Pointy Hat - The Necromaton
Pointy Hat - The Necromaton
Pointy Hat - The Necromaton
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This product is a work of fiction.
The Necromaton
A Pointy Hat Artificer Lich
“When we think of immortality, many of us think not of flesh, but of steel. Cold, hard, unfeeling
metal will outlast all biological matter. To those not concerned with questions about what is
natural, there is much appeal in the eternal artificial.
A Necromaton is an anomaly even among liches, as they are completely and utterly defined by
their phylactery. An artificer who turns to lichdom has an arduous task ahead of them: they must
make a construct that will house their soul. The process to create these is complex, lengthy, and
costly. As a general rule, artificers never settle for anything basic, and knowing that the
construct will house their soul can often drive an artificer to add more and more features and
capabilities to that automaton, but the requirements for a construct to act as a phylactery for the
lich artificer are deceptively simple.
The first one is that the artificer must make the construct themselves. It’s unknown exactly how
much of the process can be left to automation, but the artificer must have a hand in the
constructs make.
The second one is darker. For a construct to act as a phylactery, it needs a biological
component. This is called a soul anchor, and it’s often one of the artificer’s own organs,
although bones have been known to work. As much as some artificers wish to rid themselves of
the weakness of their flesh, they cannot deny that for their souls to be grafted onto their
automaton phylacteries, there needs to be a biological component for the soul to attach itself to.
Necromatons understand that replacing their flesh body with one of steel is not enough. It might
be harder to destroy a necromaton housing the artificer’s soul, but it isn’t impossible. A
necromaton will then create new iterations of itself, more bodies to house their soul in case the
one they currently occupy is destroyed, or in case they need different capabilities. A necromaton
can do anything they want to do, as long as the artificer can create a body able to do those
things. The soul becomes the software that runs through the hardware of the constructed body.
Like a spirit possessing a person, the necromaton possesses their own phylacteries at will.
Necromatons are known to create entire armies of automaton phylacteries. These constructs
are able to move and act on their own, but they can also be possessed by the necromaton’s
soul at any time. These necromantic armies of constructs act as a powerful, unrelenting force
against the necromaton’s enemies, but they also act as insurance, since any of the constructs
can house the necromaton’s soul if the one they currently inhabit is destroyed.
But, like for any lich, eternal undeath is an ongoing struggle for the necromaton. The soul
anchors inside the necromaton’s bodies decay with time, as do the shells themselves. Even
steel decays, metals lose their shine, and even if iron is harder than flesh, it can still rust.
Necromatons find themselves needing to create and replace their phylacteries regularly, and
there’s only so much their old flesh bodies can offer them for soul anchors. Either because of
the sheer number of phylacteries a necromaton builds, or because they must replace their
bodies with new ones as time goes by, the necromaton must eventually turn to a different
source of soul anchors. A living source, a new raw material to use in their construction of new
necromatons: and so, the necromaton bends metal and meat, bones and bolts, to create new
bodies out of the pieces of their victims in a race to stave off death itself.”
● At will: mage hand, mending, alarm, catapult, magic missile (cast at 4th
level), thunderwave (cast at 3rd level)
● 3/day each: counterspell, heat metal, hold person, magic weapon,
scorching ray, shatter
● 2/day each: fireball (cast at 5th level), haste, protection from energy,
resilient sphere
● 1/day each: animate objects (cast at 7th level), arcane hand (cast at 7th
level), wall of force, seeming
ACTIONS
Arm Cannon. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one
target. Hit: 17 (4d6 + 3) lightning damage.
Arm Torch. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17
(4d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
The necromaton can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options
below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only
at the end of another creature’s turn. The necromaton regains spent
legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Arm Attack. The necromaton makes one Arm Cannon attack or one
Arm Torch attack.
LAIR ACTIONS
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the necromaton can take a
lair action to cause one of the following effects; the necromaton can’t
use the same effect two rounds in a row.
Sniper. The necromaton doubles the range of all its spell attacks and
ignores half or three quarter cover for all its ranged weapon attacks.
● At will: mage hand, mending, alarm, catapult, magic missile (cast at 4th
level), thunderwave (cast at 3rd level)
● 3/day each: counterspell, heat metal, hold person, magic weapon,
scorching ray, shatter
● 2/day each: fireball (cast at 5th level), haste, protection from energy,
resilient sphere
● 1/day each: animate objects (cast at 7th level), arcane hand (cast at 7th
level), wall of force, seeming
ACTIONS
Arm Cannon. Ranged Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one
target. Hit: 19 (4d6 + 5) lightning damage.
Net Cannon. Ranged Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5). On a hit, the creature is restrained by a steel net. The
creature can make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check
DC 17 to attempt to free itself from the net as an action on all
subsequent turns.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
The necromaton can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options
below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only
at the end of another creature’s turn. The necromaton regains spent
legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Arm Attack. The necromaton makes one Arm Cannon attack or one Net
Cannon attack.
Propulsed Backstep. The necromaton uses its thrusters to immediately
move up to its speed without incurring attacks of opportunity.
LAIR ACTIONS
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the necromaton can take a
lair action to cause one of the following effects; the necromaton can’t
use the same effect two rounds in a row.
● At will: mage hand, mending, alarm, catapult, magic missile (cast at 4th
level), thunderwave (cast at 3rd level)
● 3/day each: counterspell, heat metal, hold person, magic weapon,
scorching ray, shatter
● 2/day each: fireball (cast at 5th level), haste, protection from energy,
resilient sphere
● 1/day each: animate objects (cast at 7th level), arcane hand (cast at 7th
level), wall of force, seeming
ACTIONS
Ram. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (4d8
+ 5) bludgeoning damage..
Arm Torch. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit:
19 (4d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
The necromaton can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options
below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only
at the end of another creature’s turn. The necromaton regains spent
legendary actions at the start of its turn.
LAIR ACTIONS
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the necromaton can take a
lair action to cause one of the following effects; the necromaton can’t
use the same effect two rounds in a row.
● The necromaton extends its necromantic magic to any
constructs made by it within 90 feet of itself. Those constructs
add 1d8 necrotic damage to any of their attacks until initiative
count 20 on the next round.
● The necromaton sends a shocking volt of arcane energy to one
construct of its choice within 60 feet of the necromaton. The
chosen construct doubles its movement speed and can take two
actions and two reactions until initiative count 20 on the next
round.
● The necromaton grants its arcane gifts to all constructs made by
it within 30 feet of itself. Those constructs can use their action to
cast mending on any construct to heal 2d6 hit points. They retain
this ability until initiative count 20 on the next round.
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