Pictsie (5e Race)

Pictsie

“	Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! Nae King! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna be fooled again!	”
—A pictsie battle cry

“	Nac Mac Feegle - most feared of all the fairy races. Even trolls run away from the Wee Free Men	”
—Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men

Referring to themselves as 'Nac Mac Feegle', Pictsies (as other races call them) are a group of blue-skinned scottish-accented Fey with proud spirits, fierce tendencies and an unusual superstitious fear of lawyers. Divided into a clan structure similar to bees, Pictsies vaguely follow a rough pillaging lifestyle involving heavy drinking and looting. Finally, comparing them to their less-blue cousins, the Faries, is a great way to anger a Feegle; and an even better way to get into a brawl.

Physical Description

Pictsie Mugshot, by Scrmnviking

About 6-inches tall, Pictsies are abnormally strong for their size, one being able to lift a fully grown adult. They're practically born to fight, developing a rough face comparable to experienced boxers. - "every one of them could win a Worst Broken Nose contest." Despite being fey, they have no wings, but are particularly speedy.

They have hair like an "orange gone nova" which is unkempt and into which they weave feathers, beads, bits of cloth, and anything else that takes their fancy. Their beards are just as bad. Their skin appears to be blue, but upon closer inspection one finds it covered with tattoos and woad.

For clothes, they usually wear a kilt which is made from any old material as clan affiliation is through their tattoos. Sometimes they'll include a skinny vest in the ensemble and accessorize with necklaces of mole teeth. They use rabbit or rat skulls like helmets, but which give no additional protection.

Despite being fey, they have no wings, cannot fly, and do not have magic resistance. Calling a Pictsie a fairy to their face is the surest way to end up in traction.

For scale, a 28mm/1:60 scale mini would be 3mm high and have a base of 13mm. Assemble-yourself furniture screw-cover plugs (also available at hardware stores) work well to represent them.

Personality

Unlike the Fey encountered in children's stories, the Pictsies are Not Helpful. They never do chores. They don't drink milk. They fight. They drink (Special Sheep Linement aka booze). And they steal. Sheep and cows are a favorite. One or two Pictsies get beneath each hoof, lift it up, and go scurrying off at speed.

Despite their love of fighting and stealing, Pictsies take their vows and duties very seriously. They keep their promises, eventually, but can become distracted on the way to their objective. Moreover, they do not condone stealing from those who are poor. In any case, they don't steal children.

They are illiterate, believing that all writing is magic and that writing words down makes them more powerful. They don't often say their names, fearing having them written down "upon comp-licated documents. Summonses. Wanted posters. Bills and affidavits. Writs of dirstrainment[sic]" because "A body can be put in the pris'n if they have written evidence".

All Pictsies carry a Pictsie sword made of thunderbolt iron which glows blue in the presence of lawyers. However, there is a clan that has found "lawyering" a good way of stealing, so they are not incapable of advancing with the times.

While they have a superstitious fear of having their names written, they fear little else.

Most Pictsies are fighters or barbarians, but occasionally they produce a bard which is known as a Gonnagle. In addition to reciting poetry bad enough to hurt, they play a bagpipe-like instrument called the Mousepipes. In addition to playing standard songs such as "The Bonnie Flowers", "The Devil Among the Lawyers", and "The King Under Water", they can make a special attack known as "The Notes of Pain". To play them, the Gonnagle switches out the standard pipes to shorter, slivery ones. While the notes are inaudible to humans, although it can make their teeth buzz, canids have a particular problem with the sound. Any canines (including monstrosities or were-creatures) hearing the Notes act as if under a fear spell, and run away.

At least one Pictsie has tamed a flying mount - Hamish the Aviator. He tamed a buzzard by knocking it unconscious, blowing a special oil up its beak, and when it woke up, it thought Hamish was its mummy. Hamish dismounted in the past in flight by diving with a spiraling leaf. He has now taken to using a makeshift parachute made from a witches underpants. He calls the buzzard with a pipe inaudible to humans.

Pictsies have knowledge of water faring, make coracles (woven baskets about the size of half a coconut and sealed with pitch), and even fish (which consists of tying a string around one Pictsie and throwing him in the water to wrestle the beast).

History

The Pictsies were once servants of the Queen of the Fairies, acting as her primary raiding party and stealing things away to the Feywild. According to them, they rebelled because she was a "scheming, greedy, ill-fared carlin" and went independent, coming to the material plane to seek their fortune. Some other, more sober, sources say they were kicked out of the Feywild for being drunk at 2 in the afternoon. The truth may be closer to their refusal to steal children for the Queen.

Society

Only the males are encountered outside of their burrows. They have an interesting view on the afterlife vis-a-vis, this is it. They believe that they are CURRENTLY in "heaven". After all, what else could it be what with all the things to fight and liquor to drink. If they die here, they believe that they are re-incarnated in the real world and have to earn their place in "heaven" again. A common battle cry is "See you again in The Last World".

Every clan of Pictsies is led by a female kelda. Keldas are larger than their male counterparts, and rotund like "round balls of slightly squashy dough, and was the color of chesnuts". They are also vastly smarter, doing all of the thinking for the clan. They control all aspects of Pictsie society, including honorary memberships within the clan. A kelda can be thought of as a queen, both in royalty and in the sense of bees being the mother of the drones.

The kelda is the mother of all of her clan, save her original bodyguard retinue and any sons of the former kelda. Nearly all of her offspring are male. If she does produce a daughter, she is raised to marrying age and then sent with a retinue of her brothers to marry a member of a neighboring clan in need of a kelda. Occasionally, a few wandering Pictsies will gather to form a new clan. A kelda's daughter never becomes kelda of her own clan.

When a daughter arrives at a new clan, the new kelda marries the warrior of her choice and settles down to have lots and lots of Pictsies. The bride chooses the warrior and the day of the marriage. This warrior is now known as The Big Man, and is the most favored man in the burrow.

When a kelda dies, her original bodyguard retinue often rejoin to their original clan. It is uncommon for any but a Pictsie to become a kelda, but it has happened, because It is a "bad thing for a clan to be left without a kelda, even for an hour". Pictsies hold a wake for their dead, and dance the Five Hundred and Twelvesome Reel to the tune of "The Devil Among The Lawyers"

Pictsie Names

They use very few names, but many descriptors to distinguish between themselves. This leads to some cumbersome names, but the Picsties consider it an honor to have such titles such as No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock. When a Pictsie whose name is referenced passes, then the other references change to fit. The aforementioned No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock upon Wee Jock's death would become Wee Jock.

Male: Big Angus, Nearly Big Angus, Not-as-big-as-Big-Angus Angus, Wee Angus, Rob Anybody, Big Archie, One-eyed Archie, Wee Mad Archie, Wee Bobby, Not-totally-wee Geordie, Slightly Sane Georgie, Hamish, Wee Iain, Medium-Sized Jock, No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock, Wee Jock, Daft Wullie, Big Yan

Female: Aggie, Fion, Jeannie

Clan: Nac Mac Feegle, Long Lake, Three Peaks, Windy River

Pictsie Traits

Design Note: Please reference Tiny Player Characters (5e Variant Rule). It is also recommended that you use Undersized (5e Variant Rule).

Known to themselves as The Wee Free Men, are a clan of hard-drinking, sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, fey who are as fierce and proud as they are afraid of lawyers
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Pictsies develop rapidly after birth, being fully grown within a year. They can live about as long as humans before dying of old age, but tend to die from other causes before then.
Alignment. Rules are not for pictises. They are chaotic and tend towards good or neutral. They are suspicious of anything they consider lawful.
Size. Pictsies average 6" in height and weigh about 1 lb. Your size is Tiny.
Speed. Pictsies are preternaturally fast. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
Camouflage. Pictsies can drop out of notice into the background. As long as you remain motionless, you have advantage on Stealth checks to hide.
Stun Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against being stunned.
Headbutt. If you have a creature grappled, you can use your action to make a special attack with your unarmed strike by striking the creature you are grappling with your hard head. When you make this special attack, the damage die for your unarmed strike increases to a d4, and on a hit, the target must make a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the start of your next turn. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus.
Unprecedented Strength. You count as two sizes larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan. Pictsies speak in a heavily accented dialect, and could be considered to always be speaking Pictsie. Their dialect is remarkably similar to the real-world Glasgow patter.

 

Racial Variant: Brawler Pictsie

Pictsies practically brawl from birth. If you are using the optional rules for feats, you may use this variant by applying the following changes to the base pictsie race. These changes replace the Ability Score Increase of the standard pictsie race.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength and Constitution scores each increase by 1.
Tavern Brawler. You gain the benefits of the Tavern Brawler feat. However, you do not gain any increase to an ability score from this feat.

Racial Feat: Crawstep

Prerequisites: Pictsie, 8th level

A Pictsie can find a way in anywhere, even a dream. A single Pictsie may use the crawstep to travel to an adjacent plane. This effect works like the spell plane shift with the following exceptions:

• it only affects the Pictsie
• the Pictsie can only carry up to 10 lbs. of matter
• that matter may be anyone in the Pictsies' clan as long as they are a born member or honorary, as declared by a kelda
• it must be to a neighboring plane (from the Material plane, that means Shadowfell, Feywild, Ethereal, or Astral Planes)
• they must have unfettered feet movement ("It's all in the twist of the ankle, ye ken")

They never use the crawstep to take a shortcut through the Material Plane. For that, they assure others, they have "feets". After using your crawstep, you can't use it again until you complete a long rest.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
0′ 5''	+2d8 (in 1/8")	12oz (0.75 lb) lb.	× (0.5) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Suggested Characteristics

When creating a Pictsie character, you can use the following table of traits, ideals, bonds and flaws to help flesh out your character. Use these tables in addition to or in place of your background's characteristics.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I'll wallop ye and ten like ye!
2	The surest way tae get me to do somesuch is tae tell me I canna.
3	First thing I do is tae ken the places of the valuables, even if the scunner's hid 'em.
4	Eat like a piggies? You say tha' like i's bad.
5	I dinna mean for it to break. Its just all cushy-like.
6	I stared down a grimhound wi' nary a blink!
7	Wut dija call me?! Put 'em up!
8	A good insult is a work o' art. I like artists.

d6	Ideal
1	I never braked my word yet. Excpt to polis'men and other o'that kidney, ye ken, and they dinna count.
2	I won't steal from those wot dinna have ennatin'.
3	Nae King! Nae Quin! Nae Laird! Nae Master! We willna be fooled again!
4	It's not over til it's doon, ye ken.
5	Freedom to go anywhere an' do ennatin' - a grat' load o' fun, that is.
6	Glory for clan and kelda!

d6	Bond
1	I'm onna geas from my kelda.
2	I owe my life to a Bigjobs, an' I'm in their debt.
3	Sooo, I only took a wee, fluffy ship or two, an' now tha Laird is peeved.
4	Summun took wha' I rightfully liberated first, an' I plan to get it back.
5	I lost mah clan. I've got tae return to them.
6	This land is my land, and I'll make sure it stays protected.

d6	Flaw
1	One more drop won't hurt, if it's onna a wee un.
2	There might be times when I could keep my big gob shut.
3	When a man starts messin' wi' thereadin' and the writin', then he'll come doon with a bad case o' the thinkin' soon enough.
4	It's so wee, nobody'll miss it.
5	I canna keep a secret tae save me life, or anyone elses.
6	Plans are comp-li-cated and I canna keep it in mind, ye ken. But I got a bran' new idea...

Pictsie Glossary

A brief glossary follows of Pictsie words, phrases, and pronunciation.

ach - Oi

aye - yes

bairn - baby

beid - bed

besom - broomstick

bigjobs - possibly derogatory, humans

blethers - rubbish, nonsense

brose - (ambrosia?) booze

canna - cannot

carlin - old woman

chookie - chicken

cludgie - toilet

crivens - a general exclamation that can mean anything from "My goodness" to "I've just lost my temper and there is going to be trouble."

cushy stuff - bed with pillows

dinna - do not

doon - down

dreeing our weird - facing our fate

eldritch - weird, strange. Sometimes means oblong, too, for some reason.

geas - a very important obligation, backed up by tradition and magic. Not a bird

gob - mouth

gummer - bite

hag - witch of any age

hiddlins - secrets

heich-heidit - posh

heid - head

hoose - house

jiggit - 20

ken - know

laird - lord

moose - mouse

mudlin - useless person

nae - no

no' - not

noo - now

o' - of

offski - get out of here

oot - out

pished - I am assured that this means "tired"

puir - poor

Quin - Queen

scunner - a generally unpleasant person

scuggan - a really unpleasant person

ship - sheep

sojers - soldiers

spavie - see Mudlin

Special Sheep Liniment - moonshine whisky

tae - to

Tir-far-thoinn - Land Under Wave

verra - very

waily - a cry of despair

wean - descendent

wee - small

wee chit of a girl - something very small

willna - will not

yan, tan, tethra - 1,2,3

ye - you

yer - you

yersels - yourselves

References & Footnotes

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