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Narrative Starship Combat

Stat Blocks

Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 176
Like standard starship combat and tactical combat, narrative starship combat requires stats for the enemies the PCs face as well as stats for the vessel (or vessels) that the PCs control. However, the stat blocks for this system are more streamlined and contain only a few pieces of key information.
Name: This is the name of the ship or threat.
Tier: This is the tier of the ship or threat. Tiers in narrative starship combat work the same way as in standard starship combat for the purposes of determining the difficulty of the encounter and awarding XP. See page 326 of the Core Rulebookfor more information.
Average DC and Hard DC: These two statistics represent the Difficulty Classes of skill checks attempted against the ship. The Average DC is usually equal to 10 + 1-1/2 × the ship’s tier, and the Hard DC is usually equal to 15 + 1-1/2 × the ship’s tier. Note that you can set these DCs for enemy ships according to the alternative system on page 184.
HP: This is the number of hits a starship can take before it’s taken out of the fight. Most starships have 5 HP.
Threshold: This is the number of skill checks that the PCs must succeed at to deal a hit; this statistic appears only on NPC starship stat blocks.
Skill Bonus: This statistic, which appears only on NPC starship stat blocks, is used when an NPC starship attempts a skill check.
Skill Modifiers: Some starships grant bonuses and penalties to certain skills as determined by their systems. These modifiers don’t affect an NPC’s skill check, so this line usually appears on PC starship stat blocks.
Special Abilities: This section of the stat block details any special abilities a starship might have. They’re usually only the purview of NPC starships, but that doesn’t mean a PC’s starship can’t do something unique as well!

Using Printed Starship Stat Blocks

Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 176
The Starfinder RPG presents stat blocks for enemy starships and starship-sized creatures throughout various publications, among them the Alien Archives, the Starship Operations Manual, dozens of Adventure Path volumes, and other sources. A GM can use those stat blocks in narrative starship combat with some adjustments, tweaking starships of similar tiers to make each encounter unique.
Step 1—Determine the DCs: Compare the stat block’s tier to its armor and defensive systems. If the mark number of one of those systems is equal to or greater than the tier, consider adding 1 or 2 to the DCs as calculated for the starship’s tier. If the mark number of one of those systems is less than half of the tier, consider subtracting 1 or 2 from the DCs.
Step 2—Determine HP: In this system, most starships have 5 HP. If the starship is Tiny or an encounter uses more than a few starships to provide a challenge, reduce HP by 1. If the starship is Gargantuan or larger, add an additional HP.
Step 3—Determine Threshold: A starship with no, basic, or light shields has a threshold of 2. A starship with medium shields has a threshold of 3. A starship with heavy or superior shields has a threshold of 4. If the stat block doesn’t specify the category of shields the vessel has, default to a threshold of 3.
Step 4—Determine Skill Bonus: Use the second-highest skill bonus listed (adjusting for any modifiers from the ship’s handling and so on) from the stat block’s Crew section, not counting the gunnery bonus. If only one applicable bonus is listed, use that bonus –3 for the ship’s skill bonus.
Step 5—Consider any Special Abilities: Some stat blocks (especially those of starship-sized creatures) feature interesting special abilities, and simply ignoring them could cause the starship to lose what makes it special. Some special abilities can be used as written as the foe’s tactic for the round, while others require more adjustment. Compare the special ability to the listed tactics, and tweak it to allow it to work within narrative starship combat.

Sample Narrative Starship Combat Stat Block

Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 177
Stellar Protozoa
Average DC 20; Hard DC 25
HP 5; Threshold 3
Skill Bonus +15
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Swallow Starship (Ex) As a tactic, a stellar protozoa attempts a skill check against a PC ship’s Hard DC. If successful, the protozoa swallows the vessel, which immediately takes 1 hit and takes 1 additional hit every following round that it hasn’t yet escaped. A PC pilot of a swallowed vessel can attempt a special Piloting action against the protozoa’s Hard DC to fly their vessel out of the massive creature; succeeding at this action doesn’t count as a successful skill check against the protozoa’s threshold unless the pilot spends 1 Resolve Point.

Converting a Special Ability

Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 177
Alien Archive 2 presents the stellar protozoa, a starship-sized amoeba that can engulf whole vessels! Such an ability is exciting and iconic, and a narrative starship combat against a stellar protozoa that ignores using this ability wouldn’t be as thrilling. But how to implement this complex ability in a much simpler way? One approach is to combine some of the aspects of the Ram and Take Cover tactics. To begin, the stellar protozoa takes the Use a Special Ability tactic (presented below). It then attempts a skill check against the PCs’ ship’s Hard DC. If successful, the PCs’ ship is swallowed! The ship immediately takes 1 hit and takes 1 additional hit every following round that it hasn’t yet escaped. The crew take a chance and attempt to blast their way out from the inside, performing normal crew actions and gaining skill check successes until they reduce the stellar protozoa to 0 HP. On the other hand, the PC pilot could attempt a special Piloting action against the protozoa’s Hard DC to fly their vessel out of the massive creature; succeeding at this action doesn’t count as a successful skill check against the protozoa’s threshold unless the pilot spends 1 Resolve Point. It’s as easy as that!