Is a Mystic Star-Knight viable?


General Discussion


Hey there all, first post on the forums so sorry if it seems...not too well written haha!

I am currently playing a Starfinder campaign with some friends and out GM has informed us that we can choose to play a new character if we want to after the current arc, Starfinder still being a new game to me, I wanted to try out as many playstyles as possible. The new character would be at level three as that's where we are right now!

With the new Pact Worlds book, I saw that the archetype Star Knight was a thing, I had been talking to my GM about playing a melee orientated, heavily armoured healer (think paladin but in space) so it was perfect!

But when I looked at what I would lose as a mystic I don't know if its worth it. I think it means I have to spread myself to thin on too many levels, I need Wisdom for spells and Resolve, I need Con to stay in the fight, I need Strength to do actual damage up close...and I feel like at level 3 there is no way I can do all of those jobs well, just poorly because I'm not focused at a particular playstyle. (Not even to mention getting some dex to potentially offset some of the armour penalty and increase my AC even more.)

Maybe at later levels the idea is viable, but as I see it now i'd need to use a feat to get advanced melee weapons, i'd need to lose some resolve to gain some damage and staying power and it's a shame because I really want the idea to work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make the build work, I love the idea of an Overlord / Healer / Mindbreaker Mystic who wears chunky armour and *smites* his foes for the greater good. But I'm afraid I can't make it work!

(Many thanks to reading this far and for any and all answers I get, again sorry if its worded poorly, not used to writing forum posts)

The Exchange

Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Con isn't nearly as important with a pool of stamina and HP, you're basically talking 1 Hit Point per level per point of con when you get 11 effective HP a level already.

You're gonna be hurt from the lack of full BAB a bit, but its not insurmountable.

Beyond that, Mystics honestly lose some of the least from taking an Archetype, especially at the level you're playing at.

What race were you thinking about playing? And how heavily do you care about what you wield as a weapon?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

1. It's a good question whether the kind of build you're describing would be viable as a front-liner (if you try it, I'd be interested in hearing how it goes!).

2. If you want to shore up some of your weaknesses/avoid some feat taxes, you could take a 1 level dip into Soldier before going Mystic. That would put you further behind on spellcasting, of course.

3. Finally, if the paladin-esque "mostly a front-liner but with some magical healing stuff" if what you're aiming for, you might consider a Soldier with the Divine Champion archetype. That will make you a very effective front-liner, and (if you choose the Healing connection) will give you some healing abilities as well (starting at level 6).


Shaudius wrote:

Con isn't nearly as important with a pool of stamina and HP, you're basically talking 1 Hit Point per level per point of con when you get 11 effective HP a level already.

You're gonna be hurt from the lack of full BAB a bit, but its not insurmountable.

Beyond that, Mystics honestly lose some of the least from taking an Archetype, especially at the level you're playing at.

What race were you thinking about playing? And how heavily do you care about what you wield as a weapon?

I would agree with the way that stamina and HP work in starfinder bumping con a bit as you level up is probably fine but you don't need to go crazy with it. If you want more buffer you can also invest in force shields for temporary HP boosts as you level up.

For a melee mystic they can do it pretty well stat wise bump str bump wis then put extras in con and maybe dex as you level. If you go str for weapons probably worth it to go heavy armor so dex investment would be light. Easy enough to just keep your spells to boost range attacks if needed. The non full BAB would be a bit of a challenge but you should be durable and with your spells to assist it should work fine.


Shaudius wrote:

Con isn't nearly as important with a pool of stamina and HP, you're basically talking 1 Hit Point per level per point of con when you get 11 effective HP a level already.

You're gonna be hurt from the lack of full BAB a bit, but its not insurmountable.

Beyond that, Mystics honestly lose some of the least from taking an Archetype, especially at the level you're playing at.

What race were you thinking about playing? And how heavily do you care about what you wield as a weapon?

Aye you're right! I play D&D and Pathfinder a lot so for some reason I automatically associated CON with pure staying power, but for a heavily armed and armoured paladin! So that helps with the whole *too many avenues* problem I was making in my head :') cheers.

As for the BAB I do see that it might be an issue but again at my level the difference isn't too bad. My main goal was to tank but DPS is a strong thing when you're always in the enemies face.

I was thinking about going Dwarf potentially, it synergises well with the heavy armour I wanted to wear and gives me straight up Advanced Melee Weapon proficiency and Specialisation at 3rd level so that would be a great boon too.

Until I really looked I didn't see what you meant by Mystics losing the least, I assumed the connection powers were vital for them to do their jobs right but I suppose that just getting them a bit later isn't so bad, especially with Healer's getting that beautiful Healing Channel.

Thanks very much for the respond btw <3 I appreciate you trying to help me out


Porridge wrote:

1. It's a good question whether the kind of build you're describing would be viable as a front-liner (if you try it, I'd be interested in hearing how it goes!).

2. If you want to shore up some of your weaknesses/avoid some feat taxes, you could take a 1 level dip into Soldier before going Mystic. That would put you further behind on spellcasting, of course.

3. Finally, if the paladin-esque "mostly a front-liner but with some magical healing stuff" if what you're aiming for, you might consider a Soldier with the Divine Champion archetype. That will make you a very effective front-liner, and (if you choose the Healing connection) will give you some healing abilities as well (starting at level 6).

I really love the idea of a Divine Champion Solider, but I had my heart set on a spellcaster of sorts, but in Starfinder there are only really two classes that have that and the 'divine' connection I hope to achieve with my character. Healing was definitely going to be one of the major outlooks of my character too, so having it as a back-up/tertiary skill wasn't so appealing for me (I love how he can technically smite with the 4th level trait though)

As for the multiclassing, this will only be my third character so I think I'd like a but more experience before I try that out, even going for an archetype is a bit much for me haha (hence the post :p )

Thanks for the reply and trying to help me sort this mess out haha, if I do end up going for the archetype ill definitely post its usefulness and how well it ended up doing here <3


If you arent playing to 18th level, mystic is great for archetypes. At 18th level, they end up missing their capstone connection power for whatever they got at 6th (you dont get the highest level connection power you normally have access to), which is a big problem for me, but rarely do characters reach that point.


Big Lemon wrote:
If you arent playing to 18th level, mystic is great for archetypes. At 18th level, they end up missing their capstone connection power for whatever they got at 6th (you dont get the highest level connection power you normally have access to), which is a big problem for me, but rarely do characters reach that point.

It depends on the connection. I'd be happy to trade away the top Mindbreaker connection power (how many single target mental attacks does one need?) and the penultimate Overlord literally doesn't do anything right now and the last one is pretty damn meh.


Xenocrat wrote:
Big Lemon wrote:
If you arent playing to 18th level, mystic is great for archetypes. At 18th level, they end up missing their capstone connection power for whatever they got at 6th (you dont get the highest level connection power you normally have access to), which is a big problem for me, but rarely do characters reach that point.
It depends on the connection. I'd be happy to trade away the top Mindbreaker connection power (how many single target mental attacks does one need?) and the penultimate Overlord literally doesn't do anything right now and the last one is pretty damn meh.

True, it always does depend, but more often than not I think an ability gained at 6th level is mever as powerful as one gained at 18th. I would never give up the Mind Palace if I thought the character would get to that high level.


For Society I’m looking at doing a half orc mystic star knight. With the mind breaker. He is more of a melee based character. I went with Str as a secondary stat. Don’t really care for connection spells.. Really just like the 1st and 3rd connection powers. Really looking to using Reflecting Armor.

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