Starfinder Enhanced’s new species will let you play as an ewok-like rodent, AI hologram or tiny sentient star

Starfinder Enhanced, the upcoming rules revision of the sci-fi Pathfinder spin-off, releases next month, bringing a host of new and updated rules and gameplay options to the RPG - from narrative starship combat to new classes, spells and feats. Ahead of the new book, Dicebreaker has an exclusive first look at the new playable species on offer for players.

The 192-page Starfinder Enhanced rulebook isn’t quite a full second edition of Starfinder, but rather a collection of various additional rules and materials that aim to tweak some existing parts of the game while introducing totally fresh ideas elsewhere. Some of those additions will see choice elements from Starfinder’s Adventure Paths and supplements brought into the fold of a rulebook for the first time, while others will be brand new to the RPG as a whole.

That, of course, includes the options available to players during character creation, with revamped core classes - the envoy, solarian, technomancer and witchwarper - joining a dozen different playable species from across Starfinder’s universe.

Making their debut in a Starfinder rulebook are the shapeshifting humanoids known as Endiffians, who can rearrange their rubbery skin to change appearance - gaining bonuses to Disguise checks and even having the option to try and mimic other creatures they have seen on their travels. The species previously appeared in first-level Starfinder Adventure Path The Reach of Empire

In keeping with Starfinder’s science-fantasy spin on the trad-fantasy of Pathfinder, spacefaring Gnolls - descended from those seen in Pathfinder’s old world of Golarion - will also join the line-up, the hyena-like creatures having been part of a deck of alien character cards released as an accessory for the RPG.

Also making the leap from Starfinder’s supplements into the main book are the frog-like Grippili, who likewise originated in Golarion’s jungles. The shadow-dwelling Kayal, descended from humans from the Shadow Plane, are similarly new to the book, offering fetchlings able to briefly change their appearance, see in the dark and blend into shadows as the result of their time exposed to the shadowy realm.

For those who prefer their characters, uh, furry, the fox-like Kitsune - able to switch between humanoid and vulpine forms - are an option, with the added power of Kitsune magic and a natural curiosity that lends itself to galactic explorers.

Recalling the psychic nature of Guardians of the Galaxy’s Mantis, Stafinder Enhanced’s fey Moyishuu are able to detect and influence emotions using their ability to ‘soulfeel’, becoming able to spark fury, joy and sorrow in foes to gain an advantage in combat.

More mysterious are the Samsaran, a species born from reincarnated souls that can appear under any of the galaxy’s many cultures. The seemingly immortal beings can draw from their past lives for a bonus in additional skills, as well as resisting death effects through their unique cyclic relationship to life and death.

As well as those existing species finding their way into Starfinder Enhanced’s rulebook for the first time from the RPG’s past releases, the book will introduce four wholly new species.

Those include the Elanaya, a species of small, glittering human-like beings who form permanent bonds with elementals. Their elemental connection allows Elenaya to manifest the power of their elemental - air, earth, fire or water - in their body, gaining traits including darkvision, energy resistance to the associated element, a strike that can channel the element into an attack and a damaging aura for any creatures who get too close.

Starfinder Enhanced will also allow players to play as holograms for the first time, controlling characters who are projected as a hardlight appearance by an AI core. Holograms can choose to switch between a hardlight projection or deactivate the projection to become the core alone, restricting them to mental actions. Being a projection allows holograms to choose their programmed appearance, while also having the ability to change appearance once a day - including altering their size and look.

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Perhaps Starfinder Enhanced’s most unique new species are Novians, sentient balls of plasma born from the collapse of a dying star - effectively making them tiny living suns. The floating flaming beings are said to be typically proud and cocky, and their unusual origins grant them additional knowledge of the universe. Being living suns, they’re also immune to radiation, don’t need to breathe (again: sun) and can generate heat and light, including incinerating their surroundings upon hitting zero hit points in combat.

The final new species revealed for Starfinder Enhanced are the Scuriday, Starfinder’s answer to Star Wars’ ewoks or Guardians of the Galaxy’s Rocket Raccoon. Fluffy rodent-like creatures from a forest moon that scamper along on four legs, the green and blue animals can glide like flying squirrels or inflate themselves before propelling around with a rotating tail, like a balloon Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog. Scuriday aren’t just cute, though. They can blast a 30-foot wave of sound from their mouth to damage enemies - something presumably enabled by the species’ love of singing.

The new species will all be included in Starfinder Enhanced’s rulebook when it releases on October 18th, along the rest of the additions and revisions for the sci-fi RPG. As well being available as a standalone release, Starfinder Enhanced will be available via publisher Paizo’s Starfinder subscription offering.