A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement has rules for playing as a clown-like race of people known for their mild proficiency at a variety of talents and their rather elastic bodies.
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Clowns are the center of a weird debate in modern culture. While clowns have traditionally been seen as a source of entertainment, movies like IT and Killer Clowns from Outer Space have played upon a deep-seated fear of clowns as weird and alien creatures. Some people see clowns as humorous, some see clowns as misunderstood, and others see clowns as freaky abominations of nature.
Earlier this month, Willy Abeel published The Book of House, a whimsical D&D supplement that adds several new playable races, subclasses, and magic items. One of the stranger (and more delightful) parts of The Book of House is a new playable race of clown-like creatures known as clonns.
According to The Book of House, clonns are the “abnormal normal,” a race of humanoids with exaggerated features with a knack for competency at whatever they do. Because of this, clonns can ignore any ability check modifier in the negative, and their 0 or +1 ability check modifiers are considered to be a +2. However, clonns can never be experts at anything; they never become masters at any craft of skills. They’re literally jacks of all trades, but masters of none.
Clonns also have elastic bodies, which grants them a natural resistance to bludgeoning damage. At higher levels, clonns can also choose to inflate or deflate their bodies to increase their natural armor or they can stretch their limbs to grant them reach on an attack. There’s also a “Grow” feat that clonns can take that allow them to stretch in size, similar to casting an Enlarge spell on themselves.
As presented in The Book of House, clonns are definitely seen as misunderstood and a bit tragic. They’re not evil, but they are a little creepy, and they would make for an interesting choice for a character.
You can download the full clonn ruleset for free on the DMs Guild. The Book of House is available for $14.99.
