Creaker: The Marsh Dancers

The Marsh-Dancers

Creakers are long-limbed humanoids from the coastal marshes of Nilorval. They are seen rarely but regularly throughout the rest of the world, for though few in number, they are prone to wandering away from their small coastal communities. These eerie humanoids tend to keep to themselves, but are not unfriendly, and often invite strangers to join them for a day of fishing. Creakers are quite tall for medium-sized creatures - the shortest Creaker tends to be no less than 8 feet tall and up to 9 feet tall, but they also tend to stay hunched, which reduces their apparent height to around 2 feet less than their actual height. Their skin is ubiquitously the color of moonlight, and their large eyes are usually dark in color and shrouded by blue-toned hair that ranges from silvery, bright azure hues to navy-tinged blacks. Their necks and limbs are long and inhumanly slender, and their torsos are small in proportion to those limbs. They appear delicate, almost fragile, and they move with ethereal grace.

Features

Ability Score Increase. Creakers are graceful and grounded. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Wisdom increases by 1. Creaker Names. Creaker names have a harsh, whistling sound to them, with long E's, harsh consonants, and swooping vowels. Example names are Kiori, Jay'Zeek, Gweegoosh, Dook, and Looli. Their names are usually unique, but when they're traveling and among outsiders they will use the name of their home village as a surname. Age. Creakers are slightly slow to mature, compared to humans. Their pubescence lasts from around 15 to 25, and they are considered adults at 30. The live to be roughly two centuries old. Alignment. Creaker society is traditional, simple, and civilized. They tend toward lawfulness, and are spread between good and evil about as much as humans. Size. You are willowy and slender, standing between 8' and 9' tall when fully erect, but are usually hunched over, reducing your apparent height by 2'. Creakers generally weigh no more than 200 lbs. Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 feet. Uncanny Reach. Your long limbs are not just for show. Creakers treat all weapons as reach weapons, including natural weapons. Weapons that already have the reach property are unaffected by this feature, as they are too cumbersome to wield at extra range. Eerie Grace. You gain proficiency with Charisma (Perform) checks that involve dancing. Additionally, you can exert yourself to gain advantage on a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or a Charisma (Perform) check that involves dancing. You can do so once and regain the ability to do so after finishing a long rest. Creaker Shuffle. As a bonus action, you may move up to 5 feet and you gain +1 AC against opportunity attacks for the rest of your turn. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity. Brittle Bones. After being reduced to 0 hit points, your movement speed is halved until you spend hit dice to recover during a rest or until you take a long rest. Languages. You can speak Common and two other languages of your choice. You cannot read unless you choose to spend one of your language choices on reading.

Trivia

While many Creakers are prone to wandering for most of their lives, unless they die in combat, they nearly always return home when either bearing children or dying of natural causes. A Creaker who falls seriously ill or sustains a mortal injury will try to return home, dead or alive, at almost any cost. Most Creakers spend much of their childhood fishing, foraging, and learning their traditional dances. Those that do not leave home when they become adults all share equal responsibility for teaching the young. Update Log

2/18/22 - adjusted some wording while retaining or clarifying intention