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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Sothborog Rough Draft PEACH



CrankyPsion
2014-02-28, 04:00 AM
This isn’t for money or notoriety, for me it has always been about the fun. With that being said…


Fantasy has a long standing tradition of tentacle bearing horrors. Faerun has Mindflayers, Dragonlance has Yaggol, Lovecraft has Starspawn and Mighty Cthulhu. Hell, even Sponngebob has Squidward. What about your setting?
You don’t have any? Well let us see if we can remedy that. This project has Golarion in mind, but if you are the least bit clever you can tailor this to your own needs.

Prelude

Beneath the world you know, there are other worlds working behind the scenes. These mysterious gears help keep the clockwork moving forward smoothly even though you may never see their efforts. If you did see them, you may not even understand. The secret world we will be discussing today is the secret society of the Sothborog.

The Sothborog are as much a society as they are a race. This dynamic has been maintained throughout the centuries due to the fact that they are created for a purpose, not born and indoctrinated into it. Representatives of the Sothborog scour the lands of the different races searching for those who are extraordinary. The scholars, the psychics, the pious, and especially those who display unique thought processes are especially sought after. Really, the two most important criteria is a thirst for knowledge and a hatred for Aberrations.

These potential “initiates” are followed and investigated for some time. After the representative has studied the subject long enough to get a thorough understanding of them then a meeting is arranged. The Sothborog explains who and what he is, and an offer is made. The offer is simple. Become one of us, be immortal, seek knowledge in all its myriad forms, and hold back the tide of aberrations that would lead the world of reason to ruin. If the subject says yes then he continues on to learn more. If he says no he is asked to look into a rough hewed hunk of crystal, and loses all memory of the meeting.

For sake of argument, let us assume that this person said yes. What does that mean?

Becoming Sothborog is more than joining an organization, it is joining a race. When everything that can be understood is explained to the neophyte he/she starts to feel like something is not right. They start to feel disoriented. There was something in the tea, something darted into their neck, the stranger with a face wrapped in scarves threw some kind of powder into there eyes. Whatever happened, the world falls away and the person is unconscious for a prolonged period of time. Where they awake is a place they have never seen before. This is where the stranger reveals everything.

The mask, the scarves, or the hood is removed revealing what the representative really is. A creature between 5 and 6 feet tall with green skin, and a head like that of a 4-6 tentacles octopus. Expressive red eyes peer out at the initiate and for a moment the person is genuinely afraid for their soul as well as their life. The offer is given a second time, this time in a voice that can only be heard within there own mind. An expanded mind, immortality, and purpose. Many say no at this point and gaze into the memory crystal, but those who continue on will never look at the multiverse the same way ever again.

Genesis

When the sedatives wear off and the initiate is able to walk again he is taken deep into the winding halls of the shadowed complex he has been whisked away to. At the time the initiate is still unsure of where he/she is. This could be a portion of the underdark, a mountain stronghold, or just a labyrinth. The stonework is well maintained, even though the designs seem utterly alien. As you follow this “person” you see more and more of the complex. You walk past countless ornate iron doors, libraries, laboratories, and some things you really do not know how to describe.

You begin to descend down countless flights of spiral staircases leading deep into this strange complex. After what seems like an eternity of walking, when your legs feel like they may give out from exhaustion, you reach your destination. You come to a room the size of a coliseum devoid of features, save for a great vat of blue-grey fluid in the center of the cavernous room. You hear chanting, or you hear it in your mind anyway, as more creatures like the one who brought you here come to circle the pool.

What happens next is not for you to know. Some secrets are best kept.

Rituals are done, oaths are taken, time has passed, and you are forever changed. Elves, human, dwarves, and countless other humanoids enter this room and rooms like these across the multiverse. They go in who they are, and come out who they were destined to be.



Physical Description

After the rituals are performed you are left with a fully developed Sothborog. Within this race there is much diversity, though they share many common characteristics.

Height: Varies depending on height of the initiate before the transformation. Sothborog can be wither small size or medium. Sothborog of large size are unheard of except in the case of Marcastus The Scale (Discussed Later).

Weight: Also varies depending on the build of the creature before transformation, though the process tends to make the character take on a leaner build than before. A fat Sothborog has never been seen.

Eye Color: Black, White, Milky Blue-White are common colors. Sothborog eyes are large round and those with colored irises cover the entirety of the eye. Some have pupils (of varying sizes and shapes), while others do not. It is unknown as to why.

Skin Color: Just as random as the eye color. Specimens have been seen with green, albino white, obsidian, blue, purple, yellow, and shades of red. These colors, like the eyes, are chaotic and seemingly not based on genetics.

Sothborog, once transformed, resemble lean humanoids with heads that resemble octopi. Their rounded heads give way to between 3-8 tentacles hanging down obscuring a lamprey-like mouth unsuitable for vocalization. The tentacles can be of varying thicknesses and lengths and those with 4 or 6 tentacles are most common. The mouths are circular and ringed with thorn like teeth, and can not form words recognizeable to most humanoids. Instead Sothborog communicate by telepathy. Their feet have between 2 and 5 toes, and their hands have 3 to 5 fingers each. This also seems to be determined at random. Their heads can also be somewhat variable. Some have rounded seemingly very solid heads, whereas some are more bulbous and soft like an actual octopi, others still have been seen with slightly pointed heads and so on. The most shocking feature is that whatever process transforms them, also completely obliterates gender.
While they all seem to share a basic template when it comes to physiology, it is their mental powers that truly set them apart. Even the dimmest Sothborog is smarter than his former peers. Many take up psionics to reflect this.

*Martial disciplines, religious traditions, and other such pursuits are also followed with near equal fervor.


Personality

Sothborog are very headstrong, and academics in the purest sense. They study everything that they can, though most normally specialize in a certain field of interest. Unlike most creatures are bizarre looking they are lawful in the extreme with lawful neutral being the most common alignment. One other thing that is key to their psychology is that while they are considered aberrations, they have a great hatred for other aberrations. The Sothborog abhor the chaotic and destructive natures of aberrations and, other than the accumulation of knowledge, the goal of the race/society as a whole is to rid the world of aberrations. They do this by studying them intensely, rooting out cults and nests, and fiercely protecting or hiding any wayward gates that may allow them entry into the world. Strangely many initiates are not as focused on these goals until they are transformed. It is unknown whether this personality change is due to the transformation process or the result of secret knowledge shared afterward.

*In the pathfinder default setting specifically they guard gates and have emissaries on all of the habitable worlds of Golarion’s solar system.*







Culture and Assorted Fun Facts

*Their society as a whole is led by an ancient group of Sothborog known as The Council Of Thirteen. These elders know the secrets behind the transformation rituals and have forgotten more lore than most people will ever learn.

*The council is headed by the only large size Sothborog, Marcastus The Scale (who will be fleshed out later along with the other council members)

*The council is often split up among the inhabitable worlds (in the pathfinder default setting anyway)

*These aberrants do not live underground, but convert mountains into strongholds topped by monasteries.

*Their greatest enemies are the great beasts that are said to bring about the end of the world. They do not want the world to end, and will do whatever is in their power to prevent it.

*Sothborog do not bore through skulls with their tentacles as their hated aberrant foes do. The tentacles are used to bring food to the mouth. Many seem to take pride in their tentacles, like some cultures do their beards. Many tentacles or long ones can be seen as a sign of prestige.

*Ruleset used are from www.d20pfsrd.com


Tentative Racial Stats

Racial Traits
• +2 to intelligence along with a +2 to one other score to represent their intelligent and varied nature.
• Aberrant Blood: Sothborog are humanoids with the aberrant subtype.
• Varied Form: Sothborog can either be Medium or Small size. This choice must be made at character creation and cannot be changed. Once chosen they are considered that size and subject to the same size rules as any other similarly sized creature.
• Normal Speed: Sothborog have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Well Versed: All knowledge skills are class skills. Choose 2 knowledge skills, it receives a +2 to these skill checks.
• Aberrant Nature: Sothborog suffer a -4 to charisma based skill checks when dealing with Non-Sothborog.
• Naturally Psionic: Sothborog gain the Wild Talent feat as a bonus feat at 1st level. If a Sothborog takes levels in a psionic class, it instead gains the Psionic Talent feat.
• Repletion: A Sothborog can sustain its body without need of food or water. If it spends 1 power point, a Sothborog does not need to eat or drink for 24 hours.
• Psionic Aptitude: When a Sothborog takes a level in a favored class, it can choose to gain an additional power point instead of a hit point or skill point.
• Languages: Sothborog communicate with telepathy that extends out to 60 feet. A Sothborog must share a language with whatever it is communicating with. Sothborog start out knowing Common and one other language to reflect one that they spoke before their transformation.