discouraged support player looking for advice.

so i would like to say that overall i really like what they've done with starfinder i found myself really getting into the setting and coming up with very interesting characters to play. i love playing supports and am always having fun if i can approach combat through more means then just hitting s&!*... or shooting s$&$, as the case may be. I'm constantly on the look out for a more controlling, more supportive play style and all of the classes that can help me do so.

pathfinder has probably way to many options when it comes to this, more then I'll ever be able to see in game. though it can be overwhelming, the options really make me love the idea of the game overall.

when i first started looking into starfinder the classes that immediately drew my attention were the envoy, the mechanic, the mystic and to a lesser extent the solarian. i immediately started looking at them from a healers perspective and found my first disappointment. mystics really are the only true healers in the game, though envoys get at least one ability that allows them to give back stamina, mystics are the only ones that seem to get class abilities to heal.

though there are non class based options for in and out of combat healing through the items, which is an awesome addition in my opinion. and at this point i started obsessing about a healing mechanic who used a drone with a needle gun filled with potions of healing. i did, however, realize that my team mates would probably create at least one mechanic, and after looking the class over a bit more i realized they were not entirely designed to be support. so okay i can move on from there. the solarian was also more so a specialized fighter, more akin to a monk then a paladin, so they ended up being a curiosity but another dead end with my quick glance.

this left the envoy and the mystic, i latched onto the envoy pretty quick and they did not disappoint with a lot of controlling abilities that open up options in combat not available to other classes. however i was still interested in the mystic and needed to give it a once over. i started obsessing about characters for the two classes, and after a bit of consideration i started to lean heavily towards the mystic.

i thought, okay well, the mystic is pretty much the cleric of this game, though i love playing support i tend to play more off the wall healers that are not exactly dedicated, so i thought yeah, I'll play a primary healer class, and I'll do me one better by making her lawful good just to shake things up a bit (as a common player of chaotic good characters.)

so i decided to give the class a more detailed look, and where i thought i saw a cleric, i actually got a sort of odd witch/necromancer with healing... they have more damage and debuff spells in their kit then almost anything else... now i would like to try to clarify, the character i was going to go for was more of a doctor/healer, not only relying on her magical talent but her knowledge of medicine to help the sick and needy, she was super into discovering and cataloging life and culture and had sort of a star trek next generation vibe to her approach to things. diplomacy first, violence if forced. but here in lies the problem, she's all for the idea of helping her team, helping others, and would prefer to heal over harm. though she is not a full on pacifist as the world is hostile enough to make that mostly ludicrous. she still prefers not to kill, and to harm as little as possible... but as far as supportive capabilities mystics really only have healing, and haste... and that's about it... though i realize debuffing can be very supportive i just don't see that as something this character would do. she seems more likely to boost those around her, then debilitate those against her.

so you see my dilemma... I'm trying to find the support angle in this game and so far my options have been pretty much, the envoy, the envoy and ummm... the envoy. and don't get me wrong i love the envoy and if push comes to shove i will totally play that. but i was really excited to play this character that i designed for the mystic class and now i either have to drastically change who she is (which i don't want to do) or force her into the envoy roll (which could work but still just does not entirely feel like it fits.)

what I'm mainly getting at here is does anyone know of options to play classes in more of a support manner, more of a buffing healer of some form if possible? I'm really frustrated by this and honestly wish i could find something, but I'm hoping i missed something and that someone could help me.

tyvm for putting up with my wall of text, and thanks for any helpful advice

Envoy Xenoseeker is very much what uou'ryou're looking for. With Lashunta you can get a racial bonus to a couple skills (a science skill and medicine?). Medicine is much better than heal. The in combat stamina boost is unique and will save lives. There is a feat that makes medicine even better.

In a new game with only 7 classes, you're going to be limited in your options, but with envoy or mystic you should be able to get in the right neighborhood.

If I understand you correctly, you would like to build a character that's 100% dedicated to healing and buffing - you're not interested in debuffs or offensive action whatsoever. Okay. Before the advice, some notes:

I think "mystics are the only true healing class" is approaching it the wrong way. Before you can ever take HP damage you have to take Stamina damage. So an Envoy will have the opportunity to use their "healing" every fight immediately when someone takes damage whereas mystics only can heal those under 50% effective health. Stamina restore in combat is just as important as Mystic healing.

Multi classing is an option.
While Mystic works off wisdom and Envoy goes to charisma, so you could go even with the 2 stats.
Caster level would suffer, but you would have both sets of options for your actions.
BAB would be a bit lower and you would likely slow your progress to the 3rd class level when weapon specialization kicks in, but since you're not focusing on hitting in combat that shouldn't limit your focus.

Don't overlook skills as a major contribution.

Healing and knowledge's look like they can make a big difference and the Envoy's skill expertise has several which look good for a support character.
Multi-classing in Pathfinder has built in drawbacks, but in Starfinder?
Perhaps not so much.

We'll have to see with more experience in the system.

It also might be worth a second look at other classes. For instance the mechanic is a pretty good support if you choose to build it that way, and two mechanics can be really different. You could take barricade and build a wall for your allies to hude behind. Put arms on a flying drone, an injection weapon with healing serums in its weapon mount and give it medpatches, and use the medical expert feat through it. Boost your allies weapons with overcharge. If you're in a home game your GM might let you pick body guard for a drone feat, I would, it's not on the list but it's a pretty reasonable choice. This all ends with you being much more of a medical expert than a mechanic, I know I wouldn't have any problem playing a mechanic in a game with a build like this because of how different our focuses are.

There are fewer buff spells over all, and many of those still there have been cut back. I think that's because they're trying to control the power ramp more in SF than they did in PF, and those spells often ended up being a part of that. But we shall see. I expect there will be a lot more options for support classes once another few books have come out.

One of the players in my group had this same dilemma. In the end he ditched the Healer connection and switched to a Star Shaman to contribute on a ship if needed. As Jimbles mentioned, "combatant first" really is the first rule of Starfinder fight club. After perusing the book in more detail following our first few games, the Mystic player also came to the conclusion that enemy debuffing has more options and more support at the moment than party buffing. Many classes also have built-in ways to buff themselves, which further reduces the need for a character to heavily focus on that role. The Envoy can certainly do some significant party buffing, and that's probably the route you want to go if you really want to focus on it.

Envoy Xenoseeker is very much what uou'ryou're looking for. With Lashunta you can get a racial...

you're probably right, the original concept that i had with this character was someone who was like a doctor or something, i ended up merging that with a desire to play a primary healer but forgot that i could seperate the two.

i also ended up seeing the envoy and imediatly thinking of like a bad ass space pirate or an authentic space bastard... i think what i'm saying is i made one to many assumptions.

i would like to note, however, that with core pathfinder even though you only really had one primary healer, you could still get CLW on both the bard and the druid, and even a paladin had forms of healing he could use as well. i think starfinder has options to play a support or supporting like character it's just i'm not imediatly seeing them and i just need to dig deeper and drop some of the assumptions i'm making. in addition due to the massive difference of setting, it's possible that what counts as support here may be sleightly different so i may have to widen my description as well (though again i tend to but more emphases on character then build)

tyvm for the reply ^_^

If I understand you correctly, you would like to build a character that's 100% dedicated to healing and buffing

i'm going to mostly leave this simple and in no way hostile, but i disagree with the first basic statement. one of my previous characters was an arcane healer (bard) that used a whip to aid another but had a plethora of tools dedicated to helping my team do better and making sure my team didn't die. i can gurantee you, that i had a blast playing that character and honestly looked forward to combat just as much as i did social interaction and other aspects of gameplay.

when it comes to this basic thought, my attitude is less, i need to have a way to join the fray/do damage, but is more, i need to know what i'm doing during combat/help my team in combat. if this means that i'm buffing and healing great, if it means i'm hitting s%%& till it stops moving no problem, but i need to have an idea of what my character does during combat, as it takes up a good portion of play and is an important aspect of all characters no matter the style.

i really appreciate your thoughts on the characters though, i think that is super helpful for getting me into the right direction, i also think i need to go back to the other classes and give them a more methodical eye so i know i didn't miss anything, i would love to, if not now, at some point make a support class out of something that may be less likely to be seen as such

TYVM for the response super appreciated ^_^

I think "mystics are the only true healing class" is approaching it the wrong way.

you're absolutely right, wait can mystic cure not heal stamina at all?

anyway, one of the other aspects i really like is though there is a semi lack of abilities to heal from classes (outside of mystic and envoy) the healing from non combat sources has a LOT of fun toys to play with. they have your basic potions but whats a lot of fun is that they also have an injection glove, a needle pistol, and a needle rifle. all allowing much more interesting ways of applying a potion during combat (if slightly dangerous due to you still technically having to attack a team mate)

thank you for the reply!

Multi classing is an option.

While Mystic works off wisdom and Envoy goes to charisma, so you could go even with the 2 stats.

there is also connection inkling, allowing me to take a few minor mystic spells without being a mystic.

i'm still very weary to multiclassing, not only because pathfinder has put a bad taste in my mouth for it. but it also tends to feel a bit powergamey, and i also have to ask myself. would my character take this class? does this make sense from my characters point of view? again, i tend to put character above functionality (though i tend to gun for both) so i really like to make sure that my general choices fit the character, if i HAVE to change the character to fit the choices i might, but i tend to like to roll with my ideas on that regard.

thanks for dropping a comment.

It also might be worth a second look at other classes.

OH MY GOD YES! i absolutely loved the idea of taking the mechanic class and making it a support and the idea of a hover drone flying around and popping off healing serum into my team mates is both hilarious and freaking amazing. i need to look more into it, and if i did i think i would love to try to take it from a cyber brain (forgot it's actual name ^_^; srry) standpoint, because i would love to explore the other aspect of the mechanic as EVERYONE wants to play with the drone... i mean the drone is cool but I'm kind of a non conformist sooooooooo...

i think the main reason I'm leaning pretty hard away from playing a mechanic is that at least like 3 other players have somewhat shown some form of interest in the mechanic, and though it is totally possible to have multiple mechanics around as they have a ridiculous amount of options, i would just like to make sure I'm bringing something unique to the party, so though that idea is still mulling about in my mind, I'm mostly putting it on the back burner as I'm sure i wont get the chance. the last time i tried to play a support with this group i wanted to play a healing witch, and one of the other players ended up picking up an investigator when our party NEEDED a front line, so not only was he going to be stepping on my toes but we lacked someone who could take hits... i wasn't to happy with him doing this, especially after he botched the hell out of the investigator... -cough- needless to say the lesson i learned from that was, don't count on playing an intelligence based character while he's around...

OH also i think one of the classes they NEED to make is something like a scientist/chemist. something similar to an alchemist, with an option to be a healing version called a doctor! would be super cool.

thanks for the thoughts, i really should give the other classes a more detailed eye.

tyvm ^_^

One of the players in my group had this same dilemma.

i totally understand that debuffing can be super useful but i'm also thinking about my characters overall thought process. i think i'm probably going to make her an envoy i just have to change how i see the envoy a little i'm sure it will be fun

tyvm for the comment

Please note the Pathfinder CRB had more classes, partially due I'm sure to preconceived notions of what was expected to be in them.

And Bards have CLW specifically because people complained about always needing a cleric or druid in 3.5 edition.

Just a bit of context is all. :-)

Please note the Pathfinder CRB had more classes, partially due I'm sure to preconceived notions of what was expected to be in them.

And Bards have CLW specifically because people complained about always needing a cleric or druid in 3.5 edition.
Just a bit of context is all. :-)

Nah bards have had CLW for as long as I've been playing.

Envoy is the closest for full time support.

Technomancers can also be support if you consider illusions, microbot swarms, haste, and junkbots as support. But no healing (outside of medical junkbots and creating items that heal).

captain yesterday wrote:

Please note the Pathfinder CRB had more classes, partially due I'm sure to preconceived notions of what was expected to be in them.

And Bards have CLW specifically because people complained about always needing a cleric or druid in 3.5 edition.
Just a bit of context is all. :-)

Nah bards have had CLW for as long as I've been playing.

Thanks! Guess I remembered that wrong. :-)

I think with SF it's close enough to PF that it's easy to get caught up in old ways of thinking. But some just don't hold well. I think we'll have to find how healing in this system works through play. When everyone gets back half or more of their "health" with a ten minute rest how much healing will we need? Another is presumptions for classes, I was talking with someone last night and their plan for a soldier is a healer, sharpshooter with injections for offense and healing. There are a lot of different ways to build and play these few classes, more than the larger number of classes from PF, had and I look forward to seeing what people do with them. Hope your game goes well and that you enjoy.