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Of all the classes in the CRB, Mechanic is the most interesting to me just in the number of possibilities and flexibility you have with the class. Wanted to talk about what people decided on and why they decided on it.
For my character, I'm going to be playing in the Dead Suns AP with a 3-player group (Operative and Solarian are the other two). I figured this meant a) There would be a lot of extra gear floating around that didn't make sense to sell at 10% cost and b) Having an extra Standard action would really help with only 3 PCs.
Because of that, I'm going with a Dwarf Drone Mechanic...going to use Advanced Melee Weapons and Heavy Armor (and pick up some of the defensive Talents if I'm still not feeling tanky enough), and then outfit my Drone with whatever shiny Longarms/Heavy Weapons we happen to come across that no one else is going to use anyway.
What's your Mechanic and why?
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I'm planning a Scholar Vesk Mechanic with the exocortex, that will basically be a ranged specialist/tank.
I really love INT-based martials, so the mechanic immediately attracted me. Vesk seemed fun because I love them thematically, and I liked the challenge of the racial penalty. With the scholar theme, their bonuses more than make up for an effective -1 INT regardless.
I picked exocortex because I don't like buddy classes (get too attached), and I wanted the proficiencies I'd get with exocortex. I personally like the theme more too. If it were a dwarf thought then I could see going without the proficiencies.
I plan on getting In Harm's Way, to help secure this build as a tank. Primary weapon will be a longarm, but with the racial bonus and leveling the natural attacks are an excellent backup.
I went with exocortex for mine - I've never been a huge fan of pet classes, so the option to play without one was nice. I also felt like exocortex would contribute a bit more outside of combat with his Skill Focus bonus. Plus, didn't have to burn feats to get his heavy armour and longarms proficiency - which was nice.
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I plan on getting In Harm's Way, to help secure this build as a tank. Primary weapon will be a longarm, but with the racial bonus and leveling the natural attacks are an excellent backup.
That's really cool - I never considered that you could be a ranged tank because of those feats.
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I went with Drone... for conceptual, not mechanical reasons. I didn't want someone with tech-assisted brainpower, I wanted a grubby half-elven lass who spends a lot of her time cursing at he drone as it brings her the wrong tools for the job.
I went with a drone, but I don't feel it's the better option, mechanically. (I value skills more highly than combat contributions, and an Exocortex seems better for maximizing skills.) Can't help but love a good rigger, though. T3-M4 was my favorite companion in KoTOR I&II. Everybody's better with a buddy, right?
I'm just disappointed their stats are so bad. Even when you're directly controlling them, you use your ranks and their horrible modifiers. :( Don't know that you can call it "direct control" if they're the ones having to do the math, you know?
I went with Exocortex because *unprintable* pet classes.
I still have memories of the last pet-class character I played back in 3.5, and how many times the pet was targeted SPECIFICALLY.
It's kind of left this bad set of memories in the back of my head.
The bonuses for Exocortex fit the concept I was going for much better, though, so it all seems to work out, even!
Before I knew they weren't allowed in Space Pathfinder Society, I made a Halfling Mechanic. In the Halfling entry it reads that as they feel the Halfling body is pretty much perfect the way it is and they don't like mucking it up with technology and implants.
So, for that reason I picked a drone.
Disallowing an entire core class in SFS just landed it squarely on the ashen heap of stuff I'm not bothering with. If organized play can't handle the entire core rules set, there's a problem with organized play. *muttergrumble*
Edit: ah, so no hobbits halflings in space. Thanks!
It depends on what I want the character to be able to do.
I've put together a drone mechanic (also a dwarf) primarily for melee/short-ranged combat.
I just redid a shirren exocortex mechanic (I was trying to do too many things) into a... combat medic(!). Scholar theme with Life Science/xenobiology; Skill Focus (Medicine) from the exocortex; ranks in Computer, Culture, Life Science, Medicine, Perception, Physical Science, and Survival*; Medical Expert at 1st and probably Skill Synergy (Medicine and Survival) at 3rd; will probably get a lot of use out of a needler rifle delivering doses of analgesic (to make creatures flat-footed) and/or sedative (extra, granted non-lethal, damage).
*- a mechanic with no ranks in Engineering? Heresy! (j/k)
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Assuming I get to play anytime soon, I was planning on playing an Android Exocortex Mechanic with either Mercenary or Bounty Hunter. I was planning on being very tanky and combat focused by taking Shield Boost options, Overclocking options, and a few side options such as visual processing and invisibility bypass amongst others. I WASN'T going to take overcharging options as I don't feel those are necessarily worth the investment but I was considering investment into additional armaments such as snipers, heavy weapons, and/or power armor. I'm leaning towards heavy weapons and power armor here but that might change if the group needs a stealthy mechanic instead (using optic camouflage and invisibility options from exocortex mods).
My favorite thing about the engineer is the fact that the class feels extremely versatile. It has utility for combat and outside combat. It can even do both in a pinch since the exocortex can let me hack computers while I'm firing away at enemies. It's probably my favorite of the classes.
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Vesk Mechanic / Mercenary with a combat drone BOB -- Bucket of Bolts.
I plan to put it into situations where it will use what I plan to be it's signature phrase -- "I hate you!" directed at the Vesk.
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I don't do Society lay but I'm curious what it is about the legacy races that "breaks" Society play. They're obviously in the universe. Is there something about them that's OP?
I'd take exocortex over drone as I don't care for familiars and such things.
Doesn't really break anything.
it really is quite literally (i think) that they want to properly break Starfinder from Pathfinder.
It is meant to be entirely its own game and construct with its own rules.
They mostly included it for the transition phase, and for brining in old world elements in a later date.
I don't know what you're all talking about regarding legacy races; the Starfinder Core Rulebook has a whole chapter at the end devoted to Pathfinder Legacy Races being played in Starfinder. Listed are dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, half-orcs, and halflings.
I think it's more that if they are always available, they will be very commonly played, which detracts from Starfinder being its own thing. If they're allowed as boons, then the number played doesn't interfere as much with people playing core races, and enforcing the Starfinder world.
I just redid a shirren exocortex mechanic (I was trying to do too many things) into a... combat medic(!). Scholar theme with Life Science/xenobiology; Skill Focus (Medicine) from the exocortex; ranks in Computer, Culture, Life Science, Medicine, Perception, Physical Science, and Survival*; Medical Expert at 1st and probably Skill Synergy (Medicine and Survival) at 3rd; will probably get a lot of use out of a needler rifle delivering doses of analgesic (to make creatures flat-footed) and/or sedative (extra, granted non-lethal, damage).
*- a mechanic with no ranks in Engineering? Heresy! (j/k)
This is pretty much what my first Mechanic character is (heavily inspired by characters from James White's SECTOR GENERAL series), except mine's a Damaya Lashunta with the Xenoseeker Theme, and had Diplomacy instead of Survival. Bypassing power relays and coronary bypasses aren't _that_ different, right? The combat tracker originally started as a cluster of sensors to track the vital signs of the patient they were working on. I'm toying with the idea of making them averse to magical healing, seeing it as "cheating" ("I had to spend eight cycles in medical school and another five in residency, but you just woke up one day knowing how to heal people with a wave of your primary manipulators and some mumbled words?! Well, la dee dah!") or untrustworthy ("Do you even know where that power’s coming from? The long-term side effects?").
My second Mechanic's going to be a Scholar (or maybe another Xenoseeker) Shirren with a Hover Drone, inspired by characters from Dave Schroeder's XENOTECH SUPPORT series. The drone started out as their smartphone/personal comm unit, but they kept upgrading it. First some custom smart searches and idiom interpreters, later some autonomy features so it could take initiative on some things (ex.: accesses local net for any publicly available blueprints and maps when entering a building, or looks up restaurants similar to ones they've liked when visiting a new city, all without being instructed to do so). Later they realized the system'd evolved into a true (weak) AI in it, when the phone began to express its own opinions and ask for things, like mobility and manipulators. So they started building a drone body around it.
I just redid a shirren exocortex mechanic (I was trying to do too many things) into a... combat medic(!). Scholar theme with Life Science/xenobiology; Skill Focus (Medicine) from the exocortex; ranks in Computer, Culture, Life Science, Medicine, Perception, Physical Science, and Survival*; Medical Expert at 1st and probably Skill Synergy (Medicine and Survival) at 3rd; will probably get a lot of use out of a needler rifle delivering doses of analgesic (to make creatures flat-footed) and/or sedative (extra, granted non-lethal, damage).
*- a mechanic with no ranks in Engineering? Heresy! (j/k)
Because both Skill Focus and the +2 from Skill Synergy being insight bonuses (and not stacking), I decided to go with Far Shot, Mobility, and Shot on the Run at 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Also, will spend the 1,900 cr on Minimal Speed Suspension (can't let them get too close, after all...).
For our test run with Starfinder I will play an Ysoki Spacefarer with an Exocortex.
Looked at the Drone but didn't want to bother with even more choises and the exocortex seemed rather easy to play, so I went with that option.
Having the rules elements come together I realized I'm playing a space trash rat/panda with longarms.
Oh, and I got a big vesk soldier arcane assailant friend.
Slightly tangential question here: does your exocortex, if you have one, have a personality?
I was about to say nope, but thinking about it, some JARVIS-like exocortex sounds fun.
Though, what does it matter, the others (players and characters and opponents) would not know the difference.
Might make for a fun little GM situation though: "Your exocortex tells you: 'Yes, that red and gold paint-scheme on your armor should help you keep a low profile.'"
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Combat drone because of three words: Mounted Mechanic Cavalry
Slightly tangential question here: does your exocortex, if you have one, have a personality?
By RAW, no. However, you could say that the artificial personality option of the Expert Rig feature is actually the exocortex interfacing with the custom rig computer.
Slightly tangential question here: does your exocortex, if you have one, have a personality?
'Flush' 's exocortex is actually a semi-sentient thaumananoswarm that got into her brain meats and is helping her be a smarter Vesk. She hasn't quite figured that out yet, though.
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My original plan was to play an Exocortex mechanic, since I loved the idea of my own personal AI living inside of my head. Turns out it's a bit less "digital familiar" and more "Improved Combat HUD" so that idea fell flat. Still, I considered remaking the character to fit it: Android exomechanic who's Cortex is made up from the remnants of their previous iterations. Go for sort of a Samsaran vibe, you know?
But then I dropped it all and I've actually settled on a role-swap version of my OG Summoner with a female Lashunta con artist/hacker and her assistant stealth drone. This time, my favorite mechanic is the Custom Rig, which can be taken as an eye augmentation. So yeah, I'm gonna have plenty of fun with that.
Ended up going with the drone because the thing I wanted from Exo isn't a thing I can get from the core rulebook. Plus, as much as the math may be against drones, I absolutely love pet classes so I want to give it a try.
...Ended up going with the drone because the thing I wanted from Exo isn't a thing I can get from the core rulebook. Plus, as much as the math may be against drones, I absolutely love pet classes so I want to give it a try.
I thought after the math, it ended up being that the drone option was superior overall?
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Shirren Mechanic(Outlaw) named K'yii "Key. He's a hacker who spends any moments not participating in combat/social situations playing retro vidgames on his Custom Rig.
He has a Combat Drone as a bodyguard (heavily inspired by the ABC robot from the old Judge Dredd movie. His Drone's name is Loch "Lock". They are Lock & Key.
I went with an Android Soldier 3/Mechanic x with the exocortex because this combo comes as close as i'll get to a shadowrun street samuri character in path...I mean starfinder.