The design is a nice idea and would be a good NPC (None playable character).
But if you are going to be a timid/reluctant child I am not seeing how the "unarmed Jackie Chan fighter theme" would work.
Androids do not have stronger limbs. So the regular unarmed damage wouldn't scale well when you are fighting stronger enemies. Also pipes and rocks don't scale well against laser rifles and energy swords.
If you wanted to still go the "timid child" route I would instead go with a Mystic or Technomancer. The reasoning is that the child could have some hidden power. It tries to stay out of combat but when it is in danger maybe it loses control and uses it's magic powers. Kind of like Orochi Chris from King of Fighters. Technomancers would be good if you wanted a highly intelligent character that flings elemental magic and can hack computers. Maybe a little Ed from cowboy bebop.
Or the Mystic would be good if you wanted to make a mind breaking psychic.
The other classes are Soldier and Solarian and I can't see a child as those.
Of course this is just me.
Laura isn't really a "normal" child though. She has super powers and adamantine weapons to use when she 'loses' it. This kind of character would be pretty easy (and effective) to build in Pathfinder/3.x, as there are classes/feats/PrCs that specifically work around this kind of concept. There's probably some combination of Psychic Warrior/Barbarian or something out there in that game that is exactly what you're looking for.
It's harder in SF because of the limited classes and feats available, as well as with the way item levels work in this game. Under the current limits, you could probably build something that works that way at 1st level, but if you aren't picking up a real weapon by 2nd or 3rd level it's not going to work very well or for very long.
I think the concept is cool, and I hope someone can correct me and give you exactly what you want, but with my reading of the rules, I don't think you can get exactly that in SF.
I think Farlanghn, has a good concept that gives you something similar in flavor but uses magic instead of improvised weapons. A technomancer, for example, has a 1st level spell called Supercharge Weapon that could add 4d6 damage to any stick you picked up. It's a slightly different way of handling it, since it's magic, but I think it can be played the way you want to, at least at low levels. It's only going to work a couple times a day that way, though.
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Even going the Mystic route would be good. Thinking of Tetsuo from Akira because of the Mind Thrust they get. Plus abilities like Share Pain and Explode Head for going Mindbreaker. Then you have spells like Hurl Forcedisk (that bounces dealing more damage) or Psychokinetic Strangulation (darth vader) which are pretty much crazy psychic kid material.
I agree that the Mystic would be good.
Think of 11 from Stranger Things.
I have done that before. Even made the character super overpowered for one battle to show what the character could look like at higher levels. That's story telling for you.
"The child's eyes start glowing as tears flow from it's eyes. It holds out it's hand and grabs the nearest enemy soldiers and flings it against the wall shattering the concrete around the impact area. The soldier falls to the ground is not getting up anytime soon."
To add to what he said, what's appropriate is what's appropriate for your group. As a DM, I wouldn't have any issues allowing a player to hide any or all of their abilities from the rest of the group. None of my players would either. Groups you play with may vary. But even if the group has a problem with it, if there were any harm in asking, then that probably is a group you shouldn't play with.
There are no off limits questions, or at least there shouldn't be, especially for a new player trying to learn what's kosher in a given game/group.
Oh, I just remembered. In the third AP (this isn't a spoiler for the AP, it's back matter) there are items for Players/GM's called necrografts. One of them is called a bone blade and it essentially gives the possessor the equivalent of wolverine's claws (but bone). The mk 1 standard one only costs 200 credits and is a Basic Melee (Operative) weapon that does 1d4 Slashing Damage and has the critical effect of Staggered.
If you're really looking to do X-23 as a child, that may be something right up your alley. I'd probably still go the Mystic Mindbreaker route, though, but that at least gives you a reason not to be carrying around a gun/sword, and fits your desired motif. I think. It can also be upgraded as you level. (But it does mean that your arms detect as undead and it causes you to be affected by spells that effect undead).
If you don't want the undead costs, now that I think about it, you might be able to make it an actual metal claw as a standard cybernetic implant for a slightly higher credit price, with GM approval.
To be honest I thought of the cybernetic route but that would be costly. Also would require homebrews to get what you want. Unless the kid is a government experiment and your DM is familiar with homebrewing than I would wait on that character concept.
Bah! Try new things. Experiment. Make Mistakes. Learn. Grow. Have fun!
Some of my fondest gaming memories were from the early years when nobody knew what the hell we were doing and everything ended up borked. Pen and Paper RPGs are a big old sandbox. As long as noone is intentionally throwing sand in anyone's eye (and apologizes when they accidentally do), everyone can have fun even if they end up a little messy afterwards.
Below is my short attempt at an X-23/Psychic kid/human experiment on the run from authorities. Feel free to use or ignore any of this that you wish.
I'm not good enough at building characters for this game yet to really optimize and there's probably a lot of room for improvement, but I went for flavor using the suggestions in this thread. I know the character below is practically useless in starship combat, for example, but it fits your motif. I'm doing this mostly for fun but also for the practice making characters (I need it) and attempting to help. This doesn't require any house rules or homebrew, but does require the use of the CRB and AP3. There's just shy of 300 credits left over to spend on stuff.
CN Female Outlaw Human Mindbreaker Mystic 1 from Eox
Str - 14 Dex - 11 Con - 12 Int - 10 Wis - 16 Cha - 10
HP: 10 SP: 7 RP: 4
KAC: 12 EAC: 11 BAB: 0
Saves(F/R/W): 1/2/5
Init: +0
Attack: Heavy Bone Blade +2 (2d4+2(S))
Languages: Eoxian, Common
Feats: Advanced Melee Weapon Proficiency, Lightning Reflexes
Skills (7): Bluff +4, Disguise (0)+12, Intimidate +4, Mysticism +7, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Sleight of Hand +4, Survival +7
Spells Known(4/2): 0th-Daze, Fatigue, Telekinetic Projectile, Telepathic Message; 1st-Mind Thrust 1, Disguise Self, Fear;
Spells/Day(0th/1st): */3
Equipment(712/1000): Heavy Bone Blade Mk1 (200), Second Skin (250), Vocal Modulator (125), 2x Serum of Healing Mk 1 (50 ea), Industrial Backpack (25), Everyday Clothing (1), 10x R2E (1 ea), Flashlight (1)
All below is included above
Racial Abilities: +2 to any stat, +1 Skill/level, 4 HP, Bonus Feat-Advanced Melee Weapon Proficiency
Theme Abilities (1st): +1 Dex, Sleight of Hand as a class skill, Theme Knowledge
Class Abilities: 6 HP, 6+Con SP, 6+Int Skills, Light Armor Prof, Basic Melee Prof, Small Arms Prof, Connection-Mindbreaker, Connection Power-Share Pain, Connection Spell-Mind Thrust, Healing Touch (5hp), Mystic Spellcasting
I think the most important part of playing a reluctant PC is to give them a reason to act. Have your character make strong emotional attachments to the other PCs, let them hate one of the villains so much that their anger overrules their caution, or come up with some other motivation that overrides their usual nature.
I’ve heard a lot of horror stories over the internet about people who play characters that refuse to join the rest of the party by saying “That’s not what my character would do.” Don’t be the buzzkill.
Tweaking what you did slightly just to build how I read the comments and how I think it would fit in the world.
CN Female Themeless Human Mindbreaker Mystic 1 from Eox I would go themeless because I don't see a kid knowing much about the criminal underground.
Str - 10 Dex - 16 Con - 11 Int - 10 Wis - 16 Cha - 10 Being a melee fighter with no dex is basically a death wish in my opinion. Plus witht he baton you can use your dex to hit. OP said Pipe in the comments.
HP: 10 SP: 6 RP: 4
KAC: 15 EAC: 14 with Mobility +4 while moving. BAB: 0
Saves(F/R/W): 0/3/5
Init: +3
Attack: Baton, tactical (1d4+0(B)) Again, You get to use your dex mod with this weapon and OP mentioned using improvised weapons.
Languages: Eoxian, Common
Feats: Extra Resolve (+2 RP) or Fleet ( +10ft move speed) or Mystic Strike (Just in case)
Skills (7): Bluff +4, Disguise (0)+12, Intimidate +4, Mysticism +7, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Sleight of Hand +4, Survival +7
Spells Known(4/2): 0th-Daze, Fatigue, Telekinetic Projectile, Telepathic Message; 1st-Mind Thrust 1, Disguise Self, Fear;
Spells/Day(0th/1st): */3
Equipment(#/1000): Baton, tactical (#), Second Skin (250), Vocal Modulator (125), 2x Serum of Healing Mk 1 (50 ea), Industrial Backpack (25), Everyday Clothing (1), 10x R2E (1 ea), Flashlight (1)All below is included above
Racial Abilities: +2 to any stat, +1 Skill/level, 4 HP, Bonus Feat-Mobility
Theme Abilities (1st): Themeless: I put the plus in Con, +1 class skill, Theme Knowledge
Class Abilities: 6 HP, 6+Con SP, 6+Int Skills, Light Armor Prof, Basic Melee Prof, Small Arms Prof, Connection-Mindbreaker, Connection Power-Share Pain, Connection Spell-Mind Thrust, Healing Touch (5hp), Mystic Spellcasting
Play how you want but spreading your character too thin makes you only kind of good at a bunch of things. You could be an okay character or deadly character. A couple levels in you'll want to redo your character because you're either dead or hardly hitting anything.
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If those bone weapons are operative why not go Thief Operative? Could be closer to Laura.
Backstory in an orphanage, kicked out because of weird spike claws coming out (Accidentally killing someone?). She is averse to using the spikes because of her past trauma with them, turns reclusive, asocial street urchin and steals to get by (Thief specialty).
Also works well with the spikes: "You can use Sleight of Hand to make a trick attack by concealing your weapons and motions."
The operatives trick attack could help keep the bone weapons relevant throughout character progression, but as she grows up she could diversify her weapon options.
She tries to steal from the party or something and one of the PCs catchers her and for some reason takes her in without knowing of her weird claw mutations.
That's how I'd play it!
Operative bone blades would range from 1d4 to 5d10. Though the price would range from $200-$775,000.
I would say Medium. Teenagers aren't that much different than adults. My teenage sister is taller than my wife for reference sake. Really up to you. The size doesn't really make a difference nowadays since Paizo changed it.
I did stats via the point pick, not rolled. I prefer not rolling stats, especially when making characters for the boards, but if your DM is having you roll, it could affect your options.
With the build I did, the character has 0 ranks in disguise, but the total bonus is (up to) +12. +10 from Disguise Self and +2 from the vocal modulator.
I was really trying to go with the character being on the run from whomever did experiments on her, hence the Outlaw Theme and that spell/item choice.
I think JetSetRadio is absolutely right about the dex being a better option for the character, mechanically, especially if you go with an operative weapon. I haven't actually played this game yet, but I suspect that her AC/low dex would be a death sentence long term w/out heavy armor proficiency.
But I saw her as someone using her "psychic powers" first and using melee as a backup, not a melee front liner. I just wanted her to hit hard when she hit (hence the strength and the heavy weapon). After JSR's comment, I'd probably switch what I wrote to their stat spread and change the heavy bone blade for the light one (which is Operative, but only does 1d4(S)) and change out Advanced Melee for either Mystic Strike or Mobility, but it would really depend on what kind of game my DM was running.
There is a listing of the various worlds and some details about them in the back of the book. I think it's chapter 12. It's the one titled 'setting' or something, right before the chapter on pathfinder legacy characters. I'd give you a page number, but I'm AFB. I'm guessing it's around 360, but now that I think about it, that's probably too low, maybe 400.
I went with Eox in part because I wanted an "in character" excuse to use the bone blade (to fill part of the X-23 likeness of the character). It's more likely she'd have access to the equipment (to some DMs) if she's from where it comes from.
Eox is ruled by Necrovites (technomancer liches) and other intelligent undead, but there are lots (relatively) of living creatures on the planet, including some of the original race (Elebrians) from before the cataclysm. Also, in the Gazateer for Eox, in AP3...
In order to avoid complications with Pact World law, only consenting adults are allowed to participate, or even live in the city where it happens. If children are born to residents, and they often are, they're taken to a completely different city where they're raised as wards of the state by the planetary 'government' of Eox.
That seemed like just the sort of system where, at least occasionally, a kid is 'adopted' by someone and some times bad things happen to them. The idea of some undead corporate research hack, taking a kid to test some cutting edge necrotech on, seemed an easy 'in' for the "hunted by powerful people" angle of the character, as described.
I like it! It's definitely a good side plot. I would be saying, "what is this kid doing here?"
I will bring up one thing that has been brought up and multiple threads. Weapon Focus and Multiple Weapon Fighting kind of do the same thing and kind of don't. If you plan on fighting with two basic melee weapons I would go with weapon focus. It gives you a +1 even if you don't full attack. If you plan on doing a small arms/basic melee then keep the multiweapon feat. If you read both texts you'll see what I mean.
More people need to make threads like these!
Overall, a very good job. Fits what you want, and I think it would be fun to play.
Full disclosure: I have (at this point) decades of RPG experience and character optimization experience, but not for this game. I've only read the rules and tooled around on the boards for Starfinder. I haven't even played this game yet, and I'm probably going to start by running. I think the information below is informed, but I'm no expert, so take it with a grain of salt (or two).
2 (minor) critiques.
1-I really dislike using the Themeless theme for this character. I really dislike Themeless in general, but especially because I think Outlaw is a better fit for your background. Plus, since you picked Sleight of Hand as your skill and Wis as your bonus, it doesn't even change any of the above. Except that you also get a DC reduction on certain checks and get better abilities at 6 and 12. But that's just my opinion about the abilities. But, see my note about starship combat below before you decide to change it.
2-I think Multi-Weapon Fighting is a bad choice at 1st level. I might consider it later for an Operative, but at 1st, as a Mystic, I don't expect you'll actually be pulling off many full attacks. If you're looking for Offense, I'd go with Mystic Strike instead. If you're looking for Defense I'd go with Great Fortitude. I expect that the +0 Fort Save you're rocking is going to suck some time in the first or second game. Other options include Fleet (faster Movement), Combat Casting (better AC against AOO when casting), or Toughness (extra stamina).
This isn't a critique (my character above had the same problem), but I do want to reiterate that this character will be practically useless in starship combat. She can really only take like two of the Captain actions or be a meh gunner. I personally think that's totally fine and mostly fits your backstory, if that's what you want to play.
However, you may not like it, especially if your GM ends up doing a lot of it. As a suggestion for this, if you decide to stick with Themeless you may want to consider switching the sleight of hand skill to piloting, as that gives you more options for that part of the game. You could alternatively switch from themeless to Ace Pilot and have it work even better (and only have to change the skill). You can even fit learning piloting as part of her time in the pirate fleet.
I hope this all helps. Feel free to ignore me if it doesn't. I really hope you have fun. Dive in with both feet and enjoy the game.
1-I really dislike using the Themeless theme for this character. I really dislike Themeless in general, but especially because I think Outlaw is a better fit for your background. Plus, since you picked Sleight of Hand as your skill and Wis as your bonus, it doesn't even change any of the above. Except that you also get a DC reduction on certain checks and get better abilities at 6 and 12. But that's just my opinion about the abilities. /QUOTE]
I see you are really sticking to this but themeless is fine. Not every character is going to fit in the categories that they gave and that's why they made themeless. Looking at everything outlaw gives I am not seeing it.
1st- Reduce DC for knowledge checks about the criminal underworld. She's a kid.
6th - Your underworld contacts... She's a kid.
12th - black market connections... She's a kid.
etc... She's a kid.
Outlaw is for someone like Starlord or Han Solo. Her powers are secret so what underworld dealer is going to want to work with a "normal" 8-10 year old girl? Or the reverse someone recognizes her and says, "Isn't that the little girl who killed those pirates!?"...Combat Casting (better AC against AOO when casting).Combat casting requires 2nd lvl casting which you get at lvl4.
To answer the starship combat question I found this on the boards.
Call the shields magic and let them do a mystic check (equivalent to the engineering) to "restore" them. If this is a home game just reflavor stuff, so they feel usefull. Exo ships are a combination of magic and technology. So much so that to get information from a computer in into the unknown you can use a mystic or computer check to get itSeems like a good fix to me. No DM wants a player being board in the game. I could totally see character floating/meditating while redirecting the shields.
She's a kid.
Um... She's not a kid. She's at least 20 by the description in the list. She stopped physically aging at the age of 9. So she's in a kid's body but, according to the background list, she spent "Over a decade" being the slave of/working with pirates. Now she's on the run from the surviving pirates, the scientists that made her, and presumably any law officials that associated her with that pirate fleet. She has PTSD and probably a host of psychological issues, and may have regressed emotionally, but she's an adult with a complicated history of exposure to a large swath of the criminal underworld.
Thematically, outlaw definitely fits and gives her the exact same thing as Themeless + Extra at first level.
Unless she somehow spent a decade+ in a pirate ship and never once learned anything about anyone around her, I can't see her NOT getting the DC reduction on 'information about the criminal underworld' at 1st level.
I get that Themeless is 'fine'. That's exactly what it's supposed to be, 'fine'. It's an okay pick for any character, and there are certainly a lot of characters that don't have a better option. But this one does.
EDIT: I think that reads a lot snarkier than I intended for it to sound in my head. I am trying to defend the rationale of my position, but I'm not trying to turn this into an argument, online no less. If that's how any of this was taken, please just ignore me.
Combat casting requires 2nd lvl casting which you get at lvl4.
Thank you for the correction. You're absolutely right.
Seems like a good fix to me. No DM wants a player being board in the game. I could totally see character floating/meditating while redirecting the shields.
Their DM's new to this. I was mostly trying to help in case it was something that they hadn't thought of as a problem yet. I agree that is an excellent suggestion for their DM if that becomes a problem. But if their DM doesn't want to make a houserule, I still contend it may be a good idea to adjust the character if starship combat is going to be a thing in their game. Though, honestly, living with not being good at some part of the game is part of the game, some times. If it's something that only comes up once in a blue moon, it probably doesn't matter.
She's a kid.Um... She's not a kid. She's at least 20 by the description in the list. She stopped physically aging at the age of 9. So she's in a kid's body but, according to the background list, she spent "Over a decade" being the slave of/working with pirates.
I saw that to be it doesn't matter. What matters is how old she looks. Example: So four people walk onto a ship and this 9 year jumps into the pilot seat and says "Buckle up!" I would be the first PC to say, "Get out of that seat!" "Nah man, I know how to fly." "I don't care what you think you can do, get out!"
EDIT: I think that reads a lot snarkier than I intended for it to sound in my head.
Snarkiness Forgiven. All good. We are all putting in our points in text.
I totally withdraw my contention about outlaw, I totally missed the part about her losing all of her memories. Sorry for wasting space.
I don't think it would require you changing the back story if you wanted to switch to outlaw.
A lot of people that get amnesia or other memory problems still have things that they remember, they just don't know how they remember them. That's especially true of the memory disorders that are primarily psychological. The memories are still there, they're just suppressed. The DC reduction for the recall knowledge could be any part of that. You know that guy is bad news or that other guy can get you a fake id, you just don't remember how you know that.
If it were my character, I'd take Outlaw and just play it that way. But I absolutely love the idea of playing the character that way. That's how I see her. It isn't mine, though, it's your's and there isn't a wrong way to play your character. If you prefer playing her as the completely lost person that has absolutely no idea what's going on, themeless is honestly more appropriate. I think you can certainly have fun either way, pick what you prefer.
Oh, and I'll spend months tweaking characters, trying to squeeze in every detail of minutia, even after I've been playing them for years. That's how they come alive for me. You're in good company.
At least, my mommy says that I'm good company...so I have that going for me, I guess.