Making a third-level Nanocyte: Actually doing it.

[QuidEst]

Figure the dev team might like to see my process.

First up, what am I making? A cloud Nanocyte that nibbles on people. It's what I'm most interested in, so we're gonna make sure it gets some playtest feedback. From the other thread, I've concluded that the best way to play this at low levels is spending two points on a thick cloud array and Malignant Mist, and firing long-range shots from behind your screen. First knack is Abundant Nanites to be able to afford this level of wild spending.

Race!
- First two considerations were Embri and Spathinae. Spathinae get a Dex bonus and Con penalty, so we'll probably skip them (plus, low-level flight feels a bit mean sometimes); we need 16 Dex for accuracy, and if we have less than 16 Con, we're giving up on the cloud succeeding. Embri are fine stat-wise, and that was the plan for a while, but I couldn't get the visuals or lore to work.
- I consider Android and SRO for a bit, but an Android with a longarm and a nanite screen feels too "just tech".
- I eventually settle on Ysoki; that seems like a good fit for hunkering down and shooting from across the battlefield. Shirren is given some consideration too, but it feels close to a friend's character.
- (I feel like Kobold would fit this well.)

Background!
Sensate, with a particular focus on dissolving interesting objects with his nanites to get a true understanding of them.

Skills!
I'm not going for a Sheath build, so I'm not missing anything for this character. The racial bonuses from Ysoki are nice. If this were going higher level, I'd snag diplomacy and spend a feat on getting it as a class skill.

Basic Gear!
- Weapon is going to be a longarm. After some hunting through the list, Tactical Acid Dart Rifle stands out. It's got good range and damage with a decent shots-per-reload and cost-per-shot. And, it's one bulk.
- Armor is Clearweave. Affordable, good bonuses, no penalty.

Major Forms!
- Wow, we need some more low-level cybernetics. I'm fully confident we'll get that in the book, though! If it were biology, I'd pick Pressurized Lungs, Wyrmling Dragon Gland or Swimming Fins, and Climbing Suckers. If it were Magitech, I'd pick Technopathy Node, Basic Morphic Skin, and… okay, Magitech is a little sparse, I'd get a backup weapon for the third one there.
- Since it's Cybernetics, I took Voice Amplifier and Standard Datajack. (Maybe I'm missing the actual benefit of a datajack, but it's stylish to have the nanites run a connection through your skull.)
- And, since we've got a major form leftover and our weapon of choice is dual-type damage, we'll pick up Dazzler Flare Rifle.

Minor Forms!
- Head to Technological Items, and oooh! 3 bulk worth titanium cable? Wait, no, five bulk! Abundant Nanites gives us a side benefit. Heck yeah, that's great! 500ft. of cable is amazing when you don't have to worry about the bulk. EDIT: 600ft. after the Con increase.
- Hygiene Kit without needing to worry about spending 1 bulk on it! That's a fallback.
- Holoskin is tempting even without any disguise ranks or charisma.
- Basic Emergency Raft is a cool trick and high-bulk. Definitely grabbing that.
- Considered Survival Straw, a tent, and a collapsible ladder.
- Skipping Holoshroud because my investment is only 625, but that'd be a definite later candidate.
- Tool Kit (Thieves Tools) is a cool choice because then there's no evidence of having something shady like that on your person. I think I prefer spending the ability on bypassing bulk restrictions, so lets snag that collapsible ladder. That should double as a bridge, and I've got terrible athletics.
- Culinary Synthesizer, you're on as a future item when I have a higher investment.
Cable, hygiene kit, emergency raft, and thieves tools it is.

I gotta say, getting to pick out more minor forms seems like it'll be one of the fun perks of leveling up. I can grab a lot of weird stuff that I wouldn't normally be able to.

Suggestion for the team- it'd be cool to get one or two useful very hefty items. A five-bulk crafting station, for instance, so you could have your nanites turn into a 3D printer. We don't need many of these at all, and there are a few similar things already.

Other stuff!
Wow, I missed Cytoconversion on my first read through.
Oh, right. I can get a personal upgrade at this level. Cool, let's spend a feat for accuracy and get the upgrade for Con, then clear out some funds by downgrading Clearweave armor to Freebooter Armor.

Feats!
(Man, looking through Starfinder feats is a cold bucket of water after working on PF2 stuff.) Grabbing Weapon Focus (Longarms) and Spellbane- not super exciting, but that should cover the issues with focusing on two stats and with the weak saves.

Some final thoughts:
- Once I let go of trying to go around with a cloud that eats people, I was able to make a different but fun character.
- The added benefit of Abundant Nanites over the base is nice. The only actual perk I get from that is 200ft. more of cable, but it's still neat since I'm taking the talent for something else. Definitely a feels-good moment.
- Lots of minor forms I wanted! Would I ever spend a talent for Myriad Forms? No, I feel like that needs a major form as well, or some other benefit, to "justify" taking it.
- Major forms made me wish there were more cybernetics options. I only need one weapon as an emergency backup, because it locks me out of the combat form I'm building around.
- Sheath is getting ignored, but it'll be the default out-of-combat option. Bonuses to stealth and… uh, Acrobatics is the only other one I have ranks in, I guess? Sheath with Swarm Strike was what I was mainly considering as an alternative to this build, though.

Sheet

[QuidEst]

Play results: Played Fugitive on the Red Planet, not actually SFS. Three players of third level.

Spoiler:

- Tried to bluff enemies that I was putting down by weapon with a nanite duplicate. Nobody bought it because my bluff is terrible. I now realize I should have put down my real weapon and used the nanite weapon, but I wanted to try out the cloud.
- We only got into one fight, with CR 1/2 enemies. Rolled badly on initiative and got shot before putting up defenses or getting my reaction. Plenty of Con meant stamina was no issue. Spent two points throwing up my damaging screen to protect some friendly NPCs and myself. Enemies didn't make any more attack rolls, though, so it didn't do anything. Note to self: consider Improved Initiative.
- Gear Array was used for the following: Grooming for character flavor, unsuccessfully pretending to get rid of my weapon (but I could have done it more effectively), Voice Amplifier to scare the second group of enemies, and making 600ft. of cable to tie people up with.
- Gear Array was considered for disarming a trap via emergency raft, but my engineering roll was plenty to solve it conventionally.
- Sheath Array was used for +2 to stealth, helping to sneak into position.

Caveat: This was a very limited sample size.

- For a class that needs investment in two physical stats, having an included out-of-combat feature is really nice.
- I now see why the Con-based full-BAB classes get 6+Int skills: having your key stat not add to any skills means you can really use for some breadth to make up for the lack of specialization.
- I also see one reason Swarm Strike is so important: by giving you a way to use Con for accuracy, you can afford to invest in a mental stat on a skill build.
- Solarian and Operative both felt stronger in the one round of combat. That's way too limited of a sample size, I know.

[Zwordsman]

Almos a month later. but as a fun note.
Grappler isn't a terrible investment on an item/weapon to carry around. WIth that much cordage you don't mindi it being broken much. But you could grapple someone pretty far. Which can have hilarious consequences with the right set up.