Homebrew Shardminds Species Details

Crystallized Thought

Each shardmind is composed of the sentient, crystalline pieces of the Living Gate, and typically have a green, white, amber, or red coloration throughout their whole body. Shardminds stand roughly 6 feet tall and weigh about 180-230 pounds. As a shardmind awakens from its constituent crystal shards, it fashions itself a form best suited for interaction with the world. As such, shardminds have a humanoid shape, yet have nearly-featureless faces with two glowing eyes which gently emit a psionic radiance from within. Though shardminds have no need for clothing, they sometimes adopt rudimentary garb made of simple, unadorned fabrics.

Logic and Emotion

When it existed, the Living Gate was composed of sentient thoughtforms as much as actual, crystal matter, designed to be an effective safeguard against the nightmare creatures of the Far Realms. The Gate was always able to shift forms, or to intuitively adopt new strategies to counter the insidious forces that would try to break through. These thoughtforms live on inside shardminds, endlessly reincarnated and mixed about when one shardmind dies, and another cluster of forgotten shards animates. Every animated shardmind is a new individual, and each experiences the world differently. As creatures of psionic energy, shardminds trend towards both logical thought and emotional extremes. Shardminds can seem calculating and emotionless at first, but they simply do not experience smaller emotions. A shardmind is never merely irritated, saddened, or content, and they only show emotion once they are outraged, sorrowful, or overjoyed

Inheritors of the Gate

Each shardmind carries within it an ancestral memory of the Living Gate, and holds at least a small motivation to continue its purpose. This can take many forms, and each shardmind has a distinct approach to how they continue the Gate’s legacy. Some shardminds simply hunt aberrant creatures of the Far Realms wherever they may be found, while others journey to collect pieces of the Gate that have not yet awakened, in hopes of rebuilding it. Many simply focus on improving their prowess, knowing that their power is the Gate’s power. And yet other shardminds, spoken of in whispers, maraud in search of other shardminds to kill, reckoning that only when every shardmind is dead, will the Living Gate be reformed. Shardminds without the Living Gate While the Living Gate gives shardminds a compelling motivation and reason to exist, it is not appropriate to all settings. Your DM may decide that the Living Gate is not a part of their setting, but decide to include shardminds anyway. In such a situation, shardminds may be the remnants of spells, which are magically animating natural crystals. Shardminds could be intentionally created by wizards, or could be lost souls claiming any form that will support them. Finally, shardminds could even be a self-sufficient race in their own right, forming communities and mining crystals to imbue with thought, in order to perpetuate themselves.

Shardmind Names

Shardminds tend to name themselves, often choosing names that match the auditory emanations of the psionic field that binds their individual form together. As they create themselves in the rough image of other living beings, shardminds can have any gender identity (or none at all), and yet do not have a biological sex. Regardless, shardmind names do not fall along gender lines. Names: Aahoraa, Alarr, Bruaa, Crendx, Freen, Haum, Jjrin, Kylax, Lvivv, Mrrn, Olo, Qiin, Rrixx, Siliuss, Triniv, Urivuu, Viun, Xyll

Shardminds Traits

here are the traits of a shardmind

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your choice of either your Wisdom or Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age

As a construct, you do not age in a traditional sense and can not die of old age

Alignment

Shardminds are typically born into the world as a moral blank slate, and trend strongly towards neutrality. However, the opposition of the former Living Gate to the chaos of the Far Realms also causes many shardminds to lean towards being lawful.

Size

The concentration of psionic crystal necessary to create self awareness results in a roughly human-sized form. You are size Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages

You cannot speak without using telepathy, but you can understand, read, and write Common, Deep Speech, and one other language of your choice.

Telepathy

You can communicate via two-way telepathy with any creature that is within 30 feet of you, if that creature knows at least one language.

Living Construct

The psionic crystal that makes up your form is both inorganic and yet imbued with life. You are immune to disease. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Additionally, you have two creature types: humanoid and construct. You can be affected by a spell or ability if it works on either of your creature types.

Resonance

You can use verbal components of spells, even if you do not speak, which manifests as a resonant, audible humming of your constituent shards. You can be affected by silence and similar as usual.

Crystalline Body

You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.

Natural Armor

Your crystalline form is naturally resistant to being damaged. Your AC cannot be less than 14, but armor, spells, and other effects can make it higher.

Luminescence

Your shards glow with a soft inner radiance, and you naturally cast dim light in a radius of 5 feet around you. You can intentionally stifle this light and turn it off, or turn it back on, by using a bonus action.

Shard Swarm

On your turn, you can use a bonus action to break your body into its constituent crystals and then teleport to an unoccupied location you can see within 15 feet. Choose up to 3 creatures within 5 feet of your original location. The first attack made against each creature before the end of your next turn is made with advantage. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.