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The Intro section is good. Talks about core mechanics, DC and degrees of success. Pretty standard stuff but nice to see it spelled out!
The character creation steps are good. They walk you through the major parts of the process. A clear distinction is made between 1st level, and 2nd level using prior history. By the RAW (rules as written), "you are required to take 1 or more levels in the class corresponding to the career you were working in." This is a nice clarification and one of many that I've found that substantially aids character creation. There's a fast development option based on choosing a starting level.
I'm a big fan of the generating ability scores section. Covers high power attribute rolls and my favorite, the point buy option. We've already left the THB far behind in the level of detail required to successfully generate a character at this point.
Races section looks good and covers the favorites. All alien races appear to take an XP hit, but alien levels are out, and to good effect in my book. A dead level really hurts when you consider you've lost skill, BAB, saves, hit points, etc.
Homeworlds have their own nice section. They've been toned down to provide basic, stackable bonuses, as opposed to full skill points. I suspect we can blame people from desert and poor worlds for this change... 8) Spot, Forgery, Gather Info, Bluff could be added to any character using the THB with a little luck of the die.
Prior history is covered well I think. I do have some concerns about the flat skill packages educational options. I assume that these packages are subject to class/cross-class limitations, but this is never specifically covered (Max rank limit, etc.). Still, it's nice to see some more education options besides straight university. Also the new classes have equivalent employment options, which is awesome.
The XP chart is included and the classes and levels section really clears up a few issues. First, there's a good example of a character who has classes as a flyer, rogue, merchant, and traveller. Also the classes you can acquire from university training are specifically covered. I would have liked to see the example from the playtest files however, since that example character covered university attendance. Still, with the list of classes spelled out for University xp, and the explicit character creation steps a few chapters before, it's hard to go wrong. Character creation is much improved thanks to these clarifications.
There's a nice section on multiclassing and how to compute skills, feats, BAB, etc.
The new classes are good. Some are built for specific purposes it seems. The only one I think needed more juice was the Engineer. BAB +5 progression and 6 skill points hurts, even if his BAB progression is a bit earlier than most +5 classes. The class specific feats are good, but so situational that the don't offset the 6 skill points. Still, YMMV depending on feats. Corsair screams for Merchant, Navy, and Marines gunners to take one level and grab the feat Bushwhacking, and I'm probably going to be cyber-flogged for pointing it. One level next you +1 BAB, Brawling, Toughness, which is very tasty, assuming you can get it to fly. A good reason to hire that Vargr gunnery who wants to sign aboard…
The feat section is good and I'm glad to see things like crewmember instituted to show familiarity with starship operations. Enforcers , Corairs and Medics get a lot of love here, with powerful feats like SWAT (which is the prerequisite for certain feat which will remain nameless because it's so powerful, IMHO), Bushwhacking, and Meatball surgery.
Weapon permits are in the Guidebook, which I'm also glad to see. The equipment, weapons, and armor section has old and new deliciousness.
I'm reserving judgment on the combat sections, which I've not studied in depth yet.
The adventuring section is really useful. Living expenses, medical care, movement, etc. are all covered here. Remember, lava hurts!
Psionics rears it's ugly head toward the end. I'm skipping this section mostly because I hate psionics and everything about it! The Neo with a mullet illustration at the end of the section just confirms that the whole thing is wrong and evil. Lol 8)
Well, that's about it. Overall I think it's a very good product and well worth the price. I give it a 9/10. Errata could easily push that to 10/10 if just a few things were covered (how to resolve differences between the THB and this new product, how to handle skill packages when you bump up against class/cross class issues, etc.).
