Character Creation Q&A

[Paxon]

To address SWs question on new recruits: no, you aren't necessarily new recruits. Though you can be - I'll leave it up to you how long you've been on the crew. But the PCs are the only ones currently on the crew (unless folks really would like me to run some sort of sergeant character, but that's not my inclination), so most of you have probably been around for months to years.

[dalamb]

Thanks for the invite.

I hadn't completely settled on Tanya's age but I imagined her as having been part of the crew for several years, and because of her family's multigenerational connection she would see herself as a keeper of tradition.

[dalamb]

In the Balance and Brief thread, can we replace the numbers section with a statblock representing out battle-mode setup, like I have in this post in my character thread?

[Arklytte]

Hey Pax, got a mechanics questions, one that I apparently forgot to ask during creation.  Wasn't sure where the best place for it would be.  Figured this was most logical, even though you archived it.  🙂

 

The Rapid Preparation Origin talent lets you 'perform two acts of preparation' over the course of the same hour.  It specifically calls out an character preparing their Alchemy Formulae and their Wizard spells at the same time.

 

Doc has Oath of Ritual, which takes 1 hour per day.  Could he use that same time period to prepare his daily allotment of Alchemy Formulae?

 

For fluff purposes, I defined the Ritual as a minor bloodletting ceremony, combined with meditation and prayer.  He uses as a way to help him expiate his past.  I was thinking, from a story perspective, he could use his blood as part of his alchemical reagents, since several of them are required to be healing formulae (or, at least, 'non damaging').  That would give it an appropriate story element, and avoid any dips into 'magical' territory, while also making the loss of 6 HP per day plausible as well.

 

What do you think?

[Paxon]

10 hours ago, Arklytte said:

What do you think?

Yes, seems like a perfectly valid use of that. Approved. 

(Also probably a good idea to move this thread over to the Characters tab as well, as I'll still need to be addressing character mechanics questions for a while)

[Arklytte]

Sweet!  Thanks.  🙂

[M3mentoMori]

Would the Generator and Wireless Charge Legendary Talents be allowed? I want to use then to supply power to appliances and contraptions that'll be sticking with the tank, though there is a side-effect of the combination of both meaning that - while we're near the tank - charges are basically unlimited. Most gadgets consume charges every minute or longer, though, so it doesn't seem too gamebreaking.

[Paxon]

19 minutes ago, M3mentoMori said:

Would the Generator and Wireless Charge Legendary Talents be allowed? I want to use then to supply power to appliances and contraptions that'll be sticking with the tank, though there is a side-effect of the combination of both meaning that - while we're near the tank - charges are basically unlimited. Most gadgets consume charges every minute or longer, though, so it doesn't seem too gamebreaking.

I believe I approved those for another applicant, so yes. That'll give you a nice power supply. Important note though: the Tank will not be considered a "stable surface" much of the time it is in motion, and certainly not in combat. If you are traveling along a smooth road, I would allow that. If you make the tank count as a drone (for instance through the Technical Compatibility feat you've referenced) then it could work in the tank under all circumstances, though at that point you risk it being destroyed by a crit to the tank.

[M3mentoMori]

I'll probably take the talent twice to remove those weaknesses.

Edited June 17, 2022 by M3mentoMori (see edit history)

[Paxon]

17 minutes ago, M3mentoMori said:

I'll probably take the talent twice to remove those weaknesses.

The actual wording doesn't quite say it removes the stable surface requirement, but I would allow that anyway. Moot point if you are also using Technical Compatibility.

[M3mentoMori]

I was more talking about the critical hit vulnerability if it's integrated into the tank-as-drone; taking the talent twice removes that weakness, though if you're still willing to allow it to remove the stable requirement, that'd be amazing. I'm already cannibalizing the talents and feats I can justify losing to pull this off, not much else to throw at it lol.

Edited June 17, 2022 by M3mentoMori (see edit history)

[Paxon]

On 5/29/2022 at 12:05 AM, Arklytte said:

Beanbag Rounds (aka Flexible Baton rounds): Beanbag rounds consists of a small fabric "pillow" filled with #9 lead shot weighing about 40 grams.  They are intended to be a non-lethal or more specifically a less lethal alternative to metal projectiles, similar to rubber bullets.  Beanbags, however, are specifically intended to stun their target by causing intense and painful muscle spasms at the point of impact, that render the target momentarily immobile.  Targets hit by a beanbag round are Stunned for 1d3-1 rounds.  On a successful FORT save, they are instead Staggered.

 

Beanbag rounds count as Slugs for damage/attack purposes (20/x4 on a crit, Touch AC for the first range increment), but all damage is nonlethal.  They can be used to do lethal damage, at the normal -4 penalty.  Additionally they have a max range of 2 range increments.  Any target struck in the 2nd range increment by a beanbag ONLY takes the nonlethal damage and is not subject to the Stun/Stagger effect.

 

@Arklytte Let's roll with beanbag rounds mostly as you described, but we'll downgrade to the Staggered or Sickened condition (sickened over shaken so it doesn't get upgraded to frightened, etc.) So:

 

Beanbag Rounds (aka Flexible Baton rounds): Beanbag rounds consists of a small fabric "pillow" filled with #9 lead shot weighing about 40 grams.  They are intended to be a non-lethal or more specifically a less lethal alternative to metal projectiles, similar to rubber bullets.  Beanbags, however, are specifically intended to stun their target by causing intense and painful muscle spasms at the point of impact, that render the target momentarily immobile.  Targets hit by a beanbag round are Staggered for 1d3-1 rounds.  On a successful FORT save vs the attackers practitioner DC, they are instead Sickened.

 

Beanbag rounds count as Slugs for damage/attack purposes (20/x4 on a crit, Touch AC for the first range increment), but all damage is nonlethal.  They can be used to do lethal damage, at the normal -4 penalty.  Additionally they have a max range of 2 range increments.  Any target struck in the 2nd range increment by a beanbag ONLY takes the nonlethal damage and is not subject to the Stagger/Sickened effect. Creatures immune to nonlethal damage are also not affected by the additional effects.

 

[Paxon]

8 minutes ago, M3mentoMori said:

I was more talking about the critical hit vulnerability if it's integrated into the tank-as-drone; taking the talent twice removes that weakness, though if you're still willing to allow it to remove the stable requirement, that'd be amazing. I'm already cannibalizing the talents and feats I can justify losing to pull this off, not much else to throw at it lol.

Oh yes, the talent squeeze and shuffle. Yeah, I think spending two talents on this is worthy of allowing it operate on the tank. I may have it occupy one of the passenger spots if you have it standalone (not integrated into a "drone") but you have one or two to spare in the tank (technically it has a capacity of 8). If it becomes simply silly down the line what y'all can do with nearly UNLIMITED POWAHHH! then we might need to make some adjustments (and I would let you reshuffle talents accordingly). 

[M3mentoMori]

For the foreseeable future, I'll probably stick with just the one, and maybe a handful of batteries. The current plan is to have a dozen or so cameras providing vision outside of the tank for people on the inside, and some turrets to help protect the tank, as well as gadget firearms to mount on said turrets. Cameras are 1 charge/4 hours, turrets are a charge a minute, and - assuming I don't want to figure out how to supply turrets with physical ammo - gadget-weapons can spend a charge in place of a round of ammo, making them a charge/round when active. With a single-charge battery attached to each camera for emergencies, and maybe one on each turret, a Large Generator can easily supply all the gadgets indefinitely, and then turn its charges to supplying ammo for the weaponry during combat.

 

This'll take a while to setup, too; each camera is 800gp, as is each battery. A turret, by my reading, would be 2400gp each (assuming I want it to have the best attack-bonus it can), and each weapon would be 800gp as well. Not to mention the generator itself costs 4800gp if I want it to be stable. Those all might be increased if I need to pay for Wireless Charge to work with them, too. It'll be like, 35k GP to get this all set up lol, and months of work.

[Arklytte]

4 hours ago, Paxon said:

 

@Arklytte Let's roll with beanbag rounds mostly as you described, but we'll downgrade to the Staggered or Sickened condition (sickened over shaken so it doesn't get upgraded to frightened, etc.) So:

 

Beanbag Rounds (aka Flexible Baton rounds): Beanbag rounds consists of a small fabric "pillow" filled with #9 lead shot weighing about 40 grams.  They are intended to be a non-lethal or more specifically a less lethal alternative to metal projectiles, similar to rubber bullets.  Beanbags, however, are specifically intended to stun their target by causing intense and painful muscle spasms at the point of impact, that render the target momentarily immobile.  Targets hit by a beanbag round are Staggered for 1d3-1 rounds.  On a successful FORT save vs the attackers practitioner DC, they are instead Sickened.

 

Beanbag rounds count as Slugs for damage/attack purposes (20/x4 on a crit, Touch AC for the first range increment), but all damage is nonlethal.  They can be used to do lethal damage, at the normal -4 penalty.  Additionally they have a max range of 2 range increments.  Any target struck in the 2nd range increment by a beanbag ONLY takes the nonlethal damage and is not subject to the Stagger/Sickened effect. Creatures immune to nonlethal damage are also not affected by the additional effects.

 

Sounds good to me bossdude.  Stunned is more 'real', but in PF terms, it's damned powerful, especially for a semi-auto gun.  Those changes make total sense. :)