Robot, Director RobotA humanoid torso and four spindly legs sprout from the top of this black-paneled orb. Buzzing mechanical tentacles churn and writhe below its bulk.Director Robot CR 10Source Pathfinder #90: The Divinity Drive pg. 88
XP 9,600
N Large construct (robot)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +15DefenseAC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural, –1 size)
hp 121 (14d10+44)
Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +9
Defensive Abilities all-around vision, hardness 10; Immune construct traits; Resist cold 10, fire 10
Weaknesses vulnerable to critical hits and electricityOffenseSpeed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 2 tentacles +19 (1d10+6), 2 slams +19 (1d8+6)
Ranged integrated laser rifle +16 (2d6 fire)
Space 10 ft., Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks electromagnetic pulse, grasping tentacles, overrideStatisticsStr 22, Dex 17, Con —, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 1
Base Atk +14; CMB +21; CMD 35 (39 vs. trip)
Feats Dodge, Mobility, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Spring Attack, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +10 (+14 when jumping), Climb +15, Craft (mechanical) +15, Disable Device +15, Knowledge (engineering) +15, Perception +15, Sense Motive +15
Languages Androffan, Common, Hallit
SQ advanced analytics, cling, repair robotEcologyEnvironment any (Numeria)
Organization solitary, patrol (1 director and 2–8 gearsmen), or unit (1 director, 2–12 gearsmen, and 1 myrmidon)
Treasure noneSpecial AbilitiesAdvanced Analytics (Ex) A director robot gains a bonus equal to its Intelligence bonus on all saving throws.
Cling (Ex) A combination of magnetic pads and electrostatic emitters in its feet allow a director robot to climb and travel on vertical or horizontal surfaces without having to attempt Climb checks, even allowing it to traverse these surfaces while upside down.
Electromagnetic Pulse (Ex) Once per day as a standard action, a director robot can unleash an electromagnetic pulse that deals 6d6 points of electricity damage to any robots or creatures with cybernetic implants within a 20-foot radius (Reflex DC 20 half). This bypasses any active force fields or similar effects, but doesn’t harm other living creatures or the director robot. Any technological item within this radius is drained of 1d6 charges unless it succeeds at a DC 20 Reflex save. The save DCs are Intelligence-based.
Grasping Tentacles (Ex) A director robot’s tentacles are primary attacks and have the grab special ability.
Integrated Laser Rifle (Ex) A director robot has a built-in laser rifle. This weapon has a range of 150 feet and deals 2d6 points of fire damage on a hit. The weapon can fire once per round as a ranged touch attack. A laser attack can pass through force fields and force effects, such as a wall of force, to strike a foe beyond without damaging that field. Objects like glass or other transparent barriers don’t provide cover from lasers, but unlike force barriers, a transparent physical barrier still takes damage when a laser passes through it. Invisible creatures and objects are immune to damage from lasers. Fog, smoke, and other clouds provide cover in addition to concealment from laser attacks. Darkness (magical or otherwise) has no effect on lasers other than providing concealment.
Override (Ex) A director robot can usurp control of an otherwise functional robot. In order to gain control of a robot, the director robot must first make a ranged touch attack against a target robot within a range of 60 feet. If the attack is successful, the targeted robot must succeed at a DC 20 Will saving throw to prevent the director robot from linking to the target’s command processor. On any subsequent turn after a link is established, the director robot can issue a command to the targeted robot as a standard action. The targeted robot can attempt another Will save (DC 20) to resist following each command.
To command its target, the director robot must be within 60 feet of the targeted robot and must issue the command in a language the robot understands. The types of commands it can issue are similar to those allowed by a suggestion spell—once a command is successfully issued, the robot does its best to carry out the orders over the course of the next hour. Additionally, any robot affected by this ability also gains a +2 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. These save DCs are Intelligence-based.
Repair Robot (Ex) As a standard action that doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity, a director robot can repair damage done to either itself or an adjacent creature with the robot subtype, healing the target for 1d10 points of damage.DescriptionNo society endures without order, and among robots that order is enforced by directors. Clad in gleaming metal and viewing the world through a rotating array of lenses, a director is a robotic overseer designed to maximize efficiency and command the loyalty of lesser automatons. Its torso rests upon a utilitarian egg-shaped pod loaded with manipulators, tools, and dozens of thin mechanical tendrils. Four long, mechanical legs support its bulk and carry it across any terrain, even allowing the robot to cling magnetically to vertical surfaces. While the upper frame sports human-like arms to manipulate traditional tools and weapons, two powerful tentacles extend from below its frame to facilitate combat and handle heavy lifting. Though its humanoid torso is barely larger than that of a human, the director’s entire frame stands over 10 feet tall and weighs nearly half a ton.EcologyDirectors are middle managers built to ensure efficiency, productivity, and obedience. They oversee complex projects and protect networks of robots from outside corruption. A unit of robots controlled by a director goes about its business swiftly and with mechanical precision, taking what organic beings might mistake for pride in conserving resources or completing projects rapidly.
Naturally, director robots need neither rest nor food, and their internal generators provide nearly limitless power. Designed to be adaptable, they function with equal ease on the battlef ield, within winding corridors, deep underwater, and upon starship hulls in the vacuum of space. The magnetic claws that carry the director’s bulk up sheer surfaces with surprising speed and grace are also perfectly suited to dragging damaged robots from the field.
To better analyze and respond to threats, directors are programmed with a remarkably advanced artif icial intelligence, capable of limited self-awareness and interaction with others. Their sophisticated systems easily overwhelm and seize control of other computeroperated devices, dredging memories and secrets from robotic minds, setting them to whatever work the director prioritizes, and removing any corrupting outside influence.Habitat & SocietyA director robot’s role is to break down the high-level goals of their superiors into simple instructions for lesser robots. While not fully self-aware in ways organic beings appreciate, their cold, clean minds take something like comfort in hard work, and experience distress if kept from their duties or left devoid of purpose—those without a clear goal often become obsessive, directing lesser robots to create order for its own sake. Surprisingly social, they fare poorly in isolation without other machines to interact with and direct.
Like all robots, directors are built, not born. With neural networks almost as advanced as androids’, newly activated units undergo a learning period during which they reconcile their reams of programmed knowledge with the unpredictable tendencies of reality. This digital “infancy” is a confusing time, and these robots exhibit extreme frustration while learning to adapt. Other directors are especially wary of these child units, and keep a cautious eye sensor on them, always prepared to jump in and override the new robot if it proves incapable of translating theory into practice.
Directors rarely stray from their heavily technological environments. On Golarion, they usually cling to Silver Mount, but sometimes accompany a legion of the Technic League gearsmen unbidden, ignoring orders from human masters and watching over their mechanical charges with an almost religious devotion. Some directors operate within Starfall where they direct other robots used by the Technic League.
Tightly guarded reports held by the Technic League claim that a rogue director robot maintains a hidden lair somewhere in central Numeria. The robot has taken over a splintered section of Divinity that contains a technological laboratory, and the reports claim that it’s building its own army of robotic followers.Creatures in "Robot" CategorySource Inner Sea Bestiary pg. 42
Products of technology advanced far beyond even those of the gunsmiths of Alkenstar, robots represent constructs animated by engineering and advanced science rather than magic. The people of Golarion think of robots as “automatons” or “metal men”—their proper nomenclature is known to only a few.
The first robots arrived untold years ago, when a ship from beyond the stars smashed into Golarion. The metal vessel entered the atmosphere in a blaze of fire and broke apart, scattering fragments across the plains of Numeria. Over the following centuries, several varieties of robots emerged or were recovered from some of these ruins. A few still follow the alien dictates of their original programming, while others run amok, their directives corrupted or forgotten. Perhaps the best-known robots are the fabled gearsmen, a veritable army of humanoid robots found stored and awaiting orders in a massive hold in Silver Mount.
The means of commanding robots vary from model to model, a source of endless frustration for Numerian artificers. Some obey orders from any humanoid, some bond to a specific master until her death, and others yield only to the command of brooches or rods recovered from Silver Mount. Still others submit after mechanical surgery, or not all. A surprisingly large fraction of uncontrolled robots already speak Common or Hallit. Most models exhibit considerable linguistic talents, and the robots train each other in their new home’s languages. Despite comprehending Numerian languages, most robots rarely speak save for terse acknowledgments and orders. The Robot Subtype “Robot” is a special subtype that can be applied to any construct without changing its CR. Robots share some features with clockwork constructs (The Inner Sea World Guide 256), and as with clockworks, you can simply remove the robot subtype and its traits to transform it into a typical construct animated by magic. A construct cannot possess both the robot and the clockwork subtypes. All robots gain the following traits, unless noted otherwise. - Intelligent: Robots are intelligent, and thus have skills and feats as appropriate for their Hit Dice. Unless otherwise indicated for a specific robot, all robots have Intelligence scores of 10. The following are class skills for robots: Climb, Disable Device, Fly, Knowledge (all), Linguistics, Perception, and Sense Motive.
- Vulnerable to Critical Hits: Whenever a robot takes extra damage from a critical hit, it must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being stunned for 1 round. If it makes a successful saving throw, it is staggered for 1 round. The robot remains immune to other sources of the stunned condition.
- Vulnerable to Electricity: Robots take 150% as much damage as normal from electricity attacks, unless they are immune to electricity via other special defenses.
- Difficult to Create: Robots are crafted via complex methods hidden and well guarded in Numerian ruins or other technological bastions. While the Technic League has developed magical solutions to some of these requirements, actual details on creating robots are beyond the scope of this book.
Numerian Technology Miraculous and deadly treasures lie in wait in Numerian dungeons, and the robots that dwell there often utilize these technological arms and tools themselves. A robot’s weapons and defenses are fueled by its central energy core, and unless otherwise indicated, a robot’s weapons and defenses have infinite ammunition and power.
Force Fields: A force field sheathes a robot in a thin layer of shimmering energy that grants a number of bonus hit points that varies according to the robot (typically 5 × the robot’s CR). All damage dealt to a robot with an active force field is reduced from these hit points first. As long as the force field is active, the robot is immune to critical hits. A force field has fast healing equal to the robot’s CR, but once its hit points are reduced to 0, the force field shuts down and does not reactivate for 24 hours.
Integrated Weaponry: A robot that has a technological weapon (such as a laser rifle or chain gun) built into its body treats such weapons as natural attacks and not manufactured weapons attacks, and cannot make iterative attacks with these weapons. Integrated weaponry can still be targeted by effects that target manufactured weapons (such as magic weapon spells or sunder attempts), but as a general rule cannot be harvested for use outside of the robot’s body once the robot is destroyed. A robot is always proficient with its integrated weapons. Integrated ranged weapons do not provoke attacks of opportunity when fired in melee combat.
Laser Weapons: These weapons emit beams of intensely focused light waves that resolve as touch attacks and deal fire damage. A laser can pass through force fields and force effects like a wall of force without damaging that field to strike a foe beyond. Objects like glass or other transparent barriers do not provide cover from lasers (but unlike force barriers, glass still takes damage from a laser strike passing through it). Invisible creatures are immune to damage caused by a laser weapon. Fog, smoke, and other clouds provide cover in addition to concealment from laser attacks.
Plasma Weapons: These weapons emit bursts of superheated, electrically charged gas known as plasma. A plasma weapon’s attacks resolve as touch attacks. Half the damage dealt by plasma is fire damage, and half is electricity damage.Source Bestiary 5 pg. 205
Products of advanced scientific technology, the constructs called robots are animated by engineering and advanced science rather than magic. Most people refer to robots as “automatons” or “metal men”; their proper nomenclature is known to only a few. Unlike most constructs, robots are capable of independent thought. However, they still must obey the programming instilled in them at their creation. Any robot whose creator hard-coded limitations into its programming can never be truly autonomous.
Robots almost always arise from cultures that possess technology that is leaps and bounds ahead of other civilizations, though sometimes they appear due to cultural diffusion from such a society. A wrecked spacecraft, a portal through time, or a group of robots mass-producing others of their kind could all bring robots into a world. Robots that appear from another place or time might still follow the alien dictates of their original programming, or could run amok, their directives corrupted or forgotten. Whatever the case, these robots possess technology that is beyond the means of almost anyone to reproduce, and they represent a stark contrast to other constructs, as they have nothing to do with magic.
Some spellcasters, despite lacking any real grasp on the technological principles required to create robots, have managed to create their own robots by cobbling together spare parts and broken machines, filling in the gaps and completing the design with a mixture of magic and barely understood fragments of science. These inferior designs usually lack the inexhaustible power supplies, advanced intellects, and self-repair systems found in the original robots, and the magic used in their creation can potentially render them more susceptible to techniques that work against other sorts of constructs.
Robots serve a wide range of purposes, from warfare and defense to peaceful tasks like excavation, farming, and maintenance. Small villages that find robots and somehow manage to command them will often put them to work quietly tending fields or constructing buildings all day long. Armies and warlords collect the more dangerous varieties of robots, but even the more ordinary varieties can be deadly. Most robots sport alloyed skin as hard as steel, meaning that even the lowliest worker robot presents a potent threat when altered for battle. Furthermore, since most cultures lack a means to reliably repair or understand how to command robots, even the most benign one might malfunction, or even reach a point in its programming where it changes its activity and refuses to follow orders, leading to untold death and destruction among the its former temporary masters.
The means of commanding robots vary from model to model, which can be a source of endless frustration for any who seek to control them. Some obey orders from any humanoid, some bond to a specific master until her death, and others only yield to the command of technological brooches or control rods. Still others submit after mechanical surgery or rebuilding, or not at all. Many must be given extremely precise instructions, for they are unable to process metaphors or other figures of speech, and may interpret them in unanticipated ways, much to the chagrin of those who would command them. A surprisingly large proportion of uncontrolled robots already speak Common, as most models exhibit considerable linguistics talent, and the robots train each other in their new home’s languages. Though they comprehend language, most robots rarely speak save for terse acknowledgements of orders. Their speech typically excludes words they deem unnecessary with their mechanical efficiency, leading to strange disjointed statements that convey the requisite information without emotion, although some robots programmed to interact well with humans are able to speak in a more fluid and less disconcerting manner.
Constructing a robot requires no magic, but does involve advanced and extraordinarily rare materials and technological expertise. Because almost no one possesses the skills and materials to complete the process of constructing a robot, these entries omit the construction sections provided for most constructs. A GM can add the robot subtype to a different type of construct, such as an animated object or homunculus, to create new types of robots. Typically, this doesn’t alter the construct’s CR. A character can’t create a robot from or add the robot subtype to a construct that has already been created; adding the robot subtype to an existing creature is purely a means for the GM to simulate additional robots beyond those provided here.
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