Clockfolk

These sentient clockwork people tick quietly, an unnerving noise audible to those who stand close to them. Made completely of clockwork, their bodies are filled with cogs and gears, and they move with a certain stiffness, their faces stuck in a single expression.

A technically proficient scavenger race, Clockfolk have the unnerving ability to use their surroundings to repair themselves. Damage a Clockfolk, and it might pick up a nearby knife or fork, spare part, or random trinket and use it to replace a damaged component. They can even use organic “components,” with the result that some look particularly gruesome.

Clockfolk are generally uncomfortable with chaos and disorder. In a hierarchy, they need to know the exact structure and their place within it, and will not deviate from that chain, for good or ill. Even simply entering an untidy room will distress a Clockfolk, who will likely begin tidying it up immediately. If they find broken objects, they feel the need to repair them. For obvious reasons, this also makes Clockfolk excellent non-magical healers.

Statistics

Size/Type: Medium automaton (humanoid)

Attributes: STR +1, LOG +2, WIL +2

Skill Choices: engineering, astronomy, law, history, medicine

Exploits

• Clockwork. As automatons, Clockfolk do not need to eat or breathe. They do, however, need to sleep, in a fashion, as their gears wind down. Like other automatons, Clockfolk are vulnerable (1d6) to electricity (1d6) and ion (2d6) damage. They are immune to attacks that target MENTAL DEFENSE. Like most automatons, Clockfolk cannot have a LUC or MAG score.

• Repair. Once per day, Clockfolk can repair themselves in a patchwork fashion up to half their normal maximum Health by spending two actions and assimilating resources from their environment.

• Wind-Up. Clockfolk can spend two actions winding themselves up. For the next minute, they move at a faster speed (making a rapid clockwork ticking noise while they do so), gaining an extra action each turn, but at the end of the minute they wind down and cannot act or move for one hour.

• Internal Clock. Clockfolk track the passage of time accurately, to the very second.

• Finger Needle. Clockfolk have a special needle which can retract or extend from their finger at-will, and it delivers poison in the following manner. The Clockfolk makes a normal unarmed attack. If it hits, the needle deals the Clockfolk’s natural damage as poison damage. The slender needle can easily slip through chinks in armor, which means it ignores SOAK.