Homebrew Burrowling Species Details

Human Beginnings

Humans have, for the longest time, sailed the seas, conquered the deserts and built cities in almost every region of the world. Their willpower is something to behold. Unfortunately, In many instances, humans have gotten themselves into some trouble when their willpower and curiosity outweighs their intelligence. Sometimes they simply fly too close to the sun. Regardless, they are not ones for dropping an idea even if if does sound completely insane. 

Naturally, in order to be so ventured, humans require plentiful resources. Metal for weapons and armour, wood for boats, parchment for maps, seeds for food and so on. Mining is a big part of resource gathering for humans and when they’re not relying on the enslavement of dwarfs, humans have no problem with picking up a pickaxe themselves. Where the scent of profit is strong, humans are not far behind.

So, what does this have to do with Burrowlings? Well, as is usual for humans, they wanted their mining experience to be as easy as possible. Many smart men and women thought of innovative inventions that could potentially make mining for resources easier, cheaper and faster. These ideas required an investment of both time and money. Not to say they were all dismissed of course, but none of them seemed as affective as a traditional pickaxe and shovel.

 

The creation of the Burrowlings

As the story books go, it is said that the humans couldn’t seem to keep up with the demand for resources within their communities and so, innovation within the mining industry became increasingly important. It is said that one day, a struggling mining company was approached to partake in the testing of new potions that would give them abilities to make their mining operations easier. Without much thought, many of the men and women who worked for this company agreed to test these new potions in the hopes of gaining an advantage over the competition.

Some historical sources say that these potions seemed to work perfectly well for the first few days. Yet soon, that would change. Many nights passed and those who drank these potions would soon undergo horrible transformations, this transformation period was said to have lasted for days and apparently caused the victim to experience tremendous pains. Once this transformation took place, these miners were almost unrecognisable. Their bodies had grown a layer of thick hair all over, their eyes had shrunk, their hands and feet became mole like in appearance and they could no longer survive long above the surface. These monsters were chased out of their homes like vermin and were condemned to life underground. The human traits that supposedly did remain, are long gone now due to generations of breeding.

There are many first hand sources of this event in libraries around the world, provided one knows where to look. Some people deny that the Burrowlings exist, some claim that their family were involved all those years ago and others use them as a story to scare children into keeping away from the mines but one thing is for certain and that is, whoever the descendants of those mischievous potion brewers are, they better watch themselves.

Burrowling Traits

As a burrowling, you gain traits that make you thrive below the surface

Immunity to blindness

Due to their reliance on senses such as hearing and smell, Burrowlings cannot be blinded

Digging claws

Burrowlings are born with large, powerful claws capable of tunnelling through most stone. These claws can also be used to harm others

Proprioception expertise

Burrowlings, being creatures that live underground, are able to navigate their way through most cavernous environments with great ease. Whilst their eyesight is limited, they rely on other senses such as hearing, smelling and touching in order to make their way around. When in a cavernous environment or underground in general, any acrobatics or perception ability checks have advantage

Age

Burrowlings reach adulthood in their 50’s and can live to be up to 200 years old. 

Size

Burrowlings vary in height from around 4 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Burrowlings never seem to gain much weight due to their limited diet. This also helps them move through cave systems. Overall they tend to be very lanky creatures 

Burrowing Speed

Burrowlings base burrowing speed is 40