Homebrew Yukes Species Details

Basic Info (Physical Description, Society, Lifespan)
Yukes are tall and slender with vast knowledge. They wear suits of armor that conceal their faces. Removing a Yuke's mask and/or armor would result in a severe punishment if the Yuke does not have a strong relationship with the person removing them.  Like the Lillities and elves, Yukes have a long lifespan some able to live for centuries. Yukes mature around the same age as humans at around 20 years old. It is theorized that their armor serves as their "body" and the Yukes are only souls that use a physical form to augment their magical abilities. It does not matter if the armor of a Yuke is disassembled—as long as it is not damaged, the Yuke can reattach it to themselves. Yukes do not bleed but rather their soul begins to leak out when significant enough damage is done to the armor body they inhabit. If the armor is too damaged to sustain the Yuke, they may transfer themselves to another armor. While the way a Yuke dress can sometimes be used to help express the individual's gender. It could also be expressed by the tiny wings on their backs. Male Yukes' wings tend to be in the style of bat wings, while female Yuke's wings tend to be in the style of bird wings. No two Yukes ever have the same name. Yukes are rare, as the only place they appear in great numbers is Shella, their capital city, where the Yukes spend most of their time teaching others how to use magic. Shella has since been lost to the Plane of Limbo. Yukes are known as the Masters of Magic and they have the talents to back up the claim.

"The Yukes are a mysterious tribe of great lore and wisdom. Many of these sages live quietly in Shella. In the ancient wars, they were able to resist the invading Liltian armies thanks to their magical prowess. Now, they spend their days teaching magic to others. Some say that Yukes assumed their current form to augment their magical talents."- Unkown Scholar

Yukes are the best magic casters. They are the slowest and weakest attackers, but cast spells quicker than the other three races, and start out with the highest Magic stat. When a Yuke defends they turn invisible, and become immune to damage and status afflictions for the command's duration. Yukes live together with families, are scholarly people who value knowledge and magic above all else, and their homes and massive library reflect this. Yukes do have children and their bodies do grow with the passage of time. When two Yuke's love each other, they perform a ritual in which their souls collide in a fully embracing form of spiritual coitus. In doing so, every part of what makes the two Yukes who they are mold together in a mind-meld. Once finished, the souls separate and flow back into the bodies, leaving behind a new soul. When done outside of the species, it is rare and highly unlikely a new soul will be made. A body is then carefully crafted for the child based on a vision given to a sage on how the child is supposed to look. It is said these visions are given based on the Crystal's grand design.

Appearance:
Despite their appearance, Yukes are indeed organic life forms. Yukes come in various appearances: some can have organic neck, legs, and arms made of feathers or fur, while others are fully metals- usually gold, brass, or onyx in color- with red or other color adornments, and patterns on the body. Sometimes, their clothing can be metal, but most wear extravagant to common clothing, robes, and dresses made of normal fabric. A Yukes body is always thin and tall with long arms and legs, thin necks, and either bat-like or bird-like wings (based on gender) the major look for a Yuke helmet is almost beak-like. Male Yukes tend to adorn their helmet with holes and horns spikes, while females tend to go with flower designs, headpieces, and jewelry adornments. However, this doesn't stop Yukes of either gender from using one or the other. The material of the body is made with the intent of housing the soul and powering magic. As such, it can take a beating but it can't dish it out, hence why the Yukes don't have a lot of physical fighting abilities. When a Yuke's body is damaged and the body can't sustain them, they usually have a body prepared in Shalles to transfer to. If not, they must seek out a hollow vessel to transfer into. Once done, the vessel will mold and shape itself into the Yukes design to fit its ideal look.

Size:
Your size is medium. Yukes can grow up to 7ft tall.

Movement Speed: 
Walking: 30
Flying: 20

Alignment :
Yukes do not have a defined alignment, but many tend to stay around the Neutral of the spectrum. 

Religion:
Yukes worship the Yuke Crystal or the Crystal of Magic that resides over Shella. It is a massive, aquatic green crystal that shines with brilliance and bears the symbol of the Yuke Tribe, protecting Shella and providing power to the Yukes, as well as sustaining them. The Yukes believe in the Crystal Princelpality: a law said to have been made by the crystal, an order of the world if you will, that the four tribe crystals must stay in perfect harmony and that balance must perservere over all else. They also see Knowledge as the greatest gift in the world and to seek and learn all that they can.

Names:
Female Names:

• Ilias
• Amidatelion
• Iurilas
• Ardane
• Arisha
• Aimelita
  Male Names:
  • Seiberg
  • Elgove
  • Enselus
  • Torbgieta
  • Luwein
  • Heinrir

 

Yukes Traits

Yukes are inherently magical beings as such their traits are the same.

Ability Scores

Your Charisma increases by +1
Your Wisdom increases by +3
Your Intelligence increases by +3
Your Strength decreases by -3
Your Dexterity decreases by -1

Resistances and Immunities

As a Yuke, you have Resistances and Immunities to the following...
Immunity to cold and poison damage. Can't be put to sleep magically.
Advantage on saves against spells and other magical effects, fire-based spells and hazards, and the charmed condition.
Resistance to slashing damage.

Natural Armour

The Yukes body is made of strong, magically imbued metal.  You have a Natural Armor Class of 15.

Soul Infused Vessel

Yukes reside as a soul inside of a vessel. This comes with some unique advantages and perks...

Fake Death: A Yuke can fall apart without any harm to themselves and put themselves back together, as such they can play dead and take away any unwanted attention from themselves in battle.

Practical Immortality: A Yuke can survive most damage as long as their body isn't destroyed. If it isn't specified that your body is destroyed you succeed on all death saves at 1 hp and remain incapacitated for 1 minute. If your body is badly damaged where it cannot sustain your soul, you have up to a day to find a full set of armour or something similar to move your soul into.

Made of Metal Yet Feeble: Yukes are more magically inclined than strength-based, while they are quite good at acrobatics they aren't very good at physical activities requiring strength, you have disadvantage on all strength-based rolls.

True Magical Defense

Yukes gain a special action known as Defend.  As long as they are defending , they are invisible and are immune to all damage. This takes up action and bonus action, with the exception of dashing or running away.

Vunerablity of Metal and Magics

Yukes are vulnerable to thunder, sound-based, and bludgeoning attacks.

Yukes are weak against being grappled or knocked prone, saves or checks for such actions are at disadvantage, however, a Yuke may attempt to teleport away at the cost of spell slots,  health, or a simple arcana roll. (DM's discretion)

If a Yuke's body is very badly damaged, their soul begins to leak from it. You take 2d6 damage every 25 minutes outside of battle until it's repaired or you move to a new body. If your health reaches zero, your max HP is reduced 50% every time you reach zero. For example, if you have 100 max HP, and you reach zero HP outside of battle, your health jumps back to 50. Then 25, and so on until it reaches 1 HP. You must complete two long rests to restore your full max HP. You must repair your body or find a new one in order for the long rests to be effective. If you are not repaired or do not find a body within 24 hours, you die. Inside of battle, your movement speed is halved and you have a disadvantage on saves.

Yukes are not inherently strong physically despite their metal body. Attacks made with strength-based weapons have a penalty of -3 to attack.

Beings of Magic and Demensions

Yukes are beings of pure magic and dimensional travel as such...

Yukes can teleport anywhere within 30ft or warp and move between planes as if walking through a door in place of their movement speed. They also gain the Teleport spell and Plane shift, Dimension Door, Demiplane and can cast without the materials needed or expending a spell slot. However, being attacked while doing any of these actions trap them in that plane or in-between dimensions until a long rest or rescued. 

A Yukes Athletics and Acrobatic abilities are enhanced by the magic in their body thus instead of relying on physical prowess to jump, flip, and run the use magic to do so. Athletics and Acrobatic based skill checks are determined instead by Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, based on the type of casting class the Yuke takes.

Yukes who take a magic class gain 2 extra spell slots for every spell level they gain (i.e. 2 extra 1st level slots, 2 extra 2nd level slots, etc.) and can memorize an extra 2 spells for each spell level gained.
Additionally, they add a +2 bonus to their spell attack and saves.

Spellcasting that would normally take an action to cast can be used as a bonus action for you. Additionally, any spell that takes 1 minute or longer to cast has its casting time cut in half  for you, including spells with the ritual tag. Furthermore, the range of your spells is increased by 10ft.

Yukes who are None Magic Class:
Yukes who have wandered away from magic are still touched by it, as such you gain up to 4th level spells as if you are in the wizard,cleric, or sorcerer class (your choice) and use the leveling table for one and gain your spell slots accordingly.

Magical Summoner

Yukes can summon beings and creatures with magic. Using a grimoire, a Yuke can study any monster, beast, creature etc. to summon a friendly version of it to aid them. The summoned creature had to be studied for at least 5 hours and can be equal to or one level higher in challenge rating to the player. Higher-level summoning, if attempted at lower levels, has to be met with an animal handling check (dms discretion) or become hostile upon summoning. The summoned entity will remain up to one hour or until destroyed. Only one entity can be summoned at a time and this ability can only be used twice a day and is restored after a long rest. If the summoned is attacked by the summoner or party member, it becomes hostile.