Any word on availability for the pdf on Paizo?Hopefully today. Their Gen Con team just arrived back in Seattle late last night, so I imagine it might take them some time to process it. (They also haven't put up my new Everyman Mini or Star Log.EM products yet.)
Your Exocortex Options PDF has been up for several days now.
What else is in your queue?
Your Exocortex Options PDF has been up for several days now.
What else is in your queue?
Has it? I thought Paizo didn't have it up yet. Couldn't find it in the search window.
Hm.... (Goes off to investigate.)
So -- will we be able to buy the Starfarer's Companion from Paizo today?
I have a VERY IMPORTANT* question to ask: the Deoxyian individual pictured on page 11 looks to have two tails. Is this a common attribute of base Deoxyians, or is it part of this individual's choices as to genes to modify?
*It's not important.
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So far with one read through, there is lots I like, and lots to digest.. but my "Oh that's a cool way to handle it" moment in the book was the Deoxyian and Kitsune "racial archype" structure. Now I want every race in the game to have one.
So -- will we be able to buy the Starfarer's Companion from Paizo today?
That's a Paizo question, not a RGG question. It is my understanding that they're still trying to catch up the backlog, and will have the Starfarer's Companion up as soon as possible.
Sorry for the inconvenience. :(
I have a VERY IMPORTANT* question to ask: the Deoxyian individual pictured on page 11 looks to have two tails. Is this a common attribute of base Deoxyians, or is it part of this individual's choices as to genes to modify?
*It's not important.
The sample deoxyian is not a "base" deoxyian. Those creatures are called "uramaes," and the only one that's pictured is undead. (It's pictured along the shadow body spell in the Magic section; as you can see, its not a great look at what the race normally looks like. We'll work on it.)
As Lord Mhoram pointed out (possibly coincidentally) right underneath you, that one's actually gone and modded itself to have kitsune fur, ears, and a vulpine muzzle; it's intended to go along with the sample "structure" that describes the race's genetic engineering. Deoxyians normally have one tail, but this one probably took the Magical Tail feat to split its single tail into two smaller ones.
So far with one read through, there is lots I like, and lots to digest.. but my "Oh that's a cool way to handle it" moment in the book was the Deoxyian and Kitsune "racial archype" structure. Now I want every race in the game to have one.
Yeah! I wasn't going to do a kitsune hybrid at first, but the weird description sort of just came together. I'm rather fond of Jacob's end result.
So far with one read through, there is lots I like, and lots to digest.. but my "Oh that's a cool way to handle it" moment in the book was the Deoxyian and Kitsune "racial archype" structure. Now I want every race in the game to have one.Yeah! I wasn't going to do a kitsune hybrid at first, but the weird description sort of just came together. I'm rather fond of Jacob's end result.
I was actually referring the mechanic of replacing a class ability with a racial feat like a class archtype, but something any member of that race could do - the Kitsune extra tails/magic, and the Deoxyian "get another race trait".
I was actually referring the mechanic of replacing a class ability with a racial feat like a class archtype, but something any member of that race could do - the Kitsune extra tails/magic, and the Deoxyian "get another race trait".So far with one read through, there is lots I like, and lots to digest.. but my "Oh that's a cool way to handle it" moment in the book was the Deoxyian and Kitsune "racial archype" structure. Now I want every race in the game to have one.Yeah! I wasn't going to do a kitsune hybrid at first, but the weird description sort of just came together. I'm rather fond of Jacob's end result.
Yeah, gotcha.
I did it where the race's mechanics felt like the worked best, usually where some sort of choice or theme were involved. Tieflings get more mutated with otherworldly taint, mechanoi add new upgrades to their body, and kitsune grow additional tails.
The mechanic is super cool, but I don't think it works as well for other races conceptually or mechanically—sure, you could just add that "You can always swap an alternate class feature for a race feat" or whatnot, but that detracts from those races that DO have a cool flavor reason for the special quality. That's why you see it only where it makes sense (mechanoi / tiefling / deoxyian) or where there's a precedent of some kind (kitsune).
I was actually referring the mechanic of replacing a class ability with a racial feat like a class archtype, but something any member of that race could do - the Kitsune extra tails/magic, and the Deoxyian "get another race trait".So far with one read through, there is lots I like, and lots to digest.. but my "Oh that's a cool way to handle it" moment in the book was the Deoxyian and Kitsune "racial archype" structure. Now I want every race in the game to have one.Yeah! I wasn't going to do a kitsune hybrid at first, but the weird description sort of just came together. I'm rather fond of Jacob's end result.Yeah, gotcha.
I did it where the race's mechanics felt like the worked best, usually where some sort of choice or theme were involved. Tieflings get more mutated with otherworldly taint, mechanoi add new upgrades to their body, and kitsune grow additional tails.
The mechanic is super cool, but I don't think it works as well for other races conceptually or mechanically—sure, you could just add that "You can always swap an alternate class feature for a race feat" or whatnot, but that detracts from those races that DO have a cool flavor reason for the special quality. That's why you see it only where it makes sense (mechanoi / tiefling / deoxyian) or where there's a precedent of some kind (kitsune).
Makes sense. I was thinking "This is cool! All the things \o| should have this!"
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Makes sense. I was thinking "This is cool! All the things \o| should have this!"
I'll keep that in mind as we slowly continue to update old races and invent new alien ones. I think skinwalkers could DEFINITELY use this system, for example.
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I'll keep that in mind as we slowly continue to update old races and invent new alien ones. I think skinwalkers could DEFINITELY use this system, for example.Makes sense. I was thinking "This is cool! All the things \o| should have this!"
That would be cool.
Don't mind me though - I get overenthusiastic about mechanics I like - I squeee like a 15 year old fangirl over cool game mechanics. (No offense to 15 year old fangirls intended.)
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Feedback is good, even if it's in the form of 15-year-old-girl squees. :-P
And it's up on Paizo!
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Feedback is good, even if it's in the form of 15-year-old-girl squees. :-P
I have to phrase it that way. No one wants the feedback of a 50 year old neckbeard squee, which is, alas, what it really is.
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Feedback is good, even if it's in the form of 15-year-old-girl squees. :-PI have to phrase it that way. No one wants the feedback of a 50 year old neckbeard squee, which is, alas, what it really is.
There is a lot of that old guy neckbeard squee going around right now. ;)
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Like David Knott mentioned, the Starfarer's Companion is now available at Paizo.com!
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An update to the Starfarer's Guide has gone live! In it we fixed a bunch of the formatting issues in the book, corrected several typos, and fixed the table orientations for spells. (We also got the weirdness that was the wizard header cosplaying as the ranger header.)
Those of who you've bought on DriveThru should have a notification that you've received the update already. I'd expect those of you who got your copy Paizo / Open Gaming Store to have it in the next day or two as well, depending on how long it takes them to process updates.
Since this wasn't changed in the updated version, could I ask what the intended behavior of Cleric domain spells are? My earlier comment is quoted below for reference, with some added text for clarity.
Cleric gets an additional spell prepared per day from their domain and the ability to prepare domain spells as if they were on the character's spell list. However, since they only have one domain and cast spells as an Arcanist, the latter portion of the ability is useless since they already have their domain spells prepared at all times. I get the feeling they're only supposed to be able to cast from their domain spell slot once, but I don't see anything providing that limitation.
Since this wasn't changed in the updated version, could I ask what the intended behavior of Cleric domain spells are? My earlier comment is quoted below for reference, with some added text for clarity.
Cleric gets an additional spell prepared per day from their domain and the ability to prepare domain spells as if they were on the character's spell list. However, since they only have one domain and cast spells as an Arcanist, the latter portion of the ability is useless since they already have their domain spells prepared at all times. I get the feeling they're only supposed to be able to cast from their domain spell slot once, but I don't see anything providing that limitation.
Ah, sorry, I missed this.
Okay, so what you're missing is this: every Starfarer Cleric gets ONE bonus prepared spell that she can use to prepare ONE of her domain spells. She doesn't auto-prepare every domain spell she has every day.
So, for instance, let's say you have burning hands and flaming sphere as your domain spells. You could use your one free domain spell to prepare burning hands, or you could prepare flaming sphere. But not both. If you want both spells prepared, you would need to use one of your standard cleric spells prepared to do the trick.
I hope that makes sense!
It does, yes. Thank you!
Another missed item: Page 96, Magus Spell List, says "The magus casts spells drawn from the wizard spell list, presented below."
I don't know if you guys have heard, but the Starfarer's Companion is now available for print at DriveThruRPG.com!
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Pretty good product overall- the Paladin's Armour Divine Bond has me giggling and making character concepts in particular :P
My one complaint- not even really a complaint, just something that I intend to change- is setting-wise how Aasimar and Tieflings are noted as automatically hating each other. That's mostly a holdover from me really liking how Pathfinder reversed that, and mentioned that Aasimar and Tieflings often get along remarkably well, since they both know what it's like to be isolated because of your heritage.
My one complaint- not even really a complaint, just something that I intend to change- is setting-wise how Aasimar and Tieflings are noted as automatically hating each other. That's mostly a holdover from me really liking how Pathfinder reversed that, and mentioned that Aasimar and Tieflings often get along remarkably well, since they both know what it's like to be isolated because of your heritage.
So those relationship paragraphs aren't universal, they're tendencies based on the average member of the race, and those tendencies are designed to be specific to the Blood Space campaign setting. In the Xa-Osoro System, tieflings are sort of the inevitable result of all of the topsy-turvey planar jawn going down in the system after the Regicide, and aasimars have suffered pretty heavily because of it. So they tend to not like tieflings (like many people don't). In the end, it was more of a decision based on the idea that aasimars are more interesting if they aren't flawless people, which is how they are presented in PF.
Could somebody please tell me how you balanced the bard wrt the Envoy. The base Pathfinder Bard is just straight out much better (at least at lowish levels).
The difference between the two is on a wife's edge, and largely relates to subtle changes with the bard.
1. Bard spells are not as numerically swingy as they are in PF, and while they share mystic / technomancer progression, their unique spells are generally less powerful than mystic or trchnomancer spells (and the mystic / technomancer spells they DO get tend towards healing spells; while powerful, this isn't really an area that makes bards better than envoys because envoys couldn't fill the healer role anyway).
2. Bardic performances usually have limited targets and limited durations. (If you stop maintaining, they end and cannot be used again until you spend a Resolve Point to recover Stamina.) In contrast, envoys usually buff everyone and don't have hard durations.
3. Bard skill bonuses scale more slowly than the envoy's because they lack expertise.
4. Bards generally don't get abilities that improve skill functionality.
5. Bard debuffs tend to be stronger, but are more subject to failure from immunities and failed saving throws. Envoys are usually a skill check and done (or for some, they simply DO it and don't even need checks).
There are more nuanced factors, but these are the big five.
Thank you. Sounds that you've significantly weakened the bard from Pathfinder. Which, I hasten to add, I think a GOOD thing since it would otherwise be far too powerful for Starfinder :-)
I prefer to think we tuned the bard to be an acceptable alternative to the envoy. I think that people who are more familiar with the bard are going to prefer it to the envoy because as a legacy class, its method of buffing (providing numerical benefits) is much more familiar.
The envoy's buffing and debuffing gameplay is totally different from anything that exists in Pathfinder currently. It's based around special actions that impose conditions on enemies and grant non-numeric benefits to allies, rather than providing simple numbers adjustments.
Did you have access to the guidelines in Chapter 13 of the SF Core Rulebook when you created Starfinder versions of the various Pathfinder classes?
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Did you have access to the guidelines in Chapter 13 of the SF Core Rulebook when you created Starfinder versions of the various Pathfinder classes?
Yes. We didn't do perfect versions of all the classes; those rules are mostly to use PF classes as is, and we wanted to tune some of the classes to fix PF's issues and make them work with the SF chassis better. (For example, all of the classes needed a redesign so they could take SF archetypes and generally be more interesting and diverse builds.)
To my knowledge, nearly all 3PPs who requested them got advanced copies of the rules so we could make sure our work worked with SF, and therefore ensured a great launch day for SF.
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Since mechanoi do not have a constitution score, do they have stamina? If so I assume it is only what's granted by their class?
Since mechanoi do not have a constitution score, do they have stamina? If so I assume it is only what's granted by their class?
They get Stamina, but they effectively don't have anything to add to their Stamina per level. Like in PF, treat it as a mod of +0.
great book , particularly for the races :)
Thank you! For the classics, I tried to make sure that they felt like the same PF races that everyone knew and loved, but also that a few thousand years had passed and they had grown and evolved some with the passage of time. I also tried to retool the racial traits so everyone was roughly on the same level, and so everyone had something "fun and visual" that they could do.
To elaborate on that last bit, if you're a ysoki, you can shove things into your mouth. If you're a kasatha, you can wield multiple items / weapons. If you're a shirren, you can detect nearby people with blindsense. If you're a lashunta, you can cast a few small spells. If you're a vesk, you can beat people up with tooth and claw. That sort of thing.
Have you considered that Spell Combat is a lot harder to use than in Pathfinder, because we no longer have the free 5 foot step? I mean it's way harder to use with a melee weapon, but even with a light weapon it's surprisingly difficult to get a clear shot without that free 5 foot step.
Have you considered that Spell Combat is a lot harder to use than in Pathfinder, because we no longer have the free 5 foot step? I mean it's way harder to use with a melee weapon, but even with a light weapon it's surprisingly difficult to get a clear shot without that free 5 foot step.
Yes, because the magus isn't necessarily melee-only any more. We designed the class with the idea of melee and ranged magi being a feasible option.
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Have you considered that Spell Combat is a lot harder to use than in Pathfinder, because we no longer have the free 5 foot step? I mean it's way harder to use with a melee weapon, but even with a light weapon it's surprisingly difficult to get a clear shot without that free 5 foot step.
Also, there are some spells that explicitly don't provoke attacks of opportunity when cast.
So, are descriptive elements (racial details, i.e. physical descriptions, home worlds, etc.) considered Open Game Content or Product Identity in the Starfarer's Companion? The citation at the beginning of the book doesn't quite seem to specify...
Some of them are Product Identity, but we've given several people permission to use Blood Space IP under a specific set of circumstances. For instance, I'm allowed to reference Blood Space stuff in my Everyman Gaming products however I want as part of an agreement Owen and I have that involved Everyman Gaming helping to pay for the book's art. (Conincidentally, this is also why the Starfarer's Companion is listed on my company's website even though it's an RGG project.) Owen also has an agreement with John Reyst that gives him permission to use setting info from the Starfarer's Companion on the Starfinder SRD.
If I recall right, anything that is a proper noun or major story element is PI. So, like, racial descriptions are fine, but the home world info would need its serial numbers filed off if someone wanted to use it elsewhere.
Congratulations Rogue Genius Games and Everyman Gaming, the Starfarer's Companion has hit Gold on DriveThruRPG!
Congratulations Rogue Genius Games and Everyman Gaming, the Starfarer's Companion has hit Gold on DriveThruRPG!
Thank you! Owen, Matt, and I are hugely excited for how well the Starfarer's Companion is doing! Thank you for making us a huge success. <3
Hmm, going through some of the content here... I think I would have done something a bit different for the the Good Domain's Channel Divinity power. Restricting their healing to good creatures... doesn't actually feel 'good' to me.
I feel like Good Domain clerics would be more keen on helping those who need it, even if they disagreed with them on some things. The way it's written, they couldn't channel to heal a Lawful Neutral businessman who got hurt when his business was attacked, a neutral peacemaker who was betrayed during an attack, or a Chaotic Neutral figure who got hurt when they went wild but might be swayed towards goodness if shown compassion. I mean, there's still spells, but... something a little more benevolent here feels like it would fit better.
(Similarly, I feel like the Evil Domain's Channel Divinity could be more selfish. Perhaps, instead of only affecting evil creatures, it could have been something like "You can choose to exclude a number of creatures equal to your cleric level from your healing"? That would emphasize the worldview of 'I don't HAVE to heal you, so you'd better make me think you're worth it'.)
So, when you're channeling good, you're not channeling the cosmic forces of good. You are still channeling some aspect of a deity, specifically their moral ideologies. That's why when you channel good to heal, only good creatures are affected. Good is oftenhelpful, but it can also be self-perpetuating and self-interested. For example, Sarenrae and Ragathiel are both Good and would give access to this domain, but no one would expect Ragathiel to be into healing people who don't follow his ideologies.
To put another way, Channel Good rewards those who are good, just as Channel Fire rewards those who are elemental-fire based and not just those who venerate fire. The inverse is true for Channel Evil; it rewards those who follow Evil, and lets the cleric be the one to decide who gets it.
It feels like the classes could do with making use of resolve more, tying more abilities to spending resolve points would be good.
Resolve Point spenditure varies from class to class, just like it does among the Core Classes.
The level 20 capstone for the wizard also feels a bit lack lustre compared to any of the core classes, something to show the mastery of magic would be better as a final capstone. Maybe something where you can spend resolve to cast spells below a certsin level or something along those lines.
I also feel the wizard needs at least a couple more class skills, it's an intelligence based class which means most wizards will have 8 skill points at the start.
Wizards lack most of those class skills to keep them from stepping toes on the technomancer, which also doesn't gain an insight bonus on Mysticism checks. We were extremely conscious of the technomancer when we designed the wizard, since the wizard inherently has more spells as it is. Of course, this makes Skill Focus and Skill Synergy competitive choices for a wizard who wants to be extraordinary at skills.
Also, focus power only does extra damage for level 0 spells that do 1d4 damage... which don't exist? Energy ray is 1d3 and telekinetic projectile is 1d6?
That seems like a typo. Hopefully Matt or Owen can clarify. (I wasn't design lead on wizard.)