Werebloods
The werebloods are a rare, enigmatic
race of beast-blooded kin that can be found most commonly in the wilderness of
Autrengard and Hettanar, though they have been found in Jhakn and Ocentash, as
well. Werebloods descend from lycanthropic ancestry. As such, werebloods are a
rare species and are almost never found in communities of their own, usually
manifesting instead as a surprise to otherwise normal parents who did not
realize one of their ancestors had lycanthropic blood.
Werebloods can be found anywhere, although as indicated above they are
more likely to be found in remote communities and lands where interaction
between shape shifters and humans or elves is more likely. Werebloods are
commonly misunderstood and often not recognized by most for what they really
are.
Wereblooded Adventurers
Werebloods are equivalent to shifters in 4E, and all racial details and
feats that apply to shifters work for werebloods.
Planar
Races
The planar races consist of human crossbreeds who have been permanently
touched with a bit of extraplanar ancestry. These plane-touched are a
significant minority in the Middle Kingdoms. Among the planar races can be
found the tieflings, aasimar and devas.
Tieflings
Tieflings in Lingusia are surprisingly common, an enigmatic race of men
and women with clear infernal or abyssal ancestry. The exact origins of a
specific tiefing depends largely on ancestry, but the following are common;
these are available as optional background paths for your character:
Ancient
Bloodlines of Hyrkania
Associated
Skills: Stealth, Thievery
Many tieflings come from cursed families. These families, often Galonian
or Hyrkanian, find that their bloodline suffers corruption every eight or nine
generations (but sometimes more often). The suspicion is that such families may
have been tainted in some way by the corruption of outsiders in the distant
past. A more pragmatic expectation is that these are families descended from
the era of the Old Empire and the time when the War of the Gods transpired.
During that period a veritable army of demons descended upon the mortal plane,
and that which the demons did not kill, they defiled. Like as not, even in
families where infernal offspring were slain, the taint lingered forever more
within the bloodlines themselves.
Less common are pure-bloods who find that one or both parents were
possessed at some point or under the influence of evil outsiders. These
tiefling offspring appear unexpectedly, unless the possessors are in it for the
long haul, and this can be quite a surprise to the parents (sometimes).
Dark
Heritage of Kadantania
Associated
Skills: Arcana, History
Tieflings of pure blood coming from entire clans of their breed can lay
claim to the heritage of lost Kadantania. This sorcerous empire rose up in
Amech and dominated for a long period, during which the repulsive sorcerers of
this lost kingdom struck a pact with the infernal devils of Hell, the domain of
order dominated by Set and other evil gods of order. The Kadantanians sought to
emulate the power of the lost Prehunates, and they failed, for the corruption
of their species by the devils destroyed them from within, ultimately. All of
the old noble bloodlines of lost Kadantania were corrupted, touched by darkness
to become tieflings. Many tiefling clans to this day claim such heritage, and a
few still believe Kadantania lives on in the lost city of Ur.
Modern
Heritage: Starthias
Associated
Skills: Arcana, Insight
The vile domain of Starthias along the western shores of the Bloodsea is
a new proving ground, for it is here that a new era of power-seeking fools have
made infernal pacts with the devils of darkness or the demons of chaos within
the last two generations, transforming their kind in to tieflings. The overlord
of Starthias, the dark sorcerer-king Anharak, has encouraged his people to seek
power at all costs; his exodus to the Silver Mountains in the west has caused a
power-gap in the kingdom, which has already come close to shattering the
eastern empire with civil war.
Tieflings from Starthias are the most dangerous of all, for their
corruption is recent, and their belief in its utility as a means to an end is
total. They lack the humility of the Kadantanian tieflings, or the fear of the
bloodline-descended tieflings.
Tieflings in the Middle Kingdoms
Life can be very hard for these half demons and half devils. Some get
lucky enough to find small communities of their kind, a kindly wizard to take
them in as apprentices, or a demonic parent who finds the novelty of a child
too compelling to resist. Most tieflings are raised as ambivalent, hateful
beings, but a few get lucky and grow up surprisingly straight and normal.
Tieflings are sometimes familiar with both their extraplanar and their
mortal parents, but many can only guess at such, having been abandoned at the
doorsteps of wizard’s guilds and temples by horrified peasants. Wizards love
tiefling orphans; they make excellent apprentices.
Tiefling Adventurers
Use the default rules for tieflings as provided in the PHB; no
additional changes are necessary.
Tiefling Random Heritage Chart:
1-4 Kadantanian
Lineage
5-8 Starthian
Nobility
9-12 Ancient
Hyrkanian Bloodline
13-16 Random
Birth
17-20 Born
of a Chaos Worshipping Bloodline
Aasimar
Aasimar are a variant race and counterparts to tieflings. Like tieflings
the aasimar have a parent or ancestor with planar blood. Unlike the tieflings,
the aasimar have been touched by a divine spark from a good or beneficient
being such as a seraph or other angelic entity. A few may even have godling
ancestry.
Aasimar are physically similar to humans, but they tend to have perfect
skin, white or golden hair and eyes of liquid gold. Their beauty is unrivalled
by most other mortals, though aasimar themselves are also often long-lived.
Aasimar stand out most of the time, and for this reason they often find
life relatively difficult when growing up, especially if they do not know their
true lineage or parents. Young aasimar are often subjugated to slavery and
abuse at the hands of those who marvel and covet their beauty, though just as
many may be fortunate enough to live in a caring community or have a good
parent.
Aasimar Adventurers
Average Height: 5’6” to 6’6” feet tall
Average Weight: 100-200 lbs.
Languages: Middle Tongue, plus one other (usually
Tradespeak or Celestial if they know their divine parent or have access to such
lore)
Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma
Size: medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: low-light
Skill Bonuses: +2 Diplomacy, +2 Insight
Resistance: Choose one resistance: necrotic, cold,
fire or psychic; gain Resist 5+Charisma modifier against that type of damage.
Increase to 10+Charisma modifier at level 11 and 15+Charisma modifier at level
21.
Immortal: You are immortal in origin and all
effects that work for or against immortals also affect you.
Divine
Might: You can call
upon your divine power to add strength and conviction to your blows. Whenever
dealing damage with an attribute type modifier, you may substitute yoru
Charisma modifier if it is higher, regardless of the power type or nature.
Devas
Although somewhat less common that tieflings, there are also plenty of
devas to be found in Lingusia. Just as many demons and infernal extraplanar
beings became trapped during the Cataclysm, so too did many angelic beings and
benign servitors of good (usually called seraphs). Any entity which was born of
a mixture of divine blood can become a deva.
Deva are, in and of themselves, a distinct species which have a unique a
place in the Lingusian cosmology, as ancient immortals who reincarnate over
time. For an especially interesting variant on Devas, it is suggested that they
could be the reincarnated spirits of prehunates from the prehuman era, and that
the perpetual struggle to attain goodness over the risk of slipping in to evil
ways is part of an ancient curse laid upon their kind by the gods.
Deva Adventurers
Use the default rules for Devas as provided in the core rules; no
additional changes are necessary.
All text Copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment