Letariel's page

Mashallah wrote:

YogoZuno wrote:

Quote:

I say good riddance to a non-sensical holdover from the 1970s.

No more nonsensical than any other magic mechanics system, and from a gameplay point of view, WAY easier to balance than things like spell points or just rolling to cast.

Prepared casters are the most imbalanced spellcasting subsystem ever published for 3.x.

Point-based systems tend to have far fewer balance issues.

I'm not sure which point-based systems you've played, but generally the issue with them is that you have a pool of points to cast your spells, which grows as you level. Eventually you can choose between casting 1 big high level spell or effectively indefinite low level spells. Which makes it very hard to balance. There are ways to balance them, but they all approach the "spell slots" solution from a different angle and to a different degree.

I think the Arcanist is the "right" path to go down for a DnD type game. I personally enjoy it more than either of the other types.

I also love the casting mechanics of the arcanist, and had hoped that the Technomancer had this style of casting. It would make so much sense: using their techno-magic, they pre-load a bunch of magical hacks (aka. spells) and run that code until he's out of juice. Which is exactly how the arcanist works.

As a side note, I think the Kineticist has a very interesting point-based system (those points are basically your health).
Having a small pool of points and then giving ways to discount the low-level spells seems like a system that could work, and it would reduce the bloat of points. I have to admit that I love the Kineticist though, so I may be biased. I'm sure it'd be a pain to balance this method. :)

i would expect "energy blade" or "beam sword" or... you know what? with a leveled gear chart and the descriptions we have already heard (low level laser was referred to as a "diode laser" and low level rifle was a "auto target rifle") so we may actually end up with 5 or 6 different lightsaber stand ins... but i digest, if the lightsaber is just gear anyone can spec into than we could see lots and lots of classes being "jedi" all it takes is access to some special abilities which i am betting every class other than soldier will get access to just by leveling.

Assuming lightsabers aren't class-locked, then I would have to go off the other class features to decided on my jedi. But Owen did show the Solarian can throw people with gravity (Force Throw) and have an AoE burst of energy around him. The only other thing you'd really need as an options is the ability to enhance your reactions (blocking things with your lightsaber) and enhancing your physical abilities (Force Jump). Shooting lightning or suffocating someone from range would be a bonus. :-P

David knott 242 wrote:

Letariel wrote:

It seemed that the solarian had a "favored enemy" bonus against the goblins,

Was that like a Ranger's bonus to damage or a Dwarf's racial bonus to hit? I assumed that Owen's bonus was the latter.

I can confirm Wrothor Ironstar has a bonus against goblins as a result of being a dwarf, not as a result of bing a solarian.

That makes sense. Apparently I haven't played enough dwarves because I completely forgot that was an option. :)

In that case, I think I'm going to go back to saying the Solarian is similar to the Monk, as the "flurry of blows" with the energy sword and SLAs related to building/balancing of mystical energy (aka. Ki) does feel pretty similar to a Monk. There does feel like there is some influence from the Kineticist as well (as the SLAs are more offensive rather than defensive), but that could just be them building in the Qinggong archetype, which I'm sure no one will complain about. :) I'm so making a Jedi Knight from this class!

The twitch video re-enforces the feeling of Solarion as a successor to the Kineticist but with an adjustable elemental focus.

I could still be off on that though, its difficult to follow what is just an action cost and what has a resource cost in their use of abilities.

It seemed that the solarian had a "favored enemy" bonus against the goblins, could create a energy sword, and had some powers you could attune to and would ramp up as the battle goes on (and you release for a SLA depending on what you attuned to). Also attacked twice at lvl 2 by taking a -2, so some kind of "Rapid Shot" but with the energy sword. Seems kinda kineticist/ranger? Also seemed super tanky, but could be because he was a dwarf (and the only melee character). *shrugs* Seems pretty cool.

I liked the Stamina system that they played with. Drastically reduces the need for a "healer" in the party.

It should be available on the Paizo Twitch page, and hopefully I have successfully linked to the exact video.

You successfully linked! That is a 99 minute video I'll have to absorb soon. Thank you!

Based on how it played in the live stream, it kind of felt like a magus/eldritch knight type.

you make be right; I was going off of the flavor text, as I didn't think we had any info on actual play. I am also very interesting in this live stream you speak of. Could you share a link?

In answer to the OP, you can see the announced classes here: Starfinder Wiki.

But in summary, here are the classes:
Technomancer (Wizard)
Mechanic (Druid)
Solarian (Monk)
Soldier (Fighter)
Envoy (Bard)
Mystic (Cleric)
Operative (Rogue)

Of course, each class will have their differences with the Pathfinder base classes, but it seems like they are sticking with familiar DnD standards. :)

I'm an arcanist in Rise of the Runelords, so this thread may have some spoilers.

We just found a set of Thassilonian ruins with a cool library in the basement, and I'm thinking I'll make it my home base. I have some questions for the knowledgeable people here.

1. The place is in ruins, and there is rubble everywhere. Prestidigitation/Unseen Servant can do the cleaning, but is there any spells that would help me clear the rubble without having to resort to physical labor (it's so slow and... un-magical)? As far as I can tell, Disintegrate will only destroy one block at a time, and Stone Shape will only reshape one chunk of rock at a time. Unseen Servant can only move the small rocks, and even then, what do I do with a random pile of rocks? Would Fabricate let me re-shape the rubble into walls or something? Any other ideas?

2. Now that I have a place that I'm staying, I need to protect it! I figure just putting a lock on the door isn't good enough... My initial thought is to entirely wall in the basement and make it look like it isn't there (because Wall of Stone is awesome). That should keep out random people/monsters and anyone out that can't either Stone Shape or Teleport. Anything more I could/should do? Of course nothing will keep out a persistent DM, but I should at least look like I'm trying. :-) I was thinking of trying to do something with Teleport Trap (castable next level), but I think I would also catch myself in it when I teleport home, and I don't know how to get around that.

3. I was thinking of lining the walls with lead to prevent scrying (and other divinations), but I can't find anywhere what the price of lead is! Does anyone know where to find that? Of course, actually transporting it from the nearest town could also be a chore, but I think I can get my very strong party member (with ant haul) to pick it up long enough to teleport to the area. We may have to make several trips, I'm not sure. Next level I'll be able to cast Teleport Object, so that would also make this doable. My initial thought for getting it into the walls was a combination of Stone Shape and Fabricate.

4. Even with magic, this is going to take a lot of time (since I'm going to be using my few high-level spell slots pretty quickly), and I think I'll only have a week or so to do it in. Any way to do this better/faster? I know about the Lyre of Building, but it's pretty expensive, and I'm no bard.