Autoneticist (from The Mask of Uhramel)

Autoneticists are devoted to the study of using automated machines to augment their bodies and equipment. Commonly found among the gnomes of the great, gnomish city of Knaubelnaucher, and within the ranks of the temples of Varekan (both from the adventure The Mask of Uhramel), artificers who study autonetics seek not only to bring creations to life, but to become one with their creations. Using a blend of magic and mechanical skill, Autoneticists can create artificial limbs, mechanically enhance their weapons and equipment, and even bring their armor to life with a mind of its own.

Living Tools

When you adopt this specialization at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with tinker’s tools. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice. If you don’t already possess tinker’s tools, you create them. If you already possess tinker’s tools, you receive another tool of your choice.

Your tinkerers tools are special, as they have magically changed to consist of hundreds of tiny machines that obey your will. When they are not in use, your tinker tools organize themselves into a 3 inch cube made of 27, 1 inch cubes of various colors, much like a child’s puzzle toy. These 1 inch cubes are each comprised of 27, smaller cubes, which are themselves comprised of another 27, tiny cubes, each of which opens up to expose various, magical electrodes, clamps, bolts, nuts, snips, pliers, needles, thread, wire, a tiny torch, and a soldering iron. The items in your tinker’s tools are unlimited, but not able to be sold separately from the tools. If they are no longer in use by you, the components from your tinker’s tools will immediately crumble into dust.

Each tiny cube is its own, extradimensional space, and the tools that extend from the tiny cubes can be much larger than the entire cube, itself. The tiny cubes, themselves, are encased in adamantine that can never be destroyed or altered. The tinker’s tool cube can be used as a casting focus, and when not in use, it can be dismissed safely into its own, extradimensional space. The cube, itself, causes minor disruptions to time and space, and cannot be overcome by anti-magic, nor do the multiple, extra dimensional spaces of the cube have any effect on one another, nor does it interact with other, extra-dimensional magic, such as portable holes. The tinker’s tool cube can be summoned or dismissed as a bonus action.

You can use your tinker’s tools to perform medicine checks, stabilize a dying creature, cast healing spells without components, and to repair constructs.

Mechanized Combat

Beginning at 3rd level, your intimate relationship with machines has paid off in two ways:

• Using your tinker’s tools, you can craft an automaton from your armor (see Living Automaton for details). When you are riding in your automaton you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity modifier, for the attack and damage rolls.
• You create a special weapon that can be wielded while you are in your automaton (see Living Automaton for details). You may choose this weapon from the Autoneticist Weapon List. This weapon can stow away in a pocket dimension within your automaton when it is not in use. This weapon has the, "Heavy," and, “Loading,” properties, and uses special ammunition for each weapon. This ammunition must be crafted ahead of time. If you are not in your automaton and wish to wield your autoneticist weapon, it requires both hands to operate. If you are not in your automaton while wielding this weapon, your speed is reduced by 15 feet due to its bulky nature, though your automaton can carry this weapon as if it weighs nothing. Your Autoneticist Weapon can hold ammunition in an amount equal to your INT modifier. Unused ammunition does not expire and is not destroyed and may be transferred to a new automaton should your old one be destroyed.

Autoneticist Weapon List

Though you receive an autoneticist weapon immediately and for free when you choose this subclass at level 3. Replacing your weapon takes 8 hours and 150 gold should it become lost or stolen. If you wish to disassemble your autoneticist weapon to fashion it into a different, autoneticist weapon, doing so takes 8 hours. Ammunition from one autoneticist weapon does not transfer to a weapon of a different type. When you receive your autoneticist weapon, choose one of the following:

• Power Fist- This weapon is a metallic glove that fits over the hand of your automaton, with wires that run up the arm of your automaton to a small box mounted on its back. The Power Fist weighs 25 lbs. and uses lightning rods as ammunition for each, single attack, embedding them in your target on a hit. Each attack consumes a lightning rod, whether it hits or not. To use the Power Fist, you make a melee attack against a single target. On a hit, the target takes 10 piercing and 2d4 Lightning damage, then it must make a CON save against your spell DC. On a fail, the target is paralyzed. It may make another CON save at the end of each of its turns to overcome this paralysis, with the DC decreasing by one on each successive turn after the initial strike. While paralyzed, the target takes 1d4 Lightning damage per round on the start of each of its turns. The damage of this attack and its ongoing, lightning strikes increases by 1d4 for every three Artificer levels above 3rd level.

       -Ammunition: Lightning Rods

• Flame Thrower- This weapon consists of a sealed tank, worn on the back of the automaton, and a series of pipes that lead to one of the hands. It weighs 20 lbs. and uses fuel cells as ammunition that are consumed when used, whether they successfully hit a target or not. Each fuel cell a single round of ammunition for each, single attack, spraying the oil out of a nozzle on one of the hands of your automaton. To use the flame thrower, point your hand in the direction you wish to fire it. All creatures in a 15 foot line must make a DEX save against your spell DC or take 2d6 fire damage and be set on fire. These flames cannot be doused by water, requiring magic to douse them, or else the effected targets must drop prone and spend their turn rolling in place in this position in order to extinguish the flames, or else they take 1d6 fire damage on the start of each of their turns. The damage from this attack increases by 2d6 for every three Artificer levels above level 3.

       -Ammunition: Fuel Cells

• Repulsor- This weapon is a series of air tanks that mount down one arm of your automaton, ending with a nozzle on one of the hands. This weapon weighs 15 lbs. and uses a compressed-air cartridge as ammunition. The cartridge is consumed when the weapon is fired, whether it successfully hits a target or not. To fire the weapon, point your hand in the direction you wish to fire. All creatures in a 10 foot line extending from you must make a STR save against your spell DC or take 1d4 Piercing damage, 2d8 Thunder damage and, if they are smaller than size large, be thrown 15 feet and knocked prone. Any object or creature in the path of an object or creature that has been thrown by your Repulsor must also make this save, or take the same damage (but such targets are not thrown). This damage increases by 2d8 for every three levels of Artificer above level 3.

       -Ammunition: Air Cartridges

• Magnet Rifle- This weapon looks like a tube sticking out of a metal box, mounted on the shoulder of your automaton, but is fired by reaching up with one the hands your automaton. It weighs 55 lbs., and fires anti-material rods that make visible ripples in space when they fire, consuming a rod every time the weapon discharges. When fired, the first three creatures in a 120 foot line must make a DEX save against your spell DC or take 1d10 piercing damage and start bleeding. If a target does not have blood, it will ooze whatever material it is made from. At the start of each of their turns, bleeding targets take 1d4 necrotic damage, and they leave a trail of blood when they move. To stop bleeding, the target or an ally can take a turn to stabilize the creature (as if they were making death saves), or cast healing magic on the effected creature. This weapon ignores cover and can fire through walls (though each wall reduces the number of affected creatures in the row by 1). This attack can hit an extra target or pass through an additional layer of wall at each level above level 3 in this class. Guidance for wall and target penetration is as follows:

• Walls and bodies of less than 2 feet in thickness that are made of wood, plaster, mud, flesh, or other, semisoft material- Each such object through which the rod passes counts as 1 layer or target.
• Up to 1 foot of Stone or ice, or a thin sheet of metal- Each such object that the rod passes through counts as 2 layers or targets.
• Up to 5 feet of wood, plaster, mud, flesh or semisoft material, or three feet of stone or ice, or up to 2 inches of metal- Each such object that the rod passes through counts as 3 layers or targets.
  *the magnet rifle cannot hit a target past 3 layers until level 6 in this class
• Magical barriers, anti-magic fields, up to 10 feet of wood, plaster, mud, flesh or semisoft material, or 5 feet of stone or ice, or 6 inches of metal- Each such layer that the rod passes through counts as 4 layers or targets.
  *the magnet rifle cannot hit a target past 4 layers until level 9 in this class
  *if a target or spell would normally resist penetration by any means, the anti-material rod rips through space to penetrate such layers, anyway

       -Ammunition: Anti-Material Rods

Crafting Ammunition

Ammunition for your autoneticist weapons must be crafted ahead of time, before it is used. The guidance for crafting the ammunition is as follows:

• Lightning Rod: This ammunition is crafted from 10 metal spikes. Sharpened, soldered together, and wrapped with wire from your tinker’s tools, these rods look like 9 spikes, arranged in a circle, with a 10 spike sticking out from the middle. Iron Spikes can be purchased from vendors or crafted from scraps of metal and weapons on the battlefield using Smith's Tools. Crafting the spikes takes two hours and 10 lbs. of metal. Once the spikes are obtained, you must spend 15 minutes sharpening them before they can be used (you can sharpen 10 spikes in 15 minutes). Each lightning rod weighs 10 lbs.
• Fuel Cell: A fuel cell is created from 10 flasks of oil, and can be created in 15 minutes. Oil flasks can be purchased from a vendor, or crafted with an alchemy kit, using rotten foods, dead bodies, nuts, etc., and takes 2 hours to produce 10 flasks of oil (one fuel cell worth). Fuel cells look like metal cylinders and are about the size of a jug of ale. Each fuel cell weighs 10 lbs.
• Air Cartridge: Air cartridges are crafted from vials. Vials can be purchased from a vendor or crafted with Glass Blower's tools, using sand, marbles, gems and crystals, or bits of broken glass. Crafted cartridges look like a glass box with a metal valve on the end. Crafting them yourself takes 2 hours. Once crafted, you can use your Glass Blower's tools to create a cartridge and compress air into it, which takes 15 minutes.
• Anti-Material Rod: These are crafted from bags of ball bearings (one bag makes one rod). The look like a twisted, sharpened rod that tapers slightly toward one end. The requisite bag of ball bearings can be purchased from a vendor, or created from metal debris by using Smith's Tools and about 10 lbs. of metal. Crafting a single bag takes 2 hours. Crafting a rod from a bag of ball bearings takes 15 minutes.

Living Automaton

By 3rd level, you have learned to commune with machines to the point that you are able to bring them to life with a semblance of autonomy. Using your tinker’s tools cube, you can spend 2 hours to bring to life 1 suit of armor as an automaton that is faithful to you (see stat block below). It will always do its best to follow your commands, even to its own detriment. While wearing this armor, you can lift, carry, push, pull or drag objects as if you were one size larger. You can don and doff your automaton as you would any other armor, taking only an action, but you cannot climb inside your automaton while wearing other armor.

The automaton has a number of hit points equal to your own. When you are not wearing your automaton, it is size small and weighs 20 lbs. more than the armor it was crafted from. While attached to your armor, your tinker’s tools can still be used, but they are affixed to your armor and cannot be removed without dismissing the automaton. If you dismiss your tinker’s tools, your armor returns to its normal state and the magical components go back into the pocket dimension that only you can access.

Your automaton has two sets of protocols, Combat and Sentry. While you are not wearing your automaton, you can order it to activate Sentry Protocols. While the Sentry Protocols are active, it cannot move, though it can turn and swivel, and it operates on its own initiative. If ever its hit points are depleted, it will shut down, and it remains inoperable until repaired. This can be done on a short or long rest. Repairing your automaton takes 30 minutes of repair time and costs two gold worth of metal. At the end of the repair period, roll a hit die equal to your own and restore this number of hit points to your automaton. Rest, alone, does not repair your automaton. You must do it yourself or pay someone to do it.

If your automaton is destroyed or if you acquire new armor, you may spend two hours with a new set of armor to create a new automaton from it (dismissing the old one). The magical mechanisms necessary to create the automaton store themselves in an extra-dimensional space when removed from armor or not in use, and you can create this new automaton with 2 gold worth of scrap per each of your artificer levels.

When not wearing your automaton, you can also order it to activate its Combat Protocols. When Combat Protocols are active, you can order it to open and allow you to climb inside (this counts as donning the armor, and can be done with an action; you can doff the armor the same way). While inside your automaton, it counts as armor, provides the armor class commensurate with the armor it was made from but with a +1, magical bonus, and it does not lose hit points when you are hit (unless Life Support Mode is active). While riding inside the automaton, it has four modes, which can be switched using your bonus action. They are as follows:

1- Evasive Mode: When you enter Evasive Mode, the arms and legs of your armor extend by 1 foot, and you gain +2 to your armor class and saving throws as long as you move at least 10 feet on your turn. You roll at advantage on saves against traps and dangers in the environment, and move 10 feet faster per turn.

2- Tracking Mode: When you enter Tracking Mode, extremely bright spot lamps extend slightly from your armor and begin to shine in a straight line from you. The beam of light that emanates from you causes no damage to light-sensitive creatures, but floods an area 5 feet wide and 120 feet long with light so bright that looking into it is like staring into the sun. When entering this mode (as part of the same bonus action), or while already in this mode, you can cast hunters mark by using one of your spell slots. If this spell is not on your spell list, you can still cast it like this, anyway. Once you have cast Hunter's Mark on a creature, your automaton will continually shine your light in the direction of the marked creature, and if it is within range, will fire two rounds at it from its Spark Gun on each of your turns (this requires no action on your part), including the turn wherein Hunter's Mark was cast. The Automaton receives the benefits of your Hunter's Mark when attacking its target.

3- Life Support Mode: Your automaton seals you inside, creating an air-tight, water-tight barrier between you and the outside world. During this time, you are unaffected by a lack of breathable air, and you roll at advantage against environmental effects. Your air supply inside the automaton lasts for 3 hours. While your automaton is in Life Support Mode, you are at advantage against being grappled or restrained, and half of all damage you receive is transferred to your automaton. Should your automaton drop to zero hit points, it shuts down and automatically ejects you into the nearest, available space.

4- Pack Mule Mode: Your automaton reinforces its joints and servos to enable it to carry extreme amounts of weight. While in this mode, you can wield your Autoneticist weapon, carry an additional 400 pounds (beyond the strength enhancements already provided by your automaton) without becoming encumbered, and can wield heavy weapons as if they were light (replacing the Heavy property with the Light property for the duration). Though you are able to carry some siege weapons (DM discretion), they still require someone else to operate them. Though you can carry and wield giant sized weapons, you are not proficient with them. To change modes, you must set stow your Autoneticist weapon (using an action or bonus action), and put down any large items you are carrying.

Mechanical Medicine

At 5th level, you you have developed an affinity for interfacing bodies with machines. Seeing the similarity between man and machine, you have become proficient with Medicine. If you were already proficient in medicine, you become double proficient. In addition, you can craft artificial body parts, and can affix them to people who have missing, body parts. These new, mechanical parts cost 150 gold, and function just like real ones (though some people may be horrified and find such things to be an abomination).

Temporal Displacement

At 9th level, your magical connection to your tinker’s tools has begun to cause disruptions in the fabric of reality. Once per turn, when you or an ally that you can see miss an attack or fail a saving throw, you can cause a minor disruption in time that allows them to roll the same attack or save again. They must keep the new roll. You may also use Temporal Displacement to cause an enemy to re-roll an attack, forcing them to take the new roll instead of the old one (though the new roll cannot critically hit, even if it would otherwise).

Other creatures are not made aware when you use this ability. However, messing with time is a fickle thing, and using this ability can cause you to be at disadvantage for your next attack, skill check or save (which, itself, cannot be altered with Temporal Displacement). When you use this ability, roll 1d6, and if you roll a 1 or 2, you receive this disadvantage.

Improved Mechanized Combat

At 15th level, your prowess with mechanized combat has become so pronounced, you are able to craft and use a second, autonetecist weapon. Your automoton is able to carry both weapons (ignoring the carry weight of these weapons), and may swap between them as a free object interaction. In addition, your automaton can now use its repair kit to heal both you and your allies.