Physical Mutations
Physical mutations are changes to the frame: limbs, hide, organs, gait, glands, and the speed at which a wound closes. They are ordinary biology. They keep working in a miasma-dead zone, and nothing that Dispels or Counters a Protocol can touch them. Where an ability would normally need a weapon, a tool, or a suit of armor, the mutation grows the organ that does the same work -- a claw, a spine, a plate of chitin, a venom duct.
Frame and locomotion
| Mutation | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Your base speed increases by 10 ft. When you Dash, difficult terrain costs you nothing that turn. When you make a melee strike against a creature, you do not provoke an opportunity attack from it for the rest of the turn. | -- |
| Sure-Limbed | Increase STR or DEX by 1. Standing from prone costs only 5 ft of movement. Climbing costs no extra movement. You can make a running jump after moving only 5 ft on foot. | -- |
| Charge | If you move at least 10 ft straight toward a creature and then hit it with a melee strike, you deal an extra 1d8 damage or push it 10 ft. | -- |
| Reach Limb | You grow an elongated limb or tail with 10 ft of reach. A creature that enters your reach provokes an opportunity strike from it. After you make a melee strike, you can make one bonus blunt strike (1d4) with the limb. | -- |
| Symbiont Bond | You can fuse to a larger willing creature as a living rider. While joined you direct its movement; attacks aimed at it can be redirected to you; and it takes no damage when it succeeds on a DEX save against an effect that deals half on a success. | -- |
Natural weaponry (melee)
| Mutation | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Weaponry | You bear more than one set of natural weapons. When you make an extra natural-weapon strike as a bonus action, add your ability modifier to that strike's damage. | -- |
| Many-Limbed | While you fight with two natural weapons you gain +1 AC. Your off-limb strikes can use a larger damage die, and readying your limbs never costs an action. | -- |
| Living Weapon | Your unarmed and natural strikes deal 1d6 damage (1d8 if you have no other natural-weapon mutation). A creature you grapple takes this damage at the start of each of its turns. | -- |
| Brawler | Increase STR or CON by 1. Your natural strike deals at least 1d4 and you reroll a 1 on its damage. When you hit with it, you can grab or shove the target as part of the same action. | -- |
| Singular Focus | When you attack with a single natural weapon and bear no other, you gain +2 to that weapon's damage. | -- |
| Brutal Frame | With a heavy two-handed natural weapon, once per turn on a hit you can take a -5 penalty to the attack for +10 damage. When you score a critical hit or drop a creature to 0 HP, make one bonus strike. | -- |
| Heavy Frame | With a heavy natural weapon, treat any 1 or 2 rolled on its damage dice as a 3. | -- |
| Bonecrusher | Increase STR or CON by 1. Your bludgeoning strikes can push a target 5 ft. Once per turn, a critical hit leaves the target vulnerable -- attackers have advantage against it until your next turn. | -- |
| Impaler | Increase STR or DEX by 1. Once per turn you can reroll one piercing damage die. On a critical hit you deal one extra damage die. | -- |
| Render | Increase STR or DEX by 1. Your slashing strikes reduce the target's speed by 10 ft until your next turn. On a critical hit, the target has disadvantage on attacks until your next turn. | -- |
| Grasping Limbs | You have advantage on attacks against a creature you grapple. You can spend an action to pin a grappled creature, leaving both of you restrained until the grapple ends. | -- |
| Venom | Increase DEX or CON by 1. Your natural weapon delivers poison, and your poison ignores resistance. Once per long rest you can expel a poison cloud (15-ft cube; each creature makes a CON save or is poisoned for 1 minute). | -- |
Ranged and projectile organs
| Mutation | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| True Aim | You grow an organ that fires natural projectiles (spines, spit, seeds). You gain +2 to attack rolls with ranged natural weapons. | -- |
| Keen Strike | Your ranged projectiles ignore half and three-quarters cover and have no penalty at long range. Once per turn you can take a -5 penalty to the attack for +10 damage. | -- |
| Rapid Spitter | Firing a projectile at a creature within 5 ft is not at disadvantage. When you take the Attack action with your projectile organ, you can make one bonus projectile strike. | -- |
| Launcher | You can grow and hurl heavy organic projectiles. You gain +2 damage with thrown natural weapons, and producing one for the throw costs nothing. | -- |
Hide and carapace
| Mutation | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Carapace | A layer of natural armor grants +1 AC. | -- |
| Hide | Increase STR or DEX by 1. A thickened hide grants +1 AC and never interferes with stealth. | -- |
| Plating | Your medium natural armor lets you add up to +3 of your DEX bonus to AC, and it never imposes disadvantage on stealth. | -- |
| Dense Carapace | Increase STR or CON by 1. Reduce the bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage you take by 3. | -- |
| Bulwark Limb | You grow a broad, hardened limb or frill. As a bonus action you can shove with it. Add its bulk to DEX saves against effects that target only you; when you succeed on such a save, you take no damage instead of half. | -- |
Reflex and defense
| Mutation | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Threat Reflex | When you hit a creature with an opportunity strike, its speed drops to 0 for the rest of the turn. Creatures provoke opportunity strikes from you even when they Disengage. When a creature within reach attacks someone other than you, you can strike it as a reaction. | -- |
| Guardian Reflex | When a creature you can see attacks a target within 5 ft of you, you can use a reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack. | -- |
| Interpose | When a creature within 5 ft of you takes damage, you can use a reaction to reduce that damage by 1d10 plus your modifier. | -- |
| Parrying Spurs | When a melee attack hits you, you can use a reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC against it, possibly turning the hit into a miss. | -- |
| Echolocation | You gain blindsight to 10 ft. Within that range you ignore the effects of being unable to see and of attackers being unseen. | -- |
| Lurker | You can try to hide even when only lightly obscured. Missing with a ranged strike does not reveal your position. Dim light does not impose disadvantage on your Perception checks that rely on sight. | -- |
Resilience and recovery
| Mutation | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hardy | Your HP maximum increases by 2 for each level you have, and by 2 more each time you gain a level. | -- |
| Regenerative | Increase CON by 1. When you spend a healing die, treat any roll lower than the die's average as the average. You stabilize on your own when dying. | -- |
| Tempered | Increase one ability by 1 and gain proficiency in saving throws made with it. | Repeatable (different ability each time) |
| Mending Secretion | You secrete a healing agent. With a touch you can halt a dying creature's decline and restore a small amount of HP, a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. | -- |
| Nourishing Secretion | You produce a nourishing substance. Allies who take it in during a short or long rest gain temporary HP and shed one level of fatigue. | -- |
| Shaping Limbs | Your limbs can improvise tools and reshape raw matter directly. You have advantage on checks to build, repair, or reshape objects, and you need no outside tools to do so. | -- |