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Inventor

Any tinkerer can follow a diagram to make a device, but you invent the impossible! Every strange contraption you dream up is a unique experiment pushing the edge of possibility, a mysterious machine that seems to work for only you. You’re always on the verge of the next great breakthrough, and every trial and tribulation is another opportunity to test and tune. If you can dream it, you can build it.

Key Ability

Intelligence. At 1st level, your class gives you an ability boost to Intelligence.

Hit Points

8 plus your Constitution modifier.

You increase your maximum number of Hp by this number at 1st level and every level thereafter.

During Combat Encounters…

You rely on your inventions as much as possible, testing their functionalities under a variety of conditions. You don’t set out to achieve anything as banal as simply winning a fight; you seek to collect valuable data that can be used to improve your creations!

During Social Encounters…

You provide useful context when discussing a variety of academic topics, particularly when speaking about those subjects related to crafting and invention. You might often look for opportunities to acquire patronage to fund some of your more expensive or unorthodox experiments. After all, the materials needed to assemble your inventions don’t pay for themselves!

While Exploring…

You study the design and construction of the environments you explore ardently, making note of clever traps, ingenious mechanisms, or especially keen architecture you come across for later.

In Downtime…

You brainstorm new designs, bringing them to fruition through careful crafting and meticulous attention to detail. You might also modify previous inventions to adjust for data you’ve collected in the field. You might work as a local smith or tinker where your skills are needed, or you might keep a workshop on the edge of town where the clank and clatter of your experiments attracts less attention.

You Might…

  • Enjoy creating new things the world has never seen before.
  • Be willing to take a chance on a theory, testing to see if your hypothesis proves accurate. If not, you probably record the results to try again later.
  • Wear clothes spattered with oil and grime, or venture off on excited and technical tangents when asked simple questions.

Others Probably…

  • Marvel at your inventions and the variety of unbelievable wonder they can bring.
  • Believe that you’re a genius whose work is beyond understanding.
  • Worry that your inventions might backfire or explode.

Rarity

Uncommon

Initial Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain the listed proficiency ranks in the following statistics. You are untrained in anything not listed unless you gain a better proficiency rank in some other way.

Perception

Trained in Perception

Saving Throws

Expert in Fortitude

Trained in Reflex

Expert in Will

Skills

Trained in Crafting

Trained in a number of additional skills equal to 3 plus your Intelligence modifier

Attacks

Trained in simple weapons

Trained in martial weapons

Trained in unarmed attacks

Defenses

Trained in light armor

Trained in medium armor

Trained in unarmored defense

Class DC

Trained in inventor class DC

Table 2–1: Inventor Advancement
Level Class Features
1 Ancestry and background, initial proficiencies, overdrive, innovation, explode, peerless inventor, shield block, inventor feat
2 Inventor feat, skill feat
3 Expert overdrive, general feat, reconfigure, skill increase
4 Inventor feat, skill feat
5 Ability boosts, ancestry feat, inventor weapon expertise, skill increase
6 Inventor feat, skill feat
7 Breakthrough innovation, general feat, lightning reflexes, master overdrive, skill increase, weapon specialization
8 Inventor feat, skill feat
9 Ancestry feat, inventive expertise, offensive boost, skill increase
10 Ability boosts, inventor feat, skill feat
11 General feat, medium armor expertise, resolve, skill increase
12 Inventor feat, skill feat
13 Alertness, ancestry feat, complete reconfiguration, inventor weapon mastery, skill increase
14 Inventor feat, skill feat
15 Ability boosts, general feat, greater weapon specialization, legendary overdrive, revolutionary innovation, skill increase
16 Inventor feat, skill feat
17 Ancestry feat, inventive mastery, juggernaut, skill increase
18 Inventor feat, skill feat
19 General feat, infinite invention, medium armor mastery, skill increase
20 Ability boosts, inventor feat, skill feat

Key Terms

Gadget: Gadgets are consumable technological inventions with innovative uses.

Modification: An ability with this trait alters your innovation’s construction. If you have the reconfigure class feature, you can retrain these feats more easily.

Unstable: Unstable actions use experimental applications of your innovation that even you can’t fully predict, and that are hazardous to your innovation (and potentially you). When you take an unstable action, attempt a DC 17 flat check immediately after applying its effects. On a failure, the innovation malfunctions in a spectacular (though harmless) fashion, such as a belch of smoke or shower of sparks, and it becomes incapable of being used for further unstable actions. On a critical failure, you also take an amount of fire damage equal to your level. As the innovation’s creator, you can spend 10 minutes retuning your innovation and making adjustments to return it to functionality, at which point you can use unstable actions with that innovation again. To take an unstable action, you must be using your innovation (for example, wearing an armor innovation or wielding a weapon innovation). If you have a minion innovation, some unstable actions are taken by the minion instead of you. In these cases, only the minion can take that action, and the minion needs to have been Commanded that turn to take the action. If you critically fail the flat check, the minion takes the damage instead of you. Some actions have an Unstable Function entry, which you can use to add the unstable trait for a bigger benefit. If you’re unable to use unstable actions, you can still use the action normally, but you can’t use the unstable function.

Equipment Traits

Your inventor abilities might grant your equipment the following traits, which are reprinted here for convenience.

Climbing: The hand wielding the weapon is available to Climb.

Hampering: A weapon with the hampering trait includes a disruptive limb or flange. You can use an Interact action to thrash the weapon in a square within the weapon’s reach. That square becomes difficult terrain until you attack with the weapon, move, would otherwise stop thrashing it, or at the beginning of your next turn.

Ranged Trip: The weapon can be used to Trip with Athletics up to the weapon’s first range increment. The skill check takes a –2 circumstance penalty. You can add the weapon’s item bonus to attack rolls as a bonus to the check. As with using a melee weapon to Trip, a ranged trip weapon doesn’t deal any damage when used to Trip. This trait usually appears only on a thrown weapon.

Tethered: If you have a free hand while wielding this weapon, you can Interact to pull the weapon back to your grasp after you throw or shoot it as a ranged attack, or after it has been disarmed (unless it is being held by another creature).

Class Features

You gain these abilities as an inventor. Abilities gained at higher levels list the level at which you gain them next to the features’ names.

Ancestry and Background

In addition to what you gain from your chosen class at 1st level, you have the benefits of your selected ancestry and background.

Initial Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain a number of proficiencies that represent your basic training. These proficiencies are noted at the start of this class.

Overdrive

You have a bevy of smaller devices of your own invention, from muscle stimulants to concussive pistons. When it’s necessary, you can throw them into overdrive to assist you in combat.

Overdrive [one-action]

Inventor Manipulate

Frequency once per round

Temporarily cranking the gizmos on your body into overdrive, you try to add greater power to your attacks. Attempt a Crafting check that has a standard DC for your level.

Critical Success Your gizmos go into a state of incredible efficiency called critical overdrive, adding great power to your attacks. Your Strikes deal additional damage equal to your Intelligence modifier for 1 minute. After the Overdrive ends, your gizmos become unusable as they cool down or reset, and you can’t use Overdrive for 1 minute.

Success Your gizmos go into overdrive, adding power to your attacks. As critical success, except the additional damage is equal to half your Intelligence modifier.

Failure You make a miscalculation and nothing happens.

Critical Failure Whoops! Something explodes. You take fire damage equal to your level, and you can’t use Overdrive again for 1 minute as your gizmos cool down and reset.

Special When under the effects of Overdrive, you can still use the Overdrive action. You can’t extend your Overdrive’s duration this way, but you can turn an overdrive into a critical overdrive if you critically succeed. A failure has no effect on your current Overdrive, and you end your Overdrive on a critical failure.

Innovation

While you’re always creating inventions, there’s one that represents your preeminent work, the one that you hope—with refinement—might change the world. Choose one of the below innovations. Your innovation’s level is equal to your level. If your innovation is destroyed, you can spend 1 day of downtime and attempt a Crafting check with a high DC for your level; on a success, you rebuild it. An innovation only works due to your constant maintenance and tinkering, and therefore has no market Price.

The innovations you can choose from in this book are as follows.

Armor

Your innovation is a cutting-edge suit of medium armor with a variety of attached gizmos and devices. Choose one of the sets of statistics on Table 2–2: Innovation Armor Statistics for your innovation armor (or choose another set of innovation armor statistics to which you have access).

Table 2–2: Innovation Armor Statistics
Medium Armor AC Bonus Dex Cap Check Penalty Speed Penalty Strength Bulk Group Armor Traits
Power suit +4 +1 –2 –5 feet 16 2 composite
Subterfuge suit +1 +4 –1 30 1 composite

Your innovation armor can have fundamental and property runes added to it in the same way as ordinary armor. Because of the unique features of your innovation, everyone except you is untrained in it, even if they would normally be trained (or better) in medium armor.

Choose one initial armor modification to apply to your innovation, either from the following or from other initial armor modifications to which you have access.

  • Harmonic Oscillator: You designed your armor to inaudibly thrum at just the right frequency to create interference against force and sound waves. You gain resistance equal to 3 + half your level to force and sonic damage. When under the effects of Overdrive, the resistance increases by 2.
  • Metallic Reactance: The metals in your armor are carefully alloyed to ground electricity and protect from acidic chemical reactions. You gain resistance equal to 3 + half your level to acid and electricity damage. When under the effects of Overdrive, the resistance increases by 2.
  • Muscular Exoskeleton (Power Suit Only): Your armor supports your muscles with a carefully crafted exoskeleton. When you send your armor into overdrive, the exoskeleton supplements your feats of athletics as well. When under the effects of Overdrive, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks; if you’re a master in Crafting, this increases to a +2 circumstance bonus.
  • Otherworldly Protection: Just because you use science doesn’t mean you can’t build your armor with carefully chosen materials and gizmos designed to protect against otherworldly attacks. You gain resistance equal to 3 + half your level to negative damage, or to positive damage if you have negative healing (such as if you’re a dhampir). You gain the same amount of resistance to any types of alignment damage—good, evil, chaotic, lawful—that can damage you (note that creatures don’t take a given type of alignment damage unless they are of the opposing alignment; for instance, you can take evil damage only if you are good in alignment).
  • Phlogistonic Regulator: A layer of insulation within your armor protects you from rapid temperature fluctuations. You gain resistance equal to half your level to cold and fire damage. When under the effects of Overdrive, the resistance increases by 2.
  • Speed Boosters: You have boosters in your armor that increase your Speed. You gain a +5-foot status bonus to your Speed, which increases to a +10-foot status bonus when under the effects of Overdrive.
  • Subtle Dampeners (Subterfuge Suit Only): You’ve designed your armor to help you blend in and dampen noise slightly. When you send your armor into overdrive, the dampeners increase their effect, improving your Stealth. When under the effects of Overdrive, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks. If you’re a master in Crafting, this increases to a +2 circumstance bonus.
Construct

Your innovation is a mechanical creature, such as a clockwork construct made of cogs and gears. It’s a prototype construct companion, and you can adjust most of its base statistics by taking feats at higher levels, such as Advanced Companion. If you use the Overdrive action, your construct gains the same Overdrive benefits you do, and it also takes the same amount of fire damage on a critical failure.

You know how to spend additional time directing, controlling, or programming your construct innovation for a more complex plan of action. You can spend 2 actions to Command instead of 1 when commanding your construct companion; your construct companion can then use an additional action (normally 3 actions, rather than 2).

Choose one initial construct modification to apply to your innovation, either from the following or from other initial construct modifications to which you have access. These modifications alter the construct’s abilities or form.

  • Accelerated Mobility: Actuated legs, efficient gears in the wheels or treads, or add-on boosters make your construct faster. Your innovation’s Speed increases to 40 feet.
  • Amphibious Construction: Increased buoyancy, rudders, and a means of propulsion like a fluked tail or powerful propeller make your construct able to travel in water. Your innovation gains a swim Speed of 25 feet.
  • Increased Size: You built your construct innovation bigger than most. Your construct is Large. If you have this modification and your construct innovation becomes an advanced construct companion or otherwise gains the ability to become Large, you can immediately change increased size to a different initial construct modification.
  • Manual Dexterity: Your construct innovation has articulated hands or similar appendages with significant manual dexterity. It can perform manipulate actions with up to two of its limbs. As normal for a companion, it still can’t wield weapons or held items that don’t have the companion trait, and it can’t activate items.
  • Projectile Launcher: Your construct has a mounted dart launcher, embedded cannon, or similar armament. Your innovation gains a ranged unarmed attack that deals 1d4 bludgeoning or piercing damage (you choose when you pick this modification). The attack has the propulsive trait and a range increment of 30 feet.
  • Sensory Array: Additional sensory devices give your innovation low-light vision and darkvision, as well as imprecise tremorsense out to a range of 30 feet.
  • Wonder Gears: You map specialized skills into your construct’s crude intelligence. Your innovation becomes trained in Intimidation, Stealth, and Survival.
Weapon

Your innovation is an impossible-looking weapon augmented by numerous unusual mechanisms. It begins with the same statistics as a level 0 common simple or martial weapon of your choice, or another level 0 simple or martial weapon to which you have access. You can instead use the statistics of a 1st-level common simple or martial weapon of your choice, or another 1st-level simple or martial weapon to which you have access, but you must pay the monetary Price for the weapon. An innovation weapon can have fundamental and property runes added to it in the same way as an ordinary weapon. Because of the unique features of your innovation, everyone except you is untrained in it, even if they would normally be trained (or better) in simple or martial weapons. If you use the Overdrive action, you can choose to change the additional damage from Overdrive to fire damage.

Choose one initial weapon modification to apply to your innovation, either from the following or from other initial weapon modifications to which you have access. These modifications grant additional weapon traits, sometimes with extra abilities. A modification might give your weapon the versatile trait with a damage type that the weapon could already deal, either from its base damage type or from an existing versatile trait. In that case, if you select that modification, you can instead choose to give the weapon the versatile trait for a different damage type: bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing.

  • Blunt Shot (Ranged Only): Your weapon innovation can file the edges off your ammunition and adjust the blunt force of the shot to deliver a bludgeoning attack when necessary, as well as to avoid striking a lethal blow with an otherwise deadly shot. Your innovation gains the nonlethal and versatile B traits. You can choose whether to apply the nonlethal trait on each attack with your innovation.
  • Complex Simplicity (Simple Weapon Only): Increase your innovation’s weapon damage die by one step (d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12). In addition, it gains one of the following traits of your choice: versatile B, versatile P, or versatile S.
  • Dynamic Weighting (One-handed Melee Weapon Only; Can’t Have the Agile, Attached, or Free-hand Trait): Your weapon’s modified weight distribution can increase power in exchange for taking more hands to wield. Your innovation gains the two-hand trait, with a damage die one size higher than the weapon’s normal weapon damage die size (for instance, a longsword would gain the two-hand d10 trait). Your innovation also gains the versatile B trait.
  • Entangling Form (Melee Only): You’ve altered your weapon to including tangling wires or straps, or to have a flexible construction. Your innovation gains the grapple and trip traits.
  • Hampering Spikes (Melee Only): You’ve added long, snagging spikes to your weapon, which you can use to impede your foes’ movement. Your innovation gains the hampering and versatile P traits.
  • Hefty Composition (Melee Only): Blunt surfaces and sturdy construction make your weapon hefty and mace-like. Your innovation gains the shove and versatile B traits.
  • Modular Head: You’ve constructed a multi-purpose, adjustable striking surface for your weapon, or you’ve made special ammunition you can swiftly alter. Your innovation gains the modular trait for bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. When you Interact to use the modular trait, you can also choose to give the weapon the nonlethal trait if it doesn’t currently have it, or to remove that trait if it’s currently nonlethal.
  • Pacification Tools (Melee Only): Softer materials make your weapon suited to knock out instead of kill, and special protrusions let you catch weapons and disarm your foes. Your innovation gains the disarm and nonlethal traits. You can choose whether to apply the nonlethal trait on each attack with your innovation.
  • Razor Prongs (Melee Only): You can knock down and slash your foes with sharp, curved blades added to your weapon. Your innovation gains the trip and versatile S traits.
  • Segmented Frame: Hinges, clamps, and telescoping parts make your innovation collapsible and adjustable. It gains the modular trait for bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. You can Interact to collapse the item down to light Bulk or to return it to your normal form. When it’s collapsed to light Bulk, it has the concealable trait, which grants you a +2 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks and DCs to hide or conceal the weapon.
Explode

Your innovation is a creation barely held together by your own engineering, always on the edge of completely falling apart. Though this adds risk, it also means you can coax it to perform far beyond its design specifications using special unstable actions. See the sidebar on page 17 for the definition of the unstable trait and how it affects your innovation.

While inventors can learn various unstable actions over their career, all at least know how to make their innovation Explode.

Explode [two-actions]

Fire Inventor Manipulate Unstable

You intentionally take your innovation beyond normal safety limits, making it explode and damage nearby creatures without damaging the innovation… hopefully. The explosion deals 2d6 fire damage with a basic Reflex save to all creatures in a 5-foot emanation around you (if you’re wearing or holding the innovation) or around your innovation (if your innovation is a minion).

At 3rd level, and every level thereafter, increase your explosion’s damage by 1d6.

If you have the breakthrough innovation class feature, you can choose either a 5-foot or 10-foot emanation for the area when you use Explode; if you have the revolutionary innovation class feature, you can choose a 5-foot, 10-foot, or 15-foot emanation.

Peerless Inventor

You are constantly inventing, and your skill at crafting is unimpeachable. You gain the Inventor skill feat, even if you don’t meet its prerequisites.

Shield Block

You gain the Shield Block general feat, a reaction that lets you reduce damage with your shield.

Inventor Feats

At 1st level and every even-numbered level, you gain an inventor class feat. Some features and feats use an assortment of gizmos you keep on your person. For simplicity, these are left abstract, but if you are deprived of your gear for some reason, you might lose access to many feats and features, subject to Gm discretion.

Skill Feats 2nd

At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill feat. You must be trained or better in the corresponding skill to select a skill feat.

Expert Overdrive 3rd

You’ve increased your skill in crafting, and you can put your devices into a more powerful state of overdrive. You become an expert in Crafting, and on a successful use of Overdrive, you increase the additional damage by 1.

General Feats 3rd

At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain a general feat.

Reconfigure 3rd

You’ve become an expert in all crafts and are always adjusting your inventions. You can attempt to change the modifications on your innovation by spending 1 day of downtime tinkering with it and attempting a Crafting check, with a high DC for your level. On a success, you can change one modification you’ve chosen for your innovation to a different modification of the same kind (initial, breakthrough, or revolutionary).

If you have any modification feats, on a successful check you can choose to instead retrain a modification feat to a different modification feat. The new feat has to meet the standard restrictions for retraining.

Skill Increases 3rd

At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill increase. You can use this increase to either become trained in one skill you’re untrained in, or become an expert in one skill in which you’re already trained.

At 7th level, you can use skill increases to become a master in a skill in which you’re already an expert, and at 15th level, you can use them to become legendary in a skill in which you’re already a master.

Ability Boosts 5th

At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, you boost four different ability scores. You can use these ability boosts to increase your ability scores above 18. Boosting an ability score increases it by 1 if it’s already 18 or above, or by 2 if it starts out below 18.

Ancestry Feats 5th

In addition to the ancestry feat you started with, you gain an ancestry feat at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter.

Inventor Weapon Expertise 5th

You develop tricks for using your weapons more effectively. Your proficiency ranks for simple and martial weapons and unarmed attacks increase to expert.

If you have a weapon innovation, you gain access to the critical specialization effect with your innovation.

Breakthrough Innovation 7th

You’ve made a breakthrough in your field of study and discovered a powerful new way to enhance your innovation. Choose a breakthrough modification of your innovation’s type to apply to your innovation. You can choose an initial modification of your innovation’s type instead if you prefer.

Breakthrough Armor Modifications
  • Antimagic Plating: Whether you used some clever adaptation of the magic-negating skymetal known as noqual or created magical protections of your own design, you’ve strengthened your armor against magic. While wearing the armor, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to all saving throws against spells and to AC against spells. Against spells that target the armor directly (like heat metal), you instead gain a +4 circumstance bonus to all saving throws and to AC.
  • Camouflage Pigmentation (Subterfuge Suit Only): You’ve modified your armor’s exterior to let you blend into your surroundings with ease, as long as you stay still. While wearing your armor, you can Hide even without cover or concealment, as the pigmentation shifts to match your surroundings.
  • Dense Plating: You have encased your armor in robust plating. While wearing your armor, you gain resistance to slashing damage equal to half your level.
  • Enhanced Resistance: You’ve improved upon your initial modification’s ability to resist damage. The resistance from your initial armor modification adds your full level, instead of half your level (for instance, phlogistonic regulator’s resistance would increase to your level). If you have more than one initial modification that gives resistance, choose which one this applies to.
  • Heavy Construction (Power Suit Only): You’ve expanded your innovation into a heavy bulwark, and your groundbreaking design ensures you don’t take any of the drawbacks for such heavy defenses. Your innovation becomes heavy armor, and your proficiency in your innovation armor (but no other heavy armor) advances to be equal to your proficiency in medium armor. If your Strength score is at least 16, you remove the Speed penalty entirely instead of reducing it to –5 feet. The armor’s adjusted statistics are: AC Bonus +5; Dex Cap +1; Check Penalty –2; Speed Penalty –10 feet; Strength 16; Bulk 3; Group composite; Armor Traits bulwark.
  • Hyper Boosters: You’ve improved your speed boosters’ power through a breakthrough that significantly increases the energy flow without risking exploding. You gain a +10-foot status bonus to your Speed, which increases to a +20-foot status bonus when you’re in Overdrive. If you’re legendary in Crafting, it instead increases to a +30-foot status bonus when you’re in Overdrive. You must have the speed boosters modification to select this modification.
  • Layered Mesh: You’ve woven an incredibly powerful network of interlocking mesh around your armor, which catches piercing attacks and diffuses them. While wearing your armor, you gain resistance to piercing damage equal to half your level.
  • Tensile Absorption: You’ve enhanced the tensile capabilities of your armor, enabling it to bend with bludgeoning attacks. While wearing your armor, you gain resistance to bludgeoning damage equal to half your level.
Breakthrough Construct Modifications
  • Advanced Weaponry: You’ve powered up your construct’s weaponry. Choose one of your construct’s unarmed attacks to gain your choice of one initial weapon modification, chosen from the list on page 18 or from other initial weapon modifications to which you have access. The unarmed attack must meet any requirements for the chosen traits (such as being a melee attack for entangling form), and since it’s an unarmed attack, it can never meet certain requirements, such as being a simple weapon for complex simplicity.
  • Antimagic Construction: Whether you used some clever adaptation of the magic-negating skymetal known as noqual or created magical protections entirely of your own devising, you’ve made your innovation highly resilient to spells. Your construct innovation gains a +2 circumstance bonus to all saving throws and AC against spells.
  • Climbing Limbs: With appendages that can claw or create suction, your construct becomes a capable climber. Your innovation gains a climb Speed equal to half its land Speed.
  • Durable Construction: Your innovation is solidly built; it can take significant punishment before being destroyed. Increase its maximum Hp by your level.
  • Marvelous Gears: Your innovation gains expert proficiency in Intimidation, Stealth, and Survival. For any of these skills in which it was already an expert (because of being an advanced construct companion, for example), it gains master proficiency instead. If you have the revolutionary innovation class feature, these proficiencies improve to master, or legendary if your construct innovation was already an expert. You must have the wonder gears modification to select this modification.
  • Turret Configuration: Your innovation can transform from a mobile construct to a stationary turret. Your construct companion can transform as a single action, which has the manipulate trait, turning into a turret in its space (or transforming back from a turret into its normal configuration). While it’s a turret, your innovation is immobilized, but the damage die from its projectile launcher increases to 1d6 and the range increment increases to 60 feet. You must have the projectile launcher modification to select this modification.
Breakthrough Weapon Modifications

  • Advanced Rangefinder (Ranged Only): A carefully tuned scope or targeting device makes your weapon especially good at hitting weak points. Your innovation gains the backstabber trait and increases its range increment by 10 feet.
  • Aerodynamic Construction (Melee Only): You carefully engineer the shape of your weapon to maintain its momentum in attacks against successive targets. Your innovation gains the sweep trait and the versatile S trait.
  • Inconspicuous Appearance (Melee Only): Your innovation is built for easy concealment and surprise attacks. It gains the backstabber and versatile P traits. If the weapon has light Bulk, it also gains the concealable trait.
  • Integrated Gauntlet (One-Handed Weapon Only; Can’t Have the Two-Hand Trait): Combining your weapon with a gauntlet, you make it so you can quickly switch between attacking with your weapon and tinkering using your hands. Your innovation gains the free-hand trait.
  • Manifold Alloy: You’ve devised several alloys that contain useful properties of various metals, and you replace a number of parts of your weapon or its ammunition with pieces from these alloys. Your weapon innovation is cold iron and silver. This means you deal more damage to a variety of supernatural creatures, such as demons, devils, and fey.
  • Rope Shot (Ranged Only): Your weapon can shoot projectiles that split into simple ropes or nets around your foes’ legs to trip your targets, and you can climb using the grappling hooks built into the weapon. Your weapon innovation gains the climbing and ranged trip traits.
  • Tangle Line (Thrown Only): Your weapon has an extensible line that you can use to knock your enemies over and quickly recall the weapon back to your hand. Your innovation gains the ranged trip trait and the tethered trait.

Lightning Reflexes 7th

Your reflexes are lightning fast. Your proficiency rank for Reflex saves increases to expert.

Master Overdrive 7th

Your mastery of invention and crafting enhances your Overdrive even further. You become a master in Crafting, and on a successful Overdrive, you increase the additional damage by a total of 2, replacing the increase from expert overdrive.

Weapon Specialization 7th

You’ve learned how to inflict greater injuries with the weapons you know best. You deal 2 additional damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you are an expert. This damage increases to 3 if you’re a master, and 4 if you’re legendary.

Inventive Expertise 9th

Through innovation and experimentation, you’ve made your inventions more effective and reliable. Your proficiency rank for your inventor class DC increases to expert.

Offensive Boost 9th

You’ve made additions to your innovation to upgrade your offensive capabilities. Your improvements make any Strikes that rely on your innovation deal an additional 1d6 damage, with a type determined by the boost you choose. If your innovation is armor, the boost applies to your melee unarmed Strikes and to your melee Strikes with one weapon you choose during daily preparations; if your innovation is a construct, the boost applies to your construct companion’s Strikes; and if your innovation is a weapon, the boost applies to your Strikes with your innovation. You can spend downtime to switch to a different boost in the same way as switching your modification. Choose one of the following boosts, with the damage type in parentheses.

  • Chill (Cold): Your innovation rapidly absorbs heat, creating an intense chill.
  • Ignition (Fire): Your innovation shoots out jets of searing flame.
  • Jolt (Electricity): Your innovation jolts foes with charges of electricity.
  • Momentum (Bludgeoning): Your innovation slams into foes with added momentum.
  • Saws (Slashing): Your innovation reveals spinning sawblades during your attacks.
  • Spike (Piercing): Your innovation reveals wicked spikes during your attacks.
  • Vitriol (Acid): Your innovation releases spurts of caustic acid.

Medium Armor Expertise 11th

You’ve learned to better defend yourself against attacks. Your proficiency ranks for light armor, medium armor, and unarmored defense increase to expert.

If you have a medium or heavy armor innovation, you gain access to the critical specialization effect with your armor innovation.

Resolve 11th

You’ve steeled your mind with resolve. Your proficiency rank for Will saves increases to master. When you roll a success on a Will save, you get a critical success instead.

Alertness 13th

Your attention to detail lets you remain alert to threats around you. Your proficiency rank for Perception increases to expert.

Complete Reconfiguration 13th

When it comes to crafting and tinkering, you’ve become incredibly adept at changing your modifications to adjust your innovation’s functionality. When you spend downtime to reconfigure your innovation and succeed at your Crafting check, you can swap any number of modifications, swap your offensive boost, or retrain any number of modification feats, rather than one. You still must swap a modification only with one of the same type (initial, breakthrough, or revolutionary).

Inventor Weapon Mastery 13th

You fully understand your weapons. Your proficiency ranks for simple and martial weapons and unarmed attacks increase to master.

Greater Weapon Specialization 15th

Your damage from weapon specialization increases to 4 with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you’re an expert, 6 if you’re a master, and 8 if you’re legendary.

Legendary Overdrive 15th

Your peerless inventing and Crafting ability has supercharged your Overdrives. You become legendary in Crafting, and on a successful Overdrive, you increase the additional damage by a total of 3, replacing the increase from master overdrive.

Revolutionary Innovation 15th

You are an unparalleled genius and have discovered a technique that will revolutionize your chosen field—or at least for the time being, your innovation! Choose a revolutionary modification to apply to your innovation. You can also choose an initial or breakthrough modification of the same type instead, if you prefer.

Revolutionary Armor Modifications
  • Automated Impediments: Your armor uses electromagnetic fields, subharmonic distortions, or other techniques to make it difficult for those close to you to move unless you allow it. While wearing your armor, all spaces adjacent to you are difficult terrain for your enemies.
  • Energy Barrier: Your armor’s defenses ablate any kind of energy coming your way. While wearing your armor, you gain resistance to all energy damage (acid, cold, electricity, fire, force, negative, positive, and sonic damage) equal to 2 + half your level. You must have the harmonic oscillator, metallic reactance, or phlogistonic regulator modification to select this modification.
  • Incredible Resistance: You’ve improved upon your breakthrough modification’s ability to resist damage. Choose one of the following breakthrough modifications your innovation has: dense plating, layered mesh, or tensile absorption. Increase the resistance you gain from that modification to be equal to your level, instead of half your level.
  • Multisensory Mask (Subterfuge Suit Only): You’ve built a multisensory mask over your armor that protects you by distorting your figure from all senses, leaving behind only a hazy image, muffled sounds, and so forth. While wearing the armor, you gain concealment against all creatures, even if they are using a nonvisual precise sense, such as a bat’s echolocation. As normal for effects that leave your location obvious, you can’t use this concealment to Hide or Sneak. If you use a hostile action, the concealment ends until you restore the mask as a single action, which has the manipulate trait.
  • Perfect Fortification (Power Suit Only): You’ve outfitted your armor with such heavy fortifications that deadly attacks often lose their edge. Each time you’re critically hit while wearing the armor, attempt a DC 13 flat check. On a success, it becomes a normal hit. This isn’t cumulative with fortification runes or other abilities that reduce critical hits with a flat check. Additionally, you gain resistance 2 + half your level against precision damage.
  • Physical Protections: Your armor has so many adjustments and precautions that it can guard against all physical damage. While wearing your armor, you gain resistance to all physical damage (bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, as well as persistent bleed damage) equal to half your level. You must have the dense plating, layered mesh, or tensile absorption breakthrough modification to select this modification.
  • Rune Capacity: Whether you’ve done some dabbling in orichalcum alloys or found another engineering solution, you’ve built your innovation in such a way that it can hold an additional property rune. Your innovation can have one more property rune than a normal item of its kind (to a maximum of four property runes with a +3 potency armor).
Revolutionary Construct Modifications
  • Flight Chassis: You fit your construct with a means of flight, such as adding rotors or rebuilding it with wings and a lightweight construction. Your innovation gains a fly Speed of 25 feet.
  • Miracle Gears: As you perfect your innovation’s cortex, it becomes much more intelligent. Its Intelligence modifier increases by 2, and it learns a language of your choice from among the languages you know. Your construct gains the ability to use actions that require greater Intelligence, like Coerce and Decipher Writing. Finally, your construct becomes legendary in two Intelligence– or Charisma-based skills of your choice. You must have the marvelous gears modification to select this modification.
  • Resistant Coating: Your innovation is hard to damage by any means. It gains resistance 5 to all damage (except adamantine).
  • Runic Keystone: You’ve incorporated a device similar to a runestone into your innovation, allowing it to hold a property rune, even though it isn’t a weapon or suit of armor. An armor property rune affects your innovation itself if it would affect the wearer of the armor. A weapon property rune grants whatever properties it would normally grant to a weapon to your innovation’s unarmed attacks, following all the requirements as normal (for instance, a vorpal rune would only apply to slashing melee unarmed attacks); if the rune affects only ranged attacks, it has no effect unless your innovation has a built-in ranged attack (from the projectile launcher initial modification, for example). If the rune would affect the physical shape or appearance of the weapon or armor itself, like glamered, the rune has no effect when etched into your construct.
  • Wall Configuration: Your innovation can transform from a mobile construct to a stationary battlefield emplacement. It can unfold as a 2-action activity that has the manipulate trait, changing from its usual form into a thin, straight wall of metal and gears up to 10 feet tall and 30 feet long. The wall must extend through your innovation’s original space. While your construct is a wall, it can’t take any actions except to use the same activity to transform back, and it can’t defend itself easily, making it flat-footed and giving it an additional –2 status penalty to its AC. The wall blocks line of sight and effect unless your innovation has half its maximum Hp or fewer, at which point holes in the wall allow creatures to see through and attack with cover, and Tiny creatures to slip through.

Revolutionary Weapon Modifications

  • Attack Refiner: Your weapon makes minute recalibrations after every missed attack to ensure the next lands true. Your innovation gains the backswing and shove traits.
  • Deadly Strike: Through precise calculation, you’ve found the perfect shape for your weapon to deal extreme damage on a well-placed strike. Your innovation gains the deadly d8 trait. If your innovation was already deadly, it increases its deadly die to d12 instead of gaining deadly d8.
  • Enhanced Damage: You’ve made your innovation more powerful than other weapons of its kind. Increase your innovation’s weapon damage die by one step (d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12). As normal, you can’t increase your die by more than one size, so this modification isn’t cumulative with complex simplicity.
  • Extensible Weapon (Melee only): You’ve found a way to construct your weapon so that it can extend while leaving its balance unchanged. Your innovation gains the reach trait. If the weapon already had the reach trait, it increases your reach by an additional 10 feet, instead of the usual additional 5 feet.
  • Impossible Alloy: Other inventors claim it’s not even technically possible, but you’ve managed to create several metal alloys that seem to work for only you. These alloys can damage opponents vulnerable to any one of the seven skymetals. Your innovation is treated as all seven skymetals (abysium, adamantine, djezet, inubrix, noqual, orichalcum, and siccatite). This means you deal more damage to a variety of creatures, though you don’t apply any of the other special effects for weapons made of those skymetals.
  • Momentum Retainer (Melee only): A special weighted device lets your weapon retain more of its momentum when you attack. Your innovation gains the forceful and versatile B traits.
  • Omnirange Stabilizers (Ranged only): You’ve modified your innovation to be dangerous and effective at any range. If your innovation had the volley trait, remove the volley trait. Otherwise, increase your innovation’s range increment by 50 feet or an amount equal to the weapon’s base range increment, whichever is more.
  • Rune Capacity: Whether you’ve dabbled with orichalcum or found another engineering solution, you’ve built your innovation in such a way that it can hold an additional property rune. Your innovation can have one more property rune than a normal item of its kind (to a maximum of four property runes with a +3 potency weapon).

Inventive Mastery 17th

Your inventions are incredibly effective. Your proficiency rank for your inventor class DC increases to master.

Juggernaut 17th

Your body is accustomed to physical hardship and resistant to ailments. Your proficiency rank for Fortitude saves increases to master. When you roll a success on a Fortitude save, you get a critical success instead.

Infinite Invention 19th

Your ability to adjust your innovation has reached impossible heights, and you can use these skills to make major adjustments in your spare time. During your daily preparations, you automatically fix your innovation if it’s destroyed or broken, and you can change to a different innovation (armor, construct, weapon, or other type you have access to) and change your modifications and offensive boost.

If you have any feats that had your previous innovation as a prerequisite, you can’t use them until you retrain the feats as normal. However, it takes you only 1 day of downtime to retrain such a feat into a feat that has your new innovation as a prerequisite, instead of 1 week.

Medium Armor Mastery 19th

Your skill with armor improves, helping you avoid more blows. Your proficiency ranks for light and medium armor, as well as for unarmored defense, increase to master.

Inventor Feats

At every level that you gain an inventor feat, you can select one of the following feats. You must satisfy any prerequisites before selecting the feat.

1st Level

Built-In Tools Feat1

Inventor Modification

You’ve built tools into your innovation so you can access and use them easily. When you take this feat, choose up to two sets of tools you own, such as thieves’ tools or healer’s tools, that weigh a total of 2 Bulk or less. These tools become part of your innovation. The innovation’s Bulk doesn’t increase from this addition. As long as you are wielding, wearing, or adjacent to your innovation, you have the same quick access to these tools as the tools you are wearing, and they don’t count against the usual limit of tools you can wear.

Explosive Leap [one-action] Feat1

Fire Inventor Move Unstable

You aim an explosion from your innovation downward to launch yourself into the air. You jump up to 30 feet in any direction without touching the ground. You must land on a space of solid ground, or else you fall after using your next action. As normal for effects where you fall after using your next action, you still fall at the end of your turn, even if you don’t use any further actions that turn.

Special If your innovation is a minion, it can take this action rather than you.

Haphazard Repair [one-action] Feat1

Inventor Unstable

You quickly fix your innovation, at the cost of its stability. You Repair your innovation almost immediately. You don’t have to place the innovation on a flat surface, but you do need to be adjacent to it (including holding or wearing it), as well as having a repair kit as normal.

No! No! I Created You! [reaction] Feat1

Auditory Concentrate Inventor

Prerequisite(s) construct companion

Frequency once per minute

Trigger Your construct companion would become confused or controlled.

You appeal to your construct companion’s bond with its creator to have it break free of a controlling effect. Attempt to counteract the effect that confused or controlled your construct companion, using your Crafting modifier for the counteract check and half your level rounded up for the counteract level.

Prototype Companion Feat1

Inventor

You have created a construct companion, and while it might not be an innovation, it serves as a trustworthy minion. You gain a prototype construct companion.

Tamper [one-action] Feat1

Inventor Manipulate

You tamper with a foe’s weapon or armor, using a free hand. Choose either a weapon held by an enemy in your reach or a suit of armor worn by an enemy in your reach. Attempt a Crafting check against the enemy’s Reflex DC.

Critical Success Your tampering is incredibly effective. If you tampered with a weapon, the enemy takes a –2 circumstance penalty to attack rolls and damage rolls with that weapon. If you tampered with armor, the armor hampers the enemy’s movement, making the enemy flat-footed and inflicting a –10-foot penalty to its Speeds. The effect lasts until the enemy Interacts to remove it, regardless of which one you used.

Success Your tampering is temporarily effective. As critical success, but the effect ends at the start of your next turn, even if the enemy doesn’t Interact to end it.

Critical Failure Your tampering backfires dramatically, creating a small explosion from your own tools or gear. You take fire damage equal to your level.

Variable Core Feat1

Inventor Modification

You adjust your innovation’s core, changing the way it explodes. When you choose this feat, select acid, cold, or electricity. Your innovation’s core runs on that power source. When using the Explode action, or any time your innovation explodes on a critical failure and damages you, change the damage type from fire damage to the type you chose.

If you have the offensive boost class feature and retrain Variable Core to a different damage type, you can also switch to a different offensive boost that deals the same damage type if you wish.

2nd Level

Collapse Armor [one-action] Feat2

Inventor Manipulate Modification

Prerequisite(s) armor innovation

Requirement(s) You are wearing your armor innovation, or holding it in both hands in its compact form (see text).

You’ve modified your armor innovation to collapse into a more compact form so you can don or remove it in an instant. If you’re wearing your innovation when you Collapse your Armor, you remove it instantly, and it compresses into its compact form, which is held in both of your hands (if you don’t have both hands available, it falls to the ground in an adjacent space). If you’re holding your armor in compact form when you take this action, it unfolds back into its armor form onto your body.

In compact form, your armor innovation is easier to carry, with a Bulk 1 lower than the Bulk listed for it, to a minimum of light Bulk (carried armor normally has a Bulk 1 higher than listed in the armor entry).

Collapse Construct [one-action] Feat2

Inventor Manipulate Modification

Prerequisite(s) construct innovation

You’ve modified your construct companion and built it out of light materials, enabling you to collapse it into a carrying case or other compact and innocuous form. Either your construct or you (if you’re adjacent to it) can Collapse your Construct to turn it into its compact form or back into its normal form.

In compact form, your construct can’t act but is easily carried, with a Bulk of 2 if it’s Small, 4 if it’s Medium, or 8 if it’s Large. The compact form has wheels, so you can easily drag it behind you at half your Speed (rather than the usual slower Speed for dragging).

Reverse Engineer Feat2

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) expert in Crafting

You are incredibly skilled at reverse engineering items to learn their formulas, or disassembling them just to disable them. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Crafting checks to reverse engineer a formula from an item. If you get a critical success on your Crafting check, you can opt to both create the formula and reassemble the original item at the same time, leaving you with the formula and the item instead of the formula and raw materials equal to half the item’s value. Furthermore, you can use Crafting instead of Thievery to Disable a Device or Pick a Lock.

Searing Restoration [one-action] Feat2

Fire Healing Inventor Manipulate Unstable

They told you there was no way that explosions could heal people, but they were fools… Fools who didn’t understand your brilliance! You create a minor explosion from your innovation, altering the combustion to cauterize wounds using vaporized medicinal herbs. You or a living creature adjacent to you regains 1d10 Hit Points. In addition, the creature you heal can attempt an immediate flat check to recover from a single source of persistent bleed damage, with the DC reduction from appropriate assistance.

At 3rd level, and every 2 levels thereafter, increase the healing by 1d10.

Special If your innovation is a minion, it can take this action rather than you, though because it’s not a living creature, it can’t use the ability on itself.

4th Level

Advanced Construct Companion Feat4

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) construct companion

You’ve upgraded your construct companion’s power and decision-making ability. It becomes an advanced construct companion. During an encounter, even if you don’t use the Command a Minion action, your construct companion can still use 1 action on your turn that round to Stride or Strike.

Diving Armor Feat4

Inventor Modification

Prerequisite(s) armor innovation

You’ve modified your armor with fins, rotors, and other devices to make it easy for you to move through the water, plus mechanical gills that can help you extract breathable air from water. While wearing your armor innovation, you can breathe underwater and gain a swim Speed equal to your land Speed.

Dual-Form Weapon Feat4

Inventor Modification

Prerequisite(s) weapon innovation

You’ve built your innovation with replaceable interlocking pieces that you can use to transform it into another type of weapon entirely. When you select this feat, choose a level 0 or 1st-level simple or martial weapon. It must be either a common weapon or another to which you have access. This weapon becomes your innovation’s second configuration.

Select a new set of weapon modifications for this new configuration. You can spend two Interact actions to switch your weapon innovation between the two configurations. These actions don’t need to be taken consecutively, but if you’ve provided the first and not the second, the weapon is non-functional as it is stranded between states. Your weapon’s Bulk is always the greater Bulk of the two configurations, regardless of which configuration it’s in—if one weapon is smaller than the other, you still need to keep any weapon parts on hand. Any runes on your weapon innovation don’t affect the second weapon configuration.

Gadget Specialist Feat4

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) expert in Crafting

Rather than just using your gadgets for various boosts and tweaks, you also craft a few specific temporary consumable gadgets each day. You gain the formulas for three common or uncommon gadgets. Each day during your daily preparations, you can create two temporary gadgets from your formula book. Gadgets prepared in this way don’t cost you any resources to Craft and don’t have any sale value. They are temporary items and fall apart the next time you make your daily preparations if you haven’t already used them.

If you’re a master in Crafting, you can create three gadgets per day, and you gain three additional common or uncommon gadget formulas. If you’re legendary in Crafting, you can create four gadgets per day, and you gain another additional three common or uncommon gadget formulas, for a total of nine.

Megaton Strike [two-actions] Feat4

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) armor, construct, or weapon innovation

You activate gears, explosives, and other hidden mechanisms in your innovation to make a powerful attack. You make a Strike, dealing an extra die of weapon damage. If you’re at least 10th level, increase this to two extra dice, and if you’re at least 18th level, increase it to three extra dice. The type of Strike you can make depends on your innovation.

  • Armor You Strike with a melee unarmed attack or a melee weapon. To use a melee weapon for this, you must have prepared it in advance with special contraptions when you make your daily preparations.
  • Construct Your minion innovation Strikes.
  • Weapon You Strike with your weapon innovation.

Unstable Function You put even more force into the Strike, though you risk stress fractures to your innovation. Add the unstable trait to Megaton Strike. The Strike deals another extra damage die, for a total of two extra dice at 4th level, three at 10th level, and four at 18th level.

Special If your innovation is a minion, it can take this action rather than you.

6th Level

Clockwork Celerity [free-action] Feat6

Inventor Manipulate Unstable

Prerequisite(s) armor, construct, or weapon innovation

Trigger Your turn begins.

You can use unstable clockwork devices in your innovation to push your invention to act more quickly. You are quickened for this turn. How you can use the extra action depends on your innovation.

  • Armor You can use the extra action to Step, Stride, or use another movement action granted by your innovation (such as Swim if you have the Diving Armor feat).
  • Construct You can use the extra action to Command your construct innovation (or to provide 1 of the actions if you spend 2 actions to Command your construct).
  • Weapon You can use the extra action to Strike with your innovation or Reload your innovation.

Construct Shell Feat6

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) construct innovation

You’ve adjusted your construct innovation so that when you ride it, special plates, hollows, or similar form partial barriers around you to add additional protection. You have lesser cover from all attacks when mounted on your construct innovation, not just from attacks where the construct would be in the way. Additionally, if your construct uses an emanation while you’re riding on it, such as Explode, you can choose not to be affected by the emanation.

Megavolt [two-actions] Feat6

Electricity Inventor Manipulate

You bleed off some electric power from your innovation in the shape of a damaging bolt. Creatures in a 20-foot line from your innovation take 3d4 electricity damage, with a basic Reflex save against your class DC. The electricity damage increases by 1d4 at 8th level and every 2 levels thereafter. Unstable Function You overload and supercharge the voltage even higher. Add the unstable trait to Megavolt. The area increases to a 60-foot line and the damage increases from d4s to d12s.

If you have the breakthrough innovation class feature, you can choose a 60-foot or 90-foot line for the area when you use an unstable Megavolt; if you also have the revolutionary innovation class feature, you can choose a 60-foot, 90-foot, or 120-foot line.

Special If your innovation is a minion, it can take this action rather than you.

Visual Fidelity Feat6

Inventor

You’ve found a way to use a hodgepodge combination of devices to enhance your visual abilities in every situation. You gain darkvision and low-light vision, and you can see invisible creatures and objects as translucent shapes, though these shapes are indistinct enough to be concealed to you.

If an effect would give you the blinded condition, the effect must attempt a counteract check against your class DC, with your counteract level equaling half your level, rounded up. On a failed counteract check, you aren’t blinded—your various devices are able to compensate.

8th Level

Gigaton Strike Feat8

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Megaton Strike

When you use a full-power Megaton Strike, you can knock your foe back. When you succeed at your Strike while using an unstable Megaton Strike, your target must attempt a Fortitude save against your class Dc.

Critical Success The creature is unaffected.

Success The creature is pushed back 5 feet.

Failure The creature is pushed back 10 feet.

Critical Failure The creature is pushed back 20 feet.

Special If your innovation is a minion, this benefit applies on its unstable Megaton Strikes.

Incredible Construct Companion Feat8

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Advanced Construct Companion

Thanks to your continual tinkering, your construct companion has advanced to an astounding new stage of engineering, enhancing all its attributes. Your construct companion becomes an incredible construct companion.

Manifold Modifications Feat8

Inventor Modification

Prerequisite(s) initial modification

You’ve modified your innovation using clever workarounds, so you can include another initial modification without compromising its structure. Your innovation gains an additional initial modification from the list for innovations of its type.

Overdrive Ally [one-action] Feat8

Inventor Manipulate

Prerequisite(s) Overdrive

Requirement(s) You are currently in overdrive.

You quickly fling some of your powered-up mechanisms to an ally, sharing your benefits with them briefly. Choose an ally within 30 feet. Until the end of their next turn, that ally’s Strikes deal additional damage equal to half your Intelligence modifier, or your full Intelligence modifier if you were in critical overdrive. The ally doesn’t gain the increased damage from expert, master, or legendary overdrive.

Ubiquitous Gadgets Feat8

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Gadget Specialist

They thought you had used up all your devices, but they thought wrong! You have a few more gadgets up your sleeve than others expect. Increase the number of temporary gadgets you can create each day by 2.

Special You can select this feat a second time if you are 14th level or higher.

10th Level

Distracting Explosion [reaction] Feat10

Inventor Manipulate

Prerequisite(s) offensive boost

Trigger A creature within your reach uses a concentrate action.

Your enemies think they can concentrate on something else while you’re nearby? Oh, you’ll give them a distraction, all right! Make a melee Strike against the triggering creature with a weapon or unarmed attack that is benefiting from your offensive boost. This Strike doesn’t count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn’t apply to this Strike.

Unstable Function You pull out all the stops to create an explosive distraction. Add the unstable trait to Distracting Explosion. If the attack hits, you disrupt the triggering concentrate action.

Special If your innovation is a minion, it can take this reaction instead of you, even though minions can’t normally take reactions or act when it’s not their turn. It uses your reaction for the turn to do so.

Electrify Armor [one-action] Feat10

Inventor Manipulate

Prerequisite(s) armor innovation

Requirement(s) You are wearing your armor innovation.

You electrify your armor to punish foes who dare to attack you. For 1 round, any creature that touches you, or that hits you with a melee unarmed attack or a non-reach melee weapon attack, takes 1d4 electricity damage. The effect ends if you cease wearing your armor innovation.

If you have the revolutionary innovation class feature, the damage increases to 2d4.

Unstable Function You create an unstable chain reaction, sending countless sparks dancing across your armor. Add the unstable trait to Electrify Armor. The effects last for 1 minute instead of 1 round, and the damage dice increase from d4s to d12s.

Helpful Tinkering [one-action] Feat10

Inventor Manipulate

Prerequisite(s) offensive boost

Frequency once per 10 minutes

You don’t just tinker with your own innovation, you fiddle with your allies’ weapons as well (for their benefit, of course). Choose an ally in your reach and one of their weapons. Attempt a Crafting check against a high DC for your level.

Success For 1 minute, the chosen ally’s Strikes with the chosen weapon gain the same offensive boost your innovation has.

Critical Failure Your ally takes damage of the type and amount that your offensive boost normally deals on a successful Strike.

Lock On [one-action] Feat10

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) construct innovation

Aha! You lock on to your enemy’s weak point to assist your construct companion in destroying it. When you Lock On, designate an enemy you can see. If your next action is to Command your construct, the construct gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attack rolls against the designated enemy until the end of the turn. If you use 2 actions for the Command, the bonus is instead a +3 circumstance bonus, or a +4 circumstance bonus if you’re legendary in Crafting.

12th Level

Boost Modulation Feat12

Inventor Manipulate

Prerequisite(s) offensive boost

You aren’t satisfied with keeping to just one kind of boost from your constant tinkering, so you’ve learned to modulate between several possibilities at once. Choose two additional offensive boosts. You can use an Interact action to change the offensive boost currently affecting your weapon, choosing between the one you chose for the class feature and the two you chose for this modification. If your weapon has the modular trait, you can swap the offensive boost as part of the Interact action you take to use that trait.

Contingency Gadgets Feat12

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Gadget Specialist

You are too brilliant to be caught off guard, and you always have just the right gadget for the situation. When you prepare your gadgets during your daily preparations, you can choose to leave one of them as a contingency gadget that you keep ready for just this situation, rather than declaring which gadget you’re making. You can pull the contingency gadget out using an Interact action, at which point you must choose which gadget you had prepared as a contingency.

If you’re legendary in Crafting, you can leave two contingency gadgets during your daily preparations, instead of just one.

Deep Freeze [two-actions] Feat12

Cold Inventor Manipulate

You vent a jet of supercooled fluid from your innovation, damaging a foe and slowing it down. Target one creature within 60 feet. That creature takes cold damage equal to your level, with effects depending on its Reflex save.

Critical Success The target is unaffected.

Success The target takes half damage and takes a –5-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 1 round.

Failure The target takes full damage and takes a –10-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 1 round.

Critical Failure The target takes double damage, is slowed 1 for 1 round, and takes a –15-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 1 round.

Unstable Function Your innovation discharges an enormous cone of supercooled fluid, potentially causing cascading failures. Add the unstable trait to Deep Freeze. The ability affects all creatures within a 60-foot cone instead of a single target, and it deals cold damage equal to double your level instead of equal to your level.

If you have the revolutionary innovation class feature, you can choose a 60-foot or 90-foot cone when you use an unstable Deep Freeze.

Special If your innovation is a minion, it can take this action rather than you.

Gigavolt Feat12

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Megavolt

When you unleash electricity from your innovation, you can bounce it off obstacles, creating a field of electric death. When you use Megavolt, each time your line of electricity hits a solid barrier, such as a wall, it bounces off at an angle of your choice and continues until you have reached the full length of the line. Even if a creature is in the area from multiple bounces, it takes the damage only once.

Shared Overdrive Feat12

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Overdrive Ally

You’ve experimented enough on your teammates to transfer a substantial number of powered-up gizmos to them, enabling one of your allies to benefit from the full effects and duration of your Overdrive. The first time you use Overdrive Ally during a given Overdrive, the effect lasts for the remainder of the duration of your Overdrive, instead of just until the end of the target’s next turn. Any further uses of Overdrive Ally during the same Overdrive have their normal duration, per Overdrive Ally.

14th Level

Explosive Maneuver [one-action] Feat14

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) weapon innovation

Requirement(s) Your last action was a successful Strike against a foe using your weapon innovation.

Thanks to a hidden experimental feature you built into your weapon, your weapon explosively deploys levers, tangling hooks, or similar mechanisms to provide significant assistance when you perform a combat maneuver. When you use Explosive Maneuver, choose Grapple, Shove, or Trip. Your weapon innovation must have a weapon trait that matches the action you chose (for instance, to choose Grapple, your weapon must have the grapple trait). You take the chosen action against the same foe as your previous successful Strike, using the same multiple attack penalty as your previous successful Strike. You still increase your multiple attack penalty after the Grapple, Shove, or Trip, as normal.

Paragon Companion Feat14

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Incredible Companion

Your construct companion has reached the pinnacle of form and function. Your construct companion becomes a paragon construct companion.

Soaring Armor Feat14

Inventor Modification

Prerequisite(s) armor innovation

Whether through a release of jets of flame, propeller blades, sonic bursts, streamlined aerodynamic structure, electromagnetic fields, or some combination of the above, you’ve managed to free your innovation from the bonds of gravity! While wearing your innovation, you gain a fly Speed equal to your land Speed.

Unstable Redundancies [free-action] Feat14

Inventor

Trigger You would attempt the flat check for an unstable action, but you haven’t rolled the flat check yet.

You’ve built triple redundancies into your innovation and added all sorts of buffers to protect it from the harm of your unstable experiments. You automatically succeed at the triggering flat check.

You can’t rely on your Unstable Redundancies again until you spend 10 minutes setting them back up. If you spend 10 minutes retuning your innovation so you can use unstable actions again, you can set up your Unstable Redundancies during the same time.

16th Level

Just The Thing! Feat16

Inventor

Frequency once per hour

Need to balance on a razor’s edge, force open an iron door, or persuade a dragon to negotiate? Never fear! No matter the situation, you always have just the thing. You attempt a skill action that takes 1 minute or less to complete, using the same number of actions or amount of time as normal. However, as you take the action, describe a device you pull out and use to accomplish the skill. The specifics of how you accomplish this are up to you, but they should fit the challenge at hand. For instance, you might use gravitic stabilizers to balance on the razor’s edge, a force battering ram gizmo to open the iron door, or a device that produces an aroma with the ability to pacify wyrms to persuade the dragon. Using an invention in this way lets you alter how you calculate the skill check used in the action. Instead of the normal skill modifier associated with that skill action, you use your Crafting modifier.

Persistent Boost Feat16

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) offensive boost

Your innovation sets foes on fire, covers them in acid, leaves barbed thorns behind, or otherwise deals persistent damage to your foes that sticks around long after you deliver your boosted attack. When you or your construct innovation damage a foe with offensive boost, that foe also takes 1d8 persistent damage of the same damage type as the offensive boost damage.

You Failed To Account For… This! [reaction] Feat16

Inventor

Trigger A creature you can see targets you with an attack against your AC.

When your foes try to attack you, you always seem to have some outlandish invention you can pull out at the last second to protect you from whatever attack they throw at you. Describe a device you’re attempting to use to protect yourself from the foe’s attack—for instance, when attacked by a shocker lizard’s shock Strike, you might pull out a specially grounded lightning rod from that time you tried to power an invention by harnessing a thunderstorm! Using an invention to defend in this way means that the attack roll for the triggering attack targets your Crafting DC instead of your AC.

Since you’re using your Crafting DC instead of your AC, any penalties to your AC don’t apply, but this doesn’t remove any conditions or other effects that are causing you such penalties. For instance, if you were flat-footed and used an invention to defend against a sneak attack, you’d still take the extra precision damage if you were hit, even though the –2 penalty to AC from being flat-footed wouldn’t apply to your Crafting Dc.

18th Level

Devastating Weaponry [three-actions] Feat18

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) weapon innovation

You release a volley of projectiles from your weapon, or power it to fly in every direction across the battlefield and Strike multiple creatures. Make a Strike with your weapon innovation against each foe within 30 feet of you. Don’t increase your multiple attack penalty until after making all the attacks. If your innovation is a melee weapon and any of the attacks are outside your reach, you Release the weapon before the Strikes, and it returns to your grasp after all of them. If your hands are full when the weapon returns, it falls to the ground in your space. As normal, if your weapon innovation requires one or more actions to reload between Strikes, you can’t use it to make multiple attacks with Devastating Weaponry.

Engine of Destruction [three-actions] Feat18

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) construct innovation

Your construct unleashes a broad swath of devastation by separating its limbs, deploying hidden armaments, or using a similar technique to wreak havoc. You Command your innovation. Instead of its normal actions, it Strides once, then makes a Strike against each foe within 30 feet of it with a +2 circumstance bonus to its attack rolls. The multiple attack penalty doesn’t increase until after the construct makes all the attacks.

Negate Damage [reaction] Feat18

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) armor innovation

Trigger You would take damage.

Your armor innovation activates various devices you prepared ahead of time, and you use one of them to reduce the damage you would take by 15. Unstable Function You activate all the precautions at once, violently repelling the incoming attack to blunt its force. Add the unstable trait to Negate Damage and reduce the damage you would take by 50. 31

20th Level

Full Automation Feat20

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) armor, construct, or weapon innovation

You become so entwined with your innovations that you can use them without a second thought. You’re permanently quickened. How you can use the extra action depends on your innovation.

  • Armor Your armor responds to the most subtle stimuli to move you in the right direction as long as you are wearing it. You can use the extra action to Stride, Step, or use a form of movement provided by your innovation (such as Fly or Swim).
  • Construct Your ability to command your construct becomes instinctive. You can use the extra action to Command your construct innovation (or to provide 1 of the actions if you choose to spend 2 actions to Command your construct).
  • Weapon Your weapon becomes easier to wield with deadly efficacy, almost as if it is an extension of your body. It speeds effortlessly toward whatever target you choose as long as you are holding it. You can use the extra action to Strike with your innovation.

Ubiquitous Overdrive Feat20

Inventor

Prerequisite(s) Shared Overdrive

You prepare a variety of incredible gizmos on each of your allies, linking them together through careful modification to enable you to power them up all at once. During your daily preparations, select up to six willing allies. Whenever you Overdrive, you grant the benefits of your overdrive to any of these allies you choose who are within 30 feet of you. The allies don’t gain the increased damage from expert, master, or legendary overdrive.

~~~

Construct Companions

A construct companion is a loyal semi-sentient construct who follows your orders obediently and is roughly as intelligent as an animal. Your construct companion has the minion trait, and it gains 2 actions during your turn if you use the Command a Minion action to command it.

If your companion is destroyed, you can spend 1 day of downtime and attempt a Crafting check with a high DC for your level. On a success, you rebuild your companion. You can have only one construct companion at a time, and you can have either a construct companion or an animal companion, but not both.

Riding Construct Companions

You or an ally can ride your construct companion as long as your construct companion is at least one size larger than the rider.

Prototype Construct Companions

The following are the base statistics for a prototype construct companion, the first construct companion most characters get. A companion has the same level you do. As you gain levels, you might make further adjustments as your companion grows more powerful. Construct companions calculate their modifiers and Dcs just as you do, with one difference: the only item bonuses they can benefit from are to Speed.

Construct Trait

A construct companion has the construct trait. It’s not a living creature, nor is it undead.

Proficiencies

Your construct companion is trained in its unarmed attacks, unarmored defense, all saving throws, Perception, Acrobatics, and Athletics. Construct companions can’t use abilities that require greater Intelligence, such as Coerce or Decipher Writing, even if trained in the appropriate skill, unless they have an ability that allows it.

Size

Your construct companion is either Small or Medium, chosen by you when you first gain the companion.

Strikes

Your construct companion has two kinds of melee unarmed attacks. Its first unarmed attack deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage. Depending on the shape of your construct this could be a fist, tendril, or other similar unarmed attack. Its other unarmed attack deals 1d6 slashing or piercing damage (choose when you first gain the companion) and has the agile and finesse traits. Depending on the shape of your construct, this could be a spine or spike, jaws or fangs, a retractable blade, or other similar unarmed attack.

Ability Modifiers

A construct companion begins with base ability modifiers of Str +3, Dex +3, Con +2, Int –4, Wis +1, Cha +0.

Hit Points

Your construct companion has 10 Hit Points, plus a number of Hit Points equal to 6 plus its Constitution modifier for each level you have.

While constructs are usually immediately destroyed at 0 Hit Points, your construct companion is a little harder to destroy than other constructs are. When your construct reaches 0 Hit Points, it becomes broken and begins sparking and might be destroyed if you don’t Repair it. This works the same as the normal dying rules and determines if your construct is destroyed, with the following two changes. First, most effects that end the dying condition don’t work to save a construct companion, but a construct can be stabilized using the Administer First Aid action, using the Crafting skill instead of Medicine. Second, instead of gaining and tracking the wounded condition, if your construct becomes broken in this way more than twice within a 10-minute period, it’s destroyed, and you’ll need to reconstruct it by spending a day of downtime.

Immunities

Because it’s a construct, your construct companion is immune to bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, necromancy, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, and unconscious. Because the construct isn’t a living creature, effects that heal living creatures can’t help it recover Hit Points. Restoring Hit Points to it requires using the Repair action or other means that can restore Hit Points to objects and nonliving creatures.

Senses

Your construct companion has precise vision, imprecise hearing, and vague touch senses, but no sense of smell or taste.

Speed

Your construct companion has a Speed of 25 feet.

Advanced Construct Companions

To advance a prototype construct companion to an advanced construct companion (usually a result of one of your class feat choices), make the following adjustments.

  • Increase its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom modifiers by 1.
  • Increase its unarmed attack damage from one die to two dice (for instance, 1d8 to 2d8).
  • Increase its proficiency rank for Perception and all saving throws to expert.
  • Increase its proficiency ranks in Intimidation, Stealth, and Survival to trained. If the construct is your innovation and it was already trained in those skills from a modification, increase its proficiency rank in those skills to expert.
  • You can change your companion’s Size, if you want, to either Small, Medium, or Large.

Incredible Construct Companions

To improve an advanced construct companion to an incredible construct companion, make the following adjustments.

Paragon Construct Companions

To improve an incredible construct companion to a paragon construct companion, make the following adjustments.

  • Increase its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom modifiers by 1.
  • Increase its proficiency rank for unarmed attacks and unarmored defense to expert.
  • Increase its proficiency ranks for Athletics, Acrobatics, saving throws, and Perception to master.
  • Increase its unarmed attack damage from two dice to three dice, and its additional damage with unarmed attacks from 2 to 4.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Guns & Gears © 2021, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Logan Bonner, Jessica Catalan, John Compton, Andrew D. Geels, Steven Hammond, Sen H.H.S., Brent Holtsberry, Jason Keeley, Dustin Knight, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Chris Mastey, Liane Merciel, Jacob W. Michaels, Dave Nelson, Samantha Phelan, Mikhail Rekun, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Sydney Meeker, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Michael Sayre., Mark Seifter, Andrew Stoeckle, Calliope Lee Taylor, Andrew White, and Scott D. Young