Homebrew Weilkin Species Details

Ah, the weilkin. Big as a killer whale. Smart as a killer whale. Ambitious like any humanoid. What else could you fear more?

— Marco, the fisherman who never saw a dragon

 

Weilkins are an aquatic species from Procellarius, an oceanic planet. They appear as humanoid orcas with tentacles sprouting from the back of their heads. They also sport two long prehensile tentacles that emerge from their lower backs, in a fashion similar to tails. 

Weilkins spend most of their time in the water, holding their breath for several minutes while scanning the landscape with clicks that they hear through the very sensitive tentacles that grow on the back of their heads.

Weilkins live on their home planet Procellarius, close to the astral plane, and spend most of their lives with their pods, their extended families. They build small settlements on coastlines, often allowing the sea into their homes. Weilkin society is somehow matriarchal, although they lack a strict definition of gender.

Explorers and diplomats

Weilkins evolved pretty recently, hailing from a confluence between their home world and the Plane of Water. Driven by curiosity and the desire for freedom, the first weilkins set foot on land to see what else the world had in store for them.

Thanks to their great social intelligence, weilkins quickly proved themselves able to grasp the intricate social nuances of other races, learning how to deal with them and how to coexist peacefully.

Sharing their sense of justice and balance with the other races, weilkins were then allowed inside their societies and often ended up taking administrative roles.

Weilkins are renown for their fairness and for their respect of other cultures, making them very good diplomats, judges, ambassadors and interpreters.

Placid listeners

Given their threatening appearance, weilkins are very aware of their composure. They are generally peaceful and have no intention to scare or fight other creatures, so they act very gently and polite in order not to be misunderstood.

Beware, as weilkins are still emotive creatures, and they may be hiding their anger or aggressive impulses behind a cryptic body language. As a result, sometimes weilkins seem to suddenly snap out of their patience, without any warning.

Relativist observers

Despite their propensity to rule, weilkins tend to observe and listen for a long time before properly reacting to a threat. They like to ponder and thoroughly comprehend all the nuances of a situation before picking a part, and that can sometimes result in hesitation.

Weilkins put their pods in front of anything else when danger approaches, making them prone to abandon fights before risking too much for the cause.

Given this disposition, weilkins are rarely seen in military contexts.

Quick to adapt

Given their exploratory nature, weilkins are quick to understand local customs and cultures.

They find it easy to adapt, although they always keep faithful to their placid nature. A weilkin may find themselves at home in almost any place, as long as they can keep their pod close to their heart.

In response, it's easy for other cultures to accept them and host them as part of their own, as long as danger doesn't push them to withdraw to their pods.

Weilkin Personality

Far from flawless, these placid yet curious observers can easily conceal some mischief. You can select, roll, or adapt a weilkin-specific quirk from the Weilkin Quirks table. Use the quirk to inform how you portray your character.

Weilkin Quirks

d6	Quirk
1	You love watching people arguing with each other.
2	You spend lots of time hoarding gifts and souvenirs for your pod.
3	You often use clicks as interjections, expecting people to understand them.
4	You can't help but playing with your food before eating it.
5	The surface world is a wondrous place, and you keep noting new things you notice in a journal.
6	It's never clear when you're angry, until you reach your limit and snap.

Weilkin Names

Most weilkin names have two or three syllables. Male names typically end with the vowel u and the letter s or m, and female names traditionally end with the vowel a. Weilkins use their pod name as a surname, with the name formed by an adjective or a combination of words. Each pod's name comes after a physical or a temperamental trait common to its members.

Female Weilkin Names: Arca, Cracka, Dursa, Finna, Prata, Randa, Talganna, Winna

Male Weilkin Names: Chitrum, Crocus, Furcus, Murmurum, Marcus, Pagellum, Velthus, Zeckrus

Weilkin Surnames: Cheerful Song, Fast Clicks, Long Fin, Sharp Mind, White Tentacle

Weilkin Traits

Your weilkin character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength, Constitution, and Charisma scores each increase by 1. Alternatively, you can choose to increase three abilities of your choice by 1, or one ability of your choice by 2 and another one by 1.

Age

Weilkins reach maturity around age 20 and can live up to 150 years.

Size

Weilkins are slightly taller than humans, averaging about 6.5 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 30 feet.

Capacious lungs

You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + your Proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Echolocation

You can perceive your surroundings without relying on sight. You gain blindsight out to a radius of 60 feet as long as you are not deafened. The clicks you emit when you use this trait are clearly audible to other creatures within a 60 feet range.

Short-Sightedness

Weilkins suffer from short-sightedness, causing distant objects to appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Your normal sight range is 15 feet. You have disadvantage on Wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight over a range of 15 feet. If you are deafened, you have disadvantage on ranged attack rolls over  a range of 15 feet.

Keen Hearing

You have advantage on Wisdom (perception) checks that rely on hearing.

Stunning Click

Once using this trait, you can use a bonus action to emit a very powerful click capable of stunning creatures in range. Each creature in a range of 30 feet must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be stunned for 1 minute. At the end of each of its turns, an affected creature can make another Constitution saving throw. On a success, the condition ends on the target. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a short or long rest.