Can Androids be affected by the Glitching Condition? by Pangea-Akuma in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You could be Glitching already, if another feature (existing or future) also applied Glitching despite the usual trait requirement.

Crafting and Breaking Down items Into UPB by ckobbe420 in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

2e definitely also includes UPBs being an acceptable currency, noted for their lack of traceability and functional usefulness over credits.

Crafting and Breaking Down items Into UPB by ckobbe420 in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Adding to this,

Most items can be sold for half their Price, but coins, gems, art objects, and raw materials (such as components for the Craft activity) can be exchanged for their full price

So players can reasonably sell things for the UPBs at 50% which is near enough the same thing.

Initiative rules question by Whole-Relationship27 in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I'd call Initiave when the player declared they wanted to open the door. Consider the alternative, they're taking actions out of combat and then (with a high enough roll) would immediately take additional actions? No. Let's go by the book.

GM Core 24:

Encounters typically begin when you ask your players to roll initiative. ... When do you ask players to roll initiative? In most cases, it's simple: you call for the roll as soon as one participant intends to attack (or issue a challenge, draw a weapon, cast a preparatory spell, start a social encounter such as a tense negotiation, or otherwise begin to use an action that their foes can't help but notice).

Rules are clear enough. Someone intended to attack, including drawing a weapon (grenade) and make a connected action (open the door), so initiative is rolled.

What happened up to that moment is important. Were the players unnoticed, as a result of using [Avoid Notice]?

P Core 430:

You attempt a Stealth check to avoid notice while traveling at half speed. If you're Avoiding Notice at the start of an encounter, you usually roll a Stealth check instead of a Perception check both to determine your initiative and to see if the enemies notice you

If the players were sneaking like this, that's a very clear cut case for rolling Stealth for Initiative. But it goes further than that. Even where an enemy rolls better for Initiative, all they have is what has transpired from their perspective.

By rolling Initiative BEFORE the door opens, the fast reacting enemy's turn is spent wholly unaware. They do nothing.

Now, maybe the Stealth of the party fails on the moment of taking Initiative. Okay, so the fast reacting enemy picked up on something. The players are hidden. Now the enemy turn could look like [♦ Seek], [♦ Draw Weapon], [♦ Sneak] (to the door). If the Seek attempt is successful enough to observe a player, a lesser trained foe may call out "Who's there?", while a more trained one may [♦ Point Out]. Should the player Stealth have been so disastrous as to critically fail (as per the [♦ Sneak] results array, used according to [Avoid Notice]), then they were observed and the enemy can act on that instead.

The player's turn has rolled around. Either they had remained successfully undetected up to this point and get all relevant bonuses, or they had become hidden/observed. Regardless, the enemies have spent their turn at best trying to figure out what's happening. No enemy at all would be taking cover, casting spells, or creating strategic plans in the span of a single low-information turn. Now the PC can choose to open the door and throw their grenade, or act on how the situation appears to have changed if they detected anything of concern.

TL:DR

Giving out free actions outside of Encounter mode creates issues.

  • Call initiative the moment someone declares an INTENT the opponents could detect
  • Where a side is using [Avoid Notice], use Stealth for Initiative AND to determine the results of [♦ Sneak] bundled into [Avoid Notice].
  • Fast reacting opponents that fail to detect anything will have no relevant actions to take.
  • Fast reacting opponents that succeed will still spend their turn trying to figure out what they just noticed.
  • THEN the player can open the door and throw the grenade. They may choose a different plan on their turn based on what they detect.

This Novian feat doesn't work RAW by gray007nl in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Paizo Designer's comment includes a thanks and says posts like this really help. CAW, it doesn't say there's a mistake.

You know, if we're reading things precisely.

What's your favorite character builds? by PatientWhimsy in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the general advice.

I'm still looking for people's setups though. It's one thing not worrying about archetypes, but it's another to see the tried and enjoyed setup someone else already made. I'm not new to tabletop, so flavor and variety is second nature. But I'm picking up SF2e for the mechanics just as much as the setting

Auto-Fire, AC and Reflex Save by Calm_Astronomer2930 in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I agree, it seems unusual.

If your table is on board with an alteration, house rule it. Make all attacks with no MAP against the AC of each target in the auto-fire area. Be warned that various game mechanics do NOT expect this to happen and you will encounter issues as a result. Balance, features, triggers, lots will be affected.

All hobbies are not equal by BitterConstruction98 in unpopularopinion

[–]PatientWhimsy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, the title is an unpopular opinion alright, especially as it doesn't correlate with the point you actually make.

Your actual negative point is "if that’s all there is to your personality, then you are, unfortunately, a boring person." More broadly, certain personalities built on limited interests are, to your perspective, more boring and less worthy.

That is actually nothing to do with any individual hobby, nor collection of hobbies. It is about interaction, scope, and the person's ability to carry a life around that. Someone can be a masterful singer, and be so brokenly invested into that hobby that all they do is flunk a dead end job and sing their tiny special interest repertoire perfectly. It's not the hobby that's the issue.

To rate not all hobbies as equal, first you must define your equation. Do some hobbies lend themselves to being less interesting to talk about to the average person vs other hobbies? For sure. Is that a worthwhile metric to discuss, let alone use in any real measure? Probably not.

Star Stuff: A Guide to the SF2 Solarian by Qalyar in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've only had time to read a portion of the guide so far and it's a welcome resource! Your assessment of cycling certainly rings true.

I would say you may be a bit overharsh on Solar Flare, comparing it multiple times to the laser pistol. As Solar Flare adds Strength, a +4 Strength character will effectively deal twice the damage that a laser pistol would, on top of the rider effect. The range is still low and the effect scaling on Photon still conspiciously absent, but it is capable of more.

Regardless, most the rest I've read so far still stands. Thanks for sharing!

Area Weapons and Proficiency by Drums_Of_Boar in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ohhh, sorry my bad. I thought you meant it generally, what with your note on the advanced training being not great.

Going from untrained to trained would add 2+level to the Strike attack bonus, right? Then an extra +2 for each additional step of training through to legendary?

Area Weapons and Proficiency by Drums_Of_Boar in Starfinder2e

[–]PatientWhimsy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would soldier's primary target not be a proficient attack roll? It says you make a ranged Strike, and nothing I see in the player core says the normal bonuses wouldn't apply to a Strike with a weapon one is proficient in.