Homebrew Pingyuns Species Details

"We had only just moored our lost schooner to a massive iceberg while we got our bearings from the storm. I had stepped off to explore and take a leak. As I rounded a corner around a large chunk of ice, right in front of me is what I thought was a good-sized bird. But it wore a scarf, had a necklace of fish skulls, and had a bag over its shoulders: a bag it was holding with an unmistakable hand. I don't know who was more surprised, me or it! We each uttered a cry of surprise, I backed away and it slid away over the ice on its belly until it was out of sight.

Part of me still wonders if I really saw what I saw."

The journal of an unknown explorer.

These hardy little bird-people eke out a living in the furthest reaches of the world, where few tread and even fewer live. They share clear ancestry with a breed of aquatic bird: their arms still bear vestiges of flippers while their feet are clawed and webbed, helping them swim gracefully underwater to fish and travel. Their heads are billed, and their skin is covered in dense, rubbery feathers over a layer of blubber to protect them from the cold. However, they have evolved taller statures than their ancestors, have dextrous hands, and can communicate with other intelligent species.

They manage to survive in dense colonies, traveling every year between plentiful but dangerous fishing zones and safer but desolate breeding grounds. Although simplistic and primitive people, largely because of their sparse and hostile environment, they give off an air of curiosity and charm, and, once their trust has been earned, they are hospitable and friendly. They live at the mercy of many predators, however, and often shy away from any unknown contact.

Pingyuns Traits

Adapted to life in the hostile, bitterly-cold, and ever-shifting arctic wastes, you gain the following benefits:

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Pingyuns reach adulthood after about a year. They can live as many as half a century or more, but many die at the hands of predators in their home environment long before that.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet, and your base swimming speed is 40 feet.

Size

Pingyuns average about 4 feet tall and weigh up to 70 pounds, although their weight can drastically drop during the mating season. Your size is Small.

Darkvision

You are accustomed to hunting in deep water, in water under icebergs, and navigating in the arctic winter when it is dark all hours of the day. 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.

Arctic Hardiness

You have resistance to cold damage. If you are subjected to a spell or effect that deals cold damage that requires a saving throw to avoid or lessen the effect, you make the saving throw at advantage.

Diver

Your sleek form built for swimming gives you a burst of speed if you dive into water, and you can enter the water more gracefully than others. If you fall 10 feet or more into liquid water at least 10 feet deep, you can add two feet for every foot fallen to your movement speed for that turn. If you take falling damage on hitting the water, the damage is halved.

Slippery

Sliding on your stomach, you can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.

Languages

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