Umaya

The umaya are a species of sapient plant-like creatures who come in a variety of humanoid forms. All umaya share a fundamental botanical biology and a common origin.

They are created when surges of raw emotion wash over untamed wilderness, both of which the Scintillating Fey Courts have in ample supply. It’s common to see umaya claw forth from trees after a vicious battle or hear them drop like ripe fruit during a joyous celebration. Despite their dramatic births, umaya are typically contemplative people who value patience and foresight, though they are fiercely protective of wherever they put down roots.

Umaya are humanoid, typically about 5 feet tall and 125 pounds, but the specifics of their individual appearances vary widely, just like the plants they share kinship with.

Their subspecies determines their primary physical characteristics (described below).

Regardless of subspecies, every 100 years that an adult umaya ages adds approximately 6 inches of height and 50 pounds of weight. Umaya never stop growing, and they are functionally immortal. Ancient umaya can become truly massive and physically dominating anywhere they settle.

Long-Lived and Territorial

Because umaya reach adulthood slowly and don’t die of old age, they tend to view life with less urgency than shorter-lived creatures, often failing to understand why everyone else is in such a hurry. It’s not unusual for umaya to live centuries in the areas they were born before developing any desire to branch out; some never reach that conclusion at all.

Regardless of where they call home, even if it’s far from their birthplace or on another plane, every umaya has an inherent drive to protect their home — they consider themselves inextricably linked to it, like a plant’s roots clinging to the soil. That symbiosis is an integral part of umaya psyche, and nothing stirs them to swift action more profoundly than threats to their home.

Umaya Names

Umaya choose their own names when they transition into adulthood. Their first names are typically a reference to the emotion that birthed them, while their surnames invariably indicate the place the umaya calls home.

Example First Names: Bliss, Defeat, Fury, Joy, Outrage, Panic, Pride, Sorrow, Triumph

Example Surnames: Amid Green Flowers, Beneath the Crooked Street, Beside the Fallen Tower, Inside Madrigal’s House, In the Shadow of Tall Peaks, Within the Ring of Stones

Subspecies

There are three umaya subspecies: bramble, heartwood, and venin. Choose one of the three subspecies presented below and add its listed traits to the base umaya traits below.

Umaya Traits

As an umaya, you have the following traits:

• Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.
• Size. Your size is Medium. Though umaya grow larger over time, umaya player characters are Medium.
• Natural Skill. You gain proficiency in the Nature skill. Additionally, double your proficiency bonus when you make an Intelligence (Nature) check related to plants. This trait can’t be combined with other effects or features that double your proficiency bonus (such as Expertise) for the same skill.
• Age. Umaya are slow to grow, typically reaching adulthood at about age 50. Umaya do not have typical life spans and don’t die of old age under normal circumstances, though they can die from illness or injury.
• Plant Affinity. Your botanical physiology allows you to temporarily bond with plants. While touching a plant, you can telepathically communicate with it as though you share a common language. Simple plants aren’t intelligent, and their senses are different than those of most humanoids, so they are limited to conveying simple ideas and may not understand complex questions or statements. For example, a tree is unlikely to know if it was an elf, dwarf, or human that slept in its boughs the previous night, nor would it know exactly how long the creature was there, but it could know that a humanoid climbed into its branches and stayed until sunrise. Likewise, the tree won’t understand if you ask it for the whereabouts of a merchant caravan youre seeking, but it might know that a group of many creatures traveled over its roots yesterday, heading into the morning sun.
• Photosynthesis. Provided you have access to sufficient water and at least 2 hours of direct sunlight each day, you don’t need to ingest conventional food to avoid starvation, instead sustaining yourself through photosynthesis. Additionally, if you spend any number of Hit Dice to regain hit points during a short rest, you regain an additional 1d4 hit points if you spent at least half of the short rest in direct sunlight.
• Limited Regeneration. If any of your body parts (excluding your head) are severed or destroyed, you can regrow them gradually with rest. A small digit like a finger regrows after you finish two long rests. A hand or foot regrows after you finish five long rests. To regrow a limb, you must finish seven long rests. Multiple appendages can be regrown at the same time, and the required rests for any part need not occur on consecutive days.
• Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Subraces

Bramble

Bramble umaya are lean and wiry with striated, thorn-covered skin ranging in color from dark green or earth tones to ashen gray. Some are entirely covered by tiny stinging hairs like nettle, while others have small, barbed spines like burrs, and still others exhibit relatively few large, dagger-like thorns sprouting from their flesh.

• Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity or Constitution score increases by 1.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Cantrip. You know your choice of the greenbriar lash* or wicked burr* cantrip, using Constitution as your spellcasting ability, and without requiring verbal or material components.
• Barbed Flesh. f you are grappled or restrained by a creature or if it is grappled or restrained by you, you may use your bonus action to force the creature to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier). On a failure, the creature suffers 1d6 piercing damage, or half as much on a success. This damage increases by 1d6 at 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). You must be touching the target to use this feature.
• Thorny Skin. Your thorns grant you a climbing speed of 20 feet. Additionally, your thorns are natural weapons that you can use to make unarmed strikes, dealing piercing damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier if you hit with them. Heartwood umaya are larger, bulkier, and stiffer than other umaya, resembling humanoid trees with tough, bark-like skin and branch-like limbs. Each Heartwood’s appearance is largely determined by the tree it emerged from during its creation, so individuals exhibit a wide variety of colorations, textures, and physiques, from willowy saplings to oaken brutes.

Heartwood

• Ability Score Increase. Your Strength or Constitution score increases by 1.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
• Cantrip. You know the shillelagh cantrip, using Constitution as your spellcasting ability, and without requiring verbal or material components. You can grow the required club or quarterstaff from your own body when you cast the spell.
• Natural Armor. Your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier when you aren’t wearing armor. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if your AC while wearing armor would leave you with a lower AC than your natural armor. The benefits of a shield apply as normal if you choose to equip one.
• Deep Roots. While on solid ground, you have advantage on Strength ability checks and saving throws to prevent being moved against your will. Additionally, you are considered one size larger when determining what size creatures you can shove and what size creatures can shove you.

Venin

Venin umaya are delicately framed with supple, brightly colored skin that resembles the petals of a flower, often marked with spots or other intricate patterns. Their beauty belies their dangerous nature, however, as venin produce potent natural toxins within their flesh, which they can expel as a weapon.

• Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution or Intelligence score increases by 1.
• Cantrip. You know the poison spray cantrip, using Constitution as your spellcasting ability, and without requiring verbal components.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Toxin Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.