A few specific questions about Starfinder

Currently running 5e (I was new to DMing and had mostly new players so it seemed a natural choice) and I have loved it and still very much do. But my group is looking to shake things up a little. Before i invest any time or money into SF I just have a few kinda random or vague questions. I've flipped through the CRB a few times and the AA once or twice as well but I've never had the chance to really look into it or sit down and read it. Anywho...

There seems to be a lot of...non-standard races. And I like the idea of all sorts of bizarre aliens I'm just used to strictly humanoid PCs. I know the AA stuff is optional for players but is the game designed to work well with large and...not at all humanoid races? I would assume so it just kinda goes against what I'm used to

So I saw that there was only 2 pages for dragons, that they gave templates basically for the different types and CRs for different ages. I played PF when it came out but it's been a LOOONG time. I used to love how easy templates made modifying monsters. So this is kind of a multi-part question. For dragons, are you expected to entirely rework/recreate them for different ages? Did they keep the ease of modification from PF? Can I expect to see either monster types/templates for classics like the Lich or Vampire, Devils and Angel's etc? Like in part I haven't seen enough to tell if SF is "D&D but in space" or if it's kind of an entirely new "Space D&D" if that makes any sense.

So are gods still, like, a thing? I know theres a new tech God and a period of missing memories for everyone but that's all I know about the setting. However Inner Sea Gods is my favorite supplement of all time and I used it to REEAAALLY punch up how integrated and detailed religion was in a setting where gods were actual beings who had tangible effects on the world. I just have no clue how gods fit into SF.

Kinda the same question for magic. I know the Technomancer is the Wizard/Sorcerer but it doesn't seem to use traditional magic. Is magic just...different now?

How hard would it be to go from 5e to SF? I've kinda heard its midway in terms of complexity between 5e and PF.

Lastly, I'm curious what people like about SF as a setting and as a game. I've usually run D&D as a more serious rp heavy game, and my initial ideas for SF is more of a beer and pretzels fun relaxed game with a part full of bizarre alien murder hobos just making coin and having fun. Like space is such a vast and open slate that it seems a natural fit for crazier adventures. Flip side is I have no experience with SciFi stories and don't really have any ideas for a big campaign, which has me doubling down on the crazy fun chill space shenanigans. Just curious what others think.

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Ultimately I'm just trying to get a feel for the game before I invest time and money into it. Oh and bonus question: anyone have suggestions for media to look at for inspiration?

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Originally Posted by tomypayne64

There seems to be a lot of...non-standard races. And I like the idea of all sorts of bizarre aliens I'm just used to strictly humanoid PCs. I know the AA stuff is optional for players but is the game designed to work well with large and...not at all humanoid races? I would assume so it just kinda goes against what I'm used to

Depends on what you looking for. I found that the rules side of thing is pretty balanced for creatures of different sizes. What I found annoying are map sizes, because the seem to be balanced for medium sized creatures. I had some issues when my players first started playing with larger creatures that there wasn't enough space in a room for the encounter to take place. That is if you are planning on running an adventure path. I homebrew for my campaign now so I make sure to have the right size of map.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomypayne64

For dragons, are you expected to entirely rework/recreate them for different ages? Did they keep the ease of modification from PF? Can I expect to see either monster types/templates for classics like the Lich or Vampire, Devils and Angel's etc? Like in part I haven't seen enough to tell if SF is "D&D but in space" or if it's kind of an entirely new "Space D&D" if that makes any sense.

So dragons are a bit special in Starfinder I feel like (but then again aren't they in every Fantasy RPG). In every AA so far there are templates for different kinds of dragons. You have the chromatic dragons in AA1, metallic and outer (which is basically space related stuff) dragons in AA2, starmetal dragons in AA3 and robot dragons in AA4. All of these come with their own lore and templates to make them. Gotta admit I haven't used them all that much but the templates are easy to apply (I've used other creature templates). You do not have to rework them for different ages, but you do have to recreate them. The templates and the creature tables at the end of AA1 provide with all the stats and abilities you need to make a creature. But since Starfinder scales exponantially with the levels increasing you will have to use higher stats on higher levels.
There are some Angels and Devils you can find troughout the AAs and every adventure path has a little alien archive section in the back where you can find some more. But none of them have a specific template. I haven't seen Liches or Vampires as creatures. There are ideas on how to go about making a vampire or lycanthrope in one of the adventure paths (SoS1) but they are made for PCs.
Starfinder is very much a new 'Space D&D' if you wanna call it that, the creatures you find are new altogether, with only some hints and puns at creatures you would find in a Classic-Fantasy setting. (Paizo had to include their mascot Goblins from Pathfinder as Space Goblins ofc)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomypayne64

So are gods still, like, a thing? I know theres a new tech God and a period of missing memories for everyone but that's all I know about the setting. However Inner Sea Gods is my favorite supplement of all time and I used it to REEAAALLY punch up how integrated and detailed religion was in a setting where gods were actual beings who had tangible effects on the world. I just have no clue how gods fit into SF.

Gods are a thing, there is a whole list on them and each one has their own lore. The adventure paths also feature one or the other (mostly evil aligned) god but they don't have any technical mechanic to 'do stuff'. That's the GMs job in Starfinder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomypayne64

Kinda the same question for magic. I know the Technomancer is the Wizard/Sorcerer but it doesn't seem to use traditional magic. Is magic just...different now?

Magic is basically the same. Mystics get their magic from a chosen god and everyone else get's it seemingly at random or from some force of nature. The kinds of effects magic can have changed to fit the theme and setting of starfinder better, so you might have a 'holographic image', or a 'microbot assault' that clearly wouldn't work in 5E or PF but you also have the classics like 'Magic Missiles' or 'Wall of Force'

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomypayne64

How hard would it be to go from 5e to SF? I've kinda heard its midway in terms of complexity between 5e and PF.

I'd actually say it's more complex then both of them, but very easy to learn if you played one of the other before, since it's the same dice-system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomypayne64

Lastly, I'm curious what people like about SF as a setting and as a game. I've usually run D&D as a more serious rp heavy game, and my initial ideas for SF is more of a beer and pretzels fun relaxed game with a part full of bizarre alien murder hobos just making coin and having fun. Like space is such a vast and open slate that it seems a natural fit for crazier adventures. Flip side is I have no experience with SciFi stories and don't really have any ideas for a big campaign, which has me doubling down on the crazy fun chill space shenanigans. Just curious what others think.

Me and my group started with Starfinder, because we all liked Sci-Fi and Sci-Fantasy as a genre. I feel like the rp/combat balance depends more on your group then on the system. My group generally likes the combat parts more but if I tell them a cool story they are down to rp. I always feel like you have much more creative freedom in a Sci-Fantasy setting because you have both sides of the medal. You could have your party run trough planetwide cities or you can let them adventure out to new unexplored planets with ruins on them that are old enough to house D&D and PF creatures or you can do one after the other. (It is pretty easy to convert at least Pathfinder creatures to Starfinder). I had both the crazy action and chill space feeling in one session more than one times.

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Originally Posted by tomypayne64

Oh and bonus question: anyone have suggestions for media to look at for inspiration?

Literally anything. Like I said before, the system is vast and vague enough to allow you to put in anything. The big thing I always use to verfy is 'the Gap' (that event 300 years ago that wiped basically all memory in the universe). If not even the people who made Starfinder know (or want to say), who can tell me I can' just take that monster from that film and make it your bossfight?

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