Drone Special Abilities

Your drone is proficient in your choice of small arms or basic melee weapons, and it gains specialization in that weapon type once you reach 3rd level.

You can choose any of the mods on the basic mod list whenever your drone gains a new mod. Unless otherwise specified, you cannot install a single mod more than once.

Each round on your turn, after you have acted, your drone can take either a move action or a standard action to attack (your drone doesn’t make a separate initiative roll). You must be able to issue simple commands to your drone, but you don’t have to spend actions to issue these commands. To receive these commands, your drone must be able to see or hear you or be within range of your custom rig. If you become unconscious or otherwise unresponsive, or if your drone is ever out of range, your drone cannot take any actions until you are again able to command it or it is once more within range.

As a move action, you can directly control your drone. This allows the drone to take both a move action and any standard action this turn (one from your control, and one from its limited AI). If you also take a swift action, your drone can take a swift action as well, or it can combine its actions into a full action. Your drone must be able to see or hear you, or be within range of your custom rig, for you to directly control your drone.

Choose one of the following skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Computers, Engineering, Perception, or Stealth. This is a class skill for your drone, and it gains a number of ranks in the chosen skill equal to your class level. Your drone can use this skill when not under your direct control. You can change your drone’s skill unit whenever you rebuild your drone from scratch. Additionally, whenever you are directly controlling your drone, it can use any of your skill ranks if you wish, assuming it has the appropriate tools to do so (a drone without manipulator arms cannot use Engineering to disable a device, for example).

Your drone’s AI has grown more sophisticated, giving it a more robust combat routine when not under your direct control. Each round on your turn, the drone can take a move action, take a standard action to attack, or make a full attack (this last option allows it to shoot more than once if it has the necessary weapons to do so). The drone takes a –6 penalty to full attacks made without your direct control instead of the normal –4 penalty. Like limited AI, you must still be conscious and within range.

Your drone gains a pool of Resolve Points equal to 1 per 2 levels it has (minimum 1). Your drone can spend 1 Resolve Point to make a full attack without requiring your direct control and at only the normal –4 penalty for a full attack instead of the –6 penalty. Your drone regains Resolve Points after a full 8-hour rest as normal.

You can choose from any of the mods on the advanced mod list whenever your drone gains a new mod (in addition to those from the basic mod list). Your drone must always have at least 5 mods from the basic list before you can add any advanced mods, even if you rebuild your drone after it gains this ability.

Your drone’s AI can act with complete autonomy. Each round on your turn, your drone can take a full suite of actions (either a full action or else a move action, a standard action, and a swift action) without requiring your direct control, and it makes full attacks without your direct control with the normal –4 penalty. You don’t need to issue commands to your drone for it to take actions. You must still directly control the drone for it to use your skill ranks.