The Tiel are humanoids that exist symbiotically with a barky plant that covers their skin. While being (fairly) close to mammals, the plant component of their physiology offers several interesting benefits. Able to survive up to three months without food thanks to photosynthesis, and several hours without air, the Tiel are a particularly hardy species. Omnivorous, Tiel consume less than one might expect for beings of their bulk, but are often driven to taste anything they encounter that might be edible.
Tiel possess two sexes with and mate for life. Females bear live young after a gestation period of over a year, and hours after birth their young are capable of ingesting fruit pulp, their primary diet for some time.
Tiel have rough gravelly voices, and can emit sound well below the human range of hearing. Passable at speaking human languages, one never mistakes a Tiel for another species over audio comms. Tiel prefer a higher oxygen mix than humans, but with dietary supplements can tolerate a 21% oxygen atmosphere. The Tiel thrive in high gravity environments and are quite comfortable at up to 3 gravities, but suffer from prolonged exposure to zero gravity environments.
Ability Score Increase: Tiel are exceptionally hardy, increasing their starting constitution by +4 and increasing their maximum constitution by +4.
Rough and Ready: Tiel are protected by a barky coating of their plant symbiote, and their AC cannot be lower than 16 as a result. A number of times per day equal to their proficiency bonus, when a Tiel would take damage, they may reduce that amount by 1d6 plus their constitution modifier.