That's actually how I read it. The meal prices are meant to be for 'special occasions'.
A week's worth of rations or a day's worth of MRE's are 1cr. It takes 1 UPB to make either of them yourself assuming you have a single 'rank' in an appropriate skill. I feel like most people would, most of the time, just live off of those and all those 'meals out' prices would be for like, date night. Not something they're doing 3x a day.
That puts weekly 'cost of living' at the low end at like 8cr/week. That's well under what any CR 1/3-1 creature could afford with a Day Job check.
Jindam rubs his hands conspiratorially when checking out all the rewards. He does a few more checks of his equipment before realizing he should probably buy some batteries.
Not sure if I still have time, but I'd like to buy 7 batteries and 3 High Capacity Batteries.
Debilitating Trick generally only lasts until the start of your next turn. So I think the Bleed damage is for one single round. It's not the same as the bleeding condition. It's just extra damage. That being said, I hit the FAQ button.
My wife's family had a pretty severe tragedy hit last night. I'm likely to be in and out of pocket all week. If, for any reason, you need to bot me, feel free.
I signed up for this, but it was a while back when GM signups opened up. I need to look up what character I signed up to play as and possibly make their sheet. I should have that up in the next day or two.
All the Kobolds I've met would take huge issue with comparisons to either Ysoki or Ikeshti. Kobolds are dragons....Dragons. There is no comparing them to anything except Dragons. If you can't see that, they'd happily pour some alchemist's fire down your throat to enlighten you.
Also, Grippli (Seriously, they're canonically from another planet. Why aren't they in the game yet? Planet of the Frogs!)
I don't think they're official pathfinder races and I'm suspecting there's some sort of legal reason, but I also miss the races from the Psionics handbooks. Half-Giants in particular. We got sexy dromites (lashunta) already, though, I guess.
While it doesn't appear to have made it live to the actual site, yet, Joe Pasini has answered this, here.
Our Lead Designer wrote:
For question 3: Powered armor must be upgraded level by level as detailed in Starfinder Armory; this does indeed become prohibitively expensive.
While I personally disagree with this ruling and would be happy to provide mathematical models to show why, I really really really appreciate that they took the time to answer this question. I'm putting this here in case anyone does a search for this particular thread later. I'll be updating the cookiemaker sheet in the next release to reflect the FAQ'ed formulae.
Nothing I said when i worked at Paizo should ever be taken to determine priorities now. Joe's inside the building, and honestly only he has a really good view of the cost/benefit analysis of various specific rules questions vs the thousand other things on his plate.
I didn't mean to imply that it does. I simply assumed that the dev/editorial team was (internally) keeping track of things to FAQ/Errata in some sort of list and assumed that when you made the comment on the forums at the time, you added it to that list, and that possibly, in the transition or the intervening time since making the statement, it fell off the list. I'm hoping that, if it isn't already, it's added back to the list. Since it appears that he's currently working on that list, or at least thinking about it, I felt now was an appropriate time to broach the subject.
That's significantly shallower than I was thinking (some sunlight penetrates as deep as 1km), but if that's the official designation, I stand corrected.
Strange, ancient ruins that predate ijtikri culture dot the scattered islands of Vesk-2 and are an enduring mystery on the planet, hinting at the possibility of another sapient species that inhabited the world in the distant past.
Please let this be Grippli and be detailed in the book...
Thank you, Joe and the team, so much for your diligent work on this. Regular updates to the FAQ really really help in the online region of Organized Play.
In the context of this AP volume, you're supposed to be level 12. That's a base of +8 with anywhere from +1-+5 from Wis (probably +2 or +3), probably +0-+3 from a ring, and anywhere from +0-+2 from feats. I think +10-+16 is more accurate for that level, with average probably being around +12 for Soldiers/Solarians. Assuming you have just the one necrograft, that's still like a 15-30% chance of failure. Failure from your weapon solarian pretty much means they're killing (or at least disabling) a party member (or two). The 13th level weapon solarian in the game I'm running only had a +8 and the two soldiers in the group were at +10 and +12, respectively.
Unfortunately, noone in my home group installed any necrografts back when they had the opportunity in book 3, but it would have been nice if they had.
I was reminded today that characters with necrografts count as undead for the purpose of effects that target undead.
I'll just leave this here:
Undead Mastery (Su) As a standard action, a necrovite can cause one undead creature within 50 feet to fall under its control as per control undead (Will DC 21 negates). This control is permanent for unintelligent undead; an undead creature with an Intelligence score can attempt an additional saving throw each day to break free. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the necrovite’s undead mastery for 24 hours. A necrovite can control a group of undead whose total CR is no greater than twice its CR (26 for the typical necrovite).
Personally, I prefer to keep the PDFs/scanned images of the chronicles in a Google Drive rather than print them out. That way I can just bring up the drive on my phone when in person, or send the link when online if anyone cares to audit me. But I tend to be more trusting of my ability to keep track of technology than paper.
There are a handful of GM's in the various online lodges that are either in the UK or a similar timezone or run games friendly to those timezones. There's an online con this weekend called NexusCon that has some games friendly to that timezone.
I've yet to see anyone suggest a way to fairly incorporate a mecha into the rules that either isn't a high level item (a la the existing huge and larger power armor) or isn't completely broken.
I really don't think you can do a mecha of that type that both works for a first level character (without breaking the game entirely) and also feels like what people are asking for.
We've gone over this several times already in this thread and rehashing that would just be tedious. I'm not convinced that it forbids it, and you are, and neither of us has convinced the other. I think that's enough to conclude that it doesn't "clearly" forbid it :)
This is why we need a FAQ, and I encourage everyone to click the FAQ button if they haven't already. If the AR team has access to discussions that could get a developer to FAQ this, I would further recommend you exercise those and implore them to FAQ this.
I'm convinced the text does clearly forbid it, so I'm not going to allow it in any of the SFS games I run. If you, and others, are convinced the text doesn't, you're going to allow it in the SFS games you run. A player that plays in both of our games is going to have a drastically different experience. That isn't healthy for OP in general, and makes GM's that honestly feel like they're playing fairly and by the rules look like the 'bad guys' taking away players toys. That isn't fun for anyone. If it's allowed, it needs to be clearly and emphatically allowed.
This sheet, is an automated sheet that keeps track of, I believe, all the stuff you mention, except for the spell descriptions. It also automates much of the character creation and level up process. It's, unfortunately, not very printer or mobile friendly, but it's one of the better free resources out there.
Goblin stow-a-ways, hiding in the bowels of the ship, mess up the Drift engine mid mission. Unfortunately, it happens at precisely the same time as a Drift 'mishap' so now you have to find the goblins, convince them to give you back the part they found, and repair the ship, all while an army of wraiths from the shadow plane attempts to board the ship.
I did say, "I still say it doesn't work without a FAQ." That's the only part of my message you didn't quote. Even if they were a developer, the message begins with 'This is not an official clarification or statement'.
There is already a FAQ thread asking for clarification on this.
My answer is that, until a FAQ comes out, they don't work together. The 'no fusions that don't work on small arms' clause is absolute. There are no exceptions listed and there hasn't been a dev comment that I know of saying, "yeah we meant to put 'except for Soulfire' on the end of that," yet.
EDIT: I need to learn to read. The dev comment is above, ignore my last sentence. I still say it doesn't work without a FAQ (at least in SFS), but it seems the intent of the person that wrote it was for it to work.
Of course, that makes it on par DPR-wise with high end heavy weapons, but I guess that's alright with everyone.
I did a couple comparison charts and at a handful of levels, Shield beats Weapon for raw damage ((assuming the 1.5x specialization and Soulfire)). If it targets EAC, it's definitely going to be better than weapon.
I'm going to go ahead and start this by saying that I'm not trying to start a debate here, or advocate for or against any particular answer to these questions. If you want to do that, feel free, but I'm mostly hoping for a FAQ request here, because I think these situations are ambiguous enough in the actual text to warrant it. And I think over time these are likely to cause some of the same kinds of arguments that RoF caused (especially in SFS, where every GM can't just make up their own house rules and hope for the best).
If by some miracle the thread comes to a consensus, even if it's one I disagree with, I'm happy to play along with the general player base and not argue. But if you feel the need to come in here and act like I'm stupid for daring to ask the question or for not seeing your particular answer as the one true gospel, just leave, please. I don't have time for your weakness.
First my questions.
1. Does Soulfire (the fusion) allow a Solar Shield wielder to add their charisma to damage?
2. Does a Solar Shield using a Solarian Crystal that does energy damage target EAC or KAC?
3. Do racial or class features (like Vesk Natural Attack or Aesthetic Warrior) provide a 1.5x Specialization (or any other bonuses) to the Unarmed Strikes from Solar Shield?
So that we have all the relevant information, here are the rules for the various things involved in why I'm asking those questions. Sections may be bolded or italicized for emphasis so you can more easily see where confusion about the rules might arise.
Solar Shield:
You can coalesce your solar mote around one of your hands, creating a deflecting shield of out of stellar energy. This shield appears to be made of either glowing light or solid darkness, as determined by the appearance of your solar manifestation, but it can take any general shape you desire. Normal defensive implements such as bucklers and kite shields are popular shapes for solar shields, but it is not unheard of for a solarian to bear a solar shield in the form of a shining orrery orbiting their arm, a set of rapidly spinning helicopter blades across their forearm, or stranger barriers. Your solar shield’s general design has no impact on its function, and it doesn’t give the shield any special abilities. Once you’ve selected the general design, you can’t change it until you gain a new solarian level.
Your solar shield grants you a +1 shield bonus to AC (see Shields on page 124), and as a move action you can align the shield to grant you greater protection against one opponent you are observing (Core Rulebook 260), which increases your shield bonus to AC to +2 against attacks from that opponent until the beginning of your next turn. At 5th level and again every 5 levels thereafter, the shield bonus when aligned against one target increases by an additional +1.
You can make unarmed attacks with your solar shield; these attacks are not archaic, and you threaten squares within your reach while it is formed. You can add solarian weapon crystals to your solar shield as if it were a solar weapon, in which case their benefits apply to unarmed attacks you make with the shield. The damage type of these attacks is the same damage type as the type granted by the solarian weapon crystal, and if the solarian weapon crystal does not specify a damage type, it deals bludgeoning damage.
Forming or dismissing a solar shield is a move action that takes the same amount of effort as drawing or sheathing a weapon (and can be combined with a move as a single move action or used with the Quick Draw feat). Your solar shield is automatically dismissed if it ever leaves your hand.
Soulfire:
The soulfire fusion (and soulfire fusion seals) can only be applied to solarian weapon crystals. When you hit a target with a solar weapon augmented by a solarian weapon crystal with the soulfire fusion, you add your Charisma bonus to the damage done, in addition to your Strength bonus.
So, since you treat your Solar Shield 'as if it were a solar weapon' for the purposes of solarian crystals and there are no caveats (as with Solar Flare) about the types of fusions it can take. I think the answer to 1 is that Soulfire works with Solar Shield. Both Herolab and the Cookiemaker sheet (which I edit) currently do not work this way, and the text is ambiguous enough (and solar shield powerful enough) that I could see it getting argued over. But that's precisely why I'm asking the question.
Armor Class:
ENERGY ARMOR CLASS (EAC)
Your Energy Armor Class (EAC) represents the defenses you have against attacks that only deal damage as a result of some kind of energy (such as acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic damage). When an opponent’s attack would deal only energy damage (if he is using, for example, a laser pistol), his attack roll result is compared to your EAC to determine whether he hits you. Some weapons and effects that use magical or exotic untyped energies might also target your EAC; the description of the weapon or effect tells you if this is the case.
KINETIC ARMOR CLASS (KAC)
Your Kinetic Armor Class (KAC) represents the defenses you have against attacks that primarily deal damage as a result of a physical impact. This generally includes attacks that deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (usually described as “kinetic attacks”), as well as impacts from falling and damage from crushing or constriction. When a foe’s attack would deal such damage (if he is using, for example, a starknife), even if it also deals energy damage, his attack roll result is compared to your KAC to determine whether he hits.
So, based on that, if an attack from a Solar Shield deals solely energy damage (which the Solar Shield with some crystals does) it should target EAC, and if it deals Bludgeoning or some other kinetic damage, it should be KAC and I think that should be the answer to 2. Most examples, though, of fusions (or the like) that change a damage type of a weapon include a line like the following: "This fusion never causes a weapon that normally targets KAC to target EAC." I can't think of an example that doesn't, and it's perfectly reasonable to assume this is a general rule. Unarmed Strikes normally do kinetic damage and it's perfectly reasonable to assume that this implied general rule applies and Solar Shield always targets KAC, regardless of the energy type. However, since that line is missing from Solar Shield, the wording of how damage assigned is different from other examples, and I cannot find a general rule that actually says this, I think it's ambiguous enough to warrant a FAQ, because I can totally see this being ruled either way at any given table.
Finally...
Vesk Natural Attack:
Vesk are always considered armed. They can deal 1d3 lethal damage with unarmed strikes and the attack doesn’t count as archaic. Vesk gain a unique weapon specialization with their natural weapons at 3rd level, allowing them to add 1–1/2 × their character level to their damage rolls for their natural weapons (instead of just adding their character level, as usual).
Aesthetic Warrior:
You study fighting styles thought lost to the Gap, often recorded only in the art of ancient civilizations or inferred from the shape of relic weapons and battle gear. You focus specifically ancient motions and techniques that rely on form and mobility rather than the harshness of attacks and resilience. You gain Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. You can deal lethal damage with your unarmed strikes, and the attack doesn’t count as archaic. At 3rd level, you gain a unique Weapon Specialization with your unarmed strikes, allowing you to add 1-1/2 times your character level to your damage rolls for your unarmed strikes (instead of just adding your character level, as usual). If you can already add 1-1/2 your character level to your unarmed attack rolls (such as due to the vesk natural attack racial trait), you instead can add the block, grapple, and stun weapon special properties to your unarmed strikes.
This replaces the soldier’s proficiency with heavy armor and heavy weapons.
Here's where I see a lot of arguments happening, same as they did with Ring of Fangs. See, I can freely admit that it doesn't make any sense for a racial ability that makes your fangs or teeth or tail (or whatever the heck Vesk use) to attack stronger (the 1.5x spec) not affecting a shield. That seems rational on the face of it. But there are a lot of other things where I've made that argument (like smelling through environmental protections) only to be talked to like I'm stupid for not accepting this is a game full of magic and it doesn't have to make sense. Moreover, the line in Aesthetic Warrior about the vesk natural attack racial trait implies that the 1.5x spec from the trait applies to all unarmed strikes (and not just the ones from your actual 'claws' or whatever). Solar Shield is an unarmed strike. Further, in the clarification of RoF from Joe Pasini other properties from Natural Attack get applied to the RoF attack, because it's an unarmed strike, so you can make the case that this might be how it's supposed to work. Now, personally I think that the answer to 3 is that something like Vesk Natural Attack does not work but Aesthetic Warrior does, but I can see valid arguments about Intent vs RAW vs Logic vs 'Don't take away my toy' vs 'his toy is better than mine and you should take it away' ruining a lot of fun at actual tables. So I think it warrants a FAQ.
I welcome anyone who wishes to to make their case for their own answer, but I have no plans on engaging in a debate about this. If you have clearly irrefutable rules text that answers these questions, or if everyone agrees that it should work a particular way, I welcome it. Otherwise I've made the case as I see it, and I'm mostly hoping that you agree it needs a FAQ and click the FAQ button.
Well, I think the following 'order' works really well as a semi-coherent plot with a lot of crossover and the bulk of the better storylines. If I were using SFS scenarios to build a coherent home game, this is probably the track I'd run them through.
1st Level
1-00 - Claim to Salvation (save XP til 3, begin Salvation storyline)
1-01 - The Commencement (beginning of several storylines)
QP1 - Into the Unknown (Begin Elytrio storyline)
1-05 - The First Mandate (begin Scoured stars storyline)
2nd Level
1-03 - Yesteryear's Truth (Elytrio)
1-04 - Cries from the Drift (Ziggy/Historia and Arniselle)
1-07 - The Solar Sortie (Ziggy/Historia)
3rd Level
1-00 - Just credits
1-09 - Live Exploration Extreme!!! (Salvation)
1-20 - Duskmire Accords 9 (Salvation)
4th Level
1-08 - Sanctuary of Drowned Delight (Arniselle)
1-11 - In Pursuit of the Scoured Past (Scoured Stars)
1-13 - On the Trail of History (Scoured Stars)
5th Level
1-14 - Star Sugar Heartlove!!! (Ziggy/Historia)
1-21 - Yesteryear's Sorrow (Elytrio)
1-17 - Reclaiming the Time Lost Tear (Scoured Stars)
7th Level
1-23 - Return to Sender (Scoured Stars, Ziggy/Historia)
1-29 - Honorbound Emissaries (Scoured Stars)
1-38 - The Many Minds of Historia (Ziggy/Historia)
8th Level
1-39 - The Herald's War (Scoured Stars)
2-00 - Fate of the Scoured God (Conclusion of Scoured Stars)
2-16 - A Scoured Home (Scoured Stars Epilogue)
There is a way to hit all the Scoured Stars, Salvation's End, Ziggy/Historia, and Wayfinders/Ghibrani stuff from Season 1 on a single character, but it's pretty tight.
What you are arguing is that environmental seals shut off certain abilities despte having no game effects for doing so because SCIENCE! in a system where SCIENCE! has been hyper drived into the sun on the wings of literal angels.
What I'm arguing is that we all make an attempt to 'play fair' and take the good with the bad rather than try to one up the developers or each other when we roleplay. If the rules say, or even imply, that a thing works (whether it's because of MAGIC! or SCIENCE! or because the game developers say so) we accept that as a part of the game and play accordingly. ie I'll never argue about how Force Field armor upgrades work because the rules say they work how they work, even though it makes no sense.
If the rules don't say a thing works, then it doesn't. Especially if doing so makes the universe less internally consistent. Even if we want it to. Even if it makes some characters more difficult to play than others. Even if it makes some ability or another effectively useless. Part of the fun of the game is in overcoming challenges presented to the character. Ignoring that makes the game less fun (for me). I'm perfectly happy to play in a game where creatures that evolved/were created to be underwater hunters are better hunters underwater than on land. That kind of character diversity makes the game better (in my opinion) not worse.
I've said my piece, though. So I'm out. I'll continue running and playing the game the way I am and you can continue running and playing the game the way you are and we can just accept that that's different and that's fine until there's an official ruling that corrects one or both of us. All it takes is one line "Characters that have special senses are in no way hampered by environmental protections on armor." (or something similar) and I'll be perfectly happy to change the way I run/play.
I disagree. I think the burden of proof lies on wanting to have your cake and eat it too. If you as a player say, "I close my eyes to avoid the medusa's gaze attack." Then you are protected but you also can't see the mephit about to shoot your friend. If you as a player say, "I turn on my environmental protections to avoid the toxic atmosphere." Then you are protected but you also can't smell the bantrid assassin sneaking up behind you. If you want both, you need to show a rule that says you can have both.
It gets too weird doing it the other way, how are you using blindsense scent or sound if your armor works like it's in a vacuum?
I don't. I've always, as a player, assumed that my characters that had that stuff couldn't use it if I had environmental protections on or are in an environment where that otherwise doesn't make any sense (like hearing in a vacuum). I've always, as a GM, ruled that you can have your environmental protections on, or you can use scent (or several other 'blindsenses' that rely on exposure to the atomosphere), but not both. That's a tradeoff for being safe from dangerous gasses.
If there's some rule or FAQ or dev post where it explicitly (or even implicitly) states that scent works in environmental protections or you can somehow hear in a vacuum with armor, I've honestly missed it, and would appreciate the heads up where that's explained. I don't see it in the rules for environmental protections on armor, nor on the rules for the blindsense or blindsight special abilities.
That'd be weird. There's a lot of stuff that is lethal long before you can smell it. Not to mention stuff that is lethal that has no smell or taste at all. I mean, I know it could all just be 'magic' but it'd be really weird for it to let anything through, especially if it's supposed to stand up to a vacuum test.
The creatures to be summoned are set when the grenade is created, so you know what you’re getting when you buy, presupposing a scrupulous vendor.
So you can buy a grenade of 'summon astral skittermander whelp' if that's what you want, or can make one, if you're capable of making your own and have that on your personal list of summons.
I just did a test build for a combo Soldier 3/Shield Solarian 2 with max Charisma and a starting 13 in Strength (so you can get Power Armor prof at 5 and use that for Strength). At level 5 I come up with 25 average (min 21/max 29) damage, assuming a level 5 crystal and maxing Charisma and taking melee striker and photon mode. A power-larian (solar weapon + power armor prof) at the same level is looking at 21 average damage.
It looks to be pretty weak before that, but if you can GM-Baby your way through the lower levels, or are playing a game that starts at level 5 or higher, it might just work out.
The attack’s damage is equal to the entropic strike damage of a vanguard of either your class level or a class level equal to the weapon’s item level, whichever is lower.
That line would overwrite the line about adding the damage from the crystal.
It does though, look like you could combine Aesthetic Warrior with Solar Shield and Soulfire to get 1.5x Specialization and Charisma and Strength to damage on top of the weapon crystal. That may, all-together, beat out RoF (now that RoF is illegal in SFS).
I'm not sure if this will work or not, but it looks on a cursory reading like you could potentially get (at 11th+ level) an entropic strike vanguard that pairs with Shield solarian to get Str+Con+Solarian Weapon crystal damage to Entropic Strikes using the Solar Shield. I don't think you can get Cha also, with soulfire, because Solarian Weapon Crystals aren't (directly) Advanced Melee Weapons so I don't think that works. But I think you can get the extra damage from the solarian crystal, unless I'm missing something.
Entropic Strike wrote:
You can also deliver an entropic strike with any melee weapon, or any shield that allows you to make unarmed attacks (replacing the normal attack with your entropic strike). The attack’s damage is equal to the entropic strike damage of a vanguard of either your class level or a class level equal to the weapon’s item level, whichever is lower. When you use this option, your entropic strike is considered to be made of whatever material the weapon or shield is made of (such as for the purposes of bypassing DR or creature weaknesses). Additionally, you can apply any weapon special property, critical hit effect, or weapon fusion the melee weapon or shield has to your entropic strike as long as the effect can be applied to a one-handed advanced melee weapon that deals acid or bludgeoning damage, doesn’t use additional ammunition or charges, and doesn’t require information beyond that specified for your entropic strike to function. If the weapon special property, critical hit effect, or weapon fusion requires information provided for your weapon (such as the amount of a bleed critical hit effect), use the value for the weapon you are gaining the effect from.
Solar Shield wrote:
You can make unarmed attacks with your solar shield; these attacks are not archaic, and you threaten squares within your reach while it is formed. You can add solarian weapon crystals to your solar shield as if it were a solar weapon, in which case their benefits apply to unarmed attacks you make with the shield. The damage type of these attacks is the same damage type as the type granted by the solarian weapon crystal, and if the solarian weapon crystal does not specify a damage type, it deals bludgeoning damage.
