Runesmith

The Future Rework of the Techmaturge

Hello everyone, welcome to another article in the weekly column Hexcriba, with the title of Runic Blacksmiths, the Future Rework of Techmaturge, come follow a little of the thoughts that should parameterize this future rework, planned for version 1.22.

With the tale "Sisterhood of War" that had its part 1 and 2 released, we get to know about Runic Blacksmiths, in this case, we know Tifalenji, a Runic blacksmith who carries a weapon described in a very similar way to Riven's sword.

Infelizmente o conto não é tão amplo ainda na explicação do que são exatamente esses Ferreiros Rúnicos, sem dar spoiler sobre as duas partes dessa história, temos ciência apenas de que existem pessoas que podem forjar armas imbuídas com runas e.ou magia, e as mesmas podem ser ativadas liberando efeitos mágicos.

In Runeterra RPG we always value to use the material already created and we prioritize the use of the bases that were established, in this case, we have a kind of war craftsman who can forge such weapons although he is not (as far as we know) a conjurer himself.

The theme of the craftsman is treated in the Runeterra RPG through the class of Techmaturge, a class focused on people who act in a similar way to science and inventors, creating semi magical or really magical wonders.

It's no secret to anyone who follows the Runeterra RPG, that the theme although it exists is not in its primordium, much less developed in order to be totally well set in this world. Another thing that is no secret is that the class, although it has been modified, was not created by us.

As with the Marksman, the class originally presented in the book was not created by us, but slightly modified and adapted, receiving at another time a rework really created by us with the theme and power parameters of the system in mind.

As stated in last week's article, Past, Present and Future, Techmaturge will receive a Rework planned for version 1.22, however even before the version in question is released, the rework must be published here on an alpha (or beta) basis for testing and community appreciation.

The Rework

In this rework we will try to better capture the fantasy of the craftsman in Runeterra, making better use of the elements originally proposed and taking into account the champions who share this theme and use this class. As always, the class and its subclasses should be modeled so that they can serve the champions and the creation of totally new characters.

When we decide to create a class or even make a rework, we start exactly from this theme that will be explored, in the case of Tecmaturgo, is someone who does not necessarily conjure magic, but manages to channel it into objects giving them magical characteristics, or even expanding their natural abilities.

The best example for this is in the text "The Techmaturge" that accompanies the class, in it we demonstrate the tecmaturgos of different regions find the raw material for their inventions. Take into account that the version of Runeterra presented by Runeterra RPG brings the statement that magic flourishes everywhere, although in some places it is more intense.

This way, the Techmaturge ends up being an inventor who gathers pieces with different capacities and is able to reproduce inventions, for example a Techmaturge based in Ionia can use a seed that has explosive power both to create grenades and to drive other things through the explosion generated.

This takes us back to the Runic Blacksmiths. We lack information in order to have a better idea of how they would fit in, but it would certainly be Techmaturges. Perhaps a new subclass (based on the current one) or perhaps in Rework the "resource" of runic forging is one of many available to the various subclasses.

In the initial thoughts of the class recreation, although we used the original class "Engineer" as a basis, we tried to maintain a balance of characteristics that better reflect Runeterra, for this we launched the first question:

Who are the Techmaturges?

When looking at League of Legends, we list which champions fit this class, but besides champions, we also look at Legends of Runeterra to find more characters that also work within these rules.

In a general overview we have:

• Heimerdinger
• Jayce
• Viktor
• Ekko
• Alune
• Corki (maybe?)
• Jinx
• Orianna
• Rumble
• Singed
• Ziggs

Each one of these champions has characteristics that align them with the Techmaturges, in some cases no effort is needed to understand this, like Heimerdinger or even Jayce, but in other cases it is necessary to look not only at the character within the game, but in its lore / story.

One of these examples is Jinx, within the League of Legends she only uses firearms and has a very complete arsenal, but when we enter her story, we know that she has some knowledge of how to make these "trinkets" work even though she has a "weaponry" that actually helps her.

Another example is Singed. In game he just leaves a cloud of smoke, but in his lore we know that he is a cruel inventor and that he is even responsible for Warwick's "mutation". The fantasy of the unscrupulous mad scientist is also included in the techmaturge.

Ekko, on the other hand, is a genius, a boy who can use piltovan "garbage" for creations in Zaun, someone who can understand "how things work" and is able to redesign them for new uses and new approaches. If we stopped only at his in-game concept, we would fail to capture this characteristic. 

A last important case to be mentioned here is that of Alune, the sister of Aphelios who is on the spiritual plane in a Lunari fortress. Most likely she fits more as an acolyte than as a techmaturge, but if we think that she provides her brother with the lunari weapons, perhaps made by her, this expands.

You see, with the little information we have, these extrapolations are important and necessary to continue the creation of the class. Of course, this makes us susceptible to error, since at any moment Riot Games can launch some tale showing that something we created is not correct. 

That is why, once we have established these initial parameters, we continue this work with this in mind. 

This leads us to how to create the "core" of the class, so that it serves all the champions approached by it, even if at different levels, and opens to us the range of Subclasses, which are the expressions and specializations of that class, ways in which it expresses itself and develops.

Expertise

Currently the subclasses divisor is the specialization, each specialization generates a Subclass and the examination of the current ones tells us a little bit of how we should develop the subclasses of Rework, although at that first moment we are not sure which will be maintained or if all will be recreated from scratch. Currently we have the following subclasses:

Battle Tech

• He is someone who, besides creating his inventions, specializes in combat and its use, is a character that although he has the ability to create several inventions, ends up concentrating on one (or some) more specific ones and I learn how to use it well in combat. In this case we have Jayce, maybe Ekko and even Jinx.

Gadgeteer

• The Gadgeteer is a Techmaturge that ends up expanding its versatility and inventions, without focusing too much on a specific one or its use, it will generally have a capacity to have more disposable creations and will be less specialized. Here fit Heimerdinger, Ziggs and Rumble himself with his Mech.

Technomage

• A techmaturge who uses his inventions to study magic, may end up developing magical powers or even having control of the magic produced by his invention at a much higher level. In this case we have Orianna, her story tells us that she had good techmaturgy skills and ended up becoming a builder thanks to it. When we try to express her abilities, maybe the best synergy is with a techmaturge who is also a conjurer.

Alchemist

• The Alchemist is a techmaturge with a much greater focus on chemistry and the reactions of ingredients. In this way he becomes an Alchemist by generating "magical" reactions through ingredients of an expressed or even dormant magical nature. The example we have is Singed.

Each one of these 4 subclasses seeks to better develop the many characteristics of an "Inventor" or a "Mad Scientist" or just a "Technological Genius", but as we look both at the core of this class and its expressions, we realize that "a lot is missing".

This feeling that a lot of things are missing comes first because it's content from third parties that we adapt to the system, but mainly because it's content created without having Runeterra in mind, without having the history of League of Legends and the nuances that the world presents to us.

Exactly as with the Runic Blacksmiths. Although we still don't know how they fit together, an analysis shows us that they are very likely Tecmaturgos, but how can this be developed?

Resources

One of the first thoughts in the Techmaturge Rework is not through the subclasses above, but perhaps through a unique feature that are the Resources. Although "science" is one, in a fantastic and magical world it has various ways of developing itself, for example, a scholar of the magical abilities of creatures may not have the slightest idea how mixing two chemical powders can create a tremendous explosion.

Or, a forger of runic armor can understand a lot about how to channel certain words of power through glyphs, fix them on objects but have no idea how a hextec gun works.

In terms of interpretation this can be explored in various ways, as a techmaturge having to adapt to a different type of "technology" than his in order to produce the same results, or even at a higher level, being able to use more than one resource for his inventions.

All of this is probably expressed in a new class characteristic that seeks to develop these expressions and make them more particular and vivid, away from being just "different faces for the same thing". 

See that none of this is totally certain, this rework is still in an early stage and therefore many of the thoughts here can change immensely in the course of it.

Still talking about resources, the techmaturge is by default an intelligent and to some extent studious being, so even resources may not be a limiting condition, but may even become something more focused on interpretation and not so rooted in rules.

How will this develop? This question remains in the air, but thinking about it brings us to another point that is also open in our face with the tale of Sisterhood:

Users

Not everyone who uses a techmaturgical invention is a tecmaturgist. For example, Caitlyn uses a Hextec rifle, but she herself is not said to be an inventor or scholar who seeks ways to improve her rifle, she is a marksman who makes use of tools created by other techmaturgists.

In parallel to this, we have Riven using his runic sword but not knowing how to "fix" it while Tifalenji can apparently not only fix it but also create new ones.

This takes us to the crossroads of rework, not making the mistake of leaving the exclusive resource to Techmaturge but at the same time not making every Techmaturge just a "gunsmith" supporting the heroes of a story.

In terms of rules, this complicates the use a bit, because the presence of a techmaturge and resources could quickly arm players with "magic" weapons, unbalancing the level of power of the table in relation to threats. 

With this in mind, we know that the techmaturge must be able to create inventions for his fellow adventurers, but that this is not something so easy and ordinary, making their existence important, either to repair these inventions, or simply for them to work only in their proximity, as if the energy that makes them work emanated from him.

See how complicated that is? When inserting rules for creating "magic" items, we have to try to balance that a Runic Blacksmith can make Riven's sword and that she uses it without being a techmaturge, but at the same time he can create his own that may work only with him around, otherwise quickly players can take advantage of the accumulation of resources by breaking some of how the characters progression works.

Conclusion

Every time we start the rework of a class, a series of thoughts like the ones exposed here end up happening, as usually this is done by Luke and I, believe me, it's a sea of ideas and many non-functional trips, trying to bring the "affection" that this class demands.

A good part of the above thoughts has to go through several filters, be them of theme and history, be them of enabling rules and thinking in the scales of power. 

The classes have similar levels of power in a general set, but end up expressing different peaks of power, while some have very valuable resources right at the first levels, others end up finding this peak of power at higher levels. 

Another thought that we always take into consideration is how much fun it will be to play with this class, it's no use that it works mechanically and respects the story, but it lacks fun, a perception of how it can be useful in a group and still bring fun to the player who controls it.

I hope that bringing you to some of what we think in creating a class (or reconstruction) shows the challenges we face to bring something good, fun and that really works in Runeterra and Runeterra RPG.

See you next week!