We're going to be playing Skitter Home this weekend, so I'm planning on getting some more testing in!
If you don't want spoilers, probably leave before looking at the second third post.
Level four, probably replacing Gazigaz. So, let's test out my face build theories for Nanocyte!
The first thing to do on a face build is make it so I can afford to have Charisma. Swarm Strike means we use Con to hit with sheath active, so we can go all-in on Con and put the rest in Cha. Skittermanders get +Dex, +Cha, -Int.
That means 10 for Str and Wis, 8 for Int, 18 for Con, 14 for Cha, 12 for Dex.
Now, we get a poor selection of social class skills because we're not a social skills class. Let's see what Versatile Nanites can cover. Bluff, Disguise… okay, two social skills. I really don't see Disguise being of any use, and we're never getting to Facial Reconfiguration. Even if we were, the bonus does not help with hiding extra arms or changing size. So, not something for skittermanders.
Okay, so Nanocyte's social purview is limited to infiltration, and this doesn't seem like a game where infiltration will be useful.
Even if we grab some of that Con for Cha, standing in for the Envoy in any fashion is off the table. It's like building a Soldier as the party face- Starfinder will let you do it, but it's just going to be you spending a bunch of feats on it.
We'll come back to the drawing board later with a different build!
All right, take two!
The party has a Soldier, Mechanic, and Mystic.
I think the problem here is, Nanocyte can focus on four things. Fighting, using tech skills, doing medicine, and (in theory) infiltration. The first three are covered by the specialists in each of those areas. The last one isn't a good fit for the game, and can't really be done very well at this level (or at any level for skittermanders, who cannot get around large penalties for their extra arms).
I'm going to just mark this one off as unworkable. Nanocyte could replace the Soldier, Mechanic, or Mystic, but it's the Envoy that's missing. I'll stick with Gazigaz unless somebody wants to change characters.
Why not just double up on the bruiser role? Or be ranged to the soldier's melee (depending on who is doing what)
Why not just double up on the bruiser role? Or be ranged to the soldier's melee (depending on who is doing what)
Mechanic is ranged exocortex, and the skittermander games are written with a party in mind. Going in doubling up on a role and dropping one of the expected roles isn't gonna be a whole lot of fun, and I don't have a good character in mind for it.