Homebrew Mek Species Details

''What makes you think this contraption will work?'' Grumbled Aalon as he looked up and down at the large, humanoid machine.

''Vault will work, alright," Edith said, climbing into the Mek's chassis, ''I assure you.'' She said, giving a thumbs up and that was mirrored by the Mek's large, mechanical thumb.

 — The Lady and the Metal Titan

Meks are large mechanical beings imbued with great magic that gives them sentience. These beings, first created by master artificer gnomes during the War of The Sunken Hollow, are essentially super computers; beings that act on calculated algorithms and statistics. They compute things regularly, analyzing data and calculating every possible contingency in any situation. 

Steel Golems

Meks are quite literally sentient machines, being comprised of metals of various sorts and high-end, otherworldly technology. These beings, while not truly being living, are considered humanoid due to their figure. They typically speak in a very addressed voice, though some have a robotic tone and others speak in codes comprised of numbers. 

While Meks don't truly rest, they the same benefits from rests as a living being would. While resting, most Meks spend their time doing routine check-ups and repairing any damages done to their hardware as well as their chassis.

Meks, having been brought to life by those who imbued their magic into them, are typically devout to their creator. Many Meks, having belonged to Gnomes during the war, were built with enterable chassis in which their owner, being that they were small enough to fit, could embark and take control over the Mek.

Mek Personality

The Meks were built to serve and to fight. For most of their existence, Meks had a clearly defined function and were encouraged to focus purely on that role. The end of the war gave them freedom, but many Meks struggle both to find a place in the post-war world and to relate to the creatures that created them.

The typical Mek shows little emotion. Many Mek embrace a concrete purpose — protecting allies, completing a contract, or other pursuits — and devote themselves to this task as they once did to war. However, there are Meks who delight in exploring and doing tasks with high risk and multiple outcomes. Meks typically have no interest in religion, but some are drawn to it as they wish to better understand the ideologies of mortals.

The typical Mek has a muscular, sexless body shape. Some Mek ignore the concept of gender entirely, while others adopt a gender identity in emulation of creatures around them.

Quirks

Whether due to some flaw in their creation or simple ignorance of how other creatures operate, Mek often acquire an odd personality trait or two. A Mek player can choose to roll or select a trait from the Mek Quirks table.

1d10	Quirk
1	You analyze (out loud) the potential threat posed by every creature you meet.
2	You don’t understand emotions and often misread emotional cues.
3	You are fiercely protective of anyone you consider a friend.
4	You often say the things you are thinking aloud without realizing it.
5	You try to apply wartime tactics and discipline to every situation.
6	You don’t know how to filter your feelings and are prone to dramatic emotional outbursts.
7	You don’t understand clothing beyond its utility and assume that what a creature wears denotes its job and status.
8	You are obsessed with your appearance, and constantly polish and buff your armor.
9	You are deeply concerned with following proper procedures and protocols.
10	War is the only thing that makes sense to you, and you’re always looking for a fight.

 Mek Names

Mek were assigned numerical designations for use in military service. Many of them adopted nicknames, often given to them by their comrades. As free individuals, some have chosen new names as a way to express their path in life. A few take on human names, often the name of a fallen friend or mentor.

Mek Names: Anchor, Banner, Bastion, Blade, Blue, Bow, Church, Crunch, Crystal, Dagger, Dent, Five, Glaive, Hammer, Iron, Lucky, Mace, Pants, Pierce, Red, Rusty, Scout, Seven, Shield, Slash, Smith, Spike, Stone, Temple, Titan, Vault, Wall.

 

Mek Traits

Your Mek character has the following traits.

Embark

Your chassis is equipped with an area for a humanoid sized small and below to embark inside of. When inside, the person has complete control over your actions, however you're able to freely speak and think. When embarked, the Mek gains all of the abilities of the person inside as well as temporary hit points equal to five times the person insides level.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2 and you Intelligence score increases by 3.

Age

A typical Mek is between fifty and one hundred years old. The maximum lifespan of the Mek remains a mystery; so far, Mek have shown no signs of deterioration due to age.

Alignment

Most Meks take comfort in order and discipline, tending toward law and neutrality. But some have absorbed the morality — or lack thereof — of the beings with which they served.

Size

Your size is Large. Traditional Meks were built to stand exactly 11 1/2feet tall, however the newer made Meks are much more flexible in their stature due to the fact that they aren't mass produced as weapons. Weight and build are affected by age of the Mek.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 35 feet.

Mechanical Resilience

You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits.

• You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
• You are immune to disease.
• You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
• You don’t need to sleep and don’t suffer the effects of exhaustion due to lack of rest, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Sentry's Rest

When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

Integrated Protection

Your body has built-in defensive layers, which determine your armor class. You gain no benefit from wearing armor, but if you are using a shield, you apply its bonus as normal.

Your Armor class is a 17 due to the heavy metal plating your body comprises of.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish as well as an additional language your master may have known.