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MAKE A [insert species here] HARPY!!!

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Author Topic: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)  (Read 8269 times)

Gyrre

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Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« on: 14 Oct 2017, 02:03 »

So, harpies are a lineage of cursed elves that are half(ish) bird. But there are a lot of bird species out there. So, what if there were more than just the fiendish variant of harpy? Well, I was feeling inspired by the notion and created some! All of the standard harpy stats apply (unless specified otherwise).

Standard 5E Harpy stats in the spoiler (source)
(click to show/hide)

Eagle Harpy                                                                   CR: 2
Taller and more muscular than the typical harpy, usually standing between 6'5” to 7'5”. Their feathery hair is usually gray, golden brown or white while their feathers are typically a mix of medium and light grays or golden brown with ceam and black accents. They've been known to successfully drag Goliaths from cliffs.
  • Warcry: Action, performance [replaces Alluring Song] All small, medium, and similarly sized large creatures in a 30 ft cone in front of the harpy must make a wisdom saving throw. Any who fail are stunned for 1 round and frightened for 2 additional rounds.  Affected creatures can make a will saving throw at the end of each turn. Can only be cast once every 2 minutes of combat.
  • Great hunter: Advantage on all strength checks and claw attacks deal +4 to hit.
  • Eagle eye: Eagle Harpy archers are Sharp Shooters.
Crow Harpy
Clever harpies with coal black hair and feathers. They often steal books, maps, and other written materials as well as shiny baubles.
  • Vicious Mockery. Action [replaces Alluring Song] The harpy unleash a string of insults laced with subtle enchantments at a creature the harpy can see within range. If the target can hear the harpy (though it need not understand the harpy), it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next Attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.
  • Crow's cunning: Advantage on intelligence checks and +2 to deception checks
  • Feathered filtchers: Crow harpies love shiny things even more-so than other types of harpies.
    [+4 sleight of hand when stealing, -1 concentration on all other things]
  • They can use their feathers and claws as thieves' tools for for locks up to CR 10.
Owl Harpy
Lone hunters who prefer to hunt stealthily at night, these harpies have have owlish features and excellent Low-Level Light Vision. They've also been known to fashion crude jerkins from their shed feathers to help hide better and to make their flight even stealthier. This has led to a some cultures mistaking them for much more supernatural beings from myths and legends.
  • Perfect camouflage: pick one terrain in which to Hide in Plain Sight when motionless.
  • Silent flight: The feathers on their wings are designed to cancel out the sound of their movement [+10 to stealth checks when flying].
Vulture Harpy
Almost as patient as their namesakes, vulture harpies will follow potential for days soaring high above on wings perfect for gliding. They aren't very picky, either. Dead, alive, diseased, young, old – it doesn't matter to these harpies. Vulture harpies are bald and have slightly longer necks than the average harpy. Their wings are also much broader.
  • Hearty constitution: Immune to disease and resistant to most poisons and acids. [advantage on constitution for poisons and acids]
  • Nosy neighbor: Their excellent sense of sight smell and sight give the great perception [+4 to perception on checks]
Mockingbird Harpy
These harpies enjoy toying with their prey. Usually luring off one member of a party, then disguising themselves and pretending to be that party member and infiltrating the group they were traveling with.  A flock of mockingbird harpies will slowly pick off the members of a group one by one until each of the original members is dead.
  • Deadly mimic: Can near perfectly mimic anyone's voice they hear and cast Disguise Self at will as spell-like racial ability.
  • Pretty little liars: +7 deception
Puffin Harpy
Cursed a second time by the same gods as their ancestor, these harpies were transformed even further. Their feet became webbed and useless for grasping things, their faces were marked with reddish-orange, black, and yellow stripes and shapes that resemble clown paint. And, they developed a preference for colder coastal climes [minor cold resistance]. Appealing to Erathis for mercy, the puffin harpies were given three boons, the first of which was redirecting their craving for flesh to fish thus allowing them to return to civilization.
  • Unseen Hand: All puffin harpies have a spell-like ability similar to Mage Hand that they can use at will. Casting Mage Hand has the effects of Greater Mage Hand.
  • Social butterflies: knowing the other races would have great difficult accepting harpies, Erathis granted made them more charismatic [+3 charisma].
  • Multiattack is done with both feet instead of a club.

EDIT: got some more feedback, tweaked some stuff. Eagle harpy CR upped, warcry now 30 ft cone and allies not immune, upped crow harpy sleight of hand bonus, lowered buzzard harpy perception bonus.
EDIT: including harpy eagle coloring

EDIT: Always proof read your work. Fixing phrasing.

EDIT: Adding D&D Beyond links. Additional fine tuning and swapping out Alluring Song with Vicious Mockery for Crow harpy.
« Last Edit: 13 Nov 2017, 04:34 by Gyrre »
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Gyrre

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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #1 on: 14 Oct 2017, 02:07 »

I should probably mention that this whole thing started with the idea of the puffin harpy. I was trying to get a depressed coworker to laugh by suggesting silly sub-races to D&D races since I'm still pretty new to it.
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Gyrre

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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #2 on: 16 Oct 2017, 23:35 »

Made some tweaks based on some feedback I got.

 Eagle harpy CR upped, warcry now 30 ft cone and allies not immune, upped crow harpy sleight of hand bonus, lowered buzzard harpy perception bonus.


Currently working on Kirby nightjar harpy.
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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #3 on: 17 Oct 2017, 05:00 »

Do eagles even screech? Decades of movie history using the same exact eagle screech sound effect do not inspire confidence that they do.
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Gyrre

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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #4 on: 17 Oct 2017, 05:59 »

Do eagles even screech? Decades of movie history using the same exact eagle screech sound effect do not inspire confidence that they do.

Hmm.... good question. A quick search shows that bald eagles don't and that it's usually a red-tailed hawk. Golden eagles aren't big talkers either.

However, harpy eagles do screech. I guess they need to be blueish gray and white, then.
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Neko_Ali

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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #5 on: 17 Oct 2017, 10:39 »

Do eagles even screech? Decades of movie history using the same exact eagle screech sound effect do not inspire confidence that they do.

It's a common misconception. Eagles are actually screaming 'MURIKA! too loud for humans to comprehend them.
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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #6 on: 19 Oct 2017, 14:57 »

I always imagined, when reading stories of Harpies, of a mix of eagle and human.  However I do recall in one story (perhaps greek myth?) that they were based off of vultures, but that may be what that translator interpreted.
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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #7 on: 19 Oct 2017, 16:47 »

Do eagles even screech? Decades of movie history using the same exact eagle screech sound effect do not inspire confidence that they do.

It's a common misconception. Eagles are actually screaming 'MURIKA! too loud for humans to comprehend them.


Only very, very young eagles ...



... and even then, not all of them.



(I'll admit he looks a bit stupid with his tongue hanging out)
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Gyrre

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Re: Harpy Subraces (for D&D)
« Reply #8 on: 13 Nov 2017, 04:23 »

So, I wanted to play as a Puffin Harpy Cleric or a Crow Harpy wizard and had to introduce my GM to Alluring Song. He took one look at the 300 ft radius and went 'ha ha no'. So, I've cooked up some hombrew rules for dealing with Alluring Song for player characters.


Starting out - Either:
  • A) Allow them to start out with Alluring Song but at a drastically reduced range, say 5 or 10 ft. With a limit to how many rounds they can use it, or a limit to how often they can use it. Maybe have them role a d4 to see how many rounds they can use it per short rest, with them make that roll each short rest. 1st level rolls 1 d4, 2nd level rolls 2 d4, 3rd rolls 3 d4, etc. OR
  • B)  Start the character off without Alluring Song and make it available as a feat when they level up to level 2 or 3. It’d still have a greatly reduced radius, probably around 15 ft. With a ditto for the dice rolls for how often they can use it. Granted this 2nd option would require coming up with some in-story reason why the harpy doesn’t have it yet.
Radius increase - Have the radius increase slowly with as the character levels. I’ve got two ideas for this:
  • The easiest way: When leveling up, roll 1 d10+ 1 d4 to see how many feet the radius increases.
  • The interesting way: When leveling, roll a number of d4 equal to the player’s level, then round to the nearest multiple of 5 to see how many feet their range increases.
Duration increase - Start by having the number of d4 the player rolls each rest/short rest cycle be equal to that of their current level. At 5th level they’ll roll a d6, at 10th level a d8, at 15th level a d10, and at 20th level they can keep the song going for an unlimited number of rounds so long as they specify that they’re character is still singing.[/li][/list]
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