#clocksmith

[ask-the-clocksmith-ler]

Bonus:

[dailycharacteroption]

Clocksmith (Wizard Archetype)

(art by Marcel Mercado on Artstation)

 Oof, this one.

Well, I suppose I had to do it eventually. I’ve made it clear repeatedly in these various archetypes from Construct Handbook that I dislike the angle that most of the archetypes took in that book, most focusing on destroying them or emulating their power. I even said that the arcane tinkerer archetype for arcanists was the poster child of that very thing.

But today’s subject is perhaps the one that vexes me the most, and it’s the only one with inbuilt abilities tied to building your own constructs, the one thing that I was actually hoping for with character options from this book!

Essentially, the clocksmith is a wizard specializing in the crafting of clockwork constructs, perfecting the magic needed to animate them as well as the mechanical engineering that powers their motion. Hell, this archetype has the fastest turnaround of learning craft construct, giving it to you at first level, bypassing the prerequisites!

So what’s the problem?

The problem is, the drawback of having an early to mid-level feat at the start of your journey is the stipulation that while you can craft clockwork constructs just fine, all other construct types cost 1.5 times as much gold to craft, which makes most other constructs pretty much non-viable to craft without some serious investment, pretty much limiting you to clockworks. HOWEVER, the thing about clockwork constructs is, they are difficult to make, and not just because they have a subtype ability called “difficult to create” in the name which makes them more expensive than other constructs of their CR anyway.

No, clockworks are difficult to make because NO MATTER WHAT THE CR OF THE CLOCKWORK IS, THE MINIMUM CASTER LEVEL TO CRAFT ANY CLOCKWORK CONSTRUCT IS ALWAYS AT LEAST 12. Yes, even for low-CR stuff like Clockwork Goblin or Clockwork Songbird!

Which means, dear reader, that by taking this archetype at first level, you’ve basically got a dead feat for what could be most of, or even the entirety of the campaign, relying entirely on what other benefits the archetype gives you, and when you finally start getting able to use it, every non-clockwork construct in the game is now just as expensive as a comparable CR clockwork construct.

So honestly, I can only recommend this archetype if you like the idea of a customizable construct familiar, but even that isn’t as good as it seems, as we’ll see below. Still, this archetype is, I suppose, a thematic option should you find yourself at mid-level, and like having a neat familiar.

 The first thing that this path does offer is a construct familiar, which mimics pretty much any normal familiar you could take, and even grants a limited version of that form’s bonuses. However, unless you make one and take improved familiar, it is very specifically not a clockwork familiar, using the base stats for the basic familiar instead, albeit modified for being a construct.

They also are intimately familiar with how clockwork constructs operate, that knowledge helping them to resist the abilities of clockworks much better and letting their spells be more effective against them.

Additionally, as mentioned above, they gain access to the ability to craft constructs early in their career (for all the good it does them).

A major upside of this archetype, however, is that they periodically upgrade their familiar, increasing the number and complexity of their modifications as time goes on, as well as changing them as they gain mastery.

This archetype… honestly feels like it was either made by a freelancer who didn’t fully understand the penalties for making constructs, or it was bogged down by at least one person on the creative team being afraid of what game-breaking could be done with powerful construct minions, which is fair, but the compromise we got out of this archetype was… not good. It’s probably only worth taking if you’re starting at mid-level and therefore don’t have to slog through the levels with it, or if you really, really want to have a familiar with free eidolon evolutions. It also lets you keep your arcane school, but also replaces the arcane school abilities, which depending on the school in question, may or may not be worth it, especially in the early game. It really is an archetype that wants to look like it’s designed for the construct-loving player, but really isn’t at all. If you’re in it for the master craftsman that builds their own powerful minions for others or themselves, you’re better off working with a vanilla wizard with the arcane builder focused subschool of universalist. Still, if you think you can make it work and just really like the flavor and the custom familiar, or are playing in a campaign where clockworks are common enough to make the bonuses worth it, go for it.

 Clocksmiths focus on the mysteries of engineering more so than they do arcane secrets, so I’d imagine they get along quite nicely with alchemists and even 2nd edition’s inventors, though outside of their mystical clockwork-making circles they might find themselves alienated among other arcane spellcasters. Such peers might view them with curiosity, or even disdain.

  All concepts exist in some form in the fey realms, including clockwork wonders the material world has never seen. The Timeless Mechanism is a whole city devoted to strange wonders that do not exist anywhere else, including things like fully mechanical jubjub birds and others replicas of the Tane. A clocksmith wizard would do nearly anything to study such wonders for even one day.

 Kobolds have long prided themselves on their engineering, so it would only make sense that they take to clockwork mechanisms with ease. Such is the case with the newly founded nation of Brasswing, which hopes to establish itself as a country that must be taken seriously by it’s neighbors, but they have many enemies, some who will not suffer kobolds to ascend to the same table as their kind, and some who want their innovations for themselves.

 Mitzi Rotorvisk has been fascinated by clocks since she first saw one, and the young gnome saved up a surprising sum to attend a prestigious academy and learn all she could. Already, she is surpassing her peers, having created a clockwork hedgehog assistant to aid her, and she grows with every challenge she meets. However, she feel dissatisfied, sure that there must be one discovery which will simplify the creation of clockworks forever.

[jdferlin]

Being 8'5", it's hard for Clocksmith not to be a bit intimidating, especially when crossing paths with Lidelle or other short characters.

[silyabeeodess]

AHIT Headcanons: The Shapeshifter and the Badge Seller

I’m going to put the headcanons for the Shapeshifter first below the cut, in case anyone’s just interested in him, but if anyone wants to read about the Badge Seller’s I recommend checking out the ones I have for Hat Kid’s homeworld first, as some of them will only make sense with those in mind.  That said, here we go:

The Shapeshifter

To most on the planet, the Shapeshifter is nothing more than a legend, an ancient figure few even know about and only through stories.  He’s a demonic entity bent on dragging his victims to the depths of despair, capturing their souls and/or life force to parade as them at will. 

He can only take the shape of those he’s absorbed.  In his true form, he looks like an amalgamated mess with a blackened core and multitude of eyes--that can emote different things and look in opposing directions, as if it were a glimpse of the armada of lost souls trapped inside him.  Even his voice reflects this, overlapping multiples into one insane voice as an echoing cacophony of sobs and screams underlines it if you dare to listen closely enough.  Few, however, see this form unless he wants them to.

There’s no particular type of person he’ll target: Anyone’s fair game and he’ll go after them through various means--offering deals, stepping in to pretend to be their only support, etc.  In the end, he always turns on them.  In the events of Act 2, he stayed in hiding to see which of the birds would fall to their worst natures and could be destroyed by them first: The Conductor with his arrogance and selfish ways or DJ Grooves with his envy and desperation to have his work recognized.  Hat Kid was a newcomer into the “game,” but as her actions pushed them both further on, he didn’t care.  Not until she changed them, that is.  Her actions and continued friendship forced the Conductor to taste a bit of humility and stopped DJ Grooves from letting his feelings/insecurities get the better of him.  Needless to say, the Shapeshifter wasn’t happy losing two potential victims.  He was, however, curious about the girl and all of her abilities--following her in secret from that point onward.

Mortals can’t really tell who he is unless he appears in his true form.  Ghosts and spirits, however, can sometimes sense him due to the extremely dark aura he oozes.  They’re also more capable of actually fighting him, so he has to be careful.  He has no friends among even the worst of spirits.  

The Badge Seller 

At one point in the distant past, Earth used to be an allied world to Hat Kid’s own.  A small mix of her people and Earth’s humans started a home where Subcon is now, where the large, shattered Time Piece is.  The Badge Seller was not only a member of a mixed generation of these people, but grew up to be a Clocksmith in charge of looking after the Time Piece prior to its destruction.  

When it did eventually shatter, releasing a wave of magic that wrecked the planet in various ways, many of Earth’s lifeforms were completely altered: Some animals gained sentience, some humans became part of a subspecies, and lifespans were stretched.  The Badge Seller had it worst: He was part of a rare, smaller group that became ageless.  This group--already having lost contact with HK’s homeworld and its resources due to its own fate--made it their duty to help watch after the planet in this strange, new age and see if they could make contact with other worlds.  Like the case with the Badge Seller’s body, each of them gradually became distorted, glitchy figures over time from their various experiences across different worlds, realms, and through time and space.  By the events of the game though, the Badge Seller is the only known survivor--the rest having been killed by different forces over the years. 

When they became the only one left, the Badge Seller used their magic to siphon the memories of their fallen friends into their own mind in order to gain a collective knowledge/wisdom that would allow them to follow the best courses of action in the future; however, this came at a great cost.  They lost their own identity, to the point where they can barely separate their individual memories from the giant pool stemming multiple people over the course of thousands of years.    

The Badge Seller continues with the group’s work in secret, but takes a much more neutral role now--only getting involved with the affairs of others when they feel they have to and letting the world run its course.  They feel there’s not much left for them to do now besides wait for the next cataclysmic event, that they don’t have much of a reason to be a part of a changing world beyond that given their own permanent, but out of place existence. 

Making their badges was a way of not only sharing knowledge and strength to those who might need them--limiting some badges only to those deemed worthy--but acted as a kind of hobby to make ends meet as they gradually became a kind of nomadic vendor. However, they are extremely interested in Hat Kid, being the only Clocksmith in a long while to appear on the planet’s surface.  A part of them would actually hope to take her under their wing as a sort of apprentice.  Hat Kid could learn a lot from them if that happened, but their centuries of loneliness might cause them to do something... drastic, as an end result of that training. 

The Badge Seller actually knows the Shapeshifter, and has crossed paths with him multiple times.  Out of anything else on the planet, they see the Shapeshifter as one of their final, uncompleted missions: A force that needs to be dealt with before he can hurt anyone else.  They hate each other.

[jdferlin]

Steam City Clocksmith. Trying a Steam City variant with a character of my own and given his name there's no reason not to make him a clocksmith.

[winghangsigns]

Led digital clock indoor IP54 in Led dot Matrix module which installed for University synchronized display #leddotmatrixdisplay #matrixledheadlights #digitalclockmurah #clocktimer #clocksmith #antiqueclock #overclock #againsttheclock #famousclocks #wallclocks #qclock #alarmclock #woodclock #clockworkangels #woodenclock #clocktattoos #aclockworkorange #clockchange #ledclockph #clock_tower #clockisticking（在 Shenzhen City Of China） https://www.instagram.com/p/CMWB1qIFxTq/?igshid=pyf7nfo0gky6

[olichannel]

A clock, without a clocksmith

Dr Manhattan

[takingsnakemountainbystrategy]

This is a video my friends and I made for the 48 Hour Film Fest.  I play the role of Clarence Tilden, Inn Keeper.  Enjoy!