Robo-Jacks (3.5e Monster)

''Before you works a great bronze statue of a jovial looking dwarf, its joints in motion revealing complex gears, pulleys, and wires within. Its arms have been replaced by axes which it uses to hack away at trees. You know the jovial face is forged that way, but the machine moves with apparent enjoyment at its task.''

Great dwarven wizards got together to mass produce cheap and useful servitors to help in various tasks of dwarven life; felling trees upon the surface, hammering iron within the forges, and digging ore deep below. These mechanical creations are part a wonder of engineering and the more classic binding of an elemental. It binds a fire elemental to power an analog mind and body into action rather than controlling it directly. While it served well to cut costs, it came with a fatal flaw. For the quasi-minds programmed into the robo-jacks were made to love their job, and love they do to the point of sometimes going rogue so that it may continue to chop, hammer, or dig through anything in front of it regardless if it is intended or not. Rather than a berserk chance as associated with clay and flesh golems, the clockwork robo-jacks gain a zeal which is difficult to stop.

All robo-jacks are almost the same save for the nature of their hands (axes, hammers, or picks) and their expertise or focus. For mindless automations, they are surprisingly canny and capable of receiving complex instruction which they will follow to a T. However, that only applies to the fields of woodcutting, forging, and mining respectively. It proved useful, allowing owners to command a robo-jack to "dig up all the gold in this hill" without needing to explain how to avoid obvious dangers or other analytical abilities not usually attributed to mindless beings.

Robo-jacks appear as stylized and often jovial dwarves made of bronze with weapons or tools for arms, and machinery under their joints. They stand at a larger-than-dwarf 6 ft tall and weigh 500 lbs. They do not speak, but they understand Dwarven by default.

Combat
If a robo-jack is in combat it is almost surely because of its zeal altering its programming. In a search for more trees to chop, metal to hammer, or ore to mine they may decide to expand the definition of trees to the trent population, try to reforge weapons still being held, or remove the materials from a still living being. They are capable of simple self defense, fighting in a straightforward manner. They usually move into groups of creatures with their upper bodies spinning to strike all the targets with a whirlwind attack.

Axe Tricks: The axejack robo-jack has access to several unique abilities it can use with its weapons of choice, from the choices shown below.


 * Nature Bane: The axejack's weapons are considered Fey Bane and Plant Bane weapons, and bypass DR/cold iron.


 * Tree Feller: The axejack deals triple damage against unattended objects and ignores 5 points of hardness. If it sunders a column of at least 10 ft in height (such as a tree) it can control direction of fall, forming a line out to a distance of its height, and dealing 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 ft high of the column (max 20d6 for a 200 ft column).


 * Tornado Whirlwind: The axejack can make a whirlwind attack as part of a full round action, and move up to its move speed. It can attack any creatures within its reach along its path once, and gains a +4 dodge bonus on any attacks of opportunity it provokes for movement.

Hammer Tricks: The hammerjack robo-jack has access to several unique "combat maneuvers" it can make in liue of a normal attack roll, from the choices shown below.


 * Earthshaker: The hammerjack can pound the ground with its hammers as a standard action. All creatures within a 20 ft radius on the ground must make a DC 23 Reflex save or take 8d4 nonlethal damage and fall prone, save halves damage and negates prone.  The saving throw is Strength based.


 * Hammer Break: The hammerjack's hammers gain +5 on sunder checks and on damage to break objects.


 * Home Run: As a standard action the hammerjack can make a single attack. If it hits it gets a free bull rush attempt with a +5 bonus.  They do not need to follow the opponent they bull rush, and the creature must make a DC 10 Balance check or fall prone at the end of movement.

Pick Tricks: The pickjack robo-jack has access to several unique "combat maneuvers" it can make in liue of a normal attack roll, from the choices shown below.


 * Armor Piercing: The pickjack ignores material damage reduction and up to hardness 8.


 * Burrow: The pickjack doesn't quite have a burrow speed, but it can rapidly burrow through both soil and unworked solid rock at its movement speed as a standard action.


 * Hook Around: The pickjack's pickaxe is considered a trip weapon, and it does not provoke when tripping. However it cannot drop its weapon if the trip fails on account of being connected to its body.

Zeal : Instead of going berserk, robo-jacks enter a zealous state. For every day of function on a particular task, there is a 1% chance it becomes zealous. It ceases to accept new commands and continues its duty, finding new work on its own or making its own problems in order to fix them. Once a robo-jack becomes zealous, it won't accept any commands until brought below 50% hp. The robo-jack’s creator, if within 60 feet, can try to regain control by speaking firmly and persuasively to the robo-jack, which requires a DC 19 Charisma check, which makes it go inactive for 1 minute as it reboots.

Complex Machine : Robo-jacks are not immune to critical hits or sneak attacks, but do have 25% Fortification. Their complex quasi-minds allow them to think intelligently when it comes to their expertise. Use their Charisma score in place of their intelligence for the purpose of tactics or skill and ability checks.

Death Throes :  The fire elemental which powers robo-jacks explodes and escapes when it is destroyed. All creatures in a 10 ft radius burst centered on the robo-jack take 2d6 fire damage, no save.

Powerful Build :  The physical stature of robo-jack lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a robo-jack is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the robo-jack is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A robo-jack is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A robo-jack can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty (technically the axes, hammers, and pickaxes used are large size). However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.

Skills: Robo-jacks have maximum ranks for free in one Craft and one Profession skill.