Retooling the Machinist

I must confess, I have not played, or seen played, an ACKS Player’s Companion Dwarven Machinist as a player character. I believe the reason is that the class invests a lot in its automaton feature, and automatons are both expensive and fragile. This is especially true at low levels, where the proficiency Personal Automaton seems almost mandatory. I believe these factors relegate the Machinist to appearing in game as a Judge’s NPC or, possibly, as a henchman.

I love the concept of the Machinist, and I would like to see more players choosing to play one. Building an automaton is potentially a powerful feature at higher levels, analogous to a spellcaster building a magical construct. I believe the Machinist needs a similarly flavored class feature with utility at all levels of play.

Have you read Engines & Empires? It’s available as both a free PDF and a print-on-demand book, and I can heartily recommend it for anyone interested in “gaslight fantasy”, or just adding a little technology to your fantasy roleplaying. I have decided to experiment with adding Engines & Empires Technology Degrees and Devices to the Dwarven Machinist, as discussed further below.

A Dwarven Machinist begins his career knowing two Degrees, increased by his Intelligence bonus, one of which must be a Physics Degree. Machinists are renowned for their specialization in mechanical engineering, harnessing energy and mass into steam, gears and iron. Similarly, a 1st level Dwarven Machinist may prepare and utilize two Devices per day, one of which must be a Device based upon a Physics Degree. Machinists gain additional Degrees and Devices as they gain levels, as shown on the Dwarven Machinist Level Progression table below.

Dwarven Machinist Level Progression with Technology Degrees and Devices

Level	Degrees	Devices
1	2	2
2	2	2
3	3	3
4	3	3
5	4	4
6	4	4
7	5	5
8	5	5
9	6	6
10	6	6

The Dwarven Machinist Proficiency List includes the new proficiency Mechanical Engineering, but a description for this new proficiency is missing. I am using this opportunity to add a new proficiency, below.

New Proficiency

Mechanical Engineering: The character knows one additional Degree, which must be a Physics Degree, and may prepare and utilize one additional Device per day, which must be a Device based upon a Physics Degree.

Designer’s Notes

These changes to the Dwarven Machinist envision a Technology category being added to the ACKS Player’s Companion custom class creation system. In that context, the original Dwarven Machinist’s three power investment in Design, Build and Repair Automatons is equivalent to a Technology Value of 1, which provides a Degrees and Devices progression.  Being Dwarven further modifies this with the mechanical engineering/Physics specialization and the ability to design, build and repair automatons at a lower level than usual (for other technological classes).