I was having internet issues this past Friday, so here's something to make-up for that. As a follow-up to last week’s gunslinger, this week features an inventor, the other new class from Guns and Gears. This is also the third member of the Teen Titans that I’ve made a build for and over the next few months, I think I might also build Beast Boy and Nightwing – completing the quintet that were featured in the Teen Titans cartoon. For this build, I didn’t get him quite as mechanical as I wanted and much of that factor is left up to flavoring and imagination. For example, I built him as an inventor with an armor innovation, and since that obviously isn’t built into his body, it helped me to envision it as him having a sort of civilian cybernetics that are less obvious and combat plating and modifications that are more obvious and less human-looking that he dons. Not exactly accurate to the cartoon or comics, but I think that it helps sell the concept, at least in my head. As always, this build is conceptualized in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let’s get into the build for Cyborg from Teen Titans!
CYBORG
CHARACTER Victor Stone
SOURCE DC Comics
GOALS
o Victor was a former football star that befell a horrific accident that left him on the cusp of death, only his father merging him with technology saving his life
o Joining the Teen Titans as the hero known as Cyborg, Vic is best friends with Beast Boy and one of the senior members though generally allows others to take up positions of leadership
o Aside from the enhanced strength and durability his robotic form grants him, it also possesses a wide range of gadgets and gizmos, the most famous of which is his sonic cannon
o While Victor suffers from self-image issues due to his condition, he’s embraced the life as a hero and is highly intelligent though he focuses more on technology over other subjects and has even been able to upgrade himself
o He tends to run the med bay within Titans Tower, in part due to the advanced machinery there
o In one of Cyborg’s most notable storylines, he demonstrated an ability similar to technopathy when, after being gravely injured, he broke down other machines to repair himself
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Laborer Android
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Strength, -Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Nightvision Adaptation
o Skill Feat: Hefty Hauler
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained)
Background: Saved by Clockwork
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Intelligence
o Skills: Crafting (trained)
Class & Subclass: Armor Innovation (Power Suit) Inventor
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skills: Acrobatics (trained), Deception (trained), Intimidation (trained), Engineering Lore (trained), Medicine (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Class Feat: Built-In Tools
o Skill Feat: Inventor
o Initial Modification: Muscular Exoskeleton
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8)
With the laborer android ancestry, we pick up a trained proficiency in Athletics, reflecting his sport star history. Given that androids in Pathfinder have some biological components to them, they felt the closest option to fit Cyborg’s character, especially when it came to looking at ancestry feats. I did consider the technological fleshwarp for him, but the feats didn’t work as well for the build and there were some issues with the ability boosts. Saved by Clockwork is a perfect fit for how his father saved his life following his accident. Inventor felt like a good fit for his class as we’re going to treat his power armor innovation as though it was his mechanical body, complete with Built-In Tools. The muscular exoskeleton modification further plays into his footballer nature. My choice to make Cyborg trained in Deception, and a few of the items I pick up that support it, are designed to reflect the time he spent infiltrating HIVE though I didn’t make it a focus for this particular build.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Sterling Dynamo Dedication – Manual Control Power Driver Dynamo
o Skill Feat: Armor Assist
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Nanite Surge
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert), Crafting (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), everburning torch, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Gadget Specialist
o Skill Feat: Quick Repair
o Gear: crafter’s eyepiece, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), hat of disguise, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 10)
o Ancestry Feat: Protective Subroutine
o Skill Increase: Thievery (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), crafter’s eyepiece, crushing weapon rune, hat of disguise, everburning torch, ring of discretion
While we have already taken steps to capture the feel of Cyborg’s, well, cybernetic nature, the Sterling Dynamo Dedication further assists this while Gadget Specialist gives him a chance to deploy the various tools and gadgets that he builds into himself. My main idea behind picking up Armor Assist was so that he could don his own armor quicker while the Thievery increase is my take on his hacking skill and being able to access systems that he shouldn’t be able to.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Megaton Strike
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: +1 power suit, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt, crafter’s eyepiece, hat of disguise, hand of the mage
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master), Crafting (master)
o Breakthrough Modification: Dense Plating
o Gear: blast foot, +1 power suit, stanching armor rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), crafter’s eyepiece, crushing weapon rune
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Gigaton Strike
o Skill Feat: Specialty Crafting - Blacksmithing
o Gear: tourmaline sphere aeon stone, blast foot, ring of the ram, +1 power suit, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Offensive Subroutine
o Skill Increase: Thievery (master)
o Offensive Boost: Momentum
o Gear: +1 resilient power suit, tourmaline sphere aeon stone, bag of holding (type III), blast foot, stanching armor rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 19, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 10)
o Class Feat: Piston Punch
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Skill Increase: Occultism (trained)
o Gear: horn of blasting, +1 resilient power suit, thundering weapon rune, tourmaline sphere aeon stone, blast foot, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
Megaton Strike and, by extension, Gigaton Strike covers Cyborg’s super strong punches, which are further enhanced by his momentum offensive boost. As the big guy of his friends, I needed something that made Cyborg a little sturdier and Toughness and the dense plating modification were my idea to handle that. I feel like layered mesh and tensile absorption are also very fitting choices and it was simply the prevalence of slashing damage in most bladed weapons and claws that led my choice there. Throughout this build, I struggled to find a way to build Cyborg’s sonic cannon into his body outside of gear that I picked up, such as the horn of blasting, but Piston Punch at least gives him a sort of blast in a line that he can combine with a blow. Given that Cyborg mostly works with metal, Specialty Crafting for blacksmithing seemed like a natural pick, and I feel like it fit well with the ‘Cyborg the Barbarian’ episode where he was cast far into the past. When looking at Offensive Subroutine, it felt handy for helping Cyborg land some of his heavier hits, such as when he’s using something like Megaton Strike, but Repair Module is also a good fit and the main idea I would suggest beyond the option I took.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Society (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, horn of blasting, +1 resilient power suit, tourmaline sphere aeon stone, bag of holding (type II)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Ubiquitous Gadgets
o Skill Feat: Wary Disarmament
o Gear: +2 resilient armor, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), greater blast foot, horn of blasting, Cordelia’s construct key, thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Consistent Surge
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient power suit, ring of maniacal devices, greater blast foot, armbands of athleticism, horn of blasting
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Golem Dynamo
o Skill Feat: Magical Crafting
o Gear: greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater Cordelia’s construct key, +2 resilient power suit, greater blast foot, impact weapon rune
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 20, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 21, Wis 14, Cha 12)
o General Feat: Impeccable Crafter
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary), Crafting (legendary)
o Revolutionary Modification: Physical Protections
o Gear: +2 greater resilient power suit, boots of speed, greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), implacable armor rune, ring of maniacal devices
I could see picking up Ubiquitous Gadgets earlier, but I found myself valuing Cyborg’s combat capabilities over the support he could offer with more gadgets. Additionally, I wasn’t quite sure what else to pick up from the Sterling Dynamo and was considering Stasian Slam before settling on Golem Dynamo because I feel like after working so long with Raven, he has to have some defenses against magical threats. Similarly, I picked up Magical Crafting so that he can potentially work together with Raven on projects. Helping Cyborg’s survivability, which is important for this build as Cyborg might be the single hardiest member of his team, we can pick up the physical protections modification since we took dense plating earlier.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Manifold Modifications – Harmonic Oscillator
o Skill Feat: Craft Anything
o Gear: greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient power suit, greater boots of bounding, greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater Cordelia’s construct key
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Revivification Protocol
o Skill Increase: Thievery (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), dragonscale amulet, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient power suit, boots of speed, greater ring of the ram
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Negate Damage
o Skill Feat: Quick Unlock
o Gear: belt of giant strength, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), speed weapon rune, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient power suit, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Society (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient power suit, belt of giant strength, greater impactful weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), dragonscale amulet, greater thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 20, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 22, Wis 16, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Full Automation
o Skill Feat: Rapid Mantel
o Skill Increase: Arcana (trained)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient power suit, titan’s grasp, greater impactful weapon rune, major crown of the fire eater, speed weapon rune
One of the big things in this period, aside from becoming tankier with stuff like harmonic oscillator, Fast Recovery, and Negate Damage, is the Revivification Protocol. While this fits in with the others as it increases Cyborg’s survivability, it is meant to reflect the scene in his final fight against Brother Blood where after being torn apart, his body began to rebuild itself with components from other nearby machines. While Cyborg is a team player, his build didn’t include Shared Overdrive, which does limit him to Full Automation for his capstone feat though there might be some good options at earlier levels. Being quickened is always handy though I also picked up the speed weapon rune in case he wants to use an extra action to Strike instead of maneuvering. I likely should have mentioned this earlier, but the choice of increasing Cyborg’s Society is that he had the most normal life of any of the Titans before his accident. He was a relatively normal football star. Meanwhile, Robin was an acrobat in a traveling circus, Starfire’s an alien, Raven was raised in a separate dimension, and Beast Boy was raised in research facilities by his parents before being adopted by the Doom Patrol.
CONCLUSION
As mentioned before, Saved by Clockwork is a perfect fit for Cyborg’s background regarding his history and his father’s attempt to save him. We further play into his cybernetic nature with both the android ancestry and the Sterling Dynamo Dedication. The various functions built into his body are covered by Ubiquitous Gadgets, but we are unfortunately left to rely upon gear to mimic the functions of his sonic cannon with items such as the horn of blasting and the titan’s grasp. It is nice that we can at least end on including the ability in his build with the latter of those. Many of his feats and ability choices focus on increasing his survivability, such as Toughness, Protective Subroutine, physical protections modification, and Negate Damage to reflect his hardiness and ability to bounce back from grave injuries by taking time to repair his mechanical body. Even with his changes, a bit of his footballer past can still be found in his Titan Wrestler feat and his muscular exoskeleton.
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerd, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Later this week, internet-permitting, I have a build that is a mix of the latest two core books that should be a blast to explore!
Have a fantastic Friday!
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