Roaming Cactus

The **Roaming Cactus** is a race of sentient cactus creatures in Ozuma. They are primarily found on the western island of Bikumi, near a village known as Roaming Cactus Nation.

## Profile

Roaming Cacti are small cacti, typically having stiff arms and legs, three black holes for their faces (representing two eyes and an oblong mouth), and three reddish quills at the top of their heads.

Ancient text seems to indicate an outdated belief that Roaming Cacti had their own language, mostly consisting of variations of the word "ge-ka", which resemble squeaks and warbles. Contemporary scholarship has uncovered that Roaming Cacti can understand Bedore.

## Racial Traits

Player characters who choose the Roaming Cactus race get access to the following racial traits.

***Ability Score Increase***: They may increase one ability score by 2 and a different one by 1, or they may increase three different scores by 1.

***Age***: Roaming Cacti come to maturity around 3 or 4 years of age and live for around 20 years.

***Alignment***: All Roaming Cacti tend toward true neutral alignments.

***Size***: Roaming Cacti are typically no more than 2 feet tall, though some are known to have grown to heights of nearly 3 feet. Their size is Small.

***Speed***: Their base walking speed is 45 feet. Additionally, they do not suffer the typical downsides of difficult terrain when walking over sandy regions, such as those in the Bikumi Desert.

***Firing Needles***: A Roaming Cactus's needles are natural weapons, which they can use to make unarmed strikes at range. If they hit with them, they can deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + their Dexterity modifier.

***Desert Magic***: Roaming Cacti know the Druidcraft cantrip. Starting at Level 3, they can cast the Faerie Fire spell with this trait. Starting at Level 5, they can also cast the Enlarge/Reduce spell with this trait. Once they cast Faerie Fire or Enlarge/Reduce with this trait, they can't cast that spell with it again until they finish a long rest. They can also cast either of those spells using any spell slots they have of the appropriate tier. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is their spellcasting ability for these spells when they cast them with this trait (chosen when selecting this race).

***Languages***: All Roaming Cacti speak their own ancient language; however, this language has not yet been translated into Ozumian since Cacti can not write. Most Roaming Cacti can communicate in Ozumian; they understand, but can not themselves speak, the Bedore language. Some Cacti who travel to the mainland also learn to speak fey languages while living in the Molacalma Woods.

## Appearance

The Roaming Cacti are native to the deserts of Bikumi Island. Ten Cacti guard the entrance to the Valley of the Cactuars as gatekeepers in the Sanubia Sands.

One variation is the Qacti subrace, which migrated from Bikumi to Thunder Basin where Thiodin sealed them within statues. Praying at any three Qactus stones will summon a spirit.

### Battle

A typical Roaming Cactus is fast and tough to hit. Roaming Cacti tend to hide themselves underground when threatened and will only counterattack if they are attacked first while in hiding.