Homebrew Chort-d Species Details

“Pierce was built by design, while you were built by accident,” Lakashtai said. “The soul is what matters, not the shape of the vessel.”

“What makes you think he has a soul?” Gerrion said.

“What makes you think you do?”

—Keith Baker, The Shattered Land

The warforged were built to fight in the Last War. While the first warforged were mindless automatons, House Cannith devoted vast resources to improving these steel soldiers. An unexpected breakthrough produced sapient soldiers, giving rise to what some have only grudgingly accepted as a new species. Warforged are made from wood and metal, but they can feel pain and emotion. Built as weapons, they must now find a purpose beyond war. A warforged can be a steadfast ally, a cold-hearted killer, or a visionary in search of meaning.

Changelings can shift their forms with a thought. Many changelings use this gift as a form of artistic and emotional expression. It’s also an invaluable tool for grifters, spies, and others who wish to deceive. This leads many people to treat changelings with suspicion.

And the match between the two.  The race was born when a mad scientist tried to combine a broken Warforged with an injured changeling.  What was born seems to be a more efficient Warforged with a surprising ability for disappearing in crowds.  The race has changeling organs, or those that were still intact.  

Outcast

As both man and machine, the changeling side of the Chort-d makes them hold to the shadows naturally, but when upset, can be spotted easily.  While they are metallic, they can still hide the living side of themselves.

The player will work with the DM to chose 3 parts of the body (head, half head, torso, half torso, L arm, R arm, L leg, R arm) that will be machine and the rest will be changeling.

Living Steel and Stone

Warforged are formed from a blend of organic and inorganic materials. Root-like cords infused with alchemical fluids serve as their muscles, wrapped around a framework of steel, darkwood, or stone. Armored plates form a protective outer shell and reinforce joints. Warforged share a common facial design, with a hinged jaw and crystal eyes embedded beneath a reinforced brow ridge. Beyond these common elements of warforged design, the precise materials and build of a warforged vary based on the purpose for which it was designed.

Although they were manufactured, warforged are living humanoids. Resting, healing magic, and the Medicine skill all provide the same benefits to warforged that they do to other humanoids.

Warforged Personality

The warforged were built to serve and to fight. For most of their existence, warforged had a clearly defined function and were encouraged to focus purely on that role. The Treaty of Thronehold gave them freedom, but many still struggle both to find a place in the post-war world and to relate to the creatures who created them.

The typical warforged shows little emotion. Many warforged embrace a concrete purpose — such as protecting allies, completing a contract, or exploring a land — and embrace this task as they once did war. However, there are warforged who delight in exploring their feelings, their freedom, and their relationships with others. Most warforged have no interest in religion, but some embrace faith and mysticism, seeking higher purpose and deeper meaning.

The typical warforged has a sexless body shape. Some warforged ignore the concept of gender entirely, while others adopt a gender identity.

The more a warforged develops its individuality, the more likely it is to modify its body, seeking out an artificer to customize the look of its face, limbs, and plating.

Quirks

Warforged often display an odd personality trait or two, given how new they are to the world. The Warforged Quirks table contains example quirks.

Warforged Quirks

Warforged Names

Most warforged were assigned numerical designations for use in military service. Many of them adopted nicknames, often given to them by their comrades. As independent individuals, some have chosen new names as a way to express their path in life. A few take on human names, often the name of a fallen friend or mentor.

Changeling Instincts: You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Intimidation, Insight, and Persuasion.

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Change Appearance: As an action, you can transform your appearance or revert to your natural form. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you revert to your natural form if you die.

Constructed Resilience: You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits:
- You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
- You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
- You are immune to disease.
- You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep.

You take 75% of incoming non magic damage at the risk of taking 25% increase of magical damage.  You will also be vulnerable to lightning as it tries to fry your robotic side.

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.

Integrated Protection: Your body has built-in defensive layers, which can be enchanced with armor.
- You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
- You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you must remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way.
- While you live, your armor can't be removed from your body against your will.

Chort-d Traits

Your warforged character has the following traits. A few of the traits give you a choice; consider how your choice reflects the purpose for which your character was built.

Changeling Instincts

You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Intimidation, Insight, and Persuasion.

Enhanced limbs

Gain proficiency in athletics and acrobatics due to enhanced arms and legs.

Botched Programing

When you get hit, you must make a Constitution saving throw to override your botched programming.  On a failed save, you must roll a dice of the number of people within range of your currently held weapon.  That new person becomes your  target (your robotic eye paints the target red and is visible by all parties) for 1 turn unless they identify them self as friendly before you strike.  If the new target cannot announce themselves before your next turn, you must attack that target for your fullest potential.  Once you switch targets, you have no memory of attacking a different target.

 

Level 1-5 a failed save is 10 or less

Level 6 and 7 is less than 10

Level 8 and 9 is 7 or less

Level 10 is 5 or less, and you become aware that you are targeting a new person but cannot change unless they identify. 

At Level 12 you can expend your bonus action to try to change target, done through a Constitution saving throw.

Painted Target

One of your eyes casts a red laser that highlights the person that you are feeling aggression towards.  This is an uncontrollable trait and is visible by all.  It casts a dim light. You can choose what eye.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 2, and two other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Age

A typical warforged is between two and thirty years old. The maximum warforged lifespan remains a mystery; so far, warforged have shown no signs of deterioration due to age. You are immune to magical aging effects.

Alignment

Most warforged 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

Your size is Medium. To set your height and weight randomly, start with rolling a size modifier:

Size modifier = 2d6

Height = 5 feet + 10 inches + your size modifier in inches

Weight in pounds = 100 + (1/3 an equivalent age of a changeling)

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Your climbing speed is 30 feet due to reduced fatigue.

Your swimming speed is 10 feet due to dense metal components.

Constructed Resilience

You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits:

• You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
• You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
• You are immune to disease.
• You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

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.

Integrated Protection

Your body has built-in defensive layers, which can be enhanced with armor:

• You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
• You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way.
• While you live, your armor can’t be removed from your body against your will.

Languages

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