"Teach"'s page

Starfinder is specifically designed so that no one has to be the healer. You can get through most non boss fights on your staminia, or without going too far into your staminia. You SHOULD be able to finish a fight without needing a healing serum during the fight. Then afterwards take a rest and get back stamina.

there's a saying at my lodge, though I think it's perhaps universal: "Crit happens."

Sometimes, low skill enemies get lucky and do more damage than you would expect. Sometimes the environment plays against you. Sometimes an agent fumbles something they're normally good at at a crucial moment. Sometimes the mission has a time clock, and you can't afford to take a break. Sometimes the enemies are tactical and focus all their attention on one agent, and sometimes they are particularly cruel and focus their attention on who they see as the most fragile. (Usually me!)

Any one of these can result in an agent taking serious injury sooner than they would care for, and can happen multiple at once. Some of these I've witnessed personally, and some I've been told about by other agents. If your experience has been different, then I'm happy for you. Your mileage may vary. Some people sail through their troubles, and some have to live with their scars.

have you tried red paint with black dots?

I prefer my natural coloration. It's a really pretty emerald green. And when the light hits it just right, there's rainbows!

One nice trick for Envoys is wildwise. You can use the throat fungus to use social skills on a wide variety of critters in place of survival.

Already have it! It's been very useful so far. Convinced a Crest eater he would have better luck foraging elsewhere. Though he was thick headed and eventually came back...

Also convinced a bunch of wierd tunnel dwellers to not eat us. And convinced a squox that I was it's friend. Wildwise has been very useful

You're not shooting

woah, woah, slow down pardner. I never said I don't shoot. I just said I don't have to be particilarly thrilled about it. I have a gun, and it has a stun setting. If we gotta fight, I prefer to put them down as peacefully as possible and let them sleep it off while we go about our business. And I only extend that courtesy to things that are living and can be reasoned with. Robots, that is, constructs lacking complex AI or sentience, are just things. Not people. The same with mindless undead. They may have been people once, but now the most humane thing to do is put them out of their misery.

Using quick quaff is problematic: unless they're a skittermander ready for a drinking contest, on one round you let them draw the potion and on the next round you can let them drink it. You're healing 1d8 every 2 rounds and if you thought spell gems were expensive...

You aren't thinking broadly enough, nor in context. As I said, unless Keskodai tags along generally field agents have to be their own healer at my lodge. Which means engaging in combat and finding time to drink serums. If I give them some help, they can use a move action to pull out their serum, use my help to drink it, and then they can still attack that round.

As a starfinder things ARE going to try to eat you. You are going to wind up in combat. It has to be part of your character or you're going to have a really really hard time pulling your weight.

There you go telling a Shirren she has to do things a certain way again.

It's also operating on assumptions that I've already contested. I still shoot things, I still engage in combat if no one immediately needs my help, so this is a moot point.

I just don't see what this character does to justify sending them on a field mission. As a rule its your character you get to play it, and if your group can handle it fine, but if you start getting people dropped on hard fights this guy might be the reason why.

The agents I've traveled with would disagree. It's not about being the most efficient murder hobo, you know. And typically I volunteer for missions that make best use of my particular skill set. I don't sign up for an all out war with the Azlanti Star Empire if I can help it, for example. As you said, we Shirren make great Diplomats. My companions have appreciated my ability to occasionally talk our way out of fights and into friendships. And I'm very knowledgeable about wildlife and cultural oddities. If you're having problems seeing the usefulness of that, perhaps we should go on a mission together so I can show you.

And just as a final aside, I'm a ladybug. Not a guy. But I understand the confusion, most species can't tell the difference.

Hiya. Teach here! Speaking for myself on this one.

Shirrens are the best diplomats. The penalty doesn't limit their charisma at all, a reroll is clutch.

I appreciate the Vote of Confidence! A lot of people assume that the Iconic Heroes are indicative of who is best suited to to a particular job, and how it should be performed. That's at least part of the reason why you see Ysoki who automatically think they have to be Mechanics, or Kasatha who automatically think they have to be Solarians. People look at Keskodai and assume that Shirren should just be Mystics. But this is a free thinking society! I love Humans, and I don't have any quarrel with Navasi, but we Shirren can be useful too! Just unfortunately, it seems I'm the only Shirren that ever gets sent on missions at my local lodge... Well, me and Keskodai, but I think something's wrong with him. His personality seems to shift from week to week.

You're assigning a really heavy downside to something that's managable.

I think it's a bit unfair to have someone else decide what is manageable for me, or the agents I work with. I'm an agent of the Starfinder Society, which means every time I go on a mission, the agents I travel with are different. Our abilities don't always compliment each other well. There was one mission I went on, I was one of three Envoys in a four person squad. Fortunately that ended up working out for us. We got lucky. At our Local Lodge I don't think I've seen any Mystics except for Keskodai assigned to missions. That can have a huge impact on whether or not something is "manageable"

Aside from that, I consider myself dying a pretty heavy downside. Sure, maybe it's "manageable" from a certain standpoint, depending on who I'm traveling with and who is capable of rescuing me from from an early visit to Lady Hylax's court. But my desire to live and my aversion to excruciating pain has me finding it both unpleasant and not ideal. I follow Hylax, not Groetus.

The character you've laid out just doesn't seem to do much. I can see trying to build differently but non magical healing just doesn't have enough omph to be a viable cornerstone for a build.

Hey! That's hurtful! I try really hard! It's also untrue, non-magical healing is not the cornerstone of my Kit. I just want it to be one of the things I can do well. I just need advice on other tricks to help ensure that my allies are well supported. Because if I don't like dying, I'm sure they don't either.

I just don't want to use Get 'Em. Lady Hylax says to seek Peace above all else, and yes, even she admits that violence is sometimes necessary if Diplomacy is an impossibility. But that doesn't mean I have to have such... zeal about it. Aggression isn't my style. I don't begrudge the methodologies of those who travel with me, I just don't want people looking down on me because I chose to hold some convictions about my approaches to violence. We Shirren didn't become free thinkers just to have other people tell us to fight their way.

You will if you look delicious...

I'm not delicious, I swear! I love all animals, but becoming a Renkroda's dinner is not on the agenda. I would hope that I would have a Soldier or even an Operative or Mechanic to protect me, but I don't get to choose the people assigned to missions with me. I just do the best with what I'm given, try to stay positive, and support my team the best I can without sacrificing what makes me 'Teach'.