I'm workshoping this with a few guys from the group I play with, in a homebrew campaign designed to explore the introduction of this race into 5e.
This is developed to be in line with canon, but it's way outside the box. It's my first effort at homebrewing and I would really appreciate any thoughts or feedback from the community on the below.
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Description: The Lastoa'giza are medium sized humanoid shaped Constructs; magical machines made of divine material that has been configured to store and focus radiant energy to trigger specific spells to facilitate the 'Second Life' of undead souls that are housed in the construct's phylactery.
Second Life: Through a balance of Aberracious, Necrotic, and Transmutative magics, channeled through the Construct and informed by the conciousness of one of the souls in the Construct's phylactery, the Construct is transformed into flesh so that the soul can inhabit the flesh, until the magic affecting this transformation and possession expires.
Psyche:The Lastoa'giza are missing some of their memories; though they retain enough to have a sense of self, some personal history, and, of course, they remember vividly the events around their death. However, they only know as much about being a Lastoa'giza as they bothered to inquire about before they agreed to be bound to the phylactery. After that, they must strive to understand on their own. Once in the phylactery, souls retain separate minds; in that they each have their own perspective on all they perceive. Though only one soul can interact with the world at a time, all of the souls in a phylactery share the raw perceptions of the active soul. Souls also share some of their dreams. Unless the DM deems otherwise, a soul using the Construct, determines its own alignment.
The Dreams: The Aborratious origin of the material used to craft the Construct profoundly affects on the Dreamlife of the Lastoa'giza. The Lastoa'giza have two types of shared dreams. First, they will relive, in the first person, the deaths of any Lastoa'giza nearby, including their own. They will have these dreams until they die, or until they find solace in the service of a God or Gods. Second, oweing service to the Great Mother, the Lastoa'giza are notified of warding missions for the Great Mother through cryptic dreams that put the Lastoa'giza in the point of view and mindset of the endangered Beholder they are being summoned to protect. They will have these dreams until they die or until have found their Beholder charge and helped it out of its distress. The longer a Lastoa'giza fails to address a dream, the more intense it will become, until it begins to do damage. After a very long time of neglect, dreams have a chance of causing exhaustion or even psychic damage.
Mechanics: The Constructs are made of an Aborratious divine substance, dreamed into existence by the Great Mother, which when configured by a master of the weave, has the potential to store and channel solar or radiant energy to trigger and sustain a specific progression of spells. Willing souls are sustained in the Construct's phylactery (which uses Magic Jar in a way that is based in Lich Magic), however, the Magic Jar spell is limited by the Construct, so that the souls can not possess any being it likes. Once activated the Construct is configured to look for and radomly select one of the souls in the phylactery, which determines what the form of the body created by a sustained True Polymorph Spell, will be. At the same time that the body is polymorphed from the devine material of the Construct, the change in energy triggers the phlactery to release the soul to possess its newly made body. Because the Construct is attuned to solar or radiant light, the True Polymorph spell, and hence the possession, will end with the setting of the sun, unless extended through magical aid. Because of the complex and divine nature of the magic, any attack to disrupt either the True Polymorph spells or the possession aspect of Magic Jar should need to be very high. Similarly, the DM should consider a very high DC to Detect Magic or Identify, as the investigator may not be able to grasp the complexity of what they are detecting, or their bias may heighten their perception of one aspect of the magic while obscuring other aspects
Items: in addition to the body, the True Polymorph will manifest all common items the active soul was wearing or carrying at the end of its last Second Life. However the Construct does not support manifesting magical or precious items. Such items will only manifest as comon material ie. A gold filigreed enchanted long sword would materialize a common long sword. Precious and magical items should be safely stored when not worn, to be doned later. Any items that were manifest as part of the True Polymorph spell at the beginning of a Second Life Cycle, will recombine with the Construct at the end of the cycle. Any worn or carried items, that were not manifest as part of the True Polymorph spell, will be cast off of the Construct, when the a Second Life cycle ends, to lay where they fall.
Limitations: Up to three souls can be stored in a single phylactery. Without aid, each soul enhabiting a phylactery must have completed a cycle of Second Life before any Soul can have another opportunity at Second Life. Failure of a soul to rest, in a period of darkness, causes the soul a level of exhaustion. Healing Because of their undead nature, any spells that do not affect undead, do not work on the Lastoa'giza. Resurrection Though their bodies are real, they are not permanent and thus spells that require the presence of a body have no lasting affect on the Lastoa'giza. Spells like True Resurrection may work though both the Great Mother and the Raven Queen may cause the spell to fail, if they desire. (DM's choice). Lastoa'giza are most vulnerable when the Construct is at rest and no soul is active. Finding safe shelter before dark is prudent. The phylactery, if destroyed, will release all of the souls therein to the Fugue Plain to await their fate. Damage done to the form of an active soul does not transfer to the Construct, nor does it bridge between two Second Life sessions, unless the active soul desires it. Damage done directly to the Construct can affect its function. If the phylactery is separated from the body/Construct during Second Life, the active soul may continue in its form until it no longer has a body to possess, and then the willing soul may return to the phylactery, if its within 100 feet, or be sent to the Fugue Plain to await its fate. Any attempt of a soul to possess a Construct without its phylactery is unsuccessful as the Construct requires specific connections to its phylactery to trigger a successful transmutation. A Construct needs sunlight or radiant energy to activate a 'Second Life' cycle. The Second Life cycle will persist until the setting of the sun that day. The Construct will extend its current Second Life cycle after sunset, as long as solar or radiant energy is in contact with any part of the Construct. A soul will attempt to return to the phylactery after it's period of Second Life expires, unless its form dies while in Second Life. When an active soul dies while in Second Life, the soul cannot return to the Phylactery but is bound by the Raven Queen to go the Fugue Plain to await its fate.
Lore: High Mage of Transmutation, Master Juk'taluth, though he had dabbled in the mechanics of lich magic, found the prospect of an eternity of unrest, feeding on the souls of the dead to maintain his own soul's tenuous hold in the material plain, deeply troubling: and so put aside his studies of immortality and instead set himself on the path of the highest power, Creation. Alas though his mind could grasp the method, his powers of transmutation were insufficient to bring life into the world and hold it, and so he journeyed to the Realm of a Million Eyes, the 6th layer of the Abyss, and sought to make a pact with the Great Mother, who could dream the impossible into being.
'She' could see his heart was prideful, so the Great Mother took Juk'taluth into 'her' service to champion, as 'she' wills, any of 'her' children who cry out to 'her' in need. In exchange 'she' granted Juk'taluth the three boons he had requested. 'She' expanded his powers of transmutation with persistence well beyond the norm; the first boon. This boon was two fold as it strengthened him to become the vehicle that would bring his vision of creation to form while at the same time allowed him to resist the Great Mother's chaotic shifts from helper to devourer while he was to be in 'her' presence. Then 'She' lay before him skins from the great book of weaving that showed the method of the weave of time and space; the second boon. He sat with it for many years in the presence of the Great Mother and when he looked up from his studies, a mound of golden straw had been set before him, dreamed into existence by the Mother, herself; the third boon .
He took the straw and wove it with great skill and mastery acquired from the book into the shape of a simple humanoid figure; and deep in its neck he implanted a finely crafted phylactery of the clearest diamonds, wound in delicate hairs of precious metals.
Juk'taluth then took leave of the Great Mother to seek out souls of the newly dead in the Fugue Plane, to give the semblance of life to his straw figures. But Juk'taluth failed, as the binding of the faithful to their gods nullified any contract Jul'taluth attempted. Then he looked across the Plain and saw the Wall of the Faithless and he determined that there he would find the souls he needed, as their fate was separated from the gods. But again, Juk'taluth was thwarted, as Myrkul, Lord of Bones, and Master of the Wall of the Faithless laid claim to the souls of the faithless.
But the Raven Queen, the keeper of the gateway between life and death, the one through whom all souls must pass before Myrkul could make his claim, in her seeming mercurial way offered Jul'taluth an office and bestowed upon Jul'taluth her authority to select at the time of their death, the finest of faithless souls who had not lived enough yet to realize their promise, and offer them an opportunity to escape the Wall and embrace the gods. When Juk'taluth had enlisted three of these novice souls, he brought them before the Raven Queen, who allowed Juk'taluth to bind them in a single phylactery within the neck of one of the woven golden straw beings. In return, as was her way, she took their memories with her to the Fortress of Memories in the Shadowfell. But not all their memories. She left each soul with enough memories so they would not go mad for loosing themselves; while the gift of second life offered them the opportunity to replace lost memories with memories anew. The gods were pleased, as the prospect of redemption of these young souls promised to expand their own powers. Ao himself was gratified at her forbearance in claiming what was her's in favor of elevating the prospects of all the gods; and so the Raven Queen too rose in favor.
And when the souls were bound, Juk'taluth, under the tutelage and for the service of the Great Mother, with the blessing of the Raven Queen, brought the straw figure into the light of day and it took on the form that one of the three souls had known. Each soul took its form in turn and held it as long as daylight held. But, the life was fleeting, as when the sun had set, the soul returned to the phylactery, and its body gave way to the form of the woven straw figure.
Each morning's light sparks the straw to life again and which of the three souls would wake and manifest them self in the world is determined by chance, each taking their turn. A balance of Aberracious, Necrotic, and Transmutative magics, all supporting the miracle of Second Life, Juk'taluth was pleased; and when he had made a handful of "Lastoa'giza" or Straw humanoids, though their minds were still clouded with the fog of recent death and the Raven Queens tithe of their memories, he would send them to far off lands, to discover their debt to the Great Mother and to honor it, and, by the will of the Raven Queen, to see what they could make of their strange new life, and their second chance.
The Agency of Juk'taluth: Only Juk'taluth as charged by the Raven Queen, can assign souls to the phylactery of a Lastoa'giza. If a Construct is damaged, it can only be restored by Juk'taluth, or one who knows the book of the weaving and has studied how Juk'taluth has applied it in configuring the Lastoa'giza.
Malicious Rumors:
Lurking Thief - Some say that Juk'taluth never asked for the Great Mother's help at all. Instead, they say, in an effort to master Lichdom, he presented himself as a gift, in the shape of a bookshelf, to the Great Mother, that he might gain entry to the Realm of a Million Eyes and gleen there what he could to aid him in his mad quest. The Great Mother bedazzled by the wondrous form of the bookself, took it in and stored on it many books from her collection: one of which was a tome called The Book of Weaving. For years Juk'taluth, in his form as a bookself, and in the unknowing presence of the Great Mother, read it, and the other books deposited on or near him, and gained much knowledge. He use that knowledge to expand his own magic and craft many wondrous things from the materials and items that the Great Mother had laying about. One of the items he crafted was the first Lastoa'giza. However, although Juk'taluth had snuck into the Great Mother's Lair, and existed in her presence without her awareness, he could not get out, passed her watchful eyes. Then, after many years, he finally recognized that the Great Mother would distress from time-to-time when one of her children called out to her in danger. With this new awareness Juk'taluth saw another way to immortality, and a way of leaving the Great Mother's Lair. He took the opportunity to speak to the Great Mother from no where, and everywhere, and plant in her mind the idea of a champion who would come to offer his services. And then, one day, Juk'taluth, dropped the form he had held as her bookself, and presented himself with the proposal of the Lastoa'giza; an ever-ready construct that could assist her by rescuing her children when needed. His timing was masterful, as the Great Mother was not then disposed to consume him, but allowed him to leave as her champion, with a number of wondrous things he'd made over the years, including several Lastoa'giza and a large supply of raw "straw" as well; none of which the Great Mother realized belonged to her. And so Juk'taluth, stole the Great Mother's magic, and many objects and materials from her Lair, and walked out of the 6th layer of the Abyss, on a new path towards immortality, godhood. Dark Constructs: Some say it is not light, but darkness that drives the Lastoa'giza. And that it is not the souls that require rest in darkness, but the divine material that makes up the Construct; that the material must have time to gather its dark energy to power the spells that bring the Second Life; that the souls and the bodies they inspire protect the Construct from the light, until it can show its true divine nature, in darkness. Because of this, they refer to the souls as Priests, and to the Constructs as Temples of Darkness. Some say.
Aids and Work Arounds: Any high level Mage or Artificer who studies a Lastoa'giza should be able to develop magic items to aid the Lastoa'giza in compensating for some of their weaknesses. Here are some suggested items of loot or boons, that are currently under development. Pearls of Light: The twin Pearl's, worn on opposite ends of a string, when struck together initiate a Sunlight spell that lasts one hour per day, once per day. The Pearl's are carried in a two pocketed pouch and are worn, once struck, next to the flesh. Lantern of Radiance: a tiny hooded lantern that, when opened by depressing a button on its top, casts, for 10 mins or until hooded, a circle of sunlight 30' in diameter and illuminates a 90' radius. Orb of Benign Transposition, which, twice a day, casts a modified Benign Transposition spell that allows a willing soul in a phylactery to change places with the soul possessing the Construct, thus triggering the Construct to manifest the form of the newly active soul. These items use Magic not listed in 5e, but are researchable in the Arcana of previous editions. Weapons like Sun Blade, or items enchanted with radiant energy or damage would have similar effects.
Juk'taluth's Quest: Juk'taluth, though he does not seek immortality through lichdom, still hopes to achieve it through Godhood. The domain he hopes for, under the Raven Queen, and with the Blessing of Ao, is 'Piety'. He hopes to ascend by gaining worshipers; either of some souls of the Lastoa'giza he chooses, or of those who esteem the Lastoa'giza, or of those who esteem Piety itself.
Natural Enemies: due to the Great Mother's efforts (in hope's of pleasing Ao) to use her children to eradicate any worshipers of Cyric, Cyrisists may attack Lastoa'giza. Additionally, Night Hags seek out Lastoa'giza for their phylacteries. At least one lycanthropic sect of Malar teaches that the Lastoa'giza are an abomination of shape shifting, to be hunted down and eradicated.
Note: the lore specifies that only the finest faithless are selected...this suggests that only characters with high Ability Scores may be suitable for this PC type. A combined base ability score of less than 80 is risky, due to their inability to be healed by most spells in combat. Aditionally, a party can randomly become unbalanced and underpowered depending which Character has Second Life on a given day. The higher ability scores can help alleviate these disadvantages
Lastoa'giza ‐ (Straw humanoid) Traits
Lastoa'giza are a unique undead construct race that allows up to three multiple medium sized humaniod characters, of any type, to exist separately within a single Player Character.
Like IamSposta I actually skimmed this already, intended to come back after I'd thought about it more, and seem to have forgotten.
I really like the concept behind this, I think the main issue up front is that there is a lot of reading to get through which makes it hard to get down to the mechanics of how it actually works, so let's see if I can summarise this as concisely as possible as far as I understood it:
Three Souls: The heart of a Lastoa'giza is a phylactery containing three souls, with a straw body to which it reverts when resting. Each soul has its own alignment, personality, appearance and equipment, and remembers parts of its previous life, including its death. Once part of a Lastoa'giza a soul shares memories of anything done as part of the construct, even if it is not the active soul at the time.
Construct: A lastoa'giza is undead, and must revert to its resting form between dusk and dawn (unless magic is used to remain active?). It is also a magical construct, which can be determined through the use of Detect Magic and similar, though its complex nature may not fully reveal what it is (at the DM's discretion). Although magically constructed, the magic animating a lastoa'giza is powered by the three souls and not easily dispelled while active, and can presumably be sustained even within an anti-magic field.
Second Life: A cycle of second life sees each soul take a turn as the active soul. When the lastoa'giza wakes, it can either select a random soul that has not been active in the current cycle to become active, or else may re-activate a soul that was previously active by taking a point of Exhaustion.
Shapeshifter: When a soul becomes active, the lastoa'giza transforms into that soul's appearance and gains its equipment. For all intents and purposes its true appearance is now this one, as for a permanent True Polymorph. When the lastoa'giza rests it reverts to its resting form, any equipment belonging to the active soul disappears and any additional equipment may be lost.
Mission: When resting you may be compelled to complete a mission at any time in your dreams by your DM, and may suffer damage or exhaustion if you repeatedly fail to do-so.
Does that about summarise the key points? I've omitted things that I don't think are critical to how it functions, for example, the mission being to aid a Beholder feels like something that might be particular to your own lastoa'giza, but another player might want something completely different. Assuming I've understood this mostly correctly I have some comments:
Firstly, is the intention that you as the player would have a total of three different characters, each with their own race, stats, class etc., and the lastoa'giza is merely a vessel for transforming between them? i.e- the lastoa'giza has no actual stats of its own, except whatever the DM supplies for the inert object that it becomes when inactive (should that become important, e.g- the inn catches fire while you're inert)?
Second, I think losing additional equipment might be a bit complex and prone to mistakes/annoyances, I'd say anything extra should just be dropped when the lastoa'giza reverts to its inert state, so that items can be picked up again on waking or simply be left behind. This will simplify things should you ever encounter a situation where you are forcibly rendered somehow.
Third, the dusk/dawn resting could become a bit restrictive if the party wishes to do anything at night, it might make more sense to twist this around a little and simply specify that a lastoa'giza can only long rest between dusk and dawn, this means you can do a night excursion, but during the following day you'll have exhaustion until you are next able to rest.
If I'm interpreting this right, it sounds like you wouldn't actually implement this as a race, but probably as a feat for each of the three characters, specifying that they are undead, a magical construct, and have shared memories from the point they were united within the phylactery, plus details of the shapeshifting mechanism?
In general I like the idea, it's inventive and interesting, and if your DM is cool with you playing three characters then being undead does give you a significant drawback (limited healing), likewise the potential inability to know which form you'll take when you need it (or the cost to pick the one you want) is some limit to how much you could abuse it. I really like the lore, though it should perhaps comes first with all specific rules afterwards, currently it seems to be right in the middle.
If you wanted to make it available for others, I think the main thing it needs is restructuring and some simplification; I think you go into more detail about mechanics than perhaps you need to when most DMs should be able to rule on unusual cases, and you mention the specifics of spells like Magic Bottle and True Polymorph more than is really necessary for the race to function. Some things could probably be relegated to DM/player notes. If you look at my Brute (Large) Minotaur, I try to keep mechanical sections as simple and short as possible, with any extra detail in notes for players/DMs, these are done using the blockquote (quotation marks) option on the text editor, though it looks a little different on the forums than on race/class pages it still helps to break things up and mark out items that you don't necessarily need to know up front, or are just for flavour.
But yeah, it's an interesting idea, and if your DM is happy to let you do this then I don't think it's going to be massively OP, as you're not playing as three characters simultaneously, but alternately, unless I've completely misunderstood some elements of how it's intended to work?
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Thanks so much for your feedback, Harravikk. I think you have the bulk of it. I agree that each dm would use this as needed. In the way of an explanation, the flavor of the Beholder dreams stems from the origin of the material used to make the construct. They dream of beholders that the Great Mother is concerned about because they are made from stuff that was created by the Great Mother's dreams. In a sense, it part of the flavor and in a way makes them part beholder kin.
The whole thing about items carried is not clear to the players either. The intent is to allow an easy transformation at the beginning of each cycle without too much donning and dofting while at the same time nixing abuse of duplication of magic and valuable items...but I think you're right, I either need to have it cast off everything, or absorb everything, like a druids shapeshift does.
I also think you are right about long rest at night only. The intent there was to prompt quick regular shifts between the souls, but it also portends to cramp the flow of a fighting day...i think your solution simplifies the whole think and makes it more usable in more settings.
Let me take this to the players. I'll let you know.
Also, you are correct, its not really a race. Each soul is just the players creating a full character. A way to look at this is the straw construct is a computer, the phylactery is the hard drive and the souls are the software programs, and the bios are set to look in the hard drive and randomly open one program...and the computer can transform into the very specific thing the software tells it to. The players and DM determine the programs, the lastoa'giza helps bring them into the adventure.
This is all story, aka what the Min-Maxers call fluff. Complex and imaginative, but honestly that kind of thing can't and should NOT be judged by others. Moreover, other DM's are free to totally IGNORE it and play an identical powered creature with a different background. I.E. I use the Greek Gods, and the Raven Queen does not exist in my world. Instead these things are made when by Hadeus and Perspherone to allow certain of their followers to walk the Earth after death. It is fine to put in the back ground, but the description of actual abilities and limitations needs to be de-fluffed and presented in a stat block before we can judge it for things like balance, CR, level, etc.
As written, it is not really appropriate as a playable race. Multiple personality type stuff is wonderful for a monster, but it has major issues leveling up. What, some days you are a Magic User, other's a Fighter? Different hitpoints? Yeah, not playable. In addition the radically different healing issues, the total weakness during night, all make it basically unplayable. Being a God during the Day and a weakling during the night makes it's totally unbalanced.
I can see it re written as something like this, for a Monster Only creature:
Description: The Lastoa'giza are medium sized humanoid shaped Constructs. They are powered by upto 3 souls housed in a phylactery.
The Lastoa'giza are missing some of their memories; though they retain enough to have a sense of self, some personal history, and, of course, they remember vividly the events around their death. However, they only know as much about being a Lastoa'giza as they bothered to inquire about before they agreed to be bound to the phylactery. After that, they must strive to understand on their own. Once in the phylactery, souls retain separate minds; in that they each have their own perspective on all they perceive. Though only one soul can interact with the world at a time, all of the souls in a phylactery share the raw perceptions of the active soul. Souls also share some of their dreams. Unless the DM deems otherwise, a soul using the Construct, determines its own alignment.
They detect magic, but it takes a DC 25 Arcana Check to detect exactly what they are.
Alignment: As per in life.
Shapechangers During the day, the Lastoa'giza can assume the form of any of the 3 souls that inhabit their phylactery, as per normal polymorph rules. While shapechanged, they count as undead for all puproses, including Detection and Healing spells. They also form physical items they wore at death, but these items are neither magical nor valuable. Any other items worn or held when they change form, drop to the ground. They retain all abilities and once their hitpoints hit 0, if killed, they are truly dead - they do not return to the phylactery. If all 3 forms are dead or during the night, it assumes' it true, construct form.
The Dreams: The Lastoa'giza obey their God, the Great Mother, who communicates them via Dreams. Thy are most often commanded to aid Beholders. Failure to obey eventually destroys their philactery,.
Limited Healing: While in their natural form, they count as Cosntructs, and can only be healed by a Wish spells, or by it's creator. While shapechanged changed, they count as Undead for all purposes - both detection and healing.
Resurrection: Not even a True Resurrection can raise the souls in the phylacteries, without destroying it first. Even a God could not do so, without angering both the Great Mother and the Raven Queen.
Variant Rules:
Dark Constructs: Versions that are evil, rather than having the alignment determined by the souls.
Natural Enemies: Cyrisists may attack Lastoa'giza oon sight, Night Hags seek out Lastoa'giza for their phylacteries. At least one lycanthropic sect of Malar teaches that the Lastoa'giza are an abomination of shape shifting, to be hunted down and eradicated.
Lastoa'giza ‐ (Straw humanoid) Traits
Lastoa'giza are a unique undead construct race that allows up to three multiple medium sized humaniod characters, of any type.
Thanks so much for the feed back guys. I appreciate the detail of your responses and you willingness to help me out by reorganizing and paring down the information, and advise what is clear to you, and what just isn't clicking.
Mog Dracov, I'm glad you see it as potentially useful to you as a monster. And I completely agree that there could be multiple variants of this depending on the patron deities and the bargains struck. I wanted to make sure, in this first iteration, that the origin and mechanics were based in specific lore that could be used as a solid template, so this version is built in a Forgotten Realms setting. But, I agree any DM would set the background needed to compliment their universe.
You are correct, this does not play as a race. Instead it is a vehicle to bring many races into a single PC slot (or monster...lol, half the now accepted PC races were once monsters. And of course this thing doesn't work on its own. It absolutely requires that the players develop full characters that will be manifest by the Construct. Its way outside the box of anything I've seen expressed in D&D PC play, but its parts are recognizable and based in decades of D&D tradition.
You are correct. We've been testing this in campaign for months now and indeed, one day you are a fighter, and next day a wizard, and the next day you are a thief, how ever the dice dictate. Its playable, but you do need to be aware as a player when you seem matched for combat, and when you are not. This can be used by Smash-um-up players, but they probably won't live long if they play them that way all the time.
I understand that you're not thrilled about the idea as a PC. I'll take that back to the group and see how it affects play. As for using it as a monster, I've had another DM advise me that they took the idea, blew out the limiter on the magic jar spell, regarding possession, disregarded the loar, and brought one of these in as a Monster to a new campaign. Apparently it turned things upside-down. So again, I completely agree, this thing can be adapted for any number of purposes.
Still I take your comments seriously and will likely use some of your suggestions in reorganizing this into something that is simpler to digest than the lengthy story line approach I attempted.
There is something that is being missed though. The Great Mother is not their God. They simply owe a powerful debt to her through the deal Juk'taluth made with the Great Mother. These souls begin the game faithless. Its why they were able to be chosen to become Lastoa'giza, because no God claimed them. Its super important, because ending up in the wall of the faithless for eternity is not some esoteric concept. They very nearly were insnared by it. If one of the souls of a Lastoa'giza dies and has not yet found faith, it knows, more than any other character a player has played before, it will become part of the wall. But if it finds faith as a Lastoa'giza, itcan have hope that its prospects will not be so horrid as they were before. Of course, using this is at the discretion of the DM.
Also it looks like I'll need to make the verbiage clearer around true polymorph, that Lastoa'giza doesnt have the innate ability to just shift at will throughout the day, but must complete a long rest before it can manifest the form of another soul again...otherwise this thing would likely be OP. Again, though, a DM could change that up as needed for thier purposes (particularly using this as a monster or NPC). And, I've reintroduced Benign Transposition to indicate that its possible through additional magic.
I'm now looking up how D&D Beyond does fests, because posting this as a feat was mentioned as an option to get this out there to be used. It looks like 'feats' is not going to work, because you have to use a feats slot to activate it, which would either force you to be a variant human so you could take it at level 1, or wait to take it until you get your first ability score boost, or start your character at a higher level. Either way, you lose an feat slot to it, which is not reflective of how this should work. Or am I missing something? Is there a way to set up a feat so that any character can take it when ever they want without using up an Ability Score/Feat slot?
Background might work instead, in that it can be applied at the creation of your character. However, I don't see that you can select two backgrounds for a single character. Each soul/character would need a character background apart from being part of an undead construct. So I think the only workaround under the current build mechanics is to create a Lastoa'giza alternative version to every available background, so the soul gets the Background abilities that any character should have, but also has the parameters of being a Lastoa'giza defined in the background information.
So I'd have to copy Acolyte, rename the copy to be Acolyte - Lastoa'giza, and add the Lastoa'giza detail to the new Lastoa'giza variant of Acolyte...then do the same to the rest of the backgrounds down the list.
I'm now looking up how D&D Beyond does fests, because posting this as a fest was mentioned as an option to get this out there to be used. It looks like 'feats' is not going to work, because you have to use a fests slot to activate it, which would either force you to be a variant human so you could take it at level 1, or wait to take it until you get your first ability score boost. Either way, you lose an feat slot to it, which is not reflective of how this works. Or am I missing something? Is there a way to set up a feat so that any character can take it when ever they want without using up an Ability Score/Feat slot?
Background might work instead, in that it can be applied as the creation of your character. However, I don't see that you can select two backgrounds. Each soul would need a character background apart from being part of an undead construct. So I think the only workaround under the current build mechanics in to create a Lastoa'giza alternative version to every available background, so the soul gets the Background abilities that any character should have, but also has the parameters of being a Lastoa'giza defined in the background information.
Just spit balling here.
A feat can be added directly to a character sheet under “features & traits”-> “feats”->”manage feats”
Revamped the format and content to incorporate feed back, gave the players an early look before Saturday. So far one of three has responded, and positively. Also in addition to setting this up as a feat, I'm going to take your advice and set it up as a monster as well. I've stripped the description of lore, so it doesn't pigeon hole the reader; and will put the lore I built in at the end as a description of the first variant of the Lastoa'giza. People can read it for reference or skip it as they like.
Hmm...can't create it as a monster. The template requires that specific stats be entered. The stats for this monster are super variable, depending on which character its selected to transform into. Feat only then.
I think if you were going to attempt a Monster version, you'd want to drop the aspect of it actually fully becoming several characters and put in something simplified. A fun monster option would be to give it a fairly general stat-line and a fair amount of hit-points. With rules along these kind of lines:
Magic Construct: Undead. Can be determined to be magical through spells and abilities, a DC 20 Arcana check is required to determine its nature.
Three Souls: This creature contains three souls, each with its own unique properties. When activated, and as new souls emerge, choose from or roll on the table below (d3):
Mage: Bonus to INT and WIS ability scores, saves and skills, spellcaster (pick a level and some basic spells for it to know, encourage the DM to add other spells to flavour it as a particular mage type). Has an Arcane Focus.
Rogue: Bonus to DEX and INT ability scores, saves and skills, can Disengage, Dash, or Hide as a bonus action, deals sneak attack damage if it has advantage or an ally within 5 feet of the same target. Can attack once per turn with a Dagger or Dart.
Warrior: Bonus to STR and CON ability scores, saves, and skills, bonus to AC (or damage resistance)? Can attack several times per turn with a Longsword or Warhammer either one handed with a Shield or two handed without.
Transformation: When reduced to 2/3rds and 1/3rd health, any excess damage is ignored as a new soul emerges, replacing the bonuses of the previous soul. When slain is reduced to an inert straw figure containing a phylactery and no other possessions.
I know it doesn't fully mirror the playable version, but it could make for a fun multi-stage shapeshifter fight. Basically the three rollable types boil it down into something a lot simpler than every possible race, background and class combination. You'd probably want to break it down into smaller abilities with (Rogue) or (Warrior) etc. to indicate which ones belong to which type, rather than put too much into the rollable list.
Race would be ignored except if the DM wants to add flavour to each form, which is where it would get very fun as an enemy, as one or more forms could be people the players know, the first form could claim to be an innocent and make the party question whether to fight them and so-on.
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I'm workshoping this with a few guys from the group I play with, in a homebrew campaign designed to explore the introduction of this race into 5e.
This is developed to be in line with canon, but it's way outside the box. It's my first effort at homebrewing and I would really appreciate any thoughts or feedback from the community on the below.
Cheers
It appears that you homebrew is unpublished, because I cannot view it. That’s a good thing! If you publish it you can’t edit it anymore. So don’t publish it!! Go to the description page for your homebrew, highlight and copy everything below “EDIT SHARE WITH COMUNITY DELETE” and paste it in a post here. That way you can get feedback and still edit it too.
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Homebrew Lastoa'giza ‐ (Straw humanoid) Race Details
Description: The Lastoa'giza are medium sized humanoid shaped Constructs; magical machines made of divine material that has been configured to store and focus radiant energy to trigger specific spells to facilitate the 'Second Life' of undead souls that are housed in the construct's phylactery.
Second Life: Through a balance of Aberracious, Necrotic, and Transmutative magics, channeled through the Construct and informed by the conciousness of one of the souls in the Construct's phylactery, the Construct is transformed into flesh so that the soul can inhabit the flesh, until the magic affecting this transformation and possession expires.
Psyche:The Lastoa'giza are missing some of their memories; though they retain enough to have a sense of self, some personal history, and, of course, they remember vividly the events around their death. However, they only know as much about being a Lastoa'giza as they bothered to inquire about before they agreed to be bound to the phylactery. After that, they must strive to understand on their own. Once in the phylactery, souls retain separate minds; in that they each have their own perspective on all they perceive. Though only one soul can interact with the world at a time, all of the souls in a phylactery share the raw perceptions of the active soul. Souls also share some of their dreams. Unless the DM deems otherwise, a soul using the Construct, determines its own alignment.
The Dreams: The Aborratious origin of the material used to craft the Construct profoundly affects on the Dreamlife of the Lastoa'giza. The Lastoa'giza have two types of shared dreams. First, they will relive, in the first person, the deaths of any Lastoa'giza nearby, including their own. They will have these dreams until they die, or until they find solace in the service of a God or Gods. Second, oweing service to the Great Mother, the Lastoa'giza are notified of warding missions for the Great Mother through cryptic dreams that put the Lastoa'giza in the point of view and mindset of the endangered Beholder they are being summoned to protect. They will have these dreams until they die or until have found their Beholder charge and helped it out of its distress. The longer a Lastoa'giza fails to address a dream, the more intense it will become, until it begins to do damage. After a very long time of neglect, dreams have a chance of causing exhaustion or even psychic damage.
Mechanics: The Constructs are made of an Aborratious divine substance, dreamed into existence by the Great Mother, which when configured by a master of the weave, has the potential to store and channel solar or radiant energy to trigger and sustain a specific progression of spells. Willing souls are sustained in the Construct's phylactery (which uses Magic Jar in a way that is based in Lich Magic), however, the Magic Jar spell is limited by the Construct, so that the souls can not possess any being it likes. Once activated the Construct is configured to look for and radomly select one of the souls in the phylactery, which determines what the form of the body created by a sustained True Polymorph Spell, will be. At the same time that the body is polymorphed from the devine material of the Construct, the change in energy triggers the phlactery to release the soul to possess its newly made body. Because the Construct is attuned to solar or radiant light, the True Polymorph spell, and hence the possession, will end with the setting of the sun, unless extended through magical aid. Because of the complex and divine nature of the magic, any attack to disrupt either the True Polymorph spells or the possession aspect of Magic Jar should need to be very high. Similarly, the DM should consider a very high DC to Detect Magic or Identify, as the investigator may not be able to grasp the complexity of what they are detecting, or their bias may heighten their perception of one aspect of the magic while obscuring other aspects
Items: in addition to the body, the True Polymorph will manifest all common items the active soul was wearing or carrying at the end of its last Second Life. However the Construct does not support manifesting magical or precious items. Such items will only manifest as comon material ie. A gold filigreed enchanted long sword would materialize a common long sword. Precious and magical items should be safely stored when not worn, to be doned later. Any items that were manifest as part of the True Polymorph spell at the beginning of a Second Life Cycle, will recombine with the Construct at the end of the cycle. Any worn or carried items, that were not manifest as part of the True Polymorph spell, will be cast off of the Construct, when the a Second Life cycle ends, to lay where they fall.
Limitations: Up to three souls can be stored in a single phylactery. Without aid, each soul enhabiting a phylactery must have completed a cycle of Second Life before any Soul can have another opportunity at Second Life. Failure of a soul to rest, in a period of darkness, causes the soul a level of exhaustion. Healing Because of their undead nature, any spells that do not affect undead, do not work on the Lastoa'giza. Resurrection Though their bodies are real, they are not permanent and thus spells that require the presence of a body have no lasting affect on the Lastoa'giza. Spells like True Resurrection may work though both the Great Mother and the Raven Queen may cause the spell to fail, if they desire. (DM's choice). Lastoa'giza are most vulnerable when the Construct is at rest and no soul is active. Finding safe shelter before dark is prudent. The phylactery, if destroyed, will release all of the souls therein to the Fugue Plain to await their fate. Damage done to the form of an active soul does not transfer to the Construct, nor does it bridge between two Second Life sessions, unless the active soul desires it. Damage done directly to the Construct can affect its function. If the phylactery is separated from the body/Construct during Second Life, the active soul may continue in its form until it no longer has a body to possess, and then the willing soul may return to the phylactery, if its within 100 feet, or be sent to the Fugue Plain to await its fate. Any attempt of a soul to possess a Construct without its phylactery is unsuccessful as the Construct requires specific connections to its phylactery to trigger a successful transmutation. A Construct needs sunlight or radiant energy to activate a 'Second Life' cycle. The Second Life cycle will persist until the setting of the sun that day. The Construct will extend its current Second Life cycle after sunset, as long as solar or radiant energy is in contact with any part of the Construct. A soul will attempt to return to the phylactery after it's period of Second Life expires, unless its form dies while in Second Life. When an active soul dies while in Second Life, the soul cannot return to the Phylactery but is bound by the Raven Queen to go the Fugue Plain to await its fate.
Lore: High Mage of Transmutation, Master Juk'taluth, though he had dabbled in the mechanics of lich magic, found the prospect of an eternity of unrest, feeding on the souls of the dead to maintain his own soul's tenuous hold in the material plain, deeply troubling: and so put aside his studies of immortality and instead set himself on the path of the highest power, Creation. Alas though his mind could grasp the method, his powers of transmutation were insufficient to bring life into the world and hold it, and so he journeyed to the Realm of a Million Eyes, the 6th layer of the Abyss, and sought to make a pact with the Great Mother, who could dream the impossible into being.
'She' could see his heart was prideful, so the Great Mother took Juk'taluth into 'her' service to champion, as 'she' wills, any of 'her' children who cry out to 'her' in need. In exchange 'she' granted Juk'taluth the three boons he had requested. 'She' expanded his powers of transmutation with persistence well beyond the norm; the first boon. This boon was two fold as it strengthened him to become the vehicle that would bring his vision of creation to form while at the same time allowed him to resist the Great Mother's chaotic shifts from helper to devourer while he was to be in 'her' presence. Then 'She' lay before him skins from the great book of weaving that showed the method of the weave of time and space; the second boon. He sat with it for many years in the presence of the Great Mother and when he looked up from his studies, a mound of golden straw had been set before him, dreamed into existence by the Mother, herself; the third boon .
He took the straw and wove it with great skill and mastery acquired from the book into the shape of a simple humanoid figure; and deep in its neck he implanted a finely crafted phylactery of the clearest diamonds, wound in delicate hairs of precious metals.
Juk'taluth then took leave of the Great Mother to seek out souls of the newly dead in the Fugue Plane, to give the semblance of life to his straw figures. But Juk'taluth failed, as the binding of the faithful to their gods nullified any contract Jul'taluth attempted. Then he looked across the Plain and saw the Wall of the Faithless and he determined that there he would find the souls he needed, as their fate was separated from the gods. But again, Juk'taluth was thwarted, as Myrkul, Lord of Bones, and Master of the Wall of the Faithless laid claim to the souls of the faithless.
But the Raven Queen, the keeper of the gateway between life and death, the one through whom all souls must pass before Myrkul could make his claim, in her seeming mercurial way offered Jul'taluth an office and bestowed upon Jul'taluth her authority to select at the time of their death, the finest of faithless souls who had not lived enough yet to realize their promise, and offer them an opportunity to escape the Wall and embrace the gods. When Juk'taluth had enlisted three of these novice souls, he brought them before the Raven Queen, who allowed Juk'taluth to bind them in a single phylactery within the neck of one of the woven golden straw beings. In return, as was her way, she took their memories with her to the Fortress of Memories in the Shadowfell. But not all their memories. She left each soul with enough memories so they would not go mad for loosing themselves; while the gift of second life offered them the opportunity to replace lost memories with memories anew. The gods were pleased, as the prospect of redemption of these young souls promised to expand their own powers. Ao himself was gratified at her forbearance in claiming what was her's in favor of elevating the prospects of all the gods; and so the Raven Queen too rose in favor.
And when the souls were bound, Juk'taluth, under the tutelage and for the service of the Great Mother, with the blessing of the Raven Queen, brought the straw figure into the light of day and it took on the form that one of the three souls had known. Each soul took its form in turn and held it as long as daylight held. But, the life was fleeting, as when the sun had set, the soul returned to the phylactery, and its body gave way to the form of the woven straw figure.
Each morning's light sparks the straw to life again and which of the three souls would wake and manifest them self in the world is determined by chance, each taking their turn. A balance of Aberracious, Necrotic, and Transmutative magics, all supporting the miracle of Second Life, Juk'taluth was pleased; and when he had made a handful of "Lastoa'giza" or Straw humanoids, though their minds were still clouded with the fog of recent death and the Raven Queens tithe of their memories, he would send them to far off lands, to discover their debt to the Great Mother and to honor it, and, by the will of the Raven Queen, to see what they could make of their strange new life, and their second chance.
The Agency of Juk'taluth: Only Juk'taluth as charged by the Raven Queen, can assign souls to the phylactery of a Lastoa'giza. If a Construct is damaged, it can only be restored by Juk'taluth, or one who knows the book of the weaving and has studied how Juk'taluth has applied it in configuring the Lastoa'giza.
Malicious Rumors:
Lurking Thief - Some say that Juk'taluth never asked for the Great Mother's help at all. Instead, they say, in an effort to master Lichdom, he presented himself as a gift, in the shape of a bookshelf, to the Great Mother, that he might gain entry to the Realm of a Million Eyes and gleen there what he could to aid him in his mad quest. The Great Mother bedazzled by the wondrous form of the bookself, took it in and stored on it many books from her collection: one of which was a tome called The Book of Weaving. For years Juk'taluth, in his form as a bookself, and in the unknowing presence of the Great Mother, read it, and the other books deposited on or near him, and gained much knowledge. He use that knowledge to expand his own magic and craft many wondrous things from the materials and items that the Great Mother had laying about. One of the items he crafted was the first Lastoa'giza. However, although Juk'taluth had snuck into the Great Mother's Lair, and existed in her presence without her awareness, he could not get out, passed her watchful eyes. Then, after many years, he finally recognized that the Great Mother would distress from time-to-time when one of her children called out to her in danger. With this new awareness Juk'taluth saw another way to immortality, and a way of leaving the Great Mother's Lair. He took the opportunity to speak to the Great Mother from no where, and everywhere, and plant in her mind the idea of a champion who would come to offer his services. And then, one day, Juk'taluth, dropped the form he had held as her bookself, and presented himself with the proposal of the Lastoa'giza; an ever-ready construct that could assist her by rescuing her children when needed. His timing was masterful, as the Great Mother was not then disposed to consume him, but allowed him to leave as her champion, with a number of wondrous things he'd made over the years, including several Lastoa'giza and a large supply of raw "straw" as well; none of which the Great Mother realized belonged to her. And so Juk'taluth, stole the Great Mother's magic, and many objects and materials from her Lair, and walked out of the 6th layer of the Abyss, on a new path towards immortality, godhood. Dark Constructs: Some say it is not light, but darkness that drives the Lastoa'giza. And that it is not the souls that require rest in darkness, but the divine material that makes up the Construct; that the material must have time to gather its dark energy to power the spells that bring the Second Life; that the souls and the bodies they inspire protect the Construct from the light, until it can show its true divine nature, in darkness. Because of this, they refer to the souls as Priests, and to the Constructs as Temples of Darkness. Some say.
Aids and Work Arounds: Any high level Mage or Artificer who studies a Lastoa'giza should be able to develop magic items to aid the Lastoa'giza in compensating for some of their weaknesses. Here are some suggested items of loot or boons, that are currently under development. Pearls of Light: The twin Pearl's, worn on opposite ends of a string, when struck together initiate a Sunlight spell that lasts one hour per day, once per day. The Pearl's are carried in a two pocketed pouch and are worn, once struck, next to the flesh. Lantern of Radiance: a tiny hooded lantern that, when opened by depressing a button on its top, casts, for 10 mins or until hooded, a circle of sunlight 30' in diameter and illuminates a 90' radius. Orb of Benign Transposition, which, twice a day, casts a modified Benign Transposition spell that allows a willing soul in a phylactery to change places with the soul possessing the Construct, thus triggering the Construct to manifest the form of the newly active soul. These items use Magic not listed in 5e, but are researchable in the Arcana of previous editions. Weapons like Sun Blade, or items enchanted with radiant energy or damage would have similar effects.
Juk'taluth's Quest: Juk'taluth, though he does not seek immortality through lichdom, still hopes to achieve it through Godhood. The domain he hopes for, under the Raven Queen, and with the Blessing of Ao, is 'Piety'. He hopes to ascend by gaining worshipers; either of some souls of the Lastoa'giza he chooses, or of those who esteem the Lastoa'giza, or of those who esteem Piety itself.
Natural Enemies: due to the Great Mother's efforts (in hope's of pleasing Ao) to use her children to eradicate any worshipers of Cyric, Cyrisists may attack Lastoa'giza. Additionally, Night Hags seek out Lastoa'giza for their phylacteries. At least one lycanthropic sect of Malar teaches that the Lastoa'giza are an abomination of shape shifting, to be hunted down and eradicated.
Note: the lore specifies that only the finest faithless are selected...this suggests that only characters with high Ability Scores may be suitable for this PC type. A combined base ability score of less than 80 is risky, due to their inability to be healed by most spells in combat. Aditionally, a party can randomly become unbalanced and underpowered depending which Character has Second Life on a given day. The higher ability scores can help alleviate these disadvantages
Lastoa'giza ‐ (Straw humanoid) Traits
Lastoa'giza are a unique undead construct race that allows up to three multiple medium sized humaniod characters, of any type, to exist separately within a single Player Character.
Thanks IamSposta 🙂
Happy to help. You got a short novella there, I’ma hafta get back to you on that.
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I look forward to your thoughts.
Like IamSposta I actually skimmed this already, intended to come back after I'd thought about it more, and seem to have forgotten.
I really like the concept behind this, I think the main issue up front is that there is a lot of reading to get through which makes it hard to get down to the mechanics of how it actually works, so let's see if I can summarise this as concisely as possible as far as I understood it:
Does that about summarise the key points? I've omitted things that I don't think are critical to how it functions, for example, the mission being to aid a Beholder feels like something that might be particular to your own lastoa'giza, but another player might want something completely different. Assuming I've understood this mostly correctly I have some comments:
Firstly, is the intention that you as the player would have a total of three different characters, each with their own race, stats, class etc., and the lastoa'giza is merely a vessel for transforming between them? i.e- the lastoa'giza has no actual stats of its own, except whatever the DM supplies for the inert object that it becomes when inactive (should that become important, e.g- the inn catches fire while you're inert)?
Second, I think losing additional equipment might be a bit complex and prone to mistakes/annoyances, I'd say anything extra should just be dropped when the lastoa'giza reverts to its inert state, so that items can be picked up again on waking or simply be left behind. This will simplify things should you ever encounter a situation where you are forcibly rendered somehow.
Third, the dusk/dawn resting could become a bit restrictive if the party wishes to do anything at night, it might make more sense to twist this around a little and simply specify that a lastoa'giza can only long rest between dusk and dawn, this means you can do a night excursion, but during the following day you'll have exhaustion until you are next able to rest.
If I'm interpreting this right, it sounds like you wouldn't actually implement this as a race, but probably as a feat for each of the three characters, specifying that they are undead, a magical construct, and have shared memories from the point they were united within the phylactery, plus details of the shapeshifting mechanism?
In general I like the idea, it's inventive and interesting, and if your DM is cool with you playing three characters then being undead does give you a significant drawback (limited healing), likewise the potential inability to know which form you'll take when you need it (or the cost to pick the one you want) is some limit to how much you could abuse it. I really like the lore, though it should perhaps comes first with all specific rules afterwards, currently it seems to be right in the middle.
If you wanted to make it available for others, I think the main thing it needs is restructuring and some simplification; I think you go into more detail about mechanics than perhaps you need to when most DMs should be able to rule on unusual cases, and you mention the specifics of spells like Magic Bottle and True Polymorph more than is really necessary for the race to function. Some things could probably be relegated to DM/player notes. If you look at my Brute (Large) Minotaur, I try to keep mechanical sections as simple and short as possible, with any extra detail in notes for players/DMs, these are done using the blockquote (quotation marks) option on the text editor, though it looks a little different on the forums than on race/class pages it still helps to break things up and mark out items that you don't necessarily need to know up front, or are just for flavour.
But yeah, it's an interesting idea, and if your DM is happy to let you do this then I don't think it's going to be massively OP, as you're not playing as three characters simultaneously, but alternately, unless I've completely misunderstood some elements of how it's intended to work?
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Thanks so much for your feedback, Harravikk. I think you have the bulk of it. I agree that each dm would use this as needed. In the way of an explanation, the flavor of the Beholder dreams stems from the origin of the material used to make the construct. They dream of beholders that the Great Mother is concerned about because they are made from stuff that was created by the Great Mother's dreams. In a sense, it part of the flavor and in a way makes them part beholder kin.
The whole thing about items carried is not clear to the players either. The intent is to allow an easy transformation at the beginning of each cycle without too much donning and dofting while at the same time nixing abuse of duplication of magic and valuable items...but I think you're right, I either need to have it cast off everything, or absorb everything, like a druids shapeshift does.
I also think you are right about long rest at night only. The intent there was to prompt quick regular shifts between the souls, but it also portends to cramp the flow of a fighting day...i think your solution simplifies the whole think and makes it more usable in more settings.
Let me take this to the players. I'll let you know.
Also, you are correct, its not really a race. Each soul is just the players creating a full character. A way to look at this is the straw construct is a computer, the phylactery is the hard drive and the souls are the software programs, and the bios are set to look in the hard drive and randomly open one program...and the computer can transform into the very specific thing the software tells it to. The players and DM determine the programs, the lastoa'giza helps bring them into the adventure.
This is all story, aka what the Min-Maxers call fluff. Complex and imaginative, but honestly that kind of thing can't and should NOT be judged by others. Moreover, other DM's are free to totally IGNORE it and play an identical powered creature with a different background. I.E. I use the Greek Gods, and the Raven Queen does not exist in my world. Instead these things are made when by Hadeus and Perspherone to allow certain of their followers to walk the Earth after death. It is fine to put in the back ground, but the description of actual abilities and limitations needs to be de-fluffed and presented in a stat block before we can judge it for things like balance, CR, level, etc.
As written, it is not really appropriate as a playable race. Multiple personality type stuff is wonderful for a monster, but it has major issues leveling up. What, some days you are a Magic User, other's a Fighter? Different hitpoints? Yeah, not playable. In addition the radically different healing issues, the total weakness during night, all make it basically unplayable. Being a God during the Day and a weakling during the night makes it's totally unbalanced.
I can see it re written as something like this, for a Monster Only creature:
Description: The Lastoa'giza are medium sized humanoid shaped Constructs. They are powered by upto 3 souls housed in a phylactery.
The Lastoa'giza are missing some of their memories; though they retain enough to have a sense of self, some personal history, and, of course, they remember vividly the events around their death. However, they only know as much about being a Lastoa'giza as they bothered to inquire about before they agreed to be bound to the phylactery. After that, they must strive to understand on their own. Once in the phylactery, souls retain separate minds; in that they each have their own perspective on all they perceive. Though only one soul can interact with the world at a time, all of the souls in a phylactery share the raw perceptions of the active soul. Souls also share some of their dreams. Unless the DM deems otherwise, a soul using the Construct, determines its own alignment.
They detect magic, but it takes a DC 25 Arcana Check to detect exactly what they are.
Alignment: As per in life.
Shapechangers During the day, the Lastoa'giza can assume the form of any of the 3 souls that inhabit their phylactery, as per normal polymorph rules. While shapechanged, they count as undead for all puproses, including Detection and Healing spells. They also form physical items they wore at death, but these items are neither magical nor valuable. Any other items worn or held when they change form, drop to the ground. They retain all abilities and once their hitpoints hit 0, if killed, they are truly dead - they do not return to the phylactery. If all 3 forms are dead or during the night, it assumes' it true, construct form.
The Dreams: The Lastoa'giza obey their God, the Great Mother, who communicates them via Dreams. Thy are most often commanded to aid Beholders. Failure to obey eventually destroys their philactery,.
Limited Healing: While in their natural form, they count as Cosntructs, and can only be healed by a Wish spells, or by it's creator. While shapechanged changed, they count as Undead for all purposes - both detection and healing.
Resurrection: Not even a True Resurrection can raise the souls in the phylacteries, without destroying it first. Even a God could not do so, without angering both the Great Mother and the Raven Queen.
Variant Rules:
Dark Constructs: Versions that are evil, rather than having the alignment determined by the souls.
Natural Enemies: Cyrisists may attack Lastoa'giza oon sight, Night Hags seek out Lastoa'giza for their phylacteries. At least one lycanthropic sect of Malar teaches that the Lastoa'giza are an abomination of shape shifting, to be hunted down and eradicated.
Lastoa'giza ‐ (Straw humanoid) Traits
Lastoa'giza are a unique undead construct race that allows up to three multiple medium sized humaniod characters, of any type.
Yeah, like I said before, great idea for a monster or BBE, fantastic actually. But for a “PC Race” it’s a little.... something....
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Thanks so much for the feed back guys. I appreciate the detail of your responses and you willingness to help me out by reorganizing and paring down the information, and advise what is clear to you, and what just isn't clicking.
Mog Dracov, I'm glad you see it as potentially useful to you as a monster. And I completely agree that there could be multiple variants of this depending on the patron deities and the bargains struck. I wanted to make sure, in this first iteration, that the origin and mechanics were based in specific lore that could be used as a solid template, so this version is built in a Forgotten Realms setting. But, I agree any DM would set the background needed to compliment their universe.
You are correct, this does not play as a race. Instead it is a vehicle to bring many races into a single PC slot (or monster...lol, half the now accepted PC races were once monsters. And of course this thing doesn't work on its own. It absolutely requires that the players develop full characters that will be manifest by the Construct. Its way outside the box of anything I've seen expressed in D&D PC play, but its parts are recognizable and based in decades of D&D tradition.
You are correct. We've been testing this in campaign for months now and indeed, one day you are a fighter, and next day a wizard, and the next day you are a thief, how ever the dice dictate. Its playable, but you do need to be aware as a player when you seem matched for combat, and when you are not. This can be used by Smash-um-up players, but they probably won't live long if they play them that way all the time.
I understand that you're not thrilled about the idea as a PC. I'll take that back to the group and see how it affects play. As for using it as a monster, I've had another DM advise me that they took the idea, blew out the limiter on the magic jar spell, regarding possession, disregarded the loar, and brought one of these in as a Monster to a new campaign. Apparently it turned things upside-down. So again, I completely agree, this thing can be adapted for any number of purposes.
Still I take your comments seriously and will likely use some of your suggestions in reorganizing this into something that is simpler to digest than the lengthy story line approach I attempted.
Cheers
There is something that is being missed though. The Great Mother is not their God. They simply owe a powerful debt to her through the deal Juk'taluth made with the Great Mother. These souls begin the game faithless. Its why they were able to be chosen to become Lastoa'giza, because no God claimed them. Its super important, because ending up in the wall of the faithless for eternity is not some esoteric concept. They very nearly were insnared by it. If one of the souls of a Lastoa'giza dies and has not yet found faith, it knows, more than any other character a player has played before, it will become part of the wall. But if it finds faith as a Lastoa'giza, itcan have hope that its prospects will not be so horrid as they were before. Of course, using this is at the discretion of the DM.
Also it looks like I'll need to make the verbiage clearer around true polymorph, that Lastoa'giza doesnt have the innate ability to just shift at will throughout the day, but must complete a long rest before it can manifest the form of another soul again...otherwise this thing would likely be OP. Again, though, a DM could change that up as needed for thier purposes (particularly using this as a monster or NPC). And, I've reintroduced Benign Transposition to indicate that its possible through additional magic.
Just drop True Polymorph and Magic Jar and replace them with features that are more specific and less prone to issues and debates.
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Fair point, ImaSposta. I'll bring this to the players as well...we get together again on Saturday.
I'm now looking up how D&D Beyond does fests, because posting this as a feat was mentioned as an option to get this out there to be used. It looks like 'feats' is not going to work, because you have to use a feats slot to activate it, which would either force you to be a variant human so you could take it at level 1, or wait to take it until you get your first ability score boost, or start your character at a higher level. Either way, you lose an feat slot to it, which is not reflective of how this should work. Or am I missing something? Is there a way to set up a feat so that any character can take it when ever they want without using up an Ability Score/Feat slot?
Background might work instead, in that it can be applied at the creation of your character. However, I don't see that you can select two backgrounds for a single character. Each soul/character would need a character background apart from being part of an undead construct. So I think the only workaround under the current build mechanics is to create a Lastoa'giza alternative version to every available background, so the soul gets the Background abilities that any character should have, but also has the parameters of being a Lastoa'giza defined in the background information.
So I'd have to copy Acolyte, rename the copy to be Acolyte - Lastoa'giza, and add the Lastoa'giza detail to the new Lastoa'giza variant of Acolyte...then do the same to the rest of the backgrounds down the list.
Just spit balling here.
A feat can be added directly to a character sheet under “features & traits”-> “feats”->”manage feats”
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BAMB!! Problem solved. Thanks, ImaSposta.
Revamped the format and content to incorporate feed back, gave the players an early look before Saturday. So far one of three has responded, and positively. Also in addition to setting this up as a feat, I'm going to take your advice and set it up as a monster as well. I've stripped the description of lore, so it doesn't pigeon hole the reader; and will put the lore I built in at the end as a description of the first variant of the Lastoa'giza. People can read it for reference or skip it as they like.
Thanks again
Happy to help.
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Hmm...can't create it as a monster. The template requires that specific stats be entered. The stats for this monster are super variable, depending on which character its selected to transform into. Feat only then.
I think if you were going to attempt a Monster version, you'd want to drop the aspect of it actually fully becoming several characters and put in something simplified. A fun monster option would be to give it a fairly general stat-line and a fair amount of hit-points. With rules along these kind of lines:
I know it doesn't fully mirror the playable version, but it could make for a fun multi-stage shapeshifter fight. Basically the three rollable types boil it down into something a lot simpler than every possible race, background and class combination. You'd probably want to break it down into smaller abilities with (Rogue) or (Warrior) etc. to indicate which ones belong to which type, rather than put too much into the rollable list.
Race would be ignored except if the DM wants to add flavour to each form, which is where it would get very fun as an enemy, as one or more forms could be people the players know, the first form could claim to be an innocent and make the party question whether to fight them and so-on.
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