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View Full Version : A Tinker-Toy Arm never hurt anyone... [Salvager/Xenoalchemist PrC, 3.5, PEACH]



Amechra
2012-02-20, 05:54 PM
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs4/i/2004/248/6/a/Recycle___Depot_312.jpg (http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs4/i/2004/248/6/a/Recycle___Depot_312.jpg)

You started out small
Some gills and some wings and a few extra thumbs
Now you're thirteen feet tall
Even when you're asleep your machinery hums

Grafter Artifex

Requirements:
Skills: Heal 8 ranks, Craft (Any 2) 8 ranks
Special: Surgical precision +1d6, Thesis Monster class feature, Junkheap Class Feature, Must know at least 1 2nd-Tier Archetype.
Xenoalchemy: Must be able to attach 1st level grafts.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

HD: d6

Class Skills: A xenoalchemist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (all) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Cha), Speak Language (n/a), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Rope (Dex).

The Grafter Artifex
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
Artifice|
Xenoalchemy

1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Masterful Crafter, grafted child||
+1 level of existing grafting class

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Surgical precision +1d6, thesis monster|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3|Intellectual grafter|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Surgical precision +2d6, thesis monster|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

5th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Childish graft|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

6th|+4|+2|+2|+5|Surgical precision +3d6, thesis monster|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

7th|+5|+2|+2|+5|Improvised grafts|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

8th|+6|+2|+2|+6|Surgical precision +4d6, thesis monster|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

9th|+6|+3|+3|+6|A rat is kinda like a dragon, right?|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

10th|+7|+3|+3|+7|Junkyard surgeon, surgical precision +5d6, thesis monster|
+1 Artifex level|
+1 level of existing grafting class

[/table]

Class Features

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: You gain no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Xenoalchemy: At every level, you add +1 to your xenoalchemy level from one existing class of your choice that you have levels in. This increases your effective xenoalchemist level for the benefits of grafts as well as the level of graft you can achieve. This does not provide you with any other benefit a member of your previous class would have received, such as class features, skill points, spellcasting, or hit points.

Artifex: At every level, you add +1 to your Artifex level for all purposes.

Masterful Crafter: Your mind is as sharp as the day it was minted.

Your levels in Grafter Artifex and Salvager stack for the purpose of your Junkheap and Craft Excellency class features; if you do not have one or either of those class features, you gain them as if you were a Salvager of your Grafter Artifex level.

Surgical Precision (Ex): Your hands have never slipped, not even once. Unless you wanted them to, that is.

At 2nd level, and every 2 levels thereafter, your Surgical Precision damage increases by +1d6

Thesis Monster (Ex): Quite frankly, you cobble a little bit of everything together when you craft something; living and inorganic, if you know what I mean.

At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter you gain an additional thesis monster type, chosen from the list available to a xenoalchemist; if you do not already have it, you must choose the Deconstructionism thesis monster type.

Grafted Child (Ex): You know, sometimes you don't want to actually use a graft on a living being until much, much later. So you store it on your little golemaic children.

At 1st level, you gain the unique Graft Storage Crafter's Choice.
Graft Storage: Requires Graft Storage or the 1st level of the Grafter Artifex prestige class. You may place any number of grafts onto the Child that is being affected by this Choice; however, they may only gain the benefit of the latest graft to be attached. Every other graft that they have is instead stored, inert and with an indefinite shelf life. You may remove any graft that is attached to that Child in a process that lasts 1 minute. You may take this Choice multiple times.

Intellectual Grafter (Ex): Your mind is far more sophisticated than those hacksaw-wielding hacks that call themselves doctors; as such, you can hold far more information trapped inside your head than anyone else can.

Upon reaching 3rd level, the number of grafts that you can have active on yourself at any one time is equal to 1+your Intelligence modifier. In addition, the save DCs for your grafts are now determined by Intelligence.

Childish Graft (Su): You know, every parent wants their children to spread to the 4 winds; not everyone has decided that the best way to go about that is to graft a little slapshod piece of tin onto their friends and enemies.

At 5th level, you gain the ability to, instead of repairing your child if it is destroyed, use it as a graft. This graft takes up an Arms slot, and has a level equal to the Tier of the Archetype(s) applied to that Child-1.

Once this Graft has been applied, the receiver of the graft is treated as if i were a Child for the purpose of class abilities; in addition, they automatically gain the benefit of a single Archetype of your choice, which determines the level of the graft, as indicated above.

You may only have one of these grafts at a time, and the graft automatically detaches if the creature ever becomes hostile to you, removing their arms in the process.

Improvised Grafts (Ex): You know, these claws would look just lovely with some extra bits of rusty tin on them...

At 7th level, you may apply Improvised Equipment slots to any Grafts that you attach as if they were weapons or armor that you created through that class feature. The grafts do not have to be attached to you to apply this benefit.

A rat is kinda like a dragon, right? (Ex): Quite frankly, sometimes it is kinda hard to find a dragon gizzard to graft to someone; but hey, you have an uncanny skill in slapping together sexy, sexy pieces of technology, and a gizzard is kinda like a rat tail, anyway, if you squint a bit...

At 9th level, you gain the ability to fake it when it comes to grafting; as long as you have access to 10 pounds of biomass, you can spend a number of Junkheap points equal to 10*the level of the Graft to "fake" a graft.

The graft works normally; however, time spent grafted onto a creature counts towards the expiration date of a graft. If a part rots inside a creature, treat that creature as if it no longer had that part, and that creature also receives a negative level until the part is removed.

Junkyard Grafter (Ex): So... you came here to learn how to attach a buzzsaw to your arm? You came to the right place, as far as I'm concerned!

At 10th level, you have gained the ability to craft "modular" parts for a creature. If you do so, a creature may remove any graft that has this alteration applied to it by taking a full-round action; they may replace the part as part of the same action.

In addition, you may craft weapons and armor into grafts as well; a weapon takes up the Hands slot and armor takes up the Torso slot. This process takes 1 day of dedicated modification to the weapon or armor in question, and results in a graft with a level equal to the enhancement bonus of the weapon or armor. If there is no enhancement bonus, the graft is level 0.

Weapon grafts cannot be disarmed, and are treated as if they were either manufactured or natural weapons, whichever would be better in a given situation. Armor grafts remove any arcane spell failure chance, armor penalty, or maximum dexterity modifier the armor may have had.

Finally, any creature that you graft either a modular, a weapon, or an armor graft to has their type changed to Living Construct until the graft is removed.

EdroGrimshell
2012-02-21, 11:02 AM
Please spoiler the image, it practically doubles the size of the page.

Now, small typo (I'm guessing) it says Shadowcasting over where you say +1 Artifex.

Draken
2012-02-21, 02:42 PM
It runs a bit deeper. It says "The Shadowstitcher" right above the table.

One thing to comment on the structure of the presentation, abilities should generally be listed in the order they appear on the table (with any spellcasting-alikes going before class-specific features, but that is already there), so Grafted Child should be right after Masterful Crafter.

Amechra
2012-02-24, 10:19 AM
Patience; I was in the middle of posting this when I noticed that I had about 1 minute of battery on my laptop.

While I was a good coupla hundred miles away from the nearest charger that could work with it.

Amechra
2012-02-24, 12:04 PM
It has been posted. Thoughts?

Amechra
2012-05-20, 02:46 PM
Re-opened as an example for the PEACH trading thread.

Eldan
2012-05-21, 06:11 AM
Okay. As per request in the PEACH thread.

First of all: while I am vaguely familiar with the Xenoalchemist, which I have read, but not seen in play, I am only vaguely familiar with the Salvager. So I am mostly looking at this class on its own.

I will also critique this first before reading any of the comments.

First of all: some of the requirements seem redundant, if I am not mistaken. There are several there which are gained just by levelling in a certain class, it seems just requiring the highest level one of these should be enough?

A few strange class skills. Why Handle Animal? Why social skills?

Class features: first, the standard continuation of the most important standard class features typical of a dualclass. Fair enough, no complaints.

Grafted Child is already pretty damn creepy, and useful. Love it.

Intellectual Crafter: While I see the rules justification for this, I fail to see how the fluff really works out, to be honest. Why can smart people have more grafts on themselves? If they just new how to attach them better, surely they could graft more grafts on everyone? Consider just giving the class more grafts. Furthermore, I don't see how this applies to this class especially, and why this class should be able to graft better than any other xenoalchemist. The only feature I have problems with, really.


In general: I would love to have a bit more fluff at the entry of this class. Just a few sentences would really help. On the other hand, it seems that you have perhaps just a bit much fluff in the various entries for the class features, where I think it gets a bit confusing to read it all. Separate it out a bit more, perhaps?

Overall: I like the basic idea, and the class features are flavourful and make sense for what the class. However, it seems to me that it could use another class feature or two. Part of the touchstone at the end, I think, should come a bit earlier, perhaps? The level 9 and 10 abilities are what seems to define the class. However, up until level 9, your technical and biological crafting abilities are sort of separate, with the exception of child grafting. I'd consider stretching these abilities out more, and give some kind of bio-tech interaction ability straight away on level 1.

For alternate touchstones: this class seems to be a lot about mixing living and technological. How about giving it a few self-improvement abilities, like it seems to mention, ending up in making it a living construct? Look at Eberron's Renegade Mastermaker for ideas here.


The class is, probably, balanced as it is, compared to other dual-classes. I am just generally more a fan of dual-casters with more rather than less class features.

Kellus
2012-07-05, 06:30 PM
Wow, sorry I never commented on this when it was first put up! It's very well done, and combines the flavour of the two classes amazingly well, even the tongue-in-cheek prose style of the xenoalchemist!

Obviously I'm much more familiar with the xenoalchemist than the salvager, so most of my feedback is going to come on that end:

• When your grafts switch over to Int-based instead of Con-based, I would make sure to describe what happens (presumably graft-rejection) if that brings your total grafts available down instead of up. Or alternatively, just let them use either Int or Con to determine the number of grafts, whichever is higher.

• You can only take a given thesis monster once, so I would make sure to mention that Deconstructionism is only forced on you once if you don't have the class feature already, and after that they can pick what they want.

And that's really it! I love the flavour of this class, but even more I love the way you've integrated the two rulesets together! Improvising grafts, turning them into equipment, and the beautiful capstone are just amazingly clever. With your permission, I'd love to clean this up (grammar/prose only) and insert it into the original Xenoalchemist document. Bravo!

Amechra
2012-07-05, 08:27 PM
I would be honored; the forced taking of Deconstructionism only applies once, since the class feature specifies that this only applies if you don't already have it.