Scaling Equipment

Creating new gear involves imagination and a little math. You can approach your designs from either direction. If you want, you can start with an idea (like a magitech sniper rifle that transforms its bullets into razor-sharp beetles which burrow into their target) and choose options that support that concept. You can also just choose abilities you like and use those to inform the item’s appearance and flavor. Here are a few key terms and considerations.

Item Level: An item’s level determines its basic statistics, such as the armor bonus it provides or the amount of damage it deals. Additional choices you make can modify these values. A scaling item’s level shouldn’t exceed your level (unlike purchased or found items, which might exceed your level).

Build Points and Perks: Over time, an item gains a small number of Build Points (BP) that you can use to purchase special abilities called perks. A perk might adjust the item’s basic statistics or grant a special function. Most perks cost 1 BP, though some cost 2 or more. A few perks have a different BP cost for certain item types.

Flaws: Sometimes an item is imperfect or is designed to be less effective in one way to make room for some other feature. When creating an item, you have the option to select a flaw. If you do so, the item gains one additional BP.

Price and Upgrade Cost: A scaling item’s level determines its price when purchased, as shown in the Scaling Gear Costs table. To upgrade to a higher-level version of the item, you must expend resources (usually UPBs or appropriate materials) equal to the upgrade cost of the item’s new level. If you increase an item’s level by more than 1, you must pay the upgrade cost for each level gained. For example, scaling a level 7 sword to level 10 would require paying the level 8, level 9, and level 10 scaling costs (14,750 credits total). The Upgrading Gear section (page 146) further details changes you can make to your equipment and how your character can do the work themselves to potentially defray the cost or time taken.

You might have noticed that weapons and armor of the same level in the Core Rulebook can vary in price. To keep the item creation process simpler, the Scaling Gear Costs table on page 140 provides just one price per item level. However, with your GM’s permission, you can either reduce the table’s prices and upgrade costs by 10% or increase them by 10%. If you reduced the costs, reduce the number of Build Points the item receives by 1. If you increase the costs, increase the item’s number of Build Points by 1.

There’s no shortage of armor types at every level, but if you want an outfit that’s tailor-made to your needs, scaling armor lets you build what you want, keep upgrading it, and maintain consistent fashion sense over your character’s adventuring career.

Starfinder presents a vast array of weapons. While there’s no shortage of armaments at any level, if your character wants to keep using the same type of weapon (like a laser pistol or flame doshko), the next-best model might not be accessible and affordable for at least three levels. With scaling weapons, you can create and upgrade your favorite for each level of play. Designing a new weapon involves several steps, many of which affects the item’s statistics. You can examine these steps in any order, and unless otherwise noted, the effects are cumulative.

Weapon Damage Dice: Some effects increase or decrease the size of the damage dice used, which use the following progression, from smallest to largest: 1d3*, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, and 1d12. You can’t apply a modification if it would decrease the damage die’s final size below 1d3 or above 1d12.
*To roll a d3, you can roll a d6 and divide the result by 2, rounding up (e.g., a roll of 5 is a result of 3).

Once you’ve gained a level or two, it’s likely time to upgrade your gear. When making upgrades, there are two important considerations: who’s doing the work and how substantial the changes are. These considerations affect how long the process takes and how much it costs, occasionally having additional impacts. Performing an upgrade typically takes 8 hours. When you upgrade an item, use its new item level to calculate its base statistics like Armor Class bonuses and damage dice, modified by perks, item type, and other properties. If the new level grants more perks than the previous item granted, choose and apply an additional number of perks equal to the difference. Rarely, the new item might grant fewer perks, such as using the optional price adjustment (see the sidebar on page 143) to upgrade a high-price item to a low- price item of a higher level; if so, remove a number of perks equal to the difference in BP. When upgrading the item, you can also replace some of the old item’s features (see Upgrade Scope below).