Rogue Modron (PWH)

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Modrons are the clockwork caretakers of the gears of Mechanus, virtually unthinking in their strict hierarchical order. No beings' minds are as focused on law. stability, repetition, and the security of harmonious regulation. But the multiverse isn't perfect—not even in Mechanus—and sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes a modron receives conflicting orders from two or more superiors, or is confronted with incontrovertible proof that all is not orderly. Sometimes a modron's mind just snaps. These circumstances create rogue modrons.
When modrons go rogue, they lose most of their special abilities and even the normal modron form that designates their position within the clockwork hierarchy. They find themselves cast out of Mechanus, the heart of law and the only world they have ever known, and plunged into the cold, lonely, and (worst of all) chaotic multiverse. Rogue modrons have the forbidden and reprehensible glimmerings of selfawareness, the only thing that allows them to survive in this new sphere. Most rogue modrons are not crazed lunatics craving chaos and destruction. On the contrary, most folks can't tell a rogue modron from a "normal” one just by listening to it talk about the multiverse. It still is an extremely ordered being, with law at the center of all of its thoughts and ingrained in the way it feels, acts, and reacts. To another modron. the differences are obvious, and the rogue is some sort of chaotic wild-child; but to other folks, the rogue modron still seems the epitome of order.
Rogue modrons stand exactly 6 feet tall, with cubelike bodies similar to those of quadrone modrons.
The cubes are 3 feet on each face, adorned with two thin 3-foot-long legs, two 3-foot-long arms, and a pair of small, vestigial (nonoperational) wings on their backs. A vaguely anthropomorphic face can be found on the front cube face.
Modrons are formed front the stuff of order and given clockwork limbs and other parts. Both mechanical and fleshly parts comprise a modron, but the parts meld together to form an orderly whole.
In fact, modron bodies aren't much different from any other basher's, other than in their odd appearance.
(So curative spells, for example, work just fine on them despite their mechanical components.) Otherwise, modrons are genderless, ageless, and very difficult to distinguish from one another. Thankfully, the latter problem is solved by the fact that very, very few rogue modrons wander the planes. Rogue modron player characters present a number of problems and special situations. These beings had no child hood, family, social rank, or even any real history. In fact, rogue modrons begin to lose what memories they have of
Mechanus as time passes; as beginning player characters, they have even forgotten what rank they once held in the modron order.
Role-playing rogue modrons requires special attention to their personalities and motivations. As beings of near-absolute order, they need organization, rank, authority, regulation, and harmony to be content.
Modrons would neverjoin a group that didn't make its organization and hierarchy clear, including an adventuring group. Modrons need to know exactly where they stand in the group—who ranks above them, and who below. While not as interested in being on top as some berks, they don't necessarily follow orders blindly and won't appreciate being taken advantage of by some peeler who thinks he understands how modrons operate. Once modrons set a course of action, it's difficult to divert them. They don't become sidetracked or distracted.
Modrons have a focus that no human can match in intensity. Most modrons also have no concept of self, but this is only partially true of rogues. Though still less motivated by concepts such as greed, personal happiness, and even selfpreservation than a human would be, they do recognize and (vaguely) comprehend these ideas. Rogue modrons don't believe in, or even understand, the concept of chance. They never use words or embrace ideas like "luck.” To modrons, everything is structured, nothing is random. All creatures abide by a set of rules and regulations—whether they realize it or not. In fact, while modrons might not be able to describe exactly what all the "rules of the cosmos” are, they may try to figure the rules out—a lifelong task at best.
Essentially, rogue modrons are refugees from a completely alien society and world, with completely different outlooks—at least at first. As PC modrons explore the multiverse, they continue to learn and adapt to the rest of the planes. Although they may never accept that there isn't an order to everything, they may adjust the way they view order. Rogue modrons try to impose their own brand of order on everything around them, or simply rationalize explanations that place a veneer of order over the chaos of the multiverse.
Curiosity may be the one downfall of modrons. Emotions, humor, friendship, and many other concepts familiar to humans and other humanoids are new and very strange to modrons (at least until they find or impose order within or upon them).
Rogue modrons have natural advantages due to their status as creatures of ultimate law. They can readjust their vision, giving them effectively a double normal range of sight, as well as an uncanny ability to detect secret doors and other minutiae.
* They have a 2 in 6 chance of finding secret doors and a 3 in 6 chance of detecting concealed doors.
* Modrons have a 30% resistance to illusions, energy drains, charm, sleep, fear, domination, and other similar mind-affecting spells.
* They gain a +1 bonus to saving throws versus fire, cold, and acid.
* Modrons have a natural Armor Class of 8 (due to the fact that they're partially constructed of metal), and a movement rate of 15.
Modrons also have a few disadvantages. For example, their structured minds don't allow them to react to surprise situations very well. (This doesn't make them easier than normal to surprise, though.) When modrons are surprised, they remain that way for twice the normal length of time. They don't interact well with individuals of chaotic alignment (despite some Xaositects' adoration of the term “rogue" modron), usually suffering a -1 reaction penalty toward such people. Modrons also find their size and weight to be a hindrance at times.
It is impossible for them to carry out such standard actions as riding a horse, wearing normal armor, or wriggling through a narrow opening.
Rogue modrons can choose classes and gain levels like any PC. This idea of self-improvement and self-advancement is alien to modron society, but it's obviously the way of the outside order, so rogue modrons adapt.
From their structured minds and solid forms they gain a +1 bonus to Intelligence and Constitution, but their boxlike bodies and unfamiliarity with other cultures impose a -1 penalty to Dexterity and Charisma. Modrons can be fighters or wizards, but they can not be multiclassed; even rogues arc too focused for such personal diversity. Wizard modrons on Mechanus are virtually unheard of, but outside the clockwork universe, rogue modrons can see an order to magic use, as well as the bene fits its use can provide. They may become specialist wizards but (obviously) cannot become wild mages.
Naturally, rogue modrons can only be lawful in alignment, although the range of good, evil, or neutral is open to them as new concepts to explore (and ultimately, probably fear). Modron Omm
DMs may choose to implement one of two options to illustrate the order inherent within a modron character's very being.
The following modifications may change some of the rule dynamics of the game, but they will give a feeling of absolute structure and law to the character.
This option requires a rogue modron to state one preset action per level, based on external stimuli a condition upon which the modron will always respond the same. For example. every time a foe draws a weapon, a certain modron might immediately attack. On the same condition another modron might cast the highest-level spell it currently has memorized, whether the spell is appropriate for the situation or not. The conditions must be common enough to occur at least once in an average playing session. While the disadvantages to this option are obvious (always having to react a certain way), the modron's response is immediate. Initiative is automatic. In fact, the modron initiates the action even if the preset condition occurs in a round in which the modron has already acted.
Always acting and responding in the same way, a modron rolls initiative once. Just once. This is done when the character is created, and the same number is used throughout the life of the character. Some DMs may wish to modify this so that a modron rolls initiative once a level, once a month, or only once during a single battle.
: Everything is structured. Tock. Everything is ordered.
: Tick. Tock. You hear the sounds of the machinery of the multiverse. Despite your exile from Mechanus, the clockwork of creation can never be taken from you.
: Those around you can provide insight into the structure of the new world you are now forced to live in. Whether or not they realize it, by observing them you see how things work, and what your place is within the structure. You ask questions, observing not only the answers, but the way in which they are answered. Every detail is important, for nothing happens without a reason.
Category:PWH Races