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Player > Starships > Other > Weapon Special Properties

Starship Weapon Properties

Some weapons have special properties. These special properties and how they affect starship combat are described here.


Anchoring [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.12

A weapon with this special property fires ammunition tethered to a powerful chain, anchoring the attacking starship to its target. While anchored to each other, neither starship can move farther away from each other than the range at which the anchoring weapon was initially fired. While a starship is anchored and adjacent to its target, its crew can attempt to board the anchored starship at the end of the starship combat round. An anchoring weapon can’t be used to make additional attacks or anchor other vessels if it’s currently being used to anchor a target.
As a special engineer action, an engineer can attempt to sever or dislodge another starship’s anchor with an Engineering check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 × the anchoring starship’s tier). If they succeed, the effects of the anchoring weapon special property end. As a special stunt, a pilot can attempt to shake free of an anchor with a Piloting check at the same DC. If they succeed, the effects of the anchoring weapon special property end and the starship moves up to half its speed. If they fail, the starship moves in a straight line, though no farther than the range allowed by the anchoring weapon.
A starship’s gunner or engineer can detach any number of their own weapons’ anchors as a minor crew action.


Array [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

An array weapon fires at all targets within a single firing arc. The gunner attempts a single gunnery check against each target in the firing arc, starting with those closest to her starship. Each gunnery check takes a –4 penalty, which stacks with other penalties. Roll damage only once for all targets. Critical damage is determined by each target’s Critical Threshold. The gunner can’t avoid shooting at allies in the firing arc, nor can she shoot any target more than once. An array weapon uses two weapon mounts.


Automated [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.13

A weapon with this special property can aim and fire autonomously following its programmed protocols. Unless manually operated by a gunner or instructed not to attack, the weapon fires every round during the gunnery phase, using the shoot crew action with a total gunnery bonus equal to the starship’s tier (minimum +0). It always fires at the closest enemy starship in range; if more than one enemy vessel is equally close, the weapon determines its target among these options at random. Weapons with the mine special property can’t also have the automated special property.


Broad Arc [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property can fire in an arc adjacent to the one in which it was installed with a –2 penalty. A broad arc weapon can fire at only one target at a time.


Bugging [Link]

Starfinder Near Space p.115

Bugging weapons are primarily designed to attach a tracking device to a starship on a successful hit, and thus don’t typically deal damage. The tracking device allows the starship that made the attack to trace the bugged starship even when it engages a cloaking device. The tracking device stops functioning once the bugged vessel enters the Drift. Otherwise, personnel must remove the device from the exterior of the starship and deactivate it (requiring a successful Engineering check with a DC equal to 10 + 1-1/2 × the tier of the attacking ship) in order to prevent being tracked. A bugged ship automatically knows it has been bugged.


Burrowing [Link]

Starfinder Pact Worlds p.153

A weapon with this special property fires a highly focused beam of energy that can slice through shields with ease. Burrowing weapons are always short range and cannot fire at targets outside the first range increment. When a burrowing weapon’s beam hits shields, apply half of its damage to the shields and the other half (rounded down) to the target vessel’s Hull Points. If any of the damage applied to the shields depletes those shields, apply the remainder to the ship’s Hull Points as normal. If a burrowing weapon deals damage to a ship with a damage threshold, halve that threshold before determining if any damage is dealt.


Buster [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.13

A weapon with this special property fires blasts of disruptive energy that devastate shields but have difficulty penetrating physical armor. A buster weapon deals the indicated damage to a starship’s shields. If the shields in the quadrant are reduced to 0, split any remaining damage between the two adjacent quadrants’ shields. If the targeted quadrant’s shields and the shields of any adjacent quadrants are reduced to 0, halve any remaining damage before applying it to the starship’s Hull Points.
During a starship’s next engineering phase after being hit by a buster weapon (whether or not its shields were depleted), the DC of Engineering checks to divert power to the starship’s shields increases by 5.


Connecting [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #20: The Last Refuge (Attack of the Swarm! 2 of 6) p.48

A connecting weapon creates a ropy tendril. If the weapon hits, this tendril connects the firing vessel and the one struck. While maintaining this connection, the weapon can’t be used to connect to another starship. Instead, while connected, both vessels have a maneuverability rating that's one worse than normal and can move at no more than half speed. A larger vessel can tow a smaller one. If both vessels are the same size, either can tow the other. Neither starship can move more than 5 hexes from the other until the connection is broken. A crew member of the firing starship can break the connection as an action during any phase. The pilot of the target starship can do so by using an action to attempt a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 × the tier of the firing ship), breaking the connection on a success. The tendril has the AC and TL of the firing starship and no shields. It breaks if it takes any damage, ending the connection.


Death Field [Link]

Starfinder Alien Archive 3 p.123

Weapons with the death field special property deal normal damage to shields, but they always deal minimum damage to Hull Points. Each time the weapon hits, a wave of negative energy floods the target starship. If the target has active shields on the quadrant hit, living creatures aboard the target take damage equal to the number of dice the death field weapon special property has. If the quadrant has no shields, roll the dice associated with the property once. Each living creature aboard the target vessel takes that amount of damage. This damage bypasses resistances and damage reduction. Undead aboard a targeted vessel instead heal an amount equal to the damage rolled.


Deployed [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.13

A weapon with this special property consists of a launcher containing tiny armed drones that chase and attack nearby foes. A gunner can launch a drone by performing the deploy drone gunner action, causing the drone to appear in an adjacent hex at the beginning of the next round. The drone has a speed of 4 and good maneuverability (turn 1). It can perform one crew action and one minor crew action per round, though these actions are limited to fly, glide, shoot, and snap shot, with total Piloting and gunnery bonuses equal to the launching starship’s tier. The drone attacks only targets that are within its weapon’s first range increment, and a drone can make only three attacks before expending its energy reserves and becoming disabled. For all other purposes, a deployed drone functions as a Tiny starship with an AC and TL equal to 12 + the launching starship’s tier and total HP equal to twice the launching starship’s tier. A drone lacks shields, has no quadrants, and does not take critical damage.
Deployed weapons can’t already have the limited fire special property, and these weapons can be mounted on only a Medium or larger starship. A deployed weapon gains the automated and limited fire 3 special properties.


Drone [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #07: The Reach of Empire (Against the Aeon Throne 1 of 3) p.48

A drone weapon is a heavy or larger tracking weapon that launches automated drones with built-in weapons. These drones can harry an opponent before ramming it in a final attack. For drone weapons, gunnery checks can be made using the gunner’s ranks in the Computers skill plus the gunner’s Intelligence modifier, in addition to the usual methods detailed on page 320 of the Core Rulebook.
During the gunnery phase, when a drone moves toward a target, the gunner can also fire the drone’s built-in weapons at that target. If the gunner does so, the gunnery check used to guide the drone is used for this attack, but with a –4 penalty. In addition, drone built-in weapons are short range. This gunnery check can’t deal critical damage due to a natural result of 20 on an attack roll. If the modified gunnery check is successful, the built-in weapons deal the target the damage shown in the drone special property (see the table). Each time a drone fires its built-in weapons, it reduces the tracking weapon damage it can deal by one die. For capital weapons, you instead reduce the damage multiplier by one each time the drone fires its built-in weapons. A drone is destroyed when it has reduced its tracking weapon damage dice or multiplier to 0.
A drone needn’t enter its target’s hex, but it can. If it does so, the gunner guiding it attempts a final gunnery check. If the gunner succeeds, the drone deals its remaining tracking weapon damage and is destroyed.


EMP [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property emits a beam of electromagnetic energy that does not deal damage to ships or shields, but plays havoc with a ship’s electronic systems. On a hit, an EMP weapon scrambles one of the target starship’s systems, determined randomly. This causes that system to act as if it had the glitching condition for 1d4 rounds. If the system is already damaged, instead increase its critical damage by one level of severity for 1d4 rounds. Whenever an EMP weapon scores critical damage, it scrambles two systems at random. Systems damaged by EMP weapons can be patched or repaired as normal. Functioning shields are unaffected by EMP weapons and completely block an EMP weapon’s effects.


Flak Area [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #20: The Last Refuge (Attack of the Swarm! 2 of 6) p.49

This weapon, which can be mounted only on a turret, launches volatile spores in all directions, acting as a countermeasure and a short-range damage dealer. The gunner for the releasing starship makes one attack roll, applying that roll to all targets (friend and foe) within 1 hex. That same attack roll + 5 can be used against a DC equal to 10 + the speed of any tracking weapon that reaches the releasing starship that round. If the attack roll equals or exceeds the DC for a projectile, that projectile is destroyed before it deals damage.


Force Field [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.14

A force field weapon leverages the attacking starship’s shields as a deadly bludgeon. A force field weapon deals additional damage equal to its starship’s Shield Points (SP) in the weapon’s quadrant, with a maximum bonus damage value equal to the number listed with this special property. A turretmounted force field weapon uses the current SP of the quadrant from which it’s fired. A force field weapon cannot be fired from any quadrant that has 0 SP. Immediately upon firing a force field weapon—and before resolving any enemy attacks during the gunnery phase—the attacking starship loses a number of SP in that weapon’s quadrant equal to the number listed with this special property. Weapons with the force field special property are not compatible with deflector shields.


Gravity Tether [Link]

Starfinder Near Space p.115

Weapons with this property (typically tracking weapons) leave a trail of gravitons. A starship that successfully hits a target with a gravity tether weapon increases its speed by 2 on the following round, but only so long as each hex the attacking starship enters decreases its distance to the target struck with a gravity tether weapon.


Gravity Well [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.14

A gravity well module—which includes gravity generators, gravity well generators, and interdiction arrays—manipulates gravitational forces around the targeted starship, slowing the starship considerably. Until the end of the next piloting phase, the target’s speed is halved, and its maneuverability becomes one step worse (to at worst clumsy maneuverability). A gravity well module requires tremendous energy to operate; it cannot be activated unless an engineer succeeds at a divert crew action to divert power to the weapons that round.


Hacking [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.14

A hacking module remotely overpowers another starship’s onboard computer systems. An affected starship loses all control of its integrated control module (ICM) for 1 round, plus 1 additional round for every 5 by which the science officer’s special gunnery check exceeds the target’s TL. Instead, the hacking module’s science officer gains control of the affected starship’s ICM and can apply the flat circumstance bonuses the ICM would typically apply as penalties of equal value to one or more starship combat checks, representing the hacker’s interference with the thrusters, communications, and even the internal lights of the targeted starship. For example, a science officer who has taken control of a starship’s mk 2 trinode computer (which normally grants +2 bonuses to three different checks) could apply a –2 penalty to three different starship combat checks per round. A heavy or capital hacking module increases the flat penalty value by 1. A capital hacking module can also apply the penalty to one additional starship combat check per round.
The science officer must apply a penalty before the affected starship’s crew attempts a check. Although the science officer knows when one of the affected starship’s crew members is attempting a check and the type of check (such as knowing that a gunner is about to use the shoot action), hacking into the starship provides the science officer no special knowledge of the starship’s armaments or its crew’s capabilities.
A starship’s effective TL against gunnery checks attempted by a hacking module increases by 1 for each anti-hacking system it has. During the engineering phase, an affected starship’s science officer can use their action to end the hacking effects with a successful Computers check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 × the enemy starship’s tier). This science officer gains a circumstance bonus to this check equal to their starship’s number of anti-hacking systems.


Immobilize [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #27: Deceivers' Moon (The Threefold Conspiracy 3 of 6) p.49

A weapon with this quality freezes the target starship in place, making it immobile for 1d4+1 rounds. The affected ship cannot move, change its facing, or perform stunts. During the engineering phase, an engineer can take an action to attempt to restore movement to the ship. If the engineer succeeds at an Engineering check (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × the attacking starship’s tier), the immobilize effect ends.


Intimidating [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.14

An intimidating weapon strikes fear in the crew of any starships hit. After a starship hits another starship with an intimidating weapon, its captain gains one of the following benefits during the following round: the captain can perform the taunt action against a starship that has already been taunted once during that combat, the captain can choose two phases of combat to affect when using the taunt action against that starship, or the captain gains a +2 circumstance bonus to the Intimidate check to taunt the attacked ship.


Irradiate [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property creates a wave of harmful radiation that penetrates shields and starship hulls. Living creatures on a starship struck by an irradiating weapon are subjected to the level of radiation noted in parentheses for 1d4 rounds of starship combat.


Jamming [Link]

Starfinder Near Space p.115

When a weapon with this special property successfully hits a ship in an arc containing a weapon that has the limited fire special property, that weapon jams and cannot be fired on the next round. If a ship hit by a weapon with the jamming property has multiple weapons with the limited fire special property, this affects only one such weapon that is not already jammed, selected at random.


Limited Fire [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property can fire only the listed number of times in a starship combat encounter before it requires a brief period of time (10 minutes outside of starship combat) to recharge and rebuild the weapon’s inherent ammunition. A weapon with this special property is often a tracking weapon.


Line [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property fires a beam in a straight line that can pierce through multiple targets. The gunner attempts a single gunnery check and compares the result to the AC of all ships in a line originating from her starship and extending to the weapon’s range increment. Roll the weapon’s damage once and apply it to each target with an AC equal to or lower than the gunner’s result, starting with the closest. If any of that damage is negated due to a ship’s Damage Threshold, the beam is stopped and the attack doesn’t deal damage to targets farther away.


Mine [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.14

A weapon with this special property (referred to as the launcher) can be mounted only in a starship’s aft quadrant and can be activated only using the lay mines gunner crew action during the helm phase. A launcher cannot be activated using the fire at will, shoot, broadside, or precise targeting crew actions. Launchers are typically tracking weapons with the limited fire special property, and each time one is activated, it spreads the indicated number of mines over an equal number of hexes along the starship’s flight path. A deployed mine has an AC and TL equal to 12 + the launching starship’s tier, and each mine has 1 Hull Point. A mine’s effective speed is 4 when targeted by point weapons.
Anytime a starship exits a hex adjacent to a mine, the gunner who placed the mine attempts an immediate gunnery check against the triggering starship’s TL. If they succeed, the mine deals its listed damage and effects to the starship’s aft quadrant, after which the mine is destroyed. If a starship would enter a hex containing a mine, the gunner who placed the mine instead attempts an immediate gunnery check as above but with a +2 circumstance bonus against the triggering starship’s TL, and any damage is dealt to the starship’s forward quadrant. If a mine’s gunnery check fails, the mine remains in that hex, and the triggering starship can complete its movement without further risk from that mine during that phase.
Mines don’t activate until a few moments after being dispersed so as not to damage their launching starship. If a starship would trigger a mine’s attack during the same helm phase in which it was dispersed, the triggering starship gains a +4 circumstance bonus to its TL against the mine’s gunnery check.


Mystical [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.15

When attempting a gunnery check with a mystical weapon, which is a hybrid device, a gunner can use their ranks in Mysticism in place of either their base attack bonus or ranks in Piloting, and their Wisdom modifier in place of their Dexterity modifier.


Nav-Scram [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.15

A nav-scram module projects a burst of subatomic particles to interfere with and overload navigational equipment. During the next round’s helm phase, the pilot of a starship affected by a nav-scram must roll their Piloting check twice and take the worse result when determining the order in which starships move during that round. A heavy or capital nav-scram module instead causes the affected starship’s pilot to roll Piloting checks twice and take the lower results during the next round. A capital nav-scram module’s effects last 1d3 rounds.


Numbing [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.15

A numbing weapon fires concentrated entropic energy. Living creatures on a starship that takes damage to its Hull Points from a numbing weapon must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × the firing starship’s tier) or take a –2 penalty to starship combat actions for 1d3 rounds.


Orbital [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.15

An orbital weapon is cumbersome yet powerful, designed to devastate immense targets or bombard planetary surfaces. During starship combat, attacks using an orbital weapon take a –4 penalty to the gunnery check if the target is a Medium or smaller vessel, or a –2 penalty if it’s a Large, Huge, or Gargantuan vessel.
A gunner can also fire an orbital weapon at a large, stationary target, such as a settlement or battlefield. The effects follow the guidelines below. These guidelines are somewhat flexible so as to limit the degree to which a PC’s starship might obliterate a key site or to allow an NPC starship’s strike to deal the necessary structural damage without outright annihilating the PCs.
Orbital attacks have an immense range: orbital weapons with short range can strike large targets from low orbit (approximately 1,000 miles for a Golarion-sized planet), medium range orbital weapons are effective from high orbit (approximately 20,000 miles), and long-range orbital weapons can strike from extraordinary ranges of 100,000 miles or more. When an orbital weapon strikes an area, it damages everything in a 100-foot radius for a light weapon, 500-foot radius for a heavy weapon, 2,500-foot radius for a capital weapon, or a mile radius or larger for a spinal-mount weapon. Orbital weapons rarely fire faster than once every 10 minutes during bombardments, and spinal-mount weapons can rarely fire more than once per hour.
Orbital weapons deal 10 × their listed damage to inanimate objects in the affected area, damaging or outright destroying many structures. Against vehicles, living creatures, and other smaller targets in the affected area, an orbital weapon’s damage, effects, and other statistics are best approximated using the trap creation guidelines for a trap with a CR equal to the value listed with the weapon’s orbital special property.
Orbital weapons require additional features to function properly on most ships. Any starship modified by the colony ship framework or space station framework is sufficiently fortified to mount orbital weapons without needing such extra features, reducing an orbital weapon’s BP cost by one-third.


Pod [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.16

A pod weapon is mounted to a starship’s exterior and includes its own power supply, making its PCU cost negligible. A pod weapon does not require a weapon mount but must nonetheless be installed on a specific quadrant. Pod weapons are too unwieldy to mount on a turret, and a starship can mount only a single pod weapon on each quadrant. Any starship can support light pod weapons, whereas a starship must be Medium or Huge to support heavy or capital pod weapons, respectively.
Pod weapons are fragile due to their exposed nature. If a starship’s hull takes damage, any pod weapons in the damaged quadrant gain the wrecked critical damage condition. If a starship takes critical damage to a weapons array that contains a pod weapon, any pod weapons in that quadrant are destroyed, and any ammunition the pod weapon contains explodes, dealing additional damage to the starship equal to the pod weapon’s minimum damage multiplied by its remaining number of limited fire uses.


Point [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property is always short range and can’t be fired against targets that are outside the first range increment. If a tracking weapon would hit a ship in an arc that contains a weapon with the point special property, the gunner of the targeted starship can attempt an immediate gunnery check with the point weapon against the incoming tracking projectile using the bonus listed in parentheses in the weapon’s Special entry (instead of her usual bonus to gunnery checks). The DC for this gunnery check is equal to 10 + the tracking weapon’s speed. If the attack hits, the tracking weapon is destroyed before it can damage the ship. A point weapon can be used to attempt only one such free gunnery check each round, but this usage potentially allows a point weapon to be fired twice in a single round.


Quantum [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

Once a gunner fires a quantum weapon, he can reroll one gunnery check for that weapon after its launch if the result would be a miss. Only tracking weapons have this special property.


Radiant [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #07: The Reach of Empire (Against the Aeon Throne 1 of 3) p.49

Weapons that have the radiant special property cause sensor-overloading blasts upon impact. When a radiant weapon hits a ship, that vessel’s crew members take a –2 penalty to gunnery checks and Piloting checks, as well as checks for the scan, target system, lock on, and improve countermeasures science officer actions. This penalty lasts until the end of the next gunnery phase, until an engineer succeeds at an Engineering check to stabilize the sensors during the engineering phase, or until a science officer succeeds at a Computers check to recalibrate the sensors during the helm phase. The DC for either check equals 10 + 1-1/2 × the tier of the starship that fired the radiant weapon.


Rail [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.16

A weapon with this property launches a massive adamantine-alloy spike designed to effortlessly pierce a starship’s hull. For every 5 by which the gunnery check exceeds the target’s AC, the rail weapon’s damage increases by the amount listed with this special property. Rail weapons require exceptional amounts of energy to operate, and their ammunition lacks any homing capabilities. As a result, a rail weapon can be fired only with the shoot and precise targeting gunner actions, and the attack does not benefit from any science officer actions.


Ramming [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.16

A ramming weapon reinforces a starship’s front quadrant to absorb collisions and deal damage when steered into targets. A ramming weapon must be mounted on a starship’s front quadrant. If a ship with a ramming weapon ends its movement adjacent to an enemy ship in its forward arc and the enemy ship has already moved during this helm phase, it can attempt to ram that ship. The pilot immediately attempts a gunnery check against the enemy ship’s AC. If successful, the attack deals a glancing blow that deals the ramming weapon’s listed damage. If the attacking starship is one size category smaller than the enemy ship or larger, the successful attack also pushes the target ship 1 hex in the direction the attacking ship is facing. If this would push the ship into an occupied hex, the ship does not move but instead takes additional damage equal to the attacking starship’s tier. If the pilot’s gunnery check fails, instead of dealing damage, the attacking ship takes damage equal to the ramming weapon’s minimum damage.
A starship can deal even greater collision damage when using the ramming speed crew action.


Redirect [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #27: Deceivers' Moon (The Threefold Conspiracy 3 of 6) p.49

Some hybrid defensive systems use inverse tractorbeam technology to push attacks away from a vessel, redirecting them toward enemies instead. A weapon with the redirect quality does no damage but can redirect incoming attacks. When the ship is hit by an attack from a direct-fire weapon, the gunner can attempt an attack roll. If the result of this roll is equal to or higher than the attacking ship’s attack roll, the target ship does not take damage. Instead, the gunner can select another ship within 5 hexes and inflict the damage of the attack to that ship instead. Each weapon with this property can be used only once per round, and each gunner can attack only once with a redirect weapon in each gunnery phase.


Restricted [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.17

This weapon or starship component is typically available only to the listed group, such as the Azlanti Star Empire’s Imperial Fleet.


Ripper [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

Firing a blast of metal shards, a weapon with this special property deals terrific damage to a ship’s hull but is almost entirely negated by functioning shields. Halve all damage dealt by ripper weapons to shields. Ripper weapons are always short range.


Scatterscan [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #27: Deceivers' Moon (The Threefold Conspiracy 3 of 6) p.49

Static projectors and some other weapons emit a beam that causes sensor feedback when it strikes a ship’s shielding, rendering sensors inoperable. A ship hit by a weapon with this quality takes a –2 circumstance penalty for 1d4 rounds on attack rolls and Computers checks made as part of science officer actions that use ship sensors (such as scan, target system, and lock on). If the ship is hit multiple times by scatterscan weapons, this penalty stacks. During the helm phase, a science officer can take an action to make a Computers check as they attempt to restore sensor functionality (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × the attacking starship’s tier); the penalty inflicted by the scatterscan property applies to this check. A light scatterscan weapon can affect Medium or smaller vessels, a heavy scatterscan weapon can affect Huge or smaller starships, and a capital scatterscan weapon can affect starships of any size.


Smart [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.17

Only weapons with the mine special property can have the smart special property. These mines (also known as smart mines) have simple thrusters and sensors, enabling them to slowly drift toward hostile targets. At the end of each helm phase after being dispersed, a smart mine moves 1 hex toward the closest enemy starship within 20 hexes. A smart mine does not enter the same hex as any mine dispersed by its launching starship or that starship’s allies, though it can move into a hex occupied by an enemy mine or neutral obstacle; if it does, the smart mine detonates and deals its damage to the other mine or obstacle.


Smoldering [Link]

Starfinder Near Space p.115

Weapons with this property contain chemical agents that burn for longer than normal. At the end of the next round after a successful hit by a smoldering weapon, the arc takes additional damage as indicated by the value shown in parentheses. Typical smoldering damage is half the damage done on the initial attack.


Spore [Link]

Starfinder Pact Worlds p.153

A weapon with this property unleashes a cloud of fast-growing spores into the spaces inside the ship it strikes, causing tremendous damage to the ship’s systems. A ship that takes damage from a spore weapon immediately takes critical damage (note this damage as spore damage, though it functions as normal critical damage). An engineer can repair spore damage by taking an action and succeeding at an Engineering check (DC = 15 + the ship’s tier). If spore damage remains at the end of the engineering phase, the damaged system takes critical damage again (also spore damage); this damage spreads to other systems as normal if a system is wrecked. Multiple hits from a spore weapon do not have any additional effect if the ship is already subject to the effects of spore damage. Spore damage is not passed on to the crew, although there are rumors of a variant weapon that creates hostile plant creatures inside the target vessel once it has been disabled.


Suspending [Link]

Starfinder Near Space p.115

When a weapon with this special property successfully hits a starship, the DC to restore shields to the arc struck by the weapon increases by the value shown in parentheses for 1 round. This applies to the science officer balance action, the engineer divert action, or any other action that would restore shield points.


Sustained [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #14: Soldiers of Brass (Dawn of Flame 2 of 6) p.0

A weapon with this special weapon property becomes more powerful with each successive round it strikes a target. After hitting an opposing starship, if the sustained weapon hits the same target in the subsequent round, it deals an additional die of damage for that hit. As long as the ship keeps hitting its target, the ship can continue to increase the damage dice for sustained weapons, up to a maximum number of additional dice equal to the number listed by this special property. If this weapon changes targets or misses an attack roll, it loses the bonus damage.


Teleportation [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.17

A weapon with this special property is capable of teleporting entire starships short distances, in addition to using teleportation technology to forcibly disjoin enemy vessels to deal damage. After hitting an enemy, the gunner chooses whether to deal damage as well as how to teleport the targeted starship. The gunner can move the targeted starship a distance (in hexes) no greater than the value listed with the weapon’s teleportation special property, and the starship appears in the new hex facing the same direction as when it was hit. Alternatively, so long as the two starships are no more than 5 hexes apart, the gunner can cause their starship and the targeted starship to switch positions, with each vessel maintaining its current facing. Any teleportation movement occurs at the end of the gunnery phase, after resolving all other gunnery phase actions and effects. A teleportation weapon cannot move targets that are more than one size category larger than the attacking vessel, and teleportation weapons are unable to move supermassive targets such as planetoids or other immense objects, at the GM’s discretion.


Tractor Beam [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.304

A weapon with this special property can generate a stable beam of gravitons, creating a tractor beam that can move other ships. In addition to dealing damage, a hit with a tractor beam prevents the target ship from moving normally. The gunner can push or pull the target ship (at a rate of 2 hexes per round, resolved at the beginning of the helm phase), or hold the target ship in place. The pilot of the targeted starship can attempt a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 × the tier of the firing ship) to break free of the tractor beam as her action in a round. When a tractor beam weapon is locked on to a starship, it can’t be used as a regular weapon. A tractor beam is effective only against ships of the same size as the firing ship or smaller; larger ships are unaffected by the tractor beam.


Transposition [Link]

Starfinder Starship Operations Manual p.17

A transposition module disperses magitech beacons attuned to its starship, enabling the ship to teleport short distances. Transposition modules typically have the mine special property and are thus mounted on the aft quadrant and disperse inanimate warp pucks in one or more hexes. However, unlike most mines, a warp puck doesn’t harm nearby starships. Instead, the launching starship’s science officer can try to teleport the starship into the puck’s hex using the recall beacon crew action. After the science officer performs this action, that warp puck is destroyed.
The maximum distance a starship can teleport by activating a warp puck depends on the starship’s size category (for this calculation, Supercolossal = 0, Colossal = 1, Gargantuan = 2, Huge = 3, etc.). A ship cannot teleport farther than a number of hexes equal to the starship’s size category multiplied by the value listed with the module’s special property.


Vandal Drones [Link]

Starfinder Alien Archive 3 p.61

When a weapon with this special property deals Hull Point damage to a ship, pieces of the projectile’s shrapnel animate into drones that continue to rend the target. Each successive gunnery phase, the struck starship loses the listed amount of Hull Points until the drones are either forcibly removed during the engineering phase with an Engineering check (DC 15 + 2 × the engineer’s starship’s tier) or shaken off by the pilot during the helm phase with a successful barrel roll, flip and burn, or flyby stunt. Multiple applications of this effect don’t stack; only the highest damage applies.


Volatile [Link]

Starfinder Adventure Path #06: Empire of Bones (Dead Suns 6 of 6) p.49

Only tracking weapons can have the volatile special property. Such a weapon breaks apart when destroyed before its intended impact. When a volatile projectile hits a starship but a gunner succeeds at destroying the projectile with a point weapon, the volatile weapon still deals half its damage.


Vortex [Link]

Starfinder Core Rulebook p.305

A weapon with this special property creates a spiraling cyclone of gravitons that tears, crushes, and twists everything in its path, reducing a target ship’s speed by half and reducing its maneuverability by one step for 1d4 rounds on a hit. A ship protected by functioning shields takes no damage from a vortex weapon, but the target ship’s pilot must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 × the target starship’s tier) or the hit depletes all Shield Points in that arc.

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