Grippli (5e Race)

Grippli

Physical Description

A grippli warrior admiring a frog, source

The grippli are a distant relative to the grung, bearing similar ranine physiology. However, where the grung became squat, poisonous, and water dependent, the grippli became quick and slender. A grippli's semi-prehensile feet grant them a speed advantage in both running and climbing compared to other small races, while their sleek skin and arrow-like bodies allows them to glide through water. Grippli skin typically comes in beautiful patterns of bright blues, greens, reds, oranges, and yellows that dim with age, while their eyes stay the same brilliant shades.

A grippli's body only stops developing when the grippli itself dies. With age, a grippli may develop superior eyesight, fully prehensile feet, and even camouflage-like skin. In grippli communities, the eldest grippli may enter a rare life stage in which they begin excreting a powerful musk, becoming the group's tribe mother. Additionally, for unknown reasons, grippli have an unusually high percentage of psionics, ranging from 1-2%.

Despite the grippli's long life, nearly reaching elf lengths, they reproduce rarely, typically less than ten times in a lifetime. Even a tribe mother, who often keeps multiple mates, is unlikely to exceed a dozen children.

History

Due to the nature of grippli society, written historical records are incredibly rare and, if their serene nature is to be assumed eternal, likely uneventful.

Society

The vast majority of grippli live deep in swamps and rainforests within mud-brick and wooden huts either at ground level or within the treetops. While a single grippli village is unlikely to have more than 50 individuals, villages are unlikely to be far apart. Each village is lead by a tribe mother who oversees village activity, leads religious ceremonies, and creates the only grippli texts that are not considered taboo.

Grippli culture is deeply centered in nature, peace, and solitude. While they are not necessarily aggressive to outsiders, they make great effort to ward outsiders from their territory, and are willing to imprison intruders for a time before releasing them at the edge of their land. Grippli love for nature is typically centered in a love for beauty, leading many to forgo clothing almost entirely. This love at many times supersedes their other values, leading to outside trading and raiding for colorful garments, gemstones, and gadgets.

Grippli Names

Grippli names often comprise guttural croaking sounds and tend to include numerous letters and syllables so as to be more impressive-sounding to other grippli.

Male: Grugenos, Horglash, Kermshugg, Buhmb, Quaffodun, Touddun, Pubbe, Haari,

Female: Begritha, Gertrudd, Mershent, Swumpiff, Quagmire

Grippli Traits

Swampdwelling frogfolk, not to be confused with the grung or bullywug.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. Grippli develop slowly, only reaching adulthood in their early 20s, but can live upwards of 700 years.
Alignment. Grippli tend towards true neutrality, prioritizing survival over moral values. The influence of environment might drive certain grippli towards good, evil, law, or chaos.
Size. Grippli stature can range from just over 2 feet to a square 5 feet. Your size is Small.
Speed. You have a base walking speed of 30 feet, and you have a climbing and swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 20 minutes.
Standing Leap. You can leap horizontally up to 20 feet or vertically up to 10 feet from a standing position.
Adhesive Tongue. You can use your tongue to snare creatures. Your tongue is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, the target is grappled instead of taking the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. While grappled in this way, the target is also restrained. You may only have one creature grappled in this way at a time.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Grippli, and one other language of your choice.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
2′ 0''	+3d12	20 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

See Also

• Grippli Metamorph (5e Class)

0.00

(0 votes)

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Races

This page may resemble content endorsed by, sponsored by, and/or affiliated with the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, and/or include content directly affiliated with and/or owned by Wizards of The Coast. D&D Wiki neither claims nor implies any rights to Dungeons & Dragons copyrights, trademarks, or logos, nor any owned by Wizards of The Coast. This site is for non profit use only. Furthermore, the following content is a derivative work that falls under, and the use of which is protected by, the Fair Use designation of US Copyright and Trademark Law. We ask you to please add the {{needsadmin}} template if there is a violation to this disclaimer within this page.