Homebrew Ysoki Species Details

 Ysoki—as ratfolk call themselves—are a clever, adaptable, and fastidious ancestry who happily crowd their large families into the smallest of living spaces

Most surface-dwelling humanoids call ysoki “ratfolk” and know them as a communal people who prefer cramped conditions, with up to 100 individuals living in a given house. If they can’t find homes in town, ysoki may instead live in caves and cavern complexes, as these provide great storage for the many and varied goods they bring back from trading expeditions.

Ratfolk love to travel, and they can often be found on the road in merchant caravans. They’re good with their hands and have a keen eye for spotting anything out of the ordinary, from threats to treasures. They’re also inveterate hoarders; ysoki warrens are crammed full of unusual odds and ends gathered by previous generations and stowed away in preparation for some future emergency.'

Traits

You might...

• Have pride in your large extended family, and stay in contact with everyone in it.
• Like to travel near and far in search of new experiences, likely collecting trinkets along the way.
• Work well with others.

Physical description 

Ratfolk have whiskered snouts, large ears, and hairless tails, and typically have red eyes and short brown or black fur. A common ysoki is3 feet tall and weighs around 40 pounds. Ratfolk vary considerably, however; even a single family group can exhibit substantial variation in hair color, eye color, or size.

Instinct drives ysoki to maintain cleanliness, though this is also reinforced through their strong social structures. Other condescending humanoids often presume ratfolk are dirty or diseased, but in actuality, they are meticulous about personal hygiene. Because their appearance is often considered unnatural—and other people mistake them for wererats—ysoki often conceal their physical features with hoods, gloves, shoes, long-sleeved tunics, robes, and other layers of clothing when moving through spaces dominated by other ancestries.

Society

Ysoki culture values cooperation and community. Every ysoki learns—through communal games, social occasions, and sports—to forge fast friendships and connections with ysoki outside their family. You may never know whose help you’re going to need, but when you do, you’re going to need it now.

With a long tradition of working as traders and tinkers, ysoki travel frequently from one town to another. Their wagons are usually grouped into caravans of up to half a dozen vehicles. Ysoki wagons are pulled by exceptionally large giant rats; many ysoki can speak to such animals.

Discrimination against ysoki has shaped their culture, prompting them to rely on each other and strengthening their family and communal bonds. Ysoki are very good at differentiating between bad actors and those who are simply acting out of ignorance, modeling good behavior and slowly working to reverse generations of discrimination for those willing to learn. They are always on the lookout for members of other ancestries who don’t judge them for their appearance, embracing these individuals as true friends and welcoming them into their communities. But they also can quickly spot determined bigots prone to violence and steer clear of such individuals, minimizing any opportunity for tragedy.

Alignment and religion

Ysoki care more about their family than abstract concepts of good and evil. Their warrens might be chaotic dens filled with hoarded knickknacks, but they also obey strict social codes. Most ysoki are neutral.

Though ysoki revere their ancestors and tend to acknowledge whatever deity is prevalent in their local area. Lau Yosk or the Grandmother Rat has a special role in ysoki culture. Lau Yosk embodies many things that are otherwise antithetical to ratfolk—she urges followers to put their own interests above others, and she encourages deceit and trickery. To most ysoki, Grandmother Rat accomplishes all those things ratfolk need done, but which no reasonable ratfolk would wish to do.'

 

 

Ysoki Traits

Your Ysoki character has a number of traits in common with all other Ysoki.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity and Intelligence score increases by 1. Do to your craftyness you choose one additional score to be increased by 1.

Age

A Ysoki reaches adulthood at the age of 15 and generally lives into their late 50s.

Alignment

Ysoki care more about their family than abstract concepts of good and evil. Their warrens might be chaotic dens filled with hoarded knickknacks, but they also obey strict social codes. Most ysoki are neutral.

Size

Ysoki average about 3 feet tall and weigh about 70 pounds. Your size is Small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Ysoki craftyness

Ysoki often need to adapt to new situations, therefore they can innately cast the cantrips Mending and Mage hand.

Can't buy my love

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.

Ysoki Nimbleness

You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Ysoki. The Ysoki language isn’t secret, but Ysokis are reluctant to share it with others. They write very little, so they don’t have a rich body of literature. Their oral tradition, however, is very strong. Almost all Ysoki speak Common to converse with the people in whose lands they dwell or through which they are traveling.