The Iron Scout
Let’s face it, robots are cool. I’m not sure exactly why they’re cool, but the fact of the matter is, they are. One way that you can tell that they’re cool, if you’re in doubt, is how frequently they tend to pop up in medieval fantasy settings despite being totally anachronistic. In fact, we here at Necromancers of the Northwest, not satisfied with the existing options for robotic PCs, made our own book about mechanical men: Codex Mechanica: On the Creation of Fabricants. The book’s main goal was to provide a construct race for player characters that really felt like you were playing a construct, because we felt that the existing options talked a big game about how you were mechanical instead of biological, but at the end of the day your stats just didn’t feel very “artificial.” One of the ways that we approached this had to do with the way that fabricants could be healed, but perhaps more importantly (and certainly a much larger part of the book) was the various upgrades that could be installed on fabricants in a sort of piecemeal “build your own robot” kind of way.
Why do I bring up all this ancient history, you ask? Well, in our ongoing effort to continue to provide additional support for our books, we’ve declared this week Construct Week, and are going to spend the majority of it revisiting fabricants, the iron warrior class, and the various upgrades available for fabricants. And today, I’m going to introduce a new base class in the same vein as the iron warrior, but with a greater focus on utility and stealth. Think of it as the “rogue” to the iron warrior’s “fighter.”
New Base Class
The Iron Scout
Whereas an iron warrior is augmented in ways that make her a powerful combatant, with a focus on armor and weapons, the iron scout class is for fabricants that choose to prepare themselves for a wide variety of situations. With a much greater number of miscellaneous, movement, and sensory upgrades up their sleeves, iron scouts can overcome a wide variety of problems and serve as an all-purpose solution to obstacles of every sort.
Requirements
Unlike most base classes, the iron scout class restricts what kinds of characters can take levels in the class. In order to take a level of iron scout, the character must be of the fabricant race.
Starting Gold: 3d6 x 10 gp.
Starting Age: 1d6 years.
Hit Dice: d8.
Class Skills
The iron scout’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Dex), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly (Dex), Knowledge (dunegeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Ranks at Each Level: 8 + Intelligence modifier.
Class Features
The following are class features of the iron scout class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An iron scout is proficient with all simple weapons, as well as a single martial weapon of the iron scout’s choice. They are proficient with all armor provided by their upgrades, but are not proficient with any other armor, including armor of the same type as the ones provided by upgrades. Iron scouts are not proficient with shields.
Armor Upgrade: At 1st level, iron scouts are fitted with an outer plating of armor, which is grafted onto their frame. Iron scouts automatically gain the light armor armor upgrade. At 6th level, they automatically gain the lightweight armor armor upgrade; at 12th level, they automatically gain the flexi-steel armor armor upgrade; and at 18th level, they automatically gain the ultimate light armor armor upgrade. Iron scouts cannot gain any other type of armor upgrade, and cannot wear armor other than that already grafted onto their frame. Like an iron warrior, an iron scout’s armor can be granted magical properties through the same process (and at the same cost) used to grant magical properties to other armor, and an iron scout’s armor counts as masterwork for this purpose (though it does not grant any of the other benefits of masterwork armor). The armor retains any enhancement bonus or magic properties, even if it is later upgraded.
Miscellaneous Upgrade: At 1st level, an iron scout gains one 1st-level miscellaneous upgrade of her choice for which she qualifies. At 4th level, and every three levels thereafter, she gains one additional miscellaneous upgrade for which she qualifies. These additional upgrades may enhance or replace her initial miscellaneous upgrade, or may be entirely new miscellaneous upgrades, depending on which upgrades she selects.
Modular (Ex): An iron scout is just as easy to modify and upgrade as an iron warrior. An iron scout’s modification level is equal to her iron scout level.
Sensory Upgrade: At 2nd level, an iron scout gains one 1st-level sensory upgrade of her choice for which she qualifies. At 5th level, and every three levels thereafter, she gains one additional sensory upgrade for which she qualifies. These additional upgrades may enhance or replace her initial sensory upgrades, or may be entirely new sensory upgrades, depending on which upgrades she selects.
Movement Upgrade: At 3rd level, an iron scout gains one 1st-level movement upgrade of her choice for which she qualifies. At 6th level, and every three levels thereafter, she gains one additional movement upgrade for which she qualifies. These additional upgrades may enhance or replace her initial movement upgrades, or may be entirely new movement upgrades, depending on which upgrades she selects.0
Rogue Talent: At 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, an iron scout may select a single rogue talent. This functions identically to the rogue class feature of the same name, and the iron scout may select any rogue talent for which she qualifies. She cannot select advanced rogue talents.
Construct Perfection (Ex): Beginning at 13th level, an iron scout becomes immune to death effects.
Construct Mind (Ex): Beginning at 17th level, an iron scout becomes immune to all spells and abilities with the mind-affecting descriptor.
Advanced Rogue Talent: At 20th level, an iron scout may select a single advanced rogue talent for which she qualifies. If desired, she may select a standard rogue talent, instead.