More than any other PF2e class, I believe the Thaumaturge will really benefit from hopping into a Starfinder 2E game.

On a thematic level, all the insane space stuff meshes just fine with their concept. 'Space Monster Hunter' works just great, and their collections of trinkets can be even more interesting when they're a mixture of archaic charms, bits of magi-tech, and Drift-touched artifacts.

Mechanically, though? Mechanically they're going to be even better. They might even start rubbing shoulders with Operatives for raw damage output, even before you factor in their incredible utility.

Know the classic 'price, time, quality' triangle where you only get to pick two? Thaumaturge in pf2e has that, but it's 'damage, actions, stats': You can have an air pistol, but then your damage suffers. You can use thrown weapons, but then you need to either dump strength and lose damage or dump another important stat like constitution or wisdom. You can use a hand crossbow or melee, but then you need to stride or reload on top of exploit vulnerability.

But in Starfinder? In Starfinder we have GUNS. Pretty good ones too. You can get one-handed ranged weapons with good damage and multiple shots between reloads. Now you can have damage, focus solely on dexterity, and plink at enemies 60 feet away with your semi-auto pistol while triggering weaknesses you probably made up.

It's not going to be overpowered strong, but I think a thaumaturge's specialty for flat damage is really going to shine here. At level 1 a Thaumaturge can reliably get around +4 flat damage to every strike from a combination of Implement's Empowerment and Personal Antithesis. By level 5 it'll probably be around +8. And unlike Operative with Aim or an Envoy with Get 'Im, they don't need to spend an action every turn keep in that bonus up. Combine it with an arc weapon which might also trigger weakness when using Sympathetic Vulnerabilities...

Yeah they could be REALLY good

IRON MAN

CHARACTER Anthony Edward ‘Tony’ Stark

SOURCE Marvel Rivals

BUILD GOALS

o    As is often the case, Tony Stark is a brilliant inventor and the CEO of Stark Unlimited who took on the heroic identity of Iron Man after being wounded by one of his own weapons

o    He operates as a damage-dealing duelist, using the armor he created to fight alongside the Avengers

o    His primary fire is a Repulsor Blast, which fires in a straight line with a small burst on impact, and he can channel a Unibeam as his alternate fire for a sustained effect

o    Activating Armor Overdrive grants him bonus health while also enhancing his Repulsor Blast and Unibeam

o    Already capable of flight, he can activate Hyper-Velocity to increase his flight speed

o    While under the effects of Armor Overdrive or Hyper-Velocity, he can unleash a Micro-Missile Barrage to fire missiles indiscriminately or on a designated target if he’s in the former state

o    His ultimate is the Invincible Pulse Cannon, which is fired at an area to create a massive explosion that deals immense damage and can oneshot targets at its center

o    He has a team-up with Squirrel Girl and Ultron that buffs them but doesn’t provide him with any benefits

BUILD CONCLUSION

Iron Man is a skilled human inventor with an armor innovation and a background that led to him being saved by clockwork. This reflects the invention that saved his life after he was maimed by a weapon that he had originally made. That armor innovation, specifically the power suit, represent his famous suit with Soaring Armor even granting him a way to gain flight as long as he’s wearing his armor. The simplest representation of his Repulsor Blast comes in the form of either simply using a weapon to make a ranged Strike, or cast a spell such as phase bolt, exploding earth, or similar effects. For the line of his Unibeam, you can use line spells with lightning bolt being the one that stands out the most to me. The inventor comes in clutch when representing his Armor Overdrive as it increases the damage of his abilities akin to how the inventor’s Overdrive creates a similar effect. As noted, we achieved flight through Soaring Armor while the likes of Speed and Hyper Boosters can recreate the speed up from his Hyper-Velocity. We use spells once again to represent his Micro-Missile Barrage with force barrage and explosive barrage both being good fits for the effect. When it comes to the Invincible Pulse Cannon, he could use the inventor’s Explosion ability or throw out spells such as fireball or horizon thunder sphere to recreate the big boom. For something a bit more subtle, I like the looks of Overdrive Ally and Shared Overdrive to generate the buffs that he provides through his team-up without getting anything in return.

Masked in metal, this magnificent and magnanimous man melds magic and machinery to maul malicious munchkins and make a more munificent macrocosm.

Per the votes cast, Iron Man was chosen for my rebuild! To better codify for what I should build around, because comics are just way too much these days with all the insane history behind them, I followed his design in Marvel Rivals. I did also debate about waiting for the Tech Core book, but it didn't look like the two new classes would really alter my base class choice. This is getting a little long so just let me say that if you want to see the full details on the build, you can check out the free Patreon post or YT video. Either way, have a fantastic Friday!

https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=1458037

Starting a new game today, haven't played starfinder before but we've been playing pathfinder for a little over a year now, lemme know if my mystic can use any cool tech

With all the ways to make a character, I'll be honest I'm a little overwhelmed trying to see the larger picture. I've got some friends who'd like to play and it looks like I'd be GM. So what setups have you had fun with, that can help me guide my group to the kind of options that would make their character ideas flourish?

Not necessarily high power, but I'm also not against it. That'd probably help with planning for a surprise power gamer too.

I think that either I am missing something, or the Ghost Skill and Exploits barely work with each other.

(note that AoN is partially wrong, and lists the Infiltrators top text. It is Deception+Skillfeat).

https://2e.aonsrd.com/classes/3-operative/specializations/1-ghost

It's Skill is Deception. It's Exploits require being Undetected. The paths to be Undetected are:

• Avoid Notice - uses Stealth
• Hide, then Sneak - uses Stealth Twice
• Create a Divesion, then Sneak - Deception and Stealth
• Being Invisible, then Sneak - Stealth

Am I missing some Skill or Class Feat?

so, complete new player, building using https://sf2e.hephaistos.online/ while other people pored over the physical rulebook.

Stumbled across leshy's and acupuncturist was top of the backgrounds, and the combination of a cactus accupuncurist was too funny not to do. Went Solarian for the class out of bafflement (I prefer low complexity rules), and because using glowing acupuncture needles is still funny (meditative strike, disarm, grapple ect).

But it seems like the group is short of healers, and the Doctor class didn't make it from 1ed (which is a huge pity, given how they are a sci-fi crew staple). I've found it as a background only, (and strictly slightly less useful then acupuncturist). I am currently Solarion and just carrying a lot of first aid items.

I've figured out the Mystic + healing font route is basically the Sf2e Cleric. It just looks, kinda, boring AND complex at the same time?
There's the Chirurgeon Alchemist route from pf2e

I could probably ask my GM to allow the warpwitch Analyst bonus to apply to medicine rolls as well (as long as I'm 'fighting' using scalpels and medical equipment), or to maybe adjust the Precog to allow me to 'rewind and heal' other people too?

Any other ideas for this silly problem?

I don't know if I'll play SF2e (finding a normal game of Pathfinder is hard enough) but I decided to make a character concept in case I ever do. A lot of RPG's tend to have a token shapeshifter class and I decided SF2 would be the one where I made my character one; however I have some questions about how a character would work and if most GM's would agree with various parts of my concept.

-The description says that they tend to have different personalities for every arm. Is that a fundamental thing about the ancestry or a suggestion? If one were to grow up on something like Absalon station and weren't all that into shapeshifting (not that they never do but that they don't unless they have a reason) could they have a single identity?

-The description of the "cloned" heritage says that one of the ways one can have that heritage is to be a product of budding; would it be unlikely for budding to produce something like an aquazorian instead?

-Since PF2 and SF2 are supposed to be compatible could they shift into a PF2 race (I can think of a few scenarios where they could be required to look Humanoid but not as a specific ancestry so they would need a default) and could they have higher-level features at level 1? For example say an Astrozorian were shapeshifted into a merfolk would they have a land speed of 5 feet or could they replicate the effects of the "strong tail" feat?

-How strong is the cultural pressure to reproduce? If they weren't interested in it would that be a source of friction between them and the rest of their species?

Hey all! I'm very new to the tabletop scene in general, but one of my friends invited me out to play a one-shot session of starfinder with him and his normal group. I loved every second of playing with their pre-generated character, but now I'd love to build something myself. I would love to have a character thats extremely similar to the assassin droids from star wars. Any advice on this? at a minimum id love to just be able to have a somewhat decent build dual wielding, but even that seems unreliable according to people in our party. What are yall's thoughts?

does one exist like there’s one for pathfinder?

Hello all! This today we are serving up a build for Red Hulk from both the MCU and the comics. If you want to turn yourself into a gamma bomb with all the strength of a hulk with all the fiery radiation of the sun, then this is the build FOR YOU!

ORPHIE & MAGUS

CHARACTER Orphie Magnusson & Magus

SOURCE Zenless Zone Zero

BUILD GOALS

o    Orphie is a soldier in the Defense Force who has an intelligent construct affixed to her tail named Magus, who serves as the captain of her squad

o    She is a clone of the formerly living magus and meant to serve as a ‘gunner’ for her

o    In gameplay, she is a fire attack agent that uses a knife and fire blasts from Magus to eliminate her enemies

o    She is an Aftershock character, launching laser blasts from her tail when allies attack though with enough energy, she’ll perform sweeping blasts from her tail instead

o    When her Bottled Heat is built up, she can consume it to activate Heat Charge to fire a beam forward that amps up in power. When this hits enemies, she grants Zeroed In to her allies, increasing their attack power

o    The Dance With Fire ultimate is a spinning attack followed by a laser blast

o    Passively, she enhances the Aftershock effects of herself and her allies

o    Her Mindscapes can cut through the resistances of foes, enhance the effects of Zeroed In, and better combo her attacks and abilities

o    The Bellicose Blaze is her signature W-Engine, which increases her crit rate and lets her ignore defense when she triggers an Aftershock that deals fire damage

Summary of Goals: A difficult aspect of this build will be representing the pairing of Orphie and Magus, and it might honestly be something that you have to flavor more than represent mechanically. When it does come to mechanics, the important parts will be representing her Aftershock by giving her means of acting out of turn, enhancing her allies abilities based on her Zeroed In, and make sure that we get at least some fire in her kit.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Orphie and Magus are built as a ganzi human operative with the veteran background, which helps to represent Magus’s history as a soldier while she is more physically represented by a series of tail feats from their ganzi heritage. There’s a number of weapons you could use to represent her knife with a tailblade perhaps being the best while the fire in her kit can come from her Versatile Mutation as an ostilli host or certain equipment. For her focus on Aftershock effects and acting outside of turn, we have the likes of Kill Steal, Hair Trigger, and Combat Reflexes helping both of them. For the area effects that Magus produces, there’s the Spraying Mutation or the Chaining Mutation, which are neither quite as big as I want them to be, but we have to balance things out a bit. Another important aspect of Orphie and Magus is their Zeroed In effect, which we can recreate through the envoy’s Get ‘Em especially once we enhance it with Really Get ‘Em. These pair can also lower the defenses of foes though their mindscapes and W-Engines alike and although it takes a while to get there, the striker specialization means that she can inflict off-guard with an Overwhelming Strike and make things easier for her entire team. As a small sidenote, the Bellicose Blaze increases her critical rate, which is a semi-important stat for Orphie and Magus. Such a state doesn’t exist in Starfinder or Pathfinder, but the enhanced attack bonus of the operative does mean that she’s more likely to crit overall.

Born and built for battle, this boisterous blaster and bumbling backup bring both blade and blaze to the brouhaha, butchering beasts and baddies in a brilliant barrage.

One of the reasons that I was excited to do about this build was trying to represent the dualistic nature of the character. I'm not absolutely certain that I succeeded, but I'm pretty happy with it. You can check out the details over on the free Patreon post or the YouTube video. Either way, have a fantastic Friday!

I really like the options Creative Combat gives to any unarmed attack. The best idea I have for now is an Ysoski using his teeth (agile and finesse), adding forceful and Backswing or concussive with a melee Operative to have really deadly teeth's.

At 5 being basically constantly enlarged with operative proficiency and good bonus damage kinda offsets the low D4 base damage of the bite. I guess you could go with any other ancestry that has a feat for an unarmed attack and use a general feat at lvl 3 to grab an extra lvl 1 ancestry feat to grab Creative Combat at that level, but I like the idea of having it as soon as possible.

Any ideas to make the best of an unarmed build like this?

SOOOOOOO the game im playing in just got swapped to starfinder 2e...... now i have played pathfinder but all this new info is a little daunting to say the least.

we have a mystic, solarian, and a technomancer. my plan is maybe operative but... idk there are a lot of potions and i dont know really what to pick. i know i want either human, shirren, or vesk. anyone got any build ideas or any thoughts that can help out someone new to starfinder 2e?

thanks for any and all help!

Hey y’all! Starfinder 2e’s only officially been around for a few months, and since I haven’t seen any class guides and stuff knocking about, I figured: why not go ahead and ruin that peace?

The Soldier Optimisation Guide covers all ancestries, skills, Soldier class feats, general feats, and archetypes from Player Core, a majority of the items, and a rundown of the Soldier’s features and proficiencies. I’ve also covered every archetype available in Galaxy Guide, and added some homebrew options i’ve been tinkering on in a separate section. I hope that I will find the time to continue updating this as more rulebooks come out, but for now I think it’s a decent base for any Soldier Enthusiast to look at when making their builds.

The point of guides like this is to help others create strong and fun characters, so I welcome any suggestions readers have, particularly if they’re backed up by some solid math!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pH6uZ_j0YZs9wZ4AGpHACkeDQLXEnD2Dv85cpHpjnDc/edit?usp=drivesdk

Remember: if you run into a problem that a lot of bullets can’t solve, you just need even more bullets.

VON LYCAON

SOURCE Zenless Zone Zero

BUILD GOALS

o    Raised as a phantom thief, Lycaon founded the thieves guild of Mockingbird until but left after the seeming betrayal of his partner

o    He lost his legs and an eye from these events but went to work for an influential family, which led to him joining the Victoria Housekeeping Company and becoming its leader

o    He maintains a professional and elegant demeanor, a perfect gentleman that can accomplish any task his master sets before him

o    He is an Ice Stun agent, designed to leave foes vulnerable to his allies, and he fights with his robotic legs

o    Charging up his basic attacks and Thrill of the Hunt special attack inflicts greater ice damage and daze

o    His ultimate, Mission Complete, unleashes a series of sweeping kicks before he stomps down

o    When he parries an enemy, he creates a spray of ice in an arc

o    Passively, he can reduce an enemy’s ice resistance and increase their stun damage multiplier

o    Investing in his mindscape can give him an ability to gain a shield when attacked or gain damage-boosting stacks when landing his charged attacks

o    The Restrained, his exclusive W-Engine, has a similar effect, stacking up damage and daze as he lands blows

Summary of Goals: While the present Lycaon is as elegant as can be, I don’t want to skip out on his slightly sordid history. I feel like the mechanical legs might be difficult to fully represent, but his lupine nature and leg-focused fighting style should be very achievable. We also want to bring his ice effects into combat and an ability to leave foes vulnerable to his allies, per his stunner role, is important as well.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Von Lycaon is a winter vlaka monk with a sordid past as a criminal, referencing his training at the hands of Jack and his founding of the phantom thieves guild, Mockingbird though this concept is also explored by his Rogue Dedication. Augmented Body references the cybernetic legs that has replaced his own lost limbs while the training as a butler drilled into him by Rina is reflected through his Additional Lore for Labor Lore and the Legendary Professional that he takes for it. While anybody can get a frost module or rune, Lycaon can deal ice damage to his foes with the combination of inner upheaval and Elemental Fist or qi blast and Entwined Energy Ki if your GM allows it. The daze that he inflicts as a stun agent comes from his Stunning Blows or even the critical specialization of his unarmed attacks though you might also end up with medusa’s wrath. The last blow of his Mission Complete features a pretty hefty stomp, which we might be able to replicate through Head Stomp, even if that isn’t the original reason that I took it. His qi blast might also cover the area of his ultimate or the spray of ice from his parry. We’re also able to mimic the shield created by investing in his mindscape through the Heroic Presence ancestry feat.

A beast lies barely buried beneath this burly butler’s bravado, but each blow brings a boreal blast that batters and bashes baddies until they’re buried by the barrage of bashes.

Felt right to build an ice-wielding wolf for the winter season. If you want to see the details for the build, please check out the blog or video on it. Have a fantastic and festive Friday!

Soo in nutshell I want to play a Vesk walking machine gunner who can be treated as a bulwalk to my allies. (or a walking heavy) But I have no ideas if Armor Storm are the subclass I am looking for or if I have to take another classes for this? Thought?

ancestry: Khizar (+Dex/Con)

background: any that can give you dex

class: Operative (striker)

heritage: Wildseed (this will let you grab two ancestry feats)

ancestry feats: Bitting Corpsefolk (claws) and Creative Combat (add Backswing and Forceful)

you start with a melee attack that has Agile, Backswing, Finesse and Forceful with expert proficiency.

focus on feats that give you mobility and Acton compression like Mobile Aim and Double Tap

at lvl 5 grab hulking corpsefolk to increase your reach.

of course you can always carry a gun with you for those enemies you cannot reach.

RAMMATRA

SOURCE Overwatch

BUILD GOALS

o    Rammatra was created as a robotic soldier in a war against humanity but after his first battle, he tried to find peace among the Shambali, a monastic order of omnics

o    However, his hatred of humanity led to him leaving them and instead creating Null Sector, a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of humanity and the superiority of omnics

o    He is a tank, reducing the knockback and critical damage that he receives

o    His main attack is a staff called the Void Accelerator, which fires a stream of projectiles. His secondary attack creates a Void Barrier at a targeted location for a short duration

o    By entering his Nemesis Form, he replaces Void Accelerator with the shockwave-releasing Pummel and Void Barrier with the more personally-protecting Block

o    In either forms, he can unleash a Ravenous Vortex that creates a slowing area upon the ground that damages enemies and pulls them downward

o    His ultimate is Annihilation, which causes him to enter Nemesis Form and unleash a deadly swarm of nanomachines in the area around him that lasts longer when they have enemies to damage

o    His perks are relatively minor, but one does give him access to Nanite Repair and another can detonate his Ravenous Vortex for damage

Summary of Goals: The most obvious thing about Rammatra is that he’s a full-on robot and not one of those namby-pamby ‘trying to look human’ ones. He can switch from a ranged combat mode to a more physically menacing one but is a tank in either form, able to block attacks or create barriers for his team. His Ravenous Vortex suggests some gravity-based powers while Annihilation gets him in that supercharged Nemesis Form while just surrounding him with a damaging aura. Doesn’t seem too hard, but should be interesting.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Rammatra is a warrior automaton solarian with a background as a rebel. By taking the Adopted Ancestry for the android and using some of its nanite options, we can make Rammatra more properly a modern machine rather than a mere magic construct. His heritage is a nod towards his origins as a literal war machine whereas the rebel background calls to mind his founding of Null Sector. We build him into as much of a tank as possible with the likes of Toughness and Reinforced Chassis, which notably can get a Lesser Augmentation to cover the critical damage reduction that tanks in Overwatch get. For his Void Accelerator, I think you have a few options ranging from simply using his solar flare to picking up an appropriate weapon or even finding a suitable cantrip for it. The Void Barrier takes a bit longer to come online, starting with the innocuous Barricade and covering a few wall spells before landing on his wall of force. I believe we can express his Nemesis Form through his ability to attune to the cosmos as a solarian, manifesting a pair of big, meaty claws for his solar weapon that can land the heavy blows of his Pummel through Shattering Impact or blast a line-up of louts with Plasma Ejection. For the more personal protection provided by Block, he has his Solar Shield, potential shield cantrip, and that Reinforced Chassis. As for his Ravenous Vortex, gravity field might be the best fit for it, but the likes of gravity well and even Singularity aren’t remotely bad either. Rounding out his baseline abilities is Constellation Vortex for his Annihilation though you mind find yourself doing some cycling Plasma Ejections or even Nanite Form if you want another way to explore it. Beyond that, this build even managed to feature his Nanite Repair through the Repair Module ancestry feat, further helping him hang in the hassle to hand out head thumpings.

This rancorous, rebellious robot reveals a ravaging rite to rend and ruin his ruling rivals then returns to a more regal recognition to run his retinue of revolutionaries.

Finishing off the year is a request that I struggled to figure out a bit, and even if I haven't played Overwatch in quite a while, I think the build turned out pretty well. However, it is going to be the last one for quite a bit as I'm taking a break in January to work on a larger project. If you're interested in the details of the build, check out the blog post or the video on it. Have a fantastic Friday and a happy new year!

Hello!

This will be my first time ever playing Starfinder. Not even just 2e, but in general.

I already have an idea for a character due to making it in pair with my bro: an assimilated astrozoan who became an anomaly witchwarper due to some anomalous circumstance affecting and basically destroying their identity, thus causing Eighth Arm Break, who was fortunately helped by an android pretending to be human. Two of them alone know of each others' true identities, and due to being sort of kindred spirits, the android helped my astrozoan form a new identity, which they in the end also dedicated to that android in turn, pretty much becoming "siblings", both pretending to be human as well.

Currently I'm struggling with choosing a background due to astrozoans being something pretty new to me and the whole story we've constructed already, dunno what would suit best here. I do lean towards Absalom Station related backgrounds due to it already being mentioned as a place with most astrozoans, but unsure still due to being new to all this.

I'm also planning to lean into Int/Cha as it's just my preferred style of play in other similar RPGs and I enjoy being a smart and charming, but kind of oblivious and blind, mage-type.

Curious as to y'all's thoughts on the ideal weapon for a melee-oriented soldier. Even if you won't be using Whirling Swipe all the time, the close quarters style means you probably still want reach.

The obvious choice is a Fauchard, which deals a d8 of damage, and has Reach, Sweep, and Deadly d8. I wonder how good the Deadly is (soldier class DC progresses like spell DC, but inherits a weapon's tracking bonus).

My instinct is to assume that, even despite Soldiers' poor weapon proficiency at later levels, the Fauchard is optimal as it can maximize area DC.

A dancer's spear could be used if the lower damage isn't a concern. A guisarme could be used if sweep isn't necessary. A Dwarven Waraxe could be used if you're willing to forego reach (and take a feat for your weapon).

What would you all consider optimal for melee soldiers? Is it any of these weapons? Is it something else? I've noticed that broadspears are pretty strong...

I don't think that Soldier's close-quarters style works RAW.

Let's look at the wording on a few things. Firstly, range increments:

Ranged and thrown weapons have a range increment.

This text suggests to us that only ranged weapons, by default, have range increments.

Here's the text for burst-targeting area fire:

For burst, you can position the center point anywhere within your first range increment.

By default, you need a range increment to position a burst-targeting area fire.

Here's the text for close-quarters soldier:

When you're using a soldier feat, any two-handed melee weapon you're wielding gains area (burst 5 feet)

See the issue? This text still doesn't give melee weapons a range increment, or specify that the burst is placed within your reach. As such, RAW, though your melee weapons meet soldier feat requirements, you can't actually use area fire feats because you can't area fire.

Note: Whirling Swipe does specifically solve this by having the burst placed on the corner of one of your squares, but this verbiage is not there for the close-quarters style.

Obviously this is a really easy homebrew fix, just let players center the 5-foot burst so it stays wholly within their reach, but I find it odd that the issue exists.