Playing the Game

In a Starfinder game, three modes of play determine the pacing of each scene in the story. Most of your character's time is spent in exploration , uncovering mysteries, solving problems, and interacting with other characters. The galaxy is filled with danger, however, and characters often find themselves in an encounter , fighting hostile parties when negotiations go south and battling fearsome alien monsters. Finally, time moves quickly when the characters enjoy downtime , a respite from the galaxy's troubles and a chance to rest and train for future activities. Throughout an adventure, gameplay moves between these three modes many times, as needed for the story. The more you play the game, the more you'll see that each mode has its own play style, but moving from mode to mode has a few hard boundaries. During the game, your character will face situations where the outcome is uncertain. A character might need to navigate while inside the Drift, survive in an alien desert, or sneak past a corporate security robot, all of which are dangerous tasks with a price for failure. In such cases, the acting character (or characters) is asked to attempt a check to determine whether or not they succeed. A check is usually made by rolling a single 20-sided die (a d20) and adding a number based on the relevant attribute. In such cases, rolling high is always good. Once a check is rolled, the GM compares the result to a target number called the difficulty class (DC) to determine the outcome. If the result ofthe check is equal to or greater than the DC, the check is successful. If it's lower, the check is a failure. Beating the DC by 10 or more is referred to as a critical success , which usually grants an especially positive outcome. Similarly, failing the check by 10 or more is a critical failure (sometimes called a fumble). This sometimes results in additional negative effects. You also often score a critical success by rolling a 20 on the die when attempting a check (before adding anything). Likewise, rolling a 1 on the die when attempting a check often results in a critical failure. Note that not all checks have a special effect on a critical success or critical failure, and such results should be treated just like an ordinary success or failure instead. For example, while aboard a starship traveling to a faraway world, your character might find a faster route through an uncharted asteroid field. You decide to go for it, but the GM declares this a dangerous task and asks you to roll a Piloting skill check (since navigation is covered by the Piloting skill). On your character sheet, you see that your character has a +8 modifier for such checks. Rolling the d20, you get an 18, for a total of 26. The GM compares this to the DC (which was 16) and finds that you got a critical success (since the result exceeded the DC by 10). Your character charts a safe path around every asteroid without scratching the hull. Had you gotten a result less than 26 but equal to or greater than 16, your character's route would've taken your ship halfway through the debris field. Had your result been less than 16, your character might have gotten lost among the spinning chunks of rock and ice or, on a critical failure (6 or less), crashed the ship into one of them! Checks like this are the heart of the game and are rolled all the time, in every mode of play, to determine the outcome of tasks. While the roll of the die is essential, the statistic you add to the roll (called a modifier ) often makes the difference between success and failure. Every character is made up of many such statistics governing what the character is good at, each consisting of a relevant attribute modifier plus a proficiency bonus , and sometimes modified further by other factors, such as bonuses or penalties from gear, spells, feats, magic items, and other special circumstances. Proficiency is a simple way of assessing your character's general level of training and aptitude for a given task. It's broken into five different ranks: untrained , trained , expert , master , and legendary . Each rank grants a different proficiency bonus. If you're untrained at a statistic, your proficiency bonus is +0; you must rely solely on the raw potential represented by your attribute modifier. If your proficiency rank for a statistic is trained, expert, master, and legendary, your bonus equals your character's level plus another number based on the rank (2, 4, 6, and 8, respectively). Proficiency ranks are part of almost every statistic in the game.