Running Encounters

One of the primary ways the game slows down is when you or another player needs to look up a rule. For something that isn't too impactful, it's better to just make a ruling on the spot and move on. Tell the player they can look it up when it isn't their turn, and you'll play it as written after that, but that the game needs to move on in the meantime. It's okay to look up something that's both significant and heavily rules dependent, such as a spell description or the death and dying rules. Even then, reciting a full chunk of rules text can pull players out of the flow of play, so feel free to summarize. It also helps to empower your players to look things up in advance if they think they'll need them, so they're ready to go when their turns come around. This can be tough as a GM since it's essentially always your turn. However, you can ask a player to look something up for you, or, if you need to pause long enough to reference certain books, remind the players to plan for their next turns while you're busy.

Though “rewinding” can happen in any mode of play, it's usually most troublesome in encounters. Rewinding happens when a player forgot to add in a certain bonus or take a certain action, or wishes they'd used their actions in a different order, and wants to rewind to account for what they missed. The best policy is usually to let them rewind as needed within their own turn but stop them before they intrude into someone else's. This keeps interruptions within reasonable bounds. You might find some adjustments are easy enough to make outside of a turn and can be allowed. For instance, if someone forgot to add the extra damage from a supercharge weapon spell to one of their hits, it's pretty easy to reduce the foe's HP on another turn, but if they realized their attack missed only because they forgot the bonus from the rhythm mystic's anthem, that could be too much of an interruption. Your ruling should stand on such matters. Try to be consistent about what kinds of things you'll rewind for and when.

You'll often make multiple rolls at the same time, especially when attempting saving throws for multiple creatures against area or multi-target spells and attacks. This can sometimes take a considerable amount of time if you're resolving the result of each creature's save and then determining its degree of success. To do so quickly, you could use one of the following techniques.

• Get the PC's Difficulty Class first, and have the player roll damage while you roll the saving throws.
• Use separate colors of dice for the different types of foes, or arrange the dice in such a way that it's easier for you to tell which creatures or NPCs are which.
• Go in order from the best enemy results (the highest total) to the worst. This means you'll need to ask for the results on a success only once, the damage on a failure once, and so on. It also means you only need to figure out when you're moving to a lower degree of success, rather than recalculating them each time.

This can be more of a challenge when asking for PC rolls. Make sure you get the attention of every player whose PC is affected. Have them all roll, but hold off on announcing their results. While they roll their saves, roll damage or other variable effects. Then, announce the DC. Say, “Who critically succeeded?” and “Who succeeded?” and so on down the line, so you only have to share the results for each category once. You can choose not to announce the DC if you want and ask for results by multiples of 10 instead, but it typically takes longer, and it's still possible that the players can determine or estimate the DC anyway.

It's up to you whether someone's preparation is enough to let them Aid an ally. The preparation should be specific to the task at hand. Helping someone hold a lockpick steady might be enough preparation to Aid an attempt to Pick a Lock, but just saying you're going to “encourage” them wouldn't. Second, the character who's attempting to Aid needs to be in a proper position to help and able to convey any necessary information. Helping a character Climb a wall is pretty tough if the character a PC wishes to Aid is nowhere near them. Similarly, a character usually needs to be next to their ally or a foe to Aid the ally in attacking the foe. You'll also need to determine how long the preparation takes. Typically, a single action is sufficient to help with a task that's completed in a single round, but to help someone perform a long-term task, like research, the character must help until the task is finished.

The Ready activity lets the acting person choose the trigger for their readied action. However, you might need to put limits on what they can choose. Notably, the trigger must be something that happens in the game universe and is observable by the character, rather than a rules concept that doesn't exist in-world. For instance, if a player says, “I Ready to shoot my sonic rifle at her if she uses a concentrate action” or “I Ready to attack him if he has fewer than forty-seven Hit Points ,” find out what their character is trying to specifically observe. If they don't have a clear answer for that, they need to adjust their action.

The Seek action leaves it up to you how long a search should take. Use common sense. Most of the time, just trying to spot a creature hiding in a small area, or something else you could find with a simple Seek action rather than a longterm Search exploration activity, should default to a single action. The biggest distinction is whether something uses 3 actions or fewer—and can therefore be accomplished in a single turn—or requires significantly longer and can't be accomplished in an encounter at all. Consider whether it makes sense for the character to pull this off during the encounter or not, and whether that could be an interesting wrinkle in the story.

When someone tries to Sense the Motive of an NPC, you'll need to figure out how to convey the information they receive. It's best to try to convey this indirectly, such as by describing a lying target's body language, odd word choices, sweating, or other details rather than saying, “They aren't behaving normally.” However, sometimes dropping a punchy, “Oh, she is a hundred percent lying about this!” on a critical success can be satisfying. You also might need to determine when the situation changes enough for someone to try to Sense Motive again. Usually, this means either the behavior of the subject needs to change or the person attempting the check needs to receive new evidence that something is out of the ordinary. If another PC tries to Sense Motive, gets different information about the target, and shares it, that doesn't really count as new information for a PC who tried previously. Rather, it's up to the players to roleplay out any changes in their thinking as a result.

You'll often need to determine whether someone can Take Cover. They usually just need a large enough object to hide behind. Imagine the character crouching, and picture whether the object could almost entirely cover up their silhouette. Taking Cover might also require them to Drop Prone, such as if they want to hide under a table. Most of the time, you can let them combine these instead of using two separate actions.

You determine whether a character has cover. The rules for drawing lines found in Player Core are useful in simple cases, but in more complicated situations, use your own discretion to make the call. Consider the details of the environment and 3D space beyond what's on the battle mat. For instance, a holographic advertisement might give cover, or a PC who climbed onto a ledge might have a clear shot at an enemy standing behind a short wall. Be generous to PCs who use creativity to get into smart positions, especially if they spend valuable actions to move or Take Cover.

The different types of actions representing movement are split up to clarify how the rules work with a creature's actions. However, you can end up in odd situations, such as when a creature wants to jump vertically to get something and needs to move just a bit to get in range, then Leap, then continue moving. This can end up feeling like they're losing a lot of their movement to make this happen. At your discretion, you can allow the PCs to essentially combine these into one fluid movement as a 2-action activity: moving into range for a Leap, then Leaping, then using the rest of their Speed.

This typically works only for chaining types of movement together. Doing something like Interacting to open a door or making a Strike usually arrests movement long enough that doing so in the middle of movement isn't practical.

Vehicles are everywhere in Starfinder, from sleek enercycles to bulky hovercabs, and while mounted travel is considered by some to be an antiquated mode of travel, mounted combat is far from a lost art.

The logistics of vehicular combat and mounted combat take some extra work. Ensure the fight takes place in a location with plenty of space to move since you'll likely be dealing with multiple larger creatures or vehicles. For a fight in which only one side has vehicles or mounts, you might want to use an environment with a few areas too small for vehicles and mounts, so the side on foot can get a tactical advantage there to offset the other side's greater mobility.

When the PCs are mounted, their enemies should focus most of their attacks on the PCs, not their mounts. When PCs fight mounted enemies, try to keep the mount's level fairly close to the PCs' level; rather than putting an 11th-level enemy on a 2nd-level shotalashu, use a 9th-level surnoch, an 8th-level arabuk, or something similar. This will fit better thematically and prevent the enemy from being dismounted too easily. If a mount is knocked out, the rider might be able to dismount without trouble if the mount was stationary, but if they were in motion, you should probably have the rider attempt a Reflex save. If they fail, the rider is thrown a short distance and falls prone. Setting a simple expert DC of 20 often works well for such checks.

When the PCs are driving vehicles, their enemies should focus most of their attacks on the PCs, not their vehicles. Alternatively, if the PCs have greater or total cover while within their vehicle, their enemies should focus on either forcing or drawing the PCs out of their vehicle or on boarding the vehicle. When the PCs fight enemies in vehicles, try to keep the vehicle's level fairly close to the PCs' level. Consider the transport method of selected vehicles. Enemies driving wheeled vehicles are easier to stop or hinder than enemies driving hover vehicles, and the tactics PCs can employ against such enemies should likewise differ.

Vehicular and mounted combat on a grid is difficult for a running fight with both sides racing at full speed. In these situations, it's better to forgo the grid, though miniatures can still help for relative positioning and distances for ranged attacks. For such a race, consider using the chase subsystem instead.

The mount rules are for common cases: intelligent creatures riding animals. However, you might allow someone to ride a beast, robot, or other type of creature by making a few adjustments. For an intelligent mount (such as a skreesire), use the standard rules for mounted combat, but instead of attempting a check to Command an Animal, the rider uses the same number of actions to ask the creature to do what they want. As the GM, you determine whether the creature does as requested and whether Diplomacy checks or the like are needed. For a technological mount, instead replace the check to Command an Animal with a Computers check. If one of your PCs is Tiny, they might want to ride on another PC's shoulder. In this case, the two PCs should both roll initiative and act together on the lower count, and they gain only two actions at the start of their turns instead of three since the larger PC must spend one action keeping the smaller PC balanced, and the smaller PC must spend one action holding on.

Flight is common in Starfinder, whether via natural ability, magical enhancement, or technological assistance. Both PCs and enemies will gain access to flight early, so being able to participate in aerial encounters is important. For PCs who choose not to invest in a method of flight, ranged weapons and spells are very useful tools, as are other environmental features, such as trees, balconies, catwalks, machinery, and rooftops.

Determining positioning in the air can be tricky, and it's best to be more relaxed with movement rules, flanking, and so forth than you would be on a flat grid. Note that battles can get more spread out with flight. If any creature is flying, it's important to establish the height of potential obstacles in the area early. This way, no one is surprised to suddenly find out the ceiling is lower than they thought or tall trees create a barrier.

The rules for flight say that a creature might need to attempt an Acrobatics check to Maneuver in Flight to pull off tricky motions. You can generally use the same judgment you would while calling for Acrobatics checks when someone is moving on the ground. Trying to dive through a narrow space or make a sharp turn might require checks, usually with a simple DC.

Falls can be deadly and often happen when fly or a similar spell gets dispelled. This is part of the risk of flying! Flying enemies might keep closer to the ground to avoid this danger, or they might use magic or equipment to prevent or reduce the damage.

Aquatic combat poses two primary challenges for non-aquatic characters, which are both easily overcome at low levels: breathing underwater and lacking a swim Speed. All armor has basic environmental protections that enable a user to breathe underwater or in a vacuum. Lacking a swim Speed is likewise simple to deal with, except for characters with poor Athletics, who might need to strategize around their shortcomings. The DC to Swim underwater shouldn't be very high—typically 15, or 13 in calm water.

Like aerial combat, determining positioning underwater can be tricky, and it's best to be relaxed with movement rules, flanking, and so forth when running aquatic combat. When someone gets knocked out underwater, they usually float up or sink down. You decide based on their buoyancy; most adventurers carry a heavy enough load to sink.

When one group is in the water and another is outside it, note that the aquatic combat rules for attacks apply when either party is in water. You might decide that a character in the water is concealed against someone outside it due to distortion, and vice versa. All nonhazardous liquids use the same rules as water.

Fighting in a vacuum is perhaps the most challenging environment for PCs to contend with. While breathing in a vacuum is a simple matter thanks to the basic environmental protections granted by armor, movement in zero gravity is tricky. This doesn't mean fighting in a vacuum is a highlevel threat! On the contrary, zero-gravity environments are commonly encountered all throughout a character's adventuring career.

To run efficient encounters in a vacuum, ensure you and your players know how the untethered condition and Push Off action function. Many characters will develop strategies to mitigate the untethered condition or its penalties, whether through ancestry feats, magic spells like personal gravity, or technological items like magboots. Even simple cables used as a tether can be useful tools to PCs fighting in a vacuum!

Ensure the environments you describe have plenty of material around for PCs to Push Off of, cling to, use as cover, and fling at their attackers. Remember that the threat of being pushed out a starship's airlock or falling off a ruined structure floating in the Drift can bring an effective narrative tension to an encounter, even if the PCs manage to avoid being tossed into the vacuum!

A creature's level measures its acumen in combat, but some creatures who would be pushovers in battle can be dangerous in social encounters or other challenges! Such creatures typically have skill modifiers and mental defenses much higher than their levels would indicate. See Building NPCs: Non-Combat Level, for information on setting these statistics.

Award XP for defeating an NPC in a social encounter based on the relevant level rather than the creature's combat level. Such an NPC might have an ability similar to the following.
Courtroom Specialist In a court case or other legal proceeding, the judge is a 6th-level challenge.

Initiative in a social encounters typically has characters rolling Society or a Charisma-based skill, such as Diplomacy or Deception. As with other encounters, a character's approach to the conflict determines which skill they roll. On a character's turn, they typically get to attempt one roll, usually by using a skill action. Let the player roleplay what their character says and does, then determine what they'll roll. Allow them to use any abilities or spells that might help them make their case, though keep in mind that when most people see the visual signs of a spell being cast, they think someone is using magic to try to influence or harm them, and they have a negative reaction. Generally, a turn should go on just long enough for the character to make one salient point and attempt one check before moving to the next character in the initiative order.

Good social encounters include an opposition. This can be direct, such as a rival who argues against the characters' case, or passive, such as a crowd that automatically becomes more unruly as each round passes. Give the opposition one or more positions in the initiative order so you can convey what it's doing. You can create game statistics for the opposition, especially if it's an individual, but in situations like that of the unruly crowd, you might need nothing more than to establish a set of increasingly difficult DCs.

You'll need to decide how to measure the characters' success in social encounters because there's no AC to target or HP to whittle down. Social Skills includes guidance on setting DCs for social skill actions, often using a target's Will DC. If you need a DC for people who don't have stats, such as a crowd or an NPC for whom you haven't already generated statistics, use the guidelines on setting DCs. You can either pick a simple DC or use a level-based DC, estimating a level for the subject or how challenging it should be to sway them.

The attitude conditions—hostile, unfriendly, indifferent, friendly, and helpful—provide a useful way to track the progress of a social encounter. Use these to represent the attitude of an authority, a crowd, a jury, or similar. A typical goal for a social encounter is to change the attitude of a person or group to helpful so they assist you or to calm a hostile group or person to defuse a situation. Try to give the players a clear idea of how much they've progressed as the encounter proceeds.

Another option is to track the number of successes or failures the characters accrue, either using a subsystem like Victory Points or Influence, or else something more ad hoc. For instance, the PCs might need to trick four guards into leaving their posts, and you might count each successful attempt to Lie or Create a Diversion toward a total of four necessary successes. You can also combine these two methods; if the PCs need a group of important politicians to vote their way, the goal of the encounter might be to ensure that most of the politicians have a better attitude toward the PCs than they have of a rival—all within a limited time frame.

When you set stakes at the start of a social encounter, give an idea of the consequences. Beyond whatever narrative benefits player characters might gain, a social encounter usually includes an XP award. Because these are encounters along the same lines as combat encounters, they grant a sizable amount of XP, typically that of a moderate accomplishment, or even a major accomplishment if the encounter was the culmination of long-term plans or if a significant adversary got theircomeuppance.

The outcome of a social encounters should direct the story of the game. Look for repercussions. Which NPCs might view the PCs more favorably now? Which might hold a grudge or formulate a new plan? A social encounter can seal the fate of an NPC and end their story, but this isn't true for player characters. Even if something looks truly dire for them, such as a death sentence, the social encounter isn't the end—there's still time for desperate heroics or a twist in the story