Thursday 29 March 2018

Random Advancement (Robot)

Robots! Also works for homuculi, warforged, golems, etc (with a lil tweaking for flavour)

Previous random advancement tables by me: Human and Very Good Dog.

Compilation of tables can be found here, courtesy of the estimable Jeff Rients. I believe the original idea comes from Zak S.


by Phil Foglio


01-03: Can a robot learn.... to love? No. Well, not you. You're immune to emotional shenanigans, both magical and mundane.(by default robots aren't: flavour it like the magic is messing with their programming)
04-06: You're becoming more and more human, for better or for worse. Roll on the human table.
07-09: You're all tech-y and well travelled and stuff. Roll on the Traveller table.
10-12: This is some Pinocchio shit. Roll on the Fool table.
13-15: let's be honest, if you ended up as an adventurer, you were probably designed as a killbot. Roll on the fighter table.
16-17: You got more dynamos and wires added to your brainbox. Or maybe pins and needles, and now your brain is pretty SHARP. +2 Intelligence, +1 each time you roll this again
18-19: new understanding of these meat creatures who surround you makes you less hard to relate to. +1 Charisma
20-21: new understanding of what your existence really MEANS gives you +1 Wisdom
22-23: gotta upgrade that machinery sometime! +1 Strength
24-25: extra RAM and hard drive space (or like, mauve crystals of you're a magic robot) gives you +1 intelligence!
26-29: Mechanical reliability. Once per short rest, when you would roll a d20 you can instead just make it an 11 (plus whatever stuff you would add to that normally,ofc)
30-33: +1 AC. Stacks.
34: you have a little heads-up display or arm thingy. For each gemstone you install in it, you can detect a kind of magic. Ruby=evocation, Emerald=enchantment, opal=illusion, onyx=necromancy, sapphire=divination, pearl=transmutation, Amber=conjuration.
35: jet boots/pack. You can fly, but only for one turn at a time. If you reroll this, that's an extra turn you can stay up in the air.
36: extradimensional storage. As a built-in bag of holding.
37: "the possibility of successfully navigating this dungeon is approximately 3,720 to 1." You can calculate probability. You probably constantly spout depressing info like that, but once per session this translates to knowing the DC for a effect, the CR of a monster or challenge, the 'level' for a dungeon/adventure, or some other 'unknowable' DM-only metric of balance and design.
38: you've learned how to tell jokes. Gain the 'humour' skill, and the desire to use it at every opportunity.
39: Universal translator. Not actually universal, just programmed with a lot of languages. Easy (10-15) intelligence check when you encounter a new language to see if you already know it.
40-42: you can record sounds, voices, music, any play it back at will. Doesn't duplicate the effects of spells (or DOES it?). Rolling this again lets you capture video as well. And then... Smells?
43: you can finally identify birds. Gain the Identify Birds skill. Rolling this again means you can identify other critters too!
by Matt Dixon
44-46: every time you miss, you get a +1 attack and damage against that target, stacking til you hit it. Roll this again and it's +2, then +3, etc
47: You can emit an EMP that disables spells and robotics. Works as dispel magic, robots are effected as if by hold monster (but robots only) 1/day.
48-50: Flashlight eyes. If you get this again, you can use them to blind opponents by shining the light right in their faces (20-ft line, 5 ft wide; DC 8+proficiency+intelligence bonus). If you get this a third time, you can increase the light to deal 1d4 radiant damgage a round (no save, surprisingly useful to get around regeneration.)
51-52: Ablative armour. Attacks that deal less than (5+your level) in damage instead deal no damage to you. Rolling this again adds 5, then 2, then 1, to the total damage you can prevent
53: you have a flexible human suit or hologram that you can use to pass yourself off as human. If you're a big or weirdly shaped robot, to can fold yourself down to fit in your disguise.
54: you have a robot animal form you can assume. Pick from the druid wild shape table for a character of your level. You're still a robot when you're in that form, obvs.
55-56: machine gun. 2d6 damage in a ten-foot wide area, Dexterity saving throw for half damage. Rerolls of this add 1d6.
57-59: you're super solar powered! You get +1 to all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws when you're in direct sunlight. Takes a few rounds to kick in and wear off, but only a few
60-61: you have an alchemical version of grease (an oil slick) and fog cloud, which you can deploy as a bonus action once per short rest
62-63: turbo-boosters give you the effect of Expeditious Retreat once per short rest.
64-65: you have an extra arm, it's like a utility-grasper. You can use it to hold stuff and manipulate things, but not for combat
66: you have befriended a small animal, like a mouse or a bird, that has made a nest inside of you or on your head. This doesn't let you communicate with it in any special way, but it ties to be helpful. Just having it around gives you a +1 to reaction rolls (cuz it's so cute) and +1 to initiative and perception checks (cuz it tries to warn you about stuff)
by Guillaume Menuel
67-69: you can read & memorize books and other written materials just by flipping through em really fast. You can mentally reference them for the information they contain. You can have a # of books stored equal to your intelligence SCORE- any books post that either replace a book of your choice, or impose a stacking -1 to all intelligence saves and checks.
70-71: self repair function. Once per short rest, when you take damage, you may gain a Repair point. As an action you may go into repair mode until the beginning of your next turn: your speed drops to 0, you get +2 AC, and you can't take reactions. You heal as if you'd cast cure wounds on yourself, as a cleric equal to your level.
72: you have a wireless transmitter that lets you communicate with other robots within 100 ft. Non robots can get a special chip implantef in their brain that lets you communicate with them too. This costs 25 coin, and hopefully a medical professional.
73-75: taser! As the cantrip shocking grasp. Rolling this again adds another dice to the damage. If you drop someone to 0 with this attack, they're knocked out instead of dying.
76: cloaking device. When you remain perfectly still you can turn invisible. You can also turn invisible as a bonus action until the beginning of your next turn once per short rest.
77-81: you have an alarm system. When you're resting and powered down you can make perception checks normally. You can set the alarm so that it has loud klaxons and flashing lights, or have it be silent. Either way, you get advantage to initiative if your opponent doesn't know you can do this. Also works when people try to pick your pockets. If you roll this again, reroll.
by Ian McQue
82-83: shield batteries. You have 5 temporary HP, +1 per level, and you regain them at the beginning of your turn if you haven't taken damage since last turn.
84: if you die but your head is still intact, your head can be removed and carried around and you can still talk to people. Resurrecting you just means building you a new body or repairing your old one.
85: you have a mini version of yourself that you can launch and send out, like a drone. It can fly and is tiny, and has half your HP. During this time your big body is immobile and offline, altho it can still watch and remember what went on around it
86-88: you get expertise in a skill you have. If you roll this again you get mega-expertise (triple your proficiency bonus instead of double.)
89-90: hacking dothingy. Totally lets you upstage the thief, but only on mechanical/electronic/magic-tech locks. And computers & computer-analogues. Like the knock spell except it takes you 1d6-int bonus rounds (min 0 rounds)
91: insufferably superior. Anytime one of your friends fails a knowledge, research, intelligence check (stuff like that) you get a free tool at a +2 to see if you know the answer. If it doesn't make sense why you didn't volunteer the info earlier, it's because they 'never asked'
92: every time you take damage in combat you have a 5% stacking chance of flipping out like a barbarian in a rage.
93-94: your clockwork brain lets you predict perfectly any timing based things like traffic lights or smashing hallway traps of doom. You have to have time to study the full pattern; if you have to rush it and the DM calls for a safe or a roll you at least have advantage.
95: you can edit out and jettison parts of your memory, at will. Useful for preventing insanity and mind reading. If you roll this again, you can also partition your mind, effectively having different consciousnesses that might know different things, and can exchange memories, go dormant, etc.
by Filip Burburan
96: your robot-based dance moves give you the performance (dance) skill
97: your eye is quicker than the hand. You see 'fast' enough to count a hummingbirds wing feathers in motion. This gives you advantage vs sleight of hand/pick pocket kinda things, and lets you deflect missiles like a monk (reaction, 1d10+Dex+level damage reduced) but you can't throw em back cuz that's a ki thing, which you don't have. Or DO you???
98-99: You have proficiency in saving throws vs. Devices.
100: You're made of adamantine. Your unarmed attacks and any built-in physical weapons bypass adamantine resistance, deal double damage to objects. You are immune to thunder damage, critical hits, and any effect that would sever a limb or break you into pieces, including vorpal weapons.

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