Review: Starfinder 2nd Edition Playtest Rulebook (Paizo)

Seven years after its successful launch, the Starfinder Roleplaying Game is headed for a second edition — and Paizo wants everyone to get a voice in its creation. To do that, they released the Starfinder Second Edition (2e) Playtest Rulebook during Gen Con 2024.

The softcover book gives players their first serious peek at what’s ahead as the Starfinder system grows, changes, and reimagines itself in a new form that’s much closer to the systems and terminology used in the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster rules, all built on a foundation of the Open RPG Creative (ORC) license.

Grab your dice and let’s begin exploring the top five things you need to know about the bold new universe of Starfinder Second Edition.

Meeting Your Ancestries

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Starfinder 2e replaces character races with the more nuanced and flexible Pathfinder concept of ancestries.

A character’s ancestry defines their basic physical and inherited traits. It also gives insights to the broad value structure of their kind. The new approach also adds ancestry feats, which give players another tool to fine tune their vision for a character. (We’ll talk more about feats in a moment.)

The playtest gives players 10 ancestries to experience. The majority are familiar to Starfinder players, such as vesk, ysoki, shirren, lashunta, android, and skittermander. Players also get to try large, merged barathu for the first time, along with two versatile heritages that work with any of the others: the undead borai and the Drift-focused prismeni.

These options make for cool combinations, like the prismeni pahtra envoy I’m running through a playtest game who also can cast electric arc at will and use it to either attack enemies or recharge batteries — a tremendously important skill since more characters than ever are taking multiple shots during a single combat round.

Backgrounds Move Forward

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Backgrounds replace character themes in the new Starfinder. The playtest offers 27 options ranging from the familiar to the unusual to “I’m pretty sure I saw that in a movie.”

Each background gives players more building blocks to define their characters. They typically add two attribute boosts, one that directly links to the background and one general boost. They also provide some skill expertise and sometimes a new feat.

Six Classes (for Now)

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The playtest book whittles Starfinder’s 13 classes down to just six. This gives players plenty of variations while also keeping the playtest manageable and focused. Although all six of the classes are currently in Starfinder, don’t assume you know how they work in the playtest.

Soldiers are now a constitution class (not strength or dexterity) that focuses on suppressing enemies through area fire effects. Operatives become killing machines with a host of weapon options but reduced skill portfolios. And the envoy’s updated “Get ‘Em!” ability gives them an active combat role instead of just standing in the back and shouting encouragement.

Looking ahead, Paizo says we’ll see playtest versions of the technomancer and mechanic classes — and still more goodies — in early 2025.

A New Approach to Feats

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Feats are now split into three classifications: class feats, skill feats, and general feats. Class feats, as the name suggests, come from your character’s class choice. You find them in the matching class section of the playtest book.

Skill feats and general feats live in chapter 5 of the book. Skill feats connect to your character’s mastery of specific skills, like diplomacy or piloting. General feats are less focused and may or may not have any prerequisites.

In a new twist, gaining feats isn’t automatic. Instead, your character class determines when you get access to feats. Operatives, for example, start with a class feat at level 1. At level 2 and at every even-numbered level beyond that, they get both another class feat and a skill feat (but must choose from options that match their skill training). They get general feats starting a level 3 and every 3 levels after that.

Playing Starfinder, Referring to Pathfinder

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The Starfinder 2e book includes a lot of info, but to get the full playtest experience, you also need access to the Pathfinder Second Edition Player Core and GM Core books.

The playtest book focuses specifically on what’s new and different with Starfinder itself but it’s not a complete stand-alone rule book (although it will be when the finished version is available in 2025).

The Pathfinder Core books fill in that gap during the playtest. They provide rules for the overall gameplay framework, including the popular 3-action economy system which Starfinder 2e implements. For spell casting classes, the Core books also offer their library of spells to augment the Starfinder-specific ones in the playtest book.

Verdict

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Our first several Starfinder 2e playtest games showed us a flexible and exciting new version of our favorite RPG. Neither of us played much Pathfinder 2e remaster, so we’re learning those systems as fast as we can.

The best way to dive into the new Starfinder is by getting the playtest book and creating some characters. When you feel comfortable with that process, read through what the playtest rules say about their connection with the Pathfinder 2e remaster books, particularly the Player Core.

From there, start playing, then tell Paizo about your experiences through the Starfinder Playtest website (https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest). Track the playtest scenarios you finish on your Playtest Tracking Sheet (downloadable from the website) to earn special achievements you can cash in with Pathfinder Society, Starfinder Society first edition, or the new Starfinder Society second edition, to be announced in 2025.