<style> .phb{ background : white;} .phb img{ display : none;} .phb hr+section blockquote{background : white;} </style> <style> .phb:after { content: ""; } </style> # Caliban Cursed from the womb, caliban are human—but monstrous in appearance. They are clearly and often terribly deformed, and only the most painstakingly constructed disguises can hope to hide their true forms. Most caliban resort to shapeless clothes, heavy cloaks, and hoods or masks to hide their appearance from their rest of the world. Amongst the superstitious, caliban are thought to be the offspring of demons or were created by witches, or that they were the results of the sins of their parents, or that they are faery changelings. They are seen as bad omens and are shunned, or even murdered, for being “inhuman”—it’s a rare caliban that manages to survive to adulthood living openly amongst such people. Assuming their parents don't abandon them, they are as likely as the caliban is to be shunned or murdered as well. To the more scientifically-minded, calibans are the result of “misaligned humors” or “bad air,” or thought to be created by the meddling of scientists or alchemists. These people are more likely to pity a caliban than shun them, but aren’t much more likely to *accept* them--except perhaps as circus freaks to be gawked at or scientific oddities to be studied. Those vanishingly rare caliban who have children of their own are as likely to produce another caliban as they are to produce a perfectly normal-seeming human babe, regardless of what the other parent was. ### Unwanted Outcasts More than anyone else, calibans are not part of society. They are at best a reminder of nature’s cruelty and at worst seen as monsters. Some have managed to secure places as menial workers, as thugs, as sideshow displays or jesters, as they are able to make their deformities work for them. A lucky few who are keen of mind and highly skilled have been able to rise above the prejudices of society by sheer determination. In all cases, however, they are still seen as *other*—they are reviled for bringing what they are into normal society, even when their skills are appreciated or even needed. Most of the time, however, caliban are thrust to the very bottom of the heap and are forced into a life of banditry or enslavement. ### One of Us Because only one caliban can truly understand another, calibans sometimes band together, forming small “Families” throughout the Land of Mists. The members are connected to each other by their nature rather than their blood and function through a balance of favors asked for and promises fulfilled. The Families can be very tightly knit together, and the members are often willing to do anything for each other—but they sometimes develop a cult-like feel to them. Initiations are often required to join and dues—not of money but of deeds, sometimes evil ones—may be required. In some of these Families, leaving the Family may be forbidden and going against the rules may be a fatal mistake. Not all calibans belong to one of these Families, (or even know that they exist), but many do. <div style='margin-top:100px;'></div> ### Caliban Names Calibans can have any sort of name. They might have the names their parents gave them, or they might go by whatever usually unfortunate nickname they picked up in childhood. Those who have been exiled from society are likely to pick new names, which are often grandiose or descriptive, or that sound like the sort of name you might give the hero or villain of a story. Those who have joined a caliban Family are often given new names to represent this. ### Caliban Traits Your caliban has the following traits: ***Ability Score Increase.*** Despite their often warped appearance, caliban are usually strangely strong. Your Strength and two other attributes increase by one, or your Strength increases by two and another attribute by one. While many people assume that calibans are stupid or slow, they are just as intelligent as anyone else, and some possess keen and creative minds. ***Age.*** Although they mature and age as humans do, the privation they suffer means that their life span is usually much shorter. However, they are often self-sufficient at a much younger age than a typical human would be, due to sheer necessity. ***Alignment.*** Due to the prejudices they face, calibans tend to shun human conventions and laws. They are often chaotic and an unfortunately large number shrink from goodness, as they see no reason to care about those who hate them. Still, some show surprising compassion, not wishing others to feel the pain that they do. ***Size.*** Caliban are usually human-sized, although many are extremely tall or very short—calibans shorter than four feet and taller than seven are not unknown. Your size is (usually) Medium but can be Small. ***Speed.*** Your base walking speed is 30 feet. ***Languages.*** You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language. ***No Two Alike.*** With their bodies and sometimes even their minds twisted into strange shapes, caliban have strange abilities and disturbing limitations. Choose one of the following benefits, or two benefits and one flaw. You may not take an advantage that deliberately offsets a flaw. #### Benefits The following is a list of typical caliban benefits: ***Alien Minded.*** Your twisted mind is so strange, few can pierce it. You have an advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep. ***Claws.*** You have claws. It may make it hard for you to do fine detail work, but it increases the damage you do on an unarmed strike to 1d4 slashing. ***Inhuman Constitution.*** You have a circus geek’s ability to eat anything with few repercussions. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance to poison damage. \pagebreak  ***Inhuman Speed.*** Because of, or perhaps despite, the way you’re built, you are remarkably fast. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet. ***Inhuman Toughness.*** Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level. ***Keen Senses.*** Perhaps your eyes and ears are too large, or perhaps you are so bestial you sense and react like an animal. ***Leaping And Bounding.*** Your legs are built for jumping. Your Strength counts half again as much (rounded down) when calculating the distance you can jump. ***Tapetum Lucidum.*** Your eyes drink in all light, giving you Darkvision—but as a result, your eyes glow eerily in the dark, like a cat’s. You see in dim light within 90 feet of you as if were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. ***Toughened Hide.*** Your skin is incredibly leathery, covered in tough calluses or even scales or a carapace, or covers layers of extremely resilient tissue and fat, giving you a +1 bonus to Armor Class. ***Survivalist.*** You’ve had to take care of yourself for so long, it’s second nature. You have proficiency in the Survival skill. ***Wall-Crawling.*** You have a nearly supernatural ability to climb walls. You have a climbing speed equal to your base walking speed, and can climb up even nearly vertical surfaces without needing to make an ability check. You can’t cling to walls, however, and don’t have the spider climb ability. #### Flaws The following is a list of typical caliban flaws: ***Chronic Pain.*** Your muscles, bones, and joints are warped or aren’t attached correctly, which causes you frequent physical pain. After each long rest, you must make a DC 12 Constitution check. If you fail, then you are at a disadvantage to all Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws until you take another long rest. You can’t take this and the Inhuman Constitution or Inhuman Toughness benefit. ***Depressed.*** Life has not been kind to you and you spend much of the time feeling depressed. After each long rest, you must make a DC 12 Charisma check. If you fail, then you are at a disadvantage to all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws for the remainder of that day. ***Malformed.*** Pick one of the following: * **Crippled Arm.** You are missing a hand or arm, or one of your arms is so misshapen as to be useless. You can only use one-handed objects. You can’t take this and the Leaping and Bounding or Wall-Crawling benefit. * **Crippled Leg.** Your legs are twisted and clubbed and your gait is clumsy. Your movement is reduced to 25 feet and your Strength is considered to be 2/3 (rounded up) as much when determining how far you can jump. You can’t take this and the Inhuman Speed, Leaping and Bounding, or Wall-Crawling benefit. * **Dulled Senses.** Your senses are dulled considerably. You are at a disadvantage when rolling Wisdom (Perception) to for either hearing or vision, and your Passive Perception is reduced by one. You can’t take this and the Keen Senses benefit. * **Sickly.** You were as sickly as you look and you have a poorly-developed immune system. You have a disadvantage when rolling a Constitution saving against diseases and poisons. You can’t take this and the Inhuman Constitution benefit. * **Weak.** You’re weaker than you look. You are considered to be one size smaller when determining how much weight you can bear. This does not affect your ability to deal damage, although it may limit how heavy a weapon you can wield. You can’t take this and the Inhuman Constitution or Inhuman Toughness benefit. ***Music Hath Charms.*** You are drawn to beauty, most likely to counterbalance the ugliness you see in yourself. Whenever you encounter a truly beautiful piece of music, artwork, natural scenery, or a person (choose one type), you must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw to tear your gaze away from it and react to other things—you are stunned. You may make a new saving throw at the end of each turn until you snap out of it, you take damage, or the source of the beauty is no longer in your sight or hearing. ***Strange Desires.*** You have developed unusual, perhaps even inhuman, needs, obsessions, desires, or fetishes. Most other people—including other caliban—find your strange desire weird, disturbing, or even disgusting. Perhaps you have an overwhelming need to eat insects or filth or still-living creatures, or you have a strange and unpleasant sexual fetish that you can’t avoid, or you are a compulsive artist and use blood and living skin as your preferred medium. Each day, you must make a DC 12 Wisdom check. On a failure, you must attempt to engage in your obsession at some point that day. If you aren’t able to, then starting from the next time you end a long rest until you’re able to indulge in your obsession, you are at disadvantage on all Charisma, Dexterity, and Wisdom ability checks and saving throws. In addition, if you are confronted by your strange desire but can’t partake in it, you must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be at disadvantage Charisma, Dexterity, and Wisdom ability checks and saving throws for as long as the obsession remains within line of sight. ***Volatile.*** You’re incapable of managing your emotions properly and are prone to outbursts, moments of inappropriate or awkward reactions, and bouts of occasional irrationality. You may suddenly act like an animal when under stress. You have a disadvantage when controlling your emotions is paramount and when saving against emotion-altering and mind-controlling magic. ### Breeds Caliban are misshapen and no two are alike. However, there are a few generalities that have divided them into three "breeds," known colloquially as the beasts, the broken, and the waxen. You may choose one of the following options or create your own; some caliban defy pigeonholing. \pagebreak #### The Beast As the name implies, these caliban have animalistic features. Some have slit pupils, sharp claws, fangs, or tusks, tails, hoof-like feet, hypertrichosis, or other such trait. Still others look more like anthropomorphic animals than actual humans. Many people believe that Beasts are actually lycanthropes, or are the result of a human mating with an animal (and in the Land of Mists, these beliefs may be true), and as such, they are seen as the result of sexual sin. In general, these caliban are treated like animals and are the most loathed of all the caliban. And whether the result of this treatment, or because their animality affects their minds as well as their appearance, they are also the most likely to be cruel and evil and use human cunning to fulfill animal urges. #### The Bent These unfortunate caliban are usually horribly malformed. Tey may be hunchbacked; their limbs are often mangled or the wrong size, or they may have extra limbs; their heads may be misshapen or some of their facial features might be scrambled or missing; they may have parasitic twins (which might be comatose, non-sentient, or even alive and aware). The luckiest of the Bent are those with gigantism or dwarfism, but even those caliban are usually out of proportion--such a caliban may be a giant, but only because his legs are twice as long as normal while the rest of his body is of otherwise normal proportions. These caliban are typically more pitied than feared or reviled and are more likely to be recognized to be the victim of a birth defect than the result of a curse. Nevertheless, those that cannot get jobs in sideshows or as menial laborers are pushed to the very edge of society. They may be pitied, but the Bent are still very unpleasing to the eye. #### The Waxen The Waxen are perhaps the most unusual calibans and definitely the rarest. They look normal, even beautiful--but perhaps *too* perfect, and on a second look, it's clear that they hail from deep within the Uncanny Valley. Many Waxen are pale or even albino but some are completely melanistic, and their skin often looks and feels like wax or porcelain. Their features are often either far too delicate or strangely rubbery. Their eyes are often over-large and soulless. Their movements are stilted and their limbs don't seemed to be joined up quite right. Their voices are frequently disturbing whispers, or are flat and emotionless, or are mechanical-sounding, or come in staccato bursts. The Waxen often look like living dolls or mannequins--pretty, but very, very disturbing.