Inkling, Variant (5e Race)

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Inkling

Inklings are a humanoid, squid-like race capable of firing large volumes of ink and using this ink to their advantage in combat.

Physical Description

An inkling's body in both forms is amorphous in nature, similar to that of an ooze. Depending on their situation, they can take on two forms: a humanoid form and a squid form. Their humanoid form shares a resemblance to a human with a few key differences. Their face has a black marking resembling a mask around their eyes. They also have pointed ears, pointed teeth similar in shape to a squid's beak, and tentacles emerging from their scalps to represent hair. Depending on the color of ink that an inkling decides to use, the color of their eyes and "hair" is able to change at will. Their squid form resembles a brightly-colored cephalopod that matches the color of the inkling's "hair". This form has two long clubbed tentacles, four shorter tentacles, and two large eyes that seem to be joined. Finally, inklings have no skeletal or muscular systems, excellent eyesight, and the ability to leap five feet in a single bound. [1]

History

A group of inklings preparing to begin a turf war. Source

In the distant future, after rising sea levels killed off almost all humanoid species, and possibly most land-dwelling life on the Material Plane, squids (and some other marine invertebrates) evolved to become the dominant species on the planet. During this "Mollusk Era", they developed culture, language, and especially warfare. At the end of this era, the inklings and a rival race known as the Octarians engaged in a great war referred to as the "Great Turf War." Initially, the inklings were defeated due to their inability to get up early enough, but they rebounded. A young Cap'n Cuttlefish and his comrades won, sending the Octarians away to live underground for many years. The Octarians are foreseen to return within the next century to enact their revenge on the inklings.[2]

Society

Their society is mainly driven by combat, but not in the traditional sense. Social status is determined through massive events called "Turf Wars", team-based displays of combat with unorthodox rules. inklings are bundled into groups of four to compete against other groups to cover the most amount of turf with their ink's color before time runs out. These events get extremely competitive, often resulting in multiple injuries. Everything that they do in life is to strive to become a better competitor in their turf wars, making them incredibly skilled in combat.

Inkling Names

Inklings carry no restrictions when it comes to names, usually taking different naming concepts from human society. However, the main trend within inkling society is using names with aquatic and nautical themes.

Male: Capn, Davey, Adrian

Female: Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina

Inkling Traits

Aquatic creatures capable of firing ink over large distances.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1 and your Dexterity score increase by 2.
Age. Inklings learn how to control their ability to change forms when they reach 14 years of age. The healthiest of inklings can live well past a century.
Alignment. Because of their passionate and competitive nature, they tend to be chaotic and vary widely when it comes to good and evil. However, most lean towards good.
Size. Inklings are slightly shorter than humans, averaging at a height of about 4-5 feet. Due to their amorphous body, they are almost weightless, weight about 20-50 pounds on average. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Oozekin. Your creature type is both Humanoid and Ooze.
Form Change. You have the ability to change between your humanoid and squid form. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to switch between your humanoid and squid forms. You gain additional features depending on your form. You can change into your squid form a number of times equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum 1), afterwards you cannot change into your squid form until you take a long rest.
Ink. As an inkling, you create and spread ink as you attack. Whenever you make an attack with a weapon, you spread ink of your color in an area around you depending on the type of attack you made. If you made a melee weapon attack, you spread ink in a 15-foot cone in the direction that you made the attack. If you make a ranged weapon attack, you spread ink in a straight line following the projectile's movement equal to one-fourth the distance that the projectile moved (rounded up to the nearest 5 feet). For example, if you made a ranged weapon attack against a creature that was 100 feet away from you, you spread ink in a 25-foot line in front of you. You can also choose to take the attack action without targeting a specific creature, and doing so will still spread ink. The ink is treated as a liquid and is five feet deep when applied to a surface. It evaporates one minute after it is applied to a surface and can easily be washed away with water. Any ink that is of a different color than your own is treated as difficult terrain for you. At the start of each of your turns, if you are standing on ink that doesn't share the color of your ink, you take 1d6 acid damage. If ink is applied to pre-existing ink of a different color, the existing ink is replaced with the new color. When you take a long rest, you can choose to change the color of your ink. The color of your "hair", eyes, and squid form change to match your new color.
Splatter. When you drop to 0 hit points but aren't killed outright, you spread ink in a 20-foot radius around you.
Natural Armor. Because of your anatomy, you've adapted to become independent of armor. As a result, your Armor Class is always equal to 10 + your Constitution modifier + your Dexterity modifier.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Aquan, and Inkling. Inkling is an incredibly complex dialect of Aquan that consists of sloshing and bubbling sounds (as if someone were speaking underwater).

Humanoid Form

Free-Flowing. While in your humanoid form, you can freely change the appearance of your "hair" and clothing at will. However, you cannot wear armor and gain no benefits from armor.
Ink Power. You are able to draw power from the ink that you make. While standing in ink of your color, attacks that you make with weapons that you are proficient in gain a +1 bonus to their attack and damage rolls.

Squid Form

Cephalopod Body. At your own will, your body can suddenly flow into a liquefied state, eventually solidifying into the shape of a squid. You are still treated as an inkling and retain all of your statistics, but you take on the appearance of a Small squid that matches the color of your ink. When you change into your squid form, all items and weapons in your possession change with you. You cannot use any items or weapons and gain no benefits from items while in this form. You also cannot take the attack action or cast spells, your size becomes Small, and your base walking speed becomes 10 feet.
Swimming. While in your squid form, you gain a swimming speed of 50 feet. If you have ink of your color on a wall, you can use an action to swim upstream on the ink. If you choose to swim up a wall, it still uses up swimming speed.
Healing Ink. At the end of your turn, if you have moved a distance equal to at least half your swimming speed, are currently in squid form, and are submerged in ink of your color, you can choose to use one of your Hit Dice to regain hit points (as if you were regaining hit points during a short rest).
Ink Camouflage. While you are in squid form and submerged in ink of your color, you can attempt to hide even while you are only lightly obscured.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
′ ''	+	lb.	× () lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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(0 votes)

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