Homebrew Magnum Opus Species Details

“At last,” The aged master murmured. “At last.”

I stared at him. Was that all the poor, paint-spattered man could say? He was staring back, wild-eyed, the brush he had used for the final stroke all but forgotten on the floor near me.

His mouth continued working, but only the sound of his faltering breath came out. I furrowed my brow in concern. Opening my own mouth to speak, I found my voice like a soft melody. “Who are you?” I nearly said, but it changed, mid-sentence, to “Who am I?”

He reached out and grasped me with frail arms and tugged me forward, bringing me level with his face, so I could see his brilliant blue eyes, shining with tears. With his final breath, the artist told me: “You are my masterpiece.”

— Record of the death of artist Veyet Nomone, author unknown

Often, people speak of artists putting their heart and soul into their work. But it is a very rare occasion when this becomes true, when art and expression becomes a person’s life so literally that a piece of their art that they spent their life to complete actually becomes life. This phenomenon is so rare that it has never been documented, but the few that know of it call the result a Magnum Opus.

Beautiful and Unique

All Magna Opera are unique masterpieces of art, and their form can be anything from a being of watercolor, a sculpture come to life, the manifestation of a written character, or even the incarnation of a song. Regardless of the variance of its appearance, a Magnum Opus is always perfectly accurate to its creator’s style, despite the fact that they constantly stylize motion and shift appearance when moving. Magna Opera of a two-dimensional medium generally appear almost two-dimensional, regardless of perspective.

A Soul Stolen

Magna Opera are never just a work of art. Their artists spend decades, or even their entire lifetime, creating the art that changes into a Magnum Opus. When the Magnum Opus is created, its reaction to its surroundings may vary, but is usually calm. The artist, by the effort and passion required to create such a work of art, always perishes soon after the Magnum Opus is finished. Some theorize that this could be the Magnum Opus “drinking” the artist’s soul during creation, like a child nurses from its mother.

Outliers in Society

Magna Opera are not normal. They look strange, sound strange, and act strange. Even magic reveals their existence is more that of an elemental than humanoid, despite their intelligence being about the same, and their body shape being roughly identical. So in general, society treats Magna Opera differently, for better or for worse.

A Magnum Opus’s personality reflects the art they were before they came to life, and the style of the artist that gave their life to create them. Because their personality is based on art, Magna Opera have strong personalities and feel strong emotions. They usually name themselves based on the name of their piece during creation, and may shorten it for convenience (a Magnum Opus likely won’t go by “Sonata No. 14 ‘Moonlight’ in C-Sharp” but might call themselves “Moonlight” or “Sonata”). As for gender, what a Magnum Opus identifies as often depends on what they were created to resemble, but for things such as songs, their gender may be fluid or non-binary.

Magnum Opus Traits

Your character’s existence as a Magnum Opus gives them some inherent capabilities

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age

Magna Opera’s physical age is a matter of their own perception. If they feel they are young, they appear young. If they feel old, they slowly become older — and cannot become younger. Magna Opera die of old age when they realize they should be dead at their age.

Size

Height varies widely among Magna Opera, based on how they were created. Your size is Medium or Small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Artificial Body

Regardless of what was used to create you, you don’t have a proper biological body. Thus, you are immune to disease, you have resistance to poison damage, and you have advantage on saving throws against poison.

Expression Born

You have an inherent connection to the art form that made you. You gain proficiency in the Performance skill, and with one of the following tool sets: calligrapher’s supplies, woodcarver’s tools, cook’s utensils, glassblower’s tools, jeweler’s tools, painter’s supplies, potter’s tools, weaver’s tools, or a musical instrument. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses the chosen tool set.

Soul of Art

Your life force is innately birthed from the artistic mastery of your creator, and amplified by their art form. Your creature type is elemental.

False Appearance

Though highly uncomfortable for Magna Opera, they are able to temporarily return to the shape they had before they were alive.

As an action, you can transform yourself and anything you’re wearing or carrying into your original shape of a Medium, Small, or Tiny (depending on the piece that resulted in your creation) unmoving piece of art in the same medium and style used to create you. While in this state, you can see and hear your surroundings, but are indistinguishable from an ordinary piece of art except by magic. In this state, you cannot speak, move, or take actions or reactions besides spending your action to revert to your normal shape. You also revert to your normal form when you take damage, die, or 1 hour passes.

You can transform into your original shape a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.