Valet Droid Working Draft
Droid, Valet
Medium Construct
Hit Dice: 1d10+20 (25 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/+0
Attack: Slam -5 melee (1d3)
Full Attack: Slam -5 melee (1d3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Construct traits, data slots, radiospeech 20 miles, robot traits
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 10, Con —, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 11
Skills: Heal +4, Sense Motive +7, plus crystal card skills (typically Craft [any one] +3, Diplomacy +3, Profession [any one] +4; see Data Slots for more details)
Feats: Skill Focus (Sense Motive)
Environment: Any land or underground
Organization: Solitary, cortege (2-4) or retinue (5-20)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 2-6 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —
This entity appears to be formed from some smooth, shiny material - possibly some kind of metal or enamel. Humanoid in form, its jointed limbs and inflexible torso make it resemble a tailor's mannequin or life-sized puppet more than a living being. Its face is an immobile mask set with clear crystal lenses for eyes.
A droid is an artificial creature manufactured by nonmagical technologies far more sophisticated than exist in most known worlds. The valet droid is a domestic model designed to work as a personal attendant or household servant. Valet droids come in many different shapes and appearances. The differences between them are mainly cosmetic - a valet droid that looks like a spider-centaur may have identical internal mechanisms to one that looks like a dwarf. A typical valet droid resembles a simplified image of its owner's race sculpted with an expression of benign attentiveness.
Valet droids have built-in safety codes that prevent them from attacking any member of the race or species that created them, as well as any being the droids' creators intended them to recognize as an "owner race". For example, a valet droid built by spacefaring elves might refuse to attack an elf or any living creature that is even vaguely elf-shaped, including most humanoids and fey.
These safety codes mean valet droids are normally incapable of combat, even in self defense, unless they recognizes their opponent as not being a "creator" or "owner". Unscrupulous owners occasionally reprogram their valet droids to fight, but their safety codes usually still prevent them from injuring members of the "creator race".
However, valet droids built by alien beings may not recognize standard humanoids as being sapients, let alone "owners", in which case they would have no safety codes against attacking them. Such alien valet droids might treat a dwarf or human no differently to how they would treat a wild animal.
Droids can speak a special language of buzzes and beeps called Code. There are many dialects of Code, most of which are mutually unintelligible. A valet droid speaks Code Standard (the droid equivalent of Common).
In addition, most droids are capable of normal humanoid speech. A standard valet droid speaks Common and one other language, such as Elven.
A valet droid's anthropomorphic body stands 5 and a half feet tall and it weighs 150 pounds.
Combat
Valet droids were never designed for combat. They will only fight to defend its owner or a "creator". If something attacks the droid itself, the machine tries to avoid the threat unless its orders specify otherwise (e.g. if it was forbidden from leaving its post, or instructed to kill or capture any "wild animals" that intrude upon the premises).
A valet droid is a inexpert combatant who unimaginatively follows whatever battle tactics its owner orders it to use (provided these do not breach its built-in safety codes). Despite these failings, they are fearless and implacable, continuing to fight until they are destroyed, immobilized, or their instructions change.
A valet droid's slam attack is treated as a secondary attack and adds only half the droid's Strength bonus to damage.
Data Slots (Ex): This droid can be fitted with up to two "crystal cards" - thin slabs of crystal whose interior is filled with intricate silver and gold filigree. Each crystal card gives the droid 5 extra skill points. A valet droid's data slots can process points in any Int-, Wis-, or Cha-based skill. Skill ranks from multiple crystal cards do not stack, so two cards that both contain Appraise 2 SPs, Forgery 3 SPs would give the droid an extra 2 ranks in Appraise and 3 ranks in Forgery, not 4 ranks and 6 ranks. Data slots cannot give a droid more skill ranks than the normal maximum ranks for the droid's Hit Dice.
A droid can freely exchange its crystal cards, allowing it access to different additional skill points. It takes 1 minute to open a panel in the droid to expose its data slots, swap the cards, and reseal the droid. This panel is internally barred and can only be opened with the cooperation of the droid.
Some more sophisticated models of droid have improved data slots that can contain more skill points and/or grant additional types of skills, such as a "acrobatic locksmith" model that can accept Dex-based crystal cards.
Radiospeech (Ex): A creature with this ability can broadcast a radio communication with a radius up to the listed range (the creature can use less than its maximum range if it wishes to). All creature with radiospeech that are within range hears the communication, so it is possible to address many creatures at once using radiospeech, although maintaining a conversation with more than one creature at a time is as difficult as speaking with multiple people simultaneously. Radiospeech relies on words, so two creatures must understand the same language to communicate by radiospeech. Some items can listen to or broadcast radiospeech, allowing creatures without this ability to participate in radiospeech conversations.
Radiospeech cannot penetrate 10 feet of stone or wood, three feet of water, or an inch of metal. Intervening objects and radio noise can interfere with the radio signal and reduce the range by a factor of two to twenty or more depending on how bad the interference is. Electrically conducting objects provide the worst interference. If the creature is inside a building or is surrounded by construction or metalwork their radiospeech range will be divided by a factor of at least fifty. Rainfall and terrain that's mountainous or lightly forested will likely halve the radiospeech range.
Robot Traits: All droids have the following traits.
- Vulnerability to Criticals: A droid's delicate internal components means it takes normal damage from confirmed criticals, despite being of the construct type. Particularly robust droids may have the fortification special quality to decrease this vulnerability.
- Vulnerability to Logic: Droids are immune to mind-affecting powers, but a droid with an intelligence of 3 or more is susceptible to logical argument. An intelligent droid can be affected by Bluff and Diplomacy checks that are based on logic. A properly functioning droid will ignore any argument that is illogical, and can not be confused by paradoxical statements such as "I am lying".
- Vulnerability to Power Failure: A droid runs off some kind of power supply, and if it loses power it becomes helpless and unconscious until its power is restored. Most droids have internal batteries that allow them to operate independently for a certain period of time. A standard droid can run on normal power for 10 days before its batteries start to flag; it then has energy reserves to continue for 5 days on low power followed by 5 days on emergency power, after which it is forced into shutdown.
— A droid operating on low power acts as if it was fatigued, a droid on emergency power acts as if it were exhausted. A droid can switch its own power off using emergency shutdown, becoming helpless and unconscious until it is reactivated (either by an internal timer or another creature flipping the droid's "on" switch). A droid can also operate on standby power, it can observe its surroundings and cogitate but cannot move (treat as if the droid were paralyzed).
— Switching power regimes is a move action. A droid can run at a lower power regime than its battery power dictates, thereby extending the duration of its operation. For example, a droid reduced to low energy reserves is unable to operate at normal power but can operate at low power, emergency power or standby power. One round of normal power is equal to two rounds of low power, four rounds of emergency power or 20 rounds of standby power. The power ratios are the same for droids operating on reserve power, so 1 round of low power equals 2 rounds of emergency power and 5 rounds of standby power.
Defective Valet Droids
A poorly maintained droid may become defective, causing it to act erratically or even break down. This mostly happens to droids that have been exposed to the weather, since rain or windblown particles eventually wear through the droid's seals and corrode or jam delicate inner workings. Droids that work indoors in stable climate conditions rarely malfunction.
Defective valet droids sometimes have their built-in safety codes fail, so are much more likely to injure their owners or intruding creatures than a properly functioning valet droid. See the Paradox Break defective droid trait for details.
A defective valet droid has the following changes to its statistics block. Any statistic that is not listed is the same as a normal valet droid.
Droid, Valet, Defective
Initiative: -2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 12 (-2 competence penalty, +4 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/+0
Attack: Slam -5 melee (1d3)
Full Attack: Slam -5 melee (1d3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Defective droid
Special Qualities: Construct traits, data slots, defective droid, radiospeech 20 miles, robot traits
Saves: Fort +0, Ref -2, Will +0
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 10, Con —, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 11
Skills: Heal +0, Sense Motive +3, plus crystal card skills (typically Craft [any one] -1, Diplomacy -1, Profession [any one] +0; see Data Slots for more details)
Challenge Rating: 1/3
A defective valet droid gains the following defective droid traits:
Defective Droid: A defective droid has the following traits in addition to a standard droid's Robot Traits.
- Faulty Circuits: A defective droid's misfiring circuitry give it a -2 competence penalty to all its Dexterity-based abilities (including AC, Initiative, Reflex saves and ranged attacks) and a -4 competence penalty to all Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma-based ability checks and skill checks.
- Paradox Break: If a defective droid is presented with a paradox it must succeed at a DC 10 Intelligence check or suffer a cognitive breakdown. An opponent can force paradox check by making a Bluff or Diplomacy check (DC equals 20 plus the droid's HD) to present the defective droid with an anti-logical argument.
A defective droid must also make a paradox check if it in a situation that isn't covered by its programming (e.g. a defective security droid that is programmed to remain within a fortress would suffer a paradox check if it finds itself outside the fortress and has no instructions as to how to address the situation. If it succeeded on its paradox check, it could use its Radiospeech to ask for assistance, or set out in search for the fortress).
Once a defective droid fails a paradox check, it immediately starts performing a random, nonsensical behavior determined by a roll on the Paradox Breakdown Table (see below). A paradox breakdown continues until the defective droid is repaired.
If a valet droid suffers a paradox break its safety circuits break down, so it may harm members of a creator or owner race.
Paradox Breakdown Table
| d6 Roll |
Behaviour |
| 1 | The defective droid judders to a stop, emits a shower of sparks, and goes into emergency shutdown (see Power Failure under Robot Traits). |
| 2 | The defective droid starts moving in a straight line or staggering in circles (50% chance of each) while repeatedly saying "Mite... Mite... Mite...". Sages theorize this word means "error" or "does not compute" in the language of the droids' original creators. |
| 3 | The defective droid acts as if it were affected by a confusion spell. |
| 4 | The defective droid obsessively tries to perform its core function - a miner droid could try to dig to the center of the planet; a guardian droid may select a random object and attack any creature that tries to move or damage it; a valet droid might try to launder any clothing it sees, and so forth. |
| 5 | The defective droid gets stuck in a "loop", mindlessly repeating whatever actions it took in the 1d4 rounds before its breakdown. It does adjust its actions to account for changes in the circumstances. For example, a guardian droid that got "looped" after it charged out of its sentry post and attacked an intruder would keep on returning to its post, then charging out to attack a square the intruder was in. If there is a creature or object in that square, the "looping" defective droid attacks it with a 50% miss chance, since this is equivalent to blindly attacking. |
| 6 | The defective droid goes into self-destructive spasms, thrashing itself with its limbs and smashing into objects. Every round the droid moves 20 feet in a random direction and does its slam damage to itself. If the droid succeeds at a DC 15 Wisdom check at the end of its turn, it goes into Emergency Shut Down to stop damaging itself. The droid can destroy itself if its spasms continue for long enough. |
Variant Valet Droids
Bigger and smaller models of valet droid exist, as well as particularly expensive top-of-the-range models with advanced Hit Dice, increased special abilities and the elite ability array. Examples of these follow:
Large Valet Droid (Large Construct;
Hit Dice: 2d10+30 (41 hp);
Init: +0;
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares);
AC: 15 (-1 size, +6 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 15;
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+8;
Attack: Slam -2 melee (1d4+1);
Full Attack: Slam -2 melee (1d4+1);
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. [
Tall] or 10 ft./5 ft. [
Long];
Special Qualities: Construct traits, data slots, radiospeech 20 miles, robot traits;
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0;
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 10, Con —, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 11;
CR: 1;
Advancement: 3-8 HD [Large])
Skills & Feats: Heal +5, Sense Motive +8, plus crystal card skills (typically Craft [any one] +3, Diplomacy +3, Profession [any one] +4);
Feats: Skill Focus (Sense Motive)
Large Valet Droids can be divided into Long models (such as centauroids) and Tall models (such as ogroids) depending on the bodyshape of the creature they are modeled after.
Small Valet Droid (Small Construct;
Hit Dice: 1d10+10 (15 hp);
Init: +0;
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares);
AC: 14 (+1 size, +3 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 14;
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-5;
Attack: Slam -5 melee (1d2-1);
Full Attack: Slam -5 melee (1d2-1);
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.;
Special Qualities: Construct traits, data slots, radiospeech 20 miles, robot traits;
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0;
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 10, Con —, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 11;
CR: 1/6;
Advancement: 2-4 HD [Small])
Skills & Feats: Heal +4, Sense Motive +7, plus crystal card skills (typically Craft [any one] +3, Diplomacy +3, Profession [any one] +4);
Feats: Skill Focus (Sense Motive)
Luxury Valet Droid (Medium Construct;
Hit Dice: 6d10+20 (53 hp);
Init: +1;
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares);
AC: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 14;
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5;
Attack: Slam +5 melee (1d3+1);
Full Attack: 2 slams +5 melee (1d3+1);
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.;
Special Qualities: Construct traits, advanced data slots, radarsight 150 ft. [
max 2½ mile, detectable 50 miles], radiospeech 50 miles, robot traits;
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +4;
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 12, Con —, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 18;
CR: 2;
Advancement: None)
Skills & Feats: Diplomacy +18, Heal +14, Gather Information +13, Sense Motive +14, plus crystal card skills (typically Craft [any one] +10, Perform [any one] +12, Profession [any one] +10, Speak Language [eight additional languages]);
Feats: Skill Focus (Diplomacy, Heal, Sense Motive)
Unlike normal models, a luxury valet droid's slam attacks are normal attacks. Luxury valets generally have radarsight and advanced data slots able to fit up to four crystal cards that may hold 8 extra skill points each in any Dex-, Int-, Wis-, or Cha-based skill (see
Warrior Droid for these abilities' descriptions). Some luxury valet droids also have the toolmaster arms ability of a
Servitor Droid or a weapon concealed in an arm or the head, generally a laser pistol like the
Warrior Droid or a sleep projector and/or a light laser like the protector-variant
Guardian Droid. These are often custom modifications and such droids are rare, and possibly illegal (many jurisdiction prohibit lethal weapons and thieves' tools in domestic-model droids).
Originally appeared in FEZ 1: Valley of Trees (1982).
