[Shadow] Ancestry - Kyropti

The kyropti share many characteristics with bats: furred bodies, prominent ears, flight, and a small measure of echolocation ability. Unlike their distant cousins, however, they grow to 2 to 3 feet tall by adulthood with a wingspan of up to 6 feet. The sounds of a colony in flight can echo through expansive caverns for hundreds of feet.

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DESIGN COMMENTARY

There are many custom fungi races, but strangely not as many batfolk. That's probably because they're never going to be quite that special, as their must-have features (flight and blindsight) already account for a majority of the ancestry's balance. I made that a little more balanced by adjusting how the wings work and adding at least the Keen Ears trait.

The inability to make weapon attacks while flying robs much of flight's power since it's really good for attacking from unreachable range (though I'm sure it's still possible with certain items). I wrote a more generic description, but made sure to enshrine the inability to cast spells or attack with weapons; there are some edge cases I've missed (like drawing/stowing items) but hopefully the intent is there and defined. Still, it's a great repositioning/climbing tool when combined with feet, so it's worth a lot.

Permanent blindsight is very strong, so kyropti have limited uses of it instead (flavored as a hold-over from an ancient ancestor). It'll negate hidden invisible enemies and the Blinded condition, but does not reveal enemies Hidden behind total cover; it also reveals illusions pretty easily. Each situation is kind of uncommon (encountering illusions, fighting invisible enemies, or getting blinded), but together its worth about 2/3 darkvision or two casts of say, dispel magic.

Then, Keen Ears is a ribbonish trait, since most perception checks tend to be sight-based.

All this combined already places the kyropti on the high end of average, so that's as far as I think I could push it. It mostly hinges on how the minorly tested flight and blindsight actually plays out in game, so let me know if you try out a kyropti!

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The kyropti name is taken from the bat genus 'chiropter'. Fun fact, it has the same modified pronunciation as 'helicopter' where the 'p' is pronounced despite helicopters get their names from 'helico' and 'pter' (spiral and wing).