Homebrew Riverkin Species Details

 Riverkin are a mystery.  No other race knows where they came from, and they themselves consider the question a little foolish, having for so long a time lived lives perhaps not on the very bottom levels of society, but certainly among the classes where if you let the past distract you too much you tend not to stay alive in the present.  Indeed, on their home world of Sauvogia riverkin are stereotyplcally viewed as stevedores, fisherfolk, bargekeepers, all the professions that might be summed up with the words "riparian roughnecks".  Indeed, they encourage this view, as it tends to lead those who would oppress them to underestimate them.  In fact, they are an ancient and, in their own way, subtle culture with several traditional martial arts focusing around the blades and tools they would tend to use in their, indeed often sought by choice and at least to a slight degree as camouflage from the fools that would take them lightly, usual roles.  Within the privacy of their own homes, they also nurture a traditional style of music with a heavy emphasis on drone instruments such as bagpipes, contrasted with a vocal style that alternates long periods of throbbing restraint with fireworks that stretch the voice of the singer to the utmost in both high and low registers,  Consequently, those riverkin musicians who choose to share their arts beyond their own ranks (which is allowed in their culture so long as certain deeply private and often ritually-associated words and melodies remain a profound secret to all outsiders) make good bards as well.

A typical riverkin female (they are decidedly a matriarchal culture, and in fact the females tend to be larger) tends to stand between 5'5" and 6'5", with the males between two and four inches shorter.  Their weight ranges between 175lbs and 230lbs, but their muscle tissue and general distribution is denser and more compact than many races, and so they tend to be deceptively lean and slender of build even at a weight which for other beings of their height would lead to a certain ... rotundity.

Riverkin hair tends to shades of brown and black; the rare redhead among them is viewed as either chosen or cursed by the gods; and there has been only one case of any other hair color known, not blonde but absolutely pure bone white from birth, a legendary hero who fell to become the monster she was battling and then battled herself until she was defeated; and some riverkin strands of tale claim their race stumbled mistily out of swirls of river mist wherever her blood touched the water in that last battle above and below.  Males have no beards, but consider the length and elegance of their moustache to be a point of pride verging on honor, while the females similarly view their sideburns.  Their skin tones tend to reflect their name, a blend of browns and greens such as might be seen on the riverbank or dappling over the surface, all somehow swirling together in patterns that defy the eye to look at them closely enough to be sure of exactly what their pattern is

Creating Your Character

At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation.

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You can follow those suggestions or ignore them, but you can’t raise any of your scores above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player's Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.

Creature Type

Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race tells you what your character’s creature type is.

Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.

Life Span

The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race’s description.

Height and Weight

Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player's Handbook and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.

Riverkin Traits

As a riverkin, you have the following racial traits.

Roughnecks

Due to the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of the professions and environment they are traditionally associated with, and a certain sense of quirky stubborn pride that enshrines that even in the cases of the ones who no longer inhabit that world, all riverkin start out with the Tavern Brawler feat

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid.

Size

You are Medium.

Speed

Riverkin walking speed is 30 ft.; their swimming speed is 20 ft.

Semi-amphibious

While not truly amphibious, all riverkin have membranes in their nostrils and upper throats which filter supplemental oxygen out of the water, and a recirculating system to constantly expel used water from the nose rather than allowing it to go down the windpipe or trachea,  Hence, all riverkin can survive underwater for one hour as if they were under the effect of a water breathing spell, and can activate this as a reaction if they are suddenly submerged.

River arms

Riverkin have developed proficiency with certain traditional weapons associated with their usual river trades, and over the millenia they have extrapolated these to similar weapons of that type.  All riverkin are proficient with the net, short sword, hand axe (cleaver), falchion, harpoon, and short spear.