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The techno-wizard causes me problems for me than the mystic, because the techno-wizard understands what he's doing.

I tend to use artistic metaphors when talking about men of magic. It's a useful shorthand for understanding how I see them.

The mystic has a small selection of spells that he knows. He can use those spells just fine, but if you try to teach him more magic, he will only learn it when he's ready (i.e. when he's high enough level). In this way, he's like a self-taught musician who didn't learn to read sheet music... he can perform the music he knows, he can come up with new music or imitate it if he wants, but he's not able to freely learn from the work from others... he has to reinvent the wheel every time.

(Personally, I view their magic powers as being tied to their psychic powers... they learn magic by learning "secrets of the universe" from their psychic intuition... but that's elsewhere.)

Techno-wizards are somewhat like the guys on Junkyard Wars. They take existing things and bash them into shape as new things, which serve a function that they have decreed. There has to be a machine which does the work for them, but they are the guiding force in making the machine be what it is. This means they are dependent upon machines for their best effects.

Bloodspray wrote:I never really cared much for the TW. They represent a great potential in that their devices are like the ultimate Talismans.... since you can put any level spell (or combination) into devices, and often get somewhat altered effects if so desired too.

However.... there's really no Techno to the Wizard. An empty gun shell with no mecahnical parts and a crystal installed isn't tech. It's a fancy lookin' talisman.

It's the same with everything - it's all a man made item that is merely a visual representation, but all (or mostly all) of what it does comes from magic. So what's the point of talking about combining magic and tech when no tech is added at all?

An almost siggable line, that.

Bloodspray wrote:I never really cared much for the TW. They represent a great potential in that their devices are like the ultimate Talismans.... since you can put any level spell (or combination) into devices, and often get somewhat altered effects if so desired too.

However.... there's really no Techno to the Wizard. An empty gun shell with no mecahnical parts and a crystal installed isn't tech. It's a fancy lookin' talisman.

It's the same with everything - it's all a man made item that is merely a visual representation, but all (or mostly all) of what it does comes from magic. So what's the point of talking about combining magic and tech when no tech is added at all?

To quote Morbo: You are doing it wrong.

Reread the section on TW. A TW item must have machinery, electronics, etc. However, it replaces certain parts of it with magical components... crystals and such. If looked at from a purely technological viewpoint, it doesn't make sense, because there's a big crystal where there should be an e-clip, and some connections which should be this way are that way, or connect to a gemstone, or a piece of a living ginseng, or whatever... but it is not just an empty gun case with a crystal inside. It's a functional machine... just with an emphasis on the funk.

Bloodspray wrote:In the case of using a PPE-clip to power your laser, instead of an E-clip, yeah. But when you take a rod and put call lightning in it, where's the "tech"? Or when you use a "gun", but not only power it with PPE, you also change what fires to a magical energy or fire bolt, rather than the plasma or laser that it used to be. At that point, the "tech" really isn't doing anything at all.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The tech isn't listed, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The general principles of techno-wizardry include that a device... be it a machine doing physical work or microchips.. must be present, in addition to the magical bits. They may come across as little more than a hollowed out shell, but that doesn't mean that they are.

Another example is in the old Main Book (where I first formed this impression) is the commo headband - it's a band with several little metal and plastic boxes and/or a small circuit panel from a transister radio, and it will translate any spoken language - it's all magic, it just as a _look_ of tech.

And what says the metal or plastic boxes don't actually contain something? The book doesn't list anything, but the general principles say that they should.

Bloodspray wrote:Has anyone else found those rules to be a bit harsh?

...snip

Only the range modifiers to the PPE cost seams a bit harsh.