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A few months late to the party, but I finally got the chance to play with some of the materials present in Field Test 1. I love cool monsters and am curious about how SF2 might shape up against PF2 and SF1, and also tend to get a little nutty when it comes to combat encounter design, so like a completely normal person I spent my day off analyzing and playtesting Solar Beam Bluey.
First, stats. Compared to PF2's standards, both the tashtari and tashtari alpha fit into a mobile striker paradigm: high mobility and ranged accuracy, but physically frail and so-so damage output. Most of the numbers fit within expected PF2 parameters, but a couple things stood out: automatic persistent damage and high climb/land speeds. At low levels, persistent damage can be especially difficult to manage--especially when delivered from range--and few characters have access to such robust movement. Already, we're seeing a different meta emerging, one that fully expects PCs to have jetpacks and sidearms at the ready.
It's also neat that tashtari have both elemental damage AND resistance, which makes it look like SF1's energy-kinetic shenanigans will be preserved, despite the absence of split KAC/EAC. Speaking of, MOST of what our tripod doggy duo are packing is pretty consistent with their SF1 predecessors: the stat spread, the threat level, the sparkly fur, etc. Bristle Flash/Nova is worth pointing out, as it's less save-or-suck now, gaining consistency at the cost of a mild debuff. This kind of alteration to spell-like abilities should be familiar to anyone who migrated from PF1 to PF2. It also only works once per character--meaning you can't be surrounded by a pack of tashtaris who all dogpile you with fort saves until you crit fail and become blinded--and gained a new "feature" where it recharges after a tashtari spends 10 minutes in the sun. This has some tactical implications I'll get to in a bit.
One improvement, I think, is that the alpha now has a brand new ability--Solar Cry--that rains down fire in an area around it. This works like a miniaturized fireball and also allows any nearby tashtari to recharge their Bristle Flash. The damage output was kind of low--I think it could stand to have the die size bumped up one step, or just have one more die added to it--but thematically it's very cool. You finally close in on this thing, and it barfs a death rainbow on you. I love it.
Also, a potential error: the alpha has intimidation as a skill, but can't really use it RAW without a steep debuff because it doesn't speak any languages. I assume the intention is to have it howl/growl/stare down an enemy instead WITHOUT a penalty, but I think actually giving it an official glare or howl ability would be beneficial. Maybe have it be an AOE fear effect with a mild ally buff, envoy-style. Really reinforce its role as a pack leader, you know?
Now, onto the tactical implications of these guys. Based on their high/diverse movement, stealth proficiency, and reliable ranged attack--one that ALWAYS does a little persistent damage now, not JUST on a crit--it's clear the spicy puppers love to kite. Because their AOE debuff only works once, it's either best used as an opener or a defensive measure to cover a retreat, and the 10-minute recharge implies that tashtari absolutely love to play hit and run. You could have the same pack harass an adventuring party for multiple encounters, only daring to move into melee when they've weakened someone enough to safely score a kill. The fact that their athletics is only so-so means that they're going to pick their targets carefully, just like real wolves. Their climb speed suggests they'd be super happy in a forest or canyon, where they can camp somewhere with good lines of sight. Basically, tashtari have more than enough tools for a dirtbag GM to annoy the hell out of their players, which I consider a big win.
With all this in mind, I performed a four-combat playtest against a partially randomly generated PF2 party: a gnoll champion, a fleshwarp barbarian, a kobold psychic, and a leshy investigator. Each combat was keyed to extreme difficulty, and took place at levels 1, 3, 5, and 7. These levels were chosen specifically to see how well tashtari fit the roles of bosses, standard monsters, and low-level mooks. To represent the two genders of TTRPG player, I optimized the psychic and barbarian as best as I could for current Pathfinder meta, and stuck to flavorful, thematic choices for the investigator and champion. To take advantage of the tashtari's stealth, range, and movement abilities, I chose a shallow canyon with scrubby foliage and a few crisscrossing bridges as the battleground.
Here's what happened.
TEST 1: Two tashtari vs. a Lv1 party of four. Absolutely miserable experience. The pair of wolves stuck to the top of the canyon--out of reach of the party--and laserbeamed them to death. Nonetheless, the party came surprisingly close to victory, as the psychic managed to get the second wolf into the red before finally falling unconscious. In fact, the psychic--thanks to Thermal Stasis, Eat Fire, and Restore the Mind--was pivotal in allowing the party to last as long as they did, demonstrating that elemental resistances and patch healing are going to matter early and matter a lot in SF2. The persistent damage is what proved to be especially lethal, as the party simply lacked the resources or action economy to get their friends back on their feet before the burning effect ate up their death saves.
TEST 2: Two tashtari and one alpha vs. Lv3. This marked the point where the party was able to start and stay winning, as the barbarian was beginning to unlock some mobility options while the psychic wasn't burning through resources so quickly. The champ and investigator, meanwhile, had better healing, and the statistical gap had now closed enough that their skills could actually do something. Having more wolves on the field as well as a clear "boss" allowed me to experiment with more cooperative behavior, and I was able to deploy my favorite combination of having one or two creatures get up in the party's faces to hinder their movement, while the rest of the pack sniped from a distance. It was a very intense fight (few extreme encounters are easy), but the party felt less trapped in a hole.
TEST 3: Four tashtari and two alphas vs. Lv5. Now that the party was on statistically even footing with their foes, the true cost of a low-tech, melee-focused meta finally reared its ugly head. If they split up to compensate for being outnumbered, they'd be unable to heal each other. But, if they all ganged up on one wolf at a time, the others could pepper them from a distance and set off the healer economy death spiral. Since reloading, climbing, and chasing were all so taxing, missing hits felt incredibly punishing. The most mobile character--the barbarian--had a lot of fun charging after wolves that tried to flee, but doing so meant making themselves an obvious target. Nobody got through the fight without at least one wound.
TEST 4: Eight tashtari and four alphas vs. Lv7, AKA Too Many Wolves. Despite taking a billion years to run on account of there being Too Many Wolves, this was probably my favorite fight, as at this point the party finally had enough ranged options and mobility aids to close the action economy gap. Still, the investigator was desperate for a gun with more than two shots in the chamber, and it was really hard to decide who should get defensive buffs on which turn due to the wolves being able to focus fire on whomever they damn well pleased. I think it would've been really easy to make this fight suck super bad if I hadn't made the tashtari do things other than shoot twice and take cover: shootouts run the risk of getting boring if everyone digs in and nobody shakes things up. So, GMs in the future will need to take extra care to not let combat become routine just because everyone has a gun. Or throat laser. Whatever.
TL;DR: Overall, the tashtari seem pretty decently balanced for PF2's engine, preserve what made them special in SF1, and demonstrate the changing meta expectations for SF2. I'm a fan of these sparkly blue freaks, and other than some minor touchups to the alpha, have no complaints. Might test the glitch gremlin later, too, but would need to build characters with actual tech on 'em to make glitching actually matter.
Anybody else get the chance to play with these guys? What are your thoughts?
(Post-script shameless begging: So, I know that player-facing material needs to take priority in these field tests. PC choices represent a long-term commitment, so it's significantly more important to nail the feel and tuning of each option. Also, players outnumber GMs by at least four to one, and it's a huge luxury to have access to this pre-playtest material at all, but... Well, I want the dev team to know that I'm making massive puppy eyes at them right now. I would love to see more creatures, as a treat.)
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The persistent damage on all successful attacks does give me a grinch smile as a DM, but the 40ft range on bristle flash is more interesting to me; just when PCs begin to close the range gap, with melees setting up for a charge on the subsequent turn, this little blue turd flash bombs you and runs away laughing like a hyena (at least mine will).
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Thanks for taking the time to read and analyze the tashtari and glitch gremlin. It's pretty cool to see someone deep diving a field test like this. :)
Thank you! Enemy design is my favorite part of Path/Starfinder, and I wanna make sure that gets at least a little community attention during SF2's development. Can't let those darn players have all the fun!
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I'm so glad you enjoyed the rainbow wolf and it's pew-pew-awoo of sparkly doom.
I'm really touched seeing people have fun with the things our team has worked on; it's a dream come true and I can't wait to hear about more awesome adventures in the future!
In all seriousness, I wanted to make a creature that felt like an "alien wolf" without causing people to look at it and go "why wouldn't I just use the PF2 wolf?" I didn't want it to completely outshine the PF2 wolf, but, as you pointed out, it had to show off our game's new meta-assumptions about ranged combat.
And I agree that monster design is one of Second Edition's best features. Building and playing monsters is rewarding and fun, and the 3 action economy really shines when you are sitting behind the GM screen and realize: "Oh, wow, I have so many tactical options at my disposal even if my monster's don't have that many built in abilities!"
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...I have to let you know that I've been repeating "super laser wolf analysis" to the tune of TMNT for the last ten minutes.
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...I have to let you know that I've been repeating "super laser wolf analysis" to the tune of TMNT for the last ten minutes.
super (laser wolf) analysis
(super (laser wolf)) analysis((super laser) wolf) analysis
(super laser) (wolf analysis)
(super (laser (wolf analysis))
everything from an analysis of wolves with super lasers to an analysis of lasers that is both intensely in-depth and done in lupine style.