Homebrew Ahooling Species Details

These are the children of the winged terrors of the Underworld, the ahool. Compared to their elders they are considerably smaller and seem less of a threat, but many denizens of the depths would disagree. The demanding life of ahool society irons out the failings and weaknesses of these youthful creatures quickly, but when one is led too far astray or abandoned by their tribe, they pursue whatever path life provides for them (sometimes never reaching their full primal potential). Small collectives of ahooling are said to live outside the brutal societies of the predatory ahool, eschewing the bestial traditions of their greater cousins.

History

The origins of the ahool are as mysterious and widely attributed as their strange transformations, but some facts are known to the most knowledgeable Underworld scholars. During the Forging of the Dvergr, the devils of Hel granted great power to the gitwerc but not without garnering the attentions of their demonic counterparts. The fiends capered about the endless caves, corralling vast swarms of lesser creatures—bats, crabs and rats, depending on where the demons found themselves—together into vast caverns prepared for the simple beasts arrival. When all was ready, they collectively engaged in a complex, wild, grand two-stage ritual. First, they morphed thousands of the tiny minds into singular souls, and then they infused each with the essence of a primordial air spirit born in the core of Aventyr—the resulting creatures were the true ahool, predators supreme of the Underworld. The fierce, primal minds of the swarming creatures, melded with the predatory instincts of the aether spirits, created a race that easily rivaled the gitwerc. Unlike the changes wrought by the devils, however, the means of continuation for these powerful Underworld creatures was not so simple.

When killed, these powerful beastmen dissipated into swarms of demonic bats, crabs and rats, fleeing from whatever felled them to infest the endless caves as infernal creatures. When the lesser demonic vermin interacted with any other of their kind, each attributed a swarm and eventually—through an extremely gruesome and painful transformation—created the first ahooling. Those that survived are the ancestors of today’s ahool, carrying on the varied traditions required to catalyze their lesser forms and realize the true potential inherent in every ahooling.

Demons are said to occasionally create a new true ahool when the mood strikes them, but most of the originals have been destroyed by wayward adventurers or the infernal dwarves. The rivalry between ahool and gitwerc remains strong today—the beastmen crave the blood of the devilish stout ones, savoring what they believe to be the sweetest blood in all of Aventyr. A scant few of the true ahool still roam the Underworld (seemingly immortal) and are said to influence the events of all their lesser kin in a manner mysterious enough to be fitting for their kind.

Physical Description

Ahooling are not considerable in size, though they tend to be very lean and well-muscled. Each bears marks of what it may grow into as the ahooling ages, but the creatures are remarkably adaptive and their bodies evolve to suit their behaviors and environments. Still, they all bear some similar traits—long, piercing fangs that peek from out of their mouths, bodies covered in fine, coarse dark brown hair, vestigial wings that jut out of their shoulders, taloned hands, and large ears that rise from their narrow skulls in short triangular folds of flesh. The irises of ahooling are predominantly yellow—the eyes of nocturnal predators.

Alignment & Religion

Ahooling are respected and feared by other underworlders, regarded as powerful—albeit dubious—allies. Some can be quite civilized, but they are natural cutthroats. Most explorers remain wary of the ahooling; they avoid killing captives, instead subjecting them to long, torturous existences as preferred livestock for the vino sanguine brewers.

Ahooling are predominantly chaotic and evil, but not exclusively so. More than a few of the true ahool’s demonic lesser forms were discovered by adventurers that cleansed them, creating good impurities in the creatures before letting them loose once again. Sometimes these impurities surface in an ahooling, creating a beastman devoted to the purest ideals and goals. Though quite rare, paladin ahooling (and ahool) are spoken of in hushed tones by the malicious elder denizens of the endless caves, and hunted down whenever a true ahool learns of their existence.

Ahooling Names

Male Names: Asht’haht, Gympth, Kolschak, Riktha, Rorsk’haht, Tek’ta’kaht, Worlpth

Female Names: Errell’atht, Fisscourth, Graix, Nedrazt, Preall’atht, Sol’kla, Syrralth, Vanes’satht

Ahooling Traits

Your Ahooling character has an assortment of inborn abilities that are a part of your nature.

Ability Score Increases

Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Ahooling Wings

By flapping your vestigial wings, you can slow your descent to 60 feet per round. You do not take falling damage and land on your feet. If you are incapacitated, paralyzed or petrified before reaching the ground, you begin falling normally. To use this ability, you can't be wearing medium or heavy armor. At 5th level you have a flying speed of 35 ft.

Bite

You can use your bite as a simple mele weapon with which you have proficiency. Your bite has the finesse and light properties, a reach of 5 ft. and deals 1d6 points of piercing damage. You regain a number of, 1d8 + your CON modifier in hit points

Change Shape

At 3rd Level you can use polymorph except you can only target yourself and you can only assume the form of a swarm of bats for 1 hour. You must take a long rest to use this ability again.

Superior Darkvision

Accustomed to life in the lightless depths, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 ft. 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.

Underworld Resistances

You are accustomed to the harsh environment of the underworld. You gain your choice of cold or thunder resistance.