mechs and steam powers, magic, etc

[Reese]

if i attatch an automator to a piece of equipment for re-loading purposes (say, my heavy cross bow) how quickly does it reload the weapon, and does/can it hold bolts or do i still ahve to hold those in a seperate location (and, if it does hold bolts to reload with, how many does it hold?)

[Antman]

I have a question about the clockwork familiars, is it a clockwork copy of the animal you want as a familiar, or is it just a little clockwork doll like thing that follows you around, and does it give you the normal bonuses of a regular familiar, also would it be possible to build a medium version of a chattersword then enchant it???

[goodmangames]

if i attatch an automator to a piece of equipment for re-loading purposes (say, my heavy cross bow) how quickly does it reload the weapon, and does/can it hold bolts or do i still ahve to hold those in a seperate location (and, if it does hold bolts to reload with, how many does it hold?)

We always played that it reloaded at the same speed as a normal person (without any special feats). If you wanted to add on extra speed, perhaps you could use 2 steam power slots to create a souped-up automator that reloads as a free action (but limited to one such reload per round), or something like that. Note: I'm just throwing that out as an idea; I haven't really thought it through.

As for holding bolts, I'd say you could just build it into a normal quiver, or build it so that it reaches from a normal quiver, or something like that. I mean, basically it's a bunch of springs and levers that do mechanically what a character would have done physically. According to the PHB, p. 115, crossbow bolts come in wooden cases that hold 10 (or 5 for a repeating crossbow).

[goodmangames]

I have a question about the clockwork familiars, is it a clockwork copy of the animal you want as a familiar, or is it just a little clockwork doll like thing that follows you around, and does it give you the normal bonuses of a regular familiar, also would it be possible to build a medium version of a chattersword then enchant it???

Remember that little mechanical owl from Clash of the Titans? That's what I was thinking of. A clockwork familiar could be a mechanical reproduction of an animal, or could be just any old mechanical widget (like the wind-up whatever-that-thing-is on page 47 of DragonMech).

The clockwork familiar gives you all the normal benefits and drawbacks of a normal familiar, as described on pages 47-48 of DragonMech.

As for building a Medium chattersword, I don't see why not. That might be useful for cogling characters. The Large chattersword is based on a greatsword (PHB, p. 117), so a Medium one would be based on a longsword: 85 gp, 1d8+1d2 damage, crit x3, 14 lbs, or something along those lines.

It could then be enchanted using the normal enchantment rules in the DMG.

[Reese]

i'm guessing the most appropriate steam power to add for the faster re-load would be the fly wheel

and i would have it grant the same speeds granted by the rapid reload feat in the PHB (one action type faster: full round > move > free) not stackable with the rapid reload feat, of course

(i'm glad i don't have to illustrate my character, i can't quite picture how all this apparatus would go together!)

--edit--

and i think up another question already

can integrated parts be used to integrate a third power into a part that's already integrated?

for instance:

say i use integrated parts to fuse a light generator with a pilot light, could i use a second integrated parts ability to fuse a spark generator with the pilot-light-generator that i have, or would i have to fuse it with a fourth power?
(my goal here is to integrate all simaler parts of a creation i'm making... merge all the generators(fire, lightning, light) into a single power source that i can change the output type of via an attatched nozzle)

[goodmangames]

can integrated parts be used to integrate a third power into a part that's already integrated?

for instance:

say i use integrated parts to fuse a light generator with a pilot light, could i use a second integrated parts ability to fuse a spark generator with the pilot-light-generator that i have, or would i have to fuse it with a fourth power?
(my goal here is to integrate all simaler parts of a creation i'm making... merge all the generators(fire, lightning, light) into a single power source that i can change the output type of via an attatched nozzle)

I'd say no to that. The integrated parts ability basically makes one steam power weightless, but also forces you to have one with a weight for every one that's weightless. If you integrated a third part as you described above, you'd gain a second weightless part without gaining a second weighted part, so it'd be outside the normal balance of the rule.