New Classes (EN Publishing Santiago setting rules)

[Gamer Printshop]

EN Publishing's Santiago setting is a sci-fi setting for Pathfinder RPG. Interestingly magic is tech in Santiago, that is spells are called "technical procedures" and replace their names with more sci-fi sounding versions, but the mechanics is exactly the same, just that the perceptions is that something science-y is going on and not magic. Santiago has an Engineer class that craft technology and create bombs, but have access to technical procedures of a cleric's divine spells. Bards are cartographers, paladins are barristers. However, there isn't a class version of wizard or sorcerer and I'd like to add a version to my home game.

Hacker (santiago alternate class for wizard)

A hacker is a software programmer that uses a PPU (Procedural Processing Unit) with a voice activated holographic touchscreen to either program nanites to perform specific instructions or wirelessly connects to starship/facility computer networks to manifest "spell effects" for attacks, defense and utility programs.

Technical Procedures: are lines of code created by the hacker to manifest "spell effects".

PPU (Procedural Processing Unit): a tiny computer worn on a selected body slot chosen by the hacker contains a built-in harddrive that holds the technical procedures known by the hacker. This replaces spell book.

Daily RAM: limitations of RAM memory and battery power match the daily known technical procedures of the hacker. As the hacker levels he can write more efficient code that allows for additional slots for technical procedures. This replaces spell slots.

AI-UAV: a tiny unmanned aerial vehicle with artificial intelligence and a manipulator arm assists the hacker. This replaces bonded familiar.

[Gamer Printshop]

Space travel and space combat is mostly hand-waved by the Santiago setting, however, I'd like to include space travel and 3D space combat into my Santiago-based home game. Although I still need to decide on what 3D combat rules I intend to use, I thought that creating a starship pilot base class was a good place to start, so here I go...

Starship Pilot (a base class)

The starship pilot makes travel across the great expanse possible for goods and passengers. She is trained to operate everything from ground vehicles and submersibles to interstellar ships and entire fleets. Skilled with both ship's gunnery and tech pistols, a pilot is prepared to face any threat in space or in person. Because of the constant need for parts, fuel, crew, passengers, cargo and contacts, a pilot learns streetwise skills to deal with starport personnel to keep her ship flying profitably.

Role: a starship pilot provides transportation for an adventure party, as well as air support on ground actions. She can even serve as a tech savvy soldier, or as the party face in the environs of starports.

Alignment any, HD d10
Starting Wealth 5d6 x 10 (average 175) credits

Class Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Fly, Knowledge (astronomy), Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (technology), Perception, Profession (starship crewman), Ride, Sense Motive, Techcraft, Use Technical Device.
Skill ranks per level: 6 + INT modifier.

Saves: Good Reflex and Will

Class|Base|Fort|Ref|Will| Level|Attack Bonus|Save|Save|Save|Special 1|+1|+0|+2|+2|Pilot 1, protocols, marooned trained 2|+2|+0|+3|+3|Combat Style Feat (gunnery) 3|+3|+1|+3|+3|Amateur Gunslinger, Starport Savvy +2 4|+4|+1|+4|+4|Side Arm Bond 5|+5|+1|+4|+4|Pilot 2, Technical Procedures, Simple Tech 6|+6/+1|+2|+5|+5|Combat Style Feat (gunner) 7|+7/+2|+2|+5|+5|Fast Hazard Negotiation 8|+8/+3|+2|+6|+6|Leadership, Starport Savvy +4 9|+9/+4|+3|+6|+6|Evasive Maneuvers 10|+10/+5|+3|+7|+7|Pilot 3, Combat Style Feat (gunnery) 11|+11/+6/+1|+3|+7|+7|IFF Manipulation 12|+12/+7/+2|+4|+8|+8|Technical Counter Measures 13|+13/+8/+3|+4|+8|+8|Starport Savvy +6 14|+14/+9/+4|+4|+9|+9|Combat Style Feat (gunnery) 15|+15/+10/+5|+5|+9|+9|Pilot 4 16|+16/+11/+6/+1|+5|+10|+10|Improved Evasive Maneuvers 17|+17/+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Cloaking Tech 18|+18/+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+11|Combat Style Feat (gunnery), Starport Savvy +8 19|+19/+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Advanced IFF Manipulation 20|+20/+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|Master Pilot, Urban Savvy

Pilot 1 (Ex) (Midshipman) - at 1st level, a starship pilot gains the ability to launch, fly and land small craft including personal land vehicles, surface ocean sport vessels, 6 man submersibles, private aerial vehicles, escape pods, and orbital shuttles. Pilots are able to make light ship maintenance and repair on small craft systems. Gain a +2 DC bonus to fly checks when operating appropriate vessels.

Protocols (Ex) at 1st level a starship pilot understands the compliance of starship communications for diplomatic, military and corporate communication channel protocols. This grants a +2 bonus to diplomacy checks when using shipboard communication systems with ship, station and planetary authorities.

Marooned Trained (Ex) gain half your pilot levels as a bonus to heal and survival checks in situations of crash landing a starship and becoming marooned adrift or in primitive environments. The pilot can scavenge parts of the communications and the sensor array to create a signaling device in case the communications system fails to operate.

Combat style feat (gunner) (Ex) at 2nd level choose one of the feats without having to meet prerequisites involving starship gunnery and missile systems: death from above, focused shot, point blank shot, precise shot; at 6th add improved precise shot, parting shot, point blank master, and siege engineer; at 10th level add deadly aim, and master siege engineer; and at 14th and 18th levels Starship weapons include slug-thrower cannons, blaster cannons, ray cannons, sonic cannons and missile batteries.

Amateur Gunslinger at 3rd level a pilot gains this as a bonus feat, gain a grit pool and access to deeds.

Starport Savvy (Ex) at 3rd level a pilot gains a +2 morale bonus to Appraise, Bluff, Diplomacy, Perception, and Sense Motive checks in the vicinity of starports working like street-wise so they can minimize port costs, find reliable and most affordable parts to repair starship systems, fuel, personnel, passengers, and goods for cargo or buyers of goods you sell. This bonus increases by +2 at 8th, 13th and 18th level.

Side Arm Bond (Ex) at 4th level a starship pilot gains +1 competence bonus to attacks using a chosen tech pistol side arm, either a slug-thrower, blaster, or sonic gun. This bonus increases by +1 every 3 levels, at 18th level she has a +6 competence bonus.

Technical Procedures – a starship pilot has access to a limited amount of technical procedures from the Pilot list, mostly involving shipboard operations, flight, armaments, defenses and maintenance. A PPU (procedural processing unit) is built into the cockpit or bridge console to program technical procedures on a physical touchscreen. At 4th level if the pilot has an INT bonus she can begin to use technical procedures, otherwise no slots are available until 5th level. (Technical procedures are spells in the Tech universe.) [Used the Ranger's Spell List for available spell slots].

Simple Tech - technical procedures equivalent to cantrips list.

Pilot 2 (Ex) (Lieutenant) at 5th level a starship pilot gains the ability to launch, fly and land interplanetary starships using commercial star lanes, as well as operate colossal land and aerial vehicles, surface ships and submersibles with large crews. Light vehicle maintenance and repair on craft systems and safety procedure compliance. Gain a +2 DC bonus to fly checks when operating appropriate vessels (this stacks with Pilot 1 bonus when applied to Pilot 1 vessels.)

Fast Hazard Negotiation (Ex), starting at 7th level a starship pilot can fly a starship through a vicinity with obstructions like an asteroid belt, floating wreck debris, solar flares, micro-meteors, radiation waves, changes in pressure such in layers of a gas giant, the heat from a nearby star and other hazards of open space, without requiring to slow down.

Leadership – at 8th level a starship pilot gains leadership as a bonus feat, though the cohort must qualify and serve as another bridge or starship officer, such as copilot, engineer, gunnery officer, marine commander, navigation officer, science officer, doctor, or cargo officer.

Evasive Maneuvers(Ex) at 9th level a starship pilot gains the ability to add a +4 competence bonus to starship AC by performing evasive maneuvers to avoid getting targeted by attacking creatures and opposing vessels and terrestrial guns, lasting for a single round.

Pilot 3 (Ex) (Commander) at 10th level a starship pilot gains the ability to launch, fly and land combat and interstellar starships, use complex dog-fighting techniques, and coordinated weapons operations for attack and defense against superior number of enemy ships. Light vehicle maintenance and repair on combat and interstellar starship systems and safety compliance. Vehicles include single manned star fighters up to corvette class combat starships. Gain a +2 DC bonus to fly checks when operating appropriate vessels, (this stacks with Pilot 1 and/or 2 when operating appropriate vessels.)

IFF Manipulation (Su), Identifier Friendly or Foe (IFF) devices identify the registry of your vessel to planets, starports, and other vessels with similar devices through a wireless connection. At 11th level a starship pilot can manipulate her ship registry identity to appear as a different vessel of similar tonnage and sensor signature. A pilot gains a +2 DC to bluff checks to disguise your ship's identity when under sensors only.

Similarly a starship pilot can use IFF manipulation to enhance the sensory signal of vessels in attempts to trail their movement, unless the targeted ship is using IFF manipulation which counters the attempt. A pilot gains a +2 DC to perception checks to track vessels out of visual range, but within sensor range.

Technical Counter Measures (Su) at 12th level a starship pilot gains the ability to activate jamming signals and create decoy beacons that confuse weapon targeting systems or block harmful signals to avoid ship damage or detection by sensors. This ability grants a 6 + half your starship pilot levels + INT Bonus for DC checks versus use of technical procedures that target your vehicle. This condition lasts for a number of rounds equal to your INT bonus, minimum 1 round.

Pilot 4 (Ex) (Captain) at 15th level a starship pilot gains the ability to launch, fly and dock the largest interstellar starships including warships of the line, and the largest mercantile vessels, tankers and luxury liners. Operate ship diagnostics and manage maintenance crews for all starship systems and safety compliance. Gain a +2 DC bonus to fly checks when operating appropriate vessels, (this stacks with Pilots 1, and/or 2, and/or 3 when operating appropriate vehicles.)

Improved Evasive Maneuvers (Ex), at 16th level a starship pilot gains the ability to exceed safety compliance levels to perform evasive stunts, granting a +8 competence bonus to ship's AC lasting a single round.

Cloaking Technology (Sp), at 17th level a starship pilot gains the ability to operate complex cloaking technology that can render a starship invisible to all but the closest sensor ranges, granting a +4 enhancement bonus to AC and full concealment. This ability lasts until you attack or perform some activity that engages those outside your starship that reveal your presence.

Advanced IFF Manipulation (Su), at 19th level a starship pilot gains the ability to improve her IFF manipulation to disguise her actual flight path, appear as any tonnage and configuration to sensor arrays, or can briefly appear as large as a fleet of ships or not there at all (for 1 round per level), increases the bonus to +4 to Bluff. Similarly, in attempts to trail ships this bonus grants a +4 to Perception checks, (only +2 bonus for targeted ships using IFF manipulation.)

Master Pilot (Ex), at 20th level a starship pilot gains the ability to launch, fly, dock and coordinate a fleet of starships for military, scientific and mercantile operations, logistics, maintenance and personnel management, usually operating from the largest flagship or a terrestrial combat station.

Urban Savvy (Ex) at 20th level a pilot can apply her Starport Savvy bonuses in all urban environments, not just while confined to starport areas.

Starship Pilot Technical Procedure List: TBD, but it is much more limited than the Engineer technical procedure list.