Mechasouls are few in numbers and do not have a separate society of their own instead, they fit themselves into society as best they can. Just like any person, mechasouls have thoughts, emotions and seek out social bonds. While mechasouls were originally constructed with a significant amount of metals and technology, those parts have combined with the wood of the soulwood tree into a unique type of flesh and bone. A mechasoul is not a simply a construct, but a living thing. When a mechasouls awakens, it enters the world with no memory of its past life, knowing nothing of the world like a child of any other people. Somehow the materials that make up its body combined with spirit found in the soulwood to create a living being.

While these devices first appeared to be physically identical to other machines, over time, some of the mechanical devices shifted from their simple, practical forms into that of a humanoid, each one unique. The soulwood lumber was combined with steel, brass and gnomish technology to build mechanical devices for mining, manufacturing and various other uses. When foresters from Xolen cut down sacred soultrees on the islands of Aubori, they unknowingly set in motion the awakening of a new race. Mechasouls are a young race that are new to Vodari. Mechasouls vary in appearance but generally look like a humanoid that was carved out of metal and wood with green leafy hair and large black eyes. Mechasouls were built, but are alive, the result of gnomish technology being unintentionally combined with a forest spirit. I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that mechasouls are alive and deep inside them beats a soulwood heart.” Since then, I’ve raised Treeleaf as I would my own child. When I returned the next afternoon, I found a sleeping mechasoul in the place of my project. I see Mechasouls being excellent fighters, barbarians, druids, and clerics when looking at the combination of traits.

From a power level perspective, this race is not too overpowered, similar in power level to Firbolgs, Goliaths and Tabaxi. I wanted to create a race that takes inspiration from gearforged, treants and warforged and creates something that has parts of both.

This article looks at Mechasouls, a specific player race options for D&D 5e that I have started to provide as an option for players in my Vodari campaign world. I didn’t let my inexperience stop me from taking our ideas and turning them into a shared world that I ran a weekly adventure in for my players for a year and half for D&D 5e. In the past I’ve added details to published campaign settings, but I was a rookie at building a world from scratch. Back in 2014, I decided it was finally time to tackle building my own fantasy world called Vodari.

D&d races homebrew