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.
As a move action, you can use Life Science or Physical Science to identify a creature. Is this considered a check to recall knowledge, eligible for the +4 bonus from an appropriate library chip? Should the DC be reduced by a relevant theme's knowledge ability?
I'm inclined to say yes to both, anyone have reasons they shouldn't work?
The whole point of these spells is to make others believe that a sound is coming from somewhere else, which is kinda hampered by the caster standing over there spewing mystic babble in a "loud and strong voice". Given that Ventriloquism and unheightened Ghost Sound have ranges of 30', there is no way that a creature capable of hearing the intended effect would miss the verbal component, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the spells.
5th edition just nixed the verbal component of Minor Illusion and several other illusion spells, is there any way that PF2 could replace the verbal components of Ghost Sound and Ventriloquism (and even many other illusion spells) with a Material (focus) component, or a second Somatic component? Illusions rely upon tricking a creature into believing that something it senses is real, which is hard to do when there is obvious spell casting going on.
When a pilot succeeds on a Flyby maneuver, does the pilot resolve the bonus attack during the subsequent Gunnery phase, or one of the gunners? One the one hand, only gunners act during the gunnery phase, but on the other hand the text of Flyby refers to "you," which seems to be the pilot.
"you can select one arc of your Starship’s weapons to fire at the enemy vessel"
If it is the pilot, is Flyby a way for a single-crew shop to make an attack without the penalty of the Snap Shot minor action?
This came up in a game I ran the other day. If a creature is under the effects of a Glitterdust spell, but there is no line of sight to the creature (in this case, 20' worth of stinking cloud) do they still suffer the -40 penalty to Stealth when they try to sneak around? Since Pathfinder integrated Hide and Move Silently into one skill, it is my opinion that it is up to the GM to decide whether purely visual or auditory bonuses or penalties apply, but my player claimed that the way Glitterdust is worded, the -40 to Stealth doesn't care whether the subject is hiding behind a bush or tip-toeing on the other side of a wall. Put another way, does Glitterdust make it easier for a blinded character to pinpoint an enemy?
I have looked through the Core book, and other than the universal rule that the GM is there to arbitrate unusual situations, I couldn't find much more to support my position. Of course, I think that is all the support I need, but I run a lot of PFS so it would be handy to have a more specific citation.
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.
The Rallying quality provides a morale bonus to saves against fear effects to allies within 30', but if the wearer has an ability that provides a morale bonus to saves against fear, "the morale bonus" increases to +6. The wording is unclear as to whether "the morale bonus" is the one provided by the armor (in which case the Emulate Class Ability function of Use Magic Device could be used to get the larger bonus) or the one provided by the class feature (in which case Emulate Class Ability would do nothing). Anyone have any thoughts on this?
This armor or shield is brightly polished, and its mirror-bright surface is magically endowed with the ability to bring comfort to the wearer's companions. Allies within 30 feet of the wearer gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. If the wearer has an ability that grants a morale bonus on saving throws against fear (such as a paladin's aura of courage, a bard's countersong, or a cavalier's banner ability), the morale bonus increases to +6.
Is there a way to make a batch of alchemical items, rather than spending 4 days to make a single flask of alchemist's fire? I vaguely recall it from somewhere, but haven't been able to find the source.
Does a spell that allows multiple touch attacks, such as Chill Touch or Produce Flame, count as holding a charge, causing the spell to end if you cast another spell?
Also, are subsequent touches still free actions, or standard actions, or can they combined with an unarmed strike or natural attack?
The cracked orange prism Ioun stone says that the wearer adds one cantrip or orison (determined when the stone is created) to their spells known or prepared. Does this mean that a wizard who acquires a cracked orange Ioun stone (stabilize) would be able to cast it, even though it isn't normally a wizard spell, or even arcane?
Could a magus/rogue use a cracked orange Ioun stone (Mage hand) to qualify for Arcane Trickster?
How does recharging a staff work in PFS? To sum up the way they normally work, a character can recharge 1 charge by sacrificing a spell slot equal to the highest level spell the staff can cast when they prepare spells in the morning, but only if they are able to cast at least one of the spells contained in the staff.
I had assumed that PCs would be responsible for charging their own staff using their own abilities (so a 7th-level cleric would start each adventure with a full Staff of Healing, while a bard would have to 10th and have CSW as one of their known spells), or getting a fellow PC to do so in play (such as during a long boat trip to the adventure location), but I recently heard an assertion that it is assumed all your items recharge during down-time between adventures. Thus, a rogue with no spell-casting ability other than UMD could have a fully-charged Staff of Stealth every adventure.
The magus' Arcane Pool ability allows a magus to either give a weapon an enhancement bonus, or to give it various special abilities. The power says that multiple uses do not stack; does this refer only to the enhancement bonus? Could a magus give his weapon the Flaming Burst property in round 1, then add on the Frost Burst property in round 2?
How do these items interact? A double-barreled musket lets you make two shots at -4 as a single attack, while Vital Strike grants an extra weapon die with the attack action. Pulling both triggers, would damage be 2d12/2d12, 2d12/1d12, or does Vital Strike create a limit of a single 2d12 shot?
