Phosphate
2012-04-12, 09:41 AM
Here's a PC race that's probably hell to roleplay but amusing nonetheless.
The Veritay
http://elementz1.webs.com/photos/null/Black%20&%20White%20elf%20picture.jpg
"For nothing - whether it's floating through the air, plunging to the ground, sinking in the earth, or plunging in the water - weighs more than our word, son. To our ears, lightness rings of death." - Syrien Ley, Veritay
Type: Medium Humanoid
Ages:
{table=head]Adulthood | Simple | Moderate | Complex
50 | +2d6 | +2d8 | +4d6[/table]
{table=head]Middle Age | Old | Venerable | Maximum Age
150 | 225 | 300 | +2d%
[/table]
As humanoids go, veritay are pretty long lived beings.
Height/Weight: Veritay average about 6'2" feet in height for males and 5'11" for females. They weigh as much as a human of the same size.
Languages: Common, Honirian
Bonus Languages: Any non-secret
Speed: 30 feet
Appearance: Veritay look like tall humanoids with chalk white skin and hair, and completely black pupil-less eyes and nails. Their ears point upward and are narrow as those of a gray elf. They use to wear their hair long and have svelte physiques, which they are encouraged to work on from an early age.
Alignment: Although they can be of any alignment, non-adventurer veritay are most of the time neutral on the moral axis. Evil is viewed as incompatible with a progressive society and inherently wasteful, while good is viewed as pedantic, pathetic, and naive.
Except for their strong, innate compulsion to always speak the truth, veritay don't actually have any other lawful tendencies, so chaotic, neutral and lawful veritay can be found in equal numbers.
History: Veritay were created directly by the gods when the earth was young, as the race which represented the honesty of the world. They made them on purpose as beings of black and white, that interpret the truth as being simple and binary and thrive to always commit to their beliefs and be honest about them.
The veritay quickly became accustomed to the other races, and for the most part enjoyed great trade with their neighbors - since they would never cheat or steal from them, they were literally the safest people to barter with.
Even when the other races tried to take advantage of them, they couldn't - generations and centuries of weeding out the liars made the veritays into exceptional judges of character. And, while the summary execution of the fraudulent merchants made some neighbors reluctant to continue trade, it did not stop.
Finally, what proved to be an insurmountable force for veritay civilization was a huge orcish horde who was after the riches of their land (they're the children of the gods, they get special privileges). They fought bravely, but were eventually outnumbered and forced to flee into the territories of their neighbors, watching from there as their great capitol of Candor and the surrounding cities were being burnt down.
Scattered, veritay recovered beautifully, building their towns in random disparate places across the map and mixing up with the other races. They are still a growing force, and show no sign of stagnation.
Society: Veritay are proud people that keep to their own. They thrive in study, research, and physical exercise that improve their mental and physical capabilities, as well as the state of the society. Incredibly community-minded, veritay often volunteer to help the weaker and older members and participate in jobs that don't require much training.
Politically speaking there was never a struggle for power in a veritay city. Since freedom of speech and freedom of information are held as sacred and given freely to everyone, the common man always knows about the machinations of the ruling elite, and protesting when the laws are unreasonable or unfair is a right given at birth. Due to this, civil wars do not occur, assassinations do not occur, manipulation en masse of the populus does not occur, and there is no such thing as a classified document. However, it is of note that to preserve this state of affairs, cities with a majority veritay population demand that the leaders be chosen exclusively from members of their race.
Veritay are not war-loving, and while their great advances in technology put most other races to shame (for instance, cannons), there are never enough soldiers, and most problems are usually dealt with via diplomacy or retreat.
Veritay put great value in the virtue of honesty, and are harsh to those who do not uphold it. Anyone even caught being dishonest, no other charge needed, is to be tortured for a set number of days. Newcomers to veritay cities are immune to this punishment for the first 30 days of their stay, but even during this time will be thoroughly avoided by nearly everyone if they have a habit of being dishonest. More serious crimes that directly imply lying, such as tax evasion, bribery, theft, fraud, and adultery, carry the death penalty. Crimes such as assault, murder, rape, treason and arson, which are major but do not imply lying, are punished with imprisonment or exile if the perpetrator turns himself in within one month of the event, or death afterwards.
An important part of a veritay's life is that of spiritual experience. As creations of the gods, most of them are openly and strongly religious, and visit the shrines of their patron deities regularly. Generally the three biggest buildings in a veritay built city, usually situated centrally and adjacent to one another, are a great temple dedicated to multiple deities, the central library, and the building where those with political power usually go to discuss law and application.
Relation with other races: Veritay get along well with most planetouched, seeing each other as equals under the gods. They also get along with other races that take religious worship seriously, like dwarves and humans. However, being urban and industrious, veritay don't bother much with races who prefer living in more natural environments, like the elves, the fey, the hobbits etc. They are generally at war with the preponderantly evil races, since they have a talent of finding the most fertile patches of land and enriched mountains, which these races desire for themselves.
Relations within the party: In a party, veritay can be at times compassionate and honest friends, blunt and brutal critics, and uptight paragons of truth looking forward to preaching their message of complete transparency whenever they get the chance. Expect headaches.
Names: Veritay usually have only one surname and their family name, and don't done titles. Their names are generally short and contain a multitude of i's and y's in them, making them sound similar to each other.
Male names: Hessin Tridy, Tylun Zeki, Cyprim Ludy
Female names: Syn Tappy, Saelyn Drey, Ysra Haffry
Racial Features
Ability scores:
+2 Dex, -4 Cha, +2 Int, +4 Wis
Veritay train both body and mind, and thanks to free access to information and their natural tendency for lean muscle, they have above average dexterity and intelligence. Furthermore, they are wise and perceptive, capable of looking through deceptions with ease. However, their near absolute incapacity for falsehood, as well as the fact that they would rather insult someone than give a polite, yet dishonest response, imposes a large penalty on their charisma.
Beings of Truth: Veritay can never gain ranks in Bluff, and never have Disguise and Forgery as class skills. Furthermore, they always have Sense Motive as a class skill, and gain a +2 insight bonus to its use.
Alternate Skill (Ex): The first time he gains ranks in Intimidate, a veritay may choose to change the relevant modifier from Cha to Str.
Trustworthy: If a veritay saves against an illusion and disbelieves it, and communicates this fact to others, instead of receiving a save with a +4 bonus they disbelieve the illusion instantly.
Instinctual Honesty (Ex): A veritay under mind control cannot be put by the controller to lie under any circumstance.
Divine Fate: If a veritay of neutral moral alignment spends his life in almost complete honesty, he will still go to a good-aligned afterlife.
Responsibility (Sp): Once per month, a veritay may Atone himself. This requires no focus, or XP cost, and always works.
Divine Inclination (Ex): Veritay feel inspired and protected by the gods. Every day, they may spend 2 hours in silent prayer. If they do, they gain a morale bonus of +1 to damage rolls and AC until the end of the day.
Truth Paragon (Su): At character level 10, a veritay is treated as permanently emanating the effect of Zone of Truth, centered on him. The DC used is 15 + wis modifier, and for the purpose of overcoming SR treat his character level as his caster level.
Religion: Most veritay pray to deities of truth. However, their temples acknowledge many other gods, though worshipers of Evil gods are very rare.
LA: +1
The Veritay
http://elementz1.webs.com/photos/null/Black%20&%20White%20elf%20picture.jpg
"For nothing - whether it's floating through the air, plunging to the ground, sinking in the earth, or plunging in the water - weighs more than our word, son. To our ears, lightness rings of death." - Syrien Ley, Veritay
Type: Medium Humanoid
Ages:
{table=head]Adulthood | Simple | Moderate | Complex
50 | +2d6 | +2d8 | +4d6[/table]
{table=head]Middle Age | Old | Venerable | Maximum Age
150 | 225 | 300 | +2d%
[/table]
As humanoids go, veritay are pretty long lived beings.
Height/Weight: Veritay average about 6'2" feet in height for males and 5'11" for females. They weigh as much as a human of the same size.
Languages: Common, Honirian
Bonus Languages: Any non-secret
Speed: 30 feet
Appearance: Veritay look like tall humanoids with chalk white skin and hair, and completely black pupil-less eyes and nails. Their ears point upward and are narrow as those of a gray elf. They use to wear their hair long and have svelte physiques, which they are encouraged to work on from an early age.
Alignment: Although they can be of any alignment, non-adventurer veritay are most of the time neutral on the moral axis. Evil is viewed as incompatible with a progressive society and inherently wasteful, while good is viewed as pedantic, pathetic, and naive.
Except for their strong, innate compulsion to always speak the truth, veritay don't actually have any other lawful tendencies, so chaotic, neutral and lawful veritay can be found in equal numbers.
History: Veritay were created directly by the gods when the earth was young, as the race which represented the honesty of the world. They made them on purpose as beings of black and white, that interpret the truth as being simple and binary and thrive to always commit to their beliefs and be honest about them.
The veritay quickly became accustomed to the other races, and for the most part enjoyed great trade with their neighbors - since they would never cheat or steal from them, they were literally the safest people to barter with.
Even when the other races tried to take advantage of them, they couldn't - generations and centuries of weeding out the liars made the veritays into exceptional judges of character. And, while the summary execution of the fraudulent merchants made some neighbors reluctant to continue trade, it did not stop.
Finally, what proved to be an insurmountable force for veritay civilization was a huge orcish horde who was after the riches of their land (they're the children of the gods, they get special privileges). They fought bravely, but were eventually outnumbered and forced to flee into the territories of their neighbors, watching from there as their great capitol of Candor and the surrounding cities were being burnt down.
Scattered, veritay recovered beautifully, building their towns in random disparate places across the map and mixing up with the other races. They are still a growing force, and show no sign of stagnation.
Society: Veritay are proud people that keep to their own. They thrive in study, research, and physical exercise that improve their mental and physical capabilities, as well as the state of the society. Incredibly community-minded, veritay often volunteer to help the weaker and older members and participate in jobs that don't require much training.
Politically speaking there was never a struggle for power in a veritay city. Since freedom of speech and freedom of information are held as sacred and given freely to everyone, the common man always knows about the machinations of the ruling elite, and protesting when the laws are unreasonable or unfair is a right given at birth. Due to this, civil wars do not occur, assassinations do not occur, manipulation en masse of the populus does not occur, and there is no such thing as a classified document. However, it is of note that to preserve this state of affairs, cities with a majority veritay population demand that the leaders be chosen exclusively from members of their race.
Veritay are not war-loving, and while their great advances in technology put most other races to shame (for instance, cannons), there are never enough soldiers, and most problems are usually dealt with via diplomacy or retreat.
Veritay put great value in the virtue of honesty, and are harsh to those who do not uphold it. Anyone even caught being dishonest, no other charge needed, is to be tortured for a set number of days. Newcomers to veritay cities are immune to this punishment for the first 30 days of their stay, but even during this time will be thoroughly avoided by nearly everyone if they have a habit of being dishonest. More serious crimes that directly imply lying, such as tax evasion, bribery, theft, fraud, and adultery, carry the death penalty. Crimes such as assault, murder, rape, treason and arson, which are major but do not imply lying, are punished with imprisonment or exile if the perpetrator turns himself in within one month of the event, or death afterwards.
An important part of a veritay's life is that of spiritual experience. As creations of the gods, most of them are openly and strongly religious, and visit the shrines of their patron deities regularly. Generally the three biggest buildings in a veritay built city, usually situated centrally and adjacent to one another, are a great temple dedicated to multiple deities, the central library, and the building where those with political power usually go to discuss law and application.
Relation with other races: Veritay get along well with most planetouched, seeing each other as equals under the gods. They also get along with other races that take religious worship seriously, like dwarves and humans. However, being urban and industrious, veritay don't bother much with races who prefer living in more natural environments, like the elves, the fey, the hobbits etc. They are generally at war with the preponderantly evil races, since they have a talent of finding the most fertile patches of land and enriched mountains, which these races desire for themselves.
Relations within the party: In a party, veritay can be at times compassionate and honest friends, blunt and brutal critics, and uptight paragons of truth looking forward to preaching their message of complete transparency whenever they get the chance. Expect headaches.
Names: Veritay usually have only one surname and their family name, and don't done titles. Their names are generally short and contain a multitude of i's and y's in them, making them sound similar to each other.
Male names: Hessin Tridy, Tylun Zeki, Cyprim Ludy
Female names: Syn Tappy, Saelyn Drey, Ysra Haffry
Racial Features
Ability scores:
+2 Dex, -4 Cha, +2 Int, +4 Wis
Veritay train both body and mind, and thanks to free access to information and their natural tendency for lean muscle, they have above average dexterity and intelligence. Furthermore, they are wise and perceptive, capable of looking through deceptions with ease. However, their near absolute incapacity for falsehood, as well as the fact that they would rather insult someone than give a polite, yet dishonest response, imposes a large penalty on their charisma.
Beings of Truth: Veritay can never gain ranks in Bluff, and never have Disguise and Forgery as class skills. Furthermore, they always have Sense Motive as a class skill, and gain a +2 insight bonus to its use.
Alternate Skill (Ex): The first time he gains ranks in Intimidate, a veritay may choose to change the relevant modifier from Cha to Str.
Trustworthy: If a veritay saves against an illusion and disbelieves it, and communicates this fact to others, instead of receiving a save with a +4 bonus they disbelieve the illusion instantly.
Instinctual Honesty (Ex): A veritay under mind control cannot be put by the controller to lie under any circumstance.
Divine Fate: If a veritay of neutral moral alignment spends his life in almost complete honesty, he will still go to a good-aligned afterlife.
Responsibility (Sp): Once per month, a veritay may Atone himself. This requires no focus, or XP cost, and always works.
Divine Inclination (Ex): Veritay feel inspired and protected by the gods. Every day, they may spend 2 hours in silent prayer. If they do, they gain a morale bonus of +1 to damage rolls and AC until the end of the day.
Truth Paragon (Su): At character level 10, a veritay is treated as permanently emanating the effect of Zone of Truth, centered on him. The DC used is 15 + wis modifier, and for the purpose of overcoming SR treat his character level as his caster level.
Religion: Most veritay pray to deities of truth. However, their temples acknowledge many other gods, though worshipers of Evil gods are very rare.
LA: +1