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Hello!
Welcome to Dreamscarred's latest project, DSP's Expanded Technology Guide. You may have also heard me refer to this as "Psitech" in other threads. DSP's Expanded Technology Guide includes some awesome new options for you to play with, including new archetypes with mechs you can pilot, new mechanics for weapons and firearms, cool technological weapons, and more.
There's still a lot of material that I'm polishing up for this playtest, but there's been a lot of demand from people who want to start playing with the goodies we've got lined up, so I'm rolling it out now, but there will be numerous updates coming out hot and fast, including around a dozen more archetypes, even more feats and cybertech enhancements, and a limited bestiary including things like a variety of mechs that anyone with the Psi-Core Upgrade feat can pilot, a psionic kaiju, and an AI with the powers of of a Cryptic!
DSP's Expanded Technology Guide
Google Doc link to playtest for those having trouble with Dropbox
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*Opens, while running to gitp to subscribe*
And here we have it. Giant robots in my Pathfinder (Again). I really look forward to seeing how this goes forward.
Wildwing. This feels like your mecha protagonist right here. The Overdrive system is pretty nifty, and well worth the loss of Warrior Paths. Energized Weaponry and Rocket Punch feel very strong for 1st level, and I think they need a minimum level. High Performance is also a little funky since it can give a pretty huge attack and save bonus. Once you have two psionic focus, you can afford to have High Performance on for even the longest of fights, essentially making it an automatic take. I can't help but feel that Ejection Seat and Self Destruct should have some sort of synergy.
Squad Leaders are crazy cool! I love the idea of remote controlling your mech, and probably a few other mechs, while providing tacticool support to your party. One problem though. What is the remote mech's BAB?
As for mechs themselves. Do they get the +8 strength, -2 dex when they increase in size? Do they get the additional hit points for being a construct and increasing in size?
I think Mech Piloting is an interesting feat. Anyone (psionic) who wants to invest 4 feats can have a mech!
I think the Psi-Core Upgrade feat is really neat. I have always been a big fan of psicrystals, and the potential they could have. This feat really reaches out to that potential, and lets a psionic character "technology" it up in fantastic new ways. Though, I think it should get a (Psionic) tag.
It was real cool to include a technological weapon for finesse people. They were sorely lacking in that respect, compared to the brutally awesome chainsaw that THF characters could have.
That first artifact sure sounds familiar....
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And here we have it. Giant robots in my Pathfinder (Again). I really look forward to seeing how this goes forward.
Wildwing. This feels like your mecha protagonist right here. The Overdrive system is pretty nifty, and well worth the loss of Warrior Paths. Energized Weaponry and Rocket Punch feel very strong for 1st level, and I think they need a minimum level. High Performance is also a little funky since it can give a pretty huge attack and save bonus. Once you have two psionic focus, you can afford to have High Performance on for even the longest of fights, essentially making it an automatic take. I can't help but feel that Ejection Seat and Self Destruct should have some sort of synergy.
I actually had just finished adding the Self-Destruct and Ejection Seat Synergy right before you got this post up :)
Squad Leaders are crazy cool! I love the idea of remote controlling your mech, and probably a few other mechs, while providing tacticool support to your party. One problem though. What is the remote mech's BAB?
It uses the squad leader's BAB. I'll clarify that in the entry.
As for mechs themselves. Do they get the +8 strength, -2 dex when they increase in size? Do they get the additional hit points for being a construct and increasing in size?
Yes. Also the penalties to attack rolls and AC, the bonuses to CMB/CMD, and the penalties to Stealth. I suspect this will need to be tweaked, but I'm letting some playtesting happen first.
I think Mech Piloting is an interesting feat. Anyone (psionic) who wants to invest 4 feats can have a mech!
Yeah, I felt like that should be an option, as long as the buy in was sufficiently steep. Also, you've reminded me that it needs to be noted that piloting a mech counts as wearing metal armor for abilities and effects that check against that (like the shocking grasp spell or a druid's code).
I think the Psi-Core Upgrade feat is really neat. I have always been a big fan of psicrystals, and the potential they could have. This feat really reaches out to that potential, and lets a psionic character "technology" it up in fantastic new ways. Though, I think it should get a (Psionic) tag.
I was really thinking of Bao Dur from KOTOR II when I was writing that one :)
Also, you're right about the Psionic tag, I'll add that in,[quote[
It was real cool to include a technological weapon for finesse people. They were sorely lacking in that respect, compared to the brutally awesome chainsaw that THF characters could have.
Glad you think so!
That first artifact sure sounds familiar....
I'm sure I have no Cerebro what you're talking about.
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Nothing for a Wilder yet? Because I'm pretty sure supercharged emotions have powered mechs before... ;)
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Nothing for a Wilder yet? Because I'm pretty sure supercharged emotions have powered mechs before... ;)
It's actually on my list.
The archetypes I've got in some stage of development right now are-
Aegis
Daevic
Dread
Druid (bio mech)
Gunslinger
Marksman
Monk (inspired by Fei Fong Wong from Xenogears)
Psion
Rogue
Soulknife
Vitalist (possibly - this one may be cut if I can't nail down the mechanics)
Wilder
I've also just added the Cryptic archetype to the playtest docs.
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Sigh.... Just noticed my typo in the thread title.
Hey, so we've been spitballing ideas for what the actual name of this product will be, and I thought I'd see what you all think about a few of the front-runners:
Psitech: Technology Expanded
Cutting Edge: Technology Expanded
Techforge
Technoforge
Mechforge
Arcforge: The Book of Future Tech
Electroforge
Mind and Metal
Electric Lexicon: Technology Expanded
Wow, that is a nice list of archetypes. I know my friend will want that marksman! Also, my vote goes to Psitech: Technology Expanded. Mostly because it was word-of-mouth advertised as such for so long that it will be called Psitech regardless of what its officially titled.
The first time I ever saw a mech doing vitalist stuff in anime was a few weeks back in Fafner: Exodus. It seems like a pretty new thing, and a pretty weird thing to try and cover.
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Wow, that is a nice list of archetypes. I know my friend will want that marksman! Also, my vote goes to Psitech: Technology Expanded. Mostly because it was word-of-mouth advertised as such for so long that it will be called Psitech regardless of what its officially titled.
The first time I ever saw a mech doing vitalist stuff in anime was a few weeks back in Fafner: Exodus. It seems like a pretty new thing, and a pretty weird thing to try and cover.
The Vitalist is actually pretty low down on my priority list right now, primarily because it seemed like a really cool idea and then turned out to be really difficult to pull off once I started actually trying to write the mechanics.
***EDIT***
The powers-what-be have weighed in, and it looks like we're going with "Arcforge: Technology Expanded" as the final name for the product that has been referred to as both Psitech and The Expanded Technology Guide.
If there isn't a fighter Mech archetype, then I hope there are at least a bunch of cool mech feats a fighter can learn.
Considering said Fighter would be stuck inside a robot I'd rather see any other class get a robot archetype. No need to stick a 2 skill point class into a robot.
If Gunslinger is going to be the pure Ranged robot then I'd want Brawler to be the pure melee one since it has actual class features to trade out as an archtype.
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I haven't even looked at the plautest and I already know I'm throwing down money for this. I need three hard copies.
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Psitech: Technology Expanded
Simple yet descriptive and straight to the point.
And WHY wasn't AP considered for weapons before? Yes it's an extra mechanic to worry about, but I think it may placate those who are rabid against the Guns are Touch Attacks mechanic (which I honestly have no problem with. Better than unrealistically increasing base damage like so many other attempts). I'm contemplating using the AP mechanic for my sci-fi campaigns.
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Yeah, agreeing with Malwing on this one. Already interested, havent read a thing.
Question about the Self Destruct option. It says "As part of this action, the pilot makes an acrobatics check with a DC equal to 10 + 1 per HD of the mech to successfully exit and land safely in a square of his choice at any point on the perimeter of the blast." It also mentions that creatures that have the mech Swallowed get no save, and that the Ejector Seat option means the pilot auto succeeds the acrobatics to avoid the blast. Makes sense. My question is, if the mech is swallowed, and the pilot is in the mech, and the mech explodes,where does the pilot land? It says the pilot lands on the perimeter of the blast. Does that mean it automatically escapes the Swallow? Is it just assumed that the explosion will be enough to blast through the holding area and release the pilot? Or are there some enemies that are so large that the pilot could eject, safely land outside the blast, and still be in the monsters holding area?
Apologies if this has a simple answer, Im just not familiar with the Swallow Whole rules for monsters.
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Yeah, agreeing with Malwing on this one. Already interested, havent read a thing.
Question about the Self Destruct option. It says "As part of this action, the pilot makes an acrobatics check with a DC equal to 10 + 1 per HD of the mech to successfully exit and land safely in a square of his choice at any point on the perimeter of the blast." It also mentions that creatures that have the mech Swallowed get no save, and that the Ejector Seat option means the pilot auto succeeds the acrobatics to avoid the blast. Makes sense. My question is, if the mech is swallowed, and the pilot is in the mech, and the mech explodes,where does the pilot land? It says the pilot lands on the perimeter of the blast. Does that mean it automatically escapes the Swallow? Is it just assumed that the explosion will be enough to blast through the holding area and release the pilot? Or are there some enemies that are so large that the pilot could eject, safely land outside the blast, and still be in the monsters holding area?
Apologies if this has a simple answer, Im just not familiar with the Swallow Whole rules for monsters.
The assumption, for simplicity's sake, was that one way or another the blast gets the pilot in the clear. I'm going to be honest, it hadn't occurred to me that there may be particularly big creatures (kaiju maybe?) that are big enough the ejection would still put the pilot in their area. For now, assume the pilot gets clear, and I'll rerun the math and tweak the verbage to make sure the area is sufficient that this doesn't come up as an issue.
Sounds good to me. Like I mentioned, I have no idea if there really is a creature big enough that the pilot still would not be in the clear. I just wanted to see if that was the intent.
Other than that, Im really enjoying this so far. Already want to use the Squad Leader to try and make a golem "puppeteer" type character.
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Delving a little further, I'm kinda disappointed that medium sized characters can't pilot an Aerial Mech until 11th level at this point. There's no way for a Medium character to fly on/in something at all at lv1 as a class feature.
The fact you can pilot a mech of your own size seems more Iron Man than Gundam too, but that's not going bother me any. I'll toy around with a Aerial character and see what I can come up with.
EDIT: What is the maneuverability of the Aerial Mech? It has a fly speed, but nothing to indicate if it's clumsy, average, good, etc.
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There was a template published in a Dragon magazine issue that was called Kaiju, that made super monsters. Combine that with this, and bam, you have Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla ;)
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Sounds good to me. Like I mentioned, I have no idea if there really is a creature big enough that the pilot still would not be in the clear. I just wanted to see if that was the intent.
Other than that, Im really enjoying this so far. Already want to use the Squad Leader to try and make a golem "puppeteer" type character.
The dread archetype I'm getting ready to add in (currently somewhat unimaginatively named the "Dreadwing"), is another puppeteer class, getting access to aerial mechs only, but able to break them up Houndmaster or Beastmaster style with multiple weaker mechs that he can attach his aura of fear to and use to deliver powers, terrors, and his devastating touch. I also considered "Terrorwing" for a name, but that struck me as super "early 80's cartoon"-y.
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I am somewhat disappointed that mechs appear to be a class feature akin to animal companions unless I'm not reading it right. I always feel an immersion disconnect when things like that aren't treated as vehicles or other items. I'm crossing my fingers for non bonded mech in addition to bonded mech but I'm not too hurt without it. They seem tied thematically to psionics so I can live with 'psionic mechs' running alongside 'mechanical mechs' from other sources.
I've seen AP before. Given the amount of fuss generated by firearms and touch attacks armor ignoring bonuses and adding dex to damage has been my favorite recommendations for altering firearms for anyone that aren't satisfied with Pathfinder's firearms. I would love for a more general approach, i.e. Early firearms have x AP, Advanced have x AP, modern have x AP and Technological have x AP. Mainly because of third party firearms.
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Monk (inspired by Fei Fong Wong from Xenogears)
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Find me a way to do Emeralda and my soul is yours.
If there isn't a fighter Mech archetype, then I hope there are at least a bunch of cool mech feats a fighter can learn.Considering said Fighter would be stuck inside a robot I'd rather see any other class get a robot archetype. No need to stick a 2 skill point class into a robot.
I would think this would be perfect for a Cavalier archetype, swapping out mount and other abilities for a Landmate or Veritech Cyclone armor.
Monk (inspired by Fei Fong Wong from Xenogears)EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Find me a way to do Emeralda and my soul is yours.
Forget that. I'm hoping that by the end of this I can run a G-Gundam campaign.
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I am somewhat disappointed that mechs appear to be a class feature akin to animal companions unless I'm not reading it right. I always feel an immersion disconnect when things like that aren't treated as vehicles or other items. I'm crossing my fingers for non bonded mech in addition to bonded mech but I'm not too hurt without it. They seem tied thematically to psionics so I can live with 'psionic mechs' running alongside 'mechanical mechs' from other sources.
I've seen AP before. Given the amount of fuss generated by firearms and touch attacks armor ignoring bonuses and adding dex to damage has been my favorite recommendations for altering firearms for anyone that aren't satisfied with Pathfinder's firearms. I would love for a more general approach, i.e. Early firearms have x AP, Advanced have x AP, modern have x AP and Technological have x AP. Mainly because of third party firearms.
The class-specific mechs got priority development. As some of the features refer to, there's also going to be a selection of non-class mechs that anyone with the right options (like a psi-core in mainframe mode) can climb in and operate.
One of the reasons the AP chart has specific examples, was to kind of set a guideline for other materials while still allowing some differential between weapons that people might argue have variable punching power (pistols v. muskets v. concealable/hybrid weapons like the buckler gun). That being said, this is a playtest because we want to make sure that things that work in a vacuum work in the wider world as well. If enough people would prefer a general rule like you suggest, that's definitely something I can accomodate.
I am somewhat disappointed that mechs appear to be a class feature akin to animal companions unless I'm not reading it right. I always feel an immersion disconnect when things like that aren't treated as vehicles or other items. I'm crossing my fingers for non bonded mech in addition to bonded mech but I'm not too hurt without it. They seem tied thematically to psionics so I can live with 'psionic mechs' running alongside 'mechanical mechs' from other sources.
Maybe there's a way to do both? Maybe have mechs/robots with basic pre-programmed abilities due to their lack of an Intelligence score. Then certain classes with specialized archetypes can mindlink ("psilink") to a mech (via tech or psi abilities), bonding with it and allowing the mech to borrow brainpower from the controller. With the enhanced computing power, the bonded mech is more resistant to attempts to have its control usurped, and it can perform more complex tasks in and out of combat (maybe by running a "virtual machine" in the controller's mind).
Edit: Ninja'd
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Hey guys-
To avoid a potential future where a new poster hops in 10 pages from now and is confused about the difference between the name we settled on (Arcforge) and the name in the thread title and OP links, I've started a new thread here.
I am somewhat disappointed that mechs appear to be a class feature akin to animal companions unless I'm not reading it right. I always feel an immersion disconnect when things like that aren't treated as vehicles or other items. I'm crossing my fingers for non bonded mech in addition to bonded mech but I'm not too hurt without it. They seem tied thematically to psionics so I can live with 'psionic mechs' running alongside 'mechanical mechs' from other sources.Maybe there's a way to do both? Maybe have mechs/robots with basic pre-programmed abilities due to their lack of an Intelligence score. Then certain classes with specialized archetypes can mindlink ("psilink") to a mech (via tech or psi abilities), bonding with it and allowing the mech to borrow brainpower from the controller. With the enhanced computing power, the bonded mech is more resistant to attempts to have its control usurped, and it can perform more complex tasks in and out of combat (maybe by running a "virtual machine" in the controller's mind).
Edit: Ninja'd
Well the wheels in my head right now started turning when I started reading. I'm happy to let psimechs be their own thing that requires psicrystals so for now in my current scifi campaign I'll leave it alone despite mecha existing from other rules. But those rules are a bit sparse and I haven't had a real chance to see them in action or playtest them so if they don't work out I'll probably simply let an AI operating system take the place of a mainframe psicrystal. Between the Technology Guide and Fat Goblin Game's Fantastic Technology, I have funtioning rules for crafting AI so its comparable up that point. From there I'd probably have to convert HD to a gold cost or leave it alone and have my own set of enhancements picked from other mech sources, justifying it as bonded mech being somewhat self evolving because psionics, not to mention that I have other sources of class-based mechs that I don't want to overshadow either.