Voxel (5e Race)

Author: Midwinter Hunt. (talk) Date Created: Jan 18th 2021. Status: Ongoing idea. Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Voxel

The layer of water on the forest floor barely even has a ripple as the tall grass gently shifts. A young girl stalks quietly on all fours to keep low and avoid the gaze of predators. Her dark eyes always alert, she expertly slips deeper into the woods where she can find the rare resources to craft a new spear. She pauses, and her ear twitches as she hears a small splash. Her and the big cat take off at the same time, and chase of hunter and hunted. But the young voxel was ready, and leads the cat to a cliff, jumping up and over the concealed trap. She ascends toward her goal, leaving the predator in a snare that it may or may not eventually escape from. 

The voxel are adept at matching their environment as they evolved from prey animals, and are still affected by that. They are obligate herbivores, so their diet must consist of plant life. They are semi-bipedal, so they sometimes move on all fours. They are faster when running on four legs, so they only walk on two legs when they are relaxed and just casually strolling or jogging.

Appearance

A small, slender race of semi-aquatic mammals. They are usually the minty or teal colors of their planet, with digitigrade legs, almost hoof-like toenails, and padded hands designed for running on all fours. They have non-prehensile tails that are at least the length of the rest of their body. They have thick manes of hair that go down the center of their backs, as well as the tips of their tails. The males’ manes also wrap around and grow partially down the chest. They have brightly colored stripes that change value based on mood, brighter saturations for heightened emotions, pastels for passive states, pale and de-saturated for frightened or stressed states, and darker shades for aggression. The specific pattern of the stripes are unique to each individual, and are an important part of how they identify each other. Their base skin color gradually changes to match their environment. A full change in color can take a few weeks.

Their average height is four feet tall, and average weight is 80 lbs.

Calculated Height: 3’9” +1d6 Calculated Weight: 75 lbs +1d10

Personality

Voxel tend to be more cautious, do to their need to avoid natural predators. They are taught from a young age to avoid unnecessary risks. This should not be mistaken for cowardice, as they are more than ready to do what they have to to keep their community safe.

Others who know about this race tend to view them as weak and afraid, often leading to voxel being underestimated. While not all assumptions are baseless, thinking that every voxel can be intimated will quickly bring your end.

Voxel are friendly to a lot of other races, but will usually be tense around predatory races such as dragonborn or catfolk.

Living Environment

For Scki-Fi: Their entire planet is covered in a thin layer of water. And plantlife tends to be teal or minty colored rather than green. While there are still oceans, lakes, and rivers, and even small patches of dry land, basically the entire planet has about six inches to three feet of water. There are billions of species of life on the planet, but most notably is that fact that megafauna are still widespread and flourishing. With many natural predators that attack the people here.

Their buildings are all elevated and there are strong barriers around all towns, as well as raised paths within and outside of towns.

For Fantasy: They make their home in marshes and swamplands, as well as flocking to rivers, lakes, and reefs. They are skilled at building out onto the surface of the water, and keep their towns well fortified again wild animals.

Voxel Names

Names are given to children when they begin to exhibit a strong personality. And a Name Granting Ceremony is a massive celebratory event in a child’s life, and it is when they are considered a member of society. Many children are old enough to help decide on their own names when it is granted, others who are too young or who can’t decide have their name chosen for them by their parents and the town elder. Either way, a name is both a praising of who they are as a person, and a blessing that they will always have positive traits throughout their life.

Clan names come from notable heads of your clan, and deeds they did in the past. It’s a way of showing what legacy you have from your ancestors. It is possible to become the head of your own new clan if you are granted one after showing a great feat of heroism, but that is very rare and something most people will only see happen once in their lifetime. Let alone accomplish it for themselves. Oftentimes, a voxel will go on adventure seeking a name for themselves in an effort to create their own clan. All names are gender-neutral.

Given Names: Liithal, Tyrannie, Braive, Allirt, Colm, Brite, Corrage, Dynamick, Fathe, Kynd, Kwiet, Shye, Reddy, Offal, Fancie, Gental, Mystie, Zanie

Clan Names: Empty-Walker, Ivol-Eater, Longstrider, Flyer

Voxel Traits

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Creature Type. Humanoid

Ability Score Increase. Dexterity +2

Age. While they reach physical maturity at 14 years, they are considered adolescent as soon as they are given a name (typically between 4 and 8 years), and are not considered fully fledged adults until 10 years after that. Given they are not killed in the environment, they can usually live to be 75 years without any trouble.

Alignment. They are usually good or neutral aligned, as cooperation with each other is extremely important in their culture.

Size. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base speed is 25 feet. 35 when on all fours, 50 when swimming.  

Diver's Eyes. They have large, dark eyes with a transparent inner eyelid. These eyes are adapted for seeing as clearly under water as they do above it. 

Diving. Since they live on a planet that is completely covered in water, they are fully adapted to spend a significant amount of their time in it. They have webbed hands and feet, and large lungs. They can dive for 10+Con mod minutes before needing to get air again. 

Color Changing. Their base skin tone will gradually change to match the color of their environment, this change takes two to three weeks, but after it is complete they are adept at blending in. Advantage on stealth rolls to environments they are matched to. 

Flight Response. They are prey animals, so they have an ingrained instinct to run when in danger. When fear responses kick in, they almost always go with flight over freezing or fighting. When in the frightened condition, take the dash action.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Voxaltok, as well as a number of extra languages equal to you Int mod

Subraces

You must pick a subrace.

Coastal Voxel

This branch of the race lives along the oceans and gathers most of their diet from deeper depths. Their hair is often more silvery, and their stripes brilliant white when active, and gray when passive. They are the strongest swimmers and deepest divers.

+1 to Con, and +2 to diving time.

Arctic Voxel

The only branch of the race that does not spend most of their lives trudging through water, since they live where it is all frozen in snow and ice. They are larger and fattier than the other branches, with smaller ears, and have thicker hair with dark stripes. In the winter their hair is white, while in the summer it will shed and turn a more normal blue. They tend to have very light colored skin as well, since their environment is frozen.

+1 to Con, and a resistance to cold.

(Note: it isn't common to have starry eyes, this is just a unique individual)

Forest Voxel

The smallest and lightest of all the branches. They have very delicate features, with light blue hair and stripes that tend to be in the orange and red tones. They are the most likely to travel throughout the world, and are known for their inventiveness that comes from the high concentration of land predators that surround them.

Calculate your height and weight, and then remove ten from both.

+1 Wis, and proficiency in Perception

Tropical Voxel

This branch lives along the equator and other warm areas, and have larger ears and darker skin, with different tones depending on the hue of their environment. Their hair is often very dark, even being black, and stripe colors have the most diversity out of any branch, their stripes are brilliant bright colors that range from reds to yellows, blues and purples, and even green which does not appear in any other subspecies. Rarely they have have gold in their eyes. They have much shorter hair that covers much less area than other subraces, and the men don't have full manes on their neck and chests.

They have had to create creative solutions to protect themselves from the hot sun and warm water, so they are rather inventive compared to other subraces.

+1 Int, and resistance to hot environmental effects

Plainlands Voxel

This branch looks almost identical to their forest sisters, with blue hair and a slender build. The main difference is that they have longer legs, and their stripes tend to be more pink or purple. They are adapted to living in open spaces, where large predatory flying creatures are something they always have to keep an ear out for.

+1 Wis, +10 to land speed

Marshlands Voxel

Some parts of the world are more mud than water, but that didn’t stop people from living there long enough to adapt to it. However their hair is always less saturated and often darker, frequently appearing brown or close to it. Their skin tends to be closer to brown as well, since their environment is a massive mudland. Since not many other animals live there, they have had the most time to work in the arts and form social advancements.

+1 to Cha, proficiency in Performance or Persuasion

Cave Voxel

The most reclusive of all voxel, they made their home in deep crevices and caves of the mountains. They have become adapted to their dark home, and have developed to have pale hair that is light blues, pinks, or even white and silver. Their eyes are pale blue or pink. Their stripes are also pale pinks. Their skin is usually pale, but can darken if they spend time on the surface.

Due to the darkness of their home, they adapted to see their surrounding.

+1 Wis, 60 foot Darkvision

Society

While much of the population may be spread out in smaller and more primitive villages, there are plenty of larger and more organized cities that serve as large centers for culture and progress. They have no concept of countries or borders, no wars or territorial disputes, and any wrongdoings are handled directly by the person who was wronged and the families of both parties, with Elders only being involved in rare cases.

Culture

Age is very important, with more experience comes more respect. Every community has an Elder, who performs ceremonies and presides over the community.

They portray emotions primarily through their stripe pigment and tone of voice, as their facial expressions are dampened compared to other races. Ear position and tail movement is also a factor.

Alcohol

All of their spirits are made from fruits, and have a very sweet taste. Most of it tastes just like sugary juice, but it is still easily enough to make even large races intoxicated after a few glasses. The stronger varieties are even sweeter, with the most potent being sickeningly sweet and having a syrupy texture. Only the bravest or stupidest of souls drinks this, and most are out of the race after just one shot.

Technology

(Mostly only relevant to sci-fi settings)

Much of their technology comes from a resource that appears as a yellow crystal that can be carefully forged into tools. The material vibrates in a molecular level and causes an internal friction that generates electricity, and handled by a skilled craftsman, it can be made into a weapon that generates a deadly charge, or it can power a home, all it takes is careful containment and an outside blunt force.

They are also exceptional farmers, since their food source is plants, they have found ways to very efficiently grow the crops that keep them alive.

Religion

They are a very spiritual and superstitious people. They don't worship any current deities, but they hold a belief in an ancient population called the "Old Ones" who the voxel believe will some day return and lift them into a higher existence that is free of hardship. Many of their religious relics are said to be remnants of the Old Ones' civilization.

They also hold a strong belief in a mirror world where evil spirits reside. They believe that the souls of anyone who was eaten by a another creature get dragged into that dimension, as well as the souls of any creature that takes a life. The beings of this world stay where they belong for the most part, but they can sometimes leak out as ghosts, hauntings, and as the causes of dark magic. Anything that has been tainted by the mirror world must not be touched. If you do touch it, you must spiritually cleanse yourself for a day and a night in prayer to the sun and stars and souls of your ancestors. If you're lucky, you won't be cursed. If it seems the person has been tainted they will be forced to leave their community until you can find a spiritual healer.