Wyverians
Trynna winced as a bandits blade sliced into her shoulder. Her hands motioning the signs of ancient magic, she reciprocated the gift by leaving the bandit as a pile of smoldering ashes.
Hearing a dying groan and loud steps behind her, she quickly turned towards her next fight. All she met was a cloud of dust, the flapping of wings drowning her ears with noise. Staring above her, she saw them; dozens of winged scaled folks, each one lifting a bandit with their mighty legs high into the air before dropping them to their death. Better them than me, she thought.
Blinking as the last bandit collapsed beside her, Trynna gazed at what seemed to be the captain of the flying warriors approach her. Their skin was a dark purple, their winged arms dancing in the sunight.
"Thank you for saving us. We have rations you ca-"
Her exhaustion prevented her from moving away as the spear made its way through her chest. Lifting her hands to cast another spell, she could feel her magic fading, dripping into the earth with her blood.
"Oh, I wouldn't say saved," the wyvernborn cackled, revealing the row of teeth behind its beak, "we're just the new management of this trade caravan now."
Art by Kinseviing!
Endowed with winged arms and a venomous tail, wyverians (wyvern as singular) soar the skies over their humanoid kindred. Often mistaken as territorial birds or miniature dragons, many are quick to learn that their bite is bad as their bark, and with a boisterous attitude to rival their draconic creators.
Draconic Aerialists
While drakes wander the lands and wyrms uncover great caves, wyverians take to the sky and dwell atop lofty areas. A wyvern possesses enlarged proportions, their arms seemingly stretched so far that they may use them as a secondary pair of legs while standing. These very arms covet their signature wings, a thin membrane stretching from their waist to beyond the edges of their fingers. Chromatic scales and feathers dress these wings and arms, often colored with rocky powders and ointments they come across their travels.
This gift of flight limits the use of their arms while aloft, but very few wyverians are defenceless while in the air. Few enjoy the sight of a wyvern’s barbed tail in combat, its ends coated with poison. Other wyverians instead specialize in developing their legs to seize their foes, flying up into the air to either drop them to overwhelm them with barbed strikes.
A lifestyle in the sky, as well as winged arms, provides a unique style of attire for wyverians. Many either dress minimally or with layers of silken robes, their clothing almost always leaving their arms free. Any armor is almost always secured around the neck and waist so that it does not impede their flight, and often just protecting their chests and front legs. After all, how can surface-dwellers strike their backs while they fly above them?
High and Mighty Attitudes
A history of roaming the skies will drive anyone to be full of pride, or so that’s what many wyverians claim. Perhaps this boastfulness is embellished by their draconic heritage, but whatever the reason, many first memories of encountering a wyvern are that of incredibly boastful, or worse demeaning, people. Wyverian culture seemingly extends this pride to everything, leading many to seek to be the very best at everything they do. The worse arises when this pride is infectious, for a wyvern with a rival is a wyvern that will stop at nothing to learn from their mistakes so that they may regain victory over their opponent.
Second to their pride is a wyvern’s adoration for jewelry and all that shines. Akin to a raven or dragon in interest, many wyverians will adorn their clothing and body with loose and light strings or bands of jewelry, at times hoarding many in such a manner that they chime in the wind while they soar. Currency in wyverian-centric communities is often jewelry itself, with one’s wealth and status seen through the very glistening clothing one wears. Oftentimes, it is customary to gift a newly met wyvern a band or ring of silver or other scintillating metal, or it is better to let them admire the gift than to hear their boasts or challenges.
Thrill Seekers
With a hunger for the skies and an unbreakable drive for perfection, it comes not as a surprise that some wyverians may take on dangerous careers. Many may first meet a wyvern as a craftsman or mercenary, with the more eccentric earning fame through tournaments of might or magic. While an adventuring party may find themselves fortunate in having a wyvern scout as a friend, this party may very well find themselves hired to drive back wyvern raiders from a nearby community! Perhaps your wyvern character seeks to take revenge on a dragon that burnt down your wyverian home, discover the most wondrous of magical artifact to claim as their own, or perhaps seek out the tallest peak a wyvern has ever found! The desire to adventure is a thrill in of itself, and a wyvern will stop at nothing to revel in it.
Wyvern Traits
- Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Art by Maxkayart!
- Age. Wyverians live for up to 130 years.
- Creature Type. You are Humanoid, but count as a Dragon for the purposes of being detected.
- Rarity. Rare. While relatively large in number, they generally prefer to live atop regions of higher elevations. One may find wyverians towns atop mountains, forest ceilings, and plateaus.
- Size. Wyverians are generally a few inches taller than drakes, with a much slimmer body and compressed torso while their arms and legs are enlarged. You are Medium.
- Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.
- Armed Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. This speed drops to 0 feet if you perform any of the following during your turn:
- Cast a spell with somatic (S) components.
- Perform an attack with your arms, or with an object you are wielding in your hands.
If you are aloft in the air while performing any of the preceding, you begin to fall.
- Long Limbs. When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
- Stinger. Your poisonous tail is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient with, dealing 1d4 + Strength worth of piercing damage on a hit. The first creature you hit with your stinger on each of your turns must succeed a Constitution saving throw 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or take an extra 2d4 poison damage.
- Strong-Legged. You use your legs, rather than your arms, to grapple. As a result, if grappling would require or use a free hand, instead use a free leg. Penalties to movement only apply to your walking speed if the creature is one size smaller than you or less.
| d6 | Wyvern Characteristics |
|---|---|
| 1 | I use my wings like a cloak, for aesthetic and against the weather. |
| 2 | Plated armor is too heavy to fly in? Who decided that? |
| 3 | My scales and feathers rustle and flare when I get emotional. |
| 4 | I use my tail as a third arm, pointing and waving with it. |
| 5 | I can't sleep properly unless I sleep upside down, wrapping my tail on a branch. |
| 6 | I hate being indoors, unless they're is food and trinkets inside. |
