Homebrew Selkie Species Details
Selkies
Selkies are creatures descended from fey and tied to the ocean. They have slight builds that sometimes cause them to be confused with elves or half-elves, with pale skin and dark hair and eyes. Selkie children are born in the form of a seal-pup, and Selkies maintain the magical ability to turn back and forth into seals as long as they keep their magical seal skins with them. Selkies live by the sea in small communities, where they raise their pups. Selkie adventurers are often those individuals whose natural curiosity motivates them to explore the wide-world around them.
Naive and Curious
Selkies live fleeting lives filled with wonder and exploration. The sea's endless mysteries encourage the Selkie to spend each day looking for something new to find, eat, touch, and collect. To land dwellers they often appear child-like at first, though their natural wonder and lack of experience with the "common folk" of the land are, by no means, indicators of a lack of wisdom and competence.
The Ocean's Children
Selkies are social creatures, fond of their families, and kind to their friends... but their hearts truly belong to the sea. Selkie pups are free to frolic among the hidden rocks and corals. They are fed by the ocean's bounty. They are rocked to sleep by the gentle foam of the waves. For all of this the Selkie call the ocean "Mother." Selkies who adventure far from the shores feel a palpable heartache as they long for their home. A Selkie who has lost it's skin of the seal will go to desperate lengths to retrieve it as this allows them to take the form of a seal and truly be with the Mother ocean.
Free Spirits
Selkies love exploring the surf and the shore. They may spend their day collecting smooth rocks of a particular sheen, sunbathing on shore, or chasing boats in the bay. On a whim a Selkie may take off to explore the world on land or take off swimming to some distant shore. Wherever they wander, however, a Selkie is most at home in the free and flowing water. Having their freedom stripped from them is often the worse fate a Selkie could imagine. A Selkie who has been caught or caged is prone to grow weak and ill with their imprisonment. Without rescue they may literally die from a broken spirit.
Selkie Names
A Selkie's natural name is a series of animal barks and whines that are able to be produced by a seal. Selkies commonly adopt a second name that can be pronounced by those who speak Common. This second name may replicate these seal sounds or be chosen from the names used by local seaside community.
Selkie Names: Aft, Bemphem, Elss, Gual, Hope, Hupp, Mel, Mallo, Oona, Oh'un, Thourm, Wou.
Selkie Traits
Your Selkie character shares a number of traits with other Selkies.Ability Score Increase.
Your Wisdom score increased by 2, and your Constitution score increased by 1.
Age
Although they have the blood of the fey in their ancestry, Selkies are creatures of freedom that live relatively fleeting lives. Reaching maturity in their teens they are considered to be in their old-age by 50.
Alignment
Selkies value their personal freedom, and the freedom of others, to explore the world as they see fit. Most Selkies are chaotic.
Size
Selkies stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and have slight builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Fey Ancestry.
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Raised by the Sea.
You have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to swim and you can hold your breath for 15 minutes.
Speak with Ocean Beasts
Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas with beasts that cannot breath water but have a swim speed. Selkies often form friendships with seals, whales, dolphins, and otters.
Selkie skin.
Selkie pups are born in the form of a seal, and transform into their humanoid form as they shed that seal skin. You have a skin of the seal magic item.
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
The skin of the seal is a cape, shawl, or apron of seal skin which has been shed by a Selkie. While the skin of the seal is worn, you gain resistance to cold damage. You may use the skin of the seal to wildshape into a seal as a bonus action. This functions the same as the druid class feature except it can only be used to take the form of a seal, and may be used any number of times per day. If you are forced to revert back to your natural form due to dropping to 0 hit points as a seal, you may not use this trait again until the skin of the seal has been submerged in water for at least 1 hour.
If attuned to a Selkie, a skin of the seal does not count against that creature's number of attuned items. A skin of the seal can only become unattuned to a Selkie if that creature dies or voluntarily ends its attunement during a short rest. While attuned, a Selkie can tell the direction and relative distance to where the skin of the seal is located.
Languages
You speak, read, and write Common, Aquan, and Sylvan.