Homebrew Draph Species Details

In the hidden valleys between towering mountains and in the far off, fertile grasslands where even the free folk rarely venture is where the Draph make their home. Few folk can claim to have seen a Draph, and fewer still can claim friendship with them. Draph wander grassy pastures and valleys grazing on various things that they can procure. Their bodies vary largely in size depending upon sex, with the men displaying powerfully muscular builds and the women diminutive and yet still built with powerful muscles that seem to go against what their size would suggest. Some Draph are nomadic and wander from place to place chasing food, while others will set up permanent settlements. Draph that venture into target human, elven, and Dwarven settlements are often mistaken for Saytrs or Tieflings which may lead some not to trust them.

Draph Origins

Draphs think themselves to be hybrids of old creatures, primordial ones that existed before there was a word like human or elf or dwarf to describe the different races. They don't tend to worship a formal god or pantheon as a group and instead believe in fables passed from tribe to tribe describing the time long ago. 

They have little in the way of written history or an understanding of the world before, but there is one primary legend about where they come from that seems almost consistent from tribe to tribe: It is said that long-ago Brother Ram, Sister Cow, and Goat Kid were out searching for food. Trickster Sheep did what she always did and fooled them with one of her riddles and in chasing after her in anger they became separated and lost. To survive they had to work together and they learned to walk upright and their hair began to fall off in some places revealing the forms of Draph we see now.

Physical Description

Draphs are an odd race in that the men and women differ wildly in size. Women tend to average around 120 CM where as the men average about 100 CM taller and are very burly. The  women tend to be moderate to petite in weight, though almost every Draph woman is large chested—a fact that only doesn’t register as odd to them because it is the norm. In that way the men are basically the hyper masculine ideal, though they don’t tend to recognize it as anything but ordinary. They hare barrel chested, tall, and usually very hairy. Both the men and women tend to have horns, usually ram or bull like. Oftentimes the women’s horns are bigger, proportionally, than the men’s.

Draph skin tones range from pale to deep tan and because of their warm bodied nature they lean more toward thin layered clothing that can be removed or combined and earthy colors.

Draph mature fast a boy and a girl of 12 will be almost as big as they’re ever going to get, though they lack full grown horns until about the age of 16 – 18.

Society

Draphs are hardworking but tend to be hospitable to those that would let them. The villages are generally led by the oldest woman with a small council of other women chosen from influential families in the village (their society is matriarchal).

 Men tend to have shorter life spans, by a few decades, than the women. The women have been known to live to be 150, though that is a rare case. Though, for some reason, not very adept at writing and visual arts, they enjoy cooking and music and Draph made food is known to be very good. Because of frequent raids from outsiders, they have also become competent warriors with both the men and the women doing a fair share of the fighting. A Draph woman, though small, is said to be almost as strong as her male counterpart—a saying that few would want to put to the test.

Draph Names

Male Draphs typically have names that begin and/or end with syllables containing "a" (ie. Vaseraga', Baotarda, Galadar) and have emphasis on dakuon consonants (from Japanese in the real world). 

Male Names: Agielba, Bakura, Baotorda, Barawa, Galadar, Garma, Ghandagoza, Mugen, Pavidus, Daiza, Vanzza.

Female Names: Sarya, Anila, Narmaya, Lamretta, Laguna, Ladiva, Karva, Larana, Hallessena, Forte, Danua. 

Draph Traits

Draph share a number of traits in common with each other.

Ability Score Increase

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

Age

Draph mature at a slightly quicker rate than humans, coming to adulthood around the time they are in their middle teenage years. They have a longevity comparable to a Dwarf and have been known to live up to 400 years and, in even rarer cases, 500 years. 

Alignment

Draph tend to be wanderers and free spirits to a degree, but their society also values a sense of universal fairness. They tend more toward good and chaos, though variation isn't uncommon.

Size

Female Draph are scraping the bottom of the barrel of what could be considered medium, while the men regularly reach 7 to 8 feet tall when full grown. Both are considered medium in size.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Wanderer

You have proficiency in the Survival skill.

Powerful Build

Draph maintain that they are cousins of cow and oxen, beasts of burden. This idea is supported in part by their overwhelming strength. As a Draph, you count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.