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Chris Labonville
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Hargrid Tenslayer

Staff Details

Volume 1, Number 2

June/July 1999

MECHANICAL MAN

Used with permission of the Northern Realms Projects Group
Copyright © 1999, Northern Realms Project Group, all rights reserved

The Mechanical Man is a creation of the Church of Gond on the isle of Lantan. During the years of the Bane Death in Zhentil Keep, Gond the Wondermaker worked with Cyric to turn humans into mechanical inquisitors who killed heretics in the keep (see the entry for Gwydion in TSR's Heroes Lorebook or the TSR Novel Prince of Lies by James Lowder).

In the Year of the Banner (1368 DR),through divine guidance, Gond imparted as much of the knowledgebehind the construction of the inquisitors as mortals could understand to a group of 12 high priests in Lantan. Each then was able to write a single magical Treatise of the Mechanical Man, which contains the knowledge that a Gondsman can use to reanimate a corpse mechanically and resurrect the spirit that had inhabited the body in life.

Gond told his high priests to take this knowledge forth in the world, to improve it, so that it would replace the Raise Dead and Resurrection spells used by other priests (from the necromantic sphere, which is not available to Gondsmen), and to perfect it, so that physically and destructible mortal bodies one day might be replaced by more durable and enduring Mechanical Men.

At present, this art still is at an early and primitive stage. Most attempts to create Mechanical Men fail, dependent in varying degree upon the race of the corpse used and the degree to which the corpse has decomposed. The chance of success diminishes by 5% per day for each day after physical rot begins to set in. The base chances of success are:

Chance of Success by Race

Gnome 85%
Half Orc 80%
Human 75%
Dwarf 65%
Halfling 55%
Half Elf 40%
Elf 30%

Terms such as alive, dead and undead do not quite apply to Mechanical Men. Spiritually, they are completely alive. Physically, they are completely dead mechanical machines. They also look like a combination of living being and machine. The skin of a Mechanical Man quickly takes on a grey-white color, but the mechanical fluid pump that has been built into the body does restore any rotted tissue. To remain functioning, a Mechanical Man must consume 1 quart/liter of whale oil (lamp oil) per month. Mechanical Men have much different statistics from living beings, and they also have certain advantages and disadvantages:

Hit points: 80 fixed. No healing magic can be used on a Mechanical Man, nor will a Raise Dead or Resurrection spell work upon him. However, a Mechanical Man can be repaired by a Gondsmen in possession of a Treatise of the Mechanical Man. When the soul departs from a Mechanical Man who has dropped to 0 hit points, it always can be retrieved through repairs by a Gondsman in possession of a Treatise.

Armor Class: Fixed at 2. The armor class can be raised by the use of armor, but this will seriously impair dexterity. Dependent upon the type armor, the DM should decide which AC dexterity penalties are assessed.

THAC0: As in life with penalties for Dexterity and applicable bonuses for Strength.

Alignment: As in life.

Physical attacks: A mechanical man has, at the most, 1 attack per round. Most attack rates are at 50% what they would have been in life.

Spell use: As in life, but with adjustments for spells that require a degree of dexterity that a Mechanical Man may not have.

Immunities: Fully immune against poisons, illnesses, blindness, deafness, etc., including those effects that are of a magical nature. Also immune against paralysis, petrification, non-acidic gas and non-alkaline gas, including dragon breath and those effects of a magical nature.

Attributes: Strength 19, Constitution: 19, Dexterity 4, Intelligence and Wisdom as in life, Charisma at 2 lower with strangers as in life, no penalty for friends and close acquaintances.

Weaknesses: External parts of iron can rust. In a normal rainstorm, a Mechanical Man must save every 4 hours against petrification or be rusted into an immobile position, being unable to move either arms or legs. In salt water, he must save once per turn or suffer the same effect. When petrified by rust, a Mechanical Man can speak, but he cannot move his limbs. The effect can be lifted by drinking a pint/half liter of whale oil. Mechanical Men cannot swim, have no sense of smell or taste, and can eat and drink nothing but whale oil, which flows through tubes to lubricate joints. A Mechanical Man has no stomach. Mechanical Men also have no nervous system that detects heat, cold, pain, etc. The lack of feeling in the fingers can have a detrimental effect on many kinds of action. In battle, Mechanical Men often do not realize they have been wounded until they see the wound or notice that a part of their machinery is not functioning correctly. Animals tend to shun and slightly fear Mechanical Men.

Movement: A Mechanical Man can ride a horse, if the horse does not throw him out of fear. He also can walk with a base movement rate of 15, but this decreases with a drop in temperature as follows:

Degrees Fahrenheit: The movement rate drops to 14 at 28°F and continues to decrease by one point for every additional drop of 6 degrees in temperature, until a movement rate of 0 is reached at –58°F. At that point, the Mechanical Man is frozen into position. He is not however injured or damaged by the cold itself. He can be revived quickly by being brought into a warmer temperature. The time during which a Mechanical Man is frozen into position does not count toward the time between oilings.
Degrees Celsius: The movement rate drops to 14 at –3°C and continues to decrease by one point for every additional drop of 3 degrees in temperature, until a movement rate of 0 is reached at –45°C. At that point, the Mechanical Man is frozen into position. He is not however injured or damaged by the cold itself. He can be revived quickly by being brought into a warmer temperature. The time during which a Mechanical Man is frozen into position does not count toward the time between oilings.

Heat: At temperatures above 100°F/38°C, the Mechanical Man's need for whale oil increases by 50%. At 120°F/49°C, this need increases by 100%. At 130°F/55°C, the body begins to be desiccated and withers for 2d4 turns, until the Mechanical Man dies. The Mechanical Man senses neither heat nor pain but will notice that his physical essence is drying up, in a manner of speaking.

Appearance: Except for the flaccid skin color and the tendency to lose all hair within 1d4+1 months after the transformation, the Mechanical Man looks much as he did in life. However, he does have surgical scars where tissue was sown together and bolts are visible at all important points of the body. Once the mechanical man attempts to walk or otherwise move, he also seems a bit awkward, although he is fast.