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RazDelacroix
2015-11-15, 11:39 PM
Exiled Modron


First, only Pentadrone Alpha Phi stood, and the face that had been pressed against the ground blinked once with it's single eye, and began to sing.
Yes, to sing.

"Be . . . our . . . host.
Be our host.
Of our service we will boast.
All our servos have been waiting,
All our gears anticipating.

Be our host.
Be our host.
In our machines, you are the ghost.
Tell us what to do and where to,
And we'll quickly rush off there to-"


Now all the miserable mechanical monsters, beginning with the winged cubes and progressing down to the lowly monodrones, began to sing and dance. Though the slamming and crashing of the ubiquitous monodrones caused at least a few breakdowns in the kick line.

Already, Clare had collapsed on her pelvic pallet and, with ears covered, was screaming for the torture to end. "Saints and Proxies! Shut up!"
-From Planar Powers, by J. Robert King-


Inflexible, unyielding, constructs composed of energy derived from utter and absolute concepts of Law. Modrons as a race confound and puzzle the most learned of mortal sages. Consider; if every modron perfectly understands it's place in the absolute and perfect order created by the god Primus, then how can their be such a thing as individuality? As constructs, are not modrons bereft of such mortal notions of personality and private thought? Furthermore, when such entities are unmoved by words espoused from mortal philosophers, how can even one of these creatures go 'rogue'?

The truth of the matter, is that modrons can go rogue. While this can occur in numerous ways, the process is usually never one that can created or recreated by mortal methods. What may drive one modron into self-aware individuality may not even register a blip of concern to another.


Uniform Creation
No matter what prior caste a modron was once a part of, after they become disconnected from the Energy Pool a gradual transformation overcomes them. The general form of the modron will either rise or fall to that roughly equivalent of a quadrone. A box-like living construct with vestigial wings, two eyes, a flat nose and mouth, spindly mechanical legs, thin arms ending with long fingers, and a series of adjustable lenses dangling from an extendable antennae.

Without taking in additional equipment or extreme body modifications into account, every modron is 5 1/2 feet tall, weighs 400 lbs, has little appreciable sense of taste, and never gains weight from mundane eating. Though rumors abound of modrons whom have undertaken significant magical reforging to appear as the spherical monodrone. Clothing and armor must be tailor-made to accommodate the unyielding form of a modron.

Barring sudden termination; modrons do not perish from age, casual rust, mortal-micro-organisms-hell-bent-on-delivering-plagues, or boredom. A bored modron is simply an inactive modron, and thus you have nothing to fear from a dead modron.

Alien Perspective
Any modron needs a rank, organization, authority, regulation, and harmony to be content. An exiled modron will seek these out regardless of whatever alignment it acquires. Just HOW that modron perceives or attains these 'basic' needs is indicative of it's burgeoning personality. Keep in mind that while exiled modrons can be of any alignment, a modron always has some form of order to their particular madness. Even/especially if that reasoning is circular and completely incomprehensible to everyone else.

Most exile modrons maintain an active interest and curiosity regarding the world and people around them. The continuing loss of substantial memories regarding their existence in Mechanus lends impetus to create new memories and experiences to shore up the loss. The one thing the exile will NEVER forget, however, is the precise time and cause of fall.

Gear Realms
Nope. Exiled modrons have no home in Mechanus. Even if they did eventually return, they would no longer be recognized by their prior kind as modrons. There are no grand communities of exiled modrons. Not even in the Matrix. The Matrix is not a plot by modrons to figure out just how far humanity can go down rabbit holes. There is no spoon you need to worry about. You are absolutely not going to look overhead to see a ring of modrons studying your reactions when you read about lampshades.

The Modron's Great March
Almost every exiled or rogue modron is by necessity an adventurer. Some just sort out relevant data on socio-pyscho-bio-economics in discrete geographical regions over a set period of time before moving along towards the next reasonably achievable goal.

Exile Modron Designations
Modrons whom have gone rogue typically take up a name that has either been bestowed upon them by the majority of encountered individuals, or craft one for themselves based on a system unique to it's own sense of order. Some sample names are as follows.

Modron Names: Nordom, Unit 87, Cube Root, Phi, Whisk Tank Fort, Nickel Plate, Cogsworth, Pie Phi, Generalized Mayhem, Wrench, Rebel Without Chaos, Chaos Without Rebellion, RGB, Tackle Box, Box

Modron Traits
Your Modron comes prepackaged with the following traits. See your friendly DM Dealer for local campaign balancing details and complimentary party freshener.


Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age. Modrons do not age. Magical aging, however, may induce an existential error and force you to make a Charisma save vs. the effect or be incapacitated until the end of your next turn.

Alignment. Modrons are heavily geared (no pun intended) towards lawful personalities and outlook. Rare individuals may stray from this ethical and orderly outlook on creation and take up strange new ideologies. Like determining that pickles are the source of all chaos in the world, and thus shall be cleansed from the world with the holy power of radishes. This has been a demonstration of Chaotic Neutral.

Size. Modrons whom have been exiled/deemed rogue will default to a strict standard size of 5 1/2 feet tall, 400 lbs, and is thus strictly Medium in size. Any deviations caused by sudden onset of cybernetic enhancements, enchantments, reforging, prestige class application, or the use of size-enhancing-alchemy voids warranty.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Due to degraded optical units, your darkvision is limited to within 120 feet. In these conditions you can discern only shades of gray, black, and white.
Analytical. Modrons are proficient in the Investigate skill.

Armored Body. While not wearing any armor, your AC is 12 + Dexterity modifier.
Clockwork Initiative. You never roll for your initiative. Your placement in the initiative order is 8 + Proficiency bonus + Dexterity modifier.

Illusion Resistance. You have Advantage on all saving throws against Enchantment and Illusion spells.

Living Construct. Due to forceful reformatting, you are not entirely a construct. You are immune to disease, and you do not have to breath or eat to survive. If a spell would heal you, you regain only half the hit points indicated. You may regain hit points from spent Hit Dice over short rests and long rests as normal.
Shape Restriction. A modron is a walking box in shape. You have Disadvantage to checks made to squeeze through tight passages. Any clothing or armor must be refitted or tailor-made to take your shape into account and may raise the cost of purchase.

Languages. You know Common and Modron languages. Modron is a highly technical and exacting language composed of very precise tones. Some sages equate it with dial-up noises and tick-tocks.

M Placeholder
2015-11-16, 04:05 AM
Excellent work, cutter.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-11-16, 04:42 AM
I can find nothing to complain about here. This looks very nice, and represents the rogue modron very well.

Seems like it would be a good role-playing challenge as well, trying to act out the half-mast circular logic that you mention in the fluff.

RazDelacroix
2015-11-16, 10:57 AM
Thank ye kindly. Still kinda debating with myself whether or not to add more to this considering how much the rogue modron official write-ups in the past gave. 3.5 actually gave them acid, cold, fire resist 2 combo... 2. Not 5. Which is weird to me. They also had the +2 Listen & Spot combo, so I maybe COULD have given them free perception proficiency, but I wanted them to be more analytical of their surroundings so I went back to their 2nd edition root of finding doors and used that as justification for the Investigate proficiency.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-11-16, 11:07 AM
Thank ye kindly. Still kinda debating with myself whether or not to add more to this considering how much the rogue modron official write-ups in the past gave. 3.5 actually gave them acid, cold, fire resist 2 combo... 2. Not 5. Which is weird to me. They also had the +2 Listen & Spot combo, so I maybe COULD have given them free perception proficiency, but I wanted them to be more analytical of their surroundings so I went back to their 2nd edition root of finding doors and used that as justification for the Investigate proficiency.

Investigation fits much better. I'd leave it as-is.

When you're looking for inspiration from previous editions, I think the tone of AD&D is often a better fit than 3.5 for 5e.

Michael7123
2015-11-16, 09:22 PM
I really liken this... but I feel like it could use a little more of a boost. I would humbly suggest...

Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. I think one damge resistance that isn't commonly used could be useful. Adding poison or necrotic resistance due to their construct nature would be nice.

Beyond that, I kind of want to play in a party entirely made of rouge Modrons.

RazDelacroix
2015-11-16, 10:58 PM
Beyond that, I kind of want to play in a party entirely made of rouge Modrons.

Awesome! We could use more colorful Modrons in the world! Scarlets, crimsons, vermillions, rubies, and the ever popular pink. Also, poison resistance would make some sense, but I didn't want to impose it off the bat.

Michael7123
2015-11-16, 11:06 PM
Awesome! We could use more colorful Modrons in the world! Scarlets, crimsons, vermillions, rubies, and the ever popular pink. Also, poison resistance would make some sense, but I didn't want to impose it off the bat.

And I now have inspiration for an NPC. A Mordon who wants to make everything rouge :smalltongue: