Negflar2099
Explorer
I'm starting the process of converting some of my Dragonstar books to 5th edition. For those who don't know, Dragonstar was a really fantastic campaign setting for D&D 3.X. It combined magic and heavy sci-fi and was set in a section of a galaxy ruled by Dragons. If you haven't ever checked out Dragonstar before I urge you to find the books somewhere and give it a try. While it had a few problems (which in my opinion were mostly 3rd edition's fault) it was a great setting and deserves a second look.
For this conversion I'm mostly going to rely on the Ultramodern 5e book that was recently released by Dias ex Machina games. The Ultramodern 5e book has almost all of the classes and equipment you'll need to play Dragonstar in 5th edition and so it's going to make this conversion a lot easier.
I'm starting this conversion by updating the Soulmech race, which was introduced as a new race (unique to Dragonstar) that appeared in the Starfarer's Handbook.
Soulmech
Soulmechs are constructs with artificial android bodies surrounded by organic skin. They have a mortal soul that has been transferred into their bodies using magic. A soulmech's body is typically crafted to resemble the natural form of the soul within in, although their eyes are artificial and they are almost always completely hairless.
All soulmechs have the following characteristics in common.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by +2 and one ability score of your choice increases by +1
Age. Soulmechs do not age. Most are built to look like a young, but still adult, member of their species.
Alignment. Soulmechs have the same alignment they did when they were fully organic beings.
Size. Although heavier than a typical member of the race, a soulmech's body size matches the race of the soul that inhabits it. You are small or medium.
Speed. Soulmechs are fast. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Machine Origin: As a mechanical being surrounded by an organic skin you are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, and disease. You do not need to breathe, eat or drink and you cannot ingest food or drink (even magical potions or spell components). You do still need to rest for 8 hours to give your systems a chance to recharge and repair itself. You have self-repair systems that allow you to repair damage on yourself, which you automatically do when you spend a hit dice. However, for each hit dice you spend you must use up widgets whose cost equals 10 x the size of the hit dice you spend (so if you spend a d6 hit die you must use 60cr worth of widgets). You can also be repaired as an object or with spells that repair objects. You cannot be healed by any other means, although you do recover spent hit dice at the end of a long rest as normal.
Mechanical body. Your body is hardier and denser than other races. You gain 1 extra hit point at 1st level and every level afterwards. You have disadvantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to swim.
Encyclopedic Recall: You gain proficiency with any two skills chosen from the following list (Computer Use, Demolitions, Engineering, History, or Science). If you have proficiency from another source you gain Expertise instead.
Unnatural Existence: Spells bind your soul to your body. As such you cannot die unless you body is completely destroyed. If you fail three death saving throws then you are instead disabled unless your body is disintegrated or takes damage equal to your normal hit point total after being reduced to 0 hit points. Otherwise once you are repaired to at least 1 hit point you return to life as normal. If your body is destroyed then you cannot be raised from the dead by any means short of a wish spell.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can discern color.
Languages: You have the same languages as you did before becoming a soulmech.
That's my attempt at keeping it as simple as I can. It's a complicated race, as most synthetic races would be in 5e. Let me know what you think. If you like this I'll post the rest of my conversion of the race chapter of the Starfarer's Handbook. Thank you.
For this conversion I'm mostly going to rely on the Ultramodern 5e book that was recently released by Dias ex Machina games. The Ultramodern 5e book has almost all of the classes and equipment you'll need to play Dragonstar in 5th edition and so it's going to make this conversion a lot easier.
I'm starting this conversion by updating the Soulmech race, which was introduced as a new race (unique to Dragonstar) that appeared in the Starfarer's Handbook.
Soulmech
Soulmechs are constructs with artificial android bodies surrounded by organic skin. They have a mortal soul that has been transferred into their bodies using magic. A soulmech's body is typically crafted to resemble the natural form of the soul within in, although their eyes are artificial and they are almost always completely hairless.
All soulmechs have the following characteristics in common.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by +2 and one ability score of your choice increases by +1
Age. Soulmechs do not age. Most are built to look like a young, but still adult, member of their species.
Alignment. Soulmechs have the same alignment they did when they were fully organic beings.
Size. Although heavier than a typical member of the race, a soulmech's body size matches the race of the soul that inhabits it. You are small or medium.
Speed. Soulmechs are fast. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Machine Origin: As a mechanical being surrounded by an organic skin you are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, and disease. You do not need to breathe, eat or drink and you cannot ingest food or drink (even magical potions or spell components). You do still need to rest for 8 hours to give your systems a chance to recharge and repair itself. You have self-repair systems that allow you to repair damage on yourself, which you automatically do when you spend a hit dice. However, for each hit dice you spend you must use up widgets whose cost equals 10 x the size of the hit dice you spend (so if you spend a d6 hit die you must use 60cr worth of widgets). You can also be repaired as an object or with spells that repair objects. You cannot be healed by any other means, although you do recover spent hit dice at the end of a long rest as normal.
Mechanical body. Your body is hardier and denser than other races. You gain 1 extra hit point at 1st level and every level afterwards. You have disadvantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to swim.
Encyclopedic Recall: You gain proficiency with any two skills chosen from the following list (Computer Use, Demolitions, Engineering, History, or Science). If you have proficiency from another source you gain Expertise instead.
Unnatural Existence: Spells bind your soul to your body. As such you cannot die unless you body is completely destroyed. If you fail three death saving throws then you are instead disabled unless your body is disintegrated or takes damage equal to your normal hit point total after being reduced to 0 hit points. Otherwise once you are repaired to at least 1 hit point you return to life as normal. If your body is destroyed then you cannot be raised from the dead by any means short of a wish spell.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can discern color.
Languages: You have the same languages as you did before becoming a soulmech.
That's my attempt at keeping it as simple as I can. It's a complicated race, as most synthetic races would be in 5e. Let me know what you think. If you like this I'll post the rest of my conversion of the race chapter of the Starfarer's Handbook. Thank you.
