roadkiller
2007-03-01, 08:40 PM
The Norat and Biski are two of the three races that I created for a world that will probably never be used. The world is based around the Magical Wonders, the two dealt with here are the Great Tree and the Great Dark Pillar (which was actually a really thick tube). Previous to the dispursal of the Great Dark Pillar, the worlds magic had all been locked nearly inaccessably into the Magical Wonders or held by the gods. Through a mishap after leaving the Village in the Dark (the first group of people to leave it), one of the expedition brought the Great Dark Pillar down, releasing it's magic back into the world. The Great Tree is a magically maintained tree which is several hundred miles in radius and reaches into the upper atmosphere (I've got a gun, leave the catgirls alone). Yes, it's a squat tree. All right, background out of the way, here we go:
Norat (Small Humanoid)
"Don't go into Chin-Norat territory, boy. They missed the news that the war's been over for three-hundred years, and they'll still kill you without a second thought."
Description and Attitude-
The Norat resemble savage halflings with fingernails grown into small claws for climbing, but useable as weapons. Their legs, used for jumping are bunched and end in wicked toe claws, which they use to dig into the Bark of the Great Tree. The Norat tend to be slow on the ground, but move at amazing speeds climbing and jumping in the huge branches of the Great Tree. They are nimble and tough to harm in defense from the giant eagles and hawks that have adapted to the strange environment. They are very short lived, coming to age at 4 years old and living for up to 22 years.
The Norat are generally rough, rude and brutally honest, often getting themselves alienated from the whole of society. Of course, they don't think so; to them it is either indifference or respect. For other races, these are hard to tell apart even to those who have lived their entire lives amongst them.
Even though the Great Tree reaches lofty heights, it is still nothing compared to the open sky. The Norat, often uncomfortable on the ground even under the Great Tree for instinctal fear of airborne predators, usually take to the middle of their lives to finally leave the edges of the lowhanging branches of the Great Tree.
Society-
Norat society is similar to that of chimpanzees. The size of their communities vary from 30 to over 200. These are usually based aroung a small core of the strongest or smartest males, whichever helps them defeat their rivals most effectively. The usually tend to stay within a few miles of their territory under the Great Tree.
While they do occasionally leave their home communities, it is very rare and they usually stay in another community of Norat. Occasionally one will, overcoming an intense instinctive fear of the open, venture out from the protective cover of the Great Tree. These usually return within a few years to give stories of the outside world, providing the societies with information that the communities will use for years. Often the information becomes outdated before more news comes, occasionally causing deadly misunderstandings.
The Norat speak common, often in archaic dialects, and their own unique language, which uses the elven alphabet.
Stats-
+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Wis, -2 Int, -2 Cha
The Norat are nimble and tough, but not very smart or friendly.
Speed-
Base 20, Climb 40
The Norat are not particularly comfortable on the ground, but move at high speeds through branches.
Racial Abilities-
+10 racial bonuses to climb and jump checks.
Claws- The Norat have two claw attacks, dealing 1d2 points each, with the small claws on their hands. These attacks are considered armed and do not provoke and attack of opportunity.
Leap (Ex)- The Norat are build for springing from branch to branch. A Norat is always considered to have made a running start when it makes a Jump check, even if it is standing still.
Pounce (Ex)-If a Norat leaps upon a foe during the first round of combat, it can make a full attack even if it has already taken a move action.
Rake (Ex)- A Norat that pounces on an opponent can make two rake attacks with its hind legs for 1d6 slashing damage each.
Favored Class-
Barbarian
Alignment-
Usually True Neutral
---------------
Biski (Medium Humanoid)
"Sir, do you remember those things that we thought were just bigger versions of the mock-spiders on the way through the Dark?"
"Yes. Why?"
"They're yelling for you from just beyond sight in the Dark."
"Say, what? Oh gods, first we see strange ships in the distance and now we've got some intellegent mock-spiders! Next thing you know, I'll be taking down the Dark with my own two hands!"
-Sevo Lathram, dismantler of the Great Dark Pillar.
Description and Attitude-
Resembling giant fuzzy daddy-longlegs, the Biski have small (halfling sized) bodies relative to their four unnaturally long and gaunt limbs, ending in long fingered hands and wide feet. Their small torsos are about equal in size with their heads, which end up about level with a human's. Their heads are dominated by their relatively huge eyes and their powerful, plated mouth. Originally their eyes had been black and used for finding the faintly luminescent fungi in the Great Dark Pillar, but once the Great Dark Pillar was dissipated, the light blinded them and their eyes turned a milky white. Their entire bodies are covered in sensitive foot-long hairs which did their seeing for them in the Great Dark Pillar and continue to do so after its dispursal. The Biski live to be ancient, reaching maturity at 200 and living for up to 1,400 years.
Living longer than even elves, they Biski tend to be genial and intellegent, but very eccentric, becoming more so as they age. They often pick up strange habits that seem to come from nowhere and serve absolutely no purpose. These usually have a story behind them, but are often farfetched in their reasoning about it. The Biski have particular loves for musical and tactile arts, and several artists have become very sucessful in making sculptures, carvings and etchings meant to be felt and not seen.
Society-
Bisiki society preceding the dispursal of the Great Dark Pillar is only called one because they insist upon it. Individuals loosely associated with one another, more as friends than as neighbors. They all lived separately spread through the darkness, as a large concentration would strip the land bear of their luminescent fungus food in a matter of days, while, spread out, the fungus had time to recover. A compulsion by the gods forced them to watch the Town in the Dark, though none of them understood why. They maintained watches at the edges of Town in the Dark mostly through volunteers looking to relieve the monotony. It is widely known that they played a large part in having the Great Dark Pillar brought down, though no one really knows why, as those that helped died in the process.
After the dispursal, however, blinded and with their precious fungus dead , they integrated into the societies of the Lands Between. They found that fruits, vegetables and fungi that grew in the Lands Between could sustain them in the absense of their own fungus. A few of the eldest stayed behind to watch the Town in the Dark, though out of habit and not compulsion.
The Biski speak common with a strange grinding accecent that never goes away and their own unique, unwritten language which, while possible to understand, cannot be reproduced by any other known races.
Stats-
+2 Int, +2 Cha, -2 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Con
The Biski are genial and intellegent, but their extraordinarily long limbs are unwieldy, weak and frail.
Speed-
Base 30
Racial Abilities-
The long whisker-like hairs covering their body are sensitive to vibrations in the air, providing a +5 bonus to listen checks.
Bite- The plated mouths of the Biski were originally designed to scrape a moss-like fungus off of rocks by scraping the top layer of the rock off is sufficiently powerful to do damage, but, due to its construction, its full potential as a weapon cannot be realized. This provides the Biski with a bite attack dealing 1d4 damage, which acts as an armed attack and does not provide an attack of opportunity.
Blindsight (Ex)- The Biski are covered in long whisker-like hairs which are sensitive to vibrations in the air, providing them with blindsight to 30 ft. The hairs can be used to see fine details by gently running them over a surface. This can be used to examine most traps without activating them.
Spell-Like Abilities (Su)-Due to the closeness of the Biski to their original home of the Great Dark Pillar, now providing arcane casters with their magic, the Biski can call upon distant remains of the Great Dark Pillar and summon darkness.
Darkness- Once per week, the Biski can cast Darkness as a 3rd level caster.Sight of Home (Su)- The Biski have the ability to sense the remnants of the Great Dark Pillar. This acts as a continual Detect Magic spell requiring no concentration. Not limited by their lack of sight, it appears as a glow in their minds. It can be activated and deactivated as a standard action, though most keep it continually activated.
Favored Class-
Sorceror
Alignment-
Usually Neutral Good
-------------------
Because the Biski need to see a bit further, I made this spell for them. Might as well make it a fun party trick for the non-Biski too.
Intensify Feeling
Universal
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: See Text
Target: Self
Duration: See Text
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Your hairs become extremely sensitive to vibrations in the air. A creature that already has blindsight due to hair sensitivity has its effective blindsight range doubled. A creature without blindsight has any hair longer than three inches stand on end, providing it with blind sight up to 1 foot of the hair. This lasts for one hour.
At third level, the range increases to triple original blindsight, three feet for no original blindsight and the duration increases to two hours.
At fifth level, the range increases to quadruple original blindsight, five feet for no blindsight (Yes, you can tell when something is right next to you!) and the duration increases to three hours.
At seventh and tenth levels, the duration increases to four hours and five hours, respectively.
--------------
Yes, there is far too much thought put into the background, but they had been half-formed for quite some time. I just finally decided to stat them. I was hoping to keep them within the L+0 to +1 range. Comments, suggestions, brains, I'll take them all.
EDIT:: Oh yes, I'm running on 3.0 and peicemeal 3.5, so some things my be a bit screwy
Norat (Small Humanoid)
"Don't go into Chin-Norat territory, boy. They missed the news that the war's been over for three-hundred years, and they'll still kill you without a second thought."
Description and Attitude-
The Norat resemble savage halflings with fingernails grown into small claws for climbing, but useable as weapons. Their legs, used for jumping are bunched and end in wicked toe claws, which they use to dig into the Bark of the Great Tree. The Norat tend to be slow on the ground, but move at amazing speeds climbing and jumping in the huge branches of the Great Tree. They are nimble and tough to harm in defense from the giant eagles and hawks that have adapted to the strange environment. They are very short lived, coming to age at 4 years old and living for up to 22 years.
The Norat are generally rough, rude and brutally honest, often getting themselves alienated from the whole of society. Of course, they don't think so; to them it is either indifference or respect. For other races, these are hard to tell apart even to those who have lived their entire lives amongst them.
Even though the Great Tree reaches lofty heights, it is still nothing compared to the open sky. The Norat, often uncomfortable on the ground even under the Great Tree for instinctal fear of airborne predators, usually take to the middle of their lives to finally leave the edges of the lowhanging branches of the Great Tree.
Society-
Norat society is similar to that of chimpanzees. The size of their communities vary from 30 to over 200. These are usually based aroung a small core of the strongest or smartest males, whichever helps them defeat their rivals most effectively. The usually tend to stay within a few miles of their territory under the Great Tree.
While they do occasionally leave their home communities, it is very rare and they usually stay in another community of Norat. Occasionally one will, overcoming an intense instinctive fear of the open, venture out from the protective cover of the Great Tree. These usually return within a few years to give stories of the outside world, providing the societies with information that the communities will use for years. Often the information becomes outdated before more news comes, occasionally causing deadly misunderstandings.
The Norat speak common, often in archaic dialects, and their own unique language, which uses the elven alphabet.
Stats-
+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Wis, -2 Int, -2 Cha
The Norat are nimble and tough, but not very smart or friendly.
Speed-
Base 20, Climb 40
The Norat are not particularly comfortable on the ground, but move at high speeds through branches.
Racial Abilities-
+10 racial bonuses to climb and jump checks.
Claws- The Norat have two claw attacks, dealing 1d2 points each, with the small claws on their hands. These attacks are considered armed and do not provoke and attack of opportunity.
Leap (Ex)- The Norat are build for springing from branch to branch. A Norat is always considered to have made a running start when it makes a Jump check, even if it is standing still.
Pounce (Ex)-If a Norat leaps upon a foe during the first round of combat, it can make a full attack even if it has already taken a move action.
Rake (Ex)- A Norat that pounces on an opponent can make two rake attacks with its hind legs for 1d6 slashing damage each.
Favored Class-
Barbarian
Alignment-
Usually True Neutral
---------------
Biski (Medium Humanoid)
"Sir, do you remember those things that we thought were just bigger versions of the mock-spiders on the way through the Dark?"
"Yes. Why?"
"They're yelling for you from just beyond sight in the Dark."
"Say, what? Oh gods, first we see strange ships in the distance and now we've got some intellegent mock-spiders! Next thing you know, I'll be taking down the Dark with my own two hands!"
-Sevo Lathram, dismantler of the Great Dark Pillar.
Description and Attitude-
Resembling giant fuzzy daddy-longlegs, the Biski have small (halfling sized) bodies relative to their four unnaturally long and gaunt limbs, ending in long fingered hands and wide feet. Their small torsos are about equal in size with their heads, which end up about level with a human's. Their heads are dominated by their relatively huge eyes and their powerful, plated mouth. Originally their eyes had been black and used for finding the faintly luminescent fungi in the Great Dark Pillar, but once the Great Dark Pillar was dissipated, the light blinded them and their eyes turned a milky white. Their entire bodies are covered in sensitive foot-long hairs which did their seeing for them in the Great Dark Pillar and continue to do so after its dispursal. The Biski live to be ancient, reaching maturity at 200 and living for up to 1,400 years.
Living longer than even elves, they Biski tend to be genial and intellegent, but very eccentric, becoming more so as they age. They often pick up strange habits that seem to come from nowhere and serve absolutely no purpose. These usually have a story behind them, but are often farfetched in their reasoning about it. The Biski have particular loves for musical and tactile arts, and several artists have become very sucessful in making sculptures, carvings and etchings meant to be felt and not seen.
Society-
Bisiki society preceding the dispursal of the Great Dark Pillar is only called one because they insist upon it. Individuals loosely associated with one another, more as friends than as neighbors. They all lived separately spread through the darkness, as a large concentration would strip the land bear of their luminescent fungus food in a matter of days, while, spread out, the fungus had time to recover. A compulsion by the gods forced them to watch the Town in the Dark, though none of them understood why. They maintained watches at the edges of Town in the Dark mostly through volunteers looking to relieve the monotony. It is widely known that they played a large part in having the Great Dark Pillar brought down, though no one really knows why, as those that helped died in the process.
After the dispursal, however, blinded and with their precious fungus dead , they integrated into the societies of the Lands Between. They found that fruits, vegetables and fungi that grew in the Lands Between could sustain them in the absense of their own fungus. A few of the eldest stayed behind to watch the Town in the Dark, though out of habit and not compulsion.
The Biski speak common with a strange grinding accecent that never goes away and their own unique, unwritten language which, while possible to understand, cannot be reproduced by any other known races.
Stats-
+2 Int, +2 Cha, -2 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Con
The Biski are genial and intellegent, but their extraordinarily long limbs are unwieldy, weak and frail.
Speed-
Base 30
Racial Abilities-
The long whisker-like hairs covering their body are sensitive to vibrations in the air, providing a +5 bonus to listen checks.
Bite- The plated mouths of the Biski were originally designed to scrape a moss-like fungus off of rocks by scraping the top layer of the rock off is sufficiently powerful to do damage, but, due to its construction, its full potential as a weapon cannot be realized. This provides the Biski with a bite attack dealing 1d4 damage, which acts as an armed attack and does not provide an attack of opportunity.
Blindsight (Ex)- The Biski are covered in long whisker-like hairs which are sensitive to vibrations in the air, providing them with blindsight to 30 ft. The hairs can be used to see fine details by gently running them over a surface. This can be used to examine most traps without activating them.
Spell-Like Abilities (Su)-Due to the closeness of the Biski to their original home of the Great Dark Pillar, now providing arcane casters with their magic, the Biski can call upon distant remains of the Great Dark Pillar and summon darkness.
Darkness- Once per week, the Biski can cast Darkness as a 3rd level caster.Sight of Home (Su)- The Biski have the ability to sense the remnants of the Great Dark Pillar. This acts as a continual Detect Magic spell requiring no concentration. Not limited by their lack of sight, it appears as a glow in their minds. It can be activated and deactivated as a standard action, though most keep it continually activated.
Favored Class-
Sorceror
Alignment-
Usually Neutral Good
-------------------
Because the Biski need to see a bit further, I made this spell for them. Might as well make it a fun party trick for the non-Biski too.
Intensify Feeling
Universal
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: See Text
Target: Self
Duration: See Text
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Your hairs become extremely sensitive to vibrations in the air. A creature that already has blindsight due to hair sensitivity has its effective blindsight range doubled. A creature without blindsight has any hair longer than three inches stand on end, providing it with blind sight up to 1 foot of the hair. This lasts for one hour.
At third level, the range increases to triple original blindsight, three feet for no original blindsight and the duration increases to two hours.
At fifth level, the range increases to quadruple original blindsight, five feet for no blindsight (Yes, you can tell when something is right next to you!) and the duration increases to three hours.
At seventh and tenth levels, the duration increases to four hours and five hours, respectively.
--------------
Yes, there is far too much thought put into the background, but they had been half-formed for quite some time. I just finally decided to stat them. I was hoping to keep them within the L+0 to +1 range. Comments, suggestions, brains, I'll take them all.
EDIT:: Oh yes, I'm running on 3.0 and peicemeal 3.5, so some things my be a bit screwy