Doc Aquatic
First Post
Even though there's not much out there about the 4e cosmology, all the planes from the old cosmology are still supposed to be there somewhere. With that in mind, and in interests of the role that modrons and Mechanus are going to have in my 4e game, I put together the Rogue Modron race. The visual description is a melding of the Planescape: Torment design and the standard Planescape design, since I prefer the former, but wanted to keep visual continuity with the latter.
Thanks to Contrabassoon on the Something Awful forums for the four arms ability.
V0.2
Rogue Modron
Always 6' tall
Always 500 pounds
Ability Scores: +2 Con, +2 Int
Size: Medium
Speed: Six squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, one other.
Skill bonuses: +2 Dungeoneering, +2 Arcana
Four arms: You can hold up to four items at once. You can hold up to two one-handed and two off-hand weapons (or two two-handed weapons) at one time. Doing this doesn't let you make multiple attacks in a round (unless you have powers that let you do so), but you can attack with any weapon you hold. Rogue modron rangers who use the two-blade fighting style may wield a one-handed weapon in each hand, but can only attack with two per round. If you hold two or more weapons (or a two-handed weapon), you may not use a
shield.
Mechanical Focus: A rogue modron ignores partial cover and concealment when attacking an enemy within 5 squares
Logic Break: A rogue modron can use the Logic Break racial power
Logic Break Rogue modron racial power
As your enemy reaches into your mind, they recoil from the deep-seated confusion and madness that lurks within your psyche.
Daily
Immediate reaction to being hit by any power which targets your will defense
Effect: Make a Charisma attack vs. the Will of the attacker. If successful, the initial attack misses and the attacker takes your Charisma mod in psychic damage.
Once worker-drones in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, rogue modrons have been driven mad by imperfections they've noticed in themselves, their environment, or their superiors. While this madness is rarely noticable to outsiders, their fellow modrons have shunned them and exiled them from Regulus, their homeland. Hunted by modron assassins looking to reclaim their essences for the Primus and left to wander the planes, many find themselves entangled in the turmoil spreading across the World and the planes in the wake of the fall of Nerath.
Play a rogue modron if you want...
* to be a fugitive on the run from a totalitarian regime.
* to walk the razor's edge between madness and sanity.
* to stand out as an oddity, even in a fantastic world.
* to be a member of a race that favors the warlock, warlord, and wizard classes.
Physical qualities: Regardless of wether they were a pentadrone or a secundus before they went rogue, every rogue modron shares a fundamentally similar appearance. Each is six feet tall, with spindly three-foot-long legs, with backwards joints, like the legs of a chicken, supporting a three-foot cubic torso. Two pairs of arms grows out of opposing sides of the cube, and between them is a soft, green fleshy face with droopy
eyes and a wide mouth. A rogue modron has a removable carapace of a metallic appearance that covers its vulnerable face and sides, which has lenses to protect the eyes, and a large, beak-like structure on the front.
Rogue modrons are genderless, though some may assume personality traits of either or both genders as it begins to build its identity. They cannot reproduce in any way. Clothing or armor a rogue modron wears replaces its carapace, and for reasons they can not explain, regardless of how well they have learned to express themselves, they are drawn to clothing or armor that replicates the beak of their carapace, giving them an appearance vaguely similar to six-limbed, metallic, cube-shaped platypi. A rogue modron can only wear clothing or armor designed or reshaped for it, though armor for rogue modrons can be ordered at no extra cost.
Playing a rogue modron:
Rogue modrons are a scattered race, without a society of their own. Each one, cast out from Regulus, has to find a way to survive and form identities on their own. Rogue modrons are, to a degree, like children, looking for meaning in the world and finding influences to shape their identities. They feel threatened by the disorder of the world, and seek heirarchy almost as a reflex, and in some urban centers close to places where the Astral Sea bleeds into the World, rogue modrons can be found working as amazingly skilled and precise assistants for craftsmen, majordomos for the rich, or at the head of alarmingly efficient crime syndicates. Rogue modron adventurers typically try to organize their adventuring groups into a tight chain of command.
The search for identity is important to Modrons. When exiled from Regulus, their memories are stripped from them, leaving them without any idea of their former rank or position. Rogue modrons typically throw themselves into whatever job they find in the World, deriving their identity from it, while others take a more individualistic path, deliberately crafting an identity from the mannerisms and beliefs of those it meets and finds appealing. Every rogue modron is identical, physically, until they take steps to differentiate its appearance. Many rogue modrons will paint, cut patterns into, or decorate themselves in other ways. Despite their search for identity, names are a
foreign concept to the modron psyche, and rogue modrons will typically accept any nickname or title given to it by its fellows. Those rogue modrons who name themselves often choose numeric designations.
Rogue modrons are haunted by the ghosts of their memories, finding some activities familiar, and others instantly repellant. While they can never completely recover their old memories, many of them have inborn reactions they cannot shake. Each rogue modron also has the fundamental belief that, roughly a century ago, something terrible happened in Regulus, which contributed to the currently growing number of rogue modrons.
The typical rogue modron worldview is rather fractured, varying between an almost desperate fascination with minutia and a difficult time interperting the world en-masse. Many rogue modrons who lack the composure to become adventurers dedicate themselves to one task until the reclaimation squad from Regulus comes to return their essence to the Source.
Rogue modron characteristics: Neurotic, detail-focused, erratic, orderly, curious.
Rogue modron names: Red-White, Ol' Boxy, The Blacksmith's Fellow, Three-One-Nine, The Aristocrat, The Secret Watchman, Stripes, Gamma Five.
Rogue modron adventurers:
The Secret Watchman is a rogue modron who has taken residence in a metropolis where the town's watch are barely able to control the criminal element. Disgusted by the disorder that held his adopted town in its thrall, it sought out a diabolist to teach him how to bring the secrets of the orderly infernal under its control. Now indebted to the elder warlock, it works in its master's mansion as a servant during the day, and takes to the streets at night to attempt to bring criminals to heel. It considers himself part of the town watch, and will often tell this to those it meets, while exhorting them not to spread it around, thusly earning its name.
The Blacksmith's Fellow was once the assistant of a smith in a small mountain village. His tenure ended when an orcish tribe raided his town, looting and killing as they pleased. When the damage was tallied, The Blacksmith's Fellow discovered that its master had been killed, and unable to express his grief in any other way, it left the village to hunt down the murderous orcs. Several of the younger villagers followed its lead, and the Fellow's Men were founded, patrolling the mountains and fighting against the orcs to this day.
Three-One-Nine is a fiercely independant modron who seeks to find a way to return to Regulus society through mastering himself. A self-taught wizard, it searches for old ruins with potent magical secrets and raids the homes of older wizards in an attempt to to acquire the magical secrets it needs to reclaim the old life it knew it once had.
Heroic Feats:
Orderly Mind [Rogue modron]
Prerequisite: Must be a rogue modron
Benefit: Once per encounter, the rogue modron can declare the result of any d20 roll it makes to be a natural 11 without rolling.
Thanks to Contrabassoon on the Something Awful forums for the four arms ability.
V0.2
Rogue Modron
Always 6' tall
Always 500 pounds
Ability Scores: +2 Con, +2 Int
Size: Medium
Speed: Six squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, one other.
Skill bonuses: +2 Dungeoneering, +2 Arcana
Four arms: You can hold up to four items at once. You can hold up to two one-handed and two off-hand weapons (or two two-handed weapons) at one time. Doing this doesn't let you make multiple attacks in a round (unless you have powers that let you do so), but you can attack with any weapon you hold. Rogue modron rangers who use the two-blade fighting style may wield a one-handed weapon in each hand, but can only attack with two per round. If you hold two or more weapons (or a two-handed weapon), you may not use a
shield.
Mechanical Focus: A rogue modron ignores partial cover and concealment when attacking an enemy within 5 squares
Logic Break: A rogue modron can use the Logic Break racial power
Logic Break Rogue modron racial power
As your enemy reaches into your mind, they recoil from the deep-seated confusion and madness that lurks within your psyche.
Daily
Immediate reaction to being hit by any power which targets your will defense
Effect: Make a Charisma attack vs. the Will of the attacker. If successful, the initial attack misses and the attacker takes your Charisma mod in psychic damage.
Once worker-drones in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, rogue modrons have been driven mad by imperfections they've noticed in themselves, their environment, or their superiors. While this madness is rarely noticable to outsiders, their fellow modrons have shunned them and exiled them from Regulus, their homeland. Hunted by modron assassins looking to reclaim their essences for the Primus and left to wander the planes, many find themselves entangled in the turmoil spreading across the World and the planes in the wake of the fall of Nerath.
Play a rogue modron if you want...
* to be a fugitive on the run from a totalitarian regime.
* to walk the razor's edge between madness and sanity.
* to stand out as an oddity, even in a fantastic world.
* to be a member of a race that favors the warlock, warlord, and wizard classes.
Physical qualities: Regardless of wether they were a pentadrone or a secundus before they went rogue, every rogue modron shares a fundamentally similar appearance. Each is six feet tall, with spindly three-foot-long legs, with backwards joints, like the legs of a chicken, supporting a three-foot cubic torso. Two pairs of arms grows out of opposing sides of the cube, and between them is a soft, green fleshy face with droopy
eyes and a wide mouth. A rogue modron has a removable carapace of a metallic appearance that covers its vulnerable face and sides, which has lenses to protect the eyes, and a large, beak-like structure on the front.
Rogue modrons are genderless, though some may assume personality traits of either or both genders as it begins to build its identity. They cannot reproduce in any way. Clothing or armor a rogue modron wears replaces its carapace, and for reasons they can not explain, regardless of how well they have learned to express themselves, they are drawn to clothing or armor that replicates the beak of their carapace, giving them an appearance vaguely similar to six-limbed, metallic, cube-shaped platypi. A rogue modron can only wear clothing or armor designed or reshaped for it, though armor for rogue modrons can be ordered at no extra cost.
Playing a rogue modron:
Rogue modrons are a scattered race, without a society of their own. Each one, cast out from Regulus, has to find a way to survive and form identities on their own. Rogue modrons are, to a degree, like children, looking for meaning in the world and finding influences to shape their identities. They feel threatened by the disorder of the world, and seek heirarchy almost as a reflex, and in some urban centers close to places where the Astral Sea bleeds into the World, rogue modrons can be found working as amazingly skilled and precise assistants for craftsmen, majordomos for the rich, or at the head of alarmingly efficient crime syndicates. Rogue modron adventurers typically try to organize their adventuring groups into a tight chain of command.
The search for identity is important to Modrons. When exiled from Regulus, their memories are stripped from them, leaving them without any idea of their former rank or position. Rogue modrons typically throw themselves into whatever job they find in the World, deriving their identity from it, while others take a more individualistic path, deliberately crafting an identity from the mannerisms and beliefs of those it meets and finds appealing. Every rogue modron is identical, physically, until they take steps to differentiate its appearance. Many rogue modrons will paint, cut patterns into, or decorate themselves in other ways. Despite their search for identity, names are a
foreign concept to the modron psyche, and rogue modrons will typically accept any nickname or title given to it by its fellows. Those rogue modrons who name themselves often choose numeric designations.
Rogue modrons are haunted by the ghosts of their memories, finding some activities familiar, and others instantly repellant. While they can never completely recover their old memories, many of them have inborn reactions they cannot shake. Each rogue modron also has the fundamental belief that, roughly a century ago, something terrible happened in Regulus, which contributed to the currently growing number of rogue modrons.
The typical rogue modron worldview is rather fractured, varying between an almost desperate fascination with minutia and a difficult time interperting the world en-masse. Many rogue modrons who lack the composure to become adventurers dedicate themselves to one task until the reclaimation squad from Regulus comes to return their essence to the Source.
Rogue modron characteristics: Neurotic, detail-focused, erratic, orderly, curious.
Rogue modron names: Red-White, Ol' Boxy, The Blacksmith's Fellow, Three-One-Nine, The Aristocrat, The Secret Watchman, Stripes, Gamma Five.
Rogue modron adventurers:
The Secret Watchman is a rogue modron who has taken residence in a metropolis where the town's watch are barely able to control the criminal element. Disgusted by the disorder that held his adopted town in its thrall, it sought out a diabolist to teach him how to bring the secrets of the orderly infernal under its control. Now indebted to the elder warlock, it works in its master's mansion as a servant during the day, and takes to the streets at night to attempt to bring criminals to heel. It considers himself part of the town watch, and will often tell this to those it meets, while exhorting them not to spread it around, thusly earning its name.
The Blacksmith's Fellow was once the assistant of a smith in a small mountain village. His tenure ended when an orcish tribe raided his town, looting and killing as they pleased. When the damage was tallied, The Blacksmith's Fellow discovered that its master had been killed, and unable to express his grief in any other way, it left the village to hunt down the murderous orcs. Several of the younger villagers followed its lead, and the Fellow's Men were founded, patrolling the mountains and fighting against the orcs to this day.
Three-One-Nine is a fiercely independant modron who seeks to find a way to return to Regulus society through mastering himself. A self-taught wizard, it searches for old ruins with potent magical secrets and raids the homes of older wizards in an attempt to to acquire the magical secrets it needs to reclaim the old life it knew it once had.
Heroic Feats:
Orderly Mind [Rogue modron]
Prerequisite: Must be a rogue modron
Benefit: Once per encounter, the rogue modron can declare the result of any d20 roll it makes to be a natural 11 without rolling.
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