When Covid began, I had a brief exchange with another designer about converting all the things we loved about Starfinder into a 5e based system. Despite being based on a D20 mechanic, there are differences between the two games. The differences between the way the two handle combat, DCs, monsters, weapon damage, actions, this means a conversion won’t be direct, but it’s not impossible.

Level	BAB	FORT	REF	WILL	Features	PROF	Features
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Primary fighting style, primary style technique	+2	Fighting Style, Second Wind
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	Combat feat	+2	Action Surge (one use)
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Gear boost, weapon specialization	+2	Martial Archetype
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Combat feat	+2	Ability Score Improvement
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Primary style technique	+3	Extra Attack
6th	+6	+5	+2	+5	Combat feat	+3	Ability Score Improvement
7th	+7	+5	+2	+5	Gear Boost	+3	Martial Archetype feature
8th					Combat feat	+3	Ability Score Improvement
9th					Primary style technique, secondary fighting style, secondary style technique	+4	Indomitable (1)
10th					Combat feat	+4	Martial Archetype feature
11th						+4	Extra Attack (2)
12th					Combat feat	+4	Ability Score Improvement
13th						+5	Indomitable (2)
14th					Combat feat	+5	Ability Score Improvement
15th						+5	Martial Archetype feature
16th					Combat feat	+5	Ability Score Improvement
17th						+6	Action Surge (2), Indomitable (3)
18th					Combat feat	+6	Martial Archetype feature
19th						+6	Ability Score Improvement
20th	+20	+12	+6	+12	Combat feat, kill shot	+6	Extra Attack (3)

Starfinder has 20 item levels of weapons and equipment, the game assumes that all characters can make at least 2 attacks per round and that they will add half their level to damage in addition to the level appropriate damage caused by the weapon they are using. 5e assumes a standard action to attack, fixed damage based on the weapon type

Starting at 10th level the Champion Fighter martial archetype chooses a second fighting style, the Soldier gets this at 9th level which means a reasonable conversion could be made out of the Champion framework.

Starfinder characters get ability boosts every five levels, they get to boost 4 attributes by 1 or 2 points and they still get to choose feats along the way. 5e characters get 7 ability score adjustments at irregular intervals and only get 2 points each time unless they choose a feat instead. The difference between 20-40 attribute points and 10 feats OR 14 attribute points and possibly no feats is one of those big differences mentioned earlier.

Races
The Starfinder Core Rules contain listings for the legacy races from Pathfinder including Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings. The D&D SRD contains Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Halflings so let’s compare those to illustrate the differences and similarities. The first most obvious thing you might notice is that Low Light Vision is now Darkvision in 5e.

Item	Dwarf SF	Dwarf 5e	Elf SF	Elf 5e	Gnome SF	Gnome 5e
Stat Adj	+2 CON +2 WIS -2 CHA	+2 CON	+2 DEX +2 INT -2 CON	+2 DEX	+2 CON +2 * -2 STR	+2 INT
Vision	Darkvision 60ft		Low Light Vision	Darkvision 60ft	Low Light Vision	Darkvision 60ft
Speed	20ft	25ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	25ft
Skills			+2 Perception	Perception Proficiency	+2 Culture
Race Weapon	Basic & Advanced	Axes & Hammers		Swords & Bows
Resistances & Immunities		ADV vs Poison	Immune to Sleep, +2 vs Enchantment	Immune to Sleep, ADV vs Enchantment	+2 Save vs Fear| +2 vs Illusions	ADV vs Magic on INT, WIS, CHA saves
Lucky					Once per day reroll a 1 on a D20
Magic			+2 Spell Penetration +2 Mysticism		1/day Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound, Token Spell
Orc

Item	Half-Elf SF	Half-Elf 5e	Half-Orc SF	Half-Orc 5e	Halfling SF	Halfling 5e
Stat Adj	+2 Any	+2 CHA +1/+1 Any	+2 Any	+2 STR +1 CON	+2 DEX +2 CHA -2 STR	+2 DEX
Vision	Low Light Vision	Darkvision 60ft	Darkvision 60ft	Darkvision 60ft	Normal	Normal
Speed	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	25ft
Skills	Skill Focus +2 Perception	Proficiency Any 2 Skills	+2 Intimidate +2 Survival	Intimidation Proficiency	+2 Perception +2 Stealth
Race Weapon
Resistances & Immunities	Immune to Sleep, +2 vs Enchantment	Immune to Sleep, ADV vs Enchantment			+1 All Saves +3 Fear
Lucky						Reroll 1s Attacks, Saves & Ability Checks
Magic
Orc			Don’t die at 0	Don’t die at 0

You’ll also notice +2 racial bonuses to Saves become Advantage on those saves while +2 Racial bonuses to skills become Proficiency in those skills.

Starfinder NON-Legacy Races

Item	Androids SF	Human SF	Human 5e	Kasatha SF	Lashunta SF	Shirren SF	Vesk SF	Ysoki SF
Stat Adj	+2 DEX +2 INT -2 CHA	+2 Any	+1 All	+2 STR +2 WIS -2 INT	+2 CHA +2 * -2 *	+2 CON +2 WIS -2 CHA	+2 STR +2 CON -2 INT	+2 DEX +2 INT -2 STR
Vision	Darkvision Low Light Vision	Normal	Normal	Normal	Normal	Normal	Low Light Vision	Darkvision 60ft
Speed	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft	30ft
Skills	-2 Sense Motive	Bonus Feat +1 Skill Rank per level		+2 Culture +2 Acrobatics +2 Athletics	+2 Any	+2 Culture +2 Diplomacy		+2 Engineering +2 Stealth +2 Survival
Race Weapon				4 Arms	Telepathy 30ft	Blindsense 30ft Telepathy 30ft	Lethal Unarmed Strike +1 AC -1 Armor Check	Cheek Pouches
Resistances & Immunities	+2 vs Disease, Mind-Affecting, Poison, Sleep			Ignore difficult terrain desert, hills, mountains			+2 vs Fear
Lucky						1/day ADV attack or skill	Reroll 1s Attacks, Saves & Ability Checks
Magic					2 cantrips 1/day Detect Thoughts
Moxie								Stand from Prone /Swift Off Kilter/Flat-Footed +5 Acrobatics Tumble vs Larger

So comparatively the Starfinder core races have a lot of Normal vision and movement. The closest thing to Starfinder Telepathy 30ft in the SRD is that some monsters have 60ft limited Telepathy that requires a language but doesn’t require a common language. None of the SRD races get 3 skill proficiencies from their race, so while skill bonuses to Proficiencies are an easy conversion, we need to be careful the Starfinder races aren’t too good compared to the SRD races. When converting the Alien Archive playable races we’ll have to be even more careful.

The Kasatha Telekinetic Hand could be Mage Hand, but Daze is like a minor single target one round Color Spray? When Starfinder spells are based on D&D legacy spells converting them back should be as easy as using the D&D 5e spell, but should Starfinder 5e characters become full 9 level casters?

If you have any feedback about this post or our books please feel free to contact us.

Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com