Reaper (5e Race)

Reaper

Reapers, despite their appearance, are not the usual undead beings. Instead, they are made purely from divine magic, seemingly summoned from gods. Finding a "natural" born reaper is rare, though not impossible, as reapers are capable of gathering their excess magical essence to encourage the creation of another reaper.

Many reapers remember being spoken to by a god or, in some cases, gods, before their "birth" into the material plane. This seems to be Life or Death gods most commonly, though any god may be seen.

Skinless Race

Reapers are skeletal, with no organs, muscles, or skin, and common parts of their bodies seem to be missing-- usually a jaw, which does not affect speech, or a rib or finger. Their bones are usually bleached white, but the older ones tend to have them begin to turn a yellow as the bones suffer from age, use, and damage. Reaper's eyes are just empty sockets, though they can make them glow with pinpricks of colour at will. They can eat, drink, and sleep, though it is hardly necessary to survive, and they seem to have a hard time becoming intoxicated, though they certainly can do so with a bit of effort.

History

Reapers are believed to be fashioned by gods of life and death. Exactly who, we do not know. They came to existence in the form of pure bones in the material realm as a sad joke of sorts, displaying morbid-mortality in its finest. At first, they were attacked by many races who mistook them for regular undead skeletons. However, some races were more spiritually attuned and helped the reapers escape extinction. Eventually, when people actually bothered listening to what the had to say, the reapers were given distinguishment from normal skeletons. People recognized their culture and intelligent ideas. They flourished and built societies welcoming future reapers created.

Few and Far Between

Reapers have a very complex society, with all new reapers being taken in by a house or family, but have no settlements of their own besides the occasional small village; Nor are they usually fully integrated into other societies. Instead, many reapers simply become hermits or live alongside other races. Despite their good intentions, their appearance often makes coexistence difficult. However, some manage to build lives for themselves among other races, though it's rarely an easy one. Some reapers, given their intellect and skills, can rise to reputable positions of academia or just be librarians.

All reapers, with the exception of the maddened reaper subrace, can be found in many houses, with members of each benefiting the others in a kind of symbiotic relationship. They feel some kindred feelings towards each other as children of the same entities, possibly. Their society is thus more of a set of these small family units, rather than a concentrated town. Reapers use this net to help guide the newly born and created kin. Maddened reapers prefer havoc however and so are the biggest outlier, often making trouble for other reapers and leaving them to answer for their crimes.

Reaper Names

Reapers rarely have their names chosen for them. Instead, they are given a title of sorts that describes them, to be referred to as until they grow old enough to chose a name for themselves, along with the name of the family that took them in. Chosen names can come from anything, no matter if from another race, something made up, or any other noun. Once chosen, this name cannot be changed, so it is not a decision that should be taken lightly.

Family Names: Ossium, Medulla, Calvaria, Sceletus

Childhood names: Brightbone, Lightskull, Thickrib, Toughspine, Longarm.

Reaper Traits

You have several innate traits gifted to all reapers by either the gods or their physiology.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Reapers have no set maturation rate. Some may mature faster than humans, others slower, but reapers are expected to choose their name- a rite of passage into adulthood- by the age of 30 at the latest. They can live for anywhere from 400 to 1000 years depending on their lifestyle.
Alignment. Reapers tend to stray away from lawful alignments, preferring to trust in their own judgement above the laws, but tend to stay away from evil alignments as well.
Size. A reaper's size depends on its subrace, but they range from 2'9" to 7'5" tall
Speed. A reaper's base walking speed depends on their subrace.
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.
Self-Sustaining. Reapers don't need much sleep all the time. Instead, they simply allow themselves to enter a sleep-like state for about four hours, where they can remain aware of what is going on around them. You gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
Undead Attributes. You are not a fully undead creature but you do have some of their properties. Your creature type is monstrosity instead of humanoid. As such, you are immune to spells like crown of madness or dominate person because they specifically target humanoids. You do not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. You are also vulnerable to radiant damage.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
Subrace. Four subraces of reapers are found commonly throughout the worlds of D&D. These are lore reapers, earth reapers, war reapers, and maddened reapers.

Lore Reaper

As a lore reaper, you stand at a diminutive height similar to that of halflings. Due to this, your race has grown to become scholars and learners, reliable sources for facts rather than battle.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Size. Lore reapers average around 2 3/4 feet in height and weigh just over 30 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Advanced Intellect.. Your innate knowledge can be manifested at times. You may re-roll an Intelligence check and use either value. You must complete a short or long rest before using this trait again.

Earth Reaper

While lore reapers have devoted themselves to knowledge, your race has instead decided to study the world, giving you a natural intuition for all things. Peoples of many races come to earth reapers seeking wisdom on such things as good times to plant crops, or where to sell a rare artifact.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Size. Earth reapers average around 5 feet in height and weigh around 55 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Steady Footing. You have advantage in saving throws against being knocked prone.

War Reaper

Made for battle, war reapers have significantly larger and thicker bones, making you taller and heavier than any other reaper. You also have a natural inclination for battle, and many war reapers believe that any problem can be solved with a few good hits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Size. War reapers stand with heights rivaling dragonborns, setting them around 7 feet tall and weighing around 110 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Warrior's Proficiency. You are proficient with the mace, morningstar, warhammer, and scythe.

Maddened Reaper

Created by evil gods or devils, you exist to be the antithesis of other reapers, though you may deviate from this code to a degree.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma Score increases by 1.
Size. Maddened reapers stand around the same height as humans, putting them between 5 and 6 feet in height, and weigh about 80 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Alignment. Maddened reapers are almost always chaotic, and tend to sway towards evil alignments, though some fall into neutral categories and a very small amount manage to be good.
Hellish Visage. Your body is warped and misshapen, and your eyes constantly glow a deep red. You have advantage in Intimidation checks against any creature that can see your face.

Barbs Reaper

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The Barbs Reapers inhabit The Tower of Barbs. They prefer to be referred to as "Death" and also like to add some sort of family relations as a prefix to their names such as father, or uncle. They refer to friends as "Senpai" as if it were used in the place of terms like amigo and homie, but refer to enemies as "Haters." The Barbs Reapers are reminiscent of teenage punks because they enjoy things like indie rock, breaking the law, vandalism, spray paint, and anarchy.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity Score increases by 1.
Size. Your size is Medium. Barbs reapers average from 5-6 feet.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Alignment. Barbs Reapers tend to lead toward chaotic but are usually stuck between neutral and evil, but exceptions do exist. Despite all of this, they are usually really nice to everyone.
Goretastic Finisher. When a creature within 5 feet of you is reduced by you to 0 hit points, you can make a finishing move that is very brutal to instantly kill that creature. This is followed by you saying something along the lines of; "wicked" "sweet" "wild" or "gnarly." If you don't do this, the attack does not kill the intended target, and instead, makes yourself look like a loser. After the attack is finished, the targeted creature sprays large amounts of blood and produces gp equal to 1d20 + your Charisma modifier.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
2′ 5''	+2d4	26 lb.	× 1 lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
4′ 8''	+2d4	50 lb.	× 1 lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
6′ 2''	+2d10	90 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
6′ 2''	+2d10	90 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
4′ 8''	+1d12	45 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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