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ShneekeyTheLost
2008-10-16, 01:23 PM
Long ago, there was the Feldarian Empire, which spanned the known world. As with any 'golden empire', it was merely gilded with the patina of age, and had it's problems, notabally how they treated those without the ability to use magic, and how they treated their cleregy. However, being a Thanatocracy, they had excelled at creating magics that even today we cannot match.

For in a Thanatocracy, for those who cannot disect the word, those with magic were in all positions of power. To gain any kind of leadership role, down to the mayor of a small down, you had to be able to wield magic. Those unable to wield magic were seen as serfs at best.

They were also a very secular society, shunning the dieties, and considering them irelevent, at times even mocking their power. As such, their cleregy were few, and very devoted, and mostly kept to themselves.

When Emperor Feldas the XXVIII was assassinated, without an heir named, it all devolved into a free-for-all brawl, every mage for himself, which quickly devolved into pure chaos. The land itself was riven and torn in many places as magics were waged against magics in ways that should never have been. Even to this day, there are places where the very flow of magic has been altered, these places are dangerous indeed to travel in.

In the times after those wars, the cleregy regained their prominence, as they were the ones who saved all races from the brink of extinction.

Now, thousands of years later, we still find potent magic items leftover from that bygone era. Most are still able to be used, although some should not be. Some seek to unlock their secrets, but really, considering what happened last time they could be created, should we?

-Maelous Arashi, Archmage and Scholar of the Feldarian Empire

A few basic rules about Magictech and Necrotech items:

1) They are considered Minor Artifacts. That means they cannot be created by any mortal means. Yes, they used to be made by men, but that knowledge has been long lost, and will NEVER be in the hands of ANY PC.

2) Magictech items require the expenditure of spell slots. Nothing can prevent or redirect the expenditure of these spell slots. Any method of preventing or redirecting the expenditure of the spell slots will also prevent the magictech item from functioning.

3) Spell slots that are used to power Magictech items CANNOT be refilled until 24 hours after expenditure on a magictech item, or until the magictech item in question ceases to function. These spellslots cannot be refilled any quicker by any means. Eight hours of rest will allow a preparation spellcaster to be able to prepare a spell in that slot, but it cannot be used until the 24 hours is up. Spontanious casters cannot use the spellslots in question until the 24 hours are up, regardless of how much they rest between.

4) Arcane spell slots are the only means to power Magictech items. Nothing else will work. This includes, but is not limited to Divine spell slots, SLA's, and UMD checks.

5) Necrotech items create HP or Con burn. HP/Con Burn cannot be healed by any means except normal rest. This means it cannot be healed by any arcane, divine, binding, SLA, Supernatural, Extrodinary, Psionic, or ANY other means.

Sample Magitech items

Magitech Wands
In general, a Magictech wand functions identically to a normal wand, however it does not contain any charges. Instead it is fueled with the magical energy provided by the caster. It follows ALL of the above magictech guidelines, and burns one spell slot of the same level that the spell in question is on the spell list of the person using it. Thus a Magictech Wand of Heroism would burn a 3rd level spell slot for a Wizard or Sorcerer, but would only burn a 2nd level spell slot for a Bard. These are, by far, the most common Magictech item found these days, although they are still quite rare.

Golembane Hammer

This +2 Warhammer seems to be an ordinary magic hammer, and has no additional effect unless a Golem is hit by the weapon. If the Golembane Hammer hits a Golem, the Wielder immediately takes 2 Con Burn and the golem in question is hit by a Disintegrate effect which bypasses the golem's magical immunity. The Golem makes a fort save, as normal, and the HD of the wielder is considered to be the spellcaster level for the purposes of determining level-dependent effects (like Damage). Both the con burn and the disentegrate effect happens every time the golembane hammer hits a golem, it cannot be repressed in any way.

Necrotech Weapon of Elements
Several different types of weapons have been found with this odd enhancement. It functions identically to a normal weapon, except that the wielder has the option to spend 5 HP Burn as a free action to give the weapon one of the following traits for one round: Flaming, Icy, or Shocking. Only one trait may be applied at a time, applying a different trait while the first one is in effect burns up another 5 HP Burn and replaces the old trait with the new one.

Headlamp
This odd contraption looks like a headband with an odd protrusion over the forehead. It is activated with a 1st level spell slot, which causes it to glow like a Hooded Lantern for 24 hours. This item takes up a helmet/headband slot.

Magebow
These devices look like crossbows without strings, although it has a gem inset at the end of the device, where a bolt would normally be ejected. A cantrip slot will power the Magebow for one hour, a 1st level spellslot will power it for 24 hours . When powered, the gem at the end will glow very faintly. It can then be used as a weapon, with a rate of fire equal to that of a light crossbow. It deals 1d10 damage (19-20/X2), as a touch attack. Normally, it does pure eldrich damage, however some variants do a specific elemental flavor of damage. There is also a variant that is a Force effect, but it only does 1d8. It is considered to be an instantanious Conjuration effect which ignores SR and can be fired into an AMF. It is treated as a Heavy Crossbow in all other regards.

Magic Battery
Magic batteries are strange things. They can store magical energies put into them, however the mage who put the spell slots into it cannot use those spellslots until they have been discharged from a Magic Battery, however long that might take. Some magic batteries can store only a single 1st level slot, while others can store more slots or higher level slots. The advantage is that a mage can give a Magic Battery to a friend to power a magictech item. It is considered to be an arcane Spell Completion effect, with an effective spell level of the spell slot being used. Sorcerers and Wizards are able to do this without penalty, just like using an arcane scroll. Melee classes with UMD can make a skill check of 20+spell level to do it.

Necrotech magic weapon/armor
Some magic weapons or armors were designed specifically to be worn by 'cannon fodder', who cannot use magic, however it takes a toll on the wearer. To wear Necrotech magic weapons or armor, you must 'attune it' to the wearer. This takes a number of Con Burn equal to the enhancement bonus of the item, plus 10 HP burn for every 4,000 worth of non-enhancement enchantments (round UP). Thus a +1 Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt of Silent Moves would require 2 Con Burn and 10 HP burn to attune. Once attuned, the magic item in question works perfectly normally for the wearer, however the con/hp burn CANNOT be healed until the user un-attunes himself. Un-atuning will allow the con/hp burn to become damage rather than burn, allowing it to be healed normally, and the item in question functions as a masterworked item rather than magical. Atuning or Un-attuning an item requires the item in question in hand and a full round action

arguskos
2008-10-16, 01:33 PM
...woah. Sweet stuff! I'm loving it!

I have to say, my favorite item here is the Magebow, since it basically reads "Burn a cantrip, have an Eldritch Blast-like effect."

My only concern is with the Necrotech items. I understand the idea of Con Burn, but is there a major danger with the HP Burn being heal-able normally?

-argus

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-10-16, 01:38 PM
...woah. Sweet stuff! I'm loving it!

I have to say, my favorite item here is the Magebow, since it basically reads "Burn a cantrip, have an Eldritch Blast-like effect."

My only concern is with the Necrotech items. I understand the idea of Con Burn, but is there a major danger with the HP Burn being heal-able normally?

-argus

Just like Con Burn, HP Burn CANNOT be healed magically. It must be recovered over time normally. This is the limitation is to keep Healbot abuse down.

arguskos
2008-10-16, 01:43 PM
Well, I figured that was what you meant it for, but I wonder if the HP shouldn't be healable. I mean, it seems to me (and I am probably incorrect) that Necrotech stuff has lots of potential to be crazy powerful, in exchange for some powerful drawbacks. What about changing the HP to be bigger numbers (like 20 or 30 hp per activation) but making it healable? It's only a thought though, and you've probably tested it and found it fails for whatever reason, but I thought I'd toss it out there anyways.

I know it smells like healbot abuse waiting to happen... but who really uses in-combat healing? My players don't, that's for damn sure (and this is with a healbot in the party), making 30 hp/use of a Necrotech item a big cost, with a potentially as big effect.

-argus

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-10-16, 01:48 PM
Well, I figured that was what you meant it for, but I wonder if the HP shouldn't be healable. I mean, it seems to me (and I am probably incorrect) that Necrotech stuff has lots of potential to be crazy powerful, in exchange for some powerful drawbacks. What about changing the HP to be bigger numbers (like 20 or 30 hp per activation) but making it healable? It's only a thought though, and you've probably tested it and found it fails for whatever reason, but I thought I'd toss it out there anyways.

I know it smells like healbot abuse waiting to happen... but who really uses in-combat healing? My players don't, that's for damn sure (and this is with a healbot in the party), making 30 hp/use of a Necrotech item a big cost, with a potentially as big effect.

-argus

When it was playtested in the party that I ran, I found that there were a number of ways to 'cheeze' normal damage, and that healbots could really make regular damage necrotech items extremely powerful, which is why I changed it to Burn.

arguskos
2008-10-16, 01:53 PM
Ah. See, that makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, what ways did they manage to cheese it? It seems like only really in-combat healing would be cheesy w/ non-burn Necrotech.

-argus

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-10-16, 02:16 PM
Ah. See, that makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, what ways did they manage to cheese it? It seems like only really in-combat healing would be cheesy w/ non-burn Necrotech.

-argus

Radiant Servant of Pelor, with Spontanious Healing Domain. Auto-empowered and maximized spontanious cure spells. It got broke quick.

Also, out of combat healing is almost worse than in combat healing. Figure if you blow enough HP, you can pretty much obliterate all opponents in your path. Then out of combat heal back up to full and do it again.

This way, you can only heal up full after 24 hours, so it's only good for one encounter, and you'd better hope you don't get jumped!

Roderick_BR
2008-10-17, 09:06 AM
I like the concept of spell slot powered effects. The wands, in particular, can be used as "guns" where the wielder gives the ammo. Very useful for sorcerers because of their limited spell selection. Good for wizards as well, to get "spontaneous casting."
The burn damage is interesting too. Reminds me of vile damage, from BoED, where it can only be healed with special cure spells.

DracoDei
2008-10-17, 03:47 PM
The wands use up a spell slot EACH time they are cast from I assume? That seemed unclear...

Also, there seemed to be a typo in Necrotech magic weapon/armor or at least confusing terminology in that you say "Atuning or Un-atuning will allow the con/hp burn to become damage rather than burn,..." also note that this seems to circumvent the rule about the burn not being healable by magic.

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-10-19, 08:41 PM
The wands use up a spell slot EACH time they are cast from I assume? That seemed unclear...

Also, there seemed to be a typo in Necrotech magic weapon/armor or at least confusing terminology in that you say "Atuning or Un-atuning will allow the con/hp burn to become damage rather than burn,..." also note that this seems to circumvent the rule about the burn not being healable by magic.

Yes, wands burn a spell slot every time they are used.

Necrotech magic items and armor basically keep the con/hp burn as an 'always on' effect as long as it is attuned. De-attuning the equipment means it no longer provides it's benefits, but you can then heal the damage. But if you want to re-attune it, you get the burn again. Does that make things clearer?

To clarify, I reworded it:
Un-atuning will allow the con/hp burn to become damage rather than burn, allowing it to be healed normally, and the item in question functions as a masterworked item rather than magical. Atuning or Un-attuning an item requires the item in question in hand and a full round action