Cephalyx Drudge
Image © Privateer Press, by Andrea Uderzo. Accessed at her deviantArt gallery here
[Where the cephalyx go, their drudges are sure to follow. In the original 3.0 Monsternomicon, cephalyx drudge was a template, but one that removed the class and natural abilities from the humanoid it was applied to, like the zombie template. Since the removal of the original person is kind of the point, I made it a simpler stat block. Keeping to the zombie comparison, in the 5e Monsternomicon, they get the 5e zombie's inhuman fortitude ability. I gave them a weaker version of it here: the ability to cheat the traditional hit point mechanics does make them scary, but I don't want them to be able to do it endlessly.
And in case you're wondering, the Monsternomicon came out in 2002, meaning that these guys predate the Big Daddies from Bioshock by five whole years.]
Cephalyx Drudge CR 2 LE Monstrous Humanoid This creature is a muscular humanoid with grayish skin. Their hands are covered in oversized gauntlets, and an ornate helmet obscures their head. Tubes and rivets run through their bodies, and their only clothes are a loincloth and foot wrappings.
Cephalyx drudges are the outcome of the grotesque modifications made by the cruel slavers known as cephalyxes on other humanoids. Cephalyx drudges remember nothing of their former lives and toil endlessly for their monstrous masters. They do not require food or drink, only rest, and a cephalyx collective typically has the drudges working in shifts so there are always some on call. They literally cannot disobey a cephalyx’s telepathic commands, and many are lost working in dangerous environments or to violence during cephalyx raids. The cephalyxes themselves see these as acceptable and replaceable losses, easily replaced by future victims. Drudges are simple but effective combatants. They pummel enemies until either the enemy or the drudge stops moving. If commanded to, a cephalyx drudge can attempt to grab captives and drag them away, fighting to knock enemies unconscious for analysis and conversion rather than to kill. If the goals of their masters are to kill and not capture, cephalyx drudges can be fitted with modular weaponry—this involves physically removing their oversized mechanical gauntlets and replacing them with a mechanical device that locks in their place instead. Whirling saw blades, extensible lances, and flails are the most common modular weapons, but others are possible. In the process of creating a drudge, the victim’s hands are removed and replaced with mechanical gauntlets, and a helmet is placed on the victim’s head. The helmet is itself an insidious surgical device, and over the course of a week, it bores into the proto-drudge’s brain and integrates itself fully into the nervous system. During the week of conversion, the helmet can be removed with a DC 25 Disable Device or Heal check; even a successful check deals 1d12 points of damage to the victim, as well as 1d6 points each of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma drain (a successful DC 15 Fortitude save reduces the drain to damage). After the helmet is finished with its grim work, the person the drudge was is wholly lost—only by killing the drudge and using resurrection magic can the victim be restored.