Conveyor (5A)
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| Starfox's 5th Edition Fan Page |
This is an Artificer Specialization for 5A.
Conveyors build large vehicles, machines that can convey the artificer and perhaps a few passengers. This conveyance can be used for travel, exploration, or combat. Always exotic, such vehicles are unique sights that always draw attention wherever they appear.
Greyhawk: Vehicles in use in the Flanaess is almost universally powered by draft animals, rowers, or the wind, but conveyors can build vehicles centuries ahead of their time. The central region around Greyhawk and the Ulek states and the city of Irongate are the likeliest place to find them.
Source: Original.
Subclass Features
Proficiencies
When you adopt this specialization at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with carpenter's tools. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan's tools of your choice. You also gain proficiency with one type of vehicles: land vehicles, water vehicles, or air vehicles.
At 5th level, 9th level, and 15th level you gain proficiency in one set of artisan's tools or one type of vehicle of your choice.
Conveyor Spells
Starting at 3rd level, you always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Conveyor Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.
| Artificer Level | Conveyor Spells |
| 3 | Expeditious Retreat, Tenser's Floating Disc |
| 5 | Dragon's Breath, Pass Without Trace |
| 9 | Daylight, Meld Into Stone |
| 13 | Control Water, Freedom of Movement |
| 17 | Control Winds, Telekinesis |
Experimental Vehicle
By 3rd level, you have completed an experimental vehicle. This vehicle counts as a creature, and you can ride this "creature", and it can take no actions unless you are riding it. You can spend actions to use the vehicle's abilities, including any attacks the vehicle is capable of. Any artificer spells with a range of self affecting you also affect the vehicle as long as you are riding it. When you use vehicle weapons to attack, you can use your spell attack bonus for attack rolls and Intelligence bonus for damage rolls, but others using vehicle weapons use the normal ability score. All weapons mounted on an experimental vehicle are simple weapons.
If the Mending spell is cast on your experimental vehicle, the vehicle regains 2d6 hit points. If it has died within the last hour, you can use your carpenter's tools as an action to revive it, provided you are within 5 feet of it and you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. The experimental vehicle is restored after 1 minute with all its hit points recovered.
Basic Type
When you gain this ability, you must decide to create a land vehicle, water vehicle, or air vehicle. You must be level 9 to create an air vehicle. You can only change the basic type of vehicle when you advance in level. You can only create vehicles of a type you are proficient with piloting.
There are modifications (see below) that add a second or third type to your experimental vehicle. This gives additional modes of movement and can serve as prerequisites for other modifications, but does not change the vehicles basic type.
Stat Block
Your proficiency bonus (PB) and your level appears in several places in the stat block.
Medium construct
- Armor Class: 14 + PB (natural armor)
- Hit Points: 8 times your level (the defender has a number of Hit Dice [d10s] equal to your level)
- Speed: land, fly (hover), or swim 20 feet, plus 10 feet times your PB.
- STR 10 +2xPB (+PB) DEX 1 (-5) CON 14 (+2) INT 0 (−5) WIS 0 (-5) CHA 14 (+2)
- Saving Throws: Dex +1 plus PB, Con +2 plus PB
- Damage Immunities: poison, psychic
- Condition Immunities: blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, unconscious.
- Senses: none
- Languages: none
- Challenge: —
- Proficiency Bonus (PB): equals your bonus
- Mount. The experimental vehicle can serve as a mount. Only you can ride it, and you can do so as long as your size is not larger than that of the vehicle. If you are not riding it, the vehicle is constantly stunned.
- Piloted. When piloting the vehicle, you can use your Intelligence (Vehicle Proficiency) bonus when the vehicle does a Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
- Machine. The experimental vehicle lacks Intelligence and Wisdom scores, is immune to any effect that allows an Intelligence or Wisdom save, and automatically fails any Intelligence or Wisdom check.
- Compact: The vehicle fills its space and cannot squeeze.
Simple Modification
Starting at 3rd level, you can apply a simple modification to your experimental vehicle. You can change all modifications to your vehicle at the end of a long rest.
Certain modifications and constraints (see below) have prerequisites that either you or the vehicle must fulfill to take that modification or constraint. An assistant can help you create a modification by providing skill and proficiency prerequisites.
Unless explicitly noted, a modification can only be applied once to each vehicle.
Option: If you increase the size of the vehicle with modifications, the GM may require that you supply the vehicle's new weight in timber. Timber costs 1 cp per pound or it can be harvested from trees.
A full list of Modifications is provided below.
Vehicle Constraints
At 3rd level you can choose to add up to two constraints to your experimental vehicle. Constraints are disadvantages that limits of hinders your vehicle's performance under certain conditions. Each constraint allows you to add one additional modification.
A full list of Constraints is provided below.
Additional Modification
At 5th level you can select an additional simple modification, for a total of two.
Personal Transport
At 5th level you can construct an additional personal vehicle, but this vehicle cannot be made larger than Medium in size. It is created using the experimental vehicles rules and has the same number of modifications as your experimental vehicle, but cannot have constraints. Your personal transport can be a passenger or cargo on another vehicle.
Advanced Modifications
At 9th level, you can apply a total of three modifications to your experimental vehicle, and the modifications can be those listed under Simple Modifications or Advanced Modifications.
Exceptional Modifications
At 15th level, you can apply a total of four modifications to your experimental vehicle, and the modifications can be those listed under Simple Modifications, Advanced Modifications, or Exceptional Modifications.
Modifications & Constraints
The following modifications and constraints can be installed in experimental vehicles.
Simple Modifications
Available from level three, these modifications are common and useful.
Accommodations
You and passengers can sleep in the vehicle, allowing a long rest inside the vehicle. The vehicle offers only the protection it normally does. You can sleep in stowage, doing so offers protection, but no vision outside.
Amphibian
Prerequisite: proficiency with water vehicles. Your vehicle gains the water vehicle type in addition to any other types it already has. When piloted in water you use your proficiency in water vehicles.
Armored
Prerequisite: Proficiency with smith's tools. The vehicle is armored but it's Armor Class does not improve. Instead it gains a number of temporary hit points equal to half the number of hit points it has (rounded up). These temporary hit points can be restored using the Mending spell, up to the initial maximum. As long as your vehicle has any of these temporary hit points, you and all passengers in the vehicle have cover from all attacks, but any attack directed at a traveler that misses automatically hits the vehicle.
Camouflaged
Prerequisite: proficiency with painter's supplies. You can use Intelligence (vehicle proficiency) as if it was Dexterity (Stealth) for the vehicle. The vehicle either be motionless or needs cover or concealment according to the normal Stealth rules, which can be hard to find for large vehicles.
Huge
Your vehicle becomes Huge and has a space of 15 feet times 15 feet. Reduce the speed of the vehicle by 20 feet. The vehicle has d12 hit dice and gains two additional hit points for each level you have. It can carry eight passengers in addition to you. A vehicle can only have one size-altering modification.
Large
Your vehicle becomes Large and has a space of 10 feet times 10 feet. Reduce the speed of the vehicle by 10 feet. The vehicle has d10 hit dice and gains an additional hit point for each level you have. It can carry three passengers in addition to you. A vehicle can only have one size-altering modification.
Melee Attack
The vehicle a melee attack you can use by taking the attack action. This weapons does 2d10 force damage. When you are riding the vehicle you can attack with this weapon as a bonus action. Yo cannot make attacks of opportunity with this weapon.
If the vehicle is Large, this weapon does 3d10 force damage and has a reach of 10 feet.
If the vehicle is Huge, this weapon does 4d10 force damage and has a reach of 15 feet.
If the vehicle is Gargantuan, this weapon does 5d10 force damage and has a reach of 20 feet.
Racing Vehicle
Increase the speed of the vehicle by 20 feet. You can take this modification several times, with stacking benefits.
Ranged Weapons
The vehicle has one or more ranged weapons you or a passenger can use by taking the Attack action. These ranged weapons do 1d8 force damage with a range of 30/90 and the loading property.
On your turn, when you ride the vehicle and move at least 20 feet straight towards a potential target, you can attack that target as a bonus action, ignoring the loading property of the weapon.
If the vehicle is Large, this weapon does 2d8 force damage with a range of 50/150 and the loading property. If the vehicle is Huge, this weapon does 3d8 force damage with a range of 70/210 and the loading property. If the vehicle is Gargantuan, this weapon does 4d8 force damage with a range of 90/270 and the loading property.
At artificer level 9, add 1d8 to the damage of all of these attacks.
Sculpted
Prerequisite: proficiency with woodcarver's tools. The vehicle is covered in elaborate sculpture to impress and frighten. While riding the vehicle, you can use your spell attack bonus in lieu of Charisma (Intimidation) and Charisma (Persuasion). You can amplify your voice to be clearly heard out to a distance of 300 feet.
Windows
Prerequisite: proficiency with glassblower's tools. The vehicle has glass windows or portholes that allows travelers to see out but prevents those outside from looking in. Travelers cannot be targeted by spells that require a visible target. As soon as the vehicle has taken any hit point damage, windows cease to work.
Advanced Modifications
Available from level 9, advanced modifications are less common and more specialized.
Calliope
Prerequisite: proficiency with a keyboard instrument. The vehicle has an integral musical instrument. This instrument can be heard loud and clear and up to 100 feet away and weakly at least three times as far. A calliope on a Large vehicle can be heard clearly at 300 feet, a Huge vehicle at 1,000 feet, and a Gargantuan vehicle's calliope at 3,000 feet.
Cone Weapons
Prerequisite: proficiency with alchemist's supplies. The vehicle can project a 20 foot cone of harmful energy, doing 4d6 acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage, as decided when the modification is installed. A Dexterity saving throw against your spell DC halves this damage. You or a passenger can use the breath weapon in any direction with the Use Object action.
At level 15 this creates a 30 ft. cone that does 8d6 damage. Add necrotic, radiant, and thunder to the types of damage it can inflict.
Echo Bottles
Prerequisite: proficiency with potter's tools. Travelers can use echo bottles to cast Message. At 9th level the range of the spell is increased to 250 feet and the spell can be cast as a bonus action At 15th level the range increases to 500 feet and the spell can be cast without spending an action.
Environmental Protection
Prerequisite: proficiency with leatherworker's tools. The vehicle protects its travelers from environmental dangers, providing resistance to acid, cold, fire, and thunder damage. The vehicle does not gain these resistances.
Flier
Prerequisite: proficiency with air vehicles. Your vehicle gains the air vehicle type in addition to any other types it already has. When piloted in the air it uses proficiency with air vehicles.
Ground Travel
Prerequisite: proficiency with land vehicles. Your vehicle gains the land vehicle type in addition to any other types it already has. When driven on land it uses proficiency with land vehicles.
Optics
Prerequisite: proficiency with glassblower's tools. The vehicle carries telescopes and other optics that allows travelers to see clearly at long distances and removes the disadvantage for firing ranged weapons at long range.
Submersible
Prerequisite: water vehicle type, proficiency with alchemist's supplies. The vehicle can move underwater and provides breathable air for travelers.
Exceptional Modifications
The mark of inventive genius, exceptional modifications are rare and wonderful and only become available at level 15.
Arms
Prerequisite: proficiency with tinker's tools. The vehicle has two arms that allows it to manipulate objects and wield weapons. It can use any weapon you are proficient with. It can also use a shield to protect itself.
If the vehicle is larger than Medium, all equipment it uses must be scaled appropriately.
A Large vehicle does twice the dice of damage of the same type the weapon already inflicts and has a reach of 10 feet. A Huge vehicle does three times weapon damage dice and has a reach of 15 feet, and a Gargantuan vehicle does four times the normal damage dice of the weapon and has a reach of 20 feet.
If it is appropriately armed, you can use two-weapon fighting with the vehicle.
Burrower
Prerequisite: proficiency with mason's tools. The vehicle has a burrowing speed equal to half its land speed. It can travel through sand, earth, mud, or ice but not rock.
Climber
Prerequisite: land speed, proficiency with tinker's tools. The vehicle has a climb speed equal to its land speed.
Crystal Windows
Prerequisite: proficiency with jeweler's tools. The vehicle has crustal windows or portholes that allows travelers to see out but prevents those outside from looking in. Travelers cannot be targeted by spells that require a visible target. Unlike normal windows, these are only destroyed once the vehicle is below half hit points.
Folding
Prerequisite: proficiency with tinker's tools. As an action when the vehicle is empty and within 5 feet of you, you can fold it up into a 5 inch replica of itself. You can unfold the folded vehicle into its normal size as an action, provided there is room for it to form fully.
Gargantuan
Your vehicle becomes Gargantuan and has a space of 20 feet times 20 feet. Reduce the speed of the vehicle by 30 feet. It has d20 hit dice and gains six additional hit points for each level you have. It can carry fifteen passengers in addition to you. A vehicle can only have one size-altering modification.
Jumper
| Terrain | DC |
| Unstable ground like rocks or bog | 10 |
| Dangerous ground like rubble or water up to 5 feet deep | 15 |
Prerequisite: proficiency with smith's tools, land type. Your vehicle moves overland by jumping. Each jump can be up to the vehicle's speed in length and half that in height. This allows the vehicle to ignore difficult terrain, tough you have to pass Intelligence (land vehicles) in certain types of terrain. If such a check fails, your movement is halved for this turn.
Stone Hull
Prerequisite: proficiency with mason's tools. Your vehicle loses 20 feet of speed but gains resistance to all damage. Travelers do not gain these resistances.
Constraints
Constraints limit a vehicle in some way, but also give the vehicle character and identity. They are available at level 3. Your main experimental vehicle can have up to two constraints, but your Personal Transport cannot have any.
Crewed
The vehicles requires a number of crew equal to half its maximum number of passengers (round up, minimum one) to move. You can function as crew. Example crew are rowers, stokers, or engineers. Each member of the crew must spend an action each round crewing the vehicle. If the number of crew who spent actions during the last round drops below half the requirement (round the requirement up), halve the vehicle's speed. If no crew remains, the vehicle's speed becomes 5 feet.
You can take the Huge or Large modifications for free. At level 9, you can take the Gargantuan modification for free.
Fuel
Prerequisite: proficiency with alchemist's tools. The vehicle requires fuel to operate at peak efficiency. This is often a combustible such as alcohol, oil, coal or charcoal but might be feed for herbivore pullers (carnivores require much less mass of food) or exotic things like magical crystals or the life energy of sacrifice victims. This fuel is available at your home base and can be created using alchemist's supplies. It fuel might be available in other settlements at the GM's discretion. The cost to refuel and maximum fuel capacity of your vehicle depends on it's size: Medium 1 sp for 24 hours. Large 2 sp for 24 hours. Huge 5 gp for 1 week. Gargantuan 25 gp for 1 month. The cost is insignificant and can generally be ignored. A Large or larger vehicle can carry up to to two extra loads of fuel, each taking up half the vehicles cargo space. An extra load of fuel for a Medium vehicle weighs 20 lbs.
Glider
Prerequisite: air vehicle type. The vehicle needs to maintain speed in order to fly. It loses the ability to hover and stalls if it does not move at least 5 feet on your turn, losing 1d10 times 10 feet of altitude. If it reaches the ground, this is considered a fall.
Lemon
The vehicle requires an exceptional amount of maintenance and there is a constant risk that things will fail. At the start of each of your turns in combat, roll 1d20 to see if there is some kind of system failure. Effects last until the start of your next turn.
- The vehicle's speed is halved.
- The vehicle gains the Slow Turn constraint.
- The vehicle refuses to go in one cardinal direction, roll 1d8 to see which one, with 1 = north, 2 = north-east and so on.
- The vehicle shudders, imposing a -2 penalty on Dexterity checks and ranged attack rolls on all travelers.
- or more, no effect
Pulled
Prerequisite: Animal Handling. Your vehicle is pulled by creatures you must provide, usually animals. A single creature of the same size as the vehicle or a number of smaller creatures are required to pull it. The number of Medium creatures required to draw the vehicle depends on its size, as given in the draft table. A creature that is larger than Medium in size counts as more than one creature, given in the draft table.
| Number | Vehicle Size | Draft Creature Size |
| 1 | Medium | Medium |
| 4 | Large | Large |
| 9 | Huge | Huge |
| 16 | Gargantuan | Gargantuan |
All pullers must spend an action each round to pull and the vehicle cannot move faster than the slowest creature pulling it. For simplicity's sake, pullers are included in the vehicle's space and are targeted as if they were passengers.
- A land vehicle requires creatures with a land or fly speed to draw it.
- An air vehicle requires creatures with a fly speed to draw it.
- A water vehicle requires creatures with a swim or fly speed to pull it, unless it has the submersible modification in which case the creatures must have a swim speed.
You can take the Huge or Large modifications for free. At level 9, you can take the Gargantuan modification for free.
Rigging
The vehicle has masts, an envelope, or other protrusions that hinders its movement in constrained areas. It can only pass through an opening if it has at least ten feet of free space on each side.
Road-bound
Prerequisites: land type. The vehicle is built to run fast on roads. On a turn when the vehicle is using its entire land speed on a good road or similar flat terrain, the vehicle's speed is increased by 30 feet. It moves normally in terrain that is neither difficult ground nor particularly flat. Any kind of difficult ground has double effect on the vehicle, requiring 15 feet of movement for each 5 feet moved—or more in very difficult terrain. The vehicle cannot climb or swim unless it has a climb or swim speed. When using swim speed, it can only move on a liquid surface, it cannot dive.
Sailed
Prerequisite: proficiency with weaver's tools. The vehicle uses sails to move. Its speed is reduced to 5 ft. in a dead calm and it cannot move directly into the wind (one of the eight cardinal directions on a grid). It can zigzag to indirectly move in the prohibited direction.
Slow Turn
The vehicle cannot turn while moving and must move along one of the cardinal directions of the grid. Its heading is not recorded from round to round, it can move in a different direction on each of your turns.
Vehicle Rules
Experimental vehicles are mounts and act and move like other creatures and do not really need any additional rules, but there are certain corner cases that can use an explanation.
Passengers
Large and larger vehicles can carry passengers, allied creatures that you allow to ride your vehicle. Passengers cannot control an experimental vehicle and simply move along as it moves. A hostile creature can never be a passenger or traveler and must use Dexterity (Acrobatics) to Climb A Larger Creature in order to hitch a ride.
Travelers
A traveler (you or a passenger) is anyone you allow aboard a vehicle. Travelers do not trigger attacks of opportunity when the vehicle moves, only the vehicle does. Travelers can take actions, and are considered to occupy the entire space of the vehicle for the purpose of targeting. A traveler can spend half their movement to mount or dismount the vehicle in any space within 5 feet.
Traveler Size
Travelers are normally Small or Medium in size. A Tiny creature does not count against the passenger limit unless there are lots of them (GM's discretion). It can still be a passenger and act as a traveler. A Large creature counts as four travelers. A Huge creature counts as nine travelers. A Gargantuan creature counts as sixteen travelers.
Appearance
Only weight has any game effect, the rest of this section is entirely cosmetic. Just like creatures, vehicles are not actually cubes, this is an abstraction for use in play. A vehicle is generally oblong, with a width equal to its space and two to three times that long. Its means of propulsion is generally obvious, with air vehicles having a balloon, wings, or some kind of rotor or exhaust, water vehicles having an obvious hull, and land vehicles having wheels, threads, or legs. Modifications and constraints are also obvious.
Beyond this, a vehicle can look however you like. The shapes of creatures are popular, as are ship, barrel, and box-like shapes. Some look like scaled-up objects or small buildings. To imagine the size of vehicles, a Medium vehicle is about as big as a motorcycle, a Large vehicle like a car, a Huge vehicle is comparable to a tank, and a Gargantuan vehicle to a yacht.
All vehicle have a weight depending on their size. Medium vehicles weigh 100 lbs, Large vehicles 1600 lbs, Huge vehicles 2700 lbs, and Gargantuan vehicles weigh 6400 lbs.
Cargo and Stowage
A traveler can take what they can carry aboard a vehicle. In addition to passengers, a Large or larger vehicle can carry cargo of 500 lbs per passenger it is capable of carrying. A passenger can be replaced with an additional 250 lbs of cargo.
Creatures can be carried as cargo taking up 250 lbs each (apply Traveler Size above for creatures who are not Small or Medium). Creatures carried as cargo are said to be in stowage. They have full cover from all attacks as long as the vehicle has any hit points remaining and all creatures outside the vehicle have full cover against them. As an action, a creature in stowage can exit the cargo and become a passenger if there is room for more passengers in the vehicle. Likewise a passenger can use an action to move into stowage.
Ramming
| Vessel Size | Ram Damage |
| Medium | 1d10 |
| Large | 2d10 |
| Huge | 3d10 |
| Gargantuan | 4d10 |
A vehicle that moves at least 30 feet straight and moves within 5 feet of an enemy vehicle can spend an action to ram that enemy with an opposed Intelligence (vehicle proficiency) check. Both the rammer and the target inflict bludgeoning damage on each other depending on their own size, see the ram damage table, but the target takes twice the listed damage. If the rammer has the Melee Weapon modification, the target ship takes three times the listed damage.
Vehicle Husks
Vehicles are quite large, and when they cannot travel under their own power are hard to transport. A disabled vehicle is not entirely destroyed, it is a husk of wood beams and planks. Such a husk can be transported at half speed as if it had the Pulled constraint or carried as cargo.
As long as the husk is present, you can revive it using carpenter's tools and a spell slot of any level as outlined in the Experimental Vehicle ability. If the husk is lost, it takes you a week of work to build a new vehicle.
Vehicles Larger that Gargantuan
Vehicles can be larger than Gargantuan in size, but such vehicles are much less maneuverable than those covered here and are mostly considered terrain.
Commercially Available Vehicles
These rules can be used to create vehicles that can be bought or crafted by any skilled creature, not just an artificer. Such vehicles must conform to the technology common in the setting.
- A vehicle that can be made by a 3rd level artificer is a common item costing 100 gp.
- A vehicle that can be made by a 5th lever artificer is an uncommon item costing 1,000 gp.
- A vehicle that can be made by a 9th level artificer is a rare item costing 10,000 gp.
- A vehicle that can be made by a level 15 artificer is a very rare item costing 100,000 gp.
Anyone skilled with the type of vehicle can pilot it, counting as "you" in the text.
All such vehicles have an additional constraint that does not allow additional modifications. This is usually the crewed, pulled, road-bound, or sailed constraint.
Creating a commercial vehicle takes much longer than it takes for a conveyor artificer to create an experimental vehicle. Attempting to sell an experimental vehicle is usually futile, as it is nowhere as finished as a commercial vehicle and full of obviously unstable machinery.
Designer's Notes
This ended up as the skeleton of a vehicle system. The idea is that up until 5th level, the experimental vehicle is likely to be Medium or possibly Large and used in combat. After level 5 and the Personal Transport, the conveyor can afford to have a larger vehicle for travel and exploration, while the Personal Transport as their combat craft.