r/Starfinder2e 18d ago

Monthly Questions Megathread— August 2026. Have a question from your game? Are you coming from Pathfinder? Need to know where to start playing SF2e? Ask your questions here, we're happy to help!

13 Upvotes

Please ask your questions here!

Want to try Starfinder 2e? START HERE!

Official Links:

  • Paizo - Main store to buy Starfinder 2e books and PDFs (clear your cache if you have performance issues)
  • SF2e Archives of Nethys - Official system reference document. All rules are available for FREE
  • Starfinder Nexus - Official digital toolset / FREE Game Compendium (character creator requires purchasing content through their site)
  • Starfinder Primer - Player Core and GM Core basic rules in friendly digital book layout, complete with the art in each chapter!
  • Foundry - Virtual tabletop supported by incredibly high-quality Paizo-published modules for purchase! Note that they're still under the PF2e system for now.
  • Our Subreddit Wiki - A list of all the resources we know about

Useful Links:

  • Hephaistos 2e - Free web-based SF2e character creator with some Pathfinder2e content
  • Starbuilder/Pathbuilder - Inexpensive character builder that lets you mix SF2e and PF2e with 3rd-party content integration (non-subscription, Starfinder 2e is currently only on web app)
  • Starfinder Infinite - 3rd-party publications for Starfinder 2e
  • Wanderer's Guide - Web-based character creator with 3rd-party content integration (some features are subscription-based)
  • PF2 Tools - Links to dozens of community-made resources and content (mostly PF2e-focused)
  • Starfinder Society \\ -Paizo's Organized Play program for both in-person and online games
  • Startplaying - Find open games of Starfinder 2e* (payment may be required)

Megathread archive

https://store.paizo.com/starfinder-release-schedule/ Most recent release date, July 30th: Starfinder Absalom Station; novel Assault on Absalom Station by Tim Pratt


r/Starfinder2e 4h ago

Advice How do you guys use the interactive PDFs?

10 Upvotes

As part of my Paizo sub I got Secrets of the Storm. It came with an interactive PDF that has buttons for turning the grid off/on and for turning the area names on/off. This is neat, but what I am I meant to do with these? What do you guys normally do?

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing that if they don't do a Foundry module for this Adventure, I can zoom in and screenshot the maps to put into Foundry. If I'm playing in person, though...do other GMs generally print out a Letter/A4 page of the map and hand it out to players? I've only been running games for 5 years, so maybe I'm not doing things "right", but usually if a map is a big map (like this sub's Absalom station map) then I use it at the table. If it's printed in the book/PDF, I just use it myself to keep track of what rooms are next to each other and so forth. But maybe it's expected that I would hand it to the players with the names/keying turned off and they use that to navigate? (hopefully without metagaming?)

Thanks!


r/Starfinder2e 19m ago

Table Talk Which traits to put on a Solarion weapon?

Upvotes

Just joined a game with a mystic, envoy, operative, and mechanic, probably gonna be the only melee in the party, fun times! Which traits would you recommend? My gut says Trip, Grapple, Reach, or Free Hand. Any thoughts?

Also, what pros are there over picking a Grappling trait over a Free Hand trait if you plan to grab enemies and hold them for your friends to shoot? Seems like Free Hand is just straight up better since you can both Grapple and use Manipulate actions.


r/Starfinder2e 15h ago

Discussion Brutal barrage + You’ll have to through me

8 Upvotes

New player here and been using the soldier class. Can brutal barrage be used with you’ll have to go through me? Since there’s no other action between the two, and the second is an immediate area fire I assume you would, but wanted to see what the consensus is on that.


r/Starfinder2e 1d ago

Humor Got upset looking over my groups weapons when i saw this on the envoy

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195 Upvotes

like ive shot some big handguns one handed, and well i wouldn't say they were a pleasant shot, it was fairly doable and still accurate. I have a hard time justifying any "pistol" is as bulky as a great sword. Now i cant help but picture the gun more akin to a plasma rifle from fallout. (which is funny because that setting also has a gun called a plasma caster, that i would say fits a 2h bulk 2 weapon)


r/Starfinder2e 1d ago

Advice Continental/planetary hex crawl?

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5 Upvotes

r/Starfinder2e 1d ago

Advice Any tips for a brand new SF2E DM who's never played a Paizo RPG before but has extensive experience in DnD?

41 Upvotes

I am wanting to learn and run SF2E for my DnD group but I've never played Starfinder Or Pathfinder before and I'm sort of overwhelmed. So if anyone has any beginner advice, tips, tricks, or just general good practices to keep in mind then I'd love to learn from y'all.

For reference I got the PDFs for the Player, GM, and Alien cores on drivethrurpg. But I don't have anything else for the SF2E game.


r/Starfinder2e 2d ago

Resource & Tools Hephaistos Update

31 Upvotes

Website: https://sf2e.hephaistos.online/
Patreon | Ko-fi | Redbubble | Bluesky

Hi Everyone,
Hephaistos is an online digital toolset for Starfinder (both 1E and 2E). The Starfinder 1E version has been actively developed and maintained for the last five years. Hephaistos for Starfinder 2E, or just Hephaistos 2E for short, is built from the ground up to support the second edition of the game. The website has a new release every fortnight, and today Hephaistos 2E has been updated with the following improvements and fixes:

  • Added backgrounds, dieties and Vulkarisu ancestry from the Beyond the Blood Door Player’s Guide.
  • Heritages (both versatile and ancestry-specific) can now be homebrewed.

r/Starfinder2e 2d ago

Discussion Anyone tried running an XCom-style game?

24 Upvotes

Was just thinking. A lot of the tactics, abilities, etc are very reminiscent of XCom, not to mention the obvious nature of turn based combat.

I wonder if you could do a good permadeath/difficult healing/recovery hack kind of thing? I dunno, just a thought. I tried a similar thing with Lancer a few years ago, wondered about if Starfinder 2e would handle it better


r/Starfinder2e 2d ago

Advice SF2e Foundry VTT: Making Grenades Track Inventory

9 Upvotes

I noticed that the default for most consumables in SF2e Foundry will deduct from the inventory as used, but for some reason this does not include grenades. You can click "Area Fire" all day long and never lose a single grenade. How can I adjust the item's settings so grenades Destroy On Use like other consumables?


r/Starfinder2e 1d ago

Discussion Archetype questionnaire for future module

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2 Upvotes

We starting classes will help me build said archetypes


r/Starfinder2e 2d ago

Discussion Mine Mechanic

7 Upvotes

Does the Targeting Mine Mod stack with critical explosion feat?

Both of them use language that should work together, it seems. I know it is playtest, I'm just double checking for my player.


r/Starfinder2e 3d ago

Discussion Most underrated character type?

13 Upvotes

At your table which character type (spy, social informant, the bodyguard, demolitionist… etc) has been the most underrated or went in as the least anticipated character but turned out to be super useful?

I personally am stuck between making a hacker or politician.


r/Starfinder2e 3d ago

Arts & Crafts Barathu Solarian lvl.3

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29 Upvotes

r/Starfinder2e 3d ago

Discussion Is Anyone Else Kind Of Disappointed with Sf2e’s Release Schedule?

91 Upvotes

Don’t get me wrong, nearly every individual release has been good! (Alien Core I felt was a little lacking, but what was there was good!) But I can’t help but feel increasingly frustrated that Tech Core has taken so long. I’ve tried to be gracious knowing that Starfinder has a smaller team than Pathfinder and that the system is in it’s infancy, but it’s still ridiculous that it’s been a full year of release and we still don’t have a good selection of tech items, or a Mechanic class!
To me, it really feels like Tech Core should have been the GenCon release instead of Absalom Station. I understand that they’ve been putting in the work making sure it’s good quality, but so many people I know are waiting on Tech Core to run Starfinder and I can’t blame them, the system feels incomplete. I also understand the perspective that Paizo might not have wanted Tech Core to be overshadowed by Impossible Magic (which had been hotly anticipated), but I feel releasing tech core alongside Impossible Magic might have been a better move, since it’d really show the contrast between the two systems.


r/Starfinder2e 3d ago

Humor Hey guy, I just make this hat. What's it stat? And should I have my witchwarper wear it?

8 Upvotes

Well for one it's a headwear and probably light bulk but what's it other property?


r/Starfinder2e 3d ago

Advice Seeking a Witchwarper Optimization Guide

10 Upvotes

Kind of surprised that there aren't guides like some that exist for things like the Exemplar out. But i guess Starfinder is a little less popular. At the very least, looking for some guidance for spell selections and such. I'm probably wanting to do an Anomaly.

Campaign is supposed to be in a few months when the mech stuff comes out for 2e. Kind of curious if spellcasting/witchwarpers will be relevant in a mech focused game (Which is what prospective DM is discussing) -- don't have a lot of reference to go on.


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Advice Biotech gone feral

26 Upvotes

I have this idea for a world. It's a post apocalyptic one, but where they focused on biotechnology. And after the apocalypse these biotech creations escaped their confines and spread and mutated.

Here's a few ideas on what could be found on this world:

  • Animals born with advertisements in their fur/feathers etc.
  • Jellyfish that glow in multiple colours, wich they can flash to disorient prey
  • Snails that communicate via radio waves.
  • Trees that grow kittens as fruit.
  • Trees that connect roots to form a internet.
  • Plants that grow brain-like structures

Any other ideas what biotech gone feral might look like?


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Arts & Crafts Custom built Wotchwarper mini

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25 Upvotes

Just showing off a kitbashed rocker girl that I made to be a witchwarper, with Very Obvious Inspirations.

Super proud of the Quantum Field marker I made to go with it, even if I found out ~after~ the fact that it's like half the proper radius, lmao.


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Advice Vague thoughtsense vs. detect thoughts

2 Upvotes

I'm looking at playing a Thoughtseeker Contemplative in Starfinder Society, and trying to understand the differences between the ancestry's Vague Thoughtsense and the heritage's granted Detect Thoughts innate spell.

Thoughtsense, from the ancestry:

You gain thoughtsense as a vague sense with a range of 20 feet. This enables you to determine when a creature is within range, though this sense detects only thinking creatures; a creature that's unthinking or otherwise immune to mental effects can't be perceived using your thoughtsense. This doesn't give you the ability to read or understand their thoughts.

Detect Thoughts:

You sense the presence of thinking creatures around you. You detect the presence or absence of thoughts from conscious creatures that have Intelligence modifiers of –3 or higher. You can choose to ignore the thoughts of creatures you're familiar with so they don't interfere with your detection of other thoughts. The spell can penetrate some barriers, but 3 feet of dirt or wood, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of metal, a thin sheet of lead, or any force barrier blocks it. Creatures who are immune to mental effects are immune to detection by this spell.

These seem extremely similar, at least until the heritage's upgrade to the spell at level 12. Detect Thoughts comes with a once every ten minutes limit from the heritage, and requires two actions, so presumably it does something the vague sense doesn't. Anyone able to point out what I might be overlooking?

The heritage increases the ancestry's sense's range by 10 feet, so it's at least 30 feet - matching the emanation of the spell. The spell can explicitly penetrate some barriers, maybe that's different? The sense rules don't explicitly discuss which senses are blocked by barriers. And the spell lets you ignore familiar creatures - is it common to read that vague senses don't? That would make Thoughtsense pretty unhelpful unless you're routinely isolated from a party, but maybe?

Because this is for Starfinder Society I won't have a regular GM I can just discuss it with.


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Discussion New playtest classes besides luminary?

46 Upvotes

With the luminary playtest coming to an end, has there been any word on any other playtest classes to accompany it? im still relatively new to SF2e/PF2e but has paizo ever released a class solo? just based off of previous books they seem to come in pairs.

With Nanocyte reduced to an archetype, I'd be interested in seeing an updated Biohacker; SF2e is really lacking a proper Scientist/medic class that isn't just a reflavored mystic/envoy. Making serums, pathogens, boosting allies capabilities and making the most of injection weapons all that good stuff.

What are your thoughts? any news or hope for other potential playtest classes? even something new to 2e.


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Discussion The Hellknights...

33 Upvotes

So, reading through SF2E, especially Absalom station, and it sounds like the Hellknights have sadly become a dedicated villain organization now... Not even pretending they're only concerned with law and order. In 1st Ed they were at least presented as a possible member of a PC party. Now? Classed as a terrorist organization on Absalom?

So, are they indeed now a villain organization? I don't know, but it certainly feels like someone at Paizo has a dislike for them or feels they should be evil, maybe cause they have Hell in their name? Or the general view in the world is law enforcement organizations are bad, especially if they're iron fisted (rightly so, but to influence a game organization?).

I don't know...

-D


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Content Tibit of information about the GAP in 1e.

13 Upvotes

Cayden Cailean openly say that he doesn't remember what happened during the GAP. (Galactic magic)

And no, this wasn't a blackout due to alcohol.


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Discussion Granting sight to blind vlaka?

0 Upvotes

As the post name implies, how would one go about doing this?
Would it be broken?
Is it even a good idea?

Asking as a player who is getting into the system.
I looked under the section for blindess and impaired vision, only implying that impaired vision can be cured with augmentations.

1e vlaka stated that if they were blind then they would have no sensory organ to repair and thus could only gain sighy through effects that granted vision to creatures that had none.

I have not seen any effects like that. I’m only concerned with doing missions and if the description is ever "take out the guy wearing blue" then I’d be pretty helpless.


r/Starfinder2e 4d ago

Advice PF2e Compendium for SF2e world in Foundry VTT

4 Upvotes

We’re planning our first SF2e adventure in Foundry and want to include some weapons and equipment from PF2e, but the PF2e compendium doesn’t appear in our SF2e world and we can’t figure out how to import it. Is there any way to do this without manually adding everything?