#espraksa

(art by Tyxerus on DeviantArt)

 The nanocyte class, while relatively new, is perhaps the very pinnacle of technological integration with your character, but what if you want a little hybrid magitech blended in as well?

Much like the biotech nanocyte that I did on my Patreon last year, Galactic Magic gave us a taste of how nanomachines and magic could be blend together.

Honestly, the idea of nanites that can be used to channel magic is a great idea, a perfect example of technomagic in action. A nearly invisible force coming together to make something incredible happen, and that’s just the nanites being nanites, to say nothing of them casting actual spells!

Such nanomachines may differ a bit physically from their normal counterparts as well, such as clumping together to form fly-like swarm bodies when manifesting as a cloud, or displaying silvery runes all over their sheath array, to say nothing of the shapes of runes appearing around them as the nanomachines gather in the new array for this variation.

 Essentially, these mystical nanocytes trade the ability to form weapons and augments (and the number of minor objects they can form) with their nanomachines, but in exchange they gain access to a very limited selection of spells, which eventually tops off at two cantrips, two 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells, and one 4th level spell known. The cantrips can be cast a few times a day, but they gain only one spell slot per day, which grows in level as they do (though they can cast any variable-level spell using this slot without learning the higher level versions, so that’s nice). However, they can get around this by expending nanite surges to create another spell slot with a potency equal to the number of surges spent to create it, though they have to rest for a few minutes before they can do so again.

The resulting nanocyte is definitely not a full-on spellcaster. You’re better off cross-classing or reflavoring the imagery of a technomancer if that is what you want, but if you’re not interested in using nanotech weapons at all in your build and would like to have an arsenal of spells instead, this class feature might be for you. Obviously you should avoid the obliteration faculty since it’s outright unusable to you, but dealing damage with the infestation faculty or being more tanky with other faculties if fine too, relying on the cloud array to avoid attacks and the sheath for protection, and switching to the spell array when you need to make use of your spells. As for which spells to take, obviously spells that have variable level are a good choice, such as junk sword, but also consider spells that buff yourself, or provide answers for dealing with foes that a nanocyte might have trouble with on their own, such as lots of swarming enemies that a explosive blast would take care of, and so on.

 While some may multiclass or take archetypes to further enhance their magical ability, we can wonder about what sort of relationship these characters might have with magic and their nanites. If their infection with their symbiotic nanites was accidental, might they be baffled by the abilities they demonstrate. Others might have deliberately infected themselves to gain magical power that they simply couldn’t acquire by training, or been infected by others to test them. Others might have already been nanocytes, but consuming material from a technomagical object, or being blasted by some form of hybrid tech might have induced a strange changes in their capabilities.

  The wandering espraksa mercenary Iqoo is well known for adapting to any situation, and also for her silvery-white nanobots that swarm like a blizzard around her in battle. More interestingly, they is able to use them for magic, typically favoring extreme cold. She declines, however, to explain where she got them, only that she acquired them on her many travels.

 It should be obvious, but the world of Angor, with it’s strangely inconsistent gravity, is not a natural world, but actually an ancient construction filled with all sorts of wonders left over from it’s makers, including hybrid tech nanites. However, to find these remains, one must weather the biosphere and the planet itself, for if the territorial herd beasts don’t crush you, the sudden bouts of extreme gravity might.

 Back when the vanguard was first announced, I was skeptical. Not only did it have the magus problem of having a name that only vaguely suggested what it did, but the whole “Mystic warrior that uses space and science-rooted forces” concept literally felt like a copy of the solarian, albeit more tanky.

Now that the class is out, I can honestly say that my misgivings were misplaced. The vanguard is basically every ultra-durable and/or energy-absorbing superhero, able to take big hits and then redirect the energy back at foes.

But it gets more complicated than that. In addition to disciplines, the vanguard has aspects, various properties of matter and energy related to entropy that they have special command of, adding new ways for them to use their abilities as well as altering how they tend to fight.

Today, we’re looking at the boundary aspect. When referring to the energy loss in entropy, boundaries refer to open and closed systems, and how firm the borders between one system and another are. By manipulating the strength of those borders, they can bolster the durability of others and weaken it in the tools of their foes.

 All aspects grant bonuses to specific combat maneuvers and skills, and in this case, boundary vanguards can subtly manipulate the durability of objects to better sunder them, and have a better understanding of boundaries, able to pick out details with their senses much more easily.

The sanctity of their own bodily integrity is where these vanguards draw their strength, and once per combat, when an attack outright misses, is deflected by armor, or simply has no effect due to resistances, or alternatively, when a vanguard negates an effect by resisting it, they gain entropic power.

The first aspect that a vanguard chooses also grants an ability that is triggered the first time they take damage or when theyspend a lot of energy. Additionally, this ability has an improved version that triggers when the vanguard loses consciousness due to injury. In this case, these warriors generate a field that allows nearby allies to mitigate damage once like a vanguard, their personal boundaries becoming enhanced. The advanced version allows them to do so twice.

Finally, more powerful vanguards gain an additional ability from their first aspect. For those who channel the boundary, this allows them to hold a single use of their mitigate ability for a short period, negating damage on all incoming attacks within that period, rather than just one.

Metaphysical reasons aside, this aspect makes for a vanguard enjoys sundering the gear of foes, as well as punishing them when they fail to effect the vanguard, not just when the vanguard redirects their energy back at them. If it is the first aspect, they also take on the role of defensive support, granting allies the ability to negate oncoming damage as well. As such, your role will be to take the brunt of the damage as the vanguard does, but also to lay down protection for those attacks that are not specifically targeting you.

 I can imagine that many vanguards with this aspect as their primary one have a strong desire to protect others, manifesting in their ability to help others mitigate damage. Meanwhile, those who take it as a secondary may merely enjoy robbing foes of their equipment and gain a thrill from seeing their foes be ineffectual.

  Strip-mining operations have reduced the diplomatic relations with the espraksa colony of Redus 7 to shambles, and now they assume that all non espraksa are employees of the unscrupulous corporation. Bad luck then for the party to run across a hunting party of the avian beings, their leader blessed with powers that dampen weapons.

 Thanks to a multitude of aquatic predators that utilize elemental attacks, including cephalopods similar to the Utranean Jakkerant, the research station on Icona has hired a mercenary company of vanguard to help protect their researchers and drones. This company is known as Phalanx for their ability to shield and bolster each other with their power.