Homebrew Bonetaker Species Details

The man who I had thought was my best friend began to melt before my eyes, his dark skin turning into a strange translucent goo. I could see my best friend's bones floating inside it. One by one, the bones plopped out until I was standing in front of a large, shapeless, blob.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," said thr blob.

 

Bonetakers are an ooze race designed and created by a cabal of wizards intent on trying to control the world from behind the scenes. They were created to be the perfect spies, to infiltrate and guide, or sabotage if need be, any organization. As such, they have the ability to ingest the bodies of the dead and take on their shape and identity while disposing of the body. Some bonetakers will even take the shape of a dog or a bird to remain undetected. A bonetaker will go to great lengths to maintain its new identity, as being found out normally means death. There are some bonetakers who have broken free of their masters' control, and now only seek to live their own life.

Physiology

Physically, the bonetaker resemble a formless ooz in their natural form. While oozes are simply gelatinous conglomerates of various creatures, bonetaker can actually absorb a body and take on all of its characteristics.

When impersonating a specific person, a bonetaker will use that person's bones and reshape their body to look exactly like that person's.

Bonetakers store their cognitive system throughout their entire body, and can form an organ which functions as a brain to think. It doesn't need to be inside the head, and can be placed at a safer location in the bonetaker's body. Bonetaker flesh will retain its appearance when cut free of their bodies. They give off a smell that other bonetakers can detect which communicates their gender. The smell that they give off is decided by the bonetaker in question, as a result of their control over their physiology, this smell can be masculine, feminine, neutral, a mix, or something completely different.

Bonetaker Names

A bonetaker usually uses the Name of the mimicked person. The true name of a bonetaker tends to be simple and disyllabic.

Changelings have a fluid relationship with gender, seeing it as one characteristic to change among many.

Bonetaker Names: TenSoon, OreSeur, KanPaar, Haddek, MeLaan, Paalm, VenDell, ReLuur, Ulaam

Creating a Bonetaker

When you create a bonetaker character, you have already ingested and digested the body of one medium or small humanoid creature, and have built yourself a body using their bones. You can choose their race from among the playable races, and can make up their backstory and appearance.

Bonetaker Traits

Your bonetaker has the following traits:

Ability score increase

Bonetakers have four known blessings, each blessing granted them sentience and additional benefits.
The four known ones are:

• Blessing of Awarness
  Increases the wisdom score by 2
• Blessing of Potency
  Increases the strength score by 2
• Blessing of Presence
  Increases the intelligence score by 2
• Blessing of Stability
  Increases the charisma score by 2

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Creature Type

You are an Ooze.

Size

Your size is Medium or Smalldepending on the creature imitatod.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Age

Bonetakers do not appear to die of natural causes, but they are not immortal, just incredibly long-lived.

Unmatched Actor

You have proficiency in the Performance skill.

Shapeless Form

In your natural state, you are an amorphous ooze. In this shape you cannot use objects, carry weapons or wear armour.

Gelatinous Nature

In your shapeless form you can squeeze through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide.

Ingest and digest

In your shapeless form you can spend 1 hour ingesting a medium or small creature's corpse. When you do so you absorb their bones, you also learn their anatomy, natural characteristics and resistances or vulnerabilities. You cannot do this if you only have their skeleton or more than a fourth of the body is missing.

Mimicry

As long as you have a set of bones inside you, you can use these bones to construct a body for yourself as an action. You can only contain one set of bones at a time, and they must belong to a medium or small creature. Expelling a set of bones takes 1 minute, during which time you are incapacitated.

If you ingested and digested the corpse of the set of bones, you can perfectly recreate their body, you gain the following additional traits:

• You have the same size and speed of the creature whose bones you have absorbed.
• You have advantage on Charisma (deception) checks to pretend to be the ingested creature.
• You gain any natural weapons, natural armour or special senses the creature had, as long as your level is equal to or greater than the creature's CR

Skill Mimicry

At 1st level you can use any objects, carry any weapons and wear any armour the creature the bones belonged to was able to (this doesn't mean you gain proficiency with them or learn how to use them)

At 3rd level, choose a Skill, Simple Weapon, Martial Weapon, Tool or Armor proficiency of the digested creature. (Add it maunally on the charackter sheet)

At 6th level, choose a second Skill, Simple Weapon, Martial Weapon, Tool or Armor proficiency of the digested creature. (Add it maunally on the charackter sheet)

Partial Digestion 

If, on the other hand, you didn't ingest and digest a whole corpse of the set of bones, the body is imperfect, you don't gain any of the aforementioned traits and you have disadvantage on all Charisma (deception) checks to pretend to be the creature which the bones belonged to.