Ducks!

Sometime in the late fall or early winter of 1976, my 10-year-old self was sifting through the magazine shelves of Open Pantry, the convenience store at the top of my street. The cover below caught my attention. This was no Disney duck, though the resemblance was strong; this was a duck living in a world of superheroes. I was hooked.

Art: Frank Brunner, pencils; Steve Leiahola, inks; Marie Severin, color

Howard the Duck was a comic unlike any I'd ever read before. There was an atmosphere of dark lunacy running as an undercurrent, though I would never have been able to articulate it like that back then. There was just something off about it, a weirdness that set it apart from both the superhero comics I usually saw from Marvel and DC, and worlds away from the more stylized and silly Disney fare. Howard was, as the cover says, "trapped in a world he never made." Grumbling and caustic, yet possessing an inherent goodness about him, Howard tried to find his place in a world of insane "hairless apes." His sanity slowly crumbled as each issue appeared; it was bad enough to find himself in such a skewed version of the world he'd come from, but this was a world in which costumed beings did their level best to bring him low. Yet Howard persevered. Each opponent and obstacle he surmounted seemed to bring him at least a small sense of control over his own fate - though he never quite managed to get his equilibrium.

When I finally became a D&D player, Howard had made an indelible impression on me. As the years went by, the idea of adventuring ducks became even more intriguing to me. It was with more than a bit of surprise that I discovered the RuneQuest, via its iconic setting, Glorantha, offered ducks as a sapient player character race. It seemed natural to me, though, due to Howard's early adventures hopping across the planes, fighting vampires and giant frogs, taking on the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme for a while, and, in the first issue of his eponymous comic, being thrust into a rather Conan-esque/Heavy Metal-ish swords and sorcery adventure.

From Howard the Duck #1; Frank Brunner, pencils and color; Steve Leiahola, inks; written by Steve Gerber

I often see the idea of ducks in RPGs as player characters, or as just intelligent creatures with their own society, dismissed with derision, scoffed at as being too silly. On one hand, I understand what is meant, but on the other is the fact that fantasy RPGs like D&D are filled will silliness. Goblins, centaurs, lizard men, dragons, and even D&D-invented critters like the beholder seem no less silly or oddball when you really look at them. I'm sure Disney has a lot to do with this. Donald, Daisy, Huey, Dewy, Louie, and Uncle Scrooge have left an indelible mark on the concept of intelligent ducks. But the comics of Donald and Uncle Scrooge are filled with adventure, ranging across the world, as colorful as any pulp character like Tarzan, or more recent pastiches of the pulps, like Indiana Jones. So the precedent is there, in spades.

All of that was meant as introduction for my own take on ducks as a player character race in D&D, specifically 5th edition. So here goes:


DUCKS!

I’m hearkening back to the days of yore when something like a duck could make it into a campaign world as a viable choice for a PC.

The sapient race of ducks is descended from ducks awakened by the legendary adventuring swamp druid, Dahnold the Everstrange. Dahnold loved the wetlands he protected, but knew that he needed companions who could also defend them in his absence. He awakened the intelligence of numerous pairs of ducks of varying species, transmuting their wings into human-like arms and hands - they lost the ability to fly, but gained the ability to manipulate the world around them. Hoping to ensure that they would breed true and produce a whole race of intelligent avians, Dahnold spent much of his adventuring career questing for Daphee’s Bill, an artifact from beyond this dimension. His success in locating this item is commemorated by the Ducks themselves, in a weeklong festival they call “Duck Season.” Unfortunately, early on this festival conflicted with the more locally common “Time of the Lepus;” oddly, this mix-up has caused a neverending cycle of tension and strife between the Ducks and just about everyone else.

Ducks, in general, are irascible and hot-tempered. Although small in stature, they are often spoiling for a fight and unwilling to back down when threatened. They can be charming and lovable, but can also quickly become annoying with their often mercurial moods. Ducks generally keep to their marshes, content to occasionally foray forth to the lands of Men for wealth and adventure.

Duck Traits

Ability Score Increase. Their small size, hollow bones, and avian origin have resulted in ducks being surprisingly nimble, and gain +2 to their Dexterity score. They are also tough, and gain a +1 to Constitution.

Age. Sapient ducks mature and age like humans.

Alignment. Sapient ducks are as varied in their approach to life as humans. Although this means they can be of any alignment, they do show a tendency towards leading orderly, peaceful lives, though with a good deal of personal freedom; thus, neutral good is a common alignment for ducks.

Size. Sapient ducks average just over 2 1/2 feet tall and weigh around 30 pounds. They are Small for game purposes.

Speed. Ducks have a base walking speed of 25 feet.

Lucky. Like halflings, ducks are unusually lucky. When they roll a 1 on a d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, they may reroll the die, but must take the new roll.

Brave. Also like halflings, ducks have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Strong-minded. Ducks are obstinate and quick to argue, with a strong sense of being right in most circumstances; this results in them also having advantage on saving throws against enchantments.

Natural swimmers. Ducks have a Swim speed of 30, and have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks for swimming.

Languages. Ducks speak, read, and write Common.