I have been asked (repeatedly, both subversively and overtly) by my significant other to make an underwater campaign for her.
I have a decent premise for setting (no surprise - it's underwater!) with an idea of the rules I'd need to implement to make things work well (and not feel like it's just normal dnd but wetter). My next step is to get a decent variety of playable races for an entirely underwater campaign.
Now, the first thought was to do a variety of Merfolk - so Mer-orcs, mer-elves, mer-dwarves; but I think that would be just scraping the possibilities.
I am not entirely clued up on dnd lore (does anyone know everything? there's so much!) but I have a few loose ideas for playable races - some will be entirely homebrew, others will be based on existing creatures:
Merfolk, who are the "humans" of the underwater.
Merrow, who are more warlike and will have orc-esque stats
dragonborn turtle (dragon turtleborn?)
Octopus-folk
Sharkfolk
Crab/lobsterfolk
Stormkin - kinda goliaths with storm giant links
Sahuagin, maybe
Just looking for cool flavour for character races which would exist entirely underwater! All ideas welcome!
There are obviously the Sea versions of Elf and Half elf, tritons, water genasi, air genasi (if you wanted to be spicy), Locantha, Grung, tortle, and several of the MotG races from their published books and free campaign booklettes that would fit the underwater motif.
I'd recommend Sirens, eventhough they usually are associated with flight in dnd, I don't see why they couldn't have adapted to be aquatic aswell or in place of their flight
Lizard folk, if you wanted to increase the time they could hold their breath for it would be similar to some amphibians that need to be in water for extended periods of time to live/hunt.
Hexbloods from a Sea hag could reasonably have waterbreathing and fit.
Also Kraken folk (or Krak-kin as I would call them) could be interesting aswell.
As for animals you could base some races off of, jellyfish, Seaurchins/anemones, SeaMonkey and Rays could be cool depending on environment of course.
If you want some merfolk races there are some published in the Planeshift bits WOTC did the Ixalan one has Merfolk of various types, link here: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift
Otherwise you have the Deep Scion, Sea Spawn and Triton's in Volo's for aquatic critters that could be useful.
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Two interesting monsters you could riff on for PC options: the sharkbody abomination, which is basically a wereshark created by sahuagin magic; and the chuul, sentient crustaceans created aeons ago by aboleth
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
- Selkie - mythical creatures that can turn into seals by shedding their skin. Generally seen as intelligent, they would make a good sapient race.
- Ponaturi - goblin-like creatures from Māori tradition.
- The more modern Scandinavian Draug (not to be confused with draugr, the older barrow-myths and creatures vaguely--if slightly inaccurately--represented in the Elder Scrolls). Draug are the spirits of those who drown at sea, and are usually depicted as headless or having heads of seaweed.
- The Telchines, sea spirits that turned to dark magics. In Greek mythology, they were killed by the gods, but you could still use them for the basis of sapient spirits with strange powers.
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
If you want some merfolk races there are some published in the Planeshift bits WOTC did the Ixalan one has Merfolk of various types, link here: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift
WotC has actually released five different merefolk subraces
I have been asked (repeatedly, both subversively and overtly) by my significant other to make an underwater campaign for her.
I have a decent premise for setting (no surprise - it's underwater!) with an idea of the rules I'd need to implement to make things work well (and not feel like it's just normal dnd but wetter). My next step is to get a decent variety of playable races for an entirely underwater campaign.
Now, the first thought was to do a variety of Merfolk - so Mer-orcs, mer-elves, mer-dwarves; but I think that would be just scraping the possibilities.
I am not entirely clued up on dnd lore (does anyone know everything? there's so much!) but I have a few loose ideas for playable races - some will be entirely homebrew, others will be based on existing creatures:
Just looking for cool flavour for character races which would exist entirely underwater! All ideas welcome!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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There are obviously the Sea versions of Elf and Half elf, tritons, water genasi, air genasi (if you wanted to be spicy), Locantha, Grung, tortle, and several of the MotG races from their published books and free campaign booklettes that would fit the underwater motif.
I'd recommend Sirens, eventhough they usually are associated with flight in dnd, I don't see why they couldn't have adapted to be aquatic aswell or in place of their flight
Lizard folk, if you wanted to increase the time they could hold their breath for it would be similar to some amphibians that need to be in water for extended periods of time to live/hunt.
Hexbloods from a Sea hag could reasonably have waterbreathing and fit.
Also Kraken folk (or Krak-kin as I would call them) could be interesting aswell.
As for animals you could base some races off of, jellyfish, Seaurchins/anemones, SeaMonkey and Rays could be cool depending on environment of course.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
If you want some merfolk races there are some published in the Planeshift bits WOTC did the Ixalan one has Merfolk of various types, link here: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift
Otherwise you have the Deep Scion, Sea Spawn and Triton's in Volo's for aquatic critters that could be useful.
Two interesting monsters you could riff on for PC options: the sharkbody abomination, which is basically a wereshark created by sahuagin magic; and the chuul, sentient crustaceans created aeons ago by aboleth
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Here are a few other ideas:
- Selkie - mythical creatures that can turn into seals by shedding their skin. Generally seen as intelligent, they would make a good sapient race.
- Ponaturi - goblin-like creatures from Māori tradition.
- The more modern Scandinavian Draug (not to be confused with draugr, the older barrow-myths and creatures vaguely--if slightly inaccurately--represented in the Elder Scrolls). Draug are the spirits of those who drown at sea, and are usually depicted as headless or having heads of seaweed.
- The Telchines, sea spirits that turned to dark magics. In Greek mythology, they were killed by the gods, but you could still use them for the basis of sapient spirits with strange powers.
- Nymphs and nereides.
There are:
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Sea Snakes
Sea Slugs
Jellyfish
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"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
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That's the closest to what I drew this evening, with this conundrum on my mind! It would run like a reskinned tortle:
Thank you all for the replies! I have a lot of work to be doing making some races!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Plasmoids - spelljammer
https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Plasmoid
ooh, plasmoids sounds cool and thematic, that's going on the list! Thanks!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
There's a new version in the current UA too
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
WotC has actually released five different merefolk subraces
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