Homebrew Zanthani Species Details

Society

Zanthani are often rejected by societies, particularly those with strict religious beliefs against undead or about death. They're all dead, but they violate the sanctity of death by not being fully so. On occasion, zanthani have contacted their original soul and held conversations with it. There's even been occasional instances of zanthani being haunted by their own ghosts, usually returned in the form of vengeful spirits like wraiths. Thus, most zanthani avoid the Ethereal Plane and fear death, which would take them to the Fugue Plane.

The few zanthani that exist either form Underdark enclaves of hunters and gatherers, or pursue lives in major cities, usually as herbalists, guides, wizards or sorcerers. These zanthani act sometimes as members of a magic guild as they are continual experiments watched by them. Zanthani in general can take a wide variety of professions. However, this is only possible for zanthani living where their appearance is tolerated with a certain amount of prejudice. Zanthani today can breed to reproduce, rather than rely on humans eating zantin. These new zanthani have a natural soul.

Zanthani Names

Zanthani often do not know themselves to be clones and so use the names of those they impersonate.

Male: Billy, O'Reilly, Prago

Female: Julie, Kyri, Polly

Age

Zanthani who are born rather than transformed (through a fusion then triple division of both parents, leaving the two parents and the new "child") with the mentality of a teenager and reach mental maturity within 5 years, from this age they live long, as both their unchanging slime and slow-growing tree heritage slows down aging dramatically, effectively extending their lifespan to over 300 years.

Alignment

Zanthani vary in alignment almost as much as their human ancestors. They are comparable to tieflings in alignment, with many either making their heritage a grindstone underneath their neck to become paragons of virtue (or just nice people if the zanthani makes bread) or revel in their monstrous appearance and descend to evil. However, they are also conflicted in other ways; some want normality and order restored to their lives, leading to lawful alignments, whereas other seek to embrace the chaos to find peace, leading to chaotic alignments. Others still seek to abandon emotion for the unfeeling embrace of the ooze, resulting in a true neutral alignment. No matter what, zanthani always tend towards the extremes. A neutral good zanthani, for example, is almost unheard of.

Size

Zanthani, as do Humans, vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Zanthani Traits

Wooden skeletons with fungal innards, Zanthani make use of their amorphous bodies to aid them by augmenting their body structure.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Darkvision

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.

Generational Mind

You retain some skill from that of your mimicked self. You are proficient in one skill of your choice.

Limited Shaping

At 1st level, you can cast mage hand at will. Instead of a spectral hand of force, a vine-like, wooden hand emerges from a point on your skeleton and is connected by a thin, yet flexible and durable wooden vine.
At 3rd level, you can cast the shield spell at will once, regaining use after you finish a long rest. This spell takes the form of a wooden shield growing out from your body.
At 5th level, You have mastered your malleable form, and can now change your body over a short rest to replicate other creatures forms. You can cast the alter self spell once at will. You regain use of this trait upon finishing a long rest.

Photosynthesis

Due to the leaves growing from your body, you do not require food as long as you have spent at least 4 hours in bright sunlight. You must still drink, and you must still eat if you don't do this.

Languages

You retain the languages of your mimicked self. You can speak, read and write in Common as well as one language of your choice.