DnD Kenku Race

Homeland

The Kenku trace their ori­gins to the dis­tant land known as Clip­per. This realm is home to all bird­folk races and is ruled by the High Coun­cil, a group of vul­tures called the Ozwok. They hold a ban­ner that speaks with pow­er of their author­i­ty and his­to­ry.

The High Coun­cil cursed and ban­ished the Kenku for fail­ing to remain loy­al to the strict laws they had estab­lished. This curse weighs heav­i­ly upon the Kenku, mark­ing their lives for­ev­er with injus­tice and sor­row.

The Curse

Because of this curse, the Kenku can no longer fly a pro­found sor­row that always lingers with them. They may devel­op thoughts and emo­tions of their own to a lim­it­ed extent, but the curse often forces them to mim­ic oth­ers in both speech and behav­ior.

Their cre­ativ­i­ty seems dimin­ished, though nev­er ful­ly extin­guished. They con­tin­ue to strive for growth, their minds for­ev­er seek­ing new ideas. For play­ers, this pro­vides the chance to express their own influ­ences and ideas because even with­in their curse, the spir­it of growth and change endures.

Lifestyle

Shame marks their exis­tence. Ban­ished from Clip­per, the Kenku are no longer wel­come there and instead hide away in aban­doned places, forests, and oth­er remote shel­ters.

They fear soci­ety, scarred by rejec­tion, and must over­come this fear before mak­ing con­tact with oth­er char­ac­ters in the game. Their lives are steeped in sad­ness, for their great­est wish   to fly again  has been stolen from them. This loss is a wound to their self-image, shap­ing their lives with sor­row and long­ing.

The Kenku live in hid­ing, exiled from their home­land. Their path is one of grief and fear, tem­pered with the hope that, one day, they might be accept­ed once more. In their hearts burns a desire to soar again, though it remains only a dream.

Language

Kenku com­mu­ni­cate using both Com­mon and bird calls.
Kenku are cursed how­ev­er: If they speak any lan­guage, they will utter a bird cry every now and then! So some­times, while try­ing to speak, a sud­den cry escapes as if their words are tan­gled in sor­row.

Appearance

Shame over their curse dri­ves the Kenku to hide them­selves behind masks and flow­ing robes. They are rarely seen with­out a mask, unwill­ing to show their true selves.

Their beaks and fea­tures resem­ble those of ravens, yet instead of wings they pos­sess arms cov­ered in dark feath­ers, usu­al­ly hid­den beneath their cloth­ing.

The Kenku Banner

The Kenku flag reflects their dual­i­ty. Some view it only as a painful reminder of their curse and exile, while oth­ers cling to it as a sym­bol of hope a mark of their past and their ongo­ing strug­gle.

Final Reflection

The sto­ry of the Kenku is one of loss and long­ing, but also of strength and per­se­ver­ance. They are a peo­ple who, despite all suf­fer­ing, con­tin­ue to hope for a day when they may fly again free at last, and unbur­dened by shame.

Stats

• Abil­i­ty Score Increase. When deter­min­ing your character’s abil­i­ty scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a dif­fer­ent score by 1, or increase three dif­fer­ent scores by 1. You can’t raise any of your scores above 20.
  
  
• Crea­ture Type. You are a Humanoid.
  
  
• Size. Your size is Medi­um or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
  
  
• Speed. Your walk­ing speed is 30 feet.
  
  
• Expert Dupli­ca­tion. When you copy writ­ing or craft­work pro­duced by your­self or some­one else, you have advan­tage on any abil­i­ty checks you make to pro­duce an exact dupli­cate.
  
  
• Kenku Recall. Thanks to your super­nat­u­ral­ly good mem­o­ry, you have pro­fi­cien­cy in two skills of your choice.
  
  
• More­over, when you make an abil­i­ty check using any skill in which you have pro­fi­cien­cy, you can give your­self advan­tage on the check before rolling the d20. You can give your­self advan­tage in this way a num­ber of times equal to your pro­fi­cien­cy bonus, and you regain all expend­ed uses when you fin­ish a long rest.
  
  
• Mim­ic­ry. You can accu­rate­ly mim­ic sounds you have heard, includ­ing voic­es. A crea­ture that hears the sounds you make can tell they are imi­ta­tions only with a suc­cess­ful Wis­dom (Insight) check against a DC of 8 + your pro­fi­cien­cy bonus + your Charis­ma mod­i­fi­er.
  
  
• Lan­guages: Your char­ac­ter can speak, read, and write. Com­mon, bird and one oth­er lan­guage that you want. 
  • Curse: If they speak any lan­guage, they will utter a bird cry every now and then!