Homebrew Cyclops Species Details

An orc chieftain. A goliath princess. Forbidden love, secret pregnancy, and a generational curse. Or at least, that's how the story goes...

Forbidden Love

The tale of the origin of the cyclops race is infamous across Atraxia. Legend says that nearly 1,000 years ago the now peaceful orc and goliath people did not get along. They were not at war, but rumors of war were always circulating. It was during this tumultuous time that a forbidden love blossomed. A young orc chieftain by the name of Rojak met a goliath girl by the name of Kuvira. Rojak soon learned that Kuvira was the daughter of the current ruler of the goliath nation. The two young people had to keep their friendship, and eventual romance a secret. During this time period a group of powerful mages were hired. No one alive knows whether it was the orcs or the goliaths who hired them. These mages were tasked with placing a curse upon the union of orc and goliath. This would cause any offspring born of the union of orc and goliath to be cursed. Unbeknownst to either's family, Kuvira was pregnant with Rojak's child. When the baby was born it was strong and healthy, but had only one eye, centered on its face. A result of the curse. They named their child Cyclops, the name that would eventually be used to describe the new race created that day. This is where any solid facts in the tale end. It is believed that Rojak and Kuvira ran away together and had many more children, but this is just as likely an old wives tale added to the story to give it a happy ending. 

Despite being the believed and spread story across Atraxia, it is unknown by current scholars whether this story is actually true. There are some things that lead to believing the story, such as the physical similarities that cyclops have to both orc and goliath, as well as documentation of the story dating back at least 300 years in both orc and goliath writings. There are however other reasons for scholars to doubt the story, the most important being that modern day orcs and goliaths no longer produce cyclops from their unions. A cyclops is only born when one or more parents or grandparents are cyclops as well. 

Cyclops Names

Every cyclops has a birth name assigned by the newborn’s mother and father, and a family name. Many also have a nickname that they prefer to go by. This can be a descriptive name like "bonecrusher" or simply a different name than the ones their parents chose. Cyclops birth names tend to sound very goliath-like, while family names tend to sound more orc-like. 

Physical Appearance

Males are much larger than females with males standing between 7-7.5 feet tall and weighing 280-320lbs, while females stand between 6-6.5 feet tall and weigh 180-200lbs. Not all males have hair, while all females do. Cyclops with hair have hair in shades of brown or black. Their skin color varies and includes shades of brown or green, and a small few have brown colors so light they can be confused for human from a distance. Eye color also includes brown or green. Their ears are pointed, and while usually rather small, can get quite large. While it is not common, a few cyclops have small tusks akin to a half-orc.

Cyclops Traits

A cyclops character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Cyclops reach adulthood around age 17 and live up to 100 years.

Alignment

Cyclops are strong-willed and passionate. They tend towards neutral alignments, but can be any alignment. 

Size

Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Stone's Endurance

You can focus yourself to occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d12. Add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled and reduce the damage by that total. After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Primal Intuition

You have proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Survival.

Languages

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