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COWBOYS & VIKINGSCompendium of the Wild Wastes

Catalog / Origins / Mad Scientist

Mad Scientist

Origins

Ability Intellect
Talent Alchemical Crafting
Skills at rank 2 Investigation, Crafting

Fools! They could never understand the grand nature of your work, and you were the greatest fool of all for trusting anyone else with it. You're a few steps from unlocking the secrets of life, reality, death, magic or some other improbable thing, and one more breakthrough would finish it. But you know it won't end there: there's always more to research, more to discover, more rules to break. Let the fools call you insane and enjoy their small lives. Ignorance is bliss, and you're downright mad.

You gain: +1 Intellect; the Alchemical Crafting talent; 2 ranks in Investigation and Crafting.

Starting Equipment:

  • Common clothes
  • Lab coat and protective gear
  • Alchemist's tools
  • 10 empty bottles
  • Research notes
  • A warrant for your arrest
  • 15 gp

Feature — Efficacy Enhancer: With at least an hour of work and supplies you can alter potions and poisons: delay or subtle their effects, change color or texture, or sometimes boost them (up to one die). Work out stronger alterations with the GM.

Quirk (1d8)

  1. I was tricked into servitude when I was young; now I bow to no master, not even the laws of reality.
  2. I've seen the cracks in what we call truth, and I'll widen them by any means.
  3. Discovering something new is a rush I'm addicted to.
  4. I'm tired of being tangled in other people's lives and their weak minds.
  5. In the grand scheme nothing matters, so let's make our own meaning.
  6. I crave power above all, and I'll take my research to terrible lengths to get it.
  7. If we don't teach the next generation everything we know, they'll suffer as we did.
  8. Magic is silly and fake, and I can prove it.

Ideal (1d6)

  1. Power. My intellect is vast enough to rule the world, and one day it will.
  2. Light. I'll make the world better, no matter how many times villains tear it down.
  3. Arcana. Magic is the one true constant, and I will master it more completely than anyone ever has.
  4. Puppetry. Everyone dances on strings. I'm simply the one who can see them, and pull them.
  5. Supremacy. Godhood doesn't interest me. The gods themselves are beneath me.
  6. Rule-breaking. The fastest way to learn how the world works is to break every rule it has.

Pledge (1d6)

  1. I've seen the future, and I'll stop at nothing to prevent it.
  2. Each of my creations is sacred, and I loathe anyone who'd destroy them.
  3. I've always wanted the comfort of a family, but nobody seems to understand me.
  4. A mentor showed me I could be more; I'll never forget their lessons and want to do the same for others.
  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 build them from raw components?

Flaw (1d6)

  1. I've done more than my share of experiments on people, and I plan to do far more.
  2. I'm the smartest person in the room, and I don't understand why people mind me saying so.
  3. You're wrong, I'm right. End of discussion.
  4. I've left behind everything I cared for so many times that I don't know if I can connect to anything anymore.
  5. My plans keep getting ruined by people clearly beneath me, and it enrages me.
  6. I have no respect for any kind of law: mortal, religious, moral, ritual, physical or intangible.

Roll or choose one of each, then pair each with a Virtue or Vice (2 of each).

Features

Efficacy Enhancer. With at least an hour of work and supplies you can alter potions and poisons: delay or subtle their effects, change color or texture, or sometimes boost them (up to one die). Work out stronger alterations with the GM.

Starting Equipment

  • Common clothes
  • Lab coat and protective gear
  • Alchemist's tools
  • 10 empty bottles
  • Research notes
  • A warrant for your arrest
  • 15 gp