Homebrew Capprican (Final Version) Species Details

A Guide to the Capprican Race

Despite their variations and individually distinct physical appearances, all capprican possess several common physical traits. Fur covered, they have physical features that resemble a hybrid of goat and human. They are agile and have springy digitigrade goat legs from the knees down and large hooven feet. A head of long thick hair that will not always match the color of their fur. Their fur can range in color from almost completely white to almost completely black. But, most capprican will also have asymmetrical patches of different colored fur all over their bodies distinct to them. All capprican have slightly twisted horns curving back from their temples. They have eyes that are yellow, ranging from a pale honey amber color to a dark nearly orange-red. Mobile and expressive, their ears end in tapered points that jut out from the sides of their heads, are fur covered, and sometimes have a small tuft of hair at the ends. Their faces resemble a hybrid of goat and human, are short muzzled, and have highly expressive eyebrows and mouths. Male capprican are generally taller than humans and other similar humanoids, they are almost universally bulky and muscular. Females on the other hand tend to be short, very petite, and in general and are more agile and lithe. They are considered a medium sized race. 

Though there is a passing familiarity… Capprican. Are. Not. Satyr. They are not fae in origin. They are not from the fae wild. They are a race of beastkin. 

Personality

Capprican, as a people, tend to be gregarious and charismatic, and love social gatherings of all sorts. They love standing in the spotlight, favor flamboyant dress and accessories, and have a flare for the dramatic. You will rarely encounter a humble or self effacing capprican, even if they are at the lowest point in their lives.

The capprican love games of all sorts, but especially love games where one has to pit their wits and intelligence against their opponents. Games of chance are interesting and they do well in games where winning is a matter of intuition and bluffing as much as pure chance. But, these games lack a certain flair for the dramatic and the audience participation aspect that all capprican crave. Instead they love insult challenges, word games, double entendre, and games where meaning can be layered or changed with nuance. Especially games where what is not said can often mean more than what is. 

Their flare for the dramatic and layered meanings has led many capprican to become great artists, musicians, writers and gadflies. Entire capprican clans are centered around the production and distribution of literature, music, and new art and the work of artistically minded craftsmen. Troupes of capprican actors travel putting on plays, circus acts, and musical performances. Some of the greatest bards are capprican who have broken from their clans to travel and see the peoples and lands of Toril.

Cappricans are taught martial skills as children in the clans. Many are skilled duelists, knife fighters, and fencers. They prefer the elegance and skill found in using bladed weapons and will rarely use bludgeoning or hacking weapons like maces or axes. Even though honor and fair play are nice ideas, whenever possible a capprican will use dirty tricks, low blows, and cheap shots to end a confrontation as quickly as possible. Ruthlessness, cruelty, mockery, and brutality are not out of bounds, nor are the innocent. Burning down a village of innocents to kill one man who would kill thousands is not an unacceptable cost, especially if fighting that man might mean your own death. Capprican are not sadists, but are always looking for the quickest way to end a conflict. Fighting honorably is meaningless if you are dead. 

The capprican are also prone to arrogance, pride, and hubris. They can and do use their proficiency with the spoken word to cut others down cruelly. They prefer to use cunning, guile, trickery and diversion to solve problems before finally resorting to brute force. They are highly competitive, in any contest winning is all that matters not how they did it. Often a capprican will decline to participate in a contest or challenge in order to save face and not embarrass themselves, but rarely without a passing verbal shot at their antagonists expense. 

Socially they pose and posture. Between clans they are highly competitive in business and assassination, corporate espionage and targeted piracy are not unheard of. Cappricans like to show off and flaunt their wealth and status. Cappricans do take the long view, but often hate losing in the short run. They will always have a backup plan or contingency in mind.

Society

Despite its generally open and charismatic nature, capprican society is intensely competitive. The capprican are mercantile by nature. Every clan is also a business competing for resources, customers, and sales markets. Capprican children start competing as early as they can walk. As they age the pressure to compete and be successful increases. With the arrival of puberty comes fewer resources given freely. Access to them must be earned through excelling in any given training and educational regime, and in tasks assigned by the clan matriarch. All capprican clans engage in open competition for available resources and believe that survival requires controlling as many resources as possible. This mindset frequently places the clans in conflict with each other as well as pitting the clans against other races. Individually the capprican are also highly competitive. They don’t like to lose and saving face is crucial. 

Capprican live in communities that are loosely confederate in nature. The center of the life of a capprican is her clan. Political rights, representation, and power devolve to the clan not the individual. And the clans form a loosely united political structure principally structured to prevent open inter-clan conflict, govern trade and mercantile access outside of their community, and punish crimes the clans are unable or unwilling to punish internally. Their governments do not govern what happens inside of the clans or what the members of the clans do or do not do. When their governments are forced to punish a member or members of a clan they usually do so in the most public, humiliating, and cruel way possible as a warning to the population in general. 

Each clan is ruled by a powerful matriarch who rules the clan absolutely as the CEO of the clan businesses, law giver, and final arbiter of the clan. While clan branches may roam far from the main ‘trunk’ of the clan hierarchy, they are still recognized as kin. A loose collection of aunts and mothers surround the female members of their society. Though members, males largely exist outside of the central capprican clan society until their late thirties or early forties, if at all. By then the weak, stupid and unambitions have been weeded out and those ‘better’ male capricans can now be evaluated for membership as companions and lovers to those who have been selected to have children. 

Capprican fathers are only peripherally involved in their female childrens’ lives, if it is even allowed by the matriarch, but are generally loving and supportive. Where they can, they will often support the upbringing of their sons, who live with their mother’s in the clan house, until they are the age of majority. Then they may assist their male children in starting their lives away from the clan structure, usually through additional education or apprenticeships, and their business connections and contacts rather than direct financial support. 

In all capprican clans females hold all of the commercial and political power. Males are often viewed as unnecessary to the day to day running of the clans and are moved out of the clan houses at the age of majority, around fifteen. After this male capprican are expected to be financially independent and succeed or fail on their own. A male capprican will hold an allegiance toward their home clan but contribute very little to it directly. During childhood female capprican are groomed to assume a role in the clan machine, and at the age of majority they are assigned that role, and perhaps given an opportunity for additional education. Clan roles are not easily changed.  

Male capprican society holds more individual responsibility for its members but also more opportunities as male capprican can travel, open a business independent of the clans, or practice a trade or craft. However there is more uncertainty and risk for them. Male capprican die at younger ages, and fewer still ever earn enough money or status to truly stand out in their culture. Many must venture far and wide away from capprican controlled areas to make money and earn a reputation before returning to the home islands. 

For females life inside of the clans is secure. They know their role and place from childhood as long as they live up to their potential. They will always have a home and food, friendship and familial love, and a purpose in their society. Life however can also be stifling. Female capprican have few options for what they do with their lives and breaking out of the clans is difficult. Many have few good decisions they can independently make. And most are not expected to make individual decisions but rather decisions for the good of the group. A victory for the female is a victory for the clan as a whole. This is confining for the ambitious, intelligent, independently minded, and adventurous. For this reason some young female capprican will make the choice to leave their clan in order to travel and have adventures, start a business away from the dictates of their matriarch, or form the nucleus of their own ‘clan seed.’

Racial Variants

There are no subraces of capprican. Depending on where the clan originates from their general look and mannerisms, and backgrounds may change. Capprican from the island communities out past the Celestial Sea tend to be more sexually dimorphic, the males very tall and muscular, the females very petite and lithe. And are in general more cultured and refined as a society. Those that live nearer to or on the continents of Toril are generally less so. The coloration and coat patterns tend to follow familial lines and the members of the clans all tend to look alike. The communities of capprican that live in the Spine of the World Mountainous tend to have a more crescent shape to their horns. Regardless, all capprican are able to interbreed freely without any harm or personality changes. 

Recently a community of capprican has been discovered in the astral plane. It is still uncertain how living there will change them in the long term. Additionally they have recently discovered spelljamming technology and are becoming fiercely competitive in shipping, transportation, and piracy between worlds. Again few can predict what changes will take place to the race in those communities living and working in the flotsam sea. 

Capprican do not cross breed with other humanoid species (yes, even satyrs). 

Acquisitive Natures

The capprican love the new, the novel, and the interesting. All capprican are drawn to new ideas, things unattainable, and interesting objects and things. It is not surprising given the capprican tendency to dress in flamboyant clothing and accessories. Capprican love collecting and hoarding things, showing them off and displaying their wealth and success. Those things might be interesting art objects, new and exciting music or literature, or interesting friends. And they especially like taking those objects from others, either through duplicity and guile, trickery, or, if necessary, purchase. 

Many a capprican adventurer has started on the road of exploration with little more than a rumor of an ancient artifact hidden in a long forgotten ruin, knowledge of a taboo magical spell hidden in an ancient archive, a rare magical ingredient only found in an isolated or remote location, or a difficult to get item from the hoard of a dragon. 

The drive to succeed will mean that capprican rarely will settle for an easy score, instead they often push themselves to be the best. To not just kill a dragon and take its hoard, but to kill the dragon and win the renown of killing it. And take its hoard. Their natural competitiveness compels them to make more money, own more land, do better in business, or have more renown than every other capprican.

Relations

Capprican charisma and openness means they generally have a good reputation with most other races. They generally like people of all races, even elves, and will often go out of their way to meet people they consider interesting. They like curating a collection of interesting friends from a wide background of people. Again, they like to show off and showing off their friends to new found friends and old acquaintances alike is just another way of being ‘seen.’ They like to have a party for no other reason than to have it. It is important to note that even an introverted capprican will have a drive to be seen, they just go about it differently. Through artistic or literary accomplishments or from afar sitting in a public place in a tavern or bar. Their flare for the dramatic is no less for their introversion. Capprican are viewed as charming but disreputable in general and rakish in particular. 

They do have a dark side. Their cutthroat business dealing means that most races are carefully guarded when dealing with them. It is generally seen as a good thing to have a capprican community in most large cities. Capprican business networks mean that the citizens will be able to obtain finished goods, commodities and services that would otherwise not be available. But they also have been known to cut corners, put people at risk, and cheat in their dealings. Cappricans can also be depended on to stick to the letter of a contract. But, they also have been known to knife their business partners in the back with the same contract from time to time. 

The capprican combination of exuberance for life, competitiveness, and arrogance can rub some people the wrong way: 

• The taciturn dwarves are usually not fond of capprican at first but after the time needed for a relationship to blossom can be very good friends. It can take decades however. The capprican respect for dwarven ingenuity, craftsmanship, and business acumen means that the capprican and dwarves have many things in common. Both races value artists, artisans, and competent makers of things. Business relationships between the two races have often turned into strong fellowships with time and attention. 
• Elves tend to find capprican both unnerving and grating. They resemble satyr but are clearly not! Their arrogance, flamboyant dress, and generally gratingly charismatic attitudes give elves the sense that they take very little seriously. Finally the susceptibility to the capprican variant of lycanthropy has put many elves off of wanting to associate with capprican. 
• Humans get along with capprican with middling success. It depends on the human. Humans appreciate their artistic flare and style but the beastkin appearance can put some humans off. In many out of the way communities where few encounter races other than humans or elves, the capprican are often confused with tieflings or rakshasa. Hostility for the devil touched can bleed over into relationships with capprican. 
• The dragonborn sense of honor is amusing to capprican. No, it really is. Just adorable. Capprican enjoy playing pranks and tricks on dragonborn just to see how long they can take it before the dragonborn erupts in annoyance or anger. Few things are as amusing as a capprican pretending to be honorable while yanking a dragonborn’s chain… repeatedly. More than one inn or tavern has burned to the ground as a result of a capprican prank gone wrong and a dragonborn became enraged and spewed flame at the offending capprican. 
• Halflings largely avoid them as they do not trust capprican in friendship or business. There is too much bad blood from double dealings and business gone bad in the history between capprican and halflings. Capprican see the halflings as easy marks whose small town isolated lives are easy to take advantage of because of their trusting natures. 
• They. Love. Gnomes! Capprican will often go out of their way to find gnomish communities, especially those that have hidden themselves in urban areas, and invest far too many resources into befriending and interacting with the diminutive race. The noisy gnomish communities attract them. The gnomish exuberance for life and living are enthralling. And capprican love the things that they make. Gnomes are generally less enthralled with cappricans, but with time can form good friendships with the beastkin.
• Their relations with the other races of the multiverse vary widely. Generally they are interested in interesting people, places and cultures. People that take life too seriously or are easily offended by the rakish attitude of the capprican are usually ignored, mocked, or snubbed. 

Homelands

Cappricans are present in many regions of toril and the multiverse, with certain areas having denser populations.  Cappricans thrive in densely packed cities that have bustling markets, craft halls, and inter-city trade. Generally if there is a high enough population for a thriving market, an enclave of capprican can be found there. The true homelands of the capprican are only rumor and myth. In ages past they were pushed off of the mainland. Though it is not known where it is known when and by whom; during the later period of the Fifth Crown War by the Vyshaantar Empire. 

The current heart of the capprican society lies on the far off islands and archipelagos of Toril east of the Celestial Sea and north of the continent of Osse. Several ‘mother communities’ are found out there sending out small branches of their clans as trade emissaries and merchants (and occasionally privateers) in order to find and establish new trading and mercantile sites. There are rumors of vast capprican communities and agricultural lands on the northern coastal fringes of the continent of Osse and on the islands farther north and east. Along the populated coasts and up most navigable rivers of Toril enclaves of capprican are common. 

Lifespan and Maturity

Capprican live between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and fifty years old and well into their hundreds are thriving and viable members of their communities. However this lifespan is different for males and females. Males are encouraged to be more daring and adventurous, to take risks, and to seek their fortunes. Females are encouraged to be part of the clan machine. Males tend to die at younger ages while females will often live to a very great age. 

The typical male is seen as an adult as early as fourteen, usually will be expelled from the clan house at around fifteen or sixteen, and rarely later than that. Females will be granted additional education and training up until the age of twenty-two if they have the aptitude for it before being expected to assume their clan roles. Because of their long life spans most capprican will not be seen as a truly mature adult until they are well into their thirties or early forties and not middle aged until well into their sixties. 

Lycanthropy

If a capprican is ever bitten by a lycanthrope of any variant, they will never be able to resist the curse. After being bitten they will turn into a feral demon-like goat monster every full moon. Each full moon they stay changed for longer periods of time with each change until they are unable to turn back. All capprican that have been infected hunt and kill those that were closest to them in life before being bitten. When not changed they will commit atrocities, mass murders, rapes, and torture. Capprican lycanthropes are never subtle. Their crimes are easily discovered. And they are always highly infectious, especially to elves. 

Every clan will keep a carefully maintained stock of silvered and magical arms and armor. From a young age capable capprican will be trained to hunt and kill lycanthropes. If a lycanthrope has been detected they will lock the clan house down, quarantine the children, and either hire mercenaries or send out their own hunters. Cappricans have one rule that every clan does agree to no matter the political tensions that may exist between them. No matter who you are, who pays your bills, who you think you are, who your friends are, what race, what class, what affiliations you have, if you are a lycanthrope you will be hunted, and you will be killed. 

Natural Mages

All capprican are natural mages to some extent and even the most uneducated can use a handful of useful cantrips and spells. In the early histories the capprican were said to have a high affinity for nature and elementally based magic. This is certainly the case for the capprican today. Capprican sailors and merchants widely use wind and water magic to help their ships sail faster and farther. Capprican merchants will often use earth magic to smooth the way and build safe shelter in the wild lands. Capprican farmers use druidic magic to help their crops grow faster and produce better tasting food. Capprican use of bardic magic is so common that many people that have never seen a capprican in the flesh know of their affinity for the craft and can name at least one famous singer, or a song or story written by a capprican. As a race the capprican excel at magic that leans into their use of charisma as a focus. They have become great and powerful Warlocks, Bards, and Sorcerers. Though rarely great Paladins due to their self centered natures, and irreverence toward the gods.  

History

Native to Toril the capprican were first written about in very old tomes in the early histories of the elven kingdoms and were noted to be a nearly feral race of tribal humanoids living in the forests and mountains all along the coasts of eastern Toril around the Celestial Sea. The accounts are fragmented but there is a consensus that the capprican were an insignificant beastkin race with little technology and some natural affinity for nature based magic. Later sometime during the later years of the Fifth Crown War the capprican were pushed into the sea by a branch of the Vyshaantar Empire. Speculation of their use as a biological weapon exists, but the true reason is unclear, but the outcome wasn’t. With few other options the capprican stole a small fleet of boats and ships and set sail for over the horizon, those that remained were butchered to a man, woman, and child. 

For untold milenia the capprican were lost to the histories, and developed a culture and society wholly separate from the rest of Toril in isolated island communities. In these years there are scraps of writing put down by explorers and sailors who encountered these ‘goat people.’ They are described as curious and welcoming people with relatively primitive technology that were eager for outside learning. Oddly the largest archive of notes about these people was from the hoard of Shell Scale, a silver dragon that established a relationship with at least one isolated community a little over three millennia ago and may have uplifted them racially and magically to a certain degree and as a culture and people. 

In recent years they have made a comeback to the Toril mainland as merchants and sailors, explorers and adventurers, and mercenary soldiers for many different nations. They are beholden to none, only giving allegiance to their clan and matriarch. 

The true origin of the capprican is unknown, but some clues are available if you look hard enough. The capprican susceptibility to lycanthropy has led many a scholar familiar with the subject to speculate that the capprican are an offshoot of a now dead or fundamentally changed andromorphic race. The consensus from there breaks down and three branches of speculation have emerged; the draconic, demonic, and the elven sorcerer. 

The draconic branch suggests that the capprican were created by one or more dragons during the later days of the various elven wars as servants, guardians, or as food. Or possibly as all three. The capprican might have been mutated or adapted from an existing but heretofore unknown race, from a andromorphic race, or from mundane animals and escaped from or were set loose by their benefactor. It is speculated that if this is not the case their uplift as a people might certainly be the case in recent millenia. 

The demonic hypothesis stems from a suspicion that the capprican are a variant of tiefling or rakshasa-spawn. This is undoubtedly a human-centric hypothesis, is speciest, and is often promoted solely by human mages and scholars. Despite a passing resemblance there is almost no evidence for this. 

The elven sorcerer hypothesis is equally sparce, and circumstantial at best, except that capprican lycanthropes are highly contagious to elves. Most elves bitten by a capprican lycanthrope never resist the curse. Some think that the humanoid form of the original andromophic race that preceded the capprican was elven instead of human (thus the ears). Others speculate that the capprican were originally created as a biological weapon against the Vyshaantar Empire by mages unknown. Using a strain of lycanthropy to undermine or weaken their elven opponents. Leading to the genocide and ethnic cleansing of their people from the main land. 

In the end we may never know the truth.

Capprican (Final Version) Traits

Capprican are a race known for their mercantile heritage. They are charismatic but also arrogant and prideful. Though every capprican is a unique individual you all share a similar heritage and the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

All capprican receive a +3 to  their charisma.

Age

Caprican can live up to one hundred and fifty years of age. An independent capprican will usually be between fourteen to fifteen years of age but are not considered a fully mature adult until they are in their late thirties to early forties.

Size

Capprican males can stand in excess of six and a half feet tall and are often muscular, trending toward bulky. They can weigh over two hundred pounds easily. Capprican females rarely stand over five and a half feet tall and are almost always petite and lithe. They rarely weigh more than one hundred and twenty pounds. Your size is medium.

Speed

Your base speed is thirty feet. Your climbing speed is twenty feet. Your swimming speed is twenty feet.

Language

You can speak, read, and write common. In addition you may choose two additional languages of your choice due to the mercantile education of your childhood. 

 

Susceptibility to Lycanthropy

If bitten a capprican will never be able to resist the curse. Every full moon they will change and change for a longer period of time with each change. They are violent, cruel, and prone to committing atrocities. Only a wish spell will cure them. 

No Dark Vision

Cappricans have terrible low light vision and no dark vision. They can see up to 30 feet in low light and never in complete darkness. 

Gifted in Bullshite

You have advantage on charisma and persuasion checks on any opponent or NPC who has a lower charisma score than you, but at disadvantage for those opponents and NPCs that have a Charisma higher than yours.

Gifted in Magic

Because of your clannish childhood education you can use any two non-combat cantrips of your choice from the full list of cantrips regardless of class.

Radiant Swagger

Must have a charisma of 13+.

You unlock Radiant Swagger at level 3.

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Target: A creature that can see and hear you within range

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

You roll a d8 charisma check with advantage.

Literally the opposite of stealth, your charisma draws the attention of everyone, enemies and NPCs alike making you their solitary focus. While they are focused on you, all your allies have advantage in all saving throws. Their focus is broken once you or an ally lands a blow or they make a wisdom saving throw to successfully break the charismatic draw. You may activate swagger only once per short rest. 

Vicious Mockery

You unlock Vicious Mockery at level ten. 

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Target: A creature you can see and that can hear you within range

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Classes: All capprican can use Vicious Mockery regardless of class

You unleash a string of insults laced with subtle enchantments at a creature you can see within range. If the target can hear you (though it need not understand you), it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.

Hit and Run

You have the option to hit and run using Disengage as a bonus action to dart in and attack, and then safely retreat out of reach.

Slipstep

Must have a Dexterity of 13+

You have the option to reposition yourself after a foe misses a non-magical melee attack to any free space within five feet of your current location as a reaction. This movement will not provoke opportunity attacks and does not count against your total movement.

Fighting Dirty

You have the option to attack again as an additional extra reaction if your foe misses in their melee attack at advantage but with half the hit points. Your opponent must roll a d8 saving roll. This can be stacked with Sidestep and Hit and Run.

Fool’s Pride

If your hit points have fallen to zero you can stay standing. Using a d20 you must roll a 16 or greater to stay standing and your hit points are restored to 1. Once your hit points have been returned to 1, you are no longer able to use Fighting Dirty, Slip Step, or Hit and Run and are locked to your current location. This ability recharges every long rest.