Homebrew Orantan Species Details

Orantans are an old and wise race of forest dwellers. Solitary wanderers, they spend their time venturing through the treetops, learning everything there is to know about what is around them.

Orantans—unlike the Elves whom they often must share territory with—choose to live separately from others of their kind. An Orantan may go years or decades without ever interacting with another sapient life form, wandering as part of nature, doing what they must to live comfortably while minimizing any irreversible or harmful manipulation of the environment they inhabit.

With their unique lifestyle comes misunderstanding. Orantans are often seen as brutish, unintelligent savages, barely distinguished from the apes they developed from. This is far from the truth. Orantans are extremely intelligent and wise.

Gentle Giants

Though most people have never seen or indeed heard of Orantans, those who do generally find them to be unattractive. They possess the same bizarre proportions as their great ape cousins, with squat legs, long and muscular arms, and rotund abdomens. Often, their true size can be hard to discern, as they possess a natural disposition to slouch and hunch their shoulders, are prone walk on their knuckles when on the ground, and are covered in long, ginger fur. Males are typically larger than females in both height, width, and weight. Male Orantans also possess much broader faces, with large cheek pads greatly increasing the profile of their heads, as well as large throat pouches, which allow them to erupt with roaring, guttural howls. 

Though generally not an aggressive people, they are far from pacifistic and more than capable of defending themselves against the many threats they gave in their forest habitats. Both males and females possess immense strength and use hand made tools and weapons to fend off adversaries. Orantans are well known and common within druid circles, due to their wandering nature and attunement with the natural world.

Treetop Nomads

To avoid the dangers of traveling alone on the forest floor, Orantans have grown adept at traveling amongst the canopy. They are crafty, omnivorous scavengers, able to feed on the many fruits, shoots, leaves, insects, animals, and barks that are found amongst the trees. Their craftiness does not only extend to food, however. Orantans are adept at finding ingenuitive ways to make full use of what nature provides. They intelligently and efficiently make use of whatever they scavenge; bits of fur, bones, and vines become clothing; leaves, mosses, and sticks become shelters, hats, and umbrellas. 

While some are staunchly opposed to manipulating nature beyond what is absolutely necessary, each and every Orantan has their own unique beliefs and opinions that they have developed over a life of solitary contemplation. While one may choose to live unclothed with nothing but the bare necessities of survival, others may piece together relatively ornate cloaks, hats, necklaces, and other clothes. Exemplifying the individuality and uniqueness of their race, some Orantans are even known to travel with companions or forsake their nomadic roots and reside in permanent dwellings for years or decades. A precious few Orantans even choose to leave their forest homes to venture across the world or live amongst other peoples who may accept them.

Orantan Traits

As an Orantan, you have the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

The movement of an Orantan, whether swinging through the canopy or walking on the forest floor, works nearly every muscle of their body to the fullest. This allows Orantans to become deceptively strong. In order to compete with the dangerous beasts that roam amongst the trees, Orantans make use of both brawn and brains, acquiring a wealth of knowledge and experiences over their lifetimes.

Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age

Orantans grow to physical maturity at around 12-15 years old, and can live up to 200 years. Socially, Orantans see development and maturity as a life-long journey of personal growth.

Size

Orantans differ greatly in height, though males are typically larger than females.

Female Orantans range in height from 3.5 feet to 5.5 feet. Male Orantans can be as small as 5 feet tall or as large as 7 feet tall. Orantans can weigh anywhere between 80 and 260 pounds.

Regardless of height or sex, you are size medium.

Speed

As an Orantan, your base walking speed is 25 ft. and your base climbing speed is 35 ft.

Bite

Your powerful jaw and fang-like canine teeth are capable of vicious unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your strength modifier.

Long-Limbed Monkey Grippers

When you make a melee attack, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Language

Orangutans have a unique way of communicating with others of their species, using shrieks, bellows, and low, guttural vocalizations to converse. This language is known as Orantanese.

Though their natural instincts and anatomy are not wholly compatible with the languages of other races, Orantans do not let this hold them back from communication. Orantans can speak Common and Elvish, and can read Elvish. The structure of an Orantan’s hand makes it impossible to perform the fine motions necessary to write in any but the most basically shaped scripts.

Orantans are also able to understand and be understood by their primate brethren by speaking in Orantanese.