New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Page 1 of 46 123456789101126 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 30 of 1370
  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Gramarie



    Are you ready? I hope you are ready because I am ready

    Table of Contents

    Spoiler
    Show





    HEY! There's a new thread for this project, which can be found here!

    Introduction
    "I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts."

    Hello! This project is a result of a my growing dissatisfaction with the direction that I see the hobby, and D&D in particular, moving towards. I'm so tired of everything being about micromanaged combat, about grid-based tactical fighting, of what I think of as essentially fantasy-flavoured checkers. I like fighting stuff, but I also really like worldbuilding and interacting with immersive and controllable game elements. I personally firmly believe that having consistent rules and predictable outcomes is fundamentally good for the kinds of games that I enjoy. To that end, I have written a system that creates the kinds of worlds that I want to play in.

    This is a document all about using magic in creative and imaginative ways in order to replicate technology. It's incredibly open-ended. Over the last year I've been thinking about this stuff, and watching what people have come up with, and I have a feeling that the best ideas are yet to come. I feel like that's something that's been missing in D&D lately. I'm tired of having tiny little arbitrary powers that have a small self-contained effect and which never have any impact on the game world as a whole. I'm tired of a DM-focused game that is all about controlling and disempowering players. If you enjoy that sort of thing, you will probably not enjoy this project. This material is all about transparent world-building, that the players can interact with, and creating a world in which they can take actions that have foreseeable repercussions.

    This project is incredibly dear to me, and I've had a blast watching the ideas that people have generated. The raw creativity and intelligence that I've seen applied to these rules has been staggering, and I want to thank those people that have stuck with me through random disappearances and tons of changes. This project has become one of the most-viewed homebrews on this site ever, which I think is pretty cool! I hope that you check it out, and join in the conversation!

    – Kellus (Chris Johnston), July 2013

    PS: There's an entire forum to talk about and discuss this project over on minmax boards, although it's a little out of date at this point. At some point I will get to updating it, but it's very tiring trying to update two resources at the same time. You may find that that forum is easier to reference stuff on, and I monitor posts on it, but if it doubt use this thread as the definitive up-to-date version!

    Previous Threads

    Thread #1: She Blinded Me with SCIENCE!

    Change Log

    Spoiler
    Show
    August 15th, 2012– Published
    August 15th, 2012– Added notes from backup about multiple gramarists working on the same principle, and some stuff about radiomantic metal that must have gotten shifted from an early draft.
    August 15th, 2012– Added a clause in eldrikinetics about being able to reduce Push output.
    August 21st, 2012– Clarified the rules about maximum speeds and engines in parallel.
    August 21st, 2012– Gave some hard rules on phlogiston. People that like ice rejoice!
    August 21st, 2012– Modified the class table to include uses per day of spectroconstruction, and cleaned up the rules text on it.
    August 21st, 2012– Added some rules text to clear up confusion on arcanodynamics and YGGD 241.
    August 21st, 2012– Changed the rules substantially for numbers and fuels in engines. If you were doing anything with it previously, double-check your numbers. It should now be substantially easier to use.
    August 21st, 2012– Added some text to kaleidomantics about rotation with a reference point.
    August 21st, 2012– HEUR 302 is now more specific about activating embedded principles multiple times.
    August 21st, 2012– Kaleidomantic filters now have rules about opposing the motion of a filter and the weight that they can support.
    August 21st, 2012– ALCH 101 now stacks, and takes less time to prepare. Meanwhile, orichalcum is now somewhat harder to come by. Also, alkahest is a thing!
    August 21st, 2012– Arcanodynamics can't drop the temperature below absolute zero.
    August 22nd, 2012– Added a minimum value to the heat capacity of ALCH 101 so you don't end up dividing by zero. The universe is safe once more
    August 22nd, 2012– Black filters stop summoning effects, since they rely on information passing through the filter
    August 22nd, 2012– Prime Mover published
    August 22nd, 2012– Blueprints are now a thing
    August 22nd, 2012– Bubbles can take up less space if you want them to
    August 22nd, 2012– Lode-Bearer published
    August 22nd, 2012– The usurp space mother lode ability needed clarification
    August 24th, 2012– Biollurgy published
    August 24th, 2012– A few small updates to biollurgy. Xenoalchemist level, Hit Dice per inch of thickness, 0-level grafts.
    August 24th, 2012– Wrote the first draft of the glossary
    August 24th, 2012– Added a gestation period for custom species
    August 24th, 2012– Rejiggered for alphabetical order after Biollurgy
    August 24th, 2012– Added some notes on manipulative limbs and body slots for a chassis
    August 25th, 2012– Corner scenarios for a semi-space, including the protruding weight a portal can support, cover and concealment behind one, and damage to it
    August 25th, 2012– Toggle transformers on or off as a standard action and as a logical decision
    August 25th, 2012– Added a density column for metal statistics and made it drastically easier to target stuff with Alchemetry
    August 25th, 2012– Changed the caster check DC for a few effects to a predictable formula
    August 25th, 2012– Tethering principles now offer a saving throw if you don't want something tethered to you
    August 28th, 2012– New pricing rules: now with added value
    August 28th, 2012– Better explanation, I hope, of Black filters
    August 28th, 2012– Some fixes on Yggdratecture exploits, and the definition of the term inside
    August 29th, 2012– Contractor published
    August 29th, 2012– Changed gold output to not create crazy wtf amounts of energy!
    August 29th, 2012– Modified the text to spectroconstruction to clarify the labour it provides
    August 29th, 2012– Added some text about the labour provided from the contractor's capstone
    August 29th, 2012– You can build a soul!
    August 29th, 2012– Red filters: now with less murder!
    September 1st, 2012– Added Heal as a class skill to the prestige classes
    September 1st, 2012– Notes about bull rushing unattended objects with magnetic fields
    September 1st, 2012– Graughtsman published
    September 1st, 2012– Kaleidomantic filters now interact with other filters of the same colour
    September 2nd, 2012– Caster level for eldritch blast
    September 2nd, 2012– Added a new discovery for the graughtsman
    September 2nd, 2012– Logical decision limit for an EI
    September 2nd, 2012– Dreamason published
    September 2nd, 2012– EI's burn ebbs for XP
    September 2nd, 2012– Fixed a c/p in the dreamason
    September 9th, 2012– Shadowright published
    September 10th, 2012– Three new discoveries for the shadowright.
    September 27th, 2012– Clarified rules text on the 10th level ability of the prime mover.
    December 12th, 2012– Masνnist published
    December 12th, 2012– Added an important cap on the ruby ruination discovery so that you can't blow up the solar system. Darn!
    December 12th, 2012– You now can't have a nigh infinite number of programmed wish-granting machines assembling, von Neumann style, other wish-granting machines.
    December 12th, 2012– Tools for gramarie are now described in each section. Artifacts forthcoming
    December 13th, 2012– Major in the universe
    December 14th, 2012– Geoccultism published
    December 14th, 2012– Changed the rules a little bit on how universalists and specialists work, hopefully to equally incentivize them! Also did lolwut page merging to fit geoccultism on the first page.
    December 14th, 2012– Apogineer published
    December 15th, 2012– Dungeonjammer published
    December 16th, 2012– Sunmetal now ruins the day of geoccult poles in the area of a radiomantic explosion
    December 17th, 2012– Platinum transformers are pretty awe-inspiring (religious pun!)
    December 17th, 2012– Ayuscientist published
    December 17th, 2012– Arcanitect published
    December 18th, 2012– Platinum poles are aliiiiive
    December 18th, 2012– Group chat enabled with whisperreed
    December 18th, 2012– Hey, I caught one before everyone else! Acid transformers were using the wrong volume; a flask of acid is a pint, not a cubic foot.
    June 30th, 2013 - Stellar Cartographer published
    Canada Day! 2013 - Feats!
    Canada Day! 2013 - Millwight published
    July 2nd, 2013 - Asternomist published
    July 4th, 2013 - Rev II of the core material, including updates to several principles and a rewrite of the gramarist class. New thread!
    July 8th, 2013 - Fixed up Spooky Solvents text and DC's
    July 8th, 2013 - Theories!
    July 10th, 2013 - Warmaker published
    July 11th, 2013 - Transcholar Transliterated
    July 20th, 2013 - Indexed!
    Last edited by Kellus; 2014-01-03 at 01:33 AM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Placeholder: Aerostatistician Base Class
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-08 at 11:37 PM.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Gramarist

    "This is my world. It follows my rules."


    Image credit evermind-design of deviantart.com

    In a world as fabulous and frightening as we find ourselves, knowledge is a valuable commodity. Many marvels seem like magic to the uneducated, but the intellectual knows that all phenomena must follow certain rules and laws, even if we don't quite understand them, and even if they might potentially rip our faces off as they spawn tentacled horrors. Science is the great leveller, allowing for equalisation between those people who can arbitrarily shoot laser beams out of their eyes and those who can't. The mechanisation of the magical is collectively known as gramarie, and thus one who learns the skills to use and control it is a gramarist.

    There are several different disciplines of gramarie:

    • Alchemetry is the study of matter. More specifically, it's about quantifying and exploring the empirical principles at work in commonplace alchemy. Alchemetry is all about transforming substances and tweaking their properties.
    • Arcanodynamics is the study of arcane power. Arcanodynamic principles explore the relationships between magical energy (commonly known as puissance) and more common forms of energy, such as heat and light.
    • Biollurgy is the study of life. It explores the distinction between the living and nonliving, and can walk the fine line between the two.
    • Eldrikinetics is the study of magical motion. The powers that propel magic vehicles, defy gravity, and generate momentum are the principal focus here.
    • Geoccultism is the study of the environment and ley lines. It deals with thaumaturgic poles which tweak and modify the world around them, sometimes to extreme lengths.
    • Heuristicism is the study of control systems and circuits. It allows you to link magic together in fascinating new ways.
    • Imachination is the study of the real and the nonreal. It explores the mechanics of generating false sensations and illusionary interactions.
    • Kaleidomantics is the study of the magical prismatism of light. Kaleidomantic filters are refracted curtains of colour which can be used to separate agents based on the nature of light.
    • Yggdratecture is the study of other worlds and dimensions. The malleable nature of a fantasy planar cosmology oftentimes works in your favour when you are learned in yggdratecture.


    Game Rule Information

    Abilities: Intelligence is probably the most important skill for a gramarist, because it boosts their general Knowledge (architecture and engineering) checks, as well as the sheer number of skill points they have to play with. Gramarists who prefer to serve in battle as low-grade artillery will enjoy high Dexterity scores to make their eldritch blasts more accurate. However, it's important to recognize that gramarists are not focused on combat at all, and will not do well if that's their primary goal. In general, a good Charisma will also make many of your abilities more potent, especially your animas.

    Alignment: Any
    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: The gramarist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Gramarist
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles Known

    1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Baccalaureate principles, eldritch anima, eldritch blast +1d6, specialization|
    1

    2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Eldritch anima|
    2

    3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Eldritch blast +2d6, spectroconstruction|
    3

    4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Bonus feat, eldritch anima|
    3

    5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Eldritch blast +3d6, extra construction|
    4

    6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Eldritch anima|
    5

    7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Eldritch blast +4d6, magisterial principles|
    6

    8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Bonus feat, discovery, eldritch anima|
    6

    9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Eldritch blast +5d6, extra construction|
    7

    10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Eldritch anima, discovery|
    8

    11th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Eldritch blast +6d6, second degree|
    9

    12th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Bonus feat, discovery, eldritch anima|
    9

    13th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Animus incarnate, eldritch blast +7d6, extra construction|
    10

    14th|+7/+2|+4|+4|+9|Discovery, doctorate principles, eldritch anima|
    11

    15th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+9|Eldritch blast +8d6|
    12

    16th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10|Bonus feat, discovery, eldritch anima|
    12

    17th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10|Eldritch blast +9d6, extra construction|
    13

    18th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Discovery, eldritch anima|
    14

    19th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Eldritch blast +10d6|
    15

    20th|+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Discovery, eldritch anima, grand theory, the architect|
    15

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the gramarist.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a gramarist you are proficient in all simple weapons and light armour. You are not proficient in shields of any kind. By spending two skill points when you take your first level in this class, you can claim a single martial weapon proficiency as a one-time bonus by spending some time on (shudder) physical education.

    Eldritch Anima (Su): Your knowledge of the secret science of the cosmos infuses your very being; whenever you use your eldritch blast ability (see below) you can activate a special anima for it based on the principles of gramarie (see below) which you have learned. You learn an anima at 1st level, 2nd level, and again every two levels thereafter. To learn an anima, you must have learned the foundational principle behind it. You can apply any anima you like as a free action, but only one with every eldritch blast. Animas which allow a saving throw (as specified) have a save DC of 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Cha modifier. All animas have a caster level equivalent to your Hit Dice.

    Spoiler
    Show
    • ALCH 101: Intro to Alchemetry: The anima reduces the target's hardness or DR by 1 for every 5 damage (Fort negates). This effect stacks over consecutive applications, and lasts for 5 rounds.
    • ALCH 112: Spooky Solvents: The anima replicates the contact effect of a single pint of the fluids which this principle can organize spirits into.
    • ALCH 202: Irregular Properties: The anima reduces or increases the target's energy resistance to a single type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) by 1 for every 5 damage (Fort negates). This effect stacks over consecutive applications, and lasts for 5 rounds. If this would make their energy resistance negative, they become vulnerable to the energy type instead (which indicates they take 1.5 times as much damage from it as long as the effect continues).
    • ALCH 286: Mysterious Metallurgy: The anima causes the target to become magnetically active; for 5 rounds they are treated as if they were made of ferrous metal.
    • ALCH 325: Preternatural Fluids: The anima transforms the target into either a liquid or gas phase, at your option (Fort negates). If liquified, the target becomes amorphous, gains a +12 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks, and gains immunity to precion-based damage and critical hits. If vapourized, the target receives a gaseous form effect instead. This effect lasts for 5 rounds.
    • ALCH 364: Unexpected Materials: The anima projects radiomantic energy. The target takes 1 temporary negative level for every point of your Cha modifier, but they have a chance to remove them after 5 rounds instead of 24 hours (Fort save to remove). If your eldritch blast deals at least 100 points of damage, the target is also radiomantically charged while these negative levels persist, and can be detonated with an influx of puissance as if they were made of radiomantic material.
    • ARCD 101: Intro to Arcanodynamics: The anima drains the life force of the target. You gain 1/4 of the damage the eldritch blast deals as temporary hit points.
    • ARCD 176: Disturbing Kinematics: The anima distorts the kinetic energy of the creature, causing a slow effect or haste effect for 5 rounds (Fort negates) in addition to dealing damage.
    • ARCD 204: Nonlinear Waves: The anima behaves as both a particle and a wave, and can thus somehow travel through solide objects. It penetrates any cover and can go through walls and corners, although miss chances from concealment still apply. It is stopped by magical darkness of any kind.
    • ARCD 230: Interpretive Charges: The anima pulls electrons from the target's body, rendering them more acidic. They take acid damage from the blast, and every square the blast travels through is ionized with the loose electrons pulled out, which deals an equal amount of electricity damage to the first creature to enter any of those squares before your next turn (Ref half).
    • ARCD 350: Unlikely Thermodynamics: The anima creates a transfer of work and heat between two targets within range. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack against each of them; the first takes the blast as either fire damage or cold damage, at your option. If you select fire damage, the second target is stunned for one round (Fort negates). If you select cold damage, the second target is bull rushed in a direction of your choice, with the damage dealt to the first target used as your effective base attack bonus on the attempt. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity for this bull rush.
    • ARCD 365: Unsubstantiated Light: The anima interrupts the divine; any divine spellcaster it hits must make a Will save or lose one spell level out of their prepared spells for every die of damage (their choice).
    • BIOY 101: Intro to Biollurgy: The anima revitalizes the target's flesh, healing them for an equivalent amount to the normal damage. This is explicitly not positive energy. A single target can only be revitalized like this once per hour.
    • BIOY 191: Blacksmithing for Biologists: The anima causes the target's flesh to rebel against them; they must make a Fort save or take a penalty on further Fortitude saves for the next 5 rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. Their fast healing and regeneration is similarly reduced, although their regeneration cannot be reduced below 1 in this way. Multiple applications of this anima do not stack.
    • BIOY 228: Animate Construction: The anima causes the target to grow and mutate in strange ways. They either take a penalty or gain a racial bonus to a physical ability score of your choice for 5 rounds (Fort negates) equal to your Cha modifier. Multiple applications of this anima do not stack.
    • BIOY 273: Artificial Reckoning: The anima siphons the thought processes of the target; they must make a Will save or take a penalty to further Will saving throws for 5 rounds equal to your Cha modifier. Simultaneously, you can grant any other target (including yourself) within range a moment of prescience effect, except that it must be used within the same 5 rounds. A single target can only be drained or boosted like this once per hour.
    • BIOY 340: Erratic Mutations: The anima causes a living target to make a Fort save or receive a random mutation. Treat this as a random graft of level 1 to 4 which manifests on them in a free body slot. Roll 1d20 to determine the exact graft mutation received. The mutation lasts for 1d4 minutes (rolled randomly); the target can only have a single mutation like this at a time.
    • BIOY 381: Eccentric Genetics: The anima causes a living target to lose all racial special abilities, racial special qualities, and racial skill bonuses for the next 5 rounds (Fort negates). They keep their basic shape, physical ability scores, and natural weapons.
    • ELDK 101: Intro to Eldrikinetics: The anima causes the base land speed of the target to increase or decrease by 5ft. for every die of damage for the next 5 rounds (Ref negates), to a minimum of 5ft. This effect does not stack with itself.
    • ELDK 150: Kinetic Conversions: The anima allows you to store your blast in a willing target; they take no damage, but they gain one use of the eldritch blast themselves, which must be used within the next 5 rounds. They can use a single anima you know with this, at your option.
    • ELDK 219: Atypical Ballistics: The anima allows you to transform your blast into an arcane projectile of some sort, allowing you to deal any of piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning damage, at your option.
    • ELDK 276: Unnatural Propulsion: The anima deals additional damage based on the distance it travels before striking the target. Use the Pythagorean theorem to work out the actual distance; for every single ft. by which the actual distance exceeds your listed maximum range on your eldritch blast, the blast deals 1d6 more damage.
    • ELDK 355: Strange Locomotion: The anima causes your blast to launch live bees at your target. The target is struck by giant bee poison (use the DC for this anima instead of the normal poison DC), and the beest form a 5ft. radius cloud around the target until your next turn. Anyone who begins the turn in or enters into the cloud is affected by your blast anew (same damage as originally).
    • ELDK 399: Immaterial Travel: The anima allows your blast to reach through Planes of existence. It can strike ethereal and incorporeal targets, and if it does it leaves behind a gash in the ether. This gash is large enough to act as a portal between the current Plane and the Ethereal Plane for 5 rounds (a portal the size of a normal doorway).
    • GEOC 101: Intro to Geoccultism: The anima causes the ground to come alive underneath the target's feet, entangling them for 5 rounds (Ref negates) as vines, debris, stone, ice, or some other terrain of your choice grabs at them.
    • GEOC 117: Rocks for Jocks: The anima launches a barrage of stones at your target, dealing exactly the same amount of damage as normal, except as bludgeoning damage. What did you expect, taking a class like that? You're more athletic than the average gramarist though, and you gain a +2 bonus to your Strength score just for taking this anima. Oh, and you can apply the effects of a successful eldritch blast whenever you successfully resolve a thrown weapon attack. I knew that learning to throw the discus would come in handy some day.
    • GEOC 235: Bizarre Biomes: This multipurpose anima channels one of the four natural elements of the land; it can either deliver the effect of a gust of wind (target only, Fort negates), a quench effect (Will negates), a pyrotechnics (Will or Fort negates), or a soften earth and stone effect. Once you have used one of the effects, you have aligned your geoccult sign with that element for the rest of the day, and can only use that variation of the anima until you've had 8 hours of cleansing sleep. This restriction is lifted at 10 Hit Dice. These effects replace the normal damage of your eldritch blast.
    • GEOC 291: Unknown Oceans: The anima produces a massive stream of water which works like a decanter of endless water, except that as a fourth option you can select 'torrent', dealing your normal blast damage as bludgeoning damage.
    • GEOC 323: Curious Climates: The anima produces a parching heat wave which evaporates liquid as if with dust of dryness. If at least 100 gallons is consumed, the pellet appears in your free hand after the blast.
    • GEOC 374: Supernal Ecologies: The anima can only be applied inside of a biome, and causes the blast to veer unerringly towards the geoccult pole. It carries a disintegrate effect (objects only).
    • HEUR 101: Intro to Heuristicism: The anima spreads out in a cone, and makes heuristical circuits inside of the area appear translucently coloured.
    • HEUR 159: Experimental Thoughts: The anima creates a mental static; the target must make a Will save or lose access to any telepathy or mindsight for 5 rounds.
    • HEUR 245: Nonstatic Instruction: The anima disrupts magical command, causing an unbinding effect. If the blast strikes a mindless undead, a summoned creature, a familiar, or other controlled creature, the creature is free of its master's orders for 5 rounds (the spellcaster or other controller gets a Will save to stop the unbinding effect).
    • HEUR 266: Unorthodox Triggers: The anima carries a strange emotional trigger, which can cause either a calm emotions effect (target only) or a rage effect; either way, it lasts for 5 rounds.
    • HEUR 302: Abnormal Behaviour: The anima allows you to program your blast with a logical decision for a circuit you created. If the blast passes through the circuit's bubble, it delivers your logical decision with it.
    • HEUR 328: Exotic Intelligence: The anima delivers immediate energy to an exotic intelligence for a pinch situation. If the blast enters into the bubble of a circuit with an exotic intelligence, the EI drain the blast for 1 ebb per caster level, which must immediately be applied to some element of the circuit.
    • IMCH 101: Intro to Imachination: The anima dulls the senses and leaves the subject easy pickings for a clever illusion. They only take nonlethal damage, they take a penalty on Spot, Listen, and Survival checks equal to your Cha modifier, and if they don't succeed on a Will save, they don't even realize they were hit. The penalty to sense checks lasts for 5 rounds, and does not stack.
    • IMCH 167: Unbound Expectations: The anima causes the victim to suffer a temporary hallucination, which makes them believe they just perceived a sensory mismatch of information of your choice, but that they were not able to pierce the illusion it belongs to (Will negates).
    • IMCH 228: Imperfect Images: The anima collapses any imperfect images the target is maintaining around themselves; if they are a shapeshifter, they are forced back into their natural form. If they are under the effects of an illusion spell, the illusion collapses (Will negates).
    • IMCH 295: Perturbed Mentalities: The anima causes the target to make a Will save or become fatigued. If the target is already fatigued, they must similarly make a Will save or fall asleep. This anima is ineffective if the target does not sleep. In any case, the effect ends after 5 rounds unless they are kept asleep in a dream state illusion.
    • IMCH 334: Nonsensical Senses: The anima causes one of the target's weird senses to simply shut down. Select a single sense the target possesses other than the traditional five; they lose access to it for the next 5 rounds. This sense must be in the target's stat block; it can't be some wiseass thing like "sense of proprioception".
    • IMCH 388: Glamourous Gramarie: The anima makes the target believe they have died (Will negates). They must already be inside of an illusion which can reinforce the belief in order for this to be effective.
    • KALD 101: Intro to Kaleidomantics: The anima causes the blast to carry a color spray effect (Will negates). You can only use this anima once per minute until you reach 5 HD, at which point you can use it as often as you like.
    • KALD 107: Unearthly Colours: The anima carries the effects of a heavy burden; it applies a load of 100 lb per caster level to whatever it hits. This is enough to knock a target prone at a distance, provoking a Strength check to remain standing against your Charisma check. This blast is also solid to every kind of kaleidomantic filter. If the additional load would exceed the strength of the filter, the filter is pushed backwards up to 5ft. for every 100 lb by which you exceed its rated load. This load vanishes after the blast is resolved.
    • KALD 238: Extrareal Hues: The anima requires that you have the residue from a poison that was eliminated by a green filter. Your blast delivers the effects of the poison along with its regular damage (which becomes acid damage).
    • KALD 282: Cthonic Dyes: The anima warps the target's mind with the brain-shattering twistedness that is pink. They must avert their eyes from the blast or become confused, as if they were looking at a pink-infused filter (Will negates). The confusion from this effect lasts for 5 rounds.
    • KALD 347: Superlunar Pigments: The anima subtly alters the target's body with a violet hue; they are treated as an undead for the next 5 rounds, as if they had the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat (Fort negates). This does also allow them to regain health from negative energy.
    • KALD 379: Imperceptible Shades: The anima creates a quantum possibility which is impossible to resolve because of assymetrical information. Both you and the target become perfectly imperceptible to each other for 5 rounds (Will negates).
    • YGGD 101: Intro to Yggdratecture: The anima causes a minor apportation; the target is teleported five feet in any direction, although not into a solid object (Will negates).
    • YGGD 198: Unsettling Geometry I: The anima allows your blast to wrap around obstacles; at any point in the shot the blast can disappear into a rift, and come out again from any point that you can see, oriented in a new direction. In 'real' space it can only cover its listed distance.
    • YGGD 212: Unsettling Geometry II: The anima allows your blast to distort gravity; creatures and objects struck become weightless for 5 rounds (Fort negates) as if they were in freefall.
    • YGGD 241: Incongruous Pathways: The anima causes all extradimensional spaces the target might be carrying, such as a bags of holding or a semi-space they might be tethered to, to suddenly turn inside out, dumping all of their contents around them in an area appropriate to the internal size of the spaces.
    • YGGD 353: Uncanny Cosmology: The anima carries a dismissal effect (special Will save negates) against creatures native to a different Plane.
    • YGGD 371: Abstruse Causality: The anima causes a strange causality to settle over the target, reseting the counter for any current anima effects they're experiencing which typically end after 5 rounds (Fort negates).


    Eldritch Blast (Sp): As a student of arcane science, you can learn to project your own personal power in the same way as those whose magic is in their blood. This is a ranged touch attack that must be made within 60ft. as a standard action. Your eldritch blast deals 1d6 damage at 1st level, with an additional 1d6 damage every two levels thereafter as shown on your class table. This blast is interchangeable with that gained from other classes, and additional eldritch blast damage from other sources adds to this eldritch blast. Your eldritch blast has an equivalent spell level of half your Hit Dice, and the caster level of the effect is equal to your Hit Dice.

    Your caster level for your eldritch blast is equal to your class level, and qualifies you to take feats, prestige classes, and other such venues which require a generic caster level. It does not count as arcane, divine, or anything else more specific than a vanilla caster level.

    Specialization: All initiates of gramarie tend to gravitate towards one discipline or another; at 1st level you must pick one discipline to specialize in. You gain a competence bonus of half your class level on the key skill of your chosen discipline, and can select principles from that discipline which are marked with the [Specialist] tag. A specialist cannot select any doctorate-level principles from other fields of study than their specialization.

    You can choose "general studies" as your specialization, in which case you have chosen to major in "the universe". These gramarists are known as universalists, and while their guidance counselors might say they lack direction, they actually know exactly what they're doing. A universalist can select specialist principles from any discipline, but only when they gain access to the next grade of principles. They can never select doctorate-level specialist principles. They can, however, learn any non-specialist doctorate-level principle once they gain access to that grade. If you are a universalist, you also never qualify for prestige classes or other venues that require specialization.

    A universalist adds this competence bonus to Knowledge (architecture and engineering) checks.

    Principles of Gramarie: As a student of gramarie, you have many avenues of learning available to you. At 1st level, and again whenever indicated on your class table, you learn a new principle. Principles are supernatural (Su) abilities which bend or break the laws of physics, but not quite in the same way that most magic does. Principles can be used whenever you have the time, materials and inclination; they are effectively usable at-will if you are in an appropriate situation. Principles come in three grades: Baccalaureate, Magisterial, and Doctorate. You gain access to these higher grade principles as shown on your class table. Once you achieve the Doctorate level (at your 14th class level) you may refer to yourself as a doctor of your that discipline. You cannot put off learning a principle; if you do not qualify for one when you would otherwise receive it, it's lost. If a principle is marked [Specialist], it can only be learned by a specialist in that discipline.

    A principle is not cast, it is prepared. By preparing a principle multiple times, you can change the volume or size of the target affected. For example, if a principle targets 1 cubic foot of material, by preparing it twice (and thus spending twice as long on it) you could target 2 cubic feet of the material instead. A special case is made for bubbles, which are spherical effects. For more information on the size of bubbles, refer to the miscellaneous section at the end of this document.

    If a principle requires materials, you need extra materials every time you prepare it. You can also improve a principle later on my adding more materials to it (if applicable) and by spending more time on it. This also forces you to make a new skill check on it. Speaking of skill checks, you can always choose to use Knowledge (architecture and engineering) as the skill to prepare a principle instead of the discipline key skill, but you take a -10 penalty on the check. In the same vein, you can take 20 on key skill checks made to prepare a principle, but you can never take 10 on them. Bear in mind that taking 20 means taking 20 times as long as you normally would, which for gramarie can be very long indeed. To prepare a principle you must be within range of touch of the structure or object or location on which you are setting the principle for the duration of the preparation.

    If multiple gramarists know the same principle, they can work simultaneously on the same project. For example, two gramarists could prepare the same principle at the same time, and the principle would count as having been prepared twice. Later a third gramarist who also knows that principle could show up and prepare it again, and the principle would then have been prepared three times. A gramarist can choose to 'lock' a principle that has been prepared, meaning that only he can continue work on it later. Bypassing the lock requires making a key skill check (based on the discipline) which beats the principle's current skill check by 5 or more.

    Spectroconstruction (Su): Building super awesome architecture would take a while if you had to do it all yourself. Luckily you have at your beck and call an army of spectral labourers willing to take one for the team. Starting at 3rd level, you can cause an effect equivalent to a lyre of building (building effect) for 30 minutes. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier. At 5th level, and every four levels thereafter, you gain an additional daily use of this ability.

    No Perform check is required to initiate this effect, but instead you must make a DC 18 Knowledge (architecture and engineering) check every time you activate it (+3 to the DC for every additional time per day you activate it). Failure indicates the daily use is wasted. You cannot split up individual uses of this ability; if you do not use all 7,200 man-hours during the activation period, they're lost.

    Spoiler
    Show
    It's not always entirely clear how useful a man-hour is, because it's not always clear how to quantify labour. The lyre of building is an ambiguous wondrous item at best, so while it's the only reference that exists in this case, it's not exactly helpful in the strictest sense. So for your convenience here is a small list of commonly manufactured items and an estimate of the number of man-hours required to build them in the real world. This should provide a decent starting point for you to determine how many man-hours you'll need for a given project.

    {table=head]Man-hours|Project
    20|A well-made cart
    50|One 5ft. cube of a tunnel
    300|A gypsy's carriage
    5,000|A nice house
    7,200|Maximum labour from one spectroconstruction
    44,000|A small boat
    200,000|A large building
    300,000|Industrial factory
    600,000|A viking ship
    1,000,000|The Colossus at Rhodes
    2,000,000|A fortified castle
    7,000,000|The Empire State Building
    15,000,000|The Titanic
    650,000,000|The Great Pyramid of Giza[/table]

    It should also be prominently mentioned that the work from this effect is akin to unskilled labour. You can use it to build, essentially, anything that doesn't require a Craft check of any kind.


    Bonus Feat: As a student, you inevitably pick up a few lessons along the way which aren't necessarily taught in a classroom. At 4th level, as well as every four levels thereafter, you gain a bonus feat with the [Gramarie] tag you qualify for. A universalist can instead choose a principle which they qualify for in place of a feat.

    Discovery: At 8th level, and again every two levels thereafter, you make an important discovery in gramaric research. You may choose a single discovery you qualify for off of the list of discoveries for your specialization. If you are a universalist, you can learn discoveries, but only a single discovery from any discipline (that is, if you already know a discovery from a discipline, you cannot select another discovery from that discipline with this class feature).

    Second Degree: Having completed your original studies, you've expanded to obtain a broader understanding of the world of gramarie around us! At 11th level, you may choose a second field of study for specialization. Universalists do not get to do this, but instead they can choose a single field of off-limit principles, such as [Military Science] principles, which they can now learn like any other principle.

    Animus Incarnate (Sp): At 13th level you've attained an amazing degree of understanding over your own anitu, allowing you to better channel your mystic theory into your innate arcane energies. An eldritch blast is now an attack action for you, which means you can use it more than once per round if you take a full attack. You can also use up to two animas on a single eldritch blast; the animas you would like to use are decided when you roll the attack.

    Grand Theory: You have reached the pinnacle of your scientific career, so you're probably about 14 or so. At 20th level you discover a new law of gramarie, which must be chosen from the list of Theories. The theory you discover depends on your specialization; universalists can discover the Theory of Everything. You can never discover more than one gramaric Theory.

    The Architect (Ex): An amateur could do something right; a professional never does it wrong. At 20th level, you're far beyond being a master of magical engineering. Every Knowledge (architecture and engineering) check you make is maximised (treated as a natural 20), as well as the rolls for your specialization's key skill.

    The true revelation at this level, however, is the perfect understanding you have achieved of the connection between magic rules and the convential laws of physics. Knowing how these principles of weird science interact allows you to transcend the normal preconceptions of what is and what is not 'possible'. All of your principles are now extraordinary in nature, and for all intents and purposes any machine or structure you build out of them is considered nonmagical in every way.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-12 at 01:16 PM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Placeholder: Saboteur Base Class

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Warmaker

    "All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer. What none can see is the strategy from which these tactics are born."

    Spoiler
    Show

    Image credit PenUser of deviantart.com.


    Many view gramarie as the triumph of science over the supernatural. That it's the beginning of a perfect age of harmony, or understanding the mystical, of blending modern and ancient traditions together. The warmaker understands a very different truth. Gramarie is an opportunity, a chance to create weapons of war like none this Plane or any other has yet seen. Warmakers are magical military savants, who turn the theories and equations of gramarie into victory.

    Game Rule Information

    Abilities: Like gramarists, warmakers need Intelligence more than anything else. However, they are often skilled soldiers as well, and do well to invest in Constitution and either Dexterity or Strength based on their fighting style. A strong Charisma is also valuable in order to effectively lead their troops through the Nine Hells and back, and a good Wisdom score allows them to become more cunning in battle, making their special battle tactics harder to resist.

    Alignment: Any
    Hit Die: d8
    Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: The warmaker's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (weapon drill), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Warmaker
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|
    Principles Known
    |
    Rank


    1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Art of war, baccalaureate principles, grist for the mill, military science|
    1
    |
    Conscript

    2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Bonus feat|
    1
    |
    Cadet

    3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|Art of war|
    2
    |
    Quartermaster

    4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Martial law|
    2
    |
    Midshipman

    5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Art of war, sphere of influence|
    3
    |
    Navigator

    6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|Bonus feat|
    3
    |
    Bombardier

    7th|+5|+5|+2|+5|Art of war, magisterial principles|
    4
    |
    Artilleryman

    8th|+6/+1|+6|+2|+6|Martial law|
    4
    |
    Lieutenant

    9th|+6/+1|+6|+3|+6|Art of war|
    5
    |
    Secret Agent

    10th|+7/+2|+7|+3|+7|Bonus feat, sphere of influence|
    5
    |
    Squad Leader

    11th|+8/+3|+7|+3|+7|Art of war|
    6
    |
    Intelligence Officer

    12th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|Martial law|
    6
    |
    Captain

    13th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|Art of war|
    7
    |
    Dragoon

    14th|+10/+5|+9|+4|+9|Bonus feat, doctorate principles|
    7
    |
    Master

    15th|+11/+6/+1|+9|+5|+9|Art of war, sphere of influence|
    8
    |
    Commander

    16th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Martial law|
    8
    |
    Master and Commander

    17th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Art of war|
    9
    |
    Strategos

    18th|+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11|Bonus feat|
    9
    |
    Generalissimo

    19th|+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|Art of war|
    10
    |
    Fleet Admiral

    20th|+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Head of state, martial law|
    10
    |
    Commander-in-Chief

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the warmaker.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a warmaker you are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as light and medium armour. You are proficient with all shields aside from tower shields.

    Art of War: A warmaker is both an engineer and a soldier, and believes not only in the perfection of scientific truth but also in the power of violence to resolve disputes. As a warmaker you learn special arts of war which are new tactics you can devise based on your scientific studies in order to dismantle and destroy your enemies on the field of battle. Every principle has an associated art of war which you can learn once you know the corresponding principle. Arts of war which permit a saving throw have a DC of 10 + half your class level + your Wisdom modifier. Every time you gain this class feature, you gain a +1 bonus to Martial Lore checks. Arts of war are extraordinary abilities unless indicated otherwise in the particular entry.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Baccalaureate
    • ALCH 101: Intro to Alchemetry: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to apply the damage from an attack which would have dealt damage to you towards your shield or armour instead as if it had been a sucessful sunder attack.
    • ALCH 112: Spooky Solvents: You can activate this art of war as a swift action before making a thrown attack with a splash weapon. The splash weapon's full area of impact is cunningly increased to two adjacent squares: the square you strike, as well as a second square adacent to it. If your attack roll exceeds 15, you cn select this second square; otherwise, it's determined randomly as normal for a splash weapon. Every square adjacent to one of these two full splash zones takes minor splash damage, as normal.
    • ARCD 101: Intro to Arcanodynamics: You can activate this art of war as a swift action after succeeding on a piercing or slashing attack. The target continues to take damage every round equal to your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice) until they receive magical healing or a DC 15 Heal check (Fort negates). This effect only stacks from iterative attacks on the same round; additional attacks on subsequent rounds do not add to the ongoing damage.
    • ARCD 176: Disturbing Kinematics: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to gain personal immunity to the effects of strong winds until your next turn. You treat all checked enemies as if they were flanked during this time.
    • BIOY 101: Intro to Biollurgy: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to take a massive breath of air. You can hold this breath of air for a number of rounds equal to ten times your Constitution score before you start to drown. While you are holding this breath you can treat any creature currently making Constitution checks to avoid drowning as if they were flat-footed.
    • BIOY 191: Blacksmithing for Biologists: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to make full use of biollurgical implements. Until the start of your next turn you can treat all equipment and items you use which are made of biostructure as if they were masterwork quality.
    • ELDK 101: Intro to Eldrikinetics: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to prepare a special attack. As part of this art of war you select a target and end your turn. If the target comes within range of an attack of opportunity for you before your next turn, you can immediately make an attack against them, dealing additional damage based on how fast you're moving relative to the target (1d6 extra damage for every 10ft. faster, to a maximum of 1d6 extra damage per class level).
    • ELDK 150: Kinetic Conversions: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action in order to activate a charged eldrikinetic engine (charged using ELDK 150, that is) which is within the sound of your voice.
    • GEOC 101: Intro to Geoccultism: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to prepare a scorched earth attack. Through some twisted magic the square of your next target this round is scorched as if with radiomantic energy if the attack succeeds; no living thing can grow there for the next 50 years. This is a supernatural effect.
    • GEOC 117: Rocks for Jocks: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to become exceptionally attuned to the stones around you. You gain tremorsense out to 5ft. until the start of your next turn.
    • HEUR 101: Intro to Heuristicism: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to make an attack of opportunity against someone making a logical decision in a circuit. If successful, they must make an Autohypnosis check against the damage dealt or lose the logical decision and the action associated with it.
    • HEUR 159: Experimental Thoughts: You can activate this art of war as a swift action. Until the end of your next round, all allies that you share telepathy with gain a x2 modifier on flanking attack roll bonuses.
    • IMCH 101: Intro to Imachination: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action when a target within your reach successfully senses an illusion for what it is through a fundamental disconnect. As their reality suddenly reorients around them, you can take a full attack action against them. This counts as a single attack of opportunity.
    • IMCH 167: Unbound Expectations: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to combine your own sensory outputs with those of an ablative illusion. No matter what sensory information it normally removes, as long as you remain in the area of the illusion the same sensory erasure applies to you as well. Attacks from you grant targets caught in the illusion the chance for a sensory mismatch chance to escape.
    • KALD 101: Intro to Kaleidomantics: You can activate this art of war as an swift action in order to activate a heat pump device cunningly hidden on your person. The area in a 5ft. radius around you drops to 0 degrees Centigrade until the start of your next turn. The heat pump takes a minute to recharge after each use.
    • KALD 107: Unearthly Colours: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to treat a weapon you're wielding as if it were made of force until the start of your next turn. This is a supernatural effect.
    • YGGD 101: Intro to Yggdratecture: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to snatch a weapon, shield, potion, or wondrous item out of a semi-space within your reach as if you had the Quick Draw feat and it applied to pulling any of those kinds of items out. And also if it applied to semi-spaces. And also if it required an immediate action instead of a free action. So not really much like it at all, now that I think of it.
    • YGGD 198: Unsettling Geometry I: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to take a full-attack action against a target within reach immediately after teleporting.


    Magisterial
    • ALCH 202: Irregular Properties: You can activate this art of war as a swift action. The next weapon attack that you make is converted into energy, becoming a touch attack and dealing either acid, cold, eletricity, fire, or sonic damage at your option. This is a supernatural effect.
    • ALCH 286: Mysterious Metallurgy: You can activate this art of war as a swift action. If you're wielding a weapon made from a planetary metal, it gains the keen special property until the start of your next turn.
    • ARCD 204: Nonlinear Waves: You can activate this art of war as a swift action while in an area of silence or darkness in order to become, respectively, either invisible or magically silent until you make an attack or take a hostile action.
    • ARCD 230: Interpretive Charges: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action in order to ionize a metal weapon that you're wielding with scattered electrons. Your next attack deals additional electricity damage to targets that suffered acid damage within the last round, and acid damage to targets that suffered electricity damage within the last round. In either case, this extra damage is equal to the same amount of energy damage they took from the original source. This is a supernatural effect.
    • BIOY 228: Animate Construction: You can activate this art of war as a swift action after making a successful attack against a target in order to prompt an attack of opportunity from an ally with a natural weapon who is within reach of the victim.
    • BIOY 273: Artificial Reckoning: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action while inside of a heuristical circuit in order to take a standard action on behalf of a biollurgical chassis that is under the control of the circuit.
    • ELDK 219: Atypical Ballistics: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action after firing a ballistic engine in order to immediately fire it a second time at the same target.
    • ELDK 276: Unnatural Propulsion: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to either negate the bonus from higher ground which enemies have against you, or to double the bonus you get from higher ground. Either way, the effect lasts until the start of your next turn.
    • GEOC 235: Bizarre Biomes: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to ignore a single terrain feature inside of a biome as if it weren't there until your next turn (that is, as if there was only the baseline terrain in the square instead). You cannot end your turn inside of a solid terrain feature.
    • GEOC 291: Unknown Oceans: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to get your bearings in water. You take no penalty on melee or ranged attacks while swimming above or below water until the start of your next turn.
    • HEUR 245: Nonstatic Instruction: You can activate this art of war as an swift action while inside of a heuristical circuit to divert the flow of all puissance in the circuit until the start of your next turn into you instead. You take 1 damage for every ebb of puissance diverted like this.
    • HEUR 266: Unorthodox Triggers: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to generate a contingency tactic. Select any other art of war that you like. You can set a trigger condition which will activate the effects of this art of war without having to spend an action. The contingency tactic lasts for up to a day; you can only have a number of contingency tactics active at a time equal to your Wisdom modifier.
    • IMCH 228: Imperfect Images: You can activate this art of war as a swift action while in the area of an illusion in order to imitate the false reality. Perceiving creatures who have discerned the nature of an illusion now believe that you are also part of the illusion, unless a sensory mismatch or fundamental disconnect occurs between you and the illusionary reality. This effect lasts until the start of your next turn.
    • IMCH 295: Perturbed Mentalities: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to apply a sleeper hold to a creature you have successfully pinned. They must make a Fortitude save or fall asleep until the start of their next turn. The target must breathe in order to perform this hold.
    • KALD 238: Extrareal Hues: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to make an cleverly aimed attack of opportunity against a target within reach who fails their initial save against a poison. If the attack is successful, they immediately need to make their secondary save.
    • KALD 282: Cthonic Dyes: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to weave your weapon in a disorienting pattern. The next attack you make before the beginning of your next turn catches confused targets flat-footed.
    • YGGD 212: Unsettling Geometry II: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to attempt a free disarm attempt after successfully resolving a melee attack. Your target doesn't get to make an attack of opportunity against you for initiating this disarm attempt.
    • YGGD 241: Incongruous Pathways: You can activate this art of war as a swift action while exiting an extradimensional space to make a daring dive out of it. You can move up to your speed during this swift action, and you don't provoke attacks of opportunity for the movement.


    Doctorate
    • ALCH 325: Preternatural Fluids: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to deal double damage on the next attack you make before the start of your next turn against a target making Swim checks.
    • ALCH 364: Unexpected Materials: You can activate this art of war as an swift action to gain a special benefit if you're wielding a quicksilver weapon. If you wield such a blade, you can make two additional attacks this round at your full base attack bonus if you make a regular attack as a standard action or take a full-attack action.
    • ARCD 350: Unlikely Thermodynamics: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action to make an explosive follow-up attack of opportunity against a target within reach that suffers fire or cold damage. Your attack causes a magical thermal expansion; if successful, the target must make a Fort save or explode like a balor (if fire damage prompted the attack) or a frost worm (if cold damage prompted the attack). This is a supernatural effect.
    • ARCD 365: Unsubstantiated Light: You can activate this art of war as a swift action if you're within a hallowed or unhallowed area. Your next attack carries a Turn Undead or Bolster Undead effect, respectively, to any undead creature they strike, as if from a cleric of your Hit Dice. If you're trying to use a helpful Bolster Undead, you can deliver this effect with a harmless touch attack. Undead you take control of with this effect regain control of themselves when they leave the unhallowed area. This is a supernatural effect.
    • BIOY 340: Erratic Mutations: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to bolster a graft in a biollurgical chassis which is within reach of your voice. For the next round, the effective xenoalchemist level of the graft increases by your Wisdom modifier.
    • BIOY 381: Eccentric Genetics: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to shout a rallying cry that bolsters a biollurgical chassis within range of your voice. This chassis, as well as all of its descendants within range of its voice, add your Wisdom modifier as a morale bonus to their attack rolls, damage rolls, and skill checks for the next round.
    • ELDK 355: Strange Locomotion: You can activate this art of war as an immediate action while moving past a creature with a movement mode they don't possess. You can immediately make an attack of opportunity against them, and if successful the target must make a Will save or be stunned for one round as you catch them by surprise.
    • ELDK 399: Immaterial Travel: You can activate this art of war as a swift action while on the Ethereal Plane in order to make an attack against a target on the Material Plane. Your next attack carries the ghost touch property, and pierces to the core of the victim's soul. They must make a Fortitude save or die (this is a supernatural death effect) in addition to taking damage.
    • GEOC 323: Curious Climates: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to charge a metal weapon you're holding with geoccult energy. If you successfully strike a geoccult pole made from the same metal within the next round, you produce a harmonic tone that resonates with the pole to set off the matching extreme weather condition. The pole must expend the appropriate amount of metal to maintain the effect, and it continues for at least the next five minutes. This is a supernatural effect.
    • GEOC 374: Supernal Ecologies: This art of war works like that for GEOC 235, except for a supernatural terrain feature.
    • HEUR 302: Abnormal Behaviour: You can activate this art of war as a swift action in order to disrupt someone preparing a gramaric principle. If your next attack made before the start of your next turn hits such a target, they must make an Autohypnosis check equal to the damage dealt or forfeit the principle and the progress they've made on it.
    • HEUR 328: Exotic Intelligence: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to step into another realm of space-time known as cyberspace. While in cyberspace you can target and deal full damage with your attacks against exotic intelligences. An exotic intelligence can be targetted like this by striking the space at the center of any heuristical circuit they control. You remain in cyberspace until the start of your next turn; during this time you are in both states of existence at once, and can be targeted normally on your original Plane. This is a supernatural effect.
    • IMCH 334: Nonsensical Senses: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to take advantage of a disoriented creature used to relying on a special sense and take your time in choosing the right place to strike. If you are undetectable to a special sense they possess (outside the normal five), attacks that you make against them before your next turn are resolved as touch attacks.
    • IMCH 388: Glamorous Gramarie: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to plan a cunning attack. Your next attack against a creature suffering from special status conditions (real or imagined) deals an additional 1d6 damage per condition, to a maximum number of extra damage dice equal to your class level.
    • KALD 347: Superlunar Pigments: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to make a dangerously risky attack. You drop your AC to 0 until the start of your next turn in exchange for dealing double damage on all of your melee attacks before then.
    • KALD 379: Imperceptible Shades: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to create an obstructive fog of war condition around you with a cunning device. This is literally a solid fog cloud which has the added benefit that anyone inside the cloud cannot distinguish colours (as if they were seeing in shades of grey only). After use, you need to wait a minute before the fog of war device recharges.
    • YGGD 353: Uncanny Cosmology II: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to gain exemption from a single planar trait associated with your current Plane until the start of your next turn.
    • YGGD 371: Abstruse Causality: You can activate this art of war as a swift action to gain a nonmagical haste effect on you personally until the start of your next turn.


    Grist for the Mill (Su): The first rule of warfare is that life is cheap, so you'd better get used to it. In fact, life is so cheap that it's turned out to be a really ideal energy source for all the new military weapons that warmakers like you are turning out. At 1st level you learn how to turn the pure and noble gift of life into a cheap substitute for oil and gas. You can use the blood from a newly dead creature to power any gramaric device which can run off of puissance, at a rate of 1 ebb for every Hit Die the recently deceased (within the last week) creature had. The creature's body is utterly consumed in this process. Technically, only the blood is required for this; it's typically more economical to drain the blood from dead bodies to minimize transport costs, but the body is still magically destroyed when the blood is consumed in gramaric machines of war.

    Principles of Gramarie: As a military engineer, you have many avenues of learning available to you. At 1st level, and again whenever indicated on your class table, you learn a new principle. Principles are supernatural (Su) abilities which bend or break the laws of physics, but not quite in the same way that most magic does. Principles can be used whenever you have the time, materials and inclination; they are effectively usable at-will if you are in an appropriate situation. Principles come in three grades: Baccalaureate, Magisterial, and Doctorate. You gain access to these higher grade principles as shown on your class table. Once you achieve the Doctorate level (at your 14th class level) you may refer to yourself as a doctor of your that discipline. You cannot put off learning a principle; if you do not qualify for one when you would otherwise receive it, it's lost. If a principle is marked [Specialist], it can only be learned by a specialist in that discipline.

    A principle is not cast, it is prepared. By preparing a principle multiple times, you can change the volume or size of the target affected. For example, if a principle targets 1 cubic foot of material, by preparing it twice (and thus spending twice as long on it) you could target 2 cubic feet of the material instead. A special case is made for bubbles, which are spherical effects. For more information on the size of bubbles, refer to the miscellaneous section at the end of this document.

    If a principle requires materials, you need extra materials every time you prepare it. You can also improve a principle later on my adding more materials to it (if applicable) and by spending more time on it. This also forces you to make a new skill check on it. Speaking of skill checks, you can always choose to use Martial Lore as the skill to prepare a principle instead of the discipline key skill, but you take a -10 penalty on the check. In the same vein, you can take 20 on key skill checks made to prepare a principle, but you can never take 10 on them. Bear in mind that taking 20 means taking 20 times as long as you normally would, which for gramarie can be very long indeed. To prepare a principle you must be within range of touch of the structure or object or location on which you are setting the principle for the duration of the preparation.

    If multiple users of gramarie know the same principle, they can work simultaneously on the same project. For example, two warmakers could prepare the same principle at the same time, and the principle would count as having been prepared twice. Later a third warmaker who also knows that principle could show up and prepare it again, and the principle would then have been prepared three times. A warmaker can choose to 'lock' a principle that has been prepared, meaning that only he can continue work on it later. Bypassing the lock requires making a key skill check (based on the discipline) which beats the principle's current skill check by 5 or more.

    Military Science: Engineering training in the military is more regimented than in the general academic world. Since they're paying for the whole deal, they also get to set the curriculum. You can only learn principles from the disciplines of alchemetry (ALCH), arcanodynamics (ARCD), eldrikinetics (ELDK), and yggdratecture (YGGD). However, your training also includes specialized subjects not available to civilians, and as such you can learn principles with the [Military Science] tag. At 1st level you are not treated as a specialist in any discipline.

    Rank (Ex): A soldier without a cause is worth less than nothing. As a warmaker, you need to have a patron country, organization, cause, or other such power structure backing you. Work with your DM to create or select within the context of the setting an appropriate patron. If your patron is ever destroyed or you abandon a patron, you lose all benefits of your rank until you find a new patron to follow. At 1st level you are considered a fresh conscipt, but at each additional level in this class you attain a higher rank in your patron's hierarchy, as well as the attendant spoils of war.

    Spoiler
    Show
    • Conscript: At 1st level you are conscripted into your patron's service, and are permitted to advance in this class as long as you remain loyal to the cause.
    • Cadet: At 2nd level your superiors recognize that you've managed not to die yet, and provide you a masterwork weapon of your choice so that you can maybe continue not to die. You can choose what kind of weapon this is, and if you choose an exotic weapon they'll also pay for you to take a two-week training camp to learn how to use it (you gain the appropriate Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat).
    • Quartermaster: At 3rd level you become responsible for distributing supplies and rations to the troops. You can use create food and water as a spell-like ability once per day per class level, with an effective caster level equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Midshipman: At 4th level you've become used to the chaos and panic of being on a ship during a combat. Any ship you are on adds your personal Wisdom modifier as a luck bonus to rolls to take the advantage during a battle, as described in Stormwrack. You can also requisition up to 100 man-hours of unskilled labour every day to put towards building weapons of war if you're in a location controlled by your patron.
    • Navigator: At 5th level you are entrusted with navigational duties while on board a ship belonging to your patron. You can make Martial Lore checks in place of Profession (sailer) checks to steer a ship, or Survival checks to read the weather.
    • Bombardier: At 6th level you attain the rank of bombardier. Whenever you or an ally activates an area effect that deals damage, you can sanction an expansion to this blast as an immediate action, applying a free Widen Spell effect to the blast. You're alloted a single blast expansion every day.
    • Artilleryman: At 7th level you're authorized as an artillerist to call in an artillery strike if necessary. This is a magical bomb dropped from high overhead, and works like a flame strike effect with a class level equal to your Hit Dice. You can call in two strikes like this every day, and you and the target must be in the open air. It takes two rounds after calling in for the strike (and providing the coordinates for the location) before the effect hits; you must be within visual range of the target to use this.
    • Lieutenant: At 8th level you are granted the authority to use your own novel tactics to their fullest extent in defeating the enemy. As a lieutenant you gain a second swift or immediate action every round which can only be used to apply an art of war. You can also requisition up to 1,000 man-hours of unskilled labour every day to put towards building weapons of war if you're in a location controlled by your patron.
    • Secret Agent: At 9th level you become a secret agent, and can effect a nonmagical disguise self on yourself at will, with an effective caster level equal to your class level.
    • Squad Leader: At 10th level you achieve the rank of a squad leader, and are accustomed to providing moral support to your troops when necessary. All ongoing morale bonuses which include you as a beneficiary gain a +2 bonus.
    • Intelligence Officer: At 11th level you ascend the ranks of your intelligence organization, and as you are probably in possession of multiple state secrets, you're granted exemption from magical effects that would force you to tell the truth, such as a zone of truth effect.
    • Captain: At 12th level you're a full-fledged captain in the ranks! You have troops to lead into battle, gaining the Leadership feat, although you don't get a cohort from this. You can also requisition up to 10,000 man-hours of unskilled labour every day to put towards building weapons of war if you're in a location controlled by your patron. Oh, and you get a free ship of your choice worth up to 100,000 gp (plus however much personal money you want to contribute).
    • Dragoon: At 13th level you're conscripted a dragon recruit in order to conduct battle in the air as a dragoon. You gain a true dragon companion allied to your cause. The true dragon can be of any appropriate type or age category, as long as it has an appropriate alignment to your patron's philosophy. Your dragon companion is always an ECL of 4 less than your own; if you gain levels and require a dragon of a later age category, your previous companion is recalled to the home front and you are sent a new, more advanced, draconic soldier.
    • Master: At 14th level you've shown exceptional valor in the heat of combat; central command has sent a rookie to train under you. This is a cohort to fill out your Leadership feat who can only take levels in the warmaker class. Your cohort subscribes to your patron's cause; otherwise, you can build them as normal.
    • Commander: At 15th level you're given the title of commander to reflect your exceptional performance in battle. As a commander you're authorized to use a third swift or immediate action every round, but only to apply an art of war.
    • Master and Commander: At 16th level you're entrusted with leading troops to follow your own specialized tactics. As a master and commander the first art of war you activate every round applies to all allied creatures within the range of your voice if they choose to accept it. You can also requisition up to 50,000 man-hours of unskilled labour every day to put towards building weapons of war if you're in a location controlled by your patron.
    • Strategos: At 17th level you are finally invited to plan grand strategy with the highest echelon of your patron's cause. You can activate a sending effect or a scrying effect whenever you like with an effective caster level equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Generalissimo: At 18th level you become a generalissimo within the ranks, and are granted essentially as many troops as you can handle as long as you act in your patron's interests. You multiply your number of followers from the Leadership feat by 10. You're also authorized to grow an awesome moustache.
    • Fleet Admiral: At 19th level you become a fleet admiral and as such are in command of all of your patron's ships of war. You can declare an embargo on a country, nation, area, or what have you. This cuts off ocean supply lines to them, stopping them from receiving imports by sea as long as your forces maintain a visible presence within 100 miles of their ports.
    • Commander-in-Chief: At 20th level you become the commander-in-chief (see the head of state class feature) and are given access to all of the weapons of mass destruction that your patron has previously kept locked up. You can authorize a radiomantic bomb drop with a minute of action and communication with your central command post. You must be within sight range or be scrying on the target in order to launch the bomb. This is a charged and primed sunmetal mass with a volume in cubic feet equal to your Wisdom modifier, and it explodes on impact. The target must be in the open air in order to launch this device. You can only launch one of these bombs every hour. You can also order up to 100,000 man-hours of unskilled labour every day to put towards building anything you like if you're in a location you control.


    Bonus Feat: At 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter, you can apply your tactical knowledge to devise a new strategy. You gain a bonus feat either from the fighter bonus feat list or one which has the [Gramarie] tag.

    Martial Law (Su): As you advance in prestige and tactical experience, you extend your military dominance over greater spheres of the physical world. Beginning at 4th level, you can declare martial law on nature itself. Whenever you gain this class feature (4th level and every 4 levels thereafter) you may select a natural law which you can declare a revolt against. Declaring a martial law is a standard action, and requires a Martial Lore skill check as detailed in the law's description. Martial laws are field effects which cover an area around you with a radius of one mile per class level, and which last for one round per class level. Each martial law can only be declared once per day.

    Spoiler
    Show
    • Law of Conservation of Energy: When you declare martial law on the conservation of energy, what goes in no longer seems to equal what comes out. All arcanodynamic transformers in the area which have a Use Magic Device check less than or equal to your Martial Lore check (or which you personally created) step outside the laws of physics temporarily and double their normal output energy without requiring additional input energy. If this output would exceed their normal maximum, that's okay.
    • Law of Elasticity: Declaring martial law on elasticity implies that things no longer stretch before they fracture, making all materials in the area incredibly brittle. The hardness of all materials in the area become 0 unless they have been prepared with alchemetry to bolster their hardness. However, even these materials can be affected if your Martial Lore check exceeds the Diplomacy check made on them. You can choose for alchemetrically hardened materials that you prepared to be immune to this martial law.
    • Law of Entropy: You can declare martial law on entropy in order to cause a reversal of the flow of energy. All arcanodynamic transformers active in the area with a Use Magic Device check less than or equal to your Martial Lore check (or which you personally created) swap their input and output mechanisms, and cannot be changed back until this martial law ends.
    • Law of Gravity: When you declare martial law on gravity, gravity ceases in the entire area, creating a prolonged freefall state similar to the Astral Plane. Gravity fluxes in particular maintain their gravity if they have a Forgery check at least equal to your Martial Lore check, or if you personally constructed them.
    • Laws of Motion: You can declare martial law on kinematics themselves. This causes every projectile launched in the area to be immediately affected by a wind wall-like effect which knocks them out of the air. Projectiles launched from a ballistic eldrikinetic engine with a Concentration check that exceeds your Martial Lore check (or which you personally created) are immune to this effect.
    • Law of Multiple Proportions: Declaring martial law on proportional constancy bizarrely means that you can finish alchemical reactions with more than you started with, and in less time. Any ALCH principle can be prepared much faster in the area (1 round represents 10 minutes of normal effort), and if your Martial Lore check exceeds the Diplomacy check of the principle, it modifies twice the normal amount of material.
    • Law of Natural Selection: When you declare martial law on natural selection, nature rebels against itself as improbable mutations become entirely permissible. It starts experimenting wildly, and all biollurgical chassis which have a Heal check of less than or equal to your Martial Lore check within the area start mutating crazily. They can grow a graft which they have an open body slot for as a full-round action (within their normal limit for the number of grafts). Mundane Animals in the area also start randomly growing tentacles and fangs, becoming Aberrations.
    • Law of Planetary Orbits: Declaring martial law on the planets themselves results in throwing the alignment of the heavens wildly out of whack. All ascended planetary metals in the area lose their special properties, reverting to their base form. The only exemptions are materials with Diplomacy checks that exceed your Martial Lore check, or which you personally ascended.
    • Laws of Reflection and Refraction: If you declare martial law on the laws of reflection and refraction, light bends strangely around itself. All kaleidomantic filters and visual illusions in the area are temporarily suppressed unless the key skill check associated with them exceeds your Martial Lore check (or if you personally created them).


    Sphere of Influence: At 5th level, and again at 10th level and 15th level, your influence with your patron allows you to pursue new fields of study. Every time you gain this class feature, you can select one of your available disciplines of gramarie in order to be treated as a specialist in that discipline. Alternatively, you can choose a new discipline of gramarie, in which case you can now choose principles from that field of study as well as your existing disciplines.

    Head of State: At 20th level you become the head of your patron organization, either by peaceful abdication of the previous head of state or by brutal military junta (your call). For all intents and purposes you are your own patron now, and can never lose access to your patron's benefits.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-10 at 11:51 PM.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Discoveries

    Spoiler
    Show
    Alchemetry Discoveries
    • Amazing Alkahest: Your alkahest is an incredibly great solvent. Any alkahest solution that you create can now dissolve any inanimate object, not just a planetary metal. Otherwise, this follows all of the same rules for dissolving a planetary metal.
    • Continual Carmot: Carmot that you create now provides not only preservation, but restoration as well. Any object under its effects repairs itself at a rate of 1 hit point per round. Similarly, any creature under its effects gains fast healing 1.
    • Lethargic Lead: Enclosures surrounded by your cursed lead are now extremely slow, to the point where they have an equal and opposite effect to that of quicksilver. Objects and structures made from your cursed lead now experience time at a slower rate than other materials; for all purposes, they experience one round for every two normal rounds. Spaces, creatures, and objects completely enclosed by your cursed lead experience the same effect
    • Mysterious Moonsteel: Moonsteel that you create is partially made out of moonbeams. It weighs nothing at all, no matter how much of it there is. Anything inside of a moonsteel enclosure is treated as being under a perpetual blink effect.
    • Oefficient Orichalcum: You must be have at least 16 HD to select this discovery. Orichalcum that you create is especially great at channeling puissance in it. Circuits that are set up between a wood transformer and a battery made out of your orichalcum no longer lose an ebb to inefficiency in the transfer. In addition, your orichalcum can now hold twice the number of ebbs that the same volume could normally hold.
    • Phlegmatic Phlogiston: Your phlogiston is especially pfiery! The heat aura around it radiates out an additional 5ft., and the area that would have been in the aura before now burns white-hot at a temperature of 2,000 degrees Centigrade.
    • Platinum Standard: You must be have at least 16 HD to select this discovery. You can now transmute other metals into platinum with ALCH 286, but at a 10:1 ratio (that is, you only end up with 1/10 the volume you started with). The DC for platinum is 65.
    • Quixotic Quicksilver: Your quicksilver's especially quick. Quicksilver's elemental time trait now applies to anything that is touching at least half a cubic foot of quicksilver (479 fluid ounces).
    • Square-Cube Law: Learning this discovery allows you greater insight into the nature of three-dimensional structures. Your ALCH principles can now target any applicable body which has a volume of no more than 81 cubic feet and a weight of no more than 350,000 lb.
    • Sublime Sunmetal: Sunmetal that you create is now extremely radiomantic. It produces an aura with a radius of 5ft. (plus 5ft. for every size category of the sunmetal body beyond Medium) in which its handling effect occurs. The negative levels from the sunmetal exploding are now equal to one-tenth of the ebbs channeled into it (minimum 10 negative levels).
    • Very Irregular Properties: Energy exists not in a vacuum, but in conjunction with other kinds of energy. Discovering this allows you to place two ALCH 202 qualities on a given body at the same time.


    Arcanodynamics Discoveries
    • Bigby's Prime Analysis: This equation describes the connection between voltage and puissance. Physically conductive metal, such as copper, can now be used to transport puissance; if the metal is connected to a circuit, puissance which is placed into one part of it can be drawn out of another part of it on the same turn. Puissant flow degrades, at a rate of 1 ebb lost in every transfer for every 10ft. moved. A given circuit can only draw from one metal connection per round.
    • Drawmij's Algorithm: This equation describes how geoccult poles break down in an area of radiomantic imbalance. Knowing it allows you to produce the same effect with a less drastic input; sunlight radiating out from your gold transformers now threatens to destabilize geoccult poles the same way that a sunmetal explosion does.
    • Evard's Numerical Analysis: This equation describes the flow of heat into an area filled with cold energy. Cones of cold energy created with a mercury transformer no longer simply evaporate; Evard's numerical analysis tells us that the cold energy has to go somewhere, and it ends up forming a sphere with the same volume as the cone. Anyone who passes through the sphere is subject to the intial effect of the cone; the cone lasts for 1 round per ebb. It tends to flow along heat gradients, and moves at 30ft. per round towards the largest source of fire damage in the previous round or, failing that, the warmest location, inside 200ft.
    • Leomund's Inequality: This equation describes a strange fluctuation that occurs when comparing a platinum transformer's action in a separate case involving quasi-deities. Knowing it allows you to have your platinum transformer input nets stop binders from contacting vestiges, as well as its normal uses.
    • Melf's Special Case: This equation describes the alternation of alkalinity with acidity for the special case where a copper transformer is involved. Knowing it allows you to have your copper transformers output basic media instead of acidic media, which deals the same amount of acid damage.
    • Mordenkainen's Transport Theorem: This equation describes the conservation of health on either side of a silver transformer. Knowing it allows you to redefine the assumptions most people make about them, and you discover a strange symmetry. Any negative levels which would be dealt inside of the net around an output silver transformer are now consumed and transformed into 2 ebbs each; and you can channel puissance through to an input silver transformer in order to deal out a single negative level to a target inside of the net with 5 ebbs of puissance. The negative level has a DC of 5 + 5 for every ARCD principle you know in order to remove.
    • Nolzur's Identity: This equation describes the fundamental connection between puissance and life, previously only seen in wood transformers. Knowing it allows you to treat any living thing, not just plant material, as if it were appropriate to construct a wood transformer. This works just like normal, but it allows you to turn living creatures or animal matter into 'wood' transformers.
    • Otiluke's Paradox: This equation describes the apparent impossibility of sound developing in silence, based on a view of sound using a model of heat flow. Knowing it allows you to ignore the silencing effect of a crystal transformer, without changing the amount of energy intake. In order to apply this equation, the ambient temperature in the crystal net needs to be above 45 Centigrade.
    • Otto's Last Theorem: This equation describes the emotional aspect to fire in addition to the purely physical. Knowing it allows you to draw 1 ebb per round from individuals under a rage effect or similar condition if they are in the input net for your ice transformers.
    • Tasha's Finite Decay: This equation is no laughing matter; it describes the lifespan of a radiomantic metal. While one of your lead transformers is giving off nuclear energy, it can now explode as if it were made of sunmetal.


    Biollurgy Discoveries
    • Artificial Fleshshape: You can now choose to create a biollurgical chassis of a different type. Whenever you use BIOY 228 to create a chassis, you can choose for it to be a Construct. If you do make it a Construct, you can choose to install a cockpit inside of it, which any intelligent creature can use to operate the chassis. If you install a cockpit, the chassis loses its Intelligence score entirely, and cannot be affected with BIOY 273. Instead, any creature of a size of at least two size categories below the chassis can ride in the cockpit and operate it with a DC 10 Knowledge (arcana), Disable Device, or Ride check for one round. While operating it, the riding creature is considered entirely subsumed in the chassis, and for all intents and purposes acts as the chassis for that round. Constructs gain additional hit points based on their size categories, as described here
    • Bizarre Fleshshape: You must have at least 12 HD to select this discovery. You can now choose to create a biollurgical chassis of a different type. Whenever you use BIOY 228 to create a chassis, you can choose for it to have one of the following types: Plant, Ooze, Outsider, Undead, or Vermin. An Outsider has a native Plane of whatever Plane it was created on. A vermin is inherently mindless, and does not gain an Intelligence score; it can still be made sentient with BIOY 273, but it loses its mindlessness at that point.
    • Genetic Gramarie: You must have at least 16 HD to select this discovery and know BIOY 381. If a chassis that you create counts as an arcanodynamic transformer or an eldrikinetic engine and breeds, its descendants inherit the principles of gramarie that have been prepared on it from those two schools.
    • Heart of the Matter: You must have at least 16 HD to select this discovery, and know BIOY 340. You can use BIOY 340 to place a single 5th level graft on a chassis. This is a separate slot apart from the normal graft slots on the chassis.
    • Infinite Faces: You can place any number of 0th level grafts on a chassis, instead of just one.
    • Material Fleshshape: You can now choose to create a biollurgical chassis of a different type. Whenever you use BIOY 228 to create a chassis, you can choose for it to have one of the following types: Animal, Dragon, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, or Monstrous Humanoid.
    • Real Steel: The nature of metal is malleable, and the skilled artisan can mold it to his liking. Whenever you create biostructure, you can choose for it to have the statistics of iron as far as hardness and hit points per inch of thickness goes, no matter what metal went into it. Biostructure treated this way is alway considered ferrous.
    • Volcanic Ventilation: In addition to the other gas processing options you have, you can choose to have biostructure that you create process sulfur dioxide.


    Eldrikinetics Discoveries
    • Aeronautical Savant: Any eldrikinetic engine you create which generates a fly speed can be controlled more finely; this increases the maneuverability by 1 stage, to a maximum of perfect (this even applies to a two-part engine). They also generate a flat 50 more points of Push over their normal amount (if you know both this and the overclock discovery, this modification is applied after overclocking the engine).
    • Artillery Expert: Ballistic engines that you create treat projectiles being launched as if they were one size category smaller than they actually are for the purposes of determining their speed, but one size category larger than they actually are for determining the damage that they deal.
    • Badger Badger Snake: Badgerdrawn engines that you create can be pushed into a frenzy. This is a burst effect that requires 10 times the normal amount of fuel, but it causes the engine and whatever is attached to it to shapechange temporarily into a badger of the appropriate size category. The badger can take a single round of actions, under the control of whoever is controlling the engine. During this turn, its burrow speed is multiplied by 10. At the end of its action, the badger transforms back into its original shape. This is a transmutation effect.
    • Electric Innovation: Lightningleap engines that you create can take advantage of the mutable nature of energy. Whenever a lightningleap engine is activated, whoever controls the engine can choose an alternate energy form from the following types: acid, cold, fire, and sonic.
    • Fish out of Water: Stonefish engines that you create can now allow a vessel to leave the earth medium they travel through. By burning up 5 rounds of stone swimming from the minute normally provided, the stonefish engine can launch a vessel through the air like a Ballistic Engine (except launching the engine, as well). The Push generated for this leap is multiplied by 5 (1,000 points of Push normally available for every leap from every engine in parallel). The engine must be immersed in stone, dirt, or metal at the start of the jump.
    • For the Swarm: Beeform engines that you create are now more intricate. While in bee swarm form, whoever is controlling the engine gains telepathy out to 1 mile for every 200 points of Push generated, but only with bees. They can usurp the bees' senses, as if with a sense link effect, but for every sense the bees have. They can also control all bees in the area, as if with a control plants effect, but for vermin. Both of these effects last for as long as the engine is in bee swarm form. Intelligent bees can resist the controlling effect with a Will saving throw (DC equal to the Concentration check of the engine).
    • Green Energy: Any eldrikinetic engine that you create can be sustained for one round or one burst with 1 less ebb of puissance than listed in its description (if you know both this and the overclock discovery, this modification is applied after overclocking the engine).
    • Intricate Engineering: Any eldrikinetic engine that you create has its size reduced. An engine that normally requires 1 cubic foot per preparation now only requires a 6" cube per. An engine that normally requires 8 cubic feet per preparation now only requires 1 cubic foot per.
    • Overclock: Any eldrikinetic engine that you create has its Push output increased by up to 20%, but its fuel requirements increase by 50% (including puissance) when you exceed its normal output.
    • Size Matters Not: Any eldrikinetic engine that you create ignores the modifier to Bulk for unusually dense or heavy materials. You can treat any kind of material as being normal density for its size category.


    Geoccultism Discoveries
    • An Artificial Arctic: Your gold poles consume 25% less metal than normal, and are up to 10 degrees Centigrade colder than normal. You can apply the CorpsecrafterLM feat, if you know it, to your pole. This allows zombies raised with deadsnow to gain its benefits. Similarly, if you have any other feats with the [Corpsecrafter] tag, you can apply their benefits as well. You can have up to three living glaciers patrolling every 500ft. radius of your zone instead of just one. Mirror ice that you place in your arctic zone brings bad luck to anyone who breaks one of the mirror images; anyone who strikes one of the images instead of the illusive target takes a cumulative -1 luck penalty to all d20 rolls for seven days and seven nights.
    • Complex Environments: You can mix three metals together in a pole, as described in GEOC 323. There must still be one master pole, and you can draw a single kind of feature from each of the other two metals. You must know GEOC 323 to select this discovery.
    • Fancy Forests: Your copper poles consume 25% less metal than normal. You can place up to five light trees in the same square, two massive trees in the same square, or one massive tree and three light trees in the same square. Your ancient oaks are more perceptive than normal, and can see invisible creatures normally. They can also uproot themselves and move, with a speed of 10ft. by shambling their roots across the ground. Your heartwood now goes a step further in connecting things; if wood from one pole takes root in more than one other pole, poles which do not even contain the original wood can connected and controlled as described in the entry. If you have more than one nymph pool in your forest, stepping into one of them allows immediate transport to the other.
    • Grrrreat Grasslands: Your tin poles consume 25% less metal than normal, and the dirt is extra-good for growing things; harvests increase in yield by 25%. Ghostgrass that's grown in your grasslands, if properly preserved, maintains its edible incorporeal property for up to two weeks after leaving the zone. Your lightning pools can be recharged with electricity; a single lightning bolt into the pool empowers it with three ebbs of puissance. Standing stone circles that you set up can maintain twice as many transient effects as normal: ten instead of five on any given creature.
    • Just Deserts: Your iron poles consume 25% less metal than normal, and are up to 10 degrees hotter. You can choose to grow brassbrush as iron instead of copper. Firesand that you place can burn cold instead of hot if mixed with water at night; this creates a temperature of basically absolute zero while burning, which is approximately -273 Centigrade. Your mirage oases always have a pool of drinkable water in them which is sufficient for up to eight people to hydrate themselves for a day.
    • Mobile Oaks: Stationary features that you previously placed can be moved by 5ft. with a 5 lb expenditure of metal as a standard action when controlling the pole, but only within the normal constraints of placement.
    • Obviously an Ocean: Your silver poles consume 25% less metal than normal, and you can place living saltwater fish of your choice of up to 2 HD into your ocean zone for 5 lb apiece (after the discount). Krakenhaunts that you create conjure one duplicate creature every time they're activated. Your truewater crevices still can't be closed, but they stretch to accomodate passage of larger vessels or creatures; they can accomodate creatures of one size category larger than should be able to fit through them. Your prismatic reefs can now be built up to 100ft. above the free surface of the water.
    • Sickening Swamps: Your lead poles consume 25% less metal than normal, and every square in the swamp somehow now has vines in it instead of just squares with trees. Your black lagoons can be programmed with a single metamagic feat that you know (or that a friend of yours knows, who's willing to help), which is automatically applied to Necromancy spells cast in them. This cannot have an adjustment of more than +2 to the effective spell level. Your haunted bogs are more efficient than normal; they process a soul in 1 hour instead of 2, and produce a dread wraith instead of a normal wraith. Your ignes fatui no longer need sustenance from the pole to do their thing, and can make measurements off by up to +100% or -100% the actual reading.
    • Transient Poles: One of the most important discoveries, this lets a pole be fixed to a body of land instead of in space. If the land later moves, it carries the pole with it. The body of land must be entirely within the area of effect of the geoccult pole, and more importantly the pole cannot affect any land beyond the mobile body. This might not seem amazing, but it lets you have things like designer environments on flying islands or the backs of giant turtles, and so on in that fashion. You must have at least 16 HD to select this discovery.
    • Wyrd Wetlands: Your mercury poles consume 25% less metal than normal, and you can place living freshwater fish of your choice of up to 2 HD into your lake zone for 5 lb apiece (after the discount). Cryptid caverns that you place are especially well hidden, as the actual knowledge of the caverns is impossible to remember; anyone who discovers the cavern is subject to an immediate suggestion to forget the existence of it (Will negates, DC 10 + 5 for every GEOC principle you know). Your healing springs now carry the full benefit of a regenerative effect, and can regrow lost limbs and other body parts. Your whisperreeds resonate when played as wind instruments, and can carry bardic music effects across any distance as well, essentially treating the second reed as the source of the music.


    Heuristicism Discoveries
    • Backdoor: You (and only you) no longer need to meet the Autohypnosis check required to modify triggers, responses, or control points in a circuit that you (and only you) built. You are always treated as passing these checks.
    • Hidden Code: You can choose for triggers and responses that you place in your circuit to be hidden from normal view, or even appear masked as something else. Someone must beat your Autohypnosis check by 15 or more to see past this camouflage.
    • Moore's Law: The number of logical decisions which an EI that you create can make in your circuits per round doubles. You can take this discovery multiple times, and it follows mathematical multiplication rules instead of D&D additive multiplicative rules.
    • The Most Exotic: You must be have at least 16 HD to select this discovery, and you must know HEUR 328. Your EI's are now much more resilient than normal; they never have to make saves to avoid being destroyed when components of the circuit are destroyed or removed. They can also be as intelligent as you, instead of having a maximum Intelligence of your own Int less 2.
    • Rabbit Hole: Your heuristical circuits now penetrate the fabric of space and time. If there is a portal inside the area of one of your heuristical circuits, the circuit penetrates the portal. On the other side of the portal, it spreads out in a bubble of the same size as the original size around the portal. The two bubbles are for all intents and purposes the same circuit. Information and puissance can be seamlessly transferred back and forth between them.
    • Variable of Volume: If you work out the maximum volume of your circuit based on the formula of volume being equal to (4/3)*pi*radius^3, you can set up circuits which are other shapes than bubbles. This principles do not have a minimum number of preparations, and the circuit field can be formed into any shape that you like using the volume available to you. The shape must be continuous, and at no point can be less than 6 inches by 6 inches thick.
    • We Are All Connected: You must be have at least 14 HD to select this discovery. Overlapping circuits that you set up can communicate with each other and connect to nodes inside of each other. Each circuit can only communicate and interact with circuits it is personally overlapping with, not other circuits further down the line.


    Imachination Discoveries
    • Combinatory Illusions: You can choose a new function for your illusions: combinatory. Combinatory illusions can be either static, adaptive, or programmed, but they can also be controlled with logical decisions if they are tied into a heuristical circuit. Normally they work based on their simple function, but when being manipulated they instead (obviously) act as if they were an illusion with the 'controlled' function. If whoever controls the circuit stops making decisions for the illusion, it reverts to its base behaviour.
    • Extra-Real Images: Whoever said that specialization is for insects clearly didn't know what he was talking about; you double down on your illusionary homework, and are treated for the purposes of picking future illusions and for some DCs as if you knew one more IMCH principle than you actually do.
    • Hard to Believe: You can choose to make an illusion outlandish, in which case it's somewhat more obvious that it's absurd (+4 to checks to disbelieve it). On the other hand, if someone falls for it, it's an even more powerful assault on their senses; they take a -2 penalty on saving throws against any fake condition it would cause, and if it ever deals damage to them, the nonlethal damage is increased by +2d6.
    • Intricate Manufacturing: It's sort of like with lasers and water jets except a little more abstract. You can create illusions very carefully crafted down to the smallest detail, known as intricate illusions. An intricate illusion can only target one sense, but it's so well-built that people take a -4 penalty on any kind of check to notice the illusory nature of it. An intricate illusion takes twice as long to prepare.
    • Lurid Lure: You learn a new form for your illusions: luring. This places the veil of an illusion over an area, but doesn't actually change anything about it. Anyone who fails to penetrate the illusion becomes convinced that the object or area in question is in fact disguised using an illusion. Only by testing its 'realness' for themselves are they allowed a chance at a saving skill check.
    • Off the Edge of the Map: Here there be monsters! To choose this discovery, you need to have encountered a monster who has a sense that doesn't actually have a sensory component illusion for it. You can spend two days developing a new illusion sensory component tailor-made to foil that sense. With your DM, pick a skill which would normally be used in the routine use of the sense you are targetting. For example, if the sense you're targetting is the dweomersight of the balhannoth, you might choose Spellcraft as the skill normally used in the function of that sense. The sensory component you create can create any kind of sensory input normally associated with the sense you have chosen. You can pick this discovery multiple times; each time, you must have encountered a creature with a new sense that you want to foil.
    • Supersensory: Illusions with just one sense are like ice cream sundaes with only one topping: depressing and filled with tears. Your illusions are way more exciting: you can make supersensory illusions, which get a free bonus sensory component you know, without having to spend any extra time adding it.


    Kaleidomantics Discoveries
    • Unimpeachable Pigmentation Technique: Your filters are exceptionally well stuck in space. Whenever you fix a kaleidomantic filter to a point in space (instead of to someone or something), the Strength DC to move it increases by 5 and every preparation of it can hold an additional 1,000 lb.
    • Charcoal Chicanery: Whenever you construct a black filter, you can program it with an imachinary sensory component that you know. Any attempt to retrieve information from beyond the filter returns instead the illusory sensory component. This is essentially a new way to deliver an imachinary illusion, except instead of being fixed on a point in space, the illusion is based around the filter. By its nature a black filter blocks normal sensory information of all kinds, and thus this illusion works like a combination of an ablative effect and an additive effect. You prepare the illusion on top of the filter for the purposes of time use, although you can use the filter's Spot check instead of the normal key skill check for the illusion.
    • Colourgami: If you're willing to do the math to work out the surface area, you can construct curved kaleidomantic filters instead of flat 2D shapes. You can join them together like normal, but any one preparation of a filter can only have one radius of curvature.
    • Orange Originality: Whenever you construct an orange filter, the filter imprints itself with the first gas to contact it (or you can set a particular gas when you construct it). It becomes selective only to that kind of gas, and is completely permeable to other gases. Concentrations must be accurate to within 1,000 parts per million to trigger the filter.
    • Purple Perception: Whenever you construct a violet filter, the filter imprints itself with living things it comes in contact with. Whenever you (and only you) touch the filter, you can see the face and alignment of every living creature that touched the filter in the last day, in reverse order.
    • Ruby Ruination: Whenever you construct a red filter, heat that's blocked from passage is absorbed into the filter, like an ice arcanodynamic transformer. However, you cannot remove ebbs from it with a circuit or connect it to an output; instead, if the filter ever collapses it releases a fireball centered on itself, with a radius of 5ft. per ebb of heat absorbed, and dealing 1d6 fire damage per ebb. This fireball offers a Reflex save for half damage against the same DC as your mysteries. A red filter like this can store up to 1,000 ebbs of heat before it tops off; any excess heat is nullified like normal.
    • Teal Telemetry: Whenever you construct a blue filter, you (and only you) can tell just by touching it the volume and pressure of water pressing on it.
    • Ultramarine Ultimatum: Whenever you construct an indigo filter, protons and electrons accumulated by the filter can be recombined into their natural state. Whenever an acid is neutralized, the filter gains a number of 'proton points' equal to the damage per round the acid dealt, multiplied by the cubic feet of it neutralized. Whenever a base is neutralized, the filter gains a number of 'electron points' equal to the damage per round the base dealt, multiplied by the cubic feet of it neutralized. When the filter collapses, it spontaneously generates a volume of liquid water equal to 100 cubic feet of water for every pair of proton and electron points it's holding.
    • Verdant Venom: Whenever you construct a green filter, instead of eliminating toxins you can refine them. Fluid poisons that pass through your filter are not made inert, but instead they become more concentrated; as long as there is fluid for the venomous agent to reside in, someone can use your filter to purify such a poison. Refining a fluid poison works by moving part of the fluid through the filter, and thus concentrating the poison in the rest of the fluid. At least half of the fluid must be passed through the filter, and if additional volume of fluid is added to the poison later, the refinement is lost. Refining a poison increases the save DC by 4, and it deals an additional damage die of ability damage.
    • Xanthous Xception: Whenever you construct a yellow filter, you can program a single planetary metal into it as an exception. This metal can pass through the filter as if it weren't stone or metal, while the filter retains its impermeability to every other kind of stone and metal.


    Yggdratecture Discoveries
    • Flux Capacitor: A polarcane flux can have any number of flux traits, although only one of any given kind (for example, you can't have gravity pulling in two different directions). If you have the ability to apply flux traits to other spaces, you can place multiple such traits in them as well.
    • Going Nowhere: To learn this discovery, you need to be able to join semi-spaces together with portals. You can now join a portal to a place that you haven't seen before; this works like a teleport effect, with the same chance of making a mistake in the coordinates of the point you're joining. The portal you create in the unknown space is immovable, and fixed in space once established.
    • Intense Causality: To learn this discovery you must know YGGD 371. Whenever you prepare an YGGD principle, you can twist the fabric of space-time in order to cause one of the following effects:
      • Reduce the time to prepare the principle by half.
      • Roll the skill check twice and select the result you prefer.
    • Keeper of the Keys: You can close spaces without them being destroyed permanently. You can also lock portals to semi-spaces and demiplanes, by touching it and making a Forgery check which meets or exceeds the original. In order to open the portal, a matching Forgery check needs to be made.
    • Plane Sense: By touching a portal, you can tell the size of the space that it connects to and any flux traits or planar traits in effect on the other side.
    • Reverse Geometry: When you set up a flux, you can choose to reverse its dimensionality. Instead of a semi-space which is bigger on the inside than the outside, this is a flux which is bigger on the outside than the inside. This counts as the flux trait; the area is actually two size categories smaller than the space it takes up in the outside world. Anything which enters into the flux is squeezed into that space as if they were in a small constrained area.
    • Usurp Space: By making a Forgery check that matches or exceeds the check of a space you are inside, you become the creator of the flux for all intents and purposes, including joining that space with other spaces.
    • Weird Time: To learn this discovery, you must know YGGD 371. To use it, you must be inside of a demiplane that you created with the Erratic Time trait. By spending an hour and making a Forgery check of equal or greater value to the check of the demiplane, you can reroll the Erratic Time Trait's time flow roll.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-10 at 12:43 AM. Reason: typos

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Feats

    Spoiler
    Show
    Advanced Placement [Gramarie]
    Tutoring and extra studying pays off; you've written an advanced placement exam to qualify you for a more challenging course load.
    Benefit: Select a single principle that you would normally not qualify for based on specialization or class. You now qualify for that principle. You cannot select a principle of a higher grade than you have access to yet, and this does not remove prerequisites consisting of either specific principles or a number of prerequisite principles of a certain discipline.
    Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time, choose a different principle that you would not normally qualify for.

    Alternating Arcane Current [Gramarie]
    I'll collapse your waveform, if you know what I mean
    Prerequisite: Arcane Current, Complex Mathemagics, Int 19
    Benefit: You can apply your Complex Mathemagics feat to your eldritch blast whenever you use it to power gramaric devices. You also gain two additional uses per day of the feat.
    Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time, you gain two additional uses per day of Complex Mathemagics.

    Arcane Current [Gramarie]
    dQ/dt, where the Q stands for MAGIC
    Prerequisite: Eldritch blast class feature
    Benefit: Your eldritch blast can now be used to power gramaric devices. If released into a circuit or a device which has been set up to receive a puissant input, you can power it with 1 ebb for every five points of damage it would normally deal.
    Special: You can take this feat up to five times. Each time, the efficiency increases by 1 such that it requires one less point of damage for each ebb of puissance generated.

    Basic Mathemagics [Gramarie]
    And who says math is useless in the real world?
    Prerequisite: Int 13
    Benefit: If you succesfully identify the purpose of a gramaric device, you can activate this feat in order to obtain a numerical analysis showing the possible range of values of the output (the RNG of the device's effects). You can use this feat a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier.

    Complex Mathemagics [Gramarie]
    You've studied the mathemagical quantization of the imagination!
    Prerequisite: Basic Mathemagics, Int 15
    Benefit: Whenever you activate a gramaric device which rolls a random result, you can activate this ability as a swift action immediately afterwards in order to take the complex conjugate of the result, which causes the new result to be the maximum possible roll minus the original result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier.

    Carbon Copy [Gramarie]
    Theft is really just the ultimate expression of artistic appreciation; they should actually be honoured, not outraged
    Prerequisite: YGGD 101, Forgery 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Forgery checks. In addition, whenever you create a mundane forgery, you can instantly prepare YGGD 101 as an immediate action to create a tiny semispace of no larger than 1ft. in any dimensions in order to envelop the original work if it is at hand. As soon as the object is removed from the semispace, the space collapses.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Forgery), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    The Colour out of Space [Gramarie]
    You've discovered a horrifying new colour! You call it pink.
    Prerequisite: KALD 101, Spot 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Spot checks. In addition, you have discovered a strange new colour which doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the cosmos. Just looking at it causes lesser peoples' minds to snap like a twig. Whenever you succeed on the Spot check to create a kaleidomantic filter by 5 or more, you can infuse this bizarre new colour into the filter, which causes anyone looking at it to make a Will save (DC 13 + your Cha modifier at the time of construction) or be confused for the next round. This effect can be avoided by averting one's eyes, like a gaze attack. Saving successfully against this effect does not imply protection on following rounds, but someone can only be affected by a single pink filter every round. Aberrations are immune to this effect; this is a supernatural mind-affecting pattern effect.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Spot), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Creative Surgeon [Gramarie]
    What do you call the person who graduates last in their medical class?
    Prerequisite: BIOL 101, Heal 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Heal checks. In addition, whenever you successfully use the Heal skill to create a biollurgical chassis, you can trade out graft slots at a 1:1 ratio, giving you much more freedom to create twisted monstrosities.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Heal), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Desperate Improvisation [Gramarie]
    We need to make this fit in a hole made for this, using nothing but that.
    Prerequisite: Must be able to prepare Magisterial-grade gramaric principles, Ingenious Engineer, Wis 17
    Benefit: You can either work frantically or ingeniously when you prepare a principle with a material requirement. If you work frantically, you can prepare the principle in half the time with twice the material. If you work ingeniously, you can prepare the principle in twice the time with half the material.

    Diplomatic Immunity [Gramarie]
    It's just been revoked!
    Prerequisite: ALCH 101, Diplomacy 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks. In addition, whenever you argue an alchemetric principle, you can include a clause which invalidates one of the obscure energy types: this includes things that technically aren't energy types, but are treated like them in sourcebooks, such as positive or negative energy, hellfire, desiccation, and so on. The material being affected gains immunity to this obscure energy in addition to the other effects of the principle.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Diplomacy), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Double-Blind Transformations [Gramarie]
    The best way to figure out what kind of transformer it is is really just to poke it until it works
    Prerequisite: ARCD 101, Use Magic Device 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Use Magic Device checks. In addition, you can use a Use Magic Device check to activate arcanodynamic transformers blindly. This is a full-round skill check which provides an amount of pseudo-puissance to the transformer equal to your Use Magic Device result. If this meets the limit on ebb transfer for the transformer, it converts the energy into its output form, which you can then target or control as if you were making the logical decision for the circuit. You can only successfully use this skill check type on any transformer once, and you cannot use it on a transformer you created.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Use Magic Device), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Equivalent Circuits [Gramarie]
    Resistance is futile
    Prerequisite: HEUR 101, Autohypnosis 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Autohypnosis checks. In addition, whenever you connect two gramaric devices with a heuristical circuit, you can choose for the connection to be a short circuit or an open circuit if you succeed on the Autohypnosis check by 5 or more. If you make a short circuit, the circuit can only connect those two devices; nothing else can be hooked up to it, and they cannot be part of any other circuit. However, the flow of puissance between the two devices is improved; any supply of puissance from one to the other is increased by 10%. If you choose to make an open circuit instead, the bubble is 5ft. in radius larger than it otherwise would be, but the flow of puissance through the circuit is dampened, decreasing all transfers of puissance inside the circuit by 10%.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Autohypnosis), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Extra Credit [Gramarie]
    You took additional credits for either the love of learning, or because you're a keener.
    Benefit: You learn a gramaric principle that you qualify for. Characters without any previous gramaric training can learn 101 principles, and can prepare them just like an actual gramarist. You cannot use this feat to learn an additional theory.
    Special: You can take this feat multiple times, until you have a number of bonus principles equal to your Charisma modifier. However, you can only have a single bonus principle of your highest grade (Baccalaureate, Magisterial, or Doctorate), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Force of Mind [Gramarie]
    Your engines work at the speed of thought!
    Prerequisite: ELDK 101, Concentration 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Concentration checks. In addition, if you succeed on the Concentration check to build an eldrikinetic engine by more than 5, the engine can be powered by pure willpower. Psionic characters can transfer power points into the engine to activate it in place of normal fuel or puissance at a rate of 1 power point per ebb normally required. They remain limited in the number of power points they can spend in any given round on any given task, just like manifesting a power. Psionic characters must be either touching the engine, or be in telepathic range of it if they have telepathy. They are allowed to make logical decisions for the engine while powering it.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Concentration), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Imachinary Friends [Gramarie]
    You're so good at imitating people, you don't even need the real thing!
    Prerequisite: IMCH 101, Bluff 4 ranks
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Bluff checks. In addition, whenever you create an illusion which contains a component designed to imitate a specific individual, you can make a special Bluff check which works like a Disguise check in order to imitate that specific person. Anyone interacting with the illusion needs to see through the disguise as normal for disguises before they are allowed a chance for a fundamental disconnect (note that a sensory mismatch can still prompt a chance to reveal the illusion).
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Bluff), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Ingenious Engineer [Gramarie]
    When the chips are down, you figure out a way to put them back up such that they can support an optimal load. At least for a little while.
    Prerequisite: Must be able to prepare gramaric principles, Wis 15, character level 7th
    Benefit: You can prepare a 100-level (Baccalaureate-grade) principle in a single full-round action, but it only lasts for the next five rounds. After this point, everything created or generated by the principle disappears.
    Special: At your 14th character level you can take this feat a second time if you have a Wis of 19 in order to apply the benefits to 200-level (Magisterial-grade) principles. You can take this feat a third time as an epic feat if you have a Wis of 23 in order to apply its benefits to 300-level (Doctorate-grade) principles.

    Miner Action Hero [Gramarie]
    Gramarie Rocks
    Prerequisite: ALCH 286, GEOC 117
    Benefit: As a miner action hero, you get darkvision out to 10ft., which extends to 30ft. when you're inside a cavern that you created with a crystal pole.
    More importantly, you can use ALCH 286 to transmute planetary metals into crystal for use with your geoccultism, and blueprints of ALCH 286 or versions of it which you store in circuits can do the same thing. Crystal is very brittle, and while it has hardness 15, it only has 5 hit points per inch. It has a break DC modifier of +10, a Diplomacy DC of 30, and a density of only 166 lb per cubic foot. It melts at 1670 °C and boils at 2230 °C

    Mystic Huntsman [Gramarie]
    The best defense against magic is CONSTANT VIGILANCE
    Prerequisite: GEOC 101, Survival 4 ranks, Track
    Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Survival checks. In addition, you can use the Track feat to follow heuristical circuit connections (DC 15) or to locate geoccult poles inside of biomes (DC 20). You can also sense the presence of imachinary illusions within a mile with a DC 40 result, although this doesn't tell you the exact form which the illusion takes.
    Special: Taking this feat means you cannot take Skill Focus (Survival), and you cannot take this feat if you already possess said Skill Focus.

    Reverse Engineering [Gramarie]
    Engineering is so much easier when someone else does the hard part for you.
    Prerequisite: Must be able to prepare gramaric principles, Int 17
    Benefit: By spending an hour examining a gramaric device, you can reverse engineer the blueprint for it by making a Knowledge (architecture and engineering) check which matches the original skill check made to create it.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-11 at 10:01 PM. Reason: Pink filter stacking

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Alchemetry

    Spoiler
    Show

    Image credit Antuniey of deviantart.com

    "We're made of star-stuff."

    Spoiler
    Show
    Alchemetry is the careful application of magical charges to alter the fundamental properties of materials and objects. A master of alchemetry understands materials on a very deep level, and knows how to cause drastic changes with small applications of puissance. Any engineering project which calls for materials outside of the mundane requires someone skilled in alchemetry. Alchemetry was originally conceived as a scientific offshoot of the royal art of alchemy, and bears many outward resemblances to this pseudoscience. However, alchemetry actually deals with contacting and negotiating with the spirits of everyday matter, and convincing them to change the way they form materials.

    Alchemetry often involves the use of astronomic gauges and astrolabes, employed to determine the alignment of heavenly bodies, as well as more traditional alchemical supplies such as flasks and scales. Any such specialized equipment counts as a masterwork piece of equipment, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Diplomacy check made to prepare an alchemetric principle. The Almagest is a mythical alchemetric treatise which is said to describe the motion of the planets in exacting detail.

    Key Skill: Diplomacy


    ALCH 101: Intro to Alchemetry
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: Solid material of no more than 8 cubic ft. and weighing no more than 5,000 lb
    Preparation Time: 30 minutes

    This principle alters the fundamental properties of material. The target must be a single body of uniform material. As part of this principle, you make a Diplomacy skill check to convince the atomic spirits of the material to rearrange themselves to your liking. At the end of the preparation, you can apply one of the following changes to the body. Any body can only have one modification to a given statistic at a time (for example, a body of iron can't have its durability raised twice).

    • Durability: The hit points per inch of thickness of the target are increased or decreased by half your Diplomacy result (minimum 1 hit point per inch).
    • Hardness: The hardness of the target is increased or decreased by one fifth of your Diplomacy result (minimum 0).
    • Heat Capacity: Somewhat less common than most operations, the target increases and decreases in temperature by a different factor than it normally would from external heat sources and temperature conditions. Divide your Diplomacy result by ten (minimum 1), and pick either that number or its inverse (1/the result) as the new heat capacity factor. All temperature changes to the body are multiplied by this factor before being applied to it. This also affects fire and cold damage sustained by the target.
    • Sturdiness: The break DC of the target can be increased or decreased by one quarter of your Diplomacy result (minimum DC 3). This change applies to anything that is made out of the material in the future.



    ALCH 112: Spooky Solvents [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: Diplomacy 4 ranks
    Target: Specific liquid of no more than 1 pint (or more; see description)
    Preparation Time: 30 minutes

    This principle distills minerals and solutes into and out of liquids. As part of this principle, you make a Diplomacy skill check to coax the atomic spirits of a pint of liquid to resolve themselves differently. This principle can be prepared on any of the following fluids in order to convince them to turn into any one of the other fluids: water (DC 10), acid (DC 20), alchemist's fire (DC 20), antitoxin (DC 15), oil (crude [DC 25] or lantern [DC 15]), and universal solvent (DC 25). Your Diplomacy skill check for this principle must meet the higher DC of the two fluid forms being referenced.

    After learning at least two more ALCH principles, you can also discern methods by which to organize the spirits into a pint of salve of slipperiness (DC 30) or sovereign glue (DC 35).

    This principle can also be used to purify any of the above substances, and when used in this form it can target a much greater volume, up to 8 cubic feet. A single solute of your choice with a concentration of at least 10,000 parts per million is removed from the solvent, and it ends up distilled in a space adjacent to the fluid (the exact location may be decided as a logical decision). This principle can also specifically be used to purify alkahest, reconstituting solid objects and creatures that have been dissolved in it.



    ALCH 202: Irregular Properties
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: ALCH 101, Diplomacy 8 ranks
    Target: Solid material of no more than 8 cubic ft. and weighing no more than 5,000 lb
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle applies strange elemental properties to a body of material. The target can be made of different materials, but must be touching while this principle is being applied. If the target is ever broken up after this point, all of the pieces carry the effect of the principle. At the end of the preparation, you can apply one of the following properties to the body. Material can only carry one of these properties at a time.

    • Buffering: The target neutralizes acids and bases on contact. Acid damage deals half damage to it just like normal energy effects. If it comes in contact with a fluid that deal acid damage and is not destroyed by it after a number of rounds equal to the number of squares the fluid could cover, the fluid is rendered pH neutral (assuming the target remains in contact with the fluid).
    • Flammability: The target becomes flammable. It loses all fire resistance or fire immunity, and fire damage ignores the hardness of the material. Fire deals full damage to the material instead of half damage.
    • Magnetism: The target becomes magnetic, and is treated as ferrous for all purposes related to magnetics. Electricity deals double its normal damage to it, which for most metals means that it deals full damage to it instead of half damage.
    • Resonance: The target hums with a resonant sensation, allowing it to transmit sound in a way most materials do not. Sonic damage no longer ignores the material's hardness, and it deals half damage just like normal energy effects.



    ALCH 286: Mysterious Metallurgy [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: ALCH 101, Diplomacy 8 ranks
    Target: Solid planetary metal body of no more than 8 cubic ft. and weighing no more than 5,000 lb
    Preparation Time: 2 hours

    This principle uses strange procedures involving astrology to realign a material's spirit with a different planet. The target must be a single body made of one of the planetary metals. As part of this principle, you make a Diplomacy skill check to realign the metal's alignment. The principle can be applied to any of the following metals: copper, gold, lead, mercury, iron, silver, and tin. The base metal is changed into one of the other planetary metals, chosen when the preparation is complete. Each metal also has a Diplomacy DC to achieve in order to transmute into; failure indicates wasted effort. Volume is conserved in the transformation, even if the weight of the metal body changes.

    The planetary metals have the following statistics:

    {table=head]Planetary Metal|Hardness|Hit Points Per Inch|Melting Point|Boiling Point|Break DC Modifier|Diplomacy DC|Density
    Copper|8|20|1084 °C|2562 °C|+3|25|560 lb/cubic foot
    Gold|5|10|1064 °C|2856 °C|+1|50|1,200 lb/cubic foot
    Lead|2|30|327 °C|1749 °C|+5|20|700 lb/cubic foot
    Mercury|5|15|-39 °C|357 °C|+0|35|840 lb/cubic foot
    Iron|10|30|1538 °C|2862 °C|+10|30|490 lb/cubic foot
    Silver|5|10|962 °C|2162 °C|+1|20|650 lb/cubic foot
    Tin|2|5|232 °C|2602 °C|-2|15|360 lb/cubic foot[/table]

    • Copper: Copper is exceptionally conductive to electricity. Electricity deals one-quarter damage instead of half damage to it.
    • Gold: Gold created with alchemetry is real gold, but is also distinguishable from naturally occuring gold. An Appraise check (DC 20) indicates the gold's artificial nature. It is difficult enough to produce that it is often still accepted as a trade currency, albeit at a significantly lower exchange rate than natural gold. Gold is very inert, and does not rust.
    • Lead: Lead is a durable material which is fairly easy to produce, but it is also poisonous. Anyone who spends a lot of time wearing or handling lead is susceptible to lead poisoning on a daily basis, which works like a poison with a DC of 16 and which deals 1d4 Con damage as the primary and secondary damage.
    • Mercury: Note that at normal adventuring temperatures, mercury is a liquid. Mercury is a powerful poison, with a DC of 20 and dealing 1d6 Str damage as the primary and secondary damage. Mercury is exceptionally conductive to electricity. Electricity deals one-quarter damage instead of half damage to it.
    • Silver: Silver created with alchemetry is real silver, but is also distinguishable from naturally occuring silver. An Appraise check (DC 10) indicates the silver's artificial nature. Alchemetric silver is so easy to produce that it is very close to worthless as a trade material. Silver is exceptionally conductive to electricity. Electricity deals one-quarter damage instead of half damage to it.
    • Tin: Tin is an exceptionally flimsy material, but it is easy to produce. It is also very resistant to acids and corrosion; acid effects deal only a quarter of their normal damage to tin.



    ALCH 325: Preternatural Fluids
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three ALCH principles, Diplomacy 15 ranks
    Target: Material of no more than 8 cubic ft. and weighing no more than 5,000 lb
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    Learning this principle allows you to affect fluid bodies with your alchemetric principles. All of your alchemetric principles can now be used to target liquid or gaseous bodies, although the fluid to be affected must be enclosed and separated from other freely moving fluids in order to alter it.

    This principle in its own right allows you to convince the free spirits of fluids to change their motion slightly. As part of this principle you make a Diplomacy check. At the end of the preparation, you can apply one of the following changes to the body.

    • Density: The density of the target is altered by a factor of up to a tenth of your Diplomacy result. This changes the weight of the target by the factor specified, and causes a fluid to exert a different amount of pressure.
    • Phase Change: The melting or boiling point of the target is increased or decreased by a number of degrees Centigrade (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit multiplied by this result), up to your Diplomacy result.



    ALCH 364: Unexpected Materials [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four ALCH principles, Diplomacy 15 ranks
    Target: Planetary metal body of no more than 8 cubic ft. and weighing no more than 5,000 lb
    Preparation Time: 4 hours

    This principle allows you to refine a planetary metal to a new level of supernatural purity. This principle targets a body made of a planetary metal, and ascends it to a higher form. As part of this principle, you make a Diplomacy check. You must meet the Diplomacy DC of the superplanetary metal you are trying to transform the material into. Each planetary metal has one higher level form which it can be turned into. These superplanetary metals have the same statistics as their normal counterparts, but gain a special property.

    In addition to the normal planetary metals, this principle can target an 8th metal: platinum. Platinum is an odd case, and while it can be ascended with this principle, it is not a valid choice for ALCH 286. For all other purposes, it is treated as a planetary metal. Platinum and its ascended form have a density of 1,340 lb/cubic foot.

    • Copper: Copper ascends into carmot, which is the key element to the philosopher's stone. Consuming carmot freezes the aging process in any living thing for 24 hours. Carmot in general is an element of preservation, and anything touching carmot does not decay, rot, rust, or otherwise wear out. Carmot has a Diplomacy DC of 60.
    • Gold: Gold ascend into sunmetal, which is a radiomantic element. Radiomantic elements deal 1 negative level per round to anyone who handles them. The DC to remove a negative level from a radiomantic element is 25. If at least a cubic foot of radiomantic material is charged with at least 100 ebbs of puissance on a given round, it detonates in an explosion with a radius of 1 mile per cubic foot of metal. The explosion deals 1d10 negative levels to every living thing in the area, hellfire damage equal to the total number of ebbs channeled into the metal (Fortitude save for half damage against DC 25) and it poisons the earth; no living thing can grow there for the next 50 years. Geoccult poles in the area are especially affected by this. If the number of ebbs channeled in the explosion exceeds the Survival check of the pole, it is destroyed and the metal used in its construction disintegrated; other geoccult poles set up in the area in the next 50 years must beat this DC or disintegrate upon preparation. Sunmetal has a Diplomacy DC of 85.
    • Lead: Lead ascends into cursed lead, which is a protective material that has antimagical properties. Any enclosed space made of cursed lead is filled as if with an antimagic field effect. Cursed lead has a Diplomacy DC of 55.
    • Mercury: Mercury ascends into quicksilver, which carries the elemental nature of speed. Objects and structures made from quicksilver experience time at a faster rate than other materials. For all purposes, they experience two rounds for every normal round. Spaces, creatures, and objects completely enclosed by quicksilver experience the same effect, although it's usually impossible to interact with the outside world from such a location in order to take advantage of the property. Quicksilver has a Diplomacy DC of 70.
    • Iron: Iron ascends into phlogiston, which gives off heat perpetually. Phlogiston always radiates heat as if it were on fire, but it never burns up. This heat radiates out 5ft. from the phlogiston body (with an additional 5ft. for every size category of the phlogiston body above Medium). This area is raised to an arbitrary temperature of at least 1,000 degrees Centigrade at all times. Anything that burns at those temperatures must make a DC 15 Reflex save every round it remains in the area or catch on fire. Phlogiston has a Diplomacy DC of 65.
    • Platinum: Platinum ascends into orichalcum, which is the metal of the gods. It has the statistics of adamantine for all mundane purposes. Orichalcum can store gramaric energy as a battery; every cubic foot of orichalcum can hold up to 1000 ebbs of puissance indefinitely; it's normally handled in beads, which can each store a single ebb. Orichalcum has a Diplomacy DC of 100.
    • Silver: Silver ascends into moonsteel. Moonsteel gives off an unearthly silver glow, and extends onto the Ethereal Plane. It interacts with both the corporeal and the incorporeal. Moonsteel has a Diplomacy DC of 55.
    • Tin: Tin ascends into alkahest, which is an agent of entropy. It has the normal statistics of tin, but breaks down in water to create an incredible solvent. This works like universal solvent, but can also dissolve any of the planetary metals. Any planetary metal body that spends time immersed in an alkahest solution takes a cumulative -1 penalty to its hardness every round. When its hardness reaches 0, it begins taking 1d6 nonlethal damage every round (even though objects don't normally take nonlethal damage). If the metal is removed before reaching 0 hit points, the nonlethal damage and penalty to hardness disappear. When the body's hit points reach 0, it is dissolved into the solution, adding its volume to the volume of the alkahest. If the alkahest solution is later dried out, dissolved metals can be retrieved in granular form from the solute. Alkahest has a Diplomacy DC of 50.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-08 at 06:31 PM.

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Arcanodynamics


    Image credit HeroDees of deviantart.com

    "You can't win. You can't break even. You can't quit the game."

    Spoiler
    Show
    It's well known that energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but only changed from one form to another. Although wizards don't really like to think about it much, it's generally understood that every fireball they throw channels some small portion of fire out of the vast elemental void, and as energy is lost in that translation the multiverse is a little poorer for it. Arcanodynamics is the study of the nature of magical energy exchange, and teaches techniques which can convert energy between forms. It is the root of nearly all sustainable gramarie, as it allows for self-powered machines and circuits which can run on things other than bolts of magic and intangibles such as hope or dreams.

    Arcanodynamics requires the use of advanced mathematical formulae and referral to complex enthalpy tables to calculate the rates of energy transferrals. Such material is often collected and bound into thermodynamic reference tomes. A reference like this counts as a masterwork piece of equipment, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Use Magic Device check made to prepare an arcanodynamic principle. Maxwell's Skull is a powerful magical artifact said to house the spirit of a demon knowledgable in all aspects of energy change and transfer.

    Key Skill: Use Magic Device


    ARCD 101: Intro to Arcanodynamics
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisite: None
    Target: 1 cubic foot of silver or wood
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle transforms a raw material into an arcanodynamic transformer. For a true energy conversion, you will need two arcanodynamic transformers which are touching, one designated as input, and one designated as output. As part of this principle, you make a Use Magic Device skill check to transform a volume of nonmagical material into either an input or output transformer; this decision cannot be changed later. An input transformer emits a field, a bubble with radius of up to 5ft. which absorbs a particular kind of energy in the area. If connected to an output transformer, the energy is transformed and emitted as a different kind of energy.

    An input transformer's bubble (or 'net') radius depends on how many times you prepare the principle, as normal for bubbles. For an output transformer to alter the energy absorbed, the output principle must have been prepared at least as many times as the input principle. An input transformer without an output transformer dissipates the energy absorbed into the aether, which can be useful for less complicated problems. All energy is measured in ebbs, which is a generic unit of supernatural power. A transformed can only ever channel a number of ebbs in a given round equal to the Use Magic Device check. If the energy that could be absorbed exceeds this limit, the excess is not absorbed. Transformations which provide a rate at which energy is transformed is typically by round unless specified otherwise.

    When you prepare this principle, you decide the way an input transformer will absorb energy, or you decide the way an output transformer will distribute energy. Different materials are keyed to different kinds of energy, and yes, you can mix an input and output transformer of the same material. If for any reason a single effect would be caught by two different nets at the same time, the net which was most recently set up in the area takes precedence. If it's still unclear for some reason, flip a coin.

    Anyone touching a transformer can turn the input or output effect on and off with a standard action, suppressing the bubble field. These are also logical decisions that can be made in a circuit connected to the transformer.

    This particular principle allows you to use silver and wood for arcanodynamics.

    • Silver: A silver transformer channels vital energy by creating a field that drains health or by transforming energy into pure life force.
      • Input: Vital input slowly drains health from all living creatures in the net. This deals 1 point of damage every round to every living creature inside the area. For every 6 points of damage inflicted in this way, the transformer converts the energy into a single ebb of energy. Additionally, healing effects which are used by creatures inside the area or used on creatures inside the area face a special kind of spell resistance (magnitude 5 + 5 for every ARCD principle you knew when creating the transformer). Failure indicates that all of the health that would have been granted is converted into ebbs following the normal rate. Creatures in all cases must be at least Tiny-sized in order to provide any energy from their drained vitality.
      • Output: Vital output transforms other forms of energy back into health. This targets a single living creature inside the net (either the closest to the transformer, or a specific creature may be selected as a logical decision), who regains 1d6 hit points for every ebb transformed. This is not specifically positive energy damage, so it does not damage the undead.
    • Wood: A wooden transformer channels puissance, which is a gramaric charge. Please note that this is a fairly complicated ability which is primarily used in conjunction with the discipline of heuristicism. This also deals in manipulating raw puissance, and the ebbs generated or absorbed with this kind of net are actual ebbs which can be used in a circuit. This should not be confused with most nets which simply use ebbs as a unit to represent the magnitude of the energy being moved around.
      • Input: Puissance input absorbs a gramaric charge which enters the net. This can be primarily used to interrupt or redirect a circuit created with a principle of heuristicism. If a circuit is running through the net and gramaric energy flows along it, the energy is absorbed into the transformer instead. This generates a number of ebbs for the transformer equal to one less than the number of ebbs absorbed.
      • Output: Puissance output releases a raw gramaric charge to power some component or another. The transformer must be hooked up to a circuit to use this option, as it simply releases the energy into it. This option releases a number of ebbs equal to one less than the number of ebbs transformed.



    ARCD 176: Disturbing Kinematics [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisite: Use Magic Device 4 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of iron or leather
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ARCD 101, except that it allows you to use leather and iron for your arcanodynamics in addition to any other materials you know.

    • Leather: A leather transformer channels wind energy by absorbing the momentum of air, or by creating some itself.
      • Input: Wind input dampens strong winds in the area. This effect isn't sufficient to stop someone from breathing, for example, but large volumes of air passing quickly through the area are dampened. To determine the magnitude of the reduction, first determine the 'Effective Push' (EP) stored in the wind. First, find the cross-sectional area in square feet of the projection of the net which the wind is striking. In most cases, for wind striking an entire spherical bubble, this is the area of the circle. Next, find the wind's speed, usually listed in miles per hour. Multiply these two values together to determine the EP of the wind. The wind must have an EP of at least 5 in order for it to be damped. The speed of the wind is reduced by up to 50 miles per hour, and this generates a number of ebbs equal to 1 ebb for every 1,000 EP absorbed. Multiple leather input nets can cover the same area, potentially reducing further the speed of very strong winds. If the wind was specifically targeted at you (such as a gust of wind spell) targets behind you are shielded from the effect. For more atmospheric winds, you offer no protection to those outside the bubble.
      • Output: Wind output creates 250 EP of wind for every ebb transformed. This can be directed in any direction you like, just like a spell (for reference, a typical gust of wind carries approximately 1,250 EP). You can choose the cross-sectional area of the wind released; decreasing this increases the speed of the wind. Winds released which are at least 25 square feet in cross-section are treated as area effects which cannot be avoided, only weathered like normal wind. Wind gusts below that cross-sectional size are treated as projectiles which must be aimed with a ranged touch attack. Wind blasts lose 5 miles per hour of speed for every 10ft. the travel away from the transformer.
    • Iron: An iron transformer channels spin energy by increasing or decreasing angular momentum.
      • Input: Spin input robs spinning objects and creatures of their angular momentum, making it impossible for them to turn. Any rotating object, such as a top, a gyroscope, or a carousel, brought into the area of the net is immediately halted, and cannot be started spinning again while it remains in the area. Similarly, creatures inside of the area cannot make changes to their direction; they must continue to travel in the same direction while they remain in the field. If someone ends their turn inside the net's area, they are allowed a Balance check against the Use Magic Device check of the net in order to make corrections to their path before they begin their next turn. Physical projectiles that pass through the area lose their spin, becoming less accurate and taking a -4 penalty to hit. This net is usually used for its side-effects, and is difficult to actually generate power with, but in the case of a very large object or creature (at least Medium size) which is spinning such at a sustained rate of at least 10 revolutions per minute (RPM), it generates a number of ebbs equal to its space in squares, multiplied by its rotational speed in RPM, divided by 10 as it is halted.
      • Output: Spin output sets an object or creature inside of the net to rotating about any axis which passes through their center of gravity that you like (chosen as a logical decision). The object gains rotational velocity in RPM equal to the number of ebbs converted, multiplied by 5, and divided by its space in squares. This is typically a trip attempt against a creature, against a DC of half the Use Magic Device check of the transformer. If the object is already spinning in the opposite direction, it instead slows down by that amount.



    ARCD 204: Nonlinear Waves
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisite: ARCD 101, Use Magic Device 8 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of crystal or gold
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ARCD 101, except that it allows you to use crystal and gold for your arcanodynamics in addition to any other materials you know.

    • Crystal: A crystal transformer channels sonic energy by absorbing or creating vibrations.
      • Input: Sonic input absorbs sound and resonance within the net. This creates a silence effect inside the net. Any sound which is negated is transformed into energy. Regular noise from four creatures is transformed into one ebb per round. Sonic effects are also transformed. For every 6 sonic damage negated, one ebb is generated.
      • Output: Sonic output releases, appropriately enough, sound. This can either be in the form of controlled sound or as a sonic blast. Controlled sound generates a create sound effect, with a manifester level equal to the number of ebbs transformed. The sound created is specified when the transformer is first prepared, but can also be altered by anyone holding the transformer. Alternatively, if a sonic blast is created, it takes the form of a cone of sonic damage. The cone is aimed in a predetermined direction, but can be turned by anyone holding the transformer. It has a cone size of 10ft. per ebb and deals 1d6 sonic damage per ebb transformed. The cone offers a Fortitude save for half damage against a DC of the Use Magic Device check.
    • Gold: A golden transformer channels luminous energy by absorbing or emitting light.
      • Input: Luminous input transforms ambient light into energy, creating a field of darkness inside the net. It generates energy every turn based on the ambient light. Full daylight generates 3 ebbs per round, normal light generates 2 ebbs per round, and shadowy illumination generates 1 ebb per round. Alternatively, any effect which specifies bright or searing light dealing damage, such as searing light which passes through the net is negated, and transformed into 1 ebb per caster level (or per 8 points of damage, if not a magical effect).
      • Output: Luminous output generates illumination within the bubble. The level of the illumination depends on the amount of energy transformed. If 2 ebbs are transformed, shadowy illumination is generated. If 3 ebbs are transformed, normal light is generated. If 4 ebbs are transformed, full daylight (including all benefits related to daylight, such as its effects on vampires) is generated. A specific level of radiance can be set when the transformer is first prepared, and the level can be modulated by anyone holding the transformer. Excess energy is transformed into a bolt of searing light, which can be released in a predetermined direction or aimed by anyone holding or directing the transformer (or as a logical decision). The bolt of light deals 1d8 damage per ebb, and works as a ranged touch attack with a maximum range of 100ft. per ebb.



    ARCD 230: Interpretive Charges [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisite: ARCD 101, Use Magic Device 8 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of copper or tin
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ARCD 101, except that it allows you to use copper and tin for your arcanodynamics in addition to any other materials you know.

    • Copper: A copper transformer channels electric energy by generating or dissipating loose electrons at a molecular level.
      • Input: Electric input absorbs electric damage. Any effect that deals electric damage which either targets something inside the net or which passes through the net is absorbed. 1 ebb is generated for every 6 electricity damage negated. Specifically magnetic effects that target any metal inside the net are negated as well (including from mundane magnets or a repel metal or stone effect). For every 100 lb. of metal which is prevented from moving due to a magnetic effect, 1 ebb is generated, to a maximum of 10 ebbs every round.
      • Output: Electric output releases an electric current. This can take the form of a generic bolt of lightning or a sustained charge. Bolts of lightning released deal 1d6 electricity damage per ebb transformed, and take the form of a line with 20ft. of length per ebb. By default bolts of lightning target the nearest metal object within range but outside of the net, but they can be aimed by anyone holding the transformer. Alternatively, a sustained current is transferred into conductive metal touching the transformer, and creates an electric potential of 1 volt per ebb transformed. The form of transformer to be used is determined when the transformer is first prepared.
    • Tin: A tin transformer channels acidic energy by generating or dissipating protons at a molecular level.
      • Input: Acid input neutralizes acidic media that enter the net. Every pint of acid neutralized like this generates 1 ebb. Neutralized acid is considered to have all of its original properties, except it deals no acid damage. This neutralizes loose acids, but not acid which is required for life, such as stomach acid while it is still in the stomach. Pure acid damage is also absorbed; any effect which deals acid damage against a target inside the net or which passes through the net is absorbed, generating 1 ebb for every 6 acid damage negated.
      • Output: Acid output transforms a liquid into an acid. It targets a reservoir of liquid with a volume of at least 1 pint which is within the net; by default the closest such body to the transformer is targetted. The reservoir becomes acidic, and is treated as a body of acid from a flask of acid. Every pint of liquid is equivalent to a single acid flask; excess ebbs increase the acid damage, at a rate of 1 ebb for every 1d6 extra acid damage for every pint. For example, if the transformer targets a 3-pint container of water, 12 ebbs transformed would create the equivalent of 3 acid flasks worth of acid which each deal 4d6 acid damage (or 4 damage to creatures within 5ft. of a hit). Anyone controlling the transformer can choose which reservoir within the net to target. The target liquid retains all of its original properties, it just also deals acid damage as a splash weapon.



    ARCD 350: Unlikely Thermodynamics
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisite: Any three ARCD principles, Use Magic Device 15 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of ice or mercury
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ARCD 101, except that it allows you to use mercury and ice for your arcanodynamics in addition to any other materials you know. These uses very much oppose one another, and a lot of the time anything you could do with one can be done with a clever application of the other.

    • Ice: A transformer made of ice channels fire by absorbing or emitting heat. Note that solid ice is required; if the transformer melts, it's effectively destroyed.
      • Input: Heat input creates a field of room temperature (20 degrees Centigrade), unless the ambient temperature is less than that, in which case the net maintains the ambient temperature instead. If the ambient temperature is greater than the temperature in the net, the extra heat is absorbed into the net, at a rate of 1 ebb generated for every 10 degrees Centigrade greater than the temperature in the net. Fire damage is also transformed; any effect which deals fire damage against something within the net or which passes through the net is absorbed, at a rate of 1 ebb generated for every 6 fire damage.
      • Output: Heat output warms the area of the net by 5 degrees Centigrade for every ebb transformed. Alternatively, the temperature can be fixed to a specific point warmer than the ambient temperature, in which case the excess energy is transformed into a bolt of flame. A specific temperature difference can be chosen when the transformer is first prepared, or selected by anyone holding the transformer. Extra energy becomes a line of fire, with a size of 20ft. per ebb. This is aimed in either a predetermined direction or aimed as chosen by someone holding the transformer. The fire bolt deals 1d6 fire damage per ebb used in it, with a Reflex save (DC equal to the Use Magic Device check) for half damage. Note that the specific temperature selected can actually just be 'ambient temperature', in which case all of the energy absorbed is channeled into the fire bolt.
    • Mercury: A transformer made of mercury channels cold energy by directly controlling molecular motion. Note that solid mercury is required, and if the transformer melts, it's effectively destroyed.
      • Input: Cold input creates a field of room temperature (20 degrees Centigrade), unless the ambient temperature is greater than that, in which case the net mainains the ambient temperature instead. If the ambient temperature is lower than the temperature in the net, the extra cold is absorbed into the net, at a rate of 1 ebb generated for every 10 degrees Centigrade lower than the temperature in the net. Cold damage is also transformed; any effect which deals cold damage against something within the net or which passes through the net is absorbed, at a rate of 1 ebb generated for every 6 cold damage.
      • Output: Cold output chills the area of the net by 5 degrees Centigrade for every ebb transformed. Alternatively, the temperature can be fixed to a specific point colder than the ambient temperature, in which case the excess energy is transformed into a cone of cold. A specific temperature difference can be chosen when the transformer is first prepared, or selected by anyone holding the transformer. The ambient temperature can never fall below -273.15 degrees Centigrade. Extra energy becomes a cone of cold, with a size of 10ft. per ebb. This is aimed in either a predetermined direction or aimed as chosen by someone holding the transformer. The cone deals 1d6 cold damage per ebb used in it, with a Fortitude save (DC equal to the Use Magic Device check) for half damage. Note that the specific temperature selected can actually just be 'ambient temperature', in which case all of the energy absorbed is channeled into the fire bolt.


    ARCD 365: Unsubstantiated Light [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisite: Any four ARCD principles, Use Magic Device 15 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of lead or platinum
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ARCD 101, except that it allows you to use lead and platinum for your arcanodynamics in addition to any other materials you know.
    • Lead: A leaden transformer channels nuclear energy by capturing and controlling the energy contained within radiomantic materials.
      • Input: Radiomantic input absorbs the negative levels that a radiomantic element normally gives off (typically sunmetal, as described in alchemetrics). Every cubic foot of radiomantic material that is inside the net produces 10 ebbs every round. A single cubic foot of radiomantic material can provide up to 10 minutes of energy before it becomes inert. While it is within a lead input net, radiomantic material can be handled safely and cannot explode.
      • Output: Radiomantic output deals negative levels to everyone in the area at a rate of 1 per round. The DC to remove them is 25. Every negative level given out requires 5 ebbs; the field starts by targeting the lowest Hit Die creature in the area, and working its way up from there. Excess ebbs are transformed into 1d6 hellfire damage each that is dealt as a lump sum to every creature inside of the net (Fortitude save against the Use Magic Device check for half damage).
    • Platinum: A platinum transformer channels faith by refracting the prayers of the faithful and interceding in the flow of the divine.
      • Input: Prayer input creates a field where prayers do not reach their target deity. This blocks the ability for a deity to hear or acknowledge the prayers of their followers. Even a salient divine ability such as True Knowledge is unable to penetrate the divine firewall established in the area. This field absorbs prayers and chants of faith, as well as attempts to regain divine spells. Particular spells which specifically request a boon from a patron deity, such as a miracle spell or a commune spell are similarly absorbed. Every round, a single devout being inside the area praying generates 1 ebb of puissance; this petitioner must be truly of the faith, and not merely going through the motions. Churches that can afford them regularly use platinum transformers to test their congregation's faithfulness (and who says science and religion can't get along?). If a divine spellcaster attempts to regain their spells while in a platinum inpur field, they fail to regain any spell slots, and 1 ebb is generated for every spell level that they would have regained. A specific spell that requests intercession which is cast in the field similarly fails, and also produces 1 ebb per spell level.
      • Output: Prayer output transforms energy into prayers which are sent to a particular pantheon or deity. A platinum transformer can be prepared to specifically target one patron, or it can be built more generally, in which case the target deity or pantheon can be changed as a logical decision for the transformer. Prayers take many forms, but in general this consists of a message effect, sent directly to the patron (or to their agents, depending on how that deity deals with prayers). The message can contain a number of words equal to the amount of puissance put out in ebbs. This is often a convenient way of providing gods with raw power, as many of them can make use of puissance themselves; typically the target deity generates 1 ebb for every five words in the message. If at least 3 ebbs are transmitted in this way, a consecrate effect occurs in the output net for a good-aligned deity, and a desecrate effect occurs for an evil deity. Prayers sent to neutral deities can generate either kind of field, as chosen with a logical decision. The effect lasts for 1 hour per word transmitted. If at least 15 ebbs are sent to a deity using this kind of tranformer, a temporary hallow or unhallow effect occurs, as appropriate, for the same amount of time (no material component required). If at least 100 ebbs are transformed into prayer, a miracle is generated in the area (effective caster level equal to half the Use Magic Device check). The exact details of the miracle vary, and can be chosen as a logical decision, but are limited to any of the effects which do not require an XP expenditure.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-11 at 09:57 PM. Reason: maths are hards

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Biollurgy


    Image credit kachima of deviantart.com

    "You must know life to see decay."

    Spoiler
    Show
    The meaning of life has always been one of the biggest fascinations of intelligent species, as they try to divine some purpose to the chaos they find themselves in. The question of whether life inherently has some preordained purpose is much more interesting when you actually have a bunch of superpowerful creatures that claim to be deities that created you. However, some gramarists explore other possibilities for the nature of existence, and their studies inevitably lead them to the discipline of biollurgy. This discipline allows a gramarist to explore the nature of the living and the material, and to create order from random mutation; it allows them to explore the kinds of systems that might have once led to their own existence.

    Biollurgy involves typical medical supplies, including syringes, knives, and anatomical charts. More interestingly, it also requires rudimentary electrical equipment, including wiring, voltaic cells, and an archaic form of welder known as a phlogistifier. Any specialized equipment like this is treated as a masterwork item, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Heal check made to prepare a biollurgical principle. The Vitruvian Man is a legendary schematic which shows the secret geometry of the flesh and how it can be worked into the cold precision of a machine.

    Key Skill: Heal


    BIOY 101: Intro to Biollurgy
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisite: None
    Target: 1 cubic foot of organic material or solid planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle transforms either inanimate or organic material into a kind of material which lies somewhere in-between: biostructure. Biostructure shares traits with both creatures and objects. As part of this principle, you make a Heal check. You can target either living or dead organic material, or any kind of planetary metal (copper, lead, gold, iron, mercury, platinum, silver, or tin) with this principle. However, you can only target one kind of metal or one creature with every preparation, and you must prepare this principle consecutively enough times to target the entire metal body or creature (or at least a part of the creature that has been separated from the whole). Biostructure is a kind of organic metal material, and looks like flesh, bone, muscle, and metal twisted together in a semblance of life.

    Biostructure is treated as both a creature and an object. A mass of biostructure has the Aberration type, and although it has Strength and Dexterity scores of 0 and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores of –, it does have a Constitution score. Biostructure has a Constitution score of your Heal check divided by 5, plus 10. A mass of biostructure has one Hit Die per inch of thickness (the first one is maximized, as normal). It receives bonus hit points based on its Constitution modifier, as normal for a creature. Biostructure is mindless, and thus is immune to any effect requiring a Will saving throw. It is also treated as an unattended object, and automatically fails any effect requiring a Reflex saving throw. It makes Fortitude saving throws as normal.

    Biostructure also has hardness; if it was created from a metal, it has the hardness of that metal. If it was created from a creature with damage reduction /–, it uses that number instead. Otherwise, it has a hardness of 2. Biostructure also continually repairs itself, and has fast healing of half its hardness (minimum 1). Like an object, biostructure can also be broken with a sharp application of force. The break DC of biostructure is 10 + its Hit Dice + its Constitution modifier. Unlike most objects, biostructure is living matter and is vulnerable to critical hits, precision-based damage, death effects, bleeding effects, and so on. Biostructure has the same energy resistances of most objects, receiving half damage from electricity and fire, and one-quarter damage from cold. If the biostructure was made out of a metal with different energy resistances, these resistances are used instead. Similarly, it also retains any alchemetric modifications, up to and including special properties of ascended metals. Biostructure is not automatically destroyed at 0 hit points, but instead bleeds out like a living creature.

    Biostructure is always treated as either a living creature or an object for any effect which specifically targets one or the other; for example, it receives full benefit from mundane healing with the Heal skill, a cure light wounds effect, or an effect that repairs objects such as the Craft skill. In general, biostructure can have any of the same conditions applied to it as a living creature, except where its non-ability scores would invalidate it (for example, it can be lit on fire, but cannot be fascinated). Biostructure does not melt or boil, but instead burns like an organic material. It weighs as much as the material that you used to create it.

    You can also use this principle to join two masses of biostructure together into a single one. The combined mass has the worst of all of the individual statistics between the two masses, but adds the volume of them together. Preparing this principle also lets you shape the biostructure however you like based on its volume. Living creatures who object to you transforming part of them into biostructure or attaching more biostructure to them are allowed a Fortitude save to resist the procedure, against a DC of 5 + 5 for every BIOY principle you know.

    Whenever you prepare this principle, you set a new Heal check for the mass as normal, which potentially changes its hit points. You can also reshape it, potentially changing its thickness and thus Hit Dice. If any change would add new hit points, it receives them healed on top of its previous hit points. However, preparing this principle doesn't heal damage that was previously dealt to the biostructure. If Hit Dice or hit points are removed from, hit points that the biostructure still has are removed first, potentially destroying the biostructure if it has received unhealed damage in any given location.

    Biostructure doesn't need to eat or drink, but it does breathe (usually through noisy, rasping lungs that gasp at the air), which means that it can convert gases from one form to another. Your options for this conversion are between any two of the following gases: oxygen, carbon dioxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, or water vapour. One cubic foot of animate structure can transform up to a quarter of a gallon of gas every round. The particular gas conversion performed by a mass of biostructure is set when you prepare this principle, and can be changed by preparing it again; joining biostructure lets you pick either gas conversion to be dominant for the joined mass. Similarly, it also can only survive in a set temperature range (no more than a 100 degree Centigrade spread). You can set this range when you prepare the principle; ambient temperatures outside this range are treated as extreme weather for the biostructure.


    BIOY 191: Blacksmithing for Biologists [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisite: Heal 4 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of biostructure
    Preparation Time: Special

    This principle transforms a mass of biostructure into a usable good. Any tool which can normally be made out of metal or of animal products can be made from biostructure. This includes any finished object which can be made with a Craft check, but does not include food or water.

    More interestingly however, the finished good retains all of the properties associated with biostructure, including fast healing, gas conversion, counting as a creature, and so on. You can also use this on a biollurgical chassis to create worn objects which are essentially 'permanently worn' by them, such as a suit of armour. The chassis must have an appropriate empty body equipment slot in order for you to shape them like this. In order to make anything fancy or magical, you'll need the appropriate crafting feat as normal. Otherwise, as long as you have at least 1 rank in the appropriate Craft skill, you can use your Heal skill in place of the normal Craft check. This principle takes as long to prepare as it would normally take to craft the item; the upside is that the object is alive, you don't need to pay for materials, and you can use your Heal skill instead.


    BIOY 228: Animate Construction
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisite: BIOY 101, Heal 8 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of biostructure OR a finished chassis
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle transforms a freestanding mass of biostructure into what's known as a biollurgical chassis. A chassis is a collection of biostructure given a form of actual life. It gains a Strength score and a Dexterity score, which combined equal twice the Constitution score of the mass. The exact values are set when this principle is first prepared, and neither the Strength nor the Dexterity can be more than twice the value of the other. The chassis has an Intelligence of 1 or 2 (chosen by you), a Wisdom score of 10, and a Charisma score of 2. This change makes it vulnerable to a wider range of effects, and it responds to many things like a creature now (such as effects requiring Reflex saves). However, it is still made of biostructure, and counts as an object for all relevant purposes as described in BIOY 101; it also keeps its hardness (but loses its fast healing).

    This principle is possibly unique in that once a chassis has been created, this principle cannot be reprepared on it to add mass or change its fundamental statistics. Instead, it is immutable after taking on life of its own. Thus, to create a chassis larger than 1 cubic foot, a longer amount of time must be spent on multiple preparations of this principle at the point of original conception. For example, by spending eight hours at the outset, the chassis could be 8 cubic feet in volume, unchangeable afterwards. As part of this principle you make a Heal check, which must match or exceed the Heal check originally made to create the biostructure; upon success, this becomes the new Heal check of the chassis. Failure indicates the principle doesn't take hold, but the time spent on it is still wasted.

    A chassis has different Hit Dice than a normal mass of biostructure. It trades its normal Hit Dice for a single Aberration Hit Die, and gains an additional Hit Die for every size category above Medium. It has a full complement of senses, including colour vision, normal human hearing, scent, taste, and touch. A biollurgical chassis cannot advance by nature of its racial Hit Dice, and never seems to wear out or grow old. It is never at risk of dying from old age, but also cannot reproduce. Now that it has true life, it also requires a normal diet, including water to drink and food to eat. When you prepare this principle you can decide whether the chassis subsists on vegetable matter (herbivorous), animal matter (carnivorous), or both (omnivorous). Whatever you decide, a chassis requires its own body weight in food every month. It also requires a full 8 hours of sleep every night. The chassis has a maximum ground speed of 20ft., plus 10ft. for every size category above Small. You can also decide exactly what the chassis looks like: it can either resemble dead and decayed flesh, sewn-together body parts, a horrifying monstrosity of protruding eyes, flesh, bone, and metal, or a robot. Your DM may allow other aesthetics upon request.

    Your chassis does not have any natural weapons or other features normally. However, you can add some features later on by preparing this principle again on a finished chassis. This causes the chassis to twist and mutate and grow in strange new ways; this procedure works very much like a xenoalchemical graft. You don't need to have the normal class features to perform this, or any monstrous material. A chassis can have up to three features grown onto it in this way, and each one requires a new preparation of this principle. Every time you add a feature you need to match the Heal check originally made to create the chassis. Success indicates that you can add a single graft of 1st or 2nd level. These grafts are not restricted by normal body slots, since there's no telling what the chassis looks like at this point. This principle can also grow one 0-level graft as well, representing mundane appearances or handicaps built into the chassis. This doesn't take up a normal slot. The xenoalchemist level for any graft grown like this is equal to the Hit Dice of the chassis, and the saving throw against one of these grafts' effects has a DC of 10 + 1/2 the chassis' HD + the chassis' Constitution modifier.

    By default a chassis has up to two manipulative limbs, such as arms or pincer claws. It also has a full complement of body slots to wear magic items or to receive further grafts. However, if you want to get a little more creative with the anatomy, you can trade out body slots in either of these two cases at a rate of 2:1 at the moment of conception. That is, by removing two body slots you can add another of an existing slot, such as removing the Legs and Throat graft slots to add another Arms graft slot. Once you decide on the anatomy like this, it can't be changed.


    BIOY 273: Artificial Reckoning [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisite: BIOY 101, Heal 8 ranks
    Target: A finished chassis
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle grants some kind of advanced control or intelligence to a biollurgical chassis. As part of this principle, you make a Heal check, which must match or exceed the original Heal check made to create the chassis. Upon success, you must choose one of the following options. A chassis can have more than one of them (aside from Circuited and Sentience simultaneously).

    • Circuited: The chassis loses its Intelligence score entirely again, and becomes mindless. However, it is now a valid node for a heuristical circuit (created by HEUR 101) to target, and the actions of the chassis are now considered a logical decision for such a circuit. Commands can be given in plain language through the circuit, and it can relay sensory information back into the circuit. Advanced features, such as triggers and responses, can be placed on the chassis' behaviour like normal for any part of a heuristical circuit. An exotic intelligence in the circuit can control the chassis as if it was the brain of the creature. A sentient chassis is allowed a Will saving throw to resist this, against a DC of 5 + 5 for every BIOY principle you know.
    • Instincts: The chassis receives up to 10 broad instructions that dictate its general behaviour, although it is unable to think beyond them. These are more instincts than anything else, such as 'search for food', 'follow directions', 'hunt birds', and so on. If you prepare this principle multiple times, you can add additional instincts. A sentient chassis is allowed a Will saving throw to resist this, against a DC of 5 + 5 for every BIOY principle you know.
    • Sentience: The chassis' Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores increase to 10. It is now fully sentient and self-aware, and can take actions in its own self-interest. It automatically learns and can speak Common, and is eligible to take levels in any NPC or PC class that it qualifies for (although until it does, it keeps its first Aberration Hit Die, like any intelligent creature). This also grants the chassis a soul.



    BIOY 340: Erratic Mutations
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisite: Any three BIOY principles, Heal 15 ranks
    Target: A finished chassis
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle allows further alteration and mutation of a biollurgical chassis. As part of this principle, you make a Heal check, which must match or exceed the original Heal check made to create the chassis. Upon success, you can cause a new graft to grow from it, as if you were using BIOY 228. However, this principle targets three new graft slots, which can hold 3rd or 4th level grafts. Otherwise, this works exactly like the grafting version of BIOY 228.


    BIOY 381: Eccentric Genetics [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisite: Any four BIOY principles, Heal 15 ranks
    Target: A finished chassis
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle allows you to modify the genetics of a biollurgical chassis, allowing it to grow and propagate beyond its original design. As part of this principle, you make a Heal check, which must match or exceed the original Heal check made to create the chassis. The chassis can now advance in Hit Dice like a normal creature, and it advances by one size category with every 5 extra Hit Dice (to a maximum of up to three size categories beyond its original size; the maximum size is set when you prepare this principle). You can also set one method of your choice for the chassis to reproduce, such as asexual budding, normal mammalian reproduction (in which case the chassis gains gender, and you can immediately spend 12 hours making an identical chassis of the other gender), egg-laying, and so on. Along with these changes, the chassis loses its immunity to old age; you can set a maximum age, anywhere up to your Heal check result in years. Adult age, middle age, old age, and venerable age are determined accordingly.

    When the chassis reproduces, certain features are passed down. Instincts are inherited, or sentience if the chassis is sentient. Grafts are also inherited, although every child has a 1% chance per graft (1 on a d100) of an inherited graft being the graft 1d4 spots down its list instead (looping around to the top of the list if the roll would take it past the final graft, and moving down one graft further if the new graft requires a prerequisite the chassis doesn't have). Only one such mutation can occur per child. 0-level grafts are also always mutated, causing similar but slightly different appearances from the parent; they don't count as a primary mutation, however.

    Reproduction requires a certain gestation period, based on the size of the initial creature to be born (that is, the size category at the lowest Hit Dice). The gestation period is 1 month, with an additional four months for every size category above Tiny. Reproduction is possible when a chassis reaches adulthood.

    Otherwise, the species breeds true, and is for all intents and purposes a new creature fresh from the Monster Manual.


    Playing as a Biollurgical Creature: A chassis is viable as a PC. With your DM, follow the guidelines with these principles to design a race, or your DM might use them to design new artificial species for her campaign setting. A chassis has a Level Adjustment of +1 for a basic Medium-sized race that has a Heal check of 10, sentience, and three 1st or 2nd level grafts. A chassis that also has three 3rd or 4th level grafts instead has a Level Adjustment of +3. Being made out of exceptionally sturdy or alchemetrically altered materials could also raise the Level Adjustment by an additional +1 or +2 based on the extra advantage.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-11 at 10:01 PM.

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Eldrikinetics


    Image credit Osokin of deviantart.com

    "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
    And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings"

    Spoiler
    Show
    The nature of motion is one of the oldest problems of mankind; as a species we seem to be addicted to speed, and other humanoid races are no better. The ability to transport materials at high speeds and across great distances makes many amazing feats of civilization possible. Eldrikinetics is the study of magical principles which can create this movement using powerful thaumaturgical engines. An eldrikinetic ship scoffs at gravity!

    Eldrikinetics typically makes use of predrawn sets of blueprints, schematics, and parametric drawings of various engines and vehicles. Other useful supplies include pendulums and springs to test various principles of motion. Any piece of equipment like this counts as masterwork, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Concentration check made to prepare an eldrikinetic principle. A particularly famous kinetic device is the Foucalt Pendulum, which is said to be able to control the motion of the earth itself.

    Key Skill: Concentration


    ELDK 101: Intro to Eldrikinetics
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: 1 cubic foot of material
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle transforms a mass of material into an eldrikinetic engine. An engine can generate a certain amount of Push, which is a kind of imparted momentum. Every engine has a particular kind of fuel which can be used to generate its Push, although all of them can also run off of pure puissance if they're hooked up to a circuit. When an engine generates Push, it moves itself in a certain direction, and brings anything attached to it along for the ride.

    To determine how fast a structure moves, you need two things: the magnitude of the Push, and the Bulk rating of the object (including the engine). The Bulk rating can be found from the following chart:

    {table=head]Size Category|Bulk Rating
    Fine|1
    Diminutive|8
    Tiny|27
    Small|64
    Medium|125
    Large|216
    Huge|343
    Gargantuan|512
    Colossal|729
    Enormous|1,000
    Immense|1,331
    Behemothic|1,728
    Cavernous|2,197
    Mountainous|2,744
    Vast|3,375
    Unusally heavy (stone, metal, etc)|x 2
    Unusually light (cotton candy, paper, etc)|x 1/2[/table]

    For example, a single simple orthogonal engine has a Bulk rating of 54 (Tiny size for a 8 cubic foot block, multiplied by 2 for being unusally dense).

    Determining the speed is the fun part, and is slightly more maths-requisite. Get a calculator! You divide the Push generated by the Bulk rating of the thing moving. Then round down. Multiply this value by 30 feet per round. Ta-da! You now have the speed your object moves every round. Control systems are relatively simple to install (DC 20 Knowledge [Architecture and Engineering] check) in order to steer the craft.

    Like any principle, if this principle is prepared more than once you can end up with an engine much larger than normal. For every additional time you prepare this principle you need an additional volume of the appropriate material as described for each engine; the entire engine must be a single solid unit no matter the size. If you supply enough fuel for the extra size you get extra Push out of it. So, for example, if you spend three hours preparing an engine which is three times as large as normal and feed it three times the normal fuel required, it generates three times the normal Push. If you feed it less fuel than the maximum, the entire engine still moves, but only produces Push equivalent to the fuel used. When you combine into a larger engine like this, you're said to have multiple engines in parallel.

    For ease of reference, here's the speed of some basic Bulks, against up to five engines in parallel. Note that there are certain benchmarks for speed. At a speed of 1,800ft. objects can now be considered as projectiles for ranged attacks (this speed is hereafter known as projectile speed). These objects deal damage based on their weight, as described in Complete Warrior. At a speed of 6,698ft. the speed of sound is broken, also known as mach 1. Similarly, mach 2 is a speed of 13,397ft. and mach 3 is a speed of 20,096ft.

    Projectiles also deal additional damage based on their momentum; the faster an object goes, the more damage it deals. For every 1,000 ft. beyond projectile speed, an projectile deals an additional 1d6 damage of the same type as it typically deals, to a maximum amount of speed bonus damage equal to the Concentration check of the engine that launched it.

    At mach 1, objects are considered projectiles for ranged touch attacks. At mach 2, they also catch enemies flat-footed unless the target has uncanny dodge. At mach 3, they deal double their normal damage (including double the speed bonus damage), with the extra damage being sonic energy damage.

    At certain Bulk Ratings you run into a maximum speed. This is the maximum speed that can be achieved from a single engine or set of engines in parallel. In order to exceed the listed maximum speed, an object would need two or more entirely separate sets of engines acting on it simultaneously.

    {table=head]Bulk Rating|Example Object|100 Push|200 Push|300 Push|400 Push|500 Push|Maximum Speed
    1|Wood chip|Projectile|Projectile|Mach 1|Mach 1|Mach 2|Mach 3
    2|Bullet|1,500ft.|Projectile|Projectile|Projectile |Mach 1|Mach 3
    8|Arrow|360ft.|750ft.|1,110ft.|1,500ft.|Projectile |Mach 3
    27|Spitoon|90ft.|210ft.|330ft.|420ft.|540ft.|Mach 2
    64|Chest of drawers|30ft.|90ft.|120ft.|180ft.|210ft.|Mach 2
    125|Human with a jetpack|-|30ft.|60ft.|90ft.|120ft.|Mach 1
    216|Automotive|-|-|30ft.|30ft.|60ft.|Mach 1
    343|Light aircraft|-|-|-|30ft.|30ft.|Mach 1
    512|Pirate ship|-|-|-|-|-|Projectile
    729|Tarrasque with a jetpack|-|-|-|-|-|900ft.
    1,000|Small house|-|-|-|-|-|450ft.
    1,331|Big house|-|-|-|-|-|240ft.
    1,728|Temeraire|-|-|-|-|-|120ft.
    2,197|The Chrysler Building|-|-|-|-|-|60ft.
    2,744|The Hindenburg|-|-|-|-|-|30ft.
    3,375|Flying island fortress|-|-|-|-|-|30ft.[/table]

    An engine has a set amount of Push that it generates, but that is a maximum. When this principle is first prepared, you can set the Push output to any number you like up to the maximum value. This can be changed later with a comparable Concentration check to the one made when the engine was set up. It should also be noted that an engine produces Push (and, consequently, speed) which occurs in the space that the engine is inside. This means that the engine must have more than 50% of its volume inside of the dimension where it's producing its Push.

    As part of this principle you make a Concentration check. The Concentration check doesn't really come into play much, but if anyone tries to dismantle the engine, the Disable Device DC is equal to your Concentration check.

    This principle allows you to make the following engine:

    • Simple Orthogonal: A simple orthogonal engine uses wood as a fuel source and is made out of iron. It requires 1 log of wood for 1 minute of operation, during which it generates 100 points of Push per round. This engine pushes orthogonally to the gravity in the area, which means that it moves horizontally along whatever plane it is on. A simple orthogonal engine can also be sustained for one round with 2 ebbs of puissance.



    ELDK 150: Kinetic Conversions [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: Concentration 4 ranks
    Target: 1 eldrikinetic engine
    Preparation Time: 10 minutes

    This principle prepares an engine for use; preparing it allows you convert appropriate fuel into puissance, which is stored inside of the engine. This puissance is essentially locked inside the engine, and cannot be retrieved except through conversion into Push during operation. Any engine can store enough puissance like this for either 10 activations (if use-activated) or 20 rounds of sustained motion (if sustained). This principle also gives you explicit permission to reflavour and reshape the engine so that it looks like whatever you want. I mean, you can do that already, but most people were thinking they were just, like, metal blocks. Anyway, now they look like whatever you like that fits the material and volume requirements.


    ELDK 219: Atypical Ballistics
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: ELDK 101, Concentration 8 ranks
    Target: 1 cubic foot of material
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ELDK 101, but you can also build the following engine:

    • Ballistic: A ballistic engine uses bone as a fuel source and is made out of copper. It requires 1 pound of bone (about a human armbone), at which point it can be activated three times before refuelling. Unlike most engines, a ballistic engine imparts its Push to an object it's touching instead of to itself. The object is then launched at any angle the operator likes. This allows the engine to make actual ranged attacks with the object being launched if it is moving fast enough. Every time the engine is activated it generates a one-time burst (instead of sustained motion) of 500 points of Push. A ballistic engine can also be charged for a single use with 3 ebbs of puissance. Objects launched with a ballistic engine have a range increment of 1/20 their speed (round down).


    Ballistic engines are treated as ranged weapons, and can be enchanted or enhanced just like one.


    ELDK 276: Unnatural Propulsion [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: ELDK 101, Concentration 8 ranks
    Target: 2 cubic feet of material
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ELDK 101, but you can also build the following engines:

    • Ascending: An ascending engine uses daylight as a fuel source and is made out of silver. It requires full daylight to operate, but as long as it is in an area of full daylight it generates 200 points of Push per round. In the light of the full moon it is even more effective, and can generate twice this amount. This engine pushes upwards, opposing the direction that gravity is acting on the engine. An ascending engine can also be sustained for one round with 4 ebbs of puissance.
    • Submerging: A submerging engine uses blood as a fuel source and is made out of flesh. It requires 1 gallon of fluid blood for 1 minute of operation, during which it generates 200 points of Push per round. This engine pushes downwards, in the same direction as gravity is acting on the engine. A submerging engine can also be sustained for one round with 4 ebbs of puissance.


    It's also important to note that if a vehicle has both a powered ascending or submerging engine as well as a powered simple orthogonal engine, it can act as if it had a special movement speed. This is called a two-part engine. The combination of ascending and orthogonal provides a fly speed, and the combination of submerging and orthogonal provides a swim speed (assuming the vessel is otherwise suitable). The speed is equal to the lower of the two speeds per round available from the composite engines. With a fly speed the vessel is treated as having an average maneuverability for any relevant purposes. That being said, if you'd rather work out the actual logistics of the exact activations and headings of the two Pushes, feel free. This is merely a simplification for ease of gameplay.


    ELDK 355: Strange Locomotion
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three ELDK principles, Concentration 15 ranks
    Target: 8 cubic feet of material
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ELDK 101, but you can also build the following bizarre engines:

    • Badgerdrawn: A badgerdrawn engine uses nuts and acorns as a fuel source and is made out of stone. It requires 5 pounds (about a cubic foot) of nuts or acorns for 1 minute of burrowing, during which it generates 800 points of Push per round. This engine can only be used when it is in contact with dirt or loosely packed earth, and allows the engine and whatever it is attached to to burrow through the dirt. The engine can pull its structure through dirt or loose earth in any direction, but cannot pull it out of the earth. A badgerdrawn engine is also sustained for one round with 10 ebbs of puissance.
    • Beeform: A beeform engine uses honey as a fuel source and is made out of amber. It requires 1 gallon of honey for 1 minute spent in bee form, during which it generates 1000 points of Push per round. This engine, while active, transforms the engine and whatever structure it is attached to into a swarm of bees. The affected structure and any creature on board into an intelligent swarm, temporarily giving it the Swarm subtype. The Push can be used to move it in any direction above ground, and counts as a fly speed appropriate to the speed granted by the Push. It counts as having a perfect maneuverability for all relevant purposes. A beeform engine can also be sustained for one round with 10 ebbs of puissance.
    • Lightningleap: A lightningleap engine uses electricity as a fuel source and is made out of solid mercury. It needs to draw 20 amps of electric current for 6 seconds in order to charge up for every leap it makes. Every leap provides the equivalent of 1000 points of Push in any direction, as the engine and whatever it is attached to transforms into a bolt of lightning. The vehicle reconstitutes into its original form at the other side of the leap. It also deals electricity damage to everything it passes through during the leap (10d6 damage with a Reflex save for half damage, against a DC equal to the Concentration check of the engine). A leap is instantaneous, and occurs as part of the action to steer the vehicle. A lightningleap engine can also be activated for a single leap with 10 ebbs of puissance.
    • Stonefish: A stonefish engine uses seawater as a fuel source and is made out of diamond. It requires 10 gallons of seawater for 1 minute of stone swimming, during which it generates 400 points of Push per round. This engine can only be used when it is contact with stone, metal, or any other kind of earth material. The engine allows movement in any direction while the vehicle is submersed in the stone, and allows it to move through stone or metal like a fish swims through water. It counts as having a swim speed equal to the the speed granted by the Push. A stonefish engine can also be sustained for one round with 10 ebbs of puissance.



    ELDK 399: Immaterial Travel [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four ELDK principles, Concentration 15 ranks
    Target: 8 cubic feet of material
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like ELDK 101, but you can also build the following engines:

    • Aetherial: An aetherial engine uses moonsteel as a fuel source and is made out of cold iron. It burns 1 cubic foot of moonsteel for every minute spent travelling incorporeally. While active, the engine and the vehicle it is attached to becomes incorporeal, and it generates 400 points of Push per round. It can travel in any direction on the Ethereal Plane during the effect, and for all intents and purposes has a perfect maneuverability and a fly speed with a speed equivalent to that granted by the Push. An aetherial engine can also be sustained for one round with 15 ebbs of puissance.
    • Planejumping: A planejumping engine uses sunmetal as a fuel source and is made out of adamantine. It requires 1 cubic foot of sunmetal for every jump that it makes. Every time it's activated, it pulls itself and the structure attached to it through the planar void, to another Plane as if by a gate effect (travel version only). It generates the equivalent of 1,000 points of Push, although it doesn't physically move. Instead, there must be at least enough Push generated from the engine to impart a speed of 30ft. to the vehicle. A planejumping engine can also be powered for a single jump with 30 ebbs of puissance.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-06 at 12:08 AM. Reason: Lightningleap reword

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Geoccultism


    Image credit Holicia of deviantart.com

    "Everything must go somewhere."

    Spoiler
    Show
    Geoccultism is an intricate art that involves thaumaturgically aligning the essence of a place to a particular orientation through a combination of manipulating ley lines and magnetic fields. Through the use of a ruling pole, a skilled geoccultist can create a variety of weather conditions and terrains, suitable for everything from ideal agriculture climates to advanced meteomantic warfare. To truly master geoccultism, one must know the land like they know themself, and often better.

    Geoccultism is aided with enchanted compasses and ancient atlases, to locate and track ley lines across the surface of the earth. Dowsing rods are also commonly employed to pinpoint the location and orientation of geoccult poles. An aid like this counts as a masterwork piece of equipment and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Survival check made to prepare a geoccult principle. The Imago Mundi is perhaps the most famous arcane atlas ever compiled, and always shows the exact alignment of seven 'ley plates', islands of geolomantic power which move inexorably below the surface of the earth.

    Key Skill: Survival


    GEOC 101: Intro to Geoccultism
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisite: None
    Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle transforms a continuous mass of metal into a geoccult pole, which emits a field geomagnetically attuned to a specific biome. The metal transformed emits a bubble-shaped field, except that it has a different size than normal. The field begins at a radius of 500ft., and every additional preparation of this principle adds an additional 100ft. of radius to it. The particular biome created depends on the planetary metal used to create the pole. A geoccult pole is immobile once created; it is fixed in the geography of the land. It can be broken out of geomagnetic alignment with a DC 30 Strength check (+5 for every GEOC principle you know), but this ruins the principle and returns the pole to its original state. Molten metal can be transformed into a geoccult pole, but enough mass must remain in the fluid body to maintain the required amount; otherwise the effect is similarly broken. A biome condition spreads slowly, at a rate of 5ft. per round out from the pole, until it reaches its ultimate radius.

    Geoccult poles slowly consume themselves to provide the fuel for their biome. Every day they consume 5 lb for every 100ft. of radius. If this consumption reduces the mass of the pole below the critical mass, the pole collapses. The critical mass is defined as 100 lb multiplied by 1 + the number of times the radius has been increased (that is, the required mass to use the principle itself). Additional mass can be added to a geoccult pole by placing appropriate metal so that it touches the main body. The mass is slowly subsumed into the body of the pole over the following ten minutes. If a geoccult pole is hooked up to a heuristical circuit, puissance can be used to pay for mass which would otherwise be consumed, at a rate of 1 ebb for every 10 lb of metal that would be needed.

    If a feature requires upkeep, that is, additional expenditure of metal or puissance to maintain itself, this can happen over time. An appropriate amount of puissance must be supplied to the pole to pay for the feature's upkeep; the full amount of puissance must be provided in 10 rounds. That is, at least one-tenth of the puissance must be supplied once a round for ten rounds, or until the full cost is paid. Payment is due at either midnight or midday, as chosen when the pole is established. If on a Plane without such times, payment is still due every 24 hours, starting from the establishment of the pole.

    If there are multiple features which need to be supplied puissance to maintain, they can be paid one after the other, with no round in-between when no puissance is being transferred. If there is such a break, all of the necessary metal for remaining features is drawn from the body of the pole. If there is ever not enough mass in the pole to keep it above the critical limit, the pole collapses.

    A geoccult field does not overwrite everything in the area, only natural elements. Trees, rocks, leaves, grass, dirt, and so on, are subsumed into the pole; if the field is broken later on, the old terrain elements reassert themselves as if nothing had happened. Animals and artificial elements such as houses, are not subsumed like this; instead, the landscape changes around them. Things that a geoccult pole creates are real and tangible, and last if taken out of the area. Once removed, they don't disappear if the pole collapses.

    As part of this principle, you make a Survival check. This check determines the potency of the biome. You must make a certain DC in order to create the pole in the first place, or the principle is wasted to no effect; this critical DC is shown in the condition entry. For every 5 points you beat the critical DC of the check, any effects caused by the biome have their saving throw DC increased by 1, the skill check they require increased by +3, and any damage dice increased by 1 die. As the biome spreads, the baseline terrain of the area changes to that of the biome. This is essentially the foundation of the land.

    If two biomes come into contact, one of them overwrites the other; whichever has a higher Survival check is dominant.

    The poles that you can use include:

    {table=head]Planetary Metal|Critical DC|Biome|Baseline Terrain
    Copper|20|Forest|Rich soil
    Gold|25|Arctic|Permafrost
    Iron|25|Desert|Sand
    Lead|20|Swamp|Peat
    Tin|15|Grasslands|Dirt[/table]

    • Arctic (Permafrost): Permafrost is essentially frozen soil. The ground in this biome remains frozen year round, and the air temperature also grows fairly chilly thanks to convection. The ground is inhospitable to plants; only the hardiest arctic plants can grow roots deep enough to penetrate the frozen topsoil. In practice, this biome typically ends up creating a cold desert. An arctic biome has an average temperature of 0 Centigrade during the day to -40 Centigrade at night. Arctic biomes receive 50% less precipitation than most biomes, and what they do receive is typically in the form of blinding snowstorms.
    • Desert (Sand): Speaking of which, a desert is primarily filled with sand. This is a wasteland that has little nutritional value stored in the ground, which leads to a vicious cycle where plants can't grow in the area to provide nutrients for other plants. Sand is incredibly inhospitable, and also hard to travel on, since it's loose. You cannot run on sand, and horses only cover half their regular distance in a day. A desert biome has an average temperature of up to 40 Centigrade in the day, and as low as freezing (0 Centigrade) at night. A desert biome receives 50% less precipitation than normal biomes.
    • Forests (Rich Soil): This is a dark carbon-rich soil perfect for trees and general agriculture. Profession (farmer) and similar checks made to grow things in the soil gain a +2 bonus, and annual yield using this soil (assuming it's used over the entire growing season) is increased by 25%. Rich soil depletes quickly, and consecutive yields after a boom year yield only 75% of their normal potential. Forests have a temperate climate, ranging from 5 to 25 Centigrade.
    • Grasslands (Dirt): The dirt created here is very sturdy and enduring. Although not as rich in nutrients as the dark soil of the forest, grasslands dirt perseveres. This is the baseline soil which is assumed in general. Grasslands typically have a pleasant climate, with similar temperatures to a forest.
    • Swamp (Peat): Peat is very wet, very mucky soil. It's filthy to move around in, and requires a DC 10 Balance check every round you move through it to avoid getting really muddy. It's got a huge moisture content, and is very well-suited to some kinds of plants. Traditional crops like grain can't grow here at all, but any species of plant which can cope with the extremely wet conditions can do quite well; oak trees, tea trees, and other plants with shallow roots find themselves at home. Any plant well suited to the terrain grows 50% faster than it would elsewhere. Swamps often have very humid and muggy climates; 10 to 25 Centigrade is common, with a consistent relative humidity of up to 70%.



    GEOC 117: Rocks for Jocks [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: Survival 4 ranks
    Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like GEOC 101, except that it opens up two new poles for you to play with: platinum and crystal. Note that crystal is weirdly psionic, and works in many ways like a planetary metal even though it's actually not.

    {table=head]Planetary Metal|Critical DC|Biome|Baseline Terrain
    Crystal|25|Caverns|Limestone
    Platinum|20|City|Basalt[/table]

    • Caverns (Limestone): Limestone echoes solidly and transmits sounds quite well. Anyone touching the stone makes their Move Silently checks at -2. All tremorsenses on a limestone surface have their range extended by 30 ft. Light moss and the occasional mushrooms slowly grow out of the stone. A cavern biome, traditionally underground, raises or lowers the temperature inside the cavern by up to 20 degrees to bring it as close as possible to a cool 10 Centigrade. There is no precipitation or wind in a cavern, though it's possible for mild climate from the outside world to spill in on occasion. A crystal pole can be placed up to 100ft. underground at the time of creation.
    • City (Basalt): Basalt is pretty much just simple cobblestone. Nothing grows on it, although it's nice for walking along and riding horses on. A platinum pole doesn't have much effect on the local climate, although wind patterns tend to be broken up by large structures and sharp corners.



    GEOC 235: Bizarre Biomes
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: GEOC 101, Survival 8 ranks
    Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like GEOC 101, except that you can place features into the biomes that you are creating. By maintaining contact with the pole during the spread of a biome, you can place terrain features, such as trees or mineral deposits, inside of the area as it grows. Alternatively, these can be changed as a logical decision or by preparing the principle again. Changes introduced like this after the fact also spread from the pole at a rate of 5ft. per round, overwriting previous features (you must still remain in contact with the pole during the spreading effect to place terrain features). If a pole's effect is broken, the old terrain reasserts itself at the same rate. Every biome has a baseline feature, which is a characteristic of the land itself which is intrinsic to the biome's nature. The baseline terrain of the biome is free; additional terrain features require the immediate consumption of metal from the mass of the pole, as described in the feature entry.

    Some features require upkeep; features which need to replenish themselves (such as a tree which has been cut down) do so over a period of one day, consuming again as much material as was required to station them in the first place. Features can be placed on top of things that already exist, such as manmade structures in the area. However, the primary owner of a structure is allowed a Will saving throw (DC 10 + 5 for every GEOC principle you know) to resist the encroachment of the geoccult field. Success indicates that that pole cannot place any features inside, on, or in the structure in question. This spread also does not grant you any special insight into what is inside such as structure; if you don't know what it looks like inside, you're essentially just placing features randomly in the dark.

    Many of the features described here are fairly rudimentary. If you have access to additional supplementary material, such as the supplements Frostburn: Mastering the Perils of Ice and Snow (for a gold pole) or Sandstorm: Mastering the Perils of Fire and Sand (for an iron pole), feel free to make use of their more extensive geography choices. Work with your DM to determine what would be a reasonable price for various natural terrain features from these supplements. Note that supernatural terrain elements are not appropriate for this principle.

    The features you can place are:

    Arctic [Gold]: A gold pole allows you to spread an arctic biome. An arctic area has permafrost as its baseline, and additional terrain features include black ice, ice, rock, scrub, snowdrifts, and trees. The arctic is a cold, inhosbitable place, filled with many frozen dangers.

    • Black Ice: Black ice is exceptionaly dangerous ice, in that it's very unreflective and also very slippery. This makes it hard to notice until you're actually on it. To even notice black ice, someone needs to succeed on a DC 20 Spot check. This works like ice (see below), except that a DC 10 Balance check is required even to move normally on it. If someone on black ice fails to notice that it's there, the Balance check DC to move across it doubles, and failure indicates that they fall prone. Black ice costs 25 lb for every 5ft. sheet.
    • Ice: Ice is frozen water, and this describes an ice sheet on the ground. it could cover up a frozen body of water, or just packed smooth snow. It costs 2 squares of movement to enter a square covered in ice, and the DC of Balance and Tumble checks there increases by 5. A DC 10 Balance check is required to run or charge across ice. Ice costs 5 lb for every 5ft. sheet.
    • Rubble: This is either light or dense rubble strewn across the ground by avalanches in the past. Light rubble increases the DC of Balance and Tumble checks by 2. Dense rubble costs 2 squares of movement to enter into, and increases the DC of Balance and Tumble checks by 5, and of Move Silently checks by 2. Light rubble costs 5 lb for every 20ft. patches, while dense rubble costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.
    • Scrub: Scrub is hardy, reasonably nutritious plantlife which can survive the harsh conditions of the tundra. One 5ft. patch of scrub will sustain a herbivorous Medium-sized creature (including omnivorous humanoids, although not for prolonged periods of time) for a day, but they'll be unsatiated until they get more filling food. Scrub costs 2 squares of movement to enter into, and it provides concealment. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Hide checks. Scrub costs 5lb for every 5ft. patch.
    • Snowdrifts: Snowdrifts are large shifting bodies of snow. This snow is typically lighter and more powder than normal, and is very difficult to move in. When moving in a snowdrift, one is treated as if it's 20 degrees Centigrade colder than it actually is. It costs double movement to travel through a snowdrift, and Balance, Hide, Survival, and Tumble checks all take a -5 penalty. Snowdrifts are mobile terrain features which blow with the wind, and can cover other terrain elements. Snowdrifts cost 25 lb for every 10ft. drift.
    • Trees: These are nearly always coniferous trees which thrive at high latitudes. Trees tend to be fairly sparse in a tundra environment, but it's not uncommon to see lone trees eking out their survival. These work like the light trees described in the SRD. Light arctic trees cost 5 lb, and occupy a negligible space; they cannot be placed any closer than 10ft. separation.


    Caverns (Crystal): A crystal pole allows you to sculpt a cavern biome. A cavern has limestone as its baseline, and additional terrain features include tunnels, luminous moss, mine cart tracks, pit traps, stalagmites/stalactites, and underground streams. Caverns are friendly enough places, though they can turn deadly very quickly. You must have taken GEOC 117 to use this pole.

    • Tunnels: Tunnels are the building blocks of any cavern and are so important that they appear first in this list, breaking alphabetical order. Tunnels connecting all rooms and features. A tunnel must be used to modify a space occupied entirely by stone. Tunnels are placed in 5 ft cubes, which can contain any possible thickness, angle, and combination of open space and stone. Multiple tunnels can be stacked on top of each other to create larger chambers. 20 cubes are given for free upon the construction of a cavern biome, and each additional 5 ft cube costs 5 lbs of crystal.
    • Luminous Moss: Luminous moss is a phosphorescent lichen that coats a 5 ft square surface and sheds dim light in a 10 ft radius. A second patch of moss layered on top of the first patch increases this to normal light to 10 ft and dim light to 20 ft. The moss is edible (barely) and a 5 ft patch can sustain one creature for a day, but requires them to make a DC 16 Fortitude save or be nauseated for one hour. Luminous moss costs 10 lb per 5 ft.
    • Mine Cart Tracks: For rapid cave movement, mine cart tracks are the spelunker's best friend. These wooden and iron slats run straight down the center of a tunnel that's at least 5 ft wide. Anyone marching on them gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Balance checks. In addition, if the track is at least 100 ft long, a free mine cart appears at one end. The 150 lb 4 wheeled cart has a carrying capacity of 500 lb and a bulk rating, when empty, of 200. An empty bracket at the back serves as the perfect mount for an eldrikinetic engine. Mine cart tracks placed so that they diverge in two paths gain a freestanding switch that alters the course of a travelling cart. The switch can be tripped with a successful attack roll against an AC of 8. Mine cart tracks cost 15 lb for every 10 feet.
    • Pit Traps: A pit trap is a 20 ft. deep smooth vertical pit in the rock with a thin plate of stone overtop. Any weight heavier than 30 lb will collapse the plate and send all creatures spiralling to the depths below (Reflex DC 17 negates). Additional pit traps can be created at the bottom of a first pit trap, effectively doubling the length of the fall. Falling creatures landing on stalagmites take double piercing damage (see below) in addition to the regular falling damage. Pit traps cost 30 lb of crystal.
    • Stalagmites/Stalactites: These foot-long delicately conical crafted rock formations normally take eons to slowly accumulate, but you're conjuring them in a few seconds. Stalagmites extend upwards from the ground and has the same limitations as light undergrowth. Any creature falling prone in a space filled with stalagmites takes 2d6 piercing damage, breaking the stalagmites and rendering them useless. Stalactites hang down from the ceiling and have a 50% chance of falling if any creature below makes any sound above 15 decibels (an average human speaking voice.) Falling stalactites deal 1d6 piercing damage for every 10 feet they fall (maximum 10d6) and offer a Reflex DC 15 for half damage. Broken stalagmites/stalactites regenerate each day. Coating a 5 ft surface with stalagmites or stalactites costs 15 lb of crystal, and another 10 lb for every regenerating patch.
    • Underground Streams: These are essentially the same terrain feature as described in the forest biome. Except they're, you know, underground. So the water tastes a little more cavern-y. Being one of the only water sources in your average cavern, mushrooms and moss tend to spring up around an underground stream. Underground streams cost 5 lb for every 10ft. in length.


    City [Platinum]: A platinum pole allows you to spread a city biome. A city has cobblestone as its baseline, and additional terrain features include bridges, buildings, fountains, roads, sewers, and walls. A city is a generally hospitable place, designed to be inhabited by humanoid creatures. You must have taken GEOC 117 to use this pole.

    • Bridges: Bridges are roadways that extend over chasms, bodies of water, and other otherwise dangerous terrain. A bridge extends the cobblestone basis of the biome out into a gentle arch, which can hold 200 lb for every 5 ft. of width at once. A bridge costs 5lb for every 5ft. section.
    • Building: Buildings are where people tend to live. A single application of this particular terrain feature is called a storey. A single storey is a 20ft. by 20ft. by 10ft. room, with doors and windows arranged to taste on the walls, floor, and ceiling. If multiple stories are stacked on top of each other, a staircase can be installed which connects the two, positioned either along one of the outer walls or in the center of the storey. If two stories are placed immediately adjacent to each other, the two rooms can be merged into a single larger room. Each storey, upon creation, generates a deed, which allows the holder to create or remove subdividing walls, windows, doors, staircases, and balconies inside that storey. This task requires 10 minutes for each feature to be added or removed, and can only be done by the legal owner of the deed. In fact, a deed may only be transferred via legal means, such as inheritance, sale, dowry, and so on, unless the original creator of the deed decides otherwise at the time of placement. A single storey costs 50 lb.
    • Fountain: A fountain is a pleasant landmark that allows free access to clean, drinkable water. A fountain constantly emits a stream of fresh water, flowing out at a rate of 5 gallons every round. A fountain that isn't connected to a source of water consumes 10 lb of metal each round to produce the necessary liquid. A fountain costs 60 lb of metal to produce; in addition, if there is any statuary that the creator of the fountain wishes to incorporate, the fountain costs an additional 30 lb. Intricate ornamentation may require an appropriate Craft check, as decided by the circumstances.
    • Road: A road is a surface intended to be easy to walk along. Creatures following a road can travel overland 20% faster than they otherwise would be able to. In addition, if a stretch of road has a width of 20ft. or more, this feature can also produce bullseye lanterns that hang 7ft. above the ground every 60ft. along the road, supplying constant light. Four 5ft. sections of road costs 10 lb to produce.
    • Sewer: A good sewer allows you to pipe water (or other liquids) to a fountain, or take wastewater away from a road. Sewers are usually created 10ft. below ground, and cost 10 lb for each 125 cubic foot block of ground altered. In addition, by spending an additional 10 lb on a section of sewer, a pipe is created that connects it to either a fountain or a road; this is either a release or a drain, respectively. If a sewer connects to a body of liquid, it consumes it at a rate of 10 gallons per round. Furthermore, a pipe can fuel two fountains for every body of liquid it taps into. If a fountain is fueled by a pipe connected to a body of liquid that isn't fresh water, it produces that liquid instead. Liquid waste has to go somewhere, which means that it doesn't just disappear when it goes into the sewer. Every sewer needs to end somewhere, and for an initial cost of 20 lb plus an additional 5 lb for daily operation, you can install a water purification system in your sewer line. This is a 5ft. block (125 cubic foot) which is placed at some point along your sewer; liquid which goes in is purified, as if with a purify food and drink effect. A single water purification system can handle 7.5 gallons of liquid every round.
    • Wall: A good wall keeps the city safe! Each of the costs on the table below are for a single 10ft. section; each section has an AC of 3 and a Hardness of 8. A gate can be added to a wall for no additional cost.

      {table=head]Wall Dimensions|Hit Points per Section|Cost
      20ft. tall, 5ft. thick|450 hp|20 lb
      30ft. tall, 10ft. thick|720 hp|60 lb
      40ft. tall, 15ft. thick|1170 hp|120 lb[/table]


    Desert [Iron]: An iron pole allows you to spread a desert biome. A desert has sand as its baseline, and additional terrain features include cacti, packed earth, quicksand, rubble, sand dunes, and undergrowth. Deserts are dangerous wastelands, unsuited to normal life. Only the hardiest survive their brutal conditions.

    • Cacti: A cactus is a desert plant typically spiny and sharp to the touch. Cacti provide concealment, and a +1 bonus to AC and Reflex saves to anyone in the same square. However, one can only make use of these bonuses by moving in close quarters around the cactus, dealing 2d3 piercing damage every round. You cannot climb a cactus, but it is filled with liquid that can be harvested with a DC 15 Survival check. Cactus juice will hydrate people, but those who drink it report hallucinations and fevers (-4 penalty to mental ability scores until they get eight hours of rest out of the sun). Cacti otherwise work like light trees, as described in the gold (arctic) pole section. A cactus costs 15 lb and cannot be closer than 10ft. to another cactus.
    • Packed Earth: Packed earth is useful for desert trails, and for leading pack animals. It's solid enough to walk on easily, but it's impossible to grow anything in it. Packed earth costs 5lb for every 5ft. square.
    • Quicksand: Quicksand is an imfamous desert danger. This is ground that appears solid until any weight is put on it, at which point it begins to suck the mass inside of it. Quicksand costs 25 lb for every 5ft. patch of it.
    • Rubble: Desert rubble works like the rubble described in the gold (arctic) pole section. Desert rubble is cheaper, however, being a more common sight without snow everywhere. Desert rubble costs 5 lb for every 40ft. patch, and dense rubble costs 5lb for every 20ft. patch.
    • Sand Dunes: Sand dunes are huge moving swathes of sand which envelop the landscape. They arrange themselves with a gentle slope facing into the wind, and a steep slope on the opposite side. Sand dunes are loose terrain, and maneuvering in them costs twice as much movement as normal. Sand also gets everywhere, which you'll be noticing for weeks afterwards. Balance and Tumble checks have their DC's increased by 5 in a sand dune, and standing up from prone is a challenge as it's nearly impossible to get a good hold on anything to stand up; standing from prone is a full-round action unless you have a special ability to speed this up (such as kip up, in which case it's unchanged). Sand dunes are mobile features which move with the wind, and can cover other terrain elements. Sand dunes cost 5 lb for every 50ft. patch.
    • Undergrowth: Undergrowth is mostly composed of vines, roots, and bushes, and it restricts movement. Undergrowth created with an iron pole is the light type descibed. Undergrowth costs 5 lb for every 5ft. patch.


    Forest [Copper]: A copper pole allows you to spread a forest biome. A forest has rich soil as its baseline, and additional terrain features include fungus, logs, moss, streams, trees, and undergrowth. Forests are ideal for providing natural resources such as wood and to scavenge for food. Forest soil is exceedingly fertile, and can be very useful for agriculture.

    • Fungus: Fungus is reasonably nutritious and can grow in the absence of light as long as it has a decent supply of nutrients and peace and quiet; however, anyone untrained in Survival (0 ranks) has a 5% chance of picking a poisonous mushroom when gathering food from a fungus patch (Fortitude DC 15, initial and secondary damage 1d4 Con). Someone trained in Survival can make a DC 25 Survival check to gather up to three such poisonous mushrooms from any given 5ft. patch. Fungus patches are softer than the ground; falls onto them count as being 20ft. shorter than they actually are. Mushrooms, once picked, take a day to grow back. Fungus patches cost 50 lb for every 5ft. patch.
    • Logs: Logs are a common sight in a forest. They provide cover like small walls, and typically stand from 1ft. to 3ft. high. They can be placed to run over streams, although travelling longitudinally on a log requires a DC 10 Balance check and twice as much movement as normal. A log takes up a space of 5ft. by 10 to 200ft., decided at placement. Logs cost 5 lb for every 10ft. in length.
    • Moss: Moss is a light covering of greenery on the ground. It is very soft, and aside from being pleasant to the touch, it is very easy to move quietly on. All Move Silently checks made on moss gain a +4 circumstance bonus. If moss is placed on a log, the Balance check to move on it is doubled. Moss is reasonably nutritious, and some species can survive on it. It also grows ridiculously fast, and replenishes itself every six hours instead of every day. Moss costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.
    • Streams: A stream is no wider than 5 to 10ft. wide, and no more than 5ft. deep. These are freshwater streams, but unless connected to an outside water supply the water will quickly grow stagnant and gross. Streams cost 5 lb for every 10ft. in length.
    • Trees: Trees are of course the most important feature of any forest, useful for hiding, climbing, tactical positioning, wood, and so on. The trees created with a copper pole can be light or massive. Light trees require negligible space, while massive trees require a 5ft. square. Light trees cost 5 lb, and massive trees cost 20 lb. Trees can be placed at a discount when grouping them together in a forest; up to four light trees can be placed in a single 5ft. square, and the third and fourth are free. Similarly, up to two light trees can occupy the same square as a heavy tree, and they are also free.
    • Undergrowth: This works like the undergrowth described in the iron (desert) pole section. Undergrowth created with a copper pole is the light type descibed. Undergrowth costs 5 lb for every 5ft. patch.


    Grasslands [Tin]: A tin pole allows you to spread a grasslands biome. Grasslands have a baseline terrain of dirt, and additional terrain features includes clay, grass, shale, streams, tall grass, and trees. Grasslands are fairly straightforward terrain with not too many surprises. It's excellent terrain to settle on, and the ground is very reliable for agriculture. Grass is a perfect foodstock for domesticated animals, and in general grasslands are ideal for developing some measure of civilization.

    • Clay: Clay is a useful material which exhibits plastic behavious when it's mixed with water. This makes it very important for artisans and craftsmen to use for their work. The clay this pole creates is a solid deposit near the surface, which is rocky and solid, which acts like light rubble. Balance and Tumble checks made on clay have their DC increased by 2, and a failed check smashes the clay, destroying 25% of it every time. A single clay feature contains 2d6 lb of clay and takes up a 5ft. square. Every 5ft. square of clay deposit costs 25 lb.
    • Grass: This is the main reason you'd be using this biome. Grass is a very hardy, useful plant that can be created in large quantities. It is ideal as a feedstock, and livestock raised on this grass grows 10% larger than normal livestock of their kind. The grass created is still growing, and thus has an 80% moisture content; it must typically be dried out before being used as feed. Grass costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.
    • Shale: If clay is hard to balance on, shale is even worse. Ride, Balance, and Tumble checks across shale have their DC increased by 5. A failure causes the person attempting the action (including the mount, if applicable) to fall prone on the shale, taking damage as if from a 20ft. fall. Running and charging across shale is impossible on foot. Shale costs 5lb for every 5ft. patch.
    • Streams: These are the same kinds of streams described in the copper (forest) pole section.
    • Tall Grass: Tall grass is especially dangerous and easy to hide in. Hide and Move Silently checks gain a +4 circumstance bonus in it. Beyond that, this grass provides twice as much grass material as the grass baseline terrain, and is dry to start off with. This feature is placed in 5ft. squares. Tall grass costs 15 lb for every 10ft. patch.
    • Trees: These are the light trees described in the copper (forest) pole section, although they tend to be deciduous instead of coniferous.


    Swamp [Lead]: A lead pole allows you to spread a swamp biome. A swamp has peat as its baseline, and additional terrain features include acid bog, mucky ground, quicksand, standing water, sulphur jets, and trees. Swamps are generally not very nice places to be, but there are some hard to come by materials that often show up in them. Swamps can be dangerous, and tend to attract the worst sorts of black magic. Most people stay no longer than strictly necessary.

    • Acid Bog: Acid bog has a faint green hue, making it difficult to notice except in good light. Spotting an acid bog bog before entering it requires a DC 20 Survival check. If the moving creature succeeds on a DC 10 Survival check but not a DC 20 check, he notices that the square is with bog but does not identify it as acid bog. Acid bog deals 1d6 points of acid damage per round of exposure, or 6d6 points of acid damage with total immersion. Most acid bog is only about 1 foot in depth, making total immersion unlikely (although prone creatures count as fully immersed). It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with acid bog, and the DC of Balance and Tumble checks in such a square increase by 2. Acid bog imposes a –4 penalty on Move Silently checks. Acid bog costs 10 lb for every 5ft. patch.
    • Mucky Ground: This is ground that is half water and half dirt, resulting in a sticky, sloshy ground that is difficult to move in. As a result, characters traveling in mucky ground must move at half speed and make DC 10 Balance checks every 60ft. If a character fails that check, they fall prone and get mucky. Alternatively, a character may attempt to move at standard speed through the ground, but must make a DC 15 check every 60 ft. A character that is running or charging through murky ground must make DC 20 Balance checks every 30 ft., making it nigh-impossible to move quickly on the mucky ground. Mucky ground costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.
    • Quicksand: This is the quicksand described in the iron (desert) pole section, except with mud instead of sand. Anyone who gets stuck in a swamp quicksand pit gets unavoidable filthy from head to toe. Swamp quicksand is more common than desert quicksand, and thus is cheaper: it costs 20 lb for every 5ft. patch of it.
    • Standing Water: Standing water is a common occurence in swampy areas, and is super gross. It's not at all useable for cooking or cleaning, and usually has lots of nasty stuff living in it. It is, technically, water, so it could be purified with magic to be useable. Any standing water which is left on its own (typically for at least a week) tends to attract mosquitoes and especially stirges. Every 5ft. square of standing water can sustain a flock of stirges, who lay their eggs in the filthy water. Standing water costs 10 lb for every 5ft. square.
    • Sulphur Jets: These are jets emerging from the moist ground or standing water bodies which give off a mixture of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide gas (known as swamp gas). They're not really very pleasant, and actually very dangerous to people not equipped to breathe them. Anyone that breathes in swamp gas must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or become nauseated. Swamp gas is super-flammable, and the tiniest flame or spark inside of a sulphur jet can cause a fireball effect (effective caster level equal to the number of adjacent sulphur jets inside the radius, to a maximum of 10) centered on the source of the flame. Detecting swamp gas is kind of hard, and usually done by scent. Anyone with the scent special ability just knows when they're in an area filled with swamp gas. Everyone else needs to succeed on a DC 15 Survival check first. Sulphur jets cost 25 lb each, and occupy a 5ft. square. They can be placed in standing water as well as peat.
    • Trees: These are the light or massive trees described in the copper (forest) pole section. Trees in a swamp are placed at the same discount as in a forest, and get vines besides. Vines allow easy climbing and swimming; anyone can climb a swamp tree with a DC 5 Climb check, and can move at double speed through a swamp without touching the ground if they succeed at a DC 15 Climb and Jump check every round (they don't have to touch the ground, either, which is pretty awesome when you think about how much horrible stuff there is on the ground in a swamp). To use this movement, they must move only through squares containing trees. Light trees require negligible space, while massive trees require a 5ft. square. Light trees cost 5 lb, and massive trees cost 20 lb.

      Spoiler
      Show
      A special thank you to the people I worked with on the SWAMPGAS project all that while ago, you guys were awesome. And also the best organized and actually completed and released community project I've yet seen on these boards!



    GEOC 291: Unknown Oceans [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: GEOC 101, Survival 8 ranks
    Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like GEOC 101, except that it allows you to use the final two planetary metals in your geoccultism: mercury and silver.

    In addition, you can now change the topology inside any biome that you create; this is called (appropriately) a topology feature. This works like a terrain feature, but can be placed concurrently with pretty much any other terrain feature. A topology feature can be placed concurrently with basically any normal feature, but there are limits to how it can be set up. You cannot have two adjacent 5ft. squares with a difference in slope between them of more than 10 degrees. Every 5ft. you want to raise or lower a 5ft. square relative to its original height costs 5 lb of metal.

    Note that this is actually pretty much useless for silver and mercury biomes, since the actual topology of the area is far below the surface of the water. However, it can technically still be used if you really want to dig an underwater trench or something.

    {table=head]Planetary Metal|Critical DC|Biome|Baseline Terrain
    Mercury|35|Wetland|Freshwater
    Silver|40|Ocean|Saltwater[/table]

    • Wetland (Freshwater): This creates essentially a freestanding body of freshwater, sometimes known as sweetwater. Essentially a lake, although the exact term would depend on the geography and placement. Freshwater bodies are typically several hundred feet deep in the middle, tapering up sharply at the edges. When you spread this terrain, you can decide the exact depth, although it cannot be more than 450ft. deep at any point. Freshwater is amazing for any kind of life, and is very important for settlements and civilization. This freshwater is created pure and free of contaminants.
    • Ocean (Saltwater): This creates a freestanding body of saltwater; essentially a salt lake, although it could also be connected to an outside ocean. This works basically the same as the wetland, except that it can be much, much, much deeper. It can be as deep as six miles down in the middle. Saltwater can't be drunk by most humanoids, although sahuagin and many other aquatic races find it prime habitat.


    There are also a few features you can place around these bodies. These terrain features can be places around the edge of your body of water, and are at ground level instead of below the earth. Wetland can have mudflats and reeds around it, and ocean can have sandbars and tidepools around it.

    • Mudflats (Wetland): Mudflats are, appropriately enough, flat planes of mud which are really easy to get stuck in. It's basically normal dirt and soil which is so wet from the nearby body of water that it's become a huge mass of mud. It's impossible to move in, like at all. Someone would have to make a superhuman (DC 25) Balance check to move freely across the surface of it, and they still couldn't run or charge. Anyone who gets stuck in it is moving at 5ft. per round, if that (DC 10 Balance to move at all). Seriously, this stuff is just not fun. Mudflats cost 50 lb for every 5ft. patch.
    • Reeds (Wetland): Reeds are a little more pleasant. These are big cattails, rice paddies, and similar. They can be used to make really cool wind instruments, and also are great to hide in. They grant a +8 circumstance bonus on Hide checks made in them. Unfortunately, they grow in ankle-deep water, which is kind of gross. Rice is also an amazing crop, and the same amount of land used growing rice instead of wheat can feed twice as many people. Reeds cost 10 lb for every 5ft. patch.
    • Sandbars (Ocean): Sandbars are the shorelines that people normally associate with oceans. This works like the sand described in the desert section, except that there's a hell of a lot more water in it. In general, you can find water just by digging down a little bit. Sandbars are free.
    • Tidepools (Ocean): Tidepools are a clever way to trap fish without line or net. Tide comes in, deposits fish, and backs out. Tidepools are really cool tiny little ecosystems, and you find all sorts of neat edible stuff in them. A 5ft. patch of tidepools delivers enough food for four people every day assuming there are edible fish in the saltwater body, and that the tidepools are close enough to the shore to catch the tide. Tidepools cost 30 lb for every 5ft. patch.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-10 at 01:12 AM. Reason: typos

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Geoccultism (II)

    Spoiler
    Show
    GEOC 323: Curious Climates
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three GEOC principles, Survival 15 ranks
    Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like GEOC 101, except that it allows you to spread an additional kind of feature from your geoccult poles: a climate condition. This principle allows you to connect your geoccult poles to fundamental meteorological gradients, producing appropriate climate change inside of the biome. Whenever you set up a geoccult pole, you can choose to introduce a climate to the area as well as more tangible environmental features. Similarly, you can update a previously constructed geoccult pole to contain a climate element by preparing this principle on it once (no matter the size) and matching or exceeding the Survival check made to construct it. The climate change introduced can be turned on or off, or set to a specific level, as a logical decision. Alternatively, the climate feature can be modulated as a standard action when touching the pole by making a matching Survival check.

    Climate conditions are tied to a particular metal, but thanks to your new mixing ability (see below) you can have interesting weathers in strange biomes. Climate changes can be implemented either globally (in the entire field of the pole's effect) or locally (in circles of 100ft. radius). Every hour that a climate change is in effect, it consumes metal as described in its description. Note that metal is consumed for each separate weather change, so if you decide to split up the area and have different climate conditions in different parts of it, you pay for all of them. They also have more extreme forms; A geoccult pole can be manipulated either physically or through a heuristical citcuit to trigger an extreme weather condition with additional instantaneous metal consumption. Controlling a climate condition, either standard or extreme, is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.

    In addition, you can now mix your biomes slightly. By incorporating a second metal into the body of a pole, you can make use of a single terrain feature off of that biome's list, or even that biome's climate condition (although you can only have one climate condition at a time). However, metal consumed to place and sustain the feature is drawn from this secondary reserve, and additional masses of the second metal must be added to replenish it. Once you pick the specific terrain feature for the pole to have access to, it cannot be changd. It can be placed as many times as you like inside the biome within these constraints. If the smaller pole falls below its critical mass, the parent pole starts to burn itself to pay for the feature instead, at a ratio of 10:1 (and not in your favour, either).

    {table=head]Planetary Metal|Terrain|Climate Condition|Extreme Weather Condition
    Copper|Forest|Heat Wave|Wildfire
    Crystal|Caverns|Tremors|Cave-In
    Gold|Arctic|Snow|Hailstorm
    Iron|Desert|Sandstorm|Earthquake
    Lead|Swamp|Fog|Flood
    Mercury|Wetlands|Cold Wave|Cold Snap
    Platinum|City|Smog|Acid Rain
    Silver |Ocean|Rain|Thunderstorm
    Tin|Grasslands|Wind|Tornado[/table]

    Note that you must know GEOC 291 to use mercury or silver poles and GEOC 117 to use platinum or crystal poles.

    • Copper (Heat Wave): An iron pole allows you to cause heavy heat waves, which can be big risks of sunstroke in places that are already hot. A heat wave raises the ambient temperature by up to 20 degrees Centigrade. This might be balmy in the arctic, but deadly in a desert. Every hour that a heat wave is in effect it consumes 5 lb for every 5 degree temperature increase from the pole.
    • Crystal (Tremors): Distant rumblings underground shake the entire area. Balance, Tumble, and Jump checks are made at a -2 penalty, and spellcasters must succeed on a DC (12+spell level) Concentration check when casting or lose the spell. Any creature moving more than 10 feet in a round must succeed on a DC 10 Balance check or fall prone at a random point during their movement. Being a dwarf or moving at half-speed both add a +4 bonus to this check. Flying creatures are unaffected. In addition, stalactites automatically fall after 4d6 rounds and the underground vibrations cause all tremorsenses to go haywire and temporarily cease functioning. An hour of tremors consumes 75 lb of crystal.
    • Gold (Snow): Snow is basically the king of nasty weather conditions. If you don't live in Canada or somewhere else northern (or really far southern, I guess), you probably think snow is kind of cute and fluffy. I just want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that I hate you. Falling snow has the same effects on visibility, ranged weapon attacks, and skill checks as rain (see the ocean section below), and it costs 2 squares of movement to enter a snow-covered square. A day of snowfall leaves 1d6 inches of snow on the ground. You can also choose heavy snow, which has the same effects as normal snowfall, but also restricts visibility as fog does (see the swamp section below). A day of heavy snow leaves 1d4 feet of snow on the ground, and it costs 4 squares of movement to enter a square covered with heavy snow. Heavy snow accompanied by strong or severe winds may result in snowdrifts 1d4Χ5 feet deep, especially in and around objects big enough to deflect the wind—a cabin or a large tent, for instance. Snow has the same effect on flames as moderate wind. Light snowfall costs 15 lb of metal for every hour of effect, and heavy snowfall costs a whopping 40 lb of metal every hour. I hate snow.
    • Iron (Sandstorm): Technically sandstorms are really just strong wind in the desert, but we treat them like they're their own separate thing (so that you can enjoy having sandstorms in a swamp). A sandstorm reduces visibility to 1d10Χ5 feet and provides a -4 penalty on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A sandstorm deals 1d3 points of nonlethal damage per hour to any creatures caught in the open, and leaves a thin coating of sand in its wake. Driving sand creeps in through all but the most secure seals and seams, to chafe skin and contaminate carried gear. Every hour that a sandstorm is in effect it consumes 15 lb of metal.
    • Lead (Fog): Fog can be pretty dangerous in a fight, since you can't really see anything. A lead pole produces fog, mist, whatever you want to call it (okay, technically it has to do with the visibility from the air between 3/8 and 5/8 of a statute mile). Fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5ft. Creatures 5ft. away have concealment (attacks by or against them have a 20% miss chance). Fog consumes 10 lb of metal for every hour that it's in effect.
    • Mercury (Cold Wave): A cold wave, as you'd expect, is the opposite of a heat wave. It lowers the temperature by up to 15 degrees Centigrade. Every hour that a cold wave is in effect, it consumes 5 lb for every 5 degree temperature decrease from the pole.
    • Platinum (Smog): Smog is a huge breathing hazard associated with urban areas. Though the danger is not immediately apparent, smog obscures all sight beyond 10ft., including darkvision. Creatures 10ft. away or further have concealment in smog (attacks by or against them have a 20% miss chance). In addition, creatures with the scent special ability cannot detect creatures beyond 20ft. due to the sharp, acrid scent of the smog. Finally, every hour a creature spends inside smog inflicts 1 nonlethal damage to them, which cannot be healed naturally while they remain in the cloud. Smog consumes 10 lb of metal for every hour that it's in effect.
    • Silver (Rain): Rain makes things wet, and in general is not very pleasant. It reduces visibility ranges by half, resulting in a -4 penalty on Spot and Search checks. It has the same effect on flames, ranged weapon attacks, and Listen checks as severe wind. It also gets things wet after three full rounds of exposure. You can also choose heavy rain as an option, which doubles the normal penalties and gets anything exposed for even a single full round soaking wet. Normal rain costs 5 lb per hour, and heavy rain costs 10 lb per hour.
    • Tin (Wind): A tin pole allows you to cause windstorms, inciting winds of up to 70 mph as a regular thing. The pole can be controlled to produce wind between 0 and 70 mph. Strong winds consume metal every hour they're in effect equal to 5 lb per wind category.


    The extreme weather conditions include:

    • Copper (Wildfire): Okay, maybe it's not a weather condition per se, but it's still pretty awesome. This is a huge brush fire that engulfs everything flammable in its path. It burns through the area, leaving ash behind. Basically, all of the flammable features will have to replenish themselves the next day. Natural wildfires are unpredictable, but a geoccult wildfire is controlled from the pole. A wildfire can be between 50ft. wide and however wide you want (out to the limits of the zone). A wildfire can advance at up to 120ft. per round, scorching the land behind it. A wildfire has three main dangers: heat damage, catching on fire, and smoke inhalation.
      Breathing the air in a wildfire causes a character to take 1d6 points of damage per round (no save). In addition, a character must make a Fortitude save every 5 rounds (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d4 points of nonlethal damage. A character who holds his breath can avoid the lethal damage, but not the nonlethal damage. Those wearing heavy clothing or any sort of armor take a -4 penalty on this save. In addition, those wearing metal armor or coming into contact with very hot metal are affected as if by a heat metal spell. Additionally, characters engulfed in a wildfire are at risk of catching on fire when the leading edge of the fire overtakes them, and are then at risk once per minute thereafter. Finally, wildfires naturally produce a great deal of smoke. A character who breathes heavy smoke must make a Fortitude save each round (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or spend that round choking and coughing. A character who chokes for 2 consecutive rounds takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. Also, smoke obscures vision, providing concealment to characters within it. A wildfire is very destructive, but potentially also very useful. It only costs 50 lb to get it started, and every round spent controlling it costs 10 lb of metal.
    • Crystal (Cave-In): There's a reason "Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies" is such a feared phrase. A cave-in is not fun. This functions a little more painfully than your average earthquake spell. Particularly heavy rocks collapse and fill the entire biome with tightly-packed boulders. Any creatures inside immediately take 10d6 bludgeoning damage (no save) and take an additional 2d6 nonlethal crushing damage (Fort DC 17 negates) each round until they are freed. Two successful Strength checks as standard actions at DC 16 will let you push away enough rock to slightly move and negate the crushing damage, but after that, you're still pretty much stuck in the rock. If you have a burrow speed, great, and you can still cast spells with somatic components, but otherwise, you're in for a long wait. Oh, and you run out of air to breathe in 1d4x5 minutes, so I hope you've got something to take care of that. The cave-in rocks crumble away the next time the geoccult pole replenishes the biome, returning any creatures (or corpses) to where they originally stood. But essentially: Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies. Cave-ins cost a whopping 2,000 lb of crystal, but require no hourly upkeep.
    • Gold (Hailstorm): Hail is not pleasant. This works like a sleet storm effect, with an effective caster level equal to half of the Survival skill check of the pole. Additionally, creatures out in the open take 2d6 bludgeoning damage every round (Reflex DC 15 for half damage) from the massive hailstones, far larger than what nature normally spits out. A hailstorm can effect an area of any size, up to the full pole area, costs 75 lb to get started, and lasts for 1 round per effective caster level.
    • Iron (Earthquake): Earthquakes technically also aren't weather, but they are really cool. This works basically like a earthquake effect, with an effective caster level of half of the Suvival skill check of the pole and an effective spell level of 7. The earthquake starts with an 80ft. radius, but can be expanded over subsequent turns to target adjacent areas inside of the geoccult zone. An earthquake costs 200 lb to begin, and 175 lb every subsequent round that it's maintained (hitting additional area sections). You cannot target the same area twice with the same earthquake.
    • Lead (Flood): A flood is a lot of water that comes out of nowhere. I mean, in real life it comes from lots of rain or something, but this actually just appears out of thin air. It's a wave of water from 10 to 12ft. high which just starts somewhere in the zone, up to 80ft. in length. It travels in a direction you choose, and basically just wipes out everything along the way. Anything loose is swept up and carried with it. A flood wave travels at up to 100ft. per round, and does everything you would expect. It's basically treated as a Colossal creature with a Strength score of 40 bull rushing everything that it touches. Everything it strikes takes 5d6 points of bludgeoning damage (Fortitude DC 20 for half damage). The flood causes massive infrastructure damage to any structure in strikes, if it doesn't destroy it completely. The flood travels for 5 rounds, at which point it dies down. You can control the exact speed of the wave, as well as making small adjustments to its trajectory of up to 10 degrees per round. A flood costs 200 lb to kick off, but only needs 25 lb of metal to control every round.
    • Mercury (Cold Snap): A cold snap is a super brutal wave of cold. It drops temperatures by 40 degrees Centigrade, which is a hell of a lot. This is just brutal, antarctic style cold. Exposed vegetation just dies. Non-salinated water snap-freezes to 50ft. down, killing aquatic wildlife. Creatures exposed take 4d6 points of cold damage every round (Fortitude DC 25 for half damage). Flames are extinguished, and any character touching or holding metal is affected as if with a chill metal effect. A cold snap thankfully doesn't last for long. It costs 150 lb to start, and costs 100 lb every round to maintain.
    • Platinum (Acid Rain): This is not weather that you want to be caught in; acid rain is identical to heavy rain, except that every round that a creature spends exposed causes it to take 2d6 acid damage. Even when an exposed creature gets out of the rain, they take 1 acid damage until they dry off. Acid rain costs 100 lb to kick off, and lasts for an hour.
    • Silver (Thunderstorm): A thunderstorm is devastating. It includes winds of up to 50 mph, as well as heavy rain. Every round that it's active, you can call down a lightning bolt that deals 1d10 d8's of electricity damage in a 5ft. radius to a specific point in the affected area. These bolts offer a Reflex save (DC 20) for half damage. A thunderstorm costs only 50 lb to get started, and every bolt costs an extra 25 lb. A storm lasts for an hour before petering out.
    • Tin (Tornado): This is strong wind. Like, really really strong wind. All flames are extinguished. All ranged attacks are impossible (even with siege weapons), as are Listen checks. Instead of being blown away, characters in close proximity to a tornado who fail a DC 30 Fortitude save are sucked toward the tornado. Those who come in contact with the actual funnel cloud are picked up and whirled around for 1d10 rounds, taking 6d6 points of damage per round, before being violently expelled (falling damage may apply). While a tornado’s rotational speed can be as great as 300 mph, the funnel itself moves at up to 250ft. per round at your discretion. A tornado uproots trees, destroys buildings, and causes other similar forms of major destruction. A tornado is 75ft. in radius, and can be controlled from the geoccult pole. Tornados cost 175 lb to start, and an additional 125 lb every round that it's maintained and controlled.



    GEOC 374: Supernal Ecologies [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four GEOC principles, Survival 15 ranks
    Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    You've reached the pinnacle of geoccult knowledge, and have discovered secrets of ecology that nature itself hasn't found yet. You've discovered supernatural terrain features that you can place in your biomes just like normal features. Note that you must know GEOC 291 to use mercury or silver poles and GEOC 117 to use platinum or crystal poles.

    Arctic [Gold]: Arctic supernatural terrain features include deadsnow, living glacier, and mirror ice.
    • Deadsnow: Deadsnow is like regular snow, but those who pass beyond the mortal coil in it find their souls frozen in the shell of their bodies. At the following midnight, the body is reanimated as a zombie. The zombie is controlled by the geoccult pole as a logical decision; the pole can have a number of Hit Dice of deadsnow zombies under its thrall at a time equal to twice the Survival check made to prepare it. Deadsnow costs 100 lb for every 5ft. patch; it only snares the soul if the victim's body lies in the patch of snow at midnight.
    • Living Glacier: Living glacier is like a sheet of fluid ice which is a living thing unto itself. It's essentially a guardian of the area, but more than that it works like a body for the pole. The glacier itself is an elder ice elemental, but its senses can all relay information to the pole. Anyone controlling the pole can take over the body of the living glacier and control it as if it were them, although this leaves their body helpless for the duration of the control. A living glacier costs 300 lb to place, and there can only be one of them for every 500ft. of radius of the zone.
    • Mirror Ice: This is basically like a regular sheet of ice, except it refracts and bends light in amazing and interesting ways. Anybody standing on a sheet of mirror ice projects four mirror images. However, the image of anyone who stands on the ice is stored in the pole's memory; it stores the information to later make a clone of the creature, and anyone who can cast the spell can use the pole's memory as the piece of the creature required for the casting. The clone later created will be able to communicate telepathically with the geoccult pole, no matter where it is (even on other Planes). Mirror ice becomes inert and dull if removed from the geoccult zone. Mirror ice costs 400 lb to place a 5ft. patch.

    City [Platinum]: City supernatural terrain features include bizarchitecture, power ribbons, and zeitgeists.
    • Bizarchitecture: Sometimes you just have to have a pair of roads in the same place; that's where bizarchitecture comes in. Unlike a normal feature, bizarchitecture is applied to a group of features, hereafter referred to as a set. When designing the features for an area, up to two sets can be placed in the same location; a single set is designated the default set, and the other set is designated as the secondary set. Once the sets have been placed, the secondary set cannot be accessed or observed by any means except under conditions designated when the sets were originally created; these conditions can be restricted to any conditions that would be able to trigger a magic mouth spell. When the conditions for accessing a secondary set are met, any creature that meets the criteria treats the secondary set as if it were the default set, and vice-versa. Creatures who are inside a set of features always treat that set as the default set, regardless of whether or not they still meet the conditions. This means that, for example, if a pair of buildings are in different sets and are in the same location, creatures in one building cannot interact with or observe creatures or objects in the other building by any means. A true seeing effect allows simultaneous observation of both sets of features, but the observer can still only interact with the set that is currently real for them. Creating bizarchitecture multiplies the cost of each component feature for a set by 10.
    • Power Ribbons: Power ribbons carry puissance inside of a biome; this allows for an even spread of ebbs throughout the biome's features. A single gramaric component or heuristical citcuit can be attached to a given end of a power ribbon. Thereafter, every heuristical circuit that contains a section of that power ribbon is treated as if it were overlapping every other heuristic net that the power ribbon runs through. Power ribbon costs 100 lb for every 50ft. extent.
    • Zeitgeists: A zeitgeist is a spirit that instinctively derives demographic information from a biome. More simply, a zeitgeist is an exotic intelligence whose heuristical bubble includes only the pole of the biome, but whose telepathy covers the entirety of the biome zone. In addition, its Mindsight allows it to automatically know the age, race, gender, and legal and marital status of every creature that it can sense. If a zeitgeist is present in the pole, a bizarchitectural set's condition in order to be accessed can make use any information which the zeitgeist is able to automatically derive. A zeitgeist cannot be fooled with conventional methods, but a misdirection effect causes the zeitgeist to read the demographic information of the misdirected proxy instead. A zeitgeist costs only 100 lb to create, but multiplies the rate at which the pole consumes itself every day by 10.

    Cavern [Crystal]: Cavern supernatural terrain features include echochambers, gemfounts and bottomless pits. Cavern supernatural terrain features are unique in that they must all be placed at least 25 ft underground.
    • Echochambers: An echochamber is a spherical room 15 ft. in diameter, lined with delicate crystal panes. Noise reverberates strangely in and out of the dangling crystals. Any sonic spells within an echochamber are cast at +2 CL; in addition, a creature who takes no other actions for one round within an echochamber can hear every sound within the biome and know the distance and direction of each one's origin. Note this does not necessarily grant topographical knowledge of the biome. Echochambers are often places of peaceful sanctuary, and are immune to cave-in effects. An echochamber costs 300 lb of crystal.
    • Gemfounts: Most adventurers have only ever encountered the dead gems scratched out of the surface of a rock. A gemfount produces living, pulsing gemstones that are decidedly more valuable than those old rocks. A gemfount resembles a colorful orifice in the wall and produces one type of gem per fount (diamond, ruby, topaz, or any gem type that can be imagined.) When created, the fount immediately produces a single gemstone ordinarily worth 1d6x500 gp. However, if left unplucked from the rock, the gem's value is multiplied by ten, making it particularly useful for spellcasting components. A fount regrows an identical stone eight hours after a gem is removed. A gemfount costs 300 lb of crystal to create and an additional 300 lb for every gem it produces after the first.
    • Bottomless Pits: A bottomless pit is a pit that is missing something. Specifically, a bottom. It also lacks a top, and occupies a 10ft. square that must be entered from the side via a tunnel. From the side, it appears as an inky blackness that extends in all directions. Any creature or object that falls into a bottomless pit enters a cyclical extradimensional space through which they fall for all eternity. Falling creatures are suspended in a stasis, isolated from any other falling creatures and objects. Noises made are swallowed up by the blackness, and all forms of movement are prohibited, even flying speeds. Falling creatures are considered under a dimensional anchor spell, but can cast communication and divination spells as normal. They are also immune to climate effects and cannot be attacked or targeted by harmful spells. If a bottomless pit collapses while a creature is falling, they land prone on the ground, but only take 2d6 falling damage. A bottomless pit costs 500 lb of crystal, and if anything is falling through it, it has an additional per day cost of either 100 lb or the total weight of all falling creatures, whichever is larger.

    Desert [Iron]: Desert supernatural terrain features include brassbrush, firesand, and mirage oases.
    • Brassbrush: This is living brass which grows from the ground. It can be harvested as brass, but more importantly as it grows it reproduces gramaric modifications, and it counts as copper for all gramaric purposes; it does not count as metal for any other purpose. That is, it's plant matter which you can prepare gramaric principles on as if it were copper. Any gramaric principle which is prepared on the brassbrush remains stored in the plant. If it is cut and regrows, it regrows with the principle prepared on it. This includes all sorts of things, including ELDK principles, ALCH principles, and even further GEOC principles. Brassbrush retains its metallic memory outside of the zone, but it only grows in hot, dry, desert conditions. If it regrows in the pole's zone, this costs new metal like normal. However, if it's taken outside it takes a week to grow to its full size, but requires no input aside from nutrients. Brassbrush costs 500 lb for a single 5ft. patch, and a single 5ft. patch of it itself weighs 25 lb.
    • Firesand: Firesand is exactly like regular sand, except that it burns on contact with water. This makes the rare rainfalls in the desert quite spectacular, but more importantly it's very useful for gramarie. One tablespoon of firesand when mixed with sufficient water will produce flame even hotter than phlogiston (2000 degrees Centigrade) for five minutes before burning out. It also produces 50 cubic feet of superheated dry steam at 500 degrees Centigrade from this reaction. Firesand costs 250 lb for a single 5ft. patch.
    • Mirage Oases: A mirage oasis is somewhere between a trick of the light and a true illusion. It's a part of the terrain of the desert where the particular combination of arcane resonance and heat patterns create some a very convincing illusion. Any IMCH illusion which is placed in this illusion finds that a visual component creates itself to fit the illusion perfectly, no matter what the rest of the illusion does. This essentially means that it's impossible for the visual component to cause a sensory mismatch. Thanks to the connection to the pole's knowledge of the area, the mirage uses this knowledge to create as convincing an illusion as possible, making fundamental disconnects based on sight almost impossible to occur as well. A mirage oasis is actually a very pleasant locale beneath the illusion, and is always both fertile and a pleasant climate no matter what weather condition is going on in the rest of the desert. A mirage oasis costs 200 lb for a single 5ft. square.

    Forest [Copper]: Forest supernatural terrain features include ancient oaks, heartwood, and nymph pools.
    • Ancient Oaks: Ancient oaks are semi-intelligent trees which can read the memory of the ground beneath them. You can communicate with them through the pole telepathically, and they can answer any question about the land or the history of it back several hundred years (treat it as having a +20 modifier for all Knowledge checks related to its field of expertise). An ancient oak is also a sentinel (it has the same senses as a treant) and alerts the pole when anything unusual happens in the geoccult zone. Ancient oaks are otherwise not intelligent; they serve their puspose, but nothing more. They are merely spirits of history that have a mandate to protect their forest. An ancient oak costs 500 lb, and is otherwise the same as a massive tree. It needs to grow for a month before it can communicate with the pole.
    • Heartwood: Heartwood is a living deciduous wood which has intriguing properties when it comes to gramarie. It can be directed to grow in any shape that the pole dictates, as if with wood shape, except that much finer detail than normal is possible. Anyone directing the pole or making logical decisions for it can use their own Craft ranks to form the heartwood into the shape of something that requires a Craft check. Heartwood physically works like darkwood but also has the interesting property of connection. If a heartwood tree is taken from a geoccult zone and planted in another geoccult zone where it can grow, the two poles can communicate telepathically with each other. Someone controlling one pole can also impose their will over the other; if this is resisted by someone controlling the second, resolve it as an opposed Will save. The victor can make logical decisions for the other pole (and, if it's connected to one, its circuit) for the following round. Heartwood otherwise works like a light tree, and costs 400 lb to place. The second pole takes over the upkeep on it if a tree of it is planted in its zone.
    • Nymph Pools: A nymph pool is a special place to the fae. It's one of the few mystical secluded places of nature left to them, and they treasure it. After a month undisturbed, a nymph pool attracts a nymph who acts as an emissary between the one who controls the zone and her court. More tangibly, she can sanction a faerie wish once a month as long as the pool is undisturbed (although subject to the standard sidhe word games). A nymph pool is a standing body of water that must be at least 100ft. away from all other bodies of water, trails, and paths. If anyone comes within 100ft. of it except for the one who controls the geoccult pole, the nymph flees from them. A nymph pool costs only 100 lb, but the water in it needs to be replaced daily at a cost of 50 lb per day to maintain its purity.

    Grasslands [Tin]: Grasslands supernatural terrain features include ghostgrass, lightning pools, and standing stones.
    • Ghostgrass: Ghostgrass is prized mostly for its ability to interact with the incorporeal. It is tangible to both the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane, and is often used to send signals back and forth between them. Anyone who eats ghostgrass straight from the ground becomes incorporeal for the following five minutes. This has been exploited to great effect in the past to lead spectral charges against fortifications. Ghostgrass grown outside of the zone loses this special property, but still interacts with both material and incorporeal creatures. Ghostgrass costs 250 lb per 5ft. patch, and is otherwise like normal grass.
    • Lightning Pools: Lightning pools are perhaps some of the most interesting terrain features available. These work like batteries for puissance, but with a key difference. A single 5ft. pool can store up to 100 ebbs, but if the water is taken from the pool then the communal store of puissance can be accessed by tying the water sample into a circuit. Each pool can potentially split into 100 separate reservoirs of water, each of which can access the shared bank of puissance and make deposits or withdrawals. Lightning pools charged with puissance hold an arcane potential, and crackle the occasional static discharge, which is what led to their fanciful name. If the lightning water is diluted with other fluids later on, the effect is lost, but the bank of puissance is not adversely affected unless all of the lightning water is destroyed like this. A single lightning pool costs 5,000 lb and does not replenish itself until all of the water has been drawn from it and destroyed. The geoccult pole can also be used as a way to tap into the bank of puissance stored in a pool.
    • Standing Stones: This is a mysterious set of standing stones arranged in a circle, which are commonly used to chart astronomical events. Any kind of predictions, divinations, foretellings, prophecies, or fortune telling effects all gain a +2 bonus to their caster level for being made inside of a set of standing stones. Standing stones also offer refuge from the ravages of the outside world. Creatures within the citcle find that transient effects on them, such as spells with set durations, do not wane as long as they remain in the circle. For good or ill, time spent in the circle of standing stones is apart from outside of them, and does not count against the duration of any transient effect (up to a maximum of five transient effects on any given creature inside of the circle). A set of standing stones takes up a 20ft. radius circle and costs 800 lb of metal to erect.

    Ocean [Silver]: Ocean supernatural terrain features include krakenhaunts, truewater crevices, and prismatic reefs.
    • Krakenhaunts: Krakenhaunts are whirlpools on the surface of the ocean which draw guardians from the deep to protect the zone. As a standard action, puissance can be channelled through the geoccult pole into the krakenhaunt to conjure up a guardian as if with a summon nature's ally effect, but only for saltwater aquatic animals. This costs a number of ebbs of puissance equal to 1 + the spell level being imitated. The caster level (and thus duration) of the effect is equal to half the Survival check of the pole. The conjured guardian is under the control of whoever is making logical decisions for the geoccult pole. A krakenhaunt costs 500 lb, and though it otherwise is a dramatic piece of the ocean, it has no effect on swimmers.
    • Truewater Crevices: This crevice must be placed on the ocean floor, a full four miles down. It is a portal to any other ocean on another Plane, and the exact location is set when it is placed with the pole. Once opened, the portal cannot truly be shut again, only blocked off or sealed with mundane means. The portal can be any size so long as it is at an appropriate depth. A truewater crevice costs 1,000 lb per 5ft. square of the portal.
    • Prismatic Reefs: A prismatic reef is a coral structure found built up from the ocean floor, even above the sea level. It has the intriguing property that it can be grown in specific shapes (as if with a stone shape effect), and it absorbs pigmentation in a unique way. As long as it is still alive (hasn't been cut), if a kaleidomantic filter touches it, the entire reef assumes the colour and properties of the filter, as if it were just a very complicated 3D structure built out of the filter and fixed in space. If the filter is later removed, the reef returns to its normal solid state. Prismatic reef costs 250 lb for every 125 cubic feet of it, and it must be affixed on the ocean floor. It cannot grow more than 30ft. above the free surface.

    Swamp [Lead]: Swamp supernatural terrain features include black lagoons, haunted bogs, and ignes fatui.
    • Black Lagoons: A black lagoon is a frightening locale filled wih spooky voodoo power. Necromancy spells cast from a black lagoon add +2 to their caster level and DC in a black lagoon, and it's also inextricably linked to the haunted bogs feature. Anyone who dies while in a black lagoon has their soul stolen as if with trap the soul and stored in the geoccult pole. A black lagoon costs 500 lb per 5ft. patch.
    • Haunted Bogs: Souls which have been stolen in a black lagoon find use in a haunted bog. These are basically factories which transform souls into one of several forms. Souls can be transferred into a haunted bog from the geoccult pole as a logical decision, and then the bog can be directed how to use them. It takes two hours to process a soul, and a single patch of bog can only be working on one of them at a time. A soul can be transformed into 10 ebbs of puissance to be put into a circuit, a tablespoon of anitu dust (a drug popular among fiends), 100 XP for an Exotic Intelligence controlling the circuit (although it can't gain XP from creatures with an ECL more than 10 below its own) or for use in crafting, or, interestingly, memories: all of the knowledge and memories the soul had accumulated in its life is transferred to the geoccult pole, where it can be accessed later. Whatever use the soul is put to, it's utterly destroyed. Whatever was left of the creature becomes a wraith, which haunts the haunted bog. Haunted bogs cost 250 lb per 5ft. patch.
    • Ignes Fatui: Ignes fatui, or wil 'o' the wisps, are a common sight in swamps meant to lead astray the unwary. When you place an ignus fatuum in the zone, it is visible from anywhere in the zone, no matter where you are, glowing faintly and dancing to an unheard tune. Normal measurements and directions don't work out correctly within 500ft. of the ignus. Any measurement or calculation made from a compass, map, astrolable, or other such instrument is off by up somwhere between -50% and +50% of the true value. Particular instruments or objects can be made immune to this effect by linking them with the geoccult pole as a standard action. An ignus fatuum costs 400 lb of metal, and every time it falsifies a measurement it draws an additional 50 lb of fuel.

    Wetlands [Mercury]: Wetlands supernatural terrain features include cryptid caverns, healing springs, and whisperreeds.
    • Cryptid Caverns: These are an actual change to the geography of the lakebed, cutting out caverns below the surface of the water in the side of the shoreline. Things can hide in these caverns and never be discovered, no matter how closely people might look. The caverns are blocked as if by a nondetection effect and a screen to resemble the regular lakebed wall (both effects have a caster level equal to half the Survival check, and a save DC of 10 + 5 per GEOC principle you know). However, things in the caverns can still communicate normally to the pole. Cryptid caverns cost 300 lb for every 5ft. square to be cut out and blocked. The exact image of the screen can be changed as a logical decision through the pole.
    • Healing Springs: Healing springs are basically just what they sound like. This is a fountain of healing water that perpetually flows up through the lake in a particular spot. Water taken from the fountain cures any disease, including magical diseases. They also heal 2d8 hit points and restore 2d6 points of ability damage. If someone drinks it while suffering from a negative level (but before making the saving throw to turn it permanent), the negative level is removed. Healing spring water taken outside of the geoccult zone transmutes into mud. A single healing spring costs 1,000 lb, and needs to be replenished every day.
    • Whisperreeds: Whisperreeds are just like normal cat-tail reeds, except that they transmit sound across huge distances. When two whisperreeds are cut from the same stalk (after it grows back the following day, obviously) any sound or vibration which affects one of them will instantaneously affect the other, as well. This allows the transmission of area effects that deal only sonic damage; if one reed is inside of the area, the effect spreads out from the second reed as if it were the originator of the effect. Sonic damage can only be channeled once like this before it degrades to harmlessness. This is a form of quantum entangling, and thus is not limited by the speed of light. Multiple reeds cut work in the same way, transmitting an equal amount of sound from all of them. However, the total sound level is distributed between all of the extra receptors, dividing it up accordingly. For example, one reed being used to talk to three others would have its transmitted sound level reduced to one third of its original intensity. Whisperreed costs 200 lb per 5ft. patch, and otherwise works like normal cat-tail reeds.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-10 at 06:22 PM.

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Heuristicism


    Image credit griffsnuff of deviantart.com

    "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

    Spoiler
    Show
    Heuristicism is a really strange meta-discipline, which deals with rules, triggers, contingencies, and control. Any magic, even the most mundane, is useless to us if there is no way to control it. Heuristicism offers a way to manipulate and control even absurdly complex systems which can grow out of gramarie. Although it's not especially useful in its own right, heuristicism is possibly the single most important discipline (except maybe for arcanodynamics) for building amazing and wondrous things. It's no understatement to say that without heuristical circuits, gramarie wouldn't be nearly as ubiquitous and marvelous as it is.

    Heuristicism can be improved with visual and tactile aids during the preparation to simulate the connections that are being made. Braided cords are often tied around objects to be connected in a circuit, and grinding stones can be employed to score components with matching marks, improving the sympathetic connection between them. Props like this count as masterwork pieces of equipment, and provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the Autohypnosis check made to prepare a heuristical principle. A particularly famous circuit material is the Dmu Thag, a superplanar cord supposedly woven by an ancient race of giants when they built a machine to break into heaven.

    Key Skill: Autohypnosis


    HEUR 101: Intro to Heuristicism
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: Two or more pieces of gramarie
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle joins two or more works of gramarie together into a heuristical circuit. The things you can join with this principle include: eldrikinetic engines, yggdratectural spaces, semi-spaces, fluxes, and demiplanes, arcanodynamic transformers, and imachinary illusions. These pieces do not need to be touching, but this principle creates a bubble with a radius of up to 5ft. Each piece to be joined must touch or be be contained within the bubble to be considered part of the circuit. You can also choose to exclude particular pieces when you first prepare this principle. The circuit field is tethered to a point in space, or to a particular object or creature. If one of the components moves outside the field or is destroyed, the circuit falls apart (although it reestablishes if the component returns).

    When you set up a circuit, you can choose the path that puissance takes through it, and you can redefine any choices which were originally made when the individual components were set up. For example, if you have a circuit which includes a polarcane magnetic flux, when you prepare this principle you can choose to change the direction of the magnetic force inside the flux. These are called logical decisions. If anything in the circuit generates puissance (typically an arcanodynamic transformer), you can control the flow of the puissance inside of the circuit as a logical decision as well. For example, you can route the puissance from there to an eldrikinetic engine, or to another transformer, and so on.

    As part of this principle, you make an Autohypnosis check. Logical decisions can be changed by anyone who is within the bubble of the circuit and who makes a Autohypnosis check of equal or greater result than the original check. Attempting to control a circuit is a standard action which provokes attacks of opportunity. Circuits are visible on the Ethereal Plane, where they look like silver cord joining the components together.

    You can join two heuristical circuits together, but only to channel puissance between them. You cannot make logical decisions for one circuit by controlling an adjoining circuit.

    If you try to tether a circuit to an unwilling target, they are allowed a Will saving throw to resist it at the end of the preparation. The Will DC is 10 + 5 for every HEUR principle you know.


    HEUR 159: Experimental Thoughts [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: Heuristical circuit
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle targets a heuristical circuit whose bubble you are inside. It extends a telepathic field inside of the circuit, allowing specified intelligent creatures inside of the circuit to communicate wordlessly. Even if such creatures don't share a common language, if they have an Intelligence of greater than 3, they can join in the conversation. You can control those who can communicate with a logical decision. If two creatures inside of the circuit consent to it, one of them can share their senses with the other as if with a sense link.


    HEUR 245: Nonstatic Instruction
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: HEUR 101, Autohypnosis 8 ranks
    Target: Heuristical circuit
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle targets a heuristical circuit whose bubble you are inside. It places a control point into the circuit, at the location and in the form of your choice. This is a point where anyone can access the circuit and make a decision for the components that are inside of it as if they were controlling the principle. No Autohypnosis check is needed, since this is intended to allow the untrained to control parts of the circuit. They can also control the flow of the puissance in the circuit, and can change the path it takes or turn the flow on or off from the control point. Making any single decision from a control point is a standard action, so large circuits can benefit from having multiple control points in them. When you prepare this principle, you can choose exactly what authority each control point in the circuit has, and what decisions or changes they can make to the circuit. To place a control point you must make an Autohypnosis check as part of preparing this principle which meets or exceeds the original check of the circuit.

    If you know HEUR 159, you can choose for the control point to be telepathically activated instead.


    HEUR 266: Unorthodox Triggers [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: HEUR 101, Autohypnosis 8 ranks
    Target: Heuristical circuit
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle targets a heuristical circuit whose bubble you are inside. You can place a single trigger and response in the circuit, which is a particular decision that is reached in the logic of the circuit (turning a component on or off, changing a component's effect, redirecting puissance, and so on). The trigger can be any plain language circumstance which would be reasonable for a contingency effect. This trigger and response, once created, is embedded in the circuit. To place a trigger you must make an Autohypnosis check as part of preparing this principle which meets or exceeds the original check of the circuit.

    By making an Autohypnosis check inside of a circuit which beats the circuit's check by 5 or more, someone could discern any sets of triggers and responses in the circuit. This is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

    The wording of a trigger and its response can be modified by other trigger and response pairs, or by someone controlling the circuit.


    HEUR 302: Abnormal Behaviour
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three HEUR principles, Autohypnosis 15 ranks
    Target: Heuristical circuit
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle targets a heuristical circuit whose bubble you are inside. As part of this principle you must also prepare a principle which has an immediate effect such as an alchemetric transformation or a kaleidomantic filter (the time required for this principle is in addition to the preparation time of HEUR 302, but you only need to prepare it a single time). You may program this active principle into the heuristical circuit, to be activated at some physical location within the bubble of the circuit. By routing puissance to this embedded principle, you can cause it to start preparing itself just as if it was being prepared for the first time. This has a drain of 1 ebb per round while the principle is being prepared.

    Any relevant decisions for the embedded principle, such as target, shape, effect, number of times prepared, and so on, are valid logical decisions which can be made when you first prepare HEUR 302 or which can be controlled through programming triggers or a control point. If the principle requires raw materials, they must be within the heuristical circuit bubble at the time that the embedded principle is activated.

    The embedded principle remains embedded after activation, and can be prepared by the circuit multiple times if all the other requirements are met.

    To embed a principle you must make an Autohypnosis check as part of preparing this principle which meets or exceeds the original check of the circuit.


    HEUR 328: Exotic Intelligence [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four HEUR principles, Autohypnosis 15 ranks
    Target: Heuristical circuit
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle targets a heuristical circuit whose bubble you are inside. You must prepare this principle as many times as the heuristical circuit was prepared to begin with (based on the radius of the bubble). As part of this principle, you must make an Autohypnosis check which meets or exceeds the original check of the circuit. If successful, you install an artificial intelligence into the circuit which is a real thinking consciousness. The consciousness has an Intelligence between 3 and your own Intelligence -2, chosen when you prepare this principle. The intelligence can have any alignment you like, as well as any number of goals, aims, and ideals. You can also establish parameters for behavious which the intelligence is not allowed to break, or rules that they are required to follow.

    Once established, the intelligence cannot be modified or changed. It takes on its own personality and mannerisms, although it is bound to your original rules. It has control over every aspect of the circuit, and can make all relevant logical decisions as it sees fit as a free action. The intelligence created has a Wisdom and Charisma score equal to its Intelligence score, and can take purely mental actions. It has no Hit Dice, but can take 10 on any kind of mental skill check. It has telepathy and mindsight within the heuristic bubble, but otherwise no senses. An intelligence like this (commonly called an EI) can make up to 100 logical decisions in the circuit per round.

    If someone tries to control the circuit through a control point or with a Autohypnosis check, the intelligence is allowed to make an opposed Intelligence check in order to stop the attempt from succeeding.

    The intelligence can also maintain the circuit if it is disrupted. Even if a component is removed, the intelligence can keep the rest of the circuit running as long as they don't depend on the function of the missing component. However, every time a component is removed from the circuit, the intelligence must make a Will save against a DC of 10 or be destroyed.

    If you also know HEUR 159, an exotic intelligence in the circuit can use the senses of anyone within the boundaries of the circuit who is authorized to use telepathy in the field.

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Imachination

    Spoiler
    Show

    Image credit TheBroth3R of deviantart.com

    "No, don't you get it? If you die in Canada, you die in REAL LIFE!"

    Spoiler
    Show
    The marvelous art of illusion is a dying tradition these days. In the past it is said that there were practicioners of the art with unsurpassed cleverness and guile, while now it seems relegated to the most obvious and tired uses possible. It seems the world has outgrown the use of illusion and the creativity it requires; at the very least, the kind of creativity and outside-the-box thinking it requires are punished and repressed in traditional colleges of magic. However, there exist those who remember some of the old tricks and knacks clever magicians invented to fool the unwary. The discipline of imachination is in many ways a modernization of the oldest and (many say) outdated school of magic. But then again, those with surpassing disdain for the marvelous art are often those most at its mercy, for they believe only what their eyes and ears tell them. And as any student of imachination could tell you, your eyes and ears lie to you all the time...

    Imachination often involves using material which naturally distorts sensory information to more easily mold an illusion. Prisms to refract light, exotic perfumes and spices, and musical instruments are all common aids to imachination. Any such equipment counts as a masterwork item, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Bluff check made to prepare an imachinary principle. The Full Moon Cello is a legendary instrument which is said to weave colours and sounds together in mysterious ways when played.

    Key Skill: Bluff


    IMCH 101: Intro to Imachination
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle causes a field of space to give off sensory elements that are not actually there. As part of this principle, you make a Bluff check and target an immobile point in space or an object or creature which will serve as the centre of the effect. This is known as the spatial reference. The reference point gives off a bubble-shaped field of radius 5ft. which has an illusory component to it.

    Illusions created with this principle work differently than normal illusions (although please bear in mind that for the rest of this discipline whenever I mention 'illusion' I'm talking about the illusions generated by these principles). They do not offer saving throws to disbelieve them just by interacting with them. Instead, you are allowed a sensory check whenever something about the illusion is unbelievable for some reason. The sensory check is a skill check against a DC of the Bluff check made when this principle was first prepared. The particular skill to use is specified in the sensory output list.

    If the sensory check is prompted by an illusion which seems to be missing a sensory component you would normally expect it to have, such as a painting that you can see but not feel, this is called a sensory mismatch. You can make (or the DM will make for you) a skill check against every sensory component present in the illusion, with a +5 bonus on the check for every component that is missing. You gain a +10 bonus on the check for every component which is actually mismatched, which means you are receiving contradictory information (for example, a beverage that tastes like apple juice but smells like rhino urine). You can only make one skill check per day per sensory component present in the illusion.

    If the sensory check is prompted by an impossible scenario that you sense, such as a solid wall which a thrown rock goes through, this is called a fundamental disconnect. You can immediately make (or the DM will make for you) a skill check against the unbelievable sensory output with a +20 bonus. You can make as many kinds of checks against the same illusion as you like, but each must have a different triggering event.

    Once an illusion is disbelieved, it's sort of like one of those optical illusion 3D puzzles from the 90's. Once you know the trick to it, it's like a switch flips in your head and you can see through it at will. As a free action someone who knows the truth of the illusion can choose to believe or disbelieve the illusion, whichever is more convenient to them at the time. When you disbelieve an illusion, you can still sense a harmless translucent overlay (or echo, or faint whiff...) of it, allowing you to sense what it is and what it's doing.

    Illusions can not actually harm people. If for any reason they seem to hurt people or cause a condition that hurts them, or makes them think they're being hurt, they only take nonlethal damage, and then only until they disbelieve the illusion, at which point they laugh it off. That being said, it's entirely possible for an illusion to lead someone to actually hurt themselves, such as an illusionary covering over a pit of lava.

    Illusions by default only have one sensory output, but by preparing this principle multiple times you can add extra senses. However, that can end up taking a while for big bubble effects, since you have to prepare it the same number of times for the appropriate size bubble for each sense. So to make things simpler, for every extra sense you want to tack on inside the field, add +30 minutes to each preparation of this principle. You use the same Bluff check for every sensory output in an illusion.

    Any illusion created has a sense output, a form, and a function. You choose all three of these components when you first prepare this principle. This principle allows you to make illusions with the following form:

    • Additive: An additive form illusion generates a sensory output on top of the sensory output normally coming from the bubble. This could be adding a smell that wasn't there previously, making it feel like there is a wall in the field, or anything else you can imagine. However, it does not remove any sensory component that already existed in the field. So while you could create the image of a hippo, you can't remove the image of the emu that is actually in the space (although you could place the image of the hippo overtop of the emu if you like).


    This principle also allows you to make illusions with the following function:

    • Static: A static function illusion creates an unmoving, unchanging sensory output. It doesn't change, either with response to stimuli or to your commands after being constructed. They can be mobile if fixed to a spatial reference that is moving, but they do not move themselves. For example, a visual illusion of a hippo fixed to an arrow being loosed would seem like an unmoving and nonresponsive hippopotamus was being shot through the air.


    Lastly, when you prepare this principle, you must select one of the following senses to target:

    • Auditory: An auditory illusion targets the sense of hearing. It's opposed by a Listen check. Auditory illusions can replicate any kind of sound you can imagine, which seems to be emanating from any point inside the field that you like. Trying to replicate someone's voice or a specific sound requires some kind of check like normal, or something like the mimicry ability (see the kenku racial features for more details). Noises can be pretty damn loud, but not loud enough to cause actual hearing impairment, deafness, headaches, sonic damage, or to shatter glass or crystal. Static examples of auditory illusions could be a looped conversation or message, a repeating noise, and so on. An example of a real-life auditory illusion is the condition of tinnitus.
    • Gustatory: A gustatory illusion targets the sense of taste. It's opposed by a Survival check. Gustatory illusions can create any combination of salty, sour, bitter, savoury, or sweet taste sensations in a food which is within the field. This kind of illusion is usually best used when fixed on the food itself as a reference point, since it's pretty useless if the food leaves the area of effect. If you try to replicate a particular taste you are not familiar with, anyone who is familiar with it gets an automatic chance for a fundamental disconnect when they taste it for the first time. An example of a real-life gustatory illusion is a hot pepper.
    • Olfactory: An olfactory illusion targets the sense of smell. It's opposed by a Survival check. Anyone without the scent special ability is termed scent-dumb, and takes a -20 penalty on Survival checks against an olfactory illusion (seriously, the difference between a human and a dog smelling things is intense). An olfactory illusion works much the same as a gustatory illusion, except without the five particular components. In general your best bet is to specify particular odors that the area smells like, or mimic the smell of a particular person, creature, location, object, or so on. If you yourself don't have the scent special ability, it's assumed that you're not familiar with any scent you create, as described in the gustatory illusion section. An example of a real-life olfactory illusion is the condition of phantosmia.
    • Tactile: A tactile illusion targets the sense of touch, and this is where stuff starts to get a little weird. It's opposed by a Survival check. A tactile illusion makes it feel like there's something in the field of the illusion that is not actually there. Anyone who believes the illusion, for all intents and purposes, treats the tactile component as if it were an actual object. However, it's important to note that this illusion is not actually there. You cannot walk across an illusionary bridge or up illusionary stairs, because it will not actually support weight. But someone who believes that it is real will actually feel like the stairs or the bridge is there right up until they actually try to put their weight on it. For example, someone who believes in an illusionary wall can push against it, lean on it, feel detail in it, all without even generating a disbelief check of any kind, because their own muscles and nerves are lying to them about what's actually there. Their body is actually supporting itself when they lean on the illusion. It's only if they try to jump through the wall, throw a rock through, or anything else that can't be cheated by misfiring neurons, that they will get a chance to disbelieve it. If you don't see the distinction right away, that's okay. This kind of illusion is really strange in a lot of ways, but also incredibly potent, since the victim's own body does the work of convincing them for you. An example of a real-life tactile illusions is the cutaneous saltation effect.
    • Visual: A visual illusion targets the sense of sight. It's opposed by a Spot check. Visual illusions are some of the most common and well-known illusions, and for the most part it's the same here. You generate the image of something that doesn't actually exist. If you try to replicate something instead of just making it up, you'll probably have to make some kind of additional Bluff or Forgery or Knowledge or Disguise check like normal in order to show you know your stuff. I wish I could be more specific, but visual illusions are probably the most versatile overall, and there are a million different things you could do with them. In general, if you have to make a secondary skill check for authenticity, anyone with experience with the thing being illusioneered should be able to make an opposing skill check for a one-time chance at a fundamental disconnect. An example of a real-life visual illusion is a rainbow.


    Any further principles you learn which augment these three lists can be mixed together when making illusions.

    If you try to tether an illusion to an unwilling target, they are allowed a Will saving throw to resist it at the end of the preparation. The Will DC is 10 + 5 for every IMCH principle you know.


    IMCH 167: Unbound Expectations [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: IMCH 101, Bluff 4 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like IMCH 101, except that it provides you with two additional forms for your illusions:

    • Ablative: An ablative form illusion removes a sensory output which already exists in the field of effect. Depending on the sense used, this could be either removing everything of that sensory output (such as every smell in the area) or particular parts or components of that sensory output (such as removing the taste of almonds from a cup of tea). Static ablative illusions can be a little tricky, and a lot of the time end of being just fields where things become invisible or silenced or whatever when they go inside of them. That being said, more subtle erasures are usually more effective.
    • Differential: A differential form illusion alters a sensory output that already exists in the field of the effect. These are some of the most advanced illusions, because they can actually cause subtle variations in the sense, not just blunt extra sensations or removed sensations. For example, a differential gustative illusion could cause all tea in the area to taste spicier than normal, or for someone to seem somewhat taller than they actually are. If you're trying to work out when something is additive, ablative, or differential, just remember that differential illusions usually work with what's there and modify it, rather than just inventing or deleting things whole-cloth.



    IMCH 228: Imperfect Images
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: IMCH 101, Bluff 8 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like IMCH 101, except that it provides you with additional functions for your illusions:

    • Adaptive: An adaptive function illusion is much like a static illusion, except that it adapts to its surroundings in the same way as something real that it is based on. For example, this can create the image of grass which bends when someone steps on it, or blows in the wind, or which turns brown in the autumn. This doesn't provide any kind of intelligence or interactivity to the illusion, just an added layer of realness.
    • Programmed: A programmed function illusion can be either static or adaptive in nature, but it also has explicit programming built into it as well as any number of triggers for the behaviour. For example, this can generate auditory illusions which interact with people speaking to it, illusionary people who can cook an illusionary meal at the request of a real person, and so on. This is entirely a set of triggers and responses which are built into the illusion when you first construct it.
    • Controlled: A controlled function illusion is neither static nor adaptive, but instead changes sensory outputs based on the direction of someone who is either standing at the centre of the effect or who is holding an object that the spatial reference is tied to (or who is themselves the spatial reference). At will, as a free action, the controller can modify the sensory output of the illusion. They cannot change the actual sense targetted or the form of the illusion, and they cannot even change the fundamental nature of it (although this is a murky area at best rules-wise, again because of the freeform nature of illusions). In general, controlling an illusion allows someone to control its responses personally, allowing them to decide how the illusion responds to the environment and outside stimuli.



    IMCH 295: Perturbed Mentalities [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: IMCH 101, Bluff 8 ranks
    Target: Illusion
    Preparation Time: 30 minutes

    This principle works like IMCH 101, except that it can cause certain sensory inputs to realize themselves as mental conditions. Illusions you create can now bestow the following minor conditions until the illusory nature of them is realized: confused, dazed, deafened, fascinated, frightened, or sickened. The illusion must provide a scenario which could realistically bestow the condition, and the target is typically allowed a saving throw to avoid the effect inside of the illusion.

    This principle also grants you one additional form for your illusions:

    • Dream State A dream state illusion is only apparent to creatures who go to sleep inside of the boundaries of the illusion. However, the illusion can be much more convincing than normal, since dreams are difficult to differentiate from reality. Before they are allowed a chance to break out of the dream, they must first realize that they are in a dream in the first place; this requires spotting a fundamental disconnect or sensory mismatch, but with a -4 penalty. After noticing the reality of the dream, the subject can try to forcibly wake themselves up by making a Fortitude save (DC 5 + 5 for every IMCH principle you know). Anyone with the Lucid Dreaming skill can use it to notice the nature of the dream; they don't take a -4 penalty, but instead gaina +4 bonus on it. People who are awake inside the area can cause a sleeping victim to forcibly make a Fortitude save to break free by shaking them violently, but this attempt similarly takes a -4 penalty. Otherwise, the subject continues to sleep inside the illusion until the illusion collapses or they die of starvation or thirst.



    IMCH 334: Nonsensical Senses
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three IMCH principles, Bluff 15 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like IMCH 101, except that it provides you with obscure new sensory outputs for your illusions:

    • Mental: A mental illusion targets the sense of mindsight. It's opposed by a Concentration check. Anyone without the mindsight special ability doesn't even recognise that this sensory component is present, and thus doesn't interact with it in any way. A mental illusion allows you to generate the sensation that there are living intelligent people present in the field of the illusion. These false intelligent creatures can be shaped to seem to be whatever race, class, or alignment you like. They also seem to be present for any effect that would detect their thoughts, which you set when you first invent them.
    • Thermal: A thermal illusion targets the sense of thermoreception. It's opposed by a Survival check. Thermal illusions can make something feel hot, cold, tepid, or anything in between. This includes anything like objects, creatures in the field, the air itself, or really whatever you can imagine. It doesn't actually change the temperature, but it can make people think that something is warmer or colder than it actually is.
    • Vestibular: A vestibular illusion targets the sense of equilibrioception. It's opposed by a Balance check. The stability special ability grants its bonus to skill checks to detect the false nature of a vestibular illusion. Vestibular illusions interact with the sensations of ascension or descension, like in an elevator. Alternatively, they can make people in the field feel like they are turning, accelerating, or moving in any direction the illusion dictates. Unlike many sensory outputs, vestibular illusions only exist in the minds of people who are actually in the field of effect. Something like a visual illusion can only create visual constructs that are in the field, but those constructs can be seen from far away. A vestibular illusion only exists in the minds of people who are actually inside of the illusion bubble.
    • Vibratory: A vibratory illusion targets the sense of tremorsense. It's opposed by a Survival check. Anyone without the tremorsense special ability doesn't even recognise that this sensory component is present, and thus doesn't interact with it in any way. A vibratory illusion can make it seem like any kind of false sensory output you like which would normally be detectable to tremorsense is in fact in the field of the illusion. Vibratory illusions typically must be of something in contact with the ground or a nearby object in order to send the illusionary vibrations through the medium.



    IMCH 388: Glamourous Gramarie [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four IMCH principles, Bluff 15 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like IMCH 101, except that it creates illusions that are so realistic that people can convince themselves that they're actually being hurt. As they say, lit on imaginary fire is still lit on fire. Illusions you create can now actually bestow the following conditions until the illusionary nature of them is realised: ability damaged, ability drained, blinded, blown away, checked, cowering, dazzled, energy drained, entangled, exhausted, frightened, knocked down, nauseated, panicked, paralyzed, petrified (yes, really, although they don't actually turn to stone; they just think they did), shaken, staggered, and stunned. For all intents and purposes they will act as if they actually had these conditions until they are no longer sensing the illusion or they realise its illusionary nature. Damage these conditions or your illusions in general create is now real damage, as the victim's body makes it real for them.

    One of the stranger things about this principle is that, quite literally, it's all in your head. So while an illusion really can make you think you're dying of lead poisoning, that only works if you know that lead is poisonous in the first place. In this instance, it's very much a case of what you do know can hurt you. Illusions make you sense something that isn't actually there, but unless you know what the shape of the illusion is, you can't really be expected to know that it can hurt you. It's not reasonable at all to assume that everybody in the game setting is intimately familiar with the capabilities of every monster and can identify them by sight, any more than they should be expected to know toxic chemicals from their smell.

    In general, whenever this becomes an issue (that is, whenever the effects of an illusion depend on the subject knowing a piece of trivia), the DM should decide how obscure the knowledge is based on an appropriate Knowledge skill. Recall that really obvious facts typically have a Knowledge DC of 10, basic questions have a DC of 15, and really tough questions have a DC of 20-30. To determine if the subject knows the fact necessary to complete the illusion, have them take 10 on the appropriate Knowledge skill (even untrained) as a sort of 'common sense' check. This is to determine their off-the-cuff knowledge about the subject, and whether they are familiar enough with it to be able to prey on their expectations. Which is, of course, the essence of illusion.

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Kaleidomantics


    Image credit k-tim of deviantart.com

    "The colour of truth is grey."

    Spoiler
    Show
    Being one of the most useful disciplines for any kind of structural engineering project, kaleidomantics allows the selective filtration of external factors from an area. By careful application and construction of a filter, many seemingly impossible projects become not only possible, but simple. Kaleidomantic filters are much like a cross between a wall of force and a mundane sieve, except that the things they filter out are much more bizarre and intriguing than spaghetti.

    Kaleidomantics involves the use of various kinds of dyes and pigments to dilute and purify various hues. Cloth of vibrant colour is exceptionally useful to create a filter, as some of the essence of the colour is drawn from the fibres of the specimen to reinforce the barrier. Any such gear counts as masterwork, and thus provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Spot check made to prepare a kaleidomantic principle. There is a legendary fabric known as the Technicolor Dreamcloth, which is exceptionally powerful for use in the construction of kaleidomantic filters.

    Key Skill: Spot


    KALD 101: Intro to Kaleidomantics
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle creates a kaleidomantic filter, which is a magical barrier that excludes an external factor. A filter acts exactly like a wall of force, except that, well, it's not made of force. Kaleidomantic filters are typically 1/16 of an inch thick, and can take any 2D shape, oriented in space however you like. As part of this principle you make a Spot check, which determines the durability of your filter.

    Every time you prepare this principle you can add area to the filter. Each preparation gives you 25 square feet, although this can be laid out however you like. However, every part of the filter must be connected, and the surface of the filter must be at least 1/16 of an inch thick at all points.

    Any given filter has one particular factor which is excluded from entry, and one particular vulnerability. To that factor alone the filter acts like a full-on wall of force, while to literally everything else the filter remains completely permeable. Each filter excludes one particular factor, although you can set up more than one filter over the same area in space; they can even intersect.

    A kaleidomantic filter is located in space based on a reference point that you set when you prepare this principle. You can also base it on an item or a creature, which allows it to be moved later. Once established, a filter is permanent unless it's hit by it's vulnerability. A filter can be disassembled by striking the filter with its particular vulnerability, as noted in the entry.

    If a kaleidomantic filter is fixed to something which then rotates, the filter rotates through space as well. It keeps the same orientation to the reference point established at preparation. Kaleidomantic filters also can interact with other filters of the same colour; they cannot pass through each other.

    If a moving kaleidomantic filter is opposed in its movement by some agent, this works exactly like trying to push a solid object (if it's moving fast enough, it can also deal damage as a projectile). If the agent is pushing against the movement of the filter, there is an opposed Strength check between the person (hereafter known as the controller) moving the filter (by moving the object it is fixed to or by having the filter fixed to themselves) and the person being pushed. If the controller succeeds, they can make an immediate bull rush check using the size category modifier of the filter and their own Strength modifier in order to push the agent in the direction they like. If the agent succeeds on the Strength check, they can move the filter based on their carrying capacity, treating the filter as weightless and moving whatever it's attached to along with it until the start of the controller's next turn.

    On the other hand, a single filter fixed in space can support as much weight as an immovable rod, and can be moved in the same way. Every additional preparation beyond the first adds 2,000 pounds of support to the filter.

    If you try to tether a filter to an unwilling target, they are allowed a Will saving throw to resist it at the end of the preparation. The Will DC is 5 + 5 for every KALD principle you know.

    The first filters typically taught are the red and orange filters, which are useful for a broad range of applications:

    • Red: A red filter excludes heat. Changes in temperature or external sources of hot or cold do not pass through the filter or have any effect on the temperature of the other side. Any physical objects which move through a red filter which are warmer than the ambient temperature on the other side have their temperature reduced to match the temperature on the other side of the filter. Living creatures cannot have their internal temperatures forcibly changed by this effect, but all inanimate material is subject to the filtration. A red filter is vulnerable to extremely low temperatures. If it absorbs a total amount of cold damage equal to the Spot check, it collapses.
    • Yellow: A yellow filter excludes solid stone and metal. Metals dissolved in a liquid can move through, but any of these natural materials in the solid phase are blocked from passage. This filter cannot be established so that it intersects solid stone or metal; any attempt to do so fails. A yellow filter is vulnerable to disintegrating effects. Any effect which would destroy inanimate matter or which specify that they destroy a corpse can cause the filter to collapse. A yellow filter's AC against a disintegrate effect is equal to the Spot check.



    KALD 107: Unearthly Colours [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: Spot 4 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn two new colours which are important for large-scale civil engineering projects:

    • Blue: A blue filter excludes water. Water which is contained in some other container or body can be carried through, but freeflowing water cannot pass through the filter. If the water is mixed with something else or has something dissolved in it, it is still blocked by the filter up until it has 10,000 parts per million of impurities (that is, 1 part other agent for every 100 parts water). A blue filter is vulnerable to force effects. The filter collapses if it sustains a total amount of damage equal to the Spot check from effects that are specifically made of force or which specifically strike incorporeal creatures.
    • Orange: An orange filter excludes loose gases. Gases which are inside of something else can be carried through the filter (such as the oxygen in someone's lungs), but anything in the gaseous phase cannot of its own accord pass through the barrier. An orange filter is vulnerable to strong winds. Whenever the filter is struck by winds of sufficient speed, it collapses; this critical speed is based on the volumetric flow of the wind. Multiply the speed in mph of the wind by the area in square feet which it is striking on the filter. If the result exceeds 100 times the Spot check of the filter, it collapses.



    KALD 238: Extrareal Hues
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: KALD 101, Spot 8 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn two new colours which are especially useful for handling dangerous substances:

    • Green: A green filter excludes poisons. Poisonous vapours and the like cannot pass through the filter, and liquid poisons which are carried through are purified of toxins and poisons. Agents which are eliminated in this way typically leave a harmless gritty residue on the surface of the filter. Poisons inside of creatures which are vital for survival are unaffected, but all natural poisons which are used as part of a special attack or attack routine are rendered harmless until the body replaces them (typically half an hour or more). A green filter is vulnerable to extradimensional effects. It collapses if an extradimensional space with a volume in cubic-ft. of at least the Spot check is established inside of, or moved through, the filter.
    • Indigo: An indigo filter excludes acids and bases. Any agent with a pH of lower than 6 or greater than 8 cannot of its own accord pass through the filter. Again, an exception is made for acids or bases which are inside of a living creature and necessary for survival. However, acids and bases inside of an artificial container which are carried through have the pH pushed to 6 or 8, whichever is closer to its current acidity (this typically leaves the substance incapable of causing acid damage). An indigo filter is vulnerable to sunlight. It collapses in an area of full daylight, or when it sustains a total amount of damage from effects which specifically mention sunlight or radiance equal to the Spot check.



    KALD 282: Cthonic Dyes [Specialist]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: KALD 101, Spot 8 ranks, The Colour Out of Space
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn a horrifying new colour which seems to exist outside space:

    • Pink: A pink filter excludes space and time. The twists in space-time which connect to extradimensional spaces such as a bag of holding or an yggdratectural semi-space cannot pass through the filter. Portals which are tied to a moving reference point cannot pass through the filter, and in fact the filter will stop the reference point and anything else it's attached to from moving in any way that would bring the portal through; the full weight of the reference and attachments is applied against the filter's strength limit in this case. Teleportation across a pink filter is impossible; this applies if the shortest line between the departure point and the destination would pass through the filter. A pink filter is vulnerable to water. A volume of water at least equal in litres to the Spot check drenching it will collapse the filter. You must always infuse a pink filter with your Colour out of Space feat.



    KALD 347: Superlunar Pigments
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three KALD principles, Spot 15 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn the final filter, which has some rather obscure applications:

    • Violet: A violet filter excludes living things. Anything which is alive cannot pass through the filter, although things which were previously alive pass through with no problem. This blocks the undead, but allows the passage of artificial constructs such as golems, which has led to some interesting ethical, legal, and theological debates. This filter cannot be established to intersect a living creature; any attempt to do so fails. A violet filter is vulnerable to antitheurgical effects. If any dispelling or antimagic effect is used against the filter, the caster level is tested against a DC of 5 + 5 for every KALD principle you knew when you prepared this principle (you can prepare this principle again later to update the DC). Success for the dispeller indicates that the filter collapses.



    KALD 379: Imperceptible Shades [Specialist]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four KALD principles, Spot 15 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    When I said that was the final filter, I was lying. This is the super-secret actual final filter. This principle otherwise works like KALD 101.

    • Black: A black filter excludes information. For all intents and purposes, whatever happens on one side of the filter is literally unknowable from the other side. It blocks every traditional sense, as well as any other means of gaining information about what's going on on the other side of it. Supernatural senses, magical attempts to perceive, scry, or otherwise circumvent the barrier, all fail. Effects that rely on retrieving information from the other side of filter, such as a summon monster effect, also fail if the caster is enclosed by black filters. Even deities attempting to pierce the veil with a salient divine ability must make a Will save against the key skill check roll of the filter in order to perceive beyond it. Essentially, all sensory information of any kind is blocked from passage. Physical means of passing through the filter still work perfectly well, and brains can pass through a Black filter with no ill effects. However, sensory information cannot pass beyond the boundary of the effect. The quantum mechanical ramifications of this I'll leave up to your group to decide. A black filter is vulnerable to certain prismatic effects. It collapses if a prismatic effect is used on it when the result rolled for the colour of the effect results in 'roll twice more'.

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Yggdratecture


    Image credit arsenixc of deviantart.com

    "But there's a world beyond what we can see and touch, and that world lives by its own laws. What may be impossible in this very ordinary world is very possible there, and sometimes the boundaries between the two worlds disappear, and then who can say what is possible and impossible?"

    Spoiler
    Show
    The simple knowledge that there are infinite Planes and spaces beyond the world we perceive has massive ramifications on almost every field of study. From the philosophical implications to the simple physical construction of the cosmos, planar cosmology has a very tangible impact on those within it. Yggdratecture is, broadly speaking, the study of space and time. And in true dungeoneering spirit, what can be studied can be twisted to your advantage. This discipline teaches how to shape and reshape space-time into an image you find more suitable.

    Yggdratecture is a non-linear discipline, and is often one of the most difficult to wrap one's mind around. It's almost a requirement to have at hand at least one mathematical textbook on multi-dimensional space-time. Abstruse physical objects can also be a great aid to capturing the essence of warped space, such as 6-dimensional mφbius strips, or boxes which only have a single surface. Any reference like the counts as a masterwork piece of equipment, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Forgery check made to prepare an yggdratectural principle. Gabriel's Horn is a legendary multidimensional device purportedly created by an archangel to combat the planar incursions of the forces of Baator.

    Key Skill: Forgery


    YGGD 101: Intro to Yggdratecture
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: None
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle creates an extradimensional bulge, which is a small space that is bigger on the inside than the outside. This is known as a semi-space. A semi-space is tethered to the Plane on which it is created, and can only be accessed from there. A semi-space connects to its home Plane through a portal with a radius no smaller than 1/16" and no larger than the width of the space itself. This decision is made when the semi-space is first prepared, and can be changed by anyone touching the portal from the inside. A semi-space cannot be completely closed, or it disappears permanently. Material inside of the space at the time is ejected into its home Plane.

    A semi-space requires a spatial reference as to its location on the home Plane. This can either be a fixed point in space, or an object or creature. For example, it could be tied to a bag such that the opening of the bag is the same as the opening of the portal, and moving the bag moves the entrance to the semi-space. Alternatively, the portal could be fixed in space in a chosen orientation. Weight inside of a semi-space is not counted, but anything that protrudes from the portal has weight. This weight is applied to whatever the portal is tethered to (a creature or an object), adding to its own encumbrance. If a portal is instead fixed to a point in space, it supports protruding weight like an immovable rod. Every further preparation of this principle can add 2,000 lbs of carrying capacity to a portal fixed in space. If it is torn from its reference with a Strength check or from overburden, a semi-space collapses permanently.

    A semi-space can be at most 2ft. by 2ft. by 2ft. Unlike most principles, you cannot prepare this principle multiple times in order to create larger spaces. As part of this principle you make a Forgery check, which determines the DC for Spot checks to notice the portal in space.

    A semi-space portal is opaque from the back-end (it looks like a sheet of static), and the opening can be used to provide concealment based on its size. It provides partial concealment (20% miss chance) to a creature the size of the portal or up to one size category larger. Creatures smaller than the portal can use it for total concealment (50% miss chance). Depending on the orientation in space, a portal can also provide basic cover. However, any effect which misses a target because of an open portal instead deals damage to the space itself. A semi-space also takes damage from area effects such as a fireball when there is an open portal in the area of effect. A semi-space is always treated as failing Reflex saves against area effects. A space has effective hit points equal to the Forgery check made to create it, and collapses permanently when it sustains this much damage. A semi-space can be repaired by preparing this principle again on it, in which case the new Forgery check sets the amount of effective hit points it has.

    A semi-space which collapses closes from access and shunts all matter inside of it into the nearest space to its opening on the Plane on which it was tethered. Bubbles and other area effects which are created on one side of a portal do not pass through the portal to the space on the other side. In order to affect the area on the other side of the portal, whatever is causing that effect must be inside the other space. This effectively means that the area effect from, for example, an arcanodynamic transformer, doesn't pass beyond the boundaries of the portal, and the transformer must be more than 50% on whatever side of the portal the bubble is going to take effect on.

    If you try to tether a space to an unwilling target, they are allowed a Will saving throw to resist it at the end of the preparation. The Will DC is 10 + 5 for every YGGD principle you know.


    YGGD 198: Unsettling Geometry I [Specialist]
    Grade: Baccalaureate
    Prerequisites: Forgery 4 ranks
    Target: Two semi-spaces
    Preparation Time: 30 minutes

    This principle works like YGGD 101, but with some special exceptions. First of all, instead of creating a semi-space, it creates a bulge in the home Plane known as a flux. This takes the form of a bubble-shaped field of radius 5ft. that has different rules than the normal space on the Plane. Unlike YGGD 101, you can prepare this principle multiple times as normal for a bubble in order to make a larger flux. A flux is tethered, like a semi-space, either to a physical object which is at the centre of the flux (and thus can be moved around) or to an arbitrary point in space from which the flux permanently radiates. This decision must be made when the principle is first prepared.

    Right now you can only choose a single flux type.

    • Alternating: This kind of flux acts like normal space, except that it has a special property when linked with another such flux. If you prepare two such fluxes, you can make a logical decision inside of one of them to perform an alternation with the other. This swaps all physical objects, creatures, substances, and so on, which are within the flux boundaries, to the other flux. Objects and creatures and so on appear in their original orientation and configuration, with no harm done to them. There is a Reflex save to avoid this effect (DC 5 + 5 for every YGGD principle you know), in which case the victim lunges out of the bubble before alternation. Note that everything loose inside the bubble is swapped; you cannot make an exception for certain people or objects. This alternation does not move fixed terrain features, but loose environmental objects inside the field are moved. There are a few caveats: the fluxes must be the same size, which means that if you enlargen one of them with extra work, the alternation effect won't work again until you embiggen the other one as well. Additionally, each flux can only be tied to a single other entangled flux. You can activate the alternation from either side of the flux pair, or you can lock it during preparation such that the swap can only be made from one of them. The connection maintains itself no matter how far apart the fluxes are taken, including onto other Planes.



    YGGD 212: Unsettling Geometry II
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: YGGD 101, Forgery 8 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like YGGD 101, but with some special exceptions. First of all, instead of creating a semi-space, it creates a bulge in the home Plane known as a flux. This takes the form of a bubble-shaped field of radius 5ft. that has different rules than the normal space on the Plane. Unlike YGGD 101, you can prepare this principle multiple times as normal for a bubble in order to make a larger flux. A flux is tethered, like a semi-space, either to a physical object which is at the centre of the flux (and thus can be moved around) or to an arbitrary point in space from which the flux permanently radiates. This decision must be made when the principle is first prepared.

    You can choose one of the following polarcane flux properties to occur inside of the space:

    • Gravity: This kind of flux has different gravity than normal. Inside of the bubble, gravity moves in a different direction than normal. You can set the direction of gravity when you first prepare the principle, and it can also be changed by anyone touching the center of the flux or the object to which it is tethered as a standard action. If you prefer, you can lock the gravity when you first prepare the flux, so that it cannot be changed later. Otherwise, treat this like a reverse gravity effect, except with gravity pointing in the relevant direction. The Reflex save DC to grab something is equal to the Forgery check of the flux.
    • Polarcane: This kind of flux has special magnetic properties associated with it. As part of this principle you make a Forgery check, like with YGGD 101. This check determines how powerful the push or pull of the special magnetic forces in the flux are. When you prepare the flux, you can decide whether it is an attractive flux or a repellent flux. Whenever magnetic or ferrous metal objects (or creatures) enter into the flux, they are immediately subject to the magnetic force. This effect is equivalent to a bull rush, either directly towards or away from the centre of the flux. The effective attack roll for the bull rush is equal to the Forgery check of the flux. Objects and creatures which start their turn inside of the flux are immediately subject to another magnetic bull rush. If obstacles prevent them from completing the forced movement, they take damage as if from falling the same distance. Unattended objects are treated as taking 10 on their 'opposed' Strength checks for a magnetic bull rush, and the flux is treated as being Medium in size, although it can affect any sized object or creature. Anyone touching the center of the flux or the object to which it is tethered can change the direction of the magnetic force as a standard action. If you prefer, you can lock the direction of the magnetism when you first prepare the flux, so that it cannot be changed later.



    YGGD 241: Incongruous Pathways [Specialist Only]
    Grade: Magisterial
    Prerequisites: YGGD 101, Forgery 8 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like YGGD 101, but with some special exceptions. The semi-spaces you create with this principle can be closed from the inside, causing the portal to disappear from sight on the home Plane. In addition, you can prepare this principle successively up to eight times on a single space, allowing for a semi-space with a maximum volume of 64 cubic ft. (eight 2ft. x 2ft. x 2ft. cubes). Finally, whenever you prepare this principle you can choose to join the semi-space you are creating with another semi-space you've made in the past. This creates a second, connecting portal inside of each semi-space which exits into the other semi-space. Any particular semi-space can only be connected to two other semi-spaces, and you cannot remove a connection once it has been made.

    If you have the ability to create a flux, you can choose to have a special flux property occur inside of semi-spaces you create, at your option when you first prepare it.


    YGGD 353: Uncanny Cosmology
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any three YGGD principles, Forgery 15 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like YGGD 101, but with some special exceptions. You can successively prepare this principle as many times as you like, allowing you to make spaces which are as large as you have time to build. When you prepare this principle, you can also choose to separate it from its tethered Plane, turning it into a true demiplane. If you're building a demiplane instead of a semi-space, every preparation of this principle requires twice the normal time. However, you get to set the planar traits of the demiplane, including the morphic (excluding sentient morphic), elemental and energy, alignment, and magic traits. You cannot change the time trait of your demiplane. Any relevant decisions about the traits of your demiplane are made with the first preparation of this principle, and cannot be changed afterwards. A demiplane continues to exist if it is closed off from the Plane it is tethered to; the portal can be reopened, but only to the same Plane it is tethered to. Otherwise, the demiplane can be accessed with normal planar travel.

    A demiplane's fabric is not as fragile as that of a semi-space, and it cannot be destroyed from damage.

    If you know YGGD 212, you can apply a special flux property to your demi-plane when you prepare it. You can also choose to shape your demiplane like a bubble. Instead of a flux property, you can choose to set a gravity trait on a demiplane you create.

    If you know YGGD 241, you can also connect semi-spaces to a demiplane. Unlike a normal semi-space, any number of semi-spaces can be connected to a single demiplane. You can also connect multiple demiplanes together.


    YGGD 371: Abstruse Causality [Specialist Only]
    Grade: Doctorate
    Prerequisites: Any four YGGD principles including YGGD 353, Forgery 15 ranks
    Target: Spatial reference
    Preparation Time: 1 hour

    This principle works like YGGD 353, except it allows you to set the time trait of any demiplane you create. If you have already created a demiplane before learning this principle, you can retroactively set a time trait with a single preparation. Time traits that you can set include:

    • Double Time: For every round that passes on the Material Plane, two rounds pass on this demiplane.
    • Erratic Time: Time randomly slows down and speeds up on this demiplane, as described here.
    • Normal Time: Time on this demiplane flows the same way as on the Material Plane.
    • Slow Time: For every round that passes on this demiplane, two rounds pass on the Material Plane.
    • Timeless Magic: This demiplane is timeless with respect to magic. All spells cast with noninstantaneous duration are permanent until dispelled.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-05 at 01:52 AM.

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    Theories

    Spoiler
    Show
    What they are: A Theory can be selected at 20th level by a gramarist who meets the prerequisites. If they do not meet the prerequisites for any Theory at this point, they can hold off on learning one until they do. A gramarist can only select a single Theory, and cannot ever change it out. Theories are not prepared per se, but instead they typically change the way your gramarie interacts with the world. Theories cannot be prepared with blueprints.

    What they represent: Theories are the big discoveries that shape history. These are the ideas that define a culture, that lay the foundation for tomorrow, that make the future possible. Examples from the real world are things like the Theory of Evolution; the Theory of Relativity; the Atomic Theory. Each Theory represents the potential to radically reshape the way we view the nature of the world and our place in it.


    The Caloric Theory
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in arcanodynamics, must know six ARCD principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    Energy is one of the most baffling of scientific concepts, and continues to frustrate inquiring minds. Its most apparent forms in nature seem to be in heat and work, but these quantities by their transient nature are impossible to pin down. Luckily, you've worked out a fantastic new theory which proposes that the natural form of all energy is as caloric, a self-repellent fluid that consists of pure energy.

    You can prepare this principle to create a special kind of arcanodynamic transformer, known as an enthalpic transformer. An enthalpic transformer can only perform output, and is made out of phlogiston. A single enthalpic transformer is sufficient for any input transformer, no matter how big the net is.

    When properly connected to any kind of input transformer, an enthalpic transformer creates caloric, a bright red liquid which naturally collects into spheres of 1 pint in volume. Volumes above this size are self-repellent, and break apart into separate spheres. Caloric is warm to the touch, and quite safe to handle. A single transformation, no matter how many ebbs are converted, produces a single pint of caloric. Caloric can contain any amount of puissance inside of it; it has a temperature of 25 degrees Centigrade, plus 1 degree Centigrade for every ebb of puissance per pint inside of it.

    Caloric can be used as fuel for any gramaric device, providing equivalent puissance equal to its internal energy in ebbs. As energy is drawn from it, it dwindles in temperature; when all of its energy it used, it evaporates into the aether. A circuit can draw puissance from caloric, but it cannot store any energy inside of it. However, the principle ALCH 325 can be prepared on two pints of caloric to distill them together into a single pint with the merged internal energy.

    It's also safe to drink, and provides sustenance when consumed equivalent to enough food and water for a number of days equal to its internal energy in ebbs (although if it's too hot you might burn yourself).


    Chaos Theory
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in geoccultism, must know six GEOC principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    Things fall apart. Over time, all natural systems twist and change in ways that cannot be controlled, predicted, or maintained. This principle targets a geoccult pole which is at least 1,000 times greater in size than its critical mass. The pole breaks free of normal law and control, becoming an entity unto itself. The landscape becomes permanent and self-sustaining, and the pole itself breaks apart into the land. Weather patterns and extreme weather conditions still occur based on surrounding climate conditions; features now replace themselves based on natural recovery cycles and are not automagically replenished every day. All supernatural features remain, and somehow continue to operate without visible puissance input. For all intents and purposes, the biome now exists in a state of nature, as if it had always existed. Any feature which would normally have had to be controlled now runs wild according to its nature.


    The Theory of Everything
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Universalist, must know at least one principle from each discipline
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    It is the ultimate pursuit of scientists and great thinkers to develop a universal theory which perfectly descibes everything in nature. This is it. The Theory of Everything describes every aspect of gramarie, and how it connects to everything else. Preparing this theory produces the effect of any other principle from any discipline of Doctorate-grade or lower, even principles with special tags such as [Aerodynamics].


    The Theory of Irreducible Complexity
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in yggdratecture, must know six YGGD principles including YGGD 353
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    It is impossible to truly understand the beginning of things, but this theory partially describes the point in time at the beginning of the cosmos when the gods lay down the foundations of the universe. Knowing it allows you to become a little god in the philosophical sense, and also in the not-so philosophical sense. You prepare this theory on a demiplane you created. You become a divine being while on that demiplane, gaining divine rank 0 while on that demiplane and only while interacting with other creatures and objects on that demiplane. If your demiplane becomes at least 100 miles in radius, it becomes a fully-fledged Plane, which you can place in the Planar cosmology as you like.


    The Theory of Kinetic Energy
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in arcanodynamics or eldrikinetics, must know four ARCD principles (including ARCD 176) and four ELDK principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    There is an inherent tie between motion and energy, which has eluded gramaric scholars since the inception of the science. This theory describes the nature of this kinetic energy. It transforms an existing eldrikinetic engine into a special kind of arcanodynamic transformer to harness this strange new energy source.

    • Kinetomantic: A kinetomantic transformer is made from an eldrikinetic engine, and channels kinetic energy by transforming motion into energy or other forms of motion. A kinetomantic transformer does not extend a net; instead, it gains its energy directly from the speed at which it personally is travelling. A kinetomantic transformer always acts in input mode, and must be triggered to collect energy like an eldrikinetic engine (an immediate action). When triggered, it causes itself and anything attached to it to come to a halt relative to its dominant reference frame (typically the fabric of the Plane or the motion of the planet). All of the motion stopped is transformed into raw kinetomantic energy; calculate the effective Push that was stored in this motion as described in ELDK 101. This Push can either be converted into puissance at a rate of one ebb per 100 Push (and exported as normal for a transformer), or immediately transformed into Push appropriate to its type of engine. If a kinetic conversion like this is made, an astonishing 100% of the Push is conserved from one movement to the other. Only one transformation like this can be made per round.



    The Theory of Luminiferous Aether
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in kaleidomantics, must know six KALD principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    Colours exist only in our minds, which seems trivial until you actually think about it. What is colour? This theory describes the way our minds process the nature of light and distill it into the primal colours used in kaleidomantics. The theory justifies the inherent existence of colour apart from the senses through the concept of a luminiferous aether, an ideal medium through which colour can propagate. This concept allows you to tap into the idea of the aether in order to spread the distilled nature of colour.

    You must have access to a kaleidomantic filter of the appropriate colour, into which you must run a charge of at least 1,000 ebbs in a single round, in order to cause an overloading chain reaction. As part of this theory, make a Spot check to notice (and thus instantiate) the nature of the aether; charging the filter and making the Spot check begins a luminiferous reaction, an expanding sphere of coloured nature which expands until it is fully contained by filters of the same colour.

    If there are no filters in the way, the aether will continue to expand until it has reached an equivalent volume to a sphere with a radius of 10ft. multiplied by the Spot check. The aether expands at a rate of 5ft. in radius per round in all possible directions. If it is contained and afterwards the containing filters are removed, it will again begin to expand until it reaches its maximum size. If it is reduced or partially removed, the aether grows back at a rate of 5ft. per round unless contained by the appropriate filter.

    The luminiferous aether has a different nature depending on the colour selected.

    • Red: A red aether has an internal temperature of 50 Kelvin multiplied by the Spot check.
    • Yellow: A yellow aether is a solid planetary metal of your choice, other than platinum. It pushes everything in its path out of its way, with an effective Strength check equal to the Spot check.
    • Blue: A blue aether is water or saltwater, at your choice.
    • Orange: An orange aether is a gas containing oxygen of your choice.
    • Green: A green aether is an inhaled poison of your choice.
    • Indigo: An indigo aether is a gas with a pH of either 1 or 14, at your choice.
    • Pink: A pink aether replaces the area it fills with an equivalent volume of the Far Realm.
    • Violet: A violet aether is biostructure. It grows around all obstacles, engulfing them.
    • Black: A black aether is an area in which no sensory information can be collected. Someone in the area loses access to every one of their senses while inside, and no information can reach them.



    The Theory of Monstrous Ecology
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in biollurgy or geoccultism, Genetic Gramarie discovery, Transient Poles discovery, must know four BIOL principles and four GEOC principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    This theory relates to the fundamental connections that exist between a creature and its habitat. You can use this principle in order to transform a biollurgical chassis into a geoccult pole based on its material. Instead of the normal range limits, the creature radiates a biome with a size of 500ft. in radius, plus an additional 100ft. in radius for every HD beyond the first.

    The host creature carries its biome with it like a transient pole, except that the biome radiates out from its body, affecting the nearby environment. It can choose to place terrain features, although they do not move along with it, and when they leave the borders of the biome, they disappear entirely. The chassis can also decide to activate and control weather conditions, extreme weather events, and so on, inside of its personal biome. A biollurgical chassis which acts as a pole requires only 1/100th the normal amount of metal, but must consume sufficient metal orally every day to maintain this or be consumed from within. Status as a geoccult pole is genetic, and is inherited by the descendants of such a creature.


    The Periodic Theory
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in alchemetry, must know six ALCH principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    The first philosophers believed that all matter was constructed from but four elements. In your studies, you've discovered at least eight or nine more, thanks to studies into the planetary metals. However, it's clear that there are plenty of other metals which lie outside the pull of the planets. This theory describes an innate periodicity which occurs in natural materials, and how you can use it to create permutations and variations of existing things.

    This principle works exactly like ALCH 286 except that it can transmute any material into any other material of the same phase. You must have ALCH 325 to affect liquids or gases.

    For solids, this includes things like cold iron, adamantine, steel, and so on, as well as non-metals like stone, elukian clay, salt, and so on. If the material you wish to create has the name of one of the base planetary metals in it (such as cold iron), add 50 to the Diplomacy DC of this base metal to determine the new DC. Otherwise, use a Diplomacy DC of 100. You must have a sample with you of the material you wish to obtain, in order to use as a prompt for the atomic spirits you're interacting with. You cannot create an ascended planetary metal with this principle.

    For liquids, this is essentially ALCH 112 but on a much larger scale and with more options. If the liquid you want to create has the same name as one of the simple liquid choices in it (such as saltwater instead of water), add 50 to the Diplomacy DC of the base liquid to determine the new DC. Otherwise, use a Diplomacy DC of 100. You must have a sample with you of the liquid you wish to obtain. If you want to create a magical liquid such as a potion, you must have someone on hand to cast the required spell, although this principle replaces the required feat and crafting process.

    For gases, this is something totally new. Instead of a volume, you get a PV factor of gas affected (in atmospheres multiplied by cubic feet) equal to the Diplomacy result. You must have a stable reservoir of gas to target for the entire principle, such as a sealed room or pressure vessel. Gases do not have individual DC's; instead, you can select any gas which you know how to make a biollurgical chassis breathe, or any pure element such as helium or hydrogen which you have a sample of.


    The Theory of Soft Characteristics
    Grade: Theory
    Prerequisite: Specialization in biollurgy, must know six BIOY principles
    Preparation Time: 6 hours

    Some believe that natural selection is the end-all and be-all of where we all come from. However, you've thought up an idea which explains far more. You've discovered that under certain ideal conditions, learned behaviours and physical traits which have been acquired by a parent can be passed on to the next generation.

    This principle must be prepared on a biollurgical chassis who has already been primed for reproduction with BIOY 381. The chassis gains the ability to pass on feats that it has acquired, as well as class levels. Its children are born with up to half of its class levels and up to half of its feats. The children must still qualify for all of these class levels and feats as normal. Children who inherit soft characteristics are also born at the final size category of the parent when they died, and can potentially grow up to three size categories larger during their lifetime (unless their base chassis had its size specifically restricted).

    Finally, ability score bonuses which accrue every four Hit Dice are also passed on to the children, who add these points to their base scores (to a maximum of 5 extra ability points). Children who receive soft characteristics can pass on soft characteristics themselves, and they can pass on characteristics they themselves have acquired, or characteristics which they inherited previously.

    Whenever practicable, randomly determine the class levels and feats passed on to a child as soft characteristics. If this isn't practical for whatever reason, the DM may arbitrarily select what the child inherits. An inheritor of these characteristics is not appropriate for PC play.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-09 at 07:58 AM.

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Apogineer


    Spoiler
    Show
    "If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."


    Image credit dead-robot of deviantart.com.

    The turning of the seasons is as quiet and reliable as the most complex and intricate machine. However, many in these times feel that the advent of gramarie and technology is trampling on the natural order. Some few of the new order of gramarists have taken up arms in its defense; there is a new order of guardians of the ever-implacable circle of life, known as apogineers. These wardens use the new ideas of gramarie to defend the order of the natural world against the encroachment of industrial civilization. Apogineers are skilled magitechnicians, but also follow a warrior code striving to keep balance between the disparate elements of nature. Theirs is a new discipline, but their fury is as dangerous as a sudden storm in summer or the harshest winds of winter.

    Requirements: To become an apogineer you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Alignment: Any neutral
    Base Attack Bonus: +5
    Feat: Track
    Gramarie: Any two GEOC principles
    Skills: Survival 10 ranks, Heal 4 ranks, Martial Lore 4 ranks
    Special: Must have the changing seasons class feature.
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Geoccultism

    Hit Die: d8
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: An apogineer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Forgery (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Apogineer
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Maneuvers Known
    |
    Maneuvers Readied
    |
    Stances Known

    1st|+1|+0|+2|+2|Cyclic stylings (initiate), sword of the seasons|
    +0
    |
    +1
    |
    +0
    |
    +0

    2nd|+2|+0|+3|+3|Earthlore, track ley lines|
    +1
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |
    +1

    3rd|+3|+1|+3|+3|Cyclic stylings (avanced), touch of green (subsistence)|
    +2
    |
    +1
    |
    +1
    |
    +0

    4th|+4|+1|+4|+4|Earthlore, weather warden|
    +3
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |
    +0

    5th|+5|+1|+4|+4|Cyclic stylings (expert)|
    +3
    |
    +1
    |
    +0
    |
    +0

    6th|+6|+2|+5|+5|Earthlore, touch of green (wakefulness)|
    +4
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |
    +1

    7th|+7|+2|+5|+5|Cyclic stylings (masterful)|
    +5
    |
    +1
    |
    +0
    |
    +0

    8th|+8|+2|+6|+6|Earthlore, forecast strike|
    +6
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |
    +0

    9th|+9|+3|+6|+6|Cyclic stylings (grandmaster), touch of green (natural)|
    +6
    |
    +1
    |
    +1
    |
    +0

    10th|+10|+3|+7|+7|Earthlore, only revolutions|
    +7
    |
    +0
    |
    +0
    |
    +1

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the apogineer.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As an apogineer, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Cyclic Stylings (Su): Apogineers are privy to the secret tactics of the seasons in their constant cycle across the landscape of the world. As you advance, you learn to incorporate these cyclic stylings into your martial prowess. You gain the benefit of a cyclic styling when you are aligned with the appropriate season. This can be a special strike, a boon, a perk, a skill trick, or really anything. If a cyclic styling allows a saving throw, the DC is 10 + your class level + your Wisdom modifier.

    You also have a fifth styling, the precipitous styling, which is only available when you are perfectly aligned in the middle of both of your axes. The power of many of the effects of your stylings depends on the magnitude of your alignment with the season. At 1st level and every two levels thereafter, you unlock a new talent related to your cyclic style.

    Initiate Stylings: Initiate stylings are your first taste of the power of the elements. These are special combat techniques that are 'always on'. You become privy to initiate stylings at 1st level.

    • A Thousand Drops of Rain (Precipitous): When you strike a target they are battered from every direction by the uncatchable rain. Until your next turn, you count as if you were flanking the target for the benefit of your allies, no matter what direction their attack comes from. If a successful flanking attack from an ally strikes the target later in the same round, the enemy is dazed (Will negates). The flanking bonus you grant to your allies increases from +2 to the magnitude of your alignment with Spring.
    • Change in the Winds (Autumn): Fall is in the air, and with it the change of the seasons. You can choose to reroll initiative for yourself or an adjacent ally or enemy as a swift action (Reflex negates). You can apply a modifier to this initiative roll either positive or negative, equal to your alignment with Autumn.
    • Flowers in Bloom (Spring): Flowers and trees spring to life and blossom in your presence. Any dead vegetation within 50 feet of you while in this styling return to life. Undead plants are destroyed, because you know there are a lot of those around (Will negates).
    • Instant Spark (Summer): While in this styling you can respond as fast as a flame to any attack. You gain a number of additional attacks of opportunity every round equal to your alignment with Summer, and can make attacks of opportunity against people that enter your threatened squares as well as those who leave them.
    • Stone Shattering Ice (Winter): Your weapon swings with the weight of winter behind it. Objects explode into ice fragments as if they were nothing but frozen water. You deal double damage to objects, and gain a circumstance bonus on sunder attempts equal to your alignment with Winter.


    Maneuvers Known: You progress your martial study as an apogineer; at 1st level and again whenever indicated on your class table, you learn a new maneuver that you qualify for from the Equinox, Revolution, or Solstice disciplines. Otherwise these maneuvers work exactly like they do for a normal cycle warden.

    Maneuvers Readied: At 3rd level and again whenever indicated on your class table, you can ready another simultaneous maneuver. Otherwise, your preparation and expenditure of maneuvers works exactly like that of a normal cycle warden.

    Sword of the Seasons (Ex): An apogineer is less of a warden of the seasons and more of a tactical engineer on their behalf. Levels in apogineer stack with levels in the cycle warden class to determine when you receive the eternal gift class feature, as well as the magnitude of its effect. You gain a bonus on Survival, Heal, and Martial Lore checks equal to half your class level. Apogineer levels count as full martial initiator levels.

    Earthlore (Ex): The forces of nature have many secrets for you. Some of them relate to killing things, but others teach you how to build. At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, you learn a special discovery about geoccultism.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Stances Known: At 2nd level and again at 6th level and 10th level, you learn a new stance you qualify for from the Equinox, Revolution, or Solstice disciplines. Your stances work exactly like for a normal cycle warden.

    Track Ley Lines (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, you can see and trace the magical ley lines that lie beneath the mortal world. When tracking someone you gain a +1 luck bonus on your Survival check for every caster level the quarry possesses. You gain a +5 bonus on Survival checks made to locate a geoccult pole and to identify specific details of its biome.

    Advanced Stylings: At 3rd level, you become privy to the advanced cyclic stylings. Advanced stylings activate automatically whenever you are in an appropriate weather condition as well as the appropriate seasonal alignment.

    • Bonfire Charge (Summer): This styling requires a heat wave. Whenever you make a charge attack in this styling, you can move twice as far as you would normally be able to. Every square you pass through is lit on fire until the start of your next turn and deals 1d6 fire damage to anybody moving through the space, as well as lighting them on fire. With a successful attack at the end of the charge, the target explodes in a ball of flame, dealing 1d6 fire damage per for every stage of your alignment to Summer to everything within 50 feet (including you).
    • Leaf on the Wind (Spring): This styling requires winds of at least 50 mph. You gain a fly speed equal to twice your land speed (good maneuverability). If you leave this styling while in the air, you enter a feather fall effect.
    • Leaves In Frost (Winter): This styling requires that it be snowing. While in this styling, all damage you deal (including other energy damage) becomes cold damage. If you strike an enemy with cold resistance, the resistance is removed for a number of rounds equal to your alignment with Winter (although it still in place for the intial attack; Fort negates).
    • Rain Through Roof (Precipitous): This styling requires that it be raining. You can transform your body (including possessions) into liquid, allowing you to move through spaces of Fine size or larger without having to make an Escape Artist check and without having to spend additional movement or actions. While in this stance you are immune to critical hits and precision damage, and do not need to breathe. You gain a swim speed equal to your land speed, a +8 bonus on Swim checks, and can always take 10 on Swim checks even if stress or distraction would normally prevent you from doing so.
    • Stone Smoothed By Sand (Autumn): This styling requires a sandstorm to be raging. Whenever striking an enemy with damage reduction, you deal an additional amount of damage equal to the damage reduction +1 (Fort negates).


    Touch of Green (Ex): Your connection to the tireless cycle of nature draws you into its inexorable rhythm. At 3rd level you no longer requires food or drink, subsisting instead on an inner connection to nature. At 6th level you no longer have the mortal need for sleep, becoming wakeful and alert at all times. At 9th level your natural lifespan triples as you become as ageless as the world. You lose these benefits if you are not exposed to sunlight at least once over a 24 hour period.

    Weather Warden (Su): You can call the forces of nature to your aid. As a standard action, you can marshal the weather in an area to your aid; you make a Survival check while inside of a biome. If your check matches or exceeds the check of the pole, you can immediately activate the normal climate condition for the biome as if with GEOC 323. The climate change goes into effect everywhere in the biome. No extra metal needs to be paid for this weather, but this ability can only be used once per pole per hour. If you beat the check by 20 or more, you can activate any climate condition, not necessarily the one the metal of the pole is keyed to.

    Expert Stylings: At 5th level, you become privy to the expert cycle stylings. Expert stylings represent a further advance in the power of nature. To activate one of these stylings, you must expend a maneuver from either the Equinox discipline (for a Spring or Autumn styling), the Solstice discipline (for a Summer or Winter styling) or the Revolution discipline (for a Precipitous styling). This expenditure doesn't change your seasonal alignment, and the styling's effect lasts for five minutes.

    • Dance of Innumerable Petals (Spring): You move with a flurry of lilac petals whipping through the air around you. With every successful attack the cloud of petals bombards your target, befuddling their senses. The enemy is confused for a number of rounds equal to your alignment with Spring (Will negates).
    • Leaves Underfoot (Autumn): Any successful strike you make while standing on natural ground causes leaves to sweep up, catching onto the enemy. The enemy is immobilized (Ref negates) until the start of the your next turn.
    • Sudden Storm (Precipitous): You can very suddenly become very dangerous, like a sudden storm out of the blue. You can draw your weapon and attack an enemy as a swift action, delivering a martial strike which normally has an initiation time of a standard action. This ability cannot be used if your weapon is already drawn. This uses an attack of opportunity.
    • Walk Through Fire (Summer): You understand that all fires are one fire. Your movements can enter a fire of Small size or larger and exit another fire of Small size or larger within a distance of 50ft. for every alignment rating with Summer. You must be able to see the target fire, and this does now expend any additional movement for your turn. You can do this as many times as you like within any given movement.
    • Weight of Winter (Winter): Your blows carry the full weight of the winter snow behind them, and a successful attack soaks the target with freezing water. Any successful strike soaks your enemy to the bone, doubling their weight, dealing an additional amount of cold damage equal to your rating in Winter in d6's, and affecting them as if by an entangle effect until the start of the your next turn (Fort negates).


    Masterful Stylings: At 7th level you become privy to the masterful cycle stylings. Masterful stylings are powerful talents that only activate when you are in the appropriate biome and also have the appropriate seasonal alignment.

    • Blossoming Body (Spring): This styling requires that you be in a grasslands biome. You gain fast healing equal to your Spring rating.
    • Leaves in Motion (Autumn): This styling requires that you be in a forest biome. While in this styling, you gain a bonus to Armour Class against attacks of opportunity equal to twice your Autumn rating. If an attack of opportunity fails to hit you, you can use an attack of opportunity to make an immediate trip, disarm, or sunder attempt against the attacker.
    • Only Smoke Within (Summer): This styling requires that you be in a desert biome. You can see and move normally through smoke, fog and fire. As a swift action you can whip up a fog cloud effect around yourself made of smoke. If you spend a standard action at it, he can create a solid fog effect instead. This smoke cloud lasts for a number of rounds equal to your rating with Summer.
    • Unstoppable Torrent (Precipitous): This styling requires that you be in an ocean biome. With every successful strike an enemy is pushed back five feet and you can move forward five feet. If you choose, you can repeat this multiple times, although every attack takes a cumulative -4 penalty. You can initiate a martial strike maneuver which has an activation time of one standard action or less with each attack. Activating this styling consumes the rest of your turn after this initial strike.
    • Winds of Winter (Winter): This styling requires that you be in an arctic biome. When you make an attack roll, the attack is targetted against every adjacent enemy simultaneously. If an adjacent square is empty, it's filled with a gust of wind effect until the start of your next turn, blowing away from you (Ref negates).


    Forecast Strike (Ex): At 8th level, you achieve an important milestone in your training, and learn to forecast your attacks in tune with the seasons. Whenever you make an attack roll of any kind, you can expend a readied maneuver of at least 6th level from the Revolution discipline as a swift action. You roll two dice for the attack (hopefully of different colours), and the target may only select one of them to defend against. Prior to making the attack you should write down in secret which die is actually the real attack. If the target picks the wrong attack to defend against, the attack is resolved as a touch attack instead. Prior to forecasting a strike, you choose a season; success on the attack moves you one stage closer to that season on the appropriate axis. Failure moves you in the opposite direction by one stage. On a successful strike you can choose to switch your current axis.

    Grandmaster Stylings: At 9th level you learn the final combat tactics of the seasons, the grandmaster stylings. Grandmaster stylings are only active while in the appropriate extreme weather condition.

    • Burning Blood (Summer): This styling requires you to be in a wildfire. Whenever you receive fire damage, he recover that amount of damage instead. You radiate intense fire, and any enemy that touches you, grapples you, or strikes you with a melee weapon lights on fire.
    • Only Dirt and Dust (Autumn): This styling requires an earthquake to be going on within 500ft. of you. You become one with the ground around you. You can swim through dirt, stone, masonry and metal as if they were water. You gains a +8 bonus to Swim checks for this purpose, and can take 10 on Swim checks through such materials even if stress or distraction would normally prevent you from doing so. You are under a perpetual stoneskin effect.
    • Perfect Storm (Precipitous): This styling require an ongoing thunderstorm. With every successful attack you make, the target is struck by a sudden wave of water, throwing them back 1d10 x 20 feet, dealing 1d6 damage per 10 feet (dealing the full damage even if their movement is blocked), knocking them prone, and weakening them against lightning. If they are hit by electricity before your next turn, it automatically bypasses electricity resistance (although not immunity) and deals double damage.
    • Smell of Spring (Spring): This styling requires a flood to be in the area or to have passed through in the previous minute. You gain regeneration equal to your Spring rating, which is only bypassed by cold iron. You automatically recover an expended maneuver at the start of every round.
    • The Wind Held His Hand (Winter): This styling requires both a tornado to be within striking distance (250ft.) of you and also temperatures of at least -40 Centigrade. You can strike any enemy you have line of sight to with your melee attacks, even if they are flying.


    Only Revolutions (Ex): All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. You are as inevitable and implacable as the turn of the seasons. You can store your lore and knowledge in a geoccult pole you have established. If you die, at the turn of the season you are reborn as an intelligence controlling the pole. If the pole has mental access to a body, you can take it for your own as if with a permanent magic jar effect (Will save negates, DC 10 + your class level + your Wisdom modifier). Otherwise, you can remain in the pole, and control it and the circuit it might be hooked up to as if you were an Exotic Intelligence. The pole, once it houses your soul, can be used as a focus to bring you back to life with no level loss.

  20. - Top - End - #20
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Arcanitect

    Spoiler
    Show
    "Oh yeah, the giant mechanical crab boat? I came up with that. Now, not labeling the levers, that was a stroke of genius."


    Image credit SBraithwaite of deviantart.com.

    The foundation of all gramarie, of all life, of all everything, is energy. Energy is the stock-and-trade of the cosmos. It's found in the light of distant stars as equally as in every inch of our bodies. Energy is the prime resource, the primary product of everything everywhere. Which is why it sucks that so much of it is inaccessible to us. This is the prime difficulty faced by those who study the transfer and change of energy, transforming it from one useless state into another which can be used for any number of marvels. The best of these academes, known as arcanitects, know more about the flow and transformation of energy than nearly anyone else– enough to know that our universe seems to be running out of usable sources of it. Their goal, perhaps the only goal that matters in the grand scheme, is to discover some way to save the cosmos from the most pedestrian and disappointing fate imaginable: death by disorder.

    Requirements: To become an arcanitect you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feat: Craft Wondrous Item
    Gramarie: Any two ARCD principles
    Skills: Craft (any) 8 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Use Magic Device 10 ranks
    Special: Must have the eldritch blast class features
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Arcanodynamics.

    Hit Die: d4
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: An arcanitect's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Arcanitect
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Craft Conversion

    1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Arcane conservation, eldritch blast +1d6, essence of arcana (silver)|
    +0
    |
    25

    2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Energy equations, essence of arcana (wood)|
    +1
    |
    50

    3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Eldritch blast +2d6, essence of arcana (crystal)|
    +2
    |
    75

    4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Energy equations, essence of arcana (gold)|
    +3
    |
    100

    5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Bonus feat, eldritch blast +3d6, essence of arcana (copper)|
    +3
    |
    125

    6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Energy equations, essence of arcana (tin)|
    +4
    |
    150

    7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Eldritch blast +4d6, essence of arcana (ice)|
    +5
    |
    175

    8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Energy equations, essence of arcana (mercury)|
    +6
    |
    200

    9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Bonus feat, eldritch blast +5d6, essence of arcana (lead)|
    +6
    |
    225

    10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Arrow of time, energy equations, essence of arcana (platinum)|
    +7
    |
    250

    [/table]

    Class Features

    All of the following are class features of the arcanitect.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As an arcanitect, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Arcane Conservation (Su): Energy moneychanging is the secret behind all gramarie, and an arcanitect leverages this in more traditional realms. Every level, you have a limit called a craft conversion limit, as shown on your class table. Whenever you craft an item, you can use this ability if you have a supply of puissance in order to supplement the normal cost with raw arcane energy. You can convert an amount of XP for these items equal to your craft conversion limit by transforming ten times that amount of puissance during the crafting. You can split up the cost of puissance over the course of the crafting, but you can cannot exceed your craft conversion limit on any one project. This limit is 25 XP (250 ebbs) at 1st level, and increases by 25 every level. Knowledge of this fundamental connection grants you a competence bonus on Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device checks equal to half your class level. This class stacks with any one previous class to determine your caster level.

    Essence of Arcana (Su): Arcanitects use the ideas behind gramarie to augment more traditional crafting methods; the skilled arcanitect forsakes neither for the other, but instead blends them together. Whenever you craft an item, you can imbue it with puissant energy, as described in the conservation of arcana class feature (see above). If you have attained the appropriate level of achievement, you can get extra effect from this ability. This additional effect depends on the transformer that is providing the puissance for the process; if the puissance for the crafting comes from multiple, liquid, sources, choose one of the types of transformer used in the crafting to dominate. At 1st level you can only use puissance from silver transformers for this ability, but as you advance you learn to harness the energy from many different kinds.

    • Silver: This essence retains some memory of the raw vital energy channeled by the silver transformer. The object imbued glows under moonlight or in the presence of moonsilver. It gains a bonus to its caster level equal to your Constitution modifier at the time of crafting, but no larger than half your class level at that point. This bonus can allow the spell to exceed normal limitations which are based on caster level, such as the maximum dice limit on a fireball.
    • Wood: Wood remembers being alive and thus remembers the flow of puissance. The object imbued seems to be carved from a single continuous piece of wood, no matter what it's actually made from. It can act as a reservoir for puissance, and can hold a number of ebbs of puissance equal to its caster level. If it is used to make an attack roll, 5 ebbs of puissance can be spent from this reserve by the wielder as a swift action to guarantee a critical threat on the attack roll if the attack would otherwise hit. This does not count as a natural 20.
    • Crystal: This is a resonant essence which echoes with the same vibrations as the crystal that provided the power for the crafting. It has strange refractive properties, and glitters as total internal reflection occurs inside of it; its refractive index is at least 2.5, if not otherwise higher. The object imbued hums quietly, and can be persuaded to resonate more frequently, and in certain patterns. If the object is activated with a command word, it can be programmed to speak the command word itself as a logical decision when it is hooked up to a heuristical circuit.
    • Gold: The essence of the sun is retained even through the mere memory of association with gold. The object imbued restores itself in sunlight; every round spend in direct sunlight restores 1 hit point to it. It can also burn with the intensity of the sun; activating this effect is a standard action while touching the object. It begins to consume itself at a rate of 5 hit points per caster level per round, but during that period the DC of any of its effects increases by +3.
    • Copper: Copper is a curious metal, and the memory of its touch is like lightning. The object imbued lets off a static shock every time it's touched or handled, and it attracts smaller metallic objects. If the object is hooked up to an electric current, a daily use of it can be activated with sufficient electric power. This requires 10W of electric power per caster level over a single round, and can only be used to provide up to three extra daily uses per day.
    • Tin: This essence recalls the caustic energies channeled by tin. The object imbued is immune to the touch of any form of alkahest, no matter what it's made of. If the object manipulates water in any way, then after it finishes with its normal use the water is treated as if it were transformed into an amount of acid equal to its previous volume. Note that a 'flask' of acid is traditionally a single pint.
    • Ice: Those touched by ice burn with passionate intensity! The object imbued is always warm to the touch, never falling below a surface temperature of 0 Centigrade. If the object deals damage, whether through a spell effect or otherwise, the damage is transformed into fire damage. If the object is hooked up to a circuit and at least 1 ebb for every 5 points of damage is provided upon activation, the damage is hellfire damage instead.
    • Mercury: This essence is strange and fluid, somewhat like the nature of mercury itself. The object imbued functions normally if reduced to a liquid state, as long as it is not separated from the main volume. It can even be diluted with other liquids, and will still function properly when distilled out of them (a DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check). The object also provides a kind of temporal grounding effect; it continues to function normally during the apparent time of a time stop effect, and if it is large enough for people to fit inside, they are similarly able to act during such time as long as they remain enclosed by the object.
    • Lead: Lead's essence is a paradox; it's the strongest protection known, but also dangerous. The object imbued blocks any effect which is specifically blocked by lead, as if it were made of lead itself. If the obejct somehow deals negative levels, it deals two additional negative levels whenever it would do so.
    • Platinum: Sometimes called the king of metals, platinum's memory retains a connection to the divine. The object imbued can be keyed to a specific faith, and only activated or used by those of that faith. The DC for a Use Magic Device check to activate the object also increases by 10 if the wielder is not of the correct faith; the object also can be used as a symbol for divine energy. Divine spellcasters who use an object imbued with platinum as a holy symbol gain an extra use of every spell level every day (domain-only spells if they're a cleric) which need to be channeled through the platinum-imbued object.


    Energy Equations (Ex): At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, you learn an important equation relating to the flow of energy in gramaric systems. This is a discovery which can be applied to your arcanodynamic studies.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Bonus Feat: At 5th level and again at 9th level you kind of get screwed since you don't learn a new principle. Instead, you get a free bonus feat with the [Item Creation] tag instead!

    Arrow of Time (Su): At 10th level you discover one of the most amazing theorems in arcanodynamic studies, the principle of reverse entropy. Time is only an illusion created by our perception of the universe's flow from order to disorder. This idea, however, lets you reverse the normal decay associated with entropy. Input transformers that you make which normally generate 1 ebb for every 6 points of damage now only require 1d6 points of damage; the exact conversion is semi-random and rolled when energy input occurs. Output transformers which normally produce 1d6 points of damage per ebb now always deal maximum damage.

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Asternomist

    Spoiler
    Show
    "And yet it moves."


    Image credit xetobyte of deviantart.com.

    The stars have fascinated mortalkind since before we could even communicate our fascination with them. They have traced their intricate and arcane paths across the night sky, oblivious to all of our troubles, and yet perfectly precise in their machinations, for as long as the universe has existed. As modern knowledge of gramarie has grown, a new breed of astronomy has as well, a field devoted to understanding and even reaching out and touching these lights that move and move and move. The asternomist is one of these dreamers, a specialized gramarist trained in both otherworldly secrets and also all manner of motion, a brilliant thinker who yearns to explore these strange and distant stars. Their study begins with the most basic of extradimensional theories, and extends into the fascinatingly disturbing realm of truenames. Once they have mastered the truenames of the ineffable stars, they will find they have mastered themselves as well.

    Requirements: To become an asternomist you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Gramarie: Able to prepare at least one principle from both ELDK and YGGD
    Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Forgery 8 ranks, Knowledge (the Planes) 10 ranks, Truespeak 8 ranks
    Specialization: Must be specialized in either Eldrikinetics or Yggdratecture.
    Truenaming: Must be able to speak 1st level utterances

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: An asternomist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Truespeak (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Asternomist
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Truenaming

    1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Double major, the naming of lights|
    +0
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Yggdratectural engines|
    +1
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Momentous flux|
    +2
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|The naming of lights|
    +3
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Warp speed|
    +3
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Space-filling curve|
    +4
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|The naming of lights|
    +5
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Cosmological constant |
    +6
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Spaces between spaces|
    +6
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Helmsman, the naming of lights|
    +7
    |
    +1 level of existing truenaming class

    [/table]

    Class Features

    All of the following are class features of the asternomist.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As an asternomist, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Double Major (Ex): Asternomists are experts in two disparate disciplines of gramarie. As an asternomist, you can learn specialist principles from both Eldrikinetics and Yggdratecture. However, this focus comes at a price. You give up ever learning any more principles beyond the Baccalaureate level from other disciplines in exchange for this double specialization. You do not, however, lose principles from other fields that you already know. If you run out of principles to learn, you can select one additional discipline to begin learning advanced principles from. If you don't already, you gain access to Magisterial principles when you enter this class. You gain access to Doctorate principles at 7th level, and at that point you can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of expertise in.

    The Naming of Lights: The names of the stars are revealed to you one by one, along with their otherworldly secrets. At 1st level, and every three levels thereafter, you learn a special discovery related to either Eldrikinetics or Yggdratecture.

    Truenaming: You continue to advance your knowledge of truespeak, including utterances, recitations, and whatever else your previous class would have advanced depending on the fix you're using. If you're using mine, this includes advancing your absolute limit by 3 + your Intelligence modifier ever level.

    Yggdratectural Engines (Ex): As the stars continue to move inexorably along their paths, so too do your vessels move in perfect contrast to apparent natural law. Your knowledge of moving reality now manifests in that your engines can apply their movement from inside an yggdratectural space. There are a few caveats to this: you can only go one portal deep at first. You also must have your portal fixed to a reference point relative to the vessel, object, or creature that you want to move. And finally, at first, the engine can only power a single vessel, even if the space has portals to multiple ships. The entire Push output of the engine is applied to the vessel it's affixed to, essentially moving the reference frame so that instead of the engine moving, the portal moves, carrying whatever it is tethered to with it.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Momentous Flux (Ex): You now understand how to set up an additional kind of flux. Beginning at 3rd level, whenever you prepare YGGD 212, you can choose to prepare a momentous flux instead. This creates a field which absorbs or imparts momentum to anything that passes through it, as a logical decision. Certain objects or creatures can be made exempt to the effect, also as logical decisions, either at the time of entry or ahead of time. By default the flux is set to absorb all momentum inside of it, essentially reducing the speed of everything which enters it to 0. Living creatures and intelligent items are allowed an opposed Will save (DC 5 + 3 for every YGGD or ELDK principle you know) to avoid this effects; otherwise they are immediately stopped when entering the field, and slowed as long as they remain inside. Momentum which is collected is stored as Push, at 50% efficiency (half the Push is retained which is lost), based on the speed and size of the dampened target. A single flux can store a number of points of Push equal to the Forgery check made to create it. This Push remains indefinately, until it is spent as a logical decision; the decision can be either to impart the Push immediately to something in the field, or to impart it to a moving object specifically exempt to the field as it passes through. When a field is full to capacity, it no longer dampens movement. Push can also be drawn from the field and moved through a circuit to another momentous flux where it can be spent, although every intervening circuit it moves through consumes 1 point of Push.

    If you do not yet know YGGD 212, you don't gain any benefit from this class feature until you learn it.

    Warp Speed (Ex): At 5th level, you can now build a special kind of eldrikinetic engine, a warp engine. This is added to the list of engines you know as follows:

    • Warp: A warp engine uses salt as a fuel source, and is made out of glass. It must be maintained at a temperature of at least 605 degrees Centigrade at all times, or it ceases to function. By itself this engine generates up to 100 points of Push per round in exchange for 1 pound of salt, in any direction, even without any outside reference or gravity. More importantly however, if multiple warp engines are set up in parallel, the Push they generate (as well as the salt cost for each of them) increases by a factor of 10 for every additional engine (to a maximum of 12 engines at once; some asternomists have theorized about a potential 'warp 13', but these stories are generally dismissed as ridiculous, since that would cause evolution to go backwards or something). The speed generated from the Push can exceed c (a speed of 5.90E9 ft.), but the object immediately drops below light speed as soon as the engines stop firing. No matter how fast you go from the outside, on board the vessel travelling, things proceed at their normal speed. Essentially, a 'warp bubble' extends around the vessel, wherein relativistic effects do not occur (including the distortions of time normally associated with FTL travel). Note that once a vessel is essentially in a vacuum, such as outer space, it will continue to travel at its current speed every round until it is manually decelerated.

      Speaking of which, the engines also have a special dampening capacity, which can be activated as a logical decision on board the vessel in order to slow the ship down at a rate of 10% of c every round. This generates enormous amounts of waste heat, which are luckily dumped into a chaos dimension accessed inside the engines. A warp engine can also be activated with a single ebb of puissance, although this price also multiplies by 10 with each parallel engine, to a maximum of 12.


    Every warp engine is tied to a single star, from which it siphons much of its power through extradimensional space. To build a warp engine, you must first research and discover the truename of the star you wish to tether it to. This counts as researching a truename, with a DC of 35 + 3 for each previous warp engine you've built. Activating the engine requires speaking its star's truename as a move action, with the same DC for this Truespeak check as for its research. If you have multiple warp engines hooked up in parallel, you can activate each of them with the same move action. You can activate yggdratectural warp engines by touching the reference point to their portal.

    Space-Filling Curve (Ex): At 6th level, you learn to create a special curve which can fill the entire cosmos with a single dimension. This discovery allows you to connect multiple yggdratectural spaces in series for the purposes of your yggdratectural engines. You can now go two semi-spaces deep, although as many as you like laterally. So, for example, a ship could be hooked up to an engine in space A, and space A has connections to spaces B, C, and D, each of which also have engines which can be used to propel the original ship.

    Cosmological Constant (Ex): At 8th level, you learn a special numerical constant which allows you to manipulate the expansion of space. By applying this mathematical secret, you can hasten travel times for all trips made using engines you build which you personally are a part of, by a factor of up to your Cha modifier.

    Spaces Between Spaces (Ex): At 9th level, a truth of the cosmos reveals itself to you, which allows you to simultaneously reach multiple places at once, and to move momentum between them. You can now fix two reference points for a single space containing an yggdratectural engine. This means that the space can be connected to two vessels, creatures, or objects at the same time. Push generated by the engine can be applied to either reference point, divided up as a logical decision from the engine. Momentum of one of the objects can also be bled off through the engine and applied to the other object, at a rate equal to 50% of the maximum Push output of the engines acting as go-betweens, and subject to the travel limitations of those engines. If there are multiple engine spaces hooked up as per the space-filling curve class feature, all of the subordinate engines inside laterally connected spaces can be used for this transfer, but they must follow the lead of the primary engines in the direction of transfer of momentum. Their efficiency for this is only 25%. Laterally connected spaces like this cannot be hooked up to multiple primary engine spaces, even with this class feature.

    Helmsman (Ex): You are so in tune with the cosmos that your awareness is everywhere at once. This perfect understanding allows you to make course corrections when controlling any engine you've built, during a single application of Push, no matter how fast you're going. Essentially, this lets you make nigh-infinite logical decisions about steering and directing the vessel inside of a single round, no matter how much distance is covered during that round.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-05 at 05:37 PM.

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Ayuscientist

    Spoiler
    Show

    "Why do you say that I am alone?
    My body is with me wherever I am,
    telling me endless stories
    of hunger and satisfaction,
    weariness and sleep,
    eating and drinking and breathing and life.
    With such company
    who could ever be alone?
    And even when my body wears away
    and leaves only some tiny spark
    I will not be alone
    for the gods will see my small light
    tracing the dance of woodgrain on the floor
    and they will know me,
    they will say my name
    and I will rise."


    From The God Whispers of Han Qing-Jao


    Image credit ~Vanisla of deviantart.com

    What is a soul? It has either great value or none at all. Most living beings will never notice their soul, never give more than a few minutes thought about it. And yet, gods and demons covet such things, and construct elaborate schemes to gain possession a soul after its original owner has passed on. You have learned to shape the raw soul energy permeating the Universe, known as incarnum, using gramaric techniques. You have also learned how to use your body's own internal foci to increase the effectiveness of your gramaric principles.

    Requirements: To become an ayuscientist you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Gramarie: Any four principles from different disciplines
    Skills: Knowledge (arcana or planes) 10 ranks
    Meldshaping: Ability to shape soulmelds, ability to bind a soulmeld to a chakra

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifer

    Class Skills: An ayuscientist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Ayuscientist
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|
    Principles
    |Meldshaping
    1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Chakra bind (least), essential knowledge (HEUR)|
    +1

    2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Essential knowledge (ALCH), thesis animae|
    +1
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class
    3rd|+1|+3|+1|+3|Essential knowledge (IMCH), magisterial principles|
    +2
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class
    4th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Essential knowledge (BIOY), thesis animae|
    +2
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class
    5th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Chakra bind (lesser), essential knowledge (GEOC)|
    +3

    6th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Essential knowledge (YGGD), thesis animae|
    +3
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class
    7th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Doctorate principles, essential knowledge (ELDK)|
    +4
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class
    8th|+4|+6|+2|+6|Essential knowledge (KALD), thesis animae|
    +4
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class
    9th|+4|+6|+3|+6|Chakra bind (greater), essential knowledge (ARCD)|
    +5

    10th|+5|+7|+3|+7|Essential knowledge (transcendance), thesis animae|
    +5
    |+1 level of existing meldshaping class[/table]

    All of the following are class features of the ayuscientist.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As an ayuscientist, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Meldshaping: At each ayuscientist level indicated on the table above, you increase your meldshaper level, the number of soulmelds you can shape, the number of chakra binds you can create, and your essentia pool as if you had gained a level in a meldshaping class to which you belonged prior to gaining the ayuscientist level. You do not, however, gain any other abilities of that class, such as new tiers of chakra binds. If you had more than one meldshaping class before becoming an ayuscientist, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining your essentia pool, meldshaper level, and number of soulmelds and chakra binds available.

    Chakra binds: As you attain higher levels, you can bind your soulmelds and magic items to your chakras, gaining new powers based on the combination chosen. At 1st level, you can bind your soulmelds or magic items to your least chakras (crown, feet, and hands), in addition to any other chakras you have available. When you attain 5th level, your lesser chakras (arms, brow, and shoulders) become available for chakra binds. Upon reaching 9th level, you can bind soulmelds or magic items to your greater chakras (throat and waist).

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 1st level, and every odd level after, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. Beginning at 3rd level, you may select Magisterial-level principles; at 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in. At all times, your choice of specialty dictates which individual principles are available for you to learn.

    Essential Knowledge (Su): Through your training, you develop a bond between gramarie and incarnum, using the themes and ideals of the gramaric disciplines to gain new functionality with your soulmelds.
    • At 1st level, you draw upon your knowledge of Heuristicism to join disparate elements into mystical circuits. When you shape soulmelds for the day, you may choose two soulmelds. As long as you have both of those soulmelds shaped, you can transfer essentia between them as a free action, even when it isn't your turn. Redistributing essentia between either of those soulmelds and any other essentia receptacles you have requires a swift action, as normal.
    • At 2nd level, the techniques of Alchemetry teach you how to alter the fundamental properties of your soulmelds. When you shape soulmelds for the day, you may choose to bind one of your soulmelds to a chakra with which it is not normally associated, but still gaining the normal benefit from the soulmeld's chakra bind. Both the original chakra and the new one must be chakras to which you can bind soulmelds. For example, if you wanted to bind both Diadem of Purelight and Enigma Helm, you could bind the latter to your Hands chakra and still gain the benefit of the Crown bind, as long as you had the ability to bind soulmelds to both your Crown and Hands chakras.
    • At 3rd level, you learn how to alter the visual aspects of your soulmelds using the axioms of Imachination. You may suppress or resume the visual manifestation of any of your soulmelds as a free action; a soulmeld whose visuals are suppressed still grants you its normal benefits.
    • At 4th level, your facility with Biollurgy teaches you how to tap into your physical essence when you bind soulmelds. When you shape soulmelds for the day, you may choose one soulmeld which you have bound to a chakra. You gain a primary natural attack based on the chakra to which that soulmeld is bound, as shown in the table below. If the soulmeld already grants you a natural attack mode, this ability instead increases the damage of that natural attack mode by one size category. The base damage given in the table is for a Medium-sized creature; if you are larger or smaller than Medium, adjust the damage amount accordingly.
      {table=head]Chakra|Natural Attack Mode|Damage
      Crown|Gore|1d6 piercing
      Feet|Hoof|1d6 bludgeoning
      Hands|2 claws|1d4 piercing
      Arms|Slam|1d6 bludgeoning
      Brow|Gore|1d8 piercing
      Shoulders|2 pincers|1d6 slashing
      Throat|Bite|1d8 bludgeoning and piercing
      Waist|Tail|1d8 bludgeoning
      Heart|2 wing|1d8 bludgeoning
      Soul|4 tentacles|1d4 slashing[/table]
    • At 5th level, your studies of Geoccultism grant you the ability to tap into the subtle, potent energy of ley lines to aid your soulmelds. When you shape soulmelds for the day, you may choose one soulmeld and one type of terrain (arctic, desert, forest, grasslands, ocean, swamp, underground, or wetland). Whenever you are within the chosen terrain, if you have the chosen soulmeld shaped, its essentia capacity increases by 1, and you gain 1 temporary essentia which can only be invested in that soulmeld.
    • At 6th level, you learn to apply your knowledge of Yggdratechture to store soulmelds in extra dimensions. You may shape one additional soulmeld per day; however, you store the additional soulmeld in an ectradimensional space, where it grants you no benefit. As a standard action, you may exchange a stored soulmeld with any other soulmeld you have shaped which is not bound to a chakra. You may reallocate your essentia as part of the same action.
    • At 7th level, the tenets of Eldrikinetics show you how to transfer essentia rapidly from one place to another. As a full-round action, you may transfer any amount of essentia up to your class level from your essentia pool to that of another creature you touch. That creature may invest the essentia in its receptacles and soulmelds as part of the same action. The transferred essentia remains in the other creature's pool for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier before returning to your pool.
    • At 8th level, you draw upon your knowledge of Kaleidomantics to gain prismatic defenses from your soulmelds. When you shape soulmelds for the day, you may choose one color from the table below for each soulmeld you shape. For each soulmeld altered this way, you gain a bonus on saves against the associated effect equal to the twice amount of essentia invested in that soulmeld. Applying a color this way similarly colors the visual manifestation of a given soulmeld (if any).
      {table=head]Color|Associated Effect
      Black|Mind-affecting
      Blue|Electricity
      Green|Poison and disease
      Indigo|Acid
      Orange|Sonic
      Red|Cold and Fire
      Violet|Positive or Negative Energy
      Yellow|Force[/table]
    • At 9th level, you learn to apply your experience with Arcanodynamics to convert energy into essentia. You gain Spell Resistance 10 + your meldshaper level, which you can raise or lower as a free action. Whenever a spell fails to penetrate your resistance, you convert that spell energy into incarnum, gaining 1 temporary essentia for every two levels of the defeated spell (minimum 1 essentia). You may invest the temporary essentia in your soulmelds immediately, and it lasts for 1 round per 2 caster levels of the defeated spell (minimum 1 round). Your spell resistance does not apply to your own eldritch blast.
    • At 10th level, your knowledge of gramaric principles teaches you how to embed your soulmelds more completely in reality. Your soulmelds become (Ex) abilities, and no longer can be dispelled, nor can they be suppressed in an antimagic field.


    Thesis Animae (Ex): At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, you discover a secret of incarnum-gramarie, gaining the ability to bind principles you have prepared from one of the gramaric disciplines to one of your chakras. Principles bound this way count against your daily number of chakra binds, and must be bound when you shape your soulmelds each day, as normal; however, you are not limited by which tier of chakras you can bind soulmelds to. These abilities do not count as being able to bind soulmelds to a particular chakra. If the particular principle (or material it affected) is destroyed for any reason, you lose the benefit of the ability until you can bind a new principle to your chakra. Effects which increase the essentia capacity of your feats or soulmelds have no effect on this ability.
    • Circuitous Crown: If you bind a HEUR circuit to your Crown chakra, you can make logical decisions in the circuit as a swift action instead of a standard action.
    • Climatic Heart: While a GEOC pole is bound to your Heart chakra, the geoccult field is centered on your body instead of the pole itself, and moves where you move.
    • Convergent Soul: You can bind a principle from any discipline to your Soul chakra. Whenever a principle is so bound, you can prepare that principle again in 75% of the normal time.
    • Enlightened Brow: An IMCH principle bound to your Brow chakra grant you enhanced awareness within any sense output types associated with the principle. An Auditory output grants you a +5 bonus on Listen checks; a Gustatory output allows you to taste light and sound, as per the synesthete power; a Mental output grants you the benefit of the Mindsight feat; an Olfactory output grants you the Scent special ability; a Tactile output grants you the benefit of the touchsight power; a Vibratory output grants you tremorsense to a radius of 30 feet; and a Visual output grants you a +5 bonus to Spot checks. Thermal and Vestibular outputs do not grant you extra awareness.
    • Fortified Shoulders: By binding an ALCH principle to your Shoulders chakra, you gain damage reduction 15, which is bypassed by a type determined by which planetary metal it involves, as shown on the table below. This damage reduction does not stack with other sources of DR.
      {table=head]Metal|DR Bypassed By
      Copper|Slashing
      Gold|Cold Iron
      Lead|Silver
      Mercury|Piercing
      Iron|Adamantine
      Silver|Magic
      Tin|Bludgeoning[/table]
    • Locomotive Feet: When you bind an ELDK engine to your Feet chakra, you gain an enhancement bonus to all your movement modes equal to the Push of the engine divided by 20 (rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5 feet).
    • Metamorphic Throat: If you bind an ARCD output transformer to your throat chakra, you can convert essentia to ebbs of output via that transformer. As part of redistributing essentia, you can allocate essentia to the bound transformer just like any other essentia receptacle (subject to the normal limitations on how much essentia you can invest in any given receptacle). Each point of essentia you invest in the transformer generates one ebb; at the end of the round, the essentia returns to your pool and can be invested as normal.
    • Polychromatic Waist: Binding a KALD filter to your Waist chakra allows you and your belongings to pass unhindered through filters of that color, no matter what that color of filter would normally block.
    • Transdimensional Arms: While a YGGD semi-space is bound to your Arms chakra, you can reach into that semi-space from anywhere by spending a standard action, no matter where the normal access point is and even if the semi-space is closed. However, you can only use this ability to access that semi-space, even if it is connected to other semi-spaces or demiplanes.
    • Xenotic Hands: You can bind a BIOY chassis to your Hands chakra and invest essentia into it (just like a normal essentia receptacle, subject to the normal limitations on how much essentia you can invest in any given receptacle). If you do so, you gain the benefit of one graft that the chassis has (chosen when you invest essentia), of a level up to the amount of essentia invested in the chassis. Once the amount of essentia invested is chosen, it cannot be altered and remains invested for 24 hours.


  23. - Top - End - #23
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Contractor

    Spoiler
    Show
    "Let's make a deal."


    Image credit MamonnA of deviantart.com

    Power comes in many shapes and sizes, but perhaps the most underrated and most useful of all is the power of persuasion. Convincing other people to do your work for you is way better than actually having to learn to do stuff yourself. Gramarists who discover this tend to delve into more exotic ways of getting people to do stuff for them, and those who delve deep enough and dark enough might become contractors. Contractors are gramarists who have reached an agreement with the powers of the Lower Planes to requisition fiendish labourers and Outside help. Beyond these terms, contractors also learn to spread their talent for coercion to the great forces beyond the cosmos, the vestiges that lie between Planes. A contractor is a master of manipulation, deception, and above all else, control.

    Requirements: To become a contractor you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feats: Negotiator
    Gramarie: Any two ALCH principles
    Skills: Bluff 8 ranks, Diplomacy 10 ranks, Knowledge (the Planes) 3 ranks
    Special: Must make contact with a high-ranking entity from the Lower Planes
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Alchemetry

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: The contractor's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Contractor
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Maximum Vestige Level
    |
    Soul Binding

    1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Fiendish license, soul binding|
    +0
    |
    1
    |
    1

    2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Alchemastery|
    +1
    |
    2
    |
    1

    3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|–|
    +2
    |
    3
    |
    1

    4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Alchemastery|
    +3
    |
    4
    |
    1

    5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|–|
    +3
    |
    4
    |
    2

    6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Alchemastery|
    +4
    |
    5
    |
    2

    7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Doctorate principles|
    +5
    |
    6
    |
    2

    8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Alchemastery|
    +6
    |
    7
    |
    2

    9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|–|
    +6
    |
    7
    |
    3

    10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Alchemastery, solomon's key|
    +7
    |
    8
    |
    3

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the contractor.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a contractor, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Fiendish License (Ex): As a contractor, you have a fiendish license to do business on the Lower Planes, which gives you some precedent and prestige in negotiations with Outsiders from those regions. Your fiendish license is an actual piece of ID that you need to carry on you whenever you want to make use of any of the abilities it authorizes. You gain various abilities based on your fiendish rank, which is the sum of your class level and your Charisma modifier. Only permanent changes to your Charisma result in an increase in your fiendish rank. This rank is also what various baatezu can detect your rank as, as described in Fiendish Codex II.

    {table=head]Fiendish Rank|Licensed Ability
    1|Silver Tongue
    2|Faust's Enclosure
    4|Negotiation
    6|Overseer
    7|Outside Insurance
    8|Talented Negotiator
    10|SOP
    12|Expert Negotiator
    13|Not in it for the Money
    16|Grand Negotiator
    19|Indentured Service[/table]

    • Silver Tongue: Your dealings with the denizens of the Lower Planes have granted you some insight into their manipulation and deal-making techniques. You gain an unholy bonus to Diplomacy and straight-up Charisma checks equal to half your class level, and this bonus is doubled against Good-aligned creatures.
    • Faust's Enclosure: To conduct a deal you need to lay down certain ground rules, which is difficult to do when people can just teleport away from you. At will you can use magic circle against evil and dimensional anchor effects as spell-like abilities. Your caster level for these effects is equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Negotiation: You've been authorized to contract fiends for assignment in the Material Plane. You can use a lesser planar binding effect at will as a spell-like ability and with a caster level equal to your Hit Dice. You can only call Outsiders with the Evil subtype with this binding, and you gain a +3 bonus on the Charisma check to compel them to do your bidding if the task or assignment furthers the aims of your fiendish patron.
    • Overseer: It's important to make sure that a job gets done and done well. You can include a clause in your bindings that allows managerial oversight. If you beat the opposed Charisma check on your negotiation ability by at least 5, you can initiate a sense link effect with the fiend at will. Your manifester level for this effect is equal to your Hit Dice. Fot every 4 ranks beyond 6, you can link to an additional sense simultaneously.
    • Outside Insurance: It always pays to have insurance. If you beat the opposed Charisma check on your negotiation ability by 10 or more, you can place the fiend on retainer as insurance. The fiend is dismissed from immediate service, and they can keep any payment you've offered them. However, if a specific set of circumstances occurs (such as your death, but really anything that's specified during the binding) they are placed under a geas to follow a specific set of instructions determined during the negotiation. Once they have fulfilled the instructions, they are released from the geas and the transaction is complete.
    • Talented Negotiator: The Hit Die limit for your negotiation ability increases to 12 HD.
    • SOP: It's standard procedure to have the personal identification of any fiendish employee on file. If you beat the opposed Charisma check during your negotiation ability by 5 or more, the fiend is obliged to give you their name. If you beat the check by 15 or more, they are compelled to tell you their truename, if they know it.
    • Expert Negotiator: The Hit Die limit for your negotiation ability increases to 18 HD.
    • Not in it for the Money: You can now pay for service in a currency that fiends actually care about: souls. Instead of money or gold, you gain a bonus on the Charisma check for your negotiation ability if you present the fiend with a soul (trapped such as with a trap the soul effect) equal to +1 for every 6 Hit Dice of the trapped soul. Speaking of which, you're now authorized to collect souls. Once per day per point of your Charisma modifier, you can use a trap the soul effect as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Grand Negotiator: The Hit Die limit for your negotiation ability increases to your ranks in Diplomacy (if that would be greater than 18).
    • Indentured Service: There's no service like continual service. For every 10 points you beat the opposed Charisma check of a negotiation by, the fiend is compelled to assist you for one additional task beyond the first. Extra tasks are determined after the initial roll, and can be only as hazardous or dangerous to the fiend as the initial task.


    Soul Binding (Su): Your powers of negotiation are not just limited to fiends and atomic spirits. They extend into the furthest reach of the cosmos, and the trapped spirits that reside there. You can contact a vestige and make a pact with it. At 1st level, you can make a pact with only one vestige, but you can make a pact with another simultaneous vestige at your 5th and 9th class levels. You must complete the summoning and binding process with each vestige separately, so that each has its normal chance to influence you. You bear the physical sign of binding of each one. Unlike most binders, your effective binder level (EBL) does not determine your maximum vestige rank; instead, refer to the class table. Your EBL is equal to your fiendish license rank, and determines all other functions related to binding vestiges. If the vestige you are trying to contact is of a higher level than your indicated maximum, you cannot summon it.

    To contact a vestige, you must draw its unique seal visibly on a surface, making the image at least 5ft. across. Drawing a seal requires you to mark a surface, and 1 minute of concentration. A seal not used within 1 minute of its drawing loses all potency, and must be redrawn. Some vestiges also have special requirements for contact, as noted in their entries. Once you have drawn the seal, you must perform a ritual calling of the vestige as a full-round action, which fails if you cannot be heard. An image of the vestige appears after this calling, and disappears 1 round after you finish addressing it.

    To make a pact with a vestige you must make a binding check, which for you uses a check of 1d20 + your class level + your Cha modifier (the silver tongue ability applies to this check). This requires 1 minute, although you can choose to rush it as a full-round action by taking a -10 penalty on the check. You must make this check alone; others cannot help you with it. Whether the check succeeds or fails, you gain the powers granted by the vestige for 24 hours. If you fail the binding check, the vestige influences your personality and your actions, and you are said to have made a poor pact. If your check is successful, you show no ill effects and maintain control over your personality.

    While under the influence of a vestige, you must adhere to its requirements to the best of your ability. If you are conscious and free-willed, and you encounter a situation in which you cannot or will not refrain from a prohibited action or perform a required one, you take a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and checks until that vestige leaves you. These penalties stack if you disobey multiple vestiges.

    The Difficulty Class (DC) for a saving throw against any supernatural power granted by a vestige is equal to 10 + your class level + your Cha modifier. For more information on vestiges and the binding thereof, refer to the Tome of Magic.

    Alchemastery (Ex): Your fiendish insight allows you to delve deeper into your command of the atomic. In particular, the elder engineers of the Lower Planes can lend you their advice about the highest forms of metal. At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter, you learn a new discovery which relates to the discipline of alchemetry.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Solomon's Key (Su): At 10th level, your talent in negotiating extraplanar favours has reached its zenith. Whenever you make use of the spectroconstruction class feature, you're no longer just calling up unskilled labourers. Instead, the spirits you invoke are borrowed from the souls of architects and engineers who wound up in the Lower Planes. Spectroconstruction now allows you to craft things which require intricate craftsmanship, using your Diplomacy check instead of any necessary Craft check for the labour. In addition, you can trade regular labour for a single preparation on your behalf of ALCH 101, at a rate of 100 hours of unskilled labour for every use of the principle over the half-hour of spectroconstruction.

    The Craft skills used in your spectroconstruction must still be normal crafting skills which exist in your game. If you're in doubt about whether a technology level is appropriate for your game setting, consult your DM about the intended craft. You can use this ability to perform the labour for magic item crafting, but you must have the required Craft feat and supply the materials and XP required for it as normal.

  24. - Top - End - #24
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Dreamason

    Spoiler
    Show
    "What have your dreams done for you lately?"


    Image credit MichaelO of deviantart.com

    Many marvels and spectacles exist in the world, but these pale in comparison to the wonders that can only be constructed in the imagination. Every night, countless beings drift off to sleep, and dream of amazing, brilliant ideas which must disappear with the morning like so much dew upon grass. To most, this is simply the way life proceeds. To some, however, this is an unconscionable waste. These gramarists, known as dreamasons, believe that dreams are nature's greatest resource, and that we cannot afford to squander them on meaningless diversions and fantasies. Dreamasons belong to a secret society who work on behalf of all humanity (and monstrous humanity) to harness the power of dreams for the greater good.

    Requirements: To become a dreamason you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feats: Body Fuel
    Gramarie: Any two HEUR principles
    Psionics: Power point reserve of at least 1 point
    Skills: Autohypnosis 10 ranks, Craft (basket weaving) 1 rank, Concentration 4 ranks, Knowledge (psionics) 4 ranks
    Special: Eldritch blast class feature
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Heuristicism

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: The dreamason's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Dreamason
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Maximum Power Level
    |
    Powers Known
    |
    Principles

    1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Dreamcatcher (psionic), eldritch blast +1d6, stream of consciousness|
    1
    |
    1
    |
    +0

    2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Oneirotecture|
    2
    |
    2
    |
    +1

    3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Eldritch blast +2d6|
    2
    |
    3
    |
    +2

    4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Dreamcatcher (lucid), oneirotecture|
    3
    |
    4
    |
    +3

    5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Dreamaster, eldritch blast +3d6|
    3
    |
    5
    |
    +3

    6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Oneirotecture|
    4
    |
    6
    |
    +4

    7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Dreamcatcher (strengthsapping), eldritch blast +4d6|
    4
    |
    7
    |
    +5

    8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Oneirotecture|
    5
    |
    8
    |
    +6

    9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Eldritch blast +5d6|
    5
    |
    9
    |
    +6

    10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Dreamcatcher (mindfuel), oneirotecture|
    6
    |
    10
    |
    +7

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the dreamason.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a dreamason, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Dreamcatcher (Ps): A dreamcatcher is a special kind of circuit which draws energy from perhaps the greatest untapped source of puissance: the mind. Whenever you set up a circuit with a HEUR principle, you can choose to make it a dreamcatcher. A dreamcatcher draws puissance from intelligent living creatures within the area of the circuit. This draining effect occurs automatically when an applicable creature enters the net, although certain creatures can be excluded from the dreamcatching as a logical decision in the circuit. Energy that has been caught is stored in a 'dream reserve', which is a dispersed energy field in the circuit; it has no physical location. A dream reserve can store up to an amount of puissance equal to 10 times the Autohypnosis check of the circuit in ebbs. However, only an amount in ebbs equal to the check can be moved around in the circuit in any given lump-sum at a time. Instead of spending puissance in the dream reserve normally, an Exotic Intelligence in the circuit can burn it to gain XP, at a rate of 10 XP for every ebb burned. Note, however, that an Exotic Intelligence can only gain XP from creatures within 10 ECL's of its own level. It also can never transfer this XP to any creature, through any mechanism.

    As you advance in this class your dreamcatchers can drain different kinds of energy. At 1st level you can only weave psionic dreamcatchers. Once you learn additional dreamcatchers, you can decide which kind to weave whenever you establish a circuit. Whenever you would be able to change the Autohypnosis check of a circuit, you can change the kind of dreamcatcher.

    • Psionic: At 1st level, you learn how to weave a psionic dreamcatcher. This kind of circuit drains power points from living intelligent psionic creatures in the circuit. Every round, creatures with power point reserves inside of the circuit's area of effect must make Will saving throws (DC 10 + your class level + your Intelligence modifier) or lose up to 2 power points each. The dream reserve gains 1 ebb for every power point drained like this.
    • Lucid: At 4th level, you learn how to weave a lucid dreamcatcher. This kind of circuit drains dreams from sleeping living intelligent creatures in the circuit. Every round, sleeping creatures inside of the circuit's area of effect must make Will saving throws (DC 10 + your class level + your Intelligence modifier) or suffer a nightmare (caster level equal to your Hit Dice). The dream reserve gains 1 ebb every round for every creature currently suffering a nightmare inside its area. Removal from the area ends the nightmare immediately, and a creature that saves against the effect is immune to the nightmare for 10 minutes. You can program the details of the nightmare into the dreamcatcher when you set it up, or allow their subconscious to create it.
    • Strengthsapping: At 7th level, you learn how to weave a strengthsapping dreamcatcher. This kind of circuit drains bodily health from living creatures in the circuit. Every round, living creatures with Con, Str, and Dex scores inside of the circuit's area of effect must make Fortitude saving throws (DC 10 + your class level + your Intelligence modifier) or be affected as if with your Body Fuel feat. They take 1 point of damage to every physical ability score, and the dream reserve gains 2 ebbs.
    • Mindfuel: At 10th level, you learn how to weave a mindfuel dreamcatcher. This kind of circuit drains mental capacity from living intelligent creatures in the circuit. Every round, intelligent creatures with Int, Wis, and Cha scores inside of the circuit's area of effect must make Will saving throws (DC 10 + your class level + your Intelligence modifier) or take 1 point of ability damage to each of their mental abilities. The dream reserve gains 3 ebbs every time this happens. Unless otherwise specified, an Exotic Intelligence in the circuit is vulnerable to this effect. Creatures who die from this effect have their souls transformed into puissance, generating a one-time burst of 10 ebbs. However, they cannot be raised from the dead short of a wish spell or similar effect.


    Eldritch Blast (Ps): Your eldritch blast continues to improve with your advanced mental powers. It deals additional damage as shown on your class table, and now counts as either a psi-like ability or a spell-like ability, whichever would be more useful to you at the time. You have a manifester level for your eldritch blast equal to your Hit Dice.

    Psionics: As an architect of the mind, you have access to special psionic powers. Whenever you achieve a new level, you unlock the knowledge of a new power. Choose the powers known from the psion/wilder power list. You cannot choose powers from restricted discipline lists or from other class power lists. You can manifest any power that has a power point cost equal to or lower than your manifester level. Your maximum power level is shown on your class table, and your manifester level for your powers is equal to your Hit Dice.

    The number of times you can manifest powers in a day is limited only by your power point reserve. You do not regain power points every day like most psionicists, but instead you can use your eldritch blast to steal the consciousness of other intelligent beings to fuel your psionics.

    As a dreamason, you simply know your powers; they are ingrained in your mind. You do not need to prepare them (in the way that some spellcasters prepare their spells). The Difficulty Class for saving throws against your powers is 10 + the power’s level + your Intelligence modifier.

    Stream of Consciousness (Ps): Your eldritch blast is like an extension of your will. Whenever you succeed on striking an intelligent enemy (Int of 3 or greater) with your eldritch blast, you regain a number of power points equal to the number of damage dice dealt with the blast. You add your ranks in Autohypnosis to your power point reserve to figure out how many power points you can hold at any given time. However, you do not gain bonus power points from an ability score, and you do not regain these power points from rest. You have a bonus on Autohypnosis checks of one half your class level, and this special bonus also adds to your power point reserve; other such bonuses to your Autohypnosis skill do not.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Oneirotecture (Ex): As you gain knowledge in the secret schemes of dreams, you can apply these advances to your gramarie. At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter, you learn a new discovery to advance your heuristical calculations and circuits.

    Dreamaster: At 5th level, you learn the secret to transforming puissance back into psionic potency. Whenever you are standing inside of one of your dreamcatchers, you can tap into the dream reserve and use it to fuel your psionic powers as if it was your own personal power point reserve. However, one power point is lost to inefficiency whenever you activate this ability; this lost power point does not count against your maximum spent on the power.

  25. - Top - End - #25
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Dungeonjammer


    Spoiler
    Show
    "For the last time: it's a meticulously calibrated hand-bevelled piece of technical equipment with original Ozark imagery, guaranteed to enhance athletic performance. Not a ten-foot pole."


    Image credit PReilly of deviantart.com.

    Raiding dungeons is a dangerous pastime. There's the monsters, and the traps, and the evil masterminds, and the furniture that wants to eat you, and did I mention all the monsters? Only an idiot would choose to continue risking life and limb by going again and again into the depths of the earth, breaking into some cursed tomb, a dragon's vault, a giant's sky fortress, or whatever the latest horrible place to die is. Only the truly desperate or the truly stupid would lower themselves to such madness.

    That is, if you're an amateur.

    For a trained professional, of course, dungeons are nothing but a regular day's work. Extreme dungeoneering is the latest craze sweeping the realm, as skilled and talented challengers engage in this death-defying sport! The smartest, most cunning athletes of the land are the dungeonjammers, who break into the most secure vaults, the most treacherous dungeons, the most frightening haunts, to return with riches aplenty! Dungeonjammers are high-performance athletes who compete in the biggest and most dangerous sport of them all, hardcore treasure hunting. Using the latest gadgets and equipment afforded by gramarie, they cheat the laws of physics themselves in their pursuit of the ultimate loot. Do you have what it takes to join their ranks and win eternal glory?

    Requirements: To become a dungeonjammer you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feat: Athletic
    Gramarie: Any two YGGD principles
    Skills: Forgery 10 ranks, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 8 ranks, Open Lock 8 ranks
    Special: Must have the inspiration and trapfinding class features
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Yggdratecture.

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: All. A dungeonjammer treats all skills as class skills. Yes, even that one.

    The Dungeonjammer
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Inspiration
    |
    Monty Haul

    1st|+0|+2|+2|+2|Extra-D trick, tools of the trade, monty haul|
    +0
    |
    +1
    |
    1 lb

    2nd|+1|+3|+3|+3|Cunning aim, winning|
    +1
    |
    +2
    |
    5 lb

    3rd|+2|+3|+3|+3|Extra-D trick, fast movement (weird)|
    +2
    |
    +3
    |
    10 lb

    4th|+3|+4|+4|+4|Cunning spaces, winning|
    +3
    |
    +4
    |
    50 lb

    5th|+3|+4|+4|+4|Adrenaline rush, extra-D trick|
    +3
    |
    +5
    |
    100 lb

    6th|+4|+5|+5|+5|Cunning tools, winning|
    +4
    |
    +6
    |
    500 lb

    7th|+5|+5|+5|+5|Extra-D trick, it might work|
    +5
    |
    +7
    |
    1,000 lb

    8th|+6|+6|+6|+6|Cunning ploy, winning|
    +6
    |
    +8
    |
    5,000 lb

    9th|+6|+6|+6|+6|Extra-D trick, fast movement (flickering)|
    +6
    |
    +9
    |
    10,000 lb

    10th|+7|+7|+7|+7|The competitor, winning|
    +7
    |
    +10
    |
    50,000 lb

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the dungeonjammer.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a dungeonjammer, you gain proficiency with firearms if your setting permits them. Otherwise, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Extra-D Trick (Su): It's only cheating if you get caught! Dungeonjammers push the rules of reality itself to the breaking point as they pursue everlasting glory and piles of treasure. At 1st level, and every two levels thereafter, you learn a special extradimensional trick that you can deploy using your yggdratectural talent in order to break the laws of physics to get an edge. Activating an extradimensional trick is usually a swift action, and costs inspiration as noted in the entry.

    • Arrow Time: This trick is activated as an immediate action, when you're targetted by a ranged attack or when a ranged attack passes through your square en route to its target. You can either 100% choose to dodge the attack, or you can make an opposed attack roll in an attempt to knock the projectile in the direction of your choice, including back at the launcher. If you fail the opposed attack roll, you're hit by the projectile; however, if you succeed it's as if you were relaunching the projectile, using your own attack roll (even if it's a melee attack roll) to aim it. This trick costs 1 point of inspiration. Successfully deflecting an attack allows you to attempt to continue deflecting projectiles at no extra cost until the start of your next turn, or until you're hit by one of them, whichever comes first.
    • Danger Sense: This is a trick which heightens your senses when danger rears its head. You can activate this trick as an immediate action to skip back slightly in time and prepare yourself. This lets you reroll initiative if you don't like the result; more interestingly, if you are ambushed, you can activate this trick to be expecting the ambush and thus to be able to act in the surprise round. You can also activate this trick to avoid being flat-footed against an attack. This trick costs 1 point of inspiration.
    • Dimensional Skip: This simple trick moves you between worlds, and you end up up to your move speed away from where you started. It can only take you to a point to which you have line of sight. This trick costs 1 point of inspiration, but it can be activated as an immediate action for 2 points of inspiration instead.
    • Double Take: You need to be 9th level to select this trick. You activate this trick with a swift action at the start of your turn, and can take two entirely separate possible turns. This means that you start your first take, play the turn normally, and end your turn. Then everything is reset to its location at the point you used the double take, and you play through your turn for a second time. Afterwards, you can choose which take becomes the actual course of events. This trick costs 4 points of inspiration.
    • The Easy Way: You need to be 7th level to select this trick. You can activate a phase door effect as a swift action. This effect has a caster level equal to your Hit Dice, and costs 3 points of inspiration.
    • Freeze-Frame: You need to be 7th level to select this trick. This trick is activated as a swift action, and works like a one-round time stop, stopping time until the end of your current turn. Unlike a normal time stop, you can interact with creatures during this effect, and they are treated as flat-footed against you. This trick costs 3 points of inspiration.
    • Portal-Fu: Much like the Spot, you can make clever use of portals in fighting. You can activate this trick to place a portal on any flat surface within 100ft. of you. Once you have placed two matching portals, creatures and attacks can move through them as if the points in space were connected; a portal is about the size of a standard Medium-sized doorway. The portals last indefinitely until you place another portal, at which point the oldest one collapses and the newest two are linked. Placing a portal is a swift action, and costs 2 points of inspiration.
    • Rope-Fu: You can make weirdly improbable jumps using this trick, which don't quite seem to follow normal rules of geometry. This lets you make a single Jump check at a +30 bonus. This works like a normal Jump check, except that you can choose to take regular actions (except movement) at any point during the Jump, and even end your turn there and pick it up on a following round. Only when you want to continue moving do you complete the jump. This jump is activated as a swift action by spending 1 point of inspiration.
    • Wallcrawler: Gravity is really just a point of view. This trick is activated as a swift action, and until the start of your next turn you can walk up surfaces of any inclination, even upside down. You always gain the attack bonus for higher ground while this trick is activated. This trick costs 1 point of inspiration.


    Inspiration (Ex): Dungeonjammers are forced to be as cunning and ruthless as possible if they're going to make it to the big time. At every level, you add 1 point of inspiration to your pool. As normal, inspiration is restored at the start of every encounter, typically when initiative is rolled.

    Monty Haul (Su): What's the point of specializing in yggdratecture if you can't use it for your own benefit? You have big pockets; really big pockets. Like, extradimensional pockets. As a dungeonjammer you have your own personal extradimensional space which you and only you can reach into. You can draw things from your extradimensional space as a free action, as if you had the Quick Draw feat. At 1st level this space can only hold 1 lb of material, but this increases exponentially as you level, as shown on your class table. Volume is not a concern, and neither is sorting it; the stuff that you want just ends up at the top, much like a handy haversack. You can only store stuff that you personally can carry.

    Tools of the Trade (Su): What you don't have, you can fake. By making a Forgery check as a full-round action, you can convert a number of lb of material in your extradimensional pocket space into a liquid asset known as potential. Potential isn't really anything tangible, but it can be assimilated into other stuff by drawing from other parallel realities where you collected different items. Your Forgery check must be greater than or equal to both the gold piece value of the object and the Craft check made to build it in the first place in order to disassemble it like this. Potential still takes up as much weight in your pocket space as it did when it was an object, it's just... different now.

    As another full-round action, you can reassemble potential into the exact tool that you need for the job. You make a Forgery check, which is the Craft check made to create the item. The tool created cannot have a gold piece value greater than the result of your check. It materializes in your hand as if you had had it all along, of course. You can make either of these Forgery checks as a swift action by spending 1 point of inspiration. You can treat your Forgery check as the relevant Craft check made to create any object you desire through this. You gain a bonus to Forgery checks equal to half your class levels as you hone your talents at deception with this talent.

    A DC 15 Appraise check reveals the foreign nature of these objects; merchants typically buy them for substantially less than their nominal price because of this. These items are primarily useful for your adventures and your competitions, not for their market value.

    Cunning Aim (Ex): Precision is the name of the game. Starting at 2nd level you can spend 1 point of inspiration as a swift action to gain a bonus to attack on your next attack made in the same round equal to half your class level, and additional precision-based damage equal to +1d6 per class level. If you spend 2 points of inspiration instead, the attack also twists through the intervening space, either allowing you to make a melee attack against a creature within 30ft. of you, or eliminating all range penalties on a ranged attack.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Winning (Ex): A real athlete values winning above any other concern. It doesn't matter how you do it, history remembers the person that crosses the finish line first. High-performance dungeonjammers have taken to pushing gramarie to its limits to get an added edge over their competitors. At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter, you learn a special discovery about yggdratecture.

    Fast Movement (Su): By stepping through space and between dimensions during your regular movement, your ground speed increases by 20ft. at 3rd level. You also automatically avoid the first attack of opportunity made against you each round because of this strange motion. At 9th level your speed increases by an additional 20ft., and you can choose to activate a blink effect whenever you want as a free action (turning it on or off).

    Cunning Spaces (Ex): Extradimensional talent certainly lets you be a master of surprise; starting at 4th level, by spending 2 points of inspiration, you can prepare an YGGD principle as a swift action. This principle only lasts until the end of the current encounter.

    Adrenaline Rush (Ex): You don't have time to take a breath and calm down, there's so much to do! You know who stopped to smell the roses? The guy that came in 2nd. Starting at 5th level, you can take two swift or immediate actions every round.

    Cunning Tools (Su): Starting at 6th level, you can get more bang for your buck when obtaining high-performance athletic equipment out of the aether. Whenever you use your tools of the trade class feature, you can spend an extra point of inspiration to multiply your Forgery check by 100 for the purposes of determining the gold piece value that can be obtained from an alternate possible dimension. This opens up all sorts of possibilities, including such things as masterwork items, potions, wondrous items, and so on. When we talk about gold piece value, we're talking strictly about price, not cost. Note that this only changes the volume of value you can coalesce at once, not the actual value of the potential. You must still disassemble enough items to provide you with the potential for whatever you want to build.

    It Might Work (Ex): The all-important words when you have no other options left and it's all come down to this. Starting at 7th level, you can make a Forgery check as a full-round action to convert potential in your pocket space into puissance. This generates a number of ebbs equal to your Forgery check, and consumes 100 times that much potential in lb. This costs 4 points of inspiration; if you spend 6 instead, you can do it as a swift action.

    Cunning Ploy (Ex): At 8th level, you can prepare a cunning plan to imitate other arts of gramarie. You need to have a blueprint of a specialist principle from a discipline other than Yggdratecture. As a full-round action, you can expend 10 inspiration points to make a Forgery check to imitate the requisite skills needed to use it. The Forgery check must be at least equal to 20 + the benchmark skill check of the blueprint (DC 60 for a Magisterial principle, and DC 80 for a Doctorate principle). Failure indicates the inspiration is wasted, but the blueprint is unharmed. If you are successful, then as a one-time thing, you can prepare the principle from the blueprint in twice the normal time. After this, the blueprint is ruined. The key skill check used in the preparation of the principle is your Forgery check -20.

    The Competitor (Ex): At 10th level, you've reached the height of your fame and the height of your glory; there's nowhere to go but down. Or perhaps... sideways? If you're willing to take the leap, you can transform yourself into potential inside of your pocket dimension, to be reassembled in an alternate universe similar, but not quite the same, as our own. Doing this allows you to introduce some change into the world based on the particular dimension you choose to enter into. This works like a reality revision that you don't need to pay any cost for. However, there's one problem with your plan: there's another you in that universe, none too happy that you've broken in. This is a carbon-copy of you, down to every item you carry and every decision you've ever made, except for the choice to jump to another dimension. Alternate versions of you that you encounter like this are driven insane by the unexpected experience of encountering themselves, and try their darnedest to kill you in order to reassert their reality.

    This ability can be used once every month, or you can build an yggdratectural portal which leads people through to another dimension like this (whoever travels through can select the change introduced into it). A few caveats, though: as far as you're concerned, unless you follow them to that precise dimension, that person is dead, since they no longer exist in your reality. Second, a tremendous amount of energy is required to power this alternate universe machine, on the order of 100 ebbs per trip.

  26. - Top - End - #26
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Graughtsman

    Spoiler
    Show
    "I'll show you some intelligent design."


    Image credit Light-Schizophrenia of deviantart.com

    There are many charlatans who claim to have some secret knowledge of the workings of flesh. Physicians and their ilk scrape the surface, clinging to the desperate need to maintain some facsimile of life. Xenoalchemists are parasites, chopping nature's beauty apart in their reckless abandon to find something interesting. However, there are those whose study of life and death takes them deeper into the workings of biology than any other. These fleshworkers, known as graughtsmen, are unsurpassed in their manipulation of life. Where a physician preserves, or at best repairs, a graughtsman creates. Where a xenoalchemist severs, a graughtsman invents. They are engineers, thinkers, scientists, to whom life is nothing so much as a blank slate waiting to be engraved with their vision of the future.

    Requirements: To become a graughtsman you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feats: Extraordinary ArtisanECS
    Gramarie: Any two BIOY principles
    Skills: Appraise 4 ranks, Heal 10 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 8 ranks
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Biollurgy

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: The graughtsman's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Graughtsman
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Graft Level
    |
    Principles
    |
    Craft Reserve

    1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Biocraft, harvest material, xenomachinery|
    1
    |
    +0
    |
    100

    2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Master grafter|
    1
    |
    +1
    |
    200

    3rd|+1|+3|+1|+3|Bonus feat|
    2
    |
    +2
    |
    300

    4th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Master grafter|
    2
    |
    +3
    |
    400

    5th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Gramarie graft|
    3
    |
    +3
    |
    500

    6th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Bonus feat, master grafter|
    3
    |
    +4
    |
    600

    7th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Doctorate principles|
    4
    |
    +5
    |
    700

    8th|+4|+6|+2|+6|Master grafter|
    4
    |
    +6
    |
    800

    9th|+4|+6|+3|+6|Bonus feat|
    5
    |
    +6
    |
    900

    10th|+5|+7|+3|+7|Master grafter|
    5
    |
    +7
    |
    1,000

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the graughtsman.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a graughtsman, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Biocraft (Ex): You can use your ranks in Heal less 3 (-3) as your caster level for the purpose of crafting magic items. You also gain a craft reserve every level, as shown on your class table. You can use this reserve in place of XP for the purpose of crafting magical items. You do not keep your previous reserve when you gain a new class level, instead replacing it with your new reserve. In other words, spend 'em while you got 'em.

    In addition, any special bonuses you might possess such as Skill Focus which apply specifically to the Heal skill you can apply to Craft skills, although this does not allow you to attempt such checks untrained. Speaking of which, you gain a bonus to Heal checks of half your class level.

    Harvest Material (Ex): As a graughtsman you can quickly identify, catalogue and remove for future use the pieces of monsters which make them so dangerous. Harvesting remains requires two minutes of work with a helpless creature or recently dead (within one hour) corpse. It requires two skill checks.

    First, you must make a Knowledge check relating to the monster's type. The relevant Knowledge skill required is described under the uses of Knowledge, but since that's kind of obscure I'll just list them here for you. It's worth noting that if you don't know what type the monster was you can simply attempt a broad Knowledge check and the DM will choose the appropriate skill for you.

    {table=head]Knowledge Skill|Monster Types
    Knowledge (arcana)|Constructs, dragons, magical beasts
    Knowledge (dungeoneering)|Aberrations, oozes
    Knowledge (local)|Humanoids
    Knowledge (nature)|Animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, vermin
    Knowledge (religion)|Undead
    Knowledge (the Planes)|Outsiders, elementals[/table]

    The DC for the Knowledge check is equal to 10 + the monster's HD. You can always attempt these checks, even untrained thanks to your broad training in general monstrous physiology.

    If the Knowledge check is successful, the DM shall describe to you the pieces available for harvest. In general, this consists of informing you about supernatural and extraordinary abilities, breath weapons, natural weapons, movement modes, and so on. This might seem a little vague, but you can always request particular information about an aspect of the monster. If there is a piece of the monster you wish to harvest for one of your grafts, you can move on to the second skill check. You can only harvest material if it's appropriate for a graft you currently have access to.

    Once you decide which piece of the monster you want (each graft has a particular requirement in the original monster and you can harvest one graft's worth of material from any given monster) you make a Heal check at the same DC. If successful you manage to procure the material needed for the chosen graft. The material is usable for about three days. If it's not used before then it begins to go rancid and becomes unusable unless you store it in a freezing environment (time spent in such a state effectively pauses the time limit).

    If the Heal check is unsuccessful you cannot try again to harvest that material from the monster, but you can attempt additional pieces that you find useful. If you successfuly harvest one, however, the rest of the monster becomes contaminated and unusable. You can store as many of these monster pieces as you want, but the DM should decide on their weight and the space required to store them based on the monster they came from.

    Xenomachinery (Ex): Xenomachinery takes pieces of monsters and turns them into wacky gizmos and gadgets. In general, there are two kinds of xenomachines: tools and accessories. A tool is, well, a usable tool. It's a held item which has an active power stapled to it from a graft. Any graft which grants a power which is activated, such as a draconis fundamentum or an oceanic infusion is suitable for being placed on a tool xenomachine. An accessory grants passive effects, which come from any graft which provides an 'always-on', non-activated effect. This includes grafts such as demon skin and an extra limb.

    Creating a xenomachine requires the graft component to be attached, and the item for it to be attached to. Tool xenomachines are held items, which typically include things like weapons, wands, shields, and so forth, but could actually be anything that people hold in their limbs, such as a stick off the side of the road. When someone holds a tool xenomachine, they can access the graft as if it was attached to an appropriate body slot on them. If there is a daily limit or other restriction on a graft's use, the limit is carried with the graft itself, and is independant of who might be using it at any given time. Accessory xenomachines are attached to worn pieces of apparel or wondrous items which occupy non-graft body slots. Anyone wearing an accessory xenomachine has access to the graft power as if it was attached to them. You need to match up compatible slots, but the item slots and the body slots don't sync up exactly. Here's a conversion for you.

    Body Slots vs Item Slots
    {table=head]Body Slot|Usable Item Slot
    Arms|Arms
    Body|Body (armour)
    Eyes|Face
    Hands|Hands
    Head|Head
    Legs|Feet
    Shoulders|Shoulders
    Throat|Throat
    Torso|Torso
    Waist|Waist[/table]

    You cannot put a graft onto a ring. Any given wondrous item or piece of clothing or tool can only have a single graft attached to it at a time. Higher level grafts also require more powerful items to be attached to, as shown on the following chart.

    Xenomachine Caster Level Requirements
    {table=head]Graft Level|Minimum Caster Level of Item
    1|–
    2|1
    3|5
    4|10
    5|15[/table]

    This restriction applies equally for tool and accessory xenomachines.

    Actually attaching a graft to a xenomachine is a fairly straightforward process. It takes half an hour per caster level of the item, plus half an hour per Hit Die of the creature that provided the graft component. Afterwards, you make a Heal check against the Craft check that was made to make the item in the first place (for items the party didn't make, or if you just forget, assume the crafter took 10 on the check with the bare minimum ranks necessary for the construction). Success indicates the graft is successfully attached. Removing a graft from a xenomachine is possible, but takes the same amount of time, a Heal check at least as great as the original one to attach the graft, and destroys the graft component in the process. If you beat the original Heal check by 10 or more, you master it, and can remove the graft without destroying it; alternatively, this lets you claim it as if you had built it. With a half-hour process you can touch up a xenomachine you built to raise its grafter level to your current level of achievement.

    At 1st level you can only attach 1st level grafts to items. You gain access to grafts of higher levels as shown on your class table. Your grafter level for your xenomachines is equal to your ranks in Heal less 3.

    Master Grafter (Ex): Your mastery of the flesh continues to expand. At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter, you learn a new discovery about the nature of biollurgy and fleshworking that allows you greater insight into the natural form.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Bonus Feat: At 3rd level and again at 6th level and 9th level, you learn a bonus feat which must have the [Item Creation] tag.

    Gramaric Graft (Ex): At 5th level, you unlock a special skill that transcends the borders between xenoalchemy and gramarie. You learn a special graft which imbues knowledge of a gramaric principle in someone. This works like a normal graft, except that you must spend an additional amount of time on the procedure as normal for preparing the principle in question. For xenomachinery, you spend this additional time while 'attaching' the graft (even though there is no monstrous material) to the item. Gramaric grafts are treated as accessory xenomachines, since they simply imbue knowledge of a principle.

    You must know the principle you wish to imbue the subject with, and you must be able to implant grafts of that level. After the procedure, the subject can use the principle as if they had learned it themselves. They must still make any relevant skill checks involved with the principle themselves. The subject does not need to meet any of the normal prerequisites to know the principle, but they also do not count as "knowing" the principle for the purposes of meeting prerequisites on prestige classes, other principles, and other such venues. They can prepare the principal, but that's it.

    This is a 2nd level graft for a Baccalaureate-level principle, a 4th level graft for a Magisterial-level principle, and a 5th level graft for a Doctorate-level principle. Gramaric grafts fill the Head body slot, and no other.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-08 at 10:26 PM. Reason: typo

  27. - Top - End - #27
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Lode-Bearer

    Spoiler
    Show
    "This is my burden to bear, and no one else's. The fact that it's actually pretty bitchin' doesn't really enter into it."


    Image credit SANTI-IKARI of deviantart.com

    It's said that in the past, there was an ancient civilization that was much smarter and more advanced than the races today. Whatever that civilization might have been, some accounts refer to the loden, a martial branch of that society which studied the exotic properties of magnets. Thanks to gramarie, today it's possible for those with an interest in magnetism to explore the ancient techniques and lores of that group. These individuals, known as lode-bearers, are the most martial of gramarists, as they study ways to manipulate magnetism to give them an unfair advantage in combat. In order to become a lode-bearer, one must first learn to twist the fabric of space and time, especially in ways that shape magnetic fluxes.

    Requirements: To become a lode-bearer you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Base Attack Bonus: +3
    Gramarie: YGGD 212
    Skills: Forgery 10 ranks, Knowledge (geography) 4 ranks, Martial Lore 2 ranks
    Special: Eldritch blast class feature
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Yggdratecture

    Hit Die: d8
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: A lode-bearer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Forgery (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Lode-Bearer
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Maneuvers Known
    |
    Maneuvers Readied
    |
    Stances Known

    1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Heir to the loden, loden lore|
    +0
    |
    3
    |
    2
    |
    –

    2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Eldritch blast +1d6, mother lode|
    +1
    |
    4
    |
    2
    |
    –

    3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Loden lore|
    +2
    |
    4
    |
    2
    |
    –

    4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Eldritch blast +2d6, mother lode|
    +3
    |
    5
    |
    3
    |
    +1

    5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Loden lore|
    +3
    |
    6
    |
    3
    |
    –

    6th|+6|+5|+2|+2|Eldritch blast +3d6, mother lode|
    +4
    |
    6
    |
    3
    |
    –

    7th|+7|+5|+2|+2|Loden lore|
    +5
    |
    7
    |
    4
    |
    –

    8th|+8|+6|+2|+2|Eldritch blast +4d6, mother lode|
    +6
    |
    8
    |
    4
    |
    +1

    9th|+9|+6|+3|+3|Loden lore|
    +6
    |
    8
    |
    4
    |
    –

    10th|+10|+7|+3|+3|Eldritch blast +5d6, mother lode|
    +7
    |
    9
    |
    5
    |
    –

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the lode-bearer.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiency: As a lode-bearer you are loded for bear and ready to rock. You gain proficiency with all martial weapons. You're also proficient with light and medium armour, as well as light and heavy shields. You are not proficient with heavy armour or tower shields.

    Heir to the Loden: The soldiers of the loden were powerful warriors who used magnetic talents to cheat in combat. Be part of that proud tradition. With an hour of meditation on the secrets of the ancients and a DC 20 Forgery check to mimic ancient rituals, you can designate a single metal weapon as your lodenblade (or lodenhammer, or lodenaxe, or whatever). Your lodenblade is your connection to the wisdom of the ancients, and is the channel through which you activate your magnetic abilities. You must be wielding it in order to activate any of your martial maneuvers, loden lores, or stances from this class. You can designate a new lodenblade at any time with another skill check.

    By drawing an electromagnetic field around your lodenblade, you can energize it with a static charge. As a swift or move action, you can charge your lodenblade with electricity. All successful attacks you make with your lodenblade before your next turn deal additional electricity damage equal to the damage from your eldritch blast.

    Loden Lore (Ex): At 1st level and every two levels thereafter, you discover a secret martial technique to apply magnetic principles to combat. Every time you gain this class feature, you learn one of the following techniques. These abilities mimic the strange magnetic combat styles of the ancients, and depend on successfully copying their techniques. They can be used at will as a swift action by making a successful Forgery check (failure indicates the swift action is wasted). Every technique you learn also grants you a permanent +1 bonus on Forgery checks.

    • Attractive Blow (DC 15): This technique charges your metal weapon with magnetic power for 1 round. If you attack someone armed with a metal weapon during the round, your weapon automatically gets a disarm attempt with a +4 bonus if you beat the touch AC of your opponent with your normal attack. This disarm attempt does not provoke an attack of opportunity. All attacks you make until your next turn have this ability.
    • Heavy Metal (DC 25): This technique causes metal to weigh more heavily on your enemy. You make a single ranged touch attack using your lodenblade against a target made of or wearing substantial amounts of metal, within your ground speed of you. On a successful hit, you deal no damage but the weight of all the metal objects that the target is carrying or wearing is doubled. For every 10 points your Forgery check beats the DC, the weight is doubled again (that is, another x2 modifier using normal additive multiplication rules for D&D).
    • Intercept Projectile (DC 20): You can activate this ability as an immediate action when a projectile is aimed at you. You must decide whether or not to activate this ability after you know that you are being targetted but before you know if the attack succeeds. An unattended metal object weighing no more than 5 lb which is within a 30ft. radius of you leaps into the path of the projectile, protecting you. The attack is resolved normally as if the projectile had been aimed at the metal object instead of at you. For every 10 points your Forgery check beats the DC, you can intercept one additional projectile before the start of your next turn.
    • Magnetic Freefall (DC 25): You gain a magnet speed of twice your ground speed until the start of your next turn. A magnet speed lets you use magnetic fields to quickly maneuver around metal. As a normal move action, you may fall directly towards any ferrous metal object or structure which weighs at least half as much as you. You move directly towards the metal object, even if something nonmetal is in the way. In such a case, you end your movement adjacent to the barrier, in such a way so that it stands directly between you and the metal target. If you beat the DC of this loden lore by 10 or more, you don't have to spend a swift action to activate it. You may target a metal object from a distance equal to your magnet speed. No matter how far you actually move with your magnet speed, it still consumes your entire move action. A magnet speed will allow you to move against gravity, but at the end of the movement gravity begins to affect you normally (although you don't start to fall until your next turn, giving you the chance to keep freefalling if you activate this technique again). Magnet movement is similarly unaffected by rough terrain and the like. Initiating a magnetic movement takes hardly any time at all, and thus doesn't occupy you very much. As such, movement with a magnet speed does not provoke attacks of opportunity for moving through threatened spaces (the enemy's gate is down). A magnet speed may not be used to move to a metal object that you are already touching, no matter the size.
    • Molten Mail (DC 15): This technique calls up ambient metals around you, condensing them into a molten layer of armour which fits you like a second skin. You gain a circumstance bonus to your armor bonus to AC of +1, with an additional +1 for every 5 points you beat the Forgery check by. You gain damage reduction of the same amount, penetrated only by adamantine. The armour lasts until the start of your next turn, at which point the metal sloughs off you harmlessly.
    • Rock and Roll (DC 25): By striking your lodenblade, it produces a resonating tone (or heavy metal music, at your option). This is equivalent to the inspire courage bardic music effect. It lasts until the start of your next turn. The bonus granted by this effect is +1, although for every 10 points you beat the Forgery DC the bonus increases by +1. If you have the inspire courage ability from another source, you can add the bonus to this ability. This effect only lasts until the start of your next turn, although you can use it on consecutive rounds.
    • Thrash Metal (DC 20): You immediately make a ranged touch attack using your lodenblade against a target made of or wearing substantial amounts of metal, within your ground speed of you. On a successful hit, you deal no damage but can make a free bull rush attempt against them.


    Maneuvers Known: At 1st level, you gain knowledge of three martial maneuvers. These maneuvers can be selected from the Iron Heart, Shocking Sky, or White Raven disciplines. Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it. Your maneuvers are considered extraordinary abilities unless otherwise noted in its description. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate them. You learn additional maneuvers at higher levels. Upon reaching level 4, and every even-numbered level afterwards (6th, 8th, and 10th) you can choose a maneuver to replace a maneuver you already know with a maneuver of the same or lesser level which you have access to. This class provides a full initiator level for the purposes of selecting martial maneuvers.

    Maneuvers labelled 'supernatural' in the Shocking Sky discipline are extraordinary when you use them, because you activate them by the natural manipulation of electromagnetic fields with your magnetic talent.

    Maneuvers Readied: You can ready two maneuvers you know at 2nd level, but as you advance in level and learn more maneuvers, you can ready additional maneuvers at the same time. You ready maneuvers by stretching and practicing swordplay for 5 minutes. You need not sleep or rest to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes attuning yourself with your weapons, you can change your readied maneuvers. You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended.

    To recover your maneuvers in battle, you must call lightning from the sky to strike your weapon. This is a swift, move, or standard action which deals electrical damage to everything and everyone within 10ft. of you equal to your eldritch blast damage (Reflex save for half-damage, DC 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Int modifier), and renews all of your readied maneuvers. This can only be done outside under the sky; otherwise it takes a full-round action to renew a single maneuver. This refreshing technique is an extraordinary ability, special effects to the contrary.

    Eldritch Blast: At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, your eldritch blast deals an additional +1d6 damage. Levels in this class stack to determine the caster level and effective spell level of your eldritch blast.

    Mother Lode (Ex): At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, you learn a secret art that the loden used to reshape the fabric of the world. You can choose a special discovery related to yggdratecture.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Stances Known: At 4th level, you gain knowledge of one stance from the Iron Heart, Shocking Sky, or White Raven disciplines. At 8th level you gain knowledge of a new stance from one of these disciplines. Stances labelled supernatural from the Shocking Sky discipline are considered extraordinary when you use them.

  28. - Top - End - #28
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Masνnist

    Spoiler
    Show
    “Before we are citizens, we are children, and it is as children that we come to understand freedom and authority, liberty and duty. I have done my duty. I have bowed to authority. And now I can set aside those burdens for a little while and see what happens.”


    Image credit Bluefley of deviantart.com

    The sidhe courts have existed for millenia, static and unchanging as the cycle of the seasons or the balance of night and day. For what seems like an eternity, this was enough, the raw power of nature holding the growth and expansion of the mortal races in an eternal stalemate. Recently, however, this careful balance has smashed to pieces as the short-lived races have discovered and industrialized the principles of gramarie in just a few short generations. For the first time in ever, the courts of the fae have found themselves becoming obsolete. Quaint. An old-fashioned bedtime story told to frighten and amuse children they once might have stolen and eaten.

    To combat this most unexpected of threats, the kings and queens of the fae desperately turned to the very evil which is pushing them into the dank and hidden places of the world: gramarie itself. In recent years it's become fashionable for the nobility of the fae to employ gramaric experts, to industrialize their own courts before they are pushed into the cloying depths of obscurity and myth. These engineers, known as masνnists, are combining the ancient arts of the fae with the mechanisations of gramarie, merging the very Old with the very very new.

    Spoiler
    Show
    I'm sorry in advance for using, in different places, the terms faerie, fairy, fey, and fae. Faerie refers to either a denizen of the fae realm or the realm itself. Fae refer to the kind of creature as a whole. Fey refers to the actual game term for the these creatures' type. Fairy is only used when refering to somebody else's work who prefers that spelling, in deference to their wishes. Similarly, 'court' is capitalized when it's referring to a specific court, but not when using the noun just by itself. Confused yet? Good


    Requirements: To become a masνnist you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feats: Versatile PerformerCAdv
    Gramarie: Any two IMCH principles
    Skills: Bluff 10 ranks, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) 4 ranks, Knowledge (nature) 4 ranks, Perform (any musical) 8 ranks
    Special: Bardic music class feature, must make contact with a representative from the Faerie court you want to join
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Imachination

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: The masνnist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Masνnist
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles
    |
    Songs of the Sidhe

    1st|+0|+0|+2|+2|Fate in Faerie, songs of the sidhe|
    +0
    |
    The Unquiet Grave

    2nd|+1|+0|+3|+3|Endless possibilities, feysong +1|
    +1
    |
    Riddles Wisely Expounded

    3rd|+2|+1|+3|+3|Court favour, steam-powered songs|
    +2
    |
    The Gentlemen

    4th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Endless possibilities|
    +3
    |
    The Fairy Reel

    5th|+3|+1|+4|+4|Music in the machine|
    +3
    |
    Moon-Lover

    6th|+4|+2|+5|+5|Endless possibilities, feysong +2|
    +4
    |
    Tam Lin

    7th|+5|+2|+5|+5|Iron ring, magic smoke|
    +5
    |
    The Last of the Giants

    8th|+6|+2|+6|+6|Endless possibilities|
    +6
    |
    Stern Embrace

    9th|+6|+3|+6|+6|Noble standing, one heartbeat|
    +6
    |
    Apocalypse Pie

    10th|+7|+3|+7|+7|Endless possibilities, feysong +3, the machine stops|
    +7
    |
    Moonless Fear

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the masνnist.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a vassal of Faerie, you gain nominal training in some typical court weapons. You gain proficiency with the rapier, the elven thinblade, the lance, and medium armour. You gain no proficiency in shields of any kind.

    Fate in Faerie (Ex): Masνnists are indentured engineers to a Faerie court, and thus you need a patron. At 1st level (actually prior to that, since you need to make contact with them before taking levels in this class), choose a court to pledge your allegiance to. Many courts have alignment restrictions and expect certain behaviours, so choose carefully. Some of your class features change based on your court selection. Six courts are described here: the Day Court, the Night Court, the Seelie Court, the Summer Court, the Unseelie Court, and the Winter Court. Some courts may not be available based on your campaign setting. Check with your DM to see which courts are usable in your setting, or to see if other courts are potential choices; these courts are descibed only as examples and to pull appropriate powers from.

    • The Day Court: The Court of the Day is about as close as they get to being pleasant. It's all about chivalry, honour, and glory, and is a quasi-medieval court where the royalty lives in splendour. They have a court of actual noble fae who protect the King and Queen, and are the embodiment of freedom and sportsmanship. Many Day faeries are wild beasts in their true form, but it's fashionable for them to assume human-ish seemings. The Day King is Gwyn ap Nudd, who leads the Wyld Hunt against the mortal races. The Day Queen is Gloriana, the embodiment of moral virtue. To become a servant of Day, you cannot be evil.
    • The Night Court: The spookiest of all the courts, the Court of Night is pretty nasty. Like, really nasty. Night fae are spectres, who have no true form of their own. They flit from body to body, and need to possess mortal forms in order to interact with the real world. To sustain themselves, they slowly murder their victims, draining their blood and other vitals to fuel their magick. The Night King is Raja Jinn Peri, who takes only the bodies of powerful predator animals, like tigers, and sustains himself on the blood of virgin mortal girls. The Night Queen is Rangda, who is incredibly ugly and withered. To become a servant of Night, you cannot be good.
    • The Seelie Court: The most well-known court, the Court of the Seelie is both mischievous and well-meaning. It's basically the juvenile delinquent of the courts; where the others maybe want to end the world or hunt actual people for sport, the Seelie fae are happy just to turn people into donkeys for a while. They're a pretty fun court if you're okay with being pantsed every now and then. The Seelie King is Oberon, who takes very little seriously. The Seelie Queen is Titania, who constantly cleans up her husband's messes. To become a servant of the Seelie, you cannot be square.
    • The Summer Court: The most laid-back court, the Court of Summer is pretty chill. They basically sit around having parties, revels, and orgies all day. Summer fae have it pretty good in that they're basically immortal, and have no real biological needs, so they're free to engage in pleasure-seeking. The indulge all sorts of sensory stimuli; it's very hard to shock these people. The Summer King is Iblees, a hedonistic pleasure king. The Summer Queen is Lilith, a tempting seductress who lures mortals into a mind-numbing lifetime of sensory pleasure as she slowly feeds on their anitu. To become a servant of Summer, you cannot be lawful.
    • The Unseelie Court: The Unseelie court struggles a little bit with it's identity. It mostly bases itself as being diametrically opposed to the Seelie court, which basically means aligning themselves against the ephemereal concept of fun. They spend most of their time punishing mortals for their perceived transgressions and quashing any kinds of enjoyment the races of men might get out of life. The Unseelie King is Lamorak, a fallen servant from on high who now enforces the arbitrary codes of the Unseelie. The Unseelie Queen is known only as the Queen of Air and Darkness, the true power behind the throne; she pursues her complex and unknown agenda in secret against the other Courts. To become a servant of the Unseelie, you cannot be funky.
    • The Winter Court: If Summer is indolent, the Court of Winter is anything but. It's as cold and unforgiving as its season, and the Winter fae have no time for slackers. It's a brutal aristocracy where they basically just want to kill everything. Nothing personal, it's just sort of what they do. The Winter King is Finvarra, a philandering consort king. The Winter Queen is Nicnevin, a harsh queen as cold as ice. To become a servant of Winter, you cannot be chaotic.


    After selecting a fate in Faerie, you gain a new component to your alignment based on your selection: either Day, Night, Seelie, Summer, Unseelie, or Winter. Any fey creature can tell this component of your alignment just by perceiving you, as if they were using a detect effect with a caster level of their Hit Dice. This can be concealed or disguised like any alignment component. Your Faerie allegiance also grants you a deeper insight into the half-truths and insinuations of the fae; you gain a bonus on Bluff checks equal to half your class level, and can yourself discern a fey creature's Court alignment by sight as well.

    Songs of the Sidhe (Su): As a servant of the Faerie Courts, a musical talent is absolutely required, even of their engineers and technology experts. You continue to advance your bardic music ability; you add your Intelligence modifier and your class level to your effective bard level to determine how often you can use your bardic music ability. As you level up, you learn various fae ballads which can be used with this ability. These ballads work just like normal bardic music abilities, but must be used with an instrument which produces music (or by singing).

    Spoiler
    Show
    • At first level, you learn the ballad known as The Unquiet Grave. When you play this song, all undead able to hear you perform who have fewer Hit Dice than you have ranks in the relevant Perform check become susceptible to further bardic music abilities and illusions, as the music stirs something long-buried in them. If one of these abilities would then induce a condition which they would normally be immune to, such as fear or fascination, they are susceptible to it anyway.

      "Cold blows the wind to my true love, and gently drops the rain
      I never had but one sweetheart, and in greenwood she lies slain"


    • At second level, you learn the ballad known as Riddles Wisely Expounded. As part of this performance, you make an Intelligence check; all intelligent creatures able to hear you play must make an opposed Intelligence check. Failure indicates that they become obsessed with a riddle contained in the song, and are treated as flat-footed against all attacks until they spend a full-round action deep in thought. However, every minute they must make another Intelligence check or come down with the condition again; they can only be rid of it for good by succeeding on an Intelligence check, if you tell them the answer, or by spending an hour looking up the answer in a location with access to plenty of literary resources, such as a library. This is a mind-affecting ability.

      "'Now you have had your will,’ quoth she
      'I pray, sir knight, will you marry me?'
      The young brave knight to her replyed,
      'Thy suit, fair maid, shall not be denied,
      If thou can answer me these questions three'
      This very day will I marry thee.'"


    • At third level, you learn the ballad known as The Gentlemen. The song steals the voices of all who hear it, and stores them in a focus of a sealed wooden box. You can thereafter speak in any voice you've collected by touching the box, as if with the kenku mimicry racial feature. Voices remain in the box for one day per rank you have in the Perform skill you used, or until the box is opened or broken. Victims are silenced until they retrieve their voice. The song can be maintained for as long as you like, and you can also release a single voice from the box as a move action while touching it. A loud scream within earshot of the box shatters it. Victims are allowed a Will save against a DC of your Perform check result to avoid the effect.

      "Can't call to mom.
      Can't say a word.
      You're gonna die screaming
      but you won't be heard."


    • At fourth level, you learn the ballad known as The Fairy Reel. Anyone who hears the music must make a Will save against a DC of your Perform check or full under its thrall. Allies can be alerted prior about the nature of the music, to avoid its effects. This is a magical compulsion which draws the hearts and souls of those who hear it. Half of their souls are pulled to the music, while half can resist. At least half of their movement every round must be spent moving directly towards the source of the music (if they choose to take a move action, charge action, run action, to teleport, and so on). This means they cannot finish their turn further away from the music source than when they started. This is a mind-affecting ability.

      "I watch with envious eyes and mind,
      the single–souled, who dare not feel
      The wind that blows beyond the moon,
      who do not hear the Fairy Reel."


    • At fifth level, you learn the ballad known as Moon-Lover. Playing this ballad creates a glow as if reflected from the moon itself, bathing everything within earshot and line of sight in soft moonlight. This has several effects on anyone who can hear the music. If they have the rage ability, they can activate it for free, without spending a daily use of it. Creatures who are under an illusion must make a Will saving throw (DC equal to your Perform check) or have the illusion become transparent, including becoming visible if they were invisible previously. Similarly, anyone looking at an imachinary illusion with a visual component gets an immediate chance for a fundamental disconnect, but only one such free attempt if they fail the check. Finally, lycanthropes are forced into their bestial form if they fail a Will save (same DC).

      "I have a compact to commune
      A monthly midnight with the Moon;
      Into its face I stare and stare,
      And find sweet understanding there."


    • At sixth level, you learn the ballad known as Tam Lin. This ballad invokes the shifting and tricky nature of the fae, and their capricious nature. Those who listen to at least ten minutes of the song find themselves bound to complete some service for your Court. This works like a lesser geas, except there is no limit on the ability score penalties; they continue accruing until the subject dies. The geas must be to complete a task which would benefit the interests of your patron Court. Victims can avoid this effect by making a Will save against a DC of your Perform check.

      "The Queen of Faeries caught me,
      And took me to herself,
      And ever since, in yon green hill,
      With her I'm bound to dwell."


    • At seventh level, you learn the ballad known as The Last of the Giants. This ballad calls to mind the solitude, loneliness, and quiet strength of the mountain fae as they are pressed from their historic role into the margins of history to make way for progress. All of your allies (including you) who can hear the music gain several benefits. They become acclimatized to low pressure conditions, and have no problems with oxygen deprivation at high altitudes. They gain the powerful build ability of the half-giants, as well as the rock throwing and rock catching abilities of the giant. They can treat their powerful build increase as counting towards the Large size required to use these abilities. Finally, everyone affected has their carrying capacity before reaching each load category doubled.

      "They hunt me with dogs in the daylight,
      They hunt me with torches by night.
      For these men who are small can never stand tall,
      Whilst giants still walk in the light.
      "


    • At eigth level, you learn the ballad known as Stern Embrace. Playing this song calls upon the fae of battle and war to excite the spirit of martial talent in the field. Battles have been fought since uncounted time in Faerie, and the fae know the art of war better than any mortal. Anyone who can hear you playing can initiate a second boost every round from a martial discipline, and can change their stance as a free action. Anyone who dies while listening to your unearthly music leaves their soul forfeit to the capricious fae; they cannot be returned to life by any magic short of a wish or similar effect.

      "My lady’s eyes are watching me as I prepare for war.
      She stands upon the battlefield, like so many times before.
      The battle cries, a comrade dies, and falls to her embrace,
      And in her arms she takes him now, unto his resting place."


    • At ninth level, you learn the ballad known as Apocalypse Pie. This is the song of the end of the world that has been sung by fae heralds since it all began. It starts by bringing an end to things in the immediate vicinity. Anyone who can hear you playing must make a Will save against a DC of your Perform check or have all transient conditions (such as could be ended by Iron Heart Surge– have fun with that) currently affecting them end. This does not target broader effects, such as from standing in an ongoing field. However, it does bring an end to activated abilities which they are sustaining with concentration or a similar method. You personally take 1d6 points of unmitigatable damage from entropic backlash for every condition or ability ended. If an object is playing this instead, the object takes the appropriate amount of damage, cutting through all hardness.

      "Best to eat when it's raw,
      lest it take you in it's maw.
      Laced with pain, filled with hurts.
      The world ending is just desserts."


    • At tenth level, you learn the ballad known as Moonless Fear. This song bridges the gap between worlds, and is one of the methods the fae use to step into the mortal realm. Whenever you play it under moonlight, you can open a portal between Planes. This works like a gate effect (travel version only), but only between the Material Plane and the Plane that holds your patron court. The unearthly music places a compulsion on those who hear it to travel through the gate; this is treated as a suggestion, although it applies even if the travel would obviously be harmful to the creature. It's also not language-dependant, although it is still a mind-affecting ability. Creatures under this compulsion do not know that they have been pushed in this way. Targets affected are allowed a Will save to resist, against a DC of your Perform check.

      "Most fae are sly and subtle folk
      Who step as soft as chimney smoke
      Some go among your kind enshaedn
      Glamoured as a pack mule laden
      Or wearing gowns to fit a queen
      We know enough to not be seen"


    Endless Possibilities (Ex): As a servant of the Faerie Courts, you can glean some insight into the inner workings and infinite potential of fae glamours. At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter, you learn a special discovery about imachination.

    Feysong (Su): The songs of the fae are not the same as the songs of mortal men and women. Inside every chord, every lyric, there is ulterior motive, deception, and glamour waiting to ensnare the unexpecting. Starting at 2nd level, you can substitute a Bluff check for any Perform check you would normally make to use a bardic music ability or a fae ballad, although you still need to play the instrument or sing. When you use this ability in conjunction with the inspire courage ability, the bonus granted by the music increases by +1. The bonus increases by an additional +1 every four levels thereafter. You cannot use this ability while under the influence of a zone of truth or similar effect.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Court Favour (Su): You have friends in high (or at least weird) places. As a member in good standing of your Court, you gain at 3rd level a mandate from the nobility to keep on keeping on. This manifests itself visibly in your illusions:
    • Day: The Day Court rewards its faithful masνnists with a touch of faerie glamour, also known as a seeming. You can prepare any imachination principle as an immediate action, so long as the illusion is only over your own body, fixed to you as a a spatial reference, and only has a visual component.
    • Night: Terror is the ally of the Night, and this makes itself manifest in your illusions. Instead of a normal function for an imachinary illusion you set up, you can choose for it to be a nightmare. This kind of illusion morphs itself boggart-like into the worst fear of anyone who looks at it. This makes it harder to see through the illusion thanks to the sheer terror of it (the viewer takes a -2 penalty on checks to see through the illusion), and anyone who believes the illusion is overcome with fear. This is a mind-affecting, fear-based ability, and is often used to discover what the subject's worst fear actually is; psychotherapists have found it a useful tool. The illusion tends to choke when multiple people view it simultaneously– for every additional person observing the illusion simultaneously, each person gains a cumulative +2 bonus on checks to see through it, and every additional person who encounters it while people are still within sensory range of the illusion provokes a chance for a fundamental disconnect in everyone viewing it as the illusion frantically tries to compensate.
    • Seelie: Seelie fae are masters of trickery and subterfuge, and they've taught you a few of their tricks. You can prepare any IMCH principle as a standard action as long as it replicates a trap of some kind, but it only lasts for one hour. You can also create the illusion of gold in this time, but it's similarly short-lived; this is called faerie gold, and is infamous among mortals.
    • Summer: The sensual experiences of the Summer Court insidiously find their way into your illusions. Any illusion can now have an emotional component to it, which provokes a set response in those who experience it. You can choose from inciting confusion, fear, happiness, rage, or sadness in those who experience the illusion. The only defense against this emotional manipulation is to discover the true nature of the illusion. These are all mind-affecting abilities, and have an effective caster level equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Unseelie: Your illusions are less imaginative expressions and more like crushing the will of those who view them beneath the iron authority of the Unseelie. You can tailor-make an imachinary illusion for a single target if you have at least four components related to them: something of the head, something of the thread, something of the body, and something of the dead (it almost rhymes!). If the target later comes into contact with the illusion and does not realize its true nature, they are subject to a dominate person effect to submit to your will. If they are successfully dominated, they must be brought into contact with the illusion whenever the domination is to be renewed, potentially allowing a new chance to recognize the illusory nature of it. The effect has a caster level equal to your Hit Dice when you prepare it. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. The first time the subject is brought into contact with it, they are allowed a saving throw to resist the effect as well, against a DC of 10 + 5 for every IMCH principle you know.
    • Winter: You immediately get access to the thermal illusions of IMCH 334, but only to make things seem colder than they actually are, even if you don't meet the prerequisites for it. Whenever you prepare an imachinary illusion that includes a cold thermal component, it has extra kick to it; anyone viewing or otherwise experiencing it is too busy freaking out about how cold it is to pay as close attention as they otherwise might; viewers who are unprotected from the elements take a -4 penalty on checks to notice the true nature of the illusion. Your cold illusions can also cause viewers to experience actual distress depending on the temperature bracket, just as if they were in real cold weather. You can create illusions that include temperatures down to the point of 'extreme cold' (below -29 degrees Centigrade).


    Steam-Powered Songs (Su): Whenever you create an IMCH illusion with an auditory component, you can weave faerie music into it. You spend a daily use of your bardic music during the preparation, and select one bardic music ability or fae ballad that you know. The illusion is treated as if it is maintaining the music as its auditory illusion, which means that anyone who hasn't seen discerned its true nature is subject to the musical effect. An illusion can only maintain a musical ability for a number of rounds equal to its Bluff check (one chorus), but you can recharge it as a standard action by touching any part of the illusion and spending another use of bardic music. The effective Perform check for the music ability is equal to the Bluff check made to prepare the illusion.

    Music in the Machine (Ex): Your knowledge of gramarie and faerie workings advances apace. At this point your illusions are so powerful that they can sustain their own music without your help. You can choose to permanently invest a use of bardic music into an imachinary auditory illusion, in which case it can be powered for a full chorus with a number of ebbs of puissance equal to half the Bluff check. If the illusion is ever dismantled or destroyed, you regain the invested bardic music charge. Decisions about exact details of the musical ability, if there are any, are handled as logical decisions inside of the illusion.

    Iron Ring (Ex): As you graduate from being an apprentice and become a doctor of magical engineering, your Court traditionally bequeaths you a ring of cold iron representing your bond to them. Unlike most iron, this ring is perfectly safe for fae of your Court to touch, although the same cannot be said of other fae. The ring represents the boundaries between truth and untruth, itself representing the divide between mortal and fae. By holding the ring and chanting a fae phrase, you can invoke a zone of truth effect around you with a caster level of your Hit Dice. Alternatively, you can invoke a zone of lies, which works the same way, except creatures under its influence are allowed to tell nothing but lies and falsehoods.

    The Iron Ring also holds in it faerie magic sufficient to invest in one auditory illusion with your music in the machine class feature. You can recall the charge from the illusion as a free action at any time.

    Magic Smoke (Su): At 7the level, you discover a special fae technique to put a little magic into technology. Whenever you link an imachinary illusion into a heuristical circuit, you can imbue it with magic smoke. The caster level of all of the effects the circuit uses is increased by +2, and the DC of any effects linked to the circuit is similarly increased. 1 ebb of puissance is also somehow generated by the circuit every round, which can be distributed like all energy input. This effect vanishes if anyone other than you alters the programming of the circuit or takes it apart to see what's generating the extra power.

    Noble Standing (Su): Continued association with the fae has its rewards as well as its perils. If you're willing to swear a small oath at 9th level, you gain a special boon from your Court:
    • Day: The Day Court requires that you honour your commitments and keep to the letter of your word, even if you mislead your audience about your true intentions. This habit of speaking in half-truths and open-ended statements has made the Day Court famous in mortal tales. As a reward for your service, you are invited to join the Wyld Hunt. You gain the ability to polymorph at will into any animal with Hit Dice less than or equal to your own, and gain DR 5/cold iron while in this state; however, your hit point pool is not changed when transforming. This grants you the Shapechanger subtype. You can plane shift at will between the Plane of your Court and the Material Plane. The polymorph effect has a caster level equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Night: The Court of the Night requires that you bring tribute to Raja Jinn Peri in the form of mortal blood. For a monthly tribute of one living mortal girl, you gain the benefits of their favour. You can assume a gaseous form (no set duration) whenever you like, and while in gaseous form can possess beings as if with a magic jar effect at will. You share bodies with your victim instead of forcing them out, but can impose your will with an opposed Will saving throw, in which case you control the movements of the body. If the body you are in dies, you can leave the corpse in your gaseous form. Both of these abilities have a caster level equal to your Hit Dice, and the possession offers a saving throw against a DC of 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier.
    • Seelie: The Seelie fae demand that you devote yourself to mischief and pranks; their ways seem childish and crude to many mortals, but there is a deeper agenda they pursue. You are not allowed to speak the truth as you see it when you are a servant of the Seelie. As a reward, you are under a permanent prestidigitation effect, and can use it to greater effect than normal for your pranks: the weight, volume, and duration limits of all effects caused by this ability multiply by 100. You can also replicate actual objects with it, as if with a major creation effect. Objects created like this expire at midnight. This ability has a caster level equal to your Hit Dice.
    • Summer: The Summer Court knows well how to reward its faithful servants. They require that you give up all structured artifacts of society, including taxes, citizenship, marriage, and so on. You are similarly not allowed to acknowledge the authority of any mortal governing body. As a reward, you can summon at will a servant from the Summer Court to assist you; this is a succubus or incubus (succubus shapeshifted into a male form), bound to your will for as long as you like. The servant is advanced to be cohort-worthy for you (a CR of your ECL -2). This is a conjuration effect with a caster level equal to your Hit Dice, but no set duration. If your companion is killed, you can summon another whenever you like as a standard action, but you can only have one at a time.
    • Unseelie: Darkness and authority are your ally as a subject of the Unseelie. You must pledge to submit to their authority, essentially allowing yourself to be dominated indefinitely by the Queen of Air and Darkness. In reward, you yourself can turn darkness to your will; you can create a deeper darkness effect at will, and can see in darkness of any kind, even magical darkness, with perfect colour. You gain a +20 bonus on Intimidate and Diplomacy checks made while in shadowy illumination or darker conditions, and in such conditions people start 1 step closer to helpful towards you.
    • Winter: To touch the heart of Winter is to touch death itself. A true servant of Winter needs no protection or shelter from the elements, and as a vassal of the Court you are required to give up passing beyond mortal thresholds. In return, you are granted the power to reach beyond death: if you die, you can choose to come back as a ghost with your memories and thoughts intact. Everywhere you travel, you bring winter with you, as if with a control weather effect causing extreme snowfall and cold weather conditions. The winter front generally catches up with you about a day after you arrive in any location, and continues to follow you as a ghost.


    One Heartbeat (Su): Music is your lifeblood, and it flows through your machines. Every circuit which contains an illusion that is invested with one of your musical abilities (as with your music in the machine class feature) is now considered linked as one circuit.

    The Machine Stops (Su): Gramarie is amazing and awesome, but sometimes the old ways are the best ways. At 10th level you discover what the fae have been searching for so frantically: a secret weapon in the war of technology. This is a special technique which can be activated by burning three daily uses of bardic music. It produces an effect similar to an antimagic field centred around you, but instead of disrupting magic this disrupts modern technology. All gramarie in the area, even extraordinary gramarie, is suppressed, while normal magic and supernatural abilities are unhindered. The effect lasts for 10 minutes, and has a caster level equal to your Hit Dice. Circuits which are imbued with your music (as through the one heartbeat class feature) are unaffected by this ability, as their faerie magic sustains them.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-12 at 05:02 PM.

  29. - Top - End - #29
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Millwight

    Spoiler
    Show
    "If the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that's what everyone else does."


    Image credit Moonshadow01 of deviantart.com.

    Whenever a new usurper comes along keen on taking over the world or destroying civilization as we know it, there's one thing you can always count on: he's going to need a lot of men. Men willing to die for him, an army at his beck and call. And maybe this works for some of them, the more charismatic or popular; but for the rest, there's a real shortage of skilled warriors willing to up and die for a cause that's, frankly, pretty horrible. That's why undead armies have become so popular as of late, and wherever there's someone looking for a product, you can bet there's someone willing to deliver it. The millwight trade is a new development made possible thanks to gramarie. Millwights are skilled tradesmen who specialize in the custom manufacture and mass dissemination of undead. No backtalk, no possible fomenting rebellion, just undying obedience and unwavering loyalty. A millwight must be learned in both the gramarie of the flesh and the mind, in order to create a product that is truly... to DIE for.

    Requirements: To become a millwight you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Feats: Tomb-Tainted Soul
    Gramarie: BIOY 228 and at least one HEUR principle
    Skills: Autohypnosis 8 ranks, Heal 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 10 ranks
    Special: Eldritch blast class feature
    Specialization: Must be specialized in either Biollurgy or Heuristicism.

    Hit Die: d6
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

    Class Skills: A millwight's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Millwight
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|
    Principles

    1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Assembly-line undead, double major, trade secret|
    +0

    2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Deathnet, eldritch blast +1d6|
    +1

    3rd|+1|+3|+1|+3|Factory-grade undead|
    +2

    4th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Corpsecrafter, trade secret|
    +3

    5th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Eldritch blast +2d6, outsourced undead|
    +3

    6th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Deadly precision, kill switch|
    +4

    7th|+3|+5|+2|+5|AutoCAD undead, trade secret|
    +5

    8th|+4|+6|+2|+6|Eldritch blast +3d6, hostile takeover|
    +6

    9th|+4|+6|+3|+6|Corpsecrafter, industrial-strength undead|
    +6

    10th|+5|+7|+3|+7|Authorize abominations, trade secret|
    +7

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the millwight.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a millwight, you get to use bad-ass scythes. Otherwise, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Assembly-Line Undead (Ex): The trade of the millwight is designing and manufacturing the undead. As a millwight, you can bring the dead back to life with various dies. Dies are actual objects that you need to carve out of bone. Carving a die takes a week, and it needs to be charged with puissance in order to use. Puissance can be stored in a die, but it can only be removed when discharged into a corpse upon activation.

    To create an undead, you must have access to a corpse. The fresher the body, the easier it is to bring back. You make a Heal check as a full-round action against a DC of the Hit Dice of the creature + 5 for every year back they died (to a maximum of +50). Success indicates that the creature can be reanimated by applying a die. A die is applied immediately following the initial analysis over the course of five minutes, after which point the creature becomes a biollurgical chassis with the Undead type, as if with BIOY 228. Unlike most creations, it retains its original physical ability scores, and potentially other components of its makeup based on the die applied. Otherwise, the undead is treated exactly like a regular biollurgical chassis.

    At 1st level, you can use the boney terror and shambling rot dies, but as you level up you gain additional dies to use in your manufacturing. These dies require 5 ebbs of puissance to activate.

    • Boney Terror: The boney terror die applies the skeleton template to the subject, if it qualifies.
    • Shambling Rot: The shambling rot die applies the zombie template to the subject, if it qualifies.


    Double Major: Millwights are experts in two disparate disciplines of gramarie. As an millwight, you can learn specialist principles from both Biollurgy and Heuristicism. However, this focus comes at a price. You give up ever learning any more principles beyond the Baccalaureate level from other disciplines in exchange for this double specialization. You do not, however, lose principles from other fields that you already know. If you run out of principles to learn, you can select one additional discipline to begin learning advanced principles from. If you don't already, you gain access to Magisterial principles when you enter this class. You gain access to Doctorate principles at 7th level, and at that point you can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of expertise in.

    Trade Secret: Millwights are a close-knit brotherhood, with many trade secrets to share. At 1st level, and every three levels thereafter, you learn a special discovery related to either biollurgy or heuristicism.

    Deathnet (Ex): Manufacturing undead is useless if you can't control them. Any undead which you create using a die can be slaved to a heuristical circuit immediately as if with the Circuited biollurgical feature, even if you don't know BIOY 273. These undead can also be granted the Sentience feature if you know BIOY 273, in which case the circuited decisions override their normal choices (no save). You can move control of the undead to a different circuit as a logical decision within the circuit. Sentient undead that you create can (if you so choose) make logical decisions for the circuit they are a part of.

    Eldritch Blast: At 2nd level, and every three levels thereafter, your eldritch blast advances in damage by 1d6. More interestingly, you learn a new application for it, allowing you to deal negative energy damage with it at your option.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Factory-Grade Undead (Ex): At 3rd level you learn special assembly-line techniques to improve the average quality of your relivened products. You design the frightening stench die and the horrifying tongue die. These dies require 10 ebbs of puissance to activate.

    • Frightening Odour: The frightening stench die does pretty much what it sounds like; the subject is fever contaminated with Ghoul Fever (Cha-based DC), and always has the Stench Gland graft for free (also Cha-based). This graft does not count against the normal limit for the chassis.
    • Horrifying Tongue: The horrifying tongue die grants the subject a terrible paralyzing tongue attack, among other dread gifts. They gain the skeleton template, as well as their special tongue ability. This is a touch attack with a Dex-based DC. Failure means the target becomes paralyzed for 1d4 minutes. The subject of the die also gains the improved grab ability.


    Corpsecrafter: At 4th level, you gain the Corpsecrafter feat, and you can apply its benefits to any undead you create using a millwight die. Any feat you gain which has Corpsecrafter as a prerequisite can also be applied to these undead. At 9th level, you learn a single feat you qualify for with Corpsecrafter as a prerequisite.

    Outsourced Undead (Ex): At 5th level you outsource the design of your next die to the Cloud Giants, so I guess you only have yourself to blame when it ends up as vapourware. You obtain the knowledge of the darkest knight die and the grim shadow die. These dies require 20 ebbs of puissance to activate.

    • Darkest Knight: The darkest knight die applies the Incorporeal subtype to the subject. In addition, it gains an incorporeal touch attack which deals 1d6 Constitution damage with a Foritude save (Cha-based). The subject also panics nearby animals, and is utterly powerless in sunlight.
    • Grim Shadow: The grim shadow die is a lower-risk lower-reward version of the darkest knight die; it still applies the Incorporeal subtype to the subject, but its touch attack deals 1d6 points of Strength damage instead. It does not have the same drawbacks, though.


    Deadly Precision (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, you have intricate knowledge of how undead are put together. Whenever you use your eldritch blast on an undead creature, the damage is maximized.

    Kill Switch (Ex): By 6th level, you've learned not to take chances with the walking dead. Whenever you manufacture an undead, you can program it with a password which, when heard in the future, will cause the undead to be instantly destroyed.

    AutoCAD Undead (Ex): That's right, Conjuration Aided Design; at 7th level you design the pharoah's curse die and the wight blight die. These dies require 40 ebbs of puissance to activate.

    • Pharaoh's Curse: The pharaoh's curse die applies the zombie template to the subject, but without the Single Actions Only special quality. In addition, the subject spreads mummy rot with its natural attacks (Str-based DC).
    • Wight Blight: The wight blight die is really awesome, and basically turns the subject into a silent assassin. They gain a +8 racial bonus on Move Silently checks, and their natural attacks deal one negative level with each strike (Cha-based DC to remove). The subject gains 5 temporary hit points for every negative level applied. These undead are the most popular with contracting villains, hence the name of the trade.


    Hostile Takeover (Ex): At 8th level, you learn a ruthless business practice which allows you to steal control of the undead. As a full-round action, you can make a touch attack using a die against any Undead creature you didn't create. If successful, the target must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your class level + your Cha modifier) or be instantly destroyed and reanimated with the effects of your die as if you had used it on its corpse. If the subject is already under the effect of a die, the previous die's boons are lost when it is relivened. If an undead creature saves against this effect, they're immune to it for 24 hours.

    Industrial-Strength Undead (Ex): These are the real deal, the most potent of terrors. At 9th level you learn to design the crawling doom, screaming pain and unending torment dies. They are exactly as pleasant as they sound. These dies require 80 ebbs to activate. All undead manufactured with these dies sustain a -4 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks when in natural daylight. The area around them is also treated as desecrated like a shrine of evil power, to radius of 20ft.

    • Crawling Doom: The crawling doom die channels the insipid disgust of all the things that crawl in the groun. The subject increases two size categoties and gains the Swallow Whole ability, which it can use against anything smaller than it. It deals half its Hit Dice in acid damage every round to swallowed creatures, as well as a single negative level every round (Cha-based DC to remove). Its stomach can take 1/4 of its total hit points in slashing or piercing damage before it releases the victim, and can hold 2 creatures of one size category smaller, 8 creatures of two size categories smaller, and so on. The subject of the die also gains the Improved Grab ability. Finally, it gains a burrow speed of twice its land speed, if it did not already have one.
    • Screaming Pain: The screaming pain die channels the fury and thunder of all winged monstrosities. It gains a fly speed of three times its base speed with good maneuverability, if it doesn't already have a better fly speed. As a standard action, or at the end of a diving charge, it can deliver a melee attack that carries a targeted (one item or creature only) mage's disjunction effect.
    • Unending Torment: The unending torment die calls upon the worst spirits of the mortal races to infuse the subject with cruel intent. The subject can turn invisible at will as a free action. It also gains a paralyzing gaze attack which paralyzes victims for 1d8 rounds (Cha save to negate). Its base land speed is doubled.


    Authorize Abominations (Ex): Every tradesman has a masterpiece to work towards, and this is yours. At 10th level you learn to create a true abomination that would make your master maker proud. You can make a single die that you already know the mold for with a month of effort. This die confers, in addition to its normal effects, all Abomination traits except for summon creature, spell-like abilities, and unique abilities. All values given as a range, such as fast healing, spell resistance, or natural armour, take a value of 1/2 an Autohypnosis check made during the creation of the die. This die requires 1,000 stored ebbs of puissance to activate. If it is destroyed, you can craft a new one over the course of another month.
    Last edited by Kellus; 2013-07-05 at 05:37 PM.

  30. - Top - End - #30
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Kellus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Frozen North
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: By the Inferior Science of our Enemies: Gramarie Mark II

    The Prime Mover

    Spoiler
    Show
    "Being he who moves without being moved. A perfect unmoved mover, a cause without cause, and thus one who can build without being built upon in turn. In short, an island of considered rationality amidst the disorder of life."


    Image credit A-Teller of deviantart.com

    There are people who think, and then there are the thinkers. In the fast-paced modern world that gramarie makes possible, there are few who take the time for true introspection and meditation. Those who do might join the ranks of the prime movers, those scientists and dreamers whose thoughts take them places others couldn't even imagine. The deepest and most profound secrets of the physical world can only be reached with true depth of thought, and a prime mover is as much a philosopher as she is a mechanic or engineer or physicist. Also, she learns how to kill stuff with her brain, because this is fantasy after all.

    Requirements: To become a prime mover you must meet all of the following requirements.
    Gramarie: Any two ELDK principles
    Skills: Concentration 10 ranks, Knowledge (any two) 8 ranks each
    Specialization: Must be specialized in Eldrikinetics

    Hit Die: d4
    Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifer

    Class Skills: A prime mover's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

    The Prime Mover
    {table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
    Principles

    1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Material cause, meditant, telekinesis (minor)|
    +0

    2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Elder kinetic, telekinesis (levitate)|
    +1

    3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Formal cause, telekinesis (force)|
    +2

    4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Elder kinetic, telekinesis (thrust)|
    +3

    5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Initiate mediant, moving cause, telekinesis (maneuver)|
    +3

    6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Elder kinetic, telekinesis (embiggened)|
    +4

    7th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Doctorate principles, final cause, telekinesis (fabricate)|
    +5

    8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Elder kinetic, telekinesis (multitask)|
    +6

    9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Master meditant, telekinesis (swift)|
    +6

    10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Elder kinetic, first cause, telekinesis (simple)|
    +7

    [/table]

    All of the following are class features of the prime mover.

    Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: As a prime mover, you gain no additional weapon or armour proficiencies.

    Material Cause (Ps): You have spent a long time thinking about the stimuli that drive us towards certain actions, and you begin to see the patterns that arise underneath the material form. You can expend your psionic focus as a swift action while observing some object or creature in order to gain additional insight into it. At 1st level, this tells you the Plane of origin of the subject, as well as the primary material it is made out of.

    Meditant (Ex): You think deeply about a lot of things. Even if you don't have power points, you can use the Concentration skill to gain psionic focus. You gain a bonus of 1/2 your class level on Concentration checks whenever you have psionic focus.

    At 5th level, this ability improves. Whenever you have psionic focus, you can treat all Knowledge skills as trained, and substitute a Concentration check for any Knowledge check (albeit at a -5 penalty).

    At 9th level, this ability improves again. By expending your psionic focus when making a Knowledge or Concentration check, you can take 10 on the check even if stress or distraction would normally prevent you from doing so. This includes taking 10 on checks to prepare principles.

    Telekinesis (Su): Through sheer force of will, you can move things with your mind. You gain various innate powers, which are only available to you when you have psionic focus. Your caster or manifester level for these effects is always equal to your class level. If these abilities imitate powers, you cannot augment them. Except where otherwise specified, these abilities work like spell-like abilities or psi-like abilities.

    • At 1st level, you can use matter agitation and mage hand effects at will.
    • At 2nd level, you can use a levitate effect at will. Your weight limit for this effect is 100 lb per rank in Concentration.
    • At 3rd level, you can use a telekinetic force effect at will. Your weight limit for this effect is 50 lb per rank in Concentration.
    • At 4th level, you can use a telekinetic thrust effect at will, and are under a touchsight effect whenever you are psionically focused. Your weight limit for the thrust effect is 50 lb per rank in Concentration.
    • At 5th level, you can use a telekinetic maneuver effect at will.
    • At 6th level, all of your telekinetic abilities are automatically Enlarged without having to expend your psionic focus in order to activate this effect.
    • At 7th level, you can telekinetically shape things to your desire. You can use a fabricate effect at will. If you lack the appropriate Craft skill, you can use the Concentration skill to imitate any Craft skill for this effect at a -10 penalty on the check.
    • At 8th level, you can maintain concentration on a number of simultaneous telekinetic abilities equal to your Intelligence modifier as long as you have psionic focus.
    • At 9th level, you can activate any of your telekinetic abilities as a swift or move action instead of a standard action, if applicable.
    • At 10th level this class feature becomes an extraordinary (Ex) ability instead of a supernatural (Su) ability, and the granted telekinetic abilities become extraordinary (Ex) instead of spell-like or psi-like (Sp/Ps).


    Elder Kinetic (Ex): At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, you discover a peak of learning known to the ancient meditants about the nature of motion. You can choose a special discovery related to eldrikinetics.

    Principles of Gramarie: You continue to advance your study of gramarie. At 2nd level, and again whenever indicated on the class table, you learn a new principle of gramarie that you qualify for. At 7th level you gain access to Doctorate-level principles, and can refer to yourself as a doctor of any discipline you attain that level of knowledge in.

    Formal Cause (Ps): Beginning at 3rd level, you gain additional insight when you expend your psionic focus to discern a subject's cause. You now can see the patterns which surround it, and the relationships that made it possible. This manifests by being able to identify whether there are any ongoing supernatural, magical, or psionic effects on the subject, as well as the school and caster of level of such effets. You must decide which cause to investigate when you expend your focus.

    Moving Cause (Ps): Beginning at 5th level, you gain additional insight when you expend your psionic focus to discern a subject's cause. You can now identify by sight all modes of movement or transportantion (including the magnitude of the speed) which the subject can use or allow. You must decide which cause to investigate when you expend your focus. If you spend a standard action instead, you can investigate any three causes you understand.

    Final Cause (Ps): Beginning at 7th level, you gain additional insight when you expend your psionic focus to discern a subject's cause. These thoughts reveal certain truths to you about how the subject will eventually cease to move. You now can also identify by sight the subject's hit points, damage resistance, hardness, and energy immunities. You must decide which cause to investigate when you expend your focus.

    First Cause (Ps): Beginning at 10th level, you gain additional insight when you expend your psionic focus to discern a subject's cause. All movements have a mover behind them, and this knowledge allows you to see the hidden powers that shape reality. You can now also identify any gramaric circuit which the subject is a part of, as well as all other components of the circuit (up to three circuits deep, if the subject's circuit is connected to other circuits). You must decide which cause to investigate when you expend your focus. If you spend a full-round action instead, you can investigate all five causes you understand.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •