The Siegemaster
Weapons come in all shapes and sizes, just like people. Some people decide that they want to take the biggest, baddest weaponry into combat, hefting it like it were their own flesh and blood.
Some call them mad scientists, nutjob inventors and many more, less polite terms. 'Ineffective', however, is not something that passes the lips of a Siegemasters' critic. Lugging minituarised but still enormous ballistae, battering rams or even cannons, a Siegemaster is the kind of warrior that most wish not to be on the receiving end of.
Class Name
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Modular Attachments | Tactical Strikes | Battlefield Ingenuity | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | - | - | - | Sapper's Study, Working Prototype |
| 2nd | +2 | - | - | - | Functioning Model |
| 3rd | +2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Application of Force, Modular Arsenal |
| 4th | +2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Ability score improvement |
| 5th | +3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | Augmentation Expertise |
| 6th | +3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | Specialised Munitions |
| 7th | +3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |
| 8th | +3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| 9th | +3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | |
| 10th | +4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | |
| 11th | +4 | 3 | 7 | 6 | |
| 12th | +4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | |
| 13th | +5 | 4 | 8 | 7 | |
| 14th | +5 | 4 | 8 | 7 | |
| 15th | +5 | 4 | 9 | 8 | |
| 16th | +5 | 5 | 9 | 8 | |
| 17th | +6 | 5 | 10 | 9 | |
| 18th | +6 | 5 | 10 | 9 | |
| 19th | +6 | 5 | 11 | 10 | |
| 20th | +6 | 6 | 11 | 10 |
Class Features
As a Siegemaster, you gain the following class features
Hit Points
- Hit Dice: 1d8 per Siegemaster level
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your constitution modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per Siegemaster level after 1st
Proficiencies
- Armor: Light, Medium
- Weapons: Martial, Simple
- Tools: Carpenter's, Smith's or Tinker's tools
- Saving Throws: Strength and Intelligence
- Skills: Choose two skills from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Investigation, Sleight of Hand and Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) a longsword or (b) a light crossbow, 20 bolts and a bolt case
- (a) chain shirt or (b) padded armour and a dagger
- (a) Carpenter's Tools or (b) Smith's Tools or (c) Tinker's Tools
- (a) 20 pieces of ammunition for Siege Carrier weapon or (b) any martial ranged weapon
Sapper Study
At 1st level, you graduate from simple hobbyism into the workings of siege weaponry, to putting it into practice.
For one hour, you study a section of wall, fortification, emplacement or other object to determine the best way to deconstruct it. After this time has elapsed, make an Intelligence check. If your result is equal to or less than 8 + your proficiency bonus + your intelligence modifier, the next time you deal damage to the subject of this check within the next 24 hours, the damage is doubled. Alternatively, you learn the best way to sabotage the target of your Sapper Study (determined by your GM).
Additionally, when you deal damage with bludgeoning or piercing damage to a stone or metal construct, or a creature that is wearing metal armour, you deal additional damage equal to your Siegemaster level.
Working Prototype
At 1st level, you have built yourself a rudimentary version of a siege weapon that is specialised for use by a single person. Choose a weapon from the table below, gain it as an item, and you also gain proficiency in Siege weapons. Each one of these weapons requires a strength score of 14 to carry and use it.
Your siege weapon, regardless of its type, quality or your Siegemaster level, cannot deal subdual damage.
Misfiring
Building and using a weapon that is much smaller than an established model is an experimental process, and you're still learning the ropes. Each weapon comes with its own drawback of simply breaking, failing to fire, or even injuring you. A ballista's limbs can snap, a cannon can explode in your hands or not go off at all, or you might significantly underestimate how much you have to throw yourself into an attack using a ram. As you gain levels, you will get better at working out the kinks of each weapon, but for now you have to work with what you've got.
If you roll an attack roll and the number on the die is the misfire number of the siege weapon, the attack fails and you must spend your next turn (both your action and bonus action) repairing the weapon or steadying yourself from whatever misfortune just befell you. If you roll a misfire on your next attack roll with the weapon, it breaks or is rendered inoperable until initiative ends.
Properties
Every weapon you create using the Siegemaster class has properties associated with them. Some are part of the base ruleset for fifth edition, others are unique to the Siegemaster.
Every siege weapon from the Siegemaster always the following properties
- Heavy
- Loading
- Misfire
- Two-handed
Every siege weapon from the Siegemaster also has an ability score property, which will tell you which ability score to use when calculating attack roll and damage bonuses.
Repairing
The difference in the weapons available to the Siegemaster is stark, but repairing them is rather standard. To repair a weapon after a single misfire, you must succeed on an Intelligence check (DC equal to 8 + misfire score). If your check fails, the weapon breaks and you must spend gold equal to five times the ammunition cost of the weapon. In the case of the ram, you must spend 10 gold per level of Siegemaster that you have.
Reloading
To reload the ballista or cannon, you must spend one action on your turn.
You can attempt to reload the weapon faster (needs defining) than intended by making a dexterity check with a DC equal to --X--. If you fail by 5 or more, you need to start the reloading process over again.
Working Prototype Siege Weapons
| Weapon name | Damage | Ammunition | Properties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballista | 1d6 piercing, 1d6 bludgeoning | 5g (5) | Dexterity, misfire 2, range 100/200 |
| Cannon | 2d6 bludgeoning, 2d6 fire | 10g (5) | Dexterity, misfire 3, range 100/200 |
| Ram | 2d6 bludgeoning | None | None |
Functioning Model
At 2nd level, you have constructed a siege weapon suitable for your use after spending time testing and optimising it. Choose ballista, cannon or ram from the following table and gain it as a weapon. Any creature trying to use your siege weapon must first succeed on an intelligence check to figure out how your one works. The DC for this check is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your intelligence. Regardless of success or failure, any creature trying to use this weapon treats it as an improvised weapon.
For each weapon, your attack roll is made up of your proficiency bonus and ability score modifier, based on its property. Each weapon also deals additional damage based on the ability score modifier for that weapon.
Ammunition Production
Ammunition for your ballista and cannon gained from the Siegemaster class is specialised, and cannot be purchased from a merchant or vendor. You can use your tools (carpenter's for ballista, smith's for cannon) and available materials during a short rest to produce ammunition based on the weapon entry in the table below.
At this point in the construction of your siege weapon, you specialise more in the type of weapon you have chosen to adapt to your own use.
You can change what kind of siege weapon you wield by spending one week of downtime and 10 gold per level of Siegemaster.
Ballista
The earliest ballistae were made almost solely from wood, but had metal added over time for added strength. Fundamentally, a ballista is a huge crossbow, working off the same principle as its smaller cousins; storing energy in the limbs by bending them and firing an object at incredible speeds.
Over the course of your testing and construction of your weapon, you have made something that is bigger than a crossbow, but not so large as to become unwieldy. While it still takes longer than a crossbow to reload, requiring immense strength through the use of a handcrank or some other mechanism of your design, the tradeoff for this time spent is being able to fire a bolt that can pierce tough armour or enter a creature from one side and exit through the other.
Cannon
With functions that are fundamentally different to anything that came before, cannons harness the power of physics and alchemy (although some argue chemistry) to do their bidding. The discovery of materials that create concussive force when interacting in the just the right way with heat gave inventors the world over many ideas, one of which eventually became the cannon.
Aesthetically, you have a metal tube with propellant, a projectile and means of ignition. Functionally, you have a weapon capable of terrifying power that can be used in a variety of ways.
Warning! When firing your cannon within 5 feet of another creature, it must succeed on a constitution saving throw (DC 8 + proficiency bonus + intelligence bonus) or take 1d4 thunder damage and become deafened until the end of their next turn.
Ram
The clear odd-one-out of the other weapons available to you, the ram is, on the surface, used for creating as much force in a concentrated area as possible. While the basic principle is rather simple, the ram has been used in a variety of ways before you decided that you wanted one all to yourself, and there is so much more to do.
From a giant log being carried by a team to batter a door down, to a gigantic carriage rolling towards a castle gate with a long suspended object ready to send the doors flying inwards, the idea is the same; a massive chunk of material moving very quickly, imparting a huge amount of force to a single point on a surface.
Functioning Model Siege Weapon
| Weapon name | Damage | Ammunition | Reload | Properties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballista | 2d6 piercing, 2d6 bludgeoning | 5g (5) | One action | Dexterity, misfire 1, range 150/250 |
| Cannon | 3d6 bludgeoning, 3d6 fire | 10g (5) | Two actions | Dexterity, misfire 2, range 150/250 |
| Ram | 3d6 bludgeoning | None | None | Misfire 1, strength |
Application of Force
At 3rd level, you have used your siege weapon enough to learn how to better apply it to different situations, and you start to modify your functioning model for different purposes.
Battlefield Ingenuity
The Siegemaster table shows you how many battlefield ingenuity points you have, which are used to fuel your tactical strikes. Each tactical strike functions in a different way, and some may allow you to spend more than one point. You regain all expended battlefield ingenuity points after you finish a short or long rest.
Tactical Strikes known at 3rd level and higher
You learn two tactical strikes of your choice, provided your siege weapon is of the appropriate type required. As you gain levels in this class, you will gain access to more tactical strikes, as well as more battlefield ingenuity points to use them with.
Using your tactical strikes
Intelligence is your ability score for your tactical strikes.
Tactical strike DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your intelligence modifier.
Modular Arsenal
Also at 3rd level, you gain one device that you can use to supplement your siege weapon's capabilities. When you first gain this class feature, you can choose a modular attachment and spend the gold required to construct it. The Siegemaster table will tell you how many modular attachments you can have active on your weapon at a time. As you construct modular attachments, they are counted as inventory items.
To construct a modular attachment, you must make an intelligence check (of which you are proficient) with a DC of 10 + your Siegemaster level. You make this check after you have completed long rests equal to your proficiency bonus. If you fail the check you lose 10% of the gold spent and must spend that gold again, and you must spend one more long rest, after which you make the check once more. If you roll a natural 1 at any point during this process, you lose 75% of the total cost, and must restart the process.
Breech Loading
weapon: cannon
cost: 900gp
You can still use your movement when reloading faster by sacrificing your actions.
Cartridged Ammunition
weapon: cannon
pre-requisite: breech loading
cost: 500gp
Flavour text
You can reload your cannon on the same turn that you fired it, but your movement is reduced by half if you do so.
Dual Loading
weapon: ballista
cost: 600gp
You modify the loading rail of your ballista, allowing the use of two bolts with a single launch instead of one.
This modification increases the misfire of your ballista by 1. When you roll to attack with your ballista that has this modification, you can choose to attack the same target with both bolts, or you can make one attack roll against two targets that are within 5 feet of each other.
Emplacement
weapon: ballista, cannon, ram
cost: 400gp
Flavour text
You can deploy this emplacement as a bonus action and use it. While using it, your movement is reduced by half, your attacks ignore half and three-quarter cover. Additionally, while it is deployed, you and allies within 5 feet of you are considered to be behind half cover.
Muzzle Brake
weapon: cannon
cost: 300gp
When you fire, any creature within 5 feet of your left, right or front takes 1d6 thunder damage and becomes deafened until the end of their next turn. The first time you pay for this upgrade, you can add your +2 proficiency bonus to the damage as fire. Each time you want to add a higher proficiency bonus, you must pay for this upgrade an additional time.
Optical Sights
weapon: ballista, cannon
cost: 240gp
You gain +1 to your attack rolls with this weapon. You can pay for this modular attachment up to 5 times total, gaining an additional bonus 1 for each.
Protective Bulwark
weapon: ballista, cannon, ram
cost: 240gp
When you are hit by an attack roll from a target you can see, you can use your reaction to gain +1AC. You can pay for this modular attachment up to 5 times total, gaining an additional bonus 1 for each.
Recoilless Action
weapon: cannon
cost: 250gp
requirement: Breach Loading
Your cannon now uses d8s for its bludgeoning damage. When you fire, every creature in a 10 foot line directly behind you must succeed on a dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 fire damage.
Tactical Strike Options
Ballista
Impale
When you make an attack with your ballista, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to try and pierce straight through a target. On a hit, its armour does not provide armour class to it until the start of its next turn. If you reduce a creature to zero hit points with this tactical strike, you regain one additional battlefield ingenuity point.
Maim
When you make an attack with your ballista, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to attempt to deal a significant blow to it. On a hit, it must succeed on a strength saving throw or take additional bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Siegemaster level and have its movement reduced by half. On a success, a target takes half damage.
Alternatively, if you hit a non-living target that you have studied with your Sapper's Study feature, the target does not make a saving throw, you deal the additional damage and are able to make a 5 foot by 5 foot opening in the target.
Reel In
When you make an attack with your ballista, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to affix a tether that you have on hand to the head of the bolt. The tether must be at least as long as the target is far. On a hit, the target must succeed on a strength saving throw or be pulled a number of feet equal to your strength ability score (rounded up).
Slicing Rend
When you make an attack with your ballista, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to attempt intentionally grazing the target and force them to bleed. On a hit, the target takes slashing damage instead of the normal damage from your ballista, and takes additional slashing damage equal to half of the damage (rounded up) that your slicing shot dealt.
Cannon
Flash! Bang!
Instead of dealing damage or expending ammunition, you create an extremely bright flash, followed by a colossal explosion. Every creature with eyes in a 60 foot cone must succeed on a constitution saving throw or become blinded until the end of its next turn. Additionally, every creature with ears within 30 feet of you (you have advantage on this roll) must succeed on a constitution saving throw or take 1d6 thunder damage and become deafened until the end of their next turn.
Forceful Repositioning
When you make an attack with your cannon, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point and attempt to push and disarm your target. On a hit, it must succeed on a strength saving throw. On a failure, it drops one object of your choice that it is holding and is then pushed 10 feet directly away from you.
Gut Punch
When you make an attack against a target with a stomach using your cannon, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to try and heavily wind them. On a hit, your target must succeed on a constitution saving throw or be unable to move or take reactions until the start of its next turn.
Overpack
When you make an attack with your cannon, you can expend one or more battlefield ingenuity points to pack much more powder into the barrel than is safe to do so. For this attack, the range on your cannon is doubled and the misfire increases by 1 for each battlefield ingenuity point you spend. On a hit, you deal an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage and 1d6 fire damage for each battlefield ingenuity point you spent.
Thunderous Boom
When you make an attack with your cannon, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to force a creature to make a wisdom saving throw. On a failure, it falls prone. If an allied creature is within melee range when this happens, they can use their reaction to make a melee weapon attack.
Ram
Crack the Shell
When you make an attack with your ram, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to focus on weakening your targets' armour, rather than your target itself. On a hit, your target rolls 1d20, adding any armour bonuses to the roll. If the total is lower than your attack total, its armour class is halved (rounded down) until the start of its next turn.
Follow Through
When you make an attack with your ram, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to deal 1d6 additional bludgeoning damage and push your target 5 feet away from you. This movement does not incur attacks of opportunity.
Kinetic Uppercut
When you make an attack with your ram, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to swing your ram with upward force. If you hit, the target must succeed on a strength saving throw or be thrown into the air and fall prone in a space 5 feet behind where it was standing.
Momentum Double-Up
When you make an attack with your ram, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to make two attacks in quick succession. If you hit with your first attack, you can make a second attack with disadvantage. If you use this tactical strike, your movement is halved until the end of your next turn.
Wind Up
When you make an attack with your ram, you can expend a battlefield ingenuity point to take an extra large swing. Make your attack roll with disadvantage, doubling the dice you roll for damage if you hit.
Augmented Battalion
At 5th level, the focus on your own arsenal begins to spread to your allies, allowing you to tinker with their weapons to add some of the over-the-top flair of your own weaponry.
You can take possession of a single piece of equipment from another creature on either a short or a long rest, applying the associated benefit (see below) until the next rest taken of the same type you spent to use this feature.
Weight distribution improvement: weapons & armour
Weight distribution is important, you know this from the oversized nature of your own arsenal. By adjusting your allies equipment, you can improve their own effectiveness in accuracy and weight.
When applied to armour, that armour gains +1 to its AC. When applied to weapons, it gains an attack bonus equal to half of its wielders' proficiency bonus (rounded down) at the time of the augmentation.
Damage improvement: weapons
You enhance the properties of the weapon such that it becomes weightier, sharper or otherwise more effective at inflicting pain.
The weapon deals additional damage equal to its wielders' proficiency bonus at the time of the augmentation. You cannot improve the damage of a ranged weapon itself, only its ammunition. Over the course of a short rest, you can augment up to 20 pieces of ammunition, or 40 pieces of ammunition over the course of a short rest. If the ammunition is magical, you can augment only half as much as normal.
Damage resistance: armour
Most armour is made wholesale and with some semblence of regulation. Screw regulation! Your skills lie in making just the right changes to the shape or size to turn hits into grazes.
The armour gains damage reduction equal to its wearers' proficiency bonus.
Specialised Munitions
At 6th level, you start to develop your own advanced materials for use with your siege weapon. When you produce ammunition with your Functioning Model feature, you can spend additional gold equal to twice the base amount (or 5 for the ram) and relevant materials to change the ammunition you produce during the rest into a type you choose from the list below.
If you choose a Specialised Munition for the ram, it changes to that type until you use this feature again. You can revert your ram to its standard type at no additional cost over the course of a short rest.
Any DC associated with your Specialised Munitions is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your intelligence modifier.
All damage associated with Specialised Munitions deals an additional damage die equal to your proficiency bonus, in addition to its base damage die.
Barbed
weapon: ballista, cannon
You fit tips of barbed spikes onto your siege weapon. On a successful attack, you deal an additional 1d4 piercing damage. If the target is organic, it takes 1d4 + your Siegemaster level in additional piercing damage at the start of your next turn.
Chain Shot
weapon: cannon
cost: 10g (1)
You link two pieces of ammunition with a thick chain, loading both into the barrel of your cannon.
This ammunition increases the misfire of your cannon by 1. If you hit with this ammunition, the target takes 1d6 additional bludgeoning damage and must succeed on a strength saving throw or be knocked prone and become grappled. The creature can use their action to untangle themselves, or another creature can use its action to untangle them.
Corrosive
weapon: cannon
Using alchemical coatings of various designs and a hollow projectile, you create volatile ammunition to spray acid over anything unlucky enough to be near your target. When using this ammunition, the misfire of your cannon increases by 1.
On a hit with corrosive ammunition, the target takes 2d6 additional acid damage, and any creature within 5 feet of the target must succeed on a dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 acid damage on a failure or half as much on a success.
Grape Shot
prerequisite: cannon
cost: 50gp (2)
Forgoing a single shell, you load a collection of smaller projectiles for a tight spread along a line of targets.
When firing this ammunition, the range of your cannon is set to 50, and every creature along a 5 foot wide line must succeed on a dexterity saving throw. Roll your cannon's damage, dealing the rolled amount to creatures that failed the saving throw, and half to those that succeeded.
Shockwave
prerequisite: ballista, ram
By using special volatile coatings that detonate on sudden contact with another surface, your weapon sets off a blast of concussive force on impact with its target.
On a hit, your target and every creature (including you) within 5 feet of your target must make a strength saving throw, taking 1d4 + your Siegemaster class level in bludgeoning damage on a failure and being pushed 5 feet directly away from the impact point. A creature that succeeds takes half of the additional bludgeoning damage and is not pushed. You will always succeed on the saving throw.
Other ideas and shit
- set up the weapon as stationary for extra accuracy? Set up a shield emplacement?
- "Streamlined Design" class feature: there's already so many accuracy options, making weapons a guaranteed hit forever and always is boring design
- Make the cannon become capable of area damage? Ram cleaving attack?
- Repeating ballista? Fire it many times, but at reduced accuracy based on how many bolts are loaded?