Clockwork Agent

Clockwork Agent Swarm (Swarm; CR 4)

True Lawful - Diminutive - Construct


Lore:	Know (Arcana)
9		25
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

4


Perception:
17	+7
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

Standard Vision
Blind to Sound
Standard Smell
Darkvision 60 ft.
Mindsense 100 ft.
(mindsense allows them to only sense other Clockworks)

Movement Types:

Walk 30 ft.
Greater Climb 20 ft.

Defense

AC

20

Man Def

19

Monster Health
122	61	6
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+2
Refl:	+2
Will:	+2

Strong Against:

(Swarm Role) Hardened (½ damage): slashing (physical, common), piercing (physical, common)
(Swarm Role) Immune (no effect): Critical Hits and Flanking
(Swarm Role) Immune (no effect): Any attack that targets Maneuver Defense
(Swarm Role) Immune (no effect): Any spell that targets a specific number of creatures, except mind-affecting spells (if this creature has an Int score).
(Mindless) Immune (no effect): all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, fear, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms)
(Construct 1) Immune (no effect): diseases (infected, diseased, blighted), poisons (tainted, poisoned, blighted), ability damage (dilution, damage, drain), and essence damage (suppression, omission, destruction)
(Construct 2) Immune (no effect): bleeds (bruised, bleed, ruptured), fatigued, exhausted
(Construct 3) Immune (no effect): magical sleep (drowsy, sluggish, asleep), paralyzed, stunned
(Construct 4) Immune (no effect): any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless)

Weak Against:

(Swarm Role) Vulnerable (1.5x damage): area of effect spells (including Channel Divinity)

Offense


Size:	Diminutive
10 ft.		0 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+7

Man Off

+7

Action

0

Points

(Component Creatures: 1 ft. / 0 ft.)
Maneuver Offense Notes: +2 on Sunders

Standard Attack (Melee):

1x Cutters (Swarm -- Auto-Hit) (1d8+3/19-20 x2)
as slashing (physical, common)

Full Attack (Melee):

3x Cutters (Swarm -- Auto-Hit) (1d8+3/19-20 x2)
as slashing (physical, common)

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage:

1x Cutters +7 (1d2)

Statistics

12

STR

15

DEX

—

CON

—

INT

11

WIS

1

CHA

Skills:

Movement: 9
Perception: 7
All other skills: 2 (no ranks)

Languages:

Feats:

Special Abilities

Disassembler (Su) Standard Action

As a standard action (which may be included in a Full Attack Action if desired), a Clockwork Agent may attempt to disassemble a creature's weapon, armor or shield. The Clockwork Agent must be in the same square as the target, and the weapon, armor or shield must be made of metal. The clockwork agent resolves this attack as a Sunder maneuver (1d20 + 7 vs. target's Maneuver Defense). As all combat maneuvers, this does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If successful, the item takes 1 point of siege damage, reducing its durability by 1. Objects which have their durability reduced to 0 become Broken. Disassembler has no effect on an object which already has the Broken condition. A Clockwork Agent will not use this attack against an object which is already Broken, choosing a different item, or, if all available items are Broken, simply attacking.

a broken weapon suffers a -2 penalty to attack and damage rolls
a broken shield or armor reduces the wearer's AC by 2 (even if the armor or shield did not provide this much AC when whole)

Personal Space Issues (Ex; Swarm Role) Automatic After Damage

Any living creature that takes damage from a swarm also becomes Distracted. While sharing a space with the swarm, affected creatures cannot get rid of the Distracted condition. At the end of any of an affected creature's turn in which they are outside of the swarm's space, the Distraction condition automatically ends. However, it is re-applied if they take further damage from the swarm.

Sum of the Parts (Ex; Swarm Role) Always On

Swarms, troops, and hordes follow the squeezing rules based on their component creature size, NOT the size of the swarm, troop, or horde as a whole. This means these groups of creatures can easily move through doorways that are sized appropriately to their component creature sizes. They can even stop in such spaces without suffering squeezing penalties. In such cases, the swarm's shape is unaffected, except that its space excludes any blocked spaces. That is, its space doesn't deform into a non-square shape, it's just treated as not occupying any blocked spaces within its space. This means it cannot threaten through blocked spaces, since it isn't technically occupying them.

Multiple swarms, troops, and hordes can share the same squares without squeezing or movement penalties. They can move through, and even stop on top of (or within) the spaces of other swarms, troops, or hordes.

Swarms, troops, and hordes can also move over, through, and into spaces occupied by enemy creatures without provoking attacks of opportunity, even if they pass through or leave a threatened square. Furthermore, creatures inside the space of a swarm, troop, or horde are treated as flanked while they remain in that space (though this doesn't usually matter much, since swarms, troops, and hordes automatically hit with their attacks).

Finally, a maximum of two swarms, troops, or hordes can attack a single given creature in a round, even if more than two swarms, troops, or hordes are threatening that creature. There simply isn't enough surface area of the enemy creature for more attacks to be inflicted.

Clockwork Agent Swarm

This creature possesses the Swarm role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure.

This monster frequently has the Swarm role, but may be set to other roles if desired.

Clockwork Agents are tiny iron constructs about five inches long, small enough to sit in a human's palm, which look like scorpions crossed with centipedes with a single large eye on their heads. They are created via a complex combination of clockwork and alchemy, and as such, are widely viewed by scholars, wizards, cyphers, and sages as some advanced variant of Animated Objects, the other common use of clockwork-enhanced alchemical methods. Clockwork Agents and similar devices are classed separately from other Animated Objects due to their advanced instructions and the use of alchemical elements to allow them to self-replicate, which is...a dangerous ability.

Even worse, Agents can be found as single devices of varying abilities, but they are frequently found assembled into Swarms, which amplifies their hazard tremendously.

Clockwork Agents are unintelligent, relying on a complex mechanical instruction set encoded in their clockwork to determine how they respond to stimuli. Clockwork agents have excellent visual sensors which, with a properly attuned scrying device, allow their creator to peer through their eyes. As a result, clockwork agents are primarily used to keep watch over large areas, such as a castle, dungeon or lair.

Clockwork agents are capable of digesting unattended objects, converting the digested material to iron, and extruding it into nearly any shape or size, given enough time and raw resources. Therefore, in addition to being useful spies, they are also very useful at creating and maintaining large iron structures, such as gates, walls or even whole buildings. Since they are, themselves, made of iron, they can also self-replicate, though the programming for this is usually highly restrictive to prevent an unwanted outbreak of Agent swarms.

If left undisturbed, nearly all agents are programmed to ignore passers-by or other organic life moving in their presence. However, attempts to interrupt their work or move them from their current space will usually trigger their defensive programming. Since they perform their surveillance duties best when distributed widely over a broad area, it takes one or more rounds of harassing a lone Clockwork Agent before the swarm will converge and attack the aggressor.

While clockwork agents are excellent visual observers, they also have a limited form of telepathy, allowing them to communicate with other Clockwork constructs, but nothing else. Alchemists have tried for centuries to improve it to allow direct communication with the Agents, but all such attempts have failed. All studies of the clockwork construction and alchemical agents used indicate that the telepathy shouldn't exist at all.

Combat Tactics

Clockwork Agent are harmless unless harassed or unless someone triggers their defensive programming. While they are competent defenders, they are not usually used to defend an area they were designed to observe. The sort of person capable of creating an Agent swarm is nearly always capable of creating constructs more specifically tailored for violence.

Some fairly common triggers that would cause Agents to act aggressively might be:

picking up one or more Agents
killing one or more Agents (either individually, or by attacking a swarm of them)
poking one or more Agents for too long (they usually tolerate it for a round or two)
the destruction of an iron object they have constructed and are maintaining
attacking their creator

When triggered to aggression, the Agent will move into the enemies space and attack. If they are in a swarm, they will move into enemy spaces, attack them all once with its cutters, and thereafter attempt to use its disassembly ability. The Agent swarm will keep using disassembly as part of full attacks or as standard attacks until all eligible objects become broken, or until the first time the Agent (or Agent swarm) fails to overcome the target's Maneuver Defense. After that, it will simply attack the creature with its cutters until its target dies or the swarm is dispersed.

Out of Combat

Clockwork Agents are able to operate as single units, and given their small size, they are surprisingly effective at surveillance and scouting, despite their lackluster Stealth skill. However, Clockwork Agents are frequently designed to operate as a swarm, and as such, they become much more capable, since as a swarm they can inflict automatic damage upon their luckless targets. Clockwork agents operate on the orders of their creator (presumably), but often their orders are difficult to surmise. They are often motionless observers of an area, but in other cases, they can be seen to devour any source of iron, or alloys containing iron, from raw ore to tempered steel. Once they have consumed an appropriate amount, they create a new clockwork agent from the harvested iron.

Clockwork agents are also capable of creating nearly any structure out of iron, if they are ordered to do so. To accomplish this, they will harvest iron into the form of additional agents, move to the site of their intended construction, then harvest their fellow swarm members to extrude the new work. This process is uncannily precise, and is capable of creating fine lattices and wire, and even structures inside other structures, which would be nearly impossible for a smithy to recreate.

Sometimes their programming becomes corrupted over the many iterations of their replication, which can lead to very peculiar behavior. In one reported case, a swarm of clockwork agents systematically stripped an entire town of its original materials, and replaced everything with an iron replica (even the food in the larders!). This process took quite a while, but the villagers who lived there were not willing to interfere, and were ultimately forced to move away. This iron village has long since fallen to rust, but was a highly unusual monument while it stood. Such weird behaviors can be discovered in remote areas even today, and weird, anomalous structures or sculptures of iron are a dead giveaway of runaway Agent activity in an area.

It is unclear who originally created the Clockwork Agents, and other constructs of their ilk, nor who continues to control them, if anyone. The process to create them has never leaked into the public awareness, so if anyone alive is still capable of doing so, they aren't talking about it.

Rewards

XP: 2,400 (Swarm role included.)

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 2,375 gp.

Weight: 80 lbs. Volume: 3.2 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)