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Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-07, 10:34 PM
Selkie
Intense and feral, the maids and males of the sea walk the land in gray-eyed melancholy and tide-mutable desire.

Oran shuddered in his bedroll at the sound of a splash; but he couldn't, didn't, resist looking as she came out of the water, body glistening and bare, teeth out and face split in a ferocious grin. The teeth shrank back behind pale, full lips, and she slipped into her robe swiftly, surely, untangling her hair with a langorous motion. He shivered again and resolved to pretend to be asleep.

Onamiuna ran her fingers along his shoulder and giggled when he jerked like a fish on a line, eyes flashing pale blue-and-gray.
"Why hog the covers, Oran? Didn't you care for my...." she pressed her lips to his shoulder.."attentions?"

Oran considered his response carefully.
"Well, it's the fish breath mostly."



Selkies are the children of the sea, semi-amphibous humanoids frequently mistaken for seals as they sun themselves on artic rocks- or, in more temperate climes, for exceptionally disturbing mermaids. They take after the sea in more respects than merely resembling its creatures, however- on the one hand, selkies are intensely sociable, attractive to most species, and cheerfully shameless; on the other, they may be vengeful, pernicious, and melancholic. Above all, like the tide and the waves that bear them up, they are changable. Those who are wise enough to remember this fact deal with them best, while others, more often than not, meet with tragedy when their Selkie wife or companion heeds the lure of the sea, turning all that holds them down out and striking for new shores.
Personality: Selkies tend to behave like the very worst things more stolid and dependable races think of Humans. Prone to fits of melancholic introspection, amorous at inappropriate moments (or toward inappropriate people), and overall either too friendly or not friendly enough, most races find the personal quirks and habits of a Selkie off-putting, at least at first, and usually for quite a long time after at first- forever, in most instances.
Even with all that, the appeal of the Selkie is undeniable- their introspection counterfeits, or in some cases actually is, poetic depth, their amour is not so unwelcome more often than not, and they are beautiful by the standards of many humanoid races; chiefly as a result of their intense, shifting gaze.
Physical description: In humanoid form, Selkies look like attractive, well-proportioned humans with cabled hair in shades of gray and moonglow white, and pale skin. Their eyes are the same deep gray as their hair more often than not, and shift with ambient lighting, now storm-blue, now cloud-dark.
In their aquatic form, their hair and skin is covered in a sheath of milky white grease, obscuring the details of their bodily features and even the face. Their eyes, in water, are protected by nictating membranes, and their teeth grow longer, suitable for catching artic fish. Selkies sprout long webbing between their digits when swimming, to the point that their arms resemble flippers, and their ears flatten back to tiny seashell-shapes against the head.
Relations: Selkies get along best with those of similarly mercurial temperment, such as Claerns, half-dwarves, or even some dwarves. Most other races are too stolid, too predictable, or simply too resistant to the jibes and peccadillos of a Selkie to be of sufficient interest; however, Selkies sometimes admire members of any race who demonstrate strength to rival their home element, or those who can weather an endless torrent of imprecations with unflinching certitude of self.
Alignment: Selkies are obviously and extremely chaotic, or, rarely, neutral- most neutral selkies are apathetic, rather than lacking in basal chaotic tendencies. Good Selkies tend to those that channel their sea-lust and sea-sadness into a certain fell pragmatism, while evil Selkies are prone to vent those selfsame emotions in destructive, feral bursts.
Selkie Lands:Selkies have no lands and maintain little enough in the way of society; some rivers and lakes are home to Selkie 'pods' of nine or so individuals, but these tend to be merely convenient places to meet a new lover or hunting partner, not true civilizations. Selkies hear much of what occurs on the waters, however, and in some cases they parlay this talent into noble holdings in seabound nations or port villages.
Religion:Selkies tend not to devote themselves to any particular deity; those that do practice true divine magic are usually votaries of gods or goddesses of the sea, change, or chaos, though some few revere powers representing passion and love.
Languages:Selkies speak common and aquan.
Names: The name of any given Selkie tends to be similar to the names given to members of the nearest convenient humanoid tribe- thus, there is enormous variation among Selkies in terms of nomenclature. All Selkies, however, generally choose the name of the body of water in which they were born as a surname; thus, all Selkies born in the Garal Sea would carry the surname Garal, and function in some respects as a vast extended family.
Adventurers:Selkie adventurers are as varied as the fish in the ocean, and as likely to come up at strange times (and some say, as likely to turn the stomach if not cooked properly). Some are simply bored, some lust after the news (and, to be blunt, the citizens) of foreign lands, some seek to uncover ancient and potent magics to grant them the power of the tsunami...and some are running. Selkies have a well-known tendency to seduce and, in happier cases, marry humanoids who live near the water; but these relationships almost always end in tragedy as the 'Sealwife' returns to the ever-shifting tides, leaving behind a distraught (or dead) husband and children to bear the burden of her loneliness. Those Selkies who flee such situations frequently see an adventuring life as a good way to make sure they never see their former loved ones again.


Selkie Racial Traits:
+2 Cha, +2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Str; Selkies are swift and agile on land and sea, and, while not always likeable, are difficult to ignore. However, they are not a physically vigorous race, and their mentality is tainted by bestial urges.
Selkie base land speed is 30 feet.
Medium: As medium creatures, Selkies have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
Breathe the Sea: Selkies in their Sealsark form can spend a number of rounds underwater equal to four times their constitution modifier, not the usual two, before they are required to make checks to resist drowning. When they are forced to make checks, they assess a +4 racial bonus.
This ability applies only to attempts to breathe underwater; a Selkie holding his or her breath on dry land, or in another airless environment, gains no benefit.
Sealsark: A Selkie appears humanoid out of salt water, but upon entering it, instantaneously transforms into a seal-like humanoid creature. This transformation is, in the case of salt water, involuntary; in fresh water, the change can be conciously assumed. A Selkie cannot transform out of water.
Selkies in their Sealsark form can see as far underwater as they could normally, gain low-light vision while underwater, and gain the benefits of Breathe the Sea. If a Selkie is somehow prevented from transforming, or chooses not to, they gain none of these benefits.
A Selkie's form remains mostly humanoid; they can utilize any items they could normally use or wear (weapons, armor, wands, etc.) while in Sealsark form.
Greater Call than Thine: A Selkie has a +2 racial bonus to saves against charm or compulsion effects, due to the natural call they must continually resist.
Ambergris: When necessary, a Selkie secretes an oily substances that coats their skin and hair. This substances grants a +10 bonus to saves against the detrimental effects of normal, nonmagical cold.
Favored Class: Arcanist (Heartbound) or Bard. A multiclass Selkie's Arcanist or Bard class does not count does not when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
I know, I know. I post things in big bunches and you haven't a chance to comment on them all. But please try? I really like the idea of Selkies, and I'm playing around with my Fiend Folio with utter glee....so, anyways, everyone, general of pointed impressions, away!

sigurd
2006-11-08, 01:35 AM
I like it. I can understand the limitations you place on the race.

I don't think the transformation should be involuntary. Perhaps Will Save DC10.

In my games I have given my Selkies the 'Slippery' Feat. It gives them a bonus to escape artists checks and allows them to break any number of grapples with one roll.

I have a selkie wizard who is actually one of my favourite characters.

Here are 4 links to other Selkies that I've collected. I mean these for encouragement and comparison.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=205625
http://p222.ezboard.com/f3ebb85430frm44.showMessage?topicID=72.topic
http://www.enworld.org/archive/index.php/t-9982.html
http://www.aquela.com/roleplaying/Aquela/characters/races/selkies.html

Sigurd

Deeply considering your selkie treatment... hm. I like it!

Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-08, 09:20 AM
Sigurd, thanks for the kind words.

I based the involuntary transformation on their entry in the FF; also, since the transformation still leaves them with functioning hands and the ability to speak (though not necessarily be heard), it's not really that bad a drawback.

I just realized I need to denote how long the transformation takes, though.

Anyways...I almost like the idea of the Slippery feat, but I think I'll have it be a racial feat, rather than a base characteristic of the race...actual ambergris is sort of slick, yes, but it's also rather sticky.

I like a lot of your other Selkies; the last link, I think, I'd consider the most developed/best (though I may have opened em' in tabs out of order, so don't quote me there).

My initial thoughts were to have a Selkie almost identical to yours- that is, a humanoid, semi-aquatic creature that turns into a seal with humanoid features (though very minor ones). However, my thoughts on its abilities didn't make sense for a creature capable of a full transformation, and I also had a thought as follows: rather than having them be human in essence but physically transforming them into animals, I thought I'd make them humanoid in water and out both, and give them animalistic mentalities.

If you don't think a Seal is feral and frightening, you aren't a penguin or a fish, I guess; and even Dolphins, cuddly muffins of the seas, are animals, with the drive to hunt, mate, and roam freely. That's what I was going for...I just hope they don't end up emo mermaids. :eek:

Thomar_of_Uointer
2006-11-08, 11:34 AM
Hmm? Gah, I'm famous!


Umm... They're only shapechangers when in the water? That's not right...

Specifically note that they have the shapechanger subtype. Also note that it lets them reverse any polymorph effect as a standard action.

Do they have a swim speed in the water?

Okay, just based on the Charisma bonus, they're overpowered. This is a no-brainer for a bard or sorcerer, for whom Strength and Intelligence can easily be dump stats. To make them balanced, you would have to drop the Charisma bonus for something like a racial bonus to Perform checks, make their land speed 20', and a swim speed of 40' or something like that.

XtheYeti
2006-11-08, 01:22 PM
Cant read the tiny print, this is a cool creature but i might have considered giving them water breathing

Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-08, 01:36 PM
Thomar; I removed the line about Shapechanger subtype; that was intended to make them vulnerable to spells that specifically target shape-changers, but...it mucks things up. Baleeted.

They only change shape while in the water, yes. That's intentional; they aren't intended to be a race with an alternate form, as I feel that would be overpowered in earnest. Instead, they have a limited ability to change form only while in water, which is for the most part involuntary, and which still leaves them vulnerable to polymorph effects. That's why their ability to change shape isn't named "alternate form"- because it isn't alternate form, it's a specialized, limited version.

They don't have a swim speed; being naturally adapted to the water doesn't mean you can swim without training, in this Selkie's case. They raise their children on land.
In other words, yes, a Selkie still has to make swim checks. They're good at it, though.

Yes, Selkies are very good choices for sorceror or bard; but dwarves are very good choices for fighter, too. The setting Selkies are intended for in this case has no 'sorcerors' per se. And while they could be dump stats, taking a hit to your already meagre skill points from the int penalty isn't quite to be scoffed at.

I've already established they don't have a swim speed, and since they look like humans and have the physiology, more or less, of a human, why would they be significantly slower while remaining the same size and shape?

I disagree that a race that is very good at Charisma-focused classes makes them 'overpowered', since Charisma is, as has often been noted, of somewhat limited utility in other situations, and a penalty to intelligence means they'll find it hard to make best use of their cha and dex bonuses as a rogue- skill points again.

I'm willing to be convinced on this point; tell me why you think this is overpowered solely on the basis of the Charisma bonus, and give me an alternative solution (since I'm pretty much not going to drop their base land speed, and a racial bonus to perform doesn't grab me either- some Selkies aren't Bards).

I may end up changing the Str. penalty to a Con Penalty; would that help?

XtheYeti, thanks; I think Water Breathing might be a bit much, though.

sigurd
2006-11-08, 01:56 PM
Thematically, I see selkies as a fey power that exists on inhospitable coastal rocks. They are both wolves of the sea fighting sharks (the seal's great enemy) and some sort of fey protector against more advanced monsters.

I think its also interesting to note that most of the non modern tales I have found stress Selkie men not women. I suppose the prospect of the beautiful woman walking naked from the inside of a seal skin is too tempting for modern media.

My understanding of the history of the 'selkie'. Is that Orkney women may have had trysts with native, or Finnish Men who were not acceptable to their technologically more advanced culture. The men would have had little to give the women long term so perhaps daddy was missing and all the women could point to was a pile of seal skins. That doesn't mean the men were any less powerful inside there own culture. My selkie is a figure with a role to play in the game world and a foreign, alien world on the coast.

So in game terms:

I give them a magic creatures unnatural lifespan. Full blown fey.
Natural powers of attraction when in human form. (So I agree with the plus to charisma.)

They have no great protections beyond changing shape.

They are born spontaneously from within healthy seal populations.

They typically choose to mate with humans. The children of this union might be 1/4 selkie. Quarter Selkies are basically orphaned by their selkie parents with a magical blood gift. Almost not fey. (If you haven't seen it, look for a film called The Secret of Roan Inish.)

They cannot be resurrected. They follow the fey type.

If their body is dumped in the sea it becomes ocean mist. Maybe they are reincarnated as another selkie but I think the char is done.

Perhaps an aging progression where they make better wizards after they have matured?

I'd consider 3 types

Selkie Wolf - young
This would be the spontaneously created Selkie. He\she would not necessarily have any other selkies to learn from. One in a thousand seals is born under the right influences and you have a fey selkie.

Selkie Leader - more mature pack leader
This is a mature selkie. He\she would stick around with a pack to teach the youngsters or found a new pack.

Selkie Guardian - More wise, regional leader.
This figure would be more formidable in magic powers\abilities. Perhaps 3 levels in Druid, Sorcerer, or rarely Wizard. I'd be tempted to make males Sorcerers and females druids (not politically correct I know). In Seal form this figure might be as big as a walrus.
If the guardian was taking their role seriously they'd be hard to find unless you were a seal.

sigurd
2006-11-08, 02:03 PM
They don't have a swim speed; being naturally adapted to the water doesn't mean you can swim without training, in this Selkie's case. They raise their children on land.
In other words, yes, a Selkie still has to make swim checks. They're good at it, though.

I think forcing them to change form in water and then not giving them the swim speed of the transformed creature is strange. They should at least have the physical benefits of seal when in water. Would you give them the ability to walk upright if they changed form on land?

They don't breath water but they can hold their breath like a seal. The mechanic I use is Con or Con bonus in hours.

re class advantages: I think its natural that some races are better at certain classes.

Do they lose their possessions when they change into a seal? If they do - I'd be a sorcerer real quick.


S

averagejoe
2006-11-08, 04:16 PM
Okay, just based on the Charisma bonus, they're overpowered. This is a no-brainer for a bard or sorcerer, for whom Strength and Intelligence can easily be dump stats. To make them balanced, you would have to drop the Charisma bonus for something like a racial bonus to Perform checks, make their land speed 20', and a swim speed of 40' or something like that.

Agreed. The lack of skills may hurt bards, but sorceror selkies would be very good. Charisma is usually the worst stat, but in bards and sorcerors it is ultra-good. Plus, even though they don't have a lot of skill points, sorcerors don't really need them anyways.

Besides, the racial bonus to charisma seems to contradict what you said in the "personality" section.

Also, as a response to everyone talking about the swim speed, note that seals have a swim speed according to RAW.

Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-08, 06:15 PM
Averagejoe;
Using the rubric of Charisma as 'force of personality' combined with/instead of 'attractiveness', I think it makes sense; an intensely irritating person or a very infuriating, changeable Selkie has a high charisma, even though they aren't particularly nice. Plus, using the traditional Charisma= teh pretty system they pass.
(Note: I do not like equating Charisma solely with attractiveness, though.)


Sigurd and AverageJoe;
First of all, the reason they don't have a swim speed is because they aren't Seals in the water. They are seal-like humanoid creatures. My apologies if that was too ambiguous- to clarify, they are mostly humanoid, with a few minor, almost nonfunctional aquatic features. They are better at swimming than a human would be, or at least more used to it, but they are not good enough at it due to their transformation that they have a swim speed.

Yes, a seal has a swim speed. No, a mostly humanoid creature with a mild resemblance to a seal from far off on a cloudy day does not.

Sigurd specifically;
No, they don't lose their possessions. The transformed creature is still humanoid in form, two arms, two legs, not-a-seal, opposable thumbs, so they can still use any items they can use in purely humanoid form.

Thanks for making me aware of that legend; I'm most familar with tales of seal-skins from Greek mythology, so a myth closer to the source is nice.

Those are really interesting ideas you're presenting- but I think they work better for a monster than for a PC race. The Fey type is at best problematic and at worst just icky for a PC.

I like the three types as ways of advancing, again, a monster or creature; but for a standard race (and that's what I intend this to be) it's needlessly complex.

Averagejoe Last specifically, again;
Selkies will indeed make superior charisma-based casters. However, they aren't particularly good fighters or barbarians as-is, they aren't spectacularly good rogues, they'd make pretty bad wizards, there are much better choices for a ranger or druid, and while they make decent clerics, the strength penalty is going to be bad if they try to go CoDzilla.

Yes, a Selkie as I've written it is good at one thing, but that's alllll they're good at. A Selkie who chooses a path that isn't Charisma-dependant is going to have a pretty tough time, and since there's a limited number of players (and presumably, in-character, a limited number of Selkies) that want to play such a character, I don't find that unbalancing.

averagejoe
2006-11-08, 07:29 PM
Averagejoe;
Using the rubric of Charisma as 'force of personality' combined with/instead of 'attractiveness', I think it makes sense; an intensely irritating person or a very infuriating, changeable Selkie has a high charisma, even though they aren't particularly nice. Plus, using the traditional Charisma= teh pretty system they pass.


That makes sense. I've never really thought about it that way.


Averagejoe;
Sigurd and AverageJoe;
First of all, the reason they don't have a swim speed is because they aren't Seals in the water. They are seal-like humanoid creatures. My apologies if that was too ambiguous- to clarify, they are mostly humanoid, with a few minor, almost nonfunctional aquatic features. They are better at swimming than a human would be, or at least more used to it, but they are not good enough at it due to their transformation that they have a swim speed.

Yes, a seal has a swim speed. No, a mostly humanoid creature with a mild resemblance to a seal from far off on a cloudy day does not.


Yes, that was a bit unclear, but what I meant to say is that if they became seals then they would have a swim speed reguardless of whether you listed one or not. Now basically irrelevant now that I know they don't. Actually, it's kind of obvious now that you bring it up, I guess that seeing the word "selkie" just made me think seal. The physical description seemed to imply a complete seal transformation, but maybe that was just me.



Averagejoe Last specifically, again;
Selkies will indeed make superior charisma-based casters. However, they aren't particularly good fighters or barbarians as-is, they aren't spectacularly good rogues, they'd make pretty bad wizards, there are much better choices for a ranger or druid, and while they make decent clerics, the strength penalty is going to be bad if they try to go CoDzilla.

Yes, a Selkie as I've written it is good at one thing, but that's alllll they're good at. A Selkie who chooses a path that isn't Charisma-dependant is going to have a pretty tough time, and since there's a limited number of players (and presumably, in-character, a limited number of Selkies) that want to play such a character, I don't find that unbalancing.

Fair enough. I'd still be wary of it, though. Spellcasters are powerful enough as-is.

Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-08, 07:49 PM
That's my preferred idea for what 'charisma' represents.

I've edited the description to include a line about them remaining humanoid; that should help.

And you'll notice the Selkie's favored class is 'Arcanist' rather than 'Sorceror'.
They're intended for a setting with slightly less powerful casters.