“Every choice tugs the Web. Every life leaves a strand.”
Appearance
Sil'kari stand 3'4" to 4 feet tall with slender, flexible frames covered in soft chitin and fine silvery hair that catches light at angles others can't easily perceive. Their eyes are large and multifaceted — reflecting light like opals, phosphorescent in the dark. Web-like markings trace their faces and limbs in bioluminescent blue or violet. At the base of the spine is the spinneret organ — biological silk as strong as steel and light as thread. Their movement blurs between instinct and acrobatics.
Origin & Lore
The Sil'kari perceive existence as a vast living tapestry — the Great Web — in which every death, lie, relationship, and act of creation leaves a vibration that propagates outward through everything connected to it. They are not mystics about this. It is, in their framework, simply how reality is structured. Their civilization in the Weave Hollows predates the current political map. The Great Web is not a metaphor but a literal physical structure — a city-scale silk network serving simultaneously as building material, communication medium, and psychic relay.
Baseline Traits
All Sil'kari receive these traits at character creation at no cost.
Silk Production
Extrude bio-silk from your spinneret. Produce up to 30 feet of silk thread (break DC 13) as an Action. Use silk to swing 30 feet, create anchor points, or attach loose ends as a Free Action. Total per Long Rest: 10 × proficiency bonus feet.
Wall Runner
Move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside-down along ceilings while leaving hands free. No additional movement cost.
Web Sense
While touching your own silk, automatically aware of any creature touching that silk or within 10 feet of any anchor point. Advantage on Perception checks relying on hearing or vibration.
Threaded Mind
Proficiency in Insight and Arcana. Once per Long Rest, when failing an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Dexterity saving throw, reroll.
Tiny Terror
When hitting a creature larger than your size, deal additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus. Uses per proficiency bonus per Long Rest.
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
Silk Snare 1 SP
As an Action, extrude a silk burst filling a 20-foot cube within 60 feet — creatures inside must save (Dexterity) or be restrained. Silk is flammable (2d4 fire + burns away in one round). Once per Long Rest.
Silkstep 1 SP
As a Bonus Action, move 15 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. If ending in a shadowed or elevated space, attempt to Hide as part of the same Bonus Action. Uses per proficiency bonus per Long Rest.
Strand Sense 1 SP
Web Sense extends to 30-foot radius around any anchor point. Maintain awareness through up to three anchor points simultaneously. Once per Short Rest, read vibration history of any silk surface for the last hour.
Tier 2 Available at levels 5 and 7
Silk Mastery 1 SP
Produce silk at twice the normal rate. Silk strength increases (break DC 18). You can now produce thick strands that function as restraints or rope bridges.
Web Network 1 SP
Your Great Web now extends throughout any structure you've occupied for 1 hour — you're aware of all creature movement throughout the building passively.
Thread Reading 1 SP
Once per Short Rest, when touching silk you produced, learn the emotional states and intentions of all creatures within your Web Sense range.
Tier 3 Available at level 10
The Living Web 1 SP
Once per Long Rest, as an Action, fill an entire room with silk in 6 seconds. All creatures within 60 feet must save (Dexterity) or be restrained. You can move through your own silk at full speed and are immune to its effects.
Web Sovereign 1 SP
While in contact with any silk you produced, you cannot be surprised, cannot be charmed, and have advantage on all Wisdom saving throws. You perceive the emotional resonance of any event that occurred within your Web as if you had been present.
Roleplaying a Sil'kari
The Sil'kari move through the world reading it through vibration as much as through sight. Every contact point is data. They connect. That is what they are.
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