Homebrew Neraphim Species Details

 

Extraplanar Nomads

As one may expect, the neraphim are a nomadic people who often pursue a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, stalking the planar wildlife through the maelstrom of Limbo, where their prodigious leaping ability grants them exceptional mobility. Many of their kind are travelers and horizon walkers who explore the plains for whatever reason they may have, be it punishment for exile, or even just for their own possible gain.

Neraph Houses

They organize themselves into tribal units, called Houses, consisting of several related families united behind a single fearsome matriarch - almost like a more warlike version of the grippli- who stake dominance over a certain region of Limbo and claim exclusive hunting rights in that area. Unlike the mighty slaadi, neraphim cannot afford to be as inconsistent as the plane they inhabit and the game they hunt - only stern discipline within each neraph house keeps its members from succumbing to poverty and starvation. As such, the houses spend most of their time avoiding each other, and when they do meet are as likely to be in conflict over hunting grounds as they are to be in alliance against a common threat.

The exception to this is the Festival of Spawning; a racial celebration that occurs once every 7 years. During this time, all neraphim houses congregate in order to negotiate with one another, exchanging resources and influence as each house seeks to better its position within the neraphim hierarchy.

Within each house, the rule of the matriarch is law, and her rule can be harsh. The most severe punishment a matriarch can dispense is exile from the house. Exiled neraphim can be encountered by planar travelers visiting Limbo, though many are slain by other houses, slaadi, gith hunting parties, and roaming chaos beasts. Some exiles have open personalities and strike up friendships with travelers from other planes, hoping to accompany them home and leave the dangerous realm of Limbo behind. With little to no prospect of returning to his or her house, and with even less prospect of joining another house, an exiled neraph makes a perfect adventurer. Exiles who embrace this path soon learn to excel, for the skills that allow them to hunt in the changing seas of Limbo are useful elsewhere. Against all odds, some exiles adventure in order to complete a great quest or meet some other condition imposed by a house matriarch that might allow them back into a house. However, once a neraph discovers the greater cosmos, he or she seldom wishes to return to a primitive and nomadic lifestyle.

Neraphim encountered while still associated with a house are generally unfriendly toward strangers, even those of the same race. However, exiles are more open-minded and may team up with others (whether neraphim, githzerai, or some other-planar race) in order to survive. On the other hand, because neraphim remind some individuals of smaller, skinnier red slaadi, other races are usually a bit standoffish at first. This is not helped by the fact that, even though they hold themselves above the general churn of Limbo, neraphim can't help having one chaotic component in their alignment. They try not to give in to their chaotic nature, and generally are successful in this practice.

Giving some credence to the theory that the neraphim are a subspecies of slaad, a few neraphim houses worship less bloodthirsty and less insane aspects of the entities Ssendam and Ygorl (who are normally considered to be, if not slaadi deities, at least very powerful slaadi worthy of respect). Additionally, whilst neraphim have their own language, they can also speak the Slaad language. That said, given that neraphim will also learn Common, Abyssal and Celestial in order to communicate with planewalkers, that may be reading too much into things.

Neraphim Names

Neraphim have given names and house names. Those exiled from a house are usually ceremonially stripped of their house names, though some continue to refer to themselves as such, while others take appellations similar to "the Exile," "the Stricken," or "the Houseless."

Male Vril Names: Anh, Cado, Hao, Sam, Tam, Teo, Thanh, Thuan, Van, Xuan

Female Vril Names: Chi, Hyunh, Lan, Mai, Nam, Tham, Trinh, Yen

Concept Names: Spent River, Hanging Cliff, Invisible Sea, Lost Mountain, Burning Water, Living Stone, Deceased Dust, Cold Hearts, Restless Bones, Watching Eyes

 

( I tried to make this race work, I think the camouflage is pretty good, more damage is always welcome, and I didn't just want to have it give them advantage on the attack. I also added the minor regeneration because most if not all Slaad stat blocks have regeneration. I hope this race is mostly up to the expectations people may have of it! Much of this is simply taken from a thing I found online, but nonetheless, upvote this if you like it! )

Neraphim Traits

Neraphim share many features due to their time in Limbo.

Bite

Your teeth are a natural weapon, which you can use to make an unarmed strike. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. You can use your bite to attack as an action, however if you do so, you cannot use it as a bonus action. If you take the attack action on your turn to attack with another melee weapon that isn't your bite (this includes your fists, claws, or a weapon like a sword or dagger, etc) you can then attack with your bite as a bonus action. You still add your Strength modifier whether it is an action or a bonus action.

Osteodermic Skin

You skin is naturally encrusted in small bony like plates, giving you a +2 to your natural AC. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Dexterity modifier.

Minor Regeneration

At the end of every hour, you regain 1 hit point, this is also applied to any rests you take.

When taking a short rest, you have advantage on your hit dice rolls to recover health. If you are using variant rules, you also have advantage on your hit dice rolls to recover health during a long rest.

Additionally, if your class allows you to roll dice to naturally heal without using a spell or drawing from a pool of hitpoints like the Paladin's or Way of Tranquility Monk, you roll those dice with advantage as well. This would work for a fighter's Second Wind or similar abilities.

Lastly, if you lose a limb, you can slowly regenerate a new one in its place, over the course of 1d6+1 days.

Legs for Leaping

Neraphim have incredibly strong, frog like legs made for leaping. You have proficiency in your choice of either Acrobatics or Athletics.

Whenever you are making a running long jump, running high jump, standing long jump,  or a standing high jump you always add an additional 5 feet to your total distance traveled.

Lastly, you have advantage Acrobatics and Athletics checks that have to do with jumping, leaping, and landing from falls.  

 

Bonus Proficiency

Select an extra proficiency, choosing from perception, or investigation.

Neraph Camouflage

When charging an opponent, using a ranged weapon, or when using a thrown weapon, neraphim can use a technique known as motion camouflage (also called neraph camouflage by other races), which predatory insects use to trick prey into thinking they are stationary even though they are moving closer. The target creature can be fooled into believing that the charging neraph or the neraph's thrown weapon is in fact not moving closer, or moving closer only very slowly.

A neraph can make a number of these camouflage attacks equal to their 1+ their Constitution Modifier, (once a foe sees the attack in action, that foe can discern it for what it is for the duration of that combat). Creatures that are subject to a neraph's charge or that are targeted by a weapon thrown by a neraph will take an extra 2d6 of the attacks type.

For this ability to work, the creature you are attacking must be able to see you clearly and must be aware of you. If a creature only has blindsight or tremorsense for example, it would be immune to this effect. This ability also does not work if you are in full cover or hidden. Lastly, just because you are behind an enemy, or an enemy is not currently looking at you, doesn't mean this ability does not work. It is if they have the potential to see you.

You regain all charges of this ability upon finishing a short rest.

Ability Score Increase

Either your Strength or Constitution score increases by 1, and then either your Intelligence or Charisma score increases by 2.

Age

 Neraphim take longer to mature than humans do, not reaching adulthood until age 40, but they can live to be more than 400 years old.

Alignment

Neraphim are related to the Slaad of Limbo. Their strange and alien way of thinking inclines many neraphim toward a chaotic alignment, but many are surprisingly neutral and even lawful. They are sometimes referred to as "infected with order".

Size

Neraphim are about the same size as humans, but bulkier and heavier overall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Outsiders

Neraphim are not originally from the material plane and are related to Slaad, which are aberrations originate from Limbo. Similar to how the Elves are related to Fey from the Feywild and gain resistance to sleep and charm effects. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and you have advantage on saving throws against the spell Hold Person and the spell Hold Monster.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Slaad, and Neraph. Slaad and Neraph are similar, to one not versed in both. Audibly they sound like a series of gutteral croaks and throaty noises.

Sadly you will have to manually add Slaad and Neraph yourself, as there no way to make a custom language whatsoever in DnD Beyond that I am aware of.

Additionally, you can choose one extra language, choosing between Celestial and Abyssal.

Previous Versions

Name Date Modified Views Adds Version Actions
Neraphim
1/3/2021 11:28:12 PM
10
0
1.0
Coming Soon
Farouk

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