Glorious Solar Rat [SFS]

[Arutema]

So I'm drawn to the irony of a rat who derives power by his worship of the sun, and trying to build a Ysoki priest Solarion. Focusing on active photon powers and passive graviton ones. The Ysoki penalty to str hurts, and the low racial HP has me worried.

Abilities:
Does Str 14, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 14 work? Or will the low con and low racial HP get me killed? Probably going to be boosting Str,Dex,Con,Cha with level-up benefits.

Feats:
Heavy Armor Proficiency at first is probably a given with that lowish Dex. Weapon Focus at 3rd, then Step Up at 5th, after increasing Dex, followed by Step Up and Strike at 7th. Undecided for later feats. Suggestions?

Skills:
Max ranks in Acrobatics, Athletics, Culture, Diplomacy, and Intimidate to help round out party skills and captain a ship.

Revelations (order undecided, thoughts?):
Stellar Rush
Gravity Boost
Plasma Sheath
Defy Gravity
Soul Furnace
Gravity Surge
Ray of light (zenith)

[pauljathome]

That looks pretty suboptimal to me, unfortunately. Depending on the campaign he may or may not be viable, of course.

If I was making a Ysoki Solarian I'd go purely ranged. Light armor. Also suboptimal but at least plays to your strengths.

[S. J. Digriz]

Another option would be to go solar armor instead of weapon, and be a ranged solarian with long arm proficiency instead of heavy armor:

Str: 8, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 16.
Feat: long arm prof
Skills: Acrobatics, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Pilot

Choose revelations that help ranged combat, or keep you out of melee combat. Flare can let you move out of a melee situation if you have blinded the opponent. Gravity boost can let you get into good sniping positions. Etc.

[bookrat]

14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10 is the recommended array for a MAD character, so your stats are perfect as they are.

Your progression from level up ability score increases should look like this:

1) 14 14 12 12 10 10
5) 16 16 14 12 12 10
10) 18 18 16 14 14 10
15) 18 18 16 16 16 12
20) 18 18 18 18 18 14

In general, you've got a decent build that will be viable in most games. More importantly, you've got a concept that looks fun.

Don't pay attention to those who claim something is sub-optimal; you don't need to be perfect in every aspect of every thing, and for every item you try to optimize you'll have an item that you'll suck at. Besides, most claims of optimization are from experience with Pathfinder, and Starfinder needs to he treated as an entirely different game. The base assumptions are different.

[Arutema]

Thank you, bookrat.

I am indeed not asking if a melee Ysoki Solarion is optimal, because I know it's not. I'm asking if it will survive and contribute in a party that otherwise looks to have no melee guy or party face.

[Melkiador]

We can't be sure until we get alien archive, but the extra accuracy from high strength doesn't seem very needed. And the extra damage from high strength quickly becomes less meaningful as you level and get other sources of damage.

So, I think you'd be fine past very low levels.

[nicholas storm]

You will contribute as melee is stronger than ranged at low levels. I think I would do 16STR 12CHA personally.

[Ventnor]

bookrat wrote:

14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10 is the recommended array for a MAD character, so your stats are perfect as they are.

Your progression from level up ability score increases should look like this:

1) 14 14 12 12 10 10
5) 16 16 14 12 12 10
10) 18 18 16 14 14 10
15) 18 18 16 16 16 12
20) 18 18 18 18 18 14

In general, you've got a decent build that will be viable in most games. More importantly, you've got a concept that looks fun.

Don't pay attention to those who claim something is sub-optimal; you don't need to be perfect in every aspect of every thing, and for every item you try to optimize you'll have an item that you'll suck at. Besides, most claims of optimization are from experience with Pathfinder, and Starfinder needs to he treated as an entirely different game. The base assumptions are different.

I'd personally boost STR & CHA at levels 15 & 20 to get to 20, but that's just me.

[Greg.Everham]

I'd be with Ventnor as well. The 14-14-12-12-10-10 trick is quick nice. Getting those 2 pt boosts is rad.

That said, I'd probably milk CHA because it gets you more Resolve. Str, Con, and Dex seem to be okay just floating and it's probably just player preference because the benefits of any of those stats going up just a single point higher in modifier isn't a big deal.

With all of *that* said, is there a reason to discuss level 15 and level 20? You basically only get the bump at 5 and 10, because both SFS and the available AP only go to level 12, right? If you play a home game, sure, discuss... but I'd suspect a whole lotta players are gonna use that pre-made material.