Defense

A starship’s Defense represents how difficult it is to hit in combat. It’s the attack roll result that an enemy ship needs to achieve a hit. In general, starships are easy to hit, which is why they rely on armor to absorb damage (see Starship Armor, below).

A starship’s Defense is partly determined by the skill of the pilot or the quality of its automatic pilot system.

Piloted Ships

A starship with a living pilot has a Defense equal to:

10 + starship’s size modifier + pilot’s class bonus to Defense + pilot’s Dexterity modifier

Starship’s Size Modifier: The bigger a starship is, the easier it is to hit in combat. The smaller it is, the harder it is to hit. Size modifiers are shown on Table: Starship Sizes.

Pilot’s Class Bonus to Defense: The pilot imparts her class bonus to Defense to the ship’s Defense. This bonus applies even if the starship is flat-footed or otherwise denied the pilot’s Dexterity bonus to its Defense.

All starship pilots are assumed to have the appropriate Starship Operation feat. Consequently, they apply their full class bonus to Defense (instead of one-half the modifier) to a starship’s Defense.

Pilot’s Dexterity Modifier: In any given round, a pilot may choose to transfer her full Dexterity bonus to the starship’s Defense. However, doing so forces the pilot to focus entirely on flying the ship, and consequently the pilot loses the Dexterity bonus to her own Defense for the round.

A pilot cannot apply her Dexterity bonus to a starship’s Defense if she or the starship is flat-footed.

Autopiloted Ships

Every starship comes equipped with a basic autopilot system that enables it to dodge enemy fire without need for a pilot. A starship on autopilot has a Defense equal to:

10 + starship’s size modifier + autopilot system’s equipment bonus

Starship’s Size Modifier: Size modifiers are shown on Table: Starship Sizes.

Autopilot System’s Equipment Bonus: An autopilot system provides an equipment bonus to Defense depending on the ship’s size: Huge +1, Gargantuan +2, Colossal +3. A ship equipped with an improved autopilot system (see Starship Defense Systems) gains a higher bonus.