Homebrew Firbolg (5e) Species Details

 

Firbolg Magic. You can cast Detect Magic and Disguise Self spells with this trait. When you use this version of Disguise Self, you can seem up to 3 feet shorter or taller. Once you cast either of these spells with this trait, you can't cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using any spell slots you have.

Hidden Step. As a bonus action, you can magically turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to make a saving throw. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

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

Speech of Beast and Leaf. The Firbolg’s Speech of Beast and Leaf feature is worded very simply, but the exact applications might be confusing. Speech of Beast and Leaf does not replicate the effects of the Speak With Animals and Speak With Plants spells, and it works differently from the Gnome’s Speak With Small Beasts feature. Speech of Beast and Leaf is more akin to Kronk talking to squirrels, but you can’t understand the animal or plant in return.The text of the ability also doesn’t specifically state that Speech of Beast and Leaf only applies to creatures, so it’s not explicitly stated how it applies to inanimate plants like a mundane tree or something. But with some critical thinking we can work it out.Speaking to beasts is the easy part. “Beasts” is a creature type which includes things like animals and giant bugs, ranging from the smallest rat to the largest dinosaur. Since creatures like mundane bugs (house flies, normal spiders, etc.) aren’t given stat blocks it’s not totally clear if you can talk to them, but as a DM I would allow it.Speaking to plants is more complicated. Without magic, most mundane plants are inanimate and don’t have senses like humanoids do. Your DM might allow mundane plants to respond to extremely simple commands, like asking a venus fly trap to open or shut, but anything beyond the plant’s normal capabilities would require magic no matter how charming you were. But hey, you can tell plants that they’re pretty and they’ll understand you, and that has to count for something.Plant creatures are another story, having more in common with beasts than with mundane plants (mechanically, at least). You might encounter a shambling mound and convince it not to eat you rather than getting into a fight with what amounts to a compost elemental. Most plant creatures don’t speak a language, so this is a wholly unique option for handling them.To make best use of Speech of Beast and Leaf, you’ll need to invest in Face skills like Persuasion. Without a natural Charisma increase, that’s an unusual role for the Firbolg. But spending one skill proficiency on Persuasion may be enough to mostly negate plant creatures as threats to your party, which might be worth the investment in some games. If you’re using the custom origin rules, you can easily build your Firbolg as a Face and address threats from plants and animals with ease.

Firbolg (5e) Traits

It’s hard to make generalizations about humans, but your human character has these traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your ability scores each increase by 1.

Age

Firbogs can live up to 500 years.

Size

Firbogs vary widely in height and build, from barely 7 feet to over 10 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Giant and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.