Draco sapiens. Average lifespan: 70 years. 6-7 feet height. 180-300 pounds. Muscle development highly accelerated compared to most sapient species. Scale colour and sheen reflects elemental abilities; take note.
The Dragonborn are the only intentional creations of the dragons. They were made as servants and ambassadors during the War of Creation, filling in for the dragons when they could not make an appearance. For their service, they were sent out as pioneers of the post-war world, creating cities and strongholds in the name of their master. Nowadays, they are the "majority" species, holding most positions of power, and can generally be seen anywhere you look in any settlement, chromatic or metallic.
Dragonborn stand around seven feet tall, and are rarely lithe. Their powerful builds make differentiating between male and female difficult to outsiders, though this is of little issue as there is not much to differentiate aside from who lays the egg. Despite their solid bones not needing the protective padding, dragonborn have plush scales like their creators, and they usually swear fealty to whichever dragon their scale colour matches. They have tails of varying sizes, some short and stubby, some long and lithe, often matching the length of their horns, and they have three fingers on each of their two hands.
Their snouts extend about half a foot from their face, and their heads are fairly horizontal, coming from a thick neck. Some have horns.
Dragonborn borrow a great many things from their ancestors. They have similar, albeit inferior, sacs near the throat which store elemental energy that can be used in a grand burst or to fuel their skills in times of need. While most dragonborn have soft 'scales' covering their bodies, some have tougher, pointed scales which offer a great deal of protection against weapons. Others are able to call on their draconic heritage to conjure magic. The many dragonborn subraces have their differences, but are all equal in social standing.
While a full blast of energy is exhausting for a dragonborn, several household items are activated by their breath weapons. A brass dragonborn's small puff of flames can light a candle, or a silver dragonborn's small burst of cold air can make an immediate frozen treat. Bronze dragonborn can get high-paying jobs with their constant flickers of electricity.
Dragonborn live to about 70 years; they were not created with the same immortality as their creators, and do not get inherently stronger as they age beyond the expected muscle developments and learning one would see in a human. They reach maturity at 15, and the species-neutral standard of adulthood in most cities is 15, much to the dismay of longer-living species.
Dragonborn live in cities, typically in the wealthiest sectors, though they're intelligent enough to survive in the wilderness if need be. They involve themselves heavily in politics and city development, often conducting surveys of the people they represent to make their homes a better place.
Dragonborn are chrysivores, subsiding primarily off of metal and gems like their ancestors. However, while a dragon is a 'pure' chyrsivore, needing to eat precious things like gold and diamonds, dragonborn have more varied diets and can live off iron and quartz (though they still prefer more valuable meals). Additionally, dragonborn can live off meat and foraged stones for a time, although malnutrition on such a diet is unavoidable.
Like their ancestors, dragonborn see themselves as 'above' other species. Chromatic dragonborn tend to see themselves as the rightful rulers of all others, only below the dragons that created them, while metallic dragonborn are detached from their inferiors, believing it is not their place to interfere. These mentalities are often tested when the time comes to make a major city development, and primarily-dragonborn parliaments can spend months debating over whether or not it is their place to add a new monorail.
Dragonborn typically have access to the highest education available, and many if not all are versed in the arcane.
While dragonborn names may seem exotic, they are merely combined words in their native language of Draconic. A dragonborn might be named for the expectations of their parents, the beautiful scene where their egg was fertilized or conceived, or after the dragon whose colour they match. Common first names include Victor, Toripiat, Occasumn, and Beamnis. Surnames are Draconic compound words for great deeds done by the family, such as Auctor, Invaurum, and Diabenator. These can get fairly long, so most dragonborn do not introduce themselves with their surnames unless in a highly formal setting.
Dragonborn see size as something to flaunt. One might think first of large muscles, but large bodies are also seen as beautiful, and luxury dresses are often sleeveless or have splits on the sides to show off a toned body.
Due to the minimal differences between the sexes, dragonborn never settled into gender roles. It's hard to oppress women when they're just as beefy as you.
While some dragons are known for immediately abandoning their offspring, dragonborn thankfully have not inherited this trait. However, their love fades quickly, and only the responsibility of raising a child keeps most dragonborn couples together--they usually split apart after their child reaches fifteen.
While all civilised sapients speak Common, the dragonborn have retained their ancestral language of Draconic, and typically use it when communicating with one another. Draconic has come to be known as the language of the law, as it is spoken almost exclusively in high courts.
Your dragonborn might see themself as the protagonist of a story yet to be written, a colonist, or even a bringer of light to the places it has not touched; alternatively, they might be disgusted by previous 'heroes' and be trying to separate from their special history as much as possible. You often try to stay a neutral mediator in any peaceful discussion, working to bring things to a peaceful end; not because you are weak, but because your strength must be used as a force of peace. You feel a nonexistent pressure from your allies to succeed, as your role as the hero of history is predetermined and must be fulfilled.
A little pressure can be a good thing sometimes; when push comes to shove, you can pull a victory out of a bad situation, be it with the right words at the right times or a blast of draconic energy to permanently calm your foes. Others see you as a stuck-up know-it-all, be it about the glory of your history or the horrors your people have wrought. They may see your attempts to stay neutral as you taking the other side, even when the other side is objectively evil. You might be perceived as anxious if you are not the master of your own emotions, but under stress, your reliable ability to turn the tides makes you worth keeping around, and your innate knowledge of diplomacy means bandits at least get a lecture before the swords come out. You may be self-obsessed, but the power you were born with might make that justified.
The constant pressure to succeed placed on you by society has manifested as an ability to channel your ancestry into a near guaranteed success. When you make an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can expend your use of your breath weapon and add the die of the damage it would deal to the result of the roll. You can do this after seeing the roll, but before knowing if it succeeds or fails.
Terra sapiens. Average lifespan: 350 years. 4 feet height. 180 pounds. Do not separate from personal projects.
The Dwarves are the world given form, short creatures with long lives and a knack for creation. They understand that the difference between a living person and a tool is thin, and see their creations not as formed metal but as potential life given form. Destruction of art is as murder to a dwarf, purchasing is an adoption, and theft like kidnapping--it is for this reason that they have adversarial relationships with humans, who have produced some of the greatest art thieves in Nydissia. Dwarves also hate industrialization, as a work of art is brought alive by the effort put into it and the slight mistakes and stylistic alterations of the artist. The greatest dwarven relics are so powerful that they gain their own sentience, a famed example being the warforged; many sapient weapons were also made or finished in dwarven forges. This imbuement of all things with life leads to dwarves having something of two families: one that birthed them, and one that they forged--their 'forge family'. Even without their forge family, a dwarf is never alone, as even a small twig teepee can become a new brother.
Dwarves stand around four feet tall, being shorter than humans on average. Their bodies are stocky and broad, and perhaps to adjust for the colder caverns they live in, have evolved to grow hair incredibly quickly and thickly regardless of sex. Dwarf hair is stereotypically orange, but can mimic any metal's colour. A dwarf is often clad in metallic, armor-like clothing, not for protection, but decoration: due to the abundance of metal and the lack of workable cloth, dwarves typically wear metal clothing, with richer dwarves having rat pelts for padding. If forced to leave their clan, might bring their entire forge family with them for company. If they take up arms beyond a short bronze blade for self-defense, their armor is often highly decorated and their weapons so sturdy they could be used as tools. Their low center of mass and love of metalworking makes dwarves incredibly strong, commonly described as "stocky enough to grapple a bugbear".
They live about 350 years, seen as adults once they pass 50, and as they age, their hair colour dulls and collects darker splotches as though it was tarnishing metal.
With their innate resistance to toxins, dwarves have a far wider diet than most other species. Dwarven cuisine is made up of questionable mushrooms and cave-dwelling vermin, and they have about a hundred ways to grill a dire bat. Other traditions include baking bread in chlorine gas and sprinkling arsenic on your meat. They quickly learned that other people do not react to their food the same way they do, so meals prepared for outsiders are often bland and unseasoned.
Dwarves hear, taste, smell, and touch the same as most folk. While they keep their workshops lit to perceive the colour of their works, their streets are mostly lit by dim crystal lanterns, which provide enough light to their eyes to let them see just fine.
Your dwarf character might be incredibly specific about how they or others craft, and might have a specific ritual they perform when gathering materials for a project, such as cutting a circle of trees around the area you harvest first, or offering an apology to your fine meals before you dine. You likely distrust humans and any inventor types, brushing off grand inventions as lazy shortcuts. Despite your focused work ethic, your loyalty, once earned, is unwavering, and having made a family of your own once, you can quickly come to see your travel companions as a third or fourth family.
While meticulous to a fault about the things you care for, your incredible attention to detail and crafting ability makes you a valuable asset to any group. Others might be put off or even offended by your constant interruption of any sort of creation, as unlike a dwarf, they can take 'good enough' as a finished project. Of course, you won't waste two days adding a lion's head to a crude raft, but your allies will certainly feel your disapproving gaze. When a dwarf is in their element though, be it lives on the line or simply a well-fed evening, nobody can earnestly say that their perfectionism doesn't pay off. A dwarf is picky, but precise enough to be a beloved ally of anybody.
Because of the bond dwarves have with their creations, professional craftsmen often create shoddy versions of the splendorous items they keep in their homes to sell to adventurers and those who need a tool without another mouth to feed. Make no mistake, dwarven tools are still high-grade, however these simple works of steel are nothing compared to the incredible sharpness and durability of a true dwarven weapon. No dwarf would give something precious to an adventurer for any amount of coin, and to earn one of these beloved items would take a deed of immeasurable greatness.
Similarly, dwarves rarely leave to adventure themselves, as they have all they need in their underground homes. Notable reasons why one might leave include fighting a grand war, sympathizing with an extraordinary cause, or gathering an incredibly rare material to finish a project.
If you play a dwarf, ask yourself the following questions. Do you value your dwarven family or your forge family more? Are you defensive of dwarven culture, or do you accept the skeptical view others have on it? Have you brought your forge family with you? Among your family, what work of art are you most proud of? You may be adventuring to find a gemstone to complete the hilt of your +1 arming sword, or to track down a villain who insulted your ways and destroyed your forge. You might even consider expanding your family during your travels.
At 1st level, you have an unfinished project of some kind. This might be a weapon that needs a special piece to be complete, a piece of jewelry that needs arcane precision to be finished, or another work of art. You have this item with you, and it offers no exceptional benefit other than having it. At 5th level, this project is completed and becomes an uncommon magic item according to the shape it had. For instance, a bronze sword that needed a pure diamond in its hilt might become a +1 arming sword.
Veya sapiens. Average lifespan: 900 years, split into century-long 'lives'. 5 feet height. 90 pounds. Hair is kept long, taking on natural colours such as autumn orange, fern green, and berry purple. Hair colour might change with time of day, season, or mood.
Outside the forest, little is known about the elves. Their borders are strict to even themselves, forbidding any from entering or exiting the expanse they call their territory. They rarely involve themselves with the outside world and its politics. After the War of Creation, they abandoned the dragons that created them, as a world where members of the greatest species cannot coexist is not a world worth pulling back together. They ventured to three places across the realm and claimed them as the home of the elves: a great forest west of Nydissia, a vast cavern in Knalke, and a kelp forest in the sea between the two continents. They fought off intruders with superior knowledge of the terrain and traps. Over twenty millennia, this original motivation has been all but forgotten, living on in ancient tomes and history classes. The solidarity of the forest is buttressed by a strong sense of tradition and a strict set of laws; once, a thick layer of fog covered the woods, but one hundred years ago, it suddenly vanished. Since then, careless or enterprising architects have begun scouting the forest for quicker paths across the continent, to the great displeasure of the elves. The borders have been reinforced threefold, and going in or out is near impossible.
Elves are strict vegans, unable to digest animal products. While one would think this sets them back culinarily, they have worked around this restriction by making far strides in the field of plant-based substitutes. Outsiders who care greatly for animals--often druids, though not most druids--will peruse elven cookbooks pilfered from travelers or even their home.
Their bodies are thin and graceful, and while few could be mistaken for humans, their famously pointed ears make the difference completely clear.
As the seasons change, some elves' hair colour changes with it. While eladrin are the most closely tied to the seasonal cycle, all elves have some connection. An elf born in spring with green hair might shift to an autumn orange or a snowy white in fall and winter.
Elves reach maturity after 20 years, but start a 'new life' every century, often choosing a new name to go alongside it. Some choose to respect their elders' decree to its fullest extent, while others decide that a full life lived carries with it the maturity of the first twenty years and that growth stage need not be repeated. They thrive in crowded places: wood elves in dense forests; high elves in marble cities; sea elves in tall kelp; dark elves in small caverns; the only exception is the eladrin, who prefer meadows and plains.
Elven clothing is often dyed bright colours to stand out from the forest, and is made of comfortably soft silk. Their weapons are made of platinum-gold alloy or a sturdy glass-like crystal, and their hilts and armor are typically decorated with forest vines, each specimen having its own meaning. Even an elf's travel pack is carefully stitched. While the ornamentation might seem vain, it is a tapestry of an elf's personality and history.
Whether or not you accept your species' culture, you were still raised in it and likely kept some bad habits. You might instinctively reject a non-elf's idea on the principle that it would corrupt your ways (though a wise traveler never lets this create a rift), and you likely see other ways of solving issues as uncivilized. However, your long life has brought you great wisdom, and your infinite patience and vast experiences have made you a valued asset to any traveler with a troubled soul. You might share stories of your time in the forest, or connect the flora and fauna of the outside world to the ones back home. You're stubborn and slow to trust, but your timeless perspective and honed skills make you a valuable member of any traveling party. Others are likely shocked at your presence and see you as insufferably traditional at best. They might distrust you because of how disconnected from the others you are, or see your attempts at bonding as a cheap way to hide your cultural specism. Your honed skills make you important to the group, though, as nobody can fence or craft like you, and your vast knowledge can lead the group away from a bad situation.
Elves live long enough to become masters of many things. A dragonborn might train his whole life to master the longsword, but an elf has eight more of those lives to spare. However, their cultural pride leads to their mastery often being over unorthodox arts; a skilled chef need not learn leatherworking, though inverse pottery might be a unique hobby. Few elves train their whole lives to master something, as they see it as a waste to specialize so intensely. However, whispered legends about swordsmen who dedicated 800 years to the craft linger in elven villages, and while most lack the dedication, these changing times have led some to reconsider their traditions.
If you play an elf, you might consider the following. Was it your choice to leave the forest? Perhaps you were banished, or simply found your way out on accident and weren't allowed back into the strict borders. Do you know much about the outside world, or are you stepping into new territory? Is your priority to explore, or to return home? Do you have a particular fighting or casting style important to your personal culture? Elves rarely send out ambassadors, but perhaps you decided to take matters into your own hands and set out to fight the impending industrialization of your home.
While most of your mastered talents are fairly useless in an adventure, you still picked up a few things that can come in handy. You gain proficiency in two skills, weapons, tools, or languages of your choice.
Gnomo sapiens. Average lifespan: 350-500 years. 2-3 feet height. 80-100 pounds. Beyond this, make no assumptions.
After the War of Creation, gnomes and halflings were enslaved under the mountains by the dragonborn. Gnomes were used for the manufacture of machinery, as their innate intelligence made them able to put things together at a greatly reduced cost. This lasted ten thousand years, until one day, a human stumbled into a plantation and asked the gnomes why they were working. The gnomes said they didn't know, and asked their masters, who said they worked because they were born beneath all others. When they told the human this, the human petitioned the metallic dragons, saying no one species could be beneath another if the world was to be just. The dragons agreed, and ordered the immediate freeing of all enslaved sapient beings. Nobody really had any idea what had just happened, because this happened in a day. The dragonborn, confused, did nothing, until their houses were all struck by lightning breath, and the gnomes ventured out to make their own ways.
Or so the story goes. Gnomes are not known for their sincerity, preferring entertainment over honesty. Much of gnomish history is inferred, as actual gnomes tell either exaggerated or false versions of events. Something similar happened with the halflings, but it was not quite as simple as this version of events. The only part everybody agrees on is that the two species were enslaved underneath mountains, as the gnomes that never escaped--the deep gnomes--are accustomed to underground life.
Gnomes are short, around three feet tall. They're lithe for their height, though a body can only get so small--the organs have to go somewhere. The males have little hair outside that on their head, and the females often have luscious beards and thick hair on their limbs and chests.
Gnomes are trappers, typically setting up complicated machines to catch small game. Because of their small size, a few squirrels is enough to feed a family of gnomes and halflings.
While this section is normally skipped over, it is worth noting that most non-gnomes don't know how gnomes reproduce. It's assumed to be the same way as all mammals, but there are zero texts or sources that say anything about this. In reality, this is a prank the gnomes are playing on the world.
Nowadays, gnomes live in forests and rocky hills, rarely venturing underground. They typically room up with halflings, and share a great amount of culture with them. The small homes they burrow out of hills, called 'hobbit holes', are attributed to halflings only because of folklore; gnomes claim responsibility for this invention.
Gnomes typically wear baggy robes with short sleeves, to allow them to hide things without getting their sleeves caught in a contraption. Their hats are tall, sometimes pointed, and rarely floppy. The stereotypical pointed wizard hat is actually a gnomish cap.
Gnomes have a cunning to rival humans, though while humans know which parts to skip to make something work quickly, gnomes know how to substitute the important parts with junk. Their traps are completely nonsensical to an outsider, and explaining the single quirk of physics that makes them work how they do would take a ten page essay.
Gnome names are silly and whimsical, often including at least one 'naughty word'. Such names include Higglebottom, Thunderpants, and Arvifart.
All gnomes are beautiful. In their own way.
Where elves use their long lives to reach an unrivaled maturity, gnomes see all punishments as temporary, and spit in the face of authority--that minister will die in fifty years anyway, who's going to listen to him? Your gnome is likely whimsical and aloof, caring little for short term problems. You're well-versed in the art of running from guards, though unlike the all-business humans, you have a little fun with it. A fun contraption or a tricky illusion is an hour's worth of fun. Despite this, gnomes take long-term matters incredibly seriously--they just don't have many of them. A gnome knows when to get serious, and quickly shifts from comic relief to a war general when facing starvation, extinction, and similar threats. Additionally, gnomes have a strong rule to never prank a friend. These combined traits make gnomes fun to have around, and necessary to befriend--one less trickster to worry about is always a positive thing.
Gnomes have a strong unspoken oath to never trick an ally; a promise so potent it affects their very nature. When you cast an enchantment or illusion spell, you can choose any number of creatures you can see to be unaffected by the spell.
Gaia-homo sapiens. Average lifespan: 300 years (estimated). 5-6 feet height. 90-150 pounds. Further details redacted for safety of sources.
As sturdy as the elven border is, over twenty thousand years it inevitably had breaches. Be it diplomatic trips, faulty sections of the sealing spell, or emigrating escapees, elves have escaped their homes and mingled with others. Rarely in these rare situations, a child between an elf and a human will be born. These half-elves (called half-humans by the elves) are hunted by the elves for one crucial reason: should two come together, their elven blood may create a fully-elven child, birthing an elf outside the sanctuaries and forever tarnishing their borders. Half-elves live nomadic lives, in part because they are not accepted in the human nor elven worlds, and in part because of the bands of bounty hunters who follow them, and few have ever lived past two centuries. While few outsiders approve of this behavior, the elves act as their own nation and the dragonborn can do little to shut this down without declaring war. Some cities act simply as a place with guards who uphold a law against hunting people for sport; others are active safe havens for half-elves which place protections and maintain sanctuaries, though with dedicated hunters on the prowl there are almost never more than one in these places at any given time.
Half-elves are light and thin like elves, though with the added height of humans. Their ears have rounded tips, still coming out a bit but not to a point like an elf's.
While they have a light intolerance for meat due to their elven heritage, half-elves are able to eat plants and meat just fine. They tend to purchase preserved food in bulk.
Half-elves' hair takes on similar shades to humans', but like elves' shifts slightly with time. Much less pronounced than their foresting parent, their hair will slightly change its brightness and hue but stay relatively the same.
While they may stay for a fling with a village girl, half-elves rarely form romantic relationships except with other travelers. Long-distance doesn't work so well when your letters are intercepted by people trying to track you down and kill you.
General manners in any settlement are to offer all the hospitality you can to a half-elf. Few sympathize with their oppressors, and many will raise a weapon in defense of a half-elf simply because of their species' helpful history. Ask few questions, expect few answers, and when hunters come through next week, say you saw nothing.
Half-elves usually take on human names, since elves have such little respect for them. They tend to change their names frequently to avoid detection.
The traveling nature of half-elves makes them quite popular for folklore even if actual sightings are rare. Half-elves make friends fast, and will often arrive somewhere and lend a hand with everything they can before they leave. They're versatile helpers, hooded travelers, and born adventurers.
The on-the-spot thinking of humans and the easy mastery of elves combine to make you able to pick up skilled labor quickly. Before making an ability check with a set of tools or a vehicle, you can spend one hour learning and studying the item and become proficient with it until you take a short or long rest or use this feature again.
Homo vilus. Average lifespan: 50 years. 6-7 feet height. 210-400 pounds. Can live longer naturally, but not honourably. Also, incredibly handsome.
Half-orcs are the result of the clashing of the breath weapon that made orcs and the breath weapon that made elves, partway through the War of Creation. The dragons who fought were brothers, similar enough to make a unified lifeform--such clashes had no effect with other dragons. They formed fairly independent warrior tribes, fighting for the glory of a death in battle, and while some have moved to the cities, many tribes remain in the wilderness today. They've had many battles with elves over forest turf.
Half-orcs stand a bit larger than humans, and their skin is a little thicker (though not as thick as an orc's). Their skin has a green tint, but is typically dark like a human's. Their hair is usually long, often styled into dreadlocks or several ponytails to keep it out of their face in a crucial moment. Their mouths have small tusks poking up from the bottom of the jaw, not large enough for any use but certainly present. Despite some rumors, are not the result of orcs and humans mating, but are self-sufficient. They typically scorn orcs like most others.
Half-orcs are carnivores, and when they aren't fighting, they're often hunting. Their food also has a ridiculous amount of salt on it; nobody can say why, it doesn't even taste good.
Half-orcs take surnames from great deeds they have done in battle. Those in the wilderness venture out and earn a surname, such as Axe-Breaker or Rank-Slayer, but those who have settled in cities are satisfied keeping the surnames of their parents.
Half-orcs have a particular fascination with scars. Their honor-focused culture makes each scar a symbol of success, and it is seen as incredibly dishonorable to scar yourself on purpose. As such, somewhat paradoxically, both few scars and many scars are seen as beautiful; few scars means an incredible warrior, and many scars means an experienced warrior.
Self-harm is seen as horrible in half-orc culture, as creating scars without earning them honorably is nothing but deception. Similarly though less inherently toxic, half-orcs will often use makeup to cover scars they got outside a battle, as these are seen as shameful.
Half-orcs were created with the desires of orcs and elves. The only way they want to die is on a battlefield fighting for glory and honor, but they also value art and grace highly. To an outsider, they are brutish warriors who care only for bloodshed, but in actuality, every one of their battles is an intense session of kinly bonding--the goal is never to die, just to go out with your mates and fight over nothing with the neighboring tribes. They are nothing but cordial to their neighbors, even if this does not translate well to city culture.
(Note: 'Cordial' in half-orc culture means violently threatening and describing harm upon your tribe's neighbors, as this promise of a good fight is something every half-orc looks forward to.)
Half-orc dress is incredibly minimal. They wear sturdy furs over their chests and loins for protection, but have little care for modesty--the more scars they can show off, the better. In cities, they've become more "civilized", though they still wear clothing made from furs to maintain a culture.
In orc society, a mate is earned by killing your beloved's parents to prove your might. Half-orcs do not share this tradition. They practice a more tame form of proving devotion, going out and fighting a battle in the name of their beloved, then bringing a trophy from the battle as a proposition of marriage. These trophies consist of jewelry or equipment from the enemy, or a weapon or arrow that hurt the half-orc.
Due to their insistence on an honorable death, half-orcs have a deep hatred for disease, infection, and poison, as it is a coward's way to kill someone. They have made strides in medical advancements on treating wounds and preventing sickness, and were the people who discovered germ theory. Whether it be a battle medic or a cure for the common cold, half-orcs are incredibly potent as apothecaries and healers. With some half-orcs moving into cities, the standard hospital has begun to be revolutionized into a sterile place to treat sick travelers, rather than a retreat for the poor.
Depending on city life versus tribe life, your half-orc might be ashamed of their heritage or proud of it. You might be vulgar and violent to your allies as a way to show you care about them, or be quiet and purely respectful as you know how such behavior is typically seen. You are meticulous with your hygiene, making sure you set out every morning clear of dirt and grime, though whether you offer the same to your allies depends on you. You might be quick to suggest a battle or even regularly spar with your teammates to build morale, or be adverse to conflict despite your deep-set desires to partake in it. You are born brash, loud, and violent, and while it can put the average adventurer off, it makes you a force to be reckoned with in battle.
Your need to keep clean pays off in the long run. You cannot contract infections or diseases from wounds on the Fates table, and have advantage on all saving throws against disease.
Ho sapiens. Average lifespan: 250 years. 2-3 feet height. 30-80 pounds. Metabolism incredibly high; food intake is heavy, but little weight is gained.
After the War of Creation, halflings and gnomes were enslaved by the dragonborn. The gnomes were sent under the mountains, while the halflings worked in the fields as laborers. After ten thousand years, a great human warrior named Rynth came from overseas to the plantations the halflings worked on, and unfamiliar with their culture, asked them why they worked. The halflings said this was all they knew and all they had ever known, and to leave it would be not only to leave their home but to insult their masters. Rynth confronted their masters and demanded they let the halflings go, and when denied, drew the tools of labor he had smuggled past the guards. He defeated the dragonborn in battle and demanded again, and with little choice, the dragonborn freed their slaves. The halflings and gnomes ventured out to the forests and hills to make their own lives, and have lived in harmony since. While the halflings' debt has been more than repaid, they have been nothing but hospitable even to their former masters ever since being freed. They have found a new way of life, and they are satisfied with it.
Halflings are similar in build to gnomes: short as a barstool and about as thin as one too. Their heads grow hair with similar dark colours to humans, they have little to no facial or body hair aside from this. Halflings at all stages of life could be mistaken for a child, having almost no physical changes over the course of their lives.
Living with gnomes, halflings typically act as hunters, though they have a fairly bustling agriculture scene due to their proficiency with the tools needed. Halflings and gnomes often act as a duo, with a halfling luring prey into a gnome's trap. Their small bodies only need small game to sustain themselves, though they have an incredible appetite, able to eat more than a human without gaining any weight.
Halflings live in the forests around the mountains, making their homes in burrows called hobbit holes alongside the gnomes. They typically have families of ten to fifteen. Halflings dress simply, often wearing tunics made from sacks. They almost always carry a dirk with them, both for protection and utility, and hunters hang a shortbow on their baldric and a quiver on their belt.
Halflings are hospitable to all and always have another seat at their table. Even those uncomfortable outside their homes will accept anyone sitting next to them. Your halfling sees their village as one big family, and out in the world, that same mindset applies. You often mediate disputes, knowing well that siblings always make up in the end, and take any insult with a hearty laugh. However, when your family is hurt, you're quick to anger; as the saying goes, no dragon's fury matches a halfling's scorn. A halfling is always a welcome addition to an adventuring party.
Halflings are nothing but satisfied with their home lives. To take one on an adventure would require something of undeniable importance, like the fate of the world. However, those who get lost hunting or otherwise leave their homes unintentionally often find a new joy in wilderness survival, especially alongside travel companions. For these halflings, they must always ask themselves what to do with their old families.
If you play a halfling, consider the following questions. What led you out of the hole? Do you embrace your new life or want to return home (remember to make an adventurer)? Do you make friends quick, or are you uncomfortable around those outside your expansive family? What travel activity is your favourite? You might have been separated from your kin on a vacation to see a rare event, or tasked to solve some grand problem in your home village and forced to leave to seek aid.
Despite your unending appetite, your body needs very little to keep going. The amount of food and drink you need daily is halved.
Homo sapiens. Average lifespan: 90 years. 5-6 feet height. 100-150 pounds. Skin colour darkens when exposed to sunlight or simply from birth.
The true origin of humans is often debated. Their generic stature has led historians to tie them to almost every other species. Taller halflings? Shorter, scaleless dragonborn? Hairless dwarves? Most humans care little for such trivialities as an unknown origin. What matters to a human is where that origin leads you, and the long history of human exploits has led to quite a bit of human pride. Forging carbon into iron to make steel, the arcane properties of brass, the brewing of tea, and the latent energy in faithstones were all human discoveries, and many other discoveries have been uniquely expanded on by humans. Indeed, to a human, a 'logical extreme' is the baseline on which all things function. It is generally believed that humans could take over any city if they were committed, but they seem to have taken control of the underbellies of the towns, almost always seen engaging in some kind of mischief.
Humans stand around five feet tall, with fairly thin bodies. Their anatomy is not specialized for any particular ability, but by following the training regimens of other species, humans can grow to match their strength, speed, endurance, and wit. Human hair grows slowly, often dark in colour and grown down to the shoulders and often tied back with bits of string or pins.
Humans are bivores, able to eat most meat and plants safely but not draconic meals like gold or quartz. They lose their physical endurance much earlier than most species, starting spry and tough but quickly becoming much more fragile around 30.
Humans can thrive anywhere, and can be found anywhere. Some liken them to mice, some in an endearing way, some in a vitriolic way, both in a specist way. Their names have deep roots in history and religion, and any human's name can typically be traced back to a major figure. Their surnames are typically a family job, such as Smith or Harper.
Human fashion prioritizes function over all else, their clothes often simple dark leathers for sturdy, stealthy wear. This is an absolute insult to the dwarves, who have a long-standing rivalry with humans.
Humans see everything as an opportunity, and are always looking for ways to work a situation in their favor. You keep it ambiguous whether or not you're bluffing, which makes the important bluffs even more potent. To you, being surrounded is a wonderful opportunity for one spell that annihilates everything around you. You can make the impossible possible, though that's far from completely functional, and when trapped between a rock and a hard place, you turn the hard place against the rock. You are clever, conniving, and always have a plan. To an outsider, it's impossible to know when you're telling the truth, and whether or not their wallet will be where they left it the next time they check. You're often underestimated due to your lack of innate power like other species have. However, your spur-of-the-moment plans tend to turn a bad situation into a breeze, and knowing someone who can rig up a canoe in an hour makes adventuring life easy.
Crime is something every human is expected to master. Evading guards and talking your way into restricted areas is a natural skill to most, and while useful to have, human children can struggle with a life of crime. Most grow out of it, but some attempt to move into higher positions in society, heckling be damned. A human leader has never been seen outside a gang of bandits, but every day it creeps a little closer to becoming real. Unlike the dragonborn, who aspire to one goal, humans want to experience everything there is to experience over the course of their sub-century lifespan, and often go looking for trouble to see what it brings them.
If you play a human, you might consider the following things. Were you born into a good family? Does your character think they were born into a good family? Do you want to live a lawful life, or have you accepted the place other humans have put you in? What was the first crime you committed? Do you enjoy causing trouble, or only do it to impress human superiors? You might adventure to get away from an oppressed life, or to bring your troublemaking to a whole new scale. You might be seeking riches or political power to move humans out of the scum of society, or to move all of society into that scum.
You know how to make things work exactly your way, as long as the definition of 'your way' isn't pushed. When you craft an item, you can halve the time it takes to craft that item. If you do, the item falls apart after one day of use. The item is obviously shoddy and of no value to any buyer. You can repair an item made in this way with a quarter of the normal crafting time, bringing it back to its jury-rigged state.
Infernus sapiens. Average lifespan: 100 years. 5-6 feet height. 150-180 pounds. Crimson skin with human hair colours, though blonde is exceptionally rare.
At the end of the War of Creation, the strongest dragon of them all, Xiendoissoalth, retreated to the center of the world (which, when it was discovered the world was a sphere two months later, made the gesture lose some meaning) and surrounded himself in a cocoon, declaring the war to be over and condemning further conflict between the dragons, instructing them on how to divide the life they had created. Five hundred years ago, in a cloud of mist, tieflings seemed to have come from inside the cocoon with only simple tunics to guard them. They had no memories of how they got there or what the cocoon was, yet they had clearly lived lives--many were well-versed with swords and crafts, and they were of varying ages with clear relations to one another. They spread across the island and were found by fishers, and taken to Nydissia through Angel Island. Since then, they've spread across the continent, sticking to the cities and having firmly-protected citizenship.
Tieflings have very similar forms to humans, excluding their red-tinted skin and the horns on their heads. Their ears are also pointed like an elf's.
They appear as some strange sort of dragonborn, without scales but still having bone horns and innate magics. Those who study sapience suggest tieflings may be dragonborn created by the Dragon King, as their inner arcana is much stronger than the typical dragonborn.
Tieflings take on the omnivorism of humans. Some have shown a draconic taste for certain rocks.
For unknown reason, tieflings have the ability to see in the dark. They suggest it was useful in the cocoon they came from, but it's unclear whether the inside of the cocoon is dark.
Some tieflings have shown extraordinary abilities. Their pointed ears grant them exceptional hearing, and some have eyes as good as eagles'.
With no memory of names, the tieflings drew inspiration from those around them and named themselves after those who took them in.
Tieflings see light blue as a regal colour, and the nobles among them usually dress in such garb. Their warriors wear hauberks with colourful tunics over them, and citizens prefer baggier clothing restrained around the wrists, ankles, and waist.
While the tieflings took most of their culture from the species that took them in, they have a few practices of their own.
They attribute a holy significance to the left hand, and train their children to scribe and fight with it. They recall worship of some pantheon--quickly lost through generations, as worshipping anything other than the dragons is sacrilege--but at the age of 17, each tiefling is expected to offer prayer at various 'sacred' sites around the country.
Tieflings have an innate hatred for monstrous beings. Many become mercenaries who hunt down goblin and orc camps, and act as protectors of their villages. They are deeply uncomfortable with the growing movement granting such creatures inherent rights, for reasons they ultimately cannot explain.
Tieflings struggle both with their past and their future. Some fruitlessly research the place they came from, hoping for answers as to their place in the world. Most are satisfied with a simple life, though all feel a greater call they cannot explain. Those who pursue this desire become either scholars or warriors, each with a curious different interpretation of the call: scholars believe the call is to locate their lost homeworld, rejecting the notion that it is simply the cocoon they were found around; warriors believe their destiny is to destroy something they have no name nor form of but will know when they see it.
If you play a tiefling, consider the following questions: How do you interpret this call? Do you search for the answer that has evaded your kind for five centuries, or do you ignore it, only feeling it when you gaze upon the stars? Is this a call for adventure, or a side goal you hope to accomplish? Do you fight with your left hand? Do you even care about your lost history? Perhaps you're a sage traveling the world to find the way to your home, or simply on your way to handle some business outside your city.
You were born for something more, and you can't be stopped from accomplishing it. Once per long rest when you roll an ability check or saving throw, you can treat the roll as a 20.
When you've finished, you can close the book on this chapter.
Art by G MDK.