Homunculus

A Homunclus is an impish construct created from their creators' blood, along with classical alchemical junk treasures. They serve as lab assistants, scouts, or whatever job their scholarly masters deem them fit for.

In most campaigns, these are going to be NPC's helpers, even mouthpieces. But if you're running a campaign where magic is an integral part of all the PC's stories, or maybe a solo campaign, homunculi could easily come up as regular NPCs.

Their basic stat block really doesn't give them much to work with at base, other than their notable mind link to their master, but the fact that they are each a uniquely crafted creature means you're practically obliged to go nuts customizing them with unique abilities.

- Nemanja

Hook 1 (Max) - Living off Borrowed Time

While striding through the woods, you might stumble upon a spiteful little creature by the name of Spark. It resembles an impoverished goblinoid with meek stature and sickly white skin. As it comes across your path, it will likely start throwing insults your way and try to chase you into a nearby cavern, where the remains of its master lie.

Spark is aware that with its creator's passing whatever time it might have will soon prove to be short, so it tries to find someone to replace them. The homunculus' bargaining chip is the laboratory and study left by its late owner. The thing is, the old wizard set up a myriad of traps to defend it and Spark needs help disarming them.

Not like Spark knows how.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - Paleblood Plea

Pakworth Paleblood is a fully autonomous homunculus, serving as the Chair of Necromancy at the Wygreth Wizardly Univesity. Other than his unusually complex persona—he is known to be deeply cynical while also being empathetic and warm—two more things stand out about professor Paleblood. Firstly, much unlike other documented masterless homunculi, he outright refuses to utter a single word about his former master. Secondly, he has chosen to specialize in the study of vampires, a rare, near-extinct phenomenon that is supposed to only exist on the outskirts of civilization.

In truth, the construct is not autonomous at all. He is in fact a vessel through which his master, an ancient Nosferatu vampire know as Gorge, interacts with the world.

Gorge has been living in the catacombs beneath the university for ages and has been trying to find a cure for his curse all the while. Should anyone follow professor Paleblood after dark, they might stumble upon his master, in which case they better hope his need for help is greater than his hunger...

Hook 3 (Reece) - Examination: The Sepulchre

"The Sepulchre is a place from which one does not return. It is a place of blood and fire, ruled by a cruel mage who has extended his life far beyond what is natural. Should you die within his domain, he will make a point to personally retrieve your body and stuff your soul back in it using blood magic of his own devising, a cruel joke that he plays to amuse himself between his studies and his machinations to conquer the southern continent."

- Excerpt of a conversation from a tavern goer in the city of Darath Sabar. 

After buying the patron several more drinks, he seems to have passed out on the bar top. A brief examination of his exposed neck and covered forearms has revealed sutures and general tampering with his biological structures, as expected. Alcohol tolerance above average for a human of his height. Corroborates other accounts, though this is the first "live" one I have encountered. Further investigation needed to ascertain if he has indeed escaped this "Sepulchre". Subject would indeed be the largest homunculus on record, should his origin indeed be as I suspect.