Bonus - Lei (L-31)

Sorry for the slight change of schedule, I got a brain worm that I need to put onto a canvas before I can do anything else. Due to a recent event in one of my campaigns (as a player), I feel the urge to draw a new visual of my character. These are a summary of her story so far, sorry if it's too long since the campaign has been running for quite some time and is now reaching its last arc. The stats there are not the actual PC stats, but they are probably a good representation of what this character can do to some extent.

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Subject L-31: The Black Beast of Wilderwood

“Lei” is not her real name—it's a name she gave herself, derived from the serial number branded onto her shoulder: L-31. She was one of many children abducted by a mysterious organization that conducted invasive experiments to alter their bodies for unknown purposes. Lei was the last surviving member of the "L" series. Her siblings perished, one by one, under the strain of the procedures.

The experimentation left Lei permanently altered. Her body gained monstrous strength, an enhanced muscular and skeletal structure, and traces of bestial traits. But the cost was immense—her body was left scarred, broken, and in constant pain. The suffering warped her psyche, pushing her toward a feral state. Deemed unstable and a failure, she was cast aside. The only solace she found was in the other children, who called each other siblings and formed a close bond through shared torment.

Eventually, the compound was raided by local authorities who had caught wind of the organization’s activities. In the chaos, the children were scattered—some captured, others taken by fleeing members of the organization. Lei was sold to a brutal colosseum where she caught the attention of a promoter named Piere, who not only taught her how the world outside worked but also tended to her recovery. Over time, as fragments of her sanity returned, Piere helped her escape.

She fled into the depths of Wilderwood Forest, where she lived for several years in isolation. Though she avoided civilization, sightings of her monstrous silhouette among the trees earned her a fearful nickname among the locals: “The Black Beast.”

– Early Arc

Piere reunited with Lei during his travels to Kysthavn and introduced her to an acquaintance in need of extra muscle for a dangerous job. Lei, now mostly in control of herself, agreed to join the party on a mission to drive off a group of orcs who, for reasons unknown, harbored a deep grudge against the people of Fjellheimr. What began as a simple mercenary job quickly unraveled into something far greater. Their mission led to the discovery of a conspiracy surrounding the death of the former Jarl of Raventlow. As events unfolded, the party found themselves allying with the orcs to expose the truth and overthrow the corrupt current jarl. This alliance culminated in the siege of an ancient fortress deep within Wilderwood, which the party claimed as their base of operations.

They defended the fortress against the forces of Regent Halvar, who sought to eliminate the last living heir of the former jarl—whom the party had taken under their protection. After a hard-fought battle and Halvar’s defeat, the rightful heir was installed as the new ruler of Raventlow. In gratitude, the party was granted the fortress and the surrounding lands.

Over the following years, they transformed the stronghold into a thriving domain. While solidifying their rule, they uncovered strange magical phenomena tied to the Wilderwood, glimpsing long-buried truths about the continent of Salvatoris. Beneath the forest’s roots lay secrets of an ancient conspiracy—one that revealed how human civilization rose to dominance, overshadowing the once-mighty Sylphid and Dwarven empires through manipulation, suppression, and forgotten magic.

– Middle Arc

A new town, Crestwood, was established by the party and quickly rose to prominence through a mix of diplomacy and strategic warfare. Their control over the vital Neela River—now one of the continent’s main trade and travel routes—earned them the title “Bannerlords of Neela.”

Crestwood thrived under the arcane insight and leadership of Adrien the Magus, and the boundless ingenuity of Philipe the Artificer, transforming it into a hub of technological advancement. Meanwhile, Lei’s prowess on the battlefield, along with her growing alliance with Sable, the enigmatic Wolf Queen and native fey of Wilderwood, helped secure the surrounding region. During this period, Lei also reunited with one of her long-lost siblings, Wish (W-15), and uncovered leads on others, including Ash (A-54), Sloth (S-107), and Tia (T-14).

As Crestwood advanced in arcane innovation, tensions began to rise with the continent's dominant religious power—Ecclesia Novi Omnium Salvatoris, or simply The Ecclesia—which deemed arcane magic heretical. In response, the Bannerlords initiated the Kingmaker Strategy: a deliberate effort to strengthen their political and military foothold across the continent.

Leveraging their unique magical abilities, monopoly over long-range communication technology, control of major trade routes, and growing firearms industry, the party began influencing neighboring kingdoms. They backed a revolution in Champ D’or, toppling the reigning monarch and installing a ruler loyal to their cause. Soon after, they introduced a revolutionary banking system tied to their communication network, and incited change within the Republic—ultimately securing control over the continent’s largest port city and establishing dominance over the full stretch of the Neela River.

Now, Crestwood and Wilderwood stand as central powers with strong ties to the three major surrounding nations. Over the years, they also forged diplomatic relations with the Bhumiputera Commonwealth, the last bastion of Dwarven sovereignty, and the Sylphids, both of whom shared their disdain for the Ecclesia. In time, the party uncovered the truth behind the so-called divine magic of the Ecclesia—it was, in fact, an arcane secret stolen long ago from the Sylphids.

– Current Arc

In the aftermath of the revolution in Porto di Smeraldo, the party faced their greatest threat yet: a full-scale invasion by the Ecclesia, determined to crush their defiance and reclaim control over the city. Amid the chaos, Lei was tragically slain while trying to rescue two of her siblings—Sloth and Tia—who had been brainwashed by the Ecclesia and transformed into powerful living weapons.

The battle took place within the Dreaming, a surreal realm of soul and consciousness that linked the siblings and housed a corrupted entity—the true source behind the Ecclesia’s so-called divine power. Lei’s soul, damaged both in body and spirit, was shattered beyond recovery. Not even the most potent restorative magics borrowed from the Sylphids and Dwarves could bring her back.

Refusing to let her go, Adrien and Philipe turned to a desperate solution. Through their research, they discovered that Lei and her siblings had not merely been kidnapped—they were clones, created by the Ecclesia using fragments of ancient, powerful Sylphids. Drawing upon forbidden knowledge, the pair sought to mimic the Ecclesia’s technique: extracting lingering traces of soul and memory from a deceased vessel to forge an artificial soul.

Using this method, they built a sophisticated mechanical body, a vessel designed to house the reconstructed essence of Lei. Though they succeeded in creating both the body and a soul-like construct from the remnants of her being, the result was not what they had hoped.

The entity that awakened within the steel shell was not Lei—but someone new. A fragmented mind born from scraps of Lei’s memories and faint echoes of the Sylphid she was modeled after. She bore traces of both, yet was neither. A stranger in a familiar shell, carrying only traces of the person they tried to save.

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In this campaign, we're mostly using Alternate classes from LaserLlama, which I highly recommend as we all kinda agree that this is such an improvement to 5th Edition classes~

For original Lei's Build :

Human (Specialist) | Ruined Background | Alternate Barbarian - Path of The Beast (6) | Alternate Rogue - Soulknife (5) |

Feat : Tough, Fighting Style - Wrestler, Overwhelming Strength.

Lei is a grappler bruiser, the Overwhelming Strength feat improve her grapple check and count her as large creature for the purpose of that, while the fighting style allow her to grapple as bonus action and removing the movement speed penalty when dragging grappled creature. This allow Her to 'snatch' enemies, and drag them to isolated spot or more advantageous position for her and the party. Her rogue expertise improve the athletic skill immensely while the combination of Path of the Beast's claw and Soulknife's psionic blade allow her to attack 4 times per turn. Not to mention several other exploits that give her more versatility.

Dire Wolf Lei :

Although I found the in-game justification for this sudden ability, the real reason Dire Wolf Lei exists is because Laserllama updated their version of Path of The Beast, merging it with their own version, Path of The Lycan, which gives her the ability to wild shape into a CR 1 beast. I choose Dire Wolf to match with Lei's aesthetic and the new friend, Sable the Wolf Queen.

Iron Lei

I had quite a problem thinking about how they were going to try to bring back Lei after that failed resurrection attempt. But then the next reveal about Lei's origin led to them making a last desperate attempt to extract a lingering remnant of Lei soul and memory and put it inside a powerful mechanical vessel. Unfortunately, what woke up after the process is not Lei, something else, with tiny bit of fragmented echo of Lei's soul and memory, but also soul and memory of the original Sylphid.

Warforged | Ruined background | Alternate Barbarian - Path of The Blood and Iron

Feat : Tough, Fighting Style - Defense, Alternate Defensive Duelist

This subclass is basically a far improved version of Battlerager. It's a barbarian that can wear heavy spiked armor. She's now a frontline with tons of hit points, super high AC, and unstoppable momentum.