The Dread Machine, an impossible technological advancement from the far future, whispers in your mind, demanding you build it. How does it speak to you if it doesn’t yet exist? How can a machine instruct its creator on its own design? What goals does it have beyond ensuring its own creation? These are questions you will never answer. There won’t be time. You’ll be too busy finding pieces to build the Dread Machine andits hellish conveyance.

 

Tool profeciancy

When you adopt this specialization at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with smith’s tools. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice.

Additional Spells

Beginning at 3rd level, you always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Machine Cultist Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you can prepare.

3rd Level: hex, identify
5th Level: augury, locate object
9th Level: fear, stinking cloud
13th Level: Evard’s black tentacles, wall of fire
17th Level: animate objects, contact other plane

Cog in the machine

At 3rd level, the Dread Machine has augmented your abilities to better serve as one of its creators. You learn the eldritch blast cantrip. This cantrip counts as an artificer spell for you but does not count against your cantrips known. In addition, the Dread Machine is constantly sending encoded messages from the future to ensure you survive long enough to build it. You can use a bonus action to receive and decode such a message. When you do, you gain one of the following benefits of your choice:

 

• For the next minute, when you make an ability check or saving throw you roll a 1d4 and add it to the result.
• For the next hour, you add your proficiency bonus to ability checks made to determine initiative and cannot be surprised.
• You can replace an artificer spell you have prepared with any other artificer spell of a level you can cast. Once you use this bonus action, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Internal Engine

Also at 3rd level, the mechanical designs that plague your mind allow you to turn a vehicle you are touching into an Infernal Engine. As a 1-hour ritual and provided you have smith’s tools in hand and meet the level requirement, you can convert a mundane vehicle you are touching into your Infernal Engine, with statistics listed later that closest resemble the converted vehicle.

 

Your Infernal Engine has the following benefits:

• You can operate your Infernal Engine alone without a crew whilst touching it. Nobody else can operate your Infernal Engine vehicle.
• Your Infernal Engine does not require laborers, fuel, or animals to move.
• You are considered proficient with all vehicles for the purpose of ability checks you make to control or maneuver your Infernal Engine. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for such ability checks.
• While you are on the same plane as your Infernal Engine, you know the direction and distance to it.
• If the mending spell is cast on it, it regains 2d6 hit points.

You can perform a 1-minute ritual to banish your Infernal Engine into an empty demiplane. You do not need to be touching your infernal engine to complete this ritual. When you complete the ritual, all creatures aboard your Infernal Engine fall until they hit the ground or water, taking any falling damage if required.

 You can summon your Infernal Engine from this demiplane into an unoccupied space as an action, provided there is enough space within 100 feet of you on the ground or water. If your Infernal Engine of a given type is destroyed, you need to convert another comparable mundane vehicle to replace it.

 At any given time you can only have one infernal engine on the same plane of existence as you. If you try to convert a vehicle into an Infernal engine or summon one from the demiplane, it fails to convert or be summoned. You can only have up to one of each of the below Infernal Engines stored within the demiplane or converted into an infernal engine at any given time. If at any point you have two infernal engines of the same type, both within or outside the demiplane, choose which vehicle remains an infernal engine. All other vehicles of the same type return to their original mundane state. If a vehicle within your demiplane is turned mundane, it is lost to the astral plane.

Eldritch Ordanance

At 5th level, when you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, add 1d8 to the damage dealt. Additionally, while aboard your infernal engine, when you cast eldritch blast you can add your Intelligence modifier to all of the damage rolls if you don’t already add an ability modifier to them

Dread pact magic

Starting at 9th level, the Dread Machine grants you greater power in exchange for your ongoing pledge to create it at all costs. You can cast any artificer spell you have prepared without expending a spell slot. This spell is cast as if you had expended the highest-level spell slot available to an artificer of your level in this class. Once you cast a spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest

Infernal Dread

Starting at 9th level, the Dread Machine has imbued your Infernal Engine with greater eldritch power. Once per long rest, while you are touching your Infernal Engine, you can use a bonus action to make your Infernal Engine emit a 120 foot aura of dread for 1 minute from its center most point. When you use this feature, you can choose any number of creatures you can see to be unaffected by this feature. Whenever an affected creature that can see you enters the area of this feature or starts its turn within it, they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell DC. On a failed save, the creature becomes frightened of you. While frightened this way, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move.

At the end of any affected creature’s turn it can make another Wisdom saving throw. The affected creature has advantage on the saving throw if it is in a location where it doesn’t have line of sight to you or your infernal engine. On a success, the effect ends for that creature. A creature that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to this feature for the next 24 hours.

Apocalyptic Metamorphosis

At 15th level, your body undergoes changes in preparation for the Dread Machine’s arrival. You gain the following benefits:

• You have resistance to damage from magic.

• While you are aboard your Infernal Engine, the vehicle has resistance to all damage and advantage on saving throws.