How are you (as the GM) planning to deal with player deaths? As far as I can tell there are magical ways of resurrecting a dead character (Reincarnation, Raise dead and Miracle/Wish)
Further, the technology to bring a clinically dead character back to life could also be said to be present in Starfinder. Placing a mortally wounded/dead PC in suspended animation and bringing him to a well equipped medical facility could almost certainly keep the PC alive.
The biotech level to produce clones/androids is in place as well as being able to upload your personality. If so each PC could theoretically dowload themselves on a regular basis and upload to a new body if killed beyond all recovery.
So, dead may not need to dead-dead anymore. But if so, what are your plans to deal with this. A credit cost for the resurrection? An XP loss to reflect a non-perfect upload? An attribute penalty to reflect a less than perfect clone? All/none of the above? Something completely different? Or simply stating that dead is dead. Make a new PC?
I'd balance it with Raise Dead in mind.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
If the player wants to, and the party is willing to make the expenditures, go with the spellcasting table on page 235.
Note that the spells raise dead and reincarnate have additional costs associated with it beyond the spellcasting service....but the spells themselves are very clear as far as the conditions required for them to be used. Raise dead specifically requires "A complex representation of the creature", implying a vat-grown body or something to that nature. I'd certainly permit a character to buy this ahead of time, keep it in cold storage until it's needed, leaving only the cost of the spellcasting remaining.
I'm not really seeing any reason to houserule this one, outside of special circumstances in which the materials for the new body, or the disposition of whoever you're paying to cast the spell. That may give a discount or price increase, as needed for the circumstances. They've indicated that everything in starfinder is a mix of both technology and magic, to the point that it's almost impossible to distinguish the two.
Remember also that AI's such as the one you've mentioned, are amalgamations and representations, not actual copies of the person in question. Regarding the odd couple in the first premade scenario, I feel like any transfer of personality will be a mix of tech and magic, so a purely technological means of doing this seems highly unlikely, "since magic makes everything easier" TM. Any station with the required technology level for this kind of thing will also likely have spellcasting services of high enough level.
What king of death are we talking about ? "Stabbed in the eye" death or "burned like a crisp by a nuke" death ? While death is almost as benign as a cold in Starfinder, every treatment availible except for reincarnate require to have the body in (mostly) one piece and a decent shape. Party members that were chewed on, dissolved in acid, burned in a sun or otherwise disintegrated are much harder to get back.
As for uploading someone in a clone or something like that, don't forget that the most important part of a character is their soul. You can't simply grow a body in a vat and call it a day, thus a purely technological solution to death is impossible.
The way I see it, if you want it, you could simply reflavore spells. Instead of searching for a mystic to cast Raise Dead on your dead PC, you go to a station that'll regenerate them for the same price - the cost of the soul beacon is instead justified by the specially calibrated nanomachines or whatever technobabble b$*%%&!! you want them to gobble.
As for the PCs that upload their soul into a computer and then remote-control a clone/android à la EVE online, simply apply the solution the devs are using with their game : the PC trade the risk of permanently dying with a loss of every cyber/bio-augmentations they have bought with every death and maybe a temporary level reduction that represents the time it takes to "reconnect" fully with the new body. If you're particularly sadistic, you could even make that service costs a monthly fee to pay for the servers, otherwise the virtual soul of the PC will be deleted to make place for the next customer. Cost gets higher with each level to represent the higher space the soul takes. Gotta keep them motivated to hunt for credits in dangerous adventures !
EvE changed their clone policy, eh? Too funny.
Glade wrote: Further, the technology to bring a clinically dead character back to life could also be said to be present in Starfinder. Placing a mortally wounded/dead PC in suspended animation and bringing him to a well equipped medical facility could almost certainly keep the PC alive. Not even something that just "could be said to be present", it's actually right there in the CRB. Very bottom of the Technological Items list in equipment you'll find the Regeneration Table. Quite expensive (a bit more than 3x as much as hiring someone to cast Raise Dead, one-time use) and a level 16 item so only available at end-game, but anyone can make one (compared to only Mystics being able to cast Raise Dead) and it's arguably actually debatable how intact the body needs to be, since its stated function is "to restore a creature’s body to full function from nearly any mishap or injury, including death."
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
I completely missed that part. So yeah, I guess it's there....and it's hella more expensive than paying a station caster for a spell.
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Ya know, I've had plenty of experience with PC death, but I've never experienced a player's death at the table before.
The thing is though Adder, the book says that casters would probably be incredibly exclusive. Only available in large settlements, require appointments to utilize, cost 10 to 100x as much to go into "dangerous situations"... and like I said anyone with Engineering ranks can make a Regen Table.
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Theoretically ANYONE could, but note they're required to have 16 RANKS, not just a +16 to craft it. You're going to have to plan ahead to even be able to make this.
And while it's true that professional spellcasting services are expensive, require a large settlement and an appointment...The regeneration table does have the same restriction as raise dead in that you need the body with you, I somehow doubt that any spellcaster would consider working in their own workshop as "going into a dangerous situation."
The only cost to hire out a "raise dead" caster on absalom in addition to the level 5 fee is going to be for the cost of the body representation, still cheaper than the regeneration table. And I'd hope that by the point they have reached the level where they can afford this, they've developed enough reputation to not be considered strangers to at least SOMEONE with the power to do this.
Now, lets say you don't have the body, just a piece of it, reincarnation is the only way to go. It requires only something that was part of the body at the time, plus the cost of the beacon so it does appear that it can even work with disintegration dust! And hey, reincarnation is cheaper than raise dead! Just has the lolsy effect of probably changing your species!
In my experience the only "planning" it takes is deciding at 1 that Engineering is one of the skills you want. Most people just pick a set of skills and keep them invested from 1 to however late the campaign goes, only adding to the list for either prereqs for Int advances. And as Engineering is a pretty wide skill, in a system where there's even fewer skills to have to pick between, so while no not every level 16 will be able to craft it, I rather expect a large number of them will. Honestly, I expect it even more than I expect Mystics to take Rez spells. And of course, since it is an item that anyone can *use* too, a GM might throw one in as a piece of loot, and it can be kept on the ship until it's wanted (either for the Rez or even for the other purpose of amazing healing). Even in groups without a spellcaster.
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Now that is true, it is potentially a very valuable loot reward.
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