Bearfolk

Bearfolk are often described by outsiders as powerful, intimidating, fuzzy. Bearfolk are one of the newer races in the lands. Their legends tell stories of a council of bear gods blessing bears to walk upright and speak, while outsiders tell origin stories involving fey trickery and lycanthropy. What is known is that the Bearfolk are a hearty and diverse people occupying the wild places in the world, some of whom long to be included among other humanoids.

Bearfolk Adventurers

While adventuring may not be the place for a bear, Bearfolk sometimes have a different outlook on the subject. Most who choose to adventure long to see new things, experience new food, or buy fineries such as silk and mithral. Some look beyond subsistence hunting toward fighting powerful creatures for glory and fame. Others may even seek out arcane magic that elves or humans keep in secret libraries. As time goes on, Bearfolk communities have more and more encounters with other humanoids, and this draws more Bearfolk to the call to adventure.

Bearfolk Traits

As a Bearfolk, you have the following traits:

Ability Score Increase. Your constitution score increases by 2. In addition, one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Age. Bearfolk have lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.

Alignment. Bearfolk's ties to nature and their bear ancestors mean they tend to lean toward Neutral, but can be of any alignment.

Size. Bearfolk are as diverse in height and weight as bears are. Adults are anywhere between 5 to over 8 feet tall. Your size is Medium

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Keen Smell. Your olfactory senses are essential to your ability to hunt. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Powerful Build. You may appear smaller than your bear ancestors, but you still retain their strength. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Bearfolk (a dialect of Sylvan).

Polar

The Polar Bearfolk are hearty, and fiercely isolationist Bearfolk from the far north. Very few outsiders have set foot on their islands or seen their villages, but Polar Bearfolk are seen in many large marketplaces in coastal cities. The lack of resources in the barren ice fields has created a need for ingenuity, and a powerful artisan class. These artisans travel to sell their goods and use the profits to purchase exotic wares to bring back to the north.

Descended from polar bears, they are adapted well to swimming in the frigid waters. Their white fur is especially vulnerable to staining from algae and dyes. They are often called "Rainbow Bears" as they are known across the lands for their outlandishly colored coats, which they dye in special pools of algae cultivated for this purpose.

Thick Coat. Your thick coat and skin protects you from deadly encounters. You gain a +1 bonus to your Armor Class.

Skilled Artisan. Living in the frozen lands has built a high level of ingenuity among the Polar Bearfolk. You gain proficiency with an Artisan's tool of your choice.

Powerful Swimmer. The primary food source in the north is seal and whale. Bear and Bearfolk of the north alike have hunted these waters for generations making you into a skilled swimmer. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet, but cannot breathe underwater.

Born from the Ice. The Polar Bearfolk are uniquely adapted to living in the harsh ice fields of the north. You are resistant to cold damage.

Woodland

The Woodland Bearfolk are descendants of the forest-dwelling bears: black bears, brown bears, grizzly bears, and others. They are the most diverse of the race of Bearfolk, and span the range of living solitarily or in small families, all the way to living in larger cities or citadels. While very few Bearfolk cities currently exist, the drive for self-protection and trade grows among even the most stoic of Woodland Bearfolk groups. The Woodland Bearfolk mainly live as omnivorous subsistence hunter-gatherers; foraging for food in bushes, rivers, even using their clawed feet to skillfully climb trees in search of honey. However, many have branched out in the cities to become some of the most adventurous eaters in the lands. It is said by outsiders that foods that would turn the stomach or even kill a human are considered delicacies among the Woodland Bearfolk.

While most magically inclined Woodland Bearfolk turn to Druidic circles, arcane colleges have started to form in some of the forest-shrouded cities the Woodland Bearfolk call home.

Thick Coat. Your thick coat and skin protects you from deadly encounters. You gain +1 bonus to your Armor Class.

Skilled Climber. Your clawed feet and hands allows you to find food in even the highest of trees. You have a climbing speed of 20 feet.

Adventurous Eater. Your omnivorous bear ancestors foraged for food and ate whatever they could, fortifying your body against all manner of poisons. You have resistance to poison damage.

Child of the Forest. Hunting and foraging is in your very nature. You have proficiency in the Survival skill.

Mountain

The Mountain Bearfolk live in mountainous bamboo forests of the world. Descended from giant pandas, they carry their distinct black and white coats with black around their eyes. While many Bearfolk retain their drive to hunt and eat meat, the Mountain Bearfolk's primary food source is bamboo, though they farm and eat a variety of vegetables.

Mountain Bearfolk are known to be the life of the party. Many dedicate their lives to cooking fine dishes and entertaining with music. They aim to share their music with all who will listen.

Though there is a sizable population of Mountain Bearfolk, they don't seem to have a drive to build large cities, instead choosing to relocate and build new villages when things get too crowded.

Skilled Climber. Your clawed feet and hands allows you to find food in even the highest of trees. You have a climbing speed of 20 feet.

Forest to Table. You seek to create fine dishes from even the most stubborn of foods you forage. You have proficiency with Cook's Utensils.

Power Napper. Your body heals exceptionally well when you take short rests. When you roll a 1 or 2 on any Hit Die you spend at the end of a short rest, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.

Life of the Party. You have proficiency in the Performance skill, and you have proficiency with one musical instrument of your choice.