Homebrew Puffball Species Details

Born from a planet far off in space, puffballs arrived in this realm through star-shaped spaceships for reasons unknown. Though small in stature and widely regarded as adorable in appearance, puffballs can be frighteningly powerful creatures that are not to be crossed or challenged.

Small and Cute

Puffballs are extremely short in stature, with the shortest sitting at 1 foot tall and the tallest stretching only to two feet. Their body only consists of a perfectly spherical head sitting on large feet, with small round hands protruding from the sides of its head. Its face is positioned front and center of the sphere, consisting of small eyes, a petite mouth (often curved into a smile), and prominent flushed cheeks. Puffballs have a variety of skin colors, all vibrant and distinctly different from traditional skin tones.

Alien Personality

Puffballs are extremely outgoing and friendly, with a desire to help people in need; it can be assumed they acquired this personality from the culture of their home planet. However, their kindness is not given without just cause; in the face of cruelty, puffballs are swift and relentless in offering retribution. Puffballs never forget a face or a mission, and they are well versed in both traditional combat and foreign methods of attack learned from their home planet.

A Nomadic Race

When puffballs first arrived in this realm, they immediately dispersed to find places to inhabit. As such, puffballs can be found in almost all regions and climates, and each puffball has a different preference for location. Some prefer hotter areas, and some prefer colder, etc. but the race as a whole is incredibly versatile in location. It is theorized that a puffball’s skin color is related to their preferred location, but it hasn’t been proven.

Puffballs are often welcome within the habitats of other races, due to their kind nature, agreeable personality, and abilities to serve these habitats in many ways. As such, puffballs found no need to form their own society, simply relying on the societies formed by other races to survive. It is rare to find a puffball on its own, apart from a civilization.

Puffball Ages and Names

Puffballs have an average lifespan equal to that of humans, and when exactly they reach maturity is unclear, as puffballs undergo no physical growth or changes throughout their lifespan; they reproduce asexually, through something akin to mitosis, and stay the same size in which they were born. However, it can be assumed puffballs reach maturity at the same time humans do.

Only one puffball has ever disclosed its name in history, and that name was “Kirby”. Whether or not that means something significant in Puffian is unclear. For this reason, there are no specific guidelines in naming a Puffball character.

Puffball Traits

Puffballs have abilities entirely unique to their race, due to their alien origins.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

Alignment

Puffballs are kindhearted, but not naive. They recognize when they or those around them have been wronged, and stop at nothing to dish out justice to the wrongdoers. Puffballs are often Chaotic Good for this reason: they fight in the name of justice, but the deliverance of this justice follows no moral code but their own. 

Age

Puffballs have roughly the same lifespan as humans, but as their physical features don't change as they age, puffballs claim maturity on an individual basis. For this reason, puffballs have wildly varied timeframes for maturity and adulthood: many of them claim maturity around 18, like humans, but some will declare themselves adults at 2 years old, and still others may not claim adulthood until well past 80.

Cuteness Overload

You have proficiency in the Charisma skill.

Absorb

Puffballs have an ability entirely unique to themselves, where they absorb traits from their foes with inhalation. Once during a your turn, before you attack, you may choose to Absorb an enemy of your choice. That enemy must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you absorb either a weapon or a spell in that enemy's moveset, that you can use with proficiency for the duration of the battle. The enemy also takes a certain amount of damage, depending on the user's current level:

At levels 1-10, the enemy takes 1d4 points of damage

At levels 10-15, the enemy takes 1d8 points of damage

At levels 15-20, the enemy loses 25% of its maximum hit points

Absorb can be used on every turn, until an enemy fails its Constitution save and a weapon or spell is successfully absorbed.

Languages

Most puffballs never bothered to learn Common when they arrived, as they found out quickly that simply their adorable appearance was enough to get benevolent societies to provide them with everything they needed. However, some puffballs picked up on the language to further assimilate with the places they now called home. For this reason, you can speak, read, and write in Puffian, as well as two other languages of your choice.