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A proof of concept for an alternate Technomancer

Technomancer Class Discussion

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Now that the playtest period has concluded for the tech classes and the feedback forums have died down once again, I think it's an appropriate time to share some thoughts that go beyond the playtest's scope. I did a similar thread for the Witchwarper, and it seems I ended up with a similar document for the Technomancer as well.

Much like the Witchwarper when the original playtest launched, the Technomancer has drawn a significant amount of pretty consistent criticism. The main axes of complaints are:

  • The class doesn't deliver enough on its technological theme: In addition to threads directly criticizing this, other more comprehensive more reviews point out that the Technomancer doesn't really do all that much with tech. An oft-repeated impression is that although the Technomancer does have the flavor of using tech to hack into magic thanks to their excellent feat and feature names, they don't deliver on using magic to hack into tech, which is considered an important part of the class fantasy.
  • The class's core mechanics are far too hungry for actions and spell slots: As also noted in several different threads, the Technomancer's core features are extremely expensive, requiring a lot of actions and also a lot of spell slots to work. This doesn't work well on a class that is meant to sometimes use other actions, like Striking on DPS++ or Commanding a minion on ServoShell, and has only two spell slots to begin with. To make matters worse, the class lacks the fallback options common to other classes, as their focus spell is a spellshape, and the feat they get from their subclass is another spellshape.
  • The class's subclasses are dysfunctional: Probably the biggest issue overall with the Technomancer is their subclasses, whose problems range from "cache spells don't work with their own spellshape" to "has entire core components that do not function at all". Viper, for instance, requires items that are too expensive to reasonably purchase at early level, yet also lacks the scaling class DC to make effective use of their mechanic that lets them turn spell gems into grenades. ServoShell is in an even worse position, because its overclock effect does literally nothing without a tech minion, which the Technomancer does not offer.

    In addition to the above threads, I made note of these issues in my own assessment of the Technomancer, and in it I mentioned a few adjustments I made towards the later part of my playtesting to see how they'd affect gameplay.

    Here is the finished document. To summarize the main changes I experimented with:

  • I replaced the Technomancer's spellshape feats with 1st-level class feats that let them do something with tech and synergized with their subclass: DPS++ gets to use more tech weapons, FORTRUN gets to wear better tech armor, ServoShell gets a tech companion, and Viper gets to make a temporary 1st-rank spell gem of the same spell in their database each day.
  • I changed Download Spell and each overclock into focus spells, giving the Technomancer 3 Focus Points at level 1.
  • I took Jailbreak Spell out of the Technomancer's core features and combined its functionality with Double Spellshape, turning both into a focus spell that lets you layer increasingly more spellshapes onto your spell.
  • I added a handful more tech-oriented feats, including a tech familiar feat and one that lets you cast spells from nearby tech you can access. This isn't meant to be a comprehensive list of things a Technomancer could do, so much as a few examples of what a tech caster could do with tech.

    I implemented a few other changes as well, like a scaling class DC, but otherwise the general intent was to lessen the Technomancer's spell slot costs, improve their subclasses' self-synergy, and integrate them more with tech while still preserving the option to become a great spellshaper. In my opinion, these changes had a positive effect: the class became much more functional at level 1, felt much less starved for actions and spell slots, and had more synergy with tech.

    To be clear: there are many more ways in my opinion of improving the Technomancer, so this isn't meant to be a set of hard instructions for Paizo to follow. Rather, this is my take on how the Technomancer could be adjusted to better fit their theme, as well as play more smoothly. Regardless of whether or not any of the above gets implemented, I do look forward to seeing how the final version will turn out on release, as I think the Starfriends have done a great job of integrating feedback and adapting to the new system.

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    I just straight up don't like jailbreaking spells being relegated to a level 4 feat. I do think it should be in the chassis and upgrade-able with feats. I'm on board with it just applying two spellshapes, but it competing with other level 4 feats, and not being a guarantee when it was the whole reason the class was cool just seems to miss the mark imo. I don't think it's particularly interesting to take a class with a unique feature that was core to it, in order to make it into a class that buffs items and gets to swap spells which is just unfortunately really boring when it's actually laid out like this

    So here's the thing: I don't think jailbreaking can work at level 1, not unless you have the spell output to support this. The Technomancer by nature does not, because their current focus spell is a spellshape, their only other core abilities are overclocking and spell substitution, and they start with just 2 spell slots. Even at level 3, jailbreaking is not something you can do very well, because it requires a whole turn and a prior non-cantrip spell to set up. It feels awesome to when you do get to use it, but that by itself I don't think justifies its current implementation or even its place as a core feature.

    "The whole reason the class was cool" I think is also a problem to fix, not necessarily its own feature: the Technomancer, in my opinion, does not need to be "the spellshape class" to be cool, when their theme of combining tech and magic is already cool and full of potential the playtest class doesn't explore in great detail. Part of the reason the class doesn't feel all that cool otherwise isn't just that they don't do that much with tech, but that spellshapes are such an all-consuming part of their power budget that they were simply not given the room to be more functional or to work better with tech. One of the reasons why I made Jailbreak Spell a feat was because I literally could not make it a class feature, especially not at level 1, without either gutting a whole bunch of other stuff on the Technomancer at level 1 or making them grossly overloaded.

    There is precedent for classes having awesome and iconic feats, and I don't think Jailbreak Spell need be an exception to this: it should definitely be available for Technomancers who want to spec into a spellhacker build, but it shouldn't dominate their design to the point where they can't be anything but a spellshape-centric class, which I think is currently one of their biggest issues. I can't speak for everyone, but if I had to choose between a class whose design is bent out of shape around one cool ability, and a class that sacrifices that ability as a core feature in order to play a lot better, I'd personally go for the latter without hesitation.
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