Hello,
wasn’t sure where to post this question so picked general. I am running my first Starfinder campaign and I’m noticing my Player characters skill modifiers are over 10 at level 2. Like my buddies operator has a +10 stealth. This is at lvl 2. They use haphaistos website to generate their characters. Is high skill modifiers at low level normal for Starfinder? I usually run D&D but we all wanted to try a space theme so I volunteered to try and run a Starfinder campaign. Do I just need to expect high rolls and adjust my DC or are we doing something wrong.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Operatives get skill focus in 2 skills at 1st level.
+4 ability modifier
+1 rank
+3 class skill
+3 skill focus
= +11 skill modifier at level 1
It's pretty reasonable. Operatives get a flat +1 to all skill checks at that level so Dex +4, +2 for ranks, and +3 for class skills gets to +10 potentially in a number of Dex skills. Other classes can get their as well for a small number of skills. There are potential racial bonuses and theme bonuses that could provide additional boosts.
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Yep, that's perfectly normal for a character's best skills at 2nd level. Their total bonus to a skill is equal to:
their ability score modifier for that skill (up to +4 or maybe +5 at that level)
plus their ranks in that skill (up to +2 at 2nd level)
plus 3 if the skill is a class skill
plus insight bonuses granted by their class or the skill focus feat (+1 for some classes at 2nd level or +3 if they have the skill focus feat)
All put together, you could even get up to +13 or more if a character is really invested in that particular skill. And yeah, its a big difference from D&D 5E, where the total bonuses are must lower.
Don't forget that for skills that don't use the character's best ability score, their modifier is going to be a lot worse. As a result, I'd caution against setting the DCs too high. Let the person who is really good at hacking do their thing with a pretty solid chance of success. The rulebook's suggested DCs for various actions are usually quite good.
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Yeah, just make sure they're not stacking insight bonuses (skill focus, operatives edge, the envoys expertise, and most class bonuses like the mechanics bypass are all insight bonuses, so won't stack with each other.)
Davor Firetusk wrote: It's pretty reasonable. Operatives get a flat +1 to all skill checks at that level so Dex +4, +2 for ranks, and +3 for class skills gets to +10 potentially in a number of Dex skills. Other classes can get their as well for a small number of skills. There are potential racial bonuses and theme bonuses that could provide additional boosts. Thats what we figured, I just thought it couldnt be right. Thank You.
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BigNorseWolf wrote: Yeah, just make sure they're not stacking insight bonuses (skill focus, operatives edge, the envoys expertise, and most class bonuses like the mechanics bypass are all insight bonuses, so won't stack with each other.) Thats good advice. I didnt think about the other skills being low as well. Appreciate the feedback!
+14 is possible at level 1 in Starfinder...
+4 from Ability Modifier
+1 Rank
+3 Class Skill
+3 Insight (Skill Focus)
+2 Racial
+1 Theme Knowledge
Doesn't have to be an Operative.
Level 2 allows for +16
+1 more Rank
+1 more from Personal Upgrade Mk 1
D&D 5th edition made some effort to flatten their numbers so if that's what you're used to then Starfinder numbers (and Pathfinder, and 3e D&D) will seem pretty crazy. Things that you're used to seeing scale with a proficiency bonus that maxes out at +6 will instead scale with level. Even at low levels the bonus structure is set up with that wide of a scaling in mind. The result of this is that there is more difference in capability between a character who is built to be good at a task compared to one who isn't.
Raxmei wrote: D&D 5th edition made some effort to flatten their numbers so if that's what you're used to then Starfinder numbers (and Pathfinder, and 3e D&D) will seem pretty crazy. Things that you're used to seeing scale with a proficiency bonus that maxes out at +6 will instead scale with level. Even at low levels the bonus structure is set up with that wide of a scaling in mind. The result of this is that there is more difference in capability between a character who is built to be good at a task compared to one who isn't. Though there are advantages, the big one being "you can actually get to the point where you outpower a skill challenge". In a flat curve system like 5e, even a skill check that is plenty doable for a low level character will probably still need to be rolled by a high level character, because the chance of failure remains non-trivial. In Starfinder, by contrast, a level 10 PC probably doesn't need to even roll a CR 5 skill challenge anymore, because they can only fail on a 1, just like they probably shouldn't even be made to roll out a CR 5 combat challenge.
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