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View Full Version : Reaplings, an APG race for PF



DarkLightHitomi
2013-11-20, 05:11 PM
I created a race of creatures called Reaplings. I originally posted these on the paizo forums, but I thought I'd see what kind of feedback I can get here. I'll post the warrior forms later though.

I used the Pathfinder Advanced Race Guide rules to make these, with a couple changes, mainly ignoring certain assumptions of the rules, such as the rules not allowing any race to lack feet or hands.

The reaplings are similar to an ant colony except some of them are independent and intelligent. The reapling race is actually made of multiple forms.

The Queen form, which are amazing crafters and are the only ones that can make more reaplings easily (others have to go through a much tougher process). The queen looks like a larger version of the leader forms and is large sized.
The Warrior forms, soldier, corporal, and sergeant. These forms are playable but are a little lacking in intelligence. They are medium sized with elven like but bland features.
The Leader forms, scout, captain, major. These forms are better for players, they are the smart forms doing the intellectual tasks and the spellcasting for the colony. They also usually lead and direct the warrior and worker forms. They are small sized and have an elven torso with a snake like body instead of legs.
The Worker forms, micro and spider. These forms are tiny and small respectively. They have 4 legs and a stumpy torso with two arms sitting in the middle of the 4 spider like legs.

Basic Stats
All reaplings have these traits.
7 pts Half construct
3 pts aberration (warriors are humanoid [reapling] instead)
3 pts Deathless spirit
-1 negative energy affinity

Please note that deathless spirit and negative energy affinity cross, so reaplings basically have a resistance to healing. I figure this is a bigger penalty then the points account for so I recommend treating that combo as a few points cheaper without a counterbalance like fast healing.

Leader forms,
Reapling leader forms have a snake tail instead of legs. Officially this isn't allowed for PC races because of the magic item slots. Personally I think giving up a magic item slot for immunity to tripping (or at least free action to stand up with no AOO) seems a bit of a fair trade.

Reapling scouts also have,
Size small
AbSc +2 dex & int -2 str
-1 pt light sensitivity
2 pts climb speed 20'
2 pts swim speed 20'
15 points total
Reapling captains have
Size small
4 pts AbSc +4 dex +2 int, wis, & cha -2 str
3 pts SR greater 11+character lvl
2 pts climb 20'
2 pts swim 20'
23 points total
Reapling majors have the same as a captain plus
4 pts DR 5/magic
6 pts Fast healing 1
33 pts total


Shiara Sorenson is the creator of reaplings. She was experimenting with trying to make a clone, after an assassination attempt had robbed her of her first unborn child and left her unable to bear any more.
She did not succeed in making clones but she did succeed in making life, and she had made a few servants. She had eventually needed to flee the nation she had come from when the emperor had learned of what she had done, for he sent his soldiers to kill her and destroy her work. She escaped and after much travel encountered the king of a neighboring land while he was out hunting. The king thought the servants were fascinating. In exchange for giving him one he had given her a job making magic items for the army and given a lab and materials. The first servant she gave him had sacrificed itself to save him from an attack while returning to the castle. (Which was actually those tracking Shiara) so Shiara was asked to make him several more and so she created a reapling that could make more reaplings on it's own and command them. She gave this first reapling queen to the king. After many long years she was close to the king and would have been taken as his wife except that was unable to bear any heirs. One of the kings generals saw use in these servants as troops to bolster his army. She did not like the idea but was encouraged by the king. So the general set up a larger lab outside the city next to one of the army forts. She discovered that this was to get her out of the castle. While she was away there was a coup. The general tried to hide from her since her results were so promising, instead of killing her like he had been ordered by his real master. So was not deceived however she knew about the coup and his orders, so that evening she gave him three queens who could make him an army but these were upgraded from her previous makings and they needed better magic items to make, but they were far more capable then the previous servants she produced. Late that night she made several reaplings for own two queens and many others. The queens she gave to the general were loyal to her and as they were given many items to make an army they made many reaplings and then attacked the fort from within killing the general and most of his men.

During the fighting Shiara and the two youngest queens left to the mountains. The three queens secured the fort and the prisoners, those few peons who had surrendered, then left with a few loyalists who declared themselves to the old king and Shiara. However the new king had been planning this for a long time and had an immediate alliance set up with the empire across the mountains who had supported the coup. The emperor's son wanted to see Shiara dead as she was the only one to have ever escaped and personally supported the new king's army in hunt her down. They finally found her and there was a major battle in the mountains where the emperor's son rode his dragon mount and confronted Shiara herself. Shiara survived because one of the loyalist soldiers had taken her latest project, a golem that was controlled by the soldier inside. The golem was damaged beyond function but it and Shiara defeated and killed the emperor's son and his dragon mount. After that, the king's army retreated. Shiara took the body of the dragon and using the birth item of many dead reaplings, turned it into the overseer, the largest reapling. The emperor was not happy about his son's death and full forces available to the emperor was mustered against her. So with the new king and the empire collecting their full might against her she fled across the sea to find a rumored stone that could make her a god. She didn't have time to take all the reaplings with her so one queen and her daughters, left, and the overseer was left behind in command those that remained, to hold against the hoard until she could return.
Shiara found the stone's temple, but the empire had flanked the forces left behind and followed her across the sea and a great battle was fought at the temple gates while Shiara and a twenty one companions went for the stone. When she found the stone only thirteen of her companions survived to watch her ascend. She could immediately sense how few of her remaining forces had survived and how many enemy troops had made it into the temple, so she cast out the stone beyond the plane and out of reach of the imperial forces. She was a new god with little power as far as gods went but she was able to take her remaining forces home and there she secured the new king's throne and discovering the only remaining loyalist in the castle was the old captain of the guard, beaten and tortured and by divine right placed the old kings captain of the guard on the throne. However the other gods were extremely displeased with Shiara for losing the sacred stone, and they cast her out of the plane along with all her people that had come to the capitol and sent the one she had just named king as well so she would know that her beloved kingdom would exist no more. Some of her reaplings were left behind including the overseer because they were secure in their mountain homes, but most reaplings got cast out and scattered to the planes.

How reaplings are made:
The reapling queen usually ingests the required materials and forms the new reaplings basic body inside her, then gives "birth" to the basic skeleton and skin of the body (though the basic body can be made by hand but usually takes much longer). The basic body is then wrapped and cocooned with a magic item placed inside the body. The cocoon wrappings are drenched with black blood. Finally, a special arcane circle is drawn around the outside of the cocoon in the remaining black blood, and several days later the new reapling emerges, fully formed physically, though mentally a child like any other species. The blood of any reapling is black blood.
Becoming an adult doesn't take very long for reaplings, who can learn quite quickly. Usually having a coming of age ceremony about 6 years later, though usually they can learn the bare necessities in only a few months. Becoming skillful takes considerably longer.
A reapling's attributes, powers, and abilities usually depend on the strength of their birth item, the stronger the item, the stronger the reapling.
What most reaplings have not figured out yet is that when a reapling dies, it's birth item is left behind, that item is actually an intelligent item, though usually dormant. Should it awake (either because it was used, wielded, or affected by magic or a magical person, then the intelligence awakens and remembers everything of it's life as a reapling, and is essentially the reapling's soul container and can be "resurrected" by making it another body and going through the same process as creating it the first time.
A similar process can be used to morph any leader type reapling into a queen, though that requires many more materials and much more time.
For PCs, if they can find the information needed or can be directed by the "dead" reapling or another reapling (for all reaplings know the methods of making more), they can use this process to bring back a reapling PC for about the same cost as rezzing normal PC races via the spell, however they must have access to fresh black blood (or that has been preserved with Gentle Repose spell), if the blood is taken from a living creature, the amount needed is 1d4+4 hp worth of black blood.