Half-Oni

by MrIpsilon

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Half-Oni

The oni is a creature that stalks the night; or so the old wives' tales say. Luring children out of their beds and into the forest to be devoured whole, the rarity and absurdity of the oni's existence leads it to be doubted in the eyes of all but the most superstitious. This obscurity extends to the point where the half-breed children of oni often mistakenly call themselves goliaths, having never truly known their monstrous ancestor.

Caught Between Worlds

In the eyes of giantkind, oni are inherently villainous and manipulative, often harassing other giant tribes when smallfolk become less preferable. They are capable of besting a hill giant hand-to-hand and outwitting a stone giant, but all other giant species handily outcompete them. As such, half-oni are respected far less than goliaths to giants, as they are all the easier to squash should the need arise.

Worse still, oni mothers rarely decide to raise an ill-born child, often abandoning half-oni infants or brushing them off as accidental occurrences. A smallfolk mother fortunate enough to survive procreating with an oni may be compelled to do the same upon gazing at the off-putting appearance of a half-oni child, but being raised in a humane home is often a half-oni's best chance at integrating into some kind of society. As they age, many a half-oni feels a pull away from wherever they were raised in search of answers to their past.

Frightening Features

One look at an oni will show you why some artists use them as a symbol of fear incarnate: brightly-colored skin, glowing predatory eyes, and fangs that would make an orc flinch. These traits remain present in half-oni, but are somewhat muted in accordance with the reduced size from true oni. Even still, the uninformed could easily mistake a half-oni for a devil walking the mortal plane.

In spite of the beautiful features marking one as a creature of the night, the brawn a half-oni possesses is not to be underestimated, no matter how friendly a face one puts on. Their skin is usually a desaturated shade red, green, or or blue, with hair that strongly resembles that of any other human, but grows at a quicker rate, making long hair a more common style for half-oni. Half-oni lack the ability to shapeshift into other forms like true oni, but do posses inklings of similar deceptive magic.

Half-Oni Names

A half-oni raised by smallfolk is likely to share naming conventions with that side of their family. Otherwise, like all ogres, oni take names that are short, guttural, and poignant. Oni may add titles to their names in declaration of their most esteemed accomplishments or traits.

Oni Names: Awizrog, Bawarth, Bluurut, Druzir, Egork, Itegut, Klezug, Krorug. Glagareg, Grimarag, Marag, Trodazag, Uzar, Vrukizig, Xeugork, Xorag, Zaag, Zokur

Oni Titles: All-Wise, Bloodguzzler, Dragonscar, Gold-Grabber, Irontooth, Longclaw, Quick-Foot, Redhide

Half-Oni Traits

As a half-oni, you gain the following traits:

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength or Constitution score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age. Half-oni age slightly slower than humans, living to 130 years old on average.

Alignment. As the offspring of a lawful evil creature, many half-oni have an innate inclination toward such alignment. However, half-oni raised differently than their giant parent can adopt whatever alignment their family instills upon them.

Size. With ogre blood in your veins, you are noticeably more robust than your smallfolk lineage, ranging anywhere from 6 to 8 feet in height. Your size is Medium.

Random Height and Weight
Base Height Base Weight Height Modifier Weight Modifier
6'0" 180 lbs. +2d12 x (2d6) lbs.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Bogeyman Talent. You gain proficiency in one of the following skills: Arcana, Deception, or Perception. Alternatively, you can instead gain proficiency with two weapons of your choice that have the two-handed or versatile properties.

Darkvision. Accustomed to roaming through the night, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.

Haunting Magic. You learn the friends cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast sleep once per long rest. At 5th level, you can cast invisibility on yourself once per long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Ogre Claws. Your unarmed strikes are natural weapons, dealing slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier instead of the normal bludgeoning damage of an unarmed strike.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Languages. You can read, speak, and write Common and Giant.

Feat: Accelerated Regeneration

Prerequisite: Half-oni, or some other race with regenerative capabilities

Your flesh naturally stitches itself back together, making you an arduous creature to try and destroy. The DM may tweak this feat to to better suit specific races or allow other regenerative races to make use of it, such as Ravnica's Simic Hybrid. You gain the following benefits:

  • Your Constitution score increases by 1.
  • You regain hit points equal to your Constitution modifier plus your proficiency bonus at the start of your turn if you have at least 1 hit point and no more than half your maximum hit points.
  • Whenever you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points during a short rest, you regain an additional number of hit points from the die equal to your proficiency bonus.

Feat: High Oni Magic

Prerequisite: Half-oni

You learn advanced magic typical of full-blooded oni. You learn the charm person spell and can cast it at will, without expending a spell slot. You also learn darkness and gaseous form, each of which you can cast once without expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to cast those two spells in this way when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for all three spells.


Art Credits
  • Halloween by Lee Inhyku
  • Gray Oni by Unknown
 

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