I am very excited about the idea that Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder 2e will be compatible. So excited, I immediately started writing a crossover module, focusing on Pathfinder characters sent into the Starfinder universe. One of the things I need to iron out is how to correlate Skills between the two systems. I only have the Starfinder 1e Skill list, so that’s what I’m working with. I’m not making suggestions on what the skills in Starfinder 2e should be, but thinking about how I would handle the skills a Pathfinder character would have, but in a Starfinder situation. This list is very similar to suggestions in the “Skill named Computers” thread from a few months ago, but with a few significant deviations. Here is what I have come up with:
Some skills are the same in Pathfinder and Starfinder: Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Medicine, Perception, Stealth, Survival. Well, technically, Perception is not a Skill in Pathfinder 2e, but the correlation holds.
Some are the same, but renamed. Bluff (SF) is Deception (PF); Culture (SF) is Society (PF); Life Science (SF) is Nature (PF); Sleight of Hand (SF) is Thievery (PF).
Some are not exactly the same, but categorize easily. Profession (SF) is Performance (PF); Physical Science (SF) is Lore: Physics (PF); Mysticism (SF) is a mix of Religion (PF) and Occultism (PF). Piloting (SF) is a mix of Acrobatics (PF) and Lore: Piloting (PF).
Sense Motive (SF) is part of Perception (PF). Disguise (SF) is part of Deception (PF).
Now, to the more controversial thoughts:
Engineering (SF) would be an extension of Crafting (PF); it would be a collection of Crafting feats. In Pathfinder, Alchemical Crafting, Snare Crafting, Magical Crafting, and Tattoo Artist are all Feats that do nothing other than grant you the ability to craft those certain types of items. I would argue that Weapon Engineering, Drive Engineering, Ship Engineering, etc. would be similar Skill Feats in Starfinder.
That leaves Computers (SF) and Arcana (PF). What to do with them? I say we combine them. The rules of casting Arcane spells feel similar to the rules of modern programming languages. There’s a lot of code I’ve reviewed over the years that worked, but nobody knew exactly how. Like magic. Certainly the core competencies of attention to detail, envisioning complex systems, and absorbing convoluted systems of rules, these competencies would translate well between the two Skills.
These two Skills, more than any others, have absolutely no direct corollaries in the other system. So, ironically, there should be no harm in merging them. The image of a computer programmer falling into a tome of Arcana, going wide-eyed at how much more they understand than they have any business understanding, like Lex in Jurassic Park “It’s a UNIX System!” This image is both beautiful and hilarious. And likewise, a Wizard looking into a complex program thinking “It’s a weird language to use, but this is just spellcrafting.”
