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I want to start this off by stating that I adore Plated Vesk. It's the one thing in the entirety of the Starfinder playtest PDF that grabbed me and held onto my brain the entire time I was reading through the book. It created my first character idea, and every time I looked at an option following the decision to play a plated vesk was made in reference to how it would work with such a character.
So let's take a moment to examine its fun mechanics and what's weird about them
First off, the mechanical points about Plated Vesk's armoring. A dex cap of +1 and a base armor of +4 puts it at the highest level of medium armor. Heavy armor could theoretically be better, but having the Comfort trait would be a good tradeoff on another armor of this type, and falling under the plate armor type is good stuff. It appears to have 0 bulk, no speed penalty, a standard check penalty, and, naturally, can't be removed from you.
The good traits that you can't get anywhere else - the complete lack of bulk, no speed penalty, and the fact that it can't be removed - are in a tradeoff with the fact that you're totally unable to benefit from any armor worthy of the word. You can put on a flight suit, but that's it. Instead, you're stuck using a type of armor upgrade that's rather obscure in modern times - armor runes - directly etched into your hide. This means you're reliant on finding an enchanter or becoming one yourself; that's something that isn't impossible to do, but might be more difficult. This is an extremely cool tradeoff, putting you in a different realm of upgrades than other characters. You also can't rely on the GM to give you anything cool; a super awesome armor drop in a dungeon or while adventuring can't be used by you because of your plated armor.
The weird part about it is the way it interacts with certain things, though. Specifically, it doesn't have the exposed trait, which means technically you're totally protected from a vacuum even while completely nude, which obviates the need for the specially allowed Flight Suit. It also lacks the Analog tag, so technically your natural plated scales count as a target for technological-affecting systems. Can someone hack your natural armor? Apparently!
In conclusion;
The racial trait is absolutely stellar. It has tradeoffs which are appropriate to its narrative role, with stats good enough that you're not suffering because of that fact. The benefits it gives by being part of your body are excellent, and it plays extremely well into the fantasy of being an 'unarmored' warrior that doesn't exclusively rely on dodging like a monk would. The only changes I'd make to it are adding the Exposed and Analog traits, since without those it's got some strange stuff going on. By default Analog equipment can't be affected by armor runes, but specific trumps general, and the skin of a Plated Vesk has a rule in specific allowing it to use armor runes, so it's a non-issue.
It lacks the tech trait, that's what would be necessary for hacking, glitching, and stuff like that. Analog means "uses high technology in its construction but not digital/computerized/electric/hackable/whatever" means that specifically interact with the tech trait.
Analog and archaic are related in this way. Neither can be hacked, but analog needs tech (but not "Tech" trait) upgrades, archaic needs weapon runes.
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I want to start this off by stating that I adore Plated Vesk. It's the one thing in the entirety of the Starfinder playtest PDF that grabbed me and held onto my brain the entire time I was reading through the book. It created my first character idea, and every time I looked at an option following the decision to play a plated vesk was made in reference to how it would work with such a character.
So let's take a moment to examine its fun mechanics and what's weird about them
First off, the mechanical points about Plated Vesk's armoring. A dex cap of +1 and a base armor of +4 puts it at the highest level of medium armor. Heavy armor could theoretically be better, but having the Comfort trait would be a good tradeoff on another armor of this type, and falling under the plate armor type is good stuff. It appears to have 0 bulk, no speed penalty, a standard check penalty, and, naturally, can't be removed from you.
The good traits that you can't get anywhere else - the complete lack of bulk, no speed penalty, and the fact that it can't be removed - are in a tradeoff with the fact that you're totally unable to benefit from any armor worthy of the word. You can put on a flight suit, but that's it. Instead, you're stuck using a type of armor upgrade that's rather obscure in modern times - armor runes - directly etched into your hide. This means you're reliant on finding an enchanter or becoming one yourself; that's something that isn't impossible to do, but might be more difficult. This is an extremely cool tradeoff, putting you in a different realm of upgrades than other characters. You also can't rely on the GM to give you anything cool; a super awesome armor drop in a dungeon or while adventuring can't be used by you because of your plated armor.
The weird part about it is the way it interacts with certain things, though. Specifically, it doesn't have the exposed trait, which means technically you're totally protected from a vacuum even while completely nude, which obviates the need for the specially...
Several other pathfinder ancestries get the same ability, either through a heritage or feat. Conrasu, Automoton, Kashrishi, and Nagaji.
Several other pathfinder ancestries get the same ability, either through a heritage or feat. Conrasu, Automoton, Kashrishi, and Nagaji.
There's a versatile heritage in Player Core 2 that lets you do a similar thing on any ancestry with a level 1 ancestry feat (but that's +3 with a Strength cap of +2).
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Several other pathfinder ancestries get the same ability, either through a heritage or feat. Conrasu, Automoton, Kashrishi, and Nagaji.There's a versatile heritage in Player Core 2 that lets you do a similar thing on any ancestry with a level 1 ancestry feat (but that's +3 with a Strength cap of +2).
That one is actually problematic and might be eratta'd soon. That one is in the unarmored category, whereas the others (Vesk and the ones I mentioned) all key off of medium armor proficiency. It's similar, yes, but with some key differences.
I don't want to start a big fight over it, but I will say it is just straight up mechanically the best option for monks as is. You are free to disagree. Back to the actual topic of this thread though.
No yeah, I like abilities like this. Kinda wanna make a plated Vesk solarian that strides into combat with nothing bout a GI/kimono on and a life-support belt (Flight suit.)
If you're not proficient in Medium Armor due to not having it as a class, does this ancestry feat essentially force you into having bad armor? Because you don't add level or anything to AC because you're untrained in Medium, and you can't wear anything else but Flight Suit. If you wear Flight Suit are you still restricted by the "Medium Armor" you're technically still wearing?
Indeed, if you're not proficient in medium armor you're stuck with bad armor proficiency most of the time. With a flight suit, however, you should be able to use the better of your unarmored and medium armor proficiency, so your unarmored proficiency in this case.
At 1st level (and 2nd), a plated vesk in a class that only grants proficiency in light armor (envoy not taking the From the Front leadership style, mystic, operative, witchwarper) will be stuck with "bad armor proficiency." However, a +5 AC bonus (plus level) that costs 0 cr is not absolutely horrible compared to the "normal" +6 or +7 possible for most 1st level characters; investing in a shield might help a bit, also.
At 3rd level, taking the Armor Proficiency (Medium) feat will put the plated vesk with a class that only provides proficiency with light armor back "on par." For example, a plated vesk envoy with the Guns Blazing leadership style gains Incredible Initiative as a bonus feat; essentially, the character just switches the order of the rest of the general feats (assuming Incredible Initiative was going to be one of the general feats, which is often the case; 1st- Incredible Initiative [bonus], 3rd- Armor Proficiency, 7th- start taking the other four general feats desired for the character). The only other hiccup may be at the highest levels: medium armor proficiency may be stuck at Expert if the class grants Master proficiency with light armor (envoy or operative at 19th).
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The solution for "your heritage gives you medium armor that you can't take off" for classes that don't have medium armor proficiency is "don't take that heritage, take a different one."
Like a plated vesk for an operative is a worse choice than a nightstalker vesk or a briskwander vesk.
For some specific class concepts (the above mentioned envoy with the Guns Blazing leadership style; or a mystic with the Elemental connection that worships Damoritosh and fights with a doshko or plasma doshko), a plated vesk going into a class without medium armor proficiency can make sense. It's just not a "great for every class concept" choice and you have to plan on taking the Armor Proficiency feat.