Adjusting Creatures

The creatures presented in this book have appropriate statistics for their levels. In many cases, you can make relatively minor adjustments to a creature's statistics, called elite and weak adjustments, to raise or lower its level by 1. Adjust the XP players earn for defeating the creature and how you build encounters with it accordingly. You can make more comprehensive adjustments to creature statistics using the elite and weak creature adjustments.

You might wish to further adjust creatures to suit the unique needs of your campaign, such as a campaign set entirely on a massive derelict starship (requiring more creatures that can operate in zero gravity) or in the frigid deep sea trenches of a planet covered in ice and oceans (requiring more aquatic creatures that are adapted to cold environments). Even in a relatively standard Starfinder campaign, a creature's default statistics might not be suitable for your story without some changes. Creature Adjustments contains rules for adjusting creatures' themes and abilities in many ways.

The languages listed in a creature's entry represent the languages a typical creature of that type knows. However, you might want to vary these based on the specific creature. For instance, if a creature is interested in speaking with or understanding the people in its region, it would most likely know the language those people speak. This language is most often Common, but you can give it a more appropriate language depending on where the creature lives (such as Vesk for the Veskarium, or a planet's language, like Akitonian). Beings from other planes are unlikely to know any languages from the Universe unless they frequently travel there. If such a creature knows a mortal language, then that creature likely is interested in communicating with mortals. This language is most often Common, or whatever language is most spoken in the predominant planet or star system of your campaign world, though keep in mind that such a creature should speak Common only if it specifically travels to or studies your campaign's world and region above others. The languages are listed on the Languages page and in the Uncommon Languages section of this book.

Some creatures rely on gear, like armor and weapons. You might need statistics for such a creature that has lost its gear. For example, a creature could be Disarmed, it might be ambushed while it's out of its armor, or one of its worn magic items could be disabled with dispel magic. In most cases, you can simply improvise, but if you want to be more exacting, use these guidelines for weapons and armor. If a creature loses its weapon, it might draw another weapon or use an unarmed attack. If it uses a Strike it doesn't have listed in its stat block, find a Strike entry for the creature that most closely matches the substitute, reduce the attack modifier by 2, and use the damage dice for the new Strike. If the creature needs to make an unarmed attack and doesn't have one listed in its stat block, it uses the statistics for a fist. If the creature loses a weapon of tactical grade or higher, you usually should reduce the attack modifier by 2 plus the bonus granted by the weapon's grade for the new weapon. For example, if the creature is Disarmed of its tactical nano-edge rapier, then you would reduce the attack modifier by 3 instead of 2 for the new Strike.

If a creature doesn't have its armor, find the armor in its Items entry, and reduce the creature's AC by that armor's item bonus. If the armor has a bonus from a higher grade, increase the reduction as appropriate; for example, if the creature has a suit of superior freebooter armor in its statistics, and the characters catch the creature without its armor, you would reduce the creature's AC by 6 instead of 4. If the armor has the resilient trait, reduce the creature's saves based on the trait's value.

In some situations, you need to know the creature's proficiency rank in a skill or other statistic. Creatures are trained in the skills listed in their stat blocks and untrained in skills that aren't listed. A creature usually has expert proficiency in its listed skills around 5th level, master proficiency around 9th level, and legendary proficiency around 17th level. A creature might need a certain proficiency rank in Perception to detect certain things. Many creatures have expert proficiency in Perception and improve to master proficiency around 7th level and legendary proficiency around 13th level. At your discretion, creatures with galaxy-renowned aptitude for a particular skill or in Perception might have a higher proficiency rank in that skill or Perception.