#hack capacitor technomancer

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Hack Capacitor Technomancer (Technomancer Alternate Class Feature)

(art by EvgeniaKurai on DeviantArt)

In many ways, the technomancer of Starfinder is something of the distant descendant of the arcanist from First Edition Pathfinder. They get all sorts of ways to fiddle with their spells and technology to make themselves more and more flexible.

One of the ways that the vanilla technomancer does so is their cache capacitor, which allows them to store and perpetuate the energy of a single spell, letting them benefit from it all day. These can be anything from constant buffs, supporting magic, or even the ability to cast certain blasting spells all day.

However, not every technomancer finds that to be useful for them. Some instead use their capacitors to store arcane formulae that are integral to their various hacks. In other words, these mages gain some flexibility with their techniques instead.

I feel like some will have a hard time justifying how this option works depending on how they flavor their magical hacks. If they are just something that the character knows how to do, it might be hard to reconcile having flexible hacks unless they flavor it as improvisations, while others might set up complex mystical theorems in their cache which they can tap into in an emergency.

In any case, these mystics can prove surprisingly versatile, as we shall soon see.

These technomancers select three magical hacks that they don’t already have, which they can change out as they grow stronger. With a bit of effort they can briefly gain one of these hacks as needed. Doing so for the first time is free, but doing so repeatedly throughout the day drains their reserves. As they grow in power, they deepen their pool of potential abilities and are even able to manifest multiple at once for the cost of more resolve.

While it is fairly simple, this ability set is quite useful as you are effectively gaining three, then four and five extra magical hacks, at the cost of draining your resolve points to use them. I would recommend selecting a wide variety of hacks to suit different situations, which may change as you level up, changing up the capacitor hacks or even taking some as permanent additions. Also consider that you could use the capacitor to gain more powerful improvements of hacks you already have, should they exist.

The interesting thing about technomancy is that, despite having heavy roots in the arcane magic of old, the path that an individual technomancer takes to get where they are likely extremely personal and a question of what works for the caster, which I imagine makes viewing someone else’s technomagical devices and spells very much like someone’s homebrew wiring or coding: equal parts horrifying and awe-inspiring in how it all fits together and works. As such, I don’t think most technomancers would even notice a difference between those with a normal cache capacitor and those with a hack capacitor until they see them in action, and even then, it is simply a quirk of their process.

They say that Akvus’s technomagical capacitor, a cybernetic hand with an arcane supercomputer built in, was capable of reshaping magic in incredible ways. As such, many modern technomancers desire the relic, some for the power it could grant, and others simply to study it. Of course, the last time it was seen was plummeting into a rift to some far-off plane.

They say that Binbi Firestep always has a new trick up her sleeve, and the halfling technomancer certainly lends truth to the stories. However, all of those tricks will be put to the test when her many enemies come together to try and bring her down… but perhaps the party can interfere?

Young technomancers are often eager to explore the limits of magic, technology, and the blending of the two. Perhaps that is why so many signed up for the tutoring of Blackmaw, a notorious techno-necromancer. Now, most of these students are reanimated as cybernetic zombies after he was done experimenting on them, while he bears the fruits of their innovations.

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Junk Technomancy Technomancer (Technomancer Alternate Class Feature)

(art by David Bonilla on Artstation)

Perhaps one of my very, very favorite things about the Starfinder technomancer class and their spells is how well they integrated technology and magic together, (in the spells at least, the magical hacks are kinda hit and miss for me) and nowhere else is this clearer than in the “junk” spells. Junk spells include those that either transmute nearby junk into a form unable by the mage, conjure junk usable for the former as their primary function or as a side effect, or that utilize already transmuted junk in a new way.

It began in the core book with the various junkbot spells, which were a stand-in for summoning until they perfected that with Alien Archive, but as more books came out, we got junk armor, junk swords, barricades, grenades, extradimensional shelters, and even the ability to detonate junk or transmuted creations!

It only makes sense, then, that there would be technomancers that specialize in these sorts of spells. They might be self-taught mystical tinkerers using the most readily available resource they know of in low-income neighborhoods, or they might be enthusiasts that see the ruined beauty and functionality in what others deem worthless.

Regardless of where they come from or how they feel about these things, only a fool would underestimate a junk technomancer just because their arsenal is all secondhand. It may not look pretty or be as sturdy, but they can squeeze surprising amounts of power out of what others cast off.

In exchange for having a cache and cache capacitor, these techno-mages specialize in junk spells, learning junk armor and junksword immediately in addition to their normal spell allotment, as well as upgrading to higher level versions of junksword as they gain levels (the text suggests that junk armor upgrades as well, but that spell doesn’t have variable level. It’s just a first level spell. A mistake on the author’s part?) Additionally, they can cast either one of these spells once a day without expending any energy.

Their junk spells also prove just a little bit better, their armor becoming tougher, and their transmuted creations lasting longer.

Given their focus on cobbling together contraptions than programming, they also focus on engineering rather than computers.

Finally, they improve their junksword and junk armor to allow for upgrades, their armor gaining an armor slot which they can install an upgrade into, and their junkswords able to incorporate a fusion seal the technomancer has on hand into their design.

The junk spells of a technomancer are versatile, ranging from defense to attack to utility, but they all require scrap electronics to work, which is why spells that conjure junk, be it the junk shards attack spell or the fabricate junk cantrip are very important for when you venture beyond junkyards, broken-down slums, or easily-smashable tech labs. That being said, you also still have all your other spell slots to diversify for those times when junk is not available and conjuring some would waste precious seconds. In any case, the focus on junksword and junk armor does mean the build expects you to be at least partially a melee build, so your spell and feat selection could probably do with options that tilt melee combat in your favor, such as debuffs and battlefield control options, to say nothing of enhancing your own combat prowess.

The versatility of junk spells cannot be denied, but one must also remember that no only are these creations temporary, but they render the junk used in them inert to any more castings of the spell, valuable only for their use as scrap. As such, I imagine that many of these technomancers also enjoy making longer-lasting creations as well, possibly from the junk they’ve spent on previous castings of their magic, incorporating components harmlessly into the whole of a project.

Strange attacks have been happening in the upper city, with people being slain by beams of light from invisible foes. The culprits are a group of lurkers-in-light, led by a lightweaver. However, confronting the fey in the upper city will be nearly impossible without first causing a blackout. The simpler option would be to track them to their dark undercity lair, home to junkers of all descriptions.

Most would consider Visak’s Folly, a debris field of derelict ships left over from the last great war, to be a poor place to forge a community, but for the xulgaths that dwell there, it is a golden opportunity. So much salvage to recover and sell. Many of them take up technomancy as well, turning the scrap that surrounds them into tools and weapons, the latter especially one those that attempt to muscle in on their claim.

It wasn’t the plentiful resources or the verdant wildlife that attracted Polgan to the colony world of Pillar, it was the ancient superstructure that gave the planet its name. Attempts to explore or survey it have been met with disaster before, but the young technomancer is certain that with his junk magic and know-how he can make the attempt alone and self-sufficiently. Such is the foolishness of youth.