Tarrasqueborn Playable Race | New Player Option for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition

Christmas Day, I threw out a bonus to my Patrons to let them request new races along with the Trayed and Tested promotional races. And here is what I got back:

• Qunari (from Dragon Age)
• Panda People
• Playable Tarrasques (this article)

Playable tarrasques was something that I threw out to my Patrons as sort of a joke. And someone came back and asked for it. So here we are.

God help us all.

Playtest Content

The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by
final game design and editing. They aren’t officially part of the game.

Constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated in either comments or social media. If you can give me a valid reason with examples why something is off, 9/10 I’m likely to make changes to the content and credit you for doing so. Otherwise, feedback without anything to back it up gets ignored (or at most a smile emoji like this 🙂 ) Thanks!

Note: a lot of this class is satirical, yet playable. Do with it what you will.

Errata:

• 12/28/2018: Whoa whoa whoa… HUGE fix. Someone down in the comments pointed out that my tarrasqueborn should be AT LEAST 400 pounds. Thank you, good sir, problem solved! 😛

What is a tarrasqueborn?

Born of tarrasques, as the name proclaims, tarrasqueborn lumber through a world that greets them with confusion and fear. Shaped by cruel gods with a wicked sense of humor, none are quite sure where or how tarrasqueborn were willed into existence. And just the idea of a tarrasque procreating with a humanoid is just too grisly to consider.

Tarrasqueborn look very much like tarrasques standing erect in humanoid form, although their heads are considerably larger than other humanoids, often comically so. They are tall and strongly built but often lumber like beasts and have large, spike-covered shells on their back.

Though all tarrasqueborn strive to be self-sufficient, they recognize that help is sometimes needed mostly because of their large, cumbersome heads and inability to judge their meals before swallowing. They choke on food a lot. Like, a lot.

Tarrasqueborn Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score is reduced by 2.

Age. Tarrasqueborn grow quickly. We think. And since it’s unknown how they’re even, uh… created, it’s any one’s guess what they look like when they’re young. Plus, being so rare, there’s no telling how long tarrasque born live for; some believe they might even be immortal. Poor devils.

Alignment. Tarrasqueborn are often bestial, therefore chaotic. However, they don’t really side one way or the other between the spectrums of good and evil. They kinda just like breaking things, yelling, and eating stuff.

Size. Tarrasqueborn are taller and heavier than humans, standing upwards to 8 feet tall and weighing nearly 400 pounds (most of which is in its head). Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Bite. Your large jaws make for 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, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Partially Swallow. After you make a bite attack against a Medium or smaller creature, you can immediately use your bonus action to attempt to swallow the same creature. Make a bite attack. If the attack hits, it deals its normal damage, and the target is grappled by you. While grappled, the target is blinded or restrained (your choice) plus you are suffocating and can’t make a bite attack against another creature until the grapple ends.

Reflective Carapace. The large shell on your back can protect you from magic. If you are targeted by a magic missile spell, a line spell, or a spell that requires a ranged attack roll while you are taking the Dodge action, roll a d6. On a 1-3 you are affected as normal. On a 4-5 you are unaffected. And on a 6, you are unaffected, and the effect is reflected back at the caster as though it originated from you, turning the caster into the target.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write (poorly on all accounts) Common and Draconic.

 

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Art by David De Léon Luis (yes, I realize it’s Bowser… but come on, Bowser is totally a half-tarrasque person, right?)