Birdfolk Traits

Characters with the birdfolk heritage share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Age: Birdfolk reach physical maturity around age 20, when they shed their drab juvenile feathers for a new, adult coloration. It is very rare for them to live past 100 years.

Size: Birdfolk often have lean builds. They stand between 5 to 7 feet tall, though due to their hollow bones they average 90 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Avian Senses. You gain an expertise die on Perception checks that rely on sight or hearing.

Wind Rider. Your arms function as protowings that allow you to glide safely to the ground. Each round you can move horizontally 5 feet for every 5 feet you descend, up to a distance equal to your speed. You cannot hover and so must move your full Speed each turn or land. Otherwise, you fall as normal. To use this movement, you cannot be encumbered and cannot wield a weapon. At the Narrator’s discretion you may be able to hold a small weapon, such as a dagger, or a small item, such as a potion, but cannot use them while gliding. Whenever you spend 3 full consecutive rounds gliding without landing, you gain a level of fatigue . Any fatigue gained in this way is removed upon finishing a short or long rest.

Additionally, you have resistance to falling damage as long as you are not incapacitated .

Birdfolk Gifts

Birdfolk can vary greatly from each other. In addition to the traits found in your birdfolk heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Aspect of the Hunt

Birdfolk especially in tune with birds of prey are never unarmed. You gain the following trait:

Sharp Talons. Your talons are sharp enough to be used as deadly weapons. The talons are natural weapons with the finesse trait, which you can use to make unarmed strikes that deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier. They do not require an empty hand to use.

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 gray.

Wind Mastery

Rarely, a birdfolk is born with true wings sprouting from their back, as well as tail feathers to help them fly. While not capable of sustained flight, such chicks are considered blessed and often go on to hold roles of spiritual or political significance. You gain the following trait:

Flight. You gain a fly speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. Whenever you spend 3 full consecutive rounds airborne without landing, you gain a level of fatigue . Any fatigue gained in this way is removed upon finishing a short or long rest .

You can use your Wind Rider trait to glide on a following round, but if you resume flying before landing you gain fatigue as normal. Similarly, you can begin flying during a glide but are still subject to gaining fatigue if you resume gliding.

Birdfolk Paragon

As a birdfolk matures, they achieve their full potential, boosting their innate abilities to higher levels. When you reach 10th level, your heritage gift improves considerably.

Greater Aspect of the Hunt

The range of your darkvision increases to 120 feet and your talons’ damage die increases to 1d8. Additionally, you can now make an attack roll with your talons as a bonus action.

Greater Wind Mastery

Your fly speed increases to 40 feet and you can fly while wearing medium or heavy armor. When you would suffer fatigue from using your fly speed, you make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + 1 per previous save in the last minute). On a success, you do not suffer fatigue from flying that round and you do not suffer fatigue from flying that round.

Birdfolk Culture

Often deeply attuned to the spirits and small gods of nature, most birdfolk flocks are a reverent people culturally encouraged to consider the effects their actions will have on the greater web of the community and the land around them. No matter where it is found, community is the most important pillar of a birdfolk’s life, with protection of and service to the flock seen as the highest calling. Birdfolk who strike out as adventurers or settle among other peoples tend to consider party members and neighbors as part of their personal flock.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your birdfolk character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: crag-keeper simirengo , far-flyer simirengo , nomad , sky-seeker simirengo , wildling .

Dreamborn Traits

Characters with the dreamborn heritage share a variety of traits in common with one another. 

Type. Fey.

Age. Age means little to dreamborn. Some age like humans, while others have seemingly always been wrinkled and old, and others are perpetually young, or even go in cycles, returning to youth every spring.

Size. Usually Medium or Small. Some dreamborn can be smaller, but see Fey Logic below.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Fey Logic. While you may appear to be Tiny, Small, or Medium size, you interact with the world as if you were Small or Medium (chosen at character creation). Spells such as enlarge/reduce mean the size category you appear to be increases or decreases as appropriate, though your stats change according to the size you interact with the world as.

Even if your body has no limbs with opposable thumbs, you can hold and manipulate items as if you had humanoid hands, perhaps wielding things with a tail or wingtips. You can talk even if your mouth normally wouldn’t permit it. In turn, though, efforts that would thwart a humanoid thwart you, such as a gag to mute you or bonds to confine you.

Knack for the Unexpected. Once per short rest you can add an expertise die (+1d4) to a skill check you’re not proficient in.

The Power of Words. If you promise something to a creature, that creature intuitively senses that it can use a reaction to compel you to fulfill a promise you made to them as though they had cast suggestion . The DC to resist this is 10. Succeeding the save represents you devising a way to wiggle out of the promise. A given creature can only levy one such obligation per day.

Once you are 3rd level, you can cast suggestion once per long rest , but only on a creature that has agreed to the stated course of action in word or text. Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (whichever is highest).

Aversion. Since dreamborn are protean beings, they often loathe things that ‘define’ them or the place around them. Other fey just develop a deep distrust or resentment of some random type of thing for reasons perhaps only they understand. Choose a fairly common thing from the Waking you are averse to, such as ticking clocks (the Dreaming hates when time is orderly), measuring rulers (or national rulers too, since rules are just the worst, aren’t they?), mirrors, iron, or laughing babies. You cannot willingly touch that thing, come within 5 feet of it, or even use tools to manipulate such items.

You can attempt a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw to ignore this aversion from a particular item—and anything similar within 30 feet of it—for one hour. If you fail, your turn ends and you cannot try to ignore that particular aversion for a day. However, if you or an ally is attacked in any way by a creature protected by a repellant item or creature, you can freely ignore the repellant effect as though you had succeeded on your saving throw.

Dreamborn Gifts

Fey are notoriously diverse, even among a given court or community. In addition to the traits found in your dreamborn heritage, choose two of the following dreamborn gifts.

Aquatic. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet and you can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time.

Animate Objects. Once per short rest you can cast animate objects , but only to animate a number of Tiny objects equal to your proficiency bonus. These objects have a speed of 30 feet and cannot fly. Additionally, you must spend your action to maintain concentration on the spell each round. Once you reach 3rd level, you can instead spend your reaction to maintain concentration. At 5th level, you can animate Small objects as though they were 2 Tiny objects.

Change Size. You can spend an action to become Small or Medium size as though you had chosen that option with Fey Logic. All items you are wearing or carrying also change size; however, any items that you drop, sell, or give away return to their original size if it has changed because of this gift.

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 cannot discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Fey Whimsy. You know one of the following cantrips: dancing lights , druidcraft , mage hand , minor illusion , prestidigitation , thaumaturgy . Your spellcasting ability for these spells is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (whichever is highest).

Flight. You gain a fly speed of 30 feet as long as you are no more than 10 feet off the ground. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor. Additionally, if you attempt to go higher, or if you have spent 3 full consecutive rounds flying, on your next turn you instead fall safely for 30 feet or until you touch the ground. All falling damage beyond 30 feet (if you exceeded your height restriction by flying over a cliff, for instance) is still calculated.

Nature Skin. Whether stone, wood, or some other element, your magical skill grants you an AC of 13 + your Dexterity modifier when you’re not wearing armor. You can use a shield and gain this benefit.

Speak with Beasts. Choose one: birds, fish and amphibians, mammals, reptiles, or creepy crawlies (like bugs and spiders). You can cast speak with animals a number of times per day equal to your proficiency modifier, but only to speak with the chosen animal type.

Vanish. As a reaction immediately after taking damage, you can turn invisible . The invisibility lasts until the end of your next turn, and it ends early if you attack, deal damage, cast a spell, or force a creature to make a saving throw . Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before doing so again.

Wild Senses. You gain advantage on skill checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Dreamborn Paragon 

When you reach 10th level, you are an exemplar of the fey, and you gain one paragon gift from the following list.

Improved Flight. If you chose Flight as a fey gift, you gain a fly speed of 40 feet even if you are wearing medium or heavy armor. You have no height restrictions, though you will still fall after 3 full consecutive rounds of flight; however, you can now ignore up to 60 feet of falling damage when falling in this manner.

Metamorphosis. Whenever you complete a long rest , you may choose a fey gift you don’t normally possess. Your nature shifts to gain that gift until you use this ability again.

Now I’m Over Here. A number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus you can, as a bonus action, teleport to a space you can see within 30 feet.

Dreaming Culture

Depending on where in the Dreaming they hail from, fey cultures can vary greatly. Just as the Dreaming reflects the real world, fey seem to reflect whatever the residents of the Waking think the fey should be. Some set up in courts with strict hierarchies and elaborate games of manners and trickery. Others live more simply in small communities, while a few choose a solitary existence, carving out their own little spot in the Dreaming.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your dreamtouched character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: Dreaming Wilds, Fey Court.

This page lists official content from other sources, such as levelup5e.com.

• Necromancer (wizard archetype)
• Warmage (wizard archetype)

Zombies are animated corpses stripped of any spirit or intelligence they bore in life. Most often, zombies are created by necromancers or other evil spellcasters, although it’s not unheard of for zombies to arise spontaneously in areas marked by profound evil or unholy energy.

Death In Action. Zombies bear whatever wounds or decay they suffered before their animation. Although the necromantic energies involved in animating a zombie greatly slow further decay, all zombies eventually molder away.

Unlive To Serve. Zombies can be given basic orders by their creators. “Guard this door,” “attack that creature,” and “defend me” are common commands. A zombie attempts to execute its orders in the most straightforward way possible, heedlessly exposing itself to danger. Without orders, a zombie either attacks nearby creatures or remains entirely motionless.

Undead Nature. A zombie doesn’t require air, sustenance, or sleep.

A wraith is an incorporeal spirit of pure hatred and malice. Its very existence destroys life around it. It leaves a trail of desiccated plants in its wake, and fleeing wildlife precedes its passage.

Vile Transformation. A wraith is formed when a humanoid with an evil alignment dies. The humanoid’s spirit, dedicated to cosmic evil and warped by depravity, becomes so suffused with negative energy that it is transformed at the moment of death into a font of cold, nullifying force. It turns its back on its former ambitions, dedicating itself to a new goal: the destruction of all life.

Sire of Specters. A wraith can create a specter from the spirit of a humanoid creature that has recently died by violence. This specter obeys the commands of the wraith that created it. A wraith left unchecked can create an army of undead that can devastate a countryside, leaving behind nothing but dead land and rotting corpses.

Undead Nature. A wraith doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

Intelligent nocturnal undead driven by their thirst for blood, vampires are obsessed with and pained by the memories of their sunlit mortal days. Most vampires are burned by sunlight, though others have different weaknesses.

Twisted Hunters. It’s said that the first vampires were nobles cursed for their cruelty to their subjects, and indeed vampirism is often an affliction of the upper class. Vampires’ former dalliances and elegant pastimes become twisted obsessions tainted by their constant hunger for blood. A vampire may stalk the empty halls of the castle it once ruled, or hunt the mortal it once loved, seeking shreds of the emotions it once felt. A very few vampires resist their urge to prey on mortals and become stern protectors of the world that fears them.

Blood Bonds. True vampires are intensely aware of the blood bond that links them with the vampire that created them, an undead lineage that may stretch back centuries.

Resting Place. Every vampire’s lair contains a resting place, usually a coffin or sarcophagus, where the vampire must rest for at least an hour each day to recuperate its powers. This resting place is sprinkled with soil from its mortal homeland. If this soil is scattered or is subjected to a bless , hallow , or similar spell, the vampire is destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points.

Titans are towering demigods with divine blood coursing through their veins. Whereas titanic creatures like the kraken and tarrasque were employed as weapons by the gods, true titans are the scions of the gods: semi-divine figures often disavowed for the parts they played in ancient tragedies.

Relics of the Past. Mortal history does not record what happened in the days when titans walked the earth, but clues can be found in ancient myths. In some stories, titans ruled the Material Plane with the gods’ favor. In others, the titans’ feuds and betrayals embroiled the gods in catastrophic wars that threatened the divine order. In any case, titans have all but vanished from the mortal world. A few still govern astral fiefdoms on behalf of their divine parents. Others are imprisoned in the mythical palaces they once ruled, now sunk beneath the sea or swallowed by immense dungeon complexes.

Dangerous Prisoners. Sometimes ancient prisons are breached by earthquakes or the reckless interference of adventurers, and a titan awakens and walks the earth again. Many titans have no ambition beyond destruction. Others wish to take up their crowns and rule, sweeping aside the works of mortals and ushering in a new age of titans.

Immortal Nature. A titan doesn’t require air, sustenance, or sleep.

Skeletons are fleshless corpses imbued by necromantic energies with a mockery of life. Most often, spellcasters create skeletons to act as guards and servants, but it’s not unheard of for skeletons to arise from cursed grounds where the living are outnumbered by the unburied dead.

Following Orders. Skeletons follow their creators’ instructions to the best of their limited ability. They understand language and can follow detailed instructions, but their ability to think independently is limited. If ordered to cross a dangerous river, a skeleton may take a detour to use a bridge. In the absence of a bridge, however, it will risk a dangerous swim rather than build a raft or search for a safe place to cross.

Shreds of Memory. If left to its own devices, a skeleton without orders may mimic habitual activities from its previous life. A skeleton will abandon such pursuits to attack living creatures, unless it has been specifically ordered otherwise.

Undead Nature. A skeleton doesn’t require air, sustenance, or sleep.