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Okay, so my problem with EPs is that you're always recalculating your movement and AC based on how many you have, which is counter-intuitive to Starfinder's action economy. The question is, how do we make it so that the player has an active role in selecting bonuses while still ascribing to the developer's clear desire to have there be drawbacks to using too much of your power at once.
Enter the Reverse Evolutionist, who starts with max EP (seriously, though, name it something else).
Each round, the PC regains 1 EP if she is not already at max.
Then, during the round, the player may wish to spend EP to gain various abilities:
1 EP - Full BAB, Crit effect, and manifest weapon without taking an action
1 EP - +1 AC (light armor) or +1 EAC (heavy or powered armor)
5 EP - +1 AC (light armor) or +1 EAC (heavy or powered armor) (stacks with previous entry) and +1 enhancement bonus to saves
1 EP - +5' movement
2 EP - +5' movement (stacks with above)
3 EP - +10' movement (stacks with previous two entries)
2 EP - Gain Climb or Swim speed equal to half your land speed
(plus all uses of EP gained by Adaptations, Focus, or Niche)
All abilities gained last for 3 rounds.
If you spend 3 EP or more in one turn for whatever reason, you activate your drawback for 3 rounds.
There you go, full agency, full acknowledgement of the price for power. You can blow your whole pile of EPs all at once, but then you're getting your drawbacks.
This sounds like a much better combat pool system.
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This sounds like a much better combat pool system.
I think it's more thematic, too. The power is inside you, you can let it out a little at a time, or unleash it in a torrent if you're okay with letting the beast out of its cage, as well.
Gaining the points 1 per round with a max of five in battles that rarely go beyond three rounds doesn't feel very good, especially when you need to blow a point per turn just to remain competitive in attacking. It's like... hard mode vanguard.
Gaining the points 1 per round with a max of five in battles that rarely go beyond three rounds doesn't feel very good, especially when you need to blow a point per turn just to remain competitive in attacking. It's like... hard mode vanguard.
The pool cap does increase at higher levels, and there are abilities that allow you to inflict conditions on enemies in return for more EP.
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This sounds like a much better combat pool system.
I Agree, Starfinder does not need a third Dragonball z/Street fighter style charge up character. Both the solaran and vangard already have this feature and it is counter intuative (and in my opinion a drawback of the character class) in those classes as well.
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The pool cap does increase at higher levels, and there are abilities that allow you to inflict conditions on enemies in return for more EP.
I'm aware. It doesn't help the feel of the class at low levels, and a standard action to try to gain EP is not the full attack that I would rather be taking (particularly at 7th and higher if I'm a Combat Focus Evolutionist).
I doubt I'm ever gaining much EP until level 11 anyway, because I'm going to want to take the full BAB payment every turn.
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I like it!
I'm going to want to take the full BAB payment every turn.
Building on that thought: if the assumption is that you'll always want to spend 1 EP to gain full BAB anyways, why not just bake that in?
- class is full BAB- Drawbacks that kicked in at 3 EP spent now kick in at 2 spent
I guess you could still want there to be some situations in which you 'revert' to 3/4 BAB, or take some other combat penalty, though. Ok, how about:
- if you end your turn at 0 EP, you're Off-Target until End (or Start?) Of Your Next Turn. Or, you're Flat-Footed, or something, idk. Just spit-balling.
I like it!
I'm going to want to take the full BAB payment every turn.Building on that thought: if the assumption is that you'll always want to spend 1 EP to gain full BAB anyways, why not just bake that in?
- class is full BAB
- Drawbacks that kicked in at 3 EP spent now kick in at 2 spentI guess you could still want there to be some situations in which you 'revert' to 3/4 BAB, or take some other combat penalty, though. Ok, how about:
- if you end your turn at 0 EP, you're Off-Target until End (or Start?) Of Your Next Turn. Or, you're Flat-Footed, or something, idk. Just spit-balling.
Of course I would rather have it be a full-BAB class, but I like 3 points being the cutoff for Drawbacks. I don't know why, it just feels right.
Maybe have more powers that are really attractive, like Temporary Hit Points or something.
This sounds like a much better combat pool system.I Agree, Starfinder does not need a third Dragonball z/Street fighter style charge up character. Both the solaran and vangard already have this feature and it is counter intuative (and in my opinion a drawback of the character class) in those classes as well.
Yeah, I love Solarian, but I spend a couple rounds putting up my buffs then stop interacting with the stellar mode system because dropping out of it means starting from scratch, and there's not enough time in a combat to do that.
I've only ever used a Zenith revelation when I knew I was going to be dropped after my turn.
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I'm tickled that people are starting to use the term "teeter totter" generally for this class's EP mechanic after I used it in my initial review.
Anyway, I still like the Reverse Evolutionist with a full pool, but in honor of teeter totters, maybe they should start at 2 or 3, essentially at the halfway point of the track. Then they still have room to:
1. Gain 1 at the start of the first turn.
2. Spend enough to earn drawbacks on the first turn if you blow everything.
3. Hold off for a bit and unleash an alpha strike a little later.
Maybe tying it to key ability score is the way to go. Say you start with EPs equal to your key ability.
Key ability score should, for the most part be just about the max pool anyway.
I'm also thinking the reverse evo could use EP and adaptations outside combat. Spending from the pool you would start next combat with sounds like a bad idea.
Maybe spend a resolve, gain your usual (reverse evo) pool for the next minute? If combat breaks out in that minute you don't refresh your pool - also lets you set up your adaptations if you're expecting combat to break out.
An idea would be: at the beginning of every combat, you start with an EVP pool the size of your Key Ability Score Modifier. When combat is resolved, you immediately gain the same (EVP pool the size of the Key Ability score modifier) for non-combat encounters that could help provide a reroll and/or a bonus to some skill.Key ability score should, for the most part be just about the max pool anyway.
I'm also thinking the reverse evo could use EP and adaptations outside combat. Spending from the pool you would start next combat with sounds like a bad idea.
Maybe spend a resolve, gain your usual (reverse evo) pool for the next minute? If combat breaks out in that minute you don't refresh your pool - also lets you set up your adaptations if you're expecting combat to break out.
I think I prefer the spending resolve to do it multiple times outside of combat. Especially if you're on a day with few/no combats that you're running into but multiple other challenges.
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I'm not sure I agree with the premise that it's counter intuitive to the action economy of the game but other than that I think the appeal of a class that gets more powerful the more rounds you charge up is that you're learning and adapting.
You could waste the fruit of your learnings mindlessly attacking (getting full Bab) or you could play your cards closer to your chest while taking a risk for a greater reward
Now, the effectiveness of either tactic is not in question. I'm just talking about what it means philosophically