Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition (AD&D5E) The Kenku This product contains optional variant rules for the Kenku race in the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game, and is considered official for use in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition game.

Sample file AD&D5E Game Terms The following are some terms and acronyms used and what they mean. Ability Score Adjustment (ASA). Raises the maximum an ability score can be increased to. Ability Score Improvement (ASI). Increases an ability score by the stated amount, but does not raise the maximum the ability score can be increased to. Ability Score Maximum (ASM). The maximum an ability score can be increased naturally. All player character's ability scores have a natural maximum of 20. Racial Ability Score Adjustment (RASA). The ability score adjustment your character receives for being a member of a certain race, subrace, and/or variant options. Racial Ability Score Improvement (RASI). Increases the chosen ability score by the amount given, but does not raise the maximum the ability score can be increased to. Racial Ability Score Maximum (RASM). The maximum an ability score can be increased naturally beyond 20 as a result of your race, subrace, and/or variant options. Customizing Your Race You can use your RASI's to customize your ability scores outside of your race's norm, but your RASM does not deviate from your RASA. Alternative Game Terms While some players may have particular sensitivities or triggers in regards to the term "race" and "subrace", the following alternatives can be used to mean the same thing: Origin = Race, and Lineage = Subrace. Origin Ability Score Adjustment (OASA). The ability score adjustment your character receives for being a member of a certain origin, lineage, and/or variant options. Origin Ability Score Improvement (OASI). Increases the chosen ability score by the amount given, but does not raise the maximum the ability score can be increased to. Origin Ability Score Maximum (OASM). The maximum an ability score can be increased naturally beyond 20 as a result of your origin, lineage, and/or variant options. Customizing Your Origin You can use your OASI's to customize your ability scores outside of your origin's norm, but your OASM does not deviate from your OASA. Sample file Kenku Haunted by an ancient crime that robbed them of their wings, the kenku are feathered humanoids that wander the world as Hopeless Plagiarists vagabonds and burglars who live at the edge of human As a result of their lack of creativity, kenku function society. Kenku suffer from a sinister reputation that is not comfortably as minions of a powerful master. Flock leaders wholly unearned, but they can prove to be valuable allies. enforce discipline and minimize conflicts, but they fail at effective planning or crafting longterm schemes. Although unable to speak in their own voices, kenku can An Ancient Curse perfectly mimic any sound they hear, from a halfling's voice to The kenku once served a mysterious, powerful entity on the noise of rocks clattering down a hillside. However, kenku another plane of existence. Some believe they were minions cannot create new sounds and can communicate only by of Grazz't, while others say that they were scouts and using sounds they have heard. Most kenku use a combination explorers for the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. Whatever the truth, of overheard phrases and sound effects to convey their ideas according to legend, the kenku betrayed their master. Unable and thoughts. to resist the lure of a beautiful sparkling treasure, the kenku By the same token, kenku have no ability to invent new plotted to steal the item and escape to the Material Plane. ideas or create new things. Kenku can copy existing items Unfortunately for the kenku, their master discovered their with exceptional skill, allowing them to become excellent plan before they could enact it. Enraged, the entity imposed artisans and scribes. They can copy books, make replicas of three dreadful curses upon them. First, the kenku's beloved objects, and otherwise thrive in situations where they can wings withered and fell away from their bodies, leaving them produce large numbers of identical items. Few kenku find bound to the earth. Second, because their ingenuity and skill this work satisfying, since their quest for the freedom of flight had turned toward scheming against their patron, the spark makes them ill-suited to settle into a routine. of creativity was torn from their souls. Finally, to ensure that the kenku could never divulge any secrets, their master took away their voices. Once the entity was satisfied that they had Ideal Minions been sufficiently punished, the kenku were set loose on the Kenku gather in groups called flocks. A flock is led by the Material Plane. oldest and most experienced kenku with the widest store of Since then, the kenku have wandered the world. They knowledge to draw on, often called Master. settle in places that accept them, usually bleak cities that Although kenku can't create new things, they have a talent have fallen on hard times and are overrun with crime. for learning and memorizing details. Thus, ambitious kenku can excel as superb spies and scouts. A kenku who learns of clever schemes and plans devised by other creatures can put Dreams of Flight them to use. The kenku lack the talent to improvise or alter a Above all else, kenku wish to regain their ability to fly. Every plan, but a wise Master sets multiple plans in motion at once, kenku is born with a desire to take to the air, and those who confident that underlings can follow orders to the letter. learn spellcasting do so in hope of mastering spells that will For this reason, many kenku make an easy living serving as allow them to fly. Rumors of magic items such as flying messengers, spies, and lookouts for thieves' guilds, bandits, carpets, brooms capable of flight, and similar objects provoke and other criminal cartels. A network of kenku can relay a a great desire for the kenku to acquire the items for bird call or similar noise across the city, alerting their allies to themselves. the approach of a guard patrol or signaling a prime Despite their lack of wings, kenku love dwelling in towers opportunity for a robbery. and other tall structures. They seek out ruins that reach to Since kenku can precisely reproduce any sound, the the sky, though they lack the motivation and creativity to messages they carry rarely suffer degradation or shifts in make repairs or fortify such places. Even so, their light weight meaning. Human messengers might switch words or phrases and size allow them to dwell in rickety structures that would and garble a message inadvertently, but the kenku produce collapse beneath a human or an orc. perfect copies of whatever they hear. Some thieves' guilds use kenku as lookouts and messengers. The kenku dwell in the tallest buildings and towers the guild controls, allowing them to lurk in the highest Kenku Adventurers levels and to keep watch on the city below. Kenku adventurers are usually the survivors of a flock that has sustained heavy losses, or a rare kenku who has grown weary of a life of crime. These kenku are more ambitious and daring than their fellows. Others strike out on their own in search of the secrets of flight, to master magic, or to uncover the secret of their curse and find a method to break it. Kenku adventurers, despite their relative independence, still have a tendency to seek out a companion to emulate and Samplefollow. A kenku loves to m imic thfilee voice and words of its chosen companion.