Homebrew Racoon Species Details

 “How goes the work, little one?” The grating voice boomed down at the mouse, who looked up, past towering grey-furred legs, to the masked face attempting to peer around a broad swath of belly.

“Quite well, Ser Rylteck.” The mouse lifted up the piece of clockwork, a complicated series of gears half the size of their head. Long fingers reached down, nimbly plucking it from their hands.

In Rylteck’s grasp, the clockwork appeared small and delicate, but his deft fingers make quick work of examining the mechanism and he carefully returned it to the mouse’s workbench, softly grunting as he bent. “Uf, quite well indeed. You do your family proud.” Rylteck huddled down, bringing his pointed snout closer. “What is your given name, little one?”

“Crumbit, Ser.” The mouse fiddled with their work apron, adding: “my mam is Hollypoint, she leads your engraving division.”

“Ah yes, she’s a good lass.” Rylteck moved as if to pat Crumbit on the head but thought better of it. “Glad to see you’re following in her skilled footsteps, let’s have that piece passed along by end of day, shall we?” With another grunt, Rylteck straightened, then sauntered to another area of the workshop, his tail swinging easily over the mouse workers’ heads.

—Cristobal Kieth, The Woodland Engine

Intimidatingly large to most creatures, raccoons often throw their not-insignificant weight around in animal society. Secretive and often solitary, raccoons have let rumours about their abilities and tempers run rampant, finding it useful to have smaller animals think them mad.

Regal Within Their Own Ranks

Though their short legs and arms seem almost silly in proportion to their girth, raccoons carry themselves with surprising dignity, their heavy-bottomed rolling gait exaggerated by thick, dark-ringed tails. Covered with dense fur that ranges from dark brown to light grey, they have angular, pale-furred faces with a thick band of black fur across the eyes and bridge of their sharp snouts.

Their long-toed hands and feet are delicate and sensitive, and some racoons have become well-known crafters of delicate instruments and jewellery, often overseeing several generations of mice apprentices.

Madder Than Cats

Raccoon tempers are a thing to be feared. Though their anger is slower to ignite than common rumour suggests, their boldness and size mean that an upset raccoon can be unpredictable and cause an enormous amount of destruction. With a sense of logic that exists outside the normal bounds of animal society, the triggers that cause a rage seem unpredictable to most creatures. A misplaced key, a misheard word, or the failure of some unknown scheme could set off a raccoon as easily as their favourite jam being out of stock at the market.

Long-Lived Loners

Although some raccoons enjoy the company of others of their kind overall, they are a solitary race, small family units disbanding after their kits have left home. While their children are young, raccoon parents are fiercely protective and devote most of their time to ensuring their children are well-educated and trained in the ways of the world. Their long lifespans allow raccoon families to meet up and reform as whim or necessity takes them, though such meetings may be decades apart.

As keen to observe as they are to meddle, raccoons do not shy away from participating in greater animal society and often settle into merchant and trader roles. With lives that can last centuries, raccoons often plot political schemes or insensibly long cons. The ends of these efforts are logical only to the raccoon who conceived the plot—if they remember what the plot was. If inspired to adventure, a raccoon will throw themselves to the task whole-heartedly. The same enthusiasm is applied to ruining their enemies, whether through scheme or brute force.

Raccoon Names

Raccoons have personal names given at birth but expand or alter on the name once they set out on their own. Their names are a mix of object names, human-associated names, and the raccoon language, Procyonic.

(Child Name) Adult Names: (Bucket) Batch, (Cyr) Chyrus, (Dew) Drbyler, (Edyi) Ivelai’in, (Little Fish) Lyle Grfesh, (Mur) Rowboat, (Nit) Nate Tiller, (Pepper) Pep’nurr, (Rtck) Rychet, (Tin Bin) Tybu’chu

Racoon Traits

A racoon is a singular creature but there are a variety of traits you share with other racoons.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age

Racoons are incredibly long-lived but strike out on their own comparatively early, with young racoons staying with their families only until around the age of 15. They live to be around 200.

A Refined Sense of Touch

Racoons have a delicate sense of touch and have a proficiency in the Investigation skill and know the spell Identify.

Alignment

Racoons are naturally chaotic and tend to extremes, making a concious choice for one side or the other in the eternal play of good and evil. Though most racoons are good, more lawful creatures may make assumptions about their natures.

Size

Although many racoons are the size of a cat, some racoons can reach truly impressive sizes and some larger racoons have been known to be twice the weight of the average cat. Your size is Large.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Your hands and strength make you a better than average climber, with a climbing speed of 20 feet. However, you do not do well on surfaces without defined handholds such trees with smooth bark or even finished stone and brick walls with minimal chinks in the mortar. You have a disadvantage on Athletics (Strength) checks on these surfaces.

Bullies And Terrors

Large, and fluent in an unsettling language, raccoons are not easily cowed and have sharp tongues. Because of this, you gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill and know the cantrip Vicious Mockery.

Darkvision

As a primarily nocturnal animal, you have superior vision 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 colour in darkness, only shades of grey.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Procyonic. Procyonic is found in obscure studies of magic. The language has been described as sounding "terrifying" to most other creatures and includes numerous chittering, hissing and even whimpering noises.