Zaydos
2014-02-11, 01:35 AM
Fjolkir:
The fjolkir are fey from the dawning days of the world. Spirits of the deep places of the earth, the fjolkir have deep and primal connections that root them in the world. The fjolkir are said to originate in a time when the world was very different from it was now, and if the stories are true magic was wild and untamed then. Spirits of this primal world, fjolkir retain some of the powers of the early world even into the modern day.
Mysterious beings the fjolkir dwell deep within the earth only rarely emerging to interact with the world above. It is said that they were once a great race, that they fought alongside the Wind Dukes against the Queen of Chaos when the planes were young, and that they once held power greater than all the earthen fey.
Physical Description: Your average fjolkir is about 3’8”, ranging from 3’6” to 3’11”. They are thicker built than gnomes and halflings, with greater musculature and have rougher features. A fjolkir’s face is like a craggy rock, asymmetric eyes, cheeks, small ears, and mouth, with noses tending towards wide and flat. They are tightly knotted and muscled across their body, far from comely by human standards. Their skin is a stony grey, flecked often with specks of white and black. Their eyes twinkle in the light like gems, and take upon them a variety of vibrant hues like gemstones, emerald green, amethyst purple, sapphire blue, and ruby red among others.
Racial Traits
Fey type: A fjolkir is a fey not a humanoid.
4 Fey Hit Dice: Granting them 4d6 hp, +2 BAB, +1 Fort, +4 Ref, +4 Will, 2 feats, and 42 + 6 times Int modifier skill points with the following class skills: Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) (Int), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
Small size: A fjolkir is small sized gaining a +1 size bonus to attacks and AC, as well as a +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but see below.
+4 Constitution, +4 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom: Fjolkir hold some part of the sturdiness of the earth, as well as a keen and cunning intellect honed in part by their long lives.
Speed: 30-ft.
Darkvision 120-ft (Ex): Accustomed to life underground, the fjolkir can see far in the absolute darkness within the earth’s depths.
Powerful Build (Ex): A fjolkir is considered medium sized where beneficial, such as for special size modifiers to trip, bull rush, and grapple, whether they may wield a medium sized weapon, and how many fjolkir can be swallowed whole.
+2 to Search checks (Ex): Fjolkir have a love of secret doors and passageways and from birth learn to recognize them. This bonus stacks with that provided by Sense the Earth below.
Spell Immunity (Su): A fjolkir is a spirit of natural sanctity, untouched by magic. A fjolkir has spell resistance that is effectively infinite and cannot be lowered. This spell immunity even applies against spells the fjolkir casts themselves, and they cannot target themselves with targeted spells.
Stunted Magic (Ex): A fjolkir suffers a -2 penalty to their caster level for all spells (but not spell-like abilities) they cast, and a -2 penalty to manifester level for any psionic powers they would manifest. In addition they suffer a -2 penalty to their mental ability scores for the purposes of highest spell level available to them, spells per day, and saving throw DCs.
Craft Mastery (Su): Fjolkir gain a +4 bonus on Craft checks, in addition they craft items at double the normal speed (double their daily/weekly production or wealth obtained). Finally a fjolkir may take Item Creation feats as if they had a caster level equal to their character level, they do not however gain any special ability to emulate spells needed in the production of magic items.
Age Sense (Su): Fjolkir can tell the age of any living creature with a touch as a standard action.
Sense the Earth (Su): A fjolkir has a mystical sense of the earth. This functions as the dwarven ability stonecunning, but a fjolkir can also sense the presence of naturally occurring metal or stone within 10-ft and its general location. This ability also allows them to detect the presence of elemental creatures with the earth subtype within 10-ft as if they had blindsense.
Sustenance (Su): A fjolkir needs but eat or drink only 1/10th as much as a halfling as long as they spend at least 8 hours each day underground. If a fjolkir spends less than 8 hours underground in a day they must eat the normal amount for that day. While underground and in contact with the ground a fjolkir has no need to breathe.
Automatic Languages: Terran, Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal, Sylvan.
Favored Class: Totemist.
Fjolkir Society:
Fjolkir maintain a loosely gerontocratic society. Their settlements seem almost anarchic at first glance, each fjolkir doing as they wish with no need, nor recognition of laws, closer examination shows certain strong societal rules. A fjolkir always seems to respect their elders, the greater the gap of age the greater the deference shown.
Rite of Adulthood: An important part of fjolkir culture is the rite of adulthood. Every fjolkir between after their 100th birthday but before their 2nd century goes out to explore the wider world for at least a decade. This is their rite of adulthood and until they perform it they are but a child. Many fjolkir do not live to return from this rite yet perform it they all do.
Life Cycle: Once a fjolkir reaches physical maturity at the age of 25 they never again physically age. Mentally they are not fully developed until closer to their first century (mechanically a 60-90 year old fjolkir gains +2 Int, and a <60 year old fjolkir suffers a -2 penalty to Charisma). Fjolkir are born only rarely, with a single settlement only occasionally seeing more than one birth in a century. Even with this small population growth fjolkir were once a prosperous race, now brought low and into decline through wars fought when the gods were young.
Lands: Fjolkir do not truly have lands. They claim only small and scattered areas, usually around naturally occurring sites of power deep within the earth, deep even by the scales of the Underdark. These colonies have little outside contact, and many fjolkir have lost contact with settlements they once lived in as the world has changed throughout their long lives. Fjolkir rarely divulge the locations of their homelands, for the aged fey have been slain time and time again for the ancient power of their homelands. Fjolkir are never fully comfortable outside of these realms as something always seems just a little off. Even many among the fjolkir do not know where other settlements of their race dwell. For a young fjolkir a visitor from another settlement may be an event that happened once before their coming of age, if that, and is something they will remember the rest of their days.
Settlements: Fjolkir build their settlements in such a way that they are hard to tell from natural stone. They favor tunnels painstakingly carved to look like natural stone, doors made to fit into the walls almost seamlessly. The locations of these settlements is kept secret from all but the closest friends. Within them there are wonders of construction by medieval standards, working plumbing, clockwork to compare with the workings of the Greeks if not better, and other similar marvels.
Power Groups: Spread out as they are the fjolkir have no real power groups. Within a single settlement everyone is, theoretically, equal once they have gone through the rite of adulthood. In practice the oldest members of the settlement hold power through the respect that their fellows feel for them and few fjolkir would disobey their wishes. Despite this much of the true power wielded by a fjolkir elder is not their political power but that they have lived for millennia, some longer than even the eldest dragons, and they hold the personal power they have accumulated in that time.
Beliefs: The fjolkir respect the gods of earth and stone, but few worship gods. Instead they turn themselves towards a more general spiritualistic view with an emphasis placed on union with the earth and the natural world around them. To the fjolkir many gods are new comers, only the earth endures.
Relations: The fjolkir have long memories and many among the elders have seen themselves betrayed by dwarves, elves, men, and others. Even so the fjolkir hold a deep and abiding respect and kinship with the dwarves and gnomes. While they may find the dwarves stodgy and stuck in their rules, they also recognize them as master craftsmen, and deeply attuned with the earth and stone. The same can be said of gnomes, whose more fey-like nature often appeals to the fjolkir. Many of the elder fjolkir see these two races as almost children races, and there are hints that the fjolkir had a part in shaping each race in the dawn of time. They deal more warily with other races, but many of the younger fjolkir have fond memories of friends from among them from during their rite of adulthood. They do, however, tend to think of most races as something like hyperactive children.
Fjolkir as Characters:
Fjolkir are highly resistant to enemy magic, with small size that aids in stealth, and high constitution which allows them to take more and heavier blows. Less mechanically fjolkir have long lives and value life deeply. As such they are likely to urge caution, a slower and more deliberate approach to problems, and taking one’s time as required. Fjolkir believe in never acting hastily, and especially that one should not act recklessly.
Adventuring Fjolkir: Most fjolkir adventurers are those traveling on their Rite of Adulthood. In this span of, normally 10 years, the fjolkir is expected to see all of the world they will need to for centuries to come. They are young enough that wanderlust still fills their souls, a joy and awe of the new and undiscovered.
Personality: Even young fjolkir are used to a scale of time completely unlike humans’. Their rite of adulthood is, to them, much like a teenager touring Europe for a summer before beginning college or entering the work force. By human standards they do not rush, but instead seek to smell the roses and enjoy each aspect of each moment. Fjolkir are slow to anger, but they never forget and many never fully forgive. They love things done well, items carefully wrought for best result, and seek to put an attention to detail into every act they perform. Fjolkir are also typically untrusting of strangers, but this is mixed with an avid curiosity that makes them wonder about these mortal races that populate the surface.
Alignment: Most fjolkir are Chaotic Good (i.e. Usually Chaotic Good). While there are certain societal rules that have developed amongst them, their respect for the elderly and their rites of adulthood, fjolkir come from civilizations without true laws and see no need for such codes, you simply do what is right and don’t make trouble for each other. Fjolkir are by nature reverent of life, whether their own or another’s, and not prone to violence. Typically they see the view that helping another is the right, natural thing to do, although this typically is limited by their fear of death and mortality (they might give you a horse you need, or a precious diamond to revive your friend, but few will fight for you).
Characteristics
Starting Age: 96 + 5d4 (simple)/10d4 (moderate)/15d4 (complex)
Aging: Full Adulthood: 96. Mental Adolescence: 60-96 (+2 Int, no Wis mod). Physical Maturity: 25-60 (-2 Cha, no mental bonuses).
{table=head]Sex|Height|Modifier|Weight|Modifier
Male|3'5"|+1d6"|65 lbs|+1d2 x height mod
Female|3'3"|+1d8"|60 lbs|+1d2 x height mod[/table]
The fjolkir are fey from the dawning days of the world. Spirits of the deep places of the earth, the fjolkir have deep and primal connections that root them in the world. The fjolkir are said to originate in a time when the world was very different from it was now, and if the stories are true magic was wild and untamed then. Spirits of this primal world, fjolkir retain some of the powers of the early world even into the modern day.
Mysterious beings the fjolkir dwell deep within the earth only rarely emerging to interact with the world above. It is said that they were once a great race, that they fought alongside the Wind Dukes against the Queen of Chaos when the planes were young, and that they once held power greater than all the earthen fey.
Physical Description: Your average fjolkir is about 3’8”, ranging from 3’6” to 3’11”. They are thicker built than gnomes and halflings, with greater musculature and have rougher features. A fjolkir’s face is like a craggy rock, asymmetric eyes, cheeks, small ears, and mouth, with noses tending towards wide and flat. They are tightly knotted and muscled across their body, far from comely by human standards. Their skin is a stony grey, flecked often with specks of white and black. Their eyes twinkle in the light like gems, and take upon them a variety of vibrant hues like gemstones, emerald green, amethyst purple, sapphire blue, and ruby red among others.
Racial Traits
Fey type: A fjolkir is a fey not a humanoid.
4 Fey Hit Dice: Granting them 4d6 hp, +2 BAB, +1 Fort, +4 Ref, +4 Will, 2 feats, and 42 + 6 times Int modifier skill points with the following class skills: Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) (Int), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
Small size: A fjolkir is small sized gaining a +1 size bonus to attacks and AC, as well as a +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but see below.
+4 Constitution, +4 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom: Fjolkir hold some part of the sturdiness of the earth, as well as a keen and cunning intellect honed in part by their long lives.
Speed: 30-ft.
Darkvision 120-ft (Ex): Accustomed to life underground, the fjolkir can see far in the absolute darkness within the earth’s depths.
Powerful Build (Ex): A fjolkir is considered medium sized where beneficial, such as for special size modifiers to trip, bull rush, and grapple, whether they may wield a medium sized weapon, and how many fjolkir can be swallowed whole.
+2 to Search checks (Ex): Fjolkir have a love of secret doors and passageways and from birth learn to recognize them. This bonus stacks with that provided by Sense the Earth below.
Spell Immunity (Su): A fjolkir is a spirit of natural sanctity, untouched by magic. A fjolkir has spell resistance that is effectively infinite and cannot be lowered. This spell immunity even applies against spells the fjolkir casts themselves, and they cannot target themselves with targeted spells.
Stunted Magic (Ex): A fjolkir suffers a -2 penalty to their caster level for all spells (but not spell-like abilities) they cast, and a -2 penalty to manifester level for any psionic powers they would manifest. In addition they suffer a -2 penalty to their mental ability scores for the purposes of highest spell level available to them, spells per day, and saving throw DCs.
Craft Mastery (Su): Fjolkir gain a +4 bonus on Craft checks, in addition they craft items at double the normal speed (double their daily/weekly production or wealth obtained). Finally a fjolkir may take Item Creation feats as if they had a caster level equal to their character level, they do not however gain any special ability to emulate spells needed in the production of magic items.
Age Sense (Su): Fjolkir can tell the age of any living creature with a touch as a standard action.
Sense the Earth (Su): A fjolkir has a mystical sense of the earth. This functions as the dwarven ability stonecunning, but a fjolkir can also sense the presence of naturally occurring metal or stone within 10-ft and its general location. This ability also allows them to detect the presence of elemental creatures with the earth subtype within 10-ft as if they had blindsense.
Sustenance (Su): A fjolkir needs but eat or drink only 1/10th as much as a halfling as long as they spend at least 8 hours each day underground. If a fjolkir spends less than 8 hours underground in a day they must eat the normal amount for that day. While underground and in contact with the ground a fjolkir has no need to breathe.
Automatic Languages: Terran, Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal, Sylvan.
Favored Class: Totemist.
Fjolkir Society:
Fjolkir maintain a loosely gerontocratic society. Their settlements seem almost anarchic at first glance, each fjolkir doing as they wish with no need, nor recognition of laws, closer examination shows certain strong societal rules. A fjolkir always seems to respect their elders, the greater the gap of age the greater the deference shown.
Rite of Adulthood: An important part of fjolkir culture is the rite of adulthood. Every fjolkir between after their 100th birthday but before their 2nd century goes out to explore the wider world for at least a decade. This is their rite of adulthood and until they perform it they are but a child. Many fjolkir do not live to return from this rite yet perform it they all do.
Life Cycle: Once a fjolkir reaches physical maturity at the age of 25 they never again physically age. Mentally they are not fully developed until closer to their first century (mechanically a 60-90 year old fjolkir gains +2 Int, and a <60 year old fjolkir suffers a -2 penalty to Charisma). Fjolkir are born only rarely, with a single settlement only occasionally seeing more than one birth in a century. Even with this small population growth fjolkir were once a prosperous race, now brought low and into decline through wars fought when the gods were young.
Lands: Fjolkir do not truly have lands. They claim only small and scattered areas, usually around naturally occurring sites of power deep within the earth, deep even by the scales of the Underdark. These colonies have little outside contact, and many fjolkir have lost contact with settlements they once lived in as the world has changed throughout their long lives. Fjolkir rarely divulge the locations of their homelands, for the aged fey have been slain time and time again for the ancient power of their homelands. Fjolkir are never fully comfortable outside of these realms as something always seems just a little off. Even many among the fjolkir do not know where other settlements of their race dwell. For a young fjolkir a visitor from another settlement may be an event that happened once before their coming of age, if that, and is something they will remember the rest of their days.
Settlements: Fjolkir build their settlements in such a way that they are hard to tell from natural stone. They favor tunnels painstakingly carved to look like natural stone, doors made to fit into the walls almost seamlessly. The locations of these settlements is kept secret from all but the closest friends. Within them there are wonders of construction by medieval standards, working plumbing, clockwork to compare with the workings of the Greeks if not better, and other similar marvels.
Power Groups: Spread out as they are the fjolkir have no real power groups. Within a single settlement everyone is, theoretically, equal once they have gone through the rite of adulthood. In practice the oldest members of the settlement hold power through the respect that their fellows feel for them and few fjolkir would disobey their wishes. Despite this much of the true power wielded by a fjolkir elder is not their political power but that they have lived for millennia, some longer than even the eldest dragons, and they hold the personal power they have accumulated in that time.
Beliefs: The fjolkir respect the gods of earth and stone, but few worship gods. Instead they turn themselves towards a more general spiritualistic view with an emphasis placed on union with the earth and the natural world around them. To the fjolkir many gods are new comers, only the earth endures.
Relations: The fjolkir have long memories and many among the elders have seen themselves betrayed by dwarves, elves, men, and others. Even so the fjolkir hold a deep and abiding respect and kinship with the dwarves and gnomes. While they may find the dwarves stodgy and stuck in their rules, they also recognize them as master craftsmen, and deeply attuned with the earth and stone. The same can be said of gnomes, whose more fey-like nature often appeals to the fjolkir. Many of the elder fjolkir see these two races as almost children races, and there are hints that the fjolkir had a part in shaping each race in the dawn of time. They deal more warily with other races, but many of the younger fjolkir have fond memories of friends from among them from during their rite of adulthood. They do, however, tend to think of most races as something like hyperactive children.
Fjolkir as Characters:
Fjolkir are highly resistant to enemy magic, with small size that aids in stealth, and high constitution which allows them to take more and heavier blows. Less mechanically fjolkir have long lives and value life deeply. As such they are likely to urge caution, a slower and more deliberate approach to problems, and taking one’s time as required. Fjolkir believe in never acting hastily, and especially that one should not act recklessly.
Adventuring Fjolkir: Most fjolkir adventurers are those traveling on their Rite of Adulthood. In this span of, normally 10 years, the fjolkir is expected to see all of the world they will need to for centuries to come. They are young enough that wanderlust still fills their souls, a joy and awe of the new and undiscovered.
Personality: Even young fjolkir are used to a scale of time completely unlike humans’. Their rite of adulthood is, to them, much like a teenager touring Europe for a summer before beginning college or entering the work force. By human standards they do not rush, but instead seek to smell the roses and enjoy each aspect of each moment. Fjolkir are slow to anger, but they never forget and many never fully forgive. They love things done well, items carefully wrought for best result, and seek to put an attention to detail into every act they perform. Fjolkir are also typically untrusting of strangers, but this is mixed with an avid curiosity that makes them wonder about these mortal races that populate the surface.
Alignment: Most fjolkir are Chaotic Good (i.e. Usually Chaotic Good). While there are certain societal rules that have developed amongst them, their respect for the elderly and their rites of adulthood, fjolkir come from civilizations without true laws and see no need for such codes, you simply do what is right and don’t make trouble for each other. Fjolkir are by nature reverent of life, whether their own or another’s, and not prone to violence. Typically they see the view that helping another is the right, natural thing to do, although this typically is limited by their fear of death and mortality (they might give you a horse you need, or a precious diamond to revive your friend, but few will fight for you).
Characteristics
Starting Age: 96 + 5d4 (simple)/10d4 (moderate)/15d4 (complex)
Aging: Full Adulthood: 96. Mental Adolescence: 60-96 (+2 Int, no Wis mod). Physical Maturity: 25-60 (-2 Cha, no mental bonuses).
{table=head]Sex|Height|Modifier|Weight|Modifier
Male|3'5"|+1d6"|65 lbs|+1d2 x height mod
Female|3'3"|+1d8"|60 lbs|+1d2 x height mod[/table]