Minea (5e Race)
Minea[edit]
| “ | People thought he was crazy once he told them goddess is speaking to him, until she materialised and they were able to see her too. Beautiful as sunset and sunrise combined, knowing their deepest desires and fears alike. She had some strange quirks, like how she demanded for every mirror to be removed, but they didn't mind that, just to be able to hear her beautiful voice as well as voice of their long dead loved ones. All was beautiful, until she vanished with a young bard that enchanted her with her song to travel the world along side her. She promised to be back, but they soon learned that a few thousand years can be nothing much to a god-like being. | ” |
Physical Description[edit]
Mineas come in every shape and form, but most of them settle on the form similar to the one of their companion (human, dwarf, Aarakocra etc.) or what their companion might hold dear (cat, mother's ghost, lover etc.).
It is not important how exactly they look, but they will try to chose a look that will be believable or dear enough to their companion not to doubt them, because if their companion starts to loose belief in their existence, they need to find someone new as their host and they can do it as long as someone believes in them or they die. They live inside of the mind of at least one person, but can occupy the mind of as many creatures as there are in 240 ft radius of the main host.
Their appearance will change based on the mind they happen to spread into, so they might want to present themselves more fierce to their enemies, nicer to their friends and more desirable to their lovers. They project themselves out of hosts' mind into the world, but this also means that they can not see themselves in reflections, like in water or mirror. That does not mean there is no reflection as world is trying to adjust to their existence, it means that their reflection can be nothing more than a shade, if they see themselves at all. Some Mineas can get around that by casting an illusion spell to create their reflection, but tend not to risk it.
History[edit]
Mineas were first created by Sehanine Moonbow as her informants and messengers, but with every mind they occupied, they became a little bit different and a little bit more free, which made them to be a silent presence in almost any culture on planes that is not avert to their fey ancestry.
It is said that Sehanine doesn't mind their wandering nature but instead encourages it and if they were ever stopped being believed in, she would be the last to believe in them and on their death call them back to ask them about their travels before letting them sleep, dreaming of a new life for themselves, which is one of the ways how new kinds of Mineas can be born, based on the collected life experiences of the Minea that returned home.
Another way to create new Minea is if someone would imagine making love to the Minea. In this case Minea can choose if she would want to play along and create new little hibrid Minea or would she rather just stay as she is. If Minea pretends to be a man, then he can again choose of he would want to make woman's body pretend to have a baby, while injecting her biology with his belief until hibrid child is born. Mineas can also just choose who they want to be or look like, especially if they live inside of a larger group of people. They can age with time, then say that grandparent moved away and her grandchild moved in or something similar but believable. It is not important as long as people have an easy time believing in them. If they remain stationary, they will usually jump hosts so they would be able to continue living in the same place.
Because they don't like reflections, they will try to stay away from places with a lot of glass, water or mirrors, but even if they tend not to live near water, they can live just fine inside of it. They also do not like rain or snow, because they have a hard time maintaining their illusion, at least if they do not manage to somehow circumvent that.
They do not have their own culture, but they adapt culture of any person they host to their own special needs or might even want to inspire their surrounding to change. They can be, but are usually passive only when they need to be to survive, especially when they are tied to only one person for a long time. They also tend to not live in large groups as only one of them can occupy a mind at a time, which is one more factor that creating a large Minea culture that would be anything more than a group of friends or a secret society is not realistic as they are forced to compete for local mind-space.
Attitudes and Beliefs[edit]
They were created from Sehanine Moonbow, so they share her beliefs, but they might adapt themselves to better fit their current needs. That said, when they are made, they are chaotic good, idealise elves and elven culture (except draws). They are also openly hostile towards undead, especially unintelligent ones as they have a hard time occupying their minds. For the same reason they might be hostile towards constructs and other artificial beings or in general towards living things that do not dream.
They do not mind animals thou and can occupy them, even if they prefer creatures that have more spacious minds. They especially enjoy people that are often around stories or knowledge, so they can be often found with a bard, wizard or librarian as a host.
When left to their own devices they quite often claim to be druids or some other kind of a spellcaster so they might claim that their transformations are nothing more than very convincing illusions or body-transformations.
Minean Names[edit]
They will adopt names of the culture of their main host, which they know from reading their minds or asking them about it, whichever is easier. They will often choose whichever name is most believable or will will cause most positive emotional reaction in their host.
Minean Traits[edit]
Mineas excel in charisma and illusions, but due to existing only as mind projections they tend to be have a weak presence in the world.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Age. Mineas do not have a lifespan, but sometimes they can get forgotten even if present and start mentally aging. They usually die from host's belief that they should die or should not exist.
Alignment. Mineas tend to be chaotic good, but can in time get any other alignment, even if evil ones tend to be extremely rare and are the only Minea that at death won't be able to resurrect when called back to their goddess.
Size. Minea vary widely in height and build, from tiny to large, but they tend to be Medium or Small. They dislike being larger as larger bodies tend to be stronger and effect more space, which makes them harder to control. They also tend to dislike being small as they are more likely to go unnoticed or die.
Speed. Your base walking speed is that of a race or creature they represent.
Mind's Eye. Minea see anything their main host can see, as well as any other host inside of 120 ft of their main host, as long as the host has a mind they are able to occupy. That said, they will often faint ignorance in order not to cause suspicion.
Change Host. Minea is able to change main host with advantage Charisma modifier roll against new host's Intelligence or Wisdom, whichever is higher. This can be done as an action, but can be also done as a reaction if Minea's main host would die or drop unconscious, but not if host only falls asleep. If former host would regain consciousness or start sleeping / dreaming again, his mind can again be occupied. If Minea looses main host, her stats get halved (rounded down) until new host is found.
Harmful Reflection. If Minea were to be come near a decent reflective surface, Minea would sustain 1d20 - Charisma + (Intelligence or Wisdom modifier) damage on every turn of anyone that would notice something is wrong with the reflection (there is always at least a shade, but nothing more). Minea can always prevent that with good enough illusion spell.
Empty space. If people around you would have a reasonable doubt that you do not exist, you sustain 1d20 - Charisma + (Intelligence or Wisdom modifier) damage when it happens. They can accept your existence so you would stop taking damage from them guessing you are not who you appear to be, but you would still sustain damage if something about your actions would inform them you are not what you look like. If you choose to simply disregard logic and turn into a dragon or a bird in front of everyone else without explanation, you sustain 1d20 damage per turn until you change into a main host that doesn't doubt you or drop the main host.
Phantom Pain. You are in theory immune to any and all damage that is directed against your projected body, but theory will only take you that far. You take damage as everyone around you believes you should take damage. That said, there is one exception. If you are targeted by a spell that demands saving throw, you can throw with advantage to resist it. On the other hand, any mind or illusion related damage that would effect your main host also effects you, except falling unconscious or dying, because that would trigger Change Host ability. Just as you do not take actual damage you do not need to eat or drink, but you might want to pretend as if you need to. That said, you can not feel your hunger or thirst or anything else, but you can use hunger and thirst of your main host as well as his other internal believes about you so that you can try to prevent other from doubting you.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Change form. As long as you are hiding from everyone or you can somehow explain it, you can change into any creature that would be reasonable or accepted to be seen (only for NPCs).
Reading Minds. You can read surface minds of anyone you host and have an advantage on reading specific content of anything your host might know or be convinced of.
Doppelganger. You take Strength, Dexterity and Constitution stats of any creature you represent or change them if you can make it believable, but keep your Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. If you decide to play looking as another race, use their base stats and skills as you are pretending to be them, but discard their ability points bonuses as well as anything what would prevent you to apply above mentioned traits and skills (language, age, sight). Also realise that you can only bluff to be a dwarf if you never before had a dwarf as your main host.
Real You. You can imagine yourself back to full health, but that is only for your projection, not the real you. You can not heal that way psychic or in some other way mind-targeting damage or damage that came from people doubting you. That damage can be only healed with your normal Hit Die or something that would make you regain certainty of people around you and heal you trough their belief in you (let you use your Hit Die).
Languages. You can speak any language your hosts was able to use, but you can pretend not to understand them. That also works for animals that can communicate with each other, but only if you are pretending to be that same kind of animal so they would be able to understand you.
Subrace. Pick Dreaming Children, Hopeful Dreamers or Minean Hibrids.
Dreaming Children[edit]
They are the first generation that never managed to die yet, which makes them less learned, but way more adaptable.
Adaptable. Raise your proficiency modifier by +1.
Predict Their Dreams. Raise your iniciative by +1.
Fey by Nature. You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill.
Weak Presence. Your Strength checks that would demand you to do something to the world around you have disadvantage.
Hopeful Dreamers[edit]
Lifetime of experiences made these Minea better prepared but less open towards new experiences.
Ability Score Increase. You get one ability point of any kind, depending on your previous life.
Experienced. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
Know Your Weakness. You know the Minor Illusion cantrip and can cast it without material or somatic components.
Precious Memories. Depending on your previous life, you have one extra tool you are proficient with.
Minean Hibrids[edit]
They look the same and are usually also convinced they are who they are born, which sustains their illusion of life. It is not unusual if they die in early age and most of those that survive tend to not be too wise or intelligent to by accident kill themselves.
Ability Score Increase. Add one ability point your other parent's race would get.
Cracks in Logic. You do not need to have a host and you can see your reflections, but there are signs that half of you is just an illusion that keeps the other half alive and ticking, so if you were ever to doubt yourself, sustain same damage Minea would when being doubted, but do it by yourself, to yourself.
I Know You. You know Friends, Mind Sliver or True Strike cantrip and can cast it without material or somatic components.
Illusions Are Real. If you use illusion on someone, you have an advantage. On the other hand, you have disadvantage if you are trying to tell if something is an illusion.
New Ancestry. You get language, age, size and other race traits that can be with reason applied from your other parent.
Unstable Body. If you were to with class or race option change your size, age, race etc., you can do so more easily, like maybe faster, without requiring some spell components, have more say in details of the change, get advantage if you need to roll a die, chose one that feels most reasonable in specific case and stick with it.
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