ShadowFinder - New General Rules Preview (Patreon)

I have been working on ShadowFinder, a modern-urban-fantasy play mode for Starfinder 1st edition, for more than three years. It's been badly sidetracked by societal and personal health issues, but I have never given up on it. As I slowly recover from chemoradiation treatments, I'm trying to spend a few hours a week getting back to this project.

(Shadowfinder Cover WIP. Graphic Design by Lj Stephens, art licensed from multiple artists)

ShadowFinder adds some new general rules to Starfinder. So I am opening this week with previews of the "New Things" section of Chapter One of the main ShadowFinder rulebook.

We'll start with Heroic Defense and Minimum Damage Dice, which are designed to let you run around in jeans and a t-shirt with a baseball bat at any character level and still be effective (though, as a random example, if you can get your baseball bat to be enchanted by the World Mage so it acts as Excalibur -- because you are the Pendradon -- that's absolutely still worth doing).

 Heroic Defense: Characters in ShadowFinder are imbued by destiny to be major players in the battle against the worst parts of the Shadowblast, and as a result as they gain levels they just get harder to hurt when wearing their typical gear, without the need for heavy or bulky armor. When wearing their typical adventuring gear, every ShadowFinder character (regardless of character class), has a base armor bonus to EAC equal to their character level + the number of armor types (light, heavy, and powered) they are proficient with, and an armor bonus to KAC two higher than that.

Normally if you aren’t ready-for-trouble (sleeping, in a prison uniform, and similar circumstances where you haven’t had a chance to gear up), you don’t get your Heroic Defense. It’s up to the GM whether any given circumstance counts as being geared for trouble, but normally unless the PC willfully removed their gear or had it all taken from them, they get Heroic Defense.

You can wear armor if you want and can get hold of it—but its armor bonus doesn’t stack with the armor bonus from Heroic Defense. (This can still be a good option for low-level characters and some NPCs).

There are also personal defense items, like protective vests, which can help you survive otherwise lethal weapon attacks and be used with or without other forms of armor. Additionally, you may be able to access armor upgrades as stand-alone “gizmos.” See Chapter XXX for more details on this equipment.

Minimum Damage Dice: Whenever a ShadowFinder character (regardless of class) uses a weapon with which they are proficient, they can choose to roll that weapon’s damage dice, or use the minimum damage dice for their level and that weapon. For example, Selah Jefferson uses a longsword, an item-level 1, 1-handed advanced melee weapon that does 1d8 damage. When Selah is 7th level, she can choose to use the longsword’s d8 damage, or her minimum damage dice in the 1-handed advanced melee weapon category of 2d6. She adds her Strength bonus and Weapon Specialization bonus normally in either case, and uses any special properties or critical hit effects of the weapon (which often makes higher-level weapons useful if you can get them, even if that doesn't change your total damage)

See Page XX for the full rules on determining your minimum damage dice with a specific weapon.

Tomorrow, we'll preview Boosted Rerolls, Heroic Resolve, and Recuperate.

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Those of who pay attention to the comments in my posts will have seen the name David Chart fairly often. David is an award-winning, veteran game designer and producer, and I am thrilled to have him as a paying patron and sponsor.

David is part of a team currently working on a Backerkit campaign for a "Definitive Edition" of the iconic RPG, Ars Magica. I'm excited to see what they do with this, and I bet many of you will be too!

The campaign is already fully funded (by a HUGE margin!), and there are only THREE DAYS LEFT at time of writing. I encourage you to check it out at https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/atlas-games/ars-magica-5th-edition-definitive