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Starfinder: Armory

Hello and welcome to d20 diaries! Today we’re taking a look at Starfinder: Armory! This is one of the few Starfinder sourcebooks that’s available for purchase. It’s a hardcover book that focuses on new gear and equipment for use in the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

This article isn’t meant to be a thorough review or critique of Starfinder: Armory. It won’t replace the book (nor would I want it to!). It’s a quick breakdown of what’s found inside, and what I liked best in each chapter. It’s a collection of my favourites parts of the book, and some highlights. It’s here so that fellow gamers and fans can take a look and get a real a feel for what they’ll get out of the book. Hopefully it helps you decide whether this product is right for you.

Starfinder: Armory is a hardcover sourcebook 159 pages in length. Nearly all of that is dedicated to gear, with the remaining pages offering new character options for each of the seven Starfinder core classes. It features delightful cover art by Remko Troost which depicts Obozaya (the iconic vesk soldier) and Quig (the iconic ysoki mechanic) shopping. The inside covers feature a nice image of the Pact World System (which is not to scale). Following that is the table of contents and the ‘Overview.’ Basically, the two page introduction just lets you know what kinds of gear you’ll find in this book, and explains the difference between the different types of equipment categories. Perhaps the most useful tidbit? A tiny sidebar about minor equipment. Basically, any random technological item you want to invest in that’s not a weapon — things like cameras, clocks, headphones, so on and so on. Each of those items is available if GM approval for a price of 5 credits. Easy. Done. Love it. My daughter tends to try to purchase a lot of frivolous gear like this, so it’s nice to have a proper baseline for it.

After this its on to Chapter 1: Equipment. At a whopping 130 pages long, this chapter is by far the bulk of the book. These pages are filled with all new gear (not reprints) sorted by category. Equipment categories include: weapons, weapon accessories, weapon fusions, special materials, armour, powered armour, armour upgrades, augmentations, technological items, magic items, hybrid items, personal items, drugs, medicinals, poisons, other purchases, and vehicles.

Up first? Weapons. In general this book provides a wider array of weapons for each damage type at various levels, and some new abilities. And the number of choices? Huge! Just looking at the weapon charts there are six pages of melee weapons, four pages of small arms, three of long arms, three of heavy weapons, one of sniper weapons, a quarter page of untyped weapons, a quarter page of ammunition, a half page of solarian crystals, and a half page of grenades. That’s hundreds of new weapons up for sale — not even counting the new modifications and weapon fusions. There’s some awesome artwork in this section, with the art for the Bravado Handcannon (a small arm projectile with critical knockdown), the Exhorter Shout Projector (a sonic heavy weapon with critical demoralize), the Grave-Class Void Rifle (a cryo longarm with critical suffocate), the Matrix Resonant Pistol (a sonic small arm with critical deafen), the traditional battle ribbon (an uncategorized advanced melee weapon), and the warfan (and uncategorized advanced melee weapon), all numbering among my favourites. There are 46 new weapon special properties (breach, drain charge, free hands, and gravitation are my favourites), and sixteen new critical hit effects (blind and stifle are my favourites). There’s also an array of weapons manufacturers, each of which can add special abilities to your gun (for an extra fee, of course!). I’d be sure to buy from AbadarCorp and Ringworks Arsenal Group’s lovely weapon selection.

Kent Hamilton-Armory Spread — Some of the many weapons available in Starfinder Armory. Illustrated by Kent Hamilton.

But that’s not all! There’s also new weapon accessories, weapon fusions, and special materials up for offer. For accessories be sure to check out the bayonet bracket and collapsing weapon. I like a lot of the new weapon fusions, but my favourites probably turned out to be accurate, conserving, guarded, obscuring, rebounding, and soulfire. For special materials I was surprised to find I enjoyed horacalcum and inubrix the most.

After leaving behind sixty pages of weapons and weapon-related products we’re heading out into the wide world of armour. There’s six pages dedicated to light and heavy armour (with two of those being full-page art), followed by six pages dedicated to powered armour (with two of those being full-page art), and finally six more pages of armour upgrades. The upgrades are a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed adaptive energy shield, agility enhancer, auto injector, easy access kit, glamour projector, long strider module, medical interface, stabilizer springs (a nice low-level option), and (my personal favourite) the computer interface, which essentially lets you make a ‘Jarvis’ for your ‘Iron Man’ suit.

Up next? Augmentations. Biotech has two pages dedicated to it (be sure to check out the mighty vocal chords and regenerative blood), Cybernetics has two pages (I like the optical laser), Magitech has four pages of options (check out antimagic skin and arcane lenses), and finally Necrografts fill the last four pages (I like the bore blade and the healing larynx).

Armory - Power Armor Spread Leonardo Borazio — Some of the Powered Armour found in Starfinder Armory. Illustrated by Leonardo Borazio.

Then we move right on to Technological items. This section fills up a whopping twelve pages! Some of it is new, while others are pleasantly familiar, either because you can find them in our world, or because they were introduced in Pathfinder’s Technology Guide (such as ion tape and zipsticks). I particularly enjoyed the auto cartographer, datapad, domestic drive, emergency raft, evenfire unit, holographic sashimono, hoverskates, ion tape, nanite hypopen, and the many new tool kits. There’s lots of useful stuff!

Magic Items are up next, where you’ll find ten more pages of new equipment to spend your credits on. To start with there’s some cool aeon stones, my favourite of which is the kaleidoscopic icosahedron. The very expensive containment tesseract is also pretty nifty. I also enjoyed the cover seed, darksight goggles, dented kasa, diffraction cloak, figurine of wondrous power (which summon creatures to fight for you), ofuscated journal, plasma beads (pretty much a necklace of fireballs), Starfinder backpack, and the tangle burst seed. This is followed by three new artifacts: Atrocite Sphere, Trafodi Paradox, and, my personal favourite, the Book of Unwritten Truths.

Fusing Technological Items and Magic Items are the delightful Hybrid Items, which take up eight pages. I enjoyed the captive-star amulet and various vital seeds most, although I’m sure there’ll be lots of fans of the new hybrid grenades (of which there are many). I got a great laugh out of computer idols, and the software imp! Be sure to give them a read.

Ysoki Gear - Rat After this is four pages of Personal Items. Although not the most exciting category of items, it’s certainly useful. My favourites are staples! The gear maintenance kit, mess kit, and books. (I know, I know. I’m really stepping out of my comfort zone there! Haha!).

Drugs, Medicinals, and Poisons all share the next two pages (which aren’t really my cup of tea), followed by two pages of ‘Other Purchases.’ This section is mostly flavour, but I found I really enjoyed reading about the types of cuisine created and favoured by the core races of the Pact Worlds. The ysoki were hilarious! (Don’t eat their food. In fact, I’d stay away from Shirren cuisine, as well!).

Finally, there’s two pages of new vehicles, the cheapest of which is the level two motorcycle for 1,900 credits. And that brings us to the end of the new equipment. 140 pages have flown by just like *snaps* that! But, that’s not the end of the book. That simply brings us to the next chapter.

Armoury Android Envoy Alexander Nanitchkov — Android Envoy by Alexander Nanitchkov.

Chapter 2: Character Options. Here you’ll find one new archetype, plus two pages of new class options for each of the core classes. All of these options are focused on equipment —- typically using your equipment to the best of its ability (or beyond its normal capabilities). The archetype comes first and is called Augmented. These guys are great with — you guessed it — augmentations! They get more, pay less for them, and can make their augmentations do more than they’re built to. The Augmented grants alternate class features at 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 9th levels. I really enjoyed it (and know at least one character created by my family who’ll be using it!).

The Envoy’s class options include four new low level improvisations, two sixth level improvisations, and two eighth level improvisations, followed by seven new expertise talents. Be sure to check out fire support, brace yourselves, improved brace yourselves, terrifying blast, and improved terrifying blast for improvisations, and expert advice for talents.

The Mechanic’s class options include four new level two tricks, three more level eight tricks, two more level fourteen tricks, and four new drone modifications. My favourite tricks were provisional repair and recalibrate engine, both of which are available at level two. My favourite drone mods were barricade, and grease.

The Mystic class options were both the least adaptable, and my favourite! They introduced a new mystic connection, and two new spells granted by that connection. So what is it? The Geneturge! These guys are capable of altering their genetic code (and even those of others). In application their abilities mostly involve biotech, and sudden evolution. I particularly enjoyed their Personal Modification third level ability, their Warping Strain ninth level ability, and their Instant Evolution fifteenth level ability. The two new spells are detect augmentation, and reject augmentation (which sounds awesome! Haha).

Armoury Human Mystic Alexander Nanitchkov — Human Mystic Genethurge by Alexander Nanitchkov.

The Operative class options include sixteen new exploits (six at level 2, five at level six, four at level ten, and one at level fourteen). and one new operative specialization. Of the exploits, I particularly enjoyed armour optimization, fast aim, pistol whip, trap spotter, and ricochet shot. The new Specialization is the Gadgeteer, a very cool inventor which makes use of two new exploits: utility belt, and quick deployment. His trick attacks involve using a custom device to distract the enemy. Such fun!

The Solarian class options include one new stellar revelation and one new graviton revelation for each level (level two, six, ten, and fourteen), and for zenith revelations. That makes for ten cool new options total. I had a hard time picking my favourites, but in the end I decided I liked constructive interference, stellar equilibrium, attractive force, debris field, particle field, and particle wave, which turned out to be an even split between stellar and graviton powers. Awesome!

The Soldier class options include ten new gear boosts and a new fighting style called ‘Shock and Awe.’ The fighting style is supposed to focus on making a real spectacle of yourself. I like it in theory, but in execution I wasn’t that impressed. Still, it’s different. Fighters who take this style will want to make use of sonic weapons and weapons with the bright special quality. As for gear boosts, there’s a ton of useful options. My favourites were steady sniper, twinned threat, and unstoppable strike.

StarfinderCover — Starfinder Core Rulebook

Finally we come to the Technomancer’s class options which include five new magic hacks of varying levels, and three new spells. My favourite magic hacks were recode gem (which is available at level two), and enchanted fusion (which is available at fifth level). As for spells, I rather enjoyed animate armour, and incompetence. The third spell, electroplating, is also quite useful.

And that’s it! All that’s left is the index and the end. 160 pages of awesome.

Honestly, I think that Starfinder: Armory is one of those books you’ve got to invest in. It’s not a frivolous extra purchase. You’ll reference it ALL the time. Every time you need to spend your credits you’ll crack out the Starfinder Core Rulebook and the Armory. For players, I’d say its more important than the Alien Archive (and Alien Archive 2) and Pact Worlds. For GMs? Well, hard to say. If you only GM it’s going to be less useful for you than the Alien Archives and Pact Worlds. But you’ll still get your use out of it. I adore this book and think it’s well worth the money.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek inside Starfinder: Armory with us!

See you in the Drift!

Jessica

Wacky Crew Save Highdelve!

Hear ye! Hear ye! Wacky Crew save Highdelve!

Yup! That’s right. Our weird and kooky crew of eccentric Pathfinders have completed their first mission! We played, we laughed, we triumphed. Oh, yeah, and WE RODE A DRAGON!

Who? What? Why?

Read on and be enlightened!

A while ago my family and I were gifted some boons as part of a delightful contest run by the overly generous Hmm. With them we made a team of goofy eccentrics! (Cause what ELSE should we have done with them?). An exiled aquatic elf magus struggling to adapt to life on the surface, a hyperactive grippli ranger who always looks on the bright side of life, a wise stump-tailed vanara shaman with hair growth issues and a pet pig, and a ratfolk shifter who gnaws on everything he can get his hands on. For more detailed information on our characters and their creation you can check out my previous blog post: Character Focus: Wacky and Weird.

Not long after creating these delightfully fun characters we were offered the chance to play an adventure all together via play-by-post: the incredibly hard to find Heroes for Highdelve! Our kooky characters took the time to think of a reason they were in Highdelve, and then we got cracking! They arrived just in time for the annual Brightbloom Festival. In addition to exploring the festival, stuffing our faces (and our pigs) with carnival food, riding barrels, competing in sack races, and assisting a puppet show, we each had specific goals we were trying to achieve.

My daughter’s grippli Croak was on the hunt for some stuffed rabbits she had recently purchased and misplaced on a wagon. My son’s vanara Pinesong Rippleroot was looking for some pet pigs he had accidentally sold to a merchant instead of a loving home. My husband’s ratfolk Lomo was in the market for a crafter to repair his father’s magical necklace that Lomo had chewed on. And my aquatic elf Sereia who was trying to track down a coral idol sold by an antiquities smuggler. Their efforts were hampered by the festival, but they had fun and found some promising leads.

Suddenly, the festival was interrupted by screams! The teenaged flower collectors for the festival (known as the Bloomgivers) came back to town wounded! They had been attacked by a pair of young troublemakers. In addition to being beaten up, they were robbed of their protective amulet, and their wagon of Brightbloom flowers was broken. The people gasped. Some called for the village’s legendary draconic protector Aurelliax to bring justice to the wayward youths, but she strode out of the crowd in human form and declined. She had promised the founders of the village long ago that she would protect them, but not interfere in village politics and citizenry. If someone was going to retrieve the protective amulets, gather the brightblooms, capture the teens, and save the festival, it was going to have to be someone else.

Obviously my kids hopped at the chance to volunteer! Their characters announced rather boldly that we would handle it, and once again my aquatic elf was roped into some spontaneous adventure. My daughter’s character Croak assured everyone that this would be the perfect grand adventure! Sereia was unsure.

Still, they were nothing if not true to their word, so the band of outcasts set out from Highdelve, through the hills and wilds until they reached the brightbloom meadow. There they found a field of flowers as far as the eye could see (along with the Bloomgivers’ broken flower wagon). They also found an old cabin, a recently used campsite, and a cave. The group split up, with Lomo and Pinsong checking out the cabin, Croak hopping right into the flower field to pick some brightblooms, and Sereia examining the campsite. But after only a moment the two teenaged hooligans hopped out from behind a rock and started attacking Croak!

What kind of dastardly villains would attack an innocent grippli who was plucking flowers?

Angsty ones!

Ahhh! The horror!

Croak leapt into action, tossing a net at the girl. Much to my daughter’s glee the enemy was stuck in the net the entire fight. (She laughed about this endlessly!). Everyone else rushed over to the meadow while Croak battled the remaining teenager with her blowgun. Pinesong arrived on the scene next, alongside his pig Cutie Pie. While Cutie Pie hid behind a rock, Pinesong clambered up on top of it and formed magical stormclouds around the enemy, making it difficult for them to see. Lomo arrived next and tore into the guy with his claws — dealing less damage than you might imagine since he’s a Dexterity based combatant. But before Sereia could arrive another enemy showed up on the scene! A tiefling who had hired the teenagers to steal the protective amulet from the Bloomgivers. Why? It was a mystery!

The trident wielding Sereia was the last to arrive, but as the character with the highest damage potential she turned the tide of battle pretty quickly. With the tiefling dead, and the two teenagers prisoner (but conscious) the quartet set about questioning the kids.

They learned that it was the tiefling who had something horrible planned for the town. Apparently he was keeping a monster in the cave, which he was going to unleash upon Highdelve! And the amulet? It would keep the monster protected from Highdelve’s gold dragon defender!

Knowing that they had a monster to defeat but unwilling to risk their prisoners escaping, the group transported the two teens and the tiefling back to Highdelve. After turning them in to the guard’s custody they headed back out to the cave and went right in. It was time to go monster hunting!

The caves were dark, but they could hear strange bellows echoing down the tunnels. In time they found the source — a massive ettin with strange markings carved into its flesh! Tangled in its fingers was the amulet!

When my kids looked at the battle map and the picture of the creature my kids both stopped and said: “Uh oh… That looks strong!”

Despite their fears we waded into battle with enthusiasm.

Now… When you’ve got four players who make characters always intended to play alongside one another, chances are good they’ll make a balanced team. And we did. But… we also aren’t exactly based around damage. We’re more like… a swarm of gnats that flits around the enemy poking it and causing it minor hinderances. Lomo is a melee guy, but his claws do 1d3 damage. No strength bonus. Pinesong is our healer but for damage? Well, he usually uses his storm burst ability to make the enemy treat Pinesong and his pals as if they had concealment. He’s got a crossbow but he’s not a very good shot. My daughter’s little grippli Croak? She fights with nets and poisoned blowgun darts. Considering the ettin beat every single saving throw against her poisons she dealt a whopping 1 damage per shot! Oh, yeah! And Sereia? She’s a magus, so she can deal some solid damage, but she also has to wear a lot of hats in the party. She’s the spellcaster, she’s the second melee character, she’s the academic, and she’s the trap finder. That’s a lot! As a result her attack rolls are good, but not amazing. They’re fair at best if she’s using her spell combat ability. So when she hits she hits hard. But she wasn’t hitting all the time. Meanwhile, Lomo and Croak hit practically every round! (My daughter was very proud of her consistent one damage darts. Haha.

Anyway, the battle was great fun! It lasted quite a few rounds without dragging on too long, we hindered him enough that we rarely got hit, and we bottlenecked him in a tunnel so he couldn’t reach our squishier team members (Pinesong and Croak) with his massive, skull-crushing flail.

We spent a little time gloating when we finally defeated the ettin — okay, mostly it was Croak mocking the dead ettin for looking like a giant plucked chicken with all those darts sticking out of him. Then we looked around, collected the amulet, and left.

Outside we found a dragon.

Not just any dragon.

A freaking HUGE dragon. Thankfully it was gold.

Pinesong and Cutie Pie hid, Croak gave it a chipper hello, and Lomo froze like a character in a Jurassic Park movie who’s squaring off against T-Rex. Cause a dragon can’t see you if you stay still, right? RIGHT?

….Yeah, not how it works Lomo. But hilarious!

Sereia made the connection between the gold dragon and Aurelliax, guardian of Highdelve, and soon they spoke. The dragon thanked them for their aid and offered them a ride back to town.

My kids were flabbergasted. Literally amazed. My daughter squealed in delight (“UH, YEAH! OF COURSE!”). My son started singing a song from Teen Titans Go! all about riding a dragon (literally).

“We’re gonna ride that dragon! THAT DRAGON! We’re gonna ride that dragon! THAT DRAGON!”

He was so excited he insisted on sending our wonderful GM a link to the exact song and episode. You’re welcome! Haha.

Anyway, we rode that dragon all the way back to Highdelve and learned that the townsfolk had banded together to help us wrap up our tasks! Lomo’s necklace was being repaired, Pinesong’s piglets were being given new homes, Croak’s missing rabbit stuffed animals had been found, and the name of the client that the antiquities smuggler had sold the coral idol to had been found. Soon Sereia could track it down and return it to her people.

My kids were amazed! Big smiles all around. And then they settled in for a feast and dance as the guests of honour. Aurelliax gifted them a magical statuette which turned out to be a super cool boon! Both of my kids transformed the statuette into a magical creature: Pinesong used it to make Cutie Pie covered in golden scales, and my daughter used it to create a pet flying squirrel with giant golden bulging eyes called Roadkill. My husband and I are going to hang onto it to use one of it’s other cool benefits.

We got our chronicles just the other day and the adventure came to an end. And what a good one! Particularly for kids! It had such a nice feel-good ending. Both of my kids said it was among their very favourite adventures they’ve ever played! (My son said he had two favourites: this run of Heroes for Highdelve, and his play through of Signs in Senghor, which was written by my brother and I wrote about in a previous blog post: Signs in Senghor: Part One, and Signs in Senghor: Part Two).

In short, we had a blast!

And if our wonderful GM happens to be reading this: a thousand thanks!

I’m not sure what’s next for our weird and wacky crew. Finding a game all four of us can get into can be tricky, but I do know that whatever we play, we’re going to have fun.

Thanks for sharing this experience with us!

Until next time,

Jessica

Pathfinder Playtest 1.5!

This week’s Pathfinder Playtest Update is Version 1.5 and it’s a small one!

Sort of.

There are really only two changes this week, but both changes have quite a bit of a ripple effect. For starters they’ve tweaked the death and dying rules again, which also affects the DC to administer first aid, and the wording used on some other minor abilities (the dwarven ancestry feat mountain’s stoutness, the feat toughness, and the spells breath of life and stabilize are all good examples of this). On a related note, the DC for treating wounds with the medicine skill has changed, and is based on the patient’s level now, instead of the player’s.

And the only other change?

Spells! They’re making them stronger. Unfortunately, the only kind of spells that are easy to edit in this type of playtest are the damage dealing ones. So, although you can expect see many (if not all) spells get beefed up a bit for the release of Pathfinder 2 next year, the 1.5 update only changed the damage dealt by around forty-five spells. Typically it was the initial damage that was changed, with the heightened increases remaining at the same interval. Exciting!

This is definitely one of those aspects of gameplay you want to give feedback on. Did your spells slaughter the enemies without difficulty? Did the enemy’s spells slaughter you? Important to know (and easy to playtest)! So after you’ve given the spells a test run be sure to give your feedback. I know I’m curious to see how this plays out.

Jessica

Shaping the Society

GrandLodgeSymbol This is your chance to shape the future!

The future of what?

The Pathfinder Society!

With the launch of Pathfinder 2 next year and the end of Season 10 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play, there will be a lot of changes. The Pathfinder Society will be no different. They’ll be switching to the new rules and, since they’ll be changing that up, they’re taking the opportunity to shake things up in the Society as well.

That’s where you come in!

The folks over at Paizo have put together a series of surveys meant to gauge your opinions on a variety of topics regarding the society, and it’s future. So if you want a chance to help shape the Pathfinder Society of tomorrow, now’s you’re chance!

The first survey was released a month ago and asks questions about tiers, experience, and the roleplaying guild guide. After that came a survey about boons, and another survey about chronicle sheets. The chronicle survey asked questions about five different potential layouts for future chronicle sheets, examples of which can be found on Paizo’s blog post here (before you click the survey like be sure to check out the chronicle examples!).

The latest survey came out just this week. It’s topic? Pregenerated characters. Now, I personally don’t utilize them, but I do understand their importance. For many people (particularly at conventions and gaming shops) their first experience with Pathfinder is through pregenerated characters in the Pathfinder Society. This means that whether or not you personally use them, they’re important. This survey references various potential layouts for pregenerated characters, so before you fill out the survey be sure to check out the visual examples (which can be found on Paizo’s blog post here).

Be sure to share your opinions while you can! I’m not sure how long those surveys will remain active.

Jessica

Pathfinder Playtest: Resonance Test

Resonance.

If you’re playing the Pathfinder Playtest you’ll know that its one of the of the most controversial additions to the game. It was meant to represented your characters innate ability to activate magic items, and intended to help limit how much magical gear your characters could utilize each day. If you wanted to use a magical cloak you invest some resonance. Fire a magic wand? It costs resonance. Want to drink a potion? Resonance.

Personally? Disliked it. It felt… arbitrary. Like your GM just suddenly saying: ‘No, you can’t use that,’ when you know you should be able to. Especially with potions! And alchemical objects! Why?

Paizo has already confirmed that when Pathfinder 2.0 comes out there will be a change to the resonance rules. But, just this week they decided to test out a new system. They’ve taken our feedback and shook it up a bit.

Enter the Resonance Test!

The Resonance Test is a PDF rules update that is free to download and focuses on Resonance, new rules for it, and updated items and abilities that reflect this change. Afterwards there are some pregenerated characters. After reading the new rules, you select a character and use them to play through Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario #2: Raiders of Shrieking Peak. Give the rules a shot and then provide Paizo your feedback in a special survey. It’s important to note that these rules are not for using with the rest of the Pathfinder Playtest, and that you shouldn’t create your own characters to utilize these rules.

So, what are these rules, anyway?

For starters, resonance means something different. It’s no longer the number of magical items you can use every day. Instead, resonance represents how many magical items you can wear each day. Essentially it takes the place of item slots. But, instead of keeping track of each slot on the body, you just get 10 of your choice. This is meant to be a large enough number that you don’t feel constrained, but at the same prevents excessive over-use. Magical items (wearable, consumable, and so on) no longer take resonance to function. In fact, they no longer take any kind of points to function. They just work. Most of them have a limited number of uses (either per day, or total).

Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario 2 Raiders of Shrieking Peak — Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario #2: Raider of Shrieking Peak, by Luis Loza.

But, that’s not all. They’ve also shaken up Spell Points. In this test they no longer exist. Instead you have Focus Points. These points are based off of your charisma and your ancestry. They represent your natural affinity for magic and magical objects. You can use focus points to either activate your spell powers (which you once used spell points for) or to get more out of a magical item. Now, taking a spell power from your class no longer grants you extra focus points and, since you have less focus points to work with that you used to have spell points, all of your spell powers abilities have been amplified. Simply put, spell powers are better than they used to be, and cost Focus Point instead of Spell Points. But you have less spell points.

But what if you don’t have spell powers? No worries! As mentioned, you can also use focus points to get a little something extra out of your magical gear. What that effect is will vary between item. Some potions might have double the duration or potency, a limited use ability could gain an extra use, and so on.

Interesting.

Overall, I vastly prefer the new resonance test rules to those found in the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook. I like that resonance is going to replace item slots, and I like that you no longer need to spend points to activate magical items. I love the concept of focus points, and using your innate charisma to push magical items beyond their capabilities. It’s very occultist (and I love Pathfinder’s occultists!). I even like that spell powers and these new item focus powers share the same point pool. My only quibble? I’m going to wish I had more points! Haha.

I’m excited to see how these new rules work in play!

Jessica

SaveSave

Pathfinder Playtest: 1.4!

Well, it’s another week and another Pathfinder Playtest Update! There’s new surveys to fill out about Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn: Part Five: Heroes of Undarin, new videos to watch on Paizo’s twitch stream, and a new Pathfinder PlaytestUpdate Document. Be sure to head on over to Paizo’s website and download the free update. This version? 1.4!

So, what’s new this time around?

Heritages.

In previous versions of the Pathfinder Playtest you select an ancestry: dwarf, elf, goblin, gnome, halfling, or human. This choice grants you ability boosts and flaws, hit points, size, speed, languages, and some special abilities. Then you select a single ancestry feat. This feat grants you an additional ability or quality based on your ancestry that you get to select yourself. At higher levels you can select more ancestry feats. Unless of course, you’re a half-elf or a half-orc. To access those races you have to select human, and then use your ancestry feat to become a half-elf or half-orc.

That’s no longer the case.

Instead, they’ve introduced an additional kind of feat: heritage feats. Now you select an ancestry, apply it, then select a heritage feat and an ancestry feat. Like ancestry feats, heritage feats are tied to your ancestry. Only gnomes can select a gnome heritage feat, and so on. The half-elf and half-orc ancestry feats are now a part of this heritage feat system. You become a human, select a either half-orc or half-elf as a heritage feat, and select an ancestry feat like every other ancestry gets to. In addition to shuffling these feats around they created unique heritage feats for each ancestry. With the selection of a heritage feat you can now play a desert dwarf, jungle elf, svirfneblin, razor tooth goblin, nomadic halfling, and so on. Each ancestry has around four new heritage feat options. Some of these options will be familiar. For example, the dwarven hardy ability has been moved from an ancestry feat to a heritage feat called Strong-Hearted Dwarf. Others options are brand new.

But, that’s not the only changes. With the addition of heritage feats some of the ancestry abilities have been shuffled around. Other ancestries lost abilities, and some (like halflings) gained some (finally!). They’ve also created three new, higher level ancestry feats for each ancestry.

The rest of the changes are quite minor. They’ve altered the phrasing on a few abilities, improved fighter’s bravery, ranger’s full-grown companion, and the feats battle medic and natural medicine. Crafting can now be used to Recall Knowledge about alchemy instead of arcana. Medicine can now be used to find forensic information on a body or a crime scene. A few spells were slightly adjusted.

And that’s it! It’s a small update, but the heritage system is going to effect every character created to date, so it’s quite important. I’m curious to see how this alters the feel of Pathfinder Playtest characters.

Only time will tell!

Jessica

Starfinder: Pact Worlds

Welcome back to d20 Diaries!

Today we’re going to be taking a look at Starfinder: Pact Worlds! This is one of the few Starfinder sourcebooks that’s available for purchase. It’s a hardcover book that focuses entirely on the setting of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game: the Pact Worlds. Information on the Pact Worlds first appeared in the Starfinder Rulebook, but this book expands it. A LOT. It features a multiple page description of each planet in the Pact Worlds solar system, a new theme for each, and a wealth of other information on the setting itself.

This article isn’t meant to be a thorough review or critique of Starfinder: Pact Worlds. It won’t replace the book (nor would I want it to!). It’s a quick breakdown of what’s found inside, and what I liked best in each chapter. It’s a collection of my favourites parts of the book, and some highlights. It’s here so that fellow gamers and fans can take a look and get a real feel for what they’ll get out of the book. Hopefully it helps you decide whether this product is right for you.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Starfinder: Pact Worlds is a hardcover sourcebook 215 pages in length. It features awesome cover art by Remko Troost which depicts Raia (the iconic lashunta technomancer), Altronus (the iconic kasatha solarian), and Keskodai (the iconic shirren mystic) battling a tyrannosaurus-like alien on the planet Castrovel. The inside covers feature a nice image of the Pact World System (which is not to scale). Following that is the table of contents and the introduction: Welcome to the Pact Worlds. The introduction is four pages long and provides a lot of useful setting information. It talks about the mysterious Gap, the history of the Pact Worlds, as well as the system’s government, economy, culture, and universal time. There’s also quite a bit of information about the Stewards, which is a peace-keeping organization that enforces law and order through the Pact Worlds. They are independent of all planets, and technically serve the Pact Council, but their allegiance is first and foremost to the Pact Worlds themselves. The Stewards are free to refuse orders that violate the Pact or its citizens. I particularly enjoyed hearing more about this group.

pact worlds - player options

After the introductions we get into Chapter 1: Worlds. This section features an eight to ten page write up of each world in the Pact Worlds system (I use the term ‘world’ loosely). Each entry starts with a small image of the planet as seen upon approach and a gorgeous image of a settlement or location within that world. The entries feature information on each world’s geography, climate, residents, society, potential conflicts and threats, and a large number of notable locations found there. There’s also detailed information on at least one settlement, a map of that world (or region/space station/etc.), an image of an inhabitant (sometimes a general citizen, but other times an important figure), and a brand new character theme (complete with artwork). The artwork is consistently spectacular, and the maps are incredibly useful. The write-ups are surprisingly thorough — particularly considering the difficulty inherent in trying to describe an entire world in ten pages. That said, I found reading them in sequence difficult, as the locations on one planet started to get mixed up with the locations on other planets after I’d read a few different entries. And the themes? Really cool!

pact worlds - signing the pact — Signing the Pact from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

The first planet this chapter focuses on isn’t a planet at all. It’s the sun. The centre of the Pact Worlds. I loved this entry. It was unique and wildly imaginative. I particularly enjoyed the Burning Archipelago, a region made up of massive bubbles of unknown origin which contain climate-controlled, habitable areas. These islands within the sun are connected by a sort of energy tether, which special ships called linecrawlers can traverse. Obviously, Sarenrae’s faith is common here, and in addition to regular residents of the Pact Worlds one can also find fire elementals, salamanders, and other more exotic creatures. My favourite location on the Sun was the Floating Gardens of Verdeon, although I am very curious about what secrets the lashunta of Asanatown are hiding… The theme for the sun is called Solar Disciple, which represents characters who either honour or worship the life-giving light, heat, and energy of the sun. It grants +1 Wisdom, makes Perception a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about the sun, light, and sun-based religions. At sixth level they gain a bonus on Will saving throws against compulsions, at twelfth level they can channel fire damage dealt to them into their next fire-based attacks, and at eighteenth level they can meditate in the sunlight to regain resolve. Very cool!

The second planet examined (and closest to the sun) is the machine world of Aballon. Here androids, robots known as anacites, artificial intelligences, and innumerable other mechanical creations live, work, and toil as one. Every being has a place and a use in this world, and the governing Insight Array seeks to make life here efficient and purposeful. The only areas outside the reach of their Megaplexes are the ancient cities of the First Ones — the unknown beings who created the first anacites. I ADORED reading about the society of the anacites who make Aballon home. My favourite locations include Preceptum XIII, a megaplex run by a senile advanced intelligence; and Infinity, a holy site where anacites bathe in molten lead by day, and sit in contemplation in the cooled, hardened lead by night. Aballon’s theme is the Roboticist, which is my son’s favourite theme in this book. It grants +1 Intelligence, makes Engineering a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to identify technological creatures. At sixth level they can create technological equipment of a higher level than normal, at twelfth level they can repair constructs and starships more effectively, and at eighteenth level they can examine discovered technology to regain resolve.

aballon - leon tukker — Aballon by Leon Tukker

Up next is my daughter’s favourite planet: Castrovel! A land of steaming jungles, lush forests, eco-friendly cities, and nature preserves. This is the homeward of lashuntas (who live on the continent of Asana), formians (who live in The Colonies), and elves (who live in Sovyrian). Its fourth major continent is Ukulam, a nature preserve of immense size. My favourite locations include the Ocean of Mists (which is exactly what is sounds like), the continent of Ukulam, the elven settlement of Cordona, and Telasia: the Portal Grove, a magical transportation hub claimed by the green dragon Urvosk. The theme for Castrovel is called Wild Warden, which represents characters who live in the wilds. It grants +1 Wisdom, makes Survival a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about animals, plants, and vermin. At sixth level they are effective at using non-lethal damage with lethal weapons against animals, plants and vermin, and providing first aid to such creature with Life Science. At twelfth level they become master foragers, and at eighteenth level they can meditate in a natural setting to regain resolve. This is by far my daughter’s favourite theme.

The next planet in the Pact Worlds isn’t a planet at all, but a space station. That’s right! It’s Absalom Station! Home of the Starstone, the Starfinders, centre of Drift travel, and located in the place Golarion once stood. Chances are if you’re reading this you know at least a bit about Absalom Station. If there’s a capital of the Pact Worlds, this is it! Be sure to check out my favourite locations in Absalom: Eyeswide Agency (a group of psychic ‘holistic detectives.’ Dirk Gently, anyone?!?), Fardock (a mysterious magical arch that’s likely to kill you), Rig House (lair of the Lowrigger Gang), and the Ghost Levels of the Spike, which contain strange eco-systems, dangerous criminals, and the machinery that keeps Absalom running! The theme for Absalom Station is called Corporate Agent, which represents characters who work for mega corporations. It grants +1 Charisma, makes Diplomacy a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about corporations and their executives. At sixth level they can quickly gather information from their contacts, at twelfth level they can use their connections to influence people, and at eighteenth level they can study and negotiate to the benefit of their company to regain resolve. Although this theme is neat, it’s not really one that caught me eye.

Leaving Absalom Station behind, we come to the desert world of Akiton, a dying planet where only the desperate still live. The native humans of Akiton have deep red skin and are known as hylki. Other races prominent on Akiton include contemplatives, shobhad, ysoki and, my personal favourite: ikeshti. There are a lot of cool places on this Mars-like planet, but my favourites are Ashok (a psychic amplifier located in a crater and populated by contemplatives), Bounty (a failed terraforming experiment that worked too well), Five Tines Fortress (an ancient flying citadel that was transformed into an amusement park by enterprising ysoki), the Utopia of Tivik (an abandoned company town that features its founder’s face everywhere), and Ka, Pillar of the Sky (the tallest mountain in the Pact Worlds and a mysterious holy site to the shobhad-neh). The theme for Akiton is called Gladiator, which represents… exactly what it says it does. Haha. It grants +1 Constitution, makes Intimidate a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about entertainment combat, fighting styles, and gladiatorial traditions. At sixth level they become famous, at twelfth level they can convince others to let them carry their weapons even where they’re not allowed, and at eighteenth level they can defeat a significant enemy in front of an audience to regain resolve.

Up next? Verces. Now, when I first read the Starfinder Core Rulebook of all the planets that were introduced it was Verces that most interested me. I couldn’t quite place why, but it definitely had me intrigued. Suffice to say I was really excited to learn more about this highly civilized, tidally locked world. I was not disappointed! Half of Verces is a sun-scorched desert, while the other half is a dark, frozen wasteland. The area between these regions forms a central ring known as the Ring of Nations, which is a series of cities all built side-by-side. The locals are known as verthani, and they have bulging mouse-like black eyes, elongated arms, and (many have) a plethora of augmentations. Other races commonly found here include humans, kasatha, rhyphorians, shirren, strix, and ysoki. Of the many cool locations, I recommend checking out Fastness of the Ordered Mind (a monastic temple in the cold of Darkside with surprising thematic ties to the religion of Zon-Kuthon), The River of Returning Joys (a massive travelling caravan festival that constantly journeys through the Ring of Nations), Lempro (a tiny independent nation inhabited by bloodless creatures called intis who adore riddles), and the Oasis Temples (planar breaches to the First World where fey we once worshipped in temples and lush plant-life grows). The theme for Verces is called Cyberborn, which represents characters who are augmented. It grants +1 Intelligence, makes Computers a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about cybernetic augmentations, procedures, and experts. At sixth level they can use their augmentations to regain stamina, at twelfth level they gain electricity resistance and improve their augmentations countermeasures, and at eighteenth level they can perform an amazing task with one of their augmentations to regain resolve. This is by far my husband’s favourite theme in the book!

Next to Verces is Idari, the amazing and beautiful homeship of the kasathans. Be sure to check out the Culinarium (a very fine cooking academy), the Red Corridors (where rebel kasathans are exiled to), and the Sholar Adat (where a section of deceased kasathans brains are ritually preserved and used to access their knowledge and memories! Awesome!). The theme for the Idari is called Tempered Pilgrim, which represents characters who are undertaking the traditional kasathan walkabout known as the Tempering. It grants +1 Charisma, makes Culture a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about cultural customs, and learn languages. At sixth level they are quick to make friends, at twelfth level they can take ten on checks to recall knowledge, and at eighteenth level they can participate in a cultural tradition significantly different than their own to regain resolve.

After that? The Diaspora, a massive asteroid belt made when the sarcesian homeworld was destroyed by Eox. It should be noted that sarcesians are one of my very favourite Pact Worlds races so I’m totally biased to love this place. In addition to sarcesians you can find a lot of space pirates, miners, and dwarves is the Diaspora. By far the coolest location in Diaspora is the River Between, a river that magically flows from one asteroid to another through space. Awesome. Other places worth checking out include The Forgotten King (an asteroid that looks like a 12 mile in diameter human skull made from some kind of ceramic and covered in strange runes), Havinak’s Vortex (a dangerous gravitational phenomenon which contains a protean space station), The Hum (a ship graveyard located around a strange section of space that creates a subsonic hum which causes ships to break and people to become erratic), Heorrhahd (a Dwarven Star Citadel), Nisis (an icy planetoid where sarcesians live in underwater bubble cities), and Songbird Station (a gorgeous Shelynite temple and concert hall). The theme for the Diaspora is called Space Pirate, which is intended for scoundrels who operate on the wrong side of the law. It grants +1 Dexterity, makes Bluff a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about black markets, smugglers, and space pirates. At sixth level they become better at hiding and hiding objects on themselves, at twelfth level they become better at fighting with a small arm and a one handed weapon, and at eighteenth level they can lead a raid or ambush in order to rob someone to regain resolve.

Right next-door to the Diaspora is the toxic planet of Eox, home to the undead. Some of the coolest locations on this dangerous world include Exantius (a new settlement created for non-elebrian undead who are tired of being oppressed), Grim Reach (a ghostly town full of phantoms from the past), Halls of the Living (a subterranean city maintained for the living in order to host reality television shows and cruel competitions), Remembrance Rock (an area littered with tombs and monuments to those lost during the death of Eox), and the Spiral Basilica (a Pharasmin temple). The theme for Eox is called Death-Touched and it is definitely one of my favourites! This theme is for characters who are mortal, but have long lived on Eox, or suffered through an event which could have tainted them with negative energy, or unlife. It grants +1 Constitution, makes Perception a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about undead and negative energy. For an added bonus you also use Perception to identify such creatures and effects, instead of Mysticism. At sixth level they gain a bonus on saving throws against a variety of conditions and effects, at twelfth level they become resistant to the cold, and at eighteenth level they can draw upon souls of the recently killed to regain resolve. Awesome!

Leaving behind the world of the dead we next visit Triaxus, a world with incredibly long seasons (it’s currently winter) inhabited by dragons, dragonkin, and a type of trimorphic elves called rhyphorians. Other races found there include elves, half-elves, and gnomes. I love this place! Who doesn’t? Some of the coolest places on the planet include Grenloch Lacuna Beach (a balmy beach resort and luxury vacation spot which is actually an elaborate virtual reality), Meruchia and Nusova (a pair of flying citadels), and the Sephorian Archipelago (a secret research facility). The theme for the Triaxus is called Dragonblood, which represents characters who have dragon blood coursing through their veins. It grants +1 Charisma, makes Culture a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about dragons and their culture. At sixth level they can terrify their enemies, at twelfth level they gain variable energy resistance, and at eighteenth level they can catalogue their wealth to regain resolve. This theme is awesome, and super thematic! I can’t wait to give it a try.

pact worlds - triaxus

Up next is the ringed gas giant Liavara and it’s many moons, each with its own races and cultures. Here the mysterious Dreamers sing riddles of the future while swimming through golden clouds, and outposts of foreign gas miners plunder the planet’s natural resources. Roselight is Liavara’s major city, which floats the the skies and monitors the mining interests who seek to obtain Liavara’s valuable gases. My personal favourite locations are Etroas (an ancient city on the moon Melos whose citizens all vanished in a mysterious religious event known as the Taking), and Bhalakosti Excursions (a dangerous tourism company on the moon Osoro that brings adrenaline junkies into poisonous jungles for survival safaris — a Vesk hotspot!). The theme for Liavara is called Dream Prophet, which represents characters who can connect with the Dreamers and their songs. It grants +1 Wisdom, makes Mysticism a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to identify spells, and know about arcane symbolism and traditions. At sixth level they can cast augury, at twelfth level they can reroll a specific type of d20 roll twice per day, and at eighteenth level after failing a check that they rerolled they can meditate on the nature of prophecy to regain resolve. Although this is a cool theme, it’s not something I would play. It’s just not my cup of tea.

Beyond Liavara is another gas giant, Bretheda, a stormy planet with blue and purple clouds, surrounded by a large number of moons. Nicknamed ‘the Cradle,’ this planet is home to a ton of races, including the jellyfish-like barathu, haan, kalo, maraquoi, and urogs. There’s also a sizeable population of kasatha and lashunta. This article is particularly dense but, that said, it only had a few locations that really caught my interest. Be sure to check out Yashu-Indiri (a lifeless moon where a strange cult builds shrines to forgotten, dead, and lost deities — including many from Golarion), and the Grand Inza on the moon of Kalo-Mahoi (an underwater resort-city of luxury shopping centres). The theme for the Bretheda is called Biotechnician, which represents characters who have installed biological augmentations in themselves. It grants +1 Intelligence, makes Medicine a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about biotech augmentations. At sixth level they can use their connections to get a discount on biotech augmentations, at twelfth level they can install extra augmentations in themselves, and at eighteenth level they can deactivate an installed biotech augmentation to regain resolve. Interesting!

Apostae is up next — an atmosphere-less planetoid inhabited by demon-worshipping drow. Safe to say it’s not a nice place to live. Other unfortunates who toil under the thumb of the drow houses and their weapons corporations are half-orcs, orcs, mongrelmen, and troglodytes. There are a lot of cool places on Apostae, including Crater Town (an independent settlement founded in an icy crater by a half-orc), Nightarch (a city built around a mysterious gate that leads to the planet’s interior), and Wrecker’s Field (a scrapyard). The theme for the Apostae is my absolute favourite in the book and is called Xenoarchaeologist, which represents characters who explore the ruins of lost civilizations. It grants +1 Intelligence, makes Engineering a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to identify rare and alien technology. At sixth level they become adept at noticing traps, at twelfth level they are masters of translating foreign languages, and at eighteenth level they can document an artifact from an unknown or ancient culture to regain resolve. This is AWESOME! Count me in!

leon tukker - apostae — Apostae from Starfinder: Pact Worlds. Art by Leon Tukker.

The final planet in the Pact Worlds is Aucturn, a toxic, shifting, organic world believed by cultists to be the womb of a Great Old One. This place is nasty! It causes mutations, madness, sickness, and worse. It’s very Lovecraftian, featuring gugs, cultists, shogoth, the Dominion of the Black, and so on. Here, nothing is illegal or taboo, and even the darkest urges can be indulged. There are a lot of interesting (and gross!) locations on Aucturn, but my favourites turned out to be Amniek (a city led by a group of midwives who are trying to birth a foul godling from the nearby Gravid Mound), Citadel of the Black (a massive, half-full settlement ruled by Carsai the King, high priest of Nyarlathotep), Endless Throat (an organic feeling hole in the ground that has no end), The Fury Place (a forest filled with a mist that drives people to rage — curiously records show it once caused lust, and before that lethargy), and Master’s Maze (a man-made maze of canyons that can only be solved from within). The theme for Aucturn is called Cultist, which actually represents a character who is an ex-cultist (or at least says they are…). It grants +1 Constitution, makes Disguise a class skill, and it’s theme knowledge makes it easier to know about secretive religions and cults. At sixth level they become adept at infiltrating and impersonating members of a cult, at twelfth level they can reroll a saving throw against diseases, drugs, and poisons, and at eighteenth level they can speak about your time in a cult to regain resolve.

pact worlds - the drift — The Drift from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

With the last of the gazetteers on the planets of the Pact Worlds behind us we’ve already gone through over half of the book. Up next is Chapter Two: Starships. This section begins with some information on the Drift, and then launches into a small array of new starship options. The most interesting options are created for the Xenowarden’s biomechanical ships, but there’s also a few mainstream options like launch tubes, and a brig. I think the Aballonian data net is also really cool. There’s two new starship weapon special properties: burrowing and spore. After that there’s a trio of three new premade ships for different organizations. Three each for Aballonian ships, Hellknight ships, Iomedaean ships, Vercite ships and, my personal favourite: Xenowarden ships. The artwork for the Iomedaean Cathedralships is particularly gorgeous.

pact worlds - iomedaean ship — Iomedian cathedral ship from Starfinder: Pact Worlds.

Up next is Chapter Three: Supporting Cast! This section starts with a few sentences of information on a bunch of different factions and organizations, including AbadarCorp, Android Abolitionist Front, Augmented, Corpse Fleet, Knights of Golarion, Starfinder Society, Stewards, and the Xenowardens. After this there is a wide array of NPC stat blocks tied to a theme. Each theme is two pages long, has three different stat blocks of different classes and challenge ratings associated with it, a paragraph of ideas on how you could use (and alter) these stat blocks, and some sample encounters to run with the stat blocks. The themes explored in this section are cultists, free captains, hellknights, mercenaries, security forces, and street gangs.

Up next is the final chapter in the book: Chapter Four: Character Options. This section starts with six new archetypes. The Arcanamirium Sage, who is an expert at using magical items; the Divine Champion, who serves a deity and can unlock divine powers; Skyfire Centurion, warriors who forge a bond with their teammates; Star Knight, a highly adaptable class that can represent warriors of holy or unholy orders (including hellknights); Starfinder Data Jockey, who is an expert with computers and data retrieval; and Steward Officer, a diplomatic peace-keeping military officer. I really liked the Divine Champion and the Star Knight, but I think the Data Jockey is likely to see the most use. It’s awesome.

After the archetypes there eight new feats (including the highly adaptable divine blessing), four pages of new weapons and weapon fusions, two pages of new armour and armour upgrades, two pages of technological items, two pages of magic items, two pages hybrid items, and four pages of new spells (check out control atmosphere!).

The last seven pages of the book turned out to be my favourite. They introduced six new Pact Worlds races. What can I say? I’m a sucker for playable aliens! The races include the shapeshifting astrozoans, who have no known history and look like blobby starfish (if they tried to stand). Also, they have eyeballs for elbows and knees! Cool. There’s also winged strix (a familiar face from Golarion), and bantrids who — let’s face it — look like giant noses. These quirky fellows roll around on a sort of ball they have on their base and (ironically) have no sense of smell. The borais are living races who either refused to die (despite dying) or were tainted by negative energy or undeath before they died. These people came back and are now a unique form of undead. There’s also khizars, the awesome plant-people of Castrovel and my favourite of the new races. The final race? SROs, which are basically robots that are fully sentient. My daughter ADORES them.

Boroi, a playable race from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

SRO, a playable race from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

Bantrid, a playable race from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

And that’s it! The end of Starfinder: Pact Worlds. I hope you enjoyed taking a closer look at the book with me today, and that this helped you decide whether Pact Worlds is right for you. I know I love it!

Jessica

PZO7101-SolarSystem_500 — The Pact Worlds System

Ysoki Arcanamirium Sage from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

Kasatha Idari Pilgrim from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

Android Security from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

Verthani Cyberborn from Starfinder: Pact Worlds. Art by Pixeloid Studios

Shirren Adventurer from Starfinder: Pact Worlds

First snow and giving thanks!

Whoo, it’s been a busy week!

My family spent the better part of last weekend preparing for winter. We dug out and washed all of our winter gear, tried on coats and boots, matched mitts (or shoved lonely mitts into mismatched pairs), donated what was too small to the homeless, and went out to buy new winter boots. Everyone in my house needed a new pair this year and with the amount of walking we do winter boots are a necessity for everyone, not just my kids. Which is unfortunate, I suppose, because they’re really expensive. It’s important they’re warm enough and waterproof to keep everyone nice and toasty throughout our chilly winters, so cheap fashion boots won’t cut it. They’ve got to be cold rated for -30°C at least. -40°C is better. Not easy to find for my daughter. For some reason boys boots are built for the cold, while a lot of girl boots look like they’re warm, but aren’t. Anyway it took us the weekend, but we all managed to find a pair. And just in time! We had our first real snow on Wednesday. I say real snow because we’ve had flurries before this. But this snow stayed. There was enough of it to get the kids all excited, and to make snowballs and tiny snowmen (or in my daughter’s case, tiny snow rabbits). I’m not sure how long the snow will stay. It might not go away until next spring, but there’s only a few centimetres, so if we get a warm day it might still melt away. We’ll see. My kids were thrilled for it, but after only a day of the damp and the (very, very mild) cold they’re already complaining.

Suck it up kids! We’re just getting started! It will get so much worse. Haha.

My toddler-aged niece that I watch on the weekdays hates getting in her winter clothes, so every trip outside and to and from school is a tear-filled struggle. Not to mention the time! It takes twenty minutes to get everyone properly dressed and out the door. (Once they get used to it I hope to cut it down to fifteen. Ten would be a welcome miracle). My niece keeps expecting me to give up on her and let her do whatever she wants, which is not going to happen. Clearly she has forgotten we had this same problem last winter. She did not win. She’ll grow accustomed to it in a few weeks. Hopefully sooner. Thankfully her older brother (he’s four) does remember last year’s winter. He knows he needs to bundle.

Pathfinder Playtest Doomsday Dawn — Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn

In other news, my family and I tried playing some more of Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn. We prepared our characters for ‘In Pale Mountains Shadow’ and got started. Unfortunately, by the end of the session they decided they were bored with it. They’ve officially given up playing through Doomsday Dawn and are ready to go back to their regular games. My son desperately wants to continue with the Carrion Crown Adventure Path (we’re about to start Carrion Crown: Book Two: Trial of the Beast), my husband wants to continue with The Shackled City Adventure Path (we’re nearly done book one), and my daughter wants to play some more of our Starfinder Society characters. Most of the other campaigns we’re playing together I moved online so we can play via play-by-post. Getting in a post a day lets us keep playing, so we can dedicate our one chance to play on the weekends to one of our three main campaigns.

Although it may sound like we’re done with the Pathfinder Playtest that’s not quite accurate. I’m playing through two different play-by-post runs of Doomsday Dawn, and we’re all playing in a play-by-post run of the Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenarios. We’re halfway through Rose Street Revenge right now and enjoying it. My son’s character is particularly hilarious. We’ll share more about that at a later date.

My son’s current favourite book: The Adventures of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Novel by Day Pilkey, by Day Pilkey.

My son has been reading like crazy lately! Obviously, I’m very proud of this. I believe that reading is one of those incredibly important skills you really need to instil a love of young. I always encourage my kids to find something they love to read, and indulge in it. Even though both of my kids are good at reading I always push them to try reading something that’s a challenge everyday. Not absurdly hard for them, or anything, but something they do need to work at a bit. Anyway, both of my children are reading well above their grade level so their classrooms don’t have anything that’s a challenge for them. They both bring home books that are far too easy for them for home reading everyday. In fact my daughter can read her older brother’s home reading books without trouble, never mind her own. We have a ton of books at home for my kids to read, but only two books that are a challenge for my son to read that interest him (and he’s read both chapter books repeatedly already). We have plenty of chapter books that my son reads for fun — Geronimo Stilton, The Hardy Boys (Secret Files), Scooby-Doo! mystery novels, Minecraft books, the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom junior novelization, and so on — but he can read one of those in under a half hour. They’re a challenge for my daughter (and some are too hard), but not exactly a challenge for my son. Something must be done! Once a week after I pick my kids up from school we go for a walk to the local library and I let them each pick out one book that’s a challenge for them to read, and one book that they just want. I say one, but inevitably they come back with one challenging book and a ton of other books they want to read. This is expected and totally fine. A while ago my son brought home a massive book on ecology clearly intended for pre-teens or teenagers. This thing was huge! Anyway, he loved it, but this time he wanted a chapter book. He contemplated starting the Guardians of Gahoole books, so he picked up one of those. But for his fun book? Captain Underpants. My son LOVES Captain Underpants. So he pulled down not one book, but every single Captain Underpants chapter book the library had. There are twelve of them.

My daughter’s favourite chapter book: The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde, by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale.

“Are you sure you’ll read all of them this week?” I asked my son. “They’re going to be heavy.”

“Uh, yeah, Mom. Of course! But, it might take me two weeks to read them.”

It took him three days. Which is great! But, also… not great. I now have to break it to him that there are only twelve Captain Underpants books. He just read them all. Meanwhile my daughter picked out three Princess in Black chapter books. She owns one of them: The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde, already, but the others are new to her. Although she’s disappointed they are not going to have any rabbits in them, she is enjoying them. So much so that she was inspired to write her own book. It’s called ‘Bunny’s Adventure.’ In it a rabbit named Pim journeys up the rainbow and finds another world. She makes some friends and is back home in time for bed. She worked on it for a few days and in the end gave it to her teacher as a gift. (Her teacher had just returned from surgery that week). It was adorable. She’s so proud of it.

Traveller Core Rulebook by Mongoose Publishing.

I was recently invited to join a play-by-post game of Traveller, and gifted a digital copy of the rulebook by the overly generous Tarondor. (Thank you!) Traveller is a game I’ve never played before, so I’m super excited to give it a shot. I’ve given the book a skim, and have just embarked on a thorough read-through. The character creation rules look particularly interesting. Like a mini-game of its own. Very cool! I can’t wait to try it out. I’ve got plenty left to read though, so I’m not sure how soon that will be. Haha. This time of the year is quite busy around my house. But, I’m happily working on it.

This coming weekend is going to be just as busy as the last one. Busier, in fact. Yesterday was a day off from school, this morning is swimming lessons for my children (which is about a thirty minute walk away), then dentist appointments later today. I’ve got to squish in a trip to the grocery store and the laundromat. And tomorrow? Thanksgiving at my Mom’s! Monday’s another day off from school and more Thanksgiving celebrations, this time at my mother-in-laws. That’s actually pretty quiet for us for Thanksgiving, in all honesty. We usually also try to squish in visits to my grandparents and my Dad’s, but it’s not going to happen this year. We don’t own a vehicle, and frankly I’m too tired. Haha. We’ll be making time for less frantic visits with them soon.

Well, I’ve got to get cracking! Plenty to do and no time to do it in.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Or, for those of you who are not Canadian, have a great weekend! I wish you all the best.

Jessica

Take a Look d20diaries cropped — My son desperately wanted his picture featured on d20diaries. This was our compromise. Haha.

Pathfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Frozen Oath

Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook Today we’re going to look at the brand new Pathfinder PLAYTEST Society Scenario and tell you what we thought. Currently, there are four of them available as a free download on Paizo’s website: three that were released back in August, and one that was released a short time ago. (For more information on the first three scenarios check out this previous blog post. Each scenario is replayable. You may create your own characters for the intended tier (either created as level one for a tier one scenario, created as level five for a tier five scenario, or created as level ten for a tier ten scenario). Unlike regular Pathfinder Society Scenarios, you do not need to earn enough XP to reach higher levels for the Playtest. If you don’t want to make your own characters, you can also head over to Paizo’s website and download the Pregenerated Pathfinder Playtest characters for the three low level scenarios. For this new scenario, which is tier ten, there are no pregenerated characters. You’ll need to make your own. All you’ll need to run these four scenarios (other than your characters) is the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook, the most recent update document which, at the time of posting this, is version 1.3, and the scenarios themselves. Each scenario is intended for groups of FOUR players (unlike regular PFS Scenarios which are intended for six) although each contains easy ways to scale up encounters for larger groups. Although you’ll find references to events in each that I liked or disliked, and comments about specific characters, these scenarios are not explored in detail. It’s not my intention to spoil the events in these scenarios, or give summaries and full reviews, but to share my opinions and provide recommendations. Once you’re done playing or GMing any one of these scenarios, be sure to head over to Paizo’s website and fill out a survey about your experiences. This will be used by the Paizo team to make the Pathfinder Playtest the best that it can be.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Pathfinder Playtest 4 Frozen Oath Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario #4: Frozen Oath is a Tier 10 adventure written by Ron Lundeen. As previously mentioned, you do not need to earn enough XP to reach level ten. Instead, you need only create your characters at level ten. The majority of this scenario takes place in Urjuk near the Crown of the World. It’s a harsh land of ice and snow, claimed by frost and taiga giants. The adventure begins in Turvik, a settlement in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, then moves quickly to the Path of Aganhei, and finally to Dvalinheim, a giant temple. For more information on the Crown of the World check out Pathfinder Adventure Path 51: The Hungry Storm (Jade Regent Book 3 of 6). For more information on the Lands of the Linnorm Kings check out Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of the Linnorm Kings. This scenario utilizes Pathfinder Flip Mat: Basic Terrain Multi-Pack, Pathfinder: Flip Mat: Tech Dungeon, and a custom map of Dvalinheim.

ogthup tom ventre — Ogthup by Tom Ventre.

This scenario begins in a meeting in Turvik with the delightful Venture-Captain Bjersig Torrsen and his husky Mahki. Bjersig is a deaf half-orc well trained in reading lips who made another recent appearance in Pathfinder Society Scenario #10-03: Death on the Ice. He’s an awesome VC and I was thrilled to find that he had his own art this time around. Bjersig informs the party that he recently deployed a team of goblin trial-pathfinders on a scouting mission to a giant temple called Dvalinheim. They returned with an object of interest — a few tiles taken from the site which show the giant temple has a connection to the Tian representation of Desna. Believing that this temple could be a site built by the founder of the Path of Aganhei he’s dispatching the PCs to investigate further. He even gives the group a map drawn by one of the goblins. So… yeah. It’s totally accurate (not). Chances are the first thing the group will do is visit the goblin artist to ask her what the heck the map means. Which leads us to our second awesome NPC: Ogthup the goblin. Honestly, chatting with this quirky (and wonderfully drawn) goblin was my favourite part of the scenario. From there the PCs set out to follow Ogthup’s directions to the temple. There’s a few battles along the way, but the bulk of this scenario takes place in Dvalinheim itself. There the group will have to explore the temple, deal with more than a few angry frost giants, and… well let’s leave that part a secret for now. Haha. I particularly enjoyed the monster statistics in this scenario. Many of the creatures have special reactions, and interesting attack forms that make them feel really unique. My personal favourite was the disperse ability of the air elemental. Overall, I thought this was a fun scenario with engaging (but minor) NPCs and interesting opponents. I give it four out of five stars.

Definitely worth a free download!

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at this playtest scenario. If you have a chance to play it, I’d love to hear what you thought!

All the best,

Jessica

New Pathfinder Society Scenarios: ‘Reaver’s Roar’ & ‘Mysteries Under Moonlight: Testament of Souls’

Today we’re going to take a look at two of the most recent Pathfinder Society Scenarios that are currently available for purchase, and let you know we thought. Although you’ll find references to events in each that I liked or disliked, and comments about specific characters, these scenarios are not explored in detail. It’s not my intention to spoil the events in these scenarios, or give summaries and full reviews, but to share my opinions and provide recommendations. That said, if you want to avoid even minor spoilers then I recommend clicking on a different article. Whether you intend to use them in home games of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, sanctioned scenarios for use with the Pathfinder Society Organized Play, or just want to read a nifty new adventure, we’ve got you covered! So let’s get cracking!

10-04 Reaver's Roar Scenario #10-04: Reaver’s Roar is a Tier 7-11 Adventure written by Steven Hammond. It begins in Three Pines Ford in Lastwall, with a mission briefing hosted by Venture-Captain Shevar Besnik and Ollysta Zadrian, leader of the Silver Crusade. The scenario quickly moves on to the semi-abandoned outpost of Roslar’s Coffer, and the Sarenite temple known as the Bastion of Light found within. For more information on Lastwall you can check out the Inner Sea World Guide. For more information on Sarenrae you can check out Inner Sea Gods. This scenario features creatures from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, and Pathfinder Adventure Path: Curse of the Crimson Throne Anniversary Edition (although all of the necessary stat blocks are included within the scenario). It makes use of a vast number of sourcebooks, including the Core Rulebook, Advanced Class Guide, Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Equipment, and even Mythic Adventures. All of the necessary rules from the Advanced Class Guide and the Mythic Adventures are included in this scenario. It features one custom map, and one custom chase. This mission is of particular importance to members of the Silver Crusade faction as well as any worshippers of Sarenrae.

pfs 10-04 - reaver's roar - uirch of the burning sun - dion harris — Uirch of the Burning Sun from PFS #10-04: Reaver’s Roar. Illustrated by Dion Harris. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.

This adventure tasks the PCs with travelling to Roslar’s Coffer and retrieving a helmet of religious significance from the Bastion of Light, an important temple to Sarenrae. The temple once contained many relics and rituals vital during the Shining Crusade. Unfortunately, the temple has since become the lair of an incredibly powerful red reaver. The PCs will have to enter the temple, defeat the red reaver, and obtain the helmet. But, this mission won’t be as simple as it seems! For starters, the red reaver has formed powerful bonds with the relics housed in the temple, which have greatly empowered it. PCs will need to find ways to weaken the red reaver, sever its connection to these relics, and outsmart the territorial creature. In addition, orcs from the Twisted Nail tribe are also after the red reaver for (no doubt) nefarious purposes. The cast of characters is rounded out by Gorm Greathammer, a famous Pathfinder and the third prince of the dwarven sky citadel Kraggodan, who acts as a contact and source of information for the PCs. The town of Roslar’s Coffer is appropriately serious and ominous. When the villagers learn of your purpose in town they offer to send a letter to your loved ones when you die a horrible death. How sweet! Haha. It’s a simple but effective way to showcase the ‘friendly’ villagers and let the players know that they might not survive the challenges ahead. I love the atmospheric buffer zone between the town and the territory of the red reaver. There’s a great chase scene in this scenario, and the red reaver is wonderfully challenging. The exploration of the Bastion of Light is a lot of fun, providing characters with danger, a few scares, chances to weaken the red reaver, chances to gain holy blessings, and even chances to make an ally or two. It offers GMs some nice flexibility in the placement of a few encounters, and does a really great job of setting an ominous, suspenseful mood. Perhaps one of the most impressive things? It will make your PCs scared for their lives. A rare thing at high levels of play! The red reaver is a fierce opponent that needs to be weakened in order for your characters to have a chance of defeating it. And even then? It should still be a tough fight! This, of course, makes it a difficult scenario to use with players who prefer to decimate everything, straight-forward encounters, and for most younger players. But the ending? SO worth it! Overall I really liked this scenario, although it’s atmosphere and difficulty are not for everyone. I give it four out of five stars.

10-05 Mysteries Under Moonlight Part 1 Testament of Souls Scenario #10-05: Mysteries Under Moonlight: Part 1: Testament of Souls is a Tier 3-7 adventure written by Alexander Augunas. It is the first of a two part series that takes place in Magnimar entitled Mysteries Under Moonlight. Both of these adventures are intended to be played in order. This adventure’s sequel Scenario #10-07: Mysteries Under Moonlight: Part 2: The Howling Dance is a Tier 3-7 adventure written by Crystal Malarsky and is scheduled to be released at the end of October. For more information on the city of Magnimar you can check out the Inner Sea World Guide, and Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Magnimar, City of Monuments.

Testament of Souls features creatures from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, Bestiary 2, and the Monster Codex (although all of the necessary stat blocks are included within the scenario) and makes use of a variety of sourcebooks including the Core Rulebook, GameMastery Guide, and Occult Adventures. It utilizes the new Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Dungeon Starter Set, as well as Pathfinder Map Pack: Village Sites, and a custom map reprinted from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed. Although this mission is not tied to any particular factions, if you have any characters who are from Magnimar, have a love of monuments, or an interest in laying spirits to rest, now is a great chance to bring them out to play.

pfs 10-05 10-07 - mysteries under moonlight - inspector theodorus ichonvarde - tadas sidluahskas — Inspector Theodorus Ichonvarde from PFS #10-05: Mysteries Under Moonlight. Illustrated by Tadas Sidluahskas. Art courtesy of Paizo Inc.

Something strange is happening to Magnimar’s beloved monuments, and its up to your PCs to find out what’s going on, and put a stop to it! But, this mystery isn’t as simple as it seems. The honourable Lord-Mayor Grobaras has hired his own investigator to look into the crimes, one who seems to be more than a little biased towards blaming the city’s Varisian population. Your players will have to investigate monuments, question witnesses, confront dangerous enemies, speak with the dead, and dabble in the occult to succeed! The three monuments featured in this scenario are the Cenotaph, Founder’s Flame, and Mistress of Angels. There’s a wide array of NPCs in this delightful adventure including Venture-Captain Shiela Heidmarch and her husband Venture-Captain Canayven Heidmarch, Mystery Cultist Davorge, Inspector Theodorus Ichonvorde, plenty of witnesses (living and dead!), an outsider, and even the ghost of one of Magnimar’s Founders: Ordellia Whilwren! Perceptive PCs can uncover a lovely little tribute to any of your players characters who permanently died during any Season 4 Scenario, or during #7-03: The Bronze House Reprisal, #7-25: Orders from the Gate, #8-01: Portent’s Peril, #8-22: Wrath of the Fleshwarped Queen, or #9-09: Beyond the Halflight Path. It’s a nice little shout-out that’s lovely to see. There’s a lot of unique and interesting social encounters in this scenario, which are really the highlight of this adventure. That said, there’s still a large number of battles in this one, so it’s going to be tricky to fit it all in. I found the final battle properly climatic and exciting, with obvious consequences for failure. The other battles aren’t particularly exciting, though. The occult rituals and objects included in this adventure are fun, and don’t bog down the game with complicated rules. I really enjoyed it (although I admit to being a sucker for the occult! Haha). I really enjoyed this scenario. It’s a fun change of pace that has a lot to offer. My only complaint? If you don’t have a good GM for this one, some sections could become repetitive. Overall, I really enjoyed it! It’s a fun, refreshing adventure that’s right up my alley! I give it four out of five stars.

Thanks for joining us today! Tune in later this week when we take a look at the final Pathfinder Playtest Society Scenario that’s been released: #4: The Frozen Oath!

See ya’!

Jessica

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