Monster Monday - Scorpitron 2.0 (Patreon)

Within the remains of an ancient building, the operative crouched beside a window. With seeker rifle in-hand, she surveyed the ruins of the city as her family and companions moved through the streets. The soldier was at the forefront, head constantly on a swivel even as he listened to callouts from the operative. He suddenly lifted a fist while coming to a sudden halt, the two on his heels following suit. Their cast their eyes about curiously as a churning rumble echoed throughout the city, increasing in volume until suddenly, a two-story building began to crumble. Striding from the ruins was an immense machine resembling a scorpion. Its arching tail terminated in a heavy firearm rather than a stinger and as the blinking lights of its sensors settled on the party, they shifted into an aggressive crimson...

This massive, monstrous machine makes mincemeat out of its malcontents, massacring with missiles and miniscule mimics that mean to mash and mangle.

I'd never heard of the Wasteland games before, but the Discord featured a request for the Scorpitron 2.0 from the series and I wanted to give it a shot! It's a pretty basic but fun build and it got me to do a little research into Wasteland itself. Initially, I thought it was a sort of knockoff of Fallout, but it turns out that I was completely off-base. Wasteland actually predates the first Fallout by almost a decade and actually served as inspiration for it. I personally thought it was super neat to learn about.

Getting into the design of the Scorpitron 2.0 itself, which was introduced in Wasteland 2, I built it just a tiny bit around the idea of a soldier based on its Area Fire effects. This led to its Constitution taking the forefront in its design and while it does have fire-flinging area attacks, I kept from having its tail have an automatic attack as while it does appear to be a machine gun of sorts, it's only ever used to target a single enemy. It has Hit Points aplenty but is a little lacking when it comes to its other defenses otherwise, mostly kept alive by that and its resistance to physical damage.

Per the suggestions of the Discord, who I obviously had to call upon for a bit of help when it came to assembling the Scorpitron, I created an ability to let the Scorpitron 2.0 go straight through difficult terrain with its Unbreakable Stride. Increasing in complexity from there, this arachnid automaton up its arsenal with a Missile Massacre. It's honestly a pretty standard effect that deals limited use area damage in a significant area and at a significant range with a high DC save. In-game, this seems to take a round to set-up and then another to fire, but that felt a little rough in Path/Starfinder. I do think it's doable, likely with a 1-action Lock On effect to mark an area, but I would up the damage, the DC, or both, if it's something you want to use. In either case, I would keep the hazardous terrain this leaves behind as it lights the ground ablaze, which it seemed to do in-game from what I saw.

It's remaining two abilities are related because the Scorpling Drones are released by Deploy Drones. This ability was part of the Scorpitron 2.0's original design, but was actually removed for Wasteland 3. I thought it was too fun to pass up on and after consulting the construction of the caypin, I designed its own abilities similarly. For example, the 30 Hit Points for the caypin's critters is about a third of the moderate HP for a creature of that level. The 90 HP is similarly a third of a level fifteen creature's moderate HP. Maybe it's still too much for such a creature, but I'll leave it up to you guys to let me know. Other than that, the scorplings have a low attack bonus and even lower damage and a single action only commands one of them. So while they add to the action economy a bit, they shouldn't be oppressive.

ENCOUNTER HOOKS

It Loves to Stinga: Once the instrument of a brutal war, a Scorpitron 2.0 has been left abandoned for years in a mountain pass. It survives through its self-repair systems and entering periods of long hibernation to consume minimal fuel. However, it keeps its sensory suite active and identifies any that intrude upon its domain as enemies to be exterminated with extreme prejudice. If the heroes specifically seek out this encounter to pacify the pass, they might have an option to talk to former participants in the war and find means of more peaceably disabling it.

Claws of the Scorpitron: The considerable size of a Scorpitron could lend itself well to being the personal war machine of a powerful commander. This could be a more martial foe or a spellcaster that enhances the Scorpitron and its drones. In a Pathfinder game, the Scorpitron might be an ancient weapon left in an alien wreckage while a Starfinder game might feature such a duo as the guardians for a factory making more of such machines.

Have a monstrous Monday!