Temporal Agent (Starfinder)
Travelling through space is fun and all, but what about time? A lot of tabletop RPGs shy away from time travel, but today’s archetype brings Starfinder right into the middle of a time war, as agents from the future fight it out in the present to shape the course of history.
Temporal Agent (Starfinder Archetype)
As technology grows and develops, new frontiers for conflict arise. With the rise of media and information technology came a new kind of battle, as various forces attempted to manipulate them to shape society to their wishes. In much the same way, the eventual creation of time travel technology leads to conflicts as factions vie to alter the past in order to shape the present. Temporal agents are members of one of these factions, who have travelled back in time to attempt to alter or preserve certain aspects of the timeline. Although they are often fish out of water, trapped in what feels to them like the primitive past, unable to bring most future tech with them do to limitations in the time travel technology, temporal agents are nonetheless equipped with valuable knowledge, and can count on allies from their own time to render assistance in dire need.
Alternate Class Features
The temporal agent grants alternate class features at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th, 12th, and 18th levels.
Futuristic Understanding (Ex) 2nd Level
Schooled in the distant future, you have surprising insight into a variety of scientific topics. You gain a +2 bonus on any two of the following skills of your choice: Computers, Culture, Engineering, Life Science, Medicine, or Physical Science. Additionally, once per day, when making one of the above skill checks, you can roll twice and use the greater result. You must declare that you are using this ability before the check is made.
Foreknowledge (Ex) 4th Level
Coming from the future, you are privy to information about the fates of certain people, places, and organizations, at least as they played out in your own time stream. Far from having a full dossier on everyone, you only know the basics about those whose names make it into the history books. Three times per day, when encountering a person, place, or thing for the first time, you can make a d20 roll to see if you had heard of them in the future. On a result of 20, the person, place, or thing made it into the history books, and you learned of them prior to travelling to this time. The GM determines the nature of what you learn about the subject, but in general it should provide at least some small insight or benefit into the current situation(even if the person would not become famous or relevant until later in life, history has a way of recording things about such individuals’ earlier lives and careers). Note that it is possible for the events you learned about in the future to be changed, as that future is only set in your timeline.
Temporal Burst (Su) 6th Level
As a temporal agent, you are equipped with the ability to stretch and compact your own timeline to a limited degree, allowing you to achieve incredible bursts of speed. As a swift action, you can affect yourself as though with the spell haste. You can end the effect again with another swift action, and can use this ability for a total number of rounds per day equal to your level. Whenever you end the effect, you are affected as though by the spell slow for a number of rounds equal to the number of rounds you were affected by haste. You cannot use this ability while affected by slow or similar effects.
Future Intel (Ex) 9th Level
Infrequently and briefly, you can make contact with allies from the future, in your own time stream, to receive intelligence from them. Once per day, you can contact your allies and ask them for information about a single topic. This can be “historical” information pertinent to your current situation (similar to that granted by your foreknowledge ability), or it can be information relating to scientific techniques and discoveries that don’t exist in the current time, granting a +5 bonus on a single check made with any of the skills listed in your future understanding class feature. Depending on the nature of your inquiry, the information may be available instantly, or it may take 1d4 days before you receive it, at the GM’s discretion.
Temporal Intercession (Su) 12th Level
As an important temporal agent, your allies in the future can rescue you in times of peril by pulling you from the time stream, returning you back to their time, where you can rest, recuperate, and then return to the present someplace safe. Whenever you are reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, as a reaction, you can expend 5 resolve points in order to receive temporal intercession. If you do, you immediately vanish from reality, appearing 2d6 hours later in a publicly-accessible location of your choosing. For each time that you have used this ability in the past week, the number of resolve points you must expend to use this ability increases by 3.
Temporal Travel (Su) 18th Level
You are able to call on your allies in the future to allow you to travel back in time short distances, and even bring your allies along. As a full-round action, you can travel back in time up to 1 week. You arrive in the same location you departed in, but at the desired time. You can bring up to six people with you when travelling in this way. You can remain in the past for up to 4 hours, after which you and your companions return to the time at which you departed. You can return to the present early at any time as a standard action. It is possible for you to change the course of past events with this ability, although doing so may have unintended consequences.