After beating Metroid Dread, I've been feeling the urge to start a new game of it - having gotten 100% of the items, the only real challenge is to try to clear it quickly. (I'm sure that I'll do significantly better against the bosses this time around, at least). But, I also decided to try to roll another character in Starfinder to get a better sense of how the game works.
When presented with the possibility of playing an Android, though, I really had to wonder what race I'd be interested in playing otherwise, and what I landed on was the Gray from the Alien Archive. The Grays are the classic "alien," the short, big-headed, creepy alien abductors who fly around in flying saucers. So, a Gray Operative seemed like a good fit. While they don't get any bonus to Dexterity, they do get a rather huge one to Intelligence, so it would be very easy to get a whole ton of skill ranks.
I had been a little surprised at the high DC of the trick attack feature for Operatives. You need to beat a DC equal to the creature's CR plus 20 in order to get your bonus damage and the other effects. However, I then realized that you get a ton of things to boost the abilities that you use for these. I went with a Ghost specialization, which gives bonuses to acrobatics and stealth. First and foremost, you get a +1 to everything thanks to Operative's Edge. Then, you can factor in the Skill Focus feat that you get with your specialization's key skills, which adds a +3 bonus. Then, you take into account that these are both class skills, which gives an extra 3. Then, you automatically get a rank in these two (which doesn't allow you to have two ranks at level 1, but is still nice.)
And on top of it all, as a ghost, you get a +4 bonus to Stealth checks that are made to get you a trick attack. So all in all, at level 1, with only a +3 to Dex (which also gets factored in,) I had an effective +15 to Stealth checks when trying to see if I got a trick attack. That means that, against a CR 1 creature, I'd have to roll a 5 or lower not to get the trick attack.
One thing I do miss a lot from D&D when making Starfinder characters is starting equipment. There is so much to buy in Starfinder that I wish they had an option for "basic gear." You could even make it relatively simple by saying "get a survival knife or a tactical baton and a small arm weapon that is level 1," to preserve options. I went with a survival knife and an azimuth laser pistol.
With the 1000 credits you start with, I did also pick up a few other items. I got a Second Skin armor suit, which seems like a good one to start with for any light armor character. Then, I picked up 2 Serums of Healing, 20 R2Es (basically a day's rations,) a Personal Comm Unit (which seems like a staple - I'd assume that as a Gray, who relies on telepathy, he'd use it to text) along with two extra weapon batteries. Then, I got an Industrial Backpack, which increases carrying capacity (by a small amount - it weighs one bulk and then can carry 2 bulk that don't count against your limit) and then, the most exciting thing: a hideaway limb, so I can keep a weapon hidden in his leg, which seems like a useful thing for an operative.
There is a ton of exciting stuff to spend credits on, and you're definitely going to have things to work toward after you've spent your initial 1000.
Oh, and for my level 1 feat, I took Mobility, which increases your AC by 4 against opportunity attacks made because you moved, but more importantly unlocks additional feats later on.
I do think it's a shame that Operatives get proficiency in sniper weapons, but both their trick attack and their big multiattack can't work with that type of weapon. I'm also a little surprised that their BAB is 0 at level 1, so my dude only has a +3 to hit with his attacks (though with a successful trick attack, he makes the foe flat-footed, which lowers their AC by 2, so effectively he gets a +5).
With 10 skill ranks per level, it does seem that this character (whom I've named Alpha) would likely be quite good at many things in the course of leveling.
I will say that Paizo's style guide does seem a lot more concerned with efficiency than WotC's. There are things that I know Wizards of the Coast would be very explicit about that are kind of left up to you to discern. For example, the description in Alien Archive of the Grays is that they never speak, even to one another, preferring telepathic communication. You get the Telepathic Message spell as an at-will racial ability (the equivalent of Message in D&D) but it doesn't say if Grays can't speak, or if they just don't. So, for example, if I try to communicate something to someone in the heat of battle, am I going to need to use my standard action to cast Telepathic Message and then draw an opportunity attack because I'm casting a spell, or can I be the Gray who breaks with his culture and is willing to shout a quick "he's got a grenade!" when I see some hostile dude pull out an explosive?
There are other things like this, like a Soldier's 20th level ability allows you to force a creature you hit to make a Fortitude save or immediately die, but it doesn't say how that DC is calculated. Instead, buried in some other chapter, there's a single sentence that says "oh, and by the way, class abilities have a DC that's equal to... like 10 plus your character level, or something - honestly, I don't actually remember.
I think this is in part due to the fact that the Core Rulebook is a combination of both DMG and PHB, which makes a ton of sense (only D&D can get away with making you buy three 50 dollar books to play the game) but also forces Paizo to sacrifice clarity in favor of efficiency. (Similarly, creatures in the Alien Archive have their attacks kind of buried as this single line amidst a bunch of other statistics). I think it's also possible that Paizo's philosophy is less geared toward accessibility. Certainly, from a game design perspective, players are expected to make a lot of impactful decisions at level 1, whereas for a lot of D&D classes, you have a bit of time to get used to the class before you, for example, pick a subclass (of course, not always.)
I have talked with friends who have played a lot of D&D who like the way that Pathfinder and Starfinder really force you to build a character carefully, as there's a bit more strategy involved. I think that makes sense, and I think a game having these more complex rules is a good thing when there are simpler options (I realize that newcomers to D&D might be gobsmacked at the notion that D&D is the simpler game in this comparison.) I suspect that if I had a comparable level of experience with Starfinder I might even prefer its style of complexity. But to me, TTRPGs are only as good as your ability to get your friends to play it, which means accessibility is always going to be a concern.
Still, I'm planning to make my regular Sunday group play Starfinder for a short, couple-week adventure, and we'll see how much we like it. (I'm more nervous about GMing for it. When I started with D&D, I had very little ego at stake if I screwed things up, but as someone who's very comfortable running D&D, I want to be able to provide the same smooth experience with Starfinder, which just flat-out isn't going to happen.)
I also think the Alien Archive is a bit anemic compared to the Monster Manual - it is a much shorter book, of course. It does seem like the expectation is that you'll be homebrewing more creatures using its creature creation guidance, but I'd love to just have a big selection of space pirates, alien monsters, and such that I can just toss at a level 1 party without fearing that I'm going to wipe them out.
I'm also trying to wrap my head around Computers. As a technologically-advanced setting, computers are ubiquitous, and there are a ton of class features (especially for Mechanics) that tie into them, but I'm not sure how many random computers to add to an environment and how much I need to plan out how well-defended they are from hacking. While a plot-relevant computer with various countermeasures makes a ton of sense, I guess I've just got to improvise super low-tier computers like lighting controls.
Don't get me wrong: I love that there are systems for things like vehicle chases and starship battles and computer hacking. But it's also a ton of information to try to internalize before running a game. I guess the key is to keep it simple and start the players off with a classic adventure of "go into a spooky place, investigate a mystery, encounter monsters, fight monsters" structure as my typical D&D one-shots tend to go, except they'll be on a derelict spaceship rather than some haunted crypt. Then, if people enjoy the game, we can get into the more elaborate stuff (I do think that I've got to have a starship battle in there, if for no other reason than to justify building the party's starship, which will probably happen only after they've had some time to fight "on foot.")
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