Homebrew Beastman Species Details
Alien Minds
The beastmen's alien nature comes through not only in their appearance, but also in how they think and act. Beastmen experience a more limited emotional life than other humanoids. Like most monsters, their feelings largely revolve around fear, aggression, and pleasure.
Beastmen experience most feelings as detached descriptions of creatures and situations. For example, humans confronted by an angry troll experience fear on a basic level. Their limbs shake, their thinking becomes panicked and jumbled, and they react by instinct. The emotion of fear takes hold and controls their actions. In contrast, beastmen see emotions as traits assigned to other creatures, objects, and situations. A beastman doesn’t think, “I’m scared.” Instead, aggressive, stronger creatures register to the beastman as fearsome beings to be avoided if possible. If such creatures attack, beastmen flee, fighting only if cornered. Beastmen aren’t scared of a troll; instead, they understand that a troll is a fearsome, dangerous creature and react accordingly.
Beastmen never become angry in the way others do, but they act with aggression toward creatures that they could defeat in a fight and that can’t be dealt with in some other manner. They are aggressive toward prey they want to eat, creatures that want to harm them, and so on.
Utility and Survival
The beastman mindset might seem unnecessarily cruel, but it helps them survive in a hostile environment. The swamp they inhabit are filled with a staggering variety of threats. Beastmen focus on survival above all, without sentiment.
Beastmen assess everyone and everything in terms of utility. Art and beauty have little meaning for them. A sharp sword serves a useful and good purpose, while a dull sword is a dead weight without a whetstone.
Beastmen see little need to plan more than a season or so into the future. This approach allows them to maintain their current level of influence in the world, but it limits their growth. Beastmen have no interest in developing writing, making long-term plans, or cultivating other methods to progress beyond their simple existence as hunters and gatherers.
Beastman Traits
Your beastman character has the following racial traits.Ability Score Increase
Your Constitution score increases by 2, and a score of your choice increases by 1.
Age
Life in the Sunken Lands is harsh and unforgiving. Most beastmen only live into their 50th year.
Alignment
Most beastmen are chaotic, tending almost exclusively towards evil or neutral.
Size
Beastmen vary in height. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet, you have a swimming speed of 20 feet, and a climbing speed of 20 feet.
Beastial Disposition
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Trunk
You can grasp small or tiny things with your trunk, and you can use it as a snorkel. It has a reach of 5 feet, and it can lift a number of pounds equal to five times your Strength score. You can use it to do the following simple tasks: lift, drop, hold, push, or pull an object or a creature; open or close a door or a container. Your DM might allow other simple tasks to be added to that list of options.
Your trunk can’t wield weapons or shields or do anything that requires manual precision, such as using tools or magic items or performing the somatic components of a spell.
Keen Smell
Thanks to your sensitive trunk, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception), Wisdom (Survival), and Intelligence (Investigation) checks that involve smell.
Feathered Crest
Once per long rest as an action, you can unfurl your crest, causing all non-sentient creatures within 10 ft. to make a CHA saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. This lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Undercommon.