Sean S.'s page

I hate having to write in the morning, and I especially never thought I'd use the Paizo forums, but this incredibly over the top scenario involving two of my favorite subclasses really, really annoyed me. I usually think Paizo does a good job balancing, but this was just incredibly ignorant.

For the uninformed, S&S Operative can no longer blind or entangle enemies, and Toxicologist inhibitor requires a saving throw whereas it once didn't.

For S&S Operative, **you had to have a very good build to make full use of this class.** Your Intelligence score had to be a top priority at all times. Racial bonuses were needed for consistency. Weapon feats due to the loss of Trick Attack damage were needed ASAP to acquire better weapons - they more or less required (Weapon) Proficiency, Weapon Focus, and Versatile Specialization at the first 3 levels to keep up with other characters. The average player not only did not use S&S Operative due to it being tucked away in COM, but the average person building it probably suffered from not optimizing it.

S&S Operative's main draw was the powerful debuffs you got in return for being behind on single target damage **even after all those feats you just invested for 3 levels.** (You were also behind on action economy versus Quick Trick - even now after the QT nerfs!) Blinded, in particular, was superior to regular Operative just flat footing, because it gave standard enemies a real chance at missing their attacks and forcing DMs to think on their feet with regards to spells. But it was by no means overpowering, being limited to single targets that you succeeded on a tough skill check against - a skill check that, by the way, had no innate class bonuses to the check as regular Operative often has for checks not revolving around your key ability score.

S&S still has the highly underrated Selective Explosions, but it now has to make hard choices between attack roll debuffs and AC debuffs, which is plain ridiculous given the inherent disadvantages they have versus normal Operatives. Even if Dirty Trick was the clear best choice on stunts, other stunts should've been brought up to its level rather than DT getting the nerf hammer. (Were I in Paizo's place, I would've looked at removing the save requirement on Athletics' Knock Down or adding debuff conditions to abilities like Bluff's Feinting Stunt.)

Now, as for Toxicology's inhibitor... this was basically an underrated option before the nerf, and now Toxicology is basically smoldering hot garbage. Previously, it was a situational imparter of the sickened condition. It's a decent debuff, but -2 to attack, saves, and damage isn't brutal; most enemies have big bonuses to all even when debuffed.

Toxicology, already, was not a favored option in builds for two reasons: firstly, due to the fact that players prefer forcing enemies to take damage at the rate of 150% with no save as per Genetics inhibitor, which actually IS currently and previously overpowered without a save; and secondly, due to the fact that Toxicologist's inhibitor has the Poison descriptor, which means that it can't affect constructs and undead until high level play where Powerful Biohacks could be taken as a theorem; this was a critical limitation given that both are a frequent enemy type in Starfinder.

Giving Toxicologist's inhibitor a save means that the overwhelming majority of enemies will succeed against it rather than fail against it - and it's for a simple -2 to attacks, saves, and damage. Meanwhile Genetics inhibitor is giving hard increases to damage with no save. Will anyone *ever* pick a different Biohacker subclass?

...To summarize, these nerfs were surprisingly out of touch, more befitting Wizards of the Coast than Paizo. Whoever did these nerfs did so because they thought that abilities that work different than other are bad; and that is just profoundly ignorant with respect to overall game and build balance. I would encourage Paizo to look at these nerfs seriously and consider retracting them.