The Cyber Mage's page

I would like to see an archetype created for each class to act as another version of multi-classing. Basically giving you a taste of a second class to go with your main.

Example Technomancer Archetype:

2nd Level: Gain Technomantic Dabbler as a bonus feat, even if you don't meet the prereqs.

4th Level: Gain a 2nd level magic hack

6th level: Learn an additional first level spell with technomantic dabbler. learn a single second level spell. You can cast it once per day per 5 levels.

9th Level: Gain a magic hack of 5th level or lower

12th level: Learn an additional 1st and 2nd level spell. Learn a 3rd level spell you can cast third level spells once per day once per 8 levels.

18th level: Gain an 8th level magic hack.

The prices seem weirdly inconsistent overall.

Using level 1 kinetic ranged weapons:

Tactical Semi-Auto Pistol is the most expensive at 260

The Reaction Cannon is 250

The Hunting Rifle is 240.

What?

So I'll be kicking of a military themed campaign soon and I'm really looking to have the players be fighter pilots instead of a shared ship.

With that in mind I have some home rules I'm looking at implementing to try and make it work.

First off to address build points to spend, I'm using the section in the CRB to give each player a single ship of a specific tier. Player tiers are calculated per this formula APL - (Number of PCs - 1). For values less than one, the progression goes 1, ½, ⅓, ¼. This results in more BP spent than a single ship, but a lot of that is on redundant pieces so that's probably fine.

Second since action economy is the real killer for single man ships, each of their ships has a single generic AI that can fill the pilot, gunner, science, or engineering role as needed. This gives them two actions per round and the possibility of performing a minor action (likely usually snapshot). The AI has a flat skill bonus progression in all piloting, computers, and engineering of roughly equal to a player with it as a class skill, full ranks, and a starting ability score of a 10, but increasing it at each level based increase.

One player will be deemed the squadron commander and can perform captain actions for other player within the squadron (but not to boost the AIs).

That is the core of the system that I will be testing prior to the campaign. I'll report on my findings as testing commences.

I also have some advanced options unique to my campaign. I'll share those once I have sanitized them and solidified them.

I also created two custom frames that break some of the rules. Meet the Bomber and the Gunship. Each are tiny ships with the ability to mount a single heavy weapon (of the appropriate type), though at the cost of having no ability to gain additional weapons in their front arc.

Gunship
Size Tiny
Maneuverability average (+0 Piloting, turn 2)
HP 35 (Increment 5); DT —; CT 7
Mounts forward arc (heavy [direct fire only, no additional weapon mounts allowed]), turret (light)
Expansion Bays —
Minimum Crew 1; Maximum Crew 2
Cost 10

Bomber
Size Tiny
Maneuverability good (+1 Piloting, turn 1)
HP 30 (Increment 5); DT —; CT 6
Mounts forward arc (heavy [tracking weapon only, no additional weapon mounts allowed])), rear arc (light)
Expansion Bays —
Minimum Crew 1; Maximum Crew 2
Cost 8

I actually like the concept of a 3 part adventure path. Maybe not always, but I could see value in having a variety of 3 part paths at various starting levels so you can chain them together as appropriate for your group.

One of my PCs is a Vesk ex-athlete, whose ( unnamed, we suck at names ) sport was basically "Rugby, with no cards and a ball that can explode". It is also canon in my world that Eox is the center of the reality TV industry in the Pact Worlds, this certainly includes some sport/competition based shows.

How about Blastball. Simple, evocative, accurate.

We haven't talked about Eoxian sports yet, but we have made Eoxian Screech Metal a music genre. It is made entirely by various sounds of screeching metal. It's not very popular off-world.

Makes me think of the board game Battlestations. They had boarding missiles.

The gang boss in the cantina and her Vesk bodyguard got one shot off each before being taken out. Was disappointed when the frag grenade I threw with the Vesk (his listed strategy) did 1 whopping point to a party that has both stamina and hit points to burn through, rather than only hit points for the monsters.

That's okay. The Vesk fumbled the roll in my game (pretty much the only way to miss) and the drifting ended up dropping the grenade on him and his boss...

Two primary options: Soldier with Engineering skill (It's class at least) or Exo-cortex engineer.

Soldier options: Start with an okay int (13 would be my recommendation). Then pick you specialization. Arcane assailant lets you self enchant your weapon for some special abilities as "Inventions". Alternatively you could go Bombard for a more goblinish approach, but it lets you make a free grenade every time you rest, and later on powers up your heavy weapons.

Barricade is a pretty nifty engineering feat for level 1. At 5 you can pick up "Technomagical Dabbler" if you have 15 int (hence the recommendation of 13 Int) which gets you access to a few low level spells for minor effects.

Gear wise, start with a Tactical Acid Dart Rifle for your main weapon. As soon as you get a spare 360 credits you can get the spellthrower fusion which will let you use your gun to cast Spell Gems, giving you access to a huge variety of one-shot special effects.

Exo-cortex mechanic is much more straight forwardly an engineer, but with some soldier-lite abilities (including better Profs and a built in targeting matrix to help make up the BAB).

So in my game, the players ended up making friends with Jabaxa, but were reluctant to storm into the Fusion Queen itself. While they were following up a secondary lead into some more info about the Hardscrabbles, the Downside Kings raided the Level 21s and took Jabaxa prisoner. That got my players ready to storm the club.

Suppose I'm from a primitive world and I interplanetary teleport my way somewhere advanced. What's the exchange rate of gold to credits? My initial intuition is that it'd be 1 gold for 10 credits, but is there any better information to go with?

I did some math across each level comparing WBL guidelines to come up with my calculations. Across all 20 levels it averages out to about 2 credits per gold. Alternatively, you could look at a single level snapshot of when this occurs and come up with the exchange rate for that level. This even could make sense if the character only ditches some now and saves the rest for later as exchange rates can fluctuate.

Full spreadsheet here: Google Sheets

The dev team has acknowledged the issue and is looking into correcting it:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uizv?Space-combat-skill-DC-progression-issue#1 5

It is a problem. It'll get addressed.

Excellent to hear!

Ran some baseline numbers:

Baseline assumes the attribute starts at 10, increased every level (as it is at least a tertiary attribute), and is a class skill.

Focused is assuming a 16 starting in the relevant attribute, is increased every time, putting your strongest personal mod in it, skill is class and picking up skill focus (or possibly a class bonus) for the skill by level 5 but otherwise unassisted (IE no computers).

Most characters are probably going to be somewhere between the two.
Computers can help bridge some of the gaps, but are limited in how many nodes you have... and the higher bonuses cap out at 2 nodes for some reason.

Easy checks are DC 10 + Tier x 2. Medium checks are DC 15 + Tier x 2. Hard checks are DC 10 + Tier 3 2

At level 20 DC 50, 55, or 70 vs +27 baseline, +34 focused

At level 15 DC 40, 45, or 55 vs +22 baseline, +29 focused

At level 10 DC 30, 35, or 40 vs +16 baseline, +22 focused

At level 5 DC 20, 25, or 25 vs +9 baseline, +16 focused

At level 1 DC 12, 17, or 13 vs +4 baseline, +7 focused

For a Baseline you go from needing 8+ to being impossible without computer assistance for an EASY task. Focused goes from needing 5+ to 16+.

So maybe we aren't expected to always have a top tier ship. How far do we need to lag behind to maintain roughly the same chance of success?

Scale towards baseline:
Level 1 tier 1: baseline succeeds on an 8+, focused on 5+
Level 5 tier 3 or 4: baseline succeeds on a 7+ or a 9+, focused on 1+ or 2+
Level 10 tier 7: baseline succeeds on a 8+, focused on a 2+
Level 15 tier 10: baseline succeeds on a 8+, focused on a 1+
Level 20 tier 12 or 13: baseline succeeds on a 7+ or a 9+, focused on 1+ or 2+

Scale towards focused:
Level 1 tier 1: baseline succeeds on an 8+, focused on 5+
Level 5 tier 5: baseline succeeds on an 11+, focused on 4+
Level 10 tier 8: baseline succeeds on a 10+, focused on a 4+
Level 15 tier 12: baseline succeeds on a 12+, focused on a 5+
Level 20 tier 14: baseline succeeds on an 11+, focused on +4

Based on this analysis, it seems it would be most optimal to keep you ship tier at around 70-75% of your APL. Alternatively for a house rule, change the scaling to be 1.5 x tier for easy and medium checks, and 2 x tier for the hard checks.

I kinda wonder if the new Archetypes are meant to fill the role that prestige classes previously did. The Starfinder Forerunner certainly seems that way.

I dunno, this one came across as a little to jargon heavy for my taste. It starts with a whole bunch of names and phrases that are essentially meaningless to me without some larger context.

But surely refraining from eating edible tokens would be the true test of resolve

bugleyman wrote:

JakBlitz wrote:

is there any explanation on how we have such an advanced tech with such a big limitation?

Genetically encoded upon installation, perhaps? Or possibly single-use encryption in order to prevent cybernetics harvesting operations?

The security would presumably be some of the best around, to stop hackers strangling people with their own arms. Maybe that's the main cost, rather than installation or manufacturing.

Welp I have a character concept for a technomancer now...

I think suicide is one thing but the DM clearly wants something special here.

So here's my suggestion. Play up the hunger. Play up the fact it's gnawing at you. Demanding you take a life to live.

Then go to the church. Pray before your deity. And say "if there is a life to premeditate to kill, let it be this one. You need to kill to live, I give you only death."

Then kill yourself WITH the power.

Because that's really the secret isn't it. That you end something by killing it with itself. Just like the black blade was the focus of its own redemption, so shall you use your corruption to end itself.

This should allow a full restoration of self. And if it doesn't, you still did the right thing and died a hero.

Don't just commit suicide (premeditated murder if there ever was) use it to kill itself.

I really like this suggestion. This is something I'd consider doing in your place.

That said, I would talk to the GM before you execute this plan. Explain what you plan to do and how.

That can give the GM a chance to stop you if that "is not the plan" and he doesn't want to further derail things. If that happens use the chance to ask what for more guidance.

Val'bryn2 wrote:

Alni wrote:

Goblin_Priest wrote:

Maybe he finds himself to care too much for that particular slave, and considers this a weakness, thus frees the slave in order to be able to acquire another to more properly exploit.

But in this case the more "acceptable" solution would be to sell them and buy someone else, which he wouldn't do since he cares. And just freeing her would mess with his ambitions which he cares about even more.

Is this the more acceptable solution, though? Say I am an evil cleric, who has grown fond of someone who is a slave of mine. They return my feelings, and I free them. What's the most likely outcome? They continue to follow me, knowing I'm a nice guy (or at least nicer than most people think) and I've planted the seed of corruption, they follow me around, learn from what I do, start rationalizing some of my behavior based on knowing I'm a "good person", and so sign up for Asmodeus as well. As others have said, it's a promotion, showing the masses the hope that ensures they will stay in the mud, praying (to Asmodeus :) ) for mercy, and a chance.

I like that!

Edit: So maybe possible to go from slave to "apprentice"... that's an interesting idea.

Sounds like the perfect setup for later taking Leadership and choosing the slave as your cohort.

Talk to the player? Find out what she is looking to do in the game and maybe build a character based on that?

I'm working on building my first Pathfinder Society character, an Unchained Summoner. Now I'm not looking for how to make "THE MOST AWESOME" character, just help on optimizing the current concept.

Short version is, his eidolon has been encouraging him to become a "hero" most of his life. With that in mind he wants to at least skirmish on the front lines with his Eidolon. If you are curious about the specific's of his story you can read his backstory here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17cWFo1BW3yOTNh3Ll1UQX7J_5ZhqEZpiMP5PRXI FlDI/edit?usp=sharing

Current Build:
Human Unchained Summoner

STR 17
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 14 (needed to represent his scholarly background)
WIS 7
CHA 14

Skill Ranks: Knowledges (Arcana, History, Local, Planes), Linguistics, Spellcraft
Traits: Arcane Temper, ???

Feats: Martial Prof (Longsword), ???

Eidolon: Protean with Reach on his bite attack currently (and picking weapon finesse as it's feat, because... snakey)

Equipment: Longsword, Studded Leather, ???

Spells:
0 - Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Light, Guidance
1 - Shield, Lesser Rejuvenate Eidolon (will be retrained later)

So that's what I have so far. At level 3 I plan on both the character and Eidolon picking up Precise Strike teamwork feat.

For level 1, I'm still looking for options for his second trait and his second feat. Also advice on his choices would be nice. For spells I plan on mostly learning buff spells so I'm not super concerned with save DCs.

Currently at feats, I'm looking at Arcane Strike (for flavor) and Extra Evolution as possible options, but I'm open for more options. If I do go with Extra Evolution, what would be good options (considering Improved natural armor or increasing bite damage die).