Following on from my previous post, An Introduction to Mad Science, today I’ve got a Bestiary post featuring a pair of mad scientists that your PCs can face and defeat!
Kauderwelscher
The Kauderwelscher (and yes, I did name various examples of mad scientist in German…) exemplifies the madness of mad science. They can charm their enemies (Charmed: has disfavor on attack rolls against the charmer and is flatfooted against them.) just by expounding on their fantastical theories, and once a PC is under their influence, can order them to run around throwing levers, pushing buttons, and so on to the exclusion of all else. This is useful enough just to make PCs run to the other side of a room, but in a hazardous environment (filled with giant Tesla coils, vats of acid, or just a nice pit trap) can be even worse for an incautious PC. However, the Kauderwelscher is actually less charming against PCs that are trained in Engineering and thus are more likely to understand the inanity of what the mad scientist is spouting…
The Kauderwelscher also has an inaccurate melee attack using a handy wrench, and a slightly more accurate but significantly more potent attack using a “pocket death ray.” While these aren’t very accurate attacks, the Kauderwelscher’s ability to charm foes sets them up for an inevitable betrayal…
Alchemischer
The Alchemischer, on the other hand, represents a different strain of mad scientist…one who samples their own wares. This is an Assassin, a class of enemy I haven’t provided many examples of, and it’s an unusual example of the class to boot.
An Alchemischer starts an encounter with only one attack, an inaccurate and underwhelming stab with a scalpel. But it also has the ability to drink raw alchemical ingredients and not just not die, but also benefit from them (the benefit of its mad theory of alchemy). The Drink Alchemicals action usually gives the Alchemischer a random beneficial effect, although it can occasionally fizzle out with no effect or even backfire and remove previous effects. These effects in turn empower its Alchemical Spittle attack, a close-ranged spray attack that (in practice) can deal from 2d4 + 8 to 4d4 + 16 damage, depending on how many effects it has gained from Drink Alchemicals.
So in practice, the best way to use an Alchemischer is to have it hang back, hiding in the shadows or behind a cadre of test subjects, guzzling its alchemical mixtures until it has an appropriate number of effects, and then spring it on the PCs with a possibly devastating opening attack. (Catching two or three PCs in a surprise Alchemical Spittle attack with 4d4 + 16 damage is a great way to put them on the back foot.) The catch (because there’s often a catch with mad science…) is that each use of Drink Alchemicals carries a 1/6 chance of wiping out the beneficial effects that it granted, so trying to get all three of Acid, Fire, and Toxin is a risky endeavor. For GMs that like to gamble, I think this makes the Alchemischer a fun enemy to throw against the PCs.
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