Quick question about the Leech: What exactly can be done with Gadgets, mechanically speaking?

Quick question about the Leech: What exactly can be done with Gadgets, mechanically speaking?

Quick question about the Leech: What exactly can be done with Gadgets, mechanically speaking? Is it just a matter of creating some kind of device that will give an advantage, like adding Potency to an appropriate roll during a job?

8 thoughts on “Quick question about the Leech: What exactly can be done with Gadgets, mechanically speaking?”

  2. I have a leech in both of my games, and they both took Artificer as their special ability. They do occasionally roll to fix something or disable something during a score, but most often what they do is flashback to when they created some sort of crazy device that they knew they’d need for the score.

    I treat this similar to the Whisper’s Tempest ability, where they pay stress equal to the magnitude of the result they’d like from their gadget, and then attempt a tinker roll to see how successful the device is. The position of the roll isn’t based on how complex the gadget is (that’s what the stress was for), but by the situation they’re in when they activate it. Once they roll they’ve committed to using the device success or fail. The idea being that they definitely completed their crazy barely functional clockwork/alchemical gadget and now they’re turning it on to see how it works. For the most part the gadgets are one use, and I allow the tinker roll to cover it’s creation and use in the scene (no need to roll a hunt to fire your crazy plasma pistol, it’s self targeting but only gets one shot). 

    Here is a short list of some of the things they’ve created

    – Canal boat mounted dog launcher

    – Ghost vacuum

    – Atomized spray canister than can dissolve whole bodies in a matter of seconds

    – An energy shield that can deflect bullets for a very short period of time, with the side effect that you move at half speed while it’s on

    – Juggernaut armor (lets you run through walls leaving behind you-shaped holes)

    This system works for us because the leeches see themselves kind of like gadget wizards, similar to how whispers are ghost wizards. I’m sure other people do very different things.

  3. As far as the mechanics go…. (misses the point), I’M THE BEST ONE OUT THERE LET ME TEACH YA THING OR TWO… Ya got your electroplasmic capsules that will connect to the inside of whatever modern technological device you’re creating. Prolly wanna throw a motor in if you have any rotating parts in the drafts. Heh, yeahhhp, bit obvious, anyone who ain’t some dreamsmoked dilettante in Brightstone should know that. Hehehhehheheheh, errrrm, anyway. Make sure you have the right kind of both. The resistance in the motor will either be so high for the itty bitty little battery your device doesn’t start or worse, so little you create a violently hazardous short circuit. Why ya think this arm’s made of metal!? This was a lucky break! Any of you go into Bellweather, better be for business! Don’t make your worried parents come here calling me ” injudicious “, or I’ll snap your Pop’s ribs and make ‘im pay for a replacement.

  4. Okay, for a legitimate answer, it’s probably better to improve their position when they have an appropriate gadget, rather than give them potency. Obviously if they can make a Fine gadget then that’s different: give them both.

    Otherwise, it’s just all about the Leech’s weird knack for having the right tool for the job and all the techno-jargon and sometimes expensive ingredients they have to expend in the process.

  5. I generally don’t like to make the PC roll twice to achieve that same result (yes, sometimes filling a clock  takes multiple rolls, but the fiction still advances). If the leech flashes back to when he created the device and succeeds his roll, I don’t want him to have to roll again to use it. Feels like double dipping and fishing for failures to me. I want the leech to feel like a crazy mad scientist whose inventions have serious effects on the fiction. I basically picture them like the sparks from http://www.girlgeniusonline.com (definitely worth reading for reference).

  7. I take no credit for that. There was an elaborate plan to fling the hounds hunting pet through a window. The thing can already walk through walls so I don’t know why they bothered.

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