Class: Greasemonkey
The Greasemonkey
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| Technology | |||||
| Level | Special | Device Slots | Max Device Grade | Fields | Devices Known |
| 1 | Vehicle | 2 | Prototype | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Vehicle Expertise | 2 | Prototype | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 | Prototype | 2 | 5 | |
| 4 | Vehicle Expertise | 3 | Prototype | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | 3 | Refined | 2 | 7 | |
| 6 | Vehicle Expertise | 4 | Refined | 2 | 8 |
| 7 | 4 | Refined | 3 | 9 | |
| 8 | Vehicle Expertise | 4 | Refined | 3 | 11 |
| 9 | 5 | Refined | 3 | 12 | |
| 10 | Greasemonkey Talent | 5 | Improved | 3 | 13 |
| 11 | 6 | Improved | 4 | 14 | |
| 12 | Greasemonkey Talent | 6 | Improved | 4 | 15 |
| 13 | 6 | Improved | 4 | 16 | |
| 14 | Greasemonkey Talent | 7 | Improved | 4 | 17 |
| 15 | 7 | Improved | 5 | 19 | |
| 16 | Greasemonkey Talent | 8 | Improved | 5 | 20 |
| 17 | 8 | Augmented | 5 | 21 | |
| 18 | Greasemonkey Talent | 8 | Augmented | 5 | 22 |
| 19 | 9 | Augmented | 6 | 23 | |
| 20 | Greasemonkey Talent | 9 | Augmented | 6 | 24 |
Greasemonkey
- "Burn the land, boil the sea: you can't take the skies from me..."
The vehicle is arguably the epitome of technological endeavor. Enabling individuals to travel land far faster than on foot, to voyage across the seas, to traverse the skies, or even to venture into the unknown depths of space: vehicles are the means to extreme exploration on a monumental scale.
Greasemonkeys come in a variety of flavors. Some are hotshot pilots, and while they have the minimal know-how to keep their vehicles in prime condition, their primary skills lie in taking any vehicle and pushing it to its limits - and sometimes beyond; some are tinkers and modders, and what they lack in pure piloting skill or technical knowledge they make up for with the ability to make any vehicle suit their needs; while others are engineers, devising new devices and contraptions that can be added to vehicles, vastly extending their capabilities, while somewhat lacking in piloting or the ability to modify vehicles on the fly.
It is important to note that a greasemonkey without a vehicle is at a severe disadvantage. While greasemonkeys have basic combat skills and knowledge of firearms, their devices are useless without the context of the energy output of a vehicle, and their marksmanship is nowhere near comparable to that of gunslingers. While they can pass for a gadgeteer in a pinch, with some ability to recognize and disable traps and similar devices, they are sorely outmatched unless seated behind the wheel. Fortunately, greasemonkeys are quite capable of building and piloting vehicles of a smaller scale, and while such vehicles tend to be out-classed by larger ones, they are certainly able to hold their own in the sorts of encounters adventuring greasemonkeys will likely find themselves in.
Game Rule Information
Greasemonkeys have the following game statistics.
Force Alignment: Technology.
Force Resistances: SR 5 + level, PR 5 + level.
Abilities: Dexterity is the most important ability for a greasemonkey, as that is what modifies their ability to pilot vehicles. Vehicles often make use of firearms, and as such Perception can also be important.
Hit Points at 1st Level: 5 + Con score.
Hit Points at Each Additional Level: 5 + Con modifier.
Healing Surges: 6 + Con modifier.
Defenses: Fort +0; Ref +4; Will +2; Det +2.
Starting Age: Simple.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the greasemonkey core class.
Proficiencies
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Weapons: Choose three.
Armor: Light, mystic.
Implements: Gadgets, Widgets.
Devices
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Greasemonkeys are students, which means that they make use of devices, technological contraptions that generally have a single function. As students, greasemonkeys can construct as many devices as they desire, but are limited in how many they can have maintained at any one time. With a long rest, the greasemonkey can change her device selection. A device always takes up one device slot.
Technological Fields
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|---|---|---|
| Field | Secondary Ability | Description |
| Atomical | Brv | Harnessing the powers of physics to the fullest, atomical devices are often inherently dangerous simply by existing, but are capable of extraordinary things. |
| Biomedical | Cha | Interacting with humanoid (and other) physiologies, biomedical devices can restore health and vigor, or improve existing abilities. |
| Chemical | Con | Investigating the properties of the natural world, chemical devices take advantage of the interactions between the fundamental elements of reality. |
| Differential | Wis | Working within the realm of information, differential devices are conceptual extensions of analytical engines, with unparalleled information processing power. |
| Electrical | Dex | Operating on the principles of electricity and magnetism, electrical devices produce astounding effects through manipulation of these two forces. |
| Mechanical | Str | Favoring physical effects such as levers and hydraulics, mechanical devices can get a great deal of work done very quickly and effectively. |
Technology is not a guarantee, and devices do not always work. A greasemonkey's devices have an error rate. Whenever the greasemonkey activates a device, she must roll a technological device malfunction check (TDM, for short); if the result is less than or equal to the device's error rate, the device fails to activate and will not function until the greasemonkey spends time to investigate the problem and repair the device (in short: she must take a long rest and prepare her devices; repairing all malfunctioning devices is considered part of this process).
- Special: If a device requires you make a technological attack, that roll is used to determine if the device has an error.
A device's error rate is based upon the device's grade, as per the table to the right.
Devices Stats by Grade
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade | Minimum Intelligence | Minimum Secondary Ability | Construction Cost (tp) | Error Rate |
| Prototype | 11 | 10 | 5 | 4 |
| Refined | 14 | 12 | 20 | 3 |
| Improved | 17 | 14 | 45 | 2 |
| Augmented | 20 | 16 | 80 | 1 |
| Perfected | 23 | 18 | 125 | 0 |
Devices come in four grades. Prototype devices are those that the greasemonkey has just recently come to an understanding of, and are - essentially - experimental. Refined devices are those that she has studied in somewhat more detail, and has learned how to make them slightly more effective. Improved devices typically have expanded functionality, while augmented devices are those that the greasemonkey understands to the best degree that modern science can explain.
The greasemonkey gains bonus device slots from a high Intelligence. If she has an Intelligence bonus, she gains a bonus device slot at every third level (3rd, 6th, 9th, etc), until she has gained bonus device slots equal to her Intelligence modifier. To use devices, a greasemonkey must have an Intelligence score of at least 10, and usually higher to use devices of higher grades; to use a device of a particular field, she must have at least a 10 in the field's associated ability.
The greasemonkey begins with three "devices known" slots. A device known has two possible uses: she can gain knowledge of a new device of any field she can access, as a prototype; or, she can improve her understanding of a device she already knows, and improve its grade by one (from prototype to refined, to improved, to augmented). She gains knowledge of additional devices each level, as per the class table, above. At fourth level and every four levels after, she can trade out up to two prototype devices she knows (or reduce the grade of a device she knows) for either new devices, or to improve the grade of devices she already knows.
Unlike most other Forces, greasemonkeys must construct their devices; not measured in common currencies, the construction costs for devices are measured in technology pieces, which are an abstract currency that various technological bits - conduits, bolts, and the like - can be translated into. Such tp can be purchased in most civilized locations, and objects can be scrapped to turn into tp. The cost to construct a device depends on its grade.
The greasemonkey's key ability for her technological attacks is her Intelligence; if her secondary ability score for the device's field is greater than her Intelligence, she can use that instead (for instance, if you have a 16 Int and an 18 Dex, you can use your Dexterity for technological attacks made with Electrical devices).
In addition to their standard uses, greasemonkeys - through their knowledge of their own work - can temporarily improve the function of a device, by activating its clutch. This is not necessarily a literal clutch, but is a process by which the greasemonkey can temporarily make a device function better, at the expense of it being guaranteed to fail shortly. You can activate a device's clutch as part of its activation; once the duration of the clutch ends, the device immediately malfunctions. However, the clutch has one additional benefit: when you use it, for that particular activation of the device, you ignore the device's error rate. If a device has multiple clutches, you can only choose one when you activate the clutch.
Design Notes
Might as well put this section here, because there's going to be notes.
Feb 26, 2017: "Self, let's make the greasemonkey as complicated as humanly possible!" I apparently said at one time. Well that time is over. Let ease of play reign. We're gonna take a hammer to this whole deal: it's time for simple, sensible vehicle mechanics.
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