Nanocyte Faculties

[Xenocrat]

What are people's thoughts on these?

Discorporation

1st Reactive Spray - At 2nd level this is competing with Defensive Dispersal. I think I'd rather reduce my damage now rather than create a one round cloud that gives me some minor concealment against future attacks. Better at the level 9 upgrade, but that's two nanite surges to active both, expensive.

5th Slithering Shape - I would only use this to squeeze through 1" holes (which a laser drill can make in softer materials, mind you) or help escape a grapple/pin. So I would rarely use it.

9th Fluid Form - The immunity to wound effects is pretty fringe (COM gave us a cheap way to regrow limbs in 24 hours and the rest of the effects are minor), but activation of Reactive Spray and Defensive Dispersal off the same reaction can be good.

13 Nanosmoke - I guess I can "speed" run through 1" gaps, but I'm not sure how often that is going to come up. Would be nice if it automatically ended the effects it gives you immunity to.

17 Swarm Shadow - I don't know why I'd want to lose all my actions to buff an ally with my sheath all day, and forming weapons to shoot ends it and it can't be reenacted until the next day.

I don't see really any appeal in this one.

[Xenocrat]

Infestation

1st Malignant Mist - Weak damage, costs a nanite surge, save negates, and then temporary immunity so you can't even spam it? This thing maxes at 9d6 damage at 19th level, same as an Explosive Blast at level 5 (and which can do half damage) An emergency AOE, I guess, but not a lot here.

5th Tenacious Swarm - Ok, this upgrades the damage considerably. When you get it your MM does 2d6, but this bonus damage does 2+CON, or probably 7-8, with the possibility of more later. Still not great, but has possibilities for hitting several creatures with weak Fort saves then running away while the damage ticks and you can face them again. Which is not a thing you'll ever actually do in this cooperative party game.

9th Toxic Host - Ok, your weak damage is halved, not negated, on a save.

13th Noxious Nanites - Sicken those subject to Tenacious Swarm, so a decent debuff for a round or two if they fail the first save.

17th Engineered Contagion - A 1/minute free activation of MM, and you can swift action spread it to targets adjacent to someone suffering your Tenacious Swarm, which isn't going to happen a lot.

This one is for using your cloud to do low, long term damage to lots of weak foes over long term battles. So not for people playing Starfinder. I guess the debuff is useful at 13th?

[Xenocrat]

Obliteration

1st Unstoppable Nanites - You get boost and penetrating on all gear array weapons. Penetrating you can get via a couple of faculties or by simply creating a weapon that had that quality, but boost can be nice on something like a line or blast weapon that wouldn't ordinarily have it.

5th Energized Swarm - You can't use weapon fusions, so this lest you swap energy types (the whole, not just half if you want) so that you can overcome resistances or effect incorporeals with a projectile weapon. It's nice! Doesn't do acid, so maybe have a good acid weapon to cover all the bases.

9th Spreading Swarm - Minor extra damage to a secondary target within 10'. It's fine, I guess.

13th Flashing Nanites - Hey, reducition in full attack bonus! But a bipod would be better.

17th Microscopic Bombardment - Spreading Swarm is 20', and for a nanite surge and a full attack you can try it twice.

This one seems pretty good, unless you're never going to use gear array weapons because you want weapon accesories/fusions on a tricked out specific weapon or you're using the Swarming Strike faculty (which this doesn't help, at all.)

[Xenocrat]

Redirection

1st Seeking Strike - Move action designate a target, next strike until the end of your NEXT round is a +1 to hit and ignores concealment. The first effect is a Seeking weapon fusion, so fine as a free 1st level ability, the concealment ignoring is a cheap targeting computer armor upgrade that works without an action on all targets, so not so great.

5th Particle Push - Ranged combat manuevers using CON not STR against things in your cloud. Pretty good, although it requires some team help to make it worthwhile since if it's a ranged bullrush you're not taking your own AoO. Seeking Strike helps it land.

9th Bend Bullet - Seeking Strike also reduces cover by 2, so that one is getting better. You also have a weird ability to bend normal and line weapons against a Seeking Strike target around allies or obstacles to avoid providing cover or hitting allies (with a line). If you're also in Obliteration for boost on line weapons maybe this comes up more often than I think.

13th Rebounding Strike - Turns Defensive Dispersal into the Mindbreaker Mystic's Share Pain ability, but at the cost of a nanite surge rather than RP. Sure, I'll take it.

17th Particle Tsunami - Full action to combat manuever three targets, at a -4 penalty (yikes) or -2 if you spend the nanite surge you're going to spend. There are times when a triple reposition/trip/bullrush (they don't all have to be the same) can be really clutch if the layout of your melee allies or hazards is good. Heck, just being able to try against three and only hope to succeed on 1-2 to trigger an AoO might be worth it if you've got 2-3 allies in melee with seveal others.

Overall I like this, a little accuracy, a lot of combat manuevers, a little offensive defense.

[Xenocrat]

Regeneration

1st Reactive Repair - Heal stamina on yourself or an ally as swift action. Functions as fast healing and some temp HP that stack/regenerate for 1 minute (as long as they stay in your cloud), scales slowly but can add up over time to keep someone on their feet. Note that with action downgrades you can activate this three times in a round, albeit at the cost of three nanite surges. But that's 3/4 of the party ignoring some damage every round.

5th Nanomedicine - Use CON for Medicine checks, do them at range for those in your cloud, do them faster if you spend a surge. Synergizes with some knacks that help medicine as well.

9th Flesh Donor - Spend a nanite surge to speed up your Reactive Repair stamina regen for a round (expensive) or transfer LOTS of your stamina to an ally under the same effect.

13th From the Brink - Raise Dead if they died in the last 3 rounds.

17th Healing Swarm - Regain 2d10 HP every round you spend a nanite surge.

This one is good for party surviveability without being overpowered. I also like it.

[Ayrkire]

Thanks for the breakdown. Discorporation seemed rather niche but the others seem to have a decent place. Curious to hear thoughts from anyone that's played with it though.

[Xenocrat]

I checked the playtest forum, which I ignored the first time around, and see that most of my comments were made by others back then. Practically nothing change for better or worse in the release version.

[DrakeRoberts]

Ironically, I used the Discorporation Faculty in playtest, and plan to do so again. In the 2 scenarios I played, I used the ooze form (perhaps multiple times?) in at least one of them (can't actually remember the second game...). Discorporation seems interesting for people that want to be able to creatively get to places they shouldn't. You're in a lot of buildings, ships, etc. potentially, and such places have ductwork. This is perhaps harder to use in SFS, depending on the GM, but that was what I playtested with, and like I said, it worked there for the GM I had at least.

As for reactive spray, if you don't want to spend the surge, the cloud would still let you take a 10' guarded step on your next turn, perhaps setting you up for flank (for melee) or for getting away from a large melee attacker (if ranged), both of which are potentially useful for their particular fighting styles. Also potentially useful with certain knacks such as sensory/all-seeing nanites.

I definitely agree that there are other faculties that are more mechanically beneficial, but for RP and creative solutions/utility, I enjoyed Discoporporation.

[Xenocrat]

I can see Discorporation being a good secondary faculty, since none of it depends on leveling up to improve numbers, unlike Infestation and Regeneration.

Redirection primary 13th level ability and Discorporations 9th level ability as a secondary (so at 17th level) would let you trigger defensive dispersal to (1) reduce damage by your level, (2) force the enemy to take that damage (will negates), and (3) create a bonus cloud that lasts until end of your next turn. And your 17th level Redirection triple combat maneuver can make use of that cloud.

The Discorporation bonus cloud as a secondary also plays well with Regeneration (do healing on allies next round in your free cloud), and of course Infestation (apply damage to all allies next round) if you otherwise prefer to be running with a gear plus sheath array. With Infestation at level 17 you can get hit, activate both defensive dispersal and your free cloud and use the cloud to start a malignant mist on enemies in the cloud without costing a nanite surge. Hmmm.

Only Obliteration and the other abilities of Discorporation itself don't benefit from the free Discorporation cloud.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Could you hypothetically be a kind of sci-fi "paladin" by playing a nanocyte with the Regeneration faculty as a budget lay-on-hands and Obliteration as a budget, universalized SMITE? I like the idea but I'm not certain if it's a good combination, especially considering you can't put fusions on Gear Arrays. On that note, is that also the case for accessories like bayonet brackets?

[Xenocrat]

I’d allow you to put accessories on after manifesting the weapon, so you’d need to do it out of combat.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I suppose if you can switch your gear array's form on the fly, it renders the purpose OF a bayonet bracket moot.

[Xenocrat]

It takes a move action, or a swift with a nanite surge, unless you invest some higher level knacks. But if you use the cloud the 10' guarded step on top of the miss chance makes stepping and shooting a fairly attractive alternative to melee.