classes that my mind naturally went there. But, trying to think about how the two classes would interact, I came up with...well, nothing. I got sort of excited with the idea of being a Biohacker with a 1-level dip of Evolutionist, so you could pop some claws and gain 1 EP every combat round and just only ever spend it on boosting your BAB, as a sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde idea - but that was dashed when I re-read the EP Spend rules, which (very cleverly) only increase your BAB up to your Evolutionist level, not your Character level. With that foiled, the two classes don't mesh too well, otherwise.

That led me to thinking about what kinds of "class fantasies" the playtest evolutionist caters to, anyways. I came up with two broad ideas:
- The above Jekyll and Hyde situation, where a brainy character turns into a combat beast
- a Shifter-type, i.e. a dedicated combatant that adopts bestial characteristics (or, in a Sci Fantasy setting, bestial or mechanical or undead, etc., characteristics.)
...but, thinking on it, both of things kind of already exist. I say kind of, because the "base" of both of those ideas already exist. Jekyll-and-Hyde is just Biohacker with a transform mechanic, and Shifter is, even more simply, just "any martial character" with a transform mechanic. And, what do we call it when an existing class provides the chassis, with a bit of swapping to change character focus or character flavour a bit?

An archetype.

When you get down to it, the 'meat' of the Evolutionist class (or what we see in the playtest, anyways) is two things: Adaptive Strike, and Niche. If we wanted to try and turn that into an Archetype that you could apply to other classes, I think it's safe to just disregard Adaptive Strike: solarians, vanguards, and maybe even Qi Adept soldiers (...sorta) already do that schtick. So, that leaves Niche. Each of the Niches can, I think, fairly easily become their own Archetype (or, different flavours of a single Archetype.) You get your Niche's Instinct and Drawback at lvl 2, perhaps with a watered down EP mechanic more in line with Attunement where it maxes at 3 or something. Or just declare "they're always on in combat." Then you take each Niche's lvl 10 ability, and either slightly weaken it, or slightly strengthen it, and put it at lvl 8 or 12 (to fit with the Archetype's level dependence.) And you get your lvl 20 Niche ability at level 18.

Obviously this is half-baked: like maybe you need to keep the universal instincts to balance it out, or just weaken the drawback a bit, or re-working EP is just impossible, or whatever. It sort of solves some of the complaints I've seen: namely low skill points and low BAB. Turning Evolutionist into an Archetype side-steps those problems by using your base class for that - choose a skills class if you want skills, or choose a martial class if you want BAB. And, it still doesn't solve that "increase BAB for Jekyll-and-Hyde" conundrum (unless that Instinct and EP-spend stay in, which...shrug.) Maybe the niche's instinct-and-drawback come mandatory at lvl 2, and the other vanilla instincts are "optional" archetype abilities you can take at lvls 4, 6, etc?

Anyways. Just a thought experiment. Maybe a little provocative, but certainly not meant in a malicious spirit. I'm not seriously arguing for the Evolutionist to be scrapped as a Class, and devolved, ah-hah into an Archetype. I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this, honestly. Mostly, I wanted to share my ramblings. What do you think - am I on to something, or am I out to lunch?

Starting with Devastation Ark, the "Applying Credit" section of the AP Sanctioning docs specifically calls out that each AP Chapter grants 3 Day Job checks. Prior to Devastation Ark, I'd just assumed that each AP only granted 1 - and, consequently, only 1 'tick box' for things which require you to forego Day Jobs. Can we use that new "3 Day Jobs" rule on the older pre-Devastation Ark APs, on Chronicle Sheets we assign going forwards?
(It'd be awesome if we could retroactively make 2 more Day Job checks on already-assigned Chronicle Sheets from those APs, too, but that seems complicated.)

The Soul Projector from The Blind City is a pretty awesome item: it has the Force descriptor, never runs out of ammo, doesn't require any proficiency, can make both melee and ranged attacks, and (from my reading anyways?) doesn't seem to take any hands to wield - it's either an armour slot item, or a worn magic item. Sure it steals a wee bit of HP, but I think it's a fair trade, for what it brings to the table.

Since it is classified as a Hybrid Item rather than a weapon, though, it's a bit unclear on if it gets Weapon Specialization. How are other people treating it? No spec dmg, +1/2 lvl spec dmg (as if it were a Small Arm,) or +full lvl spec dmg?

The level 9 base Arriver model does the same damage as the lvl 9 vanilla laser pistol (3d4 + 1d4 boost) so from a balance perspective, it's probably not game-breaking for it to get +1/2 lvl specialization damage. On the other hand, there's Longarms like the lvl 7 Aeon Guard Rifle or the lvl 8 Impulse Charge Emitter (which, thanks to its Integrated special property, also doesn't take hands to wield) that are around that item level, and also do 3d4 but with +full lvl specialization. Plus, there's even a level 9 Heavy Weapon that also does 3d4 damage (albeit with some fun properties, like Line and Unwieldy.) It's not really clear, just comparing it to other classes of weapons with a similar damage point, if it strongly fits in the +1/2 lvl dmg or +full lvl dmg categories. As a GM I usually try and rule in my players' favour unless there's overwhelming evidence it's a bad idea, so I'm tempted to say it adds +lvl dmg. How are other GMs handling it?

(It's also worth nothing that, since the Soul Projector is on the Chronicle Sheet for this chapter, this could have Org Play impacts, too?)

I played through this scenario and, despite dying to Scaranis's Mindkiller while having Death Ward up (how is that not a death effect?) I had a blast. Yay high level content - and all of the fun callbacks and foreshadowing in the Scrying Hall! I am now prepping to run it as a GM.

Specific rules interaction I'm looking for a second opinion on, that I suspect other GMs will want to keep in mind: how do PCs with Necrografts interact with Scaranis's Undead Mastery ability?

Necrografts very specifically say that the creature can be subjected to undead-specific effects, so...I'm tempted to say yeah, Scaranis can dominate Necrograft PCs, although they'd get the bonus to the save. It's mean and nasty, but, like...it's a space lich, of course it's mean and nasty :D

For reference:
Undead Mastery (Su) As a standard action, Scaranis can cause one undead creature within 50 feet to fall under his control as per control undead (Will DC 24 negates). This control is permanent for unintelligent undead; an undead creature with an Intelligence score can attempt an additional saving throw each day to break free. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by Scaranis’s undead mastery for 24 hours. Scaranis can control a group of undead whose total CR is no greater than twice his CR (30).

Necrograft Subtype: Creatures with this subtype are also damaged by spells that damage undead and can be subjected to other undead-specific effects. If a spell or ability that does something other than deal damage would not normally affect such a creature but does affect undead, it can affect a creature with the necrograft subtype, but that creature gains a bonus to its AC and saving throw against the effect equal to 4 – the number of necrografts it has (to a minimum bonus of +0).

EDIT: Ok just realized Scaranis has Dominate Person, so mind control shenanigans are clearly on the table here.

The Selective Explosions stunt is one of the Engineering stunts for Operatives' Stunt & Strike alternative class feature. It allows you to exclude squares when making AoE attacks:

Selective Explosions: If your stunt and strike skill check and attack roll both succeed and your attack is made with a weapon that targets an area (such as a weapon with the automatic, blast, explode, flexible line, or line properties), you can select a number of squares up to your Dexterity modifier and remove them from the affected area.

But, you can only exclude squares, "if your stunt and strike skill check and attack roll both succeed."

I think this needs some clarification, since different AoE weapon properties have different ways of making attack rolls:
Line, Flexible Line, Wide Line, Blast: make one attack roll, compare against AC for all targets in area
Automatic: make a separate attack roll against each target in area
Explode: make one attack, but target a grid intersection (usually AC 5) rather than targets

So it's straight forwards for Explode weapons, but for the others: how many attack rolls do I need to succeed with for Selective Explosion to trigger? If I've got an ally in the Area (which is the primary use case for this stunt) do I just need to succeed on the attack vs one ally? What if there's multiple allies? Or, do I need to success vs foes? Or versus all targets?

For that matter, when making the skill check for the Stunt: do I make a separate check vs all targets? Or just allies, or enemies, or one check vs the highest CR, or, or, or. (Is there a precedent for how Trick Attack vs multiple targets works?)

If I'm attacking an area with 1 foe and 1 ally (which, again, seems like what this ability is designed for) the most punitive reading would require me to succeed at two Skill checks and two Attacks to exclude squares. Which is a lot of rolls: not only am I more likely to fail at any single one (which is maybe all it takes for the stunt to fail) but it also slows down my turns a lot. It's a cool ability, and I am theorycrafting an Operative/Experimental Weapons Mechanic to really make an AoE specialist work, but it needs a bit of clarification, and hopefully fewer rolls to be viable.

I had a character with a holy weapon go up against a dragon the other day. It was pretty great - fighting dragons is such an exciting, iconic, part of the genre, and it was challenging enough that true death was a possibility! But it came up afterwards that the only reason my holy weapon was effective against the dragon was not the dragon's DR being /good, but rather it being /magic, and thus overcome by any fusion.

I did a bit of investigating after that - the various alignment weapon fusions let you overcome DR/their alignment, and ignore the energy resistances of a set of creatures that alignment frequently opposes. But here's the thing - as far as I can tell, none of them give you any advantage against dragons. I checked all of the dragons and dragon templates I could find in the Alien Archives, and none of them have DR other than /magic, and none of them have energy resistances - only energy immunities.

So, as written, if you're hoping to be a dragonslayer, there doesn't seem to be any benefit to having an aligned weapon fusion, despite the dragon creature type being called out specifically in each alignment fusion. It suggests to me that the intent is for these weapons to be more effective against dragons, but mechanically there's nothing there.

Am I missing something? Should the alignment fusions overcome immunities for dragons? Maybe this is just to overcome the occasional dragon that happens to have resistance from an item, spell, feat, etc? Or if future dragons are published that do have resistances?

EDIT: Owen specifically confirmed that the holy fusion does not overcome immunities in another thread. That one didn't touch on this "should these fusions give some advantage vs dragons?" question, but still pretty definitive.

As was officially announced in the blog post Thursday, starting in the next season of Org Play, Year 4, Starfinder Society will no longer support Boons, and will move to an AcP system. Season 3 lays groundwork for that, by not granting Boons anymore. All of the 3-xx scenarios so far have an adventure recap on the Chronicle sheet, with no Boons.

I'm not sure what to make of it. Does this mean that basically all season long, all we'll get on chronicle sheets are credits, fame, rep, and gear? Of course I (and my characters) like those things, but the most interesting part of the chronicles is always the Boons. Unique or esoteric items, favours, potential influence (good or bad,) and, well, small-b boons from the NPCs and galaxy at large. I also always find it really neat when Boons come back around again - from the big fan-favourites like being on Zo!'s good side, to the smaller stuff like seeing a kalo's debt repaid, or your actions garnering a small amount of attention from a Deity like Yaraesa. I would hate to see those "living campaign" connectivity elements go away; but then again maybe the adventure recaps fulfill that purpose now?

Arguably, 3-00's chronicle sheet has:

I understand that the 2E Pathfinder Society has already got a year of "just AcP, no Boons" under their belt - how does that work? I've not really done any 2E Org Play, so can folks with some experience there chime in? Are there callbacks to previous chronicles still? (Or, do I just need to wait and see what the Season 3 Guide says when it comes out?)

As noted above - spoilers for basically all of the season 2 metaplot scenarios, up to and including the recently released 2-24.

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Now that we (as players) have a pretty good idea of the shape and function of Datch's machinations - I am left pondering one thing:

How is Abadar, his church, and AbadarCorp in general, ok with all of this?

Abadar is a big deal. He was a big deal in the Pathfinder times, and we know he's still active after the Gap. It stands to reason that his influence is, if anything, increased post-Drift, since trade and empires span multiple star systems. We know Abadar (unique among Neutral deities, if I recall correctly) actively encourages and uses an order of paladins (tbd if that's a thing still, though) and rooting out corruption (in this case, using bureaucracy for one's own ends and benefits, rather than to further civilization at large) and chaos is one of things Abadar is known for, right?

...so how is it that AbadarCorp, with all of the wealth and largesse of a galaxy-spanning megacorp behind it, and backed up by a literal God whose portfolio is concerned with halting the spread of chaos, hasn't figured out that Datch = Bad?

Shouldn't part of the job interview process for becoming a Director or AbadarCorp involve, like, a divine background check? Get some space-paladins in there and root around for evil, throw down some high-level Zones of Truth, a 24 hr observation period to make sure there's no Nondetection tomfoolery going on, etc. AbadarCorp, being both a church and insanely wealthy, surely has access to high-level spellcasters, both divine and arcane (as much as that distinction matters in Starfinder, anyways.) Summon up some Inevitables, Axiomites, or even Archons or Angels to do some sniffing. Hell, I bet there's a decent chance that AbadarCorp is a multi-planar organization, and could have hired staff on payroll that are Inevitables, Axiomites, Archons, or Angels :D It just seems to me that, like...a lvl 16 Mystic casting Vision when Datch was appointed Director, or as a part of starting the "AbadarCorp Vote of No Confidence" process, could have prevented a lot of this.

Unless the answer is...Abadar is ok with this? Big A is, indeed, Neutral, and espouses law and order, not necessarily Good. Maybe this kind of extreme cut-throat corporate jockeying is something Abadar is ok with, as long as it's furthering civilization, or governance, or mercantilism? At face value, a LN God of Civilization and Wealth and a NE God of Assassins don't necessarily have any beef with each other - no obvious alignment conflicts, and both have a vested interest in the exchange of wealth?

Then again, it really seems to me that letting an avowed card-carrying Laoite assassin orchestrate a coup against your chief executive priest / officer to create a power vacuum really reeks of chaos, though, which is not a thing Abadar would be down with.

I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, and I should file this under "suspension of disbelief." Season 2 has been one helluva ride, that's for sure - surely it's worth it to get one of those villains you love to hate :) Gentle folk of the fora, what do you think?

Very excited to run this scenario this weekend - looks to be great trip back to Arniselle!

Question re: Morlamaw Mummy Rot. The low tier Cure line says "the victim must benefit from a successful casting of remove affliction within 1 minute." Within 1 minute of what, though? Of failing their fort save and contracting the disease? That seems pretty deadly - if the party doesn't have access to that spell, or doesn't know they they have 60 seconds to cast it...that character just permanently dies? Like if you can't have that affliction removed at the end of the adventure because 1 minute has already passed, you're just outta luck?

Relevant bit from the Org Play Guide, p. 16:
Any affliction that would result in an unplayable character must be resolved at the table once the game ends. This typically involves the remove affliction spell, either cast by a fellow PC or purchased as a service from an NPC. A character who does not resolve such conditions should be marked as dead.

EDIT: wait, never mind - I think this is just a copy-paste thingy. The high tier mummy rot says "The victim must benefit from two successful castings of remove affliction within 1 minute." This wording makes it clearer, I think, that the intent is for the "within 1 minute" clause applies to getting both spells successfully cast within 1 minute, and should only apply to High Tier.

If that's so, then you can just cast remove affliction, once, whenever, and be saved from low-tier morlamaw mummy rot. I think.

Oh boy, a general Starfinder lore Q&A! Allow me to blow the dust off the ol' SFW Thread to ask some questions ahead of time!
(Gosh I hope Zo!'s still around there...)

This was a great stream, and a great blog! Very excited for the upcoming year (especially the high-level content!) and I cannot wait for The Last Bite. #ApplesOut for Origins!

I was prepping to run some space battle hijinx on roll20 when I thought - do we have a stock background image for The Drift for spaceship combat? I know there's a number of images that feature The Drift floating around online, but all of them are images of stuff, and not suitable to just throw up on roll20 underneath a Hex grid. The Drift is described as a swirling kaleidoscope of shifting colours, and in the representations I could find, it tends to be in the pinky-purpley spectrum.

I know there's a number of published space battles that take place in the Drift (like in Dead Suns, Cries from the Drift, Beacon Code Dilemma, and so on) but when I went back to check, the maps for all of the ones I could think of just used the "Basic Starfield" image, if at all, for Drift combat.

What do you use for images of The Drift for spaceship battles taking place there? I think I'm gonna throw this up and see how it goes.

Questions come up regularly about gaining the generally-accepted senses or organs of a non-disabled human. Can a Stellifera gain sound-based communication, can a Khizar gain visual sight, can a kalo use gill sheathes to breathe outside of water lacking "lungs," same for Androids, can a Vlaka gain a sense, can Bantrids gain a sense of smell, and so on. I assume, given the awesome variety of species that is a staple of Starfinder, this trend will continue (and, to be clear, I love it and hope diverse, interesting, species keep coming!)

That said: it would be really helpful to have an official clarification or blanket statement on if, and how, players can/can't do such things.

Or, better yet, if we could get a FAQ (or Org Play Guide?) web update, or an Armory 2 section, or whatever that includes some low level augmentations for "gain any given sense or organ that a non-disabled human possesses" that would answer a lot of these questions. Pay <=500 credits to gain lungs/eyes/etc would answer a lot of questions without being game-breaking, I would think? It seems in line with the general design philosophy outlined in Armory, Alien Archives, etc of "any playable alien can purchase and use the equipment presented in various Starfinder books regardless of its specific physiology."

Disclaimer: I have tried to write about this delicate subject with respect. Apologies if I have offended anyone or used terms that aren't accepted. I looked up a few style guides and there doesn't seem to be universally-accepted verbiage, so I have tried to go with some kind of consensus re: terms like "non-disabled" or "accessibility disabled." I acknowledge that person-first or identity-first language is preferred when we speak about specific individuals, but we are here discussing groups (some of them groups of made up things!) rather than specifics.

Also, let's all try hard to keep this thread a discussion of in-game, game-mechanics things, without ascribing value/lack-of-value judgments, or re-opening closed threads. Yes, I hear some people asking, "why play a species if you want to pay money to change their physiology/abilities/etc as soon as you can?" This thread is not the place for that, or similar, questions.

(TLDR at the bottom.)

A recent thread has gotten me thinking a lot about Species Boons. They're a fun reward for both players and GMs, as well as a shiny carrot incentive: "COME PLAY THIS EXCLUSIVE SCENARIO" and you could get some whacky exclusive species! Or, come GM at "CONVENTION X" or whatever and you'll probably get something cool!

...but the more I think about this, the less I enjoy it, both as a player and a GM. If character stats, class, and species (and, arguably, Theme in Starfinder) are the "core components" of (mechanical) character making, why is Species the only one locked behind boons? Could you imagine if you had to rescue a cosmonastery in a scenario before you could make a Solarian, or GM 12 games before you could make a character with Wisdom higher than 14?

One of the big draws for Starfinder is the much-lauded Cantina Feel, and as more and more species become available (we're up to an amazing >100 now :D) there's just so much to choose from. With that number actively growing, it gets harder and harder to obtain access to make the character and species you want. Not only are there way more playable species than there are current species boons, but there's also all sorts of challenges to obtaining those species boons. So many are time-locked or seasonally available. Want to play a Ryphorian? Sorry, that was only possible between August 2017 and June 2018. Have an idea for a Bantrid? Oops, that was a one-time convention bonus years ago. Yearning to make a kickass Morlamaw (they're so hot right now)? Good luck finding out what you need to do to obtain that boon, and then finding a willing GM/enough players to make it happen, since it's been "possible" for almost two years now, and people only have so many replays. Will the option to earn any of these boons reappear again in the future? Who knows!

This feels especially punitive for new players, who come into the setting and fall in love with whatever species...only to learn that the only chance to earn that species' boon was years ago. Ooops. The "secondary market" of boon trading, as it exists today, is also a conceit to there being disatisfication with how people earn and receive species unlocks. Similarly, how many career GMs have you heard say "I give most of my species boons away to new players or friends, so people can play what they want?" Have you ever had to explain to a new player that, yes, technically, they could make a character of some given species, but they need to either go to a handful of conventions in Scandinavia or wait a year or two for the Reigons to rotate first? All of these are signs that there are barriers to people playing what they want. A lot of the "specialness" of the current species boons is tied up in Exclusivity, and simply put: excluding people from species isn't fun.

Or, stated another way: what's the point of having 100+ awesome, bonkers, out-there, species when it's super challenging to play the one you want?

I totally understand why the system is like this, though. Species unlocks are a sweet reward for doing something special, playing through a certain scenario, running X number of games, or what have you. You play/run something special, you get something special. Simple enough, right? To an extent, it's also a carry over from Pathfinder. It's just the way species unlocks have always worked. It's just not up to snuff for Starfinder Society, though. The OP Devs often talk about SFS being a place for experimentation, trying new things, and baby steps to change the way things are done, and I think there exists an opportunity to do just that while also serving the Cantina Feel - one of the core tenets of Starfinder's design.

Let's break that down a bit more: species boons seem to come in one of two flavours: what I am calling 'rewards' and 'incentives.' Rewards are a neat treat for playing something. Help liberate a species in a scenario, or make a favourable impression in a first contact? Hey, maybe you can play one of those at the end! Or, finish an AP that deals with a species? Maybe you can play one afterwards! Incentives, on the other hand, seek to entice pepole to do something, usually GMing. If you GM a bunch in your local community, or GM at a Convention, you usually get a species boon, or GMing will help you unlock your Skittermander or RSP Regional Species more quickly, etc. Help grow the scene, get a reward. Simple enough.

Here, then, is my modest proposal, using mechanics already found in Org Play today: eat everyone that has an SRO Boon instead of species boons being tied to a specific species, make them universal. When you earn a Species Boon, you can make a new character using any species you want, subject to the usual rules about Additional Resources and sourcebook ownership. These "Universal Species Unlock Boons" solve the problem of how hard it is to get access to what you want to play. I don't have a detailed idea, but I think something along the lines of the RSP Regional Species, Skittermander, or Alien Archive Player Reward #1, boons would be a great starting point. You have to check off a certain number of boxes, and at the end earn a Universal Species Unlock Boon. Playing lets you check off boxes, but GMing lets you check off even more, and doing either at Conventions, etc., earns you the most.

Now, to tie it back to the motivations for the current Species Boon: rewards & incentives. How could a Universal Species Unlock Boon serve both of those?
For "Incentives": using the "graduated box-ticking" method described above, you still incentivise folks to GM, and participate at conventions. If you play 24 scenarios (or whatever) anyone can eventually play whatever they want, but you'll get there a lot faster if you GM and/or hit up Cons.
Alternatively, what if the special convention rewards weren't species? Steps are already being taken in that direction: I understand that at PaizoCon for a couple years now, folks have gotten a boon granting access to a minor faction, and not species. That's awesome! Similarly, at GenCon this year, the GM Boon offered a choice between species, or a complete character rebuild. The Charity Boons are also great sources of inspiration - make a convention boon grant access to a new starship frame, or ownership of a planetoid, or start a fringe cult or something. There's still all sorts of cool boon potential, outside of species. All of those examples are really useful, or very cool, or both. But, crucially, those things are not a core component of character building.

For "Rewards": I think the answer here is already out in the wild: the "Existing Species" option that exists on many Species boons already. If you already have the option to play a given species, either through an existing boon, or a Universal Species Unlock, or whatever: you can apply this boon to increase a stat below 15 by +2. You still get a neat reward, tied to a specific species, that reflects your character's involvement in that species's narrative.

Anticipating possible challenges here: what about species that are just inappropriate for Organised Play? I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but what if somewhere down the line some kind of crazy species has something game-breaking, like, I dunno, a half-genie that can cast Limited Wish once a day or something. I think the "Additional Resources" rider can handle this: just as we do today with feats, archetypes, gear, and other class options, we just say that those specific species are not eligible. In a pinch, this could also be used to maintain ultra exclusive special species; ex. completely made up species Omnipotians are not included under Additional Resources, but a very special rider in a very special Omnipotian Admittance Boon (available by playing scenario 4-9X: Escape from Omnipotia, hitting digital shelves May 2022!) states that you can play an Omnipotian as if it were included in the Additional Resources page. It kind of goes against the principle of opening up every species, but hey, maybe some things are special enough to be kept hallowed :)

Other challenges: people who have worked, traveled, GM'd, or otherwise expended significant resources to obtain a species now feel that it was a waste. Depending on how the graduated box-ticking goes, I think a lot of that becomes moot. If, like the Skittermander boon, you need to check off 24 boxes, no one can say that these are easy to get. It's attainable, but you can't just bang it out over a weekend at your FLGS. (...probably.) Like, your usual org play season usually only contains 25ish scenarios. You basically have to consume one season of material to get one of these Universal Species Unlock Boons. That seems fair to me? If my crazy idea actually happened, perhaps SFS could put out a blanket "any Boon that you have used before Date X to play a Species can be retroactively used to increase a sub-15 stat by 2" ruling. This is what already happened to the Legacy Race boons when the Legacy Races became always available, so there's precedent.

TL;DR Stop the existing model of species boons being tied to only unlocking a specific species. Instead, use the RSP Regional Species graduated box-ticking method to let anyone earn a boon allowing creation of one character of any species they want, subject to the existing Additional Resources rules. Continue the current practice of having species-specific rewards tied to narratives involving that species, but instead of the boon letting you play that species, instead have the boon let you increase a stat if you play a character of that species.

Editor's Disclosure At least a little bit of my motivation for this post is plain ol' jealousy. I'm bitter I can't play that species, or the other one, or that my life doesn't support going to big conventions regularly. Now, I know that jealousy is a terrible reason to make a forum post, but the more I thought about it, the more I genuinely believed that a Universal Unlock could make org play better, and more accessible to more people - all while serving that Starfinder Cantina Feel flavour. What I'm trying to say is: I have tinkered with this post and chosen my words carefully and edited this so that, I hope, it doesn't just come off as the hateful screed of some bitter jerk who can't play a khizar :) I hope this comes across with the respect and love for Org Play and the Org Play Team with which it was written.

Obozzah!

I'm going to be GMing a Dawn of Flame campaign soon, and terribly missed the character creation section from past APs' Players' Guides. So, I wrote one for my own players! I figured I'd share it with the forums, in the hopes it is of use to other players or GMs.

My writing style is informal, written from a GM to a player, so don't expect this to be up to par with the official stuff. Also, it's possible I make fun of phrenic adepts, lol. Sorry not sorry. I have definitely shamelessly ripped some verbiage from official Paizo players' guides in the intro. As far as I know, rules for all of the character options I mention should be available on the Archives of Nethys. Not everything is Organised Play legal, though.

Please note: I've written this having only skimmed chapters 1 and 2, so things predominantly coming up after that aren't taken into consideration. For others who've read/GM'd/played farther into the AP than that, please feel free to comment your thoughts, edits, or additions below!

Kishmo's Unofficial Players' Guide to Dawn of Flame
Required reading on Mataras, the Pact Worlds' Sun:
https://aonsrd.com/Systems.aspx?ItemName=The%20Sun

Required Reading on the Burning Archipelago, the primary settlement on the sun:
https://aonsrd.com/Settlements.aspx?ItemName=Burning%20Archipelago

What sort of characters work best for Dawn of Flame? A brilliant researcher delving for secrets? A devout Sarenite seeking to get closer to their Goddess? A plane-touched character, searching for clues to their own past or origins? An honest spacer just looking to make a space-buck or two? A military grunt with a sturdy plasma-sword? The answer: any of these ideas and more. While Dawn of Flame contains a fair amount of social intrigue and scientific or academic research, it still has its fair share of monsters to slay, dungeons to delve, and spaceships to pilot. Whatever a character’s motivation is for diving into the sun, there should be opportunities aplenty.

My suggestions are presented as potential choices for fitting the flavor and tone of the Adventure Path, but are by no means prescriptive. There are no "bad choices" for character creation. As always, the most important thing is to make a character you want to play, and will have fun playing :)

Races
All of the always-available Organised Play races bring something to the table, but races with telepathy - shirrens and lashunta - will have plenty of moments to shine, especially in the first chapter. By demographics, humans are by far the most populous race on the sun, followed by efreet (not a playable race), androids, ysoki, and then assorted others. Lashunta control Asanatown, one of the main bubble cities in the Burning Archipelago, and have a stable population.

For other races: races comfortable with heat and fire are, of course, going to have an easier time on the sun than usual - see the Resistance note, below. Races resistant to radiation (like Ferrans) would also be more comfortable than most in or on a big ol' burning ball of nuclear plasma. Beyond that, there is a sizable Efreet population on the sun, and while Efreet are not a playable race, Ifrits (the result of liaisons between an efreeti and a mortal, or a humanoid born under a strong influences of elemental fire) are common on the Burning Archipelago. (It's worth pointing out that Ifrits need not be half-human; although the mechanical stats are the same, if you wanted to be an ifrit born of a shirren, or a dwarf, or a vesk, or whatever - go for it!) Sulis, while more rare, also bring an Elemental flair to the campaign. Finally, there's a small but significant number of anacites who believe that the Burning Archipelago was built by the First Ones, the same mysterious creatures who built the anacites - making SROs a race with reason to be on the sun, as well.

Races that don't do particularly well in bright light - like drow or orcs - are possible, but are advised to pack their shades.

Of note, the Anassanoi race is NOT appropriate, for reasons that will become clearer over the course of the AP. If you don't know what that race is, great - I strongly advise you not to read up on them.

Themes
The Solar Disciple theme is, obviously, very fitting. Other great options include Tempered Pilgrim, Xenoseeker or Xenoarcheologist, or Scholar, if your interest in the sun is more academic. There's also lots of commerce in the Burning Archipelago, so corporate agent is also very viable. Lastly, priest is fitting if you're thinking of having a religious connection to the sun. Which brings us to...

Religions
Although religion can be an afterthought or ignored for many characters, there are some fun or thematic tie-ins to Mataras. Sarenrae, as goddess of the sun, is an obvious choice, and her adherents will have loads of scenery to chew. Desna or Ibra, as deities of stars and/or celestial bodies in general (if not Mataras in particular) are also thematically fine choices. Followers of Iomedae will have ample opportunity to smite evil, and Abadarans will have a vested interest in preserving civilization. For those of a more scholarly bent, scientific understanding of the sun and stellar phenomena come up throughout the adventure, so Yaraesa, the Lady of Wisdom, or Eloritu, master of secrets, are fine choices. What mysteries away inside the sun itself is a recurring theme, so followers of Hylax may have need of their diplomatic prowess.

Beyond the Core deities, there are interesting roleplay opportunities, but it risks spoiling some stuff.

Classes
There's really no bad choices! Solarians have a strong connection to the cycle of stars and black holes and such, of course. Gloom Gunner soldiers or Shadow connection Mystics may find shade hard to come by, though - but they could always make their own!

Archetypes
The most obviously appropriate archetype for a character to take is the Deep Cultures Specialist; this Archetype doesn't start changing class features until level 9, though, so you won't get a lot of use out of the mechanics, since this AP only goes to level 12 or 13. Before level 9, though, you still have a strong reason to be interested in the sun!

Beyond that, the Phrenic Adept archetype grants limited telepathy, which, as noted above, can have an impact on some parts of the adventure (although this archetype is generally viewed as weak: you lose a lot from your base class, compared to the limited benefits gained.)

Lastly, it's an outlier, but it could be fun to choose the Star Knight archetype: playing a crusader of Iomedae or Sarenrae, or even a Hellknight, could open up some interesting roleplay!

A Note on Fire Resistance
You're in or around the freaking Sun. It's not a spoiler to say Fire damage is, ah, likely to come up, shall we say? So, while absolutely not required (and also not a "campaign easy mode" button that's going to make the fights trivial), it might be worth considering some way to get Fire Resistance. Here are some options, although I'm sure there's more out there (especially purchasable items.)
Classes: Solarians who choose solar armour at level 1 will get Fire Resistance starting at lvl 5
Feats: Once you get a Base Attack Bonus of 4+, anyone can get Fire Resistance via the Enhanced Resistance feat
Themes: Dragonblood can grant limited energy resistance at lvl 12
Races: Ryphorian (summerborn or transitional,) Quorlu, Tieflings, Bolidas, Barathu (Early Stage,) Gosclaws, Ifrit, and Suli all have or can get fire resistance.
Spells: Lesser Resistant Armour and its subsequent improved versions become available to both Mystics and Technomancers as lvl 3 spells, but is a short-term solution. Spell amps or spell lattices (aka space potions and space scrolls) can be a decent investment!
Items: Thermal Capacitor armour upgrade costs 3600, so won't be purchasable out of the gate, but won't break the bank later on in your adventuring careers. For 2500 credits, you can also incorporate Siccatite, a fancy star metal, into your armour, granting a small amount of Fire Resistance.

Hot Environments: finally, even before you get to flat out fire damage, you're likely to be, well, hot. For the low, low, cost of 10 credits, it never hurts to buy some hot climate clothing, granting a +2 circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves against environmental heat dangers. A Thermal Regulator armour upgrade costs 150, and will provide even more protection.

I'm looking for some clarification on running an AP in Campaign Mode - specifically, if you can intersperse the Campaign Mode AP Chapters with regular ol' scenarios, with credit going from both to the same PC#? The AP Chapters themselves do not provide enough XP to level up to the next chapter normally, hence my asking. (I realize that you can apply credit from the Campaign Mode AP Chapters to characters as if playing pregens, such that chronicle sheets are held in reserve until the Org Play character reaches the appropriate levels; I'm just wondering if there's a way to avoid that, to have a more organic feel.)

So, for example, would it be legal to play a sequence of games like this, starting at 0 XP?
AP Chapter 1 - run in Campaign Mode, grants 1 lvl of XP, played with Campaign Mode PCs, but reported to Org Play PC #-7XX
Three Unrelated Scenarios - run as normal scenarios, altogether grant 1 lvl of XP, played with Society-legal characters (which may or may not be the same as their Campaign Mode counter-parts, depending on the character options used and boons each individual player has available), reported to same Org Play PC #-7XX
AP Chapter 2 - run in Campaign Mode, grants 1 lvl of XP, played with Campaign Mode PCs, but reported to same Org Play PC #-7XX
Three More Unrelated Scenarios - run as normal scenarios, altogether grant 1 lvl of XP, played with Society-legal characters, reported to same Org Play PC #-7XX
AP Chapter 3 - run in Campaign Mode, etc.

...and so on, and so on. It requires some mental agility of players whos Org Play PCs are different from their Campaign Mode PCs, but otherwise - does this work?

It seems legal to me: the wording in the AP Sanctioning Docs so far says:

...if you are participating in the XX Adventure Path with an ongoing group undertaking the entire, X-chapter campaign, you may receive credit for playing the adventures as if you had played a pregenerated character.

Starfinder Society characters and characters from an ongoing Adventure Path campaign may not play in the same adventure.

And my confusion is: does that mean a character playing Campaign Mode is locked out of Society play until they finish the Chapter they're in, or the entire AP they're in?

It's not a huge deal if that's not legal; it just means we'll play the AP, and then go back and play those same Characters #s (with same or different characters) applying the AP chronicle sheets as they become available. It feels more stilted to me that way, is all.

Ok team, put on your space-aluminum foil hats, and buckle up.
I GM'd a game at CritterCon II the other weekend (which was awesome, for the record! Online conventions are the best thing to happen to this game since Starfinder backpacks!) and got a GM boon for it. Great, right? As we all know thanks to HMM's sleuthing, the Online Megaregion GM Chronicle has a choice of two race boons: Dragonkin or Planar Scion. However - HOWEVER - the header for the chronicle sheet reads as follows:

As a reward for your work in helping run events at conventions, you can select one of the three boons listed below. Choose one of these boons and cross the other two off the Chronicle sheet.

Right, seems pretty boilerplate, yeah? But there's only two boons visible: Dragonkin and Planar Scions. So what's the third boon choice, referenced in the intro material? Now, sure, I hear you saying the other Megaregion boons all have three boons, so this is just a simple copy/paste error. THAT'S WHAT BIG TTRPG WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE! That's right the third choice is PLATYPARIANS! Dun dun DUUUUNNNNNN!

I'm having trouble interpreting how the Jadnura meta-boon works for replays. Quoted here for reference:

You can use this boon once for every Reputation Tier you possess with the Second Seekers (Jadnura) faction. Each time you use this boon, you can replay one scenario you’ve previously played as though that scenario had the repeatable scenario tag. This allows you to earn a Chronicle sheet and all associated rewards with the scenario, though you cannot select a scenario you’ve already played with this character.

It's the last part that I'm confused about: you cannot select a scenario you’ve already played with this character. Does that imply that any given character cannot benefit from its own Seeker of Knowledge boon? Is the only use of the boon, then, to give the Repeateable tag to scenarios another of your characters is playing? I guess I'm not clear on what the intent of this boon is: is it to let GMs who have run a lot of stuff replay scenario as players instead of GMs, or is it to let multiple different characters of the same Player replay scenarios, or is it both, or is it neither and something else altogether, or, or, or.

For example, consider this scenario. I've got two characters, 701 and 702. 701 has played in (non-repeatable) Scenario X, and has Tier 1 Reputation with SS(Jadnura.) 702 has not played Scenario X.
1) Can 701 use Seeker of Knowledge to replay Scenario X for credit? (I'm pretty sure no.)
2) If 702 also has Tier 1 Rep with Jadnura, can they use their own Seeker of Knowledge to play Scenario X for credit? (I'm pretty sure yes.)
3) Can 702 use 701's Seeker of Knowledge to play Scenario X and get credit, even though 702 does not have that boon themselves?
4) Does it change the outcome at all if 701 had GM'd Scenario X and not played Scenario X? I.E. if 701 has received credit for GMing Scenario X but not playing Scenario X, can they use Seeker of Knowledge to play it themselves for credit?

Possibly related: is there a generally understood convention that use of the verb "played" specifically excludes GMing? Like when they say "playing a scenario" does that very specifically refer to playing as a Player Character and not running or gamemastering (or whatever verb you want) as a GM?

This is pretty small potatoes, but I'm curious now. The Cedona Ally boon you get for Escape the Prison Moon allows you to use your very own pocket-Cedona to cast Mystic Cure @ lvl 2 (amongst other spells) once per scenario. Lvl 2 Mystic Cure heals for 3d8 + Wis Mod. Do we have any assumptions for what Cedona's Wis mod is, for this boon application? (I realize she has stats printed in AP 9, but I'm asking more as an academic question for similar situations.)

This sent me down a rabbit hole for rules about assuming things like Caster Stat for magical items and so forth. I know back in the Pathfinder days you assumed that, unless otherwise stated, their Caster Stat was minimum required to cast the spell. But since the magic items were re-done and spell completion vs spell trigger vs whatever else was simplified, the assumptions rules also seem to have disappeared. Even the Spell Amp rules tell how to determine Caster Level, but not caster stats, for stat-dependent effects (of which there are, admittedly, very few.)

Left to my own devices as GM, I'd just say "she has min Wis required to cast the spell = Wis 12 = 3d8 + 1 healing." But if there's an official ruling hidden in Alien Archives 2 or something, or an assumption like in the Pathfinder days, it'd be good to know in case this kind of thing comes up again?

Prepping to run 1-31 tomorrow. I know one of my players intends to play everyone's favourite space-bug-dad Keskodai, so this is probably going to come up.

Both the spirit-bound menhir and the haunted earth elementals (but not the mentrasi spirits, oddly enough) list vulnerability to positive energy in their Weaknesses. Which got me thinking: does positive energy, as a damaging thing, still exist? The mystic cure spells, the Healer Connection's Healing Channel, and even the Harm Undead feat all very specifically do not mention positive energy. Heck, the former two don't even say anything about damaging undead, so I'm assuming that unlike in Pathfinder, magical healing doesn't ipso facto damage undead anymore?

Which got me to thinking...are there any sources of positive energy damage? Even the Disruptive weapon fusion, which mentions "imbuing" the weapon with positive energy to bypass DR and energy resistance, doesn't actually add damage or change damage types. A strict reading of those rules would be that even that fusion doesn't trigger x1.5 damage.

Is this another carry-over from Pathfinder that doesn't exist anymore?

I think this is correct, but want to make sure my understanding is correct and lines up with rules as intended.

So, Deflect Projectiles lets you deflect ranged attacks depending on the type of damage (energy or kinetic) the attack does, if you have a weapon that deals same broad category of damage. I think it's already been clarified somewhere that this is separate and distinct from if the attack targets EAC or KAC.

Also, our good good friend Entropic Strikes states that "for each attack, you can choose for this to deal acid damage, bludgeoning damage, or both." So, this means that you can use Entropic Strike to always deflect any ranged attack, right?

I haven't yet gotten the chance to play Scoured Stars Invasion, but I'm excited to try sometime in the coming months. A big part of the reason I'm digging Starfinder Society so much is that I'm in at the ground floor, as it were - I can watch the meta-story unfold as it happens, which I never got to do with Pathfinder Society (as I only discovered it towards the end of season 5.)

Since my play time is limited, though, I'd like to know how much I should try to play through the lead-up missions (1-05, 1-11, 1-13, and 1-17) beforehand. I've already played 1-05, and have read 1-11 in preparation of running my players through it, so I know there's (presumably) four of these mysterious "Journey to the Scoured Stars: Segment boons, marked as Unidentified boons.

So, my question is - without spoiling things, how badly do I need to try and head into 1-99 without playing all four lead-up scenarios? Will I really regret playing if I don't have all four?

Question for the GMs out there: how feasible would playing this game with some Asmodeans in the party be? My group is about to start, and a couple of us are leaning towards playing an Asmodean tyrant antipaladin, and an Asmodean advocate cleric. The GM and other players are on board with it, but we wanted to see how much of a challenge it would be to the narrative - no one in our group is interested in extensive re-writes! The Players' Guide's section on Alignment mentions that Evil characters are an option provided they can "keep their darker impulses concealed from their comrades and can be persuaded to work well with others," and the religion section mentions that Diabolism, imported from Cheliax, is not unheard of - which is where this idea even came from :) Seems like fertile ground for a couple of enterprising concerned Chelish citizens!

From what we've read in the Player's Guide, our angle is that we'd be from Cheliax, worried for the well being of the "parent" state, so to speak. We'd hook up with Martella Lotheed at the beginning of the adventure path wanting to help Princess Eutropia, playing in to that classic trope of being trusted advisors/helpers who, oh look, just happen to have literal imps on their shoulders, offering help when it's needed most. We'd be playing more to the Lawful angle than the Evil angle - so more Hellknight, less murder-hobo. We'd be helping to install a ruler whose ear, and trust, we'd have (to some degree, anyways.) They'd be playing the Asmodean long game: genuinely helpful, genuinely hoping to get Eutropia on the throne, and then just...you know, hang around in court, offering advice and help, totally for no price at all, yep, practically free, just sign here, here, and here, and alright look don't worry about that fine print, you can trust us!

Any thoughts? I've seen a few threads on here saying that paladins & antipaladins are possible, but the former has challenges and the latter are not recommended. I'm hoping for the perspective of a GM who's read through the AP and can help up gauge how disruptive to the narrative-as-written a couple of Asmodeans would be. Thanks!

One of my players asked about Guidance, the Starfinder Society's advisor / server farm: is Guidance sapient? Does it, like androids, SROs, and anacites, have a soul (or possiby even more than one?) despite being a constructed entity? It made me realize that we don't really know too much about what's going on there.

There's a paragraph about Guidance in the Season 1 Org Play guide, describing it as "the Starfinder Society’s compiled intelligence of Starfinder personalities" and "the Starfinder Society’s spiritual anchor." The guide also lists Guidance's two main functions: confirming appointments of First Seekers, and welcoming new agents into the Society with a commencement address. There's not much more offered about Guidance that I've seen in the scenarios where it starts things off (like The Commencement, and Ashes of Discovery.) Beyond these tidbits, we don't know too much about Guidance. I'm guessing that it is, at least, sentient and self-aware, but the leap from that to true sapience is a big (and confusing!) one.

It raises a few other questions: what is involved in "uploading" one's personality into Guidance? Does this kill the person doing the uploading? Does the uploaded personality continue to live as a free-willed individual agent housed within programming, like The Matrix? Or are they subsumed into becoming just a part of some greater gestalt mind-meld? The line describing it as a "spiritual anchor" might have significance, too - like it probably isn't a demi-god or anything, but who knows, maybe it has some limited ability to grant diving magic to fervent Starfinders?

Lots to think about, with that big ol' block. Maybe we'll learn more when / if something goes wonky on the inside of Guidance, and daring adventurers need to venture inside its programming to fix it.

...ok, I've inspired myself to go write some kind of fancy "cyber Hao Jin Neural-Tapestry" style adventure, now.

So now that Alien Archive and Pact Worlds have been out in the wild for a little while now - do we have any sense of how OP some of the crazier races are? I know I see a lot of people hemming and hawing over Dragonkin with their +2 Str, Large size, and 10 ft reach, or SROs with their immunities.

Then again, whenever it comes up, there's always people pointing out that, for example, being Large size isn't actually all that advantageous in a system emphasizing ranged weapons and cover, and that since you can't start with Str above 18, a +2 isn't that breaking. Same for the SROs: they're immune to a lot of stuff, but there's also a lot more spells and abilities that specifically target constructs and things with the technological subtype, seeing as how they are so prevalent in the world.

So, is there a general consensus? Has anyone played or GMd a Dragonkin, SRO, or other OP-seeming race and want to share how it's gone? I'm curious!