Papari (5e Race)

Papari

“	Do you know of the katashiro? Imagine that a little bit, but they don't protect you. They want to be you. Scared yet?	”
—Sanyuudo Masayama, Torikien Dojo master

Physical Description

By Yanied

The papari are seeming humanoids that hide a magically constructed existence behind an almost immaculate facade of being. They are known to appear as all sorts of sapient humanoids, from elves, orcs, humans, halflings, gnomes, and so forth. However, in truth, papari are a nebulous creature that steals the forms of others. Their true nature is that of a humanoid shape made of various sheets of paper materials, extending beyond plant-based fibers and even encompassing animal skin pages. These humanoids lack faces or distinct features of their own, usually. They have pointed hands and feet, with no toes or fingers. However, they are still incredibly agile and light. One could say they have the weight of just paper. Papari are rarely ever seen in this form, which is considered "naked" and unseemly. They consistently take the forms of the dying, usually, and "become" them to enter normal society. If a form is not available, papari will usually wear heavily obscuring clothing to protect their true identities until they find one.

History

The papari were originally from eastern traditions, supposedly as a high-level form of magic that involved the use of paper to make effigies, curses, and even summonings. The particular technique behind papari was one that required sacrifice. A dying creature has to be offered to a paper effigy that would supposedly become that person. This was a technique used to cover up murders and replace people, often. Different versions of it were used for different races, until a single formula for humanoids was created. No one is exactly sure, but the supposed cost of making papari, along with the legal ramifications, drove the practice to extinction. However, practitioners remained, if only in secret, and they made papari who could act and seek their own sacrifices, scattering them across the land. These newer papari are essential shells searching for something to substantiate them, and this is usually what unnerves people about them.

Personality

Despite their void of a being, papari are more alien than they are malicious, usually. They do not have a society of their own, though they are drawn to the societies of humanoids, usually looking for appearances and identities they can assume. Because papari can only take on the life of those who are on death's door, they can be easily found out with some digging. While the dying part is a necessity, papari are not necessarily predisposed to kill anyone for the sake of their identity. Usually, papari only resort to such violent takeovers when their own existence is under threat and they need to disappear. However, virulent superstitions about the papari and their "body snatching" are not uncommon in arcane circles, and so they have a wicked reputation. This ironically forces papari to act more violently because they are usually threatened and hunted. While in a peaceful state, papari are known to be curious beings. They don't talk much, preferring to write when they can.

Movement Patterns

Being drawn to finding bodies to take, papari are therefore drawn to places of death. This has unfortunately added to the view of them as malicious creatures. Papari will commonly be drawn to battlefields, where they may take fallen soldiers. They also linger by places like hospices and dwellings where elderly or ill are left to die. Once a papari has an identity, they have a limited window to enjoy their new appearance before they must seek another face to become. As such, they do not linger long in the same place and are seen as restless. Exceptions exist in places where faces to change may be ample, or just places where the papari can feel safe.

Papari Names

For the most part, papari like to take names of those whose forms they assume. However, not all people die with identification, and that will usually mean the papari will use another name, perhaps from a form it took prior. They will therefore often keep a list of names they have used that they can cycle through if need be. Papari are known to be uncreative with names on their own, so it is more obvious if they made up a name themselves. It is believed that it is due to papari being blank canvasses. These names they make also have no gender differentiation.

Names: Stu, Bob, Ball, Bug, Gem, Kat, Pen

Papari Traits

Paper effigies that seek identities to become
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1 and one other score of your choice increases by 2.
Age. Papari generally last for about 70 years before their bodies wear out of magic and their paper wears down into nothing.
Alignment. Papari are neutral, usually. They try to emulate those they become, taking on their personalities as best they can, if they glean it. This can be difficult since papari do not take on a person's memories upon becoming them. If they cannot get this information from the source itself, the papari will usually try to learn what they can from the person's life to better become them after taking their identity. Otherwise, they will go far away and take on a new personality with this identity and hope no one recognizes this discrepancy.
Size. Even in their naked form, papari are generally around five feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Spectral Blindsight. You can perceive your surroundings without relying on sight within a specific radius. You have a blindsight range of 60 feet, but are blind beyond this radius. The function of papari that allows them to find dying identities is tied in with this innate, eye-less sense. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to locate creatures that are dying or making death saving throws.
Construct Nature. You are a creature made of paper. Your creature type is construct instead of humanoid. 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 or breathe, and any food you do attempt to eat falls through the space where your head would be and into the bottom of your armor. 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. Being made of flammable material, you have disadvantage on saving throws against fire damage.
Identity Taker. As a minute-long ritual, you can consume a dying humanoid to change your appearance and your voice to become that of the dying creature. You take on their coloration, hair length, and sex, as well as the height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. None of your game statistics change. You take on the appearance of the clothing and equipment that the creature was wearing or carrying while dying by this trait, but these are nonfunctional and do not affect what you already are wearing or carrying. You stay in the new form until you use an action to revert to your true form, until you conduct this ritual to take another form of another creature, or until you die.
Forgery Master. You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, Investigation, and Persuasion.
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 Common and one other language of your choice.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 0''	+1d8	5 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

0.00

(0 votes)

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Races