Mr. Bonkers's page

Well, monsters usually have simplified weaknesses like DR/Magic, Slashing, Good, etc. This is so that players can always have "something", and are never truly stuck against creatures. And if a creature does have a very specific vulnerability, the creature usually is foreshadowed a bit for players to learn about it. In other words; the very rare vulnerabilities are rare indeed.

There are still some unusual ones, but even then it isn't really material based for weapons to be made of.
Magma Oozes are vulnerable to water, but you need a lot of it.
Giant Leeches are susceptible to salt, but that is like an acid flask.
The Colour Out of Space is weak/susceptible to Force effects.
The Hungry Fog is susceptible to wind effects, counting as a tiny creature (as are other gaseous beings).
Golems are their own entire thing, being immune to magic that allows spell resistance, but at the same time can be targeted by very specific spells.

But if you are looking for materials to use against monsters, then it might make more sense to look for specific items that deal with certain defenses monsters might have. There are a lot of items that specifically hamper oozes, for instance.
Dust of Acid Consumption can outright kill an Ooze if it fails its save (although Fortitude is a good save for most Oozes).
Bloating Solution suppresses the compression ability of Oozes, and reduces their AoO range.
Congealer Spray staggers Oozes and Plants on a failed save, and suppresses the Split ability on Oozes.

Heartstake Bolts are specifically designed to hunt Vampires with.
Garlic Tablets help you keep Vampires away without having to spent actions.

Bottled Sunlight is amazing, allowing you to target creatures with Sunlight Weakness or Sunlight Susceptability for a round.

Harpy Musk specifically targets Goblins, a low level creature.

Any type of alcohol is usually required to deal with pesky aberrations (Executioner's Hoods, Mimics, and Cave Fishers for example)

Gas-Trap Cylinders can be used against any creature that is gaseous, working like a ghostbusters trap.

Ghost Powder can be used to keep Incorporeals at bay (or even out of your house).
Vermin Repellent keeps swarms away and makes you the "not-preferred-target" for larger vermin.
Clockwork Keys make you the "target-that-one-last" person.
Waspguts can be used to designate a target for any vermin in the vicinity.

Creating a form of Darkness is also a good thing to be able to do, considering Lurker in Lights and Banelights exist.

So I wouldn't just focus on things like materials to bypass DR or target a weakness. A monster hunt knows how to deal with a monster in the most safe of ways. Undermining a creatures advantage against you is just as valid a reason to pack miscellaneous stuff.

Here are a couple I remember:

Jiang-Shi: Recoil from mirrors or handbells, weak to weapons made of the wood from peach trees, and their dust must be scattered or mixed with rice.
Slithering Pit: vulnerable to extra-dimensional spaces. If it eats one, it starts tearing itself apart.
Waldgeist: Must make will saves, or go towards whoever is knocking on wood.
All Div's: every Div has a specific compulsion/weakness, but those are stated in their blurb. Pairaka cannot stand the color red and will not go inside a red room (and attack all that wear it immediately), Bushyastas avoid perfumed odors, and Sepids always do the opposite of what they claim (making Divs have a weakness of predictability).

I started crunching numbers to try to derive an armchair answer for you, and I came up with two conclusions.

First, the Azlanti battle robot and cybernetic zombie's self-destruct damage values are roughly equal to the damage dealt by their respective energy attacks. And in both cases, the save DC is the standard ability DC for a combat enemy of their CR. Blast radius is anyone's guess, though.

I don't have 6-13 in my hands yet, so I can't yet offer estimated values for the robots you're asking about, but that should give you a framework.

My second conclusion was that the Azlanti stellar scout, following the tradition of Aeon Guards before it, is wildly overpowered for its CR. It's listed as a CR 6 but its statistics track with a CR 12 combat array.

Thanks for your reply. As the robots in question are near the CR of the zombie and the battlerobot (low and high tier), I don't really have to change much about it. I'll reference the standard combat enemy to see if i need to make further adjustments to the damage / Save DC. Thanks for helping!

There are enemies in this scenario that have an offensive ability, but have no explanation on how it functions unfortunately. The robots in both tiers have "Self-Destruct" as an offensive action, but it doesn't state how much damage it does, what the save is, or even the radius. There was the hope it was explained under the Universal Monster Rules, but it is not an ability that can be found there.

There are three (non-starship) creatures I could find on the Archives of Nethys that have a self-destruct ability, but unfortunately they are all different (quoted underneath this post.

So what should I do with this ability? Just pretend it doesn't have it and ignore it? Or give it a version of what the other three monsters have as found on the Archives?

When an Azlanti battle robot’s Hit Points are reduced to 10 or fewer, it explodes on its next turn in a 10-foot-radius burst, even if it has already been destroyed. Creatures within range take 3d6 piercing damage (Reflex DC 14 half). As a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a creature adjacent to the robot can attempt a DC 24 Engineering check to disarm the self-destruct mechanism before it detonates.

When an Azlanti stellar scout’s Hit Points are reduced to 10 or fewer, it explodes on its next turn in a 15-foot-radius burst, even if it has already been destroyed. Creatures within range take 5d10 piercing damage (Reflex DC 21 half). As a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a creature adjacent to the scout can attempt a DC 34 Engineering check to disarm the self-destruct mechanism before it detonates.

A cybernetic zombie self-destructs when it is reduced to 0 HP, dealing an amount of electricity damage equal to 1d6 + the zombie’s CR to all creatures in a 10-foot-radius burst. A creature can attempt a Reflex saving throw to reduce this damage by half. This ability destroys any cybernetic or technological components that could have been salvaged from the zombie.

It is located under the Chronicle Boons section of the Pathfinder 2 ACP boons (Link to the page.) It is called "Mark of the Mantis: Mantis Devotee".

If you can't find it in the list, opening all different boon tabs and search Mantis with ctrl+F will get you there.

The design team made a clarification when this problem came up for Starfinder Society. I too cannot find it in the Starfinder errata or the Starfinder FAQ, but it is written down in the Starfinder Society Character Options under Starfinder Interstellar Species (Link to the page)

Evolutionist: Per design team clarification, the Evolutionist class gets skill ranks equal to 4 + INT modifier. The Flexible Skill ability (page 12) increases these ranks to 6 + INT at 9th level and 8 + INT at 17th level.

With the same Expanded Summon Monster feat, you can also get the Immense Tortoise at summon monster 6. This immense beast is Colossal and should be the biggest thing that can be summoned.

Ah, the deep bog rules. I forgot those existed. Yeah, I shall rule it as difficult terrain at half speed. I prefer having my players be able to walk around instead of doing endless checks.

And I'll leave normal armor out of the equation. I would have found the drop in AC brutal, so I'll only ask for things that use charges (and aren't solely magical in nature).

Thanks for helping me out on this!

Currently I’m preparing to run this scenario, and there are two questions that popped up (both mechanical in nature):

1). I was sure one should be able to walk on the floor while underwater, and that your base speed would be halved. But after looking around the underwater rules, I cannot find the option to just walk across the bottom (only swimming). Am I misremembering the rules? Can one literally only swim while underwater?

2). The eels have an electric aura that messes with technological equipment. Although I assume that most battery-based weapons count as technological, the biggest question is if armor also counts? The save isn’t high and it wouldn’t shut down environmental protection, but the drop in armor class will be significant for a round.

Any news on this? The description of the Collapsible Batle Ladder would be nice to have. There is a collapsible ladder as an item, but that comes in different sizes. Would be nice to know how long the ladder is,, as an example.

Although I cannot find it in the Starfinder FAQ section, a ruling has been made for Starfinder Society.

The collapsible battle ladder’s description (page 51) was omitted; it is included here.

Favored by smaller species, this pocket-sized ladder is a gnomish invention useful both in and out of combat. A collapsible battle ladder can be extended to its full length of 10 feet or collapsed to its compressed size of 2 feet as a standard action. Once extended, the ladder doubles in bulk and gains the reach and trip weapon special properties. Outside of combat, this collapsible ladder is extremely useful for reaching heights the user couldn’t normally access.

I just checked if my GM-baby could buy a tier 2 starfinder boon, and I couldn't because the character didn't meet the prerequisites according to the site. The character in question is far into tier 3 with the Exo-Guardians, so that is clearly an error.

I noticed that in the sessions page it now refers to the reputations as "GM 2" instead of just "2", so maybe the addition of the GM letters broke the counting system on the site?

Well, trying to figure if something is far-fetched or something like that really depends on the players themselves. I have seen players get some really obscure things really quickly, but also fail to find the big visible x on the map (even after 5 hints...). All I can say on that subject is this: assume that you need at least 3 hints per symbol to help them figure things out (resulting in 30 hints, they should at least get one of those, right???)

As for the numbers 3 and 6;
- The coat of arms for Absalom consists of a shield with an eye in the middle surrounded by three crowns.
- The holy symbol of Sivanah is 6 veils tied together in a circle.

My Nanocyte focuses more on the Cloud array (with Sheath as second) and carries a Melee weapon with him. I only use my Major Gear Array to store back-up weapons with different energy types in case my bought Hammer doesn't do damage.

I have far more use for my Minor Gear Array forms though. They include the following (lvl 7 currently):

- 40 ft collapsible ladder (lvl 1)
- Magnetic Jack (lvl 1)
- Eldricarnum (lvl 4)
- Portable Gangway (lvl 5)
- Elite Hoverchair (lvl 6)
- Antigravity Belt (lvl 7)

Especially the Ladder and the Portable Gangway have been really good, because for a Nanite Surge you can place them as a swift action. The sudden mobility of my melee character (and the other melee characters) felt really good. Although I have now reached the level where everyone and their entire family flies, they were still useful during escort missions.

I also used to have a Tent (mobile hotelier), until I realized that I cannot use it for its intended purpose, for I can't sleep in it...

"...The nanites maintain their array until you direct them into a different array, you fall unconscious, or you end your turn more than 10 feet from the array..."

Ah, an entire day of sleep to get rid of the fatigue. But can you then do an on and off again pattern? So a single day of forced march, than a day of no forced march, rinse repeat? (So no consecutive days of marching).

That would grant 3 actions over 2 days.

So, I have been seeing mostly the same complaints about not having enough days to complete things, and I must admit I do not really understand why? I mean, with forced march you can easily get the extra turn per day (fatigue is slept away), and thus have at least two turns a day. Isn't that enough?

In the case that players do not know one can do a forced march, shouldn't the GM mention this possibility?

I just remembered a very useful feat for these situations: Golden Legion's Stayed Blade. It allows you to NOT outright kill someone when the damage should have, and instead leave them at -1hp.

You could "Cone of Cold" them and keep them all alive regardless of the damage.

If you need a method chained down by the rules, you could use candles made from Alchemical Candle Wax infused with Sweetdream poison. If the DC isn't high enough, use the poison DC uppers (Poison Focus feat, Concentrate Poison Alchemist Discovery, etc etc).

If they all huddle around the candles (or just place candles EVERYWHERE) then they will start inhaling the sleep-poison. They might suspect the food/drinks first, but it is actually the air they have been breathing (forcing several saves over a couple of rounds).

It is a two-step poison though, first sleep for a minute, then sleep for 1d4 hours.

Well, the number of ways you could build an Operative with the Battleflower archetype is pretty huge, so first there is need for some more specification. What does your friend / acquaintance want the build to do? What should it envision? And what do they want from the Battleflower archetype, as it only has optional trades including a feat choice at level 2.

Mr. Bonkers wrote:

PFSTracker allows one to specify a list of only Evergreens. Just use the menu on the left to tag all the things you want to see (system, season, repeatable, etc) and it generates a list for you.

I found the Evergreen Modules in PFSTracker, but it doesn't show the replayable tier. Only Tier 1 is replayable for many modules，while all tiers are replayable for some modules?

I must admit this is how far my knowledge went. I just knew how you could get a list of repeatables. For the modules you might want to check the separate product pages or maybe the Guide to organized play?

PFSTracker allows one to specify a list of only Evergreens. Just use the menu on the left to tag all the things you want to see (system, season, repeatable, etc) and it generates a list for you.

Well... I do not understand how missed that sentence when I read the Energy-Relay Gloves rules...

Thanks you for your answer, much appreciated.

I myself do not have any personal experience with a melee-Envoy or the melee-Solarian, but I've seen them being played on several occasions.

Melee-Envoys that I saw tended to have more self-serving powers, such as Clever Attack and Improved Get'Em (to create buffs/debuffs as they attack). I saw the alternate class feature Combat Expertise only once. At lower levels the extra damage is very welcome, but might be too low for high levels. It can be a lot of fun with Maneuver Expertise and something as False Flanking.

Melee-Solarians that I saw usually go all out on damage (but it might be that my sample is not great). Photon Mode and all the bonuses. They all tended to take either Heavy Armor proficiency or a Soldier dip for it. I might not be the best source for Solarian advice I just realized...

Completely left field option, but a Soldier with the Commander fighting style also gains access to Envoy Improvisations at level 7, and can choose Charisma as their key ability score. Might also be an option.

As for archetypes, I would recommend looking at the Battleflower. At level 2 it gives various options to choose from, including proficiency feats. You could take Special Weapon proficiency and pick up the Shuriken line; Thrown weapons are based on Strength after all.

Another option could be the Battle Leader if you want more support options. Do mind that these take a reaction, and melee characters also want those for attacks of opportunity.

Finally the Star Knight has options that could be to your liking. Armor Proficiency and the Challenge ability are great for a melee character.

So I noticed the Energy-Relay Gloves and a rules question popped up that keeps running rampant in my head: can the effect of this magic item activate extra damage that requires an energy type? For example cold/hot Siccatite or maybe the Reverberation Amplifier? If the answer is no, than that is okay. It's just that the question is stuck in head at the moment.

Warriors across the Pact Worlds commission these gloves to gain versatility in the type of damage they deal. A set of energy-relay gloves is permanently configured to one damage type selected from among acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. The gloves count as a worn magic item unless you install them in armor, taking up one upgrade slot.

If you hit with a weapon attack while wearing energy-relay gloves and deal additional damage, you can convert that additional damage to the gloves’ type. The gloves can convert additional damage from a class feature, a feat, and the additional damage dealt on critical hit, but they can’t convert additional damage from equipment, changes to a weapon’s damage dice, or spells. Using the gloves doesn’t change whether the attack targets EAC or KAC.

Objects formed completely of siccatite are immune to cold damage and fire damage, making them crucial components in items that are in constant contact with severe heat or cold.

A weapon made of cold siccatite that deals cold damage, whether inherently or from a weapon fusion, deals 1 extra cold damage plus 1 extra cold damage per 6 item levels, up to +4 at 18th level. A weapon made of hot siccatite that deals fire damage gains the same amount of extra fire damage.

Adding specially modified arabuk antlers to your armor allows you to harness their amplifying properties for your own sonic attacks. The armor upgrade makes a soft clicking sound reminiscent of an arabuk’s hunting clicks. This sound and the antler’s amplifying properties impose a –8 penalty on your Stealth checks while wearing this armor. When you use a weapon to deal sonic damage to a single target, you deal additional damage equal to half the weapon’s item level. In addition, once per day as a reaction when you would take sonic damage, you can overcharge the amplifier to reduce that damage by half.

Having run this scenario twice, I went with "planar energies that do magical mumbo jumbo", although I didn't explain it like that. After they had been in the lush jungle for a while, I told them that some of their armors were showing signs of discoloration into more vibrant hues. And that it wasn't something stuck to it, but an alteration to the armor itself through some planar interference. I made it clear that if they spend longer in this jungle, that "whatever this is" will eventually go past the armor.

Now twice I had the luck that this explanation was enough for the players to accept the mystical nature of it all. But your milage may vary.

Officially, you can’t use weapon finesse with a small version of a two hander.

Quote:

Benefit: With a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain made for a creature of your size category

Well, that changes things. No using a smaller weapon to circumvent the handedness then. So it is either the massive feat-chain, or the two levels of Titan Mauler.

Ryze Kuja wrote:

I'm guessing that OP wants the Scythe for x4 crit, which would be pretty nasty with Shocking Grasp x4 as well O.O

Spellstrike unfortunately caps the spell crit dmg at just x2, even if you crit with a x4 weapon.

"This attack uses the weapon’s critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier."

Which is too bad, since all it does is push people towards the same 15-20 crit builds.

====

I'd go with Spear Dancing Spiral instead of multiclassing if getting dex-to-hit with a scythe is important for you.

Do keep in mind however, that counting the Scythe as one-handed for Spell Combat is not a huge priority for you as you get it (resource-free) first at level 8 and that as a spontaneous caster you can't use metamagics with spell combat.

There is a way to use Spell Combat with a spontaneous Magus, but that too is very feat intensive for reasons other than getting that one-handed Scythe. For every spell you want to use with Metamagic during Spell Combat, you'd have to take the Spontaneous Metafocus feat. Which would result into a lot of extra feats that have to be taken...

Without knowing the exact reason the OP wants to have this specific build, I would recommend to either take the smaller sized Scythe or go with the two levels of Titan Mauler anyway. It just saves so much on your feats and allows you to play the concept a lot faster instead of lvl 10 and beyond (no calculations on level were done, it just eyes as lvl 10 and beyond).

There are two ways that I know of next to the Titan Mauler Barbarian, one far easier than the other.

1.) A massive feat chain: Place the Versatile Design modification on the Scythe and make it a Polearm (or Spear), and then take the Weapon Adept feat to counteract the difficulty increase from Martial towards Exotic. From there you take Weapon Focus (Scythe), Two-Weapon Fighting, Spear Dancing Style, and Spear Dancing Spiral so that your new Scythe counts as a Quarterstaff for feats. THEN you also take Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff) and Quarterstaff Master to wield your modified Scythe as a one-handed weapon.

2.) Use a Scythe that is meant for a creature one size smaller than you. Because it is inappropriately sized for you, its handedness is changed from two-handed towards one-handed (with a penalty as described under Inappropriately Sized Weapons).

I guess you're looking for Technomantic Dabbler, Connection Inkling, or Reality Glimmer. Any of those should do the trick.

not entirely correct:

All of the hasted creature’s modes of movement (including base, burrow, climb, fly, and swim speeds) increase by 30 feet, to a maximum of twice the target’s normal speed using that form of movement.

So it would be:

and ninja'd

I know of one written in PFS 7-13: Captive in Crystal. But it are levels of Kineticist stacked upon a fey creature.

There is also another one in the Villain Codex on page 35 (pyrokineticist 7).

Luckily there is a Errata for this specific ability:

Page 29: Add the following sentence at the end of the first paragraph of the Sniper alternate class feature.

This ability counts as a trick attack for the purpose of other operative abilities, such as debilitating trick.

Errata can be found here

Unfortunately, while they did do this for the Sniper alternative class feature, Paizo hasn't made such a statement yet for Stunt and Strike. That one is still out there. But the Sniper thing is clarified as "it works".

How Joktan Heth, the worm that walks get channel negative energy? And how many dices the channel get?

In this particular case, it is because he is a necromancer wizard. They get either Command Undead or Turn Undead as bonus feat, and can use Channel Energy to use that feat (and only to use that feat). So there are no dice, and no using channel negative energy for damage for this guy. Only to use the feat Command Undead.

Looking at the character, I mainly see some utility spells that could be useful. Which ones you want kinda depends on what you wish to counter by spending money.

lvl 1
* Comprehend Languages in case of first contact scenarios.
* Extra Sense if the need arises for blindsense.
* Life Bubble because magical mist that circumvents armor protection.
* Remote Operation in case you do not want to go near the terminal.

lvl 2
* Command Undead because mindless undead get no save.
* Invisibility because laser traps, and maybe sneaking in.
* Personal Gravity in case gravity shifts towards the bad side.
* See Invisibility in case of invisible creeps.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
On another notice though: I think I saw this was a Society character? If that is the case, then you have two spells that aren't allowed in SFS (namely Incompetence and Instant Upgrade), nor is the Cache Augmentation legal in Society. If this isn't an Society character, then you can ignore this.

Character Options

Class Options: All class options are legal for play with the following exceptions: the lightning reload exploit, the pistol whip exploit, the particle wave revelation, and the incompetence spell.

All options from this book are allowed for play, with the following exceptions and clarifications:

...Technomancer—Cache Augmentation [Alternate Class Feature], Genehacker’s Cache [remove baleful polymorph as a 6th-level spell option only; the rest of Genehacker’s Cache is legal for play], Brain Hacker [Magic Hack]...
...Spells: Awaken Computer, Blast Door, Delay Countermeasures, Hoverdisk, Mass Hoverdisk, Instant Upgrade, Know Coordinates, Nanite Form, Optimize Technology...

I do not know if you already had a PM from someone yet or not, but it sounds like you have the "cookies" issue. Somewhere in February everyone had to delete their cookies from Paizo to regain access to their accounts on whatever digital device they were logged in before.

After deleting your Paizo cookies (see here) you should be able to log in again. Hopefully it will work for you. If not, then I cannot help you any further (this is as far as my knowledge goes on this topic)

There are the Juggernaut Boosters, but that one doesn't stack with the Breach property. And although it only works on doors and barriers, it is just a standard and not a full round action.

You can also ignore all the strength thingies and go for Demolitions, which requires money to buy the stuff, time to set the charges, and ranks in engineering. If done right, you use your engineering check versus the break DC (maximum DC that can be targeted based on the demolition used). But the question then becomes why you didn't just use engineering to get what you wanted in the first place (unless you just want to blow things up, then it works like a charm).

Dotted, I will get a character up as soon as possible (and as soon I have mafmde up my mind about a name...)

I do not know if you already had a PM from someone yet or not, but it sounds like you have the "cookies" issue. Somewhere in February everyone had to delete their cookies from Paizo to regain access to their accounts on whatever digital device they were logged in before.

After deleting your Paizo cookies (see here) you should be able to log in again. Hopefully it will work for you. If not, then I cannot help you any further (this is as far as my knowledge goes on this topic).

Ah yes, the command undead channel thingy. I usually avoid using that ability because it counts as Channel Energy, and a great number of undead have channel resistance (which adds to their already good Will save, usually a bonus of 2 to 4).

I do agree that Black Tentacles is mainly useful against larger squads of lower level undead, as you can target their CMD far easier. Against single creatures (especially larger ones) it is far less useful and successful.

A GM with perpetual good rolls can indeed hamper a spell-focused caster. I've been there and it sucks. Normally one would revert back towards Walls, Summons, and obstacles, but your map situation prevents it. Which means that you need to get the rolls away from the GM and back to you; casting spells that require you to hit for effect, instead of the enemy to save to prevent it. Here are some highlights in this regard:

LVL 1: Shocking Grasp (combined with Reach and Intensified Metamagic, it deals enough damage without a save)
LVL 1: Snowball (you hit, you deal damage. A good one for Intensified Metamagic)
LVL 2: Burst of Radiance (note that the save is only against blind, not versus the damage)
LVL 2: Eroding Ray (in case of constructs/Golems)
LVL 2: Frigid Touch (a good candidate for Reach Metamagic)
LVL 2: Molten Orb (not great damage, but no save either)
LVL 2: Pilfering Hand Take away stuff with your roll, no saves involved)
LVL 2: Scorching Ray (hit with rays, no save)
LVL 2: Stone Call (no save massive difficult terrain, combine it with Featherstep if possible through your allies)
LVL 2: Stricken Heart (Reach Metamagic allows for close range, no save some damage and guaranteed stagger. Also good in Spellstoring armor)
LVL 3: Battering Blast (only a save to not be tripped, not versus damage)
LVL 3: Dispel Magic (you'll need to boost it through Dispel Focus, Greater Dispel Focus, and a handful of Myhr, but it is a roll from your side to say no to the opponent)
LVL 3: Swipe (take the item of your enemy with a roll from your side)
LVL 4: Enervation (in case of living creatures)
LVL 4: Named Bullet (if there are many undead, you can get a ranged ally a free crit.
LVL 4: Rising Water (you can force underwater combat everywhere. bonus points if you cast Waterbreathing on the party and they have means to gain swimspeeds)
LVL 4: Telekinetic Charge (just dump your frontliner into the fray)
LVL 5: Telekinesis (use the combat maneuver version or violent thrust with items, not creatures)

There might be more, but these spells but the dicerolls back in your hands, so the enemies saves no longer influence your results. Hopefully it is useful for you.

Thanks, both of you. My main interest was being of "non-human" heritage, so that is great. I mainly asked the size question as a bonus, for I indeed realized there would be mechanical differences when it comes to size. Also being allowed to be small would have been an extra, but no dealbreaker at all.

I will continue browsing and theorycrafting for my next character with this information in mind. Thanks for the help!

Hi all. I was browsing the races that one can play, for I have way to much ACP and should do something with it. It was during this browsing I noticed something with the Aasimar and Tiefling entries:

Because of their innate curiosity, humans are more likely to dally with outsiders, and as a consequence, a significant percentage of planar scions living in the Pact Worlds are descended from humans. However, because humans are far less populous than in pre-Gap eras, planar scions descended from other humanoid races are now far more numerous.

So apparently Aasimars and Tieflings aren't "human-bound" anymore in SFS, and can be Vesk-based Tieflings, Halfling-based Aasimars, and so on according to the rules. But since I remember these were more a less also the rules in PF1, PFS1 ruled that all the Aasimars and Tieflings had to be human-hybrids (and thus not Aasimar Elves).

1). Is this in SFS still the case, or could Aasimars and Tieflings also be descended from other humanoid races in organized play?

Then there is also another thing that piqued my interest:

Size and Type: Planar scions are often Medium, and all are outsiders with the native subtype.

So apparently they can also be small or large, and I assume that is in case of Aasimar-Gnomes (which would be small) or Tiefling-Shobhad (which would be large).

2). But can a Tiefling-Orc also be small? Although I hope that this to be the case (for I find small-sized Tieflings based on medium sized creatures hilarious), it might not be allowed because it works both ways (making something bigger than it is supposed to be). Or is there a predetermined size for all Planar Scions in SFS or on the boon itself? I haven't downloaded the boon for its text, because I want to be sure that I want to use it as well before spending the points.

Thank you all for your insights and answers. Also thanks you Matt, didn't expect the writer to chime in. After running the scenario the questions weren't that important anymore (no one got disintegrated and the see through wall got removed pretty quickly).

The main reason I brought up the laser weapons was because both enemies do not have laser weapons; Bitic has a Plasma Pistol, and his assistant a semi-auto pistol. So there was some confusion from me. But I ran it as Bitic having a laser weapon (only one shot before the PC's decided to deal with him quick).

Overall it was a very enjoyable scenario, and the players had a lot of fun with the entire cult feel (and their "no sense motive luck" they leaned into).

As I was rereading the scenario before I run it in a couple of days, a couple of questions popped up:

1). Is there any way in SFS to recover from a Disintegrate effect? Because I can see it happen in this scenario.

If the answer is no, should I just avoid using the infest ability? Because an irreversible death at this high a level is just a slap in the face, especially since it can happen so early in the scenario.

2). Bitic and his helper are mentioned to have modified ranged laser weaponry that deals various damage types. I cannot find the weapon in the stat blocks, however. Can I just assume it deals the same damage as their ranged options presented in the stat blocks? Because I think I'll describe it as some sort of nanite cover around their weapon, that ceases it's cohesion on the weapons when the enemy is defeated (allowing them to have the laser weaponry mentioned, without doing something strange to the party's loot).

3). More of a general question: can one cast spells that target through the see-through wall? I mean things like Slow, Mind Thrust, Hold Person, Slice Reality, Summon Monster, etc. I actually think not, but I cannot find the rules around it. I know Laser Weapons can go through (non-magical) see-through barriers, but I do not know about such spells.

Ashbourne wrote:

But for things to shoot, more low CR creatures that can be used in larger groups against low or high-level PCs something easy to kill that does little damage but can hit any level PC

Unless you use swarm rules, I'm pretty sure this is just plain impossible in Starfinder. Something that can reliably hit a Level 1 PC just isn't going to hit a level 10 PC, except by chance ( and if melee-oriented, barely even that because of the limited number of potential attacks per round ).

Well, in Society play there is a CR 1 creature that is somewhat of a threat in a scenario meant for higher level characters. It is called a Ravenous Wight and has the following abilities:

Infected Wound (Ex) Whenever the ravenous wight deals Hit Point damage with its bite to a living creature, that creature’s maximum HP decrease by 1 for the next 24 hours. If that creature dies while infected, it rises on its next turn as a ravenous wight with full Hit Points. This is a disease effect (DC 13 to remove or treat).

Swarming Attacks (Ex) Ravenous wights’ attacks are difficult to dodge when they attack in numbers. A ravenous wight gains a +5 circumstance bonus to attacks for every other wight threatening their target (to a maximum of +15).

Although they only have a +5 to hit on their melee attacks, once they start to swarm you their accuracy goes up drastically. There are a lot of them during the fight in the scenario, with constant reinforcements unless cut off. And they are not alone, as they are used as troopers by an higher CR creature that is also in the room (which of course deals a significant amount of damage more). It is one of those creatures that goes down easily, but also cannot be safely ignored.

4th Level: For the highest level of technomancer spell you can cast, reduce the number of technomancer spells you know by 1. For example, at 5th level, this means you know only two 2nd-level spells and four 1st-level spells, and at 6th level, you know three 2nd-level spells and four 1st-level spells. At 7th level, you know four 2nd-level spells, but you know only a single 3rd-level spell (as 3rd level is now the highest level of technomancer spells you can cast), and so on.

Which means yes, you do retroactively learn a 2nd level spell the moment you learn to cast 3rd level spells.

So at level 7 you should know five 1st level spells, four 2nd level spells, and one 3rd level spell

Garretmander wrote:

I'm 99.9% sure that you can count yourself as a 'willing creature touched as part of casting the spell' for junk arsenal which should take care of the problem entirely.

Also, shouldn't you be able to get through at least a couple of encounters per casting? It lasts 70min at your level, how much travel time are you taking between encounters?

Oh God, don't tell me I've been misreading the duration as 1 minute per level this whole time! >_<

10 minutes per level, yes.

I assumed you were locked in the 10-15 encounter dungeons, or the one encounter per hour settings (with 5 or 6 encounters per day). But playing it as 1 minute per level does indeed burn your spellslots away rapidly.

I'm 99.9% sure that you can count yourself as a 'willing creature touched as part of casting the spell' for junk arsenal which should take care of the problem entirely.

Also, shouldn't you be able to get through at least a couple of encounters per casting? It lasts 70min at your level, how much travel time are you taking between encounters?

Looking at it again, I realize that one could choose themselves. So I was wrong at that point. But then I'm wondering what would it do for oneself? One uses it when one casts Junk Sword/Junk Armor, which then allows one to have a second sword / armor on themselves for an hour next to the one they get from the spell (which lasts longer). So yes, one could use it on themselves, but it doesn't really do much for them either.

Although I also play a Technomancer build around the Junksword spell, I mainly play Starfinder Society so some things I'm going to say might not translate well to an Adventure Path. Just as disclaimer.

Having a Junksword is quite fun and can deal lots of damage, but be aware that the amount of damage starts to lack at some point during the levels. At lvl 1-6 it is a great tool, around 7-10 it still good, but after 10 the regular weapons start to catch up and gain in damage. So it is not strange to have a back-up weapon here and there at higher levels. It is also not mandatory mind you, so if you want to keep at it with the Junksword then just do it. Maybe get a Natural Weapons Graft and roleplay it as an arm made of junk, with the Junksword spell casted to "augment" your arm?

The other problem you face is indeed the story pacing of adventure paths. This can be a big strain on casters who really need to plan things out. Which unfortunately also means that you cannot fully rely on your defensive spells and sometimes just need to take the hit. Raising armor class and gathering resistances is something I would recommend. Gaining Shield Proficiency and a good shield, the Armor Savant Graft, getting the resistance armor upgrades, and later maybe the Extend Runtime magic hack to extend multiple castings of Resistant Armor. (The Extend Runtime magic hack doesn't work on Junksword though, because it needs to be a spell that targets you and not junk).

Speaking of Magic Hacks, Junk Arsenal doesn't work on yourself. It grants you the ability to allow another player to profit from junk-spells for an hour when you cast junk-spells for yourself. Also keep in mind that due to your archetype your next Magic Hack is gained at level 11. You gain Cache Capacitor at level 8 instead of 6, and lose the level 8 Magic Hack. As a frontliner, I would highly recommend Extend Runtime as your level 11 Magic Hack.

Looking at your build there are several things that caught my attention. Do with my points what you like, it is your character after all, but it might be worth mentioning anyway:
1: You placed your upgrades as +2 Strength and +4 Int. I would try to turn that around. You hardly have any spell that requires a save and as frontliner without Full-bab you NEED to hit. Yes, this means you have less Resolve and less computers/engineering, but combat-wise you need to hit and deal with the enemy.

2: You have the Improved Demoralize feat, which might be a bit redundant considering your Challenge ability. I do not know when you picked the feat up, but if you can still change it with the Mnemonic Editor I would. Maybe something as Shield Proficiency (for more AC) or Improved Unarmed Strike (in case you'd go with a Natural Weapon Graft).

3: You have one level 3 spell too many. Your archetype makes you lose one spell known from the highest spell level you can cast. So at level 7 you only know one level 3 spell.

4: As I understand it, you use Empowered Weapon to upgrade your to hit (and damage). This eats away at your spells in a rapid fashion. You might want to try for other accuracy boosters. Weapon Focus is great, and though it is probably impossible to get Weapon Focus (Junksword), with two feats you can have Weapon Focus (Basic) and then Versatile Focus. That gives you a +1 (later +2) on your to hit.

So I was reading through Tech Revolution and spotted the Electrical Attunement Solarians. It immediately set some gears moving in my head, for I had difficulty forging a character in a particular way and this fitted perfectly. Couple of days ago I noticed something however: The Destructive Discharge ability that functions as your Zenith requires a fortitude save, and it doesn't seem to affect objects. This means that Constructs and Undead are by default immune to it, which to me seems to be some sort of oversight? They can certainly by affected by the electrical damage from the Solar Weapon/Flare, but the moment one overcharges to launch this electrical zenith, the creatures are suddenly unharmed...

I would recommend a Rhetorician Witch as one of the advisors. Their Debater ability can be used to frustrate other characters attempts to influence others. So if your advisor is constantly around an important person, they can prevent any meaningful interaction with said person by mechanically blocking diplomacy checks with their own.