spell-granting feats and gem / chips

[The Sideromancer]

Does Technomatic Dabbler/Connection Inkling allow you to use spell gems or a computer's spell chips? If so, only the few you can cast, all 0 and first level spells, or the entire list?

[EC Gamer Guy]

You can definitely use spells gems for the spells the feats grants you. The feats give you a caster level and a short spell list.

I think it's doubtful that you have access to the rest of the mystic/technomancer spell lists for those spell gems.

[baggageboy]

This is a question raised and discussed in several other threads. If you do a search you can find some really good discussion regarding this topic, but as of yet there is not an official consensus regarding this topic. Please to FAQ the threads discussing this.

Also feel free to bump one of the other threads if you would like to discuss it further. I kn ow this is a topic I personally really want some clarification on, though I expect the answers will not be what I want to hear.

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

And if there is an official answer, it'll be a Starfinder-only answer not applicable even as evidence in any Pathfinder discussion.

[baggageboy]

Do we have any expected timeline on that starfinder specific answer? I understand it's important to be careful and consider the ramifications, but I'm hopeful that we could know one way or the other sooner rather than later.

Could you perhaps give a personal interpretation that was strictly nonofficial for in the interim? Kinda like your GM call for the L2 flight spell function in space?

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Anything like a binding FAQ or official errata is always something we do as soon as we possibly can... within the restrictions of scheduling, time, printer windows, employee vacation, long-term planning, other project needs, round-table discussions, keeping subscribers from being double-billed the same month if at all possible, income streams, unresolved debates, play testing, and so on.
As a result, at least at this point in the game's 2-month old lifespan, I can't give anything like an accurate prediction until it's so close to ready that i might as well just release it. So rather than risk disappointing people and getting a reputation for being unreliable in my timelines, I'm not going to risk estimating timelines. Once the game and its processes are more mature, I might be better able to make such estimates.

[baggageboy]

That's fair, thanks Owen.

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

If I was making an UNOFFICIAL ruling as a GM, and NOT as the Starfinder lead designer, I'd look at a few factors.
A spell gem specifies the spell cast "must be on your class's spell list." Taking a feat like Connection doesn't give you a class spell list. It isn't connected to a class at all.
Oddly, I come to a different conclusion with archetypes. An archetype is part of the class you connect it to. The description says archetypes are "a set of alternate class features." So if you are a soldier/phrenic adept, your phrenic adept abilities are part of your class.
The phrenic adept also says, in lesser phrenic power, "you can cast a spell from the following list."
So, as a GM, to me that's a class feature with a spell list. At that level the entire spell list is three spells, but you could use a spell gem of any of those spells.

Now that is a fine hair to split, and almost certainly NOT what any official ruling would look like. But as a GM running a home game, it's how I'd rule if lacking any other guidance. If I was running an organized play table, I suspect I'd be more conservative and assume spell-like abilities aren't truly a "spell list," and being able to use such spells x times/day don't qualify as spell slots, which spell gems also reference.

But for my home game, I can be a good deal more lenient and still feel I am giving a fair interrelation of the rules.

[baggageboy]

See but the feats in question require you pick your spells from a specific list namely the lists of the classes associated with the individual feats and give you a caster level, preclude you from levels in the associated class and use the key abilities of those classes. Also it says you cast spells as opposed to using a SLA. This is a specific difference between the psychic powers text.

To me the evidence points to you being a small time version of the technomacer or mystic, which is different than just having some cool SLAs. For instance I can take a psychic power as a technomancer, but I can't take technomatic dabbler. Why? Because I can't get extra powers for something I'm already doing. Which is why you replace the feat with another feat that adds to your technomatic powers.

I see the feat as basically giving you 2 cantrips and 1 first level spell known and granting you 3 casting's per day. When you gain a level in the associated class you have to merge this with the spells known and granted by the class. They are the same source of power, but now you know more. But you shouldn't be punished for having started as a dabbler, so you get to change the feat to something else that reflects your increased level of study in this area of expertise.

Edit: I forgot tho thank you Owen for giving us a personal take on this matter. I appreciate your thoughts even if I personally want to justify a more liberal interpretation of the text.