Husk

An elven woman wearing a bulky, black robe, with a high collar that obscured everything beneath her eyes, walks down the less traveled road. As she reaches the fork, a pair of bandits emerge from the bush and point their blood rusted swords at her as they demand all her possessions . The fair skinned elven girl laughs as a small growl can be heard from beneath her robes. With great speed she charges one of them. As she closed the gap, she ripped out one of the bandits throats. Startled, the other bandit falls back only to see the horrific scared face of the women, as a lioness maw was attached to her face by countless sutures.

A gnome bard plays his fiddle as he enamours the crowd. As he holds out his tall hat people begin to toss coin into it, but one husky looking man spits in it and laughs at the small bard as he insults his “mediocre skill”. The gnome gestures him closer, as if to whisper something. When the husky fellow leaned down, the gnome's finger quickly glided over the man’s throat. The audience watch in horror as the man began to bleed from his throat without any weapon in either their hands.

An orc man sits nude under a waterfall, as his monk robes and vestiges remain dry on the shore. As he opens his eyes a brilliant blue glow starts to shine from the small gem embedded in his forehead. The waterfall turns to ice as the orc smiles with pride.

Husk are creatures who have entered a relationship with an object belonging to a powerful creature or a strong connection to a primal force such as the elemental planes. This symbiotic relationship allows them access to powers only imagined by the most avid readers of heroic legends or possibly even worshipers of infamous villains. Growing this molecular relationship allows them to tap into greater powers as they themselves are slowly morphed and twisted by the objects they now accept as part of their true form.

Class Features

As a husk, you gain the following class features

Symbiosis Origin

At 1st level, A foreign object such as a gem, bone, trinket, or other substance has been introduced to you and it has become a conduit between your physical body and the symbiote's will, in a form of symbiosis. This object has no intelligence, but could be tied or linked to an more powerful entity. You choose the origin of this object from the following list: Beast, Elemental, or Parasite. These options are detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 1st level and again at 6th, 13th, and 18th level.

Unarmored Defense

Starting at 1st level, while you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Cowling

Starting at 1st level, You call upon the symbiote in a time of need to fight. On your turn, you ask the symbiote to grant you the protection of the cowl.

You gain the following benefits while under the protection of the cowl:

• You have advantage on saving throws you are proficient in
• You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
• When you make an attack roll that uses your proficiency bonus, you gain a bonus to the attack roll that increases as you gain levels as a husk, as shown in the Symbiote Bonus column of the Husk table.

The symbiote is considered in control while the cowling is active. You normally choose the symbiote's actions for it, but your DM may choose to take on this role as the symbiote instead. The host is unaware of what is going on while the cowling ability is active.

The cowl last for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or when the symbiote chooses to end it early using your bonus action.

Once you have used the cowling ability the number of times shown for your husk level in the Cowling column of the Husk table, you must finish a long rest before you can use the cowling ability again.

Shared Trait

The character of the symbiote has began infecting your own personality and warping it closer towards the symbiote’s. At 2nd level, choose a character trait for your symbiote from the options below. This choice cannot be changed.

Animalistic. We are more akin to beast than humans. When making a Wisdom (survival) check to track a creature or forage for food, you can add your symbiote bonus to the check.

Curious. We desires to learn all we can. When you spend at least an hour trying to decipher or study a tome or other form of physical writting you have in front of you, you can add your symbiote bonus to the Intelligence check made to uncover any knowledge stored within it.

Cruel. We love to toy and torture our victims. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit, you can deface the body as a bonus action. You make a contested Any creature who sees this, must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your symbiote save DC or become frightened of you for a minute. On a successful save, they are not frightened of you.

Kind. We would rather not kill anyone, if possible. When a hostile creature is in combat with you, you can make a contested Charisma (Persuasion) check against the hostile creatures Wisdom check. On a successful check, the hostile creature is still hostile towards you, but ceases it's attacks until threatened again, giving you a chance to leave without death. On a failed check, the hostile creature is immune to the effects of this ability for the next 24 hours and continues to attack.

Unforgiving. We never forget those who wronged us. You remember the names and faces of anyone who has wronged you since gaining this feature.

Responsive

Beginning at 2nd level, The symbiote has started reacting to external stimuli.

Your symbiote has a reaction it can use once per round, separate from your own. It can only use these reactions to use specific features. You start off knowing 2 such features, listed below.

If you drop to 0 hit points or die, your symbiote will continue to be active for a number of minutes equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier before going dormant until you regain consciousness. During this time, the symbiote will try everything in it's power to keep you alive.

Some of your Symbiote features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Metamorphosis

Your connection with the symbiote has started you on a path of rebirth through the life changing event known as "the Shedding". Starting at 3rd level, your gain 2 evolutions of your choice. Your metamorphosis options are detailed at the end of the class description. When you gain certain husk levels, you gain additional evolutions, as shown in the Evolutions column of the Husk table.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the evolutions you know and replace it with another evolution that you could learn at that level.

Ability Score Increase

When you reach 4th level and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Inheritance of Knowledge

Starting at 7th level, you have gained an inheritance of practical skills from the symbiote that relates to knowledge it has gained throughout it's time. Choose one of the following abilities, this choice cannot be changed later:

Knowledge of the fighters. You gain proficiency with three martial weapon of your choosing and proficiency with shields.

Knowledge of the mages. Choose a class: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You gain 3 cantrips of your choice from that class's spell list. You use your constitution as the spellcasting ability for these spells instead.

Knowledge of the skillful. You gain two skill proficiencies of your choosing.

Superior Reaction Time

Starting at 9th level, your symbiote can take 2 reactions per round.

Tag In

The symbiote can tell when your mind is compromised. Starting at 10th level, When a creature tries to charm or frighten you, the smyiote can use it's reaction to protect you with the cowl, if you have any uses remaining. You can’t be charmed or frightened while under the protection of the cowl. If you are charmed or frightened when the cowl encompasses you, the effect is suspended for the duration of the cowling.

Overly Aware

Both your sense and the symbiotes have become entwined at 11th level. When rolling initiative, you can add your symbiote bonus to the roll.

Adaptable

Even the most ferocious of beast won't survive if they can't adapt to their surroundings. Starting at 14th level, Whenever you finish a long rest, you can replace your proficiency with any one saving throw and become proficient with a different saving throw that you currently don't have proficiency in. This change lasts until you finish your next long rest.

Preserve the Vessel

Your journey down this path is almost complete and have started undergoing your final transformation. At 15th level, your body ages half its normal rate, doubling your maximum age.

Inherited Trait

The symbiote has been connected with you for so long that it has permanently gained one or more of your personality traits, ideals or flaws of your choosing.

Improved Saving Throws

Starting at 17th level, you can add your symbiote bonus to saving throws you are proficient in.

True Monster

You are a beast, an abomination of nature, the horror whispered in parent's tales, warning their children of the creatures that prowl in the darkness. Starting at 20th level, you have become a cryptid unknown to the world of man, elf, dwarf, or any other living, intelligent creature that has roamed this earth. You gain the following benefits.

• your Constitution score increases by 4. Your maximum for this score is now 24.
• You gain resistance to all damage while under the protection of the cowl.
• Your symbiote can take three reactions per round now.

Symbiosis Origin

Becoming a husk is not a decision made lightly, as it is a life altering moment in the creature's life, though in all honesty most are made through back alley deals, illegal experimentations or pure circumstance and bad luck,. Those who merge with the foreign object are changed from the inside out until eventually become a new creature altogether, though some transformations are less drastic then others.

Elemental

Your symbiote has come from one of the elemental planes fueled by the most primal of forces found within nature and by far the most unstable. This could be a gem from the elemental plane of earth, a decapitated arm of a flame elemental that only looks like a charred remain of a human arm, or possibly you accidentally swallowed a tiny water elemental while swimming in the great sea of the elemental plane of water. Whatever the case you now have a strong tie to this realm and it is changing you.

Parasite

Parasite derived husk are rare, but not unheard of. Many tend to contract this when traversing the underdark without proper protection or possibly even by becoming infected by another creature such as a slaad or aboleth. All you know is something is swimming around inside your body as it changes you from the inside out, but luckily it seems to desire you alive so it can live and grow stronger.