Sipher Traits

Characters with the sipher heritage share the following traits:

Age. Siphers mature more slowly than humans and are typically found to settle down into an adult life in their late 60s. They can live to be nearly 300 years old.

Size. Siphers are between 3 and 4 feet tall, and average roughly 100 pounds. Your size is Small. Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 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 cannot discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Hiveminded. You draw strength from the hivemind, gaining an expertise die when making an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you have taken a long rest. 

Insightful. A sipher’s life of connectivity grants them a natural intuitive empathy. You gain an expertise die when making Insight checks.

Sipher Gifts

While most siphers are born with a variety of ways to connect to and benefit from the hivemind, some are born without any connection at all. Some siphers are able to harness planetary energy, and use it to directly aid or harm those around them. In addition to the traits found in your sipher heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Core Child

A sipher born particularly close to a planet’s core amidst the heat, may have a particular kind of connection to such places. You have resistance to fire damage. Additionally, you are able to superheat yourself for one minute as a bonus action. While superheated, your skin glows red, and your unarmed attacks do fire damage. Any creature which touches you or which hits you with a natural weapon or unarmed attack automatically takes 1d6 fire damage. Once you have superheated yourself, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.

Earthmeld

You have a burrowing speed of 10 feet. As long as it has not been manipulated with psionic powers, you can use your burrowing speed to move through sand, loose earth, loamy soil, or mud, but not solid rock. You do not naturally leave any sort of tunnel behind, but you can attempt to create a 5-foot by 5-foot wide tunnel in earth or soil by spending extra time and effort shoring up and adding support. This reduces your burrowing speed to 5 feet every 15 minutes.

Energy Bolt

Choose an energy type from acid, cold, fire, and lightning. As an action you can muster a bolt of planetary energy and make a ranged attack with a range of 30 feet. This attack counts as a natural weapon for you. On a hit, the bolt does damage equal to 1d8 + your Dexterity modifier.

Hivebound

Some siphers are more connected to the hivemind than others. You can tap into the hivemind to gain advantage on an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw. You cannot use this feature again until you finish a long rest. Planetary Invocation As an action you can touch a creature and channel planetary energy. The target regains hit points equal to your level. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. Your number of uses resets when you take a long rest.

Tremorsense

As long as you are in contact with the ground, you can sense vibrations and use them to pinpoint the location of anything that is moving and also in contact with the ground within 30 feet of you.

Sipher Paragon

Upon reaching 10th level, you become a personification of the ideals of your people. You gain one of the following paragon gifts.

Planetary Connection

Prerequisite: Core Child

You gain immunity to fire damage.

Hivemind Expertise

Prerequisite: Hivebound

Whenever you would make an ability check, you can use this gift to tap into the hivemind and gain an expertise die on the roll. You can use this gift a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and regain all uses upon completing a long rest. Additionally, you gain proficiency with Intelligence saving throws. If you already had proficiency, you instead gain an expertise die.

Warded Mind

Your connection to the hivemind allows you to better ward yourself against psychic attacks. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws (if you already had proficiency, you instead gain an expertise die) and gain an expertise die on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saves to resist psionic abilities.

Sipher Culture

Many philosophies must instill a sense of community and cooperation while pushing back against inherent selfish instincts. Siphers must strive in the opposite direction, learning how to be confident in themselves and their own self-worth as something more than a part of a whole. Siphers are honest, hardworking, and clever when working in a group under the comforting umbra of their hivemind. At an individual level, however, they are often plagued with insecurities, feeling small and unsure without their community behind them. This most often leads siphers who leave their people to settle in cultures that are incredibly close-knit, with pragmatic or well-meaning goals. Siphers are encouraged to take pilgrimages outside of the hivemind, to become more confident in their own abilities and to absorb new knowledge and culture to eventually bring back home. Often this leads them to take up voidrunning in order to experience a wide and exciting breadth of what the universe has to offer in a relatively short time. Siphers looking to prove their own abilities could hardly ask for a better chance, despite the dangers. Traditionally, siphers and the planets they live on share a mutually beneficial relationship: the siphers harvest excess energy from unstable planetary cores, keeping the planet running smoothly, and are in turn able to use that energy to support thriving underground networks. The hivemind is often responsible for mass migrations of siphers to planets that need help and for incredible technological discoveries occurring simultaneously on separate planets.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your sipher character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: belter, technotronic, urbanite, virtual.

Naato Traits

Characters with the naato heritage share the following traits:

Age. Naato are long-lived, reaching adulthood at about the age of 30, and becoming old-aged at around 150 years. Naato typically live about 200 years.

Size. Naato stand about 6 feet in height, weighing around 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Cold-blooded. When you take cold damage you are slowed until the end of your next turn.

Balancing Tail. You get advantage on ability checks and saving throws made to balance or avoid falling prone. Scales. When you are not wearing armor, your AC is equal to 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Naato Gifts

In addition to the traits found in your naato heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Amphibious

You can breathe normally in both air and water and you have a swim speed of 30 feet.

Camouflage

While all naato have some ability to alter their coloring, you can use a bonus action to change the color of your scales to match your surroundings for a period of up to one minute. You gain advantage on Stealth checks. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you have taken a long rest.

Spiky

When a creature grabs you it takes 1d6 piercing damage. Each turn it maintains the grab, it takes this damage again.

Tail Swipe

Your tail is edged with spikes, making it a potent weapon. You can use a bonus action to make an attack with your tail with a reach of 5 feet, and which counts as a natural weapon and does piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier. Alternatively, if you use it to trip your target with the knockdown basic maneuver, the target makes their saving throw at disadvantage.

Naato Paragon

Upon reaching 10th level, you become a personification of the ideals of your people. You gain one of the following paragon gifts.

Perfect Camouflage

Prerequisite: Camouflage

Your camouflage ability becomes more pronounced, enabling you to blend in perfectly with the environment. You can use a bonus action to become invisible. You remain invisible for as long as you continue to use your bonus actions to maintain your camouflage. If you take damage, you must make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC equal to 10 + the amount of damage, or your camouflage ends. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you take a long rest.

Poison Breath

You are able to exhale poisonous fumes in a 15-foot cone in front of you. As an action, you exhale poisonous fumes, and all creatures (except yourself and other naato) in the area must make a Constitution saving throw or take poison damage equal to 3d8 + your Constitution modifier. The DC of this saving throw is 8+ your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, after which you must take a long rest before using it again.

Naato Culture

Naato do not traditionally form large communities, settling in smaller territorial or nomadic groups with fierce rivalries. As such, they make for natural wanderers and tend to be loners, often becoming bounty hunters or mercenaries for hire. This lack of evolutionary society has made naato very individualistic, and results in behavior which does not lend itself towards the benefit of the majority. Naato do not tend to form large societies, and as such rarely develop technology on their own. They do not have any trouble adapting to new technology, however, and a naato wearing a mismatched collection of powered armor, weapons, and other gear, is not an uncommon sight.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your naato character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: drifter, rustic, underclass.

Keridani Traits

Characters with the keridani heritage share a variety of traits in common with one another.

Age. Keridani physically mature at a similar rate as humans. They intellectually mature faster, as they possess lifetimes of memories from birth, but their emotional maturity develops at the same rate as their bodies. Keridani can live to be 200 years old without advanced medicine.

Size. Keridani are tall and slim, typically standing between 6 and 7 feet tall. They have similar masses as humans, and are thus built lighter. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Telepathy. Keridani are able to communicate mentally with others. You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see within 60 feet of you that shares a language with you. This does not give the creature the ability to respond to you telepathically.

Venomous Mandibles. Your mandibles are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes that deal piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier. A creature damaged by your mandibles makes a Constitution saving throw. The DC for this saving throw is 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d4 poison damage on a failed save. You can use the poison element of this feature number of times equal to your proficiency bonus before you need to take a long rest.

Adhesive Pads. Keridani are able to secrete adhesive fluid from their hands and feet, helping them to climb. You gain an expertise die on ability checks made to climb and on saving throws to resist being disarmed.

Keridani Gifts

Keridani are exemplified by their mental control, their telepathy, and their ancestral memories. In addition to the traits found in your keridani heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Ancestral Walking

Some keridani have stronger ties to their ancestral memories. They gain access to the skills and wisdom of their ancestors as they lucidly walk through those past lives. Whenever you finish a long rest, choose one skill, tool, or language. You are proficient with the chosen skill, tool, or language until you complete a long rest. If you were already proficient, you instead gain an expertise die.

Empathic Sense

Some keridani display more sensitive innate psychic ability than others. You are able to sense emotions in creatures you can see. A creature may attempt to hide their emotions from you by making a Deception check vs. your passive Insight.

Stronger Poison

Your poisonous bite is even more toxic. Your target makes their saving throw against it at disadvantage, and additionally gains the slowed condition upon a failed save. If you do not already have the Venomous Mandibles trait, you gain the Venomous Mandibles trait instead.

Telepathic Bond

You can create a mental link between you and up to a number of willing creatures equal to your proficiency bonus. For the next hour, you and the targets can speak telepathically with each other. You need physical contact in order to create the bond, but once it is established it continues to operate no matter the distance, as long as you are on the same plane of existence. After you use this trait, you must complete a long rest before you can use it again.

Keridani Paragon

It takes a lifetime of experience to master one’s mental abilities. Upon reaching 10th level, you gain one of the following paragon gifts.

Ancestral Awakening

Prerequisite: Ancestral Walking

You can channel the skills and strengths of your forebears. Each time you use this feature, choose two ability scores to represent these ancestors. As a bonus action, you can gain an expertise die to all rolls using the chosen ability scores for 1 minute. Once you have used this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency modifier, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Inscrutable Mind

Your insectoid mind is almost impenetrable. You are immune to effects which would detect or read your thoughts or emotions, and you have advantage on saving throws made to resist the charmed, confused, frightened, or rattled conditions, or to maintain concentration. Finally, you recover one level of strife any time you take a long rest, even if you are not at a haven.

Telepathic Intrusion

Prerequisite: Empathic Sense

Your empathic sense becomes sensitive enough to read the very thoughts of your targets. You learn the read mind psionic power and can activate it once per long rest without expending psionic points. Choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma to be your manifesting ability for this power. Once you make this choice, you cannot change it. If you have a psychic reservoir and are able to use psionic powers, you can activate this power with those points as normal.

Keridani Culture

Keridani are stoic thinkers, aspiring towards peace and enlightenment, though such aspirations must often be put aside for more immediate concerns of survival. The insectoid people were born of struggle on their harsh homeworld and they found life among the stars no easier. Their early diplomatic efforts fell on warlike ears, and their enlightened age has been marred by countless conflicts. Still, keridani have spread throughout the stars, still stoic, still learning, and perhaps wiser for the hurdles they’ve overcome. Day to day life for keridani is one of ritual and rote, simple activities and chores they set their bodies to while their minds are deep within their own psyches or communing with their neighbors. To outsiders they seem like blank husks robotically performing pointless rituals, but inside they are alight and living. Keridani are reflective, introspective, and awash with emotional vibrancy that rarely transitions outwardly into the expressions or inflections that other beings relate to. Most desperately want to make these sorts of connections with other beings, though, a drive that often leads them down the dangerous and exciting life of a voidrunner.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your keridani character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: backwater, drifter, enlightened, stoic, union.

Hurrok Traits

All characters with hurroc heritage share the following traits:

Age. Hurrocs reach physical maturity at around 18–20 years of age and die of natural causes at around 150.

Size. Most hurroc have an imposing stature and stand between 6 and 7 feet tall and average about 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Lesser Darkvision. You have darkvision to 30 feet.

No Use For Doubt. You gain an expertise die on saving throws against fear effects.

Adrenal Burst. Hurroc can use their adrenaline to perform incredible feats of physical prowess. You can choose to gain advantage on any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check, attack roll, or death saving throw. Once you have done so, you cannot use this feature again until you have taken a short or long rest.

Hurroc Gifts

The hurrocs’ survival prowess does not present in only one form. Like all heritages, they are varied and adaptable, filling a wide range of roles across the cosmos. Choose one of the following gifts.

Adrenal Surge

The adrenal glands for which Hurroc are known are even more pronounced in your metabolism. You can use your Adrenal Burst feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus between long rests. If you do not already have the Adrenal Burst trait, you gain the Adrenal Burst trait instead.

Deadly Horns

Your horns are particularly sharp and are considered to be natural weapons with which you are proficient. You can make a horn attack which does piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength bonus, and if your target is a creature of your Size or smaller it must make a Strength saving throw vs. your maneuver DC or be knocked prone.

Indomitable

The adrenaline which permeates your body lends you courage. You are immune to the frightened condition. Additionally, if you have the Adrenal Burst trait, can use a bonus action to use your Adrenal Burst feature to recover a number of hit points equal to three times your proficiency bonus.

Resilient

While all hurroc are physically tenacious, you have a particularly tough physique and determined mindset that’s unusually difficult to harm. You gain the following traits:

Naturally Armored. While you aren’t wearing armor, your AC equals 13 + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Diehard. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you are instead reduced to 1 hit point. You cannot use this trait again until you have taken a long rest.

Hurroc Paragon

The trials you encounter on your path to 10th level have made you one of the most impressive of your people. Choose one of the following paragon gifts.

Iron Core

Prerequisite: Resilient

Your adventures have made you one of the hardiest of your kind. You gain one additional hit point per level, as well as resistance to poison damage and an expertise die on saving throws against poison effects. Additionally, your Constitution score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Unstoppable

Your tenacity and determination know no bounds. You are unaffected by difficult terrain, immune to the slowed condition, and your armor class increases by 1.

Relentless Pursuit

Like the greatest warriors and hunters of legend, your skill for pursuing your enemies knows little equal. Your base Speed increases by 10 feet. You gain both a climb speed and a swim speed equal to your base Speed. In addition, your dextrous grip means you can climb even on difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without having to make an ability check. Additionally, you gain an expertise die on Perception and Survival checks made to track.

Houseki Culture

Hurrocs are most often associated with militant cultures but they are more than just warriors. While hurrocs most often leave their planet of origin in vast armies, after the war and glory are won they are left to begin new families wherever their battles have ended. Even those not raised with such ethics often seek fulfillment in less traditional pursuits that still reward their hard-wired pugnacity, finding victory on virtual battlefields as hackers, in academia as single-minded researchers, or as (mostly) metaphorical raiders in corporate takeovers.

Suggested Cultures

The hurroc have traveled the cosmos as valued mercenaries, soldiers, diplomats, and even scholars and merchants. However, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: honorbound, imperium, militant, rebel.

Houseki Traits

All characters with the houseki heritage share the following traits.

Age. Houseki do not die of old age. They reach maturity somewhere between 40 and 150 years.

Size. The growth process of the houseki is not fully understood. Your size is based on your adventuring tier. At Tier 0 you are Small and weigh between 50 and 75 pounds; at Tier 1 you are Small and weigh about 100 pounds; at Tier 2 you are Medium and weigh between 200 and 300 pounds; at Tier 3 you are Medium and weigh between 300 and 400 pounds; and at Tier 4 you become Large and weigh in excess of 400 pounds.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Crystalline. As a crystalline creature, you do not need to breathe, and are unaffected by vacuum. Additionally, you are immune to poisons and poison damage, but when you take thunder damage you make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become rattled until the end of your next turn.

Enervore. You consume energy instead of food. A small hand-held electronic device contains enough power to constitute 1 Supply for you.

Grinding. When you move, you cannot hide the tinkling and grinding noises of your crystalline joints. Unless you remain still, you make Stealth checks with disadvantage.

Houseki Gifts

Houseki characters may choose one of the following gifts.

Color-change

Whenever you take a long rest, you may alter the color of your crystalline body. You can only be one color all over, usually choosing from red, blue, green, and yellow. The color you choose grants you resistance to one damage type–fire (red), cold (blue), acid (green), or radiant (yellow).

Crystal Healing

Your crystalline body repairs itself at a rapid rate, visible as new crystals form and grow. You can use an action to expend one hit die, rolling it and adding your Constitution modifier. You recover that many hit points.

Implacable

Houseki are noted for their slow, ponderous nature. You have advantage on saving throws made to resist the charmed, confused, and frightened conditions.

Jagged Crystal

Jagged crystals protrude from your body. Creatures who hit you with a natural melee weapon take 1d4 piercing damage.

Houseki Paragon

When you reach 10th level, you have grown into a paragon of houseki-kind. Choose one of the following paragon gifts.

Hard As Diamond

Your crystalline body is as tough as diamond. You gain resistance to slashing and piercing damage.

Ponderous

You are so slow and deliberate in your thoughts that you rarely make mistakes. When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check, any roll of less than 10 on the d20 counts as a 10. This does not apply to attack rolls or saving throws.

Shockwave

As a bonus action you can emit the energy you consume as a spherical shockwave emanating from you. All creatures within 10 feet of you must make a Strength saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. On a failure, the target takes 6d8 force damage and is pushed 10 feet and knocked prone. On a success, the target takes half damage and is not pushed or knocked prone. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you take a long rest.

Houseki Culture

The houseki don’t ask for a lot in life, do not tend to seek wealth or glory, and it is not uncommon to see a houseki perfectly content with a role as a laboror, engineer, or even a bartender. Houseki society is quiet, contemplative, and slow. Houseki are–usually–very good natured, and it is almost unheard of to see one lose their temper or display anger. Houseki are very at-home in space, need little in the way of excitement or company, and are generally unaffected by trivial details like atmosphere or temperature. They are often found on starship crews, asteroid mining outfits, and remote outposts. Comfortable with their own company, a houseki is able to spend extended periods of time alone, and it is unusual to find groups of houseki away from their homeworlds.

Suggested Cultures

The houseki can be found throughout known space. However, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: belter, enlightened, stoic, underclass.

Grey Traits

Characters with the grey heritage share a variety of traits in common.

Age. Greys are fairly long-lived, reaching adulthood at around 30 years of age, and entering old age at about 150.

Size. Greys stand about 5 feet in height, but their frames are very slender, weighing around 75lbs. Your size is Small.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Natural Psionics. All greys are born with inherent psionic abilities. You learn two psionic reflexes which do not count towards any limit to the number of reflexes you may know.

Telekinesis. You can freely telekinetically move and manipulate a single object which you can see within 30 feet, weighing up to 3 pounds, a distance of up to 30 feet. If the object is held by another creature, they can make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your Wisdom ability modifier + your proficiency bonus to prevent you from moving it. If the object would normally require a Strength check to move, you must make a Wisdom check to move it against the same DC. You can only move one object at a time using this feature, and you cannot use it to make attacks.

Grey Gifts

Grey Gifts In addition to the traits found in your grey heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Improved Telekinesis

You can freely telekinetically move and manipulate a single object weighing 10 pounds or less which you can see within 60 feet. If the object is held by somebody else, they can make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your Wisdom ability modifier + your proficiency bonus. If the object would normally require a Strength check to move, you must make a Wisdom check to move it against the same DC. You can only move one object at a time using this feature, and you cannot use it to make attacks.

Telekinetic Shield

You maintain a telekinetic shield to protect yourself from damage. When you are not using a shield, you can use your bonus action to gain temporary hit points equal to 3 times your proficiency bonus. The temporary hit points wear off after 1 minute. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. Your uses reset when you finish a long rest.

Grey Paragon

When you reach 10th level, you are an exemplar of greykind, and you gain one paragon gift from the following list.

Greater Shield

Prerequisite: Telekinetic Shield

Your telekinetic shield grants you even more protection. When you are not using a shield, the temporary hit points granted by your Telekinetic Shield feature are doubled to 6 times your proficiency bonus.

Greater Telekinesis

Prerequisite: Improved Telekinesis

You can freely telekinetically move and manipulate a single object weighing 30 pounds or less which you can see within 100 feet. If the object is held by somebody else, they can make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your Wisdom ability modifier + your proficiency bonus. If the object would normally require a Strength check to move, you must make a Wisdom check to move it against the same DC. You can only move one object at a time using this feature, and you cannot use it to make attacks.

Grey Culture

If there is an original homeworld for the grey species, nobody knows what it is–except, perhaps, the greys themselves. Greys are found everywhere, and are prolific travelers and explorers–indeed many civilizations’ first contact with alien life is with a grey. A generally benevolent species, most greys avoid conflict when they can. Grey enclaves or exploration ships are the closest one usually comes to grey society. Greys are rarely found alone; they find comfort in the presence of other minds, and their innate psionic nature means that they become miserable and withdrawn when denied the company of others, and those left alone for too long can become ill, or even die.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your grey character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: enlightened, stoic, technetronic.

Axon Traits

Characters with the axon heritage share a variety of traits in common.

Age. Axons mature at about the age of 40, and typically live about 200 years.

Size. Axons stand over 7 feet in height. Your size is Medium, Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Powerful Build. You count as size Large for the purposes of determining carrying capacities.

Fur Coat. Your thick fur protects you from cold environments. You have resistance to cold damage, and you gain an expertise die on Survival checks made in arctic environments.

Keen Senses. You gain an expertise die on skill checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Axon Gifts

In addition to the traits found in your axon heritage, select one of the following gifts.

Extendable Claws

Some axons sport sharp, extendable claws. The claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes that deal slashing damage equal to 1d8 + your Strength modifier.

Mighty Roar

As a bonus action you can bellow a loud and frightening roar. Your roar affects all creatures who are not allies within a 15-ft. cone. Targets within that area must make a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the end of its next turn. The DC of the saving throw is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. Once you have used this feature you cannot use it again until you take a long rest.

Thick Fur

Your fur is thick enough to protect you from attacks. While you aren’t wearing armor, your AC equals 12 + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Axon Paragon

When you reach 10th level, you are an exemplar of axonkind, and you gain one paragon gift from the following list.

Bellowing Roar

Prerequisite: Mighty Roar

When you use your Mighty Roar feature, it affects all non-allied creatures within 30 feet of you. Additionally, you now regain use of your Mighty Roar feature whenever you complete a short rest.

Fierce Claws

Prerequisite: Extendable Claws

Your claws, and your fang-like teeth, are longer and sharper than many of your kind. Your claws and teeth are natural weapons which do damage equal to 1d10 + your Strength modifier. Your claws do slashing damage and your teeth do piercing damage.

Massive Build

All axons are strong, but some grow even larger as they get older. You have advantage on all Strength ability checks and saving throws.

Axon Culture

While axons are technologically advanced, they evolved in jungle environments and many still retain that innate natural connection. As such, axons often form very rustic communities which exist in harmony with nature; technology serves its purpose, but where possible it is hidden or as subtle as possible. Fierce-looking though they are, axons evolved for survival rather than warfare; indeed the oldest origin stories of the species rarely feature conflict. Those survival skills, and the physical prowess that comes along with them, however, make for fearsome foes should an axon or their community be threatened.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your axon character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: backwater, belter, drifter, rustic, underclass.

Android Traits

All androids share common traits that set them apart from purely organic beings.

Age. An android’s lifespan varies widely depending on its purpose. Some are constructed with predetermined lifespans, some built on organic frames that face insurmountable aging challenges, and others are potentially immortal with proper maintenance, upgrades, and care.

Size. Androids are constructed to suit their function. Some from heavy, dense metals to give momentum and strength, others from lighter materials for dexterous movement or realistic skin feel. They vary in weight from 50 to 500 pounds. Your size is Small or Medium, unless otherwise stated by your gift.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Artificial Advantage. You have the construct creature type instead of humanoid. You are immune to poison damage and do not need to breathe. You do have to consume Supply, though this takes the form of power cells or other fuel, rather than food.

Constructed Constitution. Many standard healing methods for humanoids are completely ineffective on you, as in the case of psionic powers. Medical treatments utilizing nanobots work on you as normal, however, and specialized treatments exist (see Medicine in Chapter 3: Equipment). Most rolls that would call for a Medicine check for an organic creature are substituted for an Engineering check, depending on the condition and availability of parts. Additionally, you can still expend Hit Dice and regain hit points as normal on a short or long rest due to your self-repair functions.

Basic Programming. You gain proficiency in computers.

Android Gifts

An android’s eventual function and indeed personality is up to them, but is often guided by their construction. Any cybernetic construction type can be partially organic, and partially cybernetic. You gain the following heritage gift.

Integrated Systems

You have specialist systems integrated into your frame which enhance your performance or grant you unique capabilities. Choose two of the following traits.

Access Ports. You are able to plug into computer systems directly, granting you an expertise die on all computers checks when you are within reach of the target system.

Armored Chassis. You are built to withstand the violence of battle. While you wear no other armor your chassis provides an AC of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You also have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) rolls due to the clank of metal, the buzz of processors or the whirring of mechanized parts. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit. You can select this trait a second time to gain an AC of 14 + your Dexterity modifier instead.

Compact. Your size is Tiny. You gain a +1 to your Armor Class against creatures of a size category larger than you. You can select this trait a second time, gaining the ability to hover up to 5 feet off the ground and a fly speed equal to your normal Speed. Your carrying capacity is halved and you can’t carry bulky items. Additionally, you can’t use shields or armor that haven’t been made for you (this restriction doesn’t apply to force shields). Customizing items or equipment for your size generally costs three times as much as the item’s standard price. Your base Speed is 25 feet.

Enhanced Senses. You gain proficiency and an expertise die in Perception. 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.

Expert Subroutines. You gain proficiency in one of the following skills: Culture, Engineering, History, Nature, Science, or Religion. In addition, you gain a specialty of your choice in the chosen skill. You can select this trait a second time to gain proficiency and a speciality in a second skill from the above list.

Integrated Transmitter. You are always considered to be carrying a personal communicator, which cannot be taken from you.

Integrated Weaponry. You have either an integrated ranged weapon or an integrated melee weapon. You may choose the appearance of this weapon. The weapon cannot be disarmed or thrown, and deals damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier (if it is a melee w eapon) or 1d4 + your Dexterity modifier (if it is a ranged weapon). Choose the damage type of this weapon when you first select this trait from the following list: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning, fire, lightning. If it is a ranged weapon, the integrated weapon has a range of 30/100.

Jump Jets. You can jump 30 feet vertically and horizontally. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, after which you must take a long rest in order to reset your uses.

Linguist. You are programmed with many languages. You can automatically speak, sign, understand, and write in any current language by making a DC 10 Culture check. Extinct languages require a DC 15 History check. This does not enable you to break codes, cyphers, or encryptions.

Mechanized Might. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and you can carry a number of additional bulky items equal to your proficiency bonus.

Mimic. You have a voice synthesizer which can mimic any voice or sound.

Organic Appearance. Your synthetic technological capabilities are subtle and not immediately apparent to the casual observer. Your inorganic systems are hidden beneath layers of skin-like polymers making you look wholly organic without close inspection. Creatures can discern your cybernetic nature if they observe you take lightning damage or if they succeed on a Medicine check against your passive Deception.

Reconnaissance Drone. You have the service of a utility drone (you may select any variety of utility drone), a robot you command with voice control or through one of your devices. Your drone normally rests in a docking port amidst your machinery, but you can deploy it as an action. In combat it takes its turn immediately after you. It follows your directions, but commanding it to Attack uses your action and its reaction. Repairing your drone is free if you have access to its remains and your gear over the course of a long rest. Otherwise, the materials to replace your drone cost 25 credits.

Sentinel. Your charge cycle does not require you to lose consciousness. This allows you to monitor systems and perform other low level activities and you remain fully conscious during rests.

Tractor Beam. You have the power to project a small tractor beam as an action. This beam can reach up to 30 feet, carry up to 10 pounds, and can be used to operate simple switches. You can move a held object 10 feet each round using your bonus action.

Tracks. You move on tracks rather than legs. You are able to ignore the effects of difficult terrain.

Wheels. You move on wheels rather than legs. Your base Speed increases by 5 feet.

Android Paragon

Your subroutines constantly suggest ways to enhance your performance. At 10th level you finally complete a significant upgrade. Choose one from the following list.

Cybernetically Superior

One of your ability scores increases by 2, to a maximum of 22.

Jet Propulsion

You gain a fly speed of 30 feet. Maintaining this speed requires a check after the first minute and every minute after as though you were undertaking a forced march. You gain an expertise die on these checks to avoid fatigue from a forced march.

Lore Upload

Choose four from the following: Arcana, Culture, Engineering, History, Nature, Religion, and Science. You gain an expertise die on checks using the chosen skills, as well as two specialities of your choice. These specialties must be selected from the chosen skills.

Systems Upgrade

Choose two more traits from the Android Gifts section.

Android Culture

While they may exist in the universe, pure android cultures are rare. However, shared experiences are almost pre-programmed into every android, as impossible to remove as a charge cycle protocol or a self-preservation sub routine.

Androids are usually accepted into the company of organic beings, whether by necessity or with enthusiasm, but they are not organic beings. As creatures of binary, data and neat lines, it is difficult, though not impossible, for an android to understand the tangled, illogical social messes of organic beings. It’s harder still to understand illness or the inevitable decay of organic bodies when almost any malady that could befall a cybernetic being is easily patched up or programmed out. Androids are very often a part of organic culture, but they are always apart from it.

Suggested Cultures

While you can choose any culture for your android character, the following cultures are linked closely with this heritage: artificial, programmed, technetronic, virtual.

Tools of War

Though they may not regard it as such, troopers identify with their weapons in a way that is almost spiritual. It’s easy to see troopers as mindless soldiers—or even worse, heartless killers—but the truth is much more complex. Troopers believe that they must sacrifice a part of themselves to their weapons to use them most efficiently. In this way, they are as much a tool of war as the weapons they wield. This philosophy is supported by the lives of military service to which many troopers dedicate themselves. As one of the rank and file, troopers become part of something larger than themselves, but sometimes lose their individuality in the process. The alternative, however, means endangering the lives of those who fight alongside them. A trooper who puts themselves above their allies, or who wields their chosen weapon recklessly, is a loose cannon—in some cases, quite literally.

Armies of One

Even in a party of voidrunners, troopers may find themselves to be lone wolves. The life of any voidrunner is a dangerous one, but few willingly put themselves as much at risk as a trooper. When combat breaks out, troopers are often on the front lines, taking the brunt of the enemies’ attacks or holding the line so that their allies can marshal their defenses. Demolition experts have perhaps the most dangerous role to play of all, for while they rarely meet with the enemy head on, they must handle dangerous materials and routinely separate themselves from the group in order to place their explosive charges. Thankfully, their military backgrounds ensure that troopers are uniquely equipped to work as part of a team. Even troopers who have never fought alongside others quickly learn that their surest chance for survival is to have the backs of their fellow voidrunners—and to let their new friends have theirs?

Creating a Trooper

The lives of troopers are filled with violence, but warfare isn’t all they know. When creating your trooper, it’s important to consider not only how they fight, but why. Were you conscripted into military service, or did you enlist? Perhaps you were never a part of a formal army, arriving at your current life from a criminal or law enforcement background. You might even be the product of a top-secret project aimed at creating the perfect super soldier and have never known a life before this one. Even as a fledgling voidrunner, you’ve probably already seen more bloodshed than most people do in a lifetime. How have those experiences affected you? Are you hardened to violence, or has what you’ve seen made you even more certain that life must be protected? Do you have friends and family elsewhere, or are your current companions all you have left? As with many classes, the archetype you choose for your trooper character plays a large role in who they are. Many armigers, with their focus on individual combat, once served as bodyguards, or as swordmasters and advisors to feudal houses. What became of the people you once served? Are your weapons family heirlooms, or were they forged by your own hands as a part of your training? Gunner and demolition experts are more likely to have been soldiers in larger organizations. If so, were your fellows all killed in a disastrous assault? Or were you dishonorably discharged, rightfully or not? Are you a mercenary, a deserter, a reservist, or are you retired? The answers to these questions not only says a lot about where you’ve been, but where you’re going.

CLASS FEATURES

As a trooper, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per trooper level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per trooper level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor, heavy armor, shields

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons, starship weapons

Tools: Weapon and armor maintenance tools, one vehicle type

Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution

Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, Culture, Engineering, History, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Perception, and Survival

Equipment

You begin the game with 450 credits which you can spend on your character’s starting weapons, armor, and adventuring gear. You can select your own gear or choose one of the following equipment packages. Also consult the Suggested Equipment section of your chosen background.

• Demolitionist’s Kit (cost 447 credits): grenade launcher, frag grenades (3), smoke grenades (2), personal communicator, light maul, multitool, synthweave armor, tactical case

• Master-at-Arms Kit (cost 251 credits): duffel bag, heavy shock polearm, hyperweave armor, personal communicator, light blade, medium blade, pistol (20 rounds of ammunition)

• Merc Kit (cost 411 credits): backpack, first aid kit, personal communicator, pistol (20 rounds of ammunition), plasma auto-cannon (1 energy battery), riot armor

Drills

Thanks to your years of training, you know how to handle yourself in almost any situation. At 1st level you gain two drills of your choice, detailed at the end of the class description. The Drills Know column of the Trooper table shows when you learn more drills.

Favored Ordance

All weapons are deadly in your hands, but one type of weapon is your favorite. At 1st level, choose a specific category of weapon, such as light mauls, medium casters, or cannons. You can also choose a miscellaneous weapon (such bio-chakram or combat chainsaw) as your favored ordnance.

Attacks you make with your favored ordnance deal an additional 1d4 damage of the weapon’s type. Your favored ordnance damage applies only to damage that requires an attack roll. Thus, you can’t increase the damage dealt by a grenade or a weapon’s burst property, unless you have a special ability that allows you to do so. This extra damage increases as you gain trooper levels, as shown in the Favored Ordnance column of the Trooper table. Once you deal your favored ordnance damage, you can’t do so again until the start of your next turn.

When you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of your favored ordnance selections with another weapon.

Tenacity

Your courage never wavers, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Choose one of the following options.

Cool Under Pressure

Regardless of the pressures placed upon you, you somehow manage to keep it together. You have advantage on saving throws against effects that inflict strife or mental stress, as well as on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration.

Indomitable Soul

You never back down, not while lives hang in the balance. While you are bloodied, you can use a bonus action on your turn to gain temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your trooper level. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. While the temporary hit points last, you are immune to the frightened and rattled conditions. If you are frightened or rattled when you use this ability, the effects of these conditions are suspended until the end of this effect. Rounds spent under the influence of Indomitable Soul count towards the duration of these frightened and rattled conditions.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Tireless Loyalty

Nothing can convince you to turn on those you’ve promised to protect or break the ideals you’ve sworn to uphold. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. While you are charmed by a condition that allows a saving throw at the end of your turn, you can choose to make the save at the start of your turn instead.

Basic Training

Your training brought you into contact with people from all sorts of different backgrounds. At 2nd level, choose one of the following options.

Chains of Command

You know who’s in charge—and more importantly, who’s really in charge of an organization (such as a police precinct) or group of individuals (such as a party of rival voidrunners). If you have encountered an organization's leader, you know who’s officially in charge according to that group’s chain of command, as well as the attitudes of each of the group’s members towards their leader.

Soldier of Fortune

You’ve worked (or currently work) as a mercenary, taking part in military conflicts for personal profit. Anyone in need of a little extra muscle may come to you with job offers, and you have advantage on ability checks you make to find such jobs or negotiate their terms. The jobs may involve some measure of danger, and they may not pay particularly well. But you’re never out of work, at least not for long.

War Stories

Even soldiers who haven’t fought together often share similar experiences. If you spend a few minutes swapping stories from your past with someone from a military background, you have advantage on the next Persuasion check you make to influence them.

Combat Maneuvers

At 2nd level, you gain the ability to use combat maneuvers. You gain proficiency in two combat traditions of your choice. You learn two maneuvers of your choice from traditions you are proficient with.

You gain an exertion pool equal to twice your proficiency bonus, regaining any spent exertion at the end of a short or long rest . You use your maneuvers by spending points from your exertion pool. The Maneuvers Known column of the Trooper table shows when you learn more maneuvers from a tradition you are proficient with, while the Maneuver Degree column shows the highest degree you can select maneuvers from at a given level.

Additionally, whenever you learn a new maneuver, you can choose one of the maneuvers you know and replace it with another maneuver of the same degree from a tradition you are proficient with.

Martial Archetype

At 3rd level, choose a trooper archetype. Though you are familiar with weapons of all sorts, your archetype represents the types of weapons you’ve chosen to focus your training on. You gain benefits from your choice of archetype at 3rd level, then more at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

At 5th level, you can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the attack action on your turn.

Combat Theater

If your experience on the battlefield has taught you anything, it’s that warfare is as much psychological as it is physical. At 6th level, choose one of the following options.

Crowd Control

With a few simple, barked commands, you can impose order on an otherwise unruly crowd. You gain an expertise die on Intimidation checks.

Finger on the Trigger

Sometimes polite requests must be backed up with threats of violence. When one of your allies makes a Persuasion check, you can use your reaction to ready your firearm or brush the hilt of your blade. If the target of the Persuasion check can see you, your ally gains an expertise die on the check.

Hearts and Minds

It is a sad fact of war that the innocent are often caught in the crossfire, but you do your best to keep them safe. When you make efforts to keep a non-combatant out of harm’s way, word of your heroism spreads, and any members of their community who were previously indifferent to you become friendly.

Archetype Feature

At 7th level you gain another archetype feature.

Endurance

Starting at 9th level, you can use a bonus action on your turn to push your body and mind beyond their natural limits. For the next minute, you ignore the negative effects of any fatigue, strife, or mental stress effects you are currently suffering. At the end of that time, the negative effects return, and you gain one level of either fatigue or stress (your choice). 

You can use this feature once. You  gain an additional use of this feature at 13th level and a third use starting at 17th level. You regain all spent uses of this feature whenever you finish a long rest.

Pillar of Strength

In the heat of battle, others look to you for guidance. The faith that others place in you extends to non-combat situations, as well. At 10th level, you gain one of the following options.

Celebrity Soldier

Your victories on the battlefield have won you the respect of leaders across the galaxy. Regardless of your Prestige score, your Prestige Center covers an entire planet, or even multiple planets, at the Narrator’s discretion. In addition, prominent politicians, businesspeople, and celebrities come to you asking for favors and may be willing to perform favors for you in return. The Narrator determines the nature of these interactions. For example, the head of a shipping conglomerate may arrange transport for you and your companions to one of their off-planet facilities in return for a review of the facility’s security. Similarly, if you endorse a politician’s run for office, they may open doors for you in the future.

Impartial Judge

Your integrity is known to be above reproach, and others may call upon you to issue punishments or settle disputes. Your Prestige rating increases by an amount equal to half your proficiency bonus. In addition, other people can always sense when you’re telling the truth (or at least, the truth as you see it). While others may not always agree with your decisions, so long as you do your best to remain impartial, your integrity is rarely called into question.

Veteran’s Insight

Others seek out your advice, hoping to gain insight from the lessons you’ve learned on the battlefield. A creature that listens to your advice for at least 1 minute gains an expertise dice on one ability check of its choice that it makes in the next 24 hours. Once someone has benefited from your Veteran’s Insight, they can’t do so again for another 24 hours. If an NPC follows your advice and it works out well for them, they become friendly towards you and remain so until you give them reason to change their mind.

Archetype Feature

At 10th level you gain another archetype feature.

Archetype Feature

At 15th level you gain another archetype feature.

Legion Commander

At this point in your career, you may find yourself commanding hundreds, or even thousands, of people. At 18th level, you gain one of the following options.

Address the Troops

Your words inspire those under your command to fight without fear. You gain proficiency in Persuasion. If you’re already proficient in Persuasion, you instead gain an expertise die.

In addition, if you spend 10 minutes giving an inspiring speech, each creature you choose with an Intelligence of 4 or greater that can hear and understand you is filled with courage and resolve. Affected creatures gain 20 temporary hit points. While the temporary hit points last, the creature gains an expertise die on saving throws against becoming frightened. 

With the right technology on hand, you can greatly extend the number of creatures you can affect and the distance at which you can do so, even on a galactic scale.

Once you’ve used this ability, you must finish a short or long rest before you can do so again.

Security Clearance

Governments and military organizations trust you with their most guarded secrets. With a few phone calls to the right people, you can make a Prestige check to obtain a high-level security clearance, granting you access to data such as the location of a top-secret military installation, the blueprints of The Fleet’s capital ship, or the medical files of the Emperor. Organizations hostile to you will never knowingly issue you a security clearance. Under most circumstances, your security clearance expires after 2 days. Once you’ve used this ability, you must wait a week before you can do so again.

Thousand-Foot View

You can survey the broad strokes of a military campaign to pinpoint an enemy’s weak spot. This survey takes the duration of a long rest and might involve reviewing stacks of field reports, analyzing thousands of AI-generated combat simulations, or simply pushing a few small-scale models across a replica battlefield. At the end of the long rest (which you still benefit from normally), you uncover a fatal flaw in your enemy’s organization, such as an easily disrupted supply line or a shield generator they’ve left undefended. 

The Narrator determines the nature of the information you uncover. Your stratagem is often time sensitive, and even if you act on it, there’s no guarantee the plan will succeed. Once you’ve used this ability in a campaign, you can’t do so again until the specifics of the campaign you’re analyzing significantly change.

Archetype Feature

At 18th level you gain another archetype feature.

No Surrender

Even a mortal wound can’t stop you from fighting—at least for a while. At 20th level, when you take damage that reduces you to 0 hit points but doesn’t kill you, you don’t fall unconscious and can continue acting normally. You still make death saving throws at the start of your turn, suffer death saving throws whenever you take damage, and die after three failed death saving throws. If you are stabilized during this time, you remain conscious, but fall unconscious after 1 minute if you do not regain at least 1 hit point.

Drills

When you gain access to a new drill, choose one of the following.

Action Hero

You’re daring, dynamic, and rush headlong into danger. On your turn, you can take an additional Dash action and gain an expertise die on Acrobatics and Athletics checks you make during the Dash. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Combat Medic

Even under the worst conditions, you can apply first aid to keep your allies alive. You can use an action to restore a number of hit points to an ally within reach equal to twice your proficiency bonus. You can use this drill a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. Your expended uses are restored when you take a long or short rest.

Defensive Reload

You can keep your wits about you as you get ready to fire. You can reload a weapon with the reload property as part of a Dodge action.

Double Time

You move efficiently while on the march and can help those you travel with keep pace. You can move twice as fast on a journey. Any allies without this drill that you choose to keep pace with can move 50 percent faster than they would normally be able to.

Favored Front

You’ve learned to fight in different kinds of terrain. Choose one type of terrain: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, subterranean, or swamp. You gain an expertise die on Perception, Stealth, and Survival checks made in this terrain. You can take this drill multiple times, choosing a new terrain each time.

Gear Up

A soldier’s gear helps keep them alive, so you’ve learned to pack and handle it efficiently. You can don and doff armor in half the time it would normally take. Your Strength score is considered 5 higher when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can lift, push, or drag.

Grunt Work

You’re not above getting a little dirt under your fingernails. You gain proficiency in carpenter’s tools, cook’s utensils, or another set of artisan’s tools allowed by the Narrator. In addition, when performing manual labor, you gain an expertise die on Constitution saving throws to resist fatigue.

Lead the Charge

When the time comes to engage the enemy, you make sure you’re always on the front lines, with your allies close behind. You gain an expertise die on initiative rolls. When you roll initiative, you can select one willing ally who rolled lower than you. For the rest of the encounter, that ally acts in the initiative count directly after you.

No One Left Behind

You gain an expertise die on Acrobatics and Athletics checks made to climb, jump, run, and swim. When your party makes a group Acrobatics or Athletics check, you may apply the results of your roll to yourself and one ally. You can choose which ally to apply your result to after everyone has rolled, but must do so before the Narrator says whether you succeed or fail.

Paratrooper

You gain an expertise die on Acrobatics and Athletics checks you make while falling or skydiving. When you take falling damage, you can use your reaction to make an Acrobatics check and reduce the damage by an amount equal to the result of the check.

Quick Reload

When reloading your weapon in the heat of battle, your hands act from muscle memory alone. You can reload a weapon with the reload property as a bonus action instead of an action. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Recon

Hours spent on patrol have honed your senses. You gain proficiency in Perception. If you’re already proficient in Perception, you instead gain an expertise die. Additionally, when performing the Scout journey activity, you don’t suffer a level of fatigue on a critical failure.

Rest and Relaxation

You know how important a little R & R can be. When you spend hit dice during a short rest to recover hit points, you can roll each die twice and use the better result.

Security Detail

You’re always on the lookout for trouble. Your passive Perception score increases by 3, and you can never be surprised.

Starship Trooper

You’re well accustomed to life aboard starships. While aboard a starship or similar vehicle, you gain an expertise die if you’re using a skill you’re proficient in.

Tour of Duty

You’ve learned to interact with people of cultures different from your own. You are proficient in Culture and gain a skill specialty in Culture. In addition, you learn three languages of your choice.

Weapons Maintenance

Keeping your gear in proper working order can mean the difference between life and death when the bullets start to fly. You gain an expertise die on checks to maintain or repair weapons and armor.