Spirit Guardian, Variant (5e Race)
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Spirit Guardian[edit]
"She ran as fast as her hooves would allow, dashing over traps and monsters alike as she held a sphere of light to guide her way through the darkness with her friends being all she could think of."
"In a brief, yet blinding flash of light, the demons flew as the Spirit Guardian appeared where they had been standing just moments earlier, having stomped with tremendous force."
"Light flashed as the barrage of energy continued to rain down over the undead hoards, scattering bones and rotten flesh through the air, no match for the practiced accuracy and speed at which they were being sent." `
Physical Description[edit]
Spirit Guardians average 2-4 ft. in height, and 50-75 lbs in weight. Though anomalous height and weight is not unheard of. They have grey, to white, or light blue fur. They boast a tail, and 4 ear like protrusions on the head (2 on the side, 2 on the forehead), that vary in length, and also have 2 fingers, and a thumb on each hand as well as hooves on the bottom of their legs.
History[edit]
Hidden deep in the plane of the Feywild lay magnificent groves containing enormous trees called "Spirit Trees" They are usually very far apart, and it is rare for any creature to find any tree one more than once, let alone multiple trees. Spirit Trees tend to emit large amounts of strong magical light that can revive, or kill many creatures depending on the intent, and creature. They also periodically grow bright leaves that fall to the ground and become young Spirit Guardians who grow to protect light and life from darkness, evil, and decay that would take it away.
Attitudes and Beliefs[edit]
Spirit Guardians are herbivorous, energetic, productive, and typically very friendly and social. It is a rare sight to see a lone spirit guardian except in the case that it was separated from friends, family, or otherwise forced into living alone. They tend to be very trustworthy, though somewhat cowardly at times and can be ferocious fighters if cornered. Sometimes a Spirit Guardian will leave its home in order to accomplish tasks, deter potential threats, aid a friend, seek the past, or spread enterprises and skills, but sometimes they are forced from their homes by dark forces to live among elves, faeries, satyrs and other creatures of fey ancestry.
Spirit Guardian Names[edit]
Spirit guardians are genderless as any spirit guardian can become a Spirit Tree. However, some are still referred to as male and female, probably due to names. The names branch from Old Hebrew names and words, though some like Tatsu (Old Japanese) or Reem (Arabic) do branch from other languages.
Male: Fil, Ano, Ilo, Eki, Nevo, Sanulo
Female: Reem, Tatsu, Nir, Sol, Ara
Genderless/Unspecified: Ori, Shir
Spirit Guardian Traits[edit]
Spirit Guardians channel their light in numerous ways to light a small area, improvise weapons, give a slight boost to allies, move at ludicrous speeds, and make long falls a nuisance.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity or Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Strength or Constitution score decreases by 1.
Age. Spirits usually mature around 2-6 years, and nobody knows how long they can live for, though they are rumored to live for over 200 if they survive that long.
Alignment. Spirit Guardians tend toward Good, Neutral, though a few that are Evil tend to live in exile.
Size. Spirit Guardians tend to be 2-4 ft. tall, and 50-75 lbs, though they can be bigger/smaller. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Light Nature. You gain Resistance to Radiant damage, Vulnerability to Necrotic damage, and emit dim light in a 5 ft. radius which you can toggle as a bonus action. The light serves as a Spirit Guardian's life force allowing them to handle more radiance than most creatures, but causes necrotic forces to become more lethal as the light is drained from them.
Variant Rule: Instead of starting with all of these on character creation, you can restrict them to certain conditions. For example: to get bash, you must seek another spirit who knows this ability, find an ancestral tree (sprouted from a Spirit Guardian's corpse) that knew bash once, learn it from practice, or even earn one ability of your choice at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20. Your DM could also rule that some of these abilities can be used in the same action if they so choose. The abilities that would be restricted are as follows: Dash, Bash, Light Weapon, Light Charge, Regroup, Light Burst, Light Manifestation.
Agile Instinct. You gain the ability to Dash, and Bash, and Stomp, Alongside proficiency in Acrobatics.
Some of these abilities in this trait require a Saving Throw. The DC is equal to 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Dexterity Modifier
Stomp: Spend an action to fall at 120 ft. per round until you hit the ground, you lose concentration from taking damage, you use any movement or you take an action, you stop stomping. When you hit the ground like this, you take no fall damage, any creature within 5 ft. of your landing spot needs to make a Dexterity Saving throw. On a failed save, deal half the falling damage you would have taken (base fall damage is 1d6 per 10 ft. up to 20d6) (starting where you last started your stomp), and are pushed back 5 ft. for every 10 ft. you fell, max 60 ft., and are knocked prone. On a successful save, they take no damage, are not knocked prone, and only pushed back up to 20 ft.
Dash: Spend a bonus action to move up to 30 ft. horizontally in a straight line. It can be used to move up to 5 ft. up or down and halts vertical momentum. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity but ignores terrain. If you have Swimming or Burrowing speed, you may move half that speed (Max 30 ft.) in any direction as long as the path is a straight line. Charge Dash doubles the max distance.
Bash: Spend a reaction when a ranged attack, falling object, or creature enters or ends its turn (or you enter that space) in an adjacent space. If the target is a creature, they must make a STR Save. On a failed save, a creature takes 1d4 Force damage, and is pushed 5 ft. away unless they are falling in which case they are pushed the same distance you push yourself. On a successful save, they get to take an Attack of Opportunity, take no damage, and are not pushed. If the target is a projectile, you may redirect it to a target within range (which equals "base attack range - distance from you to the attacker" with a minimum of 30 ft.) and make a ranged attack roll using dexterity (even if the weapon has the thrown property), if the target is an object you may move it 30 ft. away. Regardless of what happens, you may move 30 ft. in the opposite direction you attempt to move your target.
Light Channeling. Spirit Guardians gain a pool of 5 light energy that they can use in powerful abilities such as, a Conjured weapon, Charge variants of Jump and Dash, Regroup, and Light burst. It can also be used to manifest glimpses of the past for investigations
Spent light energy is regained after a short rest if in sunlight, moonlight, or starlight; or when exposed to a source of spirit energy (usually a charged crystal, and usually only regenerates a set amount before depleting said source, ask your DM) for 1 round (no action, just needs 1 hand free the entire time).
Light Weapon: As part of an attack, you may spend 1 Light Energy, conjure a light weapon, or charge your current weapon with light energy. If you do so, the next attack you hit before the end of your next turn deals an extra 1d6 Radiant damage. If you conjure a weapon, the weapon is non-magical and has the same attributes as the base weapon.
Light Charge: As a bonus action, you may spend 1 Light Energy to gather your light. Until the end of your next turn or you use this charge, you are charged. If you jump while charged, your jump height is doubled to a minimum of 8 ft. If you use Light Dash while charged, you double the dash distance. When you use this charge to Jump or use Light Dash, you ignore enemies' fragile objects and attacks of opportunity. If any object or creature is in your path, they must make a Dexterity Saving Throw against your Agile Instinct DC. On a successful save, you pass them harmlessly. On a failed save, they take 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage for every creature you are pushing with you (the first two creatures take 1d6), and if they are Medium or smaller, they are pushed to the end of your movement. If this would cause two or more creatures to occupy the same space, they are shunted to the nearest unoccupied space within 5 ft. If there is none, move all creatures you collided with back 5 ft. and try again (you might need to shunt multiple creatures if one saves).
Regroup: As a bonus action, you may spend 1 Light energy to apply one of the following effects to all creatures in range, except for constructs (unless designed with this ability in mind. Warforged are exceptions):
- Each target may choose to expend up to 1/4th of their total hit dice to heal (can't heal without hit dice).
- Each target gains 1 resistance you currently have (and choose) for 1 minute (10 rounds).
- Remove 15 Minutes off a debuff. If the debuff is caused by a spellcaster's concentration, they must make a concentration check against 8 + Your Proficiency Bonus + Your Wisdom Bonus. If they fail the check their concentration is reduced by 15 minutes (disrupts if over the max duration, if this reduction is applied, the spell is considered to end 15 minutes early). Or you may negate/pause 1 major debuff or curse (does not allow removal of cursed items) for 10 minutes (concentrating creatures can pick up concentration after the duration ends, even if they dropped it, and this inert time does not count against duration).
Light Burst: As a bonus action, you may spend 1 Light Energy to conjure a small ball weighing 0.25 lbs that lasts for 1 hour, and can do the following:
- Passively provide 10 ft. of bright light (ignores darkness spells) and 20 ft. of dim light (does not ignore darkness)
- Dispel any Darkness effect caused by a level (Your Level-2)/2 or lower Spell Slot. A darkness enchantment may return depending on what your DM rules. This destroys the Light Burst.
- Be thrown up to 60 ft. as a projectile deals 1d6 radiant damage in a 5 ft. sphere around it, destroying the light burst, creatures in the radius must make a Dexterity Saving Throw, taking half damage on a success. The damage increases by 1d6 at the following levels: 5th (2d6), 11th (3d6), and 17th (4d6) (DM's choice: your DM can rule that the explosion radius also increases by 5 ft. when damage increases). Also explodes when struck.
- If you have the Bash feature, while holding a light burst, you can use your reaction to bash off a light burst without throwing it. This causes the Light Burst to explode before Bash movement is resolved.
Light Manifestation: When you are requested to make an investigation check, you may immediately spend 1 Light Energy to roll with advantage.
Home in the Feywild. Spirit Guardians while not resistant to many of the effects the feywild can have, are still immune to the memory altering effects of the feywild.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Sylvan. You come from the feywild and don't usually meet creatures that speak common, though your DM can rule that you do in fact speak common should you have been on the material plane long enough.
Random Height and Weight[edit]
| Base Height |
Height Modifier* |
Base Weight |
Weight Modifier** |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1d4′ 1d12'' | +1 | 4d6 lb. | × (5) lb. |
|
*Height = base height + height modifier | |||
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