Homebrew Automaton Knight Species Details

Mysterious Origins

A thousand years ago in a distant land to the north, a group of four mysterious engineers, known as Boreas, Euros, Notus and Zephyr, devised a way to create machines, housed inside of suits of armor, that mimic human life, in thought as well as movement. The inner workings of the machinery that allows them to function still remains a mystery, even to scholars, who devoted their entire life to the study of automatons. The parts that perplexes scholars the most is the automatons engine that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen and uses its combustion for power and whatever mechanism grants the machines sentience and thought. Automaton knights are often hunted by mercenaries, hired by scholars who wish to study their components. 

All Automaton Knights begin their existence on an assembly table inside the Iron Keep fortress of the north and spent the first century of their lifes serving at royal court. Then, after the death of the king they served and the disappearance of their creators , they usually either chose to serve the next king or wandered the land in search of a new purpose to their existence.

Artificial Personalities

Even hundreds of years after the dissapearance of the ancient engineers, the method they used to give these mechanical suits of armor sentience remains unknown, although some theorize that human souls were bonded to the machinery as an attempt at a path to immortality. These so-called Automaton Knights mainly served as enforcers of the law and monster slayers, however over the centuries they aquired a will of their own and found their own purpose. While they are just as intelligent as a normal human, they somewhat lack creativity and flexibility in their thinking and appear to lack emotion, however it has been observed that older automatons gain stronger personalities and become more creative. The Automatons movements seem completely natural, however their voices are monotone and express very little emotion, making them easy to distinguish them from normal people. 

Code of Chivalry

The Automaton Knights were created with the six rules of the knights code of chivalry as their main directives. These six tenants are Fair play, Nobility, Valor, Honor, Courtesy and Loyalty. The Automatons follow these six commandments no matter the circumstance: 

• Fair play: never attack an unarmed foe, never attack from behind, avoid torture and avoid cheating,
• Nobility: exhibit self discipline, show respect to authority, obey the law, administer justice, protect the innocent, respect women,
• Valor: exhibit courage in word and deed, avenge the wronged, avenge the wronged, defend the weak and innocent, fight with honor, never abandon a friend or ally
• Honor: respect life, keep ones word, never betray a comrade, avoid deception,
• Courtesy: exhibit manners, be polite and attentive, be respectful of host, authority and women
• Loyalty: to their creators, to their comrades and fellow Automaton Knights, to the code of chivalry.

In  some situations, where following one rule means breaking another,  younger automatons often either choose not to act and leave it to others or become so conflicted that they temporarilly shut down. Older and more experienced Automaton Knight learned how to make the right decision, although they still struggle when confronted with the decision. 

Knights in Shining Armor

While all Automaton Knights consist of machinery inside of iron armor, the designs of the armour vary from engineer to engineer, from helmet shapes to ornamented chestplates and pauldrons. Every engineer also used a specific metal to ornament the suits of their automatons as a signature. Automatons designed by Boreas have silver ornamented armor with celtic knot patterns, those desiggned by Euros have their armor decorated with copper ornaments with , those designed by Notus have brass ornaments with floral patterns and Zephyrs automatons are ornamented with bronze runic patterns. Many of those ornaments started to change colour over time, due to exposure to the elements, giving them red, blue or green coloured streaks across the iron plates of their armor. 

These automatons generally dont open their visors and their helmets and the other parts of their armor cant be removed, unless when they open the latches from the inside for maintenance of the gears and mechanisms. When they lift their visors, one can see a metal face, like the face of a puppet, with a small mouth and mechanical lenses for eyes. Their mechanical parts usually work almost silently, often less loud than the clanking of the armor, so people often dont realise that they are machines until they start talking to them with their monotone voices.  

Automaton Knight names

All Automaton knights are designed as males and are given a first name, based on the order in which it was created, and last names based on the engineer who created them to distinguish them from one another. There were originally one hundred Automaton Knights, each engineer having created twenty-five automatons, however only seventy-five of them remain. 

First names: Arthur, Bedivere, Claudin, Dinadan, Elyan, Florence, Galahad, Hector, Isaac, Jonathan, Kendrick, Lancelot, Mordred, Nicolaos, Oscar, Percival, Quentin, Richard, Silvestre, Tristan, Urien, Vincent, William, Yvain, Zethus

surnames: Falltide (engineered by Zephyr), Midwinter (engineered by Boreas), Springtide (engineered by Euros), Midsummer (engineered by Notus)

Automaton Knight Traits

Automaton Knights mechanical nature grants them many unique abilities

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution and Dexterity scores increase by 2

Size

Automaton Knights are all the same size, due to them being designed as human knights.

Age

The earliest Automatons were created 1000 years ago by the founding engineer families of the Iron Keep, however no automatons younger than 200 years exist due to the dissapearance of the engineers. Automaton Knights are essentially ageless and can live forever if properly maintained. 

Allignment

All Automaton Knights are created as Lawful good, however many older, more jaded, automatons leean towards neutral good

Speed

your base walking speed is 30 ft, you sink in water and have no swimming speed, however you can walk on the bottom of a body of water, but your walking speed is reduced to 20 ft

Armor ornament colour

The material of the ornaments on Automaton knights armor is either brass, silver, copper or bronze. some automatons intentionally let their ornaments rust to distinguish themselves from other automatons created by the same engineer, giving them red-brown or blue-green coloring.

Darkvision

you can see in darkness as if it was daylight for 60 ft and an additional 10 ft as f it was in dim light.

Arcane engine

While your mechanical nature means you do not need to consume food for sustenance, your engine requires water as fuel to function properly. The engine separates water into hydrogen and oxygen and uses its combustion to generate power. You only need to consume two pints of water every day to keep your engine working, if you fail to refuel, you gain the same starvation effect as a human when he doesnt eat for the same amount of time. 

Full Plate Armor

Due to you being a machine specifically designed to be housed inside a suit of full plated armor, you gain all the benefits of wearing that armor without losing mobility. 

Self-Repair

Automaton Knights do not need to sleep, but must enter a period of self-repair. Aesthetically, this serves the same function as sleep, but Automatons only require four hours. During this time you stand still like a statue, however you remain aware of your suroundings. 

Mechanical Body

Due to your mechanical nature, poison, disease, psychic attacks and decomposition have no effects on you. Your automaton mind makes you also immune to being charmed or frightened. You are also somewhat resistant to fire and cold damage, you are however vulnerable to lightning and acid attacks.

Overheating Touch

Your Automaton engine alows you to heat your hands and the weapons you are holding. As a bonus action on your turn, you may heat your weapon and your hands to add 1d4 fire damage to your weapon attack and unarmed strike. This increases to 1d6 at level 6, 1d8 at level 9 and 1d10 at level 12. This action lasts 15 minutes or until you decide to deactivate it. You may use this action twice per day which recharges after your self-repair

Hydrogen Blast

You can release a blast of ignited hydrogen from your mouth that deals 1d6 fire damage to any creature up to 15 ft in front of you and 1d4 fire damage to any create 25 ft in front of you. You may only use this once per day, which recharges after a long rest

Proficiencies

Due to your mechanical mind, you are proficient in History, your monotone voice also makes you proficient in Intimidation.