In the world of Pondaera mechanical contraptions are very rare, but some of the gnomes in the world seem to have a knack for creating them. The people who make these clockwork devices are known as tinkers. Not to be left alone to their own creating and wanting to trade crafting secrets, they have created a tinker's guild. It should be noted that a few non-gnomes have been welcomed into the ranks of tinkers, but they are extremely rare.
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Investigation
Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan's tools
Languages: Choose one of Draconic, Goblin, or Gnome
Equipment: An Tinker's Guild insignia, one set of artisan's tools, the charred and twisted remains of a failed experiment, a hammer, a block and tackle, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 5 gp
The popular conception of the Tinker's Guild is based on mad inventions, dangerous experiments, and explosive blasts. Much of that perception is accurate, but the league is also involved with mundane tasks of construction and architecture—primarily in crafting the infrastructure that allows some cities to enjoy running water, levitating platforms, and other magical and technological wonders.
You have a basic knowledge of the structure of buildings, including the stuff behind the walls. You can also find blueprints of a specific building in order to learn the details of its construction. Such blueprints might provide knowledge of entry points, structural weaknesses, or secret spaces. Your access to such information isn't unlimited. If obtaining or using the information gets you in trouble with the law, the guild can't shield you from the repercussions.
Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature
For you, the spells on the Tinker's Guild Spells table are added to the spell list of your spellcasting class. (If you are a multiclass character with multiple spell lists, these spells are added to all of them.)
Your spells tend to be loud, flashy, or explosive, even when the effect is unremarkable. For example, when you open the portal of a rope trick spell, the portal might be outlined by harmless, showy sparkles.
If you use an arcane focus, it probably takes the form of an intricate device that could include metal gauntlets, glass canisters, copper tubing, and leather straps attaching it to your body.
Cantrip - produce flame, shocking grasp
1st - chaos bolt, create or destroy water, unseen servant
2nd - heat metal, rope trick
3rd - call lightning, elemental weapon, glyph of warding
4th - conjure minor elementals, divination, Otiluke's resilient sphere
5th - animate objects, conjure elemental
The chaos bolt spell is a favorite of Tinker's Guild spellcasters because of its unpredictable nature.
1st-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You hurl an undulating, warbling mass of chaotic energy at one creature in range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 + 1d6 damage. Choose one of the d8s. The number rolled on that die determines the attack's damage type, as shown below.
If you roll the same number on both d8s, the chaotic energy leaps from the target to a different creature of your choice within 30 feet of it. Make a new attack roll against the new target, and make a new damage roll, which could cause the chaotic energy to leap again.
Acid
Cold
Fire
Force
Lightning
Poison
Psychic
Thunder
A creature can be targeted only once by this casting of the spell.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, each target takes 1d6 extra damage of the type rolled for each slot level above 1st.
Members of the Tinker's Guild embody some combination of chaotic, frenetic energy with intellectual curiosity, in varying proportions. Some are committed to academic pursuits, and others just like explosions.
The laboratories of the Tinker's Guild are constantly starting up new projects and dissolving old ones, so it's easy for even the lowliest attendant to make friends (and enemies) in laboratories across Pondaera.
Roll twice on the Tinker's Guild Contacts table (for an ally and a rival) and once on the Non-Guild Contacts table.
Whatever your role in the Tinker's Guild, you are expected to contribute to its research in some way. That contribution might involve participating in tests, whether as an assistant, a researcher, or a subject. You might be one of the soldiers who protects a laboratory, or a laborer responsible for lifting heavy pieces of equipment into place. Everyone's contribution matters.
I have a hard time staying focused on … oh, and my brain tends to jump from one … did I mention focus?
I get really excited about my ideas and I can't wait to talk about them and start putting them into practice and tinkering with them and I want to tell you about how exciting it all is!
It's not magic—or anything, really—if you do it only halfway. Whatever I do, I give it all I've got.
I do what my gut tells me.
Life's an experiment, and I can't wait to see what happens.
I pepper my speech with the incomprehensible jargon of my trade, like liquified setfire droplets inserted into a weird-field suspension.
Great ideas are fine, but great results are what counts.
If you can guess what I'm about to do, that means I've run out of imagination.
Guild. My guild is all that really matters. (Any)
Creativity. Half the world's troubles come from stodgy thinking, stuck in the past. We need innovative solutions. (Chaotic)
Discovery. Every experiment has the potential to reveal more secrets of the multiverse. (Any)
Science. A rigorous application of logical principles and protocols will lead us toward progress more surely than any belief system. (Lawful)
Fun. I love my job! Despite the dangerous working conditions, there's nothing I'd rather do. (Chaotic)
Power. Someday I'll find or create the magic that will make me the most powerful being in Pondaera. (Evil)
I have dedicated my life to finding a solution to a scientific problem.
I'll never forget the laboratory where I learned my skills, or the other attendants who learned alongside me.
I'm convinced it was sabotage that destroyed my first laboratory and killed many of my friends, and I seek revenge against whoever did it.
I have the schematics for an invention that I hope to build one day, once I have the necessary resources.
A fellow student and I are racing to solve the same scientific puzzle.
I would do anything the guildmaster told me to do.
If there's a plan, I'll probably forget it. If I don't forget it, I'll probably ignore it.
I get bored easily, and if nothing is happening I'll make something happen.
Nothing is ever simple, and if it seems simple, I'll find a way to make it complicated.
I tend to ignore sleep for days when I'm conducting research, often at the expense of my own health and safety.
I'm convinced there's not a soul in Pondaera, except maybe the great Freer Frizzenbee, who can match my boundless intellect.
I'm incapable of admitting a flaw in my logic.
An older relative is a member of the guild's board of directors.
I know a sprite who carries important messages among the guild's laboratories.
A sibling is the head of a laboratory doing exotic research.
A former colleague is now an attendant in a laboratory in the central guildhall.
I'm in regular communication with an instructor who set me on the course of my life and research.
I had a romance with a chemister working in the underdark.
As an attendant, I had a fierce rivalry with another attendant for our supervisor's attention.
The guildmaster took note of one of my experiments!
An Dwarven inspector seems interested in my work.
I was ready to join the service of Kawshafa before I decided on Tinker's Guild, and I sometimes still hear from the mage who tried to recruit me.
One of my former assistants turned out to be a drow spy. We're not on friendly terms anymore, but we have a habit of running into each other.
A Blackbolt assassin killed a bitter rival of mine, leaving me with conflicted feelings.
I helped a minor chieftain acquire an Tinker's Guild weapon.
Roll an additional Tinker's Guild contact; you can decide if the contact is an ally or a rival.
An Emerald Keep banker financed my laboratory's current work and expects great returns.
I have a cousin in the Service of Hoofshaw, and we get along quite well.
A former attendant from the same laboratory ran off to join the City Guard, and we get into a big argument every time we run into each other.
I compare notes and techniques with an Artificer over lunch sometimes.