Homebrew Chondrite Species Details

The shark-like chondrites are humanoids that bear a not insignificant resemblance to sharks. Their shark-like heads do not rest on a neck, causing them to hunch forward when on land in a way that is suggestive of some kind of scoliosis. However, once submerged in water, they straighten out into a streamlined shape that splits the water like a knife through butter.

They are thought to be one of the oldest sentient species native to the material plane, having branched off from the line of actual sharks millennia ago. Having retained the jaws and scales of their aquatic ancestors, they are well suited to the life of a simple marine predator, but their sentience and amphibiousness bring them the ability to make a comfortable living just about anywhere.

Chondrite scales generally grow in varying shades of white, grey, and brown, and exhibit a wide array of patterns. Their individual facial features and skull structures are as varied as those of sharks.

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.

Chondrite Traits

As a chondrite, you have the following racial traits.

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid.

Size

You are Medium.

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

Bite

You have rows of teeth that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Amhibious

You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time.

Electroreception

When underwater, special pores in your face allow you to sense the electrical signals in any living creatures around you. If you are completely submerged in water, you can sense the distance and direction of all creatures (other than constructs, elementals, and undead) within 30 feet of you, provided that they are also within the same body of water.

Natural Armor

You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your base AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.