Homebrew Homunculus Species Details
After many years, I have finally done it. I have achieved my ultimate goal as an alchemist! My foolish colleagues strive endlessly after a simple stone that will turn lead into gold and grant them immortality. Fools! What use is immortality to the lonely scientist? No, far better is what I have searched for. I have toiled endlessly for one goal - the creation of life through alchemy alone. And at last, I have achieved it. I have created a being, alive in it's own right, born not of woman but of an alchemist's workshop. The perfect servant, the perfect companion, unerringly loyal to it's creator! Truly I have achieved what no other alchemist can claim to have discovered, and what no other alchemist can claim to have outdone.
- A blood-spattered page from an alchemist's journal
The homunculus is the ultimate construct, an artificial being created through the darkest forms of alchemy. Unlike the run-of-the-mill construct that relies on it's master's magic and instructions to exist and continue to function, or on a simple spell that serves to animate and drive them, the homunculus can truly claim sentience and individuality. Despite the unnatural circumstances of it's birth, a homunculus is a being all it's own, with it's own desires, emotions, and motivations, all too often ignored by the very alchemists that created them. And in the dark of the night, this hubris becomes their doom.
A Perfect Servant
Homunculi vary greatly in their construction, with a stature and appearance ranging from that of a small child to a large adult. They appear roughly human, but depending on the quality of their construction may appear deformed or to have unnatural hair or eye colors. They typically have very pale skin, light-colored hair, and lack facial hair, though variations are not unheard of. Homunculi also vary greatly in their lifespans, with the worst-constructed of them lasting only a few short months, and the best-constructed rivaling even the dwarves.
When it comes to physical abilities, however, homunculi quickly differentiate themselves from their human counterparts. Homunculi are typically fairly strong and agile, displaying much more physical prowess than a human of a similar size. However, they tend to be less clever and inventive; they are designed for manual labor, not for high-level tactical planning. Be warned, though; many an alchemist has underestimated the intelligence of a homunculus and fallen prey to their own creations when they least expected.
A Lonely Existence
Homunculi are, by the nature of their creation, extremely rare. They are typically found either serving under their creator or wandering throughout the world after having overthrown them. They have no communities or kingdoms; even should a homunculus meet another of it's kind, they rarely stay as a group for long. While it is not unheard of for homunculi created by the same alchemist to continue working as a group after their creator's death, it is uncommon for an alchemist to risk the creation of multiple such creatures, even if they can afford to do so.The only loyalty a homunculus has is to it's creator; should it's creator prove unworthy, a homunculus will go to any lengths to be beholden only unto itself.
Homunculus Names
Homunculi are typically either given names by their creators or their creators' family members, or left nameless by a master that sees them only as mindless servants. Thus, they tend to have very human-like names, should they have names at all. Due to their nature, their names tend towards the two extremes of being guttural and demeaning or ephemeral and mysterious. Homunculi usually take the surname of their creator, or forego a surname altogether.
Should a nameless homunculus become a wanderer, they will often take up a name along their travels in order to relate better to the creatures they encounter. These names are often either given to them by acquaintances or borrowed from a mish-mash of names that they have heard along their travels, and thus can come from any race, culture, and region, or a mix thereof.
Deformed Names: (Male) Igor, Balthaz, Gron, Kuzal; (female) Akala, Nerest, Kallena
Ephemeral Names: (Male) Erevas, Renard, Solomon; (female) Retanna, Perennia, Sorah
Wanderer Names: Nearly anything
Homunculus Traits
Homunculi draw most of their traits from their human models; however, they are less adaptable, and tend more towards physical strength than towards the might of the mind.Ability Score Increase
Your Strength and Dexterity each increase by 2.
Age
Homunculi reach physical maturity within a few days of their creation. Homunculi do not age, in the normal sense of the word; however, their bodies will begin to deteriorate over time as they go longer and longer without maintenance. Depending on the quality of their construction and the life expectancy of their creator to maintain them, they can live anywhere between a few months and several centuries. It is possible for an alchemist to lengthen the lifespan of another alchemist's homunculus, but only the homunculus's creator can preserve it indefinitely.
Alignment
Homunculi are typically either completely servile or strongly self-interested, with no particular care for the safety or discomfort of others. They tend towards neutral alignments.
Size
Homunculi can range in size and build from that of a small child to that of a large man. Assuming good construction, they are about 5'5" and 130lb on average, roughly the same as humans. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages
You can speak Common and one other language of your choice. Depending on your background, you may or may not be able to read and write; homunculi are typically educated by their creators or resort to self-teaching, if they are educated at all.
Artificial Origin
As an artificial being created by human hands, the method of your creation brings with it some inherent advantages:
While you are aware of pain, you cannot be incapacitated by it. You can function normally and think clearly even when under the most excruciating of pain.
Your body can be fully reconstructed over the course of a long rest so long as you have all of the original parts, regardless of how gruesome the damage is.
It is extremely difficult for you to become intoxicated or charmed. You have advantage on Constitution saving throws related to your mental state.
Through sheer willpower, you can power through exhaustion and pain if necessary to achieve your goals. When your hit points are reduced to 0 from at least 5 in one blow, you may make a Constitution saving throw. On a success, your hit points are reduced to 1 instead of 0. This does not apply if you would be instantly killed.
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Posted Sep 3, 2018I like the idea of this, it is something i assume has been talked about in games throughout the decades, and adds in a very powerful NPC for later use that the DM/GM (Dungeon Master/Game Master) can play with later, either to help the party or be a some sort of pseudo BBEG (Big Bad Enemy Guy, the nickname for the ''final boss" for adventures or the entire campaign). However, its not perfect, and this does need some fine tuning.
For example, very rarely do charm effects force someone to make a Consitution saves, so I would change this to:"You have advantages on Constitution Saving Throws from being intoxicated, as well as advantage of being charmed."This add in makes the ability more versatile and less of an usless perk except for very situational... well, situations.
Then there is the save against the saving throw against being brought to zero. It is certainly a very powerful ability, with no limits to how many times you may use it, but counterbalances itself by forcing the attack to do a certain amount of damage (this counterbalance becomes useless as the levels progress, but I digress), as well as making sure you can't just tank through a multiattack. However, you don't specific what the saving throw DC is based off of, thus, I have created an example for one, should people choose to use it:
"Through sheer willpower, you can power through exhaustion and pain if necessary to achieve your goals. When your hit points are reduced to 0 from at least 5 in one blow, you may make a Constitution saving throw. The DC for the saving throw is 15, or half of the damage taken, whichever is higher. On a succes, your hit points are reduced to 1 instead of 0. This does not apply if you would be instantly killed."
Thirdly, you have forgotten the bite attack that posions (The target must succeed on a dc 10 constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target is instead poisoned for 5 (1d10) minutes and unconscious while poisoned in this way) Although powerful, it is an attack that is used with the race that is already been in Fifth Edition for years. You can't create this as a race and pick and choose which abilities are added to it. Like the Kenku, Orc, Lizardfolk, (etc.) You have to add in everything that was already deemed 'balanced' by you beautiful bastards. This includes the Telepathic Bond, which would be an astounding little add in that the DM can give hints through.
Finally the score increases. They are very generous, a double plus two is unheard of, which I do like (Unlike the Orc, seriously -2 to Intelligence? Cut the sexy green men some slack). However, there are some personal issues I have with them. More importantly, where they are placed. For example, based on how the homunculus is created, and all the buffs for Constitution they gain, the +2 to Strength is a bit rabdom in my honest opinion. It feels forced, especially with the abismal strength the normal homunculus has. This, moving that buff to Constitution fits better in my opinion, with the Dexterity buff making some sense, seeing how hard it is to hit the little clay bastards, as well as giving a -1 to Strength, but that last bit is for going along with the horrible Strength normal Homunculi have, and it feels as if you're trying to go into a different direction with it, sort of, so I digress.
This is just a poor man's opinion, no hate WotC, I love the idea, but there are certainly things missing from it.
Yours truly - DR
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Posted Sep 4, 2018Hi there! First, I'd like to say that I'm not affiliated in any way with WotC. This is a homebrew race created entirely by me as a fan of the game, so some things are bound to be a bit off. I also wasn't actually aware that there was a Homunculus monster race, and was more basing it off of representations like that of Fate/stay night.
Thanks for the feedback on the Constitution saves =) I'll probably implement that in a future version if I get back to working on this at some point.
For the willpower ability, I did miss the DC, my bad. I don't think it should be that high, since part of the idea I was going for was to have homunculi be much stronger and more resilient than normal humans. The biggest restriction on it is that you must have at least 5 health before the attack lands, which means you can only use it once without some significant healing. It does need a bit of balancing, but I think it's a reasonable start.
As I mentioned before, I wasn't actually aware of the Homunculus monster race, and based it more off of other pop-culture renditions of homunculi, specifically Fate's version which is less a "little clay bastard" and more an artificial human with some minor advantages and defects - hence the Strength and Dexterity boosts, as they were designed to be "perfect servants".
Thanks for the feedback and have a great day =)
Trip
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Posted Sep 8, 2018Howdy good sir. I see, I didn't know that was the case, so you might want to add that into the headline, as to help with confusion.
As to defend my point on the DC for the Willpower ability, because there is no limit to this, it had to have some sort of drawback. The high DC is to help against someone like a Barbarian just breezing through it at lower levels. And on your note of 5 hp as significant healing, couldn't be father from the truth. Healing word heals a min of 5 if the casters spellcasting modifier is a +4, which, might not happen at lower levels, will be damn near guaranteed at level 4+.
To help balance it for this reason, here is what I would recommend:
'"At level 3, you gain "Will to survive": When a hit would bring you down to 0 from 5+ hp, you can roll a Constitution saving throw. If you succeed the DC, you are instead brought to 1hp. You can do this a number of times before a long rest equal to the number of your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). The DC equals 15 or half the damage you have taken, which ever is higher. '
This is still powerful, however you are limited, and it's still a decent DC. Trust me, if there isn't a limit or a decent DC, your Barbarian is going to have a field day.
You still did very well, and I hope you take my other possible changes into consideration. -DR.
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Posted Sep 8, 2018Thanks for the feedback! I'm relatively new to D&D, so it's helpful to talk with someone who has a sense of how things fit together. I'll take it into consideration =) Though I will say that considering you're in the homebrew section it should go without saying that this is fan content...
Have a great day ^-^
- Trip