Full ReBuild Friday - Iron Man [Human Inventor] (Patreon)

Per the votes cast here and elsewhere, I've rebuilt the Man of Iron! There's an argument to be made that I should have waited for Starfinder's Tech Core, but from the solicits that we have of the book, I'm not really sure it's really going to add anything to the build. Obviously, there'd be a few things of use, but nothing that would really change the class or other options that I went for. Also, to keep things easier, I decided to base my build off of Marvel Rivals simply because it is a more codified take of the build for me to draw upon.

As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choices may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

Suit up and take flight as Iron Man from Marvel Rivals!

IRON MAN

CHARACTER Anthony Edward ‘Tony’ Stark

SOURCE Marvel Rivals

BUILD GOALS

o    As is often the case, Tony Stark is a brilliant inventor and the CEO of Stark Unlimited who took on the heroic identity of Iron Man after being wounded by one of his own weapons

o    He operates as a damage-dealing duelist, using the armor he created to fight alongside the Avengers

o    His primary fire is a Repulsor Blast, which fires in a straight line with a small burst on impact, and he can channel a Unibeam as his alternate fire for a sustained effect

o    Activating Armor Overdrive grants him bonus health while also enhancing his Repulsor Blast and Unibeam

o    Already capable of flight, he can activate Hyper-Velocity to increase his flight speed

o    While under the effects of Armor Overdrive or Hyper-Velocity, he can unleash a Micro-Missile Barrage to fire missiles indiscriminately or on a designated target if he’s in the former state

o    His ultimate is the Invincible Pulse Cannon, which is fired at an area to create a massive explosion that deals immense damage and can oneshot targets at its center

o    He has a team-up with Squirrel Girl and Ultron that buffs them but doesn’t provide him with any benefits

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Skilled Human

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence

o    Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition

o    Skill Increase: Computers (T)

Background: Saved by Clockwork

o    Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (T)

Class & Subclass: Inventor

o    Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Deception (T), Diplomacy (T), Occultism (T), Piloting (T), Society (T)

o    Class Feat: Built-In Tools, Variable Core – Electricity

o    Innovation: Power Suit Armor

o    Initial Modification: Speed Boosters

o    Skill Feat: Inventor

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +0, Cha +1)

I looked through the Starfinder ancestries to see if there was anything particularly alluring to use for Iron Man, but nothing was really fitting. I did briefly considered raxilite, but there wasn’t anything that I saw as a must-have. This led me back to the human ancestry and with the knowledge that I would gain automatic Crafting from other sources in the build, I had him take the skilled heritage for Computers since that is one of his areas of expertise. As promised, he does get the Crafting skill through the Saved by Clockwork background, calling to mind how he was kept alive following the injury he took from one of his own weapons. Then, as we did with his original build, we will be building him as an inventor. Despite Starfinder existing right now, it doesn’t really give us a way of representing the power armor that he wears. That does ultimately fell on the inventor once again. For the sake of constructing this suit, he uses the inventor’s power suit innovation and equips it with the Speed Boosters modification, inspired by the speed-up granted by his Hyper-Velocity. Built-In Tools helps to ensure that he always has the tools on-hand to work on his kit though I do think the Variable Core is a bit more overall relevant to the character as he effects seem to be more electricity-based rather than fire-based.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Collapse Armor

o    Skill Feat: Electrical Engineer

o    Gear: reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Shiny

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (E), Crafting (E), Performance (T)

o    Gear: tactical boom pistol, ring of discretion, reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Wizard Dedication – School of Magical Technologies

o    Skill Feat: Tech Crafting

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (T)

o    Spellbook: Cantrips – phase bolt, shield

o    Gear: jolt coil, tactical boom pistol, necklace of knives, reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +4.5, Wis +0, Cha +2)

o    Ancestry Feat: Confident Actualization

o    Skill Increase: Computers (E), Piloting (E)

o    Gear: advanced boom pistol, jolt coil, commercial programmer’s plushie, necklace of knives, ring of discretion, reusable grenade shell

I’ll admit, I took Collapse Armor mostly as a means of matching a practice demonstrated in the second Iron Man film. I think you could skip it without any sort of trouble and instead take his Wizard Dedication a bit earlier. We are fortunate enough to have a School of Magical Technologies to reference, even if he isn’t getting access to anything from it other than the name. Skipping Collapse Armor does mean that you could take Basic Wizard Spellcasting at fourth-level instead. For the time being, we’ll just talk cantrips as there’s honestly a few good ones. I think something like phase bolt or caustic blast, with the latter having the small explosion, fit his Repulsor Blast best, but I could also understand including shield, analyze target, or even recharge weapon. His skill feats are obviously going to focus on Crafting with Electrical Engineer and Tech Crafting alike. I wanted to focus on more tech-based feats first for him and will fill out his skill feats with other Crafting options as best I can. Through the Ancestral Paragon general feat, we can take Shiny to make Tony better at Aiding with social skills, since I can’t quite spare the investments for them. That is accompanied by Confident Actualization, which is a pretty perfect description for Iron Man’s personality.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Basic Wizard Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Quick Repair

o    Gear: +1 power suit, advanced boom pistol, musket staff of force, jolt coil, necklace of knives, trusty helmet

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (M), Crafting (M)

o    Breakthrough Modification: Hyper Boosters

o    Gear: endless grimoire, +1 power suit, wand of shard storm (1st-rank), advanced boom pistol, jolt coil, commercial programmer’s plushie

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Overdrive Ally

o    Skill Feat: Magical Crafting

o    Gear: miniaturization module, endless grimoire, staff of elemental power, +1 power suit, advanced boom pistol, musket staff of force

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Aeromancer

o    Skill Increase: Computers (M)

o    Offensive Boost: Jolt

o    Gear: +1 resilient power suit, miniaturization module, spellstriker staff, endless grimoire, wand of shard storm (1st-rank), advanced boom pistol

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +5, Wis +0, Cha +3)

o    Class Feat: Arcane Breadth

o    Skill Feat: Digital Diversion

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (T)

o    Gear: wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank), +1 resilient power suit, greater jolt coil, spellstriker staff, endless grimoire, advanced boom pistol

With the gaining of Basic Wizard Spellcasting, we start getting some very important spells. The first that comes to mind is force barrage to represent his Micro-Missile Barrage though he could also make use of horizon thunder sphere for a nearly means of charging up and creating the big boom of his Invincible Pulse Cannon. While the flavor is off, exploding earth is another good option for his Repulsor Blast if for no other reason than that it has splash damage on it. Once he gets up to eighth level, the classics of fireball and lightning bolt would be great for him with the former being a way to demonstrate his Invincible Pulse Cannon and the lightning bolt standing in for his Unibeam. He does make a return to inventor after that to pick up Overdrive Ally, which is inspired by his team-up with Ultron and Squirrel Girl that empowers them while giving him nothing in return. On the topic of the inventor, he also gets the Hyper Boosters modification for his armor so that he’s even faster. Though once he has a Strength of +3, he could reconfigure his armor for Heavy Construction just to demonstrate how completely his armor encases him. As his spells become a larger part of his overall power, Arcane Breadth seems an obvious choice that just serves to increase the number of spells that he has access to.

Quick Repair lets him put those Built-In Tools to use as a three-action activity since he becomes a master in Crafting this block. With this enhancement, he’ll expanding on his Crafting with Magical Crafting just to fit in the setting better. He does take a brief break from the Crafting feats for Digital Diversion as he should be equally capable when it comes to using computers as he frequently demonstrates. In an attempt to counteract how the armor’s been slowing him down due to his lack of Strength, I had him take Fleet as his general feat, which will be relevant again in a few levels. Before he can start getting fourth-rank spells from his archetype, he can at least use Aeromancer to find a way to fly as that is something that we’ve honestly been missing.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Augmented Body

o    Skill Increase: Piloting (M)

o    Gear: superior boom pistol, eternal eruption of Pale Mountain, wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank), +1 resilient power suit, miniaturization module, spellstriker staff

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Expert Wizard Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Combat Hack

o    Gear: +2 resilient power suit, superior boom pistol, greater endless grimoire, wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank), greater jolt coil, tactical programmer’s plushie

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Aerialist

o    Skill Increase: Diplomacy (E)

o    Gear: elite boom pistol, +2 resilient power suit, greater spellstriker staff, greater endless grimoire, eternal eruption of Pale Mountain, wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank)

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Soaring Armor

o    Skill Feat: Percussive Maintenance

o    Gear: wand of shardstorm (5th-rank), elite boom pistol, major jolt coil, +2 resilient power suit, greater endless grimoire, cloak of the bat

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +0, Int +5.5, Wis +1, Cha +4)

o    General Feat: Incredible Investiture

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (L), Crafting (L)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient power suit, eternal eruption of Droskar’s Crag, wand of shardstorm (5th-rank), elite boom pistol, greater crafter’s eyepiece, greater spellstriker staff

Expert Wizard Spellcasting could lead to Iron Man gaining another means of casting fly from among his fourth-rank spells, but with his fifth-rank spells, he might like control machine or could simply his spells such as force barrage so that each action launches two missiles. Notably, his fourth-rank fly spell might not remain handy for long because at level fourteen, he gains Soaring Armor. This is one of the main reasons behind going for the inventor. It allows Iron Man to focus on his armor and eventually build it up to gain a fly Speed. Notably, this fly Speed is equal to his own so feats such as Fleet and effects such as Hyper Boosters will apply to it. Combat Hack is another Computers option for him that lets him put his knowledge to use even in the midst of a melee. Percussive Maintenance is back on his Crafting skill and while he has Quick Repair to fix broken items, this will let him remove the glitching condition from his tech items. Augmented Body lets him build that tech into his body and Incredible Investiture allows him to wield more magical items, taking in what is essentially Pathfinder’s equivalent of tech – at least until you get into Starfinder. I also included Aerialist for an ancestry feat, but I think he loses out on this benefit by the time he gets Soaring Armor since it specifically only increases the fly Speed that comes from magical sources, which the armor is certainly not. The bonus check to maneuver could be handy, but you could also just retrain it upon gaining Soaring Armor, possibly using something like Researched Spell Resistance to demonstrate the enhanced defenses of his armor.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Shared Overdrive

o    Skill Feat: Craft Anything

o    Gear: greater wyrm spindle, +2 greater resilient power suit, major endless grimoire, wand of shardstorm (5th-rank), elite boom pistol, major jolt coil

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Persistent Confidence

o    Skill Increase: Computers (L)

o    Gear: ultimate boom pistol, eternal eruption of Ka, greater wyrm spindle, +2 greater resilient power suit, eternal eruption of Droskar’s Crag, wand of shardstorm (5th-rank)

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Master Wizard Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Unified Theory

o    Gear: crown of intellect, ultimate boom pistol, radiant prism, greater wyrm spindle, +2 greater resilient power suit, major endless grimoire

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: A Home in Every Port

o    Skill Increase: Piloting (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient power suit, crown of intellect, wand of shardstorm (7th-rank), ultimate boom pistol, greater wyrm spindle, eternal eruption of Ka

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +1, Int +6, Wis +2, Cha +4)

o    Class Feat: Full Automation

o    Skill Feat: Fly Anything

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (T)

o    Gear: paragon boom pistol, +3 greater resilient power suit, archivist’s gaze, wand of shardstorm (7th-rank), major spellstriker staff, radiant prism

To start off this block, sixteenth level means that Iron Man can tap into sixth-rank spells, such as explosive barrage for his missiles or maybe even arrow salvo for the Invincible Pulse Cannon. Its high damage and the fact that it leaves foes prone are a crit fail feel like a solid fit for him. We do expand on his Overdrive Ally feature with Shared Overdrive though if you think this is overdoing his ability to bolster others, I’d instead consider Megavolt or Guardian Lion Roar for a line effect per his Unibeam. He does get more spells to do such effects with through Master Wizard Spellcasting, and outside of just heightening options, you could get away with using eclipse burst for his Invincible Pulse Cannon or the reflavoring of telekinetic bond might work as well. He does finish out his class feats with Full Automation so that he is permanently quickened. This will be especially useful with him being a flier, letting him use the Fly action to remain aloft while having three actions left to cast spells and make Strikes. This could also be flavored as him installing one of his AI assistants such as Jarvis or Friday from the movies.

For his skill feats, we’re honestly just taking all his legendary skill options. Craft Anything feels obvious for Iron Man while Unified Theory is definitely more out there, but will work well for the build overall. I did end up investing in Piloting, which led into Fly Anything, because I do believe that we’ll eventually got power armors in Starfinder and I think, in some cases, they might run off of Piloting. It is coming in a little late, but A Home in Every Port feels like a good choice for a character as affluent and renowned as Tony Stark to have. As does Persistent Confidence, which is entirely based on his personality or at least the bravado that he demonstrates.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: For a free archetype game, you can get all the wizard spells that I did and still pick up some of the inventor feats such as Megavolt, Gadget Specialist, and Manifold Modifications for one of the resistance-granting modifications. He could use Arcane School Spell to start augmenting his own body with technology or use Basic Arcana for Cantrip Expansion and then following that up with Advanced Arcana for Detonating Spell and other options. I’d also keep an eye out for future Starfinder archetypes. None of them really work for him right now, but there will certainly be some that do.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Iron Man is a skilled human inventor with an armor innovation and a background that led to him being saved by clockwork. This reflects the invention that saved his life after he was maimed by a weapon that he had originally made. That armor innovation, specifically the power suit, represent his famous suit with Soaring Armor even granting him a way to gain flight as long as he’s wearing his armor. The simplest representation of his Repulsor Blast comes in the form of either simply using a weapon to make a ranged Strike, or cast a spell such as phase bolt, exploding earth, or similar effects. For the line of his Unibeam, you can use line spells with lightning bolt being the one that stands out the most to me. The inventor comes in clutch when representing his Armor Overdrive as it increases the damage of his abilities akin to how the inventor’s Overdrive creates a similar effect. As noted, we achieved flight through Soaring Armor while the likes of Speed and Hyper Boosters can recreate the speed up from his Hyper-Velocity. We use spells once again to represent his Micro-Missile Barrage with force barrage and explosive barrage both being good fits for the effect. When it comes to the Invincible Pulse Cannon, he could use the inventor’s Explosion ability or throw out spells such as fireball or horizon thunder sphere to recreate the big boom. For something a bit more subtle, I like the looks of Overdrive Ally and Shared Overdrive to generate the buffs that he provides through his team-up without getting anything in return.

Masked in metal, this magnificent and magnanimous man melds magic and machinery to maul malicious munchkins and make a more munificent macrocosm.

Have a fantastic Friday!