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1. Can a Soldier take the same Gear boost multiple times, and do untyped effects provided by these boosts stack?
2. Do multiple applications of an effect generated by a gear boost, such as flash freeze, stack upon an opponent?
Soldier gear boosts do not provide language to explain whether:
- The same boost can be taken more than once
- Multiple duplicate un-typed boosts stack their bonuses
- Mutliple applications of the same boost (such as flash freeze) stack on an opponent.
Most other similar abilities provide something along the lines of:
"If a character somehow has the same feat more than once, the benefits of these feats do not stack unless indicated otherwise"
Similar rules that follow this pattern (not stackable unless the text says otherwise), but all have that text in the rule itself:
- Feats (p152)
- Mechanic Tricks (p70)
- Drone Mods (p75)
- Operative Exploits (p93)
- Stellar Revelation (p102)
When exceptions occur allowing you to take the item more than once, it generally does not stack, and you need to apply it to another item/resist/whatever.
Similar language is also omitted from boosts that provided a numerical effect on an opponent, like flash freeze:
"When you hit a creature with a weapon in the cryo category, that creature’s speeds are reduced by 10 feet for 1 round, to a minimum of 10 feet."
Leaving the ability ambiguous as to whether multiple applications in a full attack would stack or not.
Stacking vs not stacking is usually explicitly stated in the rule, but in this case, it is not. Since most similar rules don't allow the stacking by default, I'd expect many people to make the assumption that the lack of wording is an oversight, not an implication of exception to the norm.
However, RAW: until we get an FAQ request on the topic, people have some pretty good grounds for arguing that the bonuses (outside of stacking same typed insight bonuses) do actually stack.
I would say that only a few of them even potentially stack: Heavy Onslaught having an upper limit of reducing their total damage reduction; Flash Freeze having the limit of not being able to reduce movement below 10 feet; and Powerful Explosive which could potentially create a massive explosion with multiple boosts. All of the other ones seem to imply either a distinct change, and addition to an existing bonus that doesn't stack, or other limiting factors.
Revengeancer, Quindraco and some others have made the point in another thread that RAW they stack, and Quindraco has done two posts summarizing how they would stack (if you read it RAW that they do, in fact, allow all the stacking) in the Lets talk about soldier gear boosts thread.
If you take the stance that they DO stack:
There's no question you can take the same gear boost over and over again. Here's a breakdown of their interactions with themselves:
Non-stacking:
Anchoring Arcana: Stacking this does nothing, as taking it permits a special full action - once you've taken it, you can legally take the action, so taking it again doesn't actually add anything to you.
Armored Advantage: This provides an insight bonus, which won't stack.
Brutal Blast: This provides an insight bonus, which won't stack.
Bullet Barrage: This provides an insight bonus, which won't stack.
Laser Accuracy: This provides an insight bonus, which won't stack.
Plasma Immolation: Stacking this does nothing, as once you've taken it, you inflict the burning condition on a natural 19 - taking it a second time still means you inflict the burning condition on a natural 19. Like Anchoring Arcana, this boost is fundamentally non-additive.
Sonic Resonance: This is fundamentally non-additive, as well - like Plasma Immolation, once you take it, you now inflict a condition.Stacking:
Caustic Burns (Dead Suns 2): This will stack. If you take it all 5 times, you can either give an L6 or L11 Disintegrator Pistol Critical Corrode 5d6, or increase the...
Followup to previous post:
Most gear boosts with some way to stack can't keep up with the intrinsic way you want to build a soldier. Caustic Burns is crit only and only practically helpful with a longarm, and Electric Arc is only practically helpful with a longarm (and while you can shoot the scenery nearby to deal more damage to your actual target base than trying to hit it, usually, that will only work if your target has no electrical resistance to speak of, as you have no way of improving the arc's ability to bypass resistance). Plasma Immolation has similar problems to Caustic Burns if you want to go for maximum burning on something, with the additional problem that you can't take it more times to make it burnier (you can combine it with a Plasma Sword or Plasma Doshko, but neither will be as good as another copy of Melee Striker). Brutal Blast is typically dreadful, due to its worthless range and how limited you are in choosing weapons that will work with it.
Potentially interesting results from taking gear boosts multiple times, in terms of ones that work with Heavy or Advanced Melee weapons:
Flash Freeze stands out from the above if you're actually willing to use a Zero Cannon, because it's compatible with Line, but Unwieldy and maximum range 30 makes that a hard sell. Outside of that, you will want a longarm, so your damage output will be terrible, but Flash Freeze isn't about damage - if your primary goal is keeping your target still, an Anchoring Avalanche Zero Rifle with 4 copies of Flash Freeze is difficult to run away from (or towards), and an Anchoring Lich Tomb Claw combined with Perfect Opportunity from Blitz and FFx4 is even harder to escape.
Stacking Heavy Onslaught twice lets you practically ignore DR 20, which so far as I know is the highest DR anything in the game can actually get, so taking it a third time isn't the most helpful, but it directly stacks with Bullet Barrage in practice, making a pair of them an excellent choice for a Reaction Cannon soldier. Keep an eye...
If you take the stance that they DON'T stack:
There's a problem that you can easily encounter where the CRB doesnt provide enough boost options in order to fill out 5 selections by the time you are 20 (which basically sums up the OP of the Lets talk about soldier gear boosts thread, if you want more detail).
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If you take the stance that they DON'T stack:
There's a problem that you can easily encounter where the CRB doesnt provide enough boost options in order to fill out 5 selections by the time you are 20 (which basically sums up the OP of the Lets talk about soldier gear boosts thread, if you want more detail).
False. It just makes it so there are not 5 selections you WANT to take that will improve your build. That is not the same thing.
the biggest threat here is the melee boost. Everything else do not stack by itself (because they are insight bonus, etc) or don't matter that much. But melee stacking and adding +0.5 str bonus every time is pretty silly.
False. It just makes it so there are not 5 selections you WANT to take that will improve your build. That is not the same thing.
You are correct.
I cover this in more detail in the lets talk about soldier gear boosts post, as mentioned: my summary should have instead said:
"...does not provide enough selections to avoid redundancy or incompatible weapon choices".
the biggest threat here is the melee boost. Everything else do not stack by itself (because they are insight bonus, etc) or don't matter that much. But melee stacking and adding +0.5 str bonus every time is pretty silly.
Even assuming a Strength of 22, which you can't even get until at least level 5 with augmentations on top of that, Melee Striker would only give you an extra +3 damage. That is trivial compared to what you are already automatically getting from weapon specialization, gets even more trivial once weapon damage dice start rapidly ramping up in a few levels, and is basically pathetic and a waste of a gear boost compared to the other options. It shouldn't even be there if it's not going to scale with level in some way.
the biggest threat here is the melee boost. Everything else do not stack by itself (because they are insight bonus, etc) or don't matter that much. But melee stacking and adding +0.5 str bonus every time is pretty silly.Even assuming a Strength of 22, which you can't even get until at least level 5 with augmentations on top of that, Melee Striker would only give you an extra +3 damage. That is trivial compared to what you are already automatically getting from weapon specialization, gets even more trivial once weapon damage dice start rapidly ramping up in a few levels, and is basically pathetic and a waste of a gear boost compared to the other options. It shouldn't even be there if it's not going to scale with level in some way.
If Melee Striker stacked you could potentially get it up to 5 times in order to apply an additional 2.5 times your strength on attacks. You can get up to a +8 modifier as soon as you can buy your mark 3 personal upgrade. Perhaps at level 15, with a lvl 16 curve blade:
8d10 is average 44+8 str+15 W.S.= 67 so that 16 bonus from 4 melee striker gear boosts is less than 25% additional damage and only goes up to 20 bonus at level 19 and 22 at lvl 20. This is with heavy optimization and at the cost of other bonuses, but you could also just put on a Jarlslayer power armor and get 29 strength. It probably gets better with armor storm but the hammer fist ability seems to imply that melee striker doesn't ever stack in the first place.
It seems we missed the boat on today's FAQ bonanza for this topic.
It's probably worth mentioning that a lot of the system design of Starfinder seems to be aimed at ensuring that you can't stack too many of the same bonuses together, to avoid situations where parties have ACs or attack bonuses with a variance greater than 20.
While I'm of the opinion that stacking boost selections helps to fix the problem with lack of enticing boost options: it is worth keeping in mind if you are one of those that hopes to get a FAQ that is in favour of them stacking.