Nightslicker (5e Race)

Nightslicker

Known also as oil-skin or night-mask, the nightslicker is a creature of intrigue due to, not only its bizarre appearance and mannerisms, but simply because it's strangely amusing. While they were regarded as ill-omens for a time, they have gained a lighter reputation as tricksters who take pranks to the occasional extreme. However, their intentions rarely harbor the malice as their appearance may suggest, and this had led to some people accepting them into society.

Physical Description

By Yanied

Nightslickers appear as tall shapes that are quite slender. They are humanoid, but much of their body is hidden by a slew of thick, oily material that can be described as either tube-like hair or a litany of tentacles. These are able to move and wriggle around, often like worms, and are tipped with sensory organs for olfactory and tactile sense. People often remark that this hair or tendril mass is often shiny and covered in a thick layer of something like slime or other viscous liquid. Under this thick material that sprouts off their heads, the nightslicker's body is mostly humanoid in shape and often hidden. They have bluish, dark skin and usually a bit of a pot-belly. They have four fingers and four toes and are usually naked under the cover of their "hair." The head of a nightslicker has a face that appears like a mask, similar to that of bone. However, on closer inspection, the mask is actually made of a nest of tendrils that often grow out and hang from their faces. Nightslickers usually have three eyes: two that peer out of their masks, and one on their forehead that resembles a magenta gem, which is said to provide them with emotions. As they age, this gem loses its luster and nightslickers become more and more detached from the material world and its inhabitants until they crumble into dust.

History

Given their bizarre appearance, many believed nightslickers to be aberrant aliens from the Far Plane. In truth, they are somewhat closer to fey. Many point out that they might be related to the oily boggles of Feywild. The primary connection is their oiliness and general demeanor, which has historically not reflected insidious desires like that of aberrations. Like other fey, nightslickers tend to be more temperamental and varied, even playful and curious at times. It is not entirely clear where or when nightslickers may have come from the Feywild. Because of the connection with boggles and the slight appearance like that of a weird hag, there are some who speculate they originate from something in between, though this is unclear.

Society

Nightslicker groups are known as "bogs" in a derogative sense. They don't have a name for their gatherings, but it has been likened to that of hag covens. They can communicate non-verbally with others within their bogs by connecting their body's tendrils. Within these groups, they tend to reside in dark, forested areas with temperate or moist climates. Because they would usually draw a lot of eyes and reviled expressions, nightslickers would never really reside in cities. They also do tend to prefer more natural settings to civilized ones. Their bogs tend to just stand around, almost as still as trees, not needing special shelters like houses or covering. In that way, they sometimes appear like willowy plants that stand around. These groups are without structure, and they stick together for a collective reason not known to outsiders. When a nightslicker leaves, the entire bog usually disperses. This pattern of gathering and dissolving bogs was erroneously thought to be based on seasons and migratory purposes. However, nightslickers move about much more freely in reality.

Nightslicker Names

Like fey, nightslickers speak Sylvan. However, their oral organs are heavily deviant from that of less ominous looking fey. Their voices have a wide range, swinging between willowy whispers like a windy breeze to that of a guttural, almost clogged and deep-throated tone of omen. This often also interferes with the coherence of their speaking to others, though most other fey or fey-related creatures do not have much trouble understanding them. Nightslickers are known to have a true name and a shortened one, which they usually use for evryday life and with strangers. Their true names are often kept secret until they die, after which it is used only in commemoration to those who they trusted in life. Their use of shortened names was so people did not always mishear them due to the length. Both name types are ungendered.

True Name: Surl'enth Ahnil, Uerth P'reti, Ish'kalmin, Dorg Ge'ergh

Shortened Name: Sur, Uen, Ish, Dorg

Nightslicker Traits

A dark, oily mass of tentacle hairs surrounds this strange creature like a natural robe
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and either your Wisdom or Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Like most fey, nightslickers have a longer lifespan than humans. Most of them live over 200 years. The end of their lives usually is signified as their gem is dulled. Nightslickers usually live up to about 500 years.
Alignment. While not evil, nightslickers do have a bit of a penchant to creep the heck out of others and are also pranksters to a degree. They like to scare people in the woods or gunk up tools with their oil tentacle residue. Usually, this means they can get a bit chaotic.
Size. The tentacles of the nightslicker, along with their viscous byproduct, can weight a nightslicker down a lot. They are also generally taller than humans, about the height of a sapling or so at their tallest. 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.
Oil Slicked. Your entire body is covered in oily substances that make you hard to grab. Checks to grapple you roll with disadvantage and you have advantage in checks to escape grapples and move through tight spaces. Additionally, you can spend at least 1 hour to harvest one flask's worth of oil from your own body. This oil is rancid-smelling, inedible, black, and slightly sticky in comparison to normal oils, making it pretty much unable to be sold in normal stores.
Fey Type. Your creature type is fey instead of humanoid. As such, you are immune to spells like crown of madness or dominate person because they specifically target humanoids.
Tentacles. Your tentacles are too thin to carry anything, but they do serve well in providing you with heightened senses since they cover your entire body. You are proficient in the Perception skill.
Bog Empathy. You can communicate telepathically with other nightslickers that you can touch. You both can speak and reply to each other in this form of intraracial telepathy.
Oil Willows. While you stand still, you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) and Charisma (Deception) checks to appear like a plant.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Sylvan, you are unable to speak or understand common when it's spoken but you can read it.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
6′ 0''	+1d12	280 lb.	× (1d10) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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