HGd10PHB - Voidwrought

The Voidwrought are creatures born of Void magic. They are often a mere mockery of life, able to move about with a semblance of it, but animated by the dark magic instead of a soul. Void magic is a dark inversion of other Spectra of magic and the Voidwrought are thus tied to these Spectra through the inversion. Some few Voidwrought retain their souls, though they are twisted caricatures of what they were before the magic enslaved them.

Society
Language: Voidwrought who are capable of speech, reading, and writing communicate using whatever language they used before becoming voidwrought. There is no common language or other natural form of communication between them.

Voidwrought society resembles a caste society. At the bottom of the caste are the mindless animated bodies such as zombies and skeletons. Next are those who retain an animal intelligence, bodies without souls, but capable of acting independently through twisted instincts of their former life. Above them are those who retain their souls but not true freedom. These are the captains of and administrators of the society. At the top are the free-willed masters, Voidmancers, hired non-Voidwrought, or adherents to the Void who have no magic of their own.

While Void magic is dark and twisted, even born of evil, it is not evil in itself. Sometimes the Void is offered to good people who have no other recourse but death. Even through the wresting of their soul as cloth is wrung dry, they are able to retain their moral code and serve good, fighting fire with fire so to speak. These are few and far between, however, and it is foolish indeed to assume that a Voidwrought is anything but evil until the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates otherwise.

All voidwrought are immune to natural aging for obvious reasons.

Examples
The following are a few examples of Voidwrought categorized by the inverted Spectra they are tied to. For more examples (especially non-playable characters), see the Creature Codex.

Air
Ghosts are inverted-Air Voidwrought. They retain their memories of life and free will. With the ability to fly and pass through all but the densest of materials, ghosts make excellent scouts. Their one major drawback is their incorporeal natures. They cannot easily affect the Physical Realm. Ghosts cannot pick up and use equipment without ritual and access to Void or Spirit magic and they cannot physically attack most enemies. The benefit of this is that they often cannot be attacked either. Ghosts are immmune to hunger, thirst, physical force and energy. Ghosts may affect the air around them to speak, but may not move while doing so as it requires too much concentration.

Base Characteristics * Non-physical Base Characteristics of Ghosts are tied to what they were in life.

Base Characteristic Bonus: Upon becoming an air-based voidwrought, the voidwrought gains +5 to their original SPI Characteristic.

Ghosts have the following Traits & Foibles without Slot costs:
 * Immunity - all Spectra without the Astral Caster Trait applied; aging, vacuum, physical force, hunger, thirst
 * Incorporeal - unable to affect the physical world except in very limited circumstances; may only 'speak' when not moving; magic only affects Astral targets unless the Astral Caster Trait is taken (which is then inverted)
 * Addiction (5) - Air-based voidwrought like ghosts, spectres, wraiths, and the like are addicted to the spiritual stuff of living things, the incorporeal animus that is life for all creatures. A ghost who does not feed on spiritual energy at least once a week begins to lose SPD at a rate of 1 per week they don't feed.  It is restored at the same rate if they feed, but no faster by this method no matter how much they eat.  Once their SPD reaches 1, the air voidwrought cannot range more than 100 meters from their prime realm anchor.  For more on Ghosts, see the Creature Codex.
 * Possession - Air-based voidwrought may take possession of a target living creature. To take possession, the voidwrought rolls SPI+Attack Purpose.  The target rolls Spirit Resistance.  The difference determines the number of rounds the ghost can possess the target.  During this time, the ghost can use any abilities of their host and pretend to be the target (Perform check using the ghost's skill not the target's versus Sense Motive).  Each Player Turn of the possessed character, the target may roll a new 1d10+SPI versus the original roll to oust the possessor early.  Each Player Turn gains a cumulative +1 to this roll.  If the ghost possesses a character for 1 Minute continuously, they will drain that character of 1 AGL semi-permanently.  This can only be restored through meditation, by a spiritualist with the appropriate spell, or by an immortal.  If the player drops to 0 AGL, their spirit leaves their body. If they have a SPI of 7 or greater, they become a voidwrought spirit within 24 hours unless restored (Air/Body + Aid vs DS 35/40).  Otherwise, they die.
 * LIFE for MYR - Ghosts may not take the Mystical Energy Reserve Trait. Instead, to cast magic costs them LIFE rather than MYR.  Ghosts may only use the Inner or Immortal Sources if casters.
 * Weakness - Air, Spirit, and Void.

^^A note to GMs. This Kind is powerful and has the potential to be abused by inexperienced players. Be careful allowing incorporeal player characters into your campaign of mostly corporeal characters.

As Heroes

Ghosts often act as scouts and messengers, though some might be mystics as well. Ghosts are troublesome as heroes and allies as they are constantly drawn to the Void that made them. Their allegiance is questionable at best.

Earth
This category is filled with the most mindless of the Voidwrought, physical bodies with no souls to drive them. Skeletons and zombies animated and moved about by the will of the animator. These creatures are typically slow-moving, tough and easy to fool. However, some of these creatures retain their souls, though twisted by the Void. These creatures are physically powerful but often not mentally quick.

Base Characteristics Zombies and Skeletons have the following Traits and Foibles: As Heroes
 * Resistant to Piercing attacks. Skeletons take +5 damage from Blunt weapons.  Zombies take +2 damage from Slashing weapons.
 * Immune to Pain.
 * Addiction (5) - Brains. Zombies seek out neurotransmitter chemical from the brain and spinal cords of living things.  These chemicals provide a chemical reaction akin to drug euphoria for the zombie, but also provide a needed survival instinct.  Zombies need food to remain animated but most will not eat unless attempting to get at the neurotransmitters.  A zombie who fails to consume food begins to deteriorate. They lose 1 physical Base Characteristics (AGL, BEA, CON, PRC, STR) from the highest score first.  When CON reaches 0, the zombie dies.
 * Infection - Zombies who do more than 10 damage by bite to a living creature may infect that creature with a disease that drains CON. The bitten character rolls a Body Resistance check vs the damage dealt by the zombie's bite.  If the check fails, the character loses 1 CON semi-permanently (can only be restored through magic or advanced medical science).  A character who drops to 0 CON rolls 1d10. They must transfer that amount of INT into their CON and become a zombie unless restored within 24 hours (Earth/Body + Aid vs DS 35/40).  If their INT is not high enough to at least match the roll, the character simply dies.
 * Neuromorph - A zombie who consumes the brains of a living thing gains memories from the creature for one day. They also gain one non-mystical skill at the skill level of the creature they ate.  This skill gain is semi-permanent and lasts until a new brain is consumed and a new skill replaces it.
 * SPD: -1
 * Weakness to Earth, Spirit, Void.
 * LIFE for MYR - may not take the Mystical Energy Reserve Trait. Instead, to cast magic costs them LIFE rather than MYR; may only use the Inner or Immortal Sources if casters.

Zombies with enough intelligence to function in a group often serve as shock troops, investigators, or glass cannons with regard to a single skill. These zombies are intelligent enough to consume food, but prefer it raw. They use their Neuromorph ability to assist their party in achieving whatever goals they have set out, but will often have their own hidden agenda as well.

Fire
Creatures of intense cold who seek out heat from living things to drain it. Their hunger for warmth often leads people to believe they are after blood, but the reality is these Voidwrought must draw heat slowly from the living as sunlight and fire are deadly to them, overwhelming the inversion and consuming them in cleansing fire. For those Voidwrought who feel pain such as vampyres, the drawing of warmth from a victim is an insatiable need and a painful process.

Base Characteristics Vampyres have the following Traits and Foibles: As Heroes
 * Immune to Cold Attacks.
 * Addiction (5) - Vampyres must feed on low levels of heat once per day or begin to loose 1 Base Characteristic each day they don't feed. A Basic Characteristic many not go below 1.  Once all BCs reach 1, a vampyre falls into a comatose state and cannot be revived until a low source of heat and life is consumed (typically blood).  Once the source is provided, it takes 1 minute of exposure to raise one BC 1 point.  The lowest BC is recovered first.  Once all the BC's reach 5, the vampyre wakes and can function.
 * Coldborn - A vampyre who drains enough heat (represented by STR) from a living creature to bring them to the freezing point of water (0 STR) causes that creature to undergo a metamorphosis into a vampyre coldborn if not restored within 24 hours (Fire/Body + Aid vs DS 35/40). The coldborn must drain enough heat (STR) from living creatures equal to 50 divided by the coldborn's PRS score or the coldborn dies.  If it drains enough STR, it becomes a vampyre fangling.   See the Creature Codex for more information on fanglings.
 * Weakness to Fire, Spirit, Void.
 * Resist Death - A vampyre may not truly be killed unless first brought to a comatose state through lack of heat. Once comatose, the vampyre may only truly be killed by being consumed by a large fire, removing its head and burning it, or driving a wooden stake through its heart and igniting it so that the heart is consumed by the fire.
 * LIFE for MYR - may not take the Mystical Energy Reserve Trait. Instead, to cast magic costs them LIFE rather than MYR; may only use the Inner or Immortal Sources if casters.
 * Regeneration (6) - a vampyre regenerates LIFE equal to the amount of STR drained from victims times 5. Eventually, this can reattach or regrow lost limbs.  Fire prevents this regeneration for a number of minutes equal to the damage taken.  Each new Fire attack resets the clock but is not cumulative.

Vampyres and other fire voidwrought are powerful creatures who have a wide range of skills to bring to any party. Their addiction makes them hard to trust, but if they can keep it under control, almost any party would soon welcome such a skilled and powerful ally. Vampyres, like all voidwrought, are not necessarily evil and because of their needs, tend to be reviled or at least misunderstood. This makes them aloof and hard to befriend. Those who are truly good remember those who treated them fairly, though loyalty is a far rarer commodity. Vampyres function as a heightened version of whatever they had been before becoming voidwrought.

Water
Husks or Mummies are desiccated corpses with an unquenchable thirst. They avoid large sources of water which will overwhelm their corporeal forms and dissolve them as so much dust. However, they are constantly seeking out living things for controlled siphoning of water from their bodies.

Base Characteristics Husks have the following Traits and Foibles: As Heroes
 * Resistant to Slashing attacks.
 * Immune to Pain, Fire.
 * Addiction (5) - Husks are addicted to living water, water drawn from a living creature. The higher order the creature, the more the husk will focus on that creature.  They can drain sentient creatures, animals, plants, and even fungi and will do so in that order of preference.  This hunger is constant.  If a husk does not drain living water three times per day equal to desiccating an adult human male, they will begin to stiffen into rigor-mortis.  In this state, they are fully functional mentally, but their body is unable to move. Only living water in a slow, steady supply can revive them.  This can either be provided orally or slowly rubbed over their body which absorbs the water directly.
 * Desiccation - A target who takes damage from a husk's Water Siphon skill must roll a 1d10 on each attack. On a 1 or a 2, they lose 1 BEA.  On a 1, they move one step down the Fatigue->Tired-> Exhausted->Swoon progression as well.  If their BEA reaches 0, their body is desiccated like a husk.  Any creature with a WIS higher than 8 will become a husk within 24 hours if they are not restored by some means (Water/Body + Aid vs DS 35/40).  All other creatures will decay into dust-like versions of themselves and blow away in any wind stronger than a slight breeze or crumble at a touch.
 * Weakness to Water, Spirit, Void.
 * LIFE for MYR - may not take the Mystical Energy Reserve Trait. Instead, to cast magic costs them LIFE rather than MYR; may only use the Inner or Immortal Sources if casters.
 * Regeneration (6) - a husk regenerates LIFE equal to the amount of BEA drained from victims times 5. Eventually, this can reattach or regrow lost limbs. Water prevents this regeneration for a number of minutes equal to the damage taken.  Each new Water attack resets the clock but is not cumulative.

Husks are almost never seen as heroes preferring to shun others who would shun them for their ugliness. On rare occasions, a husk may venture out into the world of adventure to fulfill some esoteric purpose. Even then, they keep to themselves and only support the group as the group works towards the husks ends. Should a group manage to work through the husks natural aloofness, they will find a creature of wisdom lurking beneath. On the battlefield, husks are natural tanks. Their thirst drives them to the front lines to siphon living water from opponents wherever they can.

Navigation

 * Hero's Guild Players Handbook Home
 * Chapter 1 - Creature Kinds
 * Chapter 2 - Primary Characteristics
 * Chapter 3 - Skills
 * Chapter 4 - Traits and Foibles
 * Chapter 5 - Physical Combat Skills 
 * Chapter 6 - Mystical Skills
 * Chapter 7 - Equipment
 * Chapter 8 - Crafting
 * Chapter 9 - Knowledge Social and Movement Skills
 * Chapter 10 - Optional Classes
 * Chapter 11 - Rules of Engagement