Technomancy


Iron Gods

Silver Crusade

Any chance, James Jacobs, that we will see either in the AP or a companion book a way to become a technomancer? (Either via archtype or something else?) Really like the idea of a wizard or comparitible class being able to do more than just make clockworks & few steampunkish type items.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The word "technomancer" is a really cool one. It doesn't mean anything in Pathfinder/Golarion context though...

Yet.

That said, the Technic League is all about the mixing of arcane magic and technology, and they're going to be an important part of Iron Gods...

So wait and see, I guess! ;-)

Silver Crusade

Thx James!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber
James Jacobs wrote:


That said, the Technic League is all about the mixing of arcane magic and technology, and they're going to be an important part of Iron Gods...

Sweet!

Silver Crusade

The reason i had asked is because the magical marketplace entry for the alkenstar marketplace person had a text blurb about how he knew more than the technomancers in alkenstar. I figured technomancy was a thing there and probably in Numeria as well.


I smell a prestige class coming on.


Could also be a term for people who've gone past the basic four machines and on to more advanced tech. Alkenstar being kind of a country of genius and vision and all that.

Silver Crusade

When I hear Technomancy, I think of the Technn-mages of the Babylon 5 universe and the technomancy they practiced. They were one of my favorite characters in Babylon 5.

:
Just as the Vorlons meddled in the genetic make up to make telepaths for their war, the Shadows, infused their agents with organic technology to make Techno mages as living weapons for their war with the Vorlons

One of Arthur C Clarks laws: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I don't think you really need a brand new class...perhaps an archtype might do....

But all you really need to do is change the flavor of spells slightly then you have "sci fi tech".

For example: stick a handle on a "wand of Scorching Ray" and you could have a "plasma" gun.

A good book to read is City of the Fallen Sky. The main character is

:
an alchemist and he studied under the Technic League in Numaria, and he stole several Technical Artifacts which he uses in the novel

I am however interested to learn more about Numeria, and what sorts of things the Technic League digs out of Silver Mount.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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"Technomancer" is too evocative and fun a word to not attach to rules some day.

Wait and see, in other words!


As I reread the entry on Numeria in the Inner Sea Worldguide, I'm struck by the description of the Technic League as "... a band of powerful and debased arcanists..."

Now, I (and probably others) have always assumed that to mean these guys are wizards and/or sorcerers. But, with the advent of the upcoming Advanced Class Guide, could we be looking at a more literal translation of the term, with the Technic League being Golarion's first official gathering of Arcanists?


*cracks opens a clock and reads (in)auspicious signs within its mechanics*

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cthulhudrew wrote:

As I reread the entry on Numeria in the Inner Sea Worldguide, I'm struck by the description of the Technic League as "... a band of powerful and debased arcanists..."

Now, I (and probably others) have always assumed that to mean these guys are wizards and/or sorcerers. But, with the advent of the upcoming Advanced Class Guide, could we be looking at a more literal translation of the term, with the Technic League being Golarion's first official gathering of Arcanists?

Before the Advanced Class Guide, we used the word "arcanist" in the same way as "priest." It was a generic word for "character who can weild arcane magic like a bard, wizard, sorcerer, witch, alchemist, magus, or the like." In fact, I argued against using the word arcanist for a class for this exact reason—hunter is another tricky one, but not as bad.

There may well be arcanists among the Technic Leage, but the vast majority of them are sorcerers, wizards, and magi.


You can still try to beat some sense into other mechanics developers heads with a styrofoam bat and make them call that class mage or something...


Ah, thanks, James. I figured it was the case, but as a big fan of the v2.0 Arcanist, I was hopeful they may have found their niche location, even if only by retcon due to wording. :)

While we're at it, though, do you think any of the Advanced Classes might pop up in the AP at some point, or is it unlikely given the concurrent development times of the two products?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Drejk wrote:
You can still try to beat some sense into other mechanics developers heads with a styrofoam bat and make them call that class mage or something...

1) Mage is WAY too close to magus.

2) I'll see what I can do... but now that the playtest is out and the name "arcanist" is in everyone's head... doubtful that'll change. Folks will just have to be confused now and then.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Cthulhudrew wrote:

Ah, thanks, James. I figured it was the case, but as a big fan of the v2.0 Arcanist, I was hopeful they may have found their niche location, even if only by retcon due to wording. :)

While we're at it, though, do you think any of the Advanced Classes might pop up in the AP at some point, or is it unlikely given the concurrent development times of the two products?

Arcanists will have a place in the setting... not sure where yet, since of all the 10 classes, their flavor is the one that's the weakest and needs the most work to give them a stronger role in any world. There can certainly be arcanists among the Technic League... but that group is by design made up of all sorts of classes.

At this point, some of the Advanced Classes could pop up as soon as in Iron Gods. After all... Advanced Player's Guide came out the same day as Souls for Smuggler's Shiv, and that adventure had a witch...


James Jacobs wrote:
Arcanists will have a place in the setting... not sure where yet, since of all the 10 classes, their flavor is the one that's the weakest and needs the most work to give them a stronger role in any world.

Understood. I imagine they should be fairly rare, in any event. Which reminds me, I need to get back to work on adapting the story (and arcanist-like character) that I had started years ago for a Mystara-Alphatian setting to Golarion; so far the shift has been pretty organic, but maybe I can get in into the Pathfinder fiction contest this year.

Silver Crusade

Glad to see your doing this for real, James!

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Technomancers are all cool and jazz, but what about MECHROMANCERS?


Necrogineers!


Technoromancers.


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Necromongers?


Nanomancers.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Gorbacz wrote:
Technomancers are all cool and jazz, but what about MECHROMANCERS?

Been playing some borderlands 2 huh? ;-)


Evil Midnight Lurker wrote:
Nanomancers.

Nanomancy is an ancient and secret art studied on Old Earth.

Liberty's Edge

Evil Midnight Lurker wrote:
Nanomancers.
Drejk wrote:
Nanomancy is an ancient and secret art studied on Old Earth.

I believe you are thinking of neuromancy.


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You know, for some reason, I keep imagining the leadership of the techno guilds to look and behave something like Dr. Rusty Venture.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

On the technomancer front, did anyone see this before it disappeared from the openly-listed products?

Technology Guide


Joshua Goudreau wrote:
Evil Midnight Lurker wrote:
Nanomancers.
Drejk wrote:
Nanomancy is an ancient and secret art studied on Old Earth.
I believe you are thinking of neuromancy.

Different thing.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Drejk wrote:
Nanomancy is an ancient and secret art studied on Old Earth.

As opposed to Nanoomancy, which is an ancient and secret art studied on Ork.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

So will The Techno-Wizards have Ley Line Gliders? What about Magic Holy Water Guns?

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Magic holy water guns are more the purview of the Gozran sect, the Super Soakerians.

Some Abadarans also like to use +1 merciful nerf guns to capture criminals. And errant children.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

On a serious note, though, that book does have a technomancer prestige class.

Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4

If you're interested, I have an interview with James Jacobs that goes into the technology guide a little.

Find it here.

Contributor

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I just published Classy Characters: Robomancer today, which is on-topic for this discussion...


Sean K Reynolds wrote:
I just published Classy Characters: Robomancer today, which is on-topic for this discussion...

I do plan on buying this once it's out on Paizo (and add it to my list of Artificer / engineer type options...Never thought I'd have you on that list!). I'm especially curious to see if you used a construct stat block as the basis of the mechrilon, and if so, how you solved the issues that causes with some of the Outsider intrinsic designs of the normal eidolon.


Anorak wrote:
So will The Techno-Wizards have Ley Line Gliders? What about Magic Holy Water Guns?

I'm giving you an internet high five right now.

Contributor

Cheapy wrote:
I do plan on buying this once it's out on Paizo (and add it to my list of Artificer / engineer type options...Never thought I'd have you on that list!). I'm especially curious to see if you used a construct stat block as the basis of the mechrilon, and if so, how you solved the issues that causes with some of the Outsider intrinsic designs of the normal eidolon.

There are construct elements that you can build into your mechrilon, like DR/adamantine, a breath weapon like an iron golem's, and so on. They informed the design ideas, but did not constrain them (I think it's better to not alter the eidolon framework too much and just use evolutions to create a construct-like eidolon, than to scrap most of the existing outsider eidolon setup and replace it with a construct chassis, which could have harmful design consequences in interactions with other rules).


Excellent to hear. I've seen a number of homebrew attempts at a similar concept, and they tended to use construct as the base. They then have huge struggles with how to fix all the issues it causes, and it just brings the archetype down. Like not going away when it's asleep :) Now I just need to bribe Liz to get it up here faster...

Contributor

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Cheapy wrote:
Sean K Reynolds wrote:
I just published Classy Characters: Robomancer today, which is on-topic for this discussion...
I do plan on buying this once it's out on Paizo

Now available on Paizo.com!


Cheapy wrote:
Excellent to hear. I've seen a number of homebrew attempts at a similar concept, and they tended to use construct as the base. They then have huge struggles with how to fix all the issues it causes, and it just brings the archetype down. Like not going away when it's asleep :)

That one would be very simple - instead of vanishing, the construct servant would go inert.

Yes. I worked a bit on a variant of summoner-based artificer, like a legion of other compulsive homebrewers, but never reached the phase of posting it.

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