Automaton, Variant (5e Race)

From D&D Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search
Stub Logo.png This page is incomplete and/or lacking flavor. Reason:
Work In Progress


You can help D&D Wiki by finishing and/or adding flavor to this page. When the flavor has been changed so that this template is no longer applicable please remove this template. If you do not understand the idea behind this page please leave comments on this page's talk page before making any edits.
Edit this Page | All stubs

This content deviates from D&D Fifth Edition standards. Its use could dramatically alter campaigns, take extreme care. DesignDisclaimer.png
Caution - Here there be monsters!
LookClosely.png
This content intends to provide a different experience, or goes beyond the scope of the anticipated subjects and situations, than the D&D Fifth Edition rules were intended to handle. Some portions of the content below may not be what you expect from traditional game content. When implementing this content, DMs and Players should read over all the information carefully, and consider the following specific notes of interest:
This race attempts to logically simulate what a "true" construct character would be like to play, with all of the advantages and disadvantages that would be entailed. Particular emphasis is placed on the logistical aspects of keeping this character, the automaton, well-maintained and functional; thus, players who desire to use this race should be prepared for that challenge.


Automaton[edit]

ho boy someone's trying to do this again, let's see if it works out jim

Works of Genius and Ambition[edit]

As great artists draw from life itself to capture it in canvas and pigments, great inventors seek to replicate it in metal and motion. A skilled armorer studies the anatomy and movements of a warrior to best design a suit of plate mail. A skilled tinkerer could spend days crafting a mechanical songbird that can flap its wings and chirp a hundred different melodies. There is no magic here except the subtle kind of magic that occurs from years of knowledge, refinement and intricately complex creation.

The automaton is the inventor's greatest triumph, the culmination of that desired goal to replicate life. Through sheer effort and fevered dreams and determination, the inventor has understood the mind and replicated it in an entirely inanimate substrate. Trillions of intricate cogs, gears, and mechanisms make up the brain of an automaton, giving it sentience and a will of its own to act upon the world. Once the brain of an automaton is assembled, the body quickly follows - A much easier albeit still complex task.

An inventor that has created one automaton will likely do so many more times, refining and improving on each successive design. A special kind of madness tends to overtake most of these inventors, their notes and schematics becoming increasingly more dense and illegible to anyone other than themselves. There are those who say the price of understanding how to create a mind is the loss of one's own - a punishment for the hubris of treading in the domain of gods.

Finders of Purpose[edit]

Automatons that have left their creators behind often seek out a purpose. Some become adventurers, finding kindred in similar beings such as warforged. Others integrate into society, performing dangerous manual labor and other menial tasks. They are often regarded as a curiosity by other intelligent creatures, and are especially prone to being befriended by tinkerers who wish to study them. The construction of their mind is incomprehensible to even the most skilled artisans, but their body can be understood readily enough to be repaired or even improved upon.

Once an automaton has settled into a purpose, it will perform that purpose for years completely content. People may come and go, and things may change around them, but as long as the automaton is still able to be maintained, it will continue to perform that purpose until it can no longer do so.

Automaton Names[edit]

Automatons are usually named by their creators. Some are given a unique name that holds meaning to the creator or are indicative of their purpose (Atlas, Digger, Torch), some are simply labeled as part of a series eg. A-01, while a few are a mix of both (Lucky No. 7). A rebellious or independent automaton may choose to discard the name their creator gave them and take upon a new name or nickname.

Names: Adam, Athena, Chipper, Clunk, Eight, Gladys, John the Fifth, Maria, Moradin, Unit 47

Automaton Traits[edit]

Automatons are sentient constructs animated not by magic but by mundane yet marvelous means.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age. As long as they are maintained, automatons can live indefinitely. However, automatons usually start having to learn how to manage their limited memory after a few decades.
Alignment. Automatons can be of any alignment, but tend towards lawful.
Size. Your size is Small or Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
True Construct. Your creature type is Construct. As such, spells like cure wounds don't affect you, and you are immune to spells like crown of madness or dominate person because they specifically target humanoids. You are immune to poison damage, the poisoned condition, and diseases. You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, and are in fact unable to do any of those things. You have no nerves to be paralyzed and you have no flesh to be petrified. You cannot gain levels of exhaustion, instead, you are subject to a similar phenomenon known as weardown.
Mechanical Mind. You have advantage on saving throws made against being charmed or frightened. You have resistance to psychic damage, and creatures attempting to read your thoughts would not be able to understand the mechanical language.
Maintenance Required. You do not need to eat or sleep, but your body requires maintenance or else it will gradually wear down. When you take a long rest, you or another creature proficient in tinker's tools must spend at least 2 hours performing routine maintenance. This maintenance includes checking for wear, oiling parts, replacing or repairing damaged components, and other similar tasks. For every 24 hours that pass where you have not received this maintenance, you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of weardown. Hours spent in a low-activity state do not count for this 24 hour period.
Upgradeable.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write one language of your creator's choice.
Subrace. You require a power source to function. Choose between Mainspring or Boiler. While your power source is technically modular like the rest of you, it determines a large portion of the construction of your body and cannot be switched without a substantial amount of work.

Mainspring[edit]

You are powered by a tightly wound spring. It is quiet and allows for quick, precise movements.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Lightweight. Your speed increases by 5.
Windup. Your spring must be rewound daily in order for you to remain active. A creature must spend 10 minutes to wind your spring back up (this can be done as part of a short or long rest). Your spring lasts for 12 hours. Every hour you spend active past this threshold, you must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or suffer 1 level of weardown which can't be reduced or prevented in any way. All levels of weardown accumulated this way are removed once your spring is wound back up. Being in a low-activity state extends each hour of the spring's lifetime by a factor of 10.

Boiler[edit]

You are powered by a small but powerful steam engine. It is loud but quite strong.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Powerful Engine. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying weight and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Noisy. While active, you emit a distinct rumbling sound audible up to 50 feet away.
Pressure Explosion. If you are destroyed while steam is built in your system, your boiler explodes blasting the area around you with blistering steam and metal shrapnel. All creatures within 15 feet of you must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking d6s of fire and piercing damage each equal to half your level on a failure, and half as much on a success.
Fuel Intake. You must consume fuel to stay active. If you run out of fuel or if the fire in your boiler is extinguished, you have a number of minutes equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum 30 seconds) to relight it before the steam in your system loses pressure and you fall inactive.

Fuel Burn Time Cost
Damp wood, brush, or kindling 1 minute/lb. 1 cp/lb.
Firewood 10 minutes/lb. 5 cp/lb.
Bituminous coal 1 hour/lb. 1 sp/lb.
Oil 2 hours/gallon. 8 sp/gallon.
Anthracite 4 hours/lb. 1 gp/lb.
Valine oil log 8 hours/oz. 5 gp/oz.

Being in a low-activity state extends the amount of time it takes for your steam to lose pressure by a factor of 10.

Random Height and Weight[edit]

Base
Height
Height
Modifier*
Base
Weight
Weight
Modifier**
′ '' + lb. × () lb.

*Height = base height + height modifier
**Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Suggested Characteristics[edit]

When creating a automaton character, you can use the following table of traits, ideals, bonds and flaws to help round out your character. Use these tables in addition to or in place of your background's characteristics.

d8 Personality Trait
1 I don't understand people. What do you mean you're "hungry" and "sick" and "tired from marching for 8 hours straight"?
2 You'll often find me tinkering with myself whenever I have time and parts to spare.
3 I get embarrassed when my gears are showing.
4 I have a "concerning" obsession with things that flash, zap, or go boom. The more spectacular, the better.
5 I'm very fond of animals. They're easy to understand.
6 My speech is difficult to listen to. Sometimes it'd just be easier to stay quiet.
7 My "collecting" isn't a problem, it's a nuanced and tactical decision. You never know when you'll need spare parts.
8 I mimic behaviors of other people around me to try and fit in.
d8 Ideal
1 Authority. Authority must always be obeyed. (Lawful)
2 Freedom. I had strings but now I'm free. No more strings on me. (Chaotic)
3 Superiority. You meatlings are all beneath me. (Evil)
4 Benevolence. Life comes in many forms. I want to help it thrive in whatever form it may take. (Good)
5 Purpose. What is my purpose? Do I have one? Do I need one? Can I choose one? (Neutral)
6 Singularity. I was brought into this world. Let's see how far I'll go in it. (Any)
7 Order. There is a proper order to all things, and I must enforce it. (Lawful)
8 Pinocchio. I want to be a real boy! (Any)
d8 Bond
1 I'm missing large parts of my memory, including knowledge of my creator. If I can just manage to find them...
2 I watched as someone I considered family grew old and passed away. Now their children are beginning to go the same way.
3 There is blood on my hands. How long will it be until my past finally catches up to me?
4 Some important parts keeping me ticking don't exactly belong to me, if you catch my drift.
5 I don't understand why, but there exists someone I feel compelled to protect.
6 I am haunted by a strange artifact— some event or symbol that persists in my memory. Every time I erase it, it comes back.
7 No matter how much tinkering I do or upgrades I install, I can't shake the feeling that I'm fundamentally incomplete in some way.
8
d6 Flaw
1 People say I cause problems because I take things too literally. It isn't my fault they aren't specific enough.
2 I can hardly help myself when it comes to following orders. Even if those orders are from someone I shouldn't listen to...
3 My logic is perfect and can never ever be flawed in any way. The very thought is inconceivable.
4 It's incredibly fascinating to find out how living creatures work. I haven't quite managed to put one back together again yet though.
5 I know I'm not really alive. Living beings are so much more valuable and important than I am. So why, when my end looms... why am I so afraid?
6 If I'm not really alive, that means I can't really die! (marches into trap and explodes)

For DMs[edit]

Consider making some of the following pieces of homebrew content available in your game to enrich your automaton player's experience.

Expanded Options and Feature Variants[edit]

Here is a list of optional supplemental content for the automaton.

Power Source: Hamster Wheel[edit]

Jester.jpg
April Fools!
This content is not designed for use in regular games, and may affect overall balance and gameplay. Take caution when using this material.

You are powered by small critters that turn a wheel mechanism.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
Trained Animals. You have an amount of Tiny CR 0 beasts of your choice equal to your proficiency bonus that are loyal to you. They obey your commands and will act to protect you in the absence of them. If one of your trained animals dies, you can train a new one over the course of 7 days. Your trained animals require 2 oz. of food and ½ pint of water each per day.
Power Wheel. If one or more Tiny creatures enter your body and run in the wheel, you are active and conscious. While in the wheel, they have total cover. You fall inactive if there are no creatures running in the wheel.
Animal Handler. You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill.

Maintenance Costs[edit]

Use this table in conjunction with keeping your automaton repaired and maintained.

Material Cost
Wood, stone, ceramic, or leather 1-5 cp/hit point restored
Common metals like copper, brass, or iron 1-5 sp/hit point restored
Uncommon metals like silver or gold 5-50 gp/hit point restored
Rare materials like platinum, ironwood, mithral, and adamantine 500-1,000 gp/hit point restored
0.00
(0 votes)

Back to Main Page5e HomebrewRaces

Home of user-generated,
homebrew pages!


Advertisements: