Stars Reach Professions & Skill Trees (Build 8.4.6)
How the Skill Cap actually works
The developers use a trading-card-game analogy: you can own as many cards as you like, but only
so many go in the deck, and you cannot rebuild the deck mid-match. Every skill sits in one of
four states, and the cap only counts two of them.
State
What it means
Unlearned
Not yet learned. Learning one needs a Skills Kiosk, all prerequisites Active, room under your Skill Cap, and an XP plus Klaatu payment. It becomes Active the moment you learn it.
Active
In use and giving full benefits. All its prerequisites must also be Active. Counts against your Skill Cap.
Inactive (Out of Practice)
Learned but switched off. Does not count against the Skill Cap and you can hold any number of them — as long as no Active skill requires it.
Reactivating
Switching back on. Costs no XP or Klaatu but takes real time, counts against the cap while it runs, and restarts from the beginning if you cancel.
Two consequences worth planning around. First, reactivating is not free in time
— it costs no XP or Klaatu but runs on a timer, counts against your cap while it runs, and
restarts from zero if you cancel. Second, prerequisites cascade: an Active skill
holds all of its prerequisites Active too, so a deep tree eats more of your cap than the tip
node suggests. The cap number itself is explicitly temporary while more skills go in.
Professions confirmed in the 8.4.6 build
Playable Worlds has not published a complete profession list. Every entry below is named in a dated official source — a Steam patch note, a starsreach.com dev post, or the Steam store description. Nothing here is inferred from gameplay footage alone. The planned total comes from PC Gamer preview quoted on the official Steam news feed (June 2026): 'player-built cities and 40+ Star Wars Galaxies-style professions'.
Combat
Profession
What it does
Where it is documented
Pistol
Ranged combat tree with its own XP type. Runs on a 6-shot battery that recharges after a short pause.
Update 8.3.0 (2026-08-04); listed indented under Combat in the reworked Skills window
Grenade Launcher
Area-control tree, also tied to its own XP type — you have to actually use the weapon to progress it.
Update 8.3.0 (2026-08-04)
Healix
Support weapon line. Its Siphon skill locks a beam to an enemy and drains their health into yours.
Update 8.3.0 (2026-08-04)
Exploration
Profession
What it does
Where it is documented
Ranger
The frontier profession: chart and map unknown worlds, set up wilderness camps and Re-Life stations, and hunt down Makers before an area can be safely settled.
Official Development Roadmap; Update 8.4.0 XP reassignment
Science
Profession
What it does
Where it is documented
Xenobiology
Creature science. Scanning creatures with the bioscanner now grants Xenobiology XP rather than Ranger XP, and Maker Scanning moved into this tree in 8.4.0.
Early Access Update 8.4.0 (2026-08-21)
Pets
Taming line. Creature food preferences came back in 8.4.0, and you now need the Pets skill Active before you can tame anything.
Early Access Update 8.4.0 (2026-08-21)
Social
Profession
What it does
Where it is documented
Business
Trade progression. You earn Business XP by trading with other players, and the skill is required to place vendors.
Early Access Update 8.4.0 (2026-08-21)
Leadership
Yes, there is a leadership skill tree — it feeds getting elected mayor of a town, governor of a world, or head of a guild.
Official Overview page (starsreach.com/overview)
Crafting
Profession
What it does
Where it is documented
Crafting
The base crafting tree that the advanced crafting professions branch out of. Recipes are granted as skill unlocks rather than dropped as critical-path loot.
Steam store description and in-game skill window
Tailoring
Moved out of the base Crafting tree into its own advanced profession in 8.4.0.
Early Access Update 8.4.0 (2026-08-21)
Refining
Processing raw material into usable stock — the Wood Slurry recipe, for example, comes out of a Refining skill box.
Update 8.3.0 (2026-08-04)
Cooking
Food preparation. Mushroom stew at a Field Fabricator is part of the Haven tutorial chain.
Steam store description and in-game skill window
Building
Profession
What it does
Where it is documented
Architect
Structure and settlement building line, referenced in the building and zoning changes.
Steam store description and in-game skill window
Professions move between patches — plan for it
This list is not stable, and the 8.4.0 patch is the proof. In one update Tailoring left the base
Crafting tree to become its own advanced profession, Maker Scanning moved from Ranger into
Xenobiology, creature scanning stopped granting Ranger XP and started granting Xenobiology XP,
taming became gated behind an Active Pets skill, and skill chits were removed from the game
entirely. Weapon trees moved onto their own XP types one patch earlier, so
you now have to actually carry a pistol to progress the pistol tree.
If a guide quotes a profession layout without naming the build it came from, it is describing a
game that may no longer exist. Everything above is stamped with the patch that introduced it.
Where you spend and change skills
Skills Kiosk — learn, activate, deactivate and reactivate. You can also spend from a homestead, camp or world portal.
Cost — learning a skill charges XP plus Klaatu, the in-game currency that also started dropping from loot caches in 8.4.0.
XP is not one pool — Business XP comes from trading with other players, Xenobiology XP from bioscanning creatures, and weapon XP only from the matching weapon.
The skills window — paginated, one tree per page, with professions grouped under their category in the left-hand list.