Homebrew Gerudo Species Details

Feminine Power

Standing much taller than the average hylian and with a powerful build, gerudos are an intimidating sight. Large green or amber eyes, hard bronze skin, fiery red hair, and a sharp beak-like nose sets them apart. Gerudos place a premium on self-sufficiency and individual skill. They have a compulsion to keep score, counting their deeds and tallying their accomplishments to compare to others. Gerudos love to excel, taking on defeat with grudges and self-loathing. Those who subdue their opponents in combat rise as champions and chieftains, while those with a knack for magic become a tribe's spiritual leaders. Many older gerudos disdain males of any race, seeking hylian mates only to procreate. The younger generation, however, has developed a sense of romance, seeking boyfriends to share their passions with. The offspring of a gerudo with a male hylian is always a female gerudo.

Astounding Adaptability

Every day brings new challenges to a gerudo. Food, water, and shelter are rare in the innermost reaches of the wastelands they call home. A single mistake can bring doom to an entire tribe, while an individual's heroic effort can ensure the whole group's survival. With so few resources at their hands, some gerudos maintain professions as bandits and raiders, though most have leaned into a mercantile lifestyle, using the oases and canyons on their borders to set up trading hubs with Hyrule. Other gerudos venture into Hyrule with their wares, peddling their goods in the summer and returning home for the winter. They sell high-quality cloth, steel, and precious stones in exchange for any materials they cannot obtain within their own lands. Horses and other trained mounts, such as donkeys and camels, are bred by gerudos as well. All gerudos have a natural affinity with such beasts, taking great care in their wellbeing, as the gerudos' own survival depends on it. It is said gerudo horses are the finest breeds in all the lands.

 

There's No Place Like Home

Gerudo homes are large encampments, desert fortresses, or temples carved into the mountainside. With droughts often plaguing their lands, permanent settlements remain rare. It isn't unusual to find ancient gerudo temples and other structures half-buried and forgotten among the canyons and desert sands. Despite the inhospitable climate, the desert is a gerudo's birthplace, and after long journeys into other lands many gerudos relish the opportunity to return home.

Life and Death

Despite their shift from banditry to trade, gerudos continue to practice martial skills relentlessly. Every gerudo knows how to wield a bow, and many practice daily with glaive and scimitar. Part of this stems from their militaristic ancestry, yet the gerudos also firmly believe that comfort and luxury breeds weakness if allowed. By keeping their bodies tough and their minds sharp, a gerudo will be ready for any challenge or hardship thrown her way. As an old gerudo adage goes: "A lazy gerudo is a dead gerudo" . Gerudos no longer worship the goddess Hylia, yet do believe in some sort of afterlife, from where their ancestors watch over them. They worship the Seven Heroines, seen as their divine protectors. The heroines embody the virtues of skill, spirit, endurance, knowledge, flight, motion, and gentleness.

 

 

 

Gerudo Traits

Your gerudo character has certain traits deriving from your gerudo ancestry

Gerudo Fortitude

You have advantage on all Constitution saving throws.

Desert Dweller

You are accustomed to the desert heat. When not wearing heavy armor, you do not require additional drinking water during hot weather and you have an advantage on saving throws against exhaustion when exposed to extreme heat

Expert Explorer

You gain proficiency in the Survival skill, and moving across sand does not count as difficult terrain for you. Additionally, whenever you make a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check related to mounts and beasts of burden, you can add twice your proficiency bonus, instead of any proficiency bonus you normally apply

Saving Face.

Gerudos are careful not to show weakness in front of their allies, for fear of losing status. If you miss with an attack roll or fail an ability check or a saving throw, you can gain a bonus to the roll equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet of you (maximum bonus of +5). Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest