Zarre
They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and it that’s true, then we have synthesized the most soulful of all creatures, depending on how you LOOK at it. On the one hand, zarre only have one eye, but on the other hand, it’s a floor-to-ceiling window to the soul. Just don’t ask us how these lads are able to talk out of their MEGA EYE.
Player Race: Zarre
It stares at me with its cold gaze. Never does it praise or compliment. But under its glare, I feel the painful obligation to perform, to escape from my own limited body and become another person.
—Jackie Dana, The Unblinking Eye
Zarre are utterly other, hailing from a realm somewhere beyond the material realm as we know it. Some speculate their strange forms indicate an origin amongst the stars, spawned from a pool deep in the inky blackness that stretches out across the night sky. Others claim they were dragged wet and wrong from a plane of madness beyond what mortal minds can safely know of. A few speculate a mad mage crafted them from the eyes of crazed monsters and the brains of aberrations - whatever the case, zarre defy much of what other creatures consider ‘normal’ and their presence in our world is a messy fusion of the mundane and the alien.
Strangers in a Mundane Land
With a single, rarely blinking eye taking up the majority of their heads, zarre are as perceptive and alert as one might expect. This natural capacity for intense observation is often supplemented by a single-minded desire to discover and understand the world.
How the material world functions, how the creatures within it think and act, and cutting edge avenues of study and discovery can be uncovered through a zarre’s unrestrained exploration, though whether those around a zarre appreciate or are resentful of its efforts largely depend on how overt their efforts are. Some consider the zarre mere oddities or pests, others are appalled by the lengths the odd little creatures will go to for their curiosity and shun or even hunt them as monstrosities, not always for entirely unjust reasons.
Alien Minds
The zarre do not think in the same way as most other creatures - they do not even possess the same organs a human or an elf has which supports the presence of a mind. Being so utterly different from the other species around them makes life difficult for zarre and those that interact with them, but this alien outlook has its benefits as well.
What seems intuitive to a humanoid is surreal and abstract to a zarre, and the reverse holds true as well, leading the zarre to conclusions and solutions that other races would be hard pressed to consider in the first place. While working with zarre is by no means a comfortable or smooth experience, it can undeniably have many benefits to the patient and the open-minded.
Unsettling Explorers
Zarre feel just as out of place as they appear. All that is around them differs drastically from what their intuition and sense dictates should be true, though no zarre remember what the place they hail from truly is like—their time on the material plane is accompanied by a constant, gnawing sense of being out of place.
In order to combat this sense of disassociation, zarre indulge in the study, exploitation, and experimentation of any element of the material realm that resonated with them. The form this deep investment takes varies, but often relates in some way to biology, technology, behavior, or culture. As such, zarre can display a variety of behaviors, from clingy and intrusive followers to facilitators of macabre experiments involving scraps, trash, and fresh corpses, or simply observing the world around them seemingly without rest, always watching. Staring. Whatever behavior a zarre’s urges manifest, they are universally unsettling to encounter for the average mortal mind.
Zarre Names
Zarre names are often difficult to pronounce and involve many sounds the average humanoid cannot produce verbally (unless they happen to speak Deep Speech). As such, zarre tend to adopt simplified nicknames by extracting a syllable they identify with and that other species can pronounce somewhat more reliably.
Zarre Nicknames: Airm, Han, Lik, Lom, Mil, Na, Ob, Tan, Tha, Thryn, Treb, Vig, Wred, Yic
Zarre Traits
As a zarre, you have the following traits:
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Alternatively, increase one ability score by 2, and increase a different ability score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1.
Alignment. Zarre do not share the moral or civil values of most humanoids, tending to see other species as difficult to understand creatures more than equals. Their poorly understood nature casts them as chaotic, and they tend towards neutrality, though many might view their pragmatic and exploitative natures as evil.
Language. You can speak, read and write Common and Deep Speech.
Life Span. It is unclear if zarre age in the same sense as other humanoid creatures, though they begin to forget things and mental control as time wears on their minds. By the time most zarre are a century old they will forget most of their life experiences and lose much of their personality, experiencing a mental form of death even as their bodies continue to function.
Creature Type. You are an Aberration.
Size. You are Small.
Speed. Your walking speed is 25 feet.
Alien Viewpoint. You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) and Wisdom (Insight) checks involving humanoids and beasts.
Darkvision. 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. Industrious. You have proficiency with Investigation and a tool of your choice.
Macabre Repurposing. As part of a short rest, you can harvest from a humanoid, undead, or beast corpse to create one of the following items using a tool set with which you are proficient: A sickle, a sling, a pouch, soap, 2 candles, 10 feet of rope, 1d4 sling bullets, 20 caltrops, 1d4 sheets of parchment, 1d4 pitons, or a trinket.
Outside the Box. Hailing from a place utterly different from where you now find yourself, your people have a unique way of viewing the world around you which can lead to creative solutions to problems others are struggling with. After witnessing another creature fail an ability check using Intelligence, Wisdom, or a tool proficiency, you have advantage on that same check if attempted within the next minute. You can benefit from advantage in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when completing a long rest.
If you’re LOOKing for something to do with your new single massive eye, have you considered LOOKing at more delicious homebrew? Our Patreon is already full of the stuff, for as little as $3 a month, giving you plenty to LOOK at as you adjust to being all eye. And, if you prefer to LOOK at memes and the like, then LOOK on over to our Discord, where you can get updates and context on our homebrew as well as previews and hints as to what may be up next. Lots to LOOK forward to, don’t you think?
