Homebrew Shardmind of Tol Species Details

Shardminds are a race at once ancient and newborn. Over one-thousand years ago, during the last major clash between the peoples of Tol and the entities of the Far Realm, the group of heroes known as the Argent Circle discovered a group of Foulspawn guarding a terrible living weapon made of crystal. They were able to defeat the Foulspawn and destroy the living weapon, and this is remembered as a major turning point in these battles. The living weapon, when destroyed, exploded, sending crystals far into the skies. These crystals cascaded down in fragments of various sizes, some monolithic, others in fine dust. Some, however, contained the intellect of the living weapon, and they slept.

About fifty years past, some of these crystals suddenly awoke. Collecting crystal fragments together in a rush, they formed humanoid bodies for themselves out of various pieces of the living weapon’s pieces, each one with a keen mind and a different personality. The Shardminds had come.

Living Crystal

Although they are roughly humanoid, no one would mistake a shardmind for any of the other races of Tol. They are clusters of crystal, like living status made up of different crystalline fragments, held together by the intellect of the shardmind itself. They can be found in many colors, although each individual shardmind tends to be made up only of crystals of the same material and coloration. Their eyes can be either pools of darkness or glowing patches of light. Because they are so alien in appearance, many shardminds either conceal their identity through magical or psionic means, or they adopt loose, baggy garb to cover themselves.

Scions of the Far Realm

Most shardminds do not seem to consider themselves male or female, although their bodies and voices often resemble one or the other. They tend to be very intellectual in nature, willing to philosophize about and discuss almost any subject at length. They are naturally psionic, often eschewing verbal speech entirely because of their powerful telepathy. Although many hold no allegiance to the Far Realm that spawned them, many are still loyal to the ideal of reforming the Living Weapon, a prospect that terrifies those who know of its legend. As a result, shardminds are often met with hostility, unless they travel with others who vouch for their character. Adventurers who travel with a shardmind know that their powers can be a boon, ad they will often protect their strange companion.

Shardmind Names

Shardminds come to awareness fully formed, and they often take a short period of namelessness until they discover what their preferred vocation is. Each chooses a name that denotes this preference to those that they meet.

Shardmind Names: The Ardent, The Battlemind, The Mindslayer, The Mountain, The Observer, The Sage, The Shaper, The Shield, The Warrior, The Windwalker

Shardmind of Tol Traits

Shardminds possess certain traits because of their crystalline nature and their innate psionics.

Age

Shardminds are fully mature when they manifest, experiences no kind of childhood or adolescence. It is unknown how long they can maintain their forms, but they themselves theorize a maximum "lifespan" of 200 years.

Alignment

Shardminds are extremely varied in temperament. The majority that serve the Far Realm are chaotic and generally evil. Those that choose otherwise tend towards goodness, and many prefer an orderly, lawful comportment.

Size

Shardminds vary from 5'6" to 7", depending on the number of crystals that comprise their body, and they tend to weigh between 200 to 300 punds. You are Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Crystalline Mind

You have resistance to psychic damage.

Telepathy

You can communicate telepathically with any creature within 30 feet of you, as long as it possesses a language.

Living Construct

Your crystalline body does not require food or drink, although you may consume food and drink if you wish, you do not need to breathe, and you are immune to disease. You do not need to sleep. Instead, you enter a deep trance-like state for 4 hours in which you are still semi-aware of your surroundings. During this trance, you collate the information you have gained over your existence, sometimes correlating ideas in new and innovative ways which lead to dream-like visions. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Shard Swarm

As a bonus action, you disassociate your crystalline form in a burst of psionic energy. You gain advantage over any creatures that are adjacent to you when you do so until the end of your next turn. You then teleport half your speed and reform. Once you use this power, you cannot use it again until after your next Short or Long Rest.