Homebrew Amoeboid Species Details

copyright - Mage Hand Press

Amoeboids are intelligent, vaguely humanoid-shaped, translucent oozes that can mimic the form of any creature they touch.

They are highly intelligent, with a panchant for technology. It is unknown their origins, but they seem to have an affinity for the void of space. These creatures tend to the maw stations, experimenting into the nature of space and time, parlaying with any creature that travels through them.

Fluid Anatomy

Amoeboid bodies are almost entirely composed of a translucent jelly-like substance, with a complex network of nerves visible throughout, which emit a dim blue light. Within their heads, a large, brain-like nucleus floats, surrounded by five eyespots spaced radially around it.

Their fluid bodies can take the genetic imprint of creatures they touch, molding into an inexact copy, visibly made of the same jelly material. When in this form, however, amoeboids can speak the language of their copy, and move in much the same way, allowing them to empathize with virtually any creature.

No one is sure exactly how the bizarre anatomy of the amoeboids came to be, for they are among the oldest races in the 'verse and few accounts exist before them. The elves believe that their strange forms were created on a rogue world, flung into the Black by a catastrophic event, but the avia-ra maintain that their forms are a result of long-term corruption by the Void. There might be some credence to this latter theory, for those that are exposed to the Void's terrible lights and survive undergo the warp and are changed in drastic and horrifying ways, being robbed forever of their previous forms. Perhaps, it is possible that the amoeboids were warped so intensely, they were left as mere genetic sludge, lacking any true shape.

Scientists and Mawkeepers

Above all else, amoeboids value logical thinking as a lens to analyze the world. They keenly believe that the multiverse is founded on an objective, concrete reality defined solely by magic and physics, all of which can be understood. All things, including the elusive mystery of the maw stations, can be unraveled with proper attention, experimentation, and reasoning. Most amoeboids regard no subject as taboo and have few qualms about any kind of research, as long as its methodology is sound and is reasonably likely to produce useful data.

Most amoeboids live on the maw stations themselves, researching the maw's activities, repairing ships and Dark Matter engines, and trading information with other scientists and wizards the 'verse over. With their keen intellect, amoeboids make excellent alchemists, gadgeteers, and wizards, and can find no better place to live than the maw stations.

Strange Visitors

Amoeboids have taken to visiting settled worlds in secret, disguising their saucers and themselves to perform experiments on the inhabitants. By and large, these experiments are noninvasive, but are nonetheless unwelcome. As a result, many worlds have ancient tales of strange visitors from the stars, looking much like them, but strangely distorted, who steal individuals away by night and subject them to strange rituals in brightly lit rooms. Amoeboids will also vivisect the odd head of livestock, but these occurrences are more likely to be blamed on predators than on men from the stars.

Amoeboid Names

Ever concerned with efficiency, amoeboid names can traditionally be represented by a single unusual character, to differentiate it from the rest of a particular alphabet. Amoeboids don't differentiate between males and females, nor are their names particularly masculine or feminine.

Amoeboid Names. Ash (Æ), Chevron (Λ), Digamma (Ͷ), Eth (Ð), Ezh (Ʒ), Gangia (Ϫ), Kai (ϗ), Pilcrow (¶), Psi (Ψ), Shei (Ϣ), Solidus (/), Thorn (Þ), Tilde (~), Yr (Ʀ)

 

Credits:

Lead Designer Michael Holik
World Design Jaron Mortimer, Michael Holik
Additional Design Matthew Pennell, Benjamin Richardson, Jason Sinclair
Editor Michael Holik
Lead Artist Martin Kirby
Graphic Designer Michael Holik
Cover Illustrator Martin Kirby
Cartographer Michael Holik
Interior Illustrations Martin Kirby, Lucas Ferreira CM, Mariana Livraes, Jordy Knoop, Erin and Adam Rice-Carlson

Adapted for D&D Beyond Jacob Redfern

Amoeboid Traits

As an Amoeboid, the shape of your form can vary greatly with their especially fluid physicality.

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Amoeboids swiftly reach maturity, growing to full size in a mere 3 years, and have especially long lifespan, living as long as 200 to 300 years.

Alignment

Natural-born scientists, amoeboids tend to be skeptical and deductive. They lean toward neutral alignments.

Size

Amoeboids have a roughly similar mass to other humanoid creatures and stand 4 to 5 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Flexible Form

You can use your action to stretch, compress, and mold your body into a myriad of shapes. You can transform into any static form that you choose that is no larger than 8 feet in any dimension. When you assume this form, you can replicate something’s basic shape but not its color, texture, moving parts, or fine details. You can’t change your body’s volume, nor can you move, attack, or cast spells while you’re transformed into a static shape.

You can also use your action to touch a living creature and assume its general form. Your size and other statistics don’t change. You gain the ability to speak and understand that creature’s language, and if the target has a burrowing, climbing, or swimming speed, you gain those with the same speed, up to a maximum of 40 feet.

Your transformation ends after 1 hour, or when you choose to end it on your turn (no action required.) If you transform into a form incapable of wearing armor, your armor falls off. You can only take actions while you’re transformed if you are in the form of a creature, and you can only take actions that creature would be able to take.

Amorphus

You can compress your body enough to squeeze through a 1-inch wide space. You can't expand inside a space that offers any resistance.

Reform

Whenever you take bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from a nonmagical weapon and don't drop to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to immediately regain 1d4 hit points, up to a maximum of the amount of damage taken.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Amoeboid. Most creatures are only able to approximate speaking Amoeboid, for its burbling words are made using the amoeboid’s fluid body. If you are transformed into a creature that has a language, you can speak and understand that language.