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What would i love to see?
-Osiriani Pyramids in space!
-Stuff from Numeria and the technology guide expanded.
-Cool ship combats involving the whole party without needing to invest big parts of characters.
-Tons of more streamlining making the gameplay a lot more intuitive!
-Getting rid of tons of artifacts and inherited stuff in gameplay that turned out to be weighing down things a lot from older editions and a big step forward in awesome and fun game design^^
I for one am thinging more star frontiers and less mecha/power suit stuff.
It depends on how it's handled. You can already (somewhat) simulate power suits using the Construct Armor modification rules (possibly with the shield guardian variant to allow "ownership" to be transferred), with a few tweaks (such as using the construct's Str score in place of the wearer). I've expanded a bit on this in the past.
The Technology Guide also has the HEV suit and space suit, which can be used as a basis (with animate object and the construct armor rules) as well.
The apparatus of the crab (aesthetics aside) can be used as the basis for a mecha.
One thing I forgot to add;
I think some level of the automatic bonus progression would probably be a good idea. Particularly since having piles of magic armor seems more weird in context. It could take place of the advancement track that contains feats and ability score boosts as an easy way to slot it in and it would allow for an easier time for conversion i.e. use Starfinder's advancement track to adapt pathfinder classes to starfinder.
I already have one thing I want, the 3rd party support. So I'd love to see SF versions/variations from Dreamscarred classes.Like so?
To an extent - but Akashic Veils that specifically deal with SF situations, some Path of War arts that grow from SF weapons or alien physiology, psion powers directly related to that (say something that ups the power of a drive on a ship)... that sort of thing.
Let me clarify less space marine. Obviously there will be armour but i am hoping to avoid space marine terminator armour and mechwarrior. I already own those games and they fill a niche but i dont want them in my pathfinder.
Pathfinder on its own is pretty flexible in terms of tropes so I think we'll be able to have our cake and eat it too. Most certainly there will be some kind of class that can do a grizzled space marine and regardless you'll probably get at least one per party but whether or not it becomes a 'space marine game' is going to depend entirely on the GM rather than the setting. In the game I'm running I have one square-jawed mechanic, a hulking space marine, a blogger with a symbiotic pet, Starfire from Teen Titans, a psionic future-blaxploitation character, and a four armed xenobiologist.
Something that I would like to see addressed in some fashion is how all the millenia have affected the evolution of magic.
One thing that pretty much all versions of D&D/PF have failed to do, IMO, is take into account the effect of time and innovation as it applies to magic. Technology changes and develops over time pretty much the same ways it does in our real world, but magic always seems to be the same. A wizard from ancient times still uses spellbooks, still has access to the same types of magic, levels, and even actual spells as do modern wizards. There are some minor diversions here and there (Azlanti wizard schools, for instance, on Golarion), but never any real effort to address it otherwise, which seems a shame.
I'd like to at least see it discussed in some fashion, even if no efforts to make any mechanical changes are made.
(I'm not sure if the Realms' Netherese sets/campaign products ever discussed it or not; that is probably the most likely place to have done so, if ever.)
Significant emphasis on non-human races, especially new alien ones. Humans and Half-Humans: The Adventure works really well for Golarion due to the wide variety of human cultures included but I'd really like to see Paizo take the chance to make a much less earth-like setting with this.
Greys as a player race. I'm very glad to see Starfinder, as I always liked the weirdness of Golarion best and I dislike "Medieval Stasis" and permanent status quo.
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What I want to see:
5) Pathfinder Unchained material. There's some bits of Pathfinder Unchained that I've tested to be pretty at home in a space campaign of Pathfinder. For the most part Pathfinder rules are convertable to the Unchained subsystems so I think it's pretty feasible. I hope to seen a more robust Revised Action Economy and simpler monster creation, but what I hope for the most is some kind of change to skills. I've had to make adjustments so that classes have a better handle on skills because in a technological setting I've found that they are way more important for doing anything.
This! A million times this!
Definately skills!
A fighter with 2+INT skill points but nothing else coming from INT, but needing to rely on STR, DEX, CON and WIS would be pretty bad in such a setting.
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As far as fluff, I'm really hoping that we don't see a common sci-fi trope: planetary/species-wide monocultures. It always bugged me how, for example, all of Vulcan and Qo'noS seemed to have a single culture. Golarion (or is it now "Golarion-That-Was"?) had many diverse nations and cultures, I hope that further development of the other worlds shows the same trend. Of course, it will take time and it makes more sense to introduce them one or two at a time in the Adventure Path, but I suppose what I want is that we don't get a lot of cases of new planets/moons when a new nation on an existing one will do, especially since that can create more opportunities for intrigue, diplomacy, and conflict.
Cultural diversity is usually the "hat" of humans, but a setting like this has a lot of potential (perhaps even more so than original flavor Pathfinder) to explore the potential of other races. I'm excited to see all the different ways the characteristics of Ysoki and Lashunta can be expressed, or how Androids from different creators—since it sounds like that's something we're getting, in this—differ in personality and appearance, without needing to differ significantly in stats.
Are Vercites still locked into a caste system? Perhaps there's some who have divided it up beyond the usual three, others who rejected it entirely, or even nations composed exclusively of one caste....
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Raid the UFO community for ideas as well as Science Fiction.
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An organization similar to the Bene Gesserit.
I have a soft spot for intrigue laden behind the scenes organizations that seem unimportant to outsiders but have secret goals that could change the world.
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Taking inspirations from Frank Herberts Dune would be a very welcome for a change! Lately many things scifi move in a very narrow stream.
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I'm more of a fan of the optimistic silliness of space opera to the morose pessimism of the Lovecraft Mythos or Warhammer 40K. Though I'd be okay with the former trying to prevent the latter.
Also, I hope the background skill system from Unchained becomes part of the core rules.
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I want to see space gremlins!
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Why yes, that IS a impregnable fortress atop an immense horned skull shaped battle station in the manner of a crown floating in space escorted by an armada of star cruisers manned by devils.
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Ginat. Space. Hamsters. :P
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For magic to advance in order to keep in ahead of what technology can achieve.
I mean, magic is magical because it goes beyond what can be achieved without it, it basically grabs the laws of physics, squeezes them in a tutu, and makes them dance at the casters' whims. So in a setting where technology makes the impossible possible, magic would need to be really scaled up in order to continue being "beyond the realm of possibility".
So, a souped-up magical system, please!
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What Id like to see
A) Less of a focus on humanity. Have them be small percentage wise found off Golarion. For something really off beat, Id love for them as a mechanic to get weaker off World than on. Perhaps there is something there which they cannot do without.
B) A Re imagining of the Core races. Id like to see a Dwarf Empire controlling several Mountain Fortresses using Gnomes as their slave underclass. They use their Mountain fortresses to enforce their will as they fly through space.
What I don't want to see are Dwarves simply migrating to planets with Large mountain ranges, Elves move to Forest worlds and so on.
C) Clerical Magic be determined by the Church a cleric worships not by the God themselves. Ie if you reimagine the pantheon, You could have the AI god accept all worshippers but you might have the Church of the Supreme Being who worship a LE version of the God and the Church of the Defective Code worshipping a NE version.
( A good example of this is Arcanis where the Gods don't have alignments but Churches who effectively dictate if the God is nice or bad)
D) Restrictions. Yeah most consider them long gone ... not needed and from previous editions of D&D. Id like them to come back.
From my point A. Lets say the issue that Humans have when they leave their Home Planet is that they cant contact any God (thus No Human Clerics). Some people hate restrictions but some settings work really well with them : ie Darksun.
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-All forms of magic still exist, though some kinds maybe rarer(or more common) then they used to be.
-Lashunta are a core race.
-Triaxians are a core race.
-Both Pathfinder and Starfinder classes can be used in ether game.
-Pathfinder core races are much rarer.
-Other then Golarion being gone don't want any changes in how the planets were described in Distant Worlds.
-Catfolk are a core race...because reasons.
-Hopefully there will be more then 7 core races.
Why yes, that IS a impregnable fortress atop an immense horned skull shaped battle station in the manner of a crown floating in space escorted by an armada of star cruisers manned by devils.
VOLTES VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV!
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While I would like to see the economic system revamped, I don't know how to do it.
I mean, making Unchained's Automatic Bonus Progression built-in would reduce the expectation of "You must be +X by this level", because you already are - or rather, it's more about you than your tools. But what sort of technological advancements do to the economy?
If mass production ended up working with magitech, would rich people carry around so many 3D-printed wands that having to use one's own spell slots would be seen as low-class?
Would genetic engineering, magical or otherwise, allow for designer babies guaranteed to excel at a certain sort of magic?
Or would magical researchers figure out the basis behind arcane/divine/psychic magic, allowing for a class or archetype to swap out which category their spells counted as whenever they refresh their spell slots?
There probably won't be universal socialism, or a repeatable way to become mythical, but nothing destabilizes an economy like rapid technological change.
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I just want the rules to support (among other things) three types of stories:
* An exploratory mission throughout the galaxy seeking out new races and cultures on strange new planets
* A mercenary band of smugglers and thieves, making a home out of their ship as they fight for survival on the raggedy edge of the system
* A ship commander and his/her loyal crew of companions, working to unite the galaxy against the greatest threat from the darkness beyond that any world has ever known
Give me those and I will be thrilled.
I think that the absolute thing I really need is for Psionic classes, Anachronistic classes and the technology guide to be functional. Otherwise there aren't too many ways to mess this up for me.
Maybe they will make you less reliant on gear for stats by having better stat mods/stat increase level progression...because of genetic engineering or something.
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I still want a humanocentric setting. It is just too much work to figure out how a society built on another race would work.
3) Cheap technology and CR adjustments reflecting it. The biggest obstacle I've found in running a space campaign is that the costs in the Technology guide are too high for normal wealth by level and still having a distinct technological feel at first level. I've had to make price adjustments and CR adjustments to compensate and I hope Starfinder does too. I suspect this is one of the main reasons why this is a separate RPG line, since if the classes have the same power level then cheap technology would significantly boost their strength.
The easy way to do this is trough inflation. Base wealth levels are simply MUCH higher. So you can either get a +1 enchantment or a new laser scope for your 2000 credits, both being cheap options in the grand scheme of things. Yes this ups the power level.
What would i love to see?
[..]
-Cool ship combats involving the whole party without needing to invest big parts of characters.
[...]
The way to do this is *drumroll* giant robots. Robots that are controlled just as you control the body, so they don't require a huge investment in anything out of the ordinary. The same things you use on the human scale works on the robot scale. If this means "spell amplifiers" for mages, or if there are just weapons that even they can use is a matter for the designers to solve.
For magic to advance in order to keep in ahead of what technology can achieve.
I mean, magic is magical because it goes beyond what can be achieved without it, it basically grabs the laws of physics, squeezes them in a tutu, and makes them dance at the casters' whims. So in a setting where technology makes the impossible possible, magic would need to be really scaled up in order to continue being "beyond the realm of possibility".
So, a souped-up magical system, please!
In Dragonstar magic was basically obsolete for combat. Plasma grenades are a lot cheaper than fireballs. But the interesting aspects of magic were still there - transformations, illusions, enchantments, divinations. Worked really well for us.
Plasma weapons that deal Fire and Bludgeoning damage, since plasma has mass, dammit!
The energy in plasma is mostly heat, but it still has mass, so it also has kinetic energy, has "kick".
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There's a lot of futurism I want to see in this game.
- Uplifts: I want to see animals or other creatures uplifted to sentience, and made as a playable race.
- Digitizing Consciousness: Seen heavily in Eclipse Phase, I'd love players to be able to upload their consciousness into other bodies. Definitely robot/cyborg bodies. Maybe flesh and bone bodies.
- Digital Lifeforms: I love the idea of either advanced A.I. as PCs or people that have chosen to remain digital and on the net as an option.
- Mecha: Power Armor is awesome, don't get me wrong. But giant robots are super cool. And with giant Pathfinder monsters, at least we'd have a reason to have them around. We dig giant robots yo!
- Cybernetic and Bioenhancement options: I really want to be able to upgrade our people with different abilities tied to either technology or bio enhancements.
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A general streamlining and simplificatiom of the rules. Pathfinder's rules have gotten pretty silly at this point. Starfinder will be a new game. Players should not have to reference years old erata and quasi-official developers blog posts in a new game.
A genuine attempt at class balance. Non-magic users need to be given cool abilities to use in AND OUT of combat. Spells need to be toned way down.
Automatic progression from Unchained as base. This makes way for less item-dependent PCs and encourages taking items that do cool things instead of providing a boring permanent bonus to your will save or dex score.
A specific class I'd like to see is one that focuses on building, maintaining, customizing, and upgrading their own set of power armor from level 1. Naked you'd have your skills and that's about it. The armor is where you get your combat and survival skills and abilities. Kind of like a Synthesist Summoner, except you can't summon your suit from thin air and it cant't be healed. Instead of granting AC, the suit would just take damage for you, but would lose functionality the more HP it lost.
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I change my mind about mecha. I think 3pp should do mecha. In just 500 pages I don't think mecha would really be done adequately enough since a lot of other things have to go in too.
I hope that if technology in whatever form becomes the 'magic' of the setting then they would take a similar approach to it as Words of Power where you build a formula/machine/robot/mutagen using component parts rather than have full on spells. In fact I hope there's no magic and spells in the book period. This is for a lot of reasons but the biggest reason is page count. Look at Pathfinder's Core Rulebook. One of mine got so damaged that I had to rebind it into three books that were about the same thickness. Magic and Spells took up an entire book. I don't want one third of the book taken up by that when so many other things needs some explanation.
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In Dragonstar magic was basically obsolete for combat. Plasma grenades are a lot cheaper than fireballs. But the interesting aspects of magic were still there - transformations, illusions, enchantments, divinations. Worked really well for us.
One of the things I liked about it. And some of the way magic and tech integrated. PDA spellbooks for one.
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I'd actually prefer if they kept magic. I think there is something cool about space wizards on the moon. And magic keeps this system unique and opens up cool options. Removing magic from the game would just make this Traveller and at that point, I may as well play that. Why throw out the baby with the bath water? If we can have aliens and tech in our fantasy, then we can certainly have magic and elves in our science fantasy.
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I kinda hope there will be something to make it clear its a possible or alternate future to current Pathfinder .-. Like, if its definite future of the setting... Well, I just like freedom to have alternate futures where the planet doesn't disappear.
I second this. Being able to play on 'Future Golarion', or that Golarion was destroyed by Rovagug bursting free appeal to me far more than the idea that the planet is hidden by the gods.
Especially the 'devastated by Rovagug' idea. I'm picturing a planet with a giant hole in it's side, still partially habitable. You could run Thundar the Barbarian, type games there.
I assume that time and money are the reason that Paizo doesn't want to put out a Future Golarion setting, but it would be nice if the option remained open.
(Actually, the Sci-fi game could easily be set in current Golarion times. The Vercites are already a space faring race.)
I'm looking forward to it, no matter what is done.
I'd actually prefer if they kept magic. I think there is something cool about space wizards on the moon. And magic keeps this system unique and opens up cool options. Removing magic from the game would just make this Traveller and at that point, I may as well play that. Why throw out the baby with the bath water? If we can have aliens and tech in our fantasy, then we can certainly have magic and elves in our science fantasy.
I don't think magic should be gone I think that it shouldn't eat a third of the book like with Pathfinder, especially so if we have access to magic through Pathfinder.
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I still want a humanocentric setting. It is just too much work to figure out how a society built on another race would work.
3) Cheap technology and CR adjustments reflecting it. The biggest obstacle I've found in running a space campaign is that the costs in the Technology guide are too high for normal wealth by level and still having a distinct technological feel at first level. I've had to make price adjustments and CR adjustments to compensate and I hope Starfinder does too. I suspect this is one of the main reasons why this is a separate RPG line, since if the classes have the same power level then cheap technology would significantly boost their strength.The easy way to do this is trough inflation. Base wealth levels are simply MUCH higher. So you can either get a +1 enchantment or a new laser scope for your 2000 credits, both being cheap options in the grand scheme of things. Yes this ups the power level.
You were quoting Malwing, not me.
Although an expansion on technology being cheaper, like the Firearms in Your Campaign section in Ultimate Combat, in a high-tech environment would be useful. If technology is cheap (i.e., 25% or even 10% of the market price listed in the Technology Guide), but magic is still as expensive as in the Core Rules, that could change the balance between the two drastically, without changing the "power level" of either.
I'd especially like a discussion on how different technology is either less or more expensive depending on the advancement level in that field. For example, having races specialize in different technologies (using Core races and the Technology Guide as a basis): dwarves specializing in material technology and robotics (possibly including cybertech), elves specializing in bio-tech and pharmaceuticals, gnomes specializing in gravity manipulation, halflings specializing in nanotech, humans specializing in energy generation/military technology, etc. ("If you want the best robotics/cybernetics, go to the dwarves; and non-dwarves have to deal with a +10% mark-up...") Also, if the GM wants to generate a new race/society/world, it would be useful to at least have a rough scale; even something as basic as "early firearms, advanced firearms, modern firearms, near-future firearms (i.e., in Hammer's Slammers style by changing the propellant/bullet material), etc." That way, you could have a race/society/world that's very advanced in certain types of technology, but less advanced in others.