Half-Satori (5e Race)

This material makes a character capable of passive mind-reading, so DMs should take note of that fact. Situations which assume that the character cannot arbitrarily know the true intentions or actual thoughts of other characters may not be significant challenges to a character using this material. Challenges of these sorts are, however, an excellent tool to highlight the character's advantage. One should be cautious to include challenges which are actually capable of threatening such a character regularly, such as undead or constructs which lack thoughts and emotions to be read, characters who have somehow protected themselves from such a thing, or other empaths, but without punishing the player or coming across as a gimmick. Be careful about who is allowed to use this material, as immature players will likely abuse this to derail the campaign. As should be standard, such players should be dealt with outside-of-game through open communication, but it is often best to avoid the situation in the first place. New players often have difficulties visualizing themselves as another person, let alone another creature capable of thinking in ways that they themselves will never experience. As such, if a new player is allowed to use this material, they may need some degree of guidance to remember that their character can read minds without limitations, though it should only take a few sessions to really drive the point home.

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Half-Satori

A short man walks through the town. The people around him seem to have oddly split reactions; those who see him from the front give him space, while those who only see him from the back are confused by the actions of the former. Though somewhat short for a human, the man seems perfectly normal from behind; short, black hair, strong but slim build, a slightly reserved gait. He doesn't glance around at all, and his gaze seems to be lowered slightly as he walks, as if watching the ground 10 feet in front of him. Soon, he seems to sigh to himself, before veering off from the main streets, and opting to get away from the crowds through the back alleys. After a few more minutes of walking, an alley urchin - a pickpocket - notices the vulnerable prey in her back alley territory and stalks him through the narrow, condemned streets, gradually closing the distance. However, before the woman can get any closer than 10 feet away, her foot collides with the cracked top half of a discarded ale bottle, which loudly skitters across the ground. Both figures freeze at the sound, but the man recovers near-instantly, slowly turning around. As the man finishes his turn to look at the woman a ways behind him, the latter involuntarily takes a step back in shock, her eyes wide in panic. The man stares at her indifferently for a moment as he blinks his eyes, which possess starkly out-of-place red irises, another eye, embedded halfway into his chest near his heart, also stares indifferently, but remains unblinking. This man, son to a satori and a human, then speaks in a relatively flat tone to the unsavory woman who had just been stalking him: "I don't have much gold on me anyway; I suggest finding yourself a wealthier target." The half-satori then turns and continues on as if nothing had happened, leaving the woman to blink blankly.

Physical Description

Half-satori look considerably more human in appearance than their full-blooded counterparts, though they still tend to be marginally shorter than the average human. Their hair tends to remain within the standard human spectrum, but can stray out into some slightly more outlandish colors on rare occasions. Their eyes, however, are rarely, if ever, standard colors for humans, ranging among all kinds of crazy colors such as red, gold, emerald green, violet, pink, etc. Additionally, they have also inherited the third eye from their empathetic parents, though theirs isn't as prominently externalized; the third eye of a half-satori sits embedded in the chest, either near or over the heart, sticking outward from it as if the large, orbicular third eye of the full-blooded satori had simply been buried halfway into the skin. This embedded third eye retains odd, chromatic skin colors on its lids, and shares its iris color with the half-satori's other two eyes.

History

Half-satori are principally the offspring of a human and a satori. This makes them a somewhat rare race, as satori tend to avoid interaction more often than not, and humans tend to be off-put by the capabilities of a satori's third eye. However, just because satori seem passive and indifferent and avoid socializing, this doesn't mean they're completely incapable of feeling love for another, and humans are incredibly diverse beings, which allow for many possibilities.

Society

Half-satori, though they maintain the invasive mind reading capacity of their non-human parent, tend to fare better mingling with others due to their more human-looking appearance. With enough practice and effort, a half-satori can hide their third eye under their clothing, and can either pass off their strange eyes as the byproduct or as an indicator of something else, or can conceal their color through some means such as magic. By crafting this elaborate ruse, a half-satori can pass as a human and mingle more freely. However, any who are found out for what they are through some unfortunate situation can be reprimanded and expelled in disgust; in more understanding situations, they could instead be welcomed, having proven themselves over the public image of satori, allowing them to drop their disguise. However, there are some half-satori who can't make such a disguise to begin with; these individuals usually tend to instead live with their parents quietly, or if they can't do that either, live in seclusion like a full-blooded satori would.

Half-Satori Names

Half-satori most often adopt the same naming conventions humans use.

Half-Satori Traits

The child of a human and a mind reader, you have inherited the appearance of the former, but the power of the latter.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence and Wisdom scores, as well as one other ability score of your choice, each increase by 1.
Age. Half-satori mature only slightly faster than humans, reaching adulthood in their mid-teens, and living for as long as 5000 years or more.
Alignment. Half-satori retain some of the passivity of satori, but their human blood gives them more diversity. Neutral alignments are the most common among them, but they can be any alignment.
Size. Half-satori are slightly shorter on average than humans, ranging from well under 5 feet to a little under 6 feet in height. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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 can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Scrutiny. You are proficient in the Insight skill.
Skill Diversity. You are proficient in one skill of your choice.
Third Eye. You read the mind of any creature you are currently perceiving visually as per the detect thoughts spell, no action required by you, as long as that creature is within 60 feet of you and has an Intelligence of 4 or higher. You automatically probe deeper into a creature's thoughts, no action required by you, should you continue to look at them for longer than 6 seconds, though the creature doesn't get to make a Wisdom saving throw, nor does this cause them to become aware that you are reading their thoughts; should a creature become aware that you're reading their thoughts, they also can't end the effect without the aid of magic or a feature that blocks mind reading. You can't stop yourself from probing deeper into a creature's thoughts. You can still read a creature's thoughts even if it doesn't know any languages. You can't read any creatures' minds while you are unconscious.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Deep Speech, and one extra language of your choice.
Subrace. You must choose one from Social or Reclusive.

Social

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Undercover. You are proficient in the Deception skill.
Wary. You are more aware of your surroundings due to your slight underlying paranoia of being discovered. As such, you cannot be surprised.

Reclusive

Ability Score Increase. Your previously chosen ability score further increases by 1.
Hobbyist. You are proficient in one artisan's tool of your choice.
Watchful. When you make a Perception check, if the result is less than your passive Wisdom (Perception) score, you may choose to use your passive Wisdom (Perception) score as the result instead. Once you have used this trait, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

The below material is intended to simulate a character whose race's inherent mental state leaves them in a compromised state of mind. The use of this material could have an extremely radical impact on campaigns, and it is asked that both players and DMs use extreme discretion before allowing the use of this material in campaigns.

Variant: Closed-Eye Half-Satori

Like their full-blooded parent, a half-satori can choose to close their third eye, in hopes of escaping the painful thoughts of the usually hidden-away conscious minds of others. However, unlike a full-blooded satori, who loses the vast majority of their conscious mind to live on in blissful ignorance, a half-satori's mixed blood is not so forgiving to them. Though closing their third eye succeeds in sealing away their ability to read minds, they only lose half of their conscious mind, leaving them slightly broken. A closed-eye half-satori can be just as impulsive as a full-blooded closed-eye satori, but the tattered remnants of their conscious mind can also run rampant, causing unsettling self-arguments out of the blue, tangential ramblings, sometimes even the appearance of having a split personality. A half-satori that closes their third eye is very jumpy, and potentially even more paranoid than a half-satori mingling undercover. Sometimes, their broken conscious minds can accidentally pick up on their subconscious thoughts, and interpret them as voices, causing the closed-eye half-satori to have auditory hallucinations of faint, unintelligible whispering coming from right next to their ears for some time.

Closed-Eye Half-Satori Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice, neither of which can be Charisma, each increase by 1.
Age. Half-satori mature only slightly faster than humans, reaching adulthood in their mid-teens, and living for as long as 5000 years or more.
Alignment. Closed-eye half-satori are so incredibly unpredictable, paranoid, and impulsive, that they must always be chaotic. Otherwise, their alignment can be anything from good, neutral, or evil.
Size. Half-satori are slightly shorter on average than humans, ranging from well under 5 feet to a little under 6 feet in height. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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 can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Paranoia. You are so freakishly paranoid that nothing escapes you. You are proficient in the Perception skill, and you cannot be surprised. Additionally, you have advantage on your initiative roll if at least one of your companions is surprised.
Broken Mind. You have resistance to psychic damage and advantage on saving throws against being charmed, but you have disadvantage on saving throws against being frightened, as well as disadvantage on any Charisma checks you make, besides Intimidation.
Freaky. You are proficient in the Intimidation skill.
Instinctual Assault. You may choose to use your Dexterity instead of your Strength for your unarmed attacks. Additionally, if you make an unarmed attack against a creature while both your hands are empty, you may use your other hand to make a second unarmed attack against that creature as a bonus action; you may also add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Shattered Thoughts. A creature who attempts to access your mind, whether through telepathy, mind reading, or otherwise, must make a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. On a failed save, they become frightened of you while they continue to have line of sight to you and remain within 60 feet of you, and their fright ends 1 minute after losing line of sight to you or after moving to more than 60 feet away from you. While frightened of you, they will vehemently refuse to attempt accessing your mind in any way. On a successful save, the creature is unsettled, but not frightened or otherwise adversely affected in any way, and is unable to discern anything meaningful from your thoughts.
Hallucinations. Each dawn, roll a d20. On a 1, until the next dawn when you roll again, you hear faint, unintelligible whispering coming from next to your ears, which nobody else can hear. Even if you are deafened, you can still hear this whispering. During this time, you have disadvantage on any Wisdom checks you make, which also counts as a -5 penalty to your passive Wisdom (Perception) score as described in chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook, and disadvantage on any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain concentration, but have advantage on your Intimidation checks.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Deep Speech, and one extra language of your choice.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
4′ 6″	+2d8	89 lb.	× (2d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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