I went with the pre-gen Envoy “Navasi” for our new campaign at my local hobby shop. Read her back story and was like huh, lady Han Solo....also SF bard....glad to have my gut instincts confirmed by this video...even tho she’s pre-gen, I’m adding tweaks to personalize her.....saucy British accent, plays idly with a fidget spinner while blowing bubbles of bubblegum....kind of cagey about her profession when asked....I had fun our first session and look forward to reaching 2nd level and adding Inspiration Boost.
What's interesting to me is how flexible the Envoy is. It only has three (technically five if you include free weapon specialization and the capstone) class features and all three features are essentially choice based. There isn't a feature that says "okay, your character can do this now," they are all "what would you like your character to be able to do?"
I cannot possibly stress this enough. FEAT FOR A BETTER WEAPON. Envoy's strength jumps up massively the instant it gets away from being stuck with just Small Arms and into something that compresses all its strength into a single, deadly attack. Clever Feint/Clever Attack didn't get mentioned in the video, which is sad because it's easily the best tool envoys get offensively. With a good weapon, you can attack and render the enemy flatfooted at the same time on just a standard action, and can use resolve to force this if needed. Add in Get 'Em and the target is going to take damage from anyone who targets them, and from yourself as well, or Improved Hurry, which is just... so good.
I agree with you on the Feint line. It stacks so very well with Get 'Em. And yes, a Sniper or Longarm is basically mandatory. I prefer Longarms as there are way more options there and while snipers are great for "single strong shots" their ammo capacity is very wanting.
Soooo I build a Human Envoy, high CHA aswell as STR and CON. Then with Higher levels I also leveld up INT and DEX. I took the Feat Improved unarmed attack and Toughness. His name is Kirk.
Thank you for these videos! I'm joining a Starfinder horror game and I wanted to play an aspiring cult leader, so I was really curious about this class. Really informative!
I really want to make this work with a Vesk or at least a STR build. I want a big, jovial Envoy who just wants to hug it out... and will grapple you to do so. C'MERE BUDDY!
started a game last night. DM: "ok who want's to be Vesk?" 3 out of 4 players raises their hands. DM to the guy who didn't raise his hand:"so what do you wanna be?" Guy: "I wanna be one of those lizard people" Methinks Vesks are popular :D
RecklessFables I personally made a mercenary vesk envoy as a form of warlord/general. Gave him a stat array of 16/12/13/8/10/14 at level 1 with advanced melee proficiency as my feat. I gave him get 'em at level 1 and plan to grab inspiring boost, long range, improved hurry, the mind effect removal, improved get 'em and quick dispiriting taunt if I have enough improvisations. Not sure if taunt is that good though if I'm using get 'em more frequently.
So I was looking at Starfinder as a new base for a “Firefly” themed game (I didn’t like the actual Firefly TTRPG). I was wondering what class a “companion” would be that didn’t make them feel useless. Clearly, it’s the envoy!
Hey, so I know it is 2 years after you asked the question, but here are some thoughts. On average? No. 1d8 is 4.5 on average. So 1d8+4 is 8.5 and 2d8 is 9. What you mentioned is range and swingingess. If you needed 16 points of damage, your only hope would be 2d8, but if you just need a consistent 5-8, 1d8+4 is the better option. But the odds are in your favor for 2d8 as well because you have a threshold you want to roll. To roll a 5 or higher on 2d8 is the complement of rolling a 4 or lower. Only possible in 1,1 1,2 1,3 2,1 2,2 possibilities of 64 outcomes. 59/64 chance to roll a 5 or higher on 2d8. On 1d8+4 it is impossible to get less than 5... Choose what works best for you. But I'd take a 5/64 chance for the ability to do more
Universal expression doesn't seem as good as you make it sound. While removing the language barrier to offensive improvisations seems nice, there's really only one language dependent improvisation that affects enemies - Dispiriting taunt. Granted, Dispiriting taunt can be pretty useful, and being able to do it to everyone makes it so much better, but... it just kinda feels like that should be something in addition to the feat (like spending resolve at 6th level is) rather than a feat of it's own, which is useless if you don't have taunt.
any reason you're explaining all the races/classes before even talking about how the game works? Did I miss the rules video? I feel a bit lost with the jargon.
"at 1st level and every 4 levels thereafter you can use expertise with one additional class skill" so technically it would be sense motive and one other class at level one see 10:26 for the mistake
Envoy = Malcolm Reynolds or Lando Calrissian!
Thanks for the breakdown. Loving it!
“ I always suggest pandemic “ Me: you recommend WHAT!
I went with the pre-gen Envoy “Navasi” for our new campaign at my local hobby shop. Read her back story and was like huh, lady Han Solo....also SF bard....glad to have my gut instincts confirmed by this video...even tho she’s pre-gen, I’m adding tweaks to personalize her.....saucy British accent, plays idly with a fidget spinner while blowing bubbles of bubblegum....kind of cagey about her profession when asked....I had fun our first session and look forward to reaching 2nd level and adding Inspiration Boost.
What's interesting to me is how flexible the Envoy is. It only has three (technically five if you include free weapon specialization and the capstone) class features and all three features are essentially choice based. There isn't a feature that says "okay, your character can do this now," they are all "what would you like your character to be able to do?"
I cannot possibly stress this enough. FEAT FOR A BETTER WEAPON. Envoy's strength jumps up massively the instant it gets away from being stuck with just Small Arms and into something that compresses all its strength into a single, deadly attack.
Clever Feint/Clever Attack didn't get mentioned in the video, which is sad because it's easily the best tool envoys get offensively. With a good weapon, you can attack and render the enemy flatfooted at the same time on just a standard action, and can use resolve to force this if needed. Add in Get 'Em and the target is going to take damage from anyone who targets them, and from yourself as well, or Improved Hurry, which is just... so good.
I agree with you on the Feint line. It stacks so very well with Get 'Em. And yes, a Sniper or Longarm is basically mandatory. I prefer Longarms as there are way more options there and while snipers are great for "single strong shots" their ammo capacity is very wanting.
Soooo I build a Human Envoy, high CHA aswell as STR and CON. Then with Higher levels I also leveld up INT and DEX. I took the Feat Improved unarmed attack and Toughness.
His name is Kirk.
Thank you for these videos! I'm joining a Starfinder horror game and I wanted to play an aspiring cult leader, so I was really curious about this class. Really informative!
I really want to make this work with a Vesk or at least a STR build. I want a big, jovial Envoy who just wants to hug it out... and will grapple you to do so. C'MERE BUDDY!
started a game last night.
DM: "ok who want's to be Vesk?"
3 out of 4 players raises their hands.
DM to the guy who didn't raise his hand:"so what do you wanna be?"
Guy: "I wanna be one of those lizard people"
Methinks Vesks are popular :D
RecklessFables I personally made a mercenary vesk envoy as a form of warlord/general. Gave him a stat array of 16/12/13/8/10/14 at level 1 with advanced melee proficiency as my feat. I gave him get 'em at level 1 and plan to grab inspiring boost, long range, improved hurry, the mind effect removal, improved get 'em and quick dispiriting taunt if I have enough improvisations. Not sure if taunt is that good though if I'm using get 'em more frequently.
Well I just made an Uplifted Bear Envoy, so that's essentially how he's gonna act
Just picked up my hardcopy of the core rule book. Super excited to run a game! Thanks for the info!
So I was looking at Starfinder as a new base for a “Firefly” themed game (I didn’t like the actual Firefly TTRPG). I was wondering what class a “companion” would be that didn’t make them feel useless. Clearly, it’s the envoy!
I like the plug for the board game pandemic. Foreshadowing.
space bard
My Envoy is a male Vesk stripper 😀
Isnt 1d8+4 better than 2d8 on average? 5-12 VS 2-16
Hey, so I know it is 2 years after you asked the question, but here are some thoughts.
On average? No. 1d8 is 4.5 on average. So 1d8+4 is 8.5 and 2d8 is 9. What you mentioned is range and swingingess. If you needed 16 points of damage, your only hope would be 2d8, but if you just need a consistent 5-8, 1d8+4 is the better option.
But the odds are in your favor for 2d8 as well because you have a threshold you want to roll. To roll a 5 or higher on 2d8 is the complement of rolling a 4 or lower. Only possible in 1,1 1,2 1,3 2,1 2,2 possibilities of 64 outcomes. 59/64 chance to roll a 5 or higher on 2d8. On 1d8+4 it is impossible to get less than 5... Choose what works best for you. But I'd take a 5/64 chance for the ability to do more
'increase' 1d8+4 to 2d8....
so... change my anything between 5 and 12... to anything between 2 and 16.
Can I still keep the the more stable one?
Why do you show a "clipping" from the book for some class features but not for others? Just curious.
I know I'm late, but it's because he wants to do the ones that he thinks stand out better than others, so as to not overload you with options.
Universal expression doesn't seem as good as you make it sound. While removing the language barrier to offensive improvisations seems nice, there's really only one language dependent improvisation that affects enemies - Dispiriting taunt.
Granted, Dispiriting taunt can be pretty useful, and being able to do it to everyone makes it so much better, but... it just kinda feels like that should be something in addition to the feat (like spending resolve at 6th level is) rather than a feat of it's own, which is useless if you don't have taunt.
I always thought of a envoy like han solo
Or Lando. Or Leia.
Why would you ever want to heal an enemy's stamina?
any reason you're explaining all the races/classes before even talking about how the game works? Did I miss the rules video? I feel a bit lost with the jargon.
"at 1st level and every 4 levels thereafter you can use expertise with one additional class skill"
so technically it would be sense motive and one other class at level one
see 10:26 for the mistake
fak nvm he corrected himself and i didnt hear it.
6th
Err my brain is melting options options options
The class as you describe it intrigues me.... but the class name is so lame. I wish they could have come up with a name that made it more compelling.
Bard was always silly to me too, I actually prefer Envoy as a name.
Envoy is a cool name if you've watched or read Altered Carbon.
I've been playing an Envoy for 4 levels and I've got to say, I feel pretty useless. I'm pretty much just a skillmonkey / healbot. Not very fun.