Shoot Through the Stars - The Starfinder 2e Playtest

Get ready for liftoff — the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest is right around the corner!

Announced at Gen Con 2024, the Starfinder Second Edition Playtest has been in ongoing development here at Paizo, and we’re almost ready for launch[JJ1] ! There’s a whole host of playtest materials coming out this fall—consider this your guide to how you can shape the future of Starfinder Second Edition!

Starfinder Field Tests

Previews of Starfinder Second Edition rules are already available for free at Starfinderplaytest.com! Check out snapshots of new classes, creatures, spells, and equipment, along with insight from the Starfinder team. Remember, these rules are far from finalized!

Starfinder Playtest Rulebook

Hop into the Drift and cruise into compatibility with the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook! The Starfinder Playtest Rulebook will be available as a softcover book for purchase, or as a free PDF download via the Paizo website. As Starfinder Second Edition will be mechanically compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition, the basic rules and chassis are already built—thus, this playtest is all about Starfinder-specific classes, creatures, equipment, and more!

The Starfinder Playtest Rulebook covers six playable classes, ten ancestries, and a host of new backgrounds, skills, feats, equipment, spells, and more. Build characters from levels 1 to 20, test the cross-compatibility of systems by tossing a Starfinder alien into your Pathfinder game (with GM permission, of course!), and help shape the game during the playtest period: August 1 through December 31, 2024.

Note: As the basic rules for the Second Edition engine are not included in the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core are required to play. The rules printed in both books are available for free on Archives of Nethys at aeonprd.com.

For players who prefer virtual play, worry not! We’ve partnered with Foundry VTT to have Foundry integration for the Starfinder Playtest Rulebook ready at launch. Jump right into a Starfinder Playtest game at home, online, or at your friendly local game store!

Starfinder Playtest Adventures

As part of the playtest, the Starfinder Team has written two standalone adventures: A Cosmic Birthday and Empires Devoured. These 64-page adventures not only encourage players to explore the Starfinder Playtest rules, but also place the heroes at pivotal moments in the Starfinder timeline!

A Cosmic Birthday, written by Jenny Jarzabski, is an adventure for 1st level characters. With a blend of dungeon crawling and sandbox adventures, this module introduces the new rules across multiple styles of play.

A new god is being born—and its followers are determined to aid in that process, no matter the consequences. Explore the Ghost Levels of Absalom Station and face a host of cosmic horrors—returning Starfinder favorites and new creations—to save Absalom Station from being torn apart by this new god’s birth!

Empires Devoured, written by Thurston Hillman, is an adventure for 10th level characters. This cinematic module presents a thrilling gauntlet for higher-level characters as they take the lead in diplomatic negotiations, wilderness survival, and defending a city caught in the crossfire of galactic war.

As the Azlanti Star Empire and the Veskarium prepare to sign a historic treaty on a backwater planet, the heroes find themselves trapped in a web of conflict and treachery—survive or be devoured!

Whether you dive into these adventures or craft your own, we look forward to hearing about your Starfinder Playtest games.

Starfinder Society Playtest Scenarios

If you’d rather try a one-shot adventure designed to for a 2 to 3-hour gaming session, look no further than Starfinder Society, our Organized Play Program for Starfinder. Starfinder Society is releasing a batch of playtest adventures for levels 1, 5, 10, and 15, each written by a member of the Starfinder team! Whether you’re a Starfinder Society regular or you’ve never sat down at a Society table before, we invite everyone to try the Starfinder playtest scenarios and get a taste of Starfinder Second Edition!  

You don’t need to be a member of Starfinder Society to enjoy these playtest adventures, but GMs and players who participate in the Starfinder playtest can earn special Organized Play rewards. And don’t fear—if you’re a Pathfinder Society player, there are rewards in store for you as well. We want the input of Pathfinder and Starfinder players alike—as well as people new to our system—as we craft Starfinder Second Edition into the science-fantasy roleplaying game that shoots for the stars!

Authors:

Rue Dickey (he/they/xe) is Paizo’s Marketing and Media Specialist. This article was written with guidance and input from Thurston Hillman (he/him), Starfinder Managing Creative Director, and Jenny Jarzabski (she/xe), Starfinder Senior Developer.