Welcome to Iconic Design! I’m Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, and today I’m building you a Starfinder RPG character who really gets the job done. Which is great, because it’s Labor Day here in the US and Canada, so it seemed appropriate to be offering a hard-working build for a hard-working otterfolk. That’s right, today’s build is brought to you in part by Know Direction’s (and Paizo’s) own Luis Loza, the creator of the brenneri race we’ll be using today. Without any further delay, otters!
Build Concept
- Race Brenneri; Theme Corporate Agent
- Feats Improved Demoralize (1st), Toughness (3rd), Longarm Proficiency (Military Training; 4th), Weapon Focus: longarms (5th), Great Fortitude (7th), Slippery Shooter (9th), Extra Resolve (11th)
- Class Envoy 12 (Stewards Officer)
- Class Features expertise 1d6+2, weapon specialization
- Archetype Features Diplomatic Training (2nd), Military Training (4th), Demand Surrender (9th)
- Skill Expertise Diplomacy, Sense Motive (1st), Intimidate (5th)
- Envoy Improvisation get’em (1st), improved get’em (6th), clever improvisations (8th), situational awareness (10th), expert attack (12th)
- Expertise Talent Slick Customer (3rd), Well-Informed (7th), Keen Observer (11th)
Playing the Build
Alright! Let’s get the belly-clams rolling, shall we?
This brenneri build is a bit strange in that it uses an archetype; I don’t use them often, but I’m using it here because brenneri have a racial bonus to Diplomacy and I wanted to see if I could do anything weird and unusual with that. What I came up with was an envoy build that focuses exclusively on using get’em. This is somewhat weird for me, as I’m usually all about gaming the envoy action economy for maximum effect. This build is kinda like that too, I guess, but different in that it’s very offensive-minded.
Alright, so the archetype we’re going to be using is called Stewards Officer; it represents a person who belongs to the Pact Worlds organization of the same name and can be found in the 3rd volume of the Against the Aeon Throne AP. Basically, this archetype gets three things in exchange for the envoy improvisations at 2nd and 4th levels and the skill experise at 9th level. The 2nd-level ability isn’t anything to write home about—our fuzzy little otter envoy will be getting two bonuses languages and the ability to use Diplomacy to Demoralize. That’s handy because we’re taking Improved Demoralize and we’re absolutely maxing out our Diplomacy bonus; in addition to Diplomacy being our first Skill Expertise, we’re also taking the Corporate Agent theme for a +1 theme bonus to Diplomacy checks too. Add in a maxed out Charisma score and you basically have the best Diplomacy in the game. (It’s gonna be 1d20 + 1d6 + 9; you could only have more at this level by taking Skill Focus, and the build will naturally buffer that feat out anyway.) Your 4th-level archetype ability gives you a bonus feat (we’re taking Longarm Proficiency) as well as a free Weapon Specialization with that new weapon type at 6th level; very useful. Finally, Demand Surrender is this neat ability that lets you ready actions and demoralize at the same time, which feels super cool and neat at a glance.
From the envoy side, you’re taking get’em as your only real “thing to do”. Every other improvisation you take enhances get’em in some way. Clever improvisations foots a Resolve Point cost for you once and expert attack allows you to spend lots of Resolve Points (2 specifically) to add your expertise die to 1 attack roll. Which you’ll be able to do, because this build also takes improved get’em. The final improvisation you’ll be taking is called situational awareness, which looks REALLY awesome because of how it handles with Demand Surrender. Basically, the demand surrender archetype ability has one weakness—you lose the benefit if the trigger you set for your readied action doesn’t happen. Situational awareness allows you to spend Resolve Points to change your readied actions’ trigger, a super cool synergistic ability for sure.
Aside from these abilities, we’re taking some quality-of-light fight otter feats, like Toughness, Great Fortitude, Slippery Shooter, and Expert Resolve to fuel expert attacker.
Overall this is a very different kind of envoy build, one that capitalizes on straight-shooting. I think it’d be pretty fun to play no matter your PC; the fact that you’re a fuzzy little otter just makes it all the more hilarious! And that’s all I have today; have an excellent labor day, and I’ll see you back here at the Know Direction Network next week. Bye!
Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts Know Direction: Beyond with Perram and James Ballod. Follow Alex’s Twitter @AlJAug!
