Homebrew Aldani Species Details

Origins & Isolation

According to legends, the first Aldani were fishermen that fished lobsters from a nearby body of water to extinction. This angered the god Ubtao, who cursed them and transformed them into the Aldani as punishment. Whether this legend is true or not, Aladani have spread through the waterways of the world, but continue to be largely unknown to the surface. This is mostly due to their xenophobia and isolationism.

People of the Water

Aldani are large, lobster-like humanoids with a pair of pinchers and many smaller limbs that act as their legs. Aldani typically remain upright, much like humanoids, but they do at times drop to the ground to crawl like their ancestors. They rarely leave the water, though can move around on the land with only marginal issues. Their carapace is strong and allows an Aldani to have a high degree of physical protection without the need to fasion armor. Males range in coloration from bright red to bright orange while females vary between black, reddish green, and reddish brown. Aldani's faces are almost distrubingly human except for their eyestalks. Their faces make it look as if a man was overgrown with the carapace of a lobster. Furthermore, Aldani grow quite large in size over the course of their lives, the most ancient reaching a height of ten feet. Aldani typically settle in shallow seas or the beds of rivers. Some have been known to build villages within underwater caverns, but these are more the exception than the norm. Aldani settlements most often consist of a singular family unit that rarely changes outside of bringing in mates or having offspring. Aldani typically do not wear garments of any kind, though some have been known to fashion jewelry from shells or pearls. The Aldani populaiton within a settlement typically do not grow beyond twenty in number. This is largely due to their lack of death due to old age. They simply grow closer and closer to their own families, and do not want to risk bringing in new members or new mouths to feed which might upset the delicate familial relationships that have been cultivated for sometimes hundreds of years. With the large amount of threats that lie beneath the water's surface, Aldani have many dangers all around them. To combat this, they typically settle in very defensible positions on the bottom of bodies of water or find locations to call home that contain little to no aquatic threats. Many Aldani are curious of the surface world, though just as many have no interest in it. To them, family and the flow of the water is more than enough to keep them content to never stray far from home. For those that have lived long enough lives, there are some Aldani that grow restless and seek more out of their unending lives. Those are often the Aldani that answer the call to adventure, though their families often turn their backs on such lobsterfolk. Adventuring is seen as abandoning the family that unit that has often been together for hundreds or thousands of years.

Erudite & Fierce

Due to their long lives and often harsh environment, Aldani society is somewhat jarringly both one of wisdom and brutality. Aldani record the stories of their family and people in a crude hieroglyphic-like language. This writing is fairly limited in what it can express as it's use does not extend beyond the family story. Common script and language is used for everything else within Aldani society. Aldani patrol and defend their territory in groups of four to six daily. They attempt to force outsiders away, being fairly xenophobic. They are not above trading with outsiders that have things of value, understanding that their society has little means to produce many things the large world has been able to create through industry. Aldani will most often trade information or lore from ancient history when bartering with non-Aldani. Aldani have disputes within their society like any other culture. The way they resolve disuptes that cannot be settled through conversation and debate is one of the more gruesome aspects of their people. When two Aldani cannot resolve their differences, one of the pair will formally challenge the other to battle. This challenge goes beyond just the pair that started the quarrel. The entirety of the Aldani's family must choose sides then and a courtly tournament begins. There is much pomp and circumstance, with the Aldani fashioning flashy garments from aquatic plants. This marks the only time they typically wear any garment at all. The different sides will then battle one another in single combat, which consists of latching onto one another with their claws and squeezing until the other's carapace cracks. When one opponent yields or dies, the match is over. Surprisingly, many Aldani choose to fight to the death. The side with more victories is considered the winner and the matter that was being disagreed upon is considered settled by all. It is theorized that the high death counts that come from these tournaments are perhaps the real reason that Aldani societies have never reached large sizes.

Aldani Names

Aldani names are unique in that they all consist of a prefix and suffix that make their names. All members of the same family settlement share the same suffix, and members that marry into the family change their names. It is not uncommon for an Aldani in an adventuring party to drop their suffix and create a new one for their new "family unit". The Aldani will often insist the other members of their party add this name in as well, though their party members may be less enthusiastic about this.

Male Prefixes: Ardarg-, Brax-, Dar-, Golgen-, Jakar-, Logg-, Modar-, Pagrix-, Rar

Female Prefixes: Barr-, Chel-, Galeen-, Jeran-, Kerlal-, Meggan-, Palen-, Rell-, Reex-, Xeg

Family Suffixes: -aman, -anna, -ax, -edda, -ellala, - idabobab, -ix, -obad, -odala, -olag, -olbi, -ox, -ulda

Aldani Traits

A rmored arthropods that make their homes in riverbeds and shallow seas, the Aldani are a strange race. Aldani are both civilized and primal in their culture. Their sharp witt and powerful claws allow them be capable adventurers when they are called to such a path.

Ability Score Increase

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

Age.

Lobsterfolk are considered adults by their late teens and can live for around 150 years.

Alignment

Aldani rarely find themselves on the side of good or evil, rather they do what is best for their tribe or village in a given situation. That being said, Aldani do tend to trend toward the lawful alignment, as their culture has strict sets of rules and etiquette which govern their social behaviors.

Size

 Aldani are around 7 to 8 feet in height, though some long-lived Aldani grow as large as 10 feet in height. Your size is medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swim speed of 30 feet. In addition, y

Amphibious

 As an aldani, you can breathe in both air and water.

Natural Armor

 Your thick carapace serves as a decent set of armor on its own. When wearing no armor, your AC is 14

Pincers

Your arms end in large pincers which allow you some advantages and disadvantages. The pincers are considered to be weapons that you are proficient with. They deal 1d8 piercing damage and if you hit a creature with them they are grappled. While grappling a target this way, you cannot gain any benefits from a shield that may be strapped to that arm. You can grapple only one creature with each arm. You have advantage to maintain hold of a weapon or item you are holding with your pincers. You have disadvantage on any checks that would require the use of fingers or thumbs. This generally manifests as disadvantage on Dexterity checks using your hands. Your DM may rule the task impossible for you if it requires a high enough level of dexterity (such as performing a card trick that requires sleight of hand).