Homebrew Chessguard Species Details

A humanoid race of Fey origin, created long ago by a powerful Archfey with a passion for battle, the Chessguards are an unusual race taking the appearance of anthropomorphic chess pieces. Despite how they look on the outside, they are not constructs, but are organic beings and will bleed if wounded, and so on. Their sub races are a bit strange in how significantly different they appear from each other, yet they are all the same race.

Chessguards live in orderly kingdoms, and these kingdoms are united by their love for combat and desire to defend their land. Chessguards, although they revel in fighting, do not simply charge into the fray recklessly and without thought. They are intelligent beings that enjoy plotting out their moves, desiring the best strategies to gain victory. Knowledge is highly valued in the Chessguard kingdoms, as well as law, order and structure. When Chessguards worship gods, they frequently worship gods of the War, Knowledge, and Order domains (good examples of gods that Chessguards are likely to serve: Saint Cuthbert, Paladine, Athena, Nike, Thoth, Odin, Tyr). Interestingly, if two kingdoms of differently colored Chessguards (for example, one white and one black) are nearby to each other, they often will fight each other for control of the land.

Chessguard Traits

As a Chessguard, you have the following traits

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence increases by 1

Age

Chessguards mature at the same rate as humans, but can live to 400 years old.

Alignment

Chessguards tend to be either Lawful or Neutral, their society highly dependent on its law and order; an extreme minority fall into the Chaotic category. Chessguards range between Good and Evil more than most races, the difference being less tied to the individual and more to their King.

Size

The height of a Chessguard typically falls between 5 feet at the shortest and 7 feet at the tallest. Your size category is Medium.

Speed

You have a base walking speed of 30 feet.

Language

You can speak, read, and write Common, Sylvan, and one additional language of your choice.

Fey

Your creature type is Fey, rather than Humanoid.

Pack Tactics

Chessguards often work together in teams. You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.