This next part of my Starfinder Core Rulebook review starts to dig into the mechanics more deeply as I read through chapters 2, 3 and 4; Character Creation, Races and Classes. (Previous sections of the review are initial impressions and flavour.)
Character Creation
Let’s start at the beginning of character creation with ability scores. Starfinder offers three options for generating starting ability scores.
The primary method is a point buy system which is somewhat streamlined and simplified compared to Pathfinder, whilst also reducing potential to dump stats and build heavily min-maxed characters due to the ruling that scores dropped below 10 don’t give the player any extra points. Thus, by default, any characters with scores below 10 will be through racial reductions. As someone who’s fairly opposed to min-maxing and who GM’s for a group of players who tend to prefer balanced ability score generation mechanisms I’m a fan of the simple system here.
Secondly we’re offered arrays of ability scores which we can choose how to assign to the six abilities, with both expert and more balanced arrays available. I assume these standard arrays can be easily mimicked with the point buy system and just offer a fast path for people creating characters quickly.
The third option is the classic rolling for abilities, which is suggested to be used at the GM’s discretion. The inclusion of this method is almost certainly a nod to classic D&D and long-term players of d20 based systems who enjoy this old-school ability generation method. I’d expect most groups to go with the default point buy and won’t be using rolled abilities at my Starfinder table.
After ability score generation, the next thing we learn about is the various pools of points characters have: hit points (HP), stamina points (SP) and resolve points (RP). As I read through the rules I’m finding these pools of points to be quite a novel evolution of the core mechanics. They add an extra level of tactical thinking to the game whilst reducing the need for that bane of 3.x edition games — the 15 minute adventuring day.
Stamina represents the characters ability to shrug off hits and ignore damage, with any damage taken during combat being deducted first from the character’s Stamina pool. Stamina points can be restored with a 10 minute rest and the spending of one Resolve Point. This has similarities with 5th edition D&D, where one can spend hit dice on a short rest to recover HP, but requires a bit more careful tactical thought as a characters Resolve also powers various class features.
Resolve Points are a unified pool to power class features, much like Grit, Ki, Panache, etc. in Pathfinder. In Starfinder each class uses the same pool with the same name, only with the number of points modified by the classes core ability. Some class features require a fixed number of Resolve to use, others require only that the character has one or more Resolve Point available and a third style requires more than one Resolve Point and immediately consumes a portion of remaining Resolve Points. My expectation is that players will naturally be inclined to preserve their Resolve for “get out of jail” style effects and it will be very interesting to see how their use evolves and what tactics become popular as players get used to the system.
Hit Points are as expected — once a character’s Stamina pool has dwindled damage is deducted from Hit Points. When a character hits 0 HP they are dying. One thing that is new about HP is that a character’s race influences their starting HP (but not their increased HP at level-up). Characters start with racial HP + class HP and gain class HP each time they level up.
Multiclassing is nice and simple. Each of the class tables provides the usual modifiers to BAB, saves, etc. such that taking a level in a another class means just adding the modifiers (and class features) from the new level in the appropriate class. There’s also some mention in this section of a built in technological mechanism to enable characters to completely retrain. I think this is a nice touch and have certainly had characters where their flavour and story evolved such that some initial character building decisions didn’t make sense. A retrain option is very compelling in the Paizo default of long running Adventure Paths.
The Character Creation chapter is rounded out with a section on Character Themes. I found these to be a very interesting development for the 3.x d20 system. Their implementation is much more mechanical than the similar backgrounds in 5th edition D&D and thus they have a much larger impact on the character. Each character chooses a theme which represents their background/training/upbringing. These themes provide a +1 modifier to a single ability score as well as various benefits at 1st, 6th, 12th and 18th levels, such as theme appropriate skill boosts.
Races
The Races section was much more compelling than I had anticipated. I was initially expecting that I’d want to play primarily humans in any Starfinder game (or the classic fantasy races), but the book manages to pack so much evocative information in each two page spread, including a “playing a…” sidebar which suggests typical roleplaying traits for each race, that I can easily imagine playing any of the core races:
- Androids are a technological chassis animated by a soul. Dexterous and intelligent, they struggle with emotions and interactions with non-androids. They can even use an armour upgrade to enhance their technological body.
- Humans are a versatile and ambitious race who’ve explored more of their solar system and the universe than any of their Pact World neighbours.
- The mysterious, noble and four-armed Kasathas came to the Pact Worlds from a system with a dying star and live aboard a colony ship orbiting the system’s sun.
- Lashuntas have innate psychic abilities and limited telepathic powers. They are split into two sub-races; one strong but unobservant, the other clever yet fragile.
- Once part of a hive-mind insectile race the Shirrens are telepaths with a dedication to harmony and an addiction to decision-making and individualism.
- The reptilian Vesk are natural-born warriors; covered in horns with a thick scale hide and heavy muscles. They were recently at war with the Pact Worlds.
- Ysoki are a nimble and intelligent race of ratfolk tinkerers who’ve spread throughout the solar system.
Classes
Classes in Starfinder are all novel, yet many are familiar and draw from well-known classes in Pathfinder and D&D with new traits fitting a science-fantasy game:
- the Envoy is akin to a science-fantasy spin of the Bard. They are a Charisma based class that can buff allies or debuff enemies and are a natural fit for the Captain role on a starship. I’d really like to see a class like this in fantasy d20 games that gives the Charisma/buff/debuff mechanics of the Bard without the musical flavour.
- Mechanics are, perhaps obviously, good at engineering-related skills and particularly hacking computers. They have two paths; they can either be the pet class and have an upgradable drone companion to fight alongside them, or have upgraded themselves with an AI enhanced exocortex which improves their combat abilities.
- Mystics are the science-fantasy spin on the divine casters (Clerics, Druids, etc.) of fantasy d20 systems. They are Wisdom-based spell casters with a Connection to a power which grants them their spell casting and innate healing abilities.
- the Operative is the modern/science-fantasy take on a Rogue. They are versatile in their skill proficiencies and have Trick Attacks which allows them to deal additional damage and apply conditions to foes they catch unaware.
- Solarian’s are a completely new class which is clearly inspired by the Jedi in Star Wars. They are a front-line martial class from a monastic order which understands the dualism of supernovas and blackholes, channelling and balancing the powers of each to augment their combat abilities.
- a Soldier is the Starfinder take on the classic Fighter. They are proficient with more weapons and armour than any other class.
- the Technomancer is the second spell-casting class in Starfinder, more akin to classic arcane casters using Intelligence as their spell-casting ability. They use a combination of magic and technology, manipulating magic through technology and enhancing technology with magic.
A really nice touch in the Classes section is that each class comes with four example builds which help players build a character which follows a certain theme such as Spellsoldier for the Soldier class or Scoundrel for the Envoy. These will be a massive boon to new players and seasoned players who are new to the system, as well as GMs trying to build NPCs or pregenerated characters.
One interesting aside on the core classes — both the Mystic and Technomancer are 6th-level casters. Starfinder doesn’t (yet?) have a core class with 9th level spell access. This also means (based on a cursory look) that there are no spells higher than 6th level in the Starfinder Core Rulebook. This seems like an obvious avenue for a future hardback, but perhaps it’s a conscious design decision to mitigate the effect often observed in Pathfinder and D&D where the power level of the Wizard exceeds that of most other classes at higher levels?
Archetypes in Starfinder are very different to both Pathfinder and 5th edition D&D. In Pathfinder they are optional choices which modify the core-class, adding and removing features to customise it to a theme. In 5e they are purely additive subclasses, specialisations of the core class which grant extra features and every character must choose one. Archetypes in Starfinder are rather different. Much as in Pathfinder they grant alternate class features, effectively modifying the core class, however they aren’t class specific. Instead they are concepts which transcend classes and allow characters to specialise along a theme. Each core class has a defined list of altered or replaced features at set levels (2, 4, 6, 9, 12 and 18) and each archetype grants alternate features at set levels, substituted for the identified core class feature at that level — therefore if your archetype grants a feature at 4th level it will replace or alter a 4th level feature from your core class. Note: not all archetypes will replace core class features at all available levels.
The Starfinder Core Rulebook contains two Archetypes; the Phrenic Adept allows any character to have some psychic abilities, more significant than is provided by the psychic races but not as powerful as a spellcaster. The Phrenic Adept provides archetype features at every archetype modifiable level (2, 4, 6, 9, 12 and 18). The other archetype in the Core Rulebook is the Starfinder Forerunner, a specialist member of the Starfinder Society who explores places most Pact World citizens have never been. The Forerunner archetype provides archetype features at 2nd, 4th and 9th level which make a character better able to survive away from civilisation.
Undoubtedly Archetypes will be a primary mechanism for delivering new material to players. It will be very interesting to see what other class independent flavour and features the developers come up with in future expansions.
With the usual Race and Class considerations and the more unique Themes and Archetypes, as well as the already significant amount of specialisation and customisation options for each class, one can easily imagine that it will be easy to field multiple characters of the same class in Starfinder without them feeling too similar.
Characters in Starfinder are undoubtedly more complex than in 5th edition D&D and probably on a similar level to Pathfinder (though there are certainly non-core classes in Pathfinder which are much more complex than any of the classes in Starfinder), although my previews of the game lead me to believe the complexity at higher levels won’t be on par with Pathfinder. Any Starfinder player has a lot of customisation options for their character with only the Core Rulebook, and one can easily see how the customisation options can be increased without having to immediately start adding extra classes to the game. This feels like some solid game design from Paizo and I’m very excited to see some Starfinder characters in action.