Class Preview: The Mystic

Will this class have an Inquisitor or Warpriest theme?

That would probably be more like operatives and soldiers with the priest theme.

That's not what I meant. I was thinking from a GM's POV. Which powers are actually blocked by an anti-magic field when magical effects, at the player's discretion, could be technological?

Given the number of interpretive issues that come up in trying to adjudicate exactly how an anti magic field is supposed to work, I'm kinda hoping anti magic fields won't show up... :P

Spells are probably still magic and affected by anti-magic counter-measures. Extraordinary (and maybe supernatural) abilities sound like the ones that can be explained by super/weird science.

Theory: antimagic fields have been replaced by plot-fueled negative space wedgies.

I'm still playing a technomancer for my first Starfinder character; but this preview is . . . well. . . outstanding.

Having fear as a second level spell seems rather strong...

I wish these classes were available in Pathfinder too.

Me too. But if Paizo doesn't backwards convert them, I'm sure some 3PP(s) will. If I were a betting slaad, I'd put quatloos on at least one 3PP with playtest access was/is already working on it.

So, in the Black Gate interview with Sutter a while back, he mentioned ya'll originally planned for Xenowardens to be a specialization within the Mystic class, able to inject nature into sterile environments. I was rather excited to see more on this, and thought it curious to see no mention of a xenowarden build here. If the Xenowardens are a proper faction (as Sutter indicated elsewhere), does this make the Star Shaman the druid-caster build for Mystics? Or is it one of the other specializations, or has the concept been moved entirely?

Maybe xenowarden is now the other archetype, so anyone can be one?

Maybe xenowarden is now the other archetype, so anyone can be one?

I personally would love to see how a xenowarden archetype would be juxtaposed to a mechanic or technomancer.

Fardragon wrote:

Maybe xenowarden is now the other archetype, so anyone can be one?

I personally would love to see how a xenowarden archetype would be juxtaposed to a mechanic or technomancer.

That sounds like a crisis of identity.

Or a saboteur

My biggest hope for an archetype would be a sniper/marksman archetype. A technomancer-sniper is a character concept just begging to be played.

So, in the Black Gate interview with Sutter a while back, he mentioned ya'll originally planned for Xenowardens to be a specialization within the Mystic class, able to inject nature into sterile environments. I was rather excited to see more on this, and thought it curious to see no mention of a xenowarden build here. If the Xenowardens are a proper faction (as Sutter indicated elsewhere), does this make the Star Shaman the druid-caster build for Mystics? Or is it one of the other specializations, or has the concept been moved entirely?

I was hoping the star shaman would focus more on radiation, starlight, and things like that. I've got a mystic of a Desna I really want to play, and bending starlight to my will sounds like exactly what I want to try and do.

There's a typo in the text where an O is a 0:

"All mystics gain some ability t0 link to other creatures"

There's a typo in the text where an O is a 0:

"All mystics gain some ability t0 link to other creatures"

It's just a holdover when we translated form binary. ;)

IonutRO wrote:

There's a typo in the text where an O is a 0:

"All mystics gain some ability t0 link to other creatures"

It's just a holdover when we translated form binary. ;)

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

^Nice idea, but that's probably going to have to wait until the Starfinder 9/9 casters come out . . . .

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

IonutRO wrote:

There's a typo in the text where an O is a 0:

"All mystics gain some ability t0 link to other creatures"

It's just a holdover when we translated form binary. ;)

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

Not to mention that's the technomancer's shtick.

Ventnor wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

IonutRO wrote:

There's a typo in the text where an O is a 0:

"All mystics gain some ability t0 link to other creatures"

It's just a holdover when we translated form binary. ;)

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

Not to mention that's the technomancer's shtick.

With machines? Pfft, maybe that's how you 21st-century hackers did it.

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

You should check out the real good novel Kraken by China Miéville, for slightly spoileriffic but related reasons.

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

IonutRO wrote:

There's a typo in the text where an O is a 0:

"All mystics gain some ability t0 link to other creatures"

It's just a holdover when we translated form binary. ;)

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

Ventnor wrote:

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

I know I'm gonna rock a Pharasmin Euthanatos at some point...

So anyone know what this second Archetype is called/about?

The Raven Black wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

I know I'm gonna rock a Pharasmin Euthanatos at some point...

My mind hurts at the metaphysical implications of Mage the Ascension and Pathfinder/Starfinder actually being in the same universe.

Cole Deschain wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

I know I'm gonna rock a Pharasmin Euthanatos at some point...

My mind hurts at the metaphysical implications of Mage the Ascension and Pathfinder/Starfinder actually being in the same universe.

But, they are in the same universe... ours. ;)

Cole Deschain wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

I know I'm gonna rock a Pharasmin Euthanatos at some point...

My mind hurts at the metaphysical implications of Mage the Ascension and Pathfinder/Starfinder actually being in the same universe.

Hmm, that sounds like it will be a big hit of the ol' paradox.

My mind hurts at the metaphysical implications of Mage the Ascension and Pathfinder/Starfinder actually being in the same universe.

I'm sure some Void Engineers and some Sons of Ether are cataloguing the wonders of the Drift, each for different reasons.

The Starfinder setting is hardly stranger, to them, than the Gernsbeck Continuum, or the Hollow Earth.

#WhiteSpaceMageGO!

Thrice Great Hermes wrote:

Cole Deschain wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

I know I'm gonna rock a Pharasmin Euthanatos at some point...

My mind hurts at the metaphysical implications of Mage the Ascension and Pathfinder/Starfinder actually being in the same universe.

But, they are in the same universe... ours. ;)

But "Earth" exist in the Pathfinder/Starfinder setting, so that makes things complicated.

I think we're verging on Recursive Reality.

So how does Nonlethal damage relate to the SP/HP system?

Ashanderai wrote:

Thrice Great Hermes wrote:

Cole Deschain wrote:

The Raven Black wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

Suddenly I want to make a mystic whose power comes from the ability to literally hack reality.

A Virtual Adept then, à la Matrix :-)

I know I'm gonna rock a Pharasmin Euthanatos at some point...

My mind hurts at the metaphysical implications of Mage the Ascension and Pathfinder/Starfinder actually being in the same universe.

But, they are in the same universe... ours. ;)

But "Earth" exist in the Pathfinder/Starfinder setting, so that makes things complicated.

I think we're verging on Recursive Reality.

Which hits worrisomely close to home, since I have occasionally had Recursive Waking Up from Dreams.

So how does Nonlethal damage relate to the SP/HP system?

Short form -- no matter how much damage it does, a nonlethal attack can't kill you.

It is not tracked or healed separately. It just isn't, itself, lethal.

Which hits worrisomely close to home, since I have occasionally had Recursive Waking Up from Dreams.

You're having one now.

IonutRO wrote:

So how does Nonlethal damage relate to the SP/HP system?

Short form -- no matter how much damage it does, a nonlethal attack can't kill you.

It is not tracked or healed separately. It just isn't, itself, lethal.

But if you are down to 1hp from non-lethal damage then it only takes 1 point of lethal damage to kill you, right?

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

IonutRO wrote:

So how does Nonlethal damage relate to the SP/HP system?

Short form -- no matter how much damage it does, a nonlethal attack can't kill you.

It is not tracked or healed separately. It just isn't, itself, lethal.

But if you are down to 1hp from non-lethal damage then it only takes 1 point of lethal damage to kill you, right?

i am not sure how it could be "not tracked separately" and not result in "1 point lethal and 80 nonlethal... you dead." but surely there is some way to differentiate damage from the two to avoid this. i think Pathfinder's system actually worked well enough with the separate track to follow and being knocked out until your real HP was above your nonlethal damage threshold.

Maybe the ratio is something else, like at least 50% must be lethal in order to kill you, and/or the last few points of damage must be lethal, or something more involved than that. After all, he did say, "Short form...". Or maybe it has to do with the breakdown of hit points and stamina points and if hit point damage was lethal or not?

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

IonutRO wrote:

So how does Nonlethal damage relate to the SP/HP system?

Short form -- no matter how much damage it does, a nonlethal attack can't kill you.

It is not tracked or healed separately. It just isn't, itself, lethal.

But if you are down to 1hp from non-lethal damage then it only takes 1 point of lethal damage to kill you, right?

It's not quite that simple, because HP now stop at 0 (there are no negative hit points), and death and dying have a set of rules for them.

But yes, if you are beaten into unconsciousness, or tasered until you collapse, or otherwise suffer so much nonlethal trauma that you pass out, adding a lethal attack to the top of that has a chance of killing you.

If a fighter is KO'd or nearly KO's in a boxing match, and THEN someone shoots him once, he isn't as fresh and able to handle trauma as if he'd never been attacked at all.

I like that a lot better than the Pathfinder system. It always seemed dumb that the monk could lay on a few punches, then everyone else went to town with their swords, and the enemy just falls unconscious. It makes way more sense that the "killing" blow needs to be nonlethal in order to capture an opponent.

I'm confused how it works if they are not tracked separately...

So you get hit for 50 non-lethal and 30 lethal...80 damage total???

Sounds about right. If the non-lethal comes after the lethal damage, you can't die from it.

it sounds like if you are KO'd from nonlethal there is something like a coup de grace going on, make a save or get dieded.

My guess would be you could reduce Stamina and HP through any combination of lethal and nonlethal; but the last blow to get a character to 0 hp can kill them if it was a lethal blow, but can't kill them if it was a nonlethal blow. In other words, the type of the final blow is what matters. (and then there's the Resolve stuff)

UnArcaneElection wrote:

Which hits worrisomely close to home, since I have occasionally had Recursive Waking Up from Dreams.

You're having one now.

I wish . . . .

Are these the jedi in Starfinder?

Solarion is the "Jedi".

Are these the jedi in Starfinder?

They can be if you want them to be.

Are these the jedi in Starfinder?

Do you define Jedi as someone with a mystical connection to a nebulous greater power that can use that connection to affect amazing abilities? Sounds like a Mystic to me.

Do you define Jedi as someone who is deeply contemplative but also a surprisingly skilled swordsman with a laser sword of some kind? Probably a Solarian.

Speaking of Jedi, have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

Speaking of Jedi, have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

Not much of it. All the information was lost when the empire destroyed the holocron containing everything Disney didn't want you to remember.