Near Space: "Bookish" Skittermanders


Rules Questions


p.134 describes alternate ability adjustments for Skittermanders. The text describing Bookish Skittermanders reads:

"Skittermanders generally receive little formal education; they do not rear their young, and the Veskarium has little motivation to provide a well-rounded education. Some bookish skittermanders experience formal tutoring and study away from the Veskarium, however, though this increased education often comes at the expense of developing their natural communication skills. A bookish skittermander’s ability score modifier is +2 Dexterity."

Unless these Skittermanders were reading paper books and had to learn to flip pages very quickly, it seems to me that the ability score adjustment should be +2 Intelligence, not +2 Dexterity.

Also, the phrase "at the expense of developing their natural communication skills" suggests there should be some kind of negative adjustment to an ability score somewhere. Any thoughts?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

That is +2 INT and -2 CHA, compared to a normal skittermander.


Makes sense. So, the question becomes:

Should Bookish Skittermanders actually be getting +2 Intelligence and -2 Charisma instead of the listed +2 Dexterity?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

No, I see no reason to believe there is any error here. The attribute bonuses are smarter and less charismatic than standard for a skittermander, as described, while correctly adding up to +2 total.

There is no problem here to fix.


Yeah, seems clear to me. Losing the Int penalty is enough justification for the extra education.

Skittermanders are quick anyway...the Dex bonus is simply unchanged.


Ah, I see. Thanks.

For some reason, it wasn't registering with me that this was just ability score adjustment negation.


Yeah, look at it as removing the int penalty by also removing the charisma bonus and it makes perfect sense.


Nobody likes nerdy skittermanders.

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