Category Archives: Game Design
Companion Bond as a Connection for the PF1 Fantasy Mystic
So, can we find a way for our PF1-compatible Fantasy Mystic to get an animal companion?
A lot of PF1 classes have a way to gain an animal companion. It absolutely seems on-concept for the mystic (especially some of the weirder options, like genie-touched or monstrous companions), but it is something we can do as a simple and balanced option? Well, let’s look at what other classes in the game have as options that can be replaced with an animal companion.
At 1st level, a druid can take either an animal companion or one of a short list of cleric domains as their nature bond class feature. While that’s not proof that those two options are equivalent, the fact that players still often choose the domain after more than a decade of PF1 game theory and play experience certainly suggests they are close enough in total utility to serve as a starting point.
So, that means to determine if a connection being replaced with an animal companion is reasonable, we need to compare the utility of a typical connection with the utility of a typical druid-allowed domain. Once we do that. we can see if we need to have a mystic give up more than just their connection to get an animal companion, or if we need to give them some benefit beyond a companion in order to balance taking the connection away.
Cleric domains give you a bonus spell you can prepare on top of your normal spell choices for every spell level. Often, domain spells aren’t on the cleric or druid class spell list. That’s not the same as a bonus spell known for each spell level, as a connection normally gives a mystic, but it’s close enough in utility for us to treat them as equivalent. So we can have an animal companion give up its bonus spells known to offset the domain spells.
Each cleric domain has two granted powers, one gained at 1st and one at 6th or 8th. Those granted powers are in the same ballpark as connection powers, so we can say we need to give up two connection powers (out of the seven a connection gives). That means it should be reasonable to have a mystic connection grant 5 connection powers, and a full animal companion.
That is a tad awkward, since we now have to create a set of connection powers that come with an animal companion… butmake them flexible enough they work with any animal companion, and spread out enough you only get 5 of them over 20 levels. Luckily, there are spells not normally available to a mystic that are animal-companion-focused, and animal companion-relared feats, which we can make as options out animal companion mystic can choose from.
So, here is what our Companion Connection looks like. (And now we know what connection the image I used for the original mystic class write-up has taken, which is why she has a hunting dog!)
Companion
Associated Skills: Healing, Handle Animal.
Spells: None
Animal Companion (1st): You gain an animal companion, as the druid’s nature bond option. Your mystic level acts as your druid level for your companion.
Companion Boost: At 3rd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, you may select a companion boost. This is either a companion feat, or a companion spell, as defined below.
Companion Feat: Select one of the following feats, for which you meet the prerequisites. You gain that feat as a bonus feat. Alternatively, you can select a feat your animal companion meets the prerequisites for, and grant it to your animal companion as a bonus feat. You may select this connection power more than once. Each time, you must select a different bonus feat.
Andoren Falconry, Animal Soul, Beast Rider, Beast Speaker, Beast Speaker Mastery, Bully Breed, Curious Companion, Devotion Against the Unnatural, Distant Spell Link, Evolved Companion, Extra Item Slot, Forceful Charge, Genie-Touched Companion, Greater Tenacious Hunter, Heft Brute, Huntmaster, Improved Forceful Charge, Improved Share Spells, Improved Spell Sharing, Monstrous Companion, Pack Flanking, Pack Tactics, Share Healing, Skaveling Companion, Spirit’s Gift, Stalker’s Focus, Tenacious Hunter, Totem Beast.
Companion Spells: Select one of the following spells. It is considered to be a spell on your spell list and, if you can cast spells of the listed level, you gain it as a bonus spells known. You may select this connection power more than once. Each time, you must select a different spell.
acid maw (1st), carry companion (2nd), scamper (2nd), phantom hunt (4th), share shape (4th), raise animal companion (5th)
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Akashic Connection for the PF1 Fantasy Mystic
Having written a draft of the mystic class redesigned for PF1, it’s time to start adapting and/or creating some mystic connections to go with the class. I’m going to start with the alphabetical first connection in the Starfinder Core Rulebook, though we may hope around a lot as the week goes on, rather than just adapt the official connections in order.
Akashic
You’re linked to the collective knowledge of every sentient species that ever lived that’s held in the Akashic Record, an Astral library of perfect psychic records of every moment in history. You might be an ancient lorekeeper, an inquisitive student of the occult, an intuitive consulting detective, or a secret-hoarding spy.
Associated Skills: Appraise, Knowledge (all, each selected separately), Linguistics, Profession
Spells: You gain the following bonus spells known at the listed mystic class level; 3rd – Identify, 5th – Augury, 7th – Akashic communion, 9th – Divination, 11th – Contact Other Plane, 13th – Legend Lore, 15th – Vision, 17th – Discern Location, 19th – Akashic Form.
Connection Powers
Akashic Knowledge (Su)(1st Level): Each day when you recover your spell slots, you can tap into the Akashic Record, enabling you to choose one Knowledge skill or Profession skill to gain a +2 bonus to all checks with for that day. This acts as the connection skill class feature you gain at 4th level, and when you connection skill bonus increases, your akashic knowledge bonus increases by the same amount.
Access Akashic Record (Su)(3rd Level): You can access the Akashic Record to augment your skills. You can take 1d4 hours to take 20 on a Knowledge Skill or Profession skill, and when you do so you make the check as if you had ranks in that skill equal to your mystic level.
Peer into the Future (Su)(6th Level): Once per day, you can spend 10 minutes in uninterrupted meditation to receive visions of possible futures. At any point over the next 24 hours, you can declare that you are using the benefit of this ability before rolling one initiative check, saving throw, or skill check. You gain a +4 insight bonus to that check. At 11th level, you can use this ability twice per day, though you can’t use it the second time until after you’ve used your first bonus.
Mind Probe (Sp) (10th Level): You can use mind probe as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to your mystic level, lasting for 1 round. A creature that successfully saves against your mind probe is immune to further uses of this ability for 24 hours.
Telepathic Memories (Su) (14th Level): You can share memories at will with allies linked by your telepathic bond class feature. As a full round action, you or a linked ally can send a memory of up to 1 minute to as many others in the bond as they choose. Sending a relevant memory counts as a successful aid another attempt for a skill check, even if you wouldn’t otherwise be able to use aid another (to a limit of one such memory per skill check).
Memory Palace (Su) (18th Level): You assemble an extradimensional library to house mental constructs representing your accumulated knowledge. This memory palace has a single shimmering entrance. You can access your memory palace once per day; when you do, the entrance appears within close range. If any creatures or objects that were not part of the memory palace when it was created remain inside it, the entrance remains where it first appeared. Only those you designate can enter the memory palace, and the entrance closes and becomes invisible behind you when you enter. Anyone inside can open the entrance and exit the memory palace at will. The only way to enter and exit the memory palace is via the entrance; even plane shift and similar magic do not access it.
You can create any floor plan you desire for your memory palace, up to a number of 10-foot cubes equal to your mystic level. Inside, the atmosphere is clean, fresh, and warm; outside conditions don’t affect the memory palace, nor do conditions inside it pass beyond. There is no furniture other than bookcases, computers, and a few desks and sofas. A number of unseen servants (as per the spell of the same name) equal to half your mystic level serve as librarians. The library keeps the same layout each time you access it, though you can alter its appearance each time you gain a level or by spending 15 minutes concentrating—you don’t need to be inside it to alter it.
When you gain this ability, choose one Knowledge or Profession skill. Consulting your memory palace gives anyone who studies within—including you—a +4 enhancement bonus to checks with the selected skill, and creatures inside the memory palace can attempt checks of that type untrained. At 16th level, and at each level thereafter, choose another Knowledge or Profession skill to which your memory palace’s skill bonus applies.
Glean Spell (Su) (20th Level): Once per day, you can meditate for 10 minutes to delve into the Akashic Record to temporarily gain a spell from the cleric, psychic, shaman, or wizard spell list as a bonus spell known. You can cast the spell using your spell slots, though it consumes a spell slot 1 level higher than the actual level of the spell. When you next regain your spells, the spell you gleaned is lost (though you could take 19 minutes to regain is as a bonus spell known for another day).
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First Look at Fantasy Mystic for PF1
So, while it’s easy to say that Starfinder mystics function as clerics for that game, and technomancers serve as wizards, that’s not entirely accurate. While it is true that many of the same design and role concerns went into the mystic and technomancer as the fantasy classes they are commonly associated with, they are far from 1-to-1 conversions of those concepts. As a result, there is often some interest in creating fantasy versions of such classes (and other Starfinder class options, such that I have written fantasy a version of the solarian for PF1, and have a version for PF2 available on Pathfinder Infinite).
Converting a class over is a big project, and generally takes more than one writing draft and multiple development passes, so this is just a first look at how I’d take the mysterious-supernatural-powered mystic from its SF setting and move it to PF1. Today we just look at the core framework, with connections coming later in the week.
The Mystic (PF1)
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d8.
Starting Wealth: 3d6 x 10 gp (average 105 gp).
Class Skills
The mystic’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (any 6, selected individually)(Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Points at each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class Features Spells Per Day
| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Connection, connection power, healing touch | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Mindlink | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Connection power, connection spell | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Connection skill | 6 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Connection spell | 6 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Connection power | 6 | 5 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Connection spell | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | +6/+1 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Connection skill | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | +6/+1 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Connection spell | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | +7/+2 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Connection power | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | +8/+3 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Connection spell, telepathic bond | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | – | – | – |
| 12th | +9/+4 | +4 | +4 | +8 | Connection skill | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 13th | +9/+4 | +4 | +4 | +8 | Connection spell | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | – | – |
| 14th | +10/+5 | +4 | +4 | +9 | Connection power | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | – | – |
| 15th | +11/+6/+1 | +5 | +5 | +9 | Connection spell | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – | – |
| 16th | +12/+7/+2 | +5 | +5 | +10 | Connection skill | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | – |
| 17th | +12/+7/+2 | +5 | +5 | +10 | Connection spell | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | – |
| 18th | +13/+8/+3 | +6 | +6 | +11 | Connection power, transcendence | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| 19th | +14/+9/+4 | +6 | +6 | +11 | Connection spell | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 20th | +15/+10/+5 | +6 | +6 | +12 | Connection power, enlightenment | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Spells Known
| Level | 0 | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
| 1st | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2nd | 5 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3rd | 5 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4th | 6 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5th | 6 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6th | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7th | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8th | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9th | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10th | 9 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 11th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 12th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 13th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 14th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – |
| 15th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| 16th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – |
| 17th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | – |
| 18th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 19th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Mystics are proficient with all simple weapons, and light armor.
Spells: A mystic casts divine spells drawn from the psychic and shaman spell lists. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a mystic must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a mystic’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the mystic’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a mystic can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on her class feature table000. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).
A mystic’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A mystic begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of her choice. At each new mystic level, she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Mystic Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a sorcerer knows is not affected by her Wisdom score; the numbers on Table: Mystic Spells Known are fixed.)
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered mystic level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a mystic can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the mystic loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. A mystic may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.
A mystic need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her spells per day for that spell level.
Connection: At 1st level the mystic has a mysterious connection with some force that grants her magical powers. The exact nature of the connection can vary widely, and even mystics who share the same connection may interpret it differently. The mystic picks one connection upon taking her first level of mystic—once made, this choice can’t be changed. (Connections you can choose from, or how to adapt other class abilities into connections, are presented in this blog throughout this week).
Many mystics serve as priests of various gods, and while you can theoretically choose any type of connection with any entity or concept, deities rarely grant connections that don’t fit within their ethos.
Connection Power: At 1st, 3rd, 6th, 10th, 14th, 18th, and 20th level, the mystic gains a connection power unique to her connection. If a connection power allows a saving throw to resist its effects, the DC is equal to 10 + half the mystic’s class level + her Wisdom modifier. Connection powers are listed with each connection.
Connection Spell: Each connection grants additional spells known, starting at 3rd level and then another every other level thereafter. These spells are in addition to the spells known listed on Table: Mystic Spells Known. The spell level of each spell is listed in each connection’s entry.
Healing Touch (Su): At 1st level, the mystic can heal with a touch. Once per day, as a standard action you can heal a creature touched of 1d6 damage per mystic level. this healing touch does not harm undead or other creatures damaged by positive energy, instead healing them.
Mindlink (Sp): At 2nd level, the mystic can form a mental link with creatures she touch, communicating information rapidly through it. She can use mindlink at will as a spell-like ability, though only once per day on any given individual.
Connection Skill (Su): As the mystic grows in power, her link to her connection grants her supernatural benefits to related skills. At 4th level, the mystic selects two skills associated with her connection (See Connections), and receive a +2 bonus to all checks with that skill. At 8th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, that bonus increases by 2. This bonus does not stack with bonuses to skills from abilities with favored in their title (such as favored enemy and favored terrain), or abilities that function as favored abilities.
Telepathic Bond (Sp): At 11th level, as a standard action, the mystic can form a telepathic link with up to six other willing creatures, allowing her to communicate telepathically at great distances. This functions as telepathic bond, except the duration is permanent. She can have only one telepathic bond active in this way at any given time; creating a new telepathic bond immediately ends the previous one.
Transcendence (Sp): By 18th level the mystic is close to becoming one with her connection. She can cast each of her connection spells once per day without consuming a spell slot. In addition, she learns how to temporarily transcend her physical form. Once per day, she can project her consciousness outside of her physical body in the form of an intangible psychic image of herself. This counts as a 6th-level illusion effect and lasts for a number of rounds equal to her mystic level. While her consciousness is projected, her physical body is considered blind, deaf, and helpless, but she can return to her body as a swift action. She controls her psychic image as though it was her own body, and her senses perceive only what the image can see and hear. She moves with a fly speed of 60 feet and perfect maneuverability. She can pass through solid objects as though she was incorporeal, but she can’t go farther into a solid object than her space (5 feet for a Medium creature). She can’t directly affect physical objects. Her projected consciousness is immune to most attacks or effects, whether or not they affect incorporeal creatures, but mind-affecting effects have their full effect on her, as does any ability that can negate or dispel magic.
The mystic can cast any mystic spell or spell-like ability with a range of touch or greater from her projected consciousness. The spells affect other targets normally. She can’t cast any spells on her projected consciousness except for illusion spells. She need not maintain line of effect to her projected consciousness, but if she crosses into another plane, even momentarily (including via teleportation), her mind immediately returns to her physical body.
Enlightenment (Su): At 2th level the mystic achieves enlightenment, becoming a living incarnation of her connection. She no longer ages, nor does she die of old age. Once per day as a move action, the mystic can enter a state of total communion with her connection that lasts for 1 minute. During this time, she gains a +4 insight bonus to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks.
Patreon
I have a Patreon. It helps me carve out the time needed to create these blog posts, and is a great way to let me know what kind of content you enjoy. If you’d like to see more Pathfinder 1st edition options (or more rules for other game systems, fiction, game industry essays, game design articles, worldbuilding tips, whatever!), try joining for just a few bucks and month and letting me know!
Owen Explains It All — Predictive Math for Starfinder
Before we get to any OGL content, an editorial aside:
First, this blog has spoilers for Foundation — the book series and miniseries. So if you want to avoid those, don’t read this.
Second, you may be wondering why is this tagged as an “Owen Explains It All” post, when that’s very unlike my normal marketing tone? Well, because this links into a show from the BAMF podcast I’m on, titled “Owen Explains It All!“. We do an episode every two weeks, picking new things from the zeitgeek to use as inspiration for game material, specifically the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.
We have a logo and everything!
If you haven’t already gone and watched the November 8th, 2021 episode, we talk about various versions of Issac Asimov’s Foundation. Specifically, how it is build on psycho-history, a fictional “soft science” that allows perfect mathematical predictions of the far future using predictive models of trillions of humans (and doesn’t work for smaller numbers of people, much as you can accurately model the spreading of a gas cloud, but cannot predict where a specific molecule of that cloud will go).
And all of that leads me to M-PSI, as OGL content
Mathematical Predictive Statistic Indices
Also known as M-PSI, Mathematical Predictive Statistic Indices is the science of using vast quantities of data about past events to predict the outcome of future events. M-PSI is not perfect—it models probabilities, not absolutely, and it requires trillions of points of reference in past similar events before it can make useful predictions about future outcomes. Thus it is a science that can only be developed by Elder Societies, those cultures that have actively existed and keep records for millions of years, allowing them to build up indices of enough situations to have comparable examples for nearly any occurrence.
While most ancient cultures that developed M-PSI collapsed millions of years ago, some left the indic3s themselves, allowing specialists in certain kinds of mathematics to use them in a predictive manner. Learning M-PSI is extremely difficult, and is modeled by requiring characters to take feats to have a useful grasp of the techniques.
M-PSI 101
You can use pure the math of Mathematical Predictive Statistic Indices to determine how to interact with and define the real world.
Prerequisite: 1 rank Profession (Mathmetician)
Benefit: Select two of the following skills; Computers, Engineering, Life Science, Physical Science. You can make a Profession (Mathematician) check in place of any check for the selected skills.
Special: You can select this feat more than once. Each time, you must choose 2 different skills from the list.
P-PSI 201
You can use pure the math of Mathematical Predictive Statistic Indices to predict the future.
Prerequisite: M-PSI 101, 4 ranks Profession (mathmatician)
Benefit: As long as you have access to a tier 0 or higher computer (such as a datapad), you can use M-PSI to actually predict future events. Doing so takes 1 minute, requires the expenditure of 1 Resolve Point, and is an extraordinary ability. The stress of M-PSI on any sapient brain is considerable, limiting how often the technique can be used. Once you complete use this feat, you cannot do so again until after you next recuperate*.
If you have 4 or more ranks of Profession (mathematician) your M-PSI formula can duplicate the effects of a 1st-level Akashic tutor spell.
If you have 7 or more ranks of Profession (mathematician) your M-PSI formula can duplicate the effects of a predict foe spell, except once you take a minute to perform the M-PSI formula, the benefit lasts until expended or you again use this feat for a M-PSI ability.
If you have 10 or more ranks of Profession (mathematician) ) your M-PSI formula can duplicate the effects of a probability prediction spell, except once you take a minute to perform the M-PSI formula, the benefit lasts until expended or you again use this feat for a M-PSI ability.
If you have 13 or more ranks of Profession (mathematician) your M-PSI formula can duplicate the effects of a divination spell. This takes 1 hour, and can only be done 1ce per day.
Expanded Post
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Quick Tips: GMing with Taste, Touch, and Smell
One of the most challenging jobs of a GM is to serve as the describer of everything the PCs experience in the fictional game world. This is especially true when the GM wants to convey information through those descriptions–it’s one thing to say a tavern smells stale, and another to say the stale mix of herbal sachets on the walls and sawdust and straw scattered across the floor can’t quite cover the lingering coppery scent of spilled blood, watered-down mead, and urine that permeates the main room.
Lots of advances in gaming have been made with visuals and soundboards. Between being able to do internet searches for interesting visuals and great sound-effect programs designed specifically for ttRPGs (such as Syrinscape, who I love but have no association with), it’s pretty easy for a GM to be able to skip needing to describe sights and sounds. But what about taste, touch, and smell? Just a single extra description for each major element of an encounter can go a long way to both adding immersion, and conveying clues the PCs have a chance to pick up on. If you link any unusual sensation to a specific element within your game, players will often pick up on it and use it as another clue to use to experience and understand your world.
Taste: The most obvious time to describe taste is when PCs eat or drink something, and many ttRPGs have more than enough potions, oils, and magic cupcakes to make this a useful sense to think about in advance. A GM can make the identification of some potent potables easy by deciding healing potions all smell like honeysuckle and mint, or that ungol dust has a distinctive acidic bite in the back of the throat. If the GM doesn’t want to be that easy and consistent, it can still be fun to add taste elements to specific kinds of potion — perhaps potions made by clerics tend to have a strong medicine taste, those made by druids are usually overwhelmingly herb-flavored, and those made by alchemists tend to have a powerful saccharine-sweetness to them. That doesn’t tell PCs exactly what a potion does, but it does become an interesting piece of information that can help the game world feel more well-rounded.
The other fun use for taste is for things that impact the PCs to impact their sense of taste without being directly connected to eating or drinking. Maybe a mummy’s curse makes you constantly get a taste of dust in your mouth, or getting a serum of invulnerability injected into your system causes you to feel like you are licking oiled steel. Powerful smells can be tasted as well, so the rotting meat scent of the zombie bloom may also cause those near it to taste raw mushroom flavors in the air, or the choking smokebomb actually tastes like black pepper.
Touch: PCs don’t often rub their bare skin against adventure site walls and monster hides, so things like smooth, rough, sharp, fluffy, and sticky may not come into play often. But touch can also express things like temperature, and feedback from hitting things with weapons. One of the most successful descriptions of a foe I ever gave noted that while the creature seemed to be a hunched humanoid under a ragged veil and cloak, when a PC hit it with their sword, it felt like chopping into green woo. There was give as the blade chopped into the creature’s flesh, but it was far tougher than any human or even monstrous skin, muscles,and tendons.
Similarly, if touching a glowing sword makes a chill run down a character’s spine, or grabbing a Xorarcan plasma-lance makes any other humanoid’s fingertips tingle, that can be great descriptive information. If a character makes a saving throw against a gaze attack that makes their eyes itch, the player has reason to suspect a failed save results in blindness. If even approaching the stone archway covered in glowing runs makes it seem like the ground it tilting away from you, it suggests the gate may be tied to movement of some kind.
Smell: In many ways smell is just taste at a greater range, so all the taste notes apply here as well. But smell is also one of the most powerful senses for evoking primal fears–we evolved to know that the smell or rot is bad, the smell of blood is dangerous, and the smell of smoke calls for caution. Smell can be used to give clues to some kinds of deception–the high ghoul illusionist can make herself look like a human, but needs to use heavy perfume to cover the scent of the grave; the stench coming from the locally feared Troglodyte Clans Cave is bad, but not THAT bad; the bandits in the tavern smell like chili peppers, ebcause they infuse their boots with pepper oil so guard dogs can’t follow their scent.
Smells can also be fun because they can carry varying distances depending on local conditions, and what they promise is not always what they deliver. If the scent of fresh-backed pastries wafts tantalizingly through the woods, are the PCs about to stumble on a halfling village, or a giant baker that literally grinds human bones to make his bread? Is the smell of honey just a pleasant spring scent, a warning sign of giant paper wasps moving into the dense wilderness, or the smell of an undead mellified man about to round the corner and attack?
Conclusion: You don’t have to go crazy with secondary senses, but adding the description of a single noteworthy taste, touch, or smell in each major encounter can help round out the sense of what your game world is like.
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Quick Tips: Designing Adventures Backwards
If there’s one thing I think is most likely to trip up new GMs when they design their own adventures, it’s that they tend to design them front-to-back. That is, most GMs (and adventure writers) I see who begin creating adventures from scratch for the first time want to write the first encounter first, the second encounter second, and so on.
Now, that makes a lot of sense on the surface. That’s the order gamers encounter other people’s adventures in, so it’s a familiar pacing. Also, it means that if you plan to have 4 game sessions worth of adventure, you only have to do the first 4 encounters of work before you can run the first session. No need to design more than you need for the next game night, right?
Well…
Look, that works great for a lot of GMs, and if it works for you, more power to you. There are absolutely advantages to that system, and lots of ways to make it work to your advantage. But for many GMs, it means they introduce a problem and the mystery and the clues… before they know what the mystery is, or what the clues are supposed to be pointing to. That often works fine when you first introduce elements — everyone has seen the stories where the map has a big blank spot, or the detective finds mud they are sure is important, or the prophecy only makes sense after it’s fulfilled. So if you tell the ranger that yes, the site of the bandit attack has lots of wolf and goblin footprints, but on top of all of those are sharped bits of wood, as though from a whittled stick, which was done 2-3 hours after the bandit attack, players will file that away as an important clue for later.
Which is great–if you ether have a rough idea what you are doing (so you can make up clues that’ll fit in) or are good at bringing things together in the last few chapters even if you had no idea what you are doing when you leave a clue. But if you’re GREAT at coming with evocative and intriguing set dressing, but terrible at connecting them together after-the-fact, the end game of your adventures may be much more stressful and dissatisfying than you’d like.
For such GMs, writing your adventure backwards can make things much easier.
For example, let’s say you decide the end villain of your adventure is an evil ranger, who riles up local wilderness threats, directs them at farms and villages, and then charges those settlements money to “solve” the problems he’s creating. You give him a couple of personality quirks — he’s arrogant, handsome, and can whittle small wooden symbols that anger specific kinds of wildlife. You want a fight with him to end your advneture.
You want some investigation in town to happen just before that fight. So you create an event rh PCs could investigate once they are suspicious enough. You decide the ranger runs a protection racket, but a newcomer bard was becoming suspicious. So the ranger poisoned a local goblin tribe with herbs that make them battle-mad. Then he faked a note from the goblins to the bard making it seems the goblins wanted to tell the bard something important. When the bard went to where the note indicated, the herb-maddened goblins killed the bard. The ranger came by after the battle, whittling more of his magic traps, and stole the bard’s gear.
With that in place, it’s easy to see how the Ps get involved. Locals think the attacks are getting worse, and that the ranger isn’t enough to deal with them anymore. They hire PCs to help, but the PCs keep finding evidence of an unseen figure behind the attacks. You can have them fight some maddened animals the ranger sends after them hoping the PCs will be killed, have them ask folks what might have riled the animals, get told the new bard asked similar questions before being killed by goblins, seek ut the bard’s hidden notes because the bard was already onto the ranger, get pointed at the ranger, want to find the bard’s loot so they search the ranger’s hut and find it, then confront the ranger. Easy.
It may not solve all adventure problems, but often working backwards from the end is the easy way to decide what clues and story beats the PCs will find as they move forward through the adventure.
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Owen Explains It All — Command Voice and Sonic Weapons for Starfinder
Before we get to any OGL content, an editorial aside:
First, this blog has spoilers for Dune — the book, both movies, and the miniseries. So if you want to avoid those, don’t read this.
Second, you may be wondering why is this tagged as an “Owen Explains It All” post, when that’s very unlike my normal marketing tone? Well, because this links into a show from the BAMF podcast I’m on, titled “Owen Explains It All!“. We do an episode every two weeks, picking new things from the zeitgeek to use as inspiration for game material, specifically the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.
We have a logo and everything!
If you haven’t already gone and watched the October 25, 2021 episode, we talk about various version of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Specifically, how it’s very much a skill-based setting, with the Voice, Prana-bindu training, and the Weirding Way as taught and learned abilities. We also spoke about David Lynch’s 1984 Dune movie, which replaced much of that with raw technology, in the form of “Weirding Modules,” which still required training as the words used impacted its effectiveness.
And all of that leads me to Command Voice and Sonic Weapons, as OGL content
Command Voice Feats
The brain of any sentient is designed to take in information, process it, decide what it means, and use that to form a mental picture of what reality is and what actions should be taken. Normally, speech is processed as a form of information that must be carefully analyzed and considered before being accepted. However, with extensive training it is possible to change the pitch and intensity of the spoken word such that short commands bypass a brain’s normal analysis portion of taking in information, and accept it as a decision made by the target’s own mind. This is known as the Command Voice.
Command Voice
You can cause the weak-willed to briefly obey you.
Prerequisites: Charisma 13, 5 ranks of Diplomacy, 5 ranks of Intimidate.
Benefit: You can expend 1 Resolve Point to use the bully task of the Intimidate skill as a full action, rather than the normal 1 minute. The creature is only bulled for 1 round, plus 1 round for every 5 by which your check exceeds the DC.
Special: An envoy can take Command Voice as an envoy skill expertise, without meeting its prerequisites.
Greater Command Voice
Your command over can cause the weak-willed to briefly obey you.
Prerequisites: Charisma 15+, Command Voice, 8 ranks of Diplomacy, 8 ranks of Intimidate.
Benefit: You can use Command Voice as a standard action (though it still requires you to expend a Resolve Point). Alternatively you can use Command Voice without expending a Resolve Point, but take a -10 penalty to your Intimidate check when you do so. When using Command Voice, if you exceed the normal DC by 5, the target does not realize you bullied it and it’s attitude towards you does not change as a result of it. If you exceed the normal DC by 10, the bullying lasts for 1 minute.
Special: A character with 5 or more envoy levels and Command Voice can take Greater Command Voice as an envoy skill expertise without meeting its prerequisites.
Sonic Weapons
Faiet Module
Faiet Modules are hybrid magic item weapons that use the power of specific words or sounds, and converts them into killing energy. They are the ultimate expression of the Faiet Way, a method of influencing and controlling creatures through the use of specific tones of voice and combinations of phrases that bypass much of the psychological defense of a target. However, Faiet Modules take those sounds and convert them into physical harm far beyond some tool of coercion or deceit.
In addition to a small hand-held emitter, a Faiet Module has a throat mic, which must be worn to use the weapon. The price is included in the price of the module, and it can be added to armor without taking up an upgrade slot. If the operator of the Faiet Module is for some reason unable to speak or make a sound as loud as a shouted word, the module cannot be used to attack,
The results from attacking with a Faiet Module are only partly about accuracy and combat acumen. A great deal of the successful use of a such a module depends on the ability to accurately create the needed killing words, and to do so in rhythm with the sounds of a conflict. As a result, despite being small arms Faiet Modules cannot be used to perform trick attacks (the misdirection required for trick attacks is not compatible with the voice control and forthrightness needed to create effective killing words), and rather than the normal Weapon Specialization a character gains bonus damage equal to their ranks in Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, or Intimidate (whichever is higher). A character that has no ranks in Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, or Intimidate can’t use a Faiet Module at all.
Faiet Modules target EAC, despite doing both sonic and bludgeoning damage. Additionally Faiet Modules have the sound-dependent weapon special property.
New Weapon Special Properties
Sound-dependent: If a target cannot hear you when you attack with a sound-dependent weapon, it cannot be harmed any sonic damage dealt by that weapon. Thus, for example, they don’t deal sonic damage in a vacuum. However, if the weapon does more than one damage type (such as a Faeit Module dealing both sonic and bludgeoning damage), the weapons can still deal the non-sonic portion of the damage.
| Sonic Small Arms | ||||||||
| WEAPON | LVL | $ | DAM | RNG | CRIT | Capacity/ Usage | BULK | Special |
| Faiet Module, Mummer | 1 | 400 | 1d6 S & B | 30 ft. | Wound | 20/1 | L | Sound-dependent |
| Faiet Module, Eulogy | 4 | 2,500 | 1d10 S & B | 40 ft. | Wound | 20/1 | L | Sound-dependent |
| Faiet Module, Epitaph | 7 | 6,500 | 2d6 S & B | 40 ft. | Wound | 20/1 | L | Sound-dependent |
| Faiet Module, Lament | 11 | 28,000 | 4d6 S & B | 40 ft. | Wound | 40/2 | L | Sound-dependent |
| Faiet Module, Dirge | 15 | 100,000 | 6d6 S & B | 40 ft. | Wound | 40/2 | L | Sound-dependent |
| Faiet Module, Requiem | 19 | 625,000 | 9d6 S & B | 50 ft. | Wound | 100/4 | L | Sound-dependent |
Expanded Post
This is an Expanded Post, with the rules for Warpboxing (another item inspired by the same sources) available to my Patrons, who provide me with the support that makes these posts possible. If you aren’t already a member of my Patreon, sign up and all the Expanded Posts to date become available!
ShadowFinder Mundane Gear Rules Preview
Yesterday, I previewed a new type of feat coming in the Starfinder Infinite ShadowFinder book. (And the awesome cover!) Today, I’m teasing some general rules designed to cover the use of everyday mundane equipment.
[H2]Mundane Equipment Rules
Not everything listed as mundane equipment has detailed descriptions or specific rules associated with it. Mostly, this is because I assume we all know what a smart phone, alarm clock, and ball-point pen are. I certainly could go into excruciating detail on how long a line, in linear feet, you can draw with the ink in one ball-point pen, and the differences between disposable ones, refillable, and collectable. But I decided not to do that.
Because I don’t want to.
Seriously, modern gear mostly doesn’t need a ton of rules behind it. You have a pdf ruleset you had to be online to buy, so you have access to the Internet. If you need to know how many ounces of ink are in a typical ball-point pen, or the burn rate of scented candles, or if polypropylene rope floats (hint: it does), you can take 15 seconds online to look it up.
But while many games may end up needing to know one of those things, once, in a specific weird circumstance, the overwhelming majority won’t need to know any of the rest of the trivia I could fill a modern equipment section with. So, I don’t want to take the time, or space, or make people read through it all, just to cover the rare corner case with well-defined facts and rules.
Instead, I’d prefer to give some general rules on how to determine if a character’s effort to use a piece of equipment in a specific way works. That puts the GM and players on roughly the same page about the chances of success when you try something off-the-wall, and can be used regardless of what mundane equipment is involved. ShadowFinder is about facing weird threats in mysterious circumstances at strange locations, not careful tracking of modern mundania.
[H3]Professional Use
So, what rules DO I think make sense for modern gear we’re either all familiar with, or able to easily look up with the marvel of online search engines? Simply put, rules that determine if a character can successfully do what they want with a piece of equipment. To keep that short and simple, I’m going to use Skill checks as the baseline for gear success, breaking into XX easy steps for the GM to go through.
[H4]1. Is There Already A Rule For This?
Often, players will just want to use their equipment as a way to do typical adventuring things. If the attempted use is already covered by a Starfinder rule, just use that rule and assign a penalty or circumstance bonus as seems appropriate. Given how tight the success math is for most tasks, if you can attempt something with a piece of gear, it likely shouldn’t take more than a -2 penalty for being an off label use. Similarly, circumstance bonuses can be a little as +1 or +2, and should very rarely go above +5.
For example, E.Z.Wren is in a Parasol Consolidated Industries office waiting to talk to a compliance officer about evidence E.Z. has uncovered about PCI violating various consumer safety laws. Suddenly, instead of middle management, four chemghouls burst into the room. E.Z. makes a made dash for the conference room off the office, and gets inside and locks the door. But the chemghouls begin hammering the door, which won’t hold them long, and the only other way out of the conference room is the windows.
On the 23rd story.
E.Z. wants to smash a window open with a chair. That sounds like an improvised weapon, so the GM just treats the chair as an awkward club with a -4 penalty to attack rolls as with the standard improvised weapon rules. It takes a few swings, but E.Z. breaks one of the big window panes, and now has access to the outside of the building.
Unfortunately, it’s an all-glass sides modern high-rise and E.Z. doesn’t have any climbing equipment with him. Obviously, the building’s exterior isn’t perfectly smooth, but it seems likely to be a “relatively smooth surface with occasional handholds,” as defined by the Athletics skill (which covers climbing), so the GM rules it’s a DC 25 Athletics check, and given the height (240 feet, the GM decides), E.Z. would have to make a lot of checks to successfully make it to the ground.
[H4]2. Can The Equipment Be Used This Way?
(There are more steps obviously, but this is a TEASRER PREVIEW, not an entire rules section!)
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Owen K.C. Stephens 