New Gnome Inventing Feature - Use Item

When I wrote Epic Gnomish Inventing for Dungeons and Dragons 5e, I tried to balance overall cost of the gadget, its stability, and its relative difficulty to build and maintain so that both the DM and player would find it fair and useful. The worse possible outcome for me was to end up with rules that made it prohibitively difficult, costly, dangerous, or boring to create a gadget when compared to, say, a magic item with the same capabilities.

The difficulty was in finding a sweet spot that was fair for every possible gadget players might come up with. For example, it would be unacceptable if the "charges" of a rifle cost 50GP, a ridiculous sum compare to other weapons. On the other hand, it would be equally unbalanced for a much stronger (or epic) invention such as a flying machine to be rechargeable for only 5GP. The task wasn't easy and there was much gnashing of teeth as I flipped back and forth trying to find said spot of sweetness. The final result works well for many kinds of gadgets and perhaps not so well for others but all in all I think there is balance there.

I've been using the Epic Gnomish Inventing guide to make the gadgets that Theophraxis (my gnome gunslinger) has invented on the Infinity Tower stream on Time2TableTop. One of these items is the Super Death Blocker. It is a modified version of the AutoCleric that appears in the guide. Here's the datasheet:


Level: 3
Build DC: 14
Gadget Save DC: 14
Reliability: +1
Size: Small
Rarity: Uncommon
Build Cost: 210
Build Weight: 6
Recharge Cost: 5
Recharge Weight: 1
Parts Cost: 30
Parts Weight: 1
HP: 6
AC: 8
Charges: 3
Feature: HP Modifier - Restores +1d8 HP.
Feature: Trigger - Wearer's HP reaches 0.


This gadget saved Theo from death saves on more than one occasion before I finally failed the glitch roll. Fearful moments and death saves followed. All turned out well, though. (It should be noted that at the time, I had forgotten that the gadget had a reliability of 1 and so was incapable of the disastrous fail that we played out. Oops.)

Hans (the DM of the Infinity Tower) and I have been discussing this particular item since it was stuck at the shop in need of repairs. He had concerns that it is overpowered in two ways: 1) it carries three charges and 2) it's recharge cost is so low. Putting aside my player feelings I have to agree with him to some extent because based on the design the Super Death Blocker falls right outside of that comfort range given what it can do.

We kicked around a few ideas including altering the overall cost of the charges (because, for example, the materials are hard to come by). This is perfectly permissible per not only the Player's Guide but also the rules in Epic Gnomish Inventing. As I feel that I am showcasing these rules on the show, I didn't want to veer outside of the published material. We also discussed altering the number of charges. Again, perfectly permissible in general but something I was hesitant to do for the show. We kicked around a few other ideas but none of them were both a good fit in the game and make us both happy.

We did eventually settle on this design:


Level: 5
Build DC: 14
Gadget Save DC: 14
Reliability: +3
Size: Small
Rarity: Uncommon
Build Cost: 270
Build Weight: 9
Recharge Cost: 5
Recharge Weight: 1
Parts Cost: 30
Parts Weight: 1
HP: 6
AC: 8
Charges: 3
Feature: Trigger - Wearer's HP reaches 0.Feature: Use Item - Inject healing potion. At least one healing potion must be plugged into the injectors for it to work. There are three slots allowing a potion for each charge to be primed and ready to for use.


You'll notice that this design uses a new feature called Use Item. Here's the description:


Use Item Feature
Description: This feature allows the gadget to use a piece of equipment, a tool, a potion, or other item that does not require a spell casting ability or verbal utterances. For example, the gadget can pour a potion into someone's mouth or open a door. Unwilling targets can resist this effect with a successful saving throw against the gadget’s Gadget Save DC using the most appropriate ability. The use of the item must be able to be accomplished in a single action. The gadget receives neither an ability bonus nor a proficiency bonus when use of the item requires a check. A gadget can have one or more Use Item features.
Build DC Modifier: This feature increases a gadget’s Build DC by +2.
Starting Value: The starting value for this feature is 1 type of item use, such as "use a potion" or "use a door." The use must be very narrowly defined.
Improvements: This feature cannot be improved.


In my opinion, there are a couple of great advantages to this new design.

First, it allows me to introduce a new feature that can be used in other gadgets. Such innovations are perfectly permissible and are, in fact, encouraged. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the design remains within the overall guidelines in Epic Gnomish Inventing, addresses Han's concerns, and fulfills the purpose for which it was designed. Since the gadget uses potions, Theo must purchase those potions. The recharge cost, then, is more about the mechanism that automatically injects the potion rather than the healing capability itself.

Ultimately, that is the power of the Gnomish Inventing Guide...it provides solid rules to live by but can be adapted to fit into and meets the needs of any game. I'm looking forward to the moment when Theo repairs his new and improved Super Death Blocker so we can see it in action.

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