This next monster fills a role in the setting that replaces undead a little (slightly, the revenant also helps here), it and also carries with it the responsibility of alleviating the mechanist automaton cost hurdles at lower levels through a new house rule. Additionally their body can be used as Automaton samples. First the house rule, then the monster.
Scrapping automatons for parts
If desired, the character may disassemble his personal automaton for up to 50% of the unadjusted build cost in materials. This takes 1 day per 1,000gp of returned value. These materials may only be used to offset the cost of constructing another Personal automatons may be sold, but are only worth scrap value (1/100th build cost).
As presented it's only for a specific use, but it could be easily extended to all fully functional automatons. Let’s re-wright it for this more generic use:
This creates a new item “mechanical materials” or mats for short. These materials consist of gearing mechanisms, hydraulics and clockwork parts, ie all the hard to make materials. Simpler structural beams and frames are cheaper and less important to recycle given they suffer the most during destruction. A unit of mats provides 1,000gp when building an automaton, has a market value of 10gp and weight 2 stone.
The only thing missing now is something to salvage materials from at low levels...
Rogue Automatons
Or "Rogues" for short. These monsters are the product of a visitor weapon deployed to counter the human reliance on autonomous machinery.
Early during the boarder wars the humans extensively used “low tech” automatons. Lacking full foundry and technological facilities a simple tool was developed by the visitors to counter this, the worm. Worms are two inch long robots that are designed to seek out the controlling brains of independent automatons. They crawl their way inside the chassis of these constructs and nest over the clockwork brain, there they extend their nano tendrils inside and subvert the mechanical brain. They ignore more advanced robots and Endjinn given their control extends only to mechanical brains not positronic nets or tombeau.
The subversion though is not a refined control, it ultimately sends the automaton berserk. They lash out and seek to destroy anything within reach. Basic coordination routines allow them to recognise other infected automatons and work as a group. Once nested each worm slowly builds another worm then seeks out other automatons to infect. Combining all these elements they are the perfect self replicating agent that neutralised the human/automaton threat.
Some ponder that the visitors should have hijacked or taken over the automaton, but they lack key insight to the visitors that developed these weapons.
The first insight is that these are a weapon of desperation, they were designed purely to neutralise an enemy's weapon. The berserker feature was seen as a bonus as it turned the humans own weapons against them. The second was a lack of time and equipment necessary to develop the weapon, this was a rush job in trying circumstances. The third was that any form of etheric wave remote control or remote control servitude could likewise be counter hacked by the Terrans, better to simply create a closed system.
Unfortunately the visitor creators of the worm did not foresee the fatal flaw in their design. They were designed for single targets and had limited processing ability to perform their primary function. They lacked planning, cunning, and self preservation, or so they thought.
The visitors did not anticipate the impact of multiple worms in a single body. The human Combaticon was such a vehicle, being as large as it is the Combaticon is a bit like a dinosaur. Each limb contains its own brain coordinated through a central controlling brain. Those with pilots could shut down the infected core and prevent the worms control but a few running in autonomous mode were subverted and took the unusual action of choosing to escape. Multiple worms networked in a single body achieved something akin to primitive instinct, a hunger to become more. They ripped other clockwork cores out of captured automatons and connected them to their frames, infecting them and growing their intelligence. Limits in the design of the worm itself seem to have restricted this to several hundred cores, making the more advanced ones fussy about what they connect. The routines allowing coordination between the rogues was subverted to a form of influence allowing basic instructions to be given. The rogue queens, as they are known, were born. To this day they control the areas known as The Hives.
The three rogues below draw on common automatons in use that have been co-opted by worms. Details on more advanced foes will come later.
Rogue Automatons
Rogue automatons are human created autonomous machines co-opted by visitor technology and turned into indiscriminate killing machines. They appear unchanged to their original form but will lash out and attack at the first opportunity. They lack the guile required to sneak or surprise opponents and do not pretend to be their former role.. As constructs they are immune to the effects of disease and poison in addition to charm, sleep, and hold spells.
There is a chance that a rogue can infect another automaton. For any rogue, there is a 1 in 6 chance it has the ability to infect when first encountered, though this can be adjusted by the judge. If this is the case it will initiate a non-damaging melee attack on the target automaton as its highest priority. If it succeeds the target must save vs death or become a rogue in 1d4 rounds. During this time the automaton acts normally, thought is aware of and fights the subversion, and will convert even if shut down. Once this attempt is made the rogue cannot infect another automaton for several days as it builds a new worm (3+1d6 days).
Rogue Clockworker: the harmless clockworker is an automaton that is humanoid in design and normally used as a labourer. The conversion removes all safeties in regard to harming people though the design itself lacks weaponry and can only punch or kick, but with its metallic limbs this damage can still kill. They retain their proficiencies after the conversion and these “worker” rogues have been instrumental in establishing rogue domains in the hives.
When destroyed the chassis itself can be used as a sample to build a clockworker. Alternatively there is a single unit of mechanical materials that can be extracted for use in building other automatons (see the rules above).
Rogue Ironwright: the ironwright soldier is the perfect form for conversion by a worm, already a capable combatant they wield swords and shields like the humanoid soldiers they are forged to represent. So much so that there is no difference in the stat blog above between a Rogue Ironwright and a normal Ironwright Soldier automaton. As such judges should freely use these stats for automaton combatant's, such as those set to guard a location or protect a person..
When destroyed the chassis itself can be used as a sample to build an ironwright soldier. Alternatively there are three units of mechanical materials that can be extracted for use in building other automatons (see the rules above).
Rogue Stevedore: the mighty stevedore automaton is a humanoid forklift the size of an ogre. When co-opted and their safeties overridden they become brutal combatants fighting even more effectively than the human piloted equivalents.
When destroyed the chassis itself can be used as a sample to build a clockwork stevedore. Alternatively there are five units of mechanical materials that can be extracted for use in building other automatons (see the rules above).
Note: all automaton builds are presented in the Patreon article Machinery to the Max.
Edit:23/3/2020 - doubled wilderness encounters.
Edit:23/3/2020 - doubled wilderness encounters.
I like that! Aliens and robots go very well together, of course.
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