#pentadrone

The pentadrone on the left is 10 feet tall, and do you see that turret-like tube in the center of the flower body? Yeah that shoots paralyzing gas. Can handle 5 separate tasks at a time, and those tentacle-faces are prehensile!

Image by Julie Dillon, © Wizards of the Coast

[The last of the drone modrons, and the last modron I’m posting for a while. I’m commissioning original art for the modron hierarchs, and so am going to wait at least that long. In the original version, a pentadrone could either levitate or use its paralysis gas, but not both, because it levitated using the gas jets. Which isn’t... realistic, exactly, but made a certain kind of logical sense, something I think of as “Gygaxian naturalism”. But it’s a decently tough monster, why shouldn’t it be able to fly? I imagine they fly something like how Gamera flies.]

Modron, Pentadrone CR 7 LN Outsider (extraplanar) This strange being has five pointed lobes, like a starfish, each with a single eye and frowning mouth. It stands on five clockwork legs below, and a metallic nozzle grows from its upper surface, pivoting as it watches.

The strongest of the modron drones, pentadrones serve as delegates between the will of the hierarchs and the actions of the drones. They also serve as a police force, watching constantly for signs of rogue behavior in modron drones and eliminating the rogues when they appear. Pentadrones keep a close eye on chaotic creatures that interact with modron business or visit Regulus. If any mortal creature violates the laws of the modrons, pentadrones will paralyze them, beat them into submission, and drag them off to face judgment.

A pentadrone typically opens combat with its paralysis gas. As modrons are immune to paralysis, it doesn’t care about aiming it away from its troops. Any creatures not paralyzed are bludgeoned with its five arms, or bombarded with spells if they are chaotic. Pentadrones are skilled tacticians and make good use of their abilities, and the abilities of lesser modrons in battle. A pentadrone often fights from the air, using jets of gasses to spin and levitate. Pentadrones are the most likely of the modron drone ranks to flee from combat, as they need to report the outcome to a hierarch.

Because of their ability to hold five objectives in common at a time, and their skill at planning for future events, pentadrones often appear as introspective to other creatures. They rarely speak, unless it is to give orders or acquire information. Pentadrones are unique among modron varieties in that they have no fine manipulators—no hands, tentacles, etc. They can manage objects using one of their mouths, but doing so is not particularly efficient. Thus, pentadrones often keep a staff of monodrones on hand to serve it as limbs, taking dictation, opening doors and locks, and performing other tasks that require fine motor skills.

Geometry angels...

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