The Mechanists Foundry Domain

I have drafted this up as an alternate domain for mechanist classes such as the Gnome Artisan, Magi, Dwarven Mechanist, etc. It's really just a slightly altered sanctum and I hope to get to play test it some time. The key thing is it builds mechanical materials for you to help with building automatons.

The Foundry

A mechanist who builds a foundry attracts 1d6 assistants of 1st-3rd level each, plus 2d6 apprentices seeking to become mechanists. The intelligence scores of the apprentices will be above average (discard any rolls of 8 or less), but many will become discouraged by the heavy labour they undertake to become mechanists. At the end of 1d6 months, each apprentice must make a proficiency throw of 14+, adding their Intelligence modifier to the die roll. Those who succeed become 1st level mechanists; those who fail become discouraged and leave the foundry. Each year the mechanist works in their foundry, they can attract an additional 1d6 apprentices, until they have a maximum of 6 assistants (of any level) and 12 apprentices studying at any one time.

Building the Foundry

A foundry is constructed using the Stronghold Structure Costs listed under Establishing the Stronghold. The foundry grounds will need enough building to house its occupants, workshops, libraries and garrisons if required. The foundry can be built within another domain or in an unoccupied area of land. If they are built outside a domain, they require a minimum garrison to the value of 300gp to secure (about a platoon of 30 bowmen). No garrison cost is required if inside a domain.

The foundry will need a starting workshop (ACKS p.118) if the mechanist does not already have one and this must be housed within a structure. Workshops are assumed to take up a 10'x10'x10' space for each 2,500 value of the workshop. Eg. a stone building costing 3,000 gp can house 18 by 10' cubes for a total value of 45,000.

The foundry will need a starting library (ACKS p.117) if the mechanist does not already have one and this must be housed within a structure. Libraries are assumed to take up a 10'x10'x10' space for each 20,000 value of the library.

Putting your assistants to work

Similar to mage assistants, the mechanist can also put their assistants to work. The apprentices assist with labour and heavy work on behalf of the assistants and as such to not contribute directly to the output of the foundry. At any time, the mechanist may supervise a number of assistants equal to one plus their intelligence bonus in performing skunkworks or construction tasks. Any apprentices not being directly supervised will keep building creating mechanical material using the restock task.

The Skunkworks action tasks an assistant with attempting to design a blueprint or convert a sample into a blueprint. This action takes the normal time and cost for designing automatons and results in a completed blueprint if the assistants design throw is successful. They will need access to a sufficiently sized library. The mechanist player will need to determine the type of automaton the assistant is seeking to build, based on the guidance of their character. The assistant gains xp for the task as normal for an NPC.

The Construction action see the assistant undertake the build automaton action. They will need access to a suitably sized workshop. This action takes the normal time and cost for building automatons and results in a completed automaton if the assistants build throw is successful. Alternatively, the assistant may use the build from plan house rule presented in an earlier blog post to slowly finish the build without a chance of failure. Such items may be used or sold normally by the mechanist who owns the output of the foundry, though any xp gains for the build will go to the assistant as per normal.

The Restock sees the assistant fill their spare time maintaining the foundry and it's stores of parts. Working with apprentices each assistant creates a unit of mechanical materials for each full month of work that is added to the foundry's spare parts. These parts are available to the mechanist or assistants for use in constructing automatons.

Attracting peasants

Like fighters, clerics and mages (but not thief's), the area around a mechanist garrisoned foundry may become settled by peasant families seeking their protection. If their garrison and building cost reaches the level required for the minimum stronghold for the civilisation level of the land, then they will attract peasants. Use the rules in Attracting Peasants and Followers if this occurs.

Notes

This hasn't been play tested, it's my rough writeup in case it ever gets used. My current notes for this are:

• Why the garrison cost? It's about half that required to secure a mostly populated wilderness hex.
• The library and warehouse space cost is from the various forum discussions around warehousing.
• The restock task, this is a new thing intended to encourage more building. I was thinking about hijinks when I added it and I'm not sure if it's too little or too much...