If you've been paying attention to some of my recent posts, you've probably gathered that I am pretty into Starfinder Second Edition. We started playing back in 1e, but really dug in when the 2e playtest came out. While the Galaxy Guide was technically the first SF2e book to hit shelves, the Player Core marks the official release of the ruleset and move out of playtest. So how is it, officially?
Well, to TL;DR the whole thing: It's great, and Starfinder Second Edition has become my primary TTRPG system. We've had to cut games down recently, and we were choosing between D&D 5e, Dragonbane, Starfinder 2e, and Pathfinder 2e. The group unanimously voted that we stick with SF2e for the time being. With that said, let me walk you through why.
Disclaimer: Paizo provided me a complimentary copy of the SF2e Player Core for this review. That has not influenced the outcome of this review.
Pathfinder 2e Backward Compatible
So right off the bat, I want to address the elephant in the room: SF2e is an expansion of the 3-action system that Pathfinder Second Edition runs on. Whether that's a good thing for you or not, it's how it is. I personally think it's a really good change, because as great as I think the first-edition Starfinder rules are, I adore the simplicity of having 3 actions that cover everything, from small interactions to movement to huge, full-turn effects.
What that also means is that you can bring Pathfinder classes and ancestries into your Starfinder game,and vice versa. As Jenny and Thurston mentioned in my Gen Con interviews with them, the games aren't 100% balanced to be mixed, but there aren't really any barriers to doing so.
Heck, my SF campaign currently has a PF Fighter and Wizard right alongside the SF Mystic, Technomancer, and Mechanic. It just works, and the players are having a really good time.
So while there are balance issues, such as laser rifles being massively more powerful than a bow and arrow, those are easily rectified by GM fiat.
I do think, though, that bringing PF content into SF is a lot easier than porting futuristic content into the world of Golarion. Not saying that you can't, or even that it would be hard, but it's just a simpler time going from the past to the future since the sci-fi tech is generally tuned toward higher numbers.
The upcoming Starfinder GM Core has a section on anachronistic storytelling and bringing porting bits of content between the two games, too, that I've found to be quite helpful in the time I've spent with it so far (review of it coming soon).
All that said, Starfinder Second Edition is a whole game and in no way has to ever touch Pathfinder. While the playtest required you to use the Player Core and GM Core from PF, that's no longer the case. SF2e is standalone and works amazingly as a system. So don't worry about the need to invest in two games if you want to try it out. You don't.
(Plus, all the PF and SF content is free via the Paizo-approved Archive of Nethys, anyway.)
The Good Stuff
So much! The actual Player Core is a solid 450+ page book that contains all the player ancestries, heritages, classes, spells, and rules that you need to run a session. It doesn't have any adventures in it, which is a shame, but there are plenty of cheap ones available digitally on Paizo's website.
The art in the book is truly phenomenal. I love the brighter, more saturated look that Second Edition took over the first one's more serious, dark tone. The world, I think, works better this way, because it's not a grimdark, serious universe. There are six-armed skittermanders and pop stars and nihilistic bug poets all over the place.
That's not to say you can't tell serious stories. You very much can. Eldritch gods, exploding planets, and genocidal ancient races make up most of the current storylines, after all.
There are 10 ancestries and 6 classes, though two of the most-wanted classes, Technomancer and Mechanic, are still being playtested and will come in the much-anticipated Tech Core sometime next year. The ones that are in here aren't slouches.
The Witchwarper is maybe the most powerful spellcasting class I've had the pleasure to GM for in a long time. Same for the Mystic; I am one-hundred percent certain that without its unique healing via its Vitality Network, the party would have TPK'd by now.
The floating jellyfish of the barathu (check the pic below), the lizard-like vesk, and the Disney's Stitch-esque skittermanders all make the cut. I love SF androids, which is what I'll be when I get a chance to be a player over the GM. All the available ancestries bring something fun to the table, literally, and of all the ones I've worked with so far, they feel pretty unique, whether it's because they only speak via telepathy or have 4-6 arms.
If you've played Pathfinder Second Edition, then you'll see some repeated content. That's because this is a standalone game, and the rules have to be there. However, there are tweaks for them to match the Starfinder world, so make sure you don't just ignore them outright and keep using the PF Player Core for rules. Compatible doesn't mean identical.
Also, I use Demiplane, and the Starfinder Nexus as an online resource to tie into Roll20 as a VTT and to give my players access to the content and character builder, and we love it. Because my Paizo account, Demiplane account, and Roll20 account sync with one another, it's been so easy to have the content precisely where I need it, even hopping back and forth between the table with 3D printed minis and the TV for VTT maps. I can't recommend Demiplane for Starfinder 2e enough. And there's a basic set of rules for SF2e for free on there, called the Starfinder Primer, which includes a ton of stuff.
Treasure and Items
Like most TTRPG parties, my group loves treasure and items. The items in SF2e do work differently than in Pathfinder because you don't add runes to them; instead, you upgrade their quality such as commercial to tactical to advanced, etc., with each upgrade becoming more expensive and powerful.
In some ways, this limits the joy of finding new items since they're invested in a particular gun already. But as GM, you can add in whatever you want, and the Pathfinder Treasure Vault is a great way to do that. Not all magic items have to be weapons and armor, and since it's a science-fantasy game, there is magic woven into everything anyway. I do look forward to there being an items book for SF, though, because the Armory books for SF1e were great.
Don't sleep on serums, either. The Fighter in my group discovered Commando Serum, and he's a complete beast in combat with that. It's a lot of fun to see the players find items in the Player Core and immediately set out to find them when they get to a place with shopping available.
What's Not Great?
Honestly, the only negative that I have about the system is that it's new. All the core books aren't even out yet.
The GM Core is out today, as this publishes, and it's really solid. There is cinematic starship combat, advanced hacking rules, anachronistic advice, and monster-building rules packed inside. As a GM, waiting for it was tough, but I've read through it now (thanks again to Paizo for the review copy!), and it was worth the wait.
We still have to wait for a monster manual, aka the Alien Archive. But there are plenty of monsters to use in the Starfinder Society adventures themselves, as well as the playtest modules. (I've also stolen some straight out of the PF2e NPC Core. Shhhh.)
There aren't many adventures yet, even with the playtest ones out there. They're not badly tuned, either, so playing them after release is just fine. For instance, I am going through the playtest scenarios Wheel of Monsters and leading into Empires Devoured with my group, as we wait on Guilt of the Grave World, the first official 2e adventure path, to release this fall.
Some of my players are a little disappointed with feats they liked in the playtest being removed from the Player Core, but I expect to see them back in the Tech Core because it was dealing with crafting and programming and that sort of thing.
As I mentioned above, the GM Core is where the starship combat is included, and people have been upset it's not in the Player Core. Even the starship combat there isn't tactical and grid-based, but more narrative-focused, like hazards and obstacles. So that's not great for a sci-fi game not to have space combat, but as of today, there's some version at least.
By the end of the year, with a hardcover adventure path and all three core books released, a lot of the small irritations you might feel right now will be smoothed over.
Wrapping Up and Rating
Minor irritants aside, Starfinder is my game right now. While I don't think it's my favorite system ever (that goes to Dragonbane), it's a great system, and I am having a blast playing it. My party is having a ball, and they're so excited to have their own starship to call home and do what they want with. Honestly, it's a lot cooler than having a building to call their own.
It's well-organized and easy to navigate, as I've come to expect from Paizo. The graphic design work is solid, the art is pretty, and you can tell that there was some serious love put into this product.
I'm torn between giving this book a 4 or a 5. You see, on its own, when it was released at the beginning of August, it would be a 4 because of content that didn't exist yet, but would soon. Now, even with the GM Core being brand new today, there's a full game there to play that wasn't available. With that in mind, I've decided to give it a 5 because that time has passed, and having already used it in conjunction with the GM Core, the idea that anything is missing from this or is less-than, doesn't really matter.
Would it have been even better to have Technomancer and Mechanic in this book? Absolutely, 100%. But the classes that are here aren't diminished by their being included in the Tech Core instead. For what it is, and how it interacts with the other Starfinder core books, it definitely deserves a 5-star rating. There's love in this book, so be sure to show it some.