Madman (5e Race)
Madmen
"And so, on this day, Our Hero had slain thirty men, and he would later admit to having a good time while doing it."
"Thirty-Two people actually, if you count the Zombies."
-Unknown Observer of Madmen, Recounting his observation of a Lone Madman "Hero" In battle
Somewhere in Nevada, a great many people have succumbed to a strange state of mind. They fight endless battles, perform many mighty feats of strength, and - in some cases - Perform acts that seemingly defy or alter reality itself. They form groups, trade, use tools for purposes other than murder, and seem capable of thought outside fighting, but from their most devastating warriors to their lowest grunts, all have one thin in common:
They're Madmen.
Physical Description
(In a serious game) A majority of Madmen are seemingly Identical to the humans they still(Technically) are. Those who return from the land of the dead, though, are often horribly scarred by the injuries that were once fatal.
In a more comical game These bizarre people resemble a training dummy more than they do an actual human. They have corpse-grey skin, short, stubby legs, and, for the most part, look nearly identical to one another. More notably however, almost all Madmen do not appear to have arms - only hands, seemingly floating free of their torsos. Despite this, their limbs appear to be fully functional, and hold a similar range of motion to humans, including expressions of pain if the hand is stretched to far from the body. but all these strange details pale in comparison to their most uncommon feature - their faces, or rather, Lack thereof. despite having an internal anatomy identical to humans(including skulls, jaws, ears, and eyes), almost no Madmen actually bear any facial features - the face is an empty grey board, with a single darker "cross" of flesh dividing the head into four quadrants. Though Madmen "eat" by putting food where there mouths should be, and have even been seen smoking and drinking, and do appear to sense with the same five basic senses as most humanoids, it is unknown how they do so. It is worth noting that some madmen do have some of these facial features, usually in exaggerated proportions. Such Madmen "Heroes" are often favored in groups and become Great fighters, though it is unclear if features develop with experience or if some Madmen are born greater than others. Those Madmen who have been returned from the dead still bear wounds that never seem to heal, though this doesn't seem to actually affect their physical capabilities.
History
Madmen began appearing in the last twenty years, and are largely too busy killing people to sit down and relay their history to some random schmuck who interrupted their important killing. from the few reports available, Madmen come from the land of Nevada, an arid desert land heavily molded by man to support life. As of yet, no mention of this land has appeared in any atlas to date, nor has any person other than the Madmen themselves ever claimed to have seen or visited it. they have most often worked as plain paid mercenaries most notably in the war in the Cher'Vahn plains, which gave them their name "Madmen". It is notable that these people refer to themselves as normal humans, and do not react strangely to humans of other backgrounds and lands. They accept them, as well as most other species, with acknowledged indifference, with the exception of the Orcs, with whom they often become wordlessly amiable. Madmen are so rare that a common racial reaction to them has yet to be developed. The DM should have other races react to this fairly new species on a case by case method.
Society
Madmen often group together in groups based off of standard army structures, and claim to be teams. reference is made to "Agencies," seemingly their towns and governments, who send these individuals out for information of the outside world, but no Agency has yet been seen by other races. Madmen are often quiet, preferring gesticulation and facial expression to verbalization. "Grunt" madmen, the lowest caste among thier groups, are seemingly incapable of speaking, or, at least, have never spoken to an outsider. Grunts serve as menial workers and, rarely, mass throwaway soldiers. They dress in plain grey clothes, similar to their skin tone. The next Lowest caste are the Agents, who act as standard footman troopers. they wear red eyepieces and black uniforms, and are the most numerous in battle. Above Agents are the rarer "A.T.P." caste, dressing similar to Agents, but bearing more complicated yellow headpieces. The A.T.P. caste seems to be divided into "Soldats," superior fighters to agents, and "Engineers," who surpass their Soldat brethren in intelligence and Perception while maintaining the physical abilities of the Agent caste. strangely, this caste, in addition o their yellow visors and headpieces, have yellow blood, as opposed to the standard red of the other Madmen. Another caste is referred to by the Madmen, in an hushed manner, of an elite caste of soldiers, terrible creatures more beast than man, known as Mag Agents. Very little is directly said about them, and it is with fear in their voices. Apparently, Mag Agents are a giant breed of Madmen, with monstrous, inhuman features and abilities. These creatures are apparently guardians of their home bases, and almost never sent out to battle. Unique from the castes, there are individuals the madmen refer to as "Heroes", Madmen far stronger than all but the strongest of their kind. Heroes are the only Madmen seen to have external facial features other than the universal facial cross. while not every Hero has facial features, all have some distinctive visual trait, be it a special article of clothing, red eyes, or something even stranger. Heroes seem only to come from the Grunt caste, albeit very rarely, which may be the only reason Grunts are kept around.
In combat, the Madmen range from frantic, flowing combat to clinical, detached butchery; These styles seem equally prevalent in all their castes. no standards or discipline seem to be instilled below the A.T.P. rank, though most Madmen understand basic combat tactics and maneuvers. odder still is their lack of formal arms or martial arts - Madmen tend to fall into one of two fighting styles: Skirmishers, who flow from using one weapon to the next with equal ease, dropping a spent cross bow to pick up a fallen enemy's Pike, or the rarer Specialist, who devotes himself almost exclusively to one weapon with notable potency.
Class Wise, every Madmen Agent becomes a Fighter or Barbarian. A.T.P. Soldats also chose classes with strong martial backgrounds, such as Paladins or rangers. Dedicated casters are exclusively the domain of The A.T.P. Engineers, composing mostly of Warlocks, Artificers, amd a smattering of Clerics. Wizard and Sorcerer Madmen are Virtually unheard of, and any such casters encountered are usually the object of derision, even by madmen casters, as people who just can't cut it in a fight. Grunts are usually without class and best seen as low CR NPCs. Madmen "Heroes" Are free to pick whatever class they want, and are the only observed Monks and Sorcerers. Even among "Heroes", wizards have a stigma. Those wizards that do appear in Madmen Squads are some of the scariest blasters and conjurers known to exist.
Madmen Names
Madmen "Heroes" are the only madmen Madmen who have offered names to outsiders, but it is assumed all madmen have a name. Use the humans naming system.
Madmen Traits
Madmen Live for combat, Die for combat, and then Revive to do it all over again.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Strength score increases by 1.
Age. Madmen age as regular humans do, though almost none of them make it to old age due to their nature for battle.
Alignment. Madmen are almost exclusively Chaotic in nature.
Size. Madmen vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Vision. Despite (Usually) lacking any visible eyes, Madmen get by. Your vision is normal.
Mad Combatant. Madmen keep fighting until it is physically impossible to do so. This makes conversation awkward, but has notable benefits in combat. You have disadvantage on Persuasion and Sense motive checks. While making death saves, Madmen may also take one normal action and perform free actions as normal, though they cannot move. these actions cannot include moving to another tile through any means other than magic or other outside influences, such as force. the Madman is considered Prone while performing these actions, and cannot perform and action using this trait if he could not use it while Prone.
Gods-Rejected Souls. The unending conflict of Madmen apparently either amuses or annoys the gods - it's unclear which one it is. Either way, Madmen come back to life with startling ease. all monetary and material costs to revive a Madman are halved. this stacks with any similar bonuses gained from a class feature or item. When revived the final injury that killed the madman remains, open and visible. This injury has no effect, but will not heal. Bandages, stitches, and magic have no effect. at the DM's Discretion, this may provide appropriate bonuses or penalties to Charisma based rolls. limbs or body parts destroyed by a fatal injury return undamaged as normal, but with a relevant scar - burned, mangled, etc.
Subrace. Madmen fall into two major categories - Skirmishers and Specialists. select one subrace.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
Skirmisher
Skirmishers focus on killing. Bare hands, bows, clubs - It's all fair game.
Whatever's handy. You gain proficiency in improvised weaponry. When using any weapon you are not proficient with, add half your proficiency bonus to attack rolls.
Specialist
Specialists wield one weapon with devastating skill, using it's properties to the fullest.
Specialty. Skirmishers push themselves to the absolute limit, sacrificing massive amounts of time and energy. You can attune to any single weapon as if it were a magical item to become proficient with that type of weapon. This attunement counts towards your maximum attunements. A weapon attuned in this way adds half your Proficiency bonus to it's to hit rolls in addition to the full proficiency bonus already rolled. This weapon can be unattuned to as if it were a normal magic weapon, losing both proficiencyin that weapon type(unless granted another way) and the half-again bonus. If you choose a magical weapon for this feature, it takes up two attunement slots - once as a normal magical weapon and once as a specialty weapon.
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