Races of Runeterra - Humans
The tried and true humans are the most common beings you'll see in Runeterra. From Ionia to Freljord to Shurima, all these people are of a single race, though much like the magic-infused planet they dwell on, Humans are often varied and diverse.
Perhaps it is because of their shorter lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have something to prove to the elder races. and that's why they build their mighty empires on the foundation of conquest and trade. Whatever drives them. humans are the innovators. the achievers. and the pioneers of the worlds.
Human Existence
While it's unclear where exactly humans originated from, they quickly spread throughout all of the continents and islands, forming settlements that would later grow into nations. This includes the ancient communities of Shurima and Icathia. It's also known that humans had a lot of dealings with the other races of Runeterra, such as the Vastaya and Yordles. In the case of the Vastaya, the ancient humans mixed with the Vastaya'sharei to eventually create the modern-day Vastaya races.
Humans also settled in the areas of Freljord and middle Valoran, eventually forming small kingdoms and larger provinces such as Demacia and Noxus. Over time, the sheer difference of the regoins and the magics that inhabit the world caused humans to slightly differ from one another.
The Rune Wars
Rune Magic uses several dozen symbols of an ancient language to draw power from the planet itself, making the power of a single spell theoretically infinite. Rune Magic is so devastating that the very landscape of the continent of Valoran was broken countless times, leading to anomalies like Plague Jungles, Freljord, and Shurima Desert. It's unconfirmed, but Rune Magic and Runic language is rumored to be the language of the gods - leading to the theory that the very world itself was created through the use of Rune Magic, spoken by the gods themselves.
When Rune Magic was rediscovered by the first summoners, The Rune Wars followed almost immediately as humans struggled to throw off the yoke of the gods. Predictably, the most powerful force in them were always Rune Mages, powerful wizards who could harness the power of that magic art.
Much has been lost over the centuries, but historians tend to agree that there have been five Rune Wars total. Over 2000 years ago, First Rune War took place, humans gained the knowledge of the World Runes, beating back ancient monsters that threatened to leave them extinct. About two hundred years later, roughly 800 years ago, the Second Rune War happened. Humans begin to battle between themselves, modern landscape is formed. Roughly 600 years ago, the Third Rune War was less destructive, knowledge of Rune Magic was mostly lost and modern city-states were formed.
This is the legacy that humans are known for by other races.
Varied Culture
Having so much more variety than other cultures, humans as a whole have no typical names. Some human parents give their children names from other languages, but most parents give names that are linked to their region's culture or to the naming traditions of their ancestors. The material culture and physical characteristics of humans can change wildly from region to region.
Human Traits
Ability Score Increase. You can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1, and another ability score is increased depending on your subrace.
Age. Humans are adapted to the harsh environments of Runeterra, thus they reach adulthood in their late teens and live for a little over a century.
Alignment. Humans tend toward no particular alignment. The best and the worst are found among them.
Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.
Versatility. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Subrace. Humans across Runeterra are varied, whether it be due to the environment, certain cirumstances or inherited by ancestors.
Demacian
Demacia is a proud, lawful kingdom with a military history. Founded as a refuge from magic after the Rune Wars, some might suggest that the golden age has passed, unless it proves able to adapt to a changing world. Self-sufficient and agrarian, its society is inherently defensive and insular, valuing justice, honor, and duty above all else.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Demacian Stamina. You have advantage on all Constitution checks, and also saving throws to avoid becoming exhausted or stunned.
Kingdom Lore. You can write, read and speak Demacian. You have proficiency in the Religion skill.
Observant. You have proficiency in either the Perception or Investigation skill, your choice.
Noxian
Noxus is a brutal, expansionist empire, yet those who look beyond its warlike exterior will find an unusually inclusive society. Anyone can rise to a position of power and respect if they display the necessary aptitude, regardless of social standing, background, or wealth. Noxians value strength above all, strength that can manifest in many different ways.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Noxian Might. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Trifarian Lore. You can write, read and speak Noxian. You have proficiency in the Intimidation skill.
Martial Training. You have proficiency in light and medium armor and two weapons of your choice.
Freljordian
The Freljord is a harsh and unforgiving land, where demi-gods are thought to walk the earth and the people are born warriors. While there are many individual tribes, the three greatest are the Avarosans, the Winter’s Claw, and the Frostguard, each uniquely shaped by their will to survive. It is also the only place on Runeterra where True Ice can be found.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Traction. You can treat snow and slippery surfaces as normal terrain instead of difficult terrain.
Aggressive. As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed toward an enemy of your choice that you can see or hear. You must end this move closer to the enemy than you started.
Arctic Lore. You can speak, read and write Freljordian. You have proficiency in either the Athletics and Survival skills.
Piltovan
Piltover is a thriving, progressive city. Ships fleets pass through its titanic sea-gates, bringing goods from all over. Merchant clans fund massive endeavors. With ever more inventors delving into hextech, Piltover is the place for the most skilled craftspeople from across Runeterra.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Piltovan Education. You are proficient in the Arcana and History skills. You can read, write, and speak and extra language of your choice.
Craftsman's Attunement. The maximum number of magic items you can attune to at once increases by one.
Zaunite
Zaun is a polluted under-city beneath Piltover. Stifled inventors find their unorthodox research welcomed in Zaun, but reckless industry has rendered whole swathes of the city highly toxic. Even so, thanks to a thriving black market, chemtech, and mechanical augmentation, the people still find ways to prosper.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Intelligence Score increases by 1.
Zaunite Resistance. You are immune to diseases and have advantage on saving throws against poisons, and against effects that deal poison damage.
Street Smarts. You have learned one cantrip from the Conjuration or Illusion school of magic. You also have advantage on Stealth and Sleight of Hand checks.
Ionian
Ionia is an island continent of natural beauty and magic. Its inhabitants, living in loosely collected provinces, are a spiritual people, seeking harmony with the world.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Ionian Tradition. You can speak, read and write Ionian, and have proficiency in one of the following skills: Arcana, History, Insight, Religion.
Swiftness. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet. Whenever you use your action to take the Dash action, this bonus increases to 10 feet until the end of your turn.
Shuriman
Shurima was once a thriving civilization that spanned the southern continent, left in ruins by the fall of its God-Emperor. Over millennia, tales of its former glory became myth and ritual. Now, its nomadic inhabitants eke out a life in the deserts, or turn to mercenary work.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Shuriman Endurance. You have advantage on saving throws against effects that deal fire damage, and are immune to the effects of extreme heat.
Desert Lore. You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.
Targonian Solari
The dominant religious group on Mount Targon, the Solari believe the sun is the source of all life. To them, all other light sources are false, and a threat to the future of their people. Their warrior-templars, the Ra'Horak, practice for years under the harshest conditions so they can defend the land against invading armies and execute heretics with divine righteousness.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Divine Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against effects that deal radiant or necrotic damage.
Divine Lore. You have proficiency in either the Persuasion or Religion skill, your choice.
Healing Hands. As an action, you can touch a creature and cause it to regain a number of hit points equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Targonian Lunari
An ancient underground sect, the Lunari worship the holy light of the silver moon. They practice their beliefs in secret, hiding from the Solari who seek to expel the Lunari from the mountain forever. Some say that long ago, the two groups coexisted, living in peace and worshiping the many celestial bodies as one people.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
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.
Divine Resilience. you have advantage on saving throws against effects that deal radiant or necrotic damage.
Divine Lore. You have proficiency in either the Persuasion or Religion skill, your choice.
Bilgewater Buhru
While much of Valoran knows the archipelago as the Blue Flame Isles, to the indigenous people of Buhru they have only ever been the Serpent Isles. Buhru’s ancient culture is highly respected, reflected, and sometimes imitated in the daily life of Bilgewater—including traditional medicine, and monster hunting techniques.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Buhru Training. You are proficient with spears, tridents, nets, water vehicles, and one tool; choosing from carpenter, cartographer, navigator, weaver, or woodcutter's tools.
Cunning Artisan. As part of a short rest, you can harvest bone and hide from a slain beast, construct, dragon, monstrosity, or plant creature of size Small or larger to create one of the following items: a shield, a club, a javelin, or ld4 darts or blowgun needles. To use this trait, you need a blade, such as a dagger, or appropriate artisan's tools.
Sneaky. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.
Ixtali
Secluded deep in the wilderness of eastern Shurima, the sophisticated arcology-city of Ixaocan remains mostly free of outside influence. Having witnessed from afar the ruination of the Blessed Isles, and the softening of Buhru culture, the Ixtali view the other factions of Runeterra as little more than upstarts and pretenders, and use their powerful elemental magic to keep any intruders at bay.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Magical Ancestry. You have advantage to saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Druidic Talent. You know the Druidcraft cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Entangle spell once per day as a 1st-level spell using this trait. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Freljord's Legacy; The Iceborn
The Iceborn are a rare magical subtype of humans from the Freljord, capable of manipulating both True Ice and Dark Ice. Very few Iceborn exist today, though the title and ability to work with ice are both heritable (can be passed down through generations).
Once thought as a rare phenomenon indeed, the blood of the tribes has been known to carry the power of an ancient and terrible bargain. From mother to child, the Iceborn are stronger, tougher, more resistant to cold—and they alone are capable, with great effort, of wielding weapons of magical, unmelting True Ice.
Though otherwise human, Iceborn have blue or pale white skin. Iceborn can control and manipulate ice, but some can also manipulate their appearance at will. This is evidenced in the Ancient Iceborn known as Lissandra's ability to take other persons' identities.
They are also able to endure lower temperatures than any normal human, being able to withstand the freezing cold of the Howling Abyss.
History
The Iceborn were a powerful group of people who lived in the Freljord centuries ago. They had the ability to control both True Ice and Dark Ice, though the latter was more dangerous to manipulate. As explained by Lissandra, ancient people who lived in Freljord were visited by mysterious entities known as the Frozen Watchers. The Watchers were beings of great power and knowledge. They made these people immortal and gave them powerful magic in exchange for their servitude, dubbing them Iceborn.
After some time, two Iceborn leaders, Lissandra's sisters: Avarosa and Serylda started a rebellion against the Watchers, tired of their slave-like status. On a fateful day, Avarosa's and Serylda's Iceborn hordes had their final battle against the Watchers on what is now known as the Howling Abyss.
In the end, both Avarosa and Serylda gave their lives to defeat the Watchers and were thrown into the abyss, supposedly killing them, along with thousands of other Iceborn. However, according to Lissandra, and suggested by Gregor and Lyte, they are very much alive, and making their way back onto the surface.
Iceborn Traits
Ability Score Improvement. your Constitution score increases by 2 and one score of your choice by 1.
Age. Iceborn reach maturity much like humans, after which they do not visibly age and live incredibly long, to the point that they are often thought to be biologically immortal. Iceborn passing away due to old age is incredibly rare, if not merely a myth.
Alignment. Iceborn are much like Freljordians; The settle into tribes and often lead them, giving them a lawful bent.
Size. Iceborn are generally between 5 to 6 feet tall, much like normal humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft.
Languages. You can read, speak and write Common and Freljordian.
Tundral Home. You can treat snow and slippery surfaces as normal terrain instead of difficult terrain. You gain proficiency in the Survival and Nature skills, as well as shortbows.
Iceborn Legacy. As an Iceborn, you are resistant to cold damage and become immune to the effects of Extreme Cold. You can also wield True Ice weapons as if it was a normal weapon.
Child of the Ice. You can temporarily imbue any weapon with your natural ice magic. A nonmagical weapon you touch becomes a magic weapon for the purposes of overcoming resistance. For 1 hour, you can add 1d4 cold damage to your weapon damage. When you reach 6th level, the damage is increased to 1d6. You cannot use this feature again until you complete a Long Rest.
Races of Runeterra - Vastaya
The Vastaya are a chimeric race of Runeterra that are the weaker magical descendants from enlightened mortals that took the power of the spirit realm into themselves known as the Vastayashai'rei. From the ferocious, bestial power of the Kiilash to the dexterity of the Shimon, Vastaya can look considerably different from one another, but they all share animal and human characteristics.
The Ancient Legends
In an age lost to myth, the harmony of the First Lands was shattered by war between mortals and a race of titans that had come from the skies above. Calling upon the wisdom of their ancestors, the most enlightened mortals took the power of the spirit realm into themselves, becoming Vastayashai’rei - deathless shapechangers who could wield the natural world itself as a weapon.
The titans were eventually defeated, and the Vastayashai’rei were hailed as the heroes of the age. Even so, they refused to put themselves above their mortal kin, choosing instead to live among them as equals.
Their descendants were known as the vastaya. These were mystical, chimeric beings, neither mortal nor truly immortal, and greatly attuned to the magic of Runeterra.
In time, as the balance between realms was restored, the power of the Vastayashai’rei began to wane, and the vastaya left to form their own tribes. They proudly took their names from those who had defeated the titans; noble Kiila, dutiful Chyr, cunning Lhotl, and countless more besides. For thousands of years, the vastaya have sought to uphold their own spiritual legacy, even when it would bring them into conflict with one another.
The true existence and fate of the vastaya were unknown to mainland scholars until an explorer from Piltover, Eduard Santangelo, chronicled his findings of this mysterious race during his expedition to Ionia. Upon first encountering them, he coined the term 'Phantasma', but later adopted the local name for them.
Physiology
Vastaya are a group of sexually dimorphic races of various shapes and sizes. Their animalistic appearance depends on the location in which they adapted, and their animal spirit. Each type of vastaya greatly differs from the others in appearance and abilities, but they are all in tune with the natural magic of Runeterra to some degree.
Different Vastayan tribes can reproduce. The Sodjoko are made up of various tribes coming together. What a child would look like depends on the parents, the nature and amount of magic the child grew up near, the customs of the tribe, and the child’s own personality - especially its connection to the various animal spirits. This spiritual essence is known as an individuals' Sho'ma.
Most Vastaya have some ability to change their looks. Most arrive a shape that is comfortable, reflects the animal spirits connected to their tribe, and their own personality. They can change shape depending upon their personality, amount of time required for the change, and in the depth of their connection to their ancestry.
The vastaya generally avoid looking purely human or animalistic because it's uncomfortable. Some would find having human feet similar to wearing 8 inch heels, a size too small. It's possible, but ineffective and uncomfortable.
The Vast Vastayan Culture
Not much is known about their culture due to the mysterious nature of this race. However, we do know that many significant acts involve heavy use of magic.
Some vastaya tribes have a leader, or a hierarchy, but not uniformly, and not across the entire species.
Certain tribes consider having children with a non-vastayan a taboo, and expel those violating the norm.
Vastayan Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and other scores depend on your subrace.
Age. The race ages far more slowly and has far longer life spans than humans. All true Vastaya individuals are at least about 180 years old.
Alignment. Vastaya value harmony and freedom, though alignment depends on the tribe.
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 cannot discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Size. Vastaya vary a lot in appearance, though they are generally between 5 to 7 ft. tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 ft.
Languages. You can read and write Common and Vastayan.
Vastayan Sho'ma. Your spiritual essence flows strongly through you. You can alter small details of your appearance at will, such as the colour and patterns of your feathers, fur, scales or skin. You cannot be put to sleep by magical means and gain advantage against being charmed. You also make Animal Handling checks with advantage.
Subrace. Vastaya come in many different races and tribes. Choose only one subrace from below.
Ocean Tribe - Marai
The Marai Vastaya share a lot of piscine and aquatic traits. They have cultural ties with Mount Targon. The Moonstone protects its people from Voidborn, which come from the dark depths of the Guardian's Sea. However, the moonstone's energy needs to be replenished over time, so a Tidecaller of each generation is tasked to retrieve a new one from the contemporary vessel for the Targonian Aspect of the Moon.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water, and gain a 30 ft. swimming speed.
Guardians of the Deep. You are proficient in one tool, instrument or gaming set of your choice. Additionally, You are proficient with tridents, quarterstaffs and spears.
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the sorcerer spell list. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it.
Ocean Tribe - Makara
Not much is known about the Makara tribes, as they are few in numbers compared to the Marai and reside much deeper in the vast oceans of Runeterra. They also share a lot of aquatic appearances, and their Sho'ma are known to drift to more predatory creatures such as sharks. They tend to focus mainly on survival and strengthening their own clan. The few who witnessed the Makara describe them as the 'carnivorous, ever-smiling ones'.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water, and gain a 30 ft. swimming speed.
Prowlers of the Deep. Adapted to even the most extreme ocean depths, you have resistance to cold damage, and you ignore any of the drawbacks caused by a deep, underwater environment.
Hungry Jaws. Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, and heal a number of hit points equal to half the damage done.
Landwalker Tribe - Kiilash
The Kiilash vastaya reside in Shurima. Their entire society revolves around the honor and glory of the hunt. Due to Shurima having a wide infestation of Voidborn creatures, the Killash see them as one of the most venerated and sought after prey.
Most of them are a form of large feline, such as tigers and lions. There are a few outliers, such as those who take physical traits from wolverines.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Hunter Lore. You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.
Powerful Legs. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet and you can jump twice as far and high.
Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.
Landwalker Tribe - Lhotlan
The Lhotlan vastaya have cultural and existential ties with Ionia. Being one of the oldest Vastayan tribes in existence, they have deep ties with their ancestral roots and protect their cultural heritage from the ever encroaching human population of the continent. The Lhotlan are typically avian in appearance, from peacocks to ravens and crows.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Fancy Footwork: You have proficiency in the Performance and Stealth skills, and gain resistance to fall damage.
Feather Shot. Your feathers are capable of hardening into natural projectiles. As an action, you can make a ranged weapon attack against a creature within 20 ft. of you, or 60 ft. of you at disadvantage. If you hit, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Dexterity modifier. When you reach 5th level, this can be used as a bonus action.
Landwalker Tribe - Shimon
The Shimon Vastaya reside in Ionia. These ape-like Vastaya are a wise, cautious people, and as pacifists, chose to build their society away from landwalkers, cultivating their society atop the tallest trees in Ionia. The Shimon see life as an evolutionary climb to wisdom, thus upon death, the Shimon believe they become stones, returning to the soil to begin the climb of life again.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Agile Climber. Your natural agility allows you to climb as fast as your base walking speed.
Agile. You are slippery, being able to loop out of pinches. You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks to escape being grappled.
Prehensile Tail. You can use your tail to carry objects weighing no more than 2 pounds. It has a reach of 5 ft. You cannot make attacks with your tail or carry any weapons nor shields.
Landwalker Tribe - Khonlui
The Khonlui Vastaya are a scattered bunch, though commonly found in remote areas of Valoran where they can be away form the general populace. The Khonlui's most striking feature is that they resemble a strange mix of rhino and bear. Whether it be tough hide or thick fur, the Khonlui pride themselves on not only physical strength, but mental fortitude as well.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to O hit points, but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Kohnlui Training. You gain proficiency in two martial weapons of your choice.
Sky Tribe - Strig
The Strig are a rarity, even among other Vastaya. Very few in number, the Strig are described as being 'reptilian butterflies'. This is mostly due to their unique patterns and wing styles. They have increased control over their own shapeshifting abilities, utilizing magic to conceal or trick. The Strig are also a very learned tribe of Vastaya, taking in knowledge about herbs, medicines and magic to be passed down to the next generation.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Wisdom scores increases by 1 and your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Size. As the Strig's Sho'ma are more attuned to smaller animal spirits, they can vary from 3 feet tall to 5 feet. Your size can be either Small or Medium.
Hawkeye. You can see twice as far as humans in clear weather. You are proficient in the Perception skill.
Flight. You have a flying speed of 25 ft. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.
Sky Tribe - Chyra
The Chyra are commonly found within the Ionian skies or highest mountain peaks, where they can fly freely and without fear. Some Chyra are also known for their extremely beautiful songs, for they take after elegant avian animals. Some Bilgewater captains would mistake Chyra Vastaya for the legendary Sirens of the oceans, luring prey through song. This is not the case for the Chyra, mostly.
Ability Score Improvement. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Strong Wings. You gain a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can't be wearing heavy armor.
Call. Whenever you make a Charisma (Performance) check to sing, you are considered proficient in the Performance skill. In addition, You know the friends cantrip.
Cantrip. You know the Gust and Presdigitation cantrips.
Races of Runeterra - Yordles
The Yordle are a race of spirits who generally take the appearance of mammalian bipeds. They mostly reside in a mystical place known as Bandle City, though some of them have ventured out to live in numerous locations around Runeterra.
History
Yordles came from a self-contained pocket within the spirit realm, with no direct "mirror" in the material realm of Runeterra. The origin of this race is unknown but can be traced back to a prehistoric time when there were no civilizations on land thanks to the existence of Fizz, an amphibious yordle. At that time they were a nomadic race, travelling from one part of Valoran to the other. They lived in tight neat family groups as well as near early humans. During prehistoric times they had tails and front canine teeth.
Overtime as human civilizations advanced, so did yordles appearances and capabilities. To easily blend in human areas, yordles at one point started using an ability called "Glamour", which gave them the appearance of a small stature humans. To this day, most yordles stay inside the mystical spiritual realm known as Bandle City, only venturing out on rare occasions. There are numerous gateways across Runeterra that yordles, and others more knowledgeable and perceptive, are able to use to get to in and out of Bandle City.
The Mythical Bandle City
Opinions differ as to where exactly the home of the yordles is to be found, though a handful of mortals claim to have traveled unseen pathways to a land of curious enchantment beyond the material realm. They tell of a place of unfettered magic, where the foolhardy can be led astray by myriad wonders, and end up lost in a dream...
In Bandle City, it is said that every sensation is heightened for non-yordles. Colors are brighter. Food and drink intoxicates the senses for years and, once tasted, will never be forgotten. The sunlight is eternally golden, the waters crystal clear, and every harvest brings a fruitful bounty. Perhaps some of these claims are true, or maybe none—for no two taletellers ever seem to agree on what they actually saw.
Only one thing is known for certain, and that is the timeless quality of Bandle City and its inhabitants. This might explain why those mortals who find their way back often appear to have aged tremendously, while many more never return at all.
While there are portals whose positions can shift over time, there are many that stay rooted in a single location. The magic of the spirit realm occasionally ebbs back and forth around such places—known as bandlewoods—and affects the local flora and fauna in strange, unpredictable ways.
The doorways between realms are finicky and seldom open, even to creatures as dexterous as cats such as Yuumi OriginalSquare Yuumi. Yordles would have to wait for days for the eastern star to align with a particular stone archway, or waded impatiently between marsh-lilies, seeking a silver blossom blooming from the mud—only then would a pathway appear.
Physiology
What differentiates yordles from other magical folk is that their physiology is more consistent between its members. Yordles are sexually dimorphic and much shorter than humans; both sexes rarely exceed 4 feet tall. Their skin texture ranges from being completely smooth, to very lightly covered in fur, to ultimately being significantly furry. Their hands have four digits (some yordles are also seen with five digits) while their feet differ greatly depending on the individual (from four to two digit feet).
Their skin tone runs a much broader spectrum of colors than their human counterparts; some consider this to be a sign of the yordles’ attunement to Runeterra’s magical nature; though scientists agree that this evolutionary trait is used by male Yordles, which tend to be furry, to attract females of their species, which tend to be smooth skinned and/or lightly covered with fur. Their large eyes feature a large, circular iris with a vertically oval pupil. Yordles nevertheless have much better hearing, due to their large fox-like ears.
Yordle Culture
During the early periods of Bandle City, Yordles that resided in this spiritual realm started constructing intricate system of gateways which would enable them to travel to the material realm of Runeterra. During the centuries, Runeterran civilizations rose and fallen, but the gateway system became ever more complex, connected with each other through magical leylines that crossed between the spiritual and material realms.
Bandle City residents wear a variety of different garments, armor, and accessories. Due to many Yordles leaving Bandle City, those that return sport clothing from common to the Runeterran cultures they were the longest part of. Those who do not travel outside of Bandle City wear clothing similar to mage robes, with giant hats adorning their heads.
Yordle Traits
Ability Score Improvement. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Intellegence score by 1.
Age. Yordles have exceptionally longer life spans than the average human, this is partially due to the innate magic within all yordles.
Alignment. Yordles are peaceful, often marked with joviality and light prankishness; their moral compass is often pointed toward good and benevolence.
Size. Yordles rarely exceed 4 feet tall, with most averaging at or below 3 feet. Your size is Small.
Languages. You can read and write Common and Yordle.
Speed. Your small size gives you a base walking speed of 25 feet.
Glamour. Your mystical nature to blend into human society allows you remain unremarkable. People will generally see you as a short-statured human. You gain advantage to deception and persuasion checks to maintain the ruse. Additionally, you know the Disguise Self spell and can cast it twice per Long Rest.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill, and your large ears give you advantage in Perception checks related to hearing.
Yordle Cunning. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic.