Can Artificers Work as D&D Villains?

Artificers are always an interesting, if neglected D&D class, but that doesn't meant we can't give them the lich DnD villain treatment.
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Check out the Necromaton HERE!

[pointyhatstudios]

🤖BEEP BOOP BEEP BOOP🤖 (but spooky 💀)
Which Lich is my favorite series to make 😊

[CaptainFirefred]

So this is basically how an Artificer becomes DnD Ultron.

[ZpEB]

"That undead artificer was creepy, glad he's gone"
Necromaton: You fool! I have *_70 ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTS!!!_*

[thetinygraydog]

Dang, I just imagined a Scenario where the Nercromatron sets up shop in a village, where he offers cybernetic upgrades to villagers in exchange for service and goods the town can provide for him. So when the heroes come into town they see a bunch of folks with mechanical parts, not knowing that any of them can be taken over by the Necromatron at any point.

[emperortime]

Bro, an artificially alive inventor has been done so well in sci-fi. An artificer lich seems like such an obvious thing yet you really don’t see it done in swords and sorcery campaigns.

[AegixDrakan]

OKAY, the Lich that's actually a teleporting shop is legitimately an insane concept and *I love it.* :o

[Lunafeir]

Omg the idea of a “Barbarian Lich” is absolutely wild. I can only imagine a nordic warrior king too angry to die, probably getting their soul sustenance by defeating worthy warriors in glorious battle

[cumulonimbusapothecary]

That "Barbarian... Not yet." at the beginning has made me excited for a future episode of "LOCAL MAN TOO ANGRY TO DIE."

[TheNextDecade]

One detail about the Necromaton that I absolutely love is that, somehow, you made it feel like the Necromaton is the PROPER way of achieving Wizard lichdom, meanwhile the classical "Eh, just inhabit my own corpse" is the half-assed, half-finished version of someone who rushes through the process. Or, I guess, like this is the same process as classical lichdom, but perfected.

[oddcarl]

The mechanicus line at the beginning was very fitting.

[brettbeyer]

This could be a fun Warforged, where the character is a phylactery that escaped his/her artificer lich.

[Daedalus-Inc]

Hmm... modrons have biological looking eyes, but the rest of their bodies appear mechanical. They are a hive mind for the primary one, Primus. When Primus dies, he is immediately replaced by the next modron down, and a new modron is created. Lots of parallels to this.

[sheadon]

In 3.5e there was a type of Psionic Lich called a spectral savant. It was Incorporeal and had to drain psionic power from other creatures to be able to use its psionic abilities. It's super flavorful and it would be amazing to see a version of it for 5e, intended for the Psi Warrior, Soulknife, and Aberrant Mind!

[redspyke]

Love the Adeptus Mechanicus and Necron vibes. Can't wait to make a final boss to be a Warlord Titan reinforced by Imperial Knights and Necron Overlords.

[jonathanarmes]

I don't know what it was that you had to endure with your child, but as a father of a stillborn son, my heart goes out to you. Stay strong and be well.

[thelohrsaga]

This made me realize that Sasori from Naruto is essentially a perfect example of an artificer-lich.

[DigitalAnima]

Decided to put the Clockwork Abattoir into my most recent session on a whim. Was not expecting my players to try to use resurrection to get free magic items, nor to discuss the logistics of harvesting organs from enemies. Still a fun time to be sure.

Edit: some people want details but its fairly straightforward. I dropped the clockwork abattoir in on my players, hoping to offer some temptation to a morally simplistic group of adventurers (aka a bunch of edgy weirdos). i improvised a system where more vital organs such as the heart and stomach yielded more powerful items. players quickly debated whether to kill their horses and got a rod of resurrection at the price of one of the paladin's heart and used that to res him, also getting a few other powerful items from his other vital organs. The players were pretty suspicious so they arent going back probably and i have balanced around the high level items. Moral of the story is dont offer powerful items to players unless you have a foolproof plan. or do im not your parent.

[VilageIdiot]

i think the necromaton has the easiest possibility of being not evil. imagine a necromaton that just takes out peoples appendix's, or gives people stronger mechanichal limbs and organs in exchange for their flesh ones, awesome ally for the party

[elizabethc.]

Dude, that's sick. I love it. There's a kid in my group that plays nothing but Artificers, I'll share this with him, and I can already see his next character being a necromaton!

[kevinquintana]

This could work in a murder mystery campaign where the friendly helpful rusting "warforged" actual necromaton is the villain trying to fix up/ replace his body.