#animated armor

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D&D 5e Medium Construct | CR 6

The armor that Strahd wore into battle when he was alive lives on today as a headless, animated suit of plate armor. The armor is painted burgundy and adorned with golden angelic motifs. — Curse of Strahd pg. 227

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(art by BootsDotEXE on DeviantArt)

With flight and by extension space flight, high-stress situations gain a whole new dimension of stressors to deal with and angles of which to handle them. This can be combat, or it can be emergency rescue situation, or perhaps distressingly both at once.

Whatever the situation is, there is a need for quick-thinking minds that have a firm grasp of the whole situation to guide troops, assets, and aid where it needs to go. This is where today’s archetype comes into play.

Part air traffic controller, part tactical commander, part communications officer, the combat controller is a vague name that could apply to any of these jobs and more, where having the full view of the battlefield is key to victory. They might be in the mobile command center, on the bridge of a starship, or right there on the front line sporting an advanced HUD that shows them every angle of the battlefield.

As part of their job description, these coordinators gain a powerful and secure comm unit to stay in contact with those under them and give orders. Additionally, they are trained in a variety of skills to keep themselves appraised of the battlefield, informed about the capabilities and use of vehicles, and of course, staying out of the line of fire.

Be it a starship, mech, or lesser vehicle, these coordinators are adept at giving good piloting advice no matter the situation, applying bonuses in chases, combat, and the like.

They can also give advice or use it to alter the angle of their area weapons to create safe gaps in their blast to avoid hitting allies, though doing so for many at once might take some resolve.

Their orders also help allies time their movements, letting them slip away from foes while shooting, quickly boarding or disembarding from vehicles, or even time a sidestep just right to avoid an incoming vehicle or linear blast.

Getting a downed ally out of the line of fire is a dangerous prospect, but these decision-makers don’t hesitate, able to run up and fluidly scoop them up and keep moving.

The most skilled among them can coordinate with their allies to command a withering assault of firepower on a singular target.

A fun archetype for those that want to coordinate and support their allies no matter what the situation is. Envoy is a very natural choice here, but consider how biohackers could be combat medics or rescue workers, while mechanics and technomancers use advanced tech to have total situational awareness. Operatives have a lot of technical know-how in their own right as well that could serve well. Meanwhile, spellcasters have their own myriad ways of controlling the battlefield that can help complement those they are supporting. Finally, don’t discount the effectiveness of this archetype on combat classes like soldier, solarion, vanguard, nanocyte, and evolutionists. After all, they are more familiar than most about tactics and coordination.

At their best, members of this archetype can turn any group of allies into a well-oiled machine, each member uplifting each other and them in turn. At their worse, however, if they begin to make calls that put the team in jeopardy, even if it by all metrics wasn’t their fault, they can risk losing the faith of the team, or worse, faith in themselves. It can be interesting catharsis to explore if your character suffers from imposter syndrome or lets the bad things get to them.

When two armies that were mustering for war have to put aside their differences to fight off an invasion by The Swarm, the party finds themselves working with a harsh but caring hobgoblin taskmaster. Her command style is unflinching and resolute, but there’s no denying the results.

The party has one mission, assassinate the Hellknight Lictor commanding the oppressive forces seeking to crush the rebellion. The party manages to sneak past the guards, disable defenses, and find the lictor still adorned in armor… That is until the dust settles and they discover that it was nothing more than a technomagically animated suit of armor. It’s a trap!

On the left, the wererat! They're clever, people sized, and incredibly dexterous. They can also choose between their original form of a normal person, a giant rat, and a rat person hybrid form that's a bit shorter than their normal form. They're also very social, and actually prefer to mate with uninfected humanoids like (probably) you! There is a tail in the hybrid form btw, just hidden in a pant leg I guess.

HAUNTREE, TRUNCURSE, ARBOLLAHAN & Mega ARBOLLAHAN (Grass/Ghost)

HAUNTREE was born from a tree stump used as a chopping block for prisoner executions. It came to life when on the convicts soul possesed it. They sleep during the day disguised as regular stumps and wander the forest at night, looking for revenge.

HAUTREE is based on a tree stump and an execution block

TRUNCURSE was born from a tree under which a beheaded knight was buried with its head still missing. The knights restless spirit took possession of the tree and brought it to life, as a means to search for its missing head.

TRUNCURSE is based on Animated Armors present in all kind of fantasy media

ARBOLLAHAN was born from a tree that grew in the middle of a battlefield, feeding on the remains of both knights and steeds, becoming possessed by their spirits. It rides at night, absorbing the life force of all vegetation in its path, leaving a trail of dead trees. It is said that seeing one is an omen of death.

ARBOLLAHAN is based on the Dullahan from irish folklore, a Headless horseman often seen carrying a whip made from human spines and either a sword or axe. In some versions the horse it rides is also headless and in some it drives a carriage or hearse

After mega evolving, Mega ARBOLLAHAN looses its armor and weapons but becomes even more dangerous than before. Wherever it goes disaster and disease follows as it absorbs the life energy of anything it is path.

Mega ARBOLLAHAN is based in the Nuckelavee from scottish folklore, a horrible monster that looks like if a horse and its rider had fused, it has no skin leaving its muscles and sinews visible, as well as yellow vein fill with dark blood, it human head and arms are disproportionally large and it has fins on its horse legs, either the horse or human heads (or both) have a single giant eye.

souls without form inhabiting armor to maintain a shape in the corporeal world, just *le chef kissy*, so good