 November 17, 2010 - 10:06am | The rules state that for the computers and robotic skills equipment of an alien design carries a -20% mod for performing any subskill on it. I think to a certain degree this is appropriate for weapons designed for a specific race. ie a human using a vrusk designed weapon. Stuff on the standard equipment list can be deemed to be of a design that is easily modifiable/convertable to the requirements of the core four or a player may specify that his vrusk bought an exclusively vrusk designed weapon. using a weapon that does not meet the universal design philosophy carries a penalty (with the exception of most melee weapons and grenades) call it -10% for things designed for the Core 4 and Rim races -20 for an unknown alien race dralasite reduce the above penalties by 10% due to their unique physiology so that they can use weapons from any of the known races at +0% and of an unknown race at -10% However, things should be judged on a individual basis by the GM because a humma's tail mace will be unusable by all race though I'd allow a dral to form a tail and use it at -10% I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 27, 2010 - 3:35pm | ...sounds good. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 November 27, 2010 - 6:27pm | Good ideas, along with Rum's burst ideas in another thread. We should put these in the magazine Optional Rules section. Short and succinct. |
November 27, 2010 - 10:04pm | Racial weapon: humma while tail maces are a popular melee weapon among the hoppin homicidal maniacs there is a ranged tail weapon: The Kaggerack. Its a device that fits around the end of the tail and with a practiced flick of the tail it releases a humma style shiriken blade (looks like the 3 pointed star in the klingon symbol) it has similar range and damage as a thrown dagger. The Kaggerack holds 5 such blades. note the humma never really considered adding poison to the kaggerack blades since they have poison immunity but eventually with contact with other races they began to realize that that was a possibilty though most dont really get the idea or think much of it. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 27, 2010 - 10:08pm | what would the short shrimps from the capella system use as a racial weapon? something in me wants to suggest a 4 foot bo staff (call it the sheck staff or something). its a great tool and weapon. it can be used for more leverage and that is ideal for such a short race. in their racial discription it says the ifshnit character can choose an innate skill from appraisal, gemology or haggling, add sheck staff skill to that list and they can improve that skill at PSA costs and while the character concept of said ifshnit might be that of a tech or non military they'll have a starting skill that would give them some offensive capability. of course this skill would cover the sonic version of the sheck staff as well though those are harder to find. on any critical hit 01-03 + 1 point/ skill level and any double numbers that hit (like martial arts nerve combat) thus a 1st level skill in sheck staff with a DEX of 30 would do a critical hit on 01-04, 11, & 22 and the result would be that the ifshnit character could knock the opponent prone. the target would get a RS check but must beat the ifshnit's attack roll to avoid falling prone. if the RS check is successful the sheck staff does damage as normal but on the next turn the ifshnit gets a +5% to his attack due to the openning created by the opponent trying to maintain his footing I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 27, 2010 - 10:55pm | "shrimps from the capella system" are be experts at pen throwing. They always have a pen and paper handy; note taking, ordering material, jotting down contacts, etc. (In real life I've seen pen throwing as a self defense, it's amazing.) If you stick with the bo weapon, any other race using it was a weapon would consider it a little longer than a night stick but shorten than a boken, might feel weird using it. They call it a "shrimp staff", "short staff" or "half a lick". |
November 27, 2010 - 11:53pm | iggy had a bunch of good ideas for the ifshnit's racial weapon that we talked about in chat I'm writing this as a reminder to email him and see if we can remember them all and add them here but right now I'm about to fall asleep. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 28, 2010 - 8:16am | 1. I was
considering a simple rule to cover all racial weapons. Something like no
penalty for using it unskilled- allows the character to buy up skill
latter but a starting character could use the weapon. though their
chance to hit will be just 1/2 their abilitity score which will be even
less then someone with 1st level in that weapon- comment from the dral
to a yazirian who just threw zamira, "I thought you guys were suppose to
be good with those things?" 2. The other idea is that racial weapon status automatically confers +10% for the race their weapon no unskilled penalty. the character can then buy up skill either in thrown weapons which will cover the zamira or Just in zamira skill. Why the 2 different skills? Specific skill in a racial weapon is always considered "in" PSA for that race and purchased at that exp cost. But a character with military PSA would just buy up Thrown weapons skill which will cover the zamira by default. However a yazirian technician would be penalized buying up thrown weapon skill (its out of PSA) but he could still buy just skill with zamira's as its considered in PSA for all yazirians The +10% racial bonus for using a racial weapon ensures that a character will be better than average with his race's weapon especially if he gets some skill that covers it and no worse than the typical 1st level starting character. It also means that a level 6 skill user will effectively be level 7 which I think is still ok as they are suppose to be good with it anyway. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 28, 2010 - 11:52pm | What is the Human racial weapon? If ALL the other races get a racial weapon that they can buy skill in at PSA cost then so should the Humans. Maybe not all races are culturally built to have a racial weapon. Maybe this should be balanced out by some races having another racial skill that is ingrained in their culture. Thus not all races having a racial weapon skill. -iggy |
November 28, 2010 - 11:55pm | iggy had a bunch of good ideas for the ifshnit's racial weapon that we talked about in chat I'm writing this as a reminder to email him and see if we can remember them all and add them here but right now I'm about to fall asleep. I have been stewing on those ideas some more and think that it might make another good Alex Stone article. I want to focus on the Ifshnit pendent blow gun/whistle. -iggy |
November 29, 2010 - 12:03am | What is the Human racial weapon? If ALL the other races get a racial weapon that they can buy skill in at PSA cost then so should the Humans. Maybe not all races are culturally built to have a racial weapon. Maybe this should be balanced out by some races having another racial skill that is ingrained in their culture. Thus not all races having a racial weapon skill. I was thinking about that and the idea of yaz clans getting something special as well as humma lineages and houses too. What about the poor humans? One idea I had was backgrounds: someone from a city known for crime and gangs would have benefit of +15% to INT checks to recognize trouble brewing due to being street wise, a human from Dixon's star would have +10 to survival checks. a human from another planet or city would have a +10% for knife fighting we could either try to make a comprehensive list like shadow did for yaz clans or we could just make a thorough list of benefits and require the player to write it into the PC's background (human racial weapons would be apart of the list but the player would simply choose one weapon with some restrictions- no other race's racial weapon) one sounds easy and the other sounds like a lot of work. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 29, 2010 - 2:48pm | Bill and I crafted 50 backgrounds for FrontierSpace. It's a table you roll on during character creation. The entries are generic enough they could be used with any race (although the core book has only humans). They are fun to make. Here is an example; Gifted Even as a little child your parents knew there was something special about you. They scrapped together funds and sent you to the best schools hoping to nuture your special gifts. Now your older, wiser and itchy to meet the frontier head on! Choose one of the following:
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November 29, 2010 - 2:53pm | Also, there was a project started but not completed. Origin Tables |
