Homebrew Gishi Species Details

Deep below the remains of the supports and structures that the realms were built upon, there was once nothing. Nothing, except, but the primordial ooze left over from a time when before even the gods came upon to reclaim the lands from the Aboleths. The gods noticed this raw, untapped energy and began to use it to create and shape the land before them in their will, eventually putting it aside and dropping it back into the nothingness of the abyss that it had laid in for thousands of other years to come. That was, at least, until something else noticed it. An entity known only to them, what they call the Pale Lady, one day looked upon the pitiful ooze and, perhaps in a moment of altruism, or the beginning of a long scheme, blessed it with the knowledge of sentience. The ooze began to form, take shape into bipedal being no more different than the other races, and were given a name: Gishi, "Viscous Ones".

This is the mythos that the Gishi (Gee-Shee) , an infantile race in terms of just about every other being that they came upon, swore what caused their existence. Found first by the dwarves of Citadel Adbar, when their miners dug into an oddly unfamiliar cave system only to be stunned by the sights upon their eyes. Massive, towering pillars and structures made entirely out of hollowed out stalagmites, bioluminescent lakes made out of drooping waters, and the strange, gelatinous beings that inhabited them. They should've noticed such things before, as though they had seemingly popped into existence. This citadel, called by the Gishi as Aarakhüm (Aah-rah-kuum), is not the only one in the planes, one more has been found as of late. Shuurahkhal (Shuu-rak-haal) is another one of these Girhi cities, found hanging onto one of mountains of Oerth's southern continent.

The Girhi are a resistant species, having grown accustomed of thousand of years living in the unfeeling darkness found under the realms before being ascended. As a result, they think of themselves not as an individual, but as a species, every single Girhi's thoughts and actions contributing not for their own personal gain but for the good of both their cities and their caste. Due to this, they think extremely lowly of greedy individuals and species, thinking that they only further bring themselves to their own doom.

Gishi Traits

Erratic Shape

Erratic Shapes

As a bonus action, change the Size of your character to either Large or Small if you are not already one of these Sizes. The effects of this action are as listed below.

Small:  Decreasing and packing their mass into themselves, the Gishi is able to make themselves as small as 2-4 feet, gaining the following effects: +1 to Dexterity, -1 to Constitution, +1 to Attack and AC modifiers, -4 to Special Attack Modifiers, and +4 to stealth checks. Your weight is also decreased, from 8-60 pounds now being set as your weight.

Large: Increasing and adding to their mass from nearby sources, the Gishi is able to make themselves as large as 8-16 feet, as well as gain the following effects: +1 to Constitution, -1 to Dexterity, -1 to Attack modifiers, +1 to AC modifiers, +4 to Special Attack Modifiers, -4 to stealth checks, and +4 to Intimidation checks.

 

As well, any terrain is able to be moved upon as though it was normal, even if it is marked as difficult terrain due to the Girhi's lack of solid flesh that would otherwise find difficulty with such things as ball bearings and mountainous locations.

Sudden Shift

For 3 rounds, the character is able to change their size to a Miniscule level. Add in the additional bonuses and negatives this effect would cause until the end of the three Round period. If by the time the Girhi is forced to expand back to their regular size is up and they are still either trapped or forced to stay the size, they must pass a DC15 Constitution saving throw or take 1d10 blunt damage. This damage die scales with level, adding an extra d10 die for 5 every levels.

Constitution and Dexterity +1.

Due to their gelatinous forms, Girhi are used to moving fluidly amongst the wreckage of collapsed buildings without much effort. As well, their lack of solid forms means they are able to take blows just as easily as they are able to go through them.

Languages Bonus

Due to their sudden emergence into the world and their usual lives underground, Girhi gain languages based on where they live, and where they emerge into the world. Usually this is Common in order to make speech with the locals and be able to both actually talk and understand them, but they are also able to understand one more additional language due to a possibility of popping up in countless other locations. As well, the most common Girhi coming from The Forgotten Realms gain a knowledge in Undercommon.