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Magic items play as big a role in a Dragonstar campaign as they do in traditional fantasy settings. Your character can win magic items in battle with Imperial Legionnaires, discover them in lost cities on forgotten planets, or liberate them from the hoards of terrible monsters.

Some of these items are truly ancient and are usually recovered from Outlands worlds: wood-carved wands and staves, weapons of stone, iron, and steel, alchemical potions in quaint glass or ceramic vials. Other magic items were produced using the high technology of the Empire: Wands and staves may be manufactured with plastic or carbon fiber, while weapons are forged with titanium or other high-strength alloys. While these items are often more technically sophisticated than their counterparts found in the Outlands, they are never mass-produced. Magic items must be created by individual spellcasters working long hours and sacrificing some measure of their own life energy. Even in the Empire, you won’t find such people working on assembly lines.

In addition to these familiar treasures, Dragonstar introduces a new category of magic items. Spellware is a form of arcane biomodification, a process of imbuing magical effects not in inanimate objects but in living, organic beings. Using spellware, characters in Dragonstar can enhance their existing abilities or gain new ones they could never otherwise possess.

In some ways, spellware works just like other magic items. For instance, spellware can be suppressed by certain spells and effects (e.g., dispel magic, antimagic field). In other ways, spellware is very different from conventional magic items. When it is implanted in a patient, spellware becomes an integral part of that character or creature. It cannot be damaged directly and never has to make item saving throws to resist damage. Of course, if the character’s body is destroyed, the spellware is irrevocably destroyed, whether or not the character is subsequently raised or resurrected. Finally, while there is a limit on the type and number of conventional magic items a character can use at one time, there is no limit on the number of spellware enhancements a character can receive.

Creating Spellware

The big difference between spellware and other magic items, however, is that the spellcaster does not expend his own life energy (represented by XP) in its creation. Instead, the patient who is receiving the implant must pay the XP cost.

The spellware creator must have access to a special laboratory. These facilities often combine elements of a wizard’s workshop and a medical clinic or biotech lab. Implanting spellware takes one hour per 1,000 credits in the enhancement’s base price, with a minimum of one hour. Long, complicated procedures must be broken up into eight-hour operations. The creator can perform one such procedure each day, and he cannot rush the project by working longer. The creator can only implant one enhancement in a single patient at a time and can do nothing else while operating. The creator must work every day until the operation is complete-he cannot take a day off in the middle of the project. Any interruption that would ruin the creation of a conventional magic item also ruins the spellware operation, and all materials used and XP spent are lost.

The creator must make a Profession (surgeon) check each day during the project. The check’s DC is determined by the complexity of the spellware enhancement the creator is implanting.

Spellware	DC
Routine	10
Simple	12
Average	15
Sophisticated	18
Complex	20

If the check succeeds, the operation has gone as planned and the creator has made normal progress for that day. If the operation required eight hours or less to complete, the spellware has been successfully implanted. Otherwise, the creator must make another check on each subsequent day until the operation is complete.

If the creator fails a check, he has made no progress for that day. If he fails by 5 or more, supplies and materials are lost and the creator must pay one quarter of the spellware’s market price to replace them.

Spellware typically costs one-half the market price in credits to create. This money is spent on a variety of arcane and medical supplies and equipment necessary for the procedure. The subject in whom the spellware is implanted must also pay the XP cost, which is 1/25 the market price of the enhancement.

For example, the darkvision enhancement has a market price of 12,000 credits. This is the amount your character will have to pay if he goes to a reputable clinic for the enhancement. The creator spends 6,000 credits on the supplies and equipment necessary to implant the spellware. The patient must also expend 480 XP when the enhancement is implanted. The operation takes three hours. If the creator fails his Profession (surgeon) check by 5 or more, he must pay 3,000 credits to replace lost materials and equipment before trying again.

Spellware Enhancements

Antitoxin: Runic surgery and arcane organ augmentation render the character immune to all natural poisons, toxins, and venoms. The spellware has no effect on magical or supernatural poisons. Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, neutralize poison; Market Price: 56,000 cr; XP Cost: 2,240; Check DC: 18.

Aquaform: This full-body modification is popular with sailors, divers, explorers and others who routinely operate in marine environments. The procedure involves extensive runic surgery and biomodification of the character’s respiratory system and body. The character’s lungs are imbued with the ability to extract oxygen from water as well as air. The ability operates continuously and the character can remain submerged indefinitely without fear of drowning. The character’s hands and feet are lengthened, and webbing formed from cloned tissue is implanted between the digits. The character is considered an aquatic creature and is able to swim at a speed equal to his base speed. The character ordinarily need not make Swim checks, but gains a +8 circumstance bonus on any Swim check to perform special actions or maneuvers. The character can always choose to take 10 when swimming, even if rushed or threatened. The character can also use the run action while swimming as long as he swims in a straight line. For practical purposes, a character with the aquaform enhancement is limited to an effective depth of about 500 feet: any deeper and the absence of light and extreme cold require further spellware enhancements, such as darkvision and resist elements. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, alter self, water breathing; Market Price: 42,000 cr; XP Cost: 1,680; Check DC: 18.

Augmented Spellcasting: This spellware enhancement allows the user to cast spells of a single descriptor as if he were a spellcaster one level higher. The enhancement applies to all level-dependent effects, including range, duration, and damage, but does not allow the character to cast more or higher level spells than he can ordinarily cast. The character must choose a descriptor the enhancement will apply to before the procedure is performed. The spell descriptors are acid, chaotic, cold, darkness, death, electricity, evil, fear, fire, force, good, language-dependent, lawful, light, mind-affecting, sonic, and teleportation. Characters may purchase multiple enhancements that augment different descriptors, but each must be purchased separately. Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, Heighten Spell; Market Price: 20,000 cr; XP Cost: 800; Check DC: 20.

Aura Mask: For people in covert or criminal occupations, protection from alignment-divination magic is often crucial. This enhancement operates continuously, and its effect is identical to an undetectable alignment spell. The downside of the aura mask, of course, is that a concealed alignment can often be as revealing as one that isn’t. Rumors suggest that select ISPD agents are given spellware that operates as a misdirection spell, allowing them to redirect and deceive divination spells at will. Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, undetectable alignment; Market Price: 12,000 cr; XP Cost: 480; Check DC: 18.

Biosculpting: This enhancement involves cosmetic surgery, modification, and arcane biotherapy. The procedure offers a significant improvement in the character’s physical appearance and personal appeal. The character gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks. Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, change self; Market Price: 2,000 cr; XP Cost: 80; Check DC: 15.

Boosted Reflexes: Pilots, soldiers, operatives, criminals, and others who rely on their reflexes to survive often favor the boosted reflexes enhancement. Runic surgery and tissue modification enhance major neural pathways, allowing nerve impulses to travel faster and with greater coordination. Boosted reflexes grant the character a +2 bonus on initiative checks and increases his speed by 10 feet. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, cat’s grace, expeditious retreat; Market Price: 5,000 cr; XP Cost: 200; Check DC: 20.

Danger Sense: This enhancement grants the user an uncanny ability to anticipate and react to danger. The character gains a +10 circumstance bonus on checks (Listen, Spot, etc.) to determine awareness and surprise at the beginning of combat. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware; Market Price: 2,000 cr; XP Cost: 80; Check DC: 18.

Darkvision: The character’s eyes and optic nerves are modified and enchanted through runic surgery. The subject gains the ability to see 60 feet even in total darkness. Darkvision is black and white only but is otherwise like normal sight. This enhancement does not grant the character the ability to see in magical darkness. Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, darkvision; Market Price: 12,000 cr; XP Cost: 480; Check DC: 15.

Dermal Armor: Runic surgery is used to modify and reinforce the character’s skin and muscle tissues. The character gains damage reduction of variable effectiveness. The cost of the enhancement is based on the degree of protection it offers. Caster Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, stoneskin; Market Price: 30,000 cr (5/+1), 40,000 cr (5/+2), 50,000 cr (5/+3, 10/+1), 60,000 cr (5/+4, 10/+2), 70,000 cr (5/+5, 10/+3), 80,000 cr (10/+4), 90,000 cr (10/+5); XP Cost: 1,200 (5/+1), 1,600 (5/+2), 2,000 (5/+3, 10/+1), 2,400 (5/+4, 10/+2), 2,800 (5/+5, 10/+3), 3,200 (10/+4), 3,600 (10/+5); Check DC: 18.

Doppelganger: This full-body modification requires extensive runic surgery and arcane tissue grafts. The character gains the ability to alter his appearance as if he were the target of a change self spell. Activating the spellware is a move-equivalent action. The magic affects not only the character’s body but also his clothing, armor, weapons, and equipment. The character can alter his height by up to 1 foot, can look fatter or slimmer, and can manipulate other minor physical traits. The character cannot alter his apparent body type. The effect is an illusion (glamer) and does not alter the perceived tactile or audible properties of the character or his possessions. Doppelganger spellware will therefore not fool advanced security systems, such as voiceprint analyzers or thumbprint scanners. If the character uses the doppelganger modification in conjunction with a disguise, he gains a +10 bonus on the Disguise check. The effect lasts until the character deactivates it. The illusion can be maintained even while the character is asleep or unconscious, but it drops if the user dies. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, change self; Market Price: 10,000 cr; XP Cost: 400; Check DC: 18.

Elemental Resistance: This enhancement is a must-have for soldiers, adventurers, and law enforcement officers who routinely come under fire from high-tech energy weapons. Runic surgery and biomodification imbue the character’s body with the ability to disperse one type of harmful elemental energy. The basic enhancement protects the user from 5 points of energy damage per round, while the advanced enhancement allows the character to ignore the first 12 points of damage per round from the selected energy type. The character must select the energy type before the procedure is performed. Multiple enhancements that protect against different energy types can be implanted, but each must be purchased separately. Caster Level: 1st (basic), 3rd (advanced); Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, endure elements (basic), resist elements (advanced); Market Price: 2,000 cr (basic), 12,000 cr (advanced); XP Cost: 80 (basic), 480 (advanced); Check DC: 18 (basic), 20 (advanced).

Empath: This enhancement allows the user to sense and alter emotions in other living creatures. The ability to sense emotions is usable at will. The character can detect and identify the target creature’s strongest current emotions or prevailing emotional state. The target creature can make a Will save (DC 11) to negate this effect. The character also gains calm emotions and emotion as spell-like abilities, each usable 3 times per day. The target creature is allowed a Will save to negate each ability, and the DCs are 13 for calm emotions and 14 for emotion. Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, calm emotions, emotion; Market Price: 45,000 cr; XP Cost: 1,800; Check DC: 20.

Enhanced Ability: Genetically engineered tissue implants and arcane runic surgery significantly increase one of the character’s physical ability scores. The character gains a +2 enhancement bonus to one physical ability score. Spellware that enhances mental abilities is also available at the listed prices. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, endurance; Market Price: 4,000 cr (+2), 16,000 cr (+4), 36,000 cr (+6); XP Cost: 160 (+2), 640 (+4), 1,440 (+6); Check DC: 15 (+2), 18 (+4), 20 (+6).

Fast Healing: Runic surgery and arcane biotherapy vastly improve the character’s ability to heal damage. A character with this spellware enhancement gains the fast healing ability. The character regains a number of hit points each round based on the sophistication of the enhancement (either 1 or 2 points). This enhancement does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation, and it does not allow the character to regrow or reattach lost body parts. Caster Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, heal; Market Price: 20,000 cr (fast healing 1), 50,000 cr (fast healing 2); XP Cost: 800 (fast healing 1), 2,000 (fast healing 2); Check DC: 18.

Flight: This full-body spellware enhancement imbues the character with the ability of flight as if he were the subject of a fly spell. The character can fly with a speed of 90 feet (60 feet if the character wears medium or heavy armor). The character can ascend at half speed and descend at double speed. The flying subject’s maneuverability rating is good. Using the fly spell requires as much concentration as walking, so the subject can attack or cast spells normally. The subject of a fly spell can charge but not run, and it cannot carry aloft more weight than its maximum load, plus any armor it wears. The ability to fly is based on magic rather than aerodynamics, so it is unaffected by environmental variables such as atmospheric pressure and gravity. A character with the flight enhancement can fly in the vacuum of deep space or in the gravity well of a gas giant. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, fly; Market Price: 30,000 cr; XP Cost: 1,200; Check DC: 18.

Light Tolerance: Drow, orcs, and others who are hindered by bright light favor this enhancement. Runic surgery on the eyes and optic centers of the brain make the subject as tolerant as light as a normal human. This enhancement eliminates all penalties for light sensitivity without affecting the character’s darkvision or other racial abilities. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware; Market Price: 12,000 cr; XP Cost: 480; Check DC: 18.

Low-Light Vision: This spellware enhancement allows the user to see twice as far as a normal human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. The character retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware; Market Price: 6,000 cr; XP Cost: 240; Check DC: 15.

Magic Sense: This enhancement involves arcane modification of specific regions of the character’s brain, as well as the optic nerves and eyes. Magic sense allows the user to detect magic at will. Caster Level: 1st; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, detect magic; Market Price: 2,000 cr; XP Cost: 80; Check DC: 18.

Phase Inducer: This sophisticated spellware enhancement imbues the character with the ability to phase in and out of the Ethereal Plane as if under the effects of a blink spell. This enhancement allows the user to blink a number of rounds each day equal to 5 plus his character level. These rounds may be split up into as many distinct periods as the user wishes as long as the total duration does not exceed the character’s limit. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, blink; Market Price: 15,000 cr; XP Cost: 600; Check DC: 20.

Retractable Claws: Razor-sharp talons are implanted into bioengineered and enchanted sheaths in the character’s hands and forearms. These claws are typically crafted of high-tech materials such as carbon fiber or titanium. On a humanoid character, the claws extend from the backs of the hands between the wrist and the first row of knuckles. When fully extended, the claws are six to eight inches long. When the claws are retracted into the sheaths, the self-sealing openings on the hands are nearly invisible.

The character gains the benefits of the Improved Unarmed Attack feat-he is always considered armed when using the claws in melee. The character may take a full-attack action to attack with both claws in one round. The claws are considered light weapons. They are keenblades, and this effect is accounted for in their critical range. Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, alter self; Market Price: 2,000 cr; XP Cost: 80; Check DC: 12.

Spell Resistance: Delicate and time-consuming arcane biotherapy renders the character resistant to magic spells. The character gains variable SR depending on the sophistication (and expense) of the enhancement. In order to affect a character who has this enhancement with a spell, a spellcaster must roll the character’s SR or higher on 1d20 + caster level. Caster Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, spell resistance; Market Price: 10,000 cr (SR 13), 20,000 cr (SR 14), 30,000 cr (SR 15), 40,000 cr (SR 16), 50,000 cr (SR 17), 60,000 cr (SR 18), 70,000 cr (SR 19), 80,000 cr (SR 20); XP Cost: 400 (SR 13), 800 (SR 14), 1,200 (SR 15), 1,600 (SR 16), 2,000 (SR 17), 2,400 (SR 18), 2,800 (SR 19), 3,200 (SR 20); Check DC: 20.

Stealth: This spellware grants the character the ability to muffle his footfalls and blend with shadows. The enhancement grants a +4 competence bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. An advanced upgrade is available that increases the competence bonus to +10. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware; Market Price: 640 cr (+4), 4,000 cr (+10); XP Cost: 25 (+4), 160; Check DC: 10.

Telepath: It is believed that elite ISPD operatives commonly receive this multifunction spellware enhancement. The spellware allows the subject to communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language. The enhancement also grants the following spell-like abilities: detect thoughts (at will), suggestion (3/day), and modify memory (1/day). The subject uses these abilities as a 7th-level spellcaster. Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, detect thoughts, modify memory, suggestion; Market Price: 61,000; XP Cost: 2,440; Check DC: 20.

Translator: This enhancement involves extensive arcane modification of the speech centers of the character’s brain. The spellware functions just as if the character were the subject of a tongues spell. It grants the character the ability to speak and understand the language of any intelligent creature, whether it is a racial tongue or a regional dialect. The character can speak only one language at a time, although he may be able to understand several languages. The translator enhancement does not enable the subject to speak with creatures that don’t speak. The character can make himself understood as far as his voice carries. This spell does not predispose any creature addressed toward the subject in any way. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware, tongues; Market Price: 30,000 cr; XP Cost: 1,200; Check DC: 20.

Trauma Symbiote: A living organism implanted in the character’s abdomen, the trauma symbiote imbues its host’s body with its own life force. This magical energy protects the host’s body from all forms of physical injury, providing the host with 20 extra hit points. Damage taken by the host is applied to the symbiote first. It protects the user until the symbiote’s hit points are reduced to 0 or less. When this occurs-after the damage is applied-the symbiote is automatically deactivated. A trauma symbiote reduced to -10 hit points is destroyed and no longer protects the host. Any damage left over from the attack that killed the symbiote is applied to the host.

For example, a character with a trauma symbiote is hit for 15 points of damage. The trauma symbiote’s hit points are reduced to 5 and the character takes no damage. On the following round, the character is hit for 7 points of damage. The trauma symbiote is at -2 hit points and the character takes no damage. The symbiote is now deactivated and does not protect the character from further damage until its damage is healed. However, if on the second round the character had been hit for 17 points of damage, the trauma symbiote would have been destroyed and the host would have taken 2 points of damage.

A wounded sybmiote is treated just like any living creature. When a symbiote drops below 0 hit points, it is dying. The player must roll each round to stabilize the trauma symbiote, otherwise it loses 1 hit point. If it reaches -10 hit points, it dies. The symbiote can be healed normally, including by natural and magical healing. The trauma symbiote heals 2 hit points per day regardless of the user’s level of activity. Trauma symbiotes cannot be raised or resurrected. Voluntarily deactivating a trauma symbiote is a free action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Implant Spellware; Market Price: 6,000 cr; XP Cost: 240; Check DC: 10.