Homebrew Dvati Species Details
Our shared soul is the sacred essence within us; our deepest purpose, our unique meaning, the guiding force behind our lives.
The Dvati are an ancient people that are native to an area of the Outerplanes know as the Outlands. They are a peaceful folk who value the arts, debate, duality, and equality.
Shared Soul
As they are always born a pair of twins who are completely identical, even across genders, Dvati are something of an oddity in Alba. They resemble elves in some ways, often being mistaken for Vorquelf or Shadar-kai children. They are slender in body with large pointed ears, dark blue eyes that lack irises, and four-fingered hands. Their skin colors vary between shades of gray and indigo, and they have black or white hair.
Each pair of Dvati twins share one soul between then, as they are one being split into two bodies. Despite this, twins can have different personality traits from one another, sometimes resulting in twins that are opposites. Regardless of their personalities, Dvati twins are two sides of the same coin and they never disagree for too long. A debate or rivalry between a set of twins is always in the pursuit of balance and understanding.
Family Matters
The special bond between Dvati twins is far beyond that of siblings from other races. They share skills, knowledge, feelings, memories, and all other aspects of a soul's experience in life. When one twin is separated from the other for too long, the other twin is overcome with worry and longing for their other half. These feelings are so powerful and intense that if one twin dies, the other's connection to their soul begins to slip away, until it too dies. Dvati twins suffer in separation. A Dvati with a deceased twin will either long to join them in death or desperately seek any possible way to revive their other half.
Merchants. Because two heads are always better than one. Rare though they are, Dvati are most often seen in the realm as wayfaring traders or shopkeeps in and around the Anomandi-Fae Wilds border. Their dual nature makes it harder for thieves to prey on their wares, and for artisans, having two sets of hands working on something drastically cuts down on crafting time.
Good of Many. Do unto others. The concept of personal wealth doesn't pervade through Dvati culture the way it does for other civilized races. Instead, most actions are taken for the good of the community; any wealth and resources earned by Dvati merchants are often sent back to the communities where they grew up in order to enrich the lives of others. Any Dvati use their natural abilities for personal gain and are treated as outcasts by the clan.
HANDLING TWO ADVENTURERS
The Dvati races puts two characters into the hands of one player. Keep in mind, Dvati twins should be treated as one creature, unless a specific racial feature says otherwise. They share their Statistics, Skills, turn in Initiative, Actions, Class Abilities. Hit Dice and Hit Points are not divided between twins -- they share those resources as one creature. Twins can use separate equipment like weapons and armor. They may even use separate magic items, but they share attunement slots.
Whenever both twins are forced to make a saving throw from the same source (not including death saving throws), only one twin rolls, and the DM decides how any existing Advantage or Disadvantage is applied to that roll. If both twins are subject to the same source of damage, ie. a fireball spell, they only take the damage once, as they are being treated as one creature.
Dvati names
Dvati are know to each other primarily by distinct clan markings, white intricate shapes tattooed along their cheeks, over their brow, or along their jawline. To engage with outsiders, they often pick names when they're of an age to travel or are assigned a name by a clan elder or grandparent.
Male Names: Ansel, Bosleigh, Cain, Duran, Edd, Elric, Iden, Klairn, Rhaemon, Rudd, Sid, Winston
Female Names: Aenen, Caley, Clove, Ellaryan, Hadda, Luhna, Nenna, Rhea, Serra, Seyth, Veera, Zelda
Historical Names: Abernathy, Merryn, Naysmith, Pip, Rounce, Temperance, Vhaella, Walda
Dvati Traits
Your Dvati character has the following racial traits.Ability Score Increase
Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age
Dvati age slowly compared to most other humanoids, reaching adulthood at around 40 years old. A Dvati younger than 40 may appear like a teenager or child. They have long lifespans, living up to 250 years.
Alignment
Dvati view the world through a balanced lens. Most are neutral, balanced between opposing forces of law and chaos.
Size
Dvati are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh between 40 and 80 pounds. Their size is Small.
Speed
Their base walking speed is 25 feet.
Dual Bodies
Twins can move, speak, and act independently of each other. They choose which one of them takes an action, bonus action, or reaction. If twins gain any additional actions, they can split those actions up between themselves.
Each twin has their own movement speed. If a twin takes the Dash action, they can choose to split the extra movement speed between both of them. Whenever twins are able to make more than one attack, they can alternate those attacks between themselves.
Nonmagical physical effects are not shared between twins. If a twin becomes blinded, deafened, grappled, incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, or stunned, the other twin is not.
Because they can split time between them, Dvati are incapable voracious learners and can hone their talents with extreme speed. As such, they are capable of learning new language, tool, weapon, or skill proficiencies in half the time.
Power of Two
Though they prefer not to engage in combat, when pressed into it by force, Dvati are capable beings. Whether they are channeling arcane energies, calling upon the Gods to aid them, or summoning up their own brute force, Dvati take advantage of strength in numbers and can use the Help action on their turns as a Bonus Action.
Single Soul
While twins are on the same plane of exitence, they have the following benefits:
- Twins have advantage on saving throws against effects that would cause them to become charmed, frightened, or put to sleep. If a twin becomes charmed, frightened, or unconscious, the other twin is affected as well.
- Twins can communicate telepathically with each other. As an action, a twin can see through the other twin's eyes and hear what the other twin hears until the start of their next turn. During this time, the twin using this feature is nonmagically deafened and blinded with regard to their own senses.
- Spells and magical effects affect both twins. For example, if a dispel magic, enhance ability, or telekinesis spell are cast upon one twin, or if a twin is affected by a magical trap on an area of antimagic, the other twin is also affected.
- Whenever a twin casts a spell that requires concentration, the other twin must also concentrate on that same spell. If a twin casts a spell that requires material components, the other twin can provide those components for them.
- When rolling Constitution Saving Throws, the twin gets an additional +2 to the roll.
Twin Fate
Twins make separate death saving throws. If one twin becomes stabilized, both become stabilized. If a twin dies, the surviving twin loses their Dual Bodies and Single Soul racial trait until the deceased twin is returned to life. Each long rest after their sibling is killed, the surviving twin must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion. These exhaustion levels cannot be removed by anything expect a Wish spell or until the deceased twin is returned to life, at which point all exhaustion levels are immediately lost.
Languages
Twins can speak, read, and write Common. They can also speak Dvati, which has no written language. The verbal Dvati language is extremely complicated and almost impossible to speak without a twin. Each twin speaks in unison, with one twin providing the words, and the other providing complimenting sounds that convey meaning, emotion, and intent.
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