Noted for their superior ability to mimic nearly any sound or voice that they have heard, kenku are a curious folk who are naturally drawn to shiny trinkets and baubles.
Resembling Small humanoid blackbirds such as crows, ravens, magpies, or jays, the kenku people are undeniably birdlike in every way except one: they lack the ability to fly. Some say that the kenku forsook flight in the name of becoming mortal emissaries of the gods—celestial beings made flesh. Others believe that the kenku were stripped of the gift of flight as a punishment for some crime long since forgotten. Whatever the reason, kenku do not have wings, but do have the remnants of them in the form of pinion-like feathers along their arms that are long enough to conceal their hands. Most kenku are covered in sleek black feathers that have some iridescence, though some may be brilliant shades of blue or even green. And while most kenku are fully capable of speech, there are those who communicate entirely through mimicry. Whether this is by choice or by some divine decree is unknown, and those who do speak solely with the voices of others keep their reasoning to themselves.
More information about the Kenku can be found here.
Characters with the kenku heritage share a variety of traits in common with one another.
Age. Kenku mature and age at a similar rate to humans. \
Size. kenku rarely exceed 4 feet tall and weigh less than 100 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Fearless. Your boldness knows no bounds. You are immune to the frightened condition.
Master Mimic. You gain proficiency in Deception and an expertise die to checks made to mimic sounds and the voices of others.
¶ Voices of the Voiceless
Some Kenku speak exclusively through their mimicry ability, be it by choice, by curse, or by divine decree. If you choose to forgo regular speech, increase the expertise die to your Deception to a d6, and your maximum for your expertise die in this skill increases to a d10.
In addition to the traits found in your kenku heritage, choose one of the following gifts.
Blessing of Friendship. The bonds you share with your allies is so strong it manifests as aid. Once per short or long rest you may gift a small, shiny trinket (such as button or coin) to an ally, imbuing it with a minor blessing. In the next 8 hours, if that ally fails an ability check they may immediately expend the blessing, adding 1d4 to the roll. After the blessing has been used, the gifted trinket reverts to a mundane object unless you use this ability again to re-bless it.
Ill Omen. To some, your crow-like form is a harbinger of bad things to come, and they don’t realize how right they are. As a bonus action, you mutter a curse against an enemy creature that you can see within 60 feet. Choose one ability score. That creature has disadvantage on saving throws using that ability until the start of your next turn. Spells such as remove curse immediately end this effect. Once you have used this ability, you may not do so again until you complete a long rest.
Preternatural Communicator. You are gifted with supernatural abilities to communicate with those around you—for good or in the name of mischief. You learn the message cantrip. At 3rd level, choose either comprehend languages or missage. At 5th level, choose either babel tongue or sending. These do not count towards the spells you know, and you may cast them once per day without expending any spell slots. Your spellcasting ability modifier for these spells is either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, whichever is highest.
When you reach 10th level, you become a better kenku and gain one paragon gift from the following list.
Carrion Crow. Necrotic energy flows through you, turning you into an omen of death. Once per long rest, you may cast the spell vampiric touch as if you had cast it at 4th level. When you cast this spell against a creature with the undead creature type, you ignore resistance to necrotic damage. If the undead creature has immunity to necrotic damage, treat it as resistance instead.
Third Eye. You leverage your latent divine connection to consult with a higher power and gain knowledge or portents of the future. You learn the spell divination and may always cast it as a ritual. This does not count towards the number of spells you know, and you may cast it without material components.
Thought and Memory. You can connect with those around you on a more esoteric level. You gain telepathy out to a range of 60 feet. Additionally, you may choose to allow creatures that you are communicating with telepathically to read your surface thoughts, as in the spell detect thoughts. If an enemy creature attempts to read your mind or magically control you (such as the spell dominate person), you have advantage on your saving throw.
Though they are small and wingless, the kenku people more than make up for their diminutive stature with their loud voices and personalities. Widely known for their incredible talent at mimicking sounds and the voices of people that they have heard, some kenku have lucrative careers on the stage—or as clandestine spies.
Their wingless nature is often brought into question by scholars who wonder why kenku retain so many birdlike characteristics except flight. Some kenku claim that their lack of flight was by choice, and that they are sent to the Material Plane as divine emissaries who forsook their wings in order to appear more approachable to mortals. More spiteful kenku say that this was not a choice but a curse, inflicted on their people as a result of a crime or a transgression against the gods that their descendants must now atone for. Which is the true interpretation is up for debate amongst scholars.
Curiously, some of those kenku who see their flightless nature as a blessing also exhibit another quirk: they communicate exclusively through mimicry. Some postulate that these kenku are fully capable of regular speech but refuse to use it. Others wonder if there is some factual basis for their alleged blessed status and that their sometimes uncanny ability to speak through the voices of others is yet another mark of their celestial origins. These masters of mimicry neither confirm nor deny any allegations, and attempts to question them on the matter often lead to silence.
Whether or not they speak through pure mimicry or not, kenku are an adaptable folk, found both in city centers and wilderness villages. Their quirks aside, they fulfill many roles, serving as enigmatic oracles, curious scholars, or petty thieves. In fact, many kenku exhibit a natural inclination towards shiny trinkets, even if they are functionally worthless, and it is this innate obsession with shiny things that leads many a kenku to adventure.
While you may choose any culture for your kenku character, the following culutres are closely linked with this heritage: circus folk, collegiate, godbound, itinerant.