Homebrew Dhampir Changeling Species Details

Long ago there was a woman named Jes, and she had one hundred children. Her rivals conspired against her and swore to kill her children. Jes begged the Sovereigns for help, but their only answer was the wind and rain. In the depths of her despair, a lonely traveler took her hand. “I will protect your children if they follow my path. Let them wander the world. They may be shunned and feared, but they will never be destroyed.” Jes agreed, and the traveler gave her his cloak. When she draped it over her children, their old faces melted away and they could be whoever they wanted to be. And so it remains. Though the children are shunned by all, the gift of the Traveler protects them still.

—Chance, changeling priest

Changelings can shift their forms with a thought. Many changelings use this gift as a form of artistic and emotional expression. It’s also an invaluable tool for grifters, spies, and others who wish to deceive. This leads many people to treat changelings with suspicion.

A Hidden People

Wherever humans live, changelings reside also; the question is whether their presence is known.

Changelings are born to one of three paths. A few are raised in stable communities where changelings are true to their nature and deal openly with the people around them. Some are orphans, raised by other races, who find their way in the world without ever knowing another like themselves. Others are part of nomadic changeling clans spread across the Five Nations, families who keep their true nature hidden from the single-skins. Some clans maintain safe havens in major cities and communities, but most prefer to wander the unpredictable path of the god known as the Traveler.

In creating a changeling adventurer, consider the character’s relationships with people around them. Does the character conceal their true changeling nature? Do they embrace it? Do they have connections to other changelings or are they alone and in search of companions?

Masks and Personas

In their true form, changelings are pale, with colorless eyes and silver-white hair. It is rare to see a changeling in that form, for a typical changeling changes their shape the way others might change clothes. A casual shape — one created on the spur of the moment, with no depth or history — is called a mask. A mask can be used to express a mood or to serve a specific purpose and then might never be used again. However, many changelings develop identities that have more depth. They build an identity over time, crafting a persona with a history and beliefs. This focused identity helps a changeling pinpoint a particular skill or emotion. A changeling adventurer might have personas for many situations, including negotiation, investigation, and combat.

Personas can be shared by multiple changelings; there might be three healers in a community, but whoever is on duty will adopt the persona of Tek, the kindly old medic. Personas can even be passed down through a family, allowing a younger changeling to take advantage of contacts established by the persona’s previous users.

Dhampir

Poised between the worlds of the living and the dead, dhampirs retain their grip on life yet are endlessly tested by vicious hungers. Their ties to the undead grant dhampirs a taste of a vampire’s deathless prowess in the form of increased speed, Darkvision, and a life-draining bite.

With unique insights into the nature of the undead, many dhampirs become adventurers and monster hunters. Their reasons are often deeply personal. Some seek danger, imagining monsters as personifications of their own hungers. Others pursue revenge against whatever turned them into a dhampir. And still others embrace the solitude of the hunt, striving to distance themselves from those who’d tempt their hunger.

Dhampir Hungers

Every dhampir knows a thirst slaked only by the living. Those who overindulge their thirst risk losing control and forever viewing others as prey. Those who resist might find exceptional ways of controlling their urges or suppress them through constant, molar-grinding restraint. In any case, temptation haunts dhampirs, and circumstances conspire to give them endless reasons to indulge.

While many dhampirs thirst for blood, your character might otherwise gain sustenance from the living. Roll on or choose an option from the Dhampir Hungers table to determine what tempts your character to feed.

Dhampir Hungers

Dhampir Origins

Dhampirs often arise from encounters with vampires, but all manner of macabre bargains, necromantic influences, and encounters with mysterious immortals might have transformed your character. The Dhampir Origins table provides suggestions for how your character gained their lineage.

Dhampir Origins

Dhampirs in the Domains of Dread

When creating a dhampir, ask your DM if it makes sense for your character to have ties to one of the following Domains of Dread (detailed in chapter 3):

Barovia. In the shadow of Castle Ravenloft, tales flourish of those who love or descend from vampires. You might have such a connection, but dread what would happen if others in your insular community found out.

Darkon. The Kargat, this shattered domain’s secret police, supposedly know the secret of immortality. Perhaps you joined and advanced through their lesser ranks, known as the Kargatane, and were rewarded by being transformed into a dhampir.

I’Cath. At night, the starving city of I’Cath is overrun by vampiric jiangshi (described in chapter 5). You were left with a cold hunger after an encounter with one of these unquiet ancestors.

 

Dhampir Changeling Traits

Your changeling character has the following traits.

Spider Climb

You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free.

Vampiric Bite

Your fanged bite is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. You add your Constitution modifier, instead of your Strength modifier, to the attack and damage rolls when you attack with this bite. It deals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. While you are missing half or more of your hit points, you have advantage on attack rolls you make with this bite.

When you attack with this bite and hit a creature that isn’t a Construct or an Undead, you can empower yourself in one of the following ways of your choice:

• You regain hit points equal to the piercing damage dealt by the bite.
• You gain a bonus to the next ability check or attack roll you make; the bonus equals the piercing damage dealt by the bite.

You can empower yourself with this bite a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Darkvision

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 discern colors in that darkness as shades of gray.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2. In addition, one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Age

Changelings mature slightly faster than humans but share a similar lifespan—typically a century or less. While a changeling can transform to conceal their age, the effects of aging affect them similarly to humans.

Alignment

Changelings tend toward pragmatic neutrality, and few changelings embrace evil.

Size

Your size is Medium. To set your height and weight randomly, start with rolling a size modifier:

Size modifier = 2d4

Height = 5 feet + 1 inch + your size modifier in inches

Weight in pounds = 115 + (2d4 × your size modifier)

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Shapechanger

As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your game statistics change. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren’t changed by this trait.

You stay in the new form until you use an action to revert to your true form or until you die.

Changeling Instincts

You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.