Goodman Games

If you've seen the movie Hellboy, isn't the concept of Kroenen interesting?

A friend and I thought about writing a Clockborg whose augmentations run off of Dragonmech clockwork and he has to wind himself up to keep himself going and give himself a quick boost in power.

Although the Ghostgear is similar to Kroenen...

hmmmm...clockwork borgs.....

maybe it could work something like this:

1) instead of requiring more water than normal, the clockwork borg must spend an hour each morning winding its various springs to maintain the bonuses granted by its artificial parts

2) clockwork borgs could suffer additional detrimental effects from critical hits, perhaps derived from the clockwork mech critical chart, as their parts are more fragile than the steamborg

3) clockwork borgs could, as a full round action, overwind, similar to barbarian rage, a certain number of times per day, granting temporary rage-like bonuses, (say +4 str, and +4 dex and +2 reflex saves) for a number of rounds (say 3+con mod) finding themselves fatigued afterwards as their parts are overworked.

4) clockwork borgs could easily gain artificial parts and steam-powers that work just like normal, only stylized as clockwork rather than steam driven.

this could make an interesting core class alternate to the steamborg, representing something more elegant and agile but slightly more fragile.

mythfish Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: clockwork borgs... hmmmm

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modus666 wrote:
Arek wrote:
If you've seen the movie Hellboy, isn't the concept of Kroenen interesting?

A friend and I thought about writing a Clockborg whose augmentations run off of Dragonmech clockwork and he has to wind himself up to keep himself going and give himself a quick boost in power.

Although the Ghostgear is similar to Kroenen...


hmmmm...clockwork borgs.....

maybe it could work something like this:

1) instead of requiring more water than normal, the clockwork borg must spend an hour each morning winding its various springs to maintain the bonuses granted by its artificial parts

2) clockwork borgs could suffer additional detrimental effects from critical hits, perhaps derived from the clockwork mech critical chart, as their parts are more fragile than the steamborg

3) clockwork borgs could, as a full round action, overwind, similar to barbarian rage, a certain number of times per day, granting temporary rage-like bonuses, (say +4 str, and +4 dex and +2 reflex saves) for a number of rounds (say 3+con mod) finding themselves fatigued afterwards as their parts are overworked.

4) clockwork borgs could easily gain artificial parts and steam-powers that work just like normal, only stylized as clockwork rather than steam driven.

this could make an interesting core class alternate to the steamborg, representing something more elegant and agile but slightly more fragile.


That's pretty cool. I like the "overwinding" in particular.

im working on it, i'm not sure HOW different to make the clockwork borg from the standard steamborg though. my tendency is to make is a slight variant, keeping artificial parts and steam powers intact, and modifying some of the specials they get over time. i'll post it once i get the time to put something coherent on paper

Yeah, I was thinking about doing it too, and had the same thought process. To do it the way I think it should be done, it's really just a steamborg variant and not really a class unto itself.

Although I was thinking the clockborg wouldn't get steam powers. After all, they're not running on a steam engine. They could still carry one around like a coglayer, but it's not the same natural fit as it is with a steamborg.

well really, there's nothing wrong with many of the steam powers being clockwork flavored rather than steam flavored. many of them are like that anyway.

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Yeah, I was thinking about doing it too, and had the same thought process. To do it the way I think it should be done, it's really just a steamborg variant and not really a class unto itself.

Although I was thinking the clockborg wouldn't get steam powers. After all, they're not running on a steam engine. They could still carry one around like a coglayer, but it's not the same natural fit as it is with a steamborg.

I'll try to skirt around outright describing the steamborg here, but I think some mirroring might be in order for the Steamborg/clockborg.

The steamborg gains a class feature starting at level 4, and improves on it at 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18.

It also gains abilities at 5, 9, and 17. Level 17's ability is Ageless. I'm sure that one can stay allright.

But assuming at artificial part at every even level, Lose Self at level 3...That means the clockborg would need abilities at 4, 5, 6, 9, 9 (again), 12, 15, and 18.

If this is going to be a seperate, and cool, class, it therefore needs cool options at those levels. The Steamborg's are pretty nice (+2 to Con and what adds up to a further +3 to already awesome Fort saves, anyone?) but I'd like to avoid recycling them. So here's some ideas, for criticism and review.

-Level 4: Overwind: The clockwork harness has integrated into the clockborg's body well enough that he can now control how quickly his main spring unwinds. He may enter a state of rapid unwinding, which grants him +4 to Str and Dex, and a further +2 to Reflex saves, as per Modus's above description. Thank you, modus.
-Level 5 and level 9: It'd be nice to have a couple of ability chain-options here. The Steamborg can get a natural armor bonus at level 5, and massive upgrade in toughness at level 9. So maybe the same sort of bonus for the Clockborg, only relating to Dexterity? (Come to think of it, these may be great additions to the regular options of a steamborg).