This will be my first Starfinder game and I'm looking forward to it. So far in the parter we have an envoy, drone mechanic, and solarian or soldier. So I thought i'd try an operative. Standard attribute alottment.
Human
Spacefarer Operative (Explorer)
St 10
Dx 16
Con 12
Int 11
Wis 14
Cha 10
Basic concept is a freelance troubleshooter on frontier and remote outposts.
Just wondering if i've made an missteps or is this is a serviceable character.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
P.S. Avoid spoilers if at all possible.
Personally I think I'd move a bit of either wisdom or con to dex. 16 stat characters are typically just fine, but operatives get a lot of mileage out of dex.
I would look ahead at feats with a stat requirement of 13 or 15 and put your odd ability score there if one of those interests you. If not then it doesn't matter too much where it goes.
For skills, as mentioned survival is probably your best choice for trick attacking, take that. You are also likely to be the best pilot, might as well max that out too. Engineering and computers are also pretty common rolls to see, so probably put something there.
I don't see skills on this list! I recommend that all four of you build with ship combat in mind -- preferably two different roles. It's hard to go wrong with an operative. Culture and Survival are decent skills with the explorer. What theme are you going with?
Hmm
I was thinking spacefarer as it goes with the journeyman concept.
|
That looks like a good spread on stats but truth be told you may wish you put those 2 points from Con into Dex for the AC and to-hit advantage it gives you at low levels especially if you don't take Weapon Focus.
Other than that if you have access to SF Armory the Gadgeteer Spec would fit well with your character idea with Engineering and Slight of hand for your Spec Skills and the Utility Belt at level 5 is one of Abilities in print for Starfinder to date. You'll always have the right tool for the job as long as that tool has L bulk or less, costs less than 5k credits (More as you level up) and is available at Ilevel 3 or lower.
Food for thought:
You could end up overlapping a lot with the mechanic. Now that may be ok, or it may not. Some games/groups of players like it when everyone has a lane and stays in it. Others don't care. Think about what kind of group yours is. If you need to be a little distinct, talk to the mechanic and see if you can't figure out what he envisioned specializing in, and what you can.
Second, you have a lot of combat power in that mix, and a fair bit of skills coverage. What I don't see is any spellcasting. If you want something more distinct, you might consider technomancer or mystic. I'm not saying you *should* or you *must*, just noting the fact that the group will be missing a set of resources that spellcasting brings.
Whatever you do, make sure you think about your role in ship combat. Mystics and solarians have some challenges there particularly.
Overall, operatives are pretty hard to screw up. As others have said, you'll be fine with the build as is. If you're genuinely looking for improvements...
I'd move 2 from Wis to Dex and start with an 18. Dex will govern essentially all the important stuff, except trick attack skill checks, for your character (and for those, you get a +4 to the roll as if you had an 18 wis anyway).
If it were me, I'd probably switch races to Goblin, as they make fantastic Explorer Operatives (+2 to Survival and Stealth) and also give you an automatic boost to one of the starship combat roles (Engineer), as well as Darkvision, better speed, the goblin language for free (humans get no bonus languages) and the ability to temp repair broken items. Plus, you'd be prettier.
You didn't mention your level 1 feat(s), or skills.
For feats, I'd recommend taking Weapon Focus Small Arms. It will be useful your entire career as an operative. Don't fall into the longarm/sniper trap, unless you're really comfortable you know what you're doing (and even then, it's still a trap).
For skills, it's important in any AP to have every skill covered throughout the group, preferably with at least one back up/assist player. Operatives have this easy, luckily, and Spacefarers get a boost on top of that for any untrained skills at 6. I recommend keeping piloting maxed out (even if you're not the pilot, you can use it for gunnery checks, and be the best gunner on the ship). I also recommend maxing out perception ranks and culture (for languages). Beyond that, I recommend taking at least 1 rank in any of the 'trained only' class skills you can afford before taking ranks in non-'trained only' class skills. Really, though, you'll have enough ranks to throw around that you almost can't go wrong.
|
Looks fine. Having played through dead suns already I can offer some very very light spoiler-ey stuff, but this character would most certainly be fine for dead suns. No problems from a character concept standpoint.
If you want some ideas on tweaking your concept, you could boost your explorer abilities a bit by being a wild warden or bounty hunter (both get bonuses to survival), and you could also be a Daimia Lashunta and choose to get the racial +2 to survival. Just some food for thought. A wild Warden even fits with your character concept if you are always running off to distant not-often-explored planets teeming with wildlife.
I also almost always suggest Operatives start with 18 dex (the only class I think that should start with an 18 in their primary stat, actually) but a 16 is serviceable.
Also, yes, starship combat comes up often, so you'll want to have a few rolls covered. Operatives can be good at almost everything but captaining, so I would recommend picking up piloting for gunnery and . . . well . . . piloting.
|
with the bonuses to stats at levels 5 + 10 AND the augments you can pick up, i've started to come to around to starting your key stat at 16.
that way you can max out the benefit of the attribute boost when it comes around, and have 2 extra points for secondary attributes.
that being said, again, it's a solid build. and the theme is super appropriate with many of the Dead Suns locations which you'll encounter.
you'll do great.
and, for my two cents, the THEME can be used as an additional min/max tool, but really, the benefits aren't enormous. it's really there to give mechanical flavor to your character fluff. you want your guy to be someone who assists frontier space colonies, then spacefarer is the way to go.
i miss my spacefarer ysoki technomancer... he started out Dead Suns so beautifully until he encountered the dread [CENSORED]
Thank you all very much for the good advice.
For feats I was leaning towards Weapon Focus: Small Arms, and possibly Skill Synergy to pick up Mysticism and Life Science as class skills. Though I was tempted to pick up the Trained Squox feat. Far from optimal i'm sure, but it fit the character concept and might be fun.
|
Unlike many other here, I think a 16 Dex is fine, it is a difference on +1. I like your feat selection (even the Squox). It is important to enjoy playing your character, so picking flavorful options is always a great idea. My only change would be to take the 2 you put in Con and put it in Intelligence. As an Operative, your best contribution is going to be having the skills that everyone else doesn't. Or, if someone botches their roll, you can either aid or roll as well. It is difficult to die in SF, and having a couple extra stamina points is not going to make a huge difference.
Again, great character build and concept. Enjoy Dead Suns!
|
|
Unlike many other here, I think a 16 Dex is fine, it is a difference on +1. I like your feat selection (even the Squox). It is important to enjoy playing your character, so picking flavorful options is always a great idea. My only change would be to take the 2 you put in Con and put it in Intelligence. As an Operative, your best contribution is going to be having the skills that everyone else doesn't. Or, if someone botches their roll, you can either aid or roll as well. It is difficult to die in SF, and having a couple extra stamina points is not going to make a huge difference.
Again, great character build and concept. Enjoy Dead Suns!
Starfinder makes it hard to die, but once you start on that death spiral (poison! resolve point trap!) then it's really hard to get out of that.
anyway, it's a good solid build. but keep your head down out there - it's a dangerous galaxy!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm still firmly in the "Start with an 18 dex as an operative, no matter what," crowd. While it's true that, at level one (and from 10-12), it's only a +1 bonus to hit vs the 16, a +1 difference is a much bigger deal in SF than in PF. Get 'em is a +1 bonus, and it's almost universally picked as the number 1 or number 2 Envoy Improv because that +1 matters, a lot. It also means getting hit 5% less often and succeeding on that evasion check 5% more often. It's a +1 to some of your most important skills, and an appreciable impact on starship combat (assuming you play the pilot or the gunner, the two most common Operative positions). Those all matter.
Moreover, it's 1 more RP per day from level 1-4 and from 10-12, when you'll need it most. That's 1 more short rest per day and 1 more round of being alive if you go down in a fight.
While a 16 dex operative isn't 'unplayable' (or even, necessarily, 'weak'), those two points generally don't have a better place to go. There isn't another ability score that will have as much impact as Dex will on your career.
For an operative (explorer), I'd probably go with:
10 Str
16 Dex
10 Con
13 Int
14 Wis
10 Cha
+2 Dex/Int/Wis/Cha at 5th to qualify for Connection Inkling and Technomantic Dabbler as quickly as possible
+2 Str/Dex/Con/Cha at 10th and 15th (and 20th)
18 Dex and 11 Int is also an option, but then you have to wait until 11th level (+2 Str/Dex/Int/Cha at 10th) to take Technomantic Dabbler.
Why are Connection Inkling and Technomantic Dabbler so important? Detect magic, mending, psychokinetic hand, and telepathic message at will (with both feats), plus detect thoughts, seeking shot, or wisp ally (pick one) and comprehend languages both one time per day for each 3 levels.
That's very interesting DC, I hadn't thought of going in that direction, but I like the jack of all trades aspect. My only concern would be in falling behind in Con and stamina.
That's very interesting DC, I hadn't thought of going in that direction, but I like the jack of all trades aspect. My only concern would be in falling behind in Con and stamina.
In my experience, as long as you fix your fort saves with feats/tricks, con isn't super important.
But... I'd think it's almost always more important than str or cha, so why not buff it?
For an operative (explorer), I'd probably go with:
10 Str
16 Dex
10 Con
13 Int
14 Wis
10 Cha
+2 Dex/Int/Wis/Cha at 5th to qualify for Connection Inkling and Technomantic Dabbler as quickly as possible
+2 Str/Dex/Con/Cha at 10th and 15th (and 20th)18 Dex and 11 Int is also an option, but then you have to wait until 11th level (+2 Str/Dex/Int/Cha at 10th) to take Technomantic Dabbler.
Why are Connection Inkling and Technomantic Dabbler so important? Detect magic, mending, psychokinetic hand, and telepathic message at will (with both feats), plus detect thoughts, seeking shot, or wisp ally (pick one) and comprehend languages both one time per day for each 3 levels.
Why are you hitting cha at all? con is probably more useful right? I'm also iffy on hitting connection inkling feats vs just taking tech dabbler and mundane feats that help out in combat and such.
Thanks for the tips and suggestions everyone, this is what i'm going with. I'll look to get a MK1 augment to up the INT asap.
M. Cord (CG) Human Spacefarer Operative (Explorer)
STR: 10
DEX: 16
CON: 11
INT: 12
WIS: 14
CHA: 10
Feats:
Skill Synergy (Life Sciences, Mysticism)
Weapn Focus Small Arms
Skills
Athletics 5
Computers 6
Culture 9
Life Science 6
Medicine 6
Mysticism 7
Perception 7
Physical Science 6
Piloting 8
Sense Motive 7
Stealth 8
Survival 10
Weapons
Knife, Survival
Semi Auto Tac Pistol
Armor
Second Skin w/ Infrared Sensors Upgrade (gives Darkvision 60')
Other Equipment
Small Arms Ammo (30)
Serum of Healing Mk1 (2)
55cr
Languages
Common, Castrovelian, Ysoki
As a general bit of advice, you can tell that some group is going to be a major antagonist and that they don't respond well to a lot of operative edges that require a certain type of save, so you may want to avoid those ones.
So far so good. The first combat went pretty well, hit 2 out of 4 attacks, and the misses were so terrible, a +1 wouldn'ta made a difference. Thanks again for the helpful tips.
The dice LOVE to make you land the trick and miss the hit or make the hit and miss the trick.
The dice LOVE to make you land the trick and miss the hit or make the hit and miss the trick.
Heh, yeah, I never failed the trick, but I missed two shots from abysmally low rolls.
|
|
The dice LOVE to make you land the trick and miss the hit or make the hit and miss the trick.Heh, yeah, I never failed the trick, but I missed two shots from abysmally low rolls.
you'll find that to be common.
do everything you can to bolster your to hit. you'll probably blow out the trick attack on the reg. but ultimately, if you want to do damage, you'll have to hit.
weapon focus is the best way.
I yoinked a laser pistol off one of the dead Kings gangers. I think i'm gonna stick with Operative for the whole way. Getting a MK 1 attribute bonus asap to qualify for Technomantic Dabbler as well as Connection Inkling.
I yoinked a laser pistol off one of the dead Kings gangers. I think i'm gonna stick with Operative for the whole way. Getting a MK 1 attribute bonus asap to qualify for Technomantic Dabbler as well as Connection Inkling.
I feel like you're competing with weapon focus, and survivability feats like iron will, great fort, and mobility.
Bump Dex, wis, con & int at level 5, get your first +2 upgrade in dex when you can afford it (soon btw), upgrade it later to the +4, around level 7 just grab the skill ranks to craft this stuff yourself when needed, and get the +2 in int around that time.
A few spells sound like a good idea, but in a couple levels they will be a far second in your combat action economy to just trick attacking again. And when you do grab something like supercharge weapon, you'll want to hit in order to make use of it, dex is king here.
Our envoy got us into the Downside Kings club with a massive Bluff check, the solder, envoy and myself made it into the back office with successful stealths, but the ysoki mechanic made enough racket to draw the securities attention. Fortunately she had a mouthful of smoke grenades and was able to keep them out of the office fight. The uplifted bear soldier tanked the Vesk while the envoy kept him full of healing potions. My operative just stayed to the back and trick attacked him down and when he dropped, the boss surrendered. We even stabilized the Vesk.
I was pilot in the necrocraft flight and though we got battered by the emp gun, we managed enough good rolls to take out her weapons systems and she was dead in the water.
On to the Drift Rock!
|
|
Our envoy got us into the Downside Kings club with a massive Bluff check, the solder, envoy and myself made it into the back office with successful stealths, but the ysoki mechanic made enough racket to draw the securities attention. Fortunately she had a mouthful of smoke grenades and was able to keep them out of the office fight. The uplifted bear soldier tanked the Vesk while the envoy kept him full of healing potions. My operative just stayed to the back and trick attacked him down and when he dropped, the boss surrendered. We even stabilized the Vesk.
I was pilot in the necrocraft flight and though we got battered by the emp gun, we managed enough good rolls to take out her weapons systems and she was dead in the water.
On to the Drift Rock!
stay on your toes!
Made it to 3rd after defeating the Galifanakis. Nobody dropped, we had a harder time with the azatas actually. Just have to pick a feat now...
So, a bit of a time gap between book 1 and book 2. With all the new stuff that's popped up in the interim, was wondering if anyone had any new suggestions for operative build?
Pretty much going the swiss army knife route. I still wanted to take connection inkling and technomantic dabbler feats. I just wasn't aware if any "mandatory" new feats or spells had come out recently.
Operatives are a pretty complete package right out of the box. The can perform solidly at most ranges and cover a lot of practical skills. The only thing I would say is somewhat mandatory is Weapon Focus (early on) and Versatile Focus (If you plan on using more than one type of weapon). Otherwise take things you find interesting, you'll be reliably good at combat and your skills.
Yes, Weapon Focus was my starting feat. I'll add Versatile to the wishlist, thanks all!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Stingbats hurt me. Hurt me bad.