Heavy Weapon / Armor Edge need revision

[Dracomicron]

This afternoon I'd like to discuss Heavy Armor Edge and Heavy Weapon Edge. These are 6th level Knacks for the Nanocyte.

Why?

It only costs 1 feat to get heavy armor proficiency. It's slightly more expensive to get heavy weapon proficiency and specialization, but waiting three extra levels AND spending a Knack on it does NOT seem ideal when you could get the ball rolling with Heavy Weapon Proficiency at 1st level and Versatile Specilization at 3rd. You need something more for this to be worth a whole Knack.

Let's look at these.

Heavy Armor Edge (Ex) You [sic] nanites allow you to move comfortably while wearing thick gear. You gain proficiency with heavy armor, and you treat the bulk of heavy armor you wear as 1 lower.

Star Knight archetype gives Heavy Armor by itself at 2nd level, and you can just buy this as a feat very easily. For this to be worth a level 6 Knack, I'd need a lot more than -1 bulk. Maybe -2 ACP and +1 Max Dex bonus (Guard soldier gets -1 ACP and +1 Max Dex at 1st level). In addition, allow your armor to be absorbed into your Gear Array or deployed as a separate free reaction unrelated to your other Gear Array uses. Basically the Star Lord helmet/Infinity War Iron Man thing.

Heavy Weapon Edge (Ex) You know how to deal damage with big weapons. You gain proficiency with heavy weapons, and you gain weapon specialization in heavy weapons just as if your class granted proficiency. When you gain this knack, you can replace one of your major forms known with that of a heavy weapon. You add your Constitution modifier to your Strength score for the purpose of wielding heavy weapons formed from your gear array without penalty.

Operatives can get proficiency and specialization for shurikens from Shuriken Assassin at 2nd level, and I'm sure there's more I can't think of off the top of my head. 6th level seems like a stretch.

Also, adding Con bonus to Strength for wielding heavy weapons is nice, but it's also super edge case, since a 6th level character will have had more than enough opportunity to upgrade their Strength to the minimum necessary to use big guns. If this is worth a 6th level Knack, I'd say you'd need to add your Con bonus to something else, like damage or the DCs of Explosive or Critical Effect saving throws. Between Swarm Strike and explosive heavy weapons, there's an interesting opportunity to make a character without significant Str or Dex investment for normal shooty combat.

What I'd really want, though, is to make both of these 2nd level Knacks, because building your character around options that aren't available until halfway through your Starfinder Society career is not a good feeling. I feel like most players want their core gameplay loops to be ironed out by 3rd level or so (when specialization kicks in).

[Demon Knight1434]

yes i agree here and we talked about this before this seems like such a major oversight not to look at ...

a 6th lvl knack for the ability is way to high

also hello again.

[Brew Bird]

More than a few knacks seem to be matched by lower level gear or feats. It does seem like a bit of a strange oversight, but I suppose that's what playtesting is for.