RPG: Playtest Two New ‘Starfinder’ Classes – The Mechanic And Technomancer
Starfinder wants you to push technology to – and past – its limits with a playtest of two new classes, the Mechanic and Technomancer.
As Starfinder hurtles towards Gen Con and a new edition, the Paizo team is hard at work with even more to playtest. This week, it’s two new tech-focused classes: the Mechanic and Technomancer. As you might gather from the names, these new classes are all about technology.
In the case of the Mechanic, it’s all about the gear and gadgets, upgrading and fine-tuning your weapons and items thanks to your handy exocortex, and maybe a handful of fully armed robot companions. Technomancers, on the other hand, are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers who study the mystery of lasers and circuits. That is to say, they do magic with and to technology.
You can take both of these for a spin right now. In fact, Paizo wants to know what you think, while you’re at it. So scroll on for more info.
Starfinder Technomancer and Mechanic Playtest
Both of these classes hold plenty of promise. Mechanics feel like an interesting spin on a skill-and-gear-focused character. Their big banner feature is their Exocortex, which is a sophisticated program of “self-motivated code” that syncs up with your own brain and lets you control a device like a drone, a network of mines, or a turret equipped with weapons like a chaingun or disintegrator.
As you might expect, they are all about modifying their gear (and their exocortex). Their class features let them mod gear in creative ways, while their abilities consist of specialized gear, like an explosive shot, or new ways to direct the exocortex.
Technomancers, on the other hand, are a little more straightforward in terms of concept because they’re spellcasters. But spellcasters with a technological focus and a few new digital tricks up their sleeves. Aside from spellcasting, their big feature is the ability to use Magic Hacks, which are special Focus spells, as well as the power to shunt the residual magic energy from casting a spell into their equipment (or somewhere else at higher levels), allowing them to overclock gear, for instance.
Also, you can Jailbreak your spells. I really love this class. It feels like it was made specifically for me. But your opinion is the one that matters, as Paizo wants to know what you think of the Playtest:
“You can play the mechanic and technomancer using the resources on our Playtest Homepage, such as the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook and errata found on the Playtest FAQ page. We’re looking for your feedback and comments regarding these classes, but we’re focusing our attention on feedback from play, both online using virtual tabletops (VTTs) or play-by-post and offline, at your friendly local gaming store, convention, or wherever else you can safely play. We recommend using our existing playtest adventures to test out these classes, or even trying out Pathfinder adventures for an out-of-this-world anachronistic saga!”
Starfinder’s tech class playtest is open now!
