Scoured Stars AP: Part 4

Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Scoured Stars Adventure Path. 

See the Scoured Stars Adventure Path: Index page for links to all of my campaign journal blog posts for this AP.

Part 4: On the Trail of History

We played Part 4 over two sessions due to time constraints.  

Session 1

Last time, our heroes discovered records in the Athaeum showing that eight groups had left the Scoured Stars system at some past date. Later, eight relics were sent out along those same trajectories. First Speaker Jadnura had found one of these relics, which had opened up access to the Scoured Stars. If the Society could find another, then they might be able to use it to reach the Starfinders trapped in that system.

A planet called Icefront lay along the path of one of these migrations, so the team was sent there to try to learn more about the relic and the people it was following. As they prepared for their mission, they learned from Ykris (who they had befriended during "The First Mandate") that a Triaxian megacorp named Frozen Trove was thought to be doing clandestine research in the area.

Scenario artwork and minis
for the izalguuns

When the Starfinders reached Icefront, they learned that it had a similar climate to Triaxus, and was currently in its long winter phase. It was inhabited by a species of Large bipeds with four arms, the lower pair of which was sometimes used for faster locomotion. Their ship was hailed by Dr. Monsylkis, the verthani leader of a Winterharvest research facility. Their talk with her was interrupted by the appearance of an unknown starship, which immediately attacked. 

This narrative starship combat was a more evenly-matched battle than their first one (see Part 1), but the PCs held the upper hand the whole time. The enemy's all-out attack failed the first round, while the PCs inflicted 2 hits (out of 5 HP). The next round, the enemy managed to hit, and their vandal drones did additional damage to the ship before the engineer neutralized them. After that, the unknown ship had to spend its turn repairing damage, which left it slightly more vulnerable (regain 2 HP, but its Threshold lowered by 1). They finished it off in the fourth round, with their ship still at 2 HP (out of 5). (See the Conversion Notes below for starship star blocks.)

Dr. Monsylkis, who was just as surprised by the attack as the PCs were, offered to help repair their ship, and give them a tour of her facility. They were accompanied at all times by the doctor and two other base personnel: Farvenzi, the dragonkin head of security, and Spinjack, the ryphorian chief of operations. The tour was an investigation encounter to learn more about the facility before Spinjack insisted that they go on their way. Some keys discoveries included:

• Some of the genetically engineered plants produced here were designed not for agriculture, but to reverse-engineer other companies' pharmaceuticals. Other plants had a strongly addictive effect on the lab's research animals.
• The computers and personal gear of base personnel was surprisingly expensive for a nonprofit.
• The facility included a climate-controlling weather station, which was used to provide a consistent, stable environment for their experiments. However, the scientists were abusing its use by trying to stave off the effects of the beginning of spring.
• Dr. Monsylkis seemed to be perfected sincere and dedicated to her research, while Farvenzi and Spinjack seemed to be hiding something. (The dragonskin and ryphorian were also oddly in sync with each other, suggesting they were a bonded pair with telepathy.)

Dr. Monsylkis was not able to provide any of the information the Starfinders sought about the relic that was sent here, but suggested that they talk with the izalguuns, the species that the PCs' scanners has picked up. The party decided to do this, got directions, and set out.

Soon after their entered the forest, they heard the sound of a fight. They found two izalguun hunters trying to fend off three agitated megafauna--a sort of long-necked giant sloth. They went to the izalguun's assistance, but the beasts proved extremely dangerous and hard to hurt, so both izalguun were badly mauled, and one survived only because the PCs finished off the last beast in time to give the hunter prompt medical attention. (The other had been down for a couple rounds longer, and was beyond help.)

The PCs (lower left) come across a battle between izalguun hunters
(yellow and green bases) and megzoloths (Huge pawns)

After the fight, another group of izalguun approached, led by an elder named Naarma who, unexpectedly, spoken flawless Common. She thanked the Starfinders for their efforts to save the hunters, and rewarded them with a paid of tactical knives and three thermal capacitors--another surprise, given the way the PCs had been told tat the izalguuns were "simple and quaint" creatures. The PCs had many questions, but Naarma asked them to come with her to their tribe's home before answering any of them.

The fight with the megafauna (megzoloths) proved very challenging, as they were high CR for this level, with high AC, attack bonuses, and damage. Because the players were struggling to inflict damage, I reduced their HP by a third, and let the PCs stabilize one of the fallen izalguun when someone reached its side the round after it was dropped to 0 HP (which normally kills anything lacking Resolve Points). After the session, I compared the encounter with the original SFS scenario (#1-13), and found an error in adapting that scenario for the AP: In the original, the PCs face 2 megzoloths at levels 3-4, or 3 at levels 5-6. The AP version makes this part a 4th-level mission, so there should have only been 2 of the beasts. The final fight (next session) appears to use the correct subtier's stat blocks, but I'll be comparing both versions more carefully in future scenarios in this AP. (Note also that the AP does not include any scaling adjustments, as it assumes a party of four PCs. However, in the original, a party of 4 players would have a third izalguun to help balance the fight.)

After the battle: 3 dead megzoloths; 1 dead and 1 dying izalguun.

Session 2

Naarma led the Starfinders to her camp, which was composed of temporary shelters and earthen ziggurats, and populated by izalguun using archaic-looking tools and wearing furs. A closer look, however, revealed that the camp was laid out to optimize access and defense, and the izalguuns' gear incorporated advanced materials. 

Naarma took them inside one of the ziggurats, where the PCs discovered she had pharmaceuticals on par with those of the Pact Worlds, and that the building seemed to be a disguised starship medical bay. The elder showed them an izalguun patient suffering withdrawal symptoms from ingesting some of the plants modified by the Frozen Trove research station. She believed she had identified how to treat the addiction, but lacked the resources to keep pace with the station's output. The elder was cagey about how she knew so much about the station's activities, and how much she knew about the artifact the Starfinders sought. But she was willing to share what she knew on one condition: that the Frozen Trove outpost be removed from this world, which her people call Izalraan. They agreed to this, thinking that Dr. Monsylkis, at least would see reason.

While resting at the camp, the party watched some izalguun playing a sport involving passing a discus. Sasha and Zzyssa asked to join in, and their athletic abilities allowed them to each successfully score a point in the game, gaining the other players' respect. The team captain even took Sasha's rifle and tinkered with the sights to give a bonus to hit targets with cover. [This was a temporary advantage, lasting the duration of this adventure.]

Soon enough, the Starfinders had to return to the research outpost. As they approached the weather station, the security guards there hailed them, claiming Dr. Monsylkis was inside and wished to see them. This was an obvious lie, and one of the PCs noticed one of the three guard talking into his comm unit. But the party went along with the ruse long enough to get better positions for fighting back. The PCs took a few hits but quickly killed or knocked out all three enemies. [The security guards were not a serious threat, being a few levels below the PCs, and outnumbered, but were there merely to soften up the Starfinders before the final battle.]

However, the guards' bosses had been alerted. The Starfinders soon spotted the dragonkin Farvenzi flying towards the weather station from the main installation, with her rhyphorian partner Spinjack on her back. Because the PCs had defeated the guards so quickly [in less then 3 rounds], they had a moment or two to prepare for this next fight. 

During that first fight, Gambit had found the scaffold tower easy to climb, but had trouble holding on when shooting, and fell off. [Their climb speed negated the need for an Athletics check, but an Acrobatics check was needed to keep their footing on the icy tower while doing any other actions.] While waiting for the dragon to arrive, Gambit climbed the tower and tied themself in place so they wouldn't fall.. Meanwhile, the others spread out along the walls and courtyard.

Fighting Farvenzi and Spinjack
(pawns) at the scaffold tower

Farvenzi landed in the courtyard between the nearest wall and the tower, allowing her to threaten both Gambit and Sssami, who stood in the courtyard. Zzyssa rushed into melee with the dragon, flanking her with their fellow hanakan. Meanwhile, Sssami retreated out of melee reach to hurl spells, and Sasha kept up firing her rifle and directing her teammates [using get 'em]. The Starfinders focused fire on the dragon--the biggest threat of the pair--and knocked her out within a few rounds, though she mauled a couple of the PCs pretty well before she fell. Spinjack refused to surrender, and moved around the compound as best he could while fighting, until he was cornered and killed. 

[I forgot until a couple rounds into the combat that dragonkin are immune to fire, and a couple PCs had been using laser weapons. I decided to just ignore the immunity, because it was a tough enough fight without try to retcon that.]

While the Starfinders were still binding their wounds, disarming their fallen foes, and tying up the unconscious dragon, Dr. Monsylkis arrived on the scene and was quite upset by the violence. The PCs presented their evidence that Winterharvest was a Frozen Trove front, that her research was being used for nefarious purposes, and that the local wildlife was being harmed as a result. Their persuasion resulted in the verthani scientist not only agreeing to leave the planet with all her staff, but asking about how to join the Starfinders' organization instead.

Another view of the fight. The red die tracks Gambit's height on the tower (3 squares = 15 ft.) while the Glyph of the Open Road die is a reminder of Sasha's get 'em target. 

In thanks for the Starfinders' help, Naarma provided them with a handwritten star chart showing the location of a moon orbiting another planet in the same solar system. The relic they seek was sent to a secret facility hidden inside the moon. However, the site was designed so that the relic would never be found, so the PCs should proceed with caution. She would not elaborate further, but expressed her hope that the izalguuns' technologically advanced status would remain a secret. The Starfinders pointed out that they would have to report everything to their superiors, but promised to recommend that her people's wishes be respected. 

The team was true to their word when they returned to Absalom Station to report to Luwazi Elsebo. The nominated First Seeker agreed, and showed some concern about Frozen Trove. She felt it likely that the megacorp would eventually learn the Starfinders were responsible for foiling this operation, but hoped they would refrain from retaliation rather than risk drawing more attention to their illegal activities.

During downtime, the PCs heard reports of more attacks across Near Space and the Vast, from mysterious ships matching the description of the one that attacked them near Icefront. These raiders seem to be scouting dozens of systems. 

Next time: Our heroes will return to the Izal system to attempt to recover the Scoured Stars relic from the izalguuns' secret repository.

*****

Conversion Notes: See my post about Part 1 for a discussion about converting Starfinder Society ships. This time, the party chose the Pegasus, which has an improved Computer bonus at this tier. Stat blocks for Tier 4 starships are as follows: 

DRAKE (TIER 4)

Average DC 16; Hard DC 21

HP 5

Skill Modifiers +1 to any three checks per round

PEGASUS (TIER 4)

Average DC 16; Hard DC 21

HP 5

Skill Modifiers +2 to any two checks per round; +4 Computers; +1 Piloting

And here is my converted start block for the ship that ambushes the Starfinders' ship upon their arrival at Icefront:

UNKNOWN STARSHIP (TIER 4)
Average DC 16; Hard DC 21
HP 5; Threshold 2
Skill Bonus +12

Special Abilities
Vandal Drones: When this weapon does a hit to a ship, the shrapnel animates into drones that continue to damage the hull. Each successive round, the struck starship suffers 1 additional hit until the engineer makes a Hard engineering check or the pilot makes a Hard Piloting check to remove the drones. 
Self-Destruct System. 

 

Note: This ship's  original stat block includes the Reversible quality, which gives a bonus to Piloting for the Flip and Burn stunt. Given the more abstract tactical positioning of narrative starship combat, this ability has no effect.

Let Me Tell You About My Character: Remastered Edition

Thibdab of the Dragonskull Tribe, with his new riding drake mount, Tyneri.

Following the uproar over Wizards of the Coast's proposed Open Game License 1.1 in January 2023, Paizo has made a herculean (and still ongoing) effort to remove or change any content in Pathfinder Second Edition that could even potentially be claimed as Wizards' intellectual property. This isn't an edition change, but a "Remaster" of the current edition. Players are welcome to continue using any or all 2E "legacy" content in their home games, but the Pathfinder Society organized play campaign is requiring players to update to the new core rules where those rules differ from the original. Some examples of those changes include (but are not limited to):

• For any character option (such as a feat, spell, or item) that is reprinted using the same name, the Remastered version must be used going forward. Options which have not yet been reprinted may continue to be used freely. 
• When a class is released under the Remaster, no new characters of those classes can be built using the old chassis; new PCs must use the Remastered version of the class. Existing characters are not required to change to the new version, except where changes to specific character options are required to use the new text immediately.
• Alignment has been removed from the game. Instead, the concept of edicts and anathema has been expanded, divine characters are sanctified (which may be holy, unholy, or neither, depending on the god), and alignment damage has been replaced with spirit damage (which counts as holy or unholy if its source is). And instead of forbidding evil characters from PFS play, PCS cannot be clerics or champions of gods that require unholy sanctification.
• Schools of magic have been removed from the game. The school-based wizard subclasses have been replaced with actual magical schools built around various themes. Options that depended heavily on the old schools of magic (like the Rune-Lord archetype and school-themed staves) are no longer available for play.

To make the transition less onerous for players, all characters who received XP before November 2023  receive a free, complete rebuild. Players have until the end of December 2024 to use these rebuilds. The dates were chosen because Player Core (containing 8 of the 16 core classes) was released at GenCon 2023 and Player Core 2 (containing the remaining core classes) at GenCon 2024, and players would need some time to update their characters, if they wished to do so.

(NOTE: All of the above is, obviously, a gross oversimplification, because this column is meant to focus on my own characters, not attempt to explain the Remaster as a whole. Full details on how the Pathfinder Remaster affects PFS can be found here.)

I currently have nine active characters in PFS 2E, but I had to wait for Player Core 2 to be released before I could Remaster most of them. Six belonged to classes that appeared in that book, three had ancestries or versatile heritages that appear there, and three had non-multiclass archetypes. (There was also a great deal of overlap between those categories--like my catfolk monk/pirate.) In the end, I chose to rebuild only two before Player Core 2 dropped, because in one case, I decided to ditch their archetype, and the other one belongs to a non-core class that will not be reprinted before the deadline.

Thibdab (goblin champion 10) is a redeemer champion of Sarenrae, and his character choices have largely focused on his animal companion mount and becoming an extremely efficient healer. His last adventure brought him to 10th level, when he could take the Imposing Destrier feat to finally increase his wolf companion's size to Large. (He could--and did--ride it at Medium size, but the Bulk of a goblin in heavy armor encumbered his mount.) However, in the same adventure, he unlocked access to a riding drake companion. As a goblin of the Dragonskull Tribe, he couldn't resist make the switch! The Remaster changed the champion's access to an animal companion to be through a feat (Faithful Steed) rather than a class feature, so I made that change to his feats. 

As a healer, Thibdab has the lay on hands focus spell, Medicine skill at master rank, and nearly every Medicine skill feat available at his level. I changed his background from laborer to combat medic to give him one of those skill feats for free. I didn't know about the Medic archetype for most of his early career, but as part of his rebuild, I decided to give him the dedication feat for the small boost to healing. (Treat Condition and Holistic Care are skill feats, so are likely choices for the future. Doctor's Visitation seems powerful, but not really compatible with mounted combat.)

Thibdab's new mount's mini (shown at the top of this page) is the red Dragon Costume mini with the head replaced with a plain black head. Riding drakes are wingless, so I've replaced that part with the clear part used to add attachment points to the back of a minifigure. I have also changed Thibdab's legs to the short hinged type so that he could be posed while riding.

Millicent Velarno (human sorcerer 9) has the hag bloodline, so I would have liked to make her a changeling from the start, but that ancestry boon would have cost me nearly every Achievement Point I had accumulated by then. (She was my second PFS 2E character, built long before everyone was given 80 bonus AcP, and I wanted to keep a reserve in case of a character death or other dire fate.) The rebuilds in the boon store don't allow a change of ancestry or heritage, so I couldn't change that later on, either. But the Remaster rebuild is much more generous, so she's now a changeling (which have since become free), though still human. I kept her Linguist archetype, and made only minor tweaks to her spell list (mostly to clean up the assignment of her signature spells). Visually, the only change is that one of her eyes is now a different color from the other. I have not given her any ancestry feats granting claw attacks, because she has always actively avoided entering melee.

Xathel (elf investigator 7) started as a Thassilonian Delver (one of the Legacy Backgrounds I have access to from having played PFS 1E), and his adventures have included an Azlanti site and multiple visits to ancient dwarf ruins. So it was natural that I gave him the Archaeologist Dedication feat when I rebuilt him. He was originally an ancient elf, which gave him a free multiclass dedication at 1st level; I had taken rogue, for the extra skills. But Archaeologist took up the slack in skills, so I changed him to a whisper elf to make him even better at finding things. Beyond that, I made very few changes. 

I updated Xathel last of my nine PCs, partly because of adding the archetype, and partly because investigators gain skill increases and skill feats at an increased rate, so there were more choices (and math) to double-check.

Grazga (half-orc summoner 3) belongs to a class that will not be Remastered, or at least not anytime soon. That mostly just left her ancestry and heritage to update, since half-orcs are now called "dromaar" and are no longer restricted to being a human heritage. I kept her ancestry as-is, though, because as a Sarkorian god-caller, I felt that she needed to be at least partly human to have a blood-tie to her culture.

Samara Sawleaf (leshy fighter 5) originally had the Mauler archetype, but once she reached 5th level, fighter weapon mastery made the dedication feat pretty much redundant for her chosen weapon group (polearms). After careful comparison of  fighter and mauler feats, I felt that the archetype didn't add enough to justify keeping it. Because of that decision, I was able to rebuild her before acquiring Player Core 2 (where the mauler was reprinted with no changes that I could find).

Samara's new mini uses the Halfling Druid's leaf-like cloak (from the new D&D Minifigures series), which is almost a perfect match for how I drew her cloak in her character portrait. 

Professor Felicity Featherwit (halfling rogue 6) is another character that I could have easily remastered before Player Core 2, but I was waiting to see if her versatile heritage (ganzi) would make the cut first. It did not, and I did not expect her Juggler archetype to appear there either, since it appeared in an Adventure Path. I was very happy with the way I had built her, so I think the biggest change to her is the fact that Remastered rogues are proficient with all martial weapons. That will not have any effect on her weapon choices, though, as she very much prefers finesse weapons (with which she uses Dexterity to calculate damage, being a thief).

Coracle Jibbs (catfolk monk 3) had to wait for Player Core 2 for his ancestry, class, and archetype (Pirate). But other than a couple tweaks to his Lore skills (Pirate now gives a new Lore rather than advancing Sailing Lore, and Catfolk Lore gives Additional Lore), he did not really change.

Veellox (kobold oracle 2) was originally built as a dragonscale kobold who took the Dragon Disciple Dedication feat at 2nd level. That archetype was not reprinted, but the brand-new dragonblood versatile heritage does very much the same thing, just with ancestry feats rather than class feats. So he now has that heritage instead, and will have to wait until 3rd level to get a breath weapon through Ancestral Paragon. He doesn't have any abilities requiring him to choose a draconic exemplar yet, but I've already decided it will be a fortune dragon.

He was also originally a snare crafter, because of a boon from a Adventure Path chronicle that gave access to new snares. But he had yet to deploy any snares in game, because they take time and materials to set up, so don't seem terribly practical for PFS play. I decided to drop that idea, and change his background from Sewer Dragon to Merchant, to play up the "knowledgeable about wealth and trying to acquire more" aspect of being obsessed with dragons, and his chosen exemplar in particular.

The way oracular curses work changed substantially in the Remaster--the benefits of beign cursebound were removed, and in some cases, the drawbacks were simplified. I've seen a number of complaints about these changes online, but Veellox is only 2nd level, so has rarely ever triggered his curse, so I'm not terribly attached to how it works. The original Ancestors curse was one of the most complicated to track, so the new curse is at least simpler to implement (and it has been triggered in both sessions I've played him since Remastering him). If I do decide that I still want to play with the concept of random ancestor spirits giving bonuses in return for obedience to their demands, that has been redone as the Meddling Futures feat. 

Up until now, I've used a reptilian humanoid D&D mini to represent Veellox, largely due to a limited supply of suitable LEGO heads. But with the new D&D Minifigures series, I now have a dragonkin head to spare, and gold is one of the two colors in his scales (the other being green).

Aikhaheni (kitsune barbarian 2) is a duskwalker barbarian with the spirit instinct. His bonus damage while raging is now spirit damage rather than positive or negative, which fits nicely with his devotion to Pharasma. Apart from that he did not change at all, even in his minor gear. His ancestry did not appear in Player Core or Player Core 2, so will continue to follow the rules in the Ancestry Guide. 

LEGO Minifigures: Dungeons & Dragons

(See Tim's LEGO Reviews for my reviews of past LEGO Minifigures series.)

Ironically, Hasbro licensing the LEGO Group to produce "official" D&D-branded minifigures and sets coincided with my family and many of our gaming friends losing interest in D&D following the Open Game License 1.1 fiasco in January 2023. So I initially had very mixed feelings about the announcement of a D&D Minifigures series. However, the characters and parts chosen for this series, and a huge dose of nostalgia, persuaded me to collect a full set. 

This set of 12 includes a mix of four named characters from D&D lore (like Strahd and Tasha), one classic D&D monster (mind flayer), and seven characters defined by their race and class.  Most of these unnamed adventurers come with two double-faced heads--one male and one female (or at least presenting that way)--and each hero has been given a different skin tone as well. With WotC and other game publishers increasing their efforts to be more inclusive and representative, this is a very welcome addition to the Minifigures theme. (The LEGO Group has been making similar changes in other themes as well, most notably the Friends theme, which has always provided a wide variety of skin tones, and has recently introduced some characters--and even pets--with disabilities.) Very few of these characters disappoint on their level of detail, often incorporating two-color molding, printing on the sides of arms and legs, and distinctive accessories.

Aarakocra Ranger: Aarakocra* are avian humanoids who excel at aerial combat. Many are rangers, though somewhat surprisingly, this one has chosen a landbound companion, a small gray dog. This hero has the same digitigrade legs used for the Faun (Series 15) and Harpy (Series 25), in a new color and print. The head and wings are new molds; the wings are a single, fixed-position piece, but have a more natural curve than past options. I am not certain if the bow is a new mold (I think it is to my collection), but the tan color certainly is. 

* Aarokocra first appeared in the AD&D 1E Fiend Folio. For their 5E stats, see the Elemental Evil Player's Companion.

Dragonborn Paladin: The dragon head profile on this paladin's shield shows allegiance to Bahamut, the god of good dragons. They wear full plate (minus helm) with huge pauldrons. The torso is printed front and back underneath the cuirass, as well as on the sides of the arms and legs. The paladin's weapon is a mace with a large, translucent crystal head and a gold tassel on the shaft. The head is also a nice sculpt and print job, which has appeared in other themes (and, I believe, in the huge initial D&D set), but is in gold here for the first time.

Dwarf Barbarian: This is one of the five character with two double-sided heads; this one is brown, with an orange beard printed on the male head. (The heads alone are welcome additions to any collection, just for more diversity in available dark-skinned heads.) The dwarf wields a torch and a battleaxe that (AFAIK) is a new mold. A tan fur collar covers the shoulders of a torso printed front and back, and on the arms. The axe pendant (front) and hunting horn (back) are nice details.

The legs are the mid-length, jointed legs that debuted in Harry Potter sets a few years back. These, however, lack any printing at all, which has both pros and cons. They're kind of dull compared to the other legs in this series, but this leg length is still fairly uncommon, so having a unprinted set to use for other characters may be useful to some builders.

Elf Bard: This character's skin is a pale caramel, basically a shade yellower than the peachy-pink default for licensed "white" characters. (It's close enough that the elf-ears hairpiece could be used with either and not look bad.) Naturally, both heads come with a "singing" side. The costume consists of a raspberry scarf (and hands), a teal vest with white arms, and two-tone brown (dual injection) legs. Fittingly for a bard, the most detailed piece is their lute. 

Gith Warlock: The githzerai* and githyanki* are closely related races that dwell in Limbo and the Astral Plane, respectively. Long relegated to adversarial roles only, they became a playable race in 5E and are currently more popular than ever thanks to the latest Balder's Gate game. This one has the facial markings typical of both races (more pronounced on the "male" head), and the classic LEGO yellow is a decent match for gith skin tones. The hairpiece is black dreads or braids gathered into a topknot, and would work well with elves and similar races, too. For the warlock, the body is printed with an amulet, potion bottles, and pouches, and subtle black spirals on the dark blue base. The legs are dual-injected to give brown boots, which match the hands/gloves and spiky shoulder pads. The gith wields a unique dagger (that seems to evoke the gthyanki's distinctive swords in miniature) and a staff topped by a large eyeball.

* Githzerai and githyanki first appeared in the AD&D 1E Fiend Folio. For their 5E stats, see Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

Halfling Druid: The druid's two heads are caramel-colored, and the male head sports the muttonchops common to many 5E halflings. The torso is printed front and back, but the legs (being short) are dual-injected but unprinted. The cape is dagged to resemble a leaf, and is reversible, with brown and green sides. The latter side matches the hood, which is a very nice piece, dual-injected with hard rubber tan antlers. The remaining accessories are a staff topped with a flower and leaves, and a small, dark tan sparrow.

The Lady of Pain: The mysterious Lady of Pain rules the many-portaled city of Sigil in the Planescape setting. Her robes are orange with printing on front and back, and she wears an orange cloth cape that is split into four streamers below the shoulders. She wears her distinct many-bladed helmet over a plain black minifigure head. She carries a cubic gate made from a 1x1 plate and a printed 1x1 tile, and levitates on a clear 2x2 cylinder brick. This minifig of my two least favorites in this series, mostly because I have never delved much into Planescape lore, and the parts could be challenging to use in another context. 

Mind Flayer: The mind flayer, or illithid, is one of the most classic of D&D monsters (and is, in fact, one of the ten monsters from the 3E Monster Manual that were never released as Open Game Content, as I discussed here). The pale purple, squid-like head is very nicely sculpted, and is set off well by the relatively simple body (black robes with printed shoulder plates on the torso and arms). It comes with an intellect devourer, a monster created by the illithids (and featured in the Honor Among Thieves movie). The 'devourer is designed to fit over the head of its minifigure victim, which is a lovely macabre touch.

Szass Tam: This lich is one of the rulers of the magocratic nation of Thay (which is not one of the regions of the Forgotten Realms setting that I know much about). His red robe is printed on front and back, and he wears a two-piece dark red cape. His head and hands are bone-colored , and the facial print includes some small details that elevate it above most LEGO skeletons. He makes a very distinctive lich enemy for any campaign, but I was underwhelmed by his accessories, which consist of a transparent orange flame projectile and a transparent red skull. The skull's classic LEGO skeleton face is printed in plain black, so is hard to see on the head.  

Strahd von Zarovich: Strahd is the most famous vampire in all of D&D, having been the signature villain of the Ravenloft setting ever since the debut of the module of the same name in AD&D 1E. His torso and legs are elaborately printed, including on the arms, and the legs are dual-injected to give him dark brown boots. His head has two faces: one with a smug smirk (well known to anyone whose character has met him) and one with fangs bared for killing. He holds a clear crystal goblet (for holding blood, of course) and a longsword (one of the longer knight's sword models). He comes with a large, red-eyed black rat.

Tasha the Witch Queen: Tasha (also known as Iggwilv) is the one witch who could ever rival her mother, Baba Yaga. This minifigure is clearly based on her portrait on the cover of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything--even to the windblown red hair. Her legs are dual-injected, and arms are printed with buckled straps like the ones on her torso. She comes with a cauldron with a transparent purple flame, and an arcane-looking book with a printed cover and a printed 1x2 tile for the page inside. 

Tiefling Sorcerer: The final adventurer provided with two heads, the tiefling has orange skin, which matches their tail. Black hair is tied into a bun behind brown horns. The torso is printed on front, back, and arms, and the legs are dual-injected to provide black boots. The sorcerer's accessories are an energy effect in transparent pink, almost certainly meant to be magic missile, and a small red dragon  The dragon would be perfect for small draconic familiars, such as a pseudodragon (though those have tail stingers, and this one does not), or for a wyrmling red dragon (though in 5E, those would be Medium-sized). 

The tiefling sorcerer is probably my favorite character for this series, for several reasons: 1. I'm fond of tieflings in general, so more variety is better; 2. The hairpiece lacks ears so can be used with just about any other LEGO head; 3. The magic missiles are simple but dramatic, and 4. The dragon is, simply, the best dragon LEGO has ever produced at this scale. My next favorites are the mind flayer and the dragonborn paladin, then probably the halfling druid (whose hood and cloak I already plan to steal for building existing player characters of my own).

Scoured Stars AP: Parts 2 and 3

Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Scoured Stars Adventure Path. 

See the Scoured Stars Adventure Path: Index page for links to all of my campaign journal blog posts for this AP.  (Note: Part 1 has been updated to add narrative starship combat stat blocks for the Drake and Pegasus.)

Part 2: The First Mandate

In this adventure, Luwazi Elsebo and Radaszam ask the PCs to attend a gala at which the First Seeker will make an important speech. Their primary job will be to influence certain guests who have instrumental in the Starfinder Society's recovery from the losses of the Scoured Stars incident.

The influence encounter featured 5 NPCs, including two important Starfinders (Venture-Captain Naiaj and Forum member Royo); undead media mogul Zo!; Ykris, representative of a biotech company; and Iteration-177 of the Aspis Consortium. Our heroes struggled at first to learn what skills would be useful to influence these dignitaries, and never did learn any of the mysterious android Iteration-177's personal foibles. However, they did do better in the second half of the encounter, and just barely managed to fully influence all five in the allotted time. 

[Those who had played this adventure before were shocked that they managed to influence Iteration-177, as they assumed this would be more  difficult than the others. However, the DCs were the same across the board, and they just had poor dice luck with the Apsis agent until very near the end.]

The highlight of the encounter was Gambit's interactions with Ykris, who was a symbiotic parasite bonded with a half-elven host. As an evolutionist, Gambit was keenly interested in augmentations (though their own are strictly cybernetic) and proved to be knowledgeable and entertaining on the subject. Gambit also leapt at the chance to experience the symbiotic relationship for themself, very briefly (earning an automatic success).

Once that portion of the ball was done, Radaszam approached the PCs to help him investigate a potential threat to the event. He had reason to believe that a dangerous assassin known as Triloteya was on the station, and that they might intend to target someone at the gala. His sources had provided an address, and the PCs went to check it out. They found a workshop guarded by a shock-trapped door and two electrovores. Once they dealt with these defenses, they found ample evidence of the assassin's plan to target the First Speaker at the gala, using explosives.

Conferring with Radsaszam on the way back, the PCs were given the choice of whether to deal with the assassin while the vesk's Obsidian Spiders dealt with the bombs, or to split the party to try to tackle both threats at once (riskier, but potentially earning more glory for the Starfinders). They decided on the latter, but soon discovered that the two technically-oriented PCs lacked the Perception skills to find the bombs quickly. (Nobody in this party is outstanding at Perception.) I allowed them to change plans on the fly, and call in Radaszam's team to deal with the explosives while those two PCs joined the others in confronting the assassin. Despite the close quarters of the audio-visual booth, Triloteya proved to be hard to pin down thanks to her operative training. The PCs did finally manage to take her down just as she tried to flee the area, and kept her distracted enough to not set off the explosives (which the Obsidian Spiders finished defusing a few rounds later).

With the threat averted--very publicly--Luwazi was able to make her speech. She announced that the primary goal of her tenure as First Seeker would be researching the Scoured Stars, in the hopes of rescuing the Starfinders trapped there. And the PCs would be just the right team for the first mission toward that end...

Part 3: In Pursuit of the Scoured Past

The First Seeker tasked the PCs with escorting Royo to the mysterious library world of Athaeum, which stores knowledge that exists nowhere else, to seek information about the Scoured Stars. They were offered a ride there by Iteration-177, who was already acquainted with the Curators of Athaeum. 

During the voyage through the Drift, Iteration-177 invited the PCS to dinner with their other guests, two Helknights of the Order of the Pyre. The android owned a pencibiter, a device that translated memories and thoughts into food, and they asked each guest to contribute a memory to share. The memories that the Starfinders chose to share were: 

• Sasha: The memory of her death, on the job when she worked for a mob boss. (Tasted fiery and spicy; choleric.)
• Zzyssa: The first time that they were punched in the face during a dance-off (a popular way to settle disputes among hanakans). (Lemony/citrusy taste; sanguine.)
• Sssami: The hatching of his children, after the violence involved in ikeshti mating. (Eggy taste, happy but bittersweet; sanguine.)
• Gambit: They were shunned by their people for becoming obsessed with technology (which  most hanakans strongly distrust). However, this led to them being able to be themself. (Phlegmatic.)

[The italicized descriptors will have an effect later in this adventure path. For now, the PCs only know that the choice had some importance, but not why yet.]

The PCs also experienced memories from Royo (a dry taste and smell of enjoying reading old books) and the two Hellknights: One underwent an ordeal of fire, emerging unscathed. The other was some kind of fiery fiend who inhabited the armor of a Hellknight who died during the ritual that summoned him.

At the Athaeum, each of the three groups (the Starfinders, Iteration-177, and the Hellknights) were met by an axiomite Curator, who reviewed the rules of accessing the archives. One fundamental rule was that no copy of any kind could be made of the knowledge found here, but an exception would be made for information on the Scoured Stars, because the Curators had learned that their copies were no longer the only ones in existence. [As explained in a sidebar, this was a change to the original adventure to fix some plot holes relating to why the PCs were allowed to copy the information they sought to take elsewhere.] The Athaeum teleports from place to place, but had suffered some damage in its most recent transit, so the Curator requested that the PCs do a couple of tasks for them, in exchange for a reduction in the astronomical fee to access the vaults. 

The first issue involved a machine virus that had breached containment and infected some of the library's mechanical guardians. These needed to be destroyed, and the virus downloaded so that it could be safely stored once more. The PCs fought the two constructs, taking a number of injuries from the lore wardens' spells, but prevailed and then easily downloaded the virus for storage. They then rested for a while before continuing. Sasha made the mistake of trying to examine some scrolls floating in special containers in the room, and suffered some Wisdom damage as a result. (Her player played up the fact that Sasha now had only an effective Wisdom of 5 by making her brashly overconfident and eager to be in the thick of things for the remainder of the adventure.) 

The second task required them to track down a ksarik that had escaped its cage, and needed to be returned there. The PCs managed this with minimal harm. 

With the tasks completed, they were able to proceed to the vault containing data on the Scoured Stars. This data was stored in a mindmaze, a psychic device that allowed characters to enter the maze on its surface. Ssamai and Sasha entered the mindmaze, while Royo, Gambit, and Zzyssa provided guidance from outside. They reached the center quickly, without taking any psychic strain, and were treated to a vision of the history of the Scoured Stars--including one detail that Royo thought was a significant lead. 

Almost immediately after completing the mindmaze challenge, the Curator sent a message requesting help. The Hellknights were burning books in one of the library's vaults. The PCs rushed to stop them, being both outraged by the destruction and eager to have their access fee reduced even further.

Fighting the Hellknight arsonists

They reached a vault where two Hellknights guarded the entrance,  while two others and Loomarch (the fiend) burned books in the chamber below. This was a long, grueling fight that pushed our heroes to the limit. Here are a few highlights:

• Sssami cast holographic console to clone the controls to the fire-suppressing cryo-nozzles (located on the other side of the two Hellknights at the entrance), and spent most of the fight putting out fires and dealing cold damage to Hellknights in the line's path. (One Hellknight was knocked out solely, or very nearly so, by repeated blasts from the nozzles.)
• Sasha headed down into the chamber below fairly early on, and played cat and mouse with a couple of the Hellknights there. (She has the combat expertise alternate class feature for envoys, but Hellknights have high Intimidate scores to resist demoralizing, so she rarely did as much damage as she hoped to.) 
• After trading blows with the Hellknights at the entrance for a few rounds, Zzyssa moved down into the lower room to face off with Loomarch. They managed to land a couple critical hits on the fiend, but then the devil grabbed them in its claws. They easily made the saves to avoid losing a limb to Loomarch's incinerating maw, but suffered enough fire damage to go unconscious within two rounds of being grabbed.
• Gambit used their climb speed to mostly keep out of the range of the Hellknights' flamethrowers and pikes. This left them with fewer wounds than the vanguard or envoy, which meant they were able to played a key part in taking down Loomarch late in the fight, when Zzyssa was running out of HP and time.
• The cyro-nozzles had very little effect on Loomarch (despite being a fiery being, it was also cold-resistant) so Sasha did not engage. (Her longarm does cold damage, and she did not like her changes in melee against it.) Instead, she gave some inspiring boosts to her allies and pumped healing serums into Zzyssa to keep the hanakan vanguard standing a little longer. 
• Sssami joined the fight once the lesser Hellknights were taken out, and cast spells at Loomarch. Gambit also moved closer to harass the devil, but got a bit too close, and became its next target after Zzyssa was taken out. A critical hit seriously wounded the hanakan evolutionist, and threatened more pain, except that Sssami took down Loomarch with a junk shards spell before it could try to incinerate any of Gambit's limbs.

With the Hellknight threat ended, the Curators happily waived the Starfinders' fee, and the team was able to leave with a new lead: the path of a relic similar to the one First Seeker Jadnura had discovered and used to enter the Scoured Stars. If they could recover that second relic, perhaps they could use it to reunite with the lost Starfinders. 

Next time: "On the Trail of History," in which our heroes will follow the trail of the strange relic.

Loomarch, unique devil Hellknight

[Update 11/30/2024: Gambit's player has decided to name their evolutionist's augmentations after X-Men: their datajack is Charles, thrusters are Storm, and voice amplifier is Banshee.]

Scoured Stars Adventure Path: Index

This page will collect links to each installment of my campaign journal for the Scoured Stars Adventure Path (Starfinder 1st Edition). 

Spoiler Warning: Unsurprisingly, these posts contain numerous spoilers for the AP. 

• Session Zero and Part 1 (4/22/2024): Meet our heroes; "The Commencement."
• Parts 2 and 3 (7/22/2034): "The First Mandate"; "In Pursuit of the Scoured Past"
• Part 4 (11/30/2024): "On the Trail of History"
• "Reclaiming the Time-Lost Tear"
• "The Scoured Stars Invasion"
• "Truth of the Seeker"
• "Treading History's Folly"
• "Heart of the Foe"
• "Honorbound Emissaries"
• "The Herald's War"
• "Fate of the Scoured God"

Other useful links for reference:

• Scoured Stars Adventure Path: Paizo product page.
• Narrative Starship Combat: We are using these alternate rules from Starfinder Enhanced.

A Brief History of Multiclassing

To multiclass or not to multiclass? That is very good question, and not an easy one to answer.

Multiclassing, or advancing in more than one character class, has been implemented in many different ways over the long history of Dungeons & Dragons, as well as in other RPGs derived from it.  Multiclassing is a way to expand your character's abilities, but there is always a price or drawback to doing so, usually involving slowing (or even halting) advancement in your other class(es). 

Multiclassing in D&D

In 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D, you had to choose whether to multiclass when you first created your character. Only certain combinations of classes were allowed (determined by your race), and except for elf fighter/magic-user/thieves, you were limited to two classes. The costs of multi-classing were that your XP were divided between your classes, and your hit points were averaged between your classes. Typically, a multiclass character lagged behind their single-classed companions by a level or two (or more, if triple-classed), and had fewer Hit Dice and HP as a result. Also, in those editions, some classes cost more XP to advance in, so multi-classed magic-users lagged behind even more than usual. 

In 3rd Edition D&D, the choice to multiclass was made when you advanced to a new level. Each level you advanced was one level in one class, so your levels in all classes added up to your overall character level. You had to keep your classes within one level of each other or take a penalty to XP, but you ignored that limit for your "favored class" (which was determined by race, or was your first class for humans). This method was well integrated with the introduction of feats and skill ranks based on level, and allowed for the introduction of prestige classes. These special classes were slightly more powerful than a base class, but required characters to meet certain prerequisites before entering them (which could not be met before 6th level at minimum, and sometimes much higher). They otherwise used the multiclassing rules, and ignored favored class limitations.

Multiclassing in 3E (and the later v.3.5 revised rules) allowed for a more customized approach to character concepts. Some adventurers would split their levels fairly evenly between their two (or more) paths. Others might only take a level or two in another class (informally called "dipping a class") to pick up an entry-level ability, such as new armor and weapon proficiencies, or a few useful low-level spells. But every level in one class slowed progression in all others you took, which delayed access to higher-level abilities. Casters in particular sacrificed a significant amount of power by slowing down their spell progression. To offset this, a few prestige classes were designed to allow spellcasters to progress in caster level, but not their other level-based class features. And one prestige class, the mystic theurge, attempted to make advancing in two spellcasting classes a more viable option, with mixed results.

(I did not play much 4th Edition D&D, so don't recall how multiclassing worked in that version of the game, or even if it was an option at all.)

In 5th Edition D&D, multiclassing became an optional rule. This iteration of the game keeps the idea of character level equaling the total of your class levels, but adds prerequisites of minimum scores in the new class's key ability score(s), and has some special rules for acquiring spell slots that are shared between spellcasting classes. Prestige classes were removed from the game, though a few survive (in theme, at least) as subclasses.

Multiclassing in Other d20 Games

Most of my gaming experience these days is with Pathfinder and Starfinder, so with one exception, I'll be focusing on them for the rest of this column.

D20 Modern, which was based on the v.3.0 rules, made multiclassing central to every character's career. All characters started in one of six base classes (one focused on each ability score) for their first few levels, then chose an advanced class to distinguish themselves from other characters. I played very little d20 Modern (and only ever as a GM), but the core assumption that every character would multiclass was rather unique and memorable.

Pathfinder First Edition was a direct offshoot of D&D v.3.5, so its rules for multiclassing and prestige classes were almost identical to that game. The primary change was removing the XP penalty for uneven levels. Instead, your favored class (now always your first class) gave 1 bonus HP or skill rank at each level, which gave a new incentive for staying single-classed. Some classes were adjusted to avoid "front-loading" their class features, making it harder to cherry-pick signature abilities by "dipping."  All classes were given powerful capstone abilities at their highest levels, which could only be acquired by single-classed characters. (Pathfinder characters were strictly limited to 20th level.) Finally, some class options and feats could grant a few of the low-level abilities of another class (such as a few minor spell-like abilities, a bonus combat feat, etc.), which could help avoid the need to multiclass.

Starfinder was derived from Pathfinder 1E, but introduced many new rules of its own. It, too, allows multi-classing by choosing one class to advance at each level. However, it provides even more incentives to follow a single class. Most notably, spellcasting progression is slower in Starfinder than Pathfinder, so multiclassing is even more of a sacrifice for casters than in Pathfinder. Most other classes will quickly fall behind in effectiveness, too, particularly the operative and solarian, whose damage output scales with their level in the class. If a character does multiclass, it's strongly advised that they wait until after they've reached 3rd level in their first class, because that's when every class gains Weapon Specialization, which adds bonus damage to weapons with which they are proficient.

Starfinder also offers a new alternative to multi-classing: Archetypes replace some class features at specific levels, but give new abilities instead. This may cause the character to lose or delay access to some class features, or it may simply take the place of a class option like a soldier's bonus feat or an operative exploit. For casters, they typically have fewer spells known at their highest spell levels but their access to those levels isn't delayed. Overall, you retain the full benefits of your class level for purposes of level-based effects and access to most higher-level abilities. Archetypes are also not specific to any one class, but some have prerequisites, particularly if they expand upon the uses for a given skill or proficiency, or modify spellcasting. Finally, unless the GM adopts an optional rule, characters are limited to one archetype (or one per class, if multiclassed).

In Pathfinder Second Edition, multiclassing strongly resembles Starfinder's archetype rules, but you only ever advance in level in one class. However, when you get a new class feat, you can choose to spend it on an archetype dedication feat, which gives some minor initial benefit and allows you to spend future feats on that archetype's feats. Multiclass archetypes give you some (but never all) of the abilities of another class. Other archetypes are unique unto themselves, and may focus on a fighting style, altered ways to cast magic, new ways to use one or more specific skills, or some other theme. (Numerous 1E prestige classes have reappeared as archetypes in 2E, but without the multiclass tag.) Much like in Starfinder, archetypes may be taken by members of any class who meet the prerequisites for the dedication feat, but they are more flexible because you can invest as much or as little in the archetype as you want. There are limits to how many archetypes a character can take, because you can't take another dedication feat until you have taken at least two of that archetype's other feats. That usually means that you can't take a second dedication until at least 8th level, or a third before 16th. (A rare few archetypes include some feats that replace skill feats instead of class feats, allowing faster acquisition.)

When Starfinder Second Edition is released (in playtest at this year's GenCon, and in full next year), it will use the same game engine as Pathfinder 2E, making it fully compatible with that system. Presumably this means that multiclassing will follow the same archetype rules.

My Own History with Multiclassing

In pretty much all of the RPGs I've mentioned above, I prefer to remain single-classed in order to get faster access to the higher-level abilities of my character's first class. There have, of course, been some notable exceptions:

D&D 3E: I once played a fighter who multiclassed entirely for story-based reasons. He took a couple levels of ranger when the party started doing a lot of cross-country travel, and later took some levels in psychic warrior because the campaign's overall story arc involved the emergence of psionic powers among the oppressed classes in a tyrannical empire. I eventually regretted taking so many classes, because while he had an amazing Fortitude save from stacking three martial classes, his Will lagged behind too much, even after taking Iron Will.

At the other extreme, a player in one of my 3E campaigns created a cleric of the god of magic, who multiclassed into wizard. She didn't initially intend to aim for mystic theurge, but once she did, she also picked up a level of loremaster because that class was more interesting than a third wizard level would be. Out of all the characters that I've ever played or GMed, she had the most classes, at four (all by 9th level).

Pathfinder 1E: I have built a handful of characters with the intention of qualifying for a prestige class as soon as possible, including a brawler/living monolith and a rogue/shadowdancer, and a diviner who I never played enough to reach harrower levels. Beyond those, I can only think of four characters offhand who have multiclassed:

• A rogue who took a level of cleric out of thanks to his god for granting him enough luck to survive that long. He later retrained that level back to rogue when it became clear that he could serve his god better by being a better rogue.
• A cleric of Calistria, who multiclassed into rogue as soon as he could. He was originally built as part of an all-cleric party, and they needed to diversify their skill set at 2nd level. (One multiclassed into fighter; the rest stayed single-classed clerics.)
• A ranger who dipped fighter to gain heavy armor proficiency and some bonus feats. 
• A hunter/rogue whose teamwork feats plus sneak attack made for very effective flanking tactics with her animal companion.

Starfinder 1E: Out of my 14 Starfinder Society characters, only one is multi-classed. Shortly after acquiring a creature companion, my gnome envoy took a level of xenodruid mystic so that he could speak with animals, like his ancestors once did. That made his companion easier to control, and allowed him to use his language-dependent abilities to help it as well as his PC allies.

I have more characters who have taken archetypes: 

• An explorer operative who took the Starfinder forerunner archetype. Her specialization and archetype compliment each other nicely (both do interesting things with Culture and Survival skills). I also already had a high-level operative combat monster, so I felt that sacrificing a few exploits to further differentiate this one was perfectly acceptable.
• A phrenic adept whose species communicates primarily via telepathy, but very slowly (using telepathic message). This archetype solved that problem by giving him limited telepathy (on par with other telepathic PC species), and gave some interesting new abilities as well. The character is a mechanic, so suffers less from investing in an archetype than some other classes would.
• A soldier who became a powered armor jockey. (His archetype starts at 6th level, which he only very recently reached, so I am still waiting to see how effective it is.)
• Another soldier who became a Star Knight.

Pathfinder 2E: Out of 9 Pathfinder Society 2E characters, I have 4 with archetypes (only one of them a multiclass archetype):

• A bookish (but still very social) sorcerer who became a linguist. 
• An investigator with the ancient elf heritage, which gives a free multiclass dedication at 1st level. (Normally those are 2nd-level feats.) He took rogue, which provided a few more trained skills to fill in gaps in his already diverse knowledge base. 
• A fighter who took the mauler archetype, which focuses on big, two-handed weapons.
• A rogue who took the juggler archetype because of her background as a circus performer.

The release of the Remastered rules last year means that I will eventually be rebuilding these characters, but I will most likely keep the archetypes they have. The first two have classes that did not appear in Player Core, but that I expect to see in Player Core 2, which releases later this summer. The only archetypes in Player Core were the multiclass ones for that book's classes, so I also have to wait to see how many other archetypes get Remastered in the new book before I rebuild my linguist and mauler. The juggler archetype is from an Adventure Path, so I don't expect that to ever get the Remastered treatment, but will continue to exist as-is.

Update 9/15/2024: See Let Me Tell You About My Character: Remastered Edition about the changes I've made to my PFS 2E characters since writing the column above. The short version: The linguist and juggler kept their archetypes; the investigator changed from rogue multiclass to archaeologist; the fighter lost her archetype; and my champion gained one.

Scoured Stars Adventure Path: Session Zero and Part 1

Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Scoured Stars Adventure Path. 

See the Scoured Stars Adventure Path: Index page for links to all of my campaign journal blog posts for this AP. 

Earlier this year, Paizo released the Scoured Stars Adventure Path, which repackages the primary story arc from Season 1 of Starfinder Society into a level 1-15 campaign. This story line sees the Starfinder Society struggling to recover from a recent disaster: the loss of the majority of their ships and personnel in a massive expedition to the mysterious Scoured Stars system. Over the course of the twelve adventures that make up this AP, the PCs start as newly trained recruits but quickly become central to the Society's investigations of what happened in the Scoured Stars, their return to the system to rescue any survivors, and the resulting conflict with an aggressive new enemy that intends to reclaim the system for themselves.

I have played all twelve of the original Starfinder Society scenarios that make up this "metaplot" arc, and GMed a few of them myself. Some of them are among my favorite organized play experiences, so this book was an easy sell for me. Some of the players in my home group have played many of them as well, but none of us have played them in any coherent order with the same characters throughout, so much of this treatment will still be novel to them.

We had a "session zero" to work out characters a few weeks ago. For the AP, I decided to allow most of the species on the "always available" list for Society play, minus a few species that were first introduced during this arc, or who were first encountered in later seasons. This still allowed for a very unusual mix of characters, and the resulting party was made up of species that nobody in our group had played before. Our heroes are:

• Sasha, borai maraquoi, envoy, bouncer; ship's pilot. This character's concept was inspired by the "space monkey mafia" line from Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." She is a borai who used to be a maraquoi in life. This isn't one of the standard choices for the undead borai, so we decided that the species trait she would retain was prehensile tail. 
• Gambit, hanakan, evolutionist, street magician; ship's gunner. Hanakan are magical raptor-like aliens who normally distrust and avoid technology, but Gambit is a (literally) shocking exception: a mechanics evolutionist, who becomes part robot as they mutate during combat.
• Zzyssa, hanakan, vanguard, personal trainer; ship's captain. Zzyssa is a little more typical of their species, except for the fact that they're a Small species filling the the front line/tank role. 
• Sssami Kuppa, ikeshti, enhanced technomancer, tinker; ship's engineer. Having survived his species' brutal mating cycle, Sssami left Akiton to seek his fortune on a less impoverished world. 

Sasha (L) and Gambit (R)

Our group frequently play characters who all learn an unusual language they can all use when they wish to talk amongst themselves without being understood by outsiders. For the Against the Aeon Throne AP, it was Eoxian (common in the Pact Worlds, not so much in Azlanti space). This time, with two hanakan PCs, they choose that species' native language, Akan.

This past weekend, we started the campaign proper by playing the first adventure, "The Commencement." In this adventure, the PCs have just finished their training as Starfinders, which has been accelerated due to the urgent need for more field agents. They are asked to perform some tasks for the leaders of the four of the most prominent factions (Acquisitives, Dataphiles, Exo-Guardians, and Wayfinders). 

In the original scenario, the Acquisitives mission involves a junk-cycle race that, in practice, frequently runs much longer then the other missions due to the number of skill checks and NPCs involved. For the AP, this was replaced with a starship combat from another scenario, which introduces an NPC who will reappear later in the AP. Starship combat is not my group's favorite subsystem of the rules, as it is frequently time-consuming, and characters who aren't pilots or gunners are regularly overshadowed. With this in mind, I decided that we would try the narrative starship combat rules in Starfinder Enhanced. These were new to us, because they aren't used in Society play, but for an AP, GMs have much more latitude to make changes for their own games. These rules promised to make combats more fun because they were vastly simplified and because every crew role has a more equal opportunity to contribute to victory. 

This adventure's starship combat was an honorable duel rather than a deadly encounter, so it made for a good test for the rules, before the stakes get higher in later missions. This first trial proved to be not just a resounding success, but a quick and flawless victory! The enemy ship failed its skill roll to attack, while the PCs had large enough success margins on their checks to force a surrender after one round. It took much longer to explain the (fairly simple) rules than to play out the combat. I don't expect the PCs to ever have it that easy in the future, but it was definitely more fun to run and play than the standard starship combat rules, which are my and my group's least favorite part of the game--especially when both sides are so evenly matched that the battle becomes a tedious slog of attrition.

None of the other three missions were nearly that easy, but they performed well on them, only achieving less than complete success on one (recruiting a hacker for the Dataphiles by faking their death). However, they did well enough to not lose out on any rewards.

Monster hunt in a warehouse intended for conversion into the Exo-Guardians' new base.

My mini for the feather stalker, a crinoid-like alien.

All my players seemed to enjoy the game a great deal, and are looking forward to the rest of the AP. Apart from GMing occasional PFS (1E) and SFS scenarios, this is the first campaign I've run in a few years. I've definitely been missing being in the GM's seat for a long-term game, so I'm excited to be running this one.

Next time: "The First Mandate," in which our heroes try to impress some dignitaries at a gala while helping out with security for the event. 

*****

Conversion Notes: For those who are interested, here is the Honorbound's stat block, converted for narrative starship combat following the guidelines in Starfinder Enhanced:

HONORBOUND (TIER 1)

Average DC 11; Hard DC 16

HP 5; Threshold 2

Skill Bonus +7

The Honorbound has no Special Abilities. Yuluzak will surrender after his ship has been reduced to 2 HP or less.

And here are the stat blocks for the party's options at this Tier:

DRAKE (TIER 2)

Average DC 13; Hard DC 18

HP 5

Skill Modifiers +1 to any three checks per round 

 

PEGASUS (TIER 2)

Average DC 13; Hard DC 18

HP 5

Skill Modifiers +1 to any two checks per round; +2 Computers; +1 Piloting

Note that the amount of simplification required for the narrative starship combat rules makes the differences between these two models' armor, weapons, and shields largely irrelevant unless they deviate significantly from the tier's norm. This is a significant change from the standard starship combat rules, where the Pegasus excels in speed, maneuverability, and sensors, but the Drake has heavier weapons and defenses. Here, the only real distinction between the two are the skill modifiers from their computers, sensors, and thrusters. (IIRC, my group chose the Drake this time out because they could use its skill bonuses on any of their checks.) At the highest tiers, the Pegasus will outperforms the Drake in all ways thanks to its superior computers and thrusters giving it more generous skill bonuses.

*****

[Edited 7/11/2024 to add the spoiler warning, a link to the Index page, and stat blocks for the Drake and Pegasus.]