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Field Test #5: Starfinder Encounters of the Second Edition Kind!

Wednesday, May 08, 2024

Welcome to the fifth Starfinder Second Edition Field Test!

The Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is coming soon—but for some, August isn’t nearly soon enough! To give you some insight into the process of creating a new edition of Starfinder, the Starfinder team has released four Field Tests so far. These small snapshots of our work in progress have previewed three classes (the envoy, mystic, and soldier) as well as new ancestries. For our fifth Field Test, we’re doing something a bit different: encounters! So, it’s time to make some Starfinder characters, if you haven’t already. These Corpse Fleet raiders and Aeon Guard soldiers aren’t going to fight themselves! (However entertaining that would be…)

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi: A cybernetic zombie with a canon for an arm

Who needs regular zombies when we’ve got cybernetic zombies?
Illustration by Mirco Paganessi


Field Test #5 includes two encounters, one for 1st-level characters and one for 5th-level characters. Each encounter includes everything a GM needs to throw their party right into the action: a basic narrative setup, a battle map, multiple enemy stat blocks, and enemy tactics. We’ve even included the text of our new weapon traits so you know how the enemies’ weapons work, and some discussion of our encounter design principles so you can see what we’re going for.

The first encounter tasks the player characters with defending a data center from Corpse Fleet privateers. If the initial encounter isn’t enough for you, there’s a bonus stat block for groups who want an extra challenge against a tough enemy! (Spoiler alert: some of you may die.)

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru: a green, cybernetic aeon trooper

This Aeon Guard trooper wants you to make a character. For target practice.
Illustration by Roberto Pitturru


You’ll need 5th-level characters for the second encounter, which pits the player characters against a group of Aeon Guard troopers. Careful! Rumor has it that they’ve got some sort of ferocious beast protecting them. I’m sure it’ll be fine, though. You’re going to make an amazing Field Test character. And they totally absolutely won’t die. Definitely not!

In all seriousness, please feel free to use this content in whatever way you like. The Field Tests are only snapshots, and we realize that you can’t really create a full Starfinder party yet, unless you double up on some of the classes we’ve previewed so far. That’s okay! This content is meant as a preview. Have fun with it. Mix it up. Maybe give enemy stat blocks to the players and let them play out a Corpse Fleet vs. Aeon Guard battle royale!

What’s next? When’s the playtest?!
It’s only a few short months until Gen Con 2024, when we’ll officially be releasing the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook! The PDF of the rulebook will be a free download, and you’ll also have the option of buying a softcover print book if you prefer a physical format for your playtest rules! We’re printing a limited quantity, so if you want a piece of Starfinder history, consider grabbing a copy.

Along with the rulebook, we’re releasing two playtest scenarios (Shards of the Glass Planet and It Came from the Vast! ) and a full 64-page module, A Cosmic Birthday , filled with more encounters and lore. Watch this space for news about more scenarios and another adventure module releasing in the following months. Finally, on June 22, 2024, you can pick up even more free Starfinder Second Edition Playtest stat blocks in our Free RPG Dayproduct!

I’m sure you can’t wait to make characters, play the adventures, and provide playtest feedback. We’re not quite there yet—but we will be soon! In the meantime, check starfinderplaytest.com for the latest news and information about Starfinder Second Edition, enjoy Field Test #5, and be sure to check out our Starfinder panels and play some games at PaizoCon Online 2024! (Alas, we don’t have an entire panel dedicated to the many benefits of making attack rolls against Aeon Guards, but it’s on our bucket list.)

Starfinder PaizoCon Panels

Friday 5/24
Keynote: 10–12 p.m. (PST)
Starfinder Second Edition: 12–1 p.m. (PST)
StarFriends Live Playtest Extreme!!: 4–6 p.m. (PST)

Saturday 5/25
Transitions from Starfinder First Edition to Second Edition: 12–1 p.m. (PST)

Sunday 5/26
Mechageddon!: 4–6 p.m. (PST)

Download Starfinder Field Test #5


— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer


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Tags: Starfinder Starfinder Playtest Starfinder Roleplaying Game Starfinder Second Edition
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Wzrd wrote:

I believe that Pathfinder did a great job with the inclusion of the fatal trait. It keeps the average damage of the gun down while still making it feel dangerous. And that feel is important to me in stories. This set my expectation of the baseline for guns in Starfinder and I was disappointed that guns have lost that feel and feel weaker in comparison.

I understand what I'm asking for brings in balancing issues when bringing Pathfinder content into Starfinder. Creatures that don't have guns will be weaker when compared to their technology wielding counterparts. That will require some consideration and adjustments when importing those creatures from Pathfinder.

So, something to keep in mind is that items have budgets. It's more complex than "Fatal is worth 7 points, a 1d6 base damage is worth 2, range increment of 20 is 1, so that's the full 10 points for this simple handgun", and from what we've been told it's a guideline, not a shackle, but it genuinely is something along those lines.

Having all guns use the fatal trait works in pathfinder because they are but one weapon type among many. But in starfinder, guns are the majority of ranged weapons, and so there are a ton more subgroups within the larger "gun" group. So making all guns have the fatal trait is going to slap an extremely tight budget cap on all gun weapons and leave very little room for variation between all of the gun types starfinder should have.

So, basically, the guns that play like you want will still be in starfinder, but they will be a particular style of guns instead of all guns.

I've spent the last couple of months back with Savage Worlds and then something clicked. Why not adopt one of the fundamental aspects of Savage Worlds, Wild Cards and Extras, and add that to Starfinder? So in Starfinder, treat the heroes and villains as Wild Cards (which I'm thinking of calling awakened) different to all other inhabitants, the Extras (which I'm think of calling mundanes).

For now, I'm thinking the main difference is that if a mundane is critically hit, or they critically fail a save, and the damage is at least 10% of their maximum HP, the mundane drops to 0 HP.

The above rule, plus a few other tweaks, should give me the verisimilitude I'm after with Starfinder, where one shot is enough to take down a mundane opponent. Much like in many movies that inspire me with ideas for adventures. With the 10 over AC rule for a critical hit introduced in PF 2E, I believe it will work well.

So why not Savage Worlds, well for me I believe Pathfinder 2E, and thus Starfinder 2E, do heroic roleplaying better. Especially when it comes to long campaigns. For example, I could see Gimli being tossed into a group of orcs in Pathfinder, but in Savage Worlds, I don't think that would work out for Gimli. A couple of those orcs will get lucky with exploding dice and Gimli's axe will swing no more.

So with this change, I'm back to Starfinder and eagerly await the playtest.

I might save this as an add in to some of the Playtest adventures or the shorter scenarios myself.

Tom
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