All Rules | Downtime Rules

Spells

Variant Spellcasting

Source Galactic Magic pg. 88
The following two variants can mix up how spells feature in your Starfinder game. GMs and players should work together to decide which, if any, to use.

Variant: Scaling 0-level Spells

Source Galactic Magic pg. 88
Low-level spellcasters often rely on damaging 0-level spells (energy ray, hazard, injury echo, and telekinetic projectile) to injure their foes, but these spells can become obsolete as spellcasters gain levels and find weapons that deal greater damage. This rules variant allows spellcasters to rely on their damaging 0-level spells throughout their adventuring career. Make the following changes to the spells named above at the levels the character attains in a spellcasting class. Each increase happens only once at the indicated level.
At 3rd level, add half your character level to damage with these spells.
At 7th level, increase the damage of spells that deal 1d3 or less damage to 2d4. Increase the damage of spells that deal 1d6 damage to 2d6.
At each of 10th, 13th, and 15th levels, increase the damage of these spells by one die of the same type (d4 or d6).
At each of 17th and 19th levels, increase the damage of these spells by two dice of the same type.
At the end of this progression, a 19th-level spellcaster’s energy ray deals 9d4+9 damage of the chosen type, while their telekinetic projectile deals 9d6+9 bludgeoning damage.

Variant: Prepared Spellcasting

Source Galactic Magic pg. 88
This rule variant changes the way spellcasting classes like the mystic and technomancer learn and cast spells. Your GM might decide all spellcasters are prepared spellcasters, that none are, or something in between—for example, technomancers might prepare spells while mystics use the normal rules, or perhaps spellcasters can choose to prepare spells when they take their first level in a spellcasting class.

Prepared Spells

Source Galactic Magic pg. 88
Unlike other spellcasters, you have no known spells. Instead, once a day after resting for 8 hours, you can prepare spells from your spellbook (below). When you do, you assign each of your spell slots a spell of equal or lower level from your spellbook. You can cast each spell using the assigned spell slot, whereupon that slot becomes unavailable to you until you prepare your spells again. You can assign the same spell to more than one slot, which lets you cast the same spell multiple times. The number of spells you can prepare each day can be found below; in addition, if your key ability score is high enough to receive bonus spells under the normal rules for your class, add those bonus spells to your spells per day.
A character using prepared spellcasting obeys all other rules for spells, according to their class. In particular, they must still have a minimum key ability score to cast spells of a given level, and they still know and cast 0-level spells according to the normal rules for their class.

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1	1	—	—	—	—	—
2	1	—	—	—	—	—
3	2	—	—	—	—	—
4	2	1	—	—	—	—
5	3	1	—	—	—	—
6	3	2	—	—	—	—
7	3	2	1	—	—	—
8	3	3	1	—	—	—
9	4	3	2	—	—	—
10	4	3	2	1	—	—
11	4	3	3	1	—	—
12	4	4	3	2	—	—
13	4	4	3	2	1	—
14	4	4	3	3	1	—
15	4	4	4	3	2	—
16	4	4	4	3	2	1
17	4	4	4	3	3	1
18	4	4	4	4	3	2
19	4	4	4	4	4	3
20	4	4	4	4	4	4

Spellbook

Source Galactic Magic pg. 88
You record your spells in written form and record them in a spellbook. You begin play with a spellbook worth 10 credits or less, which you receive for free and which you must study to prepare your spells. The spellbook contains your choice of five 1st-level spells from the list appropriate to your class. Your spellbook’s form and name is up to you; a mystic might use a holy text, while a technomancer might record their spells in a personal comm unit.
Each time you gain a level in a spellcasting class, you automatically add two spells from that class’s spell list to your spellbook, choosing spells of a level you can cast. In addition, you can add spells to your spellbook using the Scribe Spell downtime activity (below). This downtime activity follows the rules presented on page 150 of Starfinder Character Operations Manual.

Scribe Spell

Source Galactic Magic pg. 88
You attempt to add a spell to your spellbook. Depending on the nature of your spellbook, this might require special inks, hybrid technology, or other special materials. You must have access to the spell in a spellbook, spell gem, or other method, or engage in conversation throughout this activity with someone who knows the spell or has it in their spellbook.
Activity: Attempt a Mysticism check with a DC equal to 10 + three times the level of the spell.
Result: On a success, spend credits equal to 100 times the spell’s level and add the spell to your spellbook. On a failure, you don’t add the spell, and you can’t try again until you gain a character level. If you were using a spell gem to gain access to the spell, the spell gem is consumed whether you succeed or fail to scribe it.