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Prepping to run 1-31 tomorrow. I know one of my players intends to play everyone's favourite space-bug-dad Keskodai, so this is probably going to come up.
Both the spirit-bound menhir and the haunted earth elementals (but not the mentrasi spirits, oddly enough) list vulnerability to positive energy in their Weaknesses. Which got me thinking: does positive energy, as a damaging thing, still exist? The mystic cure spells, the Healer Connection's Healing Channel, and even the Harm Undead feat all very specifically do not mention positive energy. Heck, the former two don't even say anything about damaging undead, so I'm assuming that unlike in Pathfinder, magical healing doesn't ipso facto damage undead anymore?
Which got me to thinking...are there any sources of positive energy damage? Even the Disruptive weapon fusion, which mentions "imbuing" the weapon with positive energy to bypass DR and energy resistance, doesn't actually add damage or change damage types. A strict reading of those rules would be that even that fusion doesn't trigger x1.5 damage.
Is this another carry-over from Pathfinder that doesn't exist anymore?
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I'm prepping for tomorrow, myself (CotN I assume). Pesky valentine's date, getting in the way of my game prep...
Like many of the SFS scenarios, there was only limited editing. I'd classify, for the purpose of the vulnerability IN THIS SCENARIO, that any Holy Fusion, Disruptive Fusion, Harm Undead, or any damaging effect that specifically mentions being more effective against undead to be "positive energy."
Healing magic is not a positive channel in Starfinder.
Methinks that the end of this scenario is going to get crazy enough that letting a few attacks get +50% against the elementals isn't going to breakt he bank.
My impression is that the ghosts' hold over the elementals is a bit fragile (from the 4 player adjustment), so that could suggest why the elementals are vulnerable while the spirits aren't. The ghosts spread themselves thin to possess the physical matter, and are more vulnerable to disruptive magic.
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I'm prepping for tomorrow, myself (CotN I assume). Pesky valentine's date, getting in the way of my game prep...
Like many of the SFS scenarios, there was only limited editing. I'd classify, for the purpose of the vulnerability IN THIS SCENARIO, that any Holy Fusion, Disruptive Fusion, Harm Undead, or any damaging effect that specifically mentions being more effective against undead to be "positive energy."
Healing magic is not a positive channel in Starfinder.
Methinks that the end of this scenario is going to get crazy enough that letting a few attacks get +50% against the elementals isn't going to breakt he bank.
My impression is that the ghosts' hold over the elementals is a bit fragile (from the 4 player adjustment), so that could suggest why the elementals are vulnerable while the spirits aren't. The ghosts spread themselves thin to possess the physical matter, and are more vulnerable to disruptive magic.
This looks good to me!
Essentially you're correct. The spirits are manifesting in the stone to give themselves bodies. Though it makes them more physically powerful, their control over the stone is tentative. Statistically, elementals with undead type traits made the most sense. There wasn't a clear way to do this in Starfinder, so the Weakness positive energy became shorthand.
I'd say anything that specifically targets undead would do +50% damage to the haunted elementals. In that last encounter, your players are going to need every edge they can get.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm prepping for tomorrow, myself (CotN I assume). Pesky valentine's date, getting in the way of my game prep...
Like many of the SFS scenarios, there was only limited editing. I'd classify, for the purpose of the vulnerability IN THIS SCENARIO, that any Holy Fusion, Disruptive Fusion, Harm Undead, or any damaging effect that specifically mentions being more effective against undead to be "positive energy."
Healing magic is not a positive channel in Starfinder.
Methinks that the end of this scenario is going to get crazy enough that letting a few attacks get +50% against the elementals isn't going to breakt he bank.
My impression is that the ghosts' hold over the elementals is a bit fragile (from the 4 player adjustment), so that could suggest why the elementals are vulnerable while the spirits aren't. The ghosts spread themselves thin to possess the physical matter, and are more vulnerable to disruptive magic.
This looks good to me!
Essentially you're correct. The spirits are manifesting in the stone to give themselves bodies. Though it makes them more physically powerful, their control over the stone is tentative. Statistically, elementals with undead type traits made the most sense. There wasn't a clear way to do this in Starfinder, so the Weakness positive energy became shorthand.
I'd say anything that specifically targets undead would do +50% damage to the haunted elementals. In that last encounter, your players are going to need every edge they can get.
I played it recently and found that final encounter quite the welcome challenge - though it took us a couple of rounds to find a tactic that works for the group.
Honestly, I hope that challenging encounters like this will appear again.Since if have to prep it for this Saturday and get to replay it in March, chances are very good that I have to write a review about it, thus far I am quite positive ^^ Well done.
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I'd say anything that specifically targets undead would do +50% damage to the haunted elementals. In that last encounter, your players are going to need every edge they can get.
As it turned out, my players were savvy to menhirs (presumably from Pathfinder experience) and they didn't bother fighting the ghosts or elementals; they chose instead to target the menhir with everything they had. The Hard Engineering check to get an auto crit was the Operative's main tactic; one of the Technomancers Supercharged him, the other Tecnomancer blasted, and the Formian Soldier took the Inubrex spear and just stabbed the menhir over and over while the elemental beat on him.
Even so, the Operative had been flanked by ghosts and was taking AoOs like crazy just prior to the menhir popping.
The Technomancers were a little taken aback when I revealed to them how much damage they could have been doing with Mysticism checks, but, they stuck by their strategy, and it did work.
It was a fun fight; I know the other table wasn't quite so fast to twig to the optimal strategy.
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I am running this Wednesday, and I am surprised to not see Mentrasi language on the chronicle. Is it possible to learn Mentrasi from this scenario?
Hmm
I think they chose not to include it on the chronicle because of limited exposure to the language. One character gets the opportunity to understand it through supernatural means, but that "translator" doesn't stick around long enough to study it and fully learn it.
*shrug*
Oh well.