Homebrew Couatl Species Details

Couatls are a kind and understanding people, who relish in company and prize humor and kindness above all else. They are creatures of dreams and revelations, blessings and divinations

Changelings

Couatls prefer human form, only taking to their more powerful celestial shape if it is in dire need. Every day a couatl will change it's form in some way, and before sleeping they dwell on what changes should be made to their bodies. Whether it's just an almost imperceptible darkening of the skin, a change of eyebrow colour, or terminating hair altogether, they enjoy heartily making themselves as beautiful (or useful) as possible. 

Normally couatls do not relish in fancy jewelry or fashion, unless it is appropriate for the culture. And speaking of culture, they are immersed in it, and a couatl's normal clothing will often be the traditional dress of the couatl's affiliated tribe. 

Nature at the Heart

Couatls revere nature, seeing it as one being, constantly changing and always perfecting itself, which is how they like to see themselves. They have become accustomed to meditation in such enviroments, and a Couatl without a spot for meditating is a distressed one indeed. That is why many adventuring Couatls will often carry hallucinatory terrain spells or similar when out and about. 

Couatls are immortal in a sense, but at the same time they can die. A Couatl's lifespan in the mortal world is approximately 150 years, after which they die and spend 2d6 days as spirits serving the angels of Mount Celestia. After fufilling their duty as servants they reform in the place where they originally created as the same being, or a different one. 

In battle Couatls are brave and vigilant, and many would rather die in a blaze of glory than be captured by the enemy. Most important to a couatl is friendship, and anyone who insults or attacks a friend of a Couatl is an immediate target, whether it be in the long game or not. Despite that fact, they do not have big egos, and prefer to extract the goodness in people than to destroy them altogether, if it can be helped.

Alone in the Wilds

Couatls are always born in nature, as their spirits are intimately connected with it. Unlike most creatures, each couatl has a sort of 'home', usually just a spot by a riverside or a particularly large palm tree, in which they stage their expeditions from. These 'homes are often found in places of extreme beauty such as a cliff overlooking the sea. They are also seldom known to anybody but the associated couatl as they are solitary beings and do not relish in their own kind.

Exploration and Adventure

Most couatls are quite content with their nature surroundings, but a few feel like they are needed otherwise. Often adventuring couatls leave home after witnessing some lifechanging event, in which they have a revelation and a sudden passion to destroy evil. Some feel that there are good people in the world that need encouraging, or bad people that need redeeming. Whatever the case, they will almost always take some relic of their past with them to remind them of true home.

Couatl Names

Elves are considered children until they declare themselves adults, some time after the hundredth birthday, and before this period they are called by child names.

On declaring adulthood, an elf selects an adult name, although those who knew him or her as a youngster might continue to use the child name. Each elf’s adult name is a unique creation, though it might reflect the names of respected individuals or other family members. Little distinction exists between male names and female names; the groupings here reflect only general tendencies. In addition, every elf bears a family name, typically a combination of other Elvish words. Some elves traveling among humans translate their family names into Common, but others retain the Elvish version.

Child Names:

• Atl
• Aztec
• Camaxtli
• Citlalli
• Coaxoch
• Coyote
• Coyotl
• Cozcatl
• Cualli
• Eztli
• Ichtaca
• Icnoyotl

Female names:

• Ihuicatl
• Itotia
• Ixtli
• Izel
• Mazatl
• Meztli
• Milintica
• Montezuma
• Nahuatl
• Necalli
• Nenetl
• Ohtli
• Patli
• Quetzal
• Quetzalxochitl

Male names:

• Tenoch
• Tezcacoatl
• Tlacelel
• Tlalli
• Tochtli
• Toltecatl
• Xipil
• Xiuhcoatl
• Xóchitl
• Yaotl
• Yaretzi
• Yolotli
• Zaniyah
• Zuma
• Zyanya

Couatl Traits

Your couatl has many traits that distinguish these celestials from pure mortals.

Alignment

Almost all couatl are good, with most tending towards lawful good or neutral good, and some choosing to be chaotic. Evil or neutral couatl are rare.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Truesight

You have truesight 100 feet.

Spellcasting

You are a practiced spellcaster and can cast the following with no material components: 

At will: Detect Evil and Good, 
3/day each:  Create Food and Water,  Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison, detect thoughts
1/day each:  Scrying

Shapeshift

You can shapeshift into any non-humanoid creature that you have seen and that has a challenge rating less than 4. Additionally, you can change the look of your humanoid form once a day. You can change into your celestial form, a snake with wings, any time.

Flight

In your celestial form, you have a flying speed of 50 feet.

Tail

In celestial form, your tail can act as a whip that does 1d10 damage on a hit, or it can constrict an enemy: Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one Medium or smaller creature. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is Grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is Restrained, and the couatl can't constrict another target.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Languages

You can speak and write all languages.

Age

Aarakocra reach maturity by age 20. Compared to humans, Couatls typically live for 150 years before respawning at their spiritual home.