The Turreteer
The unassuming human stands alone, with no weapons drawn, amidst a host of thieves in an alley. Negotiations appear to break down and blades are now pointed menacingly at the human. His lips curl into a smirk as throws a dozen small metallic spheres among the gathered thieves. The spheres whir to life and point their now drawn weapons at the thieves. Now, it was a fair fight.
As her companions all struggle to rid themselves of the various conditions the mummy lord has afflicted them with, a bookish elf darts over to what appear to be two miniature tripod-mounted catapults. Loading six red-coloured orbs into their mechanisms, the catapults spring to action; launching balls of fire into the path of the mummy lord as it stalks towards the elf. One ball of fire strikes it dead in the chest, and the mummy topples to the floor as its body is engulfed in flames.
Laughing heartily from his fortified position atop a castle wall, a dwarf sits mocking the attacking forces below as another ballista shot harmlessly bounces off of his weapon's armoured exterior. Swinging its massive barrel downwards, he hurls another insult and fires the weapon. A shockwave shakes dust from the castle as the weapon belches forth a gout of flame, out from which a red-hot iron ball flies; striking and shattering the ballista and still continuing to barrel on through the field, knocking aside a number of stunned soldiers.
Peerless Constructors
While some seem to be content with their clockwork creations of song and candle lighting, other inventive minds desire to further their craft. Through many long hours of tinkering and study, Turreteers perfect their fields of craft. Whether by sheer force of numbers, sheer size, or even a dash of alchemical prowess, these engineers are always a force to be reckoned with.
The Turreteer
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Active Turret Limit | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | 1 | Turret Construction, Deployable Turrets |
| 2nd | +2 | 1 | Tighter Strings |
| 3rd | +2 | 2 | Engineering Style |
| 4th | +2 | 2 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 5th | +3 | 3 | Sterner Stuff |
| 6th | +3 | 3 | Lightweight Construction |
| 7th | +3 | 4 | Snap Shot |
| 8th | +3 | 4 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 9th | +4 | 5 | Engineering Style Feature |
| 10th | +4 | 5 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 11th | +4 | 6 | Advanced Turret Construction |
| 12th | +4 | 6 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 13th | +5 | 7 | Engineering Style Feature |
| 14th | +5 | 7 | Increased Capacity |
| 15th | +5 | 8 | Sterner Stuff |
| 16th | +5 | 8 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 17th | +6 | 9 | Engineering Style Feature |
| 18th | +6 | 9 | Sterner Stuff |
| 19th | +6 | 10 | Ability Score Improvement |
| 20th | +6 | 10 | Double Shot Turrets |
Practice Makes Perfect
While sitting in a workshop day in day out might suit other artisans, most turreteers find it contradictory to their nature. After all, why bother spending hours upon hours perfecting the firing mechanism if there is nothing to shoot it at? Now some might find it just fine to set up their turrets atop castle and keep walls, others find it only right to set out into the wilderness to see just how well the turrets perform in different environments.
Of course they wouldn't just venture off on their own. Turreteers are very proud of their personal engineering skills, but they know that when it comes down to their individual combat skills, it is much safer to have someone manning the front lines.
Creating a Turreteer
As you make your turreteer, take into consideration the manner in which you discovered your skills at tinkering. Were you simply a child prodigy who mastered feats that it took others a lifetime to accomplish? Were you a devoted student who spent many long nights studying to be accepted into a college? Could you have been lucky enough to have a long line of engineers in your family, and you simply learned from your elders?
Aside from the general reasoning why you would rather be out in the field, what were your reasons for becoming an adventurer? Are you just an overly curious inventor who simply wishes to see what the world has on offer? Did you lose your home to an attack you know your inventions could have assisted in, and are now striving to defend all others from suffering the same fate? Potentially, you might also be a madman who just wants to see the world burn in the fires of industry.
Quick Build
You can make a turreteer quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in Dexterity, followed by Intelligence. Second, choose the guild artisan background.
Class Features
As a turreteer, you gain the following class features
Hit Points
- Hit Dice: 1d8 per turreteer level
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution Modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution
- modifier per turreteer level after first
Proficiencies
- Armor: Light armor, medium armor
- Weapons: Simple weapons
- Tools: Tinker's Tools
- Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence
- Skills: Choose three from Athletics, History, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) a handaxe or (b) a light hammer
- (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) a light hammer
- (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
- Padded Armor and tinker's tools
Turret Construction
Beginning at 1st level, using your proficiency in Tinker’s Tools, you can spend 1 hour and 5sp worth of materials to construct 1 Deployable Turret.
The turrets are small sized constructs and weigh 10lb each. You can construct and carry a maximum of 10 turrets in your inventory.
Once per turn, you can spend an action to throw a turret into an unoccupied space within 10ft of you. You can recall an active turret as a bonus action, as long as you are within 5ft of it.
You can have a maximum of 1 active turret per every 2 levels of Turreteer, rounded up, as shown in the Active Turret Limit Column of the Turreteer table.
Deployable Turrets
At 1st level, each turret you deploy has an AC of 10, and 4 (1d6+1) Hit Points, and a movement speed of 0ft. Their attack is a ranged attack with a range of 40/120, which rolls off your Dexterity modifier.
A turret does 1d4 piercing damage, and attacks using your proficiency modifier. They have no initiative modifier and take their action directly after yours in combat. Each turret can fire a total of 6 times before it is considered ‘empty’, and must be reloaded by you taking an action or bonus action to load it with 6 pieces of ammunition (may vary based on your 3rd level archetype choice).
As a construct, turrets have damage immunity to both poison and psychic, and have condition immunities to blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, petrified and poisoned.
Tighter Strings
Starting at 2nd level, your skill at constructing turrets has improved, allowing you to place the drawstrings under greater tension without breaking. Any new turrets you construct have an additional 20ft increase to both their range increments.
Engineering Style
At 3rd level, you choose an engineering style to master: Mobile, Grenadier, or Bertha, all detailed at the end of the class description. Your style choice grants you features at 3rd level and then again at 9th, 13th, and 17th level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Sterner Stuff
Beginning at 5th level, and again at 15th, and 18th level, any new turrets you construct from now on will deal an additional die of damage, have their hit die increase by one, and gain an extra 3AC.
Lightweight Construction
Starting at 6th level, your skill with the Tinker’s Tools has increased to allow you to cut down on unnecessary weight in the Turret Construction process. Any new turrets you construct with that feature will weigh half as much and can be thrown an additional 10ft. Additionally, this effectively doubles your base carrying capacity to 20 turrets in your inventory.
Snap Shot
At 7th level, whenever one of your turrets fires at a target within 5ft, the attack is no longer rolled with disadvantage.
Advanced Turret Construction
By 11th level, you have mastered nearly all aspects of your turret construction process. Whenever you build a new turret from now on, the time required to construct each turret is cut in half.
Increased Capacity
At 14th level, your skill with turret construction has enabled you to decrease the size of each piece of loaded ammunition, enabling the turrets to carry an increased capacity. When making new turrets from now on, each turret’s ammunition capacity is increased by your proficiency modifier.
Double Shot Turrets
When you reach 20th level, your expertise has enabled your turrets to fire an additional time each turn, which consumes no additional ammunition. Standard range penalties still apply. You can use this feature to target the same creature twice, or two creatures. Both options require you to make two separate attack and damage rolls.
Engineering Styles
Engineering is more of an art form, rather than a direct science. This allows for vast variations when it comes to each individual’s style and construction methods. Though they all maintain a common underlying purpose, the implementation and way they go about fulfilling that purpose is rather different between each individual.
Mobile
Turreteers who choose to focus their engineering prowess into Mobile Turrets sacrifice having a few large damaging numbers, in favor of having multiple small damaging numbers.
Sting Like A Bee
Choosing this archetype at 3rd level, you downsize your turrets drastically. They have their size category changed from a small sized construct to tiny. They now have 5AC and 3 (1d4+1) Hit Points. They still do 1d4 of piercing damage and have a range of 20/60. These turrets still have an ammunition capacity of 6 shots. The upside of this downsize is that it now you can use your bonus action to throw a turret into any unoccupied space within 20ft of you. Additionally, the time taken to construct a turret is reduced to 30 minutes, and the material cost is reduced to 2sp.
Darwin
Additionally, when choosing this archetype at 3rd level, any new turrets you construct from now on have a rudimentary set of feet, and as such now have a movement speed of 20ft.
Strength In Numbers
Starting at 9th level, your new active turret limit is 1 per turreteer level, giving you a total of 9 at this level.
Itsy Bitsy
From 13th level, any new turret you build has a much more refined set of legs, with much greater articulation. The turret is now considered to be permanently under the effect of the Spider Climb spell, gaining a climbing speed equal to its walking speed, as well as being able to move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings.
You And What Army
At 17th level, you gain the ability to start off combat with a flurry of extra turrets. On your first turn of combat, you can take your action to roll 1d6 and add your proficiency modifier to the result. You can then deploy a number of turrets equal to the total. If you do so, you cannot deploy another turret with your bonus action this turn. This feature can only be used once per long rest.
Grenadier
Grenadier Turreteers are all about versatility. Using both their expertise in Tinker’s Tools and Alchemist’s Supplies, they can barrage the battlefield with a large variety of elemental hazards.
Lobbed Shot
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, your turrets maintain their small size category and default range of 40/120. However, any new turret has 12AC, and has 8 (1d10+2) Hit Points. The turret’s damage die and type also change, becoming 1d8 bludgeoning damage.
Chemical Warfare
Also starting at 3rd level when you choose this archetype, you gain proficiency with Alchemist’s Supplies. Using these when you are constructing a turret, you can infuse that turret with one of two known elemental damage types listed below. Later levels will allow you to choose from additional types. In addition to the 1d8 bludgeoning the standard shot does, a turret infused with an element will also inflict 1d4 of elemental damage.
When taking the Sterner Stuff Class Feature at 5th, 15th, and 18th levels, your elemental damage also increases by an additional 1d4.
Elemental damage types are acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, and thunder.
Greater Alchemy
Beginning at 9th level, your proficiency with Alchemist’s Supplies now increases the damaging potential of your turret’s shot. Whenever any new turret is constructed, the elemental damage it inflicts now also affects in any additional hostile creatures within a 5ft radius. The additional hostiles must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Intelligence.
Save DC
On a failed save, the creatures take the full elemental damage, half on a success. Additionally, you can select another elemental damage type to learn.
Ah, I Love The Smell
At 13th level, the elemental damage area of effect extends to all hostile creatures within a 10ft radius of the target. Additionally, you can select another elemental damage type to learn.
Oppenheimer (UNDER REVIEW)
From 17th level, the borders of alchemy and magic have collided, now allowing you to be able to construct turrets that can do either necrotic or radiant damage.
Bertha
When you make Bertha, you have one goal in mind: Hitting. Things. Hard. Easily the least versatile of the engineering styles, but most certainly the most intimidating.
Ol' Painless Is Waiting (UNDER REVIEW)
Beginning at 3rd level, a number of changes come into effect when you choose this archetype. Firstly your turret’s size category increases dramatically to a Large size construct. Constructing a turret now takes you 4 hours, 5gp worth of materials, and weighs 50lb. With the size and weight increase, you are now limited to only carrying a total of 2 turrets in your inventory. Additionally, you are no longer able to throw your turret and instead have to place it in a suitable empty space within 5ft of you. The 6th level feature Lightweight Construction only affects your carrying capacity. This also reduces your active turret limit permanently to 1.
Bring The Rain
Also starting at 3rd level when you choose this archetype, your turret now has 14AC and 15 (2d10 + 4) Hit Points. Additionally it does 2d12 bludgeoning damage in a 100ft line. Targets hit must succeed a Strength saving throw against your Dexterity or be knocked prone by the attack.
Unlike the other turret styles, a Bertha turret can only fire within a 45 degree cone. The downside to this is that the Bertha turret is unable to fire independently, and must be manually controlled by a turreteer. After taking your action to deploy the turret, you can use a bonus action to take control of it.
During your turn, if you are mounted on the turret, you can spend your movement to rotate its firing arc up to 30 degrees (1 degree per 1ft of your movement speed. Adjust if necessary).
Alabama Tick
Starting at 9th level, while mounted on a Bertha turret and targeted for an attack, you are considered to be in three-quarters cover, gaining +5 to both your AC and Dexterity saving throws.
I Ain't Got Time
From 13th level, any new Bertha turret you construct now has a 90 degree firing arc. The standard rotation rate still applies.
Big Bertha
At 17th level, any attack roll you make while mounted on a Bertha turret ignores any form of cover; half cover, three-quarters cover, and total cover.