Chapter 8: Playing The Game

Source Player Core pg. 389

At this point, you have a character and are ready to play Starfinder! Or maybe you're the GM and you're getting ready to run your first adventure. Either way, this chapter provides the full details for the rules outlined in Chapter 1. This chapter begins by describing the general rules and conventions of how the game is played and then presents more in-depth explanations of the rules for each mode of play.
Before diving into how to play Starfinder, it's important to understand the game's three modes of play, which determine the pace of your adventure and the specific rules you'll use at a given time. Each mode provides a different pace and presents a different level of risk to your characters. The Game Master (GM) determines which mode works best for the story and controls the transition between them. You'll likely talk about the modes less formally during your play session, simply transitioning between exploration and encounters during the adventure, before heading to a settlement to achieve something during downtime.
The most intricate of the modes is encounter mode. This is where most of the intense action takes place, and it's most often used for combat or other high-stakes situations. The GM typically switches to encounter mode by calling on the players to “roll for initiative” to determine the order in which all the actors take their turns during the encounter. Time is then divided into a series of rounds, each lasting roughly 6 seconds in the game world. Each round, player characters, other creatures, and sometimes even hazards or events take their turn in initiative order. At the start of a participant's turn, they gain the use of a number of actions (typically 3 in the case of PCs and other creatures) as well as a special action called a reaction. These actions, and what you do with them, are how you affect the world within an encounter.
In exploration mode, time is more flexible and the play more free-form. Minutes, hours, or even days in the game world pass quickly in the real world, as the characters travel between star systems, explore uninhabited wilderness on a planet, recover from a battle, or roleplay during a social gathering. Often, developments during exploration lead to encounters, and the GM will switch to that mode of play until the encounter ends, before returning to exploration mode.
The third mode is downtime. During downtime, the characters are at little risk, and the passage of time is measured in days or longer. This is when you might repair or craft new equipment, research a new spell, or prepare for your next adventure.

Making Choices

Source Player Core pg. 389

Throughout the game, the GM describes what's happening in the world and then asks the players, “So what do you do?” Exactly what you choose to do, and how the GM responds to those choices, builds a unique story experience. Every game is different, because you'll rarely, if ever, make the same decisions as another group of players. This is true for the GM as well—two GMs running the exact same adventure will put different emphasis and flourishes on the content.
Often, your choices have no immediate risk or consequences. If you're exploring a starship and come across an intersection, the GM asks, “Which way do you go?” You might choose to take the corridor to the right or left, or climb through the maintenance shaft overhead. Once your choice is made, the GM tells you what happens next. Down the line, that choice may impact what you encounter later in the game, but in many cases nothing dangerous happens immediately.
But sometimes what happens as a result of your choices is less than certain. In those cases, you'll attempt a check.

The Starfinder Baseline

Source Player Core pg. 389

Your group will likely talk about what types of content you want in your game before your campaign begins. The following is a set of basic assumptions that works for many groups. The GM can find more guidance in GM Core.

Avoid excessive descriptions of gore and cruelty.
Romantic and sexual relationships can happen in the game, but players should avoid being overly suggestive. Sex happens “off-screen.” Players should consent before roleplaying a relationship and have a comfortable out.

Player characters shouldn't perform the following acts:

Torture, rape, nonconsensual sexual contact or threats
Harm to children, including sexual abuse
Enslaving people or profiting from slavery
Reprehensible uses of mind-control magic

Villains might engage in such acts “off-screen,” but many groups choose to not have villains engage in these activities.

Rules Overview

Source Player Core pg. 390

Starfinder has many specific rules, but you’ll also want to keep these general guidelines in mind when playing.

The GM Has the Final Say

If you're ever uncertain how to apply a rule, the GM decides. Of course, Starfinder is a game, so when adjudicating the rules, the GM is encouraged to listen to everyone's point of view and make a decision that is both fair and fun.

Specific Overrides General

A core principle of Starfinder is that specific rules override general ones. If two rules conflict, the more specific one takes precedence. If there's still ambiguity, the GM determines which rule to use. For example, the rules state that when attacking a concealed creature, you must attempt a DC 5 flat check to determine if you hit. Flat checks don't benefit from modifiers, bonuses, or penalties, but an ability that's specifically designed to overcome concealment might override and alter this. While some special rules may also state the normal rules to provide context, you should always default to the general rules presented in this chapter, even if effects don't specifically say to.

Rounding

You may need to calculate a fraction of a value, like halving damage. Always round down unless otherwise specified. For example, if a spell deals 7 damage and a creature takes half damage from it, that creature takes 3 damage.

Multiplying

When more than one effect would multiply the same number, don't multiply more than once. Instead, combine all the multipliers into a single multiplier, with each multiple after the first adding 1 less than its value. For instance, if one ability doubled the duration of one of your spells and another one doubled the duration of the same spell, you would triple the duration, not quadruple it.

Duplicate Effects

When you're affected by the same thing multiple times, only one instance applies, using the higher level or rank of the effects, or the newer effect if the two are equal. For example, if you were using cellular stimulant and then cast it again, you'd still benefit from only one casting of that spell. Casting a spell again on the same target might get you a better duration or effect if it were cast at a higher rank the second time, but otherwise doing so gives you no advantage.

Source Player Core pg. 392

When success isn't certain—whether you're firing a laser pistol at a sentry robot, attempting to balance on a moving conveyor belt, or straining to remember the name of the ambassador's pet squox at a soiree—you attempt a check.
All types of checks, from skill checks to attack rolls to saving throws, follow these basic steps.

Roll a d20 and identify the modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply.
Calculate the result.
Compare to the DC.
Determine the degree of success and the effect.

Checks and Difficulty Classes (DCs) both come in many forms. When you fire your laser pistol at that sentry robot, you make an attack roll against its Armor Class, which is the DC to hit another creature. As you try to balance on that conveyor belt, you attempt an Acrobatics skill check with a DC based on the terrain you're traversing. When calling to mind the name of the ambassador's pet squox, you attempt a check to Recall Knowledge. You might use either the Society skill or a Lore skill you have that's relevant to the task, and the DC depends on how common the knowledge of the pet's name might be, or possibly how many drinks your character had when the ambassador showed them the pet's infosphere page the night before.
No matter the details, for any check you must roll the d20 and achieve a result equal to or greater than the DC to succeed. Each of these steps is explained below.

When the likelihood something will happen or fail to happen is based purely on chance, you'll attempt a flat check. A flat check never includes any modifiers, bonuses, or penalties—you just roll a d20 and compare the result on the die to the DC. Only abilities that specifically apply to flat checks can change the checks' DCs; most such effects affect only certain types of flat checks.
If more than one flat check would ever cause or prevent the same thing, just roll once and use the highest DC. In the rare circumstance that a flat check has a DC of 1 or lower, skip rolling; you automatically succeed. Conversely, if one ever has a DC of 21 or higher, you automatically fail.

Sometimes you as the player shouldn't know the exact result and effect of a check. In these situations, the rules (or the GM) will call for a secret check. The secret trait appears on anything that uses secret checks. This type of check uses the same formulas you normally would use for that check, but is rolled by the GM, who doesn't reveal the result. Instead, the GM simply describes the information or effects determined by the check's result. If you don't know a secret check is happening (for instance, if the GM rolls a secret Fortitude save against a poison that you failed to notice), you can't use any fortune or misfortune abilities (see the sidebar here) on that check, but if a fortune or misfortune effect would apply automatically, the GM applies it to the secret check. If you know that the GM is attempting a secret check—as often happens with Recall Knowledge or Seek—you can usually activate fortune or misfortune abilities for that check. Just tell the GM, and they'll apply the ability to the check.
The GM can choose to make any check secret, even if it's not usually rolled secretly. Conversely, the GM can let you roll any check yourself, even if that check would usually be secret. Some groups find it simpler to have players roll all secret checks and just try to avoid acting on any out-of-character knowledge, while others enjoy the mystery.

Step 1: Roll D20

Source Player Core pg. 392

Start by rolling your d20. You'll then identify all the relevant modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply. A modifier can be either positive or negative, but a bonus is always positive, and a penalty is always negative. The sum of all the modifiers, bonuses, and penalties you apply to the d20 roll is called your total modifier for that statistic.

Fortune and misfortune effects can alter how you roll your dice. These abilities might allow you to reroll a failed roll, force you to reroll a successful roll, allow you to roll twice and use the higher result, or force you to roll twice and use the lower result.
You can never have more than one fortune effect or misfortune effect come into play on a single roll. For instance, if an effect lets you roll twice and use the higher roll, you can't then use Meyel's Chosen (a fortune effect) to reroll if you fail. If multiple fortune effects would apply, you have to pick which to use. If two misfortune effects apply, the GM decides which is worse and applies it.
If both a fortune effect and a misfortune effect would apply to the same roll, the two cancel each other out, and you roll normally.

Attribute Modifier

Source Player Core pg. 392

Nearly all checks allow you to add an attribute modifier to the roll. Attribute modifiers represent your raw capability and are described in the sidebar here. Exactly which attribute modifier you use is determined by what you're trying to accomplish. Usually, firing a gun applies your Dexterity modifier, whereas remembering the name of the ambassador's pet uses your Intelligence modifier.

Bonuses

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When attempting a check that involves something you have some training in, you also add your proficiency bonus. This bonus depends on your proficiency rank: untrained, trained, expert, master, or legendary. If you're untrained, your bonus is +0—you must rely on raw talent and any situational bonuses. Otherwise, the bonus equals your character's level plus a certain amount depending on your rank. If your proficiency rank is trained, this bonus is equal to your level + 2, and higher proficiency ranks further increase the amount you add to your level.

There are three other types of bonus that frequently appear: circumstance bonuses, item bonuses, and status bonuses. If you have different types of bonuses that would apply to the same roll, you'll add them all. But if you have multiple bonuses of the same type, you can use only the highest bonus on a given roll—they aren't cumulative. For instance, if you have both a proficiency bonus and an item bonus, you add both to your d20 result, but if you have two item bonuses, you add only the higher of the two.
Circumstance bonuses involve the situation you find yourself in when attempting a check. For instance, using Raise a Shield with a compact shield grants you a +1 circumstance bonus to AC. Being behind cover grants you a +2 circumstance bonus to AC.
Item bonuses are granted by some item that you are wearing or using, either mundane or magical. For example, armor gives you an item bonus to AC, while a tactical holoskin grants you an item bonus to Impersonate someone using the Deception skill while wearing it.
Status bonuses typically come from spells, other magical effects, or something applying a helpful, often temporary, condition to you. For instance, the akashic download spell grants a +1 status bonus to a chosen Recall Knowledge check.

Proficiency Rank	Proficiency Bonus
Untrained	0
Trained	Your level + 2
Expert	Your level + 4
Master	Your level + 6
Legendary	Your level + 8

Penalties

Source Player Core pg. 392

Attack	Multiple Attack Penalty	Agile
First	None	None
Second	–5	–4
Third or subsequent	–10	–8

Critical FailureYou take double the listed damage from the effect.

Perception

Source Player Core pg. 396

Perception measures your ability to be aware of your environment. Every creature has Perception, which works with and is limited by a creature's senses. (Details on senses and detecting things begin here.) Whenever you need to attempt a check based on your awareness, you'll attempt a Perception check. Your Perception uses your Wisdom modifier, so you'll use the following formula when attempting a Perception check.
Perception check result = d20 roll + Wisdom modifier + proficiency bonus + other bonuses + penalties
Nearly all creatures are at least trained in Perception, so you will almost always add a proficiency bonus to your Perception modifier. You might add a circumstance bonus for advantageous situations or environments and typically get status bonuses from spells or other magical effects. Items can also grant you a bonus to Perception, typically in a certain situation. For instance, the retinal reflectors augmentation grants a +1 item bonus to Perception checks to Seek.
Circumstance penalties to Perception occur when an environment or situation (such as fog) hampers your senses, while status penalties typically come from conditions, spells, and magic effects that foil the senses. You'll rarely encounter item penalties or untyped penalties for Perception.
Many abilities are compared to your Perception DC to determine whether they succeed. As with any DC based on a modifier, your Perception DC is 10 + your total Perception modifier.

Perception for Initiative

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Often, you'll roll a Perception check to determine your order in initiative. When you do this, instead of comparing the result against a DC, the GM will put the results for everyone in the encounter in order. The creature with the highest result acts first, the creature with the second-highest result goes second, and so on. Sometimes you may be called on to roll a skill check for initiative instead, but you'll compare results just as if you had rolled Perception. The full rules for initiative are found in the rules for encounter mode.

Skill Checks

Source Player Core pg. 397

Starfinder has a variety of skills for many different situations, from Athletics to Computers to Piloting. Each grants you a set of related actions that rely on you rolling a skill check. Each skill has a key attribute modifier, based on the scope of the skill in question. For instance, Athletics deals with feats of physical prowess, like swimming and jumping, so its key attribute modifier is Strength. Computers deals with the ability to work with computer systems and other technological equipment, so its key attribute modifier is Intelligence. The key attribute modifier for each skill is listed in Chapter 4: Skills. No matter which skill you're using, you calculate a check for it using the following formula.
Skill check result = d20 roll + the skill's key attribute modifier + proficiency bonus + other bonuses + penalties
You're unlikely to be trained in every skill. As normal, when using a skill in which you're untrained, your proficiency bonus is +0; otherwise, it equals your level plus 2 for trained, or higher once you become expert or better. The proficiency rank is specific to the skill you're using. Aid from another character or some other beneficial situation might grant you a circumstance bonus. A status bonus might come from a helpful spell or magical effect. Sometimes tools related to the skill grant you an item bonus to your skill checks. Conversely, unfavorable situations might give you a circumstance penalty to your skill check, while harmful spells, magic, or conditions might also impose a status penalty. Using shoddy or makeshift tools might cause you to take an item penalty. Sometimes a skill action can be an attack, and in these cases, the skill check might take a multiple attack penalty.
When an ability calls for you to use the DC for a specific skill, you can calculate it by adding 10 + your total modifier for that skill.

Damage Rolls

Source Player Core pg. 398

Strikes, spells, hazards, and all number of other dangers can deal damage, which can kill creatures and destroy objects.
Damage decreases a creature's Hit Points (HP) on a 1-to-1 basis (so a creature that takes 6 damage loses 6 Hit Points). The full rules for losing HP can be found in the Hit Points, Healing, and Dying section.
Damage is sometimes given as a fixed amount, but more often than not you'll make a damage roll to determine how much damage you deal. A damage roll typically uses a number and type of dice determined by the weapon or unarmed attack used or the spell cast, and it's often enhanced by various modifiers, bonuses, and penalties. Like checks, a damage roll—especially a melee weapon damage roll—is often modified by a number of modifiers, penalties, and bonuses. When making a damage roll, you take the following steps, explained in detail below.

Roll damage dice indicated by the weapon, unarmed attack, or spell, and apply the modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply to the result of the roll.
Determine the damage type.
Apply immunities, weaknesses, and resistances the subject has to the damage.
If any damage remains, reduce Hit Points the target has by that amount.

Step 2: Damage Type

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Once you've calculated how much damage you deal, you'll need to determine the damage type. The blast of a laser rifle deals fire damage. The sting of an entropy strike spell deals void damage. Sometimes you might apply precision damage, dealing more damage for hitting a creature in a vulnerable spot or when the target is somehow vulnerable.

Damage has a number of different types and categories, which are described below.

Physical Damage

Damage dealt by weapons, many physical hazards, and a handful of spells is collectively called physical damage. The main types of physical damage are bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. Bludgeoning damage comes from weapons and hazards that deal blunt-force trauma, like a punch from a battleglove or being hit by an enercycle. Piercing damage is dealt from stabs and punctures, whether from a dragon's fangs or the bullet barrage from a machine gun. Slashing damage is delivered by a cut, be it the slice of a jinsul's leg blades or the buzz saw of a massive machine.
Ghosts and other incorporeal creatures have a high resistance to physical attacks that aren't magical (attacks that lack the magical trait). Furthermore, most incorporeal creatures have additional, though lower, resistance to magical physical damage (such as damage dealt from a doshko with the magical trait) and most other damage types.

Energy Damage

Many attacks deal energy damage. Energy damage is also dealt from effects in the world, such as the biting cold of a blizzard to a raging forest fire. The main types of energy damage are acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic. Acid damage can be delivered by gases, liquids, and certain solids that dissolve flesh, and sometimes harder materials. Cold damage freezes material by way of contact with chilling gases and ice. Electricity damage comes from the discharge of powerful lightning and sparks. Fire damage burns through heat and combustion. Sonic damage assaults matter with high-frequency vibration and sound waves. Many times, you deal energy damage by casting magic spells or attacking with specific weapons, and doing so is often useful against creatures that have immunities or resistances to physical damage.
Two special types of energy damage specifically target the living and the undead. Vitality damage harms only undead creatures, withering undead bodies and disrupting incorporeal undead. Void damage saps life, damaging only living creatures.
Powerful and pure magical energy can manifest itself as force damage. Few things can resist this type of damage—not even incorporeal creatures such as ghosts.

Spirit Damage

Directly affecting the spiritual essence of a creature, spirit damage can damage a target projecting its consciousness or possessing another creature even if the target's body is elsewhere. The possessed creature isn't harmed by the blast. Spirit damage doesn't harm creatures that have no spirit, such as constructs. Many effects that deal spirit damage also have the sanctified, holy, or unholy trait.

Mental Damage

Sometimes an effect can target the mind with enough psychic force to actually deal damage to the creature. When it does, it deals mental damage. Mindless creatures and those with only programmed or rudimentary intelligence are often immune to mental damage and effects.

Poison Damage

Venoms, toxins, radiation, and the like can deal poison damage, which affects creatures by way of contact, ingestion, inhalation, or injury. In addition to coming from monster attacks, items, and spells, poison damage is often caused by ongoing afflictions, which follow special rules described on here.

Bleed Damage

Another special type of physical damage is bleed damage. This is persistent damage that represents loss of blood. As such, it has no effect on nonliving creatures or living creatures that don't need blood to live. Weaknesses and resistances to physical damage apply. Bleed damage ends automatically if you're healed to your full Hit Points.

Precision Damage

When you hit with an ability that grants you precision damage, you increase the attack's listed damage, using the same damage type, rather than tracking a separate pool of damage. For example, a seeker rifle Strike that deals 1d4 precision damage from an operative's Aim increases the piercing damage by 1d4.
Some creatures are immune to precision damage, regardless of the damage type. A creature immune to precision damage would ignore the 1d4 precision damage in the example above, but it would still take the rest of the piercing damage from the Strike. Since precision damage is always the same type of damage as the attack it's augmenting, a creature that is resistant to physical damage, like a hardlight scamp, would resist not only the rifle's damage but also the precision damage, even though it is not specifically resistant to precision damage.

Source Player Core pg. 402

Items have Hit Points like creatures, but the rules for damaging them are different, as explained on Item Damage. An item has a Hardness statistic that reduces damage the item takes by that amount. The item then takes any damage left over. If an item is reduced to 0 HP, it's destroyed. An item also has a Broken Threshold. If its Hit Points are reduced to this amount or lower, it's broken, meaning it can't be used for its normal function and it doesn't grant bonuses. You usually can't attack an attended object (one on a creature's person).

Getting Knocked Out

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Creatures can't be reduced to fewer than 0 Hit Points. When most creatures reach 0 Hit Points, they die and are removed from play unless the attack was nonlethal, in which case they're instead knocked out for a significant amount of time (usually 10 minutes or more). When undead and constructs reach 0 Hit Points, they're destroyed.
Player characters, their companions, and other significant characters and creatures don't automatically die when they reach 0 Hit Points. Instead, they are knocked out and are at risk of death. The GM might determine that villains, powerful monsters, special NPCs, and enemies with special abilities that are likely to bring them back to the fight (like ferocity, regeneration, or healing magic) can use these rules as well.
As a player character, when you're reduced to 0 Hit Points, you're knocked out with the following effects:

Move your initiative position to directly before the turn in which you were reduced to 0 HP.
Gain the dying 1 condition. If the effect that knocked you out was a critical success from the attacker or the result of your critical failure, you gain the dying 2 condition instead. If you have the wounded condition, increase your dying value by an amount equal to your wounded value. If the damage was dealt by a nonlethal attack or nonlethal effect, you don't gain the dying condition; you're instead unconscious with 0 Hit Points.

Dying

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While you have the dying condition, you're bleeding out or otherwise at death's door. You're unconscious while you have the dying condition. Dying always includes a value. If this value ever reaches dying 4, you die. While you're dying, your dying value can increase or decrease in two ways.

The effects of the dying condition are described under the Dying header, but you might also need to reference the unconscious, wounded, and doomed conditions.

Unconscious

You're sleeping, or you've been knocked out. You can't act. You take a –4 status penalty to AC, Perception, and Reflex saves, and you have the blinded and off-guard conditions. When you gain this condition, you fall prone and drop items you're wielding or holding unless the effect states otherwise or the GM determines you're in a position in which you wouldn't.
If you're unconscious because you're dying, you can't wake up as long as you have 0 Hit Points. If you're restored to 1 Hit Point or more via healing, you lose the dying and unconscious conditions and can act normally on your next turn.
If you are unconscious and at 0 Hit Points, but not dying, you naturally return to 1 Hit Point and awaken after sufficient time passes. The GM determines how long you remain unconscious, from a minimum of 10 minutes to several hours. If you receive healing during this time, you lose the unconscious condition and can act normally on your next turn.
If you're unconscious and have more than 1 Hit Point (typically because you're asleep or unconscious due to an effect), you wake up in one of the following ways. Each causes you to lose the unconscious condition.

You take damage, provided the damage doesn't reduce you to 0 Hit Points. (If the damage reduces you to 0 Hit Points, you remain unconscious and gain the dying condition as normal.)
You receive healing other than the natural healing you get from resting.
Someone shakes you awake using an Interact action.
Loud noise is being made around you—though this isn't automatic. At the start of your turn, you automatically attempt a Perception check against the noise's DC (or the lowest DC if there's more than one noise), waking up if you succeed. This is often DC 5 for a battle, but if creatures are attempting to stay quiet around you, this Perception check uses their Stealth DC. Some magical effects make you sleep so deeply that they don't allow you to attempt this Perception check.
If you're simply asleep, the GM decides you wake up either because you've had a restful night's sleep or something disrupted that rest.

Wounded

You've been seriously injured during a fight. Anytime you lose the dying condition, you become wounded 1 if you didn't already have the wounded condition. If you already have the wounded condition, your wounded condition value instead increases by 1. If you gain the dying condition while wounded, increase the dying condition's value by your wounded value. The wounded condition ends if someone successfully restores Hit Points to you with Treat Wounds, or if you're restored to full Hit Points and rest for 10 minutes.

Doomed

Your life is ebbing away, bringing you ever closer to death. Some powerful spells and evil creatures can inflict the doomed condition on you. Doomed always includes a value. The maximum dying value at which you die is reduced by your doomed value. For example, if you were doomed 1, you would die upon reaching dying 3 instead of dying 4. If your maximum dying value is ever reduced to 0, you instantly die. When you die, you're no longer doomed.
Your doomed value decreases by 1 each time you get a full night's rest.

Heroic Recovery

If you have at least 1 Hero Point, you can spend all of your remaining Hero Points at the start of your turn or when your dying value would increase. You lose the dying condition entirely and stabilize with 0 Hit Points. You don't gain the wounded condition or increase its value from losing the dying condition in this way, but if you already had that condition, you don't lose it or decrease its value.

Recovery Checks

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While you're dying, attempt a recovery check at the start of each of your turns. This is a flat check with a DC equal to 10 + your current dying value to see if you get better or worse.

Critical SuccessYour dying value is reduced by 2.

SuccessYour dying value is reduced by 1.

These rules clarify some of the specifics of using actions.

Simultaneous Actions

FailureThe creature takes bludgeoning damage equal to half the falling damage you took.

Critical FailureThe creature takes the same amount of bludgeoning damage you took from the fall.

Falling Objects

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A dropped object takes damage just like a falling creature. If the object lands on a creature, that creature can attempt a Reflex save using the same rules as for a creature falling on a creature. Hazards and spells that involve falling objects, such as a rock slide, have their own rules about how they interact with creatures and the damage they deal.

Tactical Movement

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Your movement during encounter mode—and at other times where precise movement matters—depends on the actions and other abilities you use. Whether you Stride, Step, Swim, or Climb, the maximum distance you can move is based on your Speed. Certain augmentations, feats, or items can grant you other movement types, allowing you to swiftly burrow, climb, fly, or swim. Some abilities have the traversal trait, allowing you to substitute other forms of movement you have in place of the ability's Stride actions.
When the rules refer to a “movement cost” or “spending movement,” they're describing how many feet of your Speed you must use to move from one point to another. Normally, movement costs the number of feet you're moving. However, sometimes it's harder to move a certain distance due to difficult terrain or other factors. In such a case, you might have to spend a different amount of movement to move from one place to another.

Some reactions and free actions are triggered by a creature using an action with the move trait. The most notable example is Reactive Strike (reproduced below). Actions with the move trait can trigger reactions or free actions throughout the course of the distance traveled. Each time you exit a square within a creature's reach, your movement triggers those reactions and free actions (although no more than once per move action for a given reacting creature). If you use a move action but don't move out of a square, the trigger instead happens at the end of that action or ability.
Some actions, such as Step, specifically state they don't trigger reactions or free actions based on movement.

Grid Movement

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If an encounter involves combat, it's often a good idea to track the movement and relative position of the participants using a Starfinder Flip-Mat or some other form of grid to display the terrain and miniatures to represent the combatants. When a character moves on a grid, every 1-inch square of the play area is 5 feet across in the game world. Hence, a creature moving in a straight line spends 5 feet of its movement for every map square traveled. Difficult terrain can make some squares cost more of your movement.

Iseph decides to Stride. They have a Speed of 25 feet. Iseph moves straight south, spending 10 feet of their Speed, then diagonally, spending another 5 feet. Iseph's next diagonal move, because it's their second diagonal of the turn, costs 10 feet of movement. Iseph has spent all 25 feet of their Speed and ends that Stride.
Iseph Seeks, and a control panel catches their eye to the north, so they decide to move toward it. They spend 5 feet of their Speed to head east. However, the debris is difficult terrain, so each dotted square costs 5 more feet of Speed. Iseph moves diagonally, spending 10 feet of movement since this is an odd-numbered diagonal. They want to move northeast again, but that would cost them 15 feet (10 feet for an even-numbered diagonal and 5 more for being difficult terrain). Instead, Iseph decides to move directly north. This costs them 10 feet, so they've used all 25 feet of their Speed and are out of actions.

Diagonal Movement

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Because moving diagonally covers more ground, you count that movement differently. The first square of diagonal movement you make in a turn counts as 5 feet, but the second counts as 10 feet, and your count thereafter alternates between the two. For example, as you move across 4 squares diagonally, you would count 5 feet, then 10, then 5, and then 10, for a total of 30 feet. You track your total diagonal movement across all your movement during your turn, but reset your count at the end of your turn. The diagram in the sidebar below shows an example.

3D Movement

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Most movement in a game can be represented on a flat map. If creatures are flying, swimming, or otherwise moving through three-dimensional space, see the advice in the sidebar under Aerial Combat.

Size, Space, and Reach

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Creatures and objects of different sizes occupy different amounts of space. The sizes and the spaces they each take up on a grid are listed in the Size and Reach table (see below). The table also lists the typical reach for creatures of each size, for both tall creatures (most bipeds) and long creatures (most quadrupeds). See Range and Reach for more about reach.
The Space entry lists how many feet on a side a creature's space is, so a Large creature fills a 10-foot-by-10-foot space, or 4 squares on the grid. (If you need to measure in three dimensions, their space is also 10 feet high.) Sometimes part of a creature extends beyond its space, such as if a sky fisher is grabbing you with its lasso filaments. In that case, the GM will usually allow attacking the extended portion, even if you can't reach the main creature.

A Small or larger creature or object takes up at least 1 square on a grid, and creatures of these sizes can't usually share spaces except in situations like a character riding a mount.
Multiple Tiny creatures can occupy the same square. At least four can fit in a single square, though the GM might determine that even more can fit. Tiny creatures can share a space occupied by a larger creature as well. If a Tiny creature's reach is 0 feet, it must share a space with a creature in order to attack it.

Size and Reach

Size	Space	Reach (Tall)	Reach (Long)
Tiny	Less than 5 feet	0 feet	0 feet
Small	5 feet	5 feet	5 feet
Medium	5 feet	5 feet	5 feet
Large	10 feet	10 feet	5 feet
Huge	15 feet	15 feet	10 feet
Gargantuan	20 feet or more	20 feet	15 feet

Cover

Source Player Core pg. 416

When you're behind an obstacle that could block weapons, guard you against explosions, and make you harder to detect, you're behind cover. Standard cover gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to AC, to Reflex saves against area effects, and to Stealth checks to Hide, Sneak, or otherwise avoid detection. You can increase this to greater cover using the Take Cover basic action, increasing the circumstance bonus to +4. If cover is especially light, typically when it's provided by a creature, you have lesser cover, which grants a +1 circumstance bonus to AC. A creature with standard cover or greater cover can attempt to use Stealth to Hide, but lesser cover isn't sufficient.

Cover is relative, so you might simultaneously have cover against one creature and not another. Cover applies only if your path to the target is partially blocked. If a creature is entirely behind a wall or the like, you don't have line of effect and typically can't target it at all.
Usually, the GM can quickly decide whether your target has cover. If you're uncertain or need to be more precise, draw a line from the center of your space to the center of the target's space. If that line passes through any terrain or object that would block the effect, the target has standard cover (or greater cover if the obstruction is extreme or the target has Taken Cover). If the line passes through a creature instead, the target has lesser cover. When measuring cover against an area effect, draw the line from the effect's point of origin to the center of the creature's space. See the diagram for examples.

Dae and the tashtari don't have any cover from one another. The line from the center of Dae's space to the center of the tashtari's space doesn't pass through blocking terrain or other creatures.
The tashtari and Chk Chk have lesser cover from one another. The line between the centers of their spaces doesn't pass through any blocking terrain, but does pass through Dae's space.
The tashtari and Iseph have cover from one another. The line between the centers of their spaces crosses blocking terrain.
Navasi and the tashtari can barely see one another, but have cover from one another because the line between the centers of their spaces goes through blocking terrain. Because there's so much blocking terrain in the way, the GM will likely rule this is greater cover.

Cover and Large Creatures

Source Player Core pg. 416

If a creature between you and a target is two or more sizes larger than both you and your target, that creature's space blocks the effect enough to provide standard cover instead of lesser cover. The GM might determine that a creature doesn't gain cover from terrain that it's significantly larger than. For example, a Huge robot probably wouldn't receive any benefit from being behind a 1-foot-wide pillar.

Special Circumstances

Source Player Core pg. 416

Your GM might allow you to overcome your target's cover in some situations. If you're right next to a narrow window, you can shoot without penalty, but you have greater cover against someone shooting back at you from far away. Your GM might let you reduce or negate cover by leaning around a corner to shoot or the like. This usually takes an action to set up, and the GM might measure cover from an edge or corner of your space instead of your center.

Type of Cover	Bonus	Can Hide
Lesser	+1 to AC	No
Standard	+2 to AC, Reflex, Stealth	Yes
Greater	+4 to AC, Reflex, Stealth	Yes

Flanking

Source Player Core pg. 417

When you and an ally are flanking a foe, it has a harder time defending against you. A creature is off-guard (taking a –2 circumstance penalty to AC) to melee attacks from creatures that are flanking it.
To flank a foe, you and your ally must be on opposite sides of the creature. A line drawn between the center of your space and the center of your ally's space must pass through opposite sides or opposite corners of the foe's space. Additionally, both you and the ally have to be able to act, you must be wielding melee weapons or be able to make an unarmed attack, you can't be under any effects that prevent you from attacking, and you must both have the enemy within reach. If you're wielding a reach weapon, you use your reach with that weapon for this purpose.

Chk Chk and Dae are flanking the tashtari alpha because they can draw a line to each other that passes through opposite sides of the tashtari's space. The tashtari is off-guard to them, taking a –2 circumstance penalty to its AC.
Obozaya isn't flanking the tashtari alpha because she can't draw a line to Chk Chk or Dae that passes through opposite sides of its space, and the tashtari alpha isn't in Navasi's reach.
The tashtari and the tashtari alpha flank Navasi since she's within reach for both, and they can draw a line between them that passes through opposite sides of her space. If the tashtari alpha didn't have 10 feet of reach, the two creatures wouldn't flank her.

Flanking is an excellent battle tactic that can cause the flanked creature to get hit much more often. Escaping and avoiding flanks can be crucial for a player character's survival.
Movement: The most straightforward means to escape a flank is usually to Stride. It's often worth it to avoid the hits you'd take due to being off-guard and to make enemies spend actions moving to catch you.
All-Around Vision: Some monsters are covered in eyes that face multiple directions or are otherwise hard to distract, making them immune to flanking.

3D Flanking

Source Player Core pg. 417

Though battle grids are often two-dimensional, the game world isn't! Sometimes you might need to visualize a creature's space as a cube for flanking. For instance, if Dae is positioned underneath a flying cloud ray while Navasi is flying above the cloud ray using her ultralight wings, they might be flanking it even if they're piled in an odd stack on your battle grid. And if Dae were riding an enercycle, they might be able to measure from farther off the ground than normal.
In these cases, it's usually best to have the GM make the call on who's flanking rather than trying to do meticulous measurements in three dimensions.

Effects

Source Player Core pg. 418

Source Player Core pg. 422

Diseasea and poisons are types of afflictions, as are curses and radiation. An affliction can infect a creature for a long time, progressing through different and often increasingly debilitating stages.

Format

Source Player Core pg. 422

Whether appearing in a spell, as an item, or within a creature's stat block, afflictions appear in the following format.

To see how a disease works, let's look at severe radiation sickness.

Source Player Core pg. 423

Some effects try to counteract spells, afflictions, conditions, or other effects. Counteract checks compare the power of two forces and determine which defeats the other. Successfully counteracting an effect disrupts it, preventing it from having any effect, unless noted otherwise.
When attempting a counteract check, add the relevant skill modifier or other appropriate modifier to your check against the target's DC. If you're counteracting an affliction, the DC is in the affliction's stat block. If it's a spell, use the caster's DC. The GM can also calculate a DC based on the target effect's level. For spells, the counteract check modifier is your spellcasting attribute modifier plus your spellcasting proficiency bonus, plus any bonuses and penalties that specifically apply to counteract checks.
What you can counteract depends on the check result and the target's counteract rank. If an effect is a spell, its rank is the counteract rank. Otherwise, halve its level and round up to determine its counteract rank (minimum counteract rank 0). If an effect's level is unclear and it came from a creature, halve and round up the creature's level.

Critical SuccessCounteract the target if its counteract rank is no more than 3 higher than your effect's counteract rank.

SuccessCounteract the target if its counteract rank is no more than 1 higher than your effect's counteract rank.

FailureCounteract the target if its counteract rank is lower than your effect's counteract rank.

Critical FailureYou fail to counteract the target.

Counteract Table

This table provides a reference for what an effect can counteract based on its rank and the check result. The first number in each column is the counteract rank at which you can counteract an effect based on your degree of success. The numbers in parentheses are the typical level range corresponding to that rank.

Counteract Rank	Failure	Critical Success	Success
0	—	1 (1 to 2)	3 (5 to 6)
1	0 (–1 to 0)	2 (3 to 4)	4 (7 to 8)
2	1 (1 to 2)	3 (5 to 6)	5 (9 to 10)
3	2 (3 to 4)	4 (7 to 8)	6 (11 to 12)
4	3 (5 to 6)	5 (9 to 10)	7 (13 to 14)
5	4 (7 to 8)	6 (11 to 12)	8 (15 to 16)
6	5 (9 to 10)	7 (13 to 14)	9 (17 to 18)
7	6 (11 to 12)	8 (15 to 16)	10 (19 to 20)
8	7 (13 to 14)	9 (17 to 18)	11 (21 to 22)
9	8 (15 to 16)	10 (19 to 20)	12 (23 to 24)
10	9 (17 to 18)	11 (21 to 22)	13 (25 to 26)

Source Player Core pg. 427

When your foes are defeated, some sort of truce is reached, or some other event or circumstance ends the combat, the encounter is over. You and the other participants no longer follow the initiative order, and a more free-form style of play resumes, with the game typically moving into exploration mode. Sometimes, at the end of an encounter, the GM will award Experience Points to the party or you'll find treasure to divvy up.

Turns

Source Player Core pg. 427

When it's your turn to act, you can use single actions ([one-action]), short activities ([two-actions] and [three-actions]), reactions ([reaction]), and free actions ([free-action]). When you're finished, your turn ends and the character next in the initiative order begins their turn. Sometimes it's important to note when during your turn something happens, so a turn is divided into three steps.

The GM keeps track of the initiative order for an encounter. It's usually okay for the players to know this order since they'll see who goes when and be aware of one another's results. However, the GM might want to conceal information about adversaries the PCs have yet to detect or identify.
Once the encounter's order is set, it's usually not necessary to track the original initiative numbers. The GM can create a simple list, use a series of cards or other indicators, or use a Starfinder Combat Pad, which has magnetic markers to allow for easily rearranging the order.

Changing The Initiative Order

Any method used to track the initiative order needs to be flexible because the order can change. A creature can use the Delay basic action to change its place in the order, in which case you can erase it from the list or pull its marker aside until it reenters the initiative order. When a creature gets knocked out, its initiative order also changes. Using the Ready basic action doesn't change a creature's place in the initiative order, though, because the designated action becomes a reaction.

Step 1: Start Your Turn

Source Player Core pg. 427

Many things happen automatically at the start of your turn— it's a common point for tracking the passage of time for effects that last multiple rounds. At the start of each of your turns, take these steps in any order you choose.

If you created an effect lasting for a certain number of rounds, reduce the number of rounds remaining by 1. The effect ends if the duration is reduced to 0. For example, if you cast a spell that lasts 3 rounds on yourself during your first turn of a fight, it would affect you during that turn, decrease to 2 rounds of duration at the start of your second turn, decrease to 1 round of duration at the start of your third turn, and expire at the start of your fourth turn.
You can use 1 free action or reaction with a trigger of “Your turn begins” or something similar.
If you're dying, roll a recovery check.
Do anything else that's specified to happen at the start of your turn, such as regaining Hit Points from fast healing or regeneration.

The last step of starting your turn is always the same.

Regain your 3 actions and 1 reaction. If you haven't spent your reaction from your last turn, you lose it—you can't “save” actions or reactions from one turn to use during the next turn. Some abilities or conditions (such as quickened, slowed, and stunned) can change how many actions you regain and whether you regain your reaction. (Details on gaining and losing actions are here.)

Step 2: Act

Source Player Core pg. 428

You can use actions in any order you wish during your turn, but you have to complete one action or activity before beginning another; for example, you can't use a single action in the middle of performing a 2-action activity. What actions you can use often depend on your class features, skills, feats, and items, but there are default actions anyone can use, described in Basic Actions. Some effects might prevent you from acting. If you can't act, you can't use any actions, including reactions and free actions.
If you begin a 2-action or 3-action activity on your turn, you must be able to complete it on your turn. You can't, for example, begin to High Jump using your final action on one turn and then complete it as your first action on your next turn.
Once you've spent all three of your actions, your turn ends (as described in Step 3) and the next creature's turn begins. You can choose to end your turn early, losing all remaining actions (but not your reaction).

Step 3: End Your Turn

Source Player Core pg. 428

Once you've done all the things you want to do with the actions you have available, you reach the end of your turn. Take the following steps in any order you choose. Play then proceeds to the next creature in the initiative order.

End any effects that last until the end of your turn. For example, spells with a sustained duration end at the end of your turn unless you used the Sustain a Spell action during your turn to extend them. Some effects caused by enemies might also last through a certain number of your turns, and you decrease the remaining duration by 1 during this step, ending the effect if its duration is reduced to 0.
If you have a persistent damage condition, you take the damage at this point. After you take the damage, you can attempt the flat check (in the sidebar) to end the persistent damage. You then attempt any saving throws for ongoing afflictions. Many other conditions change at the end of your turn, such as the frightened condition decreasing in severity. These take place after you've taken any persistent damage, attempted flat checks to end the persistent damage, and attempted saves against any afflictions.
You can use 1 free action or reaction with a trigger of “Your turn ends” or something similar.
Resolve anything else specified to happen at the end of your turn.

Activities in Encounters

Source Player Core pg. 428

Activities that take longer than a turn can't normally be performed during an encounter. Spells with a casting time of 1 minute or more are a common example, as are several skill actions. When you commit to an activity during your turn in an encounter, you commit to spending all of the actions it requires. If the activity gets interrupted partway through, you lose all of the actions you would've spent on that activity. Activities are described here.

Reactions in Encounters

Source Player Core pg. 428

Your reactions let you respond immediately to what's happening around you. The GM determines whether you can use reactions before your first turn begins, depending on the situation in which the encounter happens. Once your first turn begins, you gain your actions and reaction. You gain 1 reaction per round. You can use a reaction on anyone's turn (including your own), but only when its trigger occurs. If you don't use your reaction, you lose it at the start of your next turn, though you typically then gain a reaction at the start of that turn.

Special Battles

Source Player Core pg. 429

Mounted Combat

Source Player Core pg. 429

You can ride some creatures into combat. As noted in the Mount specialty basic action, your mount needs to be willing and at least one size larger than you. Your mount acts on your initiative. You must use the Command an Animal action to get your mount to spend its actions. If you don't, the animal wastes its actions. If you have the Ride general feat, you succeed automatically when you Command an Animal that's your mount.
For example, if you're mounted on an animal and you make three attacks, your mount would remain stationary since you didn't command it. If you instead spent your first action to Command an Animal and succeeded, you could get your mount to Stride. You could spend your next action to attack or to command the mount to attack, but not both.

Mounted Attacks

Source Player Core pg. 429

You and your mount fight as a unit. Consequently, you share a multiple attack penalty. For example, if you Strike and then Command an Animal to have your mount Strike, your mount's attack takes a –5 multiple attack penalty.
You occupy every square of your mount's space for the purpose of making attacks. If you were a Medium creature on a Large mount, you could attack a creature on one side of your mount, then attack on the opposite side. On a Medium or smaller mount, use the normal reach of an attack. On a Large or Huge mount, you can attack any square adjacent to the mount if you have 5- or 10-foot reach, or any square within 10 feet of the mount (including diagonally) if you have 15-foot reach. Use the adjusted reach for determining flanking and other rules that depend on reach.

Mounted Defenses

Source Player Core pg. 429

Attackers can target either you or your mount. An area effect affects both of you as long as you're both in the area. You're in an attacker's reach or range if any square of your mount is within reach or range. Because your mount is larger than you and you share its space, you have lesser cover against attacks targeting you when you're mounted if the mount would be in the way (as determined by the GM).
Because you can't move your body as freely while you're riding a mount, you take a –2 circumstance penalty to Reflex saves while mounted. Additionally, the only move action you can use is the Mount action to dismount.

Aerial Combat

Source Player Core pg. 429

Many monsters can fly, and PCs can use spells and items to gain the ability to fly. Flying creatures have to use the Fly action to move through the air. Performing an especially tricky maneuver might require using Acrobatics to Maneuver in Flight. Creatures might fall from the sky, using the falling rules. At the GM's discretion, some groundbased actions might not work in the air. For instance, a flying creature couldn't Leap.

In aerial and aquatic combat, you might need to track positioning in three dimensions. For flying creatures, you might use one of the following methods.

Find platforms to place flying creatures' miniatures on.
Set a die next to a creature with the number indicating how many squares up in the air it is.
Make a stack of dice or tokens, 1 per 5 feet of elevation.
Write the elevation next to the monster on the grid.

In underwater combat, choose a plane to be the baseline, typically the waterline, the sea floor, or a stationary object you can measure from.
As with ground-based movement, moving diagonally up or down in 3-D space requires counting every other diagonal as 10 feet. Measure flanking in all directions— creatures above and below an enemy can flank it just as effectively as they can from opposite sides.

Aquatic Combat

Source Player Core pg. 429

Use these rules for battles in water or underwater.

You're off-guard unless you have a swim Speed.
You gain resistance 5 to acid and fire.
You take a –2 circumstance penalty to your attack rolls for bludgeoning or slashing attacks that pass through water.
Ranged attacks made by an underwater creature or against an underwater target have their range increments halved.
You can't cast fire spells or use actions with the fire trait underwater. As normal for how traits work, any part of the effect that's unrelated to fire still works. For example, an attack with a flaming fangblade could still deal its physical damage, just not its fire damage.
At the GM's discretion, some ground-based actions might not work underwater or while floating.

Drowning and Suffocating

Source Player Core pg. 429

You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier. Reduce your remaining air by 1 round at the end of each of your turns, or by 2 if you attacked or cast any spells that turn. You also lose 1 round worth of air each time you are critically hit or critically fail a save against a damaging effect. If you speak (including Casting a Spell), you lose all remaining air.
When you run out of air, you fall unconscious and start suffocating. You can't recover from being unconscious and must attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save at the end of each of your turns. On a failure, you take 1d10 damage, and on a critical failure, you die. On each check after the first, the DC increases by 5 and the damage by 1d10; these increases are cumulative. Once your access to air is restored, you stop suffocating and are no longer unconscious (unless you're at 0 Hit Points).

Exploration Mode

Source Player Core pg. 430

While encounters use rounds for combat, exploration is more free-form. The GM determines the flow of time, as you could be traveling by enercycle through a machine megaplex, negotiating with Free Captains, or delving in a magitech dungeon in search of archaic treasures from a lost world. Exploration lacks the immediate danger of encounter mode, but it offers its own challenges.
Much of exploration mode involves movement and roleplaying. You might be traveling from one city to another, chatting with a couple of travelers on the gravtrain along the way, or maybe you have a run-in with a friendly rival when you arrive. Instead of measuring your rate of movement in 5-foot squares every round, you measure it in feet or miles per minute, hour, or day, using your travel speed. Rather than deciding on each action every turn, you'll engage in an exploration activity, and you'll typically spend some time every day resting and making your daily preparations.

Travel Speed

Source Player Core pg. 430

Depending on how the GM tracks movement, you move in feet or miles based on your character's Speed with the relevant movement type. Typical rates are on the table below.

The rates in the table assume traveling over flat and clear terrain at a determined pace, but one that's not exhausting. Moving through difficult terrain halves the listed movement rate. Greater difficult terrain reduces the distance traveled to one-third the listed amount. If the travel requires a skill check to accomplish, such as mountain climbing or swimming, the GM might call for a check once per hour, using the result and the table above to determine your progress.

Travel Speed

Speed	Feet per Minute	Miles per Hour	Miles per Day
10 feet	100	1	8
15 feet	150	1-1/2	12
20 feet	200	2	16
25 feet	250	2-1/2	20
30 feet	300	3	24
35 feet	350	3-1/2	28
40 feet	400	4	32
50 feet	500	5	40
60 feet	600	6	48

Exploration Activities

Source Player Core pg. 430

While you're traveling and exploring, tell the GM what you'd generally like to do along the way. If you do nothing more than make steady progress toward your goal, you move at the full travel speeds given in the table.
When you want to do something other than simply travel, you describe what you're attempting to do. It isn't necessary to go into extreme detail, such as “Using my prybar from my infiltrator's toolkit, I nudge the door open a couple inches to check for security measures that respond to movement.” Instead, “I'm checking the door for hazards” is sufficient. The GM finds the best exploration activity to match your description and describes the effects of that activity. Some exploration activities limit how fast you can travel and be effective.
These are the most common exploration activities.

Chapter 4: Skills includes additional exploration activities.
Access Infosphere: You use Computers to search local networks for information.
Borrow an Arcane Spell: You use Arcana to prepare a spell from someone else's spellbook.
Coerce: You use Intimidation to threaten a creature so it does what you want.
Cover Tracks: You use Survival to obscure your passing.
Decipher Writing: You use a suitable skill to understand archaic, esoteric, or obscure texts.
Gather Information: You use Diplomacy to canvass the area to learn about a specific individual or topic.
Hack: You access, control, or make changes to a secure computer system.
Identify Magic: Using a variety of skills, you can learn about a magic item, location, or ongoing effect.
Impersonate: You use Deception and usually a disguise kit to create a disguise.
Learn a Spell: You use the skill corresponding to the spell's tradition to gain access to a new spell.
Make an Impression: You use Diplomacy to make a good impression on someone.
Navigate: You plan a short journey overland or in space.
Plot Course: You plan a long journey in space.
Repair: With a repair kit and the Crafting skill, you fix a damaged item.
Sense Direction: You use Survival to get a sense of where you are or determine cardinal directions.
Squeeze: Using Acrobatics, you squeeze though very tight spaces.
Track: You use Survival to follow tracks.
Treat Wounds: You use Medicine to treat a living creature's wounds.

Rest and Daily Preparations

Source Player Core pg. 432

You're at your best when you take time to rest and prepare. Once every 24 hours, you can take a period of rest (typically 8 hours), during which you heal naturally, regaining Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 1) times your level, and you might recover from or improve certain conditions. Sleeping in armor results in poor rest that leaves you fatigued. If you go more than 16 hours without resting, you become fatigued (you can't recover from this fatigue until you rest at least 8 continuous hours).
After you rest, you make your daily preparations, which takes around 1 hour. You can prepare only if you've rested, and only once per day. During preparations:

Spellcasters regain spell slots, and prepared spellcasters choose spells to have available that day.
Focus Points, abilities that refresh during preparations, and abilities that can be used only a certain number of times per day, including magic item uses, are reset.
You don armor and equip weapons and other gear.
You invest up to 10 worn magic items to gain their benefits for the day.

Goals

Source Player Core pg. 434

You can help guide the course of the campaign by setting long-term goals that take multiple periods of downtime to complete. Talk them through with the GM and the rest of the group. Consider alliances you want to develop further or changes you want to see in the game world.