Review: Starfinder Interstellar Species (Paizo)

When Paizo’s Starfinder roleplaying game launched, players could choose among only a handful of species options for their characters. As the number of rule books in the game increased, they delivered lots of new species options, to the point that it was hard to keep track of everything.

Paizo delivers a solution to that problem in the new Starfinder Interstellar Species book. The book gives more species backgrounds, more general information, more character options, a new character class, and even the long-awaited custom species builder. It’s all in one you-must-own-this book.

So let’s grab the tome from the shelf, reserve a spot at your favorite study table, and dig into the top five things you need to know about Starfinder Interstellar Species.

Digging into the Why

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The species section of the book opens with a visual overview of 100 playable species previously introduced into the game. The overview provides a sample image of each species, and also serves as a cross reference by pointing you to the original source material.

For the games’ original seven species — and a selection of 25 others chosen through player surveys — the book goes into depth with new background material and even game design notes. Why are Shirren so different? Shouldn’t Ysoki be small instead of medium? Why was the Veskarium’s militaristic approach a game design choice?

This section answers a lot of“why” questions while adding giving players and game masters some reflective questions to spur everyone’s creativity.

Exploring the Book’s Crown Jewel

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The Interstellar Species book’s long-awaited Custom Species Builder is a master course in breathing life into a fictional species.

Instead of giving you a step by step process to create a species, the custom species builder outlines various aspects of a fictional species, that you, as the creator, need to think about. These include everything from basics such as how members of a species move and sense their world to larger questions about culture and home world environment.

This section is invaluable for anyone who wants to create their own Starfinder setting or is interested in building a well-rounded science fiction universe for short stories, books, or other creative outlets.

The Ever-changing Evolutionist

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The Evolutionist class gives players the most wildly flexible class option yet available in Starfinder. Evolutionists are solid combatants at range or in melee as they turn parts of their body into dangerous natural weapons.

The real magic of this class is the combination of a character’s chosen niche and mutation points gained during combat. The niche defines how your character evolves, whether through arcane, mechanical, natural, or some other means. The mutation points give your character boosts during combat, but also deliver a drawback depending on your niche.

Paizo confirmed a correction to the Evolutionist’s skill ranks that you’ll want to write into your book. Evolutionists begin first level with four skill ranks plus their intelligence modifier. The Flexible Skill class feature raises that to six plus intelligence modifier at 9th level and eight plus intelligence modifier at 17th level.

New Class Options for Everyone

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Every current character class gets something new and interesting from Interstellar Species, all of it colored with species-driven reasoning and explanations.

For example, the BIohacker’s new class feature uses sonic weapons to deliver biohacks rather injections or vapor, an ability coming from the Urog species. The new Nanocyte knacks harken back to the aquatic Cephalumes, a species of bioelectric arthropods.

We were very excited about the two new drone chassis options that Mechanics receive. We expect to see a lot of Stormscout and Tunnel drones future games.

Using the book in Society Games

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Kudos to Paizo’s Organized Play team for publishing the Starfinder Society rulings for the new book very quickly after it was released. Although players can’t create their own species for Organized Play (which makes perfect sense), their characters still get a lot of new options for Society games.

You can find the Organized Play rules for the Intergalactic Species book on the Paizo website at Paizo.com/starfindersociety/characteroptions. Review them carefully, then go wild with the class options and go deep with the species background explanations.

Verdict

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We spoiled the verdict a little in the introduction, because we think this is a must-own book for Starfinder players and game masters — writers, too — who love the game’s setting and want to carve out their own piece of it.

The new Evolutionist class already has our imaginations spinning with character possibilities, particularly since the class starts out with a combat orientation, then transitions to an Operative-like skill machine at higher levels. The various niches help your imagination go a little wild, too. This class will be amazing to see in action.

The species reference material provides invaluable material to understand what’s going on in a player character’s mind. Serious role players will find plenty to love. We definitely recommend this book.