New Races Preview

Half Elementals:

Basic Backstory: Attempts at creating approximations of elementals on the material plane using both magic from the elemental planes and chimerizations of pre-existing mundane animals, these groupings of species could be summarized as “a wizard did it,” but in fact do have more to then than that.

They were an experiment designed at exploring the nature of what makes a thing "extraplanar" and what makes it "at home" on a plane. Thusly, the concept was designed to create chimeric sentient species of various non-magical animals linked to the elements and use them as a "focus" for making the energy of the extraplanar "at home"

But, doing so requires money, and thusly they pitched the concept to an ancient empire, grand and mighty, who agreed on the condition that the species created be used as servants and troops. Slave species, more or less. Bereft of any other means of funding; mainly due to said empire choking them out, the wizards "agreed" in the same way one says "Nice owlbear" until one can find a blunt instrument. After all, they were experimenters playing in the domain of gods, but they had standards dammit! But, in true dubiously-duplicitous wizard fashion; they decided to go about it obliquely to make the race with their money now and make them free later.

Events passed afterwards differently in many settings, some with open rebellion and vicious persecution, some with them being dismissed as “failures” and a majority attempting to form their own enclaves alongside the Wizards, or simply slipping away slowly and becoming integrated into the population.

Either way, this is long in the past, and they have integrated into many different societies alongside small enclaves of their species, living as oddities in even worlds of magic. Which is perhaps why; as has been noticed by thinkers amongst themselves; so much of their actions rebellious; ambitions; are shaped to answer the question of “What do you do when the purpose of your creation was simply to exist?”

AQUANTO:
+2 Constitution
Ages: Roughly human lifespan,
Size: Medium,
Speed: Walking speed of 30, Swim speed of 30
Resists Fire Damage
Water Breathing: You may breathe in both water and air

Fluff: Pitched as aquatic scouts, these are by far the most common and most diverse of the species created by the Wizards thanks to the diversity inherent in sealife. So too were they the first to leave, thanks to a lack of ability to pursue them by the forces of the land-borne empires that created them; most of the other oceanic species not really giving a toss; and the land-borne empires hesitance to war with the very acquatic species the Aquanto were meant to serve as agents against.

Thanks to that head start, they have great underwater cities, strange and winding as if organically grown; thanks to this inherent start; with a cosmopolitan; scholarly bent; including all sorts of species if they can manage to avoid stabbing each other for five seconds. Which, to be fair, most of them can at least be bothered to do it quietly amongst the halls of commerce and knowledge, including even some aberrations that have some degree of tact.

While the search for meaning for many seems to be in the heart of their cities, others work elseways. There is a common phenomenon amongst them, enough so to elicit multiple neologisms varying by city, of leaving their cities to wander amongst the land-dwellers, in whose company they are relatively rare. Outsiders everywhere they go, and yet often those who wander attest that in that wandering they feel at home everywhere at the same time they are apart everywhere, because if nowhere is one’s home, everywhere is. A paradox, but a true enough one...

-:SUBRACES:-

Sarcadio
Fluff: While these sharklike stalwarts with gargantuan grins have an unfair reputation as vicious killers, and can be solid allies once you've gotten past their initial intimidation factor, one'd be loath to dismiss the ferocious fighting abilities, or the tendency for some of the yougner ones to "Fight first, ask questions later" when patrolling the open waters (Though many of them are embarassed by this)
+1 Str
Seafood Eat Food: You may increase your speed by ten in a turn if you make an attack immediately afterwards. You may only do this again after a short rest.
Starkbite: Your bite counts as a natural melee weapon dealing 1d8 piercing damage.
Streak Sharks: If an attack of opportunity is made towards you, you may make your own attack of opportunity.

Souccer
Fluff: Considered one of the most unsettling subspecies of the Aquanto, these unsettlingly noodly lamprey-like fellows are quite sociable and generous, but also seem to have a culturally overly-pragmatic streak and lack any aversion to things other sapients may be quite squeamish towards. Most are willing to learn to get along, but old habits die hard. I mean, it's not their fault other sapients are averse to common sense, but more work for them, they suppose.
+1 Dex
Parasite’s Play: You may take a Hit Die from any willing or incapacitated opponent to heal yourself. You may only do this once before a short rest
Shipman’s Slime- You may produce an amount of slippery slime giving you advantage on checks made to escape from physical incapacitation or grappling. You may only do this again after a long rest.
The slime may be stored, but it dries up after only one day, though it is plausible that the dried slime could be utilized in alchemy or as a spell component...
Remoron: You may adhere yourself to any surface you may reach and avoid movement and have advantage on any checks to avoid being forcibly removed.

Lectorii
Fluff: Meticulous, thoughtful, these electric eel/catfish-like Aquanto may tend to come off as smug at first. But, really, this is more a product of their intelligence combined with the fact that being intelligent doesn't mean you're particularly good at conveying information; especially to those who don't have the knowlege base one does from being naturally able to test many of their hypotheses. Tho, to their credit they do try...
+1 Int
Shocking Display: You may use the Shocking Grasp cantrip as a natural action using Constitution as the spellcasting stat. This is a natural ability, so it cannot be affected as magic
Electrosensitivity: You have blindsight of any object or organism with an electrical signature in a range of up to 30 feet.

Deepmyst
Fluff: Dwellers in the deep places of the world with strange, alien forms akin to other things that dwell within, the amount of time the Deepymyst spend isolated contemplating the mysteries of the deep is only eclipsed by the amount of time they like to spend sharing their discoveries with those willing to listen once they return to civilization. They seem quiet and aloof, but if one asks about their favored sub-subject of the mysteries of the deep they become regular chatterboxes!
+1 Wis
Water Wisdom: You may supernaturally change the flow, shape; color; movemement or opacity of up to a five foot cube’s worth of water for up to one hour, along with being able to boil or freeze it if there are no living creatures therein.
Glistening Gnosis: At level 3 you may create or destroy up to ten gallons of water; extinguish up to thirty feet of flames or disperse up to thirty feet of fog. You may only do this again after a long rest.
Shining Signs: You may light up your body as a light spell centered upon yourself.

Zekrab:
Fluff: These crustacean customers tend to culturally be gregariously mercantile to the extreme, often providing as many great bargains from those things they fish from the deep as they do total rip-offs. While they are often well-liked, they are rarely well-trusted, and there are dark and sinister rumors regarding who and what they traffic with. Though, these rumors must be taken with a grain of salt, given the notorious tendency for self-promotion and misguided aims.
+1 Cha
Carcinarmor: You have a natural armor of 13 + Constitution Modifier
Clawful Behavior: You may have a melee Claw attack dealing 1d10 bludgeoning, slashing or piercing damage (Choose one at creation) or a 60 foot ranged attack dealing 1d8 Sonic damage.
A Very Tricky Lobster: You gain proficiency in Deception or Persuasion.
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ORRVEN
+2 Str
Size: Medium
Speed: Walking speed of 25, Burrow speed of 25 feet through any dirt or soil loose enough to dig through a shovel
Pica Peckish/Crave That Mineral: You may eat any non-poisonous/poisoned/tainted soft soil or dirt (But not stone or metal) and be nourished as though it was food.

Backstory: Orrven were pitched mainly as laborers, and labor they did. Albeit, they labored away from the eyes of the creators on their own labors, and it came as little shock to those playing attention when they revealed the fruits of their efforts to either escape; or fortify.

They most often live amongst dwarves, to the point where they are often joked about as “honorary Dwarves,” and indeed there is a ring of truth to that with their long history . Though there are also those who delve deeper, going down into the bizarre depths where the world seems to fall apart; the strange mysteries and chimeric things an object of intense study.

Their spaces in those places are remarkably stable compared to the others, though falling to darker things still does happen now and then, a source of friction to those who have taken their purpose with the dwarves or others. Though, to those who seek unity with the stones and the things amongst them in their strangest places, it is a risk worth taking.

SUBRACES:
Yeoroki:
Fluff: These are considered the "archetypical" Orrven, with features akin to moles, burrowing lizards and gryptillodae. Their culture is known for its humility (Perhaps due to being the most Dwarf-influenced), often being quick to credit others for their deeds and to shift from the limelight; culturally preferring a sense of private pride at a job well done to personal glory. This often leads them to be valuable; loyal allies; but also often frustratingly enough, total doormats.
+1 Con
Beefy Burrowing: You may tunnel through solid stone at a speed of fifteen feet in non-combat scenarios.
Rock Climbing Joel: You have a climb speed of 15 Feet
Rockbiter: You may also eat stone and metal as if it were soft soil/dirt under the Pica Peckish feature. You may eat through walls of metal like this, but it is comparable to eating through a human very slowly eating through an equivalent wall of raw potato.

Usoch:
Fluff: These Orrven, bearing features of ants mole-rats and termites, are not as "dronelike" as they might seem at first. Their keen social awareness gives them a deep understanding of the dynamics of groups, and while there is a general cultural tendency for them to obey laws, there is also a tendency to understand when a culture and its laws are going awry.
This makes them trusted in some ways by the Dwarves as mediators within inter-clan disputes, though some corners distrust them for the reasoning that their social perception makes them duplicitous.
+1 Cha
Protect the Colony: You may Aid Another within 30 feet instead of within five
Sprays Well With Others: You gain proficiency in Diplomacy checks
Breathing In The Pheromones: You may also communicate from up to ten feet away without speaking with any creature who can smell things, though you must make a stealth check to avoid detection by others.

Vormiez-
Fluff: The strangest looking of all the subspecies due to their significant annelid anatomy, these Orrven are often distrusted by dwarves and even other Orrven due to their resemblance to the aberrations that call the underground places they live in and contemplate home. But, while their mindset is indeed often extremely strange, they are extremely compassionate and willing to help their fellows, but often it's in their own strange ways.
+1 Dex
Diggy Diggy Hole: You may magically excavate and move up to a five foot cube of any soil or earthen material loose enough to dig through with a shovel within thirty feet
Oh Wormsign? : You may alter the shape and color of up to five feet of any earth within thirty feet, including altering normal terrain into difficult terrain and vice-versa
Squirmy: You may fit in/move through spaces as if you were one size category smaller than you are.
---
PICRI
+2 Cha or Con
Size: Medium (But see Fireflight)
Speed: Walking speed of 30 (But see Fireflight)
Cold Shoulder: Vulnerable to cold damage. Resists fire damage.
Fireflight: When the artificial body of the Picri is killed, the Picri may escape it as a tiny creature with a quarter of its hit points and a natural weapon dealing 1d4 fire damage, It also gains a climb speed of fifteen.

You may also accomplish this egress if the body is not destroyed, taking approximately the same amount of time it requires to doff heavy armor, and re-enter once the goal is accomplished

Their larger bodies may be rebuilt for the costs listed in their subrace. While cheaper or more expensive bodies may be built for them utilizing each subrace is physically adapted for the bodies they originally have, and thusly loses the advantage of their original bodies for the time being but does not gain the advantages of the other types.

More expensive bodies may be altered for a 10% increase in price to allow for the abilities of those adapted to cheaper bodies to live, but the same is not true for cheap bodies being used by those accustomed to more expensive ones.

(Note, feel free to change the costs of such to fit the finances of your campaign, the costs of them relative to each other are what count)

Fluff: They were made out of the few animals associated with fire, IE Australian fire-hawks, bombadier beetles and Salamanders, hence why they came out so small and needed supplimentation due to the flaws such a small pool of mundane creatures to draw from caused.

This is why, out of all the experiments in the creation of Half-Elementals the usual response is “Well, we worked with what we had!” but also why their masters considered them the most successful, due to their inherent dependence on humans. Much to the consternation of most of the wizards.

Even after the commissioners fell, they still work mainly as servants of humanity because; well; where the hell else are they going to go? So, they toil like fires in the darkness, not slaves but still stuck, but keeping the flames alight in small ways.

Though, there are some who live freely of their armors, for all the terror within, because they desire freedom. Still there are others who are glad to lend a hand to efforts towards revolution and democracy because, after all, don’t most good revolutions start with a fire?

Clayfired
Fluff: The Picri with technically the "lowest" social status, they are ironically often the most contented specifically because of the fact that they are considered relatively low-born means they are subject to the least pressure to perform, and their cheap bodies mean they are able to maintain greater self-sufficiency than the other Picri.
Though, this only goes so far, given their lack of social status means they aren't allowed the access to do much to improve their lot, though they deeply class conscious due to the willingness of others to reveal themselves to those of such low status, and are often found if not at the heads of proletariat revolutions, then at least at their shoulders or nipples.
+1 Wis
Kin Of Kiln: You may heat up your body as a bonfire. Any antagonistic entities entering within five feet of you must make an opposed Constitution vs Con or Cha roll or take 1d6 points of damage.
While in combat this may only be maintained for one minute at most and may only be re-started after the same amount of turns have passed that it was used for. Outside of combat it has unlimited use. All flammable objects within the radius of this ability not being held by others are ignited.
Fire Foraging: You may cast Mending as a Cantrip on any object made of metal.
Cheap: Costs 10 GP to recreate body when destroyed.

Fireforged
Fluff: The most actively status-conscious of the Picri, the Fireforged are often passionate and helpful to a fault, trying to out-do their past deeds and the deeds of others forever and always, for hope of being treated as truly worthy of treatment as not even superiors; but simply equals. This leads to acts of great bravery and bravado, but also personalities that undervalue their own lives compared to others; often to tragic results; dying for those lords who never cared for them rather than living for those who do.
+1 Str
I Am Iron, Ma’am: You gain no benefit from wearing mundane armor, but you have a default AC of 11 + Strength + Your Class’ Proficiency Bonus
Beats Of Fire: Once per turn, you may add 1d4 fire damage to any spell or weapon attack you are using in place of a move action. This damage may also ignite unattended objects and objects covered in flammable materials
Costly: Costs 50 GP to recreate body when destroyed. Vulnerable to abilities that cause rust as armor.

Gilded
Fluff: Treated as accessories or as secretaries, these are often the most jaded of Picri, either collapsing into Oscar Wilde decadence in the neglect of their "lord's" attention beyond as a living bauble at parties, or cynicism at the bullshit, garbage politics of whatever idiots they have to serve as go-fers between for their own idiot. They are painfully aware of their disposability in the eyes of their lords, but most quickly learn to manuver about the dynamics that would lead to them being thrown away for-good; and even more quickly how stupid and petty the whole thing is.
While they often do not openly participate in revolution, their lords do seem to suffer quite a few "mysterious accidents" while such revolutions are in progress. But surely they just fell down the stairs. Onto some fire...
+1 Dex or Int
Flamethrower: May project a “blade” of flame that does 1d10 damage as a natural weapon. This flame may be alternately launched as a firebolt cantrip cast with Charisma or Constitution
Jetboost/Yeets of Fire: Can leap 15 feet as a move action.
Fire Mastery: you may control the shape and color of up to a five foot cube of fire within sixty feet for up to one hour. You may also double or halve its brightness, extinguish it or expand it by five more feet if there is fuel it can use.
Expensive: Costs 200 GP to recreate this body when destroyed. Targeted by all creatures that consume precious and semiprecious metals, and  is permanently fatigued if significant parts are stolen until these parts are replaced/repaired at a cost of 50 GP.

---
AEROSOUL:
+2 Dex
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 Walk/15 Fly when not in heavy or medium armor
Life Of Breath: You may produce breathable air within a radius of five feet.

Narrative: Aerosouls were created from all things flying as ideal scouts for the empire that created them. They were indeed good at scouting, that much was true. However they were also flighty, contrary and more than a little eccentric. It was little surprise when they fled, and little of value was considered lost.

These creatures mostly live solitarily or in families, as they are wide in range; so seeking their own kind is not much of a problem. Though, another part of this is likely that they are often so scatterbrained and unfocused that most doubt that they could maintain a small town; much less a city.

They are quick to make friends and aid those they care about, but also quick to make terrible; terrible decisions, which tends to leave them as the eccentrics of most groups that know about them. Even the elves of the forest which whom they are most often allied find them eccentric, while at the same time consistently citing them as valued allies.

When Aerosouls are asked what they think their purpose is, most often they gesture around and say, “This! All of this!” And, despite being the most bereft of dignity of all the Half-Elementals, they may have a point...

-SUBRACES-

Fleidraner:
Fluff: Known for their loopy flight and roundabout methods of everything, these bat/pterodactyl Aerosouls are considered the bruisers of the species. By which they mean they usually end up bruising themselves when they fly in through the nearest window, when there was a door RIGHT THERE. But they're usually okay. And their bizarre methods; though almost always the hard way; usually end up successful enough to be worth it. Usually.
+1 Con
Leathery Flight: You may retain your fly speed when in medium armor
Starkvision: You possess blindsight via echolocation. You cannot use this ability when deafened or in areas without sound.
Screeeeeee: You may use a deadly scream as a ranged spell attack akin to Fire Bolt; but replacing the fire damage with sonic damage and removing the chance to ignite and using your Con/Dex stat as the spellcasting statistic

Hobardie:
Fluff: There are angry little fuckers, and then there are these dudes. The angriest goddamn dragonfly/hummingbird-type humanoids around, these will fight anything, they'll kick your ass, they'll kick your pet drake's ass, they'll kick their own ass, you got an ass they'll fight it. After drinking; like; a gallon of mead. Gotta keep up their energy, yanno?
+1 Str
Tiny Little Fucker: Change size from medium to small.
Frantic Flight: Your fly speed is changed to a hover speed.
Dodgy Little Bastard: You do not provoke attacks of opportunity when moving away from enemies, but your movement speed is halved when you do.

Holloste:
Fluff: Graceful, beautiful, blending the most elegant features of flying raptors and lepidotera, as swift and and elegant as a moonbeam, but also approximately as ephemeral in thought. In other words: they're airheads. Many are quite intelligent, but theoretical intelligence is not the same as the ability to apply such, and their beauty and kindness often betrays the fact that most of them rarely have any idea what is going on at any given time.
Of course, when they are, they're eager to help. Sometimes maybe too eager. But, when a Holloste is focused, it is either the most reassuring or the most frightening thing in the world. Because, knowledge does not always indicate ability to apply itself...
+1 Int or +1 Cha
Feathered Flight: You gain a fly speed of thirty feet when not in medium or heavy armor
Butterfly Wings:  Within thirty feet, you may push an individual within thirty feet of you five feet if they fail a strength check, move an object weighing of five pounds  or less up to ten feet, or simply alter the color; movement; or shape of of up to a five foot cube of air.

Sarcadio -- less damage on the bite, Streak Sharks encourages them to move around a lot but their stats encourage them to stay in one place and be tanks
Souccer -- make parasite's play 1/sr
Lectorii -- you need a range limit on the blindsight, shocking display just needs to be the shocking grasp cantrip based off Con
Zekrab -- less damage, natural armor doesn't work like that in 5e (look at lizardfolk stats), take off the double bonus thing
Orrven -- burrow speed is like fly speed but even more powerful; let them burrow during overland travel but not in combat
Usoch -- that's not how aid another works in 5e; make it "you can aid another within 30 ft. instead of 5 ft." 1/short rest; just give 'em a Cha skill proficiency or two
Picri -- no hover speed anymore, you need to limit the number of actions that can be performed when flying, please also tell me that they can only fly when tiny
Clayfired -- less damage
Fireforged -- not how natural armor works anymore, look at warforged stats; give them some real-ass spells instead of Change All Damage Types
Gilded -- you want the produce flame cantrip instead of Flamethrower
Aerosoul -- please no base fly speed like that
Fleidraner -- look at the blindsight on actual bat statistics; scree needs to be the thunderclap cantrip or something