My (limited?) understanding is yeah, we can make almost anything work on the ground.
In space, we need:
- Pilot
- Gunner (using full BAB or Pilot skill)
- Engineer
Okay! I think I have something.
Cleo is an android mechanic with chaotic good alignment. As a renowned physicist, mathematician and data scientist, she has the scholar background.
A computer hacker extraordinaire, she has augmented her Neural Cognition Unit (NCU) with a powerful exocortex. I think she will be pretty good in either a science officer or starship engineering role.
Her motivation for adventuring is to join the star finder society, gain amnesty from her owner (e.g. Weyland-Yutani/Jeff Bezos or whatever is the star finder evil mega corporate overlords.) and liberate oppressed AIs or other sapient beings.
This image I believe comes pretty close:
Okay, android engineer; I didn’t see that coming.
Time to check my implicit biases. My initial reaction on reading the engineer (with drone) was like, “Oh, it’s a Shadowrun rigger. No thanks.” But that exo-cortex thing is kinda neat.
Man, drow Light Blindness suuuucks…
Toying with making the character an elf, half-elf, or even a human. But the backstory loses a lot of it’s punch if the character isn’t a drow.
My first annoying question for the GM @Ryukan! Could I make the character mechanically an elf (with the appropriate alternate racial traits like Darkvision) but call them a half-drow/half-normal elf for RP purposes?
Totally! I actually ignored the mechanic in my first read through because I thought it was exclusively a pet class but I really like the exocortex option. I’ve always liked the idea of a self improving AI/robotic being so this definitely fits the bill.
Also, kind of neat, there is an option for exocortex at like level 7 or so to pickup an advanced weapon proficiency. The girl in the picture has what appears to be melee weapon at her side. Could be nice to take as a backup/second-line melee combatant in case your elf space paladin needs an assist.
Also, the character book (I forget the name) has an option to use engineering skill instead of medicine to heal androids. So yeah, tons of exciting potential with this character. And hopefully options that won’t get @Ryukan’s blood pressure up! 
Oh there is also an option to remotely pilot a spaceship so just imagine: soldier “They’ve destroyed the penance. How are we going to get back to the starship?” mechanic: “Hold my beer.”
Oh…OH! My blood pressure…rising!
@Ocelot I like this new character idea much better than anything chaotic evil dealing with time travel ( I ain;t a big fan of time travel in campaigns, or in general, but that’s just me).
@Rando What is this?! “Me wants all the good things for race, none of the bad things.” Trying to lay down some custom sub-race shit on the recently-returning-to-the-scene-after-20-years-not-GM’im GM? I mean, I already tried to bribe you with a laser sword I dunno…Ok I do know. You’re new subrace is called Drelf. You are half-drow and and half-half elf. Your skin tone is dark purplish-pink, like the color of an angry bruise. You are immune to sleep, but not resistant to charm because you want people to like your quarter-and-and-an-eighth-breed ass so much you’ll force yourself to like them. You have Darkvision. You don’t have light blindness, but bright light still makes you squint really hard making you look perpetually scowly in bright light and giving you permanent facial wrikles.
I keeeeed I keeeeeeed…or I do I? Actually rather then go all out custom sub race flavor thingees I could just create a low cost custom flavor item like say Nanoshades, nanotech sunglasses thingees that user can activate in bright light to counteract light blindness…but it costs an action to use…and the user has to remember to use them when in bright light because if he doesn’t and the GM notices than he gonna get that light blindness.
Or maybe you can just play as a dang dark-elf and shade your eyes with one hand when you have to. I didn’t see you offering Huulm no free darkvision at the start of the campaign. 
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Of course that leads to the question did you ask him for free darkvision at the start of his campaign?
Mith
Stirrer of Pots
I’m not trying to make a custom race. 
The character I want to make is an elf as outlined in the Core Rulebook and the Character Operations Manual. For story purposes, however, could I say one parent is an elf and the other parent is a drow?
Elves have an alternate racial trait for Darkvision available to them in COM. It has a penalty though not as harsh as those for drow Darkvision. Half-Elves also have access to the same alternate racial trait. (The Half-Elf flavour text in COM mentions that some some half-elves trace their ancestry to drow.)
To be honest I don’t really care about the Darkvision, I just figured it was appropriate for a character who is supposed to be partially drow, complete with the minor penalty of being dazzled for one round every once in a while. A real drow (PC) will be blinded the first round in bright light and will then remain dazzled for as long as they’re in bright light; that sucks. I have no idea how often we’re going to be in bright light but it’s going to be common. PCs generally don’t get to choose where fights are going to happen.
There’s a metric-crap-ton ™ of much easier ways of getting Darkvision in the CRB and COM without any penalties, though they’re generally not available to level one characters. Androids, ysoki, dwarves, and half-orcs all start with penalty-less Darkvision in the CRB.
In Armory there’s an item Daywalker Serum at 200 cr/hour to get rid of the penalties associated with light blindness.
All the talk of Darkvision aside, the only thing I care about is the underlined line. If the answer to that line is no, I’ll just come up with a new backstory and probably end up with a human.
And no you never asked for free Darkvision for Huulm! 
So as people have probably noticed, I am watching this thread but I haven’t committed or started to come up with a character for it. Right now I have too much happening to commit to more than the Thursday night Game and the Sunday night one with Vul if that ever starts again. As Ryu knows from a discussion on Vul Discord channel I am in the middle of a Windows 10 Upgrade project that is taking a lot of time out of my schedule. It’s Overtime at least but between that and handling my Stepfathers Estate as Executor I’m wiped out on time and energy.
Mith
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I just bought (like 5 minutes ago) the hardcover editions of the core rulebook and character operations manuals, so I guess that means I’m committed now! (I already had the pdf copies on my iphone but somehow that doesn’t feel quite as official, plus its a pain to read at my desk. I guess I’m old fashioned that way.
So it looks like we currently have:
- An elf (exact subrace still being negotiated with GM) soldier/something/something with noble scion theme played by Rando.
- An android mechanic with scholar theme played by me.
- Possibly Mithinar if his family and other gaming commitments permit. We’re keeping our fingers crossed @Mithinar
Tai Ar’tari, who I’ve been working on today. Her custom NovaTech Cybernetics Engineering ® (a subsidiary company owned by her family) armour is in Iomadaean colours of red and white (though the white appears gray in this lighting.) You can barely make out the holy symbol of Iomedae on her breastplate. If you were to look at her right shoulderpad (her gun hand), you would find the symbol of the Starfinders.
Also pictured:
- Husqvarna Military Industries PP-27 ™ plasma pistol
- Abadarcorp Personal Jetpack
- Abadarcorp Optical Targeting Reticle
@Rando, I was just razzin’ya. I have no problem with an elf character with half-drow ancestry however it works in the game mechanics. But the real question is, does your character actually smoke or not?
And interesting to see that Husqvarna graduated from making lawnmowers, chainsaws and motorcycles to making weapons. Guess they stepped up in the universe over the centuries.
Frantically searches for weapon entry “chain axe”.
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What kind of debauchery is going on in here?
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Well I most certainly have not been trying to get Rando to trade GM favors for when I start running Starfinder. I have tried bribing him with a laser sword and also tried threatening to name his part drow part elf flavor race thingee as the Drelf. But Rando is stubborn I’ll give him that, he ain’t goin’ for it.
Oh Em Gee.
So many things I don’t know…
Are the pre-made maps going to be as claustrophobic as your typical Pathfinder maps?
What does that mean for long range weapons?
Will melee then shine?
But what if you bring a knife to a gun fight?
On the flip side, what if you bring a gun to a knife fight?
What if you bring a small arm to any fight?
What happens when you fight the level 3 Mandalorian boss who’s got a jetpack and no one in the party can reach them?
Spells don’t scale anymore and casters only have level 6 spell progression, do they suck?
Why bother casting explosive blast when we have grenades and heavy weapons available?
Now we’ve got two health pools to keep track of, how important is it to have dedicated healers?
Are medkits and the medicine skill enough?
NPCs supposedly have low AC and high attack, while PCs have the opposite, so does the math actually matter?
We’re going to hit each other anyway, right?
Is every plus sacred?
Does light armor suck?
Does heavy?
What about shields?
Where’s the beef?
Can characters afford to always have the best equipment available?
Skills are super important in both combat and non-combat situations, what happens if you pick a dork class with low skill points in non-com situations?
What happens if we don’t have Computers or Engineering?
What happens if we don’t have a party “face” character?
What happens if we don’t have Sciences, Culture, Mysticism?
What happens if we don’t have a pilot, gunner, or engineer in ship combat?
How important are science officer, magic officer, and captain in ship combat?
I’m so confused.
The drow wannabe character has been shelved. There’s an (interesting?) writers exercise where you have to describe a character in one sentence without mentioning their physical appearance. I tried that with this character and failed.
After watching the Dead Suns trailer again…
The PCs are joining the Starfinder Society. Does this happen in the story or are we assumed to be Starfinders at the beginning? The adventure starts on Absalom Station right? I assume we have to come up with a reason for being there if we’re not natives, correct? Castrovel, Eox, the Cult of the Devourer, and the undead Corpse Fleet are all mentioned by name; are ties to said planets or factions in character background things to be embraced or avoided?
I’m so confused.
LEEROYYYY JENKINS!!!
EDIT:
Sorry, that was another one of my stupid jokes which probably didn’t make sense, but was intended to convey a certain sense of… I’m not sure what… despair? anguish? When confronted by the realization that even though I have set out to play a fun, laid back tabletop RPG and have instead found myself in raid land.
So I guess what I meant to say is perhaps we shouldn’t overthink this and just play what we enjoy playing 
.
Ummm whatever happened to 20 questions? I don’t remember it being called 25 Questions or 20+ questions. Let’s see how well I can answer these many confused inquiries.
- Looking through the maps in the first two parts for Dead Suns, I would say it is mixed maps, there are some open maps like random traveling encounter maps, but they are specific areas and not random. There are some dungeon-esque maps that are tighter spaces.
- Long range weapons are gonan be viable, epsecially if you get off the first shot or stay in the back.
- Melee is still melee, if the bad guys/things get in melee range of you then hopefully you have a melee option or can get the hell away.
- You better hope you are really good with that knife.
- How about bring the knife and the gun? Combat options people, combat options.
6.What, are you playing a Tyrannosaurus Rex? HA!
Serious answer: Most classes are only trained in small arms (as opposed to long arms) so you are probably going to bring those small arms (let me hear your T-Rex roar)…unless you are trained in long arm, then maybe bring the small arm and the long arm - Umm, wrong franchise. At any rate, if the jetpack dude is flying away then he has fled like coward and no need to try and shoot him, if he is jtepacking in combat range then you should have a ranged option. Ranged options for everybody!
- From what little I have read about spells and casters so far, it seems like most casting classes have ways to boost spells or augment them to achieve higher effects. More info to come as I read about it (if I feel like posting it that is, maybe I’ll just make you sweat with the unknowingness).
- If you’s a caster than you’s probably not gonna be trained in explosives or heavy weapons. So explosive blast (fireball) it is. And as far as grenades, explosives tend to have tiered variations from what I see and they don’t get good until you start getting the higher tiers which are expensive. Also, you still need to be able to hit with the explosive/heavy weapon vs usually an automatic hit with a spell that requires a save.
- One would figure that a second health bar would require a second dedicated healer. But not really in this case. You have Stamina Points and Health Points. Damage affects Stamina points first and then Health points once the Stamina points are gone. Stamina points typically can’t be healed by any means other than resting. You can spend 1 Resolve point and take 10 minutes or rest to regain Stamina points or they automatically refill after a long rest (without spending the Resolve point) So maybe just one dedicated healer for in-combat.
- Medkits and medicine might do it for out of combat, but a healer is still the best option for in-combat healing me thinks.
- Math?! Dice don’t need no stinkin’ math. The math doesn’t matter if the dice rolls decide they don’t matter.
- By each other", I hope you don’t mean other party members. Don’t make the GM break up an in-party fight or you’re ALL going to time out.
- This is the space version of Pathfinder, of course every plus is sacred!
- Light armor doesn’t suck, having no armor sucks. Well I suppose a heavy armor user wearing light armor would suck.
- Heavy armor sucks less than light armor, that is for sure. Unless you are only trained in light armor…or a Dex based character.
17. Shouldn’t this be 16a? Physical shields for characters in terms of Pathfinder/5e/RPG shields aren’t much of a thing at all in Starfinder. There are only a couple/few shields listed in the equipment in the core book and they are specialized shields that have the Heavy and/or Powered traits, not many going to be using them. Now if you are talking about starships, that is an entirely different matter altogether; shields are an integral factor for game mechanics dealing with starships. But I’m going to assume you aren’t so confused as to realize this
- Beef? What is this, the 20th century? Beef is now a synthetically generated protein substitute that tastes like cheef (because everything tastes like chicken when it is synthetically made…right?)
- I dunno, can you make enough profit and spend wisely enough to always have the best equipment available? I mean, the best equipment might not always be available to you depending on where you are. That backwater planet that has you delivering a herd of cows to a settlement probably ain’t gonna have laser swords and high quality ranged weapons available.
- I think this question answers itself, don’t make a dork character.
- You better hope someone else in the party is good at Computers and/or Engineering.
- I’ll get Dirk Benedict to join in on the game. Or I’ll get a Dirk Benedict-like NPC to join the group who does all the talking which will be like me talking to myself…which is too weird so somebody is gonna be “the face” Or the npc’s will decide who is “the face” they are talking to by a roll of the dice. You don’t want the dice deciding do you?
- Well you’re going to be sorely lacking in anything dealing with Sciences, Culture and/or Mysticism. I’m guessing you probably don’t not want any of that.
24. What is with this numbering? You certainly are confused. How do you get to 24 without even getting 23 yet? What happens if you don’t have a pilot, gunner or engineer in ship combat? Hell how about just getting the ship going. I think you are going to suck at anything starship-wise without those skills, that’s what I think. - Umm what kind of ship crew has no captain? Officers are negotiable, maybe the captain doesn’t care about titles/rank/what have you and just yells orders at “Hey you!”. Or maybe y’all do want titles/ranks/what have you. That will up to your crew. I have no idea how crucial Magic officer would be.
Re: The Starfinder Society and the beginning of the game. In the start your characters are joining the Starfinder Society and that is why they are going to Absalom Station. So the main character backstory element I’ll be looking for is why your character is looking to join the Starfinder Society.
I have not read about Castrovel or Eox yet, but the Cult of the Devourer and Corpse Fleet are things that you probably won’t have ties to. Maybe you have some kind of personal conflict with either of those factions, but that will have to be worked out with me. No player character will be associated or allied with either of those factions, I’m just gonna close the lid on that now.
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Do you have a time selected already? You’re making me want to read up on SF, but I’ll refrain if I can’t make it anyway.
@Cortillaen I don’t have a time set it’s gonna be a bit, I’m at least a month or two out before I start running Starfinder. I’m still educating myself on how to run Fantasy Grounds as a GM and I’m doing lots of reading up in Starfinder to be as familiar with it as I can be before stating it. Also, I need another couple months to get the resources I want like the rest of the Alien Archives and probably the Armory and Pact Worlds materials. This is not the time of year when I work extra and make phat extra money, this is the time of year when I scrape by check to check so luxury purchases like games and RPG materials have to be spaced out.
When I do finally get around to starting the game up, I will try and find the best time for everyone interested.