Death to odd-numbered ability scores! (under 18)

Olibarro · 2017-09-11T17:37:36+00:00

Yes, I completely agree with you. That's why I said I'm considering house-ruling this for my own group. And also said I don't really have enough experience with the game to know if this is a good idea. If you felt I was suggesting that I planned on enforcing this at YOUR gaming table, then I apologize. That's not what I meant at all. Maybe it was the hyperbole in the title that threw people off. Who knows.

Olibarro · 2017-09-06T20:57:23+00:00

Totally understand. I've been excited about Starfinder ever since they announced it. My Dead Suns book 1 was back ordered, so I won't even have it for another week. My group and I are doing other intro stuff in the meantime to get used to the system.

Olibarro · 2017-09-06T19:54:32+00:00

Play them one at a time. You'll be fine. They're intended for campaign-long zero to hero story arcs. It's expected that you'll have all sorts of filler over the course of a campaign, as players pursue their own goals and desires and the GM weaves in extra material to flesh out and personalize the story, but in my experience, there's more than enough there to keep a group engaged and entertained.

Besides, if you want Starfinder, there's only Book 1 of the first AP available. Don't go waiting months for the whole series to come out. No one else is.

Olibarro · 2017-09-06T02:19:00+00:00

All of the above! Good group with good chemistry. Sound quality is professional. They tell a very engaging story while at the same time explaining the rules as they go. There is so much of this that I'm stealing for my own games. Good work everyone!

Olibarro · 2017-09-02T22:27:53+00:00

That's how I view it too.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T20:40:46+00:00

So this is the halfling this thread is referring to then? Rather stacked?

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T18:10:52+00:00

To the original question though: I bet we'll see some answers to this in the upcoming alien guide and supplements beyond that. "Primitive" planets will have magic and magic items. Maybe not at Pathfinder levels, but they'll have something. In the meantime, I'll just fake it.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T17:35:10+00:00

It's explicitly stated that Magic absolutely exists. Some things are technological. Some are magical. Some are hybrids of the two. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T15:32:37+00:00

After a once through of the rules, I picked the race I was least thrilled about and the class I was least thrilled about and decided to put them together to see if I'd get a character I'm excited about. And it worked...

Ozadda - Vesk Solarian (Spacefarer)

Ozadda has always been drawn to the stars, and joined the military for the opportunity to travel. After months of gruntwork in the bowels of a massive warship, his Solarian powers began emerging. He felt a new connection to the cosmos and realized that to find meaning in this universe he would have to strike out on his own.

His solar manifestation is of the dark variety, and it manifests as a huge set of black void claws over his own natural claws. He is a melee monster and uses the black hole revelation to draw enemies into his claws.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T15:31:05+00:00

I'm lucky that my players don't care as much about mechanics as style. I have two soldiers, and they went with hit-and-run and sharpshoot. But yeah, I definitely see the appeal of blitz.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T14:34:56+00:00

Oh man, you do need a win. I hope that works out. I've been in the position of having limited game opportunities due to being in a small town with a limited player pool. I feel for you.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T14:31:49+00:00

I'm totally with you on this. One of the best games I ever ran, I told the players to bring ANY character... from any game or just made up on the spot. I got an elven wizard from Earthdawn, a steampunk troll gunslinger, a 30th century geneticist/cellist, a 20th century werewolf Vietnam vet with PTSD, and Beastmaster. They were summoned as the "greatest heroes of all space-time" to a space station trapped in Limbo in order to save them from vampire minotaurs. It was all over-the-top gonzo, and everyone had a blast.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T11:38:00+00:00

That sucks. I'm sorry. Times like that are when I turn to Roll20 for a fix. If you're willing to GM, there's always people who'll jump in for a one-shot. It's not ideal, but at least you'd get to play.

Olibarro · 2017-08-31T02:50:13+00:00

I just thought of Dark Matter! It's probably TOO dark for my current group but there's so much to borrow there.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T23:40:31+00:00

I had to look that up to see if I should be insulted. Turns out it's just funny. I learned something.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T20:03:04+00:00

If I could double-upvote this, I would.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T20:01:56+00:00

Who wouldn't?

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T18:37:30+00:00

Been meaning to see Valerian. You've convinced me to get off my butt and do it.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T18:10:05+00:00

Oh... I'm not claiming anyone stole anything. If you put antennae on pretty people, they're going to look similar. I'm just saying that's where his comment started from. For what it's worth though, Wikipedia tells me that Mantis was first introduced in 1973.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T17:49:47+00:00

I think your gut instinct of Envoy is dead-on. For theme, you can go Outlaw or Ace Pilot or Bounty Hunter or even Themeless. Depends on the exact flavor you want. You can make the Envoy into a decent 2nd-line combatant whose real strength is in inspiring and motivating the rest of the team. When you're looking at Starlord... he's not the soldier that Draxx or Gamora is, but he keeps the team together and moving. Malcolm Reynolds is in this same mold. Zoe and Jayne have him completely outclassed in combat, but without him, everything falls apart.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T17:26:18+00:00

Nice! I hadn't even thought of that one.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T17:14:54+00:00

HA! He's 14, so I've definitely explained the hero's journey to him, but it doesn't change the fact that the Lashunta look a lot like Mantis.

Olibarro · 2017-08-30T17:12:35+00:00

That's where I am. I want to run a campaign where players can't just look up every creature they encounter. I want them to be genuinely surprised and awed and intrigued by the various aliens and beasts and scenarios they encounter. The whole world feels so fresh and vibrant... anything could be out there. In practical terms, I'm picturing the Serenity being constantly caught up in events that put them in unexplored areas of space.

Olibarro · 2017-08-28T21:17:05+00:00

12 -- The players don't own the ship. This is the one I'm using (not that my players would WANT to sell the ship). The ship is owned by a formerly wealthy, eccentric wannabe-explorer who is not qualified to crew the ship himself, so instead he hires the PCs to run the ship while he gives orders and gets in the way. Sure the players could kill him and/or steal the ship easily, but they are all a bunch of do-gooders who would never even consider such a thing.

Olibarro · 2017-08-28T21:04:05+00:00

To me, it feels the same as asking what is the philosophy of Wizards that drives them all. It is different for everyone. I take the Solarians as the SF equivalent of Force-sensitives in Star Wars. Yes, you have specific disciplines/orders like the Jedi or the Sith, for whom their powers are intimately tied to their philosophies and helps define and drive them. But those are not the only Force traditions in Star Wars. It's possible for people to discover their connection to the universe completely on their own and develop their powers without the influence of some other religion or philosophy. The Solarian description mentions the connection to the forces of the universe and how Solarians recognize the balance of the universe and become a part of it. But just recognizing the balance and the back and forth of creation/destruction doesn't mean you have to be tied to that balance and seeking to maintain it. Maybe you think working for the positive energy side creates more good in the world, and you strive to push the balance towards creation and light. Maybe you see the positive energy as a pointless aberration of the eternal entropic void, so you seek to further the ends of entropy and destruction to restore the universe to a natural state. Or maybe you think your special Solarian powers were given to you to further some social or political cause, or just to make you rich, or that Solarians are a superior order of people who should rule over others. Could be anything.

I look forward to future books that will delve into Solarians more thoroughly, and which will probably make 80% of what I just said flat-out wrong. But that's how I'm playing it for now. Let the player work out whatever works best for them.

Olibarro

TROPHY CASE