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Creative Corner => Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) => Topic started by: oslecamo on January 29, 2013, 10:53:02 AM

Title: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on January 29, 2013, 10:53:02 AM
Machine Mistress
(http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg138/oslecamo/Extras/Teh_Skulltaker__by_Runedemilot.jpg~original)
"How did you get here? Get them PTX-003C!"-Dr.Marion Radom, Machine Mistress.


(http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg138/oslecamo/Extras/wnecron.jpg~original)
"The Machine is strong. We must purge the weak, hated flesh and replace it with the blessed purity of metal. Only through permanence can we truly triumph, only through the Machine can we find victory. Punish the flesh. Iron in mind and body. Hail the Machine!"-Paullian Blantar, Machine Master

HD:d10
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Feature
1+0 +2+0+2Armoured Form, Machine Minion
2+1 +3+0+3Multiple Minions (2), Combine Minions, Auto Upgrade
3+2 +3+1+3Control System, Multiple Minions (3)
4+3 +4+1+4Metal over Flesh, Multiple Minions (4)
5+3 +4+1+4Advanced Prototype, Multiple Minions (6)
6+4 +5+2+5Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +1, Multiple Minions (8 )
7+5 +5+2+5Sudden Improvisation, Multiple Minions (12)
8+6 +6+2+6Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +2, Multiple Minions (16)
9+6  +6+3+6Greater Prototype, Multiple Minions (24)
10+7 +7+3+7Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +3, Multiple Minions (32)
11+8 +7+3+7Mass Production, Multiple Minions (48)
12+9 +8+4+8Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +4, Multiple Minions (64)
13+9 +8+4+8Incredible Prototype, Multiple Minions (96)
14+10 +9+4+9Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +5, Multiple Minions (128)
15+11 +9+5+9Ever Living, Multiple Minions (192)
16+12 +10+5+10Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +6, Multiple Minions (256)
17+12 +10+5+10Ultimate Prototype, Multiple Minions (384)
18+13 +11+6+11Metal over Flesh, Let's Try This +7, Multiple Minions (512)
19+14 +11+6+11We'll Be Back, Multiple Minions (768)
20+15 +12+6+12Living Metal, Let's Try This +8, Multiple Minions (1024)


4 Skill points+int per level, quadruple at 1st level. Class skills: Apraise, Bluff,  Concentration, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy,  Jump, Intimidate, Listen,  Knowledge(any), Perform(any), Search, Spot, Spellcraft.

Proficiencies: Simple Weapons

Features:
Unless otherwise noticed, all class features of the Machine Mistress are Ex abilities, even those that replicate spells.
Craft (Construct) refers to the Craft skill with most ranks the Machine Mistress has. Artificial minions come in a variety of flavors after all.

Armoured Form: Flesh is frail and must be replaced with strong metal if you are to live to develop your work. The first "Improvements" a Machine Mistress starts with is plating her own body, granting her a Natural Armor bonus equal to her Int mod. This change is aparent to any viewer, altough the details vary a lot. Some Machine Mistress prefer rough metal plates, others cover themselves in smooth alloys that would look just like normal skin if not for the clear metallic colour. The details can be changed with 8 hours of work. Either way the Machine Mistress can attempt to look "normal", using Craft (Construct) instead of disguise.

If the Machine Mistress already had better Natural Armor, she may increase it by 1 instead.

Machine Minion:The Machine Mistress starts with one Machine Minion, a small or medium sized mindless construct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm) with 1 HD that obeys whitout question (notice that as a mindless being it has neither skills or feats). Besides the usual features and traits of the construct type, it gains the following base characteristics
(click to show/hide)


It must then pick a “base” Chassis from the following list
(click to show/hide)

And then it can be fitted with Upgrades. Each Machine Minion has Upgrade “slots” equal to its HD. Each Upgrade takes a number of  “slots” equal to the number in brackets.  Unless otherwise noticed each can only be taken once.
(click to show/hide)
Upgrades may be changed with 1 hour of work per Upgrade Slot. Destroyed minions may be rebuilt with 1 hour of work per HD if the body is recovered. If apropriate installations like a blacksmith or workshop are available those times are halved. If the body wasn't recovered, the Machine Mistress must spend materials worth 100 GP per HD to create a new minion from scratch. At the DM's discretion, available scrap material like destroyed armor/weapons/siege machines may be converted into new Machine Minions whitout extra cost.

Either way, the Machine Mistress has to spend 1 hour every day working maintenance on her Machine Minions (1 hour enough for all of them), or they'll start to suffer from jamming regardless of being under control range or not.

Multiple Minions: At 2nd level the Machine Mistress can build and maintain a second Machine Minion, and more as shown in the table as she levels up.

Combine Minions: At 2nd level the Machine Mistress can create servants with more HD. A Machine Minion with 2 HD takes the resources (including control limit) of two 1 HD Machine Minions, and every  2 HD from there takes twice the amount of level 1 minions. So a 6 HD minion takes the resources of 8 1 HD minions, a 8 HD minion takes the resources of 16 1 HD minions, and so on.

(click to show/hide)

Auto Upgrade:
At 2nd level the Machine Mistress gains upgrade points equal to half her Machine Mistress level.

Control System: At 3rd level the Machine Mistress develops a special portable control system, a tiny-sized object that allows her to give orders to all her Machine Minions in a range of 30 feet per rank in Craft (Construct) she has. It must be holded in at least one hand, and if dropped its effects end until retrieved. If lost/destroyed a new one can be built with 100 GP worth of materials and 8 hours of work, rendering the previous one useless. The Control System may be combined with a weapon, in which case it works as long as the weapon is holded by the Machine Mistress.

Metal Over Flesh: At 4th level and every other level thereafter the Machine Mistress can start replacing the weak fleshy bits of her body with mechanical ones. She gains one of the following
(click to show/hide)
If you're already a full construct, instead your hit points increase by 5 every time this upgrade is gained.

Advanced Prototype: At 5th level, the Machine Mistress becomes more inspired to work on a favored project. Choose one of her Machine Minions, refered to thereafter as the pet prototype. All upgrades to the Pet Prototype cost 1 less upgrade Slot to apply, down to a minimum of 1 Slot per Upgrade. She may change her Pet Prototype by disassembling the previous one (or if it is destroyed).

Let's Try This: Making your personal mechanical army is not an exact science, and some experiments turn out better than others. At 6th level the Machine Mistress 1/day with 1 hour of work the Machine Mistress can add a total number of extra upgrade Slots on her Machine Minions (or herself) as shown on the table, distributed as she sees fit, going over the regular limit of 1 slot per HD. Those upgrades only last 24 hours tough.

Sudden Improvisation:
At 7th level, once per day as a swift action the Machine Mistress can change all of her personal upgrades.

Greater Prototype:At 9th level  all upgrades to the Pet Prototype now cost 2 less Slots to apply, down a to a minimum of 1 Slot per Upgrade.

Mass Production: At 11th level if the Machine Mistress can change/rebuild all her Machine Minions and respective upgrades with just 24 hours of work.

Incredible Prototype:At 13th level  all upgrades to the Pet Prototype now cost 3 less Slots to apply, down a to a minimum of 1 Slot per Upgrade.

Ever-Living: Even if one body's is destroyed, their existence endures in the form of their greatest creations. Sometimes this is more than just a philosophical concept. At 15th level  should the Machine Mistress be killed/destroyed/similar, if one of her Machine Minions is still active, pick one at a random. It instantly transforms in a copy of the Machine Mistress when she had the same level as the Machine Minion has HD. From there the Machine Mistress can “recover” her original form at the rate of 1 level per 24 hours of work. If the Pet Project was still available, it can be instantly chosen as the new Machine Mistress, and it will only take 8 hours of work to recover her “original” form.

Ultimate Prototype:At 17th level  all upgrades to the Pet Prototype now cost 4 less Slots to apply, down a to a minimum of 1 Slot per Upgrade.

We'll be Back: It's always a good plan to instal redudancy systems and contigency protocols. At 19th level once per day as a fullround action you may cause any of your minions destroyed on the last hour to work again in full condition (this doesn't allow you to go over your usual limit of minions). In addition 1/day if you are yourself destroyed, you can instantly rebuild yourself as in Ever Living, except the process is instantaneous.

Living Metal: Flesh may be flawed, but metal isn't perfect either... Until now. At 20th level the Machine Mistress's creature type changes to construct, gaining all the traits, except she can still count herself as her old creature type whenever it would be benefical, including retaining a Con score, healing naturally and counting as a living creature for health/buffs. If the Machine Mistress was a construct all along, then she can pick a base race and gain all the related benefits as above, gaining a base Con score of 14.

In addition the Machine Mistress can now change/rebuild all of her minions and respective upgrades with just 1 hour of work, her production tecniques having been refined to flawless cold logic that erases all needless delays.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on January 29, 2013, 10:54:05 AM
New Feats

Upgrade Specialization
Prerequisites:Machine Minion class feature.
Benefit: Choose one Machine Minion upgrade. Now that Upgrade costs 1 slot less to grant to your minions, to a minimum of 0 slots. If it is an upgrade that could be taken multiple times to a single Machine Minion, this cost reduction only applies to the first time it is given to said Machine Minion.
Special:You may take this feat multiple times, each one choosing a diferent Upgrade to specialize in.

Quick Tinkering
Prerequisites:Autoupgrade class feature.
Benefit:A number of times per day equal to your Int mod you may change your own upgrades as a move action. In addition a number of times per day equal to your Int mod you may change the upgrades of an adjacent machine minion as a fullround action. Each of those options has its own pool of uses. This includes upgrades gained with extra Slots from Let's Try This.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on January 29, 2013, 10:54:17 AM
Reserved just in case.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: samnemath on January 30, 2013, 08:14:24 AM

Quick Tinkering
Prerequisites:Autoupgrade class feature.
Benefit:A number of times per day equal to your Int mod you may change your own upgrades as a move action. In addition a number of times per day equal to your Int mod you may change the upgrades of an adjacent machine minion as a fullround action. Each of those options has its own pool of uses.

Does this include slots from "Let's try this" ?

Also can the MM order the Swarm Chassis not to harm her allies?

What happens when a minion with the "Transform" upgrade changes to something that can't use it's previous upgrades and equipment. What if the MM herself takes this upgrade.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on January 30, 2013, 06:07:47 PM
-Yes, clarified.

-No, for the nanobots a piece of flesh is as good as the other.

-Clarified transform upgrade about those matters.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Threadnaught on January 31, 2013, 06:52:15 PM
I sense Half-Golem style Materials coming for the third post.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: samnemath on February 01, 2013, 07:48:20 AM
No rocket launchers?  :)
No improvements giving feats useful for ranged combat?

Also, you reference Astral Construct in Iron Tripper.


Edit: i noticed that if you slap the Transform power (especially if you have specialized) to a Monolith chassis, you can fill it with upgrades, benefit from the lowered cost, and then transform it.

My opinion is that it would work better if the two chassis had different sets of upgrades with the exception of the Transform upgrade that they would both be obligated to have.

Plus the upgrade does not say what happens to the equipment and armor they carry.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on February 02, 2013, 04:58:20 PM
Rocket launchers added to stuff to do in the future.
Added Combat Protocols and Advanced Combat protocols upgrades.

Fixed typo.

Clarified transform, blocked monolith chassis, and I didn't originally do it like you sugest because it then would become THE upgrade everyone takes, because it would basically doubles your remaining upgrade slots when it comes to versatility.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: samnemath on February 06, 2013, 01:56:37 PM
Do Minions get their own initiative, or do they act in MM's turn?
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on February 06, 2013, 05:54:13 PM
MM's turn.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: samnemath on February 07, 2013, 07:00:27 AM
Questions keep coming up :)

Can you use 2 energy guns with TWF?
You can't take the Energy Gun upgrade twice but you can take Energy Gun and a Gauss Flayer.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on February 07, 2013, 07:26:00 AM
Yes, if you get two weapon upgrades you can TFW them.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Nanshork on March 08, 2013, 08:38:58 PM
Level 8 Will save modifier should be +6.

Can Machine Minions have an odd number of HD?

Edit: Another question, does the upgrade chosen for Upgrade Specialization also have a reduced cost when applied to the Machine Mistress?
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Bdrone on August 23, 2013, 03:29:08 AM
I have a few questions about this class...

So, going to the last question about Two weapon fighting with the various bits of wargear, are any of these enchant-able? if so, which ones?

I would assume anything you refer to as a weapon would require fine manipulation, but is that entirely true? could you have, for example, an Android with a Gauss flayer in their arm, or a Runner variant with a horn that has the flayer inside of it? (Death robo-unicorn!)

Im using a slightly altered variant of this in my games right now, and I very much enjoy it. (i wanted to see what would happen with earlier access to the machine mistress gaining upgrades, so i moved Auto upgrade to level 2, and I'm thinking some kind of integrated control enhancer for level 7 instead (no weapon required to be held at minimum, slightly bigger range as a potential.)) While I do want the Mistress to be a bit more capable as an individual character (maybe some kind of extra crafting perk or combat benefit, im not sure.), its hard to deny how bonkers it gets when you have just a few HD 1 minions about.

I can sock all my concerns of the class down to the fact that they imply she is without her children. and while that can indeed be the case, you are still dealing with a metal plated character who has probably come up with a trick or two, like an Artificer without the magic items. also, ive never had a feat with so many options as upgrade specialization that are equally juicy. Do i pick another 1 off upgrade to boost all my children? or do I plan ahead and reduce the cost of something else. if you apply that to the machine mistress herself, things get very interesting.

This is the alternative to necromancer centric characters i always wanted. sometimes, you just don't care for Rot, you know?
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on August 24, 2013, 07:48:17 PM
So, going to the last question about Two weapon fighting with the various bits of wargear, are any of these enchant-able? if so, which ones?
None, they aren't even masterwork after all, and it would be a pain to decide how that interacts when you remake your configurations.

I would assume anything you refer to as a weapon would require fine manipulation, but is that entirely true? could you have, for example, an Android with a Gauss flayer in their arm, or a Runner variant with a horn that has the flayer inside of it? (Death robo-unicorn!)
The weapons are built-in, thus minions with them can use them just fine even whitout actual hands.

Im using a slightly altered variant of this in my games right now, and I very much enjoy it. (i wanted to see what would happen with earlier access to the machine mistress gaining upgrades, so i moved Auto upgrade to level 2, and I'm thinking some kind of integrated control enhancer for level 7 instead (no weapon required to be held at minimum, slightly bigger range as a potential.)) While I do want the Mistress to be a bit more capable as an individual character (maybe some kind of extra crafting perk or combat benefit, im not sure.), its hard to deny how bonkers it gets when you have just a few HD 1 minions about.

I can sock all my concerns of the class down to the fact that they imply she is without her children. and while that can indeed be the case, you are still dealing with a metal plated character who has probably come up with a trick or two, like an Artificer without the magic items. also, ive never had a feat with so many options as upgrade specialization that are equally juicy. Do i pick another 1 off upgrade to boost all my children? or do I plan ahead and reduce the cost of something else. if you apply that to the machine mistress herself, things get very interesting.

This is the alternative to necromancer centric characters i always wanted. sometimes, you just don't care for Rot, you know?
Hmm, changed Auto-Upgrade to 2nd level but made it based on Machine Mistress level (otherwise it becomes kinda too strong of a two-level dip). Added Sudden Improvisation to 7th level. I'll keep the controller limitation, since it's a base part of this class, your enemies being able to disable out the "central controller".
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on February 25, 2019, 09:58:09 AM
my apologies, but i have another question about one of your classes.

im looking into a Machine Mistress again, and i was wondering what exactly you meant when you said "resources" in the combine minions section of the class.

rereading it over it seems like you mean resources in both cost to create in gold, and number you can control (thus why the multiple minions numbers scale as they do to account for the net cap- so a level 5 minion would cost 6 control). am i correct, or is it something different? when i first played the class, i just assumed the control cap meant i could just have 1,024 minions at 20, but they could be whatever level- wouldnt dare do that, but it does change the scale quite the bit.

Combined minions also cost more "control" cap to keep around, so for a 20 HD minion you would need to invest the full 1024 control.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Nanshork on March 03, 2019, 11:55:10 PM
Level 8 Will save modifier should be +6.

Can Machine Minions have an odd number of HD?

Edit: Another question, does the upgrade chosen for Upgrade Specialization also have a reduced cost when applied to the Machine Mistress?

I just realized you never fixed the Will save if nothing else.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on March 04, 2019, 12:50:55 AM
Ups, sorry, don't know how I missed those. :blush

Level 8 Will save modifier should be +6.
Fixed.

Can Machine Minions have an odd number of HD?
No.

Edit: Another question, does the upgrade chosen for Upgrade Specialization also have a reduced cost when applied to the Machine Mistress?
Yes.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Nanshork on March 07, 2019, 03:43:55 PM
I feel like there should be an upgrade to grant a machine minion ranks in a skill before we get to 10 points for an Int score.

What if I want to have a robot cleaning army or scouts with the spot skill or something (as long as it is not an Int or Con based skill)?

There could be an Independent option for it as well.

It's definitely a flavor ability, but one with a lot of source material it pulls from.

If you put it in I'll play this.  :cool
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on March 07, 2019, 09:35:17 PM
Added Servant (skills), Drone (needs Independent and Servant, allows to be programmed for simple tasks directly related to the Servant skills) and Proxy (can communicate in real time to a certain range) options.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Nanshork on March 07, 2019, 10:28:55 PM
Oh wow, I love it!
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Nanshork on March 12, 2019, 12:51:29 AM
The rays from Staff of Light need a range.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on March 12, 2019, 01:05:15 AM
Done.
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: Nanshork on March 12, 2019, 10:13:08 PM
Does Proxy let me use my social skills through the minion?
Title: Re: Machine Mistress
Post by: oslecamo on March 12, 2019, 10:33:14 PM
Yes.