Homebrew Ghoran Species Details

The typical ghoran stands roughly as tall as a human and occupies a similar silhouette, but that’s where their similarities with humanity end. A ghoran’s “skin” is a complex layer of fibrous vines and rinds with a texture similar to moss-covered bark. Ghoran faces consist of layered petals that flush and flutter at a whim, allowing them to mimic the facial behaviors of their would-be devourers. They do not lack emotion per se, but ghoran “feelings” are primordial and abstract, making them utterly alien to most non-ghorans. A ghoran might laugh, smile, or raise its voice, but their companions seldom understand if these are displays of true emotion or merely more adaptive evolutions designed—like so many other aspects of their physiology—simply to keep them alive.

Ghorans have considerable control over their mass and can shape their bodies however they wish within the basic confines of a humanoid silhouette; this trait often gives them the impression of rustling about, especially when they are frightened or agitated. Ghorans who deal often with humanoids tend to adopt a masculine or a feminine silhouette based on their preference, but gender remains a fluid and somewhat elusive concept to them—an evolutionary adaptation of more import to the comfort of their companions than to ghorans themselves.

A ghoran has a deep cavity within its belly, housing a single seed the size of a balled human fist. Roughly every 20 years, a ghoran’s body becomes decrepit enough to no longer function. The ghoran imprints its abilities and memories into this seed and then plants it in the ground. After 1 to 2 months, a new ghoran body is born from the seed, the consciousness from the original transferring over to the fully grown body and leaving the old body behind as a mindless mass of inert plant matter. In this way, a ghoran’s legacy lives on with every regrowth; while the body regenerates, the inner self and memories of the past endure.

Society: A ghoran’s alien thought processes (to say nothing of the empty holes upon its flower-petal face roughly approximating its eyes and mouth) make it very difficult for other races to understand and empathize with, leading many ghorans to stick to themselves in segregated communities of cosmopolitan and magic-rich city-states or in the deepest wild places of their barren homeland and its neighboring kingdoms. Ghoran architecture consists of round, multifloor greenhouse towers composed of fibrous plant material coated in organic resins that grant it the hardness of stone. The towers have no roofs and several wide, stylized windows, granting the colony of ghorans living within ample access to the essential life-giving rays of the sun. Within, the air is redolent with organic aromas that often induce soporific effects upon non-ghorans, making them pliant to ghoran suggestions and uneager to take aggressive action. When unobserved, ghorans belonging to the same colony sometimes array themselves around the edges of the tower’s internal balconies, swaying in unison to some unheard rhythm and basking in the communal warmth of daylight.

Ghoran Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, –2 Intelligence: Ghorans are hardy, guileful, and eager to explore their emotions, but they process complex thoughts slowly. Size: Ghorans are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Type: Ghorans have the plant type but lack the immunities to mind-affecting, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stunning effects that type usually has. The plant type features immunities that, when granted to a player character race, can be disruptive and overpowered. Languages: Ghorans begin play speaking Common and Sylvan. Ghorans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages such as Druidic). Defensive Traits: Ghorans have tough, rugged skin and so gain a +2 Natural Armor bonus to AC.

Ability Score Increase

Ghorans are hardy, guileful, and eager to explore their emotions, but they process complex thoughts slowly.

Natural Magic

Ghorans with a Charisma score of 11 or higher gain the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—detect poison, goodberry (created berries bud from the ghoran’s own body), and purify food and drink. The caster level is equal to the ghoran’s level. The DC for these spells is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the ghoran’s Charisma bonus.

Seed

As a full-round action, a ghoran can expel the seed from an orifice in its abdomen. If planted in fertile ground and left undisturbed for 2d6 days, the seed grows into a healthy duplicate of the original ghoran, save that the duplicate can reallocate all skill ranks upon sprouting. Once a ghoran expels this seed, it gains 1 negative level, and it dies as soon as the duplicate sprouts. This duplicate replaces the previous ghoran character.