Medium construct (undead), chaotic evil

Armor Class: 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points: 142 (15d8 + 75)

Speed: 30 ft

STR

22 +6

DEX

11 +0

CON

20 +5

INT

8 -1

WIS

6 -2

CHA

10 +0

Skills: Arcana +5

Senses: passive Perception 8

Languages: machine speech (via umbilical)

Challenge Rating: 6 (2,300 XP)

Actions

• Multiattack. The vehemence makes two Bash attacks.
• Bash. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 ( 3d8+6 ) bludgeoning damage.
• Device Control (Recharge 5–6): One target bearing numenera (such as a cypher, relic, or iron flesh) or another machine within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 14 Intelligence saving throw. If the target is a PC, the GM selects one device carried by the PC. The vehemence gains temporary remote control of that device and immediately uses it against the character as its reaction. The vehemence retains control for up to one minute, or until the PC and vehemence are separated by more than 60 feet. If the target is a machine, the vehemence controls that machine for one minute, using a reaction each round to do so.

Reactions

Puppeteer. When bloodied for the first time (reduced to 50% of its starting hit points) Device Control recharges and the vehemence uses it.

Legendary Actions

Contingent Legendary Actions. The vehemence gains 1 legendary action for every 4 PCs it is facing during an encounter. It may use a legendary action to take one of its normal actions.

Suggested Environments

From afar, an unmoving vehemence resembles the bones of a corpse that has not completely rotted away. But when it lurches to “life” and rapidly closes the distance on nearby creatures intruding in its territory, it is revealed as a nightmare of fused machine and dead human remains.   Iron Flesh Animated. A vehemence arises when a creature using iron flesh comes to an unfortunate end and the machine parts retain enough autonomy and self-repair ability to remain active. However, without the controlling intelligence to manage goals and behavior, a vehemence knows only aggressive self-defense. It practices survival at all costs.   Salvage Dependent. To keep themselves active, vehemence regularly need to salvage parts and components from other machines or from the numenera carried by explorers. They sometimes supplement this with pieces of once-living flesh, which is why people could mistake them for undead.   Mostly Vanished Cognizance. A few vehemences retain a subsystem capable of setting additional limited-scale goals. They communicate with other machines via direct contact by an extendable umbilical. Some retain memories and feelings of the creatures that originally installed the iron flesh, but they rarely hold onto enough of a personality for any meaningful interaction to occur.