Animated armor is an animated suit of armor, though different rules establish the cause of the animation. In 5e, animated armor is considered a construct with a magical source. In Shadowdark, animated armor is “animated by a vengeful spirit.” While animated armor is chaotically aligned in Shadowdark, it is unaligned in 5e, which makes sense considering the source of each. The attack mechanism also differs between the rulesets, with animated armor using a sword in Shadowdark and simply slamming enemies in 5e. Until it attacks, animate armor has no visual tells of its nature. It looks like an old suit of armor.
The difference between the two systems makes it challenging to write seeds that would make sense with both systems, but it also invites a GM to mix systems. Just because the rulebook says that the armor is magically animated or possessed by an evil spirit doesn’t mean it has to be in your game. These seeds probably make more sense with 5e monster rules, but seeds are intended to act as motivation. They can be tweaked as needed.
Encounter Seed: What starts as a normal visit to the local blacksmith turns into anything but that as several suits of armor suddenly animate and move to attack the blacksmith and their assistant. [Note: To be more true to Shadowdark, perhaps the characters bring a suit of armor to the blacksmith, and the blacksmith working on it is what leads it to attack.]
Encounter Seed: On the road, the party crosses paths with a traveling merchant accompanied by four bodyguards (animated armor). The merchant eyes the party wearily and says, “You don’t hurt me, they don’t hurt you.” He’s willing to talk or trade and can tell the party how to get their own set of animated armor for a price.
Encounter Seed: The giant, Nedsor, died over a century ago. As he was on his deathbed, he asked his elven enchanter friend to keep his burial mound safe. While that is not common knowledge, a party passing nearby might piece it together when they are attacked by a giant piece of animated armor. [Mechanics: Double the armor’s hit points and damage dice.]
Adventure Seed: The thieves’ guild is hoping to steal the Sword of the Serpent, currently on display at the local museum. They have scouted for days. No more than four guards are at the museum at night. They can distract the guards if someone else is willing to sneak into the museum and grab the sword. Unfortunately, their scouting failed to provide evidence on the presence of animated armor in the same room as the sword. [Mechanics: If playing Shadowdark, have the animated armor grab the Sword of Serpents. It is a +2 sword that, once per day, poisons a struck target. DC 15 CON or immediately drop to 0 HP.]
Adventure Seed: A dark knight vowed to dispatch the heir to the throne of a rival house many decades before his death. His armor, on display in a castle, sits in wait. The heir to the throne is visiting the castle to discuss a potential treaty, unaware that he will soon be the victim of animated armor.
Ridiculous Adventure Seed: The general had no idea his “secret weapons,” ten suits of animated armor, would go rogue and begin running amok throughout the settlement. Well, they have…and they’re causing substantial damage. The guards can handle some of them, but they need help.
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This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ legalcode.