Written by Matthew Kelsey

Edited by Errol Lobo

Ryan Nock
Illustrations by Leonardo da Vinci
Marlon de Rivera
Anthony Monorchio
Susan Knowles
Juan Navarro
Nani Nami Nitesh
Tony Perna
and more from previous
EN Publishing releases
Layout by Eric Life-Putnam
Cover Artwork by Juan Navarro
Cover Design by Eric Life-Putnam
Playtesters Errol Lobo
Kara Meador
Patricia Alder
Richard Myer
Brittany Jones
Daniel Moore
Trevor Seeton
Matthew Savoy
Matthew Titsworth
Becca Iaroli

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my gaming group, for
encouraging me to make it all cool and forcing me
to make it all balanced. My philosophy professor,
Dr. Roberts, for understanding when I decided to
work on fantasy instead of philosophy for a while.
And, finally, my family, who still haven’t quite figured
out what this book is all about, but keep trying
anyway. — Matt

Declaration of Open Game Content

Everything in this book other than the covers,
the title page, the contents page, the illustrations,
“EN Publishing” and the EN Publishing logo, proper
character names, and character histories and
biographical background information,
is designated Open Game Content.

E.N.PUBLISHING
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Vankleek Hill, ON
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EN Publishing is an imprint of EN World.

Please visit http://www.enworld.org
Mastering technology presents many challenges and benefits (artwork by Juan Navarro)
 Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE : COMING ONLINE ........................................ 1
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
Spellcasting Traditions – Designing the Technologist ....... 1
The Sage’s Question: Magic and Technology........................ 3
§ What Happens if I Magic Missile a Device? ..................................... 3
§ Example – Magic as Planar Instabilities ........................................ 4
Introducing the Technologist .................................................. 5
§ Example – The Imperium Mechanus ............................................. 6
Real-World Science and the Technologist.............................. 8
§ Campaign Integration Sidebars ...................................................... 8
CHAPTER TWO :THE FANTASTIC SCIENTIST ........................... 9
The Technologist ........................................................................ 9
§ The Imperial Calculus .....................................................................11
§ Starting After First Level .................................................................13
Technologist Skills ................................................................... 15
Expanded Masterwork Rules.................................................. 16
Weapon Components ................................................................................16
§ Example – An Assassin’s Weapon .................................................16
Armor Components...................................................................................17
Skill-Related Components ......................................................................17
Technologist NPC Statistics ................................................... 18
NPC Technologist ......................................................................................18
§ NPCs and Craft Points ....................................................................18
Prentice Cogitens at 5th Level ................................................................18
Prentice Cogitens at 10th Level .............................................................20
Prentice Cogitens at 15th Level..............................................................20
CHAPTER THREE : ACTIVATION MECHANICS ....................... 22
Activating Devices .................................................................... 22
Choosing a Device* ...................................................................................22
Activation Level ..........................................................................................23
Concentration* ...........................................................................................23
Arcane Disruption* ...................................................................................23
Device Failure ..............................................................................................24
The Device’s Result ....................................................................................24
Special Device Effects .............................................................. 24
Combining Magical and Device Effects ............................... 25
Device Descriptions.................................................................. 26
Name ..............................................................................................................26
Order (Rank)* .............................................................................................26
Gadgets* .......................................................................................................26
Technologies*..............................................................................................26
Artifacts* ......................................................................................................26
[Descriptor]* ...............................................................................................26
Activation Time ..........................................................................................27
Range* ...........................................................................................................27
Duration* .....................................................................................................29
§ Base Durations and Hand-Waved Time ......................................29
Saving Throw ..............................................................................................30
Activation Cost* .........................................................................................31
Weight* .........................................................................................................31
Descriptive Text*........................................................................................31
Technologist Devices* ............................................................. 31
Device Aesthetics* .....................................................................................31
Daily Preparation*.....................................................................................32
Technologist Device Creation and Maintenance* ...........................32
Technologist Devices and Other Special Abilities* .........................33
ii
CHAPTER FOUR : PRODUCTS OF THE LABORATORY ............... 35
Alphabetical List of Devices ....................................................iii
List of Devices by Order and Rank ....................................... 36
Device Descriptions.................................................................. 35
Sidebars:
§ Example – Relations with Merpeople ..........................................41
§ Example – Forsaker’s Mark ............................................................43
§ Aqua on the Open Market ...............................................................44
§ Example – Balancing False Identities ...........................................52
§ Example – An Insidious Introduction .........................................55
§ Example – The Lost Day..................................................................63
§ Example – The Unified Church .....................................................66
§ Instant Death From 4th Level .......................................................67
§ Example – The Night Weepers.......................................................69
§ Example – Actors and Prostitutes .................................................76
§ Example – The Portable Laboratory.............................................81
§ Example – The Ultimate Weapon .................................................82
§ Example – Jabberwocky Slayers for the Non-Technologist .......85
§ Example – Proliferating Masterwork Components..................91
§ Example – Rod of the Forsakers ................................................. 103
§ Example – The Usual Suspects ................................................... 106
§ Example – The Mark of a True Craftsman .............................. 113
§ Example – Where Did This Army Come From? ..................... 127
§ Example – The Obelisk of Portents ........................................... 129
A PPENDIX A: ODDS AND ENDS ........................................ 130
Designing and Mastering New Devices .............................. 130
Adapting Existing Spells ...................................................................... 130
Inventing Devices from Whole Cloth................................................ 133
Determining Device Viability and Assigning Order and Rank 133
§ Benchmark Devices ....................................................................... 133
§ Relative Special Effect Ability ..................................................... 134
Researching, Constructing, and Mastering the Device .............. 135
The Savant ................................................................................ 136
Using the Savant ...................................................................................... 140
§ The Savant as a Game Mastering Aid ....................................... 140
Savant Devices ..........................................................................................141
Devices as Equipment ............................................................ 145
Devices Like Magic Items ..................................................................... 145
§ Craft Points and Item Creation Feats ....................................... 145
Devices as Treasure ................................................................................. 146
Device Batteries ....................................................................... 146
Devices in Modern D20 Games ............................................ 147
Shadow Technologist Advanced Class ............................... 148
Shadow Devices ....................................................................................... 151
A PPENDIX B: TULLIUS CARENS ........................................ 153
Using Tullius Carens in Your Game.................................... 153
Tullius, the Wandering Tinker ............................................ 153
Tullius, Master of the Clanking Emporium ..................... 155
Tullius, Technological Conspirator .................................... 158
LEGAL INFORMATION ...................................................... 162
 Alphabetical List of Devices
Abnormality Sensitivity ............
Absorptive Traversant ................
Acidulous Miasma Generator .
Alchemical Assayer .....................
Alchemical Rebreather ..............
Alchemical Resequencer............
Alembic of Creation ....................
Amanuensis Engine ....................
Anathematize Abnormality .....
Annealing Gel ..............................
Antimagic Vortex ........................
Aqua Celeritas Major..................
Aqua Celeritas Minor .................
Aqua Intelligentiae Major.........
Aqua Intelligentiae Minor ........
Aqua Sapientiae Major ..............
Aqua Sapientiae Minor ..............
Aqua Venusitas Major ................
Aqua Venusitas Minor ...............
Aqua Virium Major .....................
Aqua Virium Minor ....................
Aqua Vitae Major .........................
Aqua Vitae Minor ........................
Arcane Counterdisruption .......
Argent-Chain Widgets ...............
Ascension Gear.............................
Astral Perspective Vortex ..........
Atomic Discombobulator .........
Aura of Just Retribution ............
Aurelian’s Shadowforge.............
Auto-Otolarynx ...........................
Aviatronic Wing ...........................
Balance of Synchronicity ..........
Battlement Combat Gear ..........
Beholder From Beyond ..............
Bio-Genetic Scourge ...................
Bio-Reactive Theriac ..................
Blind the Abnormal Eye ............
Breakneck Thieves’ Tools..........
Break Ensorcellment ..................
Caesura Weapon ..........................
Caloric Control Mantle .............
Caloric Hammer ..........................
Canny Descrier.............................
Cap of Memory Jogging.............
Channeling Gauntlet .................
Check Abnormality ....................
Chorn’s Antecedent Assailer ....
Clairaudient Fly Fingers............
Clockwidget Fabrication
Gantry .....................................
Coil of Possibilities .....................
Collar of Bestial Capacity .........
Core Lightning Charger ............
Coronal Electroweapon .............
Cortical Fusegun .........................
Cross-Phasic Cloak .....................
Dalyrimple’s Lucent Lance .......
Dalyrimple’s Obfuscating Eye .
35 Dalyrimple’s Out-of-the-Way Kinetic Barrier-Layer .................. 87 Scramble Programming .......... 108
40 Palace ......................................... 62 Knife Spider .................................. 88 Script Widget .............................. 109
40 Dark Matter Ecliptic .................. 63 Knot Train ..................................... 88 Scuttlebug Launcher ................ 109
41 Dark Matter Pall.......................... 63 Laboratory of Reawakening ..... 89 Seismic Flow Wand ................... 109
41 Dark Matter Reaver .................... 63 Lustrative Armor ......................... 89 Silt Wall ........................................ 110
41 Defensive Kinetic Shield ........... 64 Magic Sensitivity ......................... 90 Slumberous Savant ................... 110
42 Determent Spring ....................... 64 Magnetosonic Waveform Pulse Smite Abnormality ................... 110
42 Diadem of Psychic Mastery ...... 64 Generator ................................... 90 Smite Magic ................................ 111
43 Discourse Replicator .................. 65 Magnificent Pitch Hurler .......... 91 Smite Magic, Greater................ 111
43 Disseminative Cognimatrix .... 65 Master’s Tools............................... 91 Space-Warp Modulator ........... 111
44 Divine Transfusion ..................... 65 Menschausen Dolls .................... 91 Spark Manufactory................... 112
44 Docschmidt Waxsprinkler ....... 66 Mercuric Blade ............................. 92 Sphere of Intractable Will....... 113
45 Dragoncaster ................................ 66 Metabolic Interdiction Field .... 93 Spikedriver .................................. 113
45 Duodimensional Lash ............... 66 Mimetic Key, Chronull .............. 93 Splendiferous Scientific
45 Egestive Gland Laboratory ....... 67 Mimetic Key, Fireburst .............. 93 Wonder .................................. 113
46 Electrolytic Airforge ................... 68 Mimetic Key, Fudoicite .............. 93 Spring-Heeled Jackboots ......... 114
46 Electroveiglant Mercury............ 68 Mimetic Key, Netherstone ........ 94 Steamplunker ............................. 114
47 Empyreal Net ................................ 69 Mimetic Key, Savanix ................. 94 Stickyfoam Neutralizer ........... 114
47 Engineered Panacea .................... 69 Mimetic Key, Smokebomb ........ 95 Stylus of Arcane
47 Erevor’s Soul Steel ....................... 69 Mimetic Key, Sunflare ................ 95 Mimeography ...................... 115
47 Excitatory Magnetoscythe........ 70 Mindfire Poison Injector ........... 95 Sublimation Chamber ............. 115
48 Extirpate Abnormalities ........... 70 Monroe’s Proactive Suppress Spell ............................ 116
48 Extirpate Magic ........................... 70 Weathervane .......................... 96 Swift Striders .............................. 116
48 Fabricacious Fabricator............. 71 Nanitic Reconfiguration Teacup’s Tiny Tinkerers .......... 116
49 Feiran’s Animalizing Scepter... 71 Entity .......................................... 96 Teacup’s Tiny Traveling
49 Feiran’s Feralizing Gage ............ 72 Neural Lancet ............................... 97 Terrors ................................... 117
49 Feiran’s Sphere of Savagery ...... 73 Nocturnal Goggles ..................... 97 Technologist’s Familiar ........... 117
50 Field-Solderant Kit ..................... 73 Obliterate Abnormality ............. 97 Technologist’s Magnifying
50 Flash-Bang Widget ...................... 73 Occlude Abnormality ................ 98 Glass ....................................... 118
51 Flux Fork ........................................ 74 Offensive Kinetic Shield ............ 98 Terrain Attunement ................. 118
52 Folly’s Cognate Architronix ..... 74 Orgavulsion Crystal ................... 98 Trinicoil........................................ 119
52 Folly’s Finagling Fingers ........... 75 Orgonic Field Perturbation Tullius’s Efficacious
53 Full-Body Corset.......................... 75 Inducer ....................................... 99 Nostrum................................... 119
53 Furnace Kindler ........................... 76 Orgonic Siphon ............................ 99 Tullius’s Miraculous Vitamin
54 Gauntlets of the Iron Ogre ....... 76 Ornithopter................................... 99 Supplement ............................. 120
54 Gelph’s Globulous Hunter........ 76 Packmaster’s Throne ................ 100 Tullius’s Morphological
55 Gelph’s Instant Aggressor......... 77 Paradoxic Slip-Shield ............... 101 Diagnostician ......................... 120
55 Gigant Marauder ......................... 77 Peregrine’s Sun-Caller ............. 101 Tullius’s Potent Catholicon.... 120
56 Goggles of Acuity ........................ 79 Perigord Raptor ......................... 101 Tullius’s Swan Song .................. 121
55 Goggles of X-Ray Vision ............ 79 Peril-Sensitive Lenses ............... 102 Umbral Heart Cloak ................. 121
56 Headband of Mental Puissance 79 Philter Fermenter ...................... 102 Unctuous Bubbler ..................... 121
56 Helm of Cogitative Photon Scattering Shield ........ 102 Velocious Footgear.................... 122
56 Stimulation ............................ 79 Pinprick Whirligig Spinner .... 103 Verbal Weirding Module ......... 122
57 Hypermetabolic Transducer .... 80 Planar Control Wand ............... 103 Vibrowand ................................... 123
57 Icebound Barricade..................... 80 Pocket Ballista............................ 103 Viscid Barrier .............................. 123
57 Imperial Army Service Widget 81 Professional’s Satchel ............... 104 Vitriol Projector ......................... 124
58 Imperial Null-Space Cannon .. 82 Professional Reformatamatic 104 Voice Sweetener .......................... 124
58 Instant Contrivance ................... 83 Protection from Voltaic Coil .................................. 124
58 Interphasic Terror ....................... 83 Abnormalities ........................ 104 Wand of Battery ......................... 125
Inviolate Shield Against Magic 84 Rangefinder................................. 105 Ward Against Abnormalities . 125
59 Iron Grub ....................................... 84 Renechak’s Panoptic Eye ......... 105 Ward Against All Sorcery ........ 125
60 Iron Grub Pod .............................. 84 Renechak’s Portable Weaken Abnormality ............... 126
60 Jabberblaster ................................. 85 Zoogrammaphone ................ 105 Wheedling Stone ....................... 126
60 Jabberwocky Slayer ..................... 85 Repulse the Tainted .................. 106 Worldwalker’s Baton ................ 127
60 Jonnetype Synaesthenic Resonance Absorption Staff .. 106 Worm Gauntlet .......................... 127
61 Projector.................................. 86 Rimala’s Fundamental Xult’s Primal Blossom ............. 128
61 Jonnetype Synaesthesiagraph . 86 Anatomizer ............................. 107 Zephyr Hammer ........................ 128
61 Kelleris’s Chroneptic Repeater 87 Scathing Shardsprayer............. 107 Zorastrus’s Roll of Days .......... 129
62 Kelleris’s Time-Lost Crawler .... 87 Scattershot Helmet ................... 108 Zorastrus’s Roll of Eons .......... 129
iii
 Chapter One:
Coming Online
Introduction
Periodically a sage, casting his mind’s eye over the long
history of the world, will wonder why the arts and crafts have not
substantially improved in hundreds of years or more. Even the
dwarven smiths, masters of their craft, have discovered no new
metallurgical techniques; the elven mastery of plants relies on
instinct more than on reason; and halfling cooking seems to have
held a steady level of delectableness for years untold. Pondering
the question leads to further mysteries: why has some enterprising
mage not used his spells to contact the deities themselves and
divine the laws of nature from the very source? Why have no clerics,
conduits for divine inspiration, discerned the secrets of the book
of nature? Why have no enterprising alchemists discovered a way
to refine and elaborate on their difficult craft? Frustrated, the
sage might turn away from his books for a time, and wonder
about the possibilities of a world with technology and
magic co-existing in some way. Why isn’t such a thing
possible, and why hasn’t it happened already in the
long and storied history of the world?
Magic and technology have a complex
relationship in Fantasy d20 games. In many
game settings, the presence of one precludes the
advancement — sometimes even the existence — of the
other. Sometimes an explanation is provided, but more
often this is not the case. Other campaign settings present magic
and technology intermingled, with magic’s esoteric mysteries
combined with the mass production of steam-powered devices or
even higher-tech machinery. Still other games make magic into
a kind of science, mass-produced, available to anyone with the
right knowledge, and for sale on the open market to anyone with
the right amount of funding. These are all potentially interesting
approaches, but this book pursues another option — it presents
the wonders of science as every bit as difficult to master as the
most complex spells.
In these pages, you will find an entirely new spellcasting
tradition that converts knowledge into power via advanced
technology and the laws of fantasy science instead of strange
materials and arcane gestures. This book presents hundreds of
devices of varying power levels, from clockwork-and-alchemy
gadgets to reality-warping artifacts, as well as a 20-level base class,
the technologist, which is designed to take advantage of these
technological wonders. Advice for integrating technological
devices into your campaign alongside arcane and divine magic as
the powerful and effective works of a select few is also included.
1
An Appendix designed to extend the concepts and devices
presented here as far as they will go is also included, ensuring
that a wide variety of games can make use of the technologist
as presented in this book. Finally, a second Appendix presents
a fully-detailed NPC, Tullius Carens, who can be employed to
introduce fantastic technology into a fantasy setting.
Conceptually, The Fantastic Science employs two ideas of
fundamental importance: the Fantasy d20 concept of a spell-
casting tradition, and an answer to the sage’s question posed
above. A spellcasting tradition is a select group of effects,
divided into levels of power and with special rules for invoking
these effects. These rules give a spellcasting class, in this case
the technologist, a form and structure that allows it to
coexist with the many other spellcasting traditions of
a fantasy campaign setting. The answer to the sage’s
question is that technology and magic violently
disagree with each other, forcing would-be
scientists and engineers to first master the difficult
art of cleansing magic from their devices before
they can expect them to work. The material in the
rest of this chapter is meant for a game master trying
to integrate the technologist into a campaign, and
players reading this material might consider skipping
to Chapter Two so they don’t ruin any surprises.
Spellcasting Traditions – Designing the
Technologist
Wizards, as is well known, cannot heal, and must prepare
their spells from a special tome ahead of time. Sorcerers, by
contrast, simply know the spells they know and may cast them
as desired until they expend all of their arcane energies. Clerics
and other members of the divine tradition not only receive their
power from a different source than arcane casters do, but are
also quite capable of healing others. Their ability to do so helps
define the divine spellcasting tradition. Psionic characters draw
on the power of the mind, and have their own strengths and
weaknesses, and creatures of great magical power can often
manifest spell-like effects through sheer force of will. These are
all examples of spellcasting traditions.
This book is predicated on the Fantasy d20 notion of a
spellcasting tradition, as exemplified in the PHB. Many such
traditions are possible, depending on the setting. All of the
various ways of approaching spellcasting have their own quirks,
their own talents and disabilities, but all rely on a set
of shared basic concepts — nine major levels of effects,
a high degree of power and difficulty (such that all
spellcasting traditions are the province of a small
number of trained specialists), and an escalating level
of power from meager household effects to world-
shaking doings. It is the premise of this book that
technology is nothing more or less than another way
of “casting spells,” with all that that entails.
What makes the technologist unique is that
it occupies a specific niche: technologists have a
number of strengths and weaknesses that allow them
to contribute to the game a little differently than
other full-time spellcasters. The idea of a spellcasting
tradition’s niche is part and parcel of their presentation
in the core rules. Clerics, for instance, are armored
casters with special talents in healing, spells that
enhance their combat abilities, and special talent for
dealing with the undead. Technologists likewise boast
a variegated set of strengths and weaknesses.
Technologists have some clear strengths. They
are every bit as good as wizards are at dealing damage,
whether to a group or an individual target, and can
efficiently manipulate the battlefield with a variety
of effective traps and barriers. When granting raw
numerical bonuses to tasks, from combat to skill use,
technologists typically have the advantage over arcane
and divine spellcasters, and they are equally adept at
granting creatures new abilities and new ways to use
their existing abilities. Non-instantaneous movement
is also a strength of the class, whether through flight or
A technologist ponders the possibilities of fascinating new devices (artwork by Juan Navarro)
simply an increased movement rate. Simple utilitarian
effects, such as protection from the elements, are also easy to created through magical means, elementals, outsiders, and the
achieve via high technology. undead. This is a special strength of the class, and technologists
The weaknesses of the technologist spellcasting tradition are arguably better at destroying and fending off constructs,
also help define the technologist’s place in a Fantasy d20 game. outsiders, and the like than any of the spellcasting traditions
For instance, technologists can heal, but their ability to do so is presented in the PHB.
slower and less efficient than clerical healing and generally requires Another major theme is skill-dependent devices. These
either a skill check or the expenditure of an expensive component devices either grant bonuses to use a particular skill or extend
as well. Likewise, technologists are no better at bringing someone that skill’s usefulness, such as the alchemical assayer (which allows
back from the dead than a wizard; these talents are naturally left Appraise checks for alchemical and magical items), or require a
to the servants of the gods. Wizards have the edge on summoning particular skill to function at full effectiveness, such as the verbal
monsters to aid them in battle and forcing outsiders to do their weirding module (which has a greater effect if the user knows many
bidding — technologists are somewhat better at simply driving languages).
such unnatural beings out of existence. Whereas both arcane With these questions of niche out of the way, one other
and divine spellcasters gain access to powerful death effects and particularity of the technologist as presented in this book is
mind-controlling abilities, technologists must generally defeat also worth looking at “behind the curtain” — the quasi-linear
their opponents in the old-fashioned way. Teleportation and spellcasting progression built into the class. Technologists, as
planar travel are also best handled by other spellcasters. you will see in the next Chapter, eventually master 18 gadgets
The technologist’s devices, and the effects of those machines, (the weakest order of devices), but only 6 artifacts (the strongest
provide further definition. These include the antimagic “devices,” order). The activation point progression, the pool technologists
abilities that are selected in lieu of an ordinary device and that draw from to activate their devices, works in a similar manner:
allow the technologist to fight back against magic and the the equivalent of a 1st-level spell could be used by a 20th-level
creatures that depend on magic for their very existence: constructs technologist at least 200 times, but a mere 7 or 8 uses of a 9th-level

2
“spell” will probably exhaust the same character’s activation point
reserve. This was done for two reasons. First, the technologist class
is intended to rely on its relatively simple devices most of the time;
truly powerful devices are difficult to use with wanton abandon.
This seemed to be the best way to model technology’s character.
The more linear progression also emphasizes the difficulties of
using technology in a magical setting. The tapering progression
also means that wizards and clerics are generally marginally more
powerful than technologists at higher levels, but the technologist’s
edge in terms of better skills, hit points, and base attack bonus
mean that they are somewhat more effective than other casters
at lower levels. Both kinds of spellcaster remain reasonably close
throughout, of course — or at least that is the intention — but this
characteristic of the technologist is worth noting.
These strengths and weaknesses and special themes are
not intended to provide a full delineation of the technologist’s
abilities; rather, they help you picture how the technologist might
relate to other spellcasters in your campaign. Creating NPCs that
focus on the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of high
technology — such a master trapsmith who is not a rogue but
instead a well-equipped technologist, or a crusading technologist
who employs his power over magic to hunt down and destroy
dangerous magical items — is an easy way to communicate to
your players what this new spellcasting tradition is all about
without simply telling them what’s up or making them read this
book and thereby breaking the sense of mystery that can be a
valuable part of introducing a new spellcasting tradition into the
game. Reflect on how you want to present the purpose, internal
logic, and specialties of the technologist as you consider how you
want to introduce the class and its devices into your game. Before
considering the specifics of how to introduce the class, however,
you must decide what the relationship between magic and
technology actually is, and that is the topic of the next section.
The Sage’s Question: Magic and
Technology
The system presented in this book assumes that technology
and magic disagree with one another to one degree or another,
and that magic is the dominant force in the game. These factors
make mastery of technology a difficult matter of learning esoteric
secrets and manipulating some of the basic facts of reality. Because
the technologist functions in this way, it is similar in many ways
to the wizards and clerics who already populate fantasy settings;
sophisticated devices can no more be simply picked up and used
than a spellbook can be read by the uninitiated. Mass production
of technology is impossible, and every technologist’s devices have
their own unique style and idiosyncrasies. In effect, this book
aims to present an additional spellcasting tradition, one that fits
in naturally alongside arcanism, divine magic, and innate psionics
as one of the hermetic arts.
Before introducing these rules into your campaign, however,
you should consider the exact nature of the conflict between
magic and technology and how this affects the relationship
between technologists and other spellcasters. Consider also how
3
What Happens if I Magic Missile a Device?
If magic interferes with technology, what happens when
a spell is cast on a device? Or if you shove a device into a bag
of holding? The short answer is “nothing in particular” — the
devices are protected by the technologist using them. Much
like an animated undead entering an antimagic field, the
device has been properly prepared and therefore already
has the energy it needs to run; it continues to do so unless
destroyed by damage or until its duration expires. However,
spellcasters do have the option of converting spell slots into
raw energy to counter or disrupt a technologist’s devices;
see Chapter Three.
you want to introduce technology into the setting, and what it will
look like once it has arrived. This section presents three general
answers to the sage’s question of why high technology and magic
don’t seem to cohabitate nicely. Many of these explanations
for the interaction of magic and technology have implications
for how magic works and what it does in your campaign, so
consider carefully before deciding how you want to approach the
situation.
GREMLINS IN THE AETHER
This is the default option assumed by these rules. Magic (or
its source) is a kind of “static” that interferes with the orderly
operation of physical laws. The upshot of this interference is
that magic-users of all kinds can manipulate reality as they see
fit and as their skills allow. The downside — at least as far as the
technologist is concerned — is that any piece of machinery or
artificial alchemical compound above a certain level of complexity
is rendered inoperable, even when it should work according to
known scientific principles.
Even if sages and scholars learned centuries ago how the
basic laws of reality work, this knowledge simply isn’t useful;
science there may be, but technology is next to impossible. Gears
inexplicably slip as the force of friction varies minutely from
second to second, carefully concocted alchemical compounds
become inert as they spontaneously mutate into other materials,
and electrical generators can barely build up even a tiny charge
because nearby air spirits gobble up the energy. Natural
creatures, such as animals and demihumans, have no problems
in this situation only because their life processes are magically
or physically adapted to it, and the fluctuations are too minor
to affect day-to-day life. In this situation, the technologist must
be able to purge his devices of magical influence to coax them
into working in addition to knowing how to design, build, and
operate them under optimal conditions.
By default, the maximum level of technology that will remain
active for more than a short period of time is the campaign world
standard of slightly pre-Renaissance science. You could also
decide that the magical interference with technology is stronger
or weaker than this baseline; perhaps only Stone Age technology
functions, and technologists have a really astounding edge over
the setting’s mundane technologies. Alternatively, perhaps the
world revels in steam power as well as sorcery, but technologists,
driven to push the boundaries of science even when faced with
resistance from reality itself, are simply not satisfied.
In this scenario, technologists are constantly reminded
that magical potential is their nemesis; it is the intangible force
that ruins their devices and generally makes things much more
difficult than they should be for the enterprising inventor. For
this reason, technologists are likely to bear vaguely antagonistic
feelings toward all magic-using spellcasters, seeing them as
representatives of everything that’s “wrong” with the world.
This is unlikely to lead to open hostility (magic is, after all, the
dominant force), but technologist characters may feel driven to
demonstrate the superiority of their devices compared to the
spells and incantations of other spellcasters. Because it is unlikely
that mere mortals could eradicate something as pervasive as
magic, however, technologists in this scenario are unlikely to
pursue any grand plans for altering the balance of power between
technology and magic.
This possibility requires no changes to the nature of magic
in your game — the presence of magic in the universe simply has
an extra anti-technological side effect that does not directly affect
magic-users. These qualities make this an excellent option if you
want to introduce the technologist into your game without a lot
of fuss or fundamental alterations to the campaign world.
SORCEROUS NEMESIS
Instead of the general “Gremlins in the Aether” model, you
might want to designate a particular spellcasting tradition as the
nemesis of technological progress. Perhaps the gods, by divine
edict, long ago prohibited the use of technology for fear of the
destructive potential of sentient races armed with mass-produced
war machines. Or, in a world where nature magic has particular
strength, perhaps druidic powers prohibit devices as unnatural
as those wielded by a technologist from functioning normally.
Another possibility is that psionic powers, drawn from a primal
energy source in the mind, might generate a mental static that
clouds the collective mind of the world and prevents the discovery
and use of technology by all but a devoted few. An ancient cult of
sorcerers or wizards, driven by fear, jealousy, or hate, could have
banished technology from the world via a mighty, globe-spanning
enchantment. In all of these cases, only one kind of magic is the
true antithesis of technology. This anti-technological nemesis
might be so powerful that technologists are a truly rare breed.
In this case, technologists, while retaining some vague
apprehensions about magic in general, might only truly dislike
one sort of spellcaster. The relationship between technologists
and the opposed spellcasting tradition could be anything from
general distaste to an outspoken loathing to outright warfare.
For instance, in a world rid of most technology by divine edict,
special orders of clerics might exist to destroy the heretical users
of technology. Alternatively, the nemesis spellcasters may now feel
simple indifference towards technology; perhaps today’s mages
feel safe in light of the ancient spell worked by their ancestors, and
4
Example – Magic as Planar Instabilities
In my campaign world, magic is the result of planes
shifting on a metaphysical level. Like tectonic action pushing
up mountains, this creates instabilities in natural law that
are exploited by spellcasters. Technologists must calm
local planar activity to some degree, or their devices will
inevitably, and sometimes catastrophically, fail to work.
generally ignore technologists completely. Adventures dealing
with the role of technology in the world would depend greatly
on the exact set-up, and anything from an evangelical approach
to spreading the wonders of technology to an epic quest to undo
the wrongs done by ancient mages or jealous deities might be
appropriate goals for technologist characters. The advantage of
this approach is that you give some structure to the relationships
between spellcasting traditions in your campaign and that you
provide a role-playing hook for technologist characters. The
downside is that this approach is less generic than the default
model, and is thus much harder to integrate into an ongoing
campaign.
MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY COHABITATING
This may be the hardest scenario to implement in terms of
using these rules, as it requires you to make some alterations to the
technologist class itself and to carefully consider how you want to
justify some aspects of the class’s abilities. It is best to only go this
route if you are attracted by the notion of the technologist as a
spellcasting tradition, but repelled by the idea that it is necessarily
opposed to magic in some way, shape, or form.
The first change, and the most drastic, is that there is no
longer any obvious justification for why technologists can only
activate their devices a certain number of times per day, as they
are no longer required to purify their devices of magical influence
via their force of will or personal power. There are several ways to
deal with this issue. The simplest is to add in some other, possibly
unnamed, opposing force to take the role that magic takes in the
default presentation of the technologist; technology may not
work because it relies on the physical laws of an older universe, or
because the time is not right for it, in some cosmic sense. If you
are comfortable with simply decreeing that the strange principles
of fantasy technology run on the technologist’s reserve of some
personal pool of energy, this might be the best solution. You could
also decide that the activation point limitations of technologists
represent something more abstract than a reserve of antimagical
power — a number of charges per day they can manage, the amount
of wear their devices can take before becoming inoperative for the
day, or a measure of the creativity and genius of the technologist
in getting his cobbled-together devices to actually work right
when he needs them to. If neither of these redefinitions of the
activation point work, or if you have a strong aversion to point-
based spellcasting systems, consider using the Savant variant on
the technologist presented in Appendix A. This optional 20-level
class is much like the technologist, but uses a smaller number of
devices at will instead of relying on a uses per day mechanism.
The second change requires you to remove the telltale
mechanical traces of the technologist’s opposition to magic. First,
take away the ability of opposing spellcasters to convert spell slots
into disruptive static. This ability is described in full in Chapter
Three. Second, tell your players that they may not master devices
marked with the Antimagic descriptor; these devices are indicated
with a superscript “A” in the master device list in Chapter Four.
These two changes together isolate the technologist in a magic-rich
world; they have no particular power over other spellcasters (other
than to blow them up) and other spellcasters have no particular
power over them (other than to blow them up). Technologists
also lose the ability to easily deal with magic-dependent creatures
such as nontechnological constructs and the undead, and this
removes a strength of the class. Losing such critical abilities as
smite magic (the technologist’s version of dispel magic) also weakens
the class somewhat. However, technologists also need no longer
fear the meddling of opposing spellcasters, and they retain their
ability to attack spell-resistant creatures with impunity. These
two changes — disallowing antirmagic devices and removing
the arcane disruption ability from magical spellcasters — should
roughly balance each other out, and no further adjustment to the
class should be necessary.
The final consideration may not require any changes, or may
require many, depending on your approach. This book keeps the
relative dominance of magic in most Fantasy d20 settings in mind,
and much of the flavor of the class and a number of design decisions
relied on this assumption. For instance, there are no creation rules
for permanent items based on technologist devices beyond the
optional expanded masterwork rules in Chapter Two. This lack
helps maintain magic’s position as the supplier of permanent,
powerful effects and equipment in the campaign world. If you
do not have a conflict between magic and technology in which
technology is somehow demonstrably weaker, your players might
wonder why they can’t build permanent trinicoil emplacements to
protect their home base or construct a disseminative cognimatrix
for their weak-willed fighter friends. Without some additional
work on your part, it will be difficult to uproot and remove
the more subtle effects of the basic design assumption of these
materials. However, if you and your players are willing to live with
the idiosyncrasies of the class — and
all spellcasting traditions
are idiosyncratic to some
degree anyway — these
factors will not cause
substantial problems
for your game. The class
will remain balanced and
interesting to players,
and should continue to
fill a unique niche.
5
Introducing the Technologist
With the foregoing in mind, it may seem difficult to
incorporate the technologist into a campaign, especially one that
is already underway. However, the technologist is actually no
quirkier than the existing spellcasting traditions and fits into the
same variety of campaigns that the wizard, the cleric, or the psion
fit into. This section offers several ways to introduce technologists
and their devices into a campaign and discusses the strengths and
weaknesses of each approach. Some of these options are better
suited for campaigns in progress, while others could form the
germ of a campaign oriented around the technologist spellcasting
tradition. You can also blend one or more of these scenarios
together to create interesting variants; consider this section to be
a grab bag of ideas for how technology might show up in your
campaigns.
IT WAS ALWAYS THERE, YOU JUST NEVER NOTICED
Sages and scholars have known the principles of science
and technology for many years, and the problem was always
implementation. After all, when these principles wouldn’t
cooperate consistently, there was little to do but turn to other
options — sorcery, and the worship of divine powers. Every once
in a while, though, someone with just the right mix of intelligence
and ambition comes along and finds that their attempts at
magecraft and the channeling of divine power just don’t work out.
These individuals are forced in the pursuit of their spellcasting
dreams to retrieve timeworn old tomes, assemble a few devices
from dusty schematics, and improvise ways to make them work.
It usually isn’t pretty, but for someone who has great intelligence
and a strong will — but lacks the knack for wizardry or sorcery — it
may be the only option available. This scenario underscores the
dominance of magic, and only those without the gift for arcane
power would generally be interested in finding a way to make
technology work.
A PC or NPC who followed this path is likely to be stubborn,
brilliant, ambitious, and almost unique. These traits combine
to give the technologist class a great “mad scientist in a world
of fantasy” flavor, which makes for memorable NPCs and
entertaining role-playing hooks for players. From the dungeon
master’s side, this method of introducing technology allows you
to include technologists in your game while strongly limiting
their impact on the campaign world as a whole. It also leads to
an interesting situation wherein the facts of science are known,
but the technological applications of those facts are restricted
to the truly dedicated. Dwarven smiths might be able to tell you
the chemical equations for processing raw iron into high-carbon
steel, and elven historians might have a working knowledge of
the principles of natural evolution, but this knowledge does not
help them in the same way that it helps modern-day scientists
due to a magic-enforced disconnect between scientific discovery
and technological application. Use this approach if you want
to occasionally lend the unique flavor of the technologist to a
campaign, but don’t want it to be a major element.
EUREKA!
Your setting does not need to have a static level of
technological development to use these rules. It could be the case
that technology has slowly but surely been developed, either by
society as a whole or by a small, secretive cabal of tinkerers and
inventors. Once made generally available, the fantastic science
might spread quickly or slowly depending on surrounding
conditions. However, technological devices have proved trickier
than anyone predicted, and can only be maintained and operated
by characters trained to exert their will over the recalcitrant
mechanisms. This is one case where you might decide that
technologists have no special need or ability to fight against the
influence of magic and that the activation points they expend
to activate their devices represent a pool of some other energy.
Perhaps the new science is antithetical to the physical laws of
the world and using it requires intense effort equal to that of
a sorcerer casting his spells, or perhaps the devices are strange
living organisms that can be managed only with an effort of will.
Alternatively, machinery above a certain level of complexity could
house some kind of universal machine spirit or incipient deity
that needs to be appeased or controlled.
If this is how you introduce high technology into your
campaign, your players may be interested in pursuing further
developments in this new science. One way to communicate
the feel of technology as a developing discipline is to restrict
your players’ access to the device listings. Since the material is
this book is probably completely unfamiliar to them, unlike the
spells and items in the core rulebooks, you can give your players
the excitement of discovering something completely new. Allow
beginning characters to peruse only the list of gadgets, the weakest
order of technological devices, and use NPCs to slowly expand the
lists to include all of the options presented in this book. You might
even use only a partial version of the gadget list, though this risks
making the class unattractive unless options for further research
are readily available. Also consider encouraging your players to
design their own devices using the guidelines presented in the
Appendix instead. Introduce new technological breakthroughs by
Example – The Imperium Mechanus
My campaign setting uses a version of the “From Out
of the Mysterious Cardinal Direction” scenario to explain
the presence of high technology. In my world, a powerful
humanoid empire — the Imperium Mechanus — attempted a
cross-planar invasion in the recent past, fielding a massive
mechanized army through several recovered magical gates.
Due to a slight miscalculation, all of their technology ceased
to function immediately upon arrival, and the invasion
force was quickly routed. The resulting battlefield, called
the Rusting Fields, provides a rich mine for the inquisitive
locals who eventually figured out how to use the mysterious
devices. This knowledge is in danger of falling into the hands
of the Imperium, however, which might use it to attempt
another invasion.
6
way of research laboratories that seem to spring up overnight — for
instance, you could introduce devices like the caloric hammer and
caloric control mantle only after someone (perhaps a PC) discovers
the key alchemical ingredient in the first place. Adventures in such
a setting could revolve around the research and control of devices
that have a potentially large impact on society as a whole, such
as Tullius’s efficacious nostrum and the engineered panacea, which take
healing out of the hands of the clerics or the clockwidget fabrication
gantry, which could allow a powerful kingdom to field entire units
of tough clockwork soldiers. Presenting technology as a recent
breakthrough is an excellent way to enliven (or destabilize) an
existing campaign setting, but you need to be willing to let your
players in on the action.
DUSTING OFF THE LASER CANNONS
Similar in many ways to the “Eureka!” option, this scenario
would entail introducing powerful devices into your campaign
as artifacts of a powerful civilization of long ago. Explorers may
find intriguing artifacts that stubbornly refuse to work until their
secret is finally discovered. Then, suddenly, fully functioning
versions of fabled technologies explode onto the scene for
the first time in centuries. Perhaps some twisted explorer has
discovered the secrets of an ancient and terrible device such as the
Imperial null-space cannon and now uses it for his own nefarious
purposes. The mystery of this new source of power could lead to
a number of exciting encounters as PCs discover the strengths
and weaknesses of this new spellcasting tradition. Research and
information gathering are critical and the relics of the past, stored
in dusty museums and great universities, suddenly have crucial
importance. In this case, devices are likely to start in the hands
of NPCs who, since they have no need to completely rediscover
long-lost scientific principles, have already mastered their use.
The players — and society as a whole — must sift through distorted
legends and stories to discover the source of this new power,
which could be almost anything, even something truly sinister.
Perhaps it is the advent of a powerful new god — benevolent
or malign — that allows these devices to begin to work again,
or maybe Nature herself is dying and allowing the unnatural
creations of old to function again. How the rediscovery of the
lost secrets of technology plays out and whether or not the plots
and plans of the men and women who originally kicked off the
turmoil succeed could have sweeping effects on your campaign
world’s attitude toward technology. This option allows you to
introduce technology at your own pace and at the same time to
have the excitement of watching it find its own place in a world
where it is a sudden and significant player.
FROM OUT OF THE MYSTERIOUS CARDINAL DIRECTION
Perhaps the secrets of technology are well known, and
its practitioners common — just not around here. As with the
“Dusting Off the Laser Cannons” option, technology is at first
unknown to the players, who must discover its secrets. Unlike
that option, however, there is a place out there somewhere where
technology is common and well understood, indeed where it may
form the foundation of a while civilization. Sudden immersion in
these cultures, whether through trade, exploration, or conquest,
makes technology an unknown factor while providing ample
demonstrations of the possibilities of this foreign spellcasting
tradition. Players jaded by the workings of mages and priests may
be caught off-guard by the introduction of a new way of doing
things, especially if it arrives as part of an invading force from a far-
off country, or even another plane. As with “Dusting Off the Laser
Cannons,” whether technology functions as a tool of wickedness or
a force for progress depends on the evolution of your campaign.
This scenario works best if you have in mind an explanation
for why magic and technology conflict that explains why
technology has never been heard of before. Perhaps a far-off
kingdom simply developed or rediscovered technology instead of
your home area, or perhaps a geographically distant area is free
of the static-like interference of magic with technology. There,
technologists may not need to spend activation points to activate
devices, and magic may not work at all. The inhabitants may
have had the technology for centuries, but only recently figured
out how to make it work outside their circumscribed area. Such
a place would prove very challenging for characters used to the
magical way of doing things. This scenario presents another
way to bring the technologist into your game that allows you
to control the introduction of technology by having its source
be relatively inaccessible. If you decide that full introduction of
technology is a bad idea, this option also allows you to cut off the
flow of foreign knowledge and return things to the way they were
with relative ease.
WELL, IT WORKED A WEEK AGO…
In a fantasy setting, there is no particular reason why the
physical laws that undergird scientific learning should remain
stable. Perhaps these laws have naturally begun to change,
the dominance of magic is waning, and a new generation of
technologists eager to change the status quo is coming to the
fore. This scenario could also play out in reverse, as a civilization
founded on technological progress finds that its devices no
longer work as they should and that magic is becoming a more
and more powerful force in the world. This change could be
gradual, in which case players need not worry about their
sorceries or their devices suddenly becoming unreliable, or it
could be rapid, eventually precluding one side or another from
practicing their arts at all. If this is the case, one way to handle
the increasing disparity is to require a Spellcraft check, increasing
or decreasing as appropriate, to cast a spell or activate a device.
A “spell resistance” or “activation resistance” roll could also be
required if the very nature of reality is no longer conducive to
magic use or high technology. Nor is the natural development of
the universe over time the only way to go. Perhaps some villain
is trying to eradicate magic entirely, and only practitioners of
technology now have the wherewithal to oppose him, even if it
means forfeiting their newfound power.
As with the “Sorcerous Nemesis” scenario, such a campaign
sets mages and technologists at odds with one another in a way that
7
could easily lead to violent conflict. Characters could adventure to
stop, slow, or accelerate the change, depending on their allegiances
and abilities and entire civilizations might descend into civil war
or even total extinction as the dominance of magic waxes or
wanes. Adventures oriented around the technologist are easy to
come by in this scenario. Also, remember that magic as a whole
might remain unaffected. Perhaps only clerics find their powers
weakening, or only wizards. This could intensify the conflict,
for example with all mages and all technologists opposing each
other while the rest of society looks on to see who will eventually
emerge on top and who gets hunted into extinction at the behest
of the changing realities of the world. This is not the gentlest way
to introduce technology into your game, but you might decide
that the most explosive option is the best option. This scenario
certainly offers a wild ride and a way to shake up an extant setting,
and this might be exactly what you are looking for.
SPARKS OF GENIUS
Maybe technology has always existed, but it takes more than
knowledge and dedicated study to make it useful; you also have
to be born one of the chosen few. Rediscovered technology from
the ancient past might only be accessible to certain bloodlines,
or perhaps a mental block on the minds of all the sentient races
prevents all but the (literal or social) elite from successfully
operating devices. Those born with the ability to wield technological
devices could be the chosen ones of a deity of invention and
machines, members of a certain noble house or group of houses,
or simply lucky ones born under a certain star. Magic is still a
powerful force and technologists must still learn to control its
influence, but technologist characters are men and women born
with special abilities and a special destiny. Alternatively, perhaps
a single technologist character, either a PC or an NPC, is nearly
or completely unique. Such a person would be an intriguing
individual whose powers might never be fully explained.
In your campaign, technologists might build on the visionary work of
a single, insightful genius (artwork by Leonardo da Vinci)
 Technologist characters in this sort of campaign may feel
entitled, better than others by virtue of their gifts, or they might
view themselves as anachronisms, throwbacks to a possibly
mythical time when magic was not the dominant force. These
individuals might adventure to find more of their kind or to prove
their worth, but they would always know that they had a unique
destiny to accept or reject. This scenario is a good choice if you
want to limit the number of technologists in a campaign, perhaps
even to the point of making a PC technologist a completely
unique phenomenon. Such a character is unlike any other, blessed
with the strange ideas, plans, and schematics that spontaneously
suggest themselves to him. You could also use this option to set
technologists up as one of a chosen few, as anything from a small
group of eccentrics all the way up to a country’s ruling class while
neatly explaining why the technological base of the surrounding
culture has not advanced and why nobody else can handle the
devices these gifted people produce.
CENTRALIZED REGULATION
With this option, you create a single powerful organization
that controls technology, either secretly or openly. The organization
could be a kingdom, a powerful church, or an artisan’s guild with
some extra-special expertise. This organization may only control
the knowledge of how technology works — making the technologist
something like a prestige class in its effect on your game — or the
organization might actually control the source of power for all
technological devices. In extreme cases, the controllers of technology
could be the sole source of fantastic science, possessing absolute
power over whether a device works at any given time. In this case,
the organization probably doles out its power much like a god
grants spells to his followers: in small dollops, based on individual
skill and overall rank in the organization. Indeed, perhaps the
technologist is simply the very unusual cleric of a different kind of
god, one divorced from the regular pantheon.
The role of technology in society is an odd one in this
scenario. Its place largely depends on the nature of the granting
organization — technology might be a neutral force working for
evil, for instance, if it is the tool of the powerful merchant’s guild
dominating a corrupt city. On the other hand, technology as
granted by a good deity may be itself holy and pure; you might even
go so far as to grant all devices the Good descriptor. Technologist
Campaign Integration Sidebars
Throughout this book, you will find sidebars giving
examples from my own campaign setting, where these rules
were playtested. These examples help illustrate some ways
to incorporate the concepts in this book into your own
game, both at the basic level, as with the examples in this
chapter, and at the level of individual devices. You should
feel no need do the same things I did; these examples simply
offer inspiration, and none of the rules in this book assume
that you are playing in my setting. I hope you enjoy these
glimpses into my way of using these rules.
8
player characters could work to further the interests of the
controlling organization, or they could adventure to promote
the spread of scientific knowledge and break the hegemony of
the controlling body (assuming doing so is even a possibility).
This option allows you to seamlessly blend technologists into
your game while keeping tight control over who can make use of
fantasy-technology devices.
MAKING IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG
You may not want to have a fully-functioning explanation
at hand before introducing the technologist. You could simply
create an NPC technologist or allow a PC technologist in your
game and gradually adopt one of the other options for your
campaign presented in this section. Then, when you know which
direction you want to go in, simply reveal your lone technologist
character to be a member (or former member) of a powerful
organization, or a lone genius with strange ideas and stranger
gadgets, or as an early harbinger of an increase in technology’s
potency compared to that of magic. By going this way, you make
it harder to work the technologist and his devices into your
campaign in a thoroughgoing manner, but give yourself time to
experiment and to consider how and where to best integrate this
material into your game. Additionally, a technologist character
with no immediate explanation for his powers offered provides
a tantalizing enigma that might inspire your PCs to get involved
with this new spellcasting tradition. Ensuing adventures give you
time to introduce the technologist as carefully as you wish while
you shape the technological tradition to fit your needs.
Real-World Science and the Technologist
The technologist is not a real-world scientist, or even a real-
world scientist in a magic-rich world. The technology he employs
is very clearly fantasy technology, and a progression of magical
construct–creation and the quasi-science of alchemy, neither
of which correspond to recognizable modern scientific fields.
Device descriptions often use quasi-scientific terminology, but
any comments on the actual nature of the “science” being used
draws mainly on these fantasy sciences and on discredited real-
world pseudosciences. Depending on your inclination, you can
either ignore these pieces of pseudoscience, leave them as simple
flavor for individual devices, or expand them into a more detailed
system of fantasy science.
This book envisions the technologist in this way because it
makes the class the most fun to play and to run as a game master.
This vision of fantasy technology frees players from having to
provide rigorous scientific explanations for their devices, and
it frees the GM from any need to debate whether electricity can
“really” do what the cortical fusegun does or whether an ornithopter
could actually fly. It also allows high-level technologists to design
and use truly fantastic devices that defy the physics of the real
world in interesting — almost magical — ways. If you want to more
closely align the technologist with real-world science, you can do
so by simply changing the flavor of many of the technologist’s
devices, though doing so is not recommended.
 Chapter Two:
The Fantastic Scientist
This chapter presents the Technologist base class,
ready for inclusion in your campaign as the master of
fantastic technology, and includes some pointers on
the background and role of technologist characters.
This information is written for a player’s perspective,
to help them imagine the basic role of the technologist
in a campaign, and represents the default place for
the technologist in a Fantasy d20 game. Alongside
the technologist class are included some simple
rules for expanding the ability of skilled artisans to
create masterwork items; these rules compliment the
technologist by making well-crafted but mundane gear
more worthwhile. Additionally, game masters will find
NPC statistics from 1st through 20th level in this chapter,
to help them quickly create technologist NPCs, as well as a
sample technologist, Prentice Cogitens, at three different
levels of advancement.
Prentice Cogitens, technologist (artwork by Susan Knowles)
The Technologist
Technologists inquire into the underlying laws of nature, and
put the fruits of their inquiries to use in the form of powerful devices
capable of an almost limitless variety of effects. When a technologist has
the right tool for the job at hand, no one can match the effectiveness
of these men and women of science. Technologists embody the idea
that all knowledge, no matter how obscure or academic, is a source of
power. Good technologists seek scientific knowledge for the benefit of
all, and have given the world healing elixirs and labor-saving devices of
incomparable quality. Evil technologists twist knowledge to their own
ends with utter contempt for the needs of others, and have wrought
unnatural machines and brutal engines of destruction to plague the
sentient races.
Adventures: Technologists adventure for a number of reasons,
depending on their place in the game world — see Chapter One for some
specific ideas. More generally, technologists typically adventure in pursuit
of their studies, seeking knowledge of far-off places, obscure scientific
9
theories, and strange plants and animals. Other technologists
simply require funding for their research and hope to find such
in the lair of some slain foe. Of course, most technologists also
realize that field-testing is the best way to discover the limits of
a device, and employing their creations personally is the best way
they can discover more about their capabilities.
Characteristics: The technologist wields powerful
devices that are the equal of the invocations and prayers of
other spellcasters, and this is their defining characteristic. The
typical technologist is also a masterful crafter, and can keep an
adventuring party equipped with the best gear the Craft skill
can provide with her Craft Points and plentiful skill points. As
the technologist advances in level, she can also begin to make
increased use of exotic upgrades and material components that
enhance her devices for a short time, allowing the character to
occasionally field startlingly potent abilities that are difficult
for other spellcasters to match. The experienced technologist
is also unmatched except by a bard or rogue in the number
and effectiveness of the skills to which she has
access, and can take the role of anything from a
knowledgeable sage to the party trapsmith.
Alignment: Technologists have no strong
affinity for a particular alignment, and it is an
individual’s personal history that determines
her general outlook on life, not the nature of
her training or abilities. Some technologists
approach the study of natural law in a
disciplined, lawful manner, but a roughly
equal number of inspiration-fueled “mad”
technologists balances these individuals
out. The study of technology also attracts
Goblins tend to fare poorly when confronted
good and evil characters in equal numbers,
by technology
producing men and women who run the
gamut from kindly sages to vile conquerors. Due to their often-
forceful personalities and the natural drive required to pursue
technological studies in the face of widespread magic use,
technologists often favor extreme alignments — technologists
who dedicate themselves to a moral or ethical principle typically
do so wholeheartedly.
Religion: Unless there is already a deity dedicated to the
pursuit of science and technology available in the campaign
setting, technologists tend not to be particularly religious. Even
when there is an appropriate deity available, some technologists
see the pure pursuit of knowledge itself as something akin to
a religion and focus on an ideal of learning rather than on an
individual god. In highly religious settings, technologists tend
to be religious idealists, for the same reasons that they tend to
hold strong alignments, and they worship whichever god seems
to fit their general outlook on life best, regardless of the specifics
of that god’s portfolio. Such individuals pursue their studies of
technology as a means to the ends of their faith.
Background: Technologists tend to come from urban areas,
where education, raw materials, and a large scholarly community
are all readily available. The class also requires a great deal of
10
study and education, and this requirement bars certain levels of
society, the impoverished lower classes in particular, from easily
becoming technologists. Despite these limited commonalities,
technologists can represent nearly any background depending on
the role of technology in the campaign.
Races: Humans are the most likely candidates for studying
technology, as that race produces an abundance of driven
individuals who are unafraid to strike out from the entrenched
spellcasting traditions. The best technologists, though, tend to
be half-elves, who bring a human’s ambition and an elf’s love of
knowledge and dedication to artistry to their studies. Dwarves
are either too conservative to take up technology or delight in its
mechanical intricacies; the attitude of an individual dwarf varies
wildly. Elves are generally too in tune with the ways of arcane
magic to pursue a career that requires its extirpation, but the elven
respect for knowledge and learning might counter their affinity
for wizardry if elven culture ever comes to recognize technology
as a true branch of learning. Technologists of other races
are somewhat rare, but no particular racial culture is
completely antithetical to technological studies, with
the exception of half-orcs, who are typically too dumb
and weak-willed to make good technologists.
Technologists are rare amongst the savage
humanoid races, because the level of learning
and scientific curiosity necessary to give rise to
high technology is infrequently found there.
Goblins are the worst of this bad lot, and seem
almost to be able to destroy technological
devices just by standing near them for too
long. The exceptions to this general rule are
hobgoblins and kobolds. Hobgoblins pursue
any tactical advantage they can, and relish a
technologist’s ability to effectively oppose the
often decisive arcane might of their hated foes, and the elves in
particular. These goblinoids pursue technological weapons of
war with focused determination, rarely taking levels in any other
class. In addition, kobolds sometimes follow up on their natural
ability affinity for cunning mechanical traps by exploring the
higher levels of technology. Kobold technologists generally have
only a few levels of technologist, however, as the kobold lifestyle
mitigates against the dedicated pursuit of scientific knowledge.
Monstrous races are poor candidates for the technologist class,
endowed as they are with formidable physical gifts or potent innate
magic. Dragons in particular see the technologist as emblematic
of the lesser races’ strivings against the natural order, and as an
even worse affront to natural draconic superiority than the study
of arcane magic. Fey also tend to dislike the unnatural implements
of technology, and elementals, outsiders, and the undead feel
directly threatened by the technologist’s arts, sometimes to the
point of active hatred. The only monstrous race frequently seen
using technological devices is a certain malign breed of tentacle-
faced natural psionicists. This race’s technological creations are
based on terrible and inscrutable physics that most humanoids
find incomprehensible and deeply troubling.
 Other Classes: A technologist Table 2-1: The Technologist
generally works well with members of Base Attack Fort Ref Will Craft Points
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Gained
other classes, since the technologist’s
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Expert 100
flexible skills and device selections allow 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 200
them to find a comfortable niche in 3 +2 +1 +1 +3 300
even the most variegated party. They are 4 +3 +1 +1 +4 400
particularly likely to enjoy working closely 5 +3 +1 +1 +4 500
with rogues, who often have a strong 6 +4 +2 +2 +5 750
7 +5 +2 +2 +5 Master of Gadgetry 1000
mechanical inclination and fighters,
8 +6/+1 +2 +2 +6 1250
who appreciate the value of having good 9 +6/+1 +3 +3 +6 1500
equipment and might even be willing to 10 +7/+2 +3 +3 +7 2000
carry excess gear or unused devices for a 11 +8/+3 +3 +3 +7 2500
beleaguered scientist. 12 +9/+4 +4 +4 +8 3500
In general, a technologist’s most 13 +9/+4 +4 +4 +8 Master of Technology 4500
14 +10/+5 +4 +4 +9 6000
difficult relationships are with other
15 +11/+6/+1 +5 +5 +9 7500
spellcasters, as magic-using characters 16 +12/+7/+2 +5 +5 +10 10000
are ever-present reminders of the 17 +12/+7/+2 +5 +5 +10 12500
technologist’s constant need to fight 18 +13/+8/+3 +6 +6 +11 15000
the insidious influence magic has on her 19 +14/+9/+4 +6 +6 +11 20000
20 +15/+10/+5 +6 +6 +12 Master of Artifice 25000
creations. The relationships between
technologists and spellcasters might be
more or less strained depending on the game master’s approach GAME RULE INFORMATION
to the interaction between technology and magic. Technologists have the following game statistics.
Other technologists take a different approach, burying Abilities: Intelligence is the most important attribute
themselves in their work and remaining generally indifferent to for a technologist because it determines the save DCs for her
the nature and abilities of their companions. These characters devices, grants her additional skill points, and governs many
tend to contribute when they can and otherwise abstain from important class abilities such as the Craft and Knowledge skills.
interaction. If forced to spend a great deal of time crafting items Dexterity and Charisma are also important — Dexterity helps the
and mastering devices for the benefit of other party members, technologist’s low Armor Class and helps her successfully aim the
these characters become irritated, as such distractions call them many devices that require attack rolls, and Charisma increases
away from single-minded devotion to their craft. the technologist’s control over magical interference, granting her
Role: A technologist fills much the same role in an more activation points. Strength can also be important since it
adventuring party as a wizard or a sorcerer, though her limited determines how many devices and how much gear the character
number of devices and slowed access to powerful effects make can easily carry.
her somewhat less effective in terms of raw power. However, a Alignment: Any.
technologist’s greater hit points, attack bonus, and AC mean Hit Die: d6.
that she is more independent and requires less protection than Starting Gold: 8d4×10 gp (200 gp average). A technologist
other primary spellcasters. A high number of skills and a good character can also start with additional gear by spending craft
skill selection also mean that the technologist can usually find a points (see below) before beginning play.
way to contribute outside of combat with either a custom-crafted
piece of equipment or a crucial tidbit of information.
Multiclassing: Multiclass technologists are fairly common, The Imperial Calculus
as the class benefits greatly from a larger mix of abilities. Because This weapon is a launcher designed to deliver
the technologist does not suffer from arcane spell failure, she grenade-like weapons at range. It could be a modified
can easily use her devices to augment her fighting power or crossbow, an odd-looking sling, or an atlatl-like weapon.
her facility with a wide range of class skills without sacrificing Regardless, its statistics are the same. The Imperial
too much in other areas. The class is still a spellcasting class, calculus is an exotic ranged weapon that has a range
however, and retains much of the nonlinear progression increment of 60 feet, weighs 3 pounds, and costs 60
common to spellcasters. Thus, most technologists spend only gold pieces. It deals no damage on its own, and is used
a few levels away from their studies, and characters of other to extend the range of grenade-like weapons such as
classes who become technologists tend to be dabblers focused alchemist’s fire and tanglefoot bags. These items have
on mastering a small handful of specific devices. Multiclass their normal effects, but they use the calculus’s range
technologists only rarely have equal levels in both technologist increment.
and another class.

11
CLASS SKILLS Table 2-2: Technologist Devices Mastered and Activation
A technologist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) Points
Gadgets Technologies Artifacts Activation
are Appraise (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher
Level (G) (T) (A) Points
Script (Int), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Handle Animal 1 3 — — 5
(Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), 2 6 — — 10
Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive 3 9 — — 20
(Wis), Speak Language (n/a), and Spellcraft (Int). 4 10 1 — 40
5 13 1 — 50
Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4.
6 14 2 — 90
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier. 7 14 3 — 110
8 16 4 — 150
CLASS FEATURES 9 16 6 — 190
All of the following are class features of the technologist. 10 18 6 1 250
11 18 8 1 290
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Technologists are
12 18 9 2 360
proficient with all simple weapons and light armor, but with no 13 18 10 2 430
shields. In addition, they are proficient in the use of all crossbows 14 18 11 2 500
and the Imperial calculus. They also gain a +2 bonus on all 15 18 11 3 580
ability checks, attack rolls, and skill checks made to operate siege 16 18 12 3 670
17 18 12 4 750
weaponry.
18 18 12 5 830
Devices: A technologist creates, maintains, and uses devices, 19 18 12 6 930
powerful machines that create effects similar to spells. Devices 20 18 12 6 1010
come in three orders of sophistication and power: gadgets are
the weakest, technologies are the mid-level devices, and artifacts devices she has mastered, without having to spend time, gather
represent the height of a technologist’s abilities. Technologists raw materials, or make Craft checks; these free devices are part of
primarily draw from the list of devices presented in Chapter the technologist’s advancement, and she is constantly at work on
Four, but also have a penchant for creating new designs when the the next breakthrough. Replacing or repairing lost or damaged
inspiration strikes them. devices requires the use of the Craft (technology) skill, and is
Mastering a device requires no particular level of Intelligence covered in the next Chapter.
or Charisma, but Intelligence determines the save DCs for A technologist’s selection of devices is limited, as truly
technologist devices and Charisma grants a bonus or penalty mastering a new device requires complete understanding of a
to the character’s total number of activation points (see Table customized technological mechanism designed specifically for
2-3: Technologist Bonus Activation Points). Upon achieving the individual technologist’s use. A technologist begins play at
a new level, the technologist receives one free copy of any new first level having mastered three gadgets, and gains new devices at
Table 2-3: Technologist Bonus Activation Points* every level according to the
Charisma Technologist Class Level progression listed on Table
Score 1–2 3–4 5–6 7–8 9–10 11–12 13–14 15–16 17–18 19–20 2-2: Technologist Devices
2–3 –5 –15 –30 –45 –45 –45 –45 –45 –45 –45
Mastered and Activation
4–5 –5 –15 –30 –30 –30 –30 –30 –30 –30 –30
6–7 –5 –15 –15 –15 –15 –15 –15 –15 –15 –15 Points. The number of devices
8–9 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5 a technologist can master is
10–11 — — — — — — — — — — unaffected by her Intelligence
12–13 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 or Charisma score; mastering
14–15 5 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
additional devices in excess of
16–17 5 15 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
18–19 5 15 30 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 those indicated on Table 2-2
20–21 10 20 35 50 80 80 80 80 80 80 is a complicated and difficult
22–23 10 30 45 60 90 135 135 135 135 135 process described in Chapter
24–25 10 30 60 75 105 150 195 195 195 195 Three. Unlike some types of
26–27 10 30 60 90 120 165 210 300 300 300
spellcasters, technologists
28–29 15 35 65 95 125 170 215 305 440 440
30–31 15 45 75 105 165 255 300 390 525 660 cannot choose to unmaster
32–33 15 45 90 120 180 270 360 450 585 720 previously chosen devices
34–35 15 45 90 135 195 285 375 555 690 825 in exchange for a different
36–37 20 50 95 140 230 320 410 590 860 995 selection; once a technologist
38–39 20 60 105 150 240 375 465 645 915 1185
chooses a device, it remains
40–41 20 60 120 165 255 390 525 705 975 1245
42–43 20 60 120 180 270 405 540 810 1080 1350 available to her indefinitely,
44–45 25 65 125 185 305 440 575 845 1250 1520 and counts against her
* The numbers on this chart are totals; do not add across to find the number of bonus points. maximum devices mastered.

12
 A device’s power level is determined by its activation level,
which is equal to the technologist’s class level; technologist
characters constantly tweak and modify their devices to bring
them up to their new standards. The Difficulty Class for a saving
throw against a technologist’s device is 10 + ½ her technologist
level + her Intelligence modifier.
A technologist character must spend an hour out of every day
in a calm environment to regain her expended activation points
and remove traces of magic from her devices. During this time,
the technologist must remain undisturbed and must touch each
of her devices in turn; this period of routine maintenance allows
for continuous minor upgrades as the technologist puts her latest
discoveries into play. As long as she maintains her devices in this
way, the technologist can use any device she has mastered, built,
and has on hand at any time simply by paying the cost in activation
points to activate the device.
Expert (Ex): Technologists possess a high degree of learned
talent in the skills they choose to study. As a result, they are
allowed to use these skills in special ways normally only available
to members of other classes. To gain the benefit of the Expert
ability in relation to a certain skill, the technologist must have at
least one rank in the appropriate skill.
Though not spellcasters in anything resembling the
traditional sense, technologists with skill in alchemy are adept at
using nonmagical techniques to create alchemical concoctions.
Technologists of any level may use the Craft (alchemy) skill to
create alchemical items as though they were normal spellcasters.
Technologists who have at least 1 rank in the Search skill
are deft investigators and can use the Search skill to locate traps
when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a
nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well
hidden. Finding a magical trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the
spell used to create it.
If the technologist is a trained trapsmith, she can use
the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magical trap
generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. A
technologist who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable
Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass
it (with her party) without disarming it.
Craft Points (Ex): Developing and using sophisticated
technological devices is an expensive proposition and as a result
technologists learn to be very resourceful. This resourcefulness,
represented by craft points, allows the technologist to quickly
craft nonmagical items, masterwork gear, expensive components
for her devices, and of course the devices themselves. By default,
the technologist is assumed to be working on these projects in
her spare time, and is simply putting the finishing touches on the
item when she spends craft points and makes a Craft check to
complete that item. However, this class ability can also represent
a talented engineer’s ability to cobble any given scraps into a
working device, independent income and mercantile contacts the
technologist uses to fund her research, or the logistical backing
of a sizable organization or country. At every level, technologists
receive a number of craft points that they can use to create various
13
Starting After First Level
Craft points pose a special problem in creating
characters above first level, since they are an ongoing pool
that can change in size significantly over time. Simply starting
a technologist with the craft points listed for her current
level weakens the class somewhat, as doing so assumes that
the character has never created any permanent items that
have survived to the current level. If you want to avoid this,
simply take 75% of the craft points for all levels prior to
the current one, and add this total to the number of craft
points granted at the character’s most recently gained level.
For instance, a technologist character starting at 3rd level
would begin with (100 + 200) × 0.75 + 300 craft points, a
total of 525 points. A technologist character should start
with about 13% more than the standard amount of gold
pieces for her level, but all of the extra wealth must go
towards purchasing or creating nonmagical items.
items using their Craft skills. When the technologist gains a
new level, she simply adds the number listed in Table 2-1 to her
current pool of craft points; craft points gained at previous levels
are not lost.
Craft points are virtual gold pieces that may only be used to
produce items that can normally be created using the Craft skill.
To craft an item without spending the normal labor time in this
manner the technologist must pay at least half the market price
of the item with craft points, using gold pieces as normal to cover
any remaining costs. Expenditure of craft points is based on the
market price, and not the raw materials cost.
Once the technologist declares that she is spending
craft points to make a certain item, the item is automatically
completed one day later (typically the next morning), provided the
technologist can make the required Craft check. This check uses
the DC given in the description of the item, or the appropriate
DC from the Craft skill description in the core rules. Masterwork
items use the base DC of the item, or the DC of the last masterwork
component the technologist wishes to add to the item, whichever
is higher. If the technologist’s Craft check succeeds, the item is
successfully completed. If it fails, the technologist may try again
the next day, with no penalty for failure and no loss of gold pieces
or craft points. The game master may not allow you to create
certain items with craft points, if he or she determines that you
would be unable to procure the raw materials required or unable
to work on the item over time.
A technologist can also add craft points to her pool by
spending time working on various projects or pursuing the
business venture that funds her research. To do so, she simply
makes a Craft or Profession check, representing a week’s worth of
work. If making a Craft check, the technologist makes the daily
or weekly check against a base DC of 15; for every 10 silver pieces
of progress she would normally make (dropping all fractions), the
technologist instead adds 1 craft point to her pool. If she fails
this Craft check by 5 or more, she instead loses 20 craft points,
as she damages her ongoing projects in some way. Technologists costs 900 gold pieces per use and the goggles of acuity and
can voluntarily increase the base DC of this check in 10-point steamplunker augmentations normally cost 390 gold pieces per
increments to increase the number of craft points received with use. Adding these together brings her total upgrades up to 1,680
a successful Craft check. If the technologist chooses to make a gold pieces’ worth. Since Prentice has no upgrades available for
Profession check in place of a Craft check, she instead adds the any of her gadgets that normally cost 320 gold pieces or less, she
result of her weekly check directly into her reserve of craft points. loses the remainder. From this point on, any magnificent pitch hurler
This generally means that she gains fewer craft points than she Prentice builds will deal 50% more fire damage than normal, any
would have with a successful Craft check, but also does not risk steamplunkers she creates will have a range increment of 1,200 feet
losing any of her existing craft points. rather than 400, and her goggles of acuity will have a base duration
For example, Prentice, a third-level technologist, will be of 3 hours instead of 1.
heading into a cave system to battle kobold raiders tomorrow and Master of Technology (Ex): At 13th level, a technologist is
wishes to construct a sunrod to prepare herself. Prentice still has 300 reaching the limits of commonly understood scientific principles
craft points left in her pool (she has not spent any this level), and so even by a technologist’s standards and is beginning to make
she decides to spend craft points exclusively to pay for her sunrod. groundbreaking new discoveries. Before continuing on to more
After deducting 2 craft points from her craft point pool, Prentice powerful and sophisticated devices, she can use this knowledge
attempts the DC 25 Craft check to create a sunrod, and succeeds. to perfect favored technologies, increasing their effectiveness.
By the time her party is ready to set out tomorrow, Prentice has This ability is identical to the Master of Gadgetry ability, except
her sunrod and has 298 craft points remaining. After returning to that it may only be used to augment technologies and that it
town, she decides that she would like to increase this total since she
has plans to make an expensive masterwork sword for the party’s
fighter. Prentice makes a Craft check representing a week of work, HALF-ELF TECHNOLOGIST STARTING PACKAGE
and gets a result of 25. 25 times the craft point DC of 15 is 375; Armor: Studded leather (+3 AC, armor check penalty
this is the number of silver pieces of progress Prentice would have –1, speed 30 feet, 20 lbs.).
made had she been working on a specific project. Instead, she adds Weapons: Dagger (1d4, crit 19–20/×2, range inc. 10 ft.,
37 craft points to her craft point pool, dropping the remainder of 5 1 lb., light, piercing or slashing).
silver pieces entirely. Prentice now has a total of 335 craft points in Light crossbow [unactivated pocket ballista] (1d8, crit
her craft point pool. If she had instead elected to make a Profession 19–20/×2, range inc. 80 ft., 4 lbs., piercing).
check and had rolled the same result, she would have added only Imperial calculus (as alchemical item, ×2, range inc. 60
25 Craft points to her pool, but would not have risked losing craft ft., 3 lbs., special).
points on a failed check. Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 6 + Int
Master of Gadgetry (Ex): At 7th level, a technologist modifier.
has almost completed her studies of technological devices of
Armor Check
the gadget order and begins to move into new territories while Skill Ranks Ability Penalty
completing her final improvements to particularly favored Concentration 4 Con —
devices. This ability allows the technologist to select up to 2,000 Craft (alchemy) 4 Int —
gold pieces’ worth of expensive components and permanently Craft (technology) 4 Int —
Disable Device 4 Int —
apply the effect of those components to their respective devices.
Knowledge (arcana) 4 Int —
Only optional expensive components may be “purchased” in this Knowledge (engineering) 4 Int —
way; expensive ammunitions and anything else the device requires Profession (any) 4 Wis —
to function at all may not be permanently purchased with this Spellcraft 4 Int —
ability. Naturally, a technologist can upgrade only gadgets with Search 4 Int —
Gather Information (cc) 2 Wis —
the Master of Gadgetry ability. If the technologist is unable to
Diplomacy (cc) 2 Cha —
spend any of these special gold pieces, any that remain are simply
lost and provide no benefit. Feat: Skill Focus (any).
For example, upon attaining 7th level, Prentice has an Devices Mastered: Gadgets (lesser) – pocket ballista, swift
epiphany and upgrades her primary offensive weapon, a custom- striders, technologist’s familiar
built magnificent pitch hurler, with an alchemical resonance crystal, Craft Points: 60.
thereby gaining permanent access to its extra damage capabilities. Gear: Backpack with waterskin, one day’s trail rations,
At the same time, she redesigns her steamplunker to create a light, sack, flint and steel, artisan’s tools, ten sheets of parchment,
aerodynamic shell around any object it fires and gains permanent a pen, and a vial of ink. Belt pouches with three flasks of acid,
access to the increased range listed under that device’s Expensive two vials of alchemist’s fire, a tanglefoot bag, and a sunrod.
Components entry and infuses the lenses of her goggles of acuity Case with 10 crossbow bolts.
with a powerful antimagical alchemical formula increasing the Gold: 2d4 gp.
device’s base duration. The upgrade to the pitch hurler normally

14
permanently grants 3,750 gold pieces’ worth of upgrades.
Master of Artifice (Ex): At 20th level, a technologist is
using the most advanced and technologically complex devices
conceivable on a regular basis and has almost exhausted
the possibilities for scientific advancement in her chosen
fields. Anything more would be a truly epic achievement. The
technologist reaps the fruits of her career of research and
development in the form of 5,000 gold pieces’ worth of upgrades
permanently applied to one or more of her artifacts (only). This
ability is otherwise identical to the Master of Gadgetry and
Master of Technology abilities.
Technologist Skills
The following are expanded uses for two skills relating to
the technologist: Spellcraft and Knowledge (architecture and
engineering).
KNOWLEDGE (INT; TRAINED ONLY)
Matters concerning technologists and technological theories
are covered by the Knowledge (architecture and engineering)
skill, in much the same way that magical affairs fall under
the Knowledge (arcana) skill. Knowledge (architecture and
engineering) allows you to recognize technological traditions,
out-of-date scientific theories, distinctive models of devices,
and technological constructs, as well as the usual uses of the
Knowledge (architecture and engineering) skill.
Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge
(architecture and engineering), you get a +2 bonus on Knowledge
(history) checks made to recall something about historical events
significantly involving high technology.
SPELLCRAFT (INT; TRAINED ONLY)
In addition to the normal uses of the Spellcraft skill, you
can use this skill to identify devices as they are
being activated, or when their effects are already
in place. Spellcraft is the skill used to identify
unusual effects of all kinds in the core D20
Fantasy rules, and diluting it by adding a class of
pseudo-magical effects to which it does not apply
is not recommended. If the game master feels
more comfortable separating the technological
applications of Spellcraft into their own skill (such
as a “Techcraft” skill), he can do so.

DC Task
17 Identify a gadget being activated or in your
possession. No action required. No retry.
20 Identify a technology being activated or in
your possession. No action required. No
retry.
23 Identify an artifact being activated or in
your possession. No action required. No
retry.
22 Identify a gadget by its effects alone, when
it is no longer present. No action required.
No retry.
25 Identify a technology by its effects alone,
when it is no longer present. No action
required. No retry.
28 Identify an artifact by its effects alone when
it is no longer present. No action required.
No retry.
27 After rolling a saving throw against a
gadget targeted on you, determine what
that device was. No action required. No
retry.
30 After rolling a saving throw against a
technology targeted on you, determine
what that device was. No action required.
No retry.
33 After rolling a saving throw against an
artifact targeted on you, determine what
that device was. No action required. No
retry.
Prentice Cogitens uses the Spellcraft skill to puzzle out a mysterious device. 30 or Identify a strange or unique technological
Optionally, the game master might decide to shift technological applications of higher effect, such as an airship. Time required
the Spellcraft skill to a new skill, Techcraft (artwork by Susan Knowles) varies. No retry.

15
Expanded Masterwork Rules
Craft points are an important class ability for technologists.
Unfortunately, the core rules do not offer many ways to spend
this wealth effectively, since the use of craft points is restricted to
nonmagical items that the Craft skill can produce. Technologists
have access to expensive upgrade components that increase the
effectiveness of their devices, but this might not be enough to keep
master artisans happily creating. This section presents a simple
set of rules that expand upon the concept of the masterwork item
in the core rules and easily slot into the existing system.
In the standard rules, masterwork items get a standard
bonus for one of three types: weapons, armor, or skill-related.
Technologists, pioneers in many fields of artisanship, have
introduced many alternate masterwork components beyond the
basic three. These components all have a base market value of 300
gold pieces and require DC 20 Craft checks of the appropriate
type to complete.
You can also create an item with multiple masterwork
components. The second masterwork component costs 600 gp
and has a Craft DC of 25. The third costs 900 gp and has a Craft
DC of 30, the fourth costs 1,200 gp and has a Craft DC of 35, and
so on. Multiple instances of the same masterwork component do
not stack unless otherwise noted.
Weapon Components
Exceptional Balance: The weapon grants a +1 enhancement
bonus to attack rolls made with it, as it is easier to use in
some significant way. This is the same as the standard weapon
masterwork component.
Wicked Edge: The weapon grants a +1 enhancement bonus to
damage rolls made with it, as it has a serrated edge, a proliferation
of spikes, or some other feature that makes it particularly deadly.
Alchemical Compartment: The weapon is capable of dispensing
an alchemical substance, such as a poison or alchemist’s fire when
it strikes a target. This only happens once, when the wielder takes
a swift action to release the substance, and then the weapon must
be reloaded as a full-round action.
A masterwork ballista, incorporating various improvements
(artwork by Leonardo da Vinci)
16
Example – An Assassin’s Weapon
Guilds of assassins and thieves favor venomous
masterwork weapons because they are more cost-effective
than single poison doses in the hands of someone who
plans to make frequent use of the weapon. They are also
easier to conceal than a separate dose of poison; it requires
a DC 25 Search check or a DC 20 Craft (weaponsmithing)
check to note the weapon’s deadly nature, and detect magic
and similar spells do not reveal masterwork weapons.
A common example of such a weapon, a concealable
venomous dagger treated with giant wasp venom (damage
1d6 Dex/1d6 Dex, save DC 16), costs 3,001 gold pieces.
Style-Oriented: The weapon has some features only helpful
to someone who intends to use it in a very specific way. Select
one feat from the following list: Combat Expertise, Power Attack,
Dodge, Weapon Focus (this weapon), Improved Initiative, or Two-
Weapon Fighting. Whenever a character with the appropriate feat
uses both the weapon and the feat in the same round, the weapon
grants a +1 enhancement bonus to both attack and damage.
Otherwise, this masterwork component provides no benefit.
Vicious-Looking: The weapon looks like it wants to kill
someone. The wielder gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all
Intimidate checks he makes while the weapon is drawn and held
at the ready.
Sturdy: The weapon is well made, and extraordinarily durable.
It gains a +2 bonus to hardness and +10 hit points.
Concealable: The weapon is slim and alchemically treated to
take on the color of whatever surface it rests upon. All Sleight of
Hand checks made to conceal the weapon gain a +2 circumstance
bonus and you may attempt to conceal the weapon on your
person even if you have no ranks in the Sleigh of Hand skill.
Venomous: The weapon has been alchemically infused with a
certain type of poison and is etched with grooves that better hold
poisons of the appropriate type. When adding this component
to a weapon, you must choose a specific injury or contact poison
and provide 10 doses of that poison. Whenever the venomous
masterwork weapon strikes a creature, it delivers the selected
poison. The Fortitude save DC to resist the poison is reduced
by 2 due to the attenuated nature of the infused substance. The
weapon’s surface must be kept clean to deliver the poison, but not
too clean. If someone unfamiliar with its poisonous nature cleans
the weapon, he has a 50% chance of wiping the poison away. If
this happens, a single dose of the appropriate poison must be
applied to prime the weapon again.
Sacred/Profane: The weapon has been inlaid with holy
symbols and ritually blessed according to the rites of a particular
religion. The weapon acts as a holy symbol for followers of that
religion, and it deals +1 point of damage against creatures with
an opposing alignment subtype, chosen at the time of the item’s
creation.
Tripping: The weapon is specially designed to trip opponents,
with hooks or other such devices and a specially made hilt. If the
weapon cannot normally be used to trip, it gains the ability to do
so. If you are tripped during your own trip attempt, you may drop
the weapon to avoid being pulled off your feet. If the weapon can
already can be used to trip the wielder gains a +2 circumstance
bonus on all trip attempts made with the masterwork weapon.
Disarming: The weapon has prongs at the hilt or some other
modification designed to make it better at relieving opponents of
their weapons. The wielder gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all
rolls to make and resist disarm attempts with the weapon.
Sorcerous: The weapon has magic runes carved along its
length or has been impregnated with a magical material and
bypasses damage reduction as though it were magical. It gains no
other benefits from this ability.
Armor Components
Custom-Fit: The armor is made for the wearer, and has an
armor check penalty 1 lower than normal and a maximum
Dexterity bonus 1 greater.
Heavy: The armor is reinforced to be particularly strong. It
gains a +1 enhancement bonus to AC that does not stack with
magical enhancement and a 10% increase in its weight.
Element Resistant: The armor has fur trim, a flame-retardant
polish, or is made of a substance that repels acids. The wearer
gains energy resistance 2 against one energy type, selected when
the masterwork armor is created.
Easily Assembled: The armor has special buckles or other
features designed to allow the wearer to don the armor quickly
and efficiently. The wearer may “don hastily” without penalty.
Reinforced: The armor employs adamantine reinforcement,
or otherwise provides exceptional protection to the wearer’s vital
areas. The armor has a +2 enhancement bonus to AC, but only for
resisting critical hit confirmations.
Impressive: The armor has gold inlay, is made of exotic
materials, or otherwise looks good. Whenever the wearer can
display the masterwork armor for all to see, he gains a +2
This forging harness incorporates the Dedicated to a Purpose improvement
for Craft (armorsmithing) and Craft (weaponsmithing)
17
circumstance bonus on all Diplomacy checks.
Aquatic: The armor is made of naturally buoyant materials,
has inflatable air sacks, or somehow allows the wearer to not
sink like a stone. The wielder still suffers the masterwork armor’s
armor check penalty to Swim checks, but this penalty is not
doubled as it normally would be.
Sacred/Profane: The armor has been inlaid with holy symbols
or it incorporates materials from a particularly holy (or wicked)
sort of creature. The armor acts as a holy symbol for followers of
the religion to which it is dedicated and all attacks from creatures
with a given alignment subtype opposed to the religion’s own
suffer a –1 morale penalty to the attack roll (choose one opposing
alignment subtype at time of creation).
Clean: The armor is designed to be easily cleaned by the owner
and has alchemical pads that absorb toxins and disease-causing
agents before they can louse up the armor. The wearer gains a +2
circumstance bonus on all saves versus poison and disease.
Skill-Related Components
High-Quality: The item is particularly good at the purpose for
which it was intended. All skill checks made using the item gain a
+2 circumstance bonus. For instance, you could apply this quality
to shoes made to Move Silently, or gloves made for Climbing.
Durable: The item is of a sturdy construction. It gains a +2
bonus to its hardness, and +10 hit points.
Efficient: The item is good at conserving resources, and all
other items made using it require only 75% of the normal cost of
raw materials. This benefit does not apply to items made using
craft points, nor does it increase the number of craft points you
can gain by making a Craft or Profession check.
Fast: The item has multiply redundant parts, an easy to
navigate configuration, or is otherwise easy to use. The user gains
a 25% reduction to the time it takes to make or analyze anything
using the masterwork item.
Space-Saving: The item has miniaturized parts and is otherwise
easy to pack and carry. The masterwork item weighs
only half as much as a normal item of its type, with a
commensurate decrease in the space it takes up.
Dedicated to a Purpose: The item is meant for one
specific purpose; an alchemy lab for making tanglefoot
bags, a smithy used exclusively to forge swords, or a
magnifying glass meant to appraise jewels. The item
grants a +4 circumstance bonus on skill checks made
for that specific purpose, but for no others.
User-Friendly: The item is easily used by an
unskilled individual, with clear instructions and
other user-friendly traits. Any character may make
a skill check with the item as though she had half a
rank in that skill. For instance, a user-friendly book
of Knowledge (the planes) would allow untrained
individuals to make Knowledge (the Planes) checks,
while a user-friendly masterwork accountant’s ledger
allows the character to make Profession (accountant)
checks untrained.
 Sacred/Profane: The item is obviously evil (sacrificial
implements), or obviously good (alchemist’s lab used to purify
holy water) and makes characters of the opposite alignment
uncomfortable. Such creatures must make a DC 16 Will save to
touch the object; this save can be attempted once per minute. Once
a creature makes the save, anyone may handle the item normally
regardless of their alignment until it is re-dedicated by the
character that created it or a cleric of the appropriate alignment.
The rededication ceremony takes 1 hour and consumes 5 gold
pieces in the appropriate religious trappings.
Technologist NPC Statistics
This section presents a set of baseline statistics for the
technologist at every level from 1 to 20 along with a sample
technologist, Prentice Cogitens, presented at 5th, 10th, and 15th
levels to give you an idea of what the class looks like in play.
Additionally, Table 2-4 provides a demographic breakdown by
race and alignment that represents a typical D&D campaign’s
racial mix of technologists, allowing you to randomly roll up a
quick NPC or simply see how likely a good-aligned svirfneblin
gnome is to take up the mantle of the technologist.
See pages 110–112 of the DMG for more detailed guidelines
on creating NPCs using these resources. If you use the community
generation rules on pages 137–139 of the DMG, the highest-level
technologist in a given city or town should have a character level
of 1d3 + the community modifier.
NPC Technologist
Starting Ability Scores: Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 8,
Cha 14
Increased Ability Scores: 4th, Int 16; 8th, Int 17; 12th, Int 18
(20); 15th, Int 18 (22); 16th, Int 19 (23); 18th, Int 19 (25);
20th, Int 20 (26).
NPCs and Craft Points
The sample technologist progression in this section
uses the method suggested in an earlier sidebar for
calculating craft points for characters above 1st level. If
you spend all of these craft points, you will end up with
an NPC that could conceivably make your characters quite
wealthy after the battle. Instead, try using these points to
adjust the difficulty of a technologist encounter by giving
the character expensive components with which to boost
her devices before or even during the battle. As long as
these components are expended, you need not worry about
handing out too much treasure. You can also use these
precalculated craft point totals for PCs starting above 1st
level, instead of doing the math yourself.
PRENTICE COGITENS AT 5TH LEVEL CR 5
Half-elf technologist 5
CN Medium humanoid
Init +1; Senses Spot +0, Listen +0; low-light vision
Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, Halfling
AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14; Dodge
hp 25 (5 HD)
Immune sleep
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +3 (+5 vs. enchantment)
Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Melee dagger +3 (1d4, 19–20/×2)
Ranged mwk pocket ballista +5 (1d8, 19–20/×2, 80 feet) or
ranged touch +4
Base Atk +3; Grp +3
Combat Gear 5 adamantine bolts, 5 silver bolts, 5 cold iron
bolts, potion of invisibility, potion of shield of faith +3, potion
of protection from arrows (10/magic), potion of cure moderate

Table 2-4: Technologist Demographics

Good NPCs Neutral NPCs Evil NPCs
Race/Kind % Race/Kind % Race/Kind %
Aasimar (planetouched) 01 Dwarf, deep 01–02 Dwarf (any) 01
Dwarf, deep 02–03 Dwarf, hill 03–05 Elf (any) 02
Dwarf, hill 04–07 Dwarf, mountain 06–07 Half-elf 03–21
Dwarf, mountain 08–09 Elf, gray 08 Halfling (any) 22
Elf, gray 10–11 Elf, high 09 Half-orc —
Elf, high 12–13 Elf, wild — Human 23–60
Elf, wild — Elf, wood — Lizardfolk —
Elf, wood — Gnome, forest 10 Hobgoblin 61–73
Gnome, forest 14 Gnome, rock 11–19 Kobold 74–88
Gnome, rock 15–24 Half-elf 20–42 Tiefling (planetouched) 89
Half-elf 25–52 Halfling, lightfoot 43–44 Drow (elf) [lvl –1] 90–91
Halfling, lightfoot 53–54 Halfling, deep 45–48 Dwarf, duergar [lvl –1] 92–93
Halfling, deep 55–59 Halfling, tallfellow 49 Derro [lvl –1] 94–95
Halfling, tallfellow — Half-orc — Bugbear [lvl –2] —
Half-orc — Human 50–96 Tentacle-faced brain-eater [lvl –8] 96–97
Human 60–93 Lizardfolk — Ogre mage [lvl –8] 98
Gnome, svirfneblin [lvl –1] 94–98 Gnome, svirfneblin [lvl –1] 97–99 Wererat (lycan.) [lvl –1] 99
Half-celestial [lvl –1] 99 Doppelganger [lvl –3] 00 Werewolf (lycan.) [lvl –1] —
Half-dragon [lvl –2] 00 Wereboar (lycan.) [lvl –1] — Half-fiend [lvl –2] 00
Werebear (lycan.) [lvl –2] — Weretiger (lycan.) [lvl –1] — Half-dragon [lvl –2] —

18
 wounds, 2 potions of cure light wounds, 3 flasks of alchemist’s
fire, 3 flasks of acid, 2 tanglefoot bags
Technologist Devices (AL 5th, 65 APs, DC 15):
T(l) – orgonic siphon
G(g) – magnificent pitch hurler, smite magic, voltaic coil
G(s) – icebound barricade, steamplunker, technologist’s magnifying
glass, Tullius’s efficacious nostrum, vitriol projector
G(l) – fabricacious fabricator, goggles of acuity, pocket ballista,
swift striders, technologist’s familiar
Abilities Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 14
SQ craft points (1,250), expert, half-elf racial traits
Feats Dodge, Skill Focus (Craft [technology])
Skills Concentration +9, Craft (alchemy) +5, Craft (technology)
+16, Diplomacy +8, Disable Device +13, Knowledge
(architecture and engineering) +11, Open Lock +11, Search
+12 (+14 secret compartments), Spellcraft +11
Possessions Combat gear plus +1 studded leather armor (custom-
fit), mwk pocket ballista (balanced) with 10 bolts, dagger,
backpack with waterskin, one day’s trail rations, sack, flint
and steel, mwk technologist’s tools (high-quality), ten
sheets of paper, a pen, and a vial of ink, belt pouches with
combat gear, mwk thieves’ tools (high-quality), three vials
of antitoxin, and three sunrods, 17 gp
PC Gear As above, plus alchemist’s lab and cloak of resistance +1,
goggles of minute seeing, Huewar’s handy haversack
KIIR CR —
Technologist’s familiar
N Tiny construct
Init +2; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
vision
Languages none; understands master
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12; hardness 10
hp 7 (½ HD)

Table 2-5: NPC Technologist

Skills/ Act. Craft
Level hp AC Melee Ranged F/R/W Feats Pts. Pts. Gear
1 7 14 +0 +2 +1/+1/+1 32/1 10 100 Mwk studded leather, mundane melee,
mwk ranged, 400 gp
2 11 14 +1 +3 +1/+1/+2 40/1 15 275 As 1st level, except 1,500 gp
3 16 14 +2 +4 +2/+2/+2 48/2 35 525 As 1st level, except 2,000 gp
4 20 15 +3 +5 +2/+2/+3 57/2 55 850 +1 studded leather, mundane melee, mwk
ranged, 800 gp
5 25 15 +3 +5 +2/+2/+3 66/2 65 1,250 As 4th level, except 1,900 gp
6 29 15 +4 +6 +4/+4/+5 75/3 105 1,875 +1 studded leather, mundane melee, mwk
ranged, cloak of resistance +1, 3,200 gp
7 34 15 +6 +7 +4/+4/+5 84/3 125 2,687 Studded leather +1, +1 ranged, mwk melee,
cloak +1, 2,500 gp
8 38 15 +7/2 +8/3 +4/+4/+6 93/3 165 3,687 As 7th level, except 4,700 gp
9 43 16 +7/2 +8/3 +5/+5/+6 102/4 205 4,875 studded leather +2, +1 ranged, mwk melee,
cloak +1, 4,300 gp
10 47 16 +8/3 +9/4 +5/+5/+7 111/4 265 6,500 As 9th level, except 8,300 gp
11 52 17 +9/4 +10/5 +5/+5/+7 120/4 305 7,750 Ring of protection +1, studded leather +2, +1
ranged, mwk melee, cloak +1, 11,300 gp
12 56 19 +10/5 +11/6 +6/+6/+8 130/5 375 11,375 Ring +2, studded leather +2, +1 ranged, mwk
melee, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak +1,
headband of intellect +2, 6,300 gp
13 61 20 +10/5 +11/6 +6/+6/+8 140/5 445 15,000 Ring +2, studded leather +3, +1 ranged, mwk
melee, amulet +1, cloak +1, headband +2,
6,200 gp
14 65 20 +11/6 +12/7 +7/+7/+10 150/5 515 19,875 Ring +2, studded leather +3, +1 ranged, mwk
melee, amulet +1, cloak +2, headband +2,
13,000 gp
15 70 20 +12/7/2 +13/8/3 +8/+8/+10 160/6 595 25,875 As 14th level, except headband +4 and
17,000 gp
16 74 21 +13/8/3 +14/9/4 +8/+8/+11 170/6 685 34,000 As 15th level, except amulet +2 and
27,000 gp
17 79 22 +13/8/3 +15/10/5 +9/+9/+12 180/6 765 44,000 Ring +2, studded leather +4, +2 ranged, +1
melee, amulet +2, cloak +3, headband +4,
42,000 gp
18 83 23 +14/9/4 +16/11/6 +10/+10/+13 190/7 845 55,875 Ring +2, studded leather +5, +2 ranged, +1
melee, amulet +2, cloak +3, headband +6,
33,000 gp
19 88 24 +15/10/5 +17/12/7 +11/+11/+14 200/7 945 72,125 As 18th level, except ring +3, cloak +4 and
56,000 gp
20 92 25 +16/11/6 +18/13/8 +12/+12/+16 211/7 1025 92,125 As 18th level, except amulet +3, cloak +5,
and 87,000 gp
Devices Mastered Per Level: See Table 2-2 above.

19
Immune construct traits engineering) +16, Open Lock +16, Search +16 (+23 secret
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will –5 compartments and traps), Spellcraft +16
Speed 60 feet (12 squares) Possessions Combat gear plus +2 studded leather armor (custom-
Melee slam +1 (1d3–1, ×2) fit), +1 pocket ballista (balanced) with 10 bolts, mwk dagger
Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft. (balanced), cloak of resistance +1, goggles of minute seeing,
Base Atk +0; Grp –9 alchemist’s lab, Huewar’s handy haversack with 10 doses of
Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1 Tullius’s efficacious nostrum, waterskin, one day’s trail rations,
SQ construct traits sack, flint and steel, masterwork technologist’s tools, ten
sheets of paper, a pen, and a vial of ink, side pouches with
PRENTICE COGITENS AT 10TH LEVEL CR 10 combat gear, masterwork thieves’ tools, three vials of
Half-elf technologist 10 antitoxin, and three sunrods, 42 gp
CN Medium humanoid PC Gear As above, plus air elemental gem, brooch of shielding (101
Init +1; Senses Spot +0, Listen +0; low-light vision points remaining), chime of opening, headband of intellect
Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, Halfling +2, Nalzeur’s marvelous pigments, potion of endure elements, 2
AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15; Dodge potions of protection from evil, 2 potions of shield of faith +2, ring
hp 47 (10 HD) of protection +1; upgrade studded leather to +3, upgrade mwk
Immune sleep dagger to adamantine, upgrade cloak to +3
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +7 (+9 vs. enchantment)
Speed 30 feet (6 squares) KIIR CR —
Melee mwk dagger +8/+3 (1d4, 19–20/×2) Technologist’s familiar
Ranged +1 pocket ballista +9 (1d8+1, 19–20/×2, 80 feet) or ranged N Tiny construct
touch +8 Init +2; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
Base Atk +7; Grp +7 vision
Atk Options Point Blank Shot Languages none; understands master
Combat Gear 5 adamantine bolts, 5 silver bolts, 5 cold iron AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12; hardness 10
bolts, potion of haste, potion of invisibility, potion of shield of faith hp 12 (½ HD)
+5, potion of protection from arrows (10/magic), potion of resist Immune construct traits
cold (10), potion of resist electricity (10), potion of resist fire (10), 2 Fort +0, Ref +2, Will –5
potions of cure moderate wounds, 3 potions of cure light wounds, 3 Speed 60 feet (12 squares)
flasks of alchemist’s fire, 3 flasks of acid, 2 tanglefoot bags Melee slam +1 (1d3–1, ×2)
Technologist Devices (AL 10th, 265 APs, DC 18): Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.
A(l) – worm gauntlet Base Atk +0; Grp –9
T(g) – orgonic field perturbation inducer Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
T(s) – goggles of X-ray vision, umbral heart cloak SQ construct traits
T(l) – dark matter pall, Folly’s finagling fingers, orgonic siphon
G(g) – Dalyrimple’s obfuscating eye, Imperial service widget, PRENTICE COGITENS AT 15TH LEVEL CR 15
magnificent pitch hurler (+50% normal fire damage), smite Half-elf technologist 15
magic, voltaic coil CN Medium humanoid
G(s) – icebound barricade, master’s tools (for Craft Init +6; Senses Spot +0, Listen +0; low-light vision
[technology]), steamplunker (range increment increased Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, Halfling
to 1,200 feet), technologist’s magnifying glass, Tullius’s AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 19; Dodge
efficacious nostrum, vitriol projector, zephyr hammer hp 100 (15 HD)
G(l) – fabricacious fabricator, goggles of acuity (base duration Immune sleep
3 hours), magic sensitivity, pocket ballista, swift striders, Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +10 (+12 vs. enchantment)
technologist’s familiar Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Abilities Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 8, Cha 14 Melee adamantine dagger +12/+7/+2 (1d4, 19–20/×2)
SQ craft points (6,500), expert, half-elf racial traits, master Ranged +1 pocket ballista +14 (1d8+1, 19–20/×2, 80 feet) or
of gadgetry (goggles of acuity, magnificent pitch hurler, and ranged touch +13
steamplunker) Base Atk +11; Grp +11
Feats Combat Casting, Dodge, Point Blank Shot, Skill Focus Atk Options Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
(Craft [technology]) Combat Gear 5 adamantine bolts, 5 silver bolts, 5 cold iron
Skills Concentration +14 (+18 casting defensively), Craft bolts, potion of barkskin +5, potion of haste, potion of invisibility,
(alchemy) +13, Craft (technology) +21, Diplomacy potion of protection from arrows (10/magic), potion of resist
+10, Disable Device +18, Knowledge (architecture and cold (10), potion of resist electricity (10), potion of resist fire (10),

20
 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, 3 potions of cure light wounds, PC Gear As above, plus air elemental gem, chime of opening,
3 flasks of alchemist’s fire, 3 flasks of acid, 2 tanglefoot bags figurine of wondrous power (silver raven), gem of brightness (30
Technologist Devices (AL 15th, 595 APs, DC 23): charges remaining), Nalzeur’s marvelous pigments, necklace
A(s) – caesura weapon of adaptation, potion of pass without trace, 2 potions of protection
A(l) – Gelph’s instant aggressor, worm gauntlet from evil, ring of invisibility, robe of useful items; upgrade studded
T(g) – aura of just retribution (effect is maximized), coronal leather to +4 and light fortification, upgrade cloak to+4, upgrade
electroweapon (deals force damage), greater smite magic, gloves to +4, upgrade headband to +6, upgrade ring to +4
orgonic field perturbation inducer
T(s) – aqua vitae major, goggles of X-ray vision, umbral heart cloak KIIR CR —
T(l) – aviatronic wing, dark matter pall, Folly’s finagling fingers, Technologist’s familiar
orgonic siphon N Tiny construct
G(g) – Dalyrimple’s obfuscating eye, Imperial service widget, Init +2; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
magnificent pitch hurler (+50% normal fire damage), smite vision
magic, voltaic coil Languages none; understands master
G(s) – icebound barricade, master’s tools (for Craft AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12
[technology]), steamplunker (range increment increased hp 17 (½ HD); hardness 10
to 1,200 feet), technologist’s magnifying glass, Tullius’s Immune construct traits
efficacious nostrum, vitriol projector, zephyr hammer Fort +0, Ref +2, Will –5
G(l) – fabricacious fabricator, goggles of acuity (base duration Speed 60 feet (12 squares)
3 hours), magic sensitivity, pocket ballista, swift striders, Melee slam +1 (1d3–1, ×2)
technologist’s familiar Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Abilities Str 10, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 22, Wis 8, Cha 14 Base Atk +0; Grp –9
SQ aqua vitae major (permanent +4 enhancement to Con), Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
craft points (25,875), expert, half-elf racial traits, master SQ construct traits
of gadgetry (goggles of acuity, magnificent pitch hurler and
steamplunker), master of technology (aura of just retribution SHUMP CR —
and coronal electroweapon) Gelph’s instant aggressor
Feats Combat Casting, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Point Blank N Large construct
Shot, Precise Shot, Skill Focus (Craft [technology]) Init –1; Senses Spot +0, Listen +0, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
Skills Concentration +21 (+25 casting defensively), Craft vision
(alchemy) +24, Craft (technology) +29, Diplomacy Languages none; understands master
+13, Disable Device +26, Knowledge (architecture and AC 18, touch 8, flat-footed 18
engineering) +24, Open Lock +22, Search +24 (+31 secret hp 129 (9 HD); DR 5/adamantine
compartments and traps), Spellcraft +24 Immune construct traits, magic
Possessions Combat gear plus +3 studded leather armor (custom- Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3
fit), +1 pocket ballista (balanced) with 10 bolts, adamantine Speed 55 feet (11 squares)
dagger (balanced), amulet of natural armor +1, brooch of Melee 2 slams +13 (2d8+8 plus 1d6 electricity, ×2)
shielding (94 points remaining), cloak of resistance +2, goggles of Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
minute seeing, gloves of Dexterity +2, headband of intellect +4, ring Base Atk +6; Grp +18
of protection +2, alchemist’s lab, Huewar’s handy haversack with Abilities Str 26, Dex 9, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
10 doses of Tullius’s efficacious nostrum, waterskin, one day’s SQ berserk, construct traits
trail rations, sack, flint and steel, mwk technologist’s tools
(high-quality), ten sheets of paper, a pen, and a vial of ink,
side pouches with combat gear, mwk thieves’ tools (high-
quality), three vials of antitoxin, and three sunrods, 87 gp

21
 Chapter Three:
Activation Mechanics
In the morning before the day’s adventuring begins, Prentice Activating Devices
sits hunched over a sturdy metallic spider, wrench at the ready. She Activating a device works the same way for all technologists.
pops open a concealed metal plate on the construct’s underside,
and reaches in, past tiny articulated cogs and translucent power Choosing a Device*
crystals. With a sharp twist, Prentice adjusts the clockwork The first step is choosing which device you wish to activate.
creature’s mainspring which had been forcibly decalibrated by a You can select any device you have mastered and have within easy
bandit’s crossbow bolt the day before. It only takes a moment, but reach. Easy reach for this purpose means in the same square for
as Prentice repairs her creation she feels a familiar bond forming, Medium or smaller creatures, or within their normal melee reach,
a bond that ensures that the carefully designed device laid out minus 5 feet, for larger creatures.
before her will work when she needs it to instead of slipping To activate a device, you must be able to manipulate it in
gears and breaking power transfer coils almost at random. some way with one hand. Some devices also require you to give
Satisfied with her work, Prentice flips the spider-like construct verbal commands or to wear the device on your person; the text
over and concentrates on it for a moment as she winds it up of the device description spells out any additional requirements
again, causing it to shudder to artificial life. When the call comes beyond simply having one hand free. It is assumed that you can
to leave the campsite, Prentice stands, her careful maintenance retrieve and then replace a device during the process of activating
giving her confidence that her devices will operate to devastating it, if desired. Holding the device in hand before deciding to
effectiveness. activate it does not noticeably decrease the activation time because
Devices are technological creations designed to produce a activating a device is as much a mental action as a physical one.
one-time effect similar to that of a spell. They come in three However, you do gain a small boon from having the device at the
orders, and each of those orders has three ranks of power. ready in the form of a +1 circumstance bonus to all attack rolls
Each kind of device represents a different level of scientific made with a device that you are already holding. (This bonus
achievement, from the merely sophisticated to the completely
reality-bending. This chapter describes the three orders of
devices, and explains how to activate devices like the ones
found in the next chapter. You will also find details on what
the device description format means, information about what
happens when devices combine with magical spell effects, and
information on the interactions of devices with the various
special abilities monsters and characters might possess in a
Fantasy d20 game.
This chapter’s layout will be familiar to anyone who owns the
Fantasy d20 core rulebooks. This format leads to some redundancy
in places where a device works just like a spell but will also help
you find and integrate the information in this chapter. However,
for those who just want to get on to the devices after extracting
the meat of this chapter, some sections have been marked with
an asterisk (*) in their section headings. These sections present
new or significantly changed information. For all the others, you
will generally be safe assuming that device activation works just
like spellcasting, but with slightly different jargon. Generally
speaking, activation level is analogous with caster level, activation
time is equivalent to casting time, a device is more or less like
a spell, and the procedure for activating a device is basically the Activating complex devices like this one requires a light touch
same as the procedure for casting a spell. (Artwork by Leonardo da Vinci)

22
represents the additional time you have to aim.) Additionally,
you must be able to concentrate to activate a device, which is
generally just as difficult as concentrating to cast a spell or use
a spell-like ability.
If a device has multiple settings or ways that it can be used,
you make these decisions as you activate the device. For example,
a caloric control mantle can protect you against either cold or fire.
When you activate the device, you choose which energy type it will
protect you against.
When you decide to activate a device, you must immediately
pay the indicated cost in activation points. Even if you fail to
finish activating the device (for instance, if something breaks your
concentration), you still spend these points. Devices with a base
duration also require you to continue to pay the listed cost after
each base duration elapses to maintain the device’s activation.
Activation Level
A device’s saving throw DC and its overall power depend on
its activation level, which for the technologist is equal to her class
level. For example, a magnificent pitch hurler deals 1d6 points of fire
damage per activation level (to a maximum of 10d6). A higher-
level technologist’s magnificent pitch hurler is better designed, so it
deals more damage and has a higher Reflex save DC.
Unlike a spellcaster, a technologist cannot choose on the fly
to activate a device at a lower caster level; instead, she can adjust
the device’s activation level up or down during her daily one-hour
preparation period; this adjustment lasts all day. All of a device’s
activation-level based parameters (usually, its saving throw and the
damage it deals) must use the same activation level at all times.
In the event that a class feature or other special ability provides
a bonus or penalty to your activation level, that adjustment
applies to the effects and saving throw DCs of your devices and
to any activation level checks you must make as well, such as the
activation level check to dispel a spell with smite magic.
Concentration*
To activate a device, you must concentrate. If something
interrupts your concentration while you are activating a device,
you must make a Concentration check or your attempt to activate
the device is ineffectual. The more disruptive the interruption is,
the harder it is to retain your concentration. More powerful orders
of devices also force you to roll higher Concentration checks, as
they require more mental effort than simpler mechanisms. If you
fail this Concentration check, you lose activation points for the
device as though you had activated it to no effect.
Concentration check DCs are listed under the Concentration
skill description on pages 69–70 of the PHB, and again on page
170. The Concentration DCs to activate a device are identical to
those required to cast a spell successfully with the exception of the
spell-level based increase to the DC. Instead of using the indicated
level-based DC adjustment, increase the Concentration check DC
to activate a device while suffering damage or distractions by 2
if attempting to activate a gadget, 5 if attempting to activate a
technology, and 8 if attempting to activate an artifact.
23
Activating Devices on the Defensive: Activating a
device provokes an attack of opportunity unless you activate it
defensively, which requires a Concentration check with a DC
of 15 + a number based on the device’s order — 2 for gadgets, 5
for technologies, and 8 for artifacts. Failure means you lose the
activation points required to activate the device and the device
has no effect.
Arcane Disruption*
Simply casting a spell on a device does not typically prevent
it from working unless the spell specifically has that effect or
manages to somehow counter the device’s effect or destroy it
entirely. Instead, magical spellcasters use a technique called arcane
disruption to neutralize the devices of their technologist foes.
Enemy spellcasters can drop spell slots (or uses per day
of spell-like abilities) and attempt to disrupt your devices by
channeling the spell’s energy into raw magical static. Arcane
disruption works regardless of whether the spell used is arcane
or divine.
How Arcane Disruption Works: To attempt arcane
disruption, you must select a specific device used by an opponent.
In order to counter a device with an instantaneous duration you
must ready an action (see page 160 of the PHB). In doing so, you
elect to wait to complete your action until your opponent tries to
activate one of her devices.
If the target of your disruption attempt tries to activate a
device, make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the opposing character’s
activation level). This check is a free action. If you succeed, you
can figure out enough about the opponent’s device to attempt
to disrupt it. If the check fails, you can still attempt an arcane
disruption but suffer a –5 penalty to your disruption check.
To complete the action, you must then cast a magical spell
or use a spell-like ability (supernatural abilities cannot be used for
arcane disruption). This provokes an attack of opportunity just
as casting a spell in the normal fashion would. You make a special
disruption check, rolling 1d20 and adding twice the level of the
spell you sacrificed. For example, sacrificing a fireball spell for
arcane disruption would grant you a +6 bonus to your disruption
roll. The DC of the disruption check is 6 + the opponent’s
activation level. If you fail, nothing happens, and your spell (or
one use of your spell-like ability) is wasted. If you succeed, the
arcane disruption counters the device’s activation, and nothing
happens. The technologist must still pay the full cost in activation
points for attempting to activate the device, however.
You can also attempt to disrupt an ongoing device effect.
To do so, you sacrifice a spell slot as a standard action (which
provokes an attack of opportunity) and roll a Spellcraft check
and a disruption check, as above. If you succeed, the device
you targeted immediately ceases to function and the opposing
technologist must activate it again to reclaim its effects.
In either case, the technologist may attempt to activate the
device again as soon as she has enough time to do so, with no
penalty — the disruptive static this technique creates lasts for only
a moment.
 Disrupting With Metamagic Spells: Metamagic feats are not
taken into account when determining the bonus a dropped spell
provides to the disruption check. For instance, if a wizard dropped
a maximized fireball to disrupt an enemy technologist’s device, the
spell would grant only a +6 bonus to the disruption check.
Psionic Disruption: Unlike magical spells, psionic powers
are generally unable to disrupt other effects, due to the inward-
focused nature of their abilities. (This is why psionic characters
have no “counterspell” option.) Thus, the DC for psionic
disruption is 16 + the device’s activation level. Psionicists may not
attempt a Spellcraft or Psicraft check to reduce this, though they
do receive a bonus on the check equal to one-half the number
of power points they expend in the disruption attempt, rounded
down. The metapsionic cap still applies to this special use of
power points, and a psionic character may spend no more power
points than his or her manifester level on a given attempt at
psionic disruption.
Specific Exceptions: Some spells are specifically noted as
canceling other spells. For instance, a daylight spell automatically
cancels all darkness spells of 2nd level or lower. If applicable,
you can use such spells to automatically disrupt a technologist’s
devices. For this purpose, gadgets count as 2nd-level spells,
technologies as 5th-level spells, and artifacts as 8th-level spells.
Thus, a daylight spell, which cancels out darkness spells of 2nd
level or lower, could be used to automatically disrupt a gadget
with the darkness descriptor. Likewise, a spell that automatically
negated a given fire effect would work against devices with the
fire descriptor just as well as it would against a magical fire spell,
provided the negating spell does not rely exclusively on countering
magical effects to function.
Device Failure
If you ever try to activate a device when the conditions are less
than amenable and your concentration is broken, your attempted
activation has no effect. Additionally, if you ever try to activate a
device when any of the device’s characteristics cannot be made to
apply, the activation fails and your activation points are wasted.
For example, if you use a wheedling stone on a dog, the device fails
because wheedling stones can only target humanoids.
The Device’s Result
Once you know which creatures, areas, or objects a device
affects and all of the relevant parties have made their saving
throws, simply apply the effect of the device to those targets, as
listed in the device’s description. Note that some devices affect
only specific types of creatures. In particular, this applies to
targeted antimagic devices, which are primarily effective against
magic-dependent constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
These terms, and terms like them, refer to the specific creature
types defined in the core rules.
Special Device Effects
The following are some special device effects that require
specific rules to adjudicate. Because devices are not organized by
24
effect as are magical spells, there are several special effects that
appear here instead of in the later discussion of the orders of devices.
Typically, a special subschool for arcane and divine spellcasters
is instead a descriptor applied to the appropriate technological
devices and the descriptor has the same meaning as the school
or subschool when determining how specific devices and spells
interact. See pages 172–174 of the PHB for more information on
the magical subschools. Technologists cannot duplicate the effects
of some subschools; these are also noted below.
The following effects have no special descriptor, but work just
like a magical spell of the same type would:
Attacks, Bonus Types, and Bringing Back the Dead:
These special effects work in exactly the same way they do for
other spellcasters — see page 171 of the PHB. Technological
devices typically grant the same types of bonuses as arcane spells
do, and the stacking rule applies normally regardless of where
the bonus is coming from. Only very unusual devices are capable
of bringing the dead back to life, but such devices are subject to
the same restrictions as clerical raise dead and resurrection spells; in
particular, the inability to revive someone against their will.
The following effect types generally work just like their magical
counterparts:
Teleportation: Instantaneous travel is not a particular
strength of the technologist, but devices that allow it work in a
manner similar to magical teleportation. The transportation is
one-way and cannot be negated by arcane disruption or other
means. Teleportation is instantaneous travel through the Astral
Plane unless otherwise specified. Thus, anything that blocks
magical teleportation through the Astral works normally against
technological teleportation effects. Devices with teleportation
effects are marked with the teleportation descriptor.
Healing: A number of technological devices can restore lost
hit points or heal various ailments, but they generally do not use
positive energy to do so. Thus, these devices have no particular effect
on the undead unless their description specifically says so. “Healing”
is a descriptor for devices, and anything that affects healing spells
will likewise affect devices with the healing descriptor.
Charm and Compulsion: Charms influence how the
subject views you and compulsions allow you to force a subject
to act in a certain way. These magical subschools are instead
device descriptors for the technologist. Spells and effects that
mention these subschools work normally against devices with the
appropriate descriptor.
Divination: Only devices that actively glean information
on some subject have the divination descriptor, so a device like
the magnetosonic waveform pulse generator has the descriptor, but
the goggles of acuity do not. Because their effects are not magical
in nature, only blanket protection against all divination effects
affects devices with the divination descriptor.
*Illusion: A device that generates an illusion is marked with
the illusion descriptor. These false sensations are usually created
by complicated light and sound projectors, and just like magical
illusions they have no real substance. Depending on the device in
question, an illusion may function as either a glamer or a figment.
The individual device description will describe its particular effects.
Unlike magical figments, technological illusions can change the
appearance of an object by overlaying the unreal on the real.
Unless otherwise noted, illusions are not real and cannot
produce real effects. They cannot cause damage to creatures or
objects, support any weight, be used to feed something, or protect
someone from damage. Illusion-creating devices are generally
useless for attacking foes directly, although they are useful for
confusing or misdirecting an opponent. An illusion’s AC is 10 +
its size modifier, unless otherwise noted.
Because there are no distinctions between varieties of
illusions except in their effects, only spells and effects that affect
all illusion spells equally (such as true seeing) have any effect on
illusion-generating devices.
*Saving Throws and Illusions (Disbelief): Though
they are not magical and produce an actual image of light and
sound (even if it is insubstantial), technological illusions are still
countered by a Will save to disbelieve. The deluded character must
reconcile appearances and reality just as he would with a magical
illusion, and doing so requires a Will saving throw. Creatures
encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws
against the illusion until they study it carefully or interact with
it in some fashion (which might require Spot, Listen, or Search
checks). For example, the illusory image created by Dalyrimple’s
obfuscating eye goes undetected unless a character reaches out and
touches it or spends some time carefully looking it over.
A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals that
it is insubstantial but does not change how the illusion looks.
(An illusion created by a spell changes into a translucent outline
when disbelieved, but a technological image remains as before).
Thus, if a technological illusion were used to cover a pit trap, even
revealing the illusion as insubstantial would not allow a character
to see into the pit.
A failed saving throw against an illusion means that the
creature fails to note anything out of place. A character with
absolute proof that something he sees or hears is illusory need not
make a saving throw to disbelieve it. For this reason, characters
who fall through a section of illusory floor, and their counterparts
who spend a minute or two poking at the same illusion, need
not make saving throws. Anyone who successfully disbelieves an
illusion and points it out to his allies grants them an immediate
saving throw with a +4 bonus against the illusion.
Technologists cannot duplicate the following magical sub-
schools, and therefore they do not apply as descriptors to any
technological devices:
Calling, Creation, and Summoning: Technologists cannot
create matter from nothing (except possibly by means of an
artifact), and have no power over extraplanar creatures other than
to destroy them. A device that produces an effect similar to a spell
with one of these descriptors will fully spell out how it works in
its descriptive text.
25
Pattern and Phantasm: A device can sometimes create these
effects, but there are no particular rules or special descriptors
associated with them. A spell or effect that targets patterns or
phantasms is ineffective against a technologist’s devices.
Scrying: Technological devices that gather information
remotely never create a magical scrying sensor. Oftentimes, these
devices use some physical component to gather information, such
as a small flying construct, but if no such physical component
is mentioned in the device’s descriptive text, there is no way to
realize that you are being spied on without some ability to detect
the operation of a device in the area. No technological devices
have the scrying descriptor.
Shadow: Technologists cannot generate shadow effects.
Even if a device creates something partially real, it does not draw
on the Plane of Shadow to do so and the device is therefore
unaffected by spells and abilities that target shadow illusions.
Combining Magical and Device Effects
Devices and magical effects generally work as described
without interfering with each other, no matter how many spells
or device effects happen to be in place on the same recipient or in
the same area. Except in special cases, a spell does not affect the
way a device operates, or vice versa. If a device does have a special
effect on certain spells, the device description delineates this
effect. Several other general rules apply when spells or magical
effects operate in the same place:
Stacking Effects: Devices that provide bonuses or penalties
on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, or other attributes
usually do not stack with themselves. Only the most powerful
effect applies in such a case. The same device can sometimes
produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more
than once. Usually the last device in the series trumps the others,
although the effects of the previous device activations are not
actually removed or disrupted. More generally, the stacking
rule is still in effect regardless of the mix of bonuses and their
respective sources, and two bonuses of the same type do not stack
even if they come from separate sources. Unnamed bonuses from
any source stack with any other bonuses.
Multiple Mental Control Effects: Sometimes device effects
and spells that establish some kind of mental control render each
other irrelevant, such as a device that removes a creature’s ability
to act. Mental controls that do not remove the subject’s ability
to act do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under
the mental control of multiple spellcasters, it tries to obey each
to the best of its ability and to the extent that each controlling
effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting
orders simultaneously, the competing controllers make opposed
Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.
Devices and Spells with Opposite Effects: Abilities with
opposite effects apply normally, with all bonuses, penalties, or
changes accruing in the order that they apply. Some devices or
spells negate or counter other devices or spells. This is a special
effect and the description of the spell or device in question notes
it as such.
 Instantaneous Effects: Two or more effects with
instantaneous durations work cumulatively when they affect the
same target, regardless of their source. For example, if a fireball
and a magnificent pitch hurler struck a creature simultaneously, that
creature must make a normal Reflex saving throw against each
effect and takes fire damage from each according to the saving
throws’ results.
Device Descriptions
Chapter Four lists and describes the standard devices
available to characters. The description of each device is presented
in a standard format that is similar to the way the core rules
present magical spells. However, there are some differences, which
are covered below.
Name
The first line of every device description gives the name by
which the device is generally known. Technologist devices are
somewhat more likely than magical spells to be attributed to a
specific creator. Individual creators may also have special names
for their devices — one technologist’s pocket ballista might be
another’s experimental bolt-flinging mechanism, model X-L42.
Order (Rank)*
Beneath the device name is a line giving the order of the
device and its level of power and complexity within the given
order. All devices belong to one of three orders, which are, from
weakest to strongest, gadgets, technologies, and artifacts. Each of
these orders has a set of identifying characteristics and is divided
into lesser, standard, and greater ranks of effectiveness.
Gadgets*
Gadgets are the lowest order of devices and represent a direct
evolution from existing and naturally stable technology. For
example, crossbows already exist in abundance in most Fantasy
d20 worlds, and a device like the pocket ballista is simply a bigger and
better crossbow. Likewise, technologists are not required to make
a set of masterwork artisan’s tools for a craftsman, but they are
required to produce the dramatically more effective master’s tools.
Gadgets typically use some combination of clockwork
mechanics, sophisticated alchemy, and primitive electrical coils
to generate their effects. Anything more requires a huge leap in
sophistication and complexity, and is thus reserved for higher
orders of devices. Effects that these limited tools cannot generate
are not available to gadgeteers, although the ingenuity of
technologists in finding a way to produce wondrous effects with
even the simplest machines should not be underestimated.
Technologies*
If gadgets are a tinkerer’s playground, only true scientists
get to play with technologies. These devices often bear no
resemblance to lower-order devices, and make use of scientific
knowledge that would normally be unheard of in a fantasy setting.
For instance, the metabolic interdiction field makes use of highly
26
advanced biological principles to thwart the technologist’s foes,
and the distortions of a space-warp modulator require an incredible
understanding of the physical laws of space and time.
Technologies can make use of sophisticated computing
devices, powerful and compact energy sources, and high-tech
synthetic compounds and construction materials. As long as
the physical laws of fantasy reality allow something to happen,
a technology can probably be built to do it. Devices of this order
represent the shared wisdom of the scientific community (or
at least a great deal of learning and inspiration on the part of a
lone technologist) and are the typical experienced technologist’s
primary tools.
Artifacts*
Technologies are capable of many awe-inspiring things,
but they must still obey the recognized laws of physical reality.
Artifacts are different. They make use of scientific principles
only the technologist who created that particular device truly
understands, and they do things that should be outright
impossible for someone without access to magical spellcasting.
No matter how well designed a space-warp modulator is, it cannot
encompass the reality-buckling power of an Imperial null-space
cannon, which can shatter the earth and cause the very substance
of solid matter to become insubstantial and fall into decay.
Artifacts are incomprehensible in their resources to anyone
who lacks the knowledge of how to build one. These supremely
powerful devices can harness the power of entire planes, warp
the laws of reality as though they were mere suggestions, or
pack enough punch in a handheld control pad to level an entire
castle. An artifact’s effects are always dramatic; nobody would
master the mind-bending science behind such a device to plow
a field or cook their dinner, especially since even the simplest
artifacts can rapidly drain the energies of even the most powerful
technologists.
[Descriptor]*
Descriptors appear on the same line as the order and level of
the device. As with spells, these descriptors further categorize the
device and govern how it relates to certain other effects.
Devices share the acid, air, cold, darkness, death, earth,
electricity, fear, fire, force, language-dependent, light, mind-
affecting, sonic, and water descriptors with spells, and these
descriptors govern the interactions of devices and spells in the
same ways. Devices only have the chaotic, evil, lawful, and good
descriptors if using the device is inherently an act of the appropriate
alignment. The most frequent case is the evil descriptor, which
is applied to devices that are deliberately and wantonly cruel in
their effects. In addition to the descriptors that apply to spells,
technologists also add the charm, compulsion, healing, illusion,
and teleportation descriptors.
The antimagic descriptor denotes devices that are not
physical objects but techniques for turning activation points
into various effects that negatively affect the use and control of
magic. Antimagic devices always have a weight of 0 pounds, and
thus no weight entry, but otherwise work just like normal devices.
These devices frequently have adverse effects on creatures of the
construct type; constructs created through entirely technological
means are immune to the effects of these antimagic devices unless
otherwise specified.
A language-dependent device uses intelligible language as a
medium for communication. If the target cannot understand or
cannot hear what the activator of a language-dependent device
says, the device fails.
A mind-affecting device works only against creatures with an
Intelligence score of 1 or higher.
Null-space devices store the actual bulk of the device in an
artificial pocket dimension, and must manifest from this pocket
dimension to have their effects. Null-space devices cannot manifest
in an area where a spell or other effect blocks planar travel.
Activation Time
Many devices have an activation time of 1 standard action.
Others take 1 round or more, while still others can be activated as
a swift or immediate action.
A device that requires a full-round action to activate comes
into effect on the turn you activate it, but you may take no other
actions during that round.
A device that takes 1 round to activate is a full-round action.
It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the
round after you began activating the device. You then act normally
after the device is fully activated. When you begin activating a
device that takes 1 round or longer to activate, you must continue
your concentration from the current round to just before your
turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration before
the activation is complete, you lose the activation points required
to activate the device, and there is no effect.
A device that takes 1 minute to activate comes into effect just
before your turn 1 minute later. For each of those 10 rounds, you
A device’s complexity can be reflected in a long activation time, but especially
powerful devices are always worth the wait (Artwork by Tony Perna)
27
are activating the device as a full-round action, just as noted above
for 1-round activation times. These actions must be consecutive
and uninterrupted or the device activation automatically fails.
A device with an activation time of 1 swift action does not
count against your normal limit of one device activation per
round. However, you may only take a single swift action in round.
Activating a device with an activation time of 1 swift action does
not provoke attacks of opportunity.
You may use a device that requires only an immediate action
to activate at any time, even if it is not your turn. You may not
activate immediate-action devices while you are flat-footed. These
devices are otherwise the same as swift-action activation devices,
and take up your swift action for the next round.
Range*
A device’s range indicates how far from you it can reach, as
defined in the Range entry of the device description. A device’s
range is the maximum distance from you that the device’s effect
can occur, as well as the maximum distance at which you can
designate the device effect’s point of origin. If any portion of the
device’s area of effect would extend beyond this range, that area is
wasted. Standard ranges include the following:
Personal: The device affects only you.
Touch: You must touch a creature or object to affect it. A
touch-range device that deals damage can score a critical hit just
as a normal weapon can. A touch device threatens a critical hit
on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a successful
critical. Some touch-range devices allow you to touch multiple
targets. You can touch as many willing targets as you can reach
as part of the activation, but all targets of the device must be
touched in the same round that you finish activating the device.
Unlimited: The device reaches anywhere on the same plane
of existence.
Range Expressed in Feet: Some devices have no standard
range category or increment, just a range expressed in feet.
*Range Increments: Many devices do not have an absolute
range, and instead have a Range Increment entry. A device’s range
increment works similarly to the range increment for a weapon.
All devices can affect targets out to a maximum of 5 range
increments, but for each range increment past the first that the
target creature or area is from the technologist, the technologist
suffers a –2 penalty to any attack rolls required by the device. If
the device does not require any attack rolls, the save DC of the
device is instead reduced by 2 points per range increment past
the first. Devices that require no attack rolls and do not allow
saving throws are fully effective out to the maximum of 5 range
increments. The standard range increments for devices are close,
medium, and long. Close-range devices have a range increment of
25 feet, medium-range devices have a range increment of 100 feet,
and long-range devices have a range increment of 400 feet.
AIMING A DEVICE
You must make some choice about whom the device is to
affect or where the effect is to originate, depending on the type of
device. The next entry in a device’s description defines the device’s
target (or targets), its effect, or its area, as appropriate.
Target or Targets: Some devices have a target or targets.
You activate these devices and target specific creatures or objects,
as defined by the device itself. You must be able to see or touch the
target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not
have to select your target until you finish activating the device.
Certain devices restrict you to willing targets only. Declaring
yourself as a willing target is something that can be done at any
time (even if you’re flat-footed or it isn’t your turn). Unconscious
creatures are automatically considered willing, but a character
that is conscious but immobile or helpless (such as one who is
bound, cowering, grappling, paralyzed, pinned, or stunned) is
not automatically willing. If the target of a device is yourself (the
device description has a line that reads Target: You), you do not
receive a saving throw. The Saving Throw line is omitted from
such devices.
Some devices allow you to redirect the effect to new targets
or areas after you activate the device. Redirecting a device is a
move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Effect: Some devices produce things rather than affecting
things that are already present. You must designate the location
where these things are to appear, either by seeing it or by
unambiguously defining it. Range determines how far away an
effect can appear, but if the effect is mobile, it can move regardless
of the device’s range. A technologist gunner breaks cover to aim his dangerous — but hopefully highly
Ray: Some effects are rays. You aim a ray as if using a ranged effective — atomic discombobulator at an attacker
weapon, although you typically make a ranged touch attack (Artwork by Anthony Monorchio)
rather than a normal ranged attack. As with a ranged weapon, the device affects. The point of origin of a device is always a grid
you can fire into the dark or at an invisible creature and hope you intersection. When determining whether a given creature is within
hit something. You don’t have to see the creature you’re trying the area of a device, count out the distance from the point of
to hit as you do with a targeted device. Intervening creatures and origin in squares just as you do when moving a character or when
obstacles, however, can block your line of sight or provide cover determining the range for a ranged attack. The only difference
for the creature you’re aiming at. is that instead of counting from the center of one square to the
If a ray device has a duration, it is the duration of the effect center of the next, you count from intersection to intersection.
that the ray causes, and not the length of time the ray itself persists. You can count diagonally across a square, but remember that
If a ray device deals damage, you can score a critical hit just as if it every second diagonal counts as 2 squares of distance. If the far
were a weapon. A ray device threatens a critical hit on a natural roll edge of a square is within the device’s area, anything within that
of 20 and deals double damage on a successful critical. square is within the device’s area. If the device’s area only touches
Spread: Some effects, notably clouds, fogs, and some energy the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is
fields, spread out from a point of origin, which must be a grid unaffected by the device.
intersection. The effect can extend around corners and into Burst, Emanation, or Spread: Most devices that affect an area
areas that you can’t see. Figure distance by actual distance function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you
traveled, taking into account turns the device effect takes. When select the device’s point of origin and measure its effect from that
determining distance for spread effects, count around walls, not point.
through them. As with movement, do not trace diagonals across A burst-area device affects whatever it catches in its area, even
corners. You must designate the point of origin for such an effect, including creatures that you can’t see. It cannot affect creatures
but you need not have line of effect (see below) to all portions of with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects
the effect. do not extend around corners). The default shape for a burst
Area: Some devices affect an area. Sometimes a device effect is a sphere, but some burst devices are specifically described
description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area as cone-shaped. A burst’s area defines how far from the point of
falls into one of the categories defined below. Regardless of the origin the device’s effect extends.
shape of the area, you select the point where the device’s effect An emanation-area device functions like a burst device,
originates but otherwise do not control which creatures or objects except that the effect continues to radiate from the point of origin

28
for the duration of the device’s activation. Most emanations are
cones or spheres.
The effect of a device with an area that is a spread spreads out
like a burst but can turn corners. You select the point of origin,
and the device spreads out a given distance in all directions.
Figure the area the device effect fills by taking into account any
turns the device effect takes.
Cone, Cylinder, Line, or Sphere: Most devices that affect an area
have a particular shape, such as a cone, cylinder, line, or sphere.
A cone-shaped device projects away from you in a quarter-
circle in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of
your square and widens out as it goes. Most cones are either bursts
or emanations (see above), and thus will not go around corners.
When activating a device with a cylinder-shaped area of
effect, you select the device effect’s point of origin. This point is
the center of a horizontal circle, and the device’s effect projects
down from the circle, filling a cylinder. A cylinder-shaped device
ignores any obstructions within its area.
A line-shaped area extends away from you in a line in the
direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square
and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier
that blocks line of effect. A line-area device affects all creatures in
squares that the line passes through.
A sphere-shaped area expands from its point of origin to fill
a spherical area. Spheres may be bursts, emanations, or spreads.
Creatures: A device with this kind of area affects creatures
directly (like a targeted device), but it affects all creatures in an
area of some kind rather than individual creatures you select.
The area might be a spherical burst, a cone-shaped burst, or some
other shape.
Many devices affect “living creatures,” which means all
creatures other than constructs and undead. Others affect
“magic-dependent creatures,” which means only magically-
created constructs as well as elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Creatures in the device’s area that are not of the appropriate type
do not count against the creatures affected.
Objects: A device with this kind of area affects objects within
an area you select (as Creatures, but affecting objects instead).
Other: A device can have a unique area, as defined in its
description.
(S) Shapeable: If an Area or Effect entry ends with “(S),” you
can shape the device’s area of effect. A shaped effect or area can
have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many shapeable effects or
areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes.
Line of Effect: A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path
that indicates what a device can affect. A solid barrier cancels a
line of effect. Line of effect is like line of sight for ranged weapons,
except that it is not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors
that limit normal sight.
You must have a clear line of effect to any target that you
activate a device to affect or to any space in which you wish to
create an effect. You must have a clear line of effect to the point
of origin of the area of any device you activate. A burst, cone,
cylinder, or emanation-area device affects only an area, creatures,
29
or objects to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical
burst’s center point, a cone-shaped burst’s starting point, a
cylinder’s circle, or an emanation’s point of origin).
An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot
through it does not block a device’s line of effect. Such an opening
means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no
longer considered a barrier for purposes of a device’s line of effect.
Duration*
A device’s Duration entry tells you how long the energy of a
single activation of the device lasts before the device shuts down
again and you must reactivate it or pay the indicated cost in
activation points to maintain the device’s activation.
*Base Duration: Some duration entries are simply a
unit of time, measured in rounds, minutes, hours, or some
other increment. These devices function for one of these time
increments, and then cease to function unless the technologist
pays the activation cost again to maintain the device’s activation.
Spending activation points in this way is not an action, and the
technologist can maintain a device with a base duration as long as
she continues to pay their activation costs. Maintaining a device’s
duration does not have a range restriction. A technologist cannot
“pay ahead” in case she will be unconscious, sleeping, or otherwise
unable to maintain the device’s activation; activation points must
be expended at the end of every base duration increment. Once
the technologist ceases to pay the device’s listed activation cost,
its duration immediately expires.
Timed Durations: A few durations are a fixed time limit.
When the time is up, the device’s power fails and its effect ends. If
a device’s duration is variable, the duration is rolled secretly — the
technologist does not know how long the device will last.
Instantaneous: The device’s energy comes and goes the
instant the device is activated, although the consequences might
be long-lasting.
*Permanent: The energy of the device’s activation remains
as long as the effect does. This sort of device effect is vulnerable
to arcane disruption, but its permanent nature does make it
somewhat resistant to disruption. The base DC to use arcane
disruption to counter a permanent effect is 16, instead of 6. A
permanent device effect disrupted in this way immediately ends.
Concentration: The device lasts as long as you concentrate.
Concentrating to maintain a device activation is a standard
Base Durations and Hand-Waved Time
The technologist’s ability to extend the duration of his
devices for as long as he wants to pay for it allows for a lot
of flexibility, but can also present a problem in situations
where an indeterminate amount of time is going to pass.
Before declaring the length of time that passes in one block
(say, two hours to search a large room), you might want to
ask a technologist player how long he is willing to keep his
devices activated to ensure that that player does not try to
weasel out of fair activation point expenditures.
action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Anything Partial: The device causes an effect on its subject. A successful
that could break your concentration when activating a device can saving throw means that some lesser effect occurs.
also break your concentration while you’re maintaining one, thus Half: The device deals damage, and a successful saving throw
causing the device’s duration to end. You cannot activate a device halves the damage taken (round down).
while concentrating on another one. Sometimes a device effect None: No saving throw is allowed.
lasts for a short time after you cease concentrating; if this is the Disbelief: A successful save means that the subject knows
case, it will be noted in the device’s description. the device’s effect is not real, but this recognition does not change
Subjects, Effects, and Areas: If the device affects creatures the effect’s appearance.
directly, the result travels with the subjects for the device’s (Object): The device can be activated to affect objects, which
duration. If the device creates an effect, the effect lasts for the receive saving throws only if they are magical or if they are attended
duration. The effect might move or remain still. Such an effect (held, worn, grasped, or the like) by a creature resisting the device,
can be destroyed prior to when its duration ends. If the device in which case the object uses the creature’s saving throw bonus
affects an area then the device stays with that area for its duration. unless its own bonus is greater. This notation does not mean that
Creatures become subject to the device when they enter the area a device only affects objects. Some devices of this sort can affect
and are no longer subject to it when they leave. either creatures or objects. A magic item’s saving throw bonuses
Touch-Range Devices and Holding the Charge: In most are each equal to 2 + one-half the item’s caster level.
cases, if you don’t discharge a touch device on the round you (Harmless): The device is usually beneficial, not harmful,
activate it, you can hold the charge indefinitely (postpone the but a targeted creature can attempt a saving throw if it desires.
discharge of the device). You can make touch attacks round after *Saving Throw Difficulty Class: A saving throw against
round. If you activate another device or put away the charged your device always has a DC of 10 + ½ your activation level + your
device, the touch-range device’s charge immediately dissipates. Intelligence modifier. The order of the device and its rank do not
Some touch-range devices allow you to touch multiple affect the device’s saving throw DC.
targets as part of the device’s activation. You cannot hold the Succeeding on a Saving Throw: A creature that successfully
charge of such a device; you must touch all targets of the device in saves against a device that has no obvious physical effects feels
the same round that you finish activating it. a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature
Discharge: Occasionally a device lasts for a set duration or of the attack. If a creature’s saving throw succeeds against a
until triggered or discharged. targeted device you are not necessarily aware that the device has
*(D) Dismissible: If the Duration line ends with “(D),” you failed unless you have some special means of ascertaining its
can dismiss the device’s effects at will. You must be within range effectiveness.
of the device’s effect and must fiddle with the device’s controls. Automatic Failures and Successes: A natural 1 on a saving
If the device has no control surface, you can dismiss its effects throw is always a failure, and the device may cause damage to
by means of a direct mental effort. Dismissing a device effect is exposed items (see “Items Surviving after a Saving Throw,” below).
a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A natural 20 is always a success.
A device that depends on concentration is dismissible by its very Voluntarily Giving Up a Saving Throw: A creature can
nature, and dismissing it does not take an action since all you voluntarily forego a saving throw and willingly accept a device’s
have to do to end the device is to stop concentrating on your turn effect. Even a character with a special resistance to technological
or have someone make you stop concentrating. devices can suppress this quality if it desires.
Device’s that can move under their own power (such as most
Table 3-1: Items Affected by Device Attacks
constructs) will take a single round when you dismiss them to Order* Item
attempt to move back to your position for easy retrieval. They 1st Shield
also do this if affected by arcane disruption (see above). 2nd Armor
3rd Magic helmet, hat, or headband
4th Item in hand (including a weapon or readied device)
Saving Throw
5th Magic cloak
Usually a harmful device allows a target to make a saving 6th Stowed or sheathed weapon or device
throw to avoid some or all of the effect. The Saving Throw entry in 7th Magic bracers and worn items
a device description defines which type of saving throw the device 8th Magic clothing
allows and describes how a saving throw against the device works. 9th Magic jewelry
10th Anything else
Negates: The device has no effect on a subject that makes a
* In order of most likely to least likely to be affected.
successful saving throw.
Table 3-2: Activation Point Cost by Order and Rank
Order Gadgets Technologies Artifacts
Rank Lesser Standard Greater Lesser Standard Greater Lesser Standard Greater
Cost 5 10 15 15 30 45 45 90 135
Cost (Base Duration) 1 2 3 3 6 9 9 18 27

30
 Items Surviving After a Saving Throw: Unless the
descriptive text for the device specifies otherwise, all items carried
or worn by a creature are assumed to survive the technologist’s
attack. If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its saving throw against
the effect, however, an exposed item is harmed if the attack can
harm objects. Refer to Table 3-1: Items Affected by Device Attacks.
Determine which four objects carried or worn by the creature
are most likely affected and roll randomly amongst them. The
randomly determined item must make a saving throw against the
attack form and suffers whatever damage the attack deals. If an
item is not carried or worn and is not magical, it does not get a
saving throw. It is simply dealt the appropriate damage.
Activation Cost*
All devices have an activation cost line, which indicates the
cost in activation points of activating the device or of maintaining
its activation for one unit of its base duration. Table 2-2 in
Chapter Two shows how many activation points a technologist
of a given level receives as a base, and Table 2-3 shows their bonus
activation points, which are based on the character’s Charisma
score. (Characters that are more charismatic are better able to
control magic and purge their devices of its influence.)
As shown below, a device’s order and rank determine its
activation cost. Devices with a base duration have costs that
accrue over time, and their activation costs are one-fifth of the
full activation cost for instantaneous effects and those with a
nonvariable duration. Every device’s description also notes its
activation cost for ease of reference.
XP Cost: The same line that notes the device’s activation
point cost also notes any experience point cost for activating the
device. Only a rare few devices directly draw on the technologist’s
personal energies in this way, but some particularly powerful
effects do entail such a cost. No spell, power, or device can restore
XP lost in this manner. You cannot spend so much XP that you
lose a level, so you cannot activate a device with an XP cost unless
you have experience points to spare. However, you can, upon
gaining enough XP to attain the next level, use those XP to activate
a device rather than using them to advance a level. The experience
points are expended when you choose to activate the device and
are lost even if you fail to successfully activate the device.
Weight*
All devices have a weight listed. This is the weight in pounds
of the “business portion” of the device, the part you must carry
around to successfully activate the device. Device weights usually
range from 1 to 10 pounds, although some weigh more and a few
effectively weigh nothing at all. Antimagic devices are not physical
objects, and therefore do not have a weight entry listed.
Descriptive Text*
This portion of a device description details what the device
does and how it works. If one of the previous entries in the
description included the phrase “see text,” this is where you can
find the explanation. If the device you’re reading about is based
31
on another device, you might have to refer to a different device’s
description for some or all of the necessary information.
*Expensive Components: The final portion of the device
entry lists any costly substances or items that can enhance a
device’s effects or which are required for the device to function
at all. These items are called expensive components. The device’s
description notes the effects of these components as well as
their price. Unless otherwise noted, the weight of expensive
components is negligible or has already been incorporated into
the weight of the device.
Ammunition-style expensive components are pretty
straightforward; you need them on hand to activate the device
at all, and you expend them when you do so. Optional expensive
components are more complicated, and allow technologists
to modify their devices in a multitude of ways for greater
effects. Whenever you activate the device and have an optional
expensive component on hand, you may choose to use it as part
of the same action you use to activate the device. If you do so,
the expensive component is automatically expended and has the
effects described. These effects are similar to those gained using
metamagic feats, and have effects like causing the device to deal
maximum damage or allowing you to activate the device as a swift
action.
For example, consider Prentice, who activates her steamplunker
to hurl a flask of acid at a target 900 feet away. Her target is the
slippery sort, so she decides to use the steamplunker’s optional
expensive component, a special ceramic launching egg, to make her
shot easier. Doing so is not an action, and increases the steamplunker’s
range increment from Long (400 feet) to 1,200 feet so Prentice can
make her attack roll without penalty. This augmentation expends
the launch egg (which costs 390 gold pieces), and the device will
work normally the next time it is activated unless Prentice supplies
another launch egg to increase the device’s range increment again.
Technologist Devices*
Technologists use devices, fantastic machines based on
advanced scientific principles and carefully warded against magic’s
disruptive influence. Mastering these devices requires long hours
of study and design and a personality forceful enough to ward off
the magic that surrounds everyone and everything in a fantasy
setting. Compared to divine spells, technologist devices are
more likely to produce splashy effects and dramatic results, and
compared to arcane spells they are more likely to grant bonuses in
combat and require or support the use of mundane skills.
Device Aesthetics*
The device descriptions generally provide some idea of
what the device in question looks like. Beyond these limited
commonalities, however, devices can look like almost anything.
The caloric hammer device, for instance, is described as a cold iron
gauntlet that contains a temperature-controlling alchemical
substance and is designed to fit around your wrist like a bracer.
An individual technologist might use a sleek, deadly-looking
design clearly intended for professional use, a cobbled-together
caloric hammer with protruding copper wires and unidentifiable
knobs, or a cunningly-wrought version that’s built to look
like a piece of jewelry. In short, the appearance of a
device varies as much or more than the appearance of a
spellcaster’s spells.
Universities and other institutions
that train technologists might also
have a distinctive style. For instance,
technologists trained in a royal
academy might all create devices
trimmed in purple and bearing the
symbol of the royal family. Military devices
are likely to be plain and utilitarian, while
technologists working alone often make do with
the first version they design that actually works.
Elaborate filigrees and other decorations, on the
other hand, are the mark of a well-funded scientist.
If your game master has any such organizations in his
campaign, consider using one of those. Otherwise, your
devices can look like whatever you
Characters might come to recognize the distinctive style of a
want them to look like.
technologist adversary
Daily Preparation*
Like a wizard preparing her spells, a technologist must
spend an hour every day removing traces of magic from her
devices and maintaining their machinery or they will fail to
function. This daily preparation requirement also gives the
technologist time to tweak and upgrade her devices, making
sure they operate at maximum capacity. At the conclusion of
the daily preparation period, all of the character’s lost activation
points are restored.
Rest: To complete her daily preparation, a technologist
must first rest for 8 hours. The technologist does not have to
slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from
movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any
other demanding physical or mental task during the rest period.
If her rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the
total amount of time she has to rest in order to clear her mind.
She must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately
prior to her daily preparation period. If a character does not need
to sleep for some reason, she still must have 8 hours of restful
calm before readying her devices for the next day.
Recent Activation Limit / Rest Interruptions: Activating
devices drains the technologist’s resources and reduces her
capacity to recover her activation point reserve. When the
technologist prepares for the coming day, all activation points
expended within the last 8 hours count against her daily limit.
Preparation Environment: To successfully complete the
daily preparation requirement, a technologist must have enough
peace, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. The
technologist’s surroundings need not be luxurious, but they must
be free from overt distractions. The usual sights and sounds of
industrial areas such as forges and workshops do not prevent the
technologist from concentrating. Exposure to inclement weather
32
prevents the necessary concentration, as does any injury or failed
saving throw the character might experience while working.
Technologists must also have access to a set of artisan’s tools and
enough light to use them by.
Preparation Time: After resting, a
technologist must work with her devices to recover
her activation points for the day. If the technologist
has used all of her activation points, the process
of recovering them takes 1 hour. Preparing some
smaller portion of her daily capacity takes a
proportionally smaller amount of time, but always
at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to
achieve the proper mental state. In addition, the full 1
hour preparation time is required to perform any of the
special adjustments that can be made during this time.
*Tweaking and Repairing Devices: In addition to
recovering her lost activation points, a technologist can
take advantage of the hour a day she spends working with
her devices to tweak their function or to repair any damage they
have taken. To do so, you simply roll a Craft
(technology) check during the hour you
spend preparing your devices for use; this
check has a base DC of 15. You may make only one such check
per hour of work, and you may take 10 on this check because
there is no penalty for failure. No raw materials are necessary
for a technologist to make this special Craft (technology) check
and another character may use the Craft (technology) skill to aid
another if desired.
If you choose to tweak a device, you may alter its activation
level to a maximum of your character level and to a minimum of
1. The change lasts until you choose to tweak the device’s output
again. If you have gained a level recently, the next one-hour daily
preparation period you undergo increases the activation level of
all of your devices to their maximum if you so desire.
If you choose to repair a device instead of tweaking it, you
restore 1 lost hit point to a single selected device, plus 1 lost hit
point per 5 points by which your Craft check exceeded the DC.
Technologist Device Creation and
Maintenance*
Devices are physical objects created with the Craft skill. This
section explains the nature and extent of a device’s durability.
Failing that, you will find rules for constructing a replacement. You
can also create expensive components for your devices and master
new ones in excess of your normal allotment, all as noted below.
*Device Saving Throws, Hit Points, and Hardness:
Devices can be destroyed just like other objects. However, they are
fairly durable, intended as they are for use in the field, and have a
number of hit points equal to twice your activation level. Gadgets
also have a hardness of 5, technologies a hardness of 10, and
artifacts a hardness of 15. Devices make saving throws as though
they were magical items due to your special link with them and
have a saving throw bonus of 2 + ½ your activation level for all of
their saving throws.
 If a device description specifically notes different values
for hardness, hp, and saving throws for the activated device, use
those instead.
*Crafting Devices: Whenever a technologist masters a new
device, she also gains a single free copy of that device. Thus,
there is generally no reason to specifically construct a device
unless the original copy has been lost or destroyed. If this
occurs, the technologist can recreate any device she has
mastered using the Craft (technology) skill by following
the same procedure as crafting other nonmagical items.
A technological device’s order determines its Craft
skill Difficulty Class: gadgets have a Craft DC of
20, technologies have a Craft DC of 25, and
artifacts have a Craft DC of 30. The
market price of a device is 500
gold pieces for a gadget, 2,500
gold pieces for a technology,
and 6,000 gold pieces for an
artifact unless otherwise noted
in the device’s description.
Because creating a replacement
device from scratch can take a
very long time (progress is still
based on the silver piece), most
technologists use craft points
to replace lost and destroyed
gadgets. Only technologists
have the technical expertise to
design and construct a device,
and even then only if they have
mastered at least one device of A technologist revels in his accomplishments
the appropriate order. (Artwork by J. L. Jones)
*Crafting Expensive
Components: Most devices have an optional expensive
component that is used to boost their effects. Other devices
require some form of ammunition or fuel to function. Creating
these components requires a Craft (technology) skill check with a
DC based on the order of the device that the expensive component
is used with. Components for gadgets have a Craft DC of 15, those
meant for technologies have a DC of 20, and components for an
artifact require a DC 25 Craft check to create. Unlike normal
uses of the Craft skill (including the construction of devices),
progress in creating expensive components is measured in gold
pieces. Thus, in a week of work you make progress equal to your
Craft check result times the Craft DC in gold pieces. A day’s work
results in progress equal to your check result times the Craft DC
in silver pieces.
*Mastering New Devices: A technologist masters new
devices almost every time she attains a new level in the class
and can only learn additional devices with great effort. When a
technologist gains a new level, consult Table 2-2: Technologist
Devices Mastered and Activation Points to learn how many
devices of the appropriate orders she has now mastered.
It is not easy to exceed this number, but it can be done. Doing
33
so requires not only a complete understanding of every bolt and
wire of the prospective device but also an expenditure of personal
energy to attune the device to the technologist and allow her to
use activation points to activate it. The process for mastering
devices in excess of the number shown on Table 2-2 is as
follows: first, the technologist must acquire a complete plan
or blueprint for the device or a working model purchased or
captured from another technologist. Then she painstakingly
assembles and reassembles the device to discover exactly how
it works and to imprint the specifics of the device’s design
on her mind. This is just as difficult as building the device
from scratch, and requires Craft checks as noted in the above
section on crafting devices. However, the technologist may
not spend craft points to accelerate this process, as it
requires single-minded attention that precludes working
on the device in the background or over a long period.
Once the technologist has built or rebuilt a working
model of the device, she must then expend experience
points based on the order of the device. Mastering
a gadget in this way costs 2,000 XP, mastering a
technology requires 5,000 XP, and artifacts take 8,000
XP to master. Once a technologist masters a device
in this way, it does not count towards the maximum
number of devices she can master per level.
Technologist Devices and Other Special
Abilities*
Generally, adjudicating the interactions of
technological devices and other abilities and defenses
only requires remembering that devices are not spells
and thus that abilities that work only against spells
do not affect them. With that in mind, here are some
specific points to remember when dealing with the
effects of technologist devices:
*Devices are Extraordinary: All of a technologist’s class
abilities, including devices, are extraordinary abilities. This even
includes the antimagic devices, despite the fact that these abilities
are intrinsic to the technologist and are not tied to any physical
entity. Though devices are activated in a manner similar to a
spell being cast, only effects that negate or cancel extraordinary
abilities can prevent a device from working (for instance, an anti-
magic field is ineffective against device activation). Any ability
that specifically targets devices will also work, such as arcane
disruption (described earlier in this chapter).
*Spell Resistance Never Works: Spell resistance is
ineffective against a technologist’s devices and spell-resistant
creatures are no better or worse off than any other creature in
resisting their effects. However, many spell-resistant creatures
(particularly outsiders) have access to a number of spell-like
abilities that the creature can use for arcane disruption if it is
familiar with that technique.
*Damage Reduction Sometimes Works: Most devices are
unaffected by damage reduction, as they produce effects similar to
those produced by a spell. However, any device that deals damage
of a physical damage type (slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning)
is subject to damage reduction unless the device can bypass the
target creature’s DR.
*Supernatural Abilities Do Not Disrupt Devices: Devices
function normally in the area of effect of supernatural abilities,
even if those abilities specifically target the device. Supernatural
abilities may not be used for arcane disruption as they are too
integral to the creature using them to become pure magical static.
*Devices Require Proficiency: Unless otherwise noted,
all devices that require attack rolls require proficiency to wield
properly. You are automatically proficient in all devices you have
mastered but other creatures need to spend a feat slot on the
Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat keyed to that specific device to
wield it without penalty.
*Devices Can Be Masterworks: Any device that requires an
attack roll is considered a weapon-like device and can have any
applicable masterwork component available to weapons applied
to it when you create the device. Likewise, any device that must
be worn to access its effects can be created with armor-based
masterwork components, and any device that grants a bonus to
skill checks can be made with skill-based masterwork components.
Unless otherwise noted in the Expensive Components section of
the device description, any masterwork components added to a
device must be added when the device is first crafted, and cannot
be added at a later date.
*Devices Can Be Enchanted: Some devices act like weapons,
and others are worn on the body. Any of these types of devices
can be enchanted just like any other item of their type — they are
even automatically of masterwork quality — but their magical
enhancements and their device effects cannot be accessed at the
same time. When a technologist activates a device, all permanent Adding a magical enhancement bonus to technologist weapons like these may
magical enchantments on the device are automatically suppressed seem like an attractive option, but the bonus would be suppressed the moment the
(no roll required) until the device is no longer active. At that time, weapons were activated
(Artwork by Leonardo da Vinci)
the device’s magics take effect again.

34
 Chapter Four:
Products of the Laboratory
This chapter presents 102 gadgets, 70 technologies, and 46
artifacts all ready for inclusion into your game. An A appearing at
the end of a device’s name in the device lists (pages 36–39, below)
denotes an antimagic device, and an X denotes a device with an
XP component paid by the technologist. Almost all devices have
expensive components (optional or not) and these are not marked
on the master list.
Order of Presentation: In the device lists and the device
descriptions that follow them, the devices are presented in
alphabetical order by name. In the device lists, they are further
sorted by the order and level of the device. Devices generally do not
use the “lesser,” “greater,” or “mass” nomenclature of spells (their
naming conventions are too idiosyncratic), but more powerful
versions of weaker devices will usually mention the weakest form
of the device in their descriptions.
Hit Dice: The term “Hit Dice” is used synonymously with
“character levels” for effects that affect a number of Hit Dice of
creatures. Creatures with Hit Dice only from their race, not from
classes, have character levels equal to their Hit Dice.
Activation Level: A device’s power often depends on its
activation level, which is defined as the activator’s number of
technologist levels. A creature with no classes has an activation
level equal to its Hit Dice unless otherwise specified. The word
“level” in the device list that follows (pages 36–39, below) always
refers to activation level.
Creatures and Characters: The words “creature” and
“character” are used synonymously in the device descriptions.
Expensive Components: Many devices include expensive
components that can provide a one-time augmentation of a device’s
effect. All expensive components are optional unless otherwise
specified. Ammunition or fuel type expensive components may
also be expended when used; if this is not obvious, it will be noted
in the device’s description. You can choose whether or not to use
any optional expensive component you have on hand each time
you activate the device.
Expensive components typically have market prices, but
normally technologists will build any components they’re
interested in themselves. See Crafting Expensive Components
(page 33) for more information.
35
ABNORMALITY SENSITIVITY
Gadget (greater) [Antimagic, Divination]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 400 feet
Area: Cone-shaped emanation
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 3 points
This ability allows the technologist to sense creatures that
rely on magic to sustain their existence — “abnormalities” in
technologist parlance, though these creatures might disagree.
You can detect all nontechnological constructs, elementals,
outsiders, and undead in range. You must focus on a particular
creature type when using this ability, and if you are not
concentrating you gain no information. You can change the
creature type you are detecting each round. The amount of
information revealed depends on how long you focus on a specific
creature type and search a particular area:
1st Round: Presence or absence of creatures of the selected
type in the area.
2nd Round: Number of individuals of the specified kind in the
area and the condition of the specimen with the most hit points.
3rd Round: The condition (see below) and location of each
individual present. If a sensed creature is outside your line of
sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.
Conditions are as follows:
Normal: At least 90% of full normal hit points, free of disease.
Fair: 30% to 90% of full normal hit points.
Poor: Less than 30% of full normal hit points, afflicted with a
disease, or suffering from debilitating injury.
Weak: 0 or fewer hit points, afflicted with a disease in the
terminal stage, or crippled.
If a creature falls into more than one category the spell indicates
the weaker of the two. Each round you can turn to detect a kind of
magic-dependent creature in a new area. Your abnormality sensitivity
can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal,
a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.
Expensive Component: A special lens, made of a dirty crystalline
substance, allows you to ferret out abnormalities more easily
when you affix it in place over one eye. This lens costs 390 gold
pieces and allows you to detect nontechnological constructs,
elementals, outsiders, and undead simultaneously. You can differ-
entiate between them easily and can tell which type of creature
you are detecting.
Technologist Devices
Gadget-Order Devices
Rank Device Name Brief Description
Lesser Alchemical Assayer Appraise identifies alchemical, technological, and magical items.
Alchemical Rebreather Mask provides oxygen so you can breathe.
Annealing Gel Changes treated armor’s AC bonus to +6.
Aqua Intelligentiae Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor Intelligence-based bonuses.
Aqua Vitae Minor Alchemy permanently grants bonuses to hp and Fortitude saves.
Ascension Gear Grants ability to move on walls and ceilings.
Breakneck Thieves’ Tools Masterwork tools decrease the time to use Disable Device.
Caloric Control Mantle Exist comfortably in hot/cold environments, reduce fire/cold damage.
Cap of Memory Jogging Electric jolt allows Knowledge or Intelligence check reroll.
Clairaudient Fly Fingers Sensitive gloves let you hear through walls and other obstacles.
Collar of Bestial Capacity You can teach a creature bonus tricks and push it as a move action.
Determent Spring Tiny construct chases away intruders.
Discourse Replicator Creates temporary masterwork documents.
Empyreal Net You fall slowly and with some control.
Fabricacious Fabricator Automatic loom quickly reweaves cloth into new forms.
Full-Body Corset Uncomfortable clockwork clothing grants +5 to Disguise checks.
Furnace Kindler Cone deals 1d6/level fire damage (max 5d6).
Goggles of Acuity Search grants synergy to Appraise, Disable Device, Sense Motive, and Spot.
Headband of Mental Puissance You generate and control a small amount of psionic force.
Helm of Cogitative Stimulation +1 on one attack roll, saving throw, or skill check.
Instant Contrivance Creates temporary masterwork tools.
Iron Grub Construct deals 1 point Constitution damage for 1d6 rounds.
Knot Train Crawling construct manipulates ropes in a variety of ways.
Magic Sensitivity A Detects spells and magic items within 30 feet.
Mimetic Key, Sunflare Light-emitting stone blinds creatures when triggered.
Neural Lancet Living creature struck loses next action.
Nocturnal Goggles You gain 60-foot darkvision.
Peril-Sensitive Lenses You lose your peripheral vision, but can concentrate more easily.
Photon Scattering Shield Burst of light forces miss chance, dazzles attackers.
Pocket Ballista Powerful crossbow deals 2d8 points of damage, has 100-foot range.
Protection from Abnormalities A +2 to AC and saves vs. spells and constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead; hedge out
summoned creatures.
Rangefinder Targeting ray aids ranged attack rolls.
Renechak’s Portable Zoogrammaphone Index grants bonuses to identify some creatures.
Scattershot Helmet Spray of pellets grants deflection bonus versus ranged attacks.
Script Widget Device allows Decipher Script rerolls and reading of magic scrolls.
Silt Wall A dust cloud arises around you, providing concealment.
Spring-Heeled Jackboots Wearer gains a bonus on Jump checks.
Suppress Spell A You suppress a spell on your person for one round as a swift action.
Swift Striders Your speed increases by 30 feet.
Technologist’s Familiar Tiny construct obeys simple commands.
Tullius’s Miraculous Vitamin Supplement Injection grants 1d10 temporary hit points, +1/level (max +10).
Vibrowand Melee attack deals 1d6 damage, possibly 1 point of Con damage.
Voice Sweetener You gain +2 to Charisma-based checks in all languages you know.
Wand of Battery Prod strikes with great force, bull rushing or opening doors.
Standard Amanuensis Engine You can rapidly copy and indefinitely store a nonmagical text.
Aqua Venusitas Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor interaction bonuses.
Aqua Virium Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor combat bonuses.
Autootolarynx Alchemical sensor grants Scent special quality.
Caloric Hammer Ranged touch attack deals 2d6 fire or cold damage, +1 burst per 2 levels above 1st (max 6).
Check Abnormality A A construct, elemental, outsider or undead target is dazed 1d4 rounds, then –2 on attacks,
saves, and checks and +2 to Strength.
Cortical Fusegun Electrical device makes target more or less sensitive to stimuli.
Divine Transfusion Infuses aligned water into target’s blood, granting bonuses.
Electroveiglant Mercury Metal attracts electricity, granting resistance 10+ to all within 20 feet.
Field-Solderant Kit Emergency repair kit restores 3d6 hp + 2/level to construct or object.
Flux Fork Special tuning fork softens earth and stone, slows earth creatures.
Gauntlets of the Iron Ogre You gain a +6 enhancement bonus to arm Strength.
Icebound Barricade Fills 20-foot radius spread with sticky, freezing strands.

36
Gadget-Order Devices
Rank Device Name
Standard Jabberblaster
Knife Spider
Master’s Tools
Mimetic Key, Smokebomb
Perigord Raptor
Pinprick Whirligig Spinner
Planar Control Wand
Professional’s Satchel
Scramble Programming A
Smite Abnormality A
Spikedriver
Splendiferous Scientific Wonder
Steamplunker
Stickyfoam Neutralizer
Technologist’s Magnifying Glass
Tullius’s Efficacious Nostrum
Unctuous Bubbler
Vitriol Projector
Wheedling Stone
Zephyr Hammer
Greater Abnormality SensitivityA
Antimagic VortexA
Aqua Celeritas Minor
Aqua Sapientiae Minor
Blind the Abnormal Eye A
Channeling Gauntlet
Dalyrimple’s Obfuscating Eye
Docschmidt Waxsprinkler
Engineered Panacea
Excitatory Magnetoscythe
Feiran’s Sphere of Savagery
Imperial Army Service Widget
Iron Grub Pod
Jonnetype Synaesthesiagraph
Magnificent Pitch Hurler
Menschausen Dolls
Mimetic Key, Fireburst
Mindfire Poison Injector
Philter Fermenter
Smite Magic A
Trinicoil
Velocious Footgear
Viscid Barrier A
Voltaic Coil
Weaken Abnormality A
Technology-Order Devices
Rank Device Name
Lesser Anathematize Abnormality A
Arcane Counterdisruption A
Aviatronic Wing
Break Ensorcellment A
Clockwidget Fabrication Gantry
Core Lightning Charger
Dalyrimple’s Lucent Lance
Dark Matter Pall
Defensive Kinetic Shield
Dragoncaster
Electrolytic Airforge
Brief Description
Loud noise deafens unprotected creatures.
Thrown weapon deals 1d6 + 1/level damage and attacks as Small animated object.
Masterwork tools grant +10 to craft masterwork components.
Stone produces clouds of concealing smoke.
Booby trap deals 1d6/2 levels damage, may trap creatures.
Whirligig deals 1d6 piercing damage/round, causes nausea.
Knowledge check adds to activation level of antimagic devices.
Tool kit doubles income from one Profession subskill.
Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead are confused.
Ray deals 1d6 damage/level to constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Heated projectiles deal extra damage and ignore hardness.
Fancy device fascinates creatures with a lower Charisma.
Hurls small items far and with great force.
Causes a tanglefoot bag to emit a fog cloud, launches it at opponent.
Reveals hidden doors and mechanical traps within 60 feet.
Converts 1d6 lethal damage +1/level (max +10) and then cures 2d6 nonlethal damage +1/level
(max +20).
Makes creatures and objects in a 10-foot radius slippery.
Ranged touch attack; 1d6 damage for 1 round + 1 round per three levels.
Hypnotic stone makes one person your friend.
Wind blows away or knocks down smaller creatures.
You can detect creatures that rely on magic to survive.
Glyph unravels magic and damages magical creatures when triggered.
Alchemy permanently grants minor movement bonuses.
Alchemy permanently sharpens the subject’s senses.
Hides the subject from divination and scrying.
You may use Spellcraft in place of the Use Magic Device skill.
Creates visual illusion, hides target, or creates burst of light.
Aetherial wax makes area completely frictionless.
Remove damage or various conditions based on your Heal check.
Magnetic device sticks to weapons and increases their damage.
Target communicates with animals, risking Intelligence damage.
Helpful construct carries tools and aids the technologist.
Burrowing constructs deal 1d4 Constitution damage every round.
Records everything in a 20-foot radius for later playback.
Deals 1d6 fire damage/level in a 20-foot radius.
Tiny constructs briefly lift and animate nearby objects.
Explosive stone deals 2d6 fire damage +1d6/2 levels.
Poison hinders or harms victim according to your activation level check.
You can use Craft (alchemy) to brew magical potions.
You can cancel magical spells and effects.
Stationary device deals 1d6/2 levels of electricity damage every round.
Flings you a short distance in (partial) safety.
Solid antimagic blocks constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Deal 1d6 electricity damage/2 levels at range, or 1d10/2 levels as a melee touch attack.
Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead are weakened.
Brief Description
You mark a construct, elemental, outsider, or undead, cursing it.
Attempts to disrupt your devices are met with a smite magic effect.
You fly at speeds up to 200 feet.
Frees subjects from enchantments, alterations, curses, and petrification.
Creates permanent clockwidget soldiers.
Creature becomes a living battery, able to throw one bolt of lightning.
Sidearm deals 1d6/3 levels as a normal weapon.
Cloud of opaque matter hampers vision and movement.
Energy forcefield absorbs attacks, adds to your AC.
Weapon deals 1d6 fire damage/level in a variety of possible areas.
Device converts surrounding water into a bubbling, breathable substance.
37
Technology-Order Devices
Rank Device Name
Lesser Flash-Bang Widget
Folly’s Finagling Fingers
Kinetic Barrier-Layer
Mercuric Blade
Metabolic Interdiction Field
Mimetic Key, Fudoicite
Occlude Abnormality A
Offensive Kinetic Shield
Orgonic Siphon
Scathing Shardsprayer
Slumberous Savant
Teacup’s Tiny Tinkerers
Terrain Attunement
Tullius’s Morphological Diagnostician
Ward Against Abnormalities A
Standard Alchemical Resequencer
Aqua Celeritas Major
Aqua Intelligentiae Major
Aqua Sapientiae Major
Aqua Venusitas Major
Aqua Virium Major
Aqua Vitae Major
Argent-Chain Widgets
Bio-Reactive Theriac
Dark Matter Reaver
Disseminative Cognimatrix
Duodimensional Lash
Feiran’s Animalizing Scepter
Goggles of X-Ray Vision
Interphasic Terror
Magnetosonic Waveform Pulse Generator
Ornithopter
Professional Reformatamatic
Repulse the Tainted A
Sublimation Chamber
Umbral Heart Cloak
Verbal Weirding Module
Greater Atomic Discombobulator
Aura of Just RetributionA
Battlement Combat Gear
Coronal Electroweapon
Diadem of Psychic Mastery
Egestive Gland Laboratory
Feiran’s Feralizing Gage
Gelph’s Globulous Hunter
Inviolate Shield Against Magic A
Mimetic Key, Netherstone
Monroe’s Proactive Weathervane
Obliterate Abnormality A
Orgonic Field Perturbation Inducer
Resonance Absorption Staff
Scuttlebug Launcher
Seismic Flow Wand
Smite Magic, Greater A
Space-Warp Modulator
Sphere of Intractable Will
Stylus of Arcane Mimeography
Brief Description
Widget blinds creatures and deals repeating fire damage.
Grants +10 competence bonus to Disable Device, Open Lock, and Search; allow skill checks 10
feet away.
Invisible wall of kinetic force is immune to damage.
You wield a morphic blade of silvery metal against your foes.
Field slows, weakens, and eventually kills living creatures.
Stone becomes immovable when triggered.
–8 to two ability scores; –8 on attack rolls, saves, and checks; or 75% chance of losing each
action.
Creatures attacking you take force damage; you are protected against force damage.
Spinning disk drains 1d6 hit points/2 levels.
Powerful acid deals 2d6 continuing damage in a burst.
Computer allows reroll of Knowledge checks with Knowledge ranks as an insight bonus.
Transforms raw materials into another form.
Alchemical regimen aids in wilderness survival.
Eyepiece grants bonus to Heal checks and sneak attack dice.
+4 AC against constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Creates alchemical items, potions, and poisons.
Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Dexterity.
Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Intelligence.
Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Wisdom.
Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Charisma.
Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Strength.
Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Constitution.
Drones deal 1d6 electricity damage/level in a line between them.
Immunizes against poison and detoxifies objects or creatures.
Projectile does 1d6/level slashing and cold damage and may blind.
Brain backup lets you use Sense Motive to avoid mental attacks.
Glowing filament inflicts 1d6+1/level Constitution drain.
Reduces creature’s Int to 2, allowing Handle Animal checks to control it.
You can see through walls and in darkness.
Null-space machinery provides Intimidation bonuses.
Energy wave scans terrain around you out to 1 mile/level or 100 feet/level.
Swift-flying machine carries you and several others.
Helmet allows you to temporarily rewrite your skills.
Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead can’t approach you.
Appraise check increases worth of valuable nonmagical items.
You are invisible, even in combat.
Spread deals 1d6 sonic damage/level; Speak Language adds to effect.
Green ray disintegrates target.
Aura shatters spells that target you and redirects them as damage.
Armor enhancements provide strong defense.
Ray deals 1d6/level electricity damage and protects you while firing.
Generates psychic energy, granting access to psionic powers.
Implanted glands secrete an alchemical item or poison 3/day.
Ray reduces Intelligence and Charisma but provides feral improvements to senses and offensive
abilities.
Device unfurls into an ooze that fights for you.
Negates magic and device use within 10 feet.
Stone negates matter, dealing 5d6 + 1d6/level damage when triggered.
Weather control device that affects a wide area.
Black bolt vaporizes constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Invisible change to aura causes healing or grants an attack when target creature is wounded.
Staff absorbs and stores sonic energy for later use.
Burrowing mines lie in wait to deal 1d6/level fire and slashing damage.
Sonic energy causes solid matter to flow gently, reshaping it.
As smite magic, but up to +20 on checks.
Warped space increases distance to you and shortens it from you.
Strange amulet lets you make Concentration checks to ignore dying.
Use Forgery to create quasi-real mystic sigils, duplicating spells.
38
Technology-Order Devices
Rank Device Name
Greater Tullius’s Potent Catholicon
Zorastrus’s Roll of Days
Technology-Order Devices
Rank Device Name
Lesser Acidulous Miasma Generator
Bio-Genetic Scourge
Canny Descrier
Chorn’s Antecedent Assailer
Coil of Possibilities X
Cross-Phasic Cloak
Dalyrimple’s Out-of-the-Way Palace
Erevor’s Soul Steel
Extirpate Abnormalities A
Gelph’s Instant Aggressor
Hypermetabolic Transducer
Jonnetype Synaesthenic Projector
Kelleris’s Chroneptic Repeater
Mimetic Key, Savanix
Orgavulsion Crystal
Spark Manufactory X
Ward Against All Sorcery A
Worm Gauntlet
Standard Absorptive Traversant
Astral Perspective Vortex
Beholder From Beyond
Caesura Weapon
Dark Matter Ecliptic
Folly’s Cognate Architronix
Gigant Marauder
Jabberwocky Slayer
Kelleris’s Time-Lost Crawler
Laboratory of Reawakening
Lustrative Armor A
Paradoxic Slip-Shield
Peregrine’s Sun-Caller
Teacup’s Tiny Traveling Terrors
Tullius’s Swan Song
Xult’s Primal Blossom
Zorastrus’s Roll of Eons
Greater Alembic of Creation
Aurelian’s Shadowforge
Balance of Synchronicity
Extirpate Magic A
Imperial Null-Space Cannon
Mimetic Key, Chronull
Nanitic Reconfiguration Entity
Packmaster’s Throne
Rimala’s Fundamental Anatomizer
Renechak’s Panoptic Eye
Worldwalker’s Baton
Brief Description
Heals hit point damage, ability damage and drain, and the fatigued or exhausted conditions.
Computer calculates patterns in your life, granting insight bonuses.
Brief Description
Obscuring cloud deals 1d6/level or 1d6/3 levels/round acid damage.
Horrible plague deals ability damage, creates ghouls from the slain.
+40 Sense Motive, and gain Sense Motive ranks to interaction skills.
Deal 1d6/level force damage as an immediate action.
Duplicates the effects of any gadget or technology.
Subject can become effectively incorporeal at will.
You open a gateway that leads to a null-space mansion.
Cuts a creature’s connection to reality, killing them.
Destroys 1d4/level HD of constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Instantly creates an improved flesh golem that fights for you.
Metabolic surge heals or causes rapid starvation and dehydration.
Makes terrain appear to have different structures or natural features.
Ray repeats or negates last round’s damage and effects on one creature.
Charged stone grants bonuses to Int-based checks, causes confusion when triggered.
Ray deals 1d4 negative levels/round to power negative energy attack.
You can craft permanent golem-like constructs.
Spell resistance plus complete protection from spells 4th level and lower.
Teleporter puts enemies through the wringer for 1d6/level damage.
Survive in any terrain, and gain exploration-related abilities by doing so.
Move through your mind and the Astral Plane to other realities.
Planar satellite spies on areas, deals electricity damage at range.
Spatial collapse in a 10-foot cube, trapping foes and bypassing barriers.
Creates darkness and suppresses light spells in a one-mile radius.
Manipulate space to “move” objects and creatures in that space.
Mechanized armor increases your size to Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal.
Blade strikes in line of sight from other dimensions, may sever heads.
Construct travels through time and leaves items for you to find.
Cloning facility allows you to return from the dead.
Forsaking ritual grants permanent defenses against magic.
All damage dealt less than 2/level per attack is negated.
Solar flare deals 2d6/level damage after 1d2 rounds’ delay.
Floating crystalline beads can scout for you, deal force damage.
Target is immune to hit point damage but is reduced to –9 hp when the device’s durations ends.
You corrupt a creature’s form and make it your slave.
Gain knowledge of the past, the future, or legendary things.
Languages grant you their power.
Create a persuasive shadow identity based on a Forgery check.
Cause creature to obey you by controlling it via strange causations.
Destroys spells and suppresses magical items in a 40-foot radius.
Devastating null-space weapon deals 2d6 points of damage/level, plus other effects, in an 80-foot
radius.
Time-distorting stone hastes bearer and causes time hop when thrown.
Cloud of machines transforms or destroys objects and defends you.
+10 Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, and Intimidate, plus dominate animals with
your mere presence.
Gain permanent bonuses from truly understanding an item.
Omniscient device grants perfect knowledge of one creature.
Opens a circular gate to anywhere on same plane.
39
ABSORPTIVE TRAVERSANT
Artifact (standard) [Null-Space]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 24 hours
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
An absorptive traversant is a complicated control cube that you
use to attach a null-space traveler to a creature that you touch. A
null-space traveler is a machine hidden in a parallel space that has
the ability to attune a creature to any kind of hostile environmental
conditions. The creature you touch can thus automatically
adapt to underwater, extremely hot, extremely cold, or airless
environments and can survive as if it were a creature native to that
environment. A creature protected by the null-space traveler can
breathe and move normally and takes no damage simply from
being in that environment (though penalties to movement and
attacks remain, if there are any for that particular environment).
You need not specify what environment you are adapting the
target creature to when you activate the traversant; simply activate
the device, and the creature’s body will instantly adapt to any
hostile environment as needed throughout the duration. The
creature’s equipment is likewise protected.
Even truly extreme environmental conditions are no match
for the absorptive traversant; while protected by this device a creature
can swim in lava or dive to the crushing depths of the ocean without
harm. However, the creature is only protected from environmental
effects, and takes full normal damage from devices and spells.
Not only is the protected character unharmed, but its trials
provide energy that can be used to manipulate the environment
in a variety of ways. The wearer of the traversant gain energy levels
based on the hostility of the environment (see table below), and
may use these energy levels to activate spell-like abilities. These
“spells” are actually generated by the attached null-space traversant,
which manifests various implements near the wearer when he
commands it to do so. The caster level for these abilities is your
activation level. The absorptive traversant can store no more than
your activation level in energy levels at any given time. The spells
it can duplicate (and their energy cost) are as follows: expeditious
retreat (1 level), jump (1 level), know direction (1 level), create food and
water (2 levels), locate object (2 levels), daylight (3 levels), protection
from energy (3 levels), water breathing (3 levels), locate creature (4
levels), overland flight (5 levels). None of these spell-like abilities are
self-only — they work exactly like the spells they duplicate.
The absorptive traversant can be used on multiple creatures at
once. The device you carry is simply a control panel for the null-
space travelers.
Expensive Component: The absorptive traversant provides an
array of capabilities that aid explorers and adventurers in going to
seemingly impossible locations to achieve their objectives. However,
its rate of energy absorption is somewhat slower than might be
desired. This flaw can be corrected for by creating a controlled
40
Table 4-1: Absorptive Traversant Energy
Environment Hostility Gained/Hour
Not Hostile (0 damage/hour) —
normal climate in plains or forests, altitudes less 1 level
than 5,000 feet, hospitable dungeons
Moderately Hostile (1–5 damage/hour) —
temperatures greater than 90° F or below 40° F,
3 levels
altitudes between 5,000 and 15,000 feet, nasty
dungeons, dust storms and thunderstorms
Severely Hostile (6–50 damage/hour) —
temperatures above 110° F or below 0° F, altitudes
greater than 15,000 feet, arctic environments, 5 levels
swimming in rushing water, inside a volcano’s
caldera
Extremely Hostile (51–350 damage/hour) —
temperatures above 140° F or below –20° F, arctic 7 levels
windstorms, hurricanes, swimming in a storm
Unbelievably Hostile (351+ damage/hour) —
immersed in acid or boiling lava, caught inside a 9 levels
tornado or electrical storm, on the ocean floor
feedback loop within the null-space traveler that maximizes the
energy flow from even relatively benign environments. Setting up
the feedback loop costs 2,340 gold pieces and increases the rate
of energy gain by 4 per hour (so nonhostile environments grant
5 energy level per hour and unbelievably hostile environments
grant 13 levels per hour).
ACIDULOUS MIASMA GENERATOR
Artifact (lesser) [Acid]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Area: Two 10-foot cubes/level (S)
Duration: 10 minutes/level, or until discharged, then 1 round/
level or instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
An acidulous miasma generator is a coil of machinery and
filters looking something like a demented conch shell. When you
activate the generator it emits rumbling and clanking sounds for
several seconds before firing out what appears to be a small blue
pebble. This is no ordinary pebble, however: it contains enough
vaporous material to create a dense cloud of fog in the target area.
You must make a ranged touch attack roll to place the pebble in
the center of the desired area of effect, and roll scatter normally as
if the pebble were a grenade-like weapon if you miss. By the end of
the activation time the pebble produces a thick mist.
The fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5
feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20%
miss chance), and creatures farther away have total concealment
(50% miss chance, and the attacker can’t use sight to locate the
target). Winds of 31 miles per hour or greater disperse the cloud
in 1d4 rounds.
When the fog first arises, it is harmless. However, with a flip
of a switch on the generator shell (a free action), an electric charge
triggers the acidulous miasma and renders it highly corrosive. You can
choose to deal either instantaneous damage or continuing damage
when you activate the miasma. The instantaneous setting deals 1d6
points of acid damage per activation level (maximum 20d6) and
causes the cloud to disperse at the beginning of your next turn.
The continuing setting deals 1d6 points of acid damage per three
activation levels per round to creatures trapped in the fog cloud
(maximum 6d6), but the cloud persists for 1 round per activation
level before dispersing. Multiple overlapping areas of effect do not
increase the acidulous miasma generator’s effectiveness — creatures in
the area suffer acid damage only from the most powerful miasma
they are exposed to in any given round.
You may also trigger the acidic qualities of the acidulous
miasma as you activate the device, in which case it deals acid
damage immediately and disperses either at the beginning of your
next turn or after 1 round per activation level. It is also possible
for the acidulous miasma to be triggered accidentally. If even 1
point of electricity damage is dealt within the fog cloud, it turns
to acid immediately, with a 50% chance of either the continuing
damage form or the instantaneous damage form.
Expensive Component: The miasma is a lethal trap that can be
made more lethal by compressing even more acid into the tiny
pebble. This upgrade requires expensive components costing
2,340 gold pieces and increases the acid damage dealt by the
acidulous miasma generator by 50%.
ALCHEMICAL ASSAYER
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: One touched object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 10 lbs.
An alchemical assayer is a portable laboratory that allows you
to quickly and thoroughly analyze an alchemical compound,
technological device, or magical item in your possession. You
make an Appraise check — the DC is 15 for an alchemical item
(or 20 for a particularly unusual compound) and 15 + ½ the
device’s activation level for devices. Magical items may also be
identified through various negative tests but this is tricky due to
the interference of the enchanted item on the device. Identifying
a magical item with an alchemical assayer has a DC of 20 + ½ the
item’s caster level.
If you succeed on the Appraise check, you determine every
property of the alchemical item (including market value and
application method) or the technological device or magical item
(including its exact effect, duration, and activation cost). Retries
are allowed for this roll, but require multiple activations of the
alchemical assayer.
Expensive Components: Each use of the alchemical assayer expends
rare alchemical reagents and disposable tools costing 5 gp. This
is not an optional expensive component. You can also prepare an
automated battery of tests costing 390 gold pieces, which reduces
the alchemical assayer’s activation time to 1 standard action.
41
Example – Relations with Merpeople
The alchemical rebreather is one of several gadgets
that can potentially have a significant effect on the game
world — any character with a single level of technologist and
390 gold pieces can use an alchemical rebreather to explore
undersea areas and remain underwater for quite a while.
Because the rebreather is so much easier to use than water
breathing and similar spells it offers the potential for strong
relations between undersea races and land-dwellers. In my
campaign, technologist divers use the device to trade with a
group of lake-dwelling tritons, who provide many otherwise-
unavailable arcane and technological components and
materials.
ALCHEMICAL REBREATHER
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 minute
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 3 lbs.
This partial mask fits over your mouth and nose and produces
oxygen via a complex series of alchemical reactions. While wearing
it you do not need air from an outside source. Thus, you are at
no risk of drowning or suffocation or of suffering the effects of
inhaled poisons. You are also immune to attacks that rely on
overpoweringly strong smells, such as a troglodyte’s stench.
Expensive Component: Every minute of use causes the alchemical
rebreather to expend alchemical reagents costing 1 silver piece. This is
not an optional expensive component. You can also fill the reaction
chamber with more powerful oxygen-producing substances to
increase the rebreather’s base duration to 1 hour for as long as it
remains activated. This enhancement costs 390 gold pieces.
ALCHEMICAL RESEQUENCER
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: 0 feet
Target: A number of alchemical items, poisons, and magical
potions
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 8 lbs.
An alchemical resequencer converts one type of chemical
compound into another. You feed whatever alchemical
substances, poisons, and magical potions you have on hand into
the device and it immediately begins clicking and beeping loudly,
occasionally emitting puffs of luridly-colored smoke. After one
minute, the device produces whatever alchemical items, magical
potions, or poisons you desire, neatly wrapped or bottled in a
suitable container. You can create any kind of chemical-based
item with this device, as long as the item’s Craft DC is no higher Table 4-2: Alembic of Creation
than 15 plus your activation level. You can create a magical potion Language Sp Ability (PHB p. #)
only as long as your activation level is at least 3 times the required Abyssal chaos hammer (one creature only; p. 208)
Aquan water breathing (p. 300)
caster level to brew that potion.
Auran fly (p. 232)
For the purpose of this device most poisons have a Craft Celestial magic circle against evil (p. 249)
(poison) DC of 20. Inhaled poisons have a Craft DC of 25. Common tongues (p. 294)
Expensive Components: An alchemical resequencer can only Draconic fear (one creature only; p. 229)
produce items with a total market value equal to or less than the Druidic dominate animal (p. 224)
total market value of the substances you feed into it. This is not Dwarven stone shape (p. 284)
Elven quickened prestidigitation (p. 264)
an optional expensive component.
Giant extended enlarge person (p. 226)
Gnoll locate creature (1 min./level only; p. 249)
ALEMBIC OF CREATION Gnome major image (p. 252)
Artifact (greater) Goblin contagion (p. 213)
Activation Time: 1 full round Halfling heroism (p. 240)
Range: Personal Ignan fireball (p. 231)
Target: You Infernal order’s wrath (one creature only; p. 258)
Orc rage (p. 268)
Duration: 1 hour
Sylvan speak with plants (p. 282)
Activation Cost: 135 points Terran meld into stone (p. 252)
Weight: 3 lbs. Undercommon deeper darkness (p. 217)
The alembic of creation is a glass prism that thrums with
an almost inaudible hum even when inactivate. The alembic is AMANUENSIS ENGINE
a controlled echo chamber that contains every word of every Gadget (standard)
language you know and distills these languages down to their Activation Time: 1 minute
essences, single words that express the values that the creatures Range: Touch
who speak that language hold dear. These words are part of the Target: Object or objects touched
language of creation and cannot be held in mind by mortals, Duration: 24 hours (D)
but with the alembic’s help you can call on their power to cause Saving Throw: Will negates (object)
changes in the reality around you. When you take the alembic in Activation Cost: 10 points
hand and activate it, it floods your mind with the distilled words Weight: See text
of power and refreshes your memory as rapidly as you forget An amanuensis engine contains hundreds of finely-tuned gears
them. While this device is activated, you may speak any of the in a boxy metal casing and is perhaps the single most complicated
words corresponding to languages you know, either your starting clockwork calculation device in existence. An alchemical
languages or those gained through the Speak Language skill. photoplate covering a sophisticated gear system allows you to use
Doing so is a spell-like ability, useable at will, and produces a the amanuensis engine to copy and store written material.
different effect for every language. The caster level for this ability By placing the device flat over the target writing(s), you
is equal to the alembic of creation’s activation level. The table below cause writing from one source (such as a book) to be copied into
includes the languages found in the PHB, and GMs can add the engine. This device copies one page (roughly 800 words) per
additional languages found in their campaign as they see fit. The one-minute exposure cycle and creates a perfect duplicate of the
creatures affected by spell-like abilities gained using the alembic of original, including any illustrations or diagrams. The device only
creation need not understand the word you utter to be affected by copies nonmagical text, not magical writings like spell scrolls or
it (and indeed, it is impossible for them to do so). a sepia snake sigil. If the target contains both normal and magical
Expensive Component: Normally only the alembic of creation’s writing, only the normal text is copied, leaving a blank space in
creator can interface with it, but adding a strong mental impression the transcription where the magical writing would be expected.
of another creature to the internal sound chamber temporarily The device triggers (but does not copy) writing-based magical
allows someone else to grasp the device and communicate with it. traps (such as explosive runes) in the material being copied.
Impressing this mental image on the alembic requires equipment If this device is used to copy a spell from a spellbook, you
costing 1,110 gold pieces and changes the device’s range to touch, must provide the necessary costly materials as if you were copying
its target to creature touched, and adds a Will negates (harmless) it by hand. The amanuensis engine does not translate materials
saving throw entry. The creature uses your languages known, not that it copies. If you do not understand the original, you have no
its own, to determine which spell-like abilities it has access to. additional ability to understand the copy.
You may access the copied materials at any time using the
amanuensis engine’s photoplate. It takes a move action to call up any
given page from the device’s clockwork memory. An amanuensis
engine weighs 1 pound per 250 pages it stores. The engine’s current

42
weight determines the device’s maximum data storage, and
technologists are advised to weigh the value of information with
against the weight they can carry.
You may read the materials you are copying as you copy
them, at roughly the same rate as they are transcribed into the
amanuensis engine.
Expensive Components: Materials necessary for copying a
spellbook, if necessary. In addition, any masterwork books you
transcribe into an amanuensis engine add their value to it, although
this transcription does not actually cost you anything.
ANATHEMATIZE ABNORMALITY
Technology (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Permanent (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 15 points
This ability allows you to mark an abnormality (a
nontechnological construct, elemental, outsider, or undead),
revealing its true nature and preventing it from easily harming
others or mingling in humanoid society. Your hand glows with
a grey light and you make a touch attack against a creature. This
ability has no effect on creatures not of the construct, elemental,
outsider, or undead type but against these types of creatures it
causes an ugly puckering burn mark in some prominent location
(usually the face or hands). This mark is apparent to everyone
viewing the creature even if it shifts to some other form and
inflicts a –20 penalty on the creature’s Disguise checks to conceal
its true nature from those who are familiar with the marks created
by this effect.
In addition, a creature afflicted by anathematize abnormality
must make a Will save to initiate an attack against any creature
not of the construct, elemental, outsider, or undead types. If it
fails this save its action is not wasted, but it may not attack that
creature. This protection is lost if a creature attacks the marked
creature first. An attack for this purpose is anything that would
end an invisibility spell, although as a special exception to this rule
you may mark a creature via anathematize abnormality without
giving it the ability to attack you.
You may also sense marked creatures by taking a standard
action to do so; doing so tells you the direction of the nearest
creatures so marked and its distance from you in miles, regardless
of who originally used anathematize abnormality on that creature.
You can do so without spending any activation points, as long
as you have mastered this ability. Your ability to sense marked
creatures works only on the same plane, although you know which
plane creatures you personally mark are currently on at all times.
Anathematize abnormality is effectively a curse and is therefore
removed only by a break enchantment, limited wish, miracle, remove
curse, or wish spell. If remove curse is to be successful, the caster must
have a higher caster level than your activation level. Otherwise,
the spell fails automatically.
43
Example – Forsaker’s Mark
Because anyone with anathematize abnormality can
detect the creatures it marks, this ability is a critical part of
any organized campaign to hunt down magical constructs,
elementals, outsiders, and the undead. In my campaign,
Imperial Forsakers are the primary users of this technique,
but you can also give anathematize abnormality a more benign
place in your campaign by limiting it to only one of the four
creature types (undead or evil outsiders are especially good
choices). If you do so, make this device a greater gadget but
leave its activation cost the same. This allows even low-level
technologists to be valued members of organized hunting
parties directed at the abhorred creature type.
Expensive Component: This ability is normally used simply to
mark a magic-dependent creature and to drive it out of humanoid
society. However, by sprinkling an alchemically-pure salt worth
1,620 gold pieces over your hand as you activate the ability you can
add some true lethality to anathematize abnormality’s effects. The
creature you touch immediately suffers 1d4 points of Charisma
drain, and must make another Will save every day or take another
1d4 points of Charisma drain as its sense of self begins to unravel.
Creatures that are reduced to 0 Charisma in this manner are
destroyed and leave nothing behind. Even creatures normally
immune to ability drain by virtue of their creature type, such as
nontechnological constructs and undead, suffer this effect of
anathematize abnormality.
ANNEALING GEL
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: One suit of armor
Duration: 8 hours
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (objects)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 1 lb.
Annealing gel is an alchemical compound that comes in the
form of an easily-applied red goo. When smeared on a suit of metal
or leather armor this goo quickly soaks in, giving the material a
reddish sheen. The gel changes the armor into an incredibly supple
and form-fitting second skin without damaging the material or
affecting its hardness, although the treatment does somewhat
reduce the effectiveness of very heavy armor.
An armor treated with annealing gel has its armor bonus
changed to +6 for the duration of the effect and the material’s
increased elasticity means that an armor so treated inflicts no armor
check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, or speed reduction. As
an odd side effect, the armor’s armor bonus to AC now applies
against incorporeal creatures as well due to a poorly-understood
reaction incorporeal beings have with the annealing gel.
The weight given in the device’s description block is for one
application of annealing gel. Due to the extremely complex and
alchemically supported reactions it causes, annealing gel disrupts
magic in a localized area. For this reason, annealing gel suppresses
the magical qualities of any armor it is applied to for the duration
of the effect. Particularly daring characters can take advantage of
this property by applying the gel to an opponent’s armor with a
melee touch attack (which provokes an attack of opportunity).
This attack can be made as part of the device’s activation time.
Artifacts and similarly powerful magical armors are completely
unaffected by annealing gel and this device neither changes their
armor bonus to AC nor suppresses their magical properties.
Expensive Components: An application of annealing gel costs
5 sp. This is not an optional expensive component. Alchemically
enhancing the gel gives this device a duration of 24 hours instead
of 8. This enhancement costs 390 gold pieces.
ANTIMAGIC VORTEX
Gadget (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Target or Area: Object touched, or up to 5 square feet/level
Duration: Permanent until discharged (D)
Saving Throw: See text
Activation Cost: 15 points
This powerful mathematical glyph harms magic-using
creatures who enter, pass, or open the warded area or object. An
antimagic vortex can guard a bridge or passage, ward a portal, trap
a chest or box, and so on. When activating the device, you weave
a tracery of faintly glowing lines, creating a warding sigil that is
primed to destroy magic in the area. A vortex can be placed to
conform to any shape up to the limitations of your total square
footage and the glyph and tracery become nearly invisible when
they are completed. Read magic allows you to identify an antimagic
vortex with a DC 17 Spellcraft check. Identifying the glyph does
not discharge it and allows you to know the basic nature of the
vortex, including its area of effect. The Search and Disable Device
DCs for an antimagic vortex are 27.
You set the conditions of the ward. Typically, any creature
entering the warded area or opening the warded object triggers an
antimagic vortex. Alternatively, you can set an antimagic vortex to go
off when an arcane spell is cast within 20 feet, when a divine spell
is cast within 20 feet, or when a construct, elemental, outsider,
or undead creature enters the warded area or handles the warded
object. Antimagic vortexes respond to invisible creatures normally
but are not triggered by those who travel past them ethereally.
Multiple antimagic vortexes cannot be placed on the same area or
object. However, if a cabinet (for example) has three drawers, each
can be separately warded.
When an antimagic vortex is triggered the warded area, or an
area with a radius of 20 feet around the warded object, fills with
a flat grey light. This light acts as the area version of smite magic,
negating ongoing magical effects. In addition, every creature
in the area is targeted by a ray of colorless energy; the antimagic
vortex makes a touch attack roll to hit with a bonus equal to your
Intelligence bonus. This ray duplicates the effects of the smite
44
abnormality gadget using your activation level as it was when you
created the vortex.
Expensive Components: You trace the antimagic glyph with a
magically-inert alchemical compound, which costs 50 gold pieces
per glyph you draw. This is not an optional expensive component.
A silver-grey guiding wire may also be included as you draw the
symbol to increase the power of the antimagic vortex; doing so
causes the smite aberration rays to deal half again their normal
damage and grants a +5 bonus to activation level checks made for
the smite magic effect. This fluid costs 900 gold pieces.
AQUA CELERITAS MAJOR
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 30 points (see text)
Weight: 17 lbs.
Aqua celeritas major is a potent alchemical elixir, designed
with a specific creature’s body chemistry in mind, which will
alter and enhance that creature’s agility if the potion is properly
administered. When you choose to master this device you must
choose one specific person or creature that the aqua is intended
for. Other creatures can receive temporary benefits from an
injection of aqua, but in any metabolic system other than the
intended creature’s the natural chemistry of the creature breaks
down the potion after just 24 hours.
When infused into a creature’s blood, aqua celeritas major
enhances the target’s peripheral nervous system — tiny, deep-red
globules form on the subject’s spine, accelerating the transfer
of electrical impulses. These alchemically-strengthened nerves
improve the subject’s reflexes and hand-eye coordination. The net
effect is a +4 enhancement bonus to the target’s Dexterity, which
Aqua on the Open Market
This device is one of several that provides a permanent
bonus to characters who undergo a special alchemical
regimen. They are priced with the assumption that the
technologist will be providing his services for free, which
means they are somewhat cheaper than the equivalent
magical items. (Just as asking your party’s wizard to make
an item for you is — hopefully — cheaper than commissioning
one from an NPC spellcaster.) If your players want to pay an
NPC technologist to use these devices on them it should cost
them significantly more than what the technologist pays for
raw materials. Thus, receiving the benefits of aqua celeritas
major costs a total of 32,000 gold pieces for a permanent +4
enhancement bonus to Dexterity and a total of 72,000 for
a +6 enhancement bonus. Note that you can also use these
devices to give NPCs higher stats or special abilities without
giving your players anything to loot or sell.
lasts for 24 hours. Distilling and administering the dose takes 2
hours and costs 30 activation points.
A dose of the potion remains viable even if it is not immediately
injected into a creature, but the one-day duration is tracked from
the moment it was ready, not from the moment it was injected.
Additionally, when properly infused into the intended
creature, chosen when the device was mastered, the duration is
permanent. This process is long, requiring the technologist to
activate the device four times in a row and to spend 120 activation
points over the course of 8 hours. Once this process is complete,
nothing short of extensive spinal damage will remove the effects
of the infusion — it cannot be dispelled, and carries over even if
the subject is resurrected or raised from the dead.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: By making a second, more costly
infusion for the single creature you chose when mastering
the device the elixir’s effects can be augmented to provide a +6
enhancement bonus to Dexterity. This secondary infusion costs
10,000 gold pieces and incorporates the blood of a vampire
with at least 14 Hit Dice as a key ingredient. Completing this
secondary transformation gives the subject’s skin a bit of a pallor
and requires 16 hours of activation to run its course, expending a
total of 240 activation points.
It is also possible to adapt the formula for aqua celeritas major
to creatures other than the one it was originally intended for. This
development process costs 20,000 gold pieces and allows you to
permanently infuse the potion into the body of one additional
specific individual. This individual must be on hand for a full
week while you develop the modified serum.
AQUA CELERITAS MINOR
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
This alchemical concoction typically improves range of
movement and muscle coordination. Fully activating the device
requires four consecutive activations over the course of 8 hours,
costing a total of 60 activation points. The alchemical compound
you infuse permanently grants one bonus to the subject, chosen
from the list below:
Loose Joints: Increasing the subject’s range of movement with
this application of aqua celeritas minor grants the creature a
+2 alchemical bonus on all Escape Artist checks.
Light Fingers: Along with a slight but noticeable lengthening of
the subject’s fingers this treatment results in a +2 alchemical
bonus on all Sleight of Hand checks.
Balance Augmentation: By strengthening the parts of the brain
and inner ear responsible for physical equilibrium this
45
application grants the subject a +2 alchemical bonus on all
Balance checks.
Springing Muscles: This infusion increases the target’s stride, and
allows it to jump higher and farther. The subject gains a +2
alchemical bonus on all Jump checks.
Catfall: This application strengthens and cushions the target’s
joints, granting a +4 alchemical bonus to Jump or Tumble
checks made to intentionally jump down from a height.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject, but each new
effect requires an additional application of aqua celeritas minor to
be effective: one effect requires one dose of aqua celeritas minor,
adding a second requires two additional doses, and so forth.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: One application of aqua celeritas minor
costs 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
AQUA INTELLIGENTIAE MAJOR
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 30 points (see text)
Weight: 17 lbs.
Aqua intelligentiae major is a potent alchemical potion
that changes the target’s brain once infused into the subject’s
blood — scarlet and blue fibers grow between the two hemispheres
of the brain, improving quickness and ease of memory recall.
These alchemically-strengthened nerves improve the subject’s
intellect and ability to recall information. The net effect is a +4
enhancement bonus to the target’s Intelligence. This device is
identical to aqua celeritas major except that the enhanced ability
score is Intelligence.
Expensive Component: The expensive component required
to increase the enhancement bonus permanently granted by
this device from +4 to +6 is the brain of a marilith instead of
vampire blood. The recipient of this treatment sometimes finds
itself compulsively making rapid calculations of seemingly
unimportant details in the back of their mind.
AQUA INTELLIGENTIAE MINOR
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
This alchemical concoction improves the subject’s memory
and ability to recall information. Fully activating the device requires
four consecutive activations over the course of 8 hours, costing a
total of 20 activation points. The alchemical compound grants one
permanent bonus to the subject, chosen from the list below:
Knowledge Focus: This alchemical potion is tailor-made to
enhance recall of a certain class of facts and grants a +2
alchemical bonus to checks for a specific Knowledge subskill,
chosen when the infusion is made.
Enhanced Memory: This use of aqua intelligentiae minor allows
the subject to better focus its mind on memorizing written
material. With a successful DC 10 Intelligence check you
can attempt to memorize a long string of numbers, a long
passage of verse, or some other particularly difficult piece
of information. You can’t memorize magical writings or
similarly exotic scripts. Each successful check allows you to
memorize a single page of text (about 800 words), numbers,
diagrams, or sigils (even if you don’t recognize their meaning).
If a document is longer than one page you can make
additional checks for each additional page. You always retain
this information; however, you can recall it only by making
another successful Intelligence check. If you have ranks in the
Autohypnosis skill, you instead gain a +4 alchemical bonus to
checks made to memorize and recall written material.
Visual Memory: By improving the subject’s visual memory this
infusion grants a +2 alchemical bonus on all Disable Device
and Open Lock checks.
Magic Allergy: This infusion sensitizes the nerves to magical
auras, creating an itchy sensation in the affected creature
while it is in the presence of magic. These sensations are mildly
annoying, but they also help the subject identify magical
effects more easily. This application of aqua intelligentiae minor
grants a +4 alchemical bonus to all Spellcraft checks made to
identify an aura’s school of magic, identify a spell already in
place and in effect, identify materials created or shaped by
magic, or to understand a strange or unique magical effect.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject but each
new effect requires an additional application of aqua intelligentiae
minor to be effective and careful application to prevent the various
modifications from conflicting: one effect requires one dose,
adding a second requires two more doses, and so forth.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: One application of aqua intelligentiae
minor costs 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
AQUA SAPIENTIAE MAJOR
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 30 points (see text)
Weight: 17 lbs.
Aqua sapientiae major is a potent alchemical potion that
changes the target’s mind once it is infused into the target’s blood.
46
The subject’s aura acquires an incandescent blue edge. Periodic
slow-downs, in which the world comes better into focus and the
target has more time to consider his actions, allow for a more
reflective approach to life. The net effect is a +4 enhancement
bonus to the target’s Wisdom. This device is identical to aqua
celeritas major except that the enhanced ability score is Wisdom.
Expensive Component: The expensive component required to
increase the enhancement bonus permanently granted by this
device from +4 to +6 is solar’s essence instead of vampire blood.
The eyes of the recipient of this treatment take on a gold sheen
after the infusion is complete.
AQUA SAPIENTIAE MINOR
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
This alchemical concoction improves the subject’s eyes,
ears, or sense of smell. Fully activating the device requires four
consecutive activations over the course of 8 hours, costing a total
of 60 activation points. The alchemical compound permanently
grants one bonus to the subject, chosen from the list below:
Visual Augmentation: This general enhancement in visual acuity
grants a +2 alchemical bonus to Spot checks.
Auditory Augmentation: This general enhancement in auditory
acuity grants a +2 alchemical bonus to Listen checks.
Olfactory Augmentation: Improving the sensitivity of the
subject’s nasal membranes grants a +2 alchemical bonus on
Craft (alchemy) checks (the creature can monitor alchemical
processes by smell), a +2 alchemical bonus on Spot checks
based entirely on smell, and a +2 alchemical bonus to the
Wisdom check made to track via the Scent special ability.
However, the creature also suffers a –4 penalty to all saving
throws against bad smells such as a troglodyte’s stench
ability.
Enchantment Sensitivity: This unusual application makes the
subject sensitive to magic used to dominate others, granting it
a +4 alchemical bonus on Sense Motive checks made to sense
whether or not someone else’s behavior is being magically
influenced. Beneficiaries of this treatment are often on edge
around anyone bearing a number of Enchantment spells or
effects.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject but each new
effect requires an additional application of aqua sapientiae minor
to be effective: one effect requires one dose of the potion, adding
a second requires two additional doses, and so forth.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: One application of aqua venusitas minor
costs 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
AQUA VENUSITAS MAJOR
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 30 points (see text)
Weight: 17 lbs.
Aqua venusitas major is a potent alchemical potion that
changes the subject’s personal magnetism once infused into
the target’s blood. The subject acquires a subtle magnetic field
that influences the its personality and has a powerful effect on
its interlocutors. A side effect is a change in the subject’s eyes
that gives the appearance of a greenish sheen and of almost-
invisible pink flecks in the iris. The creature’s alchemically-
strengthened presence improves its personal magnetism and
force of personality. The net effect is a +4 enhancement bonus
to the target’s Charisma. This device is identical to aqua celeritas
major except that the enhanced ability score is Charisma.
Expensive Component: The expensive component required to
increase the enhancement bonus permanently granted by this
device from +4 to +6 is nymph’s blood and several pounds of
alchemically pure iron instead of vampire blood. The recipient of
this treatment sometimes gains a literal magnetic attraction for
very small metal objects.
AQUA VENUSITAS MINOR
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
These alchemically enhanced cosmetics are both effective
and permanent, and are put to great use by individuals who want
an edge in social interaction. Fully activating the device requires
four consecutive activations over the course of 8 hours, costing a
total of 40 activation points. Once it has been properly infused
into a subject, aqua venusitas minor grants the affected creature
one permanent bonus, chosen from the list below:
Soothing Features: Typically taking the form of alterations to the
subject’s eyes and skin tone that have a subliminal soothing
effect on the creature’s audience, this application grants a +1
alchemical bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy checks.
Dramatic Features: Typically taking the form of dramatic and often
colorful highlights to the skin, eyes, and hair, this application
of aqua venusitas minor grants a +2 alchemical bonus to one
Perform subskill, chosen when the ability is granted.
Fearsome Features: Perpetually bloodshot eyes and claw-like
nails are popular forms of this application, which grants a
+2 alchemical bonus to all Intimidate checks.
47
Nondescript Features: By altering the subject’s features in very
minor ways to discourage close observation this application
grants a +2 alchemical bonus to all Disguise checks.
Seductive Features: This application, the least subtle of the
uses of aqua venusitas minor, enhances the subject’s sexual
attractiveness by improving their physical appearance. This
grants a +4 alchemical bonus on all Bluff checks made to
seduce someone.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject but each new
effect requires an additional application of aqua venusitas minor to
be effective: one effect requires one dose, adding a second requires
two additional doses, and so forth.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: One application of aqua venusitas minor
costs 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
AQUA VIRIUM MAJOR
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 30 points (see text)
Weight: 17 lbs.
Aqua virium major is a potent alchemical potion that changes
the target’s muscles once infused into its blood — the muscle fiber
is shot through with pale blue strands as strong as adamantine
wire. This alchemically-strengthened musculature improves
the subject’s strength and carrying capacity. The net effect is a
+4 enhancement bonus to the target’s Strength. This device is
identical to aqua celeritas major except that the enhanced ability
score is Strength.
Expensive Component: The expensive component required to
increase the enhancement bonus permanently granted by this
device from +4 to +6 is a sample of fire, storm, cloud, frost, stone,
and hill giant muscle instead of vampire blood. The procedure
adds considerable bulk to the subject’s physique.
AQUA VIRIUM MINOR
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
Aqua virium minor is a syrupy alchemical concoction that
grants the subject slightly improved muscle control and tone
when ingested and selectively injected into the target creature’s
muscles. Fully activating the device requires four consecutive
activations over the course of 8 hours, costing a total of 40
activation points. When performing the infusion procedure you
must select one weapon type to which the bonuses will apply,
such as rapiers, longbows, unarmed strikes, or a single natural
attack possessed by the target creature. Aqua virium minor grants
one permanent bonus to the subject chosen from the list below:
Weapon Balance: By sculpting the subject’s muscles in minor
but effective ways you grant them a +1 enhancement bonus
on all attack rolls with their chosen weapon.
Weapon Edge: By slightly bulking up the muscles in the subject’s
hands and arms you grant them a +1 enhancement bonus on
all damage rolls with the chosen weapon.
Sorcerous Hands: This alchemical infusion draws surrounding
magical auras into the chosen type of weapon while the subject
holds it, thereby allowing the weapon to bypass damage
reduction as though it were magical. This ability provides
no bonuses to attack or damage with an affected weapon
nor any other bonuses a weapon would normally gain by
being magical. This enhancement works in conjunction with
thrown weapons as well as melee weapons, although a thrown
weapon’s ability to penetrate magic-based damage reduction
fades one round after the weapon leaves the creature’s grasp.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject, but each
new effect requires an additional dose of aqua virium minor to
be effective: one effect requires one dose of the elixir, adding a
second requires two additional doses, and so forth.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: The market value of one dose of aqua
virium minor is 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
AQUA VITAE MAJOR
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 30 points (see text)
Weight: 17 lbs.
Aqua vitae major is a potent alchemical elixir that changes
the target’s circulatory system once infused into its blood — the
creature’s blood takes on a pinkish hue and forms smooth
crystals when exposed to air instead of clotting normally. This
alchemically-strengthened blood clots with almost supernatural
speed and repels disease-carrying organisms with unusual
alacrity. The net effect is a +4 enhancement bonus to the target’s
Constitution. This device is identical to aqua celeritas major except
that the enhanced ability score is Constitution.
Expensive Component: The expensive component required to
increase the enhancement bonus permanently granted by this
device from +4 to +6 is an ichor extracted from the vital organs
of a number of regenerating creatures instead of vampire blood.
The enhanced aqua vitae major treatment changes the color of the
subject’s blood to a vivid red-orange.
48
AQUA VITAE MINOR
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
Aqua vitae minor is a syrupy alchemical concoction that grants
a small measure of additional hardiness when infused slowly into
the subject’s bloodstream. Fully activating the device requires
four consecutive activations over the course of 8 hours, costing a
total of 20 activation points. Following this infusion process the
aqua vitae minor grants the subject 2 extra hit points, which are
added to his maximum total.
You may grant additional hit points to the same subject but
each additional effect requires an additional dose of aqua vitae
minor to be effective: the first application requires one dose, the
second requires two more doses, and so forth.
The second application of aqua vitae minor grants an
additional 1 bonus hit point, the third grants 2, the fourth 1,
and the fifth grants a +1 alchemical bonus to all Fortitude saves.
The sixth dose of aqua vitae minor restarts this pattern from the
beginning and grants 2 bonus hit points to an affected creature.
This pattern repeats indefinitely, so a creature successfully treated
with aqua vitae minor 12 times (at a total cost of 23,400 gold pieces
plus the cost of hiring a technologist) gains 15 hit points and a +2
alchemical bonus to all Fortitude saves.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A dose of the potion itself is effectively weightless.
Expensive Component: The market value of one dose of aqua
vitae minor is 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
ARCANE COUNTERDISRUPTION
Technology (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 24 hours or until discharged (D)
Activation Cost: 15 points
By means of this ability you infuse yourself and your
mastered devices with latent antimagical energy, protecting them
from disruption by enemy spellcasters. If one of your devices is
the subject of an arcane disruption attempt (see Chapter Three)
at any time during the arcane counterdisruption’s duration, that
attempt automatically fails. In addition, a jagged streak of grey
energy darts out from the protected device and unerringly strikes
the spellcaster who attempted the disruption. This burst of
antimagic is identical in its effects to the targeted use of the smite
magic gadget ability. Once triggered the arcane counterdisruption is
discharged. You may not be under the effects of more than one
use of this ability simultaneously.
Expensive Component: A grey metal charm that focuses the
counterdisruption’s effects allows you to more skillfully use the smite
magic effect. This charm costs 750 gold pieces and allows you to
apply up to a +20 bonus for your level to the activation level check
to dispel spells in effect on the target of your counterdisruption.
This boost is of no use if your activation level is not normally
high enough to grant you a bonus greater than 10.
ARGENT-CHAIN WIDGETS
Technology (standard) [Electricity]
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: 100 feet
Area: Line between two points within range
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
These hovering drones immediately dart off to any two points
you designate within range when activated. Once in position (at
the end of the activation time), the argent-chain widgets generate
a powerful stroke of electricity (the “argent chain”) between
themselves before returning to your hand.
This stroke of electricity deals 1d6 points of electricity
damage per activation level, to a maximum of 15d6 points of
damage. Draw the line between any two points of any two squares
within range.
Argent-chain widgets can be targeted with a readied attack
or spell the round they are deployed. They have AC 17 (+4 size,
+3 Dex), hardness 15, and a number of hit points equal to
your activation level. If one widget is destroyed the other fails to
function.
Expensive Components: Disposable antimagical batteries allow
the argent-chain widgets to fly farther, faster, and double the range
of this device. These batteries cost 750 gold pieces.
ASCENSION GEAR
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 5 lbs.
This set of bracers and greaves is covered with small, adjustable
suckers with tiny adamantine hooks on the inside, providing the
ultimate in high-tech climbing gear. You can climb and travel on
vertical surfaces or even traverse ceilings, like an insect. You gain
a climb speed of 20 feet; furthermore, you need not make Climb
checks to traverse a vertical or horizontal surface (even upside
down). While using this device you retain your Dexterity bonus
to Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no
special bonus to their attacks against you. You cannot, however,
use the run action while climbing. You must have your hands free
to climb in this manner.
If used in combat, ascension gear is a one-handed slashing
49
weapon with a ×2 critical that deals 1d4 points of damage.
Expensive Component: A tacky alchemical compound that does
strange things to friction on the ascension gear’s gripping surface
makes climbing using this device easier and more natural. Your
climb speed when using this device increases to your base land
speed (if it is higher than 20 feet), and you may run and charge
normally while climbing. This compound costs 390 gold pieces.
ASTRAL PERSPECTIVE VORTEX
Artifact (standard) [Teleportation]
Activation Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 feet
Target: You and all willing creatures within 10 feet
Duration: See text (D)
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
The Astral perspective vortex is a rainbow-colored sheet of
cloth that you cast into the air and then gather back in. The vortex
looses the souls of creatures from their bodies and propels them
through the inner recesses of their minds to the Astral Plane,
where you can stop or continue on as a group to travel to other
planes. Since the Astral touches on most other planes, you can
travel astrally to any of these planes as desired, provided that you
know the way (see below).
Willing creatures within 10 feet of you when you activate
this device can accompany you, but fellow travelers are
dependent upon you and must stay near you at all times. From
the perspective of onlookers on the Astral Plane, they must stay
within 30 feet of your position and can take a standard action to
abandon the Astral perspective vortex and stop wherever they may
be on the Astral Plane. The perspective vortex lasts until you dismiss
it and stop where you are on the Astral, until the device’s effect is
somehow canceled (by such means as arcane disruption), or until
you reach the intended destination plane.
While you are traveling through the Astral Plane, those
natives who happen to glimpse you and your fellow travelers
perceive you to be moving at an unvarying speed of 30 feet while
wrapped in a glowing aura similar to that projected by an Astral
color pool.
Your journey to another plane takes a longer or shorter time
depending on your knowledge of the planes. For each 24 hours
that you travel, make a Knowledge (the Planes) check. Unless a
location is particularly hard to find and well guarded, or conversely
easy to find and well advertised, the DC for navigating through
the Astral perspective vortex is 20. You cannot take 20 on this check,
although you can take 10. Each check may be modified by your
degree of familiarity with the destination. If you have only heard
of the destination plane secondhand, or only have a picture or
mental image to guide you, the base Knowledge check DC is 30,
and if you have visited the destination plane three or more times
or have a Planar Cartographer’s map of the Astral route to the
plane the base check DC is only 10.
Each successful Knowledge (the Planes) check indicates
that you are one step closer to your goal. To finally arrive at your
location, you must succeed on six checks within a span of 12
days. If you fail to make six successful checks within the first 12
days you have gotten a bit lost in your own dreams and reveries,
but can continue to make one check per day until you get the
requisite six successes within a span of 12 consecutive days. When
you successfully make the requisite number of checks, the journey
ends and you appear on your chosen plane within 1d100 miles of
your intended destination on that plane.
Expensive Component: Traveling via an Astral perspective vortex
requires a lot of time to sort through your memories, correlate
those reflections with the subjective features of the Astral Plane,
and find the correct color pool to access. You can speed this
process by giving the task over to a telepathic computing device
that rigorously roots through and organizes the thoughts and
dreams of yourself and your companions and allows you to arrive
instantly and unerringly (with no need for Knowledge checks) at
your destination plane. This process is damaging to the psyche,
however, and deals 1d6 points of Wisdom and Charisma damage
to you and everyone accompanying you within the Astral perspective
vortex. The required device costs 2,340 gold pieces.
ATOMIC DISCOMBOBULATOR
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Ray
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
This oddly designed rifle produces bright green sparks for
a few moments after it is activated, and then fires a scintillating
neon-green beam that has the unpleasant effect of completely
disintegrating the target. (Watch out, though — the atomic
discombobulator has quite a kick.) You must make a successful
ranged touch attack to hit, and any creature struck by the ray that
fails a Fortitude save against it takes 2d6 points of damage per
activation level (to a maximum of 40d6). Any creature reduced
to 0 or fewer hit points by the atomic discombobulator is entirely
disintegrated and leaves behind only a fine trace of dust. A
disintegrated creature’s equipment is unaffected.
A creature or object that makes a successful Fortitude save is
only partially disintegrated and takes only 1d6 points of damage
per two activation levels (maximum of 10d6 damage). If this
damage reduces the creature or object to 0 or fewer hit points, it is
still entirely disintegrated (it was evidently an unworthy target for
the atomic discombobulator). Only the first creature or object struck
is affected (the ray affects only one target per activation).
When used against an object the discombobulator’s ray simply
disintegrates as much as one 10-foot cube of nonliving matter.
Thus, the device disintegrates only part of a very large object or
structure. The ray affects even objects constructed entirely of
force, such as a wall of force or the effect of a kinetic barrier-layer.
Expensive Component: The only thing an atomic discombobulator
50
needs to be more effective is to discombobulate more things. To
this end, you can add a clear emerald repeater to the device and
cause it to fire two independently-targeted beams instead of one.
Each of these beams requires its own attack roll and disintegrates
a target struck as normal. You cannot strike the same creature
or object with both beams unless it is of at least Huge size. The
emerald repeater costs 2,610 gold pieces.
AURA OF JUST RETRIBUTION
Technology (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Until expended or 10 minutes/level (D)
Activation Cost: 45 points
An aura of just retribution defends you against hostile magic
by slicing the spell apart and breaking its energy down into a raw
flux of power that you can then direct against your foes. This
ability works on spells and spell-like abilities that target you; only
spells with a target entry are affected. Effect and area spells are
not affected and spell effects delivered directly into your body
with a touch bypass the aura. The GM secretly rolls 1d6 and adds
one-third your activation level (rounded down, to a maximum of
1d6+6 at 18th level) to determine the total number of spell levels
that can be defeated by an aura of just retribution.
When you are affected by a spell that can be affected by the
aura and that is within your limit of remaining spell levels, the
spell shatters into hundreds of visible, multihued shards that race
along your skin just above your flesh before darting off to cut
into a creature you designate. You must succeed at a ranged touch
attack; if you do, the creature takes 2d6 points of damage per spell
level defeated by the aura of just retribution. This damage results
from pure arcane power given physical form, so it is effectively
a spell effect. Damage reduction and energy resistance do not
apply, but if you strike a creature with spell resistance you must
roll a spell penetration check to successfully deal damage, using
the caster level of the mage whose spell you defeated. Redirecting
a spell’s energy in this way does not take an action and happens
instantly when the aura protects you from a spell. Subtract the
level of a redirected spell from your remaining number of spell
levels of protection.
If you are targeted by a spell with a level higher than your aura
can handle, that spell is partially cut apart. Subtract the aura’s
remaining spell levels from the spell level of the incoming spell,
then divide the result by the spell level of the incoming spell to see
what fraction of the effect gets through. For damaging spells, you
take a fraction of the damage and redirect the rest as described
above. For nondamaging spells, you have only a proportional
chance to be affected. Only the number of spell levels that
remained when the spell struck you counts toward the damage
of the retributive strike, and the aura of just retribution immediately
ends (as you have exhausted its capacity).
Expensive Component: Cautious technologists can maximize
the number of spell levels an aura of just retribution can shatter and
redirect by employing a tiny doll harmonically linked to their own
auras. An aura produced with the aid of this expensive component
automatically affects 6 spell levels, plus one additional spell level
per three activation levels. The doll costs 2,610 gold pieces.
AURELIAN’S SHADOWFORGE
Artifact (greater)
Activation Time: 1 week
Range: Unlimited
Effect: A convincing shadow identity
Duration: 1 year
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 42 lbs.
Aurelian’s shadowforge allows you to subtly detect and alter
texts of all kinds, from parchments to magic mouth spells. The
altered texts include psychological cues and subtle mental effects
that prevent creatures from realizing what is going on and can
even cause them to forget what the forged document originally
said. Using Aurelian’s shadowforge, you can conduct a startlingly
effective campaign of misinformation leading to the creation of a
shadow identity for yourself or another being that is sufficiently
genuine to thwart even divination spells and abilities. Activating
Aurelian’s shadowforge requires at least 8 hours of work every day
for 7 consecutive days as you scan for appropriate documents and
make the necessary changes.
At the end of the activation time you designate a shadow
identity for any place, object, creature or the like. Generally,
anything with a proper name can have its perceived identity
altered. Any kind of new reputation is possible, as long as you can
describe the relevant identity in 25 words or less. For instance, you
could use the shadowforge to create a shadow identity for yourself
as “A rich, pampered noble from the eastern lands, replete with
wealth and privilege and wielding the diplomatic powers of the
crown” (21 words) or slander an opponent as “An inept ruler with
well-known connections to the Infernal realms and the hatred of
all his people” (17 words).
The game master secretly rolls a Forgery check for you and
subtracts your check result from 50. The resulting number is the
Intelligence check DC required to “recognize” the subject in the
terms of the false identity upon encountering the subject of the
shadowforge. For instance, if you created a false identity for yourself
as a rich, pampered noble and the GM rolled a total of a 32 on your
Forgery check, the Intelligence check DC to “recognize” you as a
well-known eastern noble would be 18. This check is modified by
a number of factors, as indicated on the table below. All of these
modifiers are circumstance modifiers and stack with each other.
A creature who recognizes and accepts the subject’s
shadow identity (as indicated by a “successful” Intelligence
check), takes the affected creature, item, or place to be what
the shadow identity dictates. Creatures thus influenced by
Aurelian’s shadowforge are firm in their convictions, and any Bluff
or Disguise checks made to reinforce the shadow identity receive
a +50 circumstance bonus. Likewise, any Gather Information
51
checks made by someone who believes the shadow identity to be
true suffer a –50 circumstance penalty if the Gather Information
check would reveal the deception. Only when faced with an
overwhelming body of evidence or truly conclusive proof does
an identifier receive another Intelligence check to free itself from
the false identity, probably with a –5 or –10 penalty due to an
awareness that disinformation has been spread about the subject.
The shadow identities created by Aurelian’s shadowforge are so
persuasive that spellcasters who magically or technologically
detect any information about the subject that contradicts the
shadow identity must make a Will save against your original
Forgery check or disregard the information they learned (the
spellcaster assumes that his spell was faulty for some reason).
Table 4-3: Aurelian’s Shadowforge
Check
Modifying Factor
Modifier
Every 5 ranks identifier has in a Knowledge skill
+1
(cumulative)
Every 10 ranks identifier has in a Craft or Profession skill
+1
(cumulative)
Identifier lives in a society where writing is extremely
+10
common (e.g., a modern society in the Information Age)
Identifier lives in a society where writing is quite common
+5
(e.g., a culturally advanced or Renaissance-era society)
Identifier lives in a society where writing is moderately
+0
common (e.g., the average Fantasy d20 culture)
Identifier lives in a society where writing is uncommon
–5
(e.g., a standard Dark Ages culture)
Identifier lives in a society where writing is rare (e.g., most
–10
barbaric cultures)
Identifier is illiterate (most barbarians and commoners) –20
Identifier has actively studied the shadow identity (e.g., a
+10
badly confused scholar)
Identifier strongly wants to believe in the shadow identity
+5
(e.g., adventurers headed for a rumored land of riches)
Identifier has never heard of the subject before +0
Identifier is familiar with the target’s true identity (e.g.,
someone the target met on the street and conversed with –5
casually, or someone who has seen the object or place)
Identifier knows the target’s true identity well (e.g.,
–10
adventuring partners or good friends)
Identifier knows the target’s true identity intimately (e.g.,
–20
spouses or lifelong companions)
Identifier is aware that disinformation has been spread
about the subject, and does not know the source (e.g.,
–5
a suspicious spymaster unaware of the existence of the
shadowforge)
Identifier is aware that disinformation has been spread
about the subject, and knows the source (e.g., a rival
technologist who is familiar with the principles of Aurelian’s
–10
shadowforge)
If you wish to remove a shadow identity before it naturally
fades from people’s minds (after 1 year), you must activate
the shadowforge again for the specific purpose of canceling the
previous shadow identity. Success is automatic if you wish to
counteract your own use of the shadowforge, but you must beat
your opponent’s Forgery check to cancel the effect produced by
another technologist’s device.
It is not necessary to continually activate Aurelian’s shadowforge
to maintain a false identity as long as you keep up a reputation
appropriate to the disguise.
Expensive Component: Creating heuristic computer programs
spun off from your own consciousness greatly improves the
thoroughness and reach of the forged identity, granting you a
+10 insight bonus to the Forgery check required by Aurelian’s
shadowforge. This expensive component costs 5,160 gold pieces.
AUTO-OTOLARYNX
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Activation Cost: 2 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
This handheld device is the size of a thick book and it consists
of an electrical battery, a display of barometric pins and clock-
wound numerals, and an array of chemically-treated copper rods
submerged in a bluish fluid. When activated and stirred through a
fluid, gas, or simply the air in front of you the auto-otolarynx measures
the substance’s chemical composition and reacts in predictable
ways. An auto-otolarynx can automatically identify common scents
and can discern and identify previously encountered scents as
well. You can also measure new substances with the auto-otolarynx
during your daily preparation period and keep your knowledge of
its workings as current as possible in that way.
Using an auto-otolarynx effectively grants you the Scent
special quality, although you must be able to see the device and
read its display to gain this benefit.
Expensive Component: Adding an alchemical magic-inhibitor
to the auto-otolarynx solution allows it to run much more
efficiently, increasing its base duration to 1 hour. This solution
costs 900 gold pieces.
AVIATRONIC WING
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
An aviatronic wing is a retractable glider controlled by dozens
of tiny servomotors that react naturally to your bodily movements.
This device rapidly compresses and ejects air, allowing flight at
high speeds and respectable maneuverability. It has two settings:
safe speed and unsafe speed. You can adjust your flying movement
rate round by round from 0 (effectively hovering in place with
a move action) to 200 (the wing’s top speed), and the flying
movement rate you select determines whether you are flying at a
safe or an unsafe speed.
Safe speed is any flight speed up to 100 feet. You ascend at half
speed and descend at double speed, and your maneuverability is
52
Example – Balancing False Identities
The false identities created by Aurelian’s shadowforge
are useful tools in almost any game, but in campaigns that
rely heavily on intrigue the ability to slander your political
opponents or change identities on a whim may be too
powerful. You should talk to players who are considering
mastering the shadowforge so that you can both get a good
idea of the way this somewhat abstract device will affect
the campaign. If necessary, you can deal with balance
problems by increasing or decreasing the base Forgery
check DC from the baseline of 50. In my own game, where
devious plots are commonplace in a largely urban setting,
I actually decrease the base DC to 45 to make this device
slightly more powerful. The ability to assign new popular
identities to anyone or anything is just too much fun in a
conspiratorial game to deny to PCs and NPCs alike, and
the decreased Forgery check DC means that a forger can get
impressive results without having to reach epic DCs.
average. Using the aviatronic wing requires no more concentration
than normal walking, and so you may attack or activate other
devices normally. While using an aviatronic wing at safe speeds,
you may charge but cannot run, nor may you carry aloft more
weight than your maximum load.
Unsafe speed overrides the safety controls of the aviatronic
wing and makes it very, very fast. Unsafe speed is any flight speed
greater than 100 feet and up to 200 feet, the maximum speed.
While moving at this rate your maneuverability rating drops to
clumsy and you must make a Reflex save or Tumble check (DC
15 or higher) to avoid taking damage when moving through
constricted terrain, such as a forest canopy. A full-on collision
immediately halts your movement and deals 1d6 points of
damage to you and to your aviatronic wing per 10 feet over 100 you
were moving. In addition, you may “run” while using an aviatronic
wing at unsafe speeds, moving up to 4 times your flight speed feet
in a round (or 3 times your flight speed if carrying a medium or
heavy load); you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC when moving in
this manner, as with running on the ground.
Wearing medium or heavy armor or carrying a medium or
heavy load reduces these thresholds; your safe speed tops out at 70
feet, and your maximum speed is 140 feet. Unlike magical flight,
you have no special protection if the aviatronic wing suddenly ceases
to function; wise technologists always have a contingency plan.
Though the aviatronic wing works best in air, it can be modified
during your daily preparation period to work underwater, where
it grants you the ability to “fly” through liquids as though they
were air. This modification requires a DC 25 Craft (technology)
skill check, and the modified aviatronic wing will not work in
normal atmosphere until it is reset. The wing will not function in
a total vacuum.
If your activation level is 10 or higher, the maneuverability
of the aviatronic wing increases to good (at safe speeds) or poor (at
unsafe speeds).
 Expensive Component: Adding a jury-rigged flight computer to
the aviatronic wing allows it to fly itself and essentially grants you
an additional move action every round the device is active. This
free move action must be used for flight via the aviatronic wing.
This expensive component costs 1,620 gold pieces.
BALANCE OF SYNCHRONICITY
Artifact (greater)
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Line of sight
Target: One creature
Base Duration: 1 day/level or until discharged (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
The balance of synchronicity generally looks like a set of bronze
scales. In truth, the balance can look like anything you desire when
you create it, because it is more of a metaphysical concept in solid
form than an actual device. Using the balance invokes and alters
the causal patterns that underlie the nature of reality, forcing a
creature to do your bidding or find that the multiverse itself has
turned against it.
The target of the balance of synchronicity immediately becomes
aware that it must carry out some service or refrain from some
action or course of activity, as desired by you, or fall victim to
a dire fate. You need not communicate with the creature in any
way to make them aware of the desired action or actions and the
penalty for resisting. While the balance cannot cause a creature to
kill itself or to perform acts that would result in certain death,
it can cause almost any other course of activity. The affected
creature must follow the given instructions until the command
is completed, no matter how long it takes. If the instructions
involve some open-ended task that the recipient cannot complete
through his own actions the balance of synchronicity remains in
effect for a maximum of one day per activation level.
If the creature does not follow your commands or is
prevented from doing the things that have been forced upon it,
it takes 1d6 points of damage per two activation levels per day
(maximum 20d6 points) in minor accidents that are seemingly
brought on by sheer bad luck but are actually caused directly
by the balance in obscure and coincidental ways. In addition,
the creature constantly feels an oppressive presence (described
as being “like the gaze of a judging god”), and must make Will
saving throw each day to avoid becoming shaken for 24 hours.
These effects end 1 day after the creature attempts to resume the
prescribed course of action.
The effects of a balance of synchronicity are something like a
curse, and can be negated via a remove curse spell if the caster is at
least two levels higher than your activation level. Break enchantment
and break ensorcellment will not disrupt the balance of synchronicity,
but limited wish, miracle, and wish can all restore the order of
causation to its normal flow and free the afflicted creature.
Expensive Component: Causing changes to a creature’s destiny
with the balance of synchronicity is time-consuming, and the process
53
can be accelerated by focusing on a gateway gem attuned to a
strongly chaos- or law-aligned plane as you activate the device.
This aid helps you circumvent or twist the normal chains of cause
and effect and reduces the balance’s activation time to one full
round. The gateway gem costs 3,690 gold pieces.
BATTLEMENT COMBAT GEAR
Technology (greater) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Activation Cost: 9 points
Weight: 8 lbs.
Battlement combat gear is a modular set of devices designed
to increase your maneuverability and survivability in pitched
combats. These devices are adaptable enough to be attached to
any suit of magical or nonmagical armor, although the battlement
combat gear’s effects override the abilities of any suits of magical
armor it is used with. Normal clothing is, for this purpose, armor
with a +0 armor bonus to AC. As long as the battlement gear
remains activated, you gain the following abilities:
Tiny filaments extend from devices placed at the joints of the
armor, accentuating your muscle movements and making them
quicker and more forceful. You gain a +2 enhancement bonus to
Strength and Dexterity per three activation levels (maximum +8
enhancement) for as long as the battlement combat gear is activated.
A shell of kinetic energy forms around the armor, providing
fuller protection to you. The armor gains an enhancement
bonus of +1 per three caster levels (maximum +6 at 18th level).
In addition, this force effect makes the armor effective against
incorporeal creatures as though it were ghost touch armor.
Energy-dissipaters in the torso blunt the damage from
energy attacks, granting you energy resistance 10 against acid,
cold, electricity, fire, and sonic damage.
Air jets on the back of the armor coordinate with your
movements, making you move faster and jump farther. You gain
a +10 enhancement bonus to Jump checks per three activation
levels (maximum +30 bonus), and a 10-
foot bonus to your speed.
A device on the armor’s collar
projects a greenish field of light
around your eyes that allows you
to see in total darkness, granting
darkvision out to 60 feet.
Expensive Component:
Advanced power cells allow
the battlement combat gear to
function for longer periods of
time, increasing the device’s
base duration to 2 rounds.
These power cells cost 750
gold pieces.
Battlement combat gear can be as intimidating as it is effective
BEHOLDER FROM BEYOND
Artifact (standard) [Divination, Null-Space]
Activation Time: 1d4 hours
Range: See text
Area: See text
Duration: Up to 1 minute/level, or until discharged (D)
Saving Throw: None; Reflex half; see text
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
The beholder from beyond is a complex sensory apparatus
hidden away on a demiplane that is capable of moving amongst
planar boundaries to follow you wherever you roam. The beholder
can extrude part of its substance into a spot anywhere on the
same plane as you to observe a distant location, and can even
make a deadly electrical attack with an almost unlimited range
if the circumstances warrant it. You direct the device and observe
the data it sends you through a handheld pad.
The beholder from beyond creates a sensor a great distance
away from any area you designate (one known to you, or one you
can unambiguously describe) and observes that area from afar
using sophisticated machinery to see through walls and over a
great distance. You can both see and hear in the 30-foot radius
of the device’s area of effect as though you were there. Once you
have selected and located the locale, the sensor doesn’t move,
but you can rotate it in all directions to view the area as desired.
This device does not allow magically or supernaturally enhanced
senses to work through it. If the chosen locale is magically dark,
you see nothing. If it is naturally pitch black, the beholder filters
out the darkness and allows you to see the area as though it were
well-lit. A beholder from beyond functions only on the plane of
existence you are currently occupying. It does not create a sensor
that can be detected by creatures in the area it is observing (the
device typically appears high in the atmosphere or in similarly
inaccessible areas), but in very rare cases the sensor may manifest
in an area where a creature can reach and affect it.
In addition to simply observing, you can direct the beholder
to discharge its power batteries into the area of effect and deal
1d6 points of electricity damage per two levels (maximum 15d6)
in a 30-foot radius. This discharge causes the device’s duration
to immediately end, as the beholder must reboot and recalibrate
before continuing observations. Remember that electricity
damage is halved before being applied to objects.
Expensive Component: While surprising and hard to avoid,
the beholder from beyond’s electrical discharges do relatively little
damage. You can augment this feature of the device by adding
secondary electrical generators that have the express purpose
of empowering the device’s weapon discharge. These electrical
generators cost 2,340 gold pieces and increase the damage the
beholder deals by 50%.
54
BIO-GENETIC SCOURGE
Artifact (lesser) [Evil]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One living creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A bio-genetic scourge is an advanced version of the mindfire poison
injector that afflicts the victim with a nasty engineered plague.
Striking the target creature requires a ranged attack roll and deals
1 point of piercing damage as well as exposing the target to the
bio-genetic scourge. Exposure to the disease occurs even if the needle’s
damage is negated by damage reduction.
The creature receives a Fortitude saving throw to negate the
effects of the bio-genetic scourge. If it succeeds, the device has no
additional effect on the creature. If the creature fails, it contracts
a hideous disease that causes its flesh to erupt in cancerous
growths and its blood to ooze from its pores. The bio-genetic
scourge strikes immediately (no incubation period), and deals 1d6
Dexterity, 1d4 Constitution, 1d4 Strength, 1d2 Wisdom, and 1d2
Charisma ability damage. This damage repeats once per day, as
with all diseases, and the secondary Fortitude save is your device
save DC. Two successful saving throws in a row indicate that the
target has fought off the disease and recovers, taking no more
damage. The bio-genetic scourge resists being healed magically, and
remove disease spells only function if the caster is at least two levels
higher than your activation level. More powerful effects that heal
diseases (such as heal) are only effective if the spell’s caster makes
a caster level check (DC 11 + your activation level).
In addition to these immediate effects, the bio-genetic scourge
can be transmitted as easily as any other disease, by contact with
infected creatures and by inhalation of the virus. These secondary
infections have an incubation period of 2d12 hours. Creatures
slain by a bio-genetic scourge can (at your option, chosen when
you infect the first creature) rise 24 hours after their death as
an undead creature. These creatures have statistics identical to
those of a ghoul (or a ghast, if the deceased had 4 or more Hit
Dice), except that their bite spreads the bio-genetic scourge instead
of ghoul fever, and they prefer fresh meat over carrion. These
creatures cannot be turned (as they are not true undead), and you
have no particular control over them.
Expensive Component: The bio-genetic scourge is a dastardly and
effective weapon that can depopulate whole swaths of countryside
if it spreads unchecked, but its creator has no special immunity
to it and can succumb to its effects as easily as anyone else. This
problem can be counteracted by creating an inoculation against a
particular use of the bio-genetic scourge. If you desire, the vaccine can
be injected into your bloodstream as you activate the device. The
immunization costs 1,110 gold pieces and makes you immune to
your own disease, but also introduces an antidote to your plague
that may be alchemically reproducible (and at a much lower cost,
since an example has already been created).
BIO-REACTIVE THERIAC
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature or object of up to 1 cubic foot/level touched
Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless, object)
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 1 lb.
This metallic cylinder converts standard alchemical antitoxin
into a morphic compound that adapts to defeat almost any
poison. The theriac can spray in a fine mist over an object or it can
be applied through the skin of the touched creature. In either case,
the device detoxifies any sort of poison in or on the creature or
object touched. A poisoned creature suffers no additional effects
from the poison, and any temporary effects are ended, but the
device does not reverse instantaneous effects, such as hit point
damage, temporary ability damage, or effects that don’t go away on
their own. For example, if a poison has dealt 4 points of Strength
damage to a character and threatens to deal more damage later,
the bio-reactive theriac removes the need for a secondary save. It does
not, however, repair the damage already done.
The creature or object treated is also free of poison and
immune to its effects for the duration of the device. The effects
of the poison are not delayed; they are cancelled entirely. Using
this device on a poisonous creature allows you to render it
nonpoisonous for the duration of the effect.
Expensive Component: A bio-reactive theriac transforms and
thereby expends one dose of antitoxin per use, costing 50 gold
pieces, to generate its effect. By brewing an extremely concentrated
vial of antitoxin from 15 normal vials of antitoxin, at a total cost
of 750 gold pieces, you can increase this device’s duration to 8
hours. This concentrated dose is no more effective than the usual
single dose of antitoxin when not used in conjunction with this
device.
BLIND THE ABNORMAL EYE
Gadget (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Creature or object touched
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless, object)
Activation Cost: 3 points
With this ability you can prevent the subject from being
detected by magical means. The warded creature or object becomes
difficult to detect by divination spells such as clairaudience/
clairvoyance, locate object, and the detect spells. Blind the abnormal
eye also prevents location by such magic items as crystal balls. If
a divination is attempted against the warded creature or item
the caster of the divination must succeed on a caster level check
(1d20 + caster level) against a DC of 11 + your activation level. If
you use blind the abnormal eye on yourself or on an item currently
in your possession the DC is 15 + your activation level. If cast on
55
Example – An Insidious Introduction
The bio-genetic scourge makes for an interesting way
to introduce a villainous technologist because it defies
a number of the players’ expectations — the scourge can
produce an epidemic that creates a number of dangerous
creatures just similar enough to ghouls to throw off unwary
players and to which magic is not an effective solution. The
scourge also automatically creates its own antidote when
used, and this elixir (or a similar one derived from the blood
of the villainous technologist) could be the object of one
or more adventures. The scourge’s effects are horrendous
enough that even the hardiest characters should find the
possibility of infection terrifying, and the mastermind who
created the plague could be at any level from 10th to 20th
or even higher.
a creature, blind the abnormal eye wards the creature’s gear as well
as the creature itself.
Expensive Components: An alchemical serum with a market
value of 50 gold pieces that the target must drink, or which must
be poured over the item to be affected. This component is not
optional. Drinking (or pouring over) a much larger dose of this
serum extends the protection granted by blind the abnormal eye
and increases this device’s base duration to 2 hours. This larger
serum costs 390 gold pieces.
BREAK ENSORCELLMENT
Technology (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: 25 feet
Targets: Up to one creature per level, all within 30 feet of each
other
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: See text
Activation Cost: 15 points
This ability, which is similar to the break enchantment spell,
frees those suffering from enchantments, transmutations, or
curses, even those of an instantaneous duration. For each effect on
the target or targets, you make an activation level check (1d20 plus
your activation level, with a maximum bonus of +15) against a DC
of 11 + the caster level of the spell or effect. For a cursed magic
item the activation level check DC is 25. Success means that the
creature is free of the spell, curse, or effect. Effects that are normally
immune to dispelling can be affected by break ensorcellment only as
long as the spell or effect is of 5th level or lower. Cursed magical
items are not disenchanted by this ability but the victim is freed
from the item’s effect and may take it off normally.
Expensive Component: Break ensorcellment is not normally useful
in combat, as using it safely requires a careful release of harmful
magic from the target or targets. Adding certain powerful ritual
components makes the ability safe to use in situations where
time is of the essence and reduces this device’s activation time to
1 standard action. These components cost 1,620 gold pieces.
BREAKNECK THIEVES’ TOOLS
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 2 lbs.
This set of masterwork thieves’ tools (which grant +2
circumstance bonus to Disable Device and Open Lock checks) also
allow you to shorten the time spent disabling a device or picking
a lock. By taking a –2 penalty per round you wish to hasten the
process, you finish the task more quickly. If the task already takes
only one round (or has already been reduced to taking only one
round), you may take another –2 penalty to the check to complete
it as a move action.
Expensive Component: These tools already incorporate a
number of mechanically augmented instruments designed for
durability and extensive use. If desired, you can further augment
the usual selection of tools with more delicate clockwork devices
to provide a one-time boost to any Open Lock or Disable Device
check made with breakneck thieves’ tools. This augmentation takes
the form of a +10 bonus to any one Disable Device or Open Locks
check you make while the tools are activated. This component
costs 390 gold pieces.
CAESURA WEAPON
Artifact (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 200 feet
Area: A single 10-foot cube
Duration: 1 minute (D)
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
The caesura weapon warps space and time, folding a section of
reality in on itself and forming a spatial anomaly that resembles
a benign sphere of annihilation. Creatures and objects in the area
of effect are automatically trapped in the caesura as it forms and
vanish, pushed entirely outside reality. Only creatures too large to
fit in the caesura’s area of effect receive a saving throw. Each such
creature must make a Reflex save: success indicates the creature is
unaffected by the spatial anomaly and is pushed unharmed to its
nearest edge; failure means the creature is trapped in the anomaly
and vanishes for the duration, as noted above.
Creatures and objects trapped in the caesura cannot be affected
in any way by any means until the caesura weapon’s duration lapses.
They reappear in their original spot (along with the space they were
taking up) when the caesura fades, and no time passes for them.
An active caesura appears as a translucent plane regardless
of what angle you view it from (creatures on the other side have
concealment). After the caesura has formed, creatures and objects
are no longer at risk of being trapped in the distorted area of
space. Instead, any creature or object entering the plane of the
56
caesura passes through it easily and appears on the other side as
though the collapsed space were not there at all. Thus, this device
can be used to bypass any kind of barrier, including magical ones
such as a wall of force or a prismatic sphere.
Expensive Component: A caesura usually forms immediately
when this device is activated, but you can also create a caesura
that takes effect after a brief delay of up to 10 rounds, allowing
you to trap enemies or otherwise plan ahead. Doing so requires
expensive components costing 2,340 gold pieces.
CALORIC CONTROL MANTLE
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 8 hours; see text (D)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
This lightweight mantle protects against the elements. A
purple alchemical gel sewn into the garment controls and releases
thermal energy based on the temperature of the surrounding air.
While protected by a caloric control mantle, you suffer no harm from
hot or cold environments. You can exist comfortably in conditions
between –50 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit without having to make
Fortitude saves. Your equipment is likewise protected.
In addition to this basic effect, any time you suffer fire or
cold damage you can react to reduce the attack’s effects. As an
immediate action you may spend additional activation points to
reduce the damage dealt by a fire or cold attack by 2 per activation
point expended. You may not spend more activation points than
your activation level in this way, and the caloric control mantle only
reduces the damage from one attack per round. A caloric control
mantle absorbs only hit point damage; the user could still suffer
unfortunate side effects. This device’s secondary function is
incompatible with any form of magical protection — you must
choose which resistance to use against each attack if you have
more than one active on your person.
Expensive Component: Installing caloric channeling ducts
in the caloric control mantle allows you to maintain its effect for
a longer period of time. These improvements cost 390 gold
pieces, and increase the mantle’s base duration to 24 hours,
allowing you to safely make extended excursions into hot or cold
environments.
CALORIC HAMMER
Gadget (standard) [Fire or Cold]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Effect: One or more ray-like bursts of air
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A caloric hammer looks like a cold iron gauntlet designed to fit
around your wrist like a bracer. Half an inch under its tough outer
 the device’s mechanism is miniaturized and concealed within the
glasses’ frames. A canny descrier projects an interactive display onto
your eyes that shows the results of advanced heuristic programs
that analyze the attitudes, voice patterns, and body language of
all the creatures that you can see and hear. While the canny descrier
is in effect, you gain a +40 bonus on all Sense Motive checks,
making it difficult for even the most silver-tongued rogue to fool
you. In addition, you may make active Sense Motive checks once
per round, as a full-round action. Your detailed knowledge of
creature’s motivations also translates into interaction bonuses
when using the descrier, and you gain an insight bonus on all
Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Perform
checks equal to your number of ranks in the Sense Motive skill
while the device functions.
Expensive Component: A canny descrier is usually linked to
you alone, but a telempathic manifold allows you to provide its
information to another character. The telempathic manifold
costs 2,340 gold pieces and changes the descrier’s range to touch.
A Will save (harmless) negates the conferral of the benefits to
various skill checks.

The caloric hammersmites your foes with a blast of super-heated or icy-cold air CAP OF MEMORY JOGGING
(Artwork by Juan Navarro) Gadget (lesser)
shell lies a super-compressed ball of the caloric-manipulating Activation Time: 1 full-round action
alchemical gel put to such good use in the caloric control mantle. A Range: Personal
complex array of gears and electrical filaments allows the device Target: You
to very rapidly disperse or project heat to generate blasts of Duration: Instantaneous
supercooled or fiery hot air from the device’s crystal focusing array. Activation Cost: 5 points
These blasts of air deal either fire or cold damage, depending on Weight: 2 lbs.
the caloric hammer’s current setting. Changing the type of energy A cap of memory jogging is a floppy hat that delivers mild electric
the caloric hammer projects requires one full minute of adjustment shocks into your brain via a connected dynamo. These jolts bring
but does not cost any activation points. forth buried memories in a chaotic swirl, allowing you to reroll a
The caloric hammer generates an air blast that deals 2d6 points single failed Knowledge check you made in the last minute. You
of either fire or cold damage, depending on its setting. Hitting may only attempt one reroll per failed Knowledge check by using
with this air blast requires a ranged touch attack. Starting at 3rd the cap; further applications bring no new memories to light.
level the focusing array is sophisticated enough to pulse the energy Expensive Component: Turning the cap of memory jogging’s
drawn into or expelled by the caloric core, creating an additional shock up higher is dangerous unless you add an electroalchemical
burst which is fired at the same time, but which can be targeted buffer to the inside of the cap. Doing so causes you to be dazed
individually. You gain a third burst at 5th level, and at every second for one round after activating the device, but the higher voltage
level after that, up to a maximum of 6 bursts at 11th level. grants you a +5 competence bonus on your Knowledge check
Expensive Component: Adding secondary energy cores does reroll. The buffer costs 390 gold pieces.
wonders for a caloric hammer’s effectiveness and increases the
damage this device deals by 50%. These supplementary cores cost CHANNELING GAUNTLET
900 gold pieces. Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
CANNY DESCRIER Range: Personal
Artifact (lesser) Target: You
Activation Time: 1 standard action Duration: 1 round
Range: Personal Activation Cost: 15 points
Target: You Weight: 2 lbs.
Base Duration: 1 minute This single cold iron gauntlet is made of fine mail links. It
Activation Cost: 9 points allows you to channel the release of magic from an item you hold
Weight: 3 lbs. in your hand — as long as you know what you’re doing. As long
This pair of glasses can look like almost anything, because as this device is in effect and you are holding the magic item in

57
question in the hand you wear the channeling gauntlet on, you may
roll a Spellcraft skill check in place of any Use Magic Device checks
you make. This ability even allows you to use Spellcraft in lieu of
Use Magic Device if you have no ranks in the Use Magic Device
skill. You must decide which skill to use before any check is made.
Expensive Component: Wearing a magic-inert glove under the
channeling gauntlet quickly destroys said glove but also allows you
incredibly precise control over the flow of magic in an item. This
glove costs 900 gold pieces and increases the channeling gauntlet’s
duration to 1 hour.
CHECK ABNORMALITY
Gadget (standard) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 feet
Target: One nontechnological construct, elemental, outsider, or
undead
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 10 points
Using this ability you vent your wrath upon the unnatural
creatures dependent on magic for their existence. The target
receives a sharp, agonizing pain, even if normally immune to
such effects, and is dazed for 1d4 rounds (the creature cannot
take any actions but suffers no penalty to AC). For the remaining
duration of the effect the target also takes a –2 penalty on attacks,
saves, and most checks, but gains a +2 circumstance bonus to
its Strength score. This ability was specifically developed to
affect those creatures normally immune to dazing, and check
abnormality will break the cool of even the most serene archons
and calculating liches.
Expensive Components: Expending a magically-inert crystal
costing 900 gold pieces increases the save DC for this ability by 2.
CHORN’S ANTECEDENT ASSAILER
Artifact (lesser) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 standard action; see text
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Ray
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
Chorn’s antecedent assailer is a sleek rifle that shimmers oddly,
as though it were slightly out of phase. Activating the antecedent
assailer produces a whirling storm of coruscating blue light that
manifests as a ray and deals 1d6 points of force damage per
activation level (maximum of 25d6). Because of the unusual
nature of the chronoton particles that make up this ray, Chorn’s
antecedent assailer actually strikes before you activate the device. As
a result, you may strike a creature with the ray as an immediate
action at any point during the round, even if it is not your turn.
However, you must take a standard action on your next turn to
activate the device, or you suffer from temporal backlash.
58
If for some reason you are unable or unwilling to actually
activate Chorn’s antecedent assailer on your next turn, you suffer
paradox backlash. If this happens, make a Fortitude save
against your device save DC. If you succeed, you are unaffected,
but failure means that you lose all of your round’s actions and
are rendered flat-footed until your next turn. You also lose the
activation points required to activate Chorn’s antecedent assailer as
though you had activated it normally, regardless of the results
of your Fortitude saving throw. Any creature damaged by your
activation of this spell is also immediately healed by 1d6 points
per (your) activation level (maximum of 20d6), as the universe
roughly attempts to correct for the temporal anomaly. Even if the
creature was slain by your original attack, this healing can restore
the creature from negative hit points, potentially unkilling them.
This is not a magical or supernatural effect; it is an automatic
function of the nature of the universe and cannot be prevented
by any mortal means.
You cannot pre-activate Chorn’s antecedent assailer unless you
actually have the device on your person and it is in a condition
to be activated next round. However, you don’t need to actually
intend to activate the device to manifest its effect; you merely
need to be able to do so. Using this device for various tricks (such
as destroying a door and watching it reform, or blasting yourself
to avoid a more permanent death) is permissible, but too much
monkeying around with such paradoxes attracts certain enforcers
of the natural order in droves (particularly inevitables).
Expensive Component: You can create a paradox shield from
leftover bits of the time-stream to protect yourself from paradox
corrections caused by irresponsible use of this device. When
protected by such a shield, you must still pay the activation
point cost of the antecedent assailer on the round after you activate
the device, but you can defer the lost round of actions (and the
accompanying flat-footedness) to any time in the next 24 hours,
effectively negating that penalty. This protection requires a
temporal flux capacitor costing 1,110 gold pieces.
CLAIRAUDIENT FLY FINGERS
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 2 lbs.
Etched with copper wires, this leather glove has vibration-
sensitive disks in the fingertips that are each connected to a tiny
bugle. When the activated fly fingers are pressed against a surface,
the glove senses sound vibrations from the other side of the
surface, amplifies them, and transmits them to the bugle. Most
of these bugles are attached to headsets, piping the sound directly
into the user’s ear, but the bugle can be detached from the headset
if desired.
Using clairaudient fly fingers allows you to ignore some of the
penalties associated with listening through solid objects. You can
reduce the penalties by up to 5 per activation level, to a maximum reduced by hardness) until they are destroyed, beginning as soon
DC reduction of 25 points at 5th level. You must be touching as the number of HD of constructs you have built exceeds your
the intervening wall or door to gain this bonus. For comparison, maintenance limit.
listening through a door or window usually increases Listen DCs Expensive Components: Raw materials costing at least 50 gp per
by 5 and listening through a 1-foot thick stone wall increases the Hit Die are required for the clockwidget fabrication gantry to do its
check DC by 15. Clairaudient fly fingers only ignore DC increases work. In addition, many technologists choose to customize their
for listening through objects, not penalties for distance or creations by adding superior equipment or various masterwork
distractions. components. Clockwidget soldiers can wear armor, although
Expensive Component: Magnetically sensitizing the device they are not proficient in it, and can use other simple items of
before use allows you activate it much more quickly, reducing gear (such as alchemist’s fire) when commanded to do so by their
the activation time to 1 swift action. Doing so requires materials controller. Any masterwork component meant for weapons can
costing 390 gold pieces. be applied to the construct’s slam attack and any masterwork
component meant for armor may likewise be added directly to
CLOCKWIDGET FABRICATION GANTRY the construct’s natural armor, if appropriate. You may also add
Technology (lesser) the high-quality, dedicated to a purpose, user-friendly (thereby
Activation Time: 8 hours allowing the construct to use a specific trained-only skill, such as
Range: Touch Tumble, untrained), and sacred/profane skill-related components
Effect: A single clockwidget soldier to one of these constructs. In addition, any of the special abilities
Duration: Instantaneous listed in the animated objects entry (blind, constrict, and so forth)
Activation Cost: 15 points may be added in lieu of a masterwork component, as appropriate.
Weight: 161 lbs. Adding multiple legs to increase the construct’s speed counts as
This device is a fully-functional assembly kit that allows you one masterwork component; adding wheels to further increase
to create clockwidget soldiers, gear-driven animated objects that speed is two. You may also increase the hardness of the construct
follow your spoken commands. These mechanical creatures can by 1 as though adding a masterwork component; these increases
follow you, or they can remain in an area and attack any creature stack, to a maximum hardness of 20. Technologists working in
(or just a specific kind of creature) entering the place. If you wish, enclosed spaces can also choose to miniaturize their clockwidgets,
you can transfer command of the clockwidgets to another creature reducing their size category (but no other statistics, such as
by giving the construct a special command phrase. Constructs Strength) by one category per masterwork component devoted
such as these would be beneath the abilities of a technologist to doing so.
capable of mastering this device if it were not for
the fact that these clockwork soldiers are specially
engineered to be autonomous — once created,
they persist indefinitely until destroyed with
no further activation point contribution
required from their creator.
When you activate the
clockwidget fabrication gantry you
create a single clockwidget creature
with Hit Dice up to your activation
level, up to a maximum of 15 HD.
This creature is an animated object
of the appropriate size for its
Hit Dice (so a 7-HD clockwidget
soldier is size Large), a hardness
of 10, two legs, and no additional
special qualities or special attacks.
No matter how many times you use
this device you can maintain only
3 Hit Dice per activation level in
clockwidget constructs created with
the gantry at one time. If you exceed
this number any excess constructs
take 2d10 points of damage per day Mechanical soldiers created by a clockwidget fabrication gantrycan be customized by their inventors
(no save, and this damage is not (Artwork by Nathan Boyd)

59
COIL OF POSSIBILITIES
Artifact (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: See text
Target, Effect, or Area: See text
Duration: See text (D)
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 45 points, 300 XP
Weight: 1 lb.
This sad-looking tangle of wire is actually a powerful device
brimming with possibilities, a fact immediately sensed by anyone
holding the coil. When you activate the coil of possibilities, you must
form a clear mental image of any gadget or technology you are
familiar with. You need not have mastered the device in question.
The coil of possibilities writhes and changes shape, drawing energy
from your mind and dreams to become the device you envisioned.
The newly-formed device activates as it forms. The duplicated
device functions normally for up to 10 base duration increments
or its full normal duration before collapsing back into the coil
once more. Instantaneous-duration devices have their effect
immediately, and then collapse. You can also collapse the coil of
possibilities into its original form at any time by taking a standard
action to do so.
Expensive Component: Instead of directly fueling its functions
with your mentality, you can supply a coil of possibilities with
cognitive quintessence drawn from the Astral Plane. This
quintessence costs 2,340 gold pieces and removes the coil of
possibilities’ experience point cost.
COLLAR OF BESTIAL CAPACITY
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Willing animal touched
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A collar of bestial capacity generates sonic waves that stimulate
the brain of an animal wearing it. This does not increase the
animal’s Intelligence score, but it does improve their ability to
learn tricks. A creature trained while wearing a collar of bestial
capacity may learn three more tricks than normal, and retains
these tricks even after the collar is removed. The DC and training
time to teach the additional tricks are unchanged. In addition, a
creature wearing an activated collar may be “pushed” to perform
a trick that it does not know as a move action instead of as a full-
round action, as it is more responsive to its master’s commands.
Expensive Component: The collar of bestial capacity is used to
make animals more receptive to training but its effects can also
be intensified to provide the animal with a +2 morale bonus on all
saving throws for as long as the device remains activated. Animals
affected in this way also tend to be friendlier and less aggressive
than other animals. The necessary upgrades to the collar of bestial
capacity cost 1,530 gold pieces.
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CORE LIGHTNING CHARGER
Technology (lesser) [Electricity]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours, or until discharged
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless); see text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
This device, when activated, produces a neon-blue gel that
quickly evaporates in sparkles of electrical energy. This electrically
active substance only lasts for one round before evaporating,
and when injected into a living creature causes the creature to
build up an internal static charge, effectively making it a living
battery. At any time after the core lightning charger has been used on
a creature, that creature may, as a standard action, release a bolt
of electrical energy from its hands or mouth. This bolt takes the
form of a 120-foot line and deals 1d6 points of electricity damage
per activation level (Reflex save for half against the technologist’s
save DC), to a maximum of 15d6 points of damage. Once the bolt
has been released, the core lightning charger’s effect is discharged.
This device is most often used to provide the technologist and his
allies with a secret weapon, and its effects cannot be detected by
spells that detect magical effects active on a creature.
Expensive Components: The addition of optional alchemical
components to the gel produced by a core lightning charger
enhances the ability of the creature touched to harmlessly
maintain a powerful static charge. These additional components
cost 2,610 gold pieces and maximize the damage dealt by the line
of lightning.
CORONAL ELECTROWEAPON
Technology (greater) [Electricity]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Ray
Duration: Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
This sleek, deadly-looking rifle was originally designed simply
to draw a static charge from the air to create a pulse of deadly
electricity. However, its power requirements are so great that it
actually denatures the space around the user, creating a wavering
shield that deflects incoming attacks and sprays streamers of
blue-white electricity in every direction.
While you are activating a coronal electroweapon, it surrounds
you with an energy field that grants you a +10 deflection bonus
to your AC plus 1 per activation level (maximum +30 deflection
bonus to AC), rendering you nearly immune to melee and ranged
attacks. In addition, any creature who strikes you with its body or
a handheld weapon that does not grant reach takes 1d6 points
of electricity damage +1 per activation level (maximum +20). At
the end of the full-round activation time, the coronal electroweapon
discharges a ray of electrical energy that deals 1d6 points of
electricity damage per activation level (maximum 20d6) to any
creature struck by it. If you immediately begin to charge the weapon
again, only creatures who ready an action to strike you when your
guard is down get a chance to attack your unshielded AC.
Expensive Component: Rare and hazardous energy-conversion
units attached to the coronal electroweapon allow it to discharge
pure force energy instead of the usual electrical ray. When this
component is used the electroweapon deals force damage instead of
electricity damage with both the shield’s retributive strike and the
ray itself and gains the force descriptor in place of the electricity
descriptor. These energy-conversion units cost 750 gold pieces.
CORTICAL FUSEGUN
Gadget (standard) [Electricity]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One living creature
Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
This blunt tube electrically stimulates or inhibits a creature’s
senses. Choose the desired setting then make a ranged touch
attack. A creature struck by this device’s discharge must make
a Fortitude save or be affected by the fusegun. Besides setting
their teeth on edge and causing their hair to stand up this device
increases or decreases the creature’s sensory acuity, with one of
the following effects:
Sensory Deadening: The creature does not feel the full effect
of injuries it sustains. For one minute, every time damage would
be dealt to the affected creature, reduce that damage by 1 per 2
activations level (maximum of 5 points of damage), to a minimum
of 1 point of damage. Additionally, for the duration of the effect
the creature suffers a –1 competence penalty to Listen, Search,
and Spot checks per activation level (to a maximum of a –10
competence penalty). If the creature is struck again by the sense-
deadening setting of the fusegun it does not resist more damage
but the penalties to Listen, Search, and Spot stack.
Sensory Overload: The creature gains a +1 competence bonus
to Listen, Search, and Spot checks per activation level (maximum
+10 bonus) but whenever the creature takes damage it takes 1
additional point of nonlethal damage per 2 activation levels
(maximum of 5 points of nonlethal damage). Multiple strikes by
the stimulator setting cause the creature to take more damage
but do not improve the bonus to skill checks.
The two settings also negate each other, with any number
of sensory deadenings or sensory overloads being canceled by
a single application of the opposite effect. When the cortical
fusegun cancels itself in this way, it has no other effect, leaving the
creature as it was before encountering the device. A creature with
any degree of electricity resistance may choose whether or not
it wishes to be affected by this device. Creatures with electricity
immunity are immune to the effects of a cortical fusegun.
61
Expensive Components: The addition of special pulsing
capacitors creates a more long-lived charge in the target creature,
increasing the duration of the cortical fusegun’s effect to 8 hours.
These capacitors cost 390 gold pieces.
CROSS-PHASIC CLOAK
Artifact (lesser) [Null-Space]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Base Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 9 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
A cross-phasic cloak is a complicated control cube that you
use to attach a null-space shadow to a creature that you touch.
A null-space shadow is a machine hidden in a parallel dimension
that has the ability to pull a character just far enough into the
null space between planes to provide the creature with a measure
of protection without also subjecting it to the ravenous energies
that exist in the spaces between realities.
The subject is not outwardly affected but may (as a free
action) retreat partly into null space, along with any garments and
equipment worn or carried. Creatures partially in null-space are
considered incorporeal from the perspective of the plane they have
(partially) left — they may be struck only by magical weapons and
have a 50% chance of being unaffected even by spells and magical
weapons from a corporeal source. The creature is also very hard
to see, and may Hide with a +20 circumstance bonus, even where
there is no cover or concealment to hide behind. While between
realities, the subject cannot move or act in any way, but can see,
hear, and smell normally. It does not need to eat or breath.
The subject of a cross-phasic cloak can return to its normal
state, act, and then return instantly to the null-space state (also a
free action) if it so desires, and can do so for as long as the device’s
duration is in effect.
The cross-phasic cloak can be used on multiple creatures at
once. The device you carry is simply a control panel for the null-
space shadows.
Expensive Component: For extended use, a cross-phasic cloak can
generate an undetectable aura around the creature you touch
that makes it easier for the null-space shadow to interface with its
target. This improvement increases the cloak’s base duration to 2
hours and costs 1,110 gold pieces.
DALYRIMPLE’S LUCENT LANCE
Technology (lesser) [Light]
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: 0 feet
Effect: A light-based weapon
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
 Dalyrimple’s lucent lance is a blunt handheld pistol that
projects rays of concentrated light that instantly cut through
materials and creatures and inflict horrible damage. Once
activated, you may use the light lance as a normal ranged weapon,
although it strikes as a ranged touch attack. The lance deals 1d6
points of damage per three activation levels (maximum 3d6) and
bypasses the damage reduction of creatures and the hardness of
objects. It has a range increment of Medium (100 feet) and a
20/×2 critical range.
If you fire Dalyrimple’s lucent lance into or through the area
of a darkness spell or effect of 5th level or higher the beam is
neutralized and deals no damage to creatures within or on the
other side of the darkness effect. Lower level darkness spells and
effects have no effect on the beam, nor does this device have any
effect on them.
Expensive Components: Any masterwork components that are
suitable for a ranged weapon may be added to Dalyrimple’s lucent
lance at the normal cost. In addition, a special amplifier that
screws on to the end of the lucent lance allows you to channel more
energy through the weapon and increases the maximum damage
it deals to 4d6 points from 12th to 14th level and to 5d6 points at
15th level or higher. This amplifier costs 750 gold pieces.
DALYRIMPLE’S OBFUSCATING EYE
Gadget (greater) [Illusion, Light]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Effect: Visual figment that cannot extend beyond one 5-ft. cube/
level (S); see text
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with)
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
Dalyrimple’s obfuscating eye is a simple iron orb containing an
enormous glass eye, but this simple outward appearance conceals
a devious system of internal lenses and light-makers that allow
the eye to project any image you desire with a significant degree
of precision.
The obfuscating eye has the primary use of projecting illusory
light-images. This device creates the visual illusion of an object,
creature, or force, as chosen by you. The illusion does not create
sound, smell, texture, or temperature. You can move the image
within the limits of the size of the effect (one shapeable 5-foot
cube/level) as desired.
Additionally, projecting the eye’s figment over a creature or
object conceals it from sight or disguises its form. A creature or
object cloaked by the obfuscating eye gains a bonus equal to +1
per activation level to Hide and Disguise checks for the effect’s
duration. This illusion allows a creature to hide in plain sight,
as though under the effect of an invisibility spell. You can target
yourself with this device.
The eye can also be used in other ways. It can glow like a
torch, shedding bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for
an additional 20 feet. This use requires little effort, and has a base
62
duration of 1 hour. You must activate the obfuscating eye again
to create true illusions with it — the illuminative function of the
obfuscating eye is effectively a separate device.
By focusing the light it emits, the eye can also create a flare
of light. If you cause the light to burst directly in front of a single
creature that creature is dazzled for 1 minute unless it makes
a successful Will save. Sightless creatures, as well as creatures
already dazzled, are not affected by this flare of light. Thus use of
Dalyrimple’s obfuscating eye costs 5 activation points.
Expensive Component: For situations where a sudden
distraction might be required, Dalyrimple’s obfuscating eye can be
equipped with additional refractive matrices, controlled by an
easy-to-reach panel. These upgrades allow you to activate the
obfuscating eye as an immediate action and cost 2,280 gold pieces.
DALYRIMPLE’S OUT-OF-THE-WAY PALACE
Artifact (lesser) [Null-Space]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: 50 feet
Effect: Transdimensional palace, up to three 10-foot cubes/level
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
Dalyrimple’s out-of-the-way palace is an entire pocket
dimension given over to an extradimensional dwelling. You
open an entranceway on the plane you are on and walk through
it to discover a luxurious mansion replete with dozens of rooms
and special construct servitors. The atmosphere is clean, fresh,
and warm, regardless of conditions on the plane you have just
vacated. Only those you designate may enter the out-of-the-way
palace, and once you enter the gateway it closes behind you and is
gone. (You may reopen this gateway at will from anywhere in the
palace, however, and it leads back to where you first activated this
device.) The gateway to the palace can be summoned anywhere on
any plane that connects to the Astral Plane, as the out-of-the-way
palace constantly hovers close to you (in planar terms).
The palace can have any floor plan you desire, up to the
limit of the device’s effect, as the construct servitors can easily
rearrange the area while you are away. The palace is furnished and
contains sufficient foodstuffs to serve a nine-course banquet to
a dozen people per activation level. A staff of clockwork servants
wait upon all who enter (as many as two per activation level). The
servants function as technologist’s familiars except that they cannot
fight and can go anywhere in the mansion.
You may stay in Dalyrimple’s out-of-the-way palace after its
duration elapses, but the palace is inhospitable when you are not
maintaining its machinery, as raw planar energies flood the area
like a deadly radiation, causing 5d6 points of damage every round
(no save) to all creatures that remain in the out-of-the-way palace.
Only the special servitors created with this device are immune to
this damage.
Expensive Component: Dalyrimple’s out-of-the-way palace is a
convenient and palatial home, but it can also be used as a quick
escape route. This usage requires a dimensional homing beacon,
which makes a sharp beeping noise when you activate it, and causes
the gateway to the palace to open in such a way that it instantly
scoops up you and all creatures within 10 feet that you designate,
whisking them away to safety and then immediately closing. This
expensive component changes the out-of-the-way palace’s activation
time to 1 swift action, and changes its area as noted. If you wish,
you and your companions can, as an instantaneous teleportation
effect, be shunted to any other point on the same plane instead
of heading to the palace. The dimensional homing beacon costs
2,340 gold pieces.
DARK MATTER ECLIPTIC
Artifact (standard) [Darkness]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 1 mile
Area: 1-mile radius emanation, centered on you
Duration: 12 hours (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 1 lb.
The dark matter ecliptic is a ball of black jelly containing
intricate mechanisms and mysterious clots of material. When you
activate it, you hurl it upwards and it quickly vanishes into the
sky. A moment later, a dark spot like a smudge of oil appears on
the sun above and shadows begin to appear on the ground below.
These shadows grow increasingly dark over the next minute, and
shadowy illumination (granting concealment) prevails in a one-
mile radius centered on the spot you hurled the ecliptic into the
sky. After the first minute elapses, the sun has been completely
blocked out by dark, oily matter and the area of effect is shrouded
in complete darkness that grants total concealment for the rest of
the ecliptic’s duration. Even indoor areas are affected by the ecliptic
as dark matter descends from the sky in chilly clouds to cover the
earth, penetrating any area that is not air-tight. Darkvision works
normally in this darkness, but the pall of dark matter automatically
negates all light spells and effects of 8th level or lower.
Example – The Lost Day
This device is an example of the technology created by an
underground-dwelling race of mysterious psionic creatures
that feast on the brains of their foes. The impenetrable
shroud of the dark matter ecliptic covers a wide area, and by
the time it fades dark elf raiders and other races enslaved
by the brain-eaters have generally destroyed everything
worth destroying in the device’s area of effect. The surface
races’ only saving grace is that the brain-eaters have not yet
discovered the dark matter ecliptic’s expensive component.
This unfinished development is the only thing that keeps
certain areas of the surface world from being continually
shrouded in darkness and horrors. Rumor has it that these
evil beings are even pursuing research into using technology
based on this artifact to permanently blot out the sun.
63
Expensive Component: A dark matter ecliptic is a one-shot device,
and is effectively destroyed once activated. The ecliptic itself is
obviously not an optional component, and it costs 6,000 gold
pieces to create another one (see Chapter Three). Generally, 12
hours of complete darkness (from dawn to dusk) is enough to
accomplish whatever purpose the ecliptic serves, but the device can
be augmented with additional dark matter producers to last for
a much greater period of time. These dark matter produces cost
3,690 gold pieces and increase the dark matter ecliptic’s duration to
12 hours per activation level.
DARK MATTER PALL
Technology (lesser) [Darkness]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 400 feet
Area: Cylinder (40-foot radius, 20 feet high)
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
This device projects a swirling, disorienting cloud of utterly
dark and light-absorbent particles. This cloud blocks all sight
within it (including darkvision and true seeing), and makes surfaces
slick and unpredictable. A creature can walk within or through
the area of dark matter at half normal speed with a DC 15 Balance
check. Failure means that the creature can’t move in that round,
while failure by a margin of 5 or more means that the creature
falls (see the Balance skill for details).
This device also dispels magical light sources of 3rd level or
lower automatically, as long as they (and not merely their light)
fall within the area of effect. It also extinguishes torches, small
fires, and alchemical items such as a sunrod.
Expensive Component: Purified dark matter costing 1,620 gold
pieces may be used with the pall and increase the radius of the
cylinder to 80 feet and its height to 40 feet.
DARK MATTER REAVER
Technology (standard) [Cold, Darkness]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: One shard of dark matter
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None or Reflex negates; see text
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
A dark matter reaver condenses light-absorbing dark matter
into a deadly jagged-edged shard. When you use this device, you
make a ranged touch attack against a single target within range. If
you hit, the deadly shard generated by the reaver deals 1d6 points
of damage per activation level (maximum of 15d6). Half of this
damage is slashing, and the other half is cold damage.
In addition, this utterly black blade of dark matter potentially
damages the eyesight of any creature who views it too closely. Any
creature within 30 feet of the straight-line path the dark matter
reaver takes to its target must make a Reflex save or be blinded for
1 hour. You do not need to make this save (you know when to close
your eyes) but the primary target of the device does. The blinding
effect functions normally against creatures viewing the dark matter
blade with darkvision. The reaver also negates any light spell or
effect of 4th level or lower that it passes through. Light spells of
6th level or higher that it passes through negate it instead.
Sightless creatures are immune to the blinding effects of the
dark matter reaver.
Expensive Component: A crystalline repeater cut from a rare
purple sapphire doubles the effect of the dark matter reaver and
allows it to generate two shards of compressed dark matter that
strike independently of each other. These separate shards may
not both be aimed at the same target, but they do force two Reflex
saves to avoid being blinded if their areas overlap. This repeater
costs 2,610 gold pieces.
DEFENSIVE KINETIC SHIELD
Technology (lesser) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes or until discharged (D)
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A defensive kinetic shield generates an energy field around
you that protects you from most weapon blows, though it does
nothing against spells or spell effects. The field manifests as
flickering wisps of red-orange energy that shed light as a candle (a
5-foot radius of shadowy illumination).
You gain a measure of resistance to blows, cuts, stabs, and
slashes, gaining unbeatable damage reduction equal to 5 plus 1 per
3 activation levels (maximum of DR 10/–). Thus, you ignore the
first 5 or more points of damage each time you take damage from
a weapon. Once the device has prevented 10 points of damage per
activation level (maximum 150 points), it is discharged and must
be activated again.
In addition to this effect, a defensive kinetic shield grants you
a +2 deflection bonus to AC, even against magical weapons and
spell effects.
Expensive Components: Energy buffers costing 1,620 gold
pieces may be installed in the device, increasing its base duration
to 1 hour.
DETERMENT SPRING
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Effect: One protective trap
Duration: 12 hours (D)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
A determent spring is a portable clockwork booby-trap
designed to protect a campsite or other small area. The device is a
64
metal spike that can be pushed into any nearby surface and then
concealed. The Spot check DC to notice an activated determent
spring is equal to 15 + your activation level or the result of a Hide
check you make, at your option. The spring is essentially a small
catapult with a very touchy pressure trigger. Any creature of Tiny
size or larger that could be detected by the tremorsense ability and
that comes within 30 feet of the spring triggers it. The determent
spring is not triggered by the movement of anything within 10
feet, allowing you and your companions to sleep in peace.
Once triggered, the determent spring launches a small item at
the offending creature. Typically, this is just a good-sized rock
that deals 1d4 points of nonlethal damage to a creature struck.
The determent spring has an attack bonus equal to your activation
level plus your Intelligence modifier and all objects it launches
have a range increment of Close (25 feet). The spring also clanks
loudly as it attacks, awakening nearby sleepers who can make a
DC 0 Listen check (this DC does not include the –10 penalty for
sleeping).
Expensive Components: Instead of a simple rock, the spring can
be loaded with a grenade-like weapon such as alchemist’s fire or a
tanglefoot bag. These items cost as much as they normally do, and
the determent spring must be provided with sufficient ammunition
if it is to make multiple attacks in one night. Permanent versions
of this expensive component instead produce a determent spring
that generates its own ammunition; the effective cost of this
mastery upgrade is 10 times the cost of the appropriate item, so
modifying the determent spring to generate and launch a substance
identical to a tanglefoot bag counts as 500 gold pieces toward
determining how many upgrades you can select upon gaining the
Master of Gadgetry class ability.
DIADEM OF PSYCHIC MASTERY
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Activation Cost: 9 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A diadem of psychic mastery functions much like a headband
of mental puissance, although it is much more powerful. A visible
field of psionic distortion appears around your head as you use
the device, like a heat shimmer, and even when not in use (but
activated), the diadem sometimes causes unintelligible scraps of
your thoughts to appear in the minds of those standing next to
you. In addition, this device (unlike most) can be detected with
the detect magic spell and similar effects while in use.
When using the diadem you may replicate a small number of
psionic abilities at will, as a standard action. Your manifester level
for these abilities depends on your ability to control the massive
flux of plane-destabilizing energy the diadem produces; each time
you manifest a power, roll an activation level check and subtract
15 to determine the manifester level of the power. If the result of
this check is a 0 or less, you fail to successfully manifest a power.
If you roll a modified total of 1 or higher, you manifest the power
without augmentation.
The powers available to a technologist employing a diadem of
psychic mastery are as follows: aura sight, dispel psionics, psionic blast,
telekinetic force, telekinetic thrust. The save DCs for these powers is
your device save DC.
Expensive Component: By charging the diadem of psychic mastery
with distilled psychic effluvium beforehand you can increase its
effects. All powers you manifest using the diadem are augmented
as though you had spent 4 additional power points on their
augmentation when manifesting them. One charge of psychic
effluvium costs 1,620 gold pieces.
DISCOURSE REPLICATOR
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: 0
Effect: One forged document
Base Duration: 1 hour
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 1 lbs.
A discourse replicator is a high-quality masterwork pen that can
store sample signatures in its complex, fine-ground gearworks. It
grants a +2 circumstance bonus to all Forgery checks. In addition,
it allows a technologist to easily replicate text without relying on
the steadiness of his own hand, and if you use a discourse replicator
to forge a document you may add one masterwork component
to the resulting document (usually high-quality or dedicated
to a purpose; see Chapter Two). Unfortunately, the compressed
ink used by a discourse replicator fades after 1 hour, rendering any
documents it produces illegible (and, usually, useless).
Expensive Component: Improved ink, which costs 390 gold
pieces, means that the documents the replicator produces will not
fade and are permanent unless destroyed in some other way.
DISSEMINATIVE COGNIMATRIX
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A disseminative cognimatrix is a metallic skull-like object that
contains a coil of wires and machinery. It is a repository for an
evolving copy of your brain. The cognimatrix is not itself a separate
intelligence; instead, its purpose is to protect the psychologically
self-aware from mental attacks. The disseminative cognimatrix
constantly checks your mind against its stored database via a sort
of technological telepathy and sends a mental query if it notes
dramatic and unusual changes of the sort most often brought on
by mind-affecting spells and special abilities.
If you are affected by a mind-affecting spell or effect while
carrying an activated disseminative cognimatrix and fail your saving
65
throw, you may try again 1 round later at the same DC. However,
instead of your normal Will saving throw — a defense that has
already been breached — you roll a Sense Motive check against the
spell or effect’s save DC. If you succeed (and note that a 1 is not an
automatic failure for a skill check), the spell or effect is cancelled,
just as if you had saved in the first place. If you are under the
influence of a beneficial mind-affecting effect you may choose to
waive this special Sense Motive check.
Expensive Component: Special heavy-duty electrodes, which
cost 750 gold pieces, allow you to partially transfer your
consciousness to the disseminative cognimatrix. This process
still does not make the device sentient, but does allow you a
greater mental detachment with which to determine if you
have succumbed to a mind-affecting ability. This reflective
distance translates into a +10 bonus on the special Sense Motive
check granted to you by the disseminative cognimatrix, providing
you with a near-total immunity to mind-affecting spells and
abilities.
DIVINE TRANSFUSION
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 8 lbs.
Commissioned by a group of forward-thinking clerics, this
device infuses holy (or unholy, anarchic, or axiomatic) water into
the target’s blood, granting them one of several possible abilities.
Fully activating the device requires four consecutive activations
over the course of 8 hours, costing a total of 40 activation points.
The alchemical compound grants one bonus to the subject,
chosen from the list below:
Living Faith: By drawing on your own sanctified blood you may
act as though you had a holy symbol in hand at all times.
Casting a spell that requires a holy symbol when you don’t
actually have a physical holy symbol on hand deals 1 point
of damage to you per spell level. Your natural attacks and
unarmed strikes are also considered blessed (though without
the usual benefits of the bless weapon spell), and have a special
effect on some creatures. This effect does not help you
penetrate DR X/good.
Sacred Flesh: The transfusion grants you an alignment subtype
(typically the Good subtype) and all creatures with the
opposing subtype take a –1 morale penalty on all attack rolls
against you (no save).
Purified Blood: The traces of holy water in your blood remain
particularly pure. Any creature that drinks your blood is
affected as though it were exposed to a vial of holy water.
If your blood is used as the target for a bless water spell only
2 pounds of powdered silver (costing 10 gold pieces) is
required to complete the transformation into holy water.
 Extracting the required amount of blood deals 1d6 points
of damage to you.
Cleansing Blood: You may add a +2 alchemical bonus to your
turning or rebuking checks, as appropriate for the infusion
type; doing so deals 1d6 points of damage to you as you boil
away some of your own vital fluids to empower the turning
attempt.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject, but each new
effect requires an additional divine transfusion to be effective: one
effect requires one successful transfusion, adding a second requires
two additional transfusions, and so forth. The bonuses granted
by this device depend upon the dedication (to chaos, good, law, or
evil) of the sacred water used in the transfusion. The list provided
above assumes that you will be using holy water but any type may
be used with appropriate changes to the effects listed above.
The listed weight represents the distilling device that creates
the potion. A complete transfusion is itself effectively weightless.
Expensive Components: A successful divine transfusion requires
20 vials of holy (or unholy, axiomatic, or anarchic) water, with a
total cost of 500 gold pieces.
DOCSCHMIDT WAXSPRINKLER
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Area: 10-foot burst
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: See text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
This multi-nozzled device is similar in use to an unctuous
bubbler but is much more powerful. An internal fan condenses
alchemical aether, an invisible substance that exists in the vacuum
between solid matter, into a completely frictionless fluid. It then
sprays this liquid out as a single globule, a grenade-like weapon
that requires a ranged touch attack roll to hit and has a chance
to scatter normally. The blob of aetherial wax bursts in a 10-foot
radius. A Docschmidt waxsprinkler is very small, and can easily be
held in one hand or strapped to the forearm for quick use in case
Example – The Unified Church
In my campaign, this potentially-divisive device was
created by the order of the Unified Church, a group of
renegade clerics who believe that the existing pantheon
boasts far too many gods for it to be taken seriously.
These schismatic clerics advocate a reduction of the deities
worshipped to only a select few. By throwing their lot in
with technologists these clerics have further distanced
themselves from orthodox faiths. Of course, the existence of
the divine transfusion procedure has also gained them many
new converts, since the Church provides the benefits of this
device to new converts at cost and is able to sell various
sorts of aligned water at a significant discount.
66
of a grapple or when tied up. If you use the waxsprinkler to escape a
grapple, or when you are otherwise unable to move freely, the wax
splatters in a 10-foot radius burst, centered on you; you receive no
save in this situation.
Objects covered in aether wax are unaffected by friction. Any
creature in the affected area cannot move unless they can fly or
levitate magically. Creatures are allowed to make a Reflex save to
keep held items from being covered in the wax. Those who fail drop
the held object and cannot pick it up. If the wax covers a weapon that
weapon cannot deal damage, as it slips completely off its intended
target without imparting momentum. Likewise, creatures covered
in Docschmidt wax cannot be harmed by weapons, nor can they
grapple or be grappled. Spellcasters who failed their Reflex saves
against this device are covered in frictionless wax and cannot cast
spells that require material components.
Expensive Component: Various improvements that increase
the efficiency of the aether-collecting condenser fan allow the
Docschmidt waxsprinkler to produce a larger charge of frictionless
wax with each use and increase the waxsprinkler’s area of effect to a
15-foot-radius burst. These improvements cost 900 gold pieces.
DRAGONCASTER
Technology (lesser) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Long (400 feet)
Area: See text
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
A dragoncaster produces balls and jets of pure phlogistic
energy that are precisely controlled by an array of nozzles, energy
inhibitors, and sensitive counterbalances. When you activate the
dragoncaster, it produces a blast of flame that deals 1d6 points of fire
damage per activation level (maximum of 10d6) to all creatures in
the area of effect. The dragoncaster can produce a variety of areas,
chosen from the following options: a cylinder (10-foot radius, 30
feet high), four 5-foot cubes (which need not be adjacent), a 20-
foot radius spread, a 40-foot cone, or a 120-foot line.
Expensive Component: Phlogistic intensifiers costing 1,620
gold pieces increase the damage output of a dragoncaster by 50%.
DUODIMENSIONAL LASH
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 15 feet
Target: One creature or object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex or Fortitude partial; Fortitude and Reflex
negates; see text (object)
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A duodimensional lash uses a thin filament charged with kinetic
energy to easily slice through most kinds of matter. When used on
an object it quickly reduces that object to pieces; when used on a
creature it can quickly dice that creature into large, meaty chunks.
The lash appears as a brilliantly-colored arc that whips around the
subject and slices off large gobbets of flesh as it does so.
You make a melee touch attack with a range of 15 feet
against a single creature or object. If you succeed, a creature you
strike must make a Reflex saving throw and a Fortitude saving
throw. Creatures that fail both saving throws are badly mangled
and suffer 1d6 points of Constitution drain
plus 1 point of Constitution drain per
activation level (maximum of +15 points).
Creatures that succeed at a single saving
throw either manage to dodge the
worst of the effect or are simply tough
enough to take the punishment and
only take 1d6 points of Constitution
damage (unlike Constitution
drain, this damage heals naturally).
Creatures that make both the Reflex
save and the Fortitude save manage
to emerge from the punishing swirl
of the lash more or less unscathed and
take no damage from this device.
The duodimensional lash has
a more devastating effect against
inanimate objects that do not have
the wherewithal to dodge it. If the
target is an unattended object with a
hardness of less than 20 it takes 2d6
points of damage per activation level
(maximum of 30d6). Magical items
automatically receive saving throws
and attended objects may use their
wielder’s saving throw bonus. Even if
this Fortitude save is successful the Ouch.
object still takes 5d6 points of damage. (Artwork by Danilo Moretti)
Objects destroyed by this effect are instantly sliced into half-a-
dozen large chunks that fall apart with a push.
Objects with a hardness of 20 or greater are unaffected by the
duodimensional lash and creatures with adamantine-based damage
reduction receive their DR rating as a bonus to their Fortitude
saves against this device. Creatures with regeneration affected by
the lash do not suffer the effects of being diced into cubes as most
creatures do, and do not suffer permanent Constitution drain if
they fail both of their saving throws. Instead, they take 1d6 points
of Constitution damage plus 1 point of Constitution damage per
activation level (to a maximum of +15 points).
Expensive Components: A reinforced filament can be added
to the device, doubling its range for one use. This special fiber
costs 750 gold pieces. In addition, if the filament is laced with
adamantine with a cost of 3000 gold pieces, it can ignore the
target’s hardness rating or adamantine-based damage reduction.
Unlike most expensive components, this last is not expended
when the device is used (it lasts for multiple activations).
67
EGESTIVE GLAND LABORATORY
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 72 lbs.
An egestive gland laboratory allows you to create an engineered
implant, either a mechanical device or an alchemically-grown
gland. The creation and implantation process requires four
consecutive activations of this device over the course of 8 hours,
costing a total of 180 activation points. The resulting implant
allows the subject creature to internally synthesize and safely
secrete a particular alchemical compound or poison.
Each egestive gland produces one particular alchemical
compound or poison, selected when the gland is crafted or grown.
The gland may do so three times per day and it takes a standard
action to produce the desired substance. The gland produces an
exact copy of the substance used in its creation. The products
of an egestive gland may not easily be sold, as they are naturally
unstable and denature into a worthless slime after 24 hours have
passed — secreted substances are for personal use only.
Each gland also comes with a specific secretion method,
chosen when you implant the gland. Secretion from the hands
allows the egestive gland laboratory’s beneficiary to deliver the
substance with a melee touch attack the round it is created.
Secretion from the mouth instead allows an immediate ranged
touch attack with a range increment of 5 feet. Other secretion
methods are also possible, with the game master’s permission.
Regardless of the method of secretion, the creature may place
the substance in an available vial or other appropriate container,
after which it acts as a normal item of its kind before becoming
worthless after 24 hours. Secreting the gland’s compound into a
vial requires a full-round action.
Instant Death From 4th Level
The orders of the various devices are not defined as
strictly as spell levels are for other spellcasters, and so
technologist can work on technologies before completing
their studies of gadgets. Thus, a device that provides some
notable new capability can be mastered at any of a variety of
levels. The duodimensional lash, for instance, could be selected
by a technologist of any level from 4th to 16th and provides
near-certain death to most creatures fully affected by it. The
activation cost of the device partly offsets this, but the level-
based nature of technologist devices also helps; if taken at 4th
level, the duodimensional lash has the same save DC as a mere
2nd level spell. Although its effects can be dramatic, they
shouldn’t be game-breaking. Fortunately, special effects that
truly change the nature of the game (such as teleportation)
are not generally found amongst a technologist’s talents.
 The 72-pound weight of this device represents the actual
laboratory that creates the egestive gland. The gland itself is
effectively weightless.
Expensive Components: The gland costs 50 times as much as
the alchemical compound or poison that it will produce. This is
not an optional expensive component. For instance, a gland that
creates alchemist’s fire three times per day costs 2,000 gold pieces
(20 × 50 = 2,000).
ELECTROLYTIC AIRFORGE
Technology (lesser) [Electricity]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0 feet
Area: 15-foot radius emanation, centered on you
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
Worn as a belt, this mass of copper coils enclosed in a clear box
produces carefully-tuned electrical discharges that electrolyze water
and turn it into a bubbly substance that can sustain air-breathers,
although it does take some getting used to. Water-breathers find the
electrolyzed water intolerable and begin to drown in it if they tarry
too long. If a water-breathing creature is prevented from leaving
the area before a number of rounds equal to twice its Constitution
score have passed it begins to drown (see DMG, page 304).
The bubbly substance is easy to swim through, and any
creature in the area acquires a swim speed equal to its land speed
for as long as it remains in the area of effect. Creatures that
normally have a swim speed (and creatures whose swim speed is
faster than their land speed) may simply use their normal swim
speed. In addition, creatures affected by the electrolytic airforge may
move at their land speed along the bottom of a body of body of
water, although obstructed terrain affects them normally. Melee
attacks inside the area of the electrolytic airforge are made without
the normal penalties for being underwater.
This device only works in water; using it in cloudy water filled
with particles does not affect concealment. Waterborne poisons
have their normal effect and airborne poisons introduced into the
area of effect act as though they were in normal air.
Expensive Component: Boosting the power of this device’s
electrical capacitors doubles the area of effect to a 30-foot radius
emanation. Doing so costs 1,620 gold pieces.
ELECTROVEIGLANT MERCURY
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0 feet or Touch
Effect or Target: An alchemical lightning rod or Creature or
object touched
Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: None (objects)
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
68
Electroveiglant mercury is a sensitive alchemical compound
that attracts electrical charges but denatures quickly when
exposed to magical fluctuations. You keep it in an antimagically
sealed and electrically insulated flask. Once you activate the
mercury it remains potent for one hour. You can give the flask to
another creature to use within this timeframe or you can keep it
on your person it and employ the electroveiglant mercury yourself.
If 1 hour passes and the mercury has not yet been exposed to air,
it becomes inert once more but may be activated again and then
used normally.
The most common way to use electroveiglant mercury is to
simply pour it out on the ground in your square. The metallic
substance hardens rapidly as its falls and forms a jagged metal
spike that absorbs and grounds some of the charge of electrical
attacks that pass within 20 feet of the lightning rod. All creatures
standing within 20 feet of the shaft of hardened electroveiglant
mercury gain electricity resistance 10, as do all creatures that
interpose the protected area between themselves and the origin
of an electrical attack. The value of the energy resistance granted
increases to 20 points at 7th activation level and again to a
maximum of 30 points at 11th level. This device protects the
equipment of protected creatures as well as their physical person.
The spike of hardened electroveiglant mercury can be destroyed, and
doing so negates the protection it provides. The metallic column
has hardness 2, 5 hit points, and a break DC of 15.
You can also splash a creature with electroveiglant mercury,
causing tiny silver nodules to form on their skin and clothing.
Doing so requires a melee touch attack. This turns the creature into
a mobile conductor. The presence of an affected creature grants
the electricity resistance indicated above to nearby creatures and
against electrical attacks that pass within 20 feet of the affected
subject. However, the splashed creature also takes electricity
damage equal to the degree of protection provided or the total
damage of the electrical attack (whichever is lower) whenever
an electrical effect has its damage reduced by the electroveiglant
mercury. For instance, if mercury created by a 7th-level activator
attracts and absorbs 17 points of damage from a mage’s lightning
bolt, the splashed creature would suffer 17 points of electricity
damage (with a Reflex saving throw for half damage) and all
protected creatures would find the damage they suffer from the
lightning bolt reduced to 0. The hardened pellets of electroveiglant
mercury can be removed by taking 3 full rounds to scrape them
away or by dealing at least 1 point of acid or sonic damage to the
affected creature per activation level of the electroveiglant mercury.
If an object coated with electroveiglant mercury is destroyed (by
attracted electricity or through other means), the mercury’s effect
is negated.
The listed weight is for a single flask of electroveiglant mercury.
Expensive Components: Each flask of electroveiglant mercury costs
5 gold pieces and is expended once used. This is not an optional
expensive component. It is difficult to splash creatures with this
substance at any appreciable range but you can build a special
dispenser into the flask of electroveiglant mercury that changes this
device’s Range entry to a range increment of Medium (100 feet). You
must succeed at a ranged touch attack roll to strike the creature,
object, or square you wish to affect. This expensive component
costs 390 gold pieces. If you have some other technological means
of delivering an alchemical item intact at a great distance, such as a
steamplunker, you may use that device instead.
EMPYREAL NET
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Until you land (D)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
An empyreal net is a lightweight vest containing a light coil
of alchemically-strengthened fabric. When released, the net
spreads out into ultralight cloth wings along your back, instantly
reducing the rate at which you fall to a maximum of a mere 60 feet
per round. You take no damage upon landing while the device is
deployed, regardless of the height you fell from.
An empyreal net also grants an effective fly speed of 30 feet,
with average maneuverability, though you always descend at a
rate of at least 30 feet per ro und.
As long as you are wearing the empyreal net and have set it up
to deploy properly, it requires only an immediate action to use
this device; otherwise it takes one full round to put the device
on and situate it on your back. The empyreal net automatically
repacks itself when you land, and you need not spend an action
to untangle yourself from the net or to prepare it for later use.
Expensive Component: Air channels costing 390 gold pieces
allow you to fly farther and faster with an empyreal net. This
expensive component increases your fly speed with the net to 60
feet (average).
ENGINEERED PANACEA
Gadget (greater) [Healing]
Activation Time: 3 full rounds
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
This roughly spherical device fits over your hand and contains
an apparatus designed to quickly design a potent healing serum
and inject it into a patient using the engineered panacea’s array of
alchemical reagents. The target creature is healed in semi-random
ways based on a Heal check you make as you activate the device.
Other characters cannot affect this skill check through the use of
the aid another action and special tools such as a healer’s kit offer
no bonus. You select from the list below, as long as your Heal
check equals or exceeds the listed DC on the Table 4-4.
69
Example – The Night Weepers
The Night Weeper assassin’s guild favors egestive glands
that allow their assassins to “weep” a liquid containing one
of various poisons. Because these glands cannot be detected
easily, even by magical means, the Night Weepers have
become known for having agents in the most unexpected
of places. The most common gland their agents receive is a
small fleshy node implanted inside the throat that produces
a liquid with the same characteristics as sassone leaf residue.
(Sassone leaf residue is a contact poison with a save DC
of 16 that deals 2d12 hit points of initial damage and 1d6
points of secondary Constitution damage.) Each of these
glands costs the guild 15,000 gold pieces.
Table 4-4: Engineered Panacea
Heal
Check Result Produced by the Engineered Panacea
10 Heal 1 point of nonlethal damage per activation level.
15 Heal 1 point of lethal damage per activation level.
20 Remove fatigue, or reduce exhaustion to fatigue.
25 Remove the shaken, deafened, or dazed condition.
30 Remove the nauseated, blinded, or stunned condition.
35 Heal 1d4 points of ability damage.
40 Remove 1d2 negative levels.
45 Heal 1d2 points of ability drain.
50 Remove a magical curse or disease as though using the
break enchantment spell, using your activation level as your
caster level.
Expensive Component: Improving the clockwork mechanism
of the engineered panacea accelerates the process of designing a
customized healing serum. These improvements cost 900 gold
pieces and reduce the device’s activation time to 1 full round.
EREVOR’S SOUL STEEL
Artifact (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 1 lb.
Erevor’s soul steel is a sullen-looking knife of unexceptional
appearance that conceals mind-bending machinery capable of
attacking the true substance of a creature cut by the knife. You
must make a melee touch attack when you activate the soul steel.
If you succeed, the creature you strike must make a Will saving
throw or find that its connection to physical reality has been
severed and that it is quickly fading out of existence.
Creatures affected by Erevor’s soul steel remain in existence for
1d4 rounds after succumbing to the weapon’s effects. During this
time, all attacks they make have a 20% chance of failing as the
creature flickers in and out of existence. Characters that bother
to attack the doomed creature suffer the same chance of failure.
At the end of this time, the creature vanishes entirely and is
effectively slain. Only the creature’s soul remains, to travel to
its deserved reward or punishment in the afterlife. Any items
the creature possessed are left behind. Because absolutely
nothing remains of the slain creature’s physical being, only a true
resurrection spell can restore the creature to life.
Expensive Component: The soul steel is a devastating weapon,
but it can be difficult to use effectively due to its limited range.
Channeling negative energy through the device via a jewel-like
portable gateway allows you to unmake a creature from a distance
of up to 100 feet away. When using this expensive component,
you simply slash around the image of the creature to be affected,
cutting them out of space and time. Doing so requires a ranged
touch attack to enclose a mobile creature within your cuts. This
expensive component costs 1,110 gold pieces.
EXCITATORY MAGNETOSCYTHE
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: One metallic weapon
Duration: 24 hours or until triggered, then 1d4 rounds + 1
round/4 activation levels
Saving Throw: None; Fortitude partial; see text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
An advanced and modular version of the vibrowand, the
excitatory magnetoscythe is a folding strip of nested gears, magnets,
and wicked edges that can be strung along the edge of any
metallic weapon, enhancing it with a jagged vibrating edge. This
device allows any metallic weapon to function somewhat like a
vibrowand. When you activate this gadget, you must place it on
a weapon within reach as part of the activation time. The device
then remains ready until the wielder of the weapon triggers it,
which takes 1 swift action, or until 24 hours have passed.
When a weapon has simply been equipped with an attached
excitatory magnetoscythe it deals +1 point of slashing damage with
each hit. When the weapon’s wielder triggers the magnetoscythe,
however, it begins to whir with intense speed. When so triggered
the enhanced weapon deals +1d6 slashing damage per hit, and on
a critical hit it deals an additional +1d6 slashing damage (total
of +2d6 on a critical hit). In addition, a creature struck by the
weapon when it has been triggered must make a Fortitude save or
take 1 point of Constitution damage.
Once triggered, the magnetoscythe quickly winds down,
remaining active for 1d4 rounds + 1 round per four activation
levels. Once it runs down, the magnetoscythe is inert, but it remains
attached. Removing the device to activate it again is a move action,
or you can simply reactivate the device without transferring it to
a new weapon.
Expensive Component: Backup gears allow an excitatory
magnetoscythe to retain its charge for extended periods when
you are not available to reactivate the device. This improvement
increases the device’s duration to 72 hours (3 days) or until it is
70
triggered, at which time it runs down normally. These gears cost
390 gold pieces.
EXTIRPATE ABNORMALITIES
Artifact (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 100 feet
Area: Several constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead
within a 40-foot radius burst
Base Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Extirpate abnormalities is the ultimate bane of magic-
dependent creatures and allows them no reprieve if the activator is
sufficiently powerful. Extirpate abnormalities snuffs out the motive
force of all nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders,
and undead in the area of effect, killing them instantly.
This artifice slays or destroys 1d4 Hit Dice worth of
nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead
per activation level, up to a maximum of 25d4 Hit Dice. Creatures
with the fewest HD are affected first; among creatures with equal
HD, those who are closest to the burst’s point of origin are
affected first. No creature that possesses HD greater than your
activation level – 4 can be affected, and Hit Dice that are not
sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Creatures destroyed or
slain by extirpate abnormalities crumble to a fine grey ash that is
quickly dispersed by the wind.
Expensive Components: Using extirpate abnormalities requires
you to expend a charm made of the alchemically distilled and
solidified forces that are anathema to these creatures. This charm
costs 500 gold pieces and is not an optional component. It is also
possible to alchemically distill a potion from your blood that is
the psychical representation of everything you hate about magic-
dependent abnormalities and your power over them. Drinking
this distillation empowers extirpate abnormalities and allows it to
affect nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders, and
undead with HD greater than your activation level – 4. Affected
creatures receive a Will saving throw to avoid being destroyed by
extirpate abnormalities if they would normally be immune to its
effects. The required potion costs 2,340 gold pieces.
EXTIRPATE MAGIC
Artifact (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Area: All magical effects and magical items within a 40-foot
radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (object)
Activation Cost: 135 points
Extirpate magic is the most powerful antimagic ability
available. This artifice completely and automatically destroys
spells and ongoing effects in its area of effect as well as causing
magical items to shut down for prolonged periods of time. When
you use extirpate magic, all the color in the area of effect is washed
out, casting everything in shades of grey for several seconds.
All magical effects and magic items within the radius of the
ability, except for those that you carry or touch, are extirpated.
That is, spells and spell-like effects are instantaneously and
irretrievably unraveled (ending the effect as the greater smite magic
gadget does). Each permanent magic item must make a successful
Will save or be turned into a normal item for 1 day per activation
level. An item in a creature’s possession uses its own Will save
bonus or its possessor’s Will save bonus, whichever is higher.
You also have a 1% chance per activation level of destroying
an antimagic field or an inviolate shield against magic. If the antimagic
field or inviolate shield against magic survives extirpation, no items
within it are negated.
Even artifacts are subject to extirpation, though there is only
a 1% chance per activation level of actually affecting such powerful
items. Additionally, if an artifact is destroyed, you must make a
DC 25 Will save or lose all mastery of all of your devices, in a sort
of powerful karmic backlash that is tied into the very nature of
such powerful items. Your abilities cannot be recovered by mortal
magic, not even by means of a wish or similarly powerful effects.
Destroying an artifact is also 95% likely to attract the attention of
some powerful being who has an interest in or connection with
the item.
Expensive Component: It is possible to alchemically distill a
potion from your blood that is the psychical representation of
everything you hate about magic and of all your power over it.
If you quaff this potion (which costs 1,110 gold pieces) as you
activate extirpate magic, all magical items affected by the ability
are permanently destroyed and consumed in a grey fire instead of
being temporarily negated. Your chance of destroying an artifact
also doubles, to a 2% chance per activation level, and the save DC
to avoid losing your technologist abilities due to destroying an
artifact drops to 15.
FABRICACIOUS FABRICATOR
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: 0
Effect: Finished cloth product
Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 10 lbs.
Detailed internal gears direct the numerous spools and
needles of this boxy device. When activated and fed any sort of
fabric, the fabricacious fabricator transforms raw fabrics of any kind
into a garment, rug, rope, or any other item that can be woven,
even if such an item is not normally created through weaving,
because doing so would be impractical or impossible for a
humanoid weaver. The device has settings for key measurements
and can be adjusted to create any kind of woven final product,
provided it has sufficient raw materials. The fabricacious fabricator
makes Craft checks of the appropriate type (usually weaving),
71
taking 10 with a +1 bonus per activation level (maximum +10),
plus your Intelligence modifier. Each round it completes work
worth 1 copper piece x the item’s Craft DC x the check result,
assuming it beats the necessary DC for the Craft check.
For example, Prentice (a 10th-level technologist) activates a
fabricacious fabricator, attempting to create a noblewoman’s dress
for a bespattered companion who needs to be presentable in the
near future. The dress is worth 75 gold pieces and has a Craft DC
of 20. Each round the fabricator succeeds at its Craft check, with
a result of 23, and produces 460 cp worth of work. In 17 rounds
it completes its work, producing a fashionable dress that would
have taken a traditional weaver many days of work. The dress is
still only fabric — any jewelry must be added later — but it is fully
functional.
Adventurers typically use this device to create disguises,
ropes, tents, cold-weather clothing, and similar cloth materials
as needed. The fabricator can make masterwork items and create
items from special materials as long as it can succeed at the
required Craft check.
Expensive Component: Because it is automated and not as
discerning as a skilled craftsman the fabricacious fabricator requires
raw materials equal in value to the market cost of the item you
wish to produce. Since most characters do not carry around bolts
of silk and other expensive fabrics, the fabricator will usually be
used to turn an article of unused clothing into a more appropriate
item. This is not an optional expensive component.
FEIRAN’S ANIMALIZING SCEPTER
Technology (standard) [Mind-affecting]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One humanoid
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
Feiran’s animalizing scepter puts the same weird mind-
devolving alchemical compound used in Feiran’s sphere of savagery
to offensive use. When activated, it generates a dull red beam
and you must make a ranged touch attack to strike a target you
designate. If you succeed the target makes a Will save to negate
the effects of the scepter.
If the save is failed, the target’s Intelligence is reduced to that
of a reasonably clever monkey (Intelligence score of 2) — this is not
ability damage, merely a penalty sufficient to reduce the target’s
Intelligence to 2. The creature is unable to use Intelligence-based
skills, cast spells, understand language, or communicate as it
normally would. In addition, the creature’s alignment changes
to Neutral for the duration of the effect and it becomes docile,
unwilling to take any actions of its own volition except those
necessary for its survival.
You have some measure of control over the creature — your
forceful words and animal magnetism can convince it to perform
actions for you. Doing so requires a Handle Animal check, as
though you were pushing an animal to perform a trick it does not
know; this Handle Animal check has a DC of 15 + the creature’s
Hit Dice. Due to the unusual docility of affected creatures, this
check requires only a single move action. The affected creature
performs the trick to the best of its abilities, subject to its reduced
Intelligence score. In addition, if you succeed on this check by 5
or more, the creature is particularly eager to please and gains a
+2 morale bonus to all rolls made to perform its assigned task.
Pushing creatures to perform tasks against their nature
inflicts a –5 penalty on your Handle Animal check.
For instance, after affecting a 10th-level human
barbarian with Feiran’s animalizing scepter, you
may command him to perform the “attack”
trick by making a Handle Animal check
with a DC of 25, thus turning the barbarian
against your foes. If you succeed with a 30 or
better, the barbarian also gains a +2 morale
bonus on attack and damage rolls made
to attack your enemies. If you ordered the
barbarian to assault a friend, your Handle
Animal check suffers a –5 penalty. Ordering
the barbarian to leap off a cliff into a raging
river only gets you a confused look.
Your control can be contested by anyone
with the Handle Animal skill. In such a case,
the character with the highest modified roll
compels the creature to perform the trick
it commands, superseding the creature’s
current task. This weakness makes
creatures affected by the animalizing scepter
unreliable lackeys at best. In addition, the
creature continues to carry out day-to-day
activities required for its survival, such as
eating and sleeping, although it is obviously
animalistic as it does so (moving on all fours,
eating raw meat, and so forth). Because of
these tendencies, close observation almost Feiran’s animalizing scepter may be responsible for
reports of mysterious beast-men in the wilderness
immediately reveals that something is
(Artwork by Tony Perna)
wrong with the afflicted creature and the
Sense Motive check to recognize that the creature is under the
influence of a mind-affecting effect is only DC 10. Creatures freed
from the effects of Feiran’s animalizing scepter realize that their
minds have been tampered with but retain no clear memories of
the time they spent animalized.
Expensive Component: Alchemical intensifiers costing 1,620
gold pieces augment Feiran’s animalizing scepter and making the
affected creature even more suggestible. Such creatures may be
pushed with but a word; instead of making a Handle Animal
check as a move action, you may make it as a swift action, or an
immediate action with a +5 penalty to the check DC. Characters
contesting your control must still take a move action to attempt
their own Handle Animal checks.
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FEIRAN’S FERALIZING GAGE
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Effect: Ray targeting one living creature
Duration: 1d4 minutes
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
Feiran’s feralizing gage is a tattered leather glove that
goes all the way to the elbow and is covered in mysterious
lumps. The glove is a concealed delivery system for a
powerful device that has mental effects similar to
those of Feiran’s animalizing scepter. When activated,
the device significantly reduces the target’s
Intelligence but also induces commensurate
physical changes. You make a ranged touch
attack roll; the living creature struck becomes
feral, savage, and much hairier if it fails its
Fortitude saving throw, gaining sharpened
senses and enhanced combat abilities. These
effects fade after the device is deactivated
(lasting for 1d4 minutes), although the hair
typically sticks around for an hour or two.
The precise effects are as follows:
• The creature’s intellect diminishes and
it takes an Intelligence and Charisma
penalty of 1d6+1 per two activation
levels (maximum 1d6+5). This penalty
cannot reduce the creature’s Intelligence
or Charisma to less than 1. Its mindset
changes so that it relishes melee combat
and seeks to engage in it to the exclusion of
all other activities. It still remembers who
its friends and enemies are, however, and
acts accordingly. The creature remembers
the actions it takes while feral when the
effects of the feralizing gage lapse.
• The creature becomes stronger, faster,
and tougher. Its base land speed increases by 20 feet and it
gains a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution
per three activation levels (maximum +8).
• The creature gains two natural claw attacks or two natural
slam attacks (your choice), dealing 1d8 damage each for a
Medium-size creature (and more or less damage for larger
and smaller creatures). However, it also loses all weapon
proficiencies and refuses to use any weapons other than any
natural attacks it may have.
• The creature also increases in bulk and its arms lengthen in
proportion to its legs, giving it a truly powerful build. It does
not actually increase in size, but it uses the size modifiers
of the next-largest category whenever doing so would be
advantageous. In addition, special attacks that depend on
the creature’s size, such as Swallow Whole, treat the creature
 as though it were one size category larger than it actually is if
doing so would be beneficial. This benefit also increases the
damage dealt by the creature’s natural attacks by one step
(this bonus has already been factored into the claw or slam
damage listed above).
• The target’s skin and flesh toughen, granting it an
enhancement bonus of +1 per three activation levels
(maximum +6 at 18th level) to its natural armor.
• The targeted creature’s senses sharpen, granting it a +5
competence bonus on Spot and Listen checks, low-light
vision, and the Scent special quality.
While this device is usually used to improve the combat
abilities of an ally, it can also be used to mentally weaken enemy
spellcasters or to provoke an enemy into committing itself to
melee combat.
Expensive Component: Alchemically purifying the reaction
core of Feiran’s feralizing gage costs 1,620 gold pieces and increases
the save DC of this device by 2 points.
FEIRAN’S SPHERE OF SAVAGERY
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Special; see text (D)
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
Feiran’s sphere of savagery looks like a rusted metal sphere, but
it’s actually a reasonably sophisticated device built to abuse the
language-processing centers of the brain, effectively devolving said
parts of the brain to the point where the target can communicate
with any creature of the animal type and any magical beast with
an Intelligence score of 1 or 2.
The target (who must be willing) can ask questions of
and receive answers from animals, although the device doesn’t
make them any more friendly or cooperative than usual.
Furthermore, wary and cunning animals are likely to be terse
and evasive, while the more stupid ones make inane comments.
If an animal is friendly, it may perform some favor or service, at
the GM’s discretion. Using the device for up to one minute is
merely disorienting, but each full minute of use deals 1 point
of Intelligence damage to the user (no save). The sphere’s effects
may be maintained as long as desired, or until the target passes
out from Intelligence loss. If the device is activated anew, the
1-minute window before the target risks taking Intelligence
damage resets, as the energy generated by the sphere takes a
slightly different form.
Expensive Component: Normally, a sphere of savagery merely
offers the ability to communicate with animals. However, adding
certain mind-affecting compounds to the device’s metallic outer
surface allows the targeted creature to exercise its will over
animals it is speaking with. This influence takes the form of a
single suggestion spell, cast at your activation level, which can be
used at any point during the device’s duration. This suggestion
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must target a creature of the animal type or a magical beast with
an Intelligence score of 1 or 2. The requisite materials cost 390
gold pieces.
FIELD-SOLDERANT KIT
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: Touch
Target: Construct or object touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
This device consists of a set of customized hand tools and
alchemical sealants that allow you to quickly and efficiently seal,
darn, re-jigger, patch, overhaul, or otherwise mend the construct
or object you touch.
When applied to a damaged construct or object, the field-
solderant kit repairs that item, restoring 3d6 hit points to the
construct or object + 2 points per activation level (maximum
+20). Objects and constructs that have frequently been repaired
with this device show the residual scars of their damage in the
form of weld-marks and gobs of stray sealant until they receive
more long-term attention.
Expensive Components: One use of the field-solderant kit requires
alchemical items and special tools costing 5 gold pieces. This is
not an optional component. You can also maximize the hit point
damage healed by the kit by incorporating more powerful tools
and alchemical solutions costing a total of 900 gold pieces into
it. When so augmented, the field-solderant kit restores 18 points
of damage to a touched construct or object, plus 2 points per
activation level (to a maximum of +20 points).
FLASH-BANG WIDGET
Technology (lesser) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: 100 feet
Effect: One or more 20-foot radius bursts of flame
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
An activated flash-bang widget flies to a point you designate
within range and hovers there, releasing bursts of bright light
and heat at your verbal command. Immediately upon activation
of this device and once per round thereafter you may cause the
widget to emit a burst of phlogistic energy. The burst deals 1d6
points of fire damage to all creatures within the radius per two
activation levels (maximum 5d6) and blinds affected creatures
for 1 minute. A successful Reflex save negates the blindness and
halves the fire damage.
Each round you may use an immediate action to trigger
another burst of heat and light, with effects identical to the first.
You need not cause the burst immediately. You can trigger only
one burst per round regardless of the number of immediate
actions you could normally take, and you cannot carry over
potential activation of the flash-bang widget from round to round.
The location of the flash-bang widget is designated when the
device is used and may not be changed thereafter without first
recalling the device and activating it again. An active flash-bang
widget has an AC of 17 (+4 size, +3 Dex), hardness 15, and hit points
equal to your activation level. It can use the Hide skill at a +15
modifier to conceal itself if you command it to do so. The device
always moves with complete silence, although the explosions it
produces are deafeningly loud to those caught within them. If
you stop paying the flash-bang widget’s activation cost while it is
deployed, the device automatically returns to your hand.
Expensive Components: Caloric polarizers allow a flash-bang
widget to deal cold damage instead of fire damage and cause a slow
effect that lasts for 1 minute instead of blindness. Each round
you trigger a burst you may choose which type of damage to deal.
A flash-bang widget equipped with caloric polarizers gains the Cold
descriptor in addition to the Fire descriptor. These polarizers cost
750 gold pieces.
FLUX FORK
Gadget (standard) [Sonic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Area: Earth and stone in a 10-foot radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None or Will negates (object); see text
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A flux fork is a silver tuning fork wrapped in crystalline
filament. By striking the flux fork against the ground and tugging
on the appropriate crystal threads to adjust the sound you can
pinpoint the resonance frequency of earth and stone, softening
it and reducing its hardness. Wet earth becomes a syrupy sludge,
dry earth becomes a thick layer of dust, and stone becomes a wet
clay-like substance that can be easily shaped or chopped away. You
affect a 10-foot radius spread to a depth of up to 4 feet based on
the resilience of the substance and its overall structure. Unlike the
druid spell soften earth and stone the flux fork works as well against
dressed or worked stone as it does against unworked stone.
Magical and magically enhanced stone fluctuates slightly due to
its enchantments, however, and it is therefore impossible to find
an effective resonance frequency when targeting such materials.
This device can have a variety of effects on creatures in the
area. A creature in mud (formerly wet earth) must make a Reflex
save or be entangled for as long as it remains in the area and for
1d2 rounds thereafter. (Entangled creatures move at half speed,
cannot run or charge, and take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls
and a –4 penalty to their Dexterity. They must also make a DC
17 Concentration check to successfully cast a spell.) Loose dirt
(formerly dry earth) counts as difficult terrain, halving movement
and preventing creatures from running or charging over it. Wet
clay (formerly stone) does not hinder the movement of creatures
74
but is much easier to hack apart than stone; its hardness drops to
0 and its hit points are reduced to one-third normal (from 15 hit
points per inch of material to 5 per inch).
Creatures with nonmagical stone items on their person are
entitled to a Will save for each such item to negate the device’s
effects. Creatures of the earth subtype must also make a Will save
or be slowed (as the spell) and lose their damage reduction (if any)
for 1 minute as the resonance causes their bodies to temporarily
soften and melt. The flux fork can also cause landslides (the
softened material sloughs off sheer surfaces such as cliffs) and
moderate structural damage to buildings (by turning their
foundations into clay). However, most well-built structures
require many uses of a flux fork to be completely destroyed.
Expensive Component: Wrapping the flux fork in yet more of the
crystalline fine-tuning filaments lets it instantly cycle through the
possible resonance frequencies to find an appropriate harmonic
and reduces the fork’s activation time to 1 swift action. Many of
these filaments snap under the strain, making this an expensive
proposition at a total cost of 2,280 gold pieces.
FOLLY’S COGNATE ARCHITRONIX
Artifact (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 hour
Activation Cost: 18 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
This metallic-silver circlet fits snugly around your brow.
When activated, it gives you the ability to mentally control spatial
planes, allowing you to mentally manipulate the space that
objects and creatures occupy and move the target like a puppet
without affecting it directly. As often as you desire while Folly’s
cognate architronix remains activated, you may take a standard
action to have one of the following effects on a creature or object
within 120 feet:
Architronic Telekinesis: Move something at a distance as though
using the telekinesis spell (PHB, page 292), except that
creatures you target do not receive the benefit of any spell
resistance they have. Your caster level for this effect is ½
your activation level (maximum caster level 15th). Moving
objects and creatures in this way requires concentration.
Architronic Animation: Cause an object to move, twisting the
space it takes up to propel it forward. The object is effectively
an animated object (see MM, pages 13–14) with a fly speed
of 60 feet (perfect), and it remains animated until you use
the architronix to generate some other effect. You need not
concentrate to keep the object animated and to exercise
mental control over its actions. The maximum size object
that you can animate using this ability is based on your
activation level: technologists of 13th level and lower can
animate objects Huge size and smaller, technologists of 14th
to 18th levels can animate Gargantuan objects, and objects
of Colossal size can be animated by technologists of at least
 19th level. Because you are simply twisting the space the manipulating tendrils each on command, stretching up to 10
object occupies, and devoting all of the device’s energy to feet away. These metal filaments are not very strong (collectively
doing so, the animated object’s weight is irrelevant for this they have a Strength score equal to your activation level, to a
use of the cognate architronix. maximum of 15) but are adapted to manipulate objects in tight
Architronic Manipulation: Minimally animate any number of spots or inside sensitive machinery.
objects in range, granting yourself a +10 circumstance bonus While using Folly’s finagling fingers you gain a +10 circum-
on all skill checks that require manipulating something stance bonus on Disable Device, Open Lock, and Search checks.
physically (such as Open Lock checks, most Craft checks, and You may disable devices and open locks from up to 10 feet away
many Disable Device checks). In addition, you do not suffer and even around corners because the tip of each tendril contains
any penalty to these checks for not having the proper tools. a small optical sensor. Tiny antimagic reserves in each glove allow
This ability does not require concentration to maintain. you to disable magical traps as easily as mechanical ones.
Architronic Interposition: Oppose the movements of a creature Expensive Component: As technologists grow more skilled, their
or object within range. Each trap-related problems increasingly
round you use this ability, the consist of magical, not mechanical,
target creature or object must traps. By supercharging the finagling
make a Will saving throw or you fingers’ built-in antimagic reserve you
pin the space it occupies into can render the device particularly
place — the being is effectively efficacious against magical traps and
paralyzed and unable to take locks. This charging process costs
any actions that round. Flying 750 gold pieces and increases the
or falling creatures and objects circumstance bonuses to Disable
are suspended in midair and Device, Open Lock, and Search
cease to move. Maintaining this checks granted by Folly’s finagling
ability from round to round fingers to +20 against magical
requires concentration, and as objectives.
soon as you cease to concentrate
the creature or object affected FULL-BODY CORSET
regains its normal movement Gadget (lesser)
capabilities. Creatures caught in Activation Time: 1 full round
this way are extremely difficult Range: Personal
for others to move; doing so Target: You
requires a Strength check with a Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
DC of 20 + your activation level Saving Throw: See text
+ your Intelligence modifier. Activation Cost: 1 point
Expensive Component: You can Weight: 10 lbs.
extend the range of your control using When not active, this device
a gateway gem linked to the Ethereal looks like a mundane full-body
Plane. Doing so gives you additional suit made of supple black leather
vectors with which to control spatial and banded with numerous metal
coordinates and increases the range cords and springs. To activate
of the special abilities the cognate the device, you slip the hood over
architronix grants from 120 feet to 240 your head, place a clockwork mask
feet. This gateway gem costs 1,110 Prentice Cogitens prepares her full-body corsetfor a day of subterfuge over your face, adjust a bevy of
(Artwork by Susan Knowles)
gold pieces. settings and let the full-body corset
painfully readjust your body to nearly any vaguely similar form.
FOLLY’S FINAGLING FINGERS While wearing a full-body corset, you suffer no penalty to Disguise
Technology (lesser) checks from disguising yourself as a different race, gender, or
Activation Time: 1 standard action age category. Additionally, the mask of the full-body corset and
Range: Personal the overall ease of applying makeup to it grant the wearer a +5
Target: You enhancement bonus to Disguise checks.
Base Duration: 1 round (D) When you activate the full-body corset, and after every 10
Activation Cost: 3 points minutes it remains activated, you must make a DC 10 Fortitude
Weight: 4 lbs. save or take 1 point of nonlethal damage. While the corset is active,
This device is a pair of sleek metal gloves that extrude a dozen you also suffer a –2 penalty to your Dexterity score.

75

Example – Actors and Prostitutes
Certain segments of society find the full-body corset to
be a truly marvelous invention, and will often take a level in
technologist specifically to master it. The main advantage the
device has over similar spells, such as disguise self, is that its
variable duration means even an unskilled character can keep
it activated for quite a while. Of course, the appreciation
certain segments of society have for this device has done little
to foster an appreciation for advancements in science and
technology in all those other segments of society.
Expensive Component: Heat-reactive alchemical cushioning
added to the full-body corset makes wearing it a much more pleasant
prospect and negates the penalty to your Dexterity score and the
need to make Fortitude saves to avoid taking nonlethal damage.
This expensive component also increases the device’s base duration
to 20 minutes. These cushions cost 390 gold pieces per use.
FURNACE KINDLER
Gadget (lesser) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: 10 feet
Area: Cone-shaped burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
This device converts common materials into a cone of flame.
Any creature in the affected area takes 1d6 points of fire damage
per activation level (maximum 5d6); flammable materials will catch
fire if the flames touch them. A character can extinguish burning
items as a full-round action by making a DC 15 Reflex save.
Expensive Components: You may use a vial of alchemist’s fire as
the raw materials for this device. If you do so, the furnace kindler deals
another 1d6 points of fire damage the round after its activation,
as though creatures in the area had been struck by alchemist’s fire.
This expensive component counts as a type of ammunition. You
can also add supplementary bellows to the furnace kindler at a cost
of 390 gold pieces; these bellows increase the maximum damage
the device can deal to 10d6, although they do not actually add any
damage unless your activation level is higher than 5.
GAUNTLETS OF THE IRON OGRE
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 minute (D)
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
These heavy iron gauntlets are equipped with bracers
extending up your arms and greatly increase the strength of your
hands. Gauntlets of the iron ogre grant a +6 enhancement bonus
76
to Strength for all tasks involving upper-body strength — attack
and damage rolls with a held weapon, grapple checks, and checks
made to resist being disarmed but not natural attacks made with
any body part other than the arms or a similar appendage (such
as a pair of fore-tentacles). Gauntlets of the iron ogre do not improve
your encumbrance thresholds.
Gauntlets of the iron ogre are no different in combat than
normal gauntlets.
Expensive Component: Increasing the base duration of the
gauntlets of the iron ogre is a simple matter of adding in redundant
gears wherever possible. This process costs 390 gold pieces and
increases this device’s duration to 1 hour.
GELPH’S GLOBULOUS HUNTER
Technology (greater) [Acid]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: 10 feet
Effect: One ooze
Duration: 5 minutes (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
A deactivated globulous hunter looks like a tangled ball of thin
strands of a dull silver-grey metal. To activate the device, you throw
it as a grenade-like weapon, rolling for scatter normally if you miss
the target creature or square. As the hunter flies through the air
its tendrils unfurl and generate a semi-tangible field of corrosive
energy, allowing it to immediately attack your foes on your turn or
perform other actions within its abilities, as you command.
At 4th activation level an activated globulous hunter has
statistics identical to those of a gray ooze (see the MM, page 202).
For every activation level you gain after the 4th, the hunter gains 5
temporary hit points and a +1 enhancement bonus to its Strength
and Constitution when you activate it (to a maximum of 75
temporary hit points and a +15 enhancement bonus to Strength
and Constitution at 19th level). If you opted to throw the globulous
hunter at a creature and hit, it automatically attacks and hits with
a slam attack in its first round, dealing damage and potentially
grappling the target. Gelph’s globulous hunter recognizes its creator
and will never deal damage to you or your belongings with its
acidic field. Other creatures that stumble into the globulous hunter
take damage as normal even if they are your allies, although the
hunter never displays active aggression toward a creature or object
unless you direct it to do so.
Expensive Component: Separated from the activator’s stabil-
izing influence, Gelph’s globulous hunter remains active for only
5 minutes before curling back up into its dormant form. Adding
magic-inhibiting strands to the acid-projection clusters increases
this duration to 1 hour and gives the globulous hunter spell
resistance equal to your activation level. This upgrade costs 1,620
gold pieces.
In addition, you can customize the globulous hunter by adding
various masterwork components. Any masterwork component
meant for weapons can be applied to the construct’s slam attack,
if appropriate. You may also add the high-quality, dedicated to its portable form. Special engineering applied to the creature’s
a purpose, user-friendly (thereby allowing the construct to use flesh-producing nodules increases the instant aggressor’s duration
a specific trained-only skill, such as Tumble, untrained), and to 1 hour and grants it a +1 enhancement bonus to its natural
sacred/profane skill-related components to a globulous. Adding a armor for every level you have past 10th (to a maximum of a
slick, oozy shell to increase the construct’s speed by 10 feet counts +10 enhancement bonus to the creature’s natural armor). This
as one masterwork component as well. upgrade costs 2,340 gold pieces.
In addition, you can customize the instant aggressor by adding
GELPH’S INSTANT AGGRESSOR various masterwork components. Any masterwork component
Artifact (lesser) [Electricity] meant for weapons can be applied to the construct’s slam attack
Activation Time: 1 standard action and any masterwork component meant for armor may likewise
Range Increment: 10 feet be added directly to the construct’s natural armor, if appropriate.
Effect: One flesh golem-like construct You may also add the high-quality, dedicated to a purpose,
Duration: 5 minutes (D) user-friendly (thereby allowing the construct to use a specific
Saving Throw: None trained-only skill, such as Tumble, untrained), and sacred/
Activation Cost: 45 points profane skill-related components to an instant aggressor. Adding
Weight: 7 lbs. multiple legs to increase the construct’s speed by 10 feet counts
A deactivated instant aggressor looks like a mound of sickly as one masterwork component and adding wheels to increase
flesh with corrugated metal bars, patchy with rust, haphazardly the construct’s speed by 20 feet requires the equivalent of two
protruding from its mass. To activate the instant aggressor you masterwork components. You may also increase any adamantine-
throw the device as a grenade-like weapon, rolling for scatter based damage reduction the construct possesses by 1 point as
normally if you miss the target creature or square. As the aggressor though adding a masterwork component; these increases stack,
flies through the air, the corrugated bars form an electrically- to a maximum damage reduction rating of 20/adamantine.
charged frame that supports the surprisingly strong and supple
artificial flesh of a powerful construct. The supporting bars GIGANT MARAUDER
also produce additional (temporary) flesh as necessary for the Artifact (standard) [Null-Space]
instant aggressor to reach its full size. This newly-created creature Activation Time: 1 full round
immediately attacks your foes on your turn or performs other Range: Personal
actions within its abilities, as you command. Target: You
At 10th activation level Gelph’s instant aggressor has statistics Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
identical to those of a flesh golem (see the MM, pages 135–136), Activation Cost: 18 points
including the golem’s natural magic immunity and chance Weight: 2 lbs.
to go berserk (the aggressor’s control system is somewhat A gigant marauder is a gigantic, gangly-limbed construct
temperamental, but it is extremely magic-resistant). In addition, that you pull from null-space storage to surround you like a
the device’s electrified frame adds 1d6 points of electricity damage (very large) suit of armor that is conveniently bristling with
to each of the instant aggressor’s slam attacks. The creature also weaponry. The marauder effectively makes you much larger and
receives 10 temporary hit points, a 5-foot bonus to speed, and a much stronger while providing temporary hit points in the form
+1 enhancement bonus to its Strength score when you activate it of a heavy metallic substructure. When you activate this device,
per level you have past 10th, up to the 20th-level maximum of 100 your size category increases to Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal,
temporary hit points, a +50 speed bonus, and a +10 enhancement depending on your activation level. Your Strength, Dexterity, size
bonus to Strength. If you opted to throw the instant aggressor at modifier to armor class and attack rolls, base speed, and space and
a creature and hit, it automatically attacks and hits with a slam reach all change, and you gain temporary hit points (representing
attack in its first round, deals normal damage, and attempts to the gigant marauder’s structure) and adamantine-based damage
grapple the target on following rounds. reduction (representing its dense armor). All of these values are
Expensive Component: Separated from your stabilizing noted on the table below.
influence, Gelph’s instant aggressor will only remain active for 5 You and all of your equipment are safely hidden away inside
minutes before shedding excess flesh and collapsing back into the marauder’s cockpit, and any magical items and the like cannot
Table 4-5: Gigant Marauder
Activation Base Temp. Damage AC/Atk Slam/Rock
Level Size Speed Str Dex hp Reduction Mod Space/Reach Dmg
Huge
1st–14th 40 ft. +16 –2 10/level 5/adamanatine –2 15 ft./15 ft. 2d6 + Str
(20+ ft.)
Gargantuan
15th–17th 50 ft. +24 –4 15/level 10/adamantine –4 20 ft./20 ft. 2d8 + Str
(40+ ft.)
18th or Colossal
60 ft. +32 –6 20/level 15/adamantine –8 30 ft./30 ft. 4d6 + Str
higher (75+ ft.)

77
be used if they target anyone other than yourself. Magical items
that affect your person (such as bracers of armor or a cloak of
resistance) continue to function normally; your link with the gigant
marauder is such that it is considered to be you, for all intents and
purposes. However, mundane armor you wear does not improve
your AC, nor can you make use of any of your personal weapons
unless they are also mastered devices. Your mastered devices are
the exception to the general rule that items you carry cannot be
used to affect other creatures or areas: as many of your devices as
you wish can be integrated into the gigant marauder as it forms and
have their full normal effects when used. Although you cannot
access non-device weapons while using a marauder, you do gain a
slam attack and the ability to throw portions of the scenery (as a
giant throws rocks).
As long as you dismiss the gigant marauder before it runs
out of temporary hit points the device’s duration ends without
incident and you find yourself standing in any one of the squares
you formerly occupied. However, if the marauder is completely
destroyed (the temporary hit points this device grants you are
all expended), the entire device is destroyed and must be rebuilt
(see Chapter Three). If this happens, the structure of the marauder
Two Colossal gigant marauders square off, their pilots ready for a titanic battle (Artwork by Anthony Monorchio)
78
evaporates into null space and you end up prone in any square
in your formerly enlarged space, with all of the devices you
incorporated into the marauder strewn haphazardly about you.
It takes some time for the gigant marauder to recover from
damage it sustains, although it does so automatically. If you
activate the marauder less than 4 hours after the last time you
activated it, the device comes into being with the same (probably
reduced) number of temporary hit points that it had when you
dismissed it earlier in the day.
Expensive Component: The most obvious expensive components
for this device are any mastered devices you incorporate into the
gigant marauder. These can include anything from a forearm-
mounted dragoncaster or pocket ballista to a defensive shield in the
form of a cross-phasic cloak or kinetic shield. Incorporated devices
temporarily change form to suit their new emplacement, and these
integrated machines can have dramatic effects on the appearance
and capabilities of the gigant marauder. These components are all
optional, but are not expended when the device is activated.
A gigant marauder can be used to stomp anything from a small
town to a middling-sized city, but two things can ruin a rampaging
technologist’s day — an enemy mage disrupting the marauder, and
running out of temporary hit points. Both of these problems can be
addressed by constructing a powerful energy shield for deployment
with the gigant marauder. The energy shield increases the marauder’s
arcane disruption DC by 10 and grants additional temporary hit
points: Huge marauders gain an additional 25 temporary hit points,
Gargantuan marauders an additional 75 hit points, and Colossal
gigant marauders gain 150 extra temporary hit points. As long as
this additional buffer remains (your base temporary hit points
have not been damaged), you also gain a +1 deflection bonus
to your AC per two activation levels while piloting the marauder
(maximum +12). This additional protection disappears as soon
as the energy shield’s temporary hit points are expended. This
optional expensive component costs 3,690 gold pieces.
GOGGLES OF ACUITY
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 2 lbs.
This array of lenses helps you sharpen your vision but is
ineffective without some measure of training in noticing and
collating small visual details. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus
on all Search checks while using this device, as though the goggles
of acuity were a high-quality masterwork tool. While the device is
active, you also gain the normal synergy bonus (usually +2) to all
Appraise, Disable Device, Sense Motive, and Spot skill checks as
long as you have enough ranks in Search to gain a synergy bonus
(this usually means having 5 ranks in Search).
Expensive Component: Cleaning the lenses of the goggles of
acuity with a magic-repellant alchemical solution allows them to
function smoothly for a much longer period of time and increases
their base duration to 3 hours. This alchemical cleaning solution
costs 390 gold pieces.
GOGGLES OF X-RAY VISION
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 5 minutes
Activation Cost: 6 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
Goggles of X-ray vision are not particularly flashy — they just
let you see through walls. When you activate them, the goggles
give you the ability to see into and through solid matter. Your
range of vision is 60 feet, and you can see as if you were looking at
something in normal light even if there is no illumination. X-ray
vision can penetrate 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, or
up to 3 feet of wood or dirt, but thicker substances or a thin sheet
of lead blocks your vision. X-ray vision can even be used as a form
of darkvision, although you can see only in vivid white and black
79
while using the goggles. This is not normal darkvision, and even
magical darkness is ineffective against the goggles of X-ray vision.
Invisible creatures are not necessarily revealed by goggles of
X-ray vision, but you gain a +10 bonus on Spot checks made to
notice or pinpoint the invisible creature while using this device.
Ethereal creatures are simply not revealed by X-ray vision and you
gain no additional ability to detect them.
Expensive Component: These goggles are effective, but wind
down and lose focus quickly. You can correct for this flaw by
adding a tiny sensor that automatically filters out static, both
visual and magical. This improvement costs 1,620 gold pieces and
increases the goggles of X-ray vision’s duration to 24 hours.
HEADBAND OF MENTAL PUISSANCE
Gadget (lesser) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 2 lbs.
This psionically-charged copper headband generates a
constant low buzz of planar static around the user’s head whenever
it is activated, making this one of the few devices that can be
located by a detect magic spell while in use. This static is too weak to
disrupt other devices or spells but it does grant wondrous psychic
powers — at least wondrous from the perspective of a technologist.
At will, as a standard action, you may tap into the energy
generated by an activated headband of mental puissance and generate
a small pulse of psionic force. This pulse deals 1d3 points of force
damage as a ranged touch attack, with a range increment of Close
(25 feet). Alternatively, the force may be used to generate an effect
identical to the mage hand spell, using your activation level as the
spell’s caster level.
Expensive Component: Linking psionically active crystals to the
copper headband allows you to control the energy generated by
a headband of mental puissance with more precision. These crystals
cost 390 gold pieces and allow you to use the spells detect magic,
light, resistance, and virtue at will as a standard action while the
device is activated. These spells use your activation level as their
caster level and are gained in addition to those normally provided
by the headband.
HELM OF COGITATIVE STIMULATION
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round or until discharged
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
The helm of cogitative stimulation is an otherwise perfectly
ordinary article of headgear lined on the inside with copper
wires and a crinkly metallic silver. The device boosts the delicate
electrical balance of the brain in times of high cognitive output,
such as when you are dodging a fireball or wondering where you
left your good polishing rag. When activated, you gain a +1
competence bonus on a single attack roll, saving throw, or skill
check. If you initiate a skill check that takes multiple rounds
while the helm of cogitative stimulation is activated you may apply
this +1 bonus to the entire skill check, even if the helm deactivates
while you are engaged in the skill. You must choose to use the
competence bonus granted by the helm before making the roll to
which it applies.
Expensive Component: A device like this simply calls out for
more copper wires and more crinkly silver metal. These additions,
which cost 390 gold pieces, cause the helm of cogitative stimulation
to provide a +2 competence bonus when used on a singe attack
roll, saving throw, or skill check.
HYPERMETABOLIC TRANSDUCER
Artifact (lesser) [Healing]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A hypermetabolic transducer is a glove surrounded by pleated
wires. When activated it thrums with orange energy, and when
touched to a creature transfers this energy into their system,
kicking their metabolic processes into a controlled overdrive and
instantly healing even the most serious of nonfatal wounds.
The hypermetabolic transducer immediately ends any and all
of the following adverse conditions affecting the target: ability
damage, blinded, dazed, deafened, disease, exhausted, fatigued,
nauseated, poison, sickened, and stunned. It also cures 7 hit
points of damage per activation level, to a maximum of 140
points at 20th level. The transducer does not remove negative
levels, restore permanently drained levels, or restore permanently
drained ability score points.
The transducer’s effects are usually beneficial, but you can
also use it to harm living creatures by causing an uncontrolled
metabolic surge, potentially starving the creature to death in
an instant. When using the transducer in this way, you deal 1d6
points of nonlethal starvation damage to the target creature with
a successful melee touch attack, to a maximum of 20d6 points
of damage. Starvation damage cannot be healed via regeneration
or magical healing until the creature can eat and drink to restore
its health. The creature is also fatigued until it recovers from all
of the nonlethal damage dealt by the hypermetabolic transducer. A
successful Will save halves the damage and negates the fatigue
caused by this use of the transducer. Creatures that never need to
eat or drink are unaffected by this use of the device.
Expensive Component: You can increase your control over a
touched creature’s metabolic processes by channeling positive
energy through a jewel-like gateway matrix as you touch your
80
target. This augmentation increases the hit points restored by the
transducer to 10 per level (to a maximum of 200 points at 20th
level), or increases the damage dealt by 50%. The gateway jewel
costs 2,340 gold pieces.
ICEBOUND BARRICADE
Gadget (standard) [Cold]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Icy strands in a 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration: 30 minutes
Saving Throw: Reflex negates and Fortitude partial; see text
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
An icebound barricade is a white metal ball launched from a
simple pneumatic tube. Upon arriving at its destination the ball
erupts into dozens of surprisingly strong metal tendrils covered
with a sticky substance and ensnares everything in the area of
effect. A nastier surprise lies in wait, though, because the tendrils
also repel caloric, the element of fire, creating a deadly frost-
covered trap.
You aim the weapon, which looks like a simple metal tube
equipped with a large plunger, and determine the range (distance
and height) at which the icebound barricade is to be created. The
canister is catapulted to the area, with the effects outlined
below. You must make a ranged touch attack to hit the area
you designate or to bypass any barriers that would prevent the
icebound barricade from landing where you want it to; this attack
roll is modified by Intelligence instead of Dexterity. If you miss,
roll deviation normally.
The icebound barricade creates a many-layered mass of strong,
sticky strands. These strands trap those caught in them. The
strands are similar to spider webs but far tougher. The mass of
strands must be anchored to two or more solid and diametrically
opposed points or the barricade collapses upon itself and cannot
entrap anyone (although it still deals cold damage in its area of
effect; see below). Creatures caught within the icebound barricade
become entangled among the gluey fibers, but attacking a creature
in a web won’t cause you to become entangled.
Anyone in the effect’s area when the grenade lands must
make a Reflex save. If this save succeeds, the creature is entangled
but not prevented from moving, although moving is more
difficult than normal (see below). If the save fails, the creature is
entangled and can’t move from its space, but can break loose by
spending 1 round and making a DC 15 Strength check or a DC
20 Escape Artist check. Once loose (either by making the initial
Reflex save or the later Strength check or Escape Artist check) a
creature remains entangled but may move through the icebound
barricade very slowly. Each round devoted to moving allows the
creature to make a new Strength check or Escape Artist check and
the creature moves 5 feet for each full 5 points by which the check
result exceeds the check DC.
If you have at least 5 feet of the icebound barricade between
you and an opponent it provides cover. If you have at least 20 feet
of the barricade between you and an opponent it provides total
cover.
In addition to this basic effect, the icebound barricade’s tendrils
drive the warmth from creatures within its area. At the end of
every full round a creature spends within the icebound barricade’s
area of effect that creature must make Fortitude save or take 1d6
points of nonlethal cold damage and 1 point of Strength damage.
A successful saving throw negates both the cold damage and the
Strength damage.
Expensive Components: The metal canisters deployed by the
icebound barricade are worth 1 gold piece each and may only be
used with this device. This component is not optional. You can
also increase the icebound barricade’s area of effect to a 30-foot
radius by incorporating a secondary device to pack the capsules
more tightly. This improvement costs 900 gold pieces.
Example – The Portable Laboratory
The Imperial army service widget is what originally drew
the tinkerers and scavengers who would become my
world’s technologists out of their laboratories. It is quite
useful for the scientist on the go, as it provides a durable
and loyal pack animal for transporting heavy devices and
tools. As a technologist becomes more experienced and
masters a growing list of devices, only the mostly mightily-
thewn researchers are able to carry all of their inventions
at once without being hindered by the weight. This device
provides a way around this problem, and only after the
service widget was rediscovered and became widespread
did the adventuring technologist become a reasonably
common sight.

IMPERIAL ARMY SERVICE WIDGET more sophisticated through the inclusion of meshes of temporary
Gadget (greater) gears. These gears cost 390 gold pieces and increase this device’s
Activation Time: 1 standard action base duration to 2 hours. This is the only way to improve this
Range: 0 device: unlike many technological constructs, the Imperial army
Effect: Small service widget service widget has a relatively fixed and inflexible design; you may
Base Duration: 1 hour (D) not improve its capabilities by adding the effects of masterwork
Saving Throw: None components to its basic statistics.
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 10 lbs.
An imperial army service widget is a multi-purpose clockwork
construct built to aid technologists in their endeavors. The widget
does this by acting as a walking toolbox, providing enough space
for 3 separate masterwork labs or toolkits within the body of the
widget. The construct can also lend its simple-minded aid to a task
you perform, and can use the aid another action in battle and in
conjunction with any technologist class skill that the aid another
action apply to. Most technologists also use their widgets to carry
spare devices and excess gear to avoid weighing themselves down
too much.
The widget is a Small construct with Strength and Dexterity
scores of 10 + activation level, no Constitution or Intelligence
score, and Wisdom and Charisma scores of 1. It has a movement
rate of 30 feet, hardness 10, +4 natural armor, and one slam
attack for a base damage of 1d4 bludgeoning (×2 critical). It has
a number of d10 Hit Dice equal to half your activation level, 10
bonus hit points for its size, and otherwise follows the rules for
constructs. In addition, a simplified backup gear system
allows the widget to operate with an effective activation
level of 0 even without paying the activation cost;
in this case, its HD is reduced to ½ of a d10,
and it cannot use the aid another action.
It can, however, still carry as much gear as
it could while activated and provides you
normal access to any masterwork labs or
kits it is carrying.
Expensive Component: Improving the
Imperial army service widget is a simple An adventuring technologist begins to wish (and not for the first time) that he could give his imperial army service
matter of making its internal workings widget a little bit of Intelligence (Artwork by Marlon de Rivera)

81
IMPERIAL NULL-SPACE CANNON
Artifact (greater) [Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, Sonic, Null-Space] Example – The Ultimate Weapon
Activation Time: 1 full round Only one null-space cannon has ever been created in the
Range: 1000 feet history of the Imperium, and its secrets have long since
Area: Cylinder (80-foot radius, 500 feet high) been lost. When it was last used (in the wars fought to
Duration: Instantaneous; see text unify the Imperium) it proved capable of single-handedly
Saving Throw: See text annihilating opposing forces and strongholds with a single
Activation Cost: 135 points massive blast. If another cannon were ever to be created, every
Weight: 3 lbs. power group aware of its history would both fear and covet
The Imperial null-space cannon is an unbelievably destructive its fantastic destructive capacity. Finding a working model
artifact, an enormous energy beam generator the size of a large of this device would require locating the lost demiplane on
building that remains safely tucked away in its own personal which the null-space cannon is stored along with several of the
demiplane until you call it forth to wreak destruction upon your device’s energy-trapping focusing crystals. The discovery of
enemies. It must be activated for 3 consecutive rounds to have this lost weapon by anyone with the knowledge of how to
its full effect, as it gradually manifests on the Material Plane (or operate it would cause no end of conflict.
on whatever plane you happen to find yourself on) and gathers
energy. The device’s cylindrical area of effect must be placed 500 massive energies of the cannon distort space-time in the
feet off the ground, as that is where the cannon manifests. Once the area of effect and slows (as the spell) everyone in the area (no
null-space cannon has begun to gather energy the process cannot be save). At the end of this round the cannon fires, unleashing
halted by spells and effects that ward against plane shifting, as the energy that it has gathered, stored, and multiplied a
the immense forces being harnessed overpower any such effect. hundredfold. A titanic beam of magenta energy lances
Activating the Imperial null-space cannon has different effects down from overhead and obliterates everything in the area,
based on the number of consecutive rounds you have activated dealing 2d6 points of damage per activation level (maximum
the device, as follows: of 60d6) with a Reflex save for half damage. Normal energy
1st Round: The null-space cannon begins to manifest as a gigantic, resistance does not apply against this effect; instead, any
ominous shadow in the sky approximately 500 feet above the degree of resistance or immunity to an energy type reduces
targeted area. It draws the energy in the area into itself as it
prepares to fire. This bleaches the colors out of the immediate
surroundings and sickens characters in the area; all creatures
must make a Fortitude save or be dazed for one round and
sickened for 1 minute per activation level afterwards. Even
creatures normally immune to sickening by virtue of their
creature type must save, such as undead and constructs — the
weapon draws indiscriminately on the motive energies
of every creature in the area. The cannon also weakens the
structural integrity of any inanimate objects in the area, and
all inanimate objects in the area lose their hardness ratings
for 1 minute as the cannon warps their substance.
2nd Round: The null-space cannon is clearly visible as a monolithic
array of dull metallic machinery and focusing lenses overhead,
and is clearly surging with power. It can be attacked at this
point, though it is treated as incorporeal for determining its
miss chance and what attacks can affect it. The device has an
AC of –3, hardness 20, and 10 hit points per activation level.
The energies being drawn toward the cannon manifest as
glowing streamers of light and the ground shudders and rips
with the force. This cataclysm has the effect of an earthquake
spell as cast by a druid of the technologist’s activation level.
Any creature witnessing this display must also make a Will
save or be shaken for 1 minute per activation level. This is a
mind-affecting effect.
3rd Round: The null-space cannon is fully manifested in this
round and may be attacked normally by anyone not already The imperial null-space cannondoes funny things to reality — not to mention
incapacitated or running for their lives. In this round the people and buildings (Artwork by Nani Nimi Nitesh)

82
 the damage by 5 per energy type the creature is protected look like oddly-shaped versions of common tools that have a
against. Objects take double normal damage, and their mottled surface reflective of the variety of materials that went
hardness does not apply. into their construction.
Expensive Component: Rare focusing crystals costing 5,160 Expensive Component: Adding a special alchemical jelly
gold pieces may be incorporated into the null-space cannon’s stabilizes the tools created by this device, making them permanent
focusing arrays, allowing it to retain and release energy without until destroyed. However, tools created by an instant contrivance still
losing a single iota of power. These crystals invariably shatter break down if they are separated from you for more than 24 hours,
under the strain, but when they are used they increase the DC of making them difficult to resell. This jelly costs 390 gold pieces.
all saving throws against any of the null-space cannon’s effects by 2
and increase the cannon’s damage by 50% at the end of the third INTERPHASIC TERROR
consecutive round of activation. Technology (standard) [Null-Space]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
INSTANT CONTRIVANCE Range: Personal
Gadget (lesser) Target: You
Activation Time: 1 full round Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Range: 0 Activation Cost: 6 points
Effect: One set of masterwork tools Weight: 2 lbs.
Duration: 1 hour An interphasic terror is a (relatively) primitive attempt at
Activation Cost: 5 points mastering null-space technology, through which technologists
Weight: 8 lbs. can create weapons or other powerful and much-too-large devices
An instant contrivance is a nondescript-looking box that and store them in an artificial pocket dimension to call forth
compresses and cooks random junk (primarily stone, earth, and when needed. The problem with an interphasic terror is that its
scrap metal) into usable tools. In fact, with a little adjusting these grip on normal reality is entirely too tenuous for it to actually
tools are perfect for the job at hand and are treated as masterwork, do anything. It can, however, look dangerous by revealing itself as
with any one component chosen by you when you create the tools. a looming shadow of undeterminable potential and with almost
After one hour the tools break down into their constituent parts any kind of appearance. Sometimes that’s enough.
and are rendered useless. When you activate an interphasic terror you bring it close
Tools created with an instant contrivance are distinctive and to normal reality and can cause it to manifest at any time as a
menacing presence, though it
remains intangible and cannot
block line of sight. You can control
how the device appears to tailor it
to the current situation. This ability
grants you a +1 circumstance bonus
to Intimidate checks per activation
level (maximum +20 bonus). In
addition, you can use the shadowy
mass of technology to throw your
opponents off-balance by using the
“demoralize opponent” version of
the Intimidate skill. You may do so
once per round as a swift action.
Expensive Component: An
interphasic terror is usually linked to
its creator, but cross-dimensional
homing beacons allow you to use
the device on another’s behalf.
These beacons cost 750 gold pieces
and change the device’s range
to touch. A Will save (harmless)
negates the conferral of the benefits
to Intimidate checks.
Though it looks menacing, an interphasic terror isn’t always successful at intimidating its target
(Artwork by J. L. Jones)

83
INVIOLATE SHIELD AGAINST MAGIC
Technology (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 10 feet
Area: 10-foot radius emanation, centered on you
Duration: 10 minutes/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
This ability channels antimagic into the space around you
to create a churning field of distortion that suppresses spells
and devices alike. An invisible barrier surrounds you and stays
centered on you, creating an area impervious to most magical
effects (spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities). The
inviolate shield also suppresses spells, magical effects, and magical
items used within, brought into, or cast into the area (they do not
function, but are not dispelled, and their duration continues to
run down). Devices and device effects likewise cease to function
while still expending their durations.
Summoned creatures and incorporeal undead wink out if
they enter an inviolate shield against magic and reappear in the same
spot once the shield is gone. In the case of a summoned creature,
the “winked out” period counts against the duration of the
summoning spell. If you create an inviolate shield against magic in an
area occupied by a summoned creature or incorporeal undead that
has spell resistance, the creature winks out automatically; unlike a
mage, you need not overcome the creature’s resistance to magical
effects with an activation level check. The effects of instantaneous
conjurations are not affected by an antimagic field because the
conjuration itself is no longer in effect, only its result.
Normal items of all kinds can enter the area and the
nonmagical, nondevice components of various items (including
masterwork components) continue to function normally. An
inviolate shield has no effect on golems and other constructs that are
imbued with magic during their creation process and are thereafter
self-supporting (unless they have been summoned, in which case
they are treated like any other summoned creatures). Elementals,
corporeal undead, and outsiders are likewise unaffected unless
summoned, though magical abilities are suppressed normally.
Dispel magic and similar effects are ineffective against the
inviolate shield. Two or more antimagic fields or inviolate shields
sharing any of the same space have no effect on each other — the
maelstrom of magical and antimagical static cannot itself be
jammed. Certain spells, such as wall of force, prismatic sphere, and
prismatic wall, remain unaffected by the inviolate shield against magic.
See their individual descriptions for more details. Artifacts and
deities are unaffected by a mortal technologist’s efforts.
Creatures who do not fit entirely within the area of the inviolate
shield are not completely protected; any part of the creature that
lies outside the shield is unaffected, and magic affects it normally.
Expensive Component: You can increase the inviolate shield against
magic’s range to 30 feet and its area to a 30-foot radius emanation
centered on you with the right expensive components, creating a
formidable barrier against sorcerous effects. The proper reagents
and powders cost a total of 2,610 gold pieces.
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IRON GRUB
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1d6 rounds
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
An iron grub is a clockwork worm full of serrated edges and
burrowing mechanisms. With a successful melee attack you plant
the grub on the target’s skin where it begins to burrow downward,
spiraling into the creature’s flesh and causing great harm. The
construct remains active for 1d6 rounds and deals 1 point of
hit point damage and 1 point of Constitution damage every
round, with no saving throw allowed. The grub may be attacked
during this time — it has hardness 8 and 1 hit point per activation
level. Prematurely destroying it ends the duration. Iron grubs are
ineffective against any creature with damage reduction unless
the grub is of a material that bypasses that damage reduction.
Treat the grub as a light weapon for determining how much such
enhancements cost.
The weight listed is for a single iron grub, and more grubs add
to the total weight.
Expensive Components: An iron grub is unusually inexpensive,
as it is designed to be expendable. Each grub costs 5 gold pieces
and is destroyed after a single use. Alternatively, you can build
an advanced version that has twice the normal number of hit
points and can burrow for twice as long before winding down,
doubling this device’s duration. This advanced iron grub costs 900
gold pieces.
IRON GRUB POD
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1d6 rounds
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
An iron grub pod contains dozens of very small clockwork
worms that burrow into the flesh of the target creature if you
succeed with a melee attack. These worms deal 1d4 points of
Constitution damage every round as they twist and burrow
into the creature’s internal organs. The affected creature makes
a Fortitude save every round of the device’s duration — success
indicates that it does not take Constitution damage for that
round, but it must still save again next round.
Unlike a full-scale iron grub, these constructs are too small,
fast, and numerous to be attacked directly. However, a remove
disease spell or any other similarly powerful healing spell or effect
that is effective against diseases will destroy them instantly (they
receive no saving throw).
 Expensive Components: One use of an iron grub pod requires tiny of earplugs, any character in the burst hears what was spoken into
clockwork grubs costing a total of 15 gold pieces. This is not an the device if they can make the (very easy) Listen check to do so.
optional expensive component. Alternatively, you can use more Expensive Components: The jabberblaster itself is the most
sophisticated grubs, which doubles this device’s duration. These expensive part of this device; replacing or reproducing the
improved grubs cost 900 gold pieces. earplugs requires only 1 gold piece per set of earplugs. In addition,
you can increase the noise produced by the “weapon” by inserting
JABBERBLASTER specially-prepared reverberation chambers into the cone. This
Gadget (standard) [Sonic] increases the jabberblaster’s area of effect to a 10-foot radius per
Activation Time: 1 standard action level spread, centered on you, and costs 900 gold pieces.
Range: 0
Area: 5-foot radius per level spread, centered on you JABBERWOCKY SLAYER
Duration: Instantaneous Artifact (standard)
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial; see text Activation Time: 1 swift action
Activation Cost: 10 points Range: 0 feet
Weight: 5 lbs. Effect: An activated transdimensional blade
The entire point of the jabberblaster is that it is very, very Base Duration: 1 round
loud. It is a large, alchemically-treated crystalline cone; you Saving Throw: None
speak at one end and the sound is magnified a hundred-fold at Activation Cost: 18 points
the other end. Any sound so amplified can be heard with a DC 0 Weight: 4 lbs.
Listen check and all creatures gain a +5 circumstance bonus per The Jabberwocky slayer appears to be a jagged nest of metal
activation level to this check. Additionally, the deafening blast bars bristling with sharp edges. You wield it by sticking your hand
of sound has a tendency to blow out any nearby eardrums. All into the mass — the slayer hovers in place with no visible means
creatures within 5 feet per activation level must make a Fortitude of support and moves when you move your hand. Even when
save. Success indicates that they merely have the amplified sound inactivated it is an exotic light melee weapon that deals 1d8 points
ringing in their ears for a few hours, inflicting a –5 penalty on all of slashing damage (plus Strength) with a 20/×2 critical. The
Listen checks. Failure means that they are permanently deafened weapon has a nonmagical +3 enhancement bonus to attack and
until they receive at least 3 points of magical healing specifically damage rolls at all times and penetrates damage reduction and
directed at restoring their damaged auditory apparatus. Creatures incorporeality as though it were magical. You are automatically
within the area of a silence spell are immune to this effect. proficient in your slayer.
The jabberblaster comes with a pair of earplugs designed to When you activate the
filter out the specific frequency it produces; these earplugs grant Jabberwocky slayer, the strange
a +20 bonus on any saves made against the deleterious effects of weapon becomes much
the technologist’s jabberblaster, but do not interfere with hearing more deadly and reveals its
or protect the wearer from any other loud noises, including other true nature — the visible
jabberblasters. Regardless of the result of the save or the presence portion of the device is
but a tiny fraction of the
Example – Jabberwocky Slayers for the Non- whole, a coiling chain
Technologist of slashing bars forced
Because this device has a powerful effect even when it into nearby realities
is not activated (the weapon’s nonmagical +3 enhancement and strange dimensions
bonus), characters with no levels in technologist can make only discoverable with
use of it in a limited fashion. This seems underpriced at bizarre, non-Euclidean
first glance — a +3 weapon for only 6,000 gold pieces — but mathematics. Creatures
it’s not as bad as it looks. Remember that the 6,000-gold with true seeing and similar
piece price is based on raw materials and that buying a effects can see these blades
Jabberwocky slayer from a skilled technologist should actually extending from the main
cost between 9,000 and 12,000 gold pieces. Remember body of the slayer before
also that the device requires an Exotic Weapon Proficiency fading, seemingly into
(Jabberwocky slayer) to wield without penalty. With these the distance. An activated
factors in mind, the price doesn’t look so bad and you can Jabberwocky slayer can strike
start working on that forbidden monastery full of monk/ anywhere you can see, coiling
technologists who meditate on the nature of space and through unseen space An activated Jabberwocky slayer has been
time in an effort to master this unique weapon. to slice at its target. You described as “full of blades” by one lucky
must make attack rolls survivor (Artwork by Marlon de Rivera)

85
normally as though wielding any other weapon, and an activated
Jabberwocky slayer is effectively a light melee weapon with reach
out to your line of sight.
In addition, the slayer’s transdimensional nature makes it
considerably more deadly than most weapons when activated
as the weapon’s jagged slashing edges compress into impossibly
sharp cutting surfaces. The Jabberwocky slayer is effectively a vorpal
weapon — on a roll of a natural 20, followed by a successful roll to
confirm the critical hit, the Jabberwocky slayer severs the head of
the creatures struck. Some creatures, such as many aberrations
and all oozes, have no heads. Others, such as golems and undead
creatures other than vampires, are not affected by the loss of their
heads. Most other creatures, however, die when their heads are
cut off.
You are the only person who can use your Jabberwocky slayer
in its activated form. All other creatures are limited to the base
statistics and the nonmagical +3 enhancement bonus, even if the
device is currently activated.
Expensive Component: A Jabberwocky slayer is a bizarre weapon,
to be sure, but a weapon nevertheless; you may add masterwork
components suited for weapons to the device at the normal cost.
In addition, you can make the slayer even more deadly by coating
the weapon with temporal quintessence. Temporal quintessence
has no effect on most materials but allows Jabberwocky slayers
to strike from other times as well as other spaces. This effect
increases the device’s critical threat range to 19–20. The slayer’s
chance to sever a creature’s head also doubles. A quantity of
temporal quintessence sufficient to last for one activation costs
2,340 gold pieces.
JONNETYPE SYNAESTHENIC PROJECTOR
Artifact (lesser) [Illusion]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Up to 20 feet/level
Area: Up to a 20-foot radius emanation/level, centered on the
device
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Saving Throw: Will disbelief; see text
Activation Cost: 9 points
Weight: 18 lbs.
The Jonnetype synaesthenic projector looks something like an
orrery, with dozens of the orbs used as recording media in the
Jonnetype synaesthesiagraph orbiting a central structure in a complex
pattern. The synaesthenic projector is more than a simple recording
device and can envelop entire towns in a powerful illusion
complete with sounds, tastes, smells, and touch sensations as well
as vision.
With this device, you can make natural terrain look, sound,
and smell like some other sort of natural terrain. You can also use
the projector to alter the appearance of structures, or add them
where none are present. The synaesthenic projector can’t disguise,
conceal, or add creatures, although creatures within the area
might hide themselves within the illusion just as they can hide
themselves within a real location. The illusion is nearly perfect and
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cannot be disbelieved through simple observation; creatures must
interact with the illusion directly to notice its illusory nature.
Expensive Component: This device produces long-lasting
images, but some users would prefer to create a more permanent
phantasm. Doing so requires additional linked computing
elements capable of creating secondary images to cover distortions
in the primary image that crop up over time. These computers
cost 1,110 gold pieces and change this device’s duration to 24
hours and its activation cost to 45 points.
JONNETYPE SYNAESTHESIAGRAPH
Gadget (greater) [Illusion]
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Area: 20-foot radius emanation
Duration: See text (D)
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with); see text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
The Jonnetype synaesthesiagraph consists of a portable turn-
table and a multi-pronged needle mounted on a swiveling arm.
When you activate this device it records all of the sounds and
visual stimuli within 20 feet. It can record up to a minute’s worth
of information on a single Jonnesphere, a lacquered metal sphere
that weighs 1 pound. The activation cost to record an area for 1
minute is 15 points and the device will record for the full minute
or until stopped or disturbed. If a Jonnesphere is recorded on, any
existing recordings on the sphere are erased.
A Jonnesphere can be replayed by the synaesthesiagraph,
recreating the sounds and images recorded on it. Replaying
the recording of a Jonnetype synaesthesiagraph has an activation
cost of 15 points per Jonnesphere recording. After one minute,
the recording repeats in a cycle until 1 hour has passed (and
the recording has looped 60 times), after which time you must
expend another 15 activation points to continue the replays. At
any time during the synaesthesiagraph’s duration you can swap out
the Jonnesphere it is replaying as a move action.
The image of the synaesthesiagraph playback is hard to
distinguish from the real thing, and a Listen or Spot check (DC
15 + ½ your activation level) is required to gain a Will saving
throw to disbelieve, no matter how carefully a creature observes
the image. Actual objects and sounds inside the 20-foot radius of
the playback are drowned out by the replaying unless a real sound
is very loud or a real object is very large or very bright.
Expensive Component: A Jonnesphere is three inches across,
weighs a pound, and can hold one minute of stereo sound and
three dimensional visuals, perfectly rendered so as to be almost
indistinguishable from the real thing. A Jonnesphere costs 5 gp.
A particular sphere can be erased and written upon anew an
unlimited number of times. This component is not optional.
There is also an optional expensive component in the form of
supplementary recording needles that allow the synaesthesiagraph
to record 5 minutes of light and sound onto a given Jonnesphere
instead of only 1 minute. This expensive component costs 390 gold
pieces. The extended-play Jonnesphere is not itself altered, and any
later recordings on that sphere without the expensive component
erase the old, longer recording and last for only a minute.
KELLERIS’S CHRONEPTIC REPEATER
Artifact (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Ray
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (object)
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
This warped-looking rifle projects a beam of yellow-gold
energy. You must succeed at a ranged touch attack to strike your
target. If you do so, the target creature or object is momentarily
enveloped in a temporal paradox that visits the effects of the last
several seconds upon it again, or negates those effects as though
they never happened. The creature or object does not change
position or orientation, but it immediately suffers the effects
of all damage and healing it received, all spell and device effects,
and special abilities such as poison over again, counting from
the beginning of your last turn to the beginning of your current
one. Alternatively, you can remove all the effects of damage or
healing, spell and device effects, and special abilities and attacks
the creature received in the last round, potentially even raising
someone from the dead if they died very recently.
Kelleris’s chroneptic repeater affects conditions, not actions, and
has no effect on the creatures or objects that originally inflicted
the negated or doubled conditions on the target of this device.
Expensive Component: You can increase the range increment
of the chroneptic repeater to 200 feet by installing a topaz
compensation array in the main reaction chamber. Doing so
costs 1,110 gold pieces.
KELLERIS’S TIME-LOST CRAWLER
Artifact (standard)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Base Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 18 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
Kelleris’s time-lost crawler is a silent beetle-like construct whose
metallic surface gleams with a coruscating blue energy. This
construct travels throughout the time-stream and surreptitiously
finds objects and deposits them where needed so that the creature
touched, in an amazing display of “luck,” can stumble across the
item(s) right when it is most required.
At any time during the device’s duration the creature you
assigned the time-lost crawler to may, as an immediate action,
discover an item or items ready to hand. The crawler feeds off
your knowledge of investigation and resource-gathering, and so
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the maximum value of the item or items discovered depends on
your Search skill — for every rank you have in that skill, the item(s)
discovered may be worth 100 gold pieces. Affected characters could
discover an expensive component for a device, a potion or other
inexpensive magical item, or a pair of dry socks, as desired. The
creature may employ the item immediately. The object or objects
(or their remains) vanish 1 hour after they appear, returning to
the when and where that they came from.
You may have no more than one time-lost crawler active
simultaneously, according to your subjective time-frame. For
some reason, the objects fetched by Kelleris’s time-lost crawler
tend to be somewhat mismatched — a scroll might have several
individuals’ handwriting on it, and a pair of socks will probably
have different designs on them.
When its duration elapses or the creature touched finds the
object left for it, the time-lost crawler appears before you again,
ready to be used once more. If you are currently in a dangerous
situation (such as combat), the crawler will wait to show itself
until you have a moment of peace. Every time you dispatch the
crawler, there is a 1% chance that it finds something that destroys
or disables it while wandering through the time stream. You do
not discover this destruction, if it occurs, until you attempt to
discover an item, fail, and the crawler does not return.
Expensive Component: You can fill a special tank inside the
time-lost crawler’s carapace with temporal quintessence, allowing
it to access more fragments of the time-stream and thereby
search a much larger area. The cost of this expensive component
is variable; it can be as much or as little as you like, because its
effect is to increase the potential value of the retrieved item by the
gold piece value of the temporal quintessence you expend when
activating the time-lost crawler.
KINETIC BARRIER-LAYER
Technology (lesser) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 100 feet
Effect: Wall with an area up to one 10-foot square/level
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
A kinetic barrier-layer projects an arc of red-orange energy that
appears to the untrained eye to be electrical in nature. However,
this energy has no effect on creatures of any kind, and instead
excites the aether in its area of effect, forming an invisible and
impermeable barrier of pure kinetic force. The wall is immobile
and immune to all forms of damage, including spell damage.
Only disintegration spells and effects can damage or destroy the
field of force. Device and spell effects cannot pass through the
kinetic barrier, although teleportation effects bypass it as they
would any other solid object. A kinetic barrier-layer blocks ethereal
and material creatures equally, although ethereal creatures can
simply phase around the obstruction. The only effects that pass
unblocked through the kinetic barrier are gaze attacks.
 You can form the wall into a flat, vertical plane whose area is
up to one 10-foot square per activation level. Kinetic barriers must be
continuous and unbroken when created and simply do not come
into existence if their surface is broken by creatures or objects.
Expensive Component: A kinetic barrier-layer is designed as a
stop-gap measure and battlefield control tool and lasts only a
short time before fading. Intensifying the energy flow, an upgrade
costing 750 gold pieces, increases the barrier’s duration to 1 hour
and buys the harried technologist a bit more time.
KNIFE SPIDER
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Effect: 1 Small animated object; see text
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 2 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A knife spider resembles a razor-edged throwing disc, and
that’s exactly what it functions as most of the time. However, when
activated and thrown as a standard action, the device unfurls on
impact into a very unpleasant spider-shaped clockwork widget that
proceeds to do its best to maul the creature it is now attached to.
The knife spider deals 1d6 points of slashing damage with
a ×2 critical range and has a range increment of 25 feet when it
is used as a thrown weapon. An activated knife spider grants its
wielder a bonus to its attack roll equal to the your Intelligence
bonus and a bonus to damage equal to your activation level. On
impact an activated knife spider attempts to attach to the creature
struck by making a grapple check. Treat the knife spider as a Small
animated object with hardness 10, the multiple legs special
quality, the attach special ability, a racial bonus on grapple checks
equal to your activation level plus your Intelligence modifier, and
temporary hit points equal to your activation level. A knife spider
that hits with its slam attack latches onto the opponent’s body
with its powerful legs and begins to mindlessly chew
away at its target unless it is directed to do
otherwise. An attached knife spider loses
its Dexterity bonus to AC and thus has an
AC of 13. An attached knife spider can be
struck with a weapon or grappled itself;
to remove an attached spider through
grappling, the opponent must achieve
a pin against the creature. An attached
knife spider automatically deals its slam
damage (usually 1d4 points) on every
round that it remains attached.
Fortunately, knife spidersare cheap and easy to replace
Expensive Components: Replacing
a knife spider is inexpensive, as these constructs are meant to be
disposable when they cannot be retrieved. A new knife spider can be
created with only a day’s work at a cost of 5 gp per activation level.
Many technologists also choose to customize their knife spiders by
adding superior equipment or various masterwork components.
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Knife spiders can wear armored barding, although they are not
proficient in it and can use other simple items of gear (such as
alchemist’s fire) when commanded to do so by their controller.
Any masterwork component meant for weapons can be
applied to the construct’s slam attack and any masterwork
component meant for armor may likewise be added, if
appropriate.You may also add the high-quality, dedicated to a
purpose, sacred/profane, or user-friendly (thereby allowing the
construct to use one specific trained-only skill, such as Tumble,
untrained) skill-related components to one of these constructs.
In addition, any of the special abilities listed in the animated
objects entry (blind, constrict, and so forth) may be added in lieu
of a masterwork component, as appropriate. Adding wheels to
increase the construct’s speed also counts as one masterwork
component. You may also increase the hardness of the construct
by 1 as though adding a masterwork component; these increases
stack, to a maximum hardness of 20. In addition, masterwork
components cost only one-third of their usual cost, as they
are easy to add to the device’s modular design. The venomous
masterwork component is a popular upgrade for a knife spider.
KNOT TRAIN
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: Touch
Duration: 5 minutes
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
A knot train resembles a centipede with numerous protruding
wheels and hooks, three inches wide and three feet long. When
activated, the knot train travels in the direction you send it,
skittering along at a base speed of 30 feet and double-moving in
a straight line until it discovers a knot or rope or until it reaches
a barrier. The knot train also has a Climb speed of 10 feet. Thin
steel whiskers along the length of the knot train detect any knots
or ropes in squares the device travels through and
prevent the knot train from falling into pits
deeper than five feet.
If the knot train encounters nothing
after traveling 800 feet or encounters an
impassable barrier it returns to whence it
came, following the path back as best as it
can. Otherwise, the device will attempt to
manipulate knots or ropes it encounters
in one of several preprogrammed ways.
These settings are not mutually exclusive;
the knot train can be set to untie the first
rope it encounters, then tie that onto
the first obstacle it finds, or to ignore the first two obstacles, then
tie the third, and so on.
Ignore: The simplest setting, this causes the knot train to keep
moving past the rope. An odometer on the knot train’s back
marks the distance to the rope.
 Untie: The knot train stops when it enters a square with a knot
and begins to untie all knots in the square, scrambling
along surfaces and using complex motors to manipulate
the rope. It makes a Use Rope checks as a standard action,
with a bonus equal to your activation level +8. If this Use
Rope check fails the knot train tries to cut the rope instead;
the device comes equipped for this purpose with a small
knife that deals 1d3 points of slashing damage per round
to ropes and wire. If the knot train encounters a rope too
long for it to untie, such as a trip-wire that stretches ten
feet to either side, the knot train will either explore the rope
and untie it from the ends, or cut the rope, depending on
its settings.
Tie: When the knot train encounters a rope it picks up the rope
and carries it until it reaches an obstacle or creature, at which
point it attempts to tie the rope to that object or creature.
Usually the knot train only attempts to secure the rope like
a lasso, but it can be set to attempt to bind the creature
or object. If the target is incapacitated this is a simple Use
Rope check with a bonus equal to your activation level +8. If
the creature actively resists being tied up, however, the knot
train makes a grapple check against the creature (its grapple
bonus is your activation level + your Intelligence modifier
– 9). If the device succeeds at its grapple check the creature it
binds is considered entangled. Technologists often give the
knot train a rope when releasing it instead of relying on the
device to pick one up en route.
A knot train is a Tiny animated object except that it cannot attack
and can only follow the commands you gave it when you released
it. It has hardness 8 and gains a racial bonus on grapple checks
equal to your activation level plus your Intelligence modifier. It
also effectively has blindsight in a 5-foot radius, but a knot train
typically responds only to ropes and similar objects.
Expensive Component: An additional strip of cogs and legs
added to the knot train’s central gear column allows it to move
much faster and increases its base land speed to 90 feet and its
double-move to 180 feet. The knot train’s climb speed also increases
to 30 feet. These additional gears cost 390 gold pieces.
LABORATORY OF REAWAKENING
Artifact (standard)
Activation Time: 8 hours
Range: 0
Effect: One clone
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 776 lbs.
A laboratory of reawakening is a tube, large enough to hold a
Large-size creature, filled with a green sludge and hooked up to all
manner of strange machinery. The laboratory allows you to make
an inert duplicate of a creature. If the original individual has been
slain, its soul immediately can immediately enter this clone, thus
creating a nearly identical replacement for the deceased creature,
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provided that the creature’s soul is free and willing to return. The
original physical remains, should they still exist, become inert and
cannot thereafter be restored to life. If the original creature has
reached the end of its natural life span and has died of natural
causes, any cloning attempts fail due to the intercession of deities
interested in maintaining the natural order.
To create the duplicate you must have a piece of flesh (not
hair, nails, scales, or the like) with a volume of at least 1 cubic inch
that was taken from the original creature’s living body. The piece
of flesh need not be fresh, but it must be kept from rotting. Once
this device is activated, the duplicates grows on its own inside the
sludge-filled tube into a complete clone, a process which takes
2d4 months.
When the clone is completed, the original’s soul enters it
immediately if that creature is already dead. The clone is physically
identical and possesses the same personality and memories as
the original. Treat the clone as if it were the original character
raised from the dead, including the loss of one level or 2 points
of Constitution (if the original was a 1st-level character). If the
original creature has lost levels since the flesh sample was taken
and died at a lower level than the clone would otherwise be, the
clone is one level below the level at which the original died.
This device duplicates only the original’s body and mind, not
its equipment. A duplicate can be grown while the original still
lives, or when the original soul is unavailable, but the resulting
body is merely a soulless bit of inert flesh that rots if not preserved.
Leaving the body in its gestation tube prevents it from decaying.
Expensive Component: A slaved computer program
that monitors the clone growth process and assists in soul
reattachment can be created at a cost of 30,000 gold pieces. This
upgrade perfects the cloning process, allowing a cloned creature
to return to life with no loss of levels or Constitution.
LUSTRATIVE ARMOR
Artifact (standard) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 8 hours
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 90 points
This “device” is actually a complex ritual that completely
cleanses the body of the creature touched of magical influences
and grants the creature an intuitive ability to use antimagical
forces. The target character’s skin acquires a subtle grey sheen
that seems to come from just beneath the surface, and he is
granted powerful defenses against harmful magic.
Lustrative armor grants a +5 resistance bonus to all saving
throws versus spells and spell-like abilities and a +3 deflection
bonus to AC against nontechnological constructs, elementals,
outsiders, and the undead. In addition, the protected creature
may touch a single creature or magical effect to target it with
a dispel magic effect and produce an aura of grey light that acts
as a lesser globe of invulnerability, each once per day. Both of these
effects have an effective caster level of 10. However, the creature
also gains a 25% failure chance when casting any kind of magical
spell, manifesting any psionic powers, or activating a magical
spell-trigger item (such as a scroll). This failure chance stacks
with any others the character may have, including arcane spell
failure from wearing armor. Lustrative armor is not magical and
cannot be dispelled, and it is such a fundamental change to the
targeted creature’s being that it carries over even if the creature is
raised from the dead. Only a wish or similarly powerful effect can
negate the armor.
Your lustrative armor may only ever be granted to a single
individual (yourself or another), who is chosen when you master
this device. If you attempt the cleansing ritual on any other being
it automatically fails and provides no benefits.
Expensive Component: You can construct a special ritual
chamber of gleaming metal to provide the protection of lustrative
armor to someone other than the person to whom you originally
attuned the device ability. This chamber costs 65,000 gold pieces,
and only functions once before becoming irretrievably tainted
with magic.
MAGIC SENSITIVITY
Gadget (lesser) [Antimagic, Divination]
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: 30 feet
Target: Circle, centered on you, with a radius of 30 feet
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Technologists with this ability have become sensitive to
magical auras and can immediately detect their presence. You
automatically sense the presence or absence of magical auras within
30 feet, although you can choose to tune out the auras of items
you are carrying along with any other magical auras that remain
within 30 feet of you for more than one full round, if desired.
By concentrating for one round, you can gain more
information. After the first round, you discern the number of
different magical auras within range and the power of the most
potent aura. A second round of uninterrupted concentration
provides the strength and location of each aura (see Table 4-5).
If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of effect
you can make Spellcraft checks to determine the school of magic
involved in each. Make one check per aura; DC 15 + spell level, or
15 + ½ caster level for a nonspell effect. Magical areas, multiple
types of magic, or strong local magical emanations may distort
or conceal weaker auras. This ability can penetrate barriers, but
1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or
3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.
You also after one round of concentration detect the presence
or absence of any lingering auras. These auras linger after their
Table 4-5: Magic Sensitivity Aura Strength
Aura Strength
Spell or Object
Faint Moderate Strong
Functioning Spell (spell level) 3rd or lower 4th–6th 7th–9th
Magic Item (caster level) 5th or lower 6th–11th 12th–20th
90
original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in
the case of a magic item). If you use your magic sensitivity to scan an
area with lingering auras present, the aura strength is dim (even
weaker than a faint aura). How long dim auras linger depends on
their original power, as shown on Table 4-6, below.
Expensive Component: An opaque, watery draught of a
specially-formulated alchemical substance greatly increases the
potency of this ability. The device’s range increases to 60 feet and
the radius of its circular area of effect increases to 60 feet as well.
In addition, you are continuously made aware of the number of
different magical auras in the area and the strength of the most
potent aura as though you had already concentrated for one
round. This potion costs 390 gold pieces.
MAGNETOSONIC WAVEFORM PULSE GENERATOR
Technology (standard) [Divination]
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A magnetosonic waveform pulse generator creates a wave of
invisible, inaudible, and mostly intangible energy that scatters
and rebounds back to you in specific ways upon encountering
an object or creature. You can the data from the waveform pulse
generator to attempt to make sense of the surrounding area. When
you activate this device, you immediately get a sense of the area
around you, up to 1 mile in radius per activation level in relatively
closed terrain (cities, dungeons, underground), or 100 feet per
level outdoors, where the waveform dissipates more quickly.
Make a Search check. For every 10 full points of the check
result (round down), you learn one of the following facts: the
general layout of the terrain; the rough number of corporeal
creatures in the area (to the nearest multiple of 5); the presence
and location of powerful nontechnological constructs, elementals,
outsiders, or undead (which appear as nonreflective blank spots);
the presence and general location of the 5 closest secret doors
(Search DC 20 or less); the presence and general location of the
5 closest nonmagical traps or hazards (Search DC 20 or less); the
general location of the nearest well-hidden secret door (one with
a Search DC of 21 or more); or the general location of the nearest
complex trap or hazard (one with a Search DC of 21 or more). For
example, with a Search check result of 36, you could determine
the general layout of the area, the rough population of the area,
and locate any powerful nontechnological constructs, elementals,
outsiders, or undead in the area. Merely finding traps or secret
doors with this Table 4-6: Magic Sensitvity Aura
device does not Duration
Duration of
Original Strength
Lingering Aura
Faint 1d6 rounds
Overwhelming Moderate 1d6 minutes
10th+ (deity-level) Strong 1d6 × 10 minutes
21st+ (artifact) Overwhelming 1d6 days
necessarily allow you to open, disable, or bypass them, although grips, and determine the range (distance and height) at which the
you do gain a +2 insight bonus to the relevant checks due to your magnificent pitch hurler is to deliver its payload. A smoldering ball
increased awareness of the trap, hazard, or secret door’s location of burning slime is catapulted to the area, with results as outlined
and physical makeup. above. You must make a ranged
Expensive Component: An touch attack to hit the area you
amplifying relay that boosts the designate or to bypass any barriers
device’s signal output can be added that would prevent the pitch hurler
to the magnetosonic waveform pulse from striking properly. If you miss,
generator to increase its effective roll deviations as normal.
range. This increases the radius Expensive Component: Although
of the device’s effect by 50%, to the magnificent pitch hurler can
1.5 miles per activation level in convert practically anything into
enclosed spaces or to 150 feet per a flaming ball of slime — dirt, old
level outdoors. The amplifying array trail rations, and parts of fallen
When activated, the magnetosonic waveform pulse generator provides an
costs 1,620 gold pieces. foes are popular choices — a special
impressive amount of data about the area around it
alchemical syrup added to the mix
MAGNIFICENT PITCH HURLER can be added that increases the damage dealt by 50% (to 1½ times
Gadget (greater) [Fire] the usual damage). This syrup costs 900 gold pieces.
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet) MASTER’S TOOLS
Area: 20-foot radius burst Gadget (standard)
Duration: Instantaneous Activation Time: 1 minute
Saving Throw: Reflex half Range: Personal
Activation Cost: 15 points Target: You
Weight: 4 lbs. Duration: 24 hours (D)
The magnificent pitch hurler is a standard part of any military Activation Cost: 10 points
arsenal that includes technologists. It was created by an Weight: 9 lbs.
enterprising technologist who combined a desire for a portable These high-tech tools are masterworks and grant a +2
siege weapon with a keen awareness of just how many substances circumstance bonus to one Craft subskill. Their actual function
are actually flammable. The result fires a ball of burning glop that and appearance varies wildly, and there are as many versions of
deals 1d6 points of fire damage per activation level (maximum this device as there are Craft subskills. In addition, the master’s
10d6) in a 20-foot radius burst. Unattended objects also take this tools are the perfect tools for creating complex masterwork
damage. In addition, all characters and unattended objects in the components. When you use the master’s tools to Craft masterwork
area of effect must make an additional DC 15 Reflex save or catch components they grant you a +10 competence bonus to your
fire, suffering damage as normal. Craft checks. This bonus is in addition to the circumstance bonus
You aim the cannon, a tube with a large hopper and two hand to all Craft checks.
Expensive Component: The master’s tools are durable and meant
Example – Proliferating Masterwork for frequent use but you can further improve the basic kit with a
Components number of disposable gadgets that augment your crafting abilities
The master’s tools provide you with an excellent to an even greater degree. These expendable gadgets cost 390 gold
opportunity to introduce the new masterwork components pieces and grant you a +20 competence bonus on any one Craft
found in Chapter Two into your campaign setting. check made while the master’s tool are activated.
Because the tools provide such a large, accessible bonus
to craftsmen willing to even briefly study technology, they MENSCHAUSEN DOLLS
make masterwork components much more common in any Gadget (greater)
society whose craftspeople make frequent use of master’s Activation Time: 1 standard action
tools. As you introduce technology into your campaign you Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
can use this device to explain why more and more NPCs Target: Up to 8 creatures or objects in a 5-foot radius
are carrying masterwork items of a wide variety of types. Duration: 1 minute
You might even reduce the price of some or all masterwork Saving Throw: None
components to make them more attractive to players if Activation Cost: 15 points
you want to take your game in a more technology-friendly Weight: 8 lbs.
direction, again using this device as your justification. These tiny spider-like objects are, when completely extended,
nearly invisible to the naked eye. In their inert form they are a tiny

91
ball of metal and wires with an analog motor, about three inches
across. You activate the device and toss the ball as a grenade-like
weapon with a range increment of 25 feet. When the ball lands
it separates into numerous small crawlers that cling to objects
within a 5-foot radius. Each of the eight crawlers has a base speed
of 10 ft. + 10 ft. per 3 activation levels (to a maximum of 40 feet)
and a Strength score of 1 + 3 per 3 activation levels (to a maximum
Strength of 10).
If the ball is tossed and strikes an object of size Fine or
larger, as many crawlers as are needed converge on that object and
attempt to move it. Excess crawlers, or all crawlers if the object is
too heavy for all of them together, move away and attempt to pick
up their own smaller objects.
When a crawler attaches to an object, the device wraps
discreetly around it like an exoskeleton, causing it to seem to
move under its own power. This effectively creates an animated
object (see the MM, pages 13–14). One crawler can animate a Fine
object, two can animate a Diminutive object, four can animate a
Tiny object, and all eight together can animate a Small object. For
every 3 activation levels, increase these sizes by one step, though
the Menschausen dolls cannot animate any object larger than size
Large, regardless of your activation level or the number of dolls
working together.
Menschausen dolls that attempt to move unwilling creatures
instead of objects must succeed at a grapple check. A doll has a –16
penalty to grapple checks due to its size, and this score is further
adjusted for the crawler’s Strength. The devices can work together
using the aid another action to mitigate this disadvantage.
Successful grapple checks have the normal effect, and creatures
pinned the Menschausen dolls are forced by them to move as though the
creature was a normal animated object.
If left to their own devices the crawlers will simply pick up
objects and move around in errant circles, not straying more
than 5 feet from where they picked up an item. The animated
objects continue to wander in aimless circles for the duration of
the effect, attacking other creatures that come within their reach,
unless you direct them with an aetherstatic wand — see below.
If an object animated by the Menschausen dolls is destroyed,
the doll or dolls animating it remain intact and seek to grab
another nearby object and continue their animations. A doll can
only be destroyed by taking a readied action to do so while the
doll attempts to grab onto a new object — the devices each have an
AC of 20 (+8 size, +2 Dex) and 1 hit point per 2 activation levels
(maximum 5 hit points).
Expensive Component: As long as the Menschausen dolls remain
active, you can direct the motion of dolls within 150 feet as a move
action by means of an aetherstatic wand. Aetherstatic wands
selectively disrupt the gears of the crawlers by releasing faint
amounts of magical energy that force the crawlers to move in the
chosen direction. The crawlers can be directed to work separately
or together and can follow commands as well as any other
animated objects. An aetherstatic wand costs 390 gold pieces and
is expended once used.
92
MERCURIC BLADE
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: 0 feet
Effect: One liquid metal blade
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A mercuric blade is a weapon made entirely of a mentally
reactive silvery metal. Its neutral state is a bracelet on your primary
hand, but if you have at least 5 ranks in the Concentration skill,
you can cause it to form a sword-like blade. This blade is an exotic
light melee weapon that deals 1d8 points of slashing damage with
a 19–20/×2 critical. The blade works in this way even if you have not
activated it and even if you lack the activation points to do so.
When you activate the weapon, however, the blade reads your
mental commands and reacts to take the form most suited to the
occasion. The basic activated form is a light melee weapon that
deals 1d12 points of bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage
with a 19–20/×2 critical range. Activated mercuric blades also grant
a nonmagical +3 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage
rolls. You may also grant a special ability to the weapon. Doing
so is a free action, but the mercuric blade can only have one special
ability at a time. Choose from the following:
• The mercuric blade’s critical threat range increases to 18–20.
• The mercuric blade’s critical multiplier increases to ×3.
• The mercuric blade elongates into a whip-like form, becoming a
reach weapon. Unlike most reach weapons, you still threaten
adjacent squares normally and can attack into them without
penalty.
• You can use the mercuric blade to trip foes without provoking
an attack of opportunity. They cannot react to trip you if
your attempt fails, as the blade simply flows away from them
and reforms.
• The mercuric blade can disarm opponents without provoking
an attack of opportunity and you gain a +2 bonus to the
opposed roll required.
• The mercuric blade penetrates damage reduction as though
it were adamantine, cold iron, or alchemical silver. No other
effects of these special materials apply (such as adamantine’s
ability to ignore hardness or silver’s damage penalty).
All of these abilities are changes in the basic nature of the
weapon and are not standard bonuses of any type. Thus, they are
treated as the base to which bonuses are added. For example, a
mercuric blade wielded by someone with the appropriate Improved
Critical feat would have a critical threat range of 17–20 or 15–20
depending on whether or not you had chosen the improved threat
range ability that round.
Expensive Component: You can increase the nonmagical
enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls granted by an
activated mercuric blade to +5 by implanting tiny control rods into
the weapon’s liquid-metal surface. These control rods cost 2,610
gold pieces.
METABOLIC INTERDICTION FIELD
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Field spreads in a 20-foot radius, 20 feet high
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial; see text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A metabolic interdiction field is produced by an angular-looking
orb easily held in one hand. The device creates an energy field
that causes the life processes of living creatures to grind to a slow
and painful halt. This energy field is invisible, and is stationary
once created. Living creatures in the area of effect find that
their muscles refuse to work and that their breathing becomes
labored. These creatures are reduced to a movement rate of 5
regardless of their normal speed and suffer a –2 penalty on all
attack and damage rolls for as long as they remain within the
metabolic interdiction field. In addition, living creatures must make
a Fortitude save each round that they remain in the field or they
take 1d4 points of Constitution damage.
Creatures immune to poison are immune to this device’s
effects and creatures that have saving throw bonuses against
poison receive those bonuses on their saving throws against this
device.
Expensive Component: Adding various sickening nerve
compounds to the reaction chamber of a metabolic interdiction field
increases the radius and height of the effect to 30 feet each. These
components cost 1,620 gold pieces.
MIMETIC KEY, CHRONULL
Artifact (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then 1 hour/level; see text
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 1 lb.
As mimetic key, sunflare, except as noted below.
When a chronull mimetic key is inserted into a piece of mimetite
the stone begins to vibrate rapidly, emitting a hum inaudible to
humans. Any creature carrying the charged mimetite is propelled
into a slightly faster time-stream and is considered hasted, as the
spell, for as long as the creature continues to carry the chronull
stone.
If the stone is discharged, all creatures and objects within 10
feet are shifted into the near future in a blur of motion. Subjects
are hopped forward in time 1 hour for every activation level you
have and seem to disappear and then reappear when this duration
expires in exactly the same orientation and condition as before.
From the subject’s point of view no time has passed at all. The
creature may also make a DC 20 Wisdom check every minute
to return to the normal time frame, acting normally on its next
93
turn if it does so. If the space from which the subject departed
is occupied upon his return to the time stream, he appears in
the closest unoccupied space, still in his original orientation.
Determine the closest space randomly if necessary.
The charged chronull stone returns to its inert original form
one hour after being activated or once it has been discharged.
Expensive Component: One piece of mimetite, costing 50 gold
pieces. This stone can be reused.
MIMETIC KEY, FIREBURST
Gadget (greater) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then instantaneous
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 1 lb.
As mimetic key, sunflare, except as noted below.
When a piece of mimetite is inserted into a fireburst mimetic
key the stone begins to radiate warmth, granting the creature
carrying it cold resistance 5.
If the stone strikes a surface with any degree of violent force
(such as being thrown, dropped, struck, or simply squeezed
tightly) it discharges and the stone explodes into a gout of flame
that deals 2d6 points of damage + 1d6 points per two activation
levels (maximum 10d6) to everything within 10 feet. Creatures in
the area are allowed a Reflex save for half damage. The rock can
be thrown as a grenade-like weapon and has a range increment
of 10 feet.
After one hour, or once it explodes, the stone returns to its
inert, original form.
Expensive Component: One piece of mimetite, costing 50 gold
pieces. This stone can be reused.
MIMETIC KEY, FUDOICITE
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 1 lb.
As mimetic key, sunflare, except as noted below.
When a fudoicite mimetic key is inserted into a piece of mimetite
the stone darkens and imparts solidity to the objects it touches.
Creatures carrying a fudoicite stone are more stable than normal
and gain a +4 bonus on all ability checks made to resist being bull
rushed or tripped.
When triggered by impact the stone expands into a 1-foot-
long bar and becomes immobile, like an immovable rod. The rod
hangs in midair and can support up to 8,000 pounds without
budging. Moving a discharged piece of fudoicite requires a DC 30
Strength check to push it 10 feet in a single round. The bar even itself entirely. If the stone is not discharged, it returns to its inert,
defies gravity and is immune to all damaging effects except those original form after one hour.
that can disintegrate targets directly. Objects forced into the Expensive Component: One piece of mimetite, costing 50
fudoicite bar are stopped as if they had struck a wall and might gold pieces. The stone can only be reused if the netherstone is not
even buckle around it if sufficient force is applied. discharged.
One minute per activation level after it is discharged, or one
hour after first being charged, the mimetic stone returns to its MIMETIC KEY, SAVANIX
original inert form. Typically this key is used to bar doors and Artifact (lesser) [Mind-Affecting]
assist climbing, though countless other applications are possible. Activation Time: 1 standard action
Expensive Component: One piece of mimetite, costing 50 gold Range: Touch
pieces. The stone can be reused. Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then 1 round/level
MIMETIC KEY, NETHERSTONE Saving Throw: None; see text
Technology (greater) Activation Cost: 45 points
Activation Time: 1 standard action Weight: 1 lb.
Range: Touch As mimetic key, sunflare, except as noted below.
Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite When this mimetic key is inserted into a piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then instantaneous the mimetite is charged with your mental energy. The stone
Saving Throw: None; see text begins to emit a gentle pearly-white light (providing shadowy
Activation Cost: 45 points illumination in a 5-foot radius) and hovers around the head of
Weight: 1 lb. anyone carrying it in the same manner as an ioun stone. While
As mimetic key, sunflare, except as noted below. orbiting a creature’s head in this fashion, the savanix stone fills
When a netherstone mimetic key is inserted into a piece of the creature’s mind with energy and fresh thoughts, granting
mimetite the stone begins to hiss softly, like sand through an the creature a +3 competence bonus on all Intelligence checks
hourglass. Any creature or and Intelligence-based skill
object holding the stone checks.
takes 1d6 point of damage If the stone is discharged
for every full minute of by striking a surface with
continuous contact. This any degree of violent force
damage ignores damage it triggers and all creatures
reduction and the hardness and objects within 10
of objects and cannot be feet are bombarded with
detected from a damaged fragmentary thoughts and
object’s outward appearance. emotions, rendering them
Objects that have taken confused for 1 round per
damage from a netherstone activation level. This effect
are outwardly unchanged is difficult to ward off, and
but crumble into powder the Will save DC to negate
if touched, to the extent the confusion is equal to the
indicated by the damage the result of a Knowledge check
object has taken. Creatures (of any kind) made when you
that take damage from Prentice Cogitens unlocks the strange potential energies of mimetite using one of many activate the savanix mimetic
mimetic keys (Artwork by Susan Knowles)
carrying the netherstone key.
must make a DC 15 Wisdom check to notice that they have been A confused creature’s actions are determined by rolling a
injured. These properties make the netherstone mimetic key ideal for d100 at the beginning of the turn. A 01–10 causes the creature
sabotage. to attack you with melee or ranged weapons (or close with you
When discharged by impact the stone vanishes completely, if attacking is not possible); an 11–20 allows it to act normally; a
taking with it random bits of nearby matter. All creatures and result of 21–50 means that the creature does nothing but babble
objects in the 5-foot square struck by the netherstone take 5d6 incoherently; 51–70 means that it flees away from you at top
points of damage + 1d6 additional points per activation level possible speed; and a roll of 71–100 means that it attacks the
(maximum of 20d6). A successful Fortitude save negates this nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of
damage. Objects in the area must also save and take full damage the subject’s self ). A confused creature who can’t carry out the
(ignoring hardness) if they fail. indicated action does nothing but babble incoherently. Attackers
After it vanishes, the stone is gone forever, having negated are not at any special advantage when attacking a confused

94
creature, and any confused creature who is attacked automatically
attacks its attackers on its next turn, as long as it is still confused
when its turn comes. A confused creature does not make attacks
of opportunity against any creature that it is not already devoted
to attacking (either because of its most recent action or because it
has just been attacked).
The charged savanix stone returns to its inert original form
one hour after being activated or once it has been discharged.
Expensive Component: One piece of mimetite, costing 50 gold
pieces. This stone can be reused.
MIMETIC KEY, SMOKEBOMB
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then 5 rounds/level
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 1 lb.
As mimetic key, sunflare, except as noted below.
When a smokebomb mimetic key is inserted into a piece of
mimetite the stone begins to extrude a thin, dark vapor, providing
concealment (and thus a 20% miss chance) to creatures attacked
through the same square as the stone (including attacks directed
at the creature holding the stone, if any).
When triggered, the mimetite explodes into a 20-foot
radius cloud of black smoke. This fog obscures all sight,
including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. Creatures within 5 feet have
concealment, and those farther away have total concealment. A
moderate wind (11+ mph) disperses the smokescreen in 4 rounds;
a strong wind disperses the fog in 1 round. The smokebomb stone
cannot be triggered underwater.
The charged smokebomb stone returns to its inert
original form one hour after being activated or once it has been
discharged.
Expensive Component: One piece of mimetite, costing 50 gold
pieces. This stone can be reused.
MIMETIC KEY, SUNFLARE
Gadget (lesser) [Light]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Uncharged piece of mimetite
Duration: 1 hour or until discharged, then 1 round/3 levels
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 1 lb.
Mimetite is a rare type of stone that has been destabilized
by exposure to uncontrolled magic and then purified. The stone
is an alchemical blank slate, completely inert and possessing the
consistency of thick, wet clay. When you press a piece of mimetite
into a mimetic key and activate it, the key encodes the stone with
95
a certain quality. With the appropriate keys mimetite can possess
any number of different qualities, although the more complex
the desired quality the more advanced the technology that is
required to create the necessary mimetic key. Once the mimetite
is transmuted, it retains its new form for one hour, or until used,
after which it typically reverts to being plain mimetite.
A single activation of a mimetic key can only transform one
piece of mimetite, which weighs about 1 pound. Mimetic keys are
created from numerous strips of electro-reactive metal sheets
attached to a glass-encased gold handle. The glass insulates the
sheets that form the “teeth” of the key.
When a sunflare mimetic key is inserted into a piece of mimetite
the stone begins to glow as bright as a torch, shedding bright light
in a 20-foot radius and shadowy light 20 feet further.
If the stone strikes a surface with any degree of violent force
(such as being thrown, dropped, struck, or simply squeezed
tightly) it triggers the stone flashes with intense light. Any creature
within 20 feet is blinded for one round per three activation levels
unless it succeeds at a Reflex save.
Charged mimetite can be thrown as a grenade-like weapon
and has a range increment of 10 feet. If you miss, roll scatter
normally. After one hour, or once it is triggered, the stone returns
to its inert original form.
Expensive Component: One four-ounce piece of mimetite
costs 50 gold pieces. Only characters with the ability to use Craft
(alchemy) without being able to cast spells can create mimetite.
After a mimetite stone is used it can be reused as long as it is
recovered, unless otherwise noted. The mimetite required for any
mimetic key is not an optional expensive component.
MINDFIRE POISON INJECTOR
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
This roughly spherical device fits over your hand and
contains an apparatus designed to quickly formulate a potent
poison designed to destroy the target’s nervous system and then
to inject this poison by firing a small needle at the target. Striking
the target creature requires a ranged attack roll and deals 1 point
of piercing damage as well as exposing the target to the mindfire
poison. If the creature makes a successful Fortitude save, the
mindfire poison injector merely inflicts a –2 penalty on attack rolls
and skill checks for 1 minute.
If the save is failed, the creature suffers a semi-random effect
based on an activation level check you make as you activate the
device. You may select any effect from the table below as long as
your activation level check equals or exceeds the listed DC (see
Table 4-7, below).
 Table 4-7: Mindfire Poison Injector Activation Level Check
DC Result
Victim takes 1d4 points of nonlethal damage per activation
5
level (maximum of 15d4 points of damage).
Victim takes 1d4 points of lethal damage per activation level
10
(maximum of 15d4 points of damage).
Victim is shaken for 1d4 rounds, deafened for 1d4 rounds
15 or immediately falls prone and cannot stand for 1d4
rounds.
Victim is nauseated for 1d4 rounds, blinded for 1d4 rounds,
20
frightened for 1d4 rounds, or stunned for 1d4 rounds.
Victim takes 1 point of ability damage to one ability score
25 (selected by you) per 2 activation levels (maximum 10
points).
30 Victim gains 1d4 negative levels.
35 Victim is affected as though by a feeblemind spell.
40 Victim is slain.
Expensive Components: You may load a needle that has been
poisoned using a conventional poison into the injector; this exposes
the creature to the effects of both toxins. In addition, refined
toxins may be used with the mindfire poison injector to increase the
device’s saving throw DC by 2. These toxins are expended when
the device is used and cost 900 gold pieces.
MONROE’S PROACTIVE WEATHERVANE
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 10 minutes; see text
Range: Two miles
Area: 2-mile-radius circle, centered on you; see text
Duration: 4d12 hours; see text
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 17 lbs.
Monroe’s proactive weathervane looks like a complicated
orrery representing the movement of various meteorological
forces, along with an attached control pad and a long antenna
that reaches up toward the sky. With it, you can dictate general
weather patterns over the next day or so. It takes 10 minutes to
activate the device and an additional 10 minutes for its effects to
manifest. You can call forth weather appropriate to the climate
and season of the area you are in (see Table 4-8, below).
Table 4-8: Monroe’s Proactive Weathervane
Season Possible Weather
Spring Tornado, thunderstorm, sleet storm, or hot weather
Summer Torrential rain, heat wave, or hailstorm
Autumn Hot or cold weather, fog, or sleet
Winter Frigid cold, blizzard, or thaw
Late winter Hurricane-force winds or early spring (coastal area)
You control the general tendencies of the weather, such
as the direction and intensity of the wind. You cannot control
specific applications of the weather — where lightning strikes, for
example, or the exact path of a tornado. When you select a certain
weather condition to occur, the weather assumes that condition
10 minutes later (changing gradually, not abruptly), and continues
as you left it for the duration or until you use a standard action to
manipulate the weathervane and designate a new kind of weather
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(which fully manifests itself 10 minutes later). Contradictory
conditions are not possible simultaneously. Monroe’s proactive
weathervane can do away with atmospheric phenomena (naturally
occurring or otherwise) as well as create them.
Expensive Component: By adding an adaptive sensor array
to the proactive weathervane you can increase its ability to use
naturally-occurring forces to manifest the weather conditions
you desire. This doubles the device’s duration and increases its
range, and the radius of its area of effect, to 3 miles. This expensive
component costs 1,620 gold pieces.
NANITIC RECONFIGURATION ENTITY
Artifact (greater)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: 60 feet
Area: 60-foot radius emanation, centered on you
Base Duration: 10 minutes
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 27 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
This matte-black cube continually produces a swarm of
microscopic machines that obey your mental command when
activated. This swarm of machines is normally invisible, but can
have dramatic effects on your surroundings. While the nanitic
reconfiguration entity exists, you can use it to produce one of a
variety of effects, as described below. Each of these effects requires
you to take a standard action to direct the tiny machines, and
none allow a saving throw for the affected target or targets. The
propagation range of the entity is limited, restricting all of these
effects to a 60-foot radius circle around you.
Reconfigure: This is the basic function of the nanitic reconfiguration
entity, allowing you to convert materials in the area into a
finished product made of the same substance. The machines
convert material or materials of one sort into a product made
from the same material or materials, although they cannot
affect magical items or substances. The entity is also restricted
to existing material within range and may not create anything
that is not already present. The quality of items produced is
generally commensurate with the quality of materials used,
but you must make a Craft check to fabricate items that
require a Craft DC of 15 or higher to produce through normal
means. The reconfiguration process takes only a single round
and affects up to 5 cubic feet of material per activation level.
This device cannot be used to add to your current pool of
craft points as a normal use of the Craft skill can.
Disassemble: A single creature or object within 60 feet takes
1d6 points of damage per two activation levels you have
(maximum of 15d6), ignoring the hardness of objects and
the damage reduction of creatures. Creatures and objects
destroyed by this ability are effectively disintegrated, leaving
nothing but a small pile of dust behind.
Defend: You can order the nanitic reconfiguration entity to protect
you. It does so by forming a visible grey cloud in a 60-foot
radius around you that blocks movement within the area.
 The entity obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond
5 feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have
a 20% miss chance), and creatures farther away have total
concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can’t use
sight to locate the target). Any creature within the nanitic
entity takes a –2 penalty on all melee attack and melee
damage rolls and moves at a speed of 5 feet regardless of
its normal speed. This defensive barrier prevents effective
ranged weapon attacks, except for magic rays and the like.
A creature or object that falls into the entity is slowed, so
that each 10 feet of the affected area that it passes through
reduces falling damage by 1d6 points. You are immune
to falling damage while the entity surrounds you with its
defensive cloud. A creature can’t take a 5-foot step while the
nanitic entity hinders its movements. You and any creature
you touch while giving this command are spared these effects
and can see normally within the barrier. The defensive cloud
lasts for 1 minute, and you can give the nanitic reconfiguration
entity other commands while it lasts.
This device only has one weakness: the reconfiguration entity cannot
function in an area of severe wind (31 mph or more) and you
cannot give it any commands that are to take effect in an area
subject to such winds.
Expensive Component: You can use a gateway gem attuned
to a strongly law-aligned plane when activating the nanitic
reconfiguration entity and thereby bolster the entity’s ability to
structure its millions of individual construct components. This
expensive component costs 2,340 gold pieces and increases the
device’s range to 90 feet and its area to a 90-foot radius emanation,
centered on you.
NEURAL LANCET
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One living creature
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
With a snap of your wrist and a successful ranged attack roll
you send a fine needle into the flesh of a living creature within
range. This needle deals only 1 damage but a dynamo attached
to the lancet discharges an electric charge into the target, dazing
it unless it succeeds at a Fortitude save. Creatures immune or
resistant to electricity are immune to the effects of a neural lancet,
as are creatures with any kind of damage reduction.
Expensive Component: An alchemical capacitor costing 390
gold pieces, may be added to the neural lancet. Expending this
capacitor increases this device’s duration to 3 rounds.
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NOCTURNAL GOGGLES
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range Increment: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 1 lb.
Nocturnal goggles are normal goggles fitted with an almost-
solid dark green jelly instead of the usual glass lenses. Finely-
ground gears can adjust the density of this film over the wearer’s
eyes, adjusting the substance’s effect as needed. The jelly greatly
enhances the light that reaches it and converts other radiation
into something resembling light, granting darkvision with a range
of 60 feet. Darkvision is, in this case, only in shades of green, but
is otherwise like normal sight. Nocturnal goggles do not grant the
user the ability to see in magical darkness.
Expensive Component: Alchemically intensifying the jelly that
forms the lenses of the nocturnal goggles increases the range of
darkvision granted by the device to 120 feet. This treatment costs
900 gold pieces.
OBLITERATE ABNORMALITY
Technology (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 100 feet
Area: 100-foot line
Duration: Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Activation Cost: 45 points
The black blast of energy generated by this ability pulses with
grey light. When obliterate abnormality strikes a nontechnological
construct, elemental, outsider, or undead creature, that creature
must make a Fortitude save or take 2d6 points of damage per
activation level (maximum of 40d6). Creatures reduced to 0 or
fewer hit points by this effect are completely disintegrated and
leave behind nothing but a small pile of ash. Their equipment
is unaffected. Creatures that make their Fortitude saves are still
partially affected, and are slowed as per the spell for 1d4 rounds
as obliterate abnormality disrupts their ability to control their own
bodies.
Creatures that are not of the nontechnological construct,
elemental, outsider, or undead types are unaffected by obliterate
abnormality.
Expensive Component: A bright-red alchemical stone with
a lusterless center, typically worn set into a ring, allows you to
control the energy unleashed by obliterate abnormality from afar.
At any point along the 100-foot line of the ability’s effect you
may cause the bolt of energy to burst and force creatures of the
appropriate types in a 20-foot radius burst to make Fortitude
saves, as above. This ends the line of effect and causes the
alchemical stone to crumble to ash. This expensive component
costs 1,620 gold pieces.
OCCLUDE ABNORMALITY
Technology (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: One construct, elemental, outsider, or undead
Duration: Permanent (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 15 points
With a touch you partially sever a nontechnological
construct, elemental, outsider, or undead creature’s connection
to the magical or planar energies that give it life. This disruption
has one of the following effects:
One of the creature’s ability scores is reduced to 1, or it
suffers a –6 penalty on two ability scores, to a minimum of 1.
The creature suffers a –8 penalty on attack rolls, saving
throws, ability checks, and skill checks.
Each turn, the creature has only a 25% chance to act normally
every round, and otherwise will take no action.
Occlude abnormality cannot be dispelled, but it is similar
enough to a magical curse that it can be removed with a break
enchantment, limited wish, remove curse, or wish spell as long as the
caster of the spell has a higher caster level than your activation
level. Otherwise, the removal spell does not work.
Expensive Component: A thin alchemical syrup that you ingest
empowers this ability and increases occlude abnormality’s Will saving
throw DC by 2. This expensive component costs 1,620 gold pieces.
OFFENSIVE KINETIC SHIELD
Technology (lesser) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
An offensive kinetic shield produces a wavering field of red-
orange energy that produces random discharges of kinetic energy
that twist and tear at anyone who strikes you in melee. The energy
generated by a kinetic shield continuously sheds light equal to that
of a candle (a 5-foot radius of shadowy illumination).
Any creature striking you with its body or a handheld
weapon deals normal damage, but at the same time the attacker
takes 1d6 points of force damage +1 point per activation level
(maximum +15 points of damage). Creatures wielding weapons
with exceptional reach, such as a longspear, are not subject to this
damage when they attack you.
In addition, you are protected from force attacks, as the shield
dissipates the attack’s energy. You take only half damage from
force attacks. If such an attack allows a save for half damage, you
take no damage on a successful save.
Expensive Component: Improved temporary circuitry increases
the offensive kinetic shield’s power output and increases the
retributive damage it deals by 50%. These additional circuits cost
1,620 gold pieces.
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ORGAVULSION CRYSTAL
Artifact (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: Ray; see text
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None, possibly Fortitude partial; see text
Activation Cost: 18 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
An orgavulsion crystal is a jagged piece of translucent black
crystal containing barely-visible bone-white machinery. When
you activate the orgavulsion crystal, it produces a visible streak of
roiling black energy with a pearly white central core. You must
make a ranged touch attack to strike with this “ray” (actually a
conduit of negative energy that draws off the target’s orgonic
energy). If you succeed, a living creature that you strike with the
ray suffers 1d4 negative levels.
If the subject has at least as many negative levels as HD, it
dies. Each negative level gives a creature a –1 penalty on attack
rolls, saving throws, skill checks, ability checks, and effective level
for determining the power, duration, DC, and other details of
spells or special abilities. Additionally, a spellcaster loses one spell
or spell slot from his or her highest available level. All negative
levels stack. Assuming the subject survives, it regains lost levels
after a number of hours equal to your activation level (maximum
25 hours). Usually, negative levels have a chance of permanently
draining the victim’s experience, but the negative levels from
an orgavulsion crystal only represent temporary orgonic energy
depletion and not true damage to the creature’s soul. Because
undead do not have any orgonic energy to drain, the orgavulsion
crystal has no effect on them.
If you wish, you can fire another ray on the next round, taking
a standard action to do so and inflicting another 1d4 negative
levels if you are successful. Each time you strike with the crystal’s
ray (including the original activation), the device flashes with
negative energy and generates a dark, wavering aura that obscures
your hands. The number of levels you inflict with the orgavulsion
crystal are added to a growing pool of energy that remains for as
long as the device remains activated. At any time after the first
round, you may choose to release this energy in a maelstrom of
corrupted orgonic energy that disrupts the life force of all living
creatures in the area. Doing so requires a standard action, and the
exact area of effect and damage dealt are dependent on how many
inflicted negative levels you expend to power the effect (see Table
4-9, below). In each case, a successful Fortitude saving throw
halves the damage dealt and negates the negative levels inflicted.
Negative levels caused by this secondary effect last as long as
those inflicted by the orgavulsion crystal’s primary function, and
do not threaten level drain.
As soon as the orgavulsion crystal deactivates (you stop paying
its activation cost), all of its stored energy levels immediately
dissipate harmlessly, and the device can no longer be used to
create a blast of negative energy.
 Table 4-9: Orgavulsion Crystal
Energy
Effect (20 dice maximum damage) Expended
Living creatures in a 5-foot radius spread take 1d4
2 levels
damage/level and 1d4 negative levels
Living creatures in a 10-foot radius spread take 1d6
5 levels
damage/level and 1d4 negative levels
Living creatures in a 20-foot radius spread take 1d6
8 levels
damage/level and 1d6 negative levels
Living creatures in a 30-foot radius spread take 1d8
damage/level and 1d6 negative levels
11 levels
+1d8 damage and +1 negative level for each energy
level over 12 expended (maximum 30d8 damage and 12+ levels
1d8+10 negative levels)
Expensive Component: Fuelling the absorption reaction of the
orgavulsion crystal with a gateway gem attuned to the Negative
Energy Plane invites a sinister pall of negative energy to descend
over the area and makes it easier to drain the life-force of creatures
you target with the crystal. Using this expensive component causes
the crystal to generate a field in a 500-foot radius emanation
around you that forces all creatures not in physical contact with
the orgavulsion crystal to make a Fortitude save or be sickened for
as long as they remain in the area and for 1 minute thereafter.
Sickened creatures take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, weapon
damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks as
they find their life-force drawn into the orgavulsion crystal in tiny
sparks of mingled black and white energy. Unintelligent plants
and other living things in the area of effect also produce these
glimmers of corrupted orgonic energy. These sparks of energy
add 2 levels to the orgavulsion crystal’s energy pool every round,
regardless of what actions you take or if you produce a ray to
inflict more negative levels. The gateway gem required to produce
this effect costs 2,340 gold pieces.
ORGONIC FIELD PERTURBATION INDUCER
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours, or until discharged
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless); see text
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
An orgonic field perturbation inducer looks like a cloudy crystal
holding obscurely-seen machinery. When used on a living
creature the device causes their orgonic field (a component of
their life-force) to blister and form fragile pockets of life energy.
This change is invisible to normal sight, though it is visible to
creatures who can detect the subject’s aura (such as with the aura
sight psionic power). These pockets remain until triggered, or until
they work themselves out (which takes 24 hours).
The orgonic field perturbation triggers when the target creature
takes hit point damage. Damage releases the trapped bubbles
of orgonic energy in the creature’s aura, forming milky white
swirls of power on the creature’s skin. This energy can be used
in one of two effects as long as it is expended within one minute
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after the orgonic field perturbation is triggered by hit point damage
(otherwise, the unleashed energy dissipates harmlessly). The
creature can choose to reabsorb the trapped energy as a swift
action, in which case it heals 1d6 hit points per two Hit Dice it
possesses (maximum 12d6 healing). It can also choose to lash out
with its pent-up life-force, which also requires a swift action, and
produce a milky-white ray that deals 1d6 points of damage per
two Hit Dice of the releasing creature (maximum 12d6), with no
save allowed. The creature must succeed at a ranged touch attack
to deal this damage. If the orgonic energy is directed against an
undead creature, that creature instead takes 1d6 points of damage
per Hit Die the creature releasing the orgonic energy possesses
(maximum 25d6).
Expensive Component: Adding additional orgonic flow
control elements costing 1,620 gold pieces allows more careful
manipulation of the orgonic field and increases the ultimate
effect (either healing or damage) by 50%.
ORGONIC SIPHON
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One living creature
Duration: Instantaneous/1 hour; see text
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
This device looks like a flat black disk nestled inside a pearly-
white shell. When you activate it you snap the inner disk out on
a long, glowing filament and strike a single creature within range
by making a ranged touch attack. When the black disk strikes the
target creature, it draws off orgonic energy, the only component
of a creature’s life-force that technology can easily affect, before
returning to its housing. An orgonic siphon deals 1d6 points of
damage per two activation levels (maximum 10d6), and heals you
by the same amount, up to your full normal hit points. Any hit
points in excess of your normal maximum are gained as temporary
hit points instead, which fade after one hour. However, you can’t
be healed by more than the creature’s current hit points +10,
which is enough to totally drain its orgonic energy and slay it.
Expensive Component: An orgonic siphon is not totally efficient,
but can be made so with a number of minor improvements
costing a total of 1,620 gold pieces. These improvements increase
the damage dealt, and the hit points granted, by 50%.
ORNITHOPTER
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0 feet
Effect: One heavy-duty glider
Base Duration: 1 hour
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 6 points
Weight: 20 lbs.
 An ornithopter appears to be a simple clockwork flying
machine, but it is actually a sophisticated technology designed to
work efficiently with minimal attention. The result is a portable
flier that can soar for hours with only the barest of attention from
the technologist. To activate it, you pull it open from its boxy
storage configuration, revealing a Huge-sized winged contraption
that can comfortably seat up to 4 Medium-size people or up to 8
Small-size ones.
An ornithopter has an AC of 13 (–2 size, +6 natural armor,
–1 Dex), hardness 5, and 3 hit points per activation level. If the
ornithopter loses all of its hit points while in flight, it immediately
begins to fall; unlike magical flight, there are no precautions
against taking falling damage in this situation. The ornithopter
has a speed of 20 feet per activation level, to a maximum of 300
feet, and poor maneuverability. It can bear your weight, plus an
additional 150 pounds per activation level. An ornithopter provides
hard cover to its occupants at all times and total cover versus
creatures attacking from below.
Expensive Component: An ornithopter is durable enough for
most uses, but for technologists concerned about flying through
enemy territory it can be strengthened quite a bit by adding a
special alchemical wash to the device that is then triggered by
the application of electrical current. This expensive component
increases the hardness of the ornithopter’s cloth wings to that of
mithral, causing it to gain a hardness of 15. The alchemical wash
costs 750 gold pieces.
PACKMASTER’S THRONE
Artifact (greater) [Mind-Affecting]
Activation Time: 8 hours; see text
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 week; see text
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 243 lbs.
The packmaster’s throne is a royal seat made of a strange
luminescent material connected to a powerful psychic amplifier.
When you sit on the packmaster’s throne, you clear your mind and
do a complicated series of mental exercises designed to create an
overwhelmingly authoritative mental signature that incorporates
all of your particular features, mental and physical, conscious
and unconscious. At the end of the throne’s 8-hour activation
time the device produces an immense psychic surge that travels
to all corners of the world and impresses your appearance, voice,
and body language on the subconscious mind of all living beings.
Affected creatures (who receive no saving throw) instinctively
defer to you, and you gain a +10 competence bonus on all
Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, and Intimidate
skill checks against all creatures not immune to mind-affecting
effects. After 1 week, the unconscious mental impression of your
natural superiority fades from all creatures’ minds; at this time,
you lose these bonuses unless you activate the throne again.
This is the weakest ability of the packmaster’s throne. You
can also use the throne to permanently impress a sense of your
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power and mastery on the minds of all lesser creatures. Anything
with an Intelligence of 3 or higher, or with immunity to mind-
affecting effects, is unaffected, but your subconscious impression
causes any creature of the animal type and all magical beasts with
an Intelligence score of 2 or less to defer to you as though you
were their pack’s alpha beast or a feared predator of their species.
This stronger impression requires you to activate the packmaster’s
throne every consecutive day for a full week. Once you do so, all
affected beings who see you clearly, hear your voice, or scent you
must make a Will save opposed by your Handle Animal check – 10
or be charmed (as per the charm monster spell).
Charming animals and magical beasts in this way requires
no action on your part. Your physical and mental presence
makes an affected creature regard you as its trusted friend and
ally — treat the creature’s attitude as friendly. If the creature
is currently being threatened or attacked by you or your allies,
it receives a +5 bonus on its Will saving throw. The control
granted by a packmaster’s throne does not enable you to control
the charmed animal or magical beast as if it were an automaton,
but the creature perceives your words and actions in the most
favorable way. You can try to give the subject orders, but you must
win an opposed Charisma check to convince it to do anything
it wouldn’t ordinarily do. Retries are not allowed. An affected
creature never obeys suicidal or obviously harmful orders, but
it might be convinced that something very dangerous is worth
doing. Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the
controlled animal or magical beast breaks its natural deference
to your wishes. You must make a DC 25 Handle Animal check
or have some direct way to communicate with affected creatures
(such as telepathy or Feiran’s sphere of savagery) to direct them and
to communicate your desires.
You can also focus your attention on any single creature of
the animal type and all magical beasts with an Intelligence score of
2 or less to completely cow and dominate that creature. Creatures
to be affected must be within 200 feet, and you must be able to
speak to them clearly and forcefully. You take a full-round action
to speak to the animal or magical beast you wish to dominate and
the creature makes a Will saving throw opposed by your Handle
Animal skill check – 10. If it fails, the creature becomes completely
subservient to your will, and you can and direct it with simple
commands such as “Attack,” “Run,” and “Fetch.” Suicidal or self-
destructive commands are simply ignored. Indeed, the affected
animal or magical beast becomes so sensitive to your desires that
you establish a mental link between the subject creature and
yourself. The animal or magical beast can be directed by silent
mental command for as long as it remains within 200 feet of you,
and you need not see the creature to control it. You do not receive
direct sensory input from the creature, but you instinctively
know what it is experiencing. Because you are directing the
animal with your own intelligence it may be able to undertake
actions normally beyond its own comprehension. You need not
concentrate exclusively on controlling the creature unless you
are trying to direct it to do something it couldn’t normally do.
Changing your instructions or giving a dominated creature a new
command is the equivalent of redirecting a device effect, so it is
a move action.
Expensive Component: A neural-psychic interface costing
1,110 gold pieces allows you to activate the packmaster’s throne
on another’s behalf, changing this device’s range to touch and
its target entry to creature touched. However, this expensive
component only allows you to grant the throne’s bonus to
Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, and Intimidate
checks; you cannot grant permanent control over animals and
unintelligent magical beasts to anyone but yourself.
PARADOXIC SLIP-SHIELD
Artifact (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes
Activation Cost: 18 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
This pair of bracers have a clock-like dial set into their
upper surface and provide a powerful but unreliable defense.
The paradoxic slip-shield produces a field of improbability around
you that deflects attacks and negates the damage dealt to you by
weapons. Any time you are struck by a weapon or spell and dealt
damage, reduce the damage dealt by 2 points per activation level
after applying any other protections, magical or technological,
that you possess, to a maximum reduction in damage dealt of
50 points. This buffer is sufficient to negate most attacks, and
represents the slip-shield warping time to erase the weapon or spell’s
effects. However, if an attack deals damage in excess of 2 points per
activation level, you take full damage from that attack, as though
you were not under the effects of a paradoxic slip-shield — powerful
attacks of any kind exceed the slip-shield’s ability to warp the time-
stream in your favor and are unaffected by this device.
Expensive Component: By flooding the slip-shield’s computation
matrix with temporally unstable particles, you can activate this
device as an immediate action, thereby protecting yourself from
surprise attacks. When you do so, you are essentially creating a
limited branching in the time stream in which you have activated
the slip-shield at just the right moment, and then folding that time
stream into your own. This expensive component costs 3,690
gold pieces.
PEREGRINE’S SUN-CALLER
Artifact (standard) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 1000 feet
Area: Cylinder (30-foot radius, indefinitely high)
Duration: 1d2 rounds, then instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
This gleaming orange glass pyramid calls upon the ultimate
flame and provokes a solar flare to smite your enemies. The only
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sign of impending doom is a swiftly-brightening spot in the sky
and an increase in the brightness and temperature of the area that
will be struck; those in the area must make a DC 25 Spot check to
note these signs, but will still not know what they mean without a
successful Spellcraft check to identify the sun-caller and its effects.
1d2 rounds after you activate Peregrine’s sun-caller, a solar flare
arrives from deep space at the end of your turn and strikes the
area you indicated when activating the device. This surge of white-
hot solar plasma fills a cylinder 30 feet in radius and indefinitely
high (the trail goes all the way back to the star the flare was drawn
from). This blast of hellish energy deals 2d6 points of fire damage
per activation level (maximum of 50d6). This fire damage results
from the direct power of a sun, and is therefore not subject to being
reduced by resistance against fire-based attacks granted by spells
and spell-like abilities, although creatures with the fire subtype
benefit from their natural immunity.
Peregrine’s sun-caller works only outdoors and only on planes
and planets that have a sun, or something closely resembling a sun.
It also fails to function in enclosed areas unless the damage dealt
can blast through the obstruction. For instance, creatures standing
in a wooden building would be affected by the sun-caller, but
creatures standing a mile underground would not. However, the
sun-caller functions normally at night, as it can attract the sunstrike
around the curvature of a planet and to the target area. Using the
sun-caller at night reduces the Spot check DC to spot the impending
solar flare to 15, but it takes no longer for the flare to arrive.
Expensive Components: Normally you have to wait for the solar
flare to arrive, and sometimes the flow of battle means that the
creatures you intend to incinerate have moved away from the sun-
caller’s area of effect. You can avoid this by opening a null-space
conduit directly to the affected sun. This conduit changes the
sun-caller’s area to a 1,000 foot line and causes it to deal damage
immediately after you finish activating the device. You can also use
Peregrine’s sun-caller underground or inside a building if you use this
expensive component. Opening the null-space conduit requires
expensive components costing a total of 5,160 gold pieces.
PERIGORD RAPTOR
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: 0
Effect: A hidden clockwork trap
Duration: 8 hours or until triggered, then instantaneous (D)
Saving Throw: None; see text
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 10 lbs.
A perigord raptor is a collapsible bladed booby-trap that can be
unfolded and erected in several different shapes. In its folded form
it is bulky but fits into a backpack. Set up, the raptor has a thin,
flat base and an extendable arm equipped with two guillotine-like
blades. The most common form is used in hallways and other
indoor settings — the perigord raptor’s segmented arm is stretched
to the ceiling and left to dangle, so that when the trap triggers the
blades fall from above. Other forms can swing up from the floor,
slice horizontally at human neck level, or even serve as a clamping
bear trap.
Setting up the perigord raptor and activating it are all part of
the one-round activation time. Once you activate it the device
remains poised until triggered or until its duration elapses. When
a creature of Tiny size or larger enters the 5-foot square the trap
is rigged in the perigord raptor activates, attacking all creatures in
that square with an attack bonus equal to your activation level
plus your Intelligence modifier. If it hits the raptor deals 1d6
points of slashing damage per two activation levels (maximum
5d6 damage), reduced by whatever damage reduction the creature
attacked possesses. The creature must also make a Reflex save or
have a limb trapped by the blade. A Strength check (DC 15) or an
Escape Artist check (DC 20) is then required for the creature to
get free. Trapped creatures cannot move from the square they are
trapped in and are considered entangled (they suffer a –2 penalty
on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to Dexterity and must make a DC
17 Concentration check to successfully cast a spell or activate a
device). If the trap is not set for clamping or if the clamp fails to
trap a creature the perigord raptor resets itself and remains active.
At the end of the trap’s duration it automatically triggers and
then collapses back into its folded form.
The perigord raptor is as subtle as is possible for a bulky metal
trap and although it can be noticed with a Spot check it does
not seem immediately dangerous. Determining that the device is
actually a trap requires a Search check and disarming it requires a
Disable Device check. The DC for these skill checks are the same
as your saving throw DC for your devices. The perigord raptor is
usually set up in a hallway or set against a wall. If it is simply out
in the open, reduce the Spot DC by 10.
Expensive Components: Any masterwork component that can
be added to a weapon can also be added to a perigord raptor at the
usual cost. Paralytic poisons permanently infused into the blades
via the venomous masterwork component are popular. The
raptor’s blades (which count as a single light weapon) can also be
made of any exotic materials you desire.
PERIL-SENSITIVE LENSES
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 1 lb.
Peril-sensitive lenses quickly darken at the edges and focus
your hearing with the simple flick of a switch, focusing your
attention on the task at hand to the exclusion of all else. When
activated peril-sensitive lenses inflict a –5 penalty on your Spot
and Listen checks, and grant a +2 bonus on your Search checks.
More importantly, they help you focus in dangerous situations.
In such situations, you may take 10 on any Strength-, Dexterity-,
or Intelligence-based skill check (other than Knowledge checks),
even if you would not normally be allowed to do so. In addition,
102
you may take 10 on all Concentration checks made to activate a
device or cast a spell defensively.
Expensive Component: For the oft-imperiled technologist,
mechanical refinements to the peril-sensitive lenses can be added.
These improvements cost 390 gold pieces, and increase the
device’s base duration to 1 hour.
PHILTER FERMENTER
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 8 hours
Range: 0 feet
Effect: A single magical potion
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 45 lbs.
The philter fermenter is a modified alchemist’s lab stocked
with the latest in advanced arcanochemical equipment. This
conglomeration of bubbling alembics and carefully-metered
tubing allows you to use alchemical ingredients to produce
magical effects of all kinds. When you activate the philter fermenter it
produces a single magical potion, as though you were a spellcaster
with the Brew Potion feat. You need not meet any of the ordinary
prerequisites for brewing a potion when using the fermenter, nor
do you need to actually be a spellcaster of any kind. However,
successfully reproducing a potion using the philter fermenter
requires a Craft (alchemy) skill check with a DC of 20 + 2 per caster
level of the desired potion. You may take 10 on this check, but not
20, and failure by 5 or more means that you ruin one-half of the
expensive components used to create the potion (see below).
Expensive Component: The philter fermenter requires alchemical
raw materials with a cost equal to 75% of the market price of the
desired potion. You may pay this cost in craft points, if you have
any available, but doing so does not reduce the philter fermenter’s
activation time. This is not an optional expensive component.
PHOTON SCATTERING SHIELD
Gadget (lesser) [Light]
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Special; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial; see text
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
The photon scattering shield is a very shiny fashion accessory
that happens to be quite handy for those accidental melees the
adventurous often find themselves in. It stores light in photo-optic
cells that can be quickly activated via a preset motion. The device is
typically a simple (if bulky) band worn high on the arm. Activating
the shield releases a short-lived burst of very bright light. Creative
technologists can generally find something useful to do with this,
but they usually use it to briefly blind melee opponents. When you
use this device the bright pulse of light grants you concealment for
the duration of a single melee attack (20% miss chance) and the
attacker must make a Fortitude save or be dazzled for 1 minute.
Sightless creatures are not affected by this device.
Expensive Component: Light-storing batteries made of
reflecting surfaces coiled into a reflective shell increase the
effectiveness of the device, causing it to emit a pulse that can only
be described as catastrophically bright. This increases the miss
chance the device grants against a single attack to 50% and the
attacker is blinded instead of being dazzled if it fails its Fortitude
saving throw. These batteries cost 900 gold pieces.
PINPRICK WHIRLIGIG SPINNER
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Effect: A 10-foot cube of dangerous metal shards
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial; see text
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
The pinprick whirligig spinner is a rifle-like device that consists
of a chute, a bag of shredded metal, and a pair of oversized
flywheels feeding out and retracting high-tensile cables as needed.
When the device is fired, a fist-sized cluster of metal shards flies
out and begins spinning rapidly due to the action of the attached
cables. This kind of abuse causes the launched whirligig to shed
sharp, pointy bits of itself at a rapid pace.
These tiny metal shards deal 1d6 points of piercing damage to
every creature within a designated 10-foot cube every round they
are exposed to the whirligig. Being pelted with teensy slivers of
high-velocity metal is also a rather distracting experience — most
people start to worry about their eyes and other sensitive bits — and
all creatures in the area must also make a Fortitude saving throw
or be nauseated for one round. The whirligig’s damage is reduced
by damage reduction but even creatures with DR must make the
Fortitude saving throw to avoid becoming nauseated.
The whirligig can easily be stopped before it spins itself into
nothingness, but this isn’t a good idea. If someone does so (and
this requires little more than a moderately forceful jostle) the
whirligig simply explodes, deals 2d6 points of piercing damage
to the offender, and forces it to make a Fortitude save with a –4
circumstance penalty to avoid being nauseated for 1d4 rounds.
Expensive Components: The metal shards of a pinprick whirligig
spinner must be prepared before they can be compressed, launched,
and spun by the spinner, and these shards of scrap metal do not
cost anything unless you wish to use some material more exotic
than steel or iron. In such a case about a pound of the requisite
metal is required. This ammunition is not an optional material
component. You can also design a pinprick whirligig spinner to
fire two whirligigs at once for truly effective crowd control. The
whirligigs can be targeted separately or their areas of effect can
overlap and stack with each other. This upgrade greatly increases
the stress on the device, however, and costs 1,530 gold pieces in
expensive components and repairs per use.
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Example – Rod of the Forsakers
In my campaign, the planar control wand is the symbol
of the Imperial Inquisitors, who consider magic-users and
the creatures associated with them (nontechnological
constructs, elementals, outsiders, and the undead) to
be unholy abominations fit only to be destroyed. Less
fervent technologists scrupulously avoid using planar control
wands themselves, as the device infuriates the magic-using
creatures and characters that the Inquisitors hunt.
PLANAR CONTROL WAND
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range Increment: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A planar control wand looks like a conductor’s baton studded
with dishwater-grey crystals. This device helps technologists
control planar currents with efficient charges of antimagical
energy. Technologists often employ these wands to clear their
workstations of magical contamination before beginning their
tinkering but the wand is also a boon to technologists who have
mastered certain antimagic techniques. By using the planar control
wand as a focus for any other device with the antimagic descriptor
you may attempt a DC 15 Knowledge (the planes) or Spellcraft
skill check to increase your activation level by 1 for determining
the effects of any antimagic device you activate during the planar
control wand’s duration.
Expensive Components Ultra-refined alchemical crystals costing
5,000 gold pieces may be used with this device. When the planar
control wand is so augmented a DC 25 Knowledge (the planes)
or Spellcraft check allows the wand to boost your activation
level for antimagic devices by 2. Unlike most optional expensive
components, this is a permanent boost to this device’s effects.
POCKET BALLISTA
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: 0 feet
Effect: An activated pocket ballista
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 6 lbs.
A pocket ballista is a miniaturized version of the larger siege
engine that hurls normally-sized crossbow bolts with incredible
force. The weapon deals 2d8 points of piercing damage with a
successful ranged attack and has a 100-foot range increment.
This attack is not included in the device’s activation time, and
you must wield the weapon as you would any other crossbow for
it to deal damage. The pocket ballista also reloads itself, allowing
you to make as many attacks in a single round as you Base Attack
Bonus entitles you to.
A pocket ballista may be used as a light crossbow even if
its device effects are not active and is not affected by arcane
disruption when not active. The ballista must be drawn and carried
in the same manner as any other crossbow to be used in either its
powered or unpowered mode.
Expensive Component: A stronger but more temperamental
bowstring may be added to the pocket ballista to increase its range
increment to Long (400 feet), allowing for some truly incredible
shots. Doing so costs 390 gold pieces.
PROFESSIONAL REFORMATAMATIC
Technology (standard) [Mind-Affecting]
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 9 lbs.
This device looks like a bulky helmet attached to a complicated
hand-held display by dozens of tiny wires. The professional
reformatamatic, when activated, allows you to consciously assign
“brain space” from one skill to another, boosting certain skills
and forgetting others. It is particularly effective at allowing a
technologist with ranks in a Profession subskill to temporarily
relinquish his professional skill in exchange for more adventuring-
friendly skills while in the field, since Profession skills are not tied
into muscle memory or the other parts of your skill set to the
same degree as other skills.
When you activate the professional reformatamatic, you choose
which skills you wish to forget and how many ranks you will
forfeit. For every rank in a Profession skill you choose to forget, or
for every two ranks in another skill that you relinquish, you gain
a floating +1 competence bonus to all checks for a single skill.
The skill you assign this bonus to must be one you have ranks
in already or one that can be used untrained — the reformatamatic
does not teach you new knowledge, it only allows you to devote
more mental processing power to certain pre-existing skills. The
competence bonus granted by this device may not exceed your
ranks in the skill the bonus applies to, or +5, whichever is higher.
Expensive Component: Usually, it is a careful, deliberative
process to adjust your brain in this way. However, technologists
eager to get back into the action have
discovered that adding scripted
programs in parallel computing
elements allows this device to
be activated as a swift action,
allowing you to shift skills
around instantaneously. These
additional computers cost
1,620 gold pieces.
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PROFESSIONAL’S SATCHEL
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 8 lbs.
A professional’s satchel contains sophisticated tools for a
specific Profession subskill, such as clockwork food-processors for
Profession (cook) or a high-tech net for Profession (fisherman).
It is an especially high-quality masterwork item, and grants a
+4 circumstance bonus to all checks made for that particular
Profession. In addition, possession of such effective tools makes
your work much faster and higher-quality (not to mention more
prestigious) and when making Profession checks to determine
your weekly income, an activated professional’s satchel allows you
to earn your full check result in gold pieces every week instead
of one-half your check result. In addition, if you are making a
Profession check to add to your current reserve of Craft Points,
you add 1.5 times your check result to your pool instead of the
usual number.
Expensive Component: The professional’s satchel is durable and
meant for frequent use, but you can supplement this kit with a
number of disposable gadgets that augment your professional
abilities even more. These expendable gadgets cost 390 gold pieces
and grant you a +10 competence bonus on any one Profession
check made while the professional’s satchel is activated.
PROTECTION FROM ABNORMALITIES
Gadget (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 1 point
You can protect yourself or a creature you are touching
from magical attacks and the abilities of magic-dependent
creatures with an aura of antimagic that these creatures find
naturally repellant. This ability wards a creature from attacks by
magical spells and spell-like abilities as well as creatures of the
nontechnological construct, elemental, outsider, and undead
types. It creates an almost invisible grey barrier around the subject
at a distance of 1 foot. The barrier moves with the subject and has
two effects:
Against Spell Effects and Against Nontechnological Constructs,
Elementals, Outsiders, and the Undead: The subject gains a +2
deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus on saves.
Against Summoned Monsters: The warding prevents bodily
contact by summoned creatures. This protection causes the
natural weapon attacks of such creatures to fail and the creatures
to recoil if such attacks require touching the warded creature.
The protection against contact by summoned creatures ends if
the warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the
barrier against the blocked creature.
Expensive Component: A bracelet made of a special magic-
repelling material allows you to intensify the effects of this
device. If you use this bracelet in conjunction with activating the
protection from abnormalities the device instead protects a 10-foot
radius around the target creature and includes all creatures and
objects in that area in its effects. The device’s duration and other
elements remain unchanged. The bracelet costs 900 gold pieces.
RANGEFINDER
Gadget (lesser) [Light]
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Target: One creature or object
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 1 lb.
A rangefinder is a variant on the simple alchemical sunrod that
improves accuracy with ranged attacks. It projects a thin, focused
beam of light that has the unusual characteristic of changing
color gradually as it disperses, allowing you to tell at a glance how
far away the target is. When you activate the rangefinder make a
ranged touch attack against the target. If you succeed, you and
all creatures within 20 feet of you gain a +1 circumstance bonus
to attack rolls against the targeted creature or object until the
beginning of your next turn, when you must make another
ranged touch attack roll (as a swift action) to track the target and
renew the bonus. You also know the exact range to the target.
Rangefinders are generally affixed to another device or weapon
before use.
Expensive Component: The alchemical formula of a rangefinder
can be improved in a complex alchemical process. Doing so costs
390 gold pieces and increases the device’s range increment to
Long (400 feet).
RENECHAK’S PANOPTIC EYE
Artifact (greater) [Divination, Null-Space]
Activation Time: 1 hour
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
Renechak’s panoptic eye is a paranoiac’s worst nightmare — a
secret sensor hidden beyond the reach of any mortal and always
watching. Once constructed, the panoptic eye manages the difficult
trick of existing simultaneously at all places and times, where it
watches across the null-space barrier and records every detail of
every doing of every creature. You can consult this impossibly
complete database by opening a link through null space; the
eye then downloads all relevant data about a single creature you
can unambiguously specify directly into your mind in a surge of
105
knowledge that leaves you reeling but intimately familiar with the
creature who is the object of your inquiry.
This process gives you an uncannily accurate vision of a single
creature’s nature, activities, and whereabouts. When you activate
the panoptic eye, you make a Concentration check to process all
of the data the eye funnels into you with a DC of 20 + the sensed
creature’s Hit Dice. If you succeed, you learn the following facts
about the creature:
• Its name, race, alignment, and character class.
• A general estimate of its level or Hit Dice: low (5 HD or
lower), medium (6 to 11 HD), high (12 to 20 HD), very high
(21 HD to 40 HD), or deific (41 HD or higher).
• Its location (including place of residence, town, country,
world, and plane of existence).
• Significant items currently in its possession. Significance is
measured from your perspective, not the creature’s.
• Any significant activities or actions the creature has
undertaken in the previous 8 hours, including details such
as locales traveled through, the names or races of those the
creature fought, spells it cast, items it acquired, and items it
left behind (including the location of those items). Again,
significance is measured from your perspective, not the
creature’s.
If you fail, you cannot try to uncover information about that
creature again until you gain at least a single rank in the
Concentration skill. Regardless of whether your attempt succeeds
or not, however, the glimpses of incalculable information you
receive while tapped into the panoptic eye cause you to suffer 2d6
points of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage.
Renechak’s panoptic eye is extremely powerful, and its
divinatory abilities can be defeated only by epic or deific spells or
special abilities that obscure divinations.
Expensive Component: By temporarily sending your entire
mind into the pocket dimension that houses Renechak’s panoptic
eye — a timeless place — you gain the time needed to process the
eye’s information without suffering mental damage. Improving
the data transference link to this degree requires a gateway stone
linked to the Astral Plane and costing 2,340 gold pieces. While
using this expensive component you do not take Intelligence,
Wisdom, or Charisma damage from activating Renechak’s
panoptic eye.
RENECHAK’S PORTABLE ZOOGRAMMAPHONE
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
This device has an interior set of cards that record the sounds,
scents, and other traits of many sorts of animals. It can be used
as a monster encyclopedia and new creature information can be
easily added into it. All basic zoogrammaphones have entries for
common creatures of the Animal and Humanoid types, and come
with hundreds of tiny blank cards that can be programmed with
the information of new creatures found in the wild or researched
in the library. Programming a new card is a standard action and
can be done up to 24 hours after an encounter with the creature
to be detailed ends.
When activated, the zoogrammaphone quickly lets the user
browse a complex cross-referenced index of the identifying features
of various creatures and reveals some pertinent information on
the creature. You can use the zoogrammaphone to identify any one
creature you can see, and can also identify unseen creatures that
have very strong scents or audible vocalizations. Generally, if you
are aware of a creature’s presence you can use the zoogrammaphone
to find out what it is, assuming the device has been programmed
with the appropriate entry. The interface is simple enough
that untrained users (those without ranks in the appropriate
Knowledge skills) can still benefit from it.
While using a portable zoogrammaphone you gain a +10
competence bonus to Knowledge checks to identify features of
creatures stored in the database and can make these checks as
if he were trained in the appropriate skill. Most zoogrammaphone
entries include useful information on the creature’s personality,
attacks, and weaknesses as well as a gauge of how dangerous the
creature is (on a scale from roughly 1 to 20).
Expensive Component: The device’s input cards themselves are
free but buying pre-filled cards to gain information on creatures
one has not encountered oneself costs approximately 2 gold
pieces times the creature’s CR per creature, modified by how rare
the creature is. You can also streamline the zoogrammaphone’s
interface with a mentally-reactive chemical oil. Doing so allows
you to access the portable zoogrammaphone as a swift action. This
special oil costs 390 gold pieces.
REPULSE THE TAINTED
Technology (standard) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Up to 10 feet/level
Area: Up to a 10-foot/level radius emanation centered on you
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 9 points
You project invisible currents of energy that, like an
otherworldly whirlwind, prevent creatures dependent on magic
from approaching you. You can decide how large an area around
yourself you wish to affect when you activate this ability, up to the
limit allowed by your level, and any nontechnological construct,
elemental, outsider, or undead wishing to enter the area must
make a Will save. If it fails, it becomes unable to move toward
you for the duration of the spell but its actions are not otherwise
affected; affected creatures can fight other creatures, move away
from you, or attack you with spells or ranged attacks. If you move
closer to a creature affected by this ability, it is not pushed away
from you and is free to make melee attacks against you if you
come within reach. Repelled creatures that move away from you
106
Example – The Usual Suspects
I use the portable zoogrammaphone to give my players an
idea of the sorts of monsters that might be encountered
in a given area. The cards available for sale in local
marketplaces can allow you to give a sense of the ecology
of an area without needless travelogues. You might consider
adding creatures of a type other than Animal or Humanoid
into the basic zoogrammaphone’s database if those creatures
will play an important role in the campaign. The acquisition
of these data cards can even be a source of adventure unto
themselves; many adventurers track down exotic creatures
to record their information and then sell data cards with
the recorded information at a profit. A quick source of cash
like this can turn even the most mercenary player character
into an attentive explorer.
and then try to turn back towards you cannot move any closer if
they are still within the ability’s area.
Expensive Component: This technology, normally defensive
in nature, can be turned into a deadly weapon if you throw a
thin spray of powders into the air when you activate the ability.
These powders, whipped along by invisible torrents of power, cut
through nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders, and
undead like sand driven along by a hurricane and deal 1d6 points
of damage per round to these creatures (no save). The powders
cost 750 gold pieces.
RESONANCE ABSORPTION STAFF
Technology (greater) [Sonic]
Activation Time: 1 hour
Range: 0
Effect: One sound-absorbing metal rod
Duration: 24 hours; see text (D)
Saving Throw: None; Fortitude partial or Reflex negates
(object); see text
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
This long metal rod appears outwardly normal but houses
a complex crystalline lattice that absorbs sonic energy, muffling
sounds around you and blunting sonic attacks. It functions
continuously even while not activated and grants you sonic
energy resistance 10. The resonance absorption staff also inflicts a
–4 penalty on your Listen checks. You can suppress both of these
effects together for 1 hour as a standard action.
When activated the resonance absorption staff gains the
additional ability to store the sonic energy it protects you from and
to release that energy in the form of sonic attacks. Whenever the
resonance staff reduces the energy you take from a sonic attack, add
the damage it absorbs into its energy pool, to a maximum energy
absorption of 10 points of damage per activation level (maximum
absorption of 200 points). Add 10 points to the pool at the end of
every day even if you were not dealt sonic damage during that time
to represent the staff’s absorption of ambient sounds.
 You can use these stored points to mimic either the shatter
or sound burst spells as a standard action, using your activation
level as the spell’s caster level and your device save DC in lieu
of the usual save DC. These effects are not subject to spell
resistance as are spell-like abilities produced in the normal way.
Duplicating either spell drains 20 points from the staff’s pool.
At 11th activation level or higher you may also spend 40 points
from the staff ’s pool to duplicate the shout spell. As long as you
activate the resonance staff every day, it retains its pool of stored
sonic energy indefinitely. If the staff ever goes more than an hour
while deactivated, its storage pool resets to 0.
The resonance absorption staff is otherwise identical to a normal
quarterstaff.
Expensive Components: Masterwork components may be added
to a resonance absorption staff for the normal cost. In addition, you
may permanently increase the sonic resistance granted by the staff
by adding a clear blue, sonic-sensitive gel to the basic crystalline
lattice. This gel costs 12,000 gold pieces, and increases the sonic
resistance granted by the resonance absorption staff to 20. Unlike
most expensive components, this augmentation is not expended
when the device is activated.
RIMALA’S FUNDAMENTAL ANATOMIZER
Artifact (greater)
Activation Time: 8 hours
Range: Touch
Target: One item with no single dimension greater than 10 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 61 lbs.
Rimala’s fundamental anatomizer is a bulky cube filled with
all manner of instrumentation — precision light scalpels, matter-
reconfiguration beams, sophisticated optical sensors, and more.
When you place an item (magical or nonmagical) in the device
the anatomizer takes readings, samples, and measurements of all
kinds and cross-checks these against its extensive databases to
discover every relevant fact imaginable about the target item. If
you use the fundamental anatomizer merely to appraise an object,
you automatically succeed at the Appraise check or checks
required, regardless of their DC.
This is the lesser power of the anatomizer, however. You can
also use this device to produce a tiny bead that contains total
knowledge of the analyzed item. If you hold this bead against
your forehead, it dissolves and releases this knowledge into your
mind, granting you permanent bonuses when using that item.
Extracting the required level of knowledge requires an Appraise
check, with a DC of 10 plus the item’s highest Craft DC (for
nonmagical items) or 20 plus the item’s caster level (for magical
items). You can take 10 in this check (but not 20), and doing so
is probably a good idea since a failed Appraise check means that
the item is effectively destroyed by the in-depth analysis. Even if
you succeed at this Appraise check, however, there is still a 1%
chance that the item is destroyed. Assuming the item survives
107
the scanning process, you can hand the resulting analysis bead
to anyone, or keep it for yourself. Upon using the bead a creature
gains a bonus based on the item’s type when using that particular
item, as follows:
Devices: You gain a +1 bonus to your activation level when using
the mastered device, due to your superlative familiarity with
its workings.
Weapon (any): You gain a +1 insight bonus to your attacks with
the weapon.
Armor (any): You gain a +1 insight bonus to AC when wearing
the armor.
Masterwork Skill-Related (any): The item grants you a +2 insight
bonus to all skill checks that it is tied to.
Wand or Staff: You gain an intuitive knowledge of how to bleed
off excess energy without depleting the item, and may use the
wand or staff in question once per day without expending
any charges.
Scrolls and Potions: When you hold the item, its mystic symbols or
alchemical formulas burn in your mind. The scroll or potion
has a caster level 4 higher than normal when you use it.
Wondrous Items: Intimate knowledge of these wildly-divergent
items takes different forms. Go through the following list,
stopping on the first bonus that applies to the item: one
function of the item has a saving throw DC 2 greater than
normal, one function of the item may be used once per time
increment more often (3/day goes to 4/day, 1/week goes to
2/week, and so on), one bonus granted by the item increases
by 1, or the item’s caster level increases by 4.
Intelligent Items: In addition to another applicable bonus, your
rapport with an intelligent item improves. Its communication
abilities increase one step when you use it. The steps, from
weakest to strongest, are: 30-foot vision and hearing, 60-foot
vision and hearing, 120-foot vision and hearing, 120-foot
darkvision and hearing, and 120-foot darkvision, blindsense,
and hearing. If the item already has 120-foot darkvision,
blindsense, and hearing, its sensory abilities to do not
further improve.
The fundamental anatomizer works on any item, with the exception
of artifacts. Artifacts are inscrutable by their very nature, and
using Rimala’s fundamental anatomizer on an artifact has no effect
on Appraise checks made to identify it, produces no knowledge
bead, and has no chance of destroying the item.
SCATHING SHARDSPRAYER
Technology (lesser) [Acid]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Area: 20-foot radius burst
Duration: 1 round + 1 round per three levels
Saving Throw: Reflex negates
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 8 lbs.
This mass of snaking coils obscures the grip with which you
hold the scathing shardsprayer. This weapon is similar to a vitriol
projector but affects many more creatures. When you use it, the
shardsprayer converts oxygen and other chemicals in the air into a
light spray of glittering shards. These shards are each drops of a
very tenacious acid that begins to dissolve a twisting trail into the
substance of creatures and objects in the area of effect.
A scathing shardsprayer deals 2d6 points of acid damage on
the round in which it strikes. For every three activation levels,
the acid, unless somehow neutralized, lasts for another round, to
a maximum of 6 additional rounds at 18th level. The acid deals
another 2d6 points of damage in each additional round. This
acid has an unusual effect on objects as well; it does not deal more
than 2d6 points of damage to an object (ignoring hardness), as the
droplets are too diffuse to cause more raw damage, and instead
permanently reduces the object’s hardness by 1 on each additional
round that the acid lasts. For instance, a 9th-level technologist
using a scathing shardsprayer on a wooden door would first deal
2d6 points of damage to the door, ignoring its hardness, and then
permanently reduce the door’s hardness rating from 5 to 2 over
the next three rounds. Objects damaged in this way have snaking
trails of acid burns weakening their internal structure, even if the
outward damage caused by stray droplets is negligible.
Unlike the vitriol projector, a scathing shardsprayer may not be
used to fire other types of damaging substances; it is limited to
producing and dispensing acid.
Expensive Component: The only real way to improve a scathing
shardsprayer is to make the acid it produces more deadly. Doing
so requires a number of small improvements costing 750 gold
pieces and doubles the number of rounds of secondary damage,
increasing damage dealt to creatures and the hardness loss of
objects accordingly.
SCATTERSHOT HELMET
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You; see text
Duration: Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: Reflex negates; see text
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
When activated, a whirling mechanism atop this helmet fires
a spray of tiny pellets loaded from a chain that feeds from a pouch
in a backpack or at the hip. The spray of pellets deals 1 point of
nonlethal bludgeoning damage per 2 activation levels to each
creature other than you within 10 feet (Reflex save negates) and
grants you a +1 deflection bonus to AC per activation level against
a single ranged attack (maximum +10 deflection bonus). This
bonus does not apply against rays or siege weapons. The damage
from a scattershot helmet can be reduced by damage reduction.
You can activate this device as an immediate action,
responding to an attack before the attack strikes. If you are
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flat-footed, you cannot take immediate actions and thus cannot
activate the scattershot helmet.
Expensive Component: Particularly vicious technologists equip
this device with carefully shaped shards of glass or metal instead
of the usual pellets, causing it to be a credible threat to creatures
within 10 feet, who must make a Reflex save when the helmet is
activated or take 1d6 points of lethal piercing damage per two
activation levels (maximum 5d6). One load of such ammo costs
900 gold pieces.
SCRAMBLE PROGRAMMING
Gadget (standard) [Antimagic, Mind-Affecting]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Target: All nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders,
and undead in a 15-foot radius burst
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 2 points
This ability manifests as a momentary shower of light grey
sparks. These chaotic pulses of antimagical energy attack the ability
of magic-dependent creatures (nontechnological constructs,
elementals, outsiders, and undead) to control their own forms.
This causes them to become confused (as per the confusion spell).
This ability is mind-affecting but bypasses the normal immunity
to mind-affecting abilities that nontechnological constructs
and undead possess by virtue of their creature type. Any other
defenses against mind-affecting abilities (such as those of a lich
protected by a mind blank spell) work normally against scramble
programming.
A confused creature’s actions are determined by rolling d100
at the beginning of its turn. A roll of 01–10 causes the creature
to attack you with melee or ranged weapons or close with you
if attacking is not possible; an 11–20 allows it to act normally; a
result of 21–50 means that the creature does nothing but babble
incoherently; 51–70 means that it flees away from you at top
possible speed; and a roll of 71–100 means that it attacks the
nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of
the subject’s self ). A confused creature who can’t carry out the
indicated action does nothing but babble incoherently. Attackers
are not at any special advantage when attacking a confused
creature, and any confused creature who is attacked automatically
attacks its attackers on its next turn as long as it is still confused
when its turn comes. A confused creature does not make attacks
of opportunity against any creature that it is not already devoted
to attacking (either because of its most recent action or because it
has just been attacked).
Expensive Component: Dusts infused with antimagic increase
the potency of this effect and increase scramble programming’s
saving throw DC by 2. These dusts cost 900 gold pieces.
SCRIPT WIDGET
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
This small, portable clockwork engine deciphers an
unknown language or an encoded message by brute-force
calculation. It provides a +10 competence bonus to all Decipher
Script checks. While using a script widget you may attempt to
decipher written magical formulae. The DC for this task is
20 + twice the spell level of the effect. In addition, a script widget
allows free retries for normal Decipher Script checks made while
it is activated, as long as you have time to make another such
check, and negates the need to make a Wisdom check if you fail
a Decipher Script check; when using a script widget you always
know if you have successfully translated a text or not, as the
device’s calculations will not add up unless a reasonably correct
translation is found.
Expensive Component: An almost ludicrously-complex array of
gears and voice recording stones can be added to the script widget at
a cost of 900 gold pieces. If this addition is made, you may activate
this device to read a scroll, using your Decipher Script check as a
Use Magic Device check to determine if you are successful or not.
If the scroll is read, it has its normal effects and destroys both this
expensive component and the scroll itself in the process.
SCUTTLEBUG LAUNCHER
Technology (greater) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0 feet
Effect: One exploding, burrowing mine per level
Duration: 24 hours or until discharged
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 9 lbs.
The scuttlebug launcher looks like a metallic, machinery-
laden honeycomb storing dozens of flat red disks. When you
activate the launcher a number of these disks (up to a maximum
of your activation level) drop out and burrow underground at
an extremely rapid pace, moving to where you direct them. They
have a movement rate of 120 feet per round (both on land and
while burrowing), and you can order them to go anywhere that
you have line of sight to. Once they reach the indicated location
the scuttling constructs burrow down to a depth of 5 feet into
the ground to conceal themselves. These tiny constructs can even
burrow through solid rock, though they cannot move if there is
no ground to burrow through, such as if you are flying. They lay
dormant for up to 24 hours and you can trigger the scuttlebugs
at any time by taking an immediate action to flip their detonator
switch. If the scuttlebugs are not triggered within 24 hours, they
become dormant, do not explode, and are effectively destroyed.
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Once you decide to trigger them, each scuttlebug explodes
and deals 1d6 points of damage per activation level to all creatures
and objects in its 5-foot square to a maximum of 20d6 points of
damage. Half of this damage is fire damage, and the other half is
slashing damage, and is therefore subject to damage reduction.
These explosions do not affect creatures that are more than 5
feet off the ground. Overlapping areas of effect do not increase
the damage dealt by the scuttlebug launcher — affected targets take
1d6 points of damage per activation level regardless of how many
scuttlebugs they are standing on.
If you wish to simply deal damage with the scuttlebug launcher
you can order the scuttlebugs to move to a target square within 120
feet and explode immediately. This causes the scuttlebugs to deal
their fire and slashing damage at the beginning of your next turn.
Expensive Component: The scuttlebug launcher expends raw
materials costing 10 gold pieces per activation level each time it
is used. This is not an optional expensive component. You can
also coat the scuttlebugs with a volatile chemical compound
before dispatching them. Doing so increases the fire damage each
scuttlebug deals by 50%. These volatile chemicals cost 1,620 gold
pieces.
SEISMIC FLOW WAND
Technology (greater) [Sonic]
Activation Time: See text
Range: 400 feet
Area: Earth in an area up to 750 feet square and 10 feet deep (S)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
This technologically advanced tuning fork causes soft
substances to flow like water, allowing you to reshape large tracts
of land. To use the seismic flow wand you strike it against the ground
to allow the device to pick up the resonance frequency of the local
terrain and then wield the vibrating fork like a conductor’s baton
to shift landscape features to something more to your liking. You
can create any kind of earthworks with this device, but creatures,
plants, and materials with a hardness of 8 or higher cannot be
affected with a seismic flow wand. Thus, you could create an earthen
embankment or a fortress of ice given sufficient raw materials,
but you could not collapse a rock formation or cause a wall of
iron to drain away.
The area to be affected determines the device’s activation
time; for every 150-foot square (up to 10 feet deep), activation
takes 10 minutes. The maximum area of 750 feet by 750 feet takes
4 hours and 10 minutes to move. This device causes the affected
materials to flow gently and is therefore useless for destroying
structures or killing plant life, although it can easily change their
relative positions. You generally cannot tunnel with a seismic
flow wand, and it is much too slow to affect creatures capable
of movement. The wand has no effect on creatures of any kind,
even those that are made of the appropriate materials (like earth
elementals or clay golems).
 Expensive Component: The usual settings of a seismic flow wand
are utterly harmless to motile creatures and generally harmless to
structures but by overloading and strengthening the harmonic
resonance crystals, you can, by rapping the wand on the ground,
generate a catastrophic pulse of vibrational energy that duplicates
the effects of an earthquake spell as cast by a druid with a caster
level equal to your activation level, but using the seismic flow wand’s
normal range. Improving the resonance crystals in this manner
costs 2,610 gold pieces.
SILT WALL
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: 0
Effect: 20-foot high dust cloud that spreads in 20-foot radius
from you
Base Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 5 lbs.
A silt wall is a backpack-like clockwork device that rapidly
circulates dirt and other loose particles, creating an obscuring wall
of dust. This cloud of dust arises around you wherever you stand,
as long as you do not move and the silt wall remains activated. The
cloud remains for 1 minute unless dispersed by wind. A moderate
wind (11+ mph), such as from the zephyr hammer device, disperses
the fog in 4 rounds. A strong wind (21+ mph) disperses the fog in
1 round. This device does not function underwater unless you are
standing on a sandy surface.
The cloud of dust obscures all sight, including darkvision,
beyond 5 feet. A creature 5 feet away has concealment (attacks
have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total
concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight
to locate the target).
Expensive Component: Directional fans can be added to the
machinery of the silt wall, allowing you to project its effects at
a distance. This gives the device a range increment of Close (25
feet). You must make a ranged attack roll to hit the square you
designate as the spread’s point of origin and the area of effect is
immobile once it has been created. Misses are rolled as though
the dust cloud were a grenade-like weapon. These fans cost 390
gold pieces.
SLUMBEROUS SAVANT
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A slumberous savant is a tiny electronic device that you input
your scholarly knowledge into. Its design is ruthlessly simplified
to function at a minimal level even while it is inactivated.
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Though not itself sentient,
the device endlessly considers,
recombines, and evaluates its
stored knowledge in a manner
similar to a dreaming human
or demihuman. As a result,
you may consult the slumberous
savant on difficult matters and
thereby cross-reference and
evaluate your own knowledge
to a much greater degree than
would normally be possible
for a conscious mind.
You may access the
slumberous savant at any time
to reroll a failed Knowledge skill check with an insight bonus
equal to your ranks in that particular Knowledge skill. If this roll
is failed no further rolls are possible.
Expensive Component: A slumberous savant usually takes a
moment to consult, but the addition of a delicate wire mesh laid
across the skin at the base of your skull (or equivalent location)
allows an instantaneous one-time access without disabling the
usual interface. This addition costs 750 gold pieces and allows you
to use the slumberous savant as an immediate action, fast enough
to apply its bonus to your original Knowledge check instead of an
ensuing reroll.
SMITE ABNORMALITY
Gadget (standard) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Effect: One antimagic ray
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 10 points
By focusing a beam of antimagic on a magic-dependent
creature you attack that creature’s substance directly, potentially
snuffing out its life force. Smite abnormality affects only creatures
of the nontechnological construct, elemental, outsider, and
undead types. This ability generates a coruscating, flat grey ray
and you must succeed at a ranged tough attack to hit your target.
If successful, the ray deals 1d6 points of damage to the target per
activation level (maximum of 10d6). This is untyped damage, and
the target is not protected by spell resistance, damage reduction,
or energy resistance. Incorporeal creatures do not receive their
usual miss chance against this attack. Any creature destroyed by
smite abnormality is instantly reduced to a fine powder; incorporeal
creatures simply dissipate.
Expensive Component: While it is already decidedly lethal, you
can add more punch to smite abnormality by casting a bead made
of magic-repelling stone at your target. The bead courses along
with the ray and buries itself in the affected creature’s unnatural
flesh, increasing the ray’s damage by 50%. This bead costs 900
gold pieces.
SMITE MAGIC
Gadget (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target or Area: One spellcaster, creature, or object; or a 20-foot
radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 15 points
This ability allows you to focus your talents without the aid
of any device and to strike out with a blast of antimagic to end
ongoing spell effects.
You can use smite magic to end ongoing spells that have been
cast on a creature or object, to temporarily suppress the magical
abilities of a magic item, to end ongoing spells (or at least their
effects) within an area, or to counter a spellcaster’s spell. An
affected spell ends as if its duration had expired. Some spells, as
detailed in their descriptions, can’t be defeated by dispel magic;
these spells are also immune to the effects of smite magic. Smite
magic can dispel (but not counter) spell-like effects just as it does
spells. The effect of a spell with an instantaneous duration can’t
be dispelled, because the magical effect is already over before this
ability takes effect. Smite magic can be used in one of three ways:
Targeted Smite: One object, creature, or spell is the target of smite
magic. You make an activation level check with a maximum
bonus of +10 against the spell or against each ongoing spell
currently in effect on the object or creature. The DC for
this check is 11 + the spell’s caster level. If you succeed on a
particular check, that spell is dispelled; if you fail, that spell
remains in effect. If you target an object or creature that is the
effect of an ongoing spell (such as a summoned monster), you
make an activation level check to end the spell that conjured
the object or creature. If the object that you target is a magic
item, you make an activation level check against the item’s
caster level. If you succeed, all the item’s magical properties
are suppressed for 1d4 rounds, after which time the item
recovers on its own. A suppressed item becomes nonmagical
for the duration of the effect. An interdimensional interface
(such as a bag of holding) is temporarily closed. A magic item’s
physical properties are unchanged: a suppressed magic
sword is still a sword (a masterwork sword, in fact). Artifacts
and deities are unaffected by mortal efforts like smite magic.
Area Dispel: When smite magic is used in this way, the ability
affects everything within a 20-foot radius. For each creature
or object within the area that is the subject of one or more
spells, and for each ongoing area or effect spell whose point
of origin is within smite magic’s area of effect, you make an
activation level check against the spell with the highest caster
level. If that check fails, you make further checks against
progressively weaker spells until you dispel one spell (which
exhausts smite magic so far as that target is concerned) or until
you fail all your checks. The creature’s magic items are not
affected. If an object or creature in the area is the effect of an
ongoing spell (such as a summoned monster), you can make
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an activation level check to end the spell that conjured that
object or creature (returning it to wherever it came from) in
addition to attempting to smite spells targeting the creature
or object.
Counterspell: When smite magic is used in this way, the ability
targets a spellcaster and is cast as a counterspell. Unlike a true
counterspell, however, smite magic may not work; you must
make an activation level check to counter the spellcaster’s
spell. If you have spellcasting ability from another class, you
may choose to automatically affect your own spells when
using this ability.
Expensive Component: Sometimes you need to remove magical
effects immediately, and smite magic is capable of doing so with the
aid of quite a lot of magic-pure alchemical agents. These reagents
cost 2,280 gold pieces and allow you to activate smite magic as a
swift action, or an immediate action if you are using this ability
to counter a spell.
SMITE MAGIC, GREATER
Technology (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target or Area: One spellcaster, creature, or object; or a 20-foot
radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
This ability is identical to the smite magic ability, except that
the maximum bonus you can gain on your activation level checks
is +20. In addition, the greater power of the ability allows you to
attempt to remove certain curses that are immune to the effects of
the smite magic ability; you make activation checks as normal to end
these effects. Only curses and other effects that can be removed by
the greater dispel magic spell are affected by greater smite magic.
Expensive Component: Sometimes you need to remove magical
effects immediately, and greater smite magic is capable of doing so
with the addition of an amulet constructed of rarified mimetite.
This amulet costs 3,720 gold pieces and allows you to activate
greater smite magic as a swift action, or an immediate action if you
are using this ability to counter a spell.
SPACE-WARP MODULATOR
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 0 feet
Area: 60-foot radius emanation, centered on you
Base Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 9 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
Teleportation, using known technological principles, is
quite difficult. However, research into movement through the
Astral Plane has led to some interesting applications, such as this
device. A space-warp modulator bends space around you in such a
way that creatures and objects coming towards you perceive it to
be a much greater distance than it truly is, while those heading
away from you act as though the distance were much shorter
than appearance indicates.
Moving into a square within 60 feet of you that is closer to you
than the square the creature is leaving costs a creature two squares
of movement, effectively halving its movement rate. Moving into a
square within 60 feet of you that is farther away from you than the
original square takes only half a square of movement, effectively
doubling a creature’s movement rate. Creatures are not actually
slowed down or sped up; they merely experience distances as
being much longer or shorter than they seem. This effect applies
to objects and spell effects as well — attacking you with a ranged
weapon means that the 60 feet around you counts as 120 feet
for determining the range increment and your outgoing ranged
attacks treat the first 60 feet as if they were only 30 feet.
You are always considered to be moving away from yourself
for the purposes of determining your movement rate and so
your speed (in all forms) effectively doubles while you are under
the effect of a space-warp modulator. If you follow at the rear of
a group, the group’s movement is also doubled, allowing you to
collectively cover ground more quickly.
You can reverse this device’s effects at any time simply by
taking a move action to redirect the device. Doing so causes
creatures approaching you to perceive the distance moved as less
than it appears and forces creatures moving away from you to
cover more apparent ground. The spark manufactoryis extremely versatile — if your GM approves, this
Expensive Component: Boosting the output of the warp flux dragon-shaped iron golem might even have the power to fly
capacitor widens the area of effect to a 90-foot radius emanation; (Artwork by Nathan Boyd)
this costs 1,620 gold pieces. (technology) checks instead of their original type, and you gain a
+5 circumstance bonus on all Craft (technology) checks to create
SPARK MANUFACTORY a construct’s body.
Artifact (lesser) Constructs created with a spark manufactory are identical to
Activation Time: 10 minutes the magical creations that they are based on, except that they
Range: Personal can look like anything you desire (within reason). In addition,
Target: You their special abilities are technological in nature and become
Duration: 24 hours extraordinary abilities that are not subject to spell resistance or
Activation Cost: 45 points, variable XP; see text negation by measures that normally negate these spell-like and
Weight: 1,292 lbs. supernatural abilities. The constructs’ special abilities and other
A spark manufactory is a complex, not-very-portable lab statistics are otherwise unchanged.
that allows you to create artificial animating spirits with which Expensive Components: Creating a construct with the spark
to bring to life a variety of different constructs. These creatures manufactory requires raw materials equal in value to the market
are like those created by the Craft Construct feat (MM, page price of the construct (so creating an iron golem requires 150,000
303). Using just the MM, this means that you can use a spark gold pieces in raw materials). If you wish, you may instead pay
manufactory to create a construct with stats identical to those what a wizardly creator pays, listed in each construct’s individual
of the clay golem, flesh golem, iron golem, stone golem, greater description (for instance, the alternate cost for the iron golem is
stone golem (pages 134–137), the homunculus (page 154), or the 80,000 gold pieces in raw materials and 5,600 experience points).
shield guardian (pages 223–224). Constructs from additional This is not an optional expensive component.
sources might also be created with the manufactory, as determined In addition, you can customize constructs you create with
by the GM. Any caster level requirement or particular set of spells a spark manufactory by adding superior equipment or various
that must be cast during the creation process of these constructs masterwork components. These constructs can wear armor or
is ignored when using a spark manufactory, and you do not need barding, as appropriate, although they are not proficient in it,
the Craft Construct feat to create these beings. In addition, all and can use other simple items of gear (such as alchemist’s fire)
Craft checks called for to create these constructs become Craft when commanded to do so by their creator. Any masterwork

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component meant for weapons can be applied to the construct’s
slam attack and any masterwork component meant for armor
may likewise be added directly to the construct’s natural armor,
if appropriate. You may also add the high-quality, dedicated to
a purpose, user-friendly (thereby allowing the construct to use a
specific trained-only skill, such as Tumble, untrained), and sacred/
profane skill-related components to one of these constructs.
Adding multiple legs to increase the construct’s speed by 10 feet
counts as one masterwork component and adding wheels to
increase the construct’s speed by 20 feet requires the equivalent
of two masterwork components (assuming the base construct
does not already have wheels or multiple legs). You may also
increase any adamantine-based damage reduction the construct
possesses by 1 point as though adding a masterwork component;
these increases stack, to a maximum damage reduction rating of
20/adamantine.
SPHERE OF INTRACTABLE WILL
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round
Activation Cost: 9 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
This device consists of a simple iron sphere that is often
worn as an amulet. Its simple appearance conceals sophisticated
technology that gives you extensive conscious control over your
own metabolic processes (or the equivalent of these processes
for nonhumanoid technologists). A sphere of intractable will
allows you to remain conscious even at negative hit points and
to act normally at the same time. When you become disabled or
dying, you may make a Concentration check with a DC equal to
your negative hit point total to ignore these conditions and act
normally. Even when you would normally be dead (at –10 hit
point or less), a sphere of intractable will allows you to act normally
provided you can make the requisite Concentration check. When
your focus is broken or you cease to pay the device’s activation
cost and its duration lapses, the full effects of your current hit
point total immediately apply.
Expensive Component: The addition of an alchemically-created
positive energy gate allows you to not only hold on to life by
Example – The Mark of a True Craftsman
A splendiferous scientific wonder represents the glory of
scientific progress. Because of this the technologists living
in Dromus, an important city in my campaign, use it as
a status symbol. A splendiferous scientific wonder is the first
project of any technologist associated with the Craftsmen’s
Guild (a powerful mercantile group led by technologists),
and it acts as a symbol of membership for the elite of the
Guild, differentiating true technologists from the “mere
craftspeople” that make up the organization’s rank-and-file.
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using the sphere of intractable will, but to actually recover from your
wounds. When you use this expensive component, you gain fast
healing 5 for as long as you use the sphere. The component costs
3,720 gold pieces.
SPIKEDRIVER
Gadget (standard) [Fire]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: 50 projectiles, all of which must be in contact with each
other at the time of activation
Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 2 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
A spikedriver is a boxy mechanism that heats the tips of the
targeted projectiles to a white-hot glow, causing them to deal 1d6
points of bonus fire damage when they strike. In addition, these
projectiles ignore 5 points of the target’s hardness. The heated
projectiles can easily ignite a flammable object or structure but
won’t ignite creatures they strike. Spikedrivers are most easily
used as an integrated part of a quiver or case of bolts. Any
projectile without metal parts to heat safely (such as a spear
made completely of wood) takes 1d6 points of damage per round
it remains heated.
A popular use of spikedriver-heated projectiles is to use
crossbow bolts as makeshift rivets and nail a door or similar
portal shut. Doing so takes 5 rounds and closes off the portal
just as if it were securely closed and normally locked. A portal
nailed shut in this way adds 5 to the normal DC for forcing open
the portal.
Expensive Component: A number of small mechanical
improvements to the spikedriver’s heating coils make the device
much more energy-efficient and increase its base duration to 10
minutes. These improvements cost 390 gold pieces.
SPLENDIFEROUS SCIENTIFIC WONDER
Gadget (standard) [Mind-Affecting]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Area: Several living creatures, no two of which may be more
than 30 ft. apart
Duration: 2d4 rounds (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A splendiferous scientific wonder can look like anything at all, for
the very simple reason that its only purpose is to impress. Bejeweled
clockwork animals and mechanisms made of colored glass gears
are popular. Although an astounding feat of engineering in and
of itself, the splendiferous scientific wonder is also suffused with the
same material that wheedling stones are created from — the device
thus gently encourages your audience to pay attention as you
explains the wonders of science and technology to them.
 Your histrionic gestures and energetic presentation fascinate
nearby creatures, causing them to stop and stare blankly at you. In
addition, you can use their rapt attention to make your suggestions
and requests seem more plausible. You may only affect creatures
with a lower Charisma than you with a splendiferous scientific
wonder. Only creatures that can see or hear you are affected, but
they do not need to understand you to be fascinated.
If you use this device in combat, each target gains a +2
bonus on its saving throw. If the device affects only a single
creature not in combat at the time, the saving throw has a –2
penalty.
While the subject is fascinated by this device, it reacts as
though it were two steps more friendly in attitude. This allows
you to make a single request of the affected creature, provided
you can communicate with it. The request must be brief and
reasonable. After the device’s effect wanes, the creature retains
its new attitude toward you only with respect to that particular
request. The effects of a splendiferous scientific wonder are too subtle
for targets to notice on a failed save. However, creatures may
wonder why they were so helpful to that overly-dramatic fellow
with the funny toy if their friendliness toward you is greatly out
of character for them. A successful save indicates that the creature
felt a compulsion, but is unaware of its source or what its effect
would have been.
Expensive Component: The radiation generated by a
splendiferous scientific wonder is usually unfocused and undirected.
However, you can augment the device to allow yourself some
control over its effects. Doing so means that you need not rely
on your natural persuasiveness as much, and you may use your
Intelligence modifier instead of your Charisma modifier to
determine which creatures can be affected by the scientific wonder.
This augmentation costs 390 gold pieces.
SPRING-HEELED JACKBOOTS
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 3 lbs.
A tiny engine coils a small but powerful spring in the heel of
this heavy military-style leather boot when the device is activated,
allowing the adventurous wearer to make truly prodigious leaps
as the spring releases its stored energy.
You gain a +10 enhancement bonus on all Jump checks. The
enhancement bonus increases to +20 at activation level 5th, and
to +30 (the maximum) at activation level 9th.
Expensive Component: Wearers who demands more mobility
can upgrade the spring-heeled jackboots at a cost of 390 gold
pieces. This upgrade increases the device’s base duration to 10
minutes.
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STEAMPLUNKER
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range Increment: Long (400 feet)
Target: A single item in your possession, weighing up to 10 lbs.
total
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
A steamplunker launches a single item weigh up to 10 pounds
very far and at a high speed by firing it out of a steam compression
cannon. You must make a ranged attack roll to hit the target or
location you specify.
This device protects the item from any damage caused by
the launching (for example, an egg would not crack from being
hurled by this device, nor would a flask of alchemist’s fire break
from the sudden acceleration) but it does not protect the hurled
item from damage caused by striking a designated target.
The steamplunker has two settings, which you can choose
between when you activate the device. The low-powered setting
simply delivers the “cargo,” and does so softly enough to preserve a
glass vial from breakage if you succeed at an activation level check
(DC 10 + 2 per range increment after the first). The high setting
automatically breaks the launched object if it has a hardness of
less than 5 but also deals 2d6 point of bludgeoning damage to
the creature or object struck, making the steamplunker suitable for
use as a weapon.
Expensive Component: A special launch egg, costing 390 gold
pieces, increases the steamplunker’s range increment to 1,200 feet.
Note, however, that making effective use of such a long range is
difficult at best.
STICKYFOAM NEUTRALIZER
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: A blob of stickyfoam
Duration: 1d6 rounds
Saving Throw: Reflex partial
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 5 lbs.
This device alchemically alters tanglefoot bags into a much
more effective enemy-neutralizing substance and then launches
the resulting goo at your opponents. The stickyfoam neutralizer
produces masses of sticky strings that splatter on the target,
pinning it in place and forming a frothing cloud of green fog
around the affected being to prevent it from attacking effectively.
You make a ranged touch attack to strike your intended target,
which must be of Large size or smaller. If you succeed the creature
must make a Reflex save or it is glued to the floor. Even if it
succeeds at this saving throw, the creature is entangled (it suffers
a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to Dexterity) and can
only move at half speed. A flying creature is not stuck to the floor,
but if it uses wings to fly it must make a Reflex save or it is unable
to continue flying and begins to fall.
In addition, a dense foaming mist roils across the body of
an affected creature whether it makes its saving throw or not and
obscures the creature’s sight. All attacks that enter, exit, or pass
through the square or squares occupied by a creature affected by
the stickyfoam neutralizer must contend with total concealment
and thus suffer a 50% miss chance. The affected creature’s square
also blocks line of sight, and an affected creature is effectively
blinded (it cannot see and takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class,
loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), moves at half speed, and
takes a –4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and
Dexterity-based skill checks).
A creature that is glued to the floor (or one rendered unable
to fly) can break free by making a DC 19 Strength check or by
dealing 20 points of damage to the goo with a slashing weapon.
A creature trying to scrape goo off itself, or another creature
assisting, does not need to make an attack roll; hitting the
goo is automatic (in terms of AC — a creature must still check
concealment due to the stickyfoam’s concealing fog). Once free,
the creature can move (including flying) at half speed. A character
affected by the goo that is capable of spellcasting must make a
DC 17 Concentration check to cast a spell. The goo evaporates
into a translucent slime after 1d6 rounds, freeing the creature
and causing the blinding green fog to immediately disperse.
The stickyfoam neutralizer does not function underwater.
Expensive Components: A single tanglefoot bag (costing 50
gold pieces) must be loaded into the stickyfoam neutralizer for it
to function. This is not an optional expensive component. You
may also add a clockwork sorter and an alchemical intensifier
to the neutralizer; doing so causes it to affect multiple targets.
The necessary components cost 1,530 gold pieces. You select a
primary target and then a number of secondary targets up to your
activation level. Only the primary target needs to make a Reflex
saving throw to avoid being pinned to the floor but the secondary
targets are still covered in the blinding mist if you succeed at the
ranged touch attack roll to hit them.
STYLUS OF ARCANE MIMEOGRAPHY
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: See text
Effect: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: Will disbelief (if interacted with); varies; see text
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 1 lb.
The stylus of arcane mimeography uses brightly-colored quasi-
real holograms to write on any available surface. It is the ultimate
in precision technology for the accomplished scribe. The stylus
can write on any surface, solid or liquid, and can even be used to
sketch a pattern in the air in front of you. In fact, it is so effective
that it is capable of precisely copying magical glyphs that can
normally only be created by accomplished spellcasters.
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Each time you activate the stylus, you can duplicate any one
of the following effects: arcane lock, arcane mark, explosive runes, fire
trap, greater glyph of warding, illusory script, mark of justice, rainbow
pattern, secret page, sepia snake sigil, symbol of fear, symbol of pain, symbol
of persuasion, symbol of sleep, symbol of stunning, symbol of weakness.
At the game master’s option, you may also be able to duplicate
additional writing-based spells and effects with the stylus of arcane
mimeography.
Your caster level for these effects is identical to your
activation level and the spell’s save DC is your device save DC.
Any expensive material components normally required for these
spells is still required. However, because you are not a true mage,
these spell effects are only quasi-real — the mystic symbol draws
in ambient magical energy to make itself functional but is quite
unreliable when called upon. Make a Forgery check — the check
result, rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5, is the degree
of reality your forged symbols possess. Creatures who fail their
Will saves and believe the full reality of your symbols are affected
normally, but objects and creatures that save are subject to a
reduced effect.
For instance, if you used a stylus of arcane mimeography to
create a fire trap and rolls a 32 for your Forgery check, the fire trap
spell would work normally against creatures triggering it if they
failed a Will save. Objects in the area and creatures that made
their saving throw would only take 30% of the normal damage. If
you had instead forged an arcane lock, creatures who succeeded at
their saving throws would only be 30% likely to be unable to open
the warded door.
Expensive Component: Special alchemical crystals that draw
magic into the area while you write can be used in conjunction
with the stylus. These crystals cost 750 gold pieces and make the
resulting spell effect 20% more real against those that succeed on
their Will saves.
SUBLIMATION CHAMBER
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 8 hours
Range: Touch
Target: One valuable nonmagical item with no single dimension
greater than 5 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 27 lbs.
High technology is an expensive vocation, and so money-
minded technologists turn to this device to quickly increase
their funds. It appears as a boxy metallic chamber replete with
strange-looking dials and a clear glass bubble looking into an
inner chamber. When you place an object inside you employ the
sublimation chamber’s array of sophisticated matter-manipulation
tools to make very minor changes in the object — brightening
the colors of a painting, adjusting the facets of a gemstone for
greater clarity, or cleaning a thousand years of dungeon grime off
a piece of jewelry. The sublimation chamber cannot change the item
radically; a painting cannot become an entirely different painting,
and a pearl cannot be changed into a ruby.
These changes have the effect of increasing the value of the
object you are working on, provided that it has a value of at least
100 gold pieces to begin with. Otherwise, the very minor changes
that a sublimation chamber is capable of have no substantial effect
on the object’s worth. At the end of the 8-hour activation time you
roll an Appraise check and twice the check result in gold pieces
is added to the value of the item. A sublimation chamber may not
increase the value of an item beyond 150% of its original value, no
matter how many times you use it.
SUPPRESS SPELL
Gadget (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 immediate action
Range: 0
Target: One spell effect active on your person
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 5 points
By summoning a momentary surge of antimagic you attempt
to suppress a single spell you are currently suffering from. Roll
1d20 and add your activation level (to a maximum of +5) against
a DC of 11 + the caster level of the spell. If you are successful
the targeted spell is suppressed for one round, after which time it
resumes its normal effects. Time spent suppressed by this ability
counts against the spell’s duration. You can activate this device
instantly, before a spell fully takes effect on your person. If you
continue to activate the device at the same time every round
the suppressed spell’s effect can be delayed indefinitely without
requiring additional activation level checks.
This device only works against spells that have you as their
target. It does nothing against spells that simply include you
in their area of effect or against touch spells. It does, however,
work normally against spells with an instantaneous duration,
suppressing their effects until your suppression lapses for any
reason.
Expensive Component: A metallic amulet attuned to this ability
allows you to put more of your personal power into suppress spell’s
effects. This increases the maximum bonus from your activation
to +10, but has no effect if your activation level is not sufficient to
grant you a bonus on your activation level check greater than 5.
The amulet costs 390 gold pieces.
SWIFT STRIDERS
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 3 lbs.
Stylish and effective, swift striders allow you to move with
great, bounding strides and grant you a +30 foot enhancement
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bonus to your land speed. There is no effect on other modes
of movement, such as burrow, climb, fly, or swim. As with any
effect that increases your speed, this device affects your jumping
distance (see the Jump skill on page 77 of the PHB).
Expensive Component: Swift striders are not designed for long-
term use but they can be reconfigured to function for extended
periods of time at a cost of 390 gold pieces. This upgrade increases
the device’s base duration to 10 minutes, thereby allowing you to
significantly improve your overland speed.
TEACUP’S TINY TINKERERS
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range Increment: 10 feet; see text
Target: Up to 5 cubic feet/level; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (but see text)
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
This device appears as an innocuous glass jar holding a
swarm of tiny black beetle-like machines. This swarm consists
of hundreds upon hundreds of tiny high-tech machines that
respond to your mental commands. When the jar is unstoppered,
the machines swarm out and over any object within range and
rebuild it to your specifications before returning automatically
to their jar.
The machines convert material or materials of one sort into a
product made from the same material or materials, although they
cannot affect magical items or substances in any way. The tiny
tinkerers are also restricted to modifying existing material within
range in various ways and may not create raw materials where
none existed before. The quality of items produced is generally
commensurate with the quality of materials used, but you must
also make a Craft check to fabricate items that require a Craft
DC of 15 or higher to produce through normal means. While at
work, the tiny tinkerers are treated as a swarm of Fine creatures
with hit points equal to twice your activation level. Creatures
in the area of the affected materials while you are activating the
tiny tinkerers take 1d6 points of damage per round and must save
against your Fortitude save DC every round they remain in the
area or be nauseated for 1 round. This device cannot be used to
add to your current pool of craft points as a normal use of the
Craft skill can.
Teacup’s tiny tinkerers have a special application of its range
increment. Due to the small size of the beetle-constructs they are
very slow when moving across open ground, and the activation
time of this device increases by 1 full round for each range
increment past the first that the tinkerers must move across or
encompass to accomplish their assigned task. For example,
converting a pile of lumber 20 feet away and 30 feet long into a
ship’s hull would increase the tiny tinkerers’ activation time to 5
full rounds — 1 round for the base activation, 1 round to travel 10
feet beyond the first 10 feet, and 3 more rounds to fully encompass
the area of the chosen raw materials.
 Expensive Component: The original materials cost one-third of
the finished item’s market value, the same raw materials cost as
standard crafting. This is not an optional expensive component.
In addition, you may stimulate the tinkerers into filling their
vial more densely, allowing them to affect 10 cubic feet per level
instead of 5. This upgrade costs 750 gold pieces and has the effect
of changing the swarm into a single mass of beetle-like constructs
while they are dormant in their jar.
TEACUP’S TINY TRAVELING TERRORS
Artifact (standard) [Force]
Activation Time: 1 minute
Range: One mile
Effect: Ten or more levitating eye beads
Duration: 1 hour; see text (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 18 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
Teacup’s tiny traveling terrors are Fine crystalline beads that
have had limited intelligence and independent flight capabilities
temporarily infused into them. They can be used to scout out an
area or as effective sentries or hunter-killers. After you activate the
beads, they arise from their storage container (which looks like
a large glass jar) and move off to do your bidding based on your
initial instructions and some limited access to your knowledge
gained via an artificial telepathic link.
This device generates a number of eye beads equal to your
activation level. These eyes move out, scout around, and return
as you direct them when activating the tiny traveling terrors.
Each eye can see 120 feet (normal vision only) in all directions.
Individual eye beads are quite fragile, but small and difficult to
spot. Each crystalline bead is a Fine construct, about the size
of a largish marble, that has 1 hit point, AC 18 (+8 size bonus),
flies at a speed of 30 feet with perfect maneuverability, and has
a total of a +20 bonus to Hide checks. Each bead has a Spot skill
check modifier equal to your activation level (maximum +25) and
is subject to illusions, darkness, fog, and any other factors that
would affect your ability to receive visual information about your
surroundings. An eye traveling through darkness must find its
way by touch and risks bumping into a wall and being destroyed.
When you activate the traveling terrors, you imprint the
instructions they will follow in the form of a command of no
more than twenty-five words. Any knowledge you possess is
known to the eyes as well, via the mental link. In order to report
their findings, the eye beads must return to your hand. Each
replays in your mind all it has seen during its existence. It takes
an eye 1 round to replay 1 hour of recorded images. After relaying
its findings, an eye shatters (is destroyed). If an eye ever gets
more than 1 mile away from you (the range of the mental link),
it instantly becomes dormant and falls to the ground. However,
your link with the eyes is such that you won’t know if an eye was
destroyed because it wandered out of range or because of some
other event. The eyes exist for as long as you maintain them, until
they return to you, or until they attack a target (see below).
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Teacup’s tiny traveling terrors can also be dispatched to damage
creatures and objects. When you activate the device, you infuse
the beads with kinetic energy, which they normally use to fly. Each
eye bead can also expend this kinetic energy (and destroy itself in
the process) if a specific condition is met. For instance, you could
order the traveling terrors to space themselves evenly around your
campsite and attack the first creature of Small size or larger that
they see. All told, your tiny traveling terrors can deal 1d6 points of
force damage per activation level (maximum 25d6). You divide
this damage potential amongst them as you see fit when you
activate the traveling terrors. When its attack condition is triggered,
each eye makes a single ranged touch attack roll with a bonus
equal to your activation level plus your Intelligence modifier; if
successful, the eye deals its damage and then is destroyed. You
could split this damage up evenly to ensure that a wide area
is protected, or you could concentrate it all in one eye bead to
maximize your damage potential.
Expensive Component: You must have a number of special
crystal beads in this device’s kinetic infusion chamber to turn
into the traveling terrors. These beads cost a total of 250 gold
pieces and are not an optional expensive component. Teacup’s tiny
traveling terrors are not terribly useful as a generalized offensive
weapon because it takes a while to charge the crystalline lattice
of the beads with both kinetic energy and minimal awareness.
By using specially-prepared memory crystals, you can speed this
process up dramatically and reduce this device’s activation time
to 1 standard action. This expensive component costs 2,340 gold
pieces.
TECHNOLOGIST’S FAMILIAR
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 feet
Effect: One Tiny animated object
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 3 lbs.
A technologist’s familiar is a spider-like clockwork construct
that performs simple tasks at your command. It can run and
fetch things, open unstuck doors, and hold chairs, as well as clean
and mend. The familiar can perform only one activity at a time,
but it repeats the same activity over and over again if told to do so
for as long as you remain within range. It can only open normal
doors, drawers, lids, and the like. It has a Strength score of 8 and
is essentially a quadruped, so it can lift 60 pounds or drag 300.
It can trigger traps and such, but it can exert only 60 pounds of
force, which is not enough to activate certain very heavy pressure
plates and other devices. The technologist’s familiar cannot perform
any task that requires a skill check with a DC higher than 10 or
that requires a check using a skill that can’t be used untrained.
An activated technologist’s familiar is a Tiny animated object
that has hardness 10, a movement rate of 60 feet (due to its
multiple legs), and temporary hit points equal to your activation
level. It can attack just as well as any forth. You can also detect simple pits, deadfalls, and snares as well
other animated object. If you attempt as other mechanical traps. However, this device does not detect
to send the familiar beyond its 60- magical traps unless they have an obvious physical component,
foot range it immediately throws such as an otherwise normal pit trap with a magical trigger. The
a gear or otherwise breaks amount of information revealed depends on how long you
down. You may control only study a particular area:
one technologist’s familiar at 1st Round: Presence or absence of hazards or secret
any given time. doors.
Expensive Components: 2nd Round: Number of hazards and secret doors and
Many technologists the locations of each. If an object is outside your line
choose to customize their of effect, then you discern its direction but not its exact
familiar by adding superior location.
equipment or various Each Additional Round: The general type and trigger
masterwork components. for one particular hazard closely examined by you, or
A technologist’s familiar can the mechanism or entryway for one specific secret
wear armor, although it portal you examine.
is not proficient in it, and This device does not require line of effect but
can use other simple items Atechnologist’s familiarcan easily be made to look far more there must be physical evidence of an object in the
of gear (such as a dangerous than it really is (Artwork by Marco Fiorito) area you examine for you to find it. For example, a
tanglefoot bag) when commanded to do so by its creator. Any trap door partially hidden by a rug could be found and its exact
masterwork component meant for weapons can be applied to the dimensions discerned, but a trap totally hidden in another room
construct’s slam attack and any masterwork component meant behind a closed wooden door could not be detected and analyzed
for armor may likewise be added if appropriate. You may also add with a technologist’s magnifying glass even if the pit trap were within
the high-quality, dedicated to a purpose, sacred/profane, or user- 60 feet of you.
friendly (thereby allowing the construct to use a specific trained- Expensive Component: Technologists traveling through truly
only skill, such as Profession, untrained) skill-related components trap-infested areas (such as kobold warrens) can pack redundant
to one of these constructs. In addition, any of the special abilities gears and cogs into the technologist’s magnifying glass to reduce the
listed in the animated objects entry (blind, constrict, and so forth) effect of magical interference on its operation. This expensive
may be added in lieu of a masterwork component. Adding wheels component increases the device’s base duration to 1 minute and
to increase the construct’s speed also counts as one masterwork costs 390 gold pieces.
component. You may increase the hardness of the construct
by 1 as though adding a masterwork component as well; these TERRAIN ATTUNEMENT
increases stack, to a maximum hardness of 20. Technology (lesser)
Technologist’s familiars are made to be tinkered with constantly, Activation Time: 2 hours; see text
and you can change the specific masterwork components the Range: Touch
familiar benefits from during your daily preparation period. Doing Target: Living creature touched
so requires a DC 15 Craft (technology) skill check, and allows you Duration: Instantaneous
to freely alter any masterwork component the familiar currently Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
has into any other single masterwork component. Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 10 lbs.
TECHNOLOGIST’S MAGNIFYING GLASS Terrain attunement is a long-term alchemical regimen that
Gadget (standard) [Divination] adjusts the subject’s body to better adapt it to a given terrain.
Activation Time: 1 standard action Fully activating this device requires four consecutive activations
Range: 60 feet over the course of 8 hours for 7 continuous days. Each day costs
Area: Cone-shaped emanation a total of 60 activation points. After successfully performing the
Base Duration: 1 round (D) infusion procedure you may select one bonus to permanently
Saving Throw: None grant to the subject, chosen from the list below:
Activation Cost: 2 points • Explorer’s Balm: Subjects gain a +3 alchemical bonus to saves
Weight: 2 lbs. against poison and disease.
A technologist’s magnifying glass is a complex orb of sliding lenses • Nomad’s Boon: Subjects gain a +2 alchemical bonus on all
and mirrors that allows you to examine an area in minute detail Ride checks, Handle Animal checks, and Spot checks.
by adjusting magnification, focus, and the relative position of • Night Eyes: Subjects gain a +5 alchemical bonus to Spot
different parts of the area to analyze it from all possible angles. checks to notice things concealed by darkness. This ability
You can detect secret doors, compartments, caches, and so does not actually grant darkvision or low-light vision.

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 • Climber’s Agility: Subjects gain a +3 alchemical bonus to
Climb checks and a +5 alchemical bonus to Jump or Tumble
checks made to intentionally jump down from a height.
• Swimmer’s Breath: Subjects gain a +5 alchemical bonus on
Constitution checks to avoid drowning.
• Forager’s Instinct: Subjects gain a +3 alchemical bonus on
Survival checks.
• Flame Attunement: This treatment provides fire resistance 3.
• Frost Attunement: This treatment provides cold resistance 3.
• Lightning Dancer: This treatment provides electricity resistance
3.
• Marshwalker’s Protection: This treatment provides acid
resistance 3.
You may apply multiple effects to the same subject but each new
effect requires an additional terrain attunement treatment course
to be effective: one effect requires one treatment, adding a second
requires two more 7-day treatments, and so forth.
This application of alchemy is unusual in that it tends to
have more radical effects on the subject’s physiology than the
aqua treatments — cold-attuned creatures tend to have slightly
lower body temperatures than normal, creatures granted the
explorer’s balm sometimes appear to be slightly jaundiced, and
so forth. This has no game effect but it does make it somewhat
easier to recognize the beneficiaries of this alchemical boon.
The 10-pound weight of this device represents the distilling
device that creates the potion. A dose of the potion itself is
effectively weightless.
Expensive Components: Various alchemical compounds costing
a total of 300 gold pieces. This component is not optional.
A technologist and his trinicoil get some quality time
(Artwork by Juan Navarro)
TRINICOIL
Gadget (greater) [Electricity] All other creatures within 10 feet take 1d6 points of electricity
Activation Time: 1 full round splash damage as well (no save).
Range: 120 feet Expensive Component: Bulbs that release a noxious copper-
Effect: Ray based solution onto the generating gears of the trinicoil when it
Base Duration: 1 round (D) is activated significantly increase the device’s electrical output
Saving Throw: None and double the range of the electrical ray to 240 feet. These bulbs
Activation Cost: 3 points cost 390 gold pieces and last for the duration of the trinicoil’s
Weight: 15 lbs. activation.
To activate this device, you must slam it into the ground,
trigger grounding hooks to anchor it, and aim the trinicoil. TULLIUS’S EFFICACIOUS NOSTRUM
Whirring gears create an intense static charge and release a ray Gadget (standard) [Healing]
of electricity 120 feet long that deals 1d6 points of electricity Activation Time: 1 full-round action
damage per activation level (maximum 10d6) to the creature or Range: Touch
object it strikes. Target: Living creature touched
A creature (not necessarily yourself) must remain in the same Duration: Instantaneous; see text
square as the trinicoil to keep it activated, and can aim the device as Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
a standard action, making the attack roll to hit a creature within Activation Cost: 10 points
range with the ray of electrical energy as it does so. The ray of Weight: 1/10 lb.
electricity always originates from the grounded center where the A marvel of modern medicinal technology and a miracle
coil was planted into the ground. of energetic advertising, Tullius’s efficacious nostrum stimulates a
If you activate the trinicoil when it is not properly grounded, rapid recovery from injuries. This alchemical remedy shares the
you are struck by the electricity it generates and take 1d6 points of appearance common to most of Tullius’s work: green sludge
electricity damage per activation level, with a Reflex save for half. injected via a dangerous-looking hypodermic needle.

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 When applied to a wounded character, the nostrum first
converts 1d6 points of lethal damage plus 1 point per activation
level (to a maximum of 1d6+10 points) into nonlethal damage as
the elixir begins its work. One minute later, the nostrum heals 2d6
points of nonlethal damage plus 2 points per activation level (to
a maximum of 2d6+20 points).
The listed weight is for one dose of Tullius’s efficacious
nostrum.
Expensive Components: The ingredients for the nostrum cost
5 gold pieces per dose. This is not an optional component. You
can also increase the amount healed by this device by 50% with a
concentrated injection that costs 390 gold pieces.
TULLIUS’S MIRACULOUS VITAMIN SUPPLEMENT
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full round
Range: Living humanoid touched
Duration: 8 hours or until discharged
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 1/10 lb.
Tullius’s miraculous vitamin supplement is a potent cocktail
of alchemical substances which causes most human and
demihuman races to spontaneously generate positive energy in
their body’s tissues, granting them 2d6 temporary hit points plus
1 temporary hit point per activation level (maximum of 2d6+10)
for the device’s duration. Another one of Tullius’s concoctions,
the supplement comes in an unpleasant-looking syringe and
resembles a thick green sludge, but its effects are dramatic enough
to warrant the discomfort..
The listed weight is for one dose of Tullius’s miraculous vitamin
supplement.
Expensive Components: The ingredients for this potent elixir
cost 5 gold pieces per dose. This expensive component is not
optional. You can also administer a refined dose of the miraculous
vitamin supplement for greater effect. This dose increases the
number of temporary hit points granted to 4d6 + your activation
level and costs 390 gold pieces.
TULLIUS’S MORPHOLOGICAL DIAGNOSTICIAN
Technology (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 10 minutes (D)
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
Tullius’s morphological diagnostician is a dedicated computing
device connected to a monocle-like sensor that analyzes nearby
creatures and determines their anatomical strengths and
weaknesses. This has two effects: a bonus on Heal checks and an
intimate understanding of how best to injure the target.
120
You gain a +5 insight bonus to all Heal checks and to all
Knowledge checks made to identify a creature while using Tullius’s
morphological diagnostician. Additionally, you may assess a creature
within 30 feet as a standard action that does not provoke an attack
of opportunity. Roll a Heal check when you do so, including the
bonus from the diagnostician. If the check result is less than 20, the
attempt is wasted. If it is 20 or more, you gain sneak attack +1d6
for every 10 full points of the check. For instance, a Heal check
result of 37 would grant you sneak attack +3d6, with this bonus
damage applying only against creatures you have scanned with
the morphological diagnostician. You gain these extra dice of sneak
attack damage for 1 minute or until you scan a target again.
Expensive Component: Boosting the processing speed of
the diagnostician requires 3,720 gold pieces’ worth of expensive
components, but allows you to assess a sneak attack target as a
swift action instead of as a standard action. As long as the device
remains activated, you may assess targets at this accelerated
speed.
TULLIUS’S POTENT CATHOLICON
Technology (greater) [Healing]
Activation Time: 3 rounds
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 9 lbs.
This medical device, which is festooned with cylinders
of thick green healing liquid and various less-identifiable
substances, automatically scans the creature it is touched to
and injects chemical and alchemical remedies designed for rapid
recuperation from a variety of ailments into the creature. The
catholicon thus functions like an automated and more efficient
engineered panacea.
When applied to a wounded character, Tullius’s potent catholicon
first converts 4d6 points of lethal damage plus 1 point per
activation level (to a maximum of 4d6+20 points) into nonlethal
damage. One minute later, the catholicon heals 8d6 points of
nonlethal damage plus 2 points per activation level (maximum of
8d6+40 points), even if the creature touched is no longer in range.
At the same time that it heals nonlethal damage, the catholicon
also removes all temporary ability damage the targeted creature
is currently suffering from, removes the fatigued or exhausted
conditions, and restores all points that have been permanently
drained from a single ability score.
Expensive Components: One dose of the chemicals employed by
Tullius’s potent catholicon costs 50 gold pieces. This is not an optional
expensive component. The catholicon is normally bulky and slow
to use, but refined healing compounds may be loaded into it to
increase its usefulness on the battlefield. These chemicals, which
cost 1,620 gold pieces, reduce the device’s activation time to one
full round and cause all of the catholicon’s effects to take place
immediately, instead of after a one-minute delay.
TULLIUS’S SWAN SONG
Artifact (standard)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: Touch
Target: Willing living creature touched
Duration: 24 hours or until discharged; then 1d4 rounds or
more; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
Tullius’s swan song is both an appallingly pragmatic tool and
a pinnacle of medical of science. When you activate this heavy,
ornate syringe you plunge it into a creature’s flesh, where it quickly
fills with blood (or whatever ichors are appropriate) and converts
that vital fluid into a green sludge with amazing properties before
injecting the sludge back into the target creature. After the swan
song finishes distilling this elixir, the creature whose blood was
used in the activation may take a swift action at any time in the
next 24 hours to allow the substance to have its full effect and to
initiate a momentous transformation in the affected creature’s
own anatomy and metabolism.
Creatures affected by Tullius’s swan song do not suffer hit
point damage, although they can still be slain by death effects and
outright disintegration. However, once the device’s effect fades, the
creature is immediately reduced to –9 hit points and will die in one
round unless it receives prompt healing or medical treatment.
This device’s duration after the affected creature discharges it
is determined by a Heal check you make when activating the device.
Tullius’s swan song lasts for 1d4 rounds + 1 round per ten full points
of your Heal check result (so rolling a total of 42 on the Heal check
grants 1d4 + 4 rounds of damage-proof life to the target creature).
Expensive Component: The bodily transformation caused by
the swan song is a radical one and is generally fatal for creatures
affected by the device. By incorporating a crushed gateway gem
linked to a plane of positive energy into the serum, you reduce
the chance of death after the swan song’s duration elapses. When
using this gem, which costs 2,340 gold pieces, creatures affected
by Tullius’s swan song are reduced to only –1 hit points when
the effect wears off and are considered stabilized (they will not
automatically lose further hit points) without the need for
immediate medical attention.
UMBRAL HEART CLOAK
Technology (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Activation Cost: 6 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A cloak in effect, not in appearance, this light metal sash,
worn across the chest, collects and redistributes light via tiny
spun-glass filaments when activated. The device creates a
shimmering, chameleon-like effect that conceals your presence.
121
Only very slight distortions at the edges of your figure offer any
chance of spotting you, and you are effectively invisible while
using the umbral heart cloak. You are only concealed from sight,
however, and smells and sounds may give away your presence or
even your precise location.
Items you carry are also shielded by an umbral heart cloak,
although they become fully visible if they are dropped or extend
10 feet or more away from you. If you pick up an item and
secret it on your person, it becomes invisible as though you were
carrying it when you activated this device. Physical light sources
are made invisible by the cloak, but their light can shine through
your concealment and continue to provide illumination if you
so desire. Rapid motions, such as those made in combat, are no
problem for the umbral heart cloak’s computerized compensators,
and you remain invisible even when attacking.
Expensive Component: Adding redundancies to an umbral
heart cloak prevents it from revealing your presence even when
running at less than full efficiency. This addition has the effect of
increasing the device’s base duration to 1 minute because you can
space reactivation out over a longer period. When so modified,
the umbral heart cloak becomes useful for longer infiltrations. This
expensive component costs 1,620 gold pieces.
UNCTUOUS BUBBLER
Gadget (standard)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Area: 10-foot radius burst
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: See text
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
An unctuous bubbler launches a large, shimmering bubble of
slime from a wide-mouthed launcher and douses an area with
a layer of slippery goop. You must make a ranged touch attack
against an AC of 5 to hit the appropriate grid intersection. You
take a –4 penalty on this attack roll because the slime bubble is
hard to aim. Any creature in the area when the bubble strikes
must make a successful Reflex save or fall. This save is repeated on
your turn each round that the creature remains within the area.
A creature can walk within or through the slimed area at half
normal speed with a DC 10 Balance check. Failure means that it
can’t move that round and must then make a Reflex save or fall,
while failure by 5 or more means it automatically falls without
benefit of a saving throw (see the Balance skill for details).
This spell also creates a slippery coating on unattended
items, which are automatically affected. You may also make a
ranged touch attack to slime an object wielded or employed by a
creature, who receives a Reflex saving throw to avoid immediately
dropping the item. This saving throw must be repeated in each
round that the creature attempts to pick up or use the slimed
item. A creature wearing slimed armor or clothing gains a +10
circumstance bonus on Escape Artist checks and on grapple
checks made to resist or escape a grapple or to escape a pin.
 An unctuous bubbler’s slime degrades after 1 minute into a
foul-smelling watery substance.
Expensive Component: If you infuse the unctuous bubbler with
two doses of any contact poison the slime bubble created by the
bubbler becomes poisonous and exposes all creatures in the area
of effect to the poison you employed. If you wish, you can choose
to permanently apply this effect with your Master of Gadgetry
class ability.
VELOCIOUS FOOTGEAR
Gadget (greater)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet); see text
Target: You; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 15 points
Weight: 4 lbs.
Velocious footgear is the enterprising technologist’s answer
to the wizard’s dimension door spell. This pair of heavy iron-shod
boots utilizes the fabulous tensile strength of mithral springs to
propel you forward in a single fast burst. The burst of movement
the device generates is blindingly fast, in fact. Blindingly,
uncontrollably fast. All you can really do is activate the mechanism,
which immediately begins to hum loudly with unreleased energy,
and point yourself in the direction you wish to go.
You instantly transfer yourself from your current location
to any other spot within range to which you have line of effect.
Since using the footgear is less like walking and more like being
fired from a small catapult, you can even move on surfaces that
could not ordinarily support your weight, including water and
even air, although you will be very wet or falling if you do not
select your destination carefully. You can bring along possessions
weighing up to your medium load, including living creatures
that meet the weight restriction. Movement caused by
the use of velocious footgear does not provoke attacks
of opportunity — the rogue hasn’t been born whose
combat reflexes are that quick — but you cannot
move through solid objects or squares that would be
completely impassable by air.
Movement within the first range increment
is perfectly safe, but beyond that range you must
make an activation level check (DC 0 + 5 per range
increment beyond the first). Success means that you
have successfully aimed yourself and timed the springs’
release of energy. Failure means that the result of the
movement is calculated as though you were a grenade-
like weapon that missed — roll scatter normally.
Expensive Component: A clockwork mechanism
added to the soles of the velocious footgear helps you aim
your spring and increases the device’s range increment
to 50 feet. This mechanism costs 390 gold pieces.
A technologist experiments with combining a verbal weirding module with a jabberblaster
(Artwork by Juan Navarro)
122
VERBAL WEIRDING MODULE
Technology (standard) [Sonic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Area: 10-foot-radius spread
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Activation Cost: 30 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
This device, an angular-looking object of no easily discerned
purpose, is worn clamped to the throat. When you speak into it
your words are filtered through a complex crystalline lattice and
amplified to produce a blast of damaging sonic energy. Or at
least that’s the theory — in actuality, the weirding module is quite
temperamental and different words produce blasts of wildly
varying size and power. Thus, the weapon can only be used to its
full potential by a skilled linguist.
When you activate the verbal weirding module it produces a
blast of sonic energy up to 120 feet away (a distance of 5 range
increments) and deals 1d6 points of sonic energy damage per
activation level (maximum 15d6) in a 10-foot radius spread
(Reflex half). However, this device’s characteristics also improve
based on the number of languages you know, counting both your
starting languages and those gained through ranks in the Speak
Language skill. These improvements are as follows:
5–8 Languages Known: The radius of the spread increases by 5
feet, to a total of 15 feet.
9–12 Languages Known: The module’s range increment increases
to Medium (100 feet).
13–16 Languages Known: The radius of the spread increases
another 5 feet, to 20 feet total.
17–20 Languages Known: You gain the ability to shape the
device’s area somewhat and can omit any number of
 individual squares from the area of effect. This ability
allows you to selectively deal damage to creatures and
objects in the area.
21+ Languages Known: Upon learning your 21st language, and
for every 4 languages thereafter (once at 25 languages, again
at 29 languages, and so on), the damage dealt by the weirding
module increases by 1d6, even if this would take the damage
dealt over your activation level cap.
Expensive Component: Because of its theoretically unlimited
damage potential, efforts toward improving the verbal weirding
module have focused on making it easier to use. By specially
preparing the device’s crystalline amplification matrix beforehand,
you may use this device as a swift action. This chemical preparation
costs 3,720 gold pieces.
VIBROWAND
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: Creature or creatures touched
Base Duration: 1 round (D)
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 3 lbs.
A vibrowand is a metal rod containing complicated gears
that cause a blade at the end of the device to vibrate rapidly and
chatter loudly when activated. By making a melee attack roll with
the vibrowand you may strike a creature with it, dealing 1d6 points
of slashing damage with a ×3 critical. You may add your Strength
modifier to the damage dealt; a vibrowand is considered to be a one-
handed weapon regardless of who uses it. In addition, a creature
struck must make a Fortitude saving throw or take 1 point of
Constitution damage from the tearing and sawing of the blade.
An inactivated vibrowand is identical to a dagger, except that
it cannot be thrown.
Expensive Components: The actual workings of a vibrowand
are separated from the blade, unlike with most devices. Thus, a
vibrowand can have masterwork components applied to it like
another weapon and retains any weapon enhancements it has
even while activated. Thus, a +2 vibrowand gains a +2 enhancement
bonus to attack rolls made with it and the damage that it deals
even when activated and in use.
VISCID BARRIER
Gadget (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 400 feet
Target: Anchored plane of thick antimagical slime, up to one
10-foot square/level, or a hemisphere of slime with a radius
of up to 3 feet + 1 foot/level
Base Duration: 1 minute (D)
Saving Throw: Reflex negates; see text
Activation Cost: 3 points
123
A viscid barrier is a wall of congealed antimagical energy that
has the appearance and consistency of many-days-old porridge.
This device creates an anchored plane of this thickened slime, or
a hemisphere of the same material, as you desire. A viscid barrier
cannot form in an area occupied by physical objects or creatures;
when created, it must have a smooth and unbroken surface. Any
creature adjacent to the wall when it is created may, if it desires,
attempt a Reflex to disrupt the viscid barrier as it forms, and a
successful save indicates that the ability automatically fails.
The viscid barrier is opaque and blocks spells and other
effects for as long as it lasts, but most creatures can push
through the wall with no harm to it or to themselves. This
requires a DC 15 Strength check and costs 5 feet of movement (as
though the square containing the barrier were difficult terrain).
Nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders, and the
undead (even incorporeal undead) find the viscid barrier to be
completely impermeable and must destroy it to pass.
When attacked directly, each 10-foot section of wall has a
hardness of 0 and 2 hit points per activation level. If a creature
of the magical construct, elemental, outsider, or undead types
attempts to knock down the wall with a single attack, the Strength
check DC is 15 + your activation level. Creatures who are not
nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders, or undead
may attempt to directly damage the viscid barrier by dealing hit
point damage to it, but the barrier is too spongy and giving for
them to batter it down with a Strength check. The two possible
forms of a viscid barrier are as follows:
Viscid Plane: A sheet of thick, goopy sludge appears, standing
by itself. The wall is roughly 1 inch thick and covers up to a 10-
foot-square area per activation level (so a 10th-level technologist
can create a viscid barrier 100 feet long and 10 feet high, a wall 50
feet long and 20 feet high, or some other combination of length
and height that does not exceed 1,000 square feet). The plane can
be oriented in any fashion as long as it is anchored. A vertical
wall need only be anchored on the floor, while a horizontal or
slanting wall must be anchored on two opposite sides. Even when
the viscid plane has been broken through, a sheet of disruptive
energy remains; this energy deals 2d6 points of damage + 2 points
per activation level (maximum +20) to any nontechnological
constructs, elementals, outsiders, or undead stepping through
it (including the one who broke through the wall, if applicable).
There is no save against this damage.
Hemisphere: The wall takes the form of a hemisphere whose
maximum radius is 3 feet + 1 foot per activation level. The
hemisphere is as hard to break through as the viscid plane form,
but it does not deal damage to those who go through a breach.
Expensive Component: Purifying a small, stable sample of the
antimagical slime created by a viscid wall allows you to strengthen
a viscid wall that you create by using the sample as a template. This
expensive component increases the viscid barrier’s duration to 2
minutes per activation level and costs 390 gold pieces.
VITRIOL PROJECTOR
Gadget (standard) [Acid]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Medium (100 feet)
Effect: A concentrated bolt of acid; see text
Duration: 1 round + 1 round per three levels
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 7 lbs.
A vitriol projector is quite simple in operation: it shoots acid. It
looks like a heavily-modified bellows, with the addition of various
tanks and bulbous pumps, making it one of the least elegant-
looking of the technological devices in common circulation.
Special pumps and tubes throughout this device allow it to
compress an alarming amount of acid into a single, quick stream
that typically lasts several rounds before losing its effectiveness.
Naturally, this has a myriad of uses, from dissolving things to
dissolving other things. Regardless of your opinion of the vitriol
projector’s ingenuity it is a remarkably effective weapon.
Make a ranged touch attack roll against the vitriol projector’s
target: if you hit, the acid deals 1d6 points of acid damage with
no splash damage. For every three activation levels (to a maximum
of 18th), the acid, unless somehow neutralized, lasts for another
round and deals another 1d6 points of damage in that round.
The projector can also be loaded with other substances. In this
case, the damage dealt changes type to match the type normally
dealt by the substance you use. Alchemist’s fire and (un)holy
water are popular choices. If the chosen substance normally deals
more than 1d6 damage in its first round of exposure, it deals that
greater damage on the initial hit instead. This benefit does not
affect the continuing damage dealt, however.
Expensive Components: A vitriol projector processes easily-
acquired substances into unstable acidic compounds fairly easily,
and thus a technologist with access to the tools of his trade need
not be concerned with the cost of these components. A normal
dose of any other alchemical substance may also be projected by
this device in a highly-concentrated and effective form, as noted
above, and these cost the usual amount. These ammunitions are
not optional components. In addition you can introduce a special
clockwork compression sorter into the vitriol projector’s bellows,
causing it to spit out two streams of acid instead of one. You make
separate ranged touch attacks with each stream and must target
creatures or objects standing within 10 feet of each other (or
simply target the same target twice). This expensive component
costs 1,530 gold pieces.
VOICE SWEETENER
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 full-round action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Base Duration: 1 hour (D)
Activation Cost: 1 point
Weight: 1 lb.
124
This choker holds a flat alchemical crystal against your
throat that can be used to modulate your voice, aiding you in
your interactions with other creatures. A voice sweetener grants a
+2 circumstance bonus to all Charisma-based checks that involve
speaking, with one caveat — you must use the creature’s native
language, as the effects of a voice sweetener are negligible in a
barbaric tongue. (You must know Elven to gain this bonus against
elves, Dwarven to gain it against dwarves, and so forth.) You also
lose the bonus if you use translation magic to communicate, such
as tongues, because magic does not translate the soothing tones
and careful inflections that make up the bonus granted by this
device. The bonus from a voice sweetener stacks with any bonuses
granted by masterwork items.
Expensive Component: You can make the effects of a voice
sweetener more-or-less permanent by increasing its base duration
to 24 hours. This boost requires an alchemical wash that enhances
the effect of the device’s crystalline voice modulator, and costs
1,530 gold pieces.
VOLTAIC COIL
Gadget (greater) [Electricity]
Activation Time: 1 swift action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet) or touch; see text
Effect: An electrical charge that can be discharged as an attack
Base Duration: 1 round, or until discharged
Saving Throw: Fortitude half
Activation Cost: 3 points
Weight: 6 lbs.
The perfect weapon for the stingy technologist, a voltaic coil
is a beaten metal orb with tightly-wound copper wires inside it.
When activated the orb generates a powerful electrical charge
that can be discharged at any time within the next minute. Doing
so takes 1 standard action.
This pulse of electrical energy can be discharged as a ranged
touch attack with a range increment of 25 feet and deals 1d6
points of electricity damage per two activation levels, up to a
maximum of 10d6 points of damage. Alternatively, you may
make a melee touch attack to deliver the energy directly and deal
1d10 points of electricity damage per two activation levels, up to
a maximum of 10d10. When delivering the jolt, at range or by
touch, you gain a +3 bonus on your attack roll if the opponent
is wearing metal armor (or made out of metal, carrying a lot of
metal or the like). A successful Fortitude saving throw halves the
damage from either effect.
The electricity damage dealt by a voltaic coil may be lethal or
nonlethal at your discretion; you make the decision when you
discharge the energy.
Expensive Component: Attaching an aiming device to the
voltaic orb that is similar to a copper tuning fork increases its
precision. This addition increases the range increment of the
long-distance jolt to 50 feet and grants a +2 bonus on your
melee touch attack if you choose to deliver the charge in melee.
It costs 390 gold pieces.

A technologist trusts in his ward against abnormalities
(Artwork by Juan Navarro)
WAND OF BATTERY
Gadget (lesser)
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 30 feet
Target: One creature, or one door, box, or chest with an area of
up to 50 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 5 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
A wand of battery opens doors and moves creatures, but it
doesn’t do it gently. Another device that utilizes the wondrous
tensile strength of magic-proofed mithral springs, the wand strikes
a creature or portal with tremendous force, dealing 1d6 points of
bludgeoning damage per 3 activation levels to a maximum of 3d6
points of damage. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with
a maximum range of 30 feet and no penalties for distance.
When striking a creature, the wand of battery makes a bull
rush as though it were a Large creature with a Strength bonus
equal to your Intelligence bonus +1 per activation level (to a
maximum of bonus of 10 plus your Int modifier). Striking a
barred portal instead applies this bonus to a Strength check made
against the door’s break DC.
Expensive Component: You can add a disposable clockwork
125
frame to the wand of battery that does most of the hard work of
activating the device for you. This framework reduces the device’s
activation time to 1 swift action (it takes only a quick gesture)
and costs 2,280 gold pieces.
WARD AGAINST ABNORMALITIES
Technology (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target or Targets: You and a touched construct, elemental,
outsider, or undead; or you and an object or creature
bearing an illusion or mind-affecting effect produced by
construct, elemental, outsider, or undead
Base Duration: 1 round or until discharged (D)
Saving Throw: See text
Activation Cost: 3 points
Flat grey light rises up around you, protecting you from
creatures that rely on magic to survive and giving you power over
their most insidious abilities. The ward against abnormalities has
three effects:
First, you gain a +4 deflection bonus to AC against attacks by
nontechnological constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Second, if you make a successful touch attack against a
nontechnological construct, outsider, elemental, or undead, you can
overwhelm it and force it to flee (similar to a cleric turning undead).
The creature makes a Will save; if successful, it is not affected. If it
fails, it is panicked, drops anything it is holding, and flees you to
the best of its abilities. This is not a mind-affecting ability — it is a
much more fundamental disruption of the creature’s being — and
nontechnological constructs and undead are not immune to it.
Using the ward in this way discharges the ability.
Third, you can automatically dispel any mind-affecting effect
or illusion created by a nontechnological construct, elemental,
outsider, or undead with a simple touch. Spells unaffected by
the dispel magic spell are unaffected by this ability. The creature
receives no saving throw against this effect. Using the ward in this
way discharges the ability.
Expensive Component: A talisman containing various items
anathema to these creatures may be expended as you activate
this ability to augment its power. If you do so the duration of the
effect increases to 5 minutes, and you may use the second or third
ability of the ward against abnormalities once without discharging
the ability; the second touch ends the effect normally. This
talisman costs 1,620 gold pieces.
WARD AGAINST ALL SORCERY
Artifact (lesser) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 10 feet
Area: 10-foot radius spherical emanation, centered on you
Base Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 45 points
The ward against all sorcery is a fixed aura of grey light that
negates spells below a certain level of power and provides a
measure of resistance even against more powerful spells and
spell-like abilities. The protective field is immobile and excludes
all spell effects of 4th level or lower; the area or effect of any such
spells does not include the area of the ward against all sorcery and
affected spells simply cease to exist upon entering the ward and
resume existing upon leaving it. Such spells fail to affect any
target located within the transparent line of grey light that marks
the area of the ward. Excluded effects include spell-like abilities
and spells or spell-like effects from items. You can still activate
your devices normally. Spells already in effect when the globe is
activated are unaffected by the ward against sorcery. Note that spell
effects are not disrupted unless their effects enter the globe, and
even then they are merely suppressed, not dispelled. This ability
can be negated by an attempt at arcane disruption that targets
your person, but the disruption DC is increased by 5. You can
leave and return to the ward without penalty.
Against spells and spell effects of 5th level and higher, the
ward against all sorcery still provides some protection, granting
all creatures in the area of effect Spell Resistance of 12 + your
activation level for as long as they remain within the ward.
Expensive Component: A ward against all sorcery is a powerful
defense, but it limits your mobility because the effect is
metaphysically tied to the space in which the ward is created. An
antimagical echo chamber that resembles a reinforced glass cube
full of grey mist can be used as an expensive component to make
the ward mobile. In this case, the ability’s area of effect is centered
on the echo chamber, which you can carry with you or throw
as a grenade-like object with a range increment of 10 feet. This
antimagical echo chamber costs 2,340 gold pieces.
WEAKEN ABNORMALITY
Gadget (greater) [Antimagic]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 30 feet
Area: Multiple constructs, elementals, outsiders, or undead
whose combined total Hit Dice do not exceed twice your
activation level in a spread emanating from the character to
the extreme of the range
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 15 points
By scrambling ambient magic in the area you weaken
creatures that rely on supernatural forces to survive. When you
use this ability all of the color in the area washes out momentarily,
leaving a flat grey light that soon passes. Even creatures normally
immune to one or more of the following conditions by virtue
of their creature type are affected by weaken abnormality, which
attacks their life force directly. Any special defenses not tied to
creature type are still effective, however. Any nontechnological
construct, elemental, outsider, or undead within the area must
make a Fortitude saving throw or suffer one of the following ill
effects, depending on the difference between the creature’s Hit
Dice and your activation level:
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HD up to activation level +10: None.
HD up to activation level +5: Sickened — creature takes a –2
penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and
ability checks.
HD up to activation level: Nauseated — creature cannot attack,
cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything but take a
single move action.
HD up to activation level –5: Dazed — creature can take no actions,
but has no penalty to its AC.
HD up to activation level –10: Stunned — creature drops everything
held, can’t take actions, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and loses
its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any).
Each effect lasts for 1 round. Once a creature recovers from an
effect it moves up one level on the chart. Thus, a creature that is
stunned by this power is dazed the round after that, nauseated
the round after that, sickened the round after that, and recovers
fully the next round.
Expensive Component: A charm made of various elements
inimical to the affected creature types (such as silver holy symbols
and adamantine saw blades) can be expended to increase weaken
abnormality’s range to 60 feet. This charm costs 390 gold pieces.
WHEEDLING STONE
Gadget (standard) [Mind-Affecting]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One humanoid target
Duration: 8 hours
Saving Throw: Will negates
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A wheedling stone is an alchemically-refined mineral that emits
subtle vibrations that influence the minds of humanoid creatures
in the area. It looks like a blue-green hunk of granite and has no
visible emissions. The mind-influencing powers of the wheedling
stone are too weak to affect anyone unless the technologist first
clears the area of magical energy as part of the stone’s activation.
Even the brief exposure to the wheedling stone that this process
allows for can have surprisingly long-term effects.
The wheedling stone makes a humanoid creature regard you
as its trusted friend and ally — treat the target’s attitude toward
you as friendly. If the creature is currently being threatened or
attacked by you or your allies, however, it receives a +5 bonus on
its saving throw.
The wheedling stone does not enable you to control the
charmed person as if he were an automaton but he perceives your
words and actions in the most favorable way. You can try to give
the subject orders, but you must win an opposed Charisma check
to convince it to do anything he wouldn’t ordinarily do. Retries
are not allowed. An affected creature never obeys suicidal or
obviously harmful orders but might be convinced that something
very dangerous is worth doing. Any act by you or your apparent
allies that threatens the charmed person breaks the stone ‘s spell.
You must speak the person’s language to communicate your
commands or else be good at pantomiming.
Expensive Component: A variety of noxious chemicals can be
splashed over the surface of a wheedling stone to briefly attune its
radiations to creature types other than humanoid. These washes
cost 1,530 gold pieces and allow you to affect any type of creature
when activating the wheedling stone.
WORLDWALKER’S BATON
Artifact (greater) [Teleportation]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 100 feet
Effect: See text
Duration: 1 minute (D)
Saving Throw: None
Activation Cost: 135 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A worldwalker’s baton produces a spiraling gateway of light in
the air, a wormhole that can take creatures anywhere on the same
plane of existence. The gate created is a circular plane from 5 to
20 feet in diameter, oriented in the direction you desire when it
comes into existence (typically the gateway is vertically oriented
and faces you). It is a two-dimensional window looking into the
place you specified when casting the spell, and anyone or anything
that moves through is shunted instantly to the other side.
Wormholes created by a worldwalker’s baton have a front and
a back. Creatures moving through the gate from the front are
transported to the linked location, which can be anywhere on the
same plane, no matter how distant, as long as you have visited
Example – Where Did This Army Come
From?
The expensive component of the worldwalker’s baton
changes the device from a transportation mechanism for
small groups to a gateway that allows the movement of
potentially thousands of people. Thus, the baton allows
for lightning-fast invasions or provides a convenient
excuse for why the megalomaniac’s lair is inside a remote
volcano (or on the moon or what-have-you). In my own
campaign, the efficiency of the worldwalker’s baton explains
why so many troops and high-tech devices were lost before
anyone noticed that their devices were starting to fail in the
Imperium Mechanus’s original invasion. Should you choose
to send an army through the baton’s gateway, a prepared
army can move 320 Medium-size creatures, 160 Large
creatures, or 80 Huge creatures through the portal in one
round or 2 Large-size vehicles (included mounted horses
and the like), or a single Huge vehicle (including elephants
the like). Creatures and vehicles of Gargantuan size must
make a DC 30 Escape Artist check to squeeze through in a
single round, and larger creatures simply will not fit. Thus,
the worldwalker’s baton can transport up to 3,200 people in
one activation, or 192,000 people if the device’s expensive
component is used.
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that place or can provide an unambiguous description. Creatures
who move through the back of the gateway do not pass through
it. Creatures on the other side of the gateway may come to your
side by moving through the gateway in the proper direction.
The baton cannot be used for travel across planes and simply
fails to function (costing you activation points as normal) if the
designated arrival point is on another plane of existence. You do
not need to concentrate to hold the wormhole open, and it does
not collapse if you pass through it.
Expensive Component: The artificial wormholes created by a
worldwalker’s baton do not last very long, but this problem can be
fixed by adding a shimmering multiphasic crystal to the tip of the
baton. The multiphasic crystal costs 2,340 gold pieces and increases
the device’s duration to 1 hour (D). This allows you to move much
larger quantities of people or materials through a single gateway.
WORM GAUNTLET
Artifact (lesser) [Acid, Cold, Electricity, or Fire; Teleportation]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Long (400 feet)
Target: One creature or object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex negates (object)
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A worm gauntlet is glove made of a flexible metallic material
wrapped in tubing and wires. When you activate it, the cords and
tubing covering the gauntlet writhe like a nest of worms and the
device forms a jagged tear in space anywhere in range. This spatial
tear sucks up the nearest creature or object and throws it through
an unstable wormhole before depositing it anywhere that you
designate within 2,000 feet. Targets receive a Reflex saving throw
to avoid the wormhole’s pull and negate the effect, if they so
desire. Otherwise, they are transported to anywhere you desire.
If the target creature or object arrives in a place that is already
occupied by a solid body, it takes 1d6 points of damage and is
shunted to a random open space on a suitable surface within 100
feet of the intended location. If there is no free space within 100
feet, the creature or object affected takes an additional 2d6 points
of damage and is shunted to a free space within 1,000 feet. If there
is no free space within 1,000 feet of the place you attempt to send
a creature to, the worm gauntlet fails to activate. Creatures and
objects can only be deposited at ground level — you cannot use
the worm gauntlet to deal falling damage.
The gauntlet normally moves the target creature through
Astral space and deposits it harmlessly at the new location, but
you can also push the wormhole’s path through dangerous terrain
and use the worm gauntlet as an effective weapon. In this case, the
target creature or object suffers 1d6 points of acid, cold, electricity,
or fire damage (your choice) per activation level (maximum of
25d6 points) as they are routed through acid-drenched wastelands
or infernos at the heart of the Elemental Plane of Fire during the
teleportation process. The affected being (or its remains) still
appear where you designate after taking this damage.
 Expensive Component: You can increase the range increment
of the worm gauntlet to 800 feet and the range at which you can
deposit targets to 4,000 feet by incorporating a waveform slider
into the gauntlet’s design. This expensive component costs 1,110
gold pieces.
XULT’S PRIMAL BLOSSOM
Artifact (standard) [Evil]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range Increment: Close (25 feet)
Target: One living creature
Duration: Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 8 lbs.
Xult’s primal blossom inflicts a horrible transformation on the
target and eventually twists them into a morphic beast under
your complete control. The creature you wish to affect must
make a Fortitude save. If it fails, Xult’s primal blossom temporarily
warps the functions of natural law on the creature, causing
uncontrolled magic to flood in and twist the being’s mind and
form. Each round, the creature takes 1 point of Charisma and
Constitution drain, with no saving throw allowed. This continues
until the creature is slain, or until someone successfully uses
arcane disruption on the primal blossom.
A creature slain by the Constitution drain inflicted by Xult’s
primal blossom is unrecognizable, a twisted mass of teeth and eyes
strewn through a heap of mutated flesh. A round after its death,
the creature is reborn as a hideous monster — literally a case of
science run amok — that is fanatically loyal to you. This creature has
statistics identical to those of a chaos beast, except that it is native
to whatever plane it was created on and has Hit Dice equal to those
of the original creature. The blossomed creature serves you loyally
unless you try to create another such beast — activating Xult’s primal
blossom again immediately frees the chaos beast from your control
and leaves it to act according to its destructive nature.
Because affected creatures have not truly been slain by the
primal blossom, they cannot be raised or resurrected as long as
their tormented soul remains trapped in their new form. The
effects of this device are very hard to reverse and require that all
of the following spells be cast, in order, to restore the creature
to its original form: remove disease, dispel chaos, regenerate, and heal.
A limited wish can also substitute for any one of these healing
spells and a wish or similarly powerful spell can instantly free the
creature and return it to its original form if the caster can succeed
at a caster level check opposed by your activation level check.
Expensive Component: Xult’s primal blossom is usually used to
create a servitor creature for more malevolent technologists and
is too slow to be of much use in a pitched combat. You can change
this by using a chaos- and evil-aligned gateway stone to focus the
device’s energies. This talisman increases the rate of Constitution
and Charisma drain to 1d8 per round, sufficient to kill an afflicted
creature in seconds rather than minutes. The gateway stone costs
2,340 gold pieces.
128
ZEPHYR HAMMER
Gadget (standard) [Air]
Activation Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 feet
Effect: Line-shaped gust of severe wind emanating out from you
to the extreme of the range
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Activation Cost: 10 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
A small but extremely powerful fan, a zephyr hammer creates
a severe blast of air of approximately 50 miles per hour that
originates from you and affects all creatures in its path. A Tiny
or smaller creature on the ground is knocked down and rolled
1d4×10 feet and takes 1d4 points of nonlethal damage per 10
feet. If flying, a Tiny or smaller creature is blown back 2d6×10 feet
and takes 2d6 points of nonlethal damage due to battering and
buffeting. Small creatures are knocked prone by the force of the
wind, or if flying are blown back 1d6×10 feet. Medium creatures
are unable to move forward against the force of the wind and if
flying are blown back 1d6×5 feet.
The zephyr hammer cannot move Large or larger creatures
and can’t move a creature beyond the limit of its range, but any
creature, regardless of size or position, takes a –4 penalty on
ranged attacks and Listen checks in the zephyr hammer’s area of
effect. The force of the gust automatically extinguishes candles,
torches, and similar unprotected flames. It causes protected
flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50%
chance to extinguish those lights. In addition to the effects
noted, a zephyr hammer can do anything that a sudden blast of
wind would be expected to do. Among other things, it can create
a stinging spray of sand or dust, fan a large fire, overturn delicate
awnings or hangings, heel over a small boat, and blow gases or
vapors to the edge of its range.
Expensive Component: Alchemically purified elemental air
added to the fan’s inner chamber massively increases the strength
of the gust of wind produced by a zephyr hammer. This expensive
component causes the device to generate winds of windstorm
strength (about 70 mph) instead of severe strength. Powerful
enough to bring down branches if not whole trees, windstorms
automatically extinguish unprotected flames and have a 75%
chance of blowing out protected flames, such as those of lanterns.
Ranged weapon attacks are impossible and even siege weapons
have a –4 penalty on attack rolls. Listen checks are at a –8 penalty
due to the howling of the wind. Large and Huge creatures are
checked by this wind and Medium-size creatures are knocked
down. Small and smaller creatures are blown away, knocked down,
and rolled 1d4×10 feet, taking 1d4 points of nonlethal damage
per 10 feet traveled. Large and Huge flying creatures are blown
back 1d6×5 feet, Medium-size flying creatures are blown back
1d6×10 feet, and Small and smaller fliers are blown back 2d6×10
feet and take 2d6 points of nonlethal damage due to battering
and buffeting. The quantity of alchemically pure air required to
produce this effect costs 900 gold pieces.
ZORASTRUS’S ROLL OF DAYS
Technology (greater)
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 8 hours, or until discharged
Activation Cost: 45 points
Weight: 2 lbs.
Zorastrus was a technologist obsessed with finding the
mathematical patterns that lay behind the events of his life. His
roll of days appears to be an innocuous (if rather large) roll of
parchment until it is unrolled. Doing so reveals a glowing display
of obscure symbols representing the events of the last recorded
time period entered into it by its master.
When you activate the device, you input a condensed
mathematical representation of the last hours or days of your life,
and the roll of days attempts to find correlations and convergences
between these factors in an attempt to divine a pattern. Make
a Decipher Script skill check to determine your success in
understanding the complex and ever-shifting code of roll of days’
symbols. Knowledge gleaned from this device manifests as insight
into your future. This insight does not reveal any specific events,
but will often give you an idea of exactly how to act when the time
comes. This manifests as an insight bonus on any single attack
roll, opposed ability or skill check, saving throw, or your AC versus
any single attack (even if flatfooted) equal to one-half of the result
of the Decipher Script check you made when activating Zorastrus’s
roll of days. Accessing your knowledge doesn’t take an action and
you can even access this insight bonus on another character’s turn
if needed. You must choose to use the bonus from Zorastrus’s roll of
days before you make the roll you wish to modify. Once used, the
device will provide no further insight until you activate it again.
Expensive Component: Additional linked processors costing
1,620 gold pieces allow Zorastrus’s roll of days to be activated much
more swiftly. With this addition, it takes only a single standard
action to activate the device.
ZORASTRUS’S ROLL OF EONS
Artifact (standard) [Divination]
Activation Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous
Activation Cost: 90 points
Weight: 3 lbs.
Zorastrus’s roll of eons, like his roll of days, is a powerful
computer disguised as a simple roll of parchment that calculates
mathematical movements in the lives of creatures based on a
complex symbolism of numbers and letters. Unlike the roll of days,
this device also incorporates an impossibly subtle suite of sensors
that collects scraps of information from strange and varied sources
and collates these scraps into a picture of the wide movements of
history as a whole.
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Example – The Obelisk of Portents
Zorastrus’s roll of eons is a good example of a device
that could be found as part of the remnants of an ancient
civilization. Its effects are subtle, and the meaning of the
machinery found inside the Obelisk’s central dial might
go unexplained for quite some time. A powerful individual
device such as this could be the Rosetta Stone that sets off
the rediscovery of entire fields of technological and scientific
progress — to one who knows its secrets, the roll of eons is
a powerful boon that hints at equally powerful orders of
technology that could yet be uncovered.
When you activate the roll of eons, you can use it to find out
about the past, about the future, or about legendarily important
objects and creatures, as follows (choose one):
The Past: This is the simplest use of Zorastrus’s roll of eons, and the
most straightforward. Simply roll a Decipher Script check,
and apply the result as an insight bonus to any Knowledge
(history) check you make in the next minute. You may
attempt Knowledge (history) skill checks at any time in the
next minute even if you have no ranks in that skill.
The Future: Guidance regarding future events comes in the form
of a reply to a question concerning a specific goal, event, or
activity that is to occur within one week. The advice can
be as simple as a short phrase, or might take the form of
a cryptic rhyme or omen, and if your party doesn’t act on
the information, the conditions may change so that the
information is no longer useful. The chance of a successful
augury using the roll of eons is equal to 50% plus the result
of a Decipher Script check you make while activating the
device. If you fail to gain knowledge about the future via this
method, you are aware of your failure.
Legendary Creatures, Items, or Places: Make a Decipher Script check.
The DC of this check is 50 minus the level of the creature,
the caster level (or equivalent) of the item, or the historical
importance (rated from 1–20) of the location you wish to learn
about. If you succeed, you learn of legends about an important
person, place, or thing. If you fail by 5 or less, the resulting lore
is less complete and specific, but will probably reveal where
you can go to learn more. If you fail by 10 or less, you gain
vague and fragmentary information, usually only enough to
provide the first piece of the puzzle. Failure by 11 or more
means that you glean no information about the subject.
If you are unable to decipher the strange and complex coding of
Zorastrus’s roll of eons when you activate it (as indicated by a failed
or partially failed Decipher Script check), you may not try to gain
more information about the same item again unless you first gain
at least one rank in the Decipher Script skill.
Expensive Component: Additional linked processors costing
2,340 gold pieces allow Zorastrus’s roll of eons to be consulted much
more swiftly. With this addition, it takes only a single standard
action to activate the device.
 Appendix A:
Odds and Ends
To help you make optimal use of the devices presented in
Chapter Four, this Appendix presents a number of optional
rules that make use of or otherwise enhance the devices provided
earlier. This optional material includes guidelines for creating
devices to add to the lists in Chapter Four, a variant technologist
called the Savant that can be used in place of or alongside the
base technologist, guidelines for converting device effects into
permanent items useable by anyone who can discern their
function, and the Shadow Technologist prestige class, with which
you can incorporate fantastic science into Modern d20 games.
Designing and Mastering New Devices
The devices provided in Chapter Four cover a wide variety of
effects, and should provide sufficient resources to create a great
variety of technologist characters. However, technologists are
inquisitive by nature and produce new plans and breakthroughs
at a steady pace — some guidelines for such research are in order.
More importantly, designing new devices allows you or your
players to leave a mark on the world of technology, or to fill a gap
in the existing devices.
The design for a new device can arise in one of two ways: you
can create the device whole-cloth, or you can adapt an existing
spell effect from the PHB or some other source. After the player
or game master designs a device in one of these two ways, the
GM determines if the device design is viable. If it is, the GM then
assigns the device a final order and rank and the player must
research, build, and master the device so that it is ready for use.
Each of these steps is covered in this section, in this order, and
examples are provided throughout to help you see the process in
action.
Adapting Existing Spells
This is the easiest way create a new device, as it merely
involves translating the language of spells into the language of
devices. Guidelines for doing so are provided below — simply go
through the spell’s description in order and convert each part of
its description to the corresponding device description.
Name
When converting a spell into a device, the only thing that
needs to be changed here is that the name must reference a
physical device of some kind instead of a spell effect. Adding
130
verbal flourishes to the name also helps the new device fit in
better with existing devices.
For instance, a device with an effect similar to that of the fireball spell
is called a magnificent pitch hurler, a name that hints at the sense of
accomplishment its creator felt in designing it.
School (Subschool)
This entry is largely irrelevant when converting devices to
spells. You should generally omit it. The magical (sub)schools
of Charm, Compulsion, Divination, Healing, Illusion, and
Teleportation are exceptions to the general rule and should
be retained as device descriptors. The subschools of Calling,
Creation, Summoning, Pattern, Phantasm, Shadow, and Scrying
are all barred to technologists, and you should not convert spells
of these subschools to devices unless you can provide a reasonable
alternate explanation for the new device’s effects.
To continue converting the fireball spell into a device, you would
note that the spell is of the Evocation school and that it is not part of a school
or subschool that becomes a descriptor or is unavailable to the technologist.
Thus, the School (Subschool) entry is simply discarded.
[Descriptor]
As noted above, the Charm, Compulsion, Divination,
Healing, Illusion, or Teleportation subschool designations are
listed as descriptors in the new device description, as appropriate.
The Acid, Air, Cold, Darkness, Death, Earth, Electricity, Fear,
Fire, Force, Language-Dependent, Light, Mind-affecting, Sonic,
and Water descriptors all carry over in the conversion from spell
to device. You should also add the Antimagic or Null-Space
descriptors if appropriate — see Chapter Three.
Because the fireball spell has the [Fire] descriptor, the magnificent
pitch hurler has this descriptor as well. No additional descriptor is
appropriate.
Level
A spell’s level closely corresponds to a device’s order and
rank. 0-level spells (cantrips and orisons) are not suitable for
simple conversion into devices, but all other spell levels can be
translated into device order and rank according to Table A–1,
above. Use this chart to find a converted device’s approximate
level. Remember, however, that the GM may decide to alter this
estimate when determining a new device’s final viability.
 Table A–1: Spell Levels to Device Order and Rank
Spell Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Device Order Gadget Gadget Gadget Technology
Device Rank (lesser) (standard) (greater) (lesser)
For example, the fireball spell is a 3rd-level Sorcerer/Wizard spell.
This spell level is equivalent to a greater gadget; therefore, the magnificent
pitch hurler is given the Gadget (greater) order and rank designation.
Components
All devices require exactly the same range of motion to
activate — you must have one arm free and able to manipulate the
device while it is within easy reach. Thus, the components line is
irrelevant and all mention of verbal, somatic, and most material
components should be removed and this entry deleted. The only
exceptions are spells that use an expensive material component
as a balancing factor, such as glyph of warding and shapechange. A
device converted from such a spell should have a similarly costly
expensive component (see below), and this component should be
noted as not being an optional expensive component.
A fireball spell requires verbal and somatic components to cast, as
well as the expenditure of an inexpensive ball of bat guano and sulfur as a
material component. Thus, converting fireball into the magnificent pitch
hurler entails deleting the Components entry and noting that the device
does not require any non-optional expensive components to function.
Casting Time
A spell’s casting time becomes the device’s activation time but
is otherwise unchanged. Many technological devices are bulky or
unwieldy, however, and you may wish to give the device a slightly
longer activation time to reflect this, as long as doing so will not
weaken the device overmuch without some other compensation.
Fireballs require only 1 standard action to cast and technologists
are as good as blowing things up as wizards are, so the spell’s casting time
simply becomes the pitch hurler’s activation time of 1 standard action.
Range
If a spell’s range is listed as a set number of feet or some other
nonvariable range you can simply transfer the spell’s Range entry
to the new device. A spell with one of the three standard variable
ranges (Close, Medium, and Long) has its Range entry changed
into an appropriate Range Increment entry (see Chapter Three).
Keep in mind that extremely long ranges may not be appropriate
for devices that fire some kind of physical projectile. Spells that
do not require attack rolls or that allow no saving throws should
have an absolute range equal to their base range or twice their base
range when converted to devices (for instance, a Close range spell
with no attack roll or saving throw requirement should have a flat
range of 25 or 50 feet).
The fireball spell produces a ball of flame at Long range (up
to 400 feet + 40 feet per level), but it seems unlikely that a flaming
ball of pitch could travel quite so far. Thus, the magnificent pitch
hurler’s Range Increment is only Medium (100 feet). The pitch
hurler should probably receive a minor additional ability to make
up for the reduced range (see “Descriptive Text,” below).
131
5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
Technology Technology Artifact Artifact Artifact
(standard) (greater) (lesser) (standard) (greater)
Target, Effect, or Area
Unless you are making some significant changes to the spell’s
effect in the process of converting it into a device, these entries
can be carried over to the new device description unchanged.
A fireball’s Area is a 20-foot radius spread. The magnificent pitch
hurler has a very similar effect but cannot spread around barriers as a
fireball can. Thus, the magnificent pitch hurler’s Area entry reads
“20-foot radius burst.”
Duration
Invariable duration entries (Instantaneous, a set number of
hours, and the like) simply carry over to the converted device. If
the Duration entry lists a variable duration expressed in units
per level the corresponding device should generally have either
a set duration of an appropriate length or a Base Duration entry
listing the time unit used by the original spell; technologists
either pay the reactivation cost to keep their devices functioning
or they simply release the device and it runs until it powers down
of its own accord.
Fireball spells have a duration of Instantaneous. This is a set, invariable
duration, so the magnificent pitch hurler has an identical Duration
entry of Instantaneous. Many devices will instead have a Base Duration
entry expressed in the time unit of the original spell once converted.
Saving Throw
Unless you are making some significant changes to the spell’s
effect in the process of converting into a device, this entry can be
carried over to the device description unchanged.
A fireball’s Saving Throw is Reflex half. The magnificent pitch
hurler likewise has a Saving Throw entry that reads “Reflex half.”
Spell Resistance
Technological devices are not affected by Spell Resistance.
Instead, they are all equally vulnerable to arcane disruption (see
Chapter Three). Thus, this portion of the spell description has no
meaning in the context of device descriptions and can be deleted.
A fireball spell is noted as allowing spell resistance. This is irrelevant
for a device, however, and the magnificent pitch hurler has no
corresponding line in its entry.
Descriptive Text
Descriptive text from a spell description carries over
mechanically but aesthetic and flavor elements often need to be
reworked. You should generally include a brief description of the
device and how it works to ensure that the device is plausible
fantasy science (though what actually counts as “plausible”
for the purposes of fantasy science is to a certain degree up for
grabs). There are also some fairly obvious terminology changes:
mentions of spells become mentions of devices, “caster level”
becomes “activation level,” and so forth.
 The fireball spell invokes “an explosion of flame that detonates with
a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum
10d6) to every creature within the area,” and the spell’s descriptive text
provides guidelines for melting or burning easily-destroyed objects and
striking the target you designate with the bead of fire the spell produces
as well. The magnificent pitch hurler retains most of this text, with
appropriate changes — the device deals 1d6 points of fire damage per
activation level (instead of caster level), but the type of damage and its
dice cap are unchanged. In addition, the pitch hurler gains a new ability:
it causes creatures and objects to catch fire more easily than the fireball
spell does. As noted earlier, this minor ability was added to make up for the
device’s reduced range and burst area.
Expensive Component
Almost all devices have some sort of entry listing and
describing their expensive components. The most common
of these expensive components are the optional sort. These
components provide a one-time boost to the device’s effects,
an augmentation analogous to the use of metamagic feats by
other spellcasters. You should choose an appropriate effect
(often one provided by an existing metamagic feat will do) and
then consider how many levels the extra power would add if the
device were a spell. This evaluation is easiest if you stick to the
already-quantified metamagic effects in the PHB, but you can
also customize an expensive component’s effects to the device it
is tied to as long as you are careful in evaluating the extra boost’s
worth compared to the benchmark metamagic feats presented
in the PHB. Once you have a good idea of how many levels the
expensive component would add to a spell of a level equivalent to
the device’s rank and order (see Table A–1: Spell Levels to Device
Order and Rank), consult the table below to find an appropriate
price in gold pieces for the expensive component.
Table A–2: Optional Expensive Component Costs
Device Order
Approx. Level
Increase Gadget Technology Artifact
+1 Levels 390 750 1110
+2 Levels 900 1620 2340
+3 Levels 1530 2610 3690
+4 Levels 2280 3720 5160
Many devices also require some particular component to
function at all; such a mandatory component is a good way to
balance devices that are just slightly too powerful for their rank
and order, and spells with expensive material components should
usually feature this kind of expensive component when converted.
Constructs and certain weapon-like devices are also special
cases. Many of these items should have expensive components
available to them in the form of the expanded masterwork
components presented in Chapter Two. In this section, you note
which of the available masterwork components are appropriate —
Table A–3: Activation Point Cost by Order and Rank
Order Gadgets
Rank Lesser Standard Greater
Cost 5 10 15
Cost (Base Duration) 1 2 3 3
only the specific components listed here are viable upgrade
components for the device.
Spells do not have a section analogous to this one, so referring to the
fireball spell description is not helpful in developing the magnificent
pitch hurler. Instead, consider what kinds of metamagic feats go well
with the fireball spell. One straightforward option is to have the expensive
component for the pitch hurler increase the device’s damage potential,
just as a mage can increase the power of his fireball spell by applying
the Empower Spell feat to it. Following on this idea, the magnificent
pitch hurler’s expensive component adds 50% more fire damage to
the pitch hurler’s effects and is described as a special alchemical syrup.
The expensive component’s bonus damage would entail an increase of
+2 spell levels if the magnificent pitch hurler were a spell, and so,
referring to Table A–2, you note that a +2 spell-level increase for a gadget
converts into an expensive component costing 900 gold pieces. Once this
cost is noted in the device’s Expensive Component entry, you are almost
finished converting the spell.
There remain only two entries to consider, neither of which
have a direct analogue in the spell descriptions: the device’s
Activation Cost and its Weight.
Activation Cost
A device’s activation cost is based on its order and rank
(converted from the spell’s level as above) and is found on Table
3-2: Stabilization Point Cost by Order and Level. This chart is
repeated here as Table A-3 for your convenience. Remember to
use the appropriate entry if the device has a duration measured in
the increments of a base duration.
The fireball spell is a 3rd-level spell, and this translated in an earlier
step to a greater gadget. This designation means that the magnificent pitch
hurler has a one-time activation cost of 15 stabilization points, since the
device’s Instantaneous duration is not measured in base duration increments.
If the device had a Base Duration entry instead of a simple Duration entry, it
would have an activation cost of only 3 points — the total cost of the device’s
activation is paid out in smaller increments instead of all at once.
Weight
Unless it is marked with the antimagic descriptor, a device
is a physical object and therefore has appreciable weight. There is
no set formula for determining how much a device weighs; simply
pick an appropriate weight, remembering that most devices
intended to be portable should weigh 10 pounds or less. After
filling in this entry, you should have a completed device ready
for evaluation by the game master to determine the new device’s
viability and final order and rank.
The magnificent pitch hurler is conceived as a moderately bulky
weapon and is thus assigned a weight of 4 lbs. This weight is enough to
ensure that the device is portable and that it still weighs as much as might a
fighter’s primary weapon.
Technologies Artifacts
Lesser Standard Greater Lesser Standard Greater
15 30 45 45 90 135
6 9 9 18 27
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Inventing Devices from Whole Cloth kinds of effects are a strong suit for the technologist, and a variety
This device-design method is somewhat more difficult than of powerful effects are available.
simply converting an existing spell, but does allow you to make Once you have your device description completed and have
a truly unique device for use with your character or campaign. assigned it an approximate level, it is time to turn the new device
Before beginning a whole-cloth device design you should read over to the game master. (Unless you are the game master, in which
Chapter Three as well as the section above on converting spells case you should probably just keep the device description in hand
into devices to get a good sense for how devices work and in what for this next part.) The next stage in creating a new technologist
ways they differ from spells. Then, after coming up with a basic device requires the GM to first determine if the newly-designed
concept for a device, you simply compare your concept’s effects device is viable or not and then to assign the device a final order
to existing devices to see how powerful the new device is when and rank.
measured alongside the benchmark devices. Benchmark devices The magnificent pitch hurler deals 1d6 points of fire damage in a
are those devices that demonstrate the maximum capability for 20-foot radius, with a maximum damage cap of 10 dice. The pitch hurler
their order, rank, and general function; comparing a new device makes a good benchmark offensive greater gadget because it represents the
to these examples gives you a general sense of where it belongs. upper limit of mass direct damage for devices of the gadget order. Anything
A device should never be more powerful or useful than the that affects a larger area, deals more damage, or inflicts a significant
benchmark devices for its rank and order. harmful condition as well as dealing damage should probably be at least
Offensive Devices deal damage or incapacitate your foes. a lesser technology.
The benchmarks provided below include at least one damage-
dealing device and one incapacitating device for every rank of Determining Device Viability and Assigning
every order of device. Order and Rank
Defensive Devices protect you or your party by providing Determining device viability should be pretty easy if you’ve
bonuses to attributes such as saving throws or AC or by protecting been careful in designing the device, since a viable device is quite
from special abilities such as energy attacks or spell use. This simply defined as one that the GM will allow to be researched,
category does not include devices that protect you against the built, and mastered. The nice thing here is that almost any device
elements or other passive features of your surroundings. effect can be balanced by assigning it to the right order and
Miscellaneous Devices provide information, transportation, rank. Occasionally the game master will also need to adjust the
assistance with skill use, or any number of other effects. These temporary order and rank produced by conversion from a spell
Table A–4: Benchmark Devices
Order Rank Device Type Benchmark Devices
Offensive iron grub, neural lancet, pocket ballista
Defensive caloric control mantle, photon scattering shield, scattershot helmet
lesser
alchemical rebreather, fabricacious fabricator, headband of mental puissance, nocturnal goggles, technologist’s
Miscellaneous
familiar
Offensive caloric hammer, icebound barricade, knife spider, stickyfoam neutralizer
Gadget
standard Defensive electroveiglant mercury
Miscellaneous aqua virium minor, auto-otolarynx, gauntlets of the iron ogre, master’s tools, wheedling stone
Offensive fireburst mimetic key, magnificent pitch hurler, mindfire poison injector
greater Defensive antimagic vortex, docschmidt waxsprinkler, viscid barrier
Miscellaneous Dalyrimple’s obfuscating eye, excitatory magnetoscythe, smite magic, velocious footgear
Offensive anathematize abnormality, dragoncaster, mercuric blade, metabolic interdiction field
lesser Defensive arcane counterdisruption, defensive kinetic shield, ward against abnormalities
Miscellaneous aviatronic wing, clockwidget fabrication gantry, slumberous savant, Teacup’s tiny tinkerers
Offensive argent-chain widgets, dark matter reaver, duodimensional lash, verbal weirding module
Defensive disseminative cognimatrix, repulse the tainted, umbral heart cloak
Technology standard
aqua celeritas major, Feiran’s animalizing scepter, goggles of x-ray vision, interphasic terror, magnetosonic
Miscellaneous
waveform pulse generator
Offensive atomic discombobulator, gelph’s globulous hunter, obliterate abnormality
greater Defensive aura of just retribution, battlement combat gear, resonance absorption staff, sphere of intractable will
Miscellaneous diadem of psychic mastery, egestive gland laboratory, stylus of arcane mimeography, Tullius’s potent catholicon
Offensive acidulous miasma generator, Erevor’s soul steel, Gelph’s instant aggressor, Kelleris’s chroneptic repeater
lesser Defensive cross-phasic cloak, ward against all sorcery
Miscellaneous coil of possibilities, hypermetabolic transducer, spark manufactory
Offensive caesura weapon, Jabberwocky slayer, Peregrine’s sun-caller
Artifact standard Defensive lustrative armor, paradoxic slip-shield, Tullius’s swan song
Miscellaneous absorptive traversant, astral perspective vortex, Folly’s cognate architronix, Teacup’s tiny traveling terrors
Offensive Imperial null-space cannon, mimetic key, chronull
greater Defensive nanitic reconfiguration entity
Miscellaneous alembic of creation, balance of synchronicity, worldwalker’s baton

133
or by comparison to the benchmark devices to determine the free” when they are assigned to a given order and rank (or level).
permanent order and rank that the new device will have in the Use the guidelines on pages 35–36 of the DMG; technologist
game. This alteration is called for most frequently in conjunction devices have damage dice limits identical to those of an arcane
with devices that are converted spells, since technologist devices spell. For instance, if a player presents you with a standard
are good at some effects and bad at others when compared to gadget that deals 1d6 points of cold damage per activation level
other spellcasting classes. Table A–5, below, defines some of the in a burst (maximum of 5d6 points), and you decide that the
relative strengths and weaknesses of the technologist, cleric, presented device is only viable as a greater gadget, you should
and wizard or sorcerer spellcasting classes — use the table as a increase the device’s maximum damage from 5d6 points to 10d6
guideline for comparing device and spell effects across different points of cold damage without altering any of the device’s other
spellcasting traditions. The guidelines provided are not ironclad attributes.
rules, but they do illustrate some of the technologist’s strengths The magnificent pitch hurler was assigned a tentative order
and weaknesses. of gadget and rank of greater when it was converted from the 3rd-level
When adjusting a device’s rank you might want to be wary wizard/sorcerer spell fireball. Considering Table A–5, note that “Mass
of crossing over into a higher or lower order, as this dramatically Direct Damage” (the pitch hurler’s effect classification) is given a rating
affects the final device’s availability to a technologist character. of +1 for both technologists and wizards — mass direct damage effects are
If a device would otherwise slip into a different order, consider a particular strength of both spellcasting traditions. Because the ratings
strengthening or weakening the proposed device to keep it are even, it is best to finalize the magnificent pitch hurler’s order and
in its original order. If you’re comfortable with moving the rank as a greater gadget (the equivalent of a 3rd-level spell). If one were to
newly-designed device into a higher or lower order than the one design a device that emulated a mass direct damage 3rd-level cleric spell,
originally proposed, be prepared to rewrite the device’s descriptive you would instead want to reduce the device’s rank by one (making it a
text to bring it in line with the level and mode of fantasy science standard gadget), because clerics have a rating of 0 for that effect and a
represented by the device’s new order. If you adjust a damage- technologist’s version should be more efficient. Doing so would modify the
dealing device upward or downward in rank, you should also device’s activation cost and its maximum damage cap, which would drop
adjust its dice cap — all devices (and spells) receive this boost “for to 10 points and a maximum of 5 dice, respectively.
Table A–5: Relative Special Effect Ability*
Wiz/
Spell Effect Category Example Spell Example Device Tch Sor Clr†
Mass Direct Damage fireball magnificent pitch hurler +1 +1 0
Single-Target Direct Damage scorching ray caloric hammer +1 +1 –1
Instant Kills finger of death Erevor’s soul steel –1 +1 0
Monster Creation / Summoning summon monster VII Gelph’s instant aggressor 0 0 0
Movement Assists overland flight ornithopter +1 0 0
Instantaneous Travel greater teleport worldwalker’s baton –1 0 Ø
Planar Travel plane shift Astral perspective vortex –1 0 +1
Numerical Combat Bonuses bull’s strength gauntlets of the iron ogre +1 0 0
New Combat Abilities Tenser’s transformation Feiran’s feralizing gage +1 +1 –1
Numerical Defensive Bonuses / Miss Chances entropic shield scattershot helmet +1 +1 0
Special Resistances / Immunities resist energy electroveiglant mercury +1 0 0
Indirect Attack / Status Effects grease unctuous bubbler 0 +1 –1
Mental Compulsions and Domination dominate person Feiran’s animalizing scepter –1 0 Ø
Deception / Illusions major image Jonnetype synaesthesiagraph –1 0 Ø
Concealment From Senses or Divination improved invisibility umbral heart cloak 0 +1 –1
Trap Creation alarm determent spring +1 0 +1
Barrier Creation wall of force kinetic barrier-layer +1 0 0
Healing Wounds / Conditions heal hypermetabolic transducer –1 Ø +1
Raising the Dead raise dead laboratory of reawakening Ø Ø +1
Magic Detection and Control Mordenkainen’s disjunction extirpate magic 0‡ 0 –1
Present Divinations: Mind-Reading, Item Search, etc. commune with nature magnetosonic waveform pulse generator 0 +1 –1
Divining the Past or Future divination Zorastrus’s roll of eons Ø –1 +1
Utilitarian: Out of Combat / No Damage endure elements caloric control mantle +1 0 –1
Skill Bonuses and Use glibness interphasic terror +1 0 0
Matter Creation and Synthesis fabricate Teacup’s tiny tinkerers +1 0 Ø
Extraplanar Being Control planar binding occlude abnormality +1‡ +1 0
Undead Control undeath to death extirpate abnormalities +1‡ 0 +1
* 0s on this chart represent an average level of ability to generate a specific effect type. Each + or – represents a differential cost of +/– the indicated
number of levels for the effect, and a Ø indicates a level penalty of at least –2 from the baseline required to produce any given specific effect.
† These ratings do not include domain spells, only those to which all clerics have access.
‡ The listed rating is for antimagic devices only. Normal devices have a rating of Ø for these effects.

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Researching, Constructing, and Mastering the
Device
Researching a new device requires access to a well-stocked
library and a technologist’s workshop. These facilities may be
available through various universities and other organizations,
or you can purchase the required materials yourself at a cost of
10,000 gold pieces. A set of master’s tools designed for the Craft
(technology) subskill is worth 5,000 gold pieces when determining
the additional expenditure needed to set up a technological
research lab. You can also subtract the value of an alchemist’s
lab or applicable artisan’s tools (masterwork or not) from the
total cost of establishing a research laboratory if you have
any of these items on hand. For instance, a high-quality
alchemist’s lab and a set of high-quality artisan’s tools
dedicated to the purpose of designing new devices have a
total value of 1,705 gold pieces and setting up a research
lab when you are already in possession of these tools
would only cost an additional 8,295 gold pieces. If you
have also mastered a set of master’s tools dedicated
to the Craft (technology) skill, the additional
required materials would cost only 3,295
gold pieces. You can reuse a technological
research laboratory as many times as you
like to create new device designs.
In addition to the necessary tools
the researching character needs a
reasonably quiet, comfortable, and
well-lit place to work. (Although
a given character’s definition of
“quiet, comfortable, and well-lit”
might vary — mad scientists
are not known for keeping
tidy laboratories, after all.)
Any area suitable for daily
preparation of devices is
suitable for designing new
devices (see Chapter Three).
The researching character is The function of a technologist’s device is often impossible
assumed to work for 8 hours for an untrained observer to discern
every day and cannot rush the process
by working overtime; the required experiments need constant
tending from a mind clear of distractions, and so the technologist
can do nothing else while working. If the technologist is disturbed
while researching and designing the device, or if she spends less
than 8 hours of any given 24-hour period working, she loses one
week of work and ruins 500 gold pieces’ worth of materials.
While working under these conditions a researching
technologist conducts experiments, consults texts, and sketches
blueprints for a number of weeks determined by the order of the
device being researched — gadgets take at least 2 weeks to design,
technologies take at least 5, and artifacts require a minimum
of 8 weeks to research and design. Each week of work costs 500
gold pieces in experimental materials, laboratory supplies, and
miscellaneous fees. At the end of the minimum research time
135
the character doing the research makes a Craft (technology) skill
check. The device’s order determines its Craft skill Difficulty Class
for this purpose: gadgets have a Craft DC of 25, technologies have
a Craft DC of 30, and artifacts have a Craft DC of 35. On a failure,
the prototype device fails to function properly and the researcher
must repeat the entire research cycle of 2–8 weeks if she wishes to
keep trying. Device designers can take 10 on this Craft (technology)
check, but cannot take 20. Most masterwork tools do not apply
their bonus to this skill check, but if you have a set of master’s
tools you can apply the device’s +10 competence bonus to crafting
masterwork components to the Craft (technology) check made
to successfully research and design a new device.
Completing the research process leaves you with a
normal working prototype of the device you designed.
However, you do not automatically master this device.
If you have a slot available for an additional device of
the appropriate order you may immediately master
the completed device and use it normally (see Table
2-2: Technologist Devices Mastered and Activation
Points). Otherwise, you must wait until you gain
a free slot from normal level gains or add the
device as an additional device mastered
beyond your normal limit — see Chapter
Three for details on mastering excess
devices. A device that you successfully
research, design, build, and master
functions just like any other
device when used. Depending
on conditions in the game
world and the secretiveness of
the inventor, the new device’s
secrets may then spread through
the scientific community until
it reaches the level of common
knowledge, at which time
anyone can choose to master
the device whenever they gain
an appropriate device mastery
slot without needing to pursue
the difficult research program required
to design and build devices from scratch.
The design principles of the magnificent pitch hurler probably
became common knowledge some time ago, but some enterprising
technologist in need of a mobile siege weapon had to research and build it
when it was first conceived. Doing so required a full laboratory with a total
value of 10,000 gold pieces (with some of that value probably represented
by masterwork tools) and 2 solid weeks of 8-hour workdays. Building
the weapon and hiring consultants expended 500 gold pieces per week of
work, so at least 1,000 gold pieces were spent before the final Craft check
was made. Assuming that the researcher made the Craft check DC of 25
on the first try (probably by taking 10), the magnificent pitch hurler
was finished, built, and as ready to blow something up as any other high-
explosive gadget after the newly-designed device’s first 2-week research and
development cycle.
The Savant causes or as gifted with mastery of science by some higher power.
Savants are the natural masters of technology. They have no These characters are typically fervent, even fanatical, devotees of
need for long hours spent studying the principles of physics and whatever principles they cleave to.
mechanics; they instead boast a powerful intuitive understanding Religion: Savants often have strong attachments to the
of a small number of devices. A savant’s creations come from a deities of their homeland, either in the form of devotion to the
purely innate understanding of science that is not reliant on religion they were raised with or a bitter apostasy from a god
dull study or careful experimentation. So complete is a savant’s unable to protect them from developing strange and unwelcome
mastery of this narrow range of scientific creations that he can powers. However, just as many savants are hardly religious at all,
activate his devices at will, without recourse to a finite pool of or even actively irreligious. Only the most well-organized and
energy. This primal approach to technology means that a Savant prolific pantheons are likely to include a deity whose portfolio
relies on instinct and clarity of personality as his primary attribute, includes the savant’s unusual brand of learning.
rather than on simple intelligence. Background: Some basic level of education seems to be
Adventures: A savant’s reasons for adventuring typically necessary to unlock the innate potential of a savant’s mind, and
depend on how he discovered his this loose requirement means that savants
talents. One savant may be on often hail from societies that benefit from
the run from irate villagers or a the easy flow of information and learning.
possessive government, another Such areas are frequently, but not necessarily,
might be seeking information urban areas. Of course, the savant’s talent
he can use to better control his is nothing if not unpredictable, and no
devices, and yet another might background completely precludes the
be pursuing rumors of more development of a savant — there are periodic
powerful technologies to study cases of isolated farmers who wake up with
and master. The most desperate crude devices and metal parts strewn
savants are those unable to about their homes, evidence of dreams
reconcile the strange, intuitive that led to an inner breakthrough and
workings of their own minds to the awakening of an unsuspecting
with their grasp on reality; savant.
these unstable souls adventure Races: Humans, as ever,
to find a way to salvage their are the race most likely to
slipping sanity. All adventuring develop odd powers like those
savants, however, recognize that of the savant — the human
throwing themselves against mind seems to be prone to
their limits is the best way to the radical intuitive leaps
discover where they are and how and strange bouts of lateral
to exceed them. thinking that give rise to a
Characteristics: The savant’s devices. Surprisingly,
savant masters powerful devices halflings and gnomes both
in singular leaps of logic. Their Misunderstood genius or mad scientist? The savant can fill both roles, and more produce a fair number of
(Artwork by J. L. Jones)
control over these devices is savants. Sages speculate
total, and they have no need to build up a reserve of power before that the savant talent somehow rubs off on the halflings, who
employing their creations as do more disciplined technologists. frequently associate closely with humans, while gnomes possess
Savants are also expert skill-users and possess a huge variety of chaotic dispositions and innately convoluted mental structures
potential skill sets supplemented by a prodigious level of natural that are amenable to a savant’s powers. (Strangely, many gnomes
talent. More experienced savants master increasingly impressive who become savants find themselves unable to access their racial
devices and their other skills continue to improve as well, magical powers; the cause of this phenomenon is unknown.)
allowing a high-level savant to mold himself to almost any role — The other demihuman races produce a tiny number of mental
assuming of course that he’s the one making such decisions and aberrations every year, and a small number of these mental
that the quirks of his own mind have not dictated the course of oddities demonstrate some degree of savantic talent. Half-orcs
his technological advancements to him. are the only race that produces no appreciable number of savants,
Alignment: Savants tend to be morally neutral and ethically although this fact may be mainly due to the sharply limited
neutral or chaotic. The internal workings of the savant’s mind amount of education that these half-breeds receive. The average
are frequently too interesting and erratic for him to pay much half-orc never receives a day of formal schooling in his or her
attention to the moral and ethical underpinnings of life. A rare life and is thus prevented from receiving even the fairly limited
few savants see themselves as the chosen avatars of their favored amount of education necessary to unlock a savant’s potential.

136
Despite the lack of empirical evidence, some scholars believe the Multiclassing: Some savants actually take levels in the class
number of untapped savants among the half-orc race to be quite without meaning to — a direct expression of some mysterious
high and argue for a reserve of untapped potential that could anomaly of an individual’s mind causes these characters to think in
become quite literally incendiary if a sufficient number of half- ways characteristic of the savant with little or no advance warning.
orcs realize their potential and discover that they intuitively know The good news in such a situation is that many classes work well
how to build and employ dangerous technological weaponry. with the savant’s abilities, provided that they do not boast strong
Savants show up irregularly among the savage humanoids. spellcasting abilities of their own. Because the savant does not
The original breakthrough of a humanoid savant is frequently suffer from arcane spell failure, he can easily use his devices to
accompanied by a violent shift in existing power structures as the augment his fighting power or his skills without sacrificing too
newly-awakened genius tries to use his new toys to bully his way much in other areas. Most multiclass savants focus on developing
to the top. Orcs are the only savage race that does not occasionally their technological abilities without dallying too long in another
suffer this sort of upheaval. This situation is probably a blessing, class or, conversely, immediately resume their original pursuits
as orcish society is already chaotic and brutal enough to make after learning to control their unasked-for abilities.
them a constant threat to the civilized races without the further
addition of technological prowess. Goblins are not known for GAME RULE INFORMATION
their quickness of thought or clarity of personality, but the rare Savants have the following game statistics.
charismatic specimens of the breed become savants with an Abilities: Charisma is generally the most important ability
alarming regularity. Unfortunately, something about the savant’s score for a savant, because it determines the save DCs for his
instinctive insight seems to disable a goblin’s sense of self- devices. Intelligence is of almost equal importance, as it grants the
preservation, and goblin savants are powerful and unpredictable savant additional skill points and governs many important class
individuals who typically lead short and magnificently destructive abilities and skills highly useful to the character (the Craft skill in
lives after accessing their latent abilities. particular). Dexterity is also important, as it improves the savant’s
The monstrous races vary wildly in their mindsets and in the generally low Armor Class and boosts his attack bonus with the
physical workings of their brains. For this reason, the machinery many devices that require ranged attack rolls. An individual
needed to think like a savant is limited to only a few monstrous
species. Scholars have thus far documented cases of savant insight
only among the aranea, doppelgangers, ettercaps, harpies, lamiae,
nagas, and sphinxes. Perhaps most disturbingly, the baatezu are
known to have a torturous process by which a devil’s mind can
be warped and twisted into possessing the talent of the savant.
This dreadful procedure is a mystery to human and demihuman
scholars, and it is entirely possible that the procedure could be
adapted to affect other outsiders or even other creature types
altogether, with or without the devils’ assistance.
Other Classes: Savants vary so widely in their abilities that
their personality is the primary determinant of whether or not
they will get along with members of another class. Savants are
generally highly intelligent and charismatic, however, and these
traits make it fairly simple for a savant to blend in to whatever
degree desired. No other class bears a particular grudge against
the savant, although some individuals demonstrate a preference
or distaste for members of this skillful and oft-eccentric class.
Role: A savant can fill the role of party mage if necessary,
although the limited scope of his devices makes this a somewhat
challenging task. The savant’s role also arises partially from his
facility with a wide variety of useful skills and his possession
of a level of intuitive insight that allows for a startling degree
of improvisation. Savants are neither particularly tough nor
particularly weak in combat, and this means that they typically
neither fear the rigors of conflict nor seek to flee them at all costs.
The savant’s primary characteristic is an indefatigable endurance,
born of great facility with his skill-set and an effortless access to
Savant characters might find themselves inexplicably driven by a compulsive
his devices. This trait means that many savants find themselves urge to understand the science of the world around them
picking up the party’s slack after a long day. (Artwork by Leonardo da Vinci)

137
savant’s selection of class skills also Table A–6: The Savant
helps determine which abilities are Base Attack Fort Ref Will Devices
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Mastered
important for him.
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Expert, device (lesser gadget) 1
Alignment: Any. 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 New device (lesser gadget) 2
Hit Die: d6. 3 +2 +1 +1 +3 Prodigy 2
Starting Gold: 6d4×10 gp (150 4 +3 +1 +1 +4 New device (standard gadget) 3
gp average). 5 +3 +1 +1 +4 Prodigy 3
6 +4 +2 +2 +5 New device (greater gadget) 4
7 +5 +2 +2 +5 Prodigy 4
CLASS SKILLS 8 +6/+1 +2 +2 +6 New device (greater gadget) 5
The savant can choose any 9 +6/+1 +3 +3 +6 New device (lesser technology) 6
ten skills to be class skills. These 10 +7/+2 +3 +3 +7 Prodigy 6
ten skills are always treated as class 11 +8/+3 +3 +3 +7 New device (standard technology) 7
12 +9/+4 +4 +4 +8 Prodigy 7
skills, even if the savant later takes
13 +9/+4 +4 +4 +8 New device (greater technology) 8
levels in some other class. 14 +10/+5 +4 +4 +9 Prodigy 8
Skill Points at First Level: (6 + 15 +11/+6/+1 +5 +5 +9 New device (greater technology) 9
Int modifier) × 4. 16 +12/+7/+2 +5 +5 +10 New device (lesser artifact) 10
Skill Points at Each 17 +12/+7/+2 +5 +5 +10 Prodigy 10
18 +13/+8/+3 +6 +6 +11 New device (standard artifact) 11
Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.
19 +14/+9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Prodigy 11
20 +15/+10/+5 +6 +6 +12 New device (greater artifact) 12
CLASS FEATURES
All of the following are class features of the savant. (technology) skill and is covered in Chapter Three.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Savants are proficient Devices come in three orders of sophistication and power:
with all simple weapons and light armor, but with no shields. gadgets are the weakest, technologies are the mid-level devices,
Devices: A savant creates (or finds), maintains, and uses and artifacts represent the height of a savant’s abilities. Each of
devices, powerful machines that create effects similar to spells. these three orders is divided into three ranks: lesser, standard,
Savants are unique in that their startling instinctive knowledge and greater. As the savant gains levels, he can master increasingly
of the workings of their devices allows them to use these devices powerful ranks and orders of devices, with his current maximum
freely and without recourse to a pool of activation points. Savants order and rank as shown on Table A–6. Each time the savant
are thus able to use their devices as frequently as desired — they masters a new device, he can choose a device with the indicated
simply activate a mastered device when they deem it necessary to order and rank or any weaker device.
do so. Savants draw from the list of devices presented below when A savant’s selection of devices is extremely limited, as a
selecting devices to master, but it is not uncommon for a savant savant’s level of complete mastery requires a perfect intuitive
to experience a breakthrough and produce some never-before- understanding that does not come easily or often. A savant begins
seen device. These breakthroughs can require a long research play at first level having mastered a single lesser gadget and gains
period to develop, as described above in the section on designing new devices at the rate indicated on Table A–6: The Savant. The
new devices, or they can bypass such tedious study, as the GM number of devices a savant can master is not affected by his
desires. Charisma score; mastering additional devices in excess of those
A savant’s devices function just like a technologist’s devices indicated on Table A–6 is generally not possible except through
(see Chapter Three). Device activations can be disrupted, just the attainment of higher levels. Unlike some types of spellcasters,
as a spell can be ruined during casting. A savant is entitled to a savants cannot choose to unmaster previously chosen devices to
Concentration check to successfully activate a device if he is hit exchange them for a different selection; once a savant chooses a
by an attack while activating that device, just as a technologist device, it remains available to him indefinitely and always counts
would be. A savant can choose to activate a device defensively by against his maximum devices mastered.
making a successful Concentration check to avoid provoking an A device’s power level is determined by its activation level,
attack of opportunity. A savant’s activation level with his devices which is equal to the savant’s class level — savant characters
is equal to his savant level. grow closer and closer to their devices over time, and the devices
Mastering a device requires no particular level of Charisma, increase in power accordingly. The Difficulty Class for the saving
but Charisma determines the save DCs for the savant’s devices. throw against a savant’s device is 10 + ½ his savant class level + his
Upon achieving a new level, the savant receives one free copy of Charisma modifier.
any new devices he has mastered without his having to spend Expert (Ex): Savants possess a high degree of natural talent
time, gather raw materials, or make Craft checks. These free in the skills they choose as class skills. As a result, they are allowed
devices are part of the savant’s advancement and represent the to use these skills in special ways that are normally only available
occasional products of an erratic and intuitive mind. Replacing to members of certain specific classes. To gain the benefit of the
or repairing lost or damaged devices requires the use of the Craft Expert ability in relation to a certain skill the savant must have

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that skill as a class skill, either as one of the ten skills he originally
selected as class skills or as an additional class skill gained through
the use of the Prodigy class feature, and must have at least one
rank in the skill in question.
Although not spellcasters in anything resembling the
traditional sense, savants with skill in alchemy are adept at using
nonmagical techniques to create alchemical concoctions. Savants
of any level may use the Craft (alchemy) skill to create alchemical
items as though they were normal spellcasters. To do this they
must have Craft (alchemy) as a class skill and possess at least one
rank in the skill.
Savants who have Search as a class skill are deft investigators
and can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a
Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a nonmagical trap has a
DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic
trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.
If the savant is a trained trapsmith with at least a single rank
in Disable Device and the Disable Device skill as a class skill, he can
use Disable Device to disarm magical traps. A magic trap generally
has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it. A savant
who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with his Disable Device check
can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it along with
his party without disarming it.
Prodigy (Ex): Savants are potential masters of a huge
variety of skill sets, depending on their particular focus. They are
much like the expert NPC class in this regard, but have a special
advantage due to the peculiar intuitive fashion in which their
mind functions. At the indicated levels, beginning at 3rd level, a
savant may choose a special ability from the list below to reflect
his increasing control over his natural talents.
Bonus Feat: The savant can select a bonus feat from the
following list: Acrobatic. Agile, Alertness, Animal Affinity,
Athletic, Combat Casting, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Diligent,
Endurance, Investigator, Magical Aptitude, Negotiator,
Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, Self-Sufficient, Skill Focus (any),
Stealthy, Run, and Track. Additional skill-related feats may
also be added to this list, at the game master’s discretion.
Expanded Repertoire: The savant develops a knack for new skills
and gains 2 additional class skills. These skills are added to
the savant’s list of available class skills and are always treated
as class skills for him, even if the savant later takes levels in
another class.
Instant Comprehension (Ex): The savant can clear his mind and
gain a powerful temporary insight into a skill that he has
no particular training in. Instant Comprehension grants a
+1 competence bonus per savant level to a single skill check.
This competence bonus may only be applied to a skill in
which the savant has no ranks. In addition, the savant is
treated as having half a rank in the chosen skill for as long
as required by the skill check, allowing him to use instantly-
comprehended skills without suffering penalties resulting
from a lack of training. Instant Comprehension is useable
once per day.
139
A savant may gain this ability multiple times and
adds 1 to the number of times per day he can use Instant
Comprehension each time he selects this class feature.
Skill Mastery (Ex): The savant becomes so certain in the use
of certain skills that he can use them reliably even under
adverse conditions. Upon gaining this ability, the savant
selects 2 skills, both of which he must have as class skills.
When making a skill check with one of these skills, the
savant may take 10 even if stress and distractions would
normally prevent him from doing so. A savant may gain this
prodigy ability multiple times, and selects 2 additional class
skills that his skill mastery applies to each time he gains this
ability. Prerequisite: Savant level 7+.
Gadgeteer’s Insight (Ex): The savant’s understanding of a gadget
he has mastered grows to such a level that he can occasionally
coax incredible levels of performance out of it. The savant
chooses one gadget that he has already mastered to be the
focus of this ability. Once per day, he can activate the device
as though it were equipped with a single optional expensive
component that applies to that device, even if the savant
does not have that component on hand. Doing so does
not expend material resources of any kind, and the gadget
resumes its normal functioning the next time it is activated.
If the gadget’s duration is expressed as a base duration, you
may freely reactivate it only up to 10 times when using this
ability, after which time you must again activate the device,
this time without the enhancement provided by the device’s
expensive component.
Gadgeteer’s Insight may be taken multiple times. Its
effects do not stack. Instead, the savant chooses a new gadget
each time to which he can temporarily apply that device’s
expensive component. Prerequisite: Savant level 12+.
Technologist’s Insight (Ex): The savant’s understanding of a
technology he has mastered grows to such a level that he
can occasionally coax incredible levels of performance out
of it. The savant chooses one technology that he has already
mastered to be the focus of this ability. Once per day, he
can activate the device as though it were equipped with a
single optional expensive component that applies to that
device, even if the savant does not have that component on
hand. Doing so does not expend material resources of any
kind, and the technology resumes its normal functioning
the next time it is activated. If the technology’s duration is
expressed as a base duration, you may freely reactivate it only
10 times when using this ability, after which time you must
again activate the device to maintain its effects, this time
without the enhancement provided by the device’s expensive
component.
Technologist’s Insight may be taken multiple times.
Its effects do not stack. Instead, the savant chooses a new
technology each time he gains this ability to which he can
temporarily apply that device’s expensive component.
Prerequisite: Savant level 18+.
HUMAN SAVANT STARTING PACKAGE
Armor: Studded leather (+3 AC, armor check penalty –1,
speed 30 feet, 20 lbs.).
Weapons: Shortspear (1d6, crit ×2, range inc. 20 ft., 3 lb.,
one-handed, piercing).
Light crossbow (1d8, crit 19–20/×2, range inc. 80 ft., 4 lbs.,
piercing).
Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 7 + Int
modifier. Any 10 of these are class skills, and receive 4 ranks. Any
additional skills are considered cross-class skills and receive only
2 ranks.
Feat: Skill Focus (any).
Human Bonus Feat: Combat Casting.
Devices Mastered: Gadget (lesser) – furnace kindler
Gear: Backpack with waterskin, one day’s trail rations, sack,
flint and steel. Hooded lantern, five pints of oil. Belt pouch with
masterwork artisan’s tools, ten sheets of parchment, a pen, and a
vial of ink. Case with 10 crossbow bolts.
Gold: 2d6 gp.
Using the Savant
The savant presents some interesting options for inclusion
in your game when compared to the basic technologist. The most
direct way to incorporate the savant is to simply include the savant
in the campaign as an alternative version of the core technologist,
in much the same way that the sorcerer offers a different kind
of arcane caster when compared to the wizard. If you do this, no
changes to the savant class as it is presented here are necessary.
The savant can also replace the core technologist entirely
if you would prefer to make fantasy science somewhat less
“scientific” and more intuitively based, or if you simply dislike the
activation point system. In this case, you can either use the savant
as it is presented here, or you can convert it into an Intelligence-
based spellcaster by changing which ability score bonus applies
to the saving throw Difficulty Class of the savant’s devices. You
might even make the savant a Wisdom-based activator if Charisma
doesn’t strike you as the appropriate ability score with which to
represent intuitive insight into technology. Keep in mind that
these alterations will have a slight effect on the savant’s balance as
a class, since Intelligence is generally a more useful ability score to
an adventurer than either Wisdom or Charisma.
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The Savant as a Game Mastering Aid
Even if you ultimately decide not to introduce the
savant as an option for your players, the class can still help
you shave some time off of your pre-game preparations.
Although the savant and the technologist play very
differently, players who encounter a savant as an NPC will
be hard pressed to differentiate it from a technologist in
the space of a brief combat encounter. For this reason,
you can have a savant stand in wherever you need a
technologist. Since the savant is roughly as powerful as
the basic technologist, you can use it to reduce your prep
time without unduly affecting the difficulty of any combat
encounters you have planned. Simply pick appropriate
skills, feats, and signature devices, assign gear and prodigy
abilities, and you’re done. Best of all, there will be no need
for you to keep track of the either an NPC’s activation
point total or the technologist’s sometimes overwhelming
selection of devices.
The savant also provides a way to introduce fantastic
technology into a campaign, in addition to or alongside the
scenarios discussed in Chapter One. Because savants do not
require extensive education they can potentially show up
anywhere and at any time, as the heralds of some strange deity or
other power’s presence or of some dramatic shift in natural law.
Additionally, because savants share many underlying similarities
with the expert NPC class, they do not have to be introduced
into a campaign setting at first level — a savant could go his or
her entire life as a simple expert until some accidental discovery
or triggering event reveals a heretofore unsuspected talent.
The introduction of the technologist can be the direct result
of studies of these naturally developing prodigies, or perhaps
the advent of the technologist itself somehow causes savants to
become more common — perhaps technological devices give off
some kind of radiation that awakens latent powers, or a magical
countermeasure produced by jealous mages has some unexpected
results. In any case, having the gnomish merchant the PCs just
antagonized suddenly discover that he can build and operate
terrifyingly destructive devices from instinct is sure to lead to
some appropriately entertaining situations.
Savant Devices
Gadget-Order Devices
Rank Device Name Brief Description
Lesser Alchemical Assayer Appraise identifies alchemical, technological, and magical items.
Lesser Alchemical Rebreather Mask provides oxygen so you can breathe.
Lesser Annealing Gel Changes treated armor’s AC bonus to +6.
Lesser Aqua Intelligentiae Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor Intelligence-based bonuses.
Lesser Aqua Vitae Minor Alchemy permanently grants bonuses to hp and Fortitude saves.
Lesser Ascension Gear Grants ability to move on walls and ceilings.
Lesser Breakneck Thieves’ Tools Masterwork tools decrease the time to use Disable Device.
Lesser Caloric Control Mantle Exist comfortably in hot/cold environments, reduce fire/cold damage.
Lesser Cap of Memory Jogging Electric jolt allows Knowledge or Intelligence check reroll.
Lesser Clairaudient Fly Fingers Sensitive gloves let you hear through walls and other obstacles.
Lesser Determent Spring Tiny construct chases away intruders.
Lesser Discourse Replicator Creates temporary masterwork documents.
Lesser Empyreal Net You fall slowly and with some control.
Lesser Fabricacious Fabricator Automatic loom quickly reweaves cloth into new forms.
Lesser Full-Body Corset Uncomfortable clockwork clothing grants +5 to Disguise checks.
Lesser Furnace Kindler Cone deals 1d6/level fire damage (max 5d6).
Lesser Goggles of Acuity Search grants synergy to Appraise, Disable Device, Sense Motive, and Spot.
Lesser Headband of Mental Puissance You generate and control a small amount of psionic force.
Lesser Helm of Cogitative Stimulation +1 on one attack roll, saving throw, or skill check.
Lesser Instant Contrivance Creates temporary masterwork tools.
Lesser Iron Grub Construct deals 1 point Constitution damage for 1d6 rounds.
Lesser Knot Train Crawling construct manipulates ropes in a variety of ways.
Lesser Magic SensitivityA Detects spells and magic items within 30 feet.
Lesser Mimetic Key, Sunflare Light-emitting stone blinds creatures when triggered.
Lesser Neural Lancet Living creature struck loses next action.
Lesser Nocturnal Goggles You gain 60-foot darkvision.
Lesser Peril-Sensitive Lenses You lose your peripheral vision, but can concentrate more easily.
Lesser Photon Scattering Shield Burst of light forces miss chance, dazzles attackers.
Lesser Pocket Ballista Powerful crossbow deals 2d8 points of damage, has 100-foot range.
Lesser Protection from AbnormalitiesA +2 to AC and saves vs. spells and constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead; hedge out
summoned creatures.
Lesser Rangefinder Targeting ray aids ranged attack rolls.
Lesser Renechak’s Portable Zoogrammaphone Index grants bonuses to identify some creatures.
Lesser Scattershot Helmet Spray of pellets grants deflection bonus versus ranged attacks.
Lesser Script Widget Device allows Decipher Script rerolls and reading of magic scrolls.
Lesser Silt Wall A dust cloud arises around you, providing concealment.
Lesser Spring-Heeled Jackboots Wearer gains a bonus on Jump checks.
Lesser Suppress SpellA You suppress a spell on your person for one round as a swift action.
Lesser Swift Striders Your speed increases by 30 feet.
Lesser Technologist’s Familiar Tiny construct obeys simple commands.
Lesser Tullius’s Miraculous Vitamin Supplement Injection grants 1d10 temporary hit points, +1/level (max +10).
Lesser Vibrowand Melee attack deals 1d6 damage, possibly 1 point of Con damage.
Lesser Voice Sweetener You gain +2 to Charisma-based checks in all languages you know.
Lesser Wand of Battery Prod strikes with great force, bull rushing or opening doors.
Standard Amanuensis Engine You can rapidly copy and indefinitely store a nonmagical text.
Standard Aqua Venusitas Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor interaction bonuses.
Standard Aqua Virium Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor combat bonuses.
Standard Auto-Otolarynx Alchemical sensor grants Scent special quality.
Standard Caloric Hammer Ranged touch attack deals 2d6 fire or cold damage, +1 burst per two levels above first
(max 6).
Standard Check AbnormalityA A construct, elemental, outsider or undead target is dazed 1d4 rounds, then –2 on attacks,
saves, and checks and +2 to Strength.
Standard Cortical Fusegun Electrical device makes target more or less sensitive to stimuli.
Standard Divine Transfusion Infuses aligned water into target’s blood, granting bonuses.
Standard Electroveiglant Mercury Metal attracts electricity, granting resistance 10+ to all within 20 feet.
Standard Field-Solderant Kit Emergency repair kit restores 3d6 hp + 2/level to construct or object.
Standard Flux Fork Special tuning fork softens earth and stone, slows earth creatures.
Standard Gauntlets of the Iron Ogre You gain a +6 enhancement bonus to arm Strength.
Standard Icebound Barricade Fills 20-foot radius spread with sticky, freezing strands.

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Gadget-Order Devices
Rank Device Name Brief Description
Standard Jabberblaster Loud noise deafens unprotected creatures.
Standard Knife Spider Thrown weapon deals 1d6 + 1/level damage and attacks as Small animated object.
Standard Master’s Tools Masterwork tools grant +10 to craft masterwork components.
Standard Mimetic Key, Smokebomb Stone produces clouds of concealing smoke.
Standard Perigord Raptor Booby trap deals 1d6/2 levels damage, may trap creatures.
Standard Pinprick Whirligig Spinner Whirligig deals 1d6 piercing damage/round, causes nausea.
Standard Planar Control Wand Knowledge check adds to activation level of antimagic devices.
Standard Professional’s Satchel Tool kit doubles income from one Profession subskill.
Standard Scramble ProgrammingA Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead are confused.
Standard Smite AbnormalityA Ray deals 1d6 damage/level to constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Standard Spikedriver Heated projectiles deal extra damage and ignore hardness.
Standard Splendiferous Scientific Wonder Fancy device fascinates creatures with a lower Charisma.
Standard Steamplunker Hurls small items far and with great force.
Standard Stickyfoam Neutralizer Causes a tanglefoot bag to emit a fog cloud, launches it at opponent.
Standard Technologist’s Magnifying Glass Reveals hidden doors and mechanical traps within 60 feet.
Standard Tullius’s Efficacious Nostrum Converts 1d6 lethal damage +1/level (max +10) and then cures 2d6 nonlethal damage
+1/level (max +20).
Standard Unctuous Bubbler Makes creatures and objects in a 10-foot radius slippery.
Standard Vitriol Projector Ranged touch attack; 1d6 damage for 1 round + 1 round per three levels.
Standard Wheedling Stone Hypnotic stone makes one person your friend.
Standard Zephyr Hammer Wind blows away or knocks down smaller creatures.
Greater Abnormality SensitivityA You can detect creatures that rely on magic to survive.
Greater Antimagic VortexA Glyph unravels magic and damages magical creatures when triggered.
Greater Aqua Celeritas Minor Alchemy permanently grants minor movement bonuses.
Greater Aqua Sapientiae Minor Alchemy permanently sharpens the subject’s senses.
Greater Blind the Abnormal EyeA Hides the subject from divination and scrying.
Greater Channeling Gauntlet You may use Spellcraft in place of the Use Magic Device skill.
Greater Dalyrimple’s Obfuscating Eye Creates visual illusion, hides target, or creates burst of light.
Greater Docschmidt Waxsprinkler Aetherial wax makes area completely frictionless.
Greater Engineered Panacea Remove damage or various conditions based on your Heal check.
Greater Excitatory Magnetoscythe Magnetic device sticks to weapons and increases their damage.
Greater Feiran’s Sphere of Savagery Target communicates with animals, risking Intelligence damage.
Greater Imperial Army Service Widget Helpful construct carries tools and aids the technologist.
Greater Iron Grub Pod Burrowing constructs deal 1d4 Constitution damage every round.
Greater Jonnetype Synaesthesiagraph Records everything in a 20-foot radius for later playback.
Greater Magnificent Pitch Hurler Deals 1d6 fire damage/level in a 20-foot radius.
Greater Menschausen Dolls Tiny constructs briefly lift and animate nearby objects.
Greater Mimetic Key, Fireburst Explosive stone deals 2d6 fire +1d6/2 levels.
Greater Mindfire Poison Injector Poison hinders or harms victim according to your activation level check.
Greater Philter Fermenter You can use Craft (alchemy) to brew magical potions.
Greater Smite MagicA You can cancel magical spells and effects.
Greater Trinicoil Stationary device deals 1d6/2 levels of electricity damage every round.
Greater Velocious Footgear Flings you a short distance in (partial) safety.
Greater Viscid BarrierA Solid antimagic blocks constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Greater Voltaic Coil Deal 1d6/2 levels of electricity damage at range, or 1d10/2 levels as a melee touch attack.
Greater Weaken AbnormalityA Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead are weakened.

Technology-Order Devices
Type Device Name Brief Description
Lesser Anathematize AbnormalityA You mark a construct, elemental, outsider, or undead, cursing it.
Lesser Arcane CounterdisruptionA Attempts to disrupt your devices are met with a smite magic effect.
Lesser Aviatronic Wing You fly at speeds up to 200 feet.
Lesser Break EnsorcellmentA Frees subjects from enchantments, alterations, curses, and petrification.
Lesser Clockwidget Fabrication Gantry Creates permanent clockwidget soldiers.
Lesser Core Lightning Charger Creature becomes a living battery, able to throw one bolt of lightning.
Lesser Dalyrimple’s Lucent Lance Sidearm deals 1d6/3 levels as a normal weapon.
Lesser Dark Matter Pall Cloud of opaque matter hampers vision and movement.
Lesser Dragoncaster Weapon deals 1d6 fire damage/level in a variety of possible areas.
Lesser Electrolytic Airforge Device converts surrounding water into a bubbling, breathable substance.
Lesser Flash-Bang Widget Widget blinds creatures and deals repeating fire damage.

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Technology-Order Devices
Type Device Name Brief Description
Lesser Folly’s Finagling Fingers Grants +10 competence bonus to Disable Device, Open Lock, and Search; allow skill
checks 10 feet away.
Lesser Kinetic Barrier-Layer Invisible wall of kinetic force is immune to damage.
Lesser Kinetic Shield, Defensive Energy forcefield absorbs attacks, adds to your AC.
Lesser Kinetic Shield, Offensive Creatures attacking you take force damage; you are protected against force damage.
Lesser Mercuric Blade You wield a morphic blade of silvery metal against your foes.
Lesser Metabolic Interdiction Field Field slows, weakens, and eventually kills living creatures.
Lesser Mimetic Key, Fudoicite Stone becomes immovable when triggered.
Lesser Occlude AbnormalityA –8 to two ability scores; –8 on attack rolls, saves, and checks; or 75% chance of losing each
action.
Lesser Orgonic Siphon Spinning disk drains 1d6 hit points/2 levels.
Lesser Scathing Shardsprayer Powerful acid deals 2d6 continuing damage in a burst.
Lesser Slumberous Savant Computer allows reroll of Knowledge checks with Knowledge ranks as an insight bonus.
Lesser Teacup’s Tiny Tinkerers Transforms raw materials into another form.
Lesser Terrain Attunement Alchemical regimen aids in wilderness survival.
Lesser Tullius’s Morphological Diagnostician Eyepiece grants bonus to Heal checks and sneak attack dice.
Lesser Ward Against AbnormalitiesA +4 AC against constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Standard Alchemical Resequencer Creates alchemical items, potions, and poisons.
Standard Aqua Celeritas Major Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Dexterity.
Standard Aqua Intelligentiae Major Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Intelligence.
Standard Aqua Sapientiae Major Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Wisdom.
Standard Aqua Venusitas Major Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Charisma.
Standard Aqua Virium Major Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Strength.
Standard Aqua Vitae Major Transformative elixir grants subject a permanent +4 to Constitution.
Standard Argent-Chain Widgets Drones deal 1d6 electricity damage/level in line between them.
Standard Bio-Reactive Theriac Immunizes against poison and detoxifies objects or creatures.
Standard Dark Matter Reaver Projectile does 1d6/level slashing and cold damage, may blind.
Standard Disseminative Cognimatrix Brain backup lets you use Sense Motive to avoid mental attacks.
Standard Duodimensional Lash Glowing filament inflicts 1d6+1/level Constitution drain.
Standard Feiran’s Animalizing Scepter Reduces creature’s Int to 2, allowing Handle Animal checks to control it.
Standard Goggles of X-Ray Vision You can see through walls and in darkness.
Standard Interphasic Terror Null-space machinery provides Intimidation bonuses.
Standard Magnetosonic Waveform Pulse Generator Energy wave scans terrain around you out to 1 mile/level or 100 feet/level.
Standard Ornithopter Swift-flying machine carries you and several others.
Standard Professional Reformatamatic Helmet allows you to temporarily rewrite your skills.
Standard Repulse the TaintedA Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead can’t approach you.
Standard Sublimation Chamber Appraise check increases worth of valuable nonmagical items.
Standard Umbral Heart Cloak You are invisible, even in combat.
Standard Verbal Weirding Module Spread deals 1d6 sonic damage/level; Speak Language adds to effect.
Greater Atomic Discombobulator Green ray disintegrates target.
Greater Aura of Just RetributionA Aura shatters spells that target you and redirects them as damage.
Greater Battlement Combat Gear Armor enhancements provide strong defense.
Greater Coronal Electroweapon Ray deals 1d6/level electricity damage and protects you while firing.
Greater Diadem of Psychic Mastery Generates psychic energy, granting access to psionic powers.
Greater Egestive Gland Laboratory Implanted glands secrete an alchemical item or poison 3/day.
Greater Feiran’s Feralizing Gage Ray reduces Intelligence and Charisma but provides feral improvements to senses and
offensive abilities.
Greater Gelph’s Globulous Hunter Device unfurls into an ooze that fights for you.
Greater Inviolate Shield Against MagicA Negates magic and device use within 10 feet.
Greater Mimetic Key, Netherstone Stone negates matter, dealing 5d6 + 1d6/level damage when triggered.
Greater Monroe’s Proactive Weathervane Weather control device that affects a wide area.
Greater Obliterate AbnormalityA Black bolt vaporizes constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Greater Orgonic Field Perturbation Inducer Invisible change to aura causes healing or grants an attack when target creature is
wounded.
Greater Resonance Absorption Staff Staff absorbs and stores sonic energy for later use.
Greater Scuttlebug Launcher Burrowing mines lie in wait to deal 1d6/level fire and slashing damage.
Greater Seismic Flow Wand Sonic energy causes solid matter to flow gently, reshaping it.
Greater Smite Magic, GreaterA As smite magic, but up to +20 on checks.
Greater Space-Warp Modulator Warped space increases distance to you and shortens it from you.
Greater Sphere of Intractable Will Strange amulet lets you make Concentration checks to ignore dying.

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Technology-Order Devices
Type Device Name Brief Description
Greater Stylus of Arcane Mimeography Use Forgery to create quasi-real mystic sigils, duplicating spells.
Greater Tullius’s Potent Catholicon Heals hit point damage, ability damage and drain, and the fatigued or exhausted
conditions.
Greater Zorastrus’s Roll of Days Computer calculates patterns in your life, granting insight bonuses.

Artifact-Order Devices
Type Device Name Brief Description
Lesser Acidulous Miasma Generator Obscuring cloud deals 1d6/level or 1d6/3 levels/round acid damage.
Lesser Bio-Genetic Scourge Horrible plague deals ability damage, creates ghouls from the slain.
Lesser Canny Descrier +40 Sense Motive, and gain Sense Motive ranks to interaction skills.
Lesser Chorn’s Antecedent Assailer Deal 1d6/level force damage as an immediate action.
Lesser Coil of PossibilitiesX Duplicates the effects of any gadget or technology.
Lesser Cross-Phasic Cloak Subject can become effectively incorporeal at will.
Lesser Dalyrimple’s Out-of-the-Way Palace You open a gateway that leads to a null-space mansion.
Lesser Erevor’s Soul Steel Cuts a creature’s connection to reality, killing them.
Lesser Extirpate AbnormalitiesA Destroys 1d4/level HD of constructs, elementals, outsiders, and undead.
Lesser Gelph’s Instant Aggressor Instantly creates an improved flesh golem that fights for you.
Lesser Jonnetype Synaesthenic Projector Makes terrain appear to have different structures or natural features.
Lesser Kelleris’s Chroneptic Repeater Ray repeats or negates last round’s damage and effects on one creature.
Lesser Mimetic Key, Savanix Charged stone grants bonuses to Int-based checks, causes confusion when triggered.
Lesser Orgavulsion Crystal Ray deals 1d4 negative levels/round to power negative energy attack.
Lesser Spark ManufactoryX You can craft permanent golem-like constructs.
Lesser Ward Against All SorceryA Spell resistance plus complete protection from spells 4th level and lower.
Lesser Worm Gauntlet Teleporter puts enemies through the wringer for 1d6/level damage.
Standard Absorptive Traversant Survive in any terrain, and gain exploration-related abilities by doing so.
Standard Astral Perspective Vortex Move through your mind and the Astral Plane to other realities.
Standard Beholder From Beyond Planar satellite spies on areas, deals electricity damage at range.
Standard Caesura Weapon Spatial collapse in a 10-foot cube, trapping foes and bypassing barriers.
Standard Dark Matter Ecliptic Creates darkness and suppresses light spells in a one-mile radius.
Standard Folly’s Cognate Architronix Manipulate space to “move” objects and creatures in that space.
Standard Gigant Marauder Mechanized armor increases your size to Huge, Gargantuan, or Colossal.
Standard Jabberwocky Slayer Blade strikes in line of sight from other dimensions, may sever heads.
Standard Kelleris’s Time-Lost Crawler Construct travels through time and leaves items for you to find.
Standard Laboratory of Reawakening Cloning facility allows you to return from the dead.
Standard Lustrative ArmorA Forsaking ritual grants permanent defenses against magic.
Standard Paradoxic Slip-Shield All damage dealt less than 2/level per attack is negated.
Standard Peregrine’s Sun-Caller Solar flare deals 2d6/level damage after 1d2 rounds’ delay.
Standard Teacup’s Tiny Traveling Terrors Floating crystalline beads can scout for you, deal force damage.
Standard Tullius’s Swan Song Target is immune to hit point damage but is reduced to –9 hp when the device’s durations
ends.
Standard Xult’s Primal Blossom You corrupt a creature’s form and make it your slave.
Standard Zorastrus’s Roll of Eons Gain knowledge of the past, the future, or legendary things.
Greater Alembic of Creation Languages grant you their power.
Greater Aurelian’s Shadowforge Create a persuasive shadow identity based on a Forgery check.
Greater Balance of Synchronicity Cause creature to obey you by controlling it via strange causations.
Greater Extirpate MagicA Destroys spells and suppresses magical items in a 40-foot radius.
Greater Imperial Null-Space Cannon Devastating null-space weapon deals 2d6 points of damage/level, plus other effects, in an
80-foot radius.
Greater Mimetic Key, Chronull Time-distorting stone hastes bearer and causes time hop when thrown.
Greater Nanitic Reconfiguration Entity Cloud of machines transforms or destroys objects and defends you.
Greater Packmaster’s Throne +10 Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, and Intimidate, plus dominate
animals with your mere presence.
Greater Rimala’s Fundamental Anatomizer Gain permanent bonuses from truly understanding an item.
Greater Renechak’s Panoptic Eye Omniscient device grants perfect knowledge of one creature.
Greater Worldwalker’s Baton Opens a circular gate to anywhere on same plane.

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Devices as Equipment
The basic rules presented in this book only allow
technologists to make and use devices, and then generally only
for their own use. If you would like technologists to be able
to share the fruits of their labors, or if you want to introduce
high technology into your campaign without its corresponding
spellcasting tradition, you can make use of one or more of the
following optional rules.
Devices Like Magic Items
The simplest way to introduce technological items into your
game in a permanent form is to create devices that act like magic
items and have a fixed caster level and number of charges or uses
per day. Simply use the equivalent spell levels for devices (see
Table A–1, above), and determine the market price of a magical
item with the same activation (caster) level and number of uses
per day using the guidelines found on page 285 of the DMG.
Characters interested in making permanent or semi-permanent
technological devices in this way should take one or more of the
following feats. It is up to the GM which of the feats presented
here to allow.
The feats below cover roughly the same ground as the Brew
Potion, Craft Rod, Craft Staff, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous
Item, Forge Ring, and Scribe Scroll item creation feats from the
PHB. The Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat is omitted from
this list for two reasons: first, magical weapon and armor effects
require much more room to describe than the basic device-
duplication effects that can be covered in this space, and second,
the expanded rules for masterwork components in Chapter Two
already give technologists something unique to do to enhance
their party’s weapons and armor.
Construct Multi-Use Device [Item Creation]
You can create devices that can be activated multiple times
without draining your pool of activation points.
Prerequisite: Activation level 6th.
Benefit: You can create a multiple-use version of any device
that you have mastered. A character can activate this specially-
crafted device only if he or she has mastered at least one device
of the same order as the multi-use device. The base price of a
multi-use device is its activation level × the device’s equivalent
spell level × 750 gp. Crafting a multi-use device takes one day for
each 1,000 gp in its base price. To craft a multi-use device, you
must expend 75% of this base price in raw materials. A newly-
created multi-use device has 50 charges.
Any multi-use device that functions like a device with an
XP cost or a nonoptional expensive component also carries a
commensurate cost; in addition to the cost derived from the base
price, you must expend fifty copies of the material component
or pay fifty times the XP cost. If you wish to add the multi-use
device’s optional expensive component to its effects, you must
pay fifty times the cost of this optional expensive component
when crafting the device.
145
Craft Points and Item Creation Feats
The default assumption is that you can use craft points
to pay the raw materials cost of a technological item creation
feat. However, the technologist’s craft points are balanced
on the general assumption that craft points are not worth
quite as much as an actual gold piece because they cannot
be used to purchase magical items, which typically make
up much of a character’s wealth. These technological item
creation feats potentially make craft points much more
useful by allowing technologists to use their craft points
to create magic item-like devices. The imbalance created
by introducing technological item creation feats should
be negligible, but be prepared to disallow the use of craft
points to pay for technological devices, if necessary.
Craft Expendable Gadget [Item Creation]
You can create expendable versions of gadgets you have
mastered, allowing other characters to use your technology.
Prerequisite: Activation level 3rd.
Benefit: You can create a disposable version of any device
of the gadget order that you have mastered. Creating this device
takes one day. When you create a disposable gadget you set the
gadget’s activation level, which can be no higher than your own
activation level. The base price of an expendable gadget is its
equivalent spell level × its activation level × 50 gold pieces. To
create the expendable gadget, you must expend raw materials
costing 75% of this base price in gold pieces.
Any expendable gadget that mimics a device with a costly
non-optional expensive component or an XP cost also carries a
commensurate cost. In addition to the costs derived from the
base price, you must expend the material component or pay the
XP when creating the potion. You may also include the benefits
of an optional expensive component in the expendable gadget’s
activation; doing so adds the cost of that expensive component to
the cost to create the expendable gadget.
After you create the expendable gadget, any character may
activate the device, using the expendable gadget’s activation level,
as though they had mastered it and had activation points available
to activate it. Expendable gadgets are destroyed after one use.
Craft Unmastered Device [Item Creation]
You know how to create devices that anyone can use,
although doing so is a costly business.
Prerequisite: Activation level 3rd.
Benefit: Unmastered devices are like wondrous magical
items: devices that anyone can use and that have a set number of
uses per day or a specific mode of activation. Anyone can use an
unmastered device as though they had mastered the device and
had sufficient activation points to activate it.
Determine the unmastered device’s market price using
the guidelines on pages 284–285 of the DMG. Creating an
unmastered device takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its price. To
create the device, you must spend 75% of the item’s price in raw
materials. You may create an unmastered device only if it employs
or replicates the effects of only devices that you have mastered.
You can also mend a broken unmastered device if it is one that
you could make. Doing so costs half the raw materials and half
the time it would take to craft that item in the first place.
Some devices incur extra costs in XP or expensive components
(optional or not), depending on their function. These costs are in
addition to those derived from the item’s base price. You must
pay such a cost to create an item or to mend a broken one.
Develop Prototype [Item Creation]
You can create prototypes, expendable machines that can
be used by experienced technologists to duplicate the effects of a
device they have not mastered.
Prerequisite: Activation level 1st.
Benefit: You can create a prototype of any device that you
have mastered. Prototypes can be used by any character with
an activation level of at least 1 as though that character were
activating the device in question at the prototype’s activation
level. If the prototype’s activation level is higher than your own,
you must succeed at an activation level check (DC equal to the
prototype’s activation level) to successfully activate the device.
Failure due to rolling a natural 1 on this activation level check
causes a mishap, with effects determined by the GM. Prototypes
are expended (effectively destroyed) after one use.
Developing a prototype takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its
base price. The base price of a prototype is its equivalent spell level
× its activation level × 25 gp. To develop a prototype, you must use
up raw materials costing 75% of this base price. Any prototype that
duplicates a device effect with an expensive material component
or an XP cost also carries a commensurate cost; in addition to the
costs derived from the base price, you must expend the expensive
component or pay the XP when developing the prototype.
Devices as Treasure
A technologist is limited in the number of devices he can
master, so defeating and looting an enemy technologist can
be somewhat disappointing, as the recovered devices will be
relatively useless to the technologist — they have no value on the
open market and are of no use to other technologists except as
curiosities or sources of theoretical knowledge. If you wish to
change this, consider using the variant rule presented here.
Device Prices: Gadgets have a market value of 500 gold
pieces. Technologies cost 2,500 gold pieces. Artifacts cost 6,000
gold pieces. Devices with permanent expensive components do
not function in the hands of someone other than their creator,
and so these upgrades do not add to the device’s market value.
Activating Unknown Devices: To activate a device you
have not mastered, you must first succeed at a Spellcraft check
(see page xx) to identify what the device is. Then you must spend
at least an hour preparing the device for use, although this can be
done at the same time that you prepare your other devices. Once
146
you have done these two things, to activate the device you must
spend twice the normal amount of activation points and then
make an activation level check (DC 10 + the device’s activation
level). Remember that a device’s activation level is usually equal to
the level of the technologist to whom the device belonged. If you
succeed, the device functions normally. If you fail, the activation
points are wasted and you must purify the device again before
you can make another attempt. If you fail by 5 or more, the device
breaks and deals untyped energy damage to you equal to its
activation level as it suffers some form of catastrophic failure.
Looting Technologists: If you elect to use this variant, NPC
technologists suddenly become extremely wealthy by virtue of
the devices they carry around and their access to craft points. For
instance, a 10th-level technologist who is carrying all of his devices
or has them nearby, and who has spent all of his craft points on
permanent goods, has 36,500 gold pieces’ worth of high-tech
equipment on his person, and that’s before he purchases a single
potion or magical cloak to help him survive an encounter with
your players. This total represents more than 20,000 gold pieces
over the recommended equipment allotment for an NPC of that
level. Thus, when using this variant rule in conjunction with NPC
technologist enemies you risk giving your players too much loot.
There are a few possible solutions to this problem. One is to
simply be aware of it and design adventures around it; a single
over-equipped technologist following a half-dozen impoverished
monsters will not unbalance your game, as the average wealth
gained across several encounters will adhere to the wealth
guidelines. Another solution is to drastically reduce the market
value of a captured device. Doing so is justifiable, since unknown
devices are hardly the most reliable instruments around — they
really aren’t useful to everybody. The price given above is based
on the cost to produce a device of the indicated order from
scratch, but if there is not much demand for secondhand devices
you can reduce this gold piece value to one-tenth of the cost to
create the device in the first place. This alteration allows you to
make NPC technologists who adhere to the wealth guidelines
fairly closely without sacrificing much of their normal gear. Any
“lost” gear invested in devices can also be made up for by using
the technologist’s craft points to purchase optional expensive
components to expend during the battle. And lastly, if you do
not use the wealth guidelines in your game, there is obviously no
problem — just deal with non-player technologists as you would
any other NPC.
Device Batteries
Batteries are discrete power sources that can be used to
operate a device instead of using activation points. Depending on
what you have decided technological devices are in your setting,
these batteries could represent any number of things. If you use
the default view that devices can only function when purified
of the disruptive energies of magic, then batteries could be a
reserve of antimagical energy. In other settings, batteries might
be magical creations designed to steal the technologist’s power or
even mundane batteries filled with electricity. More exotic options
include using a rare substance (naturally or artificially Devices in Modern D20 Games
created) as a battery or having the “battery” represent an Many of the devices presented in Chapter Four function just
antimagical ritual that imbues a character with power, as well as the products of some secret government lab as they do as
allowing him to activate technological devices when needed the creations of a fantasy scientist. If you want to introduce a device
without draining a personal pool of activation points. presented into this book as a secret weapon developed by some sinister
Device Prices: Gadgets have a market value of 500 organization or as the latest in cutting-edge research, but do not want
gold pieces. Technologies cost 2,500 gold pieces. Artifacts to use the Shadow Technologist
cost 6,000 gold pieces. Devices with permanent expensive advanced class presented later in Table A–7: Autonomous
components cannot be activated with those effects in place this Appendix, you can use the Devices Purchase DCs
Device Cost Purchase DC
using a device battery — they have only their basic effect Table below to get a rough idea of
Up to 50 gp 15
when used. If desired, you can use the device’s normal the appropriate purchase DC for 65 gp 16
expensive component in conjunction with activating a a permanent, autonomous device 90 gp 17
device via a battery. of the sort you have in mind. 120 gp 18
Non-Technologists and Devices: Batteries provide Determine the device’s cost in gold 150 gp 19
the power needed to activate devices. With a battery, any pieces using the guidelines on page 200 gp 20
300 gp 21
person can theoretically activate any device, even if he has 285 of the DMG, and then convert
350 gp 22
no technological training. Batteries have two measurements this gold piece price, and the price 500 gp 23
of power: activation level and activation points. of any expensive components that 650 gp 24
Activation level measures the highest activation level of can be used with the device, into a 900 gp 25
device the battery can power. You cannot power a device Purchase DC by referring to Table 1,200 gp 26
with an activation level higher than the battery’s. A A–7, right. Note that this table 1,500 gp 27
technologist can only create batteries of an activation only gives the Purchase DC of the 2,000 gp 28
2,750 gp 29
level less than or equal to his own. item proper — most super-science
3,500 gp 30
Activation points indicate how many activation points the devices will also be licensed, either 5,000 gp 31
battery has. Whenever you use a battery to power a as military equipment (adding +3 6,500 gp 32
device, the battery is drained of the appropriate amount to the purchase DC) or as flat-out 9,000 gp 33
of activation points. These points are not replenished illegal (adding +4). 12,000 gp 34
over time as are natural activation points. Use the Table A-7 to convert 15,000 gp 35
20,000 gp 36
If a character uses a battery to power a device, he must first an autonomous technological
30,000 gp 37
make a Knowledge (architecture and engineering) check device’s gold piece cost into an 35,000 gp 38
with a DC of 5 for gadgets, 10 for technologies, or 15 for appropriate Wealth check DC 50,000 gp 39
artifacts to figure out how to properly attach the battery to to purchase the item in Modern 65,000 gp 40
the device. If he fails, he can try again the next round. Making games. Use the “Device Cost” row 90,000 gp 41
the Knowledge check and attaching the battery both require that is closest to the autonomous 120,000 gp 42
150,000 gp 43
a single move action. Once he has succeeded on this check device’s value in gold pieces and
200,000 gp 44
at least once, he can activate the device if the battery has a that is equal to or greater than that 275,000 gp 45
high enough activation level and enough activation points value. For example, an autonomous 350,000 gp 46
remaining. If the battery being used device that costs 34,999 gold pieces 500,000 gp 47
does not meet these requirements, the has a purchase DC of 37, while a 650,000 gp 48
device does not activate and the battery’s device that costs 35,001 gold pieces 900,000 gp 49
1,200,000 gp 50
activation points are not expended. has a purchase DC of 38.
Once a character has discerned how to
charge a device with a battery, he need not
make any further Knowledge (architecture
and engineering) checks to use a battery
with that device.
Battery Market Price: A battery
costs a number of gold pieces equal to
its activation points × its activation level
× 3. Characters can create batteries with
the Craft (technology) or Craft (alchemy)
skills. Use the gold piece to measure a A technologist’s aviatronic wing is a crude substitute for a modern jetliner,
character’s progress instead of the silver but some characters might prefer it to waiting in line at an airport
piece. (Artwork by Leonardo da Vinci)

147
Shadow Technologist Advanced Class
The Shadow Technologist can represent any number of
things: a mad scientist ignoring the accepted theories of physics
and biology, a practitioner of strange sorceries founded on
rigid mathematical formulae, or a scholar from another world
or dimension who uses alien technological principles to build
powerful devices. A scientist (of a sort) and an engineer, the
Shadow Technologist builds contraptions that never seem to
quite fit in with the machines of the modern world. Their devices,
gleaming instruments born of improbable physics, range from
lightning-casting glass orbs reminiscent of old pulp adventures
to fortean laboratories that harness the very forces of creation.
Despite their unorthodox nature, a Shadow Technologist’s
machines possess unquestioned efficacy.
The strange science of the Shadow Technologist is the result
of study and is revealed in the form of distinct inventions with
wondrous powers. In the modern age, these unorthodox scientists
are apt to appropriate the lab coats and test tubes of their
mundane counterparts while they pursue their esoteric researches.
Even with these modern trappings of science, something always
indicates that this is no ordinary sort of science, whether this be a
mad gleam in the Shadow Technologist’s eye or the presence of a
noticeably bizarre device of unfathomable function.
Select this advanced class if you want your character to
strike out into the depths of the weird scientific principles left
unacknowledged by everyday scholarship. The fastest path into
this advanced class is from the Smart Hero basic class, though
other paths are possible.
Unless otherwise noted, assume that the Shadow Technolo-
gist follows the same rules as the Fantasy d20 technologist, as
delineated in Chapter Three.
REQUIREMENTS
To qualify to become a Shadow Technologist a character
must fulfill the following criteria.
Skills: Craft (mechanical) 6 ranks, Disable Device 6 ranks,
Research 6 ranks, and either Craft (chemical) or Craft (electronic)
6 ranks, plus 6 ranks in Knowledge (earth and life sciences),
Knowledge (physical sciences), or Knowledge (technology).
CLASS INFORMATION
The following information pertains to the Shadow
Technologist advanced class.
Hit Die: The Shadow Technologist gains 1d6 hit points per
level. The character’s Constitution modifier applies.
Action Points: The Shadow Technologist gains a number
of action points equal to 6 + one-half his character level, rounded
down, every time he attains a new level in this class.
Class Skills: The Shadow Technologist’s class skills are as
follows:
Computer Use (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (chemical,
electronic, mechanical, pharmaceutical, shadow technology)
(Int), Demolitions (Int), Disable Device (Int), Drive (Dex),
Forgery (Int), Knowledge (arcane lore, behavioral sciences, earth
and life sciences, physical sciences, popular culture, technology)
(Int), Navigate (Int), Pilot (Dex), Profession (Wis), Read/Write
Language (none), Repair (Int), Research (Int), Search (Int), Speak
Language (none), Techcraft (Int), Treat Injury (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 7 + Int modifier.
SHADOW DEVICE DURABILITY
Shadow devices are wondrous machines that produce a
wide variety of FX-like effects, as noted in their individual device
descriptions. Shadow devices can be destroyed just like other
objects. However, they are fairly durable (intended as they are
for use in the field), and have a number of hit points equal to
twice the Shadow Technologist’s activation level. Gadgets also
have a hardness of 5, technologies a hardness of 10, and artifacts
a hardness of 15. Devices have a saving throw bonus of 2 + ½ your
activation level for all saving throws. If a device description
specifically notes different values for hardness, hp, and saving
throws for the activated device, use those instead.
DAILY PREPARATION
The Shadow Technologist must spend one hour each day
fine-tuning and repairing his devices, or they will not function.
This daily preparation time must take place in a well-lit area
that offers no impediments to concentration. The Shadow
Technologist regains all lost activation points when his one-hour
daily preparation period is completed. See Chapter Three for
complete rules for what a Shadow Technologist can do during
this daily preparation period.
In addition to recovering lost activation points, a Shadow
Technologist can take advantage of the hour a day he spends

Table A–8: The Shadow Technologist

Class Base Attack Fort Ref Will Defense Reputation
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Bonus Bonus
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Technologist skills, shadow devices +1 +1
2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Machine empathy, shadow devices +1 +1
3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Bonus feat, shadow devices +2 +1
4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Shadow devices +2 +2
5 +2 +1 +1 +4 Constant tinkerer, shadow devices +3 +2
6 +3 +2 +2 +5 Bonus feat, shadow devices +3 +2
7 +3 +2 +2 +5 Extreme machine, shadow devices +4 +3
8 +4 +2 +2 +6 Shadow devices +4 +3
9 +4 +3 +3 +6 Bonus feat, shadow devices +5 +3
10 +5 +3 +3 +7 Combat activation, shadow devices +5 +4

148
working with his devices to repair any damage they have taken. Craft (shadow technology) skill, using the same procedure
To do so, the character makes a Repair check during the hour as crafting other items.
he spends purifying his devices; this check has a base DC of 15. A shadow technological device’s order determines its
You may make only one such check per daily preparation period, Craft skill Difficulty Class: gadgets have a Craft DC of 20,
and you may take 10 on this check because there is no penalty for technologies have a Craft DC of 25, and artifacts have a
failure. No raw materials are necessary for a Shadow Technologist Craft DC of 30. Crafting
Table A–9: Expensive
to make this special Repair check. A successful Repair check the device also requires a Components Purchase DCs
restores 1 lost hit point to a single selected device, plus 1 hit point supply of special tools and Component Purchase
per 5 points by which the Shadow Technologist’s Repair check components. Acquiring Cost DC
exceeded the DC. these items requires a Up to 20 gp 13
35 gp 14
Wealth check with a DC
50 gp 15
CLASS FEATURES of 21 for a gadget, 26 for 65 gp 16
All of the following features pertain to the Shadow a technology, and 29 for 90 gp 17
Technologist advanced class. an artifact. Only Shadow 120 gp 18
Shadow Technologist Skills: A Shadow Technologist has Technologists have the 150 gp 19
access to the following shadow technologist skills. These skills are knowledge necessary to 200 gp 20
300 gp 21
considered class skills for the Shadow Technologist, and he can design and construct a
350 gp 22
use his skill points to buy ranks in them. shadow technological 500 gp 23
Concentration (Con): The normal Concentration skill device, and even then only 650 gp 24
expands to include shadow technologist applications, as if they have mastered at 900 gp 25
defined below. least one device of the 1,200 gp 26
Check: You must make a Concentration check whenever appropriate order. 1,500 gp 27
you may potentially be distracted while engaged in an activity In addition, most 2,000 gp 28
2,750 gp 29
that requires your full attention, including activating a device devices have an optional
3,500 gp 30
or concentrating on an active device if doing so is required. expensive component 5,000 gp 31
If the check succeeds, you may continue with the action that may be used to boost 6,500 gp 32
as normal. If the check fails, the action automatically fails their effects, and many 9,000 gp 33
and is wasted. If you were in the process of activating a also require some form 12,000 gp 34
device, the activation points required to activate the device of ammunition or fuel to 15,000 gp 35
20,000 gp 36
are lost. If you were concentrating on an active device, the function. The cost of these
30,000 gp 37
device’s duration ends immediately. expensive components is 35,000+ gp 38
The table in the Concentration skill description (on expressed in gold pieces
page 53 of the Modern d20 Roleplaying Game core rulebook) in the device descriptions — use Table A-9 to convert this
summarizes the various types of distractions. In situations price into an appropriate Wealth check DC to purchase
where the distraction occurs while you are activating a the item in Modern games. Use the “Component Cost” row
device, you add 2 to the DC if the device is a gadget, 5 if closest to the component’s value in gold pieces and is equal
it is a technology, or 8 if it is an artifact to determine the to or greater than that value. For example, an expensive
Concentration skill check DC. component that costs 299 gold pieces has a purchase DC of
Try Again?: You can try again, but doing so doesn’t cancel 20, while an expensive component that costs 301 gold pieces
the effects of a previous failure. If you fail a Concentration has a purchase DC of 21.
check made during a device activation, the device’s activation Creating these components yourself requires a Craft
point cost is lost until regained following the next daily (shadow technology) skill check, with a DC based on the
preparation period. order of the device that the expensive component is used
Special: By making a check (DC 15 + 2 for gadgets, 5 for with. Expensive components for gadgets have a Craft DC
technologies, and 8 for artifacts), you can use Concentration of 15, those meant for technologies have a DC of 20, and
to activate a device defensively, thus avoiding attacks of components for an artifact require a DC 25 Craft check to
opportunity. If the check succeeds, you can attempt the create. Expensive components are of moderate complexity,
activation without incurring any attacks of opportunity, but and thus take 12 hours to build (see the Craft skill description
if it fails your action and the activation cost of the device are on pages 53–56 of the Modern d20 Roleplaying Game core
both lost. rulebook). The raw materials for an expensive component
Craft (shadow technology) (Int): Trained only. Whenever have a purchase DC one less than the cost to purchase that
a Shadow Technologist masters a new device, he also component outright.
gains a single free copy of that device. Devices the Shadow Special: A character without a shadow technology tool kit
Technologist has mastered can also be created using the takes a –4 penalty on Craft (shadow technology) checks. This

149
 Table A-10: Techcraft
DC Task
15 + 2 (gadgets), 5 (technologies), Identify a device being activated. You must be able to see the device well enough to quickly appraise it. You
or 8 (artifacts) can’t try again.
20 + 2 (gadgets), 5 (technologies), Identify a device effect that’s already in place and in effect. You must be able to see or detect the effects of the
or 8 (artifacts) device. You can’t try again.
20 + 2 (gadgets), 5 (technologies), Identify materials created or shaped by shadow technology, such as noting that a forcefield is the result of a
or 8 (artifacts) kinetic barrier-layer. You can’t try again.
20 + 2 (gadgets), 5 (technologies), Figure out what a device in your possession is designed to do. Requires 1 hour of study, and you may try only
or 8 (artifacts) once per day.
25 + 2 (gadgets), 5 (technologies), After rolling a saving throw against a device targeted at you, determine what device was activated targeting
or 8 (artifacts) you and what its effects would have been. This is a reaction.
30 or higher Understand a strange or unique shadow technological effect. You can’t try again.

tool kit is size Large, weighs 22 pounds, and has a purchase Activating a shadow device costs a number of activation
DC of 13. A deluxe shadow technology tool kit is size Huge, points listed in the device’s description, and the Shadow
weighs 45 pounds, and has a purchase DC of 20. The deluxe Technologist receives only a finite number of these activation
kit grants a +2 equipment bonus on Repair checks made for points. Activation points can represent a mysterious source
shadow technological devices and allows a character to make of eldritch power, the limited amount of scientific genius and
Craft (shadow technology) checks without penalty. inspiration that the character can call on in a given day, or just
Techcraft (Int): Trained only. Use this skill to identify devices the overall quality of the shadow devices’ maintenance and power
as they are activated or to identify device effects already sources. In addition, the Shadow Technologist receives bonus
in place. activation points based on his Intelligence score.
Check: You can identify devices and device effects.
Table A-12: Bonus Activation Points by Class Level
Additionally, certain devices allow you to gain additional Class Level
information or access a more powerful effect than normal Int Score
1–2 3–4 5–6 7–8 9–10
provided that you make a Spellcraft skill check, as detailed 2–3 –5 –15 –30 –45 –45
in the device description. All references to the Spellcraft skill 4–5 –5 –15 –30 –30 –30
6–7 –5 –15 –15 –15 –15
should be treated as a reference to the Techcraft skill when
8–9 –5 –5 –5 –5 –5
using the Shadow Technologist advanced class. 10–11 — — — — —
Try Again?: See Table A-10. 12–13 5 5 5 5 5
Time: Using the Techcraft skill is a move action unless 14–15 5 15 15 15 15
otherwise indicated. 16–17 5 15 30 30 30
18–19 5 15 30 45 45
Shadow Devices (Ex): The Shadow Technologist’s key
20–21 10 20 35 50 80
characteristic is the ability to build and activate shadow devices. 22–23 10 30 45 60 90
The list of devices available when selecting new devices to master
is provided below — see Chapter Four for complete descriptions The Shadow Technologist requires a daily preparation
of the shadow devices to which a Shadow Technologist has period for his devices to function normally (see above), but after
access. Shadow Technologists master a set number of devices at this daily maintenance is complete he does not need to prepare
each level, according to the chart below. If the GM allows it, the a shadow device in his possession beforehand to activate it. He
process for mastering additional devices presented in Chapter simply pays a device’s activation point cost to use any of the
Three may also be undertaken by the Shadow Technologist to devices in his possession.
further increase these numbers. The Difficulty Class for saving throws to resist the effects of
a Shadow Technologist’s devices is 10 + ½ the character’s Shadow
Table A-11: Shadow Devices Mastered and Activation Points
Class Activation
Technologist class level + the character’s Intelligence modifier.
Level Gadgets Technologies Artifacts Points Machine Empathy (Ex): At 2nd Level, the Shadow
1 2 — — 5 Technologist is so comfortable with technology that he gains a +2
2 4 — — 10 competence bonus on any skill checks made to construct, disable,
3 6 — — 20 build, or otherwise interact with any electronic or mechanical
4 7 1 — 40
device. In addition, the Shadow Technologist may use any skill
5 9 1 — 50
6 9 2 — 90
that involves technology (not just shadow technology) untrained.
7 10 3 — 110 Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Shadow
8 11 4 — 150 Technologist gains a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be selected
9 11 6 — 190 from the following list, and the Shadow Technologist must meet
10 12 6 1 250 all the prerequisites of the feat to select it.

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 Builder, Cautious, Combat Expertise, Educated, Focused, Shadow Devices
Gearhead, Low Profile, Meticulous, Renown, Studious, The following are devices to which the Shadow Technologist
Surgery, Vehicle Expert, Windfall. advanced class has access. The device’s rank is denoted via a
Combat Casting (Ex): At 4th level, the Shadow Technologist superscript letter: “L” for lesser devices, “S” for standard devices,
becomes adept at activating devices during combat. He gets a +4 and “G” for greater devices. All shadow devices require 1 standard
bonus to Concentration checks made when activating a device action to activate instead require a single attack action.
defensively.
Constant Tinkerer (Ex): At 5th level the Shadow Technolo- GADGETS
gist is considered to have considerable technological resources Alchemical Rebreather.L Mask provides oxygen so you can
either at hand or easily and cheaply acquired. These resources breathe.
usually take the form of an ever-changing assortment of Aqua Celeritas Minor.G Chemical treatment permanently
technological widgets and gizmos that can quickly be converted grants minor movement bonuses.
into a working item, shadow device, or expensive component. Aqua Intelligentiae Minor.L Chemical treatment
When making a Wealth check to determine if a particular item permanently grants minor Intelligence-based bonuses.
is “at hand,” add the Shadow Technologist’s class levels as a Aqua Sapientiae Minor.G Chemical treatment permanently
circumstance bonus to his Wealth check. This bonus only applies sharpens the subject’s senses.
if the Shadow Technologist is attempting find a technological item Aqua Venusitas Minor.S Chemical treatment permanently
of some sort, and the bonus is halved if the item in question is not grants minor interaction bonuses.
a shadow device or an expensive component for a shadow device. Aqua Virium Minor.S Chemical treatment permanently
Extreme Machine (Ex): If it has mechanical or electronic grants minor combat bonuses.
components, a Shadow Technologist of 7th level or higher can use Aqua Vitae Minor.L Chemical treatment permanently grants
the strange principles of his science to coax more power out of it. bonuses to hp and Fortitude saves.
By spending 1 action point and making either a Craft Ascension Gear.L Climbing gear grants ability to move on
(electronic) or Craft (mechanical) check (whichever is appropriate walls and ceilings.
for the machine in question), the Shadow Technologist can Auto-Otolarynx.S Chemical sensor grants Scent special
temporarily improve a machine’s performance. However, this quality.
upgrade runs a significant risk of causing the machine to need Caloric Control Mantle.L Exist comfortably in hot/cold
repairs later, as mundane technology and shadow tech don’t always environment, reduce fire/cold damage.
play nice together. The DC for the Craft check depends on the type Caloric Hammer.S Ranged touch attack deals 2d6 fire or cold
of improvement being made, as shown on the table below. damage, +1 burst per two levels above first (max 6).
Cortical Fusegun.S Electrical device makes target more or less
Table A-13: Extreme Machine
Improvement Craft DC Repair Chance
sensitive to stimuli.
Range Weapons Dalyrimple’s Obfuscating Eye.G Creates visual illusion,
+1 to damage 15 50% hides target, or creates burst of light.
+2 to damage 20 75% Docschmidt Waxsprinkler.G Aetherial wax makes area
+3 to damage 25 99% completely frictionless.
+5 feet to range increment 15 50% Empyreal Net.L You fall slowly and with some control.
+10 feet to range increment 25 75%
Engineered Panacea.G Remove damage or various conditions
Electronic Devices
+1 equipment bonus 15 50% based on your Heal check.
+2 equipment bonus 20 75% Flux Fork.S Special tuning fork softens earth and stone, slows
+3 equipment bonus 25 99% earth creatures.
Vehicles Full-Body Corset.L Uncomfortable clockwork clothing
+1 on initiative checks 20 50% grants a +5 bonus to Disguise checks.
+1 to maneuver 25 75%
Furnace Kindler.L Cone deals 1d6/level fire damage (max
+2 to maneuver 30 99%
5d6).
The modifications take 1 hour, and the character can’t take Goggles of Acuity.L Search grants synergy to Sense Motive,
10 or take 20 on this check. If the check succeeds, the effect of the Spot, and Demolitions (instead of Appraise, as noted in the
improvement lasts for a number of minutes equal to his Shadow device’s description).
Technologist class level, beginning when the object is first put into Helm of Cogitative Stimulation.L +1 on one attack roll,
use. The Shadow Technologist selects the single improvement he saving throw, or skill check.
wants to make prior to making the check. After the duration of the Icebound Barricade.S Fills 20-foot radius spread with sticky,
effect ends, the machine reverts to its previous state and a repair freezing strands.
chance percentile roll is made. The result of this roll indicates Imperial Army Service Widget.G Helpful construct carries
whether the machine requires repairs before it can be used again. tools and aids the technologist.

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 Iron Grub Pod.G Burrowing constructs deal 1d4
Constitution damage every round.
Jabberblaster.S Loud noise deafens unprotected creatures.
Jonnetype Synaesthesiagraph.G Records everything in a 20-
foot radius for later playback.
Knife Spider.S Thrown weapon deals 1d6 + 1/level damage,
attacks as Small animated object.
Magnificent Pitch Hurler.G Deals 1d6 fire damage/level in a
20-foot radius.
Menschausen Dolls.G Tiny constructs briefly lift and
animate nearby objects.
Mindfire Poison Injector.G Poison hinders or harms victim
according to your activation level check.
Nocturnal Goggles.L You gain 60-foot darkvision.
Photon Scattering Shield.L Burst of light forces miss chance,
dazzles attackers.
Silt Wall.L A dust cloud arises around you, providing
concealment.
Splendiferous Scientific Wonder.S Fancy device fascinates
creatures with a lower Charisma.
Spring-Heeled Jackboots.L Wearer gains a bonus on Jump
checks.
Steamplunker.S Hurls small items far and with great force.
Stickyfoam Neutralizer.S Fires a blob of ooze that entangles
and blinds an opponent.
Technologist’s Familiar.L Tiny construct obeys simple
commands.
Tullius’s Miraculous Vitamin Supplement.L Injection
grants 1d10 temporary hit points, +1/level (max +10).
Unctuous Bubbler.S Makes creatures and objects in a 10-foot
radius slippery.
Vitriol Projector.S Ranged touch attack; 1d6 damage for 1
round + 1 round per three levels.
Voltaic Coil.G Deal 1d6 electricity damage/2 levels at range,
or 1d10/2 levels as a melee touch attack.
Wheedling Stone.S Hypnotic stone makes one person your
friend.
Zephyr Hammer.S Wind blows away or knocks down smaller
creatures.
TECHNOLOGIES
Argent-Chain Widgets.S Drones deal 1d6 electricity damage/
level in line between them.
Atomic Discombobulator.G Green ray disintegrates target
creature or object.
Clockwidget Fabrication Gantry.L Creates permanent
clockwork or robotic soldiers.
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Dalyrimple’s Lucent Lance.L Laser sidearm deals 1d6/3
levels as a normal weapon.
Dark Matter Pall.L Cloud of opaque matter hampers vision
and movement.
Dark Matter Reaver.S Projectile does 1d6/level slashing and
cold damage, may blind.
Defensive Kinetic Shield.L Energy forcefield absorbs attacks,
adds to your AC.
Duodimensional Lash.S Glowing filament inflicts 1d6+1/
level Constitution drain.
Goggles of X-Ray Vision.S You can see through walls and in
darkness.
Kinetic Barrier-Layer.L Invisible wall of kinetic force is
immune to damage.
Magnetosonic Waveform Pulse Generator.S Energy wave
scans terrain around you out to 1 mile/level or 100 feet/
level.
Mercuric Blade.L You wield a morphic blade of silvery metal
against your foes.
Metabolic Interdiction Field.L Field slows, weakens, and
eventually kills living creatures.
Monroe’s Proactive Weathervane.G Weather control device
that affects a wide area.
Offensive Kinetic Shield.L Creatures attacking you take
force damage; you are protected against force damage.
Scathing Shardsprayer.L Powerful acid deals 2d6 continuing
damage in a burst.
Space-Warp Modulator.G Warped space increases distance to
you and shortens it from you.
Terrain Attunement.L Chemical treatment regimen aids in
wilderness survival.
Umbral Heart Cloak.S You are invisible, even in combat.
Verbal Weirding Module.S Spread deals 1d6 sonic damage/
level; Speak Language adds to effect.
ARTIFACTS
Caesura Weapon.S Collapses space/time in a 10-foot cube,
trapping foes and bypassing barriers.
Coil of Possibilities.L,X Duplicates the effects of any gadget
or technology.
Cross-Phasic Cloak.L Subject can partially phase out of this
plane of existence at will.
Jonnetype Synaesthenic Projector.L Makes terrain appear to
have different structures or natural features.
Spark Manufactory.L,X You can craft permanent constructs
to serve you.
Worm Gauntlet.L Teleporter puts enemies through the
wringer for 1d6/level damage.
 Appendix B:
Tullius Carens
This section fully details a sample technologist NPC. Where
Prentice Cogitens (in Chapter Two) is meant to help you when you
have need of a more iconic technologist, Tullius provides a way to
introduce technology into your campaign in one of a variety of
ways. He is thus much more fleshed out in his presentation.
Using Tullius Carens in Your Game
Tullius Carens is presented here at levels 4, 8, and 12. At
each level a brief history of Tullius’s life up to that point, some
notes on his appearance and combat tactics, and guidelines for
how PCs can go about purchasing his services are provided. You
can use Tullius in your campaign as a colorful NPC merchant if
you wish, but each level of his career also offers a different way to
introduce the technologist class and its signature devices into an
ongoing campaign or into the background history of a setting or
of a particular character, either a PC or an NPC.
At 4th level, Tullius is a simple merchant, not embroiled
in any of the large-scale consequences of introducing fantasy
technology into the campaign. He makes for a fine, if distant,
mentor to a beginning PC technologist or a quiet source of device
designs if technologists are not common in the campaign or if
you want to keep their profile low. You can also use Tullius as a
more or less unique individual who can provide an explanation
for why there is only a small number of technologists around.
In this scenario Tullius is the inventor (or rediscoverer) of
technological devices and the methods of their creation and any
PC technologists are among his few students.
At 8th level, Tullius is at the center of a significant mercantile
concern, and this fountainhead of commerce and trade can cause
the rapid dissemination of fantasy technology if you so desire.
In this case, the Clanking Emporium simply shows up one day
and leaves a trail of budding technologists in its wake. As Tullius
himself discovers, this combination of money and scientific
knowledge also makes for a potentially volatile social situation,
and the Emporium and its master can serve to introduce fantastic
technology into the setting in a way that encourages the PCs to
take notice of it and to get involved in the impending crisis. Even
if none of the PCs decide to pursue scientific studies, Tullius and
his problems still make for an excellent plot device.
At 12th level, Tullius is a more conspiratorial figure who uses
his influence to gather information and encourage the spread
of technology. Though not truly evil (unless you make him
so), Tullius does bear a grudge against magic-users, and arcane
spellcasters in particular. With his variety of cohorts, followers,
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and construct companions Tullius can act as the villainous
mastermind of a whole campaign arc or as the mysterious but more
or less altruistic benefactor of a university or other organization
dedicated to work in the sciences. At this level Tullius is a true
player in various political arenas and can orchestrate any of the
technological introduction scenarios discussed in Chapter One.
Whatever force was responsible for the destruction of the Carens
family (for good or ill) presents a powerful and shadowy opponent
to technological progress, and encounters with these mysterious
beings could lead to Tullius becoming either a crucial ally or a
hated enemy of the PCs.
Tullius, the Wandering Tinker
Tullius Carens is the scion of a family of arcane scholars, but
he is also their very own prodigal son. Tullius was raised with the
finest tutors and in the best schools but never paid a great deal of
attention to his studies until he discovered a strange clockwork
creature locked away in the closets of one of his wizardly mentors.
Although the talented sage and arcane scholar had proven
incapable of restoring the device to functioning order, something
about it captivated Tullius’s attention. After many nights of
unsanctioned study Tullius finally unlocked the mechanical
familiar’s secrets. When his mentor discovered Tullius had been
tampering with his discarded research projects, he sent a testy
letter home to the Carens family patriarch. Tullius responded by
defending the value of his discoveries and was soon embroiled
in a heated exchange of letters with almost every member of his
family, many of whom strongly disapproved of any deviation
from the path of the mage.
This war of words culminated in an open challenge from
Tullius’s elder brother, who attempted to enforce his father’s
edicts. After nearly coming to blows with his own brother Tullius
packed up his books and a few simple mechanical contrivances
and vanished without warning his family or informing them of
his plans. Tullius does not know how the rest of the Carens family
feels about his decisions, but they have not yet sought him out
and he has no intention of returning to the fold.
Tullius wanders in search of the scattered clues that will
lead him to further mastery of the devices he loves. He has even
begun to branch out and conduct his own medical researches, a
field even the arcane magic of his tutors was weak in. One of his
secret vices as a businessman is that he will provide healing free
of charge to needy individuals (provided they don’t spread news
of his generosity overmuch).
 Tullius avoids his former homeland, traveling widely and
working as a wandering craftsman and tinker. In this job he
makes a barely passable living providing alchemical concoctions
and simple metal implements to adventurers and common folk
alike.
APPEARANCE
Tullius Carens is a tall young man with aquiline features and
a ready grin. He has not yet lost his longstanding habit of habit
of wearing the fine clothing of the upper classes, and his garb
consists of a weird hodgepodge of fine robes and courtier’s outfits
modified by a clumsy tailor to be more practical while traveling.
Tullius also wears a pair of bulky gold-rimmed spectacles at all
times and fiddles with a number of dials and settings on the frame
of the lenses when he is nervous. The wandering tinker is always
accompanied by Ratchet, the technologist’s familiar whose discovery
and restoration led to Tullius’s rebellion from his family several
years ago. This beetle-like construct is masterfully fashioned
from a sleek, black metal but is often completely concealed under
the massive weight of equipment and saleable items that Tullius
carries with him in his travels.
SERVICES RENDERED
PCs can peruse Tullius’s shop, which offers a number
of useful household items, including small knives, artisan’s
tools, and the like as well as a small selection of more powerful
alchemical formulae. Tullius will sell any alchemical item he
has on hand for its market value and also accepts commissions
for items he does not have readily available, assuming that he
plans to stay in the area long enough to complete the item. For
a 25% increase in a commissioned item’s
market price Tullius will instead use his
craft points and cobble an item together
out of the various components he has on
hand. Items crafted in this way are generally
reliable, but sometimes have surprising
effects. Tullius listens eagerly to reports of
any unexpected outcomes resulting from
using his creations and PCs who report any
such anomalies to him receive 50% off their
next purchase.
PCs can also receive healing from
Tullius, courtesy of his efficacious nostrum, or
have a strange substance or item identified
by means of Tullius’s alchemical assayer.
These services both cost 100 gold pieces.
Tullius will use his Heal skill to help anyone
who comes to him badly injured. He will
not provide long-term care, however — he’s
far too busy traveling, peddling his wares,
and pursuing leads in his research.
154
TULLIUS CARENS CR 4
Human technologist 4
CG Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Spot +1, Listen +1
Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome,
Halfling, Undercommon
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 20 (4 HD)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +5
Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Melee dagger +2 (1d4–1, 19–20/×2)
Ranged light crossbow +3 (1d8, 19–20/×2, 80 feet) or ranged
touch +3
Base Atk +3; Grp +2
Combat Gear flask of acid, flask of alchemist’s fire, tanglefoot
bag, thunderstone
Technologist Devices (AL 4th, 55 APs, DC 15):
T(l) – Tullius’s morphological diagnostician
G(s) – knife spider, professional’s satchel (for Profession
[shopkeeper]), splendiferous scientific wonder, Tullius’s
efficacious nostrum
G(l) – alchemical assayer, caloric control mantle, determent spring,
neural lancet, technologist’s familiar, voice sweetener
Abilities Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 14
SQ craft points (850), expert
Feats Lightning Reflexes, Negotiator, Skill Focus (Heal)
Skills Appraise +10 (+2 for alchemy, metalworking, and high
technology, +2 for small, detailed items), Concentration
+4, Craft (alchemy) +12, Craft (metalworking) +9, Craft
(technology) +12, Diplomacy +9, Heal +11 (+2 with
healer’s kit), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +6,
Knowledge (geography) +6, Profession (shopkeeper) +8,
Sense Motive +9, Speak Language 4 ranks
Possessions Combat gear plus dagger, light crossbow and
10 bolts, 3 vials of antitoxin, 2 smokesticks, 3 sunrods, 4
tindertwigs, 5 alchemical assayer uses, 10 doses of Tullius’s
efficacious nostrum, Huewar’s handy haversack, 200 gold pieces’
worth of assorted metal tools and minor alchemical items,
12 gp
Carried by Ratchet alchemist’s lab, healer’s kit, magnifying
glass, mwk metalworker’s tools (high-quality), mwk
technologist’s tools (high-quality)
PC Gear As above, plus bracers of armor +1, cloak of resistance +1,
and 2 potions of cure light wounds
RATCHET (CARRYING GEAR) CR — Tullius, Master of the Clanking Emporium
Technologist’s familiar As Tullius’s travels began to take him further and further from
N Tiny construct the lands he grew up in his knowledge of the arts and sciences of
Init +2; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light dozens of cultures steadily increased. The greatest breakthrough
vision came with the discovery of the wondrous clockwidget fabrication
Languages none; understands master gantry and the construction of the Emporium Clanks, immense
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11 mechanical crawlers that can transport a fantastic amount of
hp 6 (½ HD); hardness 10 cargo and move tirelessly over the most inhospitable terrain. These
Immune construct traits wonders brought Tullius fame and fortune wherever he went —
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will –5 no longer could he pretend to be a simple tinker or wandering
Speed 40 feet (8 squares) merchant. With this fame came hangers-on and for the first
Melee slam +1 (1d3–1, ×2) time Tullius found dozens of merchants willing to join him in
Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft. various extremely lucrative enterprises. Tullius’s mercantile and
Base Atk +0; Grp –9 technological success as the master of the Clanking Emporium
Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1 increased rapidly over the next several years, and in the tumult
SQ construct traits he almost forgot about his trials with the Carens family and his
older brother. All told, life was good.
RATCHET (COMBAT MODE) CR — Along with the merchants, students came, and Tullius was
Knife spider joined by a constantly shifting roster of students eager to learn
N Small construct the secrets of technology. Wide travel led to wide dissemination
Init +1; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light of knowledge, and Tullius has become one of the most famous
vision masters of the craft almost overnight. Tullius has also begun to
Languages none; understands master actively advocate for the spread of technological knowledge and
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 has laid tentative plans for a great academy of learning in a major
hp 19 (1 HD); hardness 10 city of the realm.
Immune construct traits Tullius’s rise to fame and to a position of authority eventually
Fort +0, Ref +1, Will –5 brought him once more to the attention of House Carens, and the
Speed 50 feet (10 squares) technologist and his erstwhile clan have skirmished in a number
Melee slam +1 (1d4, ×2) of political battles in the recent past. Many onlookers believe
Base Atk +0; Grp +3 some kind of confrontation between the wizardly old guard
Atk Options attach and Tullius’s new school of thought is inevitable. Tullius seems
Abilities Str 10, Dex 12, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1 to derive an almost perverse enjoyment from these ideological
SQ construct traits conflicts with his own flesh and blood and has gained a somewhat
shady reputation among the stodgier established power centers
TACTICS as a result. This notoriety has not kept him from using his
Tullius is not terribly fond of combat but if forced to defend blossoming wealth and influence to mastermind a number of
himself he does so vigorously. His first action in any combat is to public projects intended to increase the quality of education and
order Ratchet to drop any gear the technologist’s familiar is currently standard of living in the settlements that lie most directly on his
carrying and move to defend him. The construct then uses the aid trade routes.
another action to increase Tullius’s AC. If possible, Tullius will
use his splendiferous scientific wonder, neural lancet, and alchemical APPEARANCE
items to disable his attackers and make a quick getaway, but if Tullius has traveled far from his roots but he retains his
this fails or if he is sorely pressed he activates his morphological youthful good looks. These handsome features are reinforced
diagnostician and attempts to analyze the most vulnerable-looking by a reclaimed habit of dressing luxuriously; Tullius’s tailor has
opponent as he recalls Ratchet to his hand. With an average Heal much improved since the early years. Of late, he has also acquired
check the morphological diagnostician grants Tullius sneak attack an almost palpable force of personality that compels the respect
+2d6. The next round, Tullius activates Ratchet as a knife spider of those around him. Tullius still keeps Ratchet around as a loyal
(this is the familiar’s combat mode) and throws the newly-deadly servant and is also accompanied by a pair of Emporium Clanks,
at a nearby target, hopefully dealing sneak attack damage to a enormous centipede-like constructs weighed down with heavy
dazed or hypnotized target. Tullius uses his light crossbow and armor plating and a caravan’s worth of goods. It is the presence
neural lancet with impunity against targets locked in a grapple of these colorfully-decorated machines that tells strangers that
with Ratchet — the construct is impervious to errant crossbow they are in the presence of a merchant of a different sort.
bolts and the dazed condition inflicted by the lancet.

155
SERVICES RENDERED
Tullius typically travels with a large and particularly
well-stocked mercantile group, and PCs visiting the Clanking
Emporium can find a huge variety of goods available for sale
amongst the wares of merchants less well-known than Tullius
himself. If the players wish to go shopping, the Clanking
Emporium includes between 50 and 300 merchants, caravan
guards, animal handlers, and assorted travelers at any given time.
The Emporium has a GP limit of 1,000 gold pieces in communities
of small town size or smaller and the community’s standard
GP limit in larger settlements (see DMG page 137). A number
of more expensive items are also available, but the selection
fluctuates constantly and no particular item is readily available
as are more inexpensive goods. The Emporium has 10d10 x 1,000
gold pieces in ready cash at any given time and thus represents
quite a dramatic display of wealth and commerce in the smaller
settlements it does business with.
Tullius himself, whether accompanied by secondary
merchants or not, is a ready source of potions, minor magical
items, alchemical concoctions, and finely-crafted mechanical
devices. Tullius’s standard wares include masterwork artisan’s
tools and similar high-quality metal implements, a number of the
more commonly-requested magical potions, and several samples
of every alchemical item listed in the PHB as well as a number of
more exotic creations; thus, Tullius will generally have whatever
most of his customers want ready at hand. Tullius has also begun
to make a name for himself as a master metalworker and alchemist
and he will use his craft points to produce rare and special items
on commission for the item’s market price. He enjoys the challenge
of creating a new alchemical substance to a buyer’s specifications,
however, and characters who get on his good side (with a DC 20
Diplomacy check or good roleplaying) can expect a 25% discount
on custom orders if they promise to send word regarding the item’s
performance in the field.
Tullius’s technological resources have also increased
in potency and variety. However, due to the political uproar
surrounding his use of such devices, only characters that Tullius
trusts (due to a DC 20 Diplomacy check or other factors) will be
offered activations of his devices. Tullius will use his alchemical
assayer to identify items brought to him for 100 gold pieces,
although particularly powerful magical items may be too difficult
for him to correctly identify. He will also offer a dose of his
miraculous vitamin supplement to a character who expects to have a
hard day and could use the extra temporary hit points, which last
for 8 hours or until expended. Healing of simple hit point damage
is also available for 50 gold pieces in the form of an injection of
Tullius’s efficacious nostrum. More serious maladies can be rectified
through the use of the engineered panacea — with an average Heal
check, Tullius can restore lost hit points up to his activation level
or remove the fatigued, shaken, deafened, or dazed conditions. If
required Tullius will also activate his morphological diagnostician to
gain a +5 insight bonus to his Heal checks, allowing him to remove
the nauseated, blinded, or stunned conditions with an average
Heal check and 1d4 points of ability damage or 1d2 negative
156
levels with an exceptional roll. Each use of the engineered panacea
costs the customer 50 gold pieces or 75 gold if Tullius must make
use of his diagnostician as well. Tullius can also neutralize poison
in or on a subject by means of his bio-reactive theriac, and charges
750 gold pieces to do so.
Tullius’s most precious technologies, his clockwidget
fabrication gantry and his formula for aqua venusitas major, are
only made available to his most trusted customers — a privileged
condition that can only be attained via a DC 30 Diplomacy check
or long-standing status as a trustworthy client. Tullius still has
8 Hit Dice remaining in his maintenance limit for the clockwidget
fabrication gantry and will build constructs for trusted customers
at a cost of 100 gold pieces per Hit Die of the construct. This price
does not include any masterwork components that are also to be
added to the construct. Tullius makes no promises that these
constructs will remain functional forever, and indeed there is a
5% noncumulative chance each week that any given construct will
break down as Tullius moves his energies on to other projects.
Tullius formulated the aqua venusitas major exclusively for his own
use, but he is willing to fashion a dose for another individual
in exchange for a payment of 32,000 gold pieces. The enhanced
treatment (which grants a +6 enhancement bonus to the subject’s
Charisma score) is also available for an additional 40,000 gold
pieces.
TULLIUS CARENS CR 8
Human technologist 8
CG Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Spot +1, Listen +1
Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome,
Halfling, Undercommon
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 38 (8 HD)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +7
Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Melee dagger +5/+0 (1d4–1, 19–20/×2)
Ranged mwk light crossbow +7/+2 (1d8, 19–20/×2, 80 feet) or
ranged touch +6
Base Atk +6; Grp +5
Atk Options Point Blank Shot
Combat Gear flask of acid, flask of alchemist’s fire, tanglefoot
bag, thunderstone
Technologist Devices (AL 8th, 195 APs, DC 17):
T(s) – aqua venusitas major, bio-reactive theriac
T(l) – clockwidget fabrication gantry, Tullius’s morphological
diagnostician
G(g) – engineered panacea, magnificent pitch hurler, philter
fermenter
G(s) – jabberblaster, knife spider, professional’s satchel (for
Profession [shopkeeper]; grants +10 competence to a
single check), splendiferous scientific wonder, steamplunker,
Tullius’s efficacious nostrum (+50% normal healing)
G(l) – alchemical assayer, caloric control mantle, determent spring,
neural lancet, technologist’s familiar, Tullius’s miraculous
 vitamin supplement (4d6 + level temp hp), voice sweetener RATCHET (COMBAT MODE) CR —
Abilities Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 18 Knife spider
SQ aqua venusitas major (+4 enhancement bonus to Charisma), N Small construct
craft points (3,687), expert, master of gadgetry (professional’s Init +1; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
satchel, Tullius’s efficacious nostrum, Tullius’s miraculous vitamin vision
supplement) Languages none; understands master
Feats Lightning Reflexes, Negotiator, Point Blank Shot, Skill AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12
Focus (Heal) hp 23 (1 HD); hardness 10
Skills Appraise +13 (+2 for alchemy, metalworking, and high Immune construct traits
technology, +2 for small, detailed items), Concentration Fort +0, Ref +1, Will –5
+5, Craft (alchemy) +15, Craft (metalworking) +10, Craft Speed 50 feet (10 squares)
(technology) +16, Diplomacy +12, Heal +15 (+2 with Melee slam +1 (1d4, ×2)
healer’s kit), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) Base Atk +0; Grp +7
+10, Knowledge (geography) +10, Knowledge (nobility and Atk Options attach
royalty) +9, Profession (shopkeeper) +12, Search +3 (+2 to Abilities Str 10, Dex 12, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
find secret doors and compartments), Sense Motive +12, SQ construct traits
Speak Language 4 ranks, Spellcraft +4, Survival +1 (+2 to
avoid natural hazards and getting lost) EMPORIUM CLANK (2) CR —
Possessions Combat gear plus dagger, mwk light crossbow Clockwidgets
(balanced) and 10 bolts, 5 vials of antitoxin, 2 smokesticks, N Huge construct
3 sunrods, 5 alchemical assayer uses, 10 doses of Tullius’s Init –1; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
efficacious nostrum, 10 doses of Tullius’s miraculous vitamin vision
supplement, Huewar’s handy haversack, 200 gold pieces’ worth Languages none; understands master
of assorted metal tools and minor alchemical items, 57 gp AC 20, touch 7, flat-footed 20
Carried by Emporium Clanks alchemist’s lab, healer’s kit, hp 84 (8 HD); hardness 10
magnifying glass, mwk metalworker’s tools (high-quality), Immune construct traits
mwk technologist’s tools (high-quality), 3,000 gold pieces’ Fort +2, Ref +1, Will –3
worth of assorted metal tools, alchemical items, and Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
potions Melee slam +3 (2d6+7, ×2)
PC Gear As above, plus bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
headband of intellect +2, 5 potions of cure light wounds, ring of Base Atk +6; Grp +19
protection +1, ring of sustenance; add masterwork component Abilities Str 20, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
(balanced) to technologist’s familiar and knife spider, add SQ construct traits, masterwork components (heavy, multiple
masterwork component (trample special ability) to both legs)
Emporium Clanks. Possessions banded mail barding
Masterwork Components The Emporium Clank is particularly
RATCHET CR — sturdy compared to other clockwidgets of its size, and gains
Technologist’s familiar a +1 enhancement bonus to its natural armor. In addition,
N Tiny construct the Clank has numerous segmented legs, increasing its
Init +2; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light speed.
vision
Languages none; understands master TACTICS
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 Tullius has grown somewhat more comfortable with the idea
hp 10 (½ HD); hardness 10 of engaging in combat — his volatile political stance and travels to
Immune construct traits ever more distant lands mean that he must be prepared for violent
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will –5 confrontation when such becomes necessary. Tullius’s preferred
Speed 60 feet (12 squares) tactics revolve around the tough and densely-armored Emporium
Melee slam +1 (1d3–1, ×2) Clanks. Though their bulky armor plating makes them clumsy
Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft. in combat, they are still very large and quite capable of grappling
Base Atk +0; Grp –9 with an opponent to bear it down. Due to their hardness and
Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1 high hit points, Tullius does not hesitate to catch the Clanks in
SQ construct traits the area of effect of his magnificent pitch hurler or to use the Huge
constructs as cover against ranged attacks. Tullius keeps Ratchet
by his side at all times, and the little construct does its best to

157
interpose itself between its master and incoming attacks by taking
the aid another action to increase Tullius’s AC whenever possible.
Tullius knows that he does not have the ability to survive in a
protracted struggle and will use his jabberblaster and splendiferous
scientific wonder to sow confusion and escape if need be. Tullius
will not hesitate to retreat and use his numerous healing devices
to quickly recuperate from damage if necessary — he knows he can
always come back later with even more constructs and humanoid
allies at his side.
Tullius, Technological Conspirator
The confrontation with House Carens that Tullius was
secretly looking forward to eventually came to pass, but not in
the way in that anyone ever expected. On an otherwise normal
day, Tullius received a letter, apparently from the Carens family
patriarch, summoning him to Villa Carens for a conference.
Were it not for the sharp eyes and illicit skills of Tullius’s favorite
student (and reputed paramour), the half-elf Ceryl Thaliol, the
letter’s forged nature would never have come to light and Tullius
would have walked all unknowing into a deadly situation. Instead,
Tullius departed surreptitiously for the Carens estate wary of
danger and protected by Ceryl and the newly-created humanoid
construct bodyguards known as Technologic Avatars.
By the time Tullius arrived, however, Villa Carens was devoid
of human life, without any apparent signs of a struggle. What
Tullius and his party found instead was a haunted place that
had become a deadly labyrinth overnight. The now uninhabited
estate was protected by a number of strange and uncontrolled
undead creatures that nearly killed Tullius and Ceryl. Worse,
once the technologists penetrated into the laboratories beneath
the Villa they stumbled across evidence of sorcerous experiments
apparently designed to destroy technologists and the devices they
rely upon. The implication was obvious: the Carens family had
been preparing to eliminate their technological rivals by force
when some unknown disaster, possibly unrelated, struck them
down or scattered them. But who had sent the forged letter, if
not the family patriarch? Tullius’s elder brother, seeking revenge
against the family embarrassment? One of Tullius’s political
or mercantile enemies, capitalizing on a horrible accident? Or
some unknown and probably malevolent agent? Tullius has been
unable to track down any member of the Carens family to learn
more of the disaster; since the discovery of the abandoned and
undead-haunted estate his entire family seems to have simply
vanished.
Deeply shaken by his discoveries and by the questions that
still remained, Tullius retired from public life and has slowly built
up an extensive network of allies and informants that allows him
to efficiently pursue his search for his missing family members
and for the information he needs to avenge or punish them.
Tullius is much less concerned with encouraging the growth of
technology through education and generosity now than he was
before the incident, and he has steadily become more and more
obsessed with the identity of the mysterious creature or creatures
that caused the disaster at Villa Carens. Tullius fears to discover
158
that a member of his own family, and perhaps even his own
brother, turned to dark deeds in the political and ideological
struggles over the place of science and technology. Every day
Tullius moves closer to a confrontation with an enigmatic foe
and of his friends and allies only the fiercely loyal Ceryl continues
to have complete faith in his quest. The others have begun to fear
the day that Tullius goes too far in the name of vengeance against
someone whose identity he does not even know.
APPEARANCE
Tullius looks much as he did earlier in his life, albeit with a
few more wrinkles and the first few gray hairs beginning to show.
After his trials at Villa Carens, Tullius has been much less willing
to show himself in public. He habitually uses his hat of disguise to
completely alter his appearance or that of one of the Technologic
Avatars. These artfully-constructed humanoid constructs act
whenever possible as bodyguards and disguised stand-ins for
Tullius or Ceryl. With his increasing paranoia Tullius has taken
to using his recently-purchased hat of disguise to regularly change
minor features of his appearance — the exact shade of his hair, the
color of one eye or some almost unnoticeable feature of his build
or clothing — in the belief that doing so unnerves those potential
enemies he deigns to meet with. Tullius still takes Ratchet with
him whenever he is able and this habit may give characters a
clue as to the identity of someone who prefers to remain in the
shadows. Tullius also maintains an improved version of his well-
known Emporium Clank and occasionally loans the construct
to his business associates when doing so seems wise or especially
profitable. In any case, the hulking machine makes a convincing
deterrent to violence.
Ceryl Thaliol, Tullius’s most loyal associate, frequently
accompanies him. She is an unusually tall half-elf (standing a
full five and a half feet tall) with soft features, flat blue eyes, and
a hypnotic voice. She wears a light silk robe in a subdued grey
color to conceal her armor and the devices and weapon she carries
with her at all times. Ceryl is capable of startling savagery and
quickness of action when Tullius’s life or her own is threatened.
Other characters rarely know when they have encountered
Tullius’s lieutenant, however, as she spends much of her time in
the guise of one of various cover identities, a game at which she
is quite skilled. Only when in Tullius’s company and at ease with
her surroundings does Ceryl neglect to wear some sort of disguise
or carry several weapons and devices for her protection.
SERVICES RENDERED
Tullius rarely travels with the Clanking Emporium anymore
and he leaves his less influential partners to handle the bulk
of the caravan’s business. However, the Emporium remains
in operation and has grown even more popular over time. The
same sorts of items and goods are available from the Emporium
as noted above, except that the caravan’s gold piece limit has
increased to 5,000 and the amount of ready cash it has on hand
now comes to 20d12 x 1,000 gold pieces. Tullius still maintains
strong ties to the Emporium and characters wishing to discover
his location and current activities often look there first; a DC 25
Gather Information check is sufficient to reveal some significant
clue concerning Tullius’s current activities.
Tullius himself only rarely accepts commissions to use
his devices or produce specially-commissioned items on
another individual’s behalf. Special alchemical and mechanical
commissions are still available to trusted associates, but only
for a 50% increase in the item’s usual market price. Convincing
Tullius to use one of his devices requires a DC 30 Diplomacy
check. Identification of an item or substance via the alchemical
assayer costs 200 gold pieces. As Tullius’s medical knowledge has
improved so have his healing capabilities, and he is now able to
offer the use of Tullius’s potent catholiCon — for 750 gold pieces
Tullius will heal all ability score damage and drain, hit point
damage, or adverse conditions a patient is currently suffering
from, drawing from his available devices to do so. He no longer
offers the use of specific devices for healing purposes, instead
choosing to charge a flat rate and guarantee results.
Tullius’s most valuable devices are still his formulations
of aqua major and his clockwidget fabrication gantry. Purchasing
the alchemical treatment necessary to grant a +4 enhancement
bonus to Intelligence or Charisma requires a payment of 32,000
gold pieces to Tullius and the extended treatment that provides
a +6 enhancement bonus to either of these ability scores costs
an additional 40,000 gold pieces, for a total cost of 72,000 gold.
Tullius is not generally willing to create customized clockwidgets
on commission anymore but he is willing to loan the use of a
Technologic Avatar or Emporium Clank Mk II to another character
for 600 gold pieces per week of the loan, paid in advance.
Tullius has also mastered and constructed a worldwalker’s
baton, which allows instantaneous transportation to anywhere
on the same plane. Tullius’s possession of this device is not well
known, however, and he definitely prefers it that way. Thus,
Tullius will not offer to use the baton on another’s behalf unless
they succeed at a DC 40 Diplomacy check or convince him of
their trustworthiness in some other very persuasive way. Using
the worldwalker’s baton costs Tullius roughly one-third of his daily
activation points and therefore leaves him vulnerable to attack,
so he typically asks a price of 4,000 gold pieces to open a gateway
using the baton.
TULLIUS CARENS CR 12
Human technologist 12
CN Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Spot +1, Listen +1
Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome,
Halfling, Undercommon
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 56 (12 HD)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +9
Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Melee dagger +8/+3 (1d4–1, 19–20/×2)
Ranged mwk light crossbow with +1 bolts +10/+5 (1d8+1, 19–
20/×2, 80 feet) or ranged touch +9
159
Base Atk +9; Grp +8
Atk Options Point Blank Shot
Combat Gear flask of acid, flask of alchemist’s fire, tanglefoot
bag, thunderstone
Technologist Devices (AL 12th, 405 APs, DC 22):
A(g) – worldwalker’s baton
A(s) – Tullius’s swan song
T(g) – Tullius’s potent catholicon, scuttlebug launcher
T(s) – aqua intelligentiae major, aqua venusitas major, bio-reactive
theriac
T(l) – clockwidget fabrication gantry, defensive kinetic shield,
metabolic interdiction field, Tullius’s morphological
diagnostician
G(g) – engineered panacea, magnificent pitch hurler, philter
fermenter, velocious footgear
G(s) – jabberblaster, knife spider, professional’s satchel (for
Profession [shopkeeper]; grants +10 competence to a
single check), splendiferous scientific wonder, steamplunker,
Tullius’s efficacious nostrum (+50% normal healing)
G(l) – alchemical assayer, caloric control mantle, determent spring,
neural lancet, photon scattering shield, technologist’s familiar,
Tullius’s miraculous vitamin supplement (4d6 + level temp
hp), voice sweetener
Abilities Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 22, Wis 13, Cha 18
SQ aqua intelligentiae major (+4 enhancement bonus to
Intelligence), aqua venusitas major (+4 enhancement bonus to
Charisma), craft points (11,375), expert
Feats Leadership (cohort: Cerlyn Thaliol; score 17), Lightning
Reflexes, Negotiator, Point Blank Shot, Skill Focus (Bluff),
Skill Focus (Heal)
Skills Appraise +17 (+2 for alchemy, metalworking, and
high technology, +2 for small, detailed items), Bluff
+17, Concentration +9, Craft (alchemy) +20, Craft
(metalworking) +13, Craft (technology) +23, Diplomacy
+20, Disguise +4 (+10 hat if disguise, +2 acting), Heal
+19 (+2 with healer’s kit), Intimidate +9, Knowledge
(architecture and engineering) +15, Knowledge (geography)
+13, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +15, Profession
(shopkeeper) +12, Search +6 (+2 to find secret doors and
compartments), Sense Motive +16, Speak Language 4 ranks,
Spellcraft +8, Survival +1 (+2 to avoid natural hazards and
getting lost)
Possessions Combat gear plus dagger, mwk light crossbow
(balanced) and 10 +1 bolts, 4 vials of antitoxin, 2
smokesticks, 3 sunrods, 5 alchemical assayer uses, 5 scuttlebug
launcher charges, 10 doses of Tullius’s efficacious nostrum, 10
doses of Tullius’s miraculous vitamin supplement, 5 doses of
Tullius’s potent catholicon, circlet of persuasion, hat of disguise,
Huewar’s handy haversack, 200 gold pieces’ worth of assorted
metal tools and minor alchemical items, 69 gp
Carried by Emporium Clank Mk II alchemist’s lab, healer’s
kit, magnifying glass, mwk metalworker’s tools (high-
quality), mwk technologist’s tools (high-quality), 4,450 gold
pieces’ worth of assorted metal tools, alchemical items, and
 potions Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
PC Gear As above, plus amulet of health +2, cloak of resistance Base Atk +9; Grp +22
+3, helm of telepathy, 5 potions of cure moderate wounds, ring Special Actions trample
of protection +2, ring of sustenance, robe of useful items; add Abilities Str 20, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
masterwork component (balanced) to technologist’s familiar SQ construct traits, masterwork components (heavy, multiple
and knife spider, add masterwork component (balanced) to legs, trample)
both Technologic Avatars. Possessions mwk half-plate barding (custom fit, heavy)
Masterwork Components The Emporium Clank Mk II is
RATCHET CR — particularly sturdy compared to other clockwidgets of
Technologist’s familiar its size, and gains a +1 enhancement bonus to its natural
N Tiny construct armor. In addition, the Clank has more and sturdier legs
Init +2; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light than usual, increasing its speed and granting it the trample
vision special attack.
Languages none; understands master
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 TECHNOLOGIC AVATARS (2) CR —
hp 14 (½ HD); hardness 10 Clockwidgets
Immune construct traits N Medium construct
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will –5 Init –1; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light
Speed 60 feet (12 squares) vision
Melee slam +1 (1d3–1, ×2) Languages none; understands master
Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft. AC 22, touch 9, flat-footed 22
Base Atk +0; Grp –9 hp 86 (12 HD); hardness 10
Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1 Immune construct traits
SQ construct traits Fort +4, Ref +3, Will –1
Speed 40 feet (8 squares)
RATCHET (COMBAT MODE) CR — Melee slam +14 (1d6+7, ×2)
Knife spider Base Atk +9; Grp +14
N Small construct Abilities Str 20, Dex 8, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1
Init +1; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light SQ construct traits, masterwork components (heavy, size
vision reduction ×2)
Languages none; understands master Possessions mwk chain shirt (custom-fit, heavy), mwk light
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 steel shield (custom-fit)
hp 27 (1 HD); hardness 10 Masterwork Components Technologic Avatars have
Immune construct traits an adamantine-laced structure, granting them a +1
Fort +0, Ref +1, Will –5 enhancement bonus to their natural armor. In addition,
Speed 50 feet (10 squares) these incredibly sophisticated clockwidgets feature
Melee slam +1 (1d4, ×2) extensive miniaturization of parts, and thus are two size
Base Atk +0; Grp +14 categories smaller than they would otherwise be.
Atk Options attach
Abilities Str 10, Dex 12, Con —, Int —, Wis 1, Cha 1 CERYL THALIOL CR 10
SQ construct traits Half-Elf rogue 6/technologist 4
CN Medium humanoid
EMPORIUM CLANK MK II CR — Init +6; Senses Spot +0, Listen +0; low-light vision
Clockwidget Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome,
N Huge construct Halfling, Undercommon
Init –1; Senses Spot –5, Listen –5, darkvision 60 feet, low-light AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 18; uncanny dodge
vision hp 47 (10 HD)
Languages none; understands master Immune sleep
AC 21, touch 7, flat-footed 21 Resist evasion
hp 106 (12 HD); hardness 10 Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +6 (+8 vs. enchantment)
Immune construct traits Speed 30 feet (6 squares)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will –1 Melee +1 rapier +11/+6 (1d6+1, 18–20/×2)
Speed 30 feet (6 squares) Ranged mwk composite shortbow +10/+5 with +1 arrows
Melee slam +6 (2d6+7, ×2) (1d6+1, 20/×3, 70 feet) or ranged touch +9

160
Base Atk +7; Grp +7
Atk Options sneak attack +3d6
Combat Gear antitoxin, tanglefoot bag, 5 cold iron arrows, 5
alchemical silver arrows, 5 adamantine arrows, 2 potions of
cure serious wounds, potion of fly, potion of invisibility, potion of
shield of faith +5
Technologist Devices (AL 4th, 55 APs, DC 15):
T(l) – metabolic interdiction field
G(g) – velocious footgear
G(s) – knife spider, splendiferous scientific wonder, steamplunker,
Tullius’s efficacious nostrum
G(l) – discourse replicator, neural lancet, photon scattering shield,
Tullius’s miraculous vitamin supplement, voice sweetener
Abilities Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 18
SQ aqua venusitas major (+4 enhancement bonus to Charisma),
craft points (850), expert, half-elf racial traits, trap sense +2,
trapfinding
Feats Deceitful, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Weapon
Focus (rapier)
Skills Bluff +16, Craft (technology) +12, Disguise +11 (+10 hat
of disguise, +2 acting), Diplomacy +22, Forgery +13, Gather
Information +20, Hide +14, Intimidate +15, Knowledge
(local) +9, Move Silently +14, Search +12, Sense Motive +6,
Speak Language 3 ranks
Possessions Combat gear plus +2 chain shirt (custom-fit), +1
rapier (balanced), mwk composite shortbow (balanced) with
10 +1 arrows, amulet of resistance +1 (as cloak), hat of disguise,
disguise kit, masterwork technologist’s tools (high-quality),
masterwork forger’s tools (high-quality), 117 gp
161
PC Gear As above, plus boots of elvenkind, circlet of persuasion, cloak
of elvenkind, dust of appearance, dust of tracelessness, elixir of
hiding, elixir of sneaking, gloves of Dexterity +2, ring of force shield;
upgrade rapier to +1 and frost, upgrade amulet to +2
TACTICS
Tullius refuses to go into battle without preparing
beforehand by activating his miraculous vitamin supplement and
defensive kinetic shield. If necessary he will take the first two rounds
of combat to activate these devices. Tullius relies on his constructs
keep opponents busy, and positions them in the most defensible
locations even if doing so will limit their attack capabilities.
Once prepared for battle, Tullius uses his metabolic interdiction
field (to which the constructs are immune) and his scuttlebug
launcher to control the battlefield and weaken opponents until his
Technologic Avatars and other allies can deal with any remaining
threats. If Tullius takes more than half his maximum hit point
total in real damage he will try to flee or use his devices to heal
himself as required.
Ceryl uses much the same tactics, frequently leading with her
metabolic interdiction field to confound and weaken targets while
she moves into position to make sneak attacks with her rapier
or shortbow. She uses her photon scattering shield and knife spider to
protect herself and provide flanking opportunities and will also
use her velocious footgear to rapidly escape or move into position
to attack a weakened foe. Like Tullius, Ceryl is aware that she has
many additional resources to bring to bear if need be and will
not risk her life unnecessarily — Ceryl flees or seeks healing from
Tullius if she is reduced to one-third or less of her normal hit
point total.
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11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the
Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You
have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with
any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open
Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation
then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail
to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30
days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the
termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be
unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent
necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000–2003, Wizards of the
Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich
baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell,
based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002–2004, Wizards
of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman,
Charles Ryan, Eric Cagle, David Noonan, Stan!, Christopher Perkins,
Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker, based on material by Jonathan Tweet,
Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R.
Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.
The Fantastic Science: A Technologist Handbook, Copyright 2005,
EN Publishing.
END OF LICENSE