Next week is the start the spooky month and I have a host of thematic builds for it, but until then, I had a fun build that I wanted to put together for this week. I'm trying a bit of a new format with this build and I'd really like your opinion on it because I might expand it to format the level-ups similarly. Also, this particular build isn't intended to be a specifically the cartoon or comic version of Starfire, but as the cartoon version was my very first introduction to the character, I probably unintentionally lean more towards that. It's worth noting that this build and the gear for it is picked in a vacuum without consideration for what adventure it may be in, so certain options might be better in specific situations.
With that out of the way, let's get into the build for Starfire from Teen Titans!
STARFIRE
CHARACTER Koriand’r
SOURCE DC Comics
GOALS
o Alien royalty from the planet of Tamaran
o Was taught to fight from a young age before she was given to invaders known as the Citadel to stop a war
o Can naturally absorb energy from light to fly, experiments by the Citadel expanded this power to generate and hurl starbolts
o Possesses superhuman strength, speed, and durability
o Can learn languages with psychical contact
o A superhero often with the Teen Titans who is known for her compassion and love for her friends
LEVEL 1 Even for our alien adventurer, we start with our ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. I went through a couple of different ideas for this build before I settled on a very strange one - an aasimar kitsune. As a kitsune, Starfire gains an automatic boost to Charisma and a free boost that we’ll put towards Dexterity. The main reason I picked out this ancestry was to gain the Foxfire ancestry feat, giving Starfire a ranged unarmed attack that deals fire damage, mimicking her starbolts.
Starfire may be princess of Tamaran, but royalty doesn’t work really well for the build that we’re putting together. Another option was prisoner or magical experiment to represent her time spent as a captive of the Citadel, but I decided to lean on the combat teachings of her people and took the martial disciple background. This lets her take Strength with her first boost followed up with Dexterity as her free boost. It almost makes her trained in Acrobatics and Warfare Lore, while also giving her Cat Fall – a handy skill feat for somebody who runs the risk of being knocked out of the air.
As with most characters, there are several ways to build them, and Starfire is no exception. At first glance, I was thinking sorcerer and focusing more on her starbolts but another big part of Starfire’s character is her super strength and prowess in melee combat. With that in mind, and the Foxfire attacks giving her a ranged unarmed attack that dealt fire damage, I picked monk as her base class. A fun option that this gives her is the ability to make a Flurry of Blows with the Foxfire attack, and between that and some future feats we’ll take, I thought it ended up fitting quite nicely. We’ll select Strength for the class ability, giving that a boost, and then we’ll apply four free boosts to Starfire’s Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14). Starfire will start out trained in Athletics, Diplomacy, Society, and Survival. From the Secrets of Magic, we’ll pick up the Stoked Flame Stance, which increases Starfire’s Speed while she’s in that stance and gives her a powerful blow that eventually deals fire damage on a critical hit.
LEVEL 2 Right off the bat, we have a feat that we can use to give Starfire her ability to speak languages with Multilingual. This gives her two free languages right off the bat and gives her even more if she reaches master or legendary proficiency in Society. In this build, she doesn’t, but it might be something to look into if you end up disagreeing with some of the choices here. For her class feat, we’ll pick out Sorcerer Dedication with the fire elemental bloodline. This makes her trained in Intimidation and Nature while also giving her primal spells and cantrips that I’ve noted below. This dip into spellcasting is intended to reflect her more powerful starbolts and the creative way that she sometimes uses them.
Gear: cloak of feline rest
Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – dancing lights, produce flame
LEVEL 3 A skill increase at this level will find its way to Starfire’s Athletics, bumping that up to expert proficiency. Starfire is able to fly through the vacuum of space without apparent issue and while we are far away from that, giving her the Breath Control general feat does give her a means of going without air for a long time.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4 While we didn’t give Starfire her background in Nobility, we can still pick up Courtly Graces to give her a way to get along in that sort of setting. With the Basic Bloodline Spell class, we’re setting up for another one down the line though it does give her the elemental toss focus spell, which sort of functions like a more powerful starbolt.
Gear: flaming star, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), flask of fellowship, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 5 This level, we’ll give Starfire ability boosts to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 18, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16). She’ll take a skill increase to Nature, pushing it up to expert proficiency, which is going to help set her up for some other feats down the line and isn’t indicative of any of Starfire’s actual traits. I want to dip into the aasimar feats in the sense that they make Starfire otherworldly, and the first of those that I like is Halo, which doesn’t do a whole lot but gives us the light cantrip, which is handy.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), flaming star, bracers of missile deflection, flask of fellowship, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
LEVEL 6 We will make use of the Nature skill by picking up Train Animal, based on her cartoon incarnation and her relationship with Silky. We’ll take a quick dip back into the monk class feats to pick up Brawling Focus, giving Starfire access to critical effects with her unarmed attacks, which lets her set people on fire with her attacks from Stoked Flame Stance.
Gear: +1 explorer’s clothes, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt, flaming star, flask of fellowship, brooch of shielding
LEVEL 7 Once again, we’ll increase Nature so that it’s at master proficiency. With the Fast Recovery general feat, Starfire is able to get back in the fight quicker, which is important for a hero. Starfire also gains a path to perfection at this level, which will increase her Reflexes to master proficiency.
Gear: choker of elocution, +1 explorer’s clothes, diplomat’s badge, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), flaming star, bracers of missile deflection
LEVEL 8 Starfire often contends to villains much larger than her, and the Titan Wrestler skill feat helps her do exactly that. Going back to the Sorcerer Dedication, we’ll grab Basic Blood Potency to grant us the Reach Spell sorcerer feat. This is another feat that isn’t super important to Starfire, but is a prerequisite that we have to meet down the line.
Gear: boots of bounding, choker of elocution, ring of the ram, +1 explorer’s clothes, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt
LEVEL 9 This skill increase will go towards Acrobatics, bumping it up to expert proficiency. From Starfire’s aasimar heritage, we’ll pick up Celestial Wings, finally giving Starfire a way to fly, albeit for a limited time. The increase to Acrobatics is going to help with that, allowing her to better Maneuver in flight.
Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothes, boots of bounding, necklace of fireballs II, choker of elocution, diplomat’s badge, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10 Same as last time, we’ll apply ability boosts to Starfire’s Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 19, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 18). To play into Starfire’s super-strength, I want to give her Hefty Hauler, allowing her to carry even more. Building out of Stoked Flame Stance, we’ll also pick up Blazing Streak for Starfire. This allows her to Stride twice and make four Strikes at different creatures at any point during this movement. A nice thing to note is that this doesn’t necessarily lock us into flashing sparks Strikes though they do deal fire damage when used in conjunction with this ability.
Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient explorer’s clothes, flaming weapon rune, boots of bounding, choker of elocution, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 11 To go along with the flight from Starfire’s Celestial Wings, as well as the ability that she’ll be gaining next level, we’ll increase her Acrobatics skill to master proficiency. She’ll gain Toughness with her general feat to bolster her Hit Points a bit because Starfire is very sturdy. We also receive another Path to Perfection and we’ll use it to increase her Fortitude up to master proficiency.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, greater cloak of repute, +1 resilient explorer’s clothes, boots of bounding, necklace of fireballs II
LEVEL 12 With that increase to Acrobatics, we can now pick up Aerobatics Mastery for her skill feat so that Starfire becomes a more capable flyer. To build on that, we’ll also pick up Advanced Blood Potency to gain another sorcerer feat, this one being Advanced Bloodline to give Starfire the elemental motion. For the fire element, this gives her a fly Speed, giving her a way to more consistently fly as long as she recharges it.
Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothes, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), winged boots, armbands of athleticism, flaming weapon rune, greater flaming star
LEVEL 13 This comes up a little later than I would’ve liked, but we’ll finally increase Starfire’s Athletics to master level proficiency with this skill increase. For lack of a better feat, we’ll grab the Star Orb ancestry feat for Starfire mostly due to the fact that it’s got star in the name. And it gives us a familiar that we can name Silky!
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient explorer’s clothes, necklace of fireballs IV, winged boots, armbands of athleticism, greater cloak of repute
LEVEL 14 Also building out of our master proficiency in Acrobatics is Kip Up, which is simply a super handy feat and one that I always take if the opportunity presents itself. While Multilingual was a subpar stand-in for Starfire’s abilities to learn languages, we can truly get into that minor power of her with the Tongue of Sun and Moon class feat, allowing her to speak and understand all spoken languages.
Gear: winged armor rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), major flaming star, +2 resilient explorer’s clothes, greater choker of elocution, winged boots
LEVEL 15 Coming up on the end, we’ll increase Starfire’s Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma with these ability boosts (Str 20, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 19). I’m opting for Wisdom over Intelligence because I want her Will saves to be a little higher, but Starfire is markedly intelligent, even if she has trouble getting her point across sometimes, so feel free to increase that instead if you’d like. Another skill increase to Athletics gets it into legendary proficiency, which she’ll mainly be using for maneuvers in the like as flying effectively negates the need to jump or climb. As a visitor from another world, Starfire is always eager to learn and experience new things, and I wanted to reflect that through the Keen Follower general feat. We also reach the third and final Path to Perfection, which will once again go to Reflex because I feel like Starfire is slightly more agile than she is fortitudinous.
Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothes, winged armor rune, boots of speed, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), necklace of fireballs IV, greater boots of elvenkind
LEVEL 16 With how friendly and gregarious Starfire is, it feels appropriate for her to pick up the Group Impression skill feat so that she can ingratiate herself to entire groups of people at once. Back in the monk class, we’ll pick up Flinging Blow to capture the feel of her super strength with launching foes flying backwards with a single punch – or with one of her Foxfires.
Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothes, greater boots of bounding, winged armor rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), major flaming star
LEVEL 17 Again, Starfire doesn’t really have a lot of reason to increase Nature aside for some upcoming feat choice, but we’re going to do just that and increase it to legendary proficiency. We’ll build off of Celestial Wings by taking the Eternal Wings ancestry feat, which does make some of our past feats not at necessary at this point – namely Basic Bloodline Spell and Advanced Bloodline. With that in mind, talk with your GM about finding time to retrain the former for Basic Sorcerer Spellcasting and the latter for Expert Summoner Spellcasting. You can keep Reach Spell, but if that doesn’t sit well with you, as I mainly took it to meet the prerequisite for Advanced Blood Potency, I’d retrain it either into a monk feat like Whirling Throw or Bloodline Breadth to give Starfire more spells. I’ve marked the signature spells within her spell repertoire down below with asterisks.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothes, greater ring of the ram, boots of speed
Spell Repertoire: 1st – burning hands, 2nd – flame wisp*, 3rd – blazing dive, 4th – fireball*, 5th – mantle of the magma heart, 6th – fire shield
LEVEL 18 While Starfire has Silky as a star orb, she’ll pick up the Bonded Animal skill feat so that she can potentially permanently bond with an animal that better suits him. This next class feat is based on all the feats that were just retrained and that is Master Sorcerer Spellcasting, improving Starfire’s spell attacks and DCs to master proficiency and also giving her blazing dive as a signature spell as that felt the most in character for her.
Gear: belt of giant strength, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), speed weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothes, greater boots of bounding
Spell Repertoire: 7th – fiery body, 8th - sunburst
LEVEL 19 With Starfire flying around all the time now, it feels appropriate to give her a skill increase to Acrobatics to increase it to legendary proficiency. Since Starfire can achieve considerable speeds while flying and Eternal Wings is based off of her Speed, increasing her land Speed with Fleet does the same thing to her fly speed.
Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothes, belt of giant’s strength, necklace of fireballs VII, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20 With this final set of ability boosts, Starfire will increase her Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 20, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 20). This increase to Intelligence gives Starfire another language, which is a little superfluous with her Tongue of Sun and Moon, as well as the trained proficiency in Stealth so that she can take part in stealth missions. In Starfire’s nature as a hero, she is as much a protector of the citizens as she is a warrior against the forces of evil, and I think the best way to reflect that is with the No Cause for Alarm skill feat. From her monk feats, we pick up Golden Body in part because of her literal golden-hued body but also because it speeds up her recovery and allows her to hit harder on crits.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothes, titan’s grasp, greater necklace of fireballs VII, speed weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune
GOALS
o Alien royalty from the planet of Tamaran (aasimar heritage + kitsune ancestry, Courtly Graces)
o Was taught to fight from a young age before she was given to invaders known as the Citadel to stop a war (martial disciple background, monk class)
o Can naturally absorb energy from light to fly, experiments by the Citadel expanded this power to generate and hurl starbolts (Eternal Wings, Foxfire, sorcerer spells)
o Possesses superhuman strength, speed, and durability (Flinging Blow, incredible movement)
o Can learn languages with psychical contact (Tongue of Sun and Moon)
o A superhero often with the Teen Titans who is known for her compassion and love for her friends (Diploamcy skill, No Cause for Alarm, Group Impression)
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build and the new format!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerd, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Coming up next week, we have the first of our Halloween builds!
Have a fantastic Friday!
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