Homebrew Awakened Nothic Species Details
Damned Scholars
All magical scholars reach a point in their career where they plateau, unable to reach the magical secrets they so desire due to the limitations imposed upon them by the world. Some accept this fact and live out the rest of their short days satisfied and contempt with what contribution they could make. Others, however, pine for the discovery that will etch their names in history and seek knowledge forbidden to reach their truths. Nothics are prime examples of the folly of being unable to accept one's limitations. Though they may have found the secrets they yearned for, it drove them mad, fracturing their mind and warping their bodies. Reduced to mad, jabbering monstrosities, their lurk in the farthest recesses of the world, feverishly searching for more knowledge to satiate their broken minds.
Feverish Collectors
Nothics possess a strange magical insight that allows them to extract knowledge from other creatures. This grants them a unique understanding of secret and forbidden lore, which they share for a price. A Nothic covets magic items, greedily accepting such gifts from creatures that seek out its knowledge.
Like Moths to a Flame
Nothics are notorious for infiltrating arcane academies and other places rich in magical learning, driven either by obsession or a vague hope that there exists a method to reverse their condition. This isn't a clear sense of purpose, but rather an obsessive tug at the end of the mind. Some Nothics, convinced they are still scholars, believe that this is merely another step to their study, a false hope to drive them to seek out more arcane secrets.
Awakened Nothic Traits
Nothics have a number of unique characteristics imparted by their curse.Dark Vision
A Nothic's single eye is well adapted to dark places, allowing it to peer, undetected in the dark, unto others from a safe distance.
(You can see in darkness within 120 feet of you as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray)
Cursed Eye
A Nothic’s Cursed Eye is their greatest asset, allowing them to seek out the magical secrets they so desperately crave. As a Nothic gains experience, its hunger for knowledge grows and so its Cursed Eye evolves to help satiate this appetite. As if it ever could.
(Every Nothic has the inherit ability to cast Detect Magic once per long rest. Starting at level 7, a Nothic can instead choose to cast See Invisibility, and at level 13 can choose to cast True Seeing)
Keen Sight
You have proficiency in the Perception skill, and advantage on Perception checks that rely on sight.
Hybrid Nature
You have two creature types: humanoid and aberration. You are subject to any effect that specifies either of these creature types, but they do not stack.
Weird Insight
You gain proficiency with the Insight skill.
Additonally, as an action, you can target one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The target must contest its Charisma (Deception) check against your Wisdom (Insight) check. If you win, you magically learn one previously unknown fact or secret about the target. The target automatically wins if it is immune to being charmed. This can only be used successfully on a creature once, after which it becomes permanently immune to this effect.
Ability Score Increase
Besides creating an insatiable hunger for knowledge, the transformation Nothic’s undergo has blessed, or maybe cursed, them with various physical changes. Their scaled hide creates a naturally resistant physique and their jittery nature has enhanced their reflexes. The transformation has permanently warped the Nothic’s psyche, making them difficult to talk to.
(Your Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence scores each increase by 1. Your Charisma score also decreases by 1)
Age
Nothics can live for centuries without aging, and their maximum lifespan is unknown. It is thought that this curse of undying acts to magnify their insanity, growing more and more psychotic the older they get and the less they are able to learn.
(You do not age)
Alignment
Nothics are spell casters that delved too deep into the arcane secrets they researched. What they uncovered warped them and drove them insane. While not all Nothic’s are evil, most tend towards it. Due to the effects of their transformation on their psyche, all Nothics are chaotic, feverishly seeking out knowledge to satiate their appetite. This chaotic mania can be temporarily quelled by great quantities or quality of learning.
(All Nothics are chaotic)
Size
Nothics stand between 5 and 7 feet tall with some deviation based on their pre transformation race. Nothic’s often hunch over, making them seem shorter than they really are.
(Your size is Medium)
Speed
A Nothic’s gait varies wildly amongst individuals. Some skitter across the floor on all fours, others hop from place to place with their strong legs, and some take long, creeping strides. No matter how a Nothic’s moves, it never looks natural.
(Your base walking speed is 30 feet)
Languages
By filtering through their old, pre transformation, writings, Nothic’s relearn Common. This has the side effect of causing their vocabulary to be unusually scientific and blunt. Additionally, their time deep bellow the earth spying on its underground civilizations has allowed Nothic’s to learn Undercommon.
(You speak, read, and write Common, and Undercommon)
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