Homebrew Hylian Species Details

These were the stories of a restless people who long ago took to the seas and rivers in longboats, first to pillage and terrorize, then to settle. Yet there was an energy, a love of adventure, that sang from every page. Long into the night Liriel read, lighting candle after precious candle.

She’d never given much thought to hylians, but these stories fascinated her. In these yellowed pages were tales of bold heroes, strange and fierce animals, mighty primitive gods, and a magic that was part and fabric of that distant land.

— Elroy Roke, xenaphobe of the Zora

In the reckonings of most worlds, hylians are the youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the world scene and short-lived in comparison to Rito, Zora, and Goron. Perhaps it is because of their shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races, and that’s why they build their mighty civilisations on the foundation of machinery and power. Whatever drives them, hylians are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the world.

A Broad Spectrum

With their penchant for migration and conquest, hylians are more physically diverse than other common races. There is no typical hylian. An individual can stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds. Hylian skin shades range from nearly black to very pale, and hair colors from black to blond (curly, kinky, or straight); males might sport facial hair that is sparse or thick. A lot of hylians have a dash of nonhylian blood, revealing hints of Gerudo, Sheika, or other lineages. Hylians reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live even a single century.

Variety in All Things

Hylians are the most adaptable and ambitious people among the common races. They have widely varying tastes, morals, and customs in the many different lands where they have settled. When they settle, though, they stay: they build structures to last for the ages, and great civilisations that can persist for long centuries. An individual hylian might have a relatively short life span, but a hylian nation or culture preserves traditions with origins far beyond the reach of any single hylians memory. They live fully in the present—making them well suited to the adventuring life—but also plan for the future, striving to leave a lasting legacy. Individually and as a group, hylians are adaptable opportunists, and they stay alert to changing regitical and social dynamics.

EVERYONE’S SECOND-BEST FRIENDS

Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans mingle with members of other races. They get along with almost everyone, though they might not be close to many. Humans serve as ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries of all kinds.

Goron. “They’re large folk, stalwart friends, and true to their word. Their anxiosnous is their downfall, though.”

Elves. “It’s best not to go into ritan skys. They don’t like intruders, and you’ll as likely be bewitched as peppered with arrows. Still, if a rito can get past that damned racial pride and actually treat you like an equal, you can learn a lot from them.”

Gerudo. "They are decent folk but theres that whole only women thing."

Lasting Institutions

Where a single Rito or Zora might take on the responsibility of guarding a special location or a powerful secret, hylians found sacred orders and institutions for such purposes. While Goron clans and Gerudo elders pass on the ancient traditions to each new generation, hylian temples, governments, libraries, and codes of law fix their traditions in the bedrock of history. Hylians dream of immortality, but (except for those few who seek undeath or divine ascension to escape death’s clutches) they achieve it by ensuring that they will be remembered when they are gone.

Although some hylians can be xenophobic, in general their societies are inclusive. Hylian lands welcome large numbers of nonhylians compared to the proportion of hylians who live in nonhylian lands.

Exemplars of Ambition

Hylians who seek adventure are the most daring and ambitious members of a daring and ambitious race. They seek to earn glory in the eyes of their fellows by amassing power, wealth, and fame. More than other people, hylians champion causes rather than territories or groups.

 

Hylian Traits

It’s hard to make generalizations about hylians, but your hylian character has these traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your ability scores each increase by 1 and you gain 1 Feat of your choice.

Age

Hylians reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.

Size

Hylians 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.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Hylians typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Goron curses, Zoran musical expressions, Gerudo military phrases, and so on.