Rukkan
MediumLiving Pillars — The Mountain Given Grace
The mountain bends for no one — but it remembers every step.
Appearance
Rukkan are towering, broad-limbed humanoid primates standing between 6'8" and 7'6". Their arms are long relative to their torsos, built for reach, climbing, and grappling. Their fur runs short to medium-length in dark slate, umber, bronze, or grey. Their faces are broad with pronounced cheek ridges, wide noses, and piercing eyes of amber, grey, or glacial blue. Their posture is primarily upright but they can transition to four-limbed movement with startling speed. Their voices carry resonance like distant thunder. Every movement seems deliberate and grounded — a mountain given grace.
Origin & Lore
Rukkan history is oral and architectural simultaneously — they build to remember. Massive mountain monasteries, stone-carved waypoints, load-bearing structures whose function doubles as record. Their emergence from the Long Night was quieter than most species' — they were already in the mountains when everything ended. Three generations without other species to negotiate with refined their philosophy to its essential elements. Their concept of violence — the conversation of last resort — developed during this isolation. Internecine conflict between Rukkan families during the Long Night was devastating and left deep cultural scarring.
Baseline Traits
All Rukkan 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 bludgeoning damage from nonmagical sources. Advantage on Strength and Constitution saves to resist being knocked prone or restrained.
When you hit a creature with a melee attack or unarmed strike, move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. Once per turn.
Proficiency in Athletics. Once per Short Rest, roll with advantage on an Athletics check to climb, grapple, or break an object.
When Dashing, drop to all fours — speed increases by 10 feet and ignore difficult terrain made of stone, earth, or dense vegetation.
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 Rukkan
Power without discipline is rubble. The Rukkan philosophy of violence as the conversation of last resort. Every action is a beat in something longer. Boulder-slow to start, impossible to stop once moving.