Starfinder Player Core Review

This is the first of the three core rulebooks for Starfinder Second Edition.

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This book brings Starfinder completely out of the Open Game License (OGL) and syncs it with Pathfinder Remaster Edition. That means a three action economy, no more alignment, and lots of crunchy bits to bring to your character. Obviously, one of the big differences between this and the Starfinder Core Rulebook is that Starfinder Player Core doesn’t have the GM rules.

Ancestries & Backgrounds​

There are ten different ancestries in this book: Android, Barathu, Human, Kasatha, Lashunta, Pahtra, Shirren, Skittermander, Vesk, and Ysoki, as well as two versatile heritages: Borai and Prismeni.

One of the things I love about this redesign is that there's enough customization so that no two androids are alike. The heritages and ancestry feats make each character unique and allow you to tool your Skittermander completely differently than anyone else at the table.

With that in mind, Versatile Heritages can also turn your character into something special. Borai are a strange mix of living and undead, maybe because of a botched resurrection attempt, maybe something more tragic. Prismeni are mortals who have been influenced by the energies of the Drift and are now more attuned to it. This means that you become a living battery (and make sure everyone’s phones are charged!).

Every character needs a backstory, and that’s what Backgrounds are there to do: help you shape your character by talking about their past. Each background grants two boosts to your character, usually a skill feat and the trained proficiency rank in two skills. This encourages you to add extra flavor to your character by giving them a bit of depth.

Classes​

This edition of Starfinder starts with six classes: Envoy, Mystic, Operative, Solarian, Soldier, and Witchwarper. Just like ancestries, classes got a bit of an overhaul so my Envoy’s leadership style may be completely different from someone else at the table.

One of the interesting things to come out of this edition is that every class is structured the same. Everyone has feats, it’s not called "improvisations" for Envoys or "exploits" for Operatives. This allows a very smooth introduction to the system for new players so they don’t have to learn six different terms depending on what they want to play. Each class does still hold some of its own flavor: Mystics still pick Connections and Soldiers have Fighting Styles. Mystics start off with more spells per day than in first edition, but their max of any spell per day caps at four instead of five.

All of the classes got a top down redesign to update them, pull out components that don’t work the way that they should, and have new bits added. They do feel a bit more user friendly and easier to build and level throughout the game. I am a bit sad that Mechanics didn’t make the cut in this book, but I’m excited to see what the team comes up with for them in future rules supplrements.

If you like to multiclass, don’t worry; archetypes allow you to take feats to customize your character by taking other classes.

Skills & Feats​

One of my pet peeves with RPG systems is when skills aren’t well explained. It leads to many arguments at the table and stops the game entirely. That's not the case here. Not only is each skill fleshed out in detail, but there are clearly listed actions you can take with each skill, including how long they take using the three action economy.

Feats are also well organized. You don’t need to go through the entire list just to find the feat you need. Each feat has its own header, which makes finding what you need easier. And that's a good thing, because there are a LOT of feats to choose from!

Equipment & Spells​

The dual defense system of separate Armor Classes for kinetic and energy have been streamlined into a singular Armor Class with resistances to provide additional defense against energy attacks.

There are a lot of shields ("YOU get a shield, and YOU get a shield, and YOU get a shield!"). I’m so glad to see shields in this section. I’m not sure why they weren’t a part of the first edition (except the Titan Shield armor upgrade), but it’s great to see them here.

New magic items like the Diva’s Microphone have made an appearance. So now you can make your Performance check while also delivering a Sonic Scream. Can we talk about how cute the Programmer’s Plushie is?

There are so many spells too. Instead of just being split into Mystic and Technomancer lists, spells are split into categories (Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal), which allows you way more customization with your character. Don't worry, there are still Mystic Epiphany and Witchwarper Warp spells. I can’t wait to make a spellcaster in Starfinder just to see how spells in space feel compared to playing a fantasy sorcerer.

Final Thoughts​

As always, I’m blown away with how beautifully put together this book is. The team at Paizo always does a great job with their layout, presenting a lot of information while still ensuring it's easy to read and reference.

The biggest downside is that the GM Core doesn’t come out until September. Because it is completely compatible with Pathfinder, you can ply with thoes rules, but it means you'll have to wait before you can really use this book to its fullest potential.

Other than that, and the fact that I can’t play a mechanic right out of the gate, I love the way everything in the book is presented. I’m ready to go explore the Pact Worlds with my crew!

 

[Velderan]

For whatever it’s worth, Starfinder feels like a specific subgenre of science fantasy. It’s basically Guardians of the Galaxy, and perhaps it’s gonna need more tweaking to achieve Star Trek or certainly Alien.

Not sure if you played any of the playtest scenarios, but the first SFS scenario definitely felt like they were inspired by Star Trek and the second one felt like they were going for something from Alien so I think it is possible to use the rules to create something like them.

 

[Velderan]

For those curious about the rules, Archives of Nethys already has the rules from Galaxy Guide and Player Core up here.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Do you still need to upgrade your weapons and armor every few levels from those endless lists?

I believe from my reading that they took the PF2e approach; you don't replace the weapon, you just upgrade its effectiveness some using--in PF2e its runes, I'm not sure if that's still true in SF2e or its something more technological. Its also rather less frequent.

(There's also an alternate rule used in PF2e which probably applies here where instead of fiddling with the runes, you just get automatic upgrade effects as a quality-of-character thing if you don't like the musical runes).

 

[Velderan]

I believe from my reading that they took the PF2e approach; you don't replace the weapon, you just upgrade its effectiveness some using--in PF2e its runes, I'm not sure if that's still true in SF2e or its something more technological. Its also rather less frequent.

(There's also an alternate rule used in PF2e which probably applies here where instead of fiddling with the runes, you just get automatic upgrade effects as a quality-of-character thing if you don't like the musical runes).

Solarion Crystals are what is filling the rune concept, with Core Crystals being what they're calling the fundamental runes. Interesting that it only takes a single Interact action to add or remove a crystal instead of requiring Crafting so in theory you could swap crystals during combat if you needed a different crystal.

I'm guessing Automatic Bonus Progression will be in the not yet released GM Core book since that's where it was in PF2e.

Edit: I missed where it mentioned these being for powering a solarion’s attacks, so ignore this!

 

[Thomas Shey]

Solarion Crystals are what is filling the rune concept, with Core Crystals being what they're calling the fundamental runes. Interesting that it only takes a single Interact action to add or remove a crystal instead of requiring Crafting so in theory you could swap crystals during combat if you needed a different crystal.

I'm guessing Automatic Bonus Progression will be in the not yet released GM Core book since that's where it was in PF2e.

I remembered something filled the rune niche, but didn't remember what (and its always possible the playtest doc didn't spell it out and/or the swap-in-combat part wasn't there yet). I can't see many reasons to swap the fundamental runes/core crystals, but if you're made of money, I could see keeping around multiples of some of the others to use as needed.

 

[Bolongo]

I believe from my reading that they took the PF2e approach; you don't replace the weapon, you just upgrade its effectiveness some using--in PF2e its runes, I'm not sure if that's still true in SF2e or its something more technological. Its also rather less frequent.

That sounds like a great solution. Unfortunately the Archive of Nethys linked by Velderan shows they still have huge lists of armor and weapons gated by level and price. This makes me sad.
Well, mostly I'm sad that Daggerheart inexplicably chose to copy this system, but I guess that's off topic for this thread.

 

[Thomas Shey]

That sounds like a great solution. Unfortunately the Archive of Nethys linked by Velderan shows they still have huge lists of armor and weapon gated by level and price. This makes me sad.

They're probably the equivalent of the specialty weapons and armor from PF2e. Honestly, you only need to care about those if you want to; otherwise you get a basic weapon/armor apply the runes and move on with your life. You likely won't feel sad, unless there's a particular thing in one of the specialties you want. I think I had exactly one among three characters and campaigns.

 

[Bolongo]

They're probably the equivalent of the specialty weapons and armor from PF2e.

Do you mean the specially powered magic stuff from the GM Core? If so, no, that's not what seems to be going on in Starfinder. 2e looks to have the same system as in 1e, where you have to go shopping for new stuff every couple of levels.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Do you mean the specially powered magic stuff from the GM Core? If so, no, that's not what seems to be going on in Starfinder. 2e looks to have the same system as in 1e, where you have to go shopping for new stuff every couple of levels.

I can't even find my copy of the playtest, so I think this conversation has now exceeded my knowledge of SF2e and I'll leave the answer to this to @Velderan and others.

 

[Staffan]

Solarion Crystals are what is filling the rune concept, with Core Crystals being what they're calling the fundamental runes. Interesting that it only takes a single Interact action to add or remove a crystal instead of requiring Crafting so in theory you could swap crystals during combat if you needed a different crystal.

I'm guessing Automatic Bonus Progression will be in the not yet released GM Core book since that's where it was in PF2e.

Solarion crystals seem to be specifically for the "built-in" weapon Solarions get as a class feature. Other classes will need to upgrade their weapons, but the system seems to support upgrading rather than getting a new one.

I remember the playtest having runes, but apparently they did away with that. The upgraded versions seem to be standardized along the lines of PF2 runes though, instead of being all over the place like in SF1.