So Armours... no spell fail?


Rules Questions


Or did I miss a rule there... I mean, I get that magic for the classes we have right now hardly gets more powerful than the special abilities of the other classes, and there also seem to be no spell components, so somatic restrictions are out of the window, but still, one seems to be able to even cast in power armor without any drawbacks right now...

Also, speaking of power armor. Anyone else a bit underwhelmed with those? They are no mechs, sure, but aside from the "Jarlslayer", with it's nice Str of 29, they seem not really worth it, especially considering the very limited battery life the combat models have.


Nope. There are some components*, no spell failure**

*some spells do have a monetary cost, and some require certain items I believe.

** due to there being no distinction in magic, there's no arcane/divine/psychic, it's just magic.


From what I can understand, if you port over a Legacy class, they may still face spell failure - I don't see anything under converting spells that mentions spell failure one way or another, so I'd assume it'd be the same.

That said, no armor provides a base spell failure.

Current spellcasters do have a drawback with casting right now, however: the 1st-6th scale of spells in Starfinder is almost identical to the 1st-6th scale of spells in Pathfinder for full-casters. It's not equivalent in power to the 1st-9th scale. That means 6th level spells you've seen before (namely disintegrate) you still get at 6th level here, and still uses the same slot. Gate, Wish, Meteor Swarm, True Resurrection and things like that a Technomancer and Mystic can't cast. They're consistent casters without all the universe-altering, phenomenal-cosmic-power stuff.

If it helps, based on some descriptions, I'd assume that Technomancer is a psychic-arcane mix and Mystic is a psychic-divine mix, where the psychic bit is the more important part. In Pathfinder, Psychic spellcasting never had spell failure, but could still be interrupted and provoke (as it does here).


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A 20th level technomancer can cast wish with the Fuse Spells ability (spend 2 Resolve and combine two 6th-level spell slots). Similarly, a 20th level mystic gains the ability to cast miracle as a spell-like ability once per week from the Enlightenment capstone.


gigyas6 wrote:
Current spellcasters do have a drawback with casting right now, however: the 1st-6th scale of spells in Starfinder is almost identical to the 1st-6th scale of spells in Pathfinder for full-casters. It's not equivalent in power to the 1st-9th scale. That means 6th level spells you've seen before (namely disintegrate) you still get at 6th level here, and still uses the same slot.

The new spell casters do have a benefit in that they are now front loaded in power though. A first level spell cast by a 1st level caster can do 4d6 damage, though the same level spells do not increase in damage on an increase in level.


warbaby2 wrote:
Or did I miss a rule there... I mean, I get that magic for the classes we have right now hardly gets more powerful than the special abilities of the other classes, and there also seem to be no spell components, so somatic restrictions are out of the window, but still, one seems to be able to even cast in power armor without any drawbacks right now...

The main drawback seems to be the ability to actually use the power armor in the first place. There're a few feats involved, I believe.


Distant Scholar wrote:
warbaby2 wrote:
Or did I miss a rule there... I mean, I get that magic for the classes we have right now hardly gets more powerful than the special abilities of the other classes, and there also seem to be no spell components, so somatic restrictions are out of the window, but still, one seems to be able to even cast in power armor without any drawbacks right now...
The main drawback seems to be the ability to actually use the power armor in the first place. There're a few feats involved, I believe.

True, although, by the time the good PAs become "available", those feats can easily be equired... not that technomancers need many others, since "metamagic" has been rolled into the class.


Shain Edge wrote:
gigyas6 wrote:
Current spellcasters do have a drawback with casting right now, however: the 1st-6th scale of spells in Starfinder is almost identical to the 1st-6th scale of spells in Pathfinder for full-casters. It's not equivalent in power to the 1st-9th scale. That means 6th level spells you've seen before (namely disintegrate) you still get at 6th level here, and still uses the same slot.
The new spell casters do have a benefit in that they are now front loaded in power though. A first level spell cast by a 1st level caster can do 4d6 damage, though the same level spells do not increase in damage on an increase in level.

Yes, they buffed damage spells a bit. But that's because unless you did some really specific builds in Pathfidner, preparing damage spells was often a waste of a spell slot. They've now made it competitive to spend a slot on dealing damage.

Also, keep in mind that someone else can on their turn make two attacks which could deal up to 2d8 damage at level 1. So spending your spell slot to do 4d6 is spending a limited resource to do what someone else could do in two full attack actions.


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I just can't get over the 14d20 for disintegrate. I love it.


Vidmaster7 wrote:
I just can't get over the 14d20 for disintegrate. I love it.

True, the number of dice needed per type has risen dramatically with SF... my guys will dig it, they just love rolling. ;)


I hope that's not like the 1d810 that the guy in the sneak peek book got for a melee attack...


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CountArioch wrote:
I hope that's not like the 1d810 that the guy in the sneak peek book got for a melee attack...

That was a sniper rifle.


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Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

Nope. There are some components*, no spell failure**

*some spells do have a monetary cost, and some require certain items I believe.

** due to there being no distinction in magic, there's no arcane/divine/psychic, it's just magic.

Having to spend 1 or more Resolve Points seems to be a common choice for a costly spell component.


Shain Edge wrote:
gigyas6 wrote:
Current spellcasters do have a drawback with casting right now, however: the 1st-6th scale of spells in Starfinder is almost identical to the 1st-6th scale of spells in Pathfinder for full-casters. It's not equivalent in power to the 1st-9th scale. That means 6th level spells you've seen before (namely disintegrate) you still get at 6th level here, and still uses the same slot.
The new spell casters do have a benefit in that they are now front loaded in power though. A first level spell cast by a 1st level caster can do 4d6 damage, though the same level spells do not increase in damage on an increase in level.

Recall, too, that legacy spells are also converted over, and would follow similar rules. I am incorrect about spell failure for legacy classes (as per the Spells section, converted Legacy spells don't have components beyond costly components), but it remains the same that a full spellcaster converted from Pathfinder would have more potent spells.

I'm not comparing Starfinder classes to Pathfinder classes in this regard. I'm comparing Starfinder classes to Legacy classes. If we see non-Legacy classes in the future with full spellcasting, they'll likely overshadow these two in terms of power scaling.


Has been discussion in my round and kinda related, is there any rule that casting requieres free hands? (would also explain the missing spell failure chance)


Wermut wrote:
Has been discussion in my round and kinda related, is there any rule that casting requieres free hands? (would also explain the missing spell failure chance)

Unknown, since - aside from some spells - there are no components noted... I'd say no.

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