Crew Actions

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Crew Actions

As starship combat progresses, the various crew members aboard each vessel can take the actions their roles allow. You can take one action (usually defined by your role) per round of starship combat. If a starship’s tier is less than 1, treat it as 1 for this purpose. Certain actions require a minimum character level or proficiency in a certain skill. Others may be granted by certain classes or subclasses. NPC crew members are assumed to have appropriate skills equal to the starship’s tier. Class features and items affect crew actions only if specifically noted in the class feature or item.

• Captain Actions
  • Demand
  • Encourage
  • Taunt
  • Orders
  • Calculated Strategy
  • Moving Speech
• Engineer Actions
  • Balance Shields
  • Reroute Power
  • Hold It Together
  • Patch
  • Overpower
  • Quick Fix

• Gunner Actions
  • Fire At Will
  • Shoot
  • Broadside
  • Barrage
  • Precise Targeting
• Pilot Actions
  • Fly
  • Maneuver
  • Ramming Speed
  • Stunt
  • Full Impulse
  • Audacious Gambit

• Science Actions
  • Jam Targeting Scanners
  • Scan
  • Secure the System
  • Lock On
  • Reverse Shield Polarity
  • Target System
  • Sabotage Subsystem
  • Improve Countermeasures

Push

Push actions (indicated in an action’s heading) are difficult to perform but can yield greater results. You can’t perform a push action if the necessary system is malfunctioning or wrecked.

Changing Roles

You can switch between roles (or assume a role if you don’t already have one), but this change must occur at the start of a round before the engineering phase. You can switch to the captain or pilot role only if that role would otherwise be vacant (or if the character in that role is unable to take actions).

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Captain Actions

As a Captain, you can take any of the following actions, depending on your character level, during any phase of combat. Your starship's Complexity Modifier (CM), found on the Ship Mechanics page, may impact the difficulty of these actions.

Demand (Any Phase)

You can make a demand of a crew member to try to improve his performance. You grant a +4 bonus to one specific check by succeeding at an Intimidate check (DC = 15 + your starship’s Complexity Modifier). You must use this action before the associated check is rolled, and you can grant this bonus to an individual character only once per combat. Demand might result in negative consequences if used on NPCs, and you can’t make demands of yourself.

Encourage (Any Phase)

You can encourage another member of the crew to give her a bonus to her action. This works like aid another, granting a +2 bonus to the check required by a crew action if you succeed at a DC 10 check using the same skill. Alternatively, you can grant this same bonus by succeeding at a Persuasion check (DC = 12 + your starship’s Complexity Modifier). You can’t encourage yourself.

Taunt (Any Phase, Push)

You can use the communications system to broadcast a taunting message to the enemy vessel. You select an enemy vessel and a phase of combat (engineering, operations, or attack), and then attempt a Deception or Intimidate check (DC = 15 + the enemy starship’s Complexity Modifier). If you are successful, each enemy character acting during the selected phase takes a –2 penalty to all checks for 1d4 rounds; the penalty increases to –4 if the enemy’s check is made as part of a push action. Once used against an enemy starship, regardless of the outcome, taunt can’t be used against that starship again during the same combat.

Orders (Any Phase)

At 4th level, you can attempt to grant an additional action to one member of the crew by succeeding at a difficult skill check at the beginning of the phase in which the crew member would normally act. The type of check depends on the role of the crew member targeted: a Computers check for a science officer, an Engineering check for an engineer, a Gunnery check for a gunner, and a Piloting check for a pilot. The DC of this check is equal to 14 + your ship's Complexity Modifier.
If the check succeeds, the crew member can take two actions in his or her role this round (both when he or she would normally act), but he or she can’t take the same action twice. You can’t give yourself orders. You can only attempt this action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Calculated Strategy (Any Phase, Push)

At 6th level, your action is one of the following depending on the phase and role you're taking on. The DC for this check is 15 + your ship's CM. Once anyone onboard has succeeded the Calculated Strategy action no one onboard can attempt the action again until after 1d4 + 1 rounds.

Calculated Repair: Engineering Phase; You make an Engineering check and if you pass, you aid a single crew member acting as an Engineer to grant them advantage on their actions and you restore 2d8 Hull Points up to your ship's maximum.

Calculated Maneuvers: Operations Phase; You make a piloting check, and if you are successful, you coordinate with your pilot in such a way that at the end of the Operations phase your pilot may attempt a "Turn in Place" stunt and move up to 3 hexs, turning as normal.

Calculated Scan: Operations Phase; You make a Computers check, and if you are successful, if a Scientist successfully scans a vessel this round, they gain 2 pieces of information right away and in the next Gunnery phase your ship acts as if the "Target System" was performed focusing on a system you choose when taking this action.

Calculated Attack: Attack Phase; Make a Gunnery check with a weapon of your choice, if you are successful, the weapon chosen can be fired multiple times this round. This means turrets, wide arc weapons, and similar can be used by multiple gunners this round.

Moving Speech (Any Phase)

At 12th level, you can use your action to give a moving speech to the crew during one phase of combat with a successful Persuasion check (DC = 15 + your Ship's Complexity Modifier). For the remainder of that phase, your allies have advantage on their checks.

Engineer Actions

As an engineer, you can take any of the following actions, depending on your skill in Engineering. These actions can be taken only during the engineering phase. Unless otherwise noted, each action can be performed only once per round, no matter how many engineers are on a starship. Your starship's Complexity Modifier (CM), found on the Ship Mechanics page, may impact the difficulty of these actions.

Balance Shields (Engineering Phase)

You can balance the shields, redirecting power from one quadrant to protect another. With a successful Computers or Engineering check (DC = 13 + your ship's CM), you can shift Shield Points (SP) from the shield in one quadrant to the shield in another quadrant, including to depleted shields (after rebalancing, every shield must have at least 10% of the total current SP). Alternatively, you can add up the SP from all the remaining shields and evenly distribute them to all four quadrants, putting any excess SP in the forward quadrant.

Reroute Power (Engineering Phase)

You can divert auxiliary power into one of your starship’s systems, giving it a boost. This requires a successful Engineering check (DC = 11 + your starship’s Complexity Modifier), and the results depend on where you decide to send this extra power. If you send it to the engines, your starship’s speed increases by 2 this round. If you send it to the science equipment, all science officers receive a +2 bonus to their crew actions this round. If you send it to the starship’s weapons, treat each damage die that rolls a 1 this round as having rolled a 2 instead. If you send it to the shields, restore an amount of Shield Points equal to 5% of the PCU rating of the starship’s power core, up to the shields’ maximum value. Evenly distribute the restored Shield Points to damaged quadrants.

Hold It Together (Engineering Phase)

You can hold one system together by constantly patching and modifying it. If you succeed at an Engineering check (DC = 15 + your starship’s Complexity Modifier), you can select one system; that system is treated as if its critical damage condition were two steps less severe for the rest of the round (wrecked becomes glitching, and a malfunctioning or glitching system functions as if it had taken no critical damage). This check isn’t modified by penalties from critical damage to the power core.

Patch (Engineering Phase)

You can patch a system to reduce the effects of a critical damage condition. The number of actions and the DC of the Engineering check required to patch a system depend on how badly the system is damaged, as indicated on the table below. Multiple engineers can pool their actions in a single round to effect repairs more quickly, but each engineer must succeed at her Engineering check to contribute her action to the patch.
The number of actions required can be reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1 action) by increasing the DC by 5. If you succeed at this check, the severity of the critical damage is unchanged, but it is treated as one step less severe for the remainder of the combat, until 1 hour has passed, or until the system takes critical damage again (which removes the patch and applies the new severity). This action can be taken more than once per round, and this check is not modified by any critical damage to the core.

Critical Condition	Actions to Patch	DC
Glitching	1	14
Malfunctioning	2	18
Wrecked	3	22

Overpower (Engineering Phase, Push)

If you are at least 6th level and are proficient in Engineering, you can attempt an Engineering check (DC = 15 + your starship’s Complexity Modifier) to squeeze more out of your ship’s systems. If you’re successful, this functions as the reroute power action, but you can send extra power to any three systems listed in that action. This action and the reroute action can’t be taken in the same round.

Quick Fix (Engineering Phase)

If you are at least 12th level and proficient in Engineering, you can try to repair a system quickly by attempting an Engineering check (DC = 15 + you starship’s Complexity Modifier). If successful, you remove all critical damage conditions from one system for 1 hour (allowing it to function as if it had taken no critical damage), after which time it must be repaired as normal.

Gunner Actions

As a gunner, you can take any of the actions below, depending on your character level. These actions can be taken only during the attack phase. Though each of a starship’s weapons can be fired only once per round, multiple gunners can take actions to fire different weapons in a single round.

Fire at Will (Attack Phase, Push)

Instead of firing just one weapon, you can fire any two starship weapons. Each attack is made at a –2 penalty.

Shoot (Attack Phase)

You can fire one of your starship’s weapons. If you use a turret weapon, you can target a ship in any arc.

Broadside (Attack Phase, Push)

At 6th level, you can fire all of the starship weapons mounted in one arc (including turret-mounted weapons). Each weapon can target any vessel in that arc. All of these attacks are made with a –2 penalty.

Barrage (Attack Phase, Push)

At 8th level, you can fire any number of the starship weapons mounted in one arc. All of these attacks are made with a –4 penalty. Reminder: if weapons in an arc are critically damaged past glitching that arc cannot be used in this action.

Precise Targeting (Attack Phase)

At 12th level, you can perform a very precise strike by firing one starship weapon at a single target. If the attack hits and the enemy ship’s shields on that quadrant are depleted before your attack, you deal critical damage to a random system. If the attack would normally cause critical damage, the normal critical damage applies as well (meaning your attack could potentially deal critical damage multiple times; determine which system is damaged as normal each time).

Pilot Actions

As a pilot, you can take the following actions, depending on your Piloting skill. These actions can be taken only during the operations phase. For reference: your starship's Complexity Modifier (CM) can be found on the Ship Mechanics page and starship's Maneuverability Pilot Skill Modifier (MPSM) found on Space Combat.

Fly (Operations Phase)

You move your starship up to its speed and can make any turns allowed by its maneuverability. This doesn’t require a skill check.

Maneuver (Operations Phase)

You move your starship up to its speed. You can also attempt a Piloting check (DC = 15 + -2 × your starship’s MPSM) to reduce your starship’s distance between turns by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for each turn you attempt this.

Ramming Speed (Operations Phase)

You make a Piloting check (DC = 13 + your ship's CM). On a failure you move your ship up to half it's movement. On a success, you move your starship up to it's speed and ram another vessel with your forward arc facing it. Unless your ship is 2 sizes larger than the target, your staship's speed immediately drops to 0. Roll 1d6 for each size class your starship is (1 for tiny, 2 for small, etc) and apply that amount of kinetic damage to the enemy vessel in the corresponding arc, taking half the damage dealt to your forward arc.

Stunt (Operations Phase, Push)

You can attempt any one of the following stunts. The DCs of the Piloting checks required and the results of success and failure are described in each stunt’s description. By attempting stunts, pilots push their starships beyond their design specifications to enact daring moves. Several stunts affect your starship’s Armor Class (AC) and Target Lock (TL).
Back Off
The starship moves up to half its speed in the direction of the aft edge without changing facing. It can’t take any turns during this movement. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 12 + your ship's CM + (-2 × your starship’s MPSM)). On a failed check, your starship moves backward only 1 hex. If you fail this check by 5 or more, your starship does not move at all and takes a –4 penalty to its AC and TL until the start of the next round.
Barrel Roll
The starship moves up to half its speed and flips along its central axis. For the next attack phase, the starship’s port shields and weapons function as if they were in the starboard firing arc and vice versa. The starship reverts to normal at the beginning of the next round. To perform this stunt, your starship must be Large or smaller and you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 14 + your ship's CM + (-2 × your starship’s MPSM)). On a failed check, the starship moves half its speed but doesn’t roll. If you fail by 5 or more, your starship moves half its speed, doesn’t roll, and takes a –4 penalty to its AC and TL until the start of the next round.
Evasive Maneuvers
The ship moves up to its speed and can turn as normal, but it gains a +2 bonus to its AC and TL until the start of the next round. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 14 + your ship's CM + (-2 × your starship’s MPSM)). If you fail, the starship moves as normal. If you fail the check by 5 or more, the starship moves as normal, but it also takes a –2 penalty to its AC and TL until the start of the next round.
Flip and Burn
The ship moves forward up to half its speed (without turning) and rotates 180 degrees to face the aft edge at the end of the movement. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 15 + (-2 × your starship’s MPSM)). If you fail this check, your starship moves forward half its speed but doesn’t rotate.
Flyby
The ship moves as normal, but it can move through 1 hex occupied by an enemy starship without provoking a free attack (as described in Moving through Other Starships). During the following attack phase, you can select one arc of your starship’s weapons to fire at the enemy vessel as if the vessel were in close range (treat the range as 1 hex), against any quadrant of the enemy starship. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 15 + your ships CM - (2 x MPSM). You must define your path before attempting the check.
If you fail this check, your starship still moves as described above, but you do not gain a free attack and follow the normal rules for attacking based on your starship’s final position and distance, and the movement provokes a free attack from that starship as normal.

by Austin Graham

Slide
The starship moves up to half its speed in the direction of either the forward-port or forward-starboard edge without changing its facing. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 10 + your ship's CM + (-2 × your starship’s MPSM)). If you fail this check, the ship moves forward up to half its speed and can’t make any turns.
Turn in Place The ship does not move but instead can turn to face any direction. If the ship has a maneuverability of clumsy, it takes a –4 penalty to its AC and TL until the start of the next round. If it has a maneuverability of poor, it instead takes a –2 penalty to its AC and TL until the start of the next round. Ships with a maneuverability of average or better do not take a penalty. This stunt doesn’t require a skill check.

Full Impulse (Operations Phase, Push)

If you have profficiency in Piloting, you can move your starship up to 1.5 times its speed. You can make turns during this movement, but you add 2 to your starship’s distance between turns.

Audacious Gambit (Operations Phase)

At 12th level and profficiency in Piloting, you can attempt a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 2 × your starship’s MPSM) to pull off complex maneuvers. You can move your starship up to its speed, treating its distance between turns as if it were 2 lower (minimum 0). You can also fly through hexes occupied by enemy vessels without provoking free attacks. At the end of your starship’s movement, you can rotate your starship to face in any direction.
If you fail the check by 3 or more, you instead move as if you had taken the fly action and the ship can only take the Drift Minor Action the next round, though the pilot may still make the Pilot Check at the start of the Operations Phase as normal.

Science Officer Actions

As a science officer, you can take any of the following actions, depending on your Computers skill ability. These actions can be taken only during the helm phase. Your starship's Complexity Modifier (CM), found on the Ship Mechanics page, may impact the difficulty of these actions.

Sensor Range

Reminder: Sensors can discern information about a target up to five times the sensors’ range away from the ship, but such checks take a penalty of –2 for each range increment beyond the first to the target. For example, if short-range sensors (range = 5 hexes) were used against a target 12 hexes away, the check would take a –4 penalty.

Polarize Hull (Operations Phase)

Using your starship's sensors you can attempt to broadcast a jamming signal from your ship to make it harder to hit you. When you take this action, you must make a Computers check, DC = 12 + 2 x your ship's CM. On a success, your ship's AC and TL values have a +2 bonus during the next Attack Phase. This action can only be taken once per round.

Scan (Operations Phase)

You can scan a starship with your sensors to learn information about it. This action requires your starship to have sensors. You must attempt a Computers check, applying any modifiers from the starship’s sensors. The DC for this check is equal to 10 + the CM of the starship being scanned + its bonus from defensive countermeasures. If you succeed at this check, you learn the first unknown piece of information on the following list. For every 5 by which you exceed the check, you learn another unknown piece of information. Subsequent checks reveal new pieces of information, continuing down this list.
1. Basic Information: Living crew complement and ship classification, size, speed, and maneuverability.
2. Defenses: AC, TL, total and current Hull Points, total and current Shield Points in each quadrant, and core PCU value.
3. Weapon: Information about one weapon, including its firing arc and the damage it deals, starting with the weapon that uses the most PCU. Repeat this entry until all the starship’s weapons are revealed.
4. Load: Information about how the starship’s expansion bays are allocated and any cargo the starship might be carrying.
5. Other: Any remaining ship statistics.

Jamming Signal (Operations Phase)

Using your starship's sensors you can attempt to broadcast a jamming signal from your ship. Make a Computer's check with a DC of 13 + (2 x CM) adding any bonuses from you ship's sensors to your roll. On a success, enemies have a -3 penalty to Science Actions made against your ship. This action can only be taken once per round.

Lock On (Operations Phase, Push)

At 3rd level, you can lock your starship’s targeting system on to one enemy vessel. This action requires your starship to have sensors and you must have Scanned the ship successfully at least once. When you take this action you must attempt a Computers check, applying any modifiers from the starship’s sensors. The DC equals 13 + the CM of the target starship + its bonus from defensive countermeasures. If you succeed, your starship’s gunners gain a +3 bonus to gunnery checks against the target for the rest of the round. This action can be taken only once per target per round.

Reverse Shield Polarity (Operations Phase, Push)

At 3rd level, you can quickly modify the shield grid to cycle to different frequencies to resist damage. When you take this action you must make a Computers or Engineering check with a DC of 12 + 2 x your ship's CM. This action can only be taken once per round.
On a success, the current shield point values of each qudarant of your ship's shields are doubled for the rest of the round. Should you fail by 5 or more, a radom shield grid drops to half it's current value (minimum 1) until the end of the round or it is fully depleted.
Your shields cannot gain this benefit again for another 1d4 + 2 rounds.

Polarize Hull (Operations Phase)

At 6th level, you use your starship’s systems to generate a polarized field on the hull. Make a Computers or Engineering check, DC = 12 + 2 x your starship’s CM, and on a success, any damage to your ship’s hull (Hull Points) this round is reduced by half. This effect lasts until the end of the current round. This action can only be taken once per round.
After a success, the ship cannot perform this action again for 1d4 + 2 rounds.

Target System (Operations Phase, Push)

At 6th level, you can use your starship’s sensors to target a specific system on an enemy starship. This action requires your starship to have sensors and you must have Scanned the ship successfully at least once. When you take this action you must attempt a Computers check, applying any modifiers from the starship’s sensors. The DC equals 15 + the CM of the enemy starship + its bonus from defensive countermeasures.
If you succeed, choose one system (core, engines, life support, sensors, or weapons). The effect lasts until the end of the current round. While a ship is affected, your gunners gain the benefit of the Lock On action against the target, and the next successful attack your ship makes in the next deals an additional 1d8+2 to its damage dealt. If the attack deals critical damage, it affects the chosen system. The attack is considered a critical hit on both a natural 19 and 20. For any further critical damage resulting from the attack, determine which system is affected randomly as normal. Your starship’s sensors can target only one system on a specific enemy starship at a time, though this action can be used by multiple officers to concurrently target systems on multiple starships.

Sabotage Subsystem (Operations Phase, Push)

At 12th level, you can hack into an enemy ship's systems to wreak havoc. You must have Scanned the target successfully at least once, and you use your ship's sensors to broadcast your hack. Make a Hacking (Computers) check against the enemy ship's computer, applying any modifiers from your starship’s sensors. The Starship's computer tier is half the Ship's tier. You can find the DCs on the Computers page.
On a success, a system of your choice suffers a stage higher of it's current Critical Condition until the end of the round. On a failure, the target registers the attempted hack and knows who attempted to hack their system. You cannot attempt this action again for 2 rounds.

Improve Countermeasures (Operations Phase)

If you are at least 12th level and you are profficient in Computers, you can try to foil enemy targeting arrays and incoming projectiles by attempting a Computers check. The DC equals 15 + the Complexity Modifier of the target starship + its bonus from defensive countermeasures. If you’re successful, gunners aboard the target starship have disadvanatge on gunnery checks during this round.