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Ratchet managed to stay focused on the actual information they were seeking for almost five minutes before he became distracted by things he found more interesting. He still managed to be insightful, but he wasn't going to be the one making breakthroughs in their case.
"Ooh, a library!" Ratchet's tone made it clear that getting a lead in their investigation was an added benefit. Going to a library was it's own reward.
"Sure!" Ratchet agreed. "There was a big accident, right? Is there something like a newspaper here? Maybe a town crier, or city records? I'm trying to think of who might have a list of who worked for the circus when the bad stuff happened."
We are really the wrong group to be doing detective work. It's kinda funny watching Shadow try to give us the useful information in spite of our bad rolls
Ratchet was too busy writing down names and details to pay much attention to anything else.
"Sounds like a begrudged patron might be a lead. Where can we find out more about this incident you mentioned. Are there ticket records? A guest list? Anything you can think of?"
Ratchet tilted his head to the side, considering the man's expression, then nodded. "Is there anyone you can think of that might have had it out for him? If you can give us any information to go on, we'll be happy to let you get back to your company."
"Clearly a person of impeccable taste," Ratchet said as he scratched his fingers along Proto's siding. "Not sure what the relevance is, but I approve. What's the Peace Circus?"
While Proto is able to pick up the scents, she is unable to track as the trail appears to have gone cold. "Darn," Ratchet said as Proto shook her head when she lost the trail shortly out the door. He thumped her armor affectionately. "Well, at least if we run into whoever did it later, you'll be able to tell. Good work." "I'm done here," he told the others after he went back inside to rejoin them. "No luck on a trail, but she got the culprit's scent in the house. There's just nowhere to follow it." "So what's next?"
Back at the dead man's house, Ratchet left wrangling the family to his new partners and focused on wrangling his machine. "Alright Proto, I want you to build a scent library. First, gather the scents of people that have been here recently. Then scent match off the family and exclude those people. Last, see if you can find a recent scent trail leading to, or from the balcony."
however, I imagine Proto can remember the scent and recognize it should we run across it later?"[/b] "Of course. Proto never forgets anything. I'm not sure she can unless I ask her to," Ratchet said with a grin. "I'll get started building scent profiles. Someone want to help me wrangle the residents? I'm... not always the best at convincing people of stuff, and it's hard to keep Proto on task and deal with people at the same time."
"Right!" Ratchet said. "I did bring Proto here for a reason. She can track by scent. I thought if we could figure out the scents of the people who are supposed to be at the dead guy's house, we might be able to figure out the most recent one that doesn't belong and follow it."
Brennus tilts his head to one side. "A means of magitechnical sentience distinct from that employed in Warforged? And you *haven't* been 'strongly encouraged' to work exclusively with House Cannith?" "I'm not stupid," Ratchet said. "But sometimes it's handy that certain people think I am. People underestimate halflings. Why would they want me? I Couldn't even pass the apprenticeship tests when I was trying to be a wizard." Ratchet smirked. "Proto, play dumb."
"She's fully constructed," Ratchet said. "She's not summoned, not awakened. She's a machine. Her mind is... I guess you could imagine it as a very complicated array of switches. Every switch is a very simple variable, but with enough of them, the aggregate becomes indistinguishable from intelligence."
Oops, I mixed up summoners and spiritualists. Those two classes really should use the same minion mechanic. Multiple classes have familiars and animal companions. Why not combine phantoms and eidolons into the same mechanical framework?
Don't worry, I approve. That's awesome.
Are Broulnindre's speech patterns based on the Jagermonsters from Girl Genius?
"Proto likes being helpful," Ratchet said. "Don't worry, she understand you. If you want something, just ask. Try to keep it simple though, she's still learning."
A tingly but benign electrostatic charge collected along Broulnindre's fingers as she pet Proto. The robot's plating shivered, and she preened just like a living creature. "Her," Ratchet corrected. "Don't ask me why. She just decided she's a girl." Ratchet tossed the phantom a steel wire blacksmith's brush. "If you want to giver her a real treat, brush her. Anything conductive works, even your fingers, but the brush is best. She can't really feel it the way we do, but she likes the way it interacts with her electrical field."
A few minutes later, a sparking blue-ringed portal opened in the side of a nearby wall. Ratchet emerged from it riding a bipedal clockwork beast. "I'm back! Did I miss anything?"
"If I'm going to do any scent tracking, I gotta start now. The trails will be too faint by tomorrow. I'll be back in a couple minutes," Ratchet said. Then he glanced around the street and started climbing. Subtly assisted by his mechanical arms, he ascended the buildings faster than most halflings could run Once he was at a high enough vantage point, he clicked a lens down over his eyes and looked out over the distant rooftops. After finding fitting rooftop or balcony, he pointed at it, opened a portal, opened a second one next to him, and stepped through. Then he repeated the process. In a handful of portal jumps and less than a minute later, he was outside the city walls near his workshop.
"I'm going to need some things from my workshop," Ratchet said. "Scent tracking might be possible, but I'll have to move fast."
Hired onto a new crew and a new job in the same day! Ratchet felt like he could feel the coins pouring into his pocket. He did his best to keep quiet while the boss folks negotiated the contract. In his head he was already devising a half dozen ways to bend his inventions towards investigating a murder.
Ratchet pointed out the wound on the body. "Maybe," he answered. "But he was stabbed in the neck before he fell."
"Deadguy!" Ratchet said, pointing back the way he came. "Fell off a balcony! This way!"
Ratchet looks around for a city guard, or other official. He'd been in the wrong place and the wrong time too often to assume that attempting to help wouldn't be seen as culpability. "I'm gonna find someone official! Brennus, wanna be my spotter?"
"Wait, didn't he just fall backwards? That's weird. Brennus, can you go check up there?" Ratchet asked. He tapped his headgear and a lens slid down over one eye. He started towards the fallen man at a job. "Hope he's alright."
"Oh, do you eat eyeballs?" Ratchet asked with clueless excitement on his face and all the tact of a hammer.
Broulnindre pulls her hood down, staying close by Frank as his 3' tall bodyguard.
Unlike most people, Ratchet's reaction to Gauntlet didn't seem unnerved. At all. Being unnerved might have been better. The little inventor was terrible at hiding his expressions. He might as well have been wearing a sign with his emotions listed on it. Currently the sign said OBSESSED. Ratchet watched the two Warforged like they were the most amazing things he'd ever seen, to the point of nearly tripping more than once as they headed in the direction of food. In spite of his clear interest, he was doing his best not to be the unnerving one himself, and to that end he was concentrating on the nearly impossible task of keeping his mouth shut.
"Oh right! Food! I always forget." Ratchet added. He looked at the apple slices in his hands and ate two before his mechanical arms slithered back up his sleeves.
Those look like advancements that are more technical in nature than magical in nature".[/b] "Yeah," Rachet confirmed. "I tried to be a wizard, but I'm really bad at actually casting spells, so I started trying to figure out other ways to replicate magical effects. Pretty much everything I build is like pre-casting a spell, and then using some kind of technology to capture it, maintain it, or release it with better precision."
EE looks at you as you speak Ratchet, "Fascinating, this unit would be interested in a demonstration of these creations". When the Warforged addressed him directly Ratchet's grin was equal parts hero worship and maniacal glee. "Sure! A lot of my designs are based on Warforged physiology, actually! Your people are just amazing! I can't wait to introduce you to Proto and Zero! They had to stay outside the city because of permits."" The word dripped with derision and venom, like the entire idea offended him. "For what I can show you here though, uh, let's see..." He picked up an apple off the tray of snacks and tossed it in a slow arc towards a clear spot on the floor. With a snap of his hand something small deployed from inside his sleeve and snapped into his grip before firing a bolt of blue energy at the floor beneath where the apple fell. Before the first bolt had struck he fired a second orange bolt into the ceiling. The floor and ceiling warped and yawned. The apple fell into the blue-ringed hole that had just appeared, and fell out of the orange one above. It kept falling, picking up speed between the two gaps in space. "I based this one on the Dimension Door spell. My version lasts longer and is a lot more stable." "And this is based on Magic Missile" A short volley of needle-like projectiles shot from the device in Rachet's hand, hung in space for a brief moment, then lanced forward and incredible speed. The needles struck the falling apple one after another, targeting perfectly in spite of how fast it was falling. Then he gestured towards the wall and shot another orange pulse towards it. The portal in the ceiling closed and another one opened where he pointed. The apple shot out at terminal velocity, only to be caught by a mechanical hand that now protruded from Rachet's wrist. It's five evenly-spaced articulated fingers closed, slicing the apple neatly. The spikes that pierced it held it together until a second mechanical hand appeared from Ratchet's other sleeve and started pulling the sections apart. The pair of portals closed with a crackle of dissipating energy, and each of Rachet's four hands, two biological, and two mechanical, offered his new friends slices of apple on small metal sticks. "Who's hungry?"
Ratchet was in a similar state of speechlessnes. He hadn't even asked to join yet. He kept glancing around the room trying to figure out if he was dreaming. He was used to being the unluckiest halfling alive, so the sudden rush of good fortune took him completely off guard. He took a step nearer to Dev and took a firm hand on the man's sleeve for a moment. "Thank you," he said with an intensity that seemed a bit much for the situation. "I owe you a big favor. Whatever you need. Really." Mickey blinks and shakes his head as Ratchet prattles on, "Glad some of you got that I didn't. Innovations have a funny way of ending up in the wrong hands you had better be careful Ratchet...". Ratchet shook his head at Mickey's warning. "I doubt anyone else could keep my prototypes running. The stuff that's more permanent, well, it's still mostly unusable by anyone who isn't trained, and the batteries are custom, so when they stop working they're just junk for anyone else. Honestly, the only reason I care about security is for other people's safety, not because I'm worried about theft. Anyone who manages to make it into my workshop deserves what they end up with."
Ratchet did a double take as the bird started talking to him, and his mouth turned into a little O of happy surprise. "Uh, hi! You're a spellcaster? Not a familiar? Wow! That's so interesting! Were you polymorphed or reincarnated? Or Awakened? I have so many questions." Mickey changes the subject, "What do you need a flywheel for anyway Ratchet?" Then his attention was pulled in another direction. His excitement didn't leave, and apparently completely overrode his earlier awkwardness. "Well I hybridized a clockwork construct chassis with an electrical field based sensory array and a central power system based on ioun stones, and now I'm having an issue with power distribution because of how much energy i lose translating magical energy into mechanical and electrical, and I thought localized energy storage might be a better solution than transferring energy from a central bank like I'm going now. Like irrigation, you know? Multiple smaller sources fed from a primary source, rather than trying to pull everything from the primary source directly. Flywheels already do a good job of storing power and releasing it incrementally, so I'm going to try integrating them into Proto's actuator systems as a smaller scale, localized power source for finer, less strenuous movements that wouldn't need to draw from the central bank. I think that will make the whole power system more efficient overall." Ratchet shut his mouth abruptly as he realized most of the room was staring at him. "I mean, uh, it's for a weapon. Normal mercenary stuff. Just... a weapon."
"Uh... I'm really good at fixing things," Ratchet said to nobody in particular. "If you need a hand, I mean."
"Heh, we're a mercenary company; but if the gig pays well enough I suppose I could learn an instrument." Franks says with a smirk. As Ratchet arrived, the little audio enhancement device in his headset let him pick up snippets of the conversation from much further away than he'd otherwise be able to hear. The words "mercenary company" jumped out at him like a flag waving street performer. His big eyes widened even bigger, but he was still too caught up in the newness of the situation to jump right in and start taking a league a minute the way he usually would. Shoving himself into a conversation from across the room without being introduced first probably wouldn't help him get a job. So he stood next to his new acquaintance silently, waiting to be introduced, practically vibrating with excited, nervous energy. His intense gaze flicked back and forth between the Warforged in the room like a kid eyeing gifts on Yule morning.
Ratchet's big green eyes blinked in surprise and confusion. He looked down at himself, tilted his head in thought then shrugged. "Uh. Sure? I didn't expect to be going to a party. Glad I decided not to wear my work clothes." "Can we talk shop while we walk? Crystals are on my list too, but not the usual stuff. I need really high quality quartz and zircon..."
"Oh, I don't want to keep you!" Ratchet said. "I just saw your sign and was curious. Some of the stuff I need is hard to source around here, so I'm just poking around really. I didn't think it would be so hard to find good flywheels in a city this size. Anyway, I'm Ratchet!" Ratchet said with a bright, but somewhat awkward smile. The energetic halfling looked like someone had taken a ne'er-do-well street rat and enrolled him in a preparatory school. He wore a white collared shirt, and matching vest and trousers, but over them he wore a bandoleer and belt covered with pouches and tools, and a leather armored jacket that currently hung unbuckled and open. Attached to the jacket by a series of clips and straps was a compact, hard-framed backpack with a tool roll secured underneath it. Perhaps oddest of all for a halfling were his sturdy boots. His hair was cropped close to his scalp, and a pair of elaborate protective googles sat on his forehead. He had a scar across his eyebrow, and another on his lip, and what looked like a fractal electrical burn rising out of his collar and crawling up his neck, past his ear, and webbing across the side of his head, where some of his short hair had turned white. In contrast to his rough and tumble look, he wasn't visibly armed.
Active Camo sounds amazing. Also goggles and double masterwork thief's tools xD I'm afraid you'll have to pick one. I can't make a single gizmo that does all those things (yet). Ratchet has all of them, but they take up 3 gizmo slots.
Most of them. They're about half of my character's bag of tricks. I figured I'd give each of you one (which is all the extra gizmos I got from the bonus feat). I can't really increase the spiked chain's effective range as a weapon. When you use it as a grappling hook, it uses a grappling hook's weapon stats. If you're proficient, you can use it that way. I can add all three modifications I listed to your chain. Modifying weapons is something Ratchet is good at. As I go up in level I'll get more gizmos, so I will eventually have more to spread around to the party, and I'll have access to more modification options as I gain more Talents as well.
I can make a sensory enhancement device that makes one of your senses sharper (most people pick vision), which adds a +3 circumstance bonus to Perception for that sense, and reduces distance penalties to Perception. I can make an active camouflage field projector that grants a circumstance bonus to Stealth equal to 1/2 my level, and gives Hide In Plain Sight as long as you don't move. I can modify a Masterwork set of Thieves Tools to give a +4 bonus instead of +2, and can attach to the target of a Disable Device check to automatically make a DD check every round for 1 minute
Yes. Normally I'd have be able to have up to 9 gizmos up and running at a time. With the bonus feat I've increased the limit to 14. They're permanent until I break them down to make other gizmos. Here's how I can modify a spiked chain- I can let you change the damage type, add an extra special feature, and I can add a mechanism that allows the chain to lengthen and retract, letting you treat the chain as a grappling hook with a winch. Modular Damage Type Modification:
The attached weapon’s base damage types are changed to either bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, and may be changed as a standard action.
Weapon Customization Modification:
The attached weapon gains one of the following weapon special features (chosen at the time of the gizmo's creation): blocking, brace, deadly, disarm, distracting, grapple, nonlethal, performance, sunder, trip.
Hookshot Modification: This weapon modification attaches to a manufactured weapon, and gives the weapon the ability to function as a grappling hook gizmo, treating the attached weapon as the grappling hook’s winch. Whenever the user makes an attack action or attack of opportunity with the attached weapon, the user may attempt to also attach the grappling hook to the target (unwinding the cable as appropriate). If successful, the grappling hook is attached to the attacked target (and the user may choose to immediately attempt a drag or reposition combat maneuver check against the target as a free action)
A grappling hook gizmo has a range of Medium, a 20' range increment, and gives a bonus on Drag and Reposition combat maneuvers equal to 1/2 the crafter's skill level (+2 currently)
With that bonus feat, now I can make magitech gizmos for the whole party! I have enough gizmo capacity to make one for everyone. Think of them like a minor science fiction themed magic item. The most straightforward examples that wouldn't require rolls to operate are things like skill bonuses, temporary HP, adding energy effects to weapons, and ray guns. If you want a motorcycle or second head, I can do that, but it'll be more expensive and might require you to make rolls every time you use it. There's a lot of options, and the rules are complicated, so just let me know what kind of thing you want, and I'll come up with something.
I don't think we are. The GM gave us a bonus 1st level feat when we made these characters...Correct. Say what now? How'd I miss that? Oh, it's like Christmas!
Being fired was bad enough, but then the guards wouldn't let him bring his workshop into the city! It was just insult to injury lately How was he supposed to know that he needed permits for constructs? The workshop wasn't really a construct anyway. It was more like a really complicated rickshaw. The streets were too wide enough! Barely, sure, but still. He saw plenty of wagons. The shop wasn't that much bigger! Hopefully the instructions he'd left Ace with would be enough to keep them occupied, and hopefully nobody would be dumb enough to try to break into the shop. Curious passersby and bored Constructed Intelligences did not mix well. Ratchet wasn't really worried for their safety. Proto was in guard dog mode, and if it really came down to it Ace had the Armory, and even the workshop itself. The warnings couldn't possibly be any clearer, so anyone that managed to get inside deserved what they found. Ratchet meandered through the city, occasionally snagging small treasures from anyone who looked decently well off. Most of the money and generic valuables ended up dropped into beggar's cups and street urchin hands. The more interesting baubles vanished into Ratchet's seemingly-bottomless pockets. He didn't really need the stuff. It was just part of Zero's training. The thin metallic arms were currently inside Ratchet's sleeves, copying his technique, memorizing patterns and movements, learning at a mind-boggling rate. He was in the bustling city to look for work, but Auggie's Augmentations was just too tempting a name to ignore. With a wide grin and an extra spring in his step, he walked in.
*munches popcorn*
Shadow, I just realized I need a GM ruling on an ability interaction- Weapon Amplifier (from the Weapon Modifications talent) is basically a "floating" weapon enhancement. In effect, I am the thing that has the weapon enhancement, and the enhancement gets added to any weapon I wield. (current amplification is +2d6 electricity damage and a Fort save or fall prone) Weapon Amplifier Rules Text:
A weapon amplifier shares and distributes attached modifications to the user’s other weapons. Rather than attaching the weapon amplifier to a weapon, modifications are attached to the weapon amplifier (as though it were an appropriate weapon) and the weapon modifier shares the effects of each attached modification to weapons in the user’s possession. Modification effects granted this way only apply to weapons each attached modification could normally attach to (if it could be affected by the modification normally; this excludes siege weapons). A weapon amplifier is treated as though it were attached to the user for the purposes of other effects. Any benefits granted by a weapon amplifier to the user’s weapons are lost 1 round after the weapon or ammunition leaves the user’s possession. Blaster (from the Technological Weapons talent) is a "design your own science fiction shooty device" ability. One of the options is a Volley which works similarly to Magic Missile, but allows a Reflex save to negate (effectively turning the enemy's Reflex save into my attack roll). Volley Rules Text:
(damage) 1d4, +1 per 4 gizmo levels (Reflex negates); (range) close; (area/target) target creature (or creatures); (special) this blaster shape seeks its target, ignoring cover or concealment less than total cover or total concealment. My question is, does Weapon Amplifier work with Volley? RAW is that any attack that doesn't require an attack roll can't be considered a Weapon, but RAI on these abilities seems to be that they're supposed to have synergy (weapon amplifier works fine with all the other Blaster options). Overall Effect: Volly on it's own deals 2d4+2 damage (same power as a 3rd level Magic Missile but also allows a Reflex to negate).
To me that seems like a lot for a spammable auto-hit attack, but it's definitely within the power level of a 3rd level spell. There's a feature of most Tinker talents where I spend a Battery to amplify a gizmo (which costs me 5 GP and a few minutes to make), so a possible compromise is that I need to spend a Battery to use the Amplifier with Volly. Thoughts?
I have far too many character concepts for an Eberron specific game, lol With Ratchet, I somehow managed to cram 4 different character concepts into a single little guy, and somehow it still makes sense thematically. I'm not sure if I recommend it. Building him felt like writing a system mastery thesis. Don't be like me. It's a lot of work. >_<
Monkey! This game just keeps getting better and better! |
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