Continuing my series of Spelljammer races conversions, we move on to three more denizens of wildspace! Meet the Hurwaeti, Insectare, and the Spaceborn Lizardfolk variant race!
This is part 4 in the series. Visit my Spelljammer page for links to previous posts in the series.
Hurwaeti
The hurwaeti are an olive-scaled reptilian race. Like a bullywug, they have long frog-like legs and webbed fingers and toes resembles an olive-scaled bullywug with long frog-like legs, webbed fingers and toes. Their wide head resembles a gnome’s, with large pointed ears, a prominient nose, and a sharp chin. Adult hurwaeti of either sex have short, sparse beards and tufts of coarse hair atop their heads. Their scales are small, hard, and shiny, giving their hides a glossy appearance sometimes mistaken for dampness.
Hurwaeti were once a very advanced spacefaring race with colonies in many systems. They spread art, civilization, morality, and altruistic philosophy throughout the spheres. However, an ancient war with aberration-kind shattered them and killed their best and brightest. Many hurwaeti colonists were stranded on more primitive and dagerous worlds, and the descendants of these degenerated into creatures known as swamp and salt wiggles (don’t call a hurwaeti a wiggle!). The hurwaeti ventured out from their homeworld again following the war, but they are a shadow of the past. They wander the spheres as impoverish tribes, earning money in any way they can, including mercenary work but seldom piracy (their circumstances have changed, but they have not abandoned their ancient principles). Hurwaeti don’t talk about the war that lay them low, but their hatred of beholders, illithid, and neogi suggests that they fought all three simultaneously.
Hurwaeti Traits
Your hurwaeti has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Hurwaeti reach adulthood by the age of 30, and can live past their 300th year by a comfortable margin.
Alignment. Hurwaeti parents still teach their children principles of altruism, hospitality, and decency, but they also teach that the needs of the tribe have to come first. Hurwaeti try to avoid crossing the worst moral and ethical lines, but they are quite prepared to sacrifice their personal honour if necessity demands it. They are typically neutral.
Size. The average height of a hurwaeti is a 6 and a half feet. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Ancient Hatred. When you make a weapon attack against a creature with the aberration type, you add an additional 1d6 to the weapon’s damage dice.
Natural Armour. You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren’t wearing armour, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armour to determine your AC if the armour you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armour.
Obscuring Mist. You can cast fog cloud as a 1st level spell once with this trait, requiring no material components, and you regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. When you’re higher level, the fog cloud you create can be larger, as though you cast it using a higher level spell slot: at every odd-numbered level until 9th, the maximum spell level of your fog cloud increases by 1. You may always choose the spell level and thus the size of your fog cloud, choosing from among any spell levels for which you qualify.
Standing Leap. You can long jump up to 20 feet and high jump up to 10 feet, with or without a running start.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic.
Insectare
Insectare are humanoids that resemble a cross between insects and elves. In fact, rumours have it that their species is indeed a magical hybrid of the two, though elves despise insectare and vehemently deny the possibility of such a relationship. Insectares have the general physical build of an elf, but are distinguished by lime green skin and extraordinarily long antennae that sprout from behind their pointed ears. Most insectare have eyes that on very close inspection prove to be multi-faceted. For some reason insectare clerics of their deity Klikral are an exception, possessing perfectly normal eyes. Insectare are not well-liked, and they often prefer to go disguised, hiding their antennae in folds of voluminous hooded robes.
The insectare race is a secretive one, keeping to themselves and jealously guarding the location of their forested homeworld, or even clues that might help lead to its location. They have ambitions to rule space, but they are too sly to wage war, at least until victory is assured. They prefer to scheme, plucking at the threads in the political web to turn other factions against each other.
Insectare live within the mountains of their world, riddling the rock with tunnels and dwellings not dissimilar to the nest of an ant or other insect colony. Their society is broken up into two blocs: Insectare that serve the Arcane are the most likely to leave their world, exploring wildspace to discover magical power and working to pursue the insectares’ offworld agenda; meanwhile, the servans of the Divine remain on the homeworld, diligently following the commandments of Klikral.
| Insectare |
Insectare Traits
Your insectare has the following racial traits.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. An insectare reaches physical maturity around the same time as a human would. They usually live for approximately 500 years, though a handful of Klikral’s chosen priests can live over twice as long.
Alignment. A Klikral’s personal agenda tends to be a microcosm of the larger insectare agenda: they are only interested in what will benefit themselves, even to the expense of others. Their society is a very ordered one, with every member of the colony knowing their place, and few choosing to reject their role. They are mostly lawful evil.
Size. An insectare is between 6 and 7 feet tall, and continues to grow as they age, albeit at a glacial pace. Your size is Medium, though some unusually ancient insectare can survive long enough to become Large.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Antennae. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks you make. You can also communicate with another insectare telepathically by touching the tips of your antennae to their own. Furthermore, you can use your antennae as natural weapons with which you may make unarmed strikes, or you can use them to make a grapple. Your antennae are treated as whips: they have the finesse and reach properties, and if you hit with them, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (whichever is highest).
Exoskeleton. Your chitinous exoskeleton affords you excellent protection, without restricting your movement. Your base AC is 17 (your Dexterity modifier doesn’t affect this number). You gain no benefit from wearing armour, but if you are using a shield, you apply its bonus as normal.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Insectare. Insectare is a lilting language that borrows from the common tongue but also makes use of various clicking sounds. A creature which understands the Common tongue has a 30% chance of catching the general idea of a conversation between insectare, but cannot provide a comprehensive translation.
Lizardfolk, Spaceborn
Lizardfolk are inscrutable reptilian humanoids. They were brought into space as slaves, but became free. Spaceborn lizardfolk have become more intelligent and less torpid than their more primitive planet-dwelling cousins. Spaceborn lizardfolk attribute this change in their nature to their spelljamming near to suns and settling on worlds that are closer to them. They outfit spelljamming ships as incubators whose purpose is to bring their eggs closer to the nearest sun.
Spaceborn Lizardfolk Traits
Your lizardfolk has the racial traits described for lizardfolk in Volo’s Guide to Monsters, but they don’t receive the Hunter’s Lore trait. Instead, they gain the trait described below.
Sun-Blessed Skill. Thanks to the sun’s light and warmth, your body has grown stronger and your mind more keen. You gain proficiency in Athletics. You also gain proficiency in one Intelligence- or Wisdom-based skill of your choice.
In the same series:
