Homebrew Exo Species Details

"If I am a machine then so are you. If you are not a machine then neither am I. Exo minds are human. It is incontrovertible.

You understand? I'm going to take that slack-jawed stare as understanding. 

Now here's the real question. Why are Exo minds human? What's the design imperative? Why does a war machine - yes, absolutely, I am a war machine, built by human hands; and you are a survival machine built by the engine of evolution. Don't interrupt me."

— Rasputin

Exos are born of inorganic bodies. Filled with Wires and Radiolaria, pistons and pulleys, they are one component short of being robots and Exos. Their consciousness, unlike their bodies, is organic and human. They possess the wit and will of humans, and the intelligence and strength of their minds, with bodies that are faster and stronger, capable of living for significantly longer. The steel they are made from, commonly known as Blackscale, is lithe but strong, capable of taking beatings without bending or breaking. 

 

Even though they aren’t organic forms, Exos are still living beings. As such, resting and healing spells/medicines all give the same benefits. Compared to humans, however, when an Exos “rests” the body stays alert while the mind sleeps, and helps prevent sneak attacks. A high sneak skill is required to catch an Exos by surprise, and many Exos will try to wear out their combatants with superior stamina

 

Exos’s were built to serve and to fight for an unknown God. Many Exos fight for survival, searching for this unknown God and trying to find the Blackstone Crypt. Others have settled down into communities hidden from the rest of the world, protecting themselves from the outsiders who don’t know of them. Many people consider them war forged, and Exos often use this mis-identification to hide and protect themselves from those who seek to exploit the “immortality” of exos.

 

The typical Exos shows more emotion than Warforged, as they are, at heart and mind, human. While Exos do not need to eat or drink, several do as forms of “calibration”, or ways of keeping in touch with their human forms. Almost all Exos suffer from “Dissociative Exomind Rejection”, caused by the Exo body rejecting the human mind. This can be fixed by a “reboot”, in which all previous memories of a human life are erased, or through adding familiar organic urges, such as a need to eat or reproduce. As such, Exos look and act much differently from one another, but nevertheless coexist.

Reboots, the most efficient way of beating DER, can, in time, cause erosion of an Exo’s mind and their ability to retain any memories. “The Creator” wrote that the maximum number of times an Exo could be rebooted was probably around 20. Few make it that far.

 

Whether due to some flaw in their creation or simple ignorance of how other creatures operate, Exos often acquire an odd personality trait or two. A Exos player can choose to roll or select a trait from the Exo Quirks table.

1D10	QUIRK
1	You fail to understand urges of hunger/thirst
2	You don’t understand emotions and often misread emotional cues.
3	You are fiercely protective of anyone you consider a friend.
4	You often say the things you are thinking aloud without realizing it.
5	You try significantly too hard to be funny.
6	You don’t know how to filter your feelings and are prone to dramatic emotional outbursts.
7	You don’t understand clothing beyond its utility and assume that what a creature wears denotes its job and status.
8	You are obsessed with your appearance, and constantly polish and buff your armor.
9	You are deeply concerned with following proper procedures and protocols.
10	People not being an Exo is odd to you, and you struggle to comprehend urges not programed into you

 

 

Exo Traits

Your Exo character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

A typical Exo is between two and thirty years old. The maximum lifespan of the Exo remains a mystery; so far, Exo have shown no signs of deterioration due to age, only to reboots.

Alignment

Most exos take comfort in independence, tending toward neutral alignments - if the humans don't help us, why should we help them? Some Exos lean further into this idea: If the outside world forced us into hiding, we'll give them a reason to hate us. Others lean the other way: the world hides us because they don't know us: We have gifts and can give them reasons to trust us.

Size

Your size is Medium. Most Exo stand between 5 and 6 1/2 feet tall. Weight and build are affected by subrace.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Resilience

You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits.

• You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
• You are immune to disease.
• You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
• You don’t need to sleep and don’t suffer the effects of exhaustion due to lack of rest, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Sentry's Rest

When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

Integrated Protection

Your body has built-in defensive layers, which determine your armor class. You gain no benefit from wearing armor, but if you are using a shield, you apply its bonus as normal.

You can choose your body to enter different defensive modes; each time you finish a long rest, choose one mode to adopt from the Integrated Protection table, provided you meet the mode’s prerequisite.

Mode	Prerequisite	Effect
Deepwood Core (unarmored)	None	11 + your Dexterity modifier (add proficiency bonus if proficient with light armor)
Hardstone Plating (armor)	Medium armor proficiency	13 + your Dexterity modifier (maximum of 2) + your proficiency bonus.
Blackscale Plating (armor)	Heavy armor proficiency	16 + your proficiency bonus; disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, and understand celestial.