Full Build Friday - Norma Hollowell [Halfling Mechanic] (Patreon)

The Tech Core had its proper release and with that, I wanted to release some related builds! The technomancer is actually a little hard to find a fitting character for - perhaps Viktor from League? - so I thought I'd start for the mechanic. If you have any suggestions for a technomancer, I'd appreciate it! In any case, I wanted a character that would let me stick entirely with the mechanic and this one even explore multipe exocortexes.

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.

Hats off for this build of Norma Hollowell from Zenless Zone Zero!

NORMA

CHARACTER Norma Hollowell

SOURCE Zenless Zone Zero

BUILD GOALS

o    Despite her youthful appearance, Norma is in charge of modifying, repairing, and otherwise upgrading the bunny-like robots, Bangboo

o    She is a fire-using stun agent who fights with machine guns in the sleeves of her jackets and a similarly fast-firing Bangboo on top of her head – her Top Hat Companion

o    She can send out her TPC to attack even while she’s off-field and will reunite with her to help trigger a chain attack and bring an ally onto the field

o    Among her arsenal, she has Rumble Drills that burrow up from beneath the ground and can also summon En-Nah Turrets that either deal more stun or fire depending on whether the target is stunned or not

o    With her ultimate, she unleashes a massive missile that bombards foes with massive fire damage

o    By expanding on her Mindscapes, she can launch many more missiles, replenish energy, and reduce the resistances of foes

o    Her Exclusive W-Engine ‘Chief Sidekick’ is actually yet another Bangboo who increases her impact, increases the damage of her allies with her EX special attack, and let her penetrate fire resistances

Summary of Goals: Norma has one hell of an arsenal, ranging from guns in her sleeves, a mini-mecha minion on top of her head, missile-launching turrets, drills that burst from beneath the ground, and a massive missile. She has a focus on debilitating enemies, leaving them vulnerable for allies who she can enhance with the chain attack granted by her Preheated Chamber.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Ductsneak Halfling

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dex, +Wis, +Int, -Str

o    Ancestry Feat: Unassuming Dedication

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T)

Background: Magitech Specialist

o    Ability Boosts: +Int, +Dex

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (T), Magitech Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Quick Identification

Class & Subclass: Mechanic

o    Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (T), Computers (T), Crafting (T), Diplomacy (T), Piloting (T), Society (T), Stealth (T), Thievery (T)

o    Class Feat: Explosive Shot

o    Ecocortex: Turret – Laser Beam

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Str, +Dex, +Int, +Wis (Str +0, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +2, Cha +0)

The ancestries I like the best for Norma honestly don’t work well for her build. I had to find the middle ground between functionality and flavor and I think halfling works here, demonstrating her diminutive size and letting her use the ductsneak heritage. Through this, she gains training in Acrobatics and is a bit better at slipping into places, inspired by the infiltration in her chapter of the game. Meanwhile, I like Unassuming Dedication giving her a bonus on downtime activities, such as Crafting her upgrades. In the same measure, while ZZZ lacks magic, Starfinder 2e does not, and so I went for the magitech specialist background. I was looking at taking the option that granted her Robot Lore, but that’s about fighting robots, not building them. And that’s a little off for her. However, the mechanic class is very much on point for her! It is an Intelligence-based martial class much in the vein of the inventor but is a little less selfish. The inventor is mainly based around buffing itself, but the mechanic can enhance the gears of allies through the Modify action, playing into the semi-support function of Norma as a stunner. Furthermore, each mechanic has an exocortex that they can remotely control and this is a big point towards building Norma as it allows her to gain a turret that can fire for her. Since she’s a fire agent, I ended up using the laser option so that it deal fire damage even if her turret more seems to release rounds and missiles. To help with that a little bit, I did equip Norma with Explosive Shot, which gives her an extra modification to turn weapons into splash weapons and might resemble her missiles a little bit better.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Area Denial Turret

o    Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Bangboo Lore

o    Gear: reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Barricade

o    Mechanic’s Ingenuity: Crafting (E), Tech Crafting

o    Skill Increase: Computers (E), Bangboo Lore (E)

o    Gear: tactical turret, commercial force field, reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Coordinated Fire

o    Skill Feat: Specialty Crafting – Robotics

o    Gear: commercial flechette launcher, tactical turret, tactical machine gun, reusable grenade shell

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Dex, +Con, +Int, +Wis (Str +0, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +3, Cha +0)

o    Ancestry Feat: Cable Slicer

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)

o    Gear: advanced turret, commercial flechette launcher, commercial programmer’s plushie, tactical machine gun, commercial force field, reusable grenade shell

One of the reasons that I wanted to start with this build is that it will be fully dedicated to exploring the mechanic class – no archetypes or anything of the sort. She’ll start with Area Denial Turret as it lets her turret hit in a line or cone Area Fire. I wish it had an option to fire in a burst to better resemble her missiles, but the spirit of the idea is there. She can also fire in concert with her turret with Coordinated Fire, which allows them to kind of bypass resistances just a bit by the fact that they can combine their damage before applying them. As for her skills, Additional Lore for Bangboo Lore is extremely Norma, but it might not be remotely relevant to your campaign. I think you could get away with using Robot Lore instead, especially since she’ll be following it up with Specialty Crafting for robotics, which overlaps and will eventually exceed the bonus from her Unassuming Dedication. However, that ancestry feat should still have use for when she’s Crafting other things. Being a mechanic gives her the mechanic’s ingenuity feature for extra skill increases to Computers or Crafting and a related skill feat with Tech Crafting being the most obvious choice for the character. She includes Barricade because it’s a little about creating something and because it’s a feat that I don’t often get to showcase or demonstrate. She can also use Cable Slicer for a similar reason to her ductsneak heritage as it aids her infiltration but is even a little more Computers and Crafting focused.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Exocortex Experimenter – Drone

o    Skill Feat: Quick Install

o    Gear: tactical second skin, advanced turret, advanced machine gun, commercial flechette launcher, commercial ghost’s harness, tactical undermounted grenade launcher

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Prescient Planner

o    Mechanic’s Ingenuity: Crafting (M), Impeccable Crafting

o    Skill Increase: Computers (M), Bangboo Lore (M)

o    Gear: null-space pocket, tactical second skin, commercial boom ripple, advanced turret, commercial flechette launcher, commercial programmer’s plushie

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Debilitating Ecocortex

o    Skill Feat: Electrical Engineer

o    Gear: tactical flechette launcher, null-space pocket, commercial antigrav harness, tactical second skin, advanced turret, advanced machine gun

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Helpful Halfling

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)

o    Gear: advanced second skin, tactical flechette launcher, advanced force field, null-space pocket, commercial boom ripple, advanced turret

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Str, +Dex, +Int, +Wis (Str +1, Dex +4.5, Con +1, Int +5, Wis +4, Cha +0)

o    Class Feat: Tactical Drone

o    Skill Feat: Adventurous Outfitter

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (T)

o    Gear: tactical firebot, advanced second skin, tactical programmer’s plushie, tactical flechette launcher, null-space pocket, advanced turret

The mechanic is very good at accessing its other sort of ‘subclasses’ with Exocortex Experimenter allowing Norma to gain a drone to resemble her Top Hat Companion. Having looked through the options, I do think the surveillance drone is the best option for its higher Dexterity and built-in ranged attack though I would likely still give it an integrated weapon mount customization, if not two. She will improve it with Tactical Drone, but between those, I want to add Debilitating Cortex to properly fit with her stunner roll as this allows her to inflict the off-guard condition, which might resemble her ability to leave enemies stunned and vulnerable to her allies. She’s sticking with her collection of Crafting feats when it comes to skill feats with the inclusion of Electrical Engineer being something I wasn’t originally considering, but settled on as a prerequisite for another feat I have coming up. I also wanted to use Prescient Planner but theme it being less Norma pulling something out of her pack, and more her actually quickly cobbling something together. Finally, her Helpful Halfling is inspired by how she aids Velina at times even if it’s usually the other way around.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Prescient Consumable

o    Skill Increase: Piloting (E)

o    Gear: superior turret, magical mixtape, tactical firebot, advanced skyfire armor, tactical flechette launcher, advanced force field

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Advanced Drone

o    Skill Feat: Akiton Battery Hack

o    Gear: superior skyfire armor, superior turret, superior machine gun, tactical firebot, tactical programmer’s plushie, commercial flaming module

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Overcrowd

o    Skill Increase: Piloting (M)

o    Gear: elite turret, superior skyfire armor, advanced flechette launcher, superior machine gun, magical mixtape, tactical firebot

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Superior Drone

o    Skill Feat: Repair Expert

o    Gear: elite force field, elite turret, elite machine gun, superior skyfire armor, tactical butlerbot, distributed blast unit

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dex, +Con, +Int, +Cha (Str +1, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +5.5, Wis +4, Cha +1)

o    General Feat: Incredible Initiative

o    Mechanic’s Ingenuity: Crafting (L), Craft Anything

o    Skill Increase: Computers (L), Bangboo Lore (L)

o    Gear: elite skyfire armor, elite force field, superior null space chamber, elite turret, advanced flechette launcher, tactical mobility enhancer

This round is simply about enhancing Norma’s Top Hat Companion through Advanced and Superior Drone. For the customizations here, optimized avoidance for Reflex saves seems an obvious pick and I’d almost suggest sapient based on its emotive range. I’d also look at speedster just so that it can hurry back to Norma after being separated from her. Our mini master mechanic can create some more grenades on the fly this block with Akiton Battery Hack and Prescient Consumable alike while Repair Expert should help her ensure that she keeps her construct companions topped up. Craft Anything is also an obvious choice for her while Overcrowd is taken so that she can share a space with her little buddy. Also, I’d try to talk to your GM about keeping the Top Hat Companion as its base size of Small as it isn’t going to be Tiny.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Auto Target

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Professional

o    Gear: superior flechette launcher, elite skyfire armor, advanced programmer’s plushie, elite force field, elite turret, elite machine gun

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Hard-Fought Freedom

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)

o    Gear: ultimate turret, tactical flaming module, superior flechette launcher, elite skyfire armor, elite force field, superior null space chamber

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Foolproof Debilitations

o    Skill Feat: Digital Diversion

o    Gear: cognition accelerator, ultimate turret, ultimate machine gun, superior flechette launcher, elite skyfire armor, advanced programmer’s plushie

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Increase: Piloting (L)

o    Gear: ultimate skyfire armor, cognition accelerator, ephemeral exoskeleton, ultimate turret, tactical flaming module, superior flechette launcher

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Str, +Con, +Int, +Cha (Str +2, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +6, Wis +4, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Multitasker

o    Skill Feat: Fabricator

o    Skill Increase: Deception (T)

o    Gear: paragon turret, elite sensory amplification suit, disintegrator module, cognition accelerator, ultimate force field, ultimate machine gun

I would have loved to take Auto Target much sooner as it helps to resemble the firing of her turrets outside of her turn, but I wanted to get her drone built up first. It’s the same situation for her Foolproof Debilitations though that isn’t as far off from its original level. I do think this is a tiny bit important for the build she’s going for as it will be what allows her to more reliably lay down her conditions. I would also suggest Exploitive Assault as a way for her to reduce or bypass resistances, but I think Multitasker is a better option if for no other reason than it really helps her bring her whole arsenal to bear with the extra action it provides. For her skill feats, she finally steps out of her comfort zone a bit with Legendary Professional allowing her to make a living off of her legendary Bangboo Lore. Digital Diversion is another way for her to make enemies susceptible to the attacks of others and then Fabricator is just another new Crafting feat that I thought would be fun to demonstrate. None of her ancestry feats really stand out to me, but Hard-Fought Freedom is probably the most useful.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Honestly, I just wish that I could take more mechanic feats. But if you want to press Norma into a free archetype game, I honestly think that the mechanic’s fellow Tech Core inhabitant is the way to go. The technomancer is an Int-based arcane caster and she could use spells to represent some of her abilities such as fireball for her ult, summon robot to bring more bots into the battlefield, and maybe the new bombarding emojis for another option to her turrets. Furthermore, she can dive deeply into the Servoshell programming language of the technomancer, which is all about bolstering her robo-buddies.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Norma Hollowell is a ductsneak halfling mechanic with a turret exocortex and a background as a magitech specialist. Her role as the Chief Technician for the ESD can be expressed through Additional Lore for her Bangboo Lore leading into Legendary Professional. Given her fire element, we do design her En-Nah Turret with fire damage and can fan the flames through her modifications - which also help her stun enemies with the Debilitating Exocortex and the off-guard that it can inflict. She takes an extra drone companion for her Top Assistant and while not as apparent as the chain attack, she can enhance the attacks and abilities of her allies through the Modify feature of the mechanic, providing a vast array of options to fit any fight she may face. This build is lacking her Rumble Drills unless they can be found through equipment she acquires, but I think the area effects of her Area Denial Turret can sort of stand-in for her big booming bunny. Explosive Shot also helps to further cover her missiles while Coordinated Fire lets her explore her W-Engine a bit by helping her to team with her turret and punch through the defenses of her foes.

Running rampant with robotic rabbits and the rioting rounds of her reliable, resounding rocket rifle, this runty but renowned researcher is ready to reveal the ruinous retinue of her remodels.

Have a fantastic Friday!