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Alien Archive 3: Catch the Drift

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Starfinder’s newest creature compendium comes packed with more than 100 stat blocks, including half a dozen new creatures native to the hyperspace plane of the Drift. But there are plenty of more worldly foes, too. In Starfinder, even seemingly innocuous things can become deadly, such as the ferromagnetic ooze, seen here engulfing our unfortunate mechanic, Quig, as his trusty drone, Scout, attempts to give him a lift without getting pulled in too.

A black blob-like creature covefred with metallic spikes engulfs Quig, a ratfolk mechanic, as his drone attempts to pull him to safety.

Illustration by Hannah Böving

But it’s not all bad news for adventurers! Alien Archive 3 includes 19 new playable species, including dessamars, who have a larval and an adult form, complete with different statistics and abilities. Pictured here is a raxilite, a capital-T Tiny plant creature that uses its LFAN (Lifting Floret Activiation Network) to deftly handle items designed for larger creatures.

A plant-like humanoid with a gourd-shaped head topped by growths that look like dandelion seeds.

Illustration by Nathanael James

Of course, we crammed a lot of other player options into this book too; over 50 new options include armor, weapons, starship systems, augmentations, spells, and a whole lot more. Since we mentioned the ferrofluid ooze, check out this armor upgrade based on its vibration-dampening properties:

FERROFLUID SUSPENSION
ARMOR SLOTS: 1ARMOR TYPE: ANYBULK: —

Your armor dampens vibrations, reducing bludgeoning damage you take by 5 (to a minimum of 0) and reducing your armor check penalty to Stealth checks by 2 (to a minimum of 0). In addition, the DC of Perception checks against you is increased by 5 for creatures using blindsight (vibration) or blindsense (vibration).

Perhaps the most exciting player option we introduced in Alien Archive 3 is our new creature companion system! Now you can have a pet, a battle buddy, or even a mount. We included premade companions for you to choose from, such as tashtari (also known as laser wolf) pups, serpentine mounts, and curious shape-changing oozes. A simple series of feats lets you exert increasing control over your companion, letting you choose how deeply to develop your bond.

A pistol-wielding soldier directs his companion, a four-eyed tiger-like creature, to spring into battle.

Illustration by Raphael Madureira

Whatever you’re looking for on your trek through the stars, Alien Archive 3 is sure to have something to help you succeed—or put you to the test.

Joe Pasini
Starfinder Lead Designer

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Grand Lodge
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Well, those are adorable.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Companion system based on feats, interesting. I have been waiting for this. Was kind of hoping for a class that specialized in this, but I think I like this even more.

Why can’t my books ship yet. The wait is killing me.
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

So it will work similar to PF2 animal companion system?

Will it be possible to get multiple companions? One of my players is very interested in his character becoming a sort of beastmaster
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Something about that space Leshy terrifies me to my core.
Paizo Employee
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm love them? Yes. Yes. I'm love the tiny plant folk yes.

Lol, love the art for the raxilite the pistol on it's back looks like a heavy weapon.
Sovereign Court

I want to squee with excitement for this book. I love this game more and more.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

The science nerd in me squees at the idea of a ferrofluid ooze.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ahhhhh, so amazing! I can't wait.

Nice ! Can't wait to have a tashtari by my side :)
Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Seriously?
19 NEW playable species?
Isn't that a bit excessive?
9 people marked this as a favorite.
Charles Scholz wrote:

Seriously?

19 NEW playable species?
Isn't that a bit excessive?

NOPE

Dark Archive
10 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Charles Scholz wrote:

Seriously?

19 NEW playable species?
Isn't that a bit excessive?

This is Starfinder :D All The Playable Races Belong To Us

Sneaking suspicion that some of those 19 will be a batch of the other playable races released across the APs
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Some of them are, yes. I think at least 14 or 15 of them are new (to starfinder) though. Maybe more.
Grand Lodge
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
Charles Scholz wrote:

Seriously?

19 NEW playable species?
Isn't that a bit excessive?

How many did Pathfinder have by the end?

1 person marked this as a favorite.
TheGoofyGE3K wrote:
Sneaking suspicion that some of those 19 will be a batch of the other playable races released across the APs

The list was posted on the product discussion thread, and only two are reprints (the shimreen and morlamaw).

Grand Lodge

Squeeee!
Dark Archive

Have to wait & see how many of them will be sanctioned for Society play.

will the new animal companion add more robust rules for drones as well like more ways to use the saddle perhaps ?
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Joe Jungers wrote:
Have to wait & see how many of them will be sanctioned for Society play.

They already announced in a blog that the Izalguun will be legal for Society play, because Starfinders did a good job not betraying them last season.

Paizo Employee Starfinder Lead Designer
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Anorak wrote:
So it will work similar to PF2 animal companion system?

We certainly looked to PF2 (and several other places) to inform our design on this, but it's its own system.

Troodos wrote:
Will it be possible to get multiple companions?

While you can purchase as many appropriate creatures as you like, you can have only creature companion (relationships take work!).

Cyrad wrote:
The science nerd in me squees at the idea of a ferrofluid ooze.

Sam Phelan did a great job incorporating the science into this weird, "only in Starfinder" creature!

Kingbrendarr wrote:
will the new animal companion add more robust rules for drones as well like more ways to use the saddle perhaps ?

The rules for creature companions don't include additional rules for drones; it was important to us to keep the two systems distinct.

Scarab Sages
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Charles Scholz wrote:

Seriously?

19 NEW playable species?
Isn't that a bit excessive?
How many did Pathfinder have by the end?

50, but less than 10 per Bestiary.

Grand Lodge
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Guess we'll see how many more archives they release.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Charles Scholz wrote:


50, but less than 10 per Bestiary.

And that's pretty much all on Golarion, just grabbing a couple here and there from other planets.

Starfinder has a whole Galaxy to populate - they are being conservative with only 19 races in this book.
The Ragi wrote:

And that's pretty much all on Golarion, just grabbing a couple here and there from other planets.

Starfinder has a whole Galaxy to populate - they are being conservative with only 19 races in this book.

Yes, I love that they're making so many more playable character options for SF as they introduce new alien archives. :D

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Joe Pasini wrote:


Kingbrendarr wrote:
will the new animal companion add more robust rules for drones as well like more ways to use the saddle perhaps ?
The rules for creature companions don't include additional rules for drones; it was important to us to keep the two systems distinct.

let me rephrase the question because that is super valid and very important.

The drone saddle allows for treating a drone as a combat trained mount. Will there be greater clarity on what that means and what we can do ?
Second Seekers (Jadnura)

Can’t wait for my copy to ship! I really like the Starfinder specific monsters.

Every time I see those cute Raxalites my heart breaks a little more. These PDFs can't ship fast enough!
Grand Lodge

The raxilites are pretty darned adorable.

Hmm
Hmm wrote:

The raxilites are pretty darned adorable.

Hmm

And also potentially terrifying!

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I just wonder which is the companion, the humanoid or the quadruped.

Also, after seeing the cute plant creature my players started to wonder if this is Starfinder or Pokemon and whether this is going just too far :D
6 people marked this as a favorite.

Meh. Different strokes for different folks. Life is weird. I'm playing a 7ft tall Jellyfish in a game. I love that. Others think that's silly.

such is life.
Paizo Employee Starfinder Lead Designer
6 people marked this as a favorite.
Kingbrendarr wrote:
Joe Pasini wrote:


Kingbrendarr wrote:
will the new animal companion add more robust rules for drones as well like more ways to use the saddle perhaps ?
The rules for creature companions don't include additional rules for drones; it was important to us to keep the two systems distinct.

let me rephrase the question because that is super valid and very important.

The drone saddle allows for treating a drone as a combat trained mount. Will there be greater clarity on what that means and what we can do ?

Thank you for helping me understand your question!

While the mount rules in AA3 clarify some of what's in the Starfinder Core Rulebook, they are directed toward creature companions. As a GM, I would personally use these rules to help guide my treatment of drones as combat-trained mounts, but I will be working with Thurston Hillman and Organized Play to help officially codify things for our OP programs, at the very least.
Hmm wrote:

The raxilites are pretty darned adorable.

Hmm

Hmmm. I don't like the raxilites.

1 person marked this as a favorite.

SPACE LESHIES!!!!
EltonJ wrote:
Hmm wrote:

The raxilites are pretty darned adorable.

Hmm

Hmmm. I don't like the raxilites.

I don’t like the idea of a swarm of them coming for me where each one counts as a separate hand, all smiling that gormless smile.

Scarab Sages

I can't believe how disappointed I am in you all. Not a single mention of the Tom Sawyer reference. Kids these days.

Also...get off my lawn.
Ginasteri wrote:

I can't believe how disappointed I am in you all. Not a single mention of the Tom Sawyer reference. Kids these days.

Also...get off my lawn.

Mean, mean pride...

Liberty's Edge

I love the Space Tardigrades. We need more vehicles like this, and tanks too!
Grand Lodge
Ginasteri wrote:

I can't believe how disappointed I am in you all. Not a single mention of the Tom Sawyer reference. Kids these days.

Also...get off my lawn.

I saw it but couldn't decide on whether I wanted to mention itt.

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