Venture-Agent, Minnesota—Minneapolis
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So given the no PvP rules of SFS, how should the Arc critical (such as from the Static Arc Pistol, a Level 2 Item) work?
Arc
The attack's energy leaps to a second creature. This secondary target must be within 10 feet of your original target and must be the creature closest to the original target (you choose if multiple creatures are equidistant). Roll the amount of damage listed in the weapon's arc—the secondary target takes this damage (not multiplied by the critical hit), of whatever type the weapon deals.
If the other players are all surrounding a target, are you still allowed to fire on it even through you might crit? Does the special of the crit just not activate if it would have hit a player’s character?
As a player, I’ve started putting the Ominous fusion on the static arc pistol so I can substitute a different critical effect. I usually play at least one session without it though because of the additional cost.
|
Venture-Agent, Minnesota—Minneapolis
|
NO CHARACTER-VERSUS- CHARACTER COMBAT
In keeping with the “cooperate” theme of the Starfinder Society, character-versus-character conflict should be kept to a minimum. Accidental friendly fire can happen (due to missed attack rolls or other factors), but players must obtain the consent of other players before deliberately including fellow PCs in damaging effects. In such cases, the damage dealer should offer to assist with necessary healing costs. This rule does not apply in situations where a character is not acting of his own initiative, such as being mind-controlled by an NPC to attack a fellow Starfinder.
Are you deliberately including a fellow PC in a damaging effect?
In many ways, this would be closer to a missed grenade throw than including them in the area of an Overheat spell. You are aiming at a different creature and your chances of the crit are only 5%. Even if you crit, if there are other enemies at equal distance there is a chance it would hit the enemies.
|
So given the no PvP rules of SFS, how should the Arc critical (such as from the Static Arc Pistol, a Level 2 Item) work?
Arc
The attack's energy leaps to a second creature. This secondary target must be within 10 feet of your original target and must be the creature closest to the original target (you choose if multiple creatures are equidistant). Roll the amount of damage listed in the weapon's arc—the secondary target takes this damage (not multiplied by the critical hit), of whatever type the weapon deals.If the other players are all surrounding a target, are you still allowed to fire on it even through you might crit? Does the special of the crit just not activate if it would have hit a player’s character?
As a player, I’ve started putting the Ominous fusion on the static arc pistol so I can substitute a different critical effect. I usually play at least one session without it though because of the additional cost.
We had a look at the mechanical effect in this thread.
As I see it the no PVP rule does not preclude you using an arc weapon against an enemy, regardless of ally positioning.
Should you critical an enemy (A) and there is both another enemy (B) and an ally within the 10ft of the critted enemy, you would, of course, direct the crit to the secondary enemy (B).
However, if there was ONLY the ally adjacent to the enemy (A) then sadly the ally would be the one taking the arc. In this case, you as a player did not choose a secondary target, the weapon simply discharged into the only available option.
Now I say this as someone who plays a melee Solarian and has been on the receiving end of over half a dozen Arc crits. If you want to be good to us melee Solarians (Gods know, we need it) then either put a fusion on your weapon to give you another critical option or instead stay away from Arc weapons.
Arc weapons. Just say no. - brought to you by the Society for the Abolition of Solarian Strife (S.A.S.S.)
Starfinder Society Developer
|
| 16 people marked this as a favorite. |
I feel the need to step in on this, before it goes on any further. Arc weapons have a very cool theme, in that there's some danger in their bounce effect. It's meant to provide PCs with more reasons to be tactically flexible in positioning and promote less static (ha bad pun) positioning.
What makes an arc weapon different from a grenade, is that the trigger is based on success. Getting a critical hit is meant to be a GOOD thing.
I'm less concerned with PCs taking some arc damage from allies during the course of combat—the arc damage is generally more a nuisance than a "BIG HIT". I am concerned when a PC needs to use an arc weapon to target an enemy with an unconscious PC ally nearby. In theory, getting a critical could arc to the unconscious PC and further the potential for death. The key here, is that it's a not a result of failure. There's no "Ok Bill, I can throw this grenade at the foe but if I mess up, it's going to deviate and potentially land on your character's bleeding out body." Instead, the situation is "Well, if I do really well with my shooting, then it's going to arc and wreck you."
For the sake of gameplay sanity, to avoid unnecessary arguments between players, and assuming this will only come up in RARE circumstances, I'm willing to make a call on this.
Corner Case Starfinder Society Errata: An arc critical attack does not constitute as a Player Versus Player action. If an arc occurs and a fellow PC and foe are legal targets, then the foe must be selected. Otherwise, the arc bounce hits the PC. If the only valid target for an arc is an unconscious PC, then disregard the critical effect.
