Homebrew Wessel Species Details

Have you ever met a wessel? Strong sense of nobility, those cheeky buggers. Cute as a nose, but very serious in how they talk. Met one in Ping's Hill a few months back, clothed from head to toe in noble gear, with a chain mail plate covering his torso. He fought some drunkards, or at least some drunkards fought him. The wessel never threw a punch but none of those drunkards managed to lay a finger on him. 

— Skorby, the Scribe

Once feral creatures of the forest, wessels came to reject their savage nature and take seats of nobility and as high-ranking officials. Their small, woodland nature makes them look innocent and harmless, but a wessel has the prowess to be the exact opposite of that. Most wessels thereby choose to act more serious and unfaced to not reveal their primal nature.

Once an Ally, Always an Ally

Wessels are incredibly trusting in those they call friends. To them, a friend can quickly become family with little persuasion. If a wessel is befriended, they will do their best to help their compatriots, as long as it is within the law. If their trust is betrayed wessels often become hurt, but they will easily overcome these feelings and rejoin their betraying ally.

Wessels are very sharing with their material objects, and will often without question share their rations, water from a waterskin, or weaponry with an ally.

Magically Inept

Wessels are fighters at heart, fighting with martial and simple weapons whenever possible. However, wessels are biologically inept at any magic, be it magic that is taught at academies, or inert from their cores. It is not known why this is, but it is theorised that this comes from their yet strong connection to their predecessors.

Despite their ineptity, there are wessels that are still able to use magic. The difference between these wessels and other beings is that a wessel has worked twice as hard to become a spellcaster as their fellow spellcasters of similar skill.

"GRGGH--"

Although fully capable of thought like other similar beings, wessels still have a strong primal connection. A feral wessel is the opposite of the more civilised wessel that most beings in the Reclaimed Realms have gotten used to. They steal, rummage, vandalise, and sometimes even kill without reason. This type of wessels aren't as common, and become less and less common with each passing year, but their mere existance make wessels a feared race in certain towns and cities, with some guards ordered to kill them on sight, or hunt them if notice of wessels simply roaming around the area.

A feral wessel is often beyond reason, but can sometimes be soothed if given what they crave at the most fundamental level: food, water, and shelter.

Wessel Names

Each wessel has a civil name and a forest name, but some wessels are born with a primal name as well. A civil name is usually the name of the first being they met of a different race. This means that wessels have a wide range of civil names, ranging from human names to tiefling names.

Forest names is simply based on the forest they were born in. In recent years, as some wessels have begun moving to live in settlements, these forest names have been substituted for the settlement name.

A feral name is the name a wessel was assigned up until they met the first being of a different race. These names are often disregarded by wessels as fast as possible due to the embarassment of their race's past.

Wessel Feral Names: Tekkyr, Grodda, Eldgro, Fringo, Reggra, Progor, Drig

Forest Names: Silvertops, Redbrush, Wailing Tree, Pinegrowth, Oakpack

Wessel Traits

Your wessel character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

Age

Wessels mature very early in their lives, at the age of 6. They live to approximately 60, but can sometimes live up to 100

Alignment

Wessels are very noble beings who most often are lawful. However, some Wessels are more primal in nature and are in those cases leaning more chaotic.

Size

Wessels aren't much taller than their predecessors. Your size is Small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Keen Hearing and Smell

You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Nimble

You have proficiency in the Acrobatics skill. You also have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks when grappled.

Languages

You speak High Common.