A few days ago, someone asked me what some of my favorites were from the new Alien Archive 2 for the Starfinder roleplaying game. Now, here I am making a list of what I feel are the best entries from Alien Archive 2.
Starfinder Alien Archive 2
Uplifted Bear
Listen, this is an intelligent bear that you can play. I don’t need to say anymore, but since I need a certain number of words to make the image align correctly, I will indeed say a little more.
Again, you can play as a bear. This is awesome. Alien Archive 2 says this, “Uplifted bears have modified bodies that give them nimble hands with opposable thumbs.” They are smart and can wield weapons. Uplifted bears are the Hank McCoys of Starfinder and I’m there for it.
I suspect we’ll see lots of these a player characters and I can imagine them bringing a lot of fun to the adventuring party. Alien Archive 2 says they thrive in scientific endeavors, yet prefer outdoor environments. Let’s roll up some botanist bears who work in a starship that has a built-in greenhouse bay, shall we?
Damai
Damai are kaiju fighters, which communicates clearly that they are awesome. An established race, the Damai lived on a planet where deadly kaiju suddenly awakened from a slumber.
The ancient planet Daimalko experienced a cataclysmic event 200 years ago when the oceans evaporated, awakening monstrous beasts called colossi. They quickly destroyed most of the planets inhabitants. Those Damai who didn’t perish became hardened survivors who lived in caverns below the planets surface. A few special Damai helped coordinate the survivors and become powerful guardians.
The grey skinned Damai would make for an interesting PC or an entire survivalist campaign could be set on the planet Daimalko. Who wants to hunt kaiju with me?
Ghoran
Simply put, the Ghoran are plant people. They were created before the Gap by a druid from lost Golarion.
Walking, talking plants, each ghoran has a seed within their navel and every 20 years or so, they grow a new seed, allowing them to slowly grow their numbers. There are two types:
- Sapling Ghorans, who are lithe and springy, and
- Oakling Ghorans, who are tall and dense.
Yeah, they’re Groot. But the Starfinder team gave them some fun quirks as well, things that will enhance their fun as PCs. First, while they can eat if they want to, they gain their nutrition from photosynthesis. So they best not adventure with the Damai or Bolida (7-foot-tall roll poly bugs who love mining).
Also, they are delicious. Seriously, creatures want to eat their flesh. Once another creature bites into them, they can’t stop at just one bite. In fact, Ghorans were at one time hunted for their tasty flesh-like rinds.
Osharu
The Osharu are slug people and I love every slimy little thing about their write-up in Alien Archive 2.
They are monk-scientists who hold religion and science together dependently, dedicating themselves to Yaraesa, the god of learning and science. As a result, any Osharu settlement is essentially a university campus, everyone working together on a quest for knowledge.
They don’t like salt obvi. In fact, even a handful of salt does 1d6 damage to an Oshuru. But they can slime their way out of a jam by excreting slime into an adjacent square. Seriously, I love these things.
Pair an Uplifted Bear with an Osharu and you have Beast and Maggott from the X-Men, ready to hop into a starship to join the Starjammers. (Sorry for all these oblique X-Men references, but gosh dang, this Alien Archive 2 has some fun stuff in there.)
Pahtra
I know that if you read Nerds on Earth then you are also a Paw Patrol fan, so the Pahtra are for you.
The Pahtra are a catlike species who are prevalent in the Veskarium, living on the lush planet Pulonis. Lean, fast, and predatory, the Pahtra are often assigned roles based upon the patterns on their fur, although I will always picture any Pahtra with the coloring of Michelle Pfeiffer.
A player who chooses a Pahtra would have a nimble, acrobatic character that would excel as an Operative (See also: cat burglar). Any Starfinder campaign that would go into the Veskarium would benefit from a liberal sprinkling of Pahtra NPCs.
Phentomite
Phentomite are straight out of the 1993 action / adventure / thriller Cliffhanger, the Sylvester Stallone vehicle that received nary a bit of Oscar attention, an egregious oversight that has not received recompense to this day.
The Phentomite are from the planet Orry, a magical cluster of landmasses that float around in a gravitational cluster that nevertheless remains habitable. As a result, every single Phentomite is a high-flying, high-altitude daredevil equipped with carabiners and grappling hooks and junk. It’s awesome, just like Stallone’s character in Cliffhanger who was clearly snubbed.
Standing 7 feet tall but weighing only 175 pounds, Phentomites are agile, athletic, and adapted well to adventuring, right down to their mountain goat feet. I know I’d love to see adventures in the Orry cluster, so I hope we see the Phentomites in an upcoming Starfinder Adventure Path.
Vlaka
Alien Archive 2 has given us genius bears, slug people, high-flying acrobats, and more. It also gives us Teen Wolf.
Vlaka are a wolflike species from Lajak, a doomed planet far away from a dying star. As the sun grows dimmer, the planet grows colder, forcing the Vlaka to further adapt to the hostile environment.
If used as a PC, the Vlaka are known to be empathetic and cooperative colleagues who can buoy an adventuring party. They are wise and charismatic. Many are born either blind or deaf, and while some use technological means to overcome these disabilities, other choose not to.
OK, I’ve given humanity exactly what they requested from me: my favorites from Alien Archive 2. But, now, we need to make something clear: I heard the question and considered it, but the decision to write this list came down to me and me alone. In fact, there’s a chance that I was subconsciously thinking about the Alien Archive 2 and the question didn’t exactly give me the idea as much as surface it.
What I’m saying is: Nerds on Earth is not necessarily in the business of outsourcing our article selection. As in, we don’t do requests. As in, don’t get used to this, okay? Because this is it. We’ll give you want you want this one time but the party ends here.
We say this because ever since we wrote about Starfinder as a joke–that’s right, it was a joke! A joke ON YOU!–we know there have been rumblings in The Drift–our Facebook group dedicated to Starfinder–about how you’d like even more Starfinder content out of us because you love the game so much. That’s how obstinate we are, people: we won’t even link that existing Starfinder content a second time. Not even if you beg us. Because we are unmovable.
I’m like a brick wall. People always tell me that. They say, “Talking to you all is like talking to a brick wall.” Which we take as a compliment concerning my strength, which is +3 by the way. And also my attractiveness, given that brick is a very beautiful building material. In certain cases, at least. Maybe not in some of the suburban architecture of the mid-fifties. But then again, those homes have a certain nostalgic beauty in a way. There’s a pure American warmth to them, isn’t there?
What were we talking about? Right: how I’m not a pushover and you can’t boss me around and tell me what to write about! So enjoy your Starfinder list from Alien Archive 2, because after this one, all things are returning to normalcy and you’ll see just how firm in my convictions I am!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to roll up an Uplifted Bear.
Tabletop Takeaways: Tips for Dungeon Masters with a Narrative Spin