When Winter Comes, the Gods Bleed (3.5 Race) PEACH

[Empedocles]

Four Gods huddled around the campfire, fearing the bitter chill as much as the mortal pilgrims who trailed behind them.

What follows is a largely fluff driven race. It doesn't fill a necessary role in the D&D universe, it's just something I'd like to write.

As winter pressed on, their followers dropped like flies, each death like a shard of ice in the heart of their patron. The gods pressed on.

The fluff is largely inspired by George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, although that's probably fairly obvious. This particular race, the winterspawn, falls somewhere between the Others and the wildlings with a dash of Tolkien orcs for good measure (just look at the art!).

The last fire went out. The first god fell. From his frozen ichor, the primeval winterspawn rose.

Crunch wise, it's pretty NPCish and intended for sort of hack-and-slash horror campaigns, but I guess you can adapt it however you want. I'll write more...straight forward fluff soon. Anyways, enjoy!

Whispering to the footsteps of shades, the gods followed their devout, for in the embrace of nothing, gods and men are equal. The winterspawn feasted upon the frostbitten corpses.


The Winterspawn

http://i.imgur.com/lxZKn.jpg

Winterspawn Racial Traits

+2 Constitution, -2 Charisma, -2 Intelligence. A lifetime in the harsh arctic realm has made the winterspawn far hardier then most races, but they are also extremely brutish and wild.
Medium. As medium creatures, winterspawn have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
Base land speed is 30 feet.
Immunity to cold.
Vulnerability to fire
+2 racial bonus on all Climb and Survival checks.
Darkvision 60 feet.
Low-Light Vision: A winterspawn can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
A winterspawn has a natural bite attack weapon that deals 1d4 points of damage.
They Fear What they Cannot Understand: Once per day when a winterspawn makes a successful bite attack his target must make a Will save (DC 10 + wisdom modifier + 1/2 hit dice) or become shaken for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting ability.
Devour the Devout: When a winterspawn makes a successful melee attack against a divine spellcaster with a patron god (or gods) he deals an additional point of damage.
Favored Class: Barbarian.

[Empedocles]

Pathfinder version of this race

+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Winterspawn are strong and hardy, and their lifestyle breeds a sort of natural cunning, but they are quite barbaric.
Medium.
Normal speed.
One with the Wild: Winterspawn receive a +2 racial bonus on Survival checks.
As the Gods Made Me, So Did They Die: Winterspawn deal an extra 2 points of damage against any divine spellcasters who worship a deity that they hit with a melee attack.
Bite: Winterspawn have a natural bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage.
The Cold?: Winterspawn are immune to cold damage, and vulnerable to fire damage.
Darkvision: Winterspawn can see up to 60 feet in the dark.
They Fear What they Cannot Understand: Once per day when a winterspawn makes a successful bite attack his target must make a Will save (DC 10 + wisdom modifier + 1/2 hit dice) or become frightened for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting ability.

Favored Class Options

Antipaladin: Gains 1 additional daily use of smite good.
Barbarian: Add 1 to the winterspawn's rages per day.
Druid: Gains Damage Reduction 1/fire. Increases by 1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.
Fighter: Add +1 to the winterspawn's CMD against trip attacks.
Ranger: A +1 hit point to the winterspawn's animal companion.




That's about it for the PF winterspawn. Not sure if they fear what they cannot understand needs to be reformatted for Pathfinder. Help from PF experts?

[Empedocles]

Reserving this since nobody is posting...

[masterstalker2]

It seems like a good class, I don't know why no one is posting, so I'll post a few things about the PF version.

For most PF races, they gain +2 to a physical attribute (STR, CON, DEX) and +2 to a mental attribute (CHA, INT, WIS), with a -2 to whatever. Since this is homebrew though, it's up to you, though if you follow this guideline, I'd suggest the mental be +2 to WIS.

[EdroGrimshell]

The fluff is largely inspired by George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, although that's probably fairly obvious. This particular race, the winterspawn, falls somewhere between the Others and the wildlings with a dash of Tolkien orcs for good measure (just look at the art!).

Sorry that my first comment is not a review of the race, but i'd like to point out that Tolkien called them Oruks, not Orcs, and they are supposed to be very different, Oruks are twisted Elves, Orcs are a separate race.

Now, onto the race. It is an interesting concept, but, Panicked is kinda a strong debuff, maybe Frightened would be better for an LA 0 race, even an NPC one, Shaken would be even more balanced with feats to boost it.

Immunity to cold usually comes with Vulnerability to fire, but again, it's kind of strong for an LA 0 race. Resistance 10 is the max i'd do for an LA 0 race, and even then with the other abilities it's too much.

Otherwise, I like the fluff behind it and the pic is cool and fits what you've described.

[Welknair]

I think the DC on "They fear what they cannot understand" is a bit too high. I believe the standard is "10+Ability Mod+1/2 HD". You're using the full HD instead of half, which will result in a DC increase beyond the rate at which Good Saves progress, which is a problem.

[Debihuman]

Are you considering these to be Humanoids or Monstrous Humanoids?

Debby

[Empedocles]

Sorry that my first comment is not a review of the race, but i'd like to point out that Tolkien called them Oruks, not Orcs, and they are supposed to be very different, Oruks are twisted Elves, Orcs are a separate race.

Now, onto the race. It is an interesting concept, but, Panicked is kinda a strong debuff, maybe Frightened would be better for an LA 0 race, even an NPC one, Shaken would be even more balanced with feats to boost it.

Immunity to cold usually comes with Vulnerability to fire, but again, it's kind of strong for an LA 0 race. Resistance 10 is the max i'd do for an LA 0 race, and even then with the other abilities it's too much.

Otherwise, I like the fluff behind it and the pic is cool and fits what you've described.

Changed it to frightened, considering shaken...

I kept the immunity to cold, but added vulnerability to fire.


It seems like a good class, I don't know why no one is posting, so I'll post a few things about the PF version.

For most PF races, they gain +2 to a physical attribute (STR, CON, DEX) and +2 to a mental attribute (CHA, INT, WIS), with a -2 to whatever. Since this is homebrew though, it's up to you, though if you follow this guideline, I'd suggest the mental be +2 to WIS.

Yeah I wasn't sure why anyone was posting either...:smallfrown: I try to avoid bumping my own stuff though

Thanks for telling me about the PF races. I'd honestly never noticed that, so I replaced the strength bonus with a wisdom bonus, as you suggested :smallredface:


I think the DC on "They fear what they cannot understand" is a bit too high. I believe the standard is "10+Ability Mod+1/2 HD". You're using the full HD instead of half, which will result in a DC increase beyond the rate at which Good Saves progress, which is a problem.

Adjusted accordingly. :smallsmile:


Are you considering these to be Humanoids or Monstrous Humanoids?

Debby

I hadn't thought about it, but now that you mention it...

Probably humanoids though, since other types come with some immunities that these guys really don't need.

[Empedocles]

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