Player Starships

The first element of designing a starship encounter is to determine the appropriate statistics for the PCs' starship. Available Roles: Each starship the PCs operate has several different starship roles PCs can occupy. This typically includes captain, engineer, gunner, magic officer, pilot, and science officer. Not every starship in a starship scene has every role available; a smaller shuttle might not benefit from a specialized captain, while an organic space whale might not benefit from a mechanical engineer. Generally, there should be at least four roles available (the average assumed party size in Starfinder) with a potential for up to six to eight to allow for allies or other NPCs to contribute. Some starship scenes have entirely unique roles a PC can occupy with niche applications. Starship Bonuses: Different starships might provide different bonuses to skills that the PCs can utilize during a cinematic starship scene. A high-speed fighter might provide a bonus to Piloting, while a scientific research vessel might provide a bonus to Computers checks. This area compiles the bonuses and details them. They should be treated as item bonuses to the relevant skills, though there might be situations where a different bonus is applied, and that can be indicated in a parenthetical. Skill bonuses provided here should match skills required for the scene, whether as part of starship actions or in response to the actions of threats. AC: The effective Armor Class of the PCs' starship in the encounter, representing how difficult it is to hit. You can use the AC presented on the Armor Class table in Building Creatures, selecting the extreme, high, moderate, or low value depending on the type of starship the PCs use in the encounter. A lower AC should correspond to the PCs' starship having higher Hit Points and Shields. Saving Throws: The saving throws associated with a PCs' starship. This will generally only include Fortitude and Reflex saves, though sometimes a Will save might appear if the PCs are piloting a living creature like an oma or a starship with a sentient intelligence that's susceptible to mental effects. You can use the saves presented on the Saving Throw table in Building Creatures, selecting the extreme, high, moderate or low value depending on the type of starship the PCs use in the encounter. Hit Points & Shields: The Hit Points of a starship represent the physical damage it can take, while Shields are akin to temporary Hit Points that regenerate at the start of every round. You can use the Hit Points presented on the Hit Points table in Building Creatures, selecting the high, moderate or low value depending on the type of starship the PCs use in the encounter. You'll generally want the PCs' starship to have at least moderate Hit Points. For shields, the value should match the maximum value found on the Resistances and Weaknesses table in Building Creatures, such as 5 Shields for a 2nd-level scene starship or 18 Shields for a 15th-level scene starship. Starship Actions: This lists the actions the crew of a starship (likely the PCs plus any NPCs aboard) can perform as part of the encounter. Actions are usually a 2-action activity so that a PC can perform only one of these actions during their turn. If there's an expectation of combat, such as fighting another ship, the starship should have at least one weapon the PCs can fire. Other actions might include special ship actions or actions related to the scene, like scanning or using a magical aeon stone console.