Homebrew Chuul Species Details

These armor-plated, crustacean predators lurk beneath the surface of pools, mires, and ponds. Chuul can live in fresh or saltwater, and indeed are found in aquatic environs the world over—even in the subterranean oceans and lakes of the Underdark.

Chuul were created by the Aboleths long ago as servants. The first chuul were no more intelligent than beasts, but every chuul inherits the memories of its ancestors, causing many modern chuul to be capable of speech and reason. However, almost all chuul stubbornly refuse any extended conversation with those outside their species. Even if a chuul is uninterested in money, gems, or tools, they have a nearly compulsive need to collect trophies of their victories.

Creating Your Character

When you create your D&D character, you decide whether your character is a member of the human race or one of the game’s fantastical races. If you create a character using a race option presented here, follow these additional rules during character creation.

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy.

The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You’re free to follow those suggestions or to ignore them. Whichever scores you decide to increase, none of the scores can be raised above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player's Handbook offers a list of widespread languages to choose from. The DM is free to add or remove languages from that list for a particular campaign.

Creature Type

Every creature in D&D, including every player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race option presented here tells you what your character’s creature type is.

Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the text of the cure wounds spell specifies that the spell doesn’t work on a creature that has the Construct type. (The autognome is a noteworthy exception because of its Healing Machine trait.)

Life Span

The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries—a fact noted in the description of the race in question.

Height and Weight

Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player's Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.

Chuul Traits

As a Chuul, you have these special traits.

Creature Type

Aberration

Size

Medium (about 7–8 feet tall) or Small (about 2–3 feet tall), determined by your Ancestral Pod

Speed

30 ft, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed

Life Span

100 years on average

Aberrant Tendrils

You know the poison spray cantrip. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the detect magic spell with this trait. Starting at 5th level, you can also cast the hold person spell with this trait, without requiring a material component. Once you cast detect magic or hold person with this trait, you can’t cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast either of those spells using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (choose when you select this race).

Amphibious

You can breathe air and water.

Ancestral Pod

Choose one of the following pods for your chuul:

Karyda Chuul. Your size is Medium. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift, and you have large pincers that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier bludgeoning damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike, and you can automatically grapple the target. You can do so a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Kathari Chuul. Your size is Small. You can cleanse yourself or a willing creature within 30 feet of you of unwanted magicks as a bonus action. Each spell of a level equal to or lower than your proficiency bonus ends on the target, and you gain temporary hit points equal to twice your proficiency bonus if any spell ended. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Darkvision

You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Natural Armor

You have a strong protective exoskeleton. When you aren’t wearing armor, your base AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.