It would just be nice if, at some point before the book was finished, someone who had run a few games read through it as if they were prepping to run, and flagged the glaringly bad ideas, the 100% incorrect rules interpretations, and the utter nonsense for review. It would only take an hour or two. It's so disheartening to pay for material that the writers and editors just don't care enough about to actually read over.
My issue isn't the story, or the believability of characters motivations, or anything like that. My problem is that an author decided to make a solo enemy who focused on tripping, despite the fact that tripping in Starfinder is only useful if you have allies to take advantage of it, and double down by specifically saying "if he has trouble hitting a character, he tries to trip them," even though even with Improved Trip it is 4 harder to hit with a trip than a regular strike.
Then an editor (I assume) read over the initial draft; a layout person arranged the text, and nowhere in the process did anyone say "tripping in Starfinder doesn't work like that." The same goes for recommending the enemy charge when they start in the same 3x3 box as the rest of the combatants. The same goes for saying that Driftdead rely on their incorporeality for defense, even though they don't have that quality in the Drift. Just basic, simple stuff that a slightly experience GM would pick up on right away. Several different people had to have seen this text, and not one of them seems to know how the game actually works. That is my complaint, that such blatantly incorrect material is released.
I've been slogging through running the AP for 3 1/2 books now. If it weren't for the incredible hassle of getting it set up for VTT thanks to the terrible pdf compression that splits the images and text randomly, I'd think it was a middle-of-the-road AP. It has some things it is trying to do, and while they don't really work out well, I can see what they were trying to do.
Book 4, however, has really driven home how little the authors and editors seem to know about how the game actually works. Some examples:
Spoiler:
The "duel" with Kantir Sursa. A solo, level 9 Vanguard is supposed to take on a full team of PCs. He specifically says its fine to take him on all at once. The fight takes place in a 15' x 15' boxing ring. Sursa's suggested tactics are to use Entropic Charge to trip the strongest-looking opponent, then make full attacks "to maintain his entropic pool" (?). "If he has trouble hitting an opponent, he attempts to trip them." None of this makes sense: he's far too close to charge; tripping when you are the only combatant on your side effectively does nothing, as standing doesn't provoke; Energy (which he has) only gives 1 Entropy once per combat when making a full attack, hardly "maintaining his entropic pool" every round; even with Improved Trip, it is much harder to trip an enemy than it is just to hit them, and they'd just stand up before you could hit them on your next turn. I did the best I could, but this poor chump went down in round 2 after getting two hits in. I just don't know what rules the author thought they were writing toward, but it certainly isn't Starfinder.
The assassination of Severanna Pilos. Setting aside how dumb it is for a skilled assassin to decide to take out their target in a small room with 4(!) witnesses in addition to the target, why use a super rifle for a shot that is, at most, 40'? Elemar, the assassin, doesn't have the exploit to trick attack with a sniper rifle; he'd do a lot more damage with his pistol, and can't even throw a debilitation on with the rifle. His tactics are to "stay mobile to keep an escape route open," but he starts in a small room with no exits, the only escape is to go through the room with his victim and all the PCs.
The driftdead malefactors. To be clear, all of chapters 2 and 3 occur on a space station in the Drift. The author even acknowledges this in the description of where these creatures came from: they died on the station, and rose as driftdead (makes sense, as dying in the Drift is kinda the pre-requisite to become driftdead). Their tactics are to "engage their opponents in melee range, relying on their incorporeality to protect them" which would be great, except driftdead are only incorporeal when they are NOT in the Drift.
I know that as GM I am fully empowered to change things to suit my game, and to adjudicate rules, and all that, but the basic Starfinder rule set isn't that hard to grasp. Anyone who has GMed a few games knows that these tactics make no sense, so why are they presented at all? Is there nobody whose job it is to just, like, read the adventure as if they were going to GM it and point these things out? I know the writers have a lot to do on a short time frame, but it really makes me lose faith in a product line when those creating content for it just don't seem to know how the game works.
This is an important question to get an answer from, as a computer can also fire weapons using a bonus equal to double its tier. Not great for a direct fire weapon, but a grenade launcher or other explosion weapon only needs an attack roll of +4 to only miss on a 1, so a Tier 2 computer would do it.
Control modules are relatively cheap, so a computer could also activate things like force fields or haste circuits if it had an action.
Kineticist seems like it could work well in 2E, with kinetic blasts scaling like cantrips do, and the various utility and defensive abilities as class feats. The burn mechanic would probably need some fiddling, though.
P34, Half-orc Professional Focus. Making Profession a class skill is meaningless, as there are no classes that do not gain Profession as a class skill, and no way to make it not a class skill. Maybe some attempt at future-proofing, although I can't think of a reason a Starfinder class wouldn't have Profession as a class skill.
It would be nice if the Legacy Background Thassilonian Delver gave Thassilon Lore, rather than Thassilonian History, so it would mesh better with the Runescarred archetype from Lost Omens World Guide. Otherwise characters who are really into Thassilon stuff would end up with two basically identical Lore skills rather than improving one.
I really like the philosophy behind the new sanctioning procedure. For me, the attraction of applying AP credit to PFS characters was the access to neat new items and boons, not the gold and XP that I could pick up anywhere. Since feats, spells and other class abilities are now in the mix for rewards, it makes a lot of sense to have the chronicle be level-agnostic, so my character with the most interest in a unique ability or item can get access to it when I like.
-Being prone doesn't grant you any bonus to your AC vs. ranged (it just makes you flat-footed)
However, while prone you may use the Take Cover action to gain a +4 circumstance bonus to AC against ranged attacks, even without an actual object to hide behind. Still flat-footed, but a net +2 (or better if you have Deny Advantage from rogue or barbarian).
In PFS you can spend Fame for a boon that allows you to be “from” an additional region, thus allowing a character from the Saga Lands who had taken the Runescarred archetype to also be able to take the Pathfinder Agent archetype, for instance.
Once the Lost Omens World Guide is added to additional resources, of course...
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Fortune effects (like Hero Points, per p. 467) can't modify downtime activities. Mentioned under Rituals on p. 408 of the Core Rulebook, Downtime (Checks) on p. 500,
Please! Please! Please! so something about the formatting of the boon listings. It is a laundry list of enteries and the title of each boon is formatted the same as the entry text, while the "prerequisite" and "cost" are bold. It makes it very difficult to scan through the list in order to find the boon you are looking for. Maybe use larger font and italics/bold or something so the title of each boon is obvious to the eye.
Perhaps it would also be possible to hyperlink the boon name in the chart lists at the top to the listing lower in the page to allow for quick location of the rules you are looking for. This would be especially helpful for some common items like "promotional" boons. Thx
Second these thoughts (as well as Kevin Willis' earlier). Also, please think about how people will actually use these resources. Having a giant alphabetical list of the boons doesn't help people who are looking at what a faction has to offer; it is a big headache looking at the faction's list, finding the boon, going back to the list, finding the next one. Please organize the boons by faction, and by tier within the faction, the way that players will actually be looking them up.
For Dex characters, a light bayonet mount with a tactical,sword cane. Gives you something to threaten and flank with, and operatives can switch hit while keeping a free hand for opening doors and such.
Good point regarding the Minion trait, I'd misread that as the minion having two actions total, each of which had to be triggered individually. That being said, anyone on a regular horse does have the problem I'd mentioned.
Regarding the Charge trait, my point was that given the choice between a magic weapon that is generally useful, like a longsword, or one that is provisionally useful, like a lance, it makes more sense to go with the former. Thus, a character with a +1 longsword and a mundane lance has no reason at all to use the lance, since 2d8 is better than 1d8+1, and as the rules currently stand, a mounted PC with a lance can't use a shield, and still only has 5' reach (granted, a Small character on a Medium mount does seem able to benefit from the lance's reach).
I would also like to see this corrected. Unless the new standard for the Golarion lance is a two-handed overhand stab like the Sioux used to take down bison, I don't see how the traditionally European-style heavy cavalry of Mendev, or the Hellknights, or the Knights of Ozzem, function with a two-handed lance. Mounted combat is already an uphill battle for even marginal effectiveness, with the actions required to control a mount and the Charge ability's unexciting benefit, why deprive the character of the ability to spend yet another action on raising a shield?
Until a paladin takes Imposing Destrier at level 10, she can't even do a regular ride-by attack without giving up the ability to raise a shield. Assuming the Ride feat (without it, using a lance is pretty much impossible), she can Command her mount to Stride, then make a single lance attack, then Command the mount to Stride again. Its not exactly game-breaking to give the rider the option to raise a shield if they actually decide to stay put.
Considering that a lance is such a specialized weapon already, in the likely event that a cavalry-type character picks up a magical weapon, they will always be better of using a +! longsword, or even a +1 dagger, or a mundane lance because the Charge ability offers absolutely nothing to recommend a lance over literally any other weapon on horseback. Even a mundane glaive is better, as Forceful is probably going to be more generally useful than Charge.
From what it says under Potency Runes, the attack bonus is an item bonus, but the extra damage dice aren't called out as being typed, or even a bonus at all. Without the item bonus to hit, would +1 hand wraps of mighty fists still make Wild Shape natural attacks count as magic, for the purpose of resistance or similar?
If it is, indeed, possible to get the extra damage dice from handwraps of mighty fists, would it increase all dice, in the case of forms that have multiple dice (such as a bear's 2d8 or a beetle's 2d10), or just one of the component dice?
Without the ability to apply magical enhancements, it seems Wild Shape just keeps falling further and further behind other melee classes.
Can we please stop putting fusion seals into scenarios as if they were a solution to a problem in that scenario? Whenever I am running a table of relatively new players through an adventure where a fusion seal is found that seems perfect for whatever issue they are facing, the game grinds to a halt as I have to explain that it takes 24 hours for the fusion to take effect, which in turn leads to at least 10 minutes of arguing and griping and really drags the players out of the fun.
For instance
Spoiler:
Both 1-14 Star Sugar Heartlove! and 1-15 Save the Renkrodas! present the PCs with a merciful fusion seal moments after they are asked to avoid dealing lethal damage. I'd thought that 1-14 was just a misapprehension on the part of the author, but seeing the same situation in 1-15 seems to mark a trend
I understand that the fusion seal rules are not the most intuitive, and that authors want to give players the chance to succeed in their adventures, but I always end up feeling like the bad guy when the players get excited about finding the solution to their problem and I have to deny them.
Anacites are autonomous mechanical artificial intelligences. Several are detailed in Alien Archive, but no rules for PC anacites yet.
No mechanical universal translators, but Comprehend Languages and the Share Language spells exist, which basically do the same thing. Starfinder Society has a mechanical translator, but it only allows for the most basic communication.
Considering that all armor provides life support for 1 day/level, it seems reasonable that it is designed to be slept in. Otherwise, what is the point of being able to survive in armor for 10 days if you have to take it off to sleep?
Sounds like Dexter. If you kill because you like it, but only kill bad guys because it allows you to avoid attention from the law, or to claim the mantle of "goodness," you are evil. You have just chosen prey that society does not value as highly, making you clever, not virtuous. Motives matter as much as actions.
Blood Money from RotRL is the way to make infinite wealth. It lets you take ability damage instead of paying for costly material spell components.
Blood Money + Masterwork Transformation lets you crank out infinite MW weapons, tools, and armor for just the cost of the base item. Just be prepared to move around a lot to avoid flooding the market.
Blood Money + Continual Flame lets you way underbid for public street lighting municipal contracts. Watch out for assassins from the Lamplighters Guild.
Fabricate lets you triple the value of any raw materials you find. Have 20 pounds of gold? Fabricate it into 20 pounds of exquisite jewelry. Found an uncut diamond? Fabricate it into a glittering princess cut. Happen across a grove of darkwood trees? Fabricate them all into shields. Have a dead iron golem? Fabricate it into a bunch of masterwork weapons and armor.
Prepping this scenario and happened across some stumpers.
Vandiana the Lashmistress has an aura listed under her SQ line, but no other mention is made of it. What is this aura?
Should Agarik and Jorga be Lawful Evil, as devoted champions of Lissala, or the Chaotic Neutral that the Blackstrike from NPC Codex is listed as? It really affects Vandiana's ability to drop Order's Wrath and Unholy Blight if her allies get hammered worse than her enemies.
Is there a reason for Vandiana to actually equip her light steel shield? Is she willing to risk the 5% spell failure chance on her wizard spells for a minor boost to her terrible AC? I guess if she has move actions to spare she could remove it before casting a wizard spell and re-equip it before casting a cleric spell, but why didn't she just scribe a bunch of scrolls of Shield instead of dropping 4000 GP on a +2 shield?
If Krune's dragonfang spear is dancing, is he considered to be wielding it for the purpose of having his bonded item? If not, how can he use his metamagic rod, hold his spear, and cast spells with somatic components? If the PCs disable enough runes, his concentration checks for casting without his bonded object are far from guaranteed.
Ability bonuses with a duration greater than 1 day actually increase the relevant ability score after 24 hours. Modify all skills and statistics related to that ability. This might cause you to gain skill points, hit points, and other bonuses. These bonuses should be noted separately in case they are removed.
So does this mean if you take a bath or shower that your headband of intellect / belt of giant strength has to stay on? Otherwise it would seem you lose the permanent bonus effect for 24 hours. Even cleaning these items would be difficult.
So...eww?
In my home games, I rule that since it takes 24 hours for the bonus to become permanent, it takes 24 hours to fade as well (unless another item is put on in the same slot). This allows characters to take off their belts and headbands for brief periods without having to worry about losing their bonus spell slots and such.
I've done some research on this myself, since I have a Razmiran Priest PFS character. In addition to stuff already mentioned, I recall seeing several ooze- or acid-based spells that requires a 10-gp acid flask or something similar as material component - that's about all I can remember at the moment, aside from knowing that the ever-amusing conjure black pudding spell is one of these.
There are a bunch of alchemical power components in Adventurer's Armory that you could spoof with False Focus: tanglefoot bags to entangle victims of Slow, or to roll twice with Black Tentacles; alchemist's fire to set targets on fire with Scorching Ray or Fireball; itching powder to make Glitterdust even more obnoxious.
Were you all brand-new characters? If so, your GM really steered you wrong with those two adventures. I can't think of a worse choice for 1st level than Darkest Vengeance. I would suggest trying out the First Steps series, both as an introduction to the personalities of the Society, and as adventures that are pretty well designed for new characters.
First off, I would also like chronicle sheets to be more meaningful. It is laughable to play a tier 10-11 and have potions of invisibility and cloaks of resistance +1 listed. That being said, I am also not a fan of favors that give tiny, fidgety bonuses in incredibly specific circumstances; they are a pain to remember, and can waste time while players scour their chronicles to see whether it is THIS character who has a +1 bonus to diplomacy in Jalmeray, or gets +1 AC against spears, and does a javelin count as a spear, anyway?
Favors would be much easier to use, more memorable, and more enjoyable if they either gave a small, constant bonus that could easily be added into a PCs normal character stats, or, better yet, were of use during downtime, such as access to purchase items, one-shot discounts, free or discounted spellcasting, etc. People tend to remember free stuff more than tiny, conditional bonuses, and any shuffling through chronicles would happen outside of the time constraints of a timed spot.
Regarding PrCs, I think that a great opportunity is being missed with tier 1 adventures. Prestige classes should be exactly that, prestigious, and it makes sense that there should be limited access to many of them, particularly the ones that have strong ties to an in-game organization. First Steps gets a little old after the 10th run-through as a player or GM, so why not start a new arc of tier 1 adventures tied to each of the factions, each of which grants access to a few faction-relevant prestige classes and other boons unique to that faction?
The problems with introducing a PrC in a normal scenario have been expounded upon at length in this thread, from missing out by playing with the wrong character, to getting access too late to meet prerequisites in a timely manner, to encouraging metagaming in order to avoid the first two issues. Granting access to a PrC in a 1-5 scenario could allow some PCs to still take the class, but any higher tier means that even if the player did manage to play with a PC that was interested in the PrC, without prior knowledge of access to a restricted item, they are unlikely to be able to meet prerequisites before retirement.
Having a Taldor-only introductory adventure, where the PCs get a chance to really get into their faction's goals and personalities, and gain access to otherwise-restricted PrCs like the Lion's Blades, means that players can plan ahead, get access early enough to make the appropriate decisions, keep such rules items special but available, and make the factions a bit more than an extra PA and discounted raise dead spell. Being able to freely replay a tier 1 removes the problem of gaining access with the wrong character, and the level 1 rebuild means that a player who gains access to a PrC they like can start down the path to achieve it without undue hassle. If it seems too problematic having 10 new tier 1 adventures, make them mini-missions that grant less or no XP or gold, like the expeditions program that has been bandied about.
TL;DR--stop listing junk items on chronicles; make boons more interesting and less fidgety; use tier 1 adventures to grant access to limited, faction-appropriate PrCs and other items.
For the record, I think we should have an ability score system where 5 is +/-0, 6 is +1, 7 +2, 4 -1, etc.
But as that's not the case, I'm wondering where to put my 8th level ability score point. This is for PFS, so the 12th level point doesn't really matter. And currently, all my ability scores are even, except for my dump stat, charisma, and I don't really want to put my point there (though +1 Diplomacy/Handle animal isn't terrible if I have nothing else to do with the point.)
Then I thought, if there are items which cost like 2000gp that give just a +1 to an ability score, that would be good to know.
Although, given that ability score damage can be odd, having that extra point in a stat wouldn't be entirely useless...
And no, I don't need an odd number in anything as a prereq for a feat.
Take a level of Wizard (transmuter) and get a +1 enhancement bonus to a physical stat, plus all the other wizard goodies, like wand use.
I have gotten some good use out of a wand of faerie fire along with a couple scrolls of see invisibility. Defeats invisibility, blur, displacement, makes it almost impossible to hide, long range, no save, all around good times. Only defeated by SR, bit that is what a scroll of glitter dust is for.
I think the rule is pretty nonsensical as well. Paizo certainly went a bit overboard with their polymorph-nerfing.
wraithstrike:
PRD, Polymorph wrote:
Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function).
Does this mean that non-AC effects of magical armor and shields, such as energy resistance, shadow, or fortification, still function?
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Kyle Baird wrote:
Caderyn wrote:
Yes, the only differences between rend and a normal attack is that rend is an autohit if you hit with X number of claws, otherwise its an auto miss, it cannot critical (as you never roll to hit).
DR, penalties to damage apply just as power attack would apply to its bonus
This.
To the contrary (thanks to the helpful annotations at the SRD):
James Jacobs (Creative Director) Jan 3, 2010, 02:56 PM FLAG | LIST | FAQ | REPLY
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Rend adds damage to an attack; it's not an attack in and of itself. Just as power attack won't increase sneak attack damage or constrict damage, it won't increase rend damage (although it DOES increase the damage inflicted by the attacks that are necessary to trigger rend in the first place). Rake attacks ARE attacks, so power attack applies there.
Rend kills enough PCs anyway. There's no need to increase its damage, for the same reason there's no reason to tie a machine gun onto a nuclear bomb!
It would work well with the Acadamae Graduate feat from Curse of the Crimson Throne Players' Guide. Wizards can always use more Con, and standard action summons for a possible few points of nonlethal damage seems like a decent trade.
