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Interstellar Species came with a few spells, scattered among the various species entries. I figured I'd highlight the new options and give some commentary, as I've done for several past books. Would love to hear what other people think of these new spells too! Overall, there's some fantastic flavor and neat effects. For effectiveness, Change of Seasons and Crystal Mine seem like standouts.
Biomechanical Symbiosis (Technomancer 2,4,6) This is an odd raxalite-related spell, granting a fairly unimpressive amount of fast healing and some electricity resistance. It performs a little better when cast on plants. Its key functionality is granting technomancers very narrow access to the remove condition line of effects (only when cast on plants). The situation where all these effects are needed at once seems like it should be pretty rare. Change of Seasons (Precog, Witchwarper 2) Huge spell! Inflicts vulnerability to cold or fire, which equals +50% damage from that damage type. With a little coordination from your team, this can effectively amplify your team's entire damage output against solo targets by 50%. Particularly good because even if the creature saves, they're affected for 1 round. Can also be used to turn an immunity into a resistance temporarily, but I expect the biggest value will come from creating vulnerabilities. I can see this as a good filler spell at higher levels, performing really well damage wise in a lower level slot since it scales with the damage output done by your allies. Change of Seasons, Greater (Precog, Witchwarper 4) Just amps the effect if the target had resistance or immunity. A fairly modest upgrade on a good spell. Crystal Eruption (Mystic 2, Witchwarper 2) Some minor initial damage, but the key role here is to make a cone into punishing difficult terrain. At the end of the day the 1d4 damage from moving into an affected square is pretty forgettable, but if well positioned this can stack up. A cone shape is pretty good for jamming up wider corridors. Crystal Mine (Technomancer 4, Witchwarper 4) While the mines are individually unimpressive, it seems fairly easy to place them such that an opposing melee combatant has to trigger all three on the way in to reach your allies. These are hidden too, and the DC to spot them is not a gimme, so it seems quite likely most creatures will just cause them to go off. 12d8 total damage across 3 10-ft bursts is quite good for this level. Heat Leech is a level higher and only does 13d8. The ultimate payoff is casting this spell when you want to entrench a position. The mines remain for minutes/lvl, so you can precast them if you are expecting foes to arrive at your defended location. Memory Prism (Mystic 4, Precog 4) More a narrative spell than a practical one, but the 24 hour duration makes it difficult to ferry a particular memory to someone on the other end of a Drift trip. Very surprising that this is a 4th level spell when Share Memory is 1st. Am I missing something? Mental Muscle (Everyone 2) Seems like it should be really broken, since it lets you use your mental stats in place of physical stats, but a combination of very short duration (1 round) and the way starfinder allows you to bump up several stats as you level means that builds that want this typically also aren't gaining that much from it (basically, if you're a technomancer wading regularly into melee, you probably have a decent STR score already to land those touch spells). Mental Muscle, Greater (Everyone 4) Lasts somewhat longer, but costs a standard action and a resolve point. Duration really isn't long enough that you can precast it, and the benefits don't seem to be big enough to be worth the in-combat cast. Phantasmal Maze (Mystic 3, Witchwarper 3) A solid and super thematic area control illusion. Even successfully saving against it you'll take a minor debuff, while failing will give a round or two of the victim slowly wading its way through with guarded steps. The only downside is that a cleverly described holographic image that foes fail their saves against will probably do just as well, without costing a 3rd level slot. Preserved Path (Mystic 1, Precog 1) A minor spell, probably too niche to be of use in 99% of adventures. Psychic Sonar (Mystic 1-6) For a "sonar", this deals considerable damage. Against enemy groups, this is a one-two punch over sequential turns (though it'll probably feel terrible if every foe saves successfully). Nowhere near as much damage overall in comparison to the premiere aoe blasts at lower levels, but at high levels its pretty potent. The utility of tracking the creatures hit by it seems pretty minor when all spellcasters can buff up with see invisibility. Spell Redirection (Precog 1-5, Witchwarper 1-5) Does what it says on the tin, more or less, but can only redirect spells to yourself. Unfortunately, the precog and (especially) witchwarper tend to have mediocre fort and will saves, so its difficult to use this to consistently reduce the danger to your party as whole. May be good as a niche option to cover allies that are temporarily vulnerable. Storm-deflecting Sphere (Mystic 3, Technomancer 3) Similar thematically to the spell Harness Lightning from galactic magic, but this provides only personal protection in the form of electricity resistance. It's "discharge" option is quite weak for a 3rd level spell, but it takes only a reaction. Resistant Armor at this level only grants Resist 5, but it applies to multiple energy types and is selectable. Given how narrow this is, I think I'd rather rely on resistant armor unless I absolutely knew a campaign would be lousy with electricity. Volcanic Wrath (Mystic, Witchwarper 1-6) A nice, modest, scaling fireball. Damage is a touch lower, but it leaves behind difficult terrain. Polar Vortex is a good bit stronger (dealing 9d6 vs 7d6 damage for the 3rd level version) while also leaving difficult terrain, but it doesn't scale all the way up and down. Splitting damage between bludgeoning and fire might prove problematic if foes have both resistances and get to double dip.
I'm currently brainstorming a snare-based character build, and while I hope to have opportunities to successfully set up snares in choke points, I expect that there'll be plenty of times where that doesn't end up being possible. Foes will end up intentionally or unintentionally bypassing snares, and that means falling back on fighting them the old fashioned way. Or, alternatively, it means finding ways to push foes into snares mid-fight! That brings me to my question. What is the most effective and reliable class for pushing foes around? (Either based on theorycrafting or experience). What's important to me is that it is relatively action-efficient, reliable, doesn't cost more than a couple feats at most, and starts working at a reasonably low level (<7). Here's what I've seen so far: My initial impression is that the fighter with aggressive block has the most reliable (and lowest action-cost) shoving possible, especially after you get the two follow-up feats. However, this is a very reactive approach, and not only do you have little recourse if foes don't attack you, but it also requires you to get in melee. Brutish shove is a lot less reliable, but a lot more proactive. Outside of the fighter, some clerics have pushing gust, which pushes even on a successful save, but it doesn't do anything other than that and therefore isn't a very efficient use of a turn. Arcane and primal get hydraulic push, which is a lot nicer of a one-two punch, but its far from reliable. Any more ideas?
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Welcome! Come on in and get yourselves nice and comfy. Before long we're going to get started with Devastation Ark! In the mean time, let's get some introductions rolling if you haven't crossed paths on the boards here before. Once you're nice and situated, we've got a whole bunch of things to go over. Right now I've got four of you here, but we may yet get a fifth coming.
Player's Guide
House Rules
Building the Party
Expectations
I'm looking to get us started around the 18th of April.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
... slowly waking up ...
The Galaxy Exploration Manual brought tons of new class options, including a small selection of new spells to play with. I spent some time last year talking through and evaluating new spell options in Near Space and got a lot out of the exercise, so I thought I'd repeat the exercise and try to spark some discussion about these new spells as well! You too can follow along on Archives of Nethys if you don't have access to the book.
Cairn Form (Mystic 2, Witchwarper 2) - As a personal spell that lasts rounds/level, this needs to be pretty strong to make up for the whole round you spend buffing during combat. Unfortunately, the unarmed attack is no better than you'd get via a racial natural weapon, and the DR and resistance to combat maneuvers is on the minor side. For spellcasters who want to tangle in melee, there are stronger ways to do so, and I suspect people using this spell will be disappointed in its clunkiness mid-combat. Control Winds (Mystic 1-4, Witchwarper 1-4) - The spell description seems a little confused. When it talks about the spell ending or getting dismissed, it mentions creating an instantaneous line-shaped burst, but then it references creatures entering or starting their turn in said line, which would be impossible if it is instantaneous. Otherwise, this spell is a niche defensive and control option. The 1st and 2nd level versions are not able to do too much, but the 3rd level version in particular imposes a hefty penalty on kinetic ranged attacks, allowing you to counter certain types of foes. Unfortunately, there are many situations where this would be a dud, making this a difficult choice as a permanent spell known. Extra Sense (Everyone 1-3) - The closest comparison is probably polymorph, which can provide the same valuable senses but for significantly shorter durations and ranges until much higher levels. This one lasts a really long time, long enough to take you through multiple 10-min rests at higher levels. Although invisible foes have played a smaller role in Starfinder than in Pathfinder (in my experience), having the tools on hand to counter them is always good, and this is a particularly efficient tool. Starwalk (Everyone 0) - Cute cantrip! Moving in zero-g is awkward at the earliest levels, where you're often clambering over surfaces, anchoring yourself with your armor, or jumping off and going off-kilter. This basically solves those problems for you. Personal Gravity (Tech. 2, Witch. 2), once you have it, obsoletes this spell pretty solidly, but until then this should be pretty useful for adventures that drop you into zero-g environments. Tectonic Shift (Everyone 1-3) - The 1st level version just has too limited of an effect, and while the 2nd level version improves and lengthens the debuff, there are easier ways to leave a foe shaken for 1d4 rounds. The "fail by 5 or more" clause is unlikely to come up too often based on my experience. Most level-appropriate foes have only a 25-50% chance to fail their save against your spells, which means a 5-25% chance to fail but 5 or more. The 3rd level version turns this spell into an anti-group tool and makes it much more viable, but it still looks a little unappealing next to all-star control spells like slow and fear 3. Uncanny Eruption (Witchwarper 4) - A good comparison point is Wall of Fire, which is the same level spell and serves a similar damage-based area denial purpose. The base damage of both spells is low, only 2d6 per round, little more than a scratch at the time you can cast them. Wall of fire's directionality and opaqueness makes it easier to place in a way that disadvantages foes but not allies. Uncanny eruption's bursts are random, but they fill a large area - potentially catching allies as well on most normal maps, meanwhile wall of fire's damage from passing through is likely to hit only enemies if you placed your wall well. Uncanny Eruption is also less of a threat because it allows saving throws (Fort and Reflex) vs. the automatic damage from Wall of Fire. I think overall, wall of fire is the more useful area denial spell, but you can't deny the coolness of creating an exploding caldera on the battlefield. Void Whispers (Mystic 0, Witchwarper 0) - What a cantrip! I wonder if this was intended to be a higher level spell instead. Duration being 1round/3levels should probably have a (minimum 1 round), otherwise this cantrip does nothing at 1st or 2nd level. The blanket FAQ ruling that forced movement provokes means that this spell essentially staggers a foe and grants a free AoO on that foe for your allies, eventually for multiple rounds. That's massively better than any other cantrip. And that doesn't even get into the chance this spell has to confuse other creatures nearby. Can creatures seal up their armor to avoid hearing the whispers? If not, the "friendly fire" aspect of this spell might leave it trickier to use effectively. Wonder Warp (Everyone 4) - Essentially makes something like a wild magic zone. This kind of effect is hit or miss depending on the group. Some folks like the zaniness and enjoy rolling with the weird effects that pop up, others find the random effects frustrating. Several of the effects are just plain fun, though a few seem a little backwards (succeed at a will save and the summoned aeon that's hostile to you sticks around, fail the save and it disappears). As a note, for this spell "Range: 30ft" and "Area: 60ft radius sphere centered on you" disagree, so the GM'll have to pick one to roll with.
Spotted a good question over on the TTRPG Stack Exchange. Can a weapon accessory be mounted on a solarian's solar flare? As far as I've been able to see, there's nothing explicitly stopping you from doing so, unlike fusions, that must be added to a solarian weapon crystal rather than the weapon directly. However, when you consider that your solar flare can be: Quote: "a shimmering crystal that launches fragments of itself, a dark aura that forms directly onto your foes, or an orb of stellar energy that releases beams of pure light" ...that doesn't exactly sound like a weapon with a rail on it. Is there some text anywhere that establishes whether or not weapon accessories and solar flares are compatible, or is this GM discretion territory?
Recently I've been playing approximately equal amounts of Pathfinder 1E, Pathfinder 2E and Starfinder. That means I've had ample opportunity to compare the three systems in how they function and feel to play. My experience has been through playing APs and Society in all three systems. And what has stood out to me is how startlingly "predictable" the Starfinder combats were. If I had to characterize the feel of the three systems, it'd be:
Basically, Starfinder is the least spicy of the three systems. In my experience, combat rarely surprises you or introduces complications that require you to change your tactics or run triage. In boss encounters, knowledge that your RP will save you if you get KO'd causes PCs to stay and attack even when their HP is going down faster than the foe's. In other encounters, PCs typically plant their feet and engage in their preferred combat tactic at range, or maximize full attacks in melee, confident that they can take hits while dishing out damage faster than foes can. There's very little reaction or response to what the foes are doing. My thought process in bringing this up is threefold: Do you see this in your own games?
So the gunslinger's firearms have a consistent 1 action cost to reload and don't hold magazines of rounds. This means you're going to be spending a not-insignificant portion of your turns reloading, especially if you go with the Way of the Sniper or Pistolero. Its a pretty steep cost that tends to make crossbows unappealing for most characters in the Core Rules. The class has several ways to lessen the burden, some inherited from Ranger. Since basically every gunslinger will be looking to pick up some way to lessen the burden of reloading, should one or more of these feats be baked into the base chassis of the Gunslinger? (This is a similar issue to the bomber alchemist that has a number of almost mandatory feats) ------
Way of the Pistolero description wrote: You might leave a hand free, fight with twin pistols, or duel at any range like a musketeer with pistol and blade. While fighting with one hand free is clear enough, it is very difficult for the Pistolero to fight with twin pistols or with a pistol and blade. Without a free hand and without access to Reloading Strike, you don't have a way to take the Interact action needed to reload without first dropping one weapon. Dual wielding Pistolero have one somewhat awkward solution to this problem: Doubling rings and Quick Draw with a steady supply of already loaded weapons. However, the better solution would be if the class had access to Dual-Weapon Reload from the existing archetype.
In March 2017, our group began a Play by Post of Curse of the Crimson Throne. While we've had some turnover over the course of the campaign, we are now in the last third of Book 4 with a solid and energetic group of players. In the past we've had some stellar GMs leading the way. Unfortunately, we now find ourselves without a GM to pick up the reins and bring us through the last third of the campaign. We are looking for a GM willing to run us through the remainder of Book 4 and the last two books of Curse of the Crimson Throne. Some facts about our group, as a means of enticing would be GMs:
What we'd like to see in a GM:
You can find our Campaign Thread here. I suggest page 216 if you'd like to see what our posting and playing styles are like. Shout if you have any questions!
So now that I've had time to digest the rules, build a few nanocytes, and even play a game with a nanocyte alongside other classes, I figured it was time to dump my impressions out into the survey (and of course put them here on the playtest boards as well). My play experience is with a 5th level Regeneration Faculty Swarm Strike nanocyte, playing through SFS 1-25 (Beacon Code Dilemma). Overall, I thought the particular nanocyte I played was pretty fun, and it felt distinct enough from other martial characters thanks to some unique tricks. The class has enough depth that I had several other ideas for character builds I'd like to try as well. Here's some categorized thoughts on the various aspects of the class and the class options available to choose from. Fair warning that each section is big and the post as a whole is a bit of a monster. I've summarized some thoughts at the end of each spoiler.
Nanocyte Class Chassis:
Overall, the base chassis in-play felt defensively oriented, pretty flexible, and resilient. Some mechanics worked in clunky ways that I wasn't a fan of, but as a whole it wasn't too bad. I never used the cloud array on my Swarm Strike nanocyte, as losing sheath array felt like "shields down", while the cloud did basically nothing for me. My Will save was in the gutter despite spending a feat on it, but I never needed to use it in the adventure I played. Faculties:
I had Regeneration as my character's faculty and felt I could run right into the thick of things with the confidence that I'd be up to full SP or close abouts by the end of combat. It just cost so little (1 surge/combat + swift action) that I'd always have it up. The other Regeneration faculty abilities look fun too, especially for a build that sits at range and uses the cloud array.
Knacks: Just some thoughts I had while working out which to take for my character, and which I'd want to take if I kept leveling them up.
Overall, there are enough attractive knacks for multiple interesting characters. I think low levels could use more neat, thematically interesting knacks instead of "feat-cheaters". I'm surprised there's no knack for adding more major forms. I would love more knacks like Instant Architect, which I think is my favorite overall knack.
One thing I was very surprised by when reading the mech rules was: Tech Revolution Playtest wrote: For the purpose of resolving effects, treat a mech as a vehicle, though use mechs’ different rules for movement, operation, and damage detailed in the Mech Combat section starting on page 12. This one rule, to treat the mech as a vehicle for the purpose of resolving effects, introduces a lot of puzzles. Mechs have been designed in such a way that they don't interact with the vehicle rules at all except for this one specific statement. They don't use the rules for piloting vehicles, such as top speeds, race actions, ramming maneuvers, vehicle headings, collision damage, etc. They don't have the stats a vehicle would have. Effects that target vehicles often try to adjust stats that mechs don't even use. A mech in combat functions exactly like a really big construct creature. It has actions like a creature (except it can gain more with multiple pilots), moves like a creature, attacks like a creature, makes saves like a creature, and so on.
So why don't they just treat it as a creature with the creature type construct (technological)? After all, there are currently Alien Archive creatures that are essentially giant mechs, like the Tripod or Siege Robot. Other than being piloted, any player mech is essentially the same kind of tactical combatant as any of these creatures. The construct type would grant mechs all the logical construct immunities that they deserve, like immunity to mind-affecting, immunity to Fort save effects that don't function on objects, and so on. The only thing that would need to be specified is that a mech can't take actions when it doesn't have at least one pilot. Something like the following new subtype: (Subordinate): Creatures with the subordinate subtype are treated as unconscious while they are not being actively controlled or piloted by another creature. Subordinate creatures use the INT, WIS and CHA modifiers of their pilots (if there are multiple pilots, use the highest of each modifier).
While reading the Nanocyte, I was struck by some similarities to the Vanguard and I started paying attention to the various means the class has to avoid or mitigate damage. What I found was that it had a lot, and the methods available were intentionally or unintentionally designed to "stack", leading to a Nanocyte that would be exceptionally difficult to kill. Here are the four parts to this super survivability toolkit: These abilities all work to complement one another. At higher levels where nanite surges are plentiful and can be regained or added to via RP, the Nanocyte can completely absorb/reduce incoming damage for many rounds. Survivability Example: This is not to say that the Nanocyte is impossible to kill. Will saves are going to be an Achilles heel that can shut a Nanocyte down entirely. But the overlapping reductions, buffers and regeneration are beyond what most classes are bringing to the table.
A 10th level Nanocyte focusing on Swarm Strike (a build that has CON as its main stat) is fighting a CR13 Driftdead Amalgam. The 10th level Nanocyte has DR10/- and 10 temp HP from Sheath.
The Amalgam moves in and attacks, dealing an average of 38 damage if it's attack lands. The DR brings that to 28, they spend a reaction to dispersal and reduce it to 12 (reduction of 10 + 6 from CON), and the temp HP absorbs all but 2 points of damage. On their turn they reactive repair and heal 3 SP and gain 5 temp HP. They attack and guarded step back to keep the foe from making more than one attack. Next turn they do the same. Total damage reduction ends up being 26 between DR and dispersal, then 8 more between fast healing and bonus temp HP. The amalgam can barely scratch them while they have nanite surges available (And at this level they have 10+ and can spend resolve points for more) This is boss-level enemy of APL+3 fighting an otherwise naked Nanocyte, and they can't do much more than scratch them, for possibly up to 10 rounds. I'm looking forward to giving this build a try in a game and seeing whether or not it really is as immortal as it appears to be on paper.
Not sure how I missed this, but there seems to be something missing in the entry for Riot Grenades in the Armory book. As an example, here's the explode description for Riot Grenade I: explode (staggered; 10 ft.) How long does the staggered condition from these last? The grenade description is silent. I was hoping there was some universal rule that caused conditions without a duration to default to 1 round, but I haven't been able to find something like that. My only guess is that the writer might've been thinking of the staggered critical hit effect, which has a 1 round duration baked in. Any thoughts? Have I missed some explanation somewhere? Does this need an FAQ?
Let's talk about the new spells in the new Near Space book! Xenocrat did a neat post over here back when the Character Operations Manual came out that helped to highlight problematic, fun, and not-so-fun new spells soon after the book came out. Now that Near Space is out, it's time to do the same. Near Space has a lot fewer spells to talk about, but some of them are quite interesting!
Verdant Code (Witchwarper 1, Technomancer 1) - This one is in the ghoran section rather than with the rest of the spells. Quite a strange spell and quite tricky to parse how it works. You trigger a computer to sprout an enormous wave of sharp plant life that fills a really big area for a low level spell. A very potent damaging AoE spell for 1st level, but thanks to its targeting requirement, it can be difficult to get it to land (if targeting a foe's computer, they get an extra Will save to negate the spell entirely). The crowd control potential is also very high. Clever and prepared PCs can deal serious damage while also splitting up enemy parties when they successfully save. Very good as a 1st level spell. Maybe too good. Acidic Mist (Mystic 1, Witchwarper 1) - Excellent area damage for a low level spell. In a tight environment, you may be able to trap enemies inside if your melee allies stand at the edges of the mist. The moment a creature takes more than one turn of damage from this spell, it starts way outperforming things like Overheat, which has trickier targeting, a smaller effective area, and only a single burst of damage. Doesn't block sight, so any enemies you trap inside are easy pickings. Alter Enhancement (Witchwarper 2) - Very good tool for tackling unexpected challenges, but the duration means its effectively limited to combat. Can only swap to armor upgrades and fusions from the CRB, but that still gives you access to swapping between jetpacks and thermal capacitors, for example. Daegoxian Spore Cloud (Mystic 3) - Doesn't block line of sight. Since fascinate breaks on observing an "obvious threat" and grants a new save when an enemy approaches, this may not control foes for very long, even if they fail their save. Dampening Field (Everyone 2) - Very narrow spell. As far as I can find, there are currently two creatures whose only senses are blindsight (sound) or vibration. All other creatures have some other sense. Seemingly only useful in conjunction with invisibility to improve infiltration potential. Anyone have any clever ideas on how to use this? Death Affinity (Mystic 3, Witchwarper 3) - Hoooo boy. Long duration and an enormous list of immunities and enhancement bonuses. The disadvantage of being targeted by effects that only target undead is relatively minor unless against well prepared opponents. The exhausted condition upon expiry can be cleared/reduced with a lesser restoration, conveniently also on the mystic list. Extremely powerful defensive buff. Defrex Hardiness (Mystic 1) - For the low cost of a 1st level slot, this grants a scaling dollop of DR/- for minutes at a time while also providing a retributive effect every time the recipient is hit by an adjacent creature. Blows the Resistant Armor line of spells out of the water by granting more DR for a far lower level slot. Once you're at mid levels, there's no reason not to buff every ally not already suited up with the Enhanced Resistance feat, and refresh it whenever. Starfinder spell design previously has shied away from granting bonuses that scale with caster level, so this feels like a mistake that slipped through. Definitely in the too good category. Junk Restraints (Technomancer 4) - Ouch. For a 4th level spell that requires set up (junk in range), this is a single target entangle spell that gets negated on a successful save. Since this doesn't specify that it holds the victim in place, a melee creature affected by it can even continue to fight while debuffed. Really quite awful. Compares incredibly unfavorably to the mystic spell Umbral Tendrils, which: doesn't require set up, affects an AoE, entangles on a failed save, and deals some damage too. Umbral Tendrils is also one level lower. Junk Shard (Technomancer 1, Witchwarper 1) - I'm not sure why Paizo is so committed to the idea that technomancers should be about creating and reshaping junk... In any case, this spell deals average single target damage slightly worse than Mind Thrust, and on par with the standard action magic missile (after calculating expected rates of successful saving throw). Low range, but it leaves behind junk to combo with your other spells if you're a technomancer. Nothing mind blowing, but a fine low level damage spell. Modify Outcome (Witchwarper 4) - Once 4th level slots are no longer premium slots (ie, once you have 6th level spells), you're always going to want to have a few of these. Almost free in terms of action economy, and activatable after you know an ally has failed. This kind of effect is tremendously strong insurance against disaster. Significantly better than the 3rd level Probability Prediction, since it is used reactively and only on a known failure. Personal Gravity (Technomancer 2, Witchwarper 2) - While in zero-g, does this let you choose the orientation of your personal gravity? What if you move from one region of gravity to another? Do you choose again how it affects you? There are many such questions that will come up any time you use this spell. That said, its quite good. More or less eliminates having to make tricky skill checks to move competently in zero-g, lightens gravity to protect you from falls or help you jump, or even just helps you move on high gravity worlds. Probably best as a spell gem in your toolkit than as a known spell. Planned Obsolescence (Witchwarper 3) - Slapping the archaic property on weapons reduces their damage by 5 against PCs. Not a bad debuff, but possibly not a very relevant one if the enemy has another weapon. Turning armor archaic removes its personal comm and environmental protections, in addition to deactivating its armor upgrades. Depending on the environment you're in, this can be a save or die due to its negation of radiation or toxic environment protection. One mode or the other will definitely have a use, which makes this a fairly solid spell. Polar Vortex (Mystic 3, Witchwarper 3) - Note that the devs FAQ'd that this is a 3rd level spell. Same damage, range, and area (more or less) as explosive blast, but also: makes the area difficult terrain, blocks non-energy ranged weapon attacks (wind gives them a -8 penalty), ignores spell resistance, and serves to control flying creatures. The split damage type between bludgeoning and cold means it'll be resisted more often, but otherwise its a big upgrade over explosive blast, packing area control together with high damage. Poor explosive blast looks a little sad now. Reanimate Construct (Mystic 4, Technomancer 4) - Since this functions as animate dead, I assume you have to pay the credit cost for animating creatures, even if it doesn't say so explicitly. It's unclear if you can reanimate a construct whose CR is higher than half your level. I assume not, since that's a restriction that's in animate dead. This may make it tricky to use this spell, as you're rarely fighting and destroying robots whose CRs are half your party level. Otherwise, a friendly low-CR robot slave is a great scout and poor combatant. A clever spellcaster can find a way to make good use of infinite duration allies like this :). Summon Drift Beacons (Everyone 6) - It's a narrative shaping spell, either used by NPCs or used once a campaign by players in a big power-play moment where they summon their fleet of allies to engage the enemy fleet while they do something else. Cool, but not for general use. Supercharge Armor (Technomancer 2) - Hardness doubling and light shedding is pretty unimpressive, but it grants a good amount of temporary hit points. Unfortunately, the low duration means trading a standard action in combat to negate or partially negate an enemy hit, and only if the creature you buffed is the one getting beaten up. Not great. Compares terribly to Defrex Hardiness (on the duration, spell level, and amount of damage potentially prevented fronts) but Defrex Hardiness is busted, so take that with a grain of salt. At high levels when you can prebuff and engage combats at your leisure, this becomes a staple thanks to its scaling temp HP and low spell level. ---- Mystics and Witchwarpers seem to have won out this time with some very solid defensive spells, and a few offensive ones that make the technomancer blasts look a little old and crusty. Only a few things that look immediately problematic. In my own games, I probably would want to ban Death Affinity and Defrex Hardiness. So what do you guys think? What do you like? What are you concerned about existing out in the wild? What do you think will get ban hammered for SFS?
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi all and welcome to this table of SFS1-26, Truth of the Seeker for Outpost III! Looks like we have a small group this time around, and a few people that are undecided as to which character they're bringing. It looks like there's one high tier and one low tier character so far. Since it *is* a 4-man group, playing down for the single high level will likely be the safer option, though you guys can decide which combo you want to do. Once you work out what character you'd like to bring, please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay as well when you're ready. I'll be dropping a initial scene setting tomorrow.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
En Avant!
Hi All! I'm coming in with a complicated set of questions around one very strangely written spell...
Starfinder CRB wrote:
Has anyone used this spell? If so, have you thought about any of the following questions and worked out reasonable answers for them?:
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Dot in with your character alias, then check discussion if you haven't.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Welcome all! If you've gotten selected, chime in here and get yourself settled in nice and comfy. Feel free to make your own OOC introductions and get to know one another. We'll be here a while :)
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To ease the character build burden on this mystic and solarian heavy party, I'm instituting the following house rule: For the purposes of Gunnery checks, you may use either Dex or Wis as your skill modifier. Character Corrections
Collective Backstory Generation
The adventure itself will start with you handling a very mundane task - delivering a shipment from Absalom Station to the Dawnshore Spaceport within the Sun's Burning Archipelago. But this very humdrum task will quickly be interrupted by a crisis that thrusts your characters into an adventure that'll take them all over the Sun. Burning Archipelago? Mataras? Whats all this?
Each of the Burning Archipelago's bubbles has its own unique flavor. Cities include the heavily religious central bubble of Dawnshore, containing the Radiant Cathedral of Sarenrae, as well as the more corporate Fireside or scientifically-focused Stellacuna. The bubbles are connected to each other and kept in a static formation by energy tethers. At the ends of each tether are magical membranes which all vessels must go through if they want to enter or exit the bubble. Linecrawler ferries hug the tethers, while those in a hurry can charter sunskimmers, vehicles built to harness solar winds. You can read more about the Sun in The Starfinder CRB, but I'd recommend skipping the Pact Worlds writeup - in part because of spoilers, and in part because I may be making some minor adjustments that will contradict minor elements of what's written in there. Building a Starship?
All is not peaceful in the roiling heart of the Pact Worlds' sun! A mysterious entity from the plane of fire has set their eyes on the star, intent on seizing it for themselves. But unable to explore the depths of their star, the people of the Pact Worlds remain unaware of the threat. Can the heroes piece together the clues to what’s happening in time? Or will their extraplanar nemesis' mysterious plan change the nature of the Pact Worlds forever?
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This game will include SFS credit, run in Campaign mode, if players are interested. -------------------------------
Dawn of Fire Themes:
The Sun is beautiful and life-giving, but also mysterious and dangerous. While the Pact Worlds rely on their sun for much of the energy that powers their technology, few understand it very well, and even those are only aware of the outermost layers. Maybe you live within the Burning Archipelago, the magical bubble cities that lie within the sun's outermost layer? Maybe you study the sun and its mysteries? Maybe you stand to benefit from exploiting its power? The possibilities are many!
As a celestial body, the sun is of interest for both Solarians and the followers of Sarenrae Both groups keep a physical presence near the sun and have great stakes in what might transpire in or near it. The sun has a strange psychic aura - one that presses down oppressively on races with telepathy Races with telepathy find themselves feeling anxious, irritable, and pessimistic with unpleasant regularity as the psychic pressure builds and fades. Maybe your character has telepathy, or your character is interested in this phenomenon. While no one knows for certain, some people theorize that there are unknown aliens that live within the sun's harsh environments. While most people consider such theories as fanciful, one organization, the Deep Cultures Institute, takes such investigation quite seriously. They hope to delve into the depths of the sun themselves and find these aliens if they exist. Perhaps your character shares these aspirations? Or perhaps they have their own reasons to be interested in extending a hand to unknown alien species? ------------------------------- Once you make a character with the above rules and have put its details in your profile, also include answers to the following questions with your application: ------------------------------- Recruitment will be open until Sunday 8th September, 9PM EST.
With the final volume of Starfinder's Dawn of Flame adventure path finally released, I'd like to gauge the appetite here on the forums for a PbP run of this Path. Surprisingly, I haven't been able to find ANYONE running a recruitment for this AP on the forums thus far. Not sure if this is just a matter of no GM stepping up to the challenge, or if people aren't that into the themes. Spoiler-lite blurb for Dawn of Flame wrote: All is not peaceful in the roiling heart of the Pact Worlds' sun! A mysterious entity from the plane of fire has set their eyes on the star, intent on seizing it for themselves. But unable to explore the depths of their star, the people of the Pact Worlds remain unaware of the threat. Can the heroes piece together the clues to what’s happening in time? Or will their extraplanar nemesis' mysterious plan change the nature of the Pact Worlds forever? I'm thinking of running this as a fast-moving Play by Post for 4 players. If there's enough interest, I would start recruitment some time in the next week.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to this table of 1-16 Dreaming of the Future for PbP Gameday VII! We'll be getting started in about a week from now at the beginning of the Gameday proper. While we're getting organized, please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Dot in here. Game will start at the beginning of Gameday VII (26th Aug)
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to this table of 1-20 Duskmire Accord 9 for PbP Gameday VII! We're still a few weeks away from the start, but please check in when you're ready! While we're getting organized, please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Go ahead and dot in. We'll start at the start of the Gameday.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi all and welcome to this table of 2-00, Fate of the Scoured God! Its a while before we start, but never too early to get the paperwork out of the way.
GENERAL INFORMATION:
SFS 1-04, Cries from the Drift
Do you have an up-to-date botting spoiler in your profile? (Specials run FAST, so this is all but mandatory if we don't want to be waiting on folks) Do you promise to give me and your fellow players a heads-up in discussion if you're going to be unable to post for multiple days? What's been your favorite SFS scenario with this character, and why? (give us a link to a particular moment if you'd like) CHRONICLE INFORMATION: Player Name:
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Please deliver thine stealthy dots to this gameplay thread. Then apply thy powers of deletion to thine stealthy dots such that they are erased for all time.
So one of my solarian players recently pointed out a vagueness in the rules for solarian revelations. Some revelations have text in their second half that gives you a bonus or makes them better when you are 'attuned or fully attuned'. For example:
Gravity Anchor (Su) wrote: When you are attuned or fully attuned, you can activate this revelation as a reaction when targeted by a bull rush, disarm, reposition, or trip combat maneuver, in which case it defends against only that attack. Based on the verbiage in the Graviton Mode and Photon Mode entries for the Solarian, I'd always assumed that these powers got their attunement benefits whenever you were attuned to the mode that matched the power. Ie, you got the attunement benefit of Gravity Anchor only while attuned to Graviton, since its a graviton power. However, my player pointed out that it doesn't say this explicitly anywhere. Instead, he argued that the attuned or fully attuned clause is intended to limit the improved version of the revelation to only combat against significant enemies. How are people ruling on this? Is there some description or entry I missed that clarifies it?
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
This morning, each of you received a summons to your comms from Zigvigix, leader of the Starfinder Society's Exo-Guardians faction. His message was uncharacteristically terse and somber - just that he needed a group to investigate an internal Starfinder affair, and that you were high up on his list of people he could trust. The message ended by specifying that you were to find Zigvigix at the warehouse in the Downlow District that now serves as the faction's increasingly permanent base of operations. --- As you enter, you find the building buzzing with activity. A smell of ozone wafts through the conditioned air of the warehouse. Makeshift offices full of equipment and furniture are in the process of having more permanent walls erected around them. Construction crews outside are working on the installation of heavy blast doors to replace the original building's security shutters. In the back of the building, you notice a heavily augmented host shirren conversing with a rather short and grumpy looking vesk. The shirren, Zigvigix, notices each of you as you arrive and telepathically sends a greeting in the middle of their conversation. 'Hello! Welcome! Give me a bit, this gal's a tad touchy about interruptions.'
Feel free to greet and introduce yourselves as you arrive, I'll start with the briefing once we have most people checked in.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to this table of 1-30 Survivor's Salvation! We'll be starting shortly, but as you wander in please feel free to enjoy a free beverage sample from our swim up bar. Oh, and please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay when you're ready.
With the confirmation from Owen KC Stephens that operative weapons used for a combat maneuver allow you to apply your DEX mod to a grapple check, I was inspired to make a 5th level Vanguard Skittermander build focused on grappling. 5th level Grapplemander:
Grapplemander
Female Skittermander Vanguard (Boundary) 5 NG Small Humanoid (Skittermander) Init +9; Senses Perception +X; low-light-vision, darkvision 60ft. -------------------- Defense -------------------- KAC 25, EAC 23 HP 44, SP 55, RP 5 Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +3 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Base Atk +5 Speed 25 ft. Melee (grapple) Harmonic Vibrogarrote >Entropic Strike< +19 vs. EAC+8 (1d6+8 Fo; force, conceal, grapple, operative, powered, throttle, block. Critical: deafen) (As a throttle weapon, this only does damage on grapple attempts) -------------------- Statistics -------------------- ====Abilities==== Str 10 Dex 19+2 Con 16 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 13 ====Feats====
====Combat Gear====
====Racial Capabilities====
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Being able to target EAC with your maneuvers stacks with all the other goodies that being a grappling skittermander gets you, making your grapples (and pins) very likely to land. When you land a grapple, you do throttle damage based on your entropic strike, which scales far better than any normal throttle weapon, granting better dice at high levels and higher weapon specialization scaling. Furthermore, the block property of your weapon improves your AC against your grapple-target's attempts to escape the grapple. Against combatant foes of the same level as you, you can expect 75% chance to land a grapple and 50% chance to pin! Since grapple uses a standard action, once you're in melee you can spend your remaining move action on positioning a shield against your grapple target. You can position the shield for another +1 to AC, bringing your KAC+8 up to an eye-watering 35. A CR5 creature's +14-+15 to hit will have a very hard time breaking through that.
The current dying rules in update 1.5 and 1.6 are quite a bit better than the ones we started with at the beginning of the playtest, but they still have a number of problems from my perspective. Of these, I think the most critical ones are: ------- Considering this, I'd like to propose an alternative set of dying rules that makes use of negative HP, ala PF1E, but incorporating some of the PF2E design goals. Alternate Dying Rules:
Getting Knocked Out:
When you take damage that drops your HP to 0 or lower, you are knocked out. When this happens you: 1) Fall unconscious (gaining the unconscious condition). If it was currently your turn, your turn ends. 2) Immediately move your initiative position to directly before the creature or effect that knocked you out. 3) If the damage was lethal damage, you gain the dying condition. 4) Nonlethal damage applied against a target with positive or 0 HP can never reduce the target below 0 HP, and does not cause them to gain the dying condition. (If the target of nonlethal damage was already at negative HP, the nonlethal damage is treated as lethal damage) Dying:
Massive Damage:
Heroic Endurance:
Recovering from Death's Door:
Here are the advantages (as I see them) of this proposed system:
Like PF2E's existing system, these alternate dying rules give PCs leeway when knocked unconscious, providing time for PCs to rush to each other's aid in heroic fashion. Going straight from fighting to perma-death is very unlikely. OTOH: From using these in one session with my players, they make dying a little more "sticky", it takes a little more effort from the party to bring a dying teammate back into the fight, reducing the amount of ping-ponging into and out of an unconscious state. Thoughts? Suggestions? Is this an improvement or does the Update 1.5 system work well for you?
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi all and welcome to this table of SFS1-09, LIVE EXPLORATION EXTREME! Looks like we have a bit of a mixed level group, so we'll have to sort that out before starting. Once you work out what character you'd like to bring, please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay as well when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Ouvre-toi!
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to this table of 1-05 The First Mandate for PbP Gameday 2018! We're still a while out from the start (on the 13th of August), but please check in when you're ready! While we're getting organized, please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay as well when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Thread Go!
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Thread UP!
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to this table of 1-16 Dreaming of the Future for PbP Gameday 2018! We're still a while out from the start (on the 13th of August), but please check in when you're ready! While we're getting organized, please provide the following: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Go ahead and dot into gameplay when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to this table of 1-10 The Really Friendly Streets. I'm really looking forward to running this Exceptionally Benign scenario for all of you guys. While we start getting organized, I'd like to get the following from each of you: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Feel free to dot the gameplay thread when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Adeat Thread
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Dot at your convenience.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to the higher tier table of 1-12 Ashes of Discovery. I'll be staggering the start of the two tables a little bit (I didn't expect this one to fire so quickly!). In the mean time, I need the following from each of you for later use: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Feel free to dot the gameplay thread when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Please dot in when ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Hi and welcome all to the lower tier table of 1-12 Ashes of Discovery. In the mean time, I need to following from each of you for later use: 1. Player Name for the chronicle
Also, if you have anything odd/unusual about your character that I should know, please say so now. Feel free to dot the gameplay thread when you're ready.
Seaweed Leshy Technomancer 1 / Game Master 3 | Maps: (RotRL Handouts) | (RotRL Maps) | (DoF Handouts) | (DoF Maps) | (DA Maps)
Adeat thread.
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