Auto-Injector Biohacker (Biohacker Alternate Class Feature)
(art by Pocionista on Artstation)
In the Starfinder system, biohackers are perhaps the most powerful and fantastical nonmagical medical professionals, able to concoct nonmagical versions of even the most potent and fantastical serums, to say nothing of their many boosters and inhibitors. However, under normal circumstances, the biohacker has to measure, mix, and inject the formulae into the recipient themselves.
Those that would rather not worry about buffing or curing a specific ally all the time sometimes instead seek to automate the process, which is where the auto-injector comes into play!
With these devices, the biohacker can load up a booster into them and attach them an ally for later use, freeing them to use their remaining materials for other purposes as needed, which some biohackers find an attractive alternative to shooting your allies in the backsides over and over again with their injector guns.
The way this ability works allows the biohacker to install an auto-injector into the armor or endocrine system of a willing ally and loading it with one dose of a specific booster they know, as well as programming them with a simple instruction of when to use them, such as just before being attacked for one that improves reflexes to dodge an attack, or before making a fortitude save with a booster that helps improve said fortitude.
While simple and useful in its ability to reflexively create the right buff to match a current threat the recipient is facing without further action from the creator, this alternate class feature also has drawbacks. Not only does it require the biohacker to predict what threats the party are going to face, but it also removes the ability to create minor biohacks, limiting them to just damage dealing and having to physically move close to allies to use the medicine skill in combat. There are advantages to both, and you can choose to just keep the boosters prepared normally when you need to stay flexible, so I’d say it evens out. Naturally, you’ll probably want to build with scouting in mind (or have someone else in the party who is), as well as ending fights as quickly as possible to preserve your biohacks between 10-minute rests.
It's hard to imagine many differences between these biohackers and others from a personality or roleplaying perspective, because ultimately, what we’re looking at here is a slight change in equipment, but I can imagine that these characters might put a strong emphasis on plan-making, as well as simply be too busy to always be on call to answer every medical emergency. Military biohackers focused on combat drugs and harried doctors that have to answer the needs of many different patients alike may find this choice to be the superior option.
The Whitespring Anomaly is a region of the planet Unguas that has a bizarrely high concentration of all manner of spirits and entities both formless and fully actualized. However, this makes exploring it difficult because the entities have a tendency to possess and toy with any equipment on the away teams out of curiosity, mischief, or malevolence. To reduce accidents, integrated equipment that is not easily discerned as separate from the agents are used whenever possible, including auto-injectors for medicine.
Taking inspiration from the rare elementals known as reflections, Dr. Engamo is researching a way to create a biohack that causes the skin of the user to become highly reflective, bouncing energy back at it’s source or at least reflecting it harmlessly. Unfortunately, so far he’s only managed to get the users of his auto-injectors sick in addition to wounded by the test weapons.
Considered a bit distant and eerie by her peers, Dr. Fujiwara seems to have inherited a bit of foresight from her past incarnations, and often appears before members of the crew offering to install auto-injectors into their armor, which turn out to come in handy during workplace emergencies or other situations, so at this point most crew members allow her to do so without a fuss.
