I made a number of playtest characters and threads, and I wanted to go through and do a follow-up for how they've worked out since then.
First up, we're going to look at Quid's Character Build: Mr. Sir, Deadly Undead Game Show Host / Envoy Thoughts.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and conscientious objectors! It's time once again for the game of lasers, phasers, masers, and tazers, You Bet Your Life!"
Mr. Sir was a human borai Envoy with In the Spotlight, focusing on debuffing via quips and using his subclass to both buff allies and move them around like he was directing a show production.
Let's take a look at the new version of Envoy!
First off, there's no doubling up on directives. You buff or you rearrange, never both. In the Spotlight now has Dance Partner, which is a small move and is focused on melee. It's a poor fit all around, despite being a vid celebrity. We'll go with Infosphere Director, since that includes making a shot in the two-action version, and gives allies bonus AC against them- important since we can't rely on Get 'Em to do much if there are any casters in the group. The knowledge check is just a little perk, since Int and Wis are our tertiary stats.
We lost a little minor flavor with Get 'Em going from a debuff to a buff, and a status bonus won't stack with a Mystic or Occult Witchwarper's spells. But, we start with an alternative right from level 1, and a circumstance bonus to AC is reliable enough. Glitching 1 against tech enemies is fine, since it needs a crit to clear. Or is it a "benefit" that only lasts one round? One round of a DC 6 flat check to avoid taking a -1 on a check is just, locked behind a failed fort save, is... 50/50 to fail the initial save, 25% to not succeed the flat check, 1-in-10 penalty relevance... a 1% of doing something against a tech enemy. I guess the critical failure on the flat check always does something? 3.5% chance of doing something.
We also lost some features. Size Up is no longer a feature, but as a feat, it can save an action. Practiced Influencer is a feat now.
Level 1:
Before, we took Quip and used human for Diverse Schemes. Now, we'll take Quip and use human for Size Up. I don't actually have much to do with the extra action it saves.
Level 2:
Losing Suppressing Insults is a real bummer; I hope we get that back. Being able to make that once-per-person combat debuff really count was nice and thematic. We were going to be taking Search High and Low anyway, and requesting the GM to allow the bonus to check for traps even in exploration. Moved from Level 4 to Level 2.
Level 4:
Well, we need to go grab a replacement now. There's not much point in grabbing the directive to move people around (our level 6 choice), since it locks us out of our other directives. Acquire Asset is a more worthwhile now, since having an asset does more in combat. Influence is also available, but once-per-day things feel bad on feats.
Level 6:
Let's see... Distant Feint got a huge improvement, which is great to see! That's probably a better fit than another four assets. Deception isn't really one of Mr. Sir's main skills, but it's charisma and we have double the increases, so that's fine. Some of the "deal with traps" skills can be improvised up from trained, since it's rare to actually need those.
Level 8:
All right, here's where we started getting into on-level feats that really fit Mr. Sir. Master Plan was a good thematic fit for directing allies. ... And it's gone. Cheer Up is very out of character, Confounding Disquisition went up a level despite being too action intensive to consider at 6, Look Alive has prereqs, and Sidestep is... well, it's melee oriented, but it's pretty on-brand and something I considered last time. Sidestep it is!
Level 10:
Cut 'Em Deep is still around, bay-bee! ... It's a little unfortunate that it requires debuffing them after you shoot at them, but that's the price we pay to be able to insult somebody repeatedly. And upgrade a failure to a success? Mua! Just wish we could improve its range a little.
Level 12:
Wait, Got 'Em is bonus damage instead of temp HP? And it's a status bonus that doesn't stack with the Get 'Em? This is a twelfth-level feat to deal two HP of damage per round, and only if you're already doing another action? This feels like a serious contender for errata.
Heeey, Secondary Directive! That's a late arrival, and you have to make hit a shot without the bonus to hand out Get 'Em, and no bonus damage. It doesn't work with make-a-strike directives, so it'd mean retraining something. Sadly, I think I have to pass on this. It just doesn't mesh at all.
Let's see what else we have... Situational Awareness allows readying a two-action directive. We can't issue more than one a round (not turn), and Mr. Sir is already building for one-action Get 'Em, so this doesn't seem worthwhile. AC and accuracy buffs are better earlier, not later. That'll Show 'Em has prereqs. Unstoppable Directives... ah, that's the functional replacement for Got 'Em, even if the flavor isn't as on-point! It's a less temp HP per round at later levels, but working with other directives easily makes up for that.
Level 14:
Oh, there's Master Plan. Fair enough, it was pretty good. We'll grab that. We were grabbing Do It Now!, but You Can Do It is both less fitting of a name and means giving somebody else our shot.
Level 16:
We were taking Extend Directive, but the new version is a lot worse because it locks you out of issuing the full version. Effortless Influencer has Influence as a prereq and we could retrain for that... Get Them! isn't very interesting, since I mostly want to focus fire anyway, and moving from 18 to 16 isn't nearly enough for how little it does. From 14th, Ready to Roll with an asset means that you can shoot somebody in initiative if you have your weapon drawn and know you're fighting that person in particular... yeah, we'll go with that.
Level 18: Fast Synergy doesn't do anything with Mr. Sir's directives- seeking in combat is really rare. Improvised Legend feels like it should still give you a once-per-day use on top of hourly, just so taking the feat doesn't lock you out of a back-to-back use that you could have done without the feat? Still, it's nice for Mr. Sir, who has to juggle a lot of skills.
Level 20: Love the decreased time for Endlessly Adaptive, that's a big improvement! Either capstone feat is good and fitting.
----
Overall, there were a number of levels where I was less happy with what I was getting compared to the playtest. Level 18, where I had to take Get Them before, was a huge improvement.
The only thing I really miss from the playtest is Suppressing Insults. It'd be a little harder to fit in, but I'd probably clear out the Distant Feint for it, or just drop Acquire Asset and not worry about saving actions.
The status bonus conflict for attack on Get 'Em seems rough, though.