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Hi everyone! Hope you're doing well.
I create this topic to share my experience. As most returns of experience, it may not be much useful to some of you. Still, I've sometimes read here what I consider misconceptions and I want to address these questions.
The misconceptions I've read were roughly saying: "This is not Pathfinder, there are no more pure casters", "You need a sidearm with your Mystic/Technomancer", "Spells are just for crucial moments", and so on.
My SFS Mystic is level 9 now. I've played her through the 4 first parts of Dead Suns AP and a dozen of SFS adventures.
During her first 4 levels, I played her as a rationing spellcaster. I was keeping my spells for the crucial moments, using a sidearm when not casting. Combats were awful: my efficiency was close to nothing, I was nearly never casting spells (which was the reason I was playing a Mystic, after all). The culminating moment was the second part of Dead Suns when, after keeping my spells for this famous "crucial moment", it never happened... I finished the last adventuring day with half of my spell list.
It was either changing character or changing the way to play it.
From level 5 to 9, I played her as a full caster. To complement her spellcasting, she carries a dozen of Spell Gems of the highest level she can cast. Yes, quite a fortune.
A few things changed:
- I increased my spellcasting. Of course, I still cast spells reasonably, but I cast more of them (roughly 70% more). I generally end up with a completely exhausted spell list and don't freak out about it. I often use a Spell Gem, sometimes two, but an SFS adventure gives me back far more than what it costs me.
- I have a big buffer of spells available in my Spell Gems so, when combat becomes tense, I don't hesitate to cast like crazy. At the end of Dead Suns 4 there's a monster with a typo giving him a CR 15 AC. Our DM played it that way... I burnt 6 Spells Gems casting 7 third level spells in a row and saving the party from a TPK. These kind of moments are a blast and I lived 2 of them in 4 levels.
- I spent a lot in Spell Gems but I bought all the equipment I really needed without issues. After all, you need ability boost items and not much more. A decent armor, for the rare cases you are targeted (but it's not that often as you're not supposed to be in frontline).
To sum up: My fun increased, on average just a little bit, with a few spikes of blissful power. My efficiency is not comparable at all: I cast more spells and during critical moments I shine like a star. I would never go back to rationing spells.
If some of you are reluctant to play a pure caster Mystic or Technomancer due to its spell list limitations, you can jump in without hesitation. Just keep a bandolier of Spell Gems, and nothing can stop you.
And for DMs, if you have Mystics or Technomancers in your party, don't forget about Spell Gems. I find Spell Gems to be a very rare loot in official adventures, and it's in my opinion a big mistake: rationing Spell Gems is like rationing ammunitions, there is no fun in there. Spell Gems should be treated like Serums of Healing, giving some to your players every other fights (this is also a message to Paizo writing staff if you ever read this topic ;) ).
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Interesting. It's always nice to hear there's another way to play a character that also works :)
Thinking it over, this ties in with an idea I've had for a time: permanent weapons are also consumables. That level 1 laser pistol, that's going to look hopelessly obsolete at level 6? That's a consumable with a shelf life of at most 6 levels, probably much less.
So then it becomes a matter of figuring out which consumables are actually good. I see the mystic in our AP party having a good time with longarm guns, especially the plasma bolters that do a very respectable chunk of damage. She can go half-half with spells, doing whatever seems best in the situation.
But if you don't want to go 2-3 feats deep into longarms, and spend a lot of money on them, then spell gems also make sense.
I get the feeling that from the way you describe it, you don't actually burn through all that many gems, but having them in your pocket gives you the confidence to spend your own spells effectively.
Thinking it over, this ties in with an idea I've had for a time: permanent weapons are also consumables. That level 1 laser pistol, that's going to look hopelessly obsolete at level 6? That's a consumable with a shelf life of at most 6 levels, probably much less.
It's the first thought that made me try Spell Gems: in Starfinder, weapons and armor are consumables. Not use consumables, but time consumables. Realocating the amount of money I would spend on weapons to Spell Gems should not hurt much my character in the long term if I ever realize Spell Gems would be too expensive. I spent more than that in the end, but mostly because I was not buying anything else on the side.
I get the feeling that from the way you describe it, you don't actually burn through all that many gems, but having them in your pocket gives you the confidence to spend your own spells effectively.
That's it. Still, I use quite some of them. But I play an Overlord Mystic, I don't have any ability in combat besides Spell Gems (things like Spell Cache or Healing Channel gives you alternative actions or more spells). So most Mystics and all Technomancers should need less of them.
I agree that its possible to play a dedicated spellcaster in Starfinder. My SFS technomancer is a dedicated caster that has fired her backup weapon a number of times I can count on one hand. I keep a bevy of magic missile spell gems on hand in case she ends up hard pressed in a particular combat. But otherwise just the base spell allotment seems good enough to handle the two or three combat encounters per SFS scenario.
I've also come across quite a few other mystics and technomancers that are entirely or almost entirely casting-focused. It works fine.
Hello All,
We have a dedicated Technomancher in our group with all feats geared towards casting.
She unloads spells as needed, usually early in the combat with an area spell the soften up the enemy. She will hold back on casting or use energy ray and even her pistol when the fight looks to be going in the player's favor. She always has a little something left towards the end of the day, but also has run out of spells.
As was SB's experience, once she found the joy of spell gems her gaming life changed. She hasn't drawn her pistol in quite a while and has upped her casting prowess.
So I second SB's experience, a dedicated caster is more than possible in SF.
But otherwise just the base spell allotment seems good enough to handle the two or three combat encounters per SFS scenario.
As long as you only play SFS scenarios, it's true that the number of fights are limited, so is the need for Spell Gems. Still, tough fights often last 6-7 rounds. So there's a need for 5-6 Spell Gems to last all the fight without relying on low level spells.
From my experience, gemmed casters have roughly twice the impact of non gemmed casters in critical situations.As was SB's experience, once she found the joy of spell gems her gaming life changed. She hasn't drawn her pistol in quite a while and has upped her casting prowess.
That's it. There's really a before and after trying it.
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Seconded on spell gem utility.
While my Technomancer relies heavily on his sidearm, I have multiple characters that use spell gems via Technomantic Dabbler or Spellthrower fusions or seals (warning on the fusion: it's level 2, but buy and apply it to a level 4+ weapon to use level 1 spell gems... ain't that Frostbite-Class Zero Rifle a beaut?).
BNW posed the interesting question about fusions and grenades over a year ago, but I'll ignore that for the moment as I propose a thought experiment. Imagine a Shock Grenade, Mk 2 (650 Cr) with a Spellthrower Fusion (340 Cr) holding a Supercharge Weapon spell gem (140 Cr) for a total of 1130 Cr.
It's expensive and takes a full round action plus a standard action to throw, but the damage (though not the DC) is roughly equivalent to a 5,380 Credit Shock Grenade, Mk 3. And you can buy four of them at level 4 for less than a single level 10 Mk 3 (if your character is richer than mine!). Not bad!
Not sure how this would work in an AP. Even after murdermart WBL tends to be low and spending cash seems really tight.
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Not sure how this would work in an AP. Even after murdermart WBL tends to be low and spending cash seems really tight.
True.
Though in a campaign AP a crafting Mystic or Technomancer might argue for the "reduce to UPBs, then craft spell gems" route.Edit:
A Bombardier soldier might also get more "bang for the buck" to up his "free" grenades with a Spellthrower Fusion (340 Cr) holding a Supercharge Weapon spell gem (140 Cr), if the GM saw it as reasonable. Still pricey, but a step in the right direction.
Would you be better off long term with Spell Chips, with the reduced cost to recharge them?
You need to rebuy 10 times your Spell Chip to get to the same cost than 10 Spell Gems. You'll never use 10 times the same Spell Gem, so, no, Spell Chips are more expensive.
90% of the Spell Chip cost, aka 99% of the Spell Gem one.
Ah, missed that. Though there are still some spells that makes sense for.
If you need the bonus from the Spell Chip, yes. But if you don't need it, in my opinion, no. You'll very hardly recharge a Spell Chip more than 10 times during your whole adventuring life.
Certain bread-and-butter spells, you might - Magic Missile and Mystic Cure being stand-out examples. There are certain things you might reasonably find yourself casting a lot.
Yes, but remember that you need to recharge them. So, it's not a spell you may cast a lot, it's a spell you may cast a lot and would not need to cast more than once per adventure. Otherwise, you're better off with a few Spell Gems.
So, the perfect candidate is closer to Comprehend Languages.
I haven't played a caster focused character, but based on conversations I've had with people on the forum the secret is you let your weapons and armor lag a bit behind, and spend the extra cash on spell ampules gems.
This seems to match your observations as well.
It is however a bit unexpected, because without the gems there is a real problem of being scared to run out of spells to cast.
The power and utility of spell gems is certainly not to be underestimated. They alone make my Technomantic Dabbler feel like an actual dabbler.
I still wish we could get something similar to PF2 cantrips as a filler that's not as good as an at-level gun, but not a waste of an action.