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I think any reasonable starfinders first reaction would be to check what they're doing with a senior starfinder/venture captain. For all anyone knows she's activating a nuke or turning off her security system. I would assume whichever venture critter is approached would tell the starfinders to do the mission ?
Signifigant otter....*facepalm* :)
A very cool scenario , really liked the way the passcodes were stored.
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Central Europe
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I have some questions:
Hacker's Curse trap:
I am a bit worried about this one.
That curse will affect every technological item the party is using (all items in 60 ft. and no save for any item below level 8). That also includes armor and weapons.
At level 1-4 the PCs cannot cast remove affliction themselves. And the DC 35 computers check is also out of range for most of the characters. So the only option left for them is spending a lot of fame for remove affliction, or throw away all their gear and buy new stuff which also will hurt a lot.
Is this really intended?
I am also a bit worried about the fact that the curse is contagious so someone with that curse might play at another table and infect other people's gear.
The Whisperwing Hatchlings:
Melee bite +6 (1d6+3 P plus 1d4 Dexterity drain [DC 9])
Putting ability drain as a to-hit effect on something for lvl 1-4 characters is quite nasty, and what exactly does that DC 9 mean?
Is that a save to negate or to half?And what save is it actually - Fortitude, Reflex, Will?
And is it even a save or some other check?
The Acolyte Memories:
They have trick attack, but what skill are they using for it? Stealth, Bluff, something else? And do they get any bonuses on that skill (most operative specializations get some bonus) but without any information given it is hard to guess.
Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh
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We had a conversation about this for another scenario. (And I hear it also appears in a third scenario?)
I agree the trap is amazingly inappropriate for this level range. I also think the trap, at the correct level range as put in the CRB (!), is amazingly poorly written and absolutely bonkers. Not everyone's going to have reserves of Fame they can use to remove curses! It could probably stand an erratum. Or two.
(Heck, even Starfinders will be Fame-less sometime in the possibly near future! If announcements happen as originally announced.)
Dexterity drain? I'd be tempted to rule that the save is, at least, a save negates if nothing else. Dex drain at this level is also nuts, but not quite as nuts as the trap.
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Venture-Agent, Online—VTT
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At slightly higher level, at least a DC 35 computers check is in reach of using Take 20 to spend more than 3 hours per item removing the curse, making the need for Remove Curse more of an oddity of society play than anything else. Only heavily focused characters can swing that at these levels, though. Keeping the trap as a scenario long consequence wouldn't be completely unmanageable if the scenario at least allowed for some technical assistance to repair equipment in the mundane manner after the end (Just really, really bad).
I don’t see a problem running the acolyte memories, though. With no specialization listed, we can run those as written, using the standard skill choices of stealth, bluff or intimidate with no special bonus to the roll.
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The curse is on the technological items. Not the player character. Worse comes to worse the player could toss them to remove the condition.
If you can get up to a +15 computers with assists from your party you can take 20 and get the curse off the old fashioned technological way. The computers check doesn't take anything to do, so you don't have to use your cursed hacking kit
take 20 1 rank 3 trained 3 int 8 4 assists. Not impossible but not guaranteed either.
Re the drain, restoration is "only" 2 fame in starfinder (the character could always bail on the quests, start the next scenario in absolom, and get the removal there rather than pay the roaming charges)
but wow that is nuts for someone's first time scenario. Hi, welcome to starfinder, your operative has a -2 to everything they do for the next 2 adventures?
I think it has to be fort negates. Otherwise that's a murder machine. I can't see that drain usually has a save.
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Drain
I would also assume that it is Fortitude Negates for the drain. I admit I have nothing to back that up as the only other case of a creature that had ability drain on an attack in Starfinder was a CR 13 Driftdead and that offered no save.
Restoration is a good fix for most characters and I think it would be say it is reasonable that the group returns to Absalom Station between mission to fix the drain at the "minimal" 2 Fame.
I will say that I don't think drain is appropriate within a 1-2 sub-tier just because it isn't something I want to inflict on a brand new character who will have no way to fix it.
Overall, if I'm making any assumptions on the design of this encounter, it seems easiest to me to assume that the hatchlings are meant to inflict ability damage rather than drain. I have nothing back that up aside from my intuition that this is just a terminology mix up.
Curse
Take 20 to remove the curse can put the party within a reasonable shot to remove it themselves, but it does reflect on the fact that this is a scaled down CR 7 trap that only lowers the DCs but none of the effects of the trap. Lowering the DCs to detect and disable is not enough to reduce the CR of the trap in this case.
I honestly don't know how to resolve this for a level 1 party (without changing the wording of the effect) besides hand waving the fact that the Dataphiles have members the clean the infected devices post adventure or suggesting that the characters replace all of their gear as they are able.
Seeing it also makes me want to prepare for PCs trying to weaponize themselves. Throwing lasers at armored enemies to purposely infect enemy gear as the penalties are so substantial that this easily dwarfs debuffs the PCs would have access to at these levels.
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I am also a bit worried about the fact that the curse is contagious so someone with that curse might play at another table and infect other people's gear.
You can't take a curse from one table to another , you'd be marked as dead.
...Oh wait. Thats not much better.
The work around would be to toss all of your non analog gear. "End" the quest. Collect your paycheck. "Start" the quests again where you left off, buy new gear. Second skin and a weapon should get you through the scenario.
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Very small consolation on the curse, but I believe that selling for 100% and re-buying equipment is one of those 1st level things you can do. Just go to the Monkey Paw store, give them your 1st level starfinder card and get a full discount.
That curse should not have been in the core rulebook, and definitely isn't just CR 7.
EDIT: One alternative I thought of while writing the review was have the starport detect the curse and remove it. Getting that curse aboard a starship would be a disaster, and it would make sense that the Embri would have measures in place to stop it.
As for the whisperwing hatchlings, I think that it would be slightly better balanced if it was dex damage instead of dex drain. That would be resolved by the next quest section.
EDIT: Also the buggies should have Autopilot, +9 at low tier and +13 at high tier, to allow for parties without specialized pilots. Autopilot won't race or do crazy stunts, so freeing up the PCs to do other things won't be that destabilizing.
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On a more fun note (doh. sorry) Anyone have any good names for the abysshead album songs?
Deathspheres
I flesh grafted you a heart so you could feel it twice
Play this backwards (it summons an angel)
A black hole heart
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"
Hakuna Azata
Condition death spiral
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Here are a few attempts at some Abysshead album songs.
Choir of Demons
Pointed Ears, Bloody Knives
<Long Line of Random Characters known colloquially among fans as "Corruption">
Infection of Death
Blinding Darkness
Supernova Extinction
Blood-Slick Drift
No Craven Label
Corp Killer
Organized Play Managing Developer
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I have some questions:
Hacker's Curse trap:
I am a bit worried about this one.
That curse will affect every technological item the party is using (all items in 60 ft. and no save for any item below level 8). That also includes armor and weapons.
At level 1-4 the PCs cannot cast remove affliction themselves. And the DC 35 computers check is also out of range for most of the characters. So the only option left for them is spending a lot of fame for remove affliction, or throw away all their gear and buy new stuff which also will hurt a lot.
Is this really intended?I am also a bit worried about the fact that the curse is contagious so someone with that curse might play at another table and infect other people's gear.
Yes, that's pretty harsh for low-level PCs, and the trap is scaled down in other ways from the original CR 7 it is based off of. For this one, the PCs can automatically find a fellow Starfinder to remove the curse for free after they complete the quest.
The Whisperwing Hatchlings:Melee bite +6 (1d6+3 P plus 1d4 Dexterity drain [DC 9])Putting ability drain as a to-hit effect on something for lvl 1-4 characters is quite nasty, and what exactly does that DC 9 mean?
Is that a save to negate or to half?
And what save is it actually - Fortitude, Reflex, Will?
And is it even a save or some other check?
DC 9 Fortitude negates, and it should be damage rather than drain.
The Acolyte Memories:They have trick attack, but what skill are they using for it? Stealth, Bluff, something else? And do they get any bonuses on that skill (most operative specializations get some bonus) but without any information given it is hard to guess.
No bonuses are listed, so they don't gain any bonuses. They can use their choice of Bluff, Intimidation, or Stealth, but it's likely they'll choose Bluff or Stealth given their bonuses.
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Dammit NOW how am I going to get enough Player tears to make 5 novas?
I'm now picturing the contamination scene from monsters inc. when the party walks back into the lorespire complex with that curse on, triggers the alarm and gets tackled by security guards who have rapidly thrown off all of their techno gear and tackle the party in their t shirts boxers and socks (about the only things in the game that DONT have a computer in them)
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Dammit NOW how am I going to get enough Player tears to make 5 novas?
I'm now picturing the contamination scene from monsters inc. when the party walks back into the lorespire complex with that curse on, triggers the alarm and gets tackled by security guards who have rapidly thrown off all of their techno gear and tackle the party in their t shirts boxers and socks (about the only things in the game that DONT have a computer in them)
You forgot tactical pikes and a whole slew of basic melee weapons. ;P
Thank you Linda, that puts my mind at ease a small bit -- and it also helps promote the Starfinder Society if someone runs the numbers and goes "Oh, crud, we're hosed".
"This one is on the Society, we should have known better."
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Dammit NOW how am I going to get enough Player tears to make 5 novas?
