Myiven
2006-08-13, 04:40 PM
After writing up the Myiven, which are the enigmatic forest race in my campaign, I tackled two other slots: the master smithy type race (which I labelled the Khorzud and am not entirely happy with yet), and the powerful magic-using race.
Magic-users in my campaign are limited in many ways, mostly because I want to keep the average power level of a party relatively low.
One thing I decided on was focusing on the prepared arcane Wizard type over the spontaneous Sorcerer, so I made the wizard race one with an Intelligence bonus. I decided my quirk for this race would be that they would have a total lack of serenity and wisdom typical of the usual Wizard races you see. These guys wield power for the purpose of using it, not for higher learning or the greater good or something like that. As such, they have a Wisdom penalty.
Without further ado, the Azhur:
The Azhur, or "Sea People" are an intelligent and boisterous race of mariners and islanders. The Azhur are known for their skills in navigation, astronomy, shipbuilding, and magic. Azhur often spend their entire lives on ships, visiting every port on Arde.
Personality: The Azhur are extremely intelligent, learned in the ways of magic and navigation, but are extremely brash and hotheaded. Azhur love the water more than anything else, and rarely travel far from it. The temper of an Azhur is like the sea: unpredictable and given to spurts of violent rage, but at times calm and peaceful. Azhur are amazing explorers and mariners, but cannot be tied down to one place for any length of time. Asking an Azhur to live in a human community is like inviting a tornado into your home. Azhur are very violent and quick-tempered, and will not hesitate to fight, many of them possessing magic.
Physical Description: Azhur are five to six feet tall, and lanky. Their forearms and calves are covered in scales, and their hands and feet are webbed. Azhur skin is pale bluish-green, and their hair is light green. Their eyes, ears and nostrils have flaps of translucent skin which slide over to protect them as they swim, and they have six gill slits in their neck. Azhur wear skintight white clothing, and much looser gray clothing over it, which they lose before diving into the water. Azhur tend to wear lots of jewelry, but only in a piercing. Azhur live 60 to 70 years.
Relations: Azhur travel everywhere, meet everyone, and fight everyone, though they have few wars. Azhur never organize together well enough to form an army. Azhur don't care for humans or Khorzud, but appreciate the capricious nature of the Myiven.
Alignment: Azhur mostly tend towards Chaotic alignments, the most common being Chaotic Neutral. Evil Azhur are quite common, roughly half the species tends to be violent to a fault.
Azhur Lands: If Azhur live on land, it is a river delta feeding into the sea, or an island chain. They never settle long enough to build cities, except harbor cities to support their ships. Most Azhur live on ships, and many never set foot on dry land their entire lives. Azhur live on fish, squid and seaweed, which they harvest as they travel and eat raw.
Religion: (note, this is keyed towards my homebrew campaign with a monotheistic system. A chaotic or evil sea god would be acceptable in another campaign) The patron angel of the Azhur is Zadkiel, the Angel of Mercy. While the merciful Zadkiel seems to be a poor match to the often brutish Azhur, he was the only one to see enough good in them to help them. Zadkiel's temple is in a human harbor town, but is tended by Azhur pilgrims who frequent the simple shrine. Zadkiel is one of the few patron angels who will allow himself to be summoned to advise his Clerics at sea.
Language: Azhur speak Common. When they began learning magic, the Azhur abandoned their own language in favor of scripts which could be written.
Names: Azhur have a given name, and due to their very small communities do not keep family names.
Male names: Jistu, Ewal, Eamon
Female names: Adi, Aya, Dela, Suli
Adventurers: (includes notes specific to my homebrew campaign) Azhur are almost by definition adventurers. Azhur who adventure outside of their own society tend to be in their 30s, leaving their supremely brash youth behind to look into new horizons to conquer. Adventuring Azhur frequently travel up rivers, visiting Myiven communities, where they sometimes take apprentices and teach magic. Azhur do not need to be immersed in water to remain healthy, but do require significantly more water than humans, Myiven, or Khorzud. Azhur adventuring in Khorzud communities are usually sought after for their skills in enchanting, while Azhur in human lands are sought for their more martial magic abilities.
Azhur Racial Traits
+2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom. Azhur are very intelligent, but brash and unbridled, even foolhardy.
Medium size. As Medium-size creatures, Azhur have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Azhur base speed is 30 feet
Proficient with ranseur: The long spear with twin hooks is a favored weapon of the Azhur. They practice a whirling, looping martial art with it, and are adept at disarming opponents at a distance. The weapon cannot be used to slash underwater, but they use it to great effect as a trident.
Underwater breathing: Azhur can breathe underwater without aid.
Webbed feet/hands: Azhur swimming speed is double that of a human.
Favored Class: Seamancer. (campaign specific. Use Wizard in other campaigns) Highly intelligent and possessing a natural affinity for magic and water, the Azhur invented the path of the Seamancer.
Due to their water racial abilities, it may need a LA+1, but I'm trying it with +0 for now.
I haven't finished the writeup of the Seamancer class features, but its essentially a Wizard limited to a water-specific spell list I'm working on. The class can also plane-shift between the Elemental Plane of Water and the Prime Material Plane, though I haven't decided on the limitations yet.
Comments please?
Magic-users in my campaign are limited in many ways, mostly because I want to keep the average power level of a party relatively low.
One thing I decided on was focusing on the prepared arcane Wizard type over the spontaneous Sorcerer, so I made the wizard race one with an Intelligence bonus. I decided my quirk for this race would be that they would have a total lack of serenity and wisdom typical of the usual Wizard races you see. These guys wield power for the purpose of using it, not for higher learning or the greater good or something like that. As such, they have a Wisdom penalty.
Without further ado, the Azhur:
The Azhur, or "Sea People" are an intelligent and boisterous race of mariners and islanders. The Azhur are known for their skills in navigation, astronomy, shipbuilding, and magic. Azhur often spend their entire lives on ships, visiting every port on Arde.
Personality: The Azhur are extremely intelligent, learned in the ways of magic and navigation, but are extremely brash and hotheaded. Azhur love the water more than anything else, and rarely travel far from it. The temper of an Azhur is like the sea: unpredictable and given to spurts of violent rage, but at times calm and peaceful. Azhur are amazing explorers and mariners, but cannot be tied down to one place for any length of time. Asking an Azhur to live in a human community is like inviting a tornado into your home. Azhur are very violent and quick-tempered, and will not hesitate to fight, many of them possessing magic.
Physical Description: Azhur are five to six feet tall, and lanky. Their forearms and calves are covered in scales, and their hands and feet are webbed. Azhur skin is pale bluish-green, and their hair is light green. Their eyes, ears and nostrils have flaps of translucent skin which slide over to protect them as they swim, and they have six gill slits in their neck. Azhur wear skintight white clothing, and much looser gray clothing over it, which they lose before diving into the water. Azhur tend to wear lots of jewelry, but only in a piercing. Azhur live 60 to 70 years.
Relations: Azhur travel everywhere, meet everyone, and fight everyone, though they have few wars. Azhur never organize together well enough to form an army. Azhur don't care for humans or Khorzud, but appreciate the capricious nature of the Myiven.
Alignment: Azhur mostly tend towards Chaotic alignments, the most common being Chaotic Neutral. Evil Azhur are quite common, roughly half the species tends to be violent to a fault.
Azhur Lands: If Azhur live on land, it is a river delta feeding into the sea, or an island chain. They never settle long enough to build cities, except harbor cities to support their ships. Most Azhur live on ships, and many never set foot on dry land their entire lives. Azhur live on fish, squid and seaweed, which they harvest as they travel and eat raw.
Religion: (note, this is keyed towards my homebrew campaign with a monotheistic system. A chaotic or evil sea god would be acceptable in another campaign) The patron angel of the Azhur is Zadkiel, the Angel of Mercy. While the merciful Zadkiel seems to be a poor match to the often brutish Azhur, he was the only one to see enough good in them to help them. Zadkiel's temple is in a human harbor town, but is tended by Azhur pilgrims who frequent the simple shrine. Zadkiel is one of the few patron angels who will allow himself to be summoned to advise his Clerics at sea.
Language: Azhur speak Common. When they began learning magic, the Azhur abandoned their own language in favor of scripts which could be written.
Names: Azhur have a given name, and due to their very small communities do not keep family names.
Male names: Jistu, Ewal, Eamon
Female names: Adi, Aya, Dela, Suli
Adventurers: (includes notes specific to my homebrew campaign) Azhur are almost by definition adventurers. Azhur who adventure outside of their own society tend to be in their 30s, leaving their supremely brash youth behind to look into new horizons to conquer. Adventuring Azhur frequently travel up rivers, visiting Myiven communities, where they sometimes take apprentices and teach magic. Azhur do not need to be immersed in water to remain healthy, but do require significantly more water than humans, Myiven, or Khorzud. Azhur adventuring in Khorzud communities are usually sought after for their skills in enchanting, while Azhur in human lands are sought for their more martial magic abilities.
Azhur Racial Traits
+2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom. Azhur are very intelligent, but brash and unbridled, even foolhardy.
Medium size. As Medium-size creatures, Azhur have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Azhur base speed is 30 feet
Proficient with ranseur: The long spear with twin hooks is a favored weapon of the Azhur. They practice a whirling, looping martial art with it, and are adept at disarming opponents at a distance. The weapon cannot be used to slash underwater, but they use it to great effect as a trident.
Underwater breathing: Azhur can breathe underwater without aid.
Webbed feet/hands: Azhur swimming speed is double that of a human.
Favored Class: Seamancer. (campaign specific. Use Wizard in other campaigns) Highly intelligent and possessing a natural affinity for magic and water, the Azhur invented the path of the Seamancer.
Due to their water racial abilities, it may need a LA+1, but I'm trying it with +0 for now.
I haven't finished the writeup of the Seamancer class features, but its essentially a Wizard limited to a water-specific spell list I'm working on. The class can also plane-shift between the Elemental Plane of Water and the Prime Material Plane, though I haven't decided on the limitations yet.
Comments please?