Thri-Kreen

Thri-Kreen wander the deserts and savannas of Faerun, doing their best to avoid all other races. The largest known population of thri-kreen dwell in and about the Anauroch, the largest and most inhospitable desert of Toril.

Thri-Kreen resemble insect-like humanoids with the features of a praying mantis. They have two powerful legs, which they can use to leap great distances, and two articulate arms for grasping and manipulating. They also have a smaller set of arms just below the first set, which they use for a multitude of simple tasks.

## **Isolationists and Wanderers**

Thri-Kreen consider all other living creatures as potential nourishment, and they love the taste of elf flesh in particular. If a creature might be useful for something other than food, the thri-kreen aren't likely to attack on sight. Thri-Kreen kill to survive, never for sport.

When they are hunting, the thri-kreen are known for wielding two particularly deadly weapons: the gythka, a vicious double-bladed polearm, and the chatkcha, which is similar to a triangular chakram.

## **Limited Emotions**

Thri-Kreen experience the full range of emotions but aren't as prone to emotional outbursts as humans. Thri-Kreen with psionic ability often demonstrate a wider range of emotions, particularly if they live near or interact with humans or other highly emotional creatures.

The presence of brilliant gems or other very shiny objects rarely fails to catch a thri-kreen's attention. They flick their antennae and clack their mandibles joyously and their eyes shine bright with glee.

## **Thri-Kreen Names**

Humanoid tongues cannot possibly pronounce thri-kreen names, which comprise a jumble of hisses and clicks. To other intelligent people, thri-kreen are given names that fall into two broad categories. The first is elegantly called "poetic," and are derived from attempts to duplicate the thri-kreen sounds. In the second category are names taken from nature. Since many humanoids have difficulty discerning thri-kreen gender, names are not gender specific.

Poetic Names: Chak-tha, Drik-chkit, Kacht-ta, Kat-chka, Pak-cha, Pik-ik-cha, Ptekwe, Tak-tha, Tik-tik

Nature Names: Bark, Branch, Crag, Dust, Lake, Leaf, Pebble, River, Sand, Stick, Trunk, Twig, Vine

## **Thri-Kreen Traits**

Your insect-like biology and mindset set you apart from most other races, giving you a set of slightly alien traits.

**Ability Score Increase.** Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

**Age.** Because thri-kreen have incredibly fast metabolisms, they tend to have equally short lifespans. The average thri-kreen is fully mature and contributing to the clutch by age 5. Most thri-kreen live roughly 30 years, although adventurers are usually of a more resilient stock. Few thri-kreen ever live past 40 years.

**Alignment.** Thri-Kreen have a very different sense of the world than most other races, having prioritized survival as a driving goal for countless generations. To others, the motivations of a thri-kreen are chaotic, changing with even the slightest of environmental variation. At its core, survival is a neutral impulse, as such many thri-kreen also display typically neutral behavior. Thri-Kreen who have entered into the adventuring life, however, are a truly rare breed and commonly possess ideals and personalities considered to be anomalous to the clutch.

**Size.** Thri-Kreen are generally taller than the average human but shorter than most dragonborn, placing most at around 6 to 6 and a half feet tall. The weight of their exoskeletons are offset by their limber physiques, giving them the weight range of an average human. Your size is Medium.

**Speed.** Your base walking speed is 35 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 grey.

**Thri-Kreen Weapon Training.** You have instinctive proficiency with the gythka and the chatkcha, even if you have never wielded one before.

**Arthropod.** You have an additional set of shorter, weaker arms. These appendages are too small to wield weaponry efficiently, but they can be used to perform more simple tasks. You can take two free actions per round instead of one.

**Exoskeleton.** Your base armor class is 12 plus your Dexterity modifier while not wearing armor. Creation of armor for thri-kreen is significantly more expensive than it is for standard humanoids due to your alien biology.

**Natural Jumper.** You can choose to use your Dexterity score instead of your Strength score when determining the distance for your long and high jump. You also have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to land in difficult terrain and jump higher than you normally can.

**Chameleon Carapace.** You can change the color of your carapace to match the color and textures of your surroundings. It takes 1 minute to complete the change and readjust to a new terrain. Once camouflaged, you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide in the current terrain.

**Trance.** Thri-Kreen don't need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

**Languages.** You can speak thri-kreen and understand Common. Thri-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, thri-kreen employ alternative methods of communication, such as drawing pictures in the sand. Thri-Kreen can also communicate clearly through telepathy, although they cannot initiate it without the aid of magic.

> **Thri-Kreen Psionic Variant:** There are some thri-kreen born with an inherent psionic talent. All thri-kreen characters have the option to choose the following feats, instead of ability score improvements, to awaken their inherent psionic potential.
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**Natural Telepath (additional feat option).** You can better understand and communicate with non thri-kreen.

* Increase your Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
* You can cast the *telepathy* spell once, but you must remain within 60 feet of the target to maintain communication. You regain this ability when you complete a long rest. Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Wisdom.

**Paragon (additional feat option).** You can cast several spells innately using your psionics. Your spellcasting ability for these spells is Wisdom.

* At will: *mage hand* (the hand is invisible)
* 2/day: *blur*, *magic weapon*
* 1/day: *invisibility* (self only)