Variant Aarakocra v1

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## Aarakocra

*"It was on the third day of the week when the birdfolk walked into the tavern. His feathers were a bright red that put the fire in the hearth to shame, and his stoic expression was similar to the freezing winds outside. All he wanted to know was the fastest way to 'Tyar-Besil', and then he left. I don't know who lives at this Tyar-Besil, but I suspect I'll never find out."*

— Douglas Redwood, *Birds of Prey*

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Sequestered in high mountans atop tall trees, the aarakocra, sometimes called birdfolk, evoke fear and wonder. Many aarakocra aren't even native to the Material Plane. They hail from a world beyond-from the boundless vistas of the Elemental Plane of Air. They are immigrants, scouts, and explorers, their outposts fuctioning in a worth both strange and alien.

### Beak and Feather

From below, aarakocra look much like large birds. Only when they decend to roost on a branch or walk across the ground does their humanoid appearance reveal itself. Standing upright, aarakocra might reach 5 feet tall, and they have long, narrow legs that taper to sharp talons.

Feathers cover their bodies. Their plumage typically denotes membership in a tribe. Males are brightly coloured, with feathers of red, orange, or yellow. Females have more subdued colours, usually brown or grey. Their heads complete the avian appearance, often resembling common birds, such as eagles, hawks, or parrots.

### Sky Wardens

Nowhere are the aarakocra more comfortable than the sky. They can spend hours in the air, and some go as long as days, locking their wings in place and letting the thermals hold them aloft. In battle, they prove dynamic and acrobatic fliers, removing with remarkable speed and grace, diving to lash opponents with weapons before turning and flying away.

Once airborn, an aarakocra leaves the sky with reluctance. On their native plane, they can fly for days or months, landing only to lay their eggs and feed their young before launching themselves back into the air. Those that make it to a world in the Material Plane find it a strange place. They sometimes forget or ignore vertical distances, and they have only pity for earthbound people forced to live and toil on the ground.

### Avian Mannerisms

The resemblance of aarakocra to birds isn't limited to physical features. Aarakocra display many of the same mannerisms of ordinary birds. They are dastidious about their plumage, frequently tending their feathers, cleaning and scratching away any tiny passengers they may have collected.

Many aarakocra punctuate their speech with chirps, sounds they use to convey emphasis and to shade meaning, much as a human might through facial expressions and gestures. An aarakocra might become frustrated with people who fail to pick up on the nuances; an aarakocra's threat might be taken as a jest and vice versa.

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> ##### Aarakocra Backgrounds
>
> Backgrounds that are most appropriate for the aarakocra include the outlander, the hermit, and the sage.
>
> The small colonies of aarakocra that exist are usually insular and remote, and few aarakocra live away from their roosts; no more than a few dozen aarakocra live away from the nests of their families. Those that do are usually fighters or rangers, constantly patrolling for outside threats.

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The idea of ownership baffles most aarakocra. After all, who owns the sky? Even when explained to them, the initially find the notion of ownership mystifying. As a result, aarakocra who have little interaction with other people might be a nuisance as they snatch livestock or plunder harvests for fruits and grains. Shiny, glittering objects catch their eyes. They find it hard not to pluck the treasure and bring it back to their settlement to beautify it. An aarakocra who spends years among other races can learn to inhibit these impulses.

Confinement terrifies the aarakocra. To be grounded, trapped underground, or imprisoned by the cold, enyielding earth is a torment few aarakocra can withstand. Even when perched on a high branch or at rest in their mountaintop homes, they appear alert, with eyes moving and bodies ready to take flight.

### Homelands

Most aarakocra live on the Elemental Plane of Air. Aarakocra can be drawn into the Material Plane, sometimes to pursue enemies or thwart their foes' designs there. Accident might also send a nest of aarakocra  tumbling into a world on that plane. A few find their way to such a world through portals on their own plane and establish nests in high mountains or in the canopies of  old forests.

Once tribes of aarakocra settle in an area, they share a hunting territory that extends across an area up to 100 miles on a side, with each tribe hunting in the lands nearest to their colony, ranging further should game become scarce.

### Great Purpose

Aarakocra enjoy peace and solitude. Most of them have little intrest in dealing with other people. For this reason, it takes an exceptional circumstances for an aarakocra to leave their tribe and undertake the adventurer's life. Neither treasure nor glory is enough  to lure them from their tribes; a dire threat to their people, a mission of vengeance, or a catastrophe typically lies at the heart of the aarakocra adventurer's chosen path.

Two other circmstances might call an aarakocra to adventure. First, aarakocra have historical ties to the Wind Dukes of Aqaa. Exceptional individuals honor that connection and might seek out the missing pieces of the *Rod of Seven Parts*, the remains of an artifact fashioned by the Wind Dukes long ago to defeat the Queen of Chaos' monsterous champion, Miska the Wolf-Spider. When plunged into Miska's body, the chaos in his blood sundered the rod and scattered its pieces across the multiverse. Recovering the pieces means gaining honor and esteem in the eyes of the vaati who forged it and could possibly restore a powerful weapon for defence against the agents of elemental evil.

Second, aarakocra are sworn foes of elemental earth, in paticular the gargoyles that serve Ogrémoch, the Prince of Earth. The Aarakocra word for gargoyle is loosely translated as “flying rock,” and battles between aarakocra and gargoyles have raged across the Elemental Planes of Earth and Air, occasionally spilling into a world on the Material Plane. Aarakocra on that plane might leave their colonies to lend aid to other humanoids committed to fighting earth cults and thwarting their efforts.

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### Aarakocra Names

As with much of their speech, aarakocra names include clicksand whistles to the point that other peoples have a difficult time pronouncing them. Typically, a name has two to four syllables with the sounds acting as connectors. When interacting with other races, aarakocra may use nicknames gained from people they meet or shortened forms of their full names.

An aarakocra of any gender may have one of these short names: Aera, Aial, Aur, Deekek, Errk, Heehk, Ikki, Kleeck, Oorr, Ouss, Quaf, Quierk, Salleek, Urreek, or Zeed.

### Aarakocra Personality

The aarakocra rarely live a life outside their village, and it shows in the way they act around others. You can select, roll, or adapt a aarakocra-specific quirk from the Aarakocra Quirks table. Use the quirk to inform how you portray your character.

##### Aarakocra Quirks

| d6 | Quirk |
|:-:|:-|
| <font color="#d1d5d6">___</font>1<font color="#d1d5d6">___</font> | You assume that anything anyone offers you is free. If they wanted you to pay for it, why would they hand it to you?
| 2 | You hate sleeping indoors, and would much rather be perched in a sturdy branch.
| 3 | You can't help but attempt to keep your friends clean, and are always brushing dust off them.
| 4 | You often take small object and trinkets that you don't think others will miss.
| 5 | You sometimes think that dwarves are blind because they live underground.
| 6 | You believe no other race appreciates the wide, open air as much as you do.

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> ##### Variant Wings
>
> Being able to fly at a high speed starting at 1st level is exceptionally effective in certain circumstances and exceeding dangerous in others. As such, you can choose to replace the first paragraph of the Aarakocra's Wings trait with one of the following options.
>
> ***Variant Wings 1.*** Your wings are strong enough to fully support you in the air. You have a flying speed of 10 feet. At 3rd level, your flying speed increases to 20 feet, and at 5th level, your flying speed increases to 30 feet. To use this speed, you can't be wearing heavy armor.
>
> ***Variant Wings 2.*** Starting at 3rd level, your wings are finally strong enough to fully support you in the air. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can't be wearing heavy armor.

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### Aarakocra Traits

As an aarakocra, you have certain traits in common with other aarakocra.

***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Dexterity score increases <br> by 2.

***Age.*** Aarakocra reach maturity by age 15. Compared to humans, aarakocra don't usually live longer than 60 years.

***Alignment.*** Most aarakocra are good and rarely choose sides when it comes to law and chaos. Tribal leaders and warriors might be lawful, while explorers and adventurers might tend towards chaotic.

***Size.*** Aarakocra are about 5 feet tall. They have thin, lightweight bodies that weigh between 80 and 100 pounds. Your size is Medium.

***Speed.*** Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

***Peak Dwellers.*** You're acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet. You're also naturally adapted to strong wind, as described in chapter 5 of the *Dungeon Master's Guide.*

***Talons.*** Your razor sharp talons are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

***Wings.*** Your wings are strong enough to fully support you in the air. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can't be wearing heavy armor.

However, your wings are only able to properly support you. You can't carry another creature or move one grappled by you while flying. Furthermore, you can't wear any kind of armour that doesn't accommodate your wings. Armour can be made to accommodate your wings with the appropriate tools for the armour, 4 hours of work, and an amount of gold equal to half of the armour's gold value.

Finally, your body is naturally adapted to the turbulent and fast winds of the Elemental Plane of Air. While on the Elemental Plane of Air, the flying speed granted by your Wings trait is doubled.

***Languages.*** You can speak, read, and write Common, Aarakocra, and Auran.

***Subrace.*** Aarakocra are loosly divided by their upbringing in their tribe, which are the braveheart and the sagesoul. The braveheart act as defenders of the tribe, while the sagesoul act as shamans and hunters. Choose one of these subraces.

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#### Braveheart Aarakocra

Braveheart aarakocra act as defenders of their tribe, and are able to easily fight off anything that would threaten them.

***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Strength score increases <br> by 1.

***Aerial Superiority.*** When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell and the creature doesn't have a flying or hover speed, you can cause the attack or spell to deal extra damage to the creature. The extra damage equals your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

***Strong Wings.*** You can make use of your flying speed while wearing heavy armour.

#### Sagesoul Aarakocra

Sagesoul aarakocra are more intune with the Elemental Plane of Air, and can call on limited elemental magic.

***Ability Score Increase.*** Your Wisdom score increases <br> by 1.

***Breeze Callers*** Your attunement to the air plane allows you to cast spells that reflect the elemental air. You know the *gust* cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the *fog cloud* spell; you must finish a long rest in order to cast the spell again using this trait. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the *gust of wind* spell; you must finish a long rest in order to cast the spell again using this trait. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

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> ##### Credits
> - Created by u/Rain-Junkie. More of my work can be found [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4DXaYGyECU5ODl6Y3R5STVjRGM?usp=sharing).
> - First artwork is from the [Elemental Evil Player's Companion](http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/EE_PlayersCompanion.pdf), with the specific artist unknown. The second artwork was created by [Ferdinand D. Ladera](https://ferdinandladera.deviantart.com/).
> - Made using [GMBinder](https://www.gmbinder.com/).
> - Special thank you to the [Discord of Many Things](https://discordapp.com/invite/0dPVgggGtnyRhIcB) for all their help!