Races (Cinderstar Supplement)

Races

There are many races in Cinderstar, some the result of magical experiments, others on the brink of extinction, and some waiting to be discovered. The most common race in Cinderstar is the human. Due to their high repopulation rates, they have the advantage over other creatures in terms of numbers. Aside from this, the hatred demons have for them makes life difficult. Like many other things demons do, it is not fully understood why they allow humans to have such great numbers. Outside the city, humans struggle to overcome the threats that dominate the wilderness. Among these threats are the Elves. Elves are one of the less common races due to their decision to avoid the city that occupies most of the world. This habit limits their territory and makes them exceedingly protective of it. The elves have also found a place in the deepcity alongside the reclusive dragonborn and stubborn dwarves, while others have decided to adopt city life, worshiping nature in large greenhouses. Most other races are fairly settled for life in the great city. Gnomes, Halflings, and half elves have homes inside and beyond the great city. The dragonborn and dwarves that I mentioned earlier both reside in the deepcity alongside the native species of Illithids, Drow, and Lizardmen. Teiflings occupy a unique position in the great city and outside it. When a demon creates a tiefling using a mixture of human and demon blood, they raise it as their own child. The tiefling is taught to be an emissary, negotiating between demons and the masses they preside over. Outside the city, tieflings are rare and usually shunned, even when sent to negotiate trades and deals with those outside.

Illithid

A mind flayer kills its former ally.

Illithids (or mind flayers) are feared by most other beings because of their strange appearance and tendency to eat brains. Though they are usually governed by an "Elder Brain", if you are a player in a campaign, this is usually not the case. A mind flayer under the power of an elder brain has no goals other than furthering the goals of their elder brain masters. A mind flayer who somehow escapes their elder brain masters is free for as long as they do not make mental contact with one, and usually lives in fear of being found by other mind flayers.

Trade Offs

While in the contact of an elder brain, its psychic energy sustains them, meaning they only rarely have to eat or sleep. And although they must regularly ingest brains, regularly implies once every few weeks, and these brains can be several days old. One thor own, they must kill sentient beings regularly to survive, as their mental energy must be fresh or it will not sustain them. This means that a mind flayer must get psychic energy from elsewhere or make enemies just trying to get a meal. Additionally, without being able to draw on the knowledge of the elder brain, mind flayers lose most of their psionic spellcasting and a good deal of their intelligence. They are still far smarter than a human, but it is a major step down from their connected state. However, by separating, they become free to expand their own goals. Also, though the elder brain typically leaves them little time to express it, illithids are creative individuals. Outside its psychic command, they are free to make art, or engage in philosophy, or even exercise and biome stronger. For many, this freedom is enough to take the risk.

The Great Escape

A mind flayer's odds of escaping a colony are not good. Firstly, inside the colony, they are constantly monitored by the elder brain. Anything that looks like an escape plan is swiftly halted. Secondly, most mind flayers would not even consider leaving because of the psychic compulsion of the elder brain. Since they were formed in ceremorphosis (the process of inserting a mind flayer tadpole into a humanoid) they have been constantly demanded by the elder brain to serve it, and most have little desire to do much else. However, if the human they ceromorphised form had a particularly strong will, they may have sufficient lingering traces of their personality to want to leave. This is rare however. More common is that a tadpole would escape the brine pool they are raised in and go live in the cities. Then, if they encounter a humanoid, acting on instinct, they will burrow into their brain and begin the process. If the body survives the 2 week incapacitation process, they become a fully self sufficient mind flayer. Finally, if an elder brain is somehow killed, the whole colony is free to do as it pleases. Due to their tendency to order, these groups usually stay together. One influential thieves guild is composed of the former members of a mind flayer colony.

Illithid Traits

Alien, frightening beings of great mental prowess and forceful personalities.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age. Illithids become able to ceromorphise at the age of 10 months after hatching. Once they enter a humanoid, their lifespan is strongly influenced by the state of the body of the host, but is typically around 40 years longer than the host's usual lifespan.
Alignment. Illithids normally have a natural tendency towards hierarchy, discipline, and cruelty, and have an alignment of lawful evil. Your player, being free from the confines of an elder brain, can be any alignment, but tend to be detached from the suffering of others, making them tend to be evil.
Size. Most illithids are taller than humans, standing around 6 to 7 feet, but their bodies are very slender and emaciated, weighing much less than an average being of their stature. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Aberrant Mind. Even those illithids who have undergone alignment shifts via magical means or mutations struggle to understand the feelings of less-alien beings, and your alien form repulses most creatures You have disadvantage on all Charisma ability checks except intimidation, which you have advantage on. Your creature type is both humanoid and aberration.
Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 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.
Devour Brain. You may attempt to stun a creature and devour its brain. The target must make a dc 10 plus your proficiency bonus intelligence saving throw or become stunned. It may repeat this saving throw at the start of each of its turns, breaking free on a success. At the start of your turn, the creature takes 1d4 piercing damage. If it dies as a result of this damage, you may devour its brain. You may also devour a brain as a reaction to a creature dying within 5 feet of you. Eating a brain will sustain you for 3 days before you must replenish your psychic energy or lose one point of intelligence per day until you eat another brain (restores it to normal) This also restores one use of your mind blast.
Mind Blast. You can use your action to emit a psionic blast in a 15-foot cone. When you use your mind blast, each creature in the area of the blast must make a Intelligence saving throw. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 psychic damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 11th level, and 5d6 at 16th level. After you use your mind blast, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Telepathy. You can communicate mentally with another creature that knows at least one language within a 60-foot radius. This creature doesn't need to share a language with you but unless they have telepathy themselves they can only receive and respond but can't initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation. You must be conscious to use this trait and cannot telepathically communicate with multiple creatures at once.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Deep Speech and your choice of Common or Undercommon. Undercommon is a language of commerce among the subterranean races in the same way Common is among the surface dwellers.

Shadow Hulk

The shadow hulk is a large, intelligent predator known for their stealth and skill with traps. They are usually found in the deepcity, but occasionally surface to trade with the surface dwellers. Their darkvision is good enough that sunlight sensitivity is a concern, but a thin black cloth tied around the eyes usually does the trick. If you plan to play as a shadow hulk, check to see if your campaign will take place in the deepcity, because shadow hulks are reluctant to leave the deepcity. If you decide to play as one anyway, you need a fairly good excuse.

Strong but Lazy

The shadow hulk is an ambush predator that spends most of its time waiting for its prey to come into reach of its long arms. The main expense of energy it makes on a daily basis is checking the traps strewn around its territory. They live together in groups of two or three, taking orders from the smartest or the strongest, depending on their disposition. Not built for stamina, these creatures will use incredible amounts of energy to subdue prey, and then sleep the rest of the day.

Feared and Fearsome

"Shadow hulks climb out of the deepcity to prey on children. They can creep through cracks smaller than a coin. They can grab your shadow and drag you away with it. If you are naughty, the Shadow Hulk will come and take you to its lair." these and many others are the myths and superstitions surrounding Shadow Hulks. Although most of these are not true, there is some element of truth to them. Shadow hulks usually travel to the surface at night because they find sunlight disorienting. They are known to hide in small spaces, but really, they are just flexible. Some of them do in fact have shadow magic, but this is typically weak. Due to their threatening stature, long claws, and unnatural stealth, they are regarded with fear.

Shadow Hulk Traits

Deadly ambush predators with prodigious strength.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Shadow hulks live about as long as a human.
Alignment. Shadow hulks rely on themselves to the point of killing others to get ahead. They tend towrd haotic evil, but some are kinder or more organized.
Size. Though shorter on average than humans, this is because of their hunched posture. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climbing speed of 25 feet.
superior darkvision. You can see in all non magical darkness with no limitation on range. However, in bright light, you are affected by the confusion spell at the start of each turn unless you make a dc 15 constitution saving throw.
Long Limbed. Your reach for attacks is 5 feet longer than normal.
Raking Claws. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 slashing damage on a hit.
Sneaky. You are proficient in the stealth skill. When you attack while sneaking, your attack deals an extra 1d4 damage of the attack's damage type. A creature can only be surprised in this manner once per encounter.
Shadow Magic. Starting at 3rd level, you learn the blur spell, and can cast it once per day. At 5th level, you can teleport up to 30 feet as an action while in dim light, or 120 feet in darkness. You may use this trait once per day.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common or Undercommon. Undercommon is a language of commerce among the subterranean races in the same way Common is among the surface dwellers.

Magus

Only those unconcerned with the desires of the flesh can reach true perfection.

In the creation of the world, the demons created the Magi to sow distrust with their magic, but when they became more powerful than their demon masters, they cursed them to weakness. From that day hence, their bodies would be born only half fromed. The Magi lived on despite this, but far weaker and bound to machines and magic of their own making. Though most of them dislike the common races, thinking themselves superior and wiser, this does not give them elevated status on most occasions. They are made for skill with magic, so many are accepted into arcane academies. If you are a player in a campaign, you most likely failed to be accepted, either because of a mishap or a simple lack of skill.

The Great Design and the Mechanist Sect

The Magi are limited in numbers, as most lack the necessary equipment to reproduce. But the few that are left have plans to grow beyond what the demons would have ever conceived. In their mechanical bodies, they need not worry about their mortality, for they are certain to live for as long as they need to to accomplish any goal their hearts desire. The mechanist sect is a group that seeks to fully abandon their flesh, and then their physical forms. Perhaps, some of their most ambitious members wager,they can even abandon their souls to find what lies beyond reality. Their Magi also are developing a plan to create artificial souls and bodies to grow in number. Others, however, regard their scheming mechanist brethren as fools. They find beauty in mortality, and are appalled by their lack of true feelings and full bodies. They wish to feel the warmth of their flesh that they so long ago lost. Thus the Great Design was born. By compiling as much knowledge as possible, some Magi plan to find a way to undo their demon curse and return to the flesh. They are tirelessly working to make a functioning Magi body to transfer a soul into, and some have rebuilt their forms to an incredible extent.

Existential Immortality

A Magus does not die. Their mechanical bodies do not age and can be replaced when they break down (though this is not a pleasant process), and even the flesh that composes them is filled with enchanted mercury in place of blood. However, there are certain conditions that can cause a Magi to die, or experience something akin to aging. Firstly, without a steady supply of magic, their flesh begins to wither away and their metal joints begin to rust and freeze. As they extract magic through a specific organ in their chest, if they lose this it they will essentially starve. Secondly, their flesh gradually vanishes due to their demonic curse, leading them to develop a system that traps their soul when they die. If this mechanical device is broken or fails, they permanently die. Most dread this moral aspect of their forms, but some embrace it. One saying goes: "Growing old and dying is what gives life it's purpose"

Magus traits

Powerful spellcasters with mechanical bodies.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength intelegence score increases by 2, and your Wisdom and Charisma score increase by 1.
Age. Although a magus can theoretically live forever, they usually succumb to wear and tear after a few thousand years. They mature at the smae rate as humans, but are magically prevented from aging after they reach adulthood.
Alignment. Due to their aloof nature and emotionless minds, most tend towards neutral or lawful neutral.
Size. A Magus can look down on basically any human, being up to eight feet in height. However, your body is mostly hollow, making you quite light. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Fragile Filigree. Your body is severly weaker than that of most other races. You get minus one to your Strength and Constitution score.
Soul Storage. If you are reduced to zero hit points, you die instantly, and your sould becomes stroed in a small capsule stored near your chest. This tiny object can be used to speak, but you cannot see while in this form. If your old body is repaired or you are placed in a new one, you are restored to life. If this container is destroyed, (20 hit points) you die permanently. Additionally, the medning cantrip can restore 1d4 hit points if used on you.
Upgraded Body. When you reach 5th level, and again at 10th, 15th, and 20th level, you may add one to one of your ability scores
Steel Mind. You are Immune to being chramed. Additionally, you learn one wizard cantrip and when you reach 4th level, and agin at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level, you may learn a wizard spell with level equal to or less than your proficency bonus. Use intelegence as your spellcasting modifier. You may cast each of these spells once per day.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.