Anacite Predator Drone

Source: Alien Archive 2

CR: 10 XP: 9,600

LN Large construct (technological)

Init.: +5 Senses: blindsight (heat) 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision Perception: +19

Defense

HP: 165

EAC: 23 KAC: 25

Fort: +10 Ref: +10 Will: +7

Offense

Speed: 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (Ex, perfect)

Melee: horn +23 (2d10+18 P)

Ranged: integrated automatic laser +20 (4d4+10 F; critical 2d4 burn) or integrated electric ray +20 (3d6+10 E; critical 2d6 arc)

Offensive Abilities: target lock

Statistics

Str: +8 Dex: +5 Con: — Wis: +3 Int: +0 Cha: +0

Skills: Acrobatics +19 (+27 to fly), Athletics +24, Stealth +19

Languages: Common; shortwave 100 ft.

Ecology

Environment: any (Aballon)

Organization: solitary, pair, or squadron (3–6)

Special Abilities

<p><b>Automatic Laser (Ex)</b> An anacite predator drone’s automatic laser can fire in automatic mode each round at up to five targets. The weapon has a range increment of 60 feet.<br/><br/> <b>Electric Ray (Ex)</b> An anacite predator drone’s electric ray has a range increment of 60 feet.<br/><br/> <b>Shortwave (Ex)</b> An anacite can communicate wirelessly. This acts as telepathy, but only with other creatures with this ability or constructs with the technological subtype.<br/><br/> <b>Sunlight Dependency (Ex)</b> Anacites are solar-powered constructs, although they can function at reduced capacity away from light. In areas of darkness, they gain the sickened condition.<br/><br/> <b>Target Lock (Ex)</b> As a move action, an anacite predator drone can lock on to a target within 60 feet that it can see. The anacite can have only one locked target at a time. Against the anacite’s attacks, a locked target gains no benefit from concealment less than total concealment, and a locked target reduces its bonus to AC due to cover by 2.</p>

Description

Anacites are native to Aballon, the Pact World closest to the sun. A race of machines left behind by eons-departed masters, these constructs developed the capacity for evolution and self-improvement, creating an entire mechanical ecosystem.

The most common design for anacites is a basic arthropodan form of silvery metal, with multiple legs for efficient travel and claws or manipulators for accomplishing their assigned tasks. Depending on their role, however, an anacite might be anything from a bulldozer-sized mining specialist to a floating electronic brain designed for advanced problem-solving, and even those anacites who fit the stereotypical metal-insect design usually have a modification or two, and almost all anacites can reconfigure parts of themselves to adapt to their circumstances.

In the uncounted millennia since the departure of the so-called “First Ones,” anacites have not been idle. The two primary factions of anacites, Those Who Wait and Those Who Become, have very different ideas of their purpose in life, yet the two are more alike than different. While they variously wait for the First Ones to return or work toward taking on their progenitors’ mantle, anacites endlessly strive to acquire wealth and influence in preparation for their great goal’s fulfillment.

While “anacite” officially refers only to the sentient varieties of Aballonian machines—those capable of learning and participating in Aballonian society—many offworlders use it as a catchall term for the world’s mechanical life. Dragonflylike wingbots are an example of Aballonian technobiology. These artificial creatures lack basic sentience yet nevertheless reproduce and fill one of the planet’s ecological niches. These 4-foot-long machines whir from ridge to ridge on wings glittering with solar panels, feeding on the blazing light of the sun. Wingbots can be territorial, and they occasionally attack offworlders or other anacites.