Raesokeran Rodentus (5e Race)

Rodentus

Physical Description

Copyright of Dark Natasha. Image will be removed upon request.

Rodentus races are all anthropomorphic rodents and lagomorphs. They consist of rats, mice, jerboas, squirrels, chipmunks, beavers, and rabbits. Their whole bodies are covered in fine, dense, short fur. Their color can range from pitch black, tawny brown, auburn, snowy white, and much in between. Except for rabbits, their hands and feet are furless and fleshy. They have exceptional dexterity which has enabled them to be adept tinkerers and craftsmen. The most notable physical feature of rodentus are their two (four for rabbits) top front teeth, or incisors, which continue to grow throughout their lifetime. They must chew on wood or soft metals to keep their constantly growing incisors from becoming too long to be functional. If this happens, they eventually become incapable of eating and must have them specially trimmed or they will starve. Their feet are bare like their hands, but they are too long and ungainly to make standard boots for. Most wear foot wraps made from leather or cloth, though many also go barefooted. Males are larger than females on average. Many argue that rabbits should be classified as their own full race due to their slightly different physiology and nature. They have furred paws, and they have four instead of two incisors. They do speak rodentus and tend to associate with other rodentus, however.

History of Raesokera

In order to understand the history of the bestial races of Raesokera, one must understand the history of the continent that spawned them. No one knows if their history truth or legend. The story says that an unnamed God was angry with the hedonistic and violent ways of humanoid kind in Raesokera. He created a virulent magical Phage that spread across the continent to kill all of humanity. The attempt would have been a success if not for an unintended side effects on the feral beasts. The phage spread to every beast and bird on the continent. Many died, but while the survivors of humanoid kind hid in quarantined mountain citadels or otherwise escaped the continent, the strongest beasts began to evolve in the wild. Their natural abilities and instincts were enhanced. They stood tall and bipedal like other humanoids within just a few generations. Within a century, dozens of new intelligent and sentient races were born. Shortly after the phage had been purged naturally, these new races had developed tribal societies. In order to keep them from destroying each other outright, the unnamed God chose a champion from each race. These champions were risen to near Godhood to watch over their people, creating new laws and philosophies for each to follow. When the leaders of the human races returned to the surface, they came to find all these new bestial races living in every corner of the continent. The country of Udraykeland welcomed these fascinating new people with open arms. Shahalla looked upon them with disgust and outrage. They began a war to purge the country to take back the land that had been overrun with unnatural abominations.

History of Rodentus

Rats were among the first anthropomorphic species to be discovered by humanoids due to their large population. As such, they were the first to be targeted by the Shahallan purge along with mice and other more populous bestial races. The rodentus fled North to Udraykeland and to the swamps in the east to escape the crusading Shahallan humans rather than face them head on in direct combat. Those that did stay to fight did so through guerilla warfare using their craftiness, natural stealth, and intellect to poison or disease their foes. Those that fled to Udraykeland joined forces with the King's army or melded into their society to build and fortify. Most didn't make great soldiers, but they were useful artisans, craftsmen, and laborers. Their large numbers and high level of skill were a decisive factor in Udraykeland's victory. The Shahallans surrendered on the condition of maintaining the country and culture there, but their crusade against the bestial races ceased. The rodentus races contributed significantly to rebuilding after the war. They continue to remain in high standing within Udraykeland due to their usefulness and sociability, though the rats are seen as less than reputable for their unethical methods. Rodentus remain reviled and shunned in most Shahallan societies, keeping to the slums of cities or within their own warrens or villages in the swamps or underground.

Society

Rodentus are extremely communal races, seldom living on their own. Their swarming social nature means they don't have a personal concept of personal space. Even with training, they tend to stand very close when speaking and work in very tight spaces with ease. The rats mostly live in their own villages within the swamps of eastern Shahalla and Northeastern Udraykeland. Many also live within goblin or orc societies, preferring their more blunt and honest philosophies. They were mostly shunned from living in major rural areas due to their potential for carrying diseases without suffering the effects themselves. The rats' one major city, Mournstead, is a dreary society that specializes in studying death and performing grand funeral services. Mice blended in with halfling societies with ease since they were seen almost as furry versions of the short humanoids. They tend to be jolly folk with a love for good food and simple living, and their skill with digging underground homes is nearly unmatched. Squirrels, chipmunks, and beavers were the best recieved by urban humans due to their gentler natures, their intellect, and because they were seen as "cuter" than rats and mice. Squirrels and chipmunks are sought after by bardic colleges as talended tale-weavers. Beavers make up a large majority of the building and infrastructure labor force. The beaver leadership consist of grand architects, one of which is renowned for his work on the Great Dam upriver from the capitol city Wildehaven. Jerboas congregate in the desert or dry grasslands of Western Shahalla. Among rodentus, they're the most introverted, living in small warrens of a few dozen. Many live as a mated pair in other bestial societies, keeping social relations with humanoids to a bare minimum. Rabbits tend to live in rural warrens as far from the city as possible, making them excellent neighbors to otherwise secluded hermits and sages. Their skills align stronger with nature and herbalism, making their warrens a boon to those seeking medical aid. Those that do decide to live in an urban environment often join a religious congregation or monastery to further their studies in the healing arts in order to bring deeper understanding and knowledge back home.

Language

The rodentus language is considered one of the more complex and convoluted of spoken languages. While they adopted the common alphabet for writing, it becomes increasingly clear how important the accent is. Many words have several meanings based on the accent and context, similar to the word "draft" in common. This leads to rodentus speakers having a greater knowledge and appreciation of puns which is the majority of rodentus humor. Rodentus has at least one hundred different variations on the common term "tinker" each one describing the subtle differences between the importance of the work, whether it's for play, if it's meant to accomplish a specific task, and tense.

Rodentus Names

The naming convention of rodentus is considered bizarre and complex among most other races since the name of a rodent never stops evolving. At birth, all are given a single syllable name determined by time and place of birth and in which order to the rest of the litter. Each year, another syllable in rodentus is added and given to an individual based on the most significant accomplishment of that year, though it's also common for a syllable to be added if a truly honorable deed or feat had been accomplished as a reward. This leads to very long names. As they age, they'll choose which syllable or syllables of their name they identify with the most and combine them as their chosen "nickname." This tends to fluctuate in their earlier years, but by middle age they've usually cemented their identity. It will often still change based on the level of merit a new syllable adds, especially if an important goal is achieved.

Male: Amoqq, Ash, Bix, Bontkofnwexr, Calex, Drek, Dnirz, Fisk, Jethnir, Mikshoatkoshxur, Nincnizz, Qotin, Skivin, Vermix, Zumetuck

Female: Ayla, Bessla, Deenah, Femmyr, Jessix, Lissy, Meensah, Skmeeku, Thixipt, Uutir, Vee, Wantaklrtomagoh

Rodentus Traits

Anthropomorphic rodents from the continent of Raesokera
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity and Intelligence scores each increase by 1
Age. Due to their high metabolism, rodentus live much shorter lives than humans. They reach maturity by age 5 and live up to 25 years.
Alignment. Among the rodentus, only rats have a significant tendency toward a chaotic alignment. Otherwise, they have no specific alignment they lean toward.
Size. Rodentus stand on the shorter side of medium between the height of halflings and humans. 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.
Crafty little beasts. You have one tool proficiency. Choose between a Brewer's kit, Herbalism kit, poisoner's tools, or tinker tools.
Incisors. You are proficient in your unarmed natural bite attack which deals 1d4 piercing damage.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write common and rodentus. Rodentus is a language of short squeaky syllables mashed together in long chains so that one long word expresses the equivalent of a sentence in common. It uses common script with accents above and below the letters to symbolize the accents in spoken form.
Subrace. Choose one between rat, mouse, jerboa, squirrel/chipmunk, beaver, and rabbit.

Rat

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1
Poison and Plague affinity. You have advantage on all saves against poison and disease including magical diseases and you have resistance to poison damage. In addition, if you pass your constitution save against disease, you may choose to continue being a carrier for that disease without suffering any negative effects. Whenever you hit with your natural attack, your opponent must make a constitution save against the disease you are carrying, if any. The save DC = 8 + proficiency + CON. If they succeed, they are unaffected and become immune to that disease for 24 hours. You may only carry one disease at any given time.
Swift and sneaky. You can move at your normal walking speed while using the Stealth skill without penalty.

Mouse

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1
Integrated with Halflings. You exhibit some of the traits of a halfling and add halfling to the languages you know.
Lucky. When you roll a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.
Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Prey's Wariness. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Small size. Mice average about 3 feet tall and weigh an average of 50 pounds. Your size is small

Jerboa

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1
Kangaroo mouse agility. You are exceptionally speedy and agile. You gain the following benefits: Your speed increases by 10 feet. When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn't cost you extra movement on that turn. When you make a melee attack against a creature and hit, you don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn.
Prey's Wariness. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Small size. Jerboas stand about 2 and a half feet tall and weight about 35 pounds on average. Your size is small.
Bounding Acrobat. You have advantage on athletics checks for jumping and are always considered to have a running start.

Squirrel/Chipmunk

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1
Cute and Charming. You have proficiency in the Persuasion skill
Fearless Climber. You have advantage on saves against fear effects and you have advantage on the Athletics skill when climbing.
Hidden Cache master. Due to your inherent knowledge involving hiding and storing valuables, you have advantage on Investigation skill checks when searching for traps, secret doors, and hidden objects. You have advantage on Sleight of Hand skill checks to hide any object that can normally fit in a pocket.

Beaver

Ability Score Increase. Your constitution score increases by 1
Busy Beaver. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill
Natural swimmer. You have a swim speed of 30 feet and you automatically pass Athletics skill checks to swimm in slow moving or standing water, and have advantage for all other Athletics skill checks to swim.
Woodcunning. Beavers are naturally excellent carpenters and woodworkers. You have advantage on Nature, Investigation, and Survival skill checks regarding trees and any wooden structures.

Rabbit

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma increases by 1
Gifted with Herbs. Choose one to replace Crafty Little Beasts. You have double proficiency in the use of herbalist tools or poisoners tools.
Prey's Wariness. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Pacifist. You can use the spell Expeditious Retreat a number of times per day equal to your proficiency modifier. These uses replenish after a short or long rest. This is a non-magical ability and does not require any verbal, somatic, or material spell components.
Strong Legs. Your movement speed increases to 35 feet and you have advantage when making Athletics skill checks to jump and you are always considered to have a running start when jumping.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
2′ 8″	++1d12"	50 lb.	× (5 x 5d10) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
2′ 3″	+3d6"	20 lb.	× (5 x 5d10) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
3′ 6″	+2d6"	70 lb.	× (5 x 1d10) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Suggested Characteristics

When creating a Rodentus character, you can use the following table) of traits, ideals, bonds and flaws to help flesh out your character. Use these table in addition to or in place of your background's characteristics.

d8	Personality Trait
1	My name is long and represents all of my many accomplishments. I expect the respect I deserve.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

d6	Ideal
1	=
2	=
3	=
4	=
5	=Work=
6	=

d6	Bond
1
2
3
4
5
6

d6	Flaw
1
2
3
4
5
6

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