Homebrew Siren Species Details
“Aye, I encountered one once, a pretty young gal. Use to be human. Incredible voice, brought my whole crew to tears. It was great luck none of us were drawn in.”
Sirens are humanoids who have been passed an ancient curse. It is said that heartbroken men and women who wander the beach or sail to a new life are lured by a Siren to pass on their curse. The curse relieves them of all memories, good and bad, but leaves them with a strange emptiness that torments them until the day they too can pass on the curse.
Physically, Sirens vary wildly, because in their common form they mostly appear the same as they were before their curse. In fact, when dry, a siren is indistinguishable from a humanoid. As soon as they become wet, be it from rain or baths or swimming, their cursed nature becomes apparent. They appear generally like a drowned corpse. Seaweed appears in their hair, their feet and hands become webbed, and they grow gills in their neck. They may have additional fish-like traits, such as delicate scales, fins along their head, back or limbs, pointed teeth, and others.
Playing a Siren:
Sirens should have difficulties trusting others, even their party, and never form romantic bonds. While individuals vary, most sirens lean neutral to evil, usually traveling for their own purposes. They have no memories of their past life, but that does not mean they won’t encounter it, or hold trinkets of their past. Some may be curious where they came from, while others think it best to stay away from whatever painful memories they may have left behind.
Their curse inhibits them from aging until they can pass it on, ensuring that the sirens curse continues to linger in the world.
A DM working with a Siren’s curse in the world should realize that they are finite in number. Depending on that number, Sirens may go without ever meeting another of their kind. Even with high numbers, Sirens rarely ever cluster together, since it create competition when seeking victims to pass on their curse. With their many advantages, it’s useful to keep in mind their major disadvantages: their Water Bound feature and their Aquatic Form. Make the party seek out water, give them missions in the desert, bring rainfall while trying to travel through towns, etc.
Siren Traits
Sirens have the following traitsAbility Score Improvement
You gain +2 Charisma and +1 Constitution.
Languages
You can speak Common and Deep Speech, along with one other language you may have spoken before being cursed.
Aquatic vision
You are able to see up to 120ft underwater. This feature cannot see through magical darkness and does not work as blind vision.
Magical voice
Your voice has a strange magical quality, you have advantage on performance checks when singing.
Water Bound
Sirens are bound to the water, and thus require water like they require sleep. A siren who goes more than 24 hours without submerging themselves in some form of water (be it baths, lakes, the ocean, swamp water, etc), begin to suffer exhaustion as if they did not sleep.
Cursed Charm
Your song can charm creatures into doing as you wish. Once per day, you can cast Charm Person on a single target that can hear you sing. The save for this is 8+your CHA modifier+ your proficiency. The target has disadvantage on this save if they are suffering from a heartbreak (loss of a loved one, divorce or bad break up).
Pass Curse
Only once, you may kiss a target you have charmed via your Cursed Charm trait. The target must be suffering a broken heart. Your curse is passed on to the target. Your species reverts to what it was before the curse, and the target’s species becomes Siren. After the curse is transferred, you and your target’s HPs are reduced to 0 and you both fall unconscious (but not dying) until either a long rest passed or a Lesser Restoration spell or stronger wakes you. This effect cannot be undone.
Eternal Emptiness
Your curse naturally counteracts Charm effects, giving you immunity.
Aquatic Form
Your curse gives you two forms, which you have limited control over. While dry, you appear as a normal humanoid. Once your skin becomes wet, from anything such as rain, a splash of beer, a bath, swimming, etc, you assume your aquatic form. In this form, you have an appearance like a drowned corpse, and you gain gills (but are not required to breath through them) sea weed in your hair, and webbed digits, as well as optional additional fish like traits such as fins, sharp teeth, delicate scales, shiny or slimy skin, etc. In this form, you cannot cast Charm spells or abilities, including your racial ability. Instead, humanoids within 10 feet that can see you immediately become frightened when this change happens. In combat, the first turn they start in this aura, a humanoid must use their full turn to move away from you, but in the following turns they can return to normal behavior, but must roll a DC 15 CHA check to willingly reenter your aura. If a humanoid has already been frightened by this ability before, they can roll their CHA check on the first turn to avoid being frightened. Friendly creatures are not affected by this aura. Outside of battle, NPCs are off out by your form, and will not welcome you into their establishments or homes. Bars may have you removed, people whisper behind your back, and children cry in your presence. Friendly characters who may know what you are may be immune to this effect.
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