Poison might be a good one. Or some kind of grab bag of interesting effects. A poison injector would be cool, but that feels like it would work for any source--in other words, might be best for an upgrade instead of a source power. Perhaps the Alchemy Source creates poison naturally or something.
I haven't made much progress lately. I got sidetracked by graduation and looking for a job.
Congradations! What field?
I haven't made much progress lately. I got sidetracked by graduation and looking for a job.Congradations! What field?
Thank you! I got a Master's of Science in Computer Science. I want to become a technical game designer or software engineer for computer games.
Tough field! There's about a billion other dudes who want those jobs too, but most of them don't have master's degrees. :)
I wrote this outline for the Natural Source, pulling many rejected ideas from other sources. What do you think?
Wisdom
class skill: Knowledge (nature)
quirk: +1 natural armor bonus equal to power surge bonus. When subject to a healing spell, integrated weapons heal for an amount equal to spell level. Treated as a magical beast or plant (your choice) for the purpose of targeting effects like bane and favored enemy
1: integrated weapons increase in size during a power surge
4: raise tension to gain a tail, tendril, or other limb (like tentacle alchemist discovery) that lasts until you raise tension to remove or change it
8: integrated weapons gain reach during a power surge
12: integrated weapons inflict a venom, a poison dealing 1d4 Strength damage or 1d4 Dexterity damage
16: gain fast healing 4 during a power surge (automatically stabilize if downed during a power surge). Can raise tension to regenerate severed limbs
20: Stay in a cocoon for 1 week to retrain upgrades and change race as reincarnation
Some of it I like, some not so much. I wanted to suggest that you make a list of what you think are really iconic druid spells, then come up with benefits in the spirit of those spells. For example, the natural AC bonus has a parallel in the barkskin spell. In the spirit of the entangle spell, the nature source artiforged could have a radius of difficult terrain around him.
Yeah, that's a bit tough as many of the iconic druid spells have to do with messing with stone, wood, weather, and plants, which all wouldn't feasibly work with this.
When I thought of the Natural Source, I envisioned it could work for any biological power source. You could be turning yourself into a treant just as you could simply have a symbiotic creature on you or have a bio-suit. Perhaps it would be best to make the two into separate power sources: one source for becoming a half-treant and one source for becoming a bio-weapon. The source above could fit the bio-weapon approach while I could make another that has more plant oriented abilities.
I wrote this outline for the Natural Source, pulling many rejected ideas from other sources. What do you think?
Wisdom
class skill: Knowledge (nature)
quirk: +1 natural armor bonus equal to power surge bonus. When subject to a healing spell, integrated weapons heal for an amount equal to spell level. Treated as a magical beast or plant (your choice) for the purpose of targeting effects like bane and favored enemy1: integrated weapons increase in size during a power surge
4: raise tension to gain a tail, tendril, or other limb (like tentacle alchemist discovery) that lasts until you raise tension to remove or change it
8: integrated weapons gain reach during a power surge
12: integrated weapons inflict a venom, a poison dealing 1d4 Strength damage or 1d4 Dexterity damage
16: gain fast healing 4 during a power surge (automatically stabilize if downed during a power surge). Can raise tension to regenerate severed limbs
20: Stay in a cocoon for 1 week to retrain upgrades and change race as reincarnation
This could work well for an alien or mutated background.
I have some trouble reconciling the druidic concept of nature with this class and I don't think it is necessary. Then again, I could totally see some non-traditional elves in advanced bio-suits...
Special plant powers will be difficult to come up with, since most plant creatures don't have very interesting abilities. Though I admit that I really liked the verdant bloodline.
I wasn't insinuating that you should copy Druid abilities, because obviously they are a long ways from being Druids. Was saying that you might find some inspiration in Druids.
I get that and I don't necessarily disagree. What I meant was that nature and biology are very different concepts and these concepts can have a big impact on design choices.
Maybe this could also work as an archetype? A bionicist artiforged (seeking to emulate nature with his modifications) that makes use of the summoner's evolutions?
I wrote this outline for the Natural Source, pulling many rejected ideas from other sources. What do you think?
Wisdom
class skill: Knowledge (nature)
quirk: +1 natural armor bonus equal to power surge bonus. When subject to a healing spell, integrated weapons heal for an amount equal to spell level. Treated as a magical beast or plant (your choice) for the purpose of targeting effects like bane and favored enemy1: integrated weapons increase in size during a power surge
4: raise tension to gain a tail, tendril, or other limb (like tentacle alchemist discovery) that lasts until you raise tension to remove or change it
8: integrated weapons gain reach during a power surge
12: integrated weapons inflict a venom, a poison dealing 1d4 Strength damage or 1d4 Dexterity damage
16: gain fast healing 4 during a power surge (automatically stabilize if downed during a power surge). Can raise tension to regenerate severed limbs
20: Stay in a cocoon for 1 week to retrain upgrades and change race as reincarnation
I AM GROOT!
Gilfalas, I just woke up today and misread "cocoon" as "raccoon" and briefly thought you modified my quote to replace all abilities with Groot's powers, one of them receiving a raccoon buddy. Appropriate as the artiforged I'm playing has a little raccoon girl as a best friend, played by another player.
Bio Source Inspiration
I must confess that one major inspiration for the bio-source comes from a friend's non-Pathfinder character. He has a character that was augmented with biological technology to become a living weapon. What caught my attention was that many of her powers fit an artiforged extremely well. She has integrated weapons, retractable armor she can customize, and the ability to add new features to herself. She isn't an alien either -- she's a fantasy race augmented using demonic fleshcrafting technology. Though it's stretching it a little, she would still fit the class's theme as an artificially augmented warrior. Hrm, maybe one of the high level source powers could give wings, too..
An archetype that goes further would be rather cool. I do want to introduce archetypes that use a source in a more extreme way that replaces class features (which is beyond the scope of what a power source can do).
Favored Class Options
I added a list of favored class options here. I'm brainstorming how I want to handle racial favored class options. I don't really want to exhaustively list every race as favored class options the way the Advanced Race Guide does. That's not really a smart way of doing it. Heck, the current iconic is a homebrew race. So, I'm thinking about the following approaches.
1) Provide a list of favored class options that any race can select.
2) List a few race + power source combinations that consider the artiforged as a favored class. Allow any of those to select from a list of favored class options.
3) As #1, but also provide an expanded list if a character has a certain race + power source combination. These might be more specific to the power source.
The only real problem with the class is that Artiforged sounds like a class that I'd order from the Arby's D20 supplement.
Arby's... Where gastrointestinal distress doesn't have to be roleplayed.
That's quite the oddest criticism I've ever received for my work. I appreciate that!
Gilfalas, I just woke up today and misread "cocoon" as "raccoon" and briefly thought you modified my quote to replace all abilities with Groot's powers, one of them receiving a raccoon buddy. Appropriate as the artiforged I'm playing has a little raccoon girl as a best friend, played by another player.
I try to help and make the funny from time to time. :)
A few changes in 1.6:
Power Surge (Ex): At the beginning of his turn, an artiforged can raise his tension by 1 to begin a power surge as a free action. He gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using integrated weapons. This bonus increases by 1 at 5th level and every 5 levels after to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. This lasts 1 round. Consecutive rounds count as the same power surge with an extended duration.
Once per round during a power surge, the artiforged may roll 1d6 and add the result to a single Strength check or an Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Sleight of Hand, or Swim check. He may roll this after rolling the check but before the results are determined.
Power Surge (Ex): An artiforged can begin a power surge by raising his tension by 1 as a free action. For 1 round, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using integrated weapons. This bonus increases by 1 at 5th level and every 5 levels after to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. An artiforged can continue his power surge on each following round by raising his tension by 1 as a free action. If his power surge ends, he must wait 1 round before beginning a new one.
Once per round during a power surge, the artiforged may roll 1d6 and add the result to a single Strength check or an Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Sleight of Hand, or Swim check. He uses this after rolling the check but before the results are determined.
I did get a cool idea of an upgrade to use the deflection barrier to parry a ranged attack and reflect it back. Hrm..I'm not sure.
I have released a major update to the Artiforged class in light of some playtesting. The biggest change involves a rework of integrated weapon and opening up a lot of new options. Unfortunately, I think I overdid it. Integrated Weapon now takes up nearly a page.
I also want to rework the Solar and Unlife power sources. Arcane (which I'm using for my character) also needs a bit of work. I found that it's difficult to keep marks on enemies, yet alone mark multiple creatures. This basically makes the 4th level power source non-existent.
- Integrated Weapon: Reworked integrated weapons such that the artiforged can attach and detach weapons, and the class feature no longer grants a weapon free of charge.
- Integrated Weapon: Added gauntlets and undersized weaponry options.
- Tension: Power source maintenance rules have been reworked for clarity. The artiforged must now spend 1 hour each day maintaining their power source. For 24 hours afterward, they lose tension each hour and can lose tension when they receive magical healing.
- Power Surge: Named power surge’s skill bonus sub-ability to “surge stunt.”
- Integrated Armor: Reworked integrated armor such that the artiforged can attach and detach armor to themselves, and the class feature no longer grants armor for free.
- Integrated Armor: If the artiforged integrates armor with armor spikes, he treats them as integrated weapons for artiforged class features.
- Armor Configuration: Added camouflage and environment configurations. Removed spike armor (no longer needed with the above changes to integrated armor). Reworked warded configuration to grant a bonus to saves and touch AC against energy attacks equal to power surge bonus (instead of source modifier).
- Ex-Artiforged: Changed to reflect changes to integrated weapons and armor, indicating the artiforged needs to integrate new weapons and armor to replace those lost from his previous body.
- Extra Integrated Weapon: Reworked to reflect integrated weapon changes. This upgrade now allows you to have one additional integrated weapon at a time.
- Improved Integrated Armor: Reworked to reflect changes to integrated armor (see below).
- Integrated Shield: Reworked to reflect changes to integrated armor (see below).
- Shattering Charge: Reworked. It no longer grants a bonus to break attempts. During any movement, the artiforged can now break or sunder objects in his path so they do not obstruct his movement.
- Spike Armor: Changed to “Spike Missile.” Reworked to reflect changes to integrated armor. The caltrop special attack has been reworked into a cone area attack.
- Advanced Impulse Weaponry now raises tension by 2 and requires a failed Reflex save to knock an enemy prone.
- Advanced Shattering Charge has been reworked in accordance with the rework of the shattering charge upgrade.
- Advanced Thrusters: Now requires the Thrusters upgrade
- Augmented Prowess: Removed
- Mobility Form: Reworked
- Transformative Weaponry: Clarified that this cannot be used transform an integrated weapon into an invalid weapon type.
- The tool requirement for performing maintenance on power sources has been changed for each power source to reflect the clarity changes to the tension system.
- Blighted Source: Contagious Blight can now only affect a number of additional creatures equal to source modifier. Forged Perfection no longer grants immunity to critical hits.
- Solar Source: Removed until I rework it.
- Steam: Increased the cost of Unstoppable Machine to 2 tension
Some items listed in the change log occurred while this thread was previously active.
I will have more to say when I'm not typing on my phone.
I have? I did all of this well after. However, many of the bigger changes were suggested by you.
Added archetype kagemashin. Become a fantasy cyborg ninja!
Artiforged
Integrated Weapons
What is the opposite of retracted? The actions to do that or to retract the weapon should be the same as whatever action a character normally uses. That way, quick draw still has a point. Alternately, simplify it and make it a swift action to retract or to... do whatever the other thing is called.
Melee Weapon
I like the intention of the incorrectly sized, but I think that it is a needless complication. The previous language would have allowed such a weapon, but would incur the normal penalty, which I think is fine. You could make some cool upgrade to accommodate such a build.
Ranged Weapon
I think it would be fine allow crossbows of any size, but the character would be forced to accept the one-handed penalty. Maybe light and heavy crossbows have smaller storage for ammunition? You might also make the strength bonus associated with an upgrade as well.
Gauntlets
I feel that there is some redundancy. In the first part you state that the gauntlets deal 1d6 points of damage. In the second part you talk about what size gauntlets you can integrate. If the gauntlet deals 1d6 (for a medium artiforged), then it doesn't much matter what size the gauntlet is. One should override the other. Although having giant fists is visually cool, the 1d6 makes the size not matter, mechanically.
Launcher
Like the ranged weapon, maybe the size of the weapon could determine the capacity. The final sentence is unclear.
Power Source
Change "he chooses a power source" to "he chooses a power source (see below)".
Tension
I think this ability could be merged into power source - if you choose to handle it that way. You chould add a sentence to the very beginning that is something like: "An artiforged's power source is capable of producing a limited amount of work/energy/power before it takes a toll on his body." make the wording whatever you like, but stating that he begins with zero tension is not as helpful IMHO. Also, it may (or may not) be interesting if the penalty for exceeding this limit is determined by his power source. Not every power source penalty has be be unique, but some could be different.
Power Surge
I think the Surge Stunt ability should be determined by the power source. There can certainly be a couple of checks that are available to more than one power source, but there can be unique ones too.
Flurry Assault
I think you should work out a way where this co-operates with abilities like two-weapon fighting. Maybe if the penalties stack? It seems weird that if I have one integrated weapon and one hald-held weapon, that i can make an additional attack with the integrated weapon but I can't make any attacks with the other weapon.
I split tension from power source since it started to make the class feature text too bloated.
The idea with gauntlets is that you integrate a pair of gauntlet two size categories larger than you, but that became difficult to word. 1d6 is the amount of damage Huge gauntlets deal.
I think 1d6 is fine for the amount of damage dealt, but think about how big a huge gauntlet would be. The knuckles might be 2 or 3 feet across. I I think calling it an oversized gaultlet that deals 1d6 damage would be sufficient. I assume they are meant to be larger than normal.
Maybe they have springs, like boxing gloves in a cartoon...
Oh, and what I meant to ask is if you didn't want suggestion on what I wrote before, could you please direct me to what you would like input on?
It might be a more clean solution to simply state that the artiforged can only integrate weapons of his size. You can still make a titan-mauler (or toothpick master) archetype to cover those cases.
The 'ranged' descriptor is a bit confusing, as the category only encompasses a very limited category of weapons. It might be easier to simply list them. Again, I'd reserve firearms (with which the artiforged is not proficient) for a special archetype unless the class gains features to support it. That leaves only the handcrossbow and sling, and I doubt that they are important enough to give them their own category.
Barnes, I value your input on all of that. I'm letting some of it simmer. I'm concerned about the power sources and whether I've made the class features too bloated -- particularly integrated weapon. Getting that right feels like a priority since Integrated Weapon is the class's iconic feature. I want to make it flexible enough to enable many cool concepts, but elegant enough to not overcomplicate it or create many edge cases.
This draft took the approach that an artiforged integrates a weapon and the special features "kick in." For example, you integrate the Huge gauntlets and you can wield them without penalty, gain the +2 CMB bonus, become treated as a larger creature, etc. The approach also explains what happens when it's no longer integrated. This contrasts with the previous version where you got the weapon for free and it was permanently a part of you until you scrapped it.
It's all good. You don't have to use my ideas. We've worked on a bunch of stuff and I just enjoy the brainstorming.
I didn't get the size bonus during the first time, months ago, but when I imagine have giant hands to grab someone, throw them to the ground, or move them from one spot to another, it makes sense. For a CM like steal it makes a little less sense, but thats OK. One question though, does "treated as one size larger" give him even more of a boost to CMB? Might want to clarify. Maybe you just increase the guy's size and drop the size bonus? Or you keep it as is an word it very carefully. Or did you intend for two bonuses?
The size bonus comes from the increased size of the gauntlets. I'll reword that.
2.1:
Added the Dead Reckoning System and Penetrating Shot upgrades. Dead reckoning allows you to raise tension when you strike a creature with concealment (but not total concealment) to ignore concealment for the rest of the turn. Penetrating Shot allows you to raise tension to shoot through cover, reducing the damage the target takes in the process.
2.2:
Added the Elemental Power Source. I tried hard not to make obvious choices and tried to make the powers a bit varied. It gives you damage, an extra form of attack, a zone control ability, a cool mobility ability, etc
I debated about simplifying the ranged integrated weapon option by removing the internal storage and introducing that feature as an upgrade. I don't know -- maybe I should just leave it alone.
It feels like from my playtests that being able to wield integrated weapons without using a hand is a pretty nice boon. I underestimated it, but I feel it's very appropriate.
Removing the internal storage simplifies things, and there are already some weapons that can fire more than once.
Good point. I'll do that and go about revising the gauntlet option as well. Once I have an iteration of the class feature I'm pleased with, I'll focus on adding more content. I have a list of archetypes I want to implement, which includes:
- Scrap soldier, which integrates random objects to use as improvised weapons, armor, and tools
- Beast machine, which replaces integrated weapons with manufactured natural attacks and provides some shapeshifting options
- Forged fist, which restricts class features to using oversized gauntlets, but provides other benefits
Perhaps he can choose an upgrade that holds X pieces of ammuntion. Takes a minute or so to load ammo into his arm, and it allows him to load ammo into the weapon as a swift action.
Perhaps he can choose an upgrade that holds X pieces of ammuntion. Takes a minute or so to load ammo into his arm, and it allows him to load ammo into the weapon as a swift action.
The problem with that is that you're better off getting Rapid Reload in most circumstances.
Not for a heavy crossbow or a hammer gun. :)
Basically it would be the equivalent of a feat, but with a quirk or two.
Here's a revision of the integrated weapon class feature. What do you think?
I know I've said this more than once, but I still think you might as well allow all crossbows. It would be up to the artiforged to decide if he uses one hand or two, and since your ammo cartridge feature is gone, he still has to spend an action to reload it.
Since the hand crossbow is part of the "ranged" entry, it seems strange to see it appear under "launcher".
It might be a neat add-on that if the artiforged creates a weapon himself, he can integrate/detach it in less time and it does not take damage when he detaches it.
I concede that point about the crossbows. However, integrated weapons generally have to be weapons you could wield in one hand, so that makes it muddy when concerning crossbows that need two hands. Hm...
Launcher option mentions hand crossbows because the class feature requires taking an existing weapon and attaching it to you. So that leaves the question of what exactly would you integrate for the launcher option? A hand crossbow was the answer to that.
The artiforged gaining benefits for integrating weapons that he crafted sounds like a cool idea. However, I don't really want to bloat the class feature even more, so maybe it could work better as a trait, archetype feature, or favored class bonus or something?
Alrighty, I put light crossbows back on the menu. I'm pretty happy with this iteration, and it's 200 words less than the one currently in the main doc.
I was concerned the loss of innate internal storage would cripple switch hitters, but it looks like the artiforged is only one feat behind a ranger at low levels -- assuming flurry assault is comparable to Rapid Shot. Considering the artiforged gets many neat toys the ranger does not, I think that's perfectly fine.
I'll add the revision to the main doc when I finish designing an internal storage upgrade.
As written, he can integrate and fire a heavy crossbow.
That's true, but he'd take a hefty penalty for it. You suggest I should put the "you can't integrate a weapon that gives you a penalty for firing one-handed" back in?
Nope. I just brought it up 'cause you mentioned light crossbows and I thought you missed it.
Made a significant revision to Arcane Source. I felt like giving Arcane Strike as a quirk at 1st level was too strong and the ability to inflict multiple marks at 4th level seemed pretty worthless. Instead, I moved Arcane Strike to 4th level and gave detect magic as a quirk. This also fixes a thematic issue. It never made sense that a person capable of attaching magical devices to their body would be unable to detect and identify magical items.
You've done some playtesting on this class, haven't you? How has that gone?
You've done some playtesting on this class, haven't you? How has that gone?
Fairly well. I'm currently playing a 9th level runari artiforged that has leveled up since 5th level. I'm playing him as sort of a juggernaut with an arm that turns into a morning star with a pistol (the GM made firearms martial weapons and used my firearm houserules that eliminate touch attacks and misfires). His feats are Power Attack, Deadly Aim, Cleave, Lunge, and Cornugen Smash. His upgrades are Shattering Charge, Extra Integrated Weapon, Thrusters, Grasping Weaponry. I'm considering retraining Cornugen Smash for Combat Reflexes and get a pole arm. I want to experiment with mixing integrated weapons and non-integrated weapons.
My thoughts so far:
1) The class feels strong in many areas since they begin play with an attack/damage buff that also adds extra damage or applies an effect depending on your power source. However, i feel it has several meaningful weaknesses that keep it in line. MAD, inability to two-hand integrated weapons, and lack of bonus feats are a big deal.
2) The tension mechanic works surprisingly well. I wrote an article about it last June, and my observations are the same.
3) The earlier version of integrated weapon felt very limited due to how much it discouraged integrating new weapons, and the Arcane Source had some balance issues. The changes I made to these class features came as a result of this. Once I get my GM to approve the newest version, I'll see how the changes work out.
4) The lack of handedness in integrated weapon is a pretty awesome boon. I underestimated how useful it is to have a weapon that doesn't use up your hands. I feel it fits the class well, especially since early
5) I keep going back and forth on whether or not to remove source modifier -- the ability score determined by the power source that gets factored into maximum tension and ability saving throw DCs. It adds more complication and little else. I could simply have the calculations scale off of Constitution instead. However, I feel reluctant to make such a big change, especially since the MAD balances the class and similar martial classes also rely on a mental statistic.
6) I feel there should be more upgrades with active abilities or have more utility use outside of combat. Most function as passive buffs or are only useful outside of combat. I know this is a common issue with martials, and I'm probably too used to playing gish classes and spellcasters.
7) My group considers Shattering Charge the iconic upgrade. It's not an amazing ability -- especially since I have Thrusters and featherstep slippers to get past obstacles. However, both the GM and the other players get excited to see if I successfully smash through obstacles to get to a baddie.
8) Armor configuration isn't crazy good -- especially considering I integrated mithril armor to make armor check penalities a non-factor -- but it does feel fun and flavorful.
#4
What are some of things you have used the free hand for?
#6
There is a lot of room here to play around, such raising tension to adopt a disguise in 1 round or less. I know that's not really the sort of thing you intend for the class, but it's the first thing that came to mind.
#4
What are some of things you have used the free hand for?#6
There is a lot of room here to play around, such raising tension to adopt a disguise in 1 round or less. I know that's not really the sort of thing you intend for the class, but it's the first thing that came to mind.
There's a disguise upgrade at the moment I believe. One I wanted to do for a long time was some kind of sensor and a "scanning" upgrade where you can "scan" something and learn about it.
Not using up hands means I can swap between my integrated morning star and integrated pistol with ease. I also don't take penalties for grappling without two free hands. I can carry around a potion in one hand. I can do things like wield a two-handed weapon and shoot enemies with an integrated ranged weapon when they're out of range. I want to try using a reach weapon and see how that works out since flurry assault allows me to follow up any attack with an integrated weapon attack.
Hearing this makes me realize some things about the class that I didn't before. The integrated weapon can be used as though it were wielded by an additional arm, correct? I don't think you need to spell out every available option, but I don't think that using the integrated weapon in this way was possible until I just read about it.
Also, I thought the doc says that you can't integrate more than one weapon.
You made me realize I forgot to update the doc with the revised integrated weapon rules I posted earlier. I just did that now.
But mechanically, the weapons work more like armor spikes, which is a weapon that doesn't use up a hand. You can integrate another weapon if you take the extra integrated weapon upgrade.