Whoa, Cool Fantasy Robot – The Best Robots in D&D
For a game about Dungeons & Dragons, there sure is an awful lot of robots. Big and small, armed or not, these are the best robots in D&D.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game all about Wizards and elves fighting goblins and skeletons. Of course it’s full of robots. Fantasy adventures LOVE cramming sci-fi elements into their worlds. They have since long before the Expedition to Barrier Peaks proved that UFOs not only exist in D&D, but are surprisingly valuable if you can loot them cleanly.
With that in mind, here are five of the best robots in D&D.
Shield Guardians
They may not be completely iron, but they are giant. These constructs are made of stone and wood and iron, and are created to defend you. Or anyone holding their magical amulet, which is how they can tell friends from foes.
A shield guardian will take actions to protect its ward, even going so far as to shield a blow meant for its charge with its own body, even at a distance. They’re one Vin Diesel away from uttering Su…Per…Man, basically.
Warforged
Warforged are humanoid robots created from wood and steel and crystal, imbued with life and sentience. They were created for war, the Last War, specifically. And in the aftermath of that conflict, each warforged faces down the challenge of understanding their own place in the world.
Many lose themselves in their service. Others find a purpose far from what they were originally created to do. With tireless strength, and a curiosity about this world they were created to explore (and fight in) they represent change within, through curiosity without.
Autognomes
On the other end of the artificially created humanoid spectrum are Autognomes. Where warforged were made to be warriors and scouts and then left to find a purpose… autognomes were built for all manner of purposes.
Some were made to explore the depths of Wildspace. Others were built to pass the butter.
Their forms are as varied as their functions. One autognome is very much not like another. They might have a stiff, clanking gait. Or roll around on wheels. Or hover through clockwork gyroblades. Whatever the case, an autognome seeks to fulfill its purpose above any and all other directives.
Except for these three laws: defend gnomes being attacked by non-gnomes; protect oneself when attacked; defend youngsters – regardless of species. So an autognome may rush to the aid of a rampaging wyrmling dragon if the town guard is trying to drive it off.
Modrons
Modrons are weird little robots. Each modron takes one of five basic shapes. The more sides it has, the more complex a modron is. And these little clockwork beings are created to be cogs in the Great Machine of the cosmos. They will sometimes scout all of reality as part of the Great Modron March. Though no one knows what they want. Or why they do it.
Keg Robot
A keg robot is a stout, wood-and-metal construct designed with a horned helm and a large barrel for its main body. This barrel, of course, is a keg.
Keg Robots were the result of Acquisitions Inc.’s Heuristic Arcane Research and Development (HARD) department. Every keg robot possesses a number of unique functions. Specific models might be named for their purpose. Ambulatory fermenter. Mobile alchemical dispensary. They can be filled with up to three different kinds of liquids! Water, lamp oil, alchemical substances of all stripes.
But at the end of the day, the name keg robot stuck for some reason. And that seems to have been incorporated into the identity and personality of each and every keg robot.
They love to party.
Happy Adventuring
