Clockwork Analyst: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 03:28, 19 April 2021

Clockwork Analyst (CR 8)

True Lawful - Medium - Construct (Alchemical)
Lore: Know (Arcana)
18 35
Basic DC Full DC
Initiative
Initiative Icon 2.png
13
Perception:
19 +9
Passive Active
Ambush:
10+
on a d20

Senses:

Movement Types:

Defense

AC
Shield Icon 3.png
25
Man Def
Shield Icon 3.png
24
Monster Health
146 73 13
Hit Points Bloodied Hit Dice
Saving Throws
Fort: +10
Refl: +5
Will: +5

Strong Against:

Weak Against:

Offense

Size: Medium
5 ft. 5 ft.
Space Reach
To-Hit
+13
Sword Icon 3.png
Man Off
+12
Sword Icon 3.png
Action
0
Points
  • Maneuver Offense Notes: +4 on Sunders

Standard Attack (Melee):

  • 1x Clockwork Cutters +13 (2d10+15/x2)
    as slashing (physical, common)
    plus Clockwork Shock

Full Attack (Melee):

  • 1x Clockwork Cutters +13 (2d10+9/x2)
    as slashing (physical, common)
    plus Clockwork Shock and Division Mites

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage:

  • 1x Clockwork Cutters +13 (1d4)

Statistics

21
STR
15
DEX
CON
INT
11
WIS
6
CHA

Skills:

Languages:

Feats:

Special Abilities

Clockwork Shock (Ex) Automatic after successful attack

Once per round when the Clockwork Analyst hits with an attack with its cutters, the target must also make a Reflex save, DC 19, or become Rattled until the beginning of the Clockwork's next turn.

Division Mites (Su) Automatic after successful Full Attack action

If the clockwork analyst hits with its cutters during a full attack, the target must make a Fortitude save, DC 19, as division mites are injected into its bloodstream. If the saving throw is failed, the target takes 1d3 points of CON damage each round as a Bleed effect, though the target may make a new save at the end of each of their turns to try to overcome this effect. If the target succeeds on the save, they take 2d8+6 points of piercing (physical, common) damage, but no further ill effects, as the mites are rejected and expelled through the target's pores, tear ducts, ears, etc, as a fine silvery-grey dew. A target which fails one or more saves but eventually succeeds still takes this piercing damage when the mites are rejected.

If any healing effect, temporary hit points, or a Challenging Heal Check (DC 25), the mites are killed in the target without inflicting the piercing damage for being rejected. As with any Bleed effect, the healing, temporary hit points, or Heal check provide no benefit, other than to end the Bleed.

Any target whose CON score is reduced to 0 by this effect is killed, digested by the mites, and falls apart into numerous small blocks of chemicals and a large leather waterskin filled with water (and some Primal Time, though this is really hard to capture usefully). Note that this effect cannot be stacked; the above effects are not augmented by multiple infestations of Division Mites, and a single save ends all current effects. Of course, a creature who rejects the mites once could be injected with more mites if the Clockwork Analyst is able to do so.

Note: It is possible to Raise Dead or Resurrect the various bits left over by Division Mites as if it were the character's body. Magic items are not affected by Division Mites, as they do not inflict Sunders.

Disassembler (Su) Swift Action 1/Enc

Once per encounter as a swift action, the clockwork may attempt to disassemble a creature's weapon, armor or shield. The clockwork must be adjacent to the target, and the weapon, armor or shield must be made of metal. The clockwork resolves this attack as a Sunder maneuver (1d20 + 15 vs. target's Maneuver Defense). This attack does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If successful, the item gains the Broken condition, even if it has a higher durability than 1. Disassembler has no effect on an object which already has the Broken condition.

  • a broken weapon suffers a -2 penalty to attack and damage rolls
  • a broken shield or armor reduces the wearer's AC by 2 (even if the armor or shield did not provide this much AC when whole)

Spell Resistance (Su) Always On

Clockworks have spell resistance. In order to affect them with a spell or spell-like ability, the caster must first make a Caster Check versus the clockwork's Maneuver Defense value (25). If the check is successful, the spell or spell-like ability is resolved as normal. If the caster check fails, the spell is cast, but does not affect the clockwork in any way.

Clockwork Analyst

Clockwork Analyst

Clockwork Analysts are 4-foot long iron constructs, which look like bulky metal spiders. Most of the time, these constructs follow a pre-determined set of analog instructions, hard-coded into their gearworks and alchemical organs. These instructions can be nested and crosslinked and given so many variables and contingencies that they appear to have free will and even modest personalities, though this is not the case. Like clockwork agents, clockwork analysts also have a limited form of telepathy, allowing them to communicate with other Clockwork constructs. Some alchemists have even managed to astrally project their consciousness into a clockwork analyst to direct it remotely. It can be nigh-impossible to determine when this is happening, due to the sophistication of their instruction sets.

Clockwork analysts are capable fighters, but their primary purpose is troubleshooting 'problems'. This can be nearly anything an ambitious mad scientist might find too bothersome to tend to themselves, from digging out and propping up new tunnels, buildings or other structures, to emergency repairs, to crafting customized tools or alloys for their master's lab.

Clockwork analysts have the ability to extract trace minerals and metals rapidly out of nearly any raw material, even rendering down alloys to their component parts. They can extrude these components into shapes like gears or other one-piece shapes, but nothing with moving, hinged or multiple parts. For example, given a steel breastplate, a clockwork analyst could consume it and spit out several iron ingots, several lumps of coal, some flux and a bunch of heat. They are also not as efficient at creating alloys out of these same components, requiring considerably more raw materials and time to do so than a blacksmith would require.

Combat Tactics

Clockwork Analysts are completely deaf, and not terribly perceptive. That said, their telepathy sense will instantly let them know that another Clockwork of any type is engaged within a thousand feet. Whether any given Clockwork reacts to this knowledge depends upon their mysterious instructions, and can seem utterly baffling. Just because a Clockwork seems unaware of you, does not mean that it is really unaware of you. It is quite possible that it knows exactly where you are and what you are doing, but you have not triggered any instructions, and thus, are of no interest.

Clockwork Analysts that have triggered against a foe are calmly implacable, and incredibly destructive, using their Cutters to snip neat holes straight through iron portcullises, dig through stone walls, and sawing through timber obstacles with ease and frightening speed. Once they are clear of obstacles, they will use charge attacks to close to melee, hoping that the Clockwork Shock effect will slow down its opponents. Once in melee, the Analyst will settle into full attacks to make use of Division Mites. Once a target is infested with the probes successfully, the Analyst will move to a different target if possible, de-prioritizing the infested targets. The melee damage an Analyst does is not affected by using a full attack, and Division Mites do not stack. As a result they tend to be willing to move around in battle.

Clockwork Analysts will never flee from combat, and are not really even self-aware enough to notice when a fight is going badly for them.

Out of Combat

Clockwork Analysts are of great interest to military sorts, for dealing with fortifications, but their complex instructions and telepathic link back to their creator makes them disturbingly hard to use reliably. No military commander wants a Clockwork going rogue against his own equipment and fortifications. As a result, they are used rarely for such purposes, and most of them are encountered either in alchemical lairs, or even more scarily, as stand-alone communities. If they escape from their creator, Clockworks will continue to obey their instructions, even to the point of building new Clockworks and repairing old ones as they go about their mysterious business for no purpose at all. Such communities of Clockworks can become incredibly dangerous, as their instructions become slowly corrupted by repeated mistakes made during copying.

Rewards

XP: 4,800

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 3,875 gp.

Weight: 80 lbs.     Volume: 3.2 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10 Nothing Found
11 - 14 1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17 1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19 1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20 Roll on Table 2
### Nothing to see here!
### Or here. Move along.
Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5 3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10 3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14 1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17 1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19 1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20 Roll on Table 3
### Or here. Move along.
Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5 3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8 3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11 3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14 3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17 1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19 1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20 1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)