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# Uber-Morlock
by ganelon
"Skin a white as snow, eyes as black as the abyss.
I had indeed never seen a creature of such a hue. His blood that pooled in his elbows, on his cheeks, and on his exposed knees, was silvery like the moon. It occurred to me then that his blood must be black."
–Caldor Kaas,
The Diary of Caldor Kaas
Uber-Morlocks are a people of monstrous origin. It is said that the original Morlocks were once humans who were trapped in the Underdark and devolved into a monsterous race, but the Uber-Morlock has departed even further. Uber-Morlocks, now simply called Morlocks, are a shadowy group of people who practice blood magic. There was a time when they were all considered monsters and savages, but some Morlocks have recently popped up in human civilization, trying to live among them. This is the result of a civil war between Uber-Morlocks, in which the younger generation revolted against tradition and tried to put an end to the savage practices. In the end, tradition won out, and the revolutionaries were displaced or executed. \columnbreak ### Darkness and Light The Uber-Morlock’s skin is white like snow, but their blood and eyes are an inky black. They are about the same height as humans, but some can grow to be up to 8 feet tall. They are more slender than humans, weighing a mere 110-140 pounds (m) and 90-140 pounds (f). Uber-Morlocks have a snow-white hue to their skin, but because their blood is black, some Morlocks with thinner skin have pronounced grey areas where blood pools (knuckles, elbows, nose). Their hair can be either white or black, and with age it grows silver if it is black. As such, silver-haired Morlocks are rare and respected among Uber-Morlock communities. ### Evolving Peoples The Uber-Morlocks live as long as humans (80 years avg.), and much like humans they are always evolving. However, Uber-Morlocks are closely aligned to chaos, and they find themselves often evolving in the wrong direction. This has caused their society to be, while sophisticated in some areas, brutal and savage in others. Morlock villages have sewage, sophisticated courts, and magic practices to rival the most advanced societies, but they have an oligarchical tribal government, practice vile blood magic (of which they cannot use their own blood) and can often be found owning slaves. \pagebreak ### Tribes and Communities Most Morlocks live in large tribal communities that build complex and surprisingly structurally-sound huts out of flora and baked mud. They often build complex caverns beneath their cities that function as either sewers or extra residential space. They tend to dislike outsiders, but some smaller Morlock tribes have recently been united under a xenophillic movement that seeks to take on a better understanding of the world to better Morlock society. Morlocks encountered outside of their tribes are Morlocks who fled the last war and decided to live among humans, or alone in the woods. These Morlocks can be good or bad but have a reputation of causing trouble. ### Blood Magic Morlock societies practice a dark blood magic. Rituals to bring good luck, wealth, harmony, love, and other things often occur in Morlock households. Some Morlocks have learned blood magic to gain endless life. Morlocks must capture members of other races in order to practice blood magic, for their own blood cannot be used in their rituals. This has given them a fearsome reputation. They are feared by many of the humanoids that they feed on, and are sometimes persecuted even when they pose no threat. ### Uber-Morlock Names Morlocks name themselves based on common words found in their language. Typically, Males are given a name with an adjective that describes a noun, and females are given a longer name from Morlock poetry that can describe nature, beauty, or fertility. Morlocks are also not given a name until they are 14, and until then they are called by a ‘warding name.’ It is said that giving your child a nasty name will keep the demons from making your child fall ill, for they are tricked into believing that the child is already sick. As such, child names are typically bad words, and there is no distinction between male and female child names. Morlocks do not take family names, instead taking the name of their clan if they choose to leave that clan behind. Morlock clans take names from all sorts of sources, favoring elven names for their classical value. **Child Names:** Borma, Eki, Explar, Kaka, Nasa, Pikro, Pormak, Shalk, Srila, Vaer **Male Names:** Ára Fele, Haka Bala, Nalá Mar, Nolar Mel, Patár Maná, Sor Adri, Tzeechi Kor, Zazák Neench **Female Names:** Aelenmynnie, Akalanwynne, Arlynwelle, Helwynne, Jesamynnie, Krynneska, Manaarlynne, Uwoldrowelle, Wendowlynne **Clan Names:** Aklāra, Aktō, Dalath, Elenā, Kantaya, Kawāk, Magiti, Mǭri, Rass, Weda, Yuyuñal \columnbreak ### Uber-Morlock Traits Your Uber-Morlock character has a number of natural abilities borne of its monster origins. **Ability Score Increase:** Your Wisdom Score increases by 2, and one other score of your choice increase by 1. **Age:** Uber-Morlocks mature slightly faster than humans, reaching adulthood around the age of 14. They live on average about the same length (80 years) as humans do. **Alignment:** Uber-Morlocks tend towards extremes, favoring either law or chaos. Neutral Morlocks who grew up in war-times do exist, however. **Size:** Uber-Morlocks are about the same size as humans, but can be up to 8 feet tall. **Speed:** Your base walking speed is 30 ft. **Superior Darkvision:** As your ancestors lived in caves and never came out in the sun, you have darkvision for 120 ft. **Sunlight Sensitivity:** Because your race is derivative of cave monsters, you have disadvantage on perception checks and attack rolls that rely on sight while in direct sunlight. **Blood Arts:** You can gain one of the following features of your choice: - ***Blood Battery:*** If you kill a creature, you can spend a bonus action to absorb its blood into a floating sphere above you. You can have up to 4 blood-spheres floating around you at once. You control what form these spheres can take. You can spend an action to “fire” the sphere at a target as if you casted a spell. Make a Ranged Spell Attack, using both your proficiency bonus and wisdom modifier. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 piercing damage. You can fire 2 of these at once at 5th level, 3 at 11th, and 4 at 17th. Make a separate attack roll for each projectile. - ***Blood Gate:*** If there is a creature you have slain within 30 ft of you, you may spend a reaction or bonus action to move to its square by rising from its corpse. - ***Vampire Armor:*** If you crit against a creature, you use the blood from its wound to create a temporary shield. For the next hour, you have +5 AC, but the shield dissipates if a creature succeeds an attack against you. - ***Vampire Strike*** When you kill a creature, you absorb its blood into your life-force. Any excess HP dealt to the creature after it has been reduced to 0 HP instead replenishes your own HP. **Languages:** You can speak, read, and write Common, Morlock, and one extra language of your choice.
\pagebreak ## Uber-Morlock Feats ### Practitioner of Blood Arts *Prerequisite: Uber-Morlock.* You have superior knowledge of blood magic. Each time you take this feat, you can gain another blood magic feature listed above. ### Blood Drive *Prerequisite: Uber-Morlock, Blood Battery feature.* You can use the Blood Battery feature to heal a friendly creature. You can heal a creature within 60ft of you by expending one of your blood-spheres. A blood sphere heals 1d8 HP. You can heal allies further than 60 feet away from you at a maximum of 120 feet away by succeeding an attack roll against your target, otherwise you automatically succeed. You can expend two at once at 5th level, 3 at 11th, and 4 at 17th. ### Vorpal Vampire Strike *Prerequisite: Uber-Morlock, Vampire Strike.* You can instead choose to deal the HP dealt in excess to a creature after it's been reduced to 0 HP to other creatures instead within 10 ft. You can split them up as you choose, and you can even choose to heal allies within 10 ft as well, or yourself from any distance. ### Ritual: Blood Link *Prerequisite: Uber-Morlock, Blood Gate.* The range for your blood gate increases to 120ft. In addition, if you harvest the blood of a creature you have slain and put it into two containers, objects and creatures can pass through those containers as if they were a door, so long as both containers are within 300 miles of each other. - An average humanoid has 1.5 gallons of blood. - In order for a creature of size small or greater to pass through, there must be 10 gallons of blood in both containers. > ##### Variant Rule: Practitioner > You can instead choose to allow any non-Morlock player to take the "Practitioner of Blood Arts" feat, if they receive proper training from a Morlock or do their due diligence. \columnbreak #### Cheap Justifications The Uber-Morlocks are a race I devised after reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Obviously, since they share the same name, I tried to be faithful enough to the original race while remaining thematically relevant to Dungeons & Dragons. I realized that the Uber-Morlocks can fill the same hole that Drow already fill, so I decided they should set themselves apart by use of blood magic. Since they cannot use their own blood to fuel their blood magic, it fits the original cannibalistic, predator nature of The Time Machine's race of the very same name. Creating new blood magic features and rituals should be easy, and feel free to re-balance it to fit your vision. A new blood-magic feat should not grant any battle-tide changing abilities unless it is offset by some heavy conditions, .
–ganelon
##### Credits - Concept and Design - ganelon - Original Morlock - H.G. Wells - Cover Art - [Gerald Brom](https://www.bromart.com/ "Art of Brom") - Symbol - 'Chaotic Biohazard' by [KrazedKei](https://www.deviantart.com/krazedkei) - End Art -'
信仰心
' by [
イムラノジク
/sky-art](https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=161959 "pixiv") - Edits & clarification by "some idiot" & Cato.
Version 1.0