D&D is secretly a sci-fi game. And these five different secret mechs prove it. No homebrew needed. Have you piloted one?
From laser guns to antimatter rifles to rocketships that will asolutely take you to die in the cold depths of space, Dungeons & Dragons is surprisingly full of advanced technology. It’s also full of giant robots or giant robot-like things that you can pilot, better known as mecha. Now, these aren’t Mobile Suit Gundam levels of giant fighting robots that will let you single-handedly turn around the war with Zeon.
But these D&D mecha do already exist in the game. And you don’t even have to homebrew anything to be able to pilot them.
Mighty Servant of Leuk-O
This one is just literally a giant mech that you and another person can hop in and immediately start piloiting. And it’s been a part of D&D since the earliest days. The Mighty Servant of Leuk-O is part of D&D’s ancient past, and wasn’t even introduced in the adventure module where party members would traipse into a crashed spaceship.
This 10-foot tall robot is crafted of a “gleaming black alloy of unknown origin” and can take two Medium creatures and a ton of cargo in its hulking form. It also has a number of combat functions, including a mighty crushing leeap that deals 4d12 damage in a sizable area of effect and knocks creatures prone, or a punch with a force fist that will bypass most damage resistance and deal triple damage to objects. So yeah. D&D’s actual literal mech.
Apparatus of Kwalish
Not all mecha are bipedal. And the Apparatus of Kwalish embodies one of nature’s most powerful forms: the inevitable crab. This one shape repeats itself across species, even if they aren’t actually crabs or crablike to begin with. At the end of the day, we will all become crab. So why not become robot crab with the Apparatus of Kwalish, which is a giant robot crabmarine that can go on land or under the water.
And yeah, technically it’s a lobster, but it scuttles and fights with giant claws and has light-emitting eyestalks. Just look at it. that’s a crab.
Tasha’s Creeping Keelboat
A walking boat mech? Look, if you’re questioning this, then you’ve never seen one of the greatest anime of all time, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a mecha show so over the top that they had whole galaxies fighting each other. A boat with legs is easily a D&D mecha. And this one, out of the upcoming Quests from the Infinite Staircase, is a classic mech design: the quadruped. With 4 legs, and all the qualities of a normal keelboat, this ship can carry up to a half ton without needing to slow down, can be mounted with any shipborn weapons, and serves as a battle platform that you can fight from, gainint a bonus to your AC just for being aboard.
Infernal War Machine
Infernal War Machines were introduced in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus after the WotC team saw Mad Max: Fury Road. But read closely the description of these machines, and you’ll see that they don’t necessarily have to have wheels.
In fact, you can add arms, magical cannons that spray infernal bile, piercing “harpoon fingers” and more to them to make them even more suited to being walking titans that crash into each other like an infernal suit Gundam.
Warforged Colossus
Finally, the other big official mecha of D&D, the Warforged Colossus. Now, of all the ones on this list, this is proably the hardest one to access, but, hear me out. In the new Vecna adventure, players have to traipse through the inner workings of a Warforged Colossus to find its arcane mind and commune with it to uncover secret knowledge that won’t actually help you beat Vecna, but that’s okay.
Depending on how it goes, you can free the mind from its body, allowing the Warforged Colossus’ consciousness to roam free. Leaving the machinery it once inhabited inert…until some enterprising players decide to hook up some magic crystals or something to it.
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