Quasi-class: Gnomish Inventor

[bort]

Could've sworn i'd seen this idea posted before with the same title but my search didn't find it, although i did find this, which sounds fantastic:

Aug 6, 2006 20:44:06 GMT halo26 said:

You have always been a tinkerer, a jack of all trades. Your desire to learn has always kept you searching for new ways to do things. This has now led you to your ultimate invention... The Custom Blasta! This crossbow is a medley of your magic skills and your design inventions and is equipped with some impressive quarrels!

From here there are so many ways this build could be taken. The way i see it is a crossbow that is upgraded as the inventor gains levels (and perhaps int?) I was thinking of a cross bow attack bonus that goes up depending on the number of levels (max of +16). An extra attack (like on db bows) at inventor level 10, and maybe 4 or 5 custom shells that can be made (limited no. a day + financial cost)

Potential Shells...
1) Deep-borer - fired high into the sky this bolt plunges high into sky b4 burrowing into the ground before detonating cause a huge shock-wave. - Earthquake spell + chance of kd?

2)Electromagnet - Strange wires emerge from this quarrel and a faint beeping noise comes from it . When fired into a target it draws the power of storm into its target - Call lightning on 1 target yet more powerful...200/300 elec damage reflex save on damage.

3) The Acid Shot - This quarrel is made with a glass tip, underneath it it a strange green substance is bubbling...
- 200/300 acid damage + similar effect to melfs acid arrow...paralyzes opponent?

4) The Rift - using ur knowledge of spells and different dimensions you have created a quarrel that on impact opens a rift..to where u have no idea but things generally don't come back... - low level implosion?

Also i've been hanging out in the Toyshop a lot recently, and i thought that you could (hopefully with the minimum of scripting/effort) give this quasi the abilities of the gnomes there (crossbow men, grenadiers, perhaps even foreman and toymaker)

Requirements:
Gnome base race
8 Rogue / 4 Wiz by level 20
Brew Potion
Spell Focus Evocation

Benefits
-The ability to brew more potent non-transferrable 'buff' potions based on combined Rogue+Wiz levels for duration/effect which cost XP and gold like harper potions. I.e. True Strike (tier 1 LBAB at 41 quasi levels), Ghostly Visage (Etherealness as per the spell with Illusion feats), Mage Armor, Bulls Strength, Endurance, Cat's Grace, Fox's Cunning, Eagles Splendor

-The ability to brew grenade-like potions based on Rogue levels for power (perhaps these would be an onhit effect of the crossbow? or similar to thunderstones... Halo's ideas quoted above are great. Entangle and whatever the other Gnomes in Toyshop do would be great too.
You'd probably want to limit the number of these a character could have each rest, increasing with Rogue levels.

I was initially thinking it would be cool to prevent Gnomish Inventors from having any more than 4 wizard levels - as if they grasped only the basics of spellcasting and potion brewing before turning their efforts to gadgetry instead of magic - but this could be too hard to script.
Perhaps just giving them junk DCs would suffice.

I think this quasi could bring some life to the many Xbows that are gathering dust in the bank.

Thoughts please

[phalthallus]

This may be the one you were looking for. Funky also links to another build within there.

We are certainly trying to iron out a quasi like this. It was discussed in one of the more recent DM meetings a while back too, with lots of ideas fleshed out. I don't recall if those were posted anywhere or not.

[bort]

Ah, thankyou!
I particularly like Acaos' ideas for the quasi.

Jan 29, 2007 18:58:57 GMT Acaos said:

This is my take on the Inventor quasiclass listed here. It's intended to be somewhat of a combination of Arcane Archer and Staffmaster, with its own twists, such as Sneak Attack from the many rogue levels.

The Artillerist is a multi-talented inventor who uses his magical and technological skills to enhance the effects of ordinary ammunition in amazing ways.

Some sections will have a rationale in them, highlighted in cyan.

Class Requirements
16 levels of rogue and 10 levels of wizard by level 30
Weapon Focus (Crossbow) (heavy or light)
Epic Weapon Focus (Crossbow) (heavy or light)

The intent of the 16 levels of rogue is to ensure that the Artillerist does not receive epic spells. In addition, most or all of the rogue levels can be taken pre-epic to improve BAB, and leaving 4 levels free allows for splashing a full-BAB class to further improve AB.

Bonus Feats
The Artillerist receives Weapon Specialization and Epic Weapon Specialization in the same type of crossbow that they have Weapon Focus in.

Artillerist Level (AL)
Artillerist Level is equal to Rogue + Wizard levels (including legendary levels if Rogue or Wizard is the character's control class).

Save DCs and Effect Level (EL)
Most of the Artillerist effects below have an EL. The save DC against an Artillerist effect is 10 + EL + DEX modifier.

Spell Resistance
Artillerist effects ignore spell resistance, as they are primarily technological in nature.

To balance the unlimited use and SR-ignoring nature of Artillerist effects, ELs are slightly lower than the spells they emulate. In addition, Artillerist devices can generally only be used once per round, as they are item special powers. This is in opposition to spellcasters, who can cast two spells per round when hasted.

Spells
Certain spells, listed below, use AL to determine their caster level.

Spells - Level 1
Grease
Mage Armor
Shield
True Strike

Spells - Level 2
Bull's Strength
Cat's Grace
Cloud of Bewilderment
Endurance
Fox's Cunning

Spells - Level 3
Displacement

Spells - Level 4
Minor Globe of Invulnerability
Stoneskin
Wall of Fire

Spells - Level 5
Energy Buffer

Spells - Level 6
Greater Stoneskin
Tenser's Transformation

Special Spell Modifications
For Artillerists, the Displacement spell's duration is in turns rather than rounds. In addition, at AL 50, it increases to 55% concealment, at AL 55 it increases to 60% concealment, and at AL 60 it increases to 65% concealment.

For Artillerists, the Greater Stoneskin spell is unaffected by any armor or shields worn.

For Artillerists, the Ethereal Visage and Premonition spells do not have their HG special modifications.

These changes gear Artillerists to be more armor-wearing for defense rather than depending on EV, Premonition, and dexterity like staffmasters. Some Artillerists may want to take Still Spell or even the Auto Still feats. The maximum dexterity modifier does not affect ranged weapon AB, as seen here.

The change to DIsplacement will make high-level Artillerists extremely valued as a party contribution as well, since they can cast it on others. If this is viewed as unbalancing, the change could be for self-casting only.

Artillerist Devices
At certain ALs, the Artillerist devises a new item to equip himself with. The item appears in their inventory upon level-up. After legendary levels are achieved, the Artillerist must seek out a secret workshop to acquire their next device. There are ten artillerist devices in all. Unless otherwise specified, the artillerist must have a crossbow equipped to use the unique powers on these devices.

Flameshatter Bolts (AL 25 / EL 3)
Drawing inspiration from the Firebrand spell, the Artillerist creates a set of special bolts for his crossbow. When fired, a small charge in each bolt explodes, separating the bolt into many shards of flaming material. Magic imbued in the remains of the bolt then causes the pieces to unerringly seek their targets. (Firebrand VFX)

Up to (AL / 3) creatures in a Colossal area of effect are targeted. Each creature receives (AL / 2)d6 fire damage, with a Reflex save for half.

Frostbreath Bolts (AL 25 / EL 5)
Sometimes an Artillerist finds himself besieged at close range. To defend himself he can reach for the Frostbreath bolts, which when fired immediately crumble into a cone of ice-cold shards.

The Frostbreath bolt has an effect as Cone of Cold, but does (AL / 3)d6 cold damage and (AL / 3)d6 bludgeoning damage, with a Reflex save for half. (Cone of Cold VFX)

Stormcharged Bolts (AL 30 / EL 3)
Evolving his designs from the Flameshatter Bolts, the Artillerist creates long, delicate bolts out of amber. As with the Flameshatter Bolts, a small charge in the bolt explodes after firing, but instead of setting the remains on fire, electrical energy courses through the hurtling pieces.

Up to (AL / 3) creatures in a Colossal area of effect are targeted. Each creature receives (AL / 2)d6 electrical damage, with a Reflex save for half. (Ball Lightning VFX)

Vitriolic Bolts (AL 35 / EL 6)
The Artillerist devises an extremely caustic acid that he carefully encases in small glass globes at the end of sturdy bolts. When fired into the air, the bolts arc to the ground, releasing a cloud of acidic fog.

A Large cloud of acidic fog is created. The fog persists for four rounds. On the first round, all creatures within the fog receive (AL / 4)d4 acid damage. On the second round, all creatures within the fog receive (AL / 4)d6 acid damage. On the third round, all creatures within the fog receive (AL / 4)d8 acid damage. On the fourth and final round, all creatures within the fog receive (AL / 4)d10 acid damage. Every round victims may make a Fortitude save for half damage. (Acid Fog VFX)

Thunderbolts (AL 40 / EL 4)
Combat is noisy and dangerous business. The Artillerist devises a way to make it even more noisy and dangerous, by packing an extremely powerful noisemaker into a mechanism in the head of a bolt. Upon impact, the bolt releases a sonic detonation that stuns and damages nearby creatures.

All creatures in a Colossal area of effect around the detonation must succeed a Fortitude save or be deafened. If they fail a Strength check against the Artillerist's AL, they are knocked down for one round. They also receive (AL / 3)d6 sonic damage, with a Reflex save for half. (Sound Burst VFX)

Arcane Bolts (AL 45)
Some targets are unfazed by the power of the elements. To counter these targets, the Artillerist devises special bolts containing concentrated arcane essence.

The bolt flies unerringly to its target, which receives (AL / 2)d4 magical damage. (Quillfire VFX)

Immobilizing Bolts (AL 50 / EL 5)
Sometimes it is necessary to immobilize a target to prevent it from moving. The Artillerist constructs special bolts which contain connections to all four Elemental Planes. Upon impact with the target, first the powers of Earth and Water are released, coating the target in mud. Then Fire and Air are invoked, drying the mud rapidly to prevent the target from moving.

If the target fails a grapple check (as for Bigby's Grasping Hand, using AL for CL), it is immobilized for 10 rounds. The target is not held or otherwise prevented from acting, only immobilized. (Stonehold 'pile of mud' VFX on the target)

Vampiric Bolts (AL 50 / EL 1)
The Artillerist realizes the necessity for defense and healing often outweighs the need for offense. These ominous black bolts contain a connection to the Negative Energy Plane within, and a thin glass strand connects them to the artillerist's crossbow. When fired, the negative essence within drains the life force from the target, siphoning some through the strand to the artillerist.

All targets in a Small area of effect around the impact point receive (AL / 2)d4 negative damage, with a Will save for half. For every creature who fails its Will save, the Artillerist receives (AL / 2) hit points of healing. Any healing above his maximum is converted to temporary hit points, up to a maximum of (AL * 5) temporary hit points. (Negative Energy Burst VFX)

Vortex Bolts (AL 55 / EL 5)
Near the pinnacle of his career, the Artillerist finally masters the art of destruction. These special bolts release an immensely strong gravity field, attempting to collapse a target upon itself.

A single target is affected as if by an Implosion spell. If it succeeds in the Fortitude save, it is unharmed. Immunity to the Implosion spell grants immunity to these bolts. (Implosion VFX)

Transmute Barrier (AL 60)
Upon achieving ultimate mastery, the Artillerist realizes that more and more defense is required against the hordes of foes he fights. Using all the science and magic available to him, he deduces a way to replicate the effect of the Transmute Barrier epic spell. Unlike other artillerist devices, this ability can be used only once per rest and it is not necessary to have a crossbow equipped to use it.

I see a good potential here for mixing in various classes to build distinct characters. You could add Monk for improved saves, AC, and fast movement, Fighter for bonus feats and AB, Paladin for saves and AB, Pale Master for AC and immunity to critical hits, or Harper Scout for the secret and some bonus feats.

[adesin]

Sept 2, 2009 17:50:32 GMT bort said:

Ah, thankyou!
I particularly like Acaos' ideas for the quasi.

Jan 29, 2007 18:58:57 GMT Acaos said:

This is my take on the Inventor quasiclass listed here.

*big long list of ideas*

That seems rather interesting. I'm assuming that each of the special attacks from the bolts will be once, maybe twice per round(doubt it), but what about when just pinging away? It seems here that you're moving away from the AA apporach and going more to a "This... is my BOOM STICK!" idea where you basically cast spells with your crossbow. Keeping in line with that idea, how about sneak attacks on Ranged Touch Attack/single target spells? From the way you depicted the class, it seems you want people to focus on rogue levels instead of wizard, thus locking you out of the more powerful spells, but seeing as we're "casting with our crossbow," I don't think it's too far fetched to imagine this quasiclass figuring out a way to use their crossbow to fire a Melf's acid arrow or a Lesser orb, making use of your expertise as a rogue. I know that sneak attacks with spells have been done before, just look at the Arcane Trickster in the PRC. This will give the class some oomf when it comes to single big nasties, while the ideas already posted will help with mobs of trash. To help prevent the magic sneak attacks from being overpowered as all hell, make them progress every 4, maybe 5 levels instead of every other level.

[FunkySwerve]

This is the current working doc - still pondering the advisability of adding the cannon:

Jun 29, 2009 3:33:42 GMT FunkySwerve said:

Gnome
Class requirements
- 10 Rogue
- 10 Wiz

Feat Requirements
- Spell Focus Enchant
- Spell Focus Transmu
- Skill Focus Appraise
- Weapon Focus Crossbow

basically, you take rogue levels to increase rogue abilities, additional wiz levels grant you new devices, but your casterlevel must be suck (maybe wiz-rogue)

quasi gets no epics
devices have a number of uses per rest (when you tinker up more, or fix larger ones), and ignore SR, and scale up by level
-int and skill requirements (set trap, craft trap, umd, lore) on abilities?

Armors:
Inventor's Vest: adds high pierce resist
Coiled Vest: adds high elec resist
Insulated Vest: adds high cold resist
Ceramic-plated Vest: adds high acid resist
Flame-retardant Vest: adds high fire resist
Mechanized Suit: adds phys stats +12, temp hp? destroyed when lost? killed? other bonuses?
Field Generator: adds soak, immunes(big epic warding vfx; grant immunity to nearby allies?)

Goggles:
Telescoping: adds 50 to spot
Etherscanning: adds true sight
Shielded: immune to blindness, -10 spot
Anomaly-scanning: +50 search, +50 find traps
Xray: know vulns
Electronscanning: see limbo walls

Earpiece:
Shielded: immune to deaf, adds high sonic resist, -10 listen
Amplified: adds +50 listen, 20% sonic vuln


Canisters (thrown or attached to bolt)
conceal gas: conceals EVERYTHING in cloud, including enemies (useful bc ranged)
toxic gas: acid cloud spell
chain net: web effect
grease: grease effect
sovereign glue: immobilizes (dom)
flashbang: daze/deafen

Bombs (thrown - or launched via cannon?)
tesla ball: big elec damage (think scint sphere)
clapper: tclap
deep-borer: earthquake with reflex vs kd
vaccum - sucks all enemies in colossal radius to target point, bludgeoning damage to them, increases with number of enemies sucked
dissonant waveform generator: curse song
biometric pattern re-enforcer: bard song


Bolts
Thumpers (kd onhit? extra bludg)
Shatterbolts (added pierce)
Slicers (expand on entry for extra slashing)

Portable Cannon
spawn in place so long as no one in part in combat, and not within about 10.0 of any creature, fires double-imbue level shots once per round of fire damage

We still have to work out a lot of the details, like levels for each ability to be acquired, amounts, etc. More types of each category would be great, as well. Feel free to make suggestions.

Funky

[dodrudon]

Ouch, slicers sound painful.

I vote yes for the cannon, it makes it really stand out.

I assume the goggles are Augs?

They could make special Rods that give some bonus (and it'd go in the arrow slot, either that or just give them special motes).

The vests would have to be pretty powerful to use instead of armor, if that's what's intended. Destroy-on-death armor would be.. painful.

[FunkySwerve]

The clothing would add temp props to what the inventor is wearing.

The cannon isn't an aesthetic issue, but a technical one.

Funky

[hackenslay]

Craft Weapon sounds appropriate for the skill requirement.

[strakej01]

It would be interesting if the gnomish inventor could build something like a "makeshift catapult," which would be a catapult placeable. But once and a while (how often depending on his level) he places one of his bombs in the catapult's inventory and it launches it at his enemies (maybe at nearest hostile creature? dunno.) He would recieve some form of unique power item that he could build or dismantle the catapult with. Maybe he could build up to three or five (based on his level) catapults at a time and place them strategically, each armed with a bomb of choice. Think diablo 2 trapper assassin to those who know of them. After a certain amount of time, or shots fired, the catapults would fall apart due to wear and tear and need to be repaired, this would make the gnomish inventor's job a unique and interesting one that keeps him busy during combat while dishing out damage efficiently. Gaining levels in gnomish inventor will award the player with different varieties of bombs to arm his catapults with, an increasing duration of his catapults, larger numbers of catapults the inventor is able to manage at a time (1-5?), and due to his growing expertise and knowledge of his bombs, their potency will increase, scaling in damage or DC, depending on the bomb. I believe a system like this would be extremely entertaining to play and original. Heck... I would definately make one

[strakej01]

Sept 21, 2009 8:03:49 GMT strakej01 said:

It would be interesting if the gnomish inventor could build something like a "makeshift catapult," which would be a catapult placeable. But once and a while (how often depending on his level) he places one of his bombs in the catapult's inventory and it launches it at his enemies (maybe at nearest hostile creature? dunno.) He would recieve some form of unique power item that he could build or dismantle the catapult with. Maybe he could build up to three or five (based on his level) catapults at a time and place them strategically, each armed with a bomb of choice. Think diablo 2 trapper assassin to those who know of them. After a certain amount of time, or shots fired, the catapults would fall apart due to wear and tear and need to be repaired, this would make the gnomish inventor's job a unique and interesting one that keeps him busy during combat while dishing out damage efficiently. Gaining levels in gnomish inventor will award the player with different varieties of bombs to arm his catapults with, an increasing duration of his catapults, larger numbers of catapults the inventor is able to manage at a time (1-5?), and due to his growing expertise and knowledge of his bombs, their potency will increase, scaling in damage or DC, depending on the bomb. I believe a system like this would be extremely entertaining to play and original. Heck... I would definately make one

and to expand slightly more: Just a quick thought up example but, one of his bombs possibly named like Pyro-flash Incenirator could do fire damage equal to overall inventor level * d6 but also have a DC blind equal to say 1/2 inventor level + int modifier. This would encourage catapult based inventors to maximize a stat to increase their effectiveness, rather than just beefing the hell outa something like con for hp or dex for ac and so on.

[bort]

Inspired by a post by Phalthallus, I was thinking this would be the ideal quasi to help fill key roles in order to ease party formation.

It could be analogous but complimentary to the Warchanter, with weaker versions of Frailty, UUU and HMR.

These would function slightly differently to the normal versions: The idea being that the epics are replicated by devices created by the Gnomish Inventor. These devices would be placed during battle and would function as fixed auras where they were activated (except for the Inventor's Frailty which would be a projectile affecting anyone within the area of impact, friend or foe). It would be possible for the Inventor to deactivate the devices and re-place them elsewhere, but to only ever have 1 of each per map, and with a limited duration of each. The Inventor would also have a limited number of Frailty bombs per rest.

Although i'm sure you would have your own ideas for how to script this, i was thinking that the devices could potentially be visible to, and destroyable by enemies... giving a tactical aspect to their use. When destroyed, the Gnomish Inventor, if alive and not incapacitated, would be able to place another, but this would require X number of rounds for the Gnomish Inventor to 'activate' the newly placed device.

[Yojimbo]

I do really like the idea of creating Epic "generators" essentially for the 2 aura based ones. I think part of it should to make them destructible/killable and a new one can not be set until the initial one runs out of power, or would have had it not been busted, to prevent having multiples and force the party tanks to defend it like they would any ABCD class.

UUU = Stabilization Field Generator (Placeable/Spawnable)
HMR = Sound Amplifier (Placeable/Spawnable)
Frailty = Magical Disruptor (Unique Function Spell)

If they gain these epic functions I don't know that they should gain much else.

[bort]

Sept 10, 2010 18:32:00 GMT Yojimbo said:

I do really like the idea of creating Epic "generators" essentially for the 2 aura based ones. I think part of it should to make them destructible/killable...

UUU = Stabilization Field Generator (Placeable/Spawnable)
HMR = Sound Amplifier (Placeable/Spawnable)
Frailty = Magical Disruptor (Unique Function Spell)

Exactly what i had in mind.

Acaos' spell suggestions above seem reasonable and don't seem overpowered to me... Tensor's in particular would be useful for combatting the low AB and number of attacks per round you'd get combining Wizard and Rogue levels pre-epic (Tensor's works like Divine Power for increasing base number of attacks).

Spells
Certain spells, listed below, use AL to determine their caster level.

Spells - Level 1
Grease
Mage Armor
Shield
True Strike

Spells - Level 2
Bull's Strength
Cat's Grace
Cloud of Bewilderment
Endurance
Fox's Cunning

Spells - Level 3
Displacement

Spells - Level 4
Minor Globe of Invulnerability
Stoneskin
Wall of Fire

Spells - Level 5
Energy Buffer

Spells - Level 6
Greater Stoneskin
Tenser's Transformation

Special Spell Modifications
For Artillerists, the Displacement spell's duration is in turns rather than rounds. In addition, at AL 50, it increases to 55% concealment, at AL 55 it increases to 60% concealment, and at AL 60 it increases to 65% concealment.

For Artillerists, the Greater Stoneskin spell is unaffected by any armor or shields worn.

For Artillerists, the Ethereal Visage and Premonition spells do not have their HG special modifications.

These changes gear Artillerists to be more armor-wearing for defense rather than depending on EV, Premonition, and dexterity like staffmasters. Some Artillerists may want to take Still Spell or even the Auto Still feats. The maximum dexterity modifier does not affect ranged weapon AB, as seen here.

The change to DIsplacement will make high-level Artillerists extremely valued as a party contribution as well, since they can cast it on others. If this is viewed as unbalancing, the change could be for self-casting only.

The other thing to bear in mind is that damage with a cross-bow is terrible. If they are to be cross-bow focused, they will need something to make that more effective - either the abilities suggested in the working doc by Funky, or some source of added damage - such as their own, improved ammunition? Perhaps a bit of both? Even if you can squeeze a couple more useful and tactical offensive abilities into the quasi - such as the canisters - that will make it much more fun to play.