Locathah 5E Race Guide | Tips and Builds for the Locathah Race

So, you want to be a fish, eh? The Locathah are the right place to look! These almost adorable fish people were introduced in the Locathah Rising race supplement. They are humanoid fish, sometimes even walking on their own tails or webbed feet to get around! Allies with all sea creatures, and usually coming equipped with whiskers and fins, these guys will take a bit of adjusting to. Learn how to play them well in our Locathah 5E guide.

Locathah Lore

The Locathah hail from the oceans, and their underwater years have been almost entirely as slaves. They have been enslaved by almost any race you can find in the Sea of Fallen Stars. They’re free now, though many still suffer lives of servitude. The Locathah believe this enslavement was caused by disunion and fragmentation among Locathah and their allies. They now live in tight-knit communities and desperately keep any allies they can find, not wanting to fall under enslavement again.

Locathah harbor no ill will towards any race, even those that enslaved them. However, an enslaved one of their people will do whatever it takes to get out of their bondage, other than to threaten the lives of their allies. 

Their loyalty is an incredibly important part of Locathah trade deals, since you know you’ll get what you were promised when you ally with them. The Locathah have unspoken cultural etiquette that guides their thoughts and relationships. One familiar with them will be able to understand just how important it is for them to be courageous and kind, firm but not harmful, and defend the honor of those they love.

Most don’t notice this about the fish people. Most Locathah live in small hunter-gatherer communities that farm and hunt. This might leave many people to think that they are little more than fishy barbarians, but that is not the case. Anyone who spends time with them knows about their pure hearts and willingness to progress… Though, their tribal lands and religious ceremonies are still important to the Locathah.

Their names are varied, but tend to stick to almost Japanese phonetics. This might mean your Locath’s name would be something with two words and syllables, like Chu Na, or even a single syllable word. Alternately, since you’re from a nomadic tribe, you could use a simple name from other regions, like Bath.

Locathah Attributes

All Locathah have the same attributes, without GM permission.

• +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity. A reasonable spread. Strength is for melee damage, and some other slight utility like Strength saves and Athletics checks. This tilts the Locathah towards a melee build using Strength. +1 Dexterity allows the Locathah to be better with ranged attacks, finesse weapons, AC, a really good saving throw, and some great skill checks… But, it’s not here for aggression. You can use Dexterity to make strength builds viable on Medium Armor classes, since you need a touch of Dex for those to work well.

• Medium Size, 30 ft Speed. The normal stats for a Medium sized creature. You’re not getting any significant advantages here, and the Locathah actually weigh about as much as a human. And you’re about as tall!

• Swim Speed 30. Good, not bad at all. You’ll be the party’s primary aquatic explorer. You’re also going to need water nearby for most of your life, so make sure you have some way to become completely enveloped in water.

• Natural Armor. You have natural Leather Armor. This will keep up with Leather until magical armor is common. At worst, you’ll be happy with what you can naturally get. However, this is not really good enough to build for, unlike the Lizardfolk. Don’t be afraid to wear armor, but remember your fantastic baseline.

• Observant & Athletic. What a weird racial trait. These are two absolutely insane skill checks; Perception is the most rolled skill in the game, and you are naturally good at Athletics due to your Strength boost. These are two completely free and good skill proficiencies.

• Leviathan Will. Advantage on a ton of really strong status effects. Standouts are frightened, paralyzed, and stunned. However, having advantage on six different statuses… Dang! That’s really good for you, since you have such a wide spread of immunities.

• Limited Amphibiousness. Oof, this stinks for you. Without DM intervention, you need to have about 20-30 gallons of water on your person to submerge yourself. Create Water can make 10 gallons, which is… Close? So, realistically, you need to play this character in a campaign where you’re guaranteed to be near water. Otherwise, I hope you’re good at negotiation with your DM!

• Languages. Aquan is surprisingly useful. Fantastic if you’re doing an underwater campaign, but also good because of how many coastal creatures you tend to fight. Anything near the water with some intelligence will know Aquan.

Class Options

The Locathah has great racial abilities, and is a fantastic choice for any underwater campaign. However, there are a few things that they do better than most, even outside of the ocean!

Good Classes for Locathah

• Barbarian. +2 Strength is one of the best buffs that you can give a Barbarian. Add on top of that your natural armor for early game durability, free skills for out-of-combat utility, and even some dexterity, and you’ve got a great option! Your lack of Constitution boost stinks, but it doesn’t actually matter that much.

• Cleric. This is a stretch. Locathah with high Strength can be a decent melee Cleric, thanks to high Strength and good survivability. This is far from the best option that you could possibly choose for a Cleric, but we still don’t think this is too bad. Just don’t use many DC-based spells!

• Fighter. An obvious choice. Your good offensive stats lets you do either Strength or Dexterity build. You’ve got pretty stellar utility, and even alright AC if you get your armor removed somehow.

• Paladin. Not bad at all. Your high Strength is useful, and your Dexterity is… mostly wasted, but not necessarily so. You’ll be great for dishing out damage, and the free skill proficiencies lets you take Persuasion or Intimidation. Your low Charisma and Constitution might be a problem, but you’ll be a great primary damage dealer.

• Ranger. Great! Just like Fighter, you can go ranged or melee no problem. Rangers adore free skills, and you get two of them! You’ll miss the boost to Constitution, but the stats are nice.

• Rogue. Okay, this is far from bad. You got fairly good Dexterity, you get two free skills, and you can avoid getting targeted by deadly spells thanks to your Leviathan’s Will. You’ll feel bad getting so much Strength, but that’s fairly okay.

Bad Classes for Locathah

• Artificer. Artificers adore Intelligence, and have no use for Strength. Natural armor doesn’t matter when you can naturally wear Medium, and the free skills, while nice, don’t help the Artificer’s gameplan.

• Bard. No Charisma, huge problem. Free Perception is always nice, as is a good Swim Speed for coastal or underwater campaigns. But, that lack of Charisma just makes you not good at your main job. It’s not worth going Valor for this.

• Monk. This one is close. Dexterity is nice, but the Strength is a waste of time, and you don’t get Wisdom to help your Ki stuff. You can use Natural Armor to carry you in the early game, in which case the extra skills are fun and useful. There are just slightly better race options for the Monk class than this fishy fella.

• Sorcerer. No Charisma. You don’t care as much about the skills as a caster, and your natural armor is… Actually kinda nice, it’s like a permanent mage armor. Still, there are better ways to be tanky as these classes.

• Warlock. No Charisma. Your innate utility and tankiness doesn’t matter as much as your Charisma. You could try it out for a Hexblade, but you don’t have a significant reason to do this. There are better tank races that boost Charisma.

• Wizard. None of the Locathah’s utility abilities matter for Wizard… Other than Perception and maybe Leviathan’s Will. Those two traits are fantastic, but not worth losing better Intelligence. There are better amphibious races here.

Conclusion

The Locathah are very good for dealing damage, and have great lore that can make you a team mascot. However, they’re specialized, and Limited Amphibiousness requires either GM intervention or very specific campaigns. Check it out for the next frontliner you make in a Water-based story.