Merfolk
Beautiful and gracious creatures. Wild like the waves that they ride and free like the skies above them. Their charm lies in their variety; diversity, as in all things, keeps them unified as much as it keeps them apart. If only they would work together.
Merfolk are a race of amphibious magical people who live in the open seas, basking in the joy of freedom and plagued by a deep sense of wanderlust. From the bright and colourful coral reefs near uncharted islands to the inky black depths of the ocean floor, Merfolk have a reclusive nature and are incredibly territorial of their homes. They have a close relationship with the sea as well as the many creatures which inhabit it. They are mostly carnivorous and in large numbers, they can rival other predators like sharks and orcas. Because of their environment, Merfolk tend to be opportunistic and would rather work in groups to achieve their goals.
Merfolk Names
Merfolk use naming conventions which generally relate to the sea and the areas surrounding the waters in which they are raised. Surnames are often reserved for royalty or representatives of a group of merfolk.
Male Names. Tertis, Anchor, Reif, Aquarius, Trenton, Peleck, Agual, Naga, Barracudon, Caspian.
Female Names. Pacifica, Marinna, Adreanna, Raina, Noelani, Sarmisira, Miste, Lausanne, Hali.
Royal Clan Names. Sinue, Chondratha, Dephanos.
Merfolk Traits
Your merfolk has a number of traits that they share in common with all other types of merfolk.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Merfolk reach adulthood at the same age as humans, but their physical age is significally slowed down after that. Merfolk often reach 100 years of age while retaining peak physical condition and can live up to be 250 years old.
Alignment. Merfolk love their freedom, and they are driven by instinct and emotion, so they tend to lean towards primal aspects of chaos. They value unity through numbers and will tend to look towards the greater good of the group that they are a part of without much regard of the consequences. Merfolk are more often leaning towards neutral.
Size. Merfolk are slightly shorter than humans when using their legs to walk, averaging about 5 feet tall and averaging 7 feet when using their tails to swim. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Merfolk are inherently magical creatures, having the capability of absorbing their fish-like tails into a pair of legs that they can use to walk on land without a hindrance and magically producing it when fully submerged under water. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 40 feet.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Darkvision. Accustomed to life in the darkest reaches of the sea, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.
Emissary of the Sea. Aquatic beasts have an extraordinary affinity with your people. You can communicate simple ideas with beasts that can breathe water. They can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Mervolan. Mervolan is unique in that it can only be properly pronounced underwater due to its use of vibrating sound waves in addition to spoken sounds. In any other environment, the language loses a great amount of detail and words often sound harsh and half finished.
Subrace. Merfolk are incredibly varied across the seas and may vary dramatically in looks and culture depending on the waters they grow up in, but three dominant subraces divide the proud Merfolk of the seas: sirenians, charcarons, and cephali. Choose one of these races.
Sirenian
The most famous type of Merfolk, Sirenians tend to go against typical Merfolk culture and actively engage land-dwellers, particularly sailors close to beaches and ports. Sirenians often remain close to the shorelines and tend to live near coral reefs and large kelp forests. Whether out of curiosity for the outside world or out of sheer predatory hunger, Sirenians enjoy the company of earth-bound creatures. Close interaction with the other races of the world has taught Sirens how to weave magic to change their appearance and bring forth fascinating performances with their song. Good-intentioned Sirenians will often change their appearance to be more approachable to strangers and use their melodic singing voices to soothe weary sailors in their travels, while ill-intentioned Sirenians will charm unsuspecting parties by changing their appearance into captivating visages and singing enthralling tunes to then drag them to the depths of the sea to feed.
Sirenians are the most varied of merfolk in appearance, resembling a myriad of tropical fishes. Their tails, fins, and skin colorations tend to vary immensely between them. Despite this, they remain as the most human-like of merfolk.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Siren's Lure. You can cast charm person and disguise self with this trait, using Charisma as your spellcasting ability for them. Once you cast either spell, you can't cast it again with this trait until you finish a short or long rest. When you use this version of charm person, you do so through the power of your singing voice and beguiling movements. Also, when you use this version of disguise self and your tail is produced as a result of being underwater, only the top half of you is changed.
Natural Thespian. You are proficient in the Performance skill.
Charmer's Dominance. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Charcaron
Warriors of an ancient civilization, Charcarons are the most organized of Merfolk. With their much larger numbers and warmongering society, they have made a space of growth for their kind across the open seas. Their sunken capital city of Atalanteia, built over the peak of a lonely underwater mountain, remains firm as the submerged bastion of all Merfolk across the waters. Charcarons are as proud as they are deadly, choosing who to listen to and who to silence. Obedience for them is a cultural norm, and it is the only way in which a people filled with a predatory instinct has managed to survived this tightly knit. Charcarons befriend and tame smaller sharks, using them as hunting hounds for larger prey such as whales. Charcarons who choose to leave the safety of their society will find themselves with many challenges as their own kind will actively seek and hunt them down for treason, but those able to escape often do so in land where a world with many different challenges welcomes them.
Charcadons are strong and powerfully built, resembling varying species of sharks and, therefore, having matching tails, smooth skin, and sharp facial features.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Sharp Teeth. Your teeth are natural melee weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. If the target is missing any of its hit points, the damage dice increases to 1d8 as the scent of blood fuels your primal instincts.
Fearless. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Predator Rush. Immediately after you use the Dash action on your turn you can make one melee attack with your teeth as a bonus action. If you are underwater, using predator rush does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Cephalos
As the most distant branch of the Merfolk, Cephali tend to be commonly forgotten by their relatives. Cephali reside far beneath the oceans where the light of the sun no longer reaches them. Compared to other merfolk, Cephali are mysterious and alien. These merfolk tend to range between incredibly light or dark colorations with hardly any, but not unheard of, tones in between. Cephali society is difficult to trace even among other merfolk, having mastered the ability to communicate across large distances with magical devices known only to them called Thoughtpods. These merfolk live in clans and very rarely meet one another other than to trade, fight, and meet for religious celebrations. Cephali are directly opposite to Charcarons, valuing knowledge, religion, and secrets.
Cephali are generally taller and thinner than their relatives, with big opulent eyes, small mouths, and octopus-like tentacles instead of fish-like tails.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2.
Superior Darkvision. Your Darkvision has a radius of 120 feet.
Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
Child of the Depths. Accustomed to life in the most extreme ocean depths, you are adapted to cold climates as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
Deep Sea Magic. You know the dancing lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the dissonant whispers spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the invisibility spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Art Credit !
"Merdance" by Michelle
"Mermaid" by Nixri
"Mermaid" by ArtLilu
Thank you!
Thank you to the Discord of Many Things and /r/UnearthedArcana for the pieces of advise on the balance and flavour! I really enjoyed working on this and I hope it helps someone out there!
Homebrew by /u/Goldrynn
