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So Kalo are aquatic. Does this mean that on most planets they will have to have their environmental protection from their armor on at all times? Or is there some kind of less extreme option?
On a mixed race ship do they have like giant water tanks to chill in, or are they just always in some kind of armor?
Are Kalo ships full of water?
Does the Kalo blindsight function normally above the water with their armor on?
Kalo ships are probably full of water, just like human ships are full of air. Unsused cargo space might not be, but any living space would have to have water. On a mixed race ship, I'd imagine something kinda like the tank Abe has from the Hellboy movies.
Races that require specialized armor to interact with terrestrial creatures are no stranger to science fiction. Star Wars is full of creatures that wear breathing masks or special suits, and I know a few video games features methane-breathing intelligent life. I don't see any problem with Kalo dealing with air-breathers using environmental suits, though you could also easily create a reverse version of the Gill Sheathe augmentation for Kalo to use. Just because they can breathe in the air doesn't mean a fish would find it very comfortable, of course.
I would like to point out that Kalo ships, if filled completely with water, would likely have severe issues launching form the surface, due to the massive amount of dead weight formed by said water. Obviously, ships that can't land wouldn't be bothered by this, but something worth considering.
Additionally, I'm not sure where a kalo's gills are located, but it seems fairly easy to me to create a contraption with suction cups that latch onto the gills and feeds water through them, with a thing on it that draws oxigen from the surrounding air (or a seperate cannister) to make it so they don't need to drag around enough oxygenated water around. That'd probably be the simple, relatively portable civillian sollution, unless they need to keep their skin moist aswell.
I don't currently have my copy of alien archive to hand, but a lot of these are good questions to bring up. 's not easy to be a litteral fish-out-of-water.
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The Alien Archive art shows two different kalo: one wearing very little and apparently underwater, and another standing on land wearing an armored suit with a glass dome over his head, obviously full of murky water. However the text doesn't say they need to keep their skin moist per se, so presumably some sort of reverse-SCUBA apparatus would work for them.
Without the AA, Are Kalo obligate water breathers, or can they breathe air also? If I recall from PF the Gill-men could do both but had to keep moist skin which I think would be easy enough given armor.
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Without the AA, Are Kalo obligate water breathers, or can they breathe air also? If I recall from PF the Gill-men could do both but had to keep moist skin which I think would be easy enough given armor.
Verbiage from Alien Archive: "Kalos are Medium monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype, meaning they require water to breathe."
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Verbiage from Alien Archive: "Kalos are Medium monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype, meaning they require water to breathe."A question comes to mind about this concept then. Would a 1st level Kalo mystic with the Star Shaman Connection walk around Absalom Station perfectly fine without a water-filled rebreather suit or somesuch?
Walk the Void (Su) 1st Level
You are immune to the harmful environmental effects of outer space and vacuum.
Being surrounded by air that your body can't process isn't really the same as being surrounded by a vacuum.
Similarly, Walk the Void wouldn't protect a human from drowning.
Some options. Personally, I think the Black Heart works the best. The stone is too expensive, and the gill sheath is RAW-frail.
Aeon Stone, Iridescent Spindle
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 222
Level 2; Price 740; Bulk —
Description
This aeon stone sustains you by negating the need to breathe.
Gill Sheath
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 211
Item Level 1; Price 95; System Lungs
An external lining striated with oxygen-filtering nodules coats the outside of your lungs. If you breathe in water, it filters into the lining, where the nodules extract the oxygen and deposit it into your lungs. This lets you breathe underwater or in the air. You still exhale normally.
Do kalos have lungs? Well, mechanically there's nothing stopping them to attach this, but it seems like it would only be redundant for the kalos.
Black Heart Mk 1
Level 1
Price 200
Source Starfinder Armory pg. 94
System Heart or Lungs
Despite its name, a black heart can augment any major circulatory organ that helps sustain life in a living creature, though it most commonly augments a heart. A black heart is a strip of necromancy-infused undead flesh that turns whatever organ it is attached to a deep shade of ebony.
You gain the benefits of the environmental protections of armor (Core Rulebook 196), which last for a number of days equal to double the necrograft’s item level. A black heart automatically recharges 1 hour of this duration for each hour this ability is not in use (up to its normal maximum). Additionally, you gain an enhancement bonus to saving throws against death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning effects equal to the necrograft’s mark, unless the effect specifies it functions against undead.
Space Suit
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 231
Category Personal Items (Other)
Level 1;Price 25; Bulk 1
Description
Although this high-tech suit offers little protection against attack, it does provide all the same environmental protections as a suit of armor (see page 196). Unlike armor, a space suit is not designed for the rigors of combat. Whenever you take damage while wearing a space suit, you must succeed at a Reflex saving throw (DC equal to the damage dealt) or the space suit’s life systems suffer catastrophic failure, gaining the broken condition and losing all environmental protections in 1d6 hours unless the suit is repaired. If you fail such a saving throw while the suit already has the broken condition, you lose all environmental protections in 1d6 minutes unless the suit is repaired. You can’t wear a space suit while also wearing any type of armor, even if that armor is broken.
1st Spell Ampoule (Life Bubble)
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 222
Level 3; Price 300; Bulk L
Spell ampoules are injectable magic, where the essence of a magic spell has been condensed into a liquid form and prepared for injection into a creature. Known colloquially as “spell amps,” these heady, ready-to-use magic injections can be used only once.
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I think there's a group of kalo NPCs in a starfinder society scenario, maybe their stat block has some other suggestions/solutions.
Gill Sheath
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 211
Item Level 1; Price 95; System Lungs
An external lining striated with oxygen-filtering nodules coats the outside of your lungs. If you breathe in water, it filters into the lining, where the nodules extract the oxygen and deposit it into your lungs. This lets you breathe underwater or in the air. You still exhale normally.
I'd be annoyed at a GM who ruled a gill sheath didn't let anyone with it installed breath underwater and in the air.
But, as you mentioned, there are a variety of other ways to keep breathing.
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This lets you breathe underwater or in the air.I'd be annoyed at a GM who ruled a gill sheath didn't let anyone with it installed breath underwater and in the air.
But, as you mentioned, there are a variety of other ways to keep breathing.
I can see some rabid arguments about this - there probably were some here already. Looking at the search results, I even participated in this discussion before.
That works very well, if taken out of context - but the item is obviously targeted to creatures that don't breath underwater already. The writing is just ambivalent enough to try and get away with it.
I wouldn't bank on a starfinder society character using this, though.
Hey, sorry quite late on this. In the Starfinder armory pg. 69, there is a series of heavy armor called Kalo Encounter Suits which is specifically fitted for kalos to breath above water. Moreover, the description of the armor (pg. 70) seems to imply that any piece of armor can be fitted with water circulation instead of air circulation, just that kalos "prefer their comfort of their own technology." Hope this helps!