Kavari
MediumDeep Kin — The Ones Still Standing
The world breaks. We don't.
Appearance
Kavari are enormous, broad-framed humanoids standing between seven and eight and a half feet tall, built massive through the chest and shoulders with long arms and thick necks. Most can stand fully upright but naturally lean forward or drop to all fours when sprinting or climbing. Their skin runs in human and earth-toned hues. Dense or patchworked fur covers much of the body in charcoal, ash-brown, black, iron-grey, or deep blue-black. They move like mountain apes and war saints. Their physical terror and emotional depth are not opposites — they are the same thing in different registers.
Origin & Lore
The Kavari did not have a founding myth. They have a founding fact: they went underground, and what came back up was harder than what went in. Their emergence during the Age of Fire was not a homecoming — it was a reintroduction. Much of surviving civilization rests, literally, on Kavari labor. They raise gates, brace tunnels, move stone, hold bridges, carve roads, and defend the settlements built in impossible terrain. The Wall's most brutal stretches are held by Kavari garrisons — not because the Empire assigned them there, but because the Kavari assessed the situation and went.
Baseline Traits
All Kavari receive these traits at character creation at no cost.
When unarmored, base AC equals 13 + Constitution modifier (maximum 16). May still use a shield.
Resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition. Can hold breath for up to 15 minutes.
While in contact with stone, earth, or natural surface, tremorsense out to 10 feet.
Advantage on Athletics checks to climb, grapple, shove, or resist being shoved or knocked prone. Size counts as Large for grappling and carrying capacity.
When Dashing, may move on all fours — jump distances are doubled and stone/rubble/earth difficult terrain costs no extra movement.
Once per Long Rest, when failing a saving throw against being frightened or charmed, choose to reroll it and take the new result.
Proficiency with one artisan's tool. Once per Long Rest, add double proficiency bonus to a check to build, reinforce, repair, or shape a physical structure.
Species Advancement Tree
You earn Species Points at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10. Tier 2 requires at least 1 Tier 1 purchase. Tier 3 requires at least 1 Tier 2 purchase.
Tier 1 Available at levels 1 and 3
Tier 2 Available at levels 5 and 7
Tier 3 Available at level 10
Roleplaying a Kavari
The contrast is everything. Trust action, not speech. Slow to anger, terrible when angered. Every scar is a burden carried — in their language, the mark of a promise kept at cost.