Veytikka are a humanoid race typically despised by their neighbors, but living among them as vagrants or outcasts. They are carrion-eaters by preference, and will consume the flesh of any being that is not a veytikka, as long as it has had a few days to decay. Once they do begin to eat, they leave almost no trace behind, aside from stains that have soaked into surfaces. To avoid drawing the ire of other races, they are much more circumspect about their eating habits while in cities. The main reason they are permitted to stay in the cities of other races is that they have the useful ability to perceive across the veil of death, and even communicate for short periods of time. Among their own kind, they speak a language they call Veyti; they also use this language when communicating with the dead.
Their skin tones range from a pure white to slate gray. Their faces are distinctly inhuman, with slightly elongated snouts, pointed ears, and black tongues. Eye colors include brown, green, and red. Veytikka have long, retractable claws, but just as often use weapons they have found or made. They are highly resistant to all forms of disease - necessary, given their diet. When their hands are empty and they are not significantly encumbered, they can move on all fours for increased speed.
In their interactions with others, veytikka are friendly, but possess an intensity that others find unsettling. They avoid showing their anger openly, but hold it tightly inside. Revenge, like dinner, is a dish best served only when it has fully ripened. Many are surprised to discover that a veytikka's home is almost indistinguishable from the home of a human of the same level of wealth, though most veytikka live in some measure of poverty.
d6 | Flaws |
1 | I nurse a deep resentment against the Gods for the suffering my people have endured. |
2 | I can't resist needling people in positions of power. It's going to get me in real trouble one day. |
3 | I took forty lashes for a crime I didn't commit, and now I'm marked as a criminal. |
4 | Lying, cheating, and stealing: they worked so well for the people in power, why shouldn't I try them out? |
5 | I have a fine collection of vices… just to take the edge off. |
6 | If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. |
Design Notes
These personality features strongly emphasize the veytikka struggles in society, which has been a central theme of their experience in the course of my campaign. If you use veytikka in your own campaign but de-emphasize social friction and the oppression of the veytikka, the majority of these features won't fit all that well. I can at least say that veytikka have been one of the most popular races in the campaign, probably second only to humans among the large pool of players and their characters. I think that many players see the appeal in playing someone under the thumb of the system and heroically resisting it, and in getting to make other characters (gently) uncomfortable with cannibalism jokes.
The features given to veytikka subraces, and the shift of all ability score bonuses out of subrace to a more fungible approach in the main race stat block, are contrary to the standard 5e approach, but this is how the race works in my campaign and it certainly doesn't break anything (other than the playtest revenant race, which is a mess anyway). But then all of Aurikesh's races are homebrewed, even humans, so I don't have firsthand experience of them alongside core PH races. They should be fine.