Anacite Wingbot

Family: Anacite

Small construct, unaligned

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 24 (7d6)
Speed 40 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	1 (–5)	12 (+1)	6 (–2)

Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common (can’t speak)
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Electrical Weakness. The anacite has disadvantage on saving throws against lightning damage. If it rolls a natural 1 on the save it is stunned until the end of its next turn.
• Integrated Weapons. The anacite wingbot has a laser pistol welded into its body, making it impossible to disarm or destroy.
• Light Dependency. An anacite wingbot can acquire power from dim or brighter light, and it can store power generated in this way. The anacite wingbot can operate in darkness for 2 hours. After this time, the anacite wingbot gains the poisoned condition (ignoring its immunity to the condition) until it returns to an area of dim or brighter light.
• Shortwave. An anacite can communicate wirelessly. This acts as telepathy, but only with other creatures with this ability or constructs with the technological subtype.

ACTIONS

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, 5 ft. reach, one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
• Laser Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 120/360 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) fire damage.
• Trill. An anacite wingbot can create a shrill, high-pitched noise that alters the brain chemistry of those who hear it. All creatures within 30 feet must succeed a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. Creatures that cannot hear or do not have a brain are immune to this ability. Creatures that cannot hear or do not have a brain are immune to this ability.

ABOUT

A race of machines left behind by eons-departed masters, these constructs developed the capacity for evolution and self-improvement, creating an entire mechanical ecosystem. Anacites have varied general designs, but some have been engineered for specialized tasks. Two such specialists are the ambassador and the predator drone. While “anacite” officially refers only to the sentient varieties many off-worlders use it as a catchall term for the world’s mechanical life. Depending on their role, however, an anacite might be anything from a bulldozer-sized mining specialist to a floating electronic brain designed for advanced problem-solving, and even those anacites who fit the stereotypical metal-insect design usually have a modification or two, and almost all anacites can reconfigure parts of themselves to adapt to their circumstances.

In the uncounted millennia since the departure of the so-called “First Ones,” anacites have not been idle. The two primary factions of anacites, Those Who Wait and Those Who Become, have very different ideas of their purpose in life, yet the two are more alike than different.

While they variously wait for the First Ones to return or work toward taking on their progenitors’ mantle, anacites endlessly strive to acquire wealth and influence in preparation for their great goal’s fulfillment.

These artificial creatures lack basic sentience yet nevertheless reproduce and fill one of the planet’s ecological niches. These 4-foot-long machines whir from ridge to ridge on wings glittering with solar panels, feeding on the blazing light of the sun. Wingbots can be territorial, and they occasionally attack off-worlders or other anacites.

• Ambassadors. Anacite ambassadors travel to foster diplomatic relations. Most often, anacite ambassadors serve on seedships as emissaries. Anacite ambassadors can easily learn languages. Further, although they are not warriors, ambassadors can protect themselves with built-in lasers. To avoid tension during diplomacy, ambassadors keep this weapon retracted until it’s needed, though they usually notify their hosts about the laser unless there’s a good reason to keep it a secret.
• Predator Drone. An anacite predator drone resembles a rhinoceros beetle made of silvery metal with a reddish shell that opens to reveal enormous wings. The drone’s weapons are part of its body, leaving its wings and appendages free.
• Countless drones police megaplexes. Others serve as soldiers for anacites that have greater authority.
• Wingbot. The most common design for anacites is a basic arthropodan form of silvery metal, with multiple legs for efficient travel and claws or manipulators for accomplishing their assigned tasks.