hida_jiremi's page

I'm hoping Paizo boils down the classes into the key elements that ninja and samurai lovers enjoy from history and fiction:

As a fan of Japanese history and culture, let me say that both of the things you mentioned are almost entirely drawn from Japanese fiction, and hardly at all from history. While there were great samurai swordsmen, the samurai as a group were much more focused on cavalry and archery, especially on musketry during the 16th to 17th centuries. The abandonment of firearms was for cultural reasons relating to Japan's self-imposed isolation during the Tokugawa Shogunate, but the idolization of the sword as the symbol of the samurai's spirit didn't really gain any credence until the publication of the Hagakure in the 1740s or so. (Yes, Miyamoto Musashi discusses similar topics in The Book of Five Rings back as early as 1645, but he's specifically discussing samurai who want to be duelists, not all samurai as a whole.) Even if you take Hagakure as the summation of the samurai ethic, it comes after over 500 years of samurai tradition as horse-mounted archers, and is a response to Yamamoto Tsunetomo's anger over samurai changing from warriors to bureaucrats (sort of a "back in my day, things were better!" kind of rant).

The existence of ninja at all historically is debated, and even if you accept them as accurate, then they were never lauded as excellent hand-to-hand combatants. The view of ninja as masters of unusual martial arts emerges from very late-era Tokugawa fiction, where the romanticized view of samurai also largely comes from. Most historical accounts of ninja describe them as secret police, or just all-purpose spies. On the rare occasions they were described as assassins, they tended to kill with hidden weapons or poison. Most of them would have been of the samurai caste themselves.

If you want to argue that "samurai as swordsmen" and "ninja as martial artists" have great momentum as fictional conceits, I can't really argue with you, but arguing that they're more historically accurate representations is pretty much dead wrong.

Personally, I think making samurai and ninja as "alternate classes" is still going too far. They should be class archetypes, if that. Placing samurai as cavalier and ninja as rogue is pretty accurate--in the sense that those words describe complex cultural roles and disparate fictional concepts that can best be approximated in a class-based system by those classes.

Moreover, putting Japanese cultural icons into a special category above those of other cultures is not just inaccurate, it's orientalism at its worst. If we're going to have a special category for "samurai," where's my special category for "Zulu spearman"? Or "lin kuei"? Or "Apache outrider"? I've long since had to get past the fact that Paizo is doing this thing that is culturally insensitive and inaccurate, but I'm not yet jaded enough to sit still while people claim "historical accuracy" for their favorite hobby-horse as a means of getting the rules changed.

The only thing that begins to make this palatable is that Paizo are using "samurai" and "ninja" to represent fictional things that bear some small resemblance to real-world concepts of those words, in much the same way that "barbarian" and "paladin" have been used in D&D for many years. If you just accept that and leave real-world history out of it, then all we need to focus on is "What is this ability supposed to represent?" and "Which fictional concepts are they trying to convey here?" Doing anything else is just a headache at this point.

I like the Sovereign Stone orcs, who a somehow descended from orcas.

Manwhat.

Though, more seriously, it's not that huge a stretch to think about. Most cetaceans were originally land mammals before they went back into the oceans. If you look at a whale's skeleton, it has hip bones and vestigial legs, so it's not too strange to imagine a cetacean species that stayed on land and eventually spawned a semi-humanoid descendant. No stranger than any other humanoids, anyway. =3

Jeremy Puckett

My PCs were having a tough time of it until the party monk managed to grapple Erylium.

This is basically what happened in my game too. The party druid opened combat by hitting her with faerie fire so that she couldn't go invisible, then she used shatter on the barbarian's axe while some sinspawn were tangling with him, and they were having a devil of a time doing anything to her. Then the halfling oracle pulled out a birdcage from her backpack ("just happened" to have one, thanks to the APG feat), the monk grappled her, and they shoved her into the cage and locked it. Now, the oracle is trying to redeem her. ^_^

Jeremy Puckett

And now... the mad tinker!

MAD TINKER

For some alchemists, the power of destruction is not enough to satisfy them. Only the power of creation can bring them happiness—the creation of life itself. These crazed engineers seek and strive to unlock the secrets of the gods themselves, committing crimes against nature itself to spawn the hideous children of their intellect. Similar in most respects to a summoner’s eidolon, these creations serve their makers with loyalty unknown to creatures that were born rather than decanted. Over time, the mad tinker adjusts and alters his “pet” to meet his needs.

Some communities that might tolerate a run of the mill alchemist or even a slightly deranged engineer would balk at having a mad tinker among them. The sheer hubris of creating life from nothing can drive the religious to frenzy and the simply moral to outrage. Still, the mad tinker care nothing for such narrow thinking, only for the freedom to stretch the bounds of mortal knowledge to its limits.

Role: A mad tinker allows an alchemist (specifically a member of the engineer class archetype) to gain some of the abilities of a summoner in relation to their eidolon. In return, they lose some progression on their devices and related class abilities, though their death ray does not suffer. The mad tinker is as much a biologist as an engineer, a true renaissance man of mad science. With an extra pair of hands to help him out in trouble, or simply to act as a bodyguard, the mad tinker can feel much safer in a dangerous world.

Alignment: A mad tinker cannot be lawful.

BAB: 3/4
Hit Die: d8.
Fort: Poor
Ref: Good
Will: Good

Requirements
To qualify to become a mad tinker, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Craft (alchemy) 5 ranks, Heal 5 ranks, Knowledge (engineering) 5 ranks
Special: Death ray 3d6 or higher.

Class Skills
The mad tinker’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the mad tinker prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A mad tinker gains no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Devices per Day: At the indicated levels, a mad tinker gains new devices per day (as extracts per day) as if she had also gained a level in alchemist. She does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for devices per day and an increased effective caster level for devices.

Lethal Rays (Ex): The destructive power of the death ray appeals to the whims of the mad tinker. Add the character’s alchemist and mad tinker levels together to determine the damage done by her death ray and its number of uses per day.

Eidolon: The mad tinker’s amazing engineering skills have allowed him to build a unique and powerful companion for himself, similar to a summoner’s eidolon in many ways. The mad tinker forms a strong emotional connection to his companion, even imprinting it with portions of his own mind in order to give it true sentience. A mad tinker’s eidolon is permanent, however, and it does not require being summoned. Whatever it might look like, the mad tinker’s eidolon is a native outsider and not a summoned creature. The eidolon has the same alignment as the tinker and can speak all of his languages.

A tinker’s eidolon heals naturally. If it is reduced to a number of negative hit points equal to or greater than its Constitution score, it is killed. A dead eidolon can be brought back to life with a day’s work if the body remains intact; it returns to life at 0 hit points and is fatigued until restored to full hit points. If the body cannot be recovered (or is destroyed), the mad tinker can create a new eidolon with access to a laboratory and a number of days of work equal to his class level + the eidolon’s evolution pool. If the mad tinker is knocked unconscious, the eidolon becomes confused until the tinker regains consciousness. If the tinker is killed, the eidolon goes berserk and rampages out of control, becoming enraged and confused (as the spells rage and confusion) until it is knocked out or killed, though it immediately becomes enraged and confused again if it returns to consciousness while its master is dead.

The eidolon’s form is shaped by the mad tinker’s desires and engineering skills. The eidolon’s Hit Dice, saving throws, skills, feats, and abilities are tied to the tinker’s class level and increase as the tinker gains levels. In addition, the eidolon receives a pool of evolution points, based on the mad tinker’s class level, which can be used to give the eidolon different abilities and powers. Whenever the mad tinker gains a level, he must spend one day in a laboratory before the eidolon gains access to these evolution points. Once this is done, the tinker decides how to spend his eidolon’s evolution points, and they are set until he gains another class level.

The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the tinker, but it always appears unnatural and created in some way—a steam-powered golem, a woman stitched together from pieces of different people, a chimerical beast, and so on. This control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature. The eidolon bears a mark somewhere on its body related to the mad tinker; such a mark can be interpreted with detect magic as though it were the tinker’s personal arcane mark.
A mad tinker’s eidolon uses the same table and progression as the summoner to determine his eidolon abilities. The mad tinker’s summoner level is equal to his alchemist level + his mad tinker level –5. (So an alchemist 5/mad tinker 1 would have the eidolon of a 1st-level summoner.)

Shield Ally (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, whenever the mad tinker is within his eidolon’s reach, the tinker receives a +2 shield bonus to his Armor Class and a +2 circumstance bonus on his saving throws. This bonus does not apply if the eidolon is grappled, helpless, paralyzed, or unconscious.

Maker’s Call (Su): A careful inventor makes sure that his creations are never more than an arm’s length away. At 3rd level, as a standard action, a mad tinker can call his eidolon to his side. This functions as dimension door, using the mad tinker’s caster level. When used, the eidolon appears adjacent to the mad tinker (or as close as possible if all adjacent spaces are occupied). If the eidolon is out of range, the ability is wasted. The mad tinker can use this ability once per day at 3rd level, plus one additional time per day for every three additional class levels..

Greater Shield Ally (Ex): At 4th level, whenever an ally is within an eidolon’s reach, that ally receives a +2 shield bonus to his Armor Class and a +2 circumstance bonus on his saving throws. If this ally is the tinker, these bonuses increase to +4. This bonus does not apply if the eidolon is grappled, helpless, paralyzed, or unconscious.

Weapon Array (Su): A 5th-level mad tinker can outfit his eidolon with a bristling array of offensive and defensive technology. By spending an additional 1 minute when constructing a device in the presence of his eidolon, the mad tinker can graft the device onto his eidolon. The device remains potent as it would on the tinker’s person, and the eidolon can use the device as though he were the tinker.

The tinker cannot later retrieve the device for personal use; only the eidolon can use it after this point, though the tinker can remove it and disassemble it as normal. As well, if the tinker does not perform the correct amount of daily maintenance on implanted devices (just as with a personal device), the eidolon’s body rejects the device and it becomes nonfunctional. An eidolon can have no more devices implanted as part of a weapon array than the mad tinker’s class level.

Rather than implanting devices into the eidolon, the mad tinker can instead outfit his creation with his own death ray. Outfitting the eidolon with a death ray (or later removing it) takes 10 minutes of work in a laboratory. The death ray can either replace one of the eidolon’s limbs or become a mounted weapon.

If it replaces a limb, the eidolon can use it normally as a one-handed weapon (using the “hand” that the death ray replaced). If it is a mounted weapon, the eidolon cannot move (even to take a 5-foot step) in any round in which he uses the death ray. An eidolon whose creator has the delicate death ray discovery ignores both of these restrictions; in this case, an implanted death ray is effectively a one-handed weapon that does not take up the eidolon’s hand slot (and does not involve removing a limb), and a mounted death ray does not force the eidolon to remain motionless. A death ray grafted in this manner cannot be disarmed, though it can still be sundered. The eidolon has access to any of its creator’s death ray discoveries.

An eidolon cannot have both devices and a death ray at the same time. It may only have one or the other.

Level
1.....Lethal rays, eidolon.....—
2.....Shield ally..............+1 level of alchemist
3.....Maker’s call.............+1 level of alchemist
4.....Greater shield ally......—
5.....Weapon array.............+1 level of alchemist

Hope you guys like the new stuff!

Jeremy Puckett

Engineer Blueprints

1st-Level Engineer Blueprints: break*, burning hands, color spray, comprehend languages, detect secret doors, detect undead, endure elements, enlarge person, expeditious retreat, flare burst*, identify, jump, keen senses, mage hand, negate aroma*, read magic, reduce person, shield, shocking grasp, true strike.

2nd-Level Engineer Blueprints: acid arrow, bear’s endurance, blur, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, darkvision, detect thoughts, elemental touch*, fox’s cunning, invisibility, levitate, perceive cues*, protection from arrows, resist energy, scorching ray, see invisibility, shatter, spider climb.

3rd-Level Engineer Blueprints: arcane sight, bloodhound*, dispel magic, displacement, elemental aura*, fly, fireball, heroism, hold person, lightning bolt, nondetection, pain strike*, protection from energy, ray of exhaustion, stinking cloud, tongues, water breathing.

4th-Level Engineer Blueprints: air walk, ball lightning*, confusion, dimension door, discern lies, enervation, fear, fire shield, freedom of movement, globe of invulnerability (lesser), invisibility (greater), locate creature, neutralize poison, shout.

5th-Level Engineer Blueprints: baleful polymorph, cloudkill, cone of cold, dream, elude time*, fabricate, hold monster, nightmare, overland flight, pain strike (mass)*, sending, spell resistance, telekinesis, telepathic bond, waves of fatigue.

6th-Level Engineer Blueprints: analyze dweomer, antimagic field, chain lightning, disintegrate, dispel magic (greater), eyebite, flesh to stone, freezing sphere, globe of invulnerability, repulsion, shadow walk, transformation, true seeing.

New Engineer Discoveries

Caustic blast: When the engineer makes an attack with his death ray, he can choose to have it inflict acid damage, but the death ray’s range increment is halved. Creatures struck by a caustic blast take an additional 1d6 points of acid damage 1 round later.

Concussive blast: When the engineer makes an attack with his death ray, he can choose to have it inflict sonic damage. A concussive blast deals only 1d4 points of damage + engineer’s Int modifier, plus 1d4 points of bonus damage per odd-numbered level. Creatures struck by a concussive blast are deafened for 1 minute unless they succeed at a Fortitude save.

Delicate death ray: The engineer’s death ray is particularly compact. It is a one-handed weapon rather than a two-handed weapon.

Disintegration beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can spend 2 of its daily uses to produce a disintegration beam, inflicting untyped damage. Any creature brought below 0 hit points by the beam is reduced to fine dust, as per the disintegrate spell. Additionally, the engineer can use the beam to disintegrate inanimate matter as per the disintegrate spell. The engineer must be at least 10th level before selecting this discovery.

Dispelling beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can choose to have it dispel magic effects. A creature hit by a dispelling beam is subject to a targeted dispel magic, using the engineer’s class level as the caster level. This cannot be used to target a specific spell effect. If a spell is successfully dispelled, the target suffers damage equal to the caster level + the engineer’s Intelligence bonus. The engineer must be at least 6th level before selecting this discovery.

Force beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can choose to have it inflict force damage. Force beams inflict 1d4 + engineer’s Int modifier points of force damage, plus 1d4 points of force damage for every odd-numbered level. A creature that is struck by a force beam is knocked prone unless it succeeds on a Reflex save. The engineer can fine-tune this output as well, sacrificing 1d4 points of bonus damage to instead push the creature back 5 feet on a failed save. The engineer must make this choice before firing the death ray, and if the creature cannot be pushed back the whole distance, it simply falls prone in the last square into which it moved with no additional effect; this movement does no provoke attacks of opportunity. An engineer must be at least 8th level before selecting this discovery.

Frost beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can choose to have it inflict cold damage. A creature struck by a frost beam is staggered on its next turn unless it succeeds on a Fortitude save.
Idiot-proof device: When the engineer builds a stable device, it can be used by any character, regardless of their access to magic or the Use Magic Device skill. The engineer must have the stable device discovery and be at least 6th level before selecting this discovery.

Inferno beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can choose to have it inflict fire damage. A creature struck by an inferno beam is sickened for 1d4 rounds.

Mind control beam: Some engineers prefer to handle things in a more subtle way than usual. When the engineer fires his death ray, he can choose to inflict no damage to instead fire an invisible beam of energy that scrambles the target’s mind, leaving them vulnerable to outside influence. Using the mind control beam is a full-round action, since the controls must be carefully calibrated. On a successful attack, the target is entitled to a Will save to avoid the effect. If the target fails the save, it is subject to the suggestion spell, except that the target does not need to know the engineer’s language; the command is input directly into his mind. The engineer uses his class level as the caster level for this effect. An engineer must be at least 8th level to select this discovery. If the engineer is at least 14th level, the target can instead be subjected to a dominate person spell.

Multi-tasker: When the engineer creates a device, he can use two blueprints for a single device. When the device is used, the effects of both blueprints occur. This device has a level two levels higher than the highest-level blueprint used for the device. An engineer must be at least 8th level before selecting this discovery.

Overcharge: A mad enough engineer finds ways to overcome the raw limitations on his death ray’s output. By spending a full round charging his death ray, the engineer can expends 2 of the death ray’s daily uses on any shot made the following round to increase the bonus damage from 1d6 per odd-numbered class level to 1d8 per odd-numbered class level, and double the engineer’s Intelligence bonus on damage. If the overcharge is not used during the following round, a daily use of the death ray is expended with no effect.

Quick rays: An engineer with this discovery can toggle the energy output on his death ray fast enough to produce multiple rays in a single round. The engineer can fire additional rays as a full-round action if his base attack bonus is high enough to grant him additional attacks. This functions just like a full-attack with a ranged weapon, and cannot be combined with any other discovery that turns the death ray into a full-round action to use. An engineer must be at least 8th level before selecting this discovery.

Shock blast: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can choose to have it inflict electricity damage, and gain a +2 bonus to hit creatures wearing metal armor or composed primarily of metal (such as an iron golem). A creature struck by a shock beam is dazzled for 1d4 rounds.

Stable device: When an engineer builds a device, he can infuse it with an extra bit of his own magical power. The device created now persists even after the engineer sets it down. As long as the device exists, it continues to occupy one of the engineer’s daily device slots. A stable device may be used by a non-engineer, but the device acts as a spell-trigger item, meaning that the character must have the appropriate spell on his list or make a successful Use Magic Device check.

Strafing beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can expend 2 of its daily uses to change the ray to a 30-foot line, or 3 daily uses to create a 60-foot line. The ray no longer has a range increment and does not require a touch attack, but any creature in the line can attempt a Reflex save for reduced damage. On a successful save, any affected creature suffers the ray’s minimum normal damage and none of its additional effects. (So, a death ray that dealt 1d8+5d6+5 damage normally would inflict 11 points of damage.) This damage is negated as usual for a creature with evasion; a creature with improved evasion takes the minimum damage on a failed save. The engineer must be at least 8th level to select this discovery.

Widen beam: When the engineer fires his death ray, he can expend 2 of its daily uses to widen the beam, potentially catching multiple creatures in the area. The targeted creature now receives a Reflex save to become a splash target instead of a primary target. All other creatures within 5 feet of the original target are now splash targets. Any creature hit as a splash target suffers none of the beam’s primary effects (including any additional effects, such as the extra damage from a caustic blast), but suffer damage equal to the minimum damage of the ray. So, a death ray that dealt 1d8+5d6+5 damage normally would inflict 11 points of damage (of the same energy type) to all creatures within 5 feet of the main target. The engineer must be at least 4th level to select this discovery.

Let me know what you think! Coming soon: the Mad Tinker prestige class!

Jeremy Puckett

I originally posted the engineer in the alternate alchemists thread, but someone suggested that I revise it and start a thread just for it. The material is a little lengthy, considering the extent to which the engineer diverges from the alchemist, so I'm taking that suggestion and posting up the engineer separately. I hope everyone enjoys it!

The Engineer

Not all alchemists are masters of chemistry and biology. Some prefer to focus their mad talents on the mysteries of mechanical engineering—the creation of lethal machines.

Engineering (Su): Engineers are not only masters of building mundane machines such as mechanical traps and clockwork toys, but also of fashioning pseudo-magical devices which allow them to produce spell effects. In effect, an engineer prepares his spells by building small, expendable devices, and then “casts” his spells by using the device. When an engineer creates a device, he infuses the object with a tiny fraction of his own magical power—this enables the creation of powerful effects, but also binds the effects to the creator.

When making a Knowledge (engineering) check, or any Craft check to build a mechanical device, the engineer gains a competence bonus equal to his class level on the check. In addition, an engineer can use Knowledge (engineering) to identify wondrous items as if using detect magic. He must hold and examine the item for 1 minute to make such a check.

An engineer’s primary means of delivering his magical potential is through devices, including a permanent destructive device called a death ray (see below), though he also gains a limited access to the wonders of traditional alchemy through mutagens. Mutagens are transformative elixirs that the engineer drinks to enhances his physical abilities. (Mutagens are detailed in the main alchemist class.)

Devices are significantly more varied than mutagens. In many ways, they behave like spells in scroll form, and as such their effects can be dispelled by effects like dispel magic using the engineer’s class level as the caster level. An engineer can only create a certain number of devices each level per day. His base daily allotment of devices is the same as an alchemist’s daily extracts, and he likewise gains bonus devices from a high Intelligence score.

When an engineer builds a device, he infuses the gears and springs in it with his own mad genius. A device becomes inert if it leaves the engineer’s possession, reactivating as soon as it returns to his possession—an engineer cannot hand out his devices for use by his allies (but see the “stable device” discovery below). Any touch-range spell requires the engineer to touch the target with the device, meaning that such spells with a duration can only be used on the engineer himself (since if the device leaves the engineer’s possession, it ceases to work). Essentially, all touch-range beneficial magic has a range of “personal” for engineer devices.

A device remains intact so long as the engineer spends time maintaining it each day. Creating a device requires 1 minute per spell level of work initially, but daily maintenance only takes 1 minute (and the device slot, of course)—devices are extremely simple mechanically, and most of their substance comes from the engineer’s genius. Most engineers prepare many devices at the start of the day or just before going on an adventure, but it’s not uncommon for an engineer to keep some of his daily device slots open so that he can build devices in the field as needed. An engineer can only “break down” a device and build a new one in its place after resting (as with a wizard preparing spells).

Although the engineer doesn’t actually cast spells, he does have a blueprints list that determines what devices he can create (see below). An engineer can utilize spell-trigger items if the spell appears on his blueprints list, but not spell-completion items (unless he uses Use Magic Device to do so). A device is “cast” by wielding it, as if casting off a scroll—the effects of a device exactly duplicate the spell upon which its blueprint is based. Wielding a device is a standard action; it is assumed that “drawing” the device is a part of using it, and does not comprise a separate action. The engineer uses his class level as the caster level to determine any effect based on caster level.

Creating devices consumes raw materials, but the cost of these materials is insignificant—comparable to the valueless material components of most spells. An engineer can easily replenish his materials through scavenging and by cannibalizing his previously-used devices. If a spell normally has a costly material component, that component is expended during the use of that particular device, not during its initial creation.

Devices cannot be made from spells that have focus requirements (engineer devices that duplicate divine spells never have a divine focus requirement). An engineer can prepare a device of any blueprint he knows. To learn or use a device, an engineer must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the device’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an engineer’s device is 10 + the device level + the engineer’s Intelligence modifier.

An engineer may know any number of blueprints. He stores his blueprints in a special tome called a laboratory book. He must refer to this book whenever he prepares a device but not when he uses it. An engineer begins play with two 1st-level blueprints of his choice, plus a number of additional blueprints equal to his Intelligence modifier. At each new engineer level, he gains one new blueprint of any level that he can create. An engineer can also add blueprints to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs and time requirements.

An engineer can study a wizard’s spellbook to learn any blueprint that is equivalent to a spell the spellbook contains. A wizard, however, cannot learn spells from a laboratory book. An engineer must decipher arcane writings normally before copying them, using either Spellcraft or read magic.

An engineer cannot select any discovery that relates to extracts or formulae (but see below for new discoveries).

This class feature replaces the alchemy class feature.

Death Ray (Su): Every engineer starts with a basic creative impulse—the urge to destroy those that mock or deride him. To this end, engineers start their career with the construction of a death ray, a personal weapon that can inflict lethal harm against their foes.

The “death ray” is a two-handed ranged weapon with a range increment of 30 feet. It makes attacks as a ranged touch attack and deals electricity damage equal to 1d6 + the engineer’s Intelligence bonus. Firing the death ray is a standard action. The death ray can be used a number of times each day equal to twice the engineer’s class level + the engineer’s Intelligence bonus. Each day, the alchemist must spend one minute per daily use recharging the device with his own magical aura (generally by sitting quietly and tinkering with the device for that time). The engineer is considered to be proficient in his own death ray, though he cannot use another engineer’s death ray any more than anyone else.

The death ray only works for the alchemist, and he can only have one in existence at a time; if his death ray is stolen or destroyed, it takes one day of work and appropriate tools to build a new one. The death ray is a physical device; it must be stored and drawn like any other weapon, it can be stolen, and it is vulnerable to being destroyed. The death ray has a hardness of 5 + the engineer’s class level, and hit points equal to 20 + the engineer’s class level.

The damage of an engineer’s death ray increases by 1d6 points at every odd-numbered class level (this bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit or by using feats such as Vital Strike).

This ability replaces the bombs class feature, and the engineer cannot select any discovery that would affect or modify that class ability.

Trapfinding (Ex): An engineer is a master of clockwork machines and infernal devices. An engineer adds 1/2 his level to Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device skill checks (minimum +1). An engineer can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps. This replaces the alchemist’s Throw Anything bonus feat, poison use, and swift poisoning.

Swift Engineering (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, when an alchemist creates alchemical items or clockwork devices of any sort, it takes him only half the normal amount of time. This replaces the swift alchemy class ability.

Instant Engineering (Ex): At 18th level, the engineer can create alchemical items with almost supernatural speed, and none can match his proficiency at fixing or breaking machines. He can create any alchemical item as a full-round action if he succeeds at the Craft (alchemy) check and has the appropriate resources at hand to fund the creation. Additionally, he can perform any Disable Device check that would normally take up to a minute as a swift action. This feature replaces the instant alchemy class feature.

Grand Discovery (Su): The engineer does not gain access to the poison touch grand discovery, though he can still utilize the others normally. The following abilities are available to an engineer:

Clockwork Heart: The engineer performs the most delicate procedure of his career when he removes his own still-beating heart and replaces it with a construct of brass, tubes, and wires. The engineer’s Constitution is increased by 4 points and his age limits at each age category are doubled, but he gains vulnerability to electricity.

Steel Limbs: The engineer must spend a month performing grotesque acts of surgery on himself, gradually whittling away his own weak flesh and replacing it with sterner stuff. When he is finished, all four of his limbs (and a good portion of his skeleton) are made of gleaming steel and hissing steam vents. The engineer’s Strength is increased by 2 points, he gains +2 natural armor, and his base land speed is increased by 10 feet. Due to his new frame’s heat conductivity, he gains vulnerability to fire.

Next: Blueprints and discoveries!

Jeremy Puckett

I just looked at the anti-paladin pictured in the APG and imagined the sort of character who would wear that outfit with a straight face. Then I wondered if that was the sort of person who would think that peeing in a holy water font was both funny and an appropriate act of desecration. Then I followed the thought from there.

That guy doesn't have a straight face, though. Look at him! He's stifling either a laugh or a fart. He's dressed like High King of Douchebags, and he knows it. But he doesn't care because he also knows that if you say anything about it to him, he's going to rearrange your face, and possibly your sphincter. That man bought his armor at Villains 'R' Us, and he absolutely does not give a damn about what you think. His name is Brad or Chaz, because all genuine douchebags are named Brad or Chaz, or maybe Brad Chazington III, heir to a long line of both Brads and Chazes. He stomps puppies, slaps orphans, and occasionally sets fire to nuns. If you asked him for the time of day, he'd beat you to death with an hourglass.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

Jeremy Puckett

PS: This post is a parody and is not meant to make any judgment about people actually named Brad or Chaz or Brad Chazington. Good day.

How can you critically hit a walking rock such as a stone golem? Does that mean that elementals can be hit with a crit or sneak attack? If so, I personally feel that is just wrong.

Well, as someone else pointed out, you can't critically hit elementals. But a stone golem isn't exactly "a walking rock"; it's a carved statue in the shape of a large, bulky humanoid. That means that there are parts of it that are thinner than others, stress points in the stone, fracture lines--basically, all the same things that allow construction workers and farmers to shatter boulders with a hammer and chisel, or gemcutters to precisely cut gemstones.

Now, to follow that up, is it "realistic" that a rapier has a better chance to crit a stone golem than a warhammer or a pick? Not really, but that's the price you pay for a rules abstraction. ^_^

Jeremy Puckett

I'd love that...

I want to know what Cayden went through.

So does he! :D

Jeremy Puckett

Aroden raised it in Absalom 4700 odd years ago, so it's almost 5 millennia, with only 4 gods. Which suggests to me that they have left it open to a campaign in which someone, or a PC can ascend to godhood.

I mentioned the Test of the Starstone to my PCs in my PF playtest a couple of weeks back, and the three gnome siblings were immediately "Ooh! Let's all go and do that thing!" I pointed out the numbers (four gods in five thousand years), and their basic reply was, "Well, that's because only humans suck enough to get that low a turnover." :p

Jeremy Puckett