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Hey, I had an idea! It seems like level 20 adventures are a little ways down the pipeline still, so after your characters finish an Adventure Path, you pretty much have to say goodbye to them, unless you go Metroid-style "your character just lost all their powers and start from level 1 again" each new adventure. Which can be a bit jarring. That got me thinking though.
Across media, heroes get their power levels adjusted for new stories all the time, even without the narrative specifically throwing them under the de-powering bus. Yet there's normally a nod to character progression - even if they aren't as powerful as this new villain, they at least have learned new techniques over their adventures they're able to use right off the bat. What if Starfinder introduced a system for veteran characters crossing over from other successful APs to develop horizontally as well as vertically from starting levels?
Basically this would mean access to more feats, or access to higher-level feats earlier, extra weapon proficiencies, dipping into alternate features of your class normally locked out with one path of progression (be both an Empath and a Mindbreaker Mystic, for example) - or other abilities - without going so far as to boost a character's combat ability to the point where conventional adventure paths no longer present a threat to them. Maybe think of the concept as the Prestige Mechanic, Prestige Technomancer, and so on?
This way, characters to go back to starting levels again without feeling like they've had character amnesia, and can explore level progression in different ways than before. It would also give them new ways to interact with adventure paths outside of expected power levels, while still retaining the same combat threat as before.
Would this work out? Would a level 5 Mystic with a few extra feats, weapon proficiencies and the abilities of both a Mindbreaker and an Empath break the way Adventure Paths work? Would it be an interesting option to explore?
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I don't know if it would break the way Adventure Paths work, but it would absolutely be interesting to see explored.