The artificer utility drone is a small spherical shaped object of approximately 5 pounds and black in colour. It has four multijointed extremeties that it can fully retract to become spherical. The drone will usually use the extremeties to walk, climb and difficult terrain does not apply. The drone's movement speed is 30 feet/round. The drone will respond only to an attuned artificer. The attuned artificer can order the drone to receive commands from other people, but might reset to default on abuse. The communication range to give new orders is 60 feet.
The drone is self-sufficient and can survive without fuel or maintenance for years, unless it is damaged. The default amount of hitpoints is 12 hp. The drone can be upgraded to a plated drone with 16 hp, but will sacrifice stealth bonus and sensor sensitivity. When the health of the drone drops below 12 hp, it is regarded as damaged. The artificer may attempt to repair it or shut it down. Three failed repair attempts will permanently destroy the drone. A shutdown always succeeds, but is not reversible until the drone is repaired.
The drone serves multiple purposes and can be switched to the respective mode remotely (if attuned).
- Surveillance/exploration mode. This is the default setting. The drone will detect movement automatically and avoid detection. It will collect map data and will try to identify number, size and race of detected life forms. It moves in an attempt to explore the entire map unless told otherwise.
- Utility mode. The drone can be set to utility mode once per day. In utility mode, the drone cannot move. It will separate its two hemispheres to give access to its inbuilt artificer tools and energy core. It can give small energy surges, analyze an item or attempt to repair it. The drone will default to utility mode when it's damaged to 0hp.
- Stealth mode. This is a safety feature and will trigger automatically when the drone has been detected by unidentified life forms. The drone will attempt a stealth check with an advantage. The drone will not move unless specifically ordered to do so. Once the danger is out of range, the drone will attempt to return to the articificer. Stealth mode can be activated by the articificer. In this case, it needs to roll for stealth and its speed drops to 10 feet.
- Shutdown. The drone can be turned on and off by the artificer at will. A shutdown drone retracts its legs and looks like a black cannon ball, undistinguishable from a regular item.
Notes: Requires artificer tools to attune. Can only be used by artificer class. Attunement duration: 1 day. If anyone who does not meet the requirements attempts to attune, roll a d8.
Comments