Forloom (5e Race)

Forloom

“	To one who knows the exact method of their death, fear of death itself is a distant speck on the horizon, a problem for another day.	”
—Archduke Draken

Physical Description

By Rob McCallum

The forloom resemble dark, humanoids with translucent skin all over their bodies, save the exception of their face. Their face is pitch black, with eyes and a mouth that gape like crevasses. These features often blend in with the rest of the face due to its dark color. However, when they feel intrigue or a twinge of emotion, their eyes light up like white orbs. A forloom's skin coloration tends towards the darker end of the spectrum, with most possessing grey, black, or dark brown skin. This also applies to their hair color, with the majority of forlooms having black or dark brown hair. Their hair is commonly stringy and breakable, so most forloom end up bald. Eye color can change from white orbs to other hues of vibrant green, red or any other color. Though beyond exceedingly rare, albino forloom are known to exist, possessing white hair and skin with pink eyes. They all have spindly fingers like tree branches, and walk with an odd, strutting gait.

History

The forloom are believed to be amalgamations of disaster to come, omens of misfortune. Their name thus implies it, being a portmanteau of the words "forlorn" and "loom." Those killed by disaster sometimes wish they could have prevented it or warned others they loved beforehand. This manifests in the form of the forloom, which roams the land, signaling of worse times to come. They are sometimes known to attach to a person as a warning. A person may thus have several forloom crowding them, depending on the severity of the matter. As such, forlooms are considered nuisances who keep people from sleeping at night. They were once conflated with undead and hunted. People believed that they were, in fact, the causes of misfortune, rather than the messengers. Despite this persistent superstition, the forloom remain a present force in society, going town to town, person to person, as a sign of things to come. They are often very unresponsive in speech, which does not help their cause. Albino forloom tend to have a bit of better luck in their ventures, appearing less daunting due to their pale color. They are also able to telepathically communicate scantly.

Society

The forloom are usually viewed as bogeymans or demons of darkness, as well as disruptive undead who cause misfortune where they go. Forloom are therefore not usually welcome in most societies who view them as troublemakers more than omens. Some believe that killing a forloom would prevent disaster, which doesn't really work. Forloom are drawn to imminent disaster like moths and tethered like shadows to a light. They have innate abilities to sense when ill may occur, though they can never really articulate it until it has happened. By then, it is usually too late. The forloom are thus a sad existence, always wandering and wanting to help, but the misunderstandings prevent any action and tragedy usually arrives, unhampered. They do not usually congregate unless they are drawn to the same disaster, meaning they do not have a cohesive society of their own.

Personality

Forloom find great joy in those who believe in them and at least take them seriously despite their usual awkwardness. They are arcane in their ways of speech when verbose, and utterly silent or stuttering other times. Their appearance is often creepy to others but forloom are timid themselves, even if they aren't easily scared. They are born of regret and despair, which heavily impacts them, making a lot of them act like depressed people.

Forloom Names

Forloom name themselves after depressing themes of death and despair, as that is the staple among them. They are amalgamations of possibly the regrets of multiple people and so do not have real gender.

Names: Charon, Shin, Mortuos, Apelpis

Forloom Traits

Creatures of omen born of regret
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Forloom usually appear fully grown when formed, and live for as long as they can before they are killed. They do not age nor die of age.
Alignment. Forloom are neutral. There are a few who consider their work "good" since they do act as warnings.
Size. Forloom are nary taller than a man. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Disaster Sense. The feeling of what looms in the future rattles your bones. You can cast the augury spell once, without material components, instead receiving the results mentally. You must finish a long rest before using this trait again.
Undead Amalgam. You encompass the wills of those who died before, and you yourself are risen by those restless wills. Your creature type is undead. You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. You are vulnerable to radiant damage, but resistant to necrotic damage.
Recall Misfortune. It's depressing, but you do have a vast knowledge on the bad disasters that have befallen many in history. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the occurrence of a disaster or misfortune, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your Proficiency Bonus to the check, instead of your normal Proficiency Bonus.
Shadowy Existence. Your dark hued body makes it hard to see you in places of the like. You have advantage in Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide when in darkness.
Cassandra. Due to your demeanor and appearance, people do not like to believe you. You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks.
Languages. You can speak, read and write in Common and one language of your choice.

Albino Variant

Design Note: This forloom race variant replaces the Ability Score, Shadowy Existence and Cassandra traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma, Dexterity, and Wisdom scores each increase by 1.
Forewarn. You can send messages to those you wish to warn. You know the message cantrip and can cast it without material components.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 0''	+2d8	125 lb.	× (1d6) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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