Before we get to any OGL content, an editorial aside:

First, this blog has very mild spoilers for The Eternals — the Marvel movie and comic book characters. So if you want to avoid those, don’t read this.

Second, you may be wondering why is this tagged as an “Owen Explains It All” post, when that’s very unlike my normal marketing tone? Well, because this links into a show from the BAMF podcast I’m on, titled “Owen Explains It All!“. We do an episode every two weeks, picking new things from the zeitgeek to use as inspiration for game material, specifically the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.

We have a logo and everything!

When I saw Marvel’s “The Eternals,” I immediately thought the Eternals themselves could easily serve as the basis for android nanocytes (the new Starfinder class from tech Revolution). For those who don’t know, the Eternals are a created species of servants who work for Celestials (enormous space entities that work to manipulate and regulate the entire universe). Eternals have always had classic superpowers, and were the basis for numerous legends about heroes and gods in the Marvel universe.

Numerous members of he movie version of the Eternals specifically have the ability to create weapons, shields, guns, gauntlets, and similar objects out of lines of golden energy (though some can also fly, polymorph things, mind control crowds, and so on). We discussed how the Eternals could serve as a model for introducing new groups and power sources to a Starfinder game on the January 13th, 2022 episode of Owen Explains It All.

And all of that leads me to Nanoknights, as OGL content

Nanoknight

Nanoknights are a form of nanocyte with a much greater focus on weapons and other gear formed from their nanites, and no ability to create an external cloud of nanites to affect large areas. Nanoknights are often created by powerful extraplanar beings or ancient aliens able to manipulate reality on such a vast level they are referred to as “space gods.” Most space gods create a single order of nanoknights, often given a colorful name such as “Infinknights” or “The Interlocutors.” The visual look of nanite arrays of nanoknights or the same order are usually unified, often appearing as semisolid objects made of glowing lines with a single color or pattern in common.

Though order of nanoknights are often created with the expectation they will operate together and serve their creator’s cause, over millions of years of such ancient orders existing, conflict can arise, and the nanoknight gift can sometimes accidentally be granted to creatures not selected by an order’s creator.

Nanoknights have the following changes to their cloud and gear arrays.

Cloudless: You cannot create a cloud array. If a faculty or knack grants you an ability that impacts creatures touching or within a cloud array, you may instead add that affect to creatures adjacent to you, and to each creature you hit with an attack. No creature can be affected more than once per turn.

Greater Gear Array: Your gear array follows the normal gear array rules, except as noted below.

*Only you can use your major and minor forms.

*Your major forms can include a shield or suit or armor upgrade. A shield follows the same rules as a weapon in terms of being held. Armor upgrades slot into an appropriate empty armor upgrade slot in armor you are wearing

*Your major and minor forms can be items with an item level 1 higher than your class level.

*Weapons you create that have an item level below your class level gain a bonus to damage equal to the difference. Thus if a 5th level nanocyte forms a 3rd level weapon with their gear array, they gain a +2 bonus to all damage done with it.

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