Homebrew Bosmer Species Details
"Naturally, I don't pretend that the Mnoriad is as renowned as the Meh Ayleidion, or as ancient as the Dansir Gol, but I think it has a remarkable significance to understanding the nature of the merelithic Bosmer mind. The origin of the Wood Elf aversion to cutting their own wood or eating any plant material at all, yet paradoxically their willingness to import plantstuff from other cultures, I feel can be linked to a passage in the Mnoriad,"
The clanfolk of the Western Valenwood forests, also known as "Bosmer." Wood Elves are nimble and quick, making them good scouts and thieves, and there are no finer archers in all of Tamriel. Their ability to command simple creatures is well-known.
Sleek and Silent
With their small frames and limber limbs, bosmer are naturally acrobatic and athletic, able to traverse forest and plains with ease. They are slightly shorter than the average mer, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.
Wood Elves’ coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper and bronze, hair of earthen colors, and eyes that vary from jet black to almost glowing garnet. Bosmer rarely have any facial or body hair, though one may find the occasional bearded Wood Elf.
Hidden Woodland Realms
The bosmer hail from the forest continent of Valenwood. Most wood elves dwell in small forest villages hidden among the trees. They hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing land. They are talented artisans, crafting finely worked clothes and art objects. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though a few bosmer make a good living by trading crafted items for metals (which they have no interest in mining).
Bosmer encountered outside their own lands are commonly traveling minstrels, artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of wood elf instructors to teach swordplay or magic to their children.
Exploration and Adventure
Wood Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. They dislike the pace of human society, which is regimented from day to day but constantly changing over decades, so they find careers that let them travel freely and set their own pace. Bosmer also enjoy exercising their martial prowess or gaining greater magical power, and adventuring allows them to do so. Some might join with rebels fighting against oppression, and others might become champions of moral causes. Many bosmer find themselves, alternatively, turning to crime, exploring the underbelly of the modest world.
Bosmer Names
Bosmer are nature-oriented, naming their children using bosmeri words for plants or animals. Otherwise, their naming conventions are similar to those of the Altmer. When they are children, they are kept locked away from the world, as there are no children in the world besides the Nords.
Some wood elves traveling among humans translate their family names into Tamrielic, but others retain the Bosmeri version.
(I could, with great difficulty, come up with a complex list of names, but I don't care that much. Here's the basic Elf list instead).
Male Names: Adran, Aelar, Aramil, Arannis, Aust, Beiro, Berrian, Carric, Enialis, Erdan, Erevan, Galinndan, Hadarai, Heian, Himo, Immeral, Ivellios, Laucian, Mindartis, Paelias, Peren, Quarion, Riardon, Rolen, Soveliss, Thamior, Tharivol, Theren, Varis
Female Names: Adrie, Althaea, Anastrianna, Andraste, Antinua, Bethrynna, Birel, Caelynn, Drusilia, Enna, Felosial, Ielenia, Jelenneth, Keyleth, Leshanna, Lia, Meriele, Mialee, Naivara, Quelenna, Quillathe, Sariel, Shanairra, Shava, Silaqui, Theirastra, Thia, Vadania, Valanthe, Xanaphia
Family Names (Common Translations): Amakiir (Gemflower), Amastacia (Starflower), Galanodel (Moonwhisper), Holimion (Diamonddew), Ilphelkiir (Gemblossom), Liadon (Silverfrond), Meliamne (Oakenheel), Naïlo (Nightbreeze), Siannodel (Moonbrook), Xiloscient (Goldpetal)
Bosmer Traits
Your bosmer character has a variety of traits developed over generations of traditional family lines.Ability Score Increase
Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age
Although wood elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. A bosmer typically claims adulthood around the age of 50 and can live to be 300 years old.
Alignment
Wood elves are cunning and clever, serving themselves before most anything else. Having adapted to the wilds of Valenwood, they value their own lives and freedom above most else. They tend toward neutral alignments, and they have a history of falling on the evil side of neutral, though the amount to which you take that at face value is up to your discretion.
Size
Wood elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision
Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, 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.
Keen Senses
You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Woodland Immunity
You have advantage on saving throws against being disease, and magic can’t put you to sleep. Additionally, you have a resistance to attacks from beasts.
Beast Tongue
You have an unnaturally strong connection with the wilderness and animals. Unaligned beasts act as though they are good aligned with you. You are also able to cast the geas spell at will once per long rest. The geas spell, when used this way, can affect all beasts, but cannot affect any other type of creature. All beasts are able to understand you when you use this feature this way. For the purposes of this feature, your spell save DC is as follows:
Spell save DC = 8 + Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus
Race Spells
Every person, depending on their race, has the ability to cast a small handful of spells on command. You can cast the cantrip produce flame, and the 1st-level spell cure wounds at will. These two spells do not count toward your prepared spells or spells known list and do not consume spell slots when used. The spells cannot be cast at higher levels using this power. Once you have used a spell once, you cannot use it again until you have completed a long rest.
Use your Intelligence modifier when casting each of these spells, even if you are a magic user whose spellcasting ability is not Intelligence. Your Spell Save DC is as follows:
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + Intelligence modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Tamrielic and Bosmeri.
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