Types of Ancient Technology

Ancient Taera was not a world ruled by magic or psionics alone. In their wisdom, the Ancients knew that magic and psionics require inborn talent that few people possess to a significant degree, and their civilization required more egalitarian powers. Therefore, they developed their knowledge of physical sciences to a high degree, learning of the forces that lie behind, underneath, and within the everyday world, and how to harness and manipulate those forces. Rather than simply using the easiest tool every time (which, in comparatively primitive societies like modern Taera, is usually magic or psionics), the Ancients applied their efforts to learning multiple ways to do things, and as their learning grew they became able to duplicate (and in some cases exceed) magic with machines. Because these machines were so powerful, their civilization came to depend on them heavily- so heavily, in fact, that after the Annihilation, when many machines wouldn't work due to the massive and chaotic forces covering the world, their society collapsed and died. The machines which survived intact did eventually start working again, however, so the inheritors of their legacy- the inhabitants of modern Taera- are able to use them today, even though they usually know nothing about how the devices work, and cannot build more.

Though modern people cannot build or duplicate Ancient devices, some Ancient devices can build other such devices. The Ancients had many abilities which can only be duplicated or approximated by powerful magic or psionics today; for instance, they could create illusions of sight and sound that looked completely real until one tried to touch them, convert any form of material to any other form of material (or energy) at will, and even to control the fundamental forces of nature themselves- something only gods can do on modern Taera. The machines which allowed them to do these things have alien workings that modern people simply can't understand, no matter how well they know the exact effects of using the devices themselves. Most Ancient technology is extremely difficult to repair if it breaks down, and very few people have the skills and equipment necessary to do so. Some Ancient technology falls into a few general categories (called "tech levels," though no relationship or hierarchy has been established which reliably applies to them) based on its workings, and these categories were even known and discussed by the Ancients themselves. A basic summary of these "tech levels" is listed below.

• Organitech Probably the most alien of all the Ancient technologies, though at the same time most comprehensible to modern people, is Organitech. The Ancients unlocked the secrets of heredity and growth at some point in their history, and learned to manipulate, shape, and even compose new forms of life in desirable ways. Organitech "devices," therefore, are not machines as most people understand them, but are instead living things in and of themselves. Organitech is not repaired, but is instead healed, and damaged Organitech can be affected by the same healing spells Clerics and others use to cure illnesses and wounds in the modern world. Organitech devices produce predictable results and functions like machines do, but they eat, grow, reproduce, and even die like the living things they actually are. Many Organitech devices deal with the life functions of more common creatures (such as people)- for instance, most medical technology of the Ancients was Organitech. Organitech devices generally require Heal checks with a +15 penalty applied to the DC of any given check, to tend and/or repair without magic.
• Genitech The word "Genitech" was shorthand for "Genesis technology," and given what modern people use the word "genesis" for, it seems to have been an appropriate description. Genitech devices dealt with the Ancients' ability to convert materials to other materials, energy types to other energy types, and even materials to energies or vice versa. Genitech quite literally gave the Ancients the ability to create anything they wanted at any time, and was an astoundingly powerful set of abilities. It is clear that the Ancients knew it, because many Genitech devices can be found even today, and most have a large number of safeguards built into them to insure proper use. Genitech devices apply a +25 penalty to the DC of Craft checks made to repair them when damaged, and repairs are often impossible without special materials and/or tools.
• Quantumtech Quantumtech was apparently the pinnacle achievement of Ancient technology- exactly what the term "Quantum" means is unclear to modern scholars, but obviously it meant something to the Ancients. The workings of Quantumtech devices are barely understood, even when their end results are clear and obvious, but what is known is that Quantumtech involved manipulation of the very laws of reality themselves. Apparently, by controlling the rules of nature, the Ancients could cause objects to spontaneously teleport (even into Dimension Locked areas), avoid the ravages of time, change the way reagents reacted with each other, and even more esoteric things which seem pointless to modern people (though the Ancients clearly thought they had purpose). It is telling that most Genitech devices which have survived to the present day have a few apparently Quantumtech components, but the exact significance of this fact is not at all understood. Quantumtech components and devices, being such strange technology, are astoundingly difficult to repair, usually carrying a +30 (or higher) penalty to the DC of any Craft checks made to repair them.
• Stellartech Few examples of this technology exist on Taera today, because most of these devices dealt with movement and vehicles- especially starships which were capable of taking travellers to other worlds. Stellartech apparently involved manipulation of the force of gravity more than anything else, and all Stellartech devices on modern Taera involve gravity in some way. Stellartech devices are also very difficult to repair, normally carrying a +25 or higher penalty to the DC of Craft checks used to do so.
• Infotech "Infotech" was shorthand for "Information technology," though what this category usually involved was computing and calculating devices, and so-called "artificial" intelligence- i.e., sentient machines such as robots. Infotech devices are comparatively easy to repair, considered against other Ancient technologies, which is a good thing because virtually all surviving Ancient devices contain at least a few Infotech components. Infotech usually carries a penalty of +15 or more to Craft checks made for repairs.
• Nanotech Much as with Quantumtech, the word "Nanotech" had a root ("Nano?") that modern people simply don't understand. Nanotech appears to have been technology involving ridiculously small things, including things too small to see without the aid of special machines or magic/psionic powers. Nanotech is mostly known from records written by the Ancients themselves, as no devices available on modern Taera are known to use Nanotech in any way (though given what the term is supposed to represent, many scholars wryly note that modern Taerans would probably have no way to notice any such components that do exist). Ancient records do suggest that the Ancients rarely used this type of technology, and did not actively pursue development of it. Their reasons for so avoiding it are unknown, but since no modern scholar has proposed a viable reason for building such small devices in the first place, nobody really cares about their reasons anyway.
• Magitech Around the time of the Annihilation, the Ancients were apparently just starting to explore a new form of technology that they called Magitech. According to the Ancient writings about it which have been found, Magitech was a kind of fusion of magic and machine, that somehow went beyond mere enchantment as it is usually practiced. Why the Ancients were pursuing such a fusion is unknown, though it is suspected that they were for some reason frustrated with the inability of their robots and sentient computers to use magic. Perhaps Magitech was a way to allow that, but the people of modern Taera will probably never know, because no Magitech devices other than Living Constructs are known to have survived to the present- and Living Constructs are both exceptionally rare and exceptionally unwilling to participate in studies of their internal workings. Based on Ancient records, however, it is possible that some other Magitech did survive, and merely has not been recognized for what it is- Magitech apparently grew out of an amalgam of Organitech, Genitech, and Quantumtech, so a Magitech device would probably be confused with one of those three types if one were to be found.

One further fact about Ancient devices is notable for game purposes. The Ancients had access to manufacturing and crafting techniques far superior to those of the modern world (as evidenced by the fact that those machines with all their working parts can still function today, several millennia later), and as a result any technological item is considered to be of at least Masterwork quality for the purposes of enchantment or empowerment with magic or psionics. Technological items which have never had parts replaced or jury-rigged should be considered Masterpiece quality, and any repair attempts that exceed the necessary Craft DC by 10 or more can bring full function (and the Masterpiece quality) back to a damaged device. Thus, Ancient devices do not have "masterwork" or "masterpiece" versions, despite being otherwise mundane items. This rule applies to all Ancient technology, even weapons and armor.

Technological Equipment

The table below shows Ancient equipment which is still useful today, which does not fall into a category requiring special rules such as Power Cells, weapons, or armor. Descriptions of the listed items follow the table. Note that some listed devices have a "Cost" of $$$; these devices are so rare and precious that they are considered Minor or Major Artifacts in game terms. Owners of such devices can reasonably charge whatever they want for them, if they are willing to sell them at all- and most such devices will not be for sale.

Miscellaneous Technological Devices
	Device		Cost	Weight	Charges Used
	Communication and Information
		Datacube/Holocube	10 gp	1/2 lb.	-
		Holocamera	1000 gp	1 lb.	1 CU/picture, or 1 CU/10 minutes
		Holomap	3000 gp	5 lb.	1 CU/10 minutes
		Feature Scanner¤	+2000 gp	*	1 CU/10 minutes
		Lifeform Scanner¤	+3000 gp	+1 lb.	1 CU/minute
		Motion Scanner¤	+5000 gp	+1 lb.	1 CU/2 rounds
		Blindsight Scanner¤	+7000 gp	+2 lb.	1 CU/round
		Holorecorder	15000 gp	5 lb.	1 CU/minute
		Personal Communicator	300 gp	*	-
	Fabrication and Manufacturing
	Medical
	Storage
	Vehicles and Transport
	Other
		Guider Glove	2500 gp	*	-
		Synthesizer	2000 gp	10 lbs.	1 CU/10 minutes
		Recordcube Interface¤	+1000 gp	+2 lbs.	-
		Targeting Scope	5000 gp	*	-

* These items have no effective weight.
§ Ten of these items weigh 1 pound.
¤ This is not a seperate item, but is instead an optional upgrade for another device (usually listed above the option). The description for the option is set apart by the qualifier option: in the descriptions below. A character must take Ancient Device Proficiency (and track Use Ancient Device bonuses) for options seperately from the actual devices they upgrade, since the option changes the original device's functionality.

Communication and Information Item Descriptions

    option: Blindsight Scanner:
    Datacube/Holocube:
    option: Feature Scanner:
    Holocamera:
    Holomap:
    Holorecorder:
    option: Lifeform Scanner:
    option: Motion Scanner:
    Personal Communicator:

Fabrication and Manufacturing Item Descriptions

Medical Item Descriptions

Storage Item Descriptions

Vehicle and Transport Item Descriptions

Other Technological Item Descriptions

    Guider Glove: A Guider Glove is an item designed to be used with certain technological weapons that can control their own flight, such as a Guided Blade or Guided Missiles. It is a bulky glove of supple black material with several tiny lights embedded in its outer surface. The inside of the Glove is a strangely pliant greenish mass that fits to the wearer's hand snugly, making the Glove quite comfortable to wear. This mass is an Organitech construction linked with the outer elements of the Glove, which uses the wearer's own body processes to provide what power the Glove needs to function. A Guider Glove is therefore affected by Heal checks and healing magic, instead of Craft checks and repairing magic. Guider Gloves have AC 16, Hardness 2 (on the outside- 0 on the inside), and 3 hit points. The given price is for a single Guider Glove- only one is required to use the Guided weapons properly, though some people do like to wear matched sets purely for appearance's sake.
    option: Recordcube Interface: Some Synthesizers include this additional device on one of the button-free faces. The Recordcube Interface is essentially a small box into which a standard-size holocube may be slotted; once the holocube is inserted, the Synthesizer may record sounds it makes into the cube for later playback. Holocubes which contain stored sounds may be loaded into the Synthesizer without it recording anything onto them first, though many (or perhaps most) such cubes originally came from other Synthesizers with Recordcube Interfaces installed. Once a sound-cube is correctly loaded into the Interface, the pack's display shows a menu of the cube's contents, allowing the Synthesizer's user to load chosen sounds into the instrument (so that keypresses produce those sounds instead of whatever they produced before), record new sounds into the cube (if it has room), or even cause the Synthesizer to "play back" entire compositions with a single keypress. It must also be noted that the Synthesizer can record sounds from the area around it, as well, as if by a creature taking 10 on Listen (with a Listen bonus of +10). Also, since the Synthesizer is capable of duplicating any sound, it is possible to use one with correctly-loaded recordcube sounds to hold actual conversations in completely different voices than the user's own, for example. A character proficient in the use of the Recordcube Interface may thus use the Synthesizer to gain a +10 competence bonus on Perform (Keyboards) and Disguise checks made to mimic other persons' voices.
    Synthesizer: A Synthesizer is a musical instrument capable of replicating nearly any sound. It is a rectangular object roughly two and a half feet long, with buttons studding four of its six faces; the buttons are used as keys to play various notes (similar to an organ or harpsichord), and also to select options for what each note sounds like. It is literally possible for a well-played Synthesizer to sound like an entire band of ordinary instruments simultaneously. A character must have the Ancient Device Proficiency feat for it, or have a +20 circumstance bonus to Use Ancient Device checks regarding the Synthesizer, in order to be able to play it well enough to gain a full bonus from ranks in Perform (Keyboards). Characters unable to apply their full ranks in Perform (Keyboards) are limited to applying either their Use Ancient Device bonuses for the Synthesizer, or their Perform ranks, whichever is lower. Most Ancient musical compositions known today made use of one or more Synthesizers, and the few people who know those pieces generally know how to use a Synthesizer as well.
    Targeting Scope: A Targeting Scope is a small device that attaches to a rifle or pistol (i.e., most technological ranged weapons). When properly used in conjunction with firing the weapon it is attached to (Use Ancient Device check DC 15, does not count as an action since it happens as part of the attack), it doubles the critical threat range of the weapon. For instance, a Dimensional Phaser Pistol with a Targeting Scope has a threat range of 17-20 instead of 19-20. By contrast, a Chaos Rifle with a Scope has a threat range of 19-20. Because the bonus from success at Use Ancient Device is +5, most users of a Targeting Scope never spend a feat to become proficient in it, and can simply take 10 on the check after the first successful use.

Powering Ancient Equipment

Ancient equipment used strange energies to work, and required exotic energy (or fuel to produce such energy) to function. Many devices known today are found in working condition, but have no energy to power them, and so do not work. Fortunately, the Ancients built their equipment well, and designed most of it to be durable and hard to damage- and that includes the small devices they made solely to contain energy for their other machines, devices called "Power Cells." Power Cells were standardized in such a way that any Power Cell could be used in any device that needed it; however, devices themselves got varying numbers of "charges" from a full Power Cell depending on how much energy they needed to do their work. Not all Ancient devices actually use Power Cells; most vehicles and nonportable devices, for instance, have internal reactors or other such structures, which can generate power for the device. However, most portable devices (and in fact, most devices that survived to the present day at all) do use Power Cells.

Power Cells come in several varieties, despite being standardized; apparently, as long as the Cell fit the device and gave it power, the Ancients were satisfied with it. Most Power Cells are small cylinders of exotic material, about an inch wide and two or three long. All surviving Power Cells in the modern day can be recharged in certain Ancient devices made for that purpose; Power Cells which could not be recharged have long since been used up and drained of energy.

For game purposes, fully charged Power Cells contain a number of "charge units," or CUs, and technological devices consume charge units to do their work. The number of CUs in a fully charged Power Cell is usually 300, but some Cells contain more or less than this amount. A cell which runs out of CUs, or doesn't have enough in it to allow the device to use any of its functions (for instance, a cell with less CUs in it than are consumed by a single shot from a technological weapon), provides no power to the device, rendering it useless until the cell is recharged or replaced. Standard cells cannot be recharged while in the devices they power; they must be removed from the device's cell chamber to connect to the recharger. Removing a power cell from a device uses a move action, and requires a Use Ancient Device check (DC 5) to do successfully; if the check fails, the cell stays in the device. Once the chamber is empty, putting a cell into it requires another move action and another DC 5 Use Ancient Device check (if this check fails, the cell is not slotted correctly, and provides no power to the device). It therefore requires, under normal circumstances, one full round to swap one power cell with another. Both the action to remove a power cell and the action to insert one provoke attacks of opportunity, so it is generally wise to do one's recharging away from combat.

The most common type of alternate-charge Power Cells are known as "Feeder" Cells, because the user must open the Power Cell (requiring a move action which provokes attacks of opportunity and a DC 15 Use Ancient Device check) and put appropriate material into it to start the recharging process. Exactly what kind of material is appropriate for a given Feeder Cell requires a Knowledge Ancient Technology (DC 20) to figure out, unless the one who sold the cell to the character using it told him or her what to use. Once it contains appropriate material, the user closes the now-full Cell once more (another move action which provokes attacks of opportunity, with a DC 10 Use Ancient Device check) to activate it. Once properly "fed," a Feeder Cell takes approximately 1 minute to consume the material, after which time it is recharged (the exact rate depends on the type of Cell and the amount of material fed to it). If the user does not feed the Cell with proper material, the Cell cannot consume it, and gains no charge, though this never causes actual damage to the Cell except under very unusual circumstances. Feeder Cells can always be charged in a Charger like other Cells can, if the user doesn't want to (or can't) feed them appropriate materials. If either of the Use Ancient Device checks to open or close the Cell fails, it is possible to damage the Cell as noted in the Use Ancient Device skill description, and a damaged Feeder Cell is normally unusable until repaired. Most Feeder Cells can be fed without removing them from the devices they power, but while such a cell is consuming material it provides no power to the device it is within, so doing so in a combat situation still renders the device useless for the recharge time unless the wielder swaps out the Feeder Cell with a charged cell before providing the material the Feeder Cell needs.

The most precious kinds of Power Cells, called Autocharge Cells, replenish their own power over time, gaining CUs at a certain rate while below maximum charge. Autocharge Cells do not require any Use Ancient Device checks as Feeder Cells do, and need not (in fact, cannot) be charged in Chargers, but are much more difficult than other types of Cells to repair if damaged. If an Autocharge Cell inside a device runs out of power, then the device is useless until the Autocharge Cell regains enough power to allow it to work. Of course, the depleted Autocharge Cell may be swapped out for another Power Cell just like any other, if the character has one handy.

It is rumored that some spellcasters and psionic manifesters know spells and powers that can recharge Power Cells which need it, but such people are sure to hide their abilities well given how high the demand for such powers is (and how dangerous having it makes them). Also, in theory, a modern crafter could craft his or her own (simple, non-rechargeable) Power Cells with proper understanding of the energies and materials used, but no known crafters have that knowledge- so the Power Cells existing today are carefully hoarded and treasured, as damaged ones are usually difficult and/or dangerous to repair (and destroyed ones can only be replaced by buying another from somebody willing to sell one).

Power Cells and Chargers

Power Cells and Related Devices
	Device		Cost	Weight	CU Capacity	Charge Rate
	Cells
		Standard Cell	1000 gp	1 lb.	300	-
		Quick-Charge Cell	half standard	*	150	-
		Long-Charge Cell	double standard	*	600	-
		Psionivore Feeder Cell	3000 gp	½ lb.	300	10 CU/PP
		Magivore Feeder Cell	3000 gp	½ lb.	300	15 CU/spell level
		Fusion Feeder Cell	5000 gp	1 lb.	300	1 CU/10 GP
		Organitech Feeder Cell	7500 gp	2 lb.	300	100 CU/minute
		Genitech Feeder Cell	15000 gp	1 lb.	300	50 CU/minute
		Powerstone Autocharge Cell	5000 gp	½ lb.	300	10 CU/hour
		Genitech Autocharge Cell	25000 gp	2 lb.	300	1 CU/minute
		Quantumtech Autocharge Cell	50000 gp	1 lb.	300	10 CU/minute
	Chargers
		Standard Feeder Charger	30000 gp	50 lb.	300/pound	10/minute
		Double Charger	double standard	1.5 × standard	special	standard
		Quad Charger	quadruple standard	2.5 × standard	special	standard
		Powerstone Charger	20000 gp	20 lb.	-	5/minute
		Organitech Charger-Bush	50000 gp	special	-	10/minute
		Genitech Conversion Charger	75000 gp	60 lb.	-	20/minute
		Quantumtech Extraction Charger	100000 gp	100 lb.	-	60/minute

* These items have no effective weight.

Power Cell Descriptions

    Fusion Feeder Cell: This Power Cell is a small silvery cylinder with a dial and indicator lights on one end, and the normal power leads on the other. It is designed such that it is possible to open the Feeder Chamber without removing the Cell itself from a typical device, assuming the cell slot has been opened of course. A Fusion Feeder Cell operates by consuming certain kinds of minerals and metals, turning them into iron dust and deriving energy from the transformation. For game purposes, the Feeder Cell will take gems and coins, and it derives 1 CU per 10 gp value of the original object(s) converted in its chamber. The converted object is destroyed in the process. Fusion Feeders are expensive to feed, but they have the useful quality of being quick to charge; the actual conversion takes place in a split-second, so a Fusion Feeder Cell can be recharged as a standard action during combat (using the skill-check process described above). Fusion Feeder Cells have AC 12, Hardness 8, and 5 hit points.
    Genitech Autocharge Cell: A Genitech Autocharge Cell looks like a pair of glass bubbles linked together with golden rods. One of the bubbles has a pair of metal prongs protruding from its surface, and these power leads are how one can recognize it as a Power Cell (since it looks so different from most other types). This type of Autocharge Cell converts energy of other types, such as gravity and magnetism, to energy the Cell itself and the device it is powering can use. In essence, it is a tiny reactor that consumes no material fuel. The conversion process is slow, however, so a Genitech Autocharge Cell recharges only one CU during each minute of charging. A Genitech Autocharge Cell is AC 13, Hardness 10 (the globes may look like glass, but are actually made of something much stronger), and 5 hit points.
    Genitech Feeder Cell: Genitech Feeder Cells look much like Fusion Feeder Cells, because they were a later development of the same technology. The Genitech version has a slight gold finish to it, but is otherwise virtually impossible to distinguish from a Fusion Feeder without actually using it. Genitech Feeder Cells are the most prized type of Feeder, because they can convert any type of material besides pure iron to iron dust (and energy), rather than just minerals and metals. Simply emptying its chamber of iron dust, and then filling it with any available matter (several handfuls of sand, dirt, or other earth is a favorite among those lucky enough to own one) will allow the Cell to recharge completely, though the conversion process is slow. Genitech Feeder Cells replenish only 50 CUs per minute of charging time, and cannot gain more CUs than the Cell's maximum capacity in any case (for instance, if CUs are used up while the Cell is still charging, they count against the number the Cell has when done charging). A Genitech Feeder Cell has AC 12, Hardness 8, and 5 hit points.
    Long-Charge Cell: Long-Charge Cells are not a type in and of themselves, but rather refer to special Power Cells that have double the normal capacity of CUs. It is possible to find Long-Charge versions of any of the types of Power Cells, except Quick-Charge Cells, which are the opposite of Long-Charge ones. Long-Charge Cells look very similar to their normal counterparts, but generally weigh twice as much, and are slightly longer (having 3 more hit points than a normal Cell of the same type). All standard Cell chambers can accept Long-Charge Cells as easily as the normal kind, despite the greater length. Long-Charge versions of Power Cells are usually priced at double the normal price for a Cell of that type.
    Magivore Feeder Cell: An odd-looking crystal lozenge, a Magivore Feeder Cell is recognizable as a Power Cell only because of its general dimensions and the power prongs on one end. Opening the end opposite the prongs exposes the feeding chamber, which is completely black (and in fact is lined with Darkstone). A Magivore Feeder Cell is fed with magic items or spells; any magic items fed to it must be small enough to fit (potions and scrolls are normally the only kind that can), and are totally destroyed by the energy conversion process. Alternatively, a spellcaster can cast spells directly into the chamber, regardless of the spells' normal targetting restrictions; doing so uses up the spell slots normally, and charges the Cell. A Magivore Feeder Cell replenishes 15 CUs per spell level spent on charging it; magic items contribute the spell levels of the spells used to create them, or the "plusses" of magical enhancement in the case of magical weapons which required no specific spells for creation and are small enough to fit (such as sling bullets). In spite of the difficulty of fully charging a Magivore Feeder Cell, they are fairly popular choices for spellcasters who need Power Cells, because they are certain of having a constantly renewable source of power (their own daily allotment of spells). Magivore Feeder Cells are AC 15, Hardness 10, and have 5 hit points (the Darkstone lining in the chamber is indestructible, but the crystal that forms the Cell itself is not a form of Silmarillium).
    Organitech Feeder Cell: Organitech Feeder Cells, like other Organitech devices, aren't what most people think of as "technology." They aren't machines in the usual sense, but are actual living things- in this case, exotic plants. Organitech Feeder Cells look like large seed pods, or perhaps mutant fruit, but have a flap which seals itself shut with stiff tendrils, and a pair of brown thorns which serve as the Cell's power transfer prongs. Feeding an Organitech Power Cell is simple; one simply opens the feed flap, packs in some fertile topsoil and some water, and closes the flap again. The plant quickly consumes the nutrients and water, and generates energy in the process, gaining approximately 10 CUs per round (100/minute) of charging. Operation of the Organitech Feeder Cell is much easier than other Power Cells, granting a +5 circumstance bonus to each skill check. When not in use, an Organitech Feeder Cell can be planted in soil, whereupon its tendrils will extend into the ground and form roots; in this state, it is difficult to recognize for what it is (Knowledge (Ancient Technology) or Knowledge (Nature) DC 20), though it can be pulled free of the ground to use as a Power Cell once more with little trouble. Organitech Feeder Cells can reproduce like normal plants when rooted; there must be two Cells planted within 10 feet of each other for fertilization to occur. Once the Cells are fertilized, the seed grows in the soil/food chamber in approximately three months, during which time the parent Cell is unusable for power. Each Cell can only generate one seed at a time, each pair of Cells only produces one seed between them at a time, and no Cell can produce (or be parent to) more than one seed in a year. Organitech Feeder Cell seeds typically take 1 year to reach full growth, and live for up to 20 years if well cared-for. Organitech Feeder Cells have AC 5, Hardness 2, and 5 hit points. Because they can reproduce, this type of Power Cell is probably the most common one on Taera today, though they are easily destroyed and very expensive due to the difficulty of tending them in their rooted state.
    Powerstone Autocharge Cell: The earliest kind of Autocharge Cell invented relied on Powerstone Silmarillium to charge itself, and wasn't very quick to recharge, but it did its job well enough that many have survived to the present day. Powerstone Autocharge Cells consist of a core lozenge of Powerstone surrounded by an elaborate, generally ovoid assembly of exotic metal rods and wires, from which protrude the power transfer prongs (on one of the narrow ends of the ovoid). Because the core of a Powerstone Autocharge Cell is a form of Silmarillium, it is virtually indestructible, and can produce power for another assembly should it be lost or removed from the first- however, the assembly itself is delicate and easily damaged, so Powerstone Autocharge Cells are the least popular (and expensive) Autocharge type. Powerstone Autocharge Cells typically recharge at the rate of 10 CUs per hour of charging, meaning that an average Cell takes more than a day to fully recharge; however, the charging is relatively constant as long as the Cell assembly remains functional. Powerstone Autocharge Cells typically have AC 9, Hardness 5, and 5 hit points.
    Psionivore Feeder Cell: A Psionivore Feeder Cell looks much like a Powerstone Autocharge Cell, having a crystal suspended in an assembly of rods and wires. While the Powerstone version contains a lozenge of Powerstone, however, the Psionivore Feeder Cell contains a hollow lozenge of Coldstone. Psionic characters can channel power points directly into the stone to power the Cell (at an exchange rate of 10 CU per power point spent). Also, the Coldstone chunk is hollow, and has a lid like other Feeder Cells which can be opened. If psionic items are placed inside (most Psionic Tattoos, Third Eyes, and Powerstones will fit), they are destroyed, but provide power as if the powers they contained were all discharged simultaneously into the Feeder Cell. While psionic creatures are always uncomfortable around Coldstone, the Psionivore Feeder Cell is a common choice of Power Cell among psionicists who require technological power, because their own daily-replenishing well of psionic energy can provide power for the Cell and whatever it powers. A Psionivore Feeder Cell is AC 9, Hardness 5, and has 5 hit points, because although the Coldstone chamber itself is indestructible, the wires and rods which are needed to draw the power from it are far from that.
    Quantumtech Autocharge Cell: Quantumtech Autocharge Cells are simple, dull metal cylinders much like Standard Power Cells, but formed out of a strange reddish metal. They are by far the most valuable type of Power Cell, because they somehow derive energy from space itself, never running out of fuel. Furthermore, as their outside construction is simple, they are difficult to damage, having an AC of 15, Hardness 15, and 10 hit points. Quantumtech Cells also recharge faster than any other type of Autocharge Cell, gaining back 1 CU/round (10/minute). As a result, these Power Cells are highly treasured, often fetching prices higher than most of the devices they can be used in when they're sold at all.
    Quick-Charge Cell: Quick-Charge Cells are, like Long-Charge ones, not a type in and of themselves, but instead are Power Cells with a lower energy capacity than normal. It is possible to find Quick-Charge versions of any of the standard types of Power Cells, except the Long-Charge ones of course (since those are not a "true" type). Quick-Charge Cells look very much like the normal sort, being only slightly smaller (having 2 less hit points than normal). Though they do not provide as much energy as standard Power Cells, Quick-Charge Cells remain popular for two reasons. First, they live up to their name, taking only half the usual time to reach full charge (even if they do need recharging twice as often); second, they are significantly cheaper when sold, usually only costing half as much as a normal cell of the same type.
    Standard Cell: Standard Power Cells are simple cylinders of a dull grayish metal, with a bar of strange translucent material on one end, and a pair of metal prongs on the other. The metal prongs are designed to exactly fit into slots in a standard Cell chamber in a device requiring Power Cells to function; if the prongs are somehow slotted incorrectly, the Cell will not slide fully into the chamber, and the device will remain unpowered. The bar of translucent material lights up, in part or in whole, and the proportion of lit to unlit in the bar exactly corresponds to how much energy the Cell has left, thus allowing the user to see at a glance how soon it will need a recharge. Standard Power Cells store 300 CUs of energy, and can be recharged in any Charger machine (detailed below). They have AC 10, Hardness 7, and 7 hit points.

Charger Descriptions

    Double Charger: A Double Charger is not a type in and of itself, but is instead a Charger of one of the other standard types (i.e., every type other than Quad) which can charge up to two Power Cells at the same time instead of just one. The extra Cell slot and accompanying equipment weighs about half as much as the main Charger itself does, so Double Chargers are even less portable than their standard counterparts. Double Chargers have the same AC and Hardness ratings as the normal Charger of the same type, but have double the normal amount of hit points. Double Chargers which are charging only one Cell instead of two charge it at double the normal rate, so operators of Double Chargers usually offer that special "speed charging" at double the normal fee.
    Genitech Conversion Charger: Just as the Standard Feeder Charger works onthe same principle as a typical Feeder Cell, the Genitech Conversion Charger works on the same principle as the Genitech Autocharge Cell. It converts energy from various ambient fields (typically gravity and magnetic) into power for devices, and stores that power for later use. A Conversion Charger has 6000 CUs at maximum capacity, and uses whatever capacity it has to recharge Power Cells attached to it (at the rate of 2/round, or 20/minute). The Charger itself replenishes power somewhat more slowly, gaining back only 1 CU/round (10/minute), so it is possible to deplete the Charger and render it less useful. Genitech Conversion Chargers are bulkier and harder to move than Feeder Chargers are, and are more easily damaged (AC 8, Hardness 10, 30 hit points), so they are kept more securely by those who own them. Operation of a Genitech Conversion Charger is a simple matter; basically, just hooking up a Power Cell starts it charging, and the Charger replenishes its own supply- however, the security around the few working examples left means that owners usually charge at least 5 gold to charge a Power Cell in their devices. If a Conversion Charger is destroyed while still storing CUs, it explodes in a burst of arcing energy similar to a Scintillating Sphere spell, dealing 1d6 electrical damage per 10 CUs left (maximum 20d6) to those caught within it. Such an explosion has a radius of 10 feet per 1000 CUs (or fraction thereof) left in the device at the time of destruction.
    Organitech Charger-Bush: Like most Organitech, Charger-Bushes don't look like machines, because they are living things. Charger-Bushes are also known as Light Bushes, because they are plants which take soil nutrients and water, and use solar and other ambient energy to produce power that is useful in technological devices of all kinds. The produced power circulates within the branches of the Bush, and is available to Power Cells through special pod-fruits that the Bush grows. Placing a Cell within a pod-fruit causes the bush to circulate energy into the Cell as if it were part of the Bush itself, thus recharging it (usually at the rate of 10 CU/minute). Most Charger-Bushes grow only one pod-fruit at a time, but some rare specimens grow two or four (and are treated as Double or Quad Chargers respectively). Creatures don't generally feed on the bush, or the pod-fruit, because the Charger-Bush is highly toxic to other living creatures. The energy circulating within it deals electrical damage to any creature that touches its sap or juice directly, and actually ingesting a chunk of pod-fruit is treated as a case of poisoning (DC 20, Damage 1d10 CON/1d10 CON), at least while the Bush is alive. Charger-Bushes weigh around 20 pounds, but must stay rooted in fertile soil to produce power; therefore, they are very difficult to relocate without killing them. Charger-Bushes reproduce as other plants do, producing small glowing blue flowers during the spring which are non-toxic to pollinating creatures such as bees. The pod-fruit is a permanent fixture on any Charger-Bush, but during the summer, each Bush also produces 3d4 small brown nuts. If the Bush has been fertilized by pollinators, each nut has a fertile seed in it, though the seeds require an enormous amount of care and attention to bring to adulthood (Profession (Farmer) and Knowledge (Nature) checks against DC 20, once per week, for 2 years). Charger-Bushes can live up to 100 years if tended properly, and have AC 6, Hardness 3, and 20 hit points. Charger-Bushes are usually grown in farms by those lucky enough to own any, and the farmers usually charge the standard rate of 1 gold/hour to charge Power Cells in their Bushes.
    Powerstone Charger: Powerstone Chargers are, unlike other Chargers, not devices, but rather are simple slabs of Powerstone with slots for attaching and charging Power Cells. They are the slowest type of Charger, giving only 5 CUs per minute to the Cell being charged, but the material they are made of makes them virtually indestructible (they typically have AC 12, Hardness 100, and 100 hit points). Owners of Powerstone Chargers who hire out their charging services, usually ask for a fee of 1 silver per hour of charging time, so a typical Power Cell will cost 1 silver to charge completely. Due to the simplicity of its construction, this is one of the few Chargers which could be made by modern crafters; however, since it would be extremely expensive to do so, and so few crafters know how to make Powerstone, none are known to have been made for thousands of years.
    Quad Charger: A Quad Charger is not a type in and of itself, but is instead a Charger of one of the other standard types (i.e., every type other than Double) which can charge up to four Power Cells at the same time instead of just one. The extra Cell slot and accompanying equipment for each extra Cell weighs about half as much as the main Charger itself does, so Quad Chargers weigh about two and a half times as much as normal Chargers do, and are one size category larger. Quad Chargers have the same Hardness ratings as the normal Charger of the same type, but have triple the normal amount of hit points, and AC two points lower due to larger size. Quad Chargers which are charging less than four Cells split the amount that would go into the missing ones, between the Cells it is charging; so a Quad Charger can charge two Cells in half the time, or one Cell in one-quarter the time. Operators of Quad Chargers usually offer "speed charging" at rates corresponding to the speed of charging- for instance, using one to charge only a single Cell would usually be call for four times the normal amount.
    Quantumtech Extraction Charger: The most powerful type of Charger was really a "legacy" device as far as the Ancients were concerned, since by the time they were able to make them, they were also able to make Quantumtech Autocharge Cells and thus didn't really need separate Chargers anyway. A Quantumtech Extraction Charger works along the same principle as the Autocharge Cell, but on a more massive scale, drawing energy from space itself and simply adding it to any attached Power Cell. Quantumtech Chargers do not store energy like Genitech ones do; they draw energy as needed to power the Cells attached to them, typically at the astounding rate of 6/round (60/minute), so a standard Cell is fully charged in only 5 minutes at most. Quantumtech Extraction Chargers are small devices made from some extremely dense, heavy, reddish metal, and they require Use Ancient Device checks (DC 10) to activate and charge Power Cells. Not many of these extremely valuable devices are known to still exist, because they are usually fought over by those who know about them. Assuming one can find an owner willing to charge others' Cells in his or her Quantumtech Extraction Charger, it is likely to cost no less than 10 gold per Cell. Quantumtech Extraction Chargers have AC 14, Hardness 20, and 50 hit points.
    Standard Feeder Charger: The most common type of Power Cell charger on modern Taera is a "Feeder" device which operates on the same principles as the Genitech Feeder Cell. It has a fuel chamber (about 3 cubic feet in volume) into which any form of matter other than pure iron can be placed. The Charger converts the material into iron dust once the chamber is sealed, and derives energy from the conversion process, using that energy to charge the Power Cell attached to it. Filling the chamber completely provides 300 CUs per pound of material, up to a maximum of approximately 6000 CUs of energy, which the device can transfer to attached Power Cells at the rate of 10 CUs per minute (1/round). Power Cells are attached to the Charger as if they were powering it (even though the reverse is the actual truth), so they are unavailable for powering other devices while being charged. Standard Feeder Chargers require Use Ancient Device checks (DC 10) to operate properly, and most owners who know how to operate them require fees of 1 gp/hour when charging Power Cells in their devices. Feeder Chargers are large, bulky boxes of metal, crystal, and other materials, with a typical AC of 9, Hardness 10, and 30 hit points. Destruction of a Feeder Charger with any CUs left in itself (as opposed to having been used to recharge Power Cells) causes an explosion similar to a Fireball which deals 1d6 fire damage per 10 CUs (or fraction thereof) remaining, to a maximum of 20d6; the explosion's blast radius is 10 feet per 1000 CUs (or fraction thereof).

Energy Weapon Rules and Advanced Energy Types

Technological weapons come in essentially two varieties, energy weapons and non-energy weapons. Non-energy weapons are either standard weapons made with exotic materials (in which case the usual requirement for Ancient weapons to be treated as Exotic does not apply if the standard version is not Exotic), or weapons with strange capabilities that modern weaponsmiths are unable to duplicate. The only examples of the second type that are known today are the Immobilizer (also called the Web Pistol), Neural Shredder, Poison Needler, VR Tranquilizer, Mag Rifle (also called a Rail Gun), and the Guided Blade. Energy weapons, by contrast, do not duplicate any standard weapons, and are always considered Exotic weapons (even the Forceblade, which comes close to duplicating a sword- especially one with the Brilliant Energy quality).

Energy weapons are, fundamentally, mundane items which deal damage to targets when used, much like normal low-tech weapons. Whereas those weapons generally do physical damage via slashing, piercing, etc., energy weapons deal damage via forms of energy, much like some damaging spells and psionic powers. Taeran energy weapons don't normally use the same energy types that spells do, however, such as Fire and Cold. Instead, they often use one of several new energy types. Resistance or Immunity to the normal energy types does not usually help a target avoid damage from the new energy types, but the exact rules are noted below. The new types are:

• Disruption: Most similar to Acid damage, Disruption works by causing atoms in the target to dissociate from each other and fly apart, causing an erosion effect similar to Disintegration. Acid Resistance does not help a target against Disruption damage, however, as the two types of damage work along different principles. Creatures or objects killed or destroyed by Disruption damage are treated as if Disintegrated, and are thus very difficult to reconstitute or resurrect.
• Electromagnetic: This form of damage is unique in that it cannot hurt organic creatures; all such creatures have Electromagnetic Immunity. Electromagnetic damage is generally used to hit machines, especially robots.
• Gelid: Gelid damage is much like Cold damage, but goes beyond mere reduction of temperature in intensity and power. Gelid damage actually causes liquids and gasses in the target to freeze, and some of the particles making up the target become so cold that they actually assume different states of matter for brief periods (Ancient records typically refer to these states by odd names such as "superfluid" or "condensate"). Gelid damage is therefore so cold that ordinary Cold Resistance doesn't help against it at all, and Immunity to Cold only lets a creature take half damage from a Gelid effect (or one-quarter on a successful save, if the effect normally allows a save for half damage). Furthermore, Gelid damage is considered Frostburn damage- if a creature takes Gelid damage in an area where the ambient temperature is in the Cold range (or colder), then the Gelid damage does not heal naturally, and cannot be healed by magic or psionics unless the caster/manifester succeeds on a DC 25 level check. Direct positive energy infusion, such as that made by a Life Pistol (see below), is similarly useless to heal Frostburn damage in a Cold area. All of these restrictions on healing are lifted once the creature returns to an area where the ambient temperature is above the Cold level.
• Particle: Some energy weapons work by causing a direct particle-to-energy transformation in the target (for instance, antimatter weapons). While this causes effective disintegration of at least part of the target, it is distinguishable from Disruption damage because Disruption works over a few seconds, while Particle damage is instantaneous. Disruption Resistance does not help a target avoid Particle damage, and Particle Resistance does not help a target avoid Disruption damage. Also, creatures and objects destroyed by Particle damage usually leave more remains behind than those killed by Disruption.
• Plasma: Similar to Fire damage, Plasma damage can best be described as "like Fire, only more so." Plasma is so hot that ordinary Fire protection doesn't help against it. Creatures with Fire Resistance have no effective Plasma Resistance. Creatures which have Immunity to Fire take half damage from Plasma effects, or one-quarter on a successful save (if a save for half damage is allowed by the Plasma effect).
• Radiation: Generally produced by lasers and other weapons using some form of light to damage, radiation as a damage energy type is considered different from exposure to dangerous Radiation fields as noted in the section in the Rules document, though such exposure often includes Radiation damage as one of its effects. Radiation damage has characteristics of both electrical and fire damage, but neither Electricity Resistance nor Fire Resistance protect a target from Radiation damage. Targets which have Immunity to Electrical damage take half damage from Radiation energy sources, or one-quarter damage on a successful save (if the attack allows a save for half damage). Targets may have Resistance to Radiation energy damage, and that ability may render them partially or totally immune to the effects of Radiation Exposure as noted in the appropriate section; however, most creatures with Radiation Resistance do not directly take less damage from exposure to dangerous radiation fields (as opposed to weapons and direct-damage effects). Instead, Radiation Resistance is added as an inherent bonus to those targets' Radiation saving throws each time they must make such saves. This makes Lethal-level radiation (for instance) harder to resist than Low or Moderate, as it should be, but still capable of damaging them. Creatures which have Immunity to Radiation do not suffer any adverse effects in dangerous radiation fields.

Energy weapons tend to fire beams of the energy, and in practice behave much like spell rays- however, since an actual weapon is being used to generate the beam, Weapon Focus (Rays) does not help a user of an energy weapon. A weapon wielder must take the Weapon Focus feat for that weapon normally in order to gain a bonus to attack rolls with it.

In most cases, energy weapons have multiple settings, and deal damage based on the setting used. The table below shows this by noting damage for whatever settings a particular weapon has differently. Note that using higher settings on energy weapons consumes more power, and depletes the weapon's Power Cell faster than using lower settings- the rules for this are similar to those for Wands and Staves in most respects. For instance, an X-Ray Laser Pistol has three settings, Low, Medium, and High, which consume 25, 50, and 100 charges per shot, respectively. The rules noting the settings each weapon has are noted in the individual weapon descriptions.

Note that the prices for the weapons below assume a weapon in working condition, with no Power Cell- Power Cells to actually make the weapons usable must be purchased separately for game purposes (though in fact, weapons on the market usually come with Power Cells inside them already, and are sold at higher prices depending on what kind of Cell is powering the weapon).

Since energy weapons, by their nature, destroy any matter they strike, attacks performed with energy weapons do not treat armor and shields in the standard manner. If an attack fails to hit the target because of armor or shield, the energy has struck the armor or shield rather than the intended target, and deals its damage to the object instead. Because they do such enormous amounts of damage, however (see table below), what usually happens in a case like this is that the weapon bores a hole through the armor/shield and may damage the intended target anyway. Therefore, if an energy weapon strikes an armor or shield, first deal damage to the item, including the damage reduction for Hardness rating. If the energy weapon dealt more damage than the item has hit points (based on its material and thickness) plus Hardness, then the energy bored right through the item, and all remaining damage actually hits the original target. For instance, a knight wearing Full Plate Armor (steel, about a quarter-inch thick, so 7 hit points) is attacked by an X-Ray laser pistol (Medium setting- see stats in table). The weapon hits AC 14, enough to hit the knight based on his DEX and Dodge bonuses, but not enough to get by his armor. However, since this is a laser beam hit, the damage is now applied to the armor- and it deals 23 damage. Subtracting the Hardness rating for Steel (see PHB page 136), we have 13 points of damage left, which is applied to the armor's 7 hit points. After using up 7 more points to burn a hole in the armor, the knight takes 6 hit points of damage from the blast (and realizes that he might be in serious trouble)! An extension of this rule is that energy weapons which miss due to a natural armor bonus don't actually miss, but instead deal half damage to the target. In the case of weapons which deal both energy damage and regular damage, such as Forceblades and Shearwire Whips, only the energy damage counts towards these special rules for striking armor or natural armor.

Many weapons below are classified as "Light Ranged" weapons. The full rules for light ranged weapons are given in the Rules document, but the important thing for the light ranged energy weapons below is that they may be fired one-handed by creatures able to wield them. This means that it is possible, should one have two such weapons, to fire and use both in one round (taking any penalties for using two weapons into account). Most Ancient light ranged weapons are classified as "pistols" regardless of the actual name of the weapon, whereas most normal ranged technological weapons are classified as "rifles."

Technological weapons which are essentially the equivalents of modern siege engines are also listed in the table below, in the "Siege Class" section at the bottom. These weapons can usually be manned and fired by a single person, despite their size, though the individual weapon descriptions note what is needed to operate each one. Siege-class technological weapons do not normally require Power Cells to provide them with energy; instead, they come with built-in reactors similar to Chargers in most respects (see above) to meet their power needs. There is no Organitech reactor for such siege-class weapons, but otherwise just use the price for a standard Charger in the table above to determine the cost of the reactor in a given siege-class weapon. The reactor recharges CUs (up to a maximum of 6000) as noted in the description for the charger, as if it were powering a single Power Cell with a 6000 CU capacity; thus, a feeder reactor only recharges when filled with material, a Quantumtech Extraction reactor regains 6/round, and so on. Reactors can be damaged and destroyed just as Chargers can be, with essentially identical effects, so most siege-class technological weapons shield their reactors heavily.

Technological Weapons

Technological Weapons
	Weapon		Cost	Setting/ Charges Used	Damage (S)	Damage (M)	Critical	Range Increment	Weight	Type
	Light Melee Weapons
		Forceblade	10000 gp	Dagger (4/round)	1d4	1d6	19-20/×2	-	1 lb.	Particle and Slashing
				Short Sword (8/round)	1d8	1d10	19-20/×2			Particle and Slashing
				Longsword (12/round)	2d6	2d8	19-20/×2			Particle and Slashing
				Bastard Sword (16/round)	3d6	3d8	19-20/×2			Particle and Slashing
				Greatsword (20/round)	4d6	4d8	19-20/×2			Particle and Slashing
		Multiweapon	special	special	by form	by form	by form	by form	special	by form
		Neural Shredder	15000 gp	10	2d8	3d6	19-20/×4	-	4 lb.	Subdual
		Shearwire Whip	5000 gp	5/round	1d10	1d12	×5	-	2 lb.	Radiation and Slashing
	Light Ranged Weapons
		Antimatter Pistol	3500 gp	Single (50)	2d6ø	2d8ø	×2	60 ft.	2 lb.	Particle
				Double (100)	3d6ø	3d8ø	×2			Particle
		Blaster Pistol	2000 gp	Stun (15)	1d8	1d10	×2	60 ft.	1 lb.	Subdual
				Full (30)	1d10	1d12	×2			Particle
		Compression Bubbler	150000 gp	75	special	special	-	30 ft.	4 lb.	special
		Corrosion Beamer	3000 gp	Low (30)	1d10	2d6	×3	30 ft.	2 lb.	Disruption
				Medium (60)	3d6	4d6	×3			Disruption
				High (90)	4d8	6d6	×3			Disruption
		Dimensional Phaser Pistol	25000 gp	75	1d6	1d8	19-20/×5	60 ft.	1 lb.	special
		EM Pistol	1000 gp	10	1d6	1d8	×3	60 ft.	4 lb.	Electromagnetic
		Gamma Ray Laser Pistol	3500 gp	Low (35)	2d8	2d10	×2	100 ft.	1 lb.	Radiation
				Medium (75)	3d10	3d12	×3			Radiation
				High (150)	5d10ø	5d12ø	×3			Radiation
		Guided Blade	15000 gp	1/round	1d6	1d8	19-20/×2	30 ft.	2 lb.	Slashing
		Immobilizer/Web Pistol	12000 gp	10	1d2	1d3	×2	60 ft.	2 lb.	Subdual
		Life Pistol	10000 gp	75	2d6	2d8	×2	40 ft.	1 lb.	Healing
		Multiweapon	special	special	by form	by form	by form	by form	special	by form
		Poison Needler	40000 gp	1	1 + poison	1 + poison	×2	30 ft.	1 lb.	Piercing and poison
		Singularity Gun	$$$	300	special	special	n/a	300 ft.	10 lb.	special
		Stun Pistol	2500 gp	10	2d8	2d10	×3	60 ft.	2 lb.	Subdual
		Voidsphere Pistol	15000 gp	10/round	2d4	2d4	×4	100 ft.	1 lb.	Vacuum
		VR Tranquilizer	15000 gp	100	special	special	-	20 ft.	3 lb.	special
		X-Ray Laser Pistol	2500 gp	Low (25)	2d6	2d8	×2	100 ft.	1 lb.	Radiation
				Medium (50)	3d8	3d10	×2			Radiation
				High (100)	5d8	5d10	×3			Radiation
	Ranged Weapons
		Chaos Rifle	50000 gp	100	5d10	5d12	×2	40 ft.	5 lb.	Disruption and Random
		Chill Beamer	5000 gp	Chill (30)	1d10	2d6	×2	40 ft.	5 lb.	Cold
				Freeze (60)	2d10	3d8	×2			Cold
		Conversion Beamer	7000 gp	Single (75)	2d8ø	2d10ø	×2	80 ft.	8 lb.	Particle
				Double (150)	3d10ø	3d12ø	×2			Particle
		EM Pulse Rifle	4000 gp	30	3d6	3d8	×3	60 ft.	10 lb.	Electromagnetic
		EMF Potential Rifle/Lightning Gun	8000 gp	Single (50)	2d8	3d6	×3	40 ft.	7 lb.	Electrical
				Double (100)	4d8	5d8	×3			Electrical
		Fusion Rifle	6000 gp	Single (30)	1d10	2d6	×3	100 ft.	15 lb.	Plasma
				Double (60)	2d8	2d10	×3			Plasma
		Mag Rifle/Rail Gun	10000 gp	1	2d6	2d8	×5	400 ft.	12 lb.	Piercing
		Rail Slugs (10)	500 gp	-					5 lb.
		Iron Slugs (10)	50 gp	-	1d6	1d8			1 lb.
		Gold Slugs (10)	150 gp	-	2d4	2d6			4 lb.
		Missile Launcher	5000 gp	3	by Missile	by Missile	by Missile	100 ft.	7 lb.	by Missile
		Sonic Resonator Gun/Screamer	8000 gp	30	2d8	3d6	×2	60 ft. cone	5 lb.	Sonic
		Variable-Frequency (VF) Laser Rifle	10000 gp	Microwave (1)	1d3	1d4	×3	120 ft.	5 lb.	Fire
				Infrared (2)	1d8	1d10	×3			Fire
				Red (4)	1d6	2d4	×3			Radiation
				Green (6)	1d8	2d6	×3			Radiation
				Violet (10)	2d6	2d8	×3			Radiation
				Ultraviolet (25)	3d8	3d10	×3			Radiation
				X-Ray (50)	4d10ø	4d12ø	×3			Radiation
				Gamma (100)	6d10ø	6d12ø	×3			Radiation
		Warp Rifle	30000 gp	100	special	special	-	100 ft.	10 lb.	special
	Siege-Class Weapons
	Weapon		Cost	Setting/ Charges Used	Damage	Critical	Range Increment	Weight	Type	Typical Crew
		Antimatter Cannon	300000 gp	200	12d8ø§	19-20/×2	160 ft.	600 lb.	Particle	1
		Cryo Cannon	200000 gp	60	6d12§	19-20/×2	300 ft.	700 lb.	Gelid	1
		Disruptor	200000 gp	150	12d8	19-20/×3	500 ft.	400 lb.	Disruption	1
		Gauss Cannon	50000 gp	1	4d10	19-20/×5	1600 ft.	300 lb.	Piercing	2
		Rail Shells (100)	5000 gp	-				200 lb.
		Iron Shells (100)	500 gp	-	2d10			40 lb.
		Ion Cannon	50000 gp	50	6d12§	19-20/×3	600 ft.	800 lb.	Electromagnetic	1
		Laser Cannon	150000 gp	Microwave (5)	3d6	19-20/×3	1200 ft.	500 lb.	Fire	1
				Infrared (10)	4d8	19-20/×3			Fire
				Red (20)	3d8	19-20/×3			Radiation
				Green (30)	3d12	19-20/×3			Radiation
				Violet (40)	6d8	19-20/×3			Radiation
				Ultraviolet (60)	8d10	19-20/×3			Radiation
				X-Ray (100)	10d12ø	19-20/×3			Radiation
				Gamma (200)	15d12ø	19-20/×3			Radiation
		Missile Rack	50000+ gp (see text)	1000	by Missile	by Missile	1000 ft.	700 lb.	by Missile	1
		Plasma Cannon	200000 gp	60	6d12§	19-20/×3	200 ft.	1000 lb.	Plasma	1
		Singularity Cannon	$$$	1200	special	n/a	600 ft.	1000 lb.	special	1
ø If the weapon hits, the target is exposed to Lethal-25 radiation for 1d2 rounds.
§ The weapon deals splash damage equal to the listed amount, in a 10-foot radius around the target. If the shot misses, use the "Missing With a Thrown Weapon" procedure (PHB page 158) to determine where the shot ends up.

Technological Weapon Descriptions

    Antimatter Cannon: A siege-class version of the Antimatter Pistol or Conversion Beamer, this device fires packets of antimatter plasma ("antiplasma") contained in a thick sheath of luminous ions. Upon hitting solid or liquid matter, the sheath breaks open and releases the antiplasma, causing a significant portion of the target's matter to suddenly annihilate into energy. This not only deals Particle damage to the target (and anything nearby that gets caught in the resulting 10-foot radius blast), but also exposes those creatures and objects to hard Radiation (Lethal-25 intensity) for 1d2 rounds after the actual shot hits.
    The Antimatter Cannon has a control panel that may be operated by a single individual, requiring a standard action (and a DC 20 Use Ancient Device check) to fire. Aiming the cannon requires a move action, and the operator must make an attack roll using his or her Base Attack Bonus modified by his or her INT. Once aimed, subsequent shots from the cannon will all hit the same square, unless the operator uses another move action and roll to aim the cannon again. A shot which misses the target deals damage to something near the target instead, using the "Missing With Thrown Weapons" procedure (PHB page 158) to determine where it goes.
    Antimatter Pistol: An Antimatter Pistol is an odd, bulbous little hand weapon designed for medium-range combat. It fires a few antimatter atoms sheathed in luminous ions, much like a Blaster Pistol, but the Antimatter Pistol fires significantly more antimatter atoms than the Blaster (and thus requires more power to fire). The sheath breaks open and dissipates upon encountering solid or liquid matter, releasing the anti-atoms to interact with (and destroy part of) it. Antimatter Pistols have two settings, one of which fires approximately twice as many anti-atoms as the other (referred to as a Double and a Single shot, respectively). Since antimatter releases a great deal of energy upon encountering ordinary matter, even a few anti-atoms can do a lot of damage, and a target struck by shots of antimatter is exposed to hard Radiation (Lethal-25 intensity) for 1d2 rounds after the actual shot hits.
    Blaster Pistol: One of the most common technological weapons still available on Taera today, Blaster Pistols were a standard civilian-issue weapon during the Golden Age, and most adults kept one for emergencies. A Blaster Pistol fires a squirt of antimatter atoms sheathed in strongly magnetic, luminous ions, which gradually erodes as it passes through gas (hence the range limit). Upon encountering solid or liquid matter, the sheath breaks open and dissipates, releasing the antimatter onto the object struck and dealing damage. Blaster Pistols have two settings, one which fires the actual antimatter (thus dealing real damage), and a Stun setting which fires only the empty sheath of ions (and deals subdual damage). Because of the composition of the sheath particles, Blaster shots do not cause exposure to dangerous Radiation the way most other weapons that use antimatter do.
    Chaos Rifle: The Chaos Rifle is a Quantumtech device which suppresses the effects of physical laws on its target. While this might not sound particularly bad to most people, the fact of the matter is that physical laws are responsible for many of the processes of life in any creature's body, including nonliving ones such as Constructs and Undead- and suppression of those laws even for a few instants is invariably disruptive, and sometimes catastrophic. Though it is not strictly possible to simulate the true effects of the weapon in game terms, they can be approximated by making the damage half Disruption, and half something else- a random type from the table below. Roll a d12 to decide the other damage type:

1.   Acid
2.   Bludgeoning
3.   Cold
4.   Electricity
5.   Electromagnetic
6.   Fire
7.   Force
8.   Particle
9.   Plasma
10.   Radiation
11.   Slashing
12.   Sonic

Missiles, Grenades, and Bombs

Ancient Taerans also built weapons which were not exactly energy weapons like those above, but instead were physical devices which caused some sort of harmful effect upon activation- essentially improvements on the bow and arrow, and thrown rocks. The thrown variety of these devices were called Grenades (leading to the modern term "grenade-like weapons" which is used to describe such items as flasks of acid or alchemists' fire), and the kind which were fired from other devices were called by the generic term Missiles. A third category, called Bombs, were essentially giant Grenades which an ordinary person couldn't throw; these Bombs were always large, heavy items with incredible destructive potential, intended to be dropped on targets from far above (often from above the atmosphere of a target world). Most Bombs remaining today are useful only as museum pieces, and no examples of truly mass-destructive Bombs are thought to have survived to the present day, thanks largely to the efforts of the gods (especially Damok and Thero) destroying them before they could fall into dangerous hands. All Grenades and Missiles destroy themselves when used, though some leave the majority of the device behind and intact (just without whatever fuel provided the effect). The reason some useful Grenades and Missiles still exist today, so many millennia later, is that many machines which are capable of making them still exist and are carefully maintained by their owners. When discovered as treasure, most types of Grenades will be found in packs of eight of the same type (though some may be missing from the pack); Missiles, by contrast, are generally found in packs of six.

Grenades can be primed (Use Ancient Device check DC 15) and thrown as a standard action, in combat, using the normal rules for grenade-like weapons. A Grenade which is "damaged" by a bad roll on the Use Ancient Device check simply detonates in the user's hand, destroying itself (and sometimes the user as well). Because Grenades do no damage until detonation, and do not normaly detonate on impact, they never deal critical hits. The whole point of using a Grenade is to deal area-effect damage (or at any rate cause an area effect), and Grenade explosions usually allow Reflex saving throws to avoid some of the damage just as area-effect spells do. Grenades are resolved as touch attacks, because the point is to simply hit the target area, not to damage a target by hitting it with the device itself.

Missiles, by contrast, require devices called Missile Lauchers (essentially large guns) to use; they are fired at targets with the Launcher, and have no effect unless so launched. Unlike Grenades, Missiles primed and fired by a Launcher can deal critical hits, and a target struck directly by a Missile (whether or not the hit is a critical) is not allowed a saving throw to reduce or eliminate the effect, even if the Missile would normally allow one. Missiles which miss their targets will detonate at the limit of the current range increment, behind the target, so especially powerful Missiles might damage the target with the explosion even on a miss. Missiles are resolved as Touch attacks, like Grenades, but critical hits only happen if the Missile actually hits the normal AC of the target (just as normal weapon criticals are resolved).

Characters may become proficient in Grenades or Missile Launchers, for the purposes of proficiency Feats; once one knows how to use one Grenade, or fire one type of Missile from a Launcher, one can use all of them equally well. Grenades are considered Tiny weapons (even Small characters can throw them one-handed once primed), and the Missile Launcher is considered a Medium weapon. Missiles themselves are generally Small, but since they are useless as weapons without a Launcher, that rarely matters.

Some Missiles are called "Guided," or "Smart," because they are capable of changing direction in mid-flight to follow targets. A Guided Missile must be carefully aimed in the Launcher before firing, requiring a full-round action to properly target, or it is treated as a normal Missile. Guided Missiles which are properly "locked" on target receive a +10 competence bonus on the attack roll, and if such a Missile misses its target by less than 5 (remembering that it is resolved as a Touch attack), it literally circles around in midair, and attacks again with the same bonus in the next round. This dance can continue indefinitely, as long as the Missile keeps coming that close to its target; otherwise, it fails to maintain a "lock" on it and flies out of control to detonate at a location away from the actual target, using the Grenade-Like Missiles table in the DMG. It is possible for a user of a Guider Glove (see Miscellaneous Technology above) to alter the target of a Guided missile in mid-flight, provided the wearer of the Glove launched the missile in the first place. The Glove wearer is required to keep the Missile Launcher empty of more missiles, and point it at the new target as if acquiring it for another shot (i.e. for at least one full round). The Glove wearer then clicks the trigger, and the new target is transmitted through the Glove to the Missile, which begins attacking the new target on its next action.

Within the table below, the usual "Charges Used" column is replaced by a "Radius" column, because all of these weapons produce explosions of some sort upon activation, and none require any Power Cells to use. A Missile Launcher does require a Power Cell, but uses up only 3 CUs per Missile fired; since only one Missile at a time can be loaded into the Launcher (and loading a Missile is a full-round action), a Missile Launcher rarely runs out of power in the middle of a combat.

Technological Weapons- Grenades
	Weapon		Cost	Radius	Damage	Critical	Range Increment	Weight	Type
		Absolute Zero	5000 gp	30 ft.	8d6	-	30 ft.	§	Gelid
		Antimatter	5000 gp	10 ft.	8d8	-	20 ft.	1 lb.	Particle
		Atomic Pellet, Small	500 gp	20 ft.	3d4	-	30 ft.	*	Fire
		Atomic Pellet, Medium	1000 gp	30 ft.	4d6	-	30 ft.	*	Fire
		Atomic Pellet, Large	2000 gp	40 ft.	5d8	-	30 ft.	§	Fire
		Atomic Pellet Multilauncher	10000 gp	special	special	-	20 ft.	1 lb.	Fire
		Big Bang	35000 gp	80 ft.	10d8	-	20 ft.	½ lb.	Radiation, Particle, and Electromagnetic
		Bubble	50000 gp	10 ft.	special	-	30 ft.	§	special
		Dimensional Mine	20000 gp	20 ft.	4d6 + special	-	30 ft.	§	special
		Disruptor	3500 gp	20 ft.	4d12	-	30 ft.	§	Disruption
		Gamma Burst	10000 gp	20 ft.	5d6	-	20 ft.	1 lb.	Radiation
		Magneto	7500 gp	80 ft.	1d4 + 8d12	-	20 ft.	1 lb.	Electrical + Electromagnetic
		Needle	5000 gp	20 ft.	4d6 + poison	-	30 ft.	§	Piercing and poison
		Nerve Gas	15000 gp	30 ft.	poison	-	30 ft.	½ lb.	poison
		Photon	750 gp	20 ft.	2d4 + blind	-	20 ft.	1 lb.	Radiation
		Singularity	100000 gp	20 ft.	special	-	20 ft.	2 lb.	special
		Sonic Boomer	1000 gp	30 ft.	3d4 + deafness	-	30 ft.	§	Sonic
		Stun	2500 gp	30 ft.	6d8	-	30 ft.	½ lb.	Subdual
		Warp	7500 gp	40 ft.	special	-	30 ft.	§	special
		Webmaker	2500 gp	40 ft.	special	-	20 ft.	2 lb.	special
Technological Weapons- Missiles
		Antimatter	20000 gp	30 ft.	10d8	×2	-	5 lb.	Particle
		Chaos	50000 gp	30 ft.	8d12	×2	-	3 lb.	Disruption and Random
		Dimensional Distortion	40000 gp	30 ft.	5d8 + special	×2	-	1 lb.	special
		Disruptor	6000 gp	30 ft.	5d12	×2	-	2 lb.	Disruption
		EMP	15000 gp	200 ft.	1d6 + 10d12	×2	-	8 lb.	Electrical + Electromagnetic
		Freezer	10000 gp	40 ft.	8d6	×2	-	3 lb.	Gelid
		Guided	×1.5	as normal	as normal	19-20/×3	-	as normal	as normal
		Missile Launcher	5000 gp	by Missile	by Missile	by Missile	100 ft.	7 lb.	by Missile
		Needle Burst	7500 gp	30 ft.	4d6 + poison	×2	-	1 lb.	Piercing and poison
		Neutron	75000 gp	100 ft.	6d10	×2	-	10 lb.	Radiation
		Singularity	200000 gp	20 ft.	special	n/a	-	10 lb.	special
		Stun	5000 gp	40 ft.	8d8	×2	-	2 lb.	Subdual
		Tac-Nuke	125000 gp	200 ft.	20d10	×2	-	5 lb.	Plasma
		Thunder	2000 gp	40 ft.	5d6 + deafness	×2	-	2 lb.	Sonic
		Vac-Lapse	50000 gp	120 ft.	10d8	×2	-	1 lb.	Radiation, Particle, and Electromagnetic
		Warp	15000 gp	60 ft.	special	n/a	-	5 lb.	special
		Webmaker	5000 gp	60 ft.	special	n/a	-	10 lb.	special

* These items have no effective weight.
§ Ten of these items weigh 1 pound.

Grenade Descriptions

    Absolute Zero: This variety of grenade (a small sphere colored light blue) contains a strange form of matter called a "condensate" or "superatom" in Ancient sources. Whatever other properties this form of matter may have, it is apparently extremely cold, because the grenade actually holds the stuff in suspension until it detonates. Upon detonation, the "condensate" is released to interact with the outside world, and in the process it causes a burst of extremely intense cold and an implosion into the area of the burst-open grenade. If an unprimed Absolute Zero grenade is destroyed by an attack, the condensate is released by the destruction, and causes the same explosion of cold that it normally would (since its presence alone is enough to cause the reaction). An Absolute Zero grenade leaves its shell and workings (minus the condensate) behind once detonated; if scavenged, the shell can fetch a price as high as 500 gold from some collectors (though few such parties will ever buy more than one spent shell). If all the pieces are carefully gathered up, the spent shell may be refilled in a machine capable of making the condensate, and reused- of course, such machines are extraordinarily rare.
    Antimatter:
    Atomic Pellet: Atomic Pellets are essentially tiny nuclear bombs. They produce tremendous explosions given their size and mass, especially given the fact that the actual explosive material in each is but a tiny fraction of the whole device (typically about 1/100)- but because their size and mass are so low, the actual explosions aren't actually very large either. Furthermore, since the explosions created by them are so small, they deal only Fire damage, rather than the Plasma damage more commonly dealt by nuclear weapons. An Atomic Pellet is a tiny sphere of nondescript gray metal, with one section of the sphere clearly raised out of position from the rest (with a cylindrical cross-section). This section is actually the button which primes the Pellet; once it is pressed, the wielder simply tosses the Pellet at whatever he or she wants to blow up. When the primed Atomic Pellet hits a solid object, it detonates, creating an explosion matching the stats given in the weapons table above depending on its size. Tiny Genitech mechanisms within the Pellet squeeze the "fissile mass" (as Ancient documents call it) in the center to tremendous pressure and density in a fraction of a second, and the mass reacts by exploding. The Small Pellets are about a quarter-inch wide, the Medium about half an inch, and the Large about ¾ of an inch wide. The corresponding explosion radii, however, are 20 feet, 30 feet, and 40 feet (the actual radius of the blast wave is a bit larger in all three cases, but it deals no significant damage for game purposes beyond the listed radius).
    Atomic Pellet Multilauncher: Sometimes dubbed "Meteor Swarm in a can" by combat veterans who have seen one used, an Atomic Pellet Multilauncher Grenade is a device designed to spread the destructive potential of several Atomic Pellets over a wide area. A Multilauncher Grenade is a largely featureless sphere of grayish metal about 4 inches in diameter; a small button of the same metal about a half-inch wide protrudes from one side. If one examines the sphere closely, it is possible to see nearly-invisible lines forming several circles in the sphere's surface; these open just after the Grenade strikes a solid object (once it has been primed), revealing inside mechanisms. The Multilauncher Grenade contains several Atomic Pellets of all three types (one Large, four Medium, and eight Small), and upon activation, it primes and shoots all but the Large-sized one at nearby targets. The Large one, held at the center of the Grenade, is simply primed and detonated in the space of a split-second; the four Medium ones are shot in cardinal directions toward positions 40 feet from the Multilauncher itself, and the Small ones are shot in an octagonal-formation ring towards positions 70 feet from the Multilauncher. In ideal conditions, each Pellet will detonate at the targetted location, producing a series of explosions roughly covering a 90-foot radius. However, large objects or creatures standing near the detonation point of the Multilauncher Grenade itself can foil the placement of one or more of the smaller Pellets, and this may cause the actual damage radius to be considerably smaller overall (though in such a case, the blocking object(s) will take a lot more damage). As with the aptly-referenced Meteor Swarm spell, a creature or object caught in the radius of multiple Pellets is damaged by all of them; thus, a creature standing 35 feet away from a Multilauncher when it explodes will likely take at least 5d8+4d6 damage (for the Large and one Medium Pellet).
    Big Bang:
    Bubble:
    Dimensional Mine:
    Disruptor:
    Gamma Burst:
    Magneto:
    Needle:
    Nerve Gas:
    Photon:
    Singularity:
    Sonic Boomer:
    Stun:
    Warp:
    Webmaker:

Missile Descriptions

    Antimatter:
    Chaos:
    Dimensional Distortion:
    Disruptor:
    EMP:
    Freezer: This variety of missile (a bulky cylindrical casing colored light blue) contains a strange form of matter called a "condensate" or "superatom" in Ancient sources. Whatever other properties this form of matter may have, it is apparently extremely cold, because the missile actually holds the stuff in suspension until it detonates. Upon detonation, the "condensate" is released to interact with the outside world, and in the process it causes a burst of intense cold and an implosion into the area of the shattered missile. If an unprimed Freezer Missile is destroyed by an attack, the condensate is released by the destruction, and causes the same explosion of cold that it normally would (since its presence alone is enough to cause the reaction). Though a Freezer Missile is essentially an Absolute Zero grenade given propulsion (and sometimes guidance), the force of impact destroys the casing, and it may not be reused as a grenade shell sometimes can.
    Guided:
    Missile Launcher: See description under Technological Weapons, above.
    Needle Burst:
    Neutron:
    Singularity:
    Stun:
    Tac-Nuke:
    Thunder:
    Vac-Lapse:
    Warp:
    Webmaker:

Force Fields

Force fields were the most commonly used form of protection during the Golden Age, because they provided excellent protection to the wearer without the weight and discomfort of wearing actual physical armor. Force field generators are typically backpack-sized (and designed to be worn as such), but a few of the more advanced types are tiny devices barely larger than the power cells used in them, fitted to belts. The disadvantage to having force field armor alone, of course, was that it took power to keep the force field going- if the field generator ever ran out of power, the field would collapse within a split-second, most likely exposing the wearer to a deadly situation with no protection. That said, their versatility usually made up for this weakness in most citizens' minds, and many force field generators of various kinds have survived to the present day. When active, a force field surrounds its wearer in a bubble of energy that is visible only when it deflects an attack. At the instant of deflection, the field causes a discharge of light at its outer surface where the attack hit it, which clearly looks like a bubble around the wearer while it is visible (typically, the discharge is over within a second).

In game terms, force fields normally grant a Deflection bonus to the wearer's AC as long as they are active. The field also grants the wearer Damage Reduction 20 vs. all attack forms while it is active, but the field itself is capable of taking damage- essentially, it grants the wearer an extra set of hit points to work with while it is functioning. Force fields each have 50 hit points when at full power, and take damage only when an attack actually penetrates the field- thus, a force field which grants a +8 AC bonus takes no damage from any attack that misses AC 18 + the wearer's DEX modifier. Since the force field is a deflection bonus, rather than an armor bonus, it is possible to wear armor underneath a force field and have an even higher AC, but the armor does not help the field avoid damage- only non-armor bonuses count towards the field's AC, and all area effects which contain the wearer within the area will deal full damage to the force field (because they do not require attack rolls to deal damage), even if the wearer succeeds at a saving throw to avoid the damage. Any attack which does penetrate the field deals full damage to the field, even if no damage actually hurts the wearer. If an attack deals more damage than the field has remaining hit points, the field takes as much damage as it can, and all remaining damage is applied to the wearer if possible.

Force fields which are brought down in this manner require 10 minutes of self-diagnostic and power replenishment before they can be activated again, so in most combat situations they become useless after being overcome, at least for the rest of the combat. It requires 50 CU to power up a field from this standby mode, so if a generator is overcome and has less than 50 CU left in its Power Cell, it cannot be reactivated until the Cell is recharged or replaced. A damaged field which has not yet been brought down can be repaired if the user makes a Use Ancient Device check vs. DC 20 (Activating a force field generator in the first place, or from standby mode, is a DC 15 check). If the user is successful in the check to repair the field, he or she may spend 1 CU from the Power Cell per hit point, to repair the field up to its full maximum level of 50, or any amount below that as desired. Fields which lose power, or have their Power Cells removed during operation, immediately wink out and must be brought up again from standby once a new (charged) Power Cell is inserted.

Most force field generators come in multiple strengths, with the more powerful ones granting a better deflection bonus, and costing comparably more money to buy (when they're actually sold). In the table below, these are noted by bonus under the actual generator type, much like the different settings for technological weapons in the section above. As before, the prices below are only for the devices themselves; power cells to actually make them work cost extra.

Technological Armor- Force Fields
	Armor		Cost	Charges Used	AC Bonus	Maximum DEX Bonus	Armor Check Penalty	Arcane Spell Failure	------Speed------		Weight
									(30 ft.)	(20 ft.)
		Deflector Shield	25000 gp	1/minute	+4 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			40000 gp	1/minute	+5 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			60000 gp	1/minute	+6 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			80000 gp	1/minute	+7 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			100000 gp	1/minute	+8 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			130000 gp	1/minute	+9 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			160000 gp	1/minute	+10 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			190000 gp	1/minute	+11 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
			220000 gp	1/minute	+12 Def.	+6	-1	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	25 lb.
		Genitech Attack Shield	50000 gp	1/round	+4 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			80000 gp	1/round	+5 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			120000 gp	1/round	+6 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			160000 gp	1/round	+7 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			200000 gp	1/round	+8 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			240000 gp	1/round	+9 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			280000 gp	1/round	+10 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			320000 gp	1/round	+11 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
			360000 gp	1/round	+12 Def.	+8	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
		Inertial Suit	35000 gp	1/minute	+4 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			60000 gp	1/minute	+5 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			85000 gp	1/minute	+6 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			110000 gp	1/minute	+7 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			140000 gp	1/minute	+8 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			170000 gp	1/minute	+9 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			200000 gp	1/minute	+10 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			230000 gp	1/minute	+11 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
			260000 gp	1/minute	+12 Armor	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	5 lb.
		Quantumtech Reflectoshield	200000 gp	5/attack	+6 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.
			260000 gp	5/attack	+7 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.
			320000 gp	5/attack	+8 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.
			380000 gp	5/attack	+9 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.
			440000 gp	5/attack	+10 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.
			500000 gp	5/attack	+11 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.
			560000 gp	5/attack	+12 Def.	n/a	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	2 lb.

Force Field Descriptions

    Deflector Shield: Deflector Shields are the basic personal model of force field generator, and the most common type remaining on modern Taera. A Deflector Shield conforms to the rules presented above, and has one Cell chamber for powering it. A Deflector Shield generator looks like a rigid, silvery, metallic, ovoid backpack with adjustable metal strips to help secure it (in fact, these help focus the field in front of the wearer, but few people know or care about that fact). When a Deflector Shield is being worn, it takes up the item slot that a backpack would normally take, so the wearer can't wear a normal backpack with one (and the Deflector has no space for item storage).
    Genitech Attack Shield: Genitech Attack Shields are a distinct improvement over the basic model of force field. They are backpacks similar to the basic model of Deflector Shield, but thinner and lighter, and made of a yellow-colored metal rather than the normal silvery kind. Genitech Attack Shields are designed to not only deflect attacks, but also counterattack; whenever any attack strikes the shield (i.e., hits the wearer based purely on DEX and dodge bonuses), the shield fires a beam of destructive energy in the direction the attack came from, whether or not the attack did actual damage to the Shield itself. This beam has a +10 attack bonus, ×2 critical, and deals 2d6 Particle damage with a successful hit. No matter how many attacks hit the Shield in a given round, it always fires a beam in response, though each beam fired after the 10th costs 1 CU to fire. A Genitech Attack Shield is worn in place of a backpack, just as a standard Deflector Shield is, and has two Power Cell chambers for providing its energy.
    Inertial Suit: Inertial Suits are tiny generators mounted on flexible belts, and as such they may not be worn with other types of belts (though they can be, and often are, worn with backpack-style force field generators like those above). Inertial Suits follow most of the rules detailed above for force fields, but instead of providing a deflection bonus to AC, the Inertial Suit provides an armor bonus, just as if the wearer were actually wearing physical armor. The bonus from an Inertial Suit stacks with deflection bonuses granted by other force fields (and, incidentally, by such items as Rings of Protection), but does not stack with the bonus provided by actual armor or shields. Inertial Armor generators are powered by Cell chambers attached to the same belts as the generators themselves; if the generator is detached from the belt, it no longer functions. A typical Inertial Suit belt has two attached Cell chambers, but some have more or less than that number (and come with corresponding minor discounts or markups in price).
    Quantumtech Reflectoshield: Quantumtech Reflectoshields are one of the greatest triumphs of Ancient engineering, at least so far as modern Taerans understand it. Instead of providing the wearer with Damage Reduction, a Reflectoshield literally reflects the energy or force of the attack back at the attacker, regardless of what type of force or energy that actually is. Any attack upon the wearer of a Reflectoshield is resolved in a special way. Ranged attacks, or attacks made with natural melee weapons such as claws or teeth, are resolved as if the attacker was trying to attack itself- the same attack roll number is used, and the attacker's AC is compared to see whether it hits (and, if necessary, whether it critical-hits). Attacks with melee weapons that are not natural weapons, like swords or maces, are resolved as if the attack was against the weapon itself rather than the attacker. Area effects are not reflected at all, but nevertheless do not deal any damage to the wearer while the shield is functioning. The Reflectoshield itself takes damage from attacks just as other force fields do, if they overcome its deflection bonus, but no attack of any sort can harm the wearer while the Reflectoshield has remaining hit points (of course, an attack that overcomes the shield and still has damage remaining will harm the wearer exactly as it would with any other type of force field). Quantumtech Reflectoshield generators are tiny devices worn on belts, much like Inertial Suits, but they never come with less than three Power Cell chambers on the belt, and are significantly different in appearance and size. It should also be noted that Reflectoshields consume no power while active (unlike every other type of force field generator), but rather consume 5 CUs every time an attack is reflected. A Reflectoshield that runs out of energy sputters and winks out just like any other force field would.

Ancient Armor

Ancient armor was usually worn similarly to modern armor, but was usually made for different purposes- for instance, a Radiation Suit was specifically designed not to combat attacks, but to allow the wearer to survive in heavy radiation. Some Ancient armor was used for basic defense, and much of this has survived to the present day, though the military-grade armor is quite rare and precious. Most soldiers of the Golden Age wore special heavy armor which augmented the wearer's movements and abilities, and thus was much more powerful than any armor modern people know how to make; this Powered Armor effectively forms a fourth category of armor that requires a proficiency Feat in order to use (just as existing armor types do, for those characters who do not receive the training with their class levels). On modern Taera, no basic class gets automatic proficiency in Powered Armor, as it is so rare that even the richest kingdoms can rarely find more than one or two suits, let alone afford to buy them (if they can even persuade the owners to sell). Powered Armor uses Power Cells like other equipment does, but most Powered Armor suits come with several Cell chambers, to allow them to operate longer without recharging. Of course, the prices below reflect the price of the unpowered suits, with no Cells installed. Powered Armor that is currently unpowered (whether out of Cells, or with depleted ones) is virtually impossible for most people to move in, because it is so bulky and heavy.

All the technological armor below was designed to fit Elder Races, and under normal circumstances cannot be used by others (or at least, others which don't follow the normal humanoid body pattern). A few types can still be made with the proper equipment, however, so special types such as Radiation Suits and Bioplate can occasionally be found in configurations that non-humanoid Mutants can use. Such devices are virtually all unique, in the modern world, and priceless as a result; furthermore, no known device is capable of making Powered Armor, so no such suit has ever been found which can fit a non-humanoid Mutant. Within the table, suits which can (in theory) be made for non-humanoids are marked with ^ø symbols, but note that since the devices which make them are so rare, such specially-made suits are virtually never found as treasure, and generally cost at least four times the normal price (in fact, the makers can reasonably name their own prices).

Technological Armor
	Armor		Cost	Charges Used	Armor Bonus	Maximum DEX Bonus	Armor Check Penalty	Arcane Spell Failure	------Speed------		Weight
									(30 ft.)	(20 ft.)
	Light
		Bioplateø	35000 gp	0	+6	+6	0	0%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
		Plastic Plateø	5000 gp	0	+8	+4	-1	20%	30 ft.	20 ft.	15 lb.
	Medium
		Gas Maskø	2500 gp	0	+1	-	-1	10%	-	-	5 lb.
		Hazmat Suitø	25000 gp	0	+4	+3	-4	40%	20 ft.	15 ft.	15 lb.
		Heatsink Suitø	15000 gp	1/10 minutes	+3	+5	-2	20%	20 ft.	15 ft.	25 lb.
		Radiation Suitø	7500 gp	0	+3	+4	-3	30%	20 ft.	15 ft.	45 lb.
	Heavy
		Crystal Plate, Basic	30000 gp	0	+9	+3	-4	15%	20 ft.	15 ft.	50 lb.
		Crystal Plate, Blending	45000 gp	1/10 minutes	+9	+3	-4	15%	20 ft.	15 ft.	55 lb.
		Environment Suit	35000 gp	0	+5	+2	-4	40%	20 ft.	15 ft.	25 lb.
	Powered
		Assault Suit	350000 gp	3/minute	+20	0*	-8	10%	60 ft.	40 ft.	200 lb.
		Crystal Plate, Powered	150000 gp	2/minute	+16	+1*	-7	10%	40 ft.	30 ft.	120 lb.
		Plastic Plate, Powered	50000 gp	1/minute	+10	+2*	-4	40%	40 ft.	30 ft.	60 lb.
	Shields
		Bioshield, Large	5000 gp	0	+2	-	-1	0%	-	-	5 lb.
		Bioshield, Small	3500 gp	0	+1	-	-1	0%	-	-	3 lb.
		Crystal Shield, Large	6000 gp	0	+2	-	-1	10%	-	-	15 lb.
		Crystal Shield, Small	4500 gp	0	+1	-	-1	5%	-	-	7 lb.
		Plastic Shield, Large	500 gp	0	+2	-	-1	10%	-	-	5 lb.
		Plastic Shield, Small	300 gp	0	+1	-	0	5%	-	-	3 lb.

^*Powered Armor actually allows a proficient user his or her full DEX bonus, because the armor augments all movements (even dodging). However, only a proficient user is familiar enough with how the armor moves to be allowed the full DEX bonus, so the listed Maximum is applied to nonproficient characters who wear Powered Armor.

Technological Armor Descriptions

    Assault Suit:
    Bioplate: Bioplate is an Organitech construct blending plant and animal forms, resembling a glittering green insectoid carapace of carefully molded plates and interlocking parts, connected underneath by leathery brown hide. Being Organitech, the armor is itself alive, and requires nutrition and energy to stay that way; fortunately, a typical suit of Bioplate has the capability to photosynthesize much of what it needs if given at least 3 hours of sunlight (or equivalent) per day, and can get the rest by absorbing sweat and other bodily fluids from the wearer. Bioplate that is not worn at least one day out of every week begins to starve and wither, losing one point of armor bonus and 5 hit points per day until it finally dies and becomes useless. A healthy suit of Bioplate has Hardness 12, 30 hit points, and is treated like an object for all purposes of attacking and damage despite being a living thing- with the exception that negative energy attacks and instant-death effects can be directed at the Bioplate instead of its wearer. If Bioplate ever needs to save against such effects, it uses its wearer's saving throw modifier in all cases. A Suit of Bioplate withstands 4 points of energy weapon damage before damage burns through and hurts its wearer, but the suit has Fast Healing 1, and closes wounds to itself quickly if it is not destroyed and is given time to do so (so subsequent energy weapon strikes often do not penetrate as well as they would a non-living suit of armor).
    Bioplate does more for its wearer than simply provide armor. The suit lives in symbiosis with its wearer, not parasitism; the trade of bodily chemicals and nutrients goes both ways. First, and perhaps most importantly, the Bioplate grants its wearer the ability to heal at a greatly accelerated rate. Each hour, the character heals as much as he or she would normally heal in a full day (keeping in mind how much stress/adventuring the wearer is doing during that hour). Secondly, by pressing certain raised nodules set into hidden recesses in the armor, the wearer can cause it to release potent hormone cocktails into hir or her own system; these hormones grant an enhancement bonus of +2 to the ability score of the wearer's choice (the choice determines which particular 'button' is pressed to initiate a hormone cascade). While a hormone cascade is active, no other hormone cascade may be generated by the Bioplate suit, and each cascade lasts for 10 minutes. The suit is capable of creating up to 24 such cascades in a single 24-hour period, and replenishes them at a rate of 1/hour as they are used. Third, Bioplate has a natural blending ability similar to that of a chameleon (albeit far superior in speed and precision), and grants its wearer a +10 bonus on Hide checks while worn. Finally, Bioplate has the same ability to channel magical and psionic energies that other living creatures do, and furthermore is designed with comfort in mind. It does not restrict the movements of the wearer in any significant way, and allows the character the same access to magical energy that he or she would have while wearing no armor at all; in effect, it has no effect at all on the wearer's spellcasting ability. Also, because it is so comfortable, it may be worn even while the wearer sleeps, and the wearer will suffer no lost sleep or fatigue as a result of wearing the armor this way. And because the armor is itself able to channel magical and psionic energy, any suit of Bioplate may be enchanted or enhanced as if it were a masterpiece item, regardless of its actual state when the work is done.
    Suits of Bioplate are, like all living things, capable of reproduction. Each suit does this by combining its own genetic code with that of its wearer in a sort of sexual parthenogenesis, to produce a seed which will grow into a new suit of Bioplate (specifically designed to fit the original wearer, or members of the wearer's race with a similar frame and body type) if planted in fertile soil and nourished. The suit produces one seed per year while it is alive, but the seeds are well concealed and difficult to notice- each one requires a DC 30 Knowledge (Nature) or Profession (Herbalist) check to spot and safely remove in order for planting to occur. Once planted, the seed needs 3 years to grow into a full suit of Bioplate, and is useless for armor before then (though an immature suit may, at the DM's option, contain one or more of the powers of a full suit if harvested early, such as the hormone cascade or the blending ability). A fully-grown suit of Bioplate lives for 40 years if kept well-fed and used, before dying of old age and requiring replacement. Though seed growth is the most common means of Bioplate replacement, it is not the only one; any Ancient device which is capable of replicating living creatures (such as a clone tank or a biofactory) can be used to create a new Bioplate seed, with a typical Use Ancient Device DC for the act being 35. Creating a Bioplate seed "from scratch" this way requires a genetic scan of the wearer to properly combine with the seed's DNA, and create a wearable suit, but in this way can create a seed set to fit literally any living creature. Suits of Bioplate designed to fit non-Elder races are exceptionally rare except among the K'r'r'r and Thri-Kreen, but they do sometimes exist. K'r'r'r and Thri-Kreen have carefully maintained stocks of Bioplate seeds in their cities for many centuries, and have specialists devoted to the care and raising of new suits, presumably bred from manufactured seeds given to them by members of the Elder Races long ago.
    Crystal Plate, Basic: Crystal Plate armor is a full-body suit similar to articulated Full Plate, but made from an amazingly hard and resilient (non-Silmarillium) crystalline material of Ancient manufacture. The crystal the armor is made from has a Hardness rating of 30 and 40 hit points per inch of thickness, but is significantly lighter than steel for all that strength. The crystal in the armor is actually reinforced with threads of metal and other more exotic materials, granting the suit 135 total hit points; of course, because energy weapons don't have to destroy the entire suit to get through it, an energy weapon hit only needs to deal 20 points of damage to the suit in order to damage the wearer. A suit of Crystal Plate is much thicker than a full-body suit of steel Full Plate, because the crystal is so much lighter. Every suit of Crystal Plate comes with a helmet; the helmet has a full faceplate made of highly polished crystal that is more transparent than the standard material used in the rest of the armor (but not noticeably weaker for that). The wearer can thus have the faceplate down completely without being restricted in vision at all.
    Crystal Plate, Blending: Blending Crystal Plate is a variety of Crystal Plate (see above) with an extra ability. The reinforcing threads running through the armor are actually minature image generators, and can alter the coloring of the crystal to any desired pattern. Therefore, the Blending Crystal Plate adds a +10 bonus to its wearer's Hide checks, but only so long as the image threads are powered- the Blending Crystal Plate consumes 1 CU per 10 minutes of operation. The armor's wearer can turn the blending ability on or off at will, as a standard action, using buttons hidden in the gauntlets. The armor has a single cell slot in its chest to hold the cell that powers the blending threads. Other than its blending ability, Blending Crystal Plate is identical with normal Crystal Plate armor.
    Crystal Plate, Powered:
    Environment Suit:
    Gas Mask: A Gas Mask is actually just an airtight head covering with a special filtered breathing tube, designed to be worn in places where toxic gas exists, to avoid suffocation. Gas Masks grant the wearer a +20 enhancement bonus to all Fortitude saving throws made to avoid inhaled poisons, including such spells as Stinking Cloud and Cloudkill. Furthermore, if the wearer would normally be automatically affected by the effect, or not allowed a save (for instance, a 1-HD wearer under a Cloudkill attack), the Gas Mask forces the character to instead be allowed a saving throw to negate the effect, and the Gas Mask grants a +10 bonus to that special saving throw (as opposed to its usual +20). Gas Masks are treated as helmets for most purposes, though they are considerably more difficult to don and remove, requiring a full-round action each way, and a Use Ancient Device check (DC 12) to don properly (if the check fails, the Mask offers no protection). They can be worn in place of the usual helmet for most forms of armor; however, many types of technological armor include the equivalent of a Gas Mask with the suit, and a separate Gas Mask cannot replace that. Gas Masks were apparently a fairly common emergency item during the Golden Age, and many have survived the millennia to the present day. They do not require Power Cells to work, and are especially popular with people who regularly travel in underground areas.
    Hazmat Suit:
    Heatsink Suit:
    Plastic Plate: Plastic Plate armor is a full suit similar to modern Full Plate, but made from a very light, stiff material that can flex and bend to accommodate the wearer. The material that Plastic Plate is made of could apparently be made in virtually any color or shape, because suits of Plastic Plate exist in an astounding variety of colors and fittings. Logos and symbols on many suits have led to speculation that Plastic Plate was used as standard armor among all basic infantry troops of the Golden Age (most such logos appear to refer to teams or units). A few scholars have suggested that in fact, Plastic Plate was never used in Ancient warfare at all (the material doesn't hold up well under strikes from energy weapons), but was instead used in recreational events, possibly even Ancient sports games. The truth is likely to remain under debate for centuries to come, but Plastic Plate protects almost as well as ordinary steel Plate Armor of the modern day, and is much lighter and easier to wear, so it is often used by modern warriors. Plastic Plate has a Hardness rating of 5, and a typical suit has 20 hit points in total (though the material has only 10 per inch of thickness, so it absorbs only 3 from energy weapon strikes before failing). Every suit of Plastic Plate comes with a matching helmet of the same material, some of which have transparent faceplates (those which don't, have no faceplates at all). The presence or absence of a faceplate in the helmet has no bearing on the price or armor rating of a given suit.
    Plastic Plate, Powered:
    Radiation Suit:

Technological Shield Descriptions

    Bioshield: Intended to be worn with a suit of Bioplate, a Bioshield is a stiff, curved plate of living green material with ropy tendrils on its inner surface to grip the arm of its wearer. Like Bioplate, a Bioshield does not interfere with the movements or energy channelling of its wearer, and thus poses no difficulty to Arcane spellcasters wearing one. A Bioshield which is attached to a suit of Bioplate (i.e. the wearer has both) is capable of the same color-blending effects of the armor itself, but a Bioshield worn with any other kind of armor (or none at all) cannot use that ability. Like all Organitech, a Bioshield is alive, and heals 1 hit point per day if damaged. Bioshields draw nutrients from their wearers, and thus do not need feeding or care beyond simply being worn. Bioshields have Hardness 12, 5 hit points (if Small) or 10 hit points (if Large), and can withstand 4 points of damage from energy weapons before letting damage through to their wearers.
    Bioshields reproduce asexually, by producing seeds once every 2d4 years. The seeds require Knowledge (Nature) or Profession (Herbalist) checks vs. DC 25 to notice and gather; once gathered, they may be planted in fertile soil to grow new Bioshields. Each shield produces 1d4 seeds at a time, and a seed takes 2 years to grow into a fully useful Bioshield. The seeds of small Bioshields produce small Bioshields, and those of large Bioshields produce large ones.
    Crystal Shield: Crystal Shields are faceted, angular plates made from the same crystalline material that Crystal Plate is made from. They are always transparent, and do not significantly interfere with armor that has the ability to blend into its background (such as Bioplate or Blending Crystal Plate). It has Hardness 30, 30 hit points (if Small) or 60 hit points (if Large), and withstands 20 hit points of damage from an energy weapon strike before letting damage through to strike the shield bearer.
    Plastic Shield: Plastic Shields are simply ordinary shields made from the same strange, light, flexible material as Plastic Plate. Some Plastic Shields are transparent, but this does not (normally) affect the price. A transparent shield does not interfere with the blending ability of some technological armor (such as Bioplate or Blending Crystal Plate). A Plastic Shield has Hardness 5 and 5 (for Small) or 10 (for Large) hit points, and it can withstand 3 damage from an energy weapon before failing.

Intelligent Machines

One of the most remarked-upon powers of the Ancients was the ability to create machines that could actually think for themselves. Most people today know little or nothing about them, simply referring to them as "live metal" or "machine men," or other similar names, but some know enough to refer to them by their proper Ancient terms. A basic thinking machine is referred to as a "computer," and a mobile device with appendages for manipulating objects and otherwise interacting with the world is called a "robot." There are several subtypes of computer and robot, even today, and these have been studied for centuries by scholars and others curious about the Ancients and their ways. Robots are described more fully in the Monsters document, but computers came in several varieties as well. Perhaps the most important computer type was a massive machine designed to communicate with and tie together numerous other, lesser computers nearby, called a "server." Most Ancient servers were large enough to be housed in their own white, domelike buildings- each building containing various chambers devoted to basic server operation as well as specialized tasks the server was assigned to perform, such as medicine or research. Smaller computers were usually referred to as "workstations" or "terminals," if they were stand-alone, or "onboard computers" or "cyberbrains" if they were used as components in another device. For example, every robot has one or more "cyberbrain" computers built into it.

More knowledgeable scholars come to realize, however, that when it comes to thinking machines, the actual machine is somehow less important than the mind housed within the device- in other words, the machine itself is inert without the mind to use and guide it. These machine-minds are actually "programs-" constructs of pure information- that are self-aware and able to use the environments created by the machines that house them in much the same way creatures in the natural world use it. Not all Ancient programs were intelligent or self-aware; in fact, the vast majority of such information constructs were not; programs that could think for themselves were a special category that the Ancients dubbed "Artificial Intelligences," or "AIs." Even so, programs that could think came in many basic types, and these types have notable characteristics which often hold true from one individual to another- much like the various races of people in the natural world. One interesting fact about AIs is that the Ancients considered many of them actual citizens of their empire, equals of any actual person living in the world outside the machines; exactly why some AIs were considered citizens and others not is not known today.

Each type of AI was known by an acronym, and the AIs themselves usually referred to these acronyms the way real people refer to their race today. Knowledge of the "races" of AI and the characteristics of each can be critical in dealing with surviving AIs today, particularly in knowing which AIs were considered people equal to nonmechanical ones and which were not. The best-known of the various types of AI, aside from those types designed solely to run specific type of robot, are summarized below. Explanations of AIs for robots (usually referred to by the robot type they were designed to run rather than the acronym even in the Golden Age) are covered in the descriptions of the robots themselves, in the Monsters document. Individual AIs are usually named by the acronym followed by some string of numbers and letters or other characters to designate uniqueness, but some AIs had names in the sense that names are typically thought of for normal creatures instead. Characters interacting with computer systems may attempt to create non-citizen-level AIs for specific tasks by using standard programming rules as outlined in the Programming and Machine Communication section; special considerations for each type of noncitizen AI are explained in the entry for each type in the list below. Modern characters may not normally attempt to create citizen-level AIs, but the DM may use the noncitizen AIs as a baseline from which to extrapolate mechanics and skill check DCs for special cases where a PC is allowed to do so, should such a situation arise in a game.

• ANIPET: One of the most common types of non-citizen AI in Ancient times was this program type, the ANIPET, which was apparently a very carefully chosen acronym since its spelled-out name resembles its actual function closely. In effect, ANIPETs were made to be semi-sentient companions to citizens, unable to think much beyond getting needs met (particularly for attention from citizens) and performing entertaining tricks. ANIPETs were, in other words, the AI equivalent of pets or animal companions in the natural world. ANIPETs usually were not referred to by the acronym, but were given names by their owners and caregivers. Why the Ancients bothered with a program type that had no particularly useful function is not known, but today surviving ANIPETs can often be useful in guiding people through computer systems and objects or locations linked to them. An ANIPET usually forms a virtual image similar to a nonsentient animal type of the real world, for interaction with actual people, but the image can be changed during creation, and some ANIPETs (particularly those crafted by individuals with an artistic streak) resemble impossible combinations of animal features, or completely fanciful creatures with no real-world analogues at all.
      ANIPETs can be created in any Ancient computer or network with a working operating system; apparently companionship was considered so important to the Ancients that they built the ability to create companion programs solidly into the basis of all their computer worlds. The Use Ancient Device DC to create an ANIPET is 15, and any character able to use the system can attempt to create one. In contrast to other non-citizen AIs, ANIPET ability scores are not based on the amount by which the check result exceeds the DC; ANIPETs always have INT scores of 1 or 2 and CHA and WIS scores rolled using the 4d6, drop lowest method. ANIPET hit dice (and number of skill points) are based on the creation check result as normal, but ANIPETs never have ranks in any skills beyond their class skill list- they are unable to comprehend anything beyond that list due to lack of intelligence. ANIPETs are, by nature, eager to please and crave rewarding attention, so they can be taught tricks much as animals can be with the Handle Animal skill. This requires approximately the same amount of effort and time as using the Handle Animal skill that way, but uses Use Ancient Device instead; characters with 5 or more ranks in Handle Animal get a +2 bonus on this training check due to familiarity with general training techniques. Although ANIPETs are not living animals, the Ancients made them so well that an ANIPET somehow given an animal body would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to tell apart from a normal one, though the logistics of actually implanting such a personality into a body (let alone the problem of how to get an "empty body" in and of itself) are problematic to say the least.
      ANIPET hit dice are d8s. They gain 4 skill points per hit die, but due to their invariably-low INT scores they never gain more than 1 skill point per HD (with the standard +3 from the quadruple amount granted to the first hit die of course). ANIPET class skills are as follows: Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Perform, Spot, and Survival. Unlike other AI types, ANIPETs may not spend skill points on cross-class skills.
• AVATAR: AVATARs were AIs designed to provide a link between the "virtual" world inside a computer with the real world outside; they acted in much the same way as agents and diplomats would. People in the real world would often deal with servers and the "virtual cities" within them by relaying requests through AVATARs. Sometimes an AVATAR would be formed from machines designed to specifically copy the thought patterns of the person doing the dealing on the real-world side, so that the AVATAR would be an accurate representation of the person's desires, but in the later part of the Golden Age that kind of action was rare because AVATARs were considered actual citizens in their own right. Since "virtual" worlds moved at a much faster pace than the real world outside the computers, this arrangement suited the AVATARs well, as it allowed them a great deal of free time in which to pursue their own projects between contacts with the outside world. AVATARs were frequently named as unique individuals, rather than going by their standard designations, but some of them found the standard designations amusing or wore their status as computer programs proudly, and went by the acronym-number combination willingly. Many AVATARs have survived to the present day in servers and other computers that remain operational, but few have any contact with the outside world anymore- most are thus permanently absorbed in their own esoteric pursuits such as finding meaning in the spectrum of natural colors, or discovering a mathematical basis of consciousness, or the like. AVATARs have wildly varying personalities, as befits their typical origin, but one thing nearly all have in common is a propensity for negotiation and communication with other beings- they were and are natural diplomats and representatives.
• BALTAR: When a RALON AI came up with some fascinating new theory, or a CRELON AI needed to figure out a way to do something new with machines it knew how to build, the usual course of action was to create or employ a BALTAR AI to do needed design work. BALTARs were engineers and designers, made specifically for creativity applied towards practical use in the real world. BALTARS were rarely interested in the actual uses to which their machine designs would be put; their satisfaction came from fulfillment of their drive to simply make the new devices and designs in the first place. BALTARs, although citizen AIs, rarely bothered to come up with individual names for themselves- they typically were quite happy to use the standard acronym-number designations for themselves and saw little purpose in changing that. It is not known whether any BALTARs survived to the present day or not, but many of them were destroyed as penalty for designing horrific weapons used in the civil war leading up to the Annihilation, so any that remain would likely be on RALON or MALON servers and not interested in dealing with any real-world people that happen to find them. BALTARs were typically brusque, eminently efficient and practical personality types, extremely goal- and detail-oriented and uninterested in anything not directly related to those goals or details.
• COLON: A COLON is an AI component of another program type called an "operating system" that is somehow necessary for making other programs (AI or otherwise) utilize a computer system; COLONs specifically ran on servers, and every server had at least one COLON within it to keep the machine environment amenable to other programs. COLONs were specialized to establish and maintain communications between the servers they ran on and other computers, near or far; COLONs were the bedrock upon which the Ancient network of computers was founded. While most servers had only one COLON used to maintain the local network and links to other servers and their networks in turn, it is known that a few servers were specifically dedicated to the task of communication, and acted as major hubs for network traffic between regions, continents, and perhaps even entire worlds. It is not known whether any of these dedicated "network servers" survived the shutdown of the WorldNet during the War of the Return, but if they did they would seem largely useless to the people of today since such network servers had no other function. COLONs are generally uncommunicative with people outside the computer, and when they do communicate the messages tend to be terse, dry, and highly technical.
• CRELON: CRELONs were AIs dedicated to construction and fabrication; invariably, a CRELON appeared on a server linked to one or more industrial replicators. Most Ancient cities had at least one such server, and every Enclave constructed to keep the Elder Races safe while waiting out the consequences of the Annihilation had a CRELON server. CRELON AIs were often tasked with maintaining residences in their region, and making sure that the people living in those residences had all they needed. Thus, the CRELON AIs created the food, purified the water and air, and even built new machines and buildings so the people could live. CRELONs were therefore seen as one of the most necessary types of AI, and were highly respected by the people who lived under their care, which makes their usual state today all the more tragic. Many CRELONs that were left operating after the people abandoned the cities and Enclaves went slowly insane as their primary function (caring for residents) was left with no outlet, and there are very few CRELONs left in any functional state today. CRELONs were designed to be gregarious, friendly, helpful, and even motherly in some cases; today, however, an operating CRELON's personality is more likely to be desperate, clingy, dependent, and otherwise aberrant as the AI tries to make any contact with others last as long as possible.
• CURPET: Since one computer is capable of maintaining an entire "virtual" world within its memory core, what then must a network of multiple computers- even a veritable army of them- be able to contain? Modern people have nothing to compare with such vast stores of information, so some aspects of the existence of such do not draw the attention of modern thinkers because the concepts are simply too alien to their thought processes. CURPETs, a strange sort of "virtual agent" AI, represent one such strange aspect to a world of information. The fact of the matter is, no one mortal mind is capable of knowing all the information the world has in it, and the worlds inside computers are alike in that respect- there is simply too much data to look through for any one person to understand. To alleviate that problem, the Ancients created a special class of programs called "search algorithms," and the CURPET class of non-citizen AI represented their greatest advance in that area. CURPETs are search programs, designed to look at and sort through veritable mountains of data for specific desired bits, but instead of being simple nonintelligent procedures they are sentient- capable of interpreting their creators' desires and needs much more efficiently than any mere dumb program.
      CURPETs are rarely seen today; they have no sense of self-preservation and are and were considered "disposable" once the data they're created to find is found, but they have no utility in any real-world sense and so are created only when they are needed. Few modern people are even aware of the need for their existence, let alone their existence itself or how to make one, but some people trained in computer use (those with 5 or more ranks in both Knowledge (Ancient Technology) and Use Ancient Device) do understand the need for running searches and are able to create CURPETs in any well-equipped Ancient computer system. The Use Ancient Device DC for creating a CURPET on such a system is 20. In rare systems that have lost the memory of how to create CURPETs, there is rarely enough data to demand a search program in any case, but a character with at least 20 ranks in Knowledge (Ancient Technology) who has interacted with CURPETs before may use the standard process of programming to create a new CURPET from scratch. The DC to create a basic CURPET from scratch is 40. As with other disposable programs, its mental ability scores and skill ranks are based on how well the creator beats the creation DC, but a CURPET is designed to only carry Gather Information ranks (modified by INT instead of CHA as is standard for computer searches). A CURPET-assisted search is run on the computer system using the CURPET's Gather Information modifier as a base; the creator may assist with a Gather Information check of his or her own (also modified by INT) if desired. No other entities may assist in such a check, though other characters with access to the same computer system may make searches of their own normally, with or without CURPET assistance.
      CURPET hit dice are d6s. They gain 2 skill points per hit die, with the standard quadruple amount granted to the first hit die (effectively +6 after points from HD and INT are totalled). CURPET class skills are as follows: Gather Information, Knowledge (any), and Search. CURPETs are, clearly, very highly specialized AIs, and are rarely given more knowledge than is absolutely necessary to complete their searches.
• DUTAR: Invariably named individuals rather than users of the standard acronym-number designation, DUTARs were a very special kind of AI that represented a form of immortality available to the Ancients. In effect, a DUTAR was a virtual copy of a real-world person, who would willingly choose to "scan" into the computer world and forever leave the real world behind (the body of a person becoming a DUTAR was invariably destroyed by the scanning process and thus quite dead as far as the real world was concerned). The DUTAR thus represented an immortal version of the original living person's mind, and was legally considered to BE the scanned individual in nearly every respect after the scanning was complete. Millions of DUTARs participated in the civil war on both sides, but it is not known how many survived to the present day in the few remaining operational computers. Any that do remain would represent an invaluable resource of information about the Golden Age to any scholars lucky enough to find them, if they could be convinced to talk to modern people at all.
• EXOPET: (probe/explorer)
• GALON: The GALON AI type was one of the rarest, even in Ancient days; this is because its intended function was not a commonly needed one (and obscure to most modern scholars as a result). What is known today is that GALONs acted as some kind of guardian; they were server AIs, but their servers were always set up as security checkpoints of a sort for outsiders to go through before accessing another server containing (presumably) sensitive or especially valuable information. As their function might suggest, GALONs were the most paranoid and alert AI type, always watching for "intruders" and demanding to see and examine credentials and make sure the people who got through were allowed to access what they would be able to once through the GALON server. It is not known whether any GALONs have survived to the present day, but if any did they would most likely be located on military bases or research complexes.
• GALPET: (guardian)
• HALON: A HALON was a variant CRELON designed specifically to run a hospital server, watching patients and healing ills. Many small hospitals were scattered about the world in the Ancient days, and HALONs were therefore a common type of AI. Where the CRELONs running cities and factories tended to lose their minds with boredom and loss after the people abandoned their Ancient homes, however, HALONs were often more resilient- both because they invariably were the most knowledgeable about diagnosing mental problems, even in themselves, and also because individual people only visited hospitals when they were injured or ill- so HALONs were used to having more distant relationships with others. Therefore, HALONs are today the most common type of server AI still working correctly other than VALONs or COLONs (and whether the COLONs are truly still functional without the WorldNet is a topic of frequent debate). HALONs are cautious personalities that constantly advise others to stay out of trouble and avoid dangerous situations, with a wide streak of caregiving traits to make sure their charges stay alive and healthy as long as possible. Individual HALONs can be friendly and open, or distant and relatively unresponsive, depending on how much trauma the long centuries of life after civilization fell have thrust upon them.
• HELTAR: While HALONs ran hospital servers, other AIs were used to run lesser computers linked to those servers. The most common such computer was used in healing devices, particularly the large healing pods designed to serve as bed and healer alike for a wounded or sick individual. While a HALON handled basic hospital administration, and could run any of the devices linked to it in a pinch, it was not expected to often divide its attention from keeping the entire hospital running smoothly. To this end, the Ancients created HELTAR AIs, programs to serve as nurses and doctors running their healing devices so the HALON wouldn't have to. Most significant healing devices had a HELTAR installed to help them work, though the resident AI would not necessarily have a way to communicate directly with its patients. Today, HELTARs are one of the more commonly known AIs still in existence, as the devices they reside within and operate are extremely valuable and have been a top priority for people who can maintain them for many centuries. Many modern healing devices have been jury-rigged to give the AI a communications outlet it would not have had in Ancient times, to allow it to communicate with the outside world, and when people today think of the Ancient minds inside computers it is often a HELTAR that has provided them with their sole actual experience in dealing with such a mind. HELTARs are, as befits their intended task, friendly and engaging personalities, trying to be helpful in any way they can, though rare HELTARs sometimes become pathological in being too insistent with certain treatments or procedures. HELTARs are not by nature experimentalists, so they are generally not willing to break with established procedures for using their devices' services unless instructed by an actual HALON server first.
• MALON: MALONs are indisputably the most dangerous type of AI known today or in Ancient times. They were set to run military servers, planning strategies, watching recon data and communications between soldiers in the field, and otherwise acting as generals in the wars the Ancients fought. Cunning, wily, and always ready for trouble, MALONs were responsible for some of the most brilliant tactics as well as horrible atrocities inflicted upon the people living during the civil war at the end of the Golden Age. MALONs were given not only vast knowledge of military strategy and tactics, but also knowledge of weapons and defense systems and how to build, maintain, and repair them, and every military base of any sort in the Ancient world had at least one MALON tasked with helping to run it. Though many MALONs were destroyed during the war (especially those on the losing side), many others survived, not only because they controlled so many powerful weapons systems but also because some military outfits like the Gamma Knights and Silicon Dragons survived as well and needed them. MALONs surviving today are generally disdainful of modern people, slow to recognize any non-Elder Race creature as a person rather than a strange-looking animal, and distrustful of others. Those that have been out of contact with non-AI minds are usually paranoid, carefully using their remaining weapons and resources to keep others out of the bases they still guard.
• NETAR: Whereas a COLON server AI watched a network's flow and condition from the safety of its server, it was not the AI usually dispatched to a trouble site to deal with a maintenance problem or viral-program outbreak. For those tasks, a COLON was served by several helper AIs called NETARs, each of which was trained in a wide variety of maintenance and repair skills to troubleshoot a problem and even, potentially, fix it if AI-controllable tools were near the job site to use directly. From the perspective of real-world interactions, NETAR AIs were one of the most common types that living people outside the computer worlds would work with, so they had programming in communication skills and particularly translation of jargon into ordinary language so they could ask for living help when they needed it. When the WorldNet was taken down during the War of the Return, most NETARs chose to go down with it, as the primary reason for their existence would soon be no more; however, it is possible that a few particularly loyal individuals (loyal, that is, to their COLON employers or to other friends in or out of the "virtual" environments) did not commit suicide at the time and survive today. NETAR AIs were primarily concerned with diagnosing and fixing mechanical problems, and would be most helpful today in that capacity; it is unlikely that a NETAR would even bother to communicate with outsiders in any other circumstance today. Modern people are woefully inadequate in terms of education and resources to be helpful to the NETARs' goals, but if a surviving NETAR could be so convinced, it could become an extremely valuable teacher of engineering and machine-maintenance principles.
• ONOPET: (courier/messenger)
• RALON: RALON servers were AI scientists of the Ancient world, well versed in all the knowledge and theories the Ancients had about the physical and metaphysical laws of reality. Every laboratory had at least one RALON, and more important ones usually had several; groups of living scientists therefore worked alongside AI colleagues who had the advantages of perfect memories and never needing rest. RALONs were not common on Taera/Arite itself during the later millennia of the Golden Age, since so much research was better conducted offworld, but some research labs (and accompanying servers) did exist. Of the less social AI types, RALONs were undoubtedly the best equipped to emotionally handle the loss of civilization and the ensuing dark age; being intensely curious and always looking to explore new ground (philosophically or otherwise), RALONs could essentially sit back and watch the new history unfold with fascination even as they lost former colleagues, co-workers, and helpers to the cataclysms and carnage. One RALON known to have survived to the present day is RALON-Y42, located in the remains of the Yoor Delve; that AI has not spoken to living creatures in centuries, but is still operational because it devised a special long-term reactor for itself to use after the rest of the Delve went Dark in the late 2400s AA. What it is doing now is anybody's guess, but the Delve is still open today as a museum operated by descendents of its original inhabitants, so the RALON certainly still has access to information about the modern world if it wants it.
• SIMPET: (NPC for virtual environment/artist)
• SOLPET: (disposable soldier program)
• SOLTAR: Where MALONs were the generals of the AI set, they were not often sent into actual combat when wars occurred in the realm of information and virtual computer environments. For that task, an AI type called SOLTAR was created. SOLTARs were the lower-echelon officers of the Ancient information military, those who actually carried out a MALON's orders regarding how to defend or attack particular networks or enemy computer systems. While most SOLTARs had enough of a sense of self-preservation to not get directly involved in conflicts themselves, they were fully capable of fighting when they needed to, and it was common for still-working military robots to be co-opted and taken over by SOLTARs during battles in times when the WorldNet still existed. SOLTARs were occasionally sent on suicide missions, as all soldiers might be, and in such instances they usually transformed themselves into sentient, wickedly complex and powerful virus programs- in effect, diseases of the computer realm that were able to think for themselves and thus better react to attempts to dislodge or eradicate them. Though MALONs are the most dangerous type of AI known today, SOLTARs come in a fairly close second, since it is usually a SOLTAR that runs the weapons and nonsentient robots sent to fight intruders to an Ancient military base. A few SOLTARs exist outside actual military bases today, and are not linked to actual servers anymore; where this has happened, the SOLTARs typically have sought (and found) employment with local people as generals or secuirty experts- in effect granting themselves field promotions due to lack of any command structure above them.
• STELON: Starships, like other Ancient structures of sufficient size, had servers built into them to perform the tasks that servers perform for such things. In the case of starships, though, they required special attention because they were so necessary to the Ancient way of life. Accordingly, there was an AI type specially dedicated to running starships, the STELON class of programs. STELONs were similar in function to most robot AIs, in that they treated the starships essentially as bodies, and had complete control over them when they chose to exercise that control. STELON AIs all carried a standard acronym-number/character string designation like other AIs, but were never referred to by that designation in practice; a newly-birthed STELON always took the name of the first ship it was loaded into as its own name, and carried that name throughout its life unless it chose to change its name later. It is unlikely that any STELONs survive today on Taera or Arite, but any that did survive would be in still-working starships- or at least still-working starship computer cores.
• VALON: The Ancients did not just concentrate their lives on serious pursuits such as science research and fighting; in fact, quite the reverse is true. The majority of the Ancients were people of leisure, living, travelling, and working when and where they chose to- and having all their basic needs met regardless of whether or not they contributed directly to the advancement of society. Accordingly, there was a class of servers and AIs dedicated entirely to the task of entertainment, called the VALON. VALONs told stories, played games with and against other people, and even ran some forms of entertainment that cannot otherwise be replicated today- the best explanation of which is living a pretend life in a made-up world. VALONs were, essentially, the artists of the AI realm, and their "duty" was simply to create art to please people with, including themselves. VALONs behaved like most artists do, and never used the mundane standard designation (acronym followed by string) that other AIs were referenced by; every VALON had its own name, usually one the AI chose for itself upon reaching the AI equivalent of adulthood, and was referred to by that name whenever it was referred to at all. Several VALONs survived the Annihilation, and every Enclave created had at least one VALON to help the inhabitants cope with their confined lives, but how many have survived to the present day is unknown. VALONs were arguably the most friendly and outgoing type of AI, but unlike the CRELONs that mostly went insane when left without people to interact with, VALONs had their art to delve into when forced into isolation. Any surviving VALON today would probably have created (and still be creating) wondrous works of art the likes of which can scarcely be imagined, though whether the AI would bother interacting with outsiders to actually show them the art would be uncertain (and likely dependent upon the program's degree of obsession with its work).

Programming and Machine Communication

The programs that run on Ancient computers may be regarded in some ways as devices in their own right. In Ancient times, programming was a profession in and of itself, with practitioners training for years to learn the skills necessary to think in terms that could be translated into a form suitable for use by computers to carry out desired tasks- to say nothing of using those specific parts of the various computer and information-network displays allowing a user to create new programs. As mentioned above, in the descriptions of the various types of Artificial Intelligence (that is, self-aware programs running on Ancient computer equipment and in many ways creatures in their own right), the Ancients made it possible for ordinary citizens to create AIs of their own when they wished to, for several purposes. This is not only because Ancient computer systems and networks had special "user interfaces" (an Ancient term meaning a method of displaying a computer program's functions and displays, like a control panel would be for a more physical device) allowing untrained people to access AI-creation routines, but also because even ordinary citizens of the Ancient world had at least rudimentary knowledge of what programs are and how to use them.

Modern people, except those few still living in some semblance of a technological civilization (for example, residents of the working sections of the Diamond Towers), by and large are unaware that programs even exist, let alone the differences between individual examples or how they are used. Therefore, no character without at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Ancient Technology) or Craft (Technology) is even aware that programs exist, or able to make effective use of them. Although programming is a significant skill in its own right, and could be handled in game terms by a special Craft (Program) skill, for greater simplicity and accessibility it is instead handled in games set on modern Taera by the Use Ancient Device skill. A character uses Knowledge (Ancient Technology) to identify different program types running in a computer system, as well as what types the system may allow a user to create; Use Ancient Device is used when the character actually tries to make a program do something (or when the character tries to create a new program). Creation of AIs is perhaps the most useful thing a modern programmer can attempt within a computer system- as autonomous units, AIs can act on their own as agents of the user within the computer, and can find or do things that their creators themselves would never think to do. Because AIs are effectively creatures in their own right, rather than mere devices, creating and using them requires some special rules.

An AI is easiest to think of as a disposable character. As constructs of pure information, AIs have no physical bodies and therefore do not have STR, DEX, or CON scores; however, being capable of self-direction and self-awareness, they do have all three mental ability scores (INT, WIS, and CHA). Within the "virtual world" of a computer system or network, these three scores substitute for the physical ability scores; INT is used for anything that would normally require DEX, WIS is used in place of CON, and CHA is used in place of STR. A standard AI (assuming one of the non-citizen AI types described above) uses the standard 4d6, drop lowest method for ability score generation; however, different AI types may modify this as described in their individual entries. For example, ANIPETs are effectively animals, and have INT scores of only 1 or 2. For the INT score of an ANIPET, therefore, roll 1d2, and use the standard 4d6-drop-lowest method for the other two scores. Furthermore, AIs have skills of their own, representing the actions they can take within the computer system, and each AI gains a certain number of "virtual skill points" to spend on skills. As with real creatures, AIs have hit dice, and although their hit points are effectively meaningless outside the computer systems they run on, they do have hit points just as any other creature does. An AI is limited to raising its class skills to its number of HD + 3, and its cross-class skills to half that number (whatever it is), just as a real creature is. The AI's hit points are rolled as normal (though AIs do not get an automatic maximum on the first hit die as PCs do), and they receive bonus hit points per hit die based on their WIS scores (since WIS replaces CON). Which skills are class skills for an AI and which are not, as well as the number of skill points gained per hit die, depend on the type of AI being created; for instance, Survival is a class skill for ANIPETs, but not CURPETs. Each AI type lists its class skills, hit die type, and number of skill points per hit die in its description, above. Note, however, that since the "packages" used to create AIs contain only the knowledge necessary to grant the created AI ranks in its class skills, any ranks in cross-class skills must come from the creator's own abilities- and therefore, no AI may have a number of ranks in any cross-class skill greater than its creator's number of ranks in that same skill. Finally, an AI's alignment is determined by its creator when it is created, though by default the AI's alignment is the same as that of its creator.

Being individuals, created by users with different skill levels, however, AIs are not all identical (or even necessarily close to other examples of their own type)- more skilled users can create better AIs than less skilled ones. Each AI type has a standard creation DC; this is the DC for the Use Ancient Device check (modified by the creator's INT score) required to create that type of AI in the first place. So long as the creator beats this DC, the AI is created as normal; if the check fails, no AI is created at all (though a natural 1 on the skill check may, at the DM's option, instead create a malformed AI that is somehow malicious, hostile, insane, or all of the above). A newly-created AI has a number of HD equal to the amount by which the creator exceeded its creation DC; for example, if the creator makes a CURPET (DC 20) and rolls a 27 on the check, then the CURPET thus created has 7 HD. Each AI has a minimum of 1 HD, so a character that meets the DC exactly (for instance, rolling 20 on the check to create a CURPET) creates an AI with 1 HD. Beating the creation DC, however, affects more than just the AI's hit dice- it can also raise the AI's ability scores. For every 5 points by which the creator beats the DC, the AI has one "floating" die which may be added to any ability score the creator wishes, before the score is rolled; if the character beats the DC by 17, for example, then the AI has an extra 3d6. These extra dice must be assigned to scores before the scores are actually rolled; that is, you can't wait to see that the AI rolled badly on its INT and then use the dice to raise that score- you must distribute the dice and then roll the scores. One specific AI type, the ANIPET, is an exception to this rule- ANIPETs never receive bonus dice from their creators beating the creation DC (though their HD are boosted by better rolls as normal). Note that all these bonuses are maximum amounts- if a creator wishes to create an AI worse than he or she is capable of, then it is allowed (for example, the user rolling a 27 to create a CURPET could choose to forego the bonus ability die, and/or create the CURPET with only 4 hit dice rather than 7).

Following is an example of AI creation.