A friend recently told me he wants to start a magitech campaign and gave me permission to play a class of my own design. I can't pass up this opportunity to playtest my artiforged class, which is a perfect fit. However, there's several things I haven't figured out well and I need to finish the draft by the end of the month!
The class, called the artiforged, is basically the fantasy equivalent of a cyborg, designed to be largely setting neutral where the flavor of your augmentations varies. You could be attaching clockwork to yourself, growing organs using alchemy, Frankensteining yourself with undead limbs, or turning yourself into a half-man/half-Groot-like creature. It's a full BAB class centered around the character gradually augmenting their body. Some of its class features include:
- Integrated Weapon: They receive a retractable masterwork weapon that's grafted onto their body.
- Power Source: A resource pool that works similar to a sorcerer/bloodrager bloodline, dictating the flavor of how their augmentations work (clockwork, magical devices, symbiotic plants, necrocrafting, etc). The primary use of the resource pool involves buffing integrated weapon attacks for 1 round. The details of buff differ depending on the power source.
- Upgrades: A talent pool where the class gains new gadgets and cool features, some of them costing a point from the resource pool
- Integrated Armor: The class can somehow gain a power armor attached to them that can be enhanced.
- Salvage Parts: The class can destroy an existing magic weapon or armor to transfer its magical enhancements to an integrated weapon or their armor.
- What should be the benefit of integrated weapons? I feel like this should be a major focus of the class. One idea I had was giving a flurry of blows-like attack. Another idea was that the class receives additional integrated weapons as they level up and have the ability to attack with all of them when full-attacking as if they were natural weapons.
- What should the resource pool be like? In one draft, the pool was a static engine like a ki pool or arcane pool. However, that seems a little boring. Maybe instead, using abilities accumulates points that could be detrimental to you?
- How should Integrated Armor be implemented? Should it be a scaling armor bonus or actually involve attaching armor to the character?
That sounds like a really cool idea, Cyrad. I don't have any hard example suggestions, but I think you could take a look at the Aegis character class from Dreamscarred Press. It sounds like you could make an "Upgrade Pool" from which the character could customize his or her own body.
For a resource pool that fluctuates in play, the grit/panache mechanic is pretty good. You could make it Constitution-based instead of Charisma- or Wisdom-based, to signify that their ability to surge in combat is tied to their physical durability. You could even call it a Surge pool.
One thing I would warn you against is making the class addons the ONLY class feature. One thing I noticed about the Soulknife from D&D 3.5's Psionics Handbook was that their only significant and reliable class feature was to have a weapon that kept up in power level with the WBL of the rest of the party.
The flip side of that is that if their body augmentations improve them along the lines of the expected gear level, it should cost them gold to improve. Because getting WBL gear for free in ADDITION to their WBL really is too much.
As I said with a Meister, being One With a Weapon means an initiative bonus(+1 first level, +2 third, +3 sixth, ect) undisarmable, and +50 percent strength and dex. bonuses only for the use of that weapon.
Like Mega Man, their main weapon can take one power from each foe they destroy. They can rip the frost gland from a white dragon and fire a cone of cold 3 times a day. They can retain one such power at 2nd level, 2 at 4th, 3 at 7th, ect.)
Second Skin negates encumbrance because the muscles are attached, like with an insect. It's undisarmable, and -10 percent the spell failure chance.
The Power Source Pool can be used to repair their attached gear, but must be purged to regenerate one extreme ability, such as one wish in a luck blade. You would also need to replace the gem itself so that's where the GPV comes in. This also allows for adventuring, such as exploring an abandoned jewel mine full of the worm riddled undead. The pool should have a maximum based on 5+Con bonus per level. Mending one attached item is one point while make whole takes 4 points. They regenerate 3+Con bonus per day to the pool.
Ok, the reduced arcane spell failure chance wouldn't come into play unless they dual class. I stand by the no encumbrance for installed armor.
I'm just giving suggestions. You can add in the by level features to your chart however you please.
The flip side of that is that if their body augmentations improve them along the lines of the expected gear level, it should cost them gold to improve. Because getting WBL gear for free in ADDITION to their WBL really is too much.
Just giving them free gear and stats is not really a direction I want to go in, which is why I choose to, instead, give them ways to augment the special things they get from the class.
I stand by the no encumbrance for installed armor.
I don't want to do that directly since that's kind of the fighter's thing. However, I think I do agree that a class feature that involves grafting something on you to impede your movement sounds like a bad deal. It might be better to keep it as an armor bonus to AC that's attached to you, sort of like an innate bracers of armor.
You say one attack per weapon, and they only get one weapon at first level. This makes integrated assault entirely redundant, until 5th. There should be more levels with upgrades and more upgrades in general.
More upgrades:
1st level
Strange Shape: Gain (1?2?) evolution points for use on the summoner eidolon abilities list with an effective summoner level of 1. Cannot change what you buy with the point.
Built for a purpose: Gain a plus 2 bonus to two skills and treat them as class skills, If already class skills then gain another +1.
Talented: Gain 2 more skill ranks to be placed immediately.
6th level
advanced strange shape: Gain another three points and can respec previous. Summoner level is now 5.
Interesting upgrade suggestions.
You say one attack per weapon, and they only get one weapon at first level. This makes integrated assault entirely redundant, until 5th. There should be more levels with upgrades and more upgrades in general.
You're totally right. They only get the second attack if they pick gauntlets. This should be the first thing that gets changed. As I see it, I need to do either of three things with integrated weapons:
A) The class should get more integrated weapons to make use of the extra attacks. However, that could get cumbersome dealing with a plethora of different weapons on the character.
B) The class should be able to attack multiple times with the same weapon when using integrated assault. This, however, would make it very powerful for ranged builds.
C) The class should get some other special attack instead of a flurry of blows-like attack.
Which appeals to you?
A)This would require small weapons store able in the limb, such as ninja stars. On the other hand, some Imps can store a glave in their back pocket.
B)Reload speeds might be halved for integrated weapons. You could alternately allow a clip, so they could load 6 crossbow bolts ahead of time, then fire 2 a round at first level.
C)They are a fighter like class, so they should get extra attacks at the same rate. They should get weapon focus and weapon specialization automatically for attached weapons.
B is most appropriate for a cyborg.
Alright, then the class can attack multiple times with the same weapon in a flurry of blows-like way. Here's three drafts of integrated weapon. The first one tries to keep the weapon standardized but later provide ways to augment it. The second and third restricts integrated weapons to only weapons you can wield in one hand--this helps ensure ranged weapons are too strong with this since one-handed ranged weapons tend to have half the range increment. To not hurt them too much, they
Draft a
- cannot be disarmed
- can draw weapon as a free action and retract weapon as a move action as if using the stow weapon action
- choose whether it is a melee weapon or a ranged weapon
- choose whether it deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage
- deal 1d6 points of damage and apply full Strength modifier to damage rolls regardless of type
- ranged integrated weapons have a range increment of 40 feet and are reloaded with a free action
Draft B
- cannot be disarmed
- can draw weapon as a free action and retract weapon as a move action as if using the stow weapon action
- has the properties of a light melee weapon, one-handed melee weapon, or a ranged weapon that requires one hand to wield
- if a thrown weapon, the integrated weapon fires it as if it were ammunition and the artiforged
- if a ranged weapon, the artiforged receives Rapid Reload for this integrated weapon as a bonus feat.
- add Strength modifier to damage rolls regardless of type
Draft C
- cannot be disarmed
- can draw weapon as a free action and retract weapon as a move action as if using the stow weapon action
- has the properties of a light melee weapon, one-handed melee weapon, or a ranged weapon that requires one hand to wield
- if a thrown weapon, the integrated weapon fires it as if it were ammunition
- ranged integrated weapons can hold 4 units of ammunition
- add Strength modifier to damage rolls regardless of type
Draft C is pretty good.
How the basic class features work needs clarification. Some of the details are left to the imagination.
INTEGRATED WEAPONS
RANGED
You mention that "two-handed" ranged weapon do not require a second hand to use. Does this mean I can wield two composite longbows and use the two-weapon fighting chain?
GAUNTLET
As compenation for the general underwhelming ability of unarmed/gauntlet attacks, you toss in a +2 size bonus to CMB. I appreciate the sentiment, but the effectiveness is lost if my character gains the effect of enlarge person. I would eliminate the bonus type. If you still want a limiting factor, then change it +1.
LAUNCHER
You have a bunch of ambiguous language in here. For the most part, it functions as though the character was simply throwing the weapon or loading and firing it. The only advantage here is that the weapon gains the enhancement of the launcher, is that correct? I really dislike the standard action to load a one-handed weapon. I think there is an easier way to say that is functions exactly as a normal thrown weapon.
Draft C is pretty good.
Alrighty then! Rapid Reload seems like the better option, but the capacity makes it more unique and solves the same problem without giving too much. By the time the character's iteratives start to overcome their capacity, they should always have all their staple ranged feats to make choosing Rapid Reload not so painful. Hm, maybe I could also introduce an upgrade that works like Manyshot.
INTEGRATED WEAPONS
RANGED
You mention that "two-handed" ranged weapon do not require a second hand to use. Does this mean I can wield two composite longbows and use the two-weapon fighting chain?
No, because you still need a hand to reload. But that can be pretty ridiculous, which is why the above drafts add the requirement that the weapon must be wieldable in one hand.
GAUNTLET
As compenation for the general underwhelming ability of unarmed/gauntlet attacks, you toss in a +2 size bonus to CMB. I appreciate the sentiment, but the effectiveness is lost if my character gains the effect of enlarge person. I would eliminate the bonus type. If you still want a limiting factor, then change it +1.
That's a good catch. I might make the gauntlets an upgrade, a freebie, or an archetype that restricts you to using close weapons but grants full brawler's flurry.
LAUNCHER
You have a bunch of ambiguous language in here. For the most part, it functions as though the character was simply throwing the weapon or loading and firing it. The only advantage here is that the weapon gains the enhancement of the launcher, is that correct? I really dislike the standard action to load a one-handed weapon. I think there is an easier way to say that is functions exactly as a normal thrown weapon.
Yeah, I agree with you there. Future versions won't take any longer than the time needed to draw a weapon.
Alright, onward to Integrated Assault, the "flurry" attack for this class. I can't decide between two ideas for it:
A) Whenever the class full-attacks, they get a bonus attack from an integrated weapon (not stacking with Rapid Shot and TWF).
B) When full-attacking with only integrated weapons, they're treated as having TWF (essentially like brawler's flurry or flurry of blows)
I'm also reluctant to grant full flurry progression to this class. Unlike the brawler and monk, they can get a lot more interesting abilities than either of those classes and they already have an advantage in using better weaponry with the attack. Power sources should let the special attack and integrated weapons scale well without more extra attacks. What do you think?
I choose B. Having that qualifies as having the feat or class ability of two weapon fighting when gaining a feat that requires it.
I choose B. Having that qualifies as having the feat or class ability of two weapon fighting when gaining a feat that requires it.
Really? I did not think that to be true unless the ability specifically calls it out.
The exact wording is important.
I'm partial to A though. That could be because one of my classes has nearly the same ability.
Yes, I was suggesting that it should.
I'm not entirely sure about letting the ability function as feat requirements when you can use ranged weapons with this. I'll have to ponder on that.
Now I have a new musing for the resource system I'm considering. Let's call it "heat." Each day, the class begins with zero heat. Whenever they use an upgrade or source ability, they gain 1 heat. Their integrated weapon attacks deal bonus damage whenever they possess at least 1 heat. However, if they accumulate too much heat, they become staggered. They lose 1 heat at regular intervals. However, this would allow for pseudo-at-will abilities, which would mean I'd have to make sure the abilities are lower in power.
Are you going to update the document?
Are you going to update the document?
Not that one. I'm going to do a whole revision and was hard at work on the class's resource system. Here's a draft of some of the class features. The ones shown at this time include:
Artiforged Assault: Grants you a bonus attack with an integrated weapon when you full-attack at a -2 penalty on all attacks, not stacking with Rapid Shot and two-weapon fighting. If you perform a ranged attack after a melee attack, you do not provoke an attack of opportunity from the target of their melee attack.
Integrated Weapon: Gain a weapon attached to your body.
Power Source: Choose one power source at 1st level to gain special abilities and determine your augmentations's flavor. Some abilities will strain the source and increase your "tension." You can accumulate up to an amount of tension equal to an ability modifier. You can remove 1 tension every hour or by healing via spells and channel energy.
Power Surge: Increase tension by 1 to gain a +1 bonus on integrated weapon attacks and damage for 1 round. Once during this round, you can gain a bonus on a physical skill check similar to the swashbuckler's Derring-Do deed.
The document also includes a draft of the Arcane power source.
I'm now working on the
Interesting idea! However, I really don't like the name.
The concept of tension is intriguing, but if I understand correctly, there is no benefit for having a high tension score in your latest draft, yes? You hinted at that option in one of your earlier posts about 'heat' and I really liked that line of thought. Is there a reason why you didn't explore this concept any further? Or are there going to be upgrades that allow the artiforged to benefit from a high tension score?
Also, what happens if a beneficial effect removes fatigue/exhaustion?
By the way, how is progress with that reaver class of yours? I'd really be interested in seeing that one finished!
Hey, Amanuensis! Congrats on top 8 in RPGSS, by the way. A shame the duergar mining outpost didn't make the cut. I loved the steam caverns so much that I want to make it part of my campaign.
Interesting idea! However, I really don't like the name.
Fair enough! I didn't like autoforge ("self-forge") and switched to artiforged when that became the term for people that turn themselves into half-constructs in my campaign. My friend decided to use this term in his campaign as well, which propelled me to finish a playable draft right away.
The concept of tension is intriguing, but if I understand correctly, there is no benefit for having a high tension score in your latest draft, yes? You hinted at that option in one of your earlier posts about 'heat' and I really liked that line of thought. Is there a reason why you didn't explore this concept any further? Or are there going to be upgrades that allow the artiforged to benefit from a high tension score?
I made two attempts to make a bonus scaling off of tension/heat. The first one gave you a bonus based on the amount of heat accumulated up to a maximum at which you couldn't use any ability that raises it more. This had a few issues:
1) The damage bonus could get very high. I want this resource system to be available at 1st level. Many players would simply take 1 level of artiforged and max out the heat to gain a huge damage bonus for free.2) I did not like the play style of the system. During tests, the it seemed like players were encouraged to simply spam their abilities to get to max or a comfortable heat value and simply keep it there. Other than having a reduced capacity for using special abilities, there's not really any drama or downside to having a sustained heat level.
I then tried to fix the first problem by having a damage cap. As long as you had 1 heat, you gained a damage bonus. However, that did not fix the second problem. There's no reason to simply have 1 heat at all times except when you needed to use an upgrade.
You did make me consider another idea:
1) The artiforged begins with zero tension and can have a maximum equal to their source modifier. They can raise their tension as a free action, but it takes 1 minute to reduce it.
2) The artiforged receives an attack and damage bonus equal to the amount of tension they have, up to a maximum (perhaps +2 at 1st level). This maximum increases as they level up.
3) For each tension, the fumble range increases by 1. If the artiforged rolls an attack on a natural [1+tension] or lower, the attack automatically fails.
This turns tension into a risk/reward system that also doubles as a gate for using strong abilities. I'll have to run some tests on this.
Also, what happens if a beneficial effect removes fatigue/exhaustion?
That will remove the condition, but not change your situation. If you got fatigued and removed it, you're still going to end up exhausted if you raise the tension one more time. If you become exhausted and remove that, you still can't use any abilities that raise your tension until you reduce it.
By the way, how is progress with that reaver class of yours? I'd really be interested in seeing that one finished!
A full playable draft of the reaver should be ready after I finish designing all his talents. I try to design talent pools with great care, providing a carefully crafted selection that fits the class and gives obvious synergies for character concept building. It's easy to simply give every ability under the sun to a class, but I don't think that's a wise approach to talent design. Once I finish work on the artiforged and get my Master's thesis out of the way, I'll work hard towards getting the reaver out to the public.
Too much heat could either cause the sickened condition, or trigger rage(like some anime characters). I'm sorry if I took heat too literally.
or introduce the potential for misfire?
Something like that, but I don't want to break any weapons. It's bad enough the attacks miss automatically. And unlike firearms, it's voluntary. You don't have to take the risk if you don't want to.
Hey, Amanuensis! Congrats on top 8 in RPGSS, by the way. A shame the duergar mining outpost didn't make the cut. I loved the steam caverns so much that I want to make it part of my campaign.
Thank you! I'm somewhat surprised that we don't see more posters from the homebrew forum participating in the contest. There are some very talented designers around here (you included) and I certainly learned a lot from all the creative minds sharing their awesome stuff.
I made two attempts to make a bonus scaling off of tension/heat. The first one gave you a bonus based on the amount of heat accumulated up to a maximum at which you couldn't use any ability that raises it more. This had a few issues:
1) The damage bonus could get very high. I want this resource system to be available at 1st level. Many players would simply take 1 level of artiforged and max out the heat to gain a huge damage bonus for free.
2) I did not like the play style of the system. During tests, the it seemed like players were encouraged to simply spam their abilities to get to max or a comfortable heat value and simply keep it there. Other than having a reduced capacity for using special abilities, there's not really any drama or downside to having a sustained heat level.I then tried to fix the first problem by having a damage cap. As long as you had 1 heat, you gained a damage bonus. However, that did not fix the second problem. There's no reason to simply have 1 heat at all times except when you needed to use an upgrade.
Ah, I see. These are good arguments.
I do like mechanics that force players to make choices, but implementing these seems to be a lot harder than I thought.It just occured to me that with the system in its current form, it is very easy to remove tension, which allows the artiforge to use his abilities frequently (good design) but also makes resource management largely irrelevant out of combat. And the exhaustion condition is prohibitively crippling, so no player would actively acquire that much tension unless truly desperate.
What if increasing heat beyond a certain level caused damage instead of inflicting fatigue/exhaustion? That would make for interesting choices in combat and flavorwise, it could represent overheating/overclocking. And then you could introduce an additional option to release the accumulated heat (causing fatigue and preventing the accumulation of further heat) to gain a special effect based on the amount of heat acquired (basically a last resort option).
Don't know if that works out, I'm just brainstorming some ideas.
Subdual damage instead of fatigue?
I appreciate any idea thrown my way. These are some interesting ideas. I'll think about them for a bit and see how they might work in my testing diagrams.
Early on, I had to make the decision whether to make the resource system a static engine (ki, arcane pool) or a dynamic engine (grit, panache). The former allows for stronger abilities because there's a hard daily limit. However, most of the upgrades had a reasonable enough power level that a dynamic engine would work.
I think the problem I have with the current tension system is that while it gets easier to remove tension as the artiforged levels up, it never gets easier to utilize power surge and upgrades in the middle of combat unless another party member uses up a standard action to heal him.
I added a section about ex-artiforged. I remember someone once asking me what happens when an artiforged reincarnates or gets blown up and resurrected. An artiforged shouldn't be anymore inconvenienced than a fighter in that situation. An artiforged's power comes from their expertise to install, use, and manage their augmentations, not the augmentations themselves. That knowledge doesn't go away when they reincarnate.
I tested the tension-to-damage idea where tension increases fumble range. It's functional, but it doesn't solve the problem I had with earlier incarnations of the idea. Increasing the fumble range isn't much of a risk because the character will likely miss on rolls that low anyway. It will only become problematic at higher levels where it might feel more like a punishment for doing what your class is supposed to do than a risk/reward system.
I'm considering just using the current version of the tension system and simply have the maximum tension scale with level. This way, they'll get more room to do cool things each combat as they level up, but it will still cost them healing to take the tension off.
How about an "over-heat" (malfunction?) check? Immediately after using any ability that increases tension, the player must take a DC 5 CON check, with a penalty equal to half his/her current tension, round down minimum 1. If they pass, continue as usual. If its a failure, lose all tension and become exhausted for rounds equal to tension lost.
example: tension = 4; CON = 16. so 1D20+1 check. still IDK if you would consider that too extreme
EDIT: of course, i just realized that this doesn't account for the idea of hitting the sweet spot and leaving it there. It could be done every turn. or better yet, take the check every turn if their tension exceeds 1/4 of their level + 1, round down (and bump it up to a DC 10). So a level 8 can run around with a +3 to all attacks all day. If the player wants to push it a little bit more he can, but at the risk of roughly a 50% chance of exhaustion for # of rounds = to tension and loosing all pooled tension.
PROFICIENCIES
The way you have it written, if I integrate nothing but exotic weapons, I am proficient in all of them. Is that intentional?
INTEGRATED WEAPON
"this weapon has the properties of a light melee, one-handed melee, or ranged weapon that requires only one hand to wield." I can fire a crossbow with one hand if I take a penalty to attack. Is that something that should be addresses? In your scenario, are crossbows one handed or two?
INTEGRATED ARMOR
I was thining it would be fun if the power source determined the type of AC bonus. In your example, they are all armor bonuses. What if there was a nature-thingy power source that granted a natural armor bonus, and maybe the arcane power source granted a deflection bonus? Obviously some AC types are better than others and each would advance at a different rate, with armor bonus advancing the fastest.
PROFICIENCIES
The way you have it written, if I integrate nothing but exotic weapons, I am proficient in all of them. Is that intentional?INTEGRATED WEAPON
"this weapon has the properties of a light melee, one-handed melee, or ranged weapon that requires only one hand to wield." I can fire a crossbow with one hand if I take a penalty to attack. Is that something that should be addresses? In your scenario, are crossbows one handed or two?INTEGRATED ARMOR
I was thining it would be fun if the power source determined the type of AC bonus. In your example, they are all armor bonuses. What if there was a nature-thingy power source that granted a natural armor bonus, and maybe the arcane power source granted a deflection bonus? Obviously some AC types are better than others and each would advance at a different rate, with armor bonus advancing the fastest.
PROFICIENCIES
No, that wasn't intentional -- I'll remove that. I'm not sure if I want the player to get a free exotic weapon with proficiency in it. As an archetype, maybe? I do want the integrated weapon to "feel" good -- like you're getting much more than a free weapon. Through some dry testing, I've realized that the artiforged might make a pretty good switch-hitter, which is why I added the line that in FLurry Assault, a ranged attack following a melee attack does not provoke AoO. A gentle hint to the player of that.INTEGRATED WEAPON
Good catch! I went ahead and changed that line to this: "this weapon has the properties of a light melee, one-handed melee, or ranged weapon that can be wielded in one hand without penalty." I also added hand crossbows and launcher crossbows to the proficiencies to give a few more options. And in case the player want to have a splash weapon launcher for an arm.
INTEGRATED ARMOR
That is an interesting idea, but it raises the question about enhancing it. I want the armor to be worth magically enhancing. It makes sense for an armor bonus, but not so much for one that grants a deflection bonus. It would be rather awkward if armor abilities stacked on the integrated armor stacked with worn armor. Integrated armor is most certainly something flavored based on the power source. Perhaps I should investigate further ways for a power source and upgrades to influence that.
For cosmetic purposes, I'm personally debating whether my runari artiforge sculpted runic plates for his/her integrated armor or tattoo'd sigils that grant an armored aura similar to mage armor.
I suggested varying the armor bonus because you also grant proficiency up to medium armor. The character can still wear armor. Granting another type scaled over 10-15 levels would -basically- grant a free magic item and not use up an item slot. An amulet or ring could be used for something else besides AC.
Deflection bonuses do not stack. Not with bracers and a magic shirt, not with a power source and magic armor, or any other combination.
Maybe an augment gem will up an armor's deflection bonus by one if the description is very specific.
Why are we having this conversation when their are so many good ideas for deflection bonus being a function of character level?
Perhaps there should b some penalty for losing a weapon, because some players I know would attempt to remove it and wait an hour to gain a slight advantage. It feels like it should be more permanent than that. Maybe 2 STR damage for 1 day or lose all use of that arm until restoration/1 day.
Tension: The channel energy class feature also decreases tension by an amount equal to half the level of the ability’s effective class level. WHAT? Are you saying half the amount of dice rolled or the amount of dice the cleric would roll if he was half his level or something else entirely?
Armour: Add if it counts as medium, light, or heavy for both speed and enchanting. Maybe you could opt for more armour at the speed penalty if you chose heavy? Also add that you take all the penalties of any armour you wear, and the better bonus.
Are we only at the one source (arcane) and no upgrades? Because if you need suggestions for that I have a few. There has to be a healer archetype, fixing people lost limbs with fake artificial ones.
I suggested varying the armor bonus because you also grant proficiency up to medium armor. The character can still wear armor. Granting another type scaled over 10-15 levels would -basically- grant a free magic item and not use up an item slot. An amulet or ring could be used for something else besides AC.
Aye, I'm not entirely sure about it. I'll ponder on it a bit. I gave them proficiency in armors so they can choose to wear normal armor until the armor bonus gets higher if they desire. It also helps if an archetype removes integrated armor.
Perhaps there should b some penalty for losing a weapon, because some players I know would attempt to remove it and wait an hour to gain a slight advantage. It feels like it should be more permanent than that. Maybe 2 STR damage for 1 day or lose all use of that arm until restoration/1 day.
What advantage would there be to removing your integrated weapon?
Tension: The channel energy class feature also decreases tension by an amount equal to half the level of the ability’s effective class level. WHAT? Are you saying half the amount of dice rolled or the amount of dice the cleric would roll if he was half his level or something else entirely?
If it's a cleric, then it's half the cleric's level. This is kind of the standard "spell level" for abilities that don't have spell levels. I need to think of a better way to word that sentence so it's more clear.
Armour: Add if it counts as medium, light, or heavy for both speed and enchanting. Maybe you could opt for more armour at the speed penalty if you chose heavy? Also add that you take all the penalties of any armour you wear, and the better bonus.
I forgot that some armor abilities only work on certain armor types. I might have to rethink this. An earlier draft did allow you to choose an armor type. Maybe I should do that. I intended to make an archetype that increased the base armor bonus at some cost, but perhaps I should make it an integral part of the ability.
Are we only at the one source (arcane) and no upgrades? Because if you need suggestions for that I have a few.
I'm all ears! I went ahead and added a batch of upgrades I finished to the document. I'm pretty happy with most of them, though I might need to revisit Shockwave Strike.
There has to be a healer archetype, fixing people lost limbs with fake artificial ones.
That's a great idea. I'll add that to my list of archetypes to implement. I also thought of an interesting one where the artiforged could install upgrades on allies with some limitation -- such as not allowing them to raise tension or having each tension increase affect the artiforged themselves. It would make perfect sense if these two ideas were its own archetype or were separate compatible archetypes.
Deflection bonuses do not stack. Not with bracers and a magic shirt, not with a power source and magic armor, or any other combination.
Maybe an augment gem will up an armor's deflection bonus by one if the description is very specific.
Why are we having this conversation when their are so many good ideas for deflection bonus being a function of character level?
I think we all know that bonuses with the same type do not stack. This conversation is because I thought it would be more interesting if the power source changed the AC type, as stated in the message it was brought up in. I am simply offering ideas - they don't have to be used.
Nature Source
You skin hardens and many ridges and protrusions appear on your body. Many of your upgrades consist of absorbing the primal energies of the natural world into your body and growing or regenerating.
Class Skill: Knowledge (nature).
Source Modifier: Wisdom
Source Quirk: You lose the ability to integrated manufactured weapons, and instead gain natural attacks as appropriate for your size. If you already have natural attacks, the ones gained by this class replace them. Add Stealth and Survival to your list of class skills.
Source Powers: The harnessed natural energies flow into your body.
Primal Surge (Su): During a power surge, you gain a +4 racial bonus to Perception, Stealth, and Survival checks and to Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength ability checks. At 5th level and every four levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1.
Predator (Su): At 5th level, you gain low-light vision. If you already possess this ability, you can instead see three times as far as a human. During a power surge, you can move at full speed using the Stealth skill without penalty.
Chameleon (Su): At 9th level, you gain a +4 bonus to Disguise checks. During a power surge, your color changes to blend with your surrounding. Attacks made against you suffer a 20% miss chance.
Hunter (Su): At 13th level, you gain the Scent special ability. During a power surge, you gain Tremorsense.
Now barkskin I think stacks. At higher levels, you might allow stoneskin.
It's interesting you choose defensive abilities for your Nature Source. One early draft of it worked similar to that. *Rubs chin in thought.*
CHANGES TO TENSION
I made two modifications to the current draft of the resource system (which is now updated in the document):
1) The maximum tension now scales with 1/2 level (minimum 1) plus the source modifier
2) You can no longer go two tension over your maximum. If you raise your tension above your maximum, you become fatigued and can't use tension-raising abilities until the tension lowers. This simplifies the interaction a bit more, and makes it easier to describe.
RESPONSE TO SUGGESTIONS
I really like the idea of a resource system where each ability used adds points and forces you to make a save with a DC based on the number of points or suffer some affliction. Something like this might work for when the artiforged goes over their maximum, but I will have to look over the numbers to see if this can work. This would also make the system much more complicated, though.
Taking damage when over the maximum sounds interesting, but using hit points as a resource pool like this can be unpredictable because the player (and other factors) have a huge impact on the capacity. Depending on the character's maximum hit points, taking damage could be severe or trivial.
Thats funny because while I was writing that, I felt it was more offensive! :)
Also, it was written quickly from start to finish. I copy & pasted your arcane source and rewrote the new parts. Didn't go back to the start and rewrite, so it lacks cohesion. Anyhow, use whatever you like.
I suggested previously that some specific details of integrated armor be worked into the power source, but I'm going to go further and say that the second paragraph of power surge should as well. The skill and ability check bonuses can be more or less the same for each power source, but you'll also be able to customize it a bit too.
I suggested previously that some specific details of integrated armor be worked into the power source, but I'm going to go further and say that the second paragraph of power surge should as well. The skill and ability check bonuses can be more or less the same for each power source, but you'll also be able to customize it a bit too.
You suggest the power source affecting what skill and ability checks the power surge buffs? That's a really good idea. I do want to revisit how that part of power surge works. I really love the idea that you basically become the Six Million Dollar Man when you power surge--letting you do amazing acrobatic stuff in addition to greater precision and power.
I suggest it in a general way, not that you implement what I wrote to everything. Bonuses to multiple physical ability checks might be appropriate for some power sources, but not neccessarily to others.
I don't know what power sources you have in mind (arcane, nature, psionic, combustion, clockwork, steam, ether, etc) but I see a lot of room to get very creative.
Power Source is a pretty fun design space.
To fix an issue mentioned earlier, I'm wondering if I should allow the player to choose what type of armor their integrated armor is for the purpose of enhancements. Or just let them choose whatever enhancements they want. I'm trying to think why this would be a bad idea.
What type? Such as breastplate or chain mail?
I did some research on clockwork creatures recently, so I put this together:
Thousands of intricate springs, screws, and gears churn and turn inside your augmented body. Many of your upgrades consist of implanted clockwork devices.
Class Skill: Craft (clockworks).
Source Modifier: Intelligence.
Source Quirk: You gain Lightning Reflexes as a bonus feat. Your clockwork source must be wound up each day by placing a special key into a small orifice in your chest and turning it for one full round an—an action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Thereafter, your clockwork source is active for 24 hours. When your clockwork source runs down, you cannot raise tension until you are wound up again. While your clockwork source is active, it generates a distinctive ticking sound that can be heard with a DC 15 Perception check.
Source Powers:
Clockwork Surge (Ex): During a power surge, you gain a +2 inherent bonus to your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution score. This bonus increases to +4 at 8th level, and to +6 at 16th level. You can change this bonus to a new ability score whenever you begin a power surge. At 20th level, this bonus applies to two of these ability scores of your choice.
Clockwork Servant (Ex): At 5th level, you acquire the service of a clockwork familiar that gains abilities as a wizard's familiar, using your class level as your wizard level. When your clockwork familiar is within arm's reach when you initiate a power surge, it is affected by your power surge as well.
Overclock (Ex): At 9th level, when you begin a power surge, you may increase your tension by 1 as a swift action to gain the effects of haste until the end of your power surge.
Override (Ex): At 13th level, you may increase your tension by 1 as a swift action to ignore any mind-affecting (compulsion) effect that is affecting you for 1 round.
Self-Repair (Ex): At 17th level, when you begin a power surge, you may increase your tension by 1 as a swift action to gain fast healing 10 for a number of rounds equal to your source modifier.
Forged Perfection (Ex): At 20th level, you are more clockwork construct than human. You are immune to death effects, disease, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). You are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. You are not at risk of death from massive damage.
That's pretty cool, Amanuensis! I really like the source quirk. I thought about adding a little line for each source about what it takes to upkeep it. Something very minor similar to how you have to wind up your source each day.
What type? Such as breastplate or chain mail?
Light, medium, or heavy armor. Some enhancements only work for certain armor categories.