Homebrew Drukhari Species Details

"When I look upon the lesser races I am filled with disgust. Left to their own devices, they lead lives that are pitifully brief and completely devoid of meaning. How many of their generations have passed by in my lifetime? The answer is beneath my attention. Yet with the correct application of my art, each of those wretched beings can be made to endure an eternity of suffering, and it is through their screams that they show me their value."

-Urien Rakarth, Master Haemonculus of the Prophets of Flesh

 

Fiercely cunning piratical raiders who feed upon anguish to stave off the slow death of their souls, the Drukhari epitomise everything wanton and cruel about the ancient Aeldari race from which they are descended. Their boundless potential is put to every terrible purpose they can imagine, and because their lives span millennia, they have all the time they need to perfect their stygian arts.

Evil Incarnate

The warriors of the Drukhari are tall and lithe without exception. Their alabaster skin is almost corpse-like in its pallor, for there is no true sunlight within their shadowy realm. Their athletic physiques are lined with whipcord muscle, honed and enhanced until they are superior even to those of their craftworld cousins–the Asuryani–for the warriors of Commorragh prize martial prowess most highly. They stride through the fires of battle with the surety of those who have lived for millennia, and they rarely sully their tongues with the grunting languages of the inferior races, using translators on those occasions when communication is unavoidable. But their magnificence is only skin deep–viewed with the witch-sight, Drukhari are repugnant monsters, eternally thirsting for the anguish of others in order to fill the aching void at their core.

The Drukhari are masters of fighting with every weapon at their disposal–survival amongst their society demands nothing less. Little distinction is drawn between the sexes, for an individual’s skill and cunning is far more important than traits such as height or gender. Their senses are keen to the point of paranoia, their shadowed eyes and tapered ears alert to the slightest disturbance. In the Dark City in which they make their lair, the incautious do not survive for long.

Dark Origins

The ancient empire of the Aeldari was the greatest civilisations since that of the Old Ones. Yet the Aeldari fell from grace in the most profound of ways. The origins of those who now call themselves the Drukhari can be found hidden amidst the atrocity and mayhem of that terrible time.

The ancient Aeldari had perfected their sciences to such an extent that they could travel vast distances in a heartbeat, reforge planets to their liking and quench stars at a whim. With the galaxy prostrate at their feet and arduous labour but a distant memory, the Aeldari were gradually overcome by an arrogant sense of entitlement.

Free to indulge their every curiosity, they spent ever more time engaged in esoteric pursuits, desperate to escape the ennui that set in over the course of their centuries-long lives. .With so much power at their beck and call, the core of the Aeldari realm– once a masterpiece of civilisation–became centred around self-gratification and the pursuit of individual fulfilment. Slowly, the proud empire began to rot from within.

Amongst the pleasure-seekers and the interminably curious were those whose pursuit of excess became increasingly extreme. These included a great proportion of the aristocracy of ancient Aeldari society; those with the wealth and the time to truly explore every aspect of decadence. One by one, the leaders of the cults of excess that were growing within Aeldari society became obsessed with their own power. They relocated into the labyrinth dimension known as the webway, taking over hidden ports and setting up strongholds at key nodal points within to continue their debased pursuits. Almost in variably, these realms were linked via portals to the sprawling and exhilaratingly lawless city of Commorragh.

The Fall of the Aeldare

As depravity riddled every aspect of Aeldari society, the cults of excess sought ever more violent thrills. Before long the streets of the empire’s cities ran with blood. The elegant architecture of their palaces became battlegrounds as the Aeldari preyed upon each other, delighting in the cruellest of crimes. Their insanity and tainted passion poured into the warp until it achieved critical mass. With a thunderous metaphysical roar that tore the heart out of the empire, a new god was born– Slaanesh, the Dark Prince of Excess. The Commorrite Aeldari had escaped destruction. In their supreme arrogance they did not cease their quest for excess, even for a moment. Repentance and atonement were alien concepts to a people who acknowledged no limits to their power. The Aeldari sealed within the webway had not escaped the Fall, though this horror would only dawn on them slowly. Rather than having their essence consumed in one great draught, their souls were slowly draining away into the warp–consumed over time by Slaanesh.

Provided they steeped themselves in the most extreme and decadent acts, the Aeldari of the webway found that the curse of Slaanesh could be abated. The agony of others nourished their withered souls and kept them vital and strong, filling their frames with unnatural energies. Assuming they could feed regularly enough, the webway dwellers became physically immune to the passage of time. So it was that the Drukhari were born, sadistic parasites who subsist upon the anguish of others in order to prevent the slow death of their immortal souls. Ten thousand years later, Slaanesh’s thirst pulls at them still. There truly is no escape. The Drukhari have unwittingly doomed themselves, exchanging a horrific but mercifully swift end for an eternity of ghoulish starvation.

To this day the Drukhari raid the galaxy from the canker that is Commorragh, sowing misery and destruction wherever they emerge and spiriting away countless captives to their lairs for their own horrible ends. They are masters of torture and degradation, for the longer a Drukhari can drag out the punishment of a captive, the greater the nourishment that can be derived from it. A Drukhari who has recently fed upon the torment of others shines with a cold and startling aura, their physical form restored to perfection even as the spirit within festers. One who is starved of such energies for long enough will become a shadow, desperately hunting for a taste of pain with which to stave off the gnawing pangs in the depths of their soul.

 

Drukhari Traits

As a drukhari character, you inherit the following traits from your cruel and sinister being.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age

Drukhari age at the same rate as the aeldari, reaching maturity by the age of 50-100, and living for around 1000 to 2000 years. However, they can live longer if supplied enough pain and agony to feed off of.

Alignment

Most drukhari are cruel and villainous pirates, raiding areas for resources and for the thrill. As such, most are generally chaotic evil however there can be exceptions to this.

Size

Drukhari stand at around the same height as their craftworld cousins, as such, your size is Medium

Speed

Having a highly superior physical body to other races, you have a walking speed of 35 feet.

Darkvision

Living in the dark city of Commorragh has provided drukhari with the ability to see in the dark. 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.

Adept and Alert Body

You have proficiency in the Perception skill, along with either the athletics or acrobatics skill.

Drukhari Weapon Training.

From a young age, you were taught the ins and outs of drukhari weapons. As such, you are proficient in daggers, glaives, nets, spears, whips, javelins, shortswords and light armour.

Fleeting Movement

Due to your blinding yet graceful speed, you gain access to an additional reaction on your turns. You can also use the dodge action as a reaction.

Sunlight Sensitivity

You have disadvantage on all attack rolls and Wisdom checks that rely on sight if either you, or the target, is in direct sunlight.

Thrill of Battle

At the start of combat, you can choose to enter the thrill of battle. While in this state, you gain a bonus depending on which round of the battle it is, as shown in the table below. Note that all bonuses are cumulative; for example, in the second battle round, wounds are ignored on a roll of 10, and you can dash as a bonus action. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.

Thrill of Battle

Round of Combat	Bonus
1st	Inured to suffering. whenever hit by an attack, you can roll a d10. On a 10, you gain resistance against the attack.
2nd	Eager to Flay. you can dash as a bonus action.
3rd	Flensing Fury. you gain a +1 to all hit and damage rolls.
4th	Emboldened by Bloodshed. you automatically succeed against saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
5th	Mantle of Agony. All creatures within 30 feet of you of your choice that can see you suffer a -1 from all saving throws, creatures frightened by you instead suffer a -2.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Aeldari and Undercommon. Their version of aeldari however is spoken with a hissed curse to it and written in a more jagged pattern. This language will be shown as primordial in your languages known.