Satori (5e Race)

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This content deviates from 5e standards. Its use could dramatically alter campaigns, take extreme care.

Caution - Here there be monsters! This content intends to provide a different experience, or goes beyond the scope of the anticipated subjects and situations, than the 5e rules were intended to handle. Some portions of the content below may not be what you expect from traditional game content. When implementing this content, DMs and Players should read over all the information carefully, and consider the following specific notes of interest:

This material makes a character capable of passive mind-reading, so DMs should take note of that fact. Situations which assume that the character cannot arbitrarily know the true intentions or actual thoughts of other characters may not be significant challenges to a character using this material. Challenges of these sorts are, however, an excellent tool to highlight the character's advantage. One should be cautious to include challenges which are actually capable of threatening such a character regularly, such as undead or constructs which lack thoughts and emotions to be read, characters who have somehow protected themselves from such a thing, or other empaths, but without punishing the player or coming across as a gimmick. Be careful about who is allowed to use this material, as immature players will likely abuse this to derail the campaign. As should be standard, such players should be dealt with outside-of-game through open communication, but it is often best to avoid the situation in the first place. New players often have difficulties visualizing themselves as another person, let alone another creature capable of thinking in ways that they themselves will never experience. As such, if a new player is allowed to use this material, they may need some degree of guidance to remember that their character can read minds without limitations, though it should only take a few sessions to really drive the point home.

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Satori

4.00

(4 votes)

Physical Description

A satori's gaze seems to pierce your heart; an almost judging glare that knows all your secrets, sins, and nightmares. Source

Satori are for the most part human in appearance, though their most easily definable trait, and the most obvious physical difference that sets them apart from humans, is the presence of a disembodied eye that is covered with a thick skin, and is attached to their body with several long, thick, leathery-looking cords of the same kind of skin; this strange, thick skin, though referred to as skin, is actually very rarely, if ever, of a color one would identify with skin, instead sporting colors that would be more readily attributed to scales. This eye is known as their third eye and is apparently what allows them to read minds. A satori's third eye never blinks, and usually follows the gaze of the satori's other two eyes, though it may rarely be observed looking around seemingly of its own accord. Satori tend to be short compared to humans, and their hair and eye colors vary wildly.

History

Because satori have a preference to hide away and seclude themselves, nobody is entirely certain how or when they came to exist in the world. Even the satori of modern day don't seem to know the answer, but judging by a satori's lifespan, the fact that the story of their origin has been lost by the time the current generation of satori had come to be, it can be assumed they've been around for tens of thousands of years.

Society

Satori do not have much of a society. They prefer to seclude themselves away from bustling locales, in homes they build for themselves on mountains or, less frequently, within caverns, because their mind reading is often viewed with extreme distaste, which they generally know about even if such feelings aren't expressed aloud due to the very ability in question. However, they get along well with animals, which usually can't be understood by others, so they often have many pets. Satori also still need to eat like many creatures, so they will usually send one of their more intelligent pets to make purchases in a town in their stead; those rare unlucky satori who have no pets are forced to begrudgingly show their faces in public and make the purchases themselves.

Because satori rarely leave their homes, let alone enter public spaces, interactions with them are limited, which has led to many people to start spreading legends out of fear; they are spoken of as intelligent monsters that pry into the memories of lost travelers, using the travelers' own knowledge, experiences, and fears to undermine their victims' sanity. In more recent years, these legends have begun to accumulate some truth to them through a small number of documented encounters with satori, but it's the rude preconceptions that upset the satori in the first place and cause such hostilities. Despite this, satori seem to have started opening up to public interactions more little by little, albeit very slowly; it's possible they wish to dispel the rude rumors and show that they can be nice people and be gotten along with like any other race.

Satori Names

Because satori tend to live out in seclusion, they usually use names from the most prominent languages of the local creatures found native to the area they build their home in. For example, a satori who lives in a forest might have a Sylvan name.

Satori Traits

Thoughts, memories; the mind cannot escape your third eye.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Satori mature rapidly, though they live incredibly long lives. A satori reaches adulthood in their early teens and can live for many thousands of years.
Alignment. Satori are usually more passive by nature, and as such tend most towards neutral alignments.
Size. Satori are shorter than humans on average, ranging from 4 to 5 feet in height. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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.
Cerebral Being. Your creature type is both humanoid and aberration.
Animal Understanding. You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill.
Scrutiny. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
Third Eye. You read the mind of any creature you can see and are currently looking at as per the detect thoughts spell, no action required by you, as long as that creature is within 60 feet of you and has an Intelligence of 4 or higher. You automatically probe deeper into a creature's thoughts, no action required by you, should you continue to look at them for longer than 6 seconds (1 round), though the creature does not make a Wisdom saving throw, nor does this cause them to become aware that you are reading their thoughts; should a creature become aware that you're reading their thoughts, they also can't end the effect without the aid of magic or a feature that blocks mind reading. You can't stop yourself from probing deeper into a creature's thoughts. You can still read a creature's thoughts even if it doesn't know any languages. You can't read any creatures' minds while you are unconscious or blinded.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, and the language most frequently used by the native creatures found near your home.

Variant: Closed-Eye Satori

A satori who has closed their third eye no longer thinks; they act freely on a whim, living without any worries or cares. Source

A satori may eventually come to the decision to close their third eye. Usually, this comes about after multiple consecutive years of exposure to thoughts saturated with intense and extremely negative emotions, such as grief, despair, sorrow, rage, horror, and disgust, to name a few. Such a satori that has closed off their third eye is known as a closed-eye satori. Closing the third eye strips from a satori their ability to read minds, but it also has the side effect of causing severe damage to their conscious mind. Because of this, closed-eye satori are creatures of impulse, and they lose most of their capacity to think. On the other hand, losing most of their conscious mind also makes them more in-tune with the subconscious mind, to the point where they develop a mild form of subconscious hypnotism. A closed-eye satori generally looks no different from any normal satori, though their third eye will obviously be permanently shut instead of open. Due to the fact that their emotions are no longer inhibited by the conscious mind, closed-eye satori are considerably more emotionally invested in absolutely everything compared to normal satori. They're also considerably more active, curious, and most notably, social than normal satori. Even though people will initially think of them the same as normal satori due to their third eye's presence, closed-eye satori have more success in interacting with other races, especially after others begin to realize they can't read their minds; closed-eye satori do still leave people with off-put impressions due to their incredibly capricious demeanor, however.

Closed-Eye Satori Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Satori mature rapidly, though they live incredibly long lives. A satori reaches adulthood in their early teens and can live for many thousands of years.
Alignment. Closed-eye satori are much more impulsive than normal satori, living freely. They are usually chaotic alignments, and less commonly neutral alignments, but rarely, if ever, lawful alignments. They don't tend any one way between good and evil.
Size. Satori are shorter than humans on average, ranging from 4 to 5 feet in height. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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.
Cerebral Being. Your creature type is both humanoid and aberration.
Kooky Countenance. You are proficient in the Performance skill.
Instinctive. When you are targeted by an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw, you may choose to make the saving throw at advantage. You must declare this before you make the saving throw. After using this trait, you must finish a long rest before you may use it again. Additionally, you react without thought by nature; you cannot be surprised.
Mindless. You have resistance to psychic damage, but you have disadvantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Thoughtless. Your mind cannot be read, and you cannot be telepathically communicated with either.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, and one extra language of your choice.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
4′ 0''	+2d6	52 lb.	× (2d2) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

4.00

(4 votes)

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