1. The Terminator - mechanized niche evolutionist
2. Wolverine - vital niche evolutionist with melee slashing strike
3. Skitter hug grappler - take your best Skittermander grapple build, now add on Bear Hug feat to inflict your unarmed attack base damage (no strength or specialization, just roll dice) when you renew a grapple.
4. Screaming Mystic - Rallying Roar feat, then cast Fear or Confusion or Mass Suggestion.
You can roar as a move action, affecting all creatures within 60 feet.
Affected allies gain a +1 morale bonus to Will saves, and affected enemies
take a –1 penalty to Will saves.
These effects last until the start of your next turn. Once you roar in this way, you can’t do so again for 1d4 rounds. This is a sense-dependent, mind-affecting
effect.
5. Bloody rending slashy melee guy - add Rending Slash and Brutal Slash feats on top of your Improved Unarmed Strike plus slashing natural weapon build. Rending inflicts bleed damage (d4+half level) if you hit twice in one round, Brutal adds another half level damage and slightly boost the bleed die. We're approaching real weapon damage results even at high levels with enough feat investment and the right type of natural weapon.
6. Spellcasting replacement for the genetics biohacker - the Change of Seasons spell, 2nd level WW and Precog, lets you inflict cold/fire vulnerability on a target. Lasts 1 round even if the make their save, round/level otherwise. Party coordination around fire/cold weapons is back on the menu, boys! For extra hilarity pair with a genetic biohacker for the bonus damage they give that will stack with the vulnerability.
7. Raxilite barbarian - With Multitudinous LFAN feat you can use a two handed weapon, but penalties if you don't have 17 strength - go pick up a maul.
8. Raxilite Instagrab - Pincered LFAN feat gives you a piercing natural weapon (but regular not 1.5x weapon specialization), Grasping LFAN feat also grapples or pins on a critical hit if you exceed the KAC by 4/13 (if you don't with a nat 20 you have issues).
9. Loud and proud Pahtras - you don't have to be a Pahtra, but the sonic feats in their section let you do things like grant a +2 morale bonus to the party after landing a sonic crit, or use your sonic weapon to restore 3x level stamina to a friend who lands a critical hit. Annoyed with blindsight/sense sound/vibration guys ruining your invisibility? There's a feat to shoot them with a sonic weapon and disrupt that. Tired of having to actually fire your sonic weapon with Echolocation Attack to get blindsense? There's a feat chain to just keep it up all the time.
10: Worlanisi Precog, great combo if you don't trust dice.
First, Nat 1 of the day becomes a nat 20.
Best of 2 dice once per day.
Know 2 to 3 of your dice rolls each day.
That’s also a great Polymorph 3 or Polymorphic Serum Mk3 combo, although none of this is new to IS.
11. Magitech Manipulator - amrantah (not actually in Interstellar Species, but an option that many may have overlooked) witchwarper with Infinite Tech. A magical robot that calls/manifests technology from other realities.
12. A "real" stainless steel rat - ysoki outlaw mechanized niche evolutionist.
5. Bloody rending slashy melee guy - add Rending Slash and Brutal Slash feats on top of your Improved Unarmed Strike plus slashing natural weapon build. Rending inflicts bleed damage (d4+half level) if you hit twice in one round, Brutal adds another half level damage and slightly boost the bleed die. We're approaching real weapon damage results even at high levels with enough feat investment and the right type of natural weapon.
These feats are in the Uplifted Bear section. How the hell did I not call this Rip and Tear Bear?!? Smdh.
13. Crowd Control Nanocyte - There's knew knacks that (1) give you an extra 5' natural reach (stacks with weapon/Swarm Strike reach property) when in sheathe and (2) make your cloud difficult terrain. That's a big oof if you drop your cloud on enemies to make it hard to advance or retreat, depending on your preference. If you want to really push this concept there's a 14th level knack to Bull Rush everyone within 15' away from you if multiple enemies close in - it also does some minor force damage as you knock them back, get an AOO on one, and then wait for them to move back.
14. Ghost Nanocyte - There's a knack to hide in plain sight with use of a nanite surge. Also boost your stealth bonus by 2, but that's very action intensive and unlikely to get used much.
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15. The Fastball Special
I think we can all agree that, objectively, Hurl Ally is the best feat published, so far. The Classical interpretation would, of course, be for a Large metal person to throw a Medium sized clawed monstrosity, so the Purists may opt for, say, a Xenometric Dragonkin Android or a Large species Mechanized Niche Evolutionist throwing a claws melee Vesk, Pahtra, or (most appropriate of all) an Alkainan, from the latest AP. But - I think it's worth considering variations!
15a) The Berserker Bite - the thrown ally's armour has spikes or weapons welded onto it, or otherwise is pokey or unpallatable. Bonus points if the thrown ally is a dwarf, and double-plus extra bonus points if that ally is delicious or savoury. Now, nothing about Hurl Ally says that you actually do damage to the target (...or the ally, lol) but I don't think it'd be hard to homebrew something like that, and have armour spikes damage apply :D
15b) The Big 'Un Now, Hurl Ally says you need to be Large, and you can throw allies at least 1 size category smaller than you (or throw farther if 2+ size categories smaller.) Now sure, the obvious play there is to be Large and throw a Small ally, but every ally is two size categories larger than you when you're a squidly footlong hotdog let's not forget that Dimensional Glands or a 4th Level Polymorph can make you Large sized, letting you throw Medium allies for fun and profit! And, for high-level shenanigans, a 6th Level Polymorph can make you Huge, letting you throw Large-size creatures!
Or, conversely, those same options let your Large or Medium sized creatures become Medium or Small, respectively! Dragonkin throwing a shrunken Bear, or an embiggened Kasatha throwing an elf? Why not! Hell, go crazy and have a Large-sized Polymorphed Halfling with Dimenionsal Braces (haha, Dimensional Glands aren't a polymorph effect, so they [probably] stack!) throw a Small-sized Polymorphed Shobhad with Dimenionsal Braces, 60 ft! Prepare to launch the tactical assault shobhads!
16. Wonder Twin Criticals Activate!
Double Trouble feat allows two PCs to strike the same creature in the same round with the same type of weapon (e.g. advanced melee or longarms) the crit effect of the second weapon immediatley applies and increases the crit DC.
An entire party could take this feat and be able to deliver four reliable crit effects per day. A pair doing it twice is super easy, imagine a pair of melee party members with knockdown setting each other up in consecutive rounds against a boss they have flanked.
17. Super Mega Dragon Breath Plus Shot! We had supercharge spell, we had spell shot, we had the overcharge mechanic trick line. Now we have Draconic Shot feat, add your racial breath weapon 1/day to yours or an ally's shot within 1 minute. We also have plenty of other damage boost abilities (fighter fighting styles, precog damage die replacers, precog guranteed crit, vanguard boosting his entropic strike, etc.) Mix and match your party abilities to totally hype a big, beefy, accurate shot.
18. Perpetual Polymorphed Permanent Personal Power Armor
Polymorph spell, when used to assume a different creature type, absorbs your power armor, getting rid of the armor check penalty and fixed speed (and any mounted weapons, alas), but continues to provide AC, strength, environmental protections, the melee attack damage, and any activated/passive armor upgrade benefits. I've mentioned before ways to make use of this on a Polymorphic Adept Envoy build.
Now we have the Perpetual Polymorph feat to allow spellcasters to get in on the fun.
By assuming the form of a less powerful creature, you can dramatically extend the duration of your transformations.
Prerequisites: You know the polymorph spell as a 2nd-level spell or higher.
Benefit: When you cast polymorph on yourself and choose to transform into a predetermined polymorph form from a lower-level list of forms you know, you increase the spell’s duration. If you transform into a form that’s from a list one level lower, the duration increases to 5 minutes/level (D). If you transform into a form that’s from a list two levels lower, the duration increases to 1 hour/level (D). If you transform into a form that’s from a list three levels lower, the spell’s duration lasts until the next time you regain spell slots.
At 7th level any non-humanoid spellcaster can qualify for power armor and use a Polymorph 3 spell to run around for 7 hours in a Polymorph 1 humanoid form with hidden power armor benefits that can pick up and wield weapons. (Humanoid spellcasters are limited to an animal form and melee/spells only if they do it this early, otherwise they need level 10 and Polymorph 2 effect when other non-humanoid creature subtypes become available.)