Yeti (5e Race)

Yeti

There lives a race of humanoids among the snows in the high mountain ranges. There are stories both of monsters and intelligent, compassionate members among them.

Physical Description

Yetis are a hulking race of humanoids who live in cold climates. They have thick, snow white fur to help them blend in with the snows. Their arms are longer in proportion to their body, making them resemble a large ape. They are taller than humans and the shortest known yeti was still at least six and a half feet. They have big soles that are thickly skinned for walking in the cold snow. Encounters with yeti largely tell of two variations in the race. One has a monstrous face, circular with small black beady eyes, flaring nostrils, and a wide circular mouth rimmed with teeth. The other has a more human face, alike to a chimpanzee.

Yetis do not commonly wear clothes, as their fur is all the warmth they usually need. However, their faces, hands, and feet are not covered, showing their dark grey skin. Their hand are tough like their feet and have thick nails as humans do on their fingers and toes. Young yeti are born with pink skin which eventually greys as they get older. Yeti have red eyes and the whites of their eyes are yellow.

History

Yetis have long existed in the frosty terrains of high altitudes and snowy crags. Some call them abominable snowmen due to their sometimes horrifying visage and habitat. They are known historically for being either friendly to those lost in the freak blizzards, or absolutely ravenous monsters who prey on unwary travelers for flesh. It is now known the two subraces of yeti are responsible for this dichotomy. Molochs are the yetis who crave flesh and are known to attack people. They are known by their ghostly howls on nights of snowstorms, when they creep up on prey and tear them to shreds with their jagged teeth. They are sometimes known to incite avalanches for fun with raucous yelling. Ape yetis are more peaceful and benevolent and have been known to help those who are lost. They have invited many a weary traveler to rest among their dens. This is one of the main interactions from which knowledge of the yeti is gained.

From yeti oral lore, they were once hairless creatures roaming a land without cold. Their hairless ancestors' habitats were destroyed by the ravages of neighboring wars and so they fled to the mountains. To avoid freezing to death, they pled to the spirits of the Elemental Plane of Ice. In exchange for taking on a solitary lifestyle, isolated from others, the yetis gained the traits needed to survive the cold. They are forever bound to the icy ranges they call home. Some time after this event, the yeti race diverged due to a legend about how one group of yeti committed the crime of cannibalism. The accused claimed it was out of necessity, as they were starving, and so drew lots to decide who to eat. This horrified the community, who exiled them. According to legend, this transgression marked those exiled yeti forever, making them resemble monsters for having eaten their own flesh and blood. Those are the molochs.

Society

Yetis form tribes of few individuals that move as a unit. Usually, there is an elder chief who acts as a shaman, prayer leader, diplomat, and chaplain for those who follow. Tribes claim portions of mountains as their own to roam and are highly territorial. They often occupy frigid caves as homes. Yeti individuals may often roam about alone, being rather solitary. Individual space is a value for yetis over social cohesion. When roaming, they look for food among the snows. Being omnivorous, they can eat lichens and vegetation from the lower tundras or hunt for animals. In the direst of times, they may resort to eating travelers they find. Cannibalism, however, is, by nonverbal consensus, taboo.

The moloch and ape yetis are very adverse to one another. Apes see molochs as barbarians who break their rules of conduct. Molochs despise the hoity-toity manner of the apes, who view themselves culturally superior. There is also a feud existing from a rumored moloch who devoured another yeti out of hunger. This drove a wedge between the two subraces and they have been in separate tribes ever since. Where molochs are much more solitary hunters who love to prey on travelers, ape yetis like to meditate and pass down oral history. Apes are able to tolerate the presence of flames, whereas molochs are much more like beasts and are horrified by fire light.

Religion and Philosophy

A specific yeti deity is not known, but yeti are often seen meditating intensely. Ape yetis, in particular, gather in large circles to meditate in unison. They are very attuned to nature and believe in its potency in medicine. To be closer to nature, they thus are usually naked in their fur and meditate in verse to connect with the energies of ice and snow. Molochs are not as fastidious with meditation, though they do meditate in private, usually after a good meal.

Yetis believe in a quiet existence of minimalism and so do not like gaudy or overly extravagant things. Their story is thus passed only in oral tradition, so they need not write, though they are highly intelligent to know the Common language of the occasional traveler. A quiet existence invites introspection, wisdom, and an appreciation for simplicity, which is a philosophic virtue of yeti culture.

Yeti Names

Yeti names are not gendered and usually use a tongue that sounds a lot of "ti", "toh", "te", and "teh" sounds. They are unable to pronounce words with consonants strung together like "tch." The "r" sound is often inaudible.

Yeti Names: Angte, Chamba, Dokati, Jangbu, Pelur, Sanite, Kangbi, Metoh

Yeti Traits

Abominable snowmen. Apelike hunters who live in mountain peaks.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Yetis mature faster than humans and are adults by the age of 9. Yetis live to be about 200 years old.
Alignment. Yetis are primal yet intelligent. They are typically chaotic or neutral.
Size. Yetis are much larger than any human, averaging 7 feet in height and 400 pounds in weight. 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.
Snowvision. Snowy weather doesn't obscure your vision. You never have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks because of such conditions.
Snowshoes. You do not treat snow or ice as difficult terrain.
Snow Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide while in snowy terrain.
Fur Coat. Yeti fur keeps you warm but is flammable. You are resistant against cold damage. If you take fire damage you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of your next turn.
Languages. You can speak Common but you can't read or write.
Subrace. Choose from the Moloch and Ape subraces.

Moloch

The more animalistic half of the yeti race. They have a fearsome appearance like the stuff of nightmares, with sharp long teeth and nails. They are known to be savage hunters, fast and deadly. When they fancy it, they like to frighten the daylights out of creatures with otherworldy shrieks and howls which can cause avalanches.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Claws. Your long claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Dexterity modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Ape

The wizened counterparts of molochs are like sages of the cold. They are much more human-like and meditative.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Meditative State. You don’t need to sleep. Instead, you meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
Inner Tempo. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
7′ 10''	+1d12	550 lb.	× (2d8) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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