Automaton (Race)

## Automatons

An automaton as it's signature class, the Mechanist

## Traits:

- Require Heat (HT) to survive and cast spells

- Consuming gemstones, scrolls, non-spell books and scrap adds HT

- Cursed items can be unequipped

- Neutral to Incubi and Succubi

- Immune to burning- Bonus +20 Tinkering to repairs- Starts with Salvage spell learnt

*Not to be confused with Automaton, the enemy type.*

**Automatons** are a monster race option in *Barony*, introduced in the Legends and Pariahs DLC alongside three other monster races. They use Heat instead of mana to cast spells, being intrinsically tied to their heavily modified hunger system to use certain items rather than actual food.

## Description

Automatons follow a similar path to that of the Insectoid, where both their mana and hunger systems have been radically modified to allow for differing playstyles while complicating others that Humans would have no issues with. To keep themselves running, they feed items into their Boilers, which denies most normal forms of food in favor of a vastly different palette.

## Heat and Fuel

**Automatons** do not use normal food items, but instead use alternative sources to fuel their boilers, which represent their food and Hunger levels. Automatons have slightly different boiler levels than normal races have with hunger. Automatons reach "Critical" boiler status at 300 (being similar to "Starving") and reach "Superheated" boiler status at 1200, which grants unique bonuses. For more context around these boiler / hunger values, see Hunger.

Automatons get some unique bonuses to their boiler (hunger) degradation when playing in a group. The 0.8x slower hunger (fuel) loss that applies during a three player game and the 0.67x slower hunger (fuel) loss that applies during a four player game are both doubled for an automaton. These bonuses stack with other effects that slow down a character's metabolism.

Automatons have a value called Heat (HT) which is their equivalent of mana. An automaton with a well fueled boiler will gain HT, while an automaton with a critical or empty boiler will lose HT. A boiler below critical fuel level will cause Heat loss and stat penalties, however the character will not start taking damage from "hunger" until both their boiler and their HT bars are completely empty. In this way, an automaton can avoid death from starvation by using mana potions. The rapid heat loss due to an empty boiler makes this a very inefficient strategy.

Automatons cannot vomit, akin to the Skeleton race, instead having a mode of over-saturation known as "super heated". In this state, an Automaton will generate Heat faster and keep the boiler on max for its duration until returning to normal values again.

Items that can be consumed by Automatons include:

1. Gemstones & Rocks
2. Scrolls
3. Non-magic Books
4. Scrap Metal

Certain items within the Automaton’s diet have special properties. Consuming either form of scrap will never produce enough heat to reach superheat. Blessed gemstones and books will also provide instant boosts to the player’s Heat alongside fueling the boiler. Separate from all other types of scrolls, Scrolls of Fire will instantly superheat the Automaton’s boiler, effectively serving as a full meal. Other fire effects can also fuel an automaton's boiler, such as lava, however this may cause damage to the Automaton depending on the heat source and the character's resistances to fire. Notably, the Mechanist class begins the game with an apron that protects the character from the fire status effect.

Because food and boiler levels operate within the same system, any transformation between an Automaton and any other form will preserve the boiler level as a food level, and vice versa.

### Heat / Mana regeneration

Heat has a number of unique interactions with items and the environment. When consuming water, the boiler will rapidly lose fuel in exchange for rapidly increasing Heat levels via "steam". This allows automatons to replenish their HT quickly using water at the expense of fuel / food. Mana regeneration status effects will slow the loss of HT by half when an Automaton's fuel level reaches a critical level. Similarly, each source of mana regeneration will double the rate of heat gain when the boiler is above critical.

The Automaton stands out from most other races in the way they regenerate mana. Instead of being based on the player's INT stat, it is based on a combination of the state of their boiler and their current Heat percentage. By default (yellow boiler icon), an Automaton will regenerate mana at a rate of 1 mana every 6.0 seconds. When the player has enough fuel in their boiler to turn the icon blue, they will begin to regenerate mana at a rate of 1 mana every 3.0 seconds. Additionally, if the player's Heat is below 50% of its maximum value, the mana regen rate for having a blue boiler increases to 1 mana every 1.5 seconds. When the player's Heat drops below 25% of its maximum value, they will suffer a penalty to their DEX regardless of the state of their boiler.

## Other Properties

Beyond hunger, Automatons have the luxury of not being bound by curses, allowing any cursed weapon or equipment to be unequipped when needed, though the penalties to the stats of those items still apply. They are also handy at repairing items, having an innate +20 points of Tinkering when repairing items. Finally, Automatons have an innate spell, Salvage, which converts surrounding dropped items into their scrap components.

## Social Standings

Automatons are an oddity in all the non-Human races, being the only other race in Barony to be friendly with Humans and Shopkeepers, as well as other automatons. This allows for areas like Minetown to be a peaceful location, and for easy trading without having to drink Potions of Polymorph.

Succubi and Incubi will also behave neutrally towards Automaton players, meaning they won’t be able to be recruited, but will be disinterested when seeing the player, resulting in them not attacking on sight.

## Gallery

The male (left) and female (right) appearances for the Automaton.