techno wizard features in body armor

[Kagashi]

Am I missing something? I remember the rule in RMB saying up to 4 features can be installed on body and power armor with a RMB era list of available features...but I find nothing of the sort mentioned in RUE or BoM...Ive got to be over looking it somewhere...can anybody give me a page reference?

[Killer Cyborg]

RMB 93

Left out of RUE in favor of the general construction rules, IIRC.

[FatherMorpheus]

I believe there are also (though dated by RUE standards) listings for these types of things in Federation of Magic and Book of Magic. There are some more updated things in Arzno World Book as well.

[Kagashi]

Cool, so instead of being limited to a few spells, potentially anything can be a TW feature on armor. I assume Black Pearl will be required to cast Superhuman Agility (combat mage spell) since all the other Superhuman spells fall under that jewel type.

[FatherMorpheus]

Well, it still has to make sense and work within the theme of TW items. But it does open up a lot more combinations and ideas.

[grandmaster z0b]

I use both sets of rules. For constructing new equipment I use the RUE rules and for adding features to body armor and vehicles I use the RMB rules.

[Kagashi]

Well, it still has to make sense and work within the theme of TW items. But it does open up a lot more combinations and ideas.

Why wouldnt it make sense to put a simple Superhuman Agility feature in your body armor?

[FatherMorpheus]

Well, it still has to make sense and work within the theme of TW items. But it does open up a lot more combinations and ideas.

Why wouldnt it make sense to put a simple Superhuman Agility feature in your body armor?

I was speaking in general. There are a great deal more options now for TW Body Armor modifications. But each should be looked at individually and make sure it is in the feel of Techno-Wizardry. TW is part math crunching, part explanation and part artistic licence.

It is important to find a balance it.

[Slight001]

@FatherMorpheus; what do you mean by the theme and feel of Techno-Wizardry? When someone throws in qualifiers such as those I find myself pondering just what they mean.

[FatherMorpheus]

@FatherMorpheus; what do you mean by the theme and feel of Techno-Wizardry? When someone throws in qualifiers such as those I find myself pondering just what they mean.

When I feel in love with Techno-Wizardry years ago I saw them as pseudo sci-fi steampunk. I've seen people take the idea and just throw spells onto something without any consideration for the flavor of it.

For example, I've seen people just take the raw rules in RUE and say oh well, I'll tweak it this way and boom I have some massive death cannon. But it has no flare or feel.

I liked the examples from RMB. For Impervious to Fire you have to have it painted read, perhaps an air tank. Something that shows the flare of TW's skills.

Or something like that. And I'm sure some people disagree with me, just my feelings.

[Shark_Force]

yeah, one of the things about techno-wizardry is that function is supposed to follow the form, at least symbolically.

which means that if you're modifying a suit of body armour to provide superhuman agility, the body armour should have something to reflect that. for some suits, this will be quite easy; there are a few suits with exoskeletons, bam, there's your justification there. for other suits, you've got symbolism based on the people who wear them (this is primarily true for juicer armour, just as an example). for those that have no such ready-made symbolism built-in, it may be best to borrow ideas from the ones that do when TW modding the suit; you don't have to add a functional exoskeleton system, but you may need to add something that looks like it could be one. or you could make something that looks like a juicer harness. you could even build a helmet that looks like it's got the MOM implants of a crazy sticking out of it.

this is, of course, a fairly specific example, and the exact forms don't have to be followed (also, your GM may dislike some of the specific ideas i've suggested to make a suit of armour with superhuman agility). but basically, the idea is that you should be able to look at the device and say "huh, the person who's using that device can probably _________" with a reasonable degree of accuracy, provided they're moderately familiar with technological equipment (obviously if they have no idea what a radio looks like, they won't recognize a TW device that lets you communicate over long distances which looks like a radio).

[grandmaster z0b]

Yeah I agree. I have an enemy NPC who has mystic portal built into his armor, it appears as a small flashlight that sits on the shoulder and when activated shines a spotlight on the surface that becomes the portal.

Some I can't think of anything particularly cool for though: e.g. impervious to energy - does it just cover the armor in a translucent field or should it appear as a lightning rod on the helmet with a wire leading to the ground?

[Kagashi]

Yeah I agree. I have an enemy NPC who has mystic portal built into his armor, it appears as a small flashlight that sits on the shoulder and when activated shines a spotlight on the surface that becomes the portal.

Some I can't think of anything particularly cool for though: e.g. impervious to energy - does it just cover the armor in a translucent field or should it appear as a lightning rod on the helmet with a wire leading to the ground?

Well, the armor wielding Impervious to Fire can just be red in color according to RUE. Impervious to Energy can just be yellow. That's the color I think of when I think of "energy" (or white).

[StormSeeker]

I agree that the form needs to relate in some way to the function.
Also, since magic is so dependant on belief, the form also needs to fit with how the TW thinks of it, even if that doesn't necessarily match reality/physics.
For instance, I built telekinesis into a pair of welding gloves (which also have impervious to fire), because I envision tk as being sort of like a remote set of hands, whereas someone else might build it into a helmet or headband, because they think of it as moving things with their mind. Someone else might focus on the visual aspect of the spell and make it into a pair of goggles/binoculars, etc.
Similarly, instead of using a gun or flare, I built blinding flash and globe of daylight into a flashlight mounted on the shoulder of my armor.
One more example: I took a hypodermic spray gun, and built into it impervious to poison, negate toxin and light healing. But a friend of mine who's first thought for those functions was as potions said he'd do it with a canteen.

Point is, even though it doesn't really matter in terms of game mechanics, it adds a lot to the feel of the game to put some thought and flavor into your tw creations.

[drewkitty ~..~]

There are also a few in rifter 2 pages 88 & 89.

[Daniel Stoker]

Well, the armor wielding Impervious to Fire can just be red in color according to RUE. Impervious to Energy can just be yellow. That's the color I think of when I think of "energy" (or white).

I had a suit covered with a 'wire mesh' so that when Impervious to Energy was activated with a switch on the wrist and they were then hit the wires 'channeled' the energy harmlessly into the ground.


Daniel Stoker

[FatherMorpheus]

I had a suit covered with a 'wire mesh' so that when Impervious to Energy was activated with a switch on the wrist and they were then hit the wires 'channeled' the energy harmlessly into the ground.

Daniel Stoker

+1

See that is the 'feel' I normally am looking for in TW items. It isn't a specific way of doing it, but the thought process on how the magic is working with the tech.

[taalismn]

Point is, even though it doesn't really matter in terms of game mechanics, it adds a lot to the feel of the game to put some thought and flavor into your tw creations.

Indeed. I also applied TK to armor, but made it work through TV/radio antennae grafted to the armor's head, while two small electric fans gimbaled on the back enabled Fly Like an Eagle.

[grandmaster z0b]

I had a suit covered with a 'wire mesh' so that when Impervious to Energy was activated with a switch on the wrist and they were then hit the wires 'channeled' the energy harmlessly into the ground.

Daniel Stoker

+1

See that is the 'feel' I normally am looking for in TW items. It isn't a specific way of doing it, but the thought process on how the magic is working with the tech.

Yeah that's what I was getting at.

[Zer0 Kay]

Yeah I agree. I have an enemy NPC who has mystic portal built into his armor, it appears as a small flashlight that sits on the shoulder and when activated shines a spotlight on the surface that becomes the portal.

Some I can't think of anything particularly cool for though: e.g. impervious to energy - does it just cover the armor in a translucent field or should it appear as a lightning rod on the helmet with a wire leading to the ground?

A mesh connected all over the armor forming a farraday cage connected to a small gold barrel on the back (its a capacitor so when the armor isn't in contact with ground) that blast the energy out the back in a puff of mystic blue sparkled smoke.

While walking through leylines it billows out trailing long stretched smoke wings.

[Blue_Lion]

The easy way to do armor features is use the old rules. I feel disappointed that TW engine mods, weapon conversions and common armor mods are left out when the class starts with them. I love TW and feel that style /heme is more important than function.