Homebrew Karsite Species Details

Unsheathing his longsword with a flourish, the human grins in anticipation of a fight, winking at his foe to egg him on. One of his eyes is blue; the other is brown. A shock of white runs through his long, dark hair.

Karsites are a subrace of humans born at random among the human population.

When the vestige called Karsus yet lived as a powerful wizard, he fathered many children among his slaves and supplicants. Then his failed attempt to steal power from the deity of magic shattered his people’s empire and spread them across the world. Thus, over more than a thousand years, his bloodline has tainted nearly every human population, and at times it grows strong enough for a human to give birth to a karsite. When two karsites mate, they breed true.

Karsites appear human overall, but they have two distinguishing traits. First, each has one pale blue eye and one eye of another color common to humans. A karsite also has a shock of white hair on his head. These traits appear infrequently among normal humans, and almost never at the same time. In communities where karsites mate exclusively with one another, other features also become common, such as straight blond or black hair, a sharp widow’s peak, and a small nose and mouth.

Karsite infants appear as normal humans, but as they mature, their strange appearances and powers appear. Most karsites gain their birthright by the time they reach puberty, but for some it comes sooner or later. Superstitious humans often view the change in an emerging karsite’s appearance as a sign of a blessing or curse, but few suspect that it is both.

Karsus’s bloodline allows a matured karsite to resist nonmagical blows and to turn spells cast against him into healing magic, but it also prevents him from ever casting any spell. Karsites born among humans might live and die without ever knowing that their unusual appearance comes with wondrous abilities, but others discover their birthright when they attempt to take up the path of a spellcaster, or when violence leaves them less harmed than it should. Communities of karsites often seek out such “foundlings” to indoctrinate into their philosophy, hoping to swell their numbers and advance their (often) evil agenda.

KARSITE SOCIETY

Over the centuries, karsites have discovered one another and founded communities of their own kind. Many of these communities exist within human society, and their members pass off their unusual karsite appearance as a simple family trait. The karsites of these regions hide their abilities, their philosophy, and their agenda while doing their best to seem like normal members of society.

Long ago, the humans of a forgotten nation persecuted the karsites out of fear of their abilities. Countless karsites were hunted down and executed during this period. Brought together by this disaster, some karsites joined forces and fled the area. They found safety in numbers, as well as a strong feeling of camaraderie based on their shared past.

In the process of investigating their history as a group, these karsites discovered the legend of Karsus and the process of binding vestiges. By summoning Karsus and consulting with him, they “discovered” their purpose: to rid humanity of arcane spellcasters and establish the worship of Karsus as the only god. Accomplishing this latter goal would make the karsites the ruling caste of humanity because of their divine bloodline.

Communities of karsites work toward this goal in many ways, such as discrediting the good works of heroic spellcasters, preventing the founding of temples and schools of magic, stealing magic items and ruining their creators, and taking leadership roles in human settlements. However, they carry out all their work in secret. Despite their evil natures, karsites loathe killing other humans, primarily because doing so is robbing them of their future servants, who after all don’t know any better now. However, they do relish the opportunity to harm spellcasters of any race.

Karsite Traits

Karsites have similar traits to humans on the surface, but introduce magic and everything changes.

Martial Prodigy

You are proficient with light and medium armor and with shortswords, longswords, and greatswords.

Age

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

Size

Humans 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.

Magic Draining Attacks

Once per turn when you hit a creature that is attuned to one or more magical items with a weapon attack, you can force that creature to make a CON save (DC 8 + your proficiency modifier + Int, Wis or Cha modifier). If the creature fails then their attunement to their magical item(s) is suppressed untill the start of your next turn.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and gain all expended uses on a long rest.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Karsites 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: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.

Magic Resistance

You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Spellcasting Inability

Karsites cannot cast arcane or divine spells, even if they take levels in a class that grants spellcasting ability. They can use spell-like abilities, psionic powers, and magic items normally.

Spell Healing

You can turn your disconnect from the weave into an advantage over your spellcasting foes. When you succeed on a save against a spell, as a reaction, you can regain hit points equal to double the spell slot expended for the spell. You can only use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all uses on a long rest.