Kazyan
2014-01-04, 02:50 AM
Trying and failing to balance this was weird. Hilarious pile of numbers, etc..
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Exuhi
Exuhi (singular: Exuha), the "Tired Ones", are an escaped batch of zern experiments. Unlike most zern experiments, the alterations to their forms are mostly in their minds. Their bodies have difficulty supporting their mental grafts, but when they can stay awake, Exuhi excel in their gifts. The zern crippled their ability to use magic to avoid a painful revolt (but the didn't prevent an escape), so while they have some of the brightest minds among the civilized races, they're still primarily constrained to use their weak bodies instead of using magic to stake a claim in the world.
Personality
Exuhi are, above all, tired. Easily exhausted and wanting--if not necessarily needing--much sleep, they have difficulty just keeping up with most races. They overwhelmingly prefer non-physical solutions to problems and avoid violence, preferring to spend their lives in thought. Exuhi are generally skittish, yet social--willing to communicate with people they don't find intimidating. They value their leisure time, seeing at as necessary for a healthy mind, often spending it in sleep, meditation, or "cleaning"--simple, repetitive activity that doesn't require much physical exertion.
Physical Description
Any given Exuha is a humanoid between two and two-and-a-half feet tall, with spindly legs and arms. They stand poised on the balls of their feet instead of letting their heels touch the ground, which usually means that they wear personalized shoes. Their shoulders are particularly wide for their body. Green-and-black patterns akin to malachite rock intertwine with what would otherwise be porcelean-white skin, making Ehuxi look tattooed all over. Hair of the same green-and-black patterning grows along their arms and head--including forehead--but nowhere else on their body.
Given their mental talents, one would expect Exuhi to have oversized craniums, but they don't--much of their brain function is distributed along the patterning of their skin.
Relations
Exuhi do not much get along with the common races--as intellectuals that tire easily, they don't have much in common with gnomes, halflings, dwarves, half-orcs, or even humans, for that matter. Even intellectual humans tend to have have some kind of endurance of the mind; Exuhi lack even that. Exuhi sometimes try to get along with elves--gray elves in particular--but elves usually detest them as weak children with no respect for elven culture.
Alignment
Exuhi are only recent escapees from the zern. Their vagabond existence leads most to be chaotic, but they have a leaning towards good.
Lands
Exuhi live more-or-less alone in the world, preferring small caves as their settlements--there, they can sleep in the darkness without worrying about monsters from, say, the Underdark. Sometimes a group will gather and live in the forgotten or abandoned areas of metropolitan homes of the common races--they yearn for the mental stimulus of books, bards, and beauty that can be found in cities, but they like to stay in dark places where they likely won't be disturbed form sleep.
Religion
There doesn't seem to be a particular reason, but Exuhi often revere Boccob, the Uncaring. However, he comes second to a racial diety: Isp. See the last section of this text.
Language
Exuha prefer to use their telepathic touch to communicate, but otherwise, they don't see the point of languages other than Common.
Names
Exuhi recycle small sets of monosyllabic names starting in a vowel, since they don't regard the labels as particularly important. Among Exuhi, they can just feel another Exuhi's mind to understand their individuality, and among non-Exuhi, the only function of their name is a "hey, you". Exuhi names are unisex.
Sample Names: Ath, Ont, Oot, Elz, Ink, Octh, Isp (Exuhi don't care about reusing their god's name)
Adventurers
An Exuha adventurer is rare indeed; they are not usually up to the energetic lifestyle. However, sometimes one will become an adventurer simply because they've found that they get along with a group that happens to be adventuring in the first place. Adventurers can have many motives, and most of them apply to an Exuha; they're simply hard to motivate into a profession that requires extreme bursts of energy.
Racial Traits
+2 Intelligence, -2 Strength: Exuhi have extremely powerful minds--they were the brains behind many zern operations--but their small bodies are weak.
Small size
Land speed: 30 feet.
Humanoid type: Exuhi are basically human-shaped, if very small.
+2 to Intelligence checks and Intelligence-based checks: Exuhi are expert planners.
Blind-Fight (Ex): Exuhi gain Blind-Fight as a bonus feat, as they are used to living in the dark.
Easily Tired (Ex): Exuhi take a -4 penalty on the following checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage, Constitution checks made to continue running, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, Constitution checks made to hold their breath, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst, Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments, and Fortitude saves made to resist damage from suffocation. Also, they become fatigued if they sleep in light or heavier armor; they must be unarmored to avoid fatigue in this way.
The Endurance feat does not have its normal benefit for an Exuha. Instead, it suppresses this racial trait.
Exuha prefer to sleep for 16 hours a day due to their bodies' inhibited physical ability, but they do not actually require more than 8 hours.
Magic-Inhibited (Ex): An Exuha's spells, spell-like abilities, powers, and psi-like abilities are weakened. Thy take a -1 penalty to their caster and manifester levels, to a minimum of 1, which often makes them ineligible to cast their highest-level spells. (For example, a 3rd-level Exuha Wizard could not cast Scorching Ray, because their caster level of 2 would be too low. However, they could cast it upon reaching caster level 4.)
Telepathic Touch (Su): An Exuha can communicate telepathically with any creature they are physically touching. If they remain in contact with a creature for 10 minutes, they can communicate telepathically with them at a distance of up to 100 ft until they choose to sever the mental connection as a swift action. Both forms of Telepathic Touch require a shared language.
Mindfeel (Su): An Exuha is vaguely aware of telepathic or psychic fields around them.
- While an Exuha is within the Telepathy range of any creature, they can pinpoint that creature and learn information about them, as the Mindsight feat (LoM). This has a maximum range of 10 miles.
- An Exuha is automatically aware of the exact locations of all other Exuhi within 100 feet, as well as the locations of anyone they have a mental connection with via Telepathic Touch, provided they are on the same plane.
Favored Class: Binder.
Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Gnome, Dwarf, Elven.
Level Adjustment: +0
Isp
Demigod (Divine Rank 2)
Symbol: White stick-figure humanoid in a disk of black
Home Plane: Twin Paradises of Bytopia
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Exuhi, Darkness, Sleep
Worshipers: Exuhi, Good-aligned darkness-dwellers, onieromancers
Domains: Dream, Mind, Planning, Sloth, Darkness
Favoured Weapon: Dagger
Isp was the Exuha that began the rebellion against the zern enclave that created the Exuhi. Little is known about her divine ascension, but it happened a few days after they all escaped. It is thought that she was experimented on further by the zern, using the flesh of powerful outsiders such as solars and concordant killers, which mingled and led to a spark of divinity inside her.
---
Exuhi
Exuhi (singular: Exuha), the "Tired Ones", are an escaped batch of zern experiments. Unlike most zern experiments, the alterations to their forms are mostly in their minds. Their bodies have difficulty supporting their mental grafts, but when they can stay awake, Exuhi excel in their gifts. The zern crippled their ability to use magic to avoid a painful revolt (but the didn't prevent an escape), so while they have some of the brightest minds among the civilized races, they're still primarily constrained to use their weak bodies instead of using magic to stake a claim in the world.
Personality
Exuhi are, above all, tired. Easily exhausted and wanting--if not necessarily needing--much sleep, they have difficulty just keeping up with most races. They overwhelmingly prefer non-physical solutions to problems and avoid violence, preferring to spend their lives in thought. Exuhi are generally skittish, yet social--willing to communicate with people they don't find intimidating. They value their leisure time, seeing at as necessary for a healthy mind, often spending it in sleep, meditation, or "cleaning"--simple, repetitive activity that doesn't require much physical exertion.
Physical Description
Any given Exuha is a humanoid between two and two-and-a-half feet tall, with spindly legs and arms. They stand poised on the balls of their feet instead of letting their heels touch the ground, which usually means that they wear personalized shoes. Their shoulders are particularly wide for their body. Green-and-black patterns akin to malachite rock intertwine with what would otherwise be porcelean-white skin, making Ehuxi look tattooed all over. Hair of the same green-and-black patterning grows along their arms and head--including forehead--but nowhere else on their body.
Given their mental talents, one would expect Exuhi to have oversized craniums, but they don't--much of their brain function is distributed along the patterning of their skin.
Relations
Exuhi do not much get along with the common races--as intellectuals that tire easily, they don't have much in common with gnomes, halflings, dwarves, half-orcs, or even humans, for that matter. Even intellectual humans tend to have have some kind of endurance of the mind; Exuhi lack even that. Exuhi sometimes try to get along with elves--gray elves in particular--but elves usually detest them as weak children with no respect for elven culture.
Alignment
Exuhi are only recent escapees from the zern. Their vagabond existence leads most to be chaotic, but they have a leaning towards good.
Lands
Exuhi live more-or-less alone in the world, preferring small caves as their settlements--there, they can sleep in the darkness without worrying about monsters from, say, the Underdark. Sometimes a group will gather and live in the forgotten or abandoned areas of metropolitan homes of the common races--they yearn for the mental stimulus of books, bards, and beauty that can be found in cities, but they like to stay in dark places where they likely won't be disturbed form sleep.
Religion
There doesn't seem to be a particular reason, but Exuhi often revere Boccob, the Uncaring. However, he comes second to a racial diety: Isp. See the last section of this text.
Language
Exuha prefer to use their telepathic touch to communicate, but otherwise, they don't see the point of languages other than Common.
Names
Exuhi recycle small sets of monosyllabic names starting in a vowel, since they don't regard the labels as particularly important. Among Exuhi, they can just feel another Exuhi's mind to understand their individuality, and among non-Exuhi, the only function of their name is a "hey, you". Exuhi names are unisex.
Sample Names: Ath, Ont, Oot, Elz, Ink, Octh, Isp (Exuhi don't care about reusing their god's name)
Adventurers
An Exuha adventurer is rare indeed; they are not usually up to the energetic lifestyle. However, sometimes one will become an adventurer simply because they've found that they get along with a group that happens to be adventuring in the first place. Adventurers can have many motives, and most of them apply to an Exuha; they're simply hard to motivate into a profession that requires extreme bursts of energy.
Racial Traits
+2 Intelligence, -2 Strength: Exuhi have extremely powerful minds--they were the brains behind many zern operations--but their small bodies are weak.
Small size
Land speed: 30 feet.
Humanoid type: Exuhi are basically human-shaped, if very small.
+2 to Intelligence checks and Intelligence-based checks: Exuhi are expert planners.
Blind-Fight (Ex): Exuhi gain Blind-Fight as a bonus feat, as they are used to living in the dark.
Easily Tired (Ex): Exuhi take a -4 penalty on the following checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage, Constitution checks made to continue running, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, Constitution checks made to hold their breath, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst, Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments, and Fortitude saves made to resist damage from suffocation. Also, they become fatigued if they sleep in light or heavier armor; they must be unarmored to avoid fatigue in this way.
The Endurance feat does not have its normal benefit for an Exuha. Instead, it suppresses this racial trait.
Exuha prefer to sleep for 16 hours a day due to their bodies' inhibited physical ability, but they do not actually require more than 8 hours.
Magic-Inhibited (Ex): An Exuha's spells, spell-like abilities, powers, and psi-like abilities are weakened. Thy take a -1 penalty to their caster and manifester levels, to a minimum of 1, which often makes them ineligible to cast their highest-level spells. (For example, a 3rd-level Exuha Wizard could not cast Scorching Ray, because their caster level of 2 would be too low. However, they could cast it upon reaching caster level 4.)
Telepathic Touch (Su): An Exuha can communicate telepathically with any creature they are physically touching. If they remain in contact with a creature for 10 minutes, they can communicate telepathically with them at a distance of up to 100 ft until they choose to sever the mental connection as a swift action. Both forms of Telepathic Touch require a shared language.
Mindfeel (Su): An Exuha is vaguely aware of telepathic or psychic fields around them.
- While an Exuha is within the Telepathy range of any creature, they can pinpoint that creature and learn information about them, as the Mindsight feat (LoM). This has a maximum range of 10 miles.
- An Exuha is automatically aware of the exact locations of all other Exuhi within 100 feet, as well as the locations of anyone they have a mental connection with via Telepathic Touch, provided they are on the same plane.
Favored Class: Binder.
Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: Gnome, Dwarf, Elven.
Level Adjustment: +0
Isp
Demigod (Divine Rank 2)
Symbol: White stick-figure humanoid in a disk of black
Home Plane: Twin Paradises of Bytopia
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Exuhi, Darkness, Sleep
Worshipers: Exuhi, Good-aligned darkness-dwellers, onieromancers
Domains: Dream, Mind, Planning, Sloth, Darkness
Favoured Weapon: Dagger
Isp was the Exuha that began the rebellion against the zern enclave that created the Exuhi. Little is known about her divine ascension, but it happened a few days after they all escaped. It is thought that she was experimented on further by the zern, using the flesh of powerful outsiders such as solars and concordant killers, which mingled and led to a spark of divinity inside her.