Greetings all,
This is my first post on these forums and I'll freely admit, I'm brand new to the Starfinder/Pathfinder system(s) as a whole. Played some D&D 5E and Shadowrun 5E and been excited to try Starfinder, participating as a part of the 2E playtest. I'm currently playing a fresh Level 1 Envoy just a handful (three) sessions into a campaign.
Overall, I've very much enjoyed the process of character creation. In particular, the sheer versatility and variety in builds that can be made, both at chargen and as characters level up. I've spent a good bit of time in Herolab theory crafting different Envoy, Soldier, Operative, and Solarian builds and had a blast doing so.
From that time spent, I've a few thoughts and observations, namely regarding the Envoy class that I wanted to share. I apologize in advance if anything I point out is a "feature" and not a "bug." As I mentioned, I'm brand new to the SF/PF systems and anything I point out could very well be the desired design.
1. Envoy Directives - Late Game Scaling
Each of the 6 classes involved in the playtest, has some type of "main class feature" (MCF) or "action" that their class heavily revolves around. They are as follows.
Envoy - Directives (Get 'em)
Mystic - Vitality Network & Bonds
Operative - Aim & Exploits
Solarian - Attunement & Solar Weapons
Soldier - Area Fire/Auto Fire & Fighting Style
Witchwarper - Quantum Field & Anchoring
Now, from what I've ready of the playtest rules, I can't really comment on the magical classes, I'm already trying to wrap my head around the "easier" martial classes without adding the complexities of spellcasting and of spells themselves. That being said, just considering the "martials" it seems that the Envoy's starting Directive doesn't really scale well as their level increases. I personally believe this makes the Envoy's main/starting Directive most powerful in the early game, petering out once their relative value decreases later on.
GET 'EM - A single action Directive that debuffs a single enemy target with a -1 circumstance penalty to AC and Reflex saves. In addition, if the Envoy, "Leads by Example" (LBE), nominally by attacking the target, then the Envoy gets a Circumstance damage bonus to their attacks (1 + 1/2 Charisma) and the Envoy's allies get 1/2/3/4/5 depending on the Envoy's level.
As it stands this is currently very useful in what little I've experienced at level one. We don't currently have a way to take advantage of the Reflex save penalty, but the reduction in AC HAS been useful at both landing hits and allowing a few normal hits to be critical. However, while the ally damage scales with level, the debuff does not. Something I feel should change.
At later levels, a -1 AC/Reflex penalty does not scale nearly so well and compared to another class's MCF, that of the Operative's "Aim," seems somewhat lackluster. While Aim solely benefits the Operative, it DOES get a scaling level bonus to both the AC reduction from Cover AND a bonus to the number of Damage Dice. The Solarian and Soldier mainly benefit as their level increases from better Save DCs. Though there are also Class actions that the Solarian gets in particular that gets its damage boosted by increasing level.
I'd like to propose that "Get 'em" gets an increase to the debuff it applies that increases by Envoy level. Not necessarily to the same power that Aim has, but perhaps something more thematic.
Suggested Changes:
Lvl 5 - When choosing a target with "Get 'Em" also attempt to Demoralize the target.
Lvl 10 - The AC/Reflex Circumstance Penalty increases to -2.
Lvl 15 - Once per round if you damage the target with a LBE Strike, you gain the effects of "Got 'Em" (Gain 1/2 Lvl temp HP on a normal hit and Lvl temp HP on a critical hit)
Lvl 20 - The AC/Reflex Circumstance Penalty increases to -3.
I feel this synergizes well with some of the other Class Feats that the Envoy can take (Supressing Insults and Cut 'Em Deep for example), while also maintaining the "role" of the Envoy in buffing allies and debuffing enemies.
As I've not even reached level 2 yet I can't really comment on the other two Directives, but, at first glance, they seem fine...
There's a few other things I've noticed with the Envoy that concern me slightly but I'll withhold judgement for how they'll impact gameplay until I get a bit more experience under my belt. I also have some thoughts for Starting Gear economy, but this may not be the best thread for that.
Anyways, thoughts on if "Get 'Em" needs some type of additional scaling buff? Is the damage buff for allies sufficient? Does it need a bit of extra "oomph?" Should the damage buff be removed and the rest of the debuff improved?
Looking forward to playing more of SF 2nd ED. In the meantime, I should probably stop making characters...it's just so fun.
