Sometimes, casters seem to get a bit of short shrift in Starfinder. Some of this is because of the lack of a true dedicated caster (ala Wizard or Sorcerer) in the system. The casters we do have are all mid-range spell slingers with additional abilities so they can hang with the mundane classes in combat when they run out of spell slots. I don’t say that as a criticism, as I believe the design choice was made to emphasize that in a Sci-Fantasy future where magic exists, the prevalence of tech and magi-tech solutions to many of the problems only magic could deal with in a fantasy setting means that a dedicated caster no longer really makes sense for the setting. Scifi/SciFantasy/Cyberpunk media backs this up as well, as even where there are characters that are arguably casters in those stories, they invariably have some of the skills and abilities of the more mundane type, often just to survive in a harsh world.
If there is one character concept that is hard to realize in Starfinder though, it is that dedicated caster. Someone who relies on magic/psychic power to the exclusion of even a blaster pistol. I’ve mentioned before that you can get part of the way there with the variant spellcasting in Galactic Magic (GM page 88), or basically the Full Monty with Legendary Games Planar Adepts. For all that one thing you will run into no matter what kind of caster you play is that certain kinds of spells are missing from Starfinder. For instance, Stoneskin (and by proxy, Clay Skin) has no true analog (Resistant Aegis and Resistant Armor notwithstanding.) An easy fix.
Debris Sphere
Classes Mystic 4, Technomancer 4, Witchwarper 4
School evocation
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range personal
Duration 10 min./level or until discharged
Description
You pull debris and other objects from the environment around you to create an orbiting protective sphere that shields you from harm. You gain DR 10/adamantine and Resistance 10 to Acid, Cold, Electricity, and Fire. However, the sphere can only prevent a total of 10 points of damage per caster level (maximum 150 points) before the composition of the sphere is completely destroyed and the spell is discharged.
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Jeremy Corff
Artist and Writer