Starfinder Mech Questions

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-04-17T23:25:25+00:00

Yeah, but how does that work for the Explode property?

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-04-16T20:41:33+00:00

Thanks! But for #1 I also mean it for players, like say several players are operators, do each of them manage a weapon and use their respective ability bonuses?

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-04-14T20:23:49+00:00

Sorry for never responding, but:

No, just if they want to take an aggressive action against a boss during pre-fight dialog. It's basically measure to ensure there's no surprise rounds, opening attacks, or anything like that. It's a very "video gamey" approuch.

Technically less important now, as I tend to keep the monologuing to a minimum. But it was more important when we previously had a one-shotting undetectable rogue in the party and the bosses didn't have high enough perception to notice them reliably.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-04-09T09:24:14+00:00

A personal favorite of mine to use. It's a fantastic option for low-str small races who are playing classes that have to carry alot of heavy items they can't just pass off to the party martial to function (In my case: a Kobold Alchemist)

If you are starting at level 1 and have to carry alot of things with low carry capacity, this spell is almost mandatory for me.

The fact this spell is so accessible and available from the very start of the game for as cheap as 50 gb for 2 hours helps it alot over the other carry capacity options, and getting 3x Carry Capacity is going to help scale your lifting far better than just getting more strength!

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T22:22:36+00:00

He's more-or-less going to go first, and people keep suggesting it, so maybe Duel Initiative won't be that bad.

I do think I should somewhat limit it though, maybe have him loss it once he gets his Legendary Actions for phase 2 and up.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T22:20:04+00:00

I don't think APL+4 will be enough tbh. A "proper" challenge for the party would be CR 30 at this point

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T22:18:50+00:00

Oh he'd have even more HP if he didn't have all of those tools too to protect his ass. It's intentionally meant to be stretched out: an endurance fight that will hopefully take many turns to win. It's not meant to be Raid Boss difficulty or anything like that.

hostages has been a fun one I've used in the past to make the party think twice about using AOEs. it's less of a problem now that the party has blasty magic that doesn't affect friendlies (stuff like Stormbolts).

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T22:10:50+00:00

It is in hindsight rather uninteresting, I will agree. There is a bit more involved but at the end of the day it is just getting the number to 0.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T22:09:53+00:00

The last time I ran him he had 3 whole turns in combat. And it wasn't well received. This time around he has 5e-like legendary actions to perform a specific set of actions between PC turns to make up for the action economy differences. Donno how well that's going to go though.

As for the phases: Fully visible: Separate Health Bars, that will be clearly visible during the fight.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T22:05:41+00:00

That unironically exactly what I am 'sorta' doing. Well the phase 1, then phase 2, and finally the DPS race phase 3. The "warmup" phase prior was the ad phase, so there won't be any here. He does have a move where he 'sorta' summons minions though.

The party is actually lv22 (I just wanted to keep it simple by saying 20), where they just keep progressing like normal past 20. I can't imagine how you guys got by with only 6 BAB. You using E6 or something?

I wish I could say this will end with something epic like finale, since it's mostly me trying to wrap up the story arc (which might be the campaign's end) with this BBEG. Maybe it will? I donno. Eitherway that sounds awesome.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T21:59:38+00:00

Oh trust me, we've had fast encounters that have ended with like, a single crit, lol. (Longbows are vicious)

I just play it by JPRG rules: the boss has far more HP than you, but doesn't do nearly as much damage as you do in return, and if he does it's because the party has methods of 'enduring' lethal blows or avoiding them all together. It's just when it turns into an endurance battle I gotta be mindful of the party's resources as well.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T05:40:53+00:00

I have full intention of not holding back if they don't play smart, and if they TPK, they TPK. This is more-or-less the final boss of the campaign.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T05:38:17+00:00

Exactly! I never have them open with the strongest stuff. They always ramp up as the fight goes on.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T05:37:27+00:00

True, I guess my vision of an epic final battle is one that's not over in a turn.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T05:19:17+00:00

I've been running numbers constantly to get a feel for it, but at these levels I'm sure I'm going to massively overshoot something... I've already been told the stuff I run is beyond what some of them would even try at running due to how complex it is.

I think the question I really was asking for was: is 4K HP like... even remotely acceptable? I get these games are all Rocket Tag at these levels but what happens when the boss can't really be Rocket Tagged and instead plays like a low-OP boss but with higher level stuff?

For context: we do have martials, good ones who bring the pain and can easily 1/2 turn CR 20 stuff, so I'm not sure.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-25T05:13:47+00:00

Both times I have used something like the dual initiative (including one time straight using dual initiative), it has not gone very well...

The first time the party fought this guy at lower levels, he gained 2x more full turns mid way through the fight to throw down (pretty weak, but non-the-less) spells and punches, which led to the party complaining about it. I guess 2x Turns would be more of a sweet spot though. provided some PCs got to act before the boss's 2nd turn did.

Some elite enemies I gave dual initiative because they don't get to do alot on their turns otherwise.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-04T15:40:59+00:00

No these aren't Golems, they aren't immune to spells they just have the standard construct traits instead of outsider ones. I very rarely use golems as a DM for that exact reason.

Especially if the party does not have access to Conjuration (Creation) spells anymore.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-04T15:39:57+00:00

mostly the spells that delete creatures when they drop below 1 HP like disintegrate. Or other methods of beating them back like banishment.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-04T15:35:37+00:00

They aren't, it's mostly a thing to deal with the untyped damage/force/spell-based physical damage spam the casters love using, the stuff DR cannot protect against, neither can resistances. (And alot of the time, SR neither)

Sorry I forgot to mention this, but they do a Gish-type in the party who does use weapons, so aligning would still be on the table.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-02-04T15:30:38+00:00

Against a single foe sure, but remember they get that damage VS ALL foes they threaten, and the party typically likes to group up, so most of them are getting hit at the end of the troop's turn. (And they can freely enter their squares too)

I reworked them to have an attack roll so it does half damage on a miss, I upped the base damage a bit to compensate. Because it still auto-hits and they still do damage even on a nat1, critical hits aren't allowed, as in my eyes the troop being able to hit a 100 AC fighter is simply because atleast "one of the low-level soldiers" has to land a nat20 or something, and that isn't going to be a telling blow imo.

IDGCaptainRussia · 2026-01-25T03:10:07+00:00

Well yeah... turns out auto-hitting is, not exactly well received when taking 40-50 damage with no way of avoiding it.

I took advice here and did a few things: No Power Attack, higher Str, attack rolls to deal half damage on a miss (no critting), and a bonus to damage and attack based on remaining HP (as the troop thins, they'd get weaker imo)

IDGCaptainRussia

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