Homebrew Absulid Species Details

Deep roots tie absulids to the realm of dreams, but their domain of expertise is nightmares. Most of these creatures live in dark and damp dens, not by choice but by obligation. Unlike most beings, they purposefully limit their sight to learn to depend on their “third eye”. Those who stray from the norm of murder and violence mostly do so because of a sudden burst of emotion or because of a great loss. The small groups they live in are called frames and closely resemble tribes. The most daring of these frames take up pets, mostly large, black, nightmarish dogs they use as mounts. These dogs are a close cousin of blink dogs that were domesticated by the absulids.

 

Somber at heart

On the contrary to most of the stout races, emotion is looked down upon by absulids to the point of it being almost seen as an illness. Due to this constant repression, absulids are prone to depression and mostly use violence as their escape. The only emotion that is not looked down upon is anger which they are taught at a young age to use in combat. To them, the only relief other than war is to mask the pain with more. In the end, most of them end up inflicting pain upon themselves to nullify the emotional torment they feel every day. A select few frames teach their young ones to never be attached by giving them pets and making them spend all their time with them only to kill them after a year.

 

Visions of pain

Due to an unholy pact between an ancestor of theirs with a dark spirit, absulids suffer more than any other sentient being. With each absulid child born, this ancient deity would create one nightmare. These nightmares often leave a mark of their presence on their host. Most of these marks do not manifest until adulthood as does the magic that comes with them. No other creatures could withstand the torment that absulids must endure to fully bond with this demon at such a young age. They are cursed with a burden that no other race could withstand. Terrors exponentially worse than those of their cousins, the kalashtars, that haunt them day and night. These spirits grant them their power yet are what causes most of them to fall deep into insanity. Most absulids are discontent with the demons with which they share bodies. Few frames dare to explore the powers offered to them by the nightmares and those who do are seen as feral as they are powerful. These dark personas leech the life force off their hosts, leaving nothing but husks. The most powerful spell casters of this race must absorb the energy of others to feed the insatiable beings that inhabit them.

Mark of the soul

 No two beings are the same, not strangers, not twins, absolutely nobody. To an absulid, everyone feels fear, and everyone feels betrayal. They have little regard for appearance because bodies are nothing but flesh. The body is a vessel to the truth, the soul. Their vessels act as such, extensions of the soul, of the psyche. As stated, no two beings are the same, no two souls are the same, no two bodies are the same. A wound to the soul is a wound to the body, and vice versa. An absulid has no true body, it has an image. This image must be shared though. A curse always leaves its mark, physical or psychological, in this case, it's both. A trained eye can always tell what an absulid is thinking, what it’s planning, if it’s corrupting. This does not pair well with their beliefs,with their standards. The truth of an absulid always forms the body. Ever changing, ever shattering, ever remodeling.

Absulid Traits

Your character shares many traits with other absulids

Ability Score Increases

Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Charisma score by 1

Age

Absulids mature at the same rate humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 22. They live much longer than humans, however, but most die from suicide or combat before 110. Some are known to live up to 200 years.

Alignment

Due to the dark spirits inhabiting them and the way they face emotion, most absulids tend towards an evil alignment. There are, however, some that seek to make up for the pain that their ancestors caused. These tend towards a more good or lawful alignment.

Size

Absulids are small creatures, normally ranging from 2 to 4 feet in height. They do not weigh much either, normally not going over 100lbs. Your size is small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Blindsight

Due to your close connection to your soul, you can extend your sight past what your eyes can perceive. You gain 25ft of blindsight

Nightmare Curse

You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Spirit’s Mark

You know the minor illusion cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the sleep spell as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the blur spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Terror Connection

When your connection with your nightmare is strong enough, you can take 3d10 psychic damage during a long rest to convert a nearby canine (within 10ft) into a large nightmarish hound known as a terror tooth hound. The canine must succeed a wisdom saving throw against your save dc or be turned. This creature shares it’s stats with a blink dog and is friendly towards you and your companions. You must spend a short rest bonding with the beast before it can fully trust you and follow you into combat. 

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Quori.