Our group consists mainly of veterans on D&D and Pathfinder. We decided to branch out to Starfinder and our first game was last night with the Dead Suns AP. We very much enjoyed the first session. Initial group is three but we've got between 1-3 more that will join us next session to round out the group.
Being this is a new game, it is all a 'getting to know you' thing.
I chose to play a Korasha Lashunta Dragonblood Solarian. He just hit level 2. Solar weapon is my manifestation. Upon hitting L2 I chose Plasma Sheath as my Revelation.
Stats are; S16, D12, I10, C10, W8, Ch17.
He's the face, Captain and front line melee guy. So I'm focused more on a tankish build. I have a Photon Shard for the Solar Weapon. That's giving me a +5 to-hit and +3/+1/+1 (when Photon attuned) for damage right now.
Skills are +8 in Diplomacy, bluff and intimidate.
I understand that as I level up I need to maintain a balance between Graviton and Photon.
Advice for this characters continued build would be appreciated. Focus is on DPR but buffs and debuffs also needed.
Current plan is along the lines of Photon crystals but open to suggestions on that.
Thank you.
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Get a Soulfire fusion for your weapon crystal. (Armory, page 65)
This fusion allows you to add your charisma modifier to your damage.
Also, instead of the Photon Shard, go for the Tauon crystal line from Pact Worlds. While this adds electricity damage to your Solar Weapon it enables you to deal non-lethal damage with it since it has the Stun special property.
Get a Soulfire fusion for your weapon crystal. (Armory, page 65)
This fusion allows you to add your charisma modifier to your damage.
Excellent, thank you! Had no idea about this add-on. That adds a really nice bump to damage. Very affordable as well.
Do you think the Tauon crystal line is going to be better than the Photon? That fire and crit/burn damage starts to get very attractive.
Question regarding Stellar Rush, per the description;
"As a standard action, you can wreathe yourself in stellar fire and make a charge without the penalties (see page 248).
When you are attuned or fully attuned, you can substitute a bull rush for the melee attack at the end of the charge. Whether or not you succeed at the bull rush, the target takes 2d6 fire damage (Reflex half). This damage increases by 1d6 at 6th level and every 2 levels thereafter."
A few questions. First, if I understand this correctly, you can make your normal move action and then do a charge with either a bull rush or melee attack at the end. Without the minus penalties to hit and to AC. Is that correct? Second question, the 2d6 damage from the wreath of fire you wrap yourself in, is that only if you bull rush or does it apply to a melee attack? Final question, is the stellar rush continue as long as your attuned/fully attuned? As in, does it do 2d6 damage to the opponent every round your attuned, or other opponents if you move on to someone else?
Thank you.
It's the stun ability that sold the Tauon line to me. It might be lower damage, but the ability to switch between non-lethal and lethal was worth more to me.
Thank you again, I will consider this option. :)
Question regarding Stellar Rush, per the description;
"As a standard action, you can wreathe yourself in stellar fire and make a charge without the penalties (see page 248).
When you are attuned or fully attuned, you can substitute a bull rush for the melee attack at the end of the charge. Whether or not you succeed at the bull rush, the target takes 2d6 fire damage (Reflex half). This damage increases by 1d6 at 6th level and every 2 levels thereafter."
A few questions. First, if I understand this correctly, you can make your normal move action and then do a charge with either a bull rush or melee attack at the end. Without the minus penalties to hit and to AC. Is that correct? Second question, the 2d6 damage from the wreath of fire you wrap yourself in, is that only if you bull rush or does it apply to a melee attack? Final question, is the stellar rush continue as long as your attuned/fully attuned? As in, does it do 2d6 damage to the opponent every round your attuned, or other opponents if you move on to someone else?
Thank you.
It is correct that stellar rush allows you to use a move action and then perform a charge, without penalties, as a standard action.
The fire damage is only if you choose to bull rush, instead of attack.
Stellar rush is a 1 time action. There is no continuing damage.
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A detail worth noting about stellar rush: it's a charge, and a charge is moving up to twice your speed. So it enables you to engage enemies at three times your speed distance (Move, then Stellar Rush). The charge part has to be in a straight line, but the move before that doesn't have to. So you can use the move to position yourself to have a clear charge lane.
Another trick you can use is engaging enemies with Stellar Rush, and then using your Move (as Guarded Step) action to back off again. That way the enemy can't respond with a full attack.
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Stats are; S16, D12, I10, C10, W8, Ch17.
This is a very workable statline. I'd recommend going for heavy armor though. It'll cost you a feat but makes the high strength and lackluster dexterity workable. Stellar Rush can help you work around the speed reduction imposed by the armor, as can a Mobility Enhancer.
I appreciate the advice everyone. And the answered questions. Very helpful and I think that Stellar Rush will be a better option for my lvl2 than Plasma Sheath which can be taken next time.
I took the recommendation and took a point of Ch and popped it into Dex.
As far as Sense Motive, I'll have to bump it up when applicable. The pluses in Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate led to the face assignment. Just worked out that way. I actually planned on the pilot spot but I had the highest pluses towards the Captain spot.
Stats are; S16, D12, I10, C10, W8, Ch17.This is a very workable statline. I'd recommend going for heavy armor though. It'll cost you a feat but makes the high strength and lackluster dexterity workable. Stellar Rush can help you work around the speed reduction imposed by the armor, as can a Mobility Enhancer.
Thank you, I did take heavy armor. Stellar Rush will definitely be of use considering the restriction on movement right now. Makes it a better choice than Plasma Sheath for this level. I'm only giving up a +1 damage at this point to gain speed and 2d6 so it's well worth it.
Thank you again everyone. Advice is definitely of value.
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Regarding keeping balance between photon and graviton, it really depends on your group playstyle and how much you value supernova or the other zenith revelations.
For instance, my SFS controller solarian is "going to the dark side" and taking graviton revelations almost exclusively. He goes into graviton mode for almost every combat and doesn't have much use for most solar abilities.
If you plan to use your zenith revelations in combat, or value the versatility of choosing either solar or graviton mode, you should keep your revelations in balance. But, it is not a hard requirement to do so.
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I find Stellar Rush to be much nicer than Plasma Sheath. Sure, extra damage is extra damage, but the action cost to activate Plasma Sheath is a thing. Much of the time, I want to be pushing forward, getting in people's faces. A warm-up sequence at the beginning of combat doesn't always fit in there. It's compounded by the fact that when you use Supernova, your attunement ends so Plasma Sheath would switch off again.
The solarian I currently play is an adroid with low charisma. I've basically decided to ignore Supernova, because the save DC will be bad anyway, and I don't want stuff switching off again that I spent actions to activate. As a result, I don't care about disproportionate tendencies towards photon; in fact, I haven't taken any graviton revelations at all so far. I switch on Corona and let them burn themselves trying to scratch me.
Not saying you should go that way. You have a good charisma, that makes Supernova a useful trick. I find that it's good to whittle down mooks that surround you while you're dealing with a boss.
But if you like Supernova, you'll get less value out of revelations that switch off when you lose your attunement. So that's also a mark against Plasma Sheath.
I think the next solarian I make (because yeah, they're fun to play) will be focused more on "fire and forget" stuff like Stellar Rush, fewer inhibitions towards using Supernova.
I’m really liking how my Solarian is shaping up. I think Stellar Rush is going to get a lot of use, getting me where I need to be quicker than before with the heavy armor restrictions. I’ve used super nova once so far and I liked it. The melee Solarian build here on the forum has been quite useful in giving direction, as has everyone’s input here. So again, thank you.
I find Stellar Rush to be much nicer than Plasma Sheath. Sure, extra damage is extra damage, but the action cost to activate Plasma Sheath is a thing. Much of the time, I want to be pushing forward, getting in people's faces. A warm-up sequence at the beginning of combat doesn't always fit in there. It's compounded by the fact that when you use Supernova, your attunement ends so Plasma Sheath would switch off again.
The solarian I currently play is an adroid with low charisma. I've basically decided to ignore Supernova, because the save DC will be bad anyway, and I don't want stuff switching off again that I spent actions to activate. As a result, I don't care about disproportionate tendencies towards photon; in fact, I haven't taken any graviton revelations at all so far. I switch on Corona and let them burn themselves trying to scratch me.
This is how I'm playing my Solarian as well, and not having to worry about Graviton stuff is really nice. I get all the shiny Photon powers I want, don't have to worry about Charisma (so I don't need the annoying Soulfire fusion), and I get ware more juice out of the actions spent buffing.
I'm not sure I would ever want to play a Solarian any other way. Cycling through attunements basically means buff revelations are a waste, so you only get the active ones, and the active ones just aren't exciting to me.
And combat just doesn't last long enough to expect that many zenith revelations, even if you have a balanced revelation load out.
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Oh, there's more than one way I'd want to play the solarian. But we need a couple more books' worth of content before the class really matures.
I'm really hoping for an option to turn your solar weapon into an Operative-property weapon so that you can go properly Dex-Light Armor/Cha-Soulfire and basically do the class it feels it was meant to be, rather than having to go Str-Heavy Armor. Because now the two choices seem to be between Str/Cha Heavy Armor/Soulfire, or dipping Soldier so that you can key Resolve off Strength and going Str/Dex/Con.
I'm basically doing the latter, taking advantage of androids having that nifty extra armor upgrade slot to have a boatload of armor upgrades giving me most resistances and zapping people who touch me. Also, androids' Construct bonuses vs. poison and mind-affecting stuff makes them very suitable for a melee role.
When talking about melee people tend to think of vesk, korasha and kasatha, but androids do it quite well.
A dex build as you described above would be interesting. And I agree, more in-line with how I think of a Solarian.