Drone Movement and Running Encounters

[Metaphysician]

So, in my recent session of Starfinder, I discovered an interesting problem. Now, by default a Mechanic drone only gets one action per turn, and can use this to either move or attack. Their Mechanic can give them one of their actions, letting them do both, but this costs the Mechanic either their move or their attack.

The problem arose because the adventure involved my PCs breaking into a prison, and then fleeing as quickly as possible once the alarm went off. At which point my Mechanic player discovered that she could either run for 60 feet of movement, and have her drone follow only 30 feet, or let her drone run 60 feet and only move 30 feet herself. This proved a bit of an issue when the scenario required maximum movement from all parties!

Now, I can kind of see how this arose. The drone needs some kind of action limit to keep from being broken, and if most fights occur in a fixed location, tactical mobility isn't really a problem ( either the Mechanic or the drone or both will want to find as fixed a location as possible ). I don't really feel that "running encounters" involving chases or escapes are *that* rare and unthinkable, however. And in situations like that, it is a rather harsh penalty on the drone Mechanic that no one else suffers, being reduced to an effective full round movement of 45 rather than 60. That there currently exist no good rules for PCs carrying drones ( or anything and anyone that isn't equipment ) doesn't help.

So, possible solutions? The one I am currently contemplating is a mild house ruling of the drone action mechanics. Simply put, the baseline for drone actions would be "Can take a single attack action or a *full move* action", with a Mechanic taking control upgrading to the normal result ( move + attack or full attack ). That way, a Mechanic doesn't need to donate actions for their drone to hightail it.

[Xeall]

If it suits your campaign, isn’t OP, and everyone is happy, always make a change to suit the game over rules.

However the drone does get better with levels to show the mechanics ability increasing, eventually getting its own full set of actions, and this would negate that level up.

As for carrying it, it depends on the type of drone. I allow my mechanic to keep his Hover drone on a clip on his belt, drawing it like a weapon when he wants to release it.

The larger drones I would encourage the players to consider using as a fallback point in this circumstance as they know from
the off it’s not fast, and is a drawback of the design. Just like how taking animal companions into every situation in PF is t entirely appropriate.

However, my first paragraph is more important than that ramble. Do what’s good for your table

[breithauptclan]

Metaphysician wrote:

Now, by default a Mechanic drone only gets one action per turn, and can use this to either move or attack. Their Mechanic can give them one of their actions, letting them do both, but this costs the Mechanic either their move or their attack.

Being slightly pedantic here: The mechanic character would never need to give their standard action to the drone. The drone already has a standard action, so giving it a second one would not work. The mechanic always gives their move action and/or swift action.

But your point still stands that between the two of them they only have a maximum of three move actions available.

What I would do if I was that mechanic character - leave the drone and rebuild it once I am safe. Have it fight to the death as a distraction.