Modrons

Modrons, Planescape

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The Modrons
A Manual of the PlanesWeb Enhancement
by Mark Jindra
No creatures are more alien and mysterious than the ultra-
lawful modrons. In this web-only supplement, available exclu-
sively from the Wizards of the Coast website
<www.wiz-
ards.com/dnd>,
we offer statistics for these geometrical
creatures, plus an extensive background on their history, society,
life cycle, and relationships with other planar creatures.
What’s a mortal to make of the modrons—those
strange creatures of absolute order that whir and click
along in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus? To an
outsider, they seem to have no existence other than as a
whole. Indeed, there is a saying: “ To look at one
modron is to look at all of them.”
It is only logical that these creatures are native to
Mechanus. Rumor has it that they are the keepers of
their mechanical plane, the maintainers of the gears
and the polishers of the cogs. Modrons keep the whole
place running smoothly and cleanly—without them,
Mechanus would surely break down.
Though the majority of modrons live in Regulus
(their own city in Mechanus), they can be encountered
anywhere within the planes. No modron is ever with-
out a task to carry out, though these tasks may be no
more comprehensible to other creatures than the mod-
rons themselves are.
Just what are the goals of these creatures of ultimate
order? Do they want to impose total law over the rest of
the cosmos? Are they simply keepers of the machinery
that drives the multiverse—the repair unit of infinity?
Or are they devious players on the cosmic gameboard,
trying to eliminate their competition? These questions
may never be answered, and a host more may never be
asked. No one but a modron truly understands a
modron.
Additional Credits
Additional Design Scott Greene
Editing Penny Williams
Typesetting: Sue Cook
Web Production: Julia Martin
Web Development: Mark Jindra
Marching Modron Illustration: Tony DiTerlizzi
Graphic Design: Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege
Some material in this enhancement was compiled from other
sources, including Planes of Law by Colin McComb,
Planescape Monstrous Supplement by David “Zeb” Cook,
The Great Modron March by Monte Cook, and The Book of
Modrons by Scott Greene (see Creature Catalog website at
<www.rpgplanet.com/dnd3e/creaturecatalog/>.
Based on the original D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
® game by E.
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the
D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
game designed by Jonathan Tweet,
Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison.
THE REALM OF THE
MODRONS
The city of Regulus occupies sixty-four of the coglike
wheels of Mechanus, called sectors. Each group of four
sectors is called a region, and each group of four
regions is called a quarter. Modrons of increasingly
greater authority oversee each of these units, and over
it all reigns Primus, the One and the Prime, supreme
ruler of all modrons. The Tower of Primus stands at the
hub of the central cog and the modron cathedral (see
below) rises from one close by.
D&D, D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
, and D
UNGEON
M
ASTER
are registered trademarks owned
by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the dis-
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This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America.
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This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations,
places, or events is purely coincidental.
This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No
portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission.
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please visit <www.wizards.com/d20>.
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All rights reserved.
Made in the U.S.A.
Visit our website at
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MODRON CASTES
In all, there are more than 360 million modrons,
divided into fifteen ranks, or castes. Castes are hardly
unique, but the modron approach to them is. Each caste
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Table 1: Modron Castes
Caste
No. of Members
Body Shape
Function
Telepathy Range (Miles)
The One and the Prime
Primus
1
Humanoid
Absolute ruler of all modrons
All Mechanus
Hierarch Modrons
Secundi
4
Humanoid
Viceroys of the quarters
420
Tertians
9
3-armed humanoid
Judges
405
Quartons
16
4-armed humanoid
Rulers of the regions
384
Quintons
25
5-armed humanoid
Bureau chiefs and recordkeepers
238
Hextons
36
6-armed humanoid
Generals of the modron armies
216
Septons
49
7-armed humanoid
Inspectors
190
Octons
64
8-armed torpedolike creature Governors of the sectors
80
Nonatons
81
9-armed cylinder
Police supervisors
63
Decatons
100
10-armed sphere
Supervisors and caretakers
44
of base modrons
Base Modrons
Pentadrones
500,000+*
Star
Law enforcers
—
Quadrones
1.5 million+*
Cube
Multifunctional laborers, supervisors —
Tridrones
6 million+*
Pyramid
Trifunctional laborers,
—
minor supervisors
Duodrones
55 million+*
Rectangle
Bifunctional laborers
—
Monodrones
300 million+*
Sphere
Single-functional general laborers
—
has not only its own functions, but its own body shape
as well. Thus, a modron’s physical appearance is a direct
indicator of its rank.
The castes are further categorized into base modrons
and hierarch modrons. Base modrons perform mun-
dane tasks; hierarch modrons plan and organize, over-
see others, and manage entire areas. At the top of the
list, of course, is Primus.
From greatest to least, the fifteen modron castes are
listed on the table below. Listed with each is the
number of modrons in that caste and a brief descrip-
tion of their duties in Regulus. Primus and the hierarch
modrons are also capable of telepathic communication,
and the range of that power is given in a separate
column.
*Though the number of modrons in each caste is
fixed, the DM may decide the actual figure for each of
the base modron castes.
No individuality, in either form or thought, exists
within a caste. Each modron calls itself “we” and can
interchange posts and positions with others of the
same caste. Thus, a traveler has no way of knowing
whether the pentadrone encountered today is the same
one who held that post yesterday. This would be only a
minor inconvenience were it not for the rigid and com-
plex bureaucracy of Regulus, which requires visitors to
appear and reappear before clerks, courts, and boards
before even the smallest of requests can be granted.
Occasionally a clever character solves this problem
with a brush and paint, marking individual modrons
with runes to tell them apart. Unless instructed to
remove such marks, a base modron may wear a splash
of color or a strange sigil for the rest of its life, for most
do not even notice such things as markings on their
own bodies.
This rigid caste system also defines the modrons’ abil-
ity to interact with other members of their own race.
Each modron is aware of and recognizes other modrons
of the same or lower caste, as well as those of the next-
higher caste (their supervisors). Modrons more than
one rank higher simply appear as incomprehensible
creatures. Of course, a pentadrone might be assigned to
guard a hexton, but it understands only that it is to
guard a creature matching the description of the
hexton; it has no conception of that hierarch’s place in
the overall social structure. Likewise, a duodrone
assigned to maintain the residence of a secundus does
not understand who built that structure or why.
THE MODRON LIFE
CYCLE
Some speculate that the modrons descended from
some type of intelligent insect, and that this heritage
has given them an incredible hive mind. There is, of
course, no proof of this theory, nor is there really any
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way to check. Whatever their ancestors may have been,
it’s clear that the modrons function in a communal
manner, right down to life and death.
Long ago, the modrons somehow learned to place
energy into a central pool in Regulus and draw it back
out again to power their own forms. When a modron
dies, its life force is absorbed back into that pool, and a
modron from the next lower rank is immediately pro-
moted to replace it. This in turn creates a gap in the
caste below, which is filled by promotion from the one
below that. This process continues right down to the
monodrone level. Monodrones, having no castes below
them, reproduce by fission to replace lost members.
The new monodrone formed when an existing one
divides draws its life essence out of the pool. (In light of
this life cycle, the claim that all modrons are one might
be truer than it first seems.)
Individual promotions occur seemingly by accident.
Since modrons have no individuality, there’s no point
in trying to promote the “best and the brightest”—all
modrons of a given rank are equal. Thus, the nearest
one of an appropriate rank is promoted when a vacancy
occurs.
This process of promotion is traumatic—not only
does the chosen modron undergo a wrenching change
of shape to the new rank’s form, but it suddenly gains
knowledge previously veiled to it—the existence of
another superior rank. Imagine the shock of a duo-
drone, which previously knew only of monodrones,
duodrones, and tridrones, when it undergoes a promo-
tion to tridrone. Suddenly, it discovers that some of
those inexplicable creatures around it are quadrones—
members of its own race and its new superiors! Never-
theless, a newly promoted modron seems to adapt
instantly to its new form. Indeed, it is the humanoid
observer who is often most shaken by the experience.
bers of the next-lower caste. In this way, orders filter
down from Primus through all the modron ranks until
they reach the caste capable of carrying them out.
Although some less-informed scholars state that no
modron acts except by the orders of a superior, this is
not perfectly accurate. In general, a modron can act and
react on its own, provided that the situation at hand
falls within the range of its purpose. Thus, monodrones
are rightly seen as incapable of reacting because each
can perform only a single task at any given time. Mod-
rons of higher ranks have correspondingly greater
ranges of function, so they can react to more and more
complex situations. Even so, modrons are notorious for
their predictable and rigid reactions to events.
THE MODRON
MENTALITY
Modrons are the ultimate creatures of law. Their very
bodies conform to the unflinching regularity of geome-
try, and the flawless logic of their alien minds can lead
them to conclusions that others might not even con-
sider. Modrons have pitted themselves against—and
beaten—all challengers at games of logic, so their
supremacy in that area is undisputed.
Modrons care only about order and law; they have no
concept of good and evil. They can decide what is best
and what is worst, but they cannot distinguish between
right and wrong. This limited viewpoint makes dealing
with these creatures a challenge. Attempts to explain
good and evil to a modron can only result in it equating
good with order and evil with chaos, for those are the
best and worst possibilities it can imagine.
It should be no surprise that the goal of every modron
is to organize Mechanus in the most orderly fashion pos-
sible. Given the opportunity, of course, modrons would
spread their rigid pattern of organization over the entire
multiverse. Fortunately for the rest of the planes, order is
constantly challenged by chaos, even in the clockwork
vastness of Mechanus. Since even the slightest imperfec-
tion is enough to disturb the ultimate harmony that
modrons seek, they seldom find the time or resources to
carry their crusade to other realms or planes.
MODRON SOCIETY
Because of their method of reproduction, modrons
have no families, tribes, or clans. They live in rigid
numerical units called, for lack of a better word, battal-
ions. This term makes modrons sound more warlike
than they really are, although they do maintain stand-
ing armies that are not to be trifled with (see The
Armies of the Modrons, below).
Modrons spend their lives performing the duties that
Primus assigns, either directly or indirectly. Each
modron accepts orders from members of the next-
higher caste and can, in turn, give instructions to mem-
INTERACTIONS WITH
OTHER RACES
Modrons are not completely without their uses to the
residents of other planes. In fact, their single-minded
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 pursuit of order is particularly beneficial in some areas.
Wizards, for example, find that modrons make amaz-
ingly effective librarians, and some merchants appreci-
ate having them as bookkeepers.
On rare occasions, nonmodrons can hire modrons for
particular tasks. The process is never simple, since the
potential employee can never make that decision
itself—all requests are subject to approval by superiors.
Usually the request has to pass through several castes
before an answer is forthcoming.
Those who employ modrons must be constantly on
guard against the creatures’ overzealousness. Some-
times a modron’s understanding of order, which is far
deeper than that of most other beings, defies human
comprehension. For example, a modron might decide
to arrange all the books in one library by subject, in
another by the first letter of the first word, and in yet a
third by the page where the last diagram appears. All
three of these approaches might somehow be vital to
maintaining the overall order, as defined by the mod-
rons. Order, after all, does not necessarily need to be
understandable.
Modrons’ attitudes toward their employers and
coworkers can vary for no apparent reason. Sometimes
these creatures are helpful, and sometimes they’re
cruel—but they’re never entirely predictable in their
dealings with other races. No one except other mod-
rons can read a modron’s expression or guess at its true
agenda. Thus, nobody with any sense really trusts one,
even if it has been instructed to help. After all, it might
have additional or competing orders from above, and
it’s certainly not going to think twice about obeying
those.
fact that they retain the power of command over lesser
modrons. Though most rogues simply go off alone to
explore the individuality they’ve discovered, it’s not
unheard of for one to gather lesser modrons about it
and establish its own power base. This makeshift army
then goes forth to conquer, though for what purpose
only the rogue itself could explain.
Because of the possibility that such a creature could
subvert others and wreak havoc on the order of Regu-
lus (and even Mechanus as a whole), rogues are consid-
ered menaces to modron society. The hierarchs pour
almost every resource they have into hunting them
down, bringing them to trial, and destroying them. This
is a difficult process because it’s often hard to tell when
a modron goes rogue. A modron who told others of
lower ranks to disobey their superiors would surely
earn the designation of rogue, for this is tantamount to
blasphemy in Regulus. But it is rare for even rogue
modrons to do this because of their innate respect for
order.
THE ARMIES OF THE
MODRONS
The modrons maintain thirty-six great armies, each a
powerful fighting force in its own right. One is sta-
tioned in each of the sixteen regions of Regulus, and
each secundus maintains two armies in addition to its
regional forces. Three armies are assigned to the ter-
tians, to aid them with law enforcement and punish-
ment. The remaining nine armies serve Primus directly.
One of these acts as the official tower guard; the other
eight are available as a reserve force for dispatch as
needed.
Each army is commanded by a hexton and comprises
four corps, each commanded by forty pentadrones in
constant telepathic contact with the hexton general.
Every corps has two divisions (each led by twenty pen-
tadrones), every division has four brigades (each led by
ten pentadrones), and every brigade has four regiments
(each led by five pentadrones).
The regiment is the standard tactical unit of the
modron army. It consists of two battles (each led by
four quadrones), plus a squad of winged monodrone
messengers and a special squad of twelve pentadrones.
A battle comprises six regular companies of mon-
odrones, two regular companies of duodrones, a special
company of tridrones, a squad of quadrones, and
another squad of messengers. A company consists of
ROGUE MODRONS
Of course, every rule has its exception, and rogue
modrons are the exceptions to the rule of orderly
modron society. Rogues are modrons who, for one
reason or another, suddenly find that they cannot
accept the orders of their superiors, or that they have
lost the concept of the orderly modron society. Mod-
rons who spend long periods alone, or have many supe-
riors, or who advance in Hit Dice (thus becoming dif-
ferent than others of their rank) are the ones most
likely to “go rogue.” Naturally, the modrons have tried
to cut down on the factors that lead to this outcome,
but there’s an indefinable factor in operation that they
can’t isolate or identify.
The most dangerous aspect of rogue modrons is the
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twelve squads (each with twelve troops and a noncom-
missioned officer called an NCO) and three officers.
Each of the eight regular companies in a regiment is
further divided into two wings plus a headquarters
unit. Special units of messengers, shock troops, and the
like may also be attached to a company’s headquarters.
In all, a standard regiment consists of 70 officers, 192
NCOs, 252 messengers, and 2,628 line troops, for a total
of 3,142 modrons.
Despite the regimented order of their armies, mod-
rons do not fare as well in war as other planar beings.
When it comes to combat and the sheer cruelty that
often accompanies warfare, modrons usually come out
the losers.
OTHER CREATURES OF
REGULUS
The modrons share Regulus with two other unusual
creatures: the moignos and the coggles. These creatures
have their own functions within the rigid structure of
modron society.
Moignos
Next to modrons, the most common creatures in Reg-
ulus are moignos, two-dimensional mathematical con-
structs that act as calculators for modrons. The tiny,
strange moignos are devoted to finding the exact value
of pi, which is widely acknowledged as an endless task.
During pauses in this endeavor, they also perform a
variety of calculations regarding gear movements and
pass this information on to the modrons.
THE GREAT MARCH
Once every Grand Cycle (seventeen cycles, each of
which is about seventeen years—the time it takes for
the largest gear on Mechanus to turn once), a horde of
modrons spills out of Mechanus and marches through
the planes. Why? Nobody knows for sure, although it
seems as if they’re gathering information as they
march.
The modrons cause all kinds of havoc in the planes
through which they march. They don’t stop for anyone
or anything, trampling right through towns and over
any inhabitants who are too slow to get out of the way.
It is ironic that these lawful automatons can be the
cause of so much chaos. When they reach the Lower
Planes, the conflict begins in earnest, with the inhabi-
tants attacking the invaders from Regulus every step of
the way.
When the much-reduced force returns to
Mechanus, the few remaining troops march straight
to their superiors to report. What they say in this
meeting is the subject of much speculation: Some
claim that they report on the progress of the modron
invasion; others insist that they merely describe the
state of the planes. Granted, this seems a difficult
way to gather knowledge, but perhaps the modron
mind sees some particular logic about it. Whatever
the case, the report is inexplicable to everyone
except modrons.
Over the centuries, the inhabitants of the other planes
have grown accustomed to the March. Previous
Marches are well documented, and an adventurous few
have roughed out some of the probable routes for
upcoming ones.
Coggles
Coggles resemble the great, coglike gears of
Mechanus. They move about the plane at will, adding
themselves to the workings of Mechanus here and
there for short periods, then moving on. Coggles range
in size from only a few hundred feet to almost a mile
across. A large one can serve as a transport for an entire
battalion of modrons. They may serve other purposes as
well, though these are beyond the comprehension of
those not native to Mechanus. Coggles can speak and
understand the modron tongue.
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