Living constructs. This wyrwood is
probably one of the most difficult characters I’ve had to make. Constructs have
so many odd rules. No con score leaves them shy on a lot of abilities. Not
affected by morale effects means that bloodrager and barbarian are out. On top
of that, I had to reconcile some oddities between a thing and the background
rolls. It has no gender because it isn’t constructed with sexual organs of any
kind, yet it has a current lover.
My toughest choice was class. The thing is these rolls
screamed paladin. Strong with some charisma. The
Circumstance of Birth roll was “[Energy Infused] During your birth you were
exposed to potent source of divine energy.” But I apparently can find a paladin
in any set of rolls so I put that aside. My final decision was fighter and I specifically went with three archetyoes that all stack
Eldritch Guardian,
Martial Master,
and Mutation Warrior.
Unlike my other characters this one will be 5th level as to show the
versatility of the archetypes I’ve chosen.
While reading the Wyrwood race two of the alt racial traits stuck out to me and gave me some great ideas. It’s
already very strong and I was going to go melee fighter so War Titan was a no
brainer. It adds an increase in size and hit points but there’s also a decrease
in speed. Stone Sentinel also looked good because of the nation of origin roll
being in the dwarven stronghold of The Five Kings Mountains. Oddly enough,
after getting into the background, I saw the alt racial trait for emotional
which would allow it to be affected by morale effects, thus letting me choose
bloodrager, but I was too far in to change my mind.
Since these are some drastic changes here are some things
you may need to know:
Race: Wyrwood
Nationality: Five Kings Mountains
Age: 13
Height: 4’ 5” (up from 3’6” with change to medium
size)
Weight: 171lbs (up from 49lbs with change in size
to medium)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Str: 17
Dex: 10 (down from 12)
Con: - (effectively 10 for DCs or other statistics
that rely on a Constitution)
Int: 12
Wis: 8
Cha: 13
Base Speed: 15’
Silverspire
When the wyrwood escaped their wizard masters they ran
wherever they could. Many found solace in the Darklands, their darkvision
allowing them to traverse the tunnels without need of light. Having spent their
lives in the homes and towers of their masters, these living constructs knew
little of the Darklands geography. Over time lack of navigation split them into
many different groups which have since ended up all across Golarion.
One such group ended up emerging from the deeper tunnels
in the area known as The Five Kings Mountains. When the weird wooden creatures
first came forth, the dwarves who controlled the region thought it was an invasion. The confusion
on the part of the wyrwood didn’t help the situation and a handful of the
constructs as well as some dwarves lost their lives in that mistake.
When the dust settled, the dwarves realized the error was
theirs. As an act of atonement the gathering council of the various city-states
agreed to give the wyrwood their own home. An unused, long abandoned cavern and
a few satellite caves were handed over to the wooden men. A small society grew
and the dwarves even helped procure the wood the creatures needed to create
more of themselves.
Over the course of two decades the dwarves helped the wyrwood learn to mine, craft, and trade. As the wyrwood mastered their ability
to replicate the process that created them, the dwarves suggested other means
that might also work, especially since stone was more plentiful than wood in
The Five Kings Mountains. After many tries the first stone wyrwood was created
and it was quite literally a magical event.
The dwarves offered the wyrwoods use of specially mined
stone from mineral rich portions of the mountains. The stone itself contained
trace amounts of silver throughout. When the creation process succeeded the
first time this silver began to glow. The metal moved and swirled forming words
in a weird script neither the dwarves nor the wyrwood recognized. By the time
the new stone wyrwood opened its eyes, the script had settled and a silver star
took shape about where a dwarf’s heart would be.
The stone wyrwood took the name Silverspire and it was an
imposing creature of stone, being at least a full head or more taller than even
the biggest of its wooden cousins. Most of the surviving wywood were
former slaves and were trained to be valets and wizards assistants. Silverspire
wasn’t designed for such work and the dwarves offered to take it on as yeoman
in the patrols guard.
The patrols came like second nature to Silverspire and it
learned well from its captain, a dwarf it considered family. For that matter
commander Targg thought of Silverspire as a nephew and insisted the wywood call
him uncle when not on duty. On patrol Targg ran a tight ship and Silverspire
was good at following orders. Its fellow patrolmen never felt it got special
treatment.
One of the things Silverspire learned from Targg was a
dedication to justice. When it caught one of the its fellow patrolmen’s cousins
stealing from the barracks it was torn. On the one hand this was family to a
dwarf it trusted with its life. But this thief was stealing not just from the
patrol but from his own family. In secret Silverspire turned the criminal in,
but it couldn’t face the thief’s cousin and denied it knew anything.
During one patrol Silverspire felt an itch. This sensation
was odd as the stone construct had never “felt” anything before. The silver
scripted on its body writhed a bit and it actually felt the sensation of
itching. The itching grew stronger as it moved in certain directions and weaker
in others, but it knew somehow it needed to be where the feeling was strongest.
Using this itch as a divining rod of sorts, Silverspire came to a small alcove
where a little silver-haired mole lay waiting. Both creatures knew they
belonged together and from that moment on Silverspire was never without
Earthmover, its mole.
Over time a unit gets close and one of the ways dwarves
like to celebrate is dinking. With no need to eat or drink, these raucous
events left Silverspire wanting. The unit however still tried their best to
include it. One in particular, an alchemist of some note named Herrick, had
grown quite attached to Silverspire. The two spent much time together trying to
find ways to grant the stone being the ability to drink with its friends.
Although they never found such a thing, what they did discover was that certain
forms of silver extracts worked as catalysts to change Silverspire’s bodily
structure. The alchemist likened these to the mutagens he would use sometimes
during combat, and they greatly enhance Silverspire’s already prodigious combat
abilities.
Silverspire split its time between its home with the
other wyrwood, its time on patrol, and hours spent with Herrick. The two were
inseparable, although Silverspire’s obliviousness forced Herrick to make a much
stronger move than the alchemist would have liked. Their camaraderie and
friendship had blossomed into more and the two were in love. This, again, was
an odd sensation for Silverspire, whose emotions were muted and more clinical,
but it could not deny that it felt closer to Herrick than any other being,
except maybe earthmover—which lead to some interesting conversations.
Silverspire’s ability as a warrior got it some accolades.
After five years on the job the unit put it forth as their choice for the annual
combat contest among the guards. Silverspire took on many a dwarf young and old
and would eventually come out the victor of that year’s tournament. It bested
ten straight combatants to take the bragging rights back to its unit.
During one of the bouts Silverspire bested a proud young
dwarf in bare knuckle brawling. The young fighter, angered by his
defeat—especially by a non-dwarf—attempted to attack Silverspire from behind as
it celebrated. Many of the unit jumped to come to its aid but the first to meet
the charging dwarf was Earthmover. The tiny little mole surprised everyone by
growing ten time his size (mauler archetype for familiars grow to medium size at 3rd level). Not only that, but
the now near dwarf-sized mole seemed to take up the same combat style as his
owner. The brash dwarf never made it to Silverspire and walked off the field
with claw mark across his face.
The unit had a new member, or at least an honorary one in
Earthmover, and the bond between Silverspire and Herrick also seemed to make
the group that much stronger. As the group trained together it felt like
Silverspire was always learning something new. With each new ability
Silverspire manifested it felt an itch in its veins of silver. Its martial
ability began to flow like quicksilver and its compatriots swore it would learn
new techniques on the spot. It may forget them later, but it could adapt to
almost any situation.
Silverspire also searched for its connection to the
silver veins in his body. As it turned out the script wasn’t a language local
to the area, but it wasn’t ancient either; It was Vudrani. The star on his
chest was the holy symbol of the Vudrani god of silversmiths Omrataji. The mole
was the gods favored animal and so Silverspire felt Earthmover was a gift from
Omrataji. After these findings it felt like its sentience was a gift from this
divine being and Silverspire began to pay homage to Omrataji as its patron
deity.
The feeling of being chosen meant it felt like it had a
great purpose. Silverspire wanted so badly to show the world the power of the
wyrwood. Being the first in its enclave to be made after their escape, the
first to be “born” of stone, Silverspire felt it was duty to give its kin a
sense that they belonged. Not just as allies to the dwarves, but in and of
themselves. Silverspire looks to make a true wyrwood civilization.
A warrior, chosen by the god of silver, born to lead its
people to their place in history. I’ll have to admit hitting all the marks was
no easy task. However, I think I have come up with a playable character in both
background and mechanics.
What class would you have chosen for these stats? How
much influence would you give Omrataji in this wyrwoods life? Who would you
have had his current lover be? And how do you explain it with his lack of
gender? Would you have exchanged wood for stone?
Created and brought to life much like the wyrwood the CRB
aims to infuse you with the creative bug like Omrataji infused Silverspire. If
you’re feeling that bug consider donating to the CRB’s Patreon. If you'd like to
get more than just the weekly articles drop on by the CRBs social media homes.
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comments.
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