|
Yeah, Operatives can use it (and all advanced guns) at the same rate normal classes use martial guns. So they trade off -2 to hit for better damage / effects. I'm building up a character doing that.
As to casting through it, you can slot a spell gem into it and discharge that for the Caster element change, but your spell DC will be bad. Plus your spending those actions casting instead of shooting your fancy big gun, so it needs to be worth it.
I wish Shifting Surge had 'this spell gains the trait of the element chosen' - that would be excellent. Surge would give you the bonus on the first shot, then Caster would retain that element for a minute.
Next best I've found is Infuse Vitality. Oh, we're fighting undead? Couple people add 1d4 vitality next shot, and then Caster retains vitality as the base damage. But that's only vs undead.
For cantrips, they typically require a save or spell attack, which operative isn't necessarily good at. One candidate that stands out to me is the Prismini version of electric arc, which can instead add charges to batteries. So if you're fighting robots, it might be worth it to top off your battery then go blasting electric.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The thing is that you probably need to be a Caster to use it effectively. So Innate Spellcasting or Archetypes.
Recently it was noticed the Operative has no Level 6 "treat a Advanced weapon like a Martial" Feat. Instead ot has a persistently trailing Proficiency level, until they hit level 19. So maybe the Trade-off is supposed to be worse Proficiency?
I don't think that tradeoff is worth is basically ever. -2 to hit is equivalent to, what, about a 25% damage loss on average? Been a while since I saw the calcs.
Additionally, it'd be a bad idea to make advanced weapons strong enough to make the tradeoff worth it either, since some ancestry feats would essentially become equivalent to a typeless +2 bonus to hit, which is far beyond their intended power budget.
I think we'll just have to wait for more ways to efficiently access advanced weapons to come out later on.
If you want a caster (but not aeon) weapon that is Martial SFS just introduced the [url=https://2e.aonsrd.com/Equipment/weapons/74Reality Ripper[/url].
Modular (A and Razing or V and Deadly d10), Tech, Tracking (you have to buy it at a minimum level 2 with Tracking 1 installed), Unwieldy.
Only 40' and unwieldy, but if you're an arcane or pirmal caster who has found an elemental weakness this lets you potentially hit any of them twice on one turn by casting then striking and still having the changed weapon damage type next round.
Since it has Razing it might also be obtainable via Space Pirate dedication - I'm not sure if only being razing some of the time disqualifies it. Probably not, but ask your GM.
double weapon training on a mystic or witchwarper probably is the best way to use the weapon. Proficiency options are limited and they can leverage the caster trait most easily.
Currently the only option for full proficiency is a certain fighter feat, which means either playing a fighter or taking fighter dedication (but that pushes advanced weapon training to level 12).
Operatives are strangely lacking a similar feat, and the proficiency downgrade is way too bad to make it a good trade.
tbh I'm a little baffled that Paizo decided to publish a bunch of weapons that you can't actually get full proficiency for within Starfinder materials.