Blueprints, wiring diagrams, source code, calling plans, napkin scribblings, misspelled blog rants, & other arcana are the province of those strange industrious mages known as technomancers. These are the builders of engines, the designers of complex siege weapons, and makers of bizarre traps. Their faces are covered in soot, and their hair is blown back wildly from years of steam-related accidents. Unknowable tools hang from their belts like the acronyms that mark their speech. The sciences are their passion, technical knowledge their province, clockwork devices their closest companions, and steam is their bitch. What the modern world would consider mad science is mad magic in Midian. These non-mystical wizards craft their bizarre iron & steam-powered abominations, analyse the alien Extrinsic magic items, and create technomantic devices both large & small.
If you are looking for a plug-in class where you add "2D4 damage" from one chart to "requires 3 rounds to cast" from another to make your character's inventions, then you are out of luck. If on the other hand you want a class that gives you an excuse to unleash your unholy designs on the campaign, where your response to the Game Master saying "You can't do that because it wasn't invented until the 1900's" can be "Here's my own schematics--suck it," then you just might be in the right place. It takes a certain kind of player to explain how a steam-powered flail might work, or to draw up plans for a submersible boat with giant claws, or to think up little ways to make oil lamps more powerful & fuel-efficient. Are you that player? Do you have what it takes?
Technomancer
Requirements:
Cost: 23
Wits 12
Appearance 19 (just kidding)
Bonus Background: Exposure to Technomancy
Bonus Trait: MacGuyver
Special: Technomancers are an insular bunch, but sociable in their own circles--double your effective reputation score when dealing with other technomancers
2. Username: Status--Named or Titled; self-chosen designation
3. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
4. Geek Speak: Secret & specialised communication with other technomancers of this level is now possible. A common language must still be known. Non-tech types may know the language, and even know most of the words you are using, but won't understand what you are talking about.
5. Programming: Your devices can now operate under complex instructions with timing & feedback
6. Bonus Trait: MacGuyver now x2
7. +4 to saving throws against electricity, paralysis, or spelling
8. Now that you are eighth level, it's time to learn _the REAL power_; you pick up 3 skills learned thanks to exposure to roleplaying games; any three
9. Gamer Dad: double the amount of simultaneous tasks you can normally do mentally--normally, this is just one, with each subsequent task added with a successful Wits check with penalties for repeated attempts
10. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
11. Starr's War: "Huh... good God y'all/What is it good for?/Absolutely nothing": Figure out what a device is used for, or at least the possible uses; different from HOW it works; a tech may guess wrong--you have found A use for the item, even if not THE intended use
12. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
13. No-Date Fridays: When working on a project you can continue uninterrupted without sleep or food as long as you stay busy & have some source of caffeine for a number of days equal to your class level
14. Pick a Status, any Status. I don't really care what. Make up one if you like.
15. +4 to saving throws against explosions & sonic effects, & take half damage if applicable
16. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
17. Blue Smoke: Render a device permanently inoperable; save vs. necromancy at a 16 or higher; this only takes a few seconds (one full round) of screwing with the device
18. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
19. Gamer Mom: Quadruple the amount of simultaneous tasks you can do mentally--each successive Wits check adds four more tasks
20. Percussive Maintenance: Hit it until it works. If this fails to achieve the desired results, then hit it harder. Beat it like it's your kids. Hit it until it listens. You can fix anything with a hammer--one way or another... A few rounds of striking a device achieves minor repairs. The first time this is 80% likely to happen, with the chance decreasing by 2% each time you use Percussive Maintenance. If the percentage check ever exceeds the current score, you hit the device too much & it won't work without major repairs.
21. Explain Anything: You can explain technical terms or broad concepts--usually by way of analogy--with a successful Personality check. They may not fully understand, and might even get it wrong, but will have the basics & be satisfied with their newfound knowledge. This is for single factoids rather than teaching skills.
22. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
23. Social Network: You are now infamous among other technomancers. You might not know them, but they know you & admire your work. All other technomancers in the area are effectively an Associate contact for you if you both make a successful Reputation check (and don't forget the class bonus to double it)
24. Select one Major or two Minor Studies
25. The Knack: You instinctively know how things fit together, and can take anything apart if you have the appropriate tools. You can also reassemble it & often improve performance or remove extraneous parts. You do not need to be familiar with the object--dismantling it is an education in how it works.
Per additional level: +1 for all class skills & studies
Per additional even level: +1 for all technical skills
Per additional level divisible by five: select one Major or two Minor Studies
Technomancy skills
Blacksmith
Carpentry
Craft Musical Instrument
Diagnosis (Machinery) (This pseudo-specialisation works on devices instead of organics, but otherwise acts just like the Diagnosis medical skill)
Drawing
Locksmith
Mathematics
Physics
Small Item Crafting
Literacy
Gunpowder Formulae
Knot-tying
Meditation
Weapon & Armour Maintenence--All
Analysis
Chemistry
Distinguished Expertise
Electrical Engineering
Field Improvisation
Mechanical Engineering
Ranged Weapon: Special (can use odd devices of own creation with neither bonus nor penalty for proficiency)
Scrounging
Trapping
Minor Studies:
Armourer
Blade Etiquette
Boyer & Fletcher
Engraving & Goldsmith
Sewing & Weaving
Shoemaking & Leatherworking
Stonemasonry x2
Sword Polishing (Requires Blade Etiquette)
Weaponsmith
Weaving & Basket Weaving
Artillery (select 2)
Lockpicking
Navigation (land & nautical)
Ranged Weapons: Crossbows, Rifles, & Pistols
Major Studies:
Instrumentation--Navigation (land & nautical), Engraving, Goldsmith, knowledge of devices using feedback for gauges
Defence--Stonemasonry, Artillery (select 2), knowledge of how to best fortify strongholds & emplace defences
Missile I--Artillery (select 2), Ranged Weapons: Crossbows, Rifles, & Pistols, knowledge of ballistic paths & ranges
Missile II--Boyer, Fletcher, Blade Etiquette, knowledge of ballistic impacts & trauma
Edges--Blade Etiquette, Sword Polishing, knowledge of metallurgical properties
Fabrication--Sewing, Weaving, Basket Weaving, Engraving, Goldsmith
Guard--Armourer, Sewing, Leatherworking, custom-fit protective garb
Miniscule--Lockpicking, Engraving, Goldsmith, work with magnifier & tweezers for items too small to see
Mechanicing
I'm glad you like it. This was long overdue, and still far from complete. I feel a bit like a mechanic myself, after making this, in the sense that they charge far more than the initial quote while saying "it was harder to fix than we thought." The technomancer class was like that. It still is, in a way. It was harder to fix than I thought.
It's a standalone class due to the game mechanics involved. Technomancers are, understandably, short on mystic skills & wouldn't receive as many benefits of being tacked onto apprentice wizards. How do you give a x5 mystic effect bonus to a steam-golem? It's also a very heavy skillset: 25 levels with a 23 cost, making it on par with necromancers. The skill cost alone would limit technomancy as a tradition to those with a 19 or higher Knowledge. That would be a fraction of a percent of the populace that would even have the potential to qualify--the attribute requirements limits your potential pool of technomancers to just under 1 in 10 million people. Even those with the requisite 19 would not have any additional skill points for such things as swimming, horseback riding, or proficiency in weapons or armour.
So, it's a class by itself. This way I can make it generic for Midian & Midian: Beyond, and can itself have specialties.
~~~
Golgotha Kinslayer, Cardinal, Lost Souls
Technomancy
Awesome!
Is this a stand alone class or a tradition?
--the genius and the demon of the scene.