#operator’s manuals

[technically-human]

i loved seeing the moment of stone realising he was going to stick with robotnik (─‿‿─) could we see the moment ROBOTNIK realises stone is here for good?

Robotnik isn't used to people being happy to see him

[vexwerewolf]

EMERGENCY PROCEEDURE REACTOR CRITICAL OVERTEMPERATURE UNDER WAR POWER CONTROL DOMAIN to GLOBAL MAX CYCLES PER SECOND to 3 GHz FUEL INJECTOR to HOT OFF INDUCE LASER PRIMARY to HOT OFF INDUCE LASER SECONDARY to HOT STANDBY VENTS to HOLD OPEN COOLANT LOOP to PRIORITY 1 LIFT SAFETY COVER ON HARD SHUTDOWN BUTTON, HOLD UNINTERRUPTED FOR TEN SECONDS, OBSERVE CORE TEMPERATURE GAUGE IF CORE TEMPERATURE CONTINUES TO RISE: FUEL INJECTOR to EMERGENCY CUT INDUCE LASER SECONDARY to HOT OFF COOLANT LOOP to PRIORITY 0 LIFT SAFETY COVER ON INDUCE QUENCH BUTTON, HOLD UNINTERRUPTED FOR TEN SECONDS, OBSERVE CORE TEMPERATURE GAUGE IF CORE TEMPERATURE CONTINUES TO RISE: LIFT SAFETY COVER ON COOLANT PURGE BUTTON, HOLD UNINTERRUPTED FOR TEN SECONDS, OBSERVE CORE TEMPERATURE GAUGE IF CORE TEMPERATURE CONTINUES TO RISE OR OTHERWISE FAILS TO FALL: EJECT EJECT EJECT EJECT EJECT

[sawbuckplus]

[superbeans89]

Instructions: If confused, please consult the Operations Manul

The Operations Manul:

[dailycharacteroption]

Powered Armor Jockey (Starfinder Archetype)

(art by Shardanic on DeviantArt)

Ah, power armor. Smaller than a proper mech but heavier and tougher than anything in the heavy armor category.

The technical definition of power armor is any suit of armor that comes with additional servos, pistons, and other mechanical parts meant to transfer ordinary human motion into something with a lot more torque, effectively making the wearer superhumanly strong, though depending on the setting, maybe not any faster since moving too fast without protections could see the armor ripping the wearer apart inside of it, which would of course defeat the purpose of it being armor. Additionally, typically power armor is coated in a layer of heavy plating dense enough to take heavy fire which an ordinary human could not normally move in, but can due to the help of the power armor itself.

If you’ve been reading your item descriptions, you might note that a lot of heavy armor in Starfinder is in fact technically power armor, what with assistive servos built in, but proper power armor in the system has it’s own strength score, and is big enough to have hard points for attaching weapons even if they don’t have the integrated keyword.

Now, I told you all that to tell you this: I love power armor, and I love specialist pilots for power armor even more, and that’s what we’re covering today in the form of the Powered Armor Jockey!

Not just a heavy ordinance pilot, these jockeys are also equal part modder enthusiast and field repair mechanics as well, no matter what their skillset is otherwise. This is part of the beauty of the archetype too, as anyone can take it as long as they’re proficient, and while combat-focused classes are the most obvious choice, we’ll see exactly why there’s something here for everyone.

These specialists are constantly modifying and tuning their armor, allowing them to add either an additional weapon mount or space for an upgrade. Later on, they refine this to be able to have both.

They also become intimately familiar with how their armor moves, allowing them to move closer to their normal speed, both in powered and heavy armor.

With knowledge of leverage and the upper limits of their armor, these jockeys can squeeze a bit more power and hit harder with the limbs of their power armor.

Finally, for all their love of the armor, these warriors understand that their lives are still more important than the suit, and they can choose to let their armor take the brunt of attacks they can’t stop outright, damaging it but keeping them alive.

A pretty solid archetype all around, and perfect for any character seeking to specialize in such heavy armor. Now, soldier is the obvious choice, and armor storm is definitely going to be one of your fighting style choices. The fact that so many abilities synergize and specifically stack between the two guarantees it, but beyond that, you might specialize in heavy armament with bombard, bullet storm, or shock and awe, or mix in melee focus with hit and run or wrathful warrior. Other combat classes like solarian and vanguard likely will lean either super defensive to become nearly unkillable, or let the armor do the protecting and go full offense. Meanwhile, nanocyte or evolutionist might be shockingly versatile in such armor.

With non-combat classes, mechanic and technomancer are obvious choices with their technical know-how. You might think experiemental armor is the only choice for mechanic here, but consider the exocortex as an onboard targeting system, experimental weapon as a unique integrated weapon, or even a drone support buddy covering your back. Meanwhile, mages of all stripes can make use of the powered armors durability or strength in a pinch while hammering foes and buffing allies, and sneaky classes like operative and envoy can put in some work making for surprisingly agile and fast power armor sets not unlike Samus Aran.

There’s plenty of ways you can roleplay a character like this. Whether they’re currently serving in a military, a mercenary company, or some other role, they can be anything from brash hotheads to more technical combatants. What remains true is their appreciation for their armor, which can range from technical fascination to an anthropomorphized bond with the armor. On that note, it’s important to remember that it’s completely possible to upgrade the stats of a suit of power armor instead of trading up to the next best one if your character would rather keep their current suit.

Powered armor pilots are known for being eccentric, with some even having small pets they take on missions. However, few are stranger than Aldo, Callsign: Grindhouse, who has a cable serpent named Escavor inhabiting his armor. The two formed a strong bond with each other after the latter spontaneously gained life inside the former’s armor during a mana storm. The internal damage nearly compromised the armor, but the two saved each other and have been inseparable ever since.

Balnar’s Folly is a section of the Kollas System’s asteroid belt that is also the territory of a notorious ysoki pirate, Captain Bloodtail, who fights with her custom rigged armor she calls Scrapclaws as well as a heavily armed support drone called Noisemaker. Needless to say, she likes getting up close and personal with the defenders of any ship she intends to take.

The party is tasked with infiltrating an enemy stronghold, one that should in theory be relatively unguarded save for an on-site skeleton crew of soldiers. However, the intel was bad, and one of the enemy’s elite power armor units is there, a particularly eccentric but nevertheless deadly group.

[umesakus]

new car drives like a dream 😭 and the stereo system has me B U S T I N G . is this real life

[zykamiliah]

corporal punishment=/=abuse

corporal punishment=/=deliberately allowing a child to use a manual that would kill him in the long run

corporal punishment=/=allowing and enabling bullying in your own peak

corporal punishment=/=putting a child to sleep in a woodshed

corporal punishment=/=sending a child to fight against a demon elder

corporal punishment=/=pushing a child into literal hell

hope that helps ♥

[april]

a home is a type of machine

[starshadow8991]

Day 26: Collectibles

If you've played Fallout 4, you definitely recognize some of these collectibles and we all know how frustrating it was to find those hidden Cappy's 😩

See you guys tomorrow!

[birdie-lou]

The only flaw with work today is that nothing is gonna happen until 6pm and I’m here like 4 hours before that so I’m

Bored

But I can’t do fun stuff on my computer bc then they will think I am lazy

So I walk around the building aimlessly

[tiffanysabrinatattoo]

A Christmas Garland (1885) A.H. Bullen

[sawbuckplus]

[sweet-beezus]

I'm conjuring up a new lil guy...

[dailycharacteroption]

Polymorphic Disguise Envoy (Envoy Alternate Class Feature)

(art by Minda Sam on Artstation)

In a galaxy of fantastic technology and magic, it can seem like the best option is always to get more and more tricks and tools, but even in such a setting there’s a lot to be said for specializing in one gimmick and taking it to the extreme. And such is the case with envoys that master the art of polymorphic disguise.

It’s a long-standing trope in a lot of sci-fi settings with the alien species that can shapeshift to resemble others, and that carries over into Starfinder, with perhaps the most versatile being astrazoans, what with their ability to imitate not only humanoids but even other aberrations.

However, you might assume that an alternate feature like this is either meant to only be used by such shapeshifters, or by other species seeking to emulate them, with the assumption that in the former case it’s limited to those species, and in the latter case it only grants the same base ability as those natural shifters, making it uselessly superfluous to those who already can.

Well, I’m happy to say that neither of those things are the case, as the class option not only grants shapeshifting, but improves on it, which can easily be flavored as refining their own natural shapeshifting if they have it. Either way, these masters of disguise quickly go from purely espionage-related applications to all-out battle forms, similar to the likes of Martian Manhunter in their complexity and ability.

Indeed, while many use these talents to take on alternate identities, they can also use them for combat forms, refining their skill and it’s application as they master it and themselves. Some may be spies, others combat specialists, but their fluid form is their unifying factor.

At the start of their journey, these envoys gain a single form based on the capabilities of the least self-polymorphing magic, and as they grow in power, they may change it as they gain access to better tiers of self-change, and they can use their expertise to refine these disguises. However, they do not gain expertise with other skills, but they can still use talents by expending resolve, or they can choose not to learn such tricks and instead gain an additional form, diversifying that which they can turn into.

A relatively simple alt class option that grants an iconic power and accounts for how the class functions without the replaced ability, this can be fun for characters seeking to maintain several set identities that become better and better at replicating the species and individual they are based on over time. I personally would start with forms that are meant for disguise, but later branch out into those that can be used for combat, selecting however many you think you’d like to have for variety’s sake and utility, supplementing them with expertise talents and the like to help round out and complete the build.

While species that already have shapeshifting powers may see this as simply mastering or enhancing one of their natural advantages in the same way others might perfect a martial art, those that lack such a natural ability might pose some interesting questions, such as how they gained this ability in the first place. Was it through training, mutation, or perhaps something that was done to them with genetic tinkering? If it wasn’t their choice, how do they feel about these abilities and do they struggle with their identity?

Blajh the Efreet is no genie, but a shapeshifting con artist that takes on such a form to attract the desperate to his con games. Despite his role as a con artist, he has a legitimate fascination with elementals, and wants to one day see a gigantic starship-sized elemental in action, though doing so is obviously not without risk.

Infamous as the name suggests, the Face Stealer is a legendary assassin for hire that none know the true face of, though he has several forms he’s collected over the years, each one emulating the face of one of his favorite victims, used to help secure greater kills. While the number of such forms is likely a deliberate exaggeration to fuel his own mystique, he is nevertheless very dangerous, and even includes at least one powerful dragon form, just in case.

Very few would expect a burly being like a nuar to specialize in stealth and guile, but such is the case for Ulgan, who works as a spymaster for the Hardbrands. Exactly how he developed such a skill is not a story he’s ever told, but rumor has it that he was experimented on by grays, reptoids, or some ruthless corporation.

[la-principessa-nuova]

i used the second half of my lunch to start going through the old documents i have piled up on my table, and i was rapidfire going through the folder of manuals i saved over the years that i really didn’t need to save, and then this was just in there in the middle of it, lol

[m1d-45]

kaeya having his mandela catalogue moment seeing the copy of his brother… can’t wait for him to meet shade! that definitely won’t fuck him up at all! - teddy anon

oh he’ll totally leave that interaction 100% sane (lying)

brief note, diluc and shade would be over in .2 seconds. putting aside the impossibility of shade leaving your side willingly, diluc has long since memorized the microexpressions on kaeya’s face, and knows that he isn’t him.

brief note two, shade is much better at passing as kaeya than red is diluc. aside from the very obvious detail of red borderline growling at people all the time, red carries himself differently. diluc, while often awkward and sometimes unintentionally cold, is still approachable, a trait that red could never manage. shade, however…

shade is a bandit. a master of disguise mixed with kaeya's already clever personality, able to mask himself as kaeya—and has, on occasion, to lead a patrol away or to snatch some medical supplies from the city for you or nikki. the difference is that he has a diluc to fall back on, one that he can trust with his entire self. kaeya can't let himself be honest with diluc and vice versa, but shade and red can. who better to tell your homicidal urges to than your fellow reflection?

imagine with me. post hunt. you're entering mondstat, without red at nikki's request. you, nikki, momo, and shade, making your way toward the gates. everyone knew about the old copy of diluc you had made, about the mirrors your friend taught you to use to summon the archons of old. even night, elusive as she was, was known throughout the knights.

but shade was new. shade was quick on his feet, always swift to pull you through the impossible tangles of forest, into thickets that would knit behind you so the patrols couldn't follow. shade was a well kept secret, only glimpsed in rumors throughout the city that the cavalry captain was occasionally seen in a new set of formal wear.

kaeya had heard these rumors. he'd also known that your 'diluc' was your closest guard, and had himself witnessed him going into the city. he'd thought nothing of it, assuming the people had simply seen someone that looked like him. they hadn't.

once youre close enough for him to actually recognize shade, its like his whole world falls apart.

"divine one..." jean, at his side, likely also recalling the rumors. "your company..."

"this is momo and nikki," you introduce, "and this is shade."

shade. some part of that feels ironic.

hes not surprised by the talking cat, barely registering nikki's polite hello as he locks eyes with shade. same height, same hair, same patch over the eye and sharp smile when he knows he's won.

"shade, say hello."

shade blinks, then flashes a fake smile. "greetings."

the meeting is a blur for kaeya. all he can see is shade, shade and how clearly you and him are attached. his hand held in yours, the adoring look in his eyes as he watches you speak-

he'd passed as kaeya. his mask was so paper thin someone he's never even met could imitate it flawlessly, putting on his identity like a costume on the world's stage and doing it better.

shade was the one at your side. shade led you away with a polite smile—you didn't see the way it dropped so he could shoot kaeya a glare—and a hand around your waist. shade was the one that believed you, that kept you safe.

kaeya had invented the frostwind swordsman. he'd crafted his persona by hand, making a shield out of his words and behavior, and yet it was somehow shade that had perfected it.