Thalassian (5e Race)

Thalassian

A ragged figure, washed ashore. Seaweed, fragments of shell in the sand. The smell of salt in the air. The sensation of water in your lungs.

Born from the Deep

Art by Aaron McBride

Sometimes when a sentient creature perishes at sea, a supernatural power claims them. Perhaps it is a deity of the ocean, a curse, or simply a magical phenomenon, but the result is that a thalassian is born. Thalassians resemble the creature they came from, but possess a striking appearance that incorporates aspects of various types of sea life. Some thalassians possess memories of who they were before being transformed, but most retain only a vague notion of their previous life.

To land-dwelling humanoids, thalassians are perceived as grotesque and disturbing. They are a walking embodiment of the horror of the ocean, not only of the unknown mystery held by its depths but also a grisly reminder of the lives it has claimed. While a creature such as a water elemental might look at a thalassian and see a thriving example of aquatic symbiosis, a land-dweller looks at a thalassian and sees only a walking drowned corpse warped by magic and overrun by alien-seeming life. Adding to their percieved eeriness, thalassians have minor supernatural qualities reminiscent of the ocean beyond their appearance such as being perpetually sodden or emitting a stench of brine.

Life After Death

Many thalassians take on a new perspective after being reborn. Even though they have a new lease on life, their terrifying appearances render others less than accepting, and this leads them to more chaotic lines of behavior. A thalassian that was previously a sailor might take on a new life as a dreaded pirate, for example.

Because of their amphibious nature, thalassians that seek belonging often coalesce into small communities on the ocean floor. These communities typically occupy ecological dead zones, but that doesn't stop them from often breaking out into war with neighboring undersea factions such as the triton and sauhaguin.

Thalassian Names

Thalassians possess a mixture of names, either remembering them from their previous life or taking on new ones.

Male: Davy, Mosc, Fin, Jones, Ehlek

Female: Indra, Erey, Anomea, Cass, Pearl

Thalassian Traits

Those who have returned from the sea.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1 and you can choose to increase any score of your choice by 1.
Age. Thalassians age twice as slowly as the race they originally were. Although thalassians seem to have no upper limit to how old they can be, and a few have been known to live for multiple centuries, most upon reaching old age for their original race begin to feel an increasingly strong urge to plunge into the deepest depths of the sea. Once they do, they are never seen again.
Alignment. Thalassians can be of any alignment, but tend towards chaos or neutrality.
Size. Thalassians are roughly the same size as the race they originally were. Your size is Small or Medium.
Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
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 discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Gifts of the Sea. You gain the benefits of three gifts of your choice detailed in the Gifts of the Sea section below.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for your character. This will likely be Aquan, but could be a language your character spoke prior to becoming a thalassian.

Gifts of the Sea

Abyssal Aegis

You are encrusted with a thick layer of symbiotic organisms that protect you from harm. When you finish a short or long rest, you can expend hit dice to grant yourself a number of temporary hit points equal to the amount rolled on the hit dice. While you possess these temporary hit points, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

Active Camouflage

You can change the color and texture of your skin to blend into an enviroment as a bonus action. If you are wearing equipment, you have advantage on Stealth checks until you move. If you are not wearing equipment, you are considered invisible until you move.

Carapace Armor

A casing of thick chitin turns blows that land upon you. Your armor class is equal to 14 + your proficiency bonus. You are unable to wear normal armor, but you can still benefit from a shield.

Crab Claw

One of your arms ends in a massive crab claw. You can't use it to finely manipulate objects or wield weapons, but it is considered a natural weapon that uses your Strength modifier. It deals 2d6 bludgeoning damage, and once per turn when you hit with it you can attempt to grapple the target.

Eely Slickness

Your skin is coated with a thick oil and your body possesses a serpentine amount of flexibility. Creatures have disadvantage on ability checks made to grapple you, and you have advantage on ability checks and saving throws made to end the grappled or restrained conditions. Additionally, crawling while prone doesn't cost you extra movement.

Eyes of the Deep

The radius of your darkvision increases to 120 feet, or up to 300 feet while underwater.

Feathered Feelers

A series of delicate antennae covered with wispy feather-like features protrude from your body, allowing you to sense vibrations in the air and water. You gain blindsight out to 30 feet, or out to 60 feet while in water. This blindsight ceases to function until the start of your next turn if you take thunder damage.

Gripping Suckers

You have suckers located at various points on your body allowing you to maintain a firm grip on things. You gain a climbing speed equal to half your walking speed. While climbing you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without making an ability check. Additionally, you have advantage on d20 tests to grapple a creature, resist being moved, or disarmed of an object you are holding.

Hypnotic Shimmer

Your skin is covered with scales that shimmer with strange colors and patterns as you move. As an action on your turn, you can target a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus that can see you within 30 feet. The targets must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier). On a failed save, the creature is charmed by you. While charmed in this way, it is incapacitated and its speed is 0. You are considered concentrating on this effect and it lasts until the end of your next turn unless you use your action to maintain it. On a successful save, a creature is immune to this effect for the next 24 hours.

This effect ends for an affected creature once it takes damage, it can no longer see you, or if starts its turn more than 30 feet away from you.

Ink Burst

As an action, you can squirt a burst of ink at a creature within 30 feet. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failure, the target is blinded until it uses an action to clear the ink from its eyes. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once) before you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

If you use this feature while in water, you instead release a cloud of ink that fills a 15-foot radius. The area is heavily obscured for 1 minute, but a significant current can disperse it early.

When you use this feature, you can immediately take the dash action as a bonus action.

Lantern Lure

You have a thin, extendable tendril with a glowing light on the end of it. It sheds either bright light in a 5 to 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional number of ft. equal to the chosen radius, or dim light for the chosen radius. The end of the tendril can reach any space within 10 feet of you, and you can move it and alter the radius and color of the light as a bonus action. The light has an entrancing effect on a creature, causing it to focus entirely on it. When a creature sees the light for the first time on a turn and is unaware of you or any other hostile creatures, you can force them to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier). A creature that fails this saving throw becomes charmed by the light. While charmed in this way, it has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks, and any creatures it was unaware of when it failed the saving throw are now considered invisible to it. The charmed creature uses its movement on its turns to approach the light without taking the Dash action.

The charmed condition ends if the creature takes damage or if it can no longer see the light. A affected creature within 5 feet of the light can use its action to attempt an Intelligence (Investigation) check against the save DC, realizing the lure's true nature and ending the condition on a success.

Maw of the Deep

Your jaws are massive and filled with razor sharp teeth. When you take the attack action, you can replace one of the attacks made with a special bite attack. This attack uses your Strength and it deals 1d10 piercing damage and has advantage if it is made against a creature that is missing hit points.

Magic of the Sea

You know the shape water cantrip. Additionally, you can cast fog cloud or create or destroy water using this trait; once you do, you must finish a long rest to do so again. If you have available spell slots, you may expend a spell slot of the appropriate level to cast either of these spells.

Furthermore, you can telepathically communicate to any creature within 30 feet of you that has an innate swim speed.

Natural Armor

Your body is covered with tough scales or scutes that provide protection while still allowing you to move. When you aren't wearing armor, your base AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.

Pyrolobial Resistance

Your body tolerates some of the most extreme conditions to be found under the ocean. You have resistance to fire damage.

Regeneration

When you expend hit dice to recover hit points, you can roll each die twice and take the higher result. Additionally, if you lose a limb or other body part it will grow back after 2d4 days. If you have levels of exhaustion, each level of exhaustion multiplies the time needed for the missing part to regrow.

Resistance of the Polar Seas

Your body withstands the freezing chill of polar waters. You have resistance to cold damage.

Sonar Shriek

As an bonus action you can release a nearly inaudible high pitched noise that reverberates off surfaces. You gain blindsight out to 60 feet until the start of your next turn. This blindsight is obstructed by liquid surfaces, solid objects, and effects that create magical silence, such as the silence spell. The blindsight increases to 150 feet while underwater.

Alternatively, as an action you can release a powerful sonic pulse in a line up to 5 feet wide and 120 feet long. The first creature in that line that fails a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your choice of Constitution, Intelligence or Wisdom modifier) takes an amount of d6s of thunder damage equal to your proficiency bonus. The first object in that line automatically takes the thunder damage. If the pulse hits something, you are aware of its location and distance to you. The line increases to 300 feet long while underwater.

Toxin Resistance

You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance to poison damage.

Venom Spines

You are covered with sharp spines that you can extend at-will, coated with a potent natural toxin. When a creature grapples you or otherwise comes into physical contact with your body, you can use your reaction to deal 2d4 piercing damage to it and force it to make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failure, the creature takes an amount of d8s of poison damage equal to your proficiency bonus and is poisoned for 1 minute. On a success, a creature takes half as much damage and isn't poisoned. A poisoned creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. You may inflict poison in this way an amount of times equal to your proficiency bonus before you must complete a long rest to do so again.

Alternatively as an action you can expend a hit die to pluck up to 4 spines from your body, losing 1 hit point for each. These spines can be used as darts or as ammunition for a blowgun. The first time a creature is struck with a spine, it must make the Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it takes an amount of d4s of poison damage equal to your proficiency bonus and is poisoned until the end of its next turn. On a success, the creature takes half the amount of poison damage and isn't poisoned.

Random Height and Weight

Use the height and weight table of your original race to determine your height and weight. Thalassians tend to be a bit heavier than their original race, so increase the base weight by 10 pounds.

Suggested Characteristics

When creating a thalassian, you can use the following tables to help flesh out your character.

d8	Minor Oddity
1	Puddles of brine form where I linger for too long.
2	When I am cut, I bleed bright blue.
3	A gentle sea breeze follows me wherever I go.
4	Any clothing I wear is perpetually damp to the touch.
5	Instead of hair on my head, I have a tangled mass of kelp.
6	Tiny sea creatures often feel comfortable taking up residence in my pockets.
7	Whenever I cough, a bit of seawater comes out.
8	When I sleep, I dream that I'm lying on the bottom of the ocean.

Expanded Options

Feat: Many-Gifted One

Prerequisite: thalassian

Through supernatural generosity or natural accruement, you have developed more gifts than your fellow thalassians. You gain the following benefits:

• One ability score of your choice increases by 1.
• You may choose an additional Gift of the Sea.

This feat may be taken multiple times. You may not choose the same gift more than once.

Variant Feature: Curse of the Sea

Some thalassians are not reborn so fortunately. This expanded option allows you to pick or be granted a themed detrimental trait to your character. If your DM is so kind, they may allow you another gift in exchange for this handicap.

Sightless

Your eyes have become pale and milky, if they even still exist anymore. You are under the permanent effects of the blinded condition. This condition can only be removed by means of powerful magic such as heal or wish, but its penalties can be subverted if you acquire an alternate means of perception.

Speechless

Your mouth is useless for speech, if you even have one anymore. You can no longer speak, although you can still understand language.

Sunless

The light of the sun is painful to you who have dwelled in the darkness for so long. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Water Breathing

Replaces Amphibious

You can only breathe water. Outside of water, you must hold your breath or begin suffocating.

Water Dependency

If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can only recover from this exhaustion through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.

5.00

(one vote)

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Races