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Ladies, gentlemen, and conscientious objectors! It's time once again for the game of laser, phaser, masers and tazers, YOU BET YOUR LIFE!
We previously looked at the Mr. Sir for the playtest Envoy. The final version didn't end up fitting him quite as well, so it's nice getting a shot with a new class. Huzzah!
We'll go ahead and get started, and see how they stack up.
Rather than a Borai Human, we now have Corpsefolk Elebrian to work with- a much better fit! We'll want to make sure that a full, dedicated class outshines Elebrian's Performance-based abilities.
Character details:
He enjoys his work- he's a pretty messed up dude. But, he also thinks it's societally beneficial. He views the corporate culture as exploitative and soul-crushing, and views altruistic programs to help people out as insufficient. His show is an opportunity for just about anyone clever to get themselves fame and fortune. Even losing isn't necessarily a setback- if somebody is popular enough with the audience, they can get a crowd-funded resurrection.
He wears a recognizable outfit, a faded gray business suit with a faded orange sackcloth bag over his head with two eye-holes cut into it. Because of the nature of his work, he remains anonymous, staying in the outfit and going by "Mr. Sir" even off work. Despite this, he never acts in-character outside the show, even jokingly. Eox has enough of a bad reputation that it's important to make it clear that the character portrayed in the game show is just for entertainment.
1st:
Since Mr. Sir is a deadly game show host, the platform is obviously Contest, getting us Dark Sarcasm, robust (but unconvincing) props that can be interacted with, the Society skill, and Star Contestant.
Dark Sarcasm gets us free swaps to the Irony role, which will probably be trading -2 Reflex for +2 Fortitude- usually a bad idea in Starfinder combat, but thematically useful in select cases. We also get the ability to Recall Knowledge with Performance against any Irony-selected enemy. That's essentially a two-action cost (one to assign, one to Recall Knowledge), but it is an excellent thematic fit that is useful outside fights. We will want to be able to get off of irony on Mr. Sir easily, since reflex penalties can be dangerous in Starfinder, so we'll grab Menacing Presence. Getting to Demoralize with Performance is very on brand, and even if we rarely crit, the Horror role fits well. Great thematics, although Envoy has us beat functionally with double skill advances.
For Elebrian, we can get an Advanced weapon (Prop Closet), or we can get a once-a-day Perform-to-recall-knowledge (and instead of Lore- possibly lower DC?) which saves us an action, plus has good follow-ons. We might grab that, for cases where we want a different enemy role, can't spare the action, or can't have ourselves spotlit.
Oh, and Star Contestant! Let's look at that... +1 status bonus (and +2 at 11th level) on the next attempt after failing an attempt. That works on attacks, which is nice, although not quite up to Envoy standards for attacks (and no stacking). Not bad, and definitely thematic.
2nd:
Moving on to second level, we're going to be keeping an eye out for efficient ways to Recall Knowledge or to Cast Role on enemies.
There's Cutaway Shot, but that's no good for our purposes- waiting until an enemy crits is no time to be giving ourselves a bonus to Recall Knowledge! Dazzling Performance doesn't fit his vibe, and he'll be shooting from range rather than getting up into close quarters. He doesn't have a familiar, so no Hardlight Familiar. (Note- does re-forming a familiar allow making it again when it has no HP?) Match Cut gives temporary dual-spotlight, although with little control about where it ends up, so that's an option to keep Horror role, easily switch roles- BUT none of the roles will lower the target's AC, so there's not much point in giving them a temporary role. Scene Transition is... not a great deal. If we need to cast a role, move, and we have somehow dropped our spotlight from bouncing around, then this saves us an action.
Not very good options here, I'm afraid! Almost certainly grabbing Envoy dedication instead of anything here.
3rd:
We get Performance to Initiative, and we can set a spotlight as a reaction- making Scene Transition really useless.
4th:
All right, let's go take a look at fourth level and see what we've got. Blooper needs an enemy in the spotlight, but is worth considering- punish attacking repeatedly. Character Acting Support is a free action for an ally once every ten minutes- not bad, and more reliable. Hardlight Squib is one that relies on an enemy in the spotlight being crit, buuut that does work with Match Cut, and is very on-brand. Method Acting Substitution should probably work on Performance checks to Impersonate too? Not something for Mr. Sir, unless I want to focus on avoiding emotion effects- other feats at this level fit better.
For the playtest, since I don't want to take things from other classes, we'll retroactively grab Match Cut and take Hardlight Squib to play up his rare crits (Dexterity secondary means -1 to hit at half the levels, after all).
... Wait, I forgot to look up the Cameo Appearance focus spell!
Yeah, scratch that. Hardlight Squib may fit, but a focus spell Illusory Creature that can't be disbelieved? Even better- especially since it can be a body double. It's one action, uses performance to impersonate, and gets a free role plus spotlight- This is the new main feature of the class for me. (The class having a lower spell attack modifier likely helps balance this out a little.) We'll go back to not knowing what to do with level 2, but I no longer feel bad about it.
(As a fun thing, this is a very thematic option to pick up via archetype for the only Cha-based caster, Witchwarper. The Witchwarper being better at making body-doubles than the original class is actually on-theme because the Witchwarper is pulling them from another reality!)
5th:
From Elebrian, we're going to follow up with Role Repetoire. Once an hour, we can roll knowledge using Performance without spending the extra action(s), and it's about anything, not just somebody we can see. Dark Sarcasm is looking worse for wear.
6th:
Well, I'm pretty happy after fourth level. Let's go take a look again... Contrasting Chiaroscuro is just... too situational, and not for Mr. Sir. Fourth Wall is fun, and he does probably have experience getting people to keep performing even after they realize they're going to die (gotta get that crowd-funded resurrection!). Don't need Multifaceted Talent, because Mr. Sir already has the two thematically appropriate role feats. On the Air is very funny, but I think I'm fine with Mr. Sir just shooting things and having tools to traverse gaps. Sculpt Hardlight... hmmm. I do like him being able to set up hardlight obstacle courses, but the lack of deathtraps means it's not quite his style. Probably a better fit than Fourth Wall.
Oh, right, I skipped over Multi-Platform Luminary. Don't need that, and it doesn't give the subclass' modification to props, which is the more interesting part.
8th:
As a focus-caster whose features don't seem to be doing much (I've got... an extra crit effect and the ability to adjust lopsided saves towards balanced? The ability to boost one ally's AC if I'm I have a good reason to have my asexual deadly game show host cast them in a romantic role?), I'm surprised that it costs feats to get the additional subclass focus spells.
Advanced Stagecraft gives us a thematic wheel, but we do already have three focus points, it costs actions, and is unreliable on its outcomes. It's two actions to cast, one action for each use (plus potentially one action to move over), and even the jackpot is just a +1 status that... Envoy or a caster could be giving out since level 1? Woof. This is a flavor-only pick or a weird out-of-combat healing mini-game. I'd suggest making this one action at the very least, so that the actual action cost for the party is two actions to maybe get a weak buff, with the option to spend more actions across the party.
Adoring Fans is... uh, a small bit of difficult terrain so long as you keep the spotlight off enemies? Definitely not taking that.
Trope Deconstruction is interesting- getting +2 reflex at the cost of -2 fortitude is a good deal in many combats, and being able to further penalize a weak save is useful against enemies. Being able to flip Romance to make it a bonus to attack and damage gives us a very nice offensive option. This feels like a great pick to make Mr. Sir's class features really do something.
Sponsored Ad Break is a delight and flavor win. I'm guessing it's intentional to restrict the spell gems to the rare single-action spells? I'm still going with Trope Deconstruction, but this makes it feel like I'm not being pressured into it from lack of alternative.
9th:
For our ancestry feat, we definitely want Prototype Electroencephalon. Negate crits occasionally as reactions? Don't mind if I do! We also get Envoy's personal damage boost.
10th:
Stagehand is... well, it's fun, but the degradation on move is rough (never mind, I assumed the usual degrade-to-concealed, but it's to hidden instead) (if you Sneak, can you still stealth to remain undetected?), and the twenty-four hour immunity is very nasty. I would be iffy on it normally, but, using it personally alongside Illusory Creature to fully replace Mr. Sir with a body double is definitely worth building for. I have an Illusionist Wizard who does this sort of combo, and this is a fun way to do it. Wait... hang on. Can we actually maintain the spotlight for that by spending an action every round? It ends if we started last turn with it... *sighs* GM permission to use the exploration activity version of it alongside a conversation, I guess?
Costume Wardrobe is nice- resistance 10 or 11 to one damage type, flexibly changed? I like that. Stagehand still fits better here, but Costume Wardrobe is under consideration, and may be a future pick.
Quiet on the Set is neat, but not a good fit for Mr. Sir.
Stage Fright is an excellent addition, and is another future consideration.
Two-Point Lighting is nice, but I feel like it needs the 10th level roles to be especially useful.
12th:
See previous note about subclass focus spells behind feats.
Summon a Friend is a reroll with a bonus, but you need to commit prep and a second focus point if you want it to work on crit-fails. Worth considering, feels worth the feat and actions, unlike the wheel.
Hot Set is our first deathtrap-like option, but the three action cost means we need to set up beforehand, and the positioning is rough. Start every combat by spotlighting an enemy, and blow up? Probably not beating focus point rerolls or another level 10 role.
Prismatic Reflect is funnn. Do I know how an undead guy in a shabby suit can do that? I'll think about it...
Wipe Transition is an occasional teleport to another creature. Would be worth it for melee, but... nope.
Do we grab the reroll, Costume Wardrobe, or Stage Fight? I think that depends on the group and game. They all fit fine.
13:
We get a spare reaction, and Elebrian is generously giving us the ability to substitute Performance for any skill once per hour. That's definitely starting to outshine the class a bit for out-of-combat stuff.
14:
Cut the Signal is a good counteract check for... three actions on demand, or two actions with planning. Useful on allies and enemies, but not area spells. Worth considering.
Focused Rehearsal makes spamming our spells cost less downtime.
Jump Scare is... hmm, a 14th level feat to Demoralize at range and ignoring temp immunity, but only spotlight target? Ehhh, maybe.
Take Five is Incapacitation, so sadly not something I'd want to take.
I think I'd actually grab Cut the Signal, just to have a new tool in his kit.
16:
Break a Leg feels like the sort of taunting that Mr. Sir should be doing. Good option.
Chewing the Scenery is 1/day and a bit redundant, so not that.
Cross-Platform Synergy isn't something Mr. Sir qualifies for.
Break A Leg or Focused Rehearsal.
17:
Ascending Necrovite from Elebrian. It's nice to move from Corpsefolk to the big leagues!
18:
Clear the Frame is a more conditional version of Prototype Electroencephalon, so nope.
Spell Reflection isn't something we qualify for.
Witty One-Liner is an emergency focus point with a spotlight reset. Sure, that's fine- it lets us spend more freely.
19:
We get an extra spotlight. Yay!
20:
Perma-quickened option doesn't include strike, and unlike all the other Starfinder capstone, it's quickened instead of a free action? I dunno.
That, or "any one 8th-rank or lower occult spell".
Weak ending on the capstones- probably the perma-quicken. I'd want at least two occult spells per day to feel good about the other one.
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So, how does this stack up? Well, Mr. Sir is a bit more tricksy than his Envoy counterpart, able to make a body double and... kind of go invisible. He can make... block obstacle courses, kinda? In combat, he eventually gets the same bonus damage (but not at the lower levels where it makes a big difference), can eventually give a status bonus to attack an enemy, but has options like doubling down on a weak save.
The thematics are a better fit, but this one is definitely not as well-rounded when it comes to skills. Elebrian helps at 13th an onward, and gets more out of the scaling Performance.
Things that would be nice to improve (playtesting may change my mind):
- The base feature doesn't seem to be doing much on its own, and there isn't much else on the chassis.
- Level 2 and level 20 both don't feel good for feats, and those are some levels that should feel good.
- The Romance role feels like one of the better ones available, while also being potentially the least comfortable to hand out.
- The action economy to use Dark Sarcasm is rough without any action compression on Recall Knowledge, and you have to mess with your saves to use it.
- Trope Deconstruction fixes a lot about the class, and I'd consider it must-take.
The strongest selling point of the class for me is the Illusory Creature focus spell.
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No joke, I literally thought 'this is the PERFECT Mr Sir" class today! I'm so glad to see his return.
Deeply honored for him to be remembered! This version is much more of a focus on "show-runner" than a lot of other versions, where he comes across as somebody with combat experience working in showbiz.
I do personally like the Wheel spell. It has a 5/6 chance of being something useful. The damage and healing are both good for 1 action, the various buffs are good too.
1-Penalty is bad. The Star Contestant only has a 1/36 chance of getting this though, so...
2-It's True Strike. Use it or lose it, but it's good.
3-Explosion for a d8 per spell rank is a good use of an action.
4-This one's odd, because it kind of feels like it's just a free spin next turn. Not impressive.
5-Healing a d8 per rank is just Heal. And for one action, like Heal. But it can also overheal.
6-Heroism. It's Heroism. And then it becomes pick your favorite (2, 3, or 5 as needed).The fact that the Star Contestants gets to spin twice and pick their result means they should, most of the time, be able to do a lot of work with their third action each turn... as long as they can do their turn from next to the wheel.
The three actions and two focus points to set up really bugged me on it, along with the fact that anyone who wants to spin needs extra arms or to downgrade their weapon from two-handed to one.
I think what I was missing was that Star Contestant isn't just letting one party member spin with advantage.
Depending on level, you get two to three party members clustered around where the table will go. They either need spare non-primary hands, or are only using a one-handed weapon. First turn, spend three actions to Star Contestant on whoever comes last in initiative and drop the table in the middle- everyone else in the group holds initiative until after the star contestant. Star contestant spins and then does their turn. Next person gets Spotlight Focus to move Star Contestant to them, and does the same. Next round, any part of the group that doesn't have Star Contestant will hold their turn until the star has spun.
Once I picture ripping the spotlight focus spell through a chunk of the party every turn to weight the spins, the spell makes more sense. All that setup to give one person short-duration Heroism doesn't make sense, but if you can realistically give it to two people, that checks out.
I don't know if I can swap out Trope Deconstruction with how much the class needs it. At tenth, we're getting our invisibility source for hiding with a body-double. We can look at a Tactical Cloaking Skin instead, since three ten-minute chunks is better for what we need.
Thanks- I wanted to like the Big Spinny Wheel Spell, and now I can.
Bonus: Since it's hardlight, I think most GMs will let your guest star cameo spin it too.
Squggit, in another thread was wondering what a luminary…does each turn. A level 1-20 build shows what Mr Sir…is but what does Mr Sir…do?
Squggit, in another thread was wondering what a luminary…does each turn. A level 1-20 build shows what Mr Sir…is but what does Mr Sir…do?
Martial accuracy plus his illusory body-double getting two attacks on a separate MAP track is the main thing, along with Trope Deconstruction to debuff saves be a Get 'Em equivalent. Important knowledge checks using Performance, mostly thanks to his ancestry rather than the class. He can also set up terrain block obstacle courses to wall off enemies and split them up.
It's pretty focus-point heavy, wanting two or three per fight. If he's ever left without focus points, he's in a sad state of just giving minor debuffs to support others and shooting with a small bit of bonus damage if it's after 9th level.
4-This one's odd, because it kind of feels like it's just a free spin next turn. Not impressive.
This is actually fairly decent, it's a sidegrade to Haste.
"It can use the extra action each round for only move actions or to Interact to spin the wheel."
You can just keep the full minute of extra Move actions. No Strikes, but also not limited to Strides.
Next person gets Spotlight Focus to move Star Contestant to them,
I don't think you can do this.
"You Set a Spotlight on the target that doesn’t move from that target. The target gains the star contestant role for the duration of the spell, in addition to their normally assigned role."
All of the 1st level platform stagecraft spells have this language. They give you a second spotlight that (1) sticks for a whole minute, (2) grants a unique role on top of your existing one, and (3) can't be moved.
In any case moving the spotlight, even if you could do it, wouldn't move the Role. The spell grants the role when cast to the specific target, and doesn't add it to your Cast Role list for subsequent additions.
Next person gets Spotlight Focus to move Star Contestant to them,I don't think you can do this.
"You Set a Spotlight on the target that doesn’t move from that target. The target gains the star contestant role for the duration of the spell, in addition to their normally assigned role."
All of the 1st level platform stagecraft spells have this language. They give you a second spotlight that (1) sticks for a whole minute, (2) grants a unique role on top of your existing one, and (3) can't be moved.
In any case moving the spotlight, even if you could do it, wouldn't move the Role. The spell grants the role when cast to the specific target, and doesn't add it to your Cast Role list for subsequent additions.
"Special You can Set a Spotlight of an ongoing stagecraft spell with Spotlight Focus, moving it from one creature to another."
Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me, even if the spell's wording is confusing.
That still wouldn't move the role, which would stick to the original target. You'd just have a second spotlight that doesn't expire if you leave it be in on the new character. Whoever has the special role from the spotlight spell would stop benefiting from it until a spotlight was shifted back onto them.
That still wouldn't move the role, which would stick to the original target. You'd just have a second spotlight that doesn't expire if you leave it be in on the new character. Whoever has the special role from the spotlight spell would stop benefiting from it until a spotlight was shifted back onto them.
I'm taking the antecedent of "it" to be the spell, but I guess that's less cut-and-dry.
I'll be playtesting Mr. Sir at level 3 this weekend. We had to pick between level 3 and 4, and went with the former because it feels like a better playtest of the class' mechanics to not have those level 4 feats giving an additional focus spell option to lean on.
Somebody pointed out that Cutaway Shot triggers on somebody rolling a crit, so you should be able to use it to shove the spotlight onto somebody and make sure they have the Horror or Epic role for the crit effect in time to work, so that will be our second-level feat.
I will be doing my best to keep track of when the spotlight makes a difference (i.e. changes an outcome).
Note: While I'm playing Elebrian, I'm not going to grab proficiency with the Magnetar Rifle, because it feels like it warps testing too much to get a weapon that's so much stronger.
After playing Luminary at level 3, my overall impression was that it was functionally like not having any class features or class feats.
- My focus spell (Star Contestant) couldn't help out of combat because all the checks didn't have retries. It couldn't help in combat because the Rhythm Mystic had a much better focus spell to give +1 status to attack (and damage) to everyone. I used it to provide our healer with the Romance role for the full combat to discourage attacks on them.
- It's a lot of actions use Dark Sarcasm in combat, and needing to have the subject in 120 feet means I couldn't use it out of combat to prepare in advance. Using it in combat meant penalizing reflex against a bunch of enemies with grenades, which is what I learned from using it in combat. Getting the spotlight off my character ended up being the most important thing I did with the mobile spotlight.
- The critical hit roles didn't do anything, even with the ability to assign them reflexively. The Mystic-buffed Sniper Operative always killed on a crit, and the Mystic-buffed Soldier had a Magnetar Rifle so he also always killed on a crit.
- It felt like the only meaningful things I could do would be spend an action to give one target -1 reflex save against the Soldier's AoE attack, or give one ally the romance roll to make them harder to hit with non-AoE attacks.
- The Boost action on my weapon was more useful than anything the class could do with its actions.
- Tracking the spotlight was busy work and hard to do in a big fight with no visual aid.
- Hardlight Prop was used to block off windows more quickly (but less reliably) than moving crates, and for "#1 (Organization We're Talking To) Fan" mugs as a gag.
The most useful thing I got from the class was free advancement for Performance, which was used in an influence check, and the ability to use Performance for initiative.
At level 3, I would rather play a less thematic class that can do something more than shoot their gun.
---
What did this make me want?
- Luminary felt shockingly bland out of combat for what it is. I should be shining a spotlight on allies to always be rolling Aid using Performance, or on myself to get automatic circumstance bonuses.
- The class feels way too reliant on having an offensive-focused caster to use any of its stuff, and way too geared towards low enemy counts. Sure, -1 to Reflex helps Soldier, but only against one target of their AoE. I don't know how to fix that, but I wanted spotlight to feel like it made a difference. "Roll damage twice and take the better", "if damage is less than average, take average", something.
- As a Contest Luminary, I want to feel like I'm putting somebody on the spot! I want there to be a feeling of applying pressure, of upping the consequences for failure, of making somebody sweat for the entertainment of an audience. Instead, I felt like I was flicking light switches.
Sorry if that's all a bit dramatic. I guess some of it boils down to not being able personally benefit much from the roles.
Mr. Sir has nothing to target saves, except Demoralize, but he needs the spotlight on himself to do that with Performance. So even the costly ability to spend an action to lower the Demoralize DC by one isn't available to him.
Mr. Sir has a powerful -2 penalty to the highest save, at the expense of raising the lowest save. But in order to find out if it's a good idea to use that, he needs to set it up without knowing that, apply the same tradeoff to himself, and spend an action to roll a knowledge check.
Those both take a feat too. Without the benefit of feats, he can't really use the penalties he can apply. He's also only as likely to crit as the casters shooting their weapons are, so the crit abilities aren't great fits.
(He could go use an area weapon instead and apply the Comedy role to enemies, but that's the wrong mood and feels like a "should be playing Soldier instead" situation.)
Squggit, in another thread was wondering what a luminary…does each turn. A level 1-20 build shows what Mr Sir…is but what does Mr Sir…do?
And how did Mr Sir’s turns work in your level 3 playtest? As expected?
Squggit, in another thread was wondering what a luminary…does each turn. A level 1-20 build shows what Mr Sir…is but what does Mr Sir…do?And how did Mr Sir’s turns work in your level 3 playtest? As expected?
After the PaizoCon stream mentioned that they especially wanted to test out the core class features, I intentionally playtested it the level before I would get anything that I mentioned. I can safely say that the lower levels aren't bringing much before later feats add some interesting options.
I'll be playtesting a level 4 version later so that I can actually use that Illusory Creature option.