Rethinking Fantasy Races - Slaughtering Your Sacred Minotaurs
Dark folk. We've got a bit of leeway here because the dark folk are pretty nebulously defined as a race. There are a handful of existing entries in the bestiaries, but the Caligni race is overall pretty basic. So this entry is going to be less rethinking and more building from the ground up.
Step 1: Concept
So I've decided that at some point a few millenia ago the major races got together and decided that it would just be easier to gather up all the criminals amongst them and basically shove them into a dark hole to be forgotten. It was a dark time, alright? So they all do this and over time the races evolve into dark elves, dark folk, duergar, svirfneblin, etc.
This has the neat effect of making the darklands basically fantasy equivalent Australia. Just surviving is a struggle and everything wants to kill you. Also, it's literally "down under". ^_^
So basically, the dark folk are humans forced to live underground for thousands of years. There's probably some sort of minor rift near their major settlement connected to the plane of shadow to account for their supernatural abilities.
Step 2: Racial Qualities
TYPE - It feels strange to give dark folk their own separate racial subtype considering we gave dark elves the elf subtype, but I feel like these guys have strayed far enough from their basic human origins to warrant it. Humanoid (dark folk).
SIZE - Medium
SPEED - Normal
ABILITIES - I'm liking the idea of a Dex and Cha race here. Adept at talking their way out of situations they can't just sneak out of. Shadow things typically have Con penalty and it seems to fit well. Maybe they're slightly less corporeal than a normal race? /shrug.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution
LANGUAGES - Standard here, which gives them Dark Folk and Undercommon.
Allies? Who needs 'em?
Enemies get them Common, Dwarven, Elven, and Gnome.
Considering that the plane of shadow has strong connections to the negative energy plane, I can see them being a bit fascinated by undeath. Let's give them Necril. Also, delving too deep into terrible powers to get cool stuff feels about right, so Aklo fits as well. Let's also give them Draconic. They seem like inquisitive people.
That makes Dark Folk and Undercommon as starting languages with Aklo, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, and Necril as bonus language options.
Step 3: Racial Traits
So, I don't really care too much what the basic racial traits of the caligni are, so we won't dive into that. Just know that I've ransacked both the caligni and fetchlings for dark and shadow based stuff. We're looking at the following:
Shadow Blending (1 RP) - Extra miss chance is always nice.
Shadow Resistance (2 RP) - So is energy resitance.
Shadow Magic (2 RP) - The SLAs are the icing on this ability.
Swift as Shadows (3 RP) - Quick sneaky.
Light Blindness (–2 RP) - Because you can't see in darkness without paying the price.
See in Darkness (4 RP) - Honestly, I just love this ability and want more stuff to have it.
Underground Sneak (5 RP) - More sneaky, but this time with other stuff.
Let's assemble this thing.
DARK FOLK
Type: Humanoid (dark folk) 0 RP
Size: Medium 0 RP
Base Speed: Normal 0 RP
Ability Score Modifiers: Standard (+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution) 0 RP
Languages: Standard 0 RP
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Shadow Blending 1 RP
Shadow Resistance 2 RP
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Swift as Shadows 3 RP
Underground Sneak 5 RP
Magical Racial Traits
Shadow Magic 2 RP
Senses Racial Traits
See in Darkness 4 RP
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Blindness -2 RP
15 points exactly. That's two in a row. ^_^
That paints the final version like this:
Dark Folk Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Dark folk are adept at twisting both their bodies and words, but avoiding everything doesn't add much in the way of durability. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and -2 Constitution.
Size: Dark folk are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Type: Dark folk are Humanoids with the dark folk subtype.
Base Speed: Dark folk have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Dark folk begin play speaking Dark Folk and Undercommon. Dark folk with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: klo, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, and Necril. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Shadow Blending: Attacks made against dark folk while they are within areas of dim light have a 50% miss chance instead of the normal 20% miss chance. This trait does not grant total concealment; it just increases the miss chance. This is a supernatural ability.
Shadow Resistance: Dark folk gain cold resistance 5 and electricity resistance 5.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Swift as Shadows: Dark folk reduce the penalty for using Stealth while moving at full speed by 5, and reduce the Stealth check penalty for sniping by 10.
Underground Sneak: Dark folk gain a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy), Perception, and Stealth checks. The bonus on Stealth checks increases to a +4 bonus while underground.
Magical Racial Traits
Shadow Magic: Dark folk add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against spells of the shadow subschool that they cast. Dark folk with a Charisma score of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities (the caster level is equal to the user’s character level):
1/day—ghost sound, pass without trace, ventriloquism
Senses Racial Traits
See in Darkness: Dark folk can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, including that created by spells such as deeper darkness.
Weakness Racial Traits
Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds dark folk for 1 round; on subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area.
That should about do it. Let me know what you think.
Until next time.
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