Pogiforce's page

Xalxe wrote:

We're playing 2-13, which involves a lot of knowledge checks to recognize groups and symbols, know things, etc.

The character who succeeds at every knowledge roll I ask for? The dwarf. Who was just created. And who just emerged from a vault on Salvation's End. Who is apparently a very, very quick study.

A few people in my lodge have Dwarf hirelings from some boon or so. One guy hadn't named his Dwarf yet, but he kept acing all the skill checks we just failed at. He was nicknamed "Best Dwarf."

I have two different characters with a dwarf hireling boon. One of them is named Milhouse, but the starfinder he works for is kind of a jock of a bounty hunter so his nickname is Nerd. " Nerd what was that?" He's often asked.

The other works for a kassathan warpriestess of iomedae and his name is Winston Craghammer.

Older story, but still funny.

Me: playing a Dr. Doolittle of a shirren envoy.

GM: you find yourself surrounded by predators. They look hungry. You can use survival to handle an animal to drive them off.

Me: i have wildwise, can I use diplomacy?

GM: sure.

Me: looks at party. " Sorry everyone." Proceeds to belt out an absolutely god-awful psychic shriek. Rolls Nat 20 on diplomacy.

GM : okay yeah, no, they absolutely hate that and it freaks them out big-time. they run away from you to try to get away from the noises in their head.

Me: Happy shirren noises.

And this was before character operations manual came out with the psychic shriek feat.

I concur with Hmm. Give it the Tetriad Translator treatment. Free if you accept it during the scenario, otherwise you gotta buy in. just like how the wayfinders can buy the translator for fame but other factions have to spend credits.

Although I got to play 1-99, my experience was marred by inexperienced GMs who were unfamiliar with the system, and an overseer who decided to modify the timer on the special for the sake of fitting into a very restrained time slot at the event. All in all my experience for that was not very pleasant, and I didn't get to absorb much, if any of the story. I played it in the highest tier available at the time, 8-10 I believe, and getting the opportunity to play it again at different tiers, hopefully better run this time, would be welcome.

So I've been told the thorax is actually the equivalent of the chest, which means I named the wrong bossy part. I meant to ask if they have an abdomen, speaking in terms of insect physiology rather than sapient physiology. The far back part of the insect.

I have Dead Suns and Against the Aeon Throne. The Dead Suns set is a little garrish with clashing blue and orange, but the Against the Aeon Throne set looks really sharp.

What's nice about the darkvision Androids get is it also gives you lowlight. The dark vision only works out to 60 feet, but low light is forever, so in a low light area where the enemy is further than 60 feet away, you don't have to be concerned with the miss chance.

Do Shirren have thoraxes? All official art shows them with a wide gate that makes it hard to tell, but for some reason imagining them without one seems really wierd to me. I'm drawing my Shirren for Starfinder Society and I wasn't sure if they had Thoraxes, and I wanted to know.

I wish my envoy Shirren could have been a biohacker, because she was trying to do the buff allies with injection weapons from day one. the class was made for her. But I'm also happy with the character I ended up with. I don't really like the idea of all this talk of rebuilding because if it becomes too easy, then character decisions have no importance. One of my players picked a feat randomly because he couldn't be bothered before a game session, and said " I can just mnemonic editor it later if I don't like it." The decision didn't matter. And when the game tries to gently remind you that actions have consequences and their are repercussions for the choices we make, it would be odd if our characters were so.... Mutable.

I realized that it was broken immediately.

I also waited to use it until Joe Pasini made a thoughtful ruling on it that limited potential shenanigans.

The ring was the only way I could find at the time to get a lethal bite attack on a SRO soldier, so I reluctantly took the available option, devoting a feat and a gear boost to make it work.

If there was a "bite your face off" augmentation I'd be happy with that instead.

Mechanical jaw. Throat augment. Cybernetic. I've been saying, for a while now, that cybernetics get the short end of the stick, which is really frustrating because then there's things like cyberborn.

The option I'm most disappointed didn't make the cut is Enhanced Communalism. My "teamwork, yay!" shirren would have loved it.

I get it, though. A reroll is quite powerful and many PCs have far more resolve points than they do abilities that require spending resolve points.

Same! My pacifist Dr. Doolittle of a Shirren Envoy would have loved it. But being able to give away rerolls like that would be incredibly strong.

Would be nice if they allowed a one time free rebuild, like when Pathfinder unchained was released.

That's nice. My 701 probably won't get the most benefit out of it because he's not level 12 yet, but it's good to have. It being our first forray into content of that level, hopefully it's balanced well.

In society, I'd rule what the CRB says is what goes. In a home campaign, I'd appeal to GM discretion.

So that means David Caine can buy it? That's a relief!

Is this in the society Field guide?

Dissappointed. Heard there was something big starfinder related on the 16th. This doesn't feel big. This feels forgettable. I'm not a fan of the beginners box because of how much the rules are changed from actual starfinder. I don't think if your trying to introduce new players to the game you should do it with an almost complete departure from the CRB. And then turning that into a voice only Amazon powered app that only has the one adventure?

Good for those who will enjoy this. I'll keep waiting for the additional resources update.

I think the word capstone was used intentionally, which makes it subject to the capstone boon rules.

Which unfortunately means few of my characters will be able to benefit.

Of my five characters, to have profession lab technician, what has profession mercenary, one has profession Miner, and one has profession maintenance worker. The two lab technicians, one works in a computer lab on abalon debugging anasite code. The other interns for the research Labs at the Qabarat University of xenobiology and xenoarchaeology. The maintenance worker is my mechanic and the miner is my dwarven Soldier. The mercenary is my verthani augmented soldier.

I choose my professions largely based on flavor.

Might do a copaxi vanguard actually... Seems fitting ... Still want to do a Morlamaw vanguard too, though. Decisions, decisions...

I would say that this is quite disappointing for me, as that basically makes me have to choose between getting to play a Ghibrani, or giving my Envoy a much needed buff. That already means my Mechanic who technically gets some mechanical benefit from Rising Star (the potential to be written into the campaign) can't buy it, even though he did most of the legwork in earning the parts. My Exo Guardian Soldier and Dataphile Operative also have to choose between benefiting personally from the seasonal capstone, or buying a faction capstone for the benefit of some other character.

So long story short, use the armory injectors?

Destiny 2 is a favorite of mine, and in fact I see a lot of the Guardians in the Solarian, specifically the Void and Solar subclasses ( and I usually call it Void Stance and Solar Stance instead of Graviton and Photon, respectively, because of it.)

So wait, if I were to, say, buy Alien Admittance on my Shirren Envoy Wayfinder, even though that character benefits from that boon in no discernable way, I could not buy the seasonal boon because I already "Purchased a capstone"?

Then that would mean my rising star, my mechanic who participated in like 5 of the 8 parts by himself, could not take the seasonal boon?

Spend, no. They seem common loot drops though.

Incidentally also good for melee texhnomancers, since already stated plus racial bonuses to computers and engineering. Could be good exocortex melee mechanics for the same reason.

My Biohacker concept for society play is an Elebrian scientist who believes that the undead eoxian elebrians are short sighted, content to continue this way in perpetuity until what few undead on eox that are Elebrian are destroyed/ degrade beyond recovery. She wants to terraform Eox back into a hospitable planet or, barring that, genetically engineer immunities and defensive traits to Eox's highly toxic and inhospitable environment for living elebrians so they could safely repopulate. If she could somehow engineer for undead elebrians to return to life, all the better.

For that reason she would pick genetics, immunology, and toxicology in that order. Genetics as the foundation of her goal, immunology as the necessary building blocks, and toxicology as the final scholarly finish.

Plus, in space combat, a Str Vanguard gets to be a good Chief Mate, while a Dex Vanguard gets to be one of the best Gunners (i.e. the single most important role on the ship, Pilot notwithstanding).

Just wanted to point out that a high Dex vanguard could still be a good chief mate if they really wanted. All chief mate activities from what I remember reading are doable with both athletics and acrobatics, meaning both strength and dex are equally viable for that role.

I can't answer this with any definite authority, but my inclination is no, based on one or two scenarios where the party loses would be pursuers by entering the drift. That's not definitive though, as it could simply have been that their pursuers were tiny ships/ 1 or 2 man fighters and did not possess a drift engine.

Big ships doesn't really need big crews, take a look at Gene Roddenberrys Andromeda. 1.3 km long Mega-Battleship with a minimum crew of 6.

I know that the pathfinder rules didn't support this, but I think if you want you can do such things in your Homebrew setting (heavy automation, Semi-AIs etc. to support the core crew).

Actually Starfinder has done this, to an extent. Dead Suns, Empire of Bones,

So there is a precedent of a ridiculously large ship being controlled by a small crew. Simply change the flavor of it to suit your style. Automation is wonderful.

Nice!

My only confusion is that, currently, AA3 isn't on the additional resources. So can we play an izalguun now, or do we have to wait for the AR update?

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/starfinder-society-ethical-anthropo logy.849622/

Is this True? Are izalguuns legal for play?

Pogiforce wrote:

Minimight wrote:

As for align bonus, that costs a move action, only grants the benefit vs one target, and only lasts for 1 round and still doesn't stack with cover.

I'm sorry, where does it say aligning bonuses only last for a round? From my reading of it it looked like align bonus lasted until that Target is neutralized, or until you align against a different target.

It's in the rules for the solar shield itself:

COM wrote:

As a move action you can align the shield to grant you greater protection against one opponent you are observing (Core Rulebook 260), which increases your shield bonus to AC to +2 against attacks from that opponent until the beginning of your next turn.

Emphasis mine.

So is that all shields, or just solar shield? The shield section of the book didn't make the distinction.

As for align bonus, that costs a move action, only grants the benefit vs one target, and only lasts for 1 round and still doesn't stack with cover.

I'm sorry, where does it say aligning bonuses only last for a round? From my reading of it it looked like align bonus lasted until that Target is neutralized, or until you align against a different target.

When I playtested the Biohacker, my big complaint was the inability to effectively boost my allies, because the vanguard in level+1 heavy armor can't be caught flat-footed, so good luck giving him the good stuff mid combat. Now, you can auto succeed the ranged attack on allies so long as you had scanned them with your portable lab, and they're within 30 feet.

I like to think that their balls are not just locomotion but incredibly sensitive organs that "taste" the ground and feel texture and vibration in ways that are poorly understood by others.

Andalites?

The thing for me is the classes and a few Class options I've got an Elebrian ad a Morlamaw that I've been sitting on for Biohacker and Vanguard, respectively. I have a level 1 mystic that will be going star Knight and was going to be healing connection, but now that I've seen the crusader connection it has a lot of appeal. I also want to be able to use a shield. There's some nice fantasy in a star Knight crusader mystic of Iomedae entering battle with a long sword and a Knight's Shield.

Cellion wrote:

Am I way off base in seeing Double Tap as terrible?

+1 to hit and +1/2 level for damage, but only when making a single attack each round? It doesn't work with basically any other ability that helps to narrow the DPR gap for non-full-BAB classes (No overcharge, empower weapon, get'em, etc). Its damage is worse than single attacking with a longarm 100% of the time. The only thing you're getting is not having to spend two feats on proficiency and versatile specialization (instead spending one), and having a hand free.

I know multiple people that REALLY wanted to have a viable way to use pistols on their soldier, and this definitely isn't it.

I agree. I don't know why it would be broken to eliminate those restrictions while keeping it a single attack standard action. That makes it especially appealing for lower BAB classes that might not want to full attack. (and can do other things with move actions).

my barricade building drone mechanic would like it.

I wish it were sooner rather than later. I've got a number of character concept that I can't advance without this book.

Availability of adventure path items are determined by the additional resources document on the web page. That gives you a list of what things are available from an adventure path, chronicle sheet or no.

That said, items unique to a scenario like the one you described are available only to those who have the chronicle sheet.

Exoguardians have one that allows you to replay a scenario for each tier you have with them.

This is inaccurate. The Exoguardians boon says that if you GM a scenario for which you've already received GM credit for previously, you may use the boon once per tier to gain one Exoguardians Fame and reputation but nothing on the chronicle sheet. Since we're talking about replays I thought I would clear up any confusion.

Let's see...

Tara Nova represents an active betrayal of what I joined the Starfinders for. Her stating goal is to make the Starfinders into the very thing our detractors claim we are, a rogue army. She is also distinctly hung up on policing the galaxy and seeking revenge against the Jinsul. You'll notice neither of those things is 'exploring' or ' investigating'. Her goals are... okay and some are even laudable, but they simply aren't what the Society is for. The Starfinders would be better served by her establishing her own organization rather than taking the Starfinders vastly off course.

Calder Soren is too stodgy and bureaucratic. The fact that the first thing that had to be done when arriving at his campaign headquarters was walk through a line is not a good sign, cultural importance aside. He is not a good fit for the average Starfinder disposition. Also the expansionist stance means nothing without effective manpower to back it up. Manpower I doubt we have. (Nevermind the fact that his species is heavily coded as British and I have little interest in playing an active role is what could essentially be British Imperialism, if not physically, then culturally)

Ehu Hadif is myopic but it at least he is staying true to the core of the Society

Avor Stelek is also myopic but is the best option of the four as he is actively invested in practical training and taking care of the Society's agents. He would be the best choice for both recovering from the Scoured Stars and warding off certain unfriendly attentions I'm sure most of you had noticed by now.

The goals of the others sound like things more appropriate to faction goals than a guiding principle for the entire organization. Stelek has my vote and I am actively opposed to Nova. I'll not abandon the Society if she is elected, but I'll definitely be weathering her aggressive goals and seeking to perform damage control wherever possible.

I still have to disagree on stelek. While his focus on training and protection of starfinder agents is admirable, his approach is extremely isolationist. Don't forget it took many allies for us to be able to rebuild. Allies make us stronger and stelek is willing to cut ties if the deal so much as looks funny. Plus he's wanting to downsize both the Wayfinders and the Dataphiles, the two most exploration heavy factions and the heart of the society as an exploratory organization. That means while not as overtly aggressive as Tara Nova, he too is trying to shift the society into a paramilitary organization. Personally I think there aren't enough wayfinder missions.

ah. that makes sense. Thank you, it wasn't too clear on that.

I've run this scenario once already, using the tables in the adventure to determine assigned missions, guests, etc etc. But Now that I'm readying to run it for my second time, I find myself really curious about something.

Given the way the table is set up to assign missions, it's entirely possible, and from my experience likely, to roll two, maybe even three missions for the same location if you don't reroll it. There isn't anything either that says to reroll if you roll a mission for a location with one already assigned. But that conflicts with the adventure summary on the Chronicle Sheet, which says the PCs visit all four locations.

so in the event duplicates pop up, do I reroll or leave it be?

They did in playtest. They healed ho, but not as much as the mystic. And they healed stamina, but not as much as the envoy.

As I recall though, that was the purpose of the Biohacker. It fulfills the aid role similarly to how the envoy does it, as well as similarly as how the mystic does it. But not as well as either of those classes. A jack of all trades.

While I agree, my Society -701 has both of those augments.

There are many better armor upgrades than the IR sensors; moving Darkvision to my eyes slot means I can cram more energy resistance into my armor.

Dermal Plating stacks to a limited extent with "natural" DR, which I take Enhanced Resistance to be. Mk. 1 Dermal Plating essentially adds 1 to your regular DR... which, for a front liner like me, is worth it.

My 701 cyberborn has neither. As an android he has natural darkvision. And a low level augment doesn't help much with his unique cyberborn abilities. And it doesn't seem like aworthwhile investment to me to spend over 1700 credits for +1 DR.

The only tech augments I've seen that I find myself wanting are speed suspensions.maybe a datajack if I'm playing a hacker that isn't blessed by triune.

Ah ha!

Page 59. "Grenades, missiles, and other consumable weapons never add specialization damage, even when you’re using weapons like a cyberbow or grenade launcher."

Thank you for the clarification, even if it wasn't the answer I was hoping for. I may still do an under barrel grenade launcher on my gun for the ease of use of not having to spend actions drawing/swapping weapons.

If I had to choose, I probably would have greatly reduced the price of them. Maybe they'll feel less like you're throwing money bags at your enemies :p

The only reason I'm even using grenades past first level is in some limited capacity I can get them for free. Bombardier soldiers can jury-rig together a grenade who's item level is no greater than their class level in ten minutes, with no limit on how many times you can do it under the condition that you never have more than one jury-rigged grenade at a time.

Also:

I understand not wanting grenades to be this insane carpetbombing fiesta, but I still wish they were generally more viable.

I'd like some input on ruling for grenade launchers. Because this makes sense to me RAW, but then it might not be RAI.

Grenades are weapons that you cannot get Weapon Specialization on. However, you can have specialization in heavy weapons. Grenade launchers are heavy weapons, and when a grenade is loaded into a grenade launcher, it's treated as ammunition.

So at that point, would firing a grenade from a grenade launcher allow you to add specialization to the damage? The generally low DC of grenades and low damage scaling makes using grenades rarely if ever viable, but if this works I may have found something for my Bombardier Soldier to do.