Archives of Nethys

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Biohacker | Envoy | Evolutionist | Mechanic | Mystic | Nanocyte | Operative | Precog | Solarian | Soldier | Technomancer | Vanguard | Witchwarper
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Main Details | Alternate Class Features | Archetypes | Class Builds | Exploits | Specializations

Operative Specializations

The following are some common operative specializations.

Bandit

Source Tech Revolution pg. 28
You cultivate a menacing persona to coerce your targets.

Associated Skills: Intimidate and Sense Motive. You can attempt an Intimidate check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by menacing or threatening your foe.
Specialization Exploit: Disarming Command.
Commanding Presence (Ex): At 11th level, you can spend 1 Resolve Point as a standard action to attempt an Intimidate check to demoralize any number of creatures within 60 feet, though you take a cumulative –1 penalty to your Intimidate check for every two creatures you attempt to demoralize in this way (rounded down). Then choose a number of creatures you successfully demoralized (up to a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier). Those creatures follow a single command you issue for 1 round, per command (Will negates). Once you’ve targeted a creature with commanding presence, it’s immune to your commanding presence for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting, sense-dependent fear effect; the secondary command effect is also language-dependent.

Bully

Source Interstellar Species pg. 28
You specialize in close combat, leveraging your intimidating presence to crush your foes’ defenses and hinder their attacks.

Associated Skills: Athletics and Intimidate. You can attempt an Intimidate check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by menacing your opponent, making them hesitate to raise a defense. This is a fear effect, and if your foe has a bonus to saving throws against fear effects, they also apply it to the skill check DC of this Intimidate check.
Specialization Exploit: Fearsome presence.
Domineering Strike (Ex): Whenever you make a trick attack against a creature that’s frightened, panicked, prone, or shaken, you treat any trick attack damage dice that roll a 1 or 2 as if they had rolled a 3 instead.

Daredevil

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 94
You specialize in missions requiring courage and athleticism.

Associated Skills: Acrobatics and Athletics. You can attempt an Acrobatics check to make a trick attack.
Specialization Exploit: Versatile Movement.
Terrain Attack (Ex): At 11th level, when you and a foe are both balancing, climbing, flying, or swimming, you automatically succeed at any Bluff check required to make a trick attack against that foe.

Data Broker

Source Starfinder #44: Allies Against the Eye pg. 47
You use your charm and technical know-how to gather intelligence on anyone and anything.

Associated Skills: Computers and Diplomacy. You can attempt a Diplomacy check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by using intel you’ve gathered in advance.
Specialization Exploit: Intelligence Network.
Brokering Expertise (Ex): At 11th level, you gain the fast hack and well-informed envoy expertise talents. Any time you would be required to forgo your expertise die to use these talents, you instead forgo your operative’s edge bonus to your Computers or Diplomacy check.

Detective

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 94
Your ability to read people and make deductions helps you ferret out the truth in any situation.

Associated Skills: Culture and Sense Motive. You can attempt a Sense Motive check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by reading your foe.
Specialization Exploit: Glimpse the Truth.
Detective's Insight (Ex): At 11th level, your incredible insights help you move investigations forward where mundane inquiries fail. Once per day, you can spend 1 Resolve Point and take 10 minutes pondering a mystery or quandary to gain an enigmatic insight as if you had cast divination (though the result is often presented as a cryptic clue).

Diplomat

Source Interstellar Species pg. 28
You’re an expert negotiator who can slyly maneuver in social circles as readily as you maneuver across a battlefield.

Associated Skills: Culture and Diplomacy. You can attempt a Diplomacy check with a +5 bonus to make a trick attack against a foe by calming or tricking them into thinking you’re not a threat. Each time you use Diplomacy to make a trick attack, this bonus decreases by 1d4 (minimum +0) until the end of the encounter.
Specialization Exploit: Infectious charm.
Influencer (Ex): At 11th level, when you exceed the DC of a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a creature by 5 or more, you can improve their attitude by one additional step.

Disciple

SFS Note: For the purposes of the Disciple Operative Specialization, observing is done with a precise sense and does not take any additional actions. Spending Resolve points to recharge the Spell Resistance ability is a free action.
Source Starfinder #32: The Starstone Blockade pg. 52
Not all those who study magic do so in order to cast spells—some wish only to defend themselves against them. Operatives with the disciple specialization spend as much time training their minds as they do their bodies, meditating to steel themselves against harmful magical effects. Their familiarity with magical traditions and techniques makes them especially adept at fighting spellcasters. Magical organizations, especially those with precious artifacts in need of protection, often seek out non-spellcasters with mental fortitude to train as disciples, tasking them with guarding their treasures upon the completion of their training.

Associated Skills: Mysticism and Perception. By peering into the realms of reality that normally remain hidden, you can attempt a Mysticism check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack; also, Mysticism is a class skill for you.
Specialization Exploit: Experiential Learning.
Spell Resistance (Ex): At 11th level, you learn methods to defend yourself against a specific individual’s magic. You can select a target you have observed for at least 1 round of combat or 5 minutes outside of combat. You gain spell resistance equal to 11 + your character level against that target for 1 minute. Once you’ve used this ability, you can’t use it again that day, but you can spend 1 Resolve Point to recharge it immediately.

Driver

Source Tech Revolution pg. 28
Your lightning reflexes and cool-headed judgment are without equal when you’re behind the wheel.

Associated Skills: Piloting and Survival. When you make an attack while you’re inside a vehicle, you can attempt a Piloting check with a +1 bonus to make a trick attack.
Specialization Exploit: Trick Stunt.
One With the Wheel (Ex): At 11th level, you reduce the penalty you take to attack rolls attempted from a moving vehicle by 2. By spending 1 Resolve Point, you can perform one of the following vehicle actions using the associated action type: board or disembark from a vehicle (swift action); start a vehicle (swift action); stop short (swift action); take control (no action); relinquish control (no action); engage or disengage autocontrol (no action); engage or disengage autopilot (no action); or make a single attack using a one-handed weapon as part of performing the race action (no action).

Explorer

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 94
You’re an expert in scouting out dangerous locations using your knowledge and survival skills.

Associated Skills: Culture and Survival. You can attempt a Survival check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by using your surroundings to your advantage.
Specialization Exploit: Ever Vigilant.
Into the Unknown (Ex): At 11th level, you gain a +4 bonus to Culture and Survival checks. While you’re outside both the Pact Worlds and your home star system (if different), you gain a +2 bonus to initiative checks. At the GM’s discretion, in games centered around a different star system than the Pact Worlds, replace the Pact Worlds with that star system.

First Responder

Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 58
Across the galaxy, there are those who are in over their heads and those who must brave the unknown to save the innocent. Whether on an inhospitable planet or a derelict starship, these fearless first responders face the myriad hazards that the universe has to offer, learning how to survive, fight, and rescue others.

Associated Skills: Athletics and Medicine. You can attempt a Medicine check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by analyzing a target’s body for weak points.
Specialization Exploit: Versatile Movement.
Emergency Medical Treatment (Ex):: At 11th level, you can spend 1 Resolve Point as a standard action to attempt a Medicine check to treat deadly wounds or administer first aid. If you succeed, this doesn’t count toward the number of times per day that a creature can benefit from treat deadly wounds, though they can benefit from emergency treatment only once per day.

Gadgeteer

Source Starfinder Armory pg. 151
You rely on your quick wits and a healthy dose of paranoia to always have the right device at hand.

Associated Skills: Engineering and Sleight of Hand. You can attempt an Engineering check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by using a customized device to momentarily distract your enemy.
Specialization Exploit: Utility Belt.
Quick Deployment (Ex): At 11th level, once per round you can retrieve or put away a stored item (including from your utility belt) or pick up an item as part of another move action, standard action, or full action.

Ghost

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 94
You can move from place to place without being noticed.

Associated Skills: Acrobatics and Stealth. When you use Stealth to make a trick attack, you gain a +1 bonus to the skill check.
Specialization Exploit: Cloaking Field.
Phase Shift Escape (Ex): At 11th level, you can move through solid matter by taking your body’s matter out of phase for just a moment. As a full action, you can spend 1 Resolve Point to phase through up to 5 feet of solid matter. If you attempt to phase through something that is too thick, you spend the Resolve Point and take the action but the attempt fails. You cannot phase through force effects such as force fields or the barrier created by wall of force. After using phase shift escape, you can’t use it again until after you’ve taken a full 8-hour rest.

Hacker

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 94
Whether it’s a computer system or a mechanical device, you can hack it.

Associated Skills: Computers and Engineering. You can attempt a Computers check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by creating a computerized distraction (you can’t use this option if stripped of all computerized gear in an area with no computers).
Specialization Exploit: Elusive Hacker.
Control Hack (Ex): At 11th level, when you exceed the DC of a Computers or Engineering check to disable a device or computer system by 5 or more, you can instead take control of the device or system. For every 5 by which you exceed the DC, you can typically make the device or system perform one task, at the GM’s discretion. Once the device or system has done what you commanded, you choose whether the device deactivates or returns to normal.

Memory Weaver

Source Galactic Magic pg. 28
You supernaturally twist the memories of others, rewriting them with the finesse of a computer hacker.

Associated Skills: Bluff and Sense Motive. You can attempt a Bluff check with a +4 bonus to make a trick attack by muddling your target’s perceptions.
Specialization Exploit: False friend.
Rewrite Memory (Su): At 11th level, once per day as a standard action, you can modify a creature’s memories as modify memory (Will negates). This modifies up to 1 minute of memory about a specific person or event instantaneously, and for each additional round you concentrate while the target is in range, you can modify another minute of memories associated with that subject (maximum 10 minutes per operative level). The modifications are permanent, but whenever the target is presented with evidence contradicting the altered memories, they can attempt a new Will saving throw; if they succeed, they end the memory alteration effect, regain their prior memories, and gain the confused condition for 1 round. This ability is a mind-affecting effect.

Spy

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 95
You can steal or adopt new identities as easily as most people change clothes, allowing you to infiltrate nearly any circle.

Associated Skills: Bluff and Disguise. When you use Bluff to make a trick attack, you gain a +4 bonus to the skill check.
Specialization Exploit: Master of Disguise.
Fool Detection (Ex): At 11th level, whenever you succeed at a saving throw against a spell, technological device, or ability that would provide information about you (such as detect thoughts), instead of negating the effect, you can provide false information that matches your cover identity. If such an effect has no saving throw, you can attempt a Bluff check opposed by the Sense Motive check of the caster or user, and provide similar false information on a success.

Thief

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 95
You specialize in acquisition, from quick swipes to complex heists.

Associated Skills: Perception and Sleight of Hand. You can use Sleight of Hand to make a trick attack by concealing your weapons and motions.
Specialization Exploit: Holographic Distraction.
Contingency Plan (Ex): At 11th level, you’ve performed enough heists to realize that things never go exactly as you had planned. When something unexpected happens during a heist or infiltration, you can spend 2 Resolve Points and specify a contingency plan that you had set up in advance for this eventuality, either having the right prop (such as an ID or a computer file, but not a particularly valuable item), having the right information, or having hired a confederate to perform a single task at the right time. You then attempt a skill check. The appropriate skill and the DC are at the GM’s discretion, with a higher DC for a more elaborate or unlikely contingency (see Skill DCs on page 392 for more information on setting skill DCs). If you succeed, you have the item or knowledge, or the confederate performs the task as specified. If you fail, either you don’t have what you need or your plan fails.