Sā (5e Race)

Sā

“	Their rage is beyond emotion; it is a physical force. I have seen Sā fight until their limbs tore from their body, wriggling across the ground to bite the ankles of their foes.	”
—Horace Andersen, Battlemaster of Bronzeheart Keep

Physical Description

A Sā Warrior Demolishes a Wall (Copyright Kodansha)

Sā resemble highly muscular skinless humans covered in tendons and viscera. They stand anywhere from 6' to slightly over 7' tall and often weigh more than 230 lbs due to their extreme muscle mass.

The sclera (whites) of their eyes are black, and their pupils are usually golden in color, though this is variable. Sā have their lips behind their outermost teeth, resulting in a perpetual grinning visage. They can have three to five rows of teeth within their mouths as well and are able to unhinge their jaws to take large bites of food.

Sā generally do not opt to wear clothing. When they must dress up in order to fit in with a society, they usually choose the bare minimum to avoid being arrested.

History

There are many theories about where the Sā came from, but most historians agree that the Sā were originally a group of savage human hunter-gatherers who lived in the Corusk mountains several hundred years ago. They seem to have gone about their lives as normally as they could in such hostile conditions until, around 123 years ago, a large planar rift opened in the vicinity of their camp and consumed them. Whether this was a random occurrence or due to some great conflict on the outer planes is uncertain. What is known is that the Sā found themselves strewn throughout the lower planes, with most individuals landing in either Carceri or the Abyss.

Needless to say, these conditions were daunting for even the most hardened humans. Despite facing great odds stacked against them, the Sā tribesmen survived as a warrior clan in a very unlikely way: they colonized leviathans such as colossal serpents and bulette-like creatures and lived in their innards. There, they survived by fighting and killing the weakened beasts that their patron host consumed. In return for protection and a free lunch, the Sā provided a valuable service as a digestive aid for their hosts, and spent many generations becoming ever tougher and more twisted from constant contact with the forces of chaos and evil.

Sā began to be born skinless to avoid jungle rot from the intensely humid conditions, as well as developing a massive regenerative ability to cope with the stronger creatures their host would sometimes consume. Their eyes over time adapted to the lack of light as well. Eventually, the Sā also became somewhat mad from their time in the planes of chaos, and they began to become reckless, sometimes venturing out from their hosts to hunt for sport and to strengthen themselves. Many who went out did not come back, but this was only partially due to the ferocity of the beasts they encountered.

The rift that transported the Sā to the lower planes in the first place defied the natural order of things in the universe, and began to falter under pressure to return to it's original state. The rift could not return the Sā living in hosts due to their proximity to large and very alien creatures, so the first Sā to venture out of their leviathan hosts were called back through the planes to the Prime Material. This came as quite a shock to them, and they immediately began to explore this alien world the only way they knew how: by attempting to kill anything that moved and destroy anything they saw.

Sā that have lived on the Prime Material Plane for a year or more generally experience a reduction in violent impulses that allows them to coexist to a limited extent with other races. Sā encountered in their native environment or shortly after leaving it are always extremely violent and should generally be avoided.

Society

In the lower planes, Sā form symbiotic colonies within their patron leviathans and are generally ruled over by a war-chief who also acts as an interpreter of the wishes of their patron. Sā clans are highly individualistic and warlike, and prize strength and toughness above all else. The clans often adopt a symbol that represents their specific host, such as a snake for a clan inhabiting a colossal serpent.

Sā Names

Sā names almost always conform to the format (Personal Name) (Connector) (Clan Name) and are usually one syllable each. One notable example is the legendary war-chief Hurk Lo Sā who was in power when the Sā first were sucked through the portal to the lower planes. Hurk landed with a large contingent in Carceri and convinced his people to inhabit leviathans to survive before brokering a deal with a demonic mage for passage to the Abyss, where he passed the knowledge on to the remainder of his people living there. He is honored by replacing his clan name with the name of the entire race, signifying that all clans looked up to him. His name, literally translated, means "The Sound of Blood."

Sā do not differentiate names by sex; a male is just as likely to be called Lek as a female. The names below are presented in order of decreasing demographic popularity.

Personal Name: Hurk (Sound/Thunder), Bhot (Juggernaut/Durable), Yot (Guardian/Protector), Het (Flame/Fire), Lek (Stone/Rock), Xan (Fury/Anger), Ya (Beast), Kek (Madness), Sor (Digestive Fluid/Acid), En (Hell/Abyss), Ge (Colossus/Giant), etc.

Connector: Lo (Of, can also function as possessive article.), Na (The), Ba (Within/Inside), Mek (Left/Journeyed Away From), etc.

Clan Name: Sā (Blood/Race Name), Tau (Spined Worm), Wayeh (Tarrasque-Like Creature), Ān (Serpent), Ür (Stronghold Turtle), Deb (Armored Insect), Klotz (Pterodactyl), etc.

Sā Traits

Sā are humans warped by generations of exposure to negative and chaotic energy. They are physically intimidating and brimming with rage.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Sā mature physically within a few weeks of being born, and a maximum age has yet to be determined as all recorded cases of Sā deaths have been from battle or trauma. The oldest living Sā is 60 years old currently and seems to have the same abilities as a much younger individual.
Alignment. Sā are uniformly chaotic; some very rare exceptions exist, but as a rule of thumb they generally don't worry too much about laws. Sā fresh out of the lower planes tend towards evil whereas Sā inhabiting the prime material plane are frequently neutral or even good.
Size. Sā usually stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and can weigh anywhere between 180 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Reckless Disregard. You can use the supernatural power suffusing your body to perform feats of extreme strength and willpower, but at a cost. Before making an attack or casting a spell that targets a single creature, you can choose to sacrifice a number of hit points up to your level + your Constitution modifier. On a hit, your next attack does its normal damage and additional damage equal to the amount of hit points spent. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Mentally Scarred. Your race's history has been fraught with encounters with beings of chaos and darkness. As such, you have advantage on saving throws to avoid being frightened.
Skinless. Lacking a waterproof, protective skin you are in discomfort when submerged or when wearing armor. You have disadvantage on Strength checks while swimming or when wearing medium or heavy armor. You can spend 1 hour growing a dermis that lasts for 1 hour to negate this penalty.
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.
Warped Regeneration. When you spend a hit dice to recover hit points, you regain an extra 1d6 hit points.
Languages. You can speak in Infernal and Common. Most Sā speak only broken Common, if any. Sā are generally illiterate.

Random Height and Weight

Table: Sā Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
5′ 11″	+2d8'	170 lb.	+ 8d20 lb.

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(0 votes)

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