Inspiration and Examples in Fiction


Character Operations Manual Playtest General Discussion

Liberty's Edge

Can anyone think of examples of these classes in sci-fi or sci-fantasy?

Some of my thoughts: Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite is clearly a witchwarper. Considering how often he gets beat on, I kind of like the idea that Worf is a vanguard. I haven't come up yet with a good biohacker example though.

What you guys got?


Victor Frankenstein is a Biohacker.
Darn near every shounen anime hero is a Vanguard.
Doctor Strange is a Witchwarper.


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Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
Victor Frankenstein is a Biohacker.

The biohacker is not a pet class, I'm afraid.


The Ragi wrote:
Steven "Troll" O'Neal wrote:
Victor Frankenstein is a Biohacker.
The biohacker is not a pet class, I'm afraid.

His creation was a sapient, autonomous being, and trying to murder him. Hardly a pet. But that's neither here nor there.

Sovereign Court Creative Director, Starfinder

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Here are a few inspirations for the classes:

Biohacker: Reed Richards, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Professor Utonium, Walter Bishop, Ana from Overwatch

Vanguard: Neo, Luke Cage, Dragonball Z, Fist of the North Star, Bruce Willis's character in Unbreakable, Violet from the Incredibles, Reinhardt from Overwatch

Witchwarper: Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Thanos, Phoenix Force

This doesn't mean that the classes completely model these characters, of course, simply that we drew inspiration from them.


Some inspiration I drew from reading about the Witchwarper were the character Osirus from the video game Destiny 2, a parahuman from the web serial Worm, and the reality shifting bubbles from the video game Obduction.

Osirus explores the Infinite Forest a fantastic machine that simulates possible futures/timelines. Many of the Witchwarper's abilities could originate from technology that is indistinguishable from magic and I think that is cool. I hope the final class options and spells leave open that possibility.

The parahuman is pretty interesting in that they live in two branching realities at once. They can choose one branch to make 'real' for themselves which creates another branch point. This kind of ability is one that I hope ends up in the Witchwarper's toolkit. The Witchwarper chooses two actions and fully evaluates the effects of each option before deciding between them. If the time and scope can't be balanced for a regular spell, I hope the idea is incorporated into warp reality as an option.

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