Homebrew Extar Species Details

Curious and enigmatic, extar are often seem as strange travelers in lands outside their own. Extar hide their faces at all times, through masks, shrouds, or even magic, this is practiced even around close family, the only time you will see an extar's is if something is prohibiting their resistance, such as sleep, spells or death. Unmasked, an extar appears to have almost insectoid qualities, possessing a chitinous outer shell, and a mouth comprised of many finger like mandibles. Extar have a natural color shifing luminescence that shines out between the gaps in their plated bodies; this is most present in the face concentrated in the eyes, which combined with the various moving parts of the face create a myriad of colorful expressions. 

The true nature of extar is unknown. Some theorize they are descended from human warped by powerful arcane forces, other use their long lifespans to propose an Elvish heritage. Still others claim they are a bizarre experiment of some powerful planar entity. In their native campaign setting they are an ancient race that accidentally sparked a world spanning magical cataclysm. This is not necessarily always the case, in Eberron for example, extar emerged from the Mourneland after the end of the Last War and are a the youngest race at the table, with only two full generations in their history. Their relationship with with magic and proclivity towards barren lands and cataclysm allows them to have a place in any setting.

Many falsely believe these faceless wanderers are mute, as they resort to non-verbal means of communication, this is however caused by difference of anatomy. Extar do not possess vocal cords as other races do, and instead communicate though a series of clicks, chirps, and shrills. When dealing with other races they will often employ, hand gestures, written word, or various forms magic to communicate.

Extar apparel typically consists of pallid masks, robes, and gloves, leaving no part of their body visible. When traveling they will often don clothing from the cultures they travel though to avoid drawing attention. This can however draw further attention to them if the selected clothing is outdated, or inappropriate to the social setting; those proficient in armor often like to where full body covering and a helm that completely covers the face.

Extar have high magical aptitude. When exposed to new magic or magic items, their first instinct is to take it apart (if possible) to determine how it functions and will almost immediately set out to recreate it. This quest to adsorb and understand everything magical may ultimately be their downfall.

Most extar dwell in barren lands, clinging to life crags or whatever shelter they can find. These enclaves are often obscured by magic and are relative paradises to the immediate outside world.

An extar may adventure out of curiosity towards the outside world, to explore new cultures, or to discover and unlock new or forgotten magical secrets.

Extaran Names: among extar there is very little distinction between male and female. Further, in Extaran society there is no real concept of names like other cultures posses. Instead an extar may simply be known by their trade, for example, and Extar skills in tinkering may only be known as 'The Tinkerer' by their peers. Extar adventures will often go by whatever name their cohorts assign to them, with little regard to the connotations or cultural meaning of the name.

Extar Traits

Your extar character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of the bizarre forces that birthed them.

Ability Score Increase.

Your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma all increase by 1.

Age.

Extar reach maturity at about the same age as humans, but live incredibly long lives, even compared to elves. An extar can live to be over 10,000 years old.

Alignment.

Extar society is focused mostly on learning and gathering new information, as such they don't focus specifically on either law or chaos. They do value sympathy and equal distribution of their work giving them a tendency towards good.

Size.

Extar are comparable in size to humans. Your size is medium.

Speed.

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Magical Curiosity.

You have proficiency in the Arcana and Investigation skills.

Natural Armor.

Your body is covered in hard chitinous plates. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. A shield's benefit applies to you as normal while you use your natural armor.

Innate Magic

You gain one cantrip of your choice from any list, the list you pick from determines the casting stat. 

Wild Magic.

Extaran magic is unstable. Use the Wild Magic Surge rules on pages 103, 104, and 105 of the Players Handbook regardless of casting class. If you are a Wild Magic Sorcerer this effect stacks and you effectively make the wild magic surge roll at disadvantage.

Languages.

You know Common and Extaran. Due to your anatomy you can only vocalize Extaran, but you understand any language you know perfectly fine. Likewise, only an extar can vocalize Extaran.