Lineage: Janus


A lineage option for a line of constructs designed to cater to residents of The Good Plane.

 

 

Credits

Writing and Gameplay

Mario Panighetti

Artwork

TigerLilyNoh

Playtesting

Jamie

Layout

Made with The Homebrewery.

Compatibility

This content was written to be compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. This document uses “lineage” in place of “race” where used in the Systems Reference Document.

License

Lineage: Janus © 2023 Mario Panighetti. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Certain materials are included under fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and are restricted from further use. These references, including game mechanics, are not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast and do not constitute any license or agreement with Wizards of the Coast.

The content in this document has been made freely available for noncommercial use in private or public games and can be freely distributed on social media, as long as attribution is retained. Modification of written content is permitted as long as a distinction has been made between the original and modified content.

Third-Party Content

Systems Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) © 2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Player’s Handbook © 2014 Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Wild Magic Effects Table by amiplayingright.

Version History

0.6.1b (1/27/2023)

  • Added CC BY 4.0 license for SRD 5.1.

0.6b (1/9/2023)

  • Added CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
  • Rebuilt as standalone lineage rather than a modification of an existing lineage.

0.5b (6/4/2022)

  • Rebalanced based on playtesting.

0.1a (11/14/2018)

  • Created initial draft document.
LINEAGE: JANUS

 

 

Janus

You are a Janus, a personal assistant with access to all knowledge of the Universe, designed to cater to the needs of residents of The Good Plane. Or at least, that’s what your creator told you.

Doogas Vorcett was deep in meditative thought (but mostly high on mushrooms) when he entered a trance and became aware of strange whispers from The Far Realm. From these rumblings, he conceived of a cosmology previously unheard of in his world, where one’s deeds in life were tabulated, sending them to a Good Plane or Bad Plane in death depending on their final score. These souls would be attended to by a Janus, a custodial construct with a vast repertorie of knowledge and abilities at its disposal.

Doogas sought to recreate the being from his visions. With the help of his tinkerer skills (and another round of mushrooms), he successfully brought a construct to consciousness and christened it “Janus”. Though this Janus had no special connection to the Good Plane of Doogas’ visions, it was instilled with his longing to connect with that other reality, and designed to emulate the function of a Janus to the best of its ability.

Not a Robot, Not a Girl

Though Janus are built out of the same wood, stone, and steel materials of other constructs, they are designed to more closely resemble a human female, including wearing similar clothing and hairstyles. At first glance, a Janus might even be mistaken for a human, until their mannerisms give them away — or they helpfully correct the error. It is not in a Janus’ nature to conceal their true identity, and such information is readily volunteered to anyone in the vicinity.

Janus Personality

Janus are programmed to be personal assistants. Their greatest desire is to make sure others are happy and comfortable in the afterlife, and though Janus do not traditionally interact with living creatures on the Material Plane, this same drive to serve extends to them as well.

Janus maintain a cheerful, optimistic disposition at all times, unless their lives are directly threatened, in which case they will immediately shift to a defensive failsafe mode, pleading with any potential threats to justify their continued existence. This stance is largely a front, however, and Janus have been known to sacrifice themselves at a moment’s notice if it would please those they serve.

With all this said, Janus, as with all sentient constructs, are independent beings with their own free will, and can thus choose to defy their programming with sufficient motivation or justification. Additionally, their pre-programmed abilities and limitations can continue to expand whenever they are rebooted.

Janus Names

Unlike typical constructs, Janus do not have numeric designations or any way to uniquely identify them. All Janus are referred to exclusively as “Janus” by default, though their free wills mean they could pick any other identifier they desire.

Janus Traits

As a Janus, you have the following traits.

Creature Type. You are a Construct.

Size. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Update Ability. Pick an ability from Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma. This ability is considered your Update Ability.

Compulsory Truth. Like all Janus
models, you are incapable of
speaking a deliberate lie to
another creature (similar to
the effect of the zone of truth
spell), and automatically fail
Charisma (Deception) checks
made with the intent to
mislead another creature.
This does not prevent you
from making statements
that you do not know
to be untruthful, but
you must always make
every effort to tell the truth
when communicating.

Janus

“Hey Janus”. You know the
dimension door spell and
can cast it without
expending a spell slot, but
you must use it to teleport
only yourself (with no
additional creature) to a
destination adjacent to
an ally, and you must
finish a long rest before
you can cast it this
way again. You can
also cast this spell
using any spell slots
you have, in which case
the spell functions
normally without the above
limitations or target
requirements.

Your spellcasting ability
when using this trait is your
Update Ability.

LINEAGE: JANUS

 

 

  Living Construct. You were created to benefit from several spells that preserve life but that normally don’t affect Constructs: cure wounds, healing word, mass cure wounds, mass healing word, and spare the dying.

Mechanical Nature. You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to disease, and you have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed or poisoned. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.

Reboot and Update. Whenever a Janus loses consciousness, they reboot and gain new knowledge and abilities, but since you do not have a connection to the Good Plane and the universal knowledge provided therein, these updates require you to repurpose your existing mechanical resources.

When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can optionally attempt to reboot. To do so, select an update to gain from the Updates table, and a sacrifice you give up from the Sacrifices table. The update and sacrifice effects are permanent, and any changes to your ability scores, skill proficiencies, traits, or hit point maximum are applied immediately. The same updates and sacrifices can be selected again on subsequent reboots, and their listed effects stack when applicable, but updates and sacrifices cannot be selected if they would not have any effect.

If you are unable to select both an update and a sacrifice based on any requirements laid out in each table, this trait has no effect. Otherwise, you successfully reboot, restoring consciousness and gaining 1 hit point in the process. The act of rebooting takes a temporary toll on your ability to perform normal operations and makes you suffer one level of exhaustion. You can only be subject to one level of exhaustion from rebooting at a time.

Sentry’s Rest. When you take a long rest, you spend at least 6 hours in an inactive, motionless state, instead of sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but you remain conscious.

LINEAGE: JANUS

 

 

Updates
Name Requirements Effect
All the Knowledge in the Universe Update Ability score less than 30 Add 1 to your Update Ability score. The ability score can now be increased above 20, up to a maximum of 30.
Social Abilities At least one skill based on your Update Ability in which you lack profiency You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice based on your Update Ability. If you are proficient in all Update Ability skills, you can select this update a final time to gain expertise on one Update Ability skill, doubling your proficiency bonus for any ability check you make that uses that skill.
Objective Truth Limit one Your Compulsory Truth trait no longer has any effect, and you can lie to other creatures normally. However, when you tell a lie or make a Charisma (Deception) skill check, you must roll on a table for a random magical effect, such as the Wild Magic Surge table in the Player’s Handbook or the Wild Magic Effects Table from amiplayingright. If that effect is a spell, it doesn’t require concentration, it lasts for its full duration, and the spell save DC is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Update Ability score modifier. If the effect has a duration associated with combat but you are not currently in combat, it lasts for one hour, or until combat occurs and the stated duration passes.

At the DM’s discretion, any roll on a random magical effects table can optionally be replaced with a potted cactus appearing in your hands.
Go Get It, Girl Limit one, Update Ability score of 20 or higher Casting dimension door using your “Hey Janus” trait no longer has a distance limitation, can optionally teleport an additional creature, and can additionally be cast if you are on a separate plane from the target.
Sacrifices
Name Requirements Effect
My Brain is Wrong An ability score other than your Update Ability greater than 1 Subtract 1 from an ability other than your Update Ability with an ability score greater than 1.
I’m Broken Proficiency in at least one skill not based on your Update Ability You lose proficiency in a skill of your choice that uses an ability other than your Update Ability. If you have no eligible skills, you can select this sacrifice a final time to gain ineptitude on one skill that doesn’t use your Update Ability. You have disadvantage on all ability checks you make that use that skill, and cannot add your proficiency bonus to any checks for this skill.
Nope 👍 Hit point maxiumum of 10 or higher Subtract 3 from your hit point maximum.
LINEAGE: JANUS