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Admiral Squish
2014-01-01, 07:10 PM
Spirit-born
http://fc02.deviantart.net/images3/i/2004/097/7/4/__Lagomorph_Warrior___.jpg

The Named Spirits are powerful spiritual beings that embody the combined essence of the animals that share their names. But they are certainly not perfect. Sometimes they walk the mortal world in human guise, and sometimes, they may take mates and create children. These children are not human, but neither are they spirits, and they roam the land as spirit-born.
Personality: Spirit-born, due to their extreme difference from the humans, are often somewhat detached from others. Sometimes, they are leaders, other times they’re loners, but they only rarely find people they can truly bond with. Their spiritual parent also contributes to their personality through a set of animal instincts imprinted on their mind, though how they manage these instincts can often be very different from their parent.
Physical Description: Spirit-born are instantly recognizable as such. They have the appearance of a mixture between their spirit parent’s animal and a human, a hybrid of the two. They generally dress and groom themselves in the traditions of their human parent’s culture, though some will adopt traditions from all across the Cahokian League, cherry-picking their favorites, and others may disregard traditions entirely. After all, they are different in every other way, what’s one more?
Relations: Spirit-born are viewed as abominations by most cultures, and are even slain on sight in some areas. They only truly flourish among the tribes of the Cahokian League. But even there, they are… unusual. Some tribes regard them as extremely holy and powerful beings. Others regard them as different, and often dangerous. Some see them as nothing more than tools. Spirit-born are relatively few in number, perhaps 5% of the total population. Most people would likely know one, or at least know where to find one, but they aren‘t something one sees every day. When spirit-born meet, the chances are that they have no more in common between them than they normally do with other humans, though they may share a sense of not truly belonging.
Alignment: Spirit-born are a widely varied group, and have no strong tendency toward law, chaos, good, or evil. Most are neutral in at least one axis, though.
{table=head]|L|N|C
G|5|15|5
N|15|20|15
E|5|15|5[/table]
Lands: Spirit-born have no lands of their own, most often either living alone or in human settlements. Some live among their animal kin.
Religion: Spirit-born are living proof that the spirits walk the world, that they affect it and are part of it. Many become spiritual leaders, medicine men or clerics. Others go down the path of spiritual awakening for the chance to meet their spiritual parent. And still others curse the spirits that spawned them, blaming them for the trials of their existence. None are faithless, however.
Language: Spirit-born speak the languages of their mortal parents, and the language of their animal kin. Some prefer the company of humans, other prefer the animals.
Names: Spirit-born often have names that reflect the traits of their animal side, but they are generally named according to the conventions of their human parent’s culture.
Adventurers: A majority of spirit-born become adventurers in one capacity or another. They may never go on adventures in earnest, but most have at least one level in an adventuring class, simply because their isolation often drives them to excel.


+2 to any one ability score Spirit-born are a very widely varied group, with different strengths.
Type: Spirit-born are creatures of the monstrous humanoid type.
Size; Spirit born are medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to size.
Normal Speed: Spirit-born have a base land speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Spirit-born can see twice as far as normal in conditions of dim light.
Spirit Tongue: Spirit born can speak to animals of the same type as their spiritual parent, as though under the effects of a speak with animals spell. (For example, a child of Bear can speak to any variety of bear, even dire bears or bears not native to their birth place.)
Natural Weapons: A spirit-born possesses some sort of natural weapon inherited from their parent. Select one natural weapon from the list below. These are considered primary natural weapons.
Claws: The spirit born possess two claw attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage.
Fangs: The spirit born possesses a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage.
Horns: The spirit born possesses a gore attack that deals 1d6 points of damage.
Slam: The spirit born possesses two slam attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage.
Sting: The spirit born possesses a sting attack that deals 1d4 points of damage.
Talons: The spirit born possesses two talon attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage

Feral Boon: A spirit-born gains a number of traits from their spiritual parent, and may select two abilities from the list below.

Sprinter: Your parent was fleet of foot. Your base land speed increases by 10 feet and you gain the run feat as a bonus feat.
Swimmer: Your parent was a skillful swimmer. You gain a swim speed of 30 feet and a +8 racial bonus to swim checks.
Climber: Your parent was a skillful climber. You gain a climb speed of 20 feet and a +8 racial bonus to climb checks.
Winged: Your parent had wings, and while you cannot fly, you can gain some benefit from them. You gain a +10 racial bonus to jump checks.
Burrower: Your parent was a burrower. As a move action, you can burrow 5 feet through earth or sand, but not through stone. As a full-round action, you can burrow 5 feet and leave a usable tunnel behind you, unless the material you’re digging through cannot support it.
Armored Skin: Your parent had thick hide or armor of some sort. You gain a +2 natural armor bonus.
Extra Weapon: Your parent had more than one natural weapon. You may select a second type of natural weapon from the list above.
Frost-Born: Your parent was adapted to living in arctic regions. You gain cold resistance 5.
Desert-Born: Your parent was adapted to living in desert reigons. You gain fire resistance 5.
Camouflage: Your parent was adapted to hiding in a particular sort of environment. You gain a +2 racial bonus to stealth checks. In addition, select an environment from the list of ranger favored terrain types. In this terrain, the racial bonus to stealth checks increases to +4.
Sharp Senses: Your parent had particularly sharp senses. You gain a +4 racial bonus to perception checks.
Venom: Your parent had potent venom. You must have a bite or sting natural attack to select this boon. Your bite or sting attack inflicts poison on a successful hit. When you select this boon, you must choose the poison.
Life-Stealing Venom: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the user's Hit Dice + the user's Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1 Con; cure 1 save.
Paralytic Venom: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + the 1/2 user's Hit Dice + the user's Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dex; cure 1 save.
Weakening Venom: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the user's Hit Dice + the user's Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save.
Powerful Charge: Your parent can deal devastating damage on a charge. You must possess the horns natural weapon to select this boon. When you successfully attack with your gore attack on the end of a charge, you deal double the normal damage.
Scent: Your parent had a sharp nose. You gain the scent ability.
Crushing Overrun: Your parent could trample foes. You gain improved overrun as a bonus feat, and when you make a successful overrun attempt, you can choose to deal 1d6 damage + your strength modifier to the target.
Blindsense: Your parent could sense their surroundings through non-visual means. You gain blindsense out to 30 feet.
Endurance: Your parent had great endurance. You gain a +4 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue and exhaustion, as well as any other ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, and hot or cold environments.
Amphibious: Your parent could breathe water. You can gain the ability to breathe air and water.

Admiral Squish
2014-01-01, 07:12 PM
Feats

Great Boon
Prerequisites: Spirit-Born, 1st level only
Benefit: You may select a third Feral Boon from the list.

Divine Tongue
Prerequisites: Spirit-Born
Benefit: Your spirit tongue ability now allows you to speak to any animal, as a permanent speak with animals spell. Note that not all animals will be interested in talking, or friendly for that matter.

Admiral Squish
2014-01-01, 07:18 PM
Here we go! Been working on this one for a while. This race is a replacement for the hotowa'e we had earlier. It makes them a little less specific and opens up a much wider variety of characters, but you can still play one if you so choose.

Lizard Lord
2014-01-02, 01:27 PM
I had thought spirit animals were prevalent in Chinese mythology. Would the spirit born not be acceptable in Fusang then?

Admiral Squish
2014-01-02, 07:23 PM
Hmm... you know, I was gonna say no, but you do have a point. The spirits are common in chinese myth, and while they are somewhat different than the native american spirits, they do share a number of traits.
The main difference is that in chinese myth the spirits are individual creatures, with unique names. In native american myths, the spirits are sort of archetypes, like Socrates' world of ideal forms.

It could be they have a cultural bias against them, killing them at birth, or it could just be that the Chinese have a much more adversarial relationships with the spirits than the native americans and the halfbloods are extremely rarely, if ever, born at all.

Lizard Lord
2014-01-02, 07:48 PM
You may have already thought of this but perhaps a racial feat could be a first level only feat that lets you take a third feral boon.

Admiral Squish
2014-01-02, 07:57 PM
I was actually focused on specific abilities, it had not occurred to me. Added!

Lizard Lord
2014-01-02, 10:27 PM
Another one could be on instant grapple with talons, claws, and/or fangs.

Lappy9001
2014-01-03, 07:04 PM
I really, really, like this! Customizable races are always great, but this one is particularly awesome.

Presently, it seems worded that you can take as many natural attacks as you want. That's obviously not the intent with the Extra Weapon boon. Speaking of which, it states:


"Your parent had more than one natural armor. You may select a second type of natural weapon from the list above."

How about an amphibious boon for those amphibian/reptile/fish spirit-born?

The endurance boon kind of makes the endurance feat irrelevant, but not completely. That said, I'm not sure adding the endurance feat for free (or any feats for free) is a good idea for boons. So, I'm not sure how to really handle that, but thought I should bring it up to you.

Admiral Squish
2014-01-03, 08:17 PM
Thanks! Good to hear that you like it!

Right, reworded the natural weapon text to specify one weapon only, and reworded the extra weapon ability so it makes sense.

Added amphibious to the list, can't believe I didn't think of that before.

Hmm. On one hand, endurance is a pretty boring feat, I doubt most players would take it if they didn't get it free somehow. On the other hand, they are gonna get culture feats, so more free feats seems like it might be a bit much.

Amechra
2014-01-03, 08:19 PM
I think I might use this race for other settings to represent anthropomorphic animals. You know, for those times people want to play cat people (always comes up, I'm telling you...)

There is a typo in the Natural Weapons racial trait; it should say "Select one natural weapon from the list below. These are considered primary natural weapons."

I'd ask for a feat that scales up Winged to actual flight, but I remember that Crossroads has no PC-available flight.

Oh, and are you taking suggestions for Feral Boons?

Admiral Squish
2014-01-03, 08:50 PM
I was trying to come up with something customizable enough to fit pretty much any animal you could come up with. I'm glad you think it's good enough to do that!

*sigh* Typo fixed.

Yeah, I've had to stop myself from going down the flight route a couple times.

I am taking suggestions, what do you have in mind?

Amechra
2014-01-03, 10:06 PM
Swamp-Born: Your parent was at least partially aquatic. You may breath both air and water.

You know, because someone requested it.

zabbarot
2014-01-03, 10:27 PM
So the first thing I did was see if I could build an alligator spirit-born. Grab bite, natural armor, and swim speed. Bam, alligator. I like it :smallbiggrin:

Would a feat to grab a second natural weapon as a secondary be unbalanced? nevermind, there is one indirectly

Edit: Low-light vision seems more appropriate to me than dark vision tbh.

Amechra
2014-01-03, 10:38 PM
Just take Great Boon and grab the Extra Weapon Boon.

Just for fun, here's a pair of Spirit-Born "subraces." Guess what animals they are based off of!

Macavity's Child: +Dexterity, Fangs, Extra Weapon (Claws), Climber
El-ahrairah-roo: +Dexterity, Slam, Burrower, Sprinter

zabbarot
2014-01-03, 10:52 PM
Oh, I completely missed that boon, my bad. So yeah that works then.

Admiral Squish
2014-01-03, 11:09 PM
I added Amphibious to the list a couple posts ago, I think that makes it more universal than swamp-born.

I coulda sworn I made it into low-light vision rather than darkvision...

An idea occurred to me, but I'm not certain about it. I'm thinking a feat that expands your spirit tongue to speak to all animals, but it seems like it may be somewhat strong.

Amechra
2014-01-03, 11:13 PM
Ah, sorry, missed that.

I see no balance issues with that suggested feat.

zabbarot
2014-01-03, 11:18 PM
Yeah expanding spirit tongue is functionally equivalent to having Speak with Animals as an at will sla,which is hardly game breaking. Maybe specify that animals aren't necessarily helpful to make it fun for the dm :smallwink:

side note: should they be outsiders(native) like tieflings and asimar?

Admiral Squish
2014-01-03, 11:46 PM
Right, the feat's added as divine tongue.

As for outsider (native), it could certainly work. I don't think it makes much difference, mechanically.

SuperDave
2014-01-17, 08:00 PM
Personally, I think that the idea of half-animal babies would be too much for the Fusangren to handle. They'd have never seen anything like it; the earliest ones would have been killed outright, and even after 250 years, Spirit-Born infants would probably be lucky to be left in the wilderness to die. If the Huli Jing are forced to live in ghettoes, how badly would a mongrel half-breed be treated? Old prejudices die hard, and given their less-than-stellar opinion of the Huli Jing, this would inform Chinese opinions of any Spirit-Born who are born to Chinese parents.

That said, playing a Spirit-Born from Fusang would not be impossible, just highly unlikely (at least, not nearly as unlikely as playing a Spirit-Born of European parentage who survived past infancy :smalleek:). But the Spirit-Born would probably be vanishingly rare in Colonial (i.e., any non-Native) societies. Even those who survive infancy would find they just don't fit in, and around their teenage years would probably light out for the frontier, where the Natives are used to weird stuff like them.

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Edit: Players looking for portraits of Spirit-Born characters could do worse than check out darknatasha's gallery (http://darknatasha.deviantart.com/gallery/) on DeviantART. Just sayin'.