Starfinder improvemens and suggestions

[Littlerogue]

So i bought FGU a few month ago and i launched several session of Starfinder games. So far i was positively impressed with most of the automation mechanism wich simplify my GM job. As i played i listed some missing function wich could make my GM life even easier (mainly by not making me interacting directly with most simple resolution mecanisme like attacks, saves and short lasting effects).

Since i can't find a list of suggestion related to starfinder ruleset, I open this thread to enumerate some improvement i hope to be implemented for easier use as GM.

Fist of all, i will not list any suggestions related to starship for now : The starship combats function are fairly usable, player friendly (not really GM friendly, but the starship combat in starfinder is a clunky mess on GM side, VTT or not ...) and need some improvement but i read that an overall update need to be done to th starship combat and starship building modules.

The first the section concern change which appear *for me* (and i'm not into coding and i don't know how to use the FGU API, so i may be wrong) to be easy to implement and/or generate an immediate gain for all types of characters :

Weapon specialisation feat should apply its effects on damages with weapons of the linked types to prevent manual configuration of each weapon. Seems pretty usefull as everyone receive this feat for his class weapons at level 3.


Show the total allowed number of feats on PC sheet, for easier character creation
Passive power wich add permanent bonus to skills and/or stats (like operative's edge, channel skill for mystic etc.) should be calculated.
Grenades : Treat it like a spell with a REF save DC before applying dommage to targets
Armor penalties on skills
Integrate DR and energies resistances directly to PC sheet, with an associated effect on combat tracker as several races and class powers grant energy resistances.
Add combat manoeuvers option to the action tab of the PC sheet, since most of them consist in a simple contact attack compared to target KAC+8
Do the same for Harrying and covering fire, each consisting in a ranged attack against a flat DD15 difficulty. For covering fire, add the associated effect to the targeted ally (+2 to AC against the next attack). Harrying fire effect may be for difficult to integrate.

The second section concerns change wich may be specific to some characters or more difficult to integrate :


Generally speaking, ability classes which are frequently used (Healing channel) or/and have a simple resolution based on a combo damage + effects (trick attack) shoudl be automatised if possibel. I know Blahness98 did a lot of work to integrate effects, i still need to take a loot at it.
Soldier : Integrate the full attack option with 3 attacks instead of 2
Solarian : Solar weapons should be simply listed on items tabs, as weapons
Solarian : Attunment management (manually or automatically)

I will update this threat as i'll play more sessions, thanks a lot for reading :-)

[Evolivolution]

Hey just to give my thoughts here (and also give you some hints):


Weapon specialisation feat should apply its effects on damages with weapons of the linked types to prevent manual configuration of each weapon. Seems pretty usefull as everyone receive this feat for his class weapons at level 3.

Yes, totaly agree, this would be very nice if it exists. I actually don't know how hard it would be to implement, a suggestion that has come up, that I like quite a bit, is to change up the damage formula to include CL ([DICE]+[N]*[SELECTOR]+[N]*[SELECTOR]+[N]; where [SELECTOR] rotates through STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA, CL). I believe this is easier to implement since that type of formula already exists for spell damage and would allow you to add x*STR AND x*CL to your weapons damage which is perfect for Starfinder.


Show the total allowed number of feats on PC sheet, for easier character creation.
Passive power wich add permanent bonus to skills and/or stats (like operative's edge, channel skill for mystic etc.) should be calculated.

Nice ideas. I could see problems with a Soldier (or other classes) getting bonus Feats every few levels but I really like it for qualitly of life.


Grenades : Treat it like a spell with a REF save DC before applying dommage to targets

You can do that with using actions already, but they shouldn't show up in the weapons section of the actions tab. I think preprogramming every single granade, so that you don't have to do it, would be a waste of time for the devs.


Armor penalties on skills

Jup, this is a box in inventory already but it doesn't work. Would be nice to see a function for that.


Integrate DR and energies resistances directly to PC sheet, with an associated effect on combat tracker as several races and class powers grant energy resistances.

Another quality of life thing, I like it but I think functionall


Add combat manoeuvers option to the action tab of the PC sheet, since most of them consist in a simple contact attack compared to target KAC+8

This already exists. You can create a new weapon in your actions tab and then click the icon under the 'M/R' column until it shows a (I would call it) target symbol. Name the weapon Combat Maneuver and your done. This is for target maneuvers. It uses your melee atk value and targets CMD, you just need to make sure the enemies actually have the correct CMD. Sometimes it doesn't calculate correctly and its 0. You can check NPCs CMD in the CT under the defensive sec


Do the same for Harrying and covering fire, each consisting in a ranged attack against a flat DD15 difficulty. For covering fire, add the associated effect to the targeted ally (+2 to AC against the next attack). Harrying fire effect may be for difficult to integrate.

This could be useful as well. For now I just use an action for the effects and let the PC roll a normal ranged attack to see if he surpasses, but automation here would be nice.


Generally speaking, ability classes which are frequently used (Healing channel) or/and have a simple resolution based on a combo damage + effects (trick attack) shoudl be automatised if possibel. I know Blahness98 did a lot of work to integrate effects, i still need to take a loot at it.

This is the same as with grenades. It would be lot of work for the devs to handmake all of the effects, while you or your PCs can just make the ones you need. As I said before I prefer functionallity over quality of life.


Soldier : Integrate the full attack option with 3 attacks instead of 2

Another thing that is already implemented. In the actions tab you can see a weapon has a colum called Full att and this has a bow in it with 2 dice and the big number 2 in there. You can left click on the box and then type in a 3 or 4 for PC that can make more attacks in ine action.


Solarian : Solar weapons should be simply listed on items tabs, as weapons

Maybe... Another quality of life thing.


Solarian : Attunment management (manually or automatically)

This definetly a yes.

[Littlerogue]

You can do that with using actions already, but they shouldn't show up in the weapons section of the actions tab. I think preprogramming every single granade, so that you don't have to do it, would be a waste of time for the devs.



I'm interested in this. What do you mean by actions ? I tried to explore weapons parameters but i can't find anything about an associated save.



This already exists. You can create a new weapon in your actions tab and then click the icon under the 'M/R' column until it shows a (I would call it) target symbol. Name the weapon Combat Maneuver and your done. This is for target maneuvers. It uses your melee atk value and targets CMD, you just need to make sure the enemies actually have the correct CMD. Sometimes it doesn't calculate correctly and its 0. You can check NPCs CMD in the CT under the defensive sec


Thank for the tip !



This is the same as with grenades. It would be lot of work for the devs to handmake all of the effects, while you or your PCs can just make the ones you need. As I said before I prefer functionallity over quality of life.

Yup, and a lot of work seems to have been done. Maybe an easier way to drag an drop specific actions/effect coded by the community instead of a .xml file to copy as a spell ?



Another thing that is already implemented. In the actions tab you can see a weapon has a colum called Full att and this has a bow in it with 2 dice and the big number 2 in there. You can left click on the box and then type in a 3 or 4 for PC that can make more attacks in ine action.

Oh, i should have seen that ... sorry

[Evolivolution]

I'm interested in this. What do you mean by actions ? I tried to explore weapons parameters but i can't find anything about an associated save.

In the actions tab you can create your own actions. What I did for my players is the following:

Make a new Action Class for Grenades
Change the Ability Stat to Dex (DC of grenades is based on your Dex)
Add in all Grenades your PC has (add in new ones as the campaign goes along)
Make sure to check the grenades values

Add the base damage to the grenade (this doesn't get reduced so it's always the same for the grenade)
Add the DC of the grenade (this is a Ref save with a DC of Class DC + [the level of the grenade - 1]. Class DC is composed of 10 + your Dex which is why you set the Ability stat earlier). You might ask why level of grenade - 1; because the format adds 1 to the save for some reason.
Now you need to add any additional effects the grenade has, this changes depending on the grenade
Make sure to Have the Attack formula to be empty (should be None + Skill + [Blank])

Repeat for every grenade you have


At the end it might look something like this (I just opened up some examples for you to see): 43106

Now one additional point of interest might be targeting the thrown attack. Since there is a rule for targeting grid intersections instead of targets with thrown weapons (which you then have to make the attack against AC 5) I just have my player roll a d20 at this point to just see that its not a 1 because they always target intersections.

[deer_buster]

Weapon specialisation feat should apply its effects on damages with weapons of the linked types to prevent manual configuration of each weapon. Seems pretty usefull as everyone receive this feat for his class weapons at level 3.

Check out this extension: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?65376-Starfinder-Weapon-Specialization

[Littlerogue]

In the actions tab you can create your own actions. What I did for my players is the following:

Make a new Action Class for Grenades
Change the Ability Stat to Dex (DC of grenades is based on your Dex)
Add in all Grenades your PC has (add in new ones as the campaign goes along)
Make sure to check the grenades values

Add the base damage to the grenade (this doesn't get reduced so it's always the same for the grenade)
Add the DC of the grenade (this is a Ref save with a DC of Class DC + [the level of the grenade - 1]. Class DC is composed of 10 + your Dex which is why you set the Ability stat earlier). You might ask why level of grenade - 1; because the format adds 1 to the save for some reason.
Now you need to add any additional effects the grenade has, this changes depending on the grenade
Make sure to Have the Attack formula to be empty (should be None + Skill + [Blank])

Repeat for every grenade you have


At the end it might look something like this (I just opened up some examples for you to see): 43106

Now one additional point of interest might be targeting the thrown attack. Since there is a rule for targeting grid intersections instead of targets with thrown weapons (which you then have to make the attack against AC 5) I just have my player roll a d20 at this point to just see that its not a 1 because they always target intersections.

I will definitely give it a try, thank you !

It this idea https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=135346 is ever implemented, it will probably be more easy to threat it like a fireball or something.

[deer_buster]

Solarian : Solar weapons should be simply listed on items tabs, as weapons

That should be relatively easy to do as GM. Add Solar Weapon, with item levels appropriate to level, and set the damage appropriately. Make sure that when the player adds the weapon they mark it as proficient with the star on the weapon, and Bob's Your Uncle. You only have to do this once per campaign.


Solarian : Attunment management (manually or automatically)

Can you make a flow chart of how that works in all cases?

One way you could handle it: you could make a Stellar Mode "weapon" that has 3 ammo. When you enter stellar mode, you expend an ammo, that's 1 point. When you want to leave stellar mode, you click reload

[Littlerogue]

Another little suggestion : Armor upgrades, weapons fusions and others accessories are pretty hard to track on : The GM need to forge a new item cumulating the base item + corresponding template each time a player want to have a modded armor/weapon, which is pretty much time consuming as players doesn't have access to the forge, and also not very usefull because none of the upgrades accessories imply ingame stats modifications of the weapon/armor (they do not provides bonus to the AC or to the attack rolls like a weapon enchantment can do in PF1, for example.

I finally managed to drag'n drop upgrades/fusions/special materials templates in the party sheet inventory (strangely templates can be drag'n dropped directly in the PC inventory ...). Then player's pick up the upgrades they wants and add them to their inventory.

I'd like to have the possibility to add a "sub-inventory" (juste a collapsable sub-section) under each item, just for easier sorting : Items in these sub-section should follow the same rules as others items (for bulk calculation mainly), to it's basically just grouping function.

[Evolivolution]

I'd like to have the possibility to add a "sub-inventory" (juste a collapsable sub-section) under each item, just for easier sorting : Items in these sub-section should follow the same rules as others items (for bulk calculation mainly), to it's basically just grouping function.
This is something that is already possible. In the inventory there is a section called Location. Type in the name of another item in your inventory and it shoud sort below it.

[Littlerogue]

Didn't realised it, thank you !

[Littlerogue]

Another little suggestion : Armor upgrades, weapons fusions and others accessories are pretty hard to track on : The GM need to forge a new item cumulating the base item + corresponding template each time a player want to have a modded armor/weapon, which is pretty much time consuming as players doesn't have access to the forge, and also not very usefull because none of the upgrades accessories imply ingame stats modifications of the weapon/armor (they do not provides bonus to the AC or to the attack rolls like a weapon enchantment can do in PF1, for example.

I finally managed to drag'n drop upgrades/fusions/special materials templates in the party sheet inventory (strangely templates can be drag'n dropped directly in the PC inventory ...). Then player's pick up the upgrades they wants and add them to their inventory.

I'd like to have the possibility to add a "sub-inventory" (juste a collapsable sub-section) under each item, just for easier sorting : Items in these sub-section should follow the same rules as others items (for bulk calculation mainly), to it's basically just grouping function.

Sorry for digging up my own topic but the "drag'n drop templates to party sheet to transform it into an item" doesn't seems to work anymore... My players don't have access to item forge, right ? So how can they manage easly their armor upgrades and weapon fusion, and how can i give them without having to link it to an item ?

Thank you.

[Littlerogue]

Preparing my campaign, i found a few thing thad could be improved :)


Resolve stat is automated but some effects like extra resolve could add some. Could we have a magnifying glass detailing the calculations on this stat, with the possibility to manual add a modifier ?
Same for the defenses stats of starships : AC/TL/CT etc. are rightly set as far as i can see but i'd like to see the details of modifiers resulting in this total, for verification purpose
Templates as item, as my previous post
Ablative armor for starships (SOM) : A piloting malus apply if the sum of Temporary HP granted by the ablative armor exceed the total HP of the starship. Is it possible to automate this malus ?


And some i'd really like to see to make effects and "coding" easier


Improve the copy/duplicate fonction to be able to copy class ability, spell and more importantly spell action (cast, dmg, heal, effect). It would be really easeful for redundant effects with only a value differing between differents effetcs.
Add "expenditure" option for spells/class app actions (cast, dmg, heal, effect). I'm thinking about a box (located in the detail of the action, accessible with magnifying glass) where you set the number of "charge" to expend, and another where you select the type of these "charge" : General pools like RP, Entropy Points, but more importantly specific pool associated with the action (spell slot when you are in spells, or the gauge you manually set for a class aptitude, well, for certains specials actions (like spells wich consume RP), it could also be useful to have several expenditure line). Why tho ? because with this option you would associate the expenditure of the point(s) WHEN you click the cast (for dmg, heal, effect ...) action, avoiding to forget to do it manually, AND for certains effects (like a item with 10 charge with a effect which consume 4) you could expend the right number of point with an unique action.


What do you think about these ideas?

[Littlerogue]

About the expenditures and the number of use of class abilities : it would also be great to add the following fonctionnality :

Right click on the number of use/gauge > "Reset uses" to simply reset all the slots
Add on option for auto-resetting the gauge for short-rest/long-rest

[Littlerogue]

If possible, could you also report the Computer bonus (it appear in starship sheet, not editable by players) in the PC sheet, in "Starship" tab ?
Also, the magic officer action "Precognition" should add a +2 bonus to the next starship INIT test.

[Ulric]

Sorry for digging up my own topic but the "drag'n drop templates to party sheet to transform it into an item" doesn't seems to work anymore... My players don't have access to item forge, right ? So how can they manage easly their armor upgrades and weapon fusion, and how can i give them without having to link it to an item ?

Thank you.
You need to create them for your players using the Forge and drop them into their inventory.

[Littlerogue]

And that's exactly what i will not do :-)

I mean, the forge is good to craft items with definitive enchantments. In Starfinder, you're more likely to have weapon fusion seal, armor upgrades and weapons tools which my players frequently share or move from one slot to another.
From now i used a "bug" which allow to convert a template into an item by drag'n dropping them in shared inventory in party sheet. Player's could then pick up an item and store in in their inventory, under the associated weapon/armor, changing when needed.

Now, i use the forge to create a blank item of the same name than the template, combine it with the template to copy the description to the new item. It's a bit longer but it seems to work.

[Ulric]

And that's exactly what i will not do :-)

I mean, the forge is good to craft items with definitive enchantments. In Starfinder, you're more likely to have weapon fusion seal, armor upgrades and weapons tools which my players frequently share or move from one slot to another.
From now i used a "bug" which allow to convert a template into an item by drag'n dropping them in shared inventory in party sheet. Player's could then pick up an item and store in in their inventory, under the associated weapon/armor, changing when needed.

Now, i use the forge to create a blank item of the same name than the template, combine it with the template to copy the description to the new item. It's a bit longer but it seems to work.

What ever trips your trigger!