Chewing Gravel - Roleplaying Traits for Elemental PCs
It's elements day in the deep dark dungeon of blogging, so I present you with my own offering - random traits for your elemental PCs - whether running a genasi in D&D 5e or some other fantastic race from an elemental plane, you can use the tables below to quickly generate some interesting traits. For purposes of these tables, I am assuming your character is primarily humanoid, just heavily influenced somehow by one of the elemental planes of earth, air, fire, or water.
For an interesting twist, roll once on the table for your PC's elemental background for one trait, and roll again a different table to generate a contrasting physical characteristic.
As a bonus, at the end of the post is a reaction rolls table showing how other characters in the prime material plane might respond to your unusual PC.
Characters from the Elemental Plane of Fire (d10)
- Ordinary clothing smolders when you wear it; you have to wear specially lined clothing to deal with the heat
- Books and scrolls ignite when you try to read them
- You smell like the pungent smoke of incense; it's especially noticeable in closed spaces like dungeons
- You cannot rest in normal beds lest they catch fire while you sleep
- Your voice crackles like a burning hearth when you speak
- Lovers find physical contact with you for extended periods uncomfortable (unless they share elemental fire ancestry with you)
- Your eyes flicker like candles
- You glow faintly in the dark
- You absolutely loathe being fully submerged in water
- Your become noticeably warmer after eating
- You eat gravel as a snack
- Your skin is coarse and dry
- You smell like wet clay or damp earth
- You have difficulty sleeping under open sky; you sleep best when underground
- You can instinctively tell the difference between igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock
- You are adept at digging with your bare hands and can dig through bare earth at a speed equal to half your normal movement
- You have a pet earthworm that lives on your skin
- Your body is unnaturally dense and you weight approximately five times as much as a human of the same height and weight
- While you are capable of swimming, you cannot float and will naturally sink in water
- Your fingernails and toenails are made of quartz
- You are obsessed with being in water - a bath, a pool, a pond - it doesn't matter as long as its wet
- If you don't get to soak in water at least once per day, your skin begins to flake and wrinkle
- While swimming underwater, you can hold your breath twice as long as a normal PC
- You have webbed fingers and toes and have a swim speed equal to your movement speed
- You have visible gills and can breathe comfortably in air or in water
- You consume water constantly and become agitated if you don't have a source of clean water available
- When barefoot, you leave wet footprints behind as you walk
- You are partial to colder climates and strongly dislike hot climates
- Your skin is covered in layers of delicate fish-like scales
- You smell like the salty sea air unless you haven't bathed in awhile, in which case you smell like dead fish
- You are free-spirited and unpredictable
- Your hair is constantly in a state of wild disarray
- Your hair and cloak/cape/robes are always blowing in a breeze that no one else can feel, even inside a dungeon
- You have great difficulty sleeping underground or even beneath a roof; you strongly prefer sleeping under open sky
- Other characters feel a breeze whenever you are around
- Birds sometimes alight on your shoulders
- When you aren't thinking about it, you sometimes float several inches above the ground. Becoming aware of this immediately causes you to return to the ground
- Your skin is covered in a layer of fine, delicate feathers
- During thunderstorms, static electricity dances across your skin and illuminates your hair
- You smell like the air after a thunderstorm
- They are frightened of your strange appearance and flee
- They are curious about your appearance and ask questions
- They are confident they have encountered your kind before and make boldfaced and incorrect assumptions about you
- They assume you are some sort of devil and attempt to incite a mob against you
- They assume you are a divine emissary from their god and attempt to worship you
- They assume you are some sort of mutant and treat you dismissively
- They speak loudly and slowly to you, assuming you don't understand them
- They offer you inappropriate foods and beverages
- They have ample experience with your kind and welcome you with understanding and consideration
- They seem utterly unaware of your physiological differences
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