Mad Science in a fantasy world.

[Promethean]

Anyone know any printed material that touches on the more "sciency" side of D&D?

I haven't seen alchemy(I know alchemy and herbalism by bastion/dragonwing press is good) or special materials(I've never seen a complete list of materials with properties And sources, like ever. I still don't know what glowsteel is/comes from) explored very much in SRD and only barely in 3rd party. I find that sad considering there are more spells and magic item improvements then could be stored on any one server(even though 3.5 doesn't Just have spellcasters spellcasting, it also has binder's binding, warlocks invoking, psions mind-raping, truenamers sucking, and warblades..... um, karate?).

I also haven't seem a lot of more ritualistic magic explored much, I've seen magic rituals referenced in world as a thing, but outside of relics & rituals from sword and sorcerery(which didn't really go very deeply into the subject. We were given 2 categories of using different casting rules to make an existing spell more powerful and the 1 category with it's own ritual magic gave 9 each for clerics, wizards and druids, 1 for each spell-level). As far as SRD is concerned magic rituals are plot devices without any real rules as far as I know.

I've seen Alloys touched on twice(with oarth-blood and true-ore respectively, both dragon magazine material) and never again(I honestly would have been happy if they made a random effect table for mixing metals, role a d100 to see if mixing adamantine and mithril makes the magical equivalent of C4! They did something similar in early editions with potion mixing.)

Grafts + Symbionts + husk of infinite worlds + warp touch = lots of lovely aberrations for my players come across though. Are there any lists?

Are there any necromancy options that don't just add numeric buffs to undead(corpsecrafter), but very up the undead like having steel bones/claws attached to zombies or implanting small construct eyes etc?

[BlackOnyx]

I also haven't seem a lot of more ritualistic magic explored much, I've seen magic rituals referenced in world as a thing, but outside of relics & rituals from sword and sorcerery(which didn't really go very deeply into the subject.

Yeah, unfortunately rituals don't seem to get as much development compared to other types of magic.

That said, I've seen a few different feats that grant access to/knowledge of specific rituals. Exemplars of Evil has Fell Conspiracy and a couple others, if I remember correctly. (I'll post more later if they come to mind.)

The BoVD has a lengthy section devoted to making sacrifices as well. There's a whole table listing the different bonuses you receive based on the circumstances surrounding the ceremony. Quite a few options for outcomes as well.

Grafts + Symbionts + husk of infinite worlds + warp touch = lots of lovely aberrations for my players come across though. Are there any lists?

Are there any necromancy options that don't just add numeric buffs to undead(corpsecrafter)

The Graft Flesh feat appears in a couple different books (Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, & Lords of Madness, I think).

Libris Mortis in particular has a lot of different options for undead grafts that do more than give ability/skill boosts. You can graft appendages that cast spells, grant incorporeal attacks, or do ability drain. (It's basically a craft skill for limbs; I imagine it would be pretty easy to develop your own grafts using the examples given.)

[Promethean]

Yeah, unfortunately rituals don't seem to get as much development compared to other types of magic.

That said, I've seen a few different feats that grant access to/knowledge of specific rituals. Exemplars of Evil has Fell Conspiracy and a couple others, if I remember correctly. (I'll post more later if they come to mind.)

The BoVD has a lengthy section devoted to making sacrifices as well. There's a whole table listing the different bonuses you receive based on the circumstances surrounding the ceremony. Quite a few options for outcomes as well.

Huh, Why does evil always get the good stuff? Not to mention evil organizations are the ones with all the OP wizard prestiges(red wizard/tainted scholar on a bbeg, *Shivers*), How has evil not won yet?

The Graft Flesh feat appears in a couple different books (Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, & Lords of Madness, I think).

Libris Mortis in particular has a lot of different options for undead grafts that do more than give ability/skill boosts: you can graft appendages that cast spells, grant incorporeal attacks, or do ability drain. (It's basically a craft skill for limbs; I imagine it would be pretty easy to develop your own grafts using the examples given.)

I now have reading material to comb through.

[BlackOnyx]

Huh, Why does evil always get the good stuff?

Actually, I ran a quick check, and it looks like Unearthed Arcana has a section detailing "incantations" (rituals) and rules/tables for developing them. It gives quite a few examples, too. (Glad you brought up the topic. I'll have to see about using some of those guidelines myself, haha.)

How has evil not won yet?

Bad PR, sadly. The good aligned deities have first dibs on all the marketing majors.

I now have reading material to comb through.

Always happy to lend a hand to a fellow student of postmortem studies.

The BoVD in particular is a great book if your PC is interested in mad science. It has sections detailing concepts like "souls as power," "pain as power," "demonic engines," "hiveminds,"...it's the perfect toolset for PCs with alignments south of neutral. (It's one of the few sourcebooks I've actually sat down & read from cover to cover.)

[Bullet06320]

Anyone know any printed material that touches on the more "sciency" side of D&D?

I haven't seen alchemy(I know alchemy and herbalism by bastion/dragonwing press is good) or special materials(I've never seen a complete list of materials with properties And sources, like ever. I still don't know what glowsteel is/comes from) explored very much in SRD and only barely in 3rd party. I find that sad considering there are more spells and magic item improvements then could be stored on any one server(even though 3.5 doesn't Just have spellcasters spellcasting, it also has binder's binding, warlocks invoking, psions mind-raping, truenamers sucking, and warblades..... um, karate?).

I've seen Alloys touched on twice(with oarth-blood and true-ore respectively, both dragon magazine material) and never again(I honestly would have been happy if they made a random effect table for mixing metals, role a d100 to see if mixing adamantine and mithril makes the magical equivalent of C4! They did something similar in early editions with potion mixing.)

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...aterials-Index

warcraft d20 has tech stuff, plus magic and mayhem, and more magic and mayhem

legends & lairs sorcery and steam

Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood has rules for creating magic items as tech devices

[ShurikVch]

Well, Obyriths are kinda science-ish - they created many older species of Tanar'ri, and even Demogorgon is their creation

Currently, especially active of them is Dwiergus, the Chrysalis Prince, ruler of 558th level of Abyss (aptly named "Fleshforges")

Demogorgon himself is also science-y a bit: he invented Death Knights, created Orlaths, and Verakia




In Planescape, Fraternity of Order may be considered science-y (and, maybe, Society of Sensation - too)


Dragon #339 have "Heinfroth's Manual of Methods" article (intended for use in Masque of the Red Death)
The "Heinfroth's Manual of Methods" is also name of lab journal/spellbook, which was originally written by Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth, head physician of the Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed; it have such spells as Lobotomize, Shock Treatment, and Submersion Treatment...



And, speaking of Masque of the Red Death, Dragon #315 have Luminaire PrC - champion of La Lumière (The Enlightenment)

And the book Masque of the Red Death (published by Sword & Sorcery in 2004) have Scholar/Scientist (as subclass of Intellectual), and Master Inventor PrC


Dungeon #108/Polyhedron #163 has "Dark•Matter: Shades of Grey", which included such classes as Antiquarian and Xenoengineer


Return to the Temple of the Frog have cyborgs, blasters, and power armor. Does it count as..?


In Dragon #312, some of necromantic feats are required Heal check to use (because they're physically modify the corpse)


Dragon #359 introduced Craft (body modifications) skill; mentioned options include "Combat Mod" (weapon/armor), "Embedded Holy Symbol", "Extra Body Slot", "Living Spellbook", and "Skin Pokets"


In Dragon #351, "The Clockwork Disciple" article have technomagical devices


Dragon Magazine Annual 2001 have article on Dragonstar, which includes some Spellware:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...aterials-Index

Also, Dragon Magazine Annual 5 have Lenaer wood (-25% weight, +10' range increment), Vakar metal (+2d6 damage vs. elves), copper-adamantite alloy, and Slug crystal (-25% weight, but very brittle)

warcraft d20 has tech stuff, plus magic and mayhem, and more magic and mayhem

Also, Goblin Tinker in Dark Factions, and Techno Mage in Land of Mystery

Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood has rules for creating magic items as tech devices

To lessere extend, devices are also produced by Gnome Artificer (PrC from Magic of Faerûn)

[AlanBruce]

All of the above suggestions are extremely good, but if you want to introduce some mad science into your game, just refluff some already existing things and steer away from the mystic aspect and more into the scientific.

Case in point, my current game has the party delving into a Transmuter's mansion/lab. She has been working on all kinds of creatures and warping a few races herself so as to create her "perfect kingdom.""

Of course, she needs data on how her creations will fare when she eventually decides to let them loose and take over the city the party lives in, and so, the meddling PCs are perfect test subjects against her BOWs.

Notable creatures she has experimented on (files found by the PCs have confirmed that she uses human and humanoid races to create new ones- that's where the mad science part comes into play):

Leechwalkers

Insectile creatures

Chokers with class levels in rogue

Pseudonatural creatures

Ravenous zombies (byproducts resultant of failed test subjects)

Introduce words like "labs", "systems", "genetic experimentation", "encrypted codes", "consoles" and "security feeds", to name a few. Most if not all of these can be easily found in 3.5 already. Just refluff it and have the party ID it with the right knowledge check.

I use some homebrew on top of what I mentioned, but it isn't necessary if you want to stick to written material, though.

[Bullet06320]

Also, Dragon Magazine Annual 5 have Lenaer wood (-25% weight, +10' range increment), Vakar metal (+2d6 damage vs. elves), copper-adamantite alloy, and Slug crystal (-25% weight, but very brittle)

looks like I have some updating to do, thanks ShurikVch

[Bakkan]

All of the above suggestions are extremely good, but if you want to introduce some mad science into your game, just refluff some already existing things and steer away from the mystic aspect and more into the scientific.

I did this for a game in which the antagonist was working to develop the Emerald Legion. When the party made it into his compound, they found all manner of instruments and experiments running. My favorite set piece was a creature that has been cut into thin slices held between transparent sheets of glass, but that was kept alive magically, its bodily fluids floating between its sliced-open arteries and cavities.

[LuminousWarrior]

First of all, I'm saving all of this for later use. It's going to be very useful later on in the campaign I'm running.

Second, if you're not opposed to dipping into Pathfinder stuff there's a monster in the Bestiary 4 called the necrocraft. It's basically a build your own undead nightmare. If you want even more options maybe you could dip into the summoner's eidolon. Additionally, there's the Technology Guide which adds options for just straight up sci-fi elements. The implants and grafts seem like something you might want to look into. It shouldn't be hard to refluff the tech options as magical if you don't want to go full sci-fi. Dermal plating is hard scales or metal plates fused into the skin, cybernetic legs or arms are magically animated constructs instead of robotic, ect..

[Promethean]

All of the above suggestions are extremely good, but if you want to introduce some mad science into your game, just refluff some already existing things and steer away from the mystic aspect and more into the scientific.

I appreciate the suggestion, but that isn't really had I had in mind. I guess I'm more going for the eberron analogy, a d&d world being still just a magical/mystical with people just experimenting with magic in way other than the bog-standard "I learn new spell X" or "I give my sword a +2 enhancement". I like grafts, alchemy, and special materials for instance, because it adds another layer to the world than just standard spells.

And with that I kind of hate artificer infusions, they're just re-flavored spells. From my point of view, a UMD rogue that crafts magic items through scrolls or a 12 level warlock are closer to the idea of an "artificer"(A.K.A. A guy who crafts and uses magical tools rather than spells). Though that's just my point of view on it.

Actually that just gave me that idea for a UMD rogue that uses magic items, rare ingredients, and alchemy as tools to craft new magical items. Are their any rules on using magic items other than scrolls for spell prerequisites?

[raygun goth]

Rogues can't have caster levels, and therefore can't craft magic items.

Artificer infusions are merely "nice to have," not the meat of the class. The meat is that you can make a magic-powered Iron Man that deals ridiculous wand damage and can shoot his backpack off as an independent homunculous buffed to Hell and back by taking apart other magic items and using their juice to make more.

[Quarian Rex]

If you want to look into a Pathfinder book called Spheres of Might it has a class called the Technician that has all kinds of techno/steampunk creations, and is one of the most successful attempts to bring tech into D&D that I've ever seen. Best part about it is that it all works kind of like adding masterwork additions to items as opposed to spell casting by another name. Really satisfying stuff.

It even has a archetype called Mad Scientist that is exactly what it says on the tin, allowing you to throw out some short duration robotic mind control parasites, alchemical zombie butler/bodyguard, or even a portal gun.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I may at times have mentioned building a special laboratory for a high-level manifester/artificer...

Spoiler

Show

Fusion + astral seed + shapechange/polymorph any object + trait removal + greater humanoid essence/aspect of the wolf. Custom-build your chimera.

Well, the fusion + astral seed combination lets you combine two creatures and make the combination permanent, with one creature in charge (and the other presumably dead, but whatever).

Fusion has the following limits:
Target must be:

• willing,
• of the same type,
• living,
• corporeal, and
• of the same size or smaller.

Astral seed lets you to store a backup of your current form and abilities, so you manifest it while the fusion is active, then die, get reborn, and have all the abilities. As per the power's text:

You possess all the abilities you possessed when astral seed was manifested [...]

Shapechange and polymorph any object serve two purposes: first, it allows us to get around type restrictions, and second, it allows us to create willing creatures by repeatedly altering and fusing with our psicrystal. The nice thing about psicrystals is that they are (mentally) a fragment of your own personality, so even DM screw shouldn't lead to disparate-minds-trapped-in-one-body shenanigans.

Greater humanoid essence lets us fuse with constructs. Aspect of the wolf can give anything the animal type, if it's convenient. I think there are similar spells around for undead, outsiders, elementals and so on. Greater metamorphosis will help as well, and ghost trap can make creatures corporeal. Naturally, expansion can do its bit, as well, for example for elder brains and chronotryns (assuming a medium wizard).

Trait removal is a spell from Serpent Kingdoms that lets you remove annoying (Ex) and (Su) abilities. For example, the mind shard of Pandorym has a host of great abilities, but it also has Limited Existence (Ex), which is not the kind of ability you want on an immortal god-wizard. Ability rip is another cool ability that does similar work.

Fusion + astral seed, a great combo. It's broken, but I seriously doubt anyone could pull it off without the DM cooperating: it's just too obvious you're cooking up a scheme. Look at the work it takes to set up: procuring suitable fusion targets, making them willing, adjusting type and size, removing undesirable abilities, dying, regrowing your body - it's not a walk in the park. That said, it's really awesome, and I still want to play a character with a proper fusion laboratory.

Mad Science happens through magic. Clarke's Third Law and all that.