Clockwork Custodian

The gnome priest rejoiced, for through his prayers, his mind was allowed to wander to the realm of his god, Volutor. But he could not see his god anywhere. There were only gears, cogs, and clockwork, tiny little wheels sized like grains of sand, as well as massive machinery the size of mountains. Tick-tock, the wheels turned, some at the speed of a millisecond per rotation, while others would likely not move at all in his lifetime. And among these perfect contraptions were clockwork men, making carefully calculated moves, oiling the gears where it was needed, and cleaning the cogs where they had become dirty. And everything here worked in perfect harmony. It was then the gnome realized: this was not another world, this was Volutor.

Written at the entrance of the Archonate Clockmaker’s Guild

Clockwork Custodians are constructs brought to life with Swarm Core technology, made by the Archonate Clockmaker's Guild, to serve as menial laborers and guards. These constructs were made in the image of the "clockwork men" that could be seen maintaining the gears of Volutor. Through what is presumably divine intervention by the construct god, the soul of a clockwork man can "jump" into the body of a custodian, gaining sapience in the process. This occurrence happens once every 12 years, as long as there is a proper body to enter. The soul will leave the body after exactly 120 years, at which point the body is rendered lifeless.

The clockwork custodians have free will, and is not beholden to the guild in any way, legally speaking, though many wish to stay here to learn from the crafty gnomes. They are given a Gardelinden citizenship, and all the rights that follow. Most are very eager to learn, regardless of subject, and tend to have an insatiable sense of curiosity. As such, most of them will become adventurers at some point in their life cycle.

Playable race:

Replaces warforged in this setting
Ability Scores: Str +1; Con +1; Int +1
Size: Roll 1d20 . If you roll a 20, your size is large. If not, your size is medium
Speed: 30 ft.

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Creature Type. You are a construct. Despite this, you are very much alive in the same way humanoids are alive, and will as such still benefit from spells that preserve life, but normally don't affect constructs.

Age. Custodians are sentient from birth until they are 120 years old. Forgoing your birth month bonus, you gain +1 to a skill of your choice.

Alignment. Custodians start out as lawful neutral, but can develop other alignments as they gain more personality with age.

Size. Custodians are between 8 and 10 feet tall and weigh on average 300 pounds. Your size is medium. You may roll 1d20 . On a 20, your size is large.

Headlights. You can use an action to channel your swarm core to emit light through your ocular sensors, emitting bright light in a 20 ft. radius, and dim light an additional 20 ft. You must use an action to turn your headlights off again.

Constructed Resilience. You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits:

• You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
• You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe. You do, however, need to oil your gears at least once per week, or be rendered immobile.
• You are immune to disease.
• You don't need to sleep, but sleep magic can affect your swarm core, temporarily putting you in a sleep-like stasis.

Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

Integrated Protection. Your body has built-in defensive layers, consisting of plates of ceramics, steel, and titanium, which can be further enhanced with armor:

• You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
• You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor other than a shield, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way.
• While you live, the armor incorporated into your body can't be removed against your will.

Tinkerer. You have a set of tinker's tools integrated in your hands with which you are proficient.

Buzzing, Clinking, Clanking. Your clockwork ticks, your swarm core buzzes, and your integrated armor clanks. You have disadvantage on stealth checks that rely on sound.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Gnomish.

(Optional) Always Armed. You may remove one of your hands and replace it with a one-handed melee weapon, or a shield, with which you must be proficient. For a weapon, you now add your Constitution score to attack rolls, instead of your regular modifier. This item cannot be disarmed unless forcefully cut off from your arm, or it is removed by a master tinkerer over the course of one hour. You can't grip or hold things with this hand, perform the somatic components of a spell, or anything that requires the manual precision of two hands. Any check with a tool that is not integrated into your hands is done with disadvantage.

After reaching 6th level, you are able to remove the item yourself, after which you may replace it by another applicable weapon or shield, or a mechanized hand, should you have access to it. Removing or attaching an item takes one hour.

Clockwork feats

Most certainly the rarest form of of sapient life on the material plane, a body made by ingenious gnomes, and a soul granted by the construct god. You are certainly not normal, which grants you access to powers not available to others. When you reach a new level where you can increase you ability score or pick a feat, you may instead pick a feat from the list below.

Surgical Machinery

With some minor adjustments and additions to your integrated tinker's tools, they may now also serve as a healer's kit. You also gain the following benefits:

• When the DM calls for you to make a medicine check, you may use your intelligence modifier instead of your wisdom modifier.
• When you use your integrated healer's kit to stabilize a dying creature, that creature also regains 1 hit point.
• As an action, you can use your integrated healer's kit to tend to a creature and restore 1d6 + 4 hit points to it, plus additional hit points equal to the creature's maximum number of Hit Dice. The creature can't regain hit points from this feat again until it finishes a short or long rest. You can use this feature a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus.

More Armed Than Most

Through some tinkering on your arms, you now have an additional pair of arms. These are smaller and less dexterous than your regular set of arms, but have the following benefits regardless:

• They have a reach of 5 feet, and can lift a number of pounds equal to five times your Constitution modifier.
• They can do the following simple tasks: lift, drop, hold, push, or pull an object or a creature; open or close a door or a container; grapple one creature (using both of your additional arms or make an unarmed strike, using your Constitution modifier instead of strength. Your DM might allow other simple tasks to be added to that list of options.
• If you have tinker's tools integrated in your hands, you now gain expertise, doubling your proficiency bonus when rolling a check using them.

Your new arms can't wield weapons or shields or do anything that requires manual precision, such as performing the somatic components of a spell.

Elemental Fusebox

You oil your gears with a shielding compound, protecting you, and you gain the following benefits:

• Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You have resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, and also gain immunity to poison damage.

by Illvilja