Today, we are putting out the last of our two major StarCraft balance updates for the year. Updates are going to slow down for a while, now that these updates are out. Huge thanks to Xhupi for helping me with these updates.
StarCraft Update Log: September 2020
All Resources
-We performed our first major art pass of all StarCraft documents. This art pass was dedicated to crediting fan artists whose work was used and removing poor quality images. Because the StarCraft RPG was started as such a casual, off-time project, I was very flippant in where I grabbed images from and was headless of what their source was. I am trying to be better now. Many images are now credited to the artist that created them, while other images have been deleted or replaced with in-game screenshots. Additional art passes will occur over time, as more images are replaced.
Core Rulebook
Combat Rules
o Charging must now move at least 4 squares and be to the closest square within your reach of the opponent.
o Specifies now that the opportunity attack of suppressing fire are not additional shots, and are specifically part of the original expenditure of ammunition.
o You may not spend a morale point if it would not change the outcome
o When you are dropped to 0 hit points, you lose 3 morale.
o Clarified how to determine disfigurement if there was no crippling wound
· Equipment
o *Major* Clarified the difference between powered armor and super heavy armor. Now, what was previously the ‘Powered’ armor type is the Super Heavy armor type, which is the class of armor with the highest DR and resistance rating of 4-5. Powered armor is now defined by Super Heavy armor with the Powered Armor OR Protoss Powered Armor traits. Numerous changes were made to make this more clear.
-Defensive Fighting gives +2 damage resistance per rank to the ‘Super Heavy’ armor class----All armors that were the Powered armor classification are now Super Heavy
-All upgrades that required Powered armor types now require Super Heavy armor types
-Redid and expanded the wording on the Powered Armor item trait
-Redid and expanded the wording on the example armor rules in the Core Rulebook equipment chapter.
-Redid the wording of armor equipment in Supplement 3: The Protoss
*Major* Most suits of terran power armor now have more damage resistance. Very heavy power armor types has increased resistance rating.
-Marauder Armor has increased to 21 DR, +5 resistance rating
-CMC-200 has increased to 13 DR
-CMC-300 has increased to 15 DR
-CMC-400 has increased to 16 DR
-CMC-405 has increased to 12 DR
-‘FIrebat’ Armor has increased to 21 DR, +5 resistance rating
-CMC-400 Elite has increased to 16 DR
-‘Umojan’ Armor has increased to 17 DR
-‘Ripper’ Armor has increased to 12 DR
-‘HERC’ Armor has increased to 21 DR, +5 resistance rating
The carrying capacity now has information about keeping a spare weapon on a sling.
Psionics Rules
o Clarified that a non-boosted power may be manifested at any PL between the minimum PL required for the PL up to the character’s PL, chosen before rolling the manifestation check.
· Psionic Powers
o Dominate – no longer has gains additional targets at higher PL.
o Toughness no longer gains double bonus at PL 8+
o Telekinetic Grasp – changes the stunned condition to tormented and staggered. High PL allow for effecting multiple targets in a burst
Item traits
o Stun – the DC has been reduced to 10+ ½ damage from 20+ ½ damage
o Defensive – the bonus to melee defense has been reduced to +1
Talents
o Masterful Parry: increase the base defensive item trait by +2 in place of applying the bonus to ranged defense
o Defensive Fighting has Changed again, restoring some power to lighter armored targets. Light armored characters gain a total of two defense per rank, and heavy armored characters gain +1 defense and +1 damage resistance per rank of the talent.
o Knife Master allows you to still add ½ your strength to damage to the blades, in addition to the benefit of adding agility to damage.
Vehicles
o Changed several vehicles to have a ‘square’ space: car, dropship, hellion, transport,
o *Major* Performed a vast overhaul of vehicle and construct weapons. Nearly every vehicle weapon got changed, usually for higher accuracy, but also some damage and penetration. See the Compendium at the end for the list of vehicle weapon changes.
Specializations
o Leader – temporary hit points generated by rally are a flat 5 instead of leadership ranks
o Commodore – the retributive opportunity attack ignores restrictions on firing mode and range
o Figurehead – combat influence effect no longer triggers even if they fail to hit the target’s resolve
o Monk – no longer gains the bonuses while they are dual wielding
Creature Types
o *Major* The Fury Creature ability, Rapid Flight, has been completely overhauled. Playtest showed that flying creatures were far too slow and did not play into the fantasy of how they were in the game. There are not three types of rapid flight levels, Steady, Soaring, and Swift. You choose which flight level is chosen for the creature. Some levels are faster than others, while the slower speeds give protection against crippling wounds and losing control.
-Steady flyers gain 30 acceleration rating and 300 maximum speed, and are immune to mobility wounds and losing control
-Soaring flyers gain 60 acceleration rating and 600 maximum speed, and are resistant to mobility wounds
-Swift flyers gains 90 acceleration rating and 900 maximum speed, but suffer -4 damage threshold
o The Airborne Native creature ability changed its benefits to +20 acceleration rating and +150 maximum speed when used with rapid flight
o The Kakaru NPC is a steady flyer
Supplement 1
Playtesting high level campaign play has show that zerg of all flavors are too vulnerable at high levels. Increases to armor and stronger swarms has helped to keep them more threatening.
· Zerg Armor heavier than light has been substantially strengthened, gaining 50% increased damage resistance and with a higher resistance rating. Zerg Juggernaut armor has changed type to super heavy armor type.
· The swarm template now grants more hit points and accuracy and also increases the swarm’s reach by 1.
· *Major* The accuracy for evolution powers has changed. The accuracy for evolution powers is now your ranged skill + your strength score, instead of instinct. Furthermore, there is clarification that evolution powers do not gain max attack overages
· *Major* The change to flyers is repeated in the Zerg Supplement, under the Fury creature type. Most flying Zerg, including those that did not have the Fury creature type, gained one of these new flying speeds.
o The Brood Lord is now a steady flyer
o The Corrupter is a soaring flyer
o The Devourer is a soaring flyer
o The Guardian is a steady flyer
o The Mutalisk is a swift flyer
o The Overseer is a soaring flyer
o The Brood Queen is a soaring flyer
o The Scourge is a swift flyer
o The Viper is a soaring flyer
· Other assorted changes to Zerg
o The baneling gained +4 accuracy with its volatile explosion
o The Corrupter lost Airborne Native and gained Collateral Damage, which causes its ranged attack to massive bonus damage against massive targets
o The Defiler’s Rejuvenating Rot also heals when nearby enemies take plague damage.
o The Devourer gained the Degrading Spores ability, which causes it to reduce target’s damage resistance by 2 and acceleration rating by 5 every time it hits.
o The infestor’s Expunged Chemicals trait gives now also gives their evolution powers +4 accuracy.
o The Brood Queen’s spore cloud effects have been improved
-The Thermal Spores now function with 50 squares
-The Infusion spores now give +40 regeneration
-The Pherome Spores now summon more reinforcements, and faster
o The Scourge gains the Collateral Damage ability, which causes its plasma blast attack to gain vastly improved damage and penetration against massive targets
· Swarms are now more powerful, to be better worth their threat level
o Swarm hit points have improved to 30x base creature’s max HP
o Swarm accuracy gained +10, on top of its original accuracy
o Swarms gained +1 reach
Supplement 2
· Equipment
o Added the Automated Medical Delivery System armor upgrade, a hands-free medical delivery system that heals all nearby allies and synergizes well with an arm mounted MDS
· Pyromancy
o *Major* This update also concludes the overhaul of pyromancy powers. To fix the inconsistencies of burning between powers and bring the discipline closer to the original intent, pyromancy now deals with a special form of the burning condition called pyre. This is a stacking condition with a shared damage based on the pl of the manifester. The discipline primarily deals with building stacks of pyre and interacting with these stacks. Pyre stacks have no penetration, and thus are weak against heavily armored targets, and cannot be applied to shielded targets like the burning condition. Getting rid of pyre stacks works like getting rid of the burning condition, and can get rid of multiple stacks at once.
o Combust is the primary way of starting pyre stack on enemies, and can become faster to cast at higher psi levels. However, adding stacks on targets with pyre requires a high pl, and is slower.
o Cinder wave now can immediately trigger the damage from existing pyre stacks on enemies and can build on top of those stacks, in addition to its base damage and large area.
o Flare no longer has a sonic component to stagger enemies but gains a utility in the ability to reveal cloaked and hidden enemies in its light radius
o Brimstone form no longer prevents augmentation powers or healing, and no longer grants a shield, but now deals much more shield-ignoring, piercing damage to the caster. This power can increase the number of pyre stacks you deal at once at a high pl. However the additional damage added to pyromancy powers has been reduced.
o Fire Wall loses its hailfire, but adds a pyre stack to any creature that crosses through the wall – the only way to gain stacks without hitting a creature’s toughness.
o Incinerate now has a greatly reduced base damage and targets fewer foes, but gains hailfire equal to the number of pyre stacks, making it an ideal finisher for high armor targets after several rounds of building up pyre stacks.
· Vehicles
o Squadrons now may have up to 9 members, and accuracy, defense, damage division, and hailfire bonuses/penalties are halved. Squadrons have proven to be excessively strong, especially in comparison to the new capital ships. Since additional pilots are usually far less potent than the squadron leader they are following, this change still makes sense in fluff as well.
o Clarified how squadrons with energy shields take damage
o Changed the following vehicles to have more ‘square’ space: Liberator, Medivac, Robo-Harvester, Valkyrie
o The Long-Ranged Nano Wave on the medivac now heals more (+20 hit points)
· Talents
o Anything is possible: no longer heals on rally, but instead allows rally to generate an extra morale point at results of 30+
· Specializations
o Military commander no longer doubles the amount of morale points generating while rallying
Supplement 3
· Equipment
o Added the Wrist Blade weapon trait to the Psi Blade, which gives rules on how the wrist mounted beam projectors work for the psi blade. It cannot be disarmed, is drawn as a free action, and when not ignited does not interfere with use of two-handed weapons
o Added the Protoss Powered Armor trait, which specifies the differences between terran and protoss powered armor, and allows the new super heavy armors to still gain some powered benefits
· Classes
o The Champion (Aiur Elite Psychic Warrior) ability overwhelming fury now grants double damage from maximum attack overages instead of Hailfire (1)
· Psionic Entities
o Psionic entities now gain a +15 accuracy bonus on their offensive psionic powers.
Supplement 4
· Primal Zerg have also received the bonuses to flight speed, but in different ways
o The Wings evolution gives a base speed of 60 with a maximum speed of 600
o The Floater evolution gives a base speed of 30 with a maximum speed of 300; if the creature has both flight and floater, it instead gives +20 flight speed
o Extra Wings gives +30 acceleration rating and +300 maximum speed
o The Raider archetype gives +150 maximum speed and +20 acceleration rating, while still allowing flight in space.
o The example primals have been updated with these changes
· Numerous NPCs have been updated for the flyer speed changes
o The generic Raptor NPCs with rapid flight have become swift flyers
o The mutalisk variants have become swift flyers
· The Bunkerlisk NPC gained +8 penetration with its Heavy Gauss Rifle (under the Gun Battery trait)
· Primal Armor has increased in line with zerg armor – see supplement 1 details.
*Major* Genetic Quirks give an additional +1 to the stat at levels 10, 20, and 30. NOTE: this is an increase to the attribute, not a further increase to the maximum
Supplement 5
· Renown and Variant Classes
o Fervent destroyer’s burning rage ability also works with the new pyre condition
o The Elite Sovereign ability Worth Believing in increases the target’s morale bonus by 5 instead of double.
o The Crusader’s zeal ability now instead allows the crusader to obtain up to 7 positive morale markers
o The Auto-repair rig now only works on constructs up to colossal size
o The Elite Wingman mastery now instead acts as if you had additional wingmates
o The Avenger’s Vigor of the Hunt now correctly states for kills no more than 4 levels under you.
· Void Armor has become substantially more powerful. Fear the hybrid.
· Updated the new ability of the Hybrid Nemesis, so that its long ranged use of annihilation beam requires an attack roll, but gains Hailfire (2)
· The Xel’Naga Guardian Construct, Charged Construct, and Void Shard gained +10 accuracy on all their attacks
Resource 2
· The Aquatic Broodlord gained the Steady Flyer trait
· The Royal Overseer gained the Steady Flyer trait
Resource 4
· The Leviathan Primal archetype can use its Destroyer of Worlds ability as a standard action instead of a free action once per turn.
Vehicle Weapon Changes:
· Kickback rule removed
· Added Heavy Shell rule for increased penalties for shooting beyond max range
· Antimatter Missile Battery: -20 damage, -5 power rating
· Arclite Siege Cannon: +10 accuracy, + 20/60 damage, Power rating +5/+5 power rating, gained heavy shell trait and loses twin-linked
· Autocannon: +7 accuracy
· Backlash Rocket Battery: +10 accuracy, +20 damage, +5 power rating
· Battle Cannon: +8 accuracy
· Broodling Strike: +14 accuracy, +60 damage
· Burst Cannon: +7 accuracy
· Charged Pulse Blaster: Gained Hailfire 1
· Concordance Laser Cannon: +13 accuracy, +105 damage, +20 penetration, +5 power rating, lost unstoppable
· Crucio Siege Cannon: +10 accuracy, +20/60 damage, +5/+5 power rating, gained heavy shell trait and loses twin-linked
· Eviscerator Rail Gun: +13 accuracy, +25 damage, +5 power rating, lost twin-linked
· Gatling Cannon: +8 accuracy
· Ion Cannon: +7 accuracy
· Khaydarin Beam: +13 accuracy
· Lexington Rocket Battery: +9 accuracy, +20 damage, +20 pen
· Neutron Flare: +5 accuracy
· Particle Disruptor: +7 accuracy, distant range
· Phase Cannon: +10 accuracy
· Phase Disruptor: +10 accuracy
· Photon Blaster: +7 accuracy
· Pulsar Beam: +9 accuracy
· Punisher Cannon: +90 damage, +5 power rating, +20 penetration, gained heavy shell trait
· Railgun: +13 accuracy
· Repulsor Cannon: +20 accuracy
· Scarab Blast: +15 accuracy, +90 damage, +5 power rating
· Scatter Cannon: +10 accuracy
· Tesseract Beam: +8 accuracy
· Thermal Lance: +14 accuracy, +10 damage, +5 power rating
· Thor’s Hammer Cannon: +10 accuracy, +10 damage, +5 power rating, gained heavy shell trait
· Torpedo Battery: Shots -> 30 Torpedoes
· Unstable Payload: +3 accuracy
· Void Orb Cannon: +10 accuracy
· Warpspace Cannon: +15 accuracy