So I've run a Technomancer for a bit using the Playtest rules, and enthusiastically looked up the changes in the Tech Core. By and large, I'm very pleased, but I'm a little confused by the Servoshell programming language.
Servoshell now gives you a "personalized minibot," but the only thing I see that describes the "personalization" is that it has extra hit points and can be summoned with a single action.
You have a personalized minibot that you can summon to your side using an Interact action, causing it to appear in an adjacent space. As part of your 10-minute activity to Refocus, you can repair your personal minibot, restoring it to full Hit Points (even if it was destroyed). The minibot's maximum Hit Points are increased by an amount equal to your level. If you own another purchasable minibot, you can consume it permanently to transplant its features into your minibot. You can upgrade your minibot's transplanted features by paying the difference in cost between the destroyed minibot and the higher-level version of that minibot.
So if I understand this, when creating a Level 1 Technomancer, I can get a commercial bellbot (for example) for free as my personal minibot.
But does this mean that I could pay another 100 (the difference between the bellbot and the commercial Grabot) to "transplant" the Grabot's features into the bellbot ... in which case that my personalized bot has both the bellbot and Grabot's features? Or does the "transplant" mean the personalized bot just becomes a Grabot and loses all previous bellbot features?
Also, am I missing it ... but is there nothing in this book allowing characters to have a tech familiar? It seems strange that I'd be playing a Technomancer and would have a living animal as a familiar, particularly if I have a build that gives specific mechanics benefits to tech minions.
1. Yes, if you pay you can upgrade and combine various types and levels of minibot into one single minibot.
None of this is very useful (the bellbot with integrated null-space chamber can quickly deliver stuff, I guess?) except maybe the camera bot to send ahead to check out what's around a corner or in an open room.
Make sure your GM rules ahead of time on what happens to the contents of an integrated null-space chamber when the minibot is destroyed - are they lost, or do you get them back when you take your 10 minutes to restore the bot?
2. There are no tech familiar options.
None of this is very useful (the bellbot with integrated null-space chamber can quickly deliver stuff, I guess?) except maybe the camera bot to send ahead to check out what's around a corner or in an open room.
Definitely agree none of the minibots are particularly useful, although I suppose the Bellbot could carry your spell server of the robot master allowing you to summon it with 1 interact action as will, which is kind of nice.
In general, it feels like the personalized minibot is just a colorful bit of personality for the character ... the actual use case for the Servoshell abilities in combat would be using spell database to get you summon robot spell, cast it, and then immediately overlock the summoned robot. (Unless you multiclass into Mechanic to get a robot companion.)
Servoshell inherently can call back a bot to their side with an action, they don’t need the server.
The focus 3 spell and Overcharge Batteries 10 feat work with bots in combat.
Servoshell inherently can call back a bot to their side with an action, they don’t need the server.
No, I'm not saying you need the server ... I'm saying it would allow you to summon your staff spell server to your side in one Interact action without having to carry it around. Or whatever else the bellbot is carrying, of course, but the spell server that mounts on a minibot seems like one of the most obvious things to put there.
The focus 3 spell and Overcharge Batteries 10 feat work with bots in combat.
Yes, good point, at higher levels even a kind of useless minibot could be tactically useful.
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I wonder if an Independent Obstructobot shield can be integrated into your Servoshell minibot. It's listed in the shield section, but it says it's a minibot and cites to those rules by page number. That implies it suffers from the usual "only one active" rule even if it ignores the baseline stats.
If so, you can have a merged minibot with much higher HP (50/74/94 depending on model and before adding in Technomancer level bonus) and it's a shield that you can restore in 10 minutes even if it's destroyed.
Send ahead to scout with camera fuctions, call back to you square for shield functions during combat.
2. There are no tech familiar options.
I did notice that you can make a "Construct" familiar, but you'd have to burn one ability on Tough and then one on Construct, which seems a high cost for it in this context.
Those are normal PF2 familiar options and requirements. But they’re still not tech.