```metadata title: Selkie Race description: The skin-changing seal-folk of Celtic and Norse folklore. tags: '' systems: - 5e renderer: V3 theme: 5ePHB ``` ## Selkie To be a selkie is to live a double life, for a selkie has two forms. In the water, a selkie looks much like any other seal. Upon reaching the shore, however, a selkie may shed its sealskin and assume a form very similar to that of a human. There are numerous tales of humans stealing a selkie’s sealksin to trap them on land, and taking the selkie as their spouse. Such stories inevitably end in tragedy once the selkie finds their sealkskin and returns to the sea, leaving spouse and possibly children behind. : ### Selkie Traits ***Ability Score Increase*.** Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Wisdom or Charisma score increases by 1. ***Age*.** Selkies reach adulthood around the same time humans do, but live to be about 200 years old. ***Alignment*.** Selkies have a playful and free-spirited nature, giving them a slight tendency towards good and a strong inclination towards chaos. ***Size*.** Selkies are on average slightly shorter than humans. Your size is Medium. ***Darkvision*.** Accustomed to the ocean’s gloom, you have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Within that range, you can see in dim light as if in bright light, and darkness as in dim light. You can’t see color in darkness, only shades of gray. ***Speed*.** Your base walking speed is 25 feet, and in humanoid form you have a base swim speed of 20 feet. ***Sealskin*.** Every selkie in humanoid form leaves its sealskin separate from itself in the form of an item. As a bonus action, you can assume the form of a seal by donning your sealskin or return to humanoid form by doffing it. When in seal form, your traits have the following changes: * You cannot speak, attack other than bite (see below), or cast spells in seal form. * Your base walking speed becomes 15 feet, and your base swim speed becomes 50 feet. * Your unarmed strike takes the form of a bite attack that deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier in piercing damage. * Your Armor Class becomes 15 (natural armor). * You can hold your breath for up to 30 minutes, and suffer no ill effects from water pressure at depths down to 650 feet. Your statistics are otherwise the same. Any equipment you are wearing in humanoid form either falls to the ground unharmed or melds into your seal form (your choice). You cannot transform while wearing heavy armor. \column ***Speaker of the Depths*.** You can communicate simple ideas to beasts with an innate swim speed. They can understand your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return. ***Northern Seafarer*.** You are resistant to cold damage. ***Sea Hunter*.** You have proficiency in the Perception and Survival skills. ***Languages*.** You can speak, read, and write Common, Aquan, and Sylvan. :: {{note ##### A Selkie’s Sealskin #### Selkie’s Sealskin *Wondrous item, Uncommon* : Every selkie has its own unique sealskin it uses to transform. A selkie cannot use another selkie’s skin to transform, and can’t transform at all if it loses its sealskin. A selkie’s skin loses its magic if the selkie dies and regains it if the selkie is subject to a *revivify*, *raise dead*, or similar spell that returns its target to life (but not undeath) without changing its race. }} : ![Selkie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Selkie_by_Carolyn_Emerick_2013.jpg/1280px-Selkie_by_Carolyn_Emerick_2013.jpg) {width:350px,mix-blend-mode:multiply} {{artist,bottom:165px,right:125px ##### Selkie [By Carolyn Emerick - CC BY-SA 3.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27938204) }} ::::::::::: : {{wide
Selkie is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. © Wizards of the Coast LLC.
}}