Mad Scientist

Fools! They could never understand the grand nature of your work! and you’re the greatest fool for ever trusting anyone else with such important work! You’re just a few steps away from unlocking the keys to life, or reality, or death, or magic, or any number of other improbable concepts. Your life’s work has led up to this point and if you could just make one more breakthrough, then you will have finished your research and can stop. But you know it won’t end there, you’ll never be satisfied with completing your work. There is so much more research to be done, so much more for you to discover, so many more rules for you to break. So, let the fools think you’re insane, let the ignorant enjoy their small lives and small minds; it’s not as though you could ever be content with that anyway. Ignorance is bliss and you’re downright mad.

Skill Proficiencies: Insight and either Arcana or Nature

Tool Proficiencies: Alchemist’s Supplies and either (a) poisoner’s kit or (b) herbalism kit

Languages: Two of your choice

Equipment: A set of common clothes, a lab coat and basic chemical protective equipment, alchemist’s supplies, 10 empty bottles, a book of your research notes, a warrant for your arrest, and 5 gp.

Feature: Efficacy Enhancer

Your extensive time spent researching in the scientific and arcane fields have given you insight into the exact workings of potions and poisons. You have the ability to augment the properties of both magical and mundane potions and poisons. You can delay their effects, make the effects subtler, subdue the effects without changing the appearance, change the color or consistency, or even sometimes increase the effectiveness (to a maximum of one corresponding dice). Changing a potion requires at least one hour of concentrated work and uses a great deal of your alchemist’s supplies. More powerful potions or poisons may require more time or more expense. Work with your GM to determine the limits of your ability and what it will take for you to be able to work on stronger potions or poisons.

Suggested Characteristics

Mad scientists are typically outcasts of society. They have delved too deep into areas of research considered taboo or outright forbidden. This has given them insights into concepts and desires far beyond those that would even be considered by typical citizens. It’s not that they have lost touch with reality, it’s that they can no longer partake in the shared illusions that comprise that “reality.” Because of this disconnect, they may be socially awkward and have trouble understanding how to communicate on even a basic level. They are obsessed with their work and will be overjoyed to speak with researchers in the same field; though they often believe themselves more enlightened than even the experts. They can seem distant, lost in their own worlds, but are amazingly intelligent and a boon to teams that struggle with puzzles.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I was tricked into servitude in my younger years. Now, I bow to no master, not even the laws of reality.
2	I have seen the cracks in what we perceive as truth. I want to expand those cracks by any means.
3	I love the rush I get from discovering something new. It’s an addiction.
4	I am tired of being caught in the tangle of other’s lives. I want to break free of their mental weakness.
5	In the grand scheme of things, nothing we do matters. Let’s make our own meanings.
6	I crave power above all else and I will take my research to terrible lengths to get it.
7	If we don’t teach the future generation everything we know; they will suffer the same as we do.
8	Magic is silly and fake; I can prove it too.

d6	Ideal
1	Powers. I will use my vast intellect to rule the world! (Evil)
2	Light. I will make the world a better place, no matter how many times it is ruined by evil. (Good)
3	Strange. Magic is the only true constant. I will become the greatest magician in the omni-verse. (Any)
4	Manhattan. We’re all puppets, I’m just one that can see the strings. (Neutral)
5	Doom. I do not wish for godhood, for the gods are beneath me. (Law)
6	Seuss. What better way to learn about the world than by breaking all the rules? (Chaos)

d6	Bond
1	I’ve seen the future and I will stop at nothing to prevent it.
2	Each of my creations are sacred to me and I abhor anyone who would destroy them.
3	I’ve always craved the comfort of a family, but no one seems to understand me.
4	A mentor showed me I could be more than I was. I’ll never forget their lessons and want to help others in the same way.
5	Animals are my only true companions. At least the ones I don’t experiment on.
6	Who needs to win friends when you can simply make them from raw components?

d6	Flaw
1	I’ve done more than my share of humanoid experimentation and I plan to do far more.
2	I’m the smartest person in the room but I don’t understand why people take offense to me saying that.
3	You’re wrong, I’m right. End of discussion.
4	I’ve left behind everything I cared for so many times, I don’t know if I can be connected to anything anymore.
5	My plans always seem to be ruined by someone who is clearly inferior to me. It enrages me.
6	I have no respect for any type of law. Mortal, religious, moral, ritual, physical, or intangible.