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| ©Wizards of the Coast |
Darfellan are such a rare sight to behold, both in-game and out-game. I know them from the 3.5 era (I played in a multi-party campaign where darfellans became important at some point and a PC was one of them) and then silence. I genuinely almost forgot them. I've always thought of them as the water-based version of goliaths and if you were to give credit to their 3.5 entry (an interesting book called "Stormwrack"), they basically fit the same role (barbarian).
Basically they descend from were-orcas, similarly to how the Eberron's shifters work. As such, they can't breathe underwater, but can hold breath for an amount of time (which of course, in 3.5 was given by unnecessary math). They have a swimming speed though. Lore-wise, they have a deep hatred for the sahuagin, who almost wiped them out (I guess in the Forgotten Realms setting? In Greyhawk? Where was it?) and even used to have special rules to reflect this.
But times have changed (for good). In today's world a rule called "Racial Hatred" is something that shouldn't be incorporated in anything.
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| the 3.5 racial hatred rule ©Wizards of the Coast |
I think that racism should be handled very carefully at the table (if you want it to be a narrative theme in your game) or left out completely, and not imposed on all members of a fantasy race, regardless of setting, let alone on players and DMs. As always, safety and comfort at the table are the most important things. So, I'm not incorporating this rule in my 5e rendition of the darfellan. I don't like it and I find it stupid.
Another thing I'm no longer incorporating are pre-set ability scores modifiers. I've never thought of them as a problem of the game, but I see why WotC has removed them. They were already somewhat pointless mechanically and easily fixable by a DM, so that's it.
Ability Score Increase. Choose between +2 to one ability and +1 to another or +1 to three different abilities.
Size. The typical darfellan is a little over 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Walk 20ft, swim 40 ft.
Hold Breath. The darfellan can hold its breath for 10 minutes.
Natural Attack. The darfellan has a natural melee bite attack, which deals 1d6+strength modifier piercing damage on a hit.
Echolocation. When in water, the darfellan has blindsight to 20ft. The darfellan can't use its blindsight while deafened.
Experienced swimmer. The darfellan has advantage on all Athletics checks made while in water.
Languages. Common plus another language chosen with your DM. [Darfellan have their own language, simply called "darfellan", if you wish to speak it]
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This last section, where I usually suggest some builds with the fanmade race, from now on will be more theme-based than stat-based, for obvious reasons. Darfellans used to make excellent barbarians, and you can still do it of course, but I see them more like rangers, since they are known to be good hunters. But why not a mix of both? After all, the great advantage of classes like barbarian (or monk) is their unarmored armor class. You probably don't want do sink to the bottom of the sea with your plate armor, do you?
So, a ranger/barbarian multiclass. I suggest starting as a ranger, so you get more skills (one) out of the gate. You then can multiclass into barbarian any time you want (I suggest reaching at least 2nd level as ranger before doing so). As with anything ranger, I suggest to deeply consider the variant rules in Tasha's. The choice of subclass is yours. I suggest going for Ranger Hunter and Barbarian Berserker or Barbarian Ancestral Guardian if you want to lean on the tragic history of darfellans. As a background, something like Outlander may seem cheap, but it works nonetheless.
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| "I was, in fact, raised by seawolves" ©Wizards of the Coast |
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