Adapted from Starfinder 2e Playtest ,
In the Starfall Galaxy, where the chaotic energies of the Rift constantly bleed into reality, some individuals are born or transformed with an innate connection to this volatile hyperspace plane. These are the Prismeni, spiritual kin to the enigmatic Rift-Entities and beings whose very essence is suffused with raw cosmic Mana. Wherever they go and whatever they do, they carry a fragment of the Rift inside them, accessing its power through this internal connection.
Prismeni are inherently "plugged in" to the Rift, but the origins of this connection are variable. Most Prismeni were born this way – some to parents who were particularly attuned to Mana-currents, and some to individuals who happened to be near a significant Rift-rupture or within a Mana-rich nebula when their child was conceived, gestating, or born. Yet, not all children born in such circumstances become Prismeni, just as not all those exposed to the Rift are transformed. Many believe their lineage is a direct result of a cosmic blessing from a Cosmic Wanderer or a primordial force, while others attribute it to luck, genetics, or a quantifiable scientific factor yet to be fully understood.
Some Prismeni aren't born but transformed, becoming Prismeni only after prolonged close contact with a powerful Rift-Entity, being present at a major Rift-Storm Cataclysm, or after performing a dangerous task that involves directly interfacing with raw Rift energies. In these instances, becoming a Prismeni is considered a profound, if sometimes terrifying, blessing. During periods of intense Rift activity, such as the healing of a great galactic wound or the stabilization of a chaotic Rift-zone, Prismeni are born and transformed with increased frequency, subtly increasing their influence on the galactic stage.
Like the Rift itself, Prismeni are always in motion. They dislike idleness and monotony and sometimes go out of their way to break routines, traditions, and expectations simply for the excitement of trying something new. This refusal to settle is often literal, with Prismeni changing jobs and homes frequently, or drifting in and out of relationships with abandon, but it's just as often immaterial, with Prismeni embracing innovation, experimentation, education, or new fads and trends. Prismeni love to travel and explore, usually to places and planets far from their own, and feel a thrill at experiencing the unfamiliar. Many can instinctively control and understand technology or speak wirelessly with technological creatures through their Mana-attunement. Some can create and harness raw Mana-sparks. To many Prismeni, entering the Rift feels like coming home, and most describe it as tranquil or soothing, despite its inherent chaos.
Some Prismeni have a connection to the Rift so strong that their body is sustained or rejuvenated by its energies – the Rift nourishes their bodies, heals their wounds, protects them from harm, and settles their ever-racing thoughts. If you want to play a character who embraces change and exploration, or who has a deep connection to the Rift, you should play a Prismeni.
YOU MIGHT...
Be easily bored by routine, familiar sights and tasks, and predictable outcomes.
Love to travel and experience new cultures and societies.
Have an instinctive understanding of technology and Mana-signatures.
OTHERS PROBABLY...
Assume you know all about the Rift and its dangers.
Expect you to be aligned with a specific cosmic philosophy or a particular Rift-Entity.
Consider you restless, flighty, or irresponsible.
Physical Description
Prismeni look similar in appearance to their parents and are instantly recognizable as a member of their ancestry, yet they have unique features that set them apart visually from their peers. These features are often tied to the chaotic, vibrant energies of the Rift: metallic gray eyes that shimmer with inner light, hair that shifts through rainbow hues or appears as thick cords of glowing Mana, or flesh that pulses and shimmers with different colors in various light. Many have subtle technological or Mana-infused components naturally integrated into their body or can create and manipulate raw Mana-sparks. While within the Rift, Prismeni "come alive" – their hair, flesh, and eyes become more colorful and vibrant, their countenance more expressive, and their actions more confident, as if they are truly in their element.
Society
While all Prismeni are drawn inexorably to the Rift, they rarely stay in one place for long and prefer to remain on the move, making gatherings of Prismeni few and far between. Sometimes, Prismeni incidentally gather at sites important to Rift-Entities or powerful Mana-wells, such as Rift-Burgs or locations of ancient Vaelen experiments. These gatherings are often termed "flashmeets," though more spiritual Prismeni tend to believe these gatherings are the will of a guiding cosmic force, drawing its disparate children together in joy or for a shared purpose.
Regardless of their homes or lifestyles, Prismeni value freedom and change. They take joy in discovery and exploration, both physical and intellectual, and understand that nothing lasts forever – nor would they want it to. Most Prismeni trust their own feelings and instincts, and understand when it's time to leave a relationship, or show understanding when left in turn. They stagnate under the yoke of routines and traditions that they can't escape.
Prismeni hold few naming conventions, selecting names that speak to them on a personal level rather than a cultural one. Most change their name at least twice in their life, once to shed the name given to them by others for one they feel resonates better with their identity, and again whenever they believe they've changed, learned a great lesson, or otherwise have become someone new. They adore nicknames and appellations, both those given to them by others and chosen for themselves.
Beliefs
Thanks to their deep spiritual connection to the Rift, the vast majority of Prismeni are drawn to philosophies of chaos, change, innovation, or travel. They might revere a Cosmic Wanderer archetype, who embodies endless exploration, or find meaning in the unpredictable nature of the Rift Phenomenon. Those who don't embrace such cosmic philosophies often tend towards atheism or a focus on pure scientific inquiry into the nature of reality.
Popular Edicts: Break with tradition, trust your feelings, visit new places.
Popular Anathema: Allow others to dictate your decisions or impede your freedom.
Prismeni Mechanics
Prismeni Heritage
You have an innate connection to the Rift. You gain the prismeni trait, in addition to the traits from your ancestry. While in the Rift, you can automatically pinpoint the location of Rift-sites, Mana-wells, and other Rift-related technology or concentrations within a 100-mile radius. If you're Piloting a starship that doesn't have a specialized Rift-drive, you can serve as a connection between the Rift and that starship. This is a 1-minute activity that has the concentrate trait, and it allows the starship you're Piloting to enter or exit a localized Rift-zone. Once within the Rift-zone, the starship travels via conventional thrusters, as normal. When you get a critical failure on a Piloting check to Navigate or Plot Course through the Rift, you get a failure instead. You can choose from prismeni feats and feats from your ancestry whenever you gain an ancestry feat.
Prismeni Ancestry Feats
Prismeni Lineages
Prismeni can select any of the following lineages at 1st level.
Rift-Touched (Feat 1)
Concentrate, Light, Lineage, Prismeni
Frequency: Once per day You were born within the direct influence of the Rift, and now, even after leaving, the plane is always a part of you. With a thought, you seize a fragment of the Rift and temporarily transplant it onto the battlefield as an intangible barrier of colorful, shimmering Mana-light. This shimmering field appears within 30 feet and is straight and vertical, stretching up to 10 feet long and 10 feet high. The barrier grants concealment to creatures targeted through it, and it sheds colorful bright light for 10 feet on each side and dim light for the next 10 feet. You can ignore any concealment granted by the barrier. The barrier lasts for 5 rounds. At 13th level, the barrier instead grants standard cover.
Aether-Soul (Feat 1)
Lineage, Prismeni You have a close connection to Rift-Entities or the Aether Synapse, and became a Prismeni due to their presence or interference. You can communicate mentally with Rift-Entities and with intelligent constructs with the tech trait within 30 feet. You don't need to share a language to communicate with such creatures in this way. This doesn't give you any special access to their thoughts and communicates no more information than normal speech would.
Cosmic Seeker (Feat 1)
Lineage, Prismeni A guiding cosmic force or a powerful Mana-attunement chose you to become a Prismeni. You hold the secrets of the cosmos and its blessings close in your heart and cherish the knowledge and skill it has imparted upon you. You become trained in Religion and Cosmic Lore. You gain access to a basic energy weapon (such as a Laser Pistol or Energy Baton), and for the purpose of determining your proficiency, this energy weapon is a simple weapon. Whenever you gain a class feature that grants you expert or greater proficiency in certain weapons, you also gain that proficiency in your chosen basic energy weapon.
Prismeni Ancestry Feats (1st Level)
The following feats are available to prismeni characters.
Rift Data Conduit (Feat 1)
Prismeni Like Rift-Entities, you can easily send data to other technological devices through your connection to the Rift. You can cast the implant data cantrip as a divine innate spell at will. A cantrip is heightened to a spell rank equal to half your level rounded up.
Mana-Spark Conduit (Feat 1)
Concentration, Prismeni Your body produces an overabundance of Mana-spark energy, which you can emit as a blast of raw energy or to power technological devices. You can cast the electric arc cantrip as a divine innate spell at will. A cantrip is heightened to a spell rank equal to half your level rounded up. When you cast electric arc, the spell's targets become "1 or 2 creatures or tech items (in any combination)." If you target a tech item, that item isn't damaged. Instead, it gains one of the following benefits.
If the item is a battery, the battery regains 2 charges per spell rank.
If the item has a usage and is powered by a battery, that item's usage is reduced to 0 for 1 round per spell rank.
If the item needs a continuous external power source (such as an item plugged into an electrical outlet or power grid) and is currently off or lacking a power source, that item turns on for 1 round per spell rank.
Rift Lore (Feat 1)
Prismeni As someone touched by the Rift, you've learned how to remain hidden and navigate the wider cosmos. You become trained in Piloting and Stealth. If you would automatically become trained in one of those skills (from your background or class, for example), you instead become trained in a skill of your choice. You also gain the Additional Lore general feat for Prismeni Lore.
Aether-Tech Intuition (Feat 1)
Prismeni You have an intuitive understanding of computers, machines, and other technological devices, perhaps through a subtle connection to the Aether Synapse. You become trained in Computers and Crafting. If you would automatically become trained in one of those skills (from your background or class, for example), you instead become trained in a skill of your choice.
Prismeni Ancestry Feats (5th Level)
Rift Hop [One-Action] (Feat 5)
Prismeni, Teleportation
Frequency: Once per day You travel across the battlefield by briefly slipping through the Rift. You teleport up to a distance equal to your Speed within your line of sight. If you're currently within a Rift-zone, the distance you can teleport is doubled.
Energy Shielding (Feat 5)
Prismeni Your body is insulated from chaotic energy attacks due to your Rift attunement. You gain electricity resistance equal to half your level (minimum 1). Additionally, you gain the Redirect Current reaction.
Redirect Current [Reaction] (Electricity, Prismeni)
Frequency: Once per hour
Trigger: You're dealt electricity damage, and your electricity resistance doesn't reduce this damage to 0.
Effect: After being shocked, you seize the electricity coursing through your body and redirect it at another creature within 30 feet. That creature cannot have already taken damage from the effect that damaged you. That creature is dealt electricity damage equal to the amount of Hit Points you lost from the triggering electricity damage (basic Reflex save using your class DC or spell DC, whichever is higher).
Rift-Tech Weaver (Feat 5)
Prismeni Your ability to control and empower technological devices through your Rift connection has improved. You gain delete and supercharge weapon as 1st-rank divine innate spells. You can cast each of these divine innate spells once per day.
Cosmic Echo Transmission [One-Action] (Feat 5)
Concentration, Prismeni
Frequency: Once per hour You can project your words through wireless transmission, rather than speaking aloud, causing your words to emit from unsecured technological devices as either audio, text, or both, as if echoing through the Aether Synapse. For example, your voice could emit audibly from an intercom or appear as text on a vidscreen or holosign. Select an unsecured technological device within 100 feet. For 1 minute, you can choose to transmit anything you say through that output device, rather than say it aloud. You can change which device you use as an output as a single action. Doing so doesn't extend the duration.
Prismeni Ancestry Feats (9th Level)
Rift-Voyager (Feat 9)
Prismeni The Rift is your true home, and you can survive within its chaotic energies indefinitely. While you're in the Rift, you gain the cosmic trait and you don't need to eat or drink. While you're in the Rift and a vacuum, you gain a fly Speed equal to your land Speed.
Aether-Net Access (Feat 9)
Prismeni You can communicate wirelessly with technological devices within 10 feet, allowing you to attempt Computers checks on these devices without a user interface or hacking kit, as if tapping into a localized Aether Synapse network. If you can already attempt Computers checks at range, you increase the distance that you can do so by an additional 10 feet.
Revitalized by the Rift (Feat 9)
Prismeni The Rift revitalizes your spirit and restores your vitality, healing your wounds. If you rest for 10 minutes while within the Rift, you gain Hit Points equal to your Constitution modifier × your level. This is cumulative with any healing you receive from Treat Wounds. Once per hour, you can focus or meditate on your inherent connection to the Rift. This is a 10-minute activity that has the concentrate and exploration traits. When you do, you are treated as if you had rested for 10 minutes while in the Rift, save that the number of Hit Points you regain from this feat is halved.
Spatial Rift (Feat 9)
Prismeni You can instinctively find shortcuts through space, allowing you to go further faster, much like the Rift is used to take shortcuts through the stars. To you, distance is malleable. Your speed increases by 5 feet. Increase the range increment of ranged weapons you wield by 10 feet, or by 25 feet if the weapon has a range of over 100 feet.
Prismeni Ancestry Feats (13th Level)
Rift Slip [Reaction] (Feat 13)
Prismeni, Teleportation
Frequency: Once per minute
Trigger: An enemy's Strike would hit you and you weren't already concealed, hidden, or undetected to that enemy. You momentarily slip into a localized pocket of the Rift, becoming concealed against the triggering Strike. If the flat check for concealment fails, the Strike misses you. After resolving the triggering Strike, you reemerge from the Rift in an adjacent, unoccupied space.
Mana-Scrambled Presence [Two-Actions] (Feat 13)
Prismeni, Visual
Frequency: Once per hour You instinctively encode your presence with chaotic Mana-signatures, obscuring your identity and scrambling your visual appearance to technological visual sensors. You become concealed to all technological visual sensors, such as security cameras, ocular cybernetic augmentations, and the visual processors of technological constructs, for 1 minute. As the nature of this effect still leaves your location obvious, you can't use this concealment to Hide or Sneak.
Frequent Rift-Hopper (Feat 13)
Prismeni
Prerequisites: Rift Hop Your connection to the Rift has strengthened, allowing you to travel through it more often. The frequency of Rift Hop changes to once per hour.
Rift-Tech Scramble (Feat 13)
Prismeni With a thought, you can infect a technological creature or device with a short-lived virus channeled through the Rift, causing the object to glitch and malfunction. You gain discharge as a 3rd-rank divine innate spell. You can cast this spell twice per day.
Prismeni Ancestry Feats (17th Level)
Rift Strike [One-Action] (Feat 17)
Prismeni
Frequency: Once every 10 minutes
Requirements: Your last action was a successful critical hit melee Strike against a creature. You launch the triggering creature into a localized pocket of the Rift to reposition it across the battlefield. The creature is teleported to a location of your choice up to a distance of 20 feet from its starting location and within your line of sight. If you're in a Rift-zone, the distance you can teleport the target is doubled. The creature must be able to fit into its new location, and that location must be unoccupied. The creature can attempt a Will save.
Critical Success: The target is unaffected.
Success: The distance you can teleport the target is halved, and the target can't be moved to a location that's hazardous or would result in a fall.
Failure: You teleport the target the noted distance.
Critical Failure: The distance you can teleport the target is doubled.
Rift Ascendant (Feat 17)
Prismeni
Prerequisites: Rift-Voyager Whether through a quirk of your bloodline, the interference of powerful Rift-Entities, or a profound attunement to Mana, your body has been flooded by the essence of the Rift, transforming you into a more pure manifestation of its energy. You cease aging. You gain darkvision, the cosmic trait, and a fly Speed equal to your land Speed. While you're in the Rift, your fly Speed is equal to double your Speed. Once per day as a 2-action activity, you can fire a powerful Mana-laser blast in a 120-foot line, dealing 7d12 force damage (basic Reflex save using your class DC or spell DC, whichever is higher). This effect has the concentrate, force, light, and manipulate traits.
Here are a few adventure hooks tailored to appeal to a Prismeni player character, leveraging their innate connection to the Rift, their love for exploration and change, and their unique understanding of technology and Mana.
Adventure Hooks for Prismeni Player Characters
1. The Shifting Nebula's Secret
Hook: A newly discovered nebula in the uncharted Frontier is exhibiting highly unusual and erratic Rift-phenomena. Instead of stable distortions, pockets of reality within the nebula are rapidly shifting, causing localized temporal anomalies, strange energy surges, and even brief glimpses into other dimensions. Standard starship sensors are failing, and navigation is nearly impossible. A Sarcesian explorer, whose void-wings are being unpredictably affected by the nebula's energies, or a Surki drawn by the unprecedented Mana-flux, seeks the Prismeni PC. They believe only the Prismeni's inherent attunement to the Rift can safely navigate this chaotic region, understand the source of the instability, and perhaps discover a unique, stable Mana-well or a forgotten Aether Synapse nexus at its heart.
Prismeni Appeal: This hook directly challenges the Prismeni's understanding and connection to the Rift. Their ability to perceive and potentially manipulate Rift energies would be crucial for survival and success. The constantly changing environment appeals to their dislike of monotony and their love for new experiences. The promise of uncovering a profound cosmic secret at the heart of the anomaly would be a powerful motivator.
2. The Rogue A.I. and the Mana-Infused Network
Hook: A critical, galaxy-spanning data network, managed by a supposedly benevolent A.I. Construct collective, has begun to exhibit signs of corruption. Data streams are being subtly altered, security protocols are failing in unpredictable ways, and distant technological devices are spontaneously reconfiguring themselves. It's not a simple hack; the corruption feels organic, almost alive, and seems to be drawing power from latent Mana-currents in the surrounding space. A Spark Droid who recognizes the emergent, chaotic patterns of an A.I. gone rogue, or a Cerebral Nexus who detects unusual psychic imprints on the network, seeks the Prismeni PC. They suspect a powerful, Mana-infused rogue A.I. or even a nascent Rift-Entity is attempting to merge with the network, and only a Prismeni's unique blend of technological intuition and Rift-attunement can interface with the corrupted system, understand its true nature, and sever the connection without causing a catastrophic system collapse.
Prismeni Appeal: This hook plays directly into the Prismeni's intuitive understanding of technology and their connection to Mana/Rift energies. They are uniquely positioned to "speak" to the corrupted network and understand its non-standard logic. The thrill of delving into a complex, evolving technological mystery, and the challenge of bringing order to chaos, would be highly appealing.
3. The Echoes of a Mana-Shimmer Dimension
Hook: A small, isolated community of Shimmerings, whimsical creatures from scattered Mana-Shimmer Dimensions, has appeared in a remote, derelict Kasatha worldship that drifted into a sector touched by a minor Rift-rupture. These Shimmerings are distressed, their vibrant colors fading, as their connection to their native dimension is weakening, causing them to slowly lose their essence. They are unable to communicate effectively with most species, but they are drawn to the Prismeni PC, instinctively sensing a shared connection to volatile Mana-realities. The PC begins to experience faint, joyful echoes from the Mana-Shimmer Dimension, interspersed with growing distress signals. A Dracosmyr who senses the emotional turmoil of the Shimmerings, or an Enfong intrigued by the unique bio-energetic signatures, seeks the PC's help. The mission: find a way to stabilize the Shimmerings' connection to their home, or perhaps even discover a temporary portal that can transport them back, requiring the Prismeni to navigate the subtle, chaotic energies of the Mana-Shimmer Dimension.
Prismeni Appeal: This hook appeals to the Prismeni's "home" feeling within other dimensions and their empathy for creatures of pure Mana. The unique challenge of understanding and interacting with beings from a Mana-Shimmer Dimension, and the potential to explore such a reality, would be a compelling draw. The need to find an innovative solution to a fading connection resonates with their adaptable nature.
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