Homebrew Automaton Species Details
“Pierce was built by design, while you were built by accident,” Lakashtai said. “The soul is what matters, not the shape of the vessel.”
“What makes you think he has a soul?” Gerrion said.
“What makes you think you do?”
—Keith Baker, The Shattered Land
The automatons were built for a purpose. The first automatons were mindless robots, built for their own task and nothing more. But the exponential development of AI gave rise to what some have only grudgingly accepted as a new species. Automatons are made from wood and metal, but they can feel pain and emotion, albeit different than organic creatures. They must now find a purpose beyond what was planned for them.
Living Steel and Stone
Automatons are formed from a blend of organic and inorganic materials. Their arrangement varies from one to another based on their intended purpose, but the general organization is relatively humanoid. Some have long limbs built for harvesting or digging, or extra appendages built for maneuvering different terrains.
Although they were manufactured, warforged are living. Resting, healing magic, and the Medicine skill all provide the same benefits to warforged that they do to other humanoids.
Personality
For most of their existence, automatons had a clearly defined function and were encouraged to focus purely on that role. Many still struggle both to find a place in the world and to relate to the creatures around them.
The typical automaton shows little emotion. Many automatons embrace a concrete purpose — such as protecting allies, completing a contract, or exploring a land — and embrace this task. However, there are automatons who delight in exploring their feelings, their freedom, and their relationships with others. Most automatons have no interest in religion, but some embrace faith and mysticism, seeking higher purpose and deeper meaning.
The typical automaton has a sexless body shape. Some automatons ignore the concept of gender entirely, while others adopt a gender identity.
The more a automaton develops its individuality, the more likely it is to modify its body, seeking out an artificer to customize the look of its face, limbs, and plating.
Quirks
Warforged often display an odd personality trait or two, given how new they are to the world. The Warforged Quirks table contains example quirks.
Warforged Quirks
| d8 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You analyze — out loud — the potential threat posed by every creature you meet. |
| 2 | You often misread emotional cues. |
| 3 | You are fiercely protective of your friends. |
| 4 | You focus on your purpose to the detriment of those around you. |
| 5 | You don’t know how to filter your feelings and are prone to dramatic emotional outbursts. |
| 6 | You don’t understand clothing beyond its utility and assume it denotes a person’s function. |
| 7 | You are obsessed with your appearance and constantly polish and buff yourself. |
| 8 | You don't understand the purpose of friendship outside of utilitarian benefit. |
Automatons Names
Most automatons were assigned serial numbers. Many of them adopted nicknames, often given to them by their comrades. As independent individuals, some have chosen new names as a way to express their path in life. A few take on human names, often the name of a fallen friend or mentor.
Automaton Names: Anchor, Banner, Bastion, Blade, Blue, Bow, Cart, Church, Crunch, Crystal, Dagger, Dent, Five, Glaive, Hammer, Iron, Lucky, Mace, Oak, Onyx, Pants, Pierce, Red, Rod, Rusty, Scout, Seven, Shield, Slash, Smith, Spike, Temple, Vault, Wall
Automaton Traits
Your automaton character has the following traits. A few of the traits give you a choice; consider how your choice reflects the purpose for which your character was built.Ability Score Increase
Your Constitution score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age
A typical warforged is between two and thirty years old. The maximum warforged lifespan remains a mystery; so far, warforged have shown no signs of deterioration due to age. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Alignment
Most warforged take comfort in order and discipline, tending toward law and neutrality. But some have absorbed the morality, or lack thereof, of the beings with which they served.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Constructed 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 don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
- You are immune to disease.
- You don’t need to sleep, 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 can be enhanced with armor:
- You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
- You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor other than a shield, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way.
- While you live, the armor incorporated into your body can’t be removed against your will.
Specialized Design
You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
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