Month: September 2008

This is a new Savage Worlds Edge for the Elves & Espers setting:

Arcane Background: Trooper

Arcane Skill: Spellcasting (Spirit)

Starting Power Points:10

Starting Powers: 3

Troopers are powered-armor wearing shock troops.  Their focus is a MultiGun, capable of throwing various destructive magic.  They are also allowed to wear Powered Armor, though they don’t necessarily start with it.  Firing the MultiGun requires a SpellCasting roll that doubles as the Shooting Roll.

Troopers may take the Special Edge Powered Armor.  Each time they take Powered Armor they can upgrade their Armor with another 5 points of powers according to the power costs in Necessary Evil.  This starts from a base of 0, so the first thing they will probably do is buy several points of the Armor power.  Powers must make sense as coming from Powered Armor (albeit magic powered armor) so, e.g. Deflection would be ok, while Construct would not (donning the Armor can’t change you into a construct).   Powered Armor automatically has the Device limitation applied to every aspect of it, so gets no additional discount.  Other limitations applied to specific powers (e.g. Requires Activation, or Partial Protection) may be applied as normal. The Powered Armor Edge can be taken once per rank.

Backlash: On a roll of 1 on the Spellcasting Die (regardless of the Wild Die), the Trooper experiences magical backlash and is Shaken.  This can cause a wound.

Bonus: The Trooper automatically gets a discount of 1 Power Point (as if the Trooper had the Wizard Edge and rolled a raise) whenever he fires a single normal damage (2d6) Bolt from his MultiGun.  He must have at least 1 Power Point left in order to activate the spell, even though it will end up costing 0.  (So if he runs his power completely dry, he can’t keep firing forever.)  This doesn’t stack with the Wizard Edge should the Trooper have it.

Notes:

This Edge represents what the Trooper class was about in the previous incarnation of Elves & Espers.  Mechanically it’s pretty much identical to AB: Magic, except for the new special Powered Armor Edge it allows access to.  I’m a little concerned whether the Powered Armor Edge is too powerful (since it introduces powers from Necessary Evil, which is geared towards Super-Hero levels of power), but I’m hoping that by halving the initial points and making the Troopers worry about splitting their advances between making their MultiGun more effective, improving their Powered Armor, and anything else they might want it’ll be about on par with other characters who can specialize more.

or should that be Rogueomancy?

This is a new Savage Worlds Edge for the Elves & Espers setting:

Arcane Background: Roguechemist

Arcane Skill: Spellcasting (Smarts)

Starting Power Points:10

Starting Powers: 3

Roguechemists create magical potions, which they can then deliver with their gun, called a Caster.  Their primary devices are their Caster and their Bandoleer, which serves as a portable lab.  It takes an hour per spell rank to craft a potion, and the power points aren’t recovered until the potion is used or destroyed, at which point they return to the caster at the usual rate (generally one per hour).  The potions are actually powered by imps bound to the bandoleer, which is why the Power Points are consumed until the potion is actually used or disposed of so the imps can recover the power.

Roguechemists spells are limited to things that plausibly can be done with potions: armor, blast, boost/lower trait, etc.  No summoning, creation, or the like.  Also, no potions that duplicate purely Esper effects such as Telepathy, or Clairvoyance.

Backlash: None

Bonus: Roguechemists can use their Casters to deliver potions, giving them the range increments 12/24/48 (instead of 3/6/9 for a thrown potion) and using their Shooting skill.  Spells that have a range of Touch or Self must be drunk or smeared all over, and cannot be delivered via the Caster.

Notes:

This Edge represents what the Rogue class was about in the previous incarnation of Elves & Espers. Other than the special perk of ranged delivery with the Caster, Roguechemists operate just like AB: Alchemy from the SW Fantasy World Builder’s Guide.

This is a new Savage Worlds Edge for the Elves & Espers setting:

Arcane Background: Robomancy

Arcane Skill: Spellcasting (Smarts)

Starting Power Points:10

Starting Powers: 1

Robomancers build and manipulate magical robots.  Their primary device is called a Workbot, a toolkit on treads that they use to create and control other robots.  Each Robomancer power is a separate device, generally a robot, but perhaps a remote or a tool; each power comes with its own Power Points equal to the inventor’s Power Points.

Robomancer powers must all make sense it terms of robots and gadgets, and may not duplicate any purely Esper effects such as Mind Reading or Puppet, though something like Clairvoyance in terms of a mobile spy-eye would be permissible.

Backlash: When a Robomancer rolls a 1 on his Spellcasting die (regardless of his Wild Die), the device has malfunctioned and cannot be used again until he repairs it, which requires a succesful Repair roll and 2d6 hours worth of work.

Notes:

This Edge represents what the Engineer class was about in the previous incarnation of Elves & Espers. It is essentially the AB: Wierd Science with new trappings.  The first Power that a Robomancer will usually take is Summon Robot, which is a new trapping for Shapechange as suggested in SW Fantasy World Builder’s Guide.  Instead of shapechanging into the creature, you summon one that will obey you for the duration of the spell. In the Robomancer’s case, they snap together a modular robot that has the abilities equivalent to the target creature and enough power to run for the duration of the spell.

This is a new Savage Worlds Edge for the Elves & Espers setting:

Arcane Background: Technomancy

Arcane Skill: Spellcasting (Smarts)

Starting Power Points:10

Starting Powers: 3

Technomancers bind imps into devices in order to create magical technology.  Their primary device is called a Pentacorder, a slab about the size of a paperback book, with a pentacle permanently carved in it and an imp bound to it to cast spells at the Technomancer’s behest.

Backlash: When a Technomancer rolls a 1 on his Spellcasting die (regardless of his Wild Die), he is automatically Shaken. This can cause a wound.  In addition, if the Technomancer was casting a non-Divination spell, if the spell failed (after the Wild Die is taken into account) it costs an additional Power Point; if that would take the remaining Power Points below zero, there is no effect.

Bonus: Imps love to spy out secrets.  When a Technomancer gets a raise on any Divination spell, the cost of the spell is reduced by 1 Power Point. If the Technomancer also has the Wizard Edge, there is no additional benefit for Divination spells, though non-Divination spells still get the discount.

Notes:

This Edge represents what the Scientist class was about in the previous incarnation of Elves & Espers: Spock-like scanning and analyzing the world.  Other than the special perk for casting Divination spells, which are any information gathering spells, and penalty for non-Divination spells, this is the same as the AB: Magic in the core book.