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Hello!
One of my characters is a gun Tank. He wants to be a space marine/SPARTAN soldier /N7 armor guy, which I think it's cool and fits with the game.
Two problems:
The real power suit armor is an artifact, and you use them when the campaign is going to end, and the rest of scifi armors suck. Spacesuit is unwieldly, with huge ACP, low AC and no DEX.HEV suit is the same. Smart armor is just a worse adamantine fullplate which chews charges for breakfast.
So I decided to build a custom magic item that works as "standard" power armor, but I'm looking for advice. I'm going to put it in the Aurora, in place of the 4 ruined HEV suits, trading enough treasure away to balance out the stuff.
I want it to feel like it's worth it, but not make it so powerful as the real artifact. My idea is to combine a few cheap magical/tech items into a single suit, integrated. The total cost should be lower than a HEV suit. I'm not sure what to add or not. I want it to have several utility powers, without being to good combat wise. Also, as he probably wont upgrade it in a while, it should last (quite) a few levels. It might work as "standard power armor" later for some TL dudes as well,in 5th book.
Here is what I think it could be nice:
+1 full plate of glaucite (about 6500gp, weights half as much)
Deflecting Shield (as Ring of Protection +1) 1000gp.
Servos: Muleback cords 1000gp (Gives the "powered" feel without using +enhance str which is worth too much)
Targeting array (equivalent to cracked ioun pale green, +1 competence to hit) 4000gp.
Inner Compass (equivalent to wayfinder) 500gp
Inner stimulant injector (equivalent to ioun stone resonant power) free
Filter mask (4000gp)
Flashlight (30gp)
Enhanced vision (eye of the owl, low light vision) 4000
Power Fist (equivalent to grippers) 100gp
Probably should drop a few of those. Dunno which. Also, maybe someone has a good idea for some other minor magic items to be placed, or a different approach.
Maybe giving just the +1 full plate if glaucite, then adding the rest as upgrades during different parts of the AP?
Edit: as a side note: buying and selling items in thus campaign is almost imposible, as I removed gold and most people just barter what they have, with little to none "magic shops" and no "on demand" construction for the most part, ulike my regular campaings where I let buy and sell normally. So I need to railor the items a bit more for the PC, as they cant sell junk magic items and transform them into the Big 6
Hello!
One of my characters is a gun Tank. He wants to be a space marine/SPARTAN soldier /N7 armor guy, which I think it's cool and fits with the game.Two problems:
The real power suit armor is an artifact, and you use them when the campaign is going to end, and the rest of scifi armors suck. Spacesuit is unwieldly, with huge ACP, low AC and no DEX.HEV suit is the same. Smart armor is just a worse adamantine fullplate which chews charges for breakfast.
A lot of the "sci-fi" gear is just not worth it.
Here is what I think it could be nice:
+1 full plate of glaucite (about 6500gp, weights half as much)
How did you determine the price for this?
Deflecting Shield (as Ring of Protection +1) 1000gp.
Servos: Muleback cords 1000gp (Gives the "powered" feel without using +enhance str which is worth too much)
Targeting array (equivalent to cracked ioun pale green, +1 competence to hit) 4000gp.
Inner Compass (equivalent to wayfinder) 500gpInner stimulant injector (equivalent to ioun stone resonant power) free
Filter mask (4000gp)
Flashlight (30gp)
Enhanced vision (eye of the owl, low light vision) 4000
Power Fist (equivalent to grippers) 100gp
This Power Armor weighs in at 21,130 gold.
Normally a 7th Level character should have no item worth more then 5,875 gold (PF Core, pages. 399-400)
Of course, with the way that Paizo has priced technological items, this puts most gear out of reach.
Probably should drop a few of those. Dunno which. Also, maybe someone has a good idea for some other minor magic items to be placed, or a different approach.
Another problem with your build is that you don't normally just add magic items together. Since they would all be sharing the "Armor" slot, these should all be treated as "pluses" to the base armor or as additional enchantments per PF Core, page 549.
A lot of the "sci-fi" gear is just not worth it.
Fully agree. HAve changed most of it, so it becomes *better* than magic items. The justification for being better is that most of them (specially after my modifications) require skill checks, and a bunch of them Technologist, which is a strong investment), while magic works just because a wizard did it. Also, it's an important theme in the campaign.
How did you determine the price for this?
Ad Hoc. A mithril full plate weights half as much, and gives a big bunch of bonuses (extra DEX, lower ACP). This is a weaker effect, should probably be cheaper. In fact, it's a bit overpriced for what it is, but the cost of the material is important too (an armor made of gold is expensive even if it sucks)
This Power Armor weighs in at 21,130 gold.
Normally a 7th Level character should have no item worth more then 5,875 gold (PF Core, pages. 399-400)
Of course, with the way that Paizo has priced technological items, this puts most gear out of reach.
That was my concern and that's why I was trying to look for a way to make it upgradeable (So he gets the basic stuff first, then grows up)
On a side note: by the time they leave Scrapwall, at 7th lvl, they have found not only tech gear worth much more than that (like an EMP pistol or maybe even a trauma pack plus), but also normal magic items worth more than that (such as Kulgara's secondary weapon, which is the equivalent of a +2 dagger).Another problem with your build is that you don't normally just add magic items together. Since they would all be sharing the "Armor" slot, these should all be treated as "pluses" to the base armor or as additional enchantments per PF Core, page 549
That's true, but not the only way. There are ways to make items that are slotless, besides (as you note) making them custom items that add to other items by paying 50% more. Additionally, a few of those items are already paying the extra cost of being slotless (such as the targeting array, which is paying that cost as a ioun stone, or the wayfinder, which you can benefit from it's resonant power even if it's in your backpack. The flashlight in the helm isn't really that powerful, many items shed light for free (like a wayfinder, for example, or a few magic swords), and Filter Mask and the Eyes can simply be declared to *use* those slots.
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That is untrue. The actual WBL for a 7th level character is 23,500 gp.Normally a 7th Level character should have no item worth more then 5,875 gold (PF Core, pages. 399-400)
Of course, with the way that Paizo has priced technological items, this puts most gear out of reach.
IIRC, PCs shouldn't usually have more than 1/4 of their wealth tied up in a single item. That is probably where the 5875gp figure is coming from.
IIRC, PCs shouldn't usually have more than 1/4 of their wealth tied up in a single item. That is probably where the 5875gp figure is coming from.That is untrue. The actual WBL for a 7th level character is 23,500 gp.Normally a 7th Level character should have no item worth more then 5,875 gold (PF Core, pages. 399-400)
Of course, with the way that Paizo has priced technological items, this puts most gear out of reach.
It is where I got the number 23,500/4 = 5,875.
How did you determine the price for this?Ad Hoc. A mithril full plate weights half as much, and gives a big bunch of bonuses (extra DEX, lower ACP). This is a weaker effect, should probably be cheaper. In fact, it's a bit overpriced for what it is, but the cost of the material is important too (an armor made of gold is expensive even if it sucks)
I would suggest that you give the armor the full benefits of Mithral (even if you don't call it that). This would represent the armor's servo motors "helping" the character, even before they are fully repaired and powered, or it could be that the armor's joints are just manufactured to a high degree of precision.
Also, technological gold armor would not suck.
IIRC, PCs shouldn't usually have more than 1/4 of their wealth tied up in a single item.
I have seen tht 1/4 of wealth statement before, but when I checked the Core Rulebook, it suggested a more flexible approach.
Table 12-4 (Character Wealth by Level) can also be used to budget gear for characters starting above 1st level, such as a new character created to replace a dead one. Characters should spend no more than half their total wealth on any single item. For a balanced approach, PCs that are built after 1st level should spend no more than 25% of their wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective devices, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins. Different character types might spend their wealth differently than these percentages suggest; for example, arcane casters might spend very little on weapons but a great deal more on other magic items and disposable items.
gustavo iglesias's tech armor is both armor and technological toolkit, so it fills both the armor and magic items niches of the budget above. Thus, even in a balanced approach, it could take up half the character's total wealth.
I would suggest that you give the armor the full benefits of Mithral (even if you don't call it that). This would represent the armor's servo motors "helping" the character, even before they are fully repaired and powered, or it could be that the armor's joints are just manufactured to a high degree of precision.
Treating the armor as if it were mithral would give the impression of advanced lightweight materials rather than the impression of servo motors. A muleback cords effect is better at mimicking servos.
Probably should drop a few of those. Dunno which. Also, maybe someone has a good idea for some other minor magic items to be placed, or a different approach.
I myself wonder why the armor would be in the Aurora. The answer would tell what features the suit should have.
Is it a waste-disposal worksuit for handing dangerous nanite spills? In that case, the servos, filter mask, flashlight, enhanced vision, and power fist make sense. Perhaps add a built-in chemanalyzer. Such a suit would be very handy against the smoke-based hazards of the Choking Tower itself. Drop the +1 enchantment, and instead point out that the character could pay to have the enchantment added in Hajoth Hakados. The party can take downtime after Iadenveigh.
Or maybe Casandalee modified a powered worksuit from the Divinity into makeshift battle armor when she fled from Unity, but did not have time to don it when Unity's gearsmen raided the Aurora. In that case, the +1 enchantment, defecting shield, servos, targeting array, inner stimulant injector, and power fist make sense. Casandalee already had low-light vision and darkvision, so she would not need enhanced vision or a flashlight, but perhaps those were built into the worksuit before she stole it.
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Today we played the session in the Aurora.
Finally I used the suggestions here, and chosed simply use "Mithril" template for glaucite (+2 DEX, -3 ACP, count as medium armor), and added the muleback cords because it gives a great feel of "servos", without giving away too much power.
I decided it was better to wait for the armor upgrades for another day, because otherwise it would frontload too much reward. The collateral damage of instant gratification is delayed frustation, and if I give the player too much in his armor now, he'll probably wont receive anything more for a long time (to try to keep a bit with WBL, which I only use as a guide, specially in this setting, but it's still important to be "in the same ballpark" at least).
I let the player (who has Technological Arms and Armor feat) that he knows the armor is incomplete. In fact, there were 4 ruined armors, and he was able to build one (using his feat) using spare parts of the 3, but several inner systems are damaged. He will be able to upgrade those later.
I think this solution is smoother, frontload less wealth (and thus produce less shortage of reward to compensate later), and let the armor organically upgrade into something better. Also, slowly upgrading your equipment with salvaged parts gives a good "Fallout feeling" in the early to mid levels, while still allowing "powerful superheroes in power armor feeling" for later, with higher levels, when the tech goes wild.
Thank you to all that contributed
To Mathmuse: my idea was that to place the armors in the room with the 4 HEV armors. Although the armors there were more suited for enviromental crisis control (HEV), that room was, in fact, a guard post. I supposed it was some sort of armory for a few marines that served in the Aurora as armed defense. There was also a set of rifles, and a set of grenades, which the feral androids took (they used the rifles as morning stars for so long that they ruined them, becoming useless as rifles)