Homebrew Anenoling Species Details
Anenolings. They’re underwater, they eat mental energy, and they’re venomous. If they were evil, we’d all be in deep trouble.
Biology:
The Anenoling is a colorful medium sized intelligent sea anemone. It is human-shaped, possessing two legs, a body, and tentacular arms and hair. However, all appearances stop here. It has a face, but no eyes or nose, just a huge toothy maw. They have an incomplete digestive system, all food goes in and out the same way.
Anenolings are hermaphrodites, both male and female. They reach adulthood at age 18, like humans, but live for 400 years. They reproduce like normal sea anemones, and are not involved in the lives of their many offspring. They can either reproduce by fertilizing one another’s gametes by launching reproductive material into the ocean, or by detaching a tentacle and cloning themselves. Their tentacle becomes a smaller exact genetic copy of themselves.
Anonelings have no brains. Instead, they fuel their intelligence by feeding off of psionic energy. To do this, they form a symbiotic relationship with schools of small fish, whom they protect with their poison. Anenolings require both meat and psionic energy, although they are able to filter feed and thus focus most of their attention on gaining psionic energy.
Society and behavior:
Anenolings do not care for their children, who start out as small polyps floating through the water. Anenoling young don’t have developed poison or psionics, and cannot defend themselves. They are thus devoured by the thousands.
A lucky Anenoling polyp will land on a hard surface after drifting through the water, and implant their hard foot on the ground. From there, they filter feed until they are large enough to attract fish that want their protection, usually around 5-6 years old.
After this, an Anenoling will protect their fish allies while devouring their intellect bit by bit. It will also devour oceanic predators such as sharks as well, if the prey is small enough. Because fish are unintelligent and they only take a tiny amount of psionic energy so as not to harm the fish, it takes a long time for them to absorb enough intelligence to “evolve”, or metamorphosize into their next stage, growing another foot, legs, a body, and a face. A few arms move from their head to their midsection to form arms. If they eat an octopus or more intelligent animal; their metamorphosis is faster.
After this, they are able to enter underwater humanoid societies and interact with them. Anenolings will often watch them for a year or so before finally moving in, trying their best to ingratiate themselves in society. An Anenoling never tries to attack other humanoids unless in self defense, they feed off of the psionic energy of their fish friends instead.
If an Anenoling instead tries to clone themselves, they will raise the clone as their child. The clone skips most of the process, as the adult provides some of their own psionic energy. They grow to a full-form (small version) within a few weeks.
Anenolings who clone themselves tend to do so because they want to experience raising a child like other humanoids, or want to build a community. Often, Anenolings will create cities of cloned Anenolings, but this leaves them highly vulnerable to diseases that could wipe them out.
Anenoling cities are usually made of solid stone or huge coral, solid objects that they like to perch upon and filter feed.
Outsiders.
Most Anenolings people encounter are clones. This leaves sea-elves; Tritons, and other races with a skewed impression of the race, that they are all the same, or that they’re always sickly (due to lack of genetic diversity).
Some find them threatening due to their uniqueness. Their life cycle and symbiotic relationships are quite odd, even for beings that live underwater. Their venomous tentacles and intimidating appearance also puts people off.
Those who aren’t frightened by Anenolings simply find them to be quite weird, but not hostile. Anenolings are often watched closely by authorities and suspicious neighbors, who don’t want them feeding off of the intelligence of the community.
This does not mean that most races are outwardly hostile to Anenolings. They often keep their distance until they get used to them, but they don’t usually try and attack on sight.
Anenoling religion and origin.
It is believed that Anenolings are the result of leftover psionic energy from either Mindflayer or Aboleth incursions. These incursions left psionic energy in the atmosphere that filter-feeding sea anemones fed upon, becoming more intelligent and humanoid.
These Anenolings then bred for the first time, creating the new race. Their symbiotic relationship is essential, for they use the senses of their fish allies.
Because of their unique lifecycle, Anenolings don’t usually have a specific religion. They take the god of the first intelligent being whose intellect they devour, or of the first intelligent beings they encounter. Cloned Anenolings follow the god or gods of their creator.
Anenoling Names
Most Anenoling names are aquatic features or related to psionics,or physical features. Anenolings don’t have female or male names, because they’re hermaphrodites, both male and female. Anenolings who aren’t clones don’t have surnames, but cloned Anenolings take their surname of their creator, plus a number. “Bubbles Mcvenom 500,000”
Anenoling names: Coral, Venom, Toxic, Brainwave, Fishy, Barrier, Shield
Anenoling personality traits:
Anenolings are shy, curious creatures that want to assimilate and join other sapient creatures. Although they are intelligent, they are often also naive due to inexperience, and can be turned to evil. Anenolings that have devoured the psionic energy of an evil being can become evil themselves.
Quirks:
1) I always watch a society before I interact with them in any meaningful capacity. It’s best to know their culture before interacting. (Any Lawful or neutral alignment)
2) I want to devour the psionic energies of intelligent creatures. (Any Evil alignment)
3) I’m not content with filter feeding. I want to hunt live prey with my venomous tentacles! (Any Chaotic alignment )
4) I know each one of my fish by name and carefully take care of them, like they take care of me.
5) I have bonded with a single, medium-sized fish and no longer want to deal with smaller schools. Their psionic energy isn’t quite the same.
6) I’ll do anything anybody asks me. I just want to fit in!
Anenoling Traits
Your Anenoling character has the following racial traits.Size
Your size is Medium or small. Young adult Anenolings are small, older ones are medium.
Age
Anenolings become young adults at age 18, and are small. They become medium sized at around fifty years of age. They become middle aged around two hundred years, and live to around for hundred years old.
Ability Score Increase
Your strength score increases by 2.
Stand your ground
If your “feet” are planted on a hard surface, you have advantage on saving throws resisting external, physical effects such as being grappled or shoved.
Symbiosis
You always have either a school of small fish around you or one larger fish that hide in your tentacles and give you psionic energy. You can use them as a familiar, as if you used the Find familiar. If the fish are damaged, you must find a new source of psionic energy in 1d4 days or your intelligence score decreases by 1 for every day you don’t have it. On a zero, you die.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed is 30 feet.
Psychic link
You use the senses of the fish instead of your own senses (standard dark vision 20 ft, blindsight 40 ft; this can change depending on the type of fish at the DM’s discretion).
To use the senses of a fish, you have to attune to a fish or group of fish as if they were a magic item.
Grappler
You have advantage on grapple attacks. You can make a tentacle attack while grappling.
Languages
The Anenoling knows Aquan and common (when choosing a language, you must choose common). The languages here are the languages the Anenoling uses when speaking telepathically.
Tentacle attack
Your tentacle attack does 1d6 poison damage. This increases by 1d6 for every two levels starting at second level, to a maximum of 10d6 poison damage.
The target makes a DC 15 constitution saving throw. On a success, they take half damage. On a fail, they take full damage.
Devour psychic energy
Your psionic attack does 1d4 psychic damage to a single medium or small target in a 20 foot radius, or all tiny targets. The target may make an DC 13 intelligence saving throw to take half damage. This attack’s potency increases by 1d4 for every two levels starting at second level, to a maximum of 10d4 psychic damage.
Barely-Amphibious
You can go on land, but must immerse yourself in saltwater once every two hours or take 1d4 fire damage (representing drying up) and 1d4 suffocation damage for every hour that you are out of the water.
Telepathy
You cannot speak. Instead; you use Telepathy.
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