I've been reading through pact worlds, and as far as I can tell, a Skyfire Centurion Mechanic with an obedient bot gets ridiculously higher bonuses to hit in both regular and starship combat than anything else out there? Which I guess gives me a cool character idea, but I'm worried it might be too broken.
Posted Apr 3, 2018, 9:57 PM UTC
The stronger covering and harrying fire are nice, but you only actually get those bonuses if the drone is using covering or harrying fire. Nice when it works, but it's sacrificing actual damage the drone might have done otherwise. The starship combat bonus is nice too, but I haven't seen any consensus or official statement on whether drones can even participate in starship combat or not. Expect table variation.
It's a nice idea, but I wouldn't say it's broken.
I haven't seen any consensus or official statement on whether drones can even participate in starship combat or not
Ah, missed this. But taking the higher of two rolls is really significant in starship combat, where crits are brutal, and is just generally the single biggest bonus I've seen any ability give to starship combat.
It doesn’t increase your chance of a crit, just your chance of landing damage for the low roller. It actually reduced your chance of a crit, as you’ll only get one (plus CT) if both gunners roll one.
I mean, the chance of landing two crits over two rolls is 0.25%
Uh? It looks like RAW, in starship combat, you use the higher of the two rolls, which means if either person rules a 20 then both attacks are crits. But add in a science officer targeting a system, and suddenly you've got a ~1/5 chance of damaging that system twice every round.
It's ok if you build for it, I guess, but giving up 5 mechanic tricks is a hefty price for entry. Plus I'm not sure how the 12th level ability 'Perseverance' works on a drone but it seems lackluster in that situation.
The bonus to covering/harrying fire is cool, and can give you a lot of flexibility in a fire fight. Concentrated Fire is situational but neat, and could be decisive against the right foes. But overall I don't think the package as a whole is OP, for a Mechanic or otherwise.
The bonus to covering/harrying fire is cool, and can give you a lot of flexibility in a fire fight
The thing is that, even if your drone does nothing but harrying fire, you're attacking at a higher bonus than any other class out there. At high levels, you can stack it with Control Net, and things just get crazy.
overall this feels more like a archetype made with the soldier in mind more then any other class
4 mechanic tricks, and Override gets pushed back a level. But yes, that's definitely something to consider.
Question for Concentrated Fire. It states : "If you and your bonded ally both hit the target, total the damage for both attacks before applying the target's DR or energy resistances." which is indeed against DR very powerfull, but does it mean that if only one hits you do normal damage or no damage? Do both have to hit with this readid Action to actually do damage here?
I'd guess that, since it's an "if" statement, if you don't both hit, do what would normally happen.
Can you elaborate for those whom don't have Pact Worlds yet? :D I keep hearing about the new archtypes but no details. Lol
The skyfire centurion archetype focuses on forming a pseudomagical bond with another entity, and grants bonuses to both parties. The book specifies that the centurion can form their pact with their drone.
Your forgetting to mention bolth players NEED TO WORK TGATHER to make any of those skills to work yes they are strong but if your partner dosint work with you then they are pretty mutch worthless
Probably not an issue with a drone.
Not even sure if drones count twords it or not
Lets you form a combat bond with an ally. I can't remember the levels at which you get each ability, but in cooperating with that ally:
Harrying and Covering Fire grant double the usual bonus to hit or to AC for your bonded ally (+4 instead of +2)
If you both ready an attack against the same enemy with the same trigger, both of you roll a die for the attack, and you both use the higher dice roll - each adding your own modifier. If both of you hit, you add your damage together before the target's DR applies. Also applies to starship combat, if you both shoot at the same enemy.
If the Centurion is starship Captain, the Encourage action provides double bonus to the bonded ally.
As a move action, the Centurion can grant their ally any Combat Feat that the centurion possesses, for 10 rounds (one minute) - as long as that ally meets the feat's prerequisites.
Wow that does sound like it can be useful. Situational, but I don't think overpowered for a Mechanic.
Wait, I didn't think that a drone (as the OP mentions) could participate in Starship Combat?
Or were you just quoting the full text?
I was just paraphrasing the full text for those who don't have the book.
That's what I had thought, just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing anything.
Thanks!
It's an archetype that lets you pick a partner, with harrying/covering fire with that partner increasing to +4, and you can also take the highest of your two rolls if you both attack someone in starship combat.
Here is more information.