Homebrew Selkie Species Details

Selkies are creatures descended from fey and tied to the ocean. They have slight builds that sometimes cause them to be confused with elves or half-elves, with pale skin and dark hair and eyes. Selkie children are born in the form of a seal-pup, and Selkies maintain the magical ability to turn back and forth into seals as long as they keep their magical seal skins with them. Selkies live by the sea in small communities, where they raise their pups. Selkie adventurers are often those individuals whose natural curiosity motivates them to explore the wide world around them.

Naive and Curious

Selkies live fleeting lives filled with wonder and exploration. The sea's endless mysteries encourage the Selkie to spend each day looking for something new to find, eat, touch, and collect. To land dwellers they often appear child-like at first, though their natural wonder and lack of experience with the "common folk" of the land are, by no means, indicators of a lack of wisdom and competence.

The Ocean's Children

Selkies are social creatures, fond of their families, and kind to their friends... but their hearts truly belong to the sea. Selkie pups are free to frolic among the hidden rocks and corals. They are fed by the ocean's bounty. They are rocked to sleep by the gentle foam of the waves. For all of this the Selkie call the ocean "Mother." Selkies who adventure far from the shores feel a palpable heartache as they long for their home. A Selkie who has lost it's skin of the seal will go to desperate lengths to retrieve it as this allows them to take the form of a seal and truly be with the Mother ocean.

Free Spirits
Selkies love exploring the surf and the shore. They may spend their day collecting smooth rocks of a particular sheen, sunbathing on shore, or chasing boats in the bay. On a whim a Selkie may take off to explore the world on land or take off swimming to some distant shore. Wherever they wander, however, a Selkie is most at home in the free and flowing water. Having their freedom stripped from them is often the worse fate a Selkie could imagine. A Selkie who has been caught or caged is prone to grow weak and ill with their imprisonment. Without rescue they may literally die from a broken spirit.

Selkie Names
A Selkie's natural name is a series of animal barks and whines that are able to be produced by a seal. Selkies commonly adopt a second name that can be pronounced by those who speak Common. This second name may replicate these seal sounds or be chosen from the names used by local seaside community.

Selkie Names: Aft, Bemphem, Elss, Gual, Hope, Hupp, Mel, Mallo, Oona, Oh'un, Thourm, Wou.

Selkie Traits

Your Selkie character shares a number of traits with other Selkies.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2, and Dexterity and Constitution increase by 1 each.

Darkvision

Your sylvan ancestry has adapted your physiology to both the twilight realms and the depths of the ocean. 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.

Seal Coat

Selkie pups are born in the form of a seal, and transform into their humanoid form as they shed that seal skin. You have a skin of the seal magic item. You can shift from your humanoid form to your seal form at will as an action, provided you are wearing your seal coat. As you do so, you can choose for any gear and extra clothing you are wearing to meld into your form or be discarded. Your coat is one of a kind, and you protect it as though it is a part of you (it is). As a seal, your base walking speed is 10ft, swimming speed is 50ft, and your AC becomes 12 + your Dexterity and Constitution modifiers. You cannot speak or write when you are a seal, although you can still understand spoken and written words. In seal form, you can make an unarmed bite attack for half your level (rounded down with a minimum of 1) + 1d4 piercing damage.

Languages

You speak, read, and write Common, Aquan, and Sylvan.

Friend of the Ocean

You gain proficiency on any sea- or ocean-related checks. Ocean beasts are not immediately hostile toward you but can become so. You can communicate with ocean beasts, but they do not have to listen to you, and they make decisions independent of you and your requests. You have advantage on physical rolls when you are in a water environment. You have proficiency on any History, Nature, or Survival checks having to do with the ocean. You may gain proficiency on other skill checks having to do with or relating to the ocean, at the dm's discretion.