Balancing Npc Starships

NPC starships should have a small selection of skills in their stat block to represent the crew’s capabilities. All starships need training in Piloting, and their Piloting DC should generally be equal to or less than their AC. Tech starships should have Computers and Crafting skills. Living or magic starships might have Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion skills. Starships stat blocks should list any other skills their abilities make use of, such as Intimidation for a starship that can use its scanners battle station to Demoralize another starship’s crew.

NPC starship abilities should always have a maximum range equal to its sensors value. Melee Strikes typically have a range of the starship's zone, and ranged Strikes have longer ranges. Use the Ranged Starship Weapons table to determine an appropriate range for the starship's attacks.

NPC starships need a Speed and sensor range. Guidelines for the Speed and sensor range of an average starship by size are listed here. These numbers can be adjusted up or down, but usually an increase to one should be accompanied by an equal decrease to the other.

NPC starships with a high Speed often have different strategies from those with high sensors. Fast starships can take better advantage of positioning, while starships with more powerful sensors have a wider area of effect for non-Strike abilities.

Many NPC starships have Shield Points (SP), allowing them to bolster their defenses in battle similar to a player starship with a generator battle station. When designing NPC starships with SP, there are some additional factors that need to be taken into consideration. • Any starship that has SP needs to have a generator battle station (or equivalent custom battle station) and a fortify value, along with the Fortify Shield Points station action. Living starships typically don’t have a generator or SP. • When determining the total Hull Points and Shield Points of a starship you’re building, use the guidelines for creature Hit Points in GM Core. Each Shield Point counts as two “Hit Points” when calculating the total. In other words, the starship’s Hull Points, plus twice the Shield Points, should equal the total number of Hit Points needed for a creature of that level. Maximum SP should generally be no higher than a quarter of the starship’s maximum HP and shouldn’t be less than 5. If it doesn’t fit these guidelines at maximum SP, the starship probably isn’t substantial enough to have SP. • The starship’s fortify value should usually be equal to half its maximum SP. If the starship’s maximum SP is 10 or lower, its fortify value should instead be 5.