Sherigras
The
descendants of the ancient chaos cultists who served the lords of chaos during
the ancient era of the War of the Gods, these scarred and shattered people have
remained cursed forever more. Even those who seek a good life find it slow
going, as the very nature of their race is a blemish that most shun and fear
automatically. Sherigras are reviled, and all too many of them seek to hide in
forgotten ruins and ancient dungeons, plotting ways to awaken old and dark gods
to destroy those who the sherigras despise for their beauty.
Skeletal and gaunt, sherigras have the appearance of recent corpses, or barely
living victims of some terrible plague. The hideous, nosferatu-like features of
the sherigras are terrifying to most normal demihumans.
Sherigras are a malevolent race by nature, and it is highly unusual to find one
of good disposition; such freaks are usually weeded out by the other sherigras
in their little covens, and sacrificed to dark gods. At best, an unaligned
sherigras might manage to pass for suitably evil in his society, while secretly
yearning for less, well, evil in his own life.
Sherigras love sorcery, and seek out its use whenever possible, in order to
disguise themselves from the sight of others, if for no other reason then their
own self-consciousness. They are well aware that champions of order and good
look upon their kind with disgust, and feel that their entire species must be
exterminated. This leads to some very paranoid thinking.
Sherigras are meant to fill a very special role within a campaign that has a
focus on the forces of order and chaos. Just as dark elves are said in some
mythologies to have been branded by their alliance with demons of chaos, and
orcs were (in some worlds) corrupt elves, sherigras are in fact what happens to
humans who are indelibly linked to the chaos they choose to serve.
Sherigras make excellent villains, but a player could easily take the concept
of the sherigras and turn it in to a tragic antihero, born to a horrible fate
which he never asked for, forced to rebel against a tight-knit culture of
outcasts dwelling in the shadows and seeking to appease the dark gods which
marked them so long ago. Or, he could embrace his destiny, follow the path of
the necromancer, and seek to become more powerful than the dark gods
which cursed his people…
Adventurers: Sherigras who seek to remove the taint
of chaos from their family line are natural adventurers, struggling to survive
in a world that sees them as marked with evil, while trying to cast off a curse
of the generations. Sherigras who are evil have all sorts of motivation to go
questing and seek greater power in the names of the Courts of Chaos. Sherigras
make excellent assassins, necromancers, dark clerics, Shadow Mages, Skinwalkers,
and other such hideous professions.
Sherigras
Adventurers
Average Weight: 65 to 150 lbs.
Average Height: 5’1” to 6’6”
Languages: middle tongue and abyssal
Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence and either +2
Dexterity or +2 Constitution
Vision: dark vision
Move: 6 squares
Skill Bonuses: +2 Stealth, +2 Intimidation
Mark of Chaos: All Sherigras suffer a -5 racial
penalty to Charisma rolls and skill checks where they are known to be a
Sherigras and this works against them (but, if the sherigras is trying to
intimidate someone, this penalty does not usually apply).
Taint of Chaos: Sherigras receive some unique
benefits due to their taint, and regardless of class the Sherigras may choose
one at-will power from any arcane class or wizard’s cantrip as a racial bonus
power. The at-will may be used as an encounter power, and the cantrip may be
used at-will.
Chaos Affinity: Sherigras are attuned to chaotic
energies, and can feel the presence of planar beings and objects which are
attuned to Order or Chaos (such as demons and angels or artifacts). The base
chance of success is a DC 20+target entity’s level as a Perception check.
Attempts at stealth or magical disguise can confound the chance of success as
determined by the GM.
Manifestation of
Chaos: Long ago before
the cataclysm Sherigras were so attuned to chaos that efforts to advance the
indelible cause of their dark gods rewarded them with strange side effects, and
efforts to oppose their nature led to punishment. After the cataclysm this
effect lifted, and sherigras have since been freed of their dark tether to
chaos, although their bodies remain wracked with corruption. Choose or roll
one trait from the following list, and gain that as your chaotic affinity;
each affinity grants a penalty and a bonus accordingly:
Sherigras Chaotic
Affinity Table (D100)
1-10: hideously skeletal; you start with 2
fewer healing surges, but gain the following power:
Skeletal
Terror – Sherigras Racial Trait
Encounter
– Standard – Arcane, Fear
Range:
Close Burst 3 Attack:
Int vs. Will; Hit: each target in burst slides 3 squares and grants
combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
11-20: Permanent Blindness; you permanently
suffer from the blindness condition, but gain the wizard utility spell invisibility
as an encounter power; because you are used to your blindess, note the
following special conditions: you suffer no penalty to Perception checks that
do not involve sight; you do not grant combat advantage to known targets that
you can hear; you are immune to sight-dependent effects and conditions.
21-25: Permanent loss of one arm, but you
gain a flexible tentacle which provides a +2 racial bonus to Acrobatics,
Thievery and Escape Artist.
26-30: You have hideous claws instead of
hands. You gain a natural claw attack that does 1D8+strength damage (and can be
treated as two attacks for powers requiring to melee weapons), but you suffer a
-2 penalty to Thievery and any other skill check requiring fine manipulation.
The claws do 2D8+strength damage at 21st
level.
31-35: You have a serpent’s tail instead of
legs. You gain a +2 bonus to swim checks with Athletics (and swim as a class
skill) as well as a basic constriction attack, a swim speed of 8 squares and a
land speed of 5 squares. You suffer all restrictions accompanied by having a
serpent’s body instead of normal legs.
Constricting
Tail – Sherigras Racial Power
At-Will
– Standard – Melee
Range:
one target
Attack: Dex or Str vs. Will (choose one at the time this power is gained); Hit:
target suffers 1D8+Strength modifier damage and is immobilized (save ends).
36-40: A Visible black nimbus of chaos
energy surrounds you, visible to anyone and disguisable only by illusions
(spells); However, you gain Resistance 5+ ½ level Necrotic.
41-50: A Third eye rests in your forehead;
it grants visions; you gain a +2 skill bonus to Arcana, and a +2 save bonus to
any saving throw against a blindness or vision-imparing effect.
51-60:
A demonic face appears in your torso, which must be fed and speaks a lot
(double your daily intake of rations, and take a -2 penalty on Stealth checks
if you don’t gag it). You gain the following special power:
Mouth
of Casting – Sherigras Racial Power
Daily
Instant– Free – Arcane or Divine
Trigger: You cast an encounter or daily power
that takes a standard action.
Effect: You cast the spell as a minor action
instead of a standard action.
61-70:
Animals will instinctively attack you on site, without exception, even if you
have some sort of wild empathy. However, all aberrations, undead and outsiders
of animal intelligence react to you as if you have monstrous empathy
instead, granting you a +2 diplomacy, bluff, intimidation and nature bonus when
interacting with or studying such exotic animals.
71-80: Blistery Black Boils cover your body
from head to toe giving you a -2 reduction to your Charisma, but you are immune
to disease and any exposure to a disease to which you fail a saving throw on
makes you a carrier for that disease, instead.
81-90:
You have perpetual stigmata, bleeding from spontaneous wounds, your eyes, and
elsewhere constantly. You gain a -2 to stealth checks but gain a +2 save bonus
to stop any ongoing bleed effect (standard damage or typed as bleed damage) in
combat.
91-95:
You have the head of an animal; you may choose the animal and gain a basic
attack that does 1D8+Strength modifier damage associated with any propreties
associated with the head (ram’s horns, crocodile bite, or such), as well as a
natural animal empathy for those animals and the ability to communicate with
them.
96-00: You appear to be outwardly
normal, but at nighttime your skin disappears and you seem to bleed
continually. You automatically save against any bleed effects (ongoing untyped
damage) but are of such a monstrous appearance that social interactions are
almost impossible.
All text Copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved
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