Has anyone playtested yet heavy use of your nonexocortex mods to make yourself a better martial? A lot of the time your exocortex is going to be ineffective (mines vs long range or fliers) or depleted/destroyed.
Some of them seem quite strong, especially with area weapons.
* Big Boom lets you take a Stellar Cannon from a 10' to 15' boost, greatly increasing your chances to tag 2-3 targets. Also useful for any grenades you acquire to eke out an extra target.
* Bunker Buster will be a life saver if there's another low level hardness enemy like that infamous playtest construct. Useful if you're double-tapping higher level stuff.
* Long-Range Propulsors as written increases a line or cone area weapon by 30', which is huge on the cone side, taking a flamethrower from 15 to 45. Automatic get a 15' benefit when used in auto fire, so a machine gun goes from 20 to 35. A three action area attack with int-based class DC catching multiple enemies is going to often be better than two strikes with dex plus a third action. This is a likely Enduring Mods option at 13th for those who favor this weapon/playstyle so you can stride or add on a further mod when needed.
* Magnetic Levitators are good if you need to cross a lot of water or a very large field of difficult/greater difficult terrain, but only if you're devoting 3 actions to it - one mod action plus one stride is the same as two strides cut in half by difficult terrain. A possible option for a permanent mod but there are better mobility options and permanent combat mods.
* Energy/Physical Versatility at 5th level lets you target a weakness or avoid a resistance/immunity. Nice when it comes up and you can afford the action cost.
* Explosive Shot (level 1 feat) I'm not sold on unless you have a strong swarm and area weapon phobia or really love strikes that you plan to miss against things with weaknesses. If you hate area weapons then this is maybe a permanent mod with Versatility to hit weaknesses. With quickened you might trigger one three times in a round with some luck or an agile weapon.
* Biometric Assessor (level 2 feat) I kind of hate except as a permanent mod. You're risking waste of an action if you don't hit, and if you do hit you just get a +1 on your RK for no net action savings. But as a permanent mod free RK on a strike hit with a circ bonus is great.
* Adaptive Camoflage (level 4 feat) lets you sneak/hide without cover/concealment, but is pretty action intensive for a mechanic. You're not going to spend three actions to get in a single Off Guard strike too often. Maybe as a permanent mod option. Sneak, double mine lay some proximity mines, hide/sneak?
* Concentrated Explosion (level 4 feat) is a good joke, although I did not laugh.
* Cloaking Field (level 8 feat) is concealment that you can see through for yourself and those adjacent to you. Presumably it has the "obvious location" restriction that doesn't let you hide/sneak and so it doesn't obsolete Adapative Camoflage. But as a permanent defensive ability to shed 20% of otherwise successful strikes and spells this is pretty great after level 13. Allies will also often appreciate it.
* Transmutive Casing (level 8) for your anti-fey and demon needs. Energy/Physical Versatility already handled most of what you are getting here, but 16th level adamantine upgrade might be useful depending on high level hardness challenges.
* Flickering Shield (level 10) is...fine if it doesn't deactivate like a normal force field on losing all temp HP, otherwise quite bad. I assume it does deactivate, though. The regeneration is in line with the bought equipment, but you start at 10 vs 26 up front temp HP and never get the crit avoidance. If it doesn't deactivate it's a decent permanent mod, but Cloaking Field is still probably better.
* Glitch Pulse (level 12) seems pretty good, glitching 3 on a "random" HELD tech item means its weapon in almost all cases, and tech creatures have to save not to be entirely glitching. So anyone you hit using a tech weapon has a 65% chance to have a -3 item penalty to their next round of attacks, and an included additional 15% of being stunned 1/object not functioning. A strong permamod option if you're fighting humanoids with weapons and tech creatures that day.
* Shockwave Pulse (level 12) but if you're not, why not knock down everyone who fails a save against your (very long range) area weapon?
Some turret-specific notes with these mods:
* Long Range Propulsors on the chain gun turret gets you 120' strike range and a 60' cone with Area Denial Turret if you prefer to keep it next to your for cover.
* Although the general mechanic Energy/Physical versatility mod overlaps with the exocortex specific change your turret array mod, the former lets you put slashing/bludgeoning on the long range chaingun, or energy on that range, or mix any energy with various baseline crit weapon groups.
* I'm assuming the final Cloaking Field will allow the turret, not just the drone, to see through the field, making this a great permanent choice to keep your turret from being toasted.
* Shockwave Pulse is also a strong choice on an Area Denial Turret to knock guys down and make counterattacks less effective and keep the turret alive longer.
Shockwave Pulse is also a way to get some extra value out of cheap low level debuff grenades (so far we have flash, expect more) loaded in a grenade launcher. The mod action inclues a swap, so you don't have to walk around with the grenade launcher in your hands. Hopefully the bulk comes down in the final print.
Do we know yet if Mods that work on “Weapons” work on the turret?
It says that the turret “is a martial weapon” so I think they must.
Edit: Scratch that, it’s not in your possession and you don’t draw or swap it so it doesn’t seem to qualify. That’s…bad. On the other hand, a permamod 60’ area cone with infinite ammo that can walk 30-60’ for an action before firing might also seem OP.
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Do we know yet if Mods that work on “Weapons” work on the turret?It says that the turret “is a martial weapon” so I think they must.
Edit: Scratch that, it’s not in your possession and you don’t draw or swap it so it doesn’t seem to qualify. That’s…bad. On the other hand, a permamod 60’ area cone with infinite ammo that can walk 30-60’ for an action before firing might also seem OP.
Tech Class Playtest ERRATA:
Under "Modify" on page 4, replace the line "or leaves your possession" with "or a character other than you, your drone, or your turret attempts to use the item."
Too bad we only get one permanent mod, add some Int damage, increased range, and cone. Then use an action to change damage type when needed. Still a lot of Mechanic really makes me want to try different builds, even if we can't throw on a half dozen mods.
I don't think the Errata went over how the permanent mods work on Mines.