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Just some thoughts going through the new field test.
First thing out of the gate, I'm somebody who was only ever particularly interested in PF1 for Mystic's occult angle, so that definitely slants my view of things- Overlord being my favorite of the core batch, although Wisdom-based wasn't a great fit anyway. Figure that's important initial disclosure.
I love that the class gets plenty of spells and some big-ticket features, especially since technology takes a lot of what makes casters unique in PF2 and distributes it to everyone. I really appreciate that undead are mentioned, and that the Vitality Network (despite its name) isn't just limited to vital healing.
Mental Bond is a very cool feature, and gives the Mystic something cool and flavorful that they can do out of combat. Untraceable, instantaneous, silent communication means Mystic has an additional important role in heist sequences. I'm a little skeptical about this being Mystic's thing, since this feels very much like a Mental essence trick, and it's being done with the two non-Mental lists. That's fine, though- it also means that the trick isn't going to be one that their spells could replicate well at some point.
Absolute Bond... that's a bit of a doozy to read, but thinking about it for a bit, I can see some uses. Three-action fireball on your location that ignores yourself, or guarantee your fireball never hits more than one of the party. (RIP to Sir Target Practice the familiar.) Wait, no, a bonded ally is required to use the ability, not just a member of the bond, but it can be used to benefit and bonded target. So... you can exclude a teammate from your fireball, but you can't exclude yourself from your fireball, unless you have a teammate in the area, in which you could exclude either yourself or them. Absolute Bond is a doozy to read. ... Oh, and you can also spend an action to get a 4/6/8 hp refund, although that sounds like something reserved for serious emergencies.
EDIT: Quid from the future, spending an action for a 4 hp refund turns a lot of cool abilities from "a couple times before refocusing" into "at-will for two actions instead of one", and after reading more of the class, I am glad Absolute Bond has that feature.
Okay, let's look at the feats!
First up, Deity's domain. Little deity-centric, but it'd be a shame to have all the printed deity stuff go to waste. Martial Disciple, same deal but less interesting. Oh, it's also not divine-casting locked, missed that on the first read through. Uh, how does Martial Disciple actually work with PF2 deities having PF2 weapons?
After that, we get into the non-deity stuff with a Primal-exclusive. (I know it's just alphabetical, but it feels weird having the class lead with deity stuff.) Viral Order? Love that! But in practice, this just feels bad. You spend a feat on a trained lore and a trio of spells known? I guess it's a first level feat on a caster, but it's still lackluster compared to a focus spell.
And, rounding out first level, Network Spell. Oh, this is fun- in normal combat situations, it's a worse Reach Spell, but you can use it around corners and to make your martial ally look like a caster with some setup. Much more interesting.
On to level two, starting with another deity feat, covering the rest of the deity statblock. It's a huge block of text, and all you get is some spells known and sanctification, along with anathema restrictions. I really don't want divine to just be "spend feats to be Cleric", and it looks like all the divine stuff is deity-based. I really hope that the final version takes some notes form Animist and doesn't just make divine about gods.
Whew... I know the class doesn't have to worship a deity, and this is the field test, which is going to naturally focus more on stuff that carries over from PF2. I'd just appreciate it being dialed back a bit. Especially because, at least in this preview, divine Mystic has to worship a deity to get a second focus spell.
Spot Healing: Pay two hitpoints to turn an action into a reaction, with limits. Fair enough. I do feel like this needs a little text clarifying what happens if the damage would knock them out. Could this reduce the damage, maybe?
Vital Boost: Why the different range for Spot Healing? Just make everything 20 feet if that's the standard range for accessing special bond functions. Four hitpoints for a +1 status bonus... That has a weird curve of getting better as the HP cost drops relative to your pool, and then needing retraining once everybody's got a more reliable status bonus.
Wild Bond: Focus spell for Primal casters. If the natural attacks are always going to lag behind weapons by a full damage die, they should just be cut, right? Couldn't this just give full damage two levels (one rank) after the appropriate item level, when getting a backup weapon starts to get affordable? Or even four levels/two ranks, since then it replaces a backup weapon when it's basically free, instead of always being behind. ... Buuuut I'm being greedy. The tons of movement forms and being a mass-buff at later levels means it'd be a must-take if it were replacing the entire party's backup weapons as well.
Cloud Storage: My biggest suggestion here, getting bold text: Make the Mystic's feats sound like feats for a Mystic! This is a Technomancer joke in the Mystic class, and it means no Cloud Storage spell or Techomancer feat/feature. This feat is amazing, and I love it! Absolutely incredible; shared storage space linked over the entire planet that uses hitpoints to access it? This is enough for me to build an entire character around! But it should have a mystical name. (I also feel obligated to mention for the design team's benefit that it might need a way for somebody else to break in, because otherwise MacGuffins can be put in there impossible for anybody else to retrieve.)
Memory Bank: Same deal as the last one, less emphatically because it does actually interact with tech.
Mental Interference: This feels like something that you'd mostly take for Wisdom-based skills. Looking at the feat, it's basically ranged feint on a different skill, at the cost of 4hp. The dazzled part is only relevant on a crit, so spending the hitpoints probably wouldn't be worth it unless you're moving from charisma to wisdom- although if you're upgrading your connection skill for better hitpoint recharging, then it might be worth it even for something like moving Deception to Performance.
Void Warranty: ... I enjoy puns well enough, but I guess these just feel a little weird coming from Rage of Elements and the remaster, where classes had things named/renamed to be more evocative and thematic. If I'm taking this feat, it's because I want to cast void damage spells. A crack about the silliness of "void" doesn't exactly mesh well with that. Meanwhile, if I'm playing a Mechanic, I absolutely would love to have a feat called "Void the Warranty" that gives me a big boost with an item at the cost of breaking it after the action is complete. That would make me feel more like a Mechanic, while as-is, this makes me feel like less of a Mystic.
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Overall summary:
Love Vitality Network and the associated Mental Bond. I'm really happy that there are feats to expand on uses for those hitpoints and so on. My favorite feat is absolutely being able to store items suspended in the bond itself, allowing party members to access them from anywhere on the planet.
Outside of the initial features, though, the class doesn't feel like a Mystic. Anything that isn't "Cleric Lite" or "Druid Lite" is a joke meant for another class.
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Uh, how does Martial Disciple actually work with PF2 deities having PF2 weapons?
Galactic Magic has SF tech weapons for all the core gods to use with a divine feat that grants profiency (e.g. crossbolter for Abadar, laser rifle for Weydan, that breaching shotgun thing for Besmara). They'll print those again or equivalents.
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It's worth mentioning that techno-magic doesn't seem to be tied to technomancer in 2e. It isn't a core class, instead it seems they are making it so anyone can do techno-themed magic. Like how any caster of appropriate tradition can do magic ring tone spells or the new doom scroll spell.
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It's worth mentioning that techno-magic doesn't seem to be tied to technomancer in 2e. It isn't a core class, instead it seems they are making it so anyone can do techno-themed magic. Like how any caster of appropriate tradition can do magic ring tone spells or the new doom scroll spell.
I'm totally on board with spells being that way- it's Starfinder after all! With spells, things can just be for a different character, or even a different class, very easily.
But the class's flavor is supposed to come through in its features and feats. Wizard has a thesis, and it doesn't just get an extra top-rank slot, it gets an arcane bond to re-cast a spell. If you take a class feat for extra spells, it doesn't just give you extra slots, it has you making temporary scrolls. Their new spellshape feat to add an area that deals damage next round to an AoE spell isn't called "Backdraft" or "Aftershock", it's called "Secondary Detonation Array".
Mystic, a class about "channeling the innate, fundamental
forces that connect and bind all things together", is shown (at least at fourth level) expressing that power through literalized tech metaphors. That might not be something that other people mind at all, though.
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Quick note that I'm loving these discussions! Everyone's words here are equal parts motivating and touching and I can't wait for everyone to get an opportunity to play a Mystic during the Playtest next Summer!
Standard disclaimer: Nothing I say here is canon, the opinion of anyone else on the team, or even my own finalized thoughts, but this is a transparent process so I'd love to share my thoughts concerning magic and technology. Starfinder exists in a time so far into the future that archaeologists are finding computer chips in the ruins of "lost civilizations". We've only had personal computers around for less than a century and have already incorporated plenty of "tech lingo" into our modern vernacular. Even if a Mystic is using magic similar to the magic used by spellcasters back in ancient Golarion, they exist in a world where communits and laser rifles are the equivalent of wood-pulp paper letters and automatic recurve crossbows.
Now nothing I post here in the forum is canon, and nothing in these field tests are finalized: But in my own head-canon I like to think that both Doomscroll and Motivating Ringtone could have been cast without the use of technology: magic that channels truths that cause a target to reel in terror, or that composes a melody so perfect for someone at just that time that they feel soothed. The problem is without the technology this magic isn't viable for an encounter. Especially if these truths/songs only affect the target at that moment: by the time you figured out how to sing that song or wrote down the news the moment may have already passed. Thus the technological item is a foci, but that doesn't mean the caster itself is a "technomancer" anymore than a Cleric using a weapon as a foci is a "magus".
In short: the mystic using technology inspired terminology and having access to spells that utilize technology does not mean it's taking the place of the technomancer!
(Now I await my GM to tease me as this entire post runs quite contrary to the beliefs of my own SF1 Mystic, Yoko, who used to argue day and night that true mystics have to be living anachronisms who wore silk robes, wielded a bow, and wrote everything down in ink and paper.)
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Quick note that I'm loving these discussions! Everyone's words here are equal parts motivating and touching and I can't wait for everyone to get an opportunity to play a Mystic during the Playtest next Summer!
Standard disclaimer: Nothing I say here is canon, the opinion of anyone else on the team, or even my own finalized thoughts, but this is a transparent process so I'd love to share my thoughts concerning magic and technology. Starfinder exists in a time so far into the future that archaeologists are finding computer chips in the ruins of "lost civilizations". We've only had personal computers around for less than a century and have already incorporated plenty of "tech lingo" into our modern vernacular. Even if a Mystic is using magic similar to the magic used by spellcasters back in ancient Golarion, they exist in a world where communits and laser rifles are the equivalent of wood-pulp paper letters and automatic recurve crossbows.
Now nothing I post here in the forum is canon, and nothing in these field tests are finalized: But in my own head-canon I like to think that both Doomscroll and Motivating Ringtone could have been cast without the use of technology: magic that channels truths that cause a target to reel in terror, or that composes a melody so perfect for someone at just that time that they feel soothed. The problem is without the technology this magic isn't viable for an encounter. Especially if these truths/songs only affect the target at that moment: by the time you figured out how to sing that song or wrote down the news the moment may have already passed. Thus the technological item is a foci, but that doesn't mean the caster itself is a "technomancer" anymore than a Cleric using a weapon as a foci is a "magus".
In short: the mystic using technology inspired terminology and having access to spells that utilize technology does not mean it's taking the place of the technomancer!
(Now I await my GM to tease me as this entire post runs quite contrary to the beliefs of my own SF1...
Hey there, it's your GM here to tease you because for the first 5 levels of Teenaged Wasteland your mystic was a luddite who hated technology and preferred that his magic be "old fashioned."
Fun factoid, as Dustin's GM I can confirm that this class OOZES with flavor from his kitsune mystic in our home games.
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I'm of a very similar opinion: I absolutely love the vitality network and mental bond features, and feel they establish a solid framework for standout gameplay that can easily be expanded upon with feats. I could be wrong, but it also feels like the mystic as implemented in the field test is already pretty robust, and doesn't have the same glaring design anomalies as the soldier. A few others have pointed out that the vitality network recharge doesn't scale terribly well at later levels, though the way I see it, it looks more about making a limited resource feel less limited at very early levels, at a time when many caster players feel limited by their spell slots and when combat is also much deadlier.
With that said, though, I also do have a few concerns:
Adding to the above, I'm not a terribly big fan of baking class-specific effects into general-use spells, as is the case for Soul Surge, and would prefer the mystic to instead have a feat that would fulfil the appropriate function (e.g. redirect any self-damage from any creature bonded to your vitality network to your vitality HP pool). I do love the large majority of the new spells included in the field test, though, and Doom Scroll in particular I find absolutely inspired. I'm really liking how SF2e is shaping up with this new field test.
Quick note that I'm loving these discussions! Everyone's words here are equal parts motivating and touching and I can't wait for everyone to get an opportunity to play a Mystic during the Playtest next Summer!
Standard disclaimer: Nothing I say here is canon, the opinion of anyone else on the team, or even my own finalized thoughts, but this is a transparent process so I'd love to share my thoughts concerning magic and technology. Starfinder exists in a time so far into the future that archaeologists are finding computer chips in the ruins of "lost civilizations". We've only had personal computers around for less than a century and have already incorporated plenty of "tech lingo" into our modern vernacular. Even if a Mystic is using magic similar to the magic used by spellcasters back in ancient Golarion, they exist in a world where communits and laser rifles are the equivalent of wood-pulp paper letters and automatic recurve crossbows.
Now nothing I post here in the forum is canon, and nothing in these field tests are finalized: But in my own head-canon I like to think that both Doomscroll and Motivating Ringtone could have been cast without the use of technology: magic that channels truths that cause a target to reel in terror, or that composes a melody so perfect for someone at just that time that they feel soothed. The problem is without the technology this magic isn't viable for an encounter. Especially if these truths/songs only affect the target at that moment: by the time you figured out how to sing that song or wrote down the news the moment may have already passed. Thus the technological item is a foci, but that doesn't mean the caster itself is a "technomancer" anymore than a Cleric using a weapon as a foci is a "magus".
In short: the mystic using technology inspired terminology and having access to spells that utilize technology does not mean it's taking the place of the technomancer!
(Now I await my GM to tease me as this entire post runs quite contrary to the beliefs of my own SF1...
Thank you for stopping by and commenting in a personal capacity! I'm also very excited for the playtest. X) Really happy to be getting these sneak-peeks into what's going on, too!
I do want to be clear that I'm 100% agreed when it comes to spells. Divine classes should absolutely be able to broadcast ominous portents to surrounding screens! I'm very happy with Doomscroll and Motivating Ringtone's flavor and their relation to Mystic. Mystics who want to avoid reliance on technology will have plenty of other options, and a Mystic who wants to theme themselves as a divine prophet is going to love Doomscroll.
What I'm picturing is getting players who want to lean into Mystic's header themes, and the feats only supporting that mechanically. As an example, one that deals in both life and death, stripping vital energy out of enemies and giving it to allies. Telling them, "Yeah, Void Warranty is perfect for that," is going to mechanically satisfy what they want. The name isn't going to spoil their interest, but it's also not going to add to it. They're probably going to have less fun saying "I use Void Warranty and cast Vampiric Feast" than they would "I use Void Siphon and cast Vampiric Feast". Either way, they're still going to have fun punishing somebody ending their turn adjacent to them by damaging them, gaining temporary hitpoints, and replenishing their vital network.
I wasn't very clear in my initial, somewhat rambling, post. I don't have any concerns about Technomancer being replaced, and I don't feel like Mystic is doing that! I'm pretty happy with the mechanics, and while the class isn't one aimed at my personal playstyle, it'd be super fun to have at the table, and has enough cool things that it's still going to occasionally tempt me.
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With that said, though, I also do have a few concerns:
Others have mentioned it too, but I fail to see the justification for giving the mystic 4 slots per spell rank while also having 8 HP/level, light armor proficiency, and what looks to be more baseline features than the sorcerer. Along with Pathfinder's animist, this feels like the start of a trend of power creeping casters in playtesting. Short of the Pathfinder remaster just straight-up giving every existing caster an extra slot per rank and setting that as the new baseline for spell output, the mystic feels like they ought to be a 3-slot caster.
I'm actually in disagreement here, and it's something I touched on in my initial post.
Pathfinder's caster balance shouldn't be carried over to SF2 one-to-one. If you brought over a primal Sorcerer, they would (and should) feel underpowered in SF2 while they do all right for themselves in PF2. Casters lose several specialties when you go to science fantasy- we've already seen that the Solider is tossing out AoEs with debuff riders, and any class can use an AoE weapon. Technological items are also going to fill a lot more utility much earlier; you don't need magic to be able to fly anymore. Plus, with ranged combat being stronger, casters don't get much protection from hanging back anymore.
Starfinder casters should be more robust (since they can't just hang back to avoid being targeted), they need at least light armor (since going unarmored means not having environmental protections), and they should have a bigger toolkit (since it's no longer doing quite as much, relatively speaking).
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While I love puns, after reading this, I do have to agree about the names of these feats.
Void Warranty and Cloud Storage as feat names SOUND like they belong more with the Technomancer than the Mystic.
I do see the reasoning for increased spell slots though. With most martial expected to have ranged weapons dealing significant damage in most encounters, flying PC's more prevalent, the the power level between SF2e and PF2e is different, so it would make sense that the casters have a more extensive pool of magic than the PF2e casters.