These are the general rules for Starfinder Society Playtests. See each playtest announcement for any rules specific to that particular playtest.
Playtest Period
Each playtest runs for a specified period. Once this period has expired, players can no longer use the options being playtested until their publication in a future Paizo product.
Playtest Characters
Playtest options can be accessed by creating a custom character using the rules presented in the playtest document. This character functions as a pregenerated character.
Creating a playtest character: Depending on the tier of the scenario, the player can use a 1st-, 4th-, or 8th-level character created using the eligible playtest options and the following guidelines.
- Class: The character can only take levels in a single class being actively playtested. Although multiclassing ramifications are important for playtests as a whole, we're keeping to single classes in the organized play portions of our playtests for simplicity.
- 1st Level: The character can be made using the character creation rules presented in the Starfinder Core Rulebook and the character creation section of this guide.
- 4rd Level: This character follows the same rules as above, except that instead of the starting 1,000 credits, they can select one 4th-level armor or weapon and one 3rd-level armor or weapon. In addition, the player can spend up to 4,000 credits on other available equipment.
- 8th Level: This character follows the same rules as above, except that instead of the starting 1,000 credits, they can select one 8th-level armor or weapon and one 7th-level armor or weapon. In addition, the player can spend up to 18,000 credits on other available equipment.
Credit: Choose which of your characters will receive the credit at the beginning of the adventure. The credit earned for playing a playtest character follows the same rules and guidelines as applying credit for a pregenerated character, presented in the Applying Credit section of the Player Basics page of this guide.
To encourage play of higher-level characters in playtest classes, the rules for applying credit when playing a playtest character are more open. A player using a non-1st-level playtest character may choose to apply the earned Chronicle Sheet to an existing Organized Play character immediately. To do so, simply replace the credits earned on the Chronicle Sheet with credits from the list below that match the level range of the existing player character.
Levels 1-2: 720 credits (2,160 credits for Adventure Path module)
Levels 3-4: 1,460 credits (4,380 credits for Adventure Path module)
Levels 5-6: 4,085 credits (12,255 credits for Adventure Path module)
Levels 7-8: 5,835 credits (17,505 credits for Adventure Path module)
This follows all the other rules for applying a chronicle early.
Boons and Other Character Options: In order for the playtest character to take a character option that would normally require a boon, that playtest character must have all of their credit assigned to a character number that has purchased that boon.
Resolving Conditions: We recognize that players taking the opportunity to playtest these characters are performing a service for the game and campaign. As a result, whenever a player playtests a 4th- or 8th-level version of these characters, the cost to purchase a raise dead is reduced to 6 Fame and subsequent restorations to remove the negative levels are only 1 Fame each. This means that there's still some risk to your established characters, but the penalty for dying as a playtest character is far less onerous than it would be for a normal character or pregenerated character.
GM Opt In
Because playtests use additional rules that some GMs may not be comfortable with, each GM must opt-in for playtest characters to be used at their tables. Please consult your GM prior to the game!
Current and Past Playtests
This list contains all previous play tests. Make sure to check the dates to see if a playtest is still ongoing.
Evolutionist Playtest
August 2 to September 24, 2021
This playtest included the evolutionist class, which has not yet been announced for publishing.
Precog Playtest
November 16 to December 25, 2020
This playtest included the precog class, which is slated to appear in Galactic Magic (expected November 2021).
Tech Revolution Playtest
July 27 to September 18th, 2020
This playtest included the nanocyte class and mech rules, both of which are published in the Tech Revolution rulebook.
Character Operations Manual Playtest
December 3, 2018 to January 16, 2019
This playtest included the three classes in the Character Operations Manual : biohacker, vanguard, and witchwarper.