Homebrew Astral Beast Species Details

“The animal itself – wondrous! The potential? Unbelievable, once we’ve tamed them. We’ll teach them tricks!”

“And what if those things get loose? it’s gonna make the Spell Plague look like a picnic.”

A conversation between the wizards Mordekainen and Tasha about a captured astral beast

 

Blightful Aberrations

In the infinite expanse of the Astral Sea, something spreads itself like a plague. That is you, or rather your people. Astral beasts are pseudo-hivemind species of aberrant creatures. Their bodies are like a cauldron of different genes, mixed to form the worst thing you can find aboard your ship. They are native to the Astral Plane and are very rarely seen out in any other plane. for two main reasons: They ravage into inoperability almost every ship they might find themselves in, and no one is reckless enough to try and transport one.

Astral Beasts are too smart for animals, smart enough that some researchers consider them to be an intelligent species. An Astral beast is not going to pass a history exam, not being quite as intelligent as humans or elves for example. But they are cunning creatures, capable of reasoning, puzzle solving and coming up with impressive ambush tactics. Although they communicate mostly with body language, there've been reports of Astral beasts learning Elvish and Gith. Likely due to exposure, rather than actual intent.

Ever-Changing Creatures

An Astral Beast's body-plan is not too dissimilar to that of a Lizardfolk. with a pair of arms and legs, an elongated head, and a long powerful tail. but that's where the similarities end, for their skin is an iridescent muddled black with a faint hint of green or purple, they possess three fingers and two thumbs on each hand, they have three clawed toes and two vestigial ones on their feet, their long monitor-like heads are featureless except for the mouth, their spinal column projects itself out of their body like a Green Dragon's crest. Yet Astral beasts evolve over their lives, developing extra limbs, a thick carapace, uncannily long limbs, or just being outright massive. No two adult Astral Beasts are the same.

Astral beasts reproduce the same way any oviparous animal does, laying between 2 and five eggs at a time. However, between being laid and hatching, the eggs are submerged in a slightly acidic brine pool that the parents will drop organic material in. They'll mostly use flesh from prey, but there are reports of the parents dropping wood and other plant matter inside. This organic concoction is the source of the Astral beasts' rapid evolution. Any and all organic material is dissolved in the pool and "eaten" by the fetus through the egg's soft shell. The DNA of the fetus is incomplete by standard and needs this process to come to term, it also integrates what it eats into itself. Turning itself into a blend of whatever its parents gave it.

Their biology is a strange one, even for aberrations, when not under the influence of the Astral Sea's time properties they live exceedingly short lives, the oldest one recorded out of the Astral Sea was just shy of 40. They also have an extremely inefficient digestive system, so much so that when not in the Astral Plane they need to consume their own body-weight in meat everyday just to survive.

Astral Beast Names

Astral beasts do not have names, at least not in the usual sense of the word. Yes, they can learn to associate a word with themselves or someone else. However, they use scent and body language to communicate and tell each other apart, which would make names rather redundant. Yet a few names have been recorded, though were most given by individuals from other species.

Astral beast names: O'ora, Y'ywa, U'esda

Given names: Istik, Vlaakith, Aes, Aethen, Darrdartha, Sha'Quessir, Slaugh

Astral Beast Traits

Your aberrant nature grants you the following traits

Ability Score Increase

You gain a +2 to your Constitution score and +1 to either your Strength or Dexterity scores, up to a maximum of 20.

Age

Young Astral Beasts grow quickly. They walk hours after hatching, attain the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 2, and reach adulthood by 15. They live to be around 40.

Size

Astral beasts are taller and leaner, yet heavier than most humans, being well over 7 feet tall when up straight and averaging almost 270 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30ft. Your base climbing speed is 20ft.

Exoskeleton

Your skin is covered in a thick keratin-like carapace. This carapace cannot accommodate regular armor. Armor that you can use must be created for you and costs thrice as much as a regular suit of armor.

While unarmored, this carapace grants a natural AC of 11  + your Constitution modifier. And makes you vulnerable to fire damage. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Astral Sense

You can always communicate with other Astral Beasts in simple one-word phrases and determine when more Astral Beasts are nearby, however you can't determine if it's one that you know nor how many there are, just that they're there. Both effects have a 90ft radius.

You can also create an Astral Link with any willing non-Astral beast creature, one at a time. You and a linked creature can always tell where each other are, as long as you are withing 60ft of each other. This effect doesn't work if either of you moves into a different plane without the other. An Astral link remains active indefinitely unless affected by the Dispel Magic spell or any other anti-magic effects(However, it does not count as a spell, so Counterspell has no effect). You can only create a new link once per long rest.