The Crew
The Crew is an entity in its own right, made up of whatever PCs (and potentially NPCs) constitute the crew members. Accepted players will come up with the name of your gang once the crew is set. The Crew gains class features, feats, and collective combat talents as a level 10 Technician (I've wrapped in the Suit Pilot archetype with some customizations to make it make sense and be balanced with a tank). This special collective class is as follows.
Technician Tank Crew
HD, Saves, Skill ranks: N/A - The Tank has its own HD as an independent invention, while members of the crew use their own BAB and Saves, and make their own skill rolls. Neither does the Crew have ability scores or modifiers.
BAB: 7 (only for the purpose of combat talents)
Class Skills: Knowledge (Engineering) and Drive are always class skills for members of The Crew
Proficiencies: The Tank Crew is proficient with Siege Weapons, as well as simple weapons, light armor and bucklers. The crew gains a martial tradition.
Combat Training
The Crew may combine combat spheres and talents to create powerful martial techniques. The Crew is considered an Adept combatant and uses Intelligence as its practitioner modifier. Since the Crew has no actual intelligence score, when relevant to class features and talents, it is considered to have an Int modifier and PAM of half its level (so currently 5)
Stronger Together
When operating the Tank, members of the Crew (the PCs) may use the features and talents of the Crew when interfacing with the Tank, or when interfacing with the Crew while members are operating the Tank. They may use gadgets, they may create or modify inventions, they can use the sniper sphere talents when firing the gun, etc. In some circumstances they may also use the saves of the Tank if doing so makes sense.
In addition, the Tank Crew has a Martial Focus. Members of the Crew may use the Crew's Martial Focus when operating the tank, or they may use their own Martial Focus. They may not use the Crew's Martial Focus when taking their own independent action (i.e. standing on top of the tank and making an attack roll against a creature trying to get in). Actions they take which restore Martial Focus may also be used to restore the Crew's Martial Focus while operating it, if applicable in some way (subject to DM discretion).
The Sum of Its Parts
When operating the Tank, members of the Crew still use their own BAB, Abilities, Skills, Saves, and so on. They use their own actions to operate the tank, or utilize positions on the tank. Members of the Crew may apply their own talents and feats to the operation of the Tank if relevant.
Gadgets (ex)
The Tank Crew has become experts at quickly assembling and using items in service of the Tank. These items, called gadgets, are built out of components the crew has prepared in their spare time out of commonly-found items; so long as the crew has access to the storage compartment, they are assumed to have access to all the parts he needs to build their gadgets, and to have already prepared components beforehand to quickly create whatever gadget they need.
Creating and activating a gadget is a standard action, but may be reduced to a move action by expending martial focus.
A technician can create a total number of gadgets in a day equal to 1/2 his technician level + his Intelligence modifier (so currently 10 daily gadgets). If a gadget calls for a saving throw, that saving throw’s DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 his technician level + his Intelligence modifier (DC20). A gadget must be used the round it is created, or fall apart back into its component parts, which does not expend the gadget.
Improvised Tools: By expending one use of his gadgets, the technician can make any skill check that requires having tools and requires less than 1 hour to make as if he possessed the necessary tools. The technician does not suffer the usual penalties for using improvised tools. If the technician already possesses the necessary tools, the technician can expend a gadget to treat those tools as masterwork for one skill check. The technician can create improvised tools that function as masterwork tools for one skill check, but doing so expends 2 gadgets.
Constructed Weapons: The technician can expend a gadget to allow an improvised weapon to function as a simple melee weapon of his choice for 1 minute.
Detonator: The technician may create a gadget that explodes in 1 round, at the end of his turn. As part of the standard action used to create this detonator, he may throw the detonator (with a range increment of 10 ft.), place it, or hide it in a space within his natural reach. After one round (at the end of his turn), the detonator explodes, dealing 1d6 damage per technician level to everything within 5 ft. of the square in which the detonator sits, half fire damage and half bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage. Targets within this area may make a Reflex save for half damage.
A detonator counts as a trap from the Trap sphere for the purpose of determining its hardness, armor class, hit points, Disable Device DC, and its Perception DC if hidden, as well as for things such as the Opportunist or Trapper’s Recovery talents. A detonator cannot be placed in the same space as a trap, or another detonator.
If a detonator is destroyed (including by another detonator), it does not explode. If two detonators explode at the exact same time, creatures in the overlapped area suffer diminished results from every detonator but 1, suffering instead 1d6, +1d6 per 5 technician levels for each overlapping detonator after the first.
Hook and Pulley: The technician may create a gadget that allows him to manipulate objects from a distance. This gadget counts as a thrown weapon with a range increment of 20 ft. Make a ranged touch attack against an unattended object that he could hold in one hand. If successful, he may move that object to his hand as a free action. Targets whose natural reach includes the path that object must take (i.e., are within the line of effect) can make a Reflex save as an immediate action to attempt to grab the object as it flies by.
Alternately, the technician may use this gadget to attempt a drag, trip, disarm, or steal combat maneuver at a distance. Performing a maneuver from a distance in this fashion does not provoke an attack of opportunity (except as normal when making a ranged attack), but requires the technician to succeed on a ranged touch attack against the target first before the maneuver may be attempted.
Launcher: The technician can create a gadget to allow him to throw an object. The object can travel 10 ft. + 5 ft. per technician level before the technician begins adding range penalties or calculating its maximum range.
This gadget can be used at the same time as another gadget to hurl that first gadget a greater distance. This expends a gadget for the launcher as well as for the hurled gadget. The technician cannot attach more than one launcher to a device or object.
Inventions
Every technician knows how to create custom items, called inventions. Inventions could be anything from a simple improved crossbow, to a powerful and complex machine that to the uneducated appears to be magic. Inventions are finicky, improvised things that require constant tinkering and fixing, and there is a limit to how many a technician can maintain at any one time. A technician can have and maintain a maximum of 1 invention at 1st level, plus an additional invention at 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter. If the technician has already reached this limit and wishes to create a new invention, he must select one of his existing inventions to dismantle. Whenever an invention includes an ability that calls for a saving throw, the DC equals 10 + 1/2 the technician’s class level + the technician’s Intelligence modifier.
Some inventions have prerequisites, which must be met before the invention can be created. These prerequisites might be items, a cost in gp for specialty parts, or feats and skill ranks the technician must possess. A technician may create any invention which he meets the necessary prerequisites to create.
Creating an invention takes 8 hours of work. The work need not be consecutive, and the technician can do this work while out adventuring, but in that situation he can only devote 4 hours each day to item creation, and only nets 2 hours’ worth of work due to being in a distracting environment. The time required to create an invention may be reduced by 1 hour for each member of the crew that dedicates all their time to creating that invention. Once the invention has been created, altering its improvements requires only 1 hour of work.
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Each member of the Crew is considered to be the Technician for purposes of operating inventions. That means they never suffer penalties for using inventions that others normally do.
Technically Minded (modified)
At 2nd level, the Crew gains a bonus to all Knowledge (engineering) checks equal to 1/2 their technician level, and takes half the usual time when using the Craft skill to repair an object.
Technical Insight (5+1)
At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the technician gains additional insights that expand his knowledge and capacity. He may choose one of the technical insights below. Unless otherwise noted, a technical insight may only be selected once.
INSIGHTS
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Mechanical Insight (free)
Dedicated Tankers archetype
(Modifies Technician Tank Crew, similar to Suit Pilot) A dedicated tanker seeks to build and operate a tank that make allows them to dominate the battlefield.
Mechanical Masters: The dedicated tanker gains mechanical insight as a bonus insight at 1st level.
This replaces trap specialist.
Tank Mechanics: Whenever the dedicated tanker creates an independent invention, it gains a number of bonus hit points equal to his technician level. Whenever giving the vehicle improvement to an independent invention, he may grant that independent invention an extra improvement. At 10th level, he may grant the independent invention 2 extra improvements. At 20th level, he may grant it 3 extra improvements.
(Vehicle gets 2 extra improvements)
This replaces, trapfinding, danger sense, and true genius.
Ballistic Armor (Ex): At 3rd level, any independent invention the Dedicated Tanker creates applies its armor bonus and natural armor bonus to touch AC against all projectile weapons.
This replaces trap insight, trapmaster, greater trapmaster, supreme trapmaster, and perfect trapmaster
Battle Stations
The Dedicated Tankers gain a series of special actions they can use while operating their independent invention, based on what position they are occupying. Those will be described in detail at the end of this entry.
Crew Feats, Talents, Inventions
The crew has four collective talents from their martial tradition, and an additional 7 from adept practitioner progression. The crew gains feats as a standard (not gestalt) character, and has 5 feats. I have pre-selected the feats and talents, however they are up for negotiation once the crew is selected.
Feats
- Vital Strike (Double weapon damage on attack action)
- Siege Engineer (Proficient with all Siege Weapons)
- Siege Gunner (Eliminate size penalty for direct-fire siege weapons)
- Heroic Resolve (Expend MF, Suppress conditions as move action)
- Extra Combat Talent: Force Redirection Technique (Str bonus to Dex AC)
Combat Talents
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Sniper Sphere
- Push Shot (snipe) (Make bullrush attempt with Deadly Shot)
- Targeted Assault (DR/Hardness reduced by 1/2 BAB)
- Fragmenting Shot (Reduce to 0 = splash damage)
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Warleader Sphere
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Synchronized Strikes (Ignore hardness/DR on next attack by ally on creature)
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Brute Sphere
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SmashHammer (Knocking enemy into something damages both)
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Scout Sphere
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Advisory Scout (Standard action, give team scout benefits for short time)
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Find Gap (Reduce enemy AC upon successful scout)
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Inventions
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Independent Invention, which gains 5 total Improvements. Base invention is Gargantuan Vehicle
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Additional Capacity: Siege Engine (cannon)
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Covered
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Metal Parts
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Metal Parts x2
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Improved Weapon: Cannon. Gains Speed Lever (using Inventor's Insight)
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Grand Gadget
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Machine Gun x3 (12 uses per day)
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Grand Gadget
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Permanent Gadget: Launcher
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Permanent Gadget: Hook and Pully
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Weaponized: May mount a weapon, PCs to provide (Free LMG given, with 100 ammo)
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