Im'ten (5e Race)

Im'ten

Among the trees there is an ancient guardian society. They watch, they wait, they protect.

Physical Description

A deer im'ten, by Amap0la

The im'ten are a creepy people who resemble different animals in nature, but only just so far as mimicking their shape. One can distinguish them almost immediately up close, but by them it is often too late. All im'ten have prehensile hands, with long fingers like that of a monkey. Their musculature and torso are very similar to that of a human. The rest of their body is dependent on the creature which they mimic. They tend to reside in forests, and so take quadrupedal shapes alike to what dwell there, like bears and deer. They are more than capable of standing upright. No matter what form they have, what gives them away is their hands and a mask over their face, as they cannot mimic faces. Their coloration is also usually paler than the actual animal.

History

With the encroaching power of the Far Realm in the Feywild, the im'ten were created almost as an allergic reaction of these two repellent forces mixing. They are aberrations, and rightly so, for their presence in the woods is unsettling, and they are known to be chaotic and vile towards any who approach their habitat. It has been observed that they are perhaps guardians of forests they inhabit, though in the most horrific of ways. They have a history of having lured children away, murdered lost adventurers in their midst, and scaring the pants off people in general by making creepy noises at night. Some believed for a while that they were in fact some kind of wendigo. But what disproves this is that im'ten rarely eat their prey, and instead have a caprice mixed with deadly instinct rather than outright primal savagery. It has been said that those who look under an im'ten's mask will see nothing but the void which devours their consciousness. But even im'ten don't know and don't look. Perhaps it is their true face.

Beliefs and Society

The im'ten are believed to be one of a small group of creatures of similar fey and aberrant origin, like the ik'tar, with whom they commonly commune. They speak a similar language, which is described to be a mix of Deep Speech and Sylvan. While they can understand Common, they like to confuse others by speaking in another tongue. Such is the whimsy of a fey creature. Im'ten in general like to be mysterious, telling half-truths and half-lies. To them, there is little to life but to have fun and enjoy yourself to the most bacchanal of extents. To them, this means sometimes making a living hell for other beings by robbing them of sleep or making jokes at the expense of others. Im'ten fear little, not even death, and are commonly nihilistic.

Their society is composed of small tribes primarily based in forests away from civilizations like the elves. They prefer to have a small gathering on some woods by the side of the road, where they can have their fun with travelers at their leisure. Their tribes are very anarchic, with little hierarchy. In general, they treat each other almost with the same contempt as other races, but stay together nonetheless because they grudgingly accept that tribalism has its uses. In their little groups, they like to make-believe there is a leader and hold jousting tournaments with wits rather than weapons. The laughter in these meetings is often mistaken to be the voice of a hag.

Im'ten Names

Im'ten names are only three letters long. This is often a delight among themselves since most outsiders would not be able to remember so many monosyllabic names and assign them appropriately to the right members this masked race. Even more confusing is that the names lack gender specification.

Names: Lef, Sno, Ert, Fer

Im'ten Traits

Oddities formed of alien influence on fey
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. They have just under the normal longevity of fey, living to about 500 years.
Alignment. Im'ten are pretty much chaotic all the time, and their indifferent attitude makes many of them evil and self-invested.
Size. Strangely, all im'ten share roughly the same weight despite whatever form they mimic. 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.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage in saving throws against being charmed. Magic cannot put you to sleep.
Aberrant Fey. Your creature type is fey and aberration. Your home plane is the Feywilds.
Animal Mimic. You have the same walking speed when walking on all fours or on two legs. While on all fours, creatures over 30 feet away from you have disadvantage on checks to identify your racial identity.
Languages. You can speak, read and write in Common and Ikleck, the language which mixes Sylvan and Deep Speech.
Subrace. Choose from the deer, bear or bobcat subrace.

Deer

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Fleet-Footed. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.

Bear

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Bearish. You have large clawed paws that can slash flesh to ribbons and can be used to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier.

Bobcat

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Cat-Like Reflex. You are proficient in the Acrobatics skill.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
7′ 2''	+1d8	150 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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