Starfinder Player Core Review

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

​

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!

 

[Staffan]

Is the book clear in the text about it being a specific genre of Science Fantasy? Because otherwise I would assume broad-spectrum science fiction.

The tag line on the website is "Launch into an exciting universe of science fantasy adventure with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! Create and customize your own futuristic hero to play through challenging adventures and action-packed battles against dangerous foes! Welcome to the best launchpad for a lifetime of pulse-pounding adventure among the stars—the only limit is your imagination!"

You be the judge of how clear that is, but I think it's pretty clear that it's D&D/Pathfinder in space, and when I read the 1e core book it was eminently clear to me that this was essentially Guardians of the Galaxy: the RPG (but using D&D-derived rules which is not ideal for that).

 

[doctorhook]

Why would you try and make Starfinder into Alien?! It's not at all designed for that. If you want Alien play Mothership. For Star Trek, Star Trek Adventures is already in existence. Starfinder is a specific genre of Science Fantasy, no need to try and make it something different when other games already exist to do those.

You’ll get no argument from me!

Alien seems like the sci-fi equivalent of “low fantasy”: mostly humans, no “space magic”, high lethality, gritty, etc. It’s the exact opposite of Guardians of the Galaxy in a lot of ways.

And Starfinder’s artwork has always evoked a specific tone: colourful creatures on a gonzo heroic space adventure! That’s Guardians of the Galaxy for sure! Maybe it could emulate aspects of Star Trek or Star Wars (if players are willing to buy into limiting the tone). But Alien… well I’m sure SF could do a version of Alien, but how much SF content does the GM need to disallow to preserve the tone of Alien? Lots I imagine, and then why not just play a better-suited game instead, per your suggestion.

The tag line on the website is "Launch into an exciting universe of science fantasy adventure with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! Create and customize your own futuristic hero to play through challenging adventures and action-packed battles against dangerous foes! Welcome to the best launchpad for a lifetime of pulse-pounding adventure among the stars—the only limit is your imagination!"

You be the judge of how clear that is, but I think it's pretty clear that it's D&D/Pathfinder in space, and when I read the 1e core book it was eminently clear to me that this was essentially Guardians of the Galaxy: the RPG (but using D&D-derived rules which is not ideal for that).

Pretty much, you’ve identified the crux of the problem: how generic is Starfinder and how does it present itself? It’s gonzo (anything goes!) but I’d never call it a blank slate. “D&D in space” is probably the best description.

Might be there’s also a parallelism here between modern high-powered D&D compared to low-powered OSR gaming. Nobody’s ever going to call Pathfinder an OSR game, and Starfinder obviously uses the same design philosophy. That’s fine, it just means it’s probably gonna suck at replicating “OSR in space”.

 

[cranberry]

I played Star Finder 1 a number of years ago, so I'm pretty familiar with it as is.

I just wish that they included all classes in this book instead of making people wait for additional releases.

This approach is typical for Paizo, so no surprise, but I'm not going to introduce it to my players until all options are available. I already caused a hiccup with PF2 remastered (Introducing it before all core books were released, and before Pathbuilder was ready).

I also wish this was pure Sci Fi, as I really don't want to play Star Wars. I understand that they did this to make the transition between PF and SF easy.

Yes, I could drop magic, but I know a couple of my players would want to play space wizards.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Is the book clear in the text about it being a specific genre of Science Fantasy? Because otherwise I would assume broad-spectrum science fiction.

Its perhaps not entirely clear on it, but a simple examination of the fact that it uses D&D style mechanics at two removes is going to show its going to be, at best, difficult to play a version of the first movie (which is largely straight horror, arguably an offshoot of slasher movies) as compared to the second (which is action horror). This is largely an artifact of the fact even starting characters are too capable to fit the mold needed. You could hack it into doing the job, but that describes every game ever.

Starfinder isn't really broad spectrum SF, but then, neither would I call Pathfinder or D&D broad spectrum fantasy; both have parts of the genre they're really not well suited for.

 

[BakaPenguin]

Is the book clear in the text about it being a specific genre of Science Fantasy? Because otherwise I would assume broad-spectrum science fiction.

It has it's own lore and aesthetic and the setting is Pop Science Fantasy. That doesn't mean you can't take the rules and play any kind of game you want, but it is very much intended that you play heroic space adventurers fighting evil space monsters.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You’ll get no argument from me!

Alien seems like the sci-fi equivalent of “low fantasy”: mostly humans, no “space magic”, high lethality, gritty, etc. It’s the exact opposite of Guardians of the Galaxy in a lot of ways.

And Starfinder’s artwork has always evoked a specific tone: colourful creatures on a gonzo heroic space adventure! That’s Guardians of the Galaxy for sure! Maybe it could emulate aspects of Star Trek or Star Wars (if players are willing to buy into limiting the tone). But Alien… well I’m sure SF could do a version of Alien, but how much SF content does the GM need to disallow to preserve the tone of Alien? Lots I imagine, and then why not just play a better-suited game instead, per your suggestion.



Pretty much, you’ve identified the crux of the problem: how generic is Starfinder and how does it present itself? It’s gonzo (anything goes!) but I’d never call it a blank slate. “D&D in space” is probably the best description.

Might be there’s also a parallelism here between modern high-powered D&D compared to low-powered OSR gaming. Nobody’s ever going to call Pathfinder an OSR game, and Starfinder obviously uses the same design philosophy. That’s fine, it just means it’s probably gonna suck at replicating “OSR in space”.

Stars Without Number is a great "OSR in space"!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Its perhaps not entirely clear on it, but a simple examination of the fact that it uses D&D style mechanics at two removes is going to show its going to be, at best, difficult to play a version of the first movie (which is largely straight horror, arguably an offshoot of slasher movies) as compared to the second (which is action horror). This is largely an artifact of the fact even starting characters are too capable to fit the mold needed. You could hack it into doing the job, but that describes every game ever.

Starfinder isn't really broad spectrum SF, but then, neither would I call Pathfinder or D&D broad spectrum fantasy; both have parts of the genre they're really not well suited for.

Level Up's Voidrunner's Codex uses D&D-style rules, but I would definitely say it's a pretty broad-spectrum sci-fi game (more so than Starfinder seems to be). If I were casting about for a sci-fi game using D&D-style rules, I expect Starfinder is one of the first I'd find, so if it very specific in it's subgenre that's something I'd want to know.

 

[Bolongo]

Level Up's Voidrunner's Codex uses D&D-style rules, but I would definitely say it's a pretty broad-spectrum sci-fi game (more so than Starfinder seems to be). If I were casting about for a sci-fi game using D&D-style rules, I expect Starfinder is one of the first I'd find, so if it very specific in it's subgenre that's something I'd want to know.

And now you know.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And now you know.

I have several sci-fi games using D&D-style rules and was never looking at Starfinder 2 personally (mostly because I don't like Pathfinder 2). I was just wondering if the book was clear on the style, and commenting that not assuming zany space super-hero adventure in a sci-fi game seems reasonable to me.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Level Up's Voidrunner's Codex uses D&D-style rules, but I would definitely say it's a pretty broad-spectrum sci-fi game (more so than Starfinder seems to be). If I were casting about for a sci-fi game using D&D-style rules, I expect Starfinder is one of the first I'd find, so if it very specific in it's subgenre that's something I'd want to know.

I'd say its as specific as D&D. And D&D "style" rules could cover a world of sins here. That said, I still think unless you've actually drifted a fair way away from them, they bias any game using them toward action-adventure games of a particular kind, and that's inevitably going to mean short of a big hack, they aren't going to work for everything even within a broad genre.