Homebrew Animated Armor Species Details

Living Metal

Animated armors are full sets of armor that can move and speak on their own, their various pieces of plating seemingly unburdened by gravity. While they have no physical presence inside them, they function just like a person in a full suit of armor. They can be molded or cast to fit a certain race, being anything from small enough to comfortably fit a gnome to large enough to completely cover an orc. Their weight and size, as well as their design and material, are up to their creator. While metal is most often used, animated armor composed entirely of stone or animal skins are not uncommon. Magic is often used to bring the armor to life and keep it from falling apart.

Though they may not have any sensory organs whatsoever, magic ensures that they can perceive what is around them. They can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste just as well as a human can. They can speak as well, magic guiding their artificial consciousness. Their armor acts as their skin, and any damage inflicted upon their plating is taken as damage to what would be their physical form. Should they sustain enough damage, the spell holding their parts together will dissipate, leaving them to fall apart completely.

Amazingly, healing potions and spells can bring them back together, even if it's only one piece at a time. At low health, animated armors often find that whole limbs will disconnect from their bodies. Fortunately, the gaps between plating have no physical presence; if a certain animated armor is designed with a horizontal gap separating its torso from its waist, slashing through it without touching the plating will cause no damage whatsoever. Only striking the armor will cause physical harm to an animated armor.

To hide the fact that they are living suits of armor as opposed to a warrior wearing a suit of armor, animated armors will use cloaks, scarves, or bandages to cover the gaps between their plating. Some are fortunate enough to have been created with arcane lights that are fixed in the space inside their helmets. These projections are meant to resemble eyes and shift and move according to what expression the animated armors is making. Though they serve no function other than making it look like they have eyes, these lights are often enough to keep the average person from getting too suspicious.

Dormancy

Normal suits of armor usually last as long as their material does, the elements hazing it until it eventually rusts over and crumbles to pieces. With animated armors, however, the game changes. If magic is used to bring a suit of armor to life, another spell is usually cast on the armor to make it more durable. The stronger the spell, the longer the armor lasts. A typical animated armor can lie dormant for 700 years before losing its magic. The maximum lifespan of an animated armor is unknown, as a powerful enough spell could potentially keep one alive forever, but none have been known to keep their magic for more than 1,500 years.

Unlike other creatures blessed with long life, animated armors don't actively pursue goals outside of what they were created to do; if a particularly animated armor was created to protect a castle, it will stay in the castle, silently waiting for an intruder. That said, they can leave their posts or occupations if they wish, but most are not given a good enough reason to, remaining dormant until someone finds them. Unless they are doing their job constantly, they will become as still as a statue, waking only when a certain stimulus triggers a response.

When they do awake, animated armors often find that they are in a world far different than the one they know. To them, time passed by without them, leaving them lost in a strange and mysterious future. A time gap as small as fifty years can be enough to confuse an animated armor, but if they are intelligent enough, they will catch on to present-time customs fairly quickly, Still, some refuse to change their ways, speaking in forgotten tongues or using overly-wordy and poetic speech.

Reawakening and Rebirth

Animated armors usually fall dormant at the post given to them by their creator, waiting for something to bring them back into consciousness. If their creator happens to die before or after they enter this state, their purpose will no longer be explicitly defined. When they regain consciousness, most animated armors stick to their prior orders, carrying out their tasks without complaint. But some, rather than do a task that is now impossible, pointless or both, defy their creator's magical programming and seek out a new purpose. Others forget their purpose altogether, wandering around aimlessly until someone decides to claim them. Many times, an adventurer will stumble upon a long-forgotten animated armor and convince it to join them on their travels. Others are reactivated only to find that the thing they were meant to protect has been destroyed somehow, and seek vengeance. In this way, animated armors can be anything from loyal companions and protectors to destructive avengers and mercenaries.

Ghosts in Armor

Generally, people see animated armors as threats. The thought of a walking, talking suit of armor terrifies them, though not to the same capacity as a tiefling. They are often likened to ghosts in armor, and many villages have their own tales of menacing suits of armor that move of their own volition. Because of this, animated armors that waltz into unsuspecting towns are usually avoided completely, the only words spoken of them being whispers. Those who know better than this see wandering animated armors as potential companions, workers, or servants. Some are ambitious or crazy enough to try and capture them by force, often to no avail. Taverns and whorehouses usually look the other way, since being intangible except for one's armor don't give the ladies or the barkeeps much to work with.

That said, an animated armor will usually try to avoid being discovered, unless a quirk in their personality programming says otherwise. They'll use cloaks, scarves, and bandages to cover the gaps in their armor and blend in. They'll stay away from crowded places, speaking only when spoken to and never causing too much of a scene. Some spend their time in taverns, never ordering any food or drink, hoping that the patrons will be too drunk to notice how empty they are on the inside. On the rare occasion that an animated armor is welcomed or even worshiped by the people of a village, some merely serve the community as a guard or sentry, while others take a more commanding role, like a war chief or even a deity.

Animated Armor Names

An animated armor's name is usually bestowed by its creator. Sometimes, however, they forget their names. When this happens, a name can be given to them by a new owner or partner, or they can come up with a name themselves. When an animated armor comes up with a name for itself, it's usually something simple, something they see around them or remember from their past. Really, any name will do, whether it's based on their function, their appearance, or their surroundings. Some are based on the creator's native tongue, whatever that may be.

Animated Armor Traits

A suit of armor that is given life through magic and is assigned a task. Often they are left behind by their creators, left to lie dormant for hundreds of years only to wake up and seek out a new purpose.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 1 (your choice).

Age

A typical animated armor is between two and thirty years old. The maximum lifespan of the animated armor remains a mystery; so far, animated armor have shown no signs of deterioration due to age.

Alignment

Most animated armor 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.

Size

Though armors vary in size and shape, an animated armor's height is based on the race it's armor was designed to be worn by while its weight corresponds to the armor to which it's bound. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Blindsight

You can perceive your surroundings without relying on sight within a specific radius. You have a blindsight range of 30 feet, but are blind beyond this radius.

Living Armor

You exist within a suit of armor, represented by the following benefits.

• You are immune poison and disease.
• You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
• You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Antimagic Susceptibility

You are incapacitated while in the area of an antimagic field. If targeted by dispel magic, you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against the caster's spell save DC or fall unconscious for 1 minute.

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.

Soulbound

Your soul is bound to a set of non-magical light armor of your choice.

• You are proficient with light armor.
• Over the course of a short or long rest you perform an hour-long ritual to transfer your consciousness into another suit of armor with which you have proficiency. You must remain within 5 feet of the armor during the entire ritual or the transfer fails.
• While you live, you can't be removed from your armor against your will.

False Appearance

While you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from a normal suit of armor.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common.