Ancestries & Cultures
This setting uses the Ancestry & Culture homebrew for character creation instead of D&D’s race format, where ancestry covers a race’s physical and some magical traits and culture covers ability scores, languages, alignment, and learned traits or proficiencies. While this article has all mechanical and thematic information necessary to make a character, feel free to check the linked supplement to learn more about this homebrew and guidance on mixed ancestries and cultures.
Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Curiosity. Your natural curiosity leads you to dabble in a variety of activities. You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice, as well as with an artisan tool of your choice.
Size. Pick the listed size from your chosen ancestries and choose one of the sizes listed. If both of your ancestries are size Medium, then so are you. If both are Small, then likely so are you. If both Small and Medium sizes appear in your chosen ancestries, you may choose which size you are. If one is Small and one is Large, you may be Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, unless both of your chosen ancestries have a base speed of 25 feet, or your size is Small, in which case your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Darkvision. As long as one of your ancestries has the Darkvision trait, you may have darkvision as well, if you choose.
Creature Type. If one of your ancestries has a trait that changes your creature type, such as the centaur's Nymph Ancestry trait, you may inherit that trait if you choose.
Additional Ancestral Traits. You may select half of the other ancestral traits from each of your two chosen ancestries. For example, you might select Amphibious from a triton ancestor, or Limited Magic Resistence from a satyr ancestor. If one of your ancestries has a negative trait, such as the Equine Form trait of centaur ancestry or the Star Orb trait of kitsune ancestry, you may choose to inherit that trait without counting against your limit.
Alignment. Ogygian communities value athleticism, martial prowess, and a strong will. More often than not they adopt a stoic attitude about the constant conflict of their homeland, pushing them toward a grim realism. Their members tend toward neutrality.
Rigorous Combat Training. Ogygian culture celebrates martial competitions, and even the young are trained to fight just to survive. You have proficiency with the longsword, longbow, javelin, and lasso (net), as well as light and medium armor and one other martial weapon of your choice.
Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Ogygian.
Size. Air nymphs are roughly human in size, but significantly lighter. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Light as Air. You have a flying speed equal to your walking speed and can hover in place indefinitely.
Friend of the Winds. Being a creature of elemental air, you are less vulnerable to the energies of sky and storm. You are resistant to lightning and thunder damage.
Boundless. Like the air itself, you can briefly transition to a windy form to slip through cracks and avoid attacks. You can squeeze through Tiny spaces and have advantage on Dexterity saving throws.
Alignment. Air nymph communities are full of free-spirited folk who change their minds as often as the wind. Trickery and playfulness are common, but so is an innate respect for the world around them. As such, their communities tend toward chaos, though away from evil.
Wind Magic. You know the gust cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the feather fall spell once. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gust of wind spell once, without requiring the material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Weather Attunement. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to weather patterns, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Briar-touched are taller and heavier than humans, averaging seven to eight feet in height and weighing three hundred pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Nymph's Blessing. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Wild Walker. Briar-touched are born of the wilderness, even if they are not born in the wilderness. All briar-touched have the magical ability to move through natural terrain more quietly than other creatures. When you walk through a natural environment and not on a road or humanoid-made path, your steps make no sound, regardless of the surface you are moving across. You also have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks that rely on moving silently in such circumstances.
Alignment. Briar-touched communities revere nature in all its forms, celebrating both life and death, growth and decay, as well as the cycles of the sun and moon. As a rule, their communities lean toward neutrality.
Wilderness Affinity. Briar-touched communities feel a connection with the creatures of the forest and teach their children to be close to them. Through simple movements and sounds, you can communicate simple ideas with beasts that are Small or smaller.
Wild Hunt. To commemorate the fullness of the environment in which they live, members of briar-touched communities conduct great hunts on special days, usually solstices or equinoxes. As a part of these rituals, all briar-touched community members learn to participate in the hunt. You are proficient in Survival and with simple weapons.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Centaurs are taller than humans, thanks to their equine or cervine lower half, standing at least 7 feet tall. Their lower half extends back about eight feet. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Nymph Ancestry. You have the Fey creature type.
Hooves. You can make unarmed strikes with your hooves. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.
Equine Form. Maneuvering a world built for bipedal humanoids can be a challenge for centaurs. When you climb something built for a humanoid creature like a rope or ladder, you move at half the speed a humanoid would and make checks to do so at disadvantage.
Alignment. Members of centaur communities are tightly-knit and protective, guarding the stability of the wilderness but also accepting the trappings of civilization. They tend toward neutrality or goodness.
Quick Charge. Centaur communities teach their young the ways of centaur combat, which includes a charging attack. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with another attack as a bonus action. This can only apply once per turn.
Centaur Combat Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, longbow, twinblade, and tower shield, as well as light and medium armor and one other martial weapon of your choice.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Colossi tower over most humans, standing at 8 to 9 feet tall and weighing in the vicinity of 400 lbs. This brings your size to Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Unscarred. When you take damage from a source you can see, you can use your reaction to expend a Hit Die, if you have any. Roll the Hit Die and add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled, reducing the damage by that total. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once).
Bronze Skin. Your malleable metal skin acts as built-in armor to protect the flesh beneath. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Alignment. Colossus communities tend to live and work in communal collaboration, and their most elite members tend to the colosseums that are the foundation of the nation’s government. As such, they tend toward lawful values.
Mighty. Everyone in colossi communities is expected to assist with maintaining cyclopean structures and wrangling giant beasts. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Robust Gladiators. The colossi carry on the ancient arts of combat and athleticism their ancestors taught. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill and the bulwark greatsword (great sword), tower shield, and greatbow.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Ogygian.
Alignment. The cyclopes have endured more than their share of conflict, and they have no interest in mirroring the acts of their oppressors. Life in a cyclops community is focused on keeping the peace and appreciating the beauty of the world. Their members tend strongly toward law and good.
Ancestral Craftsmen. Cyclopean architecture is characterized by sturdy, interlocking stones made without mortar, and their structures stand for centuries. They are also skilled with metallurgy, and despite their peaceful lives, were the first in Ogygia to solve the riddle of steel. You have proficiency with mason's tools, smith's tools, and leatherworker's tools.
Titan Among Sheep. All members of cyclopes communities must keep a flock of sheep safe as part of their path to adulthood, a massive responsibility in a land of wyverns and chimeras. You have proficiency with Animal Handling (Wisdom) and the greatbow.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Hydra-blooded are human sized, though hydra-blooded weigh more than humans, due to their scales and armor. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Hydra-blooded take on the monstrosity’s darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Poison Resistance. You are resistant to poison damage and have advantage on saving throws against poison.
Hydra’s Blood. Choose two of the below traits from your hydra bloodline.
Alignment. Hydra-blooded communities tend to form in worship to the mighty creatures, seeking power above all else. They tend toward chaos.
Know Thyself. Members of hydra-blooded communities take great care in studying the history of the hydra and the great titans Phorcys and Ceto who spawned them, in the hopes that the titans may one day return. You have proficiency in History. You have advantage on such checks that concern hydras and the many other spawn of Phorcys and Ceto.
Weapon Training. The first hydra-blooded were warriors, and hydra-blooded communities retain some of the military training their founders received. You have proficiency with the glaive, pike, and heavy crossbow.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Ogygian.
Size. Land nymphs are roughly human in size, but significantly heavier. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Natural Camouflage. Your earthen appearance allows you to blend into natural environments. You have advantage on all Stealth rolls made while in caves, rocky terrain, grasslands, and similar earthen environments.
Steadfast. Land nymphs are denser and heavier than most other creatures of their size, making them more difficult to knock down. You have advantage on Strength or Dexterity rolls to resist being knocked prone.
Earthen Form. As manifestations of elemental earth, land nymphs are not vulnerable to petrification. You are immune to the petrified condition.
Alignment. Land nymphs manifest from formations that nearly all other nymphs rely upon to grow, and this brings with it a strong sense of responsibility to the preservation of nature that those in their communities often inherit. They tend strongly toward goodness and law.
Land Magic. You know the mold earth cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the earth tremor spell once. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the earthbind spell once. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Earth-Wise. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to geology, such as rocks, dirt, mountains, or minerals, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Lesser gorgons are human in size and shape. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Lesser gorgons still have their powerful ancestor's night vision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Noxious Blood. If you take slashing or piercing damage from a creature within 5 feet, they take 1d4 poison damage. Additionally, you spawn one CR 0 Tiny beast of your choice in an adjacent space to you. This beast is not under your control and uses its own initiative in combat.
Arresting Gaze. Though lesser gorgons can no longer transform their enemies into stone, they still retain a vestige of that power. You can turn your gaze and that of all your snakes on a foe, stopping them in place. As an action, choose a creature that you can see that can see you within 30 feet. That creature must make a Constitution saving throw versus a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. On a failed save, the creature is restrained until the end of your next turn. Once you have used this trait, you cannot use it again until you have completed a short or long rest.
Serpent-Haired. Like their monstrous forebears, lesser gorgons have writhing snakes for hair. These snakes snap and bite at any within range. As an action, you can use your snake hair to make an unarmed strike. On a hit, the snakes deal 1 piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage.
Alignment. Lesser gorgon culture tends to be nurturing and protective of its own, valuing the community they have over specific individuals. As such, its members weakly lean toward law.
Gorgon Education. Lesser gorgon communities retain certain skills from gorgon history, especially their work with snakes, as well as their elders’ preference for certain weapons. You are proficient in Animal Handling and have advantage on any Animal Handling check involving snakes. You are also proficient in the longbow and shortsword.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and one other language of your choice.
Size. Minotaurs are larger and often more muscular than humans. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Horns. You have bull horns that you can use as weapons to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. As a bonus action, you can make an unarmed strike with your horns. If the attack hits, you can’t use this trait again until you finish a short or long rest.
Gore. Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack as a part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to shove that target with your horns. The target must be within 5 feet of you and no more than one size larger than you. Unless it succeeds on a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier, you push it up to 10 feet away from you.
Alignment. Minotaur culture, with its focus on intellect and self-discovery, tends fairly strongly toward chaos.
Powerful Charge. If you move 20 feet in a straight line toward a foe before making an attack, you may use a bonus action to attempt to knock them prone. The target must be no more than one size larger than you and within 5 feet of you.
Maze Walker. You are an expert at mazes and similar puzzles. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check or a Wisdom (Survival) check related to mazes or labyrinths, you are considered proficient in the skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and one other language of your choice.
Size. Plant nymphs are roughly human in size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Natural Camouflage. Your plant-like appearance allows you to blend into natural environments. You have advantage on all Stealth rolls made while in forests, swamps, jungles, and similar environments where trees and dense plants grow.
Living Bodies. Plant nymphs have the strongest variation among the nymphs, due to their varying plants of origin. Choose one of the following traits:
Alignment. Plant nymphs and the communities that grow around them are defined by the love of nature, but some of their number can be as fickle as the weather. Others, however, are as steady and stable as an old oak. They tend toward goodness or neutrality and away from evil.
Forest Magic. You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the goodberry spell once. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the entangle spell once, without requiring the material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Steward of the Wood. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to plants, including forests, flowers, and herbs, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Satyrs are roughly human in size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Nymph Ancestry. You have the Fey creature type.
Limited Magic Resistance. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic.
Alignment. Satyr communities see laws more as guidelines than strict rules, really, as long as no harm is done. As such, most people in satyr culture tend toward chaos.
Satyr Revelry. Those who grow up in satyr communities quickly develop a love for and resistance to the effects of their celebrations, as well as facility with music and dance. You have resistance to poison and the poisoned condition. You have proficiency in the Performance skill and with one musical instrument of your choice.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Sirens are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Thanks to your flipper-like feet, your base walking speed is 25 feet and you have a swim speed of 40 ft.
Aquatic. You can breathe air and water. Despite your ability to survive on land, you need to be submerged in water for at least one hour every three days. If you do not, you suffer the poisoned condition until you do.
Darkvision. Due to centuries of life in the deeps, sirens can see well in darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Bioluminescence. Your skin has haunting patterns of lights, often used as lures in the deep. You emit bright light for 5 feet and dim light for an additional 20 feet. You can choose to dim or completely hide your lights, and you can choose the pattern they appear in.
Octopodal. You can use your four octopus arms to grab onto objects and foes. When you use your action to attempt to grapple a foe, you do so with advantage. As a bonus action, you can use your tentacles to take the Use an Item action.
Camouflage. You can use your action to change the patterns and colors of your body and eyes, or retract or extend your back tentacles, granting you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. You revert to your true form if you die.
Alignment. Siren communities rely on organization and teamwork to survive, but also bend to the tides as they shift. As such, they are organized but accept sudden change. They tend toward law.
Siren Song. Siren songs strike deep into the souls of those who hear them, moving hearts and minds with their powerful voices. Whenever you make a Charisma (Performance) check to sing, you are considered proficient in the Performance skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Magic of the Tides. Sirens have trained their voices over centuries to become sources of magic, allowing them to manipulate hearts and minds as well as the tides and wind. You know the shape water cantrip, which is verbal instead of somatic for you. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gust of wind spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Primordial.
Size. Tritons are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 ft.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Nymph Ancestry. You have the Fey creature type.
Bite. Your toothy jaws are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Scales. You have scaly skin that provides a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Alignment. Triton culture tends to value protecting the weak and the natural, which leans most of its members toward goodness.
Inured to the Deeps. You have resistance to cold damage.
Magics of the Deep. Triton community members develop special magical abilities to aid them in the austere and challenging environments in which they live. You know the light cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the sanctuary spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the hold person spell once with this trait, requiring no material components. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Triton Weapons Training. You have proficiency with the trident and nets.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Size. Water nymphs are roughly human in size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 ft.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Natural Camouflage. Your appearance resembles flowing water and aquatic formations, allowing you to blend into natural environments. You have advantage on all Stealth rolls made while in lakes, marshes, oceans, and similar aquatic environments.
Sea Speaker. Water nymphs dwell among schools of fish, frog-filled marshes, and lonely sharks. You can cast speak with animals at will with this trait, but you can target only beasts with a swim speed that are Medium or smaller.
Alignment. Water nymph communities live relatively quiet lives, observing the passage of life and moving along with its changes. While they teach generosity to others, they never abide abuse, tending strongly toward law.
Water Magic. You know the shape water cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the create or destroy water spell once, without its material component. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gentle repose spell once, without requiring the material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Sea Shepherd. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to water formations and their delicate ecosystems, such as rivers, swamps, coral, and oceans, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Alignment. Itharan society is organized around the rule of law and meritocracy. Its members tend heavily toward lawfulness.
Artificer's Lore. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to magic items, alchemical objects, or technological devices, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Rhetoricians. Itharan culture promotes the study of rhetoric, haggling, and the ability to bring together disparate folk. You have proficiency in the Persuasion skill.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East or West Itharan, and two other languages of your choice.
Size. Adamdun are about the same height as humans, though more stout, standing roughly 6 feet tall and weighing 400-500 lbs. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Vicious Jaws. Adamdun have large appetites and larger jaws. In fact, though they have only flat, herbivorous teeth, their bite can nevertheless crush bones easily. Your large mouth is a natural weapon with which you can make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Leathery Hide. Your thick skin is difficult to penetrate. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Alignment. Adamdun communities are usually highly organized. Some are militaristic, others organized around engineering guilds, and some around debate schools. In all three, strong leaders rule with a firm hand and countless underlings vie for their attention. As such, adamdun culture tends to favor law.
Engineer's Mind. Students in these communities widely study chemistry and engineering. You have proficiency with Alchemist’s Supplies and Tinker’s Tools. What’s more, you know the recipe to make gunpowder and the methods with which to make a flintlock weapon.
Aquatic Life. Everyone in adamdun communities, adamdun and non-adamdun alike, is expected to live both on land and in water as culture dictates. You have a swim speed of 30 feet and you can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East or West Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Size. Apollians are about the same size as humans, but usually a slimmer build. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Carapace. You have a hard carapace. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Secondary Arms. You have two secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. In addition to being able to wield multiple weapons while also having a hand free for casting spells, you can take the Use An Object action as a bonus action.
Natural Jumpers. Your legs are powerful , allowing you to leap great distances and heights. Your jump distance is triple that of a human of similar strength.
Empath. You are proficient in Insight or Persuation.
Alignment. Ascetic apollian communities tend to be very organized and orderly, leading many to swing heavily toward lawfulness in their efforts to control their empathy.
Psychic Techniques. You know the message cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the jump spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the blur spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Apollian Agriculture. You gain proficiency with the herbalism kit and woodcarver’s tools.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Alignment. Destroyer apollian communities value liberty and the uncontrolled chaos of emotion, leaning heavily toward chaotic alignments.
Psychic Techniques. You know the message cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the jump spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the suggestion spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Apollian Weapons Training. You are proficient with chakrams, shotels (scimitars), and spears.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Djinnborn tend to be a little shorter and stockier than humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Thanks to your djinn ancestry, you can see in dim light within 60 feet as though it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Fortune of the Djinn. You can use the bountiful aether within you to gain advantage on a saving throw or ability check, or to impose disadvantage on an attack roll against you. You must decide to use this ability before the relevant d20 roll. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Well of Aether. Your innate aether allows you to serve as a potent magical conduit and resist effects that would warp your form against your will. You have advantage on saving throws made to resist polymorph spells or similar shapeshifting magical effects, and when casting spells, you can ignore the need for a spellcasting focus and material components that do not have an assigned monetary value.
Aether Dependent. At least once each year, you must spend 8 hours meditating in Ithara or another rich source of aether to refill your innate reserves. If you refuse or are unable to meditate in this way, your innate wells of aether deplete, removing your access to the Fortune of the Djinn and Well of Aether traits. If completely depleted, you must spend 48 hours meditating in Ithara to regain your depleted well and regain access to your lost traits.
Size. Ettutu are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Spider Form. Ettutu have several features indicative of their spider heritage. Choose three of the below.
Alignment. Ettutu communities literally hang on their webs being well-ordered and reliable. As such, their communities value reliability and order as well. Ettutu culture tends toward law.
Weavers. Those raised in Ettutu communities learn the fine art of weaving, often specializing in silk. You have proficiency with weaver’s tools.
Web Sense. While in contact with a web, you know the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Girtablilu tend to be stronger and taller than humans thanks to their scorpion body, much like centaurs. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Carapace. Girtablilu have a hard shell that covers much of their bodies, granting them a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score.
Pincers. Girtablilu have an extra pair of pincers on their lower bodies. Their pincers are not efficient for certain fine motor skills, and you have disadvantage on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) and Thieves’ Tools checks using them. You can hold items, swing weapons, and even perform somatic spell components with your pincers. Finally, you can also use the pincers to make unarmed attacks. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Stinger. Girtablilu have a stinger at the end of a long tail. This tail is long enough to strike a foe in front of them over their shoulders, or within five feet of them. You can sting as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. When you hit with a sting, the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target falls prone and is paralyzed until the end of your next turn. Once you have stung a target, you cannot do so again until you have completed a short or long rest.
Centauroid Form. Maneuvering a world built for bipedal humanoids can be a challenge for the bulky girtablilu. When you climb something built for a humanoid creature like a rope or ladder, you move at half the speed a humanoid would and make checks to do so at disadvantage.
Alignment. Girtablilu communities are tough, but tight-knit places. They lean toward goodness.
Proud Warrior. Girtablilu communities value the ability to fight, and have a strong appreciation for music. Girtablilu are known for their war-songs, played with hide-stretched drums and the rhythmic hiss of air from their spiracles. You are proficient with drums and the bhuj (battleaxe). You are also proficient in the Performance skill.
Supportive. Girtablilu communities pride themselves on their ability to offer aid and mutual support to one another through times of need. You can offer the same to your companions. You can use the Help action as a bonus action.
Languages. You speak Girtablilu and can speak, read, and write Common. Girtablilu is a unique language of hisses and guttural clicks, but it can still be approximated by a human tongue. Girtablilu is entirely oral and has no written approximation.
Size. Gnolls are about the same size as humans, though often leaner. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. The nocturnal ancestry of gnolls provide them superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Keen Hearing. Gnolls benefit from their sizable ears. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
Bite. Gnolls also retain the strong jaws and sharp canine teeth of hyenas, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Alignment. Gnoll culture tends to be chaotic, focusing on the vagaries of the hunt and the excitement of the contest.
Gnoll Weapon Training. Gnoll communities train their young in weapons for hunting, but they work well for self-defense too. You are proficient in the longbow, scimitar, spear, and flail.
Rampage. Gnoll communities train in a particular kind of quick and brutal combat. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make another melee attack.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Gnoll, a distinctive language of barks and yips.
Size. Harpies tend to vary in height depending on their bird of origin, standing between 4 and 6 feet tall, but are significantly lighter than humans due to their hollow bones. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Pseudo-Wings. Your avian ancestry provides you with feathered half-wings that grow along your arms. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, though only for short distances. You fall if you end your turn in the air with nothing holding you aloft. When you reach 5th level, you may remain aloft by continuing to glide at your flying speed, descending at the same speed.
Birdlike Harpies vary almost as much as birds themselves. Choose one of the following avian traits:
Alignment. Magwitch culture valorizes the freedom of soaring through the sky, of sparkling treasures, and of kinship. Thus there is a tendency toward chaos and goodness.
Magpie’s Eye. Magwitch communities often celebrate collecting oddities and complete sets of things. Growing up among those who collect such cast-off things, you’ve learned to evaluate a thing’s worth with a glance. Choose one of the following abilities:
Alignment. Aethite communities value education and knowledge above all else, leading them to favor law.
Intellectual. Members of aethite communities grow up studying a stunningly wide range of topics, leading them to know something about almost everything. You gain proficiency in any combination of four skills or tools of your choice.
Private Lesson. Over the course of a long rest, you can have a study session with another creature. To do so the creature must have an intelligence of 5 or higher and you must both share at least one language. You choose one of your Intelligence skills that you have proficiency in. At the end of the long rest, the creature gets a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier on its next check it makes on the chosen knowledge skill before it finishes a long rest. If the check is unsuccessful, the bonus is not lost.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East and West Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Alignment.
Hunter's Eye. Your training hunting game from heights has honed your sight. You have proficiency in the Perception skill. In addition, attacking at long range doesn’t impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Inpu are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Keen Hearing and Smell. Inpu retain the keen senses of their canine ancestors. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Bite. Inpu also retain the strong jaws and sharp canine teeth of jackals, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Alignment. Inpu culture focuses on the orderly course of life and the uninterrupted rest of death, which tends its members toward law.
Pack Tactics. You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one other ally is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
Inpu Weapons Training. You have proficiency with the khopesh (battleaxe), shotel (scimitar), and javelin.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ancient Itharan, and one other language.
Size. Kurma are the same height as humans, but weigh significantly more, due to their heavy shell. On average they weigh 400 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. The heavy shell and short limbs of kurma mean they are not as swift as those of some other ancestries. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Hard-Shelled. Kurma have a large, hard shell that gives them ample protection from attacks. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 16 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Shell Sanctuary. You can withdraw into your shell as an action. Until you emerge, you gain a +4 bonus to AC, and you have advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws. While in your shell, you are prone, your speed is 0 and can't increase, you have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, you can't take reactions, and the only action you can take is a bonus action to emerge from your shell.
Alignment. Kurma communities tend to be quiet, slow-paced environments, where folks behave in a habitual manner. They tend toward neutrality.
Desert-Faring. Kurma communities spend their lives on the open sand dunes, where ships built specifically for that purpose can glide across the sand as if it were water. You have proficiency in Vehicles (Water) and Navigator’s Tools.
Kurma Raider Tradition.Kurma follow the ways of the sand sea, either as merchants or pirates. Either way, they are trained from a young age with weapons for sand skiff and ship battles. You are proficient with the scimitar, spear, and light crossbow.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and West or East Itharan.
Size. Kuzazu are on the shorter end of human height on average, usually with a slimmer build and narrow waists. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Stinger. Kuzazu have a stinger at the end of their abdomen, which you can use to sting foes within 5 feet as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1 + your Dexterity modifier. When you hit with a sting, the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target falls prone and is paralyzed until the end of your next turn. Once you have stung a target, you cannot do so again until you have completed a short or long rest.
Carapace. Kuzazu have an intermittent carapace over their bodies that provides a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Secondary Arms. You have two secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. In addition to being able to wield multiple weapons while also having a hand free for casting spells, you can take the Use An Object action as a bonus action.
Wings. You have two large wasp wings and a smaller secondary pair beneath them. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, though only for limited distances. You can remain flying or hovering for one minute, at which point you will fall.
Alignment. Kuzazu communities tend to be organized and orderly, but their shorter lifespans lead to a desire to appreciate life's many joys. These communities tend toward law.
Honey and Wine. You have proficiency with brewer’s supplies and the herbalism kit.
Unconventional Farmhand. You are familiar with the subtle, yet distinct social tells of insects and how to soothe and handle them as skillfully as a shepherd with sheep. You have proficiency with Animal Handling and Insight checks when interacting with insects, arachnids, or other arthropods of any size.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East or West Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Size. Mau stand between 4.5 and 6 feet tall, but tend to be more lithe than humans, averaging about 120 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Mau have a history of nocturnal behavior, granting their descendants superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Cat's Grace. Mau have an uncanny ability to land on their feet from birth. You have proficiency in the Acrobatics skill.
Claws. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Pounce. Mau have long legs and light frames, affording them superior jumping ability. Your jumping distances are doubled.
Alignment. For the most part, basti society values individual expression and autonomy, eschewing strong leaders or a sense of group membership. Indeed, nothing is harder than herding cats. As such, they tend toward chaos and away from law.
Ambush Hunter. Those who are raised as basti learn hunting techniques that rely on stealth and surprise. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill.
Self-Assured. Basti society values knowing one’s own mind, rendering its members peculiarly resistant to having their minds changed. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East Itharan and one other language of your choice.
Alignment. Maahi communities tend to respect the judgments of their elders. This need not mean they are conservative, however, as some elders are forward thinking and lead their communities to grow and change. Maahi communities lean slightly toward law.
Hunter’s Tradition. Those raised in maahi communities learn to hunt from a young age. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Survival) check related to tracking a creature, you are considered proficient in the Survival skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Maahi Weapons Training. You have proficiency with the mambele (dagger), spears, and shields.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, West Itharan, and Maahi, a sophisticated language of subtle growls, muted roars, and guttural words.
Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and West Itharan.
Size. Monthu are somewhat taller and broader-shouldered than humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Horns. You have ox horns on your head, which you can use as weapons to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Strong Back. When determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift, you count as one size larger. You also have advantage on rolls against gaining a level of exhaustion.
Alignment. Monthu culture values prowess in battle, but also independence of mind, so many of its people tend toward neutrality.
Combat Magic. Monthu communities teach their young adults magics to aid in battle. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the fog cloud and shield spells once each with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the magic weapon spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Weapon Mastery. You gain proficiency with smith’s tools and with the bhuj (battleaxe), adjenwi (short sword), and spear.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Speed. Mummies can move as their original ancestry could, though their withered muscles and brittle bones slow them down. Your walking speed is reduced by 5 feet.
Resistance of the Grave. Preserved flesh does not suffer harm from poison or necrosis as a living being might. You have resistance to poison and necrotic damage and advantage on saves against poison.
Sleep of the Dead. Mummies do not have need of food, water, or air, though they do need sleep. While asleep, you do not count as a creature, but an object, for the purposes of resisting or being targeted by magical effects.
Size. Head to tail end, naga commonly are about 12 ft. in length. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tongue Sense. Your forked tongue grants you a snake’s unparalleled sense of smell. You have advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on taste or smell, and you gain blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even when blinded or if you are in darkness. You can see invisible creatures in that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
Natural Weapons. Your fanged maw and constricting serpentine body are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with your bite, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier. If you hit with your constrict attack, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, and the target is grappled (escape DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and you can’t constrict another target.
Serpentine. Much like snakes, naga have slight variations depending on their origin. Choose one of the following traits:
Size. Ngiri are human in size, but much stockier and broader. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Relentless. Ngiri are hardy folk capable of absorbing hits that would drop other creatures. If you take damage less that twice your proficiency bonus that would reduce you to 0 hit points, you are reduced to 1 hit point instead.
Tusks. You have long teeth that grow from your lower jaw and protrude out of your mouth, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Alignment. Ngiri communities tend to be direct and forthright, valuing honesty and bluntness. Their members tend to toward law.
Charge. Ngiri communities teach their young to tackle problems head on, including foes in combat. If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 3 (1d6) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 11 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Omnivorous. Ngiri communities have a very broad conception of what is and is not edible. As such, those who grow up in these communities develop strong intestinal fortitude. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Ninki-nankas are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 ft.
Bite. Your toothy jaws are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes per time.
Scales. You have a scaly hide that provides a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Alignment. Ninki-nanka communities tend toward order and respect, though they do not tend toward good or evil with any particular frequency.
Hunter’s Senses. Years of hunting rituals have honed your ability to detect and track prey. You have proficiency in the Perception skill and advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track creatures.
Ninki-Nanka Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the club, javelin, and shield.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Rakshasans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tiger's Claws. Your fingers end in sharp claws resembling a tiger’s. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Limited Magic Resistance. The roiling aether of your origins makes you innately resistant to magic. You can’t be affected or detected by cantrips. You also have advantage on saving throws against spells of 2nd level or lower.
Alignment. Rakshasans frequently value independence and freedom, owing to their disparaged nature, and tend toward chaos.
Rakshasan Magic. The young in rakshasan communities are taught traditions of magic originating from the chaos of Ersetu. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the chaos bolt spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the crown of madness spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Salamandrites are tall, slender humanoids. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. As part of your fiery heritage, you can see well in darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Fiery Heritage. Salamandrites have a history with elemental fire. You have resistance to fire damage.
Heated Body. A creature that you choose that touches you or hits you with a melee attack while within 5 feet of you takes 3 (1d4) fire damage.
Alignment. Salamandrite communities do not lean in any particular direction, but tend to favor the seasonal rhythms of nature. As such, they tend toward neutrality.
Salamandrite Weapon and Smith Training. Salamandrite communities have retained their centuries of weapon training and smithing practices. You have proficiency with the spear and glaive, as well as with Smithing Tools.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Sobekites are as tall as humans and often muscular. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 feet.
Hard Scales. Thick scales cover a sobekite’s body. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 15 minutes.
Powerful Jaws. Sobekites have strong bites that can rend and grapple. You can bite as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. When you hit with a bite, you can attempt to grapple the foe as a bonus action.
Alignment. Sobekite communities are orderly but relaxed. They lean toward neutrality.
Healers. You have proficiency in the Medicine skill and with herbalism kits. Additionally, you know how to craft talismans to ward off curses and evil influence. With the appropriate tools, you may spend three uninterrupted hours of concentration constructing a small talisman out of ivory, wood, painted glass, or precious stones, and infuse it with the effects of a remove curse or bless spell. The talisman can only use this effect on a creature or object it is touching. If you break your concentration during the construction time, you must start over.
Protectors. If a creature within 5 feet of you is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to make yourself the target of the attack instead.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Size. Dragonborn are taller and heavier than humans, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Breath Weapon. You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Choose a damage type from the table below and the associated size and shape. When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Damage Resistance. You have resistance to the damage type associated with your breath weapon.
Alignment.
Dragon Lore. Dragonborn communities are often proud of their draconic heritage. You have advantage on any Intelligence checks to recall information about dragons.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Draconic, and one other language of your choice.
Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have the same range of builds as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill, a trait that all people with elven ancestry share.
Shifting Visage. Elves can use their innate creation magic to change minor aspects of their appearance at will. As a free action, you can change the color of your hair, eyes, or skin, or add or change markings along your body. Elven forms are also sympathetic to their surroundings, and they may take on minor traits representative of their chosen class or profession (glowing golden eyes for a paladin, sharpened canines for a druid, etc.).
Creation Magic. While all elves need to train their creation magic to make the most of it, all elves are capable of small, innate feats. You know one of the druidcraft, prestidigitation, produce flame, or dancing lights cantrips, requiring no material components. You can change the cantrip given to you by this trait after a short rest.
Alignment. Sun elven culture values freedom, variety, and self-expression, so those who grow up in it may lean toward the gentler aspects of chaos. Elven culture tends to value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own.
Sun Elven Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the estoc (rapier), war fan, shortbow, and longbow.
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
Alignment. Moon elven culture values the overall stability of nature against the unpredictable chaos of the Nightmare, leading them more toward law. Elven culture tends to value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own.
Moon Elven Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longbow, shortbow, ranseur (spear), and raven's beak (halberd).
Way of the Wood. You have proficiency in the Stealth and Survival skills. When you are in forest, you add double your proficiency bonus to the checks, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
Size. Gargoyles are as tall as humans but much heavier, weighing at least 500 lbs. You may choose whether your size is Medium or Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Constructed Nature. Due to being made of stone, marble, or some other inorganic material, you have several advantages:
Mineral Diet. While you do not need to eat food like most humanoids, you must consume one pound of minerals each day. This can include rich earth, rock, metals, or precious stones and minerals.
As a side effect, you can metabolize certain materials into a breath weapon. 24 hours after consuming 25 gp of powdered silver or 10 gp of tar, you can store a flask's equivalent of holy water or alchemist's fire, respectively, in your gullet. You may then spit out this liquid as an attack, following the same rules as throwing a flask of the liquid and emptying your gullet in the process.
Darkvision. Gargoyles were made to defend against the eternal night caused by the Nightmare, granting them superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
False Appearance. While a gargoyle remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an inanimate statue. In places where one might expect to find a statue, this gives you advantage on Stealth (Dexterity) checks.
Limited Flight. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. At 1st level, you fall if you end your turn in the air with nothing holding you aloft. When you reach 5th level, you may remain aloft for up to 30 minutes per day, all at once or in several shorter flights. You regain 30 minutes of flying time when you complete a long rest.
Stone Form. A gargoyle is made from solid stone. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You are also immune to the petrified condition.
Nocturnal. While in direct sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Size. Golems are usually about the same size as humans, though they tend to weigh twice as much. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Constructed Nature. Due to being made of wood, iron, or some other inorganic material, you have several advantages:
Powering Down. You do not need to sleep, but you must spend four hours inactive and motionless, though still aware of your surroundings, to gain the benefits of a long rest.
Hardened Form. Your constructed body is a delicate mechanism, but it is nevertheless more resilient than flesh thanks to magical enhancements. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Climber. You have a climbing speed equal to your current walking speed.
Fangs. Your canine teeth are several inches long and sharp. You can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action when you have grappled a foe. You deal 1d4 piercing damage plus your Strength modifier.
Tough Hide. You have thick hair all over your body that resembles fur, which provides you some protection from the cold and damage. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal. What’s more, you have advantage on rolls to resist the effects of cold weather and environments.
Swift. Your legs are digitigrade and you have powerful muscles that propel you more quickly than others. You have a base walking speed of 40 feet.
Wild Senses. Your senses are unusually sharp. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Lunar Transformation. Your non-lycanthrope ancestry is dominant most of the time. On the three days a month during which the moon is full, however, you undergo a total transformation. On those three days, you remove any ancestral traits you have from your non-lycanthropic ancestry (except Age and Size) and instead possess every trait listed here.
Alignment.
Self-Acceptance. As a part of lycanthrope descendant culture, children are educated extensively in the lives and ways of beasts. You have proficiency in the Animal Handling skill.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.
Size. Ropheim are short, with a wide variety of forms; some are thick and stocky, while others are thin and willowy. In all cases, they are very light, weighing no more than twenty five pounds. Regardless, your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Hallucinogenic Spores. When they feel threatened, ropheim can emit spores from the gills beneath their caps. As an action, you can eject spores at a creature you can see within 15 feet that you. The creature must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute, as vivid hallucinations begin. The poisoned target is blinded while it hallucinates. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. Once you have ejected spores in this way, you cannot do so again until you take a short or long rest.
Plant. Ropheim are sentient fungal growths. You have the type Plant.
Alignment. Ropheite communities spend countless hours in contemplation, sometimes using their own hallucinogenic spores to aid their reveries. Such cerebral practices leave them with a distinctive, albeit removed, attitude about life. As such, these communities tend toward neutrality.
Fungal Friends. Ropheite communities cultivate non-sentient mushrooms for food and supplies. Over the centuries, they have developed a remarkable rapport with the plants. You can cast speak with plants (mushrooms only) to speak to non-sentient mushrooms once a day. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You regain the ability to cast this spell once per long rest.
Naturalism. Ropheite communities live close to the land and pride themselves on their fungal agriculture. You have proficiency in Nature.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Primordial.
Size. Seraphim are the same size and shape as elves. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Heart of Fire. Your soul is entangled with that of a phoenix, a Fires of Rebirth. You have resistance to fire damage, and like the phoenix, you can be reborn in flame when you die. Once, when you die, you can choose to explode in a ball of flame and return to life with 1 hit point. When you do so, a fiery explosion deals 1d10 fire damage to anyone within 15 feet who fails a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. Once you have been reborn in fire in this way, you cannot do so again until you gain a character level. If you die again before this period and fail to Whether or not you ever are reborn in fire, you have resistance to fire damage.
Illuminated Eyes. Your eyes glow faintly, like a flickering candle. As an action, you can cause your eyes to flare with fiery light, illuminating the area around you with bright light in 10- foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. The light remains for 1 minute, or until you use an action to extinguish it.
Alignment.
Spirit of the Flame. Seraph communities value both their fiery heritage and the cycles of life and death. They keep and teach magical traditions that illustrate these commitments as well. You know the produce flame cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the cure wounds spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the scorching ray spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Draconic.
Darkvision. Vampires are attuned to the eternal night caused by the Nightmare, granting them superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Bloodthirst. You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that is grappled by you, incapacitated, or restrained. Make a melee attack against the target. If you hit, you deal 1 piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and you regain hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Dark Metamorphosis. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to manifest two ethereal wings that take a form appropriate to your original ancestry, class, or profession (bat wings, stained glass, boney fingers, etc.). Your transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. During it, you have a flying speed of 30 feet, and once on each of your turns, you can deal extra necrotic damage to one target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell. The extra necrotic damage equals your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Vampiric Curse. While in direct sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
You must also consume at least one gallon of blood every week. A character who drinks only half that much blood must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the week. A character with access to even less blood automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. In either case, at the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. As soon as a gallon of blood is drunk within a week's time, your level of exhaustion resets to zero.
Alignment. The blood-draining nature of vampires and their close association with the Nightmare often drive those in their communities to a philosophy that the strong can and should take what they want from the weak. Those in vampire communities often lean toward chaos and evil, as they are shunned and hunted by other groups.
Vampiric Magic. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the spider climb spell on yourself once with this trait, without requiring a material component. When you reach 7th level, you can cast the gaseous form spell on yourself once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
Alignment. Azumese society values stability in contrast to the chaotic nature of yokai. As such, they tend toward lawful values.
Craftwork. You gain proficiency with your choice of artisan tools, usually studying under one of the guildmasters of the community and working to sell the guild’s wares.
Survival Training. While the Azumese rely on the protection of the kitsune, everyone living in their communities is expected to contribute to the community’s survival. You have proficiency in the Survival skill as well as with the bow, shortsword, and naginata (glaive).
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and one other language of your choice.
Size. Kappa are only about the size of a human child, rarely reaching 4 feet tall. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking and swimming speeds are 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Head Bowl. Kappa have a bowl-like indentation on their heads which holds water from the rivers or lakes where they live. If your head bowl is empty, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the bowl is refilled with water. If your head bowl is empty for more than an hour, you are paralyzed until the bowl is refilled. Normal movement and combat do not cause water to spill from the bowl, but an opponent can empty the bowl by knocking you prone or by making two successful grapple attacks – one to grab you, and one to tip your head while you are grappled.
Sure-Footed. Your body’s natural stability grants you advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock you prone.
Alignment. Kappa communities do not espouse any particular morals, leaving it up to the individuals to decide. Some may be helpful and offer healing or sport, while others can be extremely aggressive. In all cases, the one virtue shared among kappa is seeing through any promise made. Kappa communities tend toward law and neutrality.
Wrestler. Wrestling is the favorite pastime of kappa, and they have developed techniques to punch far above their perceived weight. You have proficiency in Athletics, and you count as one size larger with regard to how much you can carry, lift, push, or grapple. Additionally, you can move at full speed while grappling a creature.
Herblore. You have proficiency with Wisdom (Medicine) checks.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and one other language of your choice.
Size. The average kitsune stands between 5 and 6 feet tall and weighs between 115 and 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Darkvision. The nocturnal ancestry of foxes provides kitsune superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Foxfire. Kitsune can innately summon forth a magical plasma known as foxfire, which they can turn into a fire or electric state. You know the produce flame cantrip and can choose to inflict fire or lightning damage when you use it as an attack. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.
Shapechanger. You can use your action to polymorph into a Small fox or back into your Medium humanoid form. Your statistics are the same in your fox form, but your carrying, pushing, and lifting capacity is reduced appropriate to your size. Any equipment you are wearing or carrying is transformed to fit your form. You revert to your fox form automatically if you die. Your star orb is visible regardless of what form you take.
In your fox form or if you choose to make your tail visible in your humanoid form, you start with one tail and gain more as your power increases. When you reach 3rd level, you have two tails; at 8th level, you have three tails; at 12th level, you have four tails; at 18th level, you have five tails.
Star Orb. The source of your power is an opalescent pearl embedded in your tongue, which remains present regardless of what form you take. If this pearl is removed, you lose your Foxfire and Shapechanger traits, any spellcasting abilities, and are stuck in your fox form. You will regain these abilities if the pearl is returned to your tongue or it naturally regrows after a century.
Kinship. Kitsune have an instinctual, overwhelming sense of kinship with other kitsune. If you attack another kitsune or nogitsune or take an action that you know will lead to harming one, you must make a DC 14 Wisdom save. On a failure, you automatically miss or are unable to take the action in question.
Alignment. Kitsune communities are fairly harmonious and well ordered, embracing their roles of protection and order. Its members tend strongly toward goodness and law.
Kitsune Protective Magic. Kitsune communities teach their children magics to protect and conceal. You know the sacred flame cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the protection from evil and good spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the mirror image spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Alignment. Nogitsune follow their own goals, regardless of societal norms. Its members tend toward neutrality or chaos.
Nogitsune Trickster Magic. Nogitsune forego the protective magic of kitsune and focus on spells to curse and deceive. You know the minor illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hex spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the mirror image spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Size. The average kotengu stands slightly taller than a human. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Darkvision. Kotengu live in the dim forests of Kohryu and hunt lonely travelers at night. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Talons. Kotengu have sharp talons on their feet. You can scratch as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier. You can also grip things with your feet while you fly, though you cannot manipulate objects beyond picking them up and dropping them.
Flight. All tengu have broad, black-feathered wings. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, but only if you are not wearing heavy armor. At 1st level, you fall if you end your turn in the air with nothing holding you aloft. When you reach 5th level, you may remain aloft for up to 2 hours per day, all at once or in several shorter flights. You regain one hour of flying time when you complete a long rest.
Alignment. Kotengu follow the wills of their leading daitengu, but strongly prefer to act with total freedom, even if that means harming others for fun or training. They strongly lean toward chaos.
Martial Training. Kotengu are masters of combat arts, and their communities instill harsh martial combat training in their members from a very young age. Those that survive become incredible warriors. You have proficiency with the kusarigama, naginata (glaive), odachi (great sword), wakizashi (dagger), tachi (short sword), and longbow. You also have proficiency in Perception and Acrobatics.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Size. Haniwa vary in size depending on how they were built, but most are slightly shorter than the average human. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Undead Nature. Haniwa are ghosts bound to a clay figure and are largely exempt from the needs of the living. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage. You do not need food, drink, or air, and you are immune to disease.
Traces of Life. Haniwa remain largely self-aware from their time as living creatures. You have proficiency in one skill and with one tool or weapon of your choice.
Amorphous. If you choose to leave your clay shell as an action, you can manifest as an amorphous spirit. While outside of your shell, you can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Every minute you spend outside of your shell, you must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion. Exhaustion gained in this way can only be removed by taking a long rest within your clay shell.
Transcendence. Infested are sapient people, but their curse separates them from the bindings of mortality. As such, they no longer need sleep, food, drink, or even air to breathe.
Centipede’s Blessing. The mukade within you grants you near-immortality. The mukade itself can only be killed by a spell or effect that obliterates matter (such as a sphere of annihilation) or by being attacked with a weapon coated in saliva. While the mukade infests you and is alive, you gain the following benefits:
Alignment. It is the will of the great centipede Omukade that enlightenment should not only be the domain of purity, and the infested who serve his will work to taint the world around me. As such, they tend strongly toward chaos.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Size. Itachi are larger than normal weasels, but still stand around three feet tall and weigh perhaps 40 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Ride the Winds. Itachi have a unique ability to harness the wind, granting them a flight speed equal to their walking speed and the ability to hover up to 5 feet above the ground.
Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Alignment. Itachi communities rarely if ever really punish those who break the law, as long as they do it in order to pull off a good trick. Obviously, they tend away from lawfulness.
Itachi Spellcasting. Itachi communities train in wind and illusion magic. You know the gust cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the zephyr strike spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gust of wind spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Break and Fix. Itachi prefer weapons weapons designed for quick attacks, but also know how to make extremely potent salves. You are proficient with sickles, kusarigama, and healer’s kits.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Size. Namahage are much taller than humans, standing between 9 and 12 feet tall on average, but don’t weigh much more, due to their lean frames. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Icy Veins. Namahage are born of the mountain chill. You are immune to cold damage.
Blindsight. To endure blinding blizzards and dark winter nights, namahage are capable of sensing soft motions in the earth and can echolocate over short distances. You have blindsight to a range of 20 feet.
Alignment. The namahage have taken it upon themselves to warn the people of Genbu away from misdeeds or bad marriages, and they carry those beliefs with them in their own communities. As such, they tend toward law and goodness.
Drift Walker. A life traversing icy and snowy terrain has taught you how to navigate such difficulties. Deep snow and slippery ice are not difficult terrain for you.
Chastisement. Namahage communities practice how to tell when someone is lying or hiding the truth, and the best methods to scare them straight. You have proficiency with Insight and Intimidation.
Mask Maker. In namahage communities, every member wears a mask they carve by hand from wood and straw. You have proficiency with woodcarver’s tools and painter’s tools.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Size. Nekomata stand between 4.5 and 6 feet tall, but tend to be more lithe than humans, averaging about 120 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Darkvision. Nekomata have a history of nocturnal behavior, granting their descendants superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Cat's Grace. Nekomata have an uncanny ability to land on their feet from birth. You have proficiency in the Acrobatics skill.
Claws. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.
Ghostfire. Nekomata can innately summon forth a ghostly fire and often manifest it on the tips of their tails. You know the produce flame cantrip and can summon it on the tips of your tails instead of your hands. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.
Shapechanger. You can use your action to polymorph into a Small cat with two tails or back into your Medium humanoid form. Your statistics are the same in your cat form, but your carrying, pushing, and lifting capacity is reduced appropriate to your size. Any equipment you are wearing or carrying is transformed to fit your form. You revert to your cat form automatically if you die.
Alignment. Bakeneko communities tend to profess that one shouldn’t let others tell them how to live. As such, they tend strongly toward chaos.
Bakeneko Magic. Bakeneko communities train their magic to enhance their ghost fire and aid in trickery. You know the minor illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the disguise self spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the flaming sphere spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Trickster's Revelry. You have proficiency in one of the following skills: Performance, Deception, or Intimidation.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Alignment. Maneki neko communities value orderly conduct and strict regiment, but won’t say no to bending the rules a little for special occasions. They tend weakly toward law.
Maneki Neko Magic. Maneki neko communities are known for spreading blessings and good fortune. You know the guidance cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the identify spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the warding bond spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Business Acumen. You have proficiency in one of the following skills: Insight, Persuasion, or Investigation.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Alignment. Kasha communities are responsible for carting sinners to their punishment, though they don’t adhere strictly to these rules. As such, they tend toward neutrality.
Kasha Magic. Kasha communities train in necromancy and to manifest a supernatural cart. You know the toll the dead cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the find steed spell once with this trait, though you can only use it to summon a wooden cart with wheels engulfed in ghostly fire. This cart has the fiend type, the statistics of a warhorse, and does not require proficiency with vehicles to ride. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Torment the Sinful. You have proficiency in one of the following skills: Intimidation, Athletics, Survival.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Size. Oni kin tower over most humans, standing at 8 to 10 feet in height and weighing in the vicinity of 300 lbs. This brings your size to Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Fast Healing. Though not as quick to heal as their oni forebears, those of oni kin ancestry exhibit remarkable healing abilities. Once an hour when not in combat, you may roll one hit die to recover hit points. This does not deduct from your current number of hit dice.
Hardy. Like your oni ancestors, you can absorb a startling amount of damage. When you take damage from a source you can see, you can use your reaction to expend a Hit Die, if you have any. Roll the Hit Die and add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled, reducing the damage by that total. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once).
Alignment.
Chromatic Teachings. Red, blue, and yellow oni tend to specialize in different fields, and their descendents often choose a special path to match. Choose one of the three options below:
Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
The main thing to note is that, while an ancestry may only show one culture, that doesn’t mean that the ancestry in question can only be found in that culture, nor that the culture is exclusively for members of that ancestry. You can imagine that a listed culture might long ago have been founded by a group of people from its associated ancestry, but it no longer is exclusively or even predominantly made up of them. In fact, there need not be any members of the ancestry from which the culture derives its name still living in a given community. Like a character’s background and class, ancestries and cultures can be mixed at the player’s desire, with the DM's approval.
To view details on each ancestry and culture, click the name of the ancestry/culture to expand its details. Each option will also link to a relevant species or culture article for further details on that ancestry/culture.
Humans
Regardless of nation or place of origin, humans are all similar and have set ancestral traits. Any variations come from their cultures, as described under each nation's section.
Human Ancestral Traits
Age. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Curiosity. Your natural curiosity leads you to dabble in a variety of activities. You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice, as well as with an artisan tool of your choice.
Mixed Ancestry
The ancestry and culture options on this page assume that a character has a single ancestry and culture. Thus, if a character has elven ancestry, this assumes that their ancestry is primarily elven. Most commonly, this would mean that both of their parents are of elven ancestry, or that other ancestries are far enough back in their heritage to not have a notable impact. However, if you would like your character to originate from two primary ancestries rather than one dominant one (such as a harpy and a rakshasan, or a centaur and a colossus) you may use the ancestry below.
Characters of mixed ancestry might look almost entirely like one parent or
the other, or anywhere on the spectrum between. Thus the two children
of a human-nymph couple might both look human, nymphlike, or some combination;
one might look nymphlike and the other human, even though they are siblings.
Of note, a very small selection of ancestries may supercede others. For example, the children of sirens will always resemble their non-siren parent until they come of age, at which point they will fully transition into sirens. Work with your DM to discuss whether these ancestries might be able to mix significantly enough for these rules.
Mixed Ancestral Traits
Age. Pick two of your ancestries from the available options. Select a number in between the two ages listed for when people of those ancestries come of age, and again between the numbers listed for their average lifespans. Write these down; these are your age at which you became an adult and your expected lifespan. If one of your chosen ancestries does not die of old age, you are more likely to inherit that immortality, but you may choose between the lifespans of the parents.Size. Pick the listed size from your chosen ancestries and choose one of the sizes listed. If both of your ancestries are size Medium, then so are you. If both are Small, then likely so are you. If both Small and Medium sizes appear in your chosen ancestries, you may choose which size you are. If one is Small and one is Large, you may be Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, unless both of your chosen ancestries have a base speed of 25 feet, or your size is Small, in which case your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Darkvision. As long as one of your ancestries has the Darkvision trait, you may have darkvision as well, if you choose.
Creature Type. If one of your ancestries has a trait that changes your creature type, such as the centaur's Nymph Ancestry trait, you may inherit that trait if you choose.
Additional Ancestral Traits. You may select half of the other ancestral traits from each of your two chosen ancestries. For example, you might select Amphibious from a triton ancestor, or Limited Magic Resistence from a satyr ancestor. If one of your ancestries has a negative trait, such as the Equine Form trait of centaur ancestry or the Star Orb trait of kitsune ancestry, you may choose to inherit that trait without counting against your limit.
Ogygia
Ogygian
Ogygians are steeped in constant conflict and competition. Even outside of wartime, several large colosseums are established in the great kingdoms for both sport and proving the strength of warriors, generals, and kings. Ogygia raises fierce, talented warriors and athletes, human or otherwise.
You may use this culture for any character raised in Ogygia, if they were not raised in a community with more specific cultural variations. For details on Ogygian culture, refer to Ogygians.
Ogygian Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Dexterity by 1.Alignment. Ogygian communities value athleticism, martial prowess, and a strong will. More often than not they adopt a stoic attitude about the constant conflict of their homeland, pushing them toward a grim realism. Their members tend toward neutrality.
Rigorous Combat Training. Ogygian culture celebrates martial competitions, and even the young are trained to fight just to survive. You have proficiency with the longsword, longbow, javelin, and lasso (net), as well as light and medium armor and one other martial weapon of your choice.
Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Ogygian.
Air Nymph
Nymphs embody the spirits of natural formations, from clouds to rivers to trees, and serve as their protectors. Occasionally, such beings wander from their formations to explore the outside world, usually once another nymph has manifested to protect their area. Nymphs have humanoid forms and may also resemble centaurs, satyrs, or tritons, but their bodies reflect the natural objects they come from.
Air nymphs include the aurae, who manifest from breezes, and the nephele, who manifest from clouds. Air nymphs tend to form small groups that travel freely across the land, and since they are not as restricted as their land, plant, and water-based cousins, they are more likely to explore the world. Air nymphs tend to take on hues like the sky at sunset, noon, or sunrise, and their hair often flows of its own accord like wind or puffs up like a cumulus cloud.
Air Nymph Ancestral Traits
Age. Air nymphs manifest fully grown, but have relatively short lifespans for nymphs, only reaching two hundred years at most.Size. Air nymphs are roughly human in size, but significantly lighter. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Light as Air. You have a flying speed equal to your walking speed and can hover in place indefinitely.
Friend of the Winds. Being a creature of elemental air, you are less vulnerable to the energies of sky and storm. You are resistant to lightning and thunder damage.
Boundless. Like the air itself, you can briefly transition to a windy form to slip through cracks and avoid attacks. You can squeeze through Tiny spaces and have advantage on Dexterity saving throws.
Air Nymph Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment. Air nymph communities are full of free-spirited folk who change their minds as often as the wind. Trickery and playfulness are common, but so is an innate respect for the world around them. As such, their communities tend toward chaos, though away from evil.
Wind Magic. You know the gust cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the feather fall spell once. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gust of wind spell once, without requiring the material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Weather Attunement. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to weather patterns, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Briar-Touched
Briar-Touched are forest-dwelling humanoids tainted by Ogygian nymphs. Some are transformed as punishment for trespassing in nymph domains, while others may be born to normal parents in settlements close to nymph territories. Whatever the case, briar-touched folk are mostly human but display unmistakable traits of the wilderness: leafy branches and brambles growing from their flesh, yellow wolf’s eyes, forked antlers, and wild growths of hair are just some features of briar-touched. While often shunned in humanoid settlements, they are frequently welcomed by the nymphs and serve as feral protectors of the wilderness.
Briar-Touched Ancestral Traits
Age. Briar-touched mature more slowly than humans, reaching adulthood by fifty years and living to be upwards to five hundred.Size. Briar-touched are taller and heavier than humans, averaging seven to eight feet in height and weighing three hundred pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Nymph's Blessing. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Wild Walker. Briar-touched are born of the wilderness, even if they are not born in the wilderness. All briar-touched have the magical ability to move through natural terrain more quietly than other creatures. When you walk through a natural environment and not on a road or humanoid-made path, your steps make no sound, regardless of the surface you are moving across. You also have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks that rely on moving silently in such circumstances.
Briar-Touched Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Briar-touched communities revere nature in all its forms, celebrating both life and death, growth and decay, as well as the cycles of the sun and moon. As a rule, their communities lean toward neutrality.
Wilderness Affinity. Briar-touched communities feel a connection with the creatures of the forest and teach their children to be close to them. Through simple movements and sounds, you can communicate simple ideas with beasts that are Small or smaller.
Wild Hunt. To commemorate the fullness of the environment in which they live, members of briar-touched communities conduct great hunts on special days, usually solstices or equinoxes. As a part of these rituals, all briar-touched community members learn to participate in the hunt. You are proficient in Survival and with simple weapons.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Centaur
While not true nymphs, Centaurs descended from them and many still choose to act as protectors of the wilderness. Their humanoid torsos carry on the features of their horse halves, with their skin matching the hue and mottling of their coats and their hair often styled like a horse’s mane. Some have branching, delicate antlers, and others grow moss, flowers, or leaves from their bodies as remnants of their nymph heritage.
Centaur Ancestral Traits
Age. Centaurs mature at the same rate as humans and live about as long.Size. Centaurs are taller than humans, thanks to their equine or cervine lower half, standing at least 7 feet tall. Their lower half extends back about eight feet. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Nymph Ancestry. You have the Fey creature type.
Hooves. You can make unarmed strikes with your hooves. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.
Equine Form. Maneuvering a world built for bipedal humanoids can be a challenge for centaurs. When you climb something built for a humanoid creature like a rope or ladder, you move at half the speed a humanoid would and make checks to do so at disadvantage.
Centaur Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2. In addition, your Wisdom increases by 1.Alignment. Members of centaur communities are tightly-knit and protective, guarding the stability of the wilderness but also accepting the trappings of civilization. They tend toward neutrality or goodness.
Quick Charge. Centaur communities teach their young the ways of centaur combat, which includes a charging attack. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with another attack as a bonus action. This can only apply once per turn.
Centaur Combat Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, longbow, twinblade, and tower shield, as well as light and medium armor and one other martial weapon of your choice.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Colossus
The oldest people of Ogygia are the Colossi, whose ancestors were crafted by the forgotten hecatonchieres in the nation’s infancy as warriors against the immortal dragons of Tron Daurat. Appearing as perfect sculptures of brass or bronze, the colossi are still flesh beneath their metal exterior, their lungs breathing in air and their hearts pumping amber blood through their bodies. They have passed down the arts of combat and metallurgy through generations, teaching them to humanoids and nymphs alike, and have maintained the four great colosseums for centuries.
Colossus Ancestral Traits
Age. Colossi mature at the same rate as humans but an average of 110 years.Size. Colossi tower over most humans, standing at 8 to 9 feet tall and weighing in the vicinity of 400 lbs. This brings your size to Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Unscarred. When you take damage from a source you can see, you can use your reaction to expend a Hit Die, if you have any. Roll the Hit Die and add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled, reducing the damage by that total. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once).
Bronze Skin. Your malleable metal skin acts as built-in armor to protect the flesh beneath. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Colossus Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Colossus communities tend to live and work in communal collaboration, and their most elite members tend to the colosseums that are the foundation of the nation’s government. As such, they tend toward lawful values.
Mighty. Everyone in colossi communities is expected to assist with maintaining cyclopean structures and wrangling giant beasts. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Robust Gladiators. The colossi carry on the ancient arts of combat and athleticism their ancestors taught. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill and the bulwark greatsword (great sword), tower shield, and greatbow.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Ogygian.
Cyclops
Before the nymphs, the colossi, and the hecatonchieres, the enormous cyclopes lived peacefully in Ogygia. One-eyed giants with curling tusks and skin like a rhinoceros, they were shepherds and craftsmen, leaderless but respectful, and even today the majority of cyclopes attempt to maintain this quiet lifestyle. Nevertheless, they have not forgotten the invasion of the hecatonchieres and the tyrants that still lurk in their homeland; most cyclopes now live on the island of Tyrins in close-knit communities, ready to defend their last remaining homestead from those who would take it from them. While non-cyclopes are welcome in their communities, the cyclopes are ever alert for those who bring weapons, and even warier of those who bring gifts.
Those who prove their good intentions can find a quiet life among the cyclopes, and the trusted may learn the ancient arts of construction, metallurgy, animal husbandry, and peace.
Cyclops Ancestral Traits
Due to their Huge size, player characters cannot have cyclops ancestry.Cyclops Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Strength by 1.Alignment. The cyclopes have endured more than their share of conflict, and they have no interest in mirroring the acts of their oppressors. Life in a cyclops community is focused on keeping the peace and appreciating the beauty of the world. Their members tend strongly toward law and good.
Ancestral Craftsmen. Cyclopean architecture is characterized by sturdy, interlocking stones made without mortar, and their structures stand for centuries. They are also skilled with metallurgy, and despite their peaceful lives, were the first in Ogygia to solve the riddle of steel. You have proficiency with mason's tools, smith's tools, and leatherworker's tools.
Titan Among Sheep. All members of cyclopes communities must keep a flock of sheep safe as part of their path to adulthood, a massive responsibility in a land of wyverns and chimeras. You have proficiency with Animal Handling (Wisdom) and the greatbow.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Hydra-Blooded
Hydra-blooded are humanoids who, by choice or circumstance, have been infused with the blood of hydras until they mutate into reptilian humanoids. The warriors who fought the great hydra known as the Devourer were tainted by its blood into the first hydra-blooded, and since then, marshland cults thirsting for power have imbued themselves with hydra blood in an effort to become unstoppable warriors. These cults believe that, if they transform themselves sufficiently, the sea titans Phorcys and Ceto will return from their imprisonment and welcome them into the ranks of their world-conquering order.
Hydra-Blooded Ancestral Traits
Age. Hydra-blooded mature at the same rate as humans, but take on the hydra's extended lifespan, up to 200 years.Size. Hydra-blooded are human sized, though hydra-blooded weigh more than humans, due to their scales and armor. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Hydra-blooded take on the monstrosity’s darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Poison Resistance. You are resistant to poison damage and have advantage on saving throws against poison.
Hydra’s Blood. Choose two of the below traits from your hydra bloodline.
- Multiple Heads. You have five heads mounted on sinuous necks. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious. While sleeping, you can also leave one of your heads awake in exchange for losing advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks during your rest.
- Reptilian Head. You have a hydra’s reptilian head with rows of sharp fangs. As a bonus action, you can bite as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier. With multiple heads, you can take a bite opportunity attack up to the number of your current heads per round of combat.
- Acidic Blood. Your blood is a volatile acid. If you take slashing or piercing damage from a creature within 5 feet, they take 1d4 acid damage.
- Regeneration. You have remarkable healing abilities, though not as potent as those of a full hydra. Once an hour when not in combat, you may roll one hit die to recover hit points. This does not deduct from your current number of hit dice. If you have a severed limb or head (as long as it is not your only head), you regenerate it fully after two days.
Hydra-Blooded Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Strength score by 1.Alignment. Hydra-blooded communities tend to form in worship to the mighty creatures, seeking power above all else. They tend toward chaos.
Know Thyself. Members of hydra-blooded communities take great care in studying the history of the hydra and the great titans Phorcys and Ceto who spawned them, in the hopes that the titans may one day return. You have proficiency in History. You have advantage on such checks that concern hydras and the many other spawn of Phorcys and Ceto.
Weapon Training. The first hydra-blooded were warriors, and hydra-blooded communities retain some of the military training their founders received. You have proficiency with the glaive, pike, and heavy crossbow.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Ogygian.
Land Nymph
Nymphs embody the spirits of natural formations, from clouds to rivers to trees, and serve as their protectors. Occasionally, such beings wander from their formations to explore the outside world, usually once another nymph has manifested to protect their area. Nymphs have humanoid forms and may also resemble centaurs, satyrs, or tritons, but their bodies reflect the natural objects they come from.
Land nymphs include the alseids, who manifest from groves; auloniads, who manifest from pastures and vales; and oreads, who manifest from mountains or caves. Due to the sheer size of their formations, land nymphs tend not to commune much with other land nymphs, but frequently share territory with other types of nymphs and often take on an almost parental role with their kin. Land nymphs tend to take on hues of earth and stone, with rocky formations, mineral veins, or growths of grasses and saplings along their bodies.
Land Nymph Ancestral Traits
Age. Land nymphs grow slowly, taking nearly 100 years to reach maturity. Once they have, however, they can live for a thousand years.Size. Land nymphs are roughly human in size, but significantly heavier. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Natural Camouflage. Your earthen appearance allows you to blend into natural environments. You have advantage on all Stealth rolls made while in caves, rocky terrain, grasslands, and similar earthen environments.
Steadfast. Land nymphs are denser and heavier than most other creatures of their size, making them more difficult to knock down. You have advantage on Strength or Dexterity rolls to resist being knocked prone.
Earthen Form. As manifestations of elemental earth, land nymphs are not vulnerable to petrification. You are immune to the petrified condition.
Land Nymph Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment. Land nymphs manifest from formations that nearly all other nymphs rely upon to grow, and this brings with it a strong sense of responsibility to the preservation of nature that those in their communities often inherit. They tend strongly toward goodness and law.
Land Magic. You know the mold earth cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the earth tremor spell once. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the earthbind spell once. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Earth-Wise. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to geology, such as rocks, dirt, mountains, or minerals, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Lesser Gorgon
Lesser gorgons are humanoids who have small, writhing snakes in place of the hair on their heads. Descended from the abominable gorgons left in the wake of Phorcys and Ceto, lesser gorgons have long since become nearly human in their natures and have lost some of the power of their greater kin. Their wings are little more than withered, vestigal limbs with scattered feathering. Their snakes can take on a variety of looks, from green to black, some hooded and some larger in size but fewer in number. The snakes are usually a foot long and seem to move of their own accord, hissing and snapping, though gorgons can calm them if they wish.
Lesser gorgons occasionally choose to part ways with their parents and make a life for themselves among civilization, while some chafe at the term “lesser” and seek new ways to instill fear in the common folk. In either case, they often find the most comfortable home among their own kind and form small, isolated communities.
Lesser Gorgon Ancestral Traits
Age. Lesser gorgons reach adulthood in 30 years and live to about 200 years.Size. Lesser gorgons are human in size and shape. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Lesser gorgons still have their powerful ancestor's night vision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Noxious Blood. If you take slashing or piercing damage from a creature within 5 feet, they take 1d4 poison damage. Additionally, you spawn one CR 0 Tiny beast of your choice in an adjacent space to you. This beast is not under your control and uses its own initiative in combat.
Arresting Gaze. Though lesser gorgons can no longer transform their enemies into stone, they still retain a vestige of that power. You can turn your gaze and that of all your snakes on a foe, stopping them in place. As an action, choose a creature that you can see that can see you within 30 feet. That creature must make a Constitution saving throw versus a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. On a failed save, the creature is restrained until the end of your next turn. Once you have used this trait, you cannot use it again until you have completed a short or long rest.
Serpent-Haired. Like their monstrous forebears, lesser gorgons have writhing snakes for hair. These snakes snap and bite at any within range. As an action, you can use your snake hair to make an unarmed strike. On a hit, the snakes deal 1 piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage.
Lesser Gorgon Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Lesser gorgon culture tends to be nurturing and protective of its own, valuing the community they have over specific individuals. As such, its members weakly lean toward law.
Gorgon Education. Lesser gorgon communities retain certain skills from gorgon history, especially their work with snakes, as well as their elders’ preference for certain weapons. You are proficient in Animal Handling and have advantage on any Animal Handling check involving snakes. You are also proficient in the longbow and shortsword.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and one other language of your choice.
Minotaur
Minotaurs resemble large humans with a bull head and horns. Minotaur history, either by intent or neglect, has largely been lost, and with it any idea of their place in the grand order of Ogygia. Because of this, minotaur communities value both martial prowess and keen intellect, balancing what they see as their middle nature between civilization and beasthood, and the labyrinth has become a symbol of each individual minotaur's journey toward self-discovery.
Minotaur Ancestral Traits
Age. Minotaurs mature at the same rate as humans and live for about as long.Size. Minotaurs are larger and often more muscular than humans. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Horns. You have bull horns that you can use as weapons to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. As a bonus action, you can make an unarmed strike with your horns. If the attack hits, you can’t use this trait again until you finish a short or long rest.
Gore. Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack as a part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to shove that target with your horns. The target must be within 5 feet of you and no more than one size larger than you. Unless it succeeds on a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier, you push it up to 10 feet away from you.
Minotaur Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.Alignment. Minotaur culture, with its focus on intellect and self-discovery, tends fairly strongly toward chaos.
Powerful Charge. If you move 20 feet in a straight line toward a foe before making an attack, you may use a bonus action to attempt to knock them prone. The target must be no more than one size larger than you and within 5 feet of you.
Maze Walker. You are an expert at mazes and similar puzzles. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check or a Wisdom (Survival) check related to mazes or labyrinths, you are considered proficient in the skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and one other language of your choice.
Plant Nymph
Nymphs embody the spirits of natural formations, from clouds to rivers to trees, and serve as their protectors. Occasionally, such beings wander from their formations to explore the outside world, usually once another nymph has manifested to protect their area. Nymphs have humanoid forms and may also resemble centaurs, satyrs, or tritons, but their bodies reflect the natural objects they come from.
Plant nymphs include the anthousai, who manifest from flowers; dryads, who manifest from trees and shrubs; and kissiae, who manifest from vines and ferns. Plant nymphs vary as much as the plants they come from, but they often form the most social communities, with many plant nymphs of different types sharing territory. Plant nymphs inherit the features of the plants they manifested from, ranging from rough skin like bark, to hair of twisting vines, to clusters of flowers growing from their bodies. Plant nymphs from fruiting plants, like apple trees or grape vines, may even grow these fruits from themselves.
Plant Nymph Ancestral Traits
Age. Plant nymphs vary in their age depending on their source, but mostly take 16-30 years to reach maturity. Anthousai and kissiae live for about four hundred years, while dryads can live up to a thousand.Size. Plant nymphs are roughly human in size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Natural Camouflage. Your plant-like appearance allows you to blend into natural environments. You have advantage on all Stealth rolls made while in forests, swamps, jungles, and similar environments where trees and dense plants grow.
Living Bodies. Plant nymphs have the strongest variation among the nymphs, due to their varying plants of origin. Choose one of the following traits:
- Oaken Form. You are a dryad from a particularly sturdy tree such as an oak, and your skin is of smooth bark. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
- Nature's Bounty. You come from a fruiting plant such as an apple tree, grape vine, or olive tree, and can provide sustenance to others. You may painlessly pluck fruit from yourself to feed up to three Medium creatures for one day. After all your fruit is picked, you must allow it to regrow over the course of a week.
- Tangling Growth. You come from a plant with deep roots such as a lily pad, or a tenacious vine such as ivy, and these tendrils grow from your body. When you attempt to grapple a target, you make the roll with advantage.
Plant Nymph Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Plant nymphs and the communities that grow around them are defined by the love of nature, but some of their number can be as fickle as the weather. Others, however, are as steady and stable as an old oak. They tend toward goodness or neutrality and away from evil.
Forest Magic. You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the goodberry spell once. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the entangle spell once, without requiring the material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Steward of the Wood. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to plants, including forests, flowers, and herbs, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Satyr
Like the centaurs, satyrs are offshoots of nymphs, but often are much less serious about their role in life. While centaur culture busies itself with war, satyrs are strongly empathetic and their culture focuses on nourishment, growth, and life. Satyrs devoted to the wilderness will tend to the stability of their surroundings, using both agriculture and magic to coax flowers and trees to flourish.
Satyr Ancestral Traits
Age. Satyrs reach maturity very quickly, becoming adults after ten years, but live for well over a century.Size. Satyrs are roughly human in size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Nymph Ancestry. You have the Fey creature type.
Limited Magic Resistance. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic.
Satyr Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2 and your Charisma by 1.Alignment. Satyr communities see laws more as guidelines than strict rules, really, as long as no harm is done. As such, most people in satyr culture tend toward chaos.
Satyr Revelry. Those who grow up in satyr communities quickly develop a love for and resistance to the effects of their celebrations, as well as facility with music and dance. You have resistance to poison and the poisoned condition. You have proficiency in the Performance skill and with one musical instrument of your choice.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Siren
Sirens are carnivorous cephalopods who mimic a human shape. They are deeply attuned to song and use it to manipulate both water, weather, and the hearts of their targets. While sirens often eat other sentient creatures for sustenance, their natural curiosity and intelligence also leads them to interact with other beings and learn more about them. Some even take strongly to other beings and live peacefully or protectively with them. A child born of a siren and another humanoid will resemble the non-siren parent for only a few years before the child fully transitions into a siren itself.
Siren Ancestral Traits
Age. Sirens reach maturity in about 10 years and live for about 60.Size. Sirens are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Thanks to your flipper-like feet, your base walking speed is 25 feet and you have a swim speed of 40 ft.
Aquatic. You can breathe air and water. Despite your ability to survive on land, you need to be submerged in water for at least one hour every three days. If you do not, you suffer the poisoned condition until you do.
Darkvision. Due to centuries of life in the deeps, sirens can see well in darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Bioluminescence. Your skin has haunting patterns of lights, often used as lures in the deep. You emit bright light for 5 feet and dim light for an additional 20 feet. You can choose to dim or completely hide your lights, and you can choose the pattern they appear in.
Octopodal. You can use your four octopus arms to grab onto objects and foes. When you use your action to attempt to grapple a foe, you do so with advantage. As a bonus action, you can use your tentacles to take the Use an Item action.
Camouflage. You can use your action to change the patterns and colors of your body and eyes, or retract or extend your back tentacles, granting you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. You revert to your true form if you die.
Siren Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score by 1.Alignment. Siren communities rely on organization and teamwork to survive, but also bend to the tides as they shift. As such, they are organized but accept sudden change. They tend toward law.
Siren Song. Siren songs strike deep into the souls of those who hear them, moving hearts and minds with their powerful voices. Whenever you make a Charisma (Performance) check to sing, you are considered proficient in the Performance skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Magic of the Tides. Sirens have trained their voices over centuries to become sources of magic, allowing them to manipulate hearts and minds as well as the tides and wind. You know the shape water cantrip, which is verbal instead of somatic for you. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gust of wind spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Primordial.
Triton
Tritons are fish-like humanoids descended from water nymphs. Their humanoid bodies are coated in iridescent scales and flowing or jagged fins, and their heads are those of groupers, swordfish, sturgeons, or their ilk. Tritons are largely content to keep to the water, where they aid water nymphs in tending to life by and below the water and fending off violent invaders. Despite their sometimes frightening appearance, they are the nymph-descendents most likely to offer aid to humanoids in need. Some tritons even choose to leave gifts of fresh seafood for benevolent surface-dwellers, offering little to no explanation of their intentions.
Triton Ancestral Traits
Age. Tritons mature at the same rate as humans and live for about as long.Size. Tritons are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 ft.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Nymph Ancestry. You have the Fey creature type.
Bite. Your toothy jaws are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Scales. You have scaly skin that provides a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Triton Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom increases by 2, and your Constitution increases by 1.Alignment. Triton culture tends to value protecting the weak and the natural, which leans most of its members toward goodness.
Inured to the Deeps. You have resistance to cold damage.
Magics of the Deep. Triton community members develop special magical abilities to aid them in the austere and challenging environments in which they live. You know the light cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the sanctuary spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the hold person spell once with this trait, requiring no material components. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Triton Weapons Training. You have proficiency with the trident and nets.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ogygian, and Wild Ogygian.
Water Nymph
Nymphs embody the spirits of natural formations, from clouds to rivers to trees, and serve as their protectors. Occasionally, such beings wander from their formations to explore the outside world, usually once another nymph has manifested to protect their area. Nymphs have humanoid forms and may also resemble centaurs, satyrs, or tritons, but their bodies reflect the natural objects they come from.
Water nymphs include the naiads, who manifest from rivers, lakes, springs, and other freshwater formations, and nereids, who manifest from oceans, seas, and other saltwater formations. Water nymphs are often mercurial and hard to read, but they also tend to be the most generous of nymphs toward humanoids, saving drowning sailors and providing fresh catches of fish to hungry villages. Water nymphs tend to come in vibrant hues of blue, while naiads may also take on green and brown hues and nereids may take shades of bright white and pitch black. Some parts of them may be formed entirely of water and serve as homes for fish or amphibious creatures, while others may be adorned in bright coral formations or drooping kelp and seaweed.
Water Nymph Ancestral Traits
Age. Water nymphs grow slowly, taking nearly 100 years to reach maturity. Once they have, however, they can live for a thousand years.Size. Water nymphs are roughly human in size and weight. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 ft.
Elemental Creature. Your creature type is Elemental.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Natural Camouflage. Your appearance resembles flowing water and aquatic formations, allowing you to blend into natural environments. You have advantage on all Stealth rolls made while in lakes, marshes, oceans, and similar aquatic environments.
Sea Speaker. Water nymphs dwell among schools of fish, frog-filled marshes, and lonely sharks. You can cast speak with animals at will with this trait, but you can target only beasts with a swim speed that are Medium or smaller.
Water Nymph Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Dexterity by 1.Alignment. Water nymph communities live relatively quiet lives, observing the passage of life and moving along with its changes. While they teach generosity to others, they never abide abuse, tending strongly toward law.
Water Magic. You know the shape water cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the create or destroy water spell once, without its material component. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gentle repose spell once, without requiring the material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Sea Shepherd. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to water formations and their delicate ecosystems, such as rivers, swamps, coral, and oceans, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Wild Ogygian.
Ithara
Itharan
Itharan culture and education tend to promote cleverness and ingenuity, qualities that produce many inventors of great renown. Collaboration is highly valued in the incredibly volatile desert landscape, promoting communities that know how to pull one another together when it’s needed most.
You may use this culture for any character raised in Ithara, if they were not raised in a community with more specific cultural variations. For details on Itharan culture, refer to Itharans.
Itharan Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.Alignment. Itharan society is organized around the rule of law and meritocracy. Its members tend heavily toward lawfulness.
Artificer's Lore. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to magic items, alchemical objects, or technological devices, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Rhetoricians. Itharan culture promotes the study of rhetoric, haggling, and the ability to bring together disparate folk. You have proficiency in the Persuasion skill.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East or West Itharan, and two other languages of your choice.
Adamdun
Adamdun, beastfolk derived from hippos, are large, humanoid creatures with gray to black skin, bulbous heads, snouts, and bodies, and short, thick arms and legs. Surprisingly, adamdun communities thrive on invention and are responsible for many commonplace aetheromechanical technologies in Ithara.
Adamdun Ancestral Traits
Age. Adamdun mature at the same rate as humans but only live about 60 years.Size. Adamdun are about the same height as humans, though more stout, standing roughly 6 feet tall and weighing 400-500 lbs. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Vicious Jaws. Adamdun have large appetites and larger jaws. In fact, though they have only flat, herbivorous teeth, their bite can nevertheless crush bones easily. Your large mouth is a natural weapon with which you can make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Leathery Hide. Your thick skin is difficult to penetrate. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Adamdun Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Adamdun communities are usually highly organized. Some are militaristic, others organized around engineering guilds, and some around debate schools. In all three, strong leaders rule with a firm hand and countless underlings vie for their attention. As such, adamdun culture tends to favor law.
Engineer's Mind. Students in these communities widely study chemistry and engineering. You have proficiency with Alchemist’s Supplies and Tinker’s Tools. What’s more, you know the recipe to make gunpowder and the methods with which to make a flintlock weapon.
Aquatic Life. Everyone in adamdun communities, adamdun and non-adamdun alike, is expected to live both on land and in water as culture dictates. You have a swim speed of 30 feet and you can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East or West Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Apollian
Apollians have innate psionic abilities, imbuing them with a remarkable sense of empathy. Their innate empathy allows them to feel the emotions and energies of the world around them as their own, and in large groups of apollians, powerful emotions can loop into an overwhelming storm of joy, fury, or grief. Apollian culture is split between ascetic apollians, who live in small communities focused on growth and detachment, and destroyer apollians, who form war bands in service of a powerful rakshasa, the Destroyer.
Apollian Ancestral Traits
Age. Apollians age very quickly, reaching adulthood by 6 years old, with lifespans of only 40 years.Size. Apollians are about the same size as humans, but usually a slimmer build. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Carapace. You have a hard carapace. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Secondary Arms. You have two secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. In addition to being able to wield multiple weapons while also having a hand free for casting spells, you can take the Use An Object action as a bonus action.
Natural Jumpers. Your legs are powerful , allowing you to leap great distances and heights. Your jump distance is triple that of a human of similar strength.
Empath. You are proficient in Insight or Persuation.
Ascetic Apollian Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Ascetic apollian communities tend to be very organized and orderly, leading many to swing heavily toward lawfulness in their efforts to control their empathy.
Psychic Techniques. You know the message cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the jump spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the blur spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Apollian Agriculture. You gain proficiency with the herbalism kit and woodcarver’s tools.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Destroyer Apollian Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Destroyer apollian communities value liberty and the uncontrolled chaos of emotion, leaning heavily toward chaotic alignments.
Psychic Techniques. You know the message cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the jump spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the suggestion spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Apollian Weapons Training. You are proficient with chakrams, shotels (scimitars), and spears.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Djinnborn
When a Djinn has a child with a non-djinn creature, the child inevitably inherits the potent aether of its supernatural parent. A djinnborn’s heritage is usually unmistakable: they tend to have skin and hair in a range of hues, including sky blue, deep violet, or golden, and their ears are pointed. While they do not exhibit the wide range of bestial or elemental features of thier djinn parents, djinnborn may carry on those features in a lesser way: for example, if the djinn had two cobra tails, their djinnborn child may be born with natural serpent markings twisting along their back; if the djinn was made of flowing water, the child’s azure hair may weave and flow as if caught in a slow-moving current.
Djinnborn Ancestral Traits
Age. Djinnborn mature at the same rate as humans and can live for up to 200 years.Size. Djinnborn tend to be a little shorter and stockier than humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Thanks to your djinn ancestry, you can see in dim light within 60 feet as though it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Fortune of the Djinn. You can use the bountiful aether within you to gain advantage on a saving throw or ability check, or to impose disadvantage on an attack roll against you. You must decide to use this ability before the relevant d20 roll. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Well of Aether. Your innate aether allows you to serve as a potent magical conduit and resist effects that would warp your form against your will. You have advantage on saving throws made to resist polymorph spells or similar shapeshifting magical effects, and when casting spells, you can ignore the need for a spellcasting focus and material components that do not have an assigned monetary value.
Aether Dependent. At least once each year, you must spend 8 hours meditating in Ithara or another rich source of aether to refill your innate reserves. If you refuse or are unable to meditate in this way, your innate wells of aether deplete, removing your access to the Fortune of the Djinn and Well of Aether traits. If completely depleted, you must spend 48 hours meditating in Ithara to regain your depleted well and regain access to your lost traits.
Djinnborn Cultural Traits
Djinnborn are rare enough that they rarely form their own communities. Generally, a djinnborn will inherit the culture of their non-djinn parent.Ettutu (In Progress)
Ettutu are spider-like beastfolk.
Ettutu Ancestral Traits
Age. Ettutu reach adulthood at the age of 20 and generally live a century.Size. Ettutu are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Spider Form. Ettutu have several features indicative of their spider heritage. Choose three of the below.
- Climbing. Thanks to hook-like fingers and tiny, stiff hairs on your hands and feet, you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
- Eight-Eyed. You have two large eyes where humans normally do and six more small black eyes across your forehead. You have advantage and Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on sight.
- Many-Limbed. Like a spider, you have eight limbs. Like a human, however, you stand erect, which means you have four legs and four arms, like a spidery centaur. In addition to being able to wield multiple weapons while also having a hand free for casting spells, you can take the Use An Object action as a bonus action.
- Venomous Bite. Your mandibles can inject venom when you bite a foe, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier of piercing damage, plus 1d4 poison damage.
- Web Spinner. You have a spider’s abdomen with a gland that can extrude silk. If you take one minute of time, you can extrude a 10-foot-long strand of silk. You can elect to have this rope be smooth, in which case it functions as a silk rope, or sticky and interconnected, in which case it functions as a net. Once you have done so, you cannot extrude web again until you complete a long rest.
Ettutu Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment. Ettutu communities literally hang on their webs being well-ordered and reliable. As such, their communities value reliability and order as well. Ettutu culture tends toward law.
Weavers. Those raised in Ettutu communities learn the fine art of weaving, often specializing in silk. You have proficiency with weaver’s tools.
Web Sense. While in contact with a web, you know the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.
Web Walker. You ignore movement restrictions caused by webbing.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Girtablilu
Girtablilu superficially resemble centaurs, but with the lower body and pincers of a scorpion. They also have a hard carapace that covers their human-shaped torso. Their pincers are strong and their sting venomous, though its poison only causes paralysis, not death. Despite the solitary nature of scorpions, girtablilu have formed powerfully social and open communities. The bonds of loyalty and comradery are incredibly strong among girtablilu communities, granting them the reputation of being unflinching allies in time of need.
Girtablilu Ancestral Traits
Age. Girtablilu are born from small clutches of eggs coated in paralytic poison and cling to the mother for several years after birth. They mature at the same rate as humans and live for about as long.Size. Girtablilu tend to be stronger and taller than humans thanks to their scorpion body, much like centaurs. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Carapace. Girtablilu have a hard shell that covers much of their bodies, granting them a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 14 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score.
Pincers. Girtablilu have an extra pair of pincers on their lower bodies. Their pincers are not efficient for certain fine motor skills, and you have disadvantage on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) and Thieves’ Tools checks using them. You can hold items, swing weapons, and even perform somatic spell components with your pincers. Finally, you can also use the pincers to make unarmed attacks. On a hit, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Stinger. Girtablilu have a stinger at the end of a long tail. This tail is long enough to strike a foe in front of them over their shoulders, or within five feet of them. You can sting as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. When you hit with a sting, the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target falls prone and is paralyzed until the end of your next turn. Once you have stung a target, you cannot do so again until you have completed a short or long rest.
Centauroid Form. Maneuvering a world built for bipedal humanoids can be a challenge for the bulky girtablilu. When you climb something built for a humanoid creature like a rope or ladder, you move at half the speed a humanoid would and make checks to do so at disadvantage.
Girtablilu Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Girtablilu communities are tough, but tight-knit places. They lean toward goodness.
Proud Warrior. Girtablilu communities value the ability to fight, and have a strong appreciation for music. Girtablilu are known for their war-songs, played with hide-stretched drums and the rhythmic hiss of air from their spiracles. You are proficient with drums and the bhuj (battleaxe). You are also proficient in the Performance skill.
Supportive. Girtablilu communities pride themselves on their ability to offer aid and mutual support to one another through times of need. You can offer the same to your companions. You can use the Help action as a bonus action.
Languages. You speak Girtablilu and can speak, read, and write Common. Girtablilu is a unique language of hisses and guttural clicks, but it can still be approximated by a human tongue. Girtablilu is entirely oral and has no written approximation.
Gnoll (In Progress)
Gnolls are humanoid hyenas, notable for their distinctly high-pitched and barky voices. Gnoll communities tend to settle in open grasslands, where they have easy access to the large game they prefer to hunt, and room for their competitions. In both the hunt and the contest, gnoll society celebrates life and vitality, embracing their strength and the thrill and joy of these challenges.
Gnoll Ancestral Traits
Age. Gnolls mature more quickly than humans, reaching adulthood by age 10 and living until roughly age 50.Size. Gnolls are about the same size as humans, though often leaner. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. The nocturnal ancestry of gnolls provide them superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Keen Hearing. Gnolls benefit from their sizable ears. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
Bite. Gnolls also retain the strong jaws and sharp canine teeth of hyenas, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Gnoll Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment. Gnoll culture tends to be chaotic, focusing on the vagaries of the hunt and the excitement of the contest.
Gnoll Weapon Training. Gnoll communities train their young in weapons for hunting, but they work well for self-defense too. You are proficient in the longbow, scimitar, spear, and flail.
Rampage. Gnoll communities train in a particular kind of quick and brutal combat. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make another melee attack.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Gnoll, a distinctive language of barks and yips.
Harpy (In Progress)
Harpies come from a wide variety of Itharan birds, and just like these birds, they have developed very distinct cultures. Of particular prominence are harpies derived from magpies (magwitches), ibises (aethites), and secretary birds (sakhi). Most harpies are largely human, but with distinct traits drawn from their avian ancestry: scaled arms and legs ending in avian talons, feathers shot through their hair and lining their pointed ears, pseudo-wings on their forearms, and feathered tails.
Harpy Ancestral Traits
Age. Harpies mature at about the same rate as humans, but on average, they live about 60 years.Size. Harpies tend to vary in height depending on their bird of origin, standing between 4 and 6 feet tall, but are significantly lighter than humans due to their hollow bones. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Pseudo-Wings. Your avian ancestry provides you with feathered half-wings that grow along your arms. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, though only for short distances. You fall if you end your turn in the air with nothing holding you aloft. When you reach 5th level, you may remain aloft by continuing to glide at your flying speed, descending at the same speed.
Birdlike Harpies vary almost as much as birds themselves. Choose one of the following avian traits:
- Beautiful Song. Some harpies come from songbirds. You are a magnificent singer, able to repeat any tune you’ve heard with perfect pitch. You have proficiency in the Performance skill. When you use the Performance skill to sing a song that you have heard, you may roll with advantage.
- Keen Sight. Other harpies have extremely keen vision, either to spot prey from afar or to find shiny objects. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
- Nocturnal. Some harpies resemble owls or other nocturnal birds. Your eyes are especially sharp at night. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
- Raptor Talons. Many harpies are hunters. You have sharp claws at the ends of your fingers and toes which you can use to make unarmed strikes. The talons deal 1d4 slashing damage plus your Strength modifier.
Magwitch Harpy Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Magwitch culture valorizes the freedom of soaring through the sky, of sparkling treasures, and of kinship. Thus there is a tendency toward chaos and goodness.
Magpie’s Eye. Magwitch communities often celebrate collecting oddities and complete sets of things. Growing up among those who collect such cast-off things, you’ve learned to evaluate a thing’s worth with a glance. Choose one of the following abilities:
- Arcane Collector. Your family collected magical doodads and miscellany. From them, you learned to cast the identify spell as a ritual.
- Gem Lover. You are particularly attracted to shiny baubles. You have proficiency with Jeweler’s Tools.
- Fakery. You know how to make something worthless appear more valuable. You have proficiency with the Forgery Kit.
Aethite Harpy Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment. Aethite communities value education and knowledge above all else, leading them to favor law.
Intellectual. Members of aethite communities grow up studying a stunningly wide range of topics, leading them to know something about almost everything. You gain proficiency in any combination of four skills or tools of your choice.
Private Lesson. Over the course of a long rest, you can have a study session with another creature. To do so the creature must have an intelligence of 5 or higher and you must both share at least one language. You choose one of your Intelligence skills that you have proficiency in. At the end of the long rest, the creature gets a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier on its next check it makes on the chosen knowledge skill before it finishes a long rest. If the check is unsuccessful, the bonus is not lost.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East and West Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Sakhi Harpy Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment.
Hunter's Eye. Your training hunting game from heights has honed your sight. You have proficiency in the Perception skill. In addition, attacking at long range doesn’t impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Inpu
The Inpu are humanoid jackals, some with fully canine heads and limbs and others only with the claws, tails, and ears of their canine origins. Their fur often comes in brown or gold hues, but rare inpu are born with ebony black fur. Inpu packs largely revolve around the care of the dead, and they have taken it upon themselves to tend to the necropoli of various cultures and put down the restless dead.
Inpu Ancestral Traits
Age. Inpu mature at the same rate as humans and live for about as long.Size. Inpu are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Keen Hearing and Smell. Inpu retain the keen senses of their canine ancestors. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Bite. Inpu also retain the strong jaws and sharp canine teeth of jackals, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Inpu Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution increases by 2 and your Strength by 1.Alignment. Inpu culture focuses on the orderly course of life and the uninterrupted rest of death, which tends its members toward law.
Pack Tactics. You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one other ally is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
Inpu Weapons Training. You have proficiency with the khopesh (battleaxe), shotel (scimitar), and javelin.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Ancient Itharan, and one other language.
Kurma
Kurma are humanoid tortoises, and their communities rely heavily on automated mobility on the sands, forming fleets of sandships large and small, or forming partnerships with larger creatures that will allow them to live on their bodies. In times of peace, they bind their ships together into a large town in the barren sands. Much of the year, however, they ply their trade across the desert. Some transport goods as merchants of some repute, while a few take a darker path, engaging in piracy.
Kurma Ancestral Traits
Age. Kurma are incredibly long-lived, reaching adulthood at age 50 and living an average of 500 years.Size. Kurma are the same height as humans, but weigh significantly more, due to their heavy shell. On average they weigh 400 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. The heavy shell and short limbs of kurma mean they are not as swift as those of some other ancestries. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Hard-Shelled. Kurma have a large, hard shell that gives them ample protection from attacks. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 16 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Shell Sanctuary. You can withdraw into your shell as an action. Until you emerge, you gain a +4 bonus to AC, and you have advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws. While in your shell, you are prone, your speed is 0 and can't increase, you have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, you can't take reactions, and the only action you can take is a bonus action to emerge from your shell.
Kurma Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Kurma communities tend to be quiet, slow-paced environments, where folks behave in a habitual manner. They tend toward neutrality.
Desert-Faring. Kurma communities spend their lives on the open sand dunes, where ships built specifically for that purpose can glide across the sand as if it were water. You have proficiency in Vehicles (Water) and Navigator’s Tools.
Kurma Raider Tradition.Kurma follow the ways of the sand sea, either as merchants or pirates. Either way, they are trained from a young age with weapons for sand skiff and ship battles. You are proficient with the scimitar, spear, and light crossbow.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and West or East Itharan.
Kuzazu
Kuzazu come from all varieties of Itharan wasps: tarantula hawks, mud daubers, paper wasps, and emerald wasps, to name a few. Despite their reputation, kuzazu are not inherently quick to anger or violence; indeed, while many kuzazu choose to be solitary as a relic of their original heritage, kuzazu have integrated very well with other communities across Ithara. In fact, many kuzazu are quick to take up an agricultural role, particularly in raising hives of giant bees and fruit orchards. These tend to be connected to breweries, and tej in particular is an important cultural drink for kuzazu.
Kuzazu Ancestral Traits
Age. Kuzazu age fairly quickly, with lifespans of only 60 years.Size. Kuzazu are on the shorter end of human height on average, usually with a slimmer build and narrow waists. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Stinger. Kuzazu have a stinger at the end of their abdomen, which you can use to sting foes within 5 feet as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1 + your Dexterity modifier. When you hit with a sting, the target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target falls prone and is paralyzed until the end of your next turn. Once you have stung a target, you cannot do so again until you have completed a short or long rest.
Carapace. Kuzazu have an intermittent carapace over their bodies that provides a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Secondary Arms. You have two secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. In addition to being able to wield multiple weapons while also having a hand free for casting spells, you can take the Use An Object action as a bonus action.
Wings. You have two large wasp wings and a smaller secondary pair beneath them. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, though only for limited distances. You can remain flying or hovering for one minute, at which point you will fall.
Kuzazu Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Kuzazu communities tend to be organized and orderly, but their shorter lifespans lead to a desire to appreciate life's many joys. These communities tend toward law.
Honey and Wine. You have proficiency with brewer’s supplies and the herbalism kit.
Unconventional Farmhand. You are familiar with the subtle, yet distinct social tells of insects and how to soothe and handle them as skillfully as a shepherd with sheep. You have proficiency with Animal Handling and Insight checks when interacting with insects, arachnids, or other arthropods of any size.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East or West Itharan, and one other language of your choice.
Mau
Mau are feline humanoids, roughly human in height. They range from human forms with furred limbs, ears, and tails, to fully anthropomorphic cats. Most at least have cat-like teeth and claws and a feline tail that seems to have a mind of its own.
Rather than division based on species, mau communities tend to form based on the size of the feline of origin. Basti are born from smaller cats, such as housecats or sand cats, while maahi are born from large cats, like lions or cheetahs.
Mau Ancestral Traits
Age. Mau mature more quickly than humans, reaching adulthood by 16 years old. On average, they live about 80 years.Size. Mau stand between 4.5 and 6 feet tall, but tend to be more lithe than humans, averaging about 120 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Mau have a history of nocturnal behavior, granting their descendants superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Cat's Grace. Mau have an uncanny ability to land on their feet from birth. You have proficiency in the Acrobatics skill.
Claws. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Pounce. Mau have long legs and light frames, affording them superior jumping ability. Your jumping distances are doubled.
Basti Mau Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Charisma by 1.Alignment. For the most part, basti society values individual expression and autonomy, eschewing strong leaders or a sense of group membership. Indeed, nothing is harder than herding cats. As such, they tend toward chaos and away from law.
Ambush Hunter. Those who are raised as basti learn hunting techniques that rely on stealth and surprise. You have proficiency in the Stealth skill.
Self-Assured. Basti society values knowing one’s own mind, rendering its members peculiarly resistant to having their minds changed. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, East Itharan and one other language of your choice.
Maahi Mau Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Strength score by 1.Alignment. Maahi communities tend to respect the judgments of their elders. This need not mean they are conservative, however, as some elders are forward thinking and lead their communities to grow and change. Maahi communities lean slightly toward law.
Hunter’s Tradition. Those raised in maahi communities learn to hunt from a young age. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Survival) check related to tracking a creature, you are considered proficient in the Survival skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Maahi Weapons Training. You have proficiency with the mambele (dagger), spears, and shields.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, West Itharan, and Maahi, a sophisticated language of subtle growls, muted roars, and guttural words.
Mokele (In Progress)
Mokele Ancestral Traits
Due to their Huge size, player characters cannot have mokele ancestry.Mokele Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase.Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and West Itharan.
Monthu
Monthu resemble humans with an ox head, complete with horns. Tales among those of monthu ancestry relate that the monthu descend from a mythical warrior-sorceror king, though historians debate the veracity of this story. Indeed, one myth claims that the founder of the monthu ancestry is an immortal guardian, standing at the entrance to Ersetu and holding back its fiends.
Masterful warriors emerge from monthu communities, adept in martial and magic combat that they weave between like flowing water.
Monthu Ancestral Traits
Age. Monthu live longer lives than humans, reaching adulthood at age 30 and living up to two centuries.Size. Monthu are somewhat taller and broader-shouldered than humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Horns. You have ox horns on your head, which you can use as weapons to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Strong Back. When determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift, you count as one size larger. You also have advantage on rolls against gaining a level of exhaustion.
Monthu Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.Alignment. Monthu culture values prowess in battle, but also independence of mind, so many of its people tend toward neutrality.
Combat Magic. Monthu communities teach their young adults magics to aid in battle. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the fog cloud and shield spells once each with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the magic weapon spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Weapon Mastery. You gain proficiency with smith’s tools and with the bhuj (battleaxe), adjenwi (short sword), and spear.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Mummy
Mummies are the bodies of the dead that have been preserved to prevent their total decay, but some mummies have also gone through mystical rites to preserve their souls as well. These retain their memories and personality after death, though to what end depends on the individual.
In order to create a mummy, you must first create a character of some other ancestry to represent what they were before death. Once you have done so, replace the age and speed of your character with the age and speed traits below, then replace two traits from your character’s original ancestry with the Resistance of the Grave and Sleep of the Dead traits below. If your ancestry only has one trait, then only add the two traits below; if your ancestry only has two traits, then remove only one trait and add the two below.
Mummy Ancestral Traits
Age. Mummies do not age, though they can appear exceedingly withered depending on their original date of death.Speed. Mummies can move as their original ancestry could, though their withered muscles and brittle bones slow them down. Your walking speed is reduced by 5 feet.
Resistance of the Grave. Preserved flesh does not suffer harm from poison or necrosis as a living being might. You have resistance to poison and necrotic damage and advantage on saves against poison.
Sleep of the Dead. Mummies do not have need of food, water, or air, though they do need sleep. While asleep, you do not count as a creature, but an object, for the purposes of resisting or being targeted by magical effects.
Mummy Cultural Traits
Mummies do not form their own cultures and instead inherit the cultures of their original forms.Naga
Naga are humanoid serpents, frequently with human torsos and the sinuous lower body of a snake. Many have scaled skin, a forked tongue, and snake-like eyes, and some completely lack hair. For reasons yet unknown, some naga arise with four, six, rarely even eight arms. Even after reaching adulthood, their bodies continue to grow if they have enough food and space to sustain them, and legends of truly gigantic naga have been recorded throughout history.
Naga Ancestral Traits
Age. Like humans, naga reach adulthood in their late teens. They show no signs of aging beyond that point except for growing larger, so in theory, a naga could live well over a century.Size. Head to tail end, naga commonly are about 12 ft. in length. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tongue Sense. Your forked tongue grants you a snake’s unparalleled sense of smell. You have advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on taste or smell, and you gain blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even when blinded or if you are in darkness. You can see invisible creatures in that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
Natural Weapons. Your fanged maw and constricting serpentine body are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with your bite, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier. If you hit with your constrict attack, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, and the target is grappled (escape DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and you can’t constrict another target.
Serpentine. Much like snakes, naga have slight variations depending on their origin. Choose one of the following traits:
- Venomous. You have the ability to secrete venom from your fangs. When you hit a creature with an attack using your fangs, you can choose to inject venom into the creature. The creature must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save a creature takes poison damage equal to an amount of d6 equal to your proficiency modifier. On a successful save a creature takes half as much damage. The saving throw is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. Alternatively you can use an action to mix your venom with your saliva to create poison. Your poison is an ingested and injury type poison. A creature subjected to your poison treats it as if you injected your venom into the creature. Once your poison leaves your mouth, it remains potent for one hour. You are immune to your own poison. Once you secret venom, you can’t do so again until you have finished a short or long rest.
- Swimming Speed. Your serpentine body is particularly attuned to moving effortlessly through the water. You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
- Constrictor. Your body is that of a powerful constrictor snake. The damage of your constrict attack increases to 1d8 + your Strength modifier, and the grapple escape DC becomes DC 10 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier.
- Speed Burst. By lowering your body to the ground and propelling yourself with your arms, you can move more quickly for a time. As a bonus action on your turn, if you have both hands free, you can increase your walking speed by 5 feet until the end of your turn.
Naga Cultural Traits
Naga have not formed their own cultures, and instead adopt other cultures.Ngiri
Ngiri are humanoid warthogs. Ngiri communities can be found virtually anywhere, though most commonly in savannah and hilly areas. Most ngiri villages are small and matriarchal, with adults working together to raise children collectively. Young adults from these communities often leave their villages to find their fortunes abroad, sometimes returning once they are ready to settle down, but other times joining communities they encounter elsewhere.
Ngiri Ancestral Traits
Age. Ngiri mature at the same rate as humans and live for about as long.Size. Ngiri are human in size, but much stockier and broader. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Relentless. Ngiri are hardy folk capable of absorbing hits that would drop other creatures. If you take damage less that twice your proficiency bonus that would reduce you to 0 hit points, you are reduced to 1 hit point instead.
Tusks. You have long teeth that grow from your lower jaw and protrude out of your mouth, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Ngiri Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score by 1.Alignment. Ngiri communities tend to be direct and forthright, valuing honesty and bluntness. Their members tend to toward law.
Charge. Ngiri communities teach their young to tackle problems head on, including foes in combat. If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 3 (1d6) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 11 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Omnivorous. Ngiri communities have a very broad conception of what is and is not edible. As such, those who grow up in these communities develop strong intestinal fortitude. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Ninki-Nanka (In Progress)
Ninki-Nankas are humanoid lizards, usually with green, gold, or black scales, sharp teeth, and a tail.
Ninki-Nanka Ancestral Traits
Age. Ninki-nankas reach adulthood at around age 16 and usually live roughly 65 years.Size. Ninki-nankas are about the same size as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 ft.
Bite. Your toothy jaws are a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes per time.
Scales. You have a scaly hide that provides a measure of protection. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Ninki-Nanka Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score by 1.Alignment. Ninki-nanka communities tend toward order and respect, though they do not tend toward good or evil with any particular frequency.
Hunter’s Senses. Years of hunting rituals have honed your ability to detect and track prey. You have proficiency in the Perception skill and advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track creatures.
Ninki-Nanka Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the club, javelin, and shield.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Rakshasan
Rakshasans descend from humans who either were tainted by the highly condensed aether in Ersetu or had children with a rakshasa. Often shunned by other Itharans for coming from the most terrifying place in all Ithara, rakshasans only carry the outward appearance of their fiendish ancestry and bear no evil tendency or nature. Rakshasans are mostly human, but carry a variety of features inherited from their fiendish blood. Rakshasans tend to have red or orange tiger-striped skin, fiery red eyes, sideways-curved fangs emerging in place of their canines, and backwards hands with clawed fingers. Some may arise with other bestial traits as well, depending on their parentage.
Rakshasans are few and can usually be found living together in small communities. Due to mistrust of their fiendish origins, their communities tend to keep to themselves. These communities often value the finer things in life, such as fine food and wine, gentle music, and art. Many still share an interest in the overwhelming magical power erupting from Ersetu and train in the magical arts.
Rakshasan Ancestral Traits
Age. Rakshasans reach maturity at the same rate as humans but live a few decades longer.Size. Rakshasans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tiger's Claws. Your fingers end in sharp claws resembling a tiger’s. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
Limited Magic Resistance. The roiling aether of your origins makes you innately resistant to magic. You can’t be affected or detected by cantrips. You also have advantage on saving throws against spells of 2nd level or lower.
Rakshasan Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Rakshasans frequently value independence and freedom, owing to their disparaged nature, and tend toward chaos.
Rakshasan Magic. The young in rakshasan communities are taught traditions of magic originating from the chaos of Ersetu. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the chaos bolt spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the crown of madness spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Salamandrite (In Progress)
Unique to most beastfolk, salamandrites toe the line between elemental and beast. They are humanoids with scaly red skin and serpentine faces, with red, flaring spines around their faces, in ridges down the back of their heads, and along the sides of their arms and legs. Their skin is so hot that, in cold weather, it steams, and their eyes smolder like hot coals. Salamandrite communities are most commonly encountered in the hottest Itharan environments. They pride themselves on their metal working, excelling in particular in the working of brass. This is most often the center of their trade, even leading many such communities to organize themselves around a brassworkers guild.
Salamandrite Ancestral Traits
Age. Salamandrites hatch from an egg in a clutch and mature to adulthood in ten years, living roughly fifty.Size. Salamandrites are tall, slender humanoids. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. As part of your fiery heritage, you can see well in darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Fiery Heritage. Salamandrites have a history with elemental fire. You have resistance to fire damage.
Heated Body. A creature that you choose that touches you or hits you with a melee attack while within 5 feet of you takes 3 (1d4) fire damage.
Salamandrite Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Charisma score by 1.Alignment. Salamandrite communities do not lean in any particular direction, but tend to favor the seasonal rhythms of nature. As such, they tend toward neutrality.
Salamandrite Weapon and Smith Training. Salamandrite communities have retained their centuries of weapon training and smithing practices. You have proficiency with the spear and glaive, as well as with Smithing Tools.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Sobekite
Adapted from the river-dwelling crocodiles, sobekites derived their name from a fierce deity they say they were created as avatars for. In their belief, Sobek defended the entire stretch of the Turquoise Serpent from mountain to sea, and his lingering power is the reason the massive river is the only constant location in the chaotic Itharan desert. Those in sobekite communities value protection above all else, and a sobekite warrior in battle is often compared to a mother ready to die and kill for her young. This value of protection also extends to education in healing medicine and the creation of trinkets and fetishes to ward off evil and bad luck. Almost any community member or dwelling is adorned by these trinkets.
Sobekite Ancestral Traits
Age. Sobekite mature at the same rate as humans and live for about as long.Size. Sobekites are as tall as humans and often muscular. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 feet.
Hard Scales. Thick scales cover a sobekite’s body. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for 15 minutes.
Powerful Jaws. Sobekites have strong bites that can rend and grapple. You can bite as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. When you hit with a bite, you can attempt to grapple the foe as a bonus action.
Sobekite Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Strength by 1.Alignment. Sobekite communities are orderly but relaxed. They lean toward neutrality.
Healers. You have proficiency in the Medicine skill and with herbalism kits. Additionally, you know how to craft talismans to ward off curses and evil influence. With the appropriate tools, you may spend three uninterrupted hours of concentration constructing a small talisman out of ivory, wood, painted glass, or precious stones, and infuse it with the effects of a remove curse or bless spell. The talisman can only use this effect on a creature or object it is touching. If you break your concentration during the construction time, you must start over.
Protectors. If a creature within 5 feet of you is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to make yourself the target of the attack instead.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and East or West Itharan.
Tron Daurat
Dragonborn (In Progress)
The primordial dragons of Tron Daurat are viewed akin to gods, and it is said that the first dragonborn are the result of other beings wishing to ascend to a higher state of existence. Legends abound of individuals bathing in the blood of dragons or being granted their scales in exchange of service, granting them immortality and some measure of the dragon’s power. These rites also gifted them with some measure of a dragon’s visage, creating the first dragonborn.
The primordial dragons are nearly all unique, each an immortal embodiment of primal nature, and the dragonborn are similarly varied in appearance. Most at least have a scale-covered body and reptilian head, tail, and arms and legs.
Dragonborn Ancestral Traits
Age. Young dragonborn grow quickly. They walk hours after being born, attain the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 3, and reach adulthood by 15. None so far have been reported to die of old age.Size. Dragonborn are taller and heavier than humans, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Breath Weapon. You can use your action to exhale destructive energy. Choose a damage type from the table below and the associated size and shape. When you use your breath weapon, each creature in the area of the exhalation must make a saving throw, the type of which is determined by your draconic ancestry. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your breath weapon, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
| Damage Type | Size |
|---|---|
| Acid | 5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save) |
| Lightning | 5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save) |
| Fire | 15 ft. cone (Dex. save) |
| Poison | 15 ft. cone (Dex. save) |
| Cold | 15 ft. cone (Dex. save) |
| Necrotic | 5 by 30 ft. line (Dex. save) |
Dragonborn Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.Alignment.
Dragon Lore. Dragonborn communities are often proud of their draconic heritage. You have advantage on any Intelligence checks to recall information about dragons.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Draconic, and one other language of your choice.
Elf
Touched by the innate creation magic of Tron Daurat, elves have a variety of natural abilities that carry through their thousands of years of ancestry. Since the onset of the Nightmare, elven culture has split between the sun elves and moon elves. Sun elven culture is rich in traditions and history, celebrating their long legacy of scholarship, acumen, and dance. These elves live in their ancestral cities, where the sun has never set before the arrival of the Nightmare. Whereas those who live in sun elven culture study magic and certain traditional elven martial arts, moon elven culture is freer, retreating from civilization and embracing nature after the onset of the Nightmare. Nightmare-afflicted regions are locked in eternal night, and moon elves have embraced the moon as their protector in the darkness.
Elf Ancestral Traits
Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100, and they do not die from old age.Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have the same range of builds as humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill, a trait that all people with elven ancestry share.
Shifting Visage. Elves can use their innate creation magic to change minor aspects of their appearance at will. As a free action, you can change the color of your hair, eyes, or skin, or add or change markings along your body. Elven forms are also sympathetic to their surroundings, and they may take on minor traits representative of their chosen class or profession (glowing golden eyes for a paladin, sharpened canines for a druid, etc.).
Creation Magic. While all elves need to train their creation magic to make the most of it, all elves are capable of small, innate feats. You know one of the druidcraft, prestidigitation, produce flame, or dancing lights cantrips, requiring no material components. You can change the cantrip given to you by this trait after a short rest.
Sun Elf Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.Alignment. Sun elven culture values freedom, variety, and self-expression, so those who grow up in it may lean toward the gentler aspects of chaos. Elven culture tends to value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own.
Sun Elven Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the estoc (rapier), war fan, shortbow, and longbow.
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
Moon Elf Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.Alignment. Moon elven culture values the overall stability of nature against the unpredictable chaos of the Nightmare, leading them more toward law. Elven culture tends to value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own.
Moon Elven Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longbow, shortbow, ranseur (spear), and raven's beak (halberd).
Way of the Wood. You have proficiency in the Stealth and Survival skills. When you are in forest, you add double your proficiency bonus to the checks, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
Gargoyle (In Progress)
Gargoyle Ancestral Traits
Age. Gargoyles are made, not born. Once created, they last as long as their stone forms endure.Size. Gargoyles are as tall as humans but much heavier, weighing at least 500 lbs. You may choose whether your size is Medium or Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Constructed Nature. Due to being made of stone, marble, or some other inorganic material, you have several advantages:
- You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
- You don’t need to drink or breathe.
- You are immune to disease.
Mineral Diet. While you do not need to eat food like most humanoids, you must consume one pound of minerals each day. This can include rich earth, rock, metals, or precious stones and minerals.
As a side effect, you can metabolize certain materials into a breath weapon. 24 hours after consuming 25 gp of powdered silver or 10 gp of tar, you can store a flask's equivalent of holy water or alchemist's fire, respectively, in your gullet. You may then spit out this liquid as an attack, following the same rules as throwing a flask of the liquid and emptying your gullet in the process.
Darkvision. Gargoyles were made to defend against the eternal night caused by the Nightmare, granting them superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
False Appearance. While a gargoyle remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an inanimate statue. In places where one might expect to find a statue, this gives you advantage on Stealth (Dexterity) checks.
Limited Flight. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. At 1st level, you fall if you end your turn in the air with nothing holding you aloft. When you reach 5th level, you may remain aloft for up to 30 minutes per day, all at once or in several shorter flights. You regain 30 minutes of flying time when you complete a long rest.
Stone Form. A gargoyle is made from solid stone. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You are also immune to the petrified condition.
Nocturnal. While in direct sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Gargoyle Cultural Traits
Gargoyles inherit the culture they were made in, or that of the individuals they were created to serve.Golem
Golem Ancestral Traits
Age. Golems are created in their mature forms and remain that way indefinitely, eventually breaking down after many centuries.Size. Golems are usually about the same size as humans, though they tend to weigh twice as much. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Constructed Nature. Due to being made of wood, iron, or some other inorganic material, you have several advantages:
- You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
- You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
- You are immune to disease.
- You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Powering Down. You do not need to sleep, but you must spend four hours inactive and motionless, though still aware of your surroundings, to gain the benefits of a long rest.
Hardened Form. Your constructed body is a delicate mechanism, but it is nevertheless more resilient than flesh thanks to magical enhancements. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal.
Golem Cultural Traits
Golems inherit the culture they were made in, or that of the individuals they were created to serve.Lycanthrope (In Progress)
Lycanthropes originate from moon elves twisted by the Nightmare’s curse. They transform against their will into vicious, bloodthirsty beasts that appear as twisted hybrids of wolves, deer, and other animals. Some few gain control of themselves and their bestial natures, however, and manage to live relatively normal lives. A few of these even have children, either with other lycanthropes or with those who do not suffer the curse. Some lycanthropes still undergo a transformation spurned by events or the cycles of the moon while others bear constant features reflecting their curse.
In order to create a lycanthrope, you must first create a character of some other ancestry to represent what non-lycanthrope heritage they possess. Once you have done so, select one or two of the lycanthrope descendant traits below, with this exception of the Lunar Transformation trait, and replace the same number of traits from your character’s original ancestry, not including Age or Size. If your ancestry only has one trait beyond those two, then remove that one trait and select two of traits below, adding them to your ancestry. Alternatively, you may choose the Lunar Transformation trait. With this trait, you appear to have no lycanthrope ancestry most of the time. When the moon is full, however, you transform into someone who is much closer to being a full lycanthrope. You retain control of yourself, but are undeniably lycanthropic.
Lycanthrope Ancestral Traits
Bestial Claws. You have sharp claws at the ends of your fingers which you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit, you deal 1d6 slashing damage plus your Strength modifier.Climber. You have a climbing speed equal to your current walking speed.
Fangs. Your canine teeth are several inches long and sharp. You can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action when you have grappled a foe. You deal 1d4 piercing damage plus your Strength modifier.
Tough Hide. You have thick hair all over your body that resembles fur, which provides you some protection from the cold and damage. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use this score to determine your AC if worn armor would leave you with a lower score. You may benefit from a shield as normal. What’s more, you have advantage on rolls to resist the effects of cold weather and environments.
Swift. Your legs are digitigrade and you have powerful muscles that propel you more quickly than others. You have a base walking speed of 40 feet.
Wild Senses. Your senses are unusually sharp. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Lunar Transformation. Your non-lycanthrope ancestry is dominant most of the time. On the three days a month during which the moon is full, however, you undergo a total transformation. On those three days, you remove any ancestral traits you have from your non-lycanthropic ancestry (except Age and Size) and instead possess every trait listed here.
Lycanthrope Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom by 1.Alignment.
Self-Acceptance. As a part of lycanthrope descendant culture, children are educated extensively in the lives and ways of beasts. You have proficiency in the Animal Handling skill.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.
Ropheite (In Progress)
Ropheite Ancestral Traits
Age. Ropheim mature incredibly quickly, growing from a sprout to a mature individual in no more than a few years. Once they reach adulthood, however, they can live up to fifty years.Size. Ropheim are short, with a wide variety of forms; some are thick and stocky, while others are thin and willowy. In all cases, they are very light, weighing no more than twenty five pounds. Regardless, your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Hallucinogenic Spores. When they feel threatened, ropheim can emit spores from the gills beneath their caps. As an action, you can eject spores at a creature you can see within 15 feet that you. The creature must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute, as vivid hallucinations begin. The poisoned target is blinded while it hallucinates. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. Once you have ejected spores in this way, you cannot do so again until you take a short or long rest.
Plant. Ropheim are sentient fungal growths. You have the type Plant.
Ropheite Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution score by 1.Alignment. Ropheite communities spend countless hours in contemplation, sometimes using their own hallucinogenic spores to aid their reveries. Such cerebral practices leave them with a distinctive, albeit removed, attitude about life. As such, these communities tend toward neutrality.
Fungal Friends. Ropheite communities cultivate non-sentient mushrooms for food and supplies. Over the centuries, they have developed a remarkable rapport with the plants. You can cast speak with plants (mushrooms only) to speak to non-sentient mushrooms once a day. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You regain the ability to cast this spell once per long rest.
Naturalism. Ropheite communities live close to the land and pride themselves on their fungal agriculture. You have proficiency in Nature.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Primordial.
Seraph (In Progress)
Seraph Ancestral Traits
Age. Seraphim mature at the same rate as elves. They typically claim adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100, and they do not die from old age.Size. Seraphim are the same size and shape as elves. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Heart of Fire. Your soul is entangled with that of a phoenix, a Fires of Rebirth. You have resistance to fire damage, and like the phoenix, you can be reborn in flame when you die. Once, when you die, you can choose to explode in a ball of flame and return to life with 1 hit point. When you do so, a fiery explosion deals 1d10 fire damage to anyone within 15 feet who fails a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. Once you have been reborn in fire in this way, you cannot do so again until you gain a character level. If you die again before this period and fail to Whether or not you ever are reborn in fire, you have resistance to fire damage.
Illuminated Eyes. Your eyes glow faintly, like a flickering candle. As an action, you can cause your eyes to flare with fiery light, illuminating the area around you with bright light in 10- foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. The light remains for 1 minute, or until you use an action to extinguish it.
Seraph Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment.
Spirit of the Flame. Seraph communities value both their fiery heritage and the cycles of life and death. They keep and teach magical traditions that illustrate these commitments as well. You know the produce flame cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the cure wounds spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the scorching ray spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Draconic.
Vampire
Most vampires are the result of the Nightmare corrupting high-class aristocracy of elven culture, though existing vampires can convert others through a blood-drinking ritual. They appear similar to their original ancestry, hough their skin often has a pallid or subtly corpselike aspect. They have retractable canine fangs that appear normal when not in use. Most vampires are shunned by other cultures due to their connection to the destructive terror of the Nightmare, and this is reflected in their communities. Vampire communities gravitate toward dark castles and mansions in areas where the sun rarely reaches. These communities often have a ready source of weaker creatures nearby for food, and their internal society revels in hedonism and the worst traits of the decadent sun elves.
In order to create a vampire, you must first create a character of some other ancestry to represent what non-vampire heritage they possess. Once you have done so, replace the age of your character and any darkvision/blindsight traits with the age and Darkvision traits below, then replace two traits from your character’s original ancestry with the Bloodthirst, Dark Metamorphosis, and Vampiric Curse traits below. If your ancestry only has one trait, then only add the three traits below; if your ancestry only has two traits, then remove only one trait and add the three below.
Vampire Ancestral Traits
Age. Much like their elven origin, vampires do not die of old age. This is also the case for any other ancestries that become vampires.Darkvision. Vampires are attuned to the eternal night caused by the Nightmare, granting them superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Bloodthirst. You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that is grappled by you, incapacitated, or restrained. Make a melee attack against the target. If you hit, you deal 1 piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and you regain hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Dark Metamorphosis. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to manifest two ethereal wings that take a form appropriate to your original ancestry, class, or profession (bat wings, stained glass, boney fingers, etc.). Your transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. During it, you have a flying speed of 30 feet, and once on each of your turns, you can deal extra necrotic damage to one target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell. The extra necrotic damage equals your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Vampiric Curse. While in direct sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
You must also consume at least one gallon of blood every week. A character who drinks only half that much blood must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the week. A character with access to even less blood automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. In either case, at the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. As soon as a gallon of blood is drunk within a week's time, your level of exhaustion resets to zero.
Vampire Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.Alignment. The blood-draining nature of vampires and their close association with the Nightmare often drive those in their communities to a philosophy that the strong can and should take what they want from the weak. Those in vampire communities often lean toward chaos and evil, as they are shunned and hunted by other groups.
Vampiric Magic. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the spider climb spell on yourself once with this trait, without requiring a material component. When you reach 7th level, you can cast the gaseous form spell on yourself once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells with this trait when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
Azuma
Azumese
Azumese towns tend to be surrounded by the wilderness, where both wild beasts and yokai roam. They tend to be raised with an understanding of and respect for the spirits that live in everything around them, and while not as technologically advanced as Itharan inventors, their crafters value beauty in all things they make. Everyone is expected to contribute to their community, and Azumese communities tend to value survivalists and artisans.
You may use this culture for any character raised in Azuma, if they were not raised in a community with more specific cultural variations. For details on Azumese human culture, refer to the Azumese.
Azumese Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment. Azumese society values stability in contrast to the chaotic nature of yokai. As such, they tend toward lawful values.
Craftwork. You gain proficiency with your choice of artisan tools, usually studying under one of the guildmasters of the community and working to sell the guild’s wares.
Survival Training. While the Azumese rely on the protection of the kitsune, everyone living in their communities is expected to contribute to the community’s survival. You have proficiency in the Survival skill as well as with the bow, shortsword, and naginata (glaive).
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and one other language of your choice.
Kappa
Kappa are strange yokai, somewhere between humanoid turtles and frogs, with a depression in their heads that holds life-giving waters. Despite their strange appearance, it is common for kappa to befriend other yokai and sometimes even people. Possessed of a keen intelligence, they seek out new languages to learn and hold valuable knowledge about medicine and the art of setting bones. According to legend, friendly kappa taught these skills to humans. For fun, they love causing mischief, practicing martial arts like sumo wrestling, and playing games of skill like shogi. Kappa are proud and stubborn, but also fiercely honorable; if they make a promise, it will never be broken.
Kappa Ancestral Traits
Age. Kappa reach adulthood in their late teens and live about a century.Size. Kappa are only about the size of a human child, rarely reaching 4 feet tall. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking and swimming speeds are 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Head Bowl. Kappa have a bowl-like indentation on their heads which holds water from the rivers or lakes where they live. If your head bowl is empty, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the bowl is refilled with water. If your head bowl is empty for more than an hour, you are paralyzed until the bowl is refilled. Normal movement and combat do not cause water to spill from the bowl, but an opponent can empty the bowl by knocking you prone or by making two successful grapple attacks – one to grab you, and one to tip your head while you are grappled.
Sure-Footed. Your body’s natural stability grants you advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock you prone.
Kappa Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Dexterity by 1.Alignment. Kappa communities do not espouse any particular morals, leaving it up to the individuals to decide. Some may be helpful and offer healing or sport, while others can be extremely aggressive. In all cases, the one virtue shared among kappa is seeing through any promise made. Kappa communities tend toward law and neutrality.
Wrestler. Wrestling is the favorite pastime of kappa, and they have developed techniques to punch far above their perceived weight. You have proficiency in Athletics, and you count as one size larger with regard to how much you can carry, lift, push, or grapple. Additionally, you can move at full speed while grappling a creature.
Herblore. You have proficiency with Wisdom (Medicine) checks.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and one other language of your choice.
Kitsune
The kitsune are fox-like yokai have taken the role of celestial protectors of Azuma. They are closely associated with humans, and larger cities have kitsune who personally guard them and the surrounding regions. Kitsune who act against their kin and act as malicious yokai are branded as nogitsune, shunned from regular kitsune society. These self-absorbed tricksters hide among society, seeking power or bringing misfortune to humanity as their whims decree. A kitsune’s need for kinship makes it hard for nogitsune to willingly keep up their ways; many eventually renounce their ways and return to kitsune society, though especially steadfast kitsune can remain nogitsune for centuries.
Kitsune Ancestral Traits
Age. Kitsune reach maturity by age 30 and live for centuries, gaining power with age. Player kitsune are rarely older than 400.Size. The average kitsune stands between 5 and 6 feet tall and weighs between 115 and 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Darkvision. The nocturnal ancestry of foxes provides kitsune superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Foxfire. Kitsune can innately summon forth a magical plasma known as foxfire, which they can turn into a fire or electric state. You know the produce flame cantrip and can choose to inflict fire or lightning damage when you use it as an attack. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.
Shapechanger. You can use your action to polymorph into a Small fox or back into your Medium humanoid form. Your statistics are the same in your fox form, but your carrying, pushing, and lifting capacity is reduced appropriate to your size. Any equipment you are wearing or carrying is transformed to fit your form. You revert to your fox form automatically if you die. Your star orb is visible regardless of what form you take.
In your fox form or if you choose to make your tail visible in your humanoid form, you start with one tail and gain more as your power increases. When you reach 3rd level, you have two tails; at 8th level, you have three tails; at 12th level, you have four tails; at 18th level, you have five tails.
Star Orb. The source of your power is an opalescent pearl embedded in your tongue, which remains present regardless of what form you take. If this pearl is removed, you lose your Foxfire and Shapechanger traits, any spellcasting abilities, and are stuck in your fox form. You will regain these abilities if the pearl is returned to your tongue or it naturally regrows after a century.
Kinship. Kitsune have an instinctual, overwhelming sense of kinship with other kitsune. If you attack another kitsune or nogitsune or take an action that you know will lead to harming one, you must make a DC 14 Wisdom save. On a failure, you automatically miss or are unable to take the action in question.
Kitsune Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score by 1.Alignment. Kitsune communities are fairly harmonious and well ordered, embracing their roles of protection and order. Its members tend strongly toward goodness and law.
Kitsune Protective Magic. Kitsune communities teach their children magics to protect and conceal. You know the sacred flame cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the protection from evil and good spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the mirror image spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Nogitsune Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score by 1.Alignment. Nogitsune follow their own goals, regardless of societal norms. Its members tend toward neutrality or chaos.
Nogitsune Trickster Magic. Nogitsune forego the protective magic of kitsune and focus on spells to curse and deceive. You know the minor illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hex spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the mirror image spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Kotengu
A tengu comes into being when a person of good standing willingly commits an evil act. Most tengu are kotengu, identified by their crow-like faces, taloned hands and feet, and black-feathered wings. Being born from such cowardice and cruelty, most kotengu are incredibly selfish and revel in acts of self-indulgent violence, but some may choose to wander the wider world in search of new experiences, suppressing their urges to work alongside other beings. Tengu are known as masters of warfare in Azuma, and many brave warriors have sought their tutelage to become legendary fighters.
Kotengu Ancestral Traits
Age. Kotengu sprout into being fully formed and live for up to 600 years.Size. The average kotengu stands slightly taller than a human. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Darkvision. Kotengu live in the dim forests of Kohryu and hunt lonely travelers at night. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Talons. Kotengu have sharp talons on their feet. You can scratch as an unarmed strike. On a hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier. You can also grip things with your feet while you fly, though you cannot manipulate objects beyond picking them up and dropping them.
Flight. All tengu have broad, black-feathered wings. You have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, but only if you are not wearing heavy armor. At 1st level, you fall if you end your turn in the air with nothing holding you aloft. When you reach 5th level, you may remain aloft for up to 2 hours per day, all at once or in several shorter flights. You regain one hour of flying time when you complete a long rest.
Kotengu Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score by 1.Alignment. Kotengu follow the wills of their leading daitengu, but strongly prefer to act with total freedom, even if that means harming others for fun or training. They strongly lean toward chaos.
Martial Training. Kotengu are masters of combat arts, and their communities instill harsh martial combat training in their members from a very young age. Those that survive become incredible warriors. You have proficiency with the kusarigama, naginata (glaive), odachi (great sword), wakizashi (dagger), tachi (short sword), and longbow. You also have proficiency in Perception and Acrobatics.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Haniwa (In Progress)
Haniwa Ancestral Traits
Age. Haniwa do not age.Size. Haniwa vary in size depending on how they were built, but most are slightly shorter than the average human. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Undead Nature. Haniwa are ghosts bound to a clay figure and are largely exempt from the needs of the living. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage. You do not need food, drink, or air, and you are immune to disease.
Traces of Life. Haniwa remain largely self-aware from their time as living creatures. You have proficiency in one skill and with one tool or weapon of your choice.
Amorphous. If you choose to leave your clay shell as an action, you can manifest as an amorphous spirit. While outside of your shell, you can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Every minute you spend outside of your shell, you must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion. Exhaustion gained in this way can only be removed by taking a long rest within your clay shell.
Haniwa Cultural Traits
Haniwa adopt whatever culture they were members of before death.Infested (In Progress)
Some creatures search for immortality, and a few in Azuma find immortality in the poisonous centipedes of Seiryu, the Mukade. By allowing a mukade to infest their bodies, these people become immortal as long as the mukade lives: their wounds immediately close, severed body parts regenerate over time, and they will even return from drowning or immolation. In exchange, however, they are considered defiled.
Infested largely retain the culture they were members of before their infestation, but being reviled members of society, some find new purpose in communities that revere the noxious yokai centipede Omukade. Omukade’s followers seek the defilement of the world around them, particularly the celestial kitsune and their kin. If the very foundations of the world are cursed, then a curse is a curse no more.
You can make an existing character infested with the following steps:
- Your Age is replaced by the infested Age trait. You retain your Size and Speed traits.
- You gain the Transcendence and Shunned ancestry traits.
- You gain the Centipede’s Blessing and Defiled Enlightenment traits and remove two traits from your original ancestry, not including Age, Size, or Speed. If your ancestry only has two traits, you gain the additional traits and remove one original trait. If your ancestry only has one trait, you gain the additional traits and keep your original trait.
Infested Ancestral Traits
Age. Infested continue to age at an incredibly slowed rate after their infestation, but will never die of old age. Especially ancient infested are little more than animated, dessicated mummies.Transcendence. Infested are sapient people, but their curse separates them from the bindings of mortality. As such, they no longer need sleep, food, drink, or even air to breathe.
Centipede’s Blessing. The mukade within you grants you near-immortality. The mukade itself can only be killed by a spell or effect that obliterates matter (such as a sphere of annihilation) or by being attacked with a weapon coated in saliva. While the mukade infests you and is alive, you gain the following benefits:
- If you are below half your hit point maximum at the start of your turn, you regain 1 hit point.
- If you lose a limb or organ or are decapitated, your centipede reforms the missing part after 24 hours. During that time, the centipede can extend from your body to replace the missing limb, using its head and tail to replace up to two limbs or your head and one limb. Your movement speed reduces by 5 for each leg replaced in this way. If your arms are replaced, you can use the centipede’s mandibles or tail to make unarmed attacks, dealing 1d4 poison damage on a hit. The centipede can hold items, swing weapons, and perform somatic spell components, but cannot perform fine manipulation; you have disadvantage with the Sleight of Hand skill in this case. If your head is replaced, you see through the centipede’s eyes and they match the vision you originally had, and you lose the ability to speak or perform verbal spell components.
- If you die, your centipede puppets your body to a safe location as best as it can and you return to life 24 hours after death. If your body is destroyed, your centipede reforms it at a spot determined by the DM after one week. If your equipment was also destroyed, you do not regain it.
- Steeped in Poison. The mukade within your body grants you resistance to poison damage and advantage on saves against being poisoned or diseased.
- Vermin-Speech. The mukade grants you the ability to speak with small beasts.
- Secret Wisdom. The mukade grants you proficiency in one skill, tool, or language of your choice.
- Third Eye. The mukade grants you blindsight to 30 feet.
- Unwavering Mind. The mukade gives you advantage on saving throws against being Frightened.
Infested Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Constitution score by 1.Alignment. It is the will of the great centipede Omukade that enlightenment should not only be the domain of purity, and the infested who serve his will work to taint the world around me. As such, they tend strongly toward chaos.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Itachi
Itachi communities do not lean into malice as much as other yokai communities: in their view, as long as they don’t feel any real harm is being done, or that the harm is immediately mended, their trickery is acceptable. Other communities rarely agree, but itachi communities continue their ways regardless.
Itachi warriors, known as kamaitachi, are trained in using sickles and band together in groups of three, where they swirl between the trees and slice their foes faster than they can be seen. These kamaitachi also go after helpless travelers when bored: the trio flies past in a gust of wind and, in a matter of seconds, trips the person, slices them with a sickle, and applies a salve to the wound that immediately closes it up. Their victims rarely are able to perceive them in action, but often notice the giggling on the wind once they pass.
Itachi Ancestral Traits
Age. Itachi mature quickly, reaching adulthood in just 7 years, but their powers only manifest after 100 years. Their lifespans reach 200-300 years.Size. Itachi are larger than normal weasels, but still stand around three feet tall and weigh perhaps 40 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Ride the Winds. Itachi have a unique ability to harness the wind, granting them a flight speed equal to their walking speed and the ability to hover up to 5 feet above the ground.
Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Itachi Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Itachi communities rarely if ever really punish those who break the law, as long as they do it in order to pull off a good trick. Obviously, they tend away from lawfulness.
Itachi Spellcasting. Itachi communities train in wind and illusion magic. You know the gust cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the zephyr strike spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the gust of wind spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Break and Fix. Itachi prefer weapons weapons designed for quick attacks, but also know how to make extremely potent salves. You are proficient with sickles, kusarigama, and healer’s kits.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Namahage
The namahage are strange, troll-like yokai that wander the frozen mountain of Genbu in nomadic families. These extremely tall, lanky humanoids have blue skin, wild black hair, horns, and curling tusks, and they usually wear thick straw raincoats and leggings to ward off the cold. Their most distinct features, however, are the painted wooden and straw masks they almost always wear. Every member of a namahage community carves and paints their own mask by hand and wears it for life, only removing it for sleep, mourning, or when banished from their clans.
While the namahage normally are content to tend to yak herds in the mountains, all namahage take part in an unusual ritual once per year during the first full moon. On this night, the namahage storm human villages, moving door-to-door and harassing any bad children or newlywed couples. Children are chastised and warned to be good, while newlywed couples are pressed to give an account of all the evil deeds they did during their first year together. Despite their frightening behavior, the namahage are well-meaning in this ritual, and the harassed humans are never brought harm; in fact, the adults of Genbu are well aware of the namahage's intentions, and always have sake and mochi ready to serve their "guests" to "appease" them. Some namahage have even acted as proper consultants during this time, mending more than a few marriages and protecting children from abuse that causes them to act out.
Namahage Ancestral Traits
Age. Namahage reach maturity quickly, by age 10, and live an average of 100 years.Size. Namahage are much taller than humans, standing between 9 and 12 feet tall on average, but don’t weigh much more, due to their lean frames. Your size is Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Icy Veins. Namahage are born of the mountain chill. You are immune to cold damage.
Blindsight. To endure blinding blizzards and dark winter nights, namahage are capable of sensing soft motions in the earth and can echolocate over short distances. You have blindsight to a range of 20 feet.
Namahage Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom increases by 2 and your Charisma by 1.Alignment. The namahage have taken it upon themselves to warn the people of Genbu away from misdeeds or bad marriages, and they carry those beliefs with them in their own communities. As such, they tend toward law and goodness.
Drift Walker. A life traversing icy and snowy terrain has taught you how to navigate such difficulties. Deep snow and slippery ice are not difficult terrain for you.
Chastisement. Namahage communities practice how to tell when someone is lying or hiding the truth, and the best methods to scare them straight. You have proficiency with Insight and Intimidation.
Mask Maker. In namahage communities, every member wears a mask they carve by hand from wood and straw. You have proficiency with woodcarver’s tools and painter’s tools.
Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Nekomata
Like many of Azuma’s animals, when cats live to an old age they develop supernatural powers and transform into yokai. Nekomata begin their supernatural life looking almost identical to an ordinary housecat, but soon they begin to walk about on their hind legs. As they age and their powers increase, they can grow large indeed—up to the size of a full-grown human, and taking on human features as they choose. Regardless of how human they appear, all nekomata have two tails, frequently tipped by ghostly flames.
Most nekomata fall into feral bakeneko society, where they are viewed as troublesome yet free-spirited menaces. They teach how to control their ghostly flames to cast fire spells and are known to cause house fires during their partying, either on purpose or by accidentally brushing their flame-tipped tails on flammable material.
Kinder nekomata often choose the life of a maneki neko, living among civilization and particularly shops and merchants. These establishments are always happy to have a maneki neko present, as the yokai teach one another how to use magic to give good fortune and train to be shrewd businessmen.
Kasha society creates fiery necromancers responsible for carting the bodies of sinners to Jigoku, where they are punished for their misdeeds before their reincarnation. Some kasha opt to ignore the specifics of a person’s deeds and cart them to Jigoku or perform necromancy on their corpses regardless of their sins, leading to fears of cats coming too close to graveyards. Kasha learn to summon and remotely control a supernatural cart with wheels engulfed in flames to facilitate their work.
Nekomata Ancestral Traits
Age. Nekomata mature more quickly than humans, reaching adulthood by 16 years old. However, they can easily live up to 200 years.Size. Nekomata stand between 4.5 and 6 feet tall, but tend to be more lithe than humans, averaging about 120 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Yokai. Your creature type is Fey.
Darkvision. Nekomata have a history of nocturnal behavior, granting their descendants superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Cat's Grace. Nekomata have an uncanny ability to land on their feet from birth. You have proficiency in the Acrobatics skill.
Claws. Your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.
Ghostfire. Nekomata can innately summon forth a ghostly fire and often manifest it on the tips of their tails. You know the produce flame cantrip and can summon it on the tips of your tails instead of your hands. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.
Shapechanger. You can use your action to polymorph into a Small cat with two tails or back into your Medium humanoid form. Your statistics are the same in your cat form, but your carrying, pushing, and lifting capacity is reduced appropriate to your size. Any equipment you are wearing or carrying is transformed to fit your form. You revert to your cat form automatically if you die.
Bakeneko Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Bakeneko communities tend to profess that one shouldn’t let others tell them how to live. As such, they tend strongly toward chaos.
Bakeneko Magic. Bakeneko communities train their magic to enhance their ghost fire and aid in trickery. You know the minor illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the disguise self spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the flaming sphere spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Trickster's Revelry. You have proficiency in one of the following skills: Performance, Deception, or Intimidation.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Maneki Neko Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Maneki neko communities value orderly conduct and strict regiment, but won’t say no to bending the rules a little for special occasions. They tend weakly toward law.
Maneki Neko Magic. Maneki neko communities are known for spreading blessings and good fortune. You know the guidance cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the identify spell once with this trait, without requiring a material component. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the warding bond spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Business Acumen. You have proficiency in one of the following skills: Insight, Persuasion, or Investigation.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Kasha Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2 and your Intelligence by 1.Alignment. Kasha communities are responsible for carting sinners to their punishment, though they don’t adhere strictly to these rules. As such, they tend toward neutrality.
Kasha Magic. Kasha communities train in necromancy and to manifest a supernatural cart. You know the toll the dead cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the find steed spell once with this trait, though you can only use it to summon a wooden cart with wheels engulfed in ghostly fire. This cart has the fiend type, the statistics of a warhorse, and does not require proficiency with vehicles to ride. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Torment the Sinful. You have proficiency in one of the following skills: Intimidation, Athletics, Survival.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Oni Kin (In Progress)
Oni Kin Ancestral Traits
Age. Oni kin mature at the same rate as humans but can live up to 300 years.Size. Oni kin tower over most humans, standing at 8 to 10 feet in height and weighing in the vicinity of 300 lbs. This brings your size to Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Fast Healing. Though not as quick to heal as their oni forebears, those of oni kin ancestry exhibit remarkable healing abilities. Once an hour when not in combat, you may roll one hit die to recover hit points. This does not deduct from your current number of hit dice.
Hardy. Like your oni ancestors, you can absorb a startling amount of damage. When you take damage from a source you can see, you can use your reaction to expend a Hit Die, if you have any. Roll the Hit Die and add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled, reducing the damage by that total. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once).
Oni Kin Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment.
Chromatic Teachings. Red, blue, and yellow oni tend to specialize in different fields, and their descendents often choose a special path to match. Choose one of the three options below:
- Red Oni. Red oni value strength and physical combat. You are proficient in Athletics and have proficiency with the kanabo (great club), odachi (great sword), and maul.
- Blue Oni. Blue oni prefer bewitching their opponents and studying the arcane. You are proficient in Arcana. You know the chill touch cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the invisibility spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
- Yellow Oni. Yellow oni rely on their lithe builds to weave through their opponents, or avoid combat altogether. You have proficiency with Acrobatics and the naginata (glaive) and chigiriki. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the expeditious retreat spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the zephyr strike spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Phantom (In Progress)
Phantom Ancestral Traits
Age.Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Phantom Cultural Traits
Phantoms do not form their own cultures and instead inherit the cultures of their original forms.Tanuki (In Progress)
Tanuki Ancestral Traits
Age.Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tanuki Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Azumese, and another language of your choice.
Tsuchigumo (In Progress)
Tsuchigumo Ancestral Traits
Age.Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tsuchigumo Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase.Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
Tsukumogami (In Progress)
Tsukumogami Ancestral Traits
Age.Size.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Tsukumogami Cultural Traits
Ability Score Increase.Alignment.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Azumese.
