This is just a little something I've been working on. I've got more stuff in the works for Clockwork Golems and Alchemy in the near future too. Comments and suggestions are of course welcome.
Clockwork Prosthetics
One of the more impressive feats of engineering and clockworks has been the advances made to prosthetics. Clockwork prosthetics are complicated mechanical devices designed to replace limbs lost to injuries common during war, industrial accidents, or in other dangerous occupations. The prosthetics are intricately crafted devices that can be designed, built, and grafted to a body only by those who have the Craft (Clockworks) skill. While the exact nature of how they function is not even completely understood by those who build them, the clockwork prosthetics function just as efficiently as any normal limb. They are flexible, strong, and capable of fine motor skills; they are not yet however, capable of relaying sensory information (such as pain, texture, or any other sensation) to the brain of the individual with a grafted prosthetic.
Prosthetics are usually designed to function with the same level of strength as the individual for whom they are designed. A prosthetic limb that is designed with greater power is certainly possible, though far more expensive. Typically a limb may be designed with an enhancement bonus to strength and or dexterity of +2, +4, or +6. This bonus is non-magical in nature, though it is not cumulative with magical ability enhancements. A prosthetic limb with a strength enhancement bonus only provides its bonus specifically to skill checks, attack rolls, damage rolls, and other activities that specifically harness only the power of the limb in question. For example a character with a prosthetic arm would add their strength enhancement to arm wrestling checks, but not to jump checks. Enhancement bonuses cost 2,000 gp (for +2), 8,000 gp (for +4), and 18,000 (for +6) per limb.
Clockwork prosthetics are designed to be light and efficient, and a character with a prosthetic limb does not adjust their characterâ,¬,,¢s weight, though they do suffer armor checks penalties for their limbs. Each limb results in a cumulative -1 armor check penalty to balance, climb, escape artist, hide, jump, move silently, sleight of hand, and tumble checks. Clockwork prosthetics also cause a chance of arcane spell failure, due to the fact that the prosthetic (no matter how perfect) disrupts that casterâ,¬,,¢s ability to channel and control the energy of arcane magic. A character with one or two prosthetics is considered lightly armored, a character with three or four prosthetics is considered to be wearing medium armor, and each prosthetic attached causes a cumulative 10% chance of arcane spell failure.
Typically prosthetics are skinned in a layer of flexible stainless steel that is resistant to rust, and almost completely water tight, to protect the complicated internal gears, springs, and cogs, that essential for movement. However it is entirely possible to build prosthetics of mithril and adamantine which each offer additional flexibility and durability respectively, though at substantially greater cost.
There are some secondary benefits to a clockwork prosthetic, beyond the simple replacement of a limb. They may also be used as a natural weapon to make a slam attack that deals 1d6 points of damage, assuming the character is medium. Adjust the damage as appropriate by the guidelines in the DMG for small or large characters. Additionally the character with a prosthetic limb may use it to make an unarmed strike that inflicts a like amount of damage, though this damage is always lethal (unlike normal unarmed strikes).
A character gains a cumulative damage reduction of 1/- for each prosthetic limb he or she has attached to his body. Adamantine prosthetics provide damage reduction of 1.25/- per limb (rounded down). Mithril prosthetics have no arcane spell failure chance, and the armor check penalties are reduced to zero, making them ideal for agile characters and spell casters
Prosthetics may be damaged by sunder attacks or magical attacks (when the character rolls a natural 1 on a saving throw). A typical steel prosthetic limb has a hardness of 10 and 30 hit points, while a mithril prosthetic has a harness of 15 and 30 hit points, and an adamantine prosthetic has a harness of 20 and 40 hit points. A prosthetic reduced to 0 hit points, is destroyed, and functionally useless.
Some prosthetics are designed specifically with hidden compartments and weapons. Those with hidden compartments usually are opened by unscrewing the hand from the arm, though other means may also be possible, and they are capable of holding small items such as daggers, potions, or thieves tools. Others have spring-loaded blades that are functionally identical to short swords, and may be drawn as a swift action with the flick of the wrist. Lastly there are those that house single shot firearms that function similarly to flintlock pistols (see exotic weapons). A hidden compartment typically costs an additional 100 gp, a spring-loaded blade usually costs an additional 250 gp, and a hidden firearm will usually cost around 500 gp in additional market value. No single prosthetic may have more than one hidden feature, and prosthetic legs are not practical for hidden firearms or spring blades.
Building and repairing clockwork prosthetics is complicated, expensive, and time consuming work. Building the prosthetic requires one third of the itemâ,¬,,¢s market value in raw materials, and a Craft Check (base DC of 20, but potentially higher) representing one week worth of work. If the check succeeds, multiply the check result by the DC. If the result x the DC equals the market value of the item in silver pieces, then you have completed the item in one half the amount of time normally required. If the result x the DC doesnâ,¬,,¢t equal the market price, then it represents the progress you have made thus far. Record you progress, and make another check each week, until your total meets the market value of the prosthetic. Masterwork prosthetics follow the guidelines in the PHB under the craft skill.
Repairing the prosthetic costs one fifth of the market value in materials, and requires checks against the same DC required to build the original prosthetic. Repairing your own prosthetics is more difficult and results in a +2 to the DC. Repairing a non-functional prosthetic arm is more difficult (given that you have lost the use of one of your hands, and the DC is further penalized by +2.
The DC to build prosthetics with enhancement bonuses to either strength or dexterity is increased by an amount equal to the enhancement bonus. A hidden compartment, firearm, or spring blade increases the DC by two.
[table=Clockwork Prosthetics]
[tr][th]Prostetic[/th][th]Cost[/th][th]Armor Check[/th][th]A.S.Failure[/th][th]Damage (S/M)[/th][th]Critical[/th][th]Type[/th][th]DR[/th][/tr]
[tr][th]Steel[/th][th]1,500 gp[/th][th]-1[/th][th]10%[/th][th]1d4/1d6[/th][th](x2)[/th][th]B[/th][th]+1/-[/th][/tr]
[tr][th]Mithril[/th][th]2,500 gp[/th][th]-0[/th][th]0%[/th][th]1d4/1d6[/th][th](x2)[/th][th]B[/th][th]+1/-[/th][/tr]
[tr][th]Adamantine[/th][th]4,500 gp[/th][th]-1[/th][th]10%[/th][th]1d4/1d6[/th][th](x2)[/th][th]B[/th][th]+1.25/-[/th][/tr]
[/table]
New Feat
Master Artisan
Prerequisites: Craft (Any) 13 Ranks
Benefit: Select one craft skill with which you have a minimum of 13 ranks; when making Craft check with that skill (which represents one dayâ,¬,,¢s work), if the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result Ã'" the DC equals the price of the item in silver pieces, then you have completed the item. If the result Ã'" the DC doesnâ,¬,,¢t equal the price, then it represents the progress youâ,¬,,¢ve made that day. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next day. Each day, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item.
When you reach 18 ranks in your craft skill, if the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result Ã'" the DC equals the price of the item in gold pieces, then you have completed the item.If the result Ã'" the DC doesnâ,¬,,¢t equal the price, then it represents the progress youâ,¬,,¢ve made that day. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next day. Each day, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item.
You may select this feat more than once. Each time you select Masterwork Artisan, the benefits apply to one specific craft skill with which you have a minimum of 13 ranks.
Normal: When you multiply your check result by the DC, for daily craft checks, the result Ã'" the DC equals the price of the item in copper pieces.
Clockwork Prosthetics in the Game
Complicated and advanced technologies are not always a good fit all campaign settings, however there are settings in which they may be incorporated easier than others. Steampunk, and similar genres of speculative fiction, immediately spring to mind as the ideal place for clockwork prosthetics. In a world where technology like the printing press, trains, steam ships, blimps, and firearms is prevalent, it is much easier to envision complicated clockwork devices. It is also possible to envision them in settings with inventors and artists inspired conceptually by geniuses like Leonardo Da Vinci, who with the sponsorship of wealthy noble patrons conduct numerous scientific experiments. Lastly do not discount races like the dwarves, gnomes, and elves that are all well known in D&D for their fine craftsmanship and affinity with rare metal alloys like adamantine and mithril. A city of dwarven craftsmen is already populated with guilds, miners, engineers, inventors, and foundries; such a setting within a setting is the perfect place for clockworks to thrive.
The Clockworkers Guild
The Clockworkers Guild is an example of an organization that might exist within a world where the clockwork industry has reached a level of prevalence to warrant the use of clockwork prosthetics within your game. This sample affiliation is designed to be compatible with numerous different settings, and has very little in the ways of specifics, in order to help you as a DM make use of it in whatever ways you see fit. It is also a good model to use if you with to establish your own campaign specific organizations.
History
The clockworkers guild was established nearly a century ago by the renowned inventor and artist known today as the father of clockworks, Ferdinand Vespathian. Ferdinand worked for most of his life as a freelance painter, engineer, and inventor, who throughout the course of his career created numerous objects of both beauty and terror. It was Ferdinand who invented the repeating crossbow and the repeating ballista, and it was Ferdinand who refined the alchemical formulas for gunpowder that later led to the widespread use of flint rifles and pistols. Ferdinand however, is also quite famous for his magnificent marble sculptures and his pastel watercolor paintings. He was a man with two sides to him. Much of his wealth and prestige came for his expertise in engineering which was put to use to build strongholds, bridges, siege engines, and weapons throughout the known world, but his true love was not warfare but the process of creation and beauty itself. Ferdinand is said to have worked his whole life studying human anatomy, and though he never built his first prototype prosthetic, it was his design, ideas, and blue prints, that were later used to do so.
As Ferdinand grew older he retired from his military engineering career as a substantially wealthy man. He used the last few years of his life to ensure that his unfinished work would not be forgotten or wasted. He took on many apprentices, and students, and for a short while even taught classes within the university. Ferdinandâ,¬,,¢s apprentices did most of the labor and much of the theoretical work for their master as he reached his seventies, and when he passed away at the age of seventy seven, an entire guild of artisans, inventors, university alumni, and engineers worked for and with him. This guild which later came to be known as the Clockworkers were determined to see their masterâ,¬,,¢s work through to the end, and put their teacherâ,¬,,¢s ideas and inventions to use for the benevolent means he originally intended them for.
The Clockworkers of Today
As time has passed the Clockworkers Guild has grown and expanded. Almost all major cities have a guild house or at the very least a few independent shop owners and craftsmen to have studied with and claim membership within the guild. The technology and scientific applications of clockworks is becoming more widely accepted and known, are many of their greatest inventions are becoming more easily available. The Clockworkers are an influential guild, with powerful allies in the governing bodies of various nations, among the merchant class, and even in a handful of churches and arcane affiliations. While they are most renowned for their work with clockworks, they also dabble in alchemy, steam power, and other scientific endeavors. They also remain the most influential artistic affiliation in the known world.
The Secrets of the Guild
What few outsiders and even most members of the guild realize, is that much of the technology the guild has promoted and spread throughout the world is not their own. The Clockworkers have spies and archeologists who shamelessly steal the ideas, blueprints, and technological advances of other cultures (both past and present) and claim them as their own. They seek to monopolize the scientific industry, and are willing to go to almost any extent to ensure that their rivals do not encroach upon their domain.
It is whispered that the clockworkers employ numerous assassins, saboteurs, thieves, and spies, who monitor other guilds, associations, and cultures. Those with important discoveries, ideas, or theories are recruited by the Clockworkers, and those who refuse to join them often live forever in terror and fear, as they are harassed by assassination attempts, slander, and propaganda geared towards disrupting their ability to conduct business or research.
Symbols of the Guild
The emblem of the Clockworkers is two interconnected gears. Most guilds proudly hang the symbol on brass plaques above their doors, or screwed to the walls or counters of their shops. While members rarely carry any personal items which indicate their association with the guild, some have begun to carry pockets watches engraved with the logo on the inside face of the cover.
Practical Applications of Technology
Clockworks of course are the bread and butter of the guild, and their pocket watches may fetch anywhere from 5gp to 100 gp in the various shops and markets of the cities of the world. Many guilds build enormous clock towers as their guild headquarters, and these impressive edifices not only symbolize their power and prestige, but ensure that all people who come to the city know that the guild is present.
Many simple machines make use of their technologies. Jack Screws, ratchets, winches, music boxes, phonographs, float switches, pumps, orreries, and even the fabled prosthetics and golems are all technologies that the Clockworkers have introduced to the rest of the world. They have played a part in the development of alchemy, telescopes, microscopes, drainage systems, bridges, aqueducts, steam engines, furnaces, forced hot water piping, firearms, bicycles, and even simple flying machines such as the experimental ornithopter. While the Clockworkers cannot claim to be the only organization devoted to the explorations of such technologies, they are certainly the largest and most organized, and their name is synonymous with technological advancement.
Rivals and Enemies
The two greatest rivals of the Clockworkers are the Alchemists and the Tinkers. The Alchemists Guild began as part of the Clockworkers Guild, though as their paths of study deviated from one another, the alchemists broke away. At first the Clockworkers were not too concerned, as they viewed the processes involved in Alchemy more as an antiquated pseudo-science, rather than a sophisticated technology. However the Alchemists have continued to grow in power and influence since they established their own guild, and many of their inventions are seen as equally revolutionary to those developed within the shops of the Clockworkers. In particular the invention of explosives, tanglefoot bags, tindertwigs, and oil lanterns, have become widely regarded and extremely profitable ventures for the Alchemists.
The Clockworkers and the Alchemists are in a constant battle to come up with the next great advancement, and though at times their dialogue may become heated, they for the most part, feel at least some level of kinsmanship and brotherhood. Both affiliations trace their roots back to Ferdinand Vespathian, and were it not for their drive to better one another, they would most likely not have come as far as they have in such a short period of time.
The Tinkers however are another story entirely. The Tinkers are a rival guild that seems to have originated within dwarven lands, and they only permit dwarves to join their guild. Unlike the Clockworkers, the Tinkers do not share their technology with the world, and they keep many powerful secrets. The Tinkers work for the mighty thanes of their homeland, and their technology is meant to protect the dwarven strongholds and cities from her enemies. The Clockworkers have forced the Tinkers to constantly upgrade and improve their technology to keep up with the advances of the outside world, which were once leaps and bounds beyond that of their human neighbors.
The nature of the rivalry between the two guilds is based upon two fundamental differences. The Tinkers claim that they are the senior of the two affiliations, and it was their work (which they once shared with Ferdinand) that is the foundation upon which the Clockworkers have built their empire. The Tinkers despise the fact that the Clockwokers have profited from ideas they themselves never conceptualized, and the Clockworkers despise the audacity of the Tinkers to have claims that Ferdinand was little more than a thief.
The Second major difference between them is a matter of espionage. It is clear that the Tinkers were the first to have invented the clockwork golem, but when the Clockworkers began to produce their own, the similarities between the dwarven build and the Clockworkersâ,¬,,¢ build were uncanny. The dwarves claim that the technology was stolen from them, and that their hated rivals obtained the schematics by unsavory means. They have been unable to prove it of course, but that hasnâ,¬,,¢t changed the fact that neither affiliation is on good terms with one another.
-Enjoy-
P.S. Mad props to Xathan who's Golemtech thread inspired this whole idea.
P.S.S. Mad props to Epic_Meepo for kicking me in the behind, to make somthing useful to somebody other than myself.
Nasty, you are quickly becoming one of my favorite designers around here. I love this item, it's hisory, and the mechanics behind it.
It would seem that you may be just the person I've been looking for to colaborate on the new craft system I've been working on. I'll be home from work in around 3 hours, so if you're available, IM me. My intentions are to make item makers more important than enhancers; for instance, the +X enhancements on weapons, armor, and shields would be a function of the Craft skill (though items could be retreated and reforged after initial creation), while special enhancements (like flaming or fire resistance) would be added by a spellcaster.
I hope this would make magic items a little more ... magical ... but it wouldn't destroy the balance of the game.
Let me know what you think.
And again, I do like this item, and I'm more than willing to try it out in my games and let you know how it works out.
QuoteNasty, you are quickly becoming one of my favorite designers around here. I love this item, it's hisory, and the mechanics behind it.
Thank you very much.
QuoteIt would seem that you may be just the person I've been looking for to colaborate on the new craft system I've been working on. I'll be home from work in around 3 hours, so if you're available, IM me. My intentions are to make item makers more important than enhancers; for instance, the +X enhancements on weapons, armor, and shields would be a function of the Craft skill (though items could be retreated and reforged after initial creation), while special enhancements (like flaming or fire resistance) would be added by a spellcaster.
I'll be home, or if not I shouldn't be far from my laptop, so I'll give you an IM. I hadn't even considered going down that road, but it sounds just like the kind of thing I was looking for too. I like the idea of the master sword-smith, creating an enhanced weapon, without the need of magic.
QuoteI hope this would make magic items a little more ... magical ... but it wouldn't destroy the balance of the game.
I think all this does is shift some of the magical item industry away from wizards, but I don't see a huge issue with that. I prefer that wizards and magic casters in general be somewhat rare, but I don't want to eliminate essential magical items from fighters and other melee types that rely heavily upon them at later levels.
My initial thought is that the +1 bonus to attacks that you get from masterwork weapons is only the beginning of the quality that you can unlock through the craft skill. Theoretically speaking weapon, armor, and shield enhancement bonuses are not going to be a measure of magical quality, but craftsmenship. If this is the direction you had in mind, I am all for it.
All the really magical effects like dancing, speed, flaming, and so on will remain the domain of wizards, and that allows them to focus more on items useful to their own profession, like rods, wands, and staves.
QuoteLet me know what you think.
I'll get more in detail over IM.
QuoteAnd again, I do like this item, and I'm more than willing to try it out in my games and let you know how it works out.
Please do. Consider this a preliminary spoiler for something Epic_Meepo plans to put out some time in the future. Like I mentioned earlier, I have some alchemy stuff and golem stuff brewing too, that should compliment this and work with it.
Excellent.
The paragraph below that references duergar is Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d).Quote from: nastynateI like the idea of the master sword-smith, creating an enhanced weapon, without the need of magic.
Consider this a preliminary spoiler for something Epic_Meepo plans to put out some time in the future.[/blockquote]
Something I plan on putting out in mid-July, to be exact. Right now, only Ishmayl knows the full details of what may and may not be happening then, and there is yet much work to do.
EDIT: Incidentally, I've decided to take the bulky underscore out of my user name, so you need never type "Epic_Meepo" again. Now it's just "Epic Meepo." Huzzah!
QuoteSomething I plan on putting out in mid-July, to be exact. Right now, only Ishmayl knows the full details of what may and may not be happening then, and there is yet much work to do.
I'm in on the project, and I don't even know the details. I smell a conspiracy theory in the works.
QuoteEDIT: Incidentally, I've decided to take the bulky underscore out of my user name, so you need never type "Epic_Meepo" again. Now it's just "Epic Meepo." Huzzah!
Huzzah indeed! we should officially ban underscores.
-Nasty-
Excelent work. o'-(^_^)-'o
The A.S.Failure for the mithral limb in the table is wrong though.
Quote from: RaelifinExcelent work. o'-(^_^)-'o
The A.S.Failure for the mithral limb in the table is wrong though.
You are correct sir. I shall fix it.
I added a new feat that enables the craft of expensive items in a reasonable amount of time. The master artisan feat does not change the cost to make an item, but it increases the amount of progress made during daily craft checks. It cuts craft times down from unreasonable amounts (like six months to a year), to more feasable timeframes like a few weeks to a few months.
-Peace Out-