Just read the FAQ about repairing drones. Apparently it takes forever, restores very little health, and you'll have to dump Resolve Points if you want to heal the thing up from even the weakest of attacks at low level. So, given that they've got bad stats, horrible HP, they're a pain to heal, and offer very little in the way of unique opportunities, what are they good for?
I built a drone mechanic for my first character, but the game won't be for a couple of weeks yet. I've got everything started out, but I keep finding more and more that makes me want to junk the whole concept. My intention was to build defensively, rely on the drone to deal damage, keep enemies off of me. It's become clear I can't do that. One shot from the weakest laser pistol in the game and it'll take me forty minutes and three resolve points to get the thing back in fighting shape, it isn't fast enough to justify riding, since it can't take cybernetics. An extra attack only matters if it can hit, and with 12 Dex, the combat drone can't shoot. It can take a melee weapon, but it would get smacked down hard due to low AC, even if it had the AC boost. A hover drone can shoot, but you might as well yell "pull" if you let it onto the battlefield. Stealth drones don't seem much better; they're scouts, not soldiers.
Please, if you can think of some redeeming quality, please let me know. I love playing riggers, but it just doesn't feel viable in this. Feel like I should just switch to an exocortex mechanic, and if I do that, I may as well scrap being a gnome; Lashunta are so much better in the role, it's almost laughable. A +2 racial to both computers and engineering is damn hard to compete with. I just want to play a gnome rigger. That shouldn't mean having to be far and away the least capable person in the party. :(
As far as I can tell, the main benefit is in getting the extra actions, letting you attack or just generally do stuff more often than other classes.
I'm not sure, but there might be some spells or items that help you repair the drone? I haven't read through the book yet so this is mostly guesswork.
Keeping in mind that at level 1 even the best combatant will only have a +6 to attack, +3 isn't that bad.
And the +6 is only if you start with an 18 in str or dex, are 1 of 2 full BAB classes, and take weapon focus.
So in this regard, the drone has a 15% less chance to hit than the best you character at level 1.
The AC issue...eh. IIRC level 1 armor only gives around 12/13 armor anyways so still not that bad comparatively.
It's really that repairing the drone only heals 10% of it's HP that's the problem.
It's really that repairing the drone only heals 10% of it's HP that's the problem.
Per resolve point, plus one "free" 10% heal per day.
Also can benefit from the Mending spell once per day.
Also can benefit from the Mending spell once per day.
Well, seems like my Technomancer will make good friends with the Mechanic.
It's really that repairing the drone only heals 10% of it's HP that's the problem.
Per resolve point, plus one "free" 10% heal per day.
Also can benefit from the Mending spell once per day.
My group doesn't have a technomancer, and by the time you can take Technomantic Dabbler, 1-4 doesn't matter near as much. Plus, it takes ten minutes to cast. That's a very limited resource. Why they didn't offer up a proper spell to repair constructs repeatedly is beyond me.
I just feel like the exocortex is so much better, mechanically speaking. Feels like you take the drone at the expense of defense, offense, and utility. And what do you get? A broken toy and a drastically slowed-down party.
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Another target for enemies to focus fire on?
As the rules are written, if it gets destroyed you just need to salvage the guns. You can Rebuild it after a days work.
Not sure about the ruling on this but I'd say give the flying drone some speed and some arms, and let it drop grenades from above the battlefield while your mechanic takes pot shots.
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Search is probably still being worked on so you gotta use links till then.
Starfinder Savant is the PDT account for Starfinder I believe.
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I'd just let a player spend 10 minutes repairing their drone at will. Seems about fair, considering.
As the rules are written, if it gets destroyed you just need to salvage the guns. You can Rebuild it after a days work.
The way I see it, a drone is useful for high-risk situations. As a construct, it's less susceptible to dangerous environmental effects (I think) and is totally expendable, unlike PCs.
The limited healing for drones possibly reflects a design intention to prevent the use of drones as just damage soakers, although the disparity (roughly 50% for PCs, 10% for drones) is steeper than I would expect.
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I'm toying with using one to take the Engineer role in starship combat.... with an Ace Pilot Mechanic at the wheel shouting at it.
I was disheartened. Seems like, mechanically, the exocortex is the "correct" choice. What it gives you amounts to a significant amount more, early on, and it means you aren't splitting your resources. Add to that the Skill Focus you can shift around, the better weapons and armor, and the various hacking bonuses, you are just plain better. I think the drone takes a while to be at all notable. I'm not sure if it can ever shoulder any kind of load in combat, or if you're just meant to use it to scout. Doesn't seem like there's any way to make it proficient in grenades, so it makes less sense to load them down, have them set explosives. (That's Engineering, obviously, but I'm loathe to load a drone up with weapons they can only use outside of combat.) Although, actually...
Stealth drone, Skill Unit invested in Engineering. Feat: Skill Synergy (Engineering, Stealth). Manipulator Arms. Total of +5 Engineering, which is high enough to not accidentally blow itself up. +8 Stealth, which, while not great, jumps to +18 if it sits still for a round. Climbing speed. Grenades are expensive, but thematically, it makes sense. You're just setting mining charges more enthusiastically than you used to. Worst case, you have UPBs and don't have the time to do anything with 'em? "Here, craft me this armor while I search the facility." Says they can use the skill unsupervised if they have the Skill Unit, right? Any reason that wouldn't work? Plus, it can look like a crab. You know robot bomb crab is where it's at.
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So, making the most out of your Drone.
For more healing to constructs, try the Make Whole spell, though it's second level and pretty much needs a technomancer ally, though it also costs 350 credits to purchase the services for a 2nd level spell, so if you have the credits there are options. Since it sounds like you don't have a technomancer in your party isn't an option for you, or is too expensive consider the following thoughts;
The Repair Drone mechanical trick available at level 2 will increase the repairs from 10% to 25%, which means you could rebuild a fully damaged drone much more quickly. Hyperclocking at level 8 will also give your drone a higher AC and more AC means harder to hurt.
But your drone's Mod are where you really want to look for that protective stuff. Enhanced Armor mod will make the drone harder to hurt, since it increases AC, or Resistance to make it ignore energy type damage. Also, don't forget that the drone is immune to a number of mental type spells, which is useful for fighting certain psychic based spells. At level 11, you can add energy shield for more shielding.
Reductive plating (which is available to the combat drone immediately, and others after level 11) will reduce the damage your drone takes, making need fewer repairs, though your best option is in my opinion found within the Armor Slot mod, since as your drone improves, there are a number of mods that can help, such as using the armor slot modification to install shields or defensive reinforcement will keep the damage down (though admittedly this requires a good deal of credits and thus doesn't help much at lower levels).
I've considered those options. Repair drone seems like a mandatory 2nd level pick-up. DR 1/- doesn't seem that great when one dude with a doshko can still easily one-shot a first level drone, and do well more than half its life at second level, even without a good strength score. Enhanced Armor seems like another option that's pretty much mandatory if you want your drone anywhere near combat. Psychic magic comes up so rarely, being immune is barely notable. Seriously, in the last decade, I think it's only been an issue once, and that was as part of the main story line. The armor mods are nice, but the low level ones really aren't at all notable, and the problems seem less pronounced at high levels.
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Psychic magic is in the core book in SF, in a less used addon in PF. It will probably show up more often in published material.
There's a drone mod which lets you ride it - which in turn lets you get feats to protect it if desired.
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Psychic magic is in the core book in SF, in a less used addon in PF. It will probably show up more often in published material.
There's a drone mod which lets you ride it - which in turn lets you get feats to protect it if desired.
There aren't any feats in the Starfinder CRB that deal with riding creatures.
As a GM, I'll probably add some short of Force field to drones that work as stamina points, refilling faster.
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There aren't any feats in the Starfinder CRB that deal with riding creatures.Psychic magic is in the core book in SF, in a less used addon in PF. It will probably show up more often in published material.
There's a drone mod which lets you ride it - which in turn lets you get feats to protect it if desired.
They're really easily converted. And I like the idea of a road hog with attitude, a mechanic clinging on to her for dear life.
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I was disheartened. Seems like, mechanically, the exocortex is the "correct" choice. What it gives you amounts to a significant amount more, early on, and it means you aren't splitting your resources. Add to that the Skill Focus you can shift around, the better weapons and armor, and the various hacking bonuses, you are just plain better. I think the drone takes a while to be at all notable. I'm not sure if it can ever shoulder any kind of load in combat, or if you're just meant to use it to scout.
For what it's worth, here is a thread in which people seemed to have reached the opposite conclusion with respect to the relative combat effectiveness of a drone build and an exocortex build, together with some interesting commentary by Mark Seifter.
Don't forget that the drone is entirely replaceable, taking only 24 hours of work to build a new one. In a game where any ftl travel takes on minimum 1d6/drive rating days, you should have plenty of downtown. Also, unlike in pathfinder, replacing your companion is free and you suffer no penalties while it's gone. So send that thing on deadly scouting missions, or use it to hold off some space pirates while you make it to the escape pod. It's your little self sacrificing buddy.
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Drones, like Solarians, are good for extensive over-analysis about their relative merits compared to other options rather than just giving it a try, having fun, and seeing what happens.
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I've been looking at some of the stats for bad guys from the first 5 PFS scenarios and they have quite good to hits (better than Pathfinder), low ranged damage but decent melee (basically melee is on par with Pathfinder, ranged lower) and really crappy AC.
So a +1 or 2 to hit will still hit 1/2 the time.
Especially against things like laser pistols Reactive Plating doesn't suck.
But Repair Drone at level 2 is the real saviour here. With that and one resolve you get 50% of the hit points back. That isn't bad.
Its less useful in combat than an Animal Companion or Eidolon. But it beats even a mauler familiar unless the latter is REALLY tweaked.
And, as others have pointed out, its another target, another set of actions, and some group Ablative armour.
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Ya know, I realized that the title of this thread is wrong.
It should be:
"Drones! What are they good for?"
Would a drone focused on combat maneuver's (Trip and disarm) be of use? give it a weapon arm for a taclash and the feat towards combat maneuvers. It wouldn't need to focus on damage too much and would have some decent bonuses to succeed. The ac could be an issue, but if you have a normal front liner next to it soaking up the hits while the drone just tries to trip and disarm. Thoughts?
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Drones can get into places you probably can't , like all the open beams and ducting high in the roof which gives them cover and a really good angle of fire on your enemies.
I also think the drone popping a shot for you while you're busy hacking a system or dismantling a bomb is not a bad feature. Park it In cover and with a good line of sight.
It's basically no worse than the animal companion options for Pathfinder ( on release that is. I'm sure all the splat books out there have managed to pump animal companions into the realms of ridiculous).
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Therefore, you should be able to remove the upgrades/mods and install new ones. Not on the fly, mind you, but maybe with an hour per mod. I mean, I know there are not rules for it but if you can justify the parts or money, even if there aren't any, you SHOULD be able to swap them out.
The rules already allow this.
In addition, every time you gain a mechanic level, you can rebuild your drone from scratch with the same amount of work, allowing you to change any or all of the choices you made for your drone (including ability scores, chassis, feats, mods, and skills).
Mod Tinkerer (Ex)
* You can spend 24 hours of uninterrupted work to exchange all your drone or exocortex mods at any time, even if you haven’t gained a level. Any other drone features (such as its chassis or bonus feats) can still be exchanged only when you gain a level.
There is two different ways that (spending a day on it) you can change around your drone. I can't remember if there were others.
Neat, but I don't like the gain a level requirement. You aren't a sorcerer from PF changing spells, you're doing a rebuild with totally mundane means.
It's an attempt at balance.
Because the reverse argument is, why can't the spontaneous caster be like the Arcanist and just change out spells known each day?
No reason other than "because that's what the rules say".
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Not sure how people will parse "when you gain a mechanic level" but I was planning on 'banking' my rebuilds to meet the situation. If I level up in one dungeon crawl and am going straight into another dungeon crawl, I'll keep it kitted out as combat upon level up. But if I am heading to an infiltration after that, I'll use a 'rebuild' to make it a stealth drone or something since I never used the rebuild for that level.
I can see the argument for saying you have to use it at the exact same time you level up, but it doesn't specifically say a timeframe the rebuild has to be completed by. Interested in others interpretations (or RAW you found)
This Sunday I played the iconic mechanic through the Starfinder Society intro quests. He and the drone work well at first level. The drone is a hover drone with a pistol (+5 to hit, d6 dam.) I haven't looked into it much but upgrading the gun and keeping the drone out of melee is viable. Not sure if it'll fit but I'm looking at putting some form or "automatic" weapon on it and let it hose down enemies.
I'm also getting the impression that Mechanic is not really designed to be on par with the other classes in combat. And that's fine because they can fill in for 4 of 5 ship roles with the right design.
Are batteries rechargeable? I've seen a recharging station in the CRB.
Not certain what it applies to though. Credits seem to be fairly plentiful and I don't recall batteries/ammo getting much above 10c per shot at least at lower levels.
What I am trying to figure out is how to deal with the batteries it needs for weapon ammo. I can see going broke on just getting batteries.
I'm still reading through the rulebook, but I haven't seen where Starfinder has different damage if you are small or tiny. So put a gun on it, keep it out of range, it does have full BAB, and is the best scout in the game. Though the combat drone I agree is worse than the exocortex. The others, I believe we will find a meta that makes them equal.
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I'm still reading through the rulebook, but I haven't seen where Starfinder has different damage if you are small or tiny. So put a gun on it, keep it out of range, it does have full BAB, and is the best scout in the game. Though the combat drone I agree is worse than the exocortex. The others, I believe we will find a meta that makes them equal.
No different damage, no. And the FAQ clarifies that even guns for the Tiny hover drone don't cost double, as was previously implied.
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I'm also getting the impression that Mechanic is not really designed to be on par with the other classes in combat.
Are you sure about that? (hefts fangblade while wearing battle harness powered armor)
On par with a Blitz soldier, no. But being able to essentially make an extra attack (via the drone), with a lower effective penalty on at least one of them (depending on ability scores) than the -4 for a full attack, is nothing to dismiss lightly.
I also think that the drone is useful for something other than issuing and receiving damage in combat. A mechanic, at first level, can have an independent, replaceable scout which can fly (depending on which drone you select). I'm not sure how that's NOT useful.
I haven't even gotten to play much, other than demos at GenCon, and even there, with a completely new crew just trying out the system, the drone seemed useful. It went into the room, at a height where it could not easily be engaged, distracted people from the actual characters sneaking into the room, moved over areas we could not traverse, etc.
I was really impressed with the utility of the drone, just as a 'companion' that gave you a lot of options, and was much easier to manage than anything I've seen in Pathfinder for animal companions.
Also although it still is sad if it gets smacked having a basically disposable scout/combatant has a lot of upsides. You won't want to send it all YOLO all the time but sometimes there are no good options and somebody has to be the first through the door. Better that first person through the door is not a person but your drone. Given the lack of summoning spells of any sort from what I have seen the mechanic is pretty much the go to for this kind of activity currently.
Both of the mechanics options look pretty useful. Exo cortex while not making you a soldier still gives you access to higher power guns/armor right away and basically full BAB vs a number of opponents in a fight. That will make them pretty strong shooters as well as hackers. And their shipboard utility is extremely high as it should be.
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And their shipboard utility is extremely high as it should be.
I haven't kept up on a lot of the Ship Combat discussion, but is there a general consensus around whether or not a Drone that has Skill Focus Chip in a Ship skill can act as an additional Crew Member without needing to be Direct Controlled?
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And their shipboard utility is extremely high as it should be.I haven't kept up on a lot of the Ship Combat discussion, but is there a general consensus around whether or not a Drone that has Skill Focus Chip in a Ship skill can act as an additional Crew Member without needing to be Direct Controlled?
There seems to be no way to get a drone to act completely independently of a mechanic, so probably not.
Going by the "Other Actions in Starship Combat" sidebar on page 322, you can combine a minor crew action with either a standard action or a move action, meaning that at a minimum a minor crew action eats up a move action and a swift action, and therefore anything more than a minor crew action is a full action. The drone of a 20th level mechanic would have enough actions to act as additional crew, but the drone of a lower level mechanic would need to have standard action options other than "attack" to do that.
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Remember the rebuilding a drone is exactly that. You're stripping it to bare parts and rebuilding it from the circuit boards up.
You can change out fusions and such on a drone. Replace the weapons and armor add-ons. You just can't change your stealth drone into a combat drone without a level up.
Neat, but I don't like the gain a level requirement. You aren't a sorcerer from PF changing spells, you're doing a rebuild with totally mundane means.
As far as the Drone as Crewmen discussion, could a drone man a gun? It requires a BAB and Dex, or piloting skill, to shoot a gun.