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- A variety of pistols offer versatility in combat scenarios.
- If you have enough room, the different types of grenades are powerful and useful.
- Powered Armor is the best tech item and offers a number of very useful features to effectively utilize energy cells.
While the traditional Dungeons & Dragons setting resembles a high fantasy adventure in which magic-wielding heroes slay beasts, some classic adventures have shaken things up: Quests From The Infinite Staircase sees a modern take on 1987’s Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, a sci-fi adventure for level 11 characters.
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And nothing sounds more sci-fi than some fancy tech to pave the way forward. These are classified as adventuring equipment rather than magic items, and so aren’t bound by the specific classifications and limitations that magic items have, such as attunement, rarity, or anti-magic fields. But with all the new tech introduced, which one is the best?
Instead, most technologies rely on energy cells, a consumable item that recharges the technology’s special functions.
7 Anti-gravity belt
As written on the iridium can, the Anti-Gravity Belt is a belt that, when activated, acts much like the levitation spell. Once per turn, you can use it to ascend or descend 20 feet, or to push and reorient yourself off objects without being affected by gravity. One energy cell is equal to 10 charges in the belt, and one charge is equal to 1 minute of levitation time.
This item is… not very good, for a few reasons. In combat, a single charge is enough to survive the entire battle. But outside of combat, 10 minutes per energy cell is not enough time to effectively utilize its abilities for anything other than levitating through crevices and crevices, especially since it is hindered by the inability to move outdoors. The item is essentially a belt version of levitation boots, which themselves are just a less useful version of winged boots.
6 Impact Grenade
The value of concussion grenades directly correlates to how easy they are to obtain. Being able to deal 6d6 force damage in a 20 foot radius (assuming a failed 15 DC Dexterity saving throw, half on a fail) is pretty good. But how many grenades can you get? How hard are they to acquire? Having enough of these items is key to their excellence.
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If you follow the adventure of an expedition to the Barrier Peaks, you will encounter between 23 and 31 concussion grenades. Assuming your DM is acquiring grenades at a similar rate in his game, you don’t need to worry too much about stockpiling grenades. Since force damage is a less common type of damage resistance, this is a great item that will almost always come in handy.
If you ask nicely, your DM might open a shop periodically to let you buy more, or even let you craft them yourself. I’d recommend pricing them at least around 200 gold each.
Five Needler Pistol
The Needler Pistol is effectively a sci-fi shotgun: it can hold up to 10 charges from a single energy cell, and expending a charge fires needles in a 15-foot cone. Anyone inside must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d4 piercing damage on a fail (half damage on a success).
While it doesn’t cover as much area as a concussion grenade, its reusability makes it more valuable in ongoing adventures, especially since there’s much less risk of collateral damage. Its biggest drawback is that it’s not classified as a weapon or an attack action, so it doesn’t benefit from the multi-attack features of certain classes.
Four Robot Controller
The Robot Controller is a bit more complicated: with three charges (which of course are fully restored with energy cells), you can spend a charge to charm a single robot or temporarily disable all nearby robots. With a control action, you can target a single construct within 60 feet and give it the charmed condition if it fails a DC 15 wisdom saving throw. With a disrupt action, you can target any number of constructs within 30 feet and incapacitate them if it fails a DC 15 wisdom saving throw.
Both abilities are pretty good, but getting three per energy cell is questionable – that energy would be better spent on other things, especially one that can fail and has no secondary effects on a successful save. At the very least, construct monster types are very common in sci-fi settings.
3 Sleep Grenade
What’s better than dealing decent damage to a group of enemies? Stunning them. Sleep grenades follow the same rules as other grenades: when thrown, they explode in a 20-foot radius, affecting everyone. However, this time they require a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or are knocked unconscious for an hour. Of course, taking damage or being shaken awake will remove the effect.
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Unfortunately, Constitution is the most commonly found high stat on monster stat blocks, so this method has a high chance of failing. The good news is that even so, 15 is a pretty good DC. It also applies to everyone in the area, rather than acting on hit points like the Sleep spell. Best of all, it’s non-lethal, so the party can use this in situations where they don’t want to kill everyone. Plus, even if you do want to kill them, it’s much easier to land critical hits on an unconscious body. This added versatility makes this an advantage over Concussion Grenades.
2 Paralysis Pistol
What’s better than a sleeping target? A paralyzed target. You fire your paralysis pistol at the target, expending 1 of your 6 charges to force a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you’re paralyzed for 1 minute. You can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of your turns, but it’s still enough to incapacitate them for the entirety of the fight.
It levels the playing field when fighting in groups and practically automatically wins in individual battles, and it also has the same advantage of being non-lethal when you need to catch a fleeing person or hold them still for an extended period of time in order to restrain them, plus it can be recharged with energy cells, making it more reliable to use than a sleep grenade.
This also doesn’t benefit from multi-attack since it’s not technically a proper weapon.
1 Powered Armor
The most obvious winner here, Powered Armor, is reinforced plate armor that will have you cursing yourself for not having heavy armor proficiency. Powered Armor functions perfectly as powered armor; when you put an energy cell into it, you get 24 charges, which can be activated for the same amount of time as the charges you expend (so a maximum of one full day per cell), and when activated, it has a ton of awesome effects.
|
effect |
What it does |
|---|---|
|
Augmented embodiment |
You have advantage on Strength checks and can carry double the amount. |
|
Environmental Adaptation |
Like a scuba or space suit, it is sealed and provides air, allowing the user to withstand extreme temperatures. |
|
Force Field |
As a reaction when you take damage, you can expend a charge to reduce the damage you take by 3d10. |
|
Propulsion |
You can expend a charge as a bonus action to gain a fly speed for 1 minute. |
All of this, all in one day, for just a single energy cell. It’s powerful, versatile, and even the weakest warrior can survive it. Plus, it allows flight, so it’s automatically better than an anti-gravity belt. I noticed the mention of gauntlets in the description, which means this can’t be combined with another magical gauntlet, but this would be up to the DM’s discretion more than anything.
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