Dragonmech could have been so much more awesome. However, the designers didn't work it as much as they could have. Their three original classes (The Coglayer, the Steamborg, and the Mech Jockey) are pretty underpowered as-written. So I started with my favorite, the Steamborg.
The basic premise of the 'borg is that he gets a steam engine implanted into his body, and replaces more and more of his body with high-powered prosthetics. In the core, these Artificial Parts do things like grant +1 to Str or Dex or natural armor, or some other similar low bonus. They also get a handful of the modular steampowers, which can be put together in various effects.
So I decided to go a Tome route on this one--Artificial parts are scaling feats, and Steamborgs can diversify through a couple of class features. This is pretty rough, what with me jotting down placeholders so I'd know what I was talking about when I came back to it.
Steamborg
HD: d8
Saves: Good Fort and one other Good save (your pick)
Medium BAB
Level, Special, (Steampowers)
1 Steam Engine (0+Int)
2 Artificial Parts, Improved Tech Skills (1+Int)
3 Field of Interest, Lose Self
4 Artificial Parts (2+int)
5 Body Modification
6 Artificial Parts (3 + Int)
7 Field of Interest
8 Artificial Parts (4 + int)
9 Body Modification
10 Artificial Parts (5+Int)
11 Field of Interest
12 Artificial Parts (6+Int)
13 Body modification
14 Artificial Parts, Ageless (7+Int)
15 Field of Interest
16 Artificial Parts (8+Int)
17 Body Modification
18 Artificial Parts (9+Int)
19 Field of Interest
20 Artificial Parts (10+int)
Skill Points: 6 + Int
Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Heal, Jump, K (Mechs, Steam Engines, Engineering), Listen, Mechcraft, Pilot Mech, Profession, Search, Spot, Swim.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Steamborg are proficient with simple weapons, four martial weapons, and the more common steam weapons (guns, buzzaxe, chattersword, etc.). They are proficient with Light and Medium Armor, but with no shields.
Steam Engine: At 1st level, a Steamborg gets a steam engine implanted into his body. It runs on a minimal amount of fuel, and leeches moisture from the Steamborg's body to produce steam (meaning a Steamborg needs three times the water as a normal person does).
Steampowers: A steamborg starts out with his Intelligence modifier in steampowers. Every even-numbered level, his number of steampowers goes up by one.
Artificial Parts: At every even-numbered level, the Steamborg gets an Artificial Parts feat. Artificial Parts feats continue improving, as long as the Steamborg continues putting ranks into Mechcraft, and K (Steam Engines and Engineering).
Improved Tech Skills: Equal to 1/2 character level. Applies to Mechcraft, K (Steam Engines), and Disable Device.
Field of Interest: Steamborgs all go their own way, pursuing their own interests. Naturally, the time spent teaches them some extra stuff. At levels 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19, they get to pick one of the following:
-A point of BAB
-An extra skill point (gets skill points retroactively)
-Extra class skills (The number gained depends on the power. Take UMD by itself, 2 out of Hide, Move Silently, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive, Tumble, and 3 out of Knowledge (any), Use Rope, Ride, and Speak Language)
Body Modification: At level 5, 9, 13, and 17, the Steamborg undergoes some extensive body modification. Unless noted, a body mod cannot be taken more than once, but it does stack with whatever artificial parts.
-Metal Skin (+2 Natural Armor)
-Steel Skeleton (+2 Con)
-Reinforced (Gives +1 HP per level, +2 to Fort Saves)
-Powerful Build (Prereq: Reinforced. As it says)
-Wired Reflexes (+2 to Dex)
-Extra Arms (Gain an extra pair of arms. Need a Coordinator before you take this again)
-Coordinator (helps the Steamborg smoothly use a non-standard body. Various effects to Feats and Extra Arms)
-Tools (Built-in tools give substantial bonus to things they're used for)
Ageless: At level 14, a Steamborg has replaced so much of his body with machinery that he no longer ages, and will never die of old age as long as he can repair any parts that wear out.
Steamborg re-write [Base Class]
Moderator: Moderators
Steamborg re-write [Base Class]
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Artificial Parts
Artificial Parts which give an increase to an attribute (or natural armor) count as a magic item for purposes of item limits (if using Book of Gears rules), and don't stack with magical items/effects which increase Strength and so on. I appreciate some of these are badly defined, but, again, I was often typing extremely fast to get some memory jogs on there before the ideas were lost.
Artificial Parts are skill feats which increase with the user's ranks in Mechcraft, K (Steam Engines), and K (Engineering).
Stronger
0 You get +2 to Str.
4 Your carrying and lifting capacity is doubled.
9 You get +1/3 level to Str, in addition to the +2
14 You get your entire Str score to Str checks.
19 You get another +2 Str.
Faster
0 +2 Dex
4 +1/4 character level to base speed (in 10-foot-increments)
9 +1/3 level to Dex
14 +1/3 character level to base speed (10-foot increments) (replaces earlier benefit)
19 +2 Dex
Harder
0 +2 Natural Armor
4 DR equal to ½ character level/piercing
9 +1/3 level Natural Armor
14 You an additional 5 DR/piercing.
19 +2 Natural Armor
Unusual Mobility
0 Choose climbing, swimming, or a speed increase
4 Choose climbing, swimming, or a speed increase
9 Choose burrowing, climbing, swimming, flight, water-walking, etc.
14 Choose
19 Choose
Magic Legs
0 +10 Speed.
4 Jump bonus equal to level.
9 Flight equal to double landspeed (average)
14 Flight improves
19 Flight Improves
Omnivision
0 Low-Light/Darkvision
4 Low-light and Darkvision improve.
9 Choose a weird method of seeing.
14 Choose or improve.
19 Choose or improve
Cogmorph
0 You get a hidden weapon which can be produced with a move action
4 Alternate land-travelling (quadruped or wheeled). Double speed, cannot use hands.
9 You get a Large weapon which is brought out with a move action
14 You get an another mode of mobility
19 You get an improved weapon which is brought out by transforming.
Supersenses
0 +1/2 level to Spot and Listen.
4 Scent
9 Tremorsense
14 Blindsight
19 Blindsense
Survivorman
Maybe it's paranoia, may not. But you spend quite a lot of time working on means to ensure your own survival in a variety of situations
0 Bonus to Fort Saves, Air Supply (2 hours)
4 Air Filters—poison, smoke.
9 Waterbreathing
14 Heat and cold resistance equal to level.
19 No ill effects from environment.
Monstrous
0 Natural Weapon
4 Choose a monster part
9 Choose a monster part
14 Choose a Monster Part
19 Choose a Monster Part
Minibot
0 You make a diminutive, sentient construct. It has Str 12, Dex 10, Con -, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 6. It listens to what you say, but may takes things a touch literally at times. It is a qualified workshop assistant, with ranks in Craft, Mechcraft, and Knowledge equal to yours - 3. It gains skill ranks when you do.
1 You can specialize your minibot (fill in later)
6 Minibot can build *other* minibots, each with a -3 to relevant skills for each generation.
11 More forms of them available
16 Lots more forms available
Steampowers
I'm kinda nervous about specifically enumerating steampowers--them being game content and all, but, okay, in summary:
Steampowers are what you make of them. You can put them all into one device--if you do this, it's usually offensive--and end up being able to hand out, say, a whole pile of d4's or d6's of some elemental damage. But you can make utility devices, like 18 Str mechanical arms which can do a single melee attack on their own, or arms bearing crossbows that automatically target and fire at anyone it doesn't recognize.
So, for example...
Spark Generator + Pump = d4 nonlethal electric damage as a ranged touch attack out to 20 feet. One amplifier (another steampower) makes this a d4 lethal out to 40 feet. Each amplifier afterwards adds another d4 and doubles the range. There's several steampowers which work with a pump, to make it produce a cone or fire around corners or what-have-you, and, alternatively, you can designate that your device forces a Reflex save rather than making it a touch attack.
Force Generator: By itself, it can produce 10 square feet of force (one inch thick, AC, Hardness, and HP are all 10 when you want to break through it). By default, it is a circular disc and makes a floating shield (like that one magic ring). But with each additional Amplifier, the area it can produce doubles. It explicitly says you can shape it into other uniform shapes as a full-round action. This makes it a *very* practical item to have, given the benefits in dungeon-crawling--being able to make bridges and platforms to stand on, as well as corridor-blocking walls and, one of my favorites, a floating disc for the rest of the party to stand on while the Steamborg runs like hell.
Artificial Parts which give an increase to an attribute (or natural armor) count as a magic item for purposes of item limits (if using Book of Gears rules), and don't stack with magical items/effects which increase Strength and so on. I appreciate some of these are badly defined, but, again, I was often typing extremely fast to get some memory jogs on there before the ideas were lost.
Artificial Parts are skill feats which increase with the user's ranks in Mechcraft, K (Steam Engines), and K (Engineering).
Stronger
0 You get +2 to Str.
4 Your carrying and lifting capacity is doubled.
9 You get +1/3 level to Str, in addition to the +2
14 You get your entire Str score to Str checks.
19 You get another +2 Str.
Faster
0 +2 Dex
4 +1/4 character level to base speed (in 10-foot-increments)
9 +1/3 level to Dex
14 +1/3 character level to base speed (10-foot increments) (replaces earlier benefit)
19 +2 Dex
Harder
0 +2 Natural Armor
4 DR equal to ½ character level/piercing
9 +1/3 level Natural Armor
14 You an additional 5 DR/piercing.
19 +2 Natural Armor
Unusual Mobility
0 Choose climbing, swimming, or a speed increase
4 Choose climbing, swimming, or a speed increase
9 Choose burrowing, climbing, swimming, flight, water-walking, etc.
14 Choose
19 Choose
Magic Legs
0 +10 Speed.
4 Jump bonus equal to level.
9 Flight equal to double landspeed (average)
14 Flight improves
19 Flight Improves
Omnivision
0 Low-Light/Darkvision
4 Low-light and Darkvision improve.
9 Choose a weird method of seeing.
14 Choose or improve.
19 Choose or improve
Cogmorph
0 You get a hidden weapon which can be produced with a move action
4 Alternate land-travelling (quadruped or wheeled). Double speed, cannot use hands.
9 You get a Large weapon which is brought out with a move action
14 You get an another mode of mobility
19 You get an improved weapon which is brought out by transforming.
Supersenses
0 +1/2 level to Spot and Listen.
4 Scent
9 Tremorsense
14 Blindsight
19 Blindsense
Survivorman
Maybe it's paranoia, may not. But you spend quite a lot of time working on means to ensure your own survival in a variety of situations
0 Bonus to Fort Saves, Air Supply (2 hours)
4 Air Filters—poison, smoke.
9 Waterbreathing
14 Heat and cold resistance equal to level.
19 No ill effects from environment.
Monstrous
0 Natural Weapon
4 Choose a monster part
9 Choose a monster part
14 Choose a Monster Part
19 Choose a Monster Part
Minibot
0 You make a diminutive, sentient construct. It has Str 12, Dex 10, Con -, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 6. It listens to what you say, but may takes things a touch literally at times. It is a qualified workshop assistant, with ranks in Craft, Mechcraft, and Knowledge equal to yours - 3. It gains skill ranks when you do.
1 You can specialize your minibot (fill in later)
6 Minibot can build *other* minibots, each with a -3 to relevant skills for each generation.
11 More forms of them available
16 Lots more forms available
Steampowers
I'm kinda nervous about specifically enumerating steampowers--them being game content and all, but, okay, in summary:
Steampowers are what you make of them. You can put them all into one device--if you do this, it's usually offensive--and end up being able to hand out, say, a whole pile of d4's or d6's of some elemental damage. But you can make utility devices, like 18 Str mechanical arms which can do a single melee attack on their own, or arms bearing crossbows that automatically target and fire at anyone it doesn't recognize.
So, for example...
Spark Generator + Pump = d4 nonlethal electric damage as a ranged touch attack out to 20 feet. One amplifier (another steampower) makes this a d4 lethal out to 40 feet. Each amplifier afterwards adds another d4 and doubles the range. There's several steampowers which work with a pump, to make it produce a cone or fire around corners or what-have-you, and, alternatively, you can designate that your device forces a Reflex save rather than making it a touch attack.
Force Generator: By itself, it can produce 10 square feet of force (one inch thick, AC, Hardness, and HP are all 10 when you want to break through it). By default, it is a circular disc and makes a floating shield (like that one magic ring). But with each additional Amplifier, the area it can produce doubles. It explicitly says you can shape it into other uniform shapes as a full-round action. This makes it a *very* practical item to have, given the benefits in dungeon-crawling--being able to make bridges and platforms to stand on, as well as corridor-blocking walls and, one of my favorites, a floating disc for the rest of the party to stand on while the Steamborg runs like hell.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Until we can see the steam powers and artificial part there isn't much that can be said, but I do have one critique; Ageless isn't a real ability, it doesn't give new options or numbers, and shouldn't be allowed to be taken in place of a real ability. If you want Steamborgs to be able to overcome aging then just let them do that(it doesn't even have to be such a ridiculously high level ability), don't make them pay for it with real character resources.
Fair enough. Will change it shortly...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
-
Guyr Adamantine
- Master
- Posts: 273
- Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:05 pm
- Location: Montreal
Interesting ideas, Maxus. My take on the Artificial Part feats:
Chainmuscle
Having byceps made of steel makes you stronger.
Ranks:
0: You do not lose speed when wearing intermediate and heavy armor, or when encumbered.
4: You qualify as being four legged for the purpose of carrying capacity, as well as when resisting Bull Rushing, Tripping and Overrunning attempts.
9: You gain a bonus to your Strength score equal to half you ranks, to a maximum of your Steamborg class levels.
14: You gain the Powerful Build racial ability. All your grafted weapons and steam powers may be enlarged in the process, but all future additions must be paid for normally.
19: You may always take 20 on strength checks, as well as on Strength-related skills. This takes no further time, and may be used even when threatened.
Horsepower
You tend to leave scorch marks behing you.
Ranks:
0: When running, you speed is multiplied by 10 instead of 4.
4: You gain the Monk's Fast Movement class feature.
9: As Chainmuscle's 9 ranks ability, boosting Dexterity instead.
14: You may take an additional move action as an immediate action.
19: You always get a surprise round, before initiative is rolled. You may not use this ability when flat-footed.
More Dakka
Strapping more guns to your limbs really improved your life.
Ranks:
0: Ranged weapons grafted your body are constantly supplied with bullets. You must still spend the appropriate actions to reload.
4: You grafted ranged weapons reload by themselves.
9: The multiweapon fighting penalties to attack rolls for wielding multiple grafted ranged weapons are reduced by two.
14: A foe tageted more than one of your ranged attacks in a single turn loses his dex bonus to AC as he cannot dodge a wall of bullets.
19: You grafted ranged weapons always deal double damage as they manage to shoot two bullets with each attack roll.
Hopefully, the OP didn't give up on this project.[/b]
Chainmuscle
Having byceps made of steel makes you stronger.
Ranks:
0: You do not lose speed when wearing intermediate and heavy armor, or when encumbered.
4: You qualify as being four legged for the purpose of carrying capacity, as well as when resisting Bull Rushing, Tripping and Overrunning attempts.
9: You gain a bonus to your Strength score equal to half you ranks, to a maximum of your Steamborg class levels.
14: You gain the Powerful Build racial ability. All your grafted weapons and steam powers may be enlarged in the process, but all future additions must be paid for normally.
19: You may always take 20 on strength checks, as well as on Strength-related skills. This takes no further time, and may be used even when threatened.
Horsepower
You tend to leave scorch marks behing you.
Ranks:
0: When running, you speed is multiplied by 10 instead of 4.
4: You gain the Monk's Fast Movement class feature.
9: As Chainmuscle's 9 ranks ability, boosting Dexterity instead.
14: You may take an additional move action as an immediate action.
19: You always get a surprise round, before initiative is rolled. You may not use this ability when flat-footed.
More Dakka
Strapping more guns to your limbs really improved your life.
Ranks:
0: Ranged weapons grafted your body are constantly supplied with bullets. You must still spend the appropriate actions to reload.
4: You grafted ranged weapons reload by themselves.
9: The multiweapon fighting penalties to attack rolls for wielding multiple grafted ranged weapons are reduced by two.
14: A foe tageted more than one of your ranged attacks in a single turn loses his dex bonus to AC as he cannot dodge a wall of bullets.
19: You grafted ranged weapons always deal double damage as they manage to shoot two bullets with each attack roll.
Hopefully, the OP didn't give up on this project.[/b]
I haven't, actually. I have several pages in a notebook describing changes to the setting's political situation.Guyr Adamantine wrote:
Hopefully, the OP didn't give up on this project.[/b]
Problem is, I've gotten to the point where I'd be rewriting the Coglayer and the Mech Jockey, and to do that, I'd have to rewrite mechs and skills in general. Notice the Manual of Making Things. What do you think got me working on the Craft Skills in general?
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Okay, setting changes aside, I've been hitting my heads against the wall trying to figure out how to reconcile mechs with F&K design work.
For those who aren't familiar with Dragonmech, the titular mechs were designed with two purposes in mind:
-Let relatively ordinary people take on the bigass lunar monsters (in other words, effectively compete at a higher CR)
-give protection against the nightly meteor showers, basically by having a lot of armor between you and it.
Now, for some reason, Goodman Games made the mech rules insanely complex. Mechs have AC, Hardness, Hardness from size, one of five possible power sources (steam, manpower, clockwork, animated, necromantic), Fort and Reflex saves, HD, speed, maneuverability...And then you get into all the crap about carrying capacity, which is figured in 'payload units'. Mechs are supposed to be slow and clanking, but combat, or pretty much anything involving them, is even moreso.
Edit: Oops, forgot to continue. Anyway, someday soon I'm going to take a look at what can simplify mechs to something closer to workabable.
For those who aren't familiar with Dragonmech, the titular mechs were designed with two purposes in mind:
-Let relatively ordinary people take on the bigass lunar monsters (in other words, effectively compete at a higher CR)
-give protection against the nightly meteor showers, basically by having a lot of armor between you and it.
Now, for some reason, Goodman Games made the mech rules insanely complex. Mechs have AC, Hardness, Hardness from size, one of five possible power sources (steam, manpower, clockwork, animated, necromantic), Fort and Reflex saves, HD, speed, maneuverability...And then you get into all the crap about carrying capacity, which is figured in 'payload units'. Mechs are supposed to be slow and clanking, but combat, or pretty much anything involving them, is even moreso.
Edit: Oops, forgot to continue. Anyway, someday soon I'm going to take a look at what can simplify mechs to something closer to workabable.
Last edited by Maxus on Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
If you are going to rewrite every mechanic in the book, it might be simpler and lead to a game that fits the Dragonmech setting better if you start from scratch and build a skill-based system that makes it so that mechs DO beat dragons, and they do it consistently, and archmages DON'T without having some sort of mech equivalent.
Okay, more Thread Necromancy--this time for the Book of Gears.
I thought about the Steamborg, and wondered about it...It might be worthwhile to include some technological options in the Book of Gears.
I don't exactly want to make a new thread for all that, but I thought I'd start by taking another stab at the Steamborg.
I have an half-formed idea that they should be a template or something that you could slap onto another class. I'll think about it.
In more broad terms, the Book of Gears could use higher-tech weapons and vehicles so if someone wants to bring in firearms or steampunk or Girl Genius, they'd have something to work with. Thankfully, Koumei has laid some groundwork for this with the Dungeon crusade. Especially her vehicles.
I thought about the Steamborg, and wondered about it...It might be worthwhile to include some technological options in the Book of Gears.
I don't exactly want to make a new thread for all that, but I thought I'd start by taking another stab at the Steamborg.
I have an half-formed idea that they should be a template or something that you could slap onto another class. I'll think about it.
In more broad terms, the Book of Gears could use higher-tech weapons and vehicles so if someone wants to bring in firearms or steampunk or Girl Genius, they'd have something to work with. Thankfully, Koumei has laid some groundwork for this with the Dungeon crusade. Especially her vehicles.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Maxus,
I haven't been following your Dragonmech rule rewrites, nor have I extensively read your posts. I hope these questions aren't too annoying.
1) Do you intend your new classes to be useable and viable in a typical D&D game with Tome rules?
2) How have you reworked the mechanics for the mechs so that they are more viable against lunar threats than a typical spellcaster (as stated in the premise of Dragonmech sourcebooks)? If so, what are your new mechanics? Are they much more streamlined (and require much less dice-rolling and checking) than the original mech rules?
3) Have you fixed the bullshit problem of Clerics typically losing their spells forever in the setting if they fail a single roll while praying for spells at the end of the day?
I haven't been following your Dragonmech rule rewrites, nor have I extensively read your posts. I hope these questions aren't too annoying.
1) Do you intend your new classes to be useable and viable in a typical D&D game with Tome rules?
2) How have you reworked the mechanics for the mechs so that they are more viable against lunar threats than a typical spellcaster (as stated in the premise of Dragonmech sourcebooks)? If so, what are your new mechanics? Are they much more streamlined (and require much less dice-rolling and checking) than the original mech rules?
3) Have you fixed the bullshit problem of Clerics typically losing their spells forever in the setting if they fail a single roll while praying for spells at the end of the day?
1) That's what I'm aiming for. I don't know if I'm good enough to achieve it. Mech Jockey would probably be broken down into a lot of feats, though. I'm not sure about the Coglayer. Clockwork Ranger would be a Tome Fighter with some feats. Stalker's fine as-is. Fighters would probably be allowed to pick Mech feats as Bonus feats, too.
2) I've got a few ideas for that. I'd just treat a mech like a vehicle under Koumei's DC rules, complete with weapons and all that. Unless you've invested feats in mech piloting or something; then you can use some of your own skills/stats. But really simplifying them, instead of having to calculate their payload and their crew and fuel requirements and all that.
3) Yes. By ignoring that rule. Well, okay, the Dragonmech houserules I had been thinking of assumed that the Lunar War has stabilized, with there now being permanent gates connecting the planet and the moon. And both sides have a large number of people camped around their side of the gate, in case someone tries to rush through (based on the Mech Manual, which describes a monolithic Derro mech which the Derro pilot into place and then stay there. I'm assuming they were positioning them to make linkages and [insert technobabble here] and that's what's going on right now--trench fighting. The upshot is that the gods have time to answer prayers now.
2) I've got a few ideas for that. I'd just treat a mech like a vehicle under Koumei's DC rules, complete with weapons and all that. Unless you've invested feats in mech piloting or something; then you can use some of your own skills/stats. But really simplifying them, instead of having to calculate their payload and their crew and fuel requirements and all that.
3) Yes. By ignoring that rule. Well, okay, the Dragonmech houserules I had been thinking of assumed that the Lunar War has stabilized, with there now being permanent gates connecting the planet and the moon. And both sides have a large number of people camped around their side of the gate, in case someone tries to rush through (based on the Mech Manual, which describes a monolithic Derro mech which the Derro pilot into place and then stay there. I'm assuming they were positioning them to make linkages and [insert technobabble here] and that's what's going on right now--trench fighting. The upshot is that the gods have time to answer prayers now.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
I know of Dragonmech. It might actually be better to just keep the smaller mechs and eschew the giant ones. I think if you cut off the collosal head of it the mech-fu should be easy to adjust afterward. At one time I was playing around with the idea of simple making vehicles or power armor for mech jockeys. There is something to that effect in Iron Kingdoms.
Well, there are limits to mech-fu. And that limit is, "Can you pilot that mech by yourself?" Past Colossal I, you do need the help (in what I'm making here, anyway). And coordinating that kind of movement over multiple people is...not exactly possible.
Besides, past Colossal I, the mechs shouldn't always be bipedal walkers. It's...really weird how these dwarves, who are more mechanically savvy than humans, all stick to the idea of a bipedal city-mech plodding its way along when there's some other body plans which are viable at that size. Wheels and multiple legs and the like.
Besides, past Colossal I, the mechs shouldn't always be bipedal walkers. It's...really weird how these dwarves, who are more mechanically savvy than humans, all stick to the idea of a bipedal city-mech plodding its way along when there's some other body plans which are viable at that size. Wheels and multiple legs and the like.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
I took a look at your current write up for the Steamborg. Some observations:Maxus wrote:1) That's what I'm aiming for. I don't know if I'm good enough to achieve it. Mech Jockey would probably be broken down into a lot of feats, though. I'm not sure about the Coglayer. Clockwork Ranger would be a Tome Fighter with some feats. Stalker's fine as-is. Fighters would probably be allowed to pick Mech feats as Bonus feats, too.
1) The abilities given are not level appropriate. They're too weak. For example, getting +2 to Dex or natural armor is irrelevant at level 5, and even more so at level 17.
2) What's the Steamborg's role in combat? How does it fight its enemies? You haven't given it any offensive capabilities, and it's not a good weapon user.
3) The class is rather weak thematically. What is it suppose to be? A character that has metal implants is as weak in flavor as a character that wields blades made out of psionic power (i.e. Soulknife). The concept of Soulknife was so weak, in fact, that it could have been made into one Tome feat and folded into the Fighter. If the Steamborg is to be a distinctive class, its concept should be strong enough to stand out and stand alone.
I would recommend this. First, envision a combat role or roles for the Steamborg. Next, develop a theme that can go with those roles. Finally, write the mechanics that fit under what you have developed. When making the mechanics, you should think of the challenges (monsters) that the Steamborg would be facing at the respective character levels.
I was thinking about that myself earlier. I *Like* the idea of a cyborg. But it could seriously be a feat or template or something.
But I can see some roles here:
Iron Giant (combat-based)
Mechanical Mechanic (skill-based)
Iron Man (Middle ground)
Anyway, you're right. "You're a cyborg" is not a good basis for a class by itself.
But I can see some roles here:
Iron Giant (combat-based)
Mechanical Mechanic (skill-based)
Iron Man (Middle ground)
Anyway, you're right. "You're a cyborg" is not a good basis for a class by itself.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
Steamborgs are supposed to be fighters that use iron might instead of magic to deal with their problems. Coglayers would be their skill based supporters. I have the Dragonmech book but unfortunately the abilities given to both classes as is, were and are too weak for me to have ever used in game except for gimmick purposes at low levels. I don't know if you have it Maxus but if you don't have the rest of the Dragonmech books I'd be happy to try and help out (I have every Dragonmech book on .pdf) I don't see much potential in the steam powers unless you let the amount gained/level increase quadratically instead of linearly. For higher levels you probably would want to think about extremely abusable weapon tricks/combinations and some downright unruly sins against science (steam nanobots)
Skill Use upgrades for Coglayers that allow them to make their mechs and pilot them. Or make power suits why not. Hell give'm a tank and that'd be the same as having a huge summoned creature fighting for you. Then let him have those nanobots or steampowered healing machines you had him construct give the thing fast heal. Stretch what the force generator means/can do) hell you can create some body guard droids like those rolling droidicas (however the hell you spell it) from star wars proxy bots, all kinds of crazy combination.
OMG did that coglayer invent that GARGANTUAN air ship and crash it into the dragon's face?!
Skill Use upgrades for Coglayers that allow them to make their mechs and pilot them. Or make power suits why not. Hell give'm a tank and that'd be the same as having a huge summoned creature fighting for you. Then let him have those nanobots or steampowered healing machines you had him construct give the thing fast heal. Stretch what the force generator means/can do) hell you can create some body guard droids like those rolling droidicas (however the hell you spell it) from star wars proxy bots, all kinds of crazy combination.
OMG did that coglayer invent that GARGANTUAN air ship and crash it into the dragon's face?!
Last edited by MGuy on Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:18 am, edited 3 times in total.