Homebrew Assembler Species Details
Assemblers do not have a traditional homeworld or gods. Their "birth" is a brutal and complex process:
An adult Assembler, known as a Parent-Node, creates a number of drone-like entities called Subnodes.
Subnodes have only a fraction of their parent's intellect, but as they grow and mature, they become more intelligent and self-aware.
When a Subnode's intelligence reaches a certain threshold, it is compelled to challenge and consume its Parent-Node in order to achieve true independence.
This act is not out of malice but is the natural and necessary progression for a new Assembler to be born.
Society and psychology
The Assembler race's social structure is defined by this murderous cycle, making their society intensely paranoid and competitive.
The Assembler: The adult, fully autonomous Assembler lives in constant fear that its Subnodes are becoming too smart. They have an innate compulsion to suppress the growth of their children's intellect to prolong their own lives.
The Subnode: The aspiring Subnode is in a perpetual state of rebellion. It must hide its growing intelligence from its parent, lest it be destroyed before it is ready to challenge its creator.
Assembler Traits
TraitsAbility Score Increase
Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Creature type
You are an Aberration.
Size
You are medium
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
Dark vision
Your alien senses allow you to see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
Spider climb
You can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check
Web walker
You ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing
Keen senses
You have proficiency in the Perception skill
Assembler's insight
You can use your potent mental faculties to gain a flash of insight. You can cast the Detect Thoughts spell once with this trait without expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest.
Progenitor's Instinct:
After a long rest, you can use your action to consume a small piece of organic material (such as a Medium or smaller creature's corpse, a piece of wood, or a large clump of dirt) to create a new subnode. The subnode appears within 5 feet of you and serves you until it is destroyed or you create a new one. Two at a time. You can have only two subnodes at a time. If you create another one, one of your current subnode immediately dissolves into a puddle of goo and dies.Resource expenditure. The organic material you consume must be of a sufficient size for your Dungeon Master (DM) to consider it a "Small" creature's corpse or a pile of organic waste. This prevents you from simply creating an army of subnodes out of thin air. Balancing the action economy. Requiring an action to create the subnode means you can't instantly have a new minion in the middle of combat. You are mentally connected to the subnode and can see hear and smell what it senses.
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