Homebrew animated armor Species Details

Dormancy

Normal suits of armor usually last as long as their material does, the elements hazing it until it eventually rusts over and crumbles to pieces. With animated armors, however, the game changes. If magic is used to bring a suit of armor to life, another spell is usually cast on the armor to make it more durable. The stronger the spell, the longer the armor lasts. A typical anarmor can lie dormant for 700 years before losing its magic. The maximum lifespan of an animated armor is unknown, as a powerful enough spell could potentially keep one alive forever, but none have been known to keep their magic for more than 1,500 years.

Unlike other creatures blessed with long life, anarmors don't actively pursue goals outside of what they were created to do; if a particularly animated armor was created to protect a castle, it will stay in the castle, silently waiting for an intruder. That said, they can leave their posts or occupations if they wish, but most are not given a good enough reason to, remaining dormant until someone finds them. Unless they are doing their job constantly, they will become as still as a statue, waking only when a certain stimulus triggers a response.

When they do awake, animated armors often find that they are in a world far different than the one they know. To them, time passed by without them, leaving them lost in a strange and mysterious future. A time gap as small as fifty years can be enough to confuse an anarmor, but if they are intelligent enough, they will catch on to present-time customs fairly quickly, Still, some refuse to change their ways, speaking in forgotten tongues or using overly-wordy and poetic speech.

animated armor Traits

A suit of armor that is given life through magic and is assigned a task. Often they are left behind by their creators, left to lie dormant for hundreds of years only to wake up and seek out a new purpose.