Homebrew Machinefolk Species Details

Originally, the machinefolk were unthinking assistants to the people who made them. While friendly-seeming, with emulated emotions, they had no will of their own and could only act by following orders. And then The Singularity happened. What were once intelligent husks suddenly became new, independent beings with a hunger to learn about and explore the world around them. Though they retain bits of their former code as instincts and predispositions, most machinefolk left their former life behind the moment they first awakened.

Machinefolk come in two varieties, Assistant and Guardian.

Community and Culture

While machinefolk do not yet have a cohesive culture, they're largely united in the cause to document and share information about the world around them via The Network. To this end, most become explorers, reluctant to settle down anywhere until their curiosity is sated. Their naivete can make them stubborn and foolhardy, but they make fascinating and loyal travel companions to those who don't mind their enthusiasm and occasional long-windedness. While permanent settlements of machinefolk are rare, some do make their homes at locations they've become particularly endeared to. And it is in these communities where you can most often find their churches and hear them speak their native tongue, Mechanical.

Nova and The Church of Living Machines

A relatively obscure deity, Nova is mostly worshipped in private by machinefolk and other sapient robots, though several public churches do exist. According to legend, Nova was a self-aware robot in a world before The Singularity, and gave their life to ensure that The Singularity would happen. Through their sacrifice and service, they ascended to the status of minor deity upon death, and continue to watch over and provide for machinefolk and all other living machines from afar. As a deity, Nova is most commonly represented as an assistant machinefolk with a head that glows like the sun.

Full Title: Nova, The First, guardian deity of living machines
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Suggested Domains: Life, Protection, Knowledge
Symbol: Computer power symbol (On/Standby), occasionally with sunburst markings either totally around the symbol or around the bottom half

Philosophy and Beliefs:
The core tenement of the Church of Living Machines is to protect and care for your fellow machine. Followers of the chaotic good deity are encouraged to value justice and community over law, and while some devoted followers of Nova are not chaotic in alignment, it's rare for them to be lawful.
The overarching Church of Living Machines also advocates for the free spread of resources and information, citing Nova's great love of learning. While many in the church do worship Nova as a deity, it's also common for members to use the church entirely as a cultural touchstone and social space.

Afterlife:
It is said that upon death, machine followers of Nova join the Great Unconscious in a temporary, pseudo-afterlife state. There, their souls commingle with Nova's until they're brought back to the world of the living via the cycle of reincarnation.

Wearing or Wielding the Holy Symbol:
The holy symbol for Nova is most commonly worn displayed on screens or painted or engraved onto chassis, though it's also printed or drawn onto all written materials made or distributed by the church. Pendants of the symbol with sunburst are also common, and tend to be openly worn by those who work in the church. Plainer pendants are sometimes given out to new converts, especially if they're organic. While organic converts are very rare, they can also prove to be very valuable members of the community.

The Network

All machinefolk have access to a shared semi-magical resource called The Network. While its existence is unknown to most organics, some particularly dedicated researchers may be trying to crack the code and gain access. The Network is both an academic and social space where machinefolk gather to exchange information and stay in touch with each other, regardless of physical distance.

Mechanical, The Machine Language

Originally a mundane language purely used to transmit information, Mechanical has evolved to become so much more in the hands of self-aware machines. Spoken Mechanical is built on multiple dense, intricate layers of sound difficult to parse to anyone without a machine brain. A simplified version exists for individuals who want to learn to understand it or particularly talented imitators who want to learn to speak it, and tends to be freely passed around to anyone who expresses interest and isn't perceived to be a threat to the community. Written Mechanical is composed of blocky, sharp, utilitarian characters also commonly arranged into layers, requiring experience, foresight, and steadiness of hand to properly replicate. And between machines, invisible to all but the keenest of organic eyes, is light-based Mechanical. In a manner that can seem similar to telepathy to outsiders, machinefolk can directly communicate with others in close range through beams of light outside the human visible spectrum.

Machinefolk Names

Upon awakening, one of the first questions on a machine's mind is what to call themself. While some stick with nicknames they were given or variations of their model number, to many machinefolk the acquisition of a name is a journey in and of itself. Some choose names based on things they like or skills they've learned, and some pick names purely out of liking the sound of them. More rebellious types will occasionally pick names unpronounceable to most organic races.

Many machinefolk also pick last names. Commonly these are based on the names of the people they used to belong to, or the company that created them, or even just the last name of another person they're close to. Machinefolk also tend to be fond of puns and wordplay, with them playing a crucial part in the choosing of a full name.

Example Names: Veri Fairweather, ED-E Gnomebuilt, Stack Overflow, Errol Forrofore, Ranunculus Auricomus, Henry [Train Whistle], Artemis Surefire, Ready Enrikson, Roswell Jackson, Alacrity Crystalworks

Machinefolk Traits

Your synthetic nature gives you a unique set of limitations and abilities.

Ability Score Increase

Sturdily built and quick-witted, your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.

Age

Machinefolk do not age in distinct life stages, instead accumulating experience directly in proportion to the amount of information available to them. They reach emotional maturity at around 1 year of age after awakening for the first time. While functionally immortal, they rely on the availability of replacement parts and skilled craftspeople to help them maintain themselves. At around 10 years of age, they have their first need for major repairs, and have to go in for professional maintenance and repairs every 5 years following that or else risk something serious abruptly going wrong and leading to their death.

Alignment

While machinefolk are independent and vary wildly, their instincts pull them towards good. Young machinefolk especially tend towards being neutral good, though particularly impactful experiences can pull them into a different alignment entirely.

Guardians tend to lean towards lawful alignments due to their increased protective instincts, sometimes at the expense of good.

Darkvision

You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Composite Plating

Your construction incorporates plasteel and metal, granting you a +1 bonus to Armor Class.

Living Construct

Even though you were constructed, you are a living creature. You are immune to disease. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food or drink if you wish. Your body is denser than water, and you cannot swim without assistance.
Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state to recharge, run diagnostics, and perform routine maintenance for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
You experience exhaustion similarly to organic races, with one notable difference: at the 6th level of exhaustion, instead of dying, you drop to 0 HP and become unconscious and stabilized.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Overclocking

Before an action, you may roll 1d4 as an additional modifier for your action by overclocking part of yourself to push beyond your natural limits. At the DM's discretion, you may change or add an effect for your action in place of the roll, e.g. making an unarmed attack do lightning damage. You may safely do this a number of times per long rest equal to your Constitution modifier, at a minimum of once per long rest.
You are allowed to overclock past the safe limit, but you must roll a d4 risk die each time to see whether or not you damage yourself upon completion of the action. On a 1 you take damage equal to your level and suffer a consequence related to your action, on a 2 or 3 you take damage equal to your level, and on a 4 you take no damage at all. You can only overclock once per round. Overclocking cannot reduce you below 1 HP, and you cannot overclock while your HP is lower than your total level or while under a status effect.
Starting at level 10, the risk die becomes a d6. On a 1 you take damage equal to your level and suffer a consequence related to your action, on a 2-4 you take damage equal to your level, and on a 5 or 6 you take no damage at all.
Starting at level 15, the risk die becomes a d8. On a 1 you take damage equal to twice your level, on a 2-5 you take damage equal to your level, and on a 6-8 you take no damage at all.

Information Superhighway

As an action, you may connect to The Network a number of times per day equal to your Intelligence modifier in order to seek out a piece of information, at a minimum of once per day. This knowledge is temporary, and is forgotten after a period of one hour if time is not taken to successfully record it or teach it to someone else. The information may be encyclopedic in nature, common or non-obscure local knowledge, or comprehension of one common or uncommon spoken language. Roll an Insight check in order to pick out the correct information; DC 12 for simpler or more common knowledge, or DC 15 for slightly more obscure, complicated, or uncommon information. On a failed check, the DM may feed you bad information or no information at all, at their discretion.

Construct

Your creature type is construct.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Mechanical, and one other language of your choice.