Welcome, once more to the Finder’s Archives, please, take a seat.
The big news running around the net at the moment is, of course, the announcement of Pathfinder 2.0 – and this is definitely something I’ll be covering, and hopefully getting in-depth with, once the Playtest starts. Currently, though, the information is rather sparse on the ground with only the occasional glimpses given into what we can expect.
So instead, we’ll be tackling Starfinder for a little while, until we have a bit more insight into what will happen with Pathfinder itself.
First off, some of you might not know Starfinder, so a quick summary here:
Starfinder is an offshoot of Pathfinder, in the same way, that Star Wars Saga Edition was an offshoot of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. As in, there are ideas and things you can see in it, but overall the rules have been simplified, streamlined and polished, but you can still see the link between them.
That is not so to say that they got everything right (because they didn’t), but Starfinder is likely the missing link between Pathfinder 1.0 and 2.0, in the same way, that Saga represented a link between D&D 3.5 and 4.0/5.0 (I see more links these days with 5.0 than I did with 4.0, but fair is fair; the similarities were there).
In essence, they have simplified and streamlined all the things they could, so things like randomized Hit Points are out. There are now not just Hit Points, but also Stamina Points (which you lose first), and stats are now done via a much simpler point-buy system, one that discourages min-maxing. (That’s not to say that you can’t have a min-maxed character, but there is less point in doing so with stats, as they’re not the all-controlling factor).
Magic items are streamlined as well, so that you’re no longer decked out like a Christmas tree in stat-boosting items, as these are limited to a single +2/+4/+6 item, with only one of each tier, regardless of whether the boost comes from magic items or technological ones.
Armor and Equipment now also come with item levels, as in recommended levels for the characters to use. Now I’m not entirely sure that I’m a fan of this. I get the game design mechanics behind it, but it feels just a bit too “game-y” for a tabletop roleplaying game. In my head, a piece of equipment should not be determined by an intangible like a level, but by your character’s physical ability to use the item in question, i.e. “Is my character strong enough to wield that sword, or withstand the recoil from that gun?” – As said though, I understand the game balancing mechanics behind it, and I can’t fault the intent of the game here, even if I’m not sure that I agree with the execution of it. From what I’ve seen though, it does work well and ensures a level of game balance that makes it easier for the GM to challenge the players without having to spend quite as much time designing the encounters.
The same goes for Starships, as they’re not bought for credits, but built using build points. – The number of build points you have increases with the level of your party, and ensures that your starship is always at a level appropriate to your characters’ level. But it has led to one constant question being asked: “What are Build Points worth in credits?” which is a bit of a useless question, as the game is specifically designed not to address that part of the issue. They want you to be able to use a starship, straight from the start, one that fits your characters and the party that you have built instead of having to go out, find the credits and have your characters buy the closest thing that they can buy (even if that might be slightly more realistic). Funnily enough, a guy I’ve worked with, Ben Dowell, addresses that very issue on a blog post he wrote, where he determines that a single BP is worth anywhere between 81,333 and 361,000 credits – and bearing in mind that the 1st level ship costs 55 BP, you’d have an ENORMOUS amount of credits. (Yhose interested can find Ben’s post here)
So the answer to that one is “BPs are worth nothing or as much as the GM finds reasonable.” In effect, for those familiar with the Star Wars system, the price is narrative, as is the way that the PCs upgrade their ship.
(On a side note to Starship combat, I did find it more than a little annoying that Starships did not have a ramming option, so I had to create one, that was published some time ago (To quote Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter: “See my published works” 😛 ).
As you can see, mechanically Starfinder and Pathfinder are distinct from each other, but there’s not so much difference that you can’t, relatively easily, jump from one system to another – again a similarity with D&D 3.5 and Saga Edition from back in the day.
So what IS Starfinder? Well, Starfinder is what I’d called Science-Fantasy or Space Opera. It can be pretty much whatever you want, going all the way from Flash Gordon to Star Wars. It is NOT hard sci-fi, however, as it contains magic (and not psionics, which it seems that many had expected, though Dreamscarred Press is currently running a Kickstarter for an expansion that allows that option), and anyone expecting to find hard science fiction, or math-heavy formulas is going to be disappointed.
The campaign setting, unlike Pathfinder, is built into the actual Core Rulebook, and it seems that it is the intention of Paizo to make everything an extension thereof, and tie the releases far more closely with their campaign setting (which, incidentally, is STILL Golarion, just moved a few thousand years into the future), whereas Pathfinder, historically, kept the generic material (like the Advanced Players Guide) and the campaign setting (like Inner Sea Magic) separate from each other.
I’m fairly sure that the last bit is going to create some frustration for those wishing to write for Starfinder, but like Pathfinder before it, it embraces the OGL, so there’s already been a slew of releases for Starfinder, but while the pace seems to have settled down a bit, it is indeed still very active. – So if there’s anything you want or need, which isn’t in the Core Book, take a look at the third party publishers, and you just might find what you’re looking for.
The last thing to note is that the Alien Archives (the monster book for Starfinder) and the general intent for Starfinder is that you should be able to play a LOT of the monsters that you see in the various books. So while Starfinder has only been out a few months, and Pathfinder is almost a decade old, already there’s about one third the number of races in Starfinder compared to Pathfinder, and that number is only including Paizo’s own releases, never mind the third party publishers.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed this little look into Starfinder. I encourage you all to try it, as I’ve had a blast with it, though I will say that the Starship combat itself, much like the FFG Star Wars, is probably where the system is at its weakest, even when taking the FAQ (which addresses a number of issues with it), into account.
Kim Frandsen
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