Races of Athas
Across the wastes of Athas from the Crimson Savannah in the West to the Sea of Silt in the East, people struggle to survive. Elven tribesmen race across blazing sands, Thri-Kreen seek shade and water in the canyons and duneshadows, Aarakocra wheel in the olive-tinged skies, and Humans, Dwarves, and those desperate to tempt the Sorcerer-Kings huddle in a handful of oasis-cities scattered across the blazing world. Below is a description of each race, as well as any relevant racial traits for character generation. It should also be noted that there are no Subraces presented here. On Athas there generally aren’t enough people alive to have a bunch of different types of elves represented with different elven subspecies and the like.
Common
Human
Dwarf
Elf
Mul
Uncommon
Aaracokra
Halfling
Half-Elf
Half-Giant
Rare
Gith
Thri-Kreen
Special
Wasteland Mutant
While mutations are common on Athas, with many humans sporting extra fingers, cat like eyes, or other minor cosmetic changes, the Wasteland Mutant variant represents a character so drastically mutated that their bodily functions are different from their ancestry. When you make a Wasteland Mutant character, you’re making a quasi-unique entity that doesn’t fit the setting on it’s own merits, but clearly has functions players would like. To make a Wasteland Mutant, choose any D&D 5e race or race/subrace combination not presented on the common/uncommon/rare lists, above, and rename it Wasteland Mutant.
Through this method you can create a Tiefling or a Drow on Athas. But such a character would have no actual ties to Infernal Ancestry or an Underdark Culture. Instead your racial abilities for such races represent physical, magical, and psionic mutations.
Humans (Balican, Draji, Gulgan, Nibenese, Raamish, Tyrian, Urkite)
The single most populous race across the shattered lands of Athas, Humans inhabit every town and city tied to the Sorcerer Kings, and can often be found even among societies that they shouldn’t reasonably inhabit, such as Forest Ridge communities among the cannibal halflings, or raised in elven tribes that dash across the sands, or even tending eggs in Thri-Kreen colonies, their soft and gentle hands excellent for turning the eggs without risking damage.
Humans are prone to mutations caused by strange powers in the wastelands. Feel free to invent strange aspects about your character, such as unusual skin tones or patterns, extra fingers, or strange eyes. Outside of this, however, most humans have darker skin tones, eyes, and hair. Though pale tones are not terribly rare, the sun often darkens light skin.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 3.
Age
Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Alignment
Humans tend toward no particular alignment. The best and the worst are found among them.
Size
Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages
You can speak one Human Language and one extra language of your choice. Alternatively, you may choose to read, write, and speak one Human Language. The language of Tyr is often used as a Trade Language across the deserts of Athas, but each Sorcerer-King has their own.
Adaptable
Humans are varied creatures of varied cultures. You may choose two Backgrounds at level 1, though you only receive the equipment from one background package.
Dwarves
Dwarves form a good part of the people encountered in the Tablelands. These strong and devoted beings live to fulfill their focus, a task they choose to devote their lives to. Stubborn and strong‐minded, dwarves make good companions, even though their usual focused nature can tend to be bothersome.
Their skin is generally deeply tanned, but occasionally marked with tattoos, brands, or piercings as ornamentation. Dwarves lack any form of hair on their body, and tend to find hair disgusting or disturbing.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and a second by 1.
Age
Dwarves reach adulthood in their late teens and can live up to two hundred and thirty years if nothing kills them first.
Alignment
Dwarves tend toward lawful alignments with the majority being Lawful Neutral.
Size
Dwarves generally stand around 4’9”, though can range from 4’6” to 5’ tall. They weigh around 200lbs and there’s no noticeable difference in height or weight between their genders.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Languages
Dwarves speak both Tyran and Davek, the Dwarven tongue. It is a harsh and guttural language which is rarely taught to non-dwarves, and is only rarely spoken outside of Kled and various dwarven ghettoes. While it has a written form, knowledge of how to read Davek is largely lost.
Dwarven Combat Training
Dwarves gain proficiency with the carrikal, battleaxe, handaxe and maul.
Nonmagical
Dwarves do not practice the use of Arcane Magic on Athas, and gain their proficiency bonus to any saving throw against Arcane Effects even if they are not proficient in the type of saving throw required. A dwarf who takes a level in an Arcane class loses this racial trait. A dwarf who uses an arcane magic item to create a spell effect loses the benefit of this racial trait until they have taken a long rest.
Dwarven Focus
When you set yourself to a task, and define it as your focus, you get 3 focus dice, these dice are d8. While acting to fulfill your focus, you can spend and roll one focus die to add the number rolled to one ability check or saving throw you make. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to use the focus die, but must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you expend all your focus dice, you regain them after finishing a long rest, as long as you are still in the pursuit of your focus.
Your focus cannot be just any task, it must be a feat requiring at least a week to complete. You cannot choose a new focus until you have fulfilled your last one. Dwarven commitment to this task is so strong, that you do not require sleep to benefit from a long rest while you are working toward your current focus.
Dwarven Resilience
You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
Elves (Bonuu, Dukkee, Jura, Koguu, Kuualko, Utkotuu, Uutobol, and Uutramut tribes)
Athasʹ deserts, plains, steppes and badlands are home to the elves, a long–limbed race of trading, raiding, thieving sprinters. Running is the key to acceptance and respect among elves. Elves that are injured and cannot run are often left behind to die.
While the tribes of elves that roam Athas were once members of varied peoples whose different cultures and identities bred great variance in their kind, the elves that remain have become largely similar in all respects. In no small part due to the tradition of “Stealing” mates from other tribes. An act that is largely ritualistic rather than criminal.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and a second by 1.
Age
Elves mature at the same rate as humans, and are considered adults around the age of 18. Unlike their counterparts in other worlds, they rarely exceed 140 years.
Alignment
Elves tend toward chaotic alignments, with most being Chaotic Neutral or Chaotic Good.
Size
Elves typically stand around 6’10” tall, but their slender builds mean they very rarely weigh more than 200lbs.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 40 feet.
Darkvision
Elves 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.
Languages
Elves can speak Tyran and read, write, and speak Rellanic, the Elven tongue. While the elves of Athas once had many languages based on the Rellanic script, they’ve largely coalesced into a single language. Though each tribe has their own particular accent that can make casual communication difficult.
Elf Weapon Training
Elves gain proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
Mask of the Wastelands
You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when in the wilderness or wastes of Athas.
Keen Senses
You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Athasian Endurance
Elves have a natural resistance to extreme temperatures and aren’t adversely affected by the heat of the day or the chill of the night. You automatically succeed on any Constitution saving throw required by extreme cold or extreme heat conditions.
Elf Run
After a minute of preparation you enter a trance-like state that lets you run about 50 miles in a single day without resting. You can keep this pace a number of days equal to your Constitution modifier, minimum one day. After that you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution (Athletics) check at the end of each day or gain a level of exhaustion. The DC increases by 5 each subsequent day.
Once you stop, you cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest.
Mul
Muls are half-dwarves, descended from the union of a human and a dwarf. They have the stature, agility, and mental flexibility of humankind, coupled with the physical resilience and endurance of dwarves—a rare combination of qualities that makes muls more than a simple blend of the two races.
Unlike their dwarven parentage, Mul can often grow small amounts of hair such as eyebrows or a mohawk. Such hair is dark and fine. Beyond this, they generally represent particularly tall dwarves, with stocky builds, broad skulls, and strong backs. Their skin tones tend to begin paler, or coppery in color, but swiftly tan under the crimson sun.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and a second by 1.
Age
Muls have lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Alignment
Mul gravitate toward the Neutral alignment, with regards to good and evil, but they run the full gamut on the first alignment axis.
Size
Mul typically stand around 6’3” tall, but their thick builds mean they very rarely weigh less than 300lbs.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages
Mul speak Tyran or another Human Language. They typically do not learn to read and write.
Mul Vitality
Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.
Tireless
As a bonus action, you can shrug off 1 level of exhaustion. You cannot use this trait again until you finish a long rest.
Incredible Toughness
You can call upon your physical hardiness and dogged determination to withstand any danger or hazard. Using your reaction you may roll a second Strength or Constitution saving throw against any effect. You may declare your use of this reaction after you make your initial saving throw, but before you learn the results. After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Aarakocra
Aarakocra are the most commonly encountered bird people of the Tablelands. Some are from Winter Nest in the White Mountains near Kurn, while others are from smaller tribes scattered in the Ringing Mountains and elsewhere. These freedom‐loving creatures rarely leave their homes high in the mountains, but sometimes, either as young wanderers or cautious adventurers, they venture into the inhabited regions of the Tablelands.
With feathered collars and often bald heads, Aarakocra resemble large vultures, condors, and other scavenger birds. Their feathers also tend to be dark.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and a second by 1.
Age
Aarakocra are considered adults at 3 years of age, but rarely live beyond 30 years.
Alignment
Aarakocra tend toward no particular alignment. The best and the worst are found among them.
Size
Aarakocra vary in height from 6’10” to around 7’10”, with wingspans often exceeding 20ft. But their tendency to crouch when standing and lean forward means they’re often closer to 6’ when walking on solid ground. They rarely exceed 250lbs due to their light bones and very skinny bodies.
Speed
Aarakocra base walking speed is 25 feet. They also possess a 50ft flight speed.
Languages
Aarakocra speak Tyran and Kocran, a language of chirps and whistles that is difficult for humans to mimic. Aarakocra have similar difficulty speaking human languages due to a lack of lips to pronounce M, B, or P sounds. F and V sounds often come out as Th sounds.
Talons
Your talons are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Halflings (Kol-Tokulg, Ogo, Rul-Thaun tribes)
Halflings live apart from other races, divided by their stature and odd customs, but no one can deny their bravery and cunning. The savagery for which they are feared masks a deep and abiding reverence for the natural world and an uncommon connection to the land’s spirits.
Halflings live throughout the Tyr Region—some as slaves, others as mercenaries, and still others as raiders. Regardless, all halflings look to the Forest Ridge as their homeland. Halflings see all creatures as potential sources of sustenance. After all, living beings compete to survive, and halflings think nothing of eating their enemies, for doing so ensures their own survival.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and a second by 1.
Age
Halflings reach adulthood in their late teens and rarely live past 100 years of age.
Alignment
Halflings tend toward lawful alignments, and hold to intangible constants rather than legal traditions.
Size
All halflings stand within a few inches of 3’6” tall, and generally weigh between 45 and 50 pounds. There’s no distinct size difference between the genders. Halflings require half the rations of a medium sized creature.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Halflings also have a Climb Speed of 25ft.
Languages
Halflings speak their own language of insect-like noises, grunts, and growls, as well as Tyran. Each of the three tribes has their own dialect, however, which can make communication difficult.
Lucky
When you roll a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.
Brave
You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Halfling Nimbleness
You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Naturally Stealthy
You can attempt to hide even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you.
Half-Elf
Humans and elves rarely share trust or affection, but they travel many of the same roads on Athas, and sometimes romance follows. However, the children of unions between elves and humans are rarely happy.
Unable to keep up with their elven family, Half-Elves gravitate to solitary lives or human societies, where they’re often viewed with significant suspicion by their human neighbors who worry after elven thievery.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and another by 1.
Age
Half-Elves reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Alignment
Half-Elves tend toward Chaotic alignments, but not drastically.
Size
Half-Elves range from around 6’ to 6’6” and tend to be on the slimmer side, usually in the 200-240lbs range.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision
Thanks to elven blood, half-elves 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.
Languages
Half-Elves speak, read, and write one human language, usually Tyran.
Skill Versatility
You gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.
Half-Giant
Centuries ago, sorcerer-kings magically combined giant and human stock to breed powerful minions, creating the hardy race of towering warriors. Most sorcerer-kings have hundreds of Half-Giants in their armies and shower the mighty warriors with luxuries in exchange for their loyalty. Other half-giants become urban thugs or mercenaries. They adopt the culture and traditions of the cities in which they dwell.
Titanic beings within the city-states, Half-Giants make excellent Gladiators should they prove disloyal.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 3. A Half-Giant’s maximum Strength Score is 22.
Age
Half-Giants reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Alignment
Half-Giants choose one axis of their alignment to be fixed. Their other axis can change randomly, or with purpose, at the end of a long rest. Half-Giants tend to mimic the people they are around and reflect a similar alignment. Half-Giants can change their fixed alignment in the same manner as any other person, over time. This is meant to represent the Half-Giant tendency to mimic the culture and people they consider to be their own.
Size
Half-Giants range in height from 8’ to over 13’. They are Large sized creatures and often weight between 500 and 1,200 pounds.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages
You can speak one Human Language of your choice.
Natural Athlete
You have proficiency in the Athletics skill. In addition, increase the distance of your jump values by 50%.
Mountain’s Endurance
You can focus yourself to occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d12. Add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled and reduce the damage by that total.
After you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Large Build
As a Large Creature you require 4 times the rations of a Medium sized character, take up 4 squares, have a reach of 10ft, and may wield two-handed and versatile weapons in one hand as if holding them in two hands.
Gith
The gith are a race of grotesque humanoids that appear to be a peculiar mixture of elf and reptile. They are extremely gaunt and lanky, with long gangling arms and spindly legs. Their hands have three fingers with no opposable thumbs, yet they are able to use tools and wield weapons. Their fingers and toes end in sharp claws.
Gith tribes wander the mountains and the Tablelands, living as nomadic hunters. Like thri-kreen tribes, gith grant humanoids no special status, hunting them as avidly as any other prey. Gith travel in small packs, though sometimes an individual can be found with other creatures, working as a mercenary or as a slave.
Ability Score Increase
Three ability score increases of your choice increase by 1, or you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and a second by 1.
Age
Gith have lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Alignment
Gith tend to be Chaotic individuals and often have a cruel or petty streak even among the kinder ones.
Size
Gith typically stand around 5’ tall while hunched and crouching. When they stretch to their full height, however, they’re often near 7’ in height. They generally weigh less than 200lbs.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Languages
Gith speak the Barazhad tongue, a strangely musical language unique on all of Athas, and Tyran.
Gith Psionics
You know the Mage Hand cantrip, and the hand is invisible when you cast the cantrip with this trait.
When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Jump spell once with this trait, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Misty Step spell once with this trait, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.
Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells. When you cast them with this trait, they don't require components
Alien Minds
You have advantage on saving throws against the charmed and frightened conditions.
Thri-Kreen
Thri-kreen are mantis like humanoids that hunt in packs throughout the wastes of Athas. They have adapted to the harsh climate and are experts at surviving with only scarce resources. Thri-kreen are nimble, and many also have psionic abilities. With four arms each ending in claws, the Thri-Kreen make formidable potential opponents and dazzling gladiators.
Their minds, however, are distinctly alien in comparison with human ideas. Their entire world is viewed through the lens of predator and prey, hunter and hunted, and the natural cycle of mating.
Age
Thri-kreen have short lifespans. They enter adulthood at the age of 6 and have a life expectancy of 30 years.
Alignment
Thri-kreen tend towards neutrality, viewing everything through the lens of the hunt and the predator-prey relationship.
Size
Thri-kreen stand around 7 feet tall and average around 350 and 400 pounds.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 40 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.
Languages
Thri-Kreen can understand Tyran and speak Kreen. However, Kreen is a language without words. To show emotion and reaction, a thri-kreen clacks its mandibles and waves its antennae, giving other thri-kreen a sense of what it is thinking and feeling. Other creatures find this manner of communication difficult to interpret and impossible to duplicate.
When forced to interact with creatures of other intelligent species, you can employ alternative methods of communication, such as drawing pictures in sand or making pictures out of twigs or blades of grass.
Carapace Armor
Your body is covered by a hard carapace, as a result you have a base Armor Class of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You are considered to be wearing light armor. In addition, in desert environments you gain advantage on stealth checks so long as you remain perfectly still.
Powerful Build
While your size is Medium you are able to lift, drag, and carry weight as if you were large sized.
Standing Leap
As part of your movement, you can make a long jump up to 30 feet, or a high jump up to 15 feet, with or without a running start.
Multiple Limbs
Your four arms let you wield multiple weapons. However you can wield only one two-handed weapon at a time.
When wielding more than one weapon, the regular rules for fighting with two weapons still apply. When you use the attack action, as long as you wield light weapons, you get to make an extra attack using your bonus action with any one of the other weapons you wield, without adding your ability modifier to the damage roll (unless negative).
Also, you can only benefit from the use of a shield once, no matter how many you carry.
Natural Weapons
You can use your claws or bite as weapons if you need to. You are considered to be proficient and they have the finesse property. As an action, you can either make one bite attack or one claw attack—you can use your bonus action to make an extra attack with another claw, following the two-weapon fighting rules. Your bite attacks inflicts 1d6 + ability modifier (piercing) and your claw inflicts 1d4 + ability modifier (slashing).
Poisonous Bite
When you hit a creature with your bite attack, you can use your bonus action to inject venom with it. The target must succeed a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your constitution bonus) or be poisoned for 1 minute. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target is also paralyzed while poisoned in this way. The poisoned target can repeat the saving throw in each of its turns, ending the effect on a succes.
You cannot use this trait again until you finish a short or long rest.
Thri-kreen Weapon Proficiency
You have proficiency with the gythka and chatkcha weapons.
Sleepless
You don’t require sleep and you can rest while remaining alert and performing light tasks. After resting 4 hours in this way you gain the same benefit that human does from 8 hours of sleep.
You are immune to spells and abilities that put you to sleep.
