Class Preview: The Soldier

Friday, May 26, 2017

As soon as we announced Starfinder, there were fans that wanted to know what kind of options there would be for the heavy-armor-wearing, magic-plasma-cannon-firing, jet-packed combatant character. While any Starfinder character can do those things if they dedicate themselves to getting the needed resources, the character who does it most easily (and gets the most class features designed to work with such actions) is the soldier. This is the description the soldier gets in the Starfinder Core Rulebook:

Conflict is an inevitable result of life. On every world that harbors complex living organisms, creatures battle one another for dominance, resources, territory, or ideals. Whether you've taken up arms to protect others, win glory, exact revenge, or simply earn a living, you are the perfect embodiment of this truth. You're an expert at combat of all types but tend to prefer heavy armor and weapons—the bigger, the better. You may be a career soldier, a fresh mercenary recruit, or a lone wolf who rejects authority, but whether rushing in for hand-to-hand combat or firing tactical barrages, you're a consummate warrior, never hesitating to put yourself in the line of fire to protect your friends.

Soldiers are masters of weapons and armor of all types, with a good base attack bonus progression (and good Fortitude and Will save progressions); proficiency in light armor, heavy armor, and grenades; and proficiency (and eventually specialization) in basic and advanced melee weapons, small arms, longarms, heavy weapons, and sniper weapons. Since small arms and many basic melee weapons gain only half the damage boost from specialization that longarms and heavy weapons do, soldiers often prefer to use the bulkier weapon options to maximize the damage they deal. Since specializing in heavy weapons first requires you to be proficient with heavy weapons, which in turn requires proficiency with longarms, it's a much more significant investment for any other class to do the same.

But a soldier is not simply a killer or thug—she's a trained professional combatant with access to thousands of years of military theory and modern education systems. That education tends to be pretty focused, but it's still enough to get the solider 8 class skills and 4 skill points per level. The Athletics skill covers the need to climb, jump, and swim to get to advantageous positions in combat (though by 2nd or 3rd level, jump jets are a common armor upgrade that easily increases mobility, and by 5th or 6th level they're likely to be replaced by a jetpack armor upgrade). That still leaves 3 skill points even for a soldier with a 10 Intelligence to spread around class skills such as Acrobatics (useful if you want to get the most out of that jetpack, but not necessary for basic flight), Engineering, Intimidate, Medicine, Piloting, Profession, and Survival.

Since the soldier class's focus is clearly on combat, there's much more to her offensive and defensive abilities than just base attack bonuses, proficiencies, and specializations. Every soldier begins play with a fighting style, which grants special combat options tied to a specific approach to combat as the soldier gains levels. There are 7 fighting styles to choose from—arcane assailant, armor storm, blitz, bombard, guard, hit-and-run, and sharpshoot. A soldier also picks up some of a second fighting style beginning at 9th level. In addition to fighting styles, a soldier gains gear boosts that enhance the soldier's effectiveness with specific equipment (such as anchoring arcana, armored advantage, laser accuracy, and plasma immolation) at 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, and a bonus combat feat at 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter.

The bonus combat feats leave the soldier free to use the feats all characters gain at every odd level to expand beyond combat effectiveness. Other than proficiencies and specializations, feats generally have at most one other feat and a few base attack or ability score minimums as prerequisites, making even a few bonus feats able to cover a wide range of options. (For example, the Shot on the Run feat requires only Mobility, a +4 base attack bonus, and a 15 Dexterity—all easily achieved by a soldier.) Even at 1st level, any soldier could take Skill Synergy to gain 2 new skills as class skill. Or if a player preferred, by 2nd level a soldier can have selected Weapon Focus and then Versatile Focus to gain the benefit of Weapon Focus with every weapon with which the soldier is proficient.

Since fighting styles are going to be an important part of any soldier's design, here's a look at the 5th-level ability from the arcane assailant fighting style.

Secret of the Magi (SU)

When you imbue a weapon with the rune of the eldritch knight, in addition to its normal benefits, the rune grants the weapon one of the following weapon fusions of your choice: ethereal, flaming, frost, merciful, or shock. The weapon can't gain a fusion it already has, and this bonus fusion doesn't count toward the maximum total level of fusions the weapon can have at once. The bonus fusion ends when the weapon ceases to be imbued with the rune of the eldritch knight. For more information on fusions, see page 191.

With that, we've covered more than half of the Starfinder classes—check out paizo.com/starfinder to find links to previous blogs presenting the envoy, mystic, operative, and soldier. We're going to take a little break from classes next week in order to preview some other elements of the game, but in the months before the game's release this August, we'll preview the remaining three—the mechanic, solarian, and technomancer!

Owen KC Stephens
Developer

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Soldiers Starfinder
101 to 150 of 163 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>
Liberty's Edge

Voss wrote:


SP (Stamina points) come from class. (8, in this case, or everyone just defaults to 8 maybe?)

Operative only gets 6/level. Can't tell if Con mod is added to that or not though.


Shisumo wrote:
Voss wrote:


SP (Stamina points) come from class. (8, in this case, or everyone just defaults to 8 maybe?)
Operative only gets 6/level. Can't tell if Con mod is added to that or not though.

Do you have a link to where this operative stamina point info comes from? I haven't seen anything that says that so far, although it's possible I just missed something in the blog posts...

Liberty's Edge

Just saw it on the Paizo twitter feed from the preview banquet.


Thanks! Curses, their twitter pictures are so gosh darn fuzzy and my desire for starfinder knowledge is so HUNGRY.


I approve of the artwork if only because it kind of looks like the T-800 is calling in an airstrike.


Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Stone Dog wrote:
Extrapolating from this picture it looks like Soldiers have a D12 hit dice.
Not only do soldiers not have d12 Hit Points, but the question of "What Hit Dice do Soldiers Get?" is actually meaningless in Starfinder.

WAIT! what?

Wait sci-fi so

David Tennant: what? What! WHAT!?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Vidmaster7 wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Stone Dog wrote:
Extrapolating from this picture it looks like Soldiers have a D12 hit dice.
Not only do soldiers not have d12 Hit Points, but the question of "What Hit Dice do Soldiers Get?" is actually meaningless in Starfinder.
WAIT! what?

From the pictures I've been able to see. It looks like HP (or maybe just starting HP) has to do with but your race and your class. Both the shirren race page and the operative class page, have a have a large red (maybe? I'm REALLY colorblind.) box at the top of their respective pages with "6 HP" written in them. That would explain why the question of hit dice would be irrelevant. Also, and this is mostly a shot in the dark here, from the Obozaya sheet shown I'd guess that you add your constitution modifier too.


Stone Dog wrote:
I greatly approve of the Acrobatics (DEX) and Athletics (STR) pairing of skills. I would have liked a pairing of Search (INT) and Notice (WIS) instead of just Perception (WIS), but hey, it works.

I have had Search and Notice in the exact same setup instead of perception in my own campaign setting for years . Love it.

Scarab Sages Developer, Starfinder Team

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Lemartes wrote:

Hmm trying to figure out the attributes with respect to racial bonuses and point buy amount of points.

It doesn't seem to add up in a way that a Pathfinder race would.

Nope, it's a new system, and ability score advancement is a new system, and we like them both a lot.


Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Lemartes wrote:

Hmm trying to figure out the attributes with respect to racial bonuses and point buy amount of points.

It doesn't seem to add up in a way that a Pathfinder race would.

Nope, it's a new system, and ability score advancement is a new system, and we like them both a lot.

So my suspicions were correct!

Cool. Looking forward to actually creating a character.

Thanks for the answer. :)


Hmm so there will be a lengthy conversion from PF to SF? but it will still be possible yes?


Milo v3 wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
That would be simple, though it'd mean everything would need a level. Even though it is a science fantasy game I don't like the idea of a level 7 dragon, it feels a little too much like a video game.
There already are Level 7 dragons... A Wyrmling Red Dragon is a level 7 dragon.

Well yes, however they don't go out and say "red dragon wyrmling LVL 7". It's the straight up saying it that bugs me. It's a little too 4e for me. I mean heck I'll still eat it up like the monstrophile I am, it's just not my preference.


Vidmaster7 wrote:
Hmm so there will be a lengthy conversion from PF to SF? but it will still be possible yes?

yes - been confirmed multiple times - and the other way around i think


dharkus wrote:
Vidmaster7 wrote:
Hmm so there will be a lengthy conversion from PF to SF? but it will still be possible yes?
yes - been confirmed multiple times - and the other way around i think

If I remember what I heard correctly, it's really only monsters that are supposed to be portable between Pathfinder and Starfinder.


Ventnor wrote:
dharkus wrote:
Vidmaster7 wrote:
Hmm so there will be a lengthy conversion from PF to SF? but it will still be possible yes?
yes - been confirmed multiple times - and the other way around i think
If I remember what I heard correctly, it's really only monsters that are supposed to be portable between Pathfinder and Starfinder.

possibly - someone will have to go find out among the pages of blog threads - Bagsy not me!

Scarab Sages Developer, Starfinder Team

5 people marked this as a favorite.

Monsters are the most easily, most directly, most quickly converted. The Legacy section gives guidelines for converting things like classes, but we couldn't cover every possibly issue in the space we had.

Liberty's Edge

So, the SFRPG system for creating characters is closer to/based on the PFRPG system for creating monster ?

That would be a smart way to ensure this compatibility that was sought from the beginning.

Hence no HD depending on Class.

Most interesting

I hope Mr Stephens will soon get the release from secrecy he craves and show off this point-buy system he is so obviously proud of :-)


Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Monsters are the most easily, most directly, most quickly converted.

Would this, I hope, include PC races? It would make a plethora of species available for players to choose from.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I have heard the Alien Archive is going to be part Bestiary and part PC species guide. So there are already going to be a plethora available pretty quickly.

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Now if there is a Canine race, then you can have Dog Soldiers.

Liberty's Edge

I hope that weapon finesse isn't a feat anymore, but something every character has acess to.

Scarab Sages Developer, Starfinder Team

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Paladinosaur wrote:
I hope that weapon finesse isn't a feat anymore, but something every character has acess to.

What we did isn't quite either of those things, but it's closer to the latter.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Paladinosaur wrote:
I hope that weapon finesse isn't a feat anymore, but something every character has acess to.
What we did isn't quite either of those things, but it's closer to the latter.

Man, every new thing I hear about Starfinder makes me more eager to see it.

Smaller feat trees? Fewer to no feat taxes? Consolidated skills? No 2 skill points/lvl classes? Every class gets two good saves? No game breaking 9th level casters? No awkward vancian spell casting? Rogues and Fighters who are actually effective?

It's like Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza all in one!


Porridge wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Paladinosaur wrote:
I hope that weapon finesse isn't a feat anymore, but something every character has acess to.
What we did isn't quite either of those things, but it's closer to the latter.

Man, every new thing I hear about Starfinder makes me more eager to see it.

Smaller feat trees? Fewer to no feat taxes? Consolidated skills? No 2 skill points/lvl classes? Every class gets two good saves? No game breaking 9th level casters? No awkward vancian spell casting? Rogues and Fighters who are actually effective?

It's like Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza all in one!

I thought one of the previewed classes only had 1 good save. Mystic with good will I think.

Also where did they say no vanician spell casting? And believe they've only said no 9th level casters in core.

Scarab Sages Developer, Starfinder Team

1 person marked this as a favorite.
jedi8187 wrote:
I thought one of the previewed classes only had 1 good save. Mystic with good will I think.

Correct.

jedi8187 wrote:
Also where did they say no vanician spell casting? And believe they've only said no 9th level casters in core.

Both the existing spell casting classes are spontaneous casters, rather than prepared casters, which may be what Porridge is referring to.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

As a related question (if you are permitted to answer it), are they like Sorcerers/Oracles where they have a limited list of chosen spells, or are they like Arcanists where they have a select group of spells they can choose each day?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
jedi8187 wrote:
I thought one of the previewed classes only had 1 good save. Mystic with good will I think.

Yeah, good catch. I should have said "Rogues and Fighters get 2 good saves", which is really part of the "Rogues and Fighters who are actually effective" point... :P

jedi8187 wrote:
Also where did they say no vanician spell casting? And believe they've only said no 9th level casters in core.

Yeah, these were all claims about the core classes.

As far as I know, they haven't committed themselves to not later producing things like, say, 9th level prepared casters with 2 skill points/lvl and lengthy associated feat trees... But since they're not in the core book, that suggests that these kinds of exceptions, if there are such exceptions, will be relatively rare. And that's enough to make me very happy! :)

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Both the existing spell casting classes are spontaneous casters, rather than prepared casters, which may be what Porridge is referring to.

Yep!

Scarab Sages Developer, Starfinder Team

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Stone Dog wrote:
As a related question (if you are permitted to answer it), are they like Sorcerers/Oracles where they have a limited list of chosen spells, or are they like Arcanists where they have a select group of spells they can choose each day?

Like bard/sorcerer/oracle.

Scarab Sages Developer, Starfinder Team

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Porridge wrote:
As far as I know, they haven't committed themselves to not later producing things like, say, 9th level prepared casters with 2 skill points/lvl and lengthy associated feat trees...

Honestly I don't think we'll ever say "We are never doping X," though we often say "We have no current plans to do X."

But we'll want to see the first few things we've done "in the wild" before we even begin to think about what might make smart expansions, exceptions, and non-core options.

We have strong reasons why we made the design choices we did for the core classes 9and we haven;t even previewed all of those yet!), but if something we passed over this time around made the most sense in the design space we explore in the future, we'd certainly look at that.


Was there a design decision behind not giving a highly trained soldier Perception? Is it not a skill anymore?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Honestly I don't think we'll ever say "We are never doping X," though we often say "We have no current plans to do X."

But we'll want to see the first few things we've done "in the wild" before we even begin to think about what might make smart expansions, exceptions, and non-core options.

We have strong reasons why we made the design choices we did for the core classes 9and we haven;t even previewed all of those yet!), but if something we passed over this time around made the most sense in the design space we explore in the future, we'd certainly look at that.

I wouldn't mind a "traditionist" caster (1/2 bab, 9th level spells max), since immortal elves and eoxians and what have you could still teach such powerful magics.


IonutRO wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Honestly I don't think we'll ever say "We are never doping X," though we often say "We have no current plans to do X."

But we'll want to see the first few things we've done "in the wild" before we even begin to think about what might make smart expansions, exceptions, and non-core options.

We have strong reasons why we made the design choices we did for the core classes 9and we haven;t even previewed all of those yet!), but if something we passed over this time around made the most sense in the design space we explore in the future, we'd certainly look at that.

I wouldn't mind a "traditionist" caster (1/2 bab, 9th level spells max), since immortal elves and eoxians and what have you could still teach such powerful magics.

I feel a bit hesitant about the whole 6th level caster thing, but seeing the mystic has relieved my worries about lacking the feel of a full caster a little bit. They might not have full casting, but I'm kind of excited to see the ways that a technomancer may be able to (hopefully) augment a more caster centered build.


Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
...every class gets weapons specialization.... with some weapons. We'll discuss why that makes the soldier happy when we do the solider class preview. :)

Kinda late, but why is the soldier happy that everyone gets to horn in on it's special ability?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
CKent83 wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
...every class gets weapons specialization.... with some weapons. We'll discuss why that makes the soldier happy when we do the solider class preview. :)
Kinda late, but why is the soldier happy that everyone gets to horn in on it's special ability?

Not exactly a special ability if everyone gets it, is it? I think the main thing is the soldier gets proficiency and eventually specialization in everything, and specifically the soldier gets to specialize in heavy weapons, which for other classes requires more investment, since they have to first have or get proficiency with longarms, then proficiency with heavy weapons, to finally get specialization in heavy weapons. Of course, since I don't know what specialization involves (damage boost? Something like a Weapon Trick? Being able to use more of a weapon's abilities?), I don't know how nice that is, though I presume it's at least pretty handy.


Luthorne wrote:


Not exactly a special ability if everyone gets it, is it? I think the main thing is the soldier gets proficiency and eventually specialization in everything, and specifically the soldier gets to specialize in heavy weapons, which for other classes requires more investment, since they have to first have or get proficiency with longarms, then proficiency with heavy weapons, to finally get specialization in heavy weapons. Of course, since I don't know what specialization involves (damage boost? Something like a Weapon Trick? Being able to use more of a weapon's abilities?), I don't know how nice that is, though I presume it's at least pretty handy.

That might be what Specialization is, but why would the Soldier be happy about everyone getting it when in Pathfinder it was specific to one class (or hybrids of that class like Brawler/Swashbuckler)? Does the Soldier have an ability that makes other classes do more damage with weapons that they are specialized in? Does the Soldier get more out of specialization than other classes (not just easier access)? I'm assuming it's the former.

I just hope it isn't something like the Soldier having more options compared to the Fighter. If being a one trick pony makes you less useful than the other classes, just beef up that one trick until it evens out. Leave inflicting status conditions to the other classes; the "I use weapons really well" class should only worry about inflicting one condition: death!


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
CKent83 wrote:
Luthorne wrote:
Not exactly a special ability if everyone gets it, is it? I think the main thing is the soldier gets proficiency and eventually specialization in everything, and specifically the soldier gets to specialize in heavy weapons, which for other classes requires more investment, since they have to first have or get proficiency with longarms, then proficiency with heavy weapons, to finally get specialization in heavy weapons. Of course, since I don't know what specialization involves (damage boost? Something like a Weapon Trick? Being able to use more of a weapon's abilities?), I don't know how nice that is, though I presume it's at least pretty handy.

That might be what Specialization is, but why would the Soldier be happy about everyone getting it when in Pathfinder it was specific to one class (or hybrids of that class like Brawler/Swashbuckler)? Does the Soldier have an ability that makes other classes do more damage with weapons that they are specialized in? Does the Soldier get more out of specialization than other classes (not just easier access)? I'm assuming it's the former.

I just hope it isn't something like the Soldier having more options compared to the Fighter. If being a one trick pony makes you less useful than the other classes, just beef up that one trick until it evens out. Leave inflicting status conditions to the other classes; the "I use weapons really well" class should only worry about inflicting one condition: death!

I think you're reading it wrong; I believe Owen was saying that the soldier was happy because they get specialization with all weapons as compared to other classes only getting specialization with some weapons, not that they should be happy that 'their' class feature (and I don't believe Owen was saying it was the soldier's class feature) was something everyone has. And I presume that heavy weapons are probably pretty damaging compared to the others, so everyone else has to pay to be proficient or specialized with them, while the soldier gets it for free...but is still good with other weapons if you want to use them.


Luthorne wrote:
I think you're reading it wrong; I believe Owen was saying that the soldier was happy because they get specialization with all weapons as compared to other classes only getting specialization with some weapons, not that they should be happy that 'their' class feature (and I don't believe Owen was saying it was the soldier's class feature) was something everyone has. And I presume that heavy weapons are probably pretty damaging...

You might be right, but is it really specialization if you get it with all weapons? It's probably just going to be one of those things that I'll be disgruntled with while I buy all the stuff for the game. Like why don't Soldiers have Perception as a Class Skill? They would have it over any other class (except maybe, MAYBE, the Operative). If Perception is a skill, and the Soldier doesn't have a way to get it (hopefully themes, or maybe fighting styles can give class skills), it would feel like the Titans losing the Super Bowl by literally inches. Sooooooo close, and yet...


Something that was also said was heavier weapons get a bigger boost from specialization than smaller weaponry. For another class to get access to that, they would need to burn feats to get there. Soldiers are already there.


CKent83 wrote:
Luthorne wrote:
I think you're reading it wrong; I believe Owen was saying that the soldier was happy because they get specialization with all weapons as compared to other classes only getting specialization with some weapons, not that they should be happy that 'their' class feature (and I don't believe Owen was saying it was the soldier's class feature) was something everyone has. And I presume that heavy weapons are probably pretty damaging...

You might be right, but is it really specialization if you get it with all weapons? It's probably just going to be one of those things that I'll be disgruntled with while I buy all the stuff for the game. Like why don't Soldiers have Perception as a Class Skill? They would have it over any other class (except maybe, MAYBE, the Operative). If Perception is a skill, and the Soldier doesn't have a way to get it (hopefully themes, or maybe fighting styles can give class skills), it would feel like the Titans losing the Super Bowl by literally inches. Sooooooo close, and yet...

At the very least Mr. Seifter very strongly suggested that you could choose the themeless background and pick a skill to make a class skill so there is a route to Perception there. But i would also be surprised if it wasn't already attached to at least one theme as is.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
CKent83 wrote:
You might be right, but is it really specialization if you get it with all weapons? It's probably just going to be one of those things that I'll be disgruntled with while I buy all the stuff for the game. Like why don't Soldiers have Perception as a Class Skill? They would have it over any other class (except maybe, MAYBE, the Operative). If Perception is a skill, and the Soldier doesn't have a way to get it (hopefully themes, or maybe fighting styles can give class skills), it would feel like the Titans losing the Super Bowl by literally inches. Sooooooo close, and yet...

In my head-canon, galactic civilization is in an era akin to 17th century Europe. Of the three major territorial factions we've learned about, two of them appear to be straight-up empires (Veskarium, Azlanti - which I assume is a territorial empire) with strong expansionist urges. This results in training a military that will be fighting across a wide variety of alien terrains, where sensory perceptions may often be unintuitive, which leads many soldiers to rely on implants and augmentations for this skill. As a result, it's become far more effective to train soldiers to be able to take hits and neutralize threats quickly than to spend time rooting threats out ahead of time. Sorta like line infantry logic (which, incidentally, looks very similar to what's going on in the "Five Differences" blog illustration). This has led to a lot of scientific investment and innovation in power armor, which has advanced to the point where most soldiers can take a lot of hits before finally going down.

This dependency on being a living tank would explain prioritizing mobility over perception (ensuring soldiers can get out of any situation rather than trying to prevent any endless unforeseeable happenstances from occurring on unfamiliar terrain), and training for a strong will and fortitude before reflex ability. It's gotta take some strong will to charge a dude head on what's firing rockets at your face, no matter how much you've juiced up your energy shields and titanium alloy plated suit of armor. The general strategy of firing back rather than firing first will also likely reduce a lot of instances of hostile first contact with new alien species.


That's a pretty good theory.


CKent83 wrote:


You might be right, but is it really specialization if you get it with all weapons? It's probably just going to be one of those things that I'll be disgruntled with while I buy all the stuff for the game.

If I understand right, other classes tend to have a more limited selection of weapons, while the Soldier here will have an easier time picking any weapon - and thus, basically, any fighting style - they want to use. That's definitely a point in their favor - it's not that it makes the class stronger, per se, just that it's more flexible and can do a better job of letting people play the kind of character they want to play.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Another thought on Soldiers and Perception, maybe there is a basic add on for heavy armor that acts as a threat identification, it compares all items on its sensors to matching known weapon databases (claws, sword shapes, rifle/pistol shapes) and alerts the user when one is detected. it would function as a flat skill modifier to detect creatures and the GM just rolls and tells you what your armor is tracking on.


That sounds rather boring and not useful past low levels. I hope Soldiers don;t have to buy stuff just to see and hear and use the other sense as well as everyone else.


Azten wrote:
That sounds rather boring and not useful past low levels. I hope Soldiers don;t have to buy stuff just to see and hear and use the other sense as well as everyone else.

I want it both ways, i can use Theme to pick up a class skill i really want for my concept or i can continously tweak and upgrade my kit to keep my threat recognition protocol up to par. Or both and use the protocol as a booster to my innate skill.

It does sound like there are expectations about gear that players will take. Like everyone will have a vac suit at level one and around level 5 everyone will have some method of personal flight, usually a jetpack. And if we all have flying space armor than i expect onboard computers that can do things beyond being an exccuse for electric blue highlights on a miniature.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Azten wrote:
That sounds rather boring and not useful past low levels. I hope Soldiers don;t have to buy stuff just to see and hear and use the other sense as well as everyone else.

Playing the Terminator is boring? Well, to each their own. :p


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Opsylum wrote:
Azten wrote:
That sounds rather boring and not useful past low levels. I hope Soldiers don;t have to buy stuff just to see and hear and use the other sense as well as everyone else.
Playing the Terminator is boring? Well, to each their own. :p

Or Iron Man or Space Marines or Exo-Squad or Halo or Aliens or almost any other property with a HUDS.


Opsylum wrote:
In my head-canon, galactic civilization is in an era akin to 17th century Europe. Of the three major territorial factions we've learned about, two of them appear to be straight-up empires (Veskarium, Azlanti - which I assume is a territorial empire) with strong expansionist urges. This results in training a military that will be fighting across a wide variety of alien terrains, where sensory perceptions may often be unintuitive, which leads many soldiers to rely on implants and augmentations for this skill. As a result, it's become far more effective to train soldiers to be able to take hits and neutralize threats quickly than to spend time rooting threats out ahead of time. Sorta like line infantry logic (which, incidentally, looks very similar to what's going on in the "Five Differences" blog illustration). This has led to a lot of scientific investment and innovation in power armor, which has advanced to the point where most soldiers can take a lot of hits before finally going down.

Does no one do guard duty in space? Even with power armor, you still need situational awareness.


I think that maybe they don't get it so you can have the classic dumb guard who doesn't notice you sneaking about. That said, skill focus still exists, and fighters get a feat every level in addition to a fighting style. I think the soldier will be just fine.

Silver Crusade

Basically, it's like if the fighter weren't s#~@!

1 to 50 of 163 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Starfinder / Starfinder General Discussion / Paizo Blog: Class Preview: The Soldier All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.