Homebrew Vanara Species Details
Personality
Vanaras are often viewed with amusement or even exasperation by members of other races, who find their personalities childish and irritating. They are curious in the extreme, frequently badgering people with questions (sometimes very personal questions), picking small items up to examine them, opening doors to see where they lead, and generally exploring places where the human sense of propriety and order would demand they not go. They also tend to be bluntly honest, never couching a negative opinion in gentle terms or hiding their true feelings about anything. At the same time, they are incredibly loyal, quite brave when the situation requires it, and genuinely kind.
Physical Description
Vanaras are slightly shorter than humans, standing 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 feet tall and typically weighing 90 to 140 pounds. Their bodies are covered with light fur, ranging from white through light blue to brown and black. Their faces are distinctly monkeylike, with protruding muzzles, furred cheeks, and wide, lipless mouths. They have long, semiprehensile tails, long fingers and toes, and large ears, but their arms, legs, and torsos are proportioned like those of humans.
Relations
Vanaras are very fond of humans, admiring them and respecting their power while laughing quietly at their conservative stodginess. They get along well with other good-aligned races as well, as long as the other race will tolerate them. They loathe evil, however, and their opinion of an entire race or kind can be soured by their experience with one wicked individual.
Alignment
Vanaras are strongly chaotic but equally strongly good. They show little or no respect for social mores, rules with no purpose they can understand, or codes of discipline, and hate tyranny and oppression. Their only concession to social order is their acceptance of caste systems. Their religion allows for the possibility that different divine gifts might be given to different people, although it rejects any different valuation of those gifts. Vanaras, therefore, might respect that religion is the province of the priestly caste among humans, but do not necessarily accord that caste the respect and veneration human priests might expect.
Vanara Lands
Vanaras dwell in deep forests and high mountains, building their villages and towns in such a way as to make a minimal impact on their natural surroundings. They gather in loose clans, but do not keep track of kinship at all, so “clan” is a very loose term for their associations. They subsist largely by hunting and gathering, rather than farming the land. They rarely come into contact with other races, and do not seek them out.
Religion
The vanaras revere the greatest of the nature spirits - spirits of the sun, the highest mountains, the oldest forests, and the widest rivers. They revere these spirits with deep personal devotion, offering prayers and songs to these deitylike beings at least daily.
Language
Vanaras speak Vanaran, which is written in the Common script. Humans complain that Vanaran sounds like nothing but screeches and chattering, but it is a complex and subtle language.
Names
A vanara receives a name within a week after birth, as soon as the parents observe some sign or portent that suggests an appropriate name for the child. The vanara keeps this name through life, and considers it shameful to use any other name, such as a nickname or honorific.
Male Names: Amanu, Khanu, Mindra, Rava, Thetsu, Vaki, and Vindu.
Female Names: Aki, Kiri, Ghuna, Lakshi, Sitha, Tani, and Vina.
Adventurers
The arrival of a human or a member of another race in a vanara community usually sparks a rash of vanara adventurers, as young vanaras - curious about the foreign society from which the visitor came - venture forth to learn about the wider world. Vanara adventurers often attach themselves to humans, following them with tremendous loyalty and devotion.
Vanara Traits
As a vanara, you have certain traits in common with your people. With their connection to nature, and their acrobatic abilities, they prefer to be the following classes: rogue, druid, and monk. As a result, playing a vanara requires special consideration by your DM.Ability Score Increase
Your Dexterity increases by 2, and your Wisdom increases by 1.
Age
A vanara reaches adulthood at about 10 years of age, and usually lives until his/her mid-50s.
Size
Vanara range from about 4' 5" - 5' 6" tall. Your size is medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climb speed of 30 feet (while not wearing heavy armor).
Prehensile Tail
All vanaras have long, flexible tails that they can use to carry objects. They cannot wield weapons with their tails, but the tails do allow them to retrieve small stowed objects carried on their persons as a bonus action.
From the Jungle
Vanara are naturally nimble, and as such are proficient in Acrobatics.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and Vanaran.