Hi folks,
Just as we were wrapping up tonight's session, I had the wild mage PC roll on the wild surge table as she dropped to 0 hp. She got the one that summons a modron for a minute. It says I choose but I decided to roll randomly and got a pentadrone.
The question is: what the hell am I supposed to do with a giant robotic starfish?!
The PCs were in the midst of busting down the door of the evil wizard to rescue the town speaker when they got zapped by lightning from the glyph of warding on the door. The pentadrone has just appeared in the aftermath.
The MM says pentadrones are capable of improvising, although they still can't be compelled to do anything that would conflict with their programming. OK. That doesn't really help me use it. What would it be inclined to do in this situation?
Would it try to stop them from breaking and entering, as that is generally considered an unlawful act? What if they explain to it that they're acting with the town sheriff's blessing? (They're not exactly deputies, nor are they acting on his orders per se, but he knows more or less what they're doing and wouldn't stop them if he could.)
I know I brought this on myself, and I honestly don't mind, it's just that I have no idea what to do with it. Anyone got any ideas?
Thanks,
Jonathan
I've had a quick read of the MM, so here's the first thing I thought of:
Treat it as a rogue modron (being yanked away from its own perfectly ordered, clean, comfortable plane and thrust into this chaotic, dirty one with no link to its society has caused it to go instantly insane). Attach it to the party (it's seeking companionship and a purpose, so desperately that it will help the characters in their quest) as a lore specialist.
It's a shame it's only there for a minute, really. If you choose to extend its stay I could see it becoming a useful NPC. And, in time the party can attempt to return it to its own plane, or they can deal with the hunters when they arrive to destroy the rogue modron.
Have it be summoned NOT by the Wild Magic, but for a purpose that helps the PCs, and brings order to the universe. It coinciding with the Wild Mage's unconsciousness is mere, erm, coincidence!
I really like your idea of it trying to stop them from breaking and entering, just for the comedic value at the table.
Have them try to persuade or deceive the modron into believing they are in the right. If they suceed it relents and helps them for a minute. If they fail it does what it can to impede their progress.
The pentadrone was summoned out of a holding pen where it and other modrons are prisoners awaiting rendering. An evil and sadistic order of nomadic knights on the Concordant Opposition known as the Tacharim has captured a number of modrons when the Great Modron March shuffled past the gate-town of Excelsior. They are cruelly removing biomechanical parts from these creatures and infusing it with their knights to make cyborg-like warriors of great strength and resilience. The pentadrone explains its situation to the adventurers and asks for their help. It can provide them with a sigil sequence to an abandoned teleportation circle that will allow the characters to plane shift to the Outlands near to where the modrons are being held prisoner. After the minute is up, it is sent back, consigned to a horrible fate unless the adventurers intervene.
This leaves an open adventure hook that you might be able to use down the road for some plane-hopping good fun. For more details, see the AD&D 2e Planescape adventure anthology, The Great Modron March.
I first read "Help! There's a Moron in Our Midst!". 
Thanks for the suggestions, guys.
I quite like the irony of a wild, chaotic surge of magic summoning a being of pure lawfulness, and I like the idea that such an occurrence would break the creature's programming and make it go rogue. Also, the PCs' motivation for breaking and entering is to rescue the rightful ruler of the town, so while the modron might be initially antagonistic - perhaps spraying the group with its paralysis gas so it can evaluate the situation in peace - it may side with the PCs against the gang of wererat pirates holding the speaker hostage.
Or perhaps it was in the midst of fighting a creature of chaos - I thought maybe a slaad, but they appear to all be a bit too powerful (a pentadrone is CR 2 whereas slaads are all CR 5 or higher). Perhaps there were more modrons fighting the slaad, but only this one pentadrone got sucked away along with the slaad. If the PCs do nothing to intervene, the pentadrone will most likely get its butt kicked. If they do intervene, they could probably take down the slaad (especially if I drop its hit points a bit), but the distraction might be enough to allow the wererats to escape with the town speaker. If there's one thing I've been enjoying most about this campaign, it's been the number of times I've been able to watch with glee as a wrench I've thrown into the PCs' plans causes all sorts of chaos ... 
On a related note, how do you pronounce "modron" anyway? I've been saying "MOE-drahn", but some of my players were saying "MA-drahn". It could just be an American vs British English thing, I suppose. It certainly wouldn't be the first time. But I've always had this compulsive need to pronounce things correctly, even when it sounds wrong (did you know "coup de grace" is actually meant to be pronounced "coo day grass"?).
And on that note, is there a Planescape book or anything of that kind that contains more info on modrons than the 5e MM? I want to try and get my head around them a little better. I suppose I could have a look in my old 2e Planescape box set.
pukunui wrote:
ankiyavon wrote:
OK so the Monstrous Supplement in my 2e Planescape box set has several pages' worth of info on the modrons (although a substantial amount of it is spent discussing the hierarchs). It says the pentadrones generally act as law enforcers, which makes me think that if this pentadrone witnesses the PCs attempt to break into the wizard's office, it will try to stop them.
Interestingly, a 2e pentadrone are resistant to cold, fire and acid damage and immune to illusion and mind-affecting magic, as well as nonmagical weapons. 5e pentadrones only get the immunity to illusions due to their truesight.
ankiyavon wrote:
I learned something today!
The modron, as a guardian of Law, will probably go to the defense of the kidnapped Mayor. Not only is kidnapping the greater lawlessness (attack vs person > attack vs property), it threatens to overturn the Government itself.
Can the PCs explain the situation really fast? The modron comes onto the scene not knowing what is happening / has happened / who is who.
If i knew what a modron was (I didn't until I read this thread), my character would point and yell, "She's the mayor; protect her from danger!" figuring that we can sort out the rest of it later. If I didn't know, I would probably try to squirm around it, through the doorway, and continue with our mission. (Then I would talk to the wild magic user and the DM after the session. This is not fun; it is a distraction.)
Does the evil Wizard know what a modron is? He might try to manipulate it to his advantage, too.
BRJN wrote:
I wouldn't do anything unless an idea just came to mind.
It'll just stand there, being all penta.
Everything doesn't have to tie in in some neat way.