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Starfinder Evolutionist Playtest Launches Today!

Monday, August 2nd, 2021

The evolutionist is a new class for Starfinder that brings to bear the power of transformation over time. As an evolutionist, you’ll become a fantastical extraplanar being, turn from mere mortal into machine, accept the powers and perils of undeath, or erupt with chimeric potential and vital energy. Whichever path you choose, you’ll have to balance your burgeoning capacity for change with the sometimes-dangerous effects of tapping into such potential.

A bustling space station seen from space has several starships of different designs docked at its rings. Strange planets pass nearby

Illustration by Michele Giorgi

This playtest is your chance to get a look at an early version of this new class and have a hand in its development before it hits shelves in an upcoming book!

Playtesting the Evolutionist

The evolutionist playtest launches today, August 2, and runs through September 24. So how can you help playtest this new class? First, you’ll want to download the free PDF of the playtest from starfinderplaytest.com. Then you can create a brand new evolutionist of any level using the new rules. We're most interested in feedback from actual play, so it's best if you can get some friends together and play a few sessions using your new character. If possible, make up characters at different levels to get a sense of how they work at different points in their career.

There's no accompanying playtest adventure—you can use the new class in existing adventures like Starfinder Society scenarios or Starfinder Adventure Paths, or even in mock combats that you create yourself using the Starfinder Core Rulebook’s encounter-creation rules. It might be helpful to take some notes during play, so you can remember your thoughts on the experience after the game session. To gather the most useful data for this playtest, we ask that you avoid using house rules and play these characters using only published rules from the Starfinder RPG.

Playtesting in the Starfinder Society

Players participating in Starfinder Society Organized Play can also join in the worldwide playtest to test the evolutionist class. From today until the playtest's completion, players can create custom evolutionist characters of levels 1, 4 and 8. For more information, click here.

Survey

Our primary means of collecting feedback for the playtest is through a survey that we would like everyone participating in the playtest to complete. A link to the survey is available on the playtest page. Please make sure you've filled out your survey by September 24, 2021.

In addition to responding via the official survey, you can engage with other players and designers on the playtest forum to discuss the evolutionist and possibilities for the future. While we want to focus on actual-play feedback, we're interested in hearing all your ideas about the class.

What are your thoughts about the playtest? Are you excited? Do you have any questions about the playtest process? Let us know in the comments below!

—The Starfinder Team

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Wayfinders
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Huzzah!
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First time I've felt like I would like the team to go back to the drawing board. This class feels way too focused on combat abilities. There are no adaptations that can be used outside of combat, and they all require spending EP that you're already juggling and considering whether it's worth spending rounds as 3/4 BAB. None of the niches do anything to make you evolve out of combat.

The only out of combat thing you can do is buy a subset of augmentations at a discount.

It doesn't look like the EP empties at the end of combat, so movement stuff may still be usable, for example. That said, I'm unclear as to whether or not RP can be used for EP outside of combat.
DrakeRoberts wrote:
It doesn't look like the EP empties at the end of combat, so movement stuff may still be usable, for example. That said, I'm unclear as to whether or not RP can be used for EP outside of combat.

Considering they also don't say that it clears when you sleep for the night, I'm assuming that this is an oversight, but clarification would be nice.

Second Seekers (Jadnura)

Looking forward to testing this out.
QuidEst wrote:
DrakeRoberts wrote:
It doesn't look like the EP empties at the end of combat, so movement stuff may still be usable, for example. That said, I'm unclear as to whether or not RP can be used for EP outside of combat.
Considering they also don't say that it clears when you sleep for the night, I'm assuming that this is an oversight, but clarification would be nice.

That's fair. I assumed it was an oversight at first, but the "Except where noted otherwise" part made me think perhaps it wasn't. But good point about the sleeping.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16
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QuidEst wrote:

First time I've felt like I would like the team to go back to the drawing board. This class feels way too focused on combat abilities. There are no adaptations that can be used outside of combat, and they all require spending EP that you're already juggling and considering whether it's worth spending rounds as 3/4 BAB. None of the niches do anything to make you evolve out of combat.

The only out of combat thing you can do is buy a subset of augmentations at a discount.

There also doesn't seem to any abilities that actually transform you or change your appearance in a meaningful way. In a class centered around transforming yourself.

Regardless, let's give the class its fair shot!
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

I don't understand this paragraph under Spending EP.

Quote:
Special: Once per round, you can spend Evolution Points with no effect to regain control of your body. If you use this ability as a move action, you can spend up to 2 EP. If you use this ability as a standard action, you can spend up to 4 EP. If you use this ability as a full action, you can spend up to 6 EP.

What does it mean to regain control of one's body, and when would you need to spend the higher amounts of EP to do it?

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Were-wraith wrote:

I don't understand this paragraph under Spending EP.

Quote:
Special: Once per round, you can spend Evolution Points with no effect to regain control of your body. If you use this ability as a move action, you can spend up to 2 EP. If you use this ability as a standard action, you can spend up to 4 EP. If you use this ability as a full action, you can spend up to 6 EP.
What does it mean to regain control of one's body, and when would you need to spend the higher amounts of EP to do it?

Let's suppose you've got the Eldritch niche, and you are fighting a caster. EP is good, because it protects you from spells. You kill the caster, but not before they summon two bears. EP is now a massive liability, because it makes you take more damage from every hit, and provides you with very little benefit against non-casters. You'd need to spend a move, standard, or full action if you want to dump that EP quickly.

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