Homebrew Vanara (OA 3.5) Species Details

Vanaras are a race of monkeylike humanoids, possessing brave hearts and inquisitive minds. Vanaras are not found in Rokugan. 

Personality: Vanaras are often viewed with amusement or even exasperation by members of other races, who find their personalities childish and irritating. They are curious in the extreme, frequently badgering people with questions (sometimes very personal questions), picking small items up to examine them, opening doors to see where they lead, and generally exploring places where the human sense of propriety and order would demand they not go. They also tend to be bluntly honest, never couching a negative opinion in gentle terms or hiding their true feelings about anything. At the same time, they are incredibly loyal, quite brave when the situation requires it, and genuinely kind.

Relations: Vanaras are very fond of humans, admiring them and respecting their power while laughing quietly at their conservative stodginess. They get along well with other good-aligned races as well, as long as the other race will tolerate them. They loathe evil, however, and their opinion of an entire race or kind can be soured by their experience with one wicked individual.

Vanara Lands: Vanaras dwell in deep forests and high mountains, building their villages and towns in such a way as to make a minimal impact on their natural surroundings. They gather in loose clans, but do not keep track of kinship at all, so “clan” is a very loose term for their associations. They subsist largely by hunting and gathering, rather than farming
the land. They rarely come into contact with other races, and do not seek them out.

Religion: The vanaras revere the greatest of the nature spirits—spirits of the sun, the highest mountains, the oldest forests, and the widest rivers. They revere these spirits with
deep personal devotion, offering prayers and songs to these deitylike beings at least daily. 

Names: A vanara receives a name within a week after birth, as soon as the parents observe some sign or portent that suggests an appropriate name for the child. The vanara keeps
this name through life, and considers it shameful to use any other name, such as a nickname or honorific. 

Male Names: Amanu, Khanu, Mindra, Rava, Thetsu, Vaki, and Vindu.

Female Names: Aki, Kiri, Ghuna, Lakshi, Sitha, Tani, and Vina.

Adventurers: The arrival of a human or a member of another race in a vanara community usually sparks a rash of vanara adventurers, as young vanaras—curious about the foreign society from which the visitor came—venture forth to learn about the wider world. Vanara adventurers often attach themselves to humans, following them with tremendous loyalty and devotion.

Vanara (OA 3.5) Traits

Vanaras are slightly shorter than humans, standing 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 feet tall and typically weighing 90 to 140 pounds. Their bodies are covered with light fur, ranging from white through light blue to brown and black. Their faces are distinctly monkeylike, with protruding muzzles, furred cheeks, and wide, lipless mouths. They have long, semiprehensile tails, long fingers and toes, and large ears, but their arms, legs, and torsos are proportioned like those of humans.

Darkvision

Naturally nocturnal, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.

Alignment

Alignment: Vanaras are strongly chaotic but equally strongly good.

They show little or no respect for social mores, rules with no purpose they can understand, or codes of discipline, and hate tyranny and oppression. Their only concession to social order is their acceptance of caste systems. Their religion allows for the possibility that different divine gifts might be given to different people, although it rejects any different valuation of those gifts. Vanaras, therefore, might respect that religion is the province of the priestly caste among humans, but do not necessarily accord that caste the respect and veneration human priests might expect.

Ability Score Increase

+2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, –2 Strength.
Vanaras are clever and inquisitive and have keen senses. Their small build detracts from their physical strength, however.

Size: Medium

As Medium-size creatures, vanaras have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climb speed of 30 feet.

Climb checks use acrobatics with +6 bonus.

Natural Acrobat

+6 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks. Vanaras are agile and athletic, climbing, leaping, and swinging in trees.

Sneaky Monkey

+2 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.

Though they enjoy making noise, vanaras can be very stealthy when the situation demands it.

Languages

Common and Vanaran.

Bonus Languages: Giant, Goblin, Spirit Tongue (Language spoken when talking to spirits).

Using their simian language, Vanaran one can communicate and understand simple thoughts and ideas to and from simian beasts; such as monkeys, apes, and other simians and have the ability to have empathic communication ability with plants meaning only feelings.

Prehensile Tail

The vanara can use its tail to pick up or hold a small object that isn’t being worn or carried. It has a reach of 5 feet, and it can lift a number of pounds equal to two times your Strength score. You can use it to do the following simple tasks: lift, drop, hold, push, or pull an object or a creature; open or close a door or a container; grapple someone; or make an unarmed strike. Your DM might allow other simple tasks to be added to that list of options. Your tail can’t wield weapons or shields or do anything that requires manual precision, such as using tools or magic items or performing the somatic components of a spell. 

While the tail itself can't generally carry heavy items, a vanara can use it to hang from any branch, beam, or other outcropping that can support the vanara's weight. 

Tool Proficiency

You gain proficiency with one of: Alchemist's Tools, Poisoner's Kit, Herbalist's Kit.