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Chapter 2: Starship Combat / Critical Effects

Rolling a Natural 20

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 42
The following system for critical effects is an optional way to give any crew member the potential to achieve extraordinary results when that officer attempts a starship crew action, rolls a natural 20, and succeeds at the check. Except for minor crew actions, each of the starship crew actions benefits from this critical success in a specific way, either adding a bonus effect to the action’s typical effects or increasing the benefits provided by the successful action. Actions marked with an asterisk appear in this book.

Captain Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 42
Demand: Your demand echoes throughout the starship. You can attempt the demand crew action with the targeted character one additional time during the current starship combat.
Encourage: You’re able to select just the right motivation for your crew, increasing the bonus you grant to your crew members’ actions to +4.
Moving Speech: The crew is so motivated by your speech that they also gain a +2 bonus to all checks that phase, as if you had successfully used the encourage action to aid them.
Orders: You orders flow so naturally that you can take one additional captain crew action this turn.
Taunt: Your strong words push just the right buttons. The penalty your taunt action applies to an enemy ship continues through all three phases of combat instead of just one.

Chief Mate Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 42
Hard Turn: You’re able to keep up with the pilot’s needs, applying changes with perfect precision. You improve the maneuverability of the ship by one step until the start of the next round.
Maintenance Panel Access: Your assistance gives the engineer more time to perform their action. The next time an engineer attempts an Engineering check to divert power, they can roll twice and take the better result.
Manual Realignment: Your assistance makes the science officer’s scan easier to perform. The next time a science officer attempts a Computers check to scan, they can roll twice and take the better result.
Maximize Speed: You’re able to maintain the engines for longer. The speed of your starship increases by 2 until the end of the next round.
Targeting Aid: You’re able to provide targeting information to all gunners about one specific ship. Choose an enemy starship; all gunners on your starship gain the benefits of the targeting aid crew action for attacks targeting that starship.

Engineer Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 42
Divert: For a crucial moment, you far surpass the power core’s potential output. The results of a critical divert action depend on where you decided to send the extra power.
Engines: You also divert power to the maneuvering thrusters, lowering the turn value of your starship by 1 this round.
Science Equipment: You’re able to divert power in an efficient and balanced way. Science officers can roll their checks twice this round and use the better result.
Shields: You’re able to efficiently route energy to the shields, doubling the number of Shield Points restored to 10% of the PCU rating of the starship’s power core. If this would restore the shields over their maximum value, these excess Shield Points remain until the beginning of the next engineering phase, at which point any excess Shield Points are lost.
Starship Weapons: The augmented weapons run at maximum safe power. For your starship’s weapons, treat each damage die roll that results in a 1 this round as having rolled the die’s maximum result instead.
Hold It Together: Thanks to your inspired repairs, the system you worked on is treated as if its critical damage condition were two steps less severe (wrecked becomes glitching, whereas malfunctioning or glitching become undamaged) for 1d4 rounds.
Overpower: Choose one of the three systems to which you diverted extra power. One of those systems also receives the critical effect benefit of the divert action.
Patch: Your patch was especially robust. If the system takes critical damage again, it removes the patch but doesn’t also apply additional critical damage.
Quick Fix: Your inspired engineering results in a lasting repair, removing the critical damage condition from the system for 1 day instead of for 1 hour.

Magic Officer Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 43
Eldritch Shot: Your magical energy also augments the damage of your selected weapon’s next attack. On that attack roll, the gunner can treat each damage die roll that results in a 1 this round as having rolled a 2 instead.
Mystic Haze: Your conjured haze is especially powerful. The granted enhancement bonus to AC increases to +2 and also affects your starship’s TL.
Precognition: Your precise senses give you detailed information about your opponents’ next move. Increase the circumstance bonus to the Piloting check to +4.
Psychic Currents: You manipulate the currents to push your starship along, increasing its speed by 2 until the start of the next turn.
Scrying: Your divination reveals a weakness in a random quadrant of the targeted starship. The next time one of your starship’s weapons deals damage to the targeted starship’s Hull Points, it has a 25% chance to also deal critical damage to a random system.

Pilot Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 43
Audacious Gambit: Your incredible maneuvering leaves enemy gunners confounded. You gain a +4 circumstance bonus to your ship’s AC and TL until the start of the next round.
Full Power: You maintain steady control over your starship during its movement and add only 1 to your starship’s distance between turns.
Maneuver: Fancy flying keeps you safe through incoming fire. You gain the effects of a successful evade stunt until the start of the next round.
Stunt: The results of a critical stunt action depend on the stunt being attempted.
Back Off: Your starship can move up to its full speed and make turns as normal for its maneuverability rating.
Barrel Roll: The sudden roll makes it difficult to target your starship. You also gain the effects of a successful evade stunt until the start of the next round.
Evade: You successfully anticipate your enemy’s firing patterns. The stunt’s circumstance bonus to your starship’s AC and TL increases to +4.
Flip and Burn: With a flawlessly executed stunt, your starship can move up to its full speed (without turning) and rotate 180 degrees to face the aft edge at the end of the movement.
Flyby: You line up the shot perfectly. The gunner gains a +2 circumstance bonus to the gunnery check affected by this stunt.
Ramming Speed: You fly your ship fast and true. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to the gunnery check to ram the target, and if you succeed, you deal additional damage to the target equal to your starship’s tier.
Slide: You slide and rotate your starship simultaneously. At the end of the stunt’s movement, your starship can turn once.

Science Officer Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 43
Activate ECM or Rapid Jam: Your powerful ECM module disrupts enemy targeting computers. Gunners aboard the target starship also take a –2 penalty to gunnery checks during this round.
Balance: While rebalancing the shields, you discover latent power in the shield systems. Before redistributing the Shield Points, you increase the total Shield Points by 5% of the starship’s PCU rating, up to the shields’ maximum value.
Improve Countermeasures: Your powerful countermeasures send false signals to the enemy targeting systems. Gunners aboard the target starship also take a –2 penalty to gunnery checks during this round.
Insidious Electronics: Your electronic attack triggers devastating side effects on the target starship. You also gain the critical effect of either the activate ECM, scan, or target system science officer action (your choice).
Lock On: Your weapon lock greatly improves your gunners’ accuracy. Until the start of the next round, any attacks by your starship score a critical hit on a natural roll of 19 or 20.
Recall Beacon: You coordinate your starship’s teleportation flawlessly. Upon moving to the warp puck’s hex, your starship can turn to face any direction before starting to move.
Scan: Your insightful scans reveal a weakness in a random quadrant of the targeted starship. The next time one of your starship’s weapons deals damage to the targeted starship’s Hull Points, it has a 25% chance to also deal critical damage to a random system.
Target System: Your sensors keep a continuous lock on the enemy starship. The effects of target system last until the start of the next round.

Open Crew Actions

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 43
Lead Boarding Party: Your assault team inflicts devastating damage to a nearby system. You inflict critical damage to an additional starship system, determined randomly.

Archives of Nethys

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