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So a little while ago I set out to make my first Starfinder character, and, being a creature of habit whose first character in any fantasy game is a cleric-type, decided to make a shirren mystic priest. As my first Pathfinder character was a cleric of Desna, my little shirren was also going to be her follower. Everything was copcetic until I got to equipping him.
Mystics are proficient in basic melee weapons only.
Starknives are advanced melee.
And right there on page 91 is a Desnan Star Shaman with a starknife, and Advanced Melee Weapon Proficiency isn't a suggested feat.
House ruling a single favored weapon for mystics and priests is about the most innocuous thing in the world (that Star Shaman picture virtually implies it should be that way). But... what would the favored weapons of Damoritosh, the Devourer, Eloritu, Hylax, Ibra, Oras, Talvet, Triune. Weydan, and Yaraesa be?
My guess for Damoritosh would be Doshko, since the two are both so strongly associated with the Vesk.
Since all mystics are not priests or clerics I don't think that the class itself should gain proficiency in favored class. However I would suggest that the Priest theme gain proficiency in favored weapons. As a houserule.
If it's proficiency with only one weapon it wouldn't unbalance the game at all. Quite the opposite really, proficiency with one weapon is pretty much worthless in Starfinder.
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If it's proficiency with only one weapon it wouldn't unbalance the game at all. Quite the opposite really, proficiency with one weapon is pretty much worthless in Starfinder.
I disagree. Given how much easier Crafting is to get access to, you could easily use the same weapon type the entire game. There are competitive Doshkos the entire game 1-20. That's 1-2 free feats worth of power (depending on whether you would rule you also get Weapon Specialization as you do with every other feature that grants proficiency at level 1) which is way out of bounds of anything any other theme grants.
Weapon Proficiency is a lot more important in Starfinder than Pathfinder. I wouldn't advise doing this.How does allowing a character access to proficiency in a single weapon unbalance the game?
Well, in the case of your Desna example the starknife is a better weapon than any of the equivalent basic weapons in terms of damage.
If your class isn't normally proficient with anything but basic weapons...giving it to them for free is giving them free damage.
No, I wouldn't do it at all.
If you want to use a "starkife" reflavor something else and use the rules for throwing an improvised throwing weapon.
Yes it will suck. Mechanically it should. Otherwise spend the feat for proficiency. Otherwise you've giving away a bunch of stuff for free. If an individual really wants to go full tilt into worshiping I don't think it's too much to ask to have them spend a feat to become proficient.
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The Devourer's favored weapons is black holes.
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Well, in the case of your Desna example the starknife is a better weapon than any of the equivalent basic weapons in terms of damage.
If your class isn't normally proficient with anything but basic weapons...giving it to them for free is giving them free damage.
No, I wouldn't do it at all.
But... a level 1 tactical starknife does 1d4 damage. A level 0 club from the basic melee weapons does 1d6. And the level 1 tactical spear from the basic melee list does 1d6, and has the block feature over the features of a starknife.
Even if the favored weapon was, say, a longsword, doing 1d8 damage, even in the unlikely chance that someone builds an envoy, mechanic, mystic, operative, or technomancer priest and decides to dump points into Strength for a bonus to hit rather than a more important ability score for the class, they're still going to have lesser BAB to deal with. So I guess I'm still not seeing the "bunch of free stuff" being given away for free.
Besides, I really was hoping to get some insight into what folks thought would be the favored weapons of the new deities, not debate crunch stuff.
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A tactical starknife is ranged. A club has the archaic property. A spear takes 2 hands. They aren't really equivalent.
It's funny you say "in the unlikely event" because I'm making a dwarf specifically because it gives me the ability to use Assault Hammers (i.e. The holy weapon of Brigh). If I just got that for free, I could be human and grab a bonus feat instead.
EDIT: On that topic. My thoughts for Triune
-Triune (Brigh) - Hammers (Not Swoop Hammer). Just a carry over from Pathfinder where it was Light Hammer.
-Triune (Casandalee) - Flame pistol. Goddess of Rebirth, so ala a Phoenix? However, here you get into trouble because technically 'pistol' would be the class of weapon which is wide ranging.
-Triune (Epoch) - Arc Emitter. Blast of electricity seems fitting for the Robot diety
If it's proficiency with only one weapon it wouldn't unbalance the game at all. Quite the opposite really, proficiency with one weapon is pretty much worthless in Starfinder.I disagree. Given how much easier Crafting is to get access to, you could easily use the same weapon type the entire game. There are competitive Doshkos the entire game 1-20. That's 1-2 free feats worth of power (depending on whether you would rule you also get Weapon Specialization as you do with every other feature that grants proficiency at level 1) which is way out of bounds of anything any other theme grants.
Ah, but there's where the wording difference is. I didn't say "weapon type", I said "one weapon". But I digress on that, so let's look at it from a different angle.
Okay, say we're using Desna's Starknives. You have your 1d4 at level 1. The next available Starknife is a level 8 weapon, and at 9,810 credits is a bit much to afford until within a few levels. So by the time you're getting your first upgrade, chances are your allies will be getting their second upgrade. Admittedly it does get a bit better after that, with upgrades every 4 levels after until the last at 19.
Now let's look at, say, a deity with Favored Weapon (Whip). Now for demonstration we'll say Taclash and Monowhip count as Whip. So at level 1 you have the Standard Taclash. Bit expensive, but within reason. And then you don't have an upgrade until level 11. By the time you can get this even your starknife buddy is probably about to get their third, and the less flexible are probably on their fourth, but you've been wielding your (notably nonlethal) level 1 weapon this whole time. And then a few levels later you upgrade to the Monowhip, approximately on schedule... and then that's it. That is the highest whip-type weapon (currently) in the game. So hope you like using a level 15 weapon when the rest of the party is using level 20 gear.
Now granted some weapons would be fine. Like a Favored Weapon (Sword) or Favored Weapon (Doshko) will have abundant choices.
That said, end of the day, this does ultimately come down to (basically) being a bonus feat, and I'm not sure deity of choice having that kind of impact on mechanics is the kind of thing they were going for, at least not this early on.
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Proficiency with a single weapon tends to not make sense. Take swords, for example.
If you're proficient with a longsword, you really should be proficient with a dimensional slice longsword by all logic. Ditto a starknife and dimensional slice starknife.
And proficiency with a particular kind of basic melee weapons is meaningless, while proficiency with a particular kind of advanced melee weapon is just about as good as Proficiency with all of them.
Mechanically, it's also just not a degree of specificity that exists anywhere else in Starfinder. Look at Dwarves, their specific Proficiencies have been replaced with blanket Advanced Melee Weapon Proficiency.
Coming up with favored weapons could be fun, but getting Proficiency in them for free is a bad idea.
I'm not great at min/maxin' but how does gettin' a Proficiency on one weapon type like longsword or starknife a gamebreaker? I mean, yer playin' a Mystic God Worshipper, not an Operative.
Better yet, how is it different from being granted from the class versus race (such with dwarves)?
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Triune's favored weapon is the Computers Skill.
Triune's favored weapon is the Computers Skill.
Eldritu is Bluff and Abadar is Sense Motive.
I thought Abadar's would be Appraise.
I thought Abadar's would be Appraise.
I'm afraid that the gap has prevented people from figuring out what things are worth.
Or maybe it just got folded into Culture. Knowing how a society values things sounds like the kind of thing Culture covers.
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I'm not great at min/maxin' but how does gettin' a Proficiency on one weapon type like longsword or starknife a gamebreaker? I mean, yer playin' a Mystic God Worshipper, not an Operative.
Because having one weapon is mechanically very much the same as having them all, and Advanced Melee Weapons make a huge difference in damage. The difference between 63 points and 91 points per hit or something similar by 20th. Multiplying damage by 1.5 isn't the sort of bonus that should be given away for free.
Better yet, how is it different from being granted from the class versus race (such with dwarves)?
It isn't, but Mystic is already a good Class. Adding additional stuff to it on top of all the stuff it has already thus isn't a great idea. Dwarf already has the costs paid in other ways.
Now, if a new Connection, say 'War' or 'Battle' is added and has free Proficiency as part of what it grants, that'd be fine, but it'd have that instead of other abilities, not in addition to them.
lol Instead of Favored Weapons, Mystics get Favored skills based on their God/Goddess. That would be awesome and solve the "Who gets Grenade as their Favored Weapon again?" :D
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Hylax's favored weapon is the power of friendship.
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lol Instead of Favored Weapons, Mystics get Favored skills based on their God/Goddess. That would be awesome and solve the "Who gets Grenade as their Favored Weapon again?" :D
They already get Connection skills. That sorta fits this niche, to be honest. And they have a fairly comprehensive skill list in regards to things most Gods would grant.
A Theme for being God-Touched (other than Priest) that gives a particular skill varying by deity could be very cool, though...heck, you could do a full theme for each Deity. That'd be sorta awesome, and a definite cool thing to be put in any God book that may come out.
I'm not great at min/maxin' but how does gettin' a Proficiency on one weapon type like longsword or starknife a gamebreaker? I mean, yer playin' a Mystic God Worshipper, not an Operative.Because having one weapon is mechanically very much the same as having them all, and Advanced Melee Weapons make a huge difference in damage. The difference between 63 points and 91 points per hit or something similar by 20th. Multiplying damage by 1.5 isn't the sort of bonus that should be given away for free.
Thanks for the info :) Wasn't this a problem in PF too? I remember seeing more Strength/Glory folks with Great weapons as Favored Weapons than priestesses/priests with Starknifes lol
Anywho, not enough weapons at lvl 1 to really assign a favored weapon to every deity unless ya want some overlapping.
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Thanks for the info :) Wasn't this a problem in PF too? I remember seeing more Strength/Glory folks with Great weapons as Favored Weapons than priestesses/priests with Starknifes lol
It's a much bigger deal in Starfinder, as the weapons themselves scale up, and getting meaningful access to weapons outside Class requires two Feats (Proficiency and Specialization) rather than the one in Pathfinder.
Plus deities in Pathfinder have Domains, which are often more important while Starfinder deities don't, making weapon the only real thing a specific deity gives.
Well, Mystics aren't really clerics as the fluff mentions. Was planning on playing a "doctor"-like Mystic versus a religious zealot with my character.
But like ya suggested, a connnection more militant would work *shrugs* lol A Zealot connection where ya get a Favored weapon based on yer deity and more combat oriented abilities similar to soldier archetype but significantly weaker somehow. I'll leave it to the experts lol
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Well, Mystics aren't really clerics as the fluff mentions. Was planning on playing a "doctor"-like Mystic versus a religious zealot with my character.
But like ya suggested, a connnection more militant would work *shrugs* lol A Zealot connection where ya get a Favored weapon based on yer deity and more combat oriented abilities similar to soldier archetype but significantly weaker somehow. I'll leave it to the experts lol
You'd probably just get your choice of either Longarms or Advanced Melee Weapons, or maybe even both, but yeah, it'd be doable.
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The quest to discover what Eloritu's favored weapon is has continued for generations. The Hidden Truth's worshipers don't think they'll figure it out any time soon.
The quest to discover what Eloritu's favored weapon is has continued for generations. The Hidden Truth's worshipers don't think they'll figure it out any time soon.
It's not a vault? Damn...guess I'll rewrite my character and how he learned to love his battle safe in battle.