[Starfinder] Dreamscarred Press Announces: the Psionics Guide Playtest

[Lord_Gareth]

Welcome back, folks. You may have caught the news that DSP has been working on a Starfinder-compatible psionics supplement. We're pleased to announce the beginning of the playtest for the Psionics Guide with the first part, Signal Confirmed (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DmcJzCs8dzoFJC1CTOjnXJsLyyw2E0yMSJE6118zVbM/edit?usp=sharing).

This initial release includes the information needed to play our psionic races (as well as how they have fared in the far future), the aegis class, our soulknife archetype for any Starfinder class, and a scattering of psionic feats. As always, questions, comments, discussion, feedback, and criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Edit: Now including Part Two, Encryption Decoded (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eJTPjjnh2x9KIkowalufnJqia6Rxdy1hVciIgAHo4lg/edit?usp=sharing), which debuts the specialist class, further psionic feats, and the psionic powers relevant to the specialist class, as well as the mechanical systems needed for manifesting powers.

Now including three brand-new Themes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n2PFMvMvl-8ZgyzgChrA-9Mkh7jzzb0Ju6ujdTg_PRM/edit#heading=h.7a4hnsxb662j)

[Halae]

First little bug I noticed; the Improved Damage Astral Suit customization makes no mention of heavy weapons. even if you take a heavy weapon, does this mean that the customization doesn't allow you to affect said heavy weapon? Does it qualify as a longarm for damage? Clarification required.

That said, I'm loving this. I was a big fan of the Aegis in Pathfinder, and with Starfinder coming out and me being a nerd for critters like Zerg and Tyranids, this should give me a nice option to refluff the Aegis suit as living armor. Definitely looking forward to seeing what I can do with that.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Alright! Time to get my Mass Effect on. Just as soon as I can convince people to try Starfinder lol

[khadgar567]

Finaly we have aegis back. Now only thing we need is rest of the book.

[Sayt]

Soulknife seems good, but isn't quite right on the mindblade feat: Mindblade mentions you can take weapon focus mind blade instead of with a specific weapon. Weapon focus et al apply to weapon classes in SF, not individual weapons.

Also, it'd be neat to see some shiniest for a soulknife Solarion!

[TheRagi]

Page 14:

Infiltrator: Elans do not take penalties to skill checks for not being native to an area.

I couldn't find what this is refering to. Are there penalties like this in Starfinder? Not even recall knowledge checks seems to have something related.

[Kaidinah]

Page 14:

Infiltrator: Elans do not take penalties to skill checks for not being native to an area.

I couldn't find what this is refering to. Are there penalties like this in Starfinder? Not even recall knowledge checks seems to have something related.
I thought I found something mentioning that in the core rules, but it looks like I was mistaken. This will be addressed. This will most likely become a bonus to elans disguising themselves as medium humanoids of some sort.

[MilleniaAntares]

I don't know much about Starfinder, but I can at least help with some minor errors:

"Ruled over by ogliarchs at the center of cult-like followings,"

I think you mean oligarchs?

[Lord_Gareth]

I don't know much about Starfinder, but I can at least help with some minor errors:

"Ruled over by ogliarchs at the center of cult-like followings,"

I think you mean oligarchs?

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

Thank you, I can't believe I missed that.

[MilleniaAntares]

It's interesting that the mind blade stuff is "choose a weapon, the mind blade acts like that weapon except for damage",rather than the PF version's "here're your standard mindblade forms, you can add properties with a feat, or you can spend a feat to emulate another weapon".

Is there a particular reason for that?

[Domar]

Just gave it a quick skim but the Aegis doesn't seem to have a power armor option.

[khadgar567]

Just gave it a quick skim but the Aegis doesn't seem to have a power armor option.
yep that was the first ting i see to.

[TheRagi]

Just an editing consideration, in the SF core rulebook, the races ability scores bonuses are displayed in the traditional order: str > dex > con > int > wis >cha (except for damaya lashunta), making it easier to compare them. In this document, they are quite random.

Page 8:
Dromites are excellent members of any team. The bonus provided by a dromites aid another and covering fire actions is improved by 1.

Why not Harrying Fire also?


Page 11:
Whenever the duergar would fail a saving throw or skill check, they can reroll it as a free action. The results of the second roll stand. Whether they succeed or fail, the duergar becomes shaken for 1 minute after rerolling a saving throw or skill check in this fashion, and cannot use this ability again until they take a 10 minute rest to recover Stamina Points.

A free save reroll for every encounter seems a bit too much, even if you remain shaken for the rest of combat. But the skill check reroll kinda breaks it – a skill monkey duergar could get really annoying, using this for every skill check he fails outside of combat, and making the party wait 10 minutes while he recovers before trying again.

Unless you can only reuse this ability if you spend resolve points to recover stamina? So a duergar who didn't suffer any damage can't use it again? That would be peculiar.

The closest thing to this is the Shirren communalism, but much simpler (once per day, ally within 10 feet, attack or skill check reroll, better result, no penalties) to manage.


Page 14:
When an elan takes damage, they can spend power points to reduce its severity. As a reaction, they can reduce the damage they are about to take by 2 hit points for every 1 power point they spend.

So this one can't be used to avoid damage to stamina points? Just to be clear.


Page 19:
Half-giants receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against all fire spells and effects

You could include the Burning condition caused by weapons in this one, much more common than anything with the [fire] descriptor.


More to come, I believe, still going slowly over the stats blocks for races.


Something that just came to mind: is there anything planned for starship combat? Maybe a brand new psionic-themed role to act in the gunnery phase, to debuff enemies or try to cause direct damage, making the bloody thing go faster. I wouldn't mind installing in my ships a psionic crystal energy-focusing thingie to turn psionic talent into damage.

I believe Star Trek had some sort of telepathic character, and Star Wars also played with the idea of force users scanning ships for each other (I think the cartoons or video games also have Jedi striking directly against the ships with their telekinesis).

[Halae]

Just gave it a quick skim but the Aegis doesn't seem to have a power armor option.

You know, this is the first thing I said to a friend when I asked about the Aegis. "Does it have a power armor option?"

The answer was basically that there isn't, but that it's not a huge issue because the aegis suit can supply strength (and constitution) enhancements otherwise. I'm not sure I agree with that logic, as it feels like there's room for an aegis suit that makes you physically larger and increases your reach for when you're playing a melee Aegis. Melee is already not great, but having that option would allow for something extra to the concept.

Is it truly necessary? Probably not, but it feels like the "armor user" class missing a power armor option is a bit off. That's just my take on it, though.

[khadgar567]

You know, this is the first thing I said to a friend when I asked about the Aegis. "Does it have a power armor option?"

The answer was basically that there isn't, but that it's not a huge issue because the aegis suit can supply strength (and constitution) enhancements otherwise. I'm not sure I agree with that logic, as it feels like there's room for an aegis suit that makes you physically larger and increases your reach for when you're playing a melee Aegis. Melee is already not great, but having that option would allow for something extra to the concept.

Is it truly necessary? Probably not, but it feels like the "armor user" class missing a power armor option is a bit off. That's just my take on it, though.
you are the third person to ask where is the power armor option mate.

[Lord_Gareth]

You know, this is the first thing I said to a friend when I asked about the Aegis. "Does it have a power armor option?"

The answer was basically that there isn't, but that it's not a huge issue because the aegis suit can supply strength (and constitution) enhancements otherwise. I'm not sure I agree with that logic, as it feels like there's room for an aegis suit that makes you physically larger and increases your reach for when you're playing a melee Aegis. Melee is already not great, but having that option would allow for something extra to the concept.

Is it truly necessary? Probably not, but it feels like the "armor user" class missing a power armor option is a bit off. That's just my take on it, though.

The thing is, the actual power armor rules don't fit in well with Aegis; they're built on assumptions like power cells & ability score replacement (not enhancement) that are not a great fit with the idea of summoning a suit. Doing a mode where you create your own power armor would end up weirdly better than all other power armors while also being mechanically inferior to not using power armor (because it replaces your ability scores and a melee concept will have higher native physicals than the armor grants).

TL;DR simulating power armor through customizations and chassis choice fits the Aegis's paradigm better and doesn't involve rewriting the power armor rules.

[Ilorin Lorati]

I must say, I'm a little bit disappointed at the race selection. A vast universe to explore and the player races presented are entirely the same ones that they've always been, plus one new (previously published but recent) selection. I would have hoped to see some new (and, more importantly, alien) races for this book in a similar manner to how races were presented in the SFCRB.

[Mehangel]

I must say, I'm a little bit disappointed at the race selection. A vast universe to explore and the player races presented are entirely the same ones that they've always been, plus one new (previously published but recent) selection. I would have hoped to see some new (and, more importantly, alien) races for this book in a similar manner to how races were presented in the SFCRB.

I actually am relieved about their choice to provide conversions for their psionic races. I am however a bit disappointed with the Soulknife archetype, as it isn't nearly as awesome as Pathfinder's (most notably due to the lack of Bladeskills).

[Ilorin Lorati]

If they went with SFCRB's style, rule conversions and basic fluff would have still happened, it's just that a full race spread would have had new races for most of the options. Alas, it's too late to do anything about this since it's all been written.

Edit (Avoiding double posts):

Typos

In Psionic Meditation, full-round action should be full action.

Critique

I'm not sure if this is an intentional design decision or not, but there are a significant number of free action abilities throughout this playtest (over 30 by my count, including different uses of single abilities), even more than there are swift actions abilities in the same playtest and significantly more than there are free action abilities in the SFCRB (of which I think there might be one or two at most).

Because of this, I would like to take a moment to note that the action types have been shifted around significantly, and most things that were a free action should instead be a swift action under Starfinder rules. In particular, the SFCRB notes that only things that need to be able to be used an unlimited amount of times should be free actions; I don't think the reason is gone into here, but I think it's so that players are forced to make more choices between their different abilities. If this has not already been brought to the designers' attentions, I would ask you all to look over the free action abilities and make changes as appropriate.

Additionally, the Duergar ability Trust Your Fear feels like it should be a reaction when comparing it to other, similar abilities like the Elan's Resilience and Resistance abilities.

[birbthulhu]

Untold generations of conspiracy and secrecy will justify some strong distaste among the Elan for the ease of information tracking in a digital space age, but there's one note in the CRB you should consider. It doesn't mention how common it is, but it's very clear when it talks about vital statistics such as age; medical treatments and life extension can allow basically anyone to become "nearly immortal," so I don't think an Elan would need to take extra steps just to hide their longevity. Some might anyway, but it doesn't seem strictly necessary.



Jumping ahead a bit, let's talk mindblades. They need work. A smooth dice per level scaling is nice on the surface, but does not mesh with how Starfinder weapons progress. Basic kinetic mindblades are okay early on and edge slightly ahead since they get their second die two levels earlier, but dueling swords match them at 11, pass them at 15 by three dice, and end 5 dice ahead. It's a decent low to mid level Operative weapon, but loses to daggers at 14 by 1 point and is behind by 3d6 at level 20. Pistols match at 10, pass at 13 by 1 die, and the switch to gyrojets ends with 5d12 at 20 instead of 5d6. Energy pistols come out ahead the moment their second level is available. Soulknife delays but does not completely close these gaps.

I don't know of any energy-based basic melee weapons to compare to, but you'll still fall behind pretty substantially later.

Improved Mindblade is overpowered early on and then falls behind. 2d6 kinetic at level 2 is stronger than all your other options. By the time other weapons get their second die at level 6 or 7, the Mindblade deals 4d6 damage. Energy weapons losing a die doesn't matter yet because you're still ahead of everything. Kinetic melee doesn't fall behind until level 14 or so, when longswords pass them by 3.5 damage. 13.5 at 17, 10 at 18 since you get that extra die, and then 24.5 damage at level 20. A Soulknife's d8s again delay this, but their level 20 49.5 damage does not keep up with the longsword's 63 average damage. You start extremely strong, but eventually fall very far behind.

Ranged kinetic mindblades keep pace with longarms until level 20, when 11d6 at 60 ft really isn't impressive compared to 12d8 at 100. Soulknife is better here, but still slightly behind despite a long career of being better except for range.

An energy longarm will stay ahead of laser rifles until level 17, pulls ahead again the level after, and then is one die behind at 20. A Soulknife's d8s don't fall behind and outperform artillery lasers too, though by an increasingly narrow margin. Soulknife or not, you lose range - laser weapons start at twice the mindblade's range with 120 feet, and work their way up to 150. Energy based melee is strictly superior to normal weapons until the flame doshko gets 10d8 at level 19, and a Soulknife still comes out ahead even then.

Unwieldy melee is powerful early on but loses momentum quickly - giving up your full attack for an extra 3.5 or 4.5 damage is a valid choice at low levels, but not really worthwhile at higher levels. It's unclear to me if an energy based AoE mindblade will lose 1 or 2 dice, but you'll be competitive with normal AoE weapons either way - or substantially ahead at earlier levels.



tl;dr, basic mindblade starts okay and ends up weak. Improved mindblade starts overpowered and ranges from reasonable to pathetic at high levels. A scaling rate of x dice per y levels will not play nice with Starfinder's scaling, so you're going to have to figure it out the hard way. Maybe take a look at the Solarian's solar weapon progression if you want a comparison. Relatedly, I hope to see some explicitly compatibility between them at some point.

Keeping on that topic, you're automatically proficient with your mindblade. Do you automatically gain specialization as well, or do you potentially need to pick that up with another feat?

I'll have to look at the rest later, but I think that's enough for one post anyway.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

I actually am relieved about their choice to provide conversions for their psionic races. I am however a bit disappointed with the Soulknife archetype, as it isn't nearly as awesome as Pathfinder's (most notably due to the lack of Bladeskills).

You lose blade skills and gain most of the base class’ features in return though!

[Thealtruistorc]

Well, isn't this interesting. I was wondering how you were going to handle the Aegis and Soulknife in particular.

I'm curious as to why the Chassis system was implemented and why it cannot be changed with the Astral Suit. Is the intent to keep the aegis' versatility under wraps? Also, I would frankly love to see some of the options for the Starfinder Aegis made available to the Pathfinder Aegis in some way.

Also, several customizations mention a customization called "augmented weapon", although no such cusomization exists.


TL;DR simulating power armor through customizations and chassis choice fits the Aegis's paradigm better and doesn't involve rewriting the power armor rules.

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to add a customization or chassis that lets you treat your astral suit as power armor for the purpose of determining what upgrades it can get. I had an Aegis in one of my Starfinder games and this was how I handled it.

[drafghast]

I'm curious as to why the Chassis system was implemented and why it cannot be changed with the Astral Suit. Is the intent to keep the aegis' versatility under wraps? Also, I would frankly love to see some of the options for the Starfinder Aegis made available to the Pathfinder Aegis in some way.

You are partially correct. While our goal was to somewhat limit the nigh-infinite options, we wanted to do so in a way that didn't feel restrictive to a chosen build direction. Being able to shuffle the customizations, modes, and suit types should allow some much of the classic Aegis on-the-fly feel, while always having your core concept (your chassis) to fall back on for functionality (plus, it just felt cool).

We have no current plans to backwards port anything at this time, but if that changes, rest assured that its playtest will come through these parts.

[PsyBomb]

You lose blade skills and gain most of the base class’ features in return though!

That was my thought process on leaving off Bladeskills when I wrote Soulknife. Originally, the archetype was predicated on trading freely at given levels for bladeskills off a list, only automatically giving Focused Offense and Improved Mind Blade. That proved to have two major issues. First, it was impossible to future-proof for possible coming classes in further releases. Second and more immediately, it felt highly overwhelming to just tack three extra layers of choices to another class, no matter how cool the outcome would be.

Thank you as well to Jupiter, I'd been getting feedback that the damage was off but yours was by far the most thorough and convincing. The feats were balanced with Long Arms in mind, but I see that was not the right path to take with it. I will be revisiting the scaling, most likely leaving behind a smooth formula to put together a few charts for damage.

[Domar]

The augmented weapon customization seems to be missing.

[drafghast]

The augmented weapon customization seems to be missing.

Whoops! Good catch. This customization was combined with improved damage just before release, and I guess we didn't catch every mention. It should be fixed now.

Thanks!

[Prime32]

I must say, I'm a little bit disappointed at the race selection. A vast universe to explore and the player races presented are entirely the same ones that they've always been, plus one new (previously published but recent) selection. I would have hoped to see some new (and, more importantly, alien) races for this book in a similar manner to how races were presented in the SFCRB.On this, I'd expect the atstreidi to be affected the most by living in a high-tech setting, since they could potentially inhabit vehicles (maybe with some of the largest even becoming "living starships").

It would also be interesting if some race happened to be really good at moving in zero-g conditions and it just never came up in PF.

[TheRagi]

Still on page 19:
Half-giants count as having 2 additional strength when [...] determining penalties for using heavy weapons.

This is weirdly phrased - should be "when determining appropriate minimum Strength to avoid penalties when using heavy weapons" or something similar - the way it's now, it seems like there's always a penalty.

Add +1 your attack rolls and KAC involving bull rush, disarm, grapple, reposition, sunder, and trip actions.

Missing a "to" after the +1. This means the half-giant gains a bonus to make and resist these combat maneuvers? Maybe "Add +1 to your attack roll when you attempt a bull rush, disarm, grapple, reposition, sunder, or trip. Also add a +1 to your KAC when you are the target of one of such combat maneuvers."


Overwhelming Force: Whenever a half giant damages a creature they can tap into their inner psionic might as a free action, hammering the foe with pure power. When using this ability you may knock the target back 5 feet, plus 5 additional feet per 5 character levels the half-giant possesses. If an obstacle is in the way, the target stops at the obstacle instead. A half-giant can’t use this ability again until they have taken a 10-minute rest to recover Stamina Points.

As it is, this allows me to attack, make a free "standing still" bull rush and use an attack of opportunity as the opponent is moved back in the same breath. You gotta give the opponent a Fortitude save to resist, at least, and probably also add a "Creatures moved by this ability do not provoke attacks of opportunity from this movement" like the solarian power. Or tossing foes in the middle of a group of allies will become a staple of parties with a half-giant in them.

Also something to consider on free actions, from the conversion chapter of the SFCRB:

"Free Actions: Most abilities that require a free action in the Pathfinder RPG instead require a swift action in this game system."

It also states that “For any Pathfinder action that needs to be used an unlimited number of times, treat it as a free action”. So not quite sure if this power fits as a free action, since it has a once per encounter limit. And it seems that no race has any “free action” abilities in the core rulebook – you might prefer to stick closer to the standards. Or not – there's probably a mechanical reason for this change, but it doesn't seem that obvious.


To close this entry, a similar question on recharging this ability as I had with the Duergar - do you need to spend resolve and recover stamina, or just the 10 minute break is enough to regain?

[birbthulhu]

I can't go into any real analysis right now, but I do have a couple questions about the Aegis.

First, what's the item level of an Astral Suit? The Astral Armor and Juggernaut are actual suits of armor, so they should be able to provide environmental protections. But there's no mention of item level, which means they don't actually have a duration. Or anything else derived from item level, like hardness or HP and the like.

Second, how does Craftsman actually work? Is it supposed to give you virtual ranks, and thus let you craft higher level items earlier if you can afford to? Because crafting doesn't care about your total Engineering or Mysticism modifier anymore, and there isn't an actual check. If it's supposed to be early access with virtual ranks, I'm not actually sure how useful that is. On one hand, it might end up being too powerful, since you can get a pretty impressive boost to your effective ranks. On the other hand, you still have to pay for the thing, and that's going to be downright painful with a larger level gap. And a bonus to crafting also won't help you repair anything, since that's a separate function for those skills. Not sure if that's intentional here, but worth noting.

Third, what's the design goal behind Brawn, Hardy, and Nimble? Do they stack with Personal Upgrades, or are they meant to be a more limited alternative to them?

Finally, not actually a question. Astral Repair might be better if it said "non-magical" instead of "mundane," but I'm pretty sure I know what you mean there anyway. I'm also a little leery of it being an uncapped at-will, but its limited enough that it probably isn't a problem? I honestly don't know how to judge that. Still, you can't just hold hands with a Mechanic's Drone for five minutes to patch it back up, so the most important sort of abuse has already been excluded.

I've seen a couple things that look pretty suspect at a glance, but I'll hold off on those until I can break them down a bit more.

[drafghast]

First, what's the item level of an Astral Suit? The Astral Armor and Juggernaut are actual suits of armor, so they should be able to provide environmental protections. But there's no mention of item level, which means they don't actually have a duration. Or anything else derived from item level, like hardness or HP and the like.

This one is one that I had framed in my head, but had never actually made it to paper. In all cases, the item level of an astral suit equals the aegis level of its creator.



Second, how does Craftsman actually work? Is it supposed to give you virtual ranks, and thus let you craft higher level items earlier if you can afford to? Because crafting doesn't care about your total Engineering or Mysticism modifier anymore, and there isn't an actual check. If it's supposed to be early access with virtual ranks, I'm not actually sure how useful that is. On one hand, it might end up being too powerful, since you can get a pretty impressive boost to your effective ranks. On the other hand, you still have to pay for the thing, and that's going to be downright painful with a larger level gap. And a bonus to crafting also won't help you repair anything, since that's a separate function for those skills. Not sure if that's intentional here, but worth noting.

This is great feedback. I will be reviewing this and should have corrections/changes rolling out before long.



Third, what's the design goal behind Brawn, Hardy, and Nimble? Do they stack with Personal Upgrades, or are they meant to be a more limited alternative to them?

Based on the low values and the slower scaling, we don't currently feel there are any significant math issues with these customizations at this time, even though they _do_ stack with Personal Upgrades.
As for the design goal - I wanted to both reflect in some of the more quintessential customizations from Pathfinder, as well as display the ways that an astral suit can help enhance the basic aspects of the physical form.



Finally, not actually a question. Astral Repair might be better if it said "non-magical" instead of "mundane," but I'm pretty sure I know what you mean there anyway. I'm also a little leery of it being an uncapped at-will, but its limited enough that it probably isn't a problem? I honestly don't know how to judge that. Still, you can't just hold hands with a Mechanic's Drone for five minutes to patch it back up, so the most important sort of abuse has already been excluded.


Given the limitations of this particular effect, including the requirements of UBP for large-scale things, we felt that it was more or less a safe ability to straight port over, even as an at-will.
As for the non-magical thing, I actually prefer your wording. I've gone ahead and switched it out.
Thanks for the in-depth review, looking forward to more!

[Kaidinah]

The races have been updated with a few changes. Hopefully you will all find them more fairly balanced now. Thank you TheRagi in particular for your detailed analysis.
Changelog:

Duergar racial Trust Your Fear is now a reaction instead of free action.
Elan racial Infiltrator has been changed to the following “Elans do not increase the DC of Disguise checks made to disguise themselves as members of another race of the same type. They still suffer the usual DC increase to Disguise checks made to disguise themselves as a creature of a different size category.”
The following has been added to Atstreidi’s Assimilate Armor: “For all intents and purposes, an atstreidi’s armor shell is their body. It cannot be targeted individually or sundered.”
The Half-Giant ability Overwhelming Force now costs a reaction, psionic focus and specifically does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
The Half-Giant ability Heat Acclimated also applies to the burning condition now.
Dromite’s teamwork ability now applies to Harrying Fire.
Maenad outburst no longer grants +1 damage. It now allows the Maenad to reroll 1s on damage rolls.
There have been a variety of grammar corrections

[Air0r]

Not sure if this has been addressed yet, but Noral's Symbiotic Surge seems to indicate a temporary buff, but instead provides a permanent benefit. what is the intent on that?

[Lord_Gareth]

Not sure if this has been addressed yet, but Noral's Symbiotic Surge seems to indicate a temporary buff, but instead provides a permanent benefit. what is the intent on that?

They permanently have an extra point of Resolve, which represents the extra reserves they can tap from their symbiote.

[birbthulhu]

Based on the low values and the slower scaling, we don't currently feel there are any significant math issues with these customizations at this time, even though they _do_ stack with Personal Upgrades.
As for the design goal - I wanted to both reflect in some of the more quintessential customizations from Pathfinder, as well as display the ways that an astral suit can help enhance the basic aspects of the physical form.

I do have some understanding of how central these customizations are in Pathfinder, where getting that enhancement bonus is a vital part of your character's progression. And in principle, I'm leery of breaking the functional hardcap of 28 for ability scores but not completely opposed to it. As it stands, though, the Aegis has much more going for it than just that, and the extra accuracy that +2 or +4 provides just pushes it even further.

Unless I've very critically misread several things, the Aegis is currently the most accurate and damaging melee combatant in the game with just Brawn and Improved Damage. It holds that title at range as well until about level 13, and still puts in a very strong showing to compete for it. This is without accounting for the bonuses the modes give, or the extra damage that I've seen skimming over the Chassis options.

Compare to the Soldier. Full BAB, most of the same proficiencies, similar role as a dedicated combatant. In melee, the Soldier gets no unique accuracy bonuses, and unless you're a level 17+ Blitz Soldier gets only Melee Striker for extra damage for most weapons. The Aegis gets +1 to +2 attack from Brawn. For damage, it gets an extra +1 or +2 from Brawn, plus Improved Damage. Let's compare Improved Damage to the bonus a Soldier with maximum achievable strength per level gets from Melee Striker; since we're assuming dedicated melee fighters, they're both using advanced melee weapons to determine Improved Damage's bonus. They're both proficient, and the weapons are clearly stronger, so there's no reason not to for the baseline.



Level
Melee Striker
Improved Damage


2
N/A
+2


3
+2
+4


4
+2
+4


5
+2
+4


6
+2
+6


7
+3
+6


8
+3
+6


9
+3
+8


10
+3
+8


11
+3
+8


12
+3
+10


13
+3
+10


14
+4
+10


15
+4
+12


16
+4
+12


17
+4
+12


18
+4
+14


19
+4
+14


20
+4
+14



That's concerning.

The melee Aegis can be more accurate or damaging at level 2 than the Soldier. At level 4, the Aegis does not have to choose. Several levels later, the Aegis is not even sacrificing that much utility space for its customizations to have both.

At range, Soldiers get +1 attack if and only if they use Laser weapons. They get +1-6 damage with kinetic weapons, and Sharpshooters get +2d6 for every shot against the first target in a full attack once they reach level 13. The Aegis gets the exact same bonuses to accuracy and damage at range as it does in melee. The Soldier does have a slight edge with access to heavy weapons, so I'll include the advantage a reaction cannon has over equivalent projectile rifles this time.



Level
Bullet Barrage + Focused Damage
Heavy Weapon Advantage
Improved Damage


2
-
1
+2


3
+2
1
+4


4
+2
1
+4


5
+2
1
+4


6
+2
1
+6


7
+2
2
+6


8
+3
2
+6


9
+3
2
+8


10
+3
3
+8


11
+3
3
+8


12
+4
3
+10


13
+11
3
+10


14
+11
6
+10


15
+11
6
+12


16
+12
6
+12


17
+12
3.5
+12


18
+12
3.5
+14


19
+12
3.5
+14


20
+13
12
+14



That's also concerning.

The Aegis again has higher accuracy, and has higher damage until level 11. Even then, the Soldier's damage is limited to a single target when making a full attack; in all other situations, they lose 7 damage and fall behind the Aegis again until they get to level 20 weapons. And this is assuming they use a specific weapon - the reaction cannon - to maximize their raw damage. The reaction cannon is very impressive, but far from perfect.

The Aegis has overall better accuracy and damage than the Soldier and by extension everyone else, and they also have greater mobility than the Soldier. They also have more money since they can ignore buying armor or mobility enhancements like jetpacks. And again, this is not even considering everything the class grants you; I still haven't really looked at the modes, and just skimming over the Chassis options I'm seeing even more ways to boost damage.

Perhaps these numbers would be more consistent with the rest of the system in Pathfinder? Because it feels like you may be trying to take numbers that would work there and use them here instead, and it isn't quite working out nicely. Of course, that's the entire point of showing things this early on. You've got good ideas, but I don't think you're quite working in sync with Starfinder yet. Still, I'll be very happy when the Aegis gets there.

[PsyBomb]

@Jupiter

Thank you, seriously. Catches like this are why we beta. At this point, we believe they warrant killing Improved Damage. It seems to be the primary culprit here. Going forward, we will also be keeping a very close eye on the three stat-boost customizations as well.

I will be going back and doing more thorough benchmarking as well.

[Ilorin Lorati]

I didn't see anything responding to this, even a "we think this is fine," so I wanted to make sure it's seen. Essentially, I think there's far too many free action abilities in the playtest when Starfinder at base has gone out of its way to reduce the number of swift actions, slow down combat, and open up more than full attacking.


Critique

I'm not sure if this is an intentional design decision or not, but there are a significant number of free action abilities throughout this playtest (over 30 by my count, including different uses of single abilities), even more than there are swift actions abilities in the same playtest and significantly more than there are free action abilities in the SFCRB (of which I think there might be one or two at most).

Because of this, I would like to take a moment to note that the action types have been shifted around significantly, and most things that were a free action should instead be a swift action under Starfinder rules. In particular, the SFCRB notes that only things that need to be able to be used an unlimited amount of times should be free actions; I don't think the reason is gone into here, but I think it's so that players are forced to make more choices between their different abilities. If this has not already been brought to the designers' attentions, I would ask you all to look over the free action abilities and make changes as appropriate.

[Lord_Gareth]

I didn't see anything responding to this, even a "we think this is fine," so I wanted to make sure it's seen. Essentially, I think there's far too many free action abilities in the playtest when Starfinder at base has gone out of its way to reduce the number of swift actions, slow down combat, and open up more than full attacking.

We did alter a few of the racial abilities. Sorry we didn't address you directly, we kinda got caught up in doing that part, but - we've heard you here and are re-examining the ability costs both here and in the upcoming classes. However, some of these abilities (admittedly moreso in later material that's upcoming) are free actions with heavy non-action costs because they're meant to be activated as riders, such as to enhance an attack or alter your movement. Those costs might include psionic focus, Resolve Points, power points, or combinations of the above. Something to keep in mind as we move through.

You can expect tweaks to aegis Soon(tm), once we've had the chance to peel back through it in response to the total feedback to date.

[Ilorin Lorati]

There's no need to apologize, I just wanted to make sure what I noticed was seen. It's good to hear that it's being looked into, and look forward to seeing the changes. It's a new system to all of us so iteration and tweaking mechanics is certainly warranted. I will also make a note to keep what you're saying in mind in the future.

[TheRagi]

Pg 21
Sonic Affinity: Maenads add a +1 to the DC of any spell or power with the sonic descriptor and an additional +1 damage with any weapon that deals sonic damage.

There’s only one spell with the sonic descriptor, and it has no saving throw - it’s nice to place it here since more are probably on the way in the next years, but right now is a little amusing. And I might be overlooking something, but I couldn’t find a sonic ability that would benefit from this - unless there are a lot of sonic psionic powers on the way.

The +1 sonic damage is nice, but other than a level 2 advanced melee gauntlet, sonic weapons only really start to be available after level 4. That’s a long way to wait for a racial bonus.

[birbthulhu]

You're quite welcome, Psybomb. I'm very interested in seeing the Aegis, Mindblade, and Soulknife in a more balanced state, and crunching the numbers is an important part of helping that happen. Speaking of which, I've done some more crunching for you; today it's about the armor itself.

First, the Astral Armor. With Nimble available, let's look at how your maximum achievable dexterity modifier compares to its max dex bonus.



Level
Dex Mod
Max Dex


1
4
4


2
5
5


3
6
5


4
6
6


5
6
6


6
6
7


7
7
7


8
7
8


9
7
8


10
9
9


11
9
9


12
9
10


13
9
10


14
10
11


15
10
11


16
10
12


17
10
12


18
10
13


19
10
13


20
11
14



At level 12, your maximum dex bonus in astral armor is higher than your maximum achievable dex modifier, and increases faster than you can boost your dex. I'm not worried about it since it's not a problem as such, but it is a little weird. Anyway, figuring that out actually was important because it let me look at your maximum achievable AC from armor and dex, and to compare that to the best you can get out of normal light armor with the same constraints. So it's purely armor AC + max achievable dex.



Level
Astral Armor AC
Light Armor EAC
Light Armor KAC


1
5
5
6


2
7
6
7


3
8
7
8


4
10
9
9


5
11
10
11


6
12
12
13


7
14
13
14


8
15
15
16


9
16
17
18


10
19
18
19


11
20
18
20


12
21
21
21


13
22
22
23


14
24
23
24


15
25
25
26


16
26
26
27


17
27
27
28


18
28
28
29


19
29
29
30


20
31
30
31



On the whole, Astral Armor tends to have slightly better EAC and slightly worse KAC than the best comparable light armor values, though if you look carefully those are not usually both true at the same level. I think this is probably reasonable on its own. So, Astral Armor is fine thus far.

Now, the Astral Juggernaut. Again, let's start with achievable dex vs. max dex bonus.



Level
Dex Mod
Max Dex


1
4
2


2
5
3


3
6
3


4
6
4


5
6
4


6
6
5


7
7
5


8
7
6


9
7
6


10
9
7


11
9
7


12
9
8


13
9
8


14
10
9


15
10
9


16
10
10


17
10
10


18
10
11


19
10
11


20
11
12



I'm a little concerned at this point, because the max dex bonus is scaling extremely fast for heavy armor. Starfinder heavy armor starts at +2, improves to +3 consistently at around level 6, +4 around level 12, and +5 at 18. It never goes beyond +5 innately. The Juggernaut starts at +2, immediately rises to +3, and then keeps going every other level. It takes longer than Astral Armor, but it ends up outpacing your ability to boost your dexterity at the end too. That doesn't feel right for heavy armor. Still, let's see what the actual AC bonuses look like.



Level
Astral Juggernaut AC
Heavy Armor EAC
Heavy Armor KAC


1
6
4
6


2
8
6
8


3
9
7
9


4
11
8
10


5
12
10
12


6
14
12
14


7
15
13
15


8
17
15
17


9
18
17
19


10
20
17
20


11
21
20
22


12
23
21
22


13
24
22
24


14
26
23
25


15
27
25
26


16
29
26
30


17
30
26
30


18
31
28
30


19
32
30
31


20
34
31
32



That's a bit concerning. If you have enough dexterity, the Juggernaut will always have better EAC than equal level heavy armor by an average of 2.3 points. There's not a strong trade-off here either, as the KAC is usually comparable and only lags behind at two levels while actually getting ahead at a few more. Still, there is one other thing to check, which is how it compares to a Guard Soldier with Armored Advantage; except for possibly a dex based Solar Armor Solarian, I believe that's the highest you can get purely from equipment, ability score, and class, since it raises the max dex bonus by 1 and gives an additional +1 KAC.



Level
Astral Juggernaut AC
Heavy Armor EAC
Heavy Armor KAC


1
6
5
7


2
8
7
9


3
9
8
11


4
11
9
12


5
12
11
14


6
14
13
16


7
15
14
17


8
17
16
19


9
18
18
21


10
20
18
22


11
21
21
24


12
23
22
24


13
24
23
26


14
26
24
27


15
27
26
28


16
29
27
30


17
30
27
32


18
31
29
32


19
32
31
33


20
34
32
34



Perhaps this is more reasonable? The Aegis has better EAC, but by a reduced margin. KAC is now consistently worse, though it matches at 20 with superior EAC. I'm not entirely comfortable with this, though. The Aegis has no more investment than boosting their dexterity modifier, which is useful for much more than just AC, whereas the Soldier invests both a fighting style and a gear boost. The Juggernaut will always have better AC than the Armor, so there's much less incentive for a dex Aegis to ignore it than there is for a dex Soldier to skip the Guard style, meaning that parity is possible, but unlikely. And it just doesn't feel right to me for it to get so much of its AC from dexterity; the entire point of heavy armor is that you can get comparable results with less investment in dexterity, though with the costs shifted elsewhere. The Aegis who doesn't invest as much in dexterity can't get the most out of their armor, and if they do maximize their dexterity, they're exceeding their max dex bonus until level 16.

There's a caveat worth noting for both the Armor and the Juggernaut as well; the Aegis's AC simply scales with level, whereas everyone else must pay to maintain and improve their armor. While this is pretty obvious, it's worth considering that this may frequently mean the Aegis has slightly better comparative AC than all this indicates, simply because they wouldn't otherwise be able to have equal-level armor. It's expensive!

Finally, looking briefly at the rest of the class, this can interact fairly potently with Modes, Chassis, and a couple Customizations. Modes can situationally give another +2 to +4 AC, and that's not terribly difficult to manipulate. Chassis can provide another +1 or +2 via the Astral Shield, and it even stacks with the Phase Shield's +1 Enhancement to EAC. And while Customizations can't directly increase your AC in general, they can certainly help you boost it even more against certain combat maneuvers.

I think this is a potential problem area, though not as obviously as Improved Damage. It's worth giving it some thought.

As a side note, I also checked the upgrade slots the Armor and Juggernaut get against normal armor. It's not terribly interesting; they largely progress at the same rate as their counterparts, though they sometimes have more or less than equal level armor because sometimes equal level armor has weird spikes or dips in capacity. The level 1 Second Skin has 1 slot, for instance, and the Estex Suit I has 2. But neither level 2 light armors have any upgrade slots at all. In fact, a fair number of light armors don't have any slots at all. The drawback of fancy armored clothing, presumably.

[TheRagi]

Page 16
Easily Augmented: Due their partly mechanical nature, forgeborn tend to have plenty of room for augmentation. A forgeborn can install an additional augmentation (cybernetics only) into one system that already has an augmentation.

This is quite an unique ability. It seems reasonable, though there might be some exploits hidden in it. In the very least I’d change it to “an additional augmentation (cybernetics only) of a different type into one system that already has an augmentation”, to avoid three-legged or six-armed forgeborns going around. There’s probably compatibility issues somewhere as well, but nothing jumps out at me right now… gotta wait for an augmentation book to come out I guess.

Implacable Stride: [...] When standing on the ground they gain a +4 racial bonus to their KAC against bull rush and trip combat maneuvers.

Reposition should be added in this list, thematically speaking.

[TheRagi]

Page 24:
Symbiotic Surge: A noral is able to tap into the power of the symbiote to gain a temporary boost. Norals increase their Resolve Points by 1.

This ability is lacking the action type and the duration of this temporary resolve point.

It this is a passive bonus, the text should be changed to make it clearer.


I think this is all I got from races, everything seems reasonable.

I was actually hoping to see brand new faces in Starfinder, but it's fine having the classics available as well (plus the atstreidi getting bumped to the main league). Let's hope Starfinder becomes a successful platform for compatible products, and you come up with some new psionic aliens next.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Page 24:
Symbiotic Surge: A noral is able to tap into the power of the symbiote to gain a temporary boost. Norals increase their Resolve Points by 1.

This ability is lacking the action type and the duration of this temporary resolve point.

It this is a passive bonus, the text should be changed to make it clearer.
Not a dev, but I believe the idea is that mechanically they passively have an additional Resolve Point, but it's fluffed as "tapping into the power of the symbiote" when they use their last Resolve Point, pushing themselves further than they otherwise could.

[TheRagi]

Not a dev, but I believe the idea is that mechanically they passively have an additional Resolve Point, but it's fluffed as "tapping into the power of the symbiote" when they use their last Resolve Point, pushing themselves further than they otherwise could.

Sure, but why risk causing confusion?

Symbiotic Surge: Due to the power of the symbiote, Norals have an extra resolve point


The current "tap into the power", "gain a temporary boost", suggest action and duration.

[Lord_Gareth]

Pg 21
Sonic Affinity: Maenads add a +1 to the DC of any spell or power with the sonic descriptor and an additional +1 damage with any weapon that deals sonic damage.

There’s only one spell with the sonic descriptor, and it has no saving throw - it’s nice to place it here since more are probably on the way in the next years, but right now is a little amusing. And I might be overlooking something, but I couldn’t find a sonic ability that would benefit from this - unless there are a lot of sonic psionic powers on the way.

The +1 sonic damage is nice, but other than a level 2 advanced melee gauntlet, sonic weapons only really start to be available after level 4. That’s a long way to wait for a racial bonus.

Most energy-based psionic powers have a sonic option, but this is under review internally in any event. Expect edits in the next push.


Page 16
Easily Augmented: Due their partly mechanical nature, forgeborn tend to have plenty of room for augmentation. A forgeborn can install an additional augmentation (cybernetics only) into one system that already has an augmentation.

This is quite an unique ability. It seems reasonable, though there might be some exploits hidden in it. In the very least I’d change it to “an additional augmentation (cybernetics only) of a different type into one system that already has an augmentation”, to avoid three-legged or six-armed forgeborns going around. There’s probably compatibility issues somewhere as well, but nothing jumps out at me right now… gotta wait for an augmentation book to come out I guess.

Implacable Stride: [...] When standing on the ground they gain a +4 racial bonus to their KAC against bull rush and trip combat maneuvers.

Reposition should be added in this list, thematically speaking.

With regards to Easily Augmented, that's actually the 1pp wording (Alien Archive, Verthani entry, page 119 under the Racial Traits sidebar). The ability made sense for the Forgeborn, so we ported it in.

I'll bring up Reposition with the team, but you're not wrong here. I think we can reasonably expect that to be added.


Page 24:
Symbiotic Surge: A noral is able to tap into the power of the symbiote to gain a temporary boost. Norals increase their Resolve Points by 1.

This ability is lacking the action type and the duration of this temporary resolve point.

It this is a passive bonus, the text should be changed to make it clearer.

Expect editing for the fluff text, but it is in fact a passive bonus.



I think this is all I got from races, everything seems reasonable.

I was actually hoping to see brand new faces in Starfinder, but it's fine having the classics available as well (plus the atstreidi getting bumped to the main league). Let's hope Starfinder becomes a successful platform for compatible products, and you come up with some new psionic aliens next.

This has been an interesting subject thus far. One thing to note is that many of the races introduced in Starfinder's core book already existed in Pathfinder, but honestly even if that wasn't true...quite a bit is potentially changing about psionics, both to fix legacy errors and to keep it in step with the new system. I feel like bringing the classic psionic races into the future provides both a sense of continuity (and a touchstone to the previous content) & an immediate example of what that change can look like, y'know?

Folks should expect an update push Soon(tm). I did also wanna ask how the fluff on the races and Aegis are shaking out; does it make sense, or grab your attention? Provide interesting plot hooks?

[TheRagi]

I feel like bringing the classic psionic races into the future provides both a sense of continuity (and a touchstone to the previous content) & an immediate example of what that change can look like, y'know?

I don't mind it that much now, but it felt like a missed opportunity. Opening with the atstreidi gave the doc quite an oomph, but right away we meet the same old gang, and it's all comfortable and familiar, there is no shock and awe.


I did also wanna ask how the fluff on the races and Aegis are shaking out; does it make sense, or grab your attention? Provide interesting plot hooks?

I admit focusing only on the mechanics bits, but I'll take a look at the fluff and compare it with UP as well.

How were the guidelines for the racial fluff? How much freedom did you guys have to update the main races for 7 to 10 thousand years in the future?

[Lord_Gareth]

How were the guidelines for the racial fluff? How much freedom did you guys have to update the main races for 7 to 10 thousand years in the future?

No constraints were handed down from the men upstairs if that's what you mean. In the main, we wanted to present a snapshot of what they look like now, with a bit of how they got there, while still being compatible with many settings. Aside from answering some clingy questions (like, "Why the hell are half-giants psionic?"), we mostly were thinking in terms of how the digital age, space flight, and the stunning diversity of the Galaxy would influence these races and their cultures.

[TheRagi]

No constraints were handed down from the men upstairs if that's what you mean. In the main, we wanted to present a snapshot of what they look like now, with a bit of how they got there, while still being compatible with many settings. Aside from answering some clingy questions (like, "Why the hell are half-giants psionic?"), we mostly were thinking in terms of how the digital age, space flight, and the stunning diversity of the Galaxy would influence these races and their cultures.


Well, no point in pulling punches then. Here is some brainstorming after reading both versions of each race (PF and SF). Some of these have a weird/dark twist in them, with the purpose of surprising the old players and having a lot of different options for the new ones.

Blues: From a sort of evil goblin underdog, blues seem to have become more of a benign force, but still struggling and mostly failing. Since they lost their main characteristic (evil and manipulative) I’d prefer seeing them do a 180º and actually becoming a successful race. Make them the most well-to-do race in the book, by their own means. I suggest even including in their entry an utopic blue planet where the race prospers as an example of serenity and wellness. Maybe with a ruling monarchy? Let the blues occupy the main stage, they suffered enough.

Dromite: These seem to remain mostly unchanged between versions. You do address the problem with the Shirren, but the overlap is just too big, both in story and behavior. Keeping with the swarm/zerg theme, maybe the Dromite, once they relocated to space, where contacted by a different alien insect collective than the one they had fled in the past, one that promised individuality and assistance within their hive. They went towards it to verify their claim, but, obviously, where assimilated, destroyed, hunted, eaten - the only dromite that survived were the toughest, hardest, craziest ones - they were saved by their savagery, that kept them from being swallowed whole by this threat. Almost extinct nowadays, the current dromite are all descended from these fire ant-like survivors and have thus become a warrior race.

Duergar: Another race that lost its main characteristics (madness and the underground horror) and turned more benign. I don’t quite get the “psionic version” of a regular race deal. But why stop with the duergar? Get a svirfneblin one, and I bet the psionic drow would be quite popular. But these all should be more of an appendix to the book, with psionic versions of other races.

Elan: On the other hand, these guys are still keeping their main characteristic (immortality and secrecy), although it’s no longer that much of a big deal in this future, with anti-aging technology. I think it’s about time to reveal an elan secret, if not The elan secret. I suggest a living psionic planet, whose shards are spread throughout the galaxy as elan, gathering information and knowledge for their creator, since it is very interested in all the different cultures and species out there (and bored). The catch? Maybe the planet itself is an elan… and who created it?

Forgeborn: Why is everybody so nice in the future? I think you’re missing quite an opportunity here to go full Borg. Once united in space (loved the Reborn Armada), they should take a fascist turn and become expansionists, conquerors, creating more and more forgerborn. These guys should be the new evil race! And like any textbook fascist, they think they are justified in their actions, conquering to prevent weaker races from being destroyed by bigger threats out there in the universe.

Half-giant: Whoa. Did you just give the “Highlander 2: The Quickening” treatment to the poor half-giants? That’s brutal. And I always assumed they were psionic as a side-effect from the experiments that successfully created an hybrid from men and giants, conducted by some nasty high level psion.

Instead, keeping with the former slaves thirsting for freedom concept, how about going all the way and upgrading them into the most liberty oriented people possible: libertarian merchants. I want to see businessman half-giants, using suits and defending a free interplanetary market. Visiting unexplored alien worlds and closing deals with the native sentient species. C’mon! The visuals alone! A half-giant megacorp would be truly Big.

I’m completely inspired by Poul Anderson’s Polesotechnic League stories, by the way. Nicholas van Rijn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_van_Rijn) would make for a great half-giant.

Maenad: These guys were an odd bunch, with the seafaring theme - you can play a whole campaign without ever going to the sea, and most use ships only between scenes. But now that spaceships are a thing a lot of the time, switching their nautical theme for space is a great move. The moping and depressing part, I don’t really care for. Becoming such an integral part of the system should actually cure them of their “curse”.

They should also be industrialized. The first psionic race to embrace space, make them the pioneers of psionic space ships - they cornered the market, and are the creators of all and any psionic technology related to travelling between the stars. Space ships should be their life and purpose.

Throw in some space ships made out of crystals (maybe the tiny passengers one at least), and we are in business.

Noral: Another one that didn’t change much. With these guys I’d take advantage of all the genetics advancement over millennia and move their relationship with the erliss a bit further. Seeking to improve and integrate more and more with the symbiote, noral scientists managed to inject their DNA into noral embryos, creating a race of hybrids. Instead of carrying symbiotes around, current noral are born with vestigial tentacles and have a much deeper connection with the creatures. As a twist, I’d recommend having the erliss more and more dominant over each generation, with the symbiote DNA eventually taking over in a couple more centuries.

Ophiduan: As civilized snake-people, the ophiduan were always one of my favorites. I see you kept most of their competitive behavior and also gave them a decadent empire. But they have the same problems as the dromite. The main game now has a reptilian as one of their races, and it seems to be the most popular one to boot. In this case I recommend going back to the well and enhancing one of their features: "A leader amongst the ophiduans is often a very capable politician...". Leave the warrior lizardman role to the Vesk, and let the ophiduan go full politics. In any society with a legislature that allows alien representation, the ophiduans will settle, breed and starting winning seats. They will work as representatives, secretaries, ministers, governors, mayors, or as their staff, or even around them as lobbyists. Infiltrating a complex and selective system as politics, and conquering them from within, is the current ophiduan game.

Also, reptile politicians? Amazing social commentary.

Xeph: I never got the Xeph (and just realized I always referred to them as Xev). They never felt different enough from humans to merit a whole new race. I got nothing on this one. Maybe they all disappeared in some weird phenomenon in the past... yeah, make them the tragic fated ones.

[Air0r]

Elan: Fluff-wise, I feel the elan's paranoia as weird and off putting in an age where their immortality isn't as huge a deal. I could see them hold onto tradition and keep the ritual a secret though. and I could certainly see secret shadow cabals doing a space boogeyman thing, kidnapping various alien species to be forced through the ritual to increase their numbers for some unknown purpose.

Ophidiun: so we've kinda been looking for some stranger stuff now that you can play as things like the skittermander and the barathu. I think Ophiduans can fill a unique niche here by way of how they were expanded upon in your Classic Psionic Monsters Revisited book. Noble and True Ophiduans totally fit into the weird stuff you can find in space.

Noral: I feel they should have some sinister groups that are creating other types of symbiotic creatures for some other purpose.

[drafghast]

Well, you guys have given us a lot of good feedback, and we've listened. For my part, I'm here to tell you about some of the new changes to the Aegis, which are now live on the linked doc. More updates will be Coming Soon (TM).

Changelog:
-Added a line stating that the level of the astral suit is equal to the aegis’ level.
-Added to clarification text – whenever you spend 10 minutes to regain Stamina, you can adjust each of your astral suits.
-Adjusted craftsman heavily. This version interacts better with SF crafting, and should be less confusing overall. Adjusted archetype replacement rules to match.
-Adjusted Air and Ground modes to remove attack bonus. Instead, these have been replaced with similar effects that both illustrate theater superiority and balance better in the long run.
-Adjusted Astral Vision to possess a specific type of blindsense. Also removed redundant and inaccurate rules text.
-Cut Improved Damage, Nimble, and Brawn.
-Adjusted the bonus values on Chameleon and Frightful Presence.
-Assorted formatting changes and wording shifts.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Well, no point in pulling punches then. Here is some brainstorming after reading both versions of each race (PF and SF). Some of these have a weird/dark twist in them, with the purpose of surprising the old players and having a lot of different options for the new ones.

Blues: From a sort of evil goblin underdog, blues seem to have become more of a benign force, but still struggling and mostly failing. Since they lost their main characteristic (evil and manipulative) I’d prefer seeing them do a 180º and actually becoming a successful race. Make them the most well-to-do race in the book, by their own means. I suggest even including in their entry an utopic blue planet where the race prospers as an example of serenity and wellness. Maybe with a ruling monarchy? Let the blues occupy the main stage, they suffered enough.

Dromite: These seem to remain mostly unchanged between versions. You do address the problem with the Shirren, but the overlap is just too big, both in story and behavior. Keeping with the swarm/zerg theme, maybe the Dromite, once they relocated to space, where contacted by a different alien insect collective than the one they had fled in the past, one that promised individuality and assistance within their hive. They went towards it to verify their claim, but, obviously, where assimilated, destroyed, hunted, eaten - the only dromite that survived were the toughest, hardest, craziest ones - they were saved by their savagery, that kept them from being swallowed whole by this threat. Almost extinct nowadays, the current dromite are all descended from these fire ant-like survivors and have thus become a warrior race.

Duergar: Another race that lost its main characteristics (madness and the underground horror) and turned more benign. I don’t quite get the “psionic version” of a regular race deal. But why stop with the duergar? Get a svirfneblin one, and I bet the psionic drow would be quite popular. But these all should be more of an appendix to the book, with psionic versions of other races.

Elan: On the other hand, these guys are still keeping their main characteristic (immortality and secrecy), although it’s no longer that much of a big deal in this future, with anti-aging technology. I think it’s about time to reveal an elan secret, if not The elan secret. I suggest a living psionic planet, whose shards are spread throughout the galaxy as elan, gathering information and knowledge for their creator, since it is very interested in all the different cultures and species out there (and bored). The catch? Maybe the planet itself is an elan… and who created it?

Forgeborn: Why is everybody so nice in the future? I think you’re missing quite an opportunity here to go full Borg. Once united in space (loved the Reborn Armada), they should take a fascist turn and become expansionists, conquerors, creating more and more forgerborn. These guys should be the new evil race! And like any textbook fascist, they think they are justified in their actions, conquering to prevent weaker races from being destroyed by bigger threats out there in the universe.

Half-giant: Whoa. Did you just give the “Highlander 2: The Quickening” treatment to the poor half-giants? That’s brutal. And I always assumed they were psionic as a side-effect from the experiments that successfully created an hybrid from men and giants, conducted by some nasty high level psion.

Instead, keeping with the former slaves thirsting for freedom concept, how about going all the way and upgrading them into the most liberty oriented people possible: libertarian merchants. I want to see businessman half-giants, using suits and defending a free interplanetary market. Visiting unexplored alien worlds and closing deals with the native sentient species. C’mon! The visuals alone! A half-giant megacorp would be truly Big.

I’m completely inspired by Poul Anderson’s Polesotechnic League stories, by the way. Nicholas van Rijn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_van_Rijn) would make for a great half-giant.

Maenad: These guys were an odd bunch, with the seafaring theme - you can play a whole campaign without ever going to the sea, and most use ships only between scenes. But now that spaceships are a thing a lot of the time, switching their nautical theme for space is a great move. The moping and depressing part, I don’t really care for. Becoming such an integral part of the system should actually cure them of their “curse”.

They should also be industrialized. The first psionic race to embrace space, make them the pioneers of psionic space ships - they cornered the market, and are the creators of all and any psionic technology related to travelling between the stars. Space ships should be their life and purpose.

Throw in some space ships made out of crystals (maybe the tiny passengers one at least), and we are in business.

Noral: Another one that didn’t change much. With these guys I’d take advantage of all the genetics advancement over millennia and move their relationship with the erliss a bit further. Seeking to improve and integrate more and more with the symbiote, noral scientists managed to inject their DNA into noral embryos, creating a race of hybrids. Instead of carrying symbiotes around, current noral are born with vestigial tentacles and have a much deeper connection with the creatures. As a twist, I’d recommend having the erliss more and more dominant over each generation, with the symbiote DNA eventually taking over in a couple more centuries.

Ophiduan: As civilized snake-people, the ophiduan were always one of my favorites. I see you kept most of their competitive behavior and also gave them a decadent empire. But they have the same problems as the dromite. The main game now has a reptilian as one of their races, and it seems to be the most popular one to boot. In this case I recommend going back to the well and enhancing one of their features: "A leader amongst the ophiduans is often a very capable politician...". Leave the warrior lizardman role to the Vesk, and let the ophiduan go full politics. In any society with a legislature that allows alien representation, the ophiduans will settle, breed and starting winning seats. They will work as representatives, secretaries, ministers, governors, mayors, or as their staff, or even around them as lobbyists. Infiltrating a complex and selective system as politics, and conquering them from within, is the current ophiduan game.

Also, reptile politicians? Amazing social commentary.

Xeph: I never got the Xeph (and just realized I always referred to them as Xev). They never felt different enough from humans to merit a whole new race. I got nothing on this one. Maybe they all disappeared in some weird phenomenon in the past... yeah, make them the tragic fated ones.

I don’t expect this to actually get into the book, but I’m definitely stealing some of it.

[Lord_Gareth]

Elan: Fluff-wise, I feel the elan's paranoia as weird and off putting in an age where their immortality isn't as huge a deal. I could see them hold onto tradition and keep the ritual a secret though. and I could certainly see secret shadow cabals doing a space boogeyman thing, kidnapping various alien species to be forced through the ritual to increase their numbers for some unknown purpose.

At this point it's less about the bit where they're immortal and more about the thousands and thousands of years of conspiracy, lies, manipulation, leeching off of other cultures, transforming (possibly forcibly) some of the best and brightest of other races into their own people, and a laundry list of crimes like political corruption, murder, and obstruction of justice in service to the above. The Councils that rule the elan race want things to keep going. The rebels feel like maybe it's time to stop.


Ophidiun: so we've kinda been looking for some stranger stuff now that you can play as things like the skittermander and the barathu. I think Ophiduans can fill a unique niche here by way of how they were expanded upon in your Classic Psionic Monsters Revisited book. Noble and True Ophiduans totally fit into the weird stuff you can find in space.

Mmmmaaaaybe but that feels like more the arena of a monster book or expanded faction information.


Noral: I feel they should have some sinister groups that are creating other types of symbiotic creatures for some other purpose.

This on the other hand is definitely the arena of factional style material.

[Kaidinah]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. The following changes have been implemented into the psionic races:

Elan’s mind over matter ability reworded to block both hit point and stamina point damage.
Elan’s resistance ability reduced from a +4 to a +2 save bonus.
Forgeborn’s implaceable stride ability now also helps them resist reposition.
Noral’s symbiotic surge had its descriptive text change to better match its benefits.

Maenad's sonic affinity is still under discussion, but you can expect changes to happen to it soon!

[PsyBomb]

Hello folks!

Mind Blade and Improved Mind Blade have been updated.
>The damage has been recalculated to mesh better with the weapons in the game
>Action to draw has been changed from standard to normal for drawing other weapons (move or part of a move),
>They now always target KAC
>Wording has been smoothed out and clarified
>Improved Mind Blades can now count as being a part of a weapon group as long as their damage type is appropriate for it.

VERY slight wording changes in Soulknife to account for these changes, as well. Again, thanks for all the feedback, this wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without it.

[khadgar567]

Any news for the psionic powers in starfinder. I can realy use the fluff

[digiman619]

I was kinda disappointed with the fluff of the Duergar. I know that their "They dug too deep and must fight the horrors beneath the world" schtick was there in 3.5, too, but once you imported them to Pathfinder, the obvious connection to the lore of Golarion is that they are at (least partly responsible for) keeping Rovagug in check.

So when you fast-forwarded the timeline to Starfinder, and Rovagug and the planet itself is gone, it seemed like you had the opportunity to take them in a drastic new direction and didn't. They should no longer be the dour doomsayers that try to push away the apocalypse, they should have joy that their long work is done. They should be happy in that the future no longer holds armageddon. Not "Well, I guess that's done. Wanna go brood some more?"

[Air0r]

I was kinda disappointed with the fluff of the Duergar. I know that their "They dug too deep and must fight the horrors beneath the world" schtick was there in 3.5, too, but once you imported them to Pathfinder, the obvious connection to the lore of Golarion is that they are at (least partly responsible for) keeping Rovagug in check.

So when you fast-forwarded the timeline to Starfinder, and Rovagug and the planet itself is gone, it seemed like you had the opportunity to take them in a drastic new direction and didn't. They should no longer be the dour doomsayers that try to push away the apocalypse, they should have joy that their long work is done. They should be happy in that the future no longer holds armageddon. Not "Well, I guess that's done. Wanna go brood some more?"

evolving this a little, maybe they hire out their expertise in dealing with things that go bump in the... night equivalent in space... hmm, that doesn't flow right. regardless, I imagine the Phrenic Scourge are solid villains to put them up against regardless.

[Lord_Gareth]

I was kinda disappointed with the fluff of the Duergar. I know that their "They dug too deep and must fight the horrors beneath the world" schtick was there in 3.5, too, but once you imported them to Pathfinder, the obvious connection to the lore of Golarion is that they are at (least partly responsible for) keeping Rovagug in check.

So when you fast-forwarded the timeline to Starfinder, and Rovagug and the planet itself is gone, it seemed like you had the opportunity to take them in a drastic new direction and didn't. They should no longer be the dour doomsayers that try to push away the apocalypse, they should have joy that their long work is done. They should be happy in that the future no longer holds armageddon. Not "Well, I guess that's done. Wanna go brood some more?"

That's...certainly an interpretation. I might question the obviousness of it; in perfect honesty, at no point in internal did we ever think of Rovagug, and no intended connection to that lore has ever been made.

The grey dwarves, like a few other races, faced down a loss of purpose among the stars. Given the choice between making the difficult journey to become another kind of people, one willing to confront the horrors of their past and accept that they had done awful things for reasons that maybe didn't justify them, or finding a new way to justify being awful people...

Well, they didn't have the heart to do the hard one.

[digiman619]

That's...certainly an interpretation. I might question the obviousness of it; in perfect honesty, at no point in internal did we ever think of Rovagug, and no intended connection to that lore has ever been made.
Really? Because I double checked my copy of the Expanded Psionics Handbook from 3.5 and all it says about them is that they are joyless artisans who hate pretty much everyone; the 'fighting against the horrors buried beneath the earth' was your idea. Also, near as I can tell, you were trying to avoid Golarion-specific things, either due to copyright or to keep it generic enough to be slotted into any campaign. The horror they are trying to stop, "That Which Slumbers", is described as a being that will defeat all the other gods if ever relaeased and that it sleeps deep within the earth and must be kept sleeping "for the sake of all life". This is a perfect fit for Rovagug, who is, to quite the wiki "imprisoned in a state of torpor somewhere deep within Golarion". It took all the gods working together to imprison him and scores of gods died doing it. Seeing as you can count on your fingers the number of gods who've came around since then, and it is clear that he will decimate them if he escapes. and it is said that he will destroy the world if he gets out.

In short, you may not have inteded for it to be Rovagug, but it's clearly Rovagug

The grey dwarves, like a few other races, faced down a loss of purpose among the stars. Given the choice between making the difficult journey to become another kind of people, one willing to confront the horrors of their past and accept that they had done awful things for reasons that maybe didn't justify them, or finding a new way to justify being awful people...

Well, they didn't have the heart to do the hard one.

I get that a significant chunk of them would go back to the old ways, but this clearly called, in my mind at least, for a schism in the culture, for those who while not sorry for the acts that grim duty their people held required, but are now glad it's over and sought to rejoin Dwarven society.

Eh, it's something for me to tweak in my own games. Don't let me dictate your work to you.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Really? Because I double checked my copy of the Expanded Psionics Handbook from 3.5 and all it says about them is that they are joyless artisans who hate pretty much everyone; the 'fighting against the horrors buried beneath the earth' was your idea. Also, near as I can tell, you were trying to avoid Golarion-specific things, either due to copyright or to keep it generic enough to be slotted into any campaign. The horror they are trying to stop, "That Which Slumbers", is described as a being that will defeat all the other gods if ever relaeased and that it sleeps deep within the earth and must be kept sleeping "for the sake of all life". This is a perfect fit for Rovagug, who is, to quite the wiki "imprisoned in a state of torpor somewhere deep within Golarion". It took all the gods working together to imprison him and scores of gods died doing it. Seeing as you can count on your fingers the number of gods who've came around since then, and it is clear that he will decimate them if he escapes. and it is said that he will destroy the world if he gets out.

In short, you may not have inteded for it to be Rovagug, but it's clearly Rovagug


I get that a significant chunk of them would go back to the old ways, but this clearly called, in my mind at least, for a schism in the culture, for those who while not sorry for the acts that grim duty their people held required, but are now glad it's over and sought to rejoin Dwarven society.

Eh, it's something for me to tweak in my own games. Don't let me dictate your work to you.

I mean, isn’t it usually the standard for PCs to be the unusual ones, in this case rejecting the old ways and moving on? In much the same way you see fewer Drow played straight than as Drizzt clones, I expect all this fluff will do is *encourage* people to play Duergar who are less mopey and tied down, believing they’re “breaking the mold.”

[Alea]

Really? Because I double checked my copy of the Expanded Psionics Handbook from 3.5 and all it says about them is that they are joyless artisans who hate pretty much everyone; the 'fighting against the horrors buried beneath the earth' was your idea. Also, near as I can tell, you were trying to avoid Golarion-specific things, either due to copyright or to keep it generic enough to be slotted into any campaign. The horror they are trying to stop, "That Which Slumbers", is described as a being that will defeat all the other gods if ever relaeased and that it sleeps deep within the earth and must be kept sleeping "for the sake of all life". This is a perfect fit for Rovagug, who is, to quite the wiki "imprisoned in a state of torpor somewhere deep within Golarion". It took all the gods working together to imprison him and scores of gods died doing it. Seeing as you can count on your fingers the number of gods who've came around since then, and it is clear that he will decimate them if he escapes. and it is said that he will destroy the world if he gets out.

In short, you may not have inteded for it to be Rovagug, but it's clearly Rovagug
Or, ya know, the balrog of Lord of the Rings. Or any of hundreds, probably thousands, of takes on the same idea. Probably even shows up in real-world mythology, too.

Basically, this is a seriously classic and common fantasy trope. Rovagug is just one entry in a long, long line of similar ideas.

[digiman619]

Or, ya know, the balrog of Lord of the Rings. Or any of hundreds, probably thousands, of takes on the same idea. Probably even shows up in real-world mythology, too.

Basically, this is a seriously classic and common fantasy trope. Rovagug is just one entry in a long, long line of similar ideas.

Yes, "They dug too deep" is a common fantasy trope. What I'm saying that on Golarion, the obvious thing they found there would be Rovagug and that one of the major changes form Pathfinder to Starfinder is that Golarion is gone and Rovagug is gone with it. Adding the two together should give the Duregar a massive change in outlook, but it didn't.

[FedoraFerret]

Yes, "They dug too deep" is a common fantasy trope. What I'm saying that on Golarion, the obvious thing they found there would be Rovagug and that one of the major changes form Pathfinder to Starfinder is that Golarion is gone and Rovagug is gone with it. Adding the two together should give the Duregar a massive change in outlook, but it didn't.

And when you play using this setup in the Golarion System setting, I'm sure none of the DSP staff would hold it against you if you decided that that was the great evil in question. However, given that this is not a book for that setting, that Rovagug is a very setting specific kind of evil (even ignoring the fact that as a copyrighted name DSP actively couldn't use Rovagug even if they wanted to), and it is in fact ultimately a setting agnostic book designed for use in anything from Golarion to old Starjammer stuff to the crazy stuff I concocted at 3 AM in my basement the other night, it is far more sensible to leave it as a vague, mysterious, nebulously defined evil and leave it at that.

[Lord_Gareth]

While we continue to tweak the material in part one, I'm proud to present part two, Encryption Decoded (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eJTPjjnh2x9KIkowalufnJqia6Rxdy1hVciIgAHo4lg/edit#), featuring the Specialist class, our first release of psionic powers, and some additional skill uses and feats.

Mess my whole life up y'all.

[TheRagi]

Autohypnosis

You forgot to add the Key Ability. And since "Trained Only" and "Armor Check Penalty" are also missing, they don't apply? Trained probably does, though.



Autostasis: If you are dying, you may make an Autohypnosis check (DC 10 plus your character level) as a standard action to slow your body’s functions and buy yourself some time, even though you normally cannot take actions. You only lose one Resolve every other round for one minute after making this check (you still stop losing Resolve if you are stabilized, as normal). You may not attempt this check again until you have regained consciousness.

Your hit points usually reach 0 outside of your turn, so I’m guessing you can only use autostasis after you start dying and when it reaches your turn? It that’s the case, the text could be changed to state it more clearly. If it can be used outside your turn, it should be changed to a reaction instead - and it kinda matches the theme of this use of the skill, immediately try to fight off death instead of waiting for 5 or 10 other people to act first.

Losing resolve “every other round” means you start losing it on the second round, the very next after you use the skill successfully? I heard that expression before, but never looked into its exact definition before.

If you are stabilized, but start losing resolve points again, does the autostasis 10 round limit restart where you left, did it keep ticking while stabilized, or you lost it?



Change Display: As you are manifesting any psionic power, you may make an Autohypnosis check as a part of the action used to manifest the power (DC 10 + the number of PP spent on that power). Success means that you significantly alter how your display manifests, increasing the difficulty of any skill check to identify you by observing the display by 5.

I couldn’t find an equivalent of this effect for the technomancer or mystic. If this is an exclusive for the Psionics Guide, how about expanding the skill to also benefit spell casting? Balance things out between the psionic classes and the regular magic users. This is actually the only psionic-exclusive aspect of the skill.


If you know the display of another manifester, you can attempt to imitate that display instead. The difficulty of this check is 10 + their manifester level, or your normal DC to change your display, whichever is higher.

But is the manifester level the one you first witnessed, the minimum one required to manifest said power, or the level the manifester is right now? You could be trying to imitate an old enemy… and can you use a lower level to imitate a weaker version of that manifester? Maybe you’re trying to damage his reputation...



Mental Resistance: When you come under the effects of any mind-affecting power or condition, you can spend one point of Resolve and make an Autohypnosis check against the original save DC (10 + caster or item level if it didn’t originally have a save DC) to delay the effect on yourself for one round. It still lasts for its full duration, you only delay the onset. This is a Reaction, which you can take even if you would not be allowed to normally.

Can you keep doing round after round until you run out of resolve? Or is it a one and done effect?



Snapshot: You can recall this at any point in the future as a standard action by making another Autohypnosis check of the same DC, perfectly recreating it in your mind.

What happens if you fail? How often and how soon can you try again? And please add some device in the gear chapter that allows you to download this 3D memory and project it to other people, this is quite a good option to feed VR machines.

Can you take 10 or 20 to take the mental snapshot or recall it?



integrators, psions, and specialists

It was used a bunch of times in the first part, so I actually thought you guys were going old school and naming the main manifester a Psionicist.

Integrators are the collective users? Vitalists are my favorite psionic class, so I'm looking forward to this.

[n00b17]

I see you dropped Improved Damage, but Energy Blast and Extra Armaments still call for it as a prerequisite

[drafghast]

I see you dropped Improved Damage, but Energy Blast and Extra Armaments still call for it as a prerequisite

Missed a few of those pesky things.
Good eye, should be fixed now.

[Prime32]

I'm curious if you're planning to tap more themes from 70s-80s era sci-fi here, with psychic powers being "the next step in human evolution". I'm thinking stuff like...

A spike in the number of "wild talents" among the populace, leading to some people fearing them and others wanting to control them. The amount of casual mingling with aliens makes this somewhat awkward to pull off, but it can still work as a background element for one of the more xenophobic races.
Psionic powers awakening traumatically, with blasts of energy/causing the subject to go temporarily insane, etc. This may even happen regularly, unless the subject receives proper training, some kind of restraint device, or a lobotomy. Lends itself well to people fearing them, if magic is relatively controllable.
Psionic powers warping the body while in use - either random deformities, or a fixed "game face" with otherworldly features. Aberrant aegii would help, but I'm not sure it needs a lot of rules - just a note or two in the aegis fluff. Could also throw in something like a mild allergy to healing magic, which causes your body to react to the intruding energies and give away your psionic nature.
Scientists creating "ultimate life forms" that escape containment. Suggested new character theme: "Bioweapon" (+1 Con). Includes the once-off ability to change your subtypes at 1st-level - e.g. you could have a mutated human with four arms, who's built as a kasatha but counts as humanoid (human) - as well as something reflecting your top-secret nature. Maybe other abilities which allow you to survive in extreme conditions, reduce your reliance on equipment, or at high levels make it hard to permanently kill you unless enemies destroy your corpse. Bonuses to Survival/Autohypnosis?
Superweapons powered by loads of comatose psychics connected together, or a bunch of cloned brains.
Societies that spend their entire lives in a shared dreamworld, and shun anyone who's been outside it.
Things that only certain people can detect, regardless of whether they can use psychic power offensively. Suggested new character theme: "Seer" (+1 Wis). Grants minor empathic abilities, and the ability to sense "disturbances in the force". Might receive some kind of lost-technology item that only they can use (due to descent from a mystical race that created it, etc.).

[Lord_Gareth]

I'm still not sure how much setting-style stuff is gonna make it into here just yet, but we'll revisit the theme ideas a bit later when we're actually doin' themes.

[Air0r]

considering how the solarian works, is it strange that I want you guys to have an animus using class? not necessarily for maneuvers or psionic powers though, but thats probably thinking a bit beyond the scope of this first book UNLESS this would be the missing component that would let you keep psychic warrior in your line-up.

[PsyBomb]

considering how the solarian works, is it strange that I want you guys to have an animus using class? not necessarily for maneuvers or psionic powers though, but thats probably thinking a bit beyond the scope of this first book UNLESS this would be the missing component that would let you keep psychic warrior in your line-up.

Don’t worry too much about the Psionic Warrior. I may or may not have plans for it once I get all the feats and powers caught up.

[Lord_Gareth]

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday celebrations! Most of us here at DSP were caught up visiting family, handling the stress of day jobs, and the like, but I at least am back on deck to field feedback and everyone else should be back in the swing Soon(tm). We're still eagerly awaiting your feedback!

[Air0r]

I've been putting off reading through the powers section (partly because holidays and partly because it is daunting), and it may take me a few days regardless. questions are as follows:
1) The Specialist is only listed as having up to 3rd level powers and 7 total known by 20 (technically slightly earlier I think). this sort of breaks from the 1 to 6 we have from mystic and technomancer. Not saying this is inherently bad, but it is a break from the new norm of starfinder (as far as I can tell).

Speaking of:
2) since spells max out a 6th level (gained at 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16), will you new "full manifesters" stick with this same paradigm?
2b) and more directly relevant to this document in it's current presentation: Shouldn't the PP cost of powers also be 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 based on it's appropriate level, rather than pathfinder's setup (1, 3, 5, etc.)?

once I start looking at some numbers between what magic and psionics can do, I'll have more feedback, unless something glaring catches my eye.

[PsyBomb]

The Specialist is a half-manifester, much like the 6/9 ones from PF. They learn fewer powers and get less PP than the full-manifesters, such as the Psion.

Speaking of full manifesting, it is going to be 6-level in Starfinder, just like Spellcasting.

PP costs, we’re looking at them and that change is on The List if need be. However, right now it’s all tuned around current costs to start up the powers, so things will take adjusting if that happens.

[Air0r]

for the moment this is what I got:

Brainlock: are you intended to only get one extra chance to break the effect, or can you try every round until broken?

Defy Gravity: “You gain the ability move yourself” should be ‘ability to move’

Mind Pierce: the fifth augment option seems VERY powerful to me. Not on it’s own mind you, but in combination with the other augments, particularly stun. Otherwise, this power is basically mind thrust, and is a solid comparison to it up until this AoE augment.

Recall Agony: the third augment may want to say hit points rather than health.

Sustenance: the fluff text sort of makes it sound like you a metabolising your own body and I am curious if long term use of this power would adversely affect its user.


I recall seeing a grammar error where a power said 'make make' but I can't find it again, so it may have been fixed already.

[Air0r]

thinking about Mind Pierce's 5th augment more, why not make a separate power? level 2, 2d10 in a small radius centered on you with augment options for damage (2 for each 1d10) and augment options for increasing radius (maybe 2 per 5 feet?). will for half, power resistance yes.

[EarthSeraphEdna]

The following is an issue with Paizo's operative that carries over into Dreamscarred Press's specialist as well: what is the incentive to be an Intelligence specialist over a Wisdom or Charisma specialist, and what is the point in being a Wisdom specialist over a Charisma specialist?

Skills have been compressed in Starfinder, so Intelligence nets a character even more bang for their metaphorical buck than before. Wisdom provides Will saving throws, and all Charisma does is ramp up certain skills, which is fairly bad considering that Intelligence and Wisdom govern their own skills.

It is not as though, say, Charisma specialists have truly exclusive abilities; theirs can be poached by Intelligence and Wisdom specialists. So really, why not just be an Intelligence specialist and enjoy your skill points, aside from, "Well, uh, I guess the party already has an Intelligence skill specialist and could use a Wisdom or Charisma skill specialist"?

[PsyBomb]

In the core game right now, you are correct about the uses for Charisma as an ability score. It’s mainly confined to social skills and certain starship or background actions. Unfortunately, DSP cannot touch the core of the game for multiple good reasons, and even substitution abilities are little more than crutches which also open up many more issues down the line.

In addition, there are speed of access differences to the lists as well as exclusive abilities between them (such as the Defensive Disruption and Rhythmic Focus abilities), which the other paths cannot poach.

We do continue to gather feedback, and thank you for this bit (which we are taking into account moving forward).

[EarthSeraphEdna]

Perhaps Wisdom-based specialists could use a slightly stronger package of base benefits, while Charisma-based specialists could stand to gain an even stronger package of base benefits, to compensate for not being Intelligence-based? While you cannot touch the core game rules, you can touch individual builds.

As it currently stands, if I want to play a sneaky infiltrator who is good at Disguise and Sense Motive, then I am best-off playing an Intelligence specialist and poaching abilities from the other lists (which are actually very good abilities!). That seems a little counterintuitive.

[Jeff the Green]

This allows an atstreidi spellcaster who must rest to prepare spells to do so after only 2 hours, but does not allow an atstreidi to prepare spells more than once per day.

What about psionicists?


In particular, they have trouble with war-like races like the forgeborn or the vesk, and do not understand either how easily they resort to violence or how they confront death with such fearlessness.

This is nearly a garden path sentence. It could easily end after "either", with "either" referring to the forgeborn and vesk.


Blues are short, with leathery blue skin for which they are named; they stand between 3 and 4 feet tall, with males being slightly taller and heavier than females.

I have a nearly irrational dislike for this sentence. I'm not sure the two ideas are linked closely enough to merit a semi-colon instead of a period. I'd prefer a comman and "and". "For which they are named" is an aside that isn't marked well; while I think it's technically grammatical, it flows poorly.

(Ignore me if you disagree. My English preferences are idiosyncratic and sometimes don't align with others'.)


Blues are short.... Blues grow black hair.... Blues pay devoted attention....

Three sentences in a row starting with "Blues". (The next one starts with "In particular, blues".)


Blues live fast and die young
This is a cliche, and not one that enhances the writing.


Blues favor names that are easy to say, and tend to spell them phonetically.... Some sample blue names are Ara, Diamond, Golda, Hoi, Makal, Oman, Ripple, and Tox.

"Diamond" would be a perfect chance to illustrate the phonetic spelling.

Nothing to say about dromites except "You made dromites interesting enough for me to want to play one for the first time; well done."

Same with duergar. That is a really cool interpretation.

No energy left tonight; I'll try to do the rest by early next week.

[Lord_Gareth]

Thank you for the feedback Jeff! Expect edits Soon(tm).

To update folks in general: we've been busily prepping Psion and Integrator, as well as arranging things on the business end. Our team's had some life issues, including the esteemed Psybomb needing to take a brief break from writing, which has left us a bit off the ball in terms of getting edits and responses done. We are still observing and listening, and appreciative of your time.

[SaintNick]

Modify Matter is missing a Manifestation Time.

Also, how is the Initiative bonus for Combat Precognition intended to work with such a short duration?

[PsyBomb]

Modify Matter is missing a Manifestation Time.

Also, how is the Initiative bonus for Combat Precognition intended to work with such a short duration?

Thanks for the catch on Modify Matter. That one was a "see text" deal, and has been fixed.

Combat Precognition lasts for 1min/level. It isn't very long, but if you're going into a location where combat is expected (like kicking in an enemy's door, whether literally or figuratively) it becomes a very nice thing to have and has plenty of duration if you've planned things right. If you see combat coming a half-second off (or if you just aren't caught by surprise), you can always bust a Focus to drop it as a Reaction instead and just deal with the bonus vanishing after a few rounds. At least, so it went on the internal test where it was used, always looking for feedback from other games.

[Lord_Gareth]

We're still working on edits (SO MANY ACTION TYPE FIXES) and tinkering away at Psion and Integrator, but in the meantime I'm proud and terrified to present a frequent request: Themes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n2PFMvMvl-8ZgyzgChrA-9Mkh7jzzb0Ju6ujdTg_PRM/edit#heading=h.7a4hnsxb662j)

Your feedback on these would be greatly appreciated. The core themes seem to kinda veer wildly in how they're executed and are hard to compare to one another, and this is my very first rodeo on the topic.

[khadgar567]

I know its to powerful but when i read test subject i personally hoped more like evolutions rather then semi augmented captain golarion wannabes with same power as my skittermander expert. so is there any chance we get true escaped experiment stuff in next book.

[Lord_Gareth]

I know its to powerful but when i read test subject i personally hoped more like evolutions rather then semi augmented captain golarion wannabes with same power as my skittermander expert. so is there any chance we get true escaped experiment stuff in next book.

When you open up with 'I know it's too powerful' it kinda seems like you already know the answer to that question. That's not the role themes fill; there's a fairly clear standard format to follow. Could there be something like that later in another context? Maybe. Am I gonna make promises about it? No. I don't even know where to begin there. A template graft? Archetype?

[Thealtruistorc]

I'm quite liking this so far, and look foward to future installments in this series. What I'm rather curious about is whether you are going to make psions 9-level manifesters a la Starfarer's Companion or 6-level manifesters a la the Specialist, Mystic, and Technomancer. Either way, I am following this closely.

[Lord_Gareth]

I'm quite liking this so far, and look foward to future installments in this series. What I'm rather curious about is whether you are going to make psions 9-level manifesters a la Starfarer's Companion or 6-level manifesters a la the Specialist, Mystic, and Technomancer. Either way, I am following this closely.

The latter. Though you'll note that the Specialist is a three-level manifester at the moment.

[Ikiry0]

Alright, I've been pondering the specialist and the themes.

Specialist

The Infiltrator and Morphean specs for the Specialist are...really nonintuitive. If you want to use disguise stuff and fool people? No, that's not the charisma-based one. That's the wisdom one despite disguise and bluff being cha-based. If you want to use Sense Motive and Medicine? No, that's not the wisdom based one or the Int based one. That's the cha based one? Which rather hurts the Morphean (Which already seems a bit weaker than the others). As good social stats means you can't get the talents for social infiltration...

Themes

Test Subject Really, really fun looking. When you get advancement catalogue, can you retrain both your bonuses with the same hour work or are they an hour for each?

Conspirator By far my favourite of them thematically. Does doublespeak work for ALL methods of passing on secret messages? Like say, cryptography for a computer-sent message? That seems very relevant in a sci-fi game but they don't get anything with computers.

Sleepwalker This, I'll admit...I'm not really sold on. It feels a bit flavourless when it is just 'Be psionic' and there is already a lot of ways to do that. I feel like it needs stronger in-universe ties to...something. Sorta like how priest is tied to a religion so it's not all just about 'Being magical'. Dreaming Wide Awake requiring a power point feels a bit restricting, since the theme only give you a single power point and you are unlikely to take 'Look at me, I'm psionic' as your theme if you've already got a psionic class due to redundancy. The 1/day skill change however is fantastically powerful.

I think, if I wanted to play someone who's a fun psionic I'd likely look at Test Subject before Sleepwalker, as it gives a lot more in the way of in-universe plot hooks. Sleepwalker just feels sorta...there, without any in-universe ties to people or groups or anything but your own internal power.

[SaintNick]

Thanks for the catch on Modify Matter. That one was a "see text" deal, and has been fixed.

Combat Precognition lasts for 1min/level. It isn't very long, but if you're going into a location where combat is expected (like kicking in an enemy's door, whether literally or figuratively) it becomes a very nice thing to have and has plenty of duration if you've planned things right. If you see combat coming a half-second off (or if you just aren't caught by surprise), you can always bust a Focus to drop it as a Reaction instead and just deal with the bonus vanishing after a few rounds. At least, so it went on the internal test where it was used, always looking for feedback from other games.

During most of my games, 1min/level ends up just being "until the end of the encounter" due to the group normally burning any excess duration on looting and recovery. The Focus option to turn it into a Reaction power does seem interesting. Can you use it as a Reaction before initiative is rolled, but also after the Combat Perception check? Otherwise, a save bonus just seems like a much better replacement.

[Lord_Gareth]

Just a heads-up, got changes to Specialist coming after I get up in the morning. There's gonna be cuts and abilities moved, so if for some reason you're needing the current incarnation now is the time to save it.

[Lord_Gareth]

Alright, edits are live! Changes include:


Social Chameleon & Empathic Knack have been edited and made General
'Free Action' wording removed
Banshee Shot has been cut
Soft edits on Lab Coat & Clipboard
Field Fleshcrafting (Cryptographer), Adaptive Ammunition (Infiltrator), Empathic Coordination (Morphean) & Oneiromachy (Morphean) added
The original Oneiromachy proof has been renamed so I could use that name elsewhere
Hypnotic Hum has had its function reversed (it now protects everyone BUT you)

[EarthSeraphEdna]

Perhaps it is just me, but I still see no reason to be a Charisma specialist. Intelligence and, to a lesser degree, Wisdom still have too much going for them over Charisma. Hobbyist proofs undermine any idea that morphean proofs are supposed to be "better."

Also, I do not see why a specialist would bother with stalwart instead of evasion, when the specialist is a low Fortitude, high Reflex class.

[PsyBomb]

Perhaps it is just me, but I still see no reason to be a Charisma specialist. Intelligence and, to a lesser degree, Wisdom still have too much going for them over Charisma. Hobbyist proofs undermine any idea that morphean proofs are supposed to be "better."

Also, I do not see why a specialist would bother with stalwart instead of evasion, when the specialist is a low Fortitude, high Reflex class.

I actually disagree with both halves of this. For the Morphean specialization, you gain access to several effects over 10th level, and quite a few coordination/tanking/debuff below that. There aren’t enough Hobbyist proofs to get them if that’s your main goal as a Non-Morphean Specialist, though some may be taken as support. This is particularly in evidence levels 8 and below.

As for Stalwart versus Evasion, my main worry on review was actually quite the opposite. Stalwart is an enormously stronger ability, since the truism remains that Reflex is against HP damage while Fortitude is against ability/debuff/death. The saves are way more important when applicable, which we felt keeps things in balance here.

I do look forward to any results you bring past the theoretical, since we could either or both be wrong in practice. This just comes from the limited amount of direct testing I’ve been able to run.

[AlmaPenzare]

What're the skills per level of the Specialist?

[Snowpaws]

I have a rules concern regarding the Soulknife archetype. Archetypes must be chosen at first level in your selected class, but it requires a feat which you can't get until your first level. Technically, as written, you can't choose that archetype if your a single class character.

[AlmaPenzare]

Also, so if a specialist enters an archetype, doesn't that leave them with basically no powers? I'd like to play a specialist soulknife but losing almost every power does not seem worth a soulknife

[Lord_Gareth]

What're the skills per level of the Specialist?

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

HOW DID I MISS THIS TWICE IN A ROW


I have a rules concern regarding the Soulknife archetype. Archetypes must be chosen at first level in your selected class, but it requires a feat which you can't get until your first level. Technically, as written, you can't choose that archetype if your a single class character.

I have good news for you there my friend. Page 126 of SF core has the relevant text, reproduced here for clarity:


You can gain an archetype when you achieve a new class level in an eligible class matching the earliest level for which an archetype offers an alternate class feature. The archetype is then considered part of the class you gain a level in when you level up. For example, if you are playing an envoy interested in being a Starfinder forerunner, you must select that archetype when you gain your 2nd level of envoy (the first level at which the Starfinder forerunner has an alternate class feature). From that point forward, whenever you gain an envoy class level, you should check whether you gain an an alternate class feature from the Starfinder forerunner archetype, as well as whether any envoy class features are altered or replaced.[...]

Later on the same page ("Other Considerations") there's the textual precedent for prerequisites such as certain class features, membership in particular organizations, or in our case, a feat. You do have to meet all pre-reqs by the time the arch would replace a feature, which in Soulknife's case means you need to have that feat more or less straight away.


Also, so if a specialist enters an archetype, doesn't that leave them with basically no powers? I'd like to play a specialist soulknife but losing almost every power does not seem worth a soulknife

Hrm. Can I ask you to elaborate as to why?

[PsyBomb]

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.

HOW DID I MISS THIS TWICE IN A ROW

Translation: it is 6+Int, and the playtest document has been fixed. Thanks for the catch.

[AlmaPenzare]

Hrm. Can I ask you to elaborate as to why?

After actually building a specialist with soulknife, I can appreciate it a bit more. However, considering how few powers they get as is, and with no advanced study in Starfinder, the price of having a soulknife is to leave you with at max 5 powers not counting ones gained from class features. While I know they're only a partial manifester, this feels quite limited for what is in the end, a way to get free gold, by giving you a free weapon. I *love* soulknives, but in giving up almost a third of your powers, feels quite brutal.

[AlmaPenzare]

Translation: it is 6+Int, and the playtest document has been fixed. Thanks for the catch.

Hah, I didn't notice the hidden text. I was going to say that is really not a helpful reply. Thanks for letting me know. Apologies if I come off as a little terse, reading my previous message I fear I might have, I'm a huge fan of DSP, I'm just trying to raise my concerns with the class.

I thought you may appreciate this; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SgdgpSwKMudSh_Z6ZLY6-NYZ2EK-txx2JGoISErpBoA/edit?usp=sharing My build for a level 3 Infiltrator Specialist/Soulknife, just to see how someone from an outside perspective sees building these options.

Also, as a note, I could not find mention of what level an item the soulknife is for the regards of applying fusion seals, I assumed they count as your level

[PsyBomb]

Hah, I didn't notice the hidden text. I was going to say that is really not a helpful reply. Thanks for letting me know. Apologies if I come off as a little terse, reading my previous message I fear I might have, I'm a huge fan of DSP, I'm just trying to raise my concerns with the class.

I thought you may appreciate this; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SgdgpSwKMudSh_Z6ZLY6-NYZ2EK-txx2JGoISErpBoA/edit?usp=sharing My build for a level 3 Infiltrator Specialist/Soulknife, just to see how someone from an outside perspective sees building these options.

Also, as a note, I could not find mention of what level an item the soulknife is for the regards of applying fusion seals, I assumed they count as your level

The Mind Blade is always supposed to have an item level equal to you character level for all purposes, I’ll make sure that’s more clear in the near future. Going to look over your build shortly as well, having been either main author or major secondary for every piece of it puts me too close to be truly objective without major effort.

EDIT: character looks roughly in line with expectations. Mind going over the reasoning for various choices? Particularly powers, but everything I get the logic for is only going to improve things in the long run. Incidentally, I’m actively jealous of the sheet and want a blank copy.

Also, if the Mind Blade is only being seen as free gold, I’m not doing my job right. The idea is to have its own unique feel. Need to work on that as well.

[Lord_Gareth]

Hah, I didn't notice the hidden text. I was going to say that is really not a helpful reply. Thanks for letting me know. Apologies if I come off as a little terse, reading my previous message I fear I might have, I'm a huge fan of DSP, I'm just trying to raise my concerns with the class.

You're fiiiiiine. Didn't come off bad at all, and frankly me managing to miss that in round two despite being told it multiple times was a little, ah...well it wasn't my greatest moment of authorial competence, let's call it that.

[AlmaPenzare]

Also, if the Mind Blade is only being seen as free gold, I’m not doing my job right. The idea is to have its own unique feel. Need to work on that as well.

Liike I said, Im a big fan of the soulknife, I use a Rageblade/Pyrokineticist in one of my own games as an NPC rival adventurer and he is just a blast to play. The problem here I see is the Soulknife feels very... solitary, you can give it neat description but as it is now it has no skills to pick to let you do cool things with it, it's just a weapon you can describe how you like you can summon at will

As for my powers, my character concept is she's a mild sociopath, only cares for the lives of others if she finds them interesting, and she is guided by what she finds interesting. She studies the rest of the party and is writing a book on them as "Outliers of Society and how they influence one another", basically "Adventurers, Why" and to fuel her passion projects, she works as an infiltrator and assassin for hire. Distant viewing to spectate a site before entry, watch a member of staff leaving, cath his voice, use the augment to shift voice and metamoprhasis to take his appearance and just saunter in. Soulknife is so that she never has to publicly carry weaponry, and can just summon it at will, it's flavored as a bow of psionic energy

PS: I know right this sheet is amazing. Here's a blank one, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hJ0OqF7CQ54vD1y4uRwdMAwEGPbPlqZftrDthRRUvS8/edit?usp=sharing\


And we all have those moments Lord Gareth, it took me having two different people look at my book for me to realise I never actually described what 2 major characters looked like.

[AlmaPenzare]

To expand a little more on the topic of Soulknife, I think having the ability to put different weapon properties, possibly in a sort of "Enchantment bonus" style could be neat, and then sacrificing weapon properties for minor blade skills. I think it would go a long way to give the soulknife a bit more... life, as right now, its kind of just a damage type, and numbers.

EDIT: Somehow I had missed that Longarms can get weapon properties, I like this, but I still think it could be expended a little.

[khadgar567]

so any eta for bestiary update as its funded last week.

[PsyBomb]

so any eta for bestiary update as its funded last week.

No specific ETA just yet. We need to get the Psionics Guide wrapped up (at least mechanically) before we can do more than brainstorm on that. It will come, and we are excited to be given the chance to put that one out, but just can’t do much without the rules basis to work on.

[Air0r]

regarding the soulknife topic: I'd drop the feat and bake it's effects into the archetype. keep it as a way for everyone to have access to a personalized insta-weapon.
BUT
I would then make a dedicated class for soulknife as well. bake in the gifted blade archetype from pathfinder. Then basically all of your other soulknife archetypes from pathfinder can become path options (in the same vein how the soldier has a variety of path options). on top of that blade skills are freaking amazing! I sort of can't imagine a soulknife of any kind without them. so I'd keep blade skills as an option, with your path choice giving access to specialized subsets of blade skills.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Also, if the Mind Blade is only being seen as free gold, I’m not doing my job right. The idea is to have its own unique feel. Need to work on that as well.

It'll be very hard to separate that thought process out as long as all the Soulknife archetype actually does is be a high quality weapon in exchange for class features. Granted, it's also a flexible weapon that can't be separated from you and can use other stats to attack, but a weapon it nonetheless remains. It doesn't even provide the weapon all on its own, you need a feat to be able to take it - and one of its features is just another bonus feat.

I think it better fits an archetype than a class, surely, but I would still suggest finding something different or special for the archetype to do mechanically. Even just pulling from the OG Soulknife in 3.5 (understanding how bad it was, of course) it had Psychic Strike, Bladewind, and Knife to the Soul. Why not try to incorporate something like that into the design?

[TheRagi]

Wait, do any of the archetypes in the CRB or PW actually have prerequisites? I think they placed that possibility in the rules, but doesn't seem Starfinder has used it yet.

I second the suggestion of just adding Mind Blade into the alternate class feature at second level with Improved MB, it makes the archetype yummier.

[Air0r]

Wait, do any of the archetypes in the CRB or PW actually have prerequisites?

none as of yet.

[Kaidinah]

After much internal discussion, it has been decided that Sonic Affinity would be dropped from the Maenad. Maenads are already versatile, and have a very powerful combat racial bonus in the form of Outburst.

Changes included:

Removed Sonic Affinity from Maenads

[TheRagi]

A little late in the game, but here's something:



Aegis
Astral Shields (Su) [2nd Level]: Once per round as a free action, while you are wearing your astral suit, you can spend one or more Power Points to create a temporary astral shield.

Starfinder kinda got rid of free actions (they seem to exist only concerning combat maneuvers connected to natural attacks). This ability should either be a Swift action, if it's meant to be cautionary, or a Reaction, if the aegis was meant to activate it when he's hit (like the elan ability Resilience).

Also, this text:

Key Ability Score: Your Strength helps you fight in melee, while your Dexterity helps you fire your ranged weaponry and dodge incoming attacks, so you can choose either Strength or Dexterity as your key ability score. Once made, this choice cannot be changed. You power both your psionic abilities and many of your crafting masteries with your intellect, so you need a high Intelligence score.

Should be changed to reflect the information on bonus power points (like the text on the specialist doc):

If you have at least 1 level in a class that grants power points (such as aegis or specialist), you gain bonus power points equal to your manifester level x your key ability score modifier x 1/2.

Right now it almost seems as if Intelligence will grant the extra power points.

[Lord_Gareth]

A little late in the game, but here's something:

I'm bringing the rest of ya post to Internal so we can get replies and edits made but I wanted to address this part first - it is not late in the game! We just hit a serious slowdown point because we're trying to get Psion ready to show next, which means finishing out Powers among other things. We are very much still taking feedback on anything that's on the table right now.

[TheRagi]

Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Autohypnosis (Wis), Computers (Int), Engineering (Int), Mysticism (Wis), Perception (Wis), Physical Science (Int), Profession (Cha, Int, or Wis)

The aegis has 9 class skills, yet no other class has an odd number of skills - you might want to add or subtract one to keep it closer to the official specs.

Considering his focus on crafting, he could also get Life Science, the only crafting skill not on his list.


Astral repair
“Repairing starships or similar incredibly expensive objects still costs UBP as normal.”

What does “incredibly expensive objects” refers to? The repair task on engineering and mysticism costs 10 UPBs per item level when fixing a broken object. Does astral repair require UPBs after a certain item level, or a credits margin?


Form Astral Suit
The amount of time forming this astral suit takes depends on the type of suit being formed.

They all take the same amount of time: one round. Maybe change this to “the type of action required to form this astral suit depends on the type of suit being formed”, just for clarity.


An astral suit can be dismissed as a free action.
Should be changed to either a move (like the solarian with his armor and weapon), or a swift like recommended in the legacy chapter, or worst case scenario, as a standard (just like dismissing a spell).

There are more free actions surviving in the aegis class, and re-reading the topic I saw you addressed this as a design decision. But they mostly seem unnecessary, and will end up only being pointed out by critics as example of 3PP not following the parameters of the core system. I’ll point some of them out and make suggestions - I think getting rid of them will save up on needless grief in the future.

There are only 3 swift actions for the aegis, and about 31 (mentions of) free actions in the whole class.


An astral suit does not function in areas where psionics do not work, and can be dispelled, treating your aegis class level as your manifester level for checks to resist such effects.

From the CRB: Supernatural abilities are not subject to spell resistance, but they don’t function in areas where magic is suppressed or negated. A supernatural ability’s effect cannot be dispelled.

But if you insist in keeping the suit as a dispellable ability, is it treated as a spell and can be formed back right away, or like and object and take 1d4 rounds? And does it need to be formed again, or it comes back up as it was?


Customization [2nd Level]
If it requires an enemy to attempt a skill check, the DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 x your aegis level + your key ability score modifier.

This uses the envoy formula, while the mechanic, mystic and operative use “10 + 1-1/2 × your class level + your key ability modifier”. Not sure why the difference, but does the aegis need this nerf?


You may apply any number of customizations that you have learned to any given astral suit, up to the maximum allowed at your level.

Redundant, and makes the paragraph more complicated than needed.


All-Terrain:
You can spend a Resolve Point as a free action to ignore the dazed, encumbered, entangled, exhausted, or fatigued condition until the end of your next turn.

This can be a swift action easily, just like the Ground usage of resolve points below this bit.


Astral Perfection [20th Level]: Your suit cannot be dispelled or removed against your will by any means, though your astral suit ability still does not function within areas where psionics do not work.

Now this is a problem. Supernatural abilities already can’t be dispelled at all (this includes solarian armor or weapon), and sunder in starfinder can’t target armor. Unless there’s some other way to remove someone’s armor (charm person and order them to do it? Some sort of teleport armor spell?), this part of the ability doesn’t accomplish much.

That’s almost half of the class, I’ll come back later with anything else I come up with.

Looking forward to the psion and the integrator!

[drafghast]

Excellent review, TheRagi. Some of these were things that we were already planning to change, and others had slipped through the cracks or were general design oversights, but all are appreciated. I'll review with internal and see what we can do to patch some of these up :)

[TheRagi]

Onwards to chassis (by the way, the misspelling “Chasses” appears three times in the aegis pages):


Forward Battery [1st Level]
You can spend 1 Power Point as a free action when you make a ranged attack.

I suggest: “You can spend 1 Power Point as part of a ranged attack”. This mechanic is present in a bunch of places, gets rid of the free action and doesn’t hinder the aegis, staying close to the original design.


Those squares count as difficult terrain for one round.

This bit lacks a bit of fluff. Why are they difficult terrain now? Ectoplasmic shards from the ranged attack? Just some help in visualizing what happens when this ability is used.


When you use astral shields, you can create a temporary astral turret instead of gaining temporary hit points. If you do so, one enemy within your line of sight that you made an attack roll against since your last turn takes piercing damage equal to the temporary hit points the shield would have granted. The astral turret otherwise counts as an astral shield for all purposes, and lasts for one round, despite only activating when created.

Is there a range limit to where I can put this turret? Does it need an open square? Does it only occupy one square?

The enemy takes damage from the turret even it the aegis attack roll wasn’t successful?

So it can be attacked? Does it have unattended object AC (crb 409)? Does it have hardness? I’m guessing it only has 5 hp. How tall is it? Can you use it for cover?


Scorched Earth [9th Level]
At the start of your turn, you can spend 3 Power Points as a free action. If you do so, one ranged weapon that you are wielding gains the unwieldy special property and your choice of one of the blast (15 ft range), explode (5 ft), or line (30 ft range) special properties for one round.

This is powerful enough for a swift action.


Line in the Sand
You can make attacks of opportunity with your ranged weapons against creatures that provoke while within those squares. Any enemy hit by one of your ranged attacks of opportunity

But can they take an attack of opportunity against the aegis, since he’s making a ranged attack within a threatened square? If not, this should go in the text.


Unyielding
You can spend 1 Power Point as a free action at the start of your turn. If you do so, you gain an insight bonus to attack rolls made for attacks of opportunity or as part of combat maneuvers for one round.

This is a great buff, and should demand a swift action. Can you use it for a combat maneuver and then for an AoO, or it is only applicable to one of them? The “or” makes it seem like it's the second.


Under Lockdown
When you create an astral shield, you can spend 2 additional Power Points. If you do so, you can attempt to either reposition or bull rush a creature within your reach as a free action.

A free standard action, although restricted to a couple of maneuvers, seems nasty. I’d change that to at least a move, or just some massive bonuses to a regular combat maneuver.


At the start of your turn, you can spend 3 Power Points as a free action. If you do so, increase your reach by 5 feet for one round.

I’d change this to “as part of an attack or full attack”; spending power points in the act of attacking to suddenly increase reach seems very fitting.


Astral Blockade
The wall extends along five continuous edges in a straight line centered on the chosen edge. The shield provides cover against attacks coming from the far side of the shield but not against attacks originating from the side you’re on. This wall lasts for one round.

So this is north, south, west, east and… diagonal? How long are these walls? And how tall (since flying at that level is very common)? Is the wall transparent? Does it also prevent movement, or can the enemy walk right through it? Cover is kinda crummy, how about DR and/or energy resistance?


As a move action, you can spend 6 Power Points. If you do so, the area within your reach counts as difficult terrain for your enemies for one minute. This difficult terrain hampers even flying enemies.

Same issue as before, what does this look like? A force field, ectoplasmic mist, whirlwind of ectoplasmic shards?


High Velocity
You can spend 1 Power Point as a free action on your turn. If you do so, your ranged attacks this turn gain an insight bonus to damage

“As part of a ranged attack or ranged full attack”...


Scattering Steps
When you make a full attack, you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action.

This is an easy “as part of a full attack”.


You can spend 3 Power Points as a free action at the start of your turn. If you do so, for each target that you hit with a ranged attack this turn, you choose one of the following

These kinds of usage of power points that require an attack to work actually make more sense as part of the attack. Imagine if the aegis spends the 3 power points and then the floor collapses under him, before he can attack - he just wasted resources. If he only spends them when attacking, it prevents such problems.


Once per turn, you can spend a Resolve Point as a free action during your turn to move up to your speed.

Exchanging a second move for a swift + resolve seems reasonable.


Veil of Bullets (Su)
On any turn in which you move more than 5 feet, you can leave an astral gun in each square that you move through. These images are intangible, inactive, and last only a single round, but when you make ranged attacks, you can have that attack originate from any square in line of sight with your astral gun, rather than your current square.

Are these astral guns copies of the gun the aegis is wielding? If he’s wielding more than one at the same time, can he choose between them? Can he copy guns he’s carrying on himself, but not holding nor wielding? Can he copy a gun he no longer has, or something he’s seen but never used?


As a full action you can spend 6 Power Points. If you do so, you can cause your astral guns to all fire at once.

But if you have to move to place the guns and they last only one round, how can you ever use this ability?


Make a ranged attack roll using a wielded ranged weapon against every enemy

This clarifies a lot, but this information should be either moved to the first paragraph or repeated there.


Astral Avalanche
You can spend 1 Power Point as a free action at the start of your turn.

“As a part of a melee attack or full attack”… this is specially good for the melee character, since he’s walking about and is even more likely to have this attacks interrupted. I believe this change would be quite beneficial to the aegis.


While you have an astral shield, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity from movement.

This might be over the top. Maybe he can ignore the first AoO, but full immunity at first level is too much.


Dance of Mischief
When you make a full attack, you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action.
You can spend 3 Power Points as a free action when you hit an enemy with a melee attack.
Once per turn, you can spend a Resolve Point as a free action during your turn to move up to your speed.

Two integrations into attacks, and once again, a swift + resolve for an extra move.


Echoes of Steel (Su)
Your melee attacks deal additional damage equal to the number of your afterimages adjacent to your target.

Is this only one extra point of damage per image? If so, the text should be “deal 1 additional point of damage per afterimage adjacent…”

Are these afterimages obvious, or could an enemy be fooled by them? Maybe add a “translucent” or “transparent” to their description.


If you do so, you can move up to twice your speed, making a melee attack against each enemy that you move adjacent to.

It’s a full attack + movement, but causing a lot of AoOs on the way. Maybe add a little AC bonus against AoOs? Or is this feeding from the first level ability that makes the aegis immune to AoOs from movement? Maybe move that from level 1 to here.


Mix It Up
When you use astral shields, you can choose to gain 5 fewer temporary hit points. If you do so, you can take a guarded step as a free action.

This is complicated, since I suggested changing astral shield to swift action, and you can only have one of those in a round. But sacrificing your swift action + temporary hit points might justify a guarded step as an extra move action.


Battle Pattern
When you draw a weapon, you can also put away any currently wielded weapons as a free action.

“put away a currently wielded weapon as part of the same action”. Any is a bit much, since we have races with multiple arms.


When you hit an enemy with a melee weapon, you can spend 3 Power Points as a free action. If you do so, you can make a single attack with a ranged weapon against that enemy as a free action.

“As a part of a melee attack, you can spend 3 PP to make an extra single attack with a ranged weapon against the same target”


When you hit an enemy with a ranged weapon, you can spend 3 Power Points as a free action. If you do so, that enemy is flat-footed for one round.

“As a part of a ranged attack, you can spend 3 PP. If the attack is successful, the enemy is flat-footed”


You can spend a Resolve Point as a free action when you take a guarded step to instead move up to half your speed.

“As part of a move action to take a guarded step, you can spend 1 resolve point to instead move half your speed”.

--

On the whole free-actioning of power point usage; there’s a bunch of places where spending power points has no actions connected to it, which might also cause some problems ahead.

If “as a part of” isn’t an interesting solution, and since PP are a new mechanic to the system, you might consider using a unique term for it. “You can boost a melee attack with 3 power points to make an enemy flat-footed”, or “You can enhance your guarded step with 2 power points to move an extra 5 foot” and such.

This will probably require an explanatory paragraph on the psionics chapter.

[TheRagi]

To wrap up, customizations.


Adhesive Feet
You also count as if you had boot clamps, and are able to walk on flat surfaces (such as the hulls of ships) in zero gravity.

Boot clamps are mentioned only in the zero gravity section of the book: "A creature anchored to a solid object (such as by the boot clamps available with most armor)".

A similar effect is mentioned in the armor section: “Unless otherwise specified, the boots include a functionality that can anchor your feet to a solid surface in a zero-gravity environment, allowing you to orient yourself or return to normal footing when needed”

So I assumed Astral Armor and Astral Juggernaut already had this built in them. Or is this supposed to benefit only aegis using Astral Skin and no regular armor?


you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action when you would be knocked prone to stay on your feet.

This can be easily replaced by a reaction.


Diehard
You gain the benefits of the Diehard feat, except that you automatically stabilize without having to spend Resolve Points to do so.

May I suggest “Dieharder” as a replacement name for this customization?

I’d add “as long as you have resolve points left”, otherwise, this is a tiny form of immortality during combat.


Frightful Presence
you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action when you successfully hit a creature with an attack to make them shaken for 1 round.

“As part of an attack”.


Hardened Strikes
your unarmed attacks lose the archaic keyword.

"archaic special property"


you may spend 2 Power Points as a free action. If you do so, your unarmed strike is charged with psionic energy, and deals an additional 2d6 damage on its next hit. Your unarmed strike stays charged for one minute or until it successfully hits, whichever comes first.

As a free action I could spend 2 power points for each attack on a full attack, but since it remains charged for a 1 minute it seems the intention is to benefit a single attack - so I suggest going for a swift action.


Powerful Build
Whenever you are subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for a Combat Maneuver, you are treated as Large if doing so is advantageous to you. You are also considered to be Large when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as grab and swallow whole) can affect you. This doesn’t stack with similar abilities—in such cases, you apply only whichever is more beneficial to you.

There are no size modifiers concerning combat maneuvers in Starfinder. The same is true for Grab as well, but Swallow Whole actually has restrictions on the size of creatures that can be eaten. I’d change this to a bonus against combat maneuvers, but Adhesive Feet already does that, partially. Maybe a customization that gives bonus against other maneuvers?


Beginning at 8th level, whenever you make a successful melee attack, you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action to make a bull rush attempt against the target.

This is one of the few official exceptions to free actions, but it only shows up for monsters in the Alien Archive. There’s precedent, at least.


Speed
You can spend 2 Power Points as a free action to double this bonus for one round.

If you don’t want to get in the way of the withdraw and run full actions, this should be “as part of his move action or full action to do one of the two mentioned above”; otherwise it’s a swift.


Energy Resistance
You gain energy resistance 5 against one of acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic.

“one of” seems to be a leftover.


you can take this customization again, selecting an additional energy type of the ones above to resist.

So you have to decide the energy type when choosing the customization, not each time you apply it to the suit? That should be made clearer in the first sentence.


Harness Power Stone

Aegis can use psionic powers using this? Handy!


Stubborn
You gain this benefit only while unencumbered, and you lose the benefit when you are helpless or otherwise unable to move.

Is this a paste mistake from Evasion, or movement is really that important when resisting health and mental effects?


Astral Vision
blindsense (thoughts) out to a range of 30 feet.

Why not scent or vibration? Detecting thoughts hardly makes sense from an “augmentation of senses”. It gives a psionic-y feel to the customization, though, but maybe change the fluff text a bit.


Energy Blast
Astral cannonades jut from your astral suit, barraging your foes with every attack. Whenever one of your ranged attacks misses a creature, you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action.

“As part of each attack”, to cover full attacks as well.


Extra Armaments
Astral arms, bristling with weaponry, extend from your astral suit. Whenever one of your melee attacks misses a creature, you can spend 2 Power Points as a free action.

“As part of each attack”, to cover full attacks as well.


Extra Passenger
A creature can be loaded and unloaded into your astral suit as a free action by you, but the creature can take no actions until its next turn.

Swallowing another character strikes me as a full action.


Reach
All of your melee weapons and unarmed strikes gain the reach weapon special property.

How about a little something for the large races, since there are so many of them available. Another 5 ft of reach?


Fortification
before the critical hit’s damage

A little "'s" escaped there.

--

Done.

Overall, the class has a lot of buffs, but very few silly abilities. It probably makes for an efficient warrior, but not a very remarkable one.

I wish more chassis had stuff that affected the battleground like Artillery, with their tossing of difficult terrain and astral turrets, at early levels. The others show up at 9th or 15th.

I’ll build a 7th level aegis to use against a 5th level party and see how it goes.

[TheRagi]

Ah, one more thing!

You should add a paragraph about armor upgrades in the Form Astral Suit entry, explaining they can be installed in the suits just like in regular armor. Mechanically I believe the only difference is what happens to the upgrades when the suit is dismissed - they just fall on the floor? Get sucked into the ectoplasm and come back when the suit is formed again?

The upgrade slots are mentioned in the suits description, but they are important enough to be highlighted.


Astral Skin
You gain no armor bonus from your astral suit when you wear it in this fashion, but it still provides one upgrade slot per 5 aegis levels and has light bulk. An astral suit in this form is a skintight suit, does not count as any type of armor or provide any environmental protection, and can be worn underneath other armor without penalty.

This is problematic, since upgrades must be installed in armor - maybe just add “the astral skin is considered light armor when it comes to installing armor upgrades”. But can you use both the astral skin armor upgrades and the armor upgrades from the regular armor you are using? That would be a nice bonus to this suit.

[drafghast]

You are a machine (the good kind).
I will definitely review and respond to each of these points, but for now, consider your advice heard, noted, and in discussion internally.
I'm pleased that you didn't find any outright silliness, and I will see what we can do about making it a little more distinctive/cool. Also, I am quite interested as to how that mentioned encounter goes.
Glad you liked it overall :)

[TheRagi]

Glad to be of any help. I love psionics since AD&D, and was very impressed with Dreamscarred Press take on Pathfinder.

Looking forward to see this book ready.

--

This one I found when building the character - probably didn't catch it before due to reviewing in separate parts:

"Chassis Function [1st Level]: At 1st, 7th, and 15th level, you gain a chassis function unique to your selected chassis"

The Aegis table also has chassis functions at these levels, but on all the Chassis descriptions the functions come at 1st, 9th and 15th.

[drafghast]

"Chassis Function [1st Level]: At 1st, 7th, and 15th level, you gain a chassis function unique to your selected chassis"

The Aegis table also has chassis functions at these levels, but on all the Chassis descriptions the functions come at 1st, 9th and 15th.

Good find - this one was an artifact from a past version. The correct progression is 1st, 7th, and 15th level for the chassis functions.

[MythMage]

Glad to see psionics making its way to the land of science fantasy! At the request of some contributors, I've got some critiques.

Regarding the races:

The blue seems a little overpowered as a skill monkey; it's pretty generally better than an android or a lashunta.

The duergar's reaction seems like it would be good enough if it worked like normal (like the standard for reroll abilities described in the CRB on page 243, where you have to use it before the GM says whether the roll failed or succeeded), rather than this better version that you get to use after you know you failed.

The elan's resilience seems rather strong and easy to misread. It shouldn't stack with DR or energy resistance, and it should only let you spend 1 PP at a time just as the resistance trait does (although it might scale a little faster then).

The forgeborn's constructed line should be reworded to be in line with the pseudo-errata FAQ Paizo applied to the android.

As an editorial thing, the half-giant entry is really inconsistent about perspective and pluralization ("a half-giant"/"half-giants"/"you")

The half-giant's acclimation bonus against environments needs a type, and should be smaller if it's meant to stack with Toughness.

Size doesn't affect AC or combat maneuvers in Starfinder, so the mighty stature ability shouldn't affect them either. The half giants're getting an awful lot as it is even without it.

Maenad's outburst bonus should have a type. It also mentions a free action; I'd just say that it can continue without using an action.

The xeph looks a little over-strong compared to the bantrid and the dwarf, the two most similar published races.

In general, your races just seem a little better than what's in the core books. They have more features, and get lots of bonuses. Few races in Starfinder have more than four features, and most of these have six. They're mostly small, so it won't make a meaningful balance difference in most games, but it is something folks will quickly notice when there's just more things being handed out.

As a general design principle, I encourage you to remove some of those bonuses, and replace a few with more mechanically interesting features. As an example, you could remove Naturally Psionic as a feature and simply indicate that these races often take psionic classes or give them features activated or improved with PP or psionic focus. The elan would need to keep 1 or 2 free PP, so it wouldn't really help with that race, but the others I think would be improved that way.

[MythMage]

Aegis class thoughts:

The balance of the rest of the game revolves around a 1-3 point gap between KAC and EAC. The astral suit astral armor should grant a 1 higher bonus to KAC.

The astral juggernaut should also grant a 1 higher bonus to KAC and 1 lower bonus to EAC.

Astral shields is cool, but should probably require a move action to activate. (At the very least, you need to change the mention of "free action" to "swift action"—it might be okay not costing an action if you didn't upgrade it, but all of the improvements in the chasses make it do enough that it really needs to eat an action and prevent full attacking).

The skill check DC for customizations that call for an enemy to make a skill check should add your whole aegis level, but mind that a skill check will generally be failed if the enemy is untrained regardless of whether you make this change.

Invigorating Suit should be worded to avoid stacking with Toughness.

Air mode should list a speed, rather than scaling with base land speed. A high land speed is already one of the best features a race can have. The insight bonus to AC should not scale with level. Almost no bonuses to AC or attacks should ever scale, really. I recommend against even having an AC bonus here; consider an RP-free maneuverability improvement instead, at the least at a higher level, or a new non-numerical benefit.

Ground mode likewise really shouldn't be boosting your AC that high. Consider giving some RP-free terrain ignoring or a new, non-numerical benefit.

References to free actions pop up all over the aegis, mostly in the chasses, and need to be removed (since that's not a term in SF). If it doesn't cost an action, it's not an action at all, but most of these should be swift or move actions because they grant mechanical bonuses. The main exceptions could be things that don't grant bonuses that are spending RP or PP as part of another action, like Dance of Mischief's full attack upgrade.

Overcharge is a beautiful, crazy delight, but it's too strong to start and only gets worse over time. It should wear off before the next combat (probably 1 minute), and be capped at about three upgrades.

Absorb suit is also cool, but doesn't need to punish you so hard. I'd let them put on their other astral suit as soon as they spend the actions to do so, rather than forcing them to wait a minute.

I'd make Rapid Refit a move action at 13th level, so you can use the new thing in the current round. You're spending an RP, which should give you a benefit in the same round.

The chasses are giving an awful lot of abilities tightly clumped at a few levels. It's probably fine because they're mostly RP and PP sinks rather than always-on things, but it will look a bit busy and powerful to casual readers.

All of the chassis 1st-level abilities that grant bonuses need those bonuses to be insight of +1 or +2 and shouldn't scale or use an extra stat (compare to soldier fighting styles and gear boosts). This helps prevent stacking with other classes.

The Forward Battery astral turret should allow a save or require an attack roll. This is another reason why the shields need to take an action to activate: otherwise, this would basically be onslaught that's more accurate but ten levels early that stacks with onslaught.

Veil of bullets doesn't wow me for being 15th level. I'd increase the range.

Customizations: Again, bonuses should almost never scale with level in Starfinder and should generally be insight from a class unless it takes an action or unreliable circumstance to produce. They should improve in more interesting ways, like a situational bonus becoming more common or reducing the problems from unfavorable conditions and situations. Scaling damage or healing is reasonable, though.

Adhesive feet should take a reaction to keep you on your feet automatically.

Evasion is too good with the improvement. That should take a second customization or something.

Diehard is cool.

Hardy: SF doesn't do ability score bonuses from anything other than the specific items very intentionally. I'd think very carefully before including this, and including the level scaling is definitely over the line.

Retribution is probably too good. I'd move that to a later level.

Speed is probably scales too fast; I don't think I'd scale it at all, actually. I'd tone it down even if it didn't let you double it.

On the precedent of the feat, I'd give energy resistance at a rate equal to base attack bonus for friendlier multiclassing and less jerky progression.

I'd split Stubborn into two separate upgrades, one for each stat, but I know there's a lot of inertia on that. At the least I'd bump it to a higher level.

Deep vision is bonkers. It should cost PP or be a higher level or be an imprecise sense. Compare to the mystic's emotion sense.

Energy blast is a fantastic feel-good. So is Extra Armaments. I'd move them a little lower.

Reach could stand to be considerably lower. It's far less useful in this system.

Extra Passenger doesn't give creatures outside the same cover relative to the passenger?

Fortification is less exciting in a system where only 5% of hits can ever crit. I'd suggest making it protect against more things in this system and/or lower the level.

Archetype:

The psiblade doesn't really excite me when it's just a bonus feat package, but the feat is cool.

Mighty Mindblade is hard to balance (it should probably work like a heavy weapon with those dice) and pretty bland as a pinnacle of mindblade ability.

Feats:

Mind Blade!: a two-feat tree is smart, but a feat to not buy a weapon is pretty untrodden ground balance-wise.

Psionic Talent is the psionics equivalent of 3e Toughness: fine at 1st level and either useless or a tax shortly thereafter. I recommend taking a note from SF Toughness and combine it with another staple to make something worth having all of the time. However, once it's as useful as a real feat, you really need to bring the races that use it under control somehow (see above for a previous comment on that topic).

Maybe fold in gaining psionic focus as a standard action, and then combine Psionic Meditation with Battle Trance? A feat that only does something when you spend RP is pretty costly; in more than one place, you get a standard version of something and an option to do it even faster for RP in the same package.

[BRKNdevil]

My current questions are how do mindblades interact with fusions
How the Soulknife Archetype works with the Armor Solarian, and especially the Fusion that converts Cha bonus to damage

I mean, if your weapon can be declared as anything, you could declare that its a solarian weapon and then add the appropriate fusion for a more SAD or generally Less MAD Solarian which means more points in Int and less ******* around outside of combat

Also, how do you currently view balance in comparison the Mechanist, Soldier, Envoy, and Solarian in terms of combat in Space and in Person, and Skill usage for outside of combat?

I'm not including the Operative because its... sort of unbalanced for out of combat stuff

Side note: Charisma, the least useful stat outside of declaring I'm a Sexy Beast

[BRKNdevil]

Huh, never really considered that word a curse, but okay.

Also, Attachments, from Armory, how do they interact with those?

Edit: And Proficiency, Do they need to already have proficiency in the Weapon type with the Advanced Mind blade Longarms and such or does Mind Blade give Auto Prof?

[MythMage]

On the specialist:

Overall, this class is going to be more swingy to play than an operative, since it's getting better damage boosts but worse accuracy boosts. Should be cool and interesting to those who like operative, but it's also going to feel simply better once you start accumulating hobbyist proofs (you should probably get one or the other at the levels you're currently awarding one of each). In terms of flavor, I'm getting a vague sense of what you mean (these are like psychic chaos-theory-junky spies), but I need better introduction to what you mean by "pattern" and why these folks are using the terminology of dreams.

Pattern disruption is just so darn cool. :smallbiggrin: It should probably specify the devastating fusion and similar effects don't apply to this fake crit, though. Doubly so when synergistic attunement rolls around.

Advanced synergy means you're just flatly better than an operative at these skills if you sink the feat. Undercutting another core class's main draw is a big, giant red flag. I strongly recommend bumping this up to about 7th but accelerate the improvement. Also, this class should really be granting some free Skill Synergy feats to use this feature, much as operative does.

Limited prescience sounds like you're manipulating time a lot more directly than just glimpsing the future. I like the mechanic! However, it's too easy to get your psionic focus back for that to be the only cost; else you come close to making it so your whole party effectively has +5 on the skill checks you're trained in, and you only need 1 rank! This is the sort of thing that should at the least cost RP.

Focused disruption has some wonky wording and maths out comparable to a solarian's flashing strikes without the attack type restriction. This is a rather sudden jump in damage; some sort of step toward it, such as a level at which you get a critical hit but lose out on the critical effect and/or weapon specialization would be good for the mid-level play. I also worry about a crit-optimized heavy weapon (just a couple feats away) with this class's other abilities to add damage critical effects. This also gives far better range than a solarian gets, which concerns me.

Disrupting echo is elegant, but swingy. Something more reliable but with a more sane damage potential might be prudent.

Context erasure is super cool, but feels like a worse transcendence in too many ways. You need a little something more at 19th level, either in this feature or in the inclinations.

Morphean's rhythmic focus should probably require a reaction and that the effect come from a significant enemy.

Proofs:

Detect correlation doesn't give an action. That's a really big area and potentially trap-ruining levels of detail on connections.

Magical tolerance: You shouldn't generally have much in the way of scaling bonuses on saving throws, attack rolls, or AC in Starfinder.

Show the Work: Rather than increasing your bonus by an amount, this should increase the bonus you grant to +3 or +4 (so it doesn't stack with other increases). Based on the precedent of other bonuses, +4 is hard to justify but I think aid could use the love.

Write the book should probably only let you have one in existence. Otherwise this quickly means other characters' skill modifiers just don't matter most of the time.

Ad nauseum: Most bleed and burn just last until they are stopped. Does this mean you keep bleeding/burning after being healed/doused?

Autohypnotic Endurance: I'd just apply this to saves to end ongoing effects. If you want it this open-ended, I'd make it require a reaction and up the RP cost to 2.

High-yield explosives should probably specify they are a form of weapon specialization in case of the publication of similar abilities elsewhere.

Infer causation: 6th level is too low for blindsight, especially if it's bundled with good blindsense (and this is the best there is if this is meant to be some sort of pure matter-sight). Cleave off the blindsight for a separate proof and raise the level of the blindsense unless you specify a sense that can be foiled or limited in some meaningful way. You need to specify what kind of sense your are so good with in any case.

Technopathic hacking is cool, but I'd peg it as a minimum of move action unless you spend RP or PP to cut it down to a swift action.

Custom gear should clarify that it's only letting you exceed the item level limit of the fusion seal, not the fusion level limit of the weapon (you did say that, but due to how similar the terms are I think emphasis is vital for clarity). This can mean nearly free fusions at a certain point, so I suggest stress-testing this aggressively.

Establish Trend: Just the blindsight would be pushing it at 10th level; just the blindsense or just the auto-search would be solid. Compare to the mystic's greater emotionsense. You also need to specify what sense this is.

Life support failure is cool but really niche. A little more applicability would go a long way here.

I like obfuscate.

Rippling waltz is really cool, and could be 6th level without being too good (compare the force soles in the Armory).

Impossible arc needs to list the amount of the arc damage and should clarify if you mean it to trigger alongside its other critical effects. If it stacks, it very much needs to not be cumulative with any other means of getting a second crit effect. I'd stress-test this carefully even then; it smells too strong to me.

I don't like prophetic defiance because I don't like automatic success or failure period, but that's a matter of taste.

Ripple and sway should either do less or allow a save.

Bookworm: It's not normally possible to take 20 on a check to recall knowledge, and for good reason. Just letting you "take 15" would be a very solid ability. As written, the recall knowledge half doesn't do anything except in the vanishingly rare circumstance you're allowed to just retry a recall knowledge on a failure; on the research half, taking 20 in half the time is probably not enough without also making recall knowledge better.

Burn the evidence is kind of interesting. Does it also impair identifying a corpse? Since speed seems to be a major draw, I'd knock the action down to a standard. The increase should be flat, not scaling, so probably +4. To help it not be so niche, I recommend adding some sort of benefit when sundering and when attacking objects.

Eternity code is neat but niche. Again, scaling bonus (especially one based on an ability score) is unnecessarily hard to balance. Just make that +4 as well. It's pretty niche, so I recommend adding some little benefit that applies in other circumstances; perhaps to do with hacking or hybrid items, or adding flexibility to the functionality of the the item you modified?

Double tap is too good. Maybe it could count as harrying fire or knock the target flat-footed by expending psionic focus, but level-based bonus damage that stacks with weapon specialization is much too much.

Field fleshcrafting could use a little more pizzazz. Maybe spend PP to restore a little Stamina too?

I'm Holding the Detonator is an awful lot of damage to lay down as a swift action. It's also a lot to give without expending a real grenade; this should probably have a PP cost reflecting the potency of the grenade you make.

Cascade failure's penalty shouldn't grow beyond -4 and shouldn't stack with conditions like sickened and off-target (can it just be off-target that adds sickened on a failure?). Most importantly, it needs to require a move action each round to maintain such a severe penalty that effectively stacks with whatever bonuses you have going up against those penalized numbers.

Cold case should probably also have a flat bonus. I'm not a fan of the Stealth bonus when the class already has operative-quality bonus on Stealth if they want it; something cool like an interaction with blindsight or blindsense would feel more psionic as well as being more interesting and less difficult to balance.

Reality code is neat.

Augmentation enthusiast could probably be lower-level.

Flee the scene is fun. I'd like to see a lower-level version that only lets you Stealth while observed until the end of your next turn.

Go loud either needs to limit the sum of the grenade's levels to your level or it needs to be a standard action. In either case, it needs to cost PP if you're not going to make them spend real grenades.

IFF Override needs to keep you from targeting the same individual again for 24 hours.

Overwatch mastery is far too good for the action economy, given the damage will always be a huge deal. Maybe if you have to spend a move action on the previous turn "entering overwatch", or a swift action if you spend 1 RP?

I really like adaptive ammunition, but psionic focus isn't a resource that can ever properly pay for something that lasts for more than a few rounds. Either it also needs to cost PP or that should be a change that lasts for at most 1 minute.

Concealed weapons specialist is plenty without Quick Draw.

Elude surveillance doesn't need a bonus. A better idea is to riff off of one of the earlier ablities here: instead, let them automatically know when they are being digitally observed, and an automatic check without an action to notice surveillance tech within, say, 60 feet.

Get out alive feels weird when it tempts you to trigger your defensive ability to sneak through a trap. I'd have that aspect require the other specialist ability that lets you avoid triggering traps.

Gun Down: Again, adding your level in damage on top of weapon specialization is really hard to afford. This should at least require expending psionic focus.

Keep it down is neat!

Assassin's refusal is really good. I'd make the specialist staggered and/or off-target until the end of their next turn, to compensate for the standard action they never spent.

Improved ectoplasmic ammunition shouldn't last long enough to be used after an 8-hour rest.

Killer instinct is really, really good. This should probably have a prerequisite or cost RP.

Clone system just lets you automatically disregard countermeasures like a shock grid? I'd like this better as a lower-level ability that only copied info you had access to. Again, psionic focus doesn't really pay for a benefit that lasts more than a few rounds. A day-long copy should probably cost 1 RP.

Disengage could probably be a lower level. It should specify you can't use it to move farther than your speed.

Psychoportive shot could either be lower level or take no penalty.

Diva lifestyle needs a type for its bonuses and seems like too much for its level. Also, the flavor text could help set up the name better.

Empathic coordination should at least require you to also expend your psionic focus and spend the same action(s) required for the skill check. If they're getting your bonus, they should merely count as being a conduit for you doing the work. Otherwise this needs to cost RP for at least one of you and be higher level, because it will very often mean the rest of the party's skill modifiers are simply irrelevant.

Fatalistic verve should require a significant enemy and should grant a specific (not big) amount of Stamina that scales with level, not scale with the damage dealt. I'd also consider the option to amp it up by spending a move or standard action on your turn.

I like hypnotic hum.

Telepathy is too low of level. Compare to mindlink circlet. If you cut the improvement with limited telepathy, it'd be a strong 6th; as written, I'd peg it at 10th.

Waking sleep: Standing from prone doesn't provoke in SF. That last sentence should say you're giving Kip Up as a bonus feat. With all it does, this should be a 6th-level ability.

Intrusive thoughts is pretty vague on how influential it is supposed to be. I suggest making this a reroll ability (letting you roll twice and take the better result) or else wording it like a mind-affecting power weaker than suggestion that doesn't require a skill check.

Malicious intent: similar to previous comments on +level damage proofs. By the way, these proofs seems to be pretty varied in how much assistance you give the specialist in setting up the damage. Maybe you should be pairing them with the option to add these conditions as critical effects?

Waking dream could be lower level and cost 1 PP, comparing it to command.

Consuming daydreams should grant an insight bonus to reduce stacking.

Hypnotic concert's bonuses should be insight bonuses and the triggered bonuses should only apply against the creature that missed.

I'd let advanced empathy affect mindless creatures (they still have Wis and Cha, after all). I'd also lower the level to 6th.

Paranoia could be lower-level and/or not require an RP.

Cloak of whispers: Adding multiple stats to a save is incredibly potent; I strongly recommend making this a reroll ability that costs RP and your reaction, instead of a bonus.

Gates of horn and bone should at least cost PP to use. It also needs to clarify whether you have any ability to detect or locate viable targets, or what happens if you try to go somewhere that's not a valid destination. It should probably not locate creatures you aren't already aware of location for, but blindsense (thought) or blindsense (emotion) is certainly in keeping with the class.

Shell game is really strong and needs to cost a reaction to redirect. I would break this up into a chain of at least two abilities.

Waking nightmare should cost an action and allow a save at the end of the first effect.

Archetypes:

A power known seems a petty cost for an archetype feature.

Skills:

Autohypnosis's snapshot should probably use the skill check result to determine the maximum result you can get through a snapshot (so a 20 would mean a Perception check you make on the snapshot is capped at 20). That would help the skill remain relevant at higher levels.

An extra psionic focus should probably cost more than a low-level feat. I'd make it require a swift action to "surface" it or otherwise make it a little harder to use than a conscious psionic focus.

[MythMage]

Powers:

The golden rule (PP expenditure limited to your ML) needs a heading all to itself to make it stand out.

A specialist can comfortably max-augment four powers starting at about 6th level, and that grows quickly from there. That feels like too much to me, for a class that is not meant to rely on its powers, especially given that some powers augment so potently. If not for power level limits, a specialist could manifest more equal-level powers than a technomancer of the same class level could cast spells (assuming similar key ability mods) until about 10th, after which the technomancer has only a slight edge. You might want to reconsider universal bonus PP table, given that the specialist doesn't take a manifester level hit.

I'm not a fan of the base PP cost being below minimum manifester level for these powers, but I don't see any powers where that's undermining the balance of the powers.

Why is power resistance a thing? It's mechanically identical to spell resistance and not even a mention of why it isn't just called spell resistance.

When there's direct equivalency between disciplines and schools, it seems like it would be clearer to just use the name of the school that readers are already familiar with.

In the power descriptions, it's hard to read the augment costs at a glance; I recommend something bolded with the number of extra PP required in numerals (not words) at the start of the entry. The augments that cost your psionic focus seem really strong, given they're essentially gravy in action economy for anyone who's not primarily in melee, and I recommend giving an extra PP cost to all of them (varying according to how useful they are as reactions, of course). Probably should cost RP, given the precedent of Quicken Spell for technomancer.

The PP rule for talents being free if you're psionically focused could be stated more prominently; I totally missed that on my first read. Maybe restate it in the class's Psionics feature too?

Alienation should specify whether "unable to distinguish friend from foe" means it always takes attacks of opportunity (a la paranoia) or never (a la confusion). Flanking doesn't check whether the attacker is allied with the other flanker; it checks whether the other flanker is threatening the defender. Thus, you should rephrase the line about not counting as an ally for flanking. It also needs to clarify how much the target can recall about goals or the past actions of individuals. I assume the target's typically going to avoid all other creatures and attack those that have attacked it, but it doesn't say enough for me to decide.

Battlesense is awesome (and very cool) just using Aid Another as a reaction. The bonuses are unnecessary and far too easy to combine with other bonuses unless they have some kind of situation attached to them (such as the attack bonus only applying when you flank with someone in the spell). I suggest having the augmentation be the way you get extra targets, rather than having that scale with manifester level, to keep large groups from stacking very nasty aid bundles from summoned creatures. If you keep the option to get extra bonuses, they need to cost more than 2 PP per augment.

Brain Lock needs to remove its reference to "daze" in favor saying the target can't act except as described here, since dazed is a condition that doesn't combine in the intended fashion with the spell's discussed movement or full action (not full-round action) to save.

Breach seems too weak, given the typical DCs it'll be going up against. Comparing it to knock, I'd add a +5 bonus.

Clairvoyant sense would be pushing it at Close range and 3rd level, much less Medium and 1st. Missing out on special senses doesn't pay for a 2-spell-level discount and 10-min-to-1-action casting time improvement (relative to clairvoyance). Maybe it could be 1st if it required line of sight.

Combat precognition should really do something more interesting than bonuses. What about roll-twice on your next attack of opportunity? If you must do bonuses, don't let them make the same bonus bigger multiple times.

Concealing amorpha's stealth mode is too strong. I suggest you should borrow some wording from the invisibility condition and its discussion in the Stealth skill. Note that bonuses in general are smaller in SF, and enhancement bonuses are very rare (and unheard of for skills, so I think you should say half the bonus for invisibility instead. It should only be helping you avoid becoming observed; it should not be helping you at all to avoid enemies locating you with Perception checks. For example, it might say that an additional Perception check is required to observe you after you are located by a Perception check. I recommend a +6 augment that simply makes you invisible.

Danger sense shouldn't scale its bonus. The Reaction augment won't work against traps outside of combat without additional verbiage because you can't take Reactions before acting in an encounter. I'd charge more for the initiative augment (or reduce its bonus to match the spell's baseline) and less for the flat-footed augment. That augment should cost PP as well as your psionic focus, since it's usually going to come up outside of combat, where the cost of expending focus is trivial.

Defy gravity is just 2nd-level flight with sorta-worse attack penalties and longer duration. This seems much too good for a 1st-level power.

Detect Hazard's Hostile Intent option just feels like whole extra power for no Power Known slot. I'd split that off. It's already comparable to detect magic for appeal and versatility.

Dimension swap seems more like a 3rd-level power, comparing it to PF precedents like jester's jaunt and king's castle.

Dispel psionics should cost more like +5ish PP for the area dispel, comparing to greater dispel magic.

Ectoplasmic creation seems way more broadly useful compared to the spell creation than it should be, given the 9-level-early access. Of especial concern is the theoretical option to create a single-use chemical item. I suggest dramatically narrowing what it can make below 10 PP, not only to hedge out weird corner cases but more importantly to offer some guidance on what a good use for such a vague power might be.

Ectoplasmic grapnel is really cool, but should probably have a Bulk limit given the existence of ultra-dense small objects in a sci-fi setting. The bracing bonus should be a circumstance bonus. Given the precedent in attack spells, perhaps you could use your key ability modifier on the grapnel combat maneuver check if it's better than the usual modifier. Fast-scaling bonuses like the one in the first augment seem to go against the style of SF, where numbers never ramp up wildly out of scale with each other, but on a combat maneuver in particular that might not be a big deal. The retract/extend augment is confusing and needs its logic clarified. Moving as a reaction is a big deal and should cost way more than just your psionic focus.

Ectoplasmic trinket is stronger than recharge, a 2nd-level spell, even assuming making it temporary removes the RP cost. 100 credits is way more than a trinket. I'd say charge 1 PP per 10 credits, minimum 0, and prohibit single-use items or batteries. Just as a tangible illusion, it might still be worth being a 1st-level power.

Elfsight should probably cost extra PP to manifest as a reaction.

Empathy seems like is should be at least 1st-level, comparing it to detect thoughts and keen senses (+2 insight bonus on multiple skills).

Energy adaptation needs to clarify how bright the light is and probably shouldn't be such a good substitute for daylight given it's also protecting you from energy. The scaling resistance with ML is out of line with the way SF spells get stronger, comparing it to lesser resistant armor. Translating to powers, that should really cost augment PP (note resistant armor requires a higher spell level for more resistance). Manifesting it as a reaction seems like it should cost additional PP. The redirect is super nifty.

Far hand's augment for complex actions seems like it should allow Engineering checks, but I recommend clarifying (which is fine for 3 PP).

Float probably should either not stack with a swim speed or cost more than 1/5 ft. I'd also consider giving this a function in zero-g to help make it more broadly applicable.

Gravitational Anchor: What does it mean to increase gravity from zero to light? Can you pick whatever direction you want? You also need to specify how much damage the extreme gravity deals. Cool power.

Gravity well is novel.

Hustle trading up actions in general sounds like something that should cost multiple RP (see quicken spell). An extra standard action seems like something it's almost impossible to balance, given how there's always going to print new ways to use it, but those restrictions do catch all the obvious problems.

Id insinuation's description and duration lines don't quite agree, but otherwise it seems good.

Metamorphosis needs a type for its bonuses. It is also strictly better than disguise self (alters type, no Will save to disbelieve, bigger Disguise bonus, and a combat ability that's easily worth a 1st-level power without the disguise). This would be a rather strong 2nd-level power as written. It seems like it might be intended to not affect equipment, which would definitely help, but it's not clear that it has such a restriction. More specifics:

Shouldn't the climb/swim speed be "or", not "and"? Why scale new speeds with land speed? A flat speed is much easier to balance. Just the climb speed 30 ft. or just the swim speed 30 ft. would be worth a 1st-level spell.
SF very intentionally doesn't give temporary bonuses to AC; such a large one as that in the later menus is unreasonably easy to stack. For your toughness concept, you already have temp hp and DR; focus on those.
The augments should each give only one extra choice, not two, even with 2nd level as the starting point, ballparking their total effects with comparable buffs (such as lesser resistant armor and the resistances). Giving a better rate after first reaching a level makes sense, but again this power is already absurdly versatile. It really seems like it should be occupying at least two powers known slots. I'd break these into two powers so you can make the abilities augment more cleanly and so it's not just better than most powers.
Manifesting this radically open-ended combat buff as a reaction needs to cost significant RP and/or PP.


Mind link is a spell that works significantly differently from your power mind link; since the former is already in print, I suggest renaming yours. Yours is pretty close in utility to telepathic bond, a 4th-level spell; once you augment it, yours is dramatically better even at a lower manifester level than the minimum CL for telepathic bond, so I recommend upping at least the augment cost for extra targets. Sharing powers is neat! I think I'd scale the augment cost with the maximum level of the power borrowed.

Mind pierce should either scale a little slower (such as 2d10 per 3 PP) or have 1d10 base damage. Given mind thrust is already game-warping amounts of damage, there should probably not be any manifester levels where mind pierce deals more damage than mind thrust. 2 PP to convert a single-target spell into area damage is absurdly cheap. It might be okay for two targets, but not a cluster of melee combatants. Compare to overheat, which is a widely-resisted damage type.

Modify matter saves a ton of in-game time. Based on the precedent of recharge, I strongly recommend an RP cost. You should explicitly say whether this can make technological items, but based on the wording I'm guessing yes. If so, it sort of cracks the logic of the in-universe economy (which I assume is why the core rules chose not to port fabricate) that you just don't have to spend time crafting at all once you pick this one power. I'd limit the item level to half what you can make the old-fashioned way and add a stiff RP cost (maybe 1 + half item level).

Object reading is neat. However, expending psionic focus is a trivial cost if you're not in combat, and it's not a combat power, so this should really cost PP. I wouldn't charge quite so much for the additional information.

Personal gravity: I like it, but I recommend a fixed speed. It's less likely to produce weird interactions, and why should a faster land speed help you with manipulating gravity? I think this is the sole use of faster casting augmentation that doesn't need to cost PP.

Physical acceleration should clarify it counts as a haste effect.

Recall agony: SF doesn't do insta-kills at all except as 20th-level capstones or against truly trivial foes (snuff life isn't available until 16th level and just does a lot of damage to creatures above CR 5), and I encourage you to reconsider reintroducing them before 20th level. They're simply anticlimactic, and 15th level is too early for them if you do keep this one.

Remote viewing is far, far stronger than clairvoyance. This should easily be 5th level as written. I recommend cutting out the remote power usage as an augment that adds that power's cost onto this one's. Combining it with the augment that lets you cast the spell on a location would make this comparable in utility to the 19th-level mystic transcendence feature (and should be priced so you can't do it until around 16th to 19th level).

Skate takes 1 hour to manifest? Admittedly, it does render one of the major uses of Strength irrelevant in SF and/or grant the benefit of three feats (which makes its raw effect more potent than any 1st-level spell). As a talent, I'd err toward the side of a faster manifestation and a less extreme effect.

Sustenance is flavorful. Based on the precedent of goodberry, I think you could safely lower the level and/or tack on some minor mechanical benefit to make it more interesting.

Time hop is delightful.

Touchsight should should clarify that it's giving you blindsight (touch). The rules are already there; use them. Based on the emotion sight precedent in the mystic, 70-foot blindsight seems like it should be the equivalent of a 4th-level spell (although the limited duration and personal range make me not 100% on that).

Unearthly Terror is a solid 0-level power. Its frightened effect should probably have a CR cap much as other frightening effects in SF do; this is a condition that comes close to insta-ending fights, and it's best if it won't work against boss fights.

Wall of ectoplasm also seems good.

[MythMage]

Themes!

Test subject is extremely flexible, but probably small enough that it's no big deal. I'd expected the 6th-level ability to be something more to do with tinkering with/tweaking the effects of augmentations. Overall fine and sure to be a theme many will happily riff off of, although I'm not seeing why it's in this book. Maybe it could use Autohypnosis instead of Life Science as its Theme Knowledge skill?

Conspirator's 12th-level ability could use some clarification. I'm not sure what it's a discount on. The flavor again inspires good flavorful fun, but doesn't quite feel psionic.

Sleepwalker is overall cool and definitely the best fit, but needs more flavor text anchoring what it's meant to look like in play and in the universe—especially the Mysticism substitution.

Dreaming wide awake should probably require that the telepathic conversation be using a language you know (rather than you simply sharing a language with one of the participants) unless you are at least 12th level (when language-free telepathy comes on line). Mysticism in place of any skill check seems inordinately open-ended.

Somnambulent power is really underwhelming. At 12th level, a 2nd-level spell 1/day is fine (see the operative and mechanic tricks that copy spells). Although since theme abilities aren't usually meant for combat and open-ended power choices are rife for abuse, I'd make a long list they can pick from instead, and suggest the GM add more from later sources that are similarly apt.

[drafghast]

Good morning, all!

I know it's been awhile, but I promise you, we've been hard at work making this the very best that we can. For my part, and in light of what folks like theragi and mythmage have discovered in their in-depth (and truly appreciated) reviews, I have made many small changes to the aegis. Overall, it relies less on secondary stats, has (many) less free actions, and has bonuses that start stronger, but do not scale, or scale less. A more comprehensive list of the changes can be found below.


As it always should have been, aegis now only has one key ability score (Str or Dex). This has been reflected throughout the class.
While is has been noted that the "incredibly expensive objects" aspect of Astral Repair may be unclear, while we work on a more clear definer, I suggest that players work with their GM's to determine what will and won't be considered a part of this category.
Some small clarifications for the astral suit. Note that upgrades placed within the suit are put back into your inventory when the suit is removed or destroyed.
Astral skin now counts as light armor for the purpose of upgrades. Also, some clarifications.
Astral armor and astral juggernaut now have differing KAC and EAC values to better reflect real armor discrepancies. Astral juggernaut now no longer scales into power armor - rest assured that we think the idea is still very cool, and are looking for the best way to represent the "Full Mech" option.
A single word is going to make all the difference, here. Astral shield is now a swift action. While I love the idea of reactive shielding, not only is this version more balanced within the system, it also vastly reduces the number of free actions taken by all aegis players.
Customizations, overall, saw a number of changes - first and foremost was the removal of nearly all of the stat boosting options. While this may be a sad change for those of us holding to the 3.5 version, it was a necessary fix for the system. The main customization entry saw a few small tweaks, and increased the DC of skill checks required by your enemies to better scale with progression.
Invigorating Suit is pretty darn similar to Toughness. So, we just let it be Toughness. This _may_ change later.
The modes see some serious change in this update. There are much fewer numerical bonuses, and more overall cool stuff (TM). As is the increasing trend, their activation has been changed to a swift action, which represents a physical change in the structure of your suit.
Overcharge was a little insane. Made some changes to fix that.
To paraphrase mythmage, Absorb Suit didn't need to be quite so punishing - it no longer locks out all suits after being used.
Rapid Refit is now a move action, and includes your upgrades. Makes it much more viable in combat, and overall a better use of a RP.
Astral Perfection didn't need that line about your suit functioning in antimagic, and the bit about Rapid Refit becoming a move is now a bit redundant. We are looking into a few choices to possibly make this a bit stronger, but for now, this will work just fine.



As before, I hope that you like what you see, and continue to stay hyped for what else is to come!

(Customizations and chasses fixes to follow)

[drafghast]

And now for chasses!


Artillery saw some clarifications, some reduction in numerical scaling, and some changes in the type of the bonuses provided. Astral shields becoming a swift action have cut way down on the rampant silliness that was this chassis' damage output, and represent (in this case) forming armored turrets on one's astral suit. Scorched Earth also got a little bit better.
Bulwark sees some similar fixes in less scaling, different bonus types, and clarifications. Under Lockdown now looks and feels more like a free shield bash, while Astral Blockade now does more than just provide cover, helping to differentiate it further (and allow it to stack with) the titan shield upgrade.
Guerilla got some too. It also became significantly stronger - Scattering Steps is now both cheaper to use and feels better when you do, triggering on successful hits. Veil of Bullets is MUCH more like the capstone that it should be. A standard action activation, combined with much more attack range, makes this well worth the Power Points when faced with a group of enemies.
Skirmisher had the same issues as the rest of the chasses, but was overall better placed after the fix. Outright AoO immunity has been pushed back to the higher levels, with the ability to duck the first one each round coming in early instead. This should make them feel safe getting out of tight places, but not allow them to dance about with impunity until they're more powerful.
While the least in need of it, the Versatile chassis got the same treatment (but needed little else). Most of that chassis will still play the same, barring actions that have either been rolled into their triggering action, or changed outright (usually to swift).


Next up, customizations!

[drafghast]

Alright - we are on to the last bit of the aegis fixes. Thanks for bearing with it.


Overall, this sees many of the same fixes as the other sections. Numerical bonuses will be less scalar in most cases, many things will be clarified, and things that previously used free actions typically won't anymore. Unless these changes are especially harsh or change how the customization functions, I won't specifically call it out.
With the exception of Hardy, the customizations that previously boosted ability scores have been cut outright.
Adhesive Feet: No longer includes the bit about magnetic boots, as that is a feature in nearly all armor already, and was a bit redundant. The boot clamp option is now a Reaction.
Diehard: Now requires that you have at least one RP remaining. Yes, we're looking for a new name.
Evasion: In the interest of balance, the upgraded version has been cut. This may return once we run a few tests with it.
Hardy: With the scaling removed, this one may still be OK. Time (and more testing) will tell.
Powerful Build: This one _may_ get cut or dramatically changed at a later point, if just due to how size works in Starfinder. For now, it will remain.
Reach: Moved to a much lower level, as it's a less important mechanic in Starfinder than it was in Pathfinder. Also works well with Powerful Build at this level.
Energy Resistance: Increasing it to your base attack bonus both feels better and is a smoother progression.
Stubborn: Similar to Evasion, the upgraded version of this has been cut. Additionally, since this is roughly twice as strong (covering two saves), it will require a Power Point to activate.
Deep Vision: Due to the power of sense through, this now requires a Power Point to activate, and remains active for a reasonable length of time (but definitely not all day).
Energy Blast/Extra Armaments: This one seems to be a fan favorite, so we made it triggerable more often - and after seeing the attack roll. So it will feel better to use, and won't be wasted if you hit every time. We are considering moving this to a lower level as well, but will need to generate a few new customizations first.
Extra Passenger: Most of the changes here were designed to both protect and isolate your passenger. While they are fairly hard to affect or harm, it works both ways.
Retribution: Swapped with Reach, as this customization is quite powerful, and was far too strong for its level.


And that's it from me! Definitely look forward to some of the tweaks and changes occurring all over the place, and get hyped for what is to come!

[MythMage]

Another note: the bulwark's unyielding ability mentions a shield bonus, which doesn't exist in SF. Similar effects are untyped, and I recommend making sure you word it so it doesn't stack with them.

[NeumonicBlue]

A question for the developers, will psicrystals be returning? Also the Guerilla's Scattering Steps ability in the playtest is listed as 9th level shouldn't it be 7th?

[Powerdork]

The golden rule (PP expenditure limited to your ML) needs a heading all to itself to make it stand out.

Might as well lay it out in the book's sub-title, as "Psionics Guide: How You Can Spend Power Points Up To Your Class Level But Never More", so it's repeated on the trim of every page.

(I joke, but doing this would probably only double the number of printed statements of the Golden Rule in the Dreamscarred canon.)

[Ilorin Lorati]

Another note: the bulwark's unyielding ability mentions a shield bonus, which doesn't exist in SF.

I'm poking through the new playtest rules for Starfinder and, amusingly, they have rules for physical shields and shield bonuses to AC.

[Lord_Gareth]

A question for the developers, will psicrystals be returning? Also the Guerilla's Scattering Steps ability in the playtest is listed as 9th level shouldn't it be 7th?

Noted. And it's our intention to get psicrystals up and running, yes!

Sorry for the relative quiet, we're trying to beat Psion into shape but this time of year is busy for, well...everyone. I started a new job, Jeremy's of course full of real life troubles, our numbers guy got kidnapped by extradimensional demons that want him to do the tax returns on human souls...

Y'know.

Things.

[Lord_Gareth]

We're back at last! Presenting:

Contents Verified (Psion) (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MfFiWnYie1PuzFfdKYjpDeyQNT5WDNdwvkoY67zOZ1U/edit?usp=sharing) & Contents Verified (Powers) (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aSeEShdM_T_HmAtZZWT_a6zONWpTaX_GhNeL4-kvnrc/edit?usp=sharing)

[TheRagi]

Some initial thoughts on the Psion:

Class skills: for a INT based class (alongside the Technomancer and Mechanic), the Psion has the most class skills (11, while the other two have 8).

Affinity [1st]: "you learn an additional 2nd level power known, at 8th level" this should be "at 7th level" - the table is correct though.

Affinity Skills [2nd]: "skill checks with your devotion’s associated skills". I'm guessing "devotion" was the previous name for "affinity".

Weapon specialization: the table has it, but the entry is missing.

Really glad to see disciplines having such an impact in the class - Starfinder kept schools of magic, but they are pretty much fluff in the system. With the psion, they actually matter.

Affinities: Clairsentience, Psychokinesis, Psychoportation lack the classical psion "moniker"; Shapers, egoists and telepaths are mentioned, though.

Psychoportation: "Spatial Fluidity (Su) [1st]: You emanate a constant, low-level distortion of local space-time. You are treated as 30 feet further away from hostile creatures than you actually are for the purposes of determining the range of their ranged attacks, abilities, powers, psi-like abilities, spells, and spell-like abilities." Doesn't this make the psion immune to cones and any attacks with the explode special property that have 25 feet or less of range? Or even area of effect powers and spells? This probably should be nerfed to 15 feet, or restricted to only regular ranged attacks (meaning a slight range penalty to attacks with short ranged weapons). And if a creature targets the area 30 feet behind the psion (with a grenade, for instance), does he get it?

[Thealtruistorc]

Will get a full writeup together eventually, but for now I just want to comment on some inconsistent terminology. I’ve spotted “hit dice” and “immediate action” mentioned in the powers document a few times (most notably the metafaculty power).

[TheRagi]

Isn't the Psion damage output at level 1 a little too weak?

His best damage power, Mind Pierce, is on pair with the Mystic's only attack spell, Mind Thrust, but the other two, Energy Ray and Recall Agony are way weaker, and laughable if compared to the Technomancer.

Is the idea that the augment options make up for it on the long run (that still is one lonely and miserable level 1 journey)?

Was the Psion built to be more similar to the Mystic, considering all his utility powers and few damage options? Or at least to start out similar to one - the augmented damage powers might bring him closer to the Technomancer at higher levels...

[TheRagi]

The good old days of digging through a psionics playtest!

Could any of the developers involved post a link to the google docs of the Integrator? It's the one class we never got a chance to take a good look at, other than a tiny sample posted on the kickstarter page.

The Vitalist was my favorite class in Ultimate Psionics, and I'm very keen to see what was planned for network powers in SF.

Thanks!

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Psionocs tend to be be poor necromancers.