For designers and developers: How did you handle PCs recharging batteries in your campaigns?
There is a rule, and expense, for recharging batteries quickly. But in a campaign, with hours/days/weeks/months of downtime, are PCs expected to pay this amount for recharging batteries, or is it assumed they can recharge them on their spaceship, or from their friendly party-member technomancer, or some such thing? How did you have it work in the campaigns you ran?
I know that, as GM, I can decide how easily I want my PCs to be able to recharge their batteries, and adjust things accordingly. I would like to know if/how I'm changing things from the assumed base line, though.
I'm hoping that, since this isn't asking for any specific, hard-coded rule, this question might get answered by a designer or developer earlier than an official FAQ/errata question. Of course, if anyone wants to chime in on how you've handled recharging batteries in your campaigns so far, and how well it's worked, I'd love to hear that, too.
Check out this Paizo blog post from a few weeks ago.
At the very least, it is a "how you've handled recharging batteries in your campaigns" bit of data.
Edit: Thanks for pointing it out, CrystalSeas; it didn't show up on my Starfinder RSS feed.
At the very least, it is a "how you've handled recharging batteries in your campaigns" bit of data.
For me, the advantage is two-fold
a)It's an official Paizo decision.
Even though it isn't a FAQ, it's at least a strong indication of what the designers believe is the best solution
b)It's an official Society decision
Even though everyone isn't an SFS player, it is a consistency which new-to-your-group players might have already dealt with. Much easier to houserule something that is in synch with what might be brought to your table anyway.
it didn't show up on my Starfinder RSS feed.
That might be because the blog post doesn't have a 'Starfinder' tag. It has an 'organized play' tag and a 'Starfinder Society' tag.
Starfinder Design Lead
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I ran it both ways in various playlists and theorycrafting. Because we can't assume a single behavior in all groups.
The game is not designed to give an exact to-the-credit result no matter what choices PCs make. Does someone love grenades? Does no one take any consumables at all? Do they hoard back-up weapons, or sell nearly everything for 10% to buy only the custom equipment they want?
The amount of difference between recharging everything, or only using batteries stolen from corpses, or having to recharge every shot at a paid charger, is minor compared to a lot of other factors that impact how hard it is for a GM to keep PCs somewhere close to the assumed wealth by level numbers--though it still was easier than in a Pathfinder campaign where someone decided to be an artificer and there's no pressure to stop PCs from taking 3-month long downtime breaks.
If batteries are easier to charge, PCs will more often shoot into a clump of bushes just top see if someone is there. If batteries always cost money to recharge. PCs are more likely to search every corpse for potential power sources. Neither extreme creates a variation great enough as to be outside the assumed range of game experience.
So, "Pick what you want for your play style and roll with it; it won't make too much difference." OK! Thanks!
I ran it both ways in various playlists and theorycrafting. Because we can't assume a single behavior in all groups.
The game is not designed to give an exact to-the-credit result no matter what choices PCs make. Does someone love grenades? Does no one take any consumables at all? Do they hoard back-up weapons, or sell nearly everything for 10% to buy only the custom equipment they want?
The amount of difference between recharging everything, or only using batteries stolen from corpses, or having to recharge every shot at a paid charger, is minor compared to a lot of other factors that impact how hard it is for a GM to keep PCs somewhere close to the assumed wealth by level numbers--though it still was easier than in a Pathfinder campaign where someone decided to be an artificer and there's no pressure to stop PCs from taking 3-month long downtime breaks.
If batteries are easier to charge, PCs will more often shoot into a clump of bushes just top see if someone is there. If batteries always cost money to recharge. PCs are more likely to search every corpse for potential power sources. Neither extreme creates a variation great enough as to be outside the assumed range of game experience.
A-ha! I knew that Pulsecaster battery was a typo! On the other hand, the "Charges: 1" instead of keeping it "Charges:2" does surprise me, to keep it in line with the Tactical Arc Emitter and the Arc Rifle.
