Homebrew tsukogami Species Details

Tsukumogami

In places where magical energy is both plentiful and seldom used, it sometimes finds outlets among common items, resulting in the spontaneous animation of a tool or trinket that has seen both a lot of use and a lot of neglect.

A nonmagical item that was well-used and well-kept by its owners, but left untouched for a full hundred years, can become imbued by a spirit called a tsukumogami. Creating their own physical body, called their spirit body, the spirit will pick up the patterns of use where the item's previous owner left off, whether they were chores, music, or just being worn. Eventually, the tsukumogami will become self-aware, and move on from their longtime home in search of purpose.

Physical Description

When a tsukumogami forms in an item, they create the shape of a face somewhere on that item if there isn't one already (such as in the case of a doll, or something with a face wrought or engraved into it). The tsukumogami can see, hear, and talk from this face. The base item is not changed in any other way, and otherwise looks completely normal.

A tsukumogami also manifests their spirit body, a magical construct that resembles the last person to have made regular use of their base item before the spirit formed. This body wears the same clothes, speaks the same languages, and even displays the same mannerisms as that person did, yet it has none of their memories. A tsukumogami can see, hear, and talk through this body just as through their base item, and controls it as completely as any other creature controls its own body.

History

Though an item will exist for a long time before forming a tsukumogami, the spirit itself has no memory from before then. Given the unpredictable and sporadic nature of tsukumogami formation, what records there are of them have little apparent correlation, and there is no one thorough study of them.

Society

Being as they are essentially living flukes of magic and circumstance, few tsukumogami will ever meet another of their kind. Given the process of their creation, they often find it hard to relate to other creatures who have strong ties to a family or society. Over time, though, a tsukumogami will generally grow accustomed to, and even comfortable with, other people.

How well a tsukumogami integrates into a given community depends largely on that community's attitudes towards outsiders and unique creatures, but also on how the individual deals with being around many other people. Some will flee into the wilderness, finding peaceful existence in isolation, but many will stick it out, possibly even discovering that the routine they mimic by habit coincides with a transferable skill and a paying job. A few manage the difficult task of living amongst regular humanoids without ever revealing their actual nature.

Tsukumogami Names

A tsukumogami has no reason to call themself anything until they meet another creature, and will often invent a name on the spot in response to being asked. Though one will sometimes name themself after their base item, they more commonly name themselves for either the next concept to pass through their train of thought, or the next thing to catch their attention. Tsukumogami generally assume the gender of their last user as their own.

Possible Names: Body, Face, Horse, Lookout, Path, Town, Voice.

Tsukumogami Traits

A spirit formed by an inanimate object after 100 years of neglect.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. A tsukumogami commonly runs in their groove for anywhere from three to ten years before suddenly deciding to leave their home, and takes another several years before truly getting used to being around other creatures. The spirit will generally last for around two centuries before fading.
Alignment. Tool tsukumogami, being used to and comforted by routine, tend towards law and neutrality. Trinket tsukumogami, being more emotional, tend towards chaos, and extremes of good or evil.
Size. Your base item's size is Tiny; your spirit body's size is probably Small or Medium, depending on what race your last user was.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft, whether using your spirit body or moving your base item along the ground.
Base Item. Your base item is the item you formed from; either a common tool, or a once-beloved trinket. Which of these categories your base item fits into decides which subrace of tsukumogami you belong to. Your base item is distinct from any possessions or equipment granted by your class or background because it is essentially your body; it is what your consciousness resides in. Spells that exclude worn or carried objects from their effects don't exclude you if your base item is being worn or carried by another creature.
Spirit Body. You can manifest your spirit body as a bonus action, causing it to appear within 5 ft of your base item. Your spirit body has the physical appearance of the last person to have made regular use of your base item before your hundred years of neglect; it has the size inherent to that person's race, but grants you none of that person's traits, features, equipment or memories. Your spirit body, along with any clothing manifested with it, disappears if it doesn't have your base item on its person when you end your turn. You can use your spirit body to wear armor and clothing and carry things; anything it is wearing or carrying is dropped when it disappears. Damage dealt to your spirit body is subtracted from your hit point total, as is damage dealt to your base item; however, a single effect cannot deal damage to both at one time. You and your spirit body both have the same Armor Class, which is affected as normal by class features, worn armor, and other effects.
Living Spirit. Even though you are a spirit, you are a living creature. You do not need to eat, drink, or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink through your spirit body if you wish. If you are dying, a character attempting to stabilize you must make a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Arcana) check, rather than a Wisdom (Medicine) check. When you die, your base item breaks, and you depart for the afterlife, same as any other soul. Your base item can be used to bring you back with a raise dead spell or a similar effect, but only if it is mended; however, magic such as the mending cantrip cannot be used on its own to heal you or restore hit points to you.
Spirit Link. You and a friendly creature can spend an hour meditating together to become attuned to one another. You can only have one creature attuned to you at a time, and you or the attuned creature can break such an attunement at any time as a bonus action. While attuned to another creature, you and that creature can communicate with each other telepathically as long as you are within 30 feet of each other. This attunement doesn't count against the limit of three attuned magic items per character, for either you or the attuned creature.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and one other language your last user knew.
Subrace. Tsukumogami tend to fit into one of two categories, dependent on their base item; a tool tsukumogami forms from a tool that is similar enough to a simple melee weapon to be wielded as one, such as a knife (dagger), hatchet (handaxe), pot or pan (mace), smith's hammer (light hammer), or walking staff (quarterstaff); a trinket tsukumogami forms from a small item that accrued significant sentimental value, such as a book, doll, hand mirror, musical instrument, or piece of jewelry.

tsukogami Traits

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