Merfolk Parentage

Merfolk are aquatic humanoids with an upper-body like that of a human and the lower body like that of a fish. Most merfolk adorn their skin and scales with shell decorations.
Merfolk tribes and kingdoms span the waters of most worlds, and their people are as varied in color, culture, and outlook as humans on the surface. Land folk and merfolk rarely meet except by chance, though starry-eyed mariners tell tales of these creatures along the shoals of faraway islands. Merfolk build their settlements in vast undersea caverns, mazes of coral, the ruins of sunken cities, or structures they carve from the rocky seabed. They live in water shallow enough that the passage of time can be marked by the gleam and fade of sunlight through the water. In the reefs and trenches near their settlements, merfolk harvest coral and farm the seabed, shepherding schools of fish as land-based farmers tend sheep.
Only rarely do merfolk venture into the darkest depths of the ocean. In such depths and in their undersea caverns, merfolk rely on the light of bioluminescent flora and fauna, such as jellyfish, whose slow pulsing movements lend merfolk settlements an otherworldly aesthetic.
Merfolk defend their communities with weapons crafted from materials they can salvage from shipwrecks, beaches, and dead undersea creatures.

Merfolk Traits

You have a pool of 16 points to spend between your two birth parents. If either or both of your birth parents are merfolk, choose from the following.

Ability Score Increase (4 Points)

• Choose one ability score that does not benefit from an Ability Score Increase from your other birth parent or due to your upbringing. This score increases by 1.

Amphibious (1 Point)

• You can breathe air and water.

Fishtail (0 Points)

• Your base speed reduces to 10 feet. As an action, you can transform your fishtail into legs or vice versa. Changing your tail into legs gives you a base speed of 30 feet but reduces any swimming speed to 15 feet. If you are knocked unconscious or die, you revert to your true form.

Improved Swim (4 Points)

• You have a swimming speed of 40 feet.

Piscine Senses (2 Points)

• While immersed in water, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Swim (2 Points)

• You have a swimming speed of 30 feet.