Fresh Cut Grass

Fresh Cut Grass, or F.C.G. for short, is an aeormaton cleric and a member of Bells Hells. F.C.G. is played by Sam Riegel.

Appearance
F.C.G. has yellow metallic plating, with four chestplate stripes that look like blades of grass, and rolls around on a tiny wheel. He has big blue eyes of different shapes. F.C.G. is made of various alloys and, being dense, weighs twice as much as he looks like he would. He is 3 foot 8 inches tall, making him taller than both Orym and Chetney.

F.C.G. eats metal rather than organic food for sustenance. They described it as a very complicated self-repairing system that their creator Dancer designed for them that needs raw materials to operate. The portions of consumed materials that they don't require (such as the non-metallic components of ore) are excreted through their mouth.F.C.G. is also able to store liquids inside and pour them out later.

Personality
F.C.G. is extraordinarily kind, polite, and helpful. He considers Ashton Greymoore a close friend and is keen to aid in their various crude pursuits. F.C.G. is well aware that he is an automaton and does not believe that he has a soul. They are outwardly dismissive of their own feelings because they are not sure whether those feelings are genuine, or merely from how they were built. However, F.C.G. has displayed emotions, including sadness about the death of their friends. F.C.G. is also at times judgemental or passive-aggressive when upset, notably in response to Orym accidentally losing their coin, which had been a gift from Dancer.

Background
Fresh Cut Grass was named by their presumed creator and former associate Dancer, who named all her creations after her favorite smells including Oatmeal, Apple Pie, and Pussy. Each construct was designed for particular tasks, and each was unique. Fresh Cut Grass was designed to heal, and thus, their magic does not come from a divine source. However, Imahara Joe later told Fresh Cut Grass that Dancer had actually purchased them from a merchant caravan, and that they were of Aeorian make.

He was later part of a group of adventurers called the Division of Public Benefit working out of Bassuras. A couple of months before joining the Bells Hells, the group was hired by the Rayia Family to clear out their silver mine near Evishi in the Oderan Wilds from unknown, possibly one-eyed monsters. The adventurers camped outside the cave to rest for the night, with F.C.G. going into a stasis not far from the group. On the following morning, he awoke from the stasis to find the other party members deceased.

A week later, F.C.G. met Ashton when Ashton was sent in by the mine's owners to find out what happened. Ashton discovered F.C.G., who was glad that Ashton had come to help them. Together they buried the bodies, but F.C.G. kept some of the other automaton parts with him, including the sawblade used in combat.

Campaign 3
F.C.G. had accompanied Ashton to the Spire by Fire Inn on a search for employment when a magical disturbance nearby created several animated objects that threatened to attack innocents. To fight the constructs, F.C.G. and Ashton spontaneously coordinated with two other groups: Imogen Temult and Laudna; and Dorian Storm, Fearne Calloway, and Orym. The seven individuals' effectiveness as a team impressed Bertrand Bell, who promised to make introductions to high-placed people in the city to help them with their various goals, and took them to see Lord Ariks Eshteross.

In Bassuras, Fresh Cut Grass told Chetney to keep an eye out for Shithead, a vindictive bird who had frequently attacked him, and Chetney agreed to. Soon after, they visited Esmer, an old contact, and she revealed that Dancer was apparently still alive.

Ashton Greymoore
Ashton has been F.C.G.'s closest companion since the incident at the mines. The two both live at the Krook House, and F.C.G. occasionally helps Ashton cheat at cards.

Current items

 * Arm attachments
 * Sawblade
 * Grappling cannon: Makes a ranged weapon attack that, on a hit, deals 1d10 damage and the target creature is grappled. If the target creature is Medium or smaller, the creature can be pulled 20 feet toward Fresh Cut Grass. If the target creature is Large or bigger, F.C.G. can be pulled 20 feet toward the creature.
 * Bolt thrower
 * Propeller: Intended to help F.C.G. swim.
 * Goggles of Object Reading

Former items

 * Coin of delving, lost when lent to Orym and dropped down a shaft

Aeormaton abilities
The following abilities are assumed identical to the warforged traits from Eberron: Rising from the Last War, except where noted otherwise:
 * Constructed Resilience
 * Resistant to poison damage and advantage on saves against the poisoned condition
 * Doesn't require air, food, or drink
 * Doesn't require sleep and can't be put to sleep by magic. Rather than sleep, F.C.G. enters "Stasis Mode".
 * Immune to disease
 * Integrated Protection: +1 AC, must spend 1 hour to integrate armor onto their body, integrated armor can't be removed unwillingly
 * Specialized Design: Proficiency in one skill and one tool

Cleric abilities
Fresh Cut Grass is a cleric of the Empathy Domain, a subclass homebrewed by Matthew Mercer. Though they use the game mechanics of a cleric, their magical abilities appear to be something they were built with, rather than something they get through worship of a god.
 * Channel Divinity
 * Turn Undead, Destroy Undead (CR 1/2)
 * Divine Domain: Empathy Domain
 * Channel Divinity: Sympathetic Binding: F.C.G. magically binds themself to up to two creatures they can see.
 * Ardent Armor: As a bonus action on each turn for 1 minute, F.C.G. can give one bound creature 4 temporary hit points.
 * Bonded Blessing: As a bonus action on each turn for 1 minute, F.C.G. can allow one bound "trusted companion" to add a d6 to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.
 * Transfer Suffering: As a reaction, F.C.G. halves of the damage dealt to a nearby creature, and F.C.G. gains temporary hit points equal to his cleric level plus his Wisdom modifier. If F.C.G. attacks a creature and hits, they deal additional damage equal to the temporary hit points, which then disappear. If they don't hit a creature before the end of their next turn, they lose the temporary hit points and take damage equal to that amount.

Spells
In addition to their domain spells, which are always prepared, F.C.G. knows four cantrips and has access to all cleric class spells. As a 6th-level cleric, they can prepare up to nine of these spells per day.

Behind the scenes
Fresh Cut Grass's race and class were decided by Liam in a manner similar to how Sam's previous characters Scanlan Shorthalt and Veth Brenatto (as a goblin) had a race and class suggested by Liam O'Brien, though Liam stated that it was a mandate in Campaign 3. Fresh Cut Grass as a character is mainly inspired by Jack McBrayer, who is a friend of Sam's. He felt that McBrayer's personality as "a ray of sunshine and optimism" perfectly suited an automaton's programming. He also noted Ted Lasso as a likely influence, as he was watching the series before the campaign. He further asked Matt if he could play as a therapist, and this resulted in the development of the homebrewed Empathy Domain. The inspiration for this came from, when in an aside, Taliesin Jaffe asked Matt if they could make a therapy character class.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 3, every episode

Quotations
FCG: Sure. Lots of things, but I want you all to get what you want first. But yeah, I want things. I need to find out who did that to my friends, and figure out if I can get them some sort of— not vengeance, but justice, I suppose? I'd like to find out what I am. That would be nice. And if there's more of me. FCG: Well, that's an opinion. And opinions are like opera. Sure, you can listen to them, but why would you, really?
 * FCG: Smiley day there.
 * FCG: (after someone accidentally dumps a piss bucket on him) Sorry I was in your way. I apologize.
 * FCG: Shiny day to you!
 * FCG: When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with puppy smooches.
 * FCG: You know, they say that the word goodbye is the hardest word to say, but it's not. It's Worcestershire.
 * FCG: Of all the cities in the world, Generosity is the capital of Kindness.
 * FCG: Carpe BM. When we're in a real shitty situation, you just got to seize it.
 * FCG: (discussing Lord Eshteross's sponsorship of the group) When you accept sponsorships, isn't that sort of selling out a little bit?
 * FCG: Dancer always said that love equals friendship plus alcohol, but I think there's more to it than that.
 * FCG: The only thing more fun than a new friend is a new friend with a secret.
 * FCG: You can accomplish anything if you believe in yourself, or if you have wealthy parents.
 * Orym: Is there anything you want?
 * Imogen: I think you are alive, FCG.

Trivia

 * Fresh Cut Grass's miniature was accidentally broken by Matthew Mercer during his debut episode.
 * The animation on their stat card features drifting motes of bright light.
 * As they are both a "robot" and an apparently healing-oriented cleric, Fresh Cut Grass is, in a different sense, literally a "healbot". The actual definition doesn't apply to them as it usually describes a support player who focuses only on healing other members of the party, often to the point of ignoring other abilities they may have and often in a manner considered repetitive and rote.
 * F.C.G. is the first cleric played by a main cast member in a campaign to have no apparent connection to a deity or lesser idol.
 * F.C.G. doesn't like birds and finds them annoying.