Category: Starfinder

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Starfinder Adventure Path #40: Planetfall (Horizons of the Vast 1 of 6)

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Product– Starfinder Adventure Path #40: Planetfall (Horizons of the Vast 1 of 6)

System- Starfinder

Producer– Paizo 

Price– $22.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq026i0/discuss?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-40-Planetfall  

TL; DR– Fun but it can drag if not careful! 87%

Basics–  INTO THE UNKNOWN!  Settle a planet and fend off the wildlife AND the friends you brought along the way in this Kingmaker in Space adventure!

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure focuses on building and exploring a location.  The problem with this and most other RPGs of this kind is randomness.  Each hex has a random chance to happen there unless something is scripted.  This problem can lead to you having way too many encounters to the point the book even says reduce the experience the players get.  That feels a bit cheap.  Couple that with the fact that there are only eight random encounters means players can get bored quickly with the encounters.  There are scripted events and locations that do make things more fun, but be aware!  It’s fun, but it can get a bit same-y for the fights.  Most of the fun comes from the social and that is done well, but if a party just makes all murder hobos which are excellent in the bush, they will get decimated in town as they will be out maneuvered at every turn by the people they came to lead!   4/5

Theme or Fluff– Just like in the crunch, the story can get same-y if you are not careful.  Depending on how players handle the world, they can spend tons of time just running around in circles exploring the same hexes again and again if they are slow.  The town encounters and managing all the NPCs is the bulk of the story in this one.  There is some toward the end showing the world is more than it might have seemed, but most of the time there is just town and other local claims to deal with as the bulk of the story.  It’s fun, but this is an intro game that will help power level the characters more than dig deep into the story. 4/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout?  Honestly yes.  Paizo does books and adventures well.  Paizo was a publishing company before an RPG company, and honestly that experience shows in a clean book that is easy to read.  5/5

Summary-There is a reason players wanted Kingmaker in space.  You build a location and make it shine!  This book sets the foundation for that, but like all foundations it takes time to set up.  This one is a bit slow and  honestly needs an expanded random encounter table as eight separate things is just not enough.  Give me 20 or give me more set encounters in each place, even if they don’t advance the story!  That right there would lift this WAY up in the ranks as even my players had almost memorized what the D8 meant for the coming encounter!  The story that is here is fun and my players quickly learned to love and HATE some NPCs.  That makes me happy as a GM.  It goes almost without saying that I love Paizo’s bookmanship, so top marks there.  It’s a good adventure that just needs a bit more for the random to keep things a bit more entertaining.  87 %

Daily Punch 7-3-23 Sword Block(Combat) feat for Starfinder

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I want to block stuff with my sword!

Sword Block (Combat)

You swing hard enough, and you can block even the best attacks.

Prerequisites: Proficiency with shields.

Benefit: You’ve trained how to use a sword to block. If you are wielding a melee weapon, you gain a +1 shield bonus to KAC and EAC against melee attacks.

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Fortune’s Fall

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Product– Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Fortune’s Fall

System- Starfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $6 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02eg2?Starfinder-Society-Intro-Year-of-Fortunes-Fall  

TL; DR-Welcome to the sixth season! 90%

Basics– LET’S GO TO THE… museum?  The Starfinder society is partnering with many different groups to show off artifacts of the past.  What wonders will be shown, what friends will be made, and who might want to mess with this display?  

Mechanics or Crunch– Paizo has a solid adventure here, with a decent balance of talking and combat.  The flow is mostly talking for the first half and then combat for the second.  There are a lot of NPCs to sway, so combat might get a little bit left to the side as its really only two fights.  That said, it’s done well.  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is a one building adventure.  You really only spend time in one museum for the entire adventure, schmoozing with different people learning about things that  will happen later in the season’s adventures.  That is pretty standard for the first adventure in a Starfinder Society season.  My one issue is the adventure is pretty short.  Most of the time I run this it’s less than three hours for a five hour session.  The players have fun and the story is decent.  Overall, its a good addition to the first adventures of each season. 4.5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yep!  This is what I expect from a Paizo adventure.  Things are not perfect, as they give good pictures for everything except for one enemy type, so you will need your own picture.  It’s not bad by any means, but it’s one small thing.   4.5/5

Summary– This is a fun adventure.  It’s short and a little unbalanced in story tempo if you are a combat monster, but overall it’s a good one.  I had fun, and so did my players.  It’s not perfect, but definitely one that I will be gladly running for multiple groups this year!  90%

Daily Punch 5-23-23 Spell Storing Jewelry magic item for Starfinder

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Let’s store a spell in a friendship bracelet!

Spell Storing Jewelry

This normal looking jewelry looks like any other basic store piece but it’s also built continuing a custom magic matrix that holds a single spell. As a swift action, you can cast the spell using any attacks, feats, and saves of the caster. The jewelry does not come with a spell in it but any spell may be cast into the jewelry. Once the spell is cast the jewelry degrades and falls apart

 Spell Storing Jewelry, Mk 1


Level 1; Price 50; Bulk L

This may store up to a level 2 spell

 Spell Storing Jewelry, Mk 2

Level 5; Price 425; Bulk L

This may store up to a level 4 spell

 Spell Storing Jewelry, Mk 3

Level 9; Price 1,950; Bulk L

This may store up to a level 6 spell

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-22-23 Trigger Spell for Starfinder

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I want to cast a spell and have it go off later!

 Trigger Spell
Classes Mystic 1-6
School Divination
Casting Time 1 standard action or varies
Range touch
Targets one living creature or item creature is holding
Duration varies
Saving Throw Will half (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
Description With the authority of all magic behind you, you proclaim to be cast in the future specifying a trigger. Choose a spell that is cast as this spell is cast and a trigger for the spell. If the other spell is longer than one action, the casting time of this spell changes to that spell’s plus one action. The other spell is cast or must be cast at the time of casting trigger spell. That other cast spell will be case whenever the trigger occurs. If that spell would occur and prevent an event from occurring like a mystic cure preventing a target from reaching zero hit points, that the creature never hit zero hit points. If cast on a weapon and that weapon strikes a target then any spell with a target of creature touched would count as touched. If a spell requires an attack roll or a save and the trigger was not striking a target, then the spell would use your current ranged attack roll or save DC values. You can only have one trigger spell active on you or your carried gear at a time.
The duration of the spell depends on the level you it as.
1st: 1 hour
2nd: 1 day
3rd: 1 week
4th: 1 month
5th: 1 year
6th: until triggered

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-19-23 Cryo ammunition for Starfinder

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if we can be hot, why not cold?

Cryo


Cryo ammo is used with projectile weapons and is available for most projectile weapons and other weapons that fire arrows and darts, as noted on Table 1–8. A weapon firing cryo ammo deals its normal amount of damage, but half of this damage is cold damage and grants the weapon the bleed critical hit effect depending on the weapon. If the weapon already has a critical hit effect, the bleed critical hit effect is added and considered part of the weapon’s normal critical hit effect. If the weapon normally already has the bleed critical hit effect, it instead gains the bind critical hit effect in addition to bleed, and this considered part of the weapon’s normal critical hit effect.

Cryo, Arrow
Level 2; Price 75
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 20
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d6 

Cryo, Darts
Level 2; Price 50
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 25
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d4

Cryo, Rounds, Small Arms
Level 2; Price 60
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 30
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d4

 Cryo, Scattergun Shells
Level 2; Price 110
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 25
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d6

 Cryo, Rounds, Longarm and Sniper
Level 2; Price 150
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 25
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d6

Cryo, Rounds, Heavy
Level 3; Price 180
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 20
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d8

 Cryo, Mini-Rockets
Level 5; Price 450
Hands 1; Proficiency Ammo
Damage —; Critical —
Capacity 10
Bulk L; Special bleed 1d10

Thoughts?