Selkie
The elusive selkies or seal-folk are mostly known of through sea shanties and bard songs; typically the tales of fishermen that steal their pelts and coerce them into marriage. The pelt must be hidden, for as soon as the selkie finds her pelt, she returns to the sea and is never seen again.
Few selkies that choose to interact with the surface world are open about their origin, predominantly due to these tales. Those that are not deterred by these stories tend to come to land to either learn more of the strange world of air and sky, or to seek vengeance for the hunting of one of their kin or the polluting of their homelands.
A selkie without their pelt is near identical to a human, bar some unusual skin blemishes akin to seal spots and the smell of salt on their skin. The children of humans and selkies are less fortunate; they are born with webbed hands and feet, with a rare few born with even more seal-like traits. These individuals may be kept on land by their human parent as a reminder of the love they once had, or rejected and cast out into the cold seas that are no more their home than the harbor towns and fishing villages they were born in.
Character Prompts
- Bound into an unloving marriage, seeking the safehouse where your pelt was hidden
- Vengeful of the world above, you'll see them strangled in their own fishing wires
- Mysterious and alluring, you seek affection or pleasure
- Happy on the surface world, a pain in your gut still calls to the sea, no matter how much you try to ignore it
- A predator by heart, seeking prey beyond fish and crabs
Selkie Traits
Your selkie character has the following racial traits:
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. You have a lifespan of around 60 years.
Alignment. Selkies are creatures of the sea, with no strong interest in politics or cosmic-level wars. Their first and foremost concern is themselves, which leads them towards neutral (or, in some cases, evil) alignments.
Size. In both of your forms, your size is Medium.
Speed. In human form, you have a walking speed of 30 feet. Your movement speeds as a seal are listed in the seal stat block.
Pelt. Your form can shift between that of a seal and a human. Whilst in seal form, you treat this form as being within the same mechanical constraints of a druid's Wild Shape trait (PHB, pg 67). It takes one minute to don or doff your seal pelt, which triggers the transformation. Without this pelt, you are unable to change form back into a seal.
The pelt has an AC of 10 and, when separated from your body, has the same number of hit points as your character's hit point maximum at the time of transformation.
Once you have changed form, you cannot do so again until you have completed a long rest.
Frigid Water Dweller. You have advantage on rolls to resist extreme cold.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common. In human form, you can understand the speech of seals and convey simple messages to them.
Seal
Medium beast, unaligned
- Armor Class 12
- Hit Points 11 (2d8 + 2)
- Speed 15 ft., swim 40 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 13 (+1) 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 3 (-4) 10 (+0) 4 (-3)
- Skills Perception +2
- Senses passive Perception 12
- Languages –
- Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Hold Breath. Seals can hold their breath for half an hour.
Whiskers. Underwater, seals have blindsight of 30 feet.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, Reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage.
