Laserlight
2016-12-03, 08:34 PM
My players want more of a steampunk feel-- Legend of Korra, that sort of thing. So I'm opening a portal to a gnome city that got wiped out by a cold/ice -based disaster, and the place is now ovverun with undead (who generally don't use tech) and kobolds (who do).
I figure the easiest way to make steampunk tech is as magic items. For example, Dr Bottlethroop's Patent Tesla Projector could be effectively a staff of Lightning Bolt with a certain number of uses, a way to recharge it (plug it into a generator).
I want this stuff to be useful (for the kobolds to use on the players) but not too useful (for the players to use). I figure for any given piece of tech, a) it takes an action, b) it takes a skill roll every time (because even if you figure out to pull the trigger, you might not realize that you've re-set the safety, or that you need to make sure the two spurving bearings are in a direct line with the pentametric fan), c) you might use it up, render it inoperable, or have it explode in your face (since it was gnomish tech). But even then, I don't want it to anything Save-or-Die.
So what are some goofy inventions that slightly addled gnomes might come up with?
Shrink Ray ("Reduce")
Shocking-Grasp-On-A-Stick
Webcaster (used by a winged kobold who leaps from building to building, and wears a blue-and-red costume)
Mechanical Dragon: something like a Chinese dragon costume except this one conceals a tank of Greek Fire on a cart, with a couple of kobolds pushing the cart, a couple more pumping it to give it pressure, and one aiming the nozzle.
Kobold Karma Kannon: Bestow Curse, no concentration, 10 minute duration
What else?
I figure the easiest way to make steampunk tech is as magic items. For example, Dr Bottlethroop's Patent Tesla Projector could be effectively a staff of Lightning Bolt with a certain number of uses, a way to recharge it (plug it into a generator).
I want this stuff to be useful (for the kobolds to use on the players) but not too useful (for the players to use). I figure for any given piece of tech, a) it takes an action, b) it takes a skill roll every time (because even if you figure out to pull the trigger, you might not realize that you've re-set the safety, or that you need to make sure the two spurving bearings are in a direct line with the pentametric fan), c) you might use it up, render it inoperable, or have it explode in your face (since it was gnomish tech). But even then, I don't want it to anything Save-or-Die.
So what are some goofy inventions that slightly addled gnomes might come up with?
Shrink Ray ("Reduce")
Shocking-Grasp-On-A-Stick
Webcaster (used by a winged kobold who leaps from building to building, and wears a blue-and-red costume)
Mechanical Dragon: something like a Chinese dragon costume except this one conceals a tank of Greek Fire on a cart, with a couple of kobolds pushing the cart, a couple more pumping it to give it pressure, and one aiming the nozzle.
Kobold Karma Kannon: Bestow Curse, no concentration, 10 minute duration
What else?