Loek
2014-04-17, 02:42 PM
Zannu
The Zannu are an insect-like species that originated on the astral planes in the distant past. Living and experiencing (different aspects of) life is the most important thing for a Zannu. As such the Zannu have spread out and have (quietly) integrated themselves among races and community all over the multi-verse.
Personality: At the very core of each Zannu is a love of life and a insatiable curiosity. While this could lead to a race of joyous explorers, the Zannu are actually a race of many a varied personality. While some will fling themselves into the face of danger to see what is going on ("I never saw a dragon that big before!"), others would cower in a dark corner, afraid of losing their life ("For how can one enjoy life, or see something new, if one is dead?").
But beyond their own innate personalities, most Zannu adopt an (mostly) outward personality that fits with the people it has chosen to live among.
Physical Description: Zannu look like the bastard child of a trilobite and a ray. Like the ray they are a single body without legs or other appendages and like the trilobite their body is inflexible. They use four skinny ectoplasmic tentacles to move themselves and interact with the world. These same tentacles are used by a Zannu to connect themselves to, and take control of, a physical body.
They are only between 4 and 8 inches long. The appearance of their outer shell depends on where they are born, varying between looking like metal, stone, wood or normal insect carapace. These differences are visual only, an adaptation to help them blend in with their surroundings or in some cases to deter predators.
Zannu do not die of old age. Some of the eldest Zannu are so old they have seen both the birth and death of deities that most other races would consider to be eternal. That said, Zannu's have a long life, but aren't immortal. Most will meet their end at the end of a sword or due to disease, or in rare cases, just losing the will to live.
As for births, the Zannu simply don't know (or much care) how they came to be (neither as a species, nor as an individual), they simply are. Those few that got curious and theorized on the matter came up with a number of theories (such as: growing out of other creatures, born from magic or even being born through the death of a previous Zannu) but nothing definitive has been found.
Relations: Zannu are social chameleons. Most blend in (almost) perfectly in which ever society they have decided to call home. While they know they will outlive most of the people they interact with, they feel no need to insulate themselves from the inevitable loss of their loved ones. Death (and pain) are merely another part of the experiences of life.
It should be noted that most Zannu never reveal their nature to those around them, and when they do, they reveal themselves only to the ones they love and trust the most. Of course, exceptions exist, especially amongst those Zannu that live among the more alien (and/or less morally up-tight) races.
Alignment: Zannu of all alignments exist, but as a whole they tend to gravitate towards lawful. In regards to the good VS. evil axis, the Zannu are all over the scale. Due to their "expendable" host bodies, they are often willing to make great sacrifices for others. But on the other hands, their ability to hide and manipulate (sometimes for millennia) also gives them the ability to be evil to a scale beyond the imagination of most races.
Zannu Lands: While they originally came from the astral plane, the Zannu have since spread across the multi-verse and no longer have a single place to call their home. Most individual Zannu will call which ever land they currently inhabit their home lands. However, in the depths of the astral plane there is a small temple, which has a name that, in the Zannu mind language, would translate to something close to the word "home".
Religion: The Zannu as a race don't have a particular attitude towards religion. Individual Zannu might take up the religion of their chosen society, but it is not an extremely common concept amongst them. Most will pay respect to whichever deity respect is owed, but nothing more.
Language: The Zannu communicate telepathically amongst themselves. When they focus they can also communicate telepathically with a single individual with whom they share a language. They quickly learn the common language of their birth lands.
Names: Amongst themselves, the Zannu have no names. Instead they use a combination of concepts, images and sensory impulse to indicate specific members of their species. In the world at large they often pick a name suitable to the race of their first host. Some Zannu stick with that name for the rest of their lives, others (subtly) change it with each new host.
Adventurers: When your goal in life is to see, do and experience new things, the life of an adventurer is just the thing for you. The Zannu are capable of being trained in just about everything, but most commonly have a preference for more mentally oriented tasks (after all, physically conditioning each new body gets tiresome after some time).
-4 Strength, -4 Dexterity, -4 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Physically the Zannu are not impressive, at least without a host. They are however strong of will, even if their personalities are sometimes a bit unusual.
Type: Zannu are aberrations
Diminutive size: +4 bonus to Armor Class, +4 bonus on attack rolls, +12 bonus on Hide checks, 12 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 1/4 those of Medium characters.
Immobile: Zannu are naturally immobile, they have a movement speed of 0.
Astral movement: Zannu are at home on planes with subjective directional gravity. On such planes they need not make a wisdom check to set the direction of gravity.
Telepathy: A Zannu can communicate telepathically with others of its kind within 60ft. It can communicate with other creatures (one at a time) with which it shares a language from up to 10ft away.
Regional adaptation: A Zannu adapts to its birth region. In areas with the same climate as its birth region it has a +2 bonus on hiding in natural environments. It also learns the most common local language as its automatic language.
Automatic language: See regional adaptation. Bonus languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
Favorite class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass Zannu takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest-level class does not count.
Level Adjustment: +2
Un-joined
Blindsense: An un-joined Zannu has blindsense 60ft and blindsight 10ft. They are otherwise blind.
Astral movement: Un-joined Zannu have a fly speed of 60 (perfect) on planes with subjective directional gravity.
Ectoplasmic tentacles: An un-joined Zannu has 4 ectoplasmic tentacles. These tentacles can be used in one of three ways:
o Moving: For each tentacle used to move, the Zannu can move 5ft (max speed = 20ft when using all 4 tentacles). If the Zannu moves only 5ft, it is considered to be this turns 5ft step.
o Manipulating: For each tentacle used to manipulate, the Zannu can move a single object as if he used mage hand as a spell like ability (for each tentacle). Starting manipulation (no matter the amount of tentacles used) takes a standard turn. Maintaining it is a move action (again regardless of the amount of tentacles used).
o Probing: For each tentacle used to probe, the Zannu makes a touch attack against an opponent. If successful, the target must make a will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 HD + Int bonus) or have a single mental attribute (Zannu's choice) drained by 1d3.
Joining: An un-joined Zannu can bond with a suitable host that has been reduced to 0 Intelligence, 0 Wisdom and 0 Charisma. To do so he must grapple the host with all of his ectoplasmic tentacles (for details, see the joined creature template below OR the process in the 3rd post of this thread). This is a full round action that does 1d6 constitution damage to the host.
Joined
Mage hand: A joined Zannu can use mage hand as a spell like ability at will, using its HD as caster level.
Darkvision: A joined Zannu can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Un-joining: A joined Zannu can un-join either voluntarily, or because their host died.
o Voluntarily un-joining takes a full round action and does 1d6 non-lethal damage to the Zannu per HD the Zannu has. The host suffers no damage, but still has 0 Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
o Un-joining due to a dead host is far more stressful to the Zannu. The un-joining is instantaneous and does 1d8 non lethal damage to the Zannu per HD the Zannu has and half again this amount in lethal damage.
Joined creature (Template)
Note that in the 3rd post of this thread a process description (instead of this template) is now shown for how to handle joining
A joined creature is created when a host joins with a Zannu "parasite". This joining can be either voluntary, for example if the host body is dying, or forced, after the Zannu has reduced the mental attributes of a target to 0 with its ectoplasmic tentacles.
The resultant joined creature is a mixture of the Zannu's knowledge, personality and mental abilities and the body and physical stats of the host.
Creating a joined creature
Joined is an acquired template that is added when a Zannu uses it's joining ability on a living creature of one of the following types: animal, humanoid, plant, or vermin. The host body must be of small size or larger.
A joined creature has characteristics of both the host race and the Zannu's race and class levels, as noted below.
Size and Type: The joined creatures type is aberration.
Hit Dice: A joined creature uses the hosts racial HD and Constitution modifier. All of the hosts class levels are lost. Further HD are gained through the Zannu's classes.
Speed: A joined creature uses the hosts speed and modes of movement, including maneuverability if applicable.
AC: Same as the host.
Attacks: A joined creature uses the hosts base attack bonus (from racial HD) and attack forms. Further progression is based on the Zannu's classes. All attacks use the hosts Strength or Dexterity modifier, as appropriate.
Special Attacks: A joined creature can use a special attack of either the host or the guest but cannot use both in the same round (unless it somehow has an additional partial action, such as from haste).
Special Qualities: A joined creature has the special qualities, both advantageous and disadvantageous, of both the host and the Zannu.
Base Saves: A joined creature always uses the saves of the Zannu (plus any bonuses from the host's racial HD).
Abilities: Use the physical scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution) of the host, and the mental scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) of the Zannu.
Skills: A joined creature uses the Zannu's skill ranks, adjusted to account for the changed ability scores of the overall joined creature.
The original racial skill bonuses of the host still apply, but only for those skills related to physical traits. All physical skills in which the host has a racial skill bonus are considered to be class skills for the Zannu as long as it remains joined to that particular host.
Example: The high elves +2 bonus to on Listen, Search, and Spot checks still applies (as they just have better eyes and ears), but the Duergar +2 bonus on search checks to notice unusual stonework does not (it's more about the races love for stonework than anything about their eyes).
Feats: A joined creature retains the hosts racial and bonus feats (as long as they are related to physical ability and not to mental abilities) and gains further feats as the Zannu gains levels.
However, some abilities are so ingrained into a host body's muscle memory that they remain even after the host body has been taken over by the Zannu. Any weapon and armor proficiency the host possessed carry over to the joined creature as bonus feats.
Example: A level 1 human fighter is taken over as host. The joined creature does not gain its human bonus feat (it's from humanities adaptability, a mental trait), its fighter bonus feat (class related) or its 1st level feat (humans have no racial HD). However, the joined creature gains its proficiency with all armors, shields and all simple and martial weapons.
The Zannu are an insect-like species that originated on the astral planes in the distant past. Living and experiencing (different aspects of) life is the most important thing for a Zannu. As such the Zannu have spread out and have (quietly) integrated themselves among races and community all over the multi-verse.
Personality: At the very core of each Zannu is a love of life and a insatiable curiosity. While this could lead to a race of joyous explorers, the Zannu are actually a race of many a varied personality. While some will fling themselves into the face of danger to see what is going on ("I never saw a dragon that big before!"), others would cower in a dark corner, afraid of losing their life ("For how can one enjoy life, or see something new, if one is dead?").
But beyond their own innate personalities, most Zannu adopt an (mostly) outward personality that fits with the people it has chosen to live among.
Physical Description: Zannu look like the bastard child of a trilobite and a ray. Like the ray they are a single body without legs or other appendages and like the trilobite their body is inflexible. They use four skinny ectoplasmic tentacles to move themselves and interact with the world. These same tentacles are used by a Zannu to connect themselves to, and take control of, a physical body.
They are only between 4 and 8 inches long. The appearance of their outer shell depends on where they are born, varying between looking like metal, stone, wood or normal insect carapace. These differences are visual only, an adaptation to help them blend in with their surroundings or in some cases to deter predators.
Zannu do not die of old age. Some of the eldest Zannu are so old they have seen both the birth and death of deities that most other races would consider to be eternal. That said, Zannu's have a long life, but aren't immortal. Most will meet their end at the end of a sword or due to disease, or in rare cases, just losing the will to live.
As for births, the Zannu simply don't know (or much care) how they came to be (neither as a species, nor as an individual), they simply are. Those few that got curious and theorized on the matter came up with a number of theories (such as: growing out of other creatures, born from magic or even being born through the death of a previous Zannu) but nothing definitive has been found.
Relations: Zannu are social chameleons. Most blend in (almost) perfectly in which ever society they have decided to call home. While they know they will outlive most of the people they interact with, they feel no need to insulate themselves from the inevitable loss of their loved ones. Death (and pain) are merely another part of the experiences of life.
It should be noted that most Zannu never reveal their nature to those around them, and when they do, they reveal themselves only to the ones they love and trust the most. Of course, exceptions exist, especially amongst those Zannu that live among the more alien (and/or less morally up-tight) races.
Alignment: Zannu of all alignments exist, but as a whole they tend to gravitate towards lawful. In regards to the good VS. evil axis, the Zannu are all over the scale. Due to their "expendable" host bodies, they are often willing to make great sacrifices for others. But on the other hands, their ability to hide and manipulate (sometimes for millennia) also gives them the ability to be evil to a scale beyond the imagination of most races.
Zannu Lands: While they originally came from the astral plane, the Zannu have since spread across the multi-verse and no longer have a single place to call their home. Most individual Zannu will call which ever land they currently inhabit their home lands. However, in the depths of the astral plane there is a small temple, which has a name that, in the Zannu mind language, would translate to something close to the word "home".
Religion: The Zannu as a race don't have a particular attitude towards religion. Individual Zannu might take up the religion of their chosen society, but it is not an extremely common concept amongst them. Most will pay respect to whichever deity respect is owed, but nothing more.
Language: The Zannu communicate telepathically amongst themselves. When they focus they can also communicate telepathically with a single individual with whom they share a language. They quickly learn the common language of their birth lands.
Names: Amongst themselves, the Zannu have no names. Instead they use a combination of concepts, images and sensory impulse to indicate specific members of their species. In the world at large they often pick a name suitable to the race of their first host. Some Zannu stick with that name for the rest of their lives, others (subtly) change it with each new host.
Adventurers: When your goal in life is to see, do and experience new things, the life of an adventurer is just the thing for you. The Zannu are capable of being trained in just about everything, but most commonly have a preference for more mentally oriented tasks (after all, physically conditioning each new body gets tiresome after some time).
-4 Strength, -4 Dexterity, -4 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Physically the Zannu are not impressive, at least without a host. They are however strong of will, even if their personalities are sometimes a bit unusual.
Type: Zannu are aberrations
Diminutive size: +4 bonus to Armor Class, +4 bonus on attack rolls, +12 bonus on Hide checks, 12 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 1/4 those of Medium characters.
Immobile: Zannu are naturally immobile, they have a movement speed of 0.
Astral movement: Zannu are at home on planes with subjective directional gravity. On such planes they need not make a wisdom check to set the direction of gravity.
Telepathy: A Zannu can communicate telepathically with others of its kind within 60ft. It can communicate with other creatures (one at a time) with which it shares a language from up to 10ft away.
Regional adaptation: A Zannu adapts to its birth region. In areas with the same climate as its birth region it has a +2 bonus on hiding in natural environments. It also learns the most common local language as its automatic language.
Automatic language: See regional adaptation. Bonus languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
Favorite class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass Zannu takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest-level class does not count.
Level Adjustment: +2
Un-joined
Blindsense: An un-joined Zannu has blindsense 60ft and blindsight 10ft. They are otherwise blind.
Astral movement: Un-joined Zannu have a fly speed of 60 (perfect) on planes with subjective directional gravity.
Ectoplasmic tentacles: An un-joined Zannu has 4 ectoplasmic tentacles. These tentacles can be used in one of three ways:
o Moving: For each tentacle used to move, the Zannu can move 5ft (max speed = 20ft when using all 4 tentacles). If the Zannu moves only 5ft, it is considered to be this turns 5ft step.
o Manipulating: For each tentacle used to manipulate, the Zannu can move a single object as if he used mage hand as a spell like ability (for each tentacle). Starting manipulation (no matter the amount of tentacles used) takes a standard turn. Maintaining it is a move action (again regardless of the amount of tentacles used).
o Probing: For each tentacle used to probe, the Zannu makes a touch attack against an opponent. If successful, the target must make a will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 HD + Int bonus) or have a single mental attribute (Zannu's choice) drained by 1d3.
Joining: An un-joined Zannu can bond with a suitable host that has been reduced to 0 Intelligence, 0 Wisdom and 0 Charisma. To do so he must grapple the host with all of his ectoplasmic tentacles (for details, see the joined creature template below OR the process in the 3rd post of this thread). This is a full round action that does 1d6 constitution damage to the host.
Joined
Mage hand: A joined Zannu can use mage hand as a spell like ability at will, using its HD as caster level.
Darkvision: A joined Zannu can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Un-joining: A joined Zannu can un-join either voluntarily, or because their host died.
o Voluntarily un-joining takes a full round action and does 1d6 non-lethal damage to the Zannu per HD the Zannu has. The host suffers no damage, but still has 0 Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
o Un-joining due to a dead host is far more stressful to the Zannu. The un-joining is instantaneous and does 1d8 non lethal damage to the Zannu per HD the Zannu has and half again this amount in lethal damage.
Joined creature (Template)
Note that in the 3rd post of this thread a process description (instead of this template) is now shown for how to handle joining
A joined creature is created when a host joins with a Zannu "parasite". This joining can be either voluntary, for example if the host body is dying, or forced, after the Zannu has reduced the mental attributes of a target to 0 with its ectoplasmic tentacles.
The resultant joined creature is a mixture of the Zannu's knowledge, personality and mental abilities and the body and physical stats of the host.
Creating a joined creature
Joined is an acquired template that is added when a Zannu uses it's joining ability on a living creature of one of the following types: animal, humanoid, plant, or vermin. The host body must be of small size or larger.
A joined creature has characteristics of both the host race and the Zannu's race and class levels, as noted below.
Size and Type: The joined creatures type is aberration.
Hit Dice: A joined creature uses the hosts racial HD and Constitution modifier. All of the hosts class levels are lost. Further HD are gained through the Zannu's classes.
Speed: A joined creature uses the hosts speed and modes of movement, including maneuverability if applicable.
AC: Same as the host.
Attacks: A joined creature uses the hosts base attack bonus (from racial HD) and attack forms. Further progression is based on the Zannu's classes. All attacks use the hosts Strength or Dexterity modifier, as appropriate.
Special Attacks: A joined creature can use a special attack of either the host or the guest but cannot use both in the same round (unless it somehow has an additional partial action, such as from haste).
Special Qualities: A joined creature has the special qualities, both advantageous and disadvantageous, of both the host and the Zannu.
Base Saves: A joined creature always uses the saves of the Zannu (plus any bonuses from the host's racial HD).
Abilities: Use the physical scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution) of the host, and the mental scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) of the Zannu.
Skills: A joined creature uses the Zannu's skill ranks, adjusted to account for the changed ability scores of the overall joined creature.
The original racial skill bonuses of the host still apply, but only for those skills related to physical traits. All physical skills in which the host has a racial skill bonus are considered to be class skills for the Zannu as long as it remains joined to that particular host.
Example: The high elves +2 bonus to on Listen, Search, and Spot checks still applies (as they just have better eyes and ears), but the Duergar +2 bonus on search checks to notice unusual stonework does not (it's more about the races love for stonework than anything about their eyes).
Feats: A joined creature retains the hosts racial and bonus feats (as long as they are related to physical ability and not to mental abilities) and gains further feats as the Zannu gains levels.
However, some abilities are so ingrained into a host body's muscle memory that they remain even after the host body has been taken over by the Zannu. Any weapon and armor proficiency the host possessed carry over to the joined creature as bonus feats.
Example: A level 1 human fighter is taken over as host. The joined creature does not gain its human bonus feat (it's from humanities adaptability, a mental trait), its fighter bonus feat (class related) or its 1st level feat (humans have no racial HD). However, the joined creature gains its proficiency with all armors, shields and all simple and martial weapons.