Am curious if Starfinder will be more magic or more tech or more magitech in regards to Constructs.
The Iron Gods AP, and th ed Tech. Guide to a lesser degree, is really Robot-centric.
Will Starfinder follow in its footsteps in this regard?
Will AIs still be a form of Construct or will they be expressed in some strange new form/mechanic?
Here's hoping the vehicles and Constructs in this setting stay seperate.
I am no fan of how tanks were handled in Rasputin Must Die as it blurs a line I've always found to be important.
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Golem-Robots!
Gobots?
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Golem-Robots!
Gobots?
Sigh you gave me go-bots when I wanted transformers.
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Were-Robot Golems transform. Technically.
But then so do Were-Golem Robots.
In other news I play around entirely too much with Advanced Bestiary templates.
Transforming is useful if you need to use your alternate movement speed and you have humanoid allies who can't keep up with you on foot or in a vehicle of their own.
I could see a mecha being mostly autonomous, with a human 'sidekick' offering advice as needed, who can take charge if the AI is disabled or doesn't have the emotional intelligence or gastronomic intuition to solve an immediate crisis. The humanoid and the AI would function as equal partners rather than as master & slave. When the mecha is in walker mode the humanoid has a cockpit to strap into; when the mecha is in vehicle/stealth mode the humanoid sits in the driver's/pilot's seat (probably the same compartment for efficiency's sake).
I've actually been brainstorming this very matter. One thing that could be interesting is a robot that when killed, repairs itself with magic and then becomes a golem. I seeno reason why there couldn't be both.
How about a golem made of a magically-intelligent swarm of specialized micro machines [miniaturized but not microscopic], with nannites for repair and regeneration.
How exactly would one even design a magitech style golem for PF?
Golem minus Magic Immunity with built in skillchip and skilltool and an innate ability to utilize them regardless of Intelligence?
So hacker-Golem or pilot-Golem could exist?
Or would it be more tech-as-magic-centric? Tech Immunity replacing Magic Immunity and/or Tech-like abilities replacing SLAs.
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Robots are definitely more common than golems in Starfinder. Tech has more prominence than magic when it comes to creating automatons and artificial life forms, in large part due to the economies of scale and efficiency—people have figured out how to make robots on an assembly line, golems not so much.
Robots are definitely more common than golems in Starfinder. Tech has more prominence than magic when it comes to creating automatons and artificial life forms, in large part due to the economies of scale and efficiency—people have figured out how to make robots on an assembly line, golems not so much.
Thank you for the response! No complaints here so long as I'll still get to play as a robot at some point. :)
Any chance you coukd sate some curiosity as to the state of AIs in Starfinder and/or the team's stance on thd separation of Constructs and vehicles?
I liked AIs in Iron Gods well enough, right up until our playgroup tried playing them by CR, like any other monster.
It's been some time since so I am having difficulty remembering exactly what the malfunction was. It had something to do with an AI's class levels not affecting its CR appropriately IIRC.
They wound up being unplayably too strong though, even for our group.
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Technically, we already have a Robot Golem
Out of curiosity, which tanks in Rasputin Must Die! are you referring to? And as a follow up, what line were they bluring? (not at all trying to start an argument about it, I would just like to know where you're coming from in that regard)
Animated Tank: Pathfinder #71: Rasputin Must Die! pg. 84
I think the reason they bug me is because they're not vehicles that the PCs can commandeer (what I'd want from a tank) and neither are they the sort of Construct that could reasonably take part in a Pinocchio journey (what I'm usually after in a Construct).
I've used Animated Object vehicles before (animated wagons making use of the squeezing rules make fantastic obstacles during tunnel combats) and I've even been known to animate the occasional building (the downtime rules conveniently provide both prices and sq footage for many buildings that can then be Animate Objects-ed).
Apparatus of the Crab, Bronze Sentinel(Pathfinder #82: Secrets of the Sphinx pg. 62), and Golem Armor have all piqued my curiosity at some point or another and then proven disappointing for practical play.
I guess what I'm worried about is Starfinder taking this approach to vehicles and/or vehicle-like-Constructs and making it a standard.
Sure mecha and piloting spacepods/starships would be cool, but not if the ship is, in practice, just a souped up Animated Object or worse an Aparratus of the Crab/Golem Armor.
I hope this has helped.
Robots are definitely more common than golems in Starfinder. Tech has more prominence than magic when it comes to creating automatons and artificial life forms, in large part due to the economies of scale and efficiency—people have figured out how to make robots on an assembly line, golems not so much.
See now I think about it more this is, odd.
Couldn't tech plus magic make magical assembly lines a benefit?Why wouldn't one assembly line Golems given the opportunity?
The difference is golems can only be handcrafted per RAW, AFAIK. You could have teams of sculptors and chirurgeons making the inert bodies on a line, but there comes a bottleneck with the caster(s) having to enchant the thing, say the words, do the golem dance, etc to 'turn it on'. I don't think there are any rules for group casting that could speed up golem enchanting? Though I could be wrong.
Robots can make more robots.
Golems can't make more golems.
Well then how about enchanted Robots?
Sure the enchanting process bottlenecks but if it is only a part of the process claiming a select few of the product Robots for magical enhancement then it should be a boon rather than a bane.
Does this mean the iPhone 10 has reached the maximum effective enhancement bonus?
One supposes so. But only if it has been integrated as either a weapon or an armor as per the Building and Modifying Constructs info. :)
More seriously, adding special abilities from one monster to another monster just changes the CR.
Building Constructs by CR is already an easily used standard.
Why not allow for magical enhancement of Robots with Golem superpowers and vice versa.
Golems with integrated tech weaponry is already possible. As are Golems with the Robot Subtype added as though it were a template.
Why not Robots withMagic Immunity or Berserk. Rune covered Robots just sound cool y'know.
I can see magic being used for upgrades that the builder or the robot that can't gain access either because of funds or lack of technology.
I am also very interested in a playable Robot race. Androids are great but here's hoping Mannequin Robots (or something similarly low CR while still being modular) see inclusion in Starfinder.
I wonder too if we've had word yet about the planet Mercury analogue that's just covered in Robots?
Is it still around? Will it be more hospitable to PC visitors or even outright trade and settlement by other races?
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A machine planet is classic. Depending on the power system Mercury is great for solar power not sure if the short days would mess with the time tracking. Verces inhospitable zone is another great one for solar, time and heat would be just as hazardous.
Robots are quite prominent on Aballon, the dominant race being the robotic Aballonians. It would be amazing if those were a playable race, although given that they were CR 6 in Distant Worlds, that likely won't happen.
On the other hand Aballonians are supposed to be nigh infinitely moddable so a stripped down one with lower CR is very plausible.
Found myself today really hoping AIs get an overhaul and that we could potentially play as Futurama style robots.
Washbucket came to mind. A hovering sentient mop bucket that is in love with Scruffy, the janitor.
I once played a sci-fi game where my character was a window-washing robot.
Having four arms and flight made a pretty handy gunslinger.
So one of my favorite things is templates. Of those I most enjoy templates that can turn anything into a Construct. The Effigy creature from old 3.x. The Taxidermic, Alter Ego, and Trompe L'oeil templates in PF too.
Heck, at our games the Clockwork and Robot subtypes get applied as though they were templates.
Here's selfishly hoping Starfinder has toys like this for me to play with.
On another note, here is also hoping building Constructs in SF is more codified like the pricing Constructs by CR info found in the Building and Modifying Constructs section of the PRD.
Random price hikes for Golems just make them inaccessible, not better IMHO.
I once played a sci-fi game where my character was a window-washing robot.
Having four arms and flight made a pretty handy gunslinger.
Did he have an accent and call himself "ze Viper"?