Any thoughts?
Death-touched is a good theme. The odd point only really matters for a few feats being gotten a few levels earlier, but generally by 7th, you can take virtually all Dex feats (you have 16 Dex from 12->14 + 2 from augmentation), which is when the melee guide has you take those (via Adaptive Fighting).
I think you are going to have 2 problems which when combined in this case are worse:
1) You look to be the only melee in a group of six (at least the other party members sound like ranged strikers).
2) You only have 2 resolve points at 1st level.
You are potentially going to get focus fired, and you may run out of resolve points in that case.
Str 16/Dex 12/Con 11/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 14 is closer to what Hwalsh recommends for the melee build.
In the melee guide thread, I think the only builds I saw with less than 14 Charisma had high Dex (i.e. 16 or 18).
I also note that guide was also written before Pact Worlds and I don't think it has been updated yet. Some other feats you might want to consider that have some synergy are Step Up, Close Combat (page 190 of pact worlds), Coordinated Shot, Step Up and Strike.
What Starship role do you see this character taking? The Operative is clearly the Pilot, between the Technomancer and Mechanic I'm guessing Engineer and Science Officer are covered, and an Envoy Icon is probably going to Captain. That leaves the Sharpshooter Soldier as primary gunner (full BAB and high Dex). So to my eye, secondary gunner looks to be the character's position, at which point you are potentially going to want more dexterity.
To be honest, in a party like that, I'd almost want to go with a tank build, something like Vesk and a Guard Soldier dip (maybe even to 3rd level Soldier for Armored Advantage, although at that point its probably better to just go full Soldier, mechanically speaking).
What do you see your character's role in the group being, and what roles are already filled? What do you see as the best parts of the Solarian class and really want to use? How do imagine a typical fight playing out with this party?
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I would suggest using a Lashunta Korasha instead, going 16/14 str 14 dex and 14/16 charisma, (at lvl 2 you can buy a personal enhancer to add a +2 to str/cha so you are running with 16/14/16)
Look at divine champion, this can give you the feel of a paladin or choosen of destiny (the DR by-pass can be really good)
I like the tempered pilgrim as the wondering hero feel
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Actually, for this specific campaign, I won't be able to pick that theme since when the others created their PC Pact Worlds was not out yet, that said I will go with the standard Human-Icon/Mercenary/Outlaw/Themeless Melee Solarian build
I'll just note Outlaw is a terrible theme mechanically for most parties. For background its cool, and the 1st level knowledge is OK, but the higher level abilities are mechanically terrible. Unless the party is in a crime/outlaw campaign in which case they might at least see use, but are really hard on your wealth.
Its 6th level power literally does nothing unless your party is doing illegal things. Also at the level you gain it, 500 x 6 = 3,000 credits, roughly 20% of your expected wealth at that level, in the best case for minor issues. The 12th level power saves you a trip to Absalom station I suppose at he cost of 10% of the credits spent. Compare it to Icon, which actually saves you 10% of credits on purchases at 12th level.
Still, the question remains, what are some good themes from Pact Worlds for a Melee Solarian?
I'm going to approach these from the mechanics perspective. Most of these themes have great flavor, and most don't have game changing effects.
- Roboticist and Biotechnician seems to have nice bonuses
The effects of a Roboticist's 6th level ability will likely not be noticed in play (as people can simply go to town and buy stuff at level + 1). The Theme knowledge is good, and computers is a handy skill to have +1. The 12th level ability to cast Make whole once a day strikes me as OK but not great. At that point, you can just use engineering to fix stuff as well.
Biotechnician is better in terms of ability, although +1 to medicine isn't all that great, as most DCs are fixed and don't grow with level. Industry Connections will at least have a noticable effect on the game, saving you a bit little cash, although you still need your basic gear, so typically this won't save you all that much as a total percentage of your wealth (maybe 1-2%). The 12th level ability will presumably become much more powerful as more books come out.
- Solar Disciple is very fitting thematically but that +1 Wisdom and some of the bonuses seem pretty meh.
What feat were you planning on grabbing that needs a +1 stat elsewhere and by what level?
As far as abilities ago, I agree its fitting and mechanically pretty good. Its got an ability to actually boost damage in some situations (i.e. being shot by lasers). Perception is a great skill to get a +1 to, and you have at least a little control over the stamina regen. The 6th level ability is OK, although I look at Death-touched and wonder how +1 to compulsions matches up against Disease, exhaustion, fatigue, mind-affecting (which presumably includes compulsions), paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.
Overall solid, but Death-touched is just plain better in a lot of ways. I personally would rate Solar Disciple higher than Roboticist for a Solarian though.
- Cyberborn, Dream Prophet guess they are ok
Dream Prophet's level 12 ability is one of the strongest saving throw abilities in the game. If there was any theme that min-maxers felt they needed to take for a power, this would be it.
Flash of Presecience is either a 6th level Solar Revelation or the end of a 3 feat chain. And identifying spells as they are cast can be really handy, especially if they don't have visible effects. Dream Prophet is one of the best, if not best Archetypes in the game.
Cyberborn is the better Roboticist in terms of abilities and skill combination. The 6th level ability is free stamina which might save you a resolve point per day to top off. The 12th level ability is 5 points of stacking electricity resistance. Altogether, I think its mechanically a better package than Roboticist.
- Corporate Agent, Gladiator Tempered Pilgrim, Dragonblood, Xenoarchelogist and Cultist don't really seem to cut it for the Solarian IMHO.
Corporate Agent, if flavored as an ex-corporate agent seems perfectly fine for an adventuring Solarian. It certainly helps a face Solarian gather information within a typical stamina recovery period, and generally deal with mega-corporations.
Gladiator is oddly enough, even better for a face Solarian than Corporate Agent. It basically gives you something similar to the veiled threat feat, making intimidate reasonable to use on indifferent NPCs. Normally if you intimidate an NPC, they drop to unfriendly afterwards, which would typically mean they should report you to the cops afterwards - this is why you don't routinely intimidate shop keepers. On the other hand, if they start indifferent and end indifferent, they don't care either way and nothing bad happens after using intimidate.
Secondly, being able to walk around in full armor, and having a Solar weapon means, even when you go to meet CEOs and royalty, there is no penalty to your diplomacy rolls (and in fact, people will let you see the CEO fully armored). It really handles a bunch of RP problems beautifully.
Tempered Pilgrim is good for a face Solarian who doesn't want to rely on magic for communication. Plus reduces the effects of a bad diplomacy roll, and turns you into a mini-operative in regards to knowledge skills at 12th, letting you take 10 no matter what.
Dragonblood theme knowledge is extremely narrow (although useful in a dragon focused campaign I suppose). Its 6th level ability is lackluster (although future feats and revelations might change that). The 12th level ability is nice, 5 points of adaptive stacking energy resistance. Overall probably one of the weaker themes for a Solarian, but with potential to grow.
Xenoarchaeologist's knowledge skill is good (rare, ancient, and alien tech is likely to have higher DCs...). Its 6th level ability lets you move full speed while checking for traps. Or alternatively, by the rules, gets you your active check plus the free automatic check if the entire party is spending every other move action checking for traps. The 12th level ability is on the weak side, simply a factor of 20 or so speed up on the decipher writing skill use. At that point comprehend languages isn't that expensive in injection form. Overall a Solarian taking Perception and Engineering and expecting to take point could probably benefit reasonably.
Cultist is pretty bad unless the GM is taking it into account. The theme knowledge is rather specific. The 12th level ability is just bad when compared to the 12th level ability of Dream Prophet. Overall its kinda bad unless the GM is building in cults to the campaign.
Not sure about the Space Pirate.
Space Pirate requires you to take bluff, culture, stealth, and sleight of hand to get maximum benefit. This leads to a very specific space pirate-y character. If thats what you want in a Solarian, its not a bad choice. Double roll on stealth once per day isn't bad for a stealthy team. Otherwise though, its probably a pass for Solarian.
Biotechnician is better in terms of ability, although +1 to medicine isn't all that great, as most DCs are fixed and don't grow with level. Industry Connections will at least have a noticable effect on the game, saving you a bit little cash, although you still need your basic gear, so typically this won't save you all that much as a total percentage of your wealth (maybe 1-2%). The 12th level ability will presumably become much more powerful as more books come out.
This already pretty decent because adaptive biochains lets you convert all of cyberware (including some Alien Archives options under Anacites) to bioaugmentation for a 10% price increase, netting you a 1% price decrease from base price after applying your 6th level ability.
- Perception as a class skill
- Cold Resistance per level
- +1 ST for a whole bunch of stuff
- Probably the best Resolve Refreshing for a Melee Solarian| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHAR
| 16 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 12
You can ignore the +1 attribute. +1 doesn't give you anything and how the game is built it rarely comes into play.
It's really there to help you give you an idea of where to go but don't feel funneled into anything because of the +1.
At this point the only thing +1 would boost would be Dex.