Homebrew Autoscout Species Details

Autoscouts are mechanical beings built by artificers looking to collect data and information to fuel their creations and abilities. Sometimes, because of a malfunction or a unique circumstance, an autoscout becomes separated from its creator and strikes out on its own.

An autoscout can look like anything, but are generally smaller creations to aid in their scouting purposes, and most autoscouts are programmed to speak and understand Common and 2 other languages their creator feels will be helpful in their data-collection mission. The internal components used in an autoscout’s manufacture can vary wildly; one autoscout might have an actual beating heart in its chest cavity, while another might be powered by stardust or intricate clockwork gears.

Like any machine, autoscouts can live for as long as they are maintained and upgraded, meaning a single autoscout can live for centuries being handed down from artificer to artificer if need be.

Creating Your Character

When you create your D&D character, you decide whether your character is a member of the human race or one of the game’s fantastical races. If you create a character using a race option presented here, follow these additional rules during character creation.

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 or increase two different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy.

The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You’re free to follow those suggestions or to ignore them. Whichever scores you decide to increase, none of the scores can be raised above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and two other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player's Handbook offers a list of widespread languages to choose from. The DM is free to add or remove languages from that list for a particular campaign.

Creature Type

Every creature in D&D, including every player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race option presented here tells you what your character’s creature type is.

Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the text of the cure wounds spell specifies that the spell doesn’t work on a creature that has the Construct type. (The autoscout is a noteworthy exception because of its Healing Machine trait.)

Life Span

The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries—a fact noted in the description of the race in question.

Height and Weight

Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player's Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.

Autoscout Traits

As a autoscout player character, you have the following traits.

Creature Type

You are a Construct.

Size

You are Small.

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Armored Casing

You are encased in thin metal or some other durable material. While you aren’t wearing armor, your base Armor Class is 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

Built for Success

You can add a d4 to one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make, and you can do so after seeing the d20 roll but before the effects of the roll are resolved. You can use this trait three times per long rest, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Healing Machine

If the mending spell is cast on you, you can spend a Hit Die, roll it, and regain a number of hit points equal to the roll plus your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).

In addition, your creator designed you to benefit from several spells that preserve life but that normally don’t affect Constructs: cure wounds, mass cure wounds, and spare the dying.

Mechanical Nature

You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.

Sentry’s Rest

When you take a long rest, you spend at least 6 hours in an inactive, motionless state, instead of sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but you remain conscious.

Specialized Design

You gain a feat of your choice, selected from the Player's Handbook.