Homebrew Cinder Block Species Details
“If I could be anything I think I'd be a sentient cinder block.”
A cinder block is a standard sized concrete masonry unit (made from stone, lime, and fly ash) that is used in building and construction. While most simply spend their existences making up part of a wall, there are rare instances in which these small but powerful rectangular blocks become self-aware and seek out a life of adventure.
Short but Strong
Quiet but hardy, cinder blocks are the kin of stone and metal. Though they are only 8 inches tall, cinder blocks are twice as wide and can weigh as much as 30 to 35 pounds. Their endurance is also easily a match for any of the larger folk.
Cinder blocks are typically an ashy gray, but can be adorned with colored paint as a way of expressing individuality.
Ancient Roots, New Perspectives
Stone has been used as a building material since the earliest days of civilization, but cinder blocks only came into existence in the last century. They are a fully constructed race, crafted into being through a combination of dwarven engineering and magic. While the processes used in cinder block construction produce a strong yet relatively lightweight building material used in homes and walls, they also inadvertently imbue some cinder blocks with consciousness.
Cinder blocks are solid and enduring like the structures they form, weathering the passage of time with stoic endurance and little physical change. They respect the traditions of their forebears, tracing their ancestry back to the bricks and boulders used in the youth of the world, and don’t abandon their heritage lightly. Unlike their ancestors however, cinder blocks understand that in uncertain times, even the most sturdy among us must be open to working with new allies and from new angles. After all, new ways of thinking led directly to the creation of their race.
Individual cinder blocks are determined and focused, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness.
Home is Where You Make It
Cinder blocks have no kingdoms of their own to speak of, instead most are content to be part of structures for other cultures and peoples. They love the beauty and artistry of efficient and low cost construction that is both fire resistant and good at insulating. Trustworthy members of other races are welcome to seek assistance from cinder blocks in any such project.
Cinder Block Names
Cinder blocks adopt names when they must deal with outsiders, although the concept of names strikes them as strange. They know other cinder blocks without formal names, and instead identify each other by their deeds, habits, and other actions.
Sometimes cinder blocks adopt the nicknames or titles outsiders give them under the assumption that those who need names can call them whatever they wish. These nicknames are almost invariably related to stone in some way.
Cinder Block Traits
Your cinder block character has the following racial traits.Ability Score Increase
Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age
Cinder blocks are constructed fully formed, but take a year to mature as their body cures and their mind awakens. Cinder blocks reach adulthood at age 1 and can live up to 100 years under good conditions.
Alignment
Most cinder blocks are lawful, believing that safe and sturdy construction requires strict adherence to the plan. They tend toward neutrality as well, with a strong sense that even the worst among us deserve to have affordable and sturdy housing.
Size
Cinder blocks stand exactly 8 inches tall, 8 inches deep, and 16 inches wide without exception and average between 30 and 35 pounds. Your size is Tiny.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Stonesight
Even though you have no eyes you can magically perceive your surroundings. you have blindsight within 30 feet of you and tremorsense within 60 feet of you.
Poison Immunity
You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
Flame Retardant
You have resistance to fire damage.
Living Construct
Even though you were constructed, you are a living creature. You are immune to disease. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can absorb food and drink on contact if you wish.
Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
Limbless Body
While your form is perfectly suited for constructing a wall, it was not designed with adventuring in mind. Your heroic drive and inner magic has learned to adapt to your lack of usable appendages as best it can, but the results are not seamless. This unique form affects you in in a variety of ways:
- You may equip items that must normally be held, even though you lack hands, as they resonate with the innate magic of your construction and can firmly affix themselves to your surface, granting you their benefits. The magic can only hold so much at once however, so you may only be “holding” two items at a given time.
- You may ignore the somatic component of any spell, your inner magic twisting to compensate for your lack of hands.
Natural Armor
Due to your tiny size and limbless body, you are ill-suited to wearing armor. Your advanced construction provides ample protection, however; it gives you a base AC of 17 (your Dexterity modifier doesn’t affect this number). You gain no benefit from wearing armor, but if you are using a shield, you can apply the shield’s bonus as normal.
Innate Spellcasting
You know the mold earth cantrip. You can cast catapult an unlimited number of times with this trait, and you may treat yourself as an object for the purposes of this spell. If you target yourself with this spell you may ignore its weight restriction.
Stonecunning
Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish.
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