Coried by

## The Coried

### Insectile Earth-Walkers
The Coried are buglike humanoids. They came from the Underdark, created as experiments by Mind Flayers and used as slaves. In time, there was a rebellion that was successful enough that the Coried could flee to the Mountain Dwarves for refuge. Dwarves are held in high regard, because in Coried society, discipline is second only to loyalty.
Coried have frequent mutations, but at first, none were known to them because the Mind Flayers would kill the defective ones as soon as they were born. But the Coried do not condone such cruelty and let mutants live, reclassifying the common mutations as subraces.

Coried can walk and talk at birth, and thus are trained in fighting from the moment of their birth to age thirteen. When they turn six, they have the option to have their shell modified to fit the niche that they want to occupy in society. This is a very important choice in the life of a young Coried.

### Escape from the Illithid
Seven years before the Coried uprising against the Illithid, a Coried by the name of Orna was born. As the first Orna, he was taken to be slaughtered like all of the other 'defective' Coried. Unlike the others however, he escaped. When he escaped, he ran to the Githyanki and struck up a deal with them; the Githyanki would free them from the Illithid, but in turn, the Coried would pledge their allegiance to the Githyanki. Seeing that the Githyanki were on a similar dark path of slavery as the Illithid, the Coried betrayed the Githyanki and ran to the surface, bumping around the Underdark until they stumbled into a colony of Mountain Dwarves.

### Anatomy
These humanoids have buglike structures complete with segmented bodies and hard, exoskeleton-like natural protection. Their faces have humanoid features, and without a shell, their silhouette would look incredibly similar to a stocky male Elf. They are born out of eggs at about nine inches tall. They are born with detachable shells, or Ekriis that they use as shields, packs, weapons, and other things. Their coloration depends on their subrace. Coried are extremely androgynous, and their society has no gender roles.

### Coried Names
Coried society is based on battle prowess (similar to that of ancient Rome), and as such, they are all named after weapons. Coried are always named after their mother, as a 
show of respect.

Example: Lance of Fairbairn.  Lance is their first name, and Fairbairn is their mother's name.

### Coried Traits
Your sturdy build and natural weapons give you a variety of

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traits that you share with other Coried.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution increases by 1.

**Age.** After a three month pregnancy, females lay their eggs. The eggs then incubate for three years. Within those three years, the Coried are taught the history of their people. They hatch at full mental maturity and have lifespans comparable to that of a Human's.

**Alignment.** Despite their dark origins, they have no inclination towards evil or good, which instead depends on how each Coried is raised. They tend to the lawful side.

**Size.** At birth, Coried are typically about nine inches tall. By age thirteen, they are fully matured and are over 4 to under 6 feet tall. This varies by subrace.

**Speed.** Your base walking speed is 30.

**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.
 
**Sundry Shell.** Coried have shells that grow on their backs. Over time, they have developed techniques to change the shell, or Ekrii's function to suit their needs. Add this to your inventory. These Ekriis do not affect your carrying capacity. Coried have proficiencies with their shells, whether those shells function as shields or other things. At the age of 10, Coried have the option to modify shells based on one of the following options:

- **Unmodified.**
Your Ekrii functions as a shield. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to use your Ekrii to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you.

- **Dual Wielding.** 
Your Ekrii is cut in two and the ends are sharpened so that they can be used as melee weapons. Each half does 1d6 slashing damage. They have the finnese and light properties. When you're dual-wielding these weapons and you are hit with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to move 5 feet away. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

- **Concealing.** 
Your Ekrii is carved so that you can easily conceal small weapons and items within its bowl. It is thick enough to resist the effects of the Locate Object spell. If an object in the Ekrii is scried upon, you This acts as a backpack.

- **Casting.**
A rune or holy symbol is carved, marked, or branded on your Ekrii. It now can act as any spellcasting focus except for a  bard's instrument. When this is used as a spellcasting focus, you can add half your Constitution modifier (minimum 1) to your spell attack bonus.

**Spider Climb.** You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free.

**Launguages.** You can speak, read, and write Coried, Dwarvish, and Common. Coried language consists of clicks and whirs and is written in Dwarvish. It has no gender pronouns.

**Subrace.** There are six main kinds of Coried; five mutations and one unmutated subrace. Choose from the options below, (listed in order from most to least common) or role on the table detailed later in this document.

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#### The Dáinsleif
Coried with no mutations; exactly how they came out of the Underdark. Most males are black in coloration, and Females are typically more in the grey range.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution and any other ability score increases by one.

**Flexible Education.** Due to your common form, you have a wide variety of specialties to choose from. You are proficient in one skill of your choice. In addition to this, you are proficient in either two sets of Artisan's Tools or two Simple or Martial Melee Weapons. You can mix and match these (For example, proficiency in Glassblower's Tools and Longswords.)

#### The Almace
The Almace are born with ivory-colored shells and poison glands on their wrists. They are the elite warriors of the Coried, and thus non-magical classes suit them well.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution and either your Dexterity or Strength increases by 1.

**Toxic Resistance.** You have resistance to poison damage. You are immune to the effects of the Poison Coating trait, whether from yourself or another Almace.

**Poison coating.** Your wrists have glands that produce a tasteless, odorless, and potentially fatal neurotoxin. You have complete control over when you produce this. As an bonus action, you may coat a weapon or spike a drink with your poison. When Inflicted, the target makes a con save. If they fail, they are poisoned and take poison damage equal to 1d4 plus your proficiency bonus every turn until the creature affected succeeds on their Con save. The DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Con modifier. The target can repeat the save at the end of their turn. Things that have immunity to poison damage or the poisoned condition can't be targeted with this. After you hit a creature with a poisoned weapon, the weapon is no longer poisoned.

#### The Kusanagi
These Coried have beetle wings. They can be any scarab color. There are a wide range of careers for these Coried, but they usually involve extensive schooling. You'd never find a Kusanagi farmer, for example.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution and Strength both increase by 1.

**Flight.** You have beetle-like wings. You can hover and fly backward just like a hummingbird or dragonfly. You cannot use this ability while wearing anything but light armor. Your flying speed is 30. You will fall if you are knocked prone or if your speed is reduced to 20 or lower. You can only fly a number of rounds per battle equal to half the sum of your Strength and Constitution modifiers. (minimum 1)

#### The Mistilteinn
These Coried are born with four arms. They have no shell and are jet black. In Coried society, your shell is akin to your honor. Misteltienn are outcasts because of this.

**Ability Score Increase.** An ability score of your choice increases by two (excluding Constitution).

**Secondary Arms.** You have two slightly smaller secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. The secondary arms can manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, pick up or set down a Tiny object, or wield a weapon that has

the light property.

**Natural Armor.** At some point in your development, your shell fused to your body instead of developing on the outside of you. Because of this, your unarmored AC equals 13 plus your Dexterity modifier.

**Loss of Shell Use.** You lose the Sundry Shell trait.

#### The Carnwennan
Extremely rare, these coried have very muscular legs and a long, limber frame. They are a dark-grey tan color.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Dexterity increases by two.

**Burst of Speed** A number of times equal to your dexterity modifier, you can use your bonus action to make the dash action.

**Mirthful Leaps.** When you make a long or high jump, you can roll a d8 and add the number rolled to the number of feet you can cover, even when making a standing jump. This extra distance costs movement as normal.

#### The Orna
These Coried have antennae that stretch a foot above their head and are exceptionally strong. This mutation runs in the royal family of Coried society. If an Orna is born away from the Royal family, they are taken in with their family as if they were royals themselves.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Strength and Constitution both increase by 1.

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

**Psionic Pheromones.** You know the message cantrip, and can cast it without any verbal, somatic, or material components. When you do this, your antennae point in the direction of who you're messaging.

### Coried Population Table
This graph is included because unlike most other races, what subrace you are is purely random, based solely on mutations during the incubation period. If you cannot make up your mind, then you should use this table to help you decide. There are three to five Carnwennan born every generation, so yeah, maybe like 9-15 in existence at any given moment.

| d100 |  Subrace
|:----:|:-------------|
|00-59  | Dáinsleif
|60-79 | Almace
|80-94 | Kusanagi
|95-99 | Mistiltienn

> When you choose a fighting style, the following style is added to your list of options.
> ##### Blended Fighting
> *Prerequisite: the Mistilteinn Coried subrace or more than two limbs*
> 
> You can gain benefits from a shield on the same turn that you attack with a two-handed weapon.

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## Homebrewer's Notes

This homebrew was inspired by AW Hartoin's Away From Whipplethorn series. Beware, mild spoilers ahead!

Let me tell you about my main inspiration for this race. Sometime in the midst of the first book of the same name, we are introduced to a race of wingless, insectile faeries by the name of the Phalanx. Standing at about 2/3 the hight of the main character, they carried shells on their back that were wielded both as a shield, and as melee weapons. (The end of each shell was sharpened.) They could walk on walls and liked to eat flies. (For context, each faerie was small, like how Tinker Bell is sized.) Each Phalanx was also named after a weapon. This however, was where my worldbuilding imagination kicked in.

First off, I didn't want this to be a ripoff; I wanted to make it my own. So I conceptualized the different subraces. Originally, there were three: One that was completely unmutated, one with poison glands, and one with wings. Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if we showed corruption in their society?" Thus the  Mistilteinn were born, oddball outcasts, showing the impact that the Illithid had on them, even when they were no longer controlled by them. In fact, that's when most of the lore of the Coried was born.

Just as a note: The name Coried comes from the word Coreid, which is defined as [any true bug of the family Coreidae](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coreid). Did I know what that meant? No. But it sounded cool.

Now for how the race changed over time: First off, the base race. Originally, they had a trait called razor shell, and a trait reads as follows: "Coried are trained to use their shells as shields and as weapons. You get +2 AC for the shield, proficiency with shields, and on your turn, you can use your shell to do 1d8 slashing damage. (A bonus action to don) When your AC protects you from the +2, the attacker makes a strength check. If they get a critical hit, then your shield fractures. If your shield fractures a number of times equal to your Con modifier, then it is damaged, and can no longer be used to attack. If this happens a second time, your shield breaks completely, and you are an outcast among other Coried." This was no good for two reasons; One, I wanted the base race to have more versatility and two, the shell would break way too easily for my likings. So this was scrapped. They also had a trait called sticky feet, where they could walk on walls. There was no mechanic for this however, and it was broken and unrestricted.

Now for the Dáinsleif: They originally had a trait called hide in plain sight, where they would hide under their shells and somehow be concealed? I don't know what I was thinking with this one. Upon closer examination of Coried society, I decided to change that trait completely, leaving the Dáinsleif with the Flexible Education trait. The idea behind this is that while certain mutations may be forced into certain lines of work, Dáinsleif have more control over their career path.

The Almace went through almost no change at all, but their ASI did jump around quite a lot.

The Kusanagi originally had unrestricted flight, and we all know how hard that can make life for the DM, but I'm happy with the way that it came out. It makes sense that flying for a long time would be physically exerting for a creature as large as a human.

The Mistilteinn stayed mostly the same. I did have to figure out the mechanics of having multiple arms that were equally capable of holding items, but I figured it out eventually.

I came up with the Carnwennan at version 2.13, and the idea was to have essentially a humanoid flea. At first they had an ability where 10 was added to the distance that they could jump, but then Mythic Odysseys of Theros came out and the Saytr race had a jumping ability, so I gave them that.

Now the Orna was an interesting one. They were concieved around version 2.55, and were inspired by the Ant. Originally, they just had the ability to cast the message spell at double range, but this left me largely unsatisfied because it didn't replicate the way ant pheromones worked. The I had the idea that the Orna learned a little psionics from the Gith, and that's when I came up with the history of the Orna and why they made up the royal family.

As a whole, I'm happy with how this race turned out, but I'm always open to suggestions. Message me on Reddit if you have any.
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##### Homebrew 5e Race

###### Created by [u/DicidueyeAssassin](https://www.reddit.com/user/DicidueyeAssassin)

###### As seen in recent releases, WotC is making changes to the way that races work in 5e. These changes also apply to my homebrew. The Ability Score Increase, Alignment, and Languages traits are merely suggestions based on the common archtype in my [homebrew world](https://www.worldanvil.com/w/Aphoroth-assassinine). Players using this race should feel free to customize their origin based on the changes made in Tasha's and Appendix 1 of the [D&D Adventurer's League Player's Guide](https://dnd.wizards.com/ddal_general)

###### Image credits in order: [All About Japan](https://allabout-japan.com/en/article/6076/) and [WotC](https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/over-hill-and-underdark)

###### v 4.35

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##### Random Height and Weight
You may roll for your character's height and weight on the Random Height and Weight table. The roll in the Height Modifier column adds a number (in inches) to the character's base height. To get a weight, multiply the number you rolled for height by the roll in the Weight Modifier column and add the result (in pounds) to the base weight. Your Ekrii counts as part of the your natural body weight.
| Subrace | Base Height | Base Weight | Height Modifier | Weight Modifier |
|:---:|:---:|:----:|:----:|:----:|
| Dáinsleif |  4'6"  | 100lb. | +2d4 | x (1d4) lb. |
| Almace |  4'4"  | 90lb. | +2d6 | x (1d4) lb. |
| Kusanagi |  4'4"  | 90lb. | +4d4 | x (1d4) lb. |
| Mistilteinn |  4'8"  | 100lb. | +2d6 | x (1d4) lb. |
| Carnwennan |  4'8"  | 105lb. | +1d12 | x (1d4) lb. |
| Orna |  4'6"  | 110lb. | +1d8 | x (1d4) lb. |