Homebrew Egglings Species Details

For all intents and purposes, Egglings are sentient eggs, save for their often surly facial expressions and the spindly, multi-jointed limbs that resemble eyes of potatoes left to grow out.  Tiny and rare, they live by the dozen near rabbit warrens and grassy glens, hiding in the moss and blades when onlookers approach.  They are among nature's most fragile races, one that boasts a quick, but unfortunate natural evolution from inanimate to self-aware.

 

"It had become quite common for even the most amateur adventurer to quickly understand the concept of radiant damage. It was a singular rarity, however, for this  most academic of polyglots to first discover the impact of radiant language.  Careless words from all over the realms twist their way in and out of The Weave seemingly at random and without consequence; the demanding invitations of the dates seller at the bazaar, the piecemeal inquiries of a distracted child, the all too casual expressions of love where the alleyway nears the inn.  Each utterance slips over and through the strands of the invisible ties that bind us and out into oblivion, until oblivion is full."

"It was my magical colleagues in Thay who were credited with the enormous discovery that there was a separate oblivion for everything it might contain.  One oblivion for minutes lost to the past.  One for thoughts forgotten.  Another for ancient beasts that ceased to exist.  They'd inked into record a capacity for each oblivion concurrent with its expected need at the creation of all things.  So the oblivion for breaths spent was reputedly more sizable than that for colors unseen.  From their work, I concluded that there was a separate oblivion for every word, in every language, on every plane.  And, it followed that, with oblivioninc capacities fixed at the dawn of time, they could not, then, possibly support when words turned slang."

"I traced out into the green wilderness where one oblivion was set to flow over, spill its excessive contents to drip from the stands on The Weave and back down into our material reality.  It was a confluence of coordinates, both physical and magical, layered over the wheeling of time and pressed into existence by the inward weight of the planes.  There was facility to it, once one knew where to look.  I'd happened upon the lead in the market, when I'd noticed one cloaked figure stealing an egg, while a klatch of gossips alternatively spoke of their nephews as being "good eggs" and of some male professors as being "egg-heads."  My mind grew rife with the possibilities.  The proverbial rotten egg.  The figurative goose egg.  One's amassed gold as a nest egg.  Walking on eggshells.  "What do you want, egg in your beer?"  If ever there were and articulation that largely failed to point to an actual noun, mentions of eggs were it.  The oblivion meant to contain its mention certainly had no room for the modern array of contexts."

~ Tobusk of the Swallowed Eye

Egglings Traits

Egglings have race-specific traits that exemplify their fragility and their comparatively immediate evolution from inanimate to self-aware.

Size

Egglings are tiny creatures.

Age

Egglings mature in a week and can live up to 1 year.  Egglings emit a persistent foul odor after reaching an age of two months.

Speed

An Eggling's base walking speed is 10 feet.

Alignment

Belying their fragile heritage, but exemplifying the newness of their race, most Egglings are Chaotic Neutral.

Eggling Names

Egglings have only one name, frequently in keeping with their inanimate heritage.

Examples:  Oeuf, Huevo, Ova, Uovo, Benedict, Shelly, Frye, Zygote, Whisk, Denver, Scram

Naturally Fragile

An Eggling's starting Constitution score must be the lowest ability score in the array before additions and subtractions are factored in.  At level 1, an Eggling's Strength Score, Dexterity Score, and Constitution Score are each reduced by half, rounded down.

Armor Preventive

Egglings cannot wear armor.

Improvised Clothing: False Fashion Sense

While unable to wear armor or take advantage of most tailors, Egglings improvise clothing using items like nutshells for pants, twine for a turban, or a dead woolly caterpillar for a prosthetic beard.  These tiny items do not grant any bonuses to AC, regardless of the materials from which they are made, but they do give the Eggling a strong sense of security in the form of a +1 bonus to Charisma.

If ever two Egglings meet for the first time, they are inexorably compelled to spend 10 minutes brushing each other with colored powders and scribbling little designs into the pastel results.  If they do, they each receive an additional +1 to Charisma.

Egg Roll

Egglings can drop prone and Dash as a Bonus Action by rolling, requiring the normal movement expenditure to stand up when the roll is completed.  If an Eggling Egg Rolls on a downward incline, the distance covered by the rolling Dash doubles.  Egglings cannot Egg Roll uphill.

Hard Boiled

Every time an Eggling gains a character level, its Constitution Modifier goes up by 1, and its Charisma modifier drops by 1.

Ovamancy

In an ever-communing state of oneness with their ovaform shape, Egglings, as an action, can touch any egg-shaped object and use that communal bond to attain glimpses into the immediate future.  Egglings are able to determine with exactitude what hidden objects, traps, and creatures lie 30 feet beyond the seen portion of any yet-to-be-explored hallway, room, or path.  Egglings are able to create the same effect using their own bodies, but only if they have completely disrobed.

Candling

Egglings have an innate ability to detect thoughts on a creature when positioning themselves directly across from where a light source would appear behind the creature's head.

Egg Timing

Egglings may sacrifice their own long rest for the sake of a better rested party.  Lending a lifeforce speed from their short lifespans, all allies within 30 feet experience Egg Timing, a slipstream effect that grants the full features of a long rest after only half the time rested has transpired.  If more than one Eggling simultaneously sacrifices their long rest in this way, the party's rest need only be half again the amount of time, per Eggling, to grant the full benefits of a long rest.

The Yolk of Death

When an Eggling drops to zero HP, it dies automatically.  Egglings do not receive savings throws against death.  Upon reaching zero HP, the soul of the deceased Eggling is immediately transferred to the closest, intact, inanimate egg that, then, comes to life at level 1 with no memory of their death or previous life.
wolvensense

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