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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Boldo" data-source="post: 9666608" data-attributes="member: 7047369">This isn't great writing, but it's all the collected notes/issues we had over the campaign with the Mad Scientist and Mechanic.Mad Scientist OverviewThe basic framework was alright. A caster-ish class with up to level 7 not-spells, most of which are blasting anyhow so not much to worry about narrative breaking. On the spellcaster side, this is pretty straightforward.However, in the long run, they can fall a behind other casters (full or otherwise) in that department due to a lack of power-staff or 'wand of the war mage' equivalents for the tech weapon their spells use.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Yes, at 18th you get an expertise die, but so many games don't get that far, and even a prestige class (3 levels) would lock it out for good. For most players it's unfortunately "basically never".</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If there were a way to cannibalize or attune an item INTO your technological focus the way Pact of the Blade, Eldritch Gunslingers, or 5e Inventors can do, that would solve the issue.</li> </ul>Our big problem came with Forbidden Knowledge. POSSIBLY Rite Master can be used as one of the selections, but beyond that (level 6, 13) every single feat available is of the "people will find out and smite your blood-cult aft" variety. It's not uncaring, it's not "we were so busy thinking about whether we could"... The feats kinda go out of their way to advertise puppy-blending.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Merely amoral would fit the mad scientist theme, but the options given are neither subtle nor converted to equivalent tech. What part of cannibalizing kids and wearing their skin says "mad scientist"? Starving diseased creatures to poison more wells sounds more like a Diabolist thing doesn't it? Why does our jetpack HAVE to involve dismembering a winged horse?</li> </ul>The ritual feats in particular are a lot of risk for very little gain (and often low durations), so the whole Forbidden Knowledge feature made quite the sticking point.Fleshworker can be considered fine since at least it's a subclass within the class; like choosing an Oath of Tyranny Paladin., but even that one would greatly benefit from a "you are copying the effects of, not ritually torturing a celestial to death" clause. That you'd be automatically marked as irredeemably evil just for gaining the feats is again narrowing things needlessly. Still funny that 'Engineer of Evil' is arguably the least evil of all three subclasses.The PC:As a result of the feat problem, our DM 'gently pushed' the "MSci" into an alternative: The Technomagic Brawler pair and Scavenger. This would in the grand scheme of things be a bit too limited a list of feats (literally three), but allowed our Trickster to not qualify for immediate smiting or get debuffed by protection from evil just for having dared reach level 6.Overcharged Shot helped compensate for the base class' problem in ranged spell shots, but mechanically it's a bit of a 'slap-patch' scenario. Having the "tax" by choosing the right subclass doesn't rectify the issue for other subclasses.Bombthrower rarely got used for not-fog-clouds; it's not so much that the ability itself is bad, but on a class with tons of AoE spell access already, and the GP value is restrictive... it was oft ignored in terms of "is 4d6 (later 2x) worth my action". Using your own Save DC helped grenades stay at least a bit relevant.</blockquote>

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