Anthro-Beast Folk Races 5e.

In my PDF I have Squirrel-Folk and Fox-Folk, those are what I went with as my Halfling Gnome alternatives after I decided to remove Rat/Mouse-Folk as options.

Ya and in the 5e MM there are stats for a Were-Rat and I didn't want to cause confusion between the bad monsters and my playable races, there are also MM stats for Were-Bears and other Lycanthropes, but rats are just dirty, and cause diseases. They are far easier to vilify.

O ya!! and that could be turned on its head in an all rodent world, maybe rats are noble and squirrels or mice are evil! this is the beauty of RPGs.

Ok so since the last post I made here I have kinda over hauled the way I let players create beast races. I used to have a list of beast folk that was broken down into categories like Deer-Folk which included an impala subrace and a caribou subrace. While I liked what I had created and felt I had a wide variety of beast folk to choose from I kept having players ask for a different animal or one not on the list. So with some internet searching and some copying and morphing ideas others came up with I settled on this new method.

Beastfolk in my world are originated from Alcarnóre my worlds version of the feywild. A portion of the beastfolk came through some portals into the prime world to aid in the war against the dragon lords. However the beast folk that came through did so sacrificing their ability to return to their home plane. trapped here over 600 years ago the beast folk have integrated into society and are as vast and varied as the animal kingdom.

All beastfolk share the following features.

Ability Score Increase. Increase one ability score by 2 or two ability scores by 1.

Age. Beastfolk age slightly faster than humans do and live to be 50-60.

Alignment. Beastfolk are true to their own hearts more than any law or code of ethics making them more often than not Chaotic. They tend towards Neutral more than Evil or Good.

Size. Beastfolk are medium.

Speed. Your basic walking speed is 30.

Wild and Free. Beastfolk have advantage on saving throws against charm effects.

All Creatures Under the Sun. Gain 2 breed traits based on the animal you share an appearance with.

Languages. You begin with Common and Beastspeech. Beastspeech can only be learned by Beastfolk and, when speaking it, they can communicate with animals as if under the effect of the spell, Speak With Animals.

So this is the basic template all beastfolk follow this allows for a player to pick any animal and use this template to construct it as a race. The Breed Traits are as follows, and the character gets to pick 2 of these that match with their base animal of choice and their choices are subject to the DMs approval.

Adept Climber. Gain proficiency in Athletics or Acrobatics. You have a climb speed of 30.

Burrowing. While you have two free hands you have a burrow speed of 25.

Echolocation. As a bonus action you can emit a shriek inaudible to most humanoids. Until the end of your next turn you have blindsight up to 30 feet away.

High Flyer. You have a fly speed of 30 feet. You cannot fly when you are carrying more than half of your encumbrance rating in weight. While flying you make attack rolls and ability checks at disadvantage, cannot maintain concentration on spells, and cannot cast spells.

Jumper. Gain proficiency in Athletics or Acrobatics. Your jump distance is doubled.

Keen Senses. Gain proficiency in the Perception skill and choose one sense. You gain advantage on Perception rolls that utilize that sense.

Kin to Beasts. Gain proficiency in Animal Handling and add your proficiency bonus twice.

Longstrider. Your basic walking speed is 40.

Natural Armor. When you are struck by an attack you can spend your reaction to interpose your chitinous exoskeleton or other defensive feature between you and your attacker, giving you +2 AC against the attack.

Natural Talent. Gain proficiency in a skill of your choice related to the animal you appear as.

Natural Weapon. You have a natural weapon that you are proficient in. This could be a bite, claw, quill, club tail, or other bestial feature. You can choose to add strength or dexterity to the attack roll and deal 1d4 + strength or dexterity modifier damage. The damage type should be selected when you take this trait; bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing.

Nocturnal. Gain darkvision up to 60 feet.

Scalekin. You have a swim speed of 30 feet and can breathe underwater.

Small but Mighty. Increase any ability score by 1 and gain another Breed trait. Your size is small.

Beastly Charge. You can charge up to your movement speed and strike a target with your horns, or antlers. The target takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage. You can add your STR mod to the damage done. Must complete a long or short rest before using this ability again.

Camouflage. You can spend up to 5 minutes changing color of skin to match surrounding, when this is done you gain +5 to Stealth

Mighty Roar. You let out a mighty roar or ear splitting screech each creature within 15 feet must make a CON saving throw or become deafened for 1d4 turns or each creature within 15 feet must make a WIS saving throw or become frightened for 1d4 turns.

Pouncing Strike. If you move more than 10 feet towards a target you can make a pouncing strike melee attack against that creature. The creature must make a successful STR check of a DC 10+ your STR mod or be knocked prone and take 1d6 bludgeoning damage. 

Amphibious. You have webbed feet, hands or both and a swimming speed of 20 feet.

So here is the list of breed traits, hoping to add more as I find ones that are appropriate. Would love some feedback as to if you like this new plan or if you can think of any other breed traits to add to the list. 

Ya man that would be awesome. I think I want to add something for insect like exoskeletons. Lots of options, i need to learn more about the animal kingdom and try to come up with even more breed traits. 

Totally some great things to think about. Here is what I can tell you from my own setting.


They get along really well with other races. They originally are from my settings version of the Feywild. They came through a portal to assist the common races in a war against the dragons and are seen as one of the primary reasons the dragons were defeated. So people generally treat them very well.

They get along fine with anybody that is neutral or good aligned, so gnolls kobolds etc are not to high on their list.

They are very assimilated into the various cultures of the known world. So they act just like most everyone else, eat and dress like others.

The offspring of a beast folk union is always a random type of beast folk.

No structured caste system.


The rest are great questions that I need to think about before answering.