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View Full Version : 3.5 The War Machine (Symbolic, of course)



lvl 1 sharnian
2009-09-06, 08:22 PM
Trying to create my first homebrew monster for a setting I made, it's meant to be the generic unstoppable army in the plot.

War Machine
Medium Construct
Hit Die: 1d10
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30ft
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 Natural Armor) touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple +2/+2
Attack: Longsword +2 melee (1d8+1) or Longspear +2 melee (1d8+1) or Longbow +2 ranged (1d8+1)
Full Attack: Longsword +2 melee (1d8+1) or Longspear +2 melee (1d8+1) or Longbow +2 ranged (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attacks: See Text
Special Qualities: Construct Traits, Fighting as One, Frail Construction
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +2
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 12, Con -, Int -, Wis 11, Cha 9
Skills: -
Feats: -
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary,Pair, Team (3-5), Squad (6-10), Army (10+)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment -

It looks like a living iron statue perhaps akin to the warforged.

War Machines were created to serve as foot soldiers and counterparts to the warforged. Although they do not possess intelligence like warforged, they work together with eachother to create an unstoppable army.
War Machines stand about 6 feet tall and weigh 225lbs.
Combat
War Machines stay together and fight side by side. Large enough groups form a box formation with 1 layer of Swordsman on the outermost layer, 1 layer of Spearmen forming the middle layer, and the rest are Archers staying on the inside. War Machines move slowly and only when everyone else can move.

Frail Construction (Ex): Due to the many required components, War Machines do not gain Bonus Hit Points based on size from being a construct.
Fighting as One:War Machines gain bonuses as their number grows as dictated below:
2+: Damage taken by 1 War Machine is split equally among all other war machines to a minimum of 0 damage taken. A War Machine moved out of its group by anyone other than its creator spends all its actions rejoining the group.
2-5: For every other War Machine adjacent to another War Machine, every War Machine gains +1 circumstance bonus to AC
6-10: Every War Machine also gains +1 circumstance bonus to Attack and Damage rolls
11+: Every War Machine that succeeds on a save gives every other War Machine a chance to reroll their save. If they succeed on their reroll, they also give another reroll
As long as 1 War Machine cannot be flanked, no other War Machine in the group can be flanked. As long as 1 War Machine isn't flat-footed, no other War Machine in the group is flat-footed. As long as 1 War Machine isn't blind or deaf, no other War Machine in the group is blind or deaf.

Comments, ratings, or critiques?

Stormthorn
2009-09-06, 08:35 PM
With no Int score they really dont have a reason to fight together for max bonuses. They wouldnt be able to comprehend that they are getting bonuses.

lvl 1 sharnian
2009-09-06, 08:45 PM
They were created to serve as an army and so the person who created them would program them like a golem so they don't need to know that fighting together would be beneficial, they are just programmed to fight together.

Also need to add change - for Fighting as One, a War Machine that is moved out of the group spends all its actions to rejoin the group.

Zeta Kai
2009-09-06, 09:06 PM
My primary concern is trivial, but glaring: the weight. It's six feet tall, made of iron, & weighs 150 pounds. WTH? Is it hollow? Even so, that's too low. I'm 6 feet tall, made of meat (I'm not fat), & I weight more than that. Your average warforged weighs 300 pounds. 150 is just weird.

lvl 1 sharnian
2009-09-06, 09:24 PM
It's made of Frail Construction and has an ability to represent that, but... anyways

Flavor-wise...
War Machines are built as a counterpart to the Warforged

They actually are partially hollow, which wouldn't fully explain it, but I'm not entirely sure of what type of metal to use to offset the weight, perhaps Mithral?


More importantly, is it stoppable after a point? Say 20? What 100? My concern is that after a point, they begin to become unstoppable, area spells are too weak, and control spells won't work if there are enough War Machines as a natural 20 is always a success so for every 20 War Machines, theorectically, every other War Machine gets another save so 400 War Machines would be immune to any Save spells and damage would have to deal over 400 damage to be able to damage them.

Dragon Elite
2009-09-06, 10:05 PM
Maybe change it to giving a save to any one (or all) adjacent War machines.

Debihuman
2009-09-07, 10:28 PM
it's meant to be the generic unstoppable army in the plot.

At one hit die? Perhaps this is the generic cog in the unstoppable army. 10 is hardly an army. You might want to take your cue from army lingo.

Organization: Solitary, team (2), squad (8-14), troop (25-60), company (70-250), battalion (300-1000), regiment (2000-3000), division (10,000-20,000) army (60,000-100,000+)

Debby