Owen Explains It All -- Command Voice and Sonic Weapons for Starfinder (Patreon)

Before we get to any OGL content, an editorial aside:

First, this blog has spoilers for Dune -- the book, both movies, and the miniseries. So if you want to avoid those, don’t read this.

Second, you may be wondering why is this tagged as an “Owen Explains It All” post, when that’s very unlike my normal marketing tone? Well, because this links into a show from the BAMF podcast I’m on, titled “Owen Explains It All!“. We do an episode every two weeks, picking new things from the zeitgeek to use as inspiration for game material, specifically the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

We have a logo and everything!

If you haven’t already gone and watched the October 25, 2021 episode, we talk about various version of Frank Herbert's Dune. Specifically, how it's very much a skill-based setting, with the Voice, Prana-bindu training, and the Weirding Way as taught and learned abilities. We also spoke about David Lynch's 1984 Dune movie, which replaced much of that with raw technology, in the form of "Weirding Modules," which still required training as the words used impacted its effectiveness.

And all of that leads me to Command Voice and Sonic Weapons, as OGL content

Command Voice Feats

The brain of any sentient is designed to take in information, process it, decide what it means, and use that to form a mental picture of what reality is and what actions should be taken. Normally, speech is processed as a form of information that must be carefully analyzed and considered before being accepted. However, with extensive training it is possible to change the pitch and intensity of the spoken word such that short commands bypass a brain's normal analysis portion of taking in information, and accept it as a decision made by the target's own mind. This is known as the Command Voice.

Command VoiceYou can cause the weak-willed to briefly obey you.Prerequisites: Charisma 13, 5 ranks of Diplomacy, 5 ranks of Intimidate.Benefit: You can expend 1 Resolve Point to use the bully task of the Intimidate skill as a full action, rather than the normal 1 minute. The creature is only bulled for 1 round, plus 1 round for every 5 by which your check exceeds the DC.  Special: An envoy can take Command Voice as an envoy skill expertise, without meeting its prerequisites.

Greater Command VoiceYour command over can cause the weak-willed to briefly obey you.Prerequisites: Charisma 15+, Command Voice, 8 ranks of Diplomacy, 8 ranks of Intimidate.Benefit: You can use Command Voice as a standard action (though it still requires you to expend a Resolve Point). Alternatively you can use Command Voice without expending a Resolve Point, but take a -10 penalty to your Intimidate check when you do so. When using Command Voice, if you exceed the normal DC by 5, the target does not realize you bullied it and it's attitude towards you does not change as a result of it. If you exceed the normal DC by 10, the bullying lasts for 1 minute.Special: A character with 5 or more envoy levels and Command Voice can take Greater Command Voice as an envoy skill expertise without meeting its prerequisites.

Sonic Weapons

Faiet Module

Faiet Modules are hybrid magic item weapons that use the power of specific words or sounds, and converts them into killing energy. They are the ultimate expression of the Faiet Way, a method of influencing and controlling creatures through the use of specific tones of voice and combinations of phrases that bypass much of the psychological defense of a target. However, Faiet Modules take those sounds and convert them into physical harm far beyond some tool of coercion or deceit.

<figure>(Faiet Module art by Jacob Blackmon)</figure>

In addition to a small hand-held emitter, a Faiet Module has a throat mic, which must be worn to use the weapon. The price is included in the price of the module, and it can be added to armor without taking up an upgrade slot. If the operator of the Faiet Module is for some reason unable to speak or make a sound as loud as a shouted word, the module cannot be used to attack,

The results from attacking with a Faiet Module are only partly about accuracy and combat acumen. A great deal of the successful use of a such a module depends on the ability to accurately create the needed killing words, and to do so in rhythm with the sounds of a conflict. As a result, despite being small arms Faiet Modules cannot be used to perform trick attacks (the misdirection required for trick attacks is not compatible with the voice control and forthrightness needed to create effective killing words), and rather than the normal Weapon Specialization a character gains bonus damage equal to their ranks in Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, or Intimidate (whichever is higher). A character that has no ranks in Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, or Intimidate can’t use a Faiet Module at all.

Faiet Modules target EAC, despite doing both sonic and bludgeoning damage. Additionally Faiet Modules have the sound-dependent weapon special property.

New Weapon Special Properties

Sound-dependent: If a target cannot hear you when you attack with a sound-dependent weapon, it cannot be harmed any sonic damage dealt by that weapon. Thus, for example, they don’t deal sonic damage in a vacuum. However, if the weapon does more than one damage type (such as a Faeit Module dealing both sonic and bludgeoning damage), the weapons can still deal the non-sonic portion of the damage.

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Expanded Post

This is an Expanded Post, with the rules for Warpboxing (another item inspired by the same sources) available just for you, the Patrons who provide me with the support that makes these posts possible.

Warpboxing

While witchwarpers are seen primarily as masters of the magic of alternate realities, they are also scholars into the art of altering your current reality by borrowing from different quantum possibilities. A few martial experts have studied this art as well, and developed the concept of Warpboxing--the ability to change your current position in a combat by drawing on an alternate reality where you had already reached some other location.

Basic WarpboxingYou can change your reality through will alone, swapping your current position with a that of a different reality where you are somewhere else.Prerequisites: Charisma 15 or  the Adaptive Fighting feat.Benefit: Whenever you would normally be allowed to move up to your movement (such as when taking a move action, or as part of a trick attack), you can expend a Resolve Point to instead teleport up to 30 feet. You must have line of sight to the point you teleport to, but can teleport through anything other than force effect barriers. If you make a melee attack against a target you use Warpboxing to teleport to be adjacent to on the same turn you teleport, the target is flat-footed against your attack.Alternatively, you can expend a daily use of the Adaptive Fighting feat to use Basic Warpboxing.