Admiral Squish
2012-11-24, 01:40 PM
Risen
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs7/i/2005/231/1/e/WoW_Mage___Ascent_by_binkari.jpg
I‘ve already died once, you think you have what it takes to put me down again?
Risen are not truly a race of their own, being the reanimated remains of humans, most often. It’s possible they can be made from other humanoid races, but it’s rare.
Personality: Risen personalities are a pale reflection of the personality they once had in life. They only remember disjointed, broken memories of their former lives, usually only the strongest or most recent memories, but they retain some unconscious reactions. For example, a risen might forget the man who stole his wife, but would still get angry when they see them. But the longer a risen has been around, the more muted and gray their emotions become, often leaving them bitter and spiteful of the living, like an old man angry at the young.
Physical Description: Risen are extremely eerie to look upon. They look very human but their flesh is dead gray and cold to the touch. Their facial muscles don’t work quite right anymore, giving their faces an unsettling off-ness. and as time goes on they begin to look emaciated, stretched over their skeletons as their organs atrophy. The ritual that creates them requires the bodies to be mostly intact and mostly covered in flesh, but sometimes it will raise bodies missing fingers or toes, or with exposed bones.
Relations: Risen are obviously undead in nature, and are very often viewed as corruptions of the natural order. If not actively hunted down and destroyed, they are usually avoided, ostracized, and generally shunned whenever possible. Some hide among their former brethren with illusions or disguises, but most of them create their own towns. Very few living beings are completely at ease with their tendancy to eat flesh and their taste for humanoid meat.
Alignment: As they grow older, most risen eventually become evil or at least neutral. There’s much debate if it’s in their nature, or if it’s in response to a world that hates them for existing. They’re more often neutral than lawful or chaotic.
{table=head]|L|N|C
G|5|10|5
N|10|15|10
E|15|15|15[/table]
Lands: Risen settlements usually arise around mass graves, graveyards, crypts, or battlefields, wherever a large number of somewhat-intact bodies can be found. They tend to be quite isolated, and are often under attack by forces of paladins and clerics.
Religion: Risen can be of any religion. Some of them try to remain faithful to the gods they kept faith with before they died, if they remember. Some worship gods of death and rebirth. Others embrace their undead nature and worship dark gods of undeath and necromancy.
Language: Risen retain all the languages they spoke in life.
Names: Risen use the name they used in life, if they can learn it or discover it somehow. Those that can’t choose new names when they first rise.
Adventurers: Risen adventurers are somewhat common. The only way for risen to increase their numbers is through a magical ritual, and as such, many risen eagerly seek to increase their magical power through adventuring in the hopes they will eventually be able to raise their own settlement.
Living Dead subtype (Ex): Risen are undead with the living dead subtype. A living dead being is an undead creature a number of lingering qualities of life, as detailed below.
Features: As a living dead creature, a risen has the following features:
A risen derives it‘s hit dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.
Traits: As a living dead creature, a risen has the following traits:
Unlike other undead, a risen has a constitution score.
Unlike other undead, a risen does not have darkvision.
Unlike other undead, a risen is not immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.
Immune to Poison, Sleep effects, Paralysis, Disease, Nausea, Fatigue, Exhaustion, Effects that cause the Sickened condition, and energy drain.
A risen cannot heal lethal damage naturally.
Unlike other undead, risen are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, death effects, and necromancy effects.
As living dead, risen can be targeted by spells that affect living creatures as well as undead. For example, a risen is vulnerable to both Circle of Death and Undeath to Death. A risen is healed by negative energy and damaged by positive energy as a normal undead creature.
A risen responds differently from an undead creature when reduced to 0 hit points. A risen at 0 hit points is disabled, as with a living creature. They can only take a move or standard action each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When a risen’s HP is below 0, but above -10, the risen is inert. They are unconscious and helpless, and cannot perform any actions. An inert risen does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to them, as with a living creature that is stable.
As a living dead creature, a risen can be raised or resurrected. The risen creation process fundamentally changes a soul, meaning even if slain and resurrected, the risen continues to be a risen, and does not revert to their former, living state.
A living dead creature does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells, magic items, and dishes, such a hero’s feast and potions. Despite not needing to eat, a risen still feels hunger, the only thing satisfying their hunger is meat.
Although a living dead creature does not need to sleep, a risen wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.
Risen Traits:
+2 intelligence, -2 dexterity, -2 charisma: Risen are intelligent, their minds sharpened by a lifetime of experience, but their decaying bodies are slow to react and they’re universally creepy.
Consume: A risen craves flesh, often raw when they can get it. In truth, their undead body craves the living essence. The risen can consume the flesh from an adjacent corpse. Eating in this way takes one minute. A corpse targeted by this ability cannot be butchered for ingredients. This heals the risen a number of HP equal to ½ the creature’s HD, rounded down. If the risen targets a humanoid corpse, they instead heal HP equal to the creature’s full HD.
Fortification: When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on a risen, there is a 50% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and damage is instead rolled normally.
Languages: Any the risen knew in life.
Favored Class: Blue Mage
Mechanics of Rebirth
A risen is brought back from the grave changed from their former life. They lose most of the racial traits of their former race, becoming risen. The following information details exactly what changes mechanically.
Type, subtype, race: You lose your original type, becoming undead, and gaining the living dead subtype in addition to any existing subtypes. You still count as a member of your original race and a risen for the purpose of any effects or prerequisite based on race.
Racial hit dice: You retain your original racial Hit Dice, as well as all benefits gained therefrom (base attack and save bonuses, skill points, hit points, and so on).
Ability Modifiers: You retain your original racial ability modifiers and gain the ability modifiers of the risen race.
Size: You retain your original size. If the original race had powerful build as a racial trait, it is also retained.
Speed: You retain your original base land speed, as well as any other modes of movement possessed by your original race. Other racial traits related to speed or movement, such as the dwarf’s ability to move at full speed in medium or heavy armor, are lost.
Languages: You retain any languages you already know.
Favored Class: You retain your original favored classes and gain Blue Mage as a favored class.
Level Adjustment: You retain your original level adjustment.
Other Racial Traits: You lose all other racial traits of your original race, including bonus feats, skill bonuses, attack bonuses, save bonuses, spell-like abilities, and so forth. Two specific instances warrant clarification.
If your original race granted you a nonspecific bonus feat (such as the one gained by a human at 1st level), any feat can be lost, so long as it is not a prerequisite for another feat you have.
If your original race granted bonus skill points, you should deduct an appropriate amount of skill points from your current skill ranks. The specific skills affected are up to you, but the DM’s input might be required to adjudicate tricky situations (such as multiclass characters who might have purchased ranks of various skills as both class skills and cross-class skills).
The loss of racial traits might mean you no longer meet the prerequisites for a prestige class, feat, or some other feature. In general, you lose any special ability for which you no longer qualify, and nothing is gained in its place. A couple of exceptions exist.
If you no longer qualify for a feat due to the transformation, you lose the feat and immediately select a new feat for which you qualify in its place. You must also replace any feat for which the lost feat was a prerequisite.
If you no longer qualify for a prestige class, you lose the benefit of any class features or other special abilities granted by the class. You retain Hit Dice gained from advancing in the class, as well as any improvements to base attack bonus and base save bonuses that the class provided. If you later meet all the prerequisites for the class, you regain the benefits.
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs7/i/2005/231/1/e/WoW_Mage___Ascent_by_binkari.jpg
I‘ve already died once, you think you have what it takes to put me down again?
Risen are not truly a race of their own, being the reanimated remains of humans, most often. It’s possible they can be made from other humanoid races, but it’s rare.
Personality: Risen personalities are a pale reflection of the personality they once had in life. They only remember disjointed, broken memories of their former lives, usually only the strongest or most recent memories, but they retain some unconscious reactions. For example, a risen might forget the man who stole his wife, but would still get angry when they see them. But the longer a risen has been around, the more muted and gray their emotions become, often leaving them bitter and spiteful of the living, like an old man angry at the young.
Physical Description: Risen are extremely eerie to look upon. They look very human but their flesh is dead gray and cold to the touch. Their facial muscles don’t work quite right anymore, giving their faces an unsettling off-ness. and as time goes on they begin to look emaciated, stretched over their skeletons as their organs atrophy. The ritual that creates them requires the bodies to be mostly intact and mostly covered in flesh, but sometimes it will raise bodies missing fingers or toes, or with exposed bones.
Relations: Risen are obviously undead in nature, and are very often viewed as corruptions of the natural order. If not actively hunted down and destroyed, they are usually avoided, ostracized, and generally shunned whenever possible. Some hide among their former brethren with illusions or disguises, but most of them create their own towns. Very few living beings are completely at ease with their tendancy to eat flesh and their taste for humanoid meat.
Alignment: As they grow older, most risen eventually become evil or at least neutral. There’s much debate if it’s in their nature, or if it’s in response to a world that hates them for existing. They’re more often neutral than lawful or chaotic.
{table=head]|L|N|C
G|5|10|5
N|10|15|10
E|15|15|15[/table]
Lands: Risen settlements usually arise around mass graves, graveyards, crypts, or battlefields, wherever a large number of somewhat-intact bodies can be found. They tend to be quite isolated, and are often under attack by forces of paladins and clerics.
Religion: Risen can be of any religion. Some of them try to remain faithful to the gods they kept faith with before they died, if they remember. Some worship gods of death and rebirth. Others embrace their undead nature and worship dark gods of undeath and necromancy.
Language: Risen retain all the languages they spoke in life.
Names: Risen use the name they used in life, if they can learn it or discover it somehow. Those that can’t choose new names when they first rise.
Adventurers: Risen adventurers are somewhat common. The only way for risen to increase their numbers is through a magical ritual, and as such, many risen eagerly seek to increase their magical power through adventuring in the hopes they will eventually be able to raise their own settlement.
Living Dead subtype (Ex): Risen are undead with the living dead subtype. A living dead being is an undead creature a number of lingering qualities of life, as detailed below.
Features: As a living dead creature, a risen has the following features:
A risen derives it‘s hit dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.
Traits: As a living dead creature, a risen has the following traits:
Unlike other undead, a risen has a constitution score.
Unlike other undead, a risen does not have darkvision.
Unlike other undead, a risen is not immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.
Immune to Poison, Sleep effects, Paralysis, Disease, Nausea, Fatigue, Exhaustion, Effects that cause the Sickened condition, and energy drain.
A risen cannot heal lethal damage naturally.
Unlike other undead, risen are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, death effects, and necromancy effects.
As living dead, risen can be targeted by spells that affect living creatures as well as undead. For example, a risen is vulnerable to both Circle of Death and Undeath to Death. A risen is healed by negative energy and damaged by positive energy as a normal undead creature.
A risen responds differently from an undead creature when reduced to 0 hit points. A risen at 0 hit points is disabled, as with a living creature. They can only take a move or standard action each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When a risen’s HP is below 0, but above -10, the risen is inert. They are unconscious and helpless, and cannot perform any actions. An inert risen does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to them, as with a living creature that is stable.
As a living dead creature, a risen can be raised or resurrected. The risen creation process fundamentally changes a soul, meaning even if slain and resurrected, the risen continues to be a risen, and does not revert to their former, living state.
A living dead creature does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells, magic items, and dishes, such a hero’s feast and potions. Despite not needing to eat, a risen still feels hunger, the only thing satisfying their hunger is meat.
Although a living dead creature does not need to sleep, a risen wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.
Risen Traits:
+2 intelligence, -2 dexterity, -2 charisma: Risen are intelligent, their minds sharpened by a lifetime of experience, but their decaying bodies are slow to react and they’re universally creepy.
Consume: A risen craves flesh, often raw when they can get it. In truth, their undead body craves the living essence. The risen can consume the flesh from an adjacent corpse. Eating in this way takes one minute. A corpse targeted by this ability cannot be butchered for ingredients. This heals the risen a number of HP equal to ½ the creature’s HD, rounded down. If the risen targets a humanoid corpse, they instead heal HP equal to the creature’s full HD.
Fortification: When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on a risen, there is a 50% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and damage is instead rolled normally.
Languages: Any the risen knew in life.
Favored Class: Blue Mage
Mechanics of Rebirth
A risen is brought back from the grave changed from their former life. They lose most of the racial traits of their former race, becoming risen. The following information details exactly what changes mechanically.
Type, subtype, race: You lose your original type, becoming undead, and gaining the living dead subtype in addition to any existing subtypes. You still count as a member of your original race and a risen for the purpose of any effects or prerequisite based on race.
Racial hit dice: You retain your original racial Hit Dice, as well as all benefits gained therefrom (base attack and save bonuses, skill points, hit points, and so on).
Ability Modifiers: You retain your original racial ability modifiers and gain the ability modifiers of the risen race.
Size: You retain your original size. If the original race had powerful build as a racial trait, it is also retained.
Speed: You retain your original base land speed, as well as any other modes of movement possessed by your original race. Other racial traits related to speed or movement, such as the dwarf’s ability to move at full speed in medium or heavy armor, are lost.
Languages: You retain any languages you already know.
Favored Class: You retain your original favored classes and gain Blue Mage as a favored class.
Level Adjustment: You retain your original level adjustment.
Other Racial Traits: You lose all other racial traits of your original race, including bonus feats, skill bonuses, attack bonuses, save bonuses, spell-like abilities, and so forth. Two specific instances warrant clarification.
If your original race granted you a nonspecific bonus feat (such as the one gained by a human at 1st level), any feat can be lost, so long as it is not a prerequisite for another feat you have.
If your original race granted bonus skill points, you should deduct an appropriate amount of skill points from your current skill ranks. The specific skills affected are up to you, but the DM’s input might be required to adjudicate tricky situations (such as multiclass characters who might have purchased ranks of various skills as both class skills and cross-class skills).
The loss of racial traits might mean you no longer meet the prerequisites for a prestige class, feat, or some other feature. In general, you lose any special ability for which you no longer qualify, and nothing is gained in its place. A couple of exceptions exist.
If you no longer qualify for a feat due to the transformation, you lose the feat and immediately select a new feat for which you qualify in its place. You must also replace any feat for which the lost feat was a prerequisite.
If you no longer qualify for a prestige class, you lose the benefit of any class features or other special abilities granted by the class. You retain Hit Dice gained from advancing in the class, as well as any improvements to base attack bonus and base save bonuses that the class provided. If you later meet all the prerequisites for the class, you regain the benefits.