Homebrew Crewmate Species Details
These were the stories of a restless people who long ago took to the seas and rivers in longboats, first to pillage and terrorize, then to settle. Yet there was an energy, a love of adventure, that sang from every page. Long into the night Liriel read, lighting candle after precious candle.
She’d never given much thought to crewmates, but these stories fascinated her. In these yellowed pages were tales of bold heroes, strange and fierce animals, mighty primitive gods, and a magic that was part and fabric of that distant land.
In the reckonings of most worlds, crewmates are the youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the world scene and short-lived in comparison to dwarves, elves, and dragons. Perhaps it is because of their shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races, and that’s why they build their mighty empires on the foundation of conquest and trade. Whatever drives them, humans are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the worlds.
A Broad Spectrum
With their penchant for migration and conquest, crewmates are more physically diverse than other common races. There is no typical human. An individual can stand from 3 feet to a little over 4 feet tall and weigh from 50 to 100 pounds. A lot of crewmates have a dash of noncrewmate blood, revealing hints of elf, orc, or other lineages. Crewmate reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live even a single century.
Variety in All Things
Crewmates are the most adaptable and ambitious people among the common races. They have widely varying tastes, morals, and customs in the many different lands where they have settled. When they settle, though, they stay: they build cities to last for the ages, and great kingdoms that can persist for long centuries. An individual crewmate might have a relatively short life span, but a crewmate nation or culture preserves traditions with origins far beyond the reach of any single crewmate’s memory. They live fully in the present—making them well suited to the adventuring life—but also plan for the future, striving to leave a lasting legacy. Individually and as a group, crewmates are adaptable opportunists, and they stay alert to changing political and social dynamics.
EVERYONE’S SECOND-BEST FRIENDS
Just as readily as they mix with each other, crewmates mingle with members of other races. They get along with almost everyone, though they might not be close to many. Crewmates serve as ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries of all kinds.
Dwarves. “They’re stout folk, stalwart friends, and true to their word. Their susiness is their downfall, though.”
Elves. “It’s best not to wander into elven woods. They don’t like intruders, and you’ll as likely be bewitched as peppered with arrows. Still, if an elf can get past that damned racial pride and actually treat you like an equal, you can learn a lot from them.”
Halflings. “It’s hard to beat a meal in a halfling home, as long as you don’t crack your head on the ceiling—good food and good stories in front of a nice, warm fire. If halflings had a shred of ambition, they might really amount to something.”
Crewmate Traits
It’s hard to make generalizations about crewmates, but your human character has these traits.Ability Score Increase
Your ability scores each increase by 1.
Age
Crewmates reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Size
Crewmates vary widely in height and build, from barely 3 feet to well over 4 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Crewmates typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.
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