Nephil (5e Race)

Nephil

“	The nephil... born of the earth maybe. People once worshipped the land as they did the sky... that's why they called them nephil... like nephilim.	”
—Some elder

Physical Description

Female and male Nephil, by hendekagrammaton

Nephil tend to be slightly taller than humans, ranging from about 5'8" up to 7 feet. They also tend to be on the thinner side but are still very well built, typically weighing 150 to 250 pounds. They are horned beings with rough, stony skin and spiny tails. Their eyes are very dark and lack pupils. The stony skin takes on a variety of patterns, giving them spikes and plated scales on their body, like natural armor. They have pointed ears, and males have larger earlobes than females. Their legs are digitigrade and their feet are clawed like a reptile, as are their hands.

History

The nephil were from the days when humans only occupied themselves with earthly and worldly things. They did not look up to the skies, and their eyes did not trail the smoke of fire to the heavens. Instead, they depended wholly on the bounty of the earth, whom they regarded as the great giver. From caves deep within the earthen bowels came creatures that resembled men, but had horns and skin tough and jagged as rock and stone. They were the intelligent envoys of the earth to the humanoids, called the nephil. These beings helped men learn which plants were good to eat, and how to best subsist from the world around them purely.

With the discovery of the skies, fire, and the heavens, humanity turned from earth. They raped it of its resources and murdered its inhabitants. The nephil observed this and wept at the exploitation. Humans no longer needed the earth to give them anything when they could just take it. When the beings of the sky saw the nephil, they declared them ugly, for they did not comprehend their existence. People believed their fearmongering and came to believe they must originate from the infernal depths below. Now outcasts, the nephil fled for the safety of the underground.

Society

Nephil live far from civilization, within complexes of caves so confusing even a master spelunker would never navigate them. They are very distrustful of humanoids, particularly humans, who they view as ingrates against the earth. Air-based beings like angels also earn their scorn. Elves are an exception to the distrust of humanoids, and the nephil have had good relations with beast races as well. Their tunnel systems are usually enchanted to protect from dwarves and gnomes, whom they have no care for. In their little societal enclosures, nephil live like one big family. They are very respectful of the earth which they live off of and where they draw life from. Strong nephil develop powers to control and construct earth golems, which they sometimes use to enact attacks on human settlements.

Nephil Names

Nephil take names of the earth and its elements.

Male: Terron, Lithor, Geo, Shale

Female: Terra, Diamond, Mantle, Cora

Nephil Traits

The children of earth
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength or Constitution score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. Nephil can live about three centuries before they decide to return to the earth as dirt.
Alignment. Nephil like to keep to themselves and their own law of upholding the integrity of the earth.
Size. 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.
Earth Made. The earth made you resemble a humanoid, but you are in fact a construct. As such, spells like cure wounds don't affect you, and you are immune to spells like crown of madness or dominate person because they specifically target humanoids. You are immune to poison damage, being poisoned, and diseases. You do not need to eat, drink or breathe, though you may ingest them if you wish. Rather than sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 6 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
Earth Pass. As an action, you can move through 10 feet of nonmagical unworked sand, earth, mud, stone or similar material. While doing so, you don't disturb the material you move through and gain 10 feet of tremorsense until the end of your turn. If you end your turn within an object or material you are moved to the space you entered it from.
Earthen Sense. Whenever you make a Wisdom (Nature) check related to finding gems or ores, you are considered proficient in the Nature skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Dense And Heavy. You are constructed very densely. You cannot swim or float.
Mendable. When the mending spell is cast on you, it has the following alterations: It has a casting time of 1 action. If you have 0 hit points you become stable. As part of the casting of mending the caster may expend any level of spell slot to cause you to regain a number of hit points equal to 1d8, plus their spellcasting ability modifier. For each level of the spell slot expended you regain an additional 1d8 hit points.
Languages. You can speak, read and write in Common and Terran.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 7''	+2d10	150 lb.	× (1d20) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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