Magitech Archetypes

DISCLAIMER: This review is based on a free PDF provided by the author and the publisher, which in no way had an influence on the final score.Magitech Archetypes is a sci-fi/fantasy fusion-themed book by Legendary Games. As all books by the publisher, this one includes amazing layout and art, but they are not only beautiful; they are handy for players because of the many electronic links it includes, so you get a lot of information interconnected.What’s inside?21 pages of content, which include:-7 archetypes: Astrologers are mesmerist who study the stars, and exchange many of their tricks for star-flavored abilities, even creating miniature satellites to attack their foes or travel to and survive in another planet! Delvers are wizards who are very at home in the underground and, in exchange for their arcane bond, get many abilities useful in dungeons and ruins, and can also summon some underground creatures (ending with neothelids!). Engram channelers are spiritualists that summon not a restless phantom, but the encoded memory of a dead being that presents as a hologram; a flavorful and very strong class hack that gets away from the undead and becomes closer to technology; Nanotech infusers are sorcerers who replace several bloodline powers for some abilities that derive from your nanites, without overspecializing on robots or technology; while this archetype doesn’t replace your bloodline, it does replace many bloodline powers and I wonder if it couldn’t have worked better as an aberrant bloodline, but to be fair, some of the abilities are so strong that they replace bloodline powers AND feats! Necrotech masters are vile, unliving (construct or undead only) kineticist that focus on the vilest portion of the new machine element mixed with void; these guys aren’t that player oriented, but work wonders for enemy NPCs; Penumbral arcanists focus on darkness and shadow, gaining access to many appropriate spells and to some exclusive exploits and at the end of their careers they can create darkness so powerful that not even true seeing can penetrate, and only those that can see inside magical darkness will be able to see you; finally, Robot fighters are rangers who specialize at hunting constructs, especially robots, losing many nature-themed ability for more appropriate abilities.-1 kineticist element: Machine, with a heavy focus on interacting with the technology rules, also work with metals and other constructs, with many abilities to enhance the user’s own body, and even others’! While many abilities work and interact with machines, I can see a technokineticist character built for campaigns without technology, robots and the like, but they shine and have wider options in games that include such. Later in the book we find an elemental saturation, a place of power, with a greater benefits on technokineticists.-7 Feats: 4 of them are available only to necrotech masters, 2 of them interact with technology and grant a weird telepathy/hacking ability to interact with computers. The final feat gives you the ability to spontaneously summon junk golems of increasing potency. It is worth noting that this last feat is open to technokineticist (they can even ignore prerequisites), but they can’t use it as is since they can’t cast spells. I suppose the summons could have a burn cost but I can only wonder (unless they multiclass).Of Note: Engram channelers are a roleplaying goldmine and a nice tool to have as a game master to give hints to the PCs. Robot fighters sound lame but are anything but, they are urban warrior that could work in steampunk campaigns. I was expecting lame bonuses to attack and damage, but believe me, these guys rock!Anything wrong?: The astrologer mesmerist archetype is cool, but the abilities don’t mesh well with the base class flavor; I would have preferred the archetype for wizards or psychics. Delver wizards and penumbral arcanists are cool and flavorful, but also don’t really scream “magitech” to me. These three feel sci-fi but not magitech, which is a shame in a book called “Magitech Archetypes”. Also, no magus? No occultists? No summoner? These three classes would have rocked in a magitech campaign with an appropriate archetype. Maybe for the sequel? (wink wink)What cool things did this inspire?: Necrotech master androids or, better yet, ghouls with class levels, could fuel an entire campaign of technofantasy horror. What about undead giants with class levels? Something like Attack on Titan meets Tetsuo? I would play/run that! I would also LOVE to play a samsaran engram channeler whose engram is his past life or past life’s love! (you seem strangely familiar). An android kinetic shinobi who uses the new element sounds too obvious but awesome at the same time. Also obvious but cool: a ghoran, elf or any sylvan race robot fighter in the same party as an android technokineticist would bring several roleplaying opportunities for intra-party interaction, or would be perfect as a good-aligned enemy for a techno-heavy party.Do I recommend it? Yes! I have yet to be disappointed by a LG’s book, but I must say the title of the book is a little misleading. I rate this book with 4 ½ stars, rounded down for plain blend-y, magitech campaigns but rounded up for sci-fi meets fantasy campaigns.

From the stars to the deeps, they awaken.Before we begin, I must inform you that I was provided a Review Copy for this. That said, My impressions are as follows.Magitech Archetypes Is something I want more of- by it's name its about technology and magic intertwined, but it also has bits about the deep dark as well as the beyond. Anything that remotely crawls me to the Lovecraft Mythos I also enjoy. as for whats inside...Astrologer (Mesmerist)-I get my reminder of Orikan the Diviner today. This archetype is about the stars. Their unique abilities gained in place of mostly Mesmerist tricks, grant them powers they can only capitalize on fully while outdoors with a night sky, or with the stars out. they essentially stargaze for power, which i find calming and interesting at the same time. I do not know much about Mesmerists, but I can say that if you like Divination effects, and play them, this may be worth a look.Delver (wizard)- From the stars to the deeps we have this. you trade scribe scroll, Arcane Bond, and a bonus feat for a series of boons tilted specifically towards the underground or technology, including improved divination casting underground and alternative Summon Monster abilities. much as I love anything to do with summoning, I can say I prefer Arcane bond to much to take this one.Engram Channeler (Spiritualist)- another class I know little about, this one modifies your spell list away from undeath to technological means and provides class abilities to help manipulate technology. the big thing of note in my opinion is it also provides you an Alien AI learned personality called an Engram instead of a phantom, that resides in your mind, manifesting as an incorporeal hologram. it provides buffs on intelligence skills and allows some in combat buffs to team effectiveness. for a tech based feel, id say it does the job quite well, and the idea of drawing up a tactical map of the battlefield to provide bonuses will also gets a thumbs up in my book.Nanotech Infuser (sorceror)- so your holding, being transformed by, and after a certain point spreading a Nanovirus in exchange for Bloodline related things? I like this, but I wish you could become even more mechanical than you can with this. That said the mental picture of people succumbing to a nanovirus and rising as zombies is... okay, REALLY cool. from a game play standpoint your mileage may vary on this one. it depends on how much you put your normal Bloodline connections to use.Necrotech Master (Kineticist)- You can only be this as an undead or construct, but you essentially blur the line between being a construct or undead gaining parts of both worlds, not just for yourself but later undead OR construct minions you create. And now I'm seeing an undead with robotic parts and- I better move on, that kinda stuff is something I love. you are also a charisma based kineticist instead of constitution for this, which opens new roads for stats out there, but is needed for this to function. the Burn negative in replace of the basic burn is something I am NOT a fan of, but this one wins my favorite archetype out of the book for it's blending of machine and void (the elements you'll be using as it). it scratches my construct AND undead itch simultaneously. HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!Penumbral Arcanist (Arcanist, of course!)- I like this one. its all about Darkness. you get a few new arcanist exploits to choose from. the ability to manipulate darkness with spells that normally can't, and synergistic effects tied into it. also, the ability to Summon Shadows via one of the Greater Exploit options is an immediate bump up for me. Nightmares from Below, Follow me into the Light...Robot Fighter (Ranger)- this is the anti-Construct specific ranger. not really my style due to no animal companion... but this is Necessary for a setting like this. the Anti-Construct and robot tricks in here are more then solid for a focused combatant.The Machine Element- ...AVE OMNISSIAH. This is the main reason I wanted the book and I am not disappointed in the slightest by it.To explain, kineticists have a LOT of 3rd party support now, a good deal of which involved deepening the 7 first party elements. but we've also had an additional 7 elements just to my knowledge from 3rd party sources (Time, Light, Sound, Viscera, Toxin, Mind and Dream to be precise.) and a subset of kineticist books have combination abilities between the majority of these elements, to say nothing of the archetypes that further tweak specific elements. Lastly I tend look at elements from a one element only perspective of the class, and often at particular abilities within it. this means to be the 15th Element gives you big shoes to fill.So when I say that this may be my new favorite element, dueling with Mind and kicking fire into a ditch, THAT is impressive.Reading these abilities over, it appears to be like a counterpart to Earth on a few levels, using some Earth Element abilities and allowing Earth to tap into a few of it's as well, but it forges it's own identity primarily. depending on what expanded elements you take, you can add more infusions to its composite blasts than it's infusion list normally shows (I am concerned however that some of the cross element composites do NOT have this trait- why did some get chosen but not others? it does leave those combination out of a fair few infusions... looks towards fire)- of its unique substances, it has a specialty towards manipulating metal (one functions something like the good ol Rust Monster, for example). Fitting to the Necrotech it releases with, it has shades of the viscera element from another direction with the sheer amount of manipulation you can do to yourself via your utility talents. overclock yourself? YES! Armor? Subdermal or wanna be power armor? Firearm IN your arm? why not (Although- how do you load it? do you have to?)! cap that with evolution points from a series of Utility talents and welcome to your techpriest! a decent bit of it is based around construct support and manipulation specifically, so it's even better in the campaigns that focus on them, but even without those types id STILL give this a run. it satisfies 2/3rds of what I look for in my element hunt at LEAST. and maybe all 3 if I could keep all of my kineticist data straight. Great job!Magitech Feats- This provides a pair of feat trees, plus a Necrotech Master specific feat and another feat. The Necrotech Feat tree seems costly for feats, but I still love it. it allows other creature types access to Necrotech Master Kineticist without being a Construct or Undead, but it may be worth taking the full series because of the eventual result. it's just a fair few feat slots. that said, if your going all in on the Necrotech master concept, Necrotech Leader is likely a necessary feat.On the other hand the Technopath pair allows those with Technologist and some Telepathy or thought detection to tap directly into machinery, and then from longer distances. it also gives you the means to tamper with them. why am I partially reminded of the Mechanicus again?lastly, there's Walker in Rust which is my favorite of the feats. It allows you access to summoning Junk Golems of various Strengths. and personally I love the ways and the flavor in which it does it- spontaneous golems anyone?My impression is that this is a good book. personally I love Technology in my games, so a Magitech addition is already welcome. for the books cost it definitely has a good amount of content. my normal caveat applies to a book like this- it'll be more worth it for you if you like the theme and several of the classes content on display. as a major fan of kineticists the Machine element alone would have made it a purchase either way, and the Necrotech Master on style alone ranks highly for me. the fact both turned out so good for me in addition to the Penumbral Arcanist, and the setting of tone with the Astrologer just clinched it. Plus technology feels like a path that could use more traveling, and i liked this brush with it.I need to go figure out how to turn an ioun stone into a mini-Servo Skull now...