Thri-Kreen
Thri-kreen are insectoid humanoids, with four arms and long, folded legs. They wander the harshest deserts and savannas of the world in small groups, eking out a tribal existence where other races find the environment too hostile or dangerous.
Their culture reflects their environment: Every moment of activity is directly in service of survival, with little room for games or art. They have no taboo against eating the flesh of intelligent species, and when food is scarce, thri-kreen treat them as nothing more than dangerous prey. Thri-kreen kill to survive, never for sport.
Adventuring thri-kreen are typically the most culturally-sensitive and ambitious among them: those who can best understand other races, and who leave their tribe for the sake of something other than mere survival.
Thri-Kreen Traits
Your thri-kreen character has certain physical characteristics in common with all thri-kreen.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity and Wisdom scores are each increased by 1.
Age. Thri-Kreen have short lives, reaching maturity after 5 years and rarely living past 30.
Alignment. Thri-Kreen live in small, isolated tribes with little need for rules or complex social structure. They tend to have a chaotic bent, and the focus toward survival means they tend away from the extremes of good or evil.
Size. Thri-Kreen are taller and thinner than humans, ranging up to around 7 feet in height. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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.
Four Arms. You have four arms and four fully-functional hands. Because of these arms, you can’t wear heavy armor designed for other humanoid races.
Chameleon Carapace. As a bonus action, you can gain advantage on your next Dexterity (Stealth) check made to hide this turn.
Standing Leap. Your long jump is up to 30 feet and your high jump is up to 15 feet, with or without a running start.
Sleepless. You don't need to sleep, though effects that cause sleep can still render you unconscious. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as reading and keeping watch.
Languages. You can comprehend, read, and write Common, and can speak Thri-Kreen. Thri-Kreen is a language comprised of gestures and mandible clicks with no discrete words; most creatures lack the physical features necessary to use it. Conversely, thri-kreen lack the throat structure required for most spoken languages.
Random Height and Weight
Use this table if you wish to determine the height and weight of your thri-kreen character randomly.
Base Height Height modifier Base Weight Weight Modifier 5'2" +2d12 75 lb. × (1d4) lb.
Playing a Thri-Kreen
Before beginning play with a thri-kreen character, it may be worthwhile to re-read the Player's Handbook sections on weapons, attacking, and spellcasting.
The thri-kreen's four hands do not circumvent any restrictions other than simply having more free hands to use for the various things you can use hands for, nor do they provide additional attacks or other options you wouldn't otherwise have.
Though thri-kreen adventurers cannot outright speak Common, they are adept at making themselves understood through gesture, drawing, and writing. There's typically no need to limit communication with your fellow party members unless you're deliberately witholding information.
Gnoll
Gnolls are feral, cursed humanoids with the features of hyenas and a black hunger. Few of them live outside the roving bands that attack settlements along the frontiers and borderlands of civilization, slaughtering their victims and devouring their flesh.
Demonic Origin. The origin of the gnolls traces back to a time when the demon lord Yeenoghu found his way to the Material Plane and ran amok. Packs of ordinary hyenas followed in his wake, scavenging the demon lord's kills. The demon lord transformed these hyenas into the first gnolls, parading after Yeenoghu until he was banished back to the Abyss. The gnolls then scattered across the face of the world, a dire reminder of demonic power.
Thirst for Blood. Yeenoghu's influence snuffs any goodness or compassion in a gnoll's heart, and when it is present, a gnoll lacks anything resembling a conscience, and can't be taught or coerced to put aside their destructive tendencies. Even where the influence weakens, gnolls are subject to a deep, nigh-irresistible thirst for destruction and slaughter.
Fraying Influence. Yeenoghu is a demon, and like any other, their power can be turned aside or beaten back by the right foe. Gods, great heroes, or grand magical phenomena occasionally strike out against Yeenoghu, and where this happens, gnolls can slip beyond the demon lord's grasp. These freed creatures struggle with the savagery innate to their race, but have a chance to change themselves—to overcome the world's hostility and their own urges, to fulfil an ambition beyond simple bloodshed.
Gnoll Traits
Your gnoll character uses these traits, which represent a gnoll who has broken from Yeenoghu's power enough to become an adventurer.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score is increased by 2, and your Dexterity score is increased by 1.
Age. Gnolls are mature when they are created, and usually die a violent death within their first dozen years. If they don't, they can live to 40 years old.
Alignment. Most gnolls, even ones free of Yeenoghu's influence, are chaotic evil. Even those that are not evil are almost always chaotic.
Size. Gnolls' typically hunched posture belies a height of around 6 feet. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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.
Bite. 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 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Rampage. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on your turn, you can take a bonus action to move up to half your speed and make a bite attack.
Maiming Attacks. Once per turn when you deal piercing damage to a creature with a weapon attack, you can reduce that creature's speed by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, and can speak Gnoll, which has no written form. Gnoll consists of whines, cackles, and howls mixed with gestures and expressions, and can only convey basic concepts about food, prey, and danger.
Random Height and Weight
Use this table if you wish to determine the height and weight of your gnoll character randomly.
Base Height Height modifier Base Weight Weight Modifier 5'8" +2d4 120 lb. × (2d6) lb.
Playing a Gnoll
Gnolls that are adventurers are extreme outliers among all gnolls. They are the ones that can strain against their hunger most of the time, that do put forth all the effort they can into understanding the world. They are seldom truly civilized, but they certainly let their friends help reign them in.
The kind of gnoll that can't control its instincts is the kind of gnoll that dies before reaching 1st level, and so isn't the kind of gnoll you're playing.
Jakha
A hardy people with the features of jackals, jakha populate the drier parts of the world, building their cities in deserts, in savannahs, and on mountain slopes.
Due to a history of persecution and enslavement, a strict martial ideology forms the backbone of jakha culture, with combat prowess being the primary marker of social standing. Males and females have roughly equal physical potential. As such, a jakha society's standing army is essentially its entire population, and can be mobilized quickly. For the jakha, there is no real difference between a mass migration and a military campaign.
Any magic that jakha use tends to be designed for battle. Plenty of them take up wizardly magic, but the few who have a gift of sorcery are often disliked because of the natural advantages it brings.
Jakha are largely godless. Their culture's emphasis on self-improvement means that few jakha worship gods, and the race has no gods of its own. Those that do worship gods, or enter into pacts with other powerful entities, are seen in a poor light and thought of as lazy or cheaters by other jakha.
Raised in a culture that glorifies ambition, adventurers are plentiful among the jakha. Sorcerers and clerics are few among the general population, but because of the ostracization they experience, they are just as common as other kinds of jakha adventurers.
Jakha Traits
Your jakha adventurer shares these traits with all jakha.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores are all increased by 1.
Age. Jakha reach physical maturity around 15, but are considered adults the first time they defeat someone older than them in single combat, which can be several years earlier. They rarely live past 60.
Alignment. Most jakha lean towards lawful alignments. They tend to be neutral rather than good or evil.
Size. Jakha tend toward leaner builds than humans. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Keen Hearing and Smell. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely primarily on hearing or smell.
Martial Training. You are proficient with one martial weapon of your choice.
Bite. Your toothed muzzle 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, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Gripping Jaws. You can attempt to grapple a creature using your teeth rather than a free hand. While grappling a creature in this way, you can't make a bite attack against any other creature.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Jakha. Jakha is a crisp language full of hard consonants and open vowels, and carries clearly when shouted over long distances.
Random Height and Weight
Use this table if you wish to determine the height and weight of your jakha character randomly.
Base Height Height modifier Base Weight Weight Modifier 5' +2d6 150 lb. × (1d4) lb.
Detect Balance Scores
These are the detect balance evaluations of these player races. Four Arms, Maiming Attacks, and Gripping Jaws are conservatively scored high (6-8).
Thri-kreen. 8 (asi) + 3 (darkvision) + 8 (four arms) + 3 (chameleon carapace) + 2 (standing leap) + 3 (sleepless) = 27
Gnoll. 12 (asi) + 3 (darkvision) + 1 (bite) + 3 (rampage) + 8 (maiming attacks) = 27
Jakha. 12 (asi) + 4 (Keen senses) + 2 (one martial weapon) + 2 (bite) + 6 (gripping jaws) = 26
