Homebrew Curupira Species Details

We spent three months tracking the couatl before locating the forest in which it sought refuge. On our second day in that place, we woke to find the couatl’s head placed in the center of our camp. Joao told me that Curupira must have claimed the forest, and they wanted to show us we had no further business there. If we lingered, he assured me, our heads would be next.

— Pacha, Notes from a Treasure Hunter

Curupira tribes cloister in remote forest strongholds, preferring to spend their days in raucous revelry in the woods. When provoked, curupira demonstrate formidable skills with weapons and druidic magic.

Zealous Guardians

Curupira love nothing more than a day of feasting and mischief among the trees. They see forests as sacred places, representing the heart of the world and monuments to the durability of life.

In their role as caretakers, curupira live off the land while striving to remain in balance with nature. Their methods reflect common sense and remarkable resourcefulness. During a bountiful summer, they store away excess nuts, fruit, and berries. When winter arrives, they scatter everything they can spare to ensure the animals of the wood survive until springtime.

In a curupira’s eyes, there is no greater fault than greed. The curupira believe that the world remains healthiest when each creature takes only what it needs. Material goods, especially precious gems and gold, have little appeal to them. What use are such things when winter lingers and food runs short?

Curupira are slow to anger, but if provoked can be horrifyingly savage. Legend tells of Xota, the renowned adventurer who spent a month among the curupira peacefully, only to be torn apart and eaten after he accidentally insulted them.

Natural Druids

Curupira have a talent for druidic magic. Their cultural reverence for nature, combined with their strong and insightful minds, makes learning such magic an instinctive part of their development. Almost every curupira learns a few spells, typically those used to mask their presence, and many go on to master nature magic.

Curupira who become druids serve as stronghold leaders. With every action the tribe takes, the druids weigh not only the group’s needs, but the effect each action will have on the forest and the rest of the natural world. Curupira tribes would rather go hungry than strain the land during a famine.

Hidden Shepherds

As caretakers of the land, curupira prefer to remain out of sight and out of mind. They don’t try to dominate nature, but rather seek to ensure that it prospers and survives according to its own laws.

Curupira use their magic to keep their presence in a forest secret. This approach allows them to avoid the politics and struggles of humans, tabaxi, and ozo. Such events concern the curupira only when the events affect the forest.

Even in the face of an intrusion, curupira prefer a subtle, gentle approach to prevent damage to their territory. They employ their magic to make the forest an unappealing place to explore by temporarily diverting springs, driving away game, stealing critical tools, and altering trails to leave hunting or lumber parties hopelessly lost. The curupira's presence is marked by an absence of animals and a strange quiet, as if the forest wishes to avoid attracting attention to itself. The faster travelers decide to move on, the better.

If these tactics fail, the curupira get violent. Outsiders who have ventured too far into the forest only hear a brief rustle of branches as warning before an entire tribe of curupira plunges down on them with blades and clubs, wielding druidic magic with all of nature's savagery and none of its grace.

What's Out There?

As guardians of the wood, curupira rarely leave their woods, but every one of them has a curious streak that frequently gets the better of them.

It may have started simply, with a flask of beer pilfered from a campsite, or a glimpse of someone dancing on the horizon, but every curupira eventually gains a brief yet passionate interest in the outside world.

They'll come into cities bearing treasures, rare oils and woods from secret groves deep in their woods, and trade all of it away for the pleasurable things in life. Curupira in cities can be relentless hedonists, gorging themselves on new foods and drinking themselves into a stupor, remembering as much as they possibly can to replicate back in the woods. Most curupira return to the woods after less than a week, to spend the next few years in solitude before some new whim calls them back. But some get addicted to the lifestyle, leaving their forests permanently to adventure in the wide world at large.

Curupira Names

Curupira adopt Ozo names when they must deal with outsiders, although the concept of names strikes them as strange. They know the animals and plants of the forest without formal names, and instead identify the forest’s children by their deeds, habits, and other actions.

By the same token, their tribe names merely refer to their homes. When dealing with other races, curupira refer to their lands by whatever name the surrounding folk use, as a matter of tact and hospitality, but among their own kind they simply call it “home.”

Sometimes curupira adopt the nicknames or titles outsiders give them under the assumption that those who need names can call them whatever they wish.

Curupira Traits

Your curupira character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1.

Age

As humanoids related to the fey, curupira  have long lifespans. A curupira reaches adulthood around 30, and the oldest of them can live for 500 years.

Alignment

As people who follow the rhythm of nature and see themselves as its caretakers, curupira are typically neutral good. Evil curupira are rare and are usually the sworn enemies of the rest of their kind.

Size

Curupira are between 4 and 5 feet tall and weigh between 120 and 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Curupira Magic

You can cast detect magic and silent image with this trait, using Wisdom as your spellcasting ability for them. Once you cast either spell, you can’t cast it again with this trait until you finish a short or long rest.

Hidden Step

As a bonus action, you can magically turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to make a saving throw. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Powerful Build

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Speech of Beast and Leaf

You have the ability to communicate in a limited manner with beasts and plants. They can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return. You have advantage on all Charisma checks you make to influence them.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Giant.