Homebrew Butterfly Species Details

Unearthly Beings

Butterflies are the most alien of the races, only similar in the general shape of the body. They have feelers from the top of their heads, wings sprouting from their back, and an extra two smaller arms attached below the normal ones. Their sensory organs are much different also, Butterflies have no outer ears and their tongues are just a tad different from a Half-Giants. Their diet consists entirely of plant matter and flower nectar which is procured from a special type of enormous flower that is grown on specialized farms. 

Stages of Life

The Butterflies undergo similar metamorphoses as a regular sized butterfly would. They begin their life on the sacred birth mountain where tens of thousands of adult butterflies go to mate and lay eggs every year. A couple of months later the emergent caterpillars make the trek from birth mountain to the Great Butterfly City. The ones that survive the trek are given menial jobs until the second stage of the metamorphosis hits.  Most of the time they transform into almost useless cocoons, but every once in a while the god, Caterpillar, will stop a caterpillars metamorphosis and selects them to be scholars, librarians, and ambassadors. The only way for the cocoons to move is for them to shoot a sticky “web” from their posterior and swing on it. They develop a hardened shell that makes them almost impervious to damage. Most cocoons just sit around until the metamorphosis kicks in, but the most active among them are chosen by Cocoon to become spies and scouts. When the Butterflies final stage comes there job is chosen by the type of wings they are given by the Butterfly King. Plain wings are given to servants and helpers, wings with blood and weapon shapes are warriors, other wings are given different jobs. Even the king has a special wing type of orange and black shapes like a monarch butterfly. Adventurers of the race either have other races on their wings or are rebels and go against their wings and the gods.

Powerful Gods, Powerful Magic

The Butterflies worship a pantheon of eight different, powerful gods. They also worship the heavenly children of those gods and some important kings that have ascended to an immortal state. The leader of all of the gods is Butterfly King, the first Monarch. He is very powerful and was the first king of the Butterfly race. His wife, Butterfly queen, is mother to all of the other gods, if not in flesh than in spirit. Butterfly War embodies the act of warfare and is an expert fighter. He chooses butterflies to become warriors and generals. Butterfly Jungle is goddess of the jungle, she knows every inch of it and can use it’s unique resources to their fullest extent. Butterfly Sun/Moon is the goddess/god of the sun, moon, and all other opposites such as fire and water or air and earth. Sun/Moon is also the patron of most Butterfly magic. Caterpillar is the embodiment of the first stage of the Butterfly life cycle. Apart from being the god of caterpillars, Caterpillar is the god of scholarly knowledge and is possibly the smartest god on Dakking. Cocoon is the second stage of the Butterfly life cycle and is the god of trickery and deceit. Butterfly is the least powerful god and embodies the last stage in the life cycle of a butterfly. It is said that Butterfly is also the god of secrets, but no one is for sure.

Butterfly magic is very powerful. As a race the butterflies tend to lean toward the magic schools of evocation, transmutation, and conjuration. They even have most of the magical scripts in Dakking, stored in the small town of Stoc. The Butterfly race has constructed many portals, transformed many villages into existence from material parts, and are elite mages on the battlefield.

Diverse Culture

The Butterfly Territories are the most diverse of any. The Great Butterfly City exemplifies this perfectly. Every single race in Dakking has at least one representative in the city and most races are common enough that it is easy to see any one on a branch-street of the City. The Great Butterfly City is a center for trade and commerce making it a center for diversity. Almost all the written texts in Dakking are copied and stored in the enormous libraries of the Great City, and many authors of scholarly texts live in the city to access the texts there. Not only do they have amazing writers, but the artists of the race are the best in the world. They have made works that stun the very soul of those who base upon them. Even their architecture is a work of art that is as strange as it is beautiful. The Great Butterfly City holds almost everything on the world of Dakking as far as intellectual prowess.

Many beings in Dakking aspire to travel to basically the center of the world, the Great Butterfly City. The city is fairly organic and can grow at a very slow, but continuous pace. The Butterflies usually attempt to slow the flood of beings into the city, but many races sneak around the patrols that come for them.

The entire Butterfly Territories has been shut off from the rest of Dakking since just after the Butterfly War. This is especially enforced in the northern parts of there territory where trespassers have been executed. Butterflies are allowed to leave.

Butterfly Traits

The Butterflies have many diverse traits

Ability Score Increase

+2 Dexterity

Four-Armed

When wielding only light weapons you can attack three times (one with each weapon). The last attack never adds any modifiers. Additionally if you are wielding a two-handed weapon, you can benefit from a shield.

Erratic Flying

Once per turn you can use your reaction to force a reroll of an attack roll against you while you are in the air. Every time you do this make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure you take a level of exhaustion, on a success nothing happens. In addition, every five minutes you spend flying make the saving throw again with the same results on a success of failure.

Voracious Appetite

You need to eat twice as much as any other race in addition to having all your living expenses doubled.

Age

Butterfly

Alignment

Butterfly people are moral and strongly structured giving them a strong bent toward lawful. They are kind and caring which grants them an aptitude for good.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You also have a 10 foot flying speed.

Size

Butterflies are fairly short. They range from 4 foot 5 inches. They weigh only an average of 75 pounds, your size is Medium.