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Similar to elemental binding would be demontech, where weapons and machines are powered by demons imprisoned inside them. David Sherman has a whole series of novels based on it.
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Back-Demontech-David-Sherman-ebook/dp/B0055DYLCU
You could do something similar with angels, proteans or other outsiders.
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Speaking as someone whose introduction to the fantasy genre was Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger... dotting the hell out of this.
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Mostly modifications to existing magic items. . . .
Agreed.
Sometimes its as simple as an adamantine block with valves, a decanter of endless water, and a permanent wall of fire for endless steam power akin to steamboy, with the few power engines being jealously protected.
Sometimes its ruins of an ancient civilization with unbelievable machines, like huge laser cannons (10 minute charge times between blasts, uses an intensified, empowered, enlarged lightning bolt as a base with a 5%-10% chance to explode upon use due to age) or an underground lab with injected potions that alter a subjects DNA (add templates) or canisters of nerve gas (sickening, widened acid fog).
Sometimes its 'anti-matter' fueled sky ships using to tiny switchable gates, one to the positive energy plane and one to the negative energy plane, inside a hardened adamantine sphere that channels the resulting explosive energy or a slightly shimmering wall of force that reflects sunlight and uses it as propulsion.
As long as you link it to a consistent theme, it works.
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What if it's a nation based on invention, even though it's not exactly necessary for survival anymore like it used to it's so ingrained into their culture that they still constantly invent things to improve their lifestyle and security, resulting in a lot of magitech, there is no consistent theme because each individual mind is different.
That sounds like reality to me.
One of the ways i like to implement magitech is basically normal tech that when magic is channeled into it either through the character or a magic battery. the magic channeled into it would allow it to achieve preset capabilities beyond the users natural capabilities or by defying the natural laws of physics/universe.
some examples: you have a gun, normally it works like a gun. with some magic, the bullet gets greater distance, ignores wind resistance to a degree, etc.
or maybe a sword that with some magic can do that anime style beam slash thing that Ichigo or Link (from legend of zelda) uses.
A (somewhat) interesting use of the "magic battery" concept (which was one of the best parts of the techno-wizard concept of Rifts, IMO) is to adapt the staff rules to other weapons (melee or ranged). Expensive, but it allows a wider range of effects than your standard conductive or spell storing weapon.
Instead of a +1 shock quarterstaff with a spell trigger lightning bolt, you have a +1 shock composite longbow (+2 Str bonus) with a spell trigger lightning bolt for the same market price. Or maybe a rapier of accompaniment instead of a staff of accompaniment would make a nice item for a bard (or a scythe of dark flame instead of a staff of dark flame for a necromancy-focused character). A more technical version could be a +1 dragon pistol with spell trigger burning hands and scorching ray.
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Function Rod, based partially on a Inertialess Rod and a Rod of Lordly Might.
Button 1: Blade comes out, extends from dagger size to bastard sword/retracts.
Button 2: Rod lengthens up to 12' long/retracts. Combine with #1 for a spear, short to long. Fully functional jo sticks or bo staff.
Button 3: Splits apart/rejoins. Two of these. Can split into up to 4 smaller versions of itself, for dual wielding. Bastard sword forms up to two longswords or 4 shortswords.
Button 4: Splits apart, but joined by chains, up to 20. Can be used as a rope, bindings, nunchaku, three-piece rods (using split), chain darts.
Button 5: Locks in place as an inertialess rod/releases. Since the rod can split into two, this can form your own movable handholds in midair.
Button 6: Raises the rod/lowers it. weight limit can be wherever you want it to be.
Button 7 (ends) Hollows the rod out into a tube. Viable as a breathing device or a blow gun.
Button 8 (Breaks open one end that flowers opens like a funnel) revealing 1 cubic feet of interior dimensional space suitable for storing emergency goods.
Typically enchanted to +4, the enchantment is split among the various parts of the rod if it is divided into multiple parts.
Function Rods are often issued to special agents of the government, who don't know what kind of weapon they might need in the course of their missions, or to adventures who find they enjoy the multiple uses. For professional burglars and thieves, the acquisition of one for themselves is often a sign they've 'arrived' in the top tier of cat burglars.
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Flarelight: Hollow metal tube with Continual Flame or flames cast on a Sinhalas stone for illumination (sinhalas prevents magical darkness from forming within 30', which prevents the Flame from being dispelled).
Lotus on the front of it can narrow the beam down. Polarized lenses can dim it or be colored as desired. The crystal can be held back in the mirrored handle to make a narrow beam, or fully extruded to throw light in all directions.
The closed end of it has a clip-on, and an unscrewable magnet with a second Continual Flame attached to it, designed to be stuck to a shield or helm if desired.
The tube is hollow and will float in water, and yet is sturdy enough and of fine enough construction to be used (or enchanted as) a simple club if made masterwork.
Smaller versions are made down to pencil size by those people desiring more discretion in their choice of illumination. Various lenses have been designed to incorporate Detect Invisibility, Detect Magic, Faerie Fire, and other spells into the beam of the Flarelights.
A serial number is secretly stamped on the inside of each rod, so that if they are lost they can be easily tracked by an experienced scryer.
The rods themselves are generally plain and non-magical, the continual flames are provided for free by Called Lantern Archons, the sinhalas stones are of the cheapest kind. These lights have become common tools issued to guards and watchmen of many areas.
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Fiery Forge/Furnace: This Forge is powered by a Permanent Empowered Wall of Fire at 12th level, for an average fire damage of 28 pts/rd...hot enough to melt adamantine. The outside of the forge itself is enchanted with Resist Fire that affects everyone within 5', granting them Resist Fire: 30 and so making them and the forge itself immune to the heat of the flames.
Smiths with one of these are infamous for reaching into the whitehot flames with their bare hands and extracting the metal they are working on.
If used as a furnace, air is forced through the fire and spread throughout the air via piping and vents. The furnace puts out enough heat to keep a fairly large castle quite warm, and directly heats hot water for the convenience and pleasure of those who live there.
They are often paired with anvils and ovens/stoves that cast heat metal to aid in keeping items hot or aiding in cooking.
==Aelryinth
From Various Sources:
Power Systems It's been mentioned about the use of various Outsiders bound to provide power. RotRL and I think CoT both have Devils bound to power sources, and a module or two have Elementals, so it has precedent in Pathfinder. A variation on that is using various monsters, like Shocker Lizards as an electrical source.
Gems are also a possibility, both as batteries to store raw power and as conduits and other components. An extra caveat is often that the gem/crystal often has to have some... compatability with the type of magic being used (like Rubies for Fire Magic, as a common example). Palladium Books' Rifts RPG uses this extensively (among others), and Minotaur Games has a PDF available on this site that's a good jumping-off point.
Another flavor idea for those who may not want to just hand over Magitech to their players is to (stolen freely from Kid Icarus: Uprising) put it in the hands of Celestials and Fiends, particularly Lawful ones like Archons and Devils, to give them a more otherworldly flavor. Like so:
[url]http://www.kidicaruswiki.org/images/1/15/Aether_ring.png[/url]
[url]http://www.kidicaruswiki.org/images/b/b8/GreatSacredTreasureAR.jpg[/url]
[url]http://www.kidicaruswiki.org/images/thumb/f/f7/Cannon.jpg/573px-Cannon.jpg[/url]
The Brown Mold air conditioner Cold Spore 1000, We Keep it Cool!:
Steel box of various sizes, located high in a building structure with fans to send hot air up to the box. The brown mold's icy aura continually cools the hot air, which is redirected back down into the building via other ventwork. In cold weather, the upcoming air shaft is simply sealed, and the mold goes dormant until there is more heat to absorb. An emergency latch to open the mold to the sun and kill it in event of emergency is standard on all models.
==Aelryinth
Dot for later.
So, uh, while it's not directly related, your thread inspired some ideas (mostly as, it seems, I was avoiding coming up with ideas about magitech).
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One of the ways i like to implement magitech is basically normal tech that when magic is channeled into it either through the character or a magic battery. the magic channeled into it would allow it to achieve preset capabilities beyond the users natural capabilities or by defying the natural laws of physics/universe.
some examples: you have a gun, normally it works like a gun. with some magic, the bullet gets greater distance, ignores wind resistance to a degree, etc.
or maybe a sword that with some magic can do that anime style beam slash thing that Ichigo or Link (from legend of zelda) uses.
The Full Bore Grit Ammo Master:
This seemingly-normal sidearm has a dimensionally compressed barrel that is actually six feet long (try rolling a marble through it next to a six foot pipe and see!). The Variable Dimension Aperture accepts ammo sizes from .22 kiddie rounds to .75 caliber Dragon-Stoppers, and the magazine chamber will even accept clips of the same! The range and accuracy of the weapon are comparable to the finest of sniper rifles, although true feats of marksmanship will likely require a proper tripod, bracing, and scopes as normal.Paper Bullets:
First used on the Demon-Chewer D60M Automatic Weapon, these rolls of paper are actually Itemized Ammunition belts strung together and converted to paper for long-term storage space and weight savings. An average roll consists of 10,000 .50 caliber armor-piercing or tracer rounds, but takes up the weight and space of a telephone book or large roll of lottery tickets. The feed mechanism cleverly dispels the itemization effect of each paper bullet as it enters the chamber, reducing moving parts and enabling a smoother, higher rate of fire, with substantial savings in ease of portability!
The Cryobore Sustained Muzzle Treatment:
Used on Automatic weapons or artillery with a high rate of fire and muzzle heating, this ubiquitous alchemical treatment keeps metal to a constant 40 degrees Fahrenheit, regardless of how much the weapon is fired, great extending the life of the barrel and aiding consistent aiming and firing patterns as the muzzle does not expand or contract in adverse temperatures, making for a more reliable shot.
Berries Ready to Eat:
Coming in all berry types and flavors, these alchemically coated Goodberries retain their nourishing powers for up to five years, and some soldiers have claimed eating working BRE's fifteen years or more old! Coated in a minty wax that preserves their freshness, BRE's are an infantryman's meal of choice, taking up very little room and yet satisfying an entire day's food requirements with one sweet mouthful.
Parasalt Tablets:
These cheap alchemical pills of pure elemental salt, when consumed, reduce daily water intake need to 0. While some people complain of perpetual dry skin, sandy mouth, and gritty tears, the convenience of not having to lug around gallons of drinking water in hot environments means the tradeoff is more then worth it to the overburdened infantryman!
==Aelryinth
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Right when I'm in the midst of prepping my FF6/Rune Factory homage campaign too...
Thanks everyone!
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The new setting "Thunderscape: World of Aden" has a class called the "Mechamage" that specializes in creating technology that combines science and magic through the use of a special rare metal that can hold a magical charge called "Manite". They have the ability to build golems, mechamagical vehicles and install Manite implants into a person turning them into a steamtech cyborg. They probably also could create a Magi-tech style battle suit although you'ed have to come up with some house rules for its functions.
An idea I had for a civilian-grade magitek device: A heatless, portable kiln. Fill the provided molds with dirt, mud or whatever, and the petrification magic turns them into stone blocks in seconds. Useful for towns, colonies, armies, or anyone who needs fortifications fast.
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I know in my experience the elemental binding is by far what I run into most commonly, this has ranged from air and fire elementals to fuel airships, earth elementals to power Tanks and fire elementals for trains, things like that. Other cases I've run into advanced uses of alchemy, such as a rifle that used chemically compressed steam to fire (this was back in 3.5 before PF Gunslinger rules, it was fun). I've also run into campaign settings where certain "tech" runs on a magic fuel, in some of them the fuel was gems or pure arcane power, in others the fuel was souls, etc etc. These ranged from tech-golems, to entire mechanical cities.
I know in one of my campaigns we've been running with the one third-party class the Tinker, which has lead to all sorts of interesting shenanigans.
EDIT: adding quote for context, because ninja'd by, about... 34 minutes.
On the topic of Cyborgs, does anyone have balanced rules for Cyborgs?
In what way?
If you wanted, you could turn someone into a cyborg by borrowing the imbedded ioun stones rules, and just subsituting "tech" for "ioun stone effect", including lesser and dangerous variants (flawed or cracked versions).
That's more or less how I handled it. That or something like a rechargeable staff that you couldn't disarm.
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Construct Power Armour modification, works like Construct Armour but the construct must be at least 1 size category larger than the "driver", is not useable only by the creator, allows the use of the golem's attacks and extraordinary special attacks and all defensive capabilities while it is still alive, and functions as full plate.
For the most part, Fantasy worlds tend to come at the issue from the wrong end to even make magic cybernetics even a concept. If you got 1000 gp, you can probably have a missing limb regenerated by a cleric. If you can't afford that, you probably couldn't afford a construct limb, either.
Likewise, Augmentation is already handled by Enhancement spell+Permanency and/or implanted Ioun Stones, as mentioned already.
That said, I guess it's still kind of doable. After all, there's the Alchemical Golem in the Bestiary (3, I think) and Living Tank from the RoW AP, which are essentially Full-Body-Conversion cyborgs.
oi, but the construct limb is 'functionally' better then just your arm. Same thing with Fleshgrafting. You are also assuming there's a divine caster around of high enough level to cast the spell, or you can just lay your hands on a scroll, neither of which may be true.
Cricket, your Arena Spell is similar to the Circles of Blood I use in my campaign, where basically everyone within the circle gains regen/10 while within the circle, the healing effect kicking in only when there has been no fighting for 1 round. It requires a caster pumping cantrips or powering up with spell slots for a specific duration, instead of being permanent, however, to keep costs down.
Used in most serous fighting academies as well as gladiatorial bloodsports.
==Aelryinth
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Great, now I won't be to watch movies in my underwear anymore. :)
To steal an idea from Yamara, you could use the cleaned and hollowed-out carcass of a Colossal insect of any kind, plus an animate dead, to create cheap assault tanks. (Very good natural armor - and flight and/or climb speeds are almost universal.) Sit inside the thorax and issue commands. Add cannon, flamethrowers or just a few arrow slits to fire wands through and you're ready to invade!
It gets even worse if you're willing to spend the extra money to make a juju zombie version. ;)
This was actually a standard method used in Dark Sun. Merchant caravans used undead beetles for transportation and defense, and military for transport.
==Aelryinth
More quick Cyborg ideas (and one re-used):
implaneted ioun stones (re-fluffed)
piecemeal armor (as grafts)
magic tattoos (probably with alternate powers)
Make all of this stuff non-magical and make it 1.5 x normal cost.
I like to mix biomechanical concepts (H.R. Giger) with technomagic that's half Eberron, half RIFTS!
One of my ideas I've thrown around is a living demiplane fueled by engineering and magical energies circulated through a mechanical heart that helps the energies go to the right places of this realm. The realm itself has an almost fleshy ground with cybernetic augmentations running throughout. Alchemical fluids, magic energies, and more travel through wires and pipes!
Plus, I like the idea of technomagic evolving a fantasy setting to something akin to modern day.
Take Resident Evil's REALLY WEIRD ammunition rounds, easily made into alchemical rounds instead (FIRE AND ACID GRENADES ROCK!)
What if a computer system is hooked up to a psionic hivemind? What if that mind was a collective of living creatures, stimulated by constant flow of energies and alchemical substances as it rapidly transfers and receives data at warp speed!
Perhaps harnessing energy from the Demiplane of Time into one of these computer like devices along side a generator to power up a portal spell (inside a spelljammer-like craft of sorts) would be a great way to generate a DIY TARDIS! Of course, the denizens of that realm wouldn't appreciate your inventive pursuits.
A good template for this kinda thing is taking Sigil from Planescape and making it "modernized". Before Planewalker went down, they had archives on this! For example, Razorvine acted as a perfect replacement for power lines, as jagged bolts of lightning energy bounce around it from one destination to the next!
Plastics
Petroleum based plastics have magic resistance, but celluplastic is basically plant fiber reformed with acid. It can be used in weapons and armor for druids and rangers. Plastic explosives could be fitted with a detect magic fuse to make a very devious landmine.
What about plastic made from milk?
I've heard about that. It could probably take an enchantment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galalith
Using milk and formaldehyde they made buttons.
Vinegar works too.
A lot of Doctor Who can be mined for some awesome magitech! The Sonic Screwdriver alone should provide for cool ideas.
Extra dimensional firearm mags
The "Greyhawk 2000" article had stats for a weapon like that.
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Powerful magitech cannons capable of annihilating entire cities, powered by various powers which may cause other side effects
eg. Soul Shrieker
Powered by a negative wishshard fires out various areas of high damage 15% chance that the ghost of a 5th level fighter posses all creatures in the area of effect.
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Nothing else?
Nothing "new," but I've been expanding a bit on my earlier post:
A (somewhat) interesting use of the "magic battery" concept (which was one of the best parts of the techno-wizard concept of Rifts, IMO) is to adapt the staff rules to other weapons (melee or ranged). Expensive, but it allows a wider range of effects than your standard conductive or spell storing weapon.
Instead of a +1 shock quarterstaff with a spell trigger lightning bolt, you have a +1 shock composite longbow (+2 Str bonus) with a spell trigger lightning bolt for the same market price... A more technical version could be a +1 dragon pistol with spell trigger burning hands and scorching ray.
Human magus (myrmidarch) 9/gunslinger (pistolero) 5 with Magus Arcana (Accurate Strike, Close Range, Wand Wielder), Weapon Training (+1 Light Blades), Magical Knack (Magus), Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Staff (retrained if magus 9th is 14th character level), Extra Arcana, Improved Snap Shot, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload (Dragon Pistol), Rapid Shot, Snap Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting, and Weapon Focus (Dragon Pistol); glove of storing and two custom magic weapons:
Dragon Breath Pistol
A +1 flaming dragon pistol that also acts as a spell trigger item for Intensified burning hands and scorching ray. Treated as a staff for activation and recharging. Market price 20,500 gp.
Stormblade
A +1 shock rapier that also acts as a spell trigger item for lightning bolt. Treated as a staff for activation and recharging. Market price 17,950 gp.
The dragon breath pistol is usually attached to a weapon cord and stormblade is usually in the glove of storing. Can also wear medium armor without affecting movement (Armor Training at myrmidarch 8th) or spellcasting (magus 7th). With two (small, IMO) adjustments for RAI by a GM (Spell Combat works with any light or one-handed weapon, not just melee weapons; Wand Wielder works with any spell trigger item, not just staffs and wands), this character makes a nifty mix of magic and guns/weapons.
Human magus (myrmidarch) 9/gunslinger (pistolero) 5 with Magus Arcana (Accurate Strike, Close Range, Wand Wielder), Weapon Training (+1 Light Blades), Magical Knack (Magus), Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Staff (retrained if magus 9th is 14th character level), Extra Arcana, Improved Snap Shot, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload (Dragon Pistol), Rapid Shot, Snap Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting, and Weapon Focus (Dragon Pistol)
Whoops, I forgot a feat. Make that a magus (myrmidarch) 10/gunslinger (pistolero) 5 and add Sword and Pistol. Craft Staff is still likely retrained from Weapon Finesse at magus 9 (when Accurate Strike is obtained).