Homebrew Darfellan Species Details

Once, dar villages could be found along every coastline and on every island. While they rarely ventured inland, they were one with the sea, and were widely respected as friends to travelers. While they made peace when they could, when they were pressed to war they responded with a mighty ferocity. Dar warrior poets were legendary defenders of sailors and the sea, until the dar found itself caught between two implacable enemies.

Hated by the Hidden Masters 

The dar first made enemies of the aboleths, who they call “foulers of the deep,” long ago. In many ways, the aboleths were the perfect foil for the dar: where the dar are forthright and brave, the aboleths are hidden manipulators. Once the dar became aware of the aboleths plans, they turned their considerable might towards stopping them at every turn. Few other races are as well-equipped to fight the aboleths as the dar, between their affinity for the sea and their innate mental defenses. As the conflict between them raged on, the aboleths turned more and more of their attention to exterminating the dar.

At War with the Sea-Devils

While the aboleths began hunting the dar in earnest, the seafarers began fighting a war on another front: the sahuagin. For as long as their mutual histories record, the dar and the sahuagin have fought over territory and hunting rights. These conflicts were minor and local, but as humans and other races began taking to sea in greater numbers, the sahuagin began to more aggressively defend their territories. When the other races proved too organized and numerous to drive off, the sahuagin turned their rage on their old enemies, and began an organized program of wiping out the dar.

Hunted to Extinction

The past century has not been kind to the dar. Between the machinations of the aboleths and the depredations of the sahuagin, every coastal dar community has been destroyed. Some may exist inland, on great lakes, but the traditional hunting grounds of the dar have been taken over by their enemies. Today, the few dar that remain are nomads, spending their lives on ships or living in other races’ cities and making themselves as useful as they can. The poet-warriors of the dar speak of a day when their race will unite to drive away the sea-devils and crush the foulers of the deep, but no one knows when, or if, that day will ever come.

Appearance 

A typical darfellan has a hulking, muscular build with a broad back, powerful arms, and a wide neck and head. A darfellan stands not much over 6 feet tall and weighs nearly 200 pounds.

A darfellan's most striking feature is his or her jet-black skin, glossy and hairless, broken by varied white markings. The size, shape, and location of the white areas distinguish family groups and quickly identify an individual's heritage to other darfellans and those who know how to read darfellan markings. Occasionally individuals are born who are entirely black or, much more rarely, wholly white. Such births are always seen as portentous, and the children are destined to hold positions of importance among the people -- whether they are so inclined or not. The appearance of an entirely white darfellan is taken as a sign of great events, and the people's history is filled with stories of the upheavals that followed such births.

Darfellan Names

Like the rest of the darfelon language, dar names are polysyllabic, consisting of hard consonants and long vowels interspersed with clicks. Dar often use shorthand names for themselves and others, based on a person’s job or defining feature. In darfelon, dar names convey large amount of information, including a dar’s birthplace, family connections, caste, tribe, and so on. To outsiders, the names simply sound musical. Male and female names are identical, except for the click sound at the end of the name: a high click for a male name and a low click for a female name. Dar custom includes these clicks only when the speaker is not present.

Dar names: Ak’inrinade-ch’ku, Debare!jajaiye, Ginika’kine, Tiwaray’wadunni.

Darfellan Traits

Your Darfellan character gains traits that enable it to cope with the perils found in both land and sea

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution or Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age

Dar are always born in the water and begin swimming immediately. Under normal circumstances, a healthy dar can live upwards of 200 years, and some isolated communities have elders far older.

Alignment

Dar are almost always partially good in alignment. Evil dar are rare, but delight in cruelty. Many are lawful, although more chaotic dar appear every year as their society scatters.

Size

Dar are tall and muscular, standing over 6 feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds. Your size is medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your base swimming speed is 35 feet.

Darkvision

To hunt in the ocean’s depths, you have developed the ability to see in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as it if were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern most colors in darkness, only shades of blue and gray.

Hold Breath

You have experience at free-diving to great depths; you can hold your breath for up to an hour. 

Born Swimmer

You have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks related to swimming.

Dar Weapon Training

You have proficiency with the trident and the net.

Echo Location

In the water, a darfellan can emit a series of whistles, then instinctively pinpoint nearby creatures by hearing the echo. Darfellans have blindsense out to 20 feet, but the blindsense doesn't extend beyond the water.

Slippery Mind

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. In addition, creatures can only communicate with you telepathically if you allow it.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Aquan, Common, and Darfellan. 

The Darfellan language has many compound and multisyllabic words, so it can take a long time to say something. A mix of aggressive consonants, long vowels, and clicks gives the Darfellan tongue an animated, heavily enunciated quality.