Homebrew Griffinfolk Species Details
Griffinfolk have the head of an eagle, with long pointed and tufted ears and intense golden eyes. They have formidable eagle talons on their hands and great bronze-feathered wings on their back. Their tawny-furred legs are digitigrade and clawed like a lion, and a slender lion tail with a feathered fan at the end stretches behind them.
Griffinfolk, as the name implies, are anthropomorphic griffons given form and sentience by a long-forgotten wizard who wished to keep his demiplane of Arimaspis well guarded. Once the guardians of this wizard's home, an ancient betrayer brought the wizard's godlike wrath down on the entire race, and he cast them all out of Arimaspis, never to return until they could prove their own trustworthiness.
A Remote Origin
Arimaspis is a foggy, mountainous demiplane located in the Deep Ethereal, with its edges touching both the Elemental Plane of Earth at the bottom and the Elemental Plane of Air at the top. Numerous rocky outcroppings made for excellent perches where the griffinfolk repellers could watch over the dangerously thin, winding pathways that crisscrossed the mountain and converged on its crown jewel: the Golden Palace. More a citadel than a palace, it was named for what it contained, namely several lifetime's worth of accumulated gold, golden treasure, golden art, and sculptures made of the purest gold. Soaring archways and flying buttresses were common features of the architecture of the Golden Palace, and no roof was less than twenty feet high.
This magnificent palace was the abode of a powerful wizard who lusted for gold treasure and needed a place to put it, as well as someone to guard it. Over the course of his life and travels he had become jaded towards the beings of the Material Plane and sought to find beings to whom he could entrust the protection of his vast wealth. He tried binding elemental spirits to form constructs and that worked very well, but they were not much for conversation and lacked personality. He tried making contracts with fiends, but found devils excessively pedantic and he didn't have the patience to put up with their incessant attempts to corrupt his soul. Finally the wizard decided if he couldn't find a people to protect his belongings, he would make his own. Through a drawn out process of trial and error, using modified versions of spells like Awaken and Shapechange, the wizard transformed his favorite monstrosity into a thinking, feeling species loyal to him and him alone: the griffinfolk.
Secluded Yet Attainable
While the bulk of Arimaspis sits firmly in the Ethereal Plane and flight and teleportation magic are disallowed there, some parts of the mountain poke into neighboring planes.
Just above the earth motes orbiting the tallest spires of the Golden Palace, the fog of the Ethereal Plane gives way to the tempestuous clouds of the Elemental Plane of Air. This outlet is somewhere on the border of the Sirocco Straits, making the air there warm and turbulent. Frequent thunderstorms and rain water the gardens of the Golden Palace, and the run-off feeds the fruit and vegetable produce further down the mountain. The griffinfolk seers magically encourage these storms, as they prevent access to the top of Arimaspis and help hide the demiplane's portal from prying, avaricious eyes.
At the mountain's base, the rocky cliffs and escarpments descend into a dusty desert strewn with jagged boulders. This desert is in fact a vast cave deep within the mountains of the Elemental Plane of Earth. The griffinfolk repellers regularly make sorties through this cavern, capturing any sentient beings who enter. Their mission is sacrosanct, and their number one priority is keeping Arimaspis undiscovered. To this end, griffinfolk seers whip up dust storms which cloud the cavern and will wipe the memories of all captured sentient beings. Additionally, they encourage burrowing monstrosities like ankhegs, bulettes, and purple worms to make their homes in this cavern to further discourage interlopers.
Watchful Eyes
As a new race tasked with guarding Arimaspis, the griffinfolk took to this task with a religious fervor. They came to know every canyon and boulder of the mountain by heart, and with their golden gimlet eyes peered outwards into the world around them, always watchful for creeping enemies advancing on their master's, on their creator's hidden world. They saw themselves as noble guardians, and their eaglets were raised by the watchword of vigilance. Intruders were misdirected if possible, and only fought as a last resort, whereupon they were memory-wiped by the griffinfolk's seers and left to wake up somewhere far from the portals to Arimaspis.
At home griffinfolk lived peacefully and simply, although surrounded by the wizard's accumulated splendor. They grew fruits and vegetables on mountainside terraces and hunted small creatures which scurried through the nooks and crannies of the mountain. Every so often the repellers would bring back larger game they'd captured on their sorties and watches. They wove simple clothes from plant fibers and wool. They sheltered from the rain in tall caves carved high in the side of the mountain, only able to be entered by those with flight, and slept on mattresses of down.
Griffinfolk elders stayed in the home caves and ledges to watch over the eaglets and to instill in them griffinfolk virtues such as honor, vigilance, and cunning. Mature able-bodied griffinfolk had a variety of tasks set to them by the wizard. There were farmers, artisans, servants in the Golden Palace, and most importantly, the repellers and seers.
Repellers
The pride and joy of the griffinfolk, repellers also made up the bulk of the population guarding Arimaspis. Masters of wind and sight, repellers perched on high pillars of stone overlooking the labyrinthine passages crisscrossing the lower mountain, and went on regular patrols to make sure no intruders were encroaching on their mountain, from above or below. If they did find someone they would first attempt to lead them astray without being seen using such methods as manipulating the weather and temperature, driving ferocious monsters towards the intruders, and generally creating uncomfortable conditions for them.
If the intruders proved resilient to the griffinfolk's previous attempts they would turn up the heat. In addition to adverse weather conditions and ferocious beasts, the griffinfolk themselves would begin to harry the intruders with their bows. If this didn't cause the intruders to flee, the griffinfolk would start using their poisoned arrows in an attempt to knock out the intruders for easier capturing. Once captured, the intruder's memories would be wiped by a seer and then they would be released back into whatever plane they'd come through, hopefully to never return.
On the rare occasion that a larger invading force made it through the outer defenses into Arimaspis, the repellers continued to be the first line of defense, aided by the sheer, forbidding cliffs and labyrinthine pathways that made navigation hell for landbound forces. Invaders from above would face similar misfortune, as a powerful spell prevented flight magic from being used on Arimaspis, only allowing those with wings to take to the air.
A subset of repellers protected the Golden Palace. These Golden Guards donned magnificent golden armor and wielded magical weapons supplied by the wizard. They were the most highly trained, most talented combatants on Arimaspis, and it was seldom that their skills were truly needed, though they often participated in patrols to relieve their own boredom.
Seers
Seers were the magic-users of the griffinfolk. They were typically older, since it took quite a few years to master the powerful magic they used. It was said that seers had a third eye in their forehead, and it was this eye that gave them the ability to learn magic. This third eye also represented a seer's naturally keen eagle eyesight enhanced by magic. Seers were named for their ability to see beyond the veil of reality, further than most creatures could see: they could see in the dark, sense the true shape of shapeshifters, perceive illusions, and even see into the Ethereal Plane and beyond.
While never as populous as the repellers, there were always enough seers that the majority of repeller patrols had one seer with them. These were the griffinfolk who bent storms to their will, drove wild monsters towards their enemies, and twisted the memories of any intruders who made it too far. It was also said they could fire beams of energy from their third eye. Seers had a position of honor in griffinfolk society, made even more prominent by the wizard's infrequent visits to teach them small bits of his magic. As the oldest and wisest of the defenders of Arimaspis, seers were often the leaders and tacticians on patrols with repellers.
Recoverers
Where repellers and seers were primarily concerned with the defense of Arimaspis, there was a third group the wizard commissioned for a more active role out in the world. Recoverers were burglars and adventurers the wizard sent out to acquire more gold for him, whether through legitimate means or not.
Fallen Guardians
The griffinfolk would have happily stayed in Arimaspis forever, but Fate had other unfortunate plans for them. The wizard was indeed pleased with his creations, as they were lively and loyal and effective, everything he intended them to be. But they were sentient beings, with all the free will that implied.
And so it was that one day an avaricious recoverer, well-traveled in the Elemental Plane of Earth and practiced at manipulating xorn to find treasure for him, was caught while attempting to steal from the dao in the City of Jewels. The dao wrung his whole life story out of him with methods better left unmentioned, and upon hearing of the Golden Palace and the great wealth of the Wizard of Arimaspis, they had to have it. They prevailed upon the recoverer to take them there, and to deliver to them the wealth of Arimaspis. The recoverer, who had lost his reverence for his creator during his long absence and really didn't want to be tortured anymore, readily agreed.
The plan was simple. The traitorous recoverer would enter the city with an antimagic wand lent to him by the dao and disable the spell preventing teleportation into the demiplane, whereupon the dao would use this new opening to teleport in en masse and take the city by storm. However the recoverer was swiftly discovered. The wizard, furious beyond measure by this betrayal of his own creation, in a fit of rage banished every griffinfolk in Arimaspis to the outside world. In addition, he cursed them to never be able to return until they could prove themselves worthy once more.
The griffinfolk were devastated by this turn of events. This abandonment by their creator struck them to their hearts, and never afterwards did any griffinfolk have quite the same belief in themselves as before. If their own creator thought them untrustworthy, then how much value could they have? Rumors of Arimaspis spread from the dao, and other greedy characters began hunting down griffinfolk, in an attempt to wrest from them the location of Arimaspis and its treasure. Most griffinfolk, still loyal to their wizard creator, refused to give up where they thought Arimaspis was, and the few who tried to find it found they no longer knew the way; the information simply was not part of their memories anymore. This harsh treatment by those who knew of them and their angst at their own worthiness caused most griffinfolk to become reclusive, mostly keeping to themselves around others.
Defenders Still
Griffinfolk now generally wander the Elemental Planes of Earth and Air. The numbers of those in the Plane of Earth is dwindling, as the dao hunt them down in their quest to find one who can guide them to Arimaspis. The griffinfolk who were banished to the Elemental Plane of Air have a better time of it, often being mistaken for aarakocra.
Every so often small groups of griffinfolk make it to the Material Plane, where they occupy mountain ranges which they defend vigilantly, unwilling to lose their home again. Accustomed to the comforts of civilized life, however, trade with the people of the Material Plane is often necessary for the griffinfolk to obtain some items. In order to afford these items the griffinfolk find jobs as cartographers, surveyors, bodyguards, rangers and adventurers, they find jobs where they can use their keen vision and flight to their advantage. These jobs are also usually ones where griffinfolk do not have to interact much with others, as the race as a whole has become reclusive and withdrawn. No longer do they sing joyful songs and dance for their creator. Nonetheless, eaglets raised on the Material Plane prove adaptable and resilient, making their own way in this, the only world they have ever known.
Griffinfolk Traits
Your griffinfolk character has the following racial traits.Ability Score Increase
Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and two other scores of your choice increase by 1.
Age
Griffinfolk reach maturity by age 11, and usually don't live longer than a century.
Alignment
Most griffinfolk are neutral and rarely choose sides when it comes to law and chaos. Tribal leaders and warriors might be lawful, while explorers and adventurers might tend toward chaotic.
Size
Griffinfolk are about 5 feet tall. They are generally shaped in much the way humans are, with almost the same variety in sizes. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Flight
You have a flying speed of 35 feet. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.
Talons
Your talons are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Keen Sight
You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and Primordial.
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