Metalworker Artisan Specialization

Metalsmiths are responsible for many innovations, but they are best known for the invention of the punkmech. Crafted from a variety of different engines, punkmechs turn diminutive soldiers into literal powerhouses.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you adopt this specialization at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with heavy armor. You also gain proficiency with smith’s tools. If you already have this tool proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice. You also add one engine of your choice and metal material blueprints to your portfolio, and these additions do not count against your maximum number of blueprints owned. If you already have the engine or material in your portfolio, you learn another engine or material blueprint of your choice.

If you have an engine available, you can combine it with your smith’s tools as an action to create power tools. These power tools allow you to build creations at a much faster speed than would normally be possible by a single individual.

Advanced Metalworking

At 3rd level, when using smith’s power tools, you can reduce the time to create a hard metal object from months to weeks (determined by dividing the total number of weeks required by 4), weeks to days, days to hours, hours to minutes, and minutes to rounds.

Create Punkmech

Also at 3rd level, your metallurgical pursuits have led to you making reinforced punktech armor, known as a punkmech. Using your smith’s power tools, an engine, and an action, you can turn a metal suit of armor you are wearing into a punkmech. If the armor normally has a Strength requirement, the punkmech lacks this requirement for you. The punkmech attaches to you and can’t be removed against your will. It also expands to cover your entire body, although you can retract or deploy the helmet as a bonus action. The armor replaces any missing limbs, functioning identically to a body part it is replacing. You can doff or don the armor as an action. The armor continues to be punkmech until you don another suit of armor or you die.

Enhance Punkmech

Beginning at 5th level, you can customize your punkmech. When you do so, choose one of the following engines. The engine you choose gives you special benefits while you wear it. Each model includes a special weapon determined by its engine. You always have the option to inflict piercing damage instead of one of the below damage types.

Engine Damage Type
Clockwork slashing
Fulgur lightning
Gaulau thunder
Orgone psychic
Soul necrotic
Steam fire
Sun radiant
Vril force

When you attack with that weapon, you can add your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, to the attack and damage rolls. You can change the armor’s engine whenever you finish a short or long rest, provided you have smith’s tools in hand and have blueprints to the appropriate engine in your portfolio.

  • Punkmech Punch. Each of the armor’s gauntlets counts as a simple melee weapon while you aren’t holding anything in it, and it deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage on a hit. You can change the bludgeoning damage to an alternate damage type determined by the engine that powers the punkmech.
  • Punkmech Pace. Your walking speed increases by 5 feet.
  • Punkmech Launcher. A ranged weapon appears somewhere on the punkmech (your choice). It counts as a simple ranged weapon, with a normal range of 90 feet and a long range of 300 feet, and it deals 1d6 piercing damage on a hit. You can change the piercing damage to an alternate damage type determined by the engine that powers the punkmech.

Armor Modifications

At 9th level, you learn how to use your artisan innovations to specially modify your punkmech. That armor now counts as separate items for the purposes of your Invent Items feature: armor (the chest piece), boots, helmet, and the armor’s special weapon. Each of those items can bear one of your innovations, and the innovations transfer over if you change your armor’s model with the Armor Modifications feature. In addition, the maximum number of items you can invent at once increases by 2, but those extra items must be part of your punkmech.

Improve Punkmech

At 15th level, your Punkmech gains additional benefits based on its engine.

Engine Weapon Improvement
Clockwork Damage dice increases to d8 (for the launcher), or d10 (for the punch).
Fulgur Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with this feature, you can deal an extra 1d6 lightning damage to that target.
Gaulau Once on each of your turns when you hit a target with this feature, you can deal an extra 3 (1d6) thunder damage to that target or 7 (2d6) if the target is a nonmagical object or a creature made of inorganic material such as stone, crystal, or metal.
Orgone A creature hit by this attack has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you until the start of your next turn.
Soul On a hit, the target takes additional necrotic damage equal to twice your level in this class and you gain temporary hit points equal to that amount, replacing any temporary hit points you already have. You lose these temporary hit points if you doff the armor. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Steam The target catches fire. Until someone takes an action to douse the fire, the creature takes 3 (1d6) fire damage at the start of each of its turns.
Sun Any creature that takes radiant damage from your Punkmech Launcher glimmers with magical light until the start of your next turn. The glimmering creature sheds dim light in a 5-foot radius, and you have advantage on attacks against it.
Vril When a Huge or smaller creature you can see ends its turn within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to magically force the creature to make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC, pushing the creature up 5 feet * your proficiency bonus away from you to an unoccupied space.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

5E RPG: Steampunk Adventures. Copyright 2022, Mal and Tal Enterprises, LLC; Author Michael Tresca.

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