Homebrew Yuletraii (Holiday Folk) Species Details

Deep into the far reaches of the north pole is a frozen wasteland, all but devoid of life. Glimmering sparsely across the landscape, however, are the lively seasonal villages of the Yuletraii. The cheery folk bustle about in constant preparation, holding and following holiday tradition like law. To them, true magic in the world is found through hope, joy, peace, and love, and the echoes of their parties and feasts bring jolliness to anyone willing to feel the holiday spirit. The Yuletraii's influence on the Forgotten Realms is embodied by the winter season. Christmas is by far the most prominent example, but other villages celebrate and uphold the traditions of various other holidays, such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, and even New Year's festivities. No matter the medium, Yuletraii delight in sharing their people's gift with the world; the true reason for the season.

Yuletraii Names:

Each Yuletraii child has a given name, usually in Elvish, Human or Gnomish roots. Much more importantly, however, they are gifted a nickname by a village elder. This nickname is much more important culturally than any given name, and most Yuletraii treasure it over anything.

Nickname Examples: Crystal, Cocoa, Dancer, Flurry, Frosty, Hailstone, Iceberg, Gala, Ginger, Glimmer, Mallow, Parka, Potluck, Ribbon, Shepherd, Shimmer, Skater, Silver, Sparkle, Stardust, Sugar, Timber, Toboggan, Twinkle, Wreath

Subraces:

Unlike other races, a Yuletraii's subrace is determined by their profession and innate talent, as they develop a specialty in the holiday season. There are four main subraces: Bakers, Carolers, Tinkers, and Chillers, also known to some as Borealites. 

When Yuletraii turn their back on the spirit of Christmas and actively seek to destroy it, their effective subrace changes to that of a Yuletraii Humbug.

Yuletraii (Holiday Folk) Traits

After generation to generation of Yuletide tradition, the Yuletraii have honed the following traits:

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity and Charisma scores both increase by 1.

Age

Yuletraii reach physical maturity at the age of 26, at which point they are pushed to choose a subrace if they haven't already. A Yuletraii can live for centuries afterward, typically living to be about 500 years old!

Alignment

In a Yuletraii village, seldom is taught more than the importance of being good. A "bad seed" in the village attracts immediate attention, and if good behavior cannot be taught, the village may even exile the young Yuletraii for fear of their naughtiness spreading (these shunned Yuletraii often become Humbugs). As for law and chaos, the culture treasures tradition in nearly every way, though the Yuletraii themselves can tend to be chaotic and spontaneous. It's all in the individual's personality.

Size

Yuletraii are only marginally shorter than humans, ranging from under 5 to nearly 6 feet tall, almost never exceeding that. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You ignore difficult terrain created by ice or snow.

Darkvision

Accustomed to the forever night sky of the far north's wilderness, 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 only discern the colors red and green in darkness; everything else is seen as shades of gray.

Cold Resistance

You gain resistance to cold damage.

Eyes of the List

Whether it's holiday magic or simply intuition is unclear, but Yuletraii share an uncanny ability to perceive the best (and worst) in others. As an action, you can focus your senses to discern whether a target creature that you can see is of Good, Evil, or Neutral alignment. Your can do this a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus.

A creature that knows of your ability can attempt to hide their true colors. To do so, they must succeed a Deception check with a DC equal to your passive insight (8 + Insight bonus). On a success, this ability perceives the target as Neutral and will continue to do so for the next 24 hours.

Northern Legacy

You know the frostbite cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the speak with animals spell an unlimited number of times with this trait, but can only target tundra-residing animals with it. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the snilloc's snowball swarm spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice. With their relations to the Elves and Gnomes, Elvish and Gnomish are taught most frequently to young Yuletraii.

Yuletraii Baker

A Yuletraii Baker inherits a fiery passion for holiday cooking, and what better way to spread warmth and cheer to those around them than through their stomachs! Traditional techniques for baking, turkey stuffing and decorating are shared among close family and friends, and precious recipes have been passed down like heirlooms. Skilled Bakers collaborate with Yuletraii Tinkers on occasion to design complex gingerbread infrastructure. No matter what they specialize in, a Baker is a treat to everyone around them.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 1.

Feaster's Recipe

You can create holiday treats, spreading warmth and cheer to those who taste them. With one hour of work or when you finish a long rest, you can cook a number of treats equal to your proficiency bonus. These special treats last 8 hours after being made. Each treat has an effect that you choose when cooking them, choosing between the effects of a cure wounds, heroism, lesser restoration, or longstrider spell. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. A creature can use an action to eat one of those treats and gain the chosen effect.

You can choose to create all treats of the same effect or a combination of the three, and despite having a magical effect, the treats themselves are not considered magical. You can create these treats during the same time that you are creating treats with the "Chef" feat or a similar trait.

Yuletraii Caroler

Moved by the melodies of the joyful season, some Yuletraii find their calling through the flow of the voice. Beatific sonnets can be heard echoing within earshot of any Yuletraii village as the Carolers hone their tone, invoking emotions of hope, joy, peace and love to all who pause to listen in. Ancient musical scores have existed for longer than the Yuletraii could ever remember, but that doesn't stop the most elite Carolers from scribing some of their own, imbuing sonnet and verse with the true spirit of Christmas.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 1, in addition to the base Yuletraii's ability score increase.

Carol of the Bells

As an action, you can begin a carol that inspires and invigorates your allies. Choose any number of creatures within 60 feet of you that can hear you. Those creatures gain an effect of your choice. A creature that leaves the carol's range or can no longer hear you loses the effects. If a previously unavailable creature moves within the carol's range and can hear you, you can choose to grant them the carol's effect.

The carol's effect depends on the theme of carol that you choose to sing:

Hope. Your melody invokes hope in allies when the chips are down. When an affected creature you can see fails an attack roll, you can use your reaction to grant them a bonus to their roll equal to your proficiency bonus, possibly causing the roll to succeed.

Joy. Your melody invigorates allies with pure joy, boosting their confidence. Creatures affected by your carol gain a bonus to all ability checks equal to your proficiency bonus.

Peace. Your melody brings troubled allies blissful peace. Creatures affected by your carol gain a bonus to saving throws against charmed and frightened effects equal to your proficiency bonus.

Love. Your melody spreads your love to those around you. At the end of each of your turns, you may choose an affected creature. That creature heals a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. The carol cannot heal creatures at 0 hit points.

You can continue the carol for up to 10 minutes, or until you choose to end it (no action required). You can sing a number of carols equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Yuletraii Chiller

Embodying the essence of winter, Chillers devote themselves to studying the aspects of snow and ice. Known to some very ancient races as Borealites, these Yuletraii spend most of their time out of the cozy villages, in the bitter tundra of the North Pole, returning regularly to bring the community crystal frost and packing snow. As such, Chillers tend to act more levelheaded and straightforward, but that's where the differences to typical Yuletraii end. They especially retain the importance of tradition, as they exchange ancient techniques and rites in order to shape the snow and the wind.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Gift of the Aurora

Your investiture into winter magic allows you to sculpt your frosty effects. Whenever you cast a spell that deals cold damage, you may deal increased damage to your enemies and decreased damage to your allies. While dealing damage, you choose which creatures take increased or decreased damage. This increased/decreased cold damage is equal to your proficiency bonus, and cannot be used on cantrips.

You can use this trait on a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You gain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Additionally, if you have the spellcasting feature, the armor of agathys spell is added to your class's spell list.

Yuletraii Humbug

Not all Yuletraii are full of spirit. Those who turn on their culture and despise the season are labelled as "Humbugs", and are often exiled from the Yuletraii community. Tales of infamous humbugs such as Ebenezer Scrooge, Belsnickel, and, of course, the Grinch, are told among young Yuletraii at night like ghost stories. Void of Christmas cheer, a Yuletraii becomes a Humbug when they defect from the holiday spirit and instead actively seek to destroy it. This is a very rare occurrence due to a Yuletraii's natural glee, and is not openly discussed in a village. The reason for a Humbug's sudden irritableness could be anything; a Chiller that became too hungry for magical power, a Tinker that turned to greed once their inventions began selling well, or perhaps an overlooked Baker or Caroler seething in envy for a rival. In any case, a Yuletraii Humbug is empty of the cheer they once had, and instead spreads their gloom and doom to all they meet.

Alignment Lock

Humbugs actively renounce all that is good in the world. A Yuletraii humbug cannot have a good alignment. If a good-aligned Yuletraii becomes a Humbug, they suffer an immediate change in alignment to either neutral or evil. If a Humbug has their alignment changed to good, they revert to their original Yuletraii subrace.

Ability Score Increase

You retain the ability score increase of your original Yuletraii subrace. (For example, a Humbug that used to be a Chiller would have their Wisdom score increased by 1.)

Infectious Mood

Your crabby demeanor rubs off on those you interact with. As an action, choose a humanoid within 60 feet that can hear you. The target makes a Charisma saving throw, with a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus.

On a failed save, the humanoid adopts your sour attitude. If the target is of good alignment, they act as if they were neutrally-aligned. Additionally, you gain a bonus to Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion checks made to interact with the target, equal to your proficiency bonus. Both effects last for a number of minutes equal to your proficiency bonus. 

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest, or when you spend an hour of work complaining around a crowd of at least 3 people.

Yuletraii Tinker

To become a great toymaker is a common dream shared between young Yuletraii, but very few gain the knowledge and expertise to truly hone their craft. Inventing is a highly respected job among the cheery folk, be it complex Christmas light displays, gift-wrapping technology, video game design, or, of course, toymaking. Every project undertaken by a Tinker is a personal challenge to one-up their previous breakthrough, while the entire village benefits from their ingenuity. In the end, their fine work inspires awe and wonder into the world.

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 1.

Wondrous Design

By fiddling and tinkering with your contraptions' design, you can imbue mundane objects with awe-inspiring effects. Your gain proficiency with tinker's tools.

With an hour of work or when you finish a long rest, you can use tinker's tools to imbue an object with additional properties. The object must fit within a 1-foot cube, and cannot be a weapon or a magic item. The object gains one of the following properties of your choice:

- The object gains a walking speed of 10 feet, as well as a climbing, swimming, or flying speed (your choice) of 10 feet. The object is controlled remotely by a remote control. A creature controlling the object uses its action to move the object in a direction of their choice.

- The object sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius.

- The object plays a sound when activated. The sound must be available to "record" during the hour of work/long rest. 

- The object contains a hidden compartment, no larger than the object itself. It takes an Investigation check to locate the compartment without instructions, with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus.

You can grant properties to multiple objects, though a single object can only bear one property at a time. The maximum number of objects you can affect with this feature at a time is equal to your proficiency bonus. If you try to exceed your maximum, the oldest property immediately ends, and then the new property applies.
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