June 4, 2015


Roguish Archetype
Comments from the Finger: You say you want a Magitech garbage collector? No? Well that's too damn bad! You get what you get because I'm the Finger and I say so!
     Next in the Magitech Update is a roguish archetype for a kind of field tinkerer. Thematically, the Hedge Wizard is to the Academic Wizard as the Scavenger is to the Artificer, if you catch my meaning. Additionally, the scavenger is really excellent at murdering machines, which makes this character an excellent foil to other Magitech classes and a strong choice for any construct-heavy game.


You are a wanderer of the junkyards and a forager of scrap. Your skill and flexibility allows you to improvise almost anything, and your propensity to horde useful items means you will never run out of handy materials. In particular, you have cultivated a skill for targeting and deconstructing constructs and clockwork machines, whether it is because of the high value of gears and flywheels on the black market, or because you hold a personal vendetta against constructs.

Machine Hunter
Beginning when you select this archetype at 3rd level, you have advantage on attacks against constructs. Additionally, you are skilled at bypassing armor in general, and gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls against creatures wearing medium or heavy armor.

At 3rd level, if you are lacking a tool to perform a task, such as a lockpick to open a door, you can quickly fashion a makeshift replacement. After concentrating on the task for 1 minute, you can produce an item that performs the task, but gives disadvantage on rolls to perform it.

At 9th level, you can rig up a device producing an activate camouflage for 1 minute which grants you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. After you use this ability, you must complete a short or long rest before using it again.

Starting at 13 level, you have an intricate understanding of machines. You gain advantage on Intelligence checks relating to understanding machines and Dexterity checks made to disassemble or repair them.

In addition, you know how to target a machine's structural weak points. When you use Sneak Attack against a construct, the construct is incapacitated until the beginning of your next turn, even if it is immune to this condition.

By 17th level, you have learned how to rig up an shrapnel-filled explosive charge. You may prepare your clusterbomb during a short rest, choosing to set its fuse at 1 round, 2 rounds, or 1 minute. As an action, you can activate and place your bomb or throw it up to 10 feet. After the duration of its fuse has passed, at the beginning of your turn the clusterbomb explodes. All creatures within 20 feet of the clusterbomb must make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. On a failed save, a creature takes 8d8 piercing damage, or half as much on a successful one. Constructs and objects take double damage. You may only have 1 clusterbomb at a time.

Changelog: Machine Hunter now grants +1 to hit creatures wearing medium or heavy armor.


  1. I like it, judging it´s actualy strength depends on how many machines you´re going to fight, but I feel that that´s alright. I´d like it if the scavengers connection to junk was a bit more than just making stuff out of it for flavor reasons. Maybe allow him to gain advantage on persuasion checks made to convince someone to buy "junk" off of him or something along those lines, altough I feel that it might be too "different" of an ability compared to normal class feats.

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    2. Or maybe giving him advantage on wisdom (survival) checks in junkyards might fit well. I actually like that idea a lot.

  2. It's a neat idea, but it kind of clashes with one of the 5e design choices; they've gotten rid of most abilities that were dependent on what your DM throws at you.

    Also, from a purely flavor stand point, this one forces a lot more of the world design than the other magitech subclasses you've posted so far. The Machine or Magitech Templar could exist as one-offs, or in a world where magitech was limited in scope. The scavenger pretty much requires a world where this stuff is commonplace.

    Which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, it's just an observation.

    1. I've been playing with the idea of making one sub-class of each themed update a sort of anti-theme class. So the Lovecraft Update (which is nearing completion) will feature aberrations heavily, and one class will have at least one feature to disable aberrations. What do you think about this?

    2. I think the idea is inherently problematic.

      It might be ok if you're playing in a game that heavily features aberrations, but how likely is that? Even in a 'Lovecraftian' style game, I can't imagine fighting all that many aberrations compared to cultists and such.

      But mostly it's a problem of balance.

      There are basically two ways you can go about this.

      The first approach is that the aberration-related abilities are taking the place of more general-purpose abilities. This means that the players will have a more difficult time than normal against non-aberrations.

      The second approach is that the aberration-related abilities are 'bonuses' added on top of otherwise-balanced classes. In this case, the players are fine against other enemies, but they're overpowered against aberrations (since their general-use abilities also apply).

      One possibility might be to have pairs of abilities which apply to aberrations and non-aberrations. So maybe you can use your terrible knowledge to spook non-aberrations, giving them disadvantage on a roll; but you can use the same knowledge to give yourself an advantage on an attack against an aberration.

      That approach could work, but it also seems like it would be a lot more difficult to design sets of abilities which felt appropriately thematic. Especially if you wanted to do one or more such pairs for a subclass for each class.