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Jallorn
2013-11-27, 07:56 PM
So here I am, working on yet another new campaign setting because it won't leave me alone, and as usual, I want to do something new and different, or at least uncommon. Anyway, I got to thinking about bio-technology at one point, and how it is so rare in fantasy settings, and how I might go about that. I did a little research and found Chaositech, which is a good start, and I've learned that apparently Dark Sun Halflings have some biotech, though I've found no rules for it.

In any case, I'm looking for more rules for biotech, and a plenty of suggestions on how to incorporate biotech into a fantasy setting.

S'pose I should tell you some about the setting: The world's about 80-90% covered in water, so much less land. As a result, contact between the races is greatly less frequent. Elves have control of the single largest land mass, and thus the most advanced technology, which they guard pretty jealously (though to be fair, it is their god of the sea they guard their knowledge from)

Magic in this setting is different as well. It definitely exists, and manifests itself often unexpectedly, and there are monsters that are clearly magical, and demons definitely exist, as do deals with them. However, mortal manipulation of magic is limited to such dangerous forms as demonic deals, or rituals that generally have some great cost, but even then don't always work and can go wrong if you've made a single mistake.

Psychic powers, however, are very real. This is the avenue I'm figuring on going for biotech, that it is the use of the conscious mind to shape living things into new forms that serve some purpose. Once shaped they're no more or less psionic than their purpose.

I'm planning on having another race be the ones with all the biotech, although I haven't decided much about them besides biotech. I'm also considering depriving elves of psionics, but also thinking they might at least have artificers.

holywhippet
2013-11-27, 08:02 PM
Well, Shadowrun springs to mind when you mix tech and magic. In that setting adding biotech to your character removes essence points which magic users need. You can buy more expensive implants which use up less essence points. Once those points are lost, you never get them back.

asnys
2013-11-27, 08:26 PM
So here I am, working on yet another new campaign setting because it won't leave me alone, and as usual, I want to do something new and different, or at least uncommon. Anyway, I got to thinking about bio-technology at one point, and how it is so rare in fantasy settings, and how I might go about that. I did a little research and found Chaositech, which is a good start, and I've learned that apparently Dark Sun Halflings have some biotech, though I've found no rules for it.

In any case, I'm looking for more rules for biotech, and a plenty of suggestions on how to incorporate biotech into a fantasy setting.

You can find The Life-Shaper's Handbook on athas.org, though I'm not sure how good it is.

Jallorn
2013-11-27, 10:04 PM
You can find The Life-Shaper's Handbook on athas.org, though I'm not sure how good it is.

That's perfect, thanks.

Still would love to get more ideas about fantasy bio-tech.

shaikujin
2013-11-27, 11:43 PM
Grafts would be the DnD versions of Shadowrun Bioware.

Might be worth a look.

AmberVael
2013-11-27, 11:50 PM
You may want to look at some of Kellus's homebrew, specifically Gramarie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291019) (in which there is plenty of biotech, under biollurgy), and xenoalchemy. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205119) While the systems are complex and you may not want to use them, they could be good for generating interesting ideas.

Alleine
2013-11-28, 12:17 AM
Both the Zern(MM4) and the Marruspawn(Sandstorm) have some examples of bio-engineering. There's not a whole lot, no real rules, but it's something.

A few symbiotes could fit pretty easily. This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190350) is a pretty comprehensive list of that kind of stuff. Most of the symbiotes don't really have uses outside of combat, though they should at least help spark some ideas.

Agent 451
2013-11-28, 12:36 AM
You could check out the biotech that the Yuuzhan Vong get in the Star Wars SAGA edition. There is some info in the Legacy Era book, and (I believe) in Galaxy at War book. and the New Jedi Order sourcebook (which is the d20 modern-like system before SAGA) has some info.

Balyano
2013-11-28, 04:49 AM
Path of the Magi has the Histomorpher, you could reflavor it as psionic. Encyclopedia Arcana: Crossbreeding: Flesh and Blood has multiple ways to combine creatures, this also can be reflavored as psionic with just some tweaks. Though I think both those books are 3.0.

CIDE
2013-11-28, 05:28 PM
Kython use biotech. You'd have to change the rules a bit since it's race-specific. In addition to the biotech for Yuuzhon Vong in Starwars (I think it's all in The new Jedi order book) D20 future has a few rules you can use and adapt too.

mabriss lethe
2013-11-28, 06:02 PM
The Deepspawn from Lost Empires of Faerun:

They're effectively clone factories. Once a deepspawn devours a person, it can keep pumping out exact copies for any sort of nefarious purpose.