Grippli

On the whole, grippli are full of positivity. In their day to day lives, they relish friendly competition, often turning their chores into games and awarding the best or fastest member with small prizes such as carved wooden animals, colorful stones, or pretty bits of eroded glass.   Unlike their grung ancestors grippli tend to live in cities with other races. They have become socialites and train in the arts, magic, and even noble swordplay.   However, the grippli have not forgotten their feral heritage and still retain many skills from the wilds.

Grippli Traits

Though they have adapted to their respective environments, grippli as a species share a number of natural abilities.
  Ability Score Increase Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
  Age By the time grippli reach adulthood, around age 15, they have completed dozens if not hundreds of hours training in their chosen role.
  Alignment While grippli love the open road and are driven to see what lies beyond the next hill, their tribal lifestyle requires that individual members know and perform their roles; as such they tend to be lawful. Their friendly personalities lead them to be good more often than not.
  Size Grippli are tall and lean with wiry, muscular physiques. Adult males generally stand around 6 feet tall and weigh around 180 pounds; at 6 to 12 inches taller and approximately 10 pounds heavier, females are markedly larger than their male counterparts. Your size is medium.
  Speed Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
  Amphibious You can breathe normally on land and underwater.
  Keen-Eyed Hunter You have proficiency in Perception and Survival.
  Leaping Stride Grippli have developed the ability to make amazing leaps from a standing position. You can long jump a number of feet equal to double your Strength score and are always treated as if you moved at least 10 feet on foot beforehand. You can high jump a number of feet equal to 6 + your Strength modifier without moving beforehand. Grippli cannot jump farther than their remaining movement would allow.
  Languages You speak, read, and write Common and Grippli. Grippli is comprised of long croaking vowels and short chirping consonant sounds.
  Subrace Through their long evolution, grippli have adapted to live in varied environments. Choose one of the three main subraces: bog born, lake strider, or patternback. There are rumors of other subraces of grippli adapted to harsher environments which exist in small isolated tribes.
 

Bog Born

Wandering the marshes and wetlands of the world, bog born grippli are rarely encountered in highly populated areas. This subtype has evolved in a manner more in line with their ancestors and retains more of the abilities of their forebears than other types of grippli.
  The bog born compete for hunting grounds with bullywugs, for whom their usually good natures evaporate to be replaced with bitter enmity. Skirmishes between tribes of the two peoples are brutal, often leaving entire communities of both in ruin. Currently the matriarchs of seven bog born tribes are conspiring, hoping to attract more tribes to unite together to expunge the loathsome bullywugs from the face of the world entirely.
Ability Score Increase Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Darkvision The grippli forebears were a nocturnal people. You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.
Prehensile Tongue Bog born use their tongues as though they are an extra appendage. As a bonus action you may extend your tongue up to 25 feet to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You may not use your tongue to attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 5 pounds.
 

Lake Strider

Living and working in and along the waterways of the world, lake striders are the most commonly seen variety of grippli. Like their cousins, these amphibious folk are honest and industrious; merchants and traders that send cargo by river and stream often hire them on as laborers or guides, trusting their expertise will get their cargoes delivered on time.
  Lake strider lore tells that, in ages past, the grippli were all one people who resided in an aquatic metropolis located on the floor of one of the world’s great lakes until a Shadow from Within broke the people apart and sent them scattering to the worlds surface to live as nomadic wanderers.
  The truth of this is unknown as the tribes of lake striders cannot agree even on the name of their former city or where its ruins lie.
  Ability Score Increase Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
  Superior Swimmer A lifetime living on the water has made lake striders excellent swimmers. You have a swim speed of 30 feet.
  Natural Navigator You always instinctively know which direction is north.
  Sailor’s Legs Lake striders are accustomed to moving on and about bobbing watercraft. You have advantage on Dexterity checks and Dexterity saving throws to maintain your footing in adverse conditions.
 

Patternback

Patternback grippli are most commonly found traversing the tree cover in lush jungles and tropical rain forests. Having adapted for climbing, the patternbacks spend most of their time traveling in the high branches and can often be found racing the other members of their tribes through the arboreal wonderland.
  Though they are generally welcoming and good-natured like most grippli, patternbacks have a rough, almost mocking sense of humor which causes the other types of their species to think of them as savage and cruel. For their part, patternbacks have an abiding appreciation of their bog born kin and a deep respect for the lake striders’ ability to easily travel the world's waterways.
  As deeply spiritual beings, patternbacks venerate a wide variety of familial and nature spirits; most leave a daily offering of meat and fruit to thank their patrons for their protection and benevolence. It is said that some of the wisest patternback matriarchs can distill their own poisonous secretions into an elixir that allows them to speak directly to their patron spirits and question them about matters of concern to the tribe. The veracity of this rumor is unknown, though patternback grippli seem to rarely be beset by ill-fortune.
Ability Score Increase Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Tree Climber Patternbacks spend much of their time in the branches and canopy cover of the rain forest. You have a climb speed of 30 feet.
Curare Sweat The skin of patternback grippli secretes a potent nerve toxin. As an action, you can rub a slashing or piercing weapon or up to three pieces of ammunition against your skin to coat it in poison. A creature hit by your poisoned weapon must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus or its speed is halved, and it is unable to take bonus actions or reactions for 1d4 rounds. The duration of the effect increases to 1d6 rounds at 6th level, 1d8 rounds at 11th level, and 1d10 rounds at 16th level. A creature affected by curare sweat can attempt a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end the effect. An application of curare sweat remains toxic for 1 minute or until you strike a creature with your poisoned weapon. A creature that swallows you whole must make the above Constitution saving throw at disadvantage or suffer the effect for double the duration listed above. You are immune to your own poisonous secretions. After using curare sweat, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.