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PhoenixPhyre
2021-06-05, 11:54 PM
So one of my groups is coming to a close, and as is tradition, is about to have the impact of their campaign enter full canon in the setting[1]. One thing they recovered from their culminating adventure was information--specifically on ways to meld "mechanisms" and living flesh, creating magical cyborgs. "Mechanisms" is in quotes because it's not so much real mechanics as it is powered by the soul of the one it's attached to. But metal and crystal and wire. So basically technomancy. They also rescued a group of mecha-gnomes (gnomes who have practiced this on themselves significantly), and this information has been given to one of the local nations.

So what kinds of effects would people think are interesting? I'm thinking things from limb replacements (extra grappling/carrying capacity?) to eye grafts (maybe giving some form of darkvision+?). These would be boons or possibly buyable (but very expensive, as they're brand new) and painful, since it involves surgery. I'd prefer to stay away from straight stat bonuses, preferring some small passive bonus and then something active.

Ideas:
1. Replacement arms
2. Replacement legs (faster movement? More jumping?)
3. Eye prostheses (darkvision, but also thermal vision (see heat signatures of creatures even outside the range)?)
4. Extra limbs

Old Harry MTX
2021-06-06, 03:05 AM
Take a look at the Gadgets section in the Pilot class that I did some time ago (you can find it in my signature). Maybe some of them can be right for you.

quindraco
2021-06-08, 08:13 AM
So one of my groups is coming to a close, and as is tradition, is about to have the impact of their campaign enter full canon in the setting[1]. One thing they recovered from their culminating adventure was information--specifically on ways to meld "mechanisms" and living flesh, creating magical cyborgs. "Mechanisms" is in quotes because it's not so much real mechanics as it is powered by the soul of the one it's attached to. But metal and crystal and wire. So basically technomancy. They also rescued a group of mecha-gnomes (gnomes who have practiced this on themselves significantly), and this information has been given to one of the local nations.

So what kinds of effects would people think are interesting? I'm thinking things from limb replacements (extra grappling/carrying capacity?) to eye grafts (maybe giving some form of darkvision+?). These would be boons or possibly buyable (but very expensive, as they're brand new) and painful, since it involves surgery. I'd prefer to stay away from straight stat bonuses, preferring some small passive bonus and then something active.

Ideas:
1. Replacement arms
2. Replacement legs (faster movement? More jumping?)
3. Eye prostheses (darkvision, but also thermal vision (see heat signatures of creatures even outside the range)?)
4. Extra limbs

Unless the technomancy is incredibly good, the primary effect shouldn't be augmenting the abilities of a normal person, it should be fixing the disabilities of a disabled person. So a prosthetic leg is a functioning prosthetic leg - not any better than a meat leg, but a huge improvement over a wooden stump. Still with the major downside of lacking a sense of touch, unless it's insanely good.

Note that extra limbs is a neurological problem - your magic limbs need to instruct the wearer's mind on how to operate them. 5E already has prosthetic limbs and eyes, but neither let you add on to your existing set. If you can add additional body parts, an example excellent shenanigan is putting ears on your fingertips for listening through doors and windows, and putting eyes in the back of your head.

The next step up from being functional is being lightweight, meaning e.g. a prosthetic leg doesn't need to be as large as a meat leg, allowing the extra space to be used to carry things. 5E hasn't got useful rules for making containers useful, but you could implement rules for a spring-loaded thigh holster letting you draw from it as a non-action, and even without that, you could give them rules for concealed carry of things - it's a big ask for customs officials to demand you remove your prosthetic leg so they can look inside, making them excellent for smuggling. If you look at modern day leg prosthetics, they're so light and so much better designed for running than meat legs that runners with no legs are banned from racing against runners with meat legs because the meat legged runners can't possibly win. You could give anyone with a pair of prosthetic legs advantage on athletics checks and constitution saves to run/march.

The next step up from being lightweight is being durable. 5E has no useful rules for determining hit location, but some rules can be kludged in. For example, a sufficiently durable (probably adamantite) prosthetic arm could be used as a shield, by deliberately taking hits on the arm. Certainly, prosthetics should be immune to poison and psychic across the board.

Probably the next step up from there is powered prosthetics, which would mean buffs to things like carrying capacity, athletics, strength saves, etc. E.g. you could have a prosthetic spine that provides Powerful Build. If your tech is good enough for internal organs, prosthetic lungs could buff how long you can hold your breath.

Phhase
2021-06-12, 04:03 AM
Oh boy, transhumanism! My favorite! The previous poster is correct in that there ought to be a scale of advancement, of sorts. But I do love my cyberaugments. First of all, there's a few decent examples in the Eberron book, such as Ventilating Lungs, which you could frame as a full technomagical lung replacement. Other than that:

Basic augments (That don't fundamentally alter one's anatomy):

Wired Reflexes: A classic. Allow the user to draw and stow weapons at no action cost. Potentially allow for two attacks of opportunity to be made, one with each hand.
Reinforced Spine: As the above poster, Powerful Build and otherwise better and lifting things.
Subdermal Meshweave: Extra Natural Armor.
Stimpack: Load potions and chemicals into this resivoir to inject them at any time for no action cost.
Electroreception: Sense the positions of living creatures in a radius.
Neural Backdoor Shunt: Fortify the mind against magical control, potentially take an action or bonus action to remove a mental condition like frightened or Stunned.
Weapon Implants: Claws. Whips. Blades. Hidden tools. Metal/adamant teeth. Injector needles. Small projectile launchers.
Gyroscopes: Resist getting knocked over/around.

Complex Augments (more invasive and/or advanced):

Replacement Limb: Just as good as a normal limb, usually. Ripe for further modification.
Implanted Energy Batteries: Reserves of elemental or magical energy that can be funneled into spell or other effects.
Blasters: Full sized energy or kinetic weapons.
Neural Acceleration: Speed up your cognitive perception of time. Likely puts strain on the mind.
Telepathic Antenna: Allows wireless syncing between others with this mod.
Automatic Coagulants: Prevents you from bleeding out.
Various Ocular Modifications: Laser eyes, night vision eyes, thermal eyes, ultraviolet eyes, x-ray eyes, detachable flying drone eyes, etc etc.
Armor Plating: You know what this is.
Magical Codexes: Your spell memory has never been this large.

Radical Augments (These would likely be experimental, and require extensive pre-augmentation of one's brain in order to be able to control and comprehend them properly, with potential risk):

Split Cognition: Allow for true multitasking in one's brain. Potentially multiple concentration spells.
Multiple Limbs: Why stop at two arms and legs?
Mind Uploading: It's always good to have your soul backed up somewhere.
Really F&^&ing Weird Limbs: Body parts that are too long. That are made of amorphous magnetic fluid. That are charged with elemental energy. That can detach and have minds of their own. That have integrated tools. That have eyes.
Heavy Weapon Mounts: Because you've always wanted to be a mecha.
Brain Transplant: When you've reached your body's limits, it's time to steal a dragon's body and cyborgize that instead.
Memory Transplants: Want to cast spells from other classes? Download the module.

You get the idea. The Tech-priest class made by JNAProductions also has some good mechanism ideas, if you want more specifics. Hope this helps!