Spelljammer Wiki
Register
Advertisement

An Autognome is a gnomish-created automaton from the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1]

Overview[]

An autognome is a mechanical automaton created by the tinker gnomes for various missions in environments hostile to human- and gnome-kind, including exploration, rescue, prospecting, and defense. It works about as well as any other gnomish invention. Any autognome encountered is either carrying out its current orders; is under a gnomes' direct control; or is a rogue, meaning its forgotten its orders and is now wandering through wildspace doing anything except what it was designed to do.[1]

Description[]

An autognome resembles a gnome, with gears, pulleys, and bits of magic inside it, though no one could ever confuse an autognome with a real gnome. Autognome faces are painted, even down to red circles on their cheeks. They walk with a stiff gait, clanking, wheezing, whirring, and razzing, their arms swinging out of rhythm. Autognomes can speak gnomish and the common trade tongue in a nasal monotone.[1]

Ecology[]

Autognomes contribute nothing to their ecosystem except for piles of scrap metal when they inevitably break down. Rogue autognomes are often considered a wildspace hazard.[1]

Combat[]

Autognomes are programmed to obey the following directives:

1. Defend gnomes under attack by non-gnomes;
2. Defend yourself against attack; and
3. Defend babies and children from harm.

The last directive arose from the best inventions, but unfortunately, it neglects to specify races; so if, for instance, an autognome sees elves battling young beholders, the autognome will automatically attack the elves.

Autognomes attack with two heavy metallic fists; unfortunately, autognomes are slow and always attack last in a round when using their fists. Since one of their functions is to collect soil samples from different planets, most autognomes have a retractable metal scoop. However, they will only use the scoop as a weapon if they have malfunctioned (see below).

Some autognomes have been designed exclusively for combat, and have a wand of lightning mounted in their chests. These wands are salvageable after an autognome has been defeated or (more likely) when it breaks down and collapses into a useless heap. Whichever attack form an autognome uses, it yells "Crush! Kill! Destroy! Exterminate, exterminate! Maim! Hurt! Incapacitate!" as it fights.[1]

An autognome may spontaneously malfunction at any time, especially during combat: every successful hit on an autognome has a chance of causing it to malfunction. The various malfunction states include:[1]

  • the autognome goes rogue; or
  • the autognome begins to attacks itself; or
  • the autognome's head or limb falls off, and it may or may not stop to reattach them; or
  • the autognome attempts to extract a core sample from a victim; or
  • the autognome shuts down for up to 10 hours; or
  • the autognome explodes, damaging or injuring everything in a 20 foot radius; or
  • the autognome's programmed behaviors or orders may suddenly change, including:
  • the autognome activates its self-destruct sequence, and has to be doused with water within 4 minutes or it will explode; or
  • the autognome stops to deliver a report; or
  • the autognome asks to record a report, and remains stationary until the selected person stops talking; or
  • the autognome begins talking backwards; or
  • the autognome identifies the nearest person as a baby; or
  • the autognome identifies the nearest person as a gnome, and will follow them around, obeying their orders.

Society[]

Since autognomes are automatons, they have no society or preferred habitat. One in ten gnomish spelljammer have up to 4 autognomes on board to explore hostile environments.

Autognomes are capable of following up to 100 different orders, including what to do in certain situations, or what minerals to look for on a planet. An autognome can memorize and recite everything it sees and hears in a 24-hour period.

An autognome can converse with other beings, but its thought processes are inflexible, and it does not deviate from its orders. Figures of speech are lost on it, which can cause problems since an autognome's logic is quite narrow. For instance, an autognome may be ordered to fetch a rock sample. In its travels, it meets a human warrior named Rok. Therefore, out comes the sample scoop and…[1]

One-in-three autognomes encountered will have gone rogue, meaning that they have forgotten their original orders and have defaulted to one of the following behaviors:[1]

  • the autognome believes itself to be a real gnome, and tries to live a normal life, including eating, sleeping, etc.
  • the autognome accepts new orders from anyone it meets;
  • the autognome accepts new orders from anyone it meets, except it does the exact opposite;
  • the autognome attacks all living creatures in sight.

Creating an autognome[]

The tinker gnomes keep the process of creating new autognomes a tightly guarded secret (though truth be told, no one but the gnomes want to build the things). According to rumor, creating an autognome requires many spells, such as enchant an item, animate object, and permanency, and it costs at least 10,000 gp.

For some reason, the dohwar are interested in purchasing intact, working autognomes. All other intelligent races either flee from the things or, if the autognome is unaccompanied by a gnome, blow it up.[1]

Signature Spelljammers[]

None. Some gnomish spelljammers will have up to 4 autognomes on board to explore hostile environments.[1]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 John Terra, MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Autognome entry
Advertisement