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Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells - Archetypes: The Smart

Artwork by Louis Glanzman
I am away from my computer for sometime, but I am still writing stuff for Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells. Today I am sharing the draft text for the Archetype called The Smart, which is like a do it all technician, scientist sort of guy.

The Smart


If something goes wrong with a computer or engine, it’s you who they call. For some reason, you just have a knack for technology and machines. Even if they’ve never seen a device, it’s usually just a matter of time until they figure how it works and how to fix it. And if they give you a few more hours you can even make some improvements!

The Smart is a character focused on the use of technology and machines. They make great assets to an age where although technology is ever present, it’s not truly understood, and many of its secrets are forgotten. In combat they are invaluable allies, improving the effectiveness of weapons and vehicles, as well as being capable of making repairs to them when they are in dire need.

Prime Attributes: Intellect and Agility
Recovery Roll: 1d6
Special Abilities

  • I Can Fix This: The Smart, somehow, always know what's wrong or can always find a way to make some kind of emergency repairs. In game terms, they always halve the Difficulty when making repairs to technological devices and can make in Combat Jury Rigging adding their Level to the amount of Structure points recovered (see Chapter 7: Vehicles and Starships for more informal on repairing vehicles).
  • I Made Some Improvements: With some time, appropriate tools and creativity, The Smart can make improvements to technological objects. When spending a number of hours determined by the Overlord (based on the object’s complexity), he can make a minor improvement like the ones below. The character can have a number of active improvements equal to his Level.
    • Gain a Positive Die when using the device.
    • Improve the damage caused by the weapon by +1 per dice used (1d6 becomes 1d6+1, 2d6 becomes 2d6+2).
    • Increase the range the object can affect by one increment (close to short, short to medium, and so on).
    • Other minor improvements the Overlord deems appropriate.
  • Machines Speak to Me: Ancient technology is hard to understand, but The Smart have a better chance to understand it. When trying to understand how an ancient technological device works, the character receives a Positive Die.
  • I’ve Read About This: The Smart also specializes in various fields of knowledge, from engineering to xenology, to many other fields in between. Starting at first Level, and again at each odd Level after that, they choose a field of study. These fields grant Positive Die when making knowledge tests relating to them.

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