Reflavoring a Classs to a "Technomancer"

[maxweasel]

Hello,

I'm starting a new campaign in a homebrew setting using 5E races, classes, and rules and one of the things I'm allowing is for my players to reflavor their races and classes as long as they keep the same statistical attributes as an official race or class.

One of my players wants to have his PC be a "Technomancer" which he describes as a magic user who uses homemade devices to generate magical effects.

I like this idea but I'm having a little trouble figuring out which 5E class to use for this character.

Which class do you think would be best for this endeavor?

Also, how would you work this into a campaign that is generally more low-tech?

[Talyn]

I had some luck re-fluffing a Great Old One Warlock as a technological character in a post-apocalyptic game.

Essentially, as he levels up, his Invocations are him "upgrading" himself with technological pieces, making him increasingly cyborg-like. (Incidentally, the "Great Old One" was a damaged-and-possibly-insane-but-still powerful Artificial Intelligence that helped him design and build his tech, but that was fairly setting-specific, so I don't know if that would fit your campaign.)

Eldritch blast is a ray gun or blaster gauntlet, Devil's Sight is night-vision goggles and/or bionic eyes, even the Pact of the Chain Familiar is a little flying robot. (Use Imp as the base creature, since poison immunity makes sense for a robot.) The possibilities are endless.

[JeenLeen]

I could see wizard or sorcerer, refluffing spells as devices.

Turn the focus or component pouch into machinery. They must prepare their devices (either prep or repair them) during a long rest. Maybe a quantum array that can output x-level 3 bursts, x-level 2, and so on for spell slots. Cantrips are easier devices that don't need maintenance or perhaps tools embedded in the 'mage'.

Wizard seems best, since a spellbook can translate easier to manuals and notes on how to repair devices (prep spells) or do complex routines during downtime (rituals).
Could refluff some things, like Find Familiar is instead making a tiny robot. You could even keep the ability to scribe wizard spellbook 'spells' into his notebook, since he obviously has the technical know-how to duplicate magical effects via devices. I could see this as a realistic in-world cabal of gnomes (or whoever) who are devoted to mechanically emulating the Weave without actually using magic (though, for balance purpose, I'd say it still doesn't work in Anti-Magic Fields and such. They are still working on a complete separate from the Weave's energy fields, and disruptions in the Weave still cause mechanical failure.)

Divination wizard could actually fit rather well, fluffing advanced or strange quasi-statistics to emulate divination (what's most likely verses magic).

Sorcerer or warlock, I like the idea of embedded devices for spells known. A wild magic sorcerer seems fitting, with 'malfunctions' being undesirable wild magic.

[ZX6Rob]

I had some luck re-fluffing a Great Old One Warlock as a technological character in a post-apocalyptic game.

Essentially, as he levels up, his Invocations are him "upgrading" himself with technological pieces, making him increasingly cyborg-like. (Incidentally, the "Great Old One" was a damaged-and-possibly-insane-but-still powerful Artificial Intelligence that helped him design and build his tech, but that was fairly setting-specific, so I don't know if that would fit your campaign.)

Eldritch blast is a ray gun or blaster gauntlet, Devil's Sight is night-vision goggles and/or bionic eyes, even the Pact of the Chain Familiar is a little flying robot. (Use Imp as the base creature, since poison immunity makes sense for a robot.) The possibilities are endless.

I like this one and had a similar character, where her patron was a race of highly advanced aliens that had experimented on her, rebuilt her body with incredibly advanced technology, and left her in a field somewhere with bad amnesia. As she leveled up, her new abilities were her discovering or unlocking new features of her cyborg body.

As to the OP's question, I think that any of the three primary spellcasters would be good, but honestly, for what you want, I would lean toward the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer's limited spells known actually somewhat works in your favor here because each spell represents a device or a gadget. Metamagic can be reflavored as you hacking the device on the spot for some new or more powerful effect. "Hold on, I'm going to overcharge my Combustion Accelerator Device! You don't want to be near this when it goes off," and there goes your metamagic'ed fireball.

Now, for Sorcerers, I hiiiiiighly recommend using the Spell Points variant in the DMG (I get the feeling that that's how the Sorcerer was actually originally supposed to work), and that holds true for this concept as well. You'd have an "arcane battery" or some other kind of power source that you use to fuel your gizmos and such-like. When you're out of Spell Points, well, you dinnae have the powah, cap'n.

So, that's probably how I'd do that one.

[Blue Lantern]

I don't know if you saw Giant Hunters (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/force-grey-giant-hunters), but Ashley Johnson character does something similar, she plays a Cleric whose spells are all refluffed as some sort of devices.

I believe many spellcasters could be similarly refluffed, it mostly depends on how much are you willing to stress your suspension of disbelief, because some things can be quite awkward, for instance refluffing hold person to a mechanical device that requires a will save and only works on people.

[DizzyWood]

My husband is working on a setting that takes place on earth thousands of years in the future ages past a huge apocalypse. Sorcerers are all descendant from the old technocrats and have the genetic ability to control the ambient nano-cloud. Warlocks pacts will be with powerful AIs housed in orbital satellites. Clerics are ancestor worshipers empowered by humans who manages to convert entirely to energy. The various races are all products of ancient genetic manipulations.

Wizards though are what you are looking for. Spells are just program commands!

[JackPhoenix]

Well, there's also this thing (http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_ModernMagic.pdf)

[GlenSmash!]

Well, there's also this thing (http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_ModernMagic.pdf)

This was the first think I thought of too. It's funny how employees at WotC often think about the same things as us forum users.