Kelleris
Explorer
I recently got the chance to publish, in PDF format through EN Publishing, something I’ve been working on for a good while. How that happened is a long story, but the reason I’m posting is because I would like to get a sense of how interested the denizens of EN World would be in my take on a fairly esoteric topic, before I commit to the (pretty extensive) project of writing a PDF book in an organized and timely manner (as compared to writing it in my spare time, which is neither organized nor timely).
The project in question is my take on a Technologist as a base class for otherwise fairly normal D&D games that want to have a high-technology “spellcasting tradition” alongside their arcane, divine, and possibly psionic counterparts. I conceive of my technologist as forming a forth option for aspiring wonder-workers, rather than the more common widespread steampunk-type way of working technology into a fantasy setting. The idea is that technology isn’t really a huge mystery per se, and it isn’t static in the sense that nobody is interested in it, and it therefore never develops. Instead, it’s simply the cosmic underdog – any technology above a certain (D&D default) level just doesn’t work very well, even if commune-ing clerics and contact other plane-ing wizards long ago figured out the physical laws of reality.
In my own campaign, this is because magic relies on reality-distorting static produced by planar interactions – this static makes the operation of physical laws uncertain. But the dominance of magic over technology can be explained in a number of ways; perhaps the gods prevent high technology from working because they see it as inimical to their power source, or maybe the metaphysical laws of the multiverse are simply changing naturally over time to something without consistently-operating physical laws, something based instead on the beliefs of mortals or the mysterious flow of arcane power.
The upshot of all this is that super-tech is possible, but it takes a special kind of “spellcaster” to manage – someone who can remove the taint of magic from the device as well as design and build it. The result is a Technologist that fits in well with a high- or mid-magic world, since it’s built with the assumption that technology is, like other kinds of spellcasting, limited to specialists and impossible to mass-produce. It's a spellcasting tradition or discipline, not an industry.
As for the specific details, the class is a point-based caster class with a pyramidal progression – they get many more lower-level devices (“gadgets”) than they get high-powered ones (“artifacts”). Their point progression (“stabilization points”) is also bottom-heavy, with level-one-equivalent devices costing a mere 5 points to activate and level-nine-equivalent ones costing a whopping 135 points. In addition to making the class progression more linear (and avoiding the common spellcaster problem of cream-puffery at low levels and omnipotence at high levels), this has the effect of encouraging technologist characters to rely on their tried-and-tested tools, while saving the orbital deathray for special occasions.![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
In general terms, the class has a limited number of devices known (about 35 over the progression), coupled with a roughly wizard-like number of slots (though these slots are slanted toward lower levels, as noted). In exchange for being relatively weak as full casters go, they receive cleric BAB (though many more devices than spells require attack rolls), 6+ skills (from a list roughly as good as a bard’s, but focused on science and technology – so not many social skills, sneaking, or athletics skills), and some other benefits.
Well, I could continue to pontificate, but howsabout a sample device to explain things with?
I’ll start at the top – here’s the Imperial null-space cannon:
You can see a few more details from this example. As you can see, Technologists are pretty good at blowing things up. This talent is balanced by a weakness in other areas to create a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that complements the well-known strengths and weaknesses of divine and arcane magic. Technologists are particularly skilled at aiding and employing skill checks, for instance, and many devices require one of a variety of skill checks to function optimally. Their healing ability is between the wizard's and the cleric's, but closer to the wizard's. And so on.
Also worth noting is the listed expensive component. The majority of devices (in the neighborhood of 80%) have such components, using them to increase their effectiveness in lieu of the magical traditions' metamagic feats. They pay for these with craft points, using a system adapted from that presented in Unearthed Arcana.
This particular device is also an excellent example of the bottom-heavy progression that Technologists employ. Note the 135-point activation cost - spread out over the 3 full rounds of the device's use, this come out to 435 stabilization point to use the Imperial null-space cannon effectively. This is a little more than half the base number of stabilization points that a 20th-level technologist gains.
Another major theme is antimagic, spell-like abilities that can be taken in place of a device selection. Although technological devices are incapable of manipulating magical energies themselves, Technologists can with some practice channel their ability to purify their devices of magical influence into more potent ways of countering the powers of the other spellcasting disciplines. For instance, at the other end of the scale a beginning Technologist could learn to suppress spell:
Those are the basics of the class. The book in question will present the Technologist, a list of devices roughly equal in number to the number of psionic powers in the XPH, and various other things to help introduce high technology into your campaign as a spellcasting tradition.
So, would you buy this book? If so, what would you like to see, beyond the basics? Is there anything that concerns or particularly interests you? If not, is there anything that would convince you to at least take another look?
I'd much rather know what kind of interest level I'm getting into than find out after the project is completed!
The project in question is my take on a Technologist as a base class for otherwise fairly normal D&D games that want to have a high-technology “spellcasting tradition” alongside their arcane, divine, and possibly psionic counterparts. I conceive of my technologist as forming a forth option for aspiring wonder-workers, rather than the more common widespread steampunk-type way of working technology into a fantasy setting. The idea is that technology isn’t really a huge mystery per se, and it isn’t static in the sense that nobody is interested in it, and it therefore never develops. Instead, it’s simply the cosmic underdog – any technology above a certain (D&D default) level just doesn’t work very well, even if commune-ing clerics and contact other plane-ing wizards long ago figured out the physical laws of reality.
In my own campaign, this is because magic relies on reality-distorting static produced by planar interactions – this static makes the operation of physical laws uncertain. But the dominance of magic over technology can be explained in a number of ways; perhaps the gods prevent high technology from working because they see it as inimical to their power source, or maybe the metaphysical laws of the multiverse are simply changing naturally over time to something without consistently-operating physical laws, something based instead on the beliefs of mortals or the mysterious flow of arcane power.
The upshot of all this is that super-tech is possible, but it takes a special kind of “spellcaster” to manage – someone who can remove the taint of magic from the device as well as design and build it. The result is a Technologist that fits in well with a high- or mid-magic world, since it’s built with the assumption that technology is, like other kinds of spellcasting, limited to specialists and impossible to mass-produce. It's a spellcasting tradition or discipline, not an industry.
As for the specific details, the class is a point-based caster class with a pyramidal progression – they get many more lower-level devices (“gadgets”) than they get high-powered ones (“artifacts”). Their point progression (“stabilization points”) is also bottom-heavy, with level-one-equivalent devices costing a mere 5 points to activate and level-nine-equivalent ones costing a whopping 135 points. In addition to making the class progression more linear (and avoiding the common spellcaster problem of cream-puffery at low levels and omnipotence at high levels), this has the effect of encouraging technologist characters to rely on their tried-and-tested tools, while saving the orbital deathray for special occasions.
In general terms, the class has a limited number of devices known (about 35 over the progression), coupled with a roughly wizard-like number of slots (though these slots are slanted toward lower levels, as noted). In exchange for being relatively weak as full casters go, they receive cleric BAB (though many more devices than spells require attack rolls), 6+ skills (from a list roughly as good as a bard’s, but focused on science and technology – so not many social skills, sneaking, or athletics skills), and some other benefits.
Well, I could continue to pontificate, but howsabout a sample device to explain things with?
I’ll start at the top – here’s the Imperial null-space cannon:The Technologist said:
You can see a few more details from this example. As you can see, Technologists are pretty good at blowing things up. This talent is balanced by a weakness in other areas to create a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that complements the well-known strengths and weaknesses of divine and arcane magic. Technologists are particularly skilled at aiding and employing skill checks, for instance, and many devices require one of a variety of skill checks to function optimally. Their healing ability is between the wizard's and the cleric's, but closer to the wizard's. And so on.
Also worth noting is the listed expensive component. The majority of devices (in the neighborhood of 80%) have such components, using them to increase their effectiveness in lieu of the magical traditions' metamagic feats. They pay for these with craft points, using a system adapted from that presented in Unearthed Arcana.
This particular device is also an excellent example of the bottom-heavy progression that Technologists employ. Note the 135-point activation cost - spread out over the 3 full rounds of the device's use, this come out to 435 stabilization point to use the Imperial null-space cannon effectively. This is a little more than half the base number of stabilization points that a 20th-level technologist gains.
Another major theme is antimagic, spell-like abilities that can be taken in place of a device selection. Although technological devices are incapable of manipulating magical energies themselves, Technologists can with some practice channel their ability to purify their devices of magical influence into more potent ways of countering the powers of the other spellcasting disciplines. For instance, at the other end of the scale a beginning Technologist could learn to suppress spell:
The Technologist said:
Those are the basics of the class. The book in question will present the Technologist, a list of devices roughly equal in number to the number of psionic powers in the XPH, and various other things to help introduce high technology into your campaign as a spellcasting tradition.
So, would you buy this book? If so, what would you like to see, beyond the basics? Is there anything that concerns or particularly interests you? If not, is there anything that would convince you to at least take another look?
I'd much rather know what kind of interest level I'm getting into than find out after the project is completed!
