Crimson Tower Races(Grimalkyn & Mageborn)

[Aleron]

Campaign World <CW>

Basic Info

Grimalkyn are one of only 3 native races on <CW>, the other 2 being the Mageborn and Mageblind Humans. They originally came from the southern reaches and were, until the arrival of the "Others", considered not worth the attention of the Mageborn. After the Others arrival, and the near simultaneous at the Crimson Towers the Grimalkyn have grown as a species, no longer scattered tribes spread and roaming around the forests and jungles. A little known Spirit Shaman brought the tribes together and forged what would be the first and to this day only Grimalkyn nation and founded their first true city, ((Dang filter killed the city name. It is "S h i t a r"). Partially built, partially grown with help from their new Elven friends from the forests it is situated in.

Personality

Younger than any of the other races, besides perhaps the Mageblind, the Grimalkyn have finally found an identity as a race. Due to their relative youth as a culture many Grimalkyn are shy, quiet and long thinking when deal with the other races, however they are open and outspoken among other Grimalkyn, and to a lesser extent the few humans that have settled along their border.

Physical Description

Grimalkyn are generally slightly smaller than their human counterparts and are covered in a fine but dense fur ranging all the normal feline colors and patterns. One of the aspects that most other races find difficult to get used to are the Grimalkyn's tails. Grimalkyn have greater control of their tails than a normal feline does and they also retain a set of retractable claws on their hands along with sharp teeth.
Male Grimalkyn stand, on average, 4 to 6 inches taller than their female counterparts.

Relations

Grimalkyn find they have most in common the graceful elves that now border their southern lands, and the "new" humans that arrived with the rest of the "Others". The grace of the elves rivals their own and they share an elongated lifespan, while the humans seems as kindred spirits, and the only race that wholly accepted the Grimalkyn. There have even been a few Grimalkyn-Human unions, however none have, as yet, resulted in any offspring.

While there isn't any animosity between the Dwarfs and the Grimalkyn, neither truly understand each other. For the Grimalkyn it's unthinkable that anyone would choose to live underground away from the sunlight, while the Dwarfs find it equally odd that anyone would trust their footing in a city built in the trees.

The Mageborn and Mageblind still see the Grimalkyn as savages and a nuisance to be tolerated and ignored, nothing more. The have at least however acknowledged their sentience, though more from necessity than from any sense of right or compassion.

Alignment

Grimalkyn have a sense of wonder about life and the world around them that tends to sway them away from the path of evil, though possibly not good and corrupt Grimalkyn aren't unheard of. They have no particular bent towards Law or Chaos.

Lands

The Grimalkyn nation lay along the southern coast of <Campaign World Continent> and include a range of climates, but is mainly Jungle and forest lands. They only have one true city, built high in the branches of the Thaln Forrest, ****ar

Languages

Grimalkyn speak common, though with an almost guttural tone. They also speak their own language < Grimalkyn Language > consisting of hisses and purs. Only known among other Grimalkyn all Grimalkyn share a minor telepathic bond allowing them to send images to one another at will.

Stats

• +4 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Grimalkyn base land speed is 30 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: An Grimalkyn can see three times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She looses the ability to distinguish color but not detail under these conditions.
• +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search and Spot checks and a +4 Bonus on Climb checks
• -2 racial negative on Slight of Hand and Swim checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common and <Grimalkyn Language>.
• Favored Class: Spirit Shaman; Male, Ranger; Female
• All Grimalkyn start with the Blind Fight feat for free
• +1 LA

[Aleron]

Basic Info

The Mageborn are very much what they sound like. Every child is born with an inherent connection to arcane powers of the world and the most powerful magi in <CW> are of Mageborn lineage. Being one of three native races to <CW>, and by far the most established there, they have a rather high outlook on themselves. The Mageborn ruled the known world, or what they cared to rule from the seat of civilization, the Crimson Towers. They were originally ruled by a small circle of Incantifiers (Dragon magazine 339), Magi that had discovered a path to immortality if not invulnerability, they lived in relative peace for millennia.

No one knows what caused the destruction of the Towers or the city Tallen around them, but it changed the race from then on.

Personality

Mageborn believe themselves superior to all those around them aside from other Mageborn, and perhaps the Mageblind and "mundane” humans. Even after these last 3 millennia with the outsiders they still find them almost beneath their notice, or would like to, and are quick to attempt to assume command of whenever group with the other races.

Physical Description

The Mageborn look, for all intents and purposes like an ordinary human. They have the same height and weight range, the same hair colors. Their eyes however are what makes them different, and is the telling mark of Mageborn. All Mageborn have silver eyes that when in sunlight have a tendency to reflect light and look as if they’re glowing.

Mageborn are incapable of touching Divine Magic. They can be affected by it, but can never channel divine power.

Relations

While the Mageborn look at no one as equals they treat both the Mageblind, with who they share a common ancestry, and the “Mundanes” as they call them, with only slight amounts of disdain. They seem to almost pity the Halflings, though why is anyone’s guess.

As to the other more magically inclined newcomer races, the Dwarves, Elves and Gnomes the Mageborn find contemptuous. These races have the audacity, in the eyes of a Mageborn that is, to attempt arts above themselves. The Dwarves hold more contempt in their eyes for attempting to excavate areas around the ruins of Tallen shortly after arriving on <CW>.

The Grimalkyn, also being one of the native races of <CW> are an issue for the Mageborn. It’s believed by some in the community that the Mageborn Incantifiers created the Grimalkyn, those most disregard this as legend. Some still think of them as a nomadic semi-sentient race not worthy of being acknowledged. However with the arrival of the Others the Grimalkyn seem to have taken on a sentience and awareness much like the that of the Mageborn and Mageblind, thought none give much merit to anything a Grimalkyn has to say.

Alignment

The Mageborn are an incredibly pragmatic race, and little in the world holds little wonder for them due to their inborn magical qualities, leaving them to hold a more neutral stance between good and evil. Also on the line between Law and Chaos the tent lean towards the more structured and orderly path of Law, which aids in the casting of their magics.

Lands

Before the destruction of the Towers and the Arrival the Mageborn Imperia spread from the eastern to the western coastlines, and from the just north of the Thaln Forests to the Shardscale Mountains in the North.

With the destruction of the Towers however the greatest concentration of Mageborn has been eliminated, as well as their most power city. They were also further depleted with the emergence of the Mageblind from their ranks. Now the remnants of the Mageborn Imperia inhabit the area far to east, centered on the city of Olimaria. The surrounding lands have been magically shaped and consist of mainly plains lands and rolling hills.

Languages

The Mageborn speak common, however they are capable of learning any language they are presented with with enough study.

Stats

• +4 Intelligence, -2 Charisma.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, Mageborn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Mageborn base land speed is 30 feet.
• The following skill are always considered class skills for Mageborn: Use Magic Device, Knowledge: Arcana, and Spellcraft
• +2 racial bonus on Knowledge: Arcana and Spellcraft checks and a +4 racial Bonus to Use Magic Device checks
• -4 racial penalty on Diplomacy to all races except Human and the Mageblind. They have a -2 racial penalty to those races
• Automatic Languages: Common Bonus Languages: Any except Secret Languages(Druidic)
• Favored Class: Wizard
• Prohibited Class: Any Divine Caster
• Each Mageborn begins with one of the following feats(Found in Complete Arcane) chosen at 1st level: Communicator, Insightful, Necropolis Born, Night Haunt, Soul of the North, Spell Hand
• +1 LA

[Aleron]

I'm going to be updating this post little by little till I have the Mageblind done. Feel free to critique what I have up, but know it's still in the prelimanary stages.

Basic Info

The Mageblind are the last of the native races on Taseril, if you want to call them a seperate race. The Mageblind are, in many ways "cousins" to the Mageborn, though none are truely certine how the race came to be. All that is known is that shortly before the arrival of the "Others" and after the destruction of the Crimson Towers many of the Mageborn began to loose their abilities with the Arcane, while at the same time feeling a tremendous surge of energy and power that they had no way to describe. Many among this new population, now being called the Mageblind, believed that the Incantifier's drive for power had finally gone too far and brought about the prediciment their world now faced.

The Mageblind were far from crippled however, as many were soon to learn.

Physical Description

The Mageblind look, for all intents and purposes like an ordinary human. They have the same height and weight range, the same hair colors. Their hair however is what makes them different, and is the telling mark of Mageblind. All Mageblind have silvery-white hair that is sometimes mistaken for spun silver

Mageblind are incapable of touching Arcane Magic. They can be affected by it, but can never channel arcane power.

Personality

The Mageblind are more tollerant of the other races on Taseril than their Mageborn cousins, if only slightly. They share the same aloofness where it comes to the Grimalkyn, but hold no real animosity towards the other races. To this day they still don't know the true origins of their altered abilities, and much energy is spent trying to divine an anwser to this question.

Relations

The Mageblind don't have the same trouble as thier cousins in dealing with the "Others", and have especailly welcomed the "Mundanes", the new human arrivals to Taseril with whom they have established a close spiritual, and political bond. The Mageborn tend to look at them with pity for having lost their abilities in the Arcane, and that attitude bothers the Mageblind, though some in different ways. The majority of 'Blind society tries to ignore this, but there are some who are taking more radical actions.

The Mageblind hold the Dwarves, who not even a hundred years after arival started excavating the areas around Tallen and the Towers with a particular contempt. When at first the Dwarves refused to stop, the Mageblind, along with their cousins started a Crusade against them, which was only halted after negotiation worked out by the Mundanes. However to this day there is still much resentment and bitterness flowing both ways.

Luckly the misadventures with the Dwarves wern't repeated with the other newcommers. There is very little tension aside from what normally exists between different races on any other world.

Many of the Mageblind look down on the Grimalkyn however, tolerating them and believing them little better than the other "savage" races on Taseril such as the Orc, Gnoll and Goblins. While individual Grimalkyn may be respected by some, or even many of the 'Blind, they are considered the exception for their race, not the norm.

Alignment

While Mageblind can be of any alignment, just as mundane humans, they tend to more often aligned with Good. Evil Mageblind tend to keep a low profile because while not hunted or even hated, they often become ostricised and made to feel unwelcome.

Lands

When the Mageblind first started apearing their largest concentration was in Ti'Jonar, one of the western most cities of the Mageborn Impreia. Many Mageblind fled to the city after their change, and before long was considered the capital of the Theocracy that established rule o fthe new Mageblind nation. Much of the land surrounding the capital is in the foothills of the Dragonshard Mountians and give way to plains and grasslands beyond.

Languages

All Mageblind speak common, however they are capable of learning any language they are presented with with enough study.

Stats

• +4 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, Mageborn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Mageblind base land speed is 30 feet.
• The following skill are always considered class skills for Mageblind: Knowledge: Religon, and Spellcraft
• +2 racial bonus on Knowledge: Religon and Spellcraft checks
• Automatic Languages: Common Bonus Languages: Any except Secret Languages(Druidic)
• Favored Class: ???(not Cleric...favored Soul?)
• Prohibited Class: Any Arcane Caster(Includes things like Artificers & Pact Magic Users)
• Mageblind may Turn/Rebuke Undead as a cleric equal to thier effective character level level. If a Mageblind gains the ability to turn/rebuke undead due to class levels, add half their ECL rounded down to their class level to determine the strength of their turn/rebuke. This is a supernatural(Divine?) ability.

[Aleron]

No comments...Anyone :(

Kidding, just trying to get some idea of what the general public thinks.

[black dragoon]

So far so good I don't see any major glitches with these two but have they been playtested yet? That can really help with any balance issues I may have overlooked.

[Aleron]

Nope, that I haven't done. Tried to let my DM sneak a Grimalkyn(The feline race) into our current campaign when my old character died, but was turned down. :( I'm going to go in and edit these with updates made since the origonal posting...forgot to update here

[black dragoon]

See if you can't test them in the Pc boards I think there may be an arena somewhere in there.

[Atticus Bleak]

This is funny,a wizard i play sometimes acually has an intelligent talking cat as his familiar that walks upright with a cane, because i've always liked the idea of a grimalken or greymalken whichever you prefer. Now i think i have to roll up one of these, with your permission?

Yours,
Atticus Bleak

[Aleron]

This is funny,a wizard i play sometimes acually has an intelligent talking cat as his familiar that walks upright with a cane, because i've always liked the idea of a grimalken or greymalken whichever you prefer. Now i think i have to roll up one of these, with your permission?

Yours,
Atticus Bleak

Feel free, just let me know how this works out for you if you do.

[black dragoon]

One down two to go! WOOT!

[Aleron]

One down two to go! WOOT!

Eh? You get a chance to test one of em? Sorry for the spuradic updates...trying to knock out the fluff at least while I'm at work. Currently trying to keep this from the black hole that is the back of my mind(Where my 3 M:tG sets are sitting atm) while trying to help my friend flesh out her campaign, edit her story(based on a previous campaign), juggle wife, kids, ect...my head is trying to asplode!

[black dragoon]

Know the feeling. Three hours and ninety bucks i'll never see again. Oh well it happens I'm gonna try updating Kiirlahnis today.

[Aleron]

Mageblind fluff is done, at least in the initial "Hey, I got it down on paper...sorta!" stage. Working on Crunch, including how to exactly work their in build magical power. There's unfortunately nothing of a divine counterpart to the Complete Arcane free spell feats :(

[black dragoon]

Looks good, I assume the incantefiers had a hand in their creation. Perhaps they may not be able to use magic but rather eat it or a little bit of every spell sent their way that way they can lessen blows thrown at them by spellslingers.

[Aleron]

Well, the Mageblind can't use arcane magic, but they have an inate connection to Divine magic like the Mageborn have with Arcane. Yes, in a way the Incantifiers did have a hand in their creation, just as they had a hand in the Grimalkyn's cultural senceof identity and the sudden influx of races. What they don't know is these races were brought in from from other worlds, and there are races that were brought in, but haven't yet showed themselves such as teh Drow and Drugar(sp?).

What I'm looking for on the Mageblind is a way to show, mechanically, that they have a connection to and understanding of divine magic unlike anything any of the standard races have ever encountered.

Here is the, partially thought out stat block for the 'Blinds, far from done yet.

Stats

• +4 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, Mageborn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Mageblind base land speed is 30 feet.
• The following skill are always considered class skills for Mageblind: Knowledge: Religon, and Spellcraft
• +2 racial bonus on Knowledge: Religon and Spellcraft checks
• Automatic Languages: Common Bonus Languages: Any except Secret Languages(Druidic)
• Favored Class: ???(not Cleric...favored Soul?)
• Prohibited Class: Any Arcane Caster(Includes things like Artificers & Pact Magic Users)

[black dragoon]

mabye a bounus to turn or rebuke(a minor one anyways) the reason I mentioned the magic eating is the nature of the incantefiers who actually eat magic(had a Inc lich NPC in a campaign once)

[Aleron]

mabye a bounus to turn or rebuke(a minor one anyways) the reason I mentioned the magic eating is the nature of the incantefiers who actually eat magic(had a Inc lich NPC in a campaign once)

Heh, I might actually give them an inate ability to turn/rebuke depending on alignment, and if they can due to class feature they would get a bonus on their turn/rebuke equal to half their ECL(so a 1st level Mageblind cleric would get a +1 bonus, a third level cleric would get a +2, ect...). This assuming that people say it needs a +1 LA. Thinking of giving them a built in Lay on Hands/Wholeness of Body type ability too. If the character is evil they can channel negitive evergy to harm the living...sound ok?

[black dragoon]

Sounds alright but both may just push it into +1 LA territory.

[Aleron]

Sounds alright but both may just push it into +1 LA territory.

Well, both other races are a +1 LA, so I'm not too worried

[black dragoon]

Well then go for it The +1 LA is really a small thing that I was worried may discourage players but since all three races are never mind.

[Aleron]

Ok, updated the Mageblind's stat block, gave them a built in turn/rebuke that stacks half on cleric levels. Let me know if it's worded right and if it looks viable.

[black dragoon]

I can't seem to find them. Added more to my races BTW.

[Aleron]

I can't seem to find them. Added more to my races BTW.

It's in post 3 under stats. I'll take a look here shortly.

[black dragoon]

Never mind found it. Looked at the wrong spot!

[black dragoon]

What about the other races? I know you've mentioned at least dwarves and elves what are these guys like? I wants to knows! more updating BTW

[Aleron]

Well, I'll post that up now then! :-P

Yes, the other "normal" fantasy races are present as well...well, most of them.

Humans(normal), Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings all were brought to the world from various other worlds. Yup, they were ripped wtrait out of other campaign settings like Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Eberon and Dragon Lance. No, not all of each race were ripped from the same universe, so you have FR, Eberon & Greyhawk elves all co-existing in the same universe. The same can be said of the other races as well. They have now however, for the most part, gathered into nation-states of their own kind and melded cultures. So the Elves from the other worlds now consider all elves(with sub race lines like normal) as the same. There are some variations with the subraces as is normal in all D&D games. Drow are Drow are Drow, though they have managed to stay in hiding from the other races.

Most of these people wern't missed as they were taken during times of upheavial in their worlds. The Eberon Elves, for instance we from a settlement believed destroyed early in the War of the Mark, but all 5000(aprox) of the settlement were wisked away, unharmed. As it is, the eldest of these elves are only the grandchildren of the origonals stolen from their world, and as such consider themselves wholy residents of Taseril and the grassland and forests of their new kindgom.

Much the same can be said about the other races, and I'll detail more on each races as time goes on. By the end of this weekend I'll try and have the elves portion of the tale completed.

[black dragoon]

Cool. working on fleshing out the half dwarf right now that'll be ready for critqueing soon.