Mechanika — Arts Draft¶
Working draft, not locked in. Mechanika is the school of runes, artifice, and magitech theory, formerly the Forge school. Its practitioners are Mechaniks. See Magic Systems → Mechanika.
How Mechanika Works¶
Mechanika is a partial Mage class. Mechaniks build runes with Magic and craft magic items by WWN's magic item creation rules. Mods and engines take Craft and the Artisan Focus. Mechanika is a minor school, so it's a partial class only, and every Mechanik is half of something:
- Runewright (Partial Mechanik/Partial Bodger): builds runes, mods, and engines. A crafter who also knows the theory.
- Partial Mechanik/Partial Warrior: a fighter running on runes, who needs a Bodger to keep them going.
- Partial Mechanik/Partial Mage (a Mage with two partial traditions): a pure caster, who needs the Artisan Focus or a Bodger for mods and engines.
See Runes, Mods, and Engines.
Permanent mods and runes are expensive and slow to make, and that's deliberate. The Arts below are what let a Mechanik use their craft every day without making mods and magic items common: temporary runes, Effort as an engine, and keeping the party's gear running. Nothing an Art makes outlasts the Effort behind it, and none of it can be sold.
Effort. As for any Mage, set by the Magic skill. It's the Partial High Mage's score: Magic plus the better of the Intelligence or Charisma modifiers (a full High Mage's 1 + Magic + modifier, one point lower), with a minimum of one point.
Arts and spells gained. Mechanika uses WWN's Partial High Mage table:
| Level | Max Spell Level | Spells Cast | Spells Prepared | Arts Gained |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Any one |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Any one |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Any one |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | 6 | Any one |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | 8 | Any one |
| 10 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
That's five Arts by 10th level, out of the seven drafted, so a Mechanik has to choose.
Spells. A short list. As a partial school, Mechanika uses WWN's partial-Mage tables, so its spells stop at 3rd level: 2nd level spells come at 5th character level and 3rd at 9th. More get written when a player takes the school.
Spell List (draft)¶
Tier 1 - Rune of Iron Skin (new) — Self only. You draw a rune on your own skin, and your base Armor Class becomes 13, rising to 14 at 5th level and 15 at 9th. Like any base Armor Class, it doesn't stack with armor. The rune is self-powered and lasts until you next rest. It's a rune, so Disruption or Unmaking can take it down. A spell rather than an Art, so it leaves Effort free for other work. Kept below Haras's Warding Mantle, since protection is Haras's identity.
Tier 2 - Borrowed Current (new) — Touch an item or a creature wearing runes. For the scene, it has an engine with Output equal to half your level, rounded up. It has no element, unless you have Attunement, in which case it counts as one of your attuned elements.
Tier 3 - Mechanik's Surge (new) — Every running engine within 200 feet overloads, including your own. Whoever carries, wears, or touches one takes 1d6 damage per point of its Output, with a Physical save for half. The engines then go dark for the rest of the scene. An alchemical cell (Output 1) does 1d6, while Warcaster armor's ember furnace (Output 8) does 8d6. It's a holdover from the Long War, made to stop Warcasters. Anyone with an engine is likely at least 3rd level and can take it. A Warforged's built-in engine is hit too, though its Output is only 4 at 10th level. Borrowed Current is knocked out too, but it can be cast again. Effort isn't an engine, so Living Engine keeps working.
Arts (draft)¶
- Chalk Rune — Commit Effort for the day and spend ten minutes inscribing a rune on an item you touch. The rune must be one you could build, at a Magic level no higher than your own. It needs no silver or salvage, but it still needs power, from an engine or from Living Engine. It fades when you reclaim the Effort.
- Living Engine — Commit Effort for the scene to power runes you're wearing or touching. Your Output equals the Effort committed this way. You have no element, so elemental runes and the flexible rune still need a real engine, unless you have Attunement.
- Attunement — When you learn this Art, choose fire, storm, or water. Your Living Engine counts as that element, which lets the flexible rune run off you. You can take this Art twice, for two elements. If you have two, choose one each time you commit Effort to Living Engine; it stays that element until the Effort is reclaimed, so you can't switch mid-scene.
- Overcharge — Commit Effort for the scene as an On Turn action. Either an engine you touch gains +2 Output for the scene, or a spent engine runs for one more scene.
- Sense the Working — Handle a rune, mod, or magic item for a minute to learn what it does. A pre-war item reveals only that it lies outside the rune system, and roughly what it's for.
- Disruption — Commit Effort for the scene as a Main Action. One rune or engine within 30 feet, including a Warforged's built-in engine, goes dark for the scene. If it's another Mechanik's work, they can contest it with an opposed Int/Craft check.
- Field Tuning — Add your character level to your Maintenance score.
Sources used¶
- Worlds Without Number Deluxe: Modifying and Customizing Equipment (pp. 56–57) and Creating Magic Items (pp. 92–93).
- Iron Kingdoms RPG Core Rules: Mechanika (pp. 279–284).
- See Runes, Mods, and Engines for the rune, mod, and engine rules.