The Magical Adventures of the Bombard Soldier

[Ventnor]

There's an interesting variety of items that was introduced in the Starfinder Armory: Hybrid Grenades.

Hybrid grenades are, quite simply, grenades that produce magical effects when used. You've got grenades that makes walls of force, grenades that create holograms, even grenades that can create robots.

And which Soldier fighting style allows you to create a free grenade for almost every fight you're going to be in? That's right, the Bombard Solider!

Bombard Soldiers might actually end up being the best summoners in the game, since they can throw a Summoning Grenade (yes, that is an actual thing now) in every fight that they have 10 minutes to prepare for.

Which is pretty awesome, I think.

[EltonJ]

What page are these hybrid grenades on? I only skimmed through Armory yesterday, amid doing some world building with a friend for Starfinder, and missed these hybrid grenades.

EDIT: Hybrid grenades are described on page 126 of the Armory, if anyone would like to know.

[Ventnor]

Another reason Bombard Soldiers are the best Summoners: they theoretically have access to every variation of summoned creature. They never actually learn the spell, and are thus not limited to picking just 4 options off of the summoner monster list.

[Metaphysician]

I have a Bombard Soldier in the party, who also happens to be a Divine Champion.

I imagine her player is going to be *really* happy to have the option for literal Holy Hand Grenades.

[Nyerkh]

Huh. Amusing.
I did not expect Soldiers to end up as the actual pokemon users of SF. I certainly hope the summonings grenades are red/white spheres by default.

On a more serious note, interesting new options, for sure.

Out of curiosity, has the "high usage crossbolter VS 'nade-arrows" conundrum ever been solved ? Asking for a friend ... Seems even more relevant now.

[Big Lemon]

Man. Not only is Arcane Assailant the least impactful fighting style, it is now no longer the most magical one.

[Azalah]

Ya know, my first character was a Bombard Soldier. Modeled him off of Nathan Explosion from Dethklok. Used sonic weapons. I didn't ever imagine that he could have been cooler. How wrong I was.

[Torbyne]

Bombardier soldiers get in on some fun but remember the bombarding fusion as well, stock up on multiple level 5 knives with this fusion and have a 1/day grenade for every situation :)

My go to, I think, will be a level 10 weapon with two bombard fusions and two grenades of wonder in it. Maybe use the class feature for a third one just to see what happens. Grenade of grenades or flood of squirrels or... yeah, fun.

[MrTsFloatinghead]

Torbyne wrote:

Bombardier soldiers get in on some fun but remember the bombarding fusion as well, stock up on multiple level 5 knives with this fusion and have a 1/day grenade for every situation :)

My go to, I think, will be a level 10 weapon with two bombard fusions and two grenades of wonder in it. Maybe use the class feature for a third one just to see what happens. Grenade of grenades or flood of squirrels or... yeah, fun.

Just remember, the level of the grenade can't exceed the level of the item you put the fusion on, so buying a bunch of lvl 5 weapons would let you spam a bunch of level 5 or lower grenades - but even the Mk II Summoning grenade (the second level spell version) is a level 6 item...

[baronvoncheese]

Ventnor wrote:

Another reason Bombard Soldiers are the best Summoners: they theoretically have access to every variation of summoned creature. They never actually learn the spell, and are thus not limited to picking just 4 options off of the summoner monster list.

I would assume that they have to select which creature the grenade summons when creating the grenade not when throwing it though.

[Big Lemon]

baronvoncheese wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

Another reason Bombard Soldiers are the best Summoners: they theoretically have access to every variation of summoned creature. They never actually learn the spell, and are thus not limited to picking just 4 options off of the summoner monster list.

I would assume that they have to select which creature the grenade summons when creating the grenade not when throwing it though.

But they could choose any four when making the grenade, theoretically a different four each time!

[Metaphysician]

*cough* Though as a matter of sanity, I'd recommend as an unofficial requirement that the player come up with a list of four possible summons for each level, and stick to that. Infinite summon variety may not actually break the game balance, but it can break the game *enjoyment* by being obnoxious.

[Ravingdork]

Cheapest level 5 weapons I could find (the tactical battleaxe and the wyrmling dragon pistol) cost 2,650 credits. A level 5 fusion costs 720 credits.

Ergo, you get one free grenade each day for the low, low price of 3,370 credits (not counting the cost of the grenade to be cloned). Pay that cost a number of times, and people just might begin to wonder why there are bombardiers at all.

[MrTsFloatinghead]

Metaphysician wrote:

*cough* Though as a matter of sanity, I'd recommend as an unofficial requirement that the player come up with a list of four possible summons for each level, and stick to that. Infinite summon variety may not actually break the game balance, but it can break the game *enjoyment* by being obnoxious.

I mean, the text of the grenades says that the type of creature summoned is set when the grenade is created, so in the case of the bombard fusion you don't actually get to choose after the initial purchase - you certainly don't get to choose with each daily use.

Bombardier Soldiers are a little different, though, since they would be creating the new grenade for each use. In that case, I would say it's not unreasonable to say they need to have a pre-made summon ready for anything they might summon (just like they would with the summon spell anyway). Even then, they would have to select the exact type when they make the grenade - it's not a choice they get to make when the grenade is thrown.

[Ventnor]

Bombard soldiers are also the best at securing escapes!

What you do is create a hologram grenade. The hologram looks like a regular grenade explosion except with a blast ring around it. When you enemies see it, they will be stupefied, trying to figure out why you meddled with adding that extra effect to the explosion what a regular grenade explosion already looks pretty cool. And while they're trying to puzzle it out, you escape!

[kaid]

Oh lord I did not even think about those hybrid grenades and bombard soldiers but you know what I think I am totally okay with it. They basically get their one free grenade of whatever flavor they want per fight so its not super OP. But for sanity's sake if they want to do use the summoning ones they better have their stat sheet for all of the things they want to summon out. As long as its not slowing the game down or turning my brain into a grenade I am okay with it.

But given the whole magic and tech merging stuff in starfinder i don't find it that hard to believe a bombard solider learned a few magic work arounds to improve their improvised explosives. Hell it helps explain how they can whip these things up so fast out of random materials they can now just say it was magic!

[Ventnor]

I think if I wanted to play with the concept I’d probably give my Soldier some skill ranks in mysticism, but I am very much a fan of the idea.

[EltonJ]

Ventnor wrote:

I think if I wanted to play with the concept I’d probably give my Soldier some skill ranks in mysticism, but I am very much a fan of the idea.

Well, it could be worse. They may have not come up with all the cool hybrid grenades, especially the summoning ones. Although you can pop out a medium alien using a mark 4 grenade.

Looks like you can go to town on this, Ventnor.

[Shaudius]

You all seem to have forgotten then you can put fusions on grenades or even shurkins. Much cheaper that way.