Game 1 for my Exocortex Mechanic - longarms was postponed to this week, so I have a couple days of fine tuning.
What are your thoughts about Skill Synergy (acrobatics/ Stealth) vs Barricade? Should I end up taking both feats eventually?
Can a barricade be used by more than one character? Can additional barricades be constructed for other players? What’s the endurance factor of a barricade and will not scale with my level?
I've seen the Exo-Mechanic in our games use Barricade to great effect, cover is very important in Starfinder, especially at low levels. It works for others, also -- there's nothing to indicate it doesn't provide cover for others as long as it exists. However, it is as described extremely fragile, and at most might last a couple of rounds especially in a heavy firefight.
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I think both of those are excellent choices, which you want first really seems like a play style choice. Barricade is good, particularly if you're combining it with an already decent AC. Keep in mind that it'll take a few turns to deploy, since you'll also need to activate your combat tracking and move to a good point on the map. They both provide immediate and solid benefits at level one.
If I had to pick without knowing more of your character and how you play it I'd say skill synergy. That gives you a few turns to play and get used to activating combat tracking, identifying a good shooting position & moving to it. And attacking. Before adding another action into the mix.
barricade is nice also when you are in a room that does not have much/any prebuilt cover. Getting shot hurts so everything you can do to mitigate that helps. Even if it only lasts a couple rounds that still tends to help.
What exactly does barricade do for you that you couldn't do without the feat?
It lets you mcguyver cover out of almost nothing, rather than hoping there's a table to kick over or a counter to get behind.
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Yup. What Rysky said. It explicitly allows the construction of cover out of things that normally can't give cover, and allows it as a Move Action.
That's a significant advantage even if the GM would normally let you construct cover as a move action, something not all GMs will always allow.
Personally I'd stick with Skill Synergy anyway, but Barricade is a nice Feat.
Yup. What Rysky said. It explicitly allows the construction of cover out of things that normally can't give cover, and allows it as a Move Action.
That's a significant advantage even if the GM would normally let you construct cover as a move action, something not all GMs will always allow.
Personally I'd stick with Skill Synergy anyway, but Barricade is a nice Feat.
I think I’ll stick to Skill Synergy, but by third level would Barricade be worth it or move on to other combat feats?
What exactly does barricade do for you that you couldn't do without the feat?
Everyone has a different opinion of that, it seems.
Some people think that it forces the GM to allow them to spontaneously generate cover and if the GM didn't describe suitable objects beforehand they absolutely didn't exist without this feat.Others think it lets you build cover out of a file folder and a ham sandwich.
Still more believe that it simply speeds up the time it takes to accomplish the task and it is up to the GM whether the feat is usable in a given situation.
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Everyone has a different opinion of that, it seems.
Do they? Most people seem mostly in agreement on this one. You're one of the few people who seems not to be.
Some people think that it forces the GM to allow them to spontaneously generate cover and if the GM didn't describe suitable objects beforehand they absolutely didn't exist without this feat.
Some people might think that, I suppose. I haven't actually seen anyone say this, though. Suggest that most GMs will allow it most of the time? Yes. Suggest it can always be used in all circumstances? No.
Others think it lets you build cover out of a file folder and a ham sandwich.
This is true. Just about the only thing people legitimately do debate is what the low end for things Barricade can use to make cover is.
Still more believe that it simply speeds up the time it takes to accomplish the task and it is up to the GM whether the feat is usable in a given situation.
Anyone who thinks this is factually wrong. The Feat's rules text explicitly states it allows you to make cover out of things you couldn't without the Feat. The low end of that is a GM call and point of contention, but the fact that it allows you to make cover out of some things you couldn't ever use as cover sans Feat is pretty indisputable.
It's also highly arbitrary. :\
Barricade is a test of the "Say Yes" GM rule, to be sure. But when I think about in most scenarios the level of JUNK that would realistically dot most RPG combat landscapes, it isn't a big stretch.
In fact,I like it because it reminds me as a GM to be mindful of including more dynamic scenery when I set up a combat. In my experience at home and at cons, too often we GMs as a whole just make flat plateaus or blank 10 x 10 corridors and huge empty rooms, and don't think enough about it. The players too, often just roll with it and don't bother to ask about cover and advantageous terrain.
With a player asking, "is there stuff to make my barricade from?" every combat, it prompts me to add stuff either descriptively or to draw a few extra pieces for the people without the feat to do something with.
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Barricade is a test of the "Say Yes" GM rule, to be sure. But when I think about in most scenarios the level of JUNK that would realistically dot most RPG combat landscapes, it isn't a big stretch.
In fact,I like it because it reminds me as a GM to be mindful of including more dynamic scenery when I set up a combat. In my experience at home and at cons, too often we GMs as a whole just make flat plateaus or blank 10 x 10 corridors and huge empty rooms, and don't think enough about it. The players too, often just roll with it and don't bother to ask about cover and advantageous terrain.
With a player asking, "is there stuff to make my barricade from?" every combat, it prompts me to add stuff either descriptively or to draw a few extra pieces for the people without the feat to do something with.
Yeh, for sure! How often is a room “empty “? In everyday occurrences we see a variety of furniture, boxes, etc that I can’t possible see why it would hard to fabricate a barricade. I wonder if Barricade could be used to temporarily block enemies when chasing you?
Slightly off topic, but I'm reminded of an item in John Ringo's first series. They human soldiers had a grenade-like device that was designed to blow out six foot deep holes in the ground. It was instant foxhole pretty much anywhere.
Definitely an idea for a homegame for a character with the skills to use plasma explosives.
Slightly off topic, but I'm reminded of an item in John Ringo's first series. They human soldiers had a grenade-like device that was designed to blow out six foot deep holes in the ground. It was instant foxhole pretty much anywhere.
Definitely an idea for a homegame for a character with the skills to use plasma explosives.
and they were wearing power armour so they could survive the blast :-)