tempestman
2011-05-09, 02:18 PM
I occasionally frequent some other boards and websites involving D&D and other such games, and on one I created this race, which I thought I'd share.
http://tempestman.webs.com/1301167989271.jpg
Bjorn 3.5 Stats
+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma. Bjorn are very powerful and possess great fortitude, but they have poor reflexes and social skills.
Medium-sized monstrous humanoid: As Medium creatures, bjorn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. However, see the powerful build ability below for more details.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of a bjorn lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a bjorn is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the bjorn is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A bjorn is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A bjorn can use weapon designed for a creature one size larger than him without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
Bjorn base land speed is 30 feet. Bjorn can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
Low-Light Vision: Bjorn can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Scent (Ex): Bjorn have a highly developed sense of smell and can even track down others by smell alone.
Acclimated (Ex): Bjorn are automatically acclimated to life at high altitude. They don't take the penalties for altitude described in the Mountain Travel section of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, bjorn don't lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend a long time at lower elevation.
Climate Tolerant (Ex): Bjorn suffer little harm from environmental extremes of heat or cold. They do not have to make Fortitude saves in extreme environments between –20° and 140° F (severe cold to severe heat). This ability does not provide any protection from fire or cold damage. This ability counts as if a bjorn had the Cold Endurance feat for purposes of fulfilling prerequisites for other feats or prestige classes.
+2 natural armor bonus. Bjorn possess toughened hides which can deflect some attacks.
Natural Weapons: A bjorn has claw and bite attacks with which he is considered proficient. His claw attacks deal 1d6 damage each while his bite attack deals 1d8 damage.
Automatic Languages: Common and Bjorn. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.
Favored Class: Barbarian. Many bjorn are savage by nature and prefer to fight aggressively.
Level Adjustment: +2
Racial Variant Ósterkligr bjorn
+2 Strength, -2 Charisma. Ósterkligr bjorn are stronger than most other races, but weaker than "true" bjorn.
Medium-sized monstrous humanoid: As Medium creatures, bjorn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Ósterkligr bjorn base land speed is 30 feet. Ósterkligr bjorn can move at this speed even when wearing medium armor or when carrying a medium load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
Low-Light Vision: Ósterkligr bjorn can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Scent (Ex): Ósterkligr bjorn have a highly developed sense of smell and can even track down others by smell alone.
Climate Tolerant (Ex): Bjorn suffer little harm from environmental extremes of heat or cold. They do not have to make Fortitude saves in extreme environments between –20° and 140° F (severe cold to severe heat). This ability does not provide any protection from fire or cold damage. This ability counts as if a bjorn had the Cold Endurance feat for purposes of fulfilling prerequisites for other feats or prestige classes.
Natural Weapons: An ósterkligr bjorn bjorn has claw and bite attacks with which he is considered proficient. His claw attacks deal 1d4 damage each while his bite attack deals 1d6 damage.
Automatic Languages: Common and Bjorn. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.
Favored Class: Barbarian. While they are smaller and weaker, most ósterkligr bjorn still fight savagely to prove their worth.
In an effort to keep the post from being too long I put their generic fluff in a spoiler. The bjorn work for any campaign with a frigid northland.
The björn are a race of mighty and savage bear-like people that live in the northern reaches of the world. They are a wild people that revel in combat and enjoy proving their strength. There is little social difference between the two sexes, and male and female björn are treated exactly the same except when a female is pregnant or raising her cubs. During this period of time (which typically lasts a total of six years) a female is treated almost like royalty and is constantly aided by younger björn who are not yet ready to hunt or do combat.
There are four distinct castes in björn society: the prestr (shamans), the drengr (warriors and hunters), the ósterkligr (the weak), and the aeska (the young). All newborn björn are immediately placed in the aeksa caste, and once they reach adulthood (around the age of six or seven) they are placed in one of the “true castes.” Once in a caste, a björn is incapable of rising to another caste, but is always able to fall if he is weak.
The prestr are the rulers of björn society, which is largely tribal. They are able to hear the words of the Old Gods Honir, Vidar, Vali, Modi, and Magni. The prestr relay the orders of the gods to the drengr and ósterkligr, who in turn carry out the will of the Old Gods. In order to become a true prestr, a young björn must leave his tribe and survive in the wilderness for a year and a day and await a vision from the Old Gods. If he survives and is visited by the gods, he returns to his tribe as a shaman and begins training under a more senior shaman. There are usually one or two shamans for every twenty björn in a tribe.
The second highest ranking caste is the drengr, the warrior björn. Drengr tend to wield large weapons that allow them to use their monstrous strength to its full advantage, and as such tend to wield mauls and great axes. While hunting a drengr björn usually carries a barbed spear and several javelins. Armor is sacred to a björn, and each drengr makes his own armor out of the hides of the monsters and beasts he has slain during his life. Metal is rarely used in armor smithing due to its scarcity in the regions that the björn call home. A scrap of metal is often rewarded to a drengr björn as a reward for an act of heroism. Aside from javelins and occasionally bolas, ranged weapons are looked down on with disdain by the björn, and as such are rarely used by the drengr caste.
Ósterkligr are the lowest ranking members of björn society and are placed there due to physical or mental weakness. Some björn who were once members of the drengr or prestr castes and were maimed in battle without doing anything heroic or worthy of praise are also demoted to the ósterkligr caste because they are no longer fit to serve. While they are looked down upon by the drengr and prestr björn, the ósterkligr provide valuable services to the björn tribes, serving as archers in combat, scavengers after a battle, and servants to a pregnant female. In an attempt to weed out weakness, most tribes forbid ósterkligr björn from mating, and oftentimes castrate the members of the lowest caste.
In regards to other races, björn view themselves as superior in all aspects. Non-björn are treated as little more than animals and are occasionally hunted and eaten. Most non-björn see the northern folk as mighty and fierce, a reputation the björn work hard at to cultivate.
http://tempestman.webs.com/1301167989271.jpg
Bjorn 3.5 Stats
+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma. Bjorn are very powerful and possess great fortitude, but they have poor reflexes and social skills.
Medium-sized monstrous humanoid: As Medium creatures, bjorn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. However, see the powerful build ability below for more details.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of a bjorn lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a bjorn is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the bjorn is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A bjorn is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A bjorn can use weapon designed for a creature one size larger than him without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
Bjorn base land speed is 30 feet. Bjorn can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
Low-Light Vision: Bjorn can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Scent (Ex): Bjorn have a highly developed sense of smell and can even track down others by smell alone.
Acclimated (Ex): Bjorn are automatically acclimated to life at high altitude. They don't take the penalties for altitude described in the Mountain Travel section of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Unlike other denizens of the mountains, bjorn don't lose their acclimation to high altitude even if they spend a long time at lower elevation.
Climate Tolerant (Ex): Bjorn suffer little harm from environmental extremes of heat or cold. They do not have to make Fortitude saves in extreme environments between –20° and 140° F (severe cold to severe heat). This ability does not provide any protection from fire or cold damage. This ability counts as if a bjorn had the Cold Endurance feat for purposes of fulfilling prerequisites for other feats or prestige classes.
+2 natural armor bonus. Bjorn possess toughened hides which can deflect some attacks.
Natural Weapons: A bjorn has claw and bite attacks with which he is considered proficient. His claw attacks deal 1d6 damage each while his bite attack deals 1d8 damage.
Automatic Languages: Common and Bjorn. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.
Favored Class: Barbarian. Many bjorn are savage by nature and prefer to fight aggressively.
Level Adjustment: +2
Racial Variant Ósterkligr bjorn
+2 Strength, -2 Charisma. Ósterkligr bjorn are stronger than most other races, but weaker than "true" bjorn.
Medium-sized monstrous humanoid: As Medium creatures, bjorn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Ósterkligr bjorn base land speed is 30 feet. Ósterkligr bjorn can move at this speed even when wearing medium armor or when carrying a medium load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
Low-Light Vision: Ósterkligr bjorn can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Scent (Ex): Ósterkligr bjorn have a highly developed sense of smell and can even track down others by smell alone.
Climate Tolerant (Ex): Bjorn suffer little harm from environmental extremes of heat or cold. They do not have to make Fortitude saves in extreme environments between –20° and 140° F (severe cold to severe heat). This ability does not provide any protection from fire or cold damage. This ability counts as if a bjorn had the Cold Endurance feat for purposes of fulfilling prerequisites for other feats or prestige classes.
Natural Weapons: An ósterkligr bjorn bjorn has claw and bite attacks with which he is considered proficient. His claw attacks deal 1d4 damage each while his bite attack deals 1d6 damage.
Automatic Languages: Common and Bjorn. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.
Favored Class: Barbarian. While they are smaller and weaker, most ósterkligr bjorn still fight savagely to prove their worth.
In an effort to keep the post from being too long I put their generic fluff in a spoiler. The bjorn work for any campaign with a frigid northland.
The björn are a race of mighty and savage bear-like people that live in the northern reaches of the world. They are a wild people that revel in combat and enjoy proving their strength. There is little social difference between the two sexes, and male and female björn are treated exactly the same except when a female is pregnant or raising her cubs. During this period of time (which typically lasts a total of six years) a female is treated almost like royalty and is constantly aided by younger björn who are not yet ready to hunt or do combat.
There are four distinct castes in björn society: the prestr (shamans), the drengr (warriors and hunters), the ósterkligr (the weak), and the aeska (the young). All newborn björn are immediately placed in the aeksa caste, and once they reach adulthood (around the age of six or seven) they are placed in one of the “true castes.” Once in a caste, a björn is incapable of rising to another caste, but is always able to fall if he is weak.
The prestr are the rulers of björn society, which is largely tribal. They are able to hear the words of the Old Gods Honir, Vidar, Vali, Modi, and Magni. The prestr relay the orders of the gods to the drengr and ósterkligr, who in turn carry out the will of the Old Gods. In order to become a true prestr, a young björn must leave his tribe and survive in the wilderness for a year and a day and await a vision from the Old Gods. If he survives and is visited by the gods, he returns to his tribe as a shaman and begins training under a more senior shaman. There are usually one or two shamans for every twenty björn in a tribe.
The second highest ranking caste is the drengr, the warrior björn. Drengr tend to wield large weapons that allow them to use their monstrous strength to its full advantage, and as such tend to wield mauls and great axes. While hunting a drengr björn usually carries a barbed spear and several javelins. Armor is sacred to a björn, and each drengr makes his own armor out of the hides of the monsters and beasts he has slain during his life. Metal is rarely used in armor smithing due to its scarcity in the regions that the björn call home. A scrap of metal is often rewarded to a drengr björn as a reward for an act of heroism. Aside from javelins and occasionally bolas, ranged weapons are looked down on with disdain by the björn, and as such are rarely used by the drengr caste.
Ósterkligr are the lowest ranking members of björn society and are placed there due to physical or mental weakness. Some björn who were once members of the drengr or prestr castes and were maimed in battle without doing anything heroic or worthy of praise are also demoted to the ósterkligr caste because they are no longer fit to serve. While they are looked down upon by the drengr and prestr björn, the ósterkligr provide valuable services to the björn tribes, serving as archers in combat, scavengers after a battle, and servants to a pregnant female. In an attempt to weed out weakness, most tribes forbid ósterkligr björn from mating, and oftentimes castrate the members of the lowest caste.
In regards to other races, björn view themselves as superior in all aspects. Non-björn are treated as little more than animals and are occasionally hunted and eaten. Most non-björn see the northern folk as mighty and fierce, a reputation the björn work hard at to cultivate.