Starfinder General /sfg/

>It's okay to make threads the moment they hit the bump limit.
Fucking christ.

Skill checks.

Familiars don't usually use up an entire chunk of class abilities but the drone ends up just as capable as your frog in pathfinder

here is the latest update to the nagartas.
added the "playing a nagarta" section
added city fluff
added SHARC fluff
added dark side fluff

as always, if you think anything needs to be changed or you would like to add anything. i will gladly add it to the PDF

Has anyone figured out how to turn the Mechanic's Drone into an Android?

I'd say -wis. They seem like down to earth creatures who don't really think very hard about nature of their existence and also never had the need to evolve better senses due to being apex meat compactors.

Also about their body type/appearance - what if instead of genetic manipulation and all this bullshit they just used "bonsai" to make their bodies grow in a certain way? Cut here, put a couple of clips there, use direct injections of specific nutritional compounds in the limbs and BAM! - within a couple of years they have longer fingers, arms with 3 joints or a cute face with a lot of "teeth".

Could also work as background for racial feats later down the line.

>create lvl 1 mechanic
>pick combat droid
>done

Already did that bit, I'm more into making the thing alive in its own right.

it pretty much already is.
you just gotta teach it how to love, user
you DID equip it with a fully functioning sexual organs?
right?

The mechanic's drone is a mechanical puppet until level 20. It's a dutch wife at best until then, and even at level 20, gaining a "true AI" is not the same as gaining a soul.

My friends and I have found that the feat selection is weak. While some simplification was good (rolling PA and DA into one feat, cutting back on prerequisites, removal of some tiny benefits, etc) it feels like they somehow lost all the interesting feats and replaced them with a bunch of meh features. Feat selection is now hard not because there's so many options (both good and bad), but because there's nothing that stands out to me as something that will give characters something worthwhile to do. For instance, most of my NPCs just have minor boosts to prexisting stats, and the handful of "active" feats I've given them haven't really been useful

As a broader complaint, one of my friends says that SF characters are more dull than PF characters, with less customization. His argument included not only the feat selection, but also how point-buy is handled and the class variety. Specifically on classes, he cited the lack of 9-level casters (and 4-level casters), no prepared spell characters ("everyone is bards [they get six spontaneous spell levels]"), as well as the lack of a rage feature or performance ability. I don't necessarily agree with him on all points (reduction in spell levels seems fine), but it's worth taking into consideration.

More specific to the class he ended up playing, the Operative's trick attack is more boring than the Rogue's sneak attack. Trick attack is a simple roll vs 20+CR which you will eventually turn into a guarantee, sneak attack required you to get into a flanking position or find a way to get your enemies flatfooted. While that simplification makes the operative more powerful in an objective sense, it reduces the need for tactical positioning (which is part of the fun for my group, I think every time someone has played rogue in 3.5 or PF it's always been about doing crazy shit for sneak attacks). If tactics stuff like this isn't a thing for you, then this is just a minor quibble.

I don't know what else to add. Maybe a section of antagonist organizations?

>that simplification makes the operative more powerful in an objective sense, it reduces the need for tactical positioning

Definitely agree with you here. I'm going to try to make tactical movement more interesting for my players by utilizing a lot of cover in the encounters, and i'm considering actually having flanking bonuses apply to ranged attacks... I also am homebrewing grenades to have more "zone" effects like 4e dnd spells. I know it doesn't solve the issue about sneak attack vs. Trick attack, it can help to make movement and positioning more interesting

Just how wild and varied could their design be?

They probably can't make themselves bigger by much but everything else is more or less possible. As long as some part of their body exists they could cut part of it, graft it on another part of the body and grow, say, a new limb in a couple of years.

Though it is not very effective with functional parts due to lack of proper support and nerves and so on.

Anyone have any good sci-fi character ideas?
I've only got a few but I... I don't have one that I think would be willing to travel around in space.

What type of characters or themes do you like, homie?

How about an Android hunting down Strelok?

Or a Shirren Geneticist, eager to try out his concoctions on people, all in the pursuit of making a Portable Human.

Classic standby is they need the money to fund something.

To be fair of the two games I've played thus far they've stayed on-planet for the first few sessions and we have no plans to leave any time soon.

>Captcha: TWINNED CALLE
>Oh god she's multiplying

So how would you get one to gain a 'soul' I've been thinking about buying and installing some fleshy mods, but I think I might need more.

Interstellar smuggler.

That's going into a murky area full of GM fiat that involves changing the drone from a class feature into an actual person. Flesh mods? You're just making a meat puppet. Soul? That's a whole lot more complicated. Maybe the True AI thing is enough, if you read it as being a true, genuine AI the same way a fully robotic race would have an AI. Or maybe the so-called True AI just means your programming is robust enough you don't have to hover over your realdoll's shoulder and stay within line of sight for it to work. In the latter case, maybe go raid Aballon for some schematics to study, or cut up the middle man and see what makes anacites and androids tick on the inside.

However it works, and whatever flavor of narrative approach you want, it's definitely not happening before 20 without a whole lot of extra explanation for why your fully sapient and metaphysically alive drone is mechanically incapable of acting if you're knocked out.

I got Calle Calle a few days ago.

Well in the core it stats that the Android race gained souls because of some unspecified organic bits in them. So I figured fleshmods would be a good place to start for getting the whole soul thingy.

But as far as how this would practically effect play or actual stats I hadn't bothered thinking that far ahead.

Gaining sapience is how you gain a soul.

So far I've just got ideas. I mean I've got like three weeks till we actually have to show up with a character.

I really want to play a Triaxian, a Solarian from either Ning or Dragon Lands.

It is, faggot. Stop being a fag.

Also, your reminder that starship rules are broken, and anyone who suggest that it might be fixed by anyone is a liar, and until they reprint the books with updated rules anyone suggesting that anyone will fix them is lying.

...

You goddamn fucktard. Someone saying "Owen K Stevens has stated it was a problem that would be addressed" isn't fucking lying to your jizzguzzling smegmalicking fat ass.

If there turn out to be no fixes, the devs lied to everyone. The people stating the devs are aware of the issue are not fucking lying. Learn to fucking hold the right fucking people fucking responsible for fucking things instead of fucking repeating that fucking line every fucking thread or two you pathetic fucking excuse for a santorum-sucking fucking faggot.

>Triaxian
Only if you play something that looks like Jon Talbain.

>Solarion
Remind me about Ning and tell me which Dragon Lands. There is a ton of them and I'm sure I am missing up. Y franchises

Owen K Stevens is a liar, and as long as the books aren't reprinted with different rules he remains a liar, and anyone who repeats what he says is a liar, you liar.

My first starfinder game started and im already having fun! the very first thing i did was save the crew from being sucked into space and boiled alive in a vacuum with my engineering check!

its fun!

Friend's aiming to convert some PF material to SF, and I'm playing devil's advocate. He's done a decent job overall, but there are a few things I'm not sold on. Assuming SF rules are used whenever possible:

- "Don't" is the correct answer, but if it has to happen, is there a decent way to handle full casting?
- How well do systems like PoW or spheres convert?
- Do you get enough Resolve points to work for features like arcane pool or grit?
- Aside from things like racial resistances (or really, most anything Starfarer's Companion copy-pasted) what needs to be flat-out avoided?

>mfw finally in a Starfinder campaign
>mfw I'm the Ace Pilot in a target-rich environment

Shock
and
Awe

The thing to NEVER FORGET with Resolve is that it's also your 'NOT FUCKING DYING' pool.

You NEED it to stabilize. You NEED it to not immediately fucking die at zero hp.

If you are out of Resolve, you are at MUCH more of a disadvantage than someone who's run out of grit or arcane pool.

>yfw you'll slowly get worse and worse and worse at piloting as you level

Man, that's not for levels and levels. I'm just sitting here enjoying the ride and wondering just how you'd stat out a fighter that can transform into a mech like those Starcraft 2 Vikings.

Would be pretty damn powerful, wouldn't it? What with the x10 weapon bonus and all.

Literally can't be done. No transformations, no mode-changes, no arms/melee for that matter, and for some utterly retarded reason (they wanted to protect their AP encounters) you're not allowed to target character scale things (warning: that includes, say, a tank that's bigger and heavier than your starfighter) at all.

shit name

>Man, that's not for levels and levels.
HOW DARE YOU NOT SUBSCRIBE TO Veeky Forums AUTISM! YOU WILL NEVER EXPERIENCE THE BORKEN PILOT DCs IN A REAL GAME, BUT THE MERE FACT THAT THEY EXIST SHOULD RUIN YOUR ASSHOLE FOR ALL ETERNITY! YOUR DM WILL JUST FIX THEM ON THE FLY BUT THAT DOESNT STOP YOU FROM HEMORAGING UNCONTROLLED EMOTIONAL DIARRHEA ONTO YOUR POSTS!
GOD user, YOU ARE SUCH A FAGGOT! WHY DO YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER YOUR EMOTIONS?!!?!?! WHY DO YOU JUST FIX THING THAT ARE EASILY FIXABLE? I HTE YOU user!!!!! WHY DONT YOU JUST SIT HERE AN BITCH ABOUT FLAWS INSTEAD OF HAVING FUN!!! I ATE YOU user! I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!

what do you recomend instead, i kinda agree with you.

>55524214
tl;dr

>Your GM will probably houserule it, therefore the problem does not exist, the rule was never written wrong, and the game is perfect

Just because it'll reach impossible DCs only at high levels does not mean that you're not gradually getting worse and worse at your ship duties from 1-4 and 2-8 and 3-6 or 4-10 as well.

Anybody got any good campaign ideas? The short "Into the unknown" one-shots aren't really that interesting to give me an idea of what a proper campaign should be. Also I'm a bit conflicted on whether or not PCs should be given a ship right off the bat or wait until they gain a few levels and work up to it.

Why shouldn't they have a ship?

An idea I'm developing to introduce some homebrew ideas.

The PCs are called in for a "discreet" recuse of a member of StarFinder who was chasing a thief to get back an artifact. A rather botched shoot-out and they crash land on a mars sized planet that phases in and out of the plane of shadow.

This would next segway into an event inspired by Inception/Evil Within where the PCs have to go into the mind of the person they rescued after coming into contact with the artifact they were trying to retrieve.

Does it matter when you're in a game and they fix the problem?

What do Vercites look like? We know what the gas bags look like and we know about Akitonians and Triaxians, but the rat-eyed shipbuilders are oddly missing from Pathfinder and Starfinder.

Not that user, but I'd say it does - fixes being necessary at all means that, inevitably, there will be groups that dn't fix it, and they'll be worse off, either because of rules lawyering or because they're not allowed to change it (such as in PFS, or whatever the SF equivalent will be)

That fixes are necessary at all shows the inherent flaw, which should be rectified by the devs, not left to the devices of the GM. The devs are there to provide a good system, and a system with obvious, gaping holes fails to provide a good system in the parts that have holes in them.

But I don't care about those groups because I'm not in them, and the flaw is covered by the DM so I don't suffer it.

Still doesn't mean there is no flaw, and public discussions on a system require the common ground of what the actual rule is as a starting point for discussion - whether what to complain about to the devs or what and how to houserule things.

You're basically saying "I don't mind herpes because they've got these creams to make the discomfort go away"

To be fair the devs have already acknowledged the mistake and will fix it in errata and future printings, so this will only be an issue for a short period of time.

Exactly. You tell that fucking liar.

If that's the case what kind of ship should they start with? I assume a light freighter but what should it come equipped with? Both weapon-wise and expansion-bay wise as i assume that the main systems (engines, core, computers etc) should be at the minimum level.

Depends on the campaign. What kind of story/stories do you want to tell? Are you going to keep it serious or send the the M.R. Sector?

Operator is the true Warframe class.

Get mobility, shot on the run (spring attack optional), Kip up, jet dash, a level dip into soldier for Blitz, and anything that improves land speed, go prone every time at the end of your jumps/tumbles while your do your trick attack, be a daredevil so you can double dip on your acrobatics check. You are now bullet jumping, and ass sliding on the tail end of your jumps to be a harder target to shoot.

Later on in the Operator class you will no longer get a penalty to being prone while in melee, so go prone always and enjoy that +4 to AC from ranged attacks. Kip up will keep you on the move without slowing you down. Try sliding to cover when possible.

youtube.com/watch?v=RApyQ9SWzIY

Maybe something to do with exploring and artifact hunting until one job pulls them into something bigger that might involve the undead empire on that one planet(the names escape me at the moment).

There we go, that one writes itself. Go with something like this:

1. They get a Shadowrun style milk-run. Steal/Acquire something basic, like a solar system map with ALL of the satellites on it. Halfway through, they encounter some undead. Make it a dark place, describe them as flunky mercs and criminals. If they investigate, make it so that they don't feel pulses or something quick like that before they get interrupted.

2. Some escalation. As a result of the first mission, some of the people they angered come after them. Let them encounter a stronger undead, but again, don't let them investigate too much.

3. They think they are in the clear, go do another job. This time, they get interrupted by way more undead, find that whatever they stole in the first mission is what is letting the necromancers get through.

4. They go to undead planet or undead held area to plug up the hole and delete the data/ swipe the artifact

Thanks user but at the start what should their ship be equipped with as i assume nothing too powerful but the Core Rulebook is confusing on what exactly should be on a beginning ship (the build points system seems very unhelpful)

I'd ask around since I'm not that good with them yet. How many players and what level are you starting at?

around 4 players starting at lvl 1 as we are all unfamiliar with the system

I'd wait around if you can, people who know more will be able to answer your question better

A basic level 1 ship is gonna be limited, and they'll want to switch out for a medium size later on as well (by around 5th).

Since the system does not support multiple solo interceptors, what you want is probably a shuttle. As a small craft it gets +1 to AC and TL defenses.

This leaves you with 49 points. Your critical systems are thrusters, a drift engine, shields, and weapons. The BPs and limits of the power core (PCU) will sorta handle (I hope you weren't trusting in paizo to get a semblance of balance here) how powerful it could hope to be...

But in reality you don't need to worry because small and tiny ships can't equip real weapons, and by level 10+ a fight between two of them would take the better part of 40 fucking combat turns once shields, defenses and repairs are taken into account.

Anyways. Let's take 9 points to give it a pulse-brown reactor. 90 PCU, 40 BP left.

we'll go conservative and give it movement 8 small craft thrusters (PCU 40/90, BP 4). 36 BP left.

4 BP will get you a Signal Basic drive. 32 left.

3 BP for budget (+0) medium range sensors. 29 BP left.

Light Shields 50 for 20 PCU (60/90) and 6 BP. 23 left.

Linked light torpedo launchers in the preinstalled+additional front mount.
10 PCU (70/90), 4+4+2BP (13 left).

Turret (5BP) with flak cannon (10 PCU: 80/90), 5BP

You've got 3bp left to fill up some expansion slots with some cheap stuff. It's minimally armored but has fairly solid shields for its size and level (can easily angle for 20/10/10/10 or the like, and has an infinite missile launcher in the front.

Say I'm firing high-explosive missiles at a target 22 hexes away. Do I seriously not only need to make two successful attacks or the weapon is lost, AND take a -2 due to the range I fired at both times, on top of point-defenses having like a 50/50 chance of blowing it right up anyways?

You only take the -2 on your initial attack roll but otherwise yes.

>"Don't" is the correct answer, but if it has to happen, is there a decent way to handle full casting?
Here's the thing. The casters are the primary thing driving necessary level progression. Without them you could easily freeze a campaign at about 4th or 5th level and use money as the advancement driver instead. But just like Shadowrun (the other big magic plus tech game) the magic side must level up in ways that money can't buy, forcing the game into a particular play model.

>good campaign... proper campaign
I'm not sure Paizo has an answer to this yet, though they think they do.

Missiles really should have had 'They fly for X turns' and not go away if you miss (Only if stopped by point defence/they hit). So you get a few shots at hitting the guy

CFALKO
if you are here, the game has started
everyone is posting in the first game thread.

So... by level 10 that would be TL...
20, + pilot's dex we'll say 5, maybe -1 for size, -1 for having armor of up to +8, +6 for the defenses.

29, against 1d20+15, with maybe a computer roll on the first of the two tests. Say the comp's a +5.

You're expected to pass a 9+(60%) then a 14 (35%) of that 60%. So a 21% chance to hit if the target does not try to evade (otherwise that's 50% and 25%, for a mere 12.5% chance). And then on a hit, say it's a laser net vs a speed 12, there's a 45% chance of it getting blown up.

So final chance of damage is 11.55%, or a 6.85% chance of causing damage if the target's using evasive maneuvers.

>statistics proves
Well, statistics aren't actual dice. I still have no idea how you people can be so smart yet dumb as a sack of rocks.

Not everybody uses weighted dice.

>Well, statistics aren't actual dice. I still have no idea how you people can be so smart yet dumb as a sack of rocks.

...what?

What exactly are you saying? You play with unfair dice?

Clearly user plays online and doesn't so much use /roll commands as type out "roll 1d20+15 (18) = 43"

Statistically it's almost impossible to roll 3 twenties in a row. Yet it happens all the damn time, without weighted dice.

Statistically, you can claim whatever you want. In play, things work out much different than your statistics claim.

this isn't Xcom where they lie and say 90% when the real odds are more like 60%. 3 twenties in a row is a 1/8000 chance, which is far from impossible.

every teacher you have ever had has failed you

That's due to small sample sizes. The smaller the sample size, the more anomalous it can end up easily.

Most of the fucking time, your missiles are going to do fuck all.

>You'll roll a 20, but then the other guy will make his point-defense roll.

>You'll roll a 20, but then you'll roll a 5 and then the missile loses its lock and sputters out.

>You'd roll a 20, but first you rolled a 3, and there will be no missile for it next turn.

>You rolled a 14 and a 12, and thus missed.

Stories of 3 twenties in a row happen, sure, but claiming they're more common than any of the above is completely ignoring the other ten thousand rolls that have already been done at that table every other session of every other game in hopes of skewing the data.

The lesson here is never, ever fire your TL weapons at ranges beyond their base speed.

yeah i recomend only using torpedos at very close ranges. just like real torpedos.

hive mind

Actually, in terrestrial terms torpedoes can be quite long range. A Mk48 can reach 50km and unlike the ones in starfinder, the guidance improves - not lowers - its chances of hitting as it approaches the target.

I thought that guy was being sarcastic. I don't know anything about military weapons but "torpedoes at close range" sounds to me like some Wile E. Coyote shit.

In a lot of space games torpedoes are a thing you fire at point-blank range, half because their speed ensures a carrier could dodge it easily, and half because it'll get shot down before that would ever even be required.

In reality, long range guided weapons can easily reach beyond visual range inside an atmosphere. The AMRAAM-C reaches over 100km, and reportedly the newer D version reaches has more than 160km.

Abstracting missiles is often better and more simply (for game speed) done by making them act effectively as tiny vehicles (which they are). They aren't so fucking stupid that they need to keep a perfect lock for the first 100km: an "attack roll" would only really be of consideration for locking on (nothing fired yet) and for the weapon's terminal guidance (where it attempts to reach ideal detonation range in the case of air-to-air, as those tend to shrapnel-shotgun rather than impact their target)

>captcha laborables
>that sounds like an amazing product idea

You buy a washing machine.

You get it home. It doesn't work. You go online, and everyone has this problem. They outline a way to fix this washing machine which works.

The company is still shit for selling nonfunctional washing machines. It doesn't matter that people have figured out how to fix it.

Yours is a good metaphor.
Have a soviet.

The best way to use them is to get the missiles with best damage to price ratio and mass them out. Don't try for big missiles either. Just a lot of small ones. So you can just ignore possible PD. So you go nuclear missile and stack as much of them on your ship as you can.

Linking them is really a waste of BP but if you don't have enough gunners or too greedy for Resolve to use Broadside there is no other way. this way you could enhance all the shots with your computer (buy mononode computer for maximum bonus). It should work best up to around medium size where you can squeeze a really good speed out of your ship.

So say your Small ship will have an alpha strike type attack with 4 missiles (2 forward arc and 2 turret) each doing 5d8 damage. At around level 3 you could probably afford a +4 computer so you won't really suffer due to Broadside penalties. So go for close combat (10 range) and ram the missiles down the throats of your enemies.

Consider player ships. If you have four un-linked launchers the only way to get any use at all out of them is spending resolve on a broadside, and that's at high levels only. Additionally you're at -4 if you fire two launchers together (fire at will) without them even being linked.

Your method is ideal for large NPC vessels who literally have as many gunners as they want, but players do not get to do that.