I thought it was interesting that the Devs were saying that Nanocyte is going to be an archetype, that because of that, there was more they could do with Nanocytes outside of a class.
Well, a class has to have feats and features that both thematically cohere and also, like, actually function together as a build? An archetype can just have a grab-bag of appropriately-themed stuff after the dedication. Nanocyte-as-a-class would need to fit the shape of being a class, whereas Nanocyte-as-archetype can be more flexible.
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I think there's a decent chance it's a cool archetype, but at the same time "bringing it back as an archetype/subclass" is still kind of a death sentence to fans of the original. Archetypes just don't have enough power budget for that.
As someone who wanted to like the original... the original didn't have the power budget for what I wanted. "Here, have clouds of nanites! Oh, want to fight with them? At sixth level, you can do damage once per ten-minute break!" The class was already required to use a regular gun or punch people, so an archetype makes sense to me. Now you can have your Technomancer pulling tricks with nanites in addition to magic, your Soldier hosting nanites in their body, and your Mechanic using them for repairs (probably).
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I thought it was interesting that the Devs were saying that Nanocyte is going to be an archetype, that because of that, there was more they could do with Nanocytes outside of a class.Well, a class has to have feats and features that both thematically cohere and also, like, actually function together as a build? An archetype can just have a grab-bag of appropriately-themed stuff after the dedication. Nanocyte-as-a-class would need to fit the shape of being a class, whereas Nanocyte-as-archetype can be more flexible.
Classes are also tied to one attribute; an archetype could free up what types of characters can use nanocytes by freeing up the class attribute requirement.
The devs were also talking about using nanocytes in new ways, like in equipment. I think with some nanocyte equipment and augmentations + the archetype, we can piece something together pretty close to the old class. Some nanocyte-flavored spells could help too, and would go well with the technomancer.
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Nanocyte-as-a-class would need to fit the shape of being a class, whereas Nanocyte-as-archetype can be more flexible.
IDK this kind of feels a little marketing-y to me.
Yeah, being an archetype means the options don't have to be as cohesive, but it also means you're limited to just a handful of individual feats to deliver anything and those feats tend to be on their own not particularly impactful.
Like your typical dedication feat is some skill training and a simple ability, maybe a flavor effect too. That's going to be all of your "nanocyteness" at level 2. Then at level 4 you might finally be able to pick up a more impactful ability, but it's still just a single class feats worth of stuff.
... I'm not saying it's going to be bad, but archetypes are very small and very conservative. You're never going to get anything close to a whole experience out of one.
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It being an archetype means it is no longer a viable character concept for any game that starts at level 1, and yeah it does sound like the capabilities you get will be minor because archetypes tend to not have any budget.
I worry for another oozemorph situation.
On the devil advocate side for nanocyte as an archetype, it's possible that it could end up (very roughly) like the cavalier PF2e archetype where you get to choose various nanite "powers" (expanded from the android ancestry feats, maybe). "Doing cool things with nanites" does seem to be a niche that has a broader application than limiting it to a single class (or ancestry).
On the devil advocate side for nanocyte as an archetype, it's possible that it could end up (very roughly) like the cavalier PF2e archetype where you get to choose various nanite "powers" (expanded from the android ancestry feats, maybe). "Doing cool things with nanites" does seem to be a niche that has a broader application than limiting it to a single class (or ancestry).
Also if they eventually do an evolutionist type class you could easily have a more focused nanite related sub class that covers a lot of the feel of the old nanocyte.
well... I'm sad, but optimistic. At a Dev Panel recently it was confirmed that the Nanocyte would be brought into SF2e as an Archetype instead of a full class. I had hoped for a full class, but we'll see what the Dev's built of it. It's coming in Tech Core.
I have some apprehensions about this, because I have this weird thought that it'll turn out like the Swarmkeeper archetype from Pathfinder2e's Howl in the Wild, which is a clunky archetype to use.
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It being an archetype means it is no longer a viable character concept for any game that starts at level 1, and yeah it does sound like the capabilities you get will be minor because archetypes tend to not have any budget.
I worry for another oozemorph situation.
In Starfinder 2e organized play, you can now build characters starting at levels 1, 3, 5, or 7. I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, but starting at 3rd level would be a way to build concepts you want to start with an archetype. Although for an archetype meant to replace a whole class, it would be nice to have it available at the first level.
Question for the SF1e experts:
Was it more common to have a character start off as a nanocyte and stay primarily as a nanocyte, or was it more common to dip into nanocyte levels? If the latter is true, I'd understand why the Starfriends decided to demote nanocyte to archetype.
And as for Nanocyte becoming a space Swarmkeeper, upon further reflection and discussion elsewhere, all the PF2 archetype needs is its action economy un-cluttered in a manner similar to witchwarper's quantum zone getting its action economy cleaned up. Throw in the Starfinder sauce and we might have a good archetype.