Clockwork Automaton (starting race)

Clockwork automata are a playable race in dNetHack and SlashTHEM, modified from the Biodiversity patch.

Racial benefits and restrictions

Clockwork Automata may be Archeologists, Binders, Knights, Monks, Priests, Samurai or Troubadours (as androids, they can be Anachrononauts). They are neutrally or lawfully aligned. In SlashTHEM, they must be neutral, and can additionally be Electric Mages, Locksmiths, or Warriors, but not Knights or Samurai. Dwarves are peaceful to them, and gnomes (and ogres in SlashTHEM) hostile.

Clockwork automata do not recover HP normally, instead they must stand still ('.') and repair themselves. They will recover HP faster as they gain levels. They may also use potions or other magic to recover hp. Their attributes cannot be abused or exercised, but can otherwise be raised or lowered as normal (e.g. via the potion of gain ability.

Clockwork automata do not eat food, meaning that the ring of slow digestion has no effect: they must instead be wound up using any skeleton key - a clockwork automaton is not able to do this themselves, and must have a tame monster perform the action or pay a peaceful monster with hands to have it done. Each turn is worth 10 nutrition.

Clockwork automata can drink potions, and potions of oil provide some healing and nutrition. Blood potions may provide resistances.

Clockwork automata can adjust their clockspeed with the #monster command. High speed doubles the automaton's moves per turn, but increases nutrition loss by 4x. Low speed halves the automaton's moves per turn, but reduces normal nutrition use to 1/10 turns. Switching to high speed burns 10 nutrition, while switching to other speeds does not carry a nutrition penalty. Over-wound automata can't maintain low clockspeed, and under-wound automata can't maintain high speed.

Clockwork automata do not breathe and start out with resistance to stoning, poison and sickness. They gain shock resistance at XL5, cold resistance at XL10 and fire resistance at XL15.

Clockwork automata may sacrifice with impunity (other than gifted pets). They're not specifically exempt from same-race sacrifice, but since all normally spawning clockwork monsters also don't leave corpses, it never becomes an issue.

Clockwork do not benefit from the normal effects of booze, including sanity restoration and your drunkenness counter.

Clockwork automata interact differently with seduction attacks performed by foocubi and other monsters, with a different set of positive and negative effects that can occur afterward. For foocubi:

• If your combined intelligence and charisma are lower than a randomly generated number between 1 and 34, you will either lose an experience level or have a single item stolen from you by the foocubus, with an equal probability of each.
• Otherwise, there is a ¹⁄₅ chance of gaining a level from the encounter - the remaining ⁴⁄₅ of the time, the foocubus will offer to wind you up if you are below half of your maximum nutrition.

Stats

Character race	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
Clockwork Automaton	18/**	18	18	18	18	18

Upgrades

Upgrades are not mutually exclusive: you can have one of each and some can be taken multiple times. Any upgrade action consumes an upgrade kit, and other components where applicable as noted below:

• Phase engine: Walk through walls, at the cost of 10x nutrition consumption. Activate and deactivate via the #monster menu.
  • Requires: subethaic component
• Stove upgrades: Gain the ability to eat or drink certain kinds of items, in combination with potions of water, to gain nutrition. If you do not drink water while using these upgrades, you will heat up instead of gaining nutrition, adding extra damage to your attacks, but potentially damaging your inventory and melting yourself.
  • Oil Stove: Gain nutrition from drinking potions of oil in combination with potions of water
    • Requires: nothing
  • Wood Stove: Gain nutrition from eating woody corpses or dried tins in combination with potions of water.
    • Requires: tinning kit
  • Hellfire Furnace: Gain nutrition from eating almost anything in combination with water, but only 1/10 the normal amount.
    • Requires: hellfire component
• Switch Upgrades: Alter how switching clockspeeds using the #monster command works.
  • Efficient Switch: Switching to high speed mode no longer consumes 10 nutrition.
    • Requires: crossbow
  • Fast Switch: Switching speeds no longer costs a turn.
    • Requires: nothing
• Armor Plating: Your natural AC bonus goes from 3 to 10.
  • Requires: archaic plate mail
• Magic Furnace: Consume magic items to gain magic energy. Destroys the consumed item.
  • Requires: wand of draining
• Scrap Maw: Eat rustable items to regain HP.
  • Requires: scrap
• High Tension Spring: Increase your maximum nutrition by 2000. This upgrade can be take multiple times.
  • Requires: nothing

Encyclopaedia entry

I am not an unimaginable thing
My thoughts are tangible
though they're full of springs
I don't have the heart to send you untruthful words
My skin is cold to the touch and made from the earth

[ Automatonic Electronic Harmonics, Music & Lyrics By David Michael Bennett ]