#copaxi

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Infinite Tech Witchwarper (Witchwarper Alternate Class Feature)

(art by Methiston on DeviantArt)

I do love a gadgeteer hero, someone who always has the right equipment for the job on hand, even when it doesn’t always make sense.

An interesting subtype of the gadgeteer hero, however, is the “arsenal” hero. Typically a “battle mage” of some kind, their whole gimmick is that they have a weapon and/or armor set for every situation, often conjuring them to their hands to replace whatever armament they previously held or wore.

And with the witchwarper, a spellcaster that literally calls upon objects and energies from alternate realities, it only makes sense that there would be some among them that utilize their talents in such a way!

I doubt that this specialization would manifest by accident, so I imagine that those that wield this power trained themselves to focus on weapons and armaments when they tap into the possibilities of other worlds and realities. Perhaps they are soldiers or mercenaries, or they desperately wished for a weapon to defend themselves when they were in danger, and their power awakened and answered.

Either way, their gifts have given them a way to answer any question that their foes and the hazards around them may ask.

With an expenditure of magical energy, these mages can conjure a suit of light armor (with upgrades if resolve is also spent), a basic melee weapon, or a sidearm. Though these armaments may resemble familiar models, they are extradimensional in nature and as such the skill of the mage and the amount of energy they expended determines their damage output and defensive capabilities, allowing them to tailor the armor with the upgrades they need, or the weapons with the damage type and special properties they need.

The greater the magical energy they expend, the more potent their creations become. Armor gains elemental resistances, additional upgrade slots, greater durability. Meanwhile, weapons gain critical hit effects, additional properties, and increases to their damage output.

With this specialization, this version of the witchwarper is less a battlefield control specialist and more a secondary combatant able to tailor their gear to the situation at hand, especially if you’re using the enhanced version of the class that gets a lot of extra uses of infinite worlds. I recommend combat feats to flesh out their ability to stand alongside more combat-focused classes, as well as spells that can hamper and damage foes to make hammering them hard with your conjured weapons as well as your more real mainstays easier. From there, make a list of useful armor upgrades so you can quickly pick them out when going on the defensive.

I said before that these weapons and armor may resemble familiar models  despite using a level-generated stat line, but they don’t have to if you do not wish. You might wield armor that resembles medieval designs, or weapons that function but are very different in terms of design aesthetic, such as an electrical pistol that is accompanied by deafening peals of thunder when fired, or a staff that bleeds flame along it’s length. Feel free to be creative with it!

Hoping to starve them out of advanced resources, the Jolin Corporation blockaded the planet in hopes of quelling the copaxi revolts at their facilities. However, they sorely underestimated the flexibility of the coral-folk. Not only have their biotechnicians begun replicating the advanced tech of the outsiders in biotech form, but more than a few copaxi guerillas have a knack for warping reality, conjuring living weapons from their imagination to fight the company’s occupation.

In order to learn about the mysterious weapon-conjuring mercenary the party has repeatedly encountered, they need to sneak into a server room owned by the corporation that he seems to be connected to. Doing so means braving the automated defenses, including a serpentine hybrid tech guardians, an arcane asp!

The recent string of killings that have occurred seem to have no connection at first, but as one looks into the details, one begins to realize that the murder weapons are all strange and unique devices, leading the investigators to conclude that the wielder must be a tinkering weaponsmith, have raided a warehouse of experimental designs, or perhaps strangest of all, is making them up as they go.

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Xylol Hext - copaxi machinist

Played during Band on the Run module for Starfinder. They are a colony of polyps who are the drummer/percussionist of the band. They have a little seeing-eye robot assistant named Skrill.

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Drone Technomancy Technomancer (Technomancer Alternate Class Feature)

(art by ProdigyDuck on DeviantArt)

 Though they cover different areas, the mechanic and the technomancer classes in Starfinder are neighbors conceptually, the former dealing entirely with mainstream technology and physics, while the latter combines science and magic together.

It only makes sense, then, that there would be some cross-discipline learning, and today we’ll be looking at one such example, in the form of a technomancer with a drone!

This is a pretty fun combination, conceptually, as some technomancers might have been inspired by companion-having heroes of the distant past, or they might have an interest in AI research. Heck, some of them might simply enjoy the field of robotics!

Regardless, while they may miss out on certain magical tricks that technomancers get up to, these mystical techies are never without a useful support and ally.

 Like most starfinder alternate class features, this is pretty simple overall, the technomancer gains a drone, which they upgrade over time as if they were a mechanic.

What’s more, when the technomancer gains magical hacks, they can choose to gain certain mechanic tricks instead, specifically those that augment their drone in some way, such as granting an extra modification, transforming the drone into armor, altering and repairing their drone quickly, and overclocking their drone with increasing speed.

A simple enough archetype, but remember the technomancer gives up their spell cache’s magical abilities, including the once per day extra spell and the ability to make a single spell last all day. The benefits can easily match what you’re giving up though, as having a pet drone can be quite useful as a spellcaster. You can take one of the lighter models like hover, stealth, and sage and treat them like a familiar, providing scouting and support, or you could have a protocol drone to help with social situations, or a combat or artillery drone to put a body between you and your foes, or just a big gun to stand next to you and increase your damage output. Also don’t forget that just as your drone supports you, you can support your drone, using various spells to provide control or buffs to it, or additional support in the form of junkbot spells.

 Just like the mechanic, these technomancers can draw upon many different aesthetics when it comes not just to themselves but also their drone. They might be junky machines drawn together from scraps, or they might be cobbled-together messes of wires and servos evoking a very experimental stage of development, or they might be beautiful works of art with fitted casings. Regardless, these drones likely also have an arcane edge to them that mechanic drones do not, such as mystic runes, hybrid components, and the like.

  Fascinated with gravity manipulation but extremely uncomfortable in zero gravity, Dr. Gossika built themselves a flying drone to investigate gravitational anomalies while the copaxi monitors them from without with their technomagical instruments. They themselves have mastered all sorts of gravitational spells as well.

 Black, shiney, and elegant, the drone of drow mercenary leader Ithella adheres to the architectural sensibilities of her people, but what really sets the arachnid machine apart is it’s unique weaponry, a stolen technomagical blade set into the machine’s jaws, which supposedly she stole from a laboratory somewhere.

 Reclusive and misanthropic, the technomage Elcan spends most of his time in his workshop tinkering with machines. He usually leaves the job of manning his storefront to his protocol drone Gold, who sports an affable, if somewhat limited personality.

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Some alien sketches from a Surprise Round stream last week ranking all of the currently playable Starfinder races. These were a few of the memorable ones that made the top half of the list: Sarcesian, Copaxi, Embri, Bantrid, Khizar.

twitch stream link