Need advice and criticism on four homebrewed character player races

[Laurefindel]

I am currently converting a homebrewed setting to 5th edition and require advice on some homebrewed character races. The setting started as an exercise where five races were randomly selected out of one hundred. These races were to be used as character races instead of the usual humans, elves, dwarves and the like.

The setting named Dark Woods (as a clin d’oeil to Dark Sun) features a continental-wide forest with an evil will, with the following races available as character races: Aasimar, Sprite, Girtabilu, Vegepygmy and a custom construct race as one of the “wildcard” result.

Aasimar is conveniently featured in the DMG, some of the others don’t even exist as official D&D monsters for 5th edition yet. Comments, observations and criticisms are welcomed.

[Laurefindel]

AUTOMATONS
Automatons are sentient clockwork constructs created by the aasimars. They are humanoid in appearance, often crafted to resemble the industrious gnomes of ancient Bytopia. But under their skin of beaten brass, thousands of gears and springs turn and churn as they move.

Automatons form the working caste and the main military force of the aasimar society. While most of them seem content with the life of toil and war they were made for, every now and then an automaton aspires to more independence and seeks a life for its own. These “rogue” automatons often become successful craftsmen, mercenary and independent traders.

Creating an automaton requires the finest craftsmanship and powerful divine rituals in which aasimar invest much time, skill and love. Despite the complexity of their constructions, automatons often outlive their creators. Within a typical settlement, automatons outnumber their aasimar masters by a ratio of two to one.

Spoiler: Automaton Traits

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Automaton Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.
Age. Automatons do not age; they are fully functional from the day of their construction. Rust and wear typically limit an automaton’s life expectancy to 200 years or so.
Alignment. Automatons tend to be lawful, finding comfort in an orderly and regulated lifestyle. A few aspire to the high ideals of their aasimar masters but most have a more neutral stance. Truly evil automatons are extremely rare.
Size. Automatons range from 4 to 5 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Living Clockwork. Even though you were constructed, you are considered a living humanoid creature. As a construct, you are immune to magical sleep and disease, and do not need to breathe, eat, drink or sleep. However, your clockwork mechanics need to be winded with a special key at least once a day during a long rest. Once fully winded, you can function for a maximum of 24 hours, after which you become paralysed until you get winded up again. Although you do not require sleep, you must finish a long rest to regain hit dice, spell slots and other abilities.
Skin of Bronze. Wooden and bronze plates protect your heart of gears and cogs. As long as you are not wearing any armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier.
Skillful. Automatons are usually built with a purpose in mind. You gain proficiency with one skill and one type of artisan’s tools of your choice to represent your profession.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Celestial. You can also understand and speak Pygmish due to your frequent rapports with vegepymies. Of all the people of the dark woods, you are the only one other than vegepygmies to be able to speaking this non-verbal language.

[Laurefindel]

GIRTABLILU
Girtablilu are a group of deformed female aasimars born with the lower body of a large scorpion instead of normal hips and legs. They live in a secret kingdom of their own, honing their skills with bows and spears like the fabled Amazons of Arborea. The name girtablilu is used to define both an individual of that race and their organization as a whole. It also refers to the curse to which they owe their monstrous appearance.

The girtablilu curse harkens back to the aasimar civil war and still persists to this day. The curse only seems to affect female newborns, usually killing the mother during birth. In olden days, these monstrous babies were slain or abandoned at birth, but a few were raised in secret. Over times, it became customary to hand-over these cursed offspring to other girtablilu until they formed a society of their own.

The girtablilu regularly trade with the aasimars of Excelsior, but friendship between the two races is considered taboo. Forbidden from entering the city, the girtablilu have erected a small enclave outside the gates of Excelsior where they exchange goods and news, and were cursed newborns are brought by their mourning fathers.

Spoiler: Girtablilu Traits

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Girtablilu Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1, and your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Girtablilu reach adulthood in their early twenties and live up to 150 years old. Girtablilu do not reproduce; they are born of aasimar parents as a result of an ancient curse.
Alignment. Girtablilu can be of any alignment, but their unwelcomed origin and resentful nature cultivate the darker side of their soul.
Size. Girtablilu average around 5 feet tall with an equally long scorpion body. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Thanks to your aasimar blood, you have superior vision in dark and dim 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 grey.
Claw. Instead of a weapon attack, you can make a claw attack with your proficiency bonus. A claw deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier and the target is grappled (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + you Strength modifier) as long as it is not larger than yourself. You have two claws, each of which can grapple only one target.
Stinger. Instead of a weapon attack, you can make a stinger attack with your proficiency bonus. The stinger deals piercing damage equal to 1d8 + your Strength modifier, and the target must make Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + you Strength modifier), taking 2d8 points of poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a short rest, although you can make any number of stinger attacks (without the poison effect) thereafter. Once you reach 3rd level, your poison damage increases to 3d8 and from 5th level and on, your poison damage increases to 4d8.
Chitin Armor. The lower portion of your body is covered in thick chitinous plates. When you aren’t wearing any armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Celestial and Ophidian.

[Laurefindel]

SPRITES
Sprites are a race of tiny winged humanoids native to the Dark Woods. Despite their small size and their weak stature, they are surprisingly apt predators prove to be combative preys; what they lack in brute strength, the sprites make it in tactics, agility and sheer numbers.

Sprites live in tribes ranging from a few dozen to thousands of individuals. Smaller tribes are usually led by an exceptionally strong warrior or particularly wise shaman, while larger tribes are usually governed by a primitive form of aristocracy. Most still live the feral, primitive lifestyle that the grandfathers of their grandfathers had for thousands of years, but some have become civilized under the influence of their celestial neighbors.

As a race, the sprites are both light and darkness, but individual tribes usually tend toward one or the other. They venerate nature through four of its aspects. The Eater of Flesh incarnates the merciless and predatory nature of beasts, while the entropic nature of the Dark Woods is represented as the Endless River of Worms. The Sprout Signer is the spark of life that allows seeds to germinate and urges beasts to mate, but birth and growth themselves are rather the manifestation of the Painter of Life. Every tribes adopt one of these aspect as their patron deity.

Spoiler: Sprite Traits

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Sprite Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2. As a Tiny creature, your Strength score may never be higher than 6.
Age. Sprites reach adulthood after three years and can live up to century.
Alignment. Sprites are a free and chaotic race but depending on their tribe, they can be very benevolent or wickedly cruel.
Size. Sprites measure less than a foot in height and rarely weight more than 5 pounds. Your size is Tiny.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 feet. You can also fly with a speed of 40 feet. As long as you have the ability to move, you can hover and fly backward effortlessly.
Invisibility. You can fly with a fast, erratic movement that is tremendously hard to track. In addition, your small size makes it easy for you to hide. You can use an Action to become invisible until you attack, cast a spell, or until your concentration ends. This ability is non-magical but is otherwise identical to an invisibility spell. You can use this ability at will.
Diminutive. You can’t manipulate weapons or tools made for larger creatures. Every weapon manufactured for your size uses the dagger statistics, including the dagger’s listed range for bows and thrown weapons. However, you can move through the space and out of reach of any creature without provoking opportunity attacks.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Sylvan, and one other language among the following: Celestial, Pygmish, Goblin, Bullywug and Harpy.

Subrace. There are four kinds of sprites, based on which aspect of nature their tribe has adopted as patron deity. These four aspects are known as The Eater of Flesh, The Endless River of Worms, The Painter of Life and The Sprout Signer. Choose one of these subraces.

Spoiler: Eater of Flesh Subrace

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The Eater of Flesh
Tribes of sprites venerating The Eater of Flesh emphasize on feral instincts, the trill of hunting and the crueler aspects of nature. Clerics following The Eater of Flesh must select the Tempest domain.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1,
Darkvision. Your predatory instincts give you superior vision in dark and dim 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 grey.

Spoiler: River of Worms Subrace

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The Endless River of Worms
Tribes of sprites venerating The Endless River of Worms emphasize on the rotting, decaying and entropic aspect of nature. Yet, from putrefaction emerge the nutriments necessary for life to grow, teaching that every end is a new beginning. Clerics following The Endless River of Worms must select the Knowledge domain.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Worm’s Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against disease and poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.

Spoiler: Painter of Life Subrace

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The Painter of Life
Tribes of sprites venerating The Painter of Life emphasize birth, growth and the nurturing aspect of nature. Clerics following The Painter of Life must select the Nature domain.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Camouflage. The Painter of Life inspires you to wear, scents, colors and patterns that blend in a multitude of environments. You are proficient with Dexterity (Stealth) and you have advantage on such checks. In addition, you can attempt to hide even from creatures that can see you and without being lightly or heavily obscured.

Spoiler: Sprout Singer Subrace

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The Sprout Singer
Tribes of sprites venerating The Sprout Singer emphasize on joy, pranks, songs and the initial ‘spark’ that creates life. Clerics following The Sprout Singer must select the Trickery domain.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1,
Heart Sight. The Sprout Signer allows you to read a creature’s soul. If you spend at least 1 minute observing and interacting with another creature outside combat, you learn certain information about its nature. The DM tells you two of the creature’s following characteristics of your choice:
• The present emotional state of the creature.
• Whether the creature is Good, Neutral, Evil or Unaligned.
• Whether the creature is an animal, a nature spirit, one of the free people or one of the people bound by the Dark Woods.
• Whether the creature is polymorphed, wild shaped or somehow magically disguised.
• Whether the creature is knowingly and deliberately lying or making an effort in honesty.
• Whether the creature is acting with benevolent or malevolent intention.
• Whether the creature feels intimidated or confident.

[Laurefindel]

VEGEPYGMIES
Vegepygmies are short humanoid-looking creatures living in small communities all across the Dark Woods. Their head looks dried and shrunken, and fungus tendrils dangle from their arms, waist and legs. But despite their resemblance with humanoid creatures, vegepygmies are in fact sentient plants creatures with a distinctly different metabolism. Among those differences, vegepygmies have no vocal cords and cannot speak; their language consists entirely of rhythmic clicks, taps and beats.

Vegepygmies are born out of humanoids that died while affected by russet mold’s spores, which in the Dark woods means virtually everyone. As long as the corpse is left undisturbed by predators and unexposed to direct sunlight, up to six vegepygmies emerge from the remains within three days. Vegepygmies demonstrate a macabre reverence for their “birth corpse”, carrying grisly mementos such as bones, teeth and bits of garments or jewelry as their main form of ornament and source of materials.

The vegepygmies see the russet mold as a blessing and a holy manifestation of the Will of the Dark Woods, a deity that they venerate as a single, nameless entity. Unlike most other plants and beasts however, vegepygmies do not act with the usual malice or cruelty of the Dark Woods, and thus are considered one of the free people of the land.

Spoiler: Vegepygmy Traits

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Vegepygmy Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1, and your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Vegepygmies reach adulthood in a few days only, inheriting the knowledge of their race as they are born. Vegepygmies can live up to 50 years old.
Alignment. Vegepygmies tend to be neutral in alignment. They can be concerned without being callous or forgiving, and also don’t quite understand the concepts of order and insurrection.
Size. Vegepygmies grow to 2 feet tall in a matter of days after their birth. From then on, they grow steadily but slowly as they age until they reach just above 4 feet tall. Your size is Small.
Speed. Vegepygmies are fleet of foot despite their size. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Plant Creature. Vegepygmies are plant rather than humanoids. As such, you are immune to spells with the word ‘Person’ in their title and other effect targeting humanoid creatures.
Mold Resilience. Your plant metabolism makes you less vulnerable to disease and poisons. You have advantage on saving throws against disease and poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
Darkvision. You have superior vision in dark and dim 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 grey.
Natural Armor. Mossy tendrils give you some basic protection. When you are not wearing any armor, your AC is 11 + your Dexterity modifier.
Languages. Vegepygmies do not speak. Their language called Pygmish consists of rhythmic clicks and taps which characters of other races may learn but cannot ‘speak’. Pygmish has no written form but vegepygmies paint and carve basic hieroglyphic symbols that they use for warnings and navigation. You also understand Sylvan, although you cannot speak it.