Harpy | Race/Species | Dungeons & Dragons 5e | Statblocks & Sheets | World Anvil

Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild

Origin Guide

Harpy

The harpies, occasionally referred to as elmui, are an often misunderstood race. They are commonly thought of as manipulative and aggressive, although neither of those traits are inherent to their kind. They are often shunned by religious orders for their curse, despite having no choice in it.
ability score increase: Your Dexterity and Charisma scores increase by 1, and your Intelligence score decreases by 2.
age: Harpies, like elves, are long-lived, but their curse significantly shortens their lifespan. Most elmui could reasonably expect to live to their three hundredth year.
alignment: Often evil and chaotic.
Size: Medium
speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet, and your base flying speed is 60 feet.
Languages: Elvish and one other language.
race features:
Arms and Wings. Your arms and wings are the same limb, you cannot wield a weapon, cast somatic spells, or carry an item in both hands while flying, or carry any item weighing more than your strength score.   Pain Driven. If your hit points are below their maximum value, you may make an unarmed strike attack as a bonus action, roll your largest hit dice and add that to your attack roll. Take damage equal to the added damage.   Divine Curse. Your curse has warped your body to the point that calling yourself a humanoid would be incorrect. You are considered a monstrosity. Your curse is divine in nature, causing you to be scorned by most commonly worshipped deities. Regardless of your personal morality, the gods will never forgive you for your ancestor's crime.   Haunting Melody. Once per long rest you may channel the latent magic of your curse into an entrancing song. Every humanoid or giant within 300 feet must succeed a Wisdom saving throw (Your spellcasting DC is Charisma for this feature.) or be charmed until your song ends. A creature charmed by your song becomes enamored with you and your singing and will try to approach you, spending all its movement to do so. A charmed creature will not move in a way which is overtly harmful, such as walking into a lava pit or stepping off a ledge. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, whenever it receives damage, or if you perform any overtly hostile acts toward the creature, on a success it is free of your song's effects. If you damage a creature charmed by your song it is instantly freed of the song's effects.   You may sing for as long as you choose, but you must spend an action or bonus action each turn to continue singing. Your song is magical and can be dispelled with a Counterspell, Dispel Magic, or any other similar effect. Any form of verbal communication breaks your song, causing it to end early.   Natural Weapons. Your hands and talons end in sharp claws which make you quite dangerous while unarmed. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage.
A Curse for One
Aeons ago, when all the gods lived and no elf had left the faewyld,  
Delight in Suffering
Harpies are often described as sadistic, which while mostly true, does not reflect on all harpies. It is true that most harpies have sadistic, or more rarely masochistic, tendencies, but some few have neither. This results from harpy's deeper, more artistic fascination with pain and suffering. All harpies suffer as a result of their curse and came to hate their cursed bodies, but by ascribing beauty to their pain harpy societies have been able to not only tolerate their bodies, but love them. Their reputation for sadism stems from their enamored view of pain often continuing past their own, driving many harpies toward evil.  
Transformed Body
Like elves, elmui are shorter than humans, although their slightly worse posture makes it more apparent. Harpies weigh even less than elves, typically between 85 and 130 pounds. Elmui coloration is similar to that of elves when it comes to skin, but their hair and feathers can range from brown to grey, dark or light, and some muted shades of red, blue or green. Harpies have large feet with three forward facing talons and one backward facing. Their feet are sheathed in black or golden scales which run halfway up their calf before fading.  
Harpy Names
Harpies use the similar names to elves but forgo the elven practice of choosing a new name at adulthood, instead naming children with adult names. Harpy names are often contracted, as is much of their dialect.

Created by

asda.

Statblock Type

Race/Species

Link/Embed