Homebrew Ecknid Species Details

Ecknids are chitin bound, upright standing, arthropod folk resembling crab-like people. They have a layered, chitinous, crab body-shaped head that house 2 - 3 black eye stalks on each side of the face that rest in holes under the layers of crab shaped chitin plates and can retract into the face or extend out. Although they usually extend the eye stalks so the the tips of the stalks exposed to look like unblinking pitch black eyeballs, they can extend the stalks a whole foot outside their head. The head of an Ecknid has mandibles but are unnoticeable and look like the head doesnt have a mouth until the mandibles split open from the mouth area of the face revealing nightmarish rotating saw-like teeth and thin tendrils, though due to the upsetting sight they often keep a scarf or piece of cloth to cover the mouth area while interacting with other people that aren't ecknid. Ecknids stand on two to four pointed crab legs. They have two humanoid like arms and hands, their main arms look skeletal due to the arms being two crab-like appendages fused together. Each main arm has 3 fingers and a thumb that look like small crab legs in place of fingers and thumbs. Tucked underneath the two arms on the sides of the torso are two crab leg like appendages that don't have a large range of motions therefore aren't used often in daily life and primarily used to burrow and move under the ground and sand. Their chitinous torso looks like segmented plates attached by flexible sinew to give them more range of motion to bend in any direction. The color of an Ecknid's chitin range from dull browns to dark reds to sandy tan. Most Ecknids are religious zealots that dwell in the deserts and sandy areas. Ecknids believe their ancestors offended or rebelled against their creator deity, Urga, and because of that sin they were changed to be unable to breathe water and forcing them onto the land. Because of this belief, Ecknids wander the deserts to repent for the mistakes of their ancestors. Some grow weary of wandering the dry sandlands and do not believe they deserve to be punished for the wrongs of their ancestors and quit repenting to live among the other races in cities as wandering trader, shopkeepers, and pursuers of knowledge. Ecknids have an incredibly intelligent calculating mind, so much so they seem cold and unfeeling. Many are practiced wizards, but those who value the strength of their chitin over magical knowledge choose to be skirmisher warriors that attack from below.

Ecknid Traits

Your Ecknid character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

When you determine your ability scores, increase Intelligence by 2, Constitution by 1. None of the scores can be raised above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and Ecknid.

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid.

Size

Your size is Medium. You stand at an average height of 5-6 feet tall.

Speed

Your walking speed is 25 feet.

Land Shark

As an action you can burrow into sand or soft ground and unburrow. You gain a burrow speed equal of 35. You can use a bonus action to un-burrow from the ground if you still have at least 10 movement left. You are unable to burrow if wearing heavy armor.

Tremor Sense

You know the location of anything that walks on the ground or is burrowing within 30 ft of you, alternatively if you are burrowed underground your tremor sense extends to double the range (60 ft). You can only tell the location and size of a creature seen with tremor sense if burrowed or blinded.

Hardened Carapace

You passively gain +1 to AC.