RPG/Scientist

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Scientist
Specialty	Science
Subjects	Magic, Math, Home Ec, History

Level	HP	MP	Special Abilities
1	8	12	Scrap Patch 5
2	16	24	Spells 15MP (Device), Integrated Equipment 1, Robot Construction
3	24	36	Scrap Patch 10
4	32	48	Spells 30MP (Device), Integrated Equipment 2
5	40	60	Scrap Patch 15, Supertech 1
6	48	72	Spells 45MP (Device), Integrated Equipment 3
7	56	84	Scrap Patch 20
8	64	96	Spells 60MP (Device), Integrated Equipment 4
9	72	108	Scrap Patch 25
10	80	120	Spells 75MP (Device), Integrated Equipment 5, Supertech 2

Special Abilities

Scrap Patch X:

Integrated Equipment X:

Robot Construction: Scientists are capable of creating robotic minions and Mecha companions independently. Doing this is an involved process that can take a lot out of the Scientist, but is often considered to be worth it. To perform Robot Construction, a Scientist needs access to their Toolbox and all hands free. Robot Construction has an MP cost equal to 10 plus 5 times threat level of the mechanical creature being created (limited by the Scientist's Device casting limit), a material cost equal to $10 times the MP cost, as well as an XP cost from the Scientist that depends on which type of robot is being created. The build time is equal to 1 hour times the MP cost divided by 10, rounded up. However, while building a robot, the Scientist must pay its MP cost ten times, each on a different day, though this expense takes a negligible amount of time and only requires being near the incomplete robot. The robot is only considered complete when the Scientist spend the required MP cost ten times and fulfilled the build time and other costs, though all of these activities and expenses may be fulfilled in any order and at any rate. Any benefit that affects the build time or material cost of Devices also affects the build time of Robot Construction, and the Scientist can create blueprints for a robot after completing it, but the ten daily MP expenses may never be reduced. The MP the Scientist spends to build a robot may be reduced if the robot has an Elemental Specialization that corresponds to an elemental advantage the Scientist has, but this does not affect the MP cost limit or the build time.

A robot may have as many levels and advantages as the Scientist is willing to pay XP for as long as its threat level does not exceed the Device casting limit minus 10 and divided by 5. A robot may be given disadvantages to adjust its threat level and grant it up to 2000 bonus XP, but its threat level can never be lower than 1. A robot may be considered a humanoid or an animal for leveling purposes, though a humanoid robot must have the Mecha base race or a Mecha sub race, and its race cannot be changed unless it is a humanoid of the companion variety.

Robotic Minions: Robotic minions are non-sapient robots that will follow your commands or act autonomously according to programmed instructions. To complete creation of a robotic minion, the Scientist must spend an amount of XP equal to 10% of the robot's total XP value from levels and advantages, rounded up. They require a power source to function and will drain that source at a rate depending on the context of its activity. During encounters, the robot drains 5 MP per threat level per minute. Outside encounters, it drains 5 MP per TL per hour of active following or 5 MP per TL per 10 minutes of significant activity. A robot may also enter a power-save mode in which it does not drain energy but cannot perform any actions, and entering or exiting power-save mode takes all of its actions for 2 rounds. When the Scientist completes the robotic minion, they may choose whether it uses a Mahougenerator or Mahoubattery for every power source slot it has (1 by default), and may then build a Mahougenerator for it, if applicable, at the same cost rate as for Devices.

Mecha Companions: Mecha companions are sapient, autonomous, capable of independence, and usually faithful allies to the Scientist who created them. To complete creation of a Mecha companion, the Scientist must spend an amount of XP equal to the Mecha's total XP value from levels and advantages. The Scientist also has the option of reducing the XP cost of the companion by up to 25% by using an equal amount of additional material components. The GM may allow some or all of the XP cost of the Mecha companion to be waived if the Mecha is intended to become a player character for another player or if the Scientist is using an awakened AI, such as a Mahoutech Drive Core, that already has its own experiences instead of creating a new one.

Robot Maintenance: A robot can be maintained similarly to a Device to improve its abilities. This process requires the Scientist having access to a Toolbox and all hands free, spending an amount of MP equal to 10 plus 5 times the robot's threat level, and taking 1 hour times that amount of MP spent divided by 10 and rounded up. Upon completing that process, the Scientist may spend XP to add levels or advantages to the robot to a maximum threat level equal to the Scientist's Device casting limit minus 10 and divided by 5. The XP expense for improving the robot occurs at the same rate and with the same options as when creating the robot. The Scientist may also spend materials to improve the robot's Mahougenerator, if it has one, or add a Mahougenerator to it, if the Nanotech Supertech ability is added to it.

Supertech X: As Scientists grow in ability and shrink in overall sanity, they discover insights into the fundamental forces of the universe and how to harness them for more and more powerful machines. Each time they gain a point in this ability, they may choose from the list below one of the effects. These effects will apply to all future Devices they build (including Robot Minions and Integrated Equipment), and will be applied to any Devices they maintain.

Aether Tap: Spells which a damage rating have their damage die type upgraded one step. D6es become d8s, d8s become d10s, and so on. Anything already at d12 or higher gains a +1 to the d12. This ability may be taken multiple times, and its effects stack.

Gravity Warp: Weapons you build spells into gain a +3 bonus to hit. Armor you build gains a +1 bonus to each passive defense score. This ability may be taken multiple times, and its effects stack.

Nanotech: Devices and Robots you build can hold one more power source than normal. This ability may be taken multiple times, and its effects stack. The power sources in different slots may be the same type or different. A Device or Robot carrying multiple power sources will be treated as if its power sources' MP are pooled, allowing for splitting cost between a depleting source and a full source, but Mahougenerators will always be used before Mahoubatteries, and the source with the least MP will always have precedence.

Temporal Aggregation: Once per round, someone who uses a Device with this ability to cast a spell you have built into it gains a +1 bonus to their next initiative roll. This ability may be taken multiple times, improving its effect by +1 each time, but only the first Device containing this ability used in the round will count.

Mahoutech Channeling: A character who can cast magic spells or channel magic may spend their own MP to restore a like amount of MP to a Mahougenerator you have built, whether the generator is in a Device or a Robot. Doing so takes one hand action, and they spend up to 10 MP for each time this ability has been purchased in a single action. Characters who can channel magical energy can restore MP using their channeling abilities, converting CMP directly into MP, but they must expend 5 times as much MP as they usually would and can spend no more than the MP expenditure normally allowed by this ability.

Themed Tech: The first time this ability is taken, choose Infatuation, Infuriation, or Intimidation. When a character wearing or holding an item you have built a spell into makes that distraction attempt, they gain a +1 bonus for each time you have purchased this ability. Instances of this ability with the same distraction type across multiple Devices on a single character do not stack, with only the one with the greatest bonus applying.

Spells XMP (Device): A Scientist can build Devices, items containing spells with an MP cost of up to X. Generally, these Devices are handheld items that store and activate spell effects, are powered by magical power sources, and are built and used as per the rules in the Casting Cost and Casting Action sections. A Scientist may build multiple spells into a single Device, but it can only contain a combined total MP cost worth of spells equal to X or less. By default, a Scientist Device is a unique handheld item, but one may have the properties of a single mundane item, adding all of its properties and functions to the Device, as well as any capacity for improvements the item may have, but doing so increases the Device's building cost as described in the Casting Cost section. A Device with a mundane item function will have at least the weight and size of that item, and all functions of that item must be powered the same way the item normally would be. A Scientist may also install one or more Devices into a clothing, shield, or weapon item by using the Integrated Equipment ability, but such an item cannot also have a mundane item function unless it is a reasonable one that the GM allows. An item that is considered a Scientist Device can never be enchanted, nor can a Device function be installed into an item that is enchanted, but it can have any other improvements its item type could normally have, such as gem slots, superior quality enhancements, inherent benefits, temporary spell effects, and bonuses from special abilities.

Restrictions: Scientists cannot summon. A Device containing multiple spells cannot have spells with opposite elements, with the exception of multi-element spells. A Device can only have a single spell on it if that spell has multiple elements.

Casting Cost: To use spells, the Scientist must build them into Devices. The cost for this is $10 times the spell's material cost, with $0 spells costing $10 to build. Materials used to build Devices can be purchased or scavenged. You can include a function from a single mundane item in a Device at half that item's cost. The first time a Scientist builds a Device, they will go through many phases of design work, but they can gain a significant advantage by having refined blueprints which reflect the experiences gained from its first crafting on hand. Such blueprints for a Device reduce its build time by half and cut the material cost for the spells built into it by 25%. Device blueprints can be shared between Scientists, but a Scientist who attempts to build a Device using someone else's blueprints must succeed an Art/Intelligence check equal to the highest spell difficulty on that Device to gain the benefit of using it.

Special: Power Sources: Once the Device has been built, described below, it needs magical energy to use. This energy can be provided by one of two power sources, a Mahougenerator or a Mahoubattery, for every power source slot the Device has (1 by default). When the Device is being built, the Scientist must choose whether each slot is for a Mahougenerator or by a Mahoubattery. A Mahougenerator, which the Scientist builds along with the Device, can have an MP capacity equal to or less than the MP limit of the Scientist. Building a Mahougenerator adds $5 times its MP capacity to the cost of the Device, but doing so does not add to the building time or difficulty. The Mahougenerator is considered integral to the Device; it cannot be removed, but its MP capacity may be increased by spending $5 per additional MP, up to the Scientist's MP limit, when performing maintenance on the Device (see Casting Action section). A Mahougenerator regains its full MP once per day at a time designated by the Scientist when they build the Device, typically at a time when the owner would be asleep. The alternative option, Mahoubatteries, which can be purchased at many stores, have a fixed MP capacity and cannot normally be recharged. The cost of a Mahoubattery depends on its MP capacity according to the chart below. Changing a Mahoubattery in a device takes at least a single hand action; acts of ejecting old battery and inserting the new one are simple enough to be combined into a single hand action, but there may be situational conditions that make this exchange more complicated and thus requiring more actions. Once a Mahoubattery's energy has been depleted, it is essentially useless. Neither type of power source can be used to overcast; attempting to do so will cause the Device's power source to be completely depleted of MP, and spell will fail.

Mahoubattery Costs:

Capacity	Cost
20 MP	$1
50 MP	$3
100 MP	$7
200 MP	$15

Spell Alterations: Spells built into Scientist Devices are not inherently altered, but they may be altered by the effects of Integrated Equipment or Supertech.

Casting Actions/Stat/Skill: There are four processes involved in Device use, including creation, activation, maintenance, and salvage.

Device Creation: To begin building a Device, the Scientist must have access to a Toolbox and their hands free. The base time to build a Device is 10 minutes times the total MP cost of all spells in it. Adding a mundane item's function to the Device increases its build time by a number of hours equal to the number of dollars the mundane item costs divided by the Scientist's Intelligence, rounded up. Once the Scientist has spent the time and material resource required to create the Device and determined its power source (and complete the addition of a Mahougenerator, if chosen), they must make an Intelligence/Science casting roll for each spell in the device and pay the MP cost of each spell. When each casting roll required for each spell is successful, the Device is complete. If any of these checks failed, the spent MP for that spell is wasted, and the Scientist must spend half the original build time on the device to try again, at no additional material cost. The completed Device has an inherent skill, stat, and specialty modifier equal to those used by the Scientist to create the device. These values are stored in the Device and are checked whenever it is used. Additionally, for every 5 over a spell's difficulty the Scientist makes on their successful casting checks, that spell's instance in the device has a +1 bonus to its activation check. If the Device contains only one spell, has no mundane item function, and is not installed in Integrated Equipment, it receives an additional +3 bonus to its activation check.

Device Activation: To use a completed Device, its user must be holding it in their hand. Before a Device can be used, its user must select which spell function the Device will activate. Setting or changing a Device's spell selection takes a hand action, though a Device with only one spell automatically has that spell selected. Once a spell is selected, it takes one hand action to activate that spell function. When activating a spell function, the user must make a roll using the inherent skill, stat, and specialty modifier of the Device and the inherent bonus modifiers of that particular spell function. If that check is successful, the spell is cast as if it were a normal casting of that spell, and the Device's power source is drained for that spell's MP cost. If the Device's power source does not have sufficient MP for the spell, the spell will fail to activate. If the Device has a mundane item function, it can be used in the same fashion as the mundane item it is based on, and doing so does not affect its spell selection. A Device can only have a single spell function activated per round, but there is no limit to the number of times per round a Device's spell selection may be changed or mundane item function be activated. A Device can be used by anyone who can hold it, though a GM may require someone who is not familiar with advanced technology to take some time and instruction to learn how to use a Device safely.

Device Maintenance: Maintenance is a special activity a Scientist can perform to improve or modify a Device. Maintenance has the same tool and readiness requirements of creating a Device. Maintaining a Device takes 1 hour time the total MP costs of the spells it contains divided by 10 and rounded up, as well as the Scientist spending the total MP of the device. By performing maintenance, the Device's inherent stat, skill, and specialty modifier values are changed to those the Scientist currently has, but the other modifiers of the Device's spells are not affected. During maintenance, the Scientist may also upgrade the Device's Mahougenerator, if it has one (see Casting Cost section), or change the time of day when it recharges, though it won't be able to recharge again until 24 have passed since maintenance. Finally, if the Scientist has any Supertech abilities, they are placed upon the Device during maintenance, replacing any the Device already has. If the Device is given Supertech that adds a slot for a new power source, the Scientist may choose which source it is and pay materials to add a new Mahougenerator at this time, if applicable. If this change in Supertech would remove a Mahougenerator slot, then half the material value of that Mahougenerator may be salvaged.

Device Salvage: A Scientist may salvage a Device, recovering half the amount of material cost it took to build it (including the cost of Mahougenerators) as usable scrap for making other Devices or improving Mahougenerators. Doing this takes only 1 hour, but the Scientist must have access to their Toolbox. A Scientist may salvage a Device from Integrated Equipment without affecting the other properties of the equipment.

Learning spells: Scientists do not need to learn spells to build Devices.