“Every scarecrow has a secret ambition to terrorize.”
At harvest time, when death revisits the twilit world an summer's blossoms bow their withered heads, eerie scarecrows loom in silent vigil over empty fields. With immortal patience, these stoic sentinels hold their posts through wind, storm, and flood, bound to their master's command, eager to terrify prey with its sackcloth visage and rend victims with its razor-sharp claws.
Spirit-Powered Constructs
A scarecrow is animated by the bound spirit of a slain evil creature, granting it purpose and mobility. It is this uncanny presence from beyond death that allows a scarecrow to inspire fear in those is gazes upon. Hags and witches often bind scarecrows with the spirits of demons but any evil spirit will do. There are rumors of scarecrows being animated for less sinister purposes, utilizing non-evil souls, but such constructs are rare, given the dark magic involved with their creation. Although aspects of the spirit's personality might surface, a scarecrow's spirit doesn't recall the memories it had as a creature, and its will is focused solely on serving its creator. If its creator dies, the spirit inhabiting a scarecrow usually either continues to follow its last commands, seeks revenge for its creator's death, or destroys itself. But as with all things, there are exceptions.
Harrowing Harvesters
A mundane scarecrow is built to frighten. An animated scarecrow is no different. While a lifeless scarecrow protects a field by scaring off crows and vermin that want to feed on crops, an animate one protects locations deemed important to its master, scaring off would-be interlopers. Fear is the scarecrow's stock and trade, its greatest weapon. While they do not hesitate to resort to violence, they prefer to terrorize their enemies. They patiently but relentlessly stalk their targets, subtly enough as to not give themselves away, but deliberately obvious enough for their victims to know they are being hunted.
They harry their foes using unconventional tactics to unsettle them, keeping them on edge but off balance. Then, when the fruit of fear is ripe, they reap; striking when their victim is on the point of hysteria.
Fearmongers
Regardless of an individual scarecrow's alignment, they live to scare. An evil scarecrow will do so maliciously, relentlessly torturing their victims, inflicting psychological trauma. The rare non-evil one may be more benign in their methods, such as pranks. Something to get a rise out of a target without doing them any real harm.
Ghost in the Machine
Unlike other constructs which are powered by magic or machinery, scarecrows are given life by a more sinister source. They are animated by a bound spirit. A soul. A ghost in a shell, bound to an effigy of wood and straw. A scarecrow is the vessel for a presence from beyond the grave, and as such have more in common with the Undead than they do other Constructs. A proof of this lies in that they are susceptible to psychic damage, where other Constructs are not.
While its memories may be gone, the spirit within still possesses a mind rather than a series of orders and prompts. A mind is something far more flexible, able to fill in gaps in its instruction with common sense, and adapt to the unexpected. This gives a scarecrow a measure of cunning and guile not present in other Constructs, more efficient at interacting with and anticipating the intents and reactions of the living. Organic instincts from an incorporeal mind in an inorganic, material body.
Roaming Reapers
Adventuring scarecrows are rare. Scarecrows that adventure of their own free will are rarer still. A scarecrow may be adventuring because it is on a quest to fulfill one or more of its creator's orders. Or it might be seeking revenge for its creator's death. If the spirit bound to the scarecrow is strong-willed, or the magic used to bind the spirit to its straw was incomplete, a scarecrow might become independent, thinking for itself and choosing its own path in life.
Regardless of why a scarecrow goes on an adventure, one thing is constant: they are feared wherever they go.
Scarecrow Names
Scarecrows are not usually given names by their creators. Those that are tend to be named whimsically and often after crops or some other farming or rural-living pun. Some scarecrows tend to adopt nicknames, often given to them by their comrades... or victims. A few choose names based on their appearance or characteristics.
Scarecrow Names: Alfalfa, Banjo, Barns, Brambles, Briar, Buckwheat, Calabash, Carrot, Cobb, Corny, Corvus, Cotton, Creeper, Fiddlesticks, Gourdon, Hackles, Harvey, Jack, Jeepers, Kindle, Punky, Rattles, Raven, Shucks, Slim, Splinters, Spud, Tiddlywinks, Turnip, Twiggy, Wheaton, Whippoorwill, Zippy, No-Please-Don't, Th'Heck-is'at.
Scarecrow Traits
Your scarecrow character has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase
Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age
Scarecrows are not living beings, and as such do not age normally. From the moment they are created, they are mature in form and mental capacity. As time passes, the material composing their bodies may be damaged or decay, but so long as a scarecrow lives, it can repair itself, replacing old material with new.
Alignment
Born of dark magic, most scarecrows are chaotic evil. Scarecrows of other alignments are rare, but not impossible. As with other races, alignment is ultimately a factor of an individual's circumstances. For example, a scarecrow may have been created with the soul of a non-evil creature by a maker with less sinister intents for it. Non-evil scarecrows are almost universally chaotic, delighting in frightening and playing tricks on people.
Size
Scarecrows are generally built to resemble humans, and thus have the same range of height as humans, but depending on what they are made from, can weigh much less or much more. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision
As a supernatural creature, your vision can easily cut through darkness. 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’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Frightful Form
You are an animated scarecrow made of a variety of materials. Your creature type is Construct, though you share many attributes with the Undead. You can be healed by any spell that can restore hit points to Construct or Undead creatures.
Due to the pliable materials that compose your body and lack of vital organs, you have resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons. You are immune to poison damage, cannot be diseased, and are immune to the charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, and unconscious conditions, unless you fall unconscious as a result of being reduced to 0 hit points. You are vulnerable to fire damage.
You do not need to breathe, drink, eat, or sleep. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state: you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
False Appearance
While you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from an ordinary, inanimate scarecrow. While imitating an inanimate scarecrow, you have advantage on ability checks to avoid detection.
Haunting
You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. For you, it does not require any action to cast or dismiss an effect it causes. You are also trained in the Intimidation skill.
Claws
Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Your claws are also considered to have the finesse property. Additionally on a hit, if the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus or be frightened until the end of your next turn.
Terrifying Glare
Your burning gaze fills the living with mortal dread. As an action, you can target one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. If the target can see you, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus or be magically frightened until the end of the your next turn. The frightened target is paralyzed.
Languages
You can understand, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice, however you cannot speak. Instead, you communicate through a susurration of ominous whispers using the thaumaturgy cantrip.