A lot of topics wind up bringing up skills and starships, particularly when talking about classes like the Mystic and Solarian (or the Operative on the opposite end of the spectrum). There wasn't really anything explicitly like starship combat in Pathfinder, so there was never really a need for every character to have skills. Since we have it though, I figured to look at some of the difficulty all in one place, and the hurdles some classes need to jump through. Going by role is easiest, so let's start.
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[U]Gunner[/U]
Easiest Classes: Soldier, Solarian
Gunner is the easiest and at the top. Soldier and Solarian basically get it free since Gunnery checks can go off BAB. Anyone else though, slip some points into Piloting and you're good. You don't need skill boosts like Skill Focus or class features. Just raw ranks and a Dex bonus, which with Heavy Armor Proficiency not coming baked in on most classes, many characters will have plenty of. Not much else to say so let's move on.
[U]Science Officer[/U]
Easiest Classes: Technomancer, Mechanic, Operative, Envoy
Alright, an easy one to slip into as it only requires Computers. All of the above classes get a bonus of +6 or more by max level in their kits (the Envoy needs to select it as an Expertise), and 2 of those classes use its ability score of Int as their key ability.
Playing the raw skill numbers game, only considering the class (some themes offer a +1 and races can apply up to a +2, but as they can apply to any class I will not be including them in my upper limit calculations) the Envoy can hit the highest by a good amount due to Expertise, and that gap is sturdy even if the Envoy isn't max Int. Most Technomancers and Mechanics will be a close 2nd due to their key ability score, however in the early levels a Hacker Operative will outshine them unless they invested in Skill Focus. The Exocortex Mechanic can retrain their Skill Focus free so they could start at that same level and change later, leaving them the more solid 2nd.
There is a problem with this however that will be discussed in more detail in the Captain section. I will mention it here that the DCs for this role are all very low, the highest being 10+1-1/2 ship tier.
[U]Engineer[/U]
Easiest Classes: Mechanic, Operative, Envoy
Alright, Engineer and Science Officer pretty much have the same high and low points in the skills race, just sub Computers with Engineering. Classes for the skills race have all the same qualities as Science Officer above so I'll skip to the biggest difference.
Higher DCs. The Patch and Quick Fix DCs are both 20+1-1/2 ship tier, and this slightly plays to the Engineers advantage. Again there will be more on why this matters in the Captain section.
[U]Pilot[/U]
Easiest Classes: Mystic, Operative
Pilot is the second hardest starhip role to really excel in. Because of Gunnry allowing for the use of BAB or Piloting, it doesn't hurt for multiple crew members to max out the skill and be adequate Pilots.
When it comes to being the best though, there's very few ways to actually get extra Piloting. The Ace Pilot theme is good for +1 and letting you sub half Piloting for other starship skills (which is more an aide for a potential Captain, but I'll address that later), the only two classes though are Operative because they get everything, and very specifically Star Shaman Mystics.
This isn't like the Hacker Operative earlier though, where it's just some early level disparity. Non Star Shamans don't even have Piloting as a class skill, let alone any boosts. The Star Shaman how ever will cap at a respectable +7, so optimized as compared to an Operative, they can outshine them. However, as Operatives key ability is Dexterity it is much less of an investment for them to be an optimal Pilot.
Pilot is also one of the only two roles that you can only have one of, so it is the only one immune to what will be talked about in the Captain section.
[U]Captain[/U]
Easiest Classes: Envoy, Operative
Other Mentions: Mystic, Solarian
This is the big one. And the one that needs the most... Attention, because it has problems. Problems that from a setting point I understand, but from a mechanics point is busted.
This is the hardest role to fill, and I'll try to break it down one step at a time, and then go into why there is an "other mentions" section on this one. Step one, the Captain role compared to all of the others having one (or in the Gunner's case, an option of two) has 6 associated skills. Diplomacy, Intimidate, Bluff, Computers, Engineering, and Piloting. There's a lot of illusion of choice, so rather than jump into classes, lets set the basis of the problem.
Starting with Encourage, there is an enormous illusion of choice. It's space Aid Another, where you can either use Diplomacy at DC 15, or whatever skill your crew member will use at DC 10, so either Computers, Engineering, Piloting, or Gunnery (so if you have BAB higher than Piloting, congrats). In theory, this would be peppering a few points to get those minimums, but like I said. Illusion of choice, caused by the following.
Moving Speech. This is a Diplomacy check aiming for DC 20+1-1/2 ship tier. Because of needing to try and hit that DC for the Captain's most powerful action, it would seem that you would be able to ignore the other Encourage choices. You need the Diplomacy anyway, so it's an illusion of choice. Diplomacy is better right, I can invest in just it and ignore the others? Wrong.
Now we have the other problem, and likely the biggest, Orders. This is he big one mentioned back in Science Officer. Orders is a DC 15+1-1/2 ships tier check, using the skill of whoever you want to give an extra action to. Computers for Science Officer, Engineering for Mechanic, Piloting for Pilot, and Gunnery for Gunner. As mentioned, the highest DC for a Science Officer is 10+1-1/2 ship tier, and is a role that can have multiple people, so there is never a reason to use this, if you need to hit DCs higher than the Science Officer needs to hit. The same technically applies to the Gunner, since 15+1-1/2 ship tier is going to be higher than pretty much any AC you'll have to hit. The Engineer has 2 actions higher, so if your Engineer is more optimized than you, and needs to do a Patch and a Quick Fix in one round then it's worthwhile, if not be a second Engineer is easier, worst case you fail the action anyway which is the same as it would be if you failed to give them the action. There is a mild exception, and that is if you have glitching systems, as the Captain would not be taking those penalties, however they cap at -4 so it is still never worth it for Science Officers. The last one though is unavoidable, and that's the Pilot. As mentioned above Piloting bonuses are hard to come by, and it's the only one other than Captain where you can't have multiple people. This makes Orders huge for the Pilot, and yet the hardest one to actually get the tools to help with.
Moving to the other side of the Captain's choice illusion is Taunt. Taunt is either Bluff or Intimidate at a DC 15+1-1/2 ship tier. Feels nice to have a choice again, except not because of their last ability.
Demand, an Intimidate check at the same DC of 15+1-1/2 ship tier... Leading to two abilities with the same scaling target DC. So even if you preferred Bluff, you can't really ignore Intimidate because like Encourage and Diplomacy, you actually need it for multiple things.
Alright, so choice illusion and fallacy aside, we can cut the Captain down to, in order to perform everything minimally effectively, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Engineering, and Piloting. 4 skills spread across 3 ability scores, Cha, Int, and Dex.
With that groundwork laid, we'll talk about the other mentions. The Solarian seems like it was built to be able to fill the Captain role. It gets both Diplomacy and Intimidate under the Photon Sidereal Influence, however, the other skills aren't even on their class list. Slightly rectified by Skill Adept giving them 2 class skills of choice, however then immediately undercut by 4+Int skills per level and heavy MAD. So if a Solarian invested into the main Captain skills, it would have no other skill points to invest each level, would have used it's two free class skills on Engineering and Piloting, and even then still wouldn't have comparable skill caps due to no extra bonuses (and as a Melee fighter has a hard time investing in Int with only Light Armor).
Next we'll look at the Mystic. In order to get their high numbers, much like with Pilot it's all about their Connection. Mindbreaker will get Bluff and Intimidate (though we showed Bluff is a bit of a trap), and Overlord will get Diplomacy and Intimidate. However, without Computers, Engineering, or Piloting on their class skills list, they'll need some outside investment from the Skill Synergy feat minimally. They thankfully get 6+Int skills, so they can spread them about better than the Solarian, and it's easier for them to invest some Int since it applies to their Mysticism, and they don't have the MAD nature of the Solarian.
So with the two closest runners requiring some heavy investment, let's look at our two easys. Envoy as is pointed out above, due to Expertise, can get nice hefty boosts to all of the major skills except Piloting (ironically the most valuable). The Operative gets the free Operative's Edge to everything, however they do lack Diplomacy as a class skill, so even the second best choice still requires some investment to get ahead, however they're the only one with Piloting boosts.
I did mention talking about Ace Pilot due to its main ability of using Piloting for all starship roles. It's cool, and sounds good, but unfortunately half your Piloting ranks will have trouble hitting the higher DCs, since they scale, and because it's ranks not full bonus, you still need the relevant ability score, and other bonuses like at least one rank for class skill bonus (if it's a class skill) and preferably an Insight bonus. So it would be most helpful on an Operative, but they are perhaps the class that needs it least with their 8+2+Int skill points.
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This more turned into a Captain rant, because it is single handedly the biggest issue in a system trying to let anyone do anything. Archtypes don't really contibute to skills at all, and Themes only add one skill to the class list not any extra points to help a Captain.
Thoughts? Am I overlooking anything? How can some of this skill race be fixed? Since starship combat involves a whole party, and is a big part of the game. Yet we have people preferring to skip it, and roles that require specific classes, or heavy investment to fill.
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Solarians are actually fairly mediocre gunners because they generally can't afford to have a high Dex, which is the lion's share of your gunnery bonus at early levels.
Similarly, Operatives are generally the best gunners because they have the points for Piloting and a very high Dex.
Solarians are actually fairly mediocre gunners because they generally can't afford to have a high Dex, which is the lion's share of your gunnery bonus at early levels.
Similarly, Operatives are generally the best gunners because they have the points for Piloting and a very high Dex.
Both correct for early levels, yes. I breezed over Gunners just due to the ease of fitting into the Gunner role.
However, looking at late, while Solarians can't afford the early Dex, over the course of leveling and getting their ability boosts, they do become respectable, and don't need the Piloting investment. Granted one Piloting rank is a drop in the bucket for an Operative. Even a Heavy Armor Solarian is gonna aim around +5 for their armor and +25 without any other investment is pretty nice.
Plus, I kinda had to at least give them their 2nd best option. Without any of the other skills boosted by Sidereal, they're there with the Mystic in terms of being harder to fit in a role.
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Anyone with a dex score should max out ranks in piloting.
Being a moderate gunner is easy but the gunnery is arguably the most important part of the fight. You don't want to dump private pile there just because he's worse at everything else. You may be better off with the dilbert principle and promoting him to captain and let the dex envoy with piloting ranks tank the guns
Reach of Empire #1 gives us mystical ship weapons.
When attempting a gunnery check with a mystical weapon, which is a hybrid device, a gunner can use ranks in Mysticism in place of her base attack bonus or ranks in Piloting, and her Wisdom modifier in place of her Dexterity modifier.