Playable Underwater Race: Nereids (PEACH, WIP)

[Steel Mirror]

Welcome to the next in my ongoing attempts to make fun, unusual, and balanced races for 5E. These are the nereids (singular nereid), an aquatic race related to elves who rule the seas and waterways of the world from vast and ancient aquatic nations. Sky-breathers once dismissed them as savages because they couldn't see their cities or swim their busy trade currents. As surface civilizations grew in size and technology, they began to threaten the delicate balance of the seas. They took more than the ocean could replenish, and fouled the waters with their industry. The nereids finally took it upon themselves to teach surface folk some respect for the deep.

Nereids can survive out of the water, but they need lots of hydration to make it bearable, and most never bother to make the effort. Some iconoclasts become curious about the surface world, are sent as envoys from the Deep Nations, or are taken as slaves by surface dwellers and put to work. When it comes down to it, nereids are motivated by the same sorts of things that motivate anyone, but on land they will always be a little out of place, a fish out of water.

Nereids

Artist Credit: Igor Kieryluk (deviantart) enclave elite
Owned by Wizards of the Coast

Spoiler: Fluff

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Nereids are a complex people made up of many races and nations. But much like you could get a bizarre view of land-bound society if the only individuals you ever saw were fisherman, landfolk only get to see a small subset of nereids- a subset made up of those warriors or free spirits who find business with the surface world, and those unlucky enough to be nabbed by surface raiders and raised in a life of slavery.

A nereid resembles a streamlined elf with webbed toes and fingers, fins that fold flat along their forearms and calves when they are out of the water, and bluish or greenish skin that is smooth and slick like a dolphin’s. Their facial features are sharp, with pointed ears and large eyes adapted to see underwater. They can speak in intelligible Aquan when underwater, a language that sounds similar to whalesong sped up, but their mouths are also capable of breathing above the water and speaking in surface tongues (though few ever bother to learn any).

A Different World

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Nereids live beneath the waves in a world all their own. They have their own societies, histories, and gods that hardly intersect with the world above. While humans mingle with elves and dwarves, nereids coexist with merfolk, dolphins, and undine. They fight skirmishes with sahuagin and morkoth, make treaties with mighty kraken, and drive magalodons from their fishing waters. Some estimate that undersea folk in fact outnumber the combined throngs of those who live above the waves, and with so little contact between the two worlds it is hard to prove the case one way or the other.

Nereids live in a house-based society, with each house roughly devoted to a particular job in society. Each house also has a totem animal from which the house members are said to draw inspiration and strength. Nereids choose which house to swear themselves to when they reach the age of adulthood, 100 years (to the day, though they use a lunar calendar to reckon years). Before this time they traditionally spend many years exploring a number of houses and professions, and adventurers are usually drawn from those nereids undergoing this extended young adulthood.

Unlike most sea peoples, nereids are perfectly capable of living outside of the water (though it is about as uncomfortable for them as an elf attempting to live underground). Most never bother. What is the point? They have everything they could want or need in the ocean, and the surface is the domain of barbarians.

Clashes with Land Dwellers

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In fact it is an unfortunate truth that the majority of encounters between nereids and surface dwellers are deadly, or at least unpleasant. In some places, especially those where land society is small and coexists with the sea rather than exploiting it, there can be peaceful relations, even trade. Legends of nereids saving fishermen lost at sea, even falling in love with them, usually come from such idyllic locales, especially the coral reef homes of the halia nereids.

But these fairytale encounters are rare and, for most sailors, you are much more likely to be drowned by a passing nereid than saved. In older times, landfolk thought of the nereids as rarities, or as savages with no more organization than a band of goblin thieves. For their part, nereids saw land people as distant irrelevances crippled by an inability to breathe proper water. But as canoes turned into triremes and fishing lines into trawler nets, the nereids and their allies were forced to respond decisively before their ocean home was despoiled. Hundreds of years of skirmishes and piracy followed.

Nereids Above the Waves

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So why would a nereid leave its home? The most straightforward reason is to serve as an envoy to the surface with a particular mission, perhaps to deliver a message to a queen, or to seek justice for crimes committed by a surface-dweller. Such nereids tend to be disdainful of land dwellers. They have brittle prides and passionate tempers, but they are usually honorable. A nereid warrior’s ethos leads her to disregard insults by those that she considers below her in martial prowess, while demanding violent satisfaction for disrespect shown by a near-equal. In fact, a nereid warrior choosing to ignore a provocation is a calculated insult in itself; disregarding someone’s insolence implies that they are so insignificant that they deserve no attention.

Other nereids adventure because they have been banished from their home, to look for knowledge on land that can’t be found at sea, to repay a debt they owe to someone, or to simply make a living as a mercenary. Some unfortunate nereids are taken by land-dwellers during skirmishes at sea and then sold inland as slaves, where they are particularly valued as fishing slaves or to harvest aquatic resources like herbs or pearls. Escaped slaves may not know how to get home, or nereids from the ocean might be encountered as they search for a loved one who was taken inland into slavery.

Nereids have a distinctive appearance and customs that are strange to those who live on land, and in coastal regions especially there is plenty of bad feeling toward a race known for striking suddenly and enigmatically and then fading beneath the waves without a trace. Inland they actually have an easier time. Their unusual appearance may draw plenty eyes, but there are fewer who have reason to hold a grudge against nereids, or even know what they are. nereids on the surface often complain about how heavy the air makes them feel, how dry and bright the sun is, and how wind dries out their skin. They find many surface customs strange including, curiously, the concept of cooking food. Underwater there are few chances to light fires, so almost all classic nereid cuisine is done raw.

Nereid Names

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Nereid names can only properly be pronounced by someone who is fluent in Aquan and, ideally, underwater. On land they may use versions of their names mauled and flattened to fit an airbreather’s tongue, or they may adapt new ones altogether. Traditionally Nereid names form a short poem or evocative phrase, a custom observed faithfully by halia and stygian nereids but falling slowly out of favor among the cosmopolitan pelagians.
Male Names: Drake, Typhon
Female Names:
Clan Names: Aaruobua (hammerhead shark), Bogborru (island turtle), Mimu (seahorse), Obrollidli (orca), Ugurruba (octopus), Zyllyxtyx (gulper eel)

Spoiler: Nereids Traits

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Nereid Traits

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Nereids living on the surface are the most adventurous and daring of their kind. Separated from their society and immersed in a land where many are hostile to their kind, they either have to be friendly and disarming enough to make friends wherever they go, or be badass enough that nobody can afford to give them trouble.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Age. Nereids are theorized to be distant relations to elves, and they have the long lifespans to back it up. Nereids reach adult size within about 20 years of being born, but are only acknowledged as adults once they reach 100 years of age and choose a clan and an adult name. They can live to about 700 years of age.
Alignment. Nereids in their homewaters tend toward complacency and orthodoxy, and are often lawful. Travelling nereids on the surface are more likely to be risk-takers and outcasts of some stripe, and so tend towards chaotic alignments. Morality-wise they are as diverse as humanity, and there are very good, very evil, and neutral members of the race to be found.
Size. Nereids are slightly taller than humans, but tend to be thinner and weigh less than a human of the same height. An exception is the pelagians, who are built more solidly even than the average human, and stygians, who range in height from 4 and a half to 6 feet tall. All nereids are medium sized.
Speed. Nereids walk awkwardly, but swim with graceful ease. Your walking speed is 25 feet, but you have a swim speed of 40 feet.
Languages. Most nereids don’t bother to learn any surface languages, but travellers are an exception. Nereids speak, read, and write Aquan and one other language of their choice.
Aquatic. Nereids are at home in the water, though they can survive outside it. You can breathe underwater. While not immersed, you must drink about 4 times as much per day as a human or become dehydrated, suffering disadvantage to dexterity checks (including initiative rolls).
Slippery Customer. Nereids have especially smooth and slick skin, the better to escape the ocean's many predators. You have advantage on saves made to avoid being grappled or restrained, and advantage on checks made to escape being held, shackled, or otherwise physically bound.
Subrace. Nereids are divided into many subraces based on what aquatic region each people has colonized. Halia nereids live nomadically in the coastal shallows where the sea gives way to land, pelagians live in the open ocean in grand cities, and stygians lurk in the deepest parts of the deep ocean.

Spoiler: Subraces

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Halia Nereids

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Artist Credit: Austin Hsu - Merfolk Looter
Owned by Wizards of the Coast

The halia nereids call the coral reefs and kelp forests of shallow seas their homes. They are primarily nomadic, though they may build semipermanent villages out of coral where they can gather on days of special significance, and to trade with their more organized deep water brethren.

Halia nereids are the most likely to have peaceful dealings with surface folk. They are known for their exquisite coral crafts, for tending vast herds of seals and manatees, and for their knowledge of medicinal and magical applications of exotic reef organisms. They are fun-loving, mischievous, and curious, but when provoked can be ferocious. They gravitate towards being rogues, bards, and other classes for whom mischief and exploration come easily.

Halia nereids are cheerfully colored, with aqua to light purple skin and paler colors running down their front. Their fins are tipped in little bony points, which produce a small amount of poison that the nereids use for self defense.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Ocean Forager. When making a Survival check to find food in an aquatic environment such as the sea, a river, or a swamp, you may add twice your proficiency bonus instead of any proficiency bonus that would normally apply.
Poisonous Spines. Halia secrete small amounts of poison from their fin spines. As a bonus action, you may transfer this poison to a weapon that you are wielding by setting aside a single one of your hit dice (it is now considered used, and unavailable for any other purpose). The next time you damage an enemy with that weapon, roll the expended hit dice and deal the result to the target as poison damage in addition to your normal hit. A weapon can only be imbued with a single use of the Poisonous Spines ability at a time, and the poison becomes inert if not used within 1 hour.
If an enemy strikes you with a melee natural weapon, you may use your reaction to make an unarmed melee attack roll against it (using your normal proficiency and ability modifier for such an attack). On a hit, you expend and roll 1 hit die as poison damage instead of the normal damage for your unarmed attack.
When you reach level 6 you may expend an additional hit die when using Poisonous Spines (max 2), and you may expend another upon reaching level 11 (max 3) and 17 (max 4).

Pelagians

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Artist Credit: Eric Deschamps - Merfolk Seastalkers
Owned by Wizards of the Coast

Pelagians are by far the most numerous of the nereid races. They are the ones who have built grand underwater cities, and who live in them as scholars and warriors, commoners and priest-kings. Since their cities are built into the seabed, most pelagians spend little time near the surface, where they might see passing ships from below or meet sailors. The average pelagian has everything he needs at the bottom of the ocean, and gives as little thought to exploring the surface world as a halfling farmer thinks about visiting the Elemental Chaos.

Pelagians often have a deep sense of honor and duty, though plenty of rogues and scoundrels ignore the old ways. Upright and martially inclined pelagians tend to be paladins and fighters, though they have a strong tradition of warlocks who serve the Deep Gods as well.

Pelagians are tall, statuesque, and tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves, with little desire or ability to mask their emotions. Their skin is usually blue to green, with reds, yellows, purples, and more decorating their fins and ventral stripes.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Heirs to Empire. Pelagians have carved enduring nations from an ocean swimming with hostile sea monsters and powerful rivals. Some of this is thanks to the force of their arms, some is due to the sheer power of their personalities. When you roll a Charisma check, you treat any result on the die from 1-5 as though you had rolled a 6.
Supremacy. Pelagians are natural commanders and organizers. When an ally other than yourself within 20 feet hits an enemy with an attack that deals damage, you may spend a reaction to allow him to reroll the damage. If he chooses to do so, he must take the new result, even if it is lower than the original.

Stygians

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Artist Credit: satiiva (deviantart) - image

Stygians hail from the deepest parts of the ocean, the frigid trenches where no sunlight ever reaches and monsters have grown huge and bizarre even by the standards of the generally terrifying oceans. As a result, stygians are reserved and subtle, preferring to stand back and watch rather than take rash action. When they must act, they prefer sudden attacks and overwhelming surprise.

Stygians are the rarest of the subraces of nereids, and almost unknown on the surface. Their mysterious nature and striking appearance fuels their reputation for powerful sorcery and mastery of arts unknown to the rest of the world. Stygian sorcerers and warlocks are feared and revered throughout the oceans, but just as legendary are their avenging assassins and bards who sing lonely, beautiful songs in the swallowing deeps.

They have blue skin so dark that they are almost black, with grey on their chests and stomach. Stygians’ bodies are decorated with luminescent spots that run under their eyes, down the sides of their necks and backs, and to the ends of their limbs. They also have luminescent tips on the end of their hair, which can make for a particularly entrancing display in the lightless depths they call home.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity and Charisma scores increase by 1. This is in addition to the normal Ability Score Increase for nereids, meaning that the total increase is +2 Charisma and +1 Dexterity.
Bioluminescent Magic. At first level you can recreate the effects of the Light cantrip, targeting only yourself, as your luminescent spots glow in otherworldly blue radiance. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Enthrall spell once per day, replacing the audible effects with visual patterns on your skin and hair. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast Blur once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Darkvision. Accustomed to life in the inkiest of dark depths, you have superior vision in dark conditions. 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.

Naiads

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Artist Credit: kamanwilliam- shallow water

Naiads are a freshwater subrace of the nereid species, but geography and culture has separated the two for so long that they barely consider themselves related. Naiads look more human than their ocean-dwelling brethren, and spend more time with land dwellers, sometimes even living freely among them.

In times past or in certain regions there has been tension, leading to battles between naiads and landfolk and giving rise to legends of beautiful water creatures tricking men and women into drowning. Yet while nereids can stay in their deep ocean homes and remain untroubled by surface folk, that is less of an option for a people populating comparatively shallow rivers and lakes. Naiads today trade with land society, travel on land to conduct business or to see the world, even join terrestrial kingdoms and make alliances. In some of the busiest cities in the world you can see naiad wasabi radish farmers rubbing shoulders with dwarven caravanners, gnome chroniclers, and centaur mercenaries.

Naiads have human skin colors, often tinged with blues and greens. They have fins like any nereid, though outside of the water they fold down and so could be obscured by clothing, or missed by someone giving only a cursory examination.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2 and your Charisma scores increases by 1. This is in addition to the normal Ability Score Increase for nereids, so the total increase is +2 Intelligence and +2 Charisma.
Enticing Melody. Naiads are famed for their beautiful voices, which in more savage times were used to lead credulous land-dwellers to a watery death. You are proficient with the Perform skill and with the instrument Voice (Singing).
Effortless Appeal. The minnow relies on its speed for defense, the turtle on its shell, the squid on its ink. Naiads rely on their cunning and on their natural ability to charm and misdirect people who might otherwise do them harm. You may add half your proficiency bonus to any Charisma check you make that does not already include your proficiency bonus.

As always, I appreciate any and all observations, questions, suggestions, and nitpicks!