Just starting out and I have a question...


Starfinder Society

Grand Lodge 4/5 *

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I am starting to get into Starfinder and thought I would play a little society but I have some questions. So for my first character only the races in the core book (including legacy) are available? I was looking at the addition resources and it does not mention anything about the races in Alien Archive 1, 2 or 3. Meaning I need a boon to play any other race? Just checking so many cool choices thought I would ask before start out :)

Wayfinders 5/5 5/55/55/5

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Hello new person Here have a pamphlet

Current races available are Core rulebook races (standard and legacy) and now Izzlegun (A giant ithorian tuar is the closest description i could give them)

Other races require a boon, either through convention dming or play. If you have a particular race you want, we can probably point you in the right direction. (although boon hunting is frowned on, so the answer might be "its out there somewhere to cough cough lookatthecovercoughcough)

5/55/5

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Izalguun are located in AA3 or here if you're curious.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

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Izalguuns shoot Izzleguns. Common misassociation.

Manifold Host 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

Yes, for your first character your options are core, legacy and Izalguun! But keep playing, because you never know when a new option might open up for future characters via chronicle.

I do think that core, legacy and izalguun is a nice subset of races with a number of cool options. Lashunta, Vesk, Ysoki and Dwarves have very nice starting packages for options with clear setting and story tie-ins. Izalguuns are nifty, and I would love to see one in play. I have loved my gnome, my elf and my shirren too! I am hoping that they sanction the race section of COM, so that you can have even more options with your CRB choices, and make it easier to fit any CRB race to any class.

Scarab Sages 4/5 5/5 **

Short answer: what everyone else said:

Bit longer answer: Look at the guide to organized play (I don’t have it on me ATM), but in there are rules for playing two flavors of Ghibrani (Bug people, separate from Shirren.). Though I think that requires a different character have some rep with one faction or another, so you couldn’t play it as your first character.

As others have mentioned, there are certain scenarios (at least three) that unlock other races in a few ways.

Attending sanctioned conventions can net you a race boon:

I don’t think it’s any secret that the one-shot with Pre-Gens (Skittershot) can net you a skittermander boon after a while of playing/GMing on a different character.

There used to be a boon for season 1 that could unlock Ryphorians OR Early stage Brathu that was a free download or something, dunno if that’s still going on, and it requires some play with a different character.

So, basically yes, either base races, legacy races, or Izzlguun for your first character (unless you have a convention boon), but after that, there are a myriad of options that open up if you play the right scenarios (or just, get Ghibrani from the guide to organized play.)

Liberty's Edge 3/5 5/5 **** Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha

VampByDay wrote:
Attending sanctioned conventions can net you a race boon.

Simply attending a sanctioned con is not generally enough. You need to volunteer to be a GM.

There are several adventures that grant race boons, both legacy and new.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

Vamp:
I still would have put Skittershot under a spoiler, but I think you are right that the cat is out of the bag with that one.

The Alien Archive Player boon that unlocked ryphorians and barathu is no longer available. Ghibrani is a capstone boon, so cannot be used for the first character, but it's available later.

The only other way to get an early boon is to GM SFS at a convention. As a four star PFS GM, you clearly have GMing experience! Out of curiosity, what races were you looking to play?

Hmm

PS Welcome to Starfinder. It's awesome!

5/5 5/55/55/5

Nefreet wrote:
Izalguuns shoot Izzleguns. Common misassociation.

Izlegoons?

Scarab Sages 4/5 5/5 **

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Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:
** spoiler omitted**

Hilary Moon Murphy:
It is a free download as is the chronicle sheet. Would argue there was no bag for the cat to get out of. Anyone can download the sheet and see it plain as day.
Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:
The only other way to get an early boon is to GM SFS at a convention. As a four star PFS GM, you clearly have GMing experience!

Thanks! Actually I have all the specials and tables I need for 5 stars, I just haven’t

Gotten a proper review. Going in for one end of next week, mostly for posterity. Wish me luck!

Addressing the OPs request for creatures:
Untrue that you need to GM at conventions to get a race boon. That is the EASIEST way, but there are also race boon auctions. And during the 2018 PAIZOCON Thurston was just walking around handing out Skittermander and SRO boons to people who told him interesting stories about their SFS characters. There are also a few other ways to nab race boons at conventions. Sometimes support staff will hand them out to volunteers who help tear down the convention, and I have a friend who has so many he just gives them away to new players to the cons he goes to, so GMing is not the only venue, just the most reliable.

But, like I said to the OP, play one character with one of the normal races, then start looking around.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

It is true that you can also get gifted a boon. Goodness knows that I give away more race boons than I actually use. But if you are just starting out in SFS, chances are really good that you're not going to get the race boon for your 1st character in any other way than by Convention GMing or outright gift. Though... I note the OP is a 4 star PFS GM, which might mean he can get something by trading in the boon forum.

Convention race boon giveaways are so rare that I didn't want to dangle it as a possibility for a new SFS player (even if he is a 4 star PFS GM.) It's like winning the lottery. It's nice when it happens, but don't make your plans around it.

You are correct though that working HQ for a convention is a GM equivalent. But it's usually more than just helping with take down. It also involves set up, mustering players to tables, helping newcomers find the right pregen, working the special, and assisting the convention. Most conventions have the same volunteer time requirement for working HQ as they do for GMing.

It's still true that if you want the boon for your 1st character, the most reliable way is convention GMing (or volunteering for a sufficient HQ slot, and verifying with convention staff that this is a GM equivalent in advance.)

Hmm

PS Good luck with your 5 star review!

4/5

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

It is true that you can also get gifted a boon. Goodness knows that I give away more race boons than I actually use. But if you are just starting out in SFS, chances are really good that you're not going to get the race boon for your 1st character in any other way than by Convention GMing or outright gift. Though... I note the OP is a 4 star PFS GM, which might mean he can get something by trading in the boon forum.

Convention race boon giveaways are so rare that I didn't want to dangle it as a possibility for a new SFS player (even if he is a 4 star PFS GM.) It's like winning the lottery. It's nice when it happens, but don't make your plans around it.

<snip>

Giveaways are rare, but they happen. I gave away a SFS GM race boon recently at a game day after asking the coordinator who GMs all the time but can't make it to conventions.

Scarab Sages 4/5 5/5 **

Hey all. As the Character Operations Manual just became legal for Starfinder play, I thought I'd draw everyone’s attention to something I noticed. There is seemingly no restriction on the use of the 'Xenometric Android' alternate race feature for the Androids. The operations manual, as far as I can tell, gives unrestricted access to the trait, which lets you make an android that looks like any of a number of races, and even gives you some of their racial features to boot!

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