Homebrew Cyclorcian Species Details

Whether united under the leadership of a mighty warlock or having fought to a standstill after years of conflict, orc and human communities, sometimes form alliances. When these alliances are sealed by marriages, half-orcs are born. Some half-orcs rise to become proud leaders of orc communities. Some venture into the world to prove their worth. Many of these become adventurers, achieving greatness for their mighty deeds.

Scarred and Strong

Half-orcs exhibit a blend of orcish and human characteristics, and their appearance varies widely. Grayish skin tones and prominent teeth are the most common shared elements among these folk.

Orcs regard battle scars as tokens of pride and ornamental scars as things of beauty. Other scars, though, mark an orc or half-orc as a former prisoner or a disgraced exile. Any half-orc who has lived among or near orcs has scars, whether they are marks of humiliation or of pride, recounting their past exploits and injuries.

The Mark of Gruumsh

The one-eyed god Gruumsh—lord of war and fury—created the first orcs, and even those orcs who turn away from his worship carry his blessings of might and endurance. The same is true of half-orcs. Some half-orcs hear the whispers of Gruumsh in their dreams, calling them to unleash the rage that simmers within them. Others feel Gruumsh’s exultation when they join in melee combat — and either exult along with him or shiver with fear and loathing.

Beyond the rage of Gruumsh, half-orcs feel emotion powerfully. Rage doesn’t just quicken their pulse, it makes their bodies burn. An insult stings like acid, and sadness saps their strength. But they laugh loudly and heartily, and simple pleasures — feasting, drinking, wrestling, drumming, and wild dancing — fill their hearts with joy. They tend to be short-tempered and sometimes sullen, more inclined to action than contemplation and to fighting than arguing. And when their hearts swell with love, they leap to perform acts of great kindness and compassion.

Half-Orc Names

Half-orcs usually have names appropriate to the culture in which they were raised. A half-orc who wants to fit in among humans might trade an orc name for a human name. Some half-orcs with human names decide to adopt a guttural orc name because they think it makes them more intimidating.

Male Orc Names: Dench, Feng, Gell, Henk, Holg, Imsh, Keth, Krusk, Mhurren, Ront, Shump, Thokk

Female Orc Names: Baggi, Emen, Engong, Kansif, Myev, Neega, Ovak, Ownka, Shautha, Sutha, Vola, Volen, Yevelda

The pursuit of knowledge, the acquisition of secrets, and the hoarding of trinkets with storied histories are common practices among any creature raised by cyclopians (sy-CLO-pee-ans). From dog tags to tapestries, musical manuscripts to carved tablets, and magical memory orbs to worthless heirlooms, their ‘libraries’ (as cyclopians refer to their homes) are filled with knowledge. With their physical adaptation to climbing, cyclopian homes are often found high up in cliffsides, within abandoned wizards’ towers, or deep in The Low.

Monocular and Myopic

A cyclopian’s singular eye is the perfect metaphor for this race’s almost-myopic tendency to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others. When a cyclopian finds a topic that interests them, little can stop their manic and feverish efforts to acquire any relevant documents, information, or answers. Indeed, the famed cyclopian researcher Roza “Thanks” Thanklinds is rumoured to have forgone sleep for more than two months while analysing the crystallised mut-x from the former laboratory of Dr Frank N. Stein. Of course, this feat was made all the easier thanks to cyclopians’ ability to metabolise knowledge into actual, physical, nutritional value.

Arcanists Analogue

Cyclopians are often mistaken for shadowy aberrations of the Shadow Plane known as nothings. While both cyclopian and nothings share a hulking monocular physiology and a hunger for knowledge, a brief observation yields one significant difference: the skulking simulacra leave a trail of rot and necrosis wherever they travel, while no true cyclopian would ever risk damaging a book in this way.

Pilgrimage of Huge Discovery

Cyclopians of a certain age often embark on a Pilgrimage of Huge Discovery, or PHD. During this time, they venture out into the world, seeking to bring new and significant knowledge back to their library. For some individuals, the natural compulsion to explore is all the impetus they need to leave the comfort of their homes. On the other hand, more reticent cyclopians might have to be forced out by their family, fulfilling this rite of passage based on a sense of duty. Cyclopians who fixate on the acquisition of artifacts, rather than the joy of studying them, are regarded as rare and valuable assets to any family; cyclopian adventurers are always warmly welcomed back to their library.

Sharing is Caring

Cyclopians have an unusual lifecycle. Though they can reproduce sexually, cyclopians are also capable of a form of asexual budding. When a cyclopian is beyond inundated by the volume of knowledge awaiting its analysis (such as after it gains entry into an abandoned, book-filled wizard’s tower), it can spontaneously and unexpectedly undergo entire body mitosis. This produces a smaller, similar, genetically distinct, individual—an assistant with whom the research can be more manageably catalogued.

Cyclorcian Traits

Your character has certain traits deriving from your orc and cyclopian ancestry.

Knowledge Seeker

Learning is an almost irresistible compulsion amongst cyclopians and often leads them to dangerous locations. You have proficiency in your choice of two of the following skills: Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Perception, Religion, and Stealth.

Savant of Secrets

You can tap into your ancestral ability to spot the telltale signs of hidden traps, passages, and secrets. As an action, you can enter a cyclotrance for 1 minute. For the duration, you have advantage on Perception, Investigation, and Insight checks. Once you activate this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Thought for Food

Information is nourishing for cyclopians, in the truest sense of the word. Each day that you discover significant new information (GM’s discretion), you need only half as much food and water as normal and you have advantage on Constitution saving throws. These benefits last until you finish a long rest.

Top Shelf

Generations spent climbing to the top shelves of tall libraries have led to a selective pressure on the ability to climb within cyclopians. You have a climbing speed of 20 feet.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1

or 

Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and either your Dexterity score or Wisdom score increases by 1 (your choice).

Age

Half-orcs mature a little faster than humans, reaching adulthood around age 14. They age noticeably faster and rarely live longer than 75 years.

Cyclopians reach maturity in their early teens and typically live as long as humans.

 

Size

Half-orcs are somewhat larger and bulkier than humans, and they range from 5 to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

With their crouched and hulking posture, Cyclopians typically appear smaller than they are. At full stretch, a cyclopian stands between 5 and 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Thanks to your orc blood, 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 color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Menacing

You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.

Relentless Endurance

When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Savage Attacks

When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Undercommon, and Orc. Orc is a harsh, grating language with hard consonants. It has no script of its own but is written in the Dwarvish script.