Greetings! This month saw the release of Starfinder Alien Core, the third “core” book and a major milestone for Starfinder Second Edition. We’re here to tell you about Alien Core and preview some of its awesome content. We might as well get one of the best parts out of the way first—check out these covers!
What’s in Alien Core?
Whichever of the three covers you prefer, the contents of Alien Core are the same across each version. Alien Core is the Starfinder Second Edition equivalent of Pathfinder’s Monster Core; a large book filled with hundreds of creatures for use in your games, whether you’re a GM preparing encounters or a player looking for critters to summon or allies to befriend. Each creature has a unique stat block as well as lore describing their behavior and role in the Starfinder galaxy. You’ll find creatures for every level range and every genre, from science-fantasy adventure to high tech escapades to mind-bending cosmic horror. Thanks to the mechanical compatibility between Pathfinder Second Edition and Starfinder Second Edition, you can use these creatures in both games, whether you’re invading Golarion with alien dragons or dispatching a band of time-traveling Aeon Guards to Sandpoint.
In addition to the many robots, horrifying aberrations, creepy crawlies, NPCs, elementals, oozes (so many oozes!), space worms, space nymphs, creatures from other planes and dimensions, undead, and other critters, Alien Core includes several recommended “creature adjustments” to modify creatures to fit your campaign. These adjustments go beyond tweaking a creature’s combat power and include things such as “environmental adaptation” adjustments to make a creature more suitable in another environment, “robotic” and “hardlight” adjustments to make a robotic or holographic version of any creature, “interstellar” adjustments to allow a creature to live and travel through space, “sapient” adjustments to allow a typically mindless creature to think and speak for itself, and many more.
Aliens New and Old
Left to right: Oma by Renan Maurilio, Void Palm by Anna Duma-Baranowska, and an Aeon Guard Commander by Alberto Saraiva.
Alien Core includes a mix of creatures updated from Starfinder First Edition and creatures that are entirely new to Second Edition. You’ll find classics like void-zombie-creating akatas, laser wolves, security robots, Aeon Guards, space whales, flayer leeches, and dozens of others, as well as new creatures like parasitic rendworms, space nymphs, tax collector robots, putty-like pack-hunting ship stealers who serve the Dominion of the Black, remotely-operated war machines, and many new varieties of elementals, fey, oozes, dragons, giants, plants, animals, and more.
Left to Right: Mutant Troll by Anna Duma-Baranowska, Tax Collector Bot by Janos Brumar, Alloid by Melissa Spandri, and Black Hole Nymph (Gwereiad) by Sol Devia.
Picking the creatures to preview for this blog was tremendously difficult—not just because there are so many to choose from, but because they’re all awesome in different ways! Whether it’s the lowly scrap rat and hardlight scamp or the mighty illumantula, each creature is bound to have a memorable impact on your Starfinder campaign. We can’t wait to hear about how you use them! Thankfully, there’s no need to wait, as Alien Core is available now!
—The Starfinder Team