Homebrew Dire Cobry Species Details

Heralded by the ominous, deep rumbling of their strange song, great packs of dire corbies range across the Underdark, stripping the tunnels and caverns they traverse of all living things. Even the mightiest creatures of the Underdark hide within fortified lairs or step aside from a dire corby flock, knowing of how these creatures’ bizarre song disrupts, disorients, and ultimately overwhelms their prey.

Rarely, however, a number of things may drive a dire corby to leave their flock behind, leaving the ordinarily aggressive and savage creature exposed and vulnerable to predation. Meek and fearful, the lone corby will seek out any group of humanoids or beasts that it may recognize as a potential flock, putting up with surprising amounts of abuse, retribution, and humanization in exchange for safety in numbers.

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Flocks of Doom. Dire corbies usually wander the Underdark in vast flocks, following predictable patterns of movement like migrating birds. They strip a region bare of the lichens, fungus, and vermin that comprise their diet before moving on to a fresh feeding ground. Underdark travelers prize accurate charts illustrating the movements of these flocks, since trailing a day behind them all but guarantees that the dire corbies will have cleared out many monsters and other threats.

Horrid Songs. The denizens of the Underdark hear an approaching flock of dire corbies long before it comes into view. As these creatures travel, they hoot, chirp, and howl in maddening cacophony. Their song has a strange magical current to it, causing those who hear it to suffer a stomach-churning vertigo that makes it impossible to move at speed or climb cave walls. Spellcasters suffer as their minds swim, leaving them unable to use anything but their simplest magic. The dire corbies’ disorienting song has left countless Underdark creatures and travelers unable to flee as these monsters fall upon them.

Back when you were with your flock, there was always at least a hundred others always keeping the song echoing across the Underdark. With you now being alone, or working within a party of those you once considered to be nothing more than food, you must be more selective when raising the cacophony.

Strange Escort. Certain Underdark explorers—judged inventive by some and lunatics by others—have learned to travel among the dire corbies. After blocking their ears to avoid the effect of a flock’s song, these travelers attempt to mimic the strange hooting and chirping of a dire corby, with these creatures’ simple minds making success surprisingly easy. Accepted as part of the flock, a traveller can range across the Underdark escorted by hundreds of humanoid creatures that the other predators of the depths take pains to avoid.

Unwitting Explorers. As old pathways become impassable or a flock sustains heavy losses in a particular area, dire corbies will sometimes chart a new migratory course. Depending on their new route, a mob of these creatures might emerge in a dungeon connecting the Underdark and the surface world. Rampaging through such a dungeon, the flock often forces its monstrous inhabitants to flee for safer lairs. When they inevitably emerge on the surface, the dire corbies’ voracious appetites cause them to quickly strip their new environment—including any nearby settlements—of life.

Dire Cobry Traits

Dire corbies have a number of natural abilities as the result of their kind's ravenous lifestyle in the Underdark.

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a dire corby for any effect that requires you to be a dire corby.

Size

Dire corby are tall and slender creatures, standing as tall as the tallest humans and tending to be as lean as elves. This combination of height and build doesn't lend itself to appearing graceful or steadfast, however, instead giving off the appearance of a sinewy and ghoulish predator.

Alignment

Dire corby by nature tend to lean toward being Neutral Evil. When living outside of their flocks, however, they may drift toward Law or Chaos and Neutrality-- and only to Good in niche cases such as being born outside of a flock.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 40, and your hard talons grant an innate climbing speed of 40.

Darkvision

As a species native to the Underdark, you innately have the minimum adaptions necessary to perceive your surroundings in dark and dim conditions.  You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Languages

All dire corby grow up speaking their own dialect of Undercommon: a boisterous tongue accented with tone based hoots, chirps, and howls. During your time away from your flock, however, you've learned to speak, read, and write Common, the song of the surface dwellers.

Keen Hearing

Your kind innately have finely tuned hearing to sense prey through the constant cacophony of the flock's song. This keen sense is also a weakness that is well known to those who travel the Underdark-- sound that rises above to pierce the cacophony is absolutely unbearable! 

You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) Checks the rely on hearing. You also are vulnerable to Thunder damage and have disadvantage on all Saving Throws that involve loud sounds.

Corby Cacophony

You let out a stomach-churning cacophony where any creature other than a dire corby that starts its turn within 60 feet of a dire corby and can hear it must make a Wisdom saving throw. The DC for this saving throw is equal to 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save, affected creatures are unable to use the Dash action, cannot climb, or cast spells other than cantrips until the start of its next turn. An afflicted created can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If the saving throw is successful, the effect ends on it and it become immune to your cacophony for the next 24 hours. After your cacophony ends, you can't use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

You must take a bonus action on subsequent turns to maintain your cacophony through Concentration. You cannot concentrate on Corby Cacophony and another spell that requires concentration at the same time. You can stop singing at any time. The cacophony ends if you are Incapacitated, Silenced, Paralyzed, or Petrified.

Corby Ferocity

You are proficient in Acrobatics and Perception.

Talons

You have hard talons that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d4 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.