| Cellion |
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Galaxy Exploration Manual brought tons of new class options, including a small selection of new spells to play with. I spent some time last year talking through and evaluating new spell options in Near Space and got a lot out of the exercise, so I thought I'd repeat the exercise and try to spark some discussion about these new spells as well! You too can follow along on Archives of Nethys if you don't have access to the book.
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Cairn Form (Mystic 2, Witchwarper 2) - As a personal spell that lasts rounds/level, this needs to be pretty strong to make up for the whole round you spend buffing during combat. Unfortunately, the unarmed attack is no better than you'd get via a racial natural weapon, and the DR and resistance to combat maneuvers is on the minor side. For spellcasters who want to tangle in melee, there are stronger ways to do so, and I suspect people using this spell will be disappointed in its clunkiness mid-combat.
Control Winds (Mystic 1-4, Witchwarper 1-4) - The spell description seems a little confused. When it talks about the spell ending or getting dismissed, it mentions creating an instantaneous line-shaped burst, but then it references creatures entering or starting their turn in said line, which would be impossible if it is instantaneous. Otherwise, this spell is a niche defensive and control option. The 1st and 2nd level versions are not able to do too much, but the 3rd level version in particular imposes a hefty penalty on kinetic ranged attacks, allowing you to counter certain types of foes. Unfortunately, there are many situations where this would be a dud, making this a difficult choice as a permanent spell known.
Extra Sense (Everyone 1-3) - The closest comparison is probably polymorph, which can provide the same valuable senses but for significantly shorter durations and ranges until much higher levels. This one lasts a really long time, long enough to take you through multiple 10-min rests at higher levels. Although invisible foes have played a smaller role in Starfinder than in Pathfinder (in my experience), having the tools on hand to counter them is always good, and this is a particularly efficient tool.
Starwalk (Everyone 0) - Cute cantrip! Moving in zero-g is awkward at the earliest levels, where you're often clambering over surfaces, anchoring yourself with your armor, or jumping off and going off-kilter. This basically solves those problems for you. Personal Gravity (Tech. 2, Witch. 2), once you have it, obsoletes this spell pretty solidly, but until then this should be pretty useful for adventures that drop you into zero-g environments.
Tectonic Shift (Everyone 1-3) - The 1st level version just has too limited of an effect, and while the 2nd level version improves and lengthens the debuff, there are easier ways to leave a foe shaken for 1d4 rounds. The "fail by 5 or more" clause is unlikely to come up too often based on my experience. Most level-appropriate foes have only a 25-50% chance to fail their save against your spells, which means a 5-25% chance to fail but 5 or more. The 3rd level version turns this spell into an anti-group tool and makes it much more viable, but it still looks a little unappealing next to all-star control spells like slow and fear 3.
Uncanny Eruption (Witchwarper 4) - A good comparison point is Wall of Fire, which is the same level spell and serves a similar damage-based area denial purpose. The base damage of both spells is low, only 2d6 per round, little more than a scratch at the time you can cast them. Wall of fire's directionality and opaqueness makes it easier to place in a way that disadvantages foes but not allies. Uncanny eruption's bursts are random, but they fill a large area - potentially catching allies as well on most normal maps, meanwhile wall of fire's damage from passing through is likely to hit only enemies if you placed your wall well. Uncanny Eruption is also less of a threat because it allows saving throws (Fort and Reflex) vs. the automatic damage from Wall of Fire. I think overall, wall of fire is the more useful area denial spell, but you can't deny the coolness of creating an exploding caldera on the battlefield.
Void Whispers (Mystic 0, Witchwarper 0) - What a cantrip! I wonder if this was intended to be a higher level spell instead. Duration being 1round/3levels should probably have a (minimum 1 round), otherwise this cantrip does nothing at 1st or 2nd level. The blanket FAQ ruling that forced movement provokes means that this spell essentially staggers a foe and grants a free AoO on that foe for your allies, eventually for multiple rounds. That's massively better than any other cantrip. And that doesn't even get into the chance this spell has to confuse other creatures nearby. Can creatures seal up their armor to avoid hearing the whispers? If not, the "friendly fire" aspect of this spell might leave it trickier to use effectively.
Wonder Warp (Everyone 4) - Essentially makes something like a wild magic zone. This kind of effect is hit or miss depending on the group. Some folks like the zaniness and enjoy rolling with the weird effects that pop up, others find the random effects frustrating. Several of the effects are just plain fun, though a few seem a little backwards (succeed at a will save and the summoned aeon that's hostile to you sticks around, fail the save and it disappears). As a note, for this spell "Range: 30ft" and "Area: 60ft radius sphere centered on you" disagree, so the GM'll have to pick one to roll with.
| Xenocrat |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Cairn Form: Compare to Polymorph 2, which can provide a lot more options but also provide DR or a racial natural weapon trait. There are a few spells that have this "but what about Polymorph at the same spell level?" comparison that isn't very favorable.
Control Winds: Endorse the discussion above, only Severe Wind is very useful in the narrow case of projectile weapons and the dismissal rules are poorly edited/written. Note that no wind to severe wind is four steps and can't be done by any version of this spell, making it effectively trivial unless you're outside and starting with light wind. The area can get very large, though, and the perception debuff can be a decent marginal aid to your invisible or stealthed allies playing games in the area.
Extra Sense: In addition to overcoming invisibility, crazy high stealth scores vs mediocre perception can be a thing, and picking vibration or scent is going to overcome that for most enemies. Great for an NPC to shut down your annoying ghost operative or shadow mystic who stealths with impunity.
Starwalk: Cool solution to a difficult problem until you obtain many flight options or Force Soles. Almost half of the Starshaman's 1st level connection ability here.
Tectonic Shift: Very poor compared to Fear, which has largely superior effects at the same spell levels. The CR limitation on Fear doesn't come up much.
Uncanny Eruption: Endorse the Wall of Fire comparison, but does the within 30' of the crater mean from the edge or the center? They probably mean the center, but if it's the edge (which I think is the more natural reading of the language if separated from game balance) this is a huge area denial/erratic damage zone.
Void Whispers: Crazy overpowered, compare to Daze with a CR3 limit, 1 round duration, single target effected, humanoid limitation.
Wonder Warp: Although available to all casters, the will save to choose who is effected makes it best for Mystics and worst for Witchwarpers. (I take the aeon hostile to you to be there to punish you for messing with magic, and it's actually supposed to work the way it's written.)
| Cellion |
I'm interpreting Uncanny Eruption as 30-ft from the edge of the crater (essentially making it a 50-ft radius burst from the crater's center). Like you said, that reads more naturally. Its a really big area denial effect... but at the level its available, 5d6 damage with a save to negate, every 1d4 rounds, is just something that most creatures can ignore without too much fear.
Good point on the perception debuff for control winds. I didn't think about that angle. Gives it another niche use.