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Origins |
Eyes filled with streaming lines of code, a human stretches out her hand and unleashes an equation that turns the air into fire. As the inferno rages around her foes, she negates gravity around her and takes to the air.
Long hair swept by the winds of a localized megastorm, an elf spreads his hands wide and throws his head back. The power that boils in his implants and peripherals lifts him off the ground, and the code surges through him, culminating in an ionized discharge of deadly lightning.
Crouching behind an overturned dumpster, a wukong points their finger at a charging mutant. A blast of kinetic energy rips through the air to strike the horrific creature. They duck back behind cover, unaware that their erratic code has turned their fur bright blue.
Source coders carry a legacy of power conferred on them by fragments of the Old 'Net, a repository of ancient knowledge that only survives into the present in bits and pieces. At some point, every source coder stumbled onto a piece of that ancient code - and it rewrote them in some fundamental fashion. No one chooses the source code; the power chooses the source coder.
Raw Tech
The source code is a part of every source coder, embedding itself in their mind and implants like a memetic virus. The code slowly unlocks portions of itself to grant the character ever more power, manifested in a variety of ways. Their intuitive grasp of tech is very different from the methodical approach of techwizards and their ilk, using their abilities more as an extension of their own bodies and minds instead of something separate from themselves.
Source coders have no use for cyberdecks, dataslates, or the myriad tools and shortcuts used by techwizards to make technology more approachable. Neither do they need a patron to grant them their power, like ordinators or streamers. Their power is an indelible part of themselves, propagating itself through their software and meatware alike, reformatting them to its own inscrutable purposes. In a very real sense, a source coder is a living peripheral, an extension of the Old 'Net and its secrets.
Life on the Fringes
Source coders are rare in the New World, and it's unusual to find one who isn't involved in the freelancing life in some way. People with ancient tech literally running through their veins soon discover that the power doesn't like to stay quiet. A source coder's power wants to be wielded, to be out in the world, and it has a tendency to manifest in unpredictable ways if it isn't called upon regularly.
Source coders often have obscure or quixotic motivations in comparison to other freelancers. Some seek a greater understanding of the code that infuses them, or the answer to the mystery of its origins. Others hope to find a way to purge themselves of it, or to unleash its full potential. Whatever their goals, source coders are invaluable to a group of freelancers, making up for their lack of formal education with enormous flexibility in utilizing their tech.
Proficiency Source Tricks Techs - Tech Slots per Tech Level -
Level Bonus Points Features Known Known 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1 +2 - Techcasting, Code Origin 4 2 2 - - - - - - - -
2 +2 2 Inner Power 4 3 3 - - - - - - - -
3 +2 3 Metatech 4 4 4 2 - - - - - - -
4 +2 4 Ability Score Improvement 5 5 4 3 - - - - - - -
5 +3 5 - 5 6 4 3 2 - - - - - -
6 +3 6 Code Origin Feature 5 7 4 3 3 - - - - - -
7 +3 7 - 5 8 4 3 3 1 - - - - -
8 +3 8 Ability Score Improvement 5 9 4 3 3 2 - - - - -
9 +4 9 - 5 10 4 3 3 3 1 - - - -
10 +4 10 Metatech 6 11 4 3 3 3 2 - - - -
11 +4 11 - 6 12 4 3 3 3 2 1 - - -
12 +4 12 Ability Score Improvement 6 12 4 3 3 3 2 1 - - -
13 +5 13 - 6 13 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 - -
14 +5 14 Code Origin Feature 6 13 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 - -
15 +5 15 - 6 14 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 -
16 +5 16 Ability Score Improvement 6 14 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 -
17 +6 17 Metatech 6 15 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1
18 +6 18 Code Origin Feature 6 15 4 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1
19 +6 19 Ability Score Improvement 6 15 4 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1
20 +6 20 Source Restoration 6 15 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1
As a source coder, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d6 per source coder level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per source coder level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: None
Weapons: Knife, slingshot, quarterstaff, revolver
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Culture, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Technology
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) a revolver and 20 bullets or (b) any civilian weapon
- (a) a delver's pack or (b) a hobo's pack
- A tech focus and two knives
Techcasting
An event in your past left an indelible mark on you, infusing you with ancient code. This source code, whatever its origin, fuels and informs your techs.
Tricks
At 1st level, you know four tricks of your choice from the source coder tech list. You learn additional source coder tricks of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Tricks Known column of the Source coder table.
Tech Slots
The Source Coder table shows how many tech slots you have to cast your techs of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these source coder techs, you must expend a slot of the tech's level or higher. You regain all expended tech slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level tech flame vent and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level tech slot available, you can cast flame vent using either slot.
Techs Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know two 1st-level techs of your choice from the source coder tech list.
The Techs Known column of the Source Coder table shows when you learn more source coder techs of your choice. Each of these techs must be of a level for which you have tech slots. For instance, when you reach 3rd level in this class, you can learn one new tech of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the source coder techs you know and replace it with another tech from the source coder tech list, which also must be of a level for which you have tech slots.
Techcasting Ability
Charisma is your techcasting ability for your source coder techs, since your power relies on your ability to project your will into the world and master the code within you. You use your Charisma whenever a tech refers to your techcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a source coder tech you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
- Tech save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
- Tech attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Techcasting Focus
You can use a tech focus as a techcasting focus for your source coder techs.
Code Origin
Choose a code origin, which describes the code you tapped into during the event that turned you into a source coder and its manifestations since. Your choice grants you features when you choose it at 1st level and again at 6th, 14th, and 18th level.
Inner Power
At 2nd level, you tap into a deep wellspring of power within yourself. This inner power is represented by source points, which allow you to create a variety of magical effects.
Source Points. You have 2 source points, and you gain more as you reach higher levels, as shown in the Source Points column of the Source Coder table. You can never have more source points than shown on the table for your level. You regain all spent source points when you finish a long rest.
Flexible Casting. You can use your source points to gain additional tech slots, or sacrifice tech slots to gain additional source points. You learn other ways to use your source points as you reach higher levels.
Creating Tech Slots. You can transform unexpended source points into one tech slot as a bonus action on your turn. The Creating Tech Slots table shows the cost of creating a tech slot of a given level. You can create tech slots no higher in level than 5th. The created tech slots vanish at the end of a long rest.
Converting a Tech Slot to Source Points. As a bonus action on your turn, you can expend one tech slot and gain a number of source points equal to the slot's level.
Creating Tech Slots
Tech Source
Slot Level Point Cost
1st 2
2nd 3
3rd 5
4th 6
5th 7
Metatech
At 3rd level, you gain the ability to twist your techs to suit your needs. You gain two of the following Metatech options of your choice. You gain another one at 10th and 17th level.
You can use only one Metatech option on a tech when you cast it, unless otherwise noted.
Careful Tech. When you cast a tech that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, you can protect some of those creatures from the tech's full force. To do so, you spend 1 source point and choose a number of those creatures up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature). A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the tech.
Distant Tech. When you cast a tech that has a range of 5 feet or greater, you can spend 1 source point to double the range of the tech.
When you cast a tech that has a range of touch, you can spend 1 source point to make the range of the tech 30 feet.
Empowered Tech. When you roll damage for a tech, you can spend 1 source point to reroll a number of the damage dice up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). You must use the new rolls.
You can use Empowered Tech even if you have already used a different Metatech option during the casting of the tech.
Extended Tech. When you cast a tech that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, you can spend 1 source point to double its duration, to a maximum duration of 24 hours.
Heightened Tech. When you cast a tech that forces a creature to make a saving throw to resist its effects, you can spend 3 source points to give one target of the tech disadvantage on its first saving throw made against the tech.
Quickened Tech. When you cast a tech that has a casting time of 1 action, you can spend 2 source points to change the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting.
Seeking Tech. If you make an attack roll for a tech and miss, you can spend 2 source coder points to reroll the d20, and you must use the new roll.
You can use Seeking Tech even if you have already used a different Metatech option during the casting of the tech.
Subtle Tech. When you cast a tech, you can spend 1 source point to cast it without any somatic or verbal requirements.
Transmuted Tech. When you cast a tech that deals a type of damage from the following list, you can spend 1 source point to change that damage type to one of the other listed types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder.
Twinned Tech. When you cast a tech that targets only one creature and doesn't have a range of self, you can spend a number of source points equal to the tech's level to target a second creature in range with the same tech (1 source point if the tech is a trick). To be eligible for Twinned Tech, a tech must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the tech's current level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
You can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Code Versatility
When you reach a level in this class that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can do one of the following, representing the code within you flowing in new ways:
- Replace one of the options you chose for the Metatech feature with a different Metatech option available to you.
- Replace one trick you learned from this class' techcasting feature with another trick from the source coder tech list.
Code Guidance
When you reach 5th level, you can tap into your inner power to try and snatch success from failure. When you make an ability check that fails, you can spend 1 source point to reroll the d20, and you must use the new roll, potentially turning the failure into a success.
Source Restoration
At 20th level, you regain 4 expended source points whenever you finish a short rest.
Every source coder has had an encounter with the Old 'Net, an archive of knowledge, tech, and secrets left over from before the rise of the corpo-states. This half-remembered moment of revelation has left them as a living repository of the source code, the foundation of all modern technology. The fragment of code to which a source coder was exposed rewrites their mind and body in fundamental ways, gradually turning them into a sort of living peripheral, capable of instinctive tech feats that take other users years or even decades to replicate.
Origin
- Cyber Valkyrie [Divine Soul]
- Surge Splicer [Draconic Bloodline]