Zarrex's page

I don't want to talk financials publicly, but I emailed CS on 5 August and am awaiting a response to fix my subscriptions. Meanwhile, you have canceled 4 of my subs and are threatening to cancel a 5th because I haven't resolved the issue I emailed you about on 5 August.

I do not regularly check the CS forum, but I do regularly check my email.

The guide doesn't address other things that require the use of downtime, such as replacing a lost familiar or animal companion, which takes 7 days. It seems intuitive to me that if you are spending said time training up a new familiar/companion you can't perform other tasks for those 7 days.

Upon completing an adventure that grants XP, you gain days of Downtime that can be spent in a variety of ways. (See Organized Play Basics, under Downtime, for how many days each type of adventure grants.) These include attempting checks to Earn Income and Craft items, as well as retraining. Certain other activities may be available depending on boons or other circumstances as described in the adventure.

The circumstance of training replacement companions (so far) is not described in "the adventure". I am certain a devil's advocate will make an argument that because it isn't listed as allowed and the phrasing of the list of activities is inclusive rather than exclusive, it can't be done during downtime and therefore does not cost downtime in society.

I would love sanity check from the masses to establish a consensus.

Subject says it. Pfstracker.net will not let me or anyone else report SFS 1-06 for me as GM or player. I have opened up my profile to allow others to report for me and so far no one can report that scenario for me. In fact, if anyone here thinks they might have some luck reporting it for me, my number is 241400.

In lieu of that, does anyone know who I should report the issue to? The website seems devoid of contact info.

I seem to recall that Paizo had decided to halt production of Map Packs in favor of the newer tiles system. As recently as 1-34 scenarios are still being designed to use them.

Is the intention to continue using them in scenarios to help clear inventory with the knowledge they will eventually become difficult to obtain then you have to print or draw on your own?

Is there a QC process in the works to avoid map packs and maybe use tiles instead, where applicable?

If the intention is to use map packs anyway, I would personally prefer to have them listed as custom maps (which would also save the frustration of maps with misaligned, stretched or gapped spaces).

If tiles become a thing, could we please make it a requirement that the tiles not have to be partially stacked and leaning on each other in a map design?

So last night, cinder rifles (From Fire Starters, Dawn of Flame Book 1, AP 13) unsurprisingly came up as a topic of discussion. Specifically the fact that Cinder Rifles are One-Handed Longarms. This of course opens up some interesting options when you factor in weapon specialization and they now become comparable to small arms for the purpose of free-hand utilization.

Some direct comparisons:
I am using base damage and damage type as the point of comparison to keep it as close to apples to apples as possible.

The base model cinder rifle is a 1d8 projectile longarm, the closest comparison in the CRB is the Hunting Rifle.

Hunting Rifle:
Lvl 1, 240 cr, 1d8 P, 90 ft, no crit, 6 rounds, 1 use, 1 bulk, analog

Truth-Sequence Cinder Rifle
Lvl 2, 700 cr, 1d8 P, 60 ft, Burn 1d4, 10 rounds, 1 use, 2 bulk, no special

So in this case, the two-handed rifle is one level lower, costs 66% less, shoots 50% farther, has the same base damage, holds 40% less ammo and has half the weight.

Comparitively, the one-handed rifle is one level higher, costs 190% more, has 33% less range, has the same base damage, holds 67% more ammo and weights twice as much.

The differences appear to be on a reasonable scale at this level, so the question in my mind becomes, how much of an advantage, if any, is there to wielding a longarm with one hand?

A couple of things stand out to me.
The most obvious being the ability to threaten a square with a melee weapon while wielding and firing a longarm rather than a small arm. This doesn't mean you maintain a position in melee, but you can reduce safe paths of travel for NPCs if you stay at ranged. You can also have a longarm at the ready if you do melee, but the NPC retreats. No move action to draw and free action to drop your melee weapon, just so that you can fire at it.

The second thing that comes to mind is grappling/pinning. Between NPCs that grab and PCs that specialize in grappling (yes, the vocal majority on the forums seems to think this is difficult, but that is not what I have observed in 94 tables of GMing) this can change things. The grappler/pinner does not gain the grappled/pinned condition and only requires one hand. When you grapple/pin somebody, your opponent has the grappled/pinned condition until the end of your next turn unless they reverse or break the grapple/pin. This means that they are still grappled/pinned when you start and act on your next turn. You can do this with a longarm in hand that you can fire directly at them. They can't take an AoO on you, they take minuses against your whole party for that round and now you get a sweet shot at them. If they are flanked, you can full round them with a -4 to their AC vs your -4 to attacks, not accounting for any possible harrying fire, get 'em, wisp apply are anything else that might make this even easier.

What are your thoughts on one-handed longarms?

I had a good discussion with one of my local VA's recently and we both thought it worthwhile to put on the boards based on some local player confusion that may not be isolated to our geographical area.

With the prevelance of replays currently available and upcoming between GM nova replays and SCS(Jadnura) replays, the replay for credit rules in the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide have a seemingly lesser-referenced paragraph worth knowing, that I myself am guilty of violating through simple ignorance of what is written.

You can receive up to two Chronicle sheets for a given adventure: one for playing an adventure and one for running the same adventure as a GM, regardless of how many times you play or run that specific adventure. A character may have no more than one copy of a Chronicle sheet applied to her. GMing adventures contributes to GM nova rewards even when it does not award additional Chronicle sheets (see page 17 for more information about GM novas).

In certain circumstances, you may need to replay an adventure you have already completed. The following rules determine when replaying Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild adventures is legal and what benefits you can gain from replaying. When using a replay credit, you may earn no more than one bonus Chronicle sheet per adventure.

You can only have 1 bonus copy of a chronicle from replays. In other words, if your -701 plays Live Exploration Extreme normally, you can only ever accumulate one additional bonus chronicle from a replay. So now your -702 happens to be SCS (Jadnura) and has tier one. They can then play Live Exploration Extreme, resulting in your first bonus chronicle for the same scenario. Now, you REALLY love Live Exploration Extreme, so you make a -703 and get them to tier 1 of SCS (Jadnura) so that you can play it again. You can't. You already have one bonus chronicle for playing that scenario. The only way you can play this again is only if you are the third and final player in order to make a table. In which case, you can play for no credit as outlined below.

Skipping down to relevant rewards section...

Rewards: Replaying to make a legal table doesn’t earn any rewards. The Chronicle sheet for the adventure is a placeholder. It should note that the scenario has been replayed for no credit and awards no credits, Fame, Reputation, XP, boons, item access, or any other benefits or disadvantages. You must track consumables, purchases, and conditions acquired by playing the adventure. This is the only exception to not having two copies of the same Chronicle sheet assigned to one character.

So a valid no reward replay should not count against this. Keep in mind there are restrictions on when you can play for no credit. Keep in mind this can only be done if you are necessary to meet a minimum legal table. This would only apply to you being part of a 3 player table.

The SCS (Jadnura) boon even specifically references the replay rules on page 9 for using it.

I brought this up because this is exactly what I mistakenly did. To further complicate it, this brought one character to level 5, who then played a 5-8 scenario, meaning that if I were to undo shred the chronicle, then I have a tier 5-8 chronicle I wasn't eligible to play in. It's a mess to clean up my books for this in order to make myself legal.

All of this of course is separate from the GM chronicle, because that is not a bonus chronicle for a replay. Nor does this apply to the Repeatable scenario tag.

I welcome any feedback or corrections to my interpretation of the guide in this regard.

Fun facts about Platyparians:

- We have venom spurs on our webbed feet.
- We have relatively poor hearing and sight. In fact, we can actually seal off our eyes, ears and nostrils with folds of skin. This allows us to focus on electrical impulses and mechanical waves around us to hunt. We use our bill for this.
- Though we are mammals, we are unique in the fact that we lay eggs, rather than live birth.
- We walk on our knuckles, rather than the bottoms of our feet. We aren’t exactly known for our dexterity. In fact, walking takes about twice as much energy as swimming for this reason.
- Even though we don’t have teats, we do produce milk with some very powerful antibacterial and antiviral by essentially secreting it out through special patches of our skin, much like sweating.
- We don’t have a stomach. We don’t need a stomach.
- We scoop up food and gravel in our mouth, store them in cheek pouches and then eat later by using the gravel to grind our food up with our bill. Like improvised dentures!
- We use nails in our webbing to help us run as well as to burrow.
- Our females seal themselves in a chamber of the burrow to lay eggs. They stay there, sealed off with the newborn eggs until they hatch, about 10 days later.
- We can’t hold our breath very long
- We have a very high constitution and are incredibly cute!

On optional encounter C, it says to reduce the players credits is they defeat the Formians. Should this deduction be if they don’t defeat them or did I miss the point of the penalty in the deduction?

What is the appropriate channel for asking about information from 1-99? I’m asking as I prep for Origins. The last paragraph on the left column of page 10 lists three things, but only two are explained in the section above. Obviously, I’d like to ask a more specific question and ensure the other Table GMs have the information as well, although I’m sure Thursty can probably derive my specific question from the above information.

In AP book 3, as I was going to print off the maps, I saw that the squares on the first map are 10 foot squares. Do I just use imaginary lines and allow medium creatures to occupy a quarter of a square, or are they limited to one character per square? How do reach and AoO's work? How did Pathfinder address the issue of maps published with 10 foot squares using a rule set designed for 5 foot squares?

*Edit: This is for society play this evening, so RAW matters, as we are not campaign mode.

The secondary success condition criteria states...

I feel like this warrants the addition of a Strawberry Machine Cake scenario tag. Just kidding. Maybe.

First let me state that I love the fact that PF Flip-mats/map packs are being used for SFS! It provides more opportunity for adventure than the comparatively young Starfinder Flip Mat line has had time to produce.

This does present a concern for me as a person with less than 1 star PFS GM experience; I don't own any of these maps and some PF maps are no longer in print or available through retail store distributors.

Because of this, I see four possible scenarios and I'm anxiously concerned that I may not be able to acquire materials called for by a scenario. I am fully aware that blank maps and wet erase pens exist, but my artistic abilities to recreate the same engaging level of detail are sorely inadequate.

Scenario 1) SFS writing criteria mandates usage of/limits usage to maps currently in publication

Scenario 2) Paizo will resume publication of any required maps that are out of print but called for in a scenario

Scenario 3) If you didn't play/purchase Pathfinder products in the past then you are in the "tough luck" boat, while those that played Pathfinder may own everything used in Starfinder scenarios

Scaenario 4) I was misinformed by a retailer and every Pathfinder Flip Mat/Map Pack ever used is still and will continue to be in print as long as Starfinder Scenarios call for it.

Can someone from Paizo give me a true sense of the reality of the situation?

I just got my AP book 3 PDF (subscriber). Looking through the RPGG, I meet all requirements to purchase a new toy out of it since I have a valid PDF and it is sanctioned, but one could make the argument that the street date is still 7 days away. Is this argument substantiated anywhere or just a personal opinion?

This question may be fueled by a burning desire to use

Incident at Absalom Station reporting only awards the GM 2 "prestige" (I'm sure it means fame), not the full 5. Similarly, players are capped at receiving 4, not 5 points.

Now that Dead Suns AP Book 2, Temple of the Twelve (and book 3 as well) has been added to the Additional Resources page (Thanks for that!), what is the planned ETA for being able to report a session? We're going to be stomping some flying jungle monkeys back to Oz where they belong. Possibly without scorpion stinger tails.

According to the RPGG pg. 4, "Adventure Paths are six-volume Starfinder RPG campaigns. The Starfinder Society development team sanctions Adventure Path content on a case-by-case basis
for use in the Roleplaying Guild (see page 11 for more information)." Thus A single adventure Path is 6 volumes, making Dead Suns an Adventure path, and Incident at Absalom Station only 1/6 of an AP.

According to RPGG pg. 11, "A document will be created for each sanctioned Adventure Path that outlines the content for which players receive credit to be applied to legal characters as well as the Chronicle sheet(s) for that adventure. This document can be found on the product page for the sanctioned material or at paizo.com/ starfindersociety/additional." (the space in the URL is in the RPGG and I chose not to edit a cited source). Based on the definition of terms on page 4, APs (in Starfinder) get sanctioned as a whole. In other words, either Dead Suns is sanctioned, or it isn't, with exceptions posted at the above link.

Going to that link, you are directed to the product page for the first volume, which makes sense; the beginning is where you would start looking for information about a 6-volume adventure. On that page, is a section labeled "Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Sanctioned Content" where it lists the volume the current page is about, but more importantly, it has a link labeled "Download the rules and Chronicle sheets."

PZO7201-Rules.pdf's very first sentence is "The Dead Suns Adventure Path may be played as part of the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild campaign for credit." Immediately to the right, there is a box labeled "SANCTIONED CONTENT KEY" which lists all six individual parts of the AP as sanctioned and for what levels.

The document further addresses how to play every volume and which ones can and can't use pregens. While only the first chronicle sheet was added, so far, it's clear this applies to the Adventure Path, not the first 1/6th of it.

This implies that Dead Suns' volumes are legal for play on the street date, but the additional materials (new Mystic class abilities, new spells, new weapons, new armor, new magic items, etc) require listing on the Additional Resources to become accessible. Which makes sense, rather than releasing unplayable content, they just hold back on the additional player resources until they can determine the impact on gameplay in the context of the Society environment.

Now, I know that the SFS world is rampant with people who still want to treat this as PFS 1.5 and treat everything as having to be the same as a different, individual game, unless an authority tells them they are wrong. This is natural, as change is often opposed by the masses and takes time.

So, while the documents, in multiple places clearly indicate that Dead Suns is Society legal, even though all of the resources contained within may not yet be, I'm sure some people with far more PFS experience than I will naturally oppose this on the basis of "That's not how PFS did/does it," despite the documentation (not to mention previous posts by Paizo employees stating that the intent is for SF APs to be developed to be SFS-legal from the start.

This leaves one obvious conundrum that is not addressed directly, but I believe is still addressed indirectly. Can you play without a chronicle sheet published yet for sanctioned content? I believe the answer, just like the quests and just like the text in the AP rules states about playing over multiple sessions, is that yes you can, but until you have a completed chronicle sheet, that character cannot be used in any other scenario or adventure.

Given that 5/6 player scheduled for my multi-week signup at my LGS for this have already played every scrap of available content, through 1-05, I doubt any of them will have an issue having a character who can't play anything until 1-06 is released anyway locked out while we wait on the chronicle sheet to be published.

Can I have an official ruling on this? We have the first session schedule to take place Thursday, 2 Nov at 5pm Paizo time.

Excellent read-through and (if it is sanctioned in time) I am super excited to GM it in my SFS group next week! The storyline thus far is engaging and the two tables I have run the first volume for have really enjoyed it. I can't wait to present volume 2 to them!

Ok, so I'm sitting here pondering Strawberry Machine Cake. Is it cake from a Strawberry machine? Is it machine cake with strawberry flavor? If so, what is machine cake? Then it occurred to me! What if SMC ARE "The Machine"?

SMC could be an ongoing project designed to "feed" us a particular "flavor" of subliminal message through the influence of pop-culture! SMC are brainwashing your children into becoming slaves of a soon-to-come invasion, that they will welcome with open arms! Strawberry Machine Cake must be stopped! The Starfinder Society cannot let this mental and emotional slavery to an unidentified threat continue! We must eliminate Strawberry Machine Cake for the sake of the our children, our society and the Pact Worlds as a whole!

#flatgolarian #caketrails

So I know it’s still a few days out, but what is the general timeline for sanctioning new content? I’m very interested in purchasing a pair of Trampling Boots from pg 79 of Alien Archive and Grim Trophies from pg 53 of Temple of the Twelve.

My apologies if this is a repeat post. I didn't see it in my brief search. With regard to GM Novas for SFS, I see three different things, depending on where I go on the site.

- When I click on "My Pathfinder Society", it says I am a five nova GM.
- When I post, I correctly show as a one nova GM.
- When I download my society card, it implies that I am a zero nova something.

I thought I had read somewhere that there were going to be Starfinder Faction pins at GenCon. Did those show up? If so, does anyone have any pics? Will they be available for order from Paizo soon?

What is the appropriate way to refer to a Shirren whose gender is Host?

There is a Shirren staring at you across the room as if they recognize you. [He/She/It] motions from across the room for you to follow before getting up and walking toward the elevators.

Is there a good resource to get started as a player with this? I have never done play-by-post and am intrigued by the physical mechanics of how it works. I have several questions about the physical mechanics, such as timing and things, as well as the idiosyncrasies and nuances of the medium.

Edited to clarify that I meant as a player, not a GM.

I'm interested in volunteering in the St Louis area and have spoken to my VL and VC in person. Now that the RPGG is out I'd like to volunteer as a VA at a store where I have already worked with the store management to bring PFS and now SFS events to the store on a regular basis. The link in the RPGG for volunteering results in a "Page not found" error. Should I use the "Contact us" page or wait on an update to the site to submit myself as a volunteer?

The link in question from page 47 of the RPGG is organizedplayfoundation.org/paizoorganizedplay/volunteer