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Player > Starships > Role > Chief Mate
Despite the advanced technology that is ubiquitous on most starships, there’s
always a use on board for someone who knows the ship’s various systems well
enough to manually push them to achieve levels of performance their manufacturers
never intended. A starship’s chief mate knows every circuit and conduit within
their starship’s mechanical and electronic systems, and is bold enough to take
risks with these levers, valves, and other intricacies that can help their crew
escape from or win dire combat scenarios.
Being a chief mate is hardly easy,
however, and the role is not for the faint of heart. Accomplishing the off-the-books
feats that are so valuable in starship combat often requires a strong and hardy
individual to physically haul around equipment, force levers past their built-in
safety points, or reconnect systems in ways they weren’t designed for—or else
requires someone nimble enough to accomplish the same tasks via finesse without
resorting to brute force, as the chief mate slides finicky controls into nonstandard
positions or temporarily bypasses a system’s physical safety valves.
The
chief mate assists characters in all other roles on the ship, making the other
characters’ jobs easier and allowing them to accomplish more in their primary
duties since they no longer need to focus on physically manipulating machinery
or equipment. A chief mate acts during the same phase as the crew member she
wishes to assist that round. Despite the role’s name, a ship can have any number
of chief mates (though on a military ship, only one is generally referred to
as the chief mate, and all others are considered deck officers).
As a chief mate, you can take any of the following actions, some depending on your number of ranks in the Acrobatics or Athletics skill, whichever you favor. (Note that the Targeting Aid and Maximize Speed actions both require a minimum number of ranks in Acrobatics or Athletics to perform.) Each of these actions can be taken only during a particular phase, as noted in parentheses next to the action’s name. You must decide at the start of each round which phase you will act in, usually by deciding which other role you’re supporting that round. Unless otherwise noted, each action can be performed only once per round, no matter how many chief mates are on a starship.
You manually adjust additional thrusters and bypass safety systems, shouting
for your fellow crew members to brace themselves for a stomach-turning tactical
maneuver. This bit of risky co-piloting might overtax the starship’s turn radius,
but it can also help the pilot get significantly more maneuverability out of
the vessel when the crew finds itself in a lurch. Attempt an Acrobatics or Athletics
check (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier). If you succeed, the pilot can
make one turn during the round as though the maneuverability of the starship
were improved by one step. This has no effect on a ship with perfect maneuverability.
If you fail your check by 10 or more, you overheat and temporarily degrade the
effectiveness of the starship’s maneuvering thrusters, causing the ship’s maneuverability
to worsen by one step for the rest of this round.
Critical:
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.
You start ripping open access panels, turning secured valves, and manually
bypassing safety systems to help the engineer get more out of their systems
when they take the divert or overpower action. Attempt an Acrobatics or Athletics
check (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier). If you succeed and the engineer
also succeeds at their check to divert, they can provide the normal benefit
from divert to two different systems instead of only one. If the engineer instead
succeeds at their check for the overpower action, they can choose four different
systems to divert power to instead of three. In either case, no system can benefit
twice from the same action. For more about the divert and overpower actions,
see page 323 of the Core Rulebook.
If you fail your check by 10 or more,
you overtax the ship’s systems without adding any useful capacity, and all engineer
actions performed this turn take a –2 penalty.
Critical:
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 of the ship’s sensors to better focus on an opposing starship
can help the science officer get better results when using the ship’s sensors
to glean information about the other vessel. Attempt an Acrobatics or Athletics
check (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier). If you succeed and the science
officer also succeeds at their check to perform the scan action, they receive
one additional piece of information, as though their result were 5 higher. If
you fail the check by 10 or more, you knock the sensors out of alignment altogether,
and no check to scan can be attempted this round as the system recalibrate.
Critical: 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.
If you have at least 6 ranks in Acrobatics or Athletics, you can assist one
specific gunner making an attack by inputting secondary sensor information,
bypassing safety protocols, and even monitoring and adjusting power fluctuations
in a ship’s weapon system to make the ship’s physical weapons more accurate.
You must spend 1 Resolve Point and attempt either an Acrobatics or Athletics
check (DC = 20 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier). One gunner can then take the
fire at will or broadside action without the associated penalty to gunnery checks
(normally –4 for fire at will and –2 for broadside; see page 324 of the Core
Rulebook for more information). If you fail the check by 10 or more, that gunner
instead takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls they make this round. This action
can be taken more than once per round, but only once per gunner acting in that
round.
Critical: 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.
If you have at least 12 ranks in Acrobatics or Athletics, you can help the
pilot get the most speed possible out of your ship, pushing the engines to their
limit. This requires spending 1 Resolve Point and succeeding at an Acrobatics
or Athletics check (DC = 25 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier), at which point
the speed of your starship increases by 2 for this round. This increase is cumulative
with other increases to speed, such as from the engineer diverting power to
the engines.
Critical: You’re able to maintain the engines
for longer. The speed of your starship increases by 2 until the end of the next
round.
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