Get ready for the latest upgrade to the acclaimed science-fantasy Starfinder Roleplaying Game!
The Starfinder Playtest Rulebook brings Starfinder into a new age of compatibility, as Starfinder switches to using the same rules engine that powers the popular Second Edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Inside this playtest for the new edition, you’ll find six new classes, 10 ancestries, new skills, new feats, futuristic equipment including augmentations and upgrades, new science-fantasy spells, and more!
You can directly shape the future of Starfinder by participating in a fun and rigorous playtest using one of several playtest adventures released throughout the playest period, or by trying out the new rules in your own games. If you’ve ever wanted to fire a gatling gun into a horde of onrushing aliens while laughing menacingly, battle robots in a derelict starship as a solar knight, or hack computer systems with plants as a mystical xenodruid, then the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook has you covered!
This 264-page softcover playtest rulebook is packed with new content that lets you build a science-fantasy character from level 1 to 20. Create a character to participate in the Starfinder Playtest or see how this new content might work in your Pathfinder campaign. The future is yours to shape! (You’ll need a copy of Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core to use this product.)
Written by: Jessica Catalan, Thurston Hillman, Jenny Jarzabski, Mike Kimmel, and Dustin Knight.
It's hard to write a good review about a playtest document that is technically incomplete. Especially when you didn't really have it in you to learn a whole new system for a game that no one in your area wants to play anyway...
Even not knowing the core mechanics of Pathfinder 2nd Edition when I read through this, there were still a lot of changes that I liked the sound of. Small quality of life improvements such as the Soldier finally getting a fighting style that focuses on assault rifles and and other changes like feats becoming better organized and more closely tied to the skill system look intriguing. There are tiny bits of fluff that make it sound like greater care is going into world building this time and more care is being put into what the characters do instead of who they are. Which is encouraging as things felt directionless in the original edition.
But at the same time... the Mechanic and Technomancer are still under wraps which is not so much intriguing as it is concerning. The decision to include the Witchwarper instead of the Biohacker in the CRB line-up is a "bold" choice and one I would not have made as a med/sci character would make more sense given how the game was "supposed" to be focused on exploration according to the developers. And reading through, I realize I still haven't answered my most important question. Does the new edition change enough to make it worth coming back?
And the answer is no. But then I think it always was going to be no. The community is more toxic then a superfund site. And no amount of improvements or rule changes will make it worth putting up with that again. Not when players have other options.
After reading through the rules and taking a look at the new tables its left a very sour taste in my mouth, no offence to the creators, I myself have never designed a TTRPG but the simplification of bonuses to something more akin to DND 5E and Pathfinder 2E just seems like a massive downside alongside the abilities it just feels bland. Although this is a playtest book so far second edition feels more like a Sci Fi supplement to Pathfinder 2E rather than that of its own thing.
Art wise (excluding a few very obnoxious designs) its pretty good and in my opinion suits the setting fairly well, that's pretty much all there is to say about that though. I cant find much else i like that much, spells going over 5th level is pretty cool i guess. Although its sad and it will probably stop getting books soon i think I'm just going to have to stick with 1E it just feels like the cooler changes are not worth the negatives it brings.
TL; DR- Want to play some Pathfinder in space? 95%
Basics- Pathfinder 2nd ed IN SPACE! Ok, let’s look deep into this deep space RPG.
Base Mechanics- Do you remember pathfinder 2nd Ed? If you are proficient in a thing, it's proficiency bonus (trained, expert, master, or legendary) + ability modifier + level + d20. Not proficient? D20 + ability modifier. This is versus AC or some static number from another character. That’s it! If you love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, you can instantly play this one.
This is a full RPG, but honestly if you have the Pathfinder basics down, then you are ready to go! Let’s look at my thoughts.
Mechanics or Crunch- I love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, so this is perfect. This feels a bit better balanced from small things like cantrips doing damage based on level. The changes that were imposed to make the 3.5 to Pathfinder 2nd ed transfer are solid, like Aim for the Operative class making them equivalent Pathfinder 2nd Ed ranged rogues. All the new changes from the standard Pathfinder 2nd ed formula work well adapted to the space opera of Starfinder. It’s what I expected, but still enjoyable. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- This is solid, but things are missing. We have the basics of the world, but some things are lost and have to be lost. A big one for me is the notion of stamina. I loved stamina and hit points being different. Now, you just have hit points. That changes the flavor a bit. It needed to go for Starfinder to work in Pathfinder 2nd Ed’s mechanics, but it's a change that loses some of the originality of Starfinder. Other things work well like the mystic, Starfinder’s cleric-ish character, having a giant pool of hit points that it can use to heal any character in the group. This feels like a fun new addition to the Pathfinder system. The changes are good, but some flavor is lost in the transition. 4.5/5
Execution- Starfinder 2nd ed is well done, but I feel I want a few changes. The layout and PDF is well done. Also, given this book is free it is instantly amazing. You can easily speed read through any section and skim to find the information you need. But I want more summary tables. Skill feats have nice tables, giving summaries of each of the different feats and the full feat is below with its full write up. Class feats are not written that way. Archive of Nethys does this better; it has all class feats in nice tables that you can read via hyperlink. Make those tables for each class to make it easier to read! Also, this may be a bit petty, but Pathfinder 2nd Ed started using titles in their PDF files. This document does not. PLEASE DO THAT. I don't want to have to memorize long strings of digits to know what files I need to open for game night! And last but not least, missing are the major rules I was hoping for: space ships. Ship combat in Starfinder was fun, BUT you had to want it. And most players did not, based on how the adventures are written. This book does not have spaceship combat. I know Paizo knows how to make Pathfinder 2nd Ed work. They do fantastic jobs on Pathfinder 2nd Ed, but I don't know how they plan to handle space ships. The absence of these rules is something experienced Starfinders will feel. 4.75/5
Summary- Go get this PDF! It’s free, so I need to tell everyone to check this out. I love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, and I watched Star Wars Ewok adventures on VHS so many times as a child I broke the video tape. Starfinder is the system that was built for the Starfinder game, but saw a few issues. Starfinder 2nd Ed is a solid progression of the Starfinder brand. There are issues, and some of those will be fixed when the full rules come out and others are just growing pains of the system. Others are just CHANGE HOW YOU NAME THINGS! But, even with a few small issues, this game is a solid RPG that you should check out. 95%
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
rimestocke wrote:
VerBeeker wrote:
Yeah but they were both Core Gods and had major influences on the wider setting, Desna being the literal goddess of space and Iomedae through the Knights of Golarion so I’m wondering what changed.
Yeah, Sarenrae, Desna, Iomedae, and Nyarlathotep were the ones that got demoted from the Core 20 (and I guess Zon-Kuthon technically lol!). The ones that got bumped up are Meyel, Lissala, Lambatuin, and The Newborn.
It makes sense to me, mostly as a way to differentiate SF2e some more from PF2e. Meyel is there because pahtras are now a core ancestry, and can take up Iomedae's niche for fighting against oppression. Lissala takes up the "ancestral human deity" mantle from Iomedae as well but also because the Azlanti Star Empire is shaping up to be a major baddie. With Aucturn finally hatching, The Newborn directly replaces Nyarlathotep as the main Outer God, and along with Weydan, takes up Desna's space + travel niche. And Lambatuin is the infosphere deity which I would argue was a missing niche from SF1e's Core 20. As for Sarenrae, well, Hylax already does her niche somewhat, although instead of fire it's insects, haha.
yeah, we can also speculate that the original core 20 was made thinking "We can't stray too far from Pathfinder, the fans won't like that", but now that SF ahve existed for a while, and built its own fanbase, they feel more confident that they can indeed stray from golarion-focused deities for that core 20.
Alright, another typo possibly. P 70:
HANG IN THERE! [one-action] FEAT 6
ENVOY HEALING
Prerequisites expert in Diplomacy
You encourage yourself or an ally, psyching them up for a
coming challenge and granting them temporary Hit Points.
Select yourself or an ally within 30 feet, then attempt a DC 20
Diplomacy check. If you have master proficiency in Diplomacy,
you can instead attempt a DC 30 Diplomacy check to increase
the temporary Hit Points gained on a successful check by 5.
...Am I missing something? How many temp HP do you get if you choose and make the DC 20 Diplomacy check? I assume you get some and the dc 30 check doesn't give you just 5... ;)
Related to the Core 20 discussion: we changed it up, because the spotlight on deities is just different this edition. The change there doesn't mean that Sarenrae is less powerful or important to people in the setting, just that she's not as "in focus" by the metaphorical camera that we have for stories we want to tell this edition.
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Thurston Hillman wrote:
Related to the Core 20 discussion: we changed it up, because the spotlight on deities is just different this edition. The change there doesn't mean that Sarenrae is less powerful or important to people in the setting, just that she's not as "in focus" by the metaphorical camera that we have for stories we want to tell this edition.
HANG IN THERE! [one-action] FEAT 6
ENVOY HEALING
Prerequisites expert in Diplomacy
You encourage yourself or an ally, psyching them up for a
coming challenge and granting them temporary Hit Points.
Select yourself or an ally within 30 feet, then attempt a DC 20
Diplomacy check. If you have master proficiency in Diplomacy,
you can instead attempt a DC 30 Diplomacy check to increase
the temporary Hit Points gained on a successful check by 5.
...Am I missing something? How many temp HP do you get if you choose and make the DC 20 Diplomacy check? I assume you get some and the dc 30 check doesn't give you just 5... ;)
Keep reading, the effects are on the next page and are dependent on success.
I'm so confused how you're writing this 5 years on from the release of Pathfinder 2e and the massive success its been.
Massive success? Just that ? We probably don't live on the same planet. From my window I see that PRPG2 sells much less well in stores than D&D 5. Which itself sold less well than PRPG1 in the past. The players and GMs I know who tried the adventure with PRPG2 came back to PRPG1 or switched to D&D 5. I'm already amazed that this system managed to last five years when I see the reviews in magazines and on the internet. Even video games based on PRPG2 rules are very, very far from having the notoriety of a Kingmaker or a Wrath of Rigtheous.
Did you paint your windows black or just live under a rock? PF2 outsold PF1's initial release on Day One of Gen Con 2019. In the five years since it's release it outsold ALL of PF1. They even managed to sell an entire print run out in 3 weeks thanks to the OGL crisis. Your observations are made with horse blinders.
If you want to whine, by all means do so. But your view is flat out wrong. PF2 is a huge success. It is outselling PF1. PF2 is a far superior game than PF1. Will that be the case with Starfinder 2? Based on my experiences running it at Gen Con last week, the answer is yes. Your mileage may vary.
Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
