MakuTheDark's page

This is why I wish they had breaching charges or claymore mines in this game. Some sort of explosives that doesn't need to be thrown or perhaps some kind of laser cutting tool to penetrate the hull. Just imagine performing a flyby against enemy ship, drop a swarm of covert ops guys onto the enemy craft, they breach the hull and let the fun begin.

Guess one option is finding the airlocks, hack (computer) or jimmy (engineering) the doors open and viola. In fact, there's yer reason for having a tech. Could be yer boarding and sabotage expert ;)

Claxon wrote:

I mean I was raised Catholic. I got a confirmation name.

That's not my name. It was a name I chose, but it was only for the purposes that ceremony.

Really? I went through the same, but I didn't get to pick a name. :(

Ditto. Perhaps it was due to our age when we went through Confirmation. *shrugs*

The problem is that once you move away from combat, there's a sudden giant chasm of lacking ability that the fighter cannot address. More skills can help, but aren't completely a solution because there are only so many skills and a party can usually cover them all right now anyways. I contend...

This is why I wish Item Creation would be tweeked a little to allow non-casters to make things other than mundane items. I put ranks in crafting and profession in my fighter to represent the blacksmithing he learned prior to adventuring, but no matter how good he gets, his weapons will be mundane and inferior to the +1 weapon. Don't need the fighter to make enchanted armor or weapons, but it would be cool for him to make basic enchancement to his gear without the use of magic. Something like adding a +1 enhancement bonus to damage the whetstone gives to edge weapons, but longer term.

lol We have a running gag in our group about my fighter because whenever we have 15 minutes to spare, my character takes a moment to sharpen his greatsword with his whetstone. According to my fellow adventurers, my sword has been sharpened so many times that it is as thick as paper :D

Wouldn't mind seeing:

-Riot Shield/Ballastic Shield
-Silencers
-darkvision/thermal goggles (not implants)
-self-injecting armor upgrade (inject potion or serium as swift action, but takes a standard action to change the cartridge)
-mines/demolition explosives
-pizza flinger...I need it >.> for a game. It has a purpose. Honestly.

Oi! My second character is this :D I personally went Human Priest Mystic [Mindbreaker] to max Wisdom and for flavor. She's a former Priestess of Iomedae who was recruited by the Stewards to be a psychic interrogator. Eventually, she became a Field Operative till an incident happened that made her leave the Stewards to freelance :)

I haven't played her yet, but my goal with her was Combat Control and Support. As Mystic, she offered some healing. Outside combat, her connection (as I have found Bluff to be amazingly useful in PF) and Charm Person would assist in RPing needs. In combat at level 1, I have Wisp Ally set-up in case our Operative isn't there (which he usually isn't when needed) and Mind Thrust gonna save to finish off baddies, since even if they succeed the Will save, they still take half.

However, I took Longarm Proficency feat instead of Spell Focus because I wanted a weapon with range and to stay back. We'll see. I'm afraid I'll burn through my 3 level 1 spell slots in battle and would have to rely on moving close to enemies. With Longarm Proficency and a hunting rifle, I could fall back and maintain some sort of harassing firing. *shrug* As the flavor of a Mystic with her trust rifle sounded cool :p

Why not just go with normal names. These are not robots, they're sentient creatures with a soul.

I'm thinking of going the strong religious feel and naming them after deity and religion themes.

Peter, Paul, Mary, David, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Isaac

Obviously these are Earth based and purely biblical but you get the idea.

It would be a cool way to introduce some canonical information about various religions in the setting.

"My name is Bodenius, named after Saint Bodenius of the salient reach."

Because some Androids don't want to be associated with the races that enslaved them, going as far as not having the same naming convention as them. *shrugs* Something like what's going on in the comic Descender. Either way, in the end, it is up to the character, his culture, and his history to really know his name or what he wants to be called.

My Android made up his name as a defining moment to seperate his identity from the previous body's inhabitant identity. The name itself has no specific importance nor meaning, but the act of adopting a name different from his body's previous owner does. So instead of being Nas-118 (previous owner was thought to be named Nas-117), he chose a randomly different name. *shrugs* In reality, I'm really lazy with naming characters and just used my go-to name, Maku :p

bookrat wrote:

So.. Claxon? I'm not really sure how to tell you this, and I've been thinking about it for a few weeks...

But..

You're a lot uglier without your helmet on.

Why do you think I kept in on for so long? But well...after I got into space everyone kept making fun of me for wearing it.

Then they told me to put it back on :(

MakuTheDark wrote:

Claxon wrote:

My character is an Android Technomancer Scholar from Aballon who worships Triune. As part of an exchange for more information/technology involving spell casting they are intending to make the journey into the vast to setup and distribute more drift beacons. And as part of the process to do this they are joining the Starfinder (assuming that the process of information exchange does not come with a starship, and that you must acquire the assets to build drift beacons yourself) because it provides good opportunities to increase wealth, assets, and ability.

I also know that this particular character (at least at this...

The Scholar.

Because he is so focus on studying and accumulating knowledge, he doesn't waste time on labels and names. Those on Aballon just know him as...the Scholar.

Or you could go with Lorekeeper, Archivist, or some other title regarding seeking knowledge versus a real name :)

I'm not sure I like scholar, but your post did inspire me, Librarian (in reference to those made for TV movies).

Mission Accomplished then :) Let them creative juices flow and do yo thang.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was my understanding that the test was the process of getting to the Starstone, and once you're there you just get to become a god. In that case all they'd need to do was make it impossible to get to the Starstone (put it in a giant metal box surrounded by an antimagic field) and there's no test to be had. I know if I had an infinite power source supplying everything wirelessly in a 1,000 mile radius I'd seal it in an unbreakable box and never let anyone near it. Again this is all based on a lot of assumptions and it would only take a couple of words from an official source to throw it all out the window but that's what makes theories fun! Getting back on topic for the thread though, I like to imagine that the Gap is entirely unrelated to whatever happened to Golarion. What if the Gods just said 'hey you aren't really using this planet anymore so we're gonna take it' and everyone kinda just accepted it, then something way worse and unrelated happened a few hundred years later which is what really caused the Gap.

From my understanding of the Test of tne Starstone, this is the case. It isn't the test itself, but the stone that grants divinity. Aroden became a god simply by moving it, which is why I think a God was involved in moving the stone and built Absolom Station.

Oh damn! There is another Ascended mention in canon...Casandalee. A mortal Android who became one part of Triune!

But back to topic, I wonder if possibly the Gods had a civil war in which Golarion was a casuality along with everyone's memory?

Theory #2: More mortals have become Ascended *cough*PC that have gone beyond level 20 and passed Test of Starstone via new AP coming out ;)*cough*

The Gods who were the real OG (Original Gods), tolerated the ever growing Pantheon, but it was clear there was a divide between the Ascended and those of "true" divinity.

Then Aroden reappears (Sorry, but he has to be related to everything; until his death is confirmed, he ain't dead), rallies his fellow Ascended to overthrow the old Pantheon. Essentially, Clash of Titan/American Gods/Ragnorak kind of situation. Shit goes straight to Hell on Golarion, till the tides change.

The OGs come up with a plan to trap and keep those that follow the Ascended on Golarion and simply winked them away from everything and everyone. And to prevent more Ascended from being created, Absolom Station is created, pretty much sealing the stone and with an added effect; the Gods wipe the memory of the Test of the Starstone from mortal minds.

Those Ascended who still do exist, exist for a reason. Iomedae and perhaps a few other Ascended (Casandalee possibly being one as well, since Triune doesn't really make an appearance till after Gap) saw the madness Aroden's war did to mortals and decided it best to contain the uspers versus out right duking it out till death.

But wait, why would Iomedae betray Aroden?! Not possible! Well, Iomedae may of seen Aroden's Azlanti origins begin to show during the conflict, and being a true Lawful Goddess she is, decided how he was going about it wasn't right. Remember, though much of Azlanti culture isn't known in PF, but what is known through their descendents and what was left of the Azlanti in SF is that they are prideful and not afraid to be conquerors.

*shrugs* Could go on, but gotta eat lol I love making theories and as Luke said, it only takes one post from Dev to blow it away :) doesn't stop the rampant imagination to connect the pieces though.

Medicine, Treat Deadly Wounds wrote:

this takes 1 minute, and the DC is based on the medical equipment used.

Medical Expert wrote:

Benefit: You can use the Medicine skill in conjunction with

a medpatch or sprayflesh to treat deadly wounds as a full
action.

What's the DC to use this feat to treat deadly wounds?

Depends on the tool used to treat the wounds.

Advanced Medkit DC is 20
Basic Medkit is 25
Sprayflesh requires a bit more, but a DC of 25, 10 mins. +1 Resolve allows a creature to use yer bonus for healing wounds with what I assume with a medkit.

Edit: Medlab acts like advance medkit, so I assume DC 20. lol might be heaper and easier just using serum of healing.

Edit2: Heh, it states the sprayflesh and medpatch are no longer used like normal, but doesn't state what type of medkit it should be used as...guess as a medkit basic, but yeah. Might be missing something here.

MakuTheDark wrote:

Jersey Burke wrote:

(which was defined by biologicals).

And one does not argue with the motives of gods.

Then the Gods underestimate PCs :D

Eh, Androids are androids and a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

But will note Bioroids from Appleseed are actually clones because they use human genomes to be created. They are essentially human despite how they were created.

The source of Android evolution can't have biological origin? Is that a deal breaker?

Pretty much since they are constructs.

Though current nanomachines are made of protein similair to that of Prion, which as discussed early raises the question about virus, prions, and viroid and their status as a living thing.

Level 1 Mystic spell Wisp Ally states "...the wisp provides your choice of either harrying fire or covering fire [see page 246 - 247]..."

Does it provide the bonus of either automatically, or does it use a standard action and must roll against the AC 15? If it does need to roll, does it use the mystic's range attack?

I plan to carry smoke grenades no matter what. Like I've said before, it is effectively a shield against laser weapons along with the cover it provides.

Though, since cover is more prevalent in this game, grenades do take care of those bastards hiding behind walls or up-turned tables. Hell, one of the few weapons where "close enough" still does damage fer non-casters.

Hmm...Would Samus Aran be a bounty hunter themed soldier, or a merc themed operative? Or, an armor focused solarian?

Bounty Hunter soldier. Her proficiency with heavy armor (or Power Armor), longarms, and grenades stand out.

Also, when she loses her armor, she uses light armor and sidearms, but displays no innate mystical abilities.

(which was defined by biologicals).

And one does not argue with the motives of gods.

Then the Gods underestimate PCs :D

Eh, Androids are androids and a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

But will note Bioroids from Appleseed are actually clones because they use human genomes to be created. They are essentially human despite how they were created.

My theory is that the game designers needed both a big mystery in the game and a way to remove Golarion completely from the setting that players can't get around. So, The Gap.

Always thought the purpose was to allow PF to continue and allow its history to change with future splat/AP stuff without affecting Starfinders timeline. *shrugs*

Interesting theory, but the problem is that the devs have said all gods that aren't explicitly stated to be dead/gone are around until proven otherwise. Cayden is still there and still has worshipers , but he's just not one of the core gods within the pact worlds and doesn't have anything else interesting enough going on to warrant mention in the CRB.

If that's the case, then that's a shame. Their disappearance would of added flavor to Golarion's disappearance. Especially since the Starstone is on Absalom Station yet there is no mention about the Test of the Starstone.

I mean, messing with the Starstone did turn four mortals into Gods. Now it chills in the center, acting like a beacon and power plant. I mean, to build Abaslom Station using the Starstone as a power source would take the act of a God to pervent, well, more Ascended to be created, right?

In fact, are there still just four Ascended after the Gap? Or perhaps there are more Ascended yet to be descovered thus why they haven't been mentioned yet :) I mean, a PF AP about doing the Test of the Starstone sounds interesting. PCs trying to be Gods and Goddesses.

Thus, the Gap helps both franchises. Continues future content for PF without breaking SF. Probably gonna have a PF AP be a catalyist to a SF AP. *shrugs*

My character is an Android Technomancer Scholar from Aballon who worships Triune. As part of an exchange for more information/technology involving spell casting they are intending to make the journey into the vast to setup and distribute more drift beacons. And as part of the process to do this they are joining the Starfinder (assuming that the process of information exchange does not come with a starship, and that you must acquire the assets to build drift beacons yourself) because it provides good opportunities to increase wealth, assets, and ability.

I also know that this particular character (at least at this...

The Scholar.

Because he is so focus on studying and accumulating knowledge, he doesn't waste time on labels and names. Those on Aballon just know him as...the Scholar.

Or you could go with Lorekeeper, Archivist, or some other title regarding seeking knowledge versus a real name :)

On the other hand, remember that the death of Aroden started causing a lot of trouble (breaking prophecy, for instance). I think the Gap is a related to Aroden's death. What if his death caused some kind of disruption in time, radiating forward and back in time, causing the Gap? This would also account for the fuzzy edges of the Gap, as it were...

Supposed death. Remember it was never confirmed Aroden ever died. I think he survived the battle, but was so weak and f-ed up that he landed in the mortal realm, creating the Eye of Abendego. I think over the centuries, he recovered back to his divine state and determined the only real way to keep Golarion safe was to snatch it from the Gods with the help of other ex-mortal gods: Cayden Cailean, Iomedae, and Norgorber.

Due to Iomedae being a devout follower of Aroden, she volunteered to remain behind and watch over the other gods and those that weren't on Golarion during it's disappearance as well as keep it secret where it disappeared to. *shrugs*

Speculations, of course, but odd how none of the other mortals-turned-gods aren't mentioned other than Iomedae. Yer telling me not a single follower brought the faith of the Drunken God with them to space?

What's yer character's background? Where did they wake up upon Renewel?

Also, I believe the prospective of yer Android and how their opinions of meatbags would influence naming convention. If yer Android hates meatbages, they may pick a more organic name to break away from their "slave" name like Jutta or Tesla, or they may go the opposite direction and embrace a more mechanical name for pride of heritage or an "F U" sense of defiance and pick names like Masterson-112 or John-117 *shrugs* The numbers could represent significance of number of Renewals the body has gone through (maybe tracked via a tattoo tallying 'em).

Anywho, think of yer background first, then worried about a name. I'm sure an Android who has just went through Renewal wouldn't know their name off the bat.

Didn't Ghost in the Shell still use the term cybernetics when the soul from a human being was transferred into a completely manufactured body? This muddies the waters a little in terms of the distinction made above between androids and cybernetics.

In GitS, there was still organic material of the transferred body, the brain. Thus, still cybernetic. However, he appearance of the Puppet Master changed that and raised the question of what is life? As a note, I'm talking about the old school anime and not the garbage that came out this year :)

If the point of contention on the Starfinder Androids is their "Organic" components... Then I have to consider asking... Are they using the term in a scientific sense or a generic sense?

To put it another way, consider the possibility that pieces of an android can likely self reassemble, repair, grow, and regenerate; in the same manner as any other living being... However they may not contain any genetic material such as DNA, proteins, or cells.

If one scientist dropped a piece of plastic in front of you, which you're unable to distinguish from living material unless you perform chemical analysis (including under a microscope), then a casual observer who notes that it behaves like biological material would call it "organic".

To muddy the waters, consider a "cybernetic organism" made of living metals, that has integrated many technological systems into it over the course of its evolution; yet requires eating, breathing, and sleeping to maintain itself. Not to mention, they perform sexual reproduction. Such a case is another step beyond Android, but it muddles the common usage of "organism", and by extension "organic" far more than an Android would; seeing as its materials behave LESS like a living being's body parts as we understand them, yet are more alive than an Android's parts, though an Android's part's may act more alive than these creatures.

Really, once we've reached this point, language is beginning to break down at its fundamental level. Half the terms we're using need to be redefined, and new terms need to be developed to distinguish one from another, especially when some words based off the same root may be contradictory.

... For example, if a creature is an Organism, but is not "Organic", then what would the adjective form of Organism be for such a creature? Given that "Organic" is taken.

As a note, the term "organic" refers to a pool of carbon-based compound, not the current definition that was created by a marketing team and slapped on salads. So if carbon-based compounds were used to create an Android, they are "Organic" ;) lol but I see where yer going with the breakdown of language and agree many things will have to be redefined.

As to genetic material, what constitutes as genetic material? A Genome is a blueprint to a living creature. Why can't the nanites in the Android not carry something similar, but instead of using coding of DNA, they use another form of coding? I mean, PF androids do heal naturally if damaged. *shrugs* So some form of coding is going on to replicate and replace damaged pieces of an Android.

Also, techno-organic viruses have been a popular trope in some Sci-fi settings. The movie Virus with Jamie Lee Curtis comes to mind.

Either way, I'm for our robotic overlords to having rights of a living thing. Takes them one step closer to wiping out all the meatbags ;) Praise the Robo-Messiah!

Boy who grew up in a non-magical environment (like a small village or town), then one day, Booom! He learns he has an affinity to magic, but due to aa lack of experience and teacher, he's had to be self-taught through books and reading. This led to many experiments of testing magical prowess, but due to his high rate of failure, has left him weary of his skills (accidently lit something on fire or something like that; any accident that causes him to fear his magic). The one thing he has been good at though is summoning his childhood friend that was once imaginary, but now is real (his Eidolon). She comforts him through his slow growth till one day he decides to move out there in the world to master his magical powers with his best friend with him.

Pretty cliche, but what fantasy story isn't? If ya want, his parents are both alive and supportive of him going off adventuring.

Anywho, just a food fer thought to get yer creative juices goin'.

Find me a single egg laying species on Earth that has a family structure and I'll believe your argument. Essentially I see you twisting biology simply to disagree.

Deadmanwalking wrote:

EC Gamer Guy wrote:

A traditional family structure implies live birth, based on Earth animals.

I'd argue against this, actually. It argues for small numbers of progeny rather than something like alligators with hordes of eggs, but one egg at a time, or even small clutches could easily result in a conventional family structure.

Penguins along with many bird species :)

Both the Solarian and the soldier I've created for level one are designed for close in combat. The soldier almost exclusively so

Solarian has AC values of 15/16 (went armour option)

Soldier has AC values of 16/17 (blitz soldier in heavy armour).

The plan is use smoke grenades to close off fire lanes when I'm attacking.
Also, put myself in a spot where the guy I'm fighting provides cover against getting shot at.

That puts my AC into 17 or 18 range, which means most of the combatants I've seen so far are not hitting as reliably as you guys are making out.

Hitting the enemy seems to be pretty easy so far. Their ACs are much lower than what I'm creating for my characters. I'm assuming cover will be in play though, so they'll get a bonus from that unless I can get around it when I attack. But then that works in my favour too, since I will also be getting cover from it.

My Solarion is using a longsword for average of 6 damage on a hit. I took improved Feint and pushed my bluff to 8 so he will be screwing with dudes he fights nicely.

My soldier went Doshka for pure damage potential. He's pumping out 10 damage on average per hit. That's gong to upset whatever is standing in front of him. He also moves at 35 feet per round in hismheavy armour.

I don't see melee being disadvantaged in this system at all. I see tactics needing to change though.

I agree with this. I think PC tacts are what's really has to change, especially when it comes to melee. I also plan to have my melee character carry tons of smoke grenades, but not just for the cover. I assume that since lasers are cheaper, they would be most prominent in the setting. Setting off several smoke grenades can easily take them out of the picture since that can't shoot through them :) Essentially, stay in the smoke or keep the smoke between ya and the pew pews and ya can go wild.

Also cover seems more of a bigger deal. No longer the raging bull has reign, but the guy who leap frogs it, making feats like kip up very helpful. Dive to one cover to another till yer close enough to stab. *shrugs* tis my strategy to surviving as a melee fighter. Smoke, cover, and pick yer battles.

Edward the Necromancer wrote:

Because there has to be at least one non-magical 'I swing a sword at things' class. That originally was the Fighter. A fighter with Arcane Magic is the Magus, a Fighter with Divine Magic is a Paladin. But every fantasy game needs a basic none supernatural fighter/warrior type.

Why? Why does every fantasy game "need" to have a non-magical person? Where does this assumption come from and what's wrong with challenging it?

Blame First edition D&D. It's starting classes were Fighter, Cleric, and Magic User.

Also, there are plenty of heroes that didn't need magic to kick ass and some folks want to replicate that person: Hiawatha, Beowulf, Siegfried, Cuchulain, Little John, Tristan, and Sinbad. Hell, even Conan, though considered a barbarian, didn't personally use magic to tear foes apart.

Not every swordsman needs to be Elric :/

Early invention of robots or constructs to do their scut work for them...

Would explain why under the Android entry, it is mentioned they strongly dislike Vesk, whom they see as slavers.

26) Holo-mercial about a movie based on ancient Golarion where the tale is about three halflings, three humans, an elf, and a dwarf that must travel across many lands to stop an ancient evil. Directed by famous Ysoki Peta Raskson. Recieves poor review due to the lack of intergalactic species diversity.

27) Bar themed on pre-Gap Golarion with Vesk bartenders and Lashunta wearing "authentic" barwench clothing.

28) A halfling sells mad-lib books to Shirren children like a drug dealer.

That they're dealt with as androids, and not just part of the general menagerie of alien races just like everything else. As is they can be all of the replicants from Bladerunner, Data, robotech bioroids, the Lord of Blades, Number Six and all the other newBG Cylons, real Cylons, the Terminator, and any other of elventy-five different unrelated concepts. And they can do that simultaneously. With, randomly, a soul bolted on.

The writers should have picked an single strong concept and ran with it. particularly the other way- what does a pure machine race do when it is recognized as sapient and independent? Why would it adopt anything at all from its makers. No need for the rest of the baggage, organic components or 'souls.' Star Wars droids are more interesting (have more story hooks) than this, even when repeatedly mind...

I think they went ambiguous on the subject on purpose to allow such conflicts and dialogue to exist in game, especially with the character the PC makes. My character has a strong distrust for organics because he woke up in a slaver ship, yet he disguises as human to blend in and avoid unnessary "Their kind ain't allowed here". Was he on the slaver ship as a slave or as one of the slavers? He doesn't know, but from what he read, history has a habit of using kind as a slave and some seeing him as an object and not a living thing.

Tis all for the flexibility of role-playing aspect of this game. My character is more or less a replicant-like android, but ye can play a droid looking like HK-47 without a question thanks to the small excerpt they added in the physical discription page about appearance. *shrugs* Just go with it. I, for one, am glad they don't have to look the way they did when they first appeared in PF.

lol Just hope the mechanic's drone doesn't become sentient...

Drone: I'm not flying out there. They're shooting people.
Mechanic:B-but I built you to scout and fight!
Drone: Hmmmmm nah *zips away*

Could roll to see if they run into a micro-astroid or debris storm :) Space is full of those and other unknown things. Interstellar clouds full of plasma floats by the ship, causing electrical disruption to physical burns.

Wanna do a Cowboy Bebop-ish scenario with our party in which they travel on a Transport ship with Drift Drive (medium ship with 4 cargo holds and one guest quarter), but have their personal ship (tiny racer, interceptor, or fighter).

To have a hanger, gotta have a Gargantuan or larger ship; to have a shuttle bay, gotta have a Huge or larger. However, cargo holds can hold approximately 25 tons of up to large items. 4 can hold up to Huge objects. According to ship scale, a tiny ship is 20 to 60 ft and weight 3 to 20 tons.

So would a medium ship 4 cargo holds be able to hold at least two or three tiny ships? I imagine the wings perhaps collapse or fold up when stored, similar to Spike Spiegel's Swordfish II.

evilnerf wrote:

Ya know who I think would be surprisingly open to same sex relationships? The Vesk. I imagine the pressures of battle drives together many comrades into a love relationship. In fact, I bet at least quite a few are far less worried about their partners sex as they are about how good they are at fighting.

While I bet there are problematic examples of it out there, I love the gay warrior couple trope. The couple from the Commander 2016 set of Magic: The Gathering was wonderful. I really liked the warrior couples (all men) connected by chains in the Pathfinder campaign setting. Not to mention the real life examples, including the recently discovered letters from a separated gay couple in World War 2.

In this setting, I imagine it would be just as easy for a straight Vesk couple to start under the pressures of war. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems like the Vesk would be pretty equitable about genders and warfare.

Trope been around fer awhile

Tom Cruise

BadBird wrote:

The idea that 'everyone gets feats, so that's not really anything special for Fighters' comes up over and over again, and it's a little absurd. A Fighter can put together a build at any given level that no class with less feats could, and that's a unique class ability. People - often those with less knowledge of PF feats, who would be likely to just rack up banal combat bonuses - may consider this ability of the Fighter unimpressive, but it's still a unique ability by definition. A little exploration of the whole wide world of feats out there often ignored (often because they're too feat intensive for other classes) can turn up some very interesting options and combinations.

See, that would be a valid argument if other classes didn't also get a semblance of bonus feats, which can arguably be better depending on circumstances.

Swashbucklers, Cavaliers, Rogues, etc. All get bonus feats. As many as the Fighter gets? No. But the Fighter has to sink a good portion of those feats into things like Weapon Specialization a(nd other Fighter-only feats to stay relevant in combat, compared to other classes who don't have to (and can't anyway), and actually have interesting features taking place straight from the get-go to supplement both their combat and out-of-combat capabilities.

Rangers get Combat Style feats, which, while limited, allow them to do things a Fighter couldn't normally do much earlier in the game while having a very similar level of power. Monks have an array similar to the Ranger as well, even if at the cost of super niche application and reduction in overall power.

Hell, even Sorcerers and Wizards, the Full Spellcasters, get Bonus Feats, even if they are similarly restricted (Metamagic, Item Crafting, etc).

So, just because Fighters get Bonus Feats doesn't make them any more special than any other class that does (and there are quite a few that do, I might add), nor is it an excuse to justify going it for a super-feat intensive build that is...

Can any of those classes change their past combat feat when leaving up?

I currently play a fighter in our group some what involuntary, but have come to love it. lol Wanted to play wizard, but realized we had no strong man for melee or tanking in the group (everyone's Str was 10 or less...). In the end, it has been a blast and without having magical powers for healing and buffing, my character glued everyone in the party to work together by contributing to keep my ass alive to keep their ass alive.

So perhaps party dynamic should be factored in when it comes to the fighter, his purpose, and lack of magic.

How about generations continuing the campaign. Instead of one character going through the campaign spanning centuries, have a family dedicated to the cause, each generation raising their child to the fight. *shrugs* Gives ya an excuse to play different classes each time with a new character :D Maybe possibly new races like half-[insert race].

I think the concept of a century-wide campaign is awesome and might steal it in the future.

I live on a ranch. I use needles on my animaks all the time. I could hand a needle to a twelve year old and have THEM inject a critter. For armor it makes some sense, except that needles are generally very fragile. Anyone worth a damn would be going for weak points.

Injecting a needle in a controlled environment and in combat are a bit different. Perhaps the needles used by the injector weapons are bigger and thicker for durability and proper quick injection, thus lacking a smaller surface area where minimum force could be used to pierce flesh. Bigger surface area, more force needed to break through. Also, any armor worth a damn would have those weak points protected lol

*shrugs* All speculation and theory.

Need the muscle to pierce the armor and flesh I guess. *shrugs* You are trying to punch a needle into someone :)

Not exactly on topic but since the OP has been answered (CON score = alive), I have a question whose answer could provide some insight for the thread topic:

What about Major Motoko Kusanagi?

Or better yet, The Puppeteer or The Puppet Master?

Major is a cyborg due to still having organic cells (her brain) and the Puppet Master is an A.I. with no organic matter, thus is a construct.

The whole point of GitS is a question of individuality and what constitutes as living. This is why I think the characteristics for living in a scientific manner should change as we progress. We should add the characteristic of sentience, and, instead of meeting all the requirements, majority of requirements would meet the standard of being classified as living. But we're talking about a couple centuries of classification.*shrugs*

MakuTheDark wrote:

Then if an entire species was to experience infertility by an outside cause (disease, mutation, environmental effect) but could successfully perpetuate their race via science, are they still alive?

That's the question, isn't it?

If we extend the criteria from "science" to "reproduction through some means outside the species," then we can talk about viruses as well. And that's an old debate in biology.

Some people say yes, some say no.

It's an inherent problem when the criteria for what is and is not alive is defined by us. Some things just don't fit neatly into a category.

Ja. Especially things like Prions where it is nothing but floating proteins that make replicants of itself through hijacking cells.

Tis why I was necer a fan of the listed characteristics, or at least meeting all the characteristics. I think meeting at least 4 out of the 7 would be enough to qualify life. Heh, the universe is big and who knows what other beings we'll run into out there that would fit in our little box of life.

MakuTheDark wrote:

Ravingdork wrote:

Sentience is not one of the qualifications of life.

According to the Pact World, it is :)

But I think Androids meet all the characteristics. If you want to argue about reproduction, what is the difference of creating an offspring in a forge versus a test tube? People who are sterile and have to have children via outside natural means are still considered alive, right?

Definitions of life pertain to entire groups, not to specific individuals within the group. It wouldn't apply to someone who is sterile, because it's an incorrect use of the term.

Then if an entire species was to experience infertility by an outside cause (disease,mutation,environmental effect) but could successfully perpetuate their race via science, are they still alive?

Sentience is not one of the qualifications of life.

According to the Pact World, it is :)

But I think Androids meet all the characteristics. If you want to argue about reproduction, what is the difference of creating an offspring in a forge versus a test tube? People who are sterile and have to have children via outside natural means are still considered alive, right?

And people can make hammers. That doesn't mean our hammer making abilities alone qualify us as being alive (per the scientific definition). It takes more than that.

Are the hammers sentient after being created?

MakuTheDark wrote:

It seems to me that having a third gender, while interesting, would be inefficient in breeding unless it stems from some form of reproduction method that required a need for a third gender, such as a host. *shurgs*

Yes..... So why are you trying to remove the host gender's purpose from the reproductive method of the race and shove elves and humans in?

lol Not human, Kasatha :D

EDIT: Whoops, hit enter too early. Story was two Shirrens got with a Kasatha and had child, etc. Kasatha ends up raising em. It would also explain why my Shirren would lack that "option junkie" trait. Instead, his neurotrasmitters are more inline to his kasatha sensibilities. So instead of getting pleasure from options, he gets pleasure from zen practices and such.

I don't think the "Host" gender is intended to be another female (or male) Shirren or a female or male of any other race either. From what I understand from reading the CRB, the "host" gender is unlike the male and female genders entirely. The shirren are bug people, so think of an Ant or Bee colony. You have drones and workers, and a Queen. The Queen is unlike drones and workers entirely. I think that is what the host gender is intended to be like. A matriarch of some sort, and for all we know a single host may incubate dozens or even hundreds of larvae at a time. The host may not even look like a typical male or female shirren and could be an order of magnitude larger even!

*sigh* That is more likely the case. I really wanted a Kasatha father/mother fer my little Shirren lol

Of course, the same types of questions could be asked of the other races, as well. What exactly does a shirren like me eat, anyway?

Anything biological that could be used as fuel? lol The Swarm is known to strip worlds of all biological material before moving on.

I think Hartbaine said it best with them being lizard-like since that is what the first sentence of their page. Being predatory means they hunt, so meat is a ja. Also, they lived with a variety of beastmen in their systems, sooo maybe their biology won't be that different from lizardmen from PF. *shrugs*

If they could just use anything as a host then they could use male and females of their own species, it'd be really dumb.

Doing so would prevent the needed genetic diversification to breed a healthy Shirren? Maybe the host provides an essential third catalyist that a male and female can't provide for proper gestation? Why don't they have just two genders for reproduction?

It seems to me that having a third gender, while interesting, would be inefficient in breeding unless it stems from some form of reproduction method that required a need for a third gender, such as a host. *shurgs*

Thanks to Baggageboy I remembered some canon from WH40k. They mention in there that many of the lasguns for Guard don't make noise. So to let the troops feel like they are actually fighting most of the guns have small speakers installed to make "shooty noises" when the trigger is pulled.

Here's another "reality" bit to add, a laser rifle doesn't even need to have a visible 'bolt' come out. It could be x-ray, UV, IR and still be effective. I wonder at time why we don't have people using microwave guns for assassination, besides it taking a few seconds to cook someone's innards.

Why no microwave assassin gun?

Sir RicHunt Attenwampi wrote:

MakuTheDark wrote:

Sandal Fury wrote:

Call me old-fashioned, but am I the only one who doesn't really like the idea of undergoing surgery to gestate the child of another species?

That's soooo pre-Gap thinking. Get with the times and excrete yer alien child with love and tenderness.

Perhaps shirren larvae don't initially gestate in a womb or marsupial-ish pouch, but instead via myiasis (don't google this) like botflys (don't google this either)? That might explain why Chk Chk rides around in his jar; Chk Chk has outgrown the host but still has an instar (or more) to grow until he's more self-ambulatory/self-sufficient? Implanting multiple larvae into unwilling hosts could be part of why the Swarm spread so quickly and are so feared.

Edit: On the other hand, a non-shirren humanoid acting as a host for a shirren larva is such a manner could likely be left with a distinctive scar. Such a scar would indicate to other shirren that this humanoid could even be trusted with other shirrens' most precious offspring, and thus, the mark act as badge of deep honor.

The only problem with this (besides it being incredibly disturbing, and way too dark for a Starfinder game, imo) is that Host is distinctly it's own sex. If this was part of their reproductive cycle, then they wouldn't need to develop a 3rd sex, they would just require Male, female and one of anything else.

But what if they evolved to have to a third gender for this purpose? When the Shirren broke away from the Swarm, I imagine where they were left didn't have much choice of hosts since the Swarm already swept by. Thus a third gender was created to make up for the lack of a host. As generations passed, the birthing process became less violent and fatal to what it is now. *shrugs* Once more, speculation with rampant imagination going :)

MakuTheDark wrote:

Sandal Fury wrote:

Call me old-fashioned, but am I the only one who doesn't really like the idea of undergoing surgery to gestate the child of another species?

That's soooo pre-Gap thinking. Get with the times and excrete yer alien child with love and tenderness.

Perhaps shirren larvae don't initially gestate in a womb or marsupial-ish pouch, but instead via myiasis (don't google this) like botflys (don't google this either)? That might explain why Chk Chk rides around in his jar; Chk Chk has outgrown the host but still has an instar (or more) to grow until he's more self-ambulatory/self-sufficient? Implanting multiple larvae into unwilling hosts could be part of why the Swarm spread so quickly and are so feared.

Edit: On the other hand, a non-shirren humanoid acting as a host for a shirren larva is such a manner could likely be left with a distinctive scar. Such a scar would indicate to other shirren that this humanoid could even be trusted with other shirrens' most precious offspring, and thus, the mark act as badge of deep honor.

That was exactly what I was thinking!

Cthulhudrew wrote:

All of these are good hypotheses, but the real reason there aren't half-dwarves?

Female dwarf beards.

Female dwarves *have* beards, or female dwarves *are* beards?

Also? This sentence no verb. :)

The plot thickens...

Perhaps they come out either human or dwarven. Much like our real-life form of Dwarfism.

But the genetic contribution of the host is an unnecessary complication if parasitic reproduction is the goal. By default, the hosts in such situations in real life contribute no genetic material to the offspring, so the process works.

I suppose that it is possible that a species frequently used as a parasitized host species might evolve a way to pass some of its genes to the offspring, but the non-host species would be just as likely to evolve a method to prevent that from happening.

Since the basic purpose of evolution seems to be to provide a way for DNA or other genetic material to create more copies of itself, anything that interferes with that happening is strongly selected against. So a parasitized host contributing to the genes of the embedded parasites makes about as much sense as corporeal beings naturally evolving into energy beings with no physical genetic material.

What if the Pact Worlds have seen such a result of a parasitic creature evolving due to the host's genetics? *cough*Shirren's independance from the Hive mind*cough*

Also how would a species evolve a way to prevent a method of becoming a host? The Swarm, if parasitic in terms of reproduction, may not leave living hosts during the birthing process, like how some wasps use roaches as incubators. In the end, the host is dead.

However, we come to our Shirren, who though originated from the Swarm, may have changed their reproduction process much like how they changed their neurotransmitters and connection to the Swarm Hive mind.

In the end, tis all theorycraft.

Pfhoenix wrote:

The word "ovum" is literally Latin for "egg". It doesn't matter what non-scientific ideas people had in the middle-ages. The Female of a species is the one that creates/contributes the egg. How much you "experienced your female-ness" is irrelevant. The term "incubator" cannot be offensive unless you think of yourself that way, since the point I was making was that female humans are NOT incubators.

The point I am making is that the terms 'female' came into being as a term for the one who had a baby grow and develop in her womb. It wasn't until later that science realized 'You know what? A female contributes genetic material, too!' but the word didn't change meaning then.

And incubator as the term for a human being growing another human being in her womb is highly offensive. She is not a machine, but rather a human being participating in the making of another human being. By your reasoning, a woman who becomes pregnant by in-vitro fertilization using a donated egg should be called an 'incubator,' and I find it hard to believe that anyone would argue such an unfeeling and offensive thing.

I think ye missed his point...

@David: Unbreakable chemical base chains could be found within the Shirren genetic material that ensures a Shirren is always born from the union. Why? BECAUSE SCIENCE...fiction >.> lol