Eldritch Nanites Nanocyte (Nanocyte Alternate Class Feature)
(art by Tyxerus on DeviantArt)
The nanocyte class, while relatively new, is perhaps the very pinnacle of technological integration with your character, but what if you want a little hybrid magitech blended in as well?
Much like the biotech nanocyte that I did on my Patreon last year, Galactic Magic gave us a taste of how nanomachines and magic could be blend together.
Honestly, the idea of nanites that can be used to channel magic is a great idea, a perfect example of technomagic in action. A nearly invisible force coming together to make something incredible happen, and that’s just the nanites being nanites, to say nothing of them casting actual spells!
Such nanomachines may differ a bit physically from their normal counterparts as well, such as clumping together to form fly-like swarm bodies when manifesting as a cloud, or displaying silvery runes all over their sheath array, to say nothing of the shapes of runes appearing around them as the nanomachines gather in the new array for this variation.
Essentially, these mystical nanocytes trade the ability to form weapons and augments (and the number of minor objects they can form) with their nanomachines, but in exchange they gain access to a very limited selection of spells, which eventually tops off at two cantrips, two 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spells, and one 4th level spell known. The cantrips can be cast a few times a day, but they gain only one spell slot per day, which grows in level as they do (though they can cast any variable-level spell using this slot without learning the higher level versions, so that’s nice). However, they can get around this by expending nanite surges to create another spell slot with a potency equal to the number of surges spent to create it, though they have to rest for a few minutes before they can do so again.
The resulting nanocyte is definitely not a full-on spellcaster. You’re better off cross-classing or reflavoring the imagery of a technomancer if that is what you want, but if you’re not interested in using nanotech weapons at all in your build and would like to have an arsenal of spells instead, this class feature might be for you. Obviously you should avoid the obliteration faculty since it’s outright unusable to you, but dealing damage with the infestation faculty or being more tanky with other faculties if fine too, relying on the cloud array to avoid attacks and the sheath for protection, and switching to the spell array when you need to make use of your spells. As for which spells to take, obviously spells that have variable level are a good choice, such as junk sword, but also consider spells that buff yourself, or provide answers for dealing with foes that a nanocyte might have trouble with on their own, such as lots of swarming enemies that a explosive blast would take care of, and so on.
While some may multiclass or take archetypes to further enhance their magical ability, we can wonder about what sort of relationship these characters might have with magic and their nanites. If their infection with their symbiotic nanites was accidental, might they be baffled by the abilities they demonstrate. Others might have deliberately infected themselves to gain magical power that they simply couldn’t acquire by training, or been infected by others to test them. Others might have already been nanocytes, but consuming material from a technomagical object, or being blasted by some form of hybrid tech might have induced a strange changes in their capabilities.
The wandering espraksa mercenary Iqoo is well known for adapting to any situation, and also for her silvery-white nanobots that swarm like a blizzard around her in battle. More interestingly, they is able to use them for magic, typically favoring extreme cold. She declines, however, to explain where she got them, only that she acquired them on her many travels.
It should be obvious, but the world of Angor, with it’s strangely inconsistent gravity, is not a natural world, but actually an ancient construction filled with all sorts of wonders left over from it’s makers, including hybrid tech nanites. However, to find these remains, one must weather the biosphere and the planet itself, for if the territorial herd beasts don’t crush you, the sudden bouts of extreme gravity might.
Insistent in finding a way to have the best of both worlds, KalCorp seeks to find a way for eldritch nanocytes to also manifest weapons, potentially channeling their magical power into versatile weapon fusions as well. However, volunteer test subjects of an already rare group are hard to find, and the team lead has begun resorting to kidnapping to fill their test chambers.









