A Zodar is a mysterious armored humanoid creature.[1][2]
Overview[]
The zodar are an enigmatic race of incredibly powerful armored humanoid constructs.[1][2]
Description[]
All zodar are identical, and resemble humanoids who stand 6-feet tall exactly and appear to wear smooth, deep-black suits of obsidian plate armor. However, this is actually their exoskeleton and is comprised of a ceramic material that closely resembles the material that makes up the crystal spheres. They have no facial features except for two small slits, which scholars believe are their sensory organs. The entire internal space within the exoskeleton is comprised of muscle fibers, accounting for their incredible strength and vitality, and the fact that they weigh nearly 500-pounds.
Though they rarely demonstrate their physical abilities, zodar can perform great feats of strength, speed, and endurance, and have been seen leaping as high as 50-feet, running at four times the speed of a human and lifting objects that even a titan would shudder at.
Zodar communicate by causing speech to issue out of the air around them. However, zodar seldom, if ever, communicate with others, typically speaking a single sentence in a human lifetime. Thus, the times they choose to speak are selected with great care and are sure to be important. When a zodar speaks, it uses its words as sparingly as possible, sometimes uttering no more than a fragment of a sentence. All creatures within hearing understand the statement, regardless of what languages they know.[1][2]
Behavior[]
Zodar act in a very aloof manner, and have never been known to express any kind of emotion. Though individual zodar have been known to attach themselves to a ship's crew or an adventuring company, accompanying them wherever they go, it remains detached and never interacts with those around it, even if they come under attack. More than one company has been destroyed by hostile forces while their zodar simply stood by like a mysterious black statue witnessing their end. When a zodar does perform some significant act, it is almost always a surprise to those around it. A zodar may suddenly enter a fray, march toward a single victim, destroy them, and then freeze in place once its task is complete. A zodar has even been known to cripple the vessel it was travelling on when it tore up the main mast and hurled it at an enemy like a great spear.
Some scholars have speculated that each zodar has a specific mission that somehow relates to the crystal spheres. It relentlessly pursues this mission, concerning itself only with those things that are directly related to the mission's success. Thus, joining a ship's crew or adventuring company may merely be for the sake of passage to another place, or, perhaps their objective somehow furthers its own mission, and it accompanies them to aid them in times of great peril.[1]
Combat[]
Zodar typically rely on hand-to-hand combat, though they prefer to grapple and crush opponents rather than strike with their fists. Occasionally zodar have been known to wield up to two melee weapons in combat.
Zodar are impervious to magic (even spells that have been cast to aid them). Furthermore, only physical blows cause them any obvious harm. Fire, heat, cold, acid, poison, submersion in water, etc., all have no effect on them. Zodar do not actively defend themselves in combat; rather they rely on their practically impervious exoskeletons.[1]
Once a year, a zodar can alter reality as if it had just cast a wish spell; however, none have actually been known to use this ability more than once a century. Even if the effects of the wish spell is of great importance, its use is likely to be extremely subtle, and will largely go unrecognised as the act of a zodar, as they do not want to draw attention to themselves.[2]
Society[]
Zodar can be encountered literally anywhere in the Known Spheres, though they tend to avoid areas with large populations or any situation where they would draw attention to themselves. They are most frequently encountered in regions near a crystal shell and many scholars have postulated that they are somehow tied to the protection and maintenance of the crystal spheres themselves. Zodar do not appear to have any kind of hierarchy amongst themselves, and are usually encountered alone. They also have never been seen to to work alongside, or directly against, others of their own kind.[1]
Uses[]
A zodar's exoskeleton could potentially be used to make incredibly powerful armor. However, to effectively kill a zodar requires a great deal of effort and often all that is left of a zodar's exoskeleton is a pile of fragments.[1]
Rumors[]
The reigar claim to have created the zodar on a whim, but then the reigar claim a lot of things.[1]
Appendix[]
External Links[]
- Inevitable article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
- Inevitable article at the Eberron Wiki, a wiki for the Eberron campaign setting.
- Zodar article at the Dungeons and Dragons Lore Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from every edition.
- Zodar article at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from 2nd edition AD&D.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Blake Mobley, MC7 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Zodar entry
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Matt Sernett, Chris Thomasson, and James Wyatt, Fiend Folio 3rd edition, April 2003, (Wizards of the Coast Inc.), ISBN: 0-7869-2780-1, page 199