Contributor
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Just gave this my first read-through, and I have a couple of early questions:
In a single turn, several things happen at once.
D All the lights on the floor go out. The only light is what the PCs bring with them—most likely flashlights in their armor’s personal comm unit, which raise the light level by one step (from darkness to dim light, for example) in a 15-foot cone.
I've heard several players and other GMs since Starfinder's launch mention that armor has built-in flashlights and other systems, but the only thing I've ever been able to find in the actual rules (beyond standard environmental protections/seals) are the anchor functionality of the boots. While I think that modern/sci-fi armor should have built-in comms and/or lights (and I know I'd want them), I can't find this in the CRB or Armory...does anybody happen to know where this rule might be that I have yet to locate?
D A jammer activates on an adjacent floor, preventing the PCs and other surviving employees from communicating beyond the confines of the office floor.
Several of my own PCs like to carry level 1 signal jammers to block enemy comms while on missions, and when in-game time allows, they turn them on in advance so the party can take 1 minute to cut through the jamming with Engineering checks so their own aren't affected. Normal signal jammers can be overcome with DCs dependent on how powerful they are. If we have players who are savvy as to how this game mechanic works, are there any details we can give them about why they can't attempt to bypass it (since the scenario does not appear to take into account that characters can do that with normal signal jammers)?
Thanks in advance!
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This is in a weird place. WAAAAY in the back of the book, under entertainment/slice of life/ how do the packworlds communicate of all places, it mentions that comm units are so ubiquitous they're built into every piece of level 1+ modern armor.
com units are described as having a built in flashlight.
Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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Really, they've scattered the rules about what is standard issue with armor everywhere in the CRB.
Planetary Comm Units
Personal comm units are common, inexpensive devices that are capable of communicating with each other on a single planet or between ships orbiting a given world. Small enough to be carried in a pocket, they also come automatically integrated into all armor of 1st level or higher.
Flashlights & Games
A personal comm unit also includes a calculator, a flashlight (increases the light level one step in a 15-foot cone), and several entertainment options (including games and access to any local infospheres). You can upgrade a personal comm unit to function as some other devices (such as full computers and scanners) by spending credits equal to 110% of the additional device's price.
Boot Clamps
Unless otherwise specified, the boots include a functionality that can anchor your feet to a solid surface in a zero-gravity environment, allowing you to orient yourself or return to normal footing when needed (for more about moving in zero-g, see page 402).
A creature anchored to a solid object (such as by the boot clamps available with most armor) receives a +4 bonus to this check.
Environmental Protections
Unless otherwise specified, all armors protect you from a range of hazards to ensure that you can survive for at least a few days if you must make emergency repairs to the hull of a starship, explore an alien world, or endure exposure to an environmental breach in a space station.
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Contributor
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Really, they've scattered the rules about what is standard issue with armor everywhere in the CRB.
Planetary Comm Units
Personal comm units are common, inexpensive devices that are capable of communicating with each other on a single planet or between ships orbiting a given world. Small enough to be carried in a pocket, they also come automatically integrated into all armor of 1st level or higher.
This is the proverbial Rosetta Stone on this issue. THANK YOU, Hmm, for this! I knew about what functions the comm units had (flashlight, etc.), but not about the armor bit!
I...I don't even think I gave pages 430-431 more than a cursory scan when I first got my hands on the book in 2017, so I never noticed that. Every time I've heard someone talk about comms being built into armor I've always scoured the Equipment chapter...it never would have occurred to me to look for that rule in the Settings chapter! Thank you so much again!
All of my characters (and players when I GM) will benefit greatly from me now knowing where this appears in the rules!
Thanks to you, I am part of today's lucky 10,000!
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Venture-Captain, Georgia—Atlanta
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Disregard.... I found the answer when I grabbed my book late last night.
Repair Item
You can use Engineering to repair a mechanical, technological, or hybrid object or piece of equipment, as long you have access to it. The amount of time this takes typically depends on the complexity of the object. You can repair an object or piece of equipment you crafted in half the usual time. The DC of the check is determined by the GM and based on the complexity of the object. If you succeed, you restore a number of Hit Points equal to the result of your Engineering check. If you fail the check by 10 or more, you damage the object further, dealing 1d4 damage to it; this damage can’t reduce an item to fewer than 1 HP.
If the object or piece of equipment is damaged but not broken, you can repair it at no cost. If it is broken but not destroyed, you must spend 10 UPBs per item level (assume a simple item has an item level of 1) each time you attempt to repair it. A destroyed object or piece of equipment can’t be repaired with the Engineering skill.
You can’t take 20 on an Engineering check to repair an item or object.
The DC for an Engineering check to repair an item is based on the complexity of the object. The following chart provides base DCs by complexity and examples of such items. The GM may adjust these DCs and times to reflect other circumstances.
Item Example Time DC
Simple Door or wall 10 minutes 15
Complex Computer console 30 minutes 20
Equipment Weapon or suit of armor 1 hour 15 + 1-1/2 × item’s level
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Question about The Smoker: after the initial acid spray, the rest of the trap's threat is poisonous gas. Is this just not an issue for characters that don't respire (androids, stellifera, etc.) or anyone that can hold their breath for more than 9 rounds (which should be doable for just about everyone, since you can hold your breath for rounds = twice your Con score?)
Am I missing something? The adventure makes the trap out to be a real man-eater, and the initial acid spray is nasty, but it seems like the worst of it is fairly easily avoided. Just want to make sure I'm not removing this set piece's fangs.
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The trap does specifically call out that anyone failing their save vs acid on the first round of the trap loses the benefits of their environmental seals, so there is that. I'm just envisioning canny PCs saying "ok, so, my enviro seals are down, and the room is filling up with gas....I just hold my breath?" As far as I can tell, that's a perfectly valid, effective counter to the room filling with poisonous gas for 9 more rounds. Unless I'm missing something?
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I'm considering running this after my own rough play through this adventure and I wanted to know if there was any advice other GMs had to run this adventure in a fun way.
How did other GMs handle any combats without the party being armed with their equipment? How should I handle it if the party doesn't have a vesk or something else with natural weapons?
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How did other GMs handle any combats without the party being armed with their equipment? How should I handle it if the party doesn't have a vesk or something else with natural weapons?
My group had some tech experts and twigged to the patrol scheme of the robots and the trap layout pretty quickly. I had the Called Fusion on both of Dragonbot's heavy weapons, but we actually managed to get to the weapons lockers without fighting. Depending on group composition, lack of Called weapons could be a serious problem. Technomancers should be fine, but Mind Thrust mystics are going to have a bad day against the slimes and robots.
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Venture-Agent, Online—VTT
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I had a fairly low damage party, and they did make some mistakes with setting off the sensors. PreGen Obozaya was the only thing that prevented a TPK that would have included 2 race boons characters. It got really close in the final encounter, when an enemy vesk critted and killed Obozaya outright, via massive damage.
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I'm confused about the computer in the security room: "A PC who hacks
this computer can observe any room on the map, including the
Specimen Observation Chamber, the elevator, and the foyer. This
might allow the PCs to spot Bordle or the ferrofluid oozes in area
A4, watch the Abadarmors on patrol, or notice any assassins who
arrive to ambush the PCs in area A6." The entire floor is in darkness, so via what means does the terminal allow the PC to observe the rooms? I guess I could imagine something like infra-red cameras, but they're not mentioned anywhere else and Argent (the security AI) is limited to motion sensors or the Abadarmor's darkvision. And this isn't just a hypothetical question, as one of my players has just done it. Any ideas of how to respond?
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I'm confused about the computer in the security room: "A PC who hacks
this computer can observe any room on the map, including the
Specimen Observation Chamber, the elevator, and the foyer. This
might allow the PCs to spot Bordle or the ferrofluid oozes in area
A4, watch the Abadarmors on patrol, or notice any assassins who
arrive to ambush the PCs in area A6." The entire floor is in darkness, so via what means does the terminal allow the PC to observe the rooms? I guess I could imagine something like infra-red cameras, but they're not mentioned anywhere else and Argent (the security AI) is limited to motion sensors or the Abadarmor's darkvision. And this isn't just a hypothetical question, as one of my players has just done it. Any ideas of how to respond?
It begs the question of whether a PCs dark vision works through cameras...
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I was also thinking that if I assume there *are* some kind of cameras, than the players might wonder what all the fuss about the motion detectors is about (and thus not worry about them, even though that's key for Argent). On the other hand, I don't want to violate the explicit text of the scenario that those rooms are capable of observation from the security room computer.
The best compromise I can figure is to say the security room computers allow "observation" in the sense of giving the PCs access to the motion detectors as well--they can tell *something* is coming out of the secret lab (the ferrofluids), out of the elevator (the assassins), and barely moving in the secret lab (Bordle). I hope that's fair to the players and fits in with the premise of the adventure.