Homebrew Ovine (Delver's Guide to Beast World) Species Details

Wherever there are interesting animals to talk to, you’ll find a sheep somewhere nearby making conversation. These gentle and uncomplicated folks are equally common in every homeland. Sheep are born with a unique blessing from the goddess Pirhoua: the ability to communicate with animals. Most sheep keep faithful pets as friends and conversation partners throughout their lives. The most common pet is a pig, whose minds can absorb and retain more ideas than some other potential companions. Ovines invented the term “quiet-minded beasts” to describe the animals of the world. The term comes from the simple, quiet thoughts that animals express. Creatures driven by instinct don’t have the same elaborate motivations and nuanced thoughts as their willful counterparts. Sheep recognize the value of their freedom from strife and anxiety, and have great respect for animal life. Ovines are tuned into a reality most only have a passing awareness of, but impatient folks might think them dull-witted. A sheep’s priorities rarely include formal learning and intellectual study. Their love for peaceful life among the herd is incompatible with the conniving of Allemagnian street hustlers or savvy Vinyotian trade moguls. But sheep aren’t stupid! Their patience affords them wisdom and perception of the world around them. Their gentle nature and tendency to take things slow makes them the friends of the eccentric ligonines. In particular, sheep and sloths tend to meet for the first time just as one might chatter with an old friend. In the opposite manner, laetines are sometimes impatient with ovines on their crew. A ferret’s mind races in a dozen directions, and they find sheep impossible to drag along on their mental tangents. Appropriately, sheep have unrivaled shepherding skills. A flock is well-understood and obedient in the care of an ovine rancher. They also enjoy work as shopkeepers or any other job with ample opportunities for long, thoughtful gazes into the distance. Wooly delvers often have a close relationship to nature or practice druidic magic. Indeed, sheep druids are gravely concerned about the Dungeon’s effects on the natural world. They ally themselves with crews to seek any possible way to reverse the blight an entrance might inflict on local flora and fauna

Ovine (Delver's Guide to Beast World) Traits

You have the following racial traits

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid.

Size.

Most ovines stand somewhere between 4’11” and 5’11”. Your size is Medium.

Ability Score Increase.

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can't raise any of your scores above 20.

March on Hooves

You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid suffering exhaustion from a forced march.

Efficient Metabolism

Ovines can eat a wide variety of foods that are unpalatable to other species. You can (joyfully!) sustain yourself indefinitely on any green vegetation

Mind for Beasts.

You can comprehend and verbally communicate with all Beasts. Their knowledge and awareness is limited by their intelligence, but at minimum, animals can give information about what they’ve seen within the past 24 hours. You might also be able to persuade a Beast to perform a small favor for you, at the GM’s discretion. Additionally, you can cast the animal messenger spell as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it.

Shepherd Step.

The steep hills of the world have been your playground since you took your first steps. On anything other than a sheer vertical surface, you have a climbing speed of 15 feet, and your hands remain free while you do so.

Inner Spark

Ovine wool gives a friend a little shock, but with a bit of practice this can be honed into something extraordinary. Whenever you deal lightning damage to a creature, the creature takes an extra 1d4 lightning damage.

Shepherds of the Green.

Shepherds on the Green. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack using a weapon with the reach property and roll the maximum value on any of the weapon’s damage dice, you can also attempt to knock the target down. If the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (its choice) with a DC equal to 8 + your attack bonus with the weapon. On a failed save, you knock the target prone.