Question about adding futuristic content

[TemporalVengeance]

I'm working on a homebrew sci-fi campaign and added some stuff to the pathfinder dataset using the editor until Starfinder and it's data is released but I've hit sort of a question.

I'm adding spaceships and I have ship stats, but their weapons and systems vary depending on what you put in them. Would it be better to code it (and it's systems) as gear like a wagon or should I put them in under the minion/mount races so that I can add the items directly on the ship's character sheet. Thoughts?

[DeltaMasterMind]

Interesting question. My opinion on this would be to go with the minion/mount route; this assumption is based on targeting (call shot) those specific areas of a ship when they are hit. Through gear it would be much simpler as you only need to add a counter to the item for HP representation. How much info are you currently dealing with on these additional weapons and systems?

[TemporalVengeance]

Well, I'm coding in the Starjammer rules so there's hull stats and then weapons, gravity generator, life support, etc..

[ShadowChemosh]

Not sure its helpful. But when I implemented the Ship Building rules from FGG Fire as She Bears rule set I made the sailing ship a race. This made allot of sense because in those rules the ship has CMB, CMD, Str and Dex values including AC and weight capacity. So by being a race I was able to make use of those existing areas.

Then I used the "Gear" tab to place specific hull types, upgrades, cabins, crew values. Then the weapons where easily able to go on to the Weapon tab as they had many of the same values as any other type of weapon. The only difference was the number of dice (ie 4d6 or 8d6).

Then for special values like Maneuverability or speed I had racial ability that calculated the values. This allowed the info to get to printed sheets or be referenced from inside of HL. Then each ship and different 'hull' sections with individual HP. I made those custom abilities for the race to be added as it could be 1 to many. Then each of those had a In-Play tracker with 150HP so they could be tracked/damaged individually.

If it helps this is all in the Community Pack. Or feel free to look at the file on GitHub.

[TemporalVengeance]

I had troubles getting the pack to download, so I'm asking a dumb question. In Starfinder, ships kind of work like eidolons. Depending on the hull, you get a certain number of buy points. Each system, weapon, or upgrade costs a certain number of buy points and changes what the ship does. Is there a way to grant a character access to eidolon creation and make the ship through that?

[DeltaMasterMind]

Originally Posted by TemporalVengeance

I had troubles getting the pack to download, so I'm asking a dumb question. In Starfinder, ships kind of work like eidolons. Depending on the hull, you get a certain number of buy points. Each system, weapon, or upgrade costs a certain number of buy points and changes what the ship does. Is there a way to grant a character access to eidolon creation and make the ship through that?

Yes in fact in the editor for customs it is listed first as eidolons - custom ability count and all listed below under races. Let me be clear under class and race you can list how the eidolon functions as they work with custom(s) to show what options can be added; when you make a custom it can be regular, secondary, up to quaternary customs, although race only allows up to two through the GUI while class allows up to four different custom types. Being frank though this should be easy if you want to use one for hull types and the other (under race) for weapons, shields, and what have you.

All custom abilities are built in the Class custom ability tab or Racial custom ability tab and Herolab tells which custom goes to what custom expression by an option that says "Not primary ability?" and "available to classes/races". Basically Herolab treats all abilities by default as a primary custom ability (first made expression) and you can choose what other option they are suppose to be assigned to.

I haven't read StarJammer so I don't know which way to offer you more support. Perhaps do New Copy (Summoner Class) and rework it a bit for your desired design?