Will Saves


General Discussion


So I notice that every class in Starfinder has a good willpower save except the mechanic. Why is everyone in the galaxy strong willed except the guys fixing computers and robots. Seems like a few more classes should be weak in willpower saves.

Was this a conscious design decision? If so I would be interested what the reasoning was if there happen to be any creator types reading the boards. Just seems strange to have everyone innately strong willed.


Because someone had to draw the short straw/no one likes a bad will save. Generally if you ask people which save they'd be happy dumping it's not will.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16

Makes sense. If all your primary interactions are with machines, you're not that great with live confrontation. A lot of people in the tech industry aren't that great with face to face.


Mark Thomas 66 wrote:
Makes sense. If all your primary interactions are with machines, you're not that great with live confrontation. A lot of people in the tech industry aren't that great with face to face.

Couple of things.

First: I am not so much commenting on the fact that it is just mechanics so much as it is only a single character class that has this weakness.

Second: What you are referring too is Charisma and Diplomacy not willpower. Steve Jobs may have been an a$$ that had a hard time dealing with people and thier emotions but you can't say the dude didn't have the will to get stuff done.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16

Steve Jobs would be an exception whose high Wisdom compensated for his class deficiency, or had a feat that allowed him to use Int for his Will saves.

One could even say he was min-maxed (with Con being his low stat)


Well his diet lowered his con since he chose his diet it makes me wonder a little about his wisdom. That seems really off-topic i'll stop.


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Also, jobs wasn't a mechanic. Wozniac was his mechanic (and probably a lot of other people he duped like him). Jobs was an envoy pretending to be a mechanic.


Their's a whole rap battle about this and its surprisingly accurate.


But yeah, good or bad will is something that most every class could be argued to have or not have. It's a bit arbitrary, to be honest.


Ikiry0 wrote:
But yeah, good or bad will is something that most every class could be argued to have or not have. It's a bit arbitrary, to be honest.

To be fair, there are a lot of choices in the game design that seem arbitrary in the name of "balance".

I have no issue with the Mechanic having a lower Will save. I can see an argument for it as a narrow focus on technology makes the class less perceptive/willful as others just as easily as I can see an argument for the opposite. The narrow-mindedness is a common rational used with Wisdom penalty races which may have been the argument for the Mechanic. Or it could have just as easily been "Wait, we don't have a low Will save class... Pick one, Johnson!".

I'm still surprised the Soldier is not the low Will save class in this game, but I'm also pretty pleased the Fighter isn't hosed on that save for a change.


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Maybe because the mechanic either has a drone to do his combat interactions while he stays rifle-range away, or half a robot brain he can shunt some failed will-save-effects into?


Currently, the way they changed disease and poisons, Fort save is probably the one I really don't want to have low. and since a high con isn't AS necessary as it once was, a non-favored fort can really hurt.
who knew a DC 11 poison can hose half the party...

But really, all saves are important...when you need to make that save :-p

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