Starfinder Society Guide Update [Feedback requested]


Starfinder Society

4/5 ****

We are about to start the next Update cycle for the Starfinder Society Guide, and while we have identified a number of issues that need to be fixed, we also want to make sure there is nothing we have missed.

So if there are any rules updates you want to make sure get included, or issues you would like cleared up. Please post them here.

PLEASE *Do Not* debate them. If you feel the need to argue about them or advocate, create a *separate* thread and post a link to it here. We are going to have a relatively short turn around on this, and We need this thread focused on cataloging them.

First turn in is going to be in 2 weeks. (Mon, Feb 22) If we have time after that we will include additional content.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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Online Guide Team Lead - JTT wrote:
we have identified a number of issues that need to be fixed

Can you share what those are so we don't double post?

Personally, my vote is to consolidate all of these Stickied posts into one location, so there's just one place to go for clarifications.

Oh. And add the Blog post about Race Boons for races that are now always available.

EDIT EDIT: and Thurston's clarification vs Tonya's clarification regarding what constitutes a "New Character".

Okay that's my final edit for now. I have a game to join.

Second Seekers (Jadnura) 1/5 5/55/5

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Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

There's still an outstanding bit of confusion surrounding boons used to make characters of species that were previously not always available, but are now always available.

The Season 3 blog update had a comment from Alex, which in turn links back to the v1.1 update blog post.

Between those two sources, we can tell how to treat boons used for Legacy Species based on if you got the legacy species via:
- a RSP/special convention boon, or
- a scenario boon
However, if you have a species boon that doesn't fall into one of those two buckets (like, for example, a barathu/ryphorian boon from the Alien Archive Player Reward #1, from way back at Alien Archive 1 launch) you're not quite sure what to do with your Personal boon slot. Is it occupied, or not?

Granted there's probably not a lot of PCs in that position, but some clarification would be nice. Would be good future-proofing, too, in case of future species boons that aren't scenarios/RSP/convention boons.

Acquisitives 5/5 5/55/5 ***

Seconding clarification for the Ryphorian/Barathu Boon.

It is technically an "Admittance" Boon (the +2 stat increase counts as your Personal Boon slot), but it's also unlike any of the other Admittance Boons by being a "Player Reward" instead of Chronicle-granted.

My Summerborn Ryphorian Priest of Sarenrae really wants Angelic-looking feathery wings from a certain "de-evolution" Boon, but since that's also a Personal Boon, table variation would really suck.

4/5 ****

N'kita wrote:

Seconding clarification for the Ryphorian/Barathu Boon.

It is technically an "Admittance" Boon (the +2 stat increase counts as your Personal Boon slot), but it's also unlike any of the other Admittance Boons by being a "Player Reward" instead of Chronicle-granted.

My Summerborn Ryphorian Priest of Sarenrae really wants Angelic-looking feathery wings from a certain "de-evolution" Boon, but since that's also a Personal Boon, table variation would really suck.

Can you please clarify "player reward" rather than "chronicle granted" and why that would matter?

Acquisitives 5/5 5/55/5 ***

They're simply different, in as many ways as is possible.

Every other Admittance Boon is:
• granted by playing a Scenario (sometimes further requiring a number of checkboxes)
• named "[Race] Admittance"
• verbatim in format to each other
• two paragraphs long, with paragraph 1 describing applying it to a new character, and paragraph 2 describing applying it to an existing character

Whereas the Ryphorian/Barathu Boon is:
• granted by playing 6 or 12 games, respectively, within a deadline (08/17/17 to 06/14/18)
• named "Alien Archive Player Reward #1"
• further broken up into two sections named "Alien Archive Admittance" Tier 1 or Tier 2, respectively
• only describes creating a new character

They look and feel different enough that it's not clear how the Legacy Race Blog applies to it.

4/5 ****

Those differences are a function of different origins of the boon. The boons function identically in terms of occupying personal slots. And should function identically in relation to the Legacy Race Blog. Just as the assorted convention boons, such as Maraqoi / Nuar Boon, have different language, and only apply to new characters. As do the various RSP GM boons. And so on.

I really don't see any table variation at all. It occupies the slot.

Acquisitives 5/5 5/55/5 ***

Okay.

Second Seekers (Jadnura) 1/5 5/55/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

Thanks for the clarification! Just to make sure I understand:
- treat Alien Archive Player Reward #1 sheet as if it were a Scenario boon, for purposes of Legacy Races (i.e. if you have used this boon to make a ryphorian, you can add +2 to an Ability that's <= 14, and your Personal Boon Slot remains Filled.) (The other two Species from that sheet, wrikreechee and barathu, aren't Always Available as of yet, so I think it's just the ryphorians that are affected. Presumably this would apply to wrikreechees or barathu too, in the future, though!)

Not trying to argue or dispute, just making sure I've got it correct :) Thanks!

4/5 ****

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Kishmo wrote:


Not trying to argue or dispute, just making sure I've got it correct :) Thanks!

No problem. Always good to check. In this case *I* got it wrong. (I didn't read something carefully enough.) I can now see the question. (The question is not "should it be treated as a scenario boon, or as it's own special thing." The question is "should it be treated as a scenario boon or an RSP/Convention boon.")

And the answer is "I *think* it is supposed to be treated as a Convention / RSP boon, but I will make sure we get you an answer when we put that text into the guide."

Sorry for the confusion.

Second Seekers (Jadnura) 5/55/55/55/5

Clarification in the guide concerning how much can be signed off for playing/GMing a game. For example, I was at a con recently and all the players claimed it was common practice in their regions (2 VCs, a 1 VL, and a VA among the players) for GMs to check off multiple race boon boxes on a single chronicle sheet (so like gaining a credit for both a Pahtra Partnership and a Skittermander Box for completing a scenario). This was news to me and I have been GMing and play a lot, but they said it was the case at every con they had played at? Apparently Tonya has clarified that this is not to be the case, but this information has not been made widely known.

Paizo Employee 5/55/5 ** Organized Play Associate

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John Godek III wrote:
Clarification in the guide concerning how much can be signed off for playing/GMing a game. For example, I was at a con recently and all the players claimed it was common practice in their regions (2 VCs, a 1 VL, and a VA among the players) for GMs to check off multiple race boon boxes on a single chronicle sheet (so like gaining a credit for both a Pahtra Partnership and a Skittermander Box for completing a scenario). This was news to me and I have been GMing and play a lot, but they said it was the case at every con they had played at? Apparently Tonya has clarified that this is not to be the case, but this information has not been made widely known.

I threw this one into our shiny new FAQ.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

Alex Speidel wrote:
John Godek III wrote:
Clarification in the guide concerning how much can be signed off for playing/GMing a game. For example, I was at a con recently and all the players claimed it was common practice in their regions (2 VCs, a 1 VL, and a VA among the players) for GMs to check off multiple race boon boxes on a single chronicle sheet (so like gaining a credit for both a Pahtra Partnership and a Skittermander Box for completing a scenario). This was news to me and I have been GMing and play a lot, but they said it was the case at every con they had played at? Apparently Tonya has clarified that this is not to be the case, but this information has not been made widely known.
I threw this one into our shiny new FAQ.

Off-topic to the thread, but a question about your answer:
This is about Dead Suns, for anyone else who's looking, so spoilers!

Spoiler:
The Chronicle for Dead Suns, Book 6, has 6 checkboxes with instructions to "Check a box below for each corresponding adventure in the Dead Suns adventure path that you have completed."

As I completed each Book, I believe at the time I used those sessions to check off my Skittermander Boon, not knowing what the final Dead Suns Chronicle would entail.

Does this mean I would be unable to create a Kish character?

Sovereign Court 4/5 * Organized Play Manager

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Nefreet wrote:


** spoiler omitted **[/SPOILER]

This is another example of the double-dipping noted above. The intention is one box per game, GMs choice. At best, if you want to remove those boxes from boon A, then you would be eligible to put them on boon B.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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How are players supposed to know ahead of time what will be on the final Chronicle?

If I remove those checkboxes from my Skittermander Boon, my now 5th Level character ceases to be a Skittermander.

Granted, that's an old Boon, but a more recent example would be Pahtra. I'm currently on Book 5 of another AP, and have used 3 of those Chronicles to check off 6 boxes on my Pahtra Boon. What happens 2 or 3 months from now when we finish the AP, and Chronicle #6 has a similar "Check a box for each Book completed"? That's a lot of checkboxes to recoup after I may already have a couple levels on that character.

I hope that makes sense. It sounds like you're asking or expecting players to risk spoilers by looking ahead at an AP's Chronicles before they're earned.

EDIT: not debating or arguing, but trying to understand what you mean.

Grand Lodge 4/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento

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It does seem like something that should be called out on the initial chronicle so that people are not surprised. Even so simple as a "If you check this box, you may not use this chronicle as credit toward a race boon."

Second Seekers (Jadnura) 1/5 5/55/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber
Jared Thaler wrote:
It does seem like something that should be called out on the initial chronicle so that people are not surprised. Even so simple as a "If you check this box, you may not use this chronicle as credit toward a race boon."

If this happens (and it sounds like it'd be helpful,) just anticipating future questions: make sure that it's clear what "kinds" of race boons this affects or doesn't affect.

I.E. the Pahtra Partnership boon has no requirements other than "play a game" to check a box. Contrast that with, for example, the Khizar Admittance boon from 2-11, which requires you to donate 10% of credits earned from a chronicle sheet. Compare those with ones requiring you to forego a Dayjob check to check a box (I can't recall any examples of those off the top of my head, but surely there must be some?)

Point I'm making is: people will definitely ask if you're allowed to check off more than one "earn a species" box, if one of those boxes requires you to do more than just complete a scenario. "Well I played a scenario so I can check off a Pahtra box, and I donated 10% of money so I can also check off a Khizar box!"

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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So walk me through this.

I earn the Pahtra Boon, and begin checking off boxes, because I want a Pahtra.

I begin to play the Attack of the Swarm AP. The Pahtra Boon allows me to check off 2 boxes for every volume of an AP I complete.

How am I to know whether:

1) the 6th Chronicle of the AP even has a race Boon?
2) it's a race Boon I'm even interested in?

I'm not going to "peek" at the 6th Chronicle, because I don't want spoilers.

This is the current situation I find myself in.

4/5 ****

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This is a serious and complicated problem, and my team is going to try to work with the OP team and try to find an answer that creates the least inconvenience for everyone involved.

(That is code for I don't want to answer this right now in hopes that I can get a fuller answer next week that everyone will be happier with.)

Dark Archive 5/5 5/55/5 *** Venture-Captain, Germany—Rhein Main South

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As the capstoneraceboons of APs seem to just want to "limit" the boon to players who completed the AP why not allow double dipping for them and change the future versions with:
If you have a chronicle from each part of the AP (list here) you gain access to this boon.

I think their intent is different from preventing someone to check a box on a skittermander and a pathra boon at the same time.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Nefreet wrote:

So walk me through this.

I earn the Pahtra Boon, and begin checking off boxes, because I want a Pahtra.

I begin to play the Attack of the Swarm AP. The Pahtra Boon allows me to check off 2 boxes for every volume of an AP I complete.

Use other scenarios to check off the the Attack of the swarm race to pay back the panthra double dip and hold off on the attack of the swarm race till you pay off the mortgage?

2/5

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The FAQ is worded very broadly and would apply to ALL boons that require check boxes, not just race boons or end of AP boons.

So what happens if you slot Contractor's Respect, Laotite Training, have a possessed arm, and want to get a skitterbox checked?

Do you choose at the beginning, which can hurt the player if they choose the arm and a crit isnt rolled?
Do you choose at the end which gets the check? Does that mean free uses of Contractor's Respect?

The whole ruling seems to create more problems than it solves, just to prevent someone from filling both Skitter Shot & Skitter Home after 10-30 games, rather than 2x10-30 games

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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As I finally level my Xenodruid to 10th, what Connection spell do I replace Reincarnate with?

Second Seekers (Jadnura) 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 *****

Other inquiring Xenodruids wish to know this too! Xeeter wants to know what lies in his future.

4/5 ****

This has been submitted for the guide, and as soon as someone tells me, I will post here.

In the mean time if someone wants to start a thread with suggestions for what that replacement spell will be, I will see what I can do to convey those.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Control atmosphere feels the most druidy

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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Online Guide Team Lead - JTT wrote:
if someone wants to start a thread with suggestions for what that replacement spell will be, I will see what I can do to convey those.

Done! ^_^

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

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Page 19: Purchasing Gear and Spells has a math error when it talks about pooling money to purchase items for use in a scenario:

Quote:
If the PCs buy an item using pooled money that they do not use during the adventure, one PC may purchase the item at the end of the adventure, paying the item’s full cost. If no PC wants to purchase the item, the PC must sell the item back for 10% value, reimbursing each PC for half of what she paid into the pool.

They sell it back for 10% but everyone gets half of what they spent.

Change to

Quote:
If the PCs buy an item using pooled money that they do not use during the adventure, one PC may purchase the item at the end of the adventure, paying the item’s full cost. If no PC wants to purchase the item, the PC must sell the item back for 10% value, reimbursing each PC for half 10% of what she paid into the pool.

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