Starfinder, enhance… Enhance… ENHANCE!

I love Destructicus.

Are Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man actually Novians?

I'm relatively excited for the book :D Like not super hyped, but super curious. Destructicus is slowly turning it into a hype though xD

I'm relatively excited for the book :D Like not super hyped, but super curious. Destructicus is slowly turning it into a hype though xD

Not even super hyped for lil' Destructicus? :'(

Do not look at me with those starry eyes! I'm trying to keep the growing hype under control because this book is released in october x'D Destructicus will destroy me if I let myself become hyped this many months in advance!

(I might be trying to convince myself I'm not hyped because of october date x'D)

HYPE!

I can't wait to hear about entire tables of Novian Starfinders causing mayhem across the Pact Worlds and beyond!

moyishuu

MOYISHUU

MOYISHUU MOYISHUU MOYISHUU

my lil fey emotion babies are getting more attention i am screaming so hard right now aaaaaaaaaaa

Why not call it "Starfinder Character Operations Manual TWO" ?

Did... Paizo notice some negative feedback when they numbered their books or something :P ?

I'll take more content, but that just struck me as weird XD

What about the 3 action economy system? This is what Starfinder really needs.

I hope this doesn't mean "demo of Starfinder 2e, Starfinder is ending soon" like Pathfinder Unchained was.

What about the 3 action economy system? This is what Starfinder really needs.

Integrating 3AE into SF is not something that would be easy to do for a number of reasons.

gdotbat wrote:

What about the 3 action economy system? This is what Starfinder really needs.

Integrating 3AE into SF is not something that would be easy to do for a number of reasons.

Pathfinder Unchained managed this relatively well for PF 1E, within 8 pages. Since Starfinder uses the same clunky "standard action, move action etc." system as PF 1E, Unchained's "Revised Action Economy" is probably a good starting point for any Starfinder GM who wants the 3 acts system.

What about the 3 action economy system? This is what Starfinder really needs.

Yes, starfinder absolutely needs a system that dumbs down and flattens the action economy of the game /s

We have a 3 action economy. Ours has a heirarchy though instead of actions consuming multiple, and every single action you ever take to be rivaling the utility of an attack.

Make SF attacks a swift action with the 2nd at -4 and the 3rd at -8 and you've got PF2's 3AE, and make moving a swift, and you've essentially got a better version of PF2's 3AE, showcasing how bad an idea it is for the vibe of SF.

I wonder if the scaling weapon system that was hinted is going to be like a funky "every base item has essentially a cludgey 1-20 progression" or more like a version of automatic bonus progression which works more smoothly. I loathe the weapons and armors lists and would love to never have to go through them again.

I'm also hoping for a PF2 style skill system, because I'd love to be able to play SF without teaching new players all about the intricacies and trap options of the skill math from the get-go.

Would also love to see 3 action economy, which is superior to the PF1 and SF version, without question. So much more elegant and easy to teach and smooth to play.

I'm hoping there are new rules to make Archetypes more equitable between classes, since they're currently so differently balanced from one class to another that it's often impossible to justify taking one.

I'd love to see new multiclassing rules, because as-is it's super jank and easy to destroy a character with.

Robust, scaling cantrips would also be great!

Sparrowhawk_92 wrote:

gdotbat wrote:

What about the 3 action economy system? This is what Starfinder really needs.

Integrating 3AE into SF is not something that would be easy to do for a number of reasons.

Pathfinder Unchained managed this relatively well for PF 1E, within 8 pages. Since Starfinder uses the same clunky "standard action, move action etc." system as PF 1E, Unchained's "Revised Action Economy" is probably a good starting point for any Starfinder GM who wants the 3 acts system.

It didn't do that "well", it fell apart for any class that weaponised swift actions. I'm not sure where Starfinder is with this topic, though.

Can we not YET again devolve into Starfinder needs PF2: SPACE? This is Starfinder Enhanced, and I want to be hyped for the new takes on the classes, Destructicus the Nova-Man, and other sundry items that sound cool.

The shared art is *Chef's Kiss* Kudos to the artists and art director!

Robust, scaling cantrips would also be great!

Scaling cantrips appear in Galactic Magic FYI.

Would also love to see 3 action economy, which is superior to the PF1 and SF version, without question.

Well I definitely question the statement, as thats your opinion.

The unchained action economy from Pathfinder Unchained is really simple to use.

Destructicus is so cute! What a precious little friend!

Very excited for this book.

Why not call it "Starfinder Character Operations Manual TWO" ?

Did... Paizo notice some negative feedback when they numbered their books or something :P ?

I'll take more content, but that just struck me as weird XD

It's because it's a refernece to "Pathfinder Unchained" in PF1e.

Needless to say, I'm SUPER excited for this! I've felt like things were kinda quiet in terms of Starfinder for a while now, and I feel like this is JUST the thing to ENHANCE interest in the game again!

Plus, my favorite class (Solarian) is getting a makeover!

I can practically hear Destructicus saying "Move over, skittermanders and/or raxilites! There's a NEW cutest species in town!"

WatersLethe wrote:

Robust, scaling cantrips would also be great!

Scaling cantrips appear in Galactic Magic FYI.

Yeah, but it sucks

I'm very excited to see Starfidner skipping the 2e version and going straight to Starfinder 3xEs why else would they put Enhanced in the name three times?

Can't Wait!

I hope this doesn't mean "demo of Starfinder 2e, Starfinder is ending soon" like Pathfinder Unchained was.

Dood, 2e came out four years after Unchained. That's the exact opposite of soon.

I hope this supplement provides some alternatives to "Full Auto Fishing for Crits" current combat method for ranged weapons. Looking forward to reading this!

emky wrote:

I hope this doesn't mean "demo of Starfinder 2e, Starfinder is ending soon" like Pathfinder Unchained was.

Dood, 2e came out four years after Unchained. That's the exact opposite of soon.

True -- But given how long PF1 was out, even four years was closer to the end than to the beginning. Still, my best guess is that we aren't looking for SF2 next year or anything like that.

I kind of wish Paizo would just start calling the current edition of Starfinder "Starfinder2e" to end all the speculation over when or if it's coming out.

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

emky wrote:

I hope this doesn't mean "demo of Starfinder 2e, Starfinder is ending soon" like Pathfinder Unchained was.

Dood, 2e came out four years after Unchained. That's the exact opposite of soon.

True -- But given how long PF1 was out, even four years was closer to the end than to the beginning. Still, we aren't looking for SF2 next year or anything like that.

P1 was out for 10 years.

If Starfinder 2e comes out four years after Enhnaced then S1 would have been out… for 10 years as well. It came out 2017.

I’m looking forward to this,

I would like to hear more about how you chose the classes to upgrade and what you are looking to improve in each. On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to see the boards go wild with feedback on that for over six months without seeing the details.

Maybe when it is close to release you could preview each of the updated classes?

Hmmm, six years and still no Platyparians. (Kidding! I kid because I love.)

In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to SF Enhanced and all it contains.

Super excited for this book even if it is not a second edition with 3 action economy.

I want to hear a lot more about what's in it, I kind of feel like this blog post just repeated most of what is in the product description.

Can we get new details please =)

I am SUPER-excited to see what the fine folks of the Virtual Star Chamber have come up with for this book.

While we can’t get into absolutely everything in this book, one piece that I think a lot of people will enjoy is the “enhanced” versions of four existing base classes. The Envoy, Solarian, Technomancer and Witchwarper all receive a fresh coat of paint with some revised mechanics. This generally means a few key tweaks to core abilities or filling in some levels that didn’t provide interesting class options. In some cases, it’s also about opening up the classes to feel like they’re contributing more during combat and not always falling into the tactics all the time. We’re very excited to see how these turn out when they release late this year.

I get the other classes, but why the Solarian? What is there to fix?

I get the other classes, but why the Solarian? What is there to fix?

Solarian was hella MAD when the game released. It just never seemed(to me) like Charisma did much other than raise your Resolve Points. Not as much of a problem now with revelations that use your Charisma mod and the Soulfire fusion for melee. More options for solar manifestations like lunar weapon & solar flare have helped for high Dexterity Solarians if you don't want to wield a normal operative weapon or spend a feat to take longarm proficiency.

Solarian still has 2 dead levels.

I'd hope they would also take the chance to clarify many things dealing with the solar weapon(and other manifestations that are basically the same thing). Can you get a solarian weapon crystal made of a special material like adamantine alloy and get the benefit of that material on your manifestation? I'd also like the know once and for all if certain things an be used with solar weapons like Weapon Orbit. I know RAW it doesn't work, but that just feels bad to me.

Solarian also could really use more skill points per level. As MAD as they are, there is little room to improve their Int. More skill ranks per level would allow them to be more useful out of combat.

Also, just how many people do an Armor Solarian as anything other than a dip?

<Cricket chirps>

Weapon Solarians have always done good damage in combat. Just not much outside of combat.

I do hope they get rid of the idea that the Sidereal Influence ends as soon as you go into combat. No other class has they insight bonus go away like that.

Considering that solarians are charisma based I'd love to see them get noncombat uses of their mote.

Also, just how many people do an Armor Solarian as anything other than a dip?

*raises hand*

I like my Solar Armor. It makes me look like an avenging angel of Sarenrae...

I wonder how the "enhanced" class variants will play alongside the existing classes. Are they meant to replace them completely, or are they just supposed to be alternative approaches to the same classes? Likewise, how will they interact with previously published additional class options. The classes are already fairly modular, but if level-gates for certain features are changing that could complicate things unless there's guidelines for "updating" those old features for the new class chassis. Seeing how the unchained classes functioned in PF1E, I imagine it'll be a mix of everything, with each class being it's own beast as to how it's handled with legacy content.

Similarly, is the narrative starship combat supposed to be used instead of the standard starship combat, or is it just another tool to run starship encounters in situations where pulling out the hex-grid wouldn't enhance the storytelling?

I'm very excited about the new playable species, and the "revisiting" of some previously published species. If the entries are even half as good as the stuff that came out in Interstellar Species I'll be very excited. Will we finally be getting stats for some of the name-dropped species in other books perhaps?

Oh, and Destructicus is adorable and must be protected at all cost.

BretI wrote:

Also, just how many people do an Armor Solarian as anything other than a dip?

*raises hand*

I like my Solar Armor. It makes me look like an avenging angel of Sarenrae...

You have to admit that a Solar Armor is rather underwhelming, when your Solarian can wear an actual armor underneath, right ^^; ?

If I have a Solar Weapon, Flare or Shield, it's to substitute the manufactured counterpart in some ways. You "shouldn't" be able to wear armor if you have manifested a Solar Armor. How come it's not +1 AC/level? How come there's no Solarian Crystal for armor, containing any enhancement?

Does dose Solar armor provide environmental protection? It would have to be able to completely replace the need for wearing other armor.

Does dose Solar armor provide environmental protection? It would have to be able to completely replace the need for wearing other armor.

I don't think it does...

But still, people aren't going to see this on their first look. They're gonna see that Solar Weapon has a more appealing progression than the Armor, and skip it ^^;

Please tell that there's something for the Nanocyte to make less awful... ugh...

My major gripe about the Nanocyte is how Gear Array is limited to ONE item of YOUR level, and that you need to juggle between leveled items if you wish to get 3 Gear Arrays. For a class based on being a literal "Swiss Army Knife", it's pretty lacking.

Give me a feat that allow me to form one or two less Gear Arrays, but in exchange to get 1 more item/5 levels to be formed, without dealing with the level restriction.

Give me the option to use TWO Major Form slots to shape an Armor Modification like a jetpack.

People think that a Nanocyte can manage with just one Major Form, mostly a weapon, but the general idea should be that a Nanocyte should form more than one item on equal levels. In other words, a Nanocyte should NOT depend on items purchased and worn; it should be self-sufficent to use all of its Major Forms "at once". For instance, I should be able to form a pistol, an implant to boost my Dexterity and another to boost my ranged attack rolls, but since everything is tied to level restrictions, good luck doing so.

Major props for revising some stuff from the core-book. I really respect that. Also Hopefully feats will be less situational this time

Does dose Solar armor provide environmental protection? It would have to be able to completely replace the need for wearing other armor.

Solar "Armor" is just some glowy enhancement to real armor you still have to wear underneath it. You will die very fast if you don't wear real armor, you're missing out on AC bonus, armor upgrade slots, and environmental protection that Solar "Armor" doesn't provide.

Please tell that there's something for the Nanocyte to make less awful... ugh...

My major gripe about the Nanocyte is how Gear Array is limited to ONE item of YOUR level, and that you need to juggle between leveled items if you wish to get 3 Gear Arrays. For a class based on being a literal "Swiss Army Knife", it's pretty lacking.

A nanocyte's gear array requires a higher level of planning than normal for a martial. It's still doable, however.

IMO, the biggest problem with the gear array is the weapons in the array do not include fusions. That makes the gear array less useful for creating the character's primary weapon choice.

JiCi wrote:

Please tell that there's something for the Nanocyte to make less awful... ugh...

My major gripe about the Nanocyte is how Gear Array is limited to ONE item of YOUR level, and that you need to juggle between leveled items if you wish to get 3 Gear Arrays. For a class based on being a literal "Swiss Army Knife", it's pretty lacking.

A nanocyte's gear array requires a higher level of planning than normal for a martial. It's still doable, however.

IMO, the biggest problem with the gear array is the weapons in the array do not include fusions. That makes the gear array less useful for creating the character's primary weapon choice.

I wouldn't worry too much about fusions, because the core mechanics of the Gear Array don't work properly...

Wanna fix it? Here's how:
- If the Gear Array is used as Primary, you can form up to 2 Major Forms of your level, as well as 2 Minor Forms.
- If the Gear Array is used as Secondary, you can form up 1 Major Form of your level, as well as 1 Minor Form.
- If the Gear Array is used as Tertiary, you can only form 1 Minor Form.

There you go... screw the item level limit...

If a regular character isn't limited as such, so shouldn't the Nanocyte.

- There's a level cap per array, and the Gear Array suffers the most. You can manage with a smaller bonus to skills with a lower-level Sheath Array and less squares covered by the Cloud Array. However, for the Gear Array, the Major Forms are ALSO tied to SF's item levels. Not all items have a set item level progression, so you're constantly juggling.

The level cap is just for calculating the effects, doesn't alter your list of known forms.

This is one of the times where RAW is actually just straight better than the common interpretation. If you don't houserule it so that the array level cap changes more then just how the effects are calculated, then it works a lot smoother.

JiCi wrote:

- There's a level cap per array, and the Gear Array suffers the most. You can manage with a smaller bonus to skills with a lower-level Sheath Array and less squares covered by the Cloud Array. However, for the Gear Array, the Major Forms are ALSO tied to SF's item levels. Not all items have a set item level progression, so you're constantly juggling.

The level cap is just for calculating the effects, doesn't alter your list of known forms.

This is one of the times where RAW is actually just straight better than the common interpretation. If you don't houserule it so that the array level cap changes more then just how the effects are calculated, then it works a lot smoother.

Then how does Manifold Array affect the Gear Array?

Your primary array calculates its effects using your full nanocyte level, whereas your secondary array calculates its effects using your nanocyte level – 4.

This penalty has to be applied to the Gear Array, right?