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Xefas
2015-06-01, 10:01 PM
Related Threads

This is intended as supplementary material for "Mythos" classes, three of which are listed below.

The Teramach (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286983)
The Kathodos (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15947087)
The Olethrofex (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16517470)

You can find a more central thread right here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?364949-Mythos-Homebrew-Discussion-II-Where-Simplicity-Goes-to-Die).

New Race: Qi'e

The haunting passage between the Great Wheel and the Beyond, called Betwixt by some, is barren of those amenities that support traditional mortal life, though it is not as lifeless as its inhospitable nature would suggest.

Powerful beings, for whom death was not sufficient to satisfy some deity or similar power's vengeance, have been exiled from the Wheel, and found their essence trapped between existence and non-existence, floating amidst the unknowably ancient cyclopean mezzanine above Creation, and beneath the Far Realm. Sundered and twisted by their removal from all that is natural in the multiverse, these beings have become what those rare scholars that know of them call 'Vestiges'.

But, aside from these potent beings, a sealed Titan, and several thousand children of the Sun and Moon embroiled in ceaseless battle with a nameless tide of horror, there is one last creature of note. Awakened and befriended by Orthos, the first Vestige, who has given unto it the name of 'Egregore', it is a grotesque and misbegotten patchwork demiurge that drains itself over the crystalline ridges of the world like an alien storm, consuming the forgotten fragments of creatures lost in Betwixt whose fortitude was not great enough to become Vestiges. To these, he gives strength and form, and creates a vessel for their last shred of mortality, that they might continue a half-life of wandering empty wastes, purposeless and meaningless, like their creator. These are the Qi'e.

For some reason they're penguins.

On rare occasions, a mad cultist or over-curious mage will dabble in pulling things from outside of the Great Wheel, and instead of the far more likely result of being eaten by a shoggoth, they accidentally pull a small rubber penguin through a chasm in reality, who unceremoniously scampers off to meet their destiny while the spellcaster glares in disbelief and forgets to do anything about it.

Personality: Qi'e are not typically adjusted to mortal society, having spent much of their semi-existence wandering a largely featureless plane, punctuated by the occasional contact with creatures far more powerful than they every few hunderd or thousand years. Likewise, they tend towards periods of eerie stillness and quiet, followed by brief moments of earnest, manic excitement. They're usually humble, and those who obtain real strength or importance rarely seem to comprehend it.

Physical Description: Around three feet tall, Qi'e are stubby-legged waddling penguins with large stitching around their joints, and glassy, expressionless, unblinking eyes. They are completely hollow on the inside, with no internal organs or visible musculature. Their skin is thick, sturdy rubber, usually in two tones, with white on their stomach, and another color on their heads, arms, and back. This second color could be anything, and gatherings of Qi'e are colorful, if unsettling, affairs.

Relations: Most creatures of the Wheel are inherently disturbed by a Qi'e presence, even if only slightly. Alienists and servants of Farspawn warp this sensation into endearment, and consider them utterly adorable. Creatures of the Betwixt are more likely to treat them like vermin, destroying them, or chasing them away, lest they be subjected to a non-stop deluge of prattling, built up over years of loneliness that can, itself, last for years at a time. Qi'e don't use lungs for speech, so nothing impedes them from vomiting their thoughts without end.

Alignment: Qi'e that still remain in the Betwixt are usually Neutral, for simple lack of opportunity to make moral or ethical decisions of any importance. Once unleashed upon the Wheel, however, any alignment is fair game.

Lands: Qi'e in the Betwixt have neither the motivation or resources necessary to construct permanent lands, although sometimes large numbers of them will converge and rove in a single, obnoxious horde. Few things can compel Vestiges to come together in cooperation and work towards a mutual benefit. A thousand rubber penguins staring dead-eyed through one's window at night, soundless, motionless, waiting for that exact perfect moment to all simultaneously scream their favorite quiche recipes... The destruction of these bands is one of those things.

"Get off my lawn!" screams Amon, "You've never even seen an egg before to make quiche with!"

"The only reasonable course of action is genocide." whispers Tenebrous, as he always does.

Religion: The Qi'e have no god, and no god will have them.

Language: Qi'e usually pick up Common from Vestiges or other Qi'e, or Sylvan from the sons and daughters of the Sun and Moon.

Racial Traits:
Aberration (Extraplanar): Qi'e are far-touched abominations in the eyes of gods and men. They have the usual Darkvision of an Aberration, but unlike usual Aberrations, they do not eat, sleep, or breathe.
-2 Strength, -2 Wisdom. Qi'e are weak and dull.
Small size. Qi'e have a +1 size bonus to their AC and attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks.
A Qi'e has a base land speed of 30ft.
Hollow Self (Ex): Qi'e can unstitch their stomach flap and utilize their hollow innards as a storage space. They can fit anything up to their own body size through the flap. The space inside is spacially dissimilar from what the Qi'e appears to occupy, providing a number of cubic feet of storage space equal to the Qi's character level squared. They cannot force an unwilling creature through. Creatures on the inside of the space can attack the Qi'e by striking the walls of the space, automatically hitting. Sharp or otherwise damaging objects do not harm the Qi'e's insides, unless wielded by a creature with intent to harm. A Qi'e can reach in and pull out any specific item they are aware is inside them as a move action. Qi'e do not feel the weight of objects inside their storage flap, although to put in, or remove, an object, they must be strong enough to lift it.
Vestigefriend (Ex): Qi'e are hated by nearly all Vestiges. When they bind a Vestige, they are incapable of making a good pact, and always show the Vestige's sign, as well as bearing their Influence. However, because of a Qi'e unique methods of binding, which involve sucking the Vestige's spirit out through its seal, and devouring it into its hollow tummy, a Vestige cannot deny a Qi'e's pact, and a Qi'e may ignore all Special Requirements from Vestiges they summon and bind. While a Qi'e has a Vestige bound, small expressions of the Vestige's power bleed out from the Qi'e's stitching, making them even more otherworldly. While a Qi'e has its storage flap open, the Vestige may actually speak outward to the real world, usually to complain about how it hates being bound to the Qi'e. Creatures that enter the Qi'e's body during this time may see and converse with the Vestige, although it does not have a physical body, and takes up no actual storage space.
Unstable (Ex): A Qi'e that dies in Betwixt or the Far Realm is reduced back to its wispy, fragmented state, beyond all reviving magics. Only the noodly grace of Egregore can weave them a new body to inhabit. A Qi'e that dies anywhere else explodes in a cloud of nonsense energy, forcing creatures within 20ft to make a Fortitude save or take 2d6 damage and become confused for 1d4 rounds. This damage is not subject to damage reduction. Their patchwork soul then enters the standard machinery of the Great Wheel's afterlife, and they may be raised from the dead as normal, returning as a Qi'e.
Although a Qi'e has tiny, fingerless flippers that appear to be incapable of any level of manual dexterity, they in fact possess greater innate skill in that department than a human. They gain Weapon Finesse and Deft Hands as bonus feats. It makes no sense.

New Feat: Stillborn Demiurge Legacy
Prerequisite: Qi'e, One Mythos
Benefit: The fragment of your forsaken mortality begins siphoning energy from the patchwork legacy of Egregore, whose skin you wear.

Choose one Mythos-granting class that you have levels in. You may treat the following Mythos as if they belonged to that class.

Any creature that holds you is considered proficient with using you as a thrown weapon. You have a range increment of 10ft and a maximum of five increments. On a successful hit, you deal 1d4 + their Strength modifier in damage (if, for some reason, you're Medium size, you deal 1d6 instead, 1d8 if you're Large, and so on). They may choose to use either their Strength or Dexterity modifier for the ability bonus to the attack roll for throwing you. You are skilled at using your rubbery body to brace for and absorb the impact, taking no damage from being thrown at someone.

Exceptional Mythos

Explosive Existential Anxiety
Prerequisite: -

As an immediate action when you are used as a thrown weapon and successfully hit and deal damage to your target, or merely as a swift action whenever, you may explode. This explosion is identical to the one granted by your Unstable racial trait.

After exploding in this way, you temporarily cease to exist, along with any held weapons, and one item per equipment slot (head, hands, armor, etc), plus everything in your Hollow Self storage space.

You remain non-existent for 5 rounds, although to your mind it feels immeasurably longer. After this period, you reappear somewhere within 30ft of another player-character, in a spot where no one is currently looking, such as around a corner, inside a cupboard, behind the last character in the marching order, etc. If there is no such space (somehow?) you remain non-existent until there is such a space.

(For NPC Qi'e, they just reappear somewhere the DM feels appropriate, which must also be a place no one is looking at.)

After reappearing, you are stunned for 1 round. If you were screaming obnoxiously before exploding, you are also healed for a number of hit points equal to your character level.

It is perfectly acceptable for a Qi'e to run around their party after a combat, screaming and exploding over and over for seemingly no reason, in order to regain their fighting spirit.

I OMNOMNOMinate You For Spiritual Slavery
Prerequisite: -

You are the one who knocks on the gate to nothingness. "Oh gods, not him again." Say the Vestiges who hear you. "He never eats, so why does he always smell like fish?" As you tear them from their home and throttle them down your squeaky gullet, they shriek in horrific realization, "No. No! It all makes sense! His guts are full of rotting fish! Clean out your magic chest cavity, you filthy milk-livered taintwizard." But you have no intention of cleaning yourself.

You gain the Soul Binding class feature of a Binder (ToM pg10). This is a Supernatural ability. Your effective binder level for the purposes of determining the highest level of Vestige you may bind and how many Vestiges you may have bound at once is 1 (this stacks with other sources of binding, such as the Binder class itself), and your effective binder level for all other purposes is equal to your class level (this does not stack with other sources of binding level).

Advanced
Blarglbargle Beam: You gain Expel Vestige as a bonus feat. Furthermore, you may activate this feat as a full-round action, rather than going through the whole process of redrawing their seal. When you do so, you expel the Vestige by vomiting it outward in a torrent of pungent, otherworldly energy. Creatures in a line, 15ft long and 10ft wide, must make a Reflex save or take 1d6 damage per level of the Vestige. If the Qi'e's player makes mock vomiting sounds while rolling this damage, they may add the Qi'e's character level to it. Vestiges expelled in this way hate you more than usual.

Penguin Tummy Tactics
Prerequisite: -

You gain Quick Draw and Two-Weapon Fighting as bonus feats.

You gain the Sneak Attack class feature, dealing an additional 1d6 points of damage against opponents that you catch off-guard.

Once per encounter, while your hands are empty, you may spend a free action to draw one or two weapons from inside the storage space granted by your Hollow Self racial ability, and choose one adjacent enemy to be considered flat-footed against all of your attacks made with these drawn weapons until the end of your turn.

Unimpedible Slapstick Charge
Prerequisite: -

You gain Powerful Charge as a bonus feat (MMIII or ECS). You are considered Medium for the purposes of this feat while you are Small or smaller.

You may Charge or Run over rough terrain, although the movement cost to move over rough terrain is still increased as normal. Furthermore, as long as you are Charging or Running horizontally, and you begin your movement on solid ground, you may move over liquids, open air, or unstable surfaces incapable of supporting your weight, without falling, sinking, or otherwise disturbing that which you are moving over. At the end of your Charge or Run action, you become beholden to reason once more, falling if you are in mid-air, sinking into water, and so on.

If you hit and deal damage to a creature of a larger size category than yourself with an attack at the end of a Charge, you may force them to make a Reflex saving throw. On a failed save, you've tripped and tumbled into them, bowling them over you. You and the target switch spaces, and they become prone. This switching of spaces does not provoke attacks of opportunity for either of you.


Fantastic Mythos

Alien Mob Vomit
Prerequisite: -

You become a tiny fissure to the Betwixt, lightly tearing the world around you while you reside in the Great Wheel.

As a full-round action, you may widen this fissure and vomit forth 1d3+2 Qi'e, which possess a single level of Commoner. This is an instantaneous Supernatural [Calling] effect that does not function within the Betwixt. If this ability is used in an encounter, these Qi'e act on your initiative count, but always after you. For 1 minute, these Qi'e are inundated with a strange, otherworldly power, which causes them to relentlessly attack the nearest non-penguin-shaped creature to them in a suicidal fury, and also sets the Fortitude DC of their Unstable racial ability to be equal to your own. If every creature they can see is shaped like a penguin, their rage abates.

Afterwards, any remaining Qi'e regain their sense of self-preservation and have no compulsion to be any friendlier towards you than they would be to anyone else (especially if you just used their friends as weapons in a battle). More likely, they will leave you to go seek their fortune in this new vast and exciting land and be eaten by something.

After using this ability, you must wait for the horrific world-sphincter of your essence to repair itself, taking 10d4 hours, before you may use it again.

Flexible Vestigekin Mastery
Prerequisite: The 'I OMNOMNOMinate You For Spiritual Slavery' Mythos

You gain Improved Binding as a bonus feat (ToM).

If you have a Vestige bound that grants an ability that may only be used every 5 rounds, you may use it every 4 rounds instead. This does not stack with the Rapid Recovery feat.

You may calculate the saving throw DC of Supernatural abilities granted by your bound Vestiges using your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier in place of your Charisma modifier, whichever is highest.

The saving throw DC of Supernatural abilities granted by your bound Vestiges increases by 1. This does not stack with the Favored Vestige Focus feat.

If you possess the Expel Vestige feat, you may use it an additional two times per day.


Legendary Mythos

Vestige-Exploiting Penguin Vanguard
Prerequisite: The 'Alien Mob Vomit' Mythos, ability to bind Vestiges

While you have a Vestige bound, you may use its connection to the Betwixt to facilitate easier passage for your breathren. Your Alien Mob Vomit Mythos no longer requires 10d4 hours to recover; instead, you need only wait 2d4 rounds before using it again.

Using Alien Mob Vomit while you do not have a Vestige bound will activate its normal recovery time.


http://i.imgur.com/9KWFBiZ.gif

Qi'e Reincarnation: For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal penguin

The player of a Qi'e of 12th level or higher may decide, at any time, that the experiences their Qi'e has accumulated have developed the shard of mortality still within them to the point where they have enough spiritual weight to escape their rubbery penguinesque shell.

After making this decision, the next time they are subject to an effect that would return them from the dead, such as a Raise Dead or Resurrection spell, they return to life in a new form.

Their player chooses one of the following.
The Qi'e's mortal shard breaks free of all its vestigial trappings, and pieces together replacements for the missing portions of its soul on its way back through the Outer Planes to be resurrected. Choose a race (usually one with no level adjustment, but that's up to the player's group); the Qi'e permanently replaces their race with the chosen one, and loses the Stillborn Demiurge Legacy feat, replacing it with another they qualify for. Likewise, they then replace all Mythos granted by that feat with different Mythos they qualify for. Mythos bought with experience and Mythos Points may be converted back into the same amount they were purchased for.
The Qi'e's alien power has been nurtured and grown too powerful for its mortal shard to exist without. But that power is no shame. When you return, you return as a Vestige, having broken free of your rubbery prison and evolved into a higher state of being. Choose a race (usually with no level adjustment, as above), and replace the Qi'e's race with the chosen one permanently. The former Qi'e then replaces the Stillborn Demiurge Legacy feat with the Trespassing The Outer Gates (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?325277-3-5-quot-that-nighted-penguin-fringed-abyss-quot) feat. All Mythos granted by Stillborn Demiurge Legacy must then be replaced with different Mythos that they qualify for. Mythos bought with experience and Mythos Points may be converted back into the same amount they were purchased for, instead.
Highly impossible, and only available to Qi'e who have returned to the mortal realm quickly enough after their obliteration and subsequent perversion into a Qi'e - should a Qi'e immerse themselves into the trappings of the life they once lived as a mortal, they may mend enough of their original soul that, after attaining this milestone, they return to life as their original self, with memories and personality mostly intact. They replace their Qi'e race with their original one, and rebuild their character sheet to represent their past life, or a mixture of their past life and the skills they learned as a Qi'e.
The Qi'e rejects the resurrection, too weary to continue its pseudo-existence. It sheds all that it is, leaving its mortal shard bare. The machinery of the Great Wheel mistakes the tiny, weak shard for an errant, newborn soul, and refurbishes it, before passing it on into the body of a newborn child somewhere on the Prime, where it will grow to become a wholly new person. The character attempting the resurrection effect becomes aware of this fate.

Kymme
2015-06-01, 10:05 PM
Master Etna's gone crazy, dood! She found out about her missin' stuff! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJeutsprk3I&feature=youtu.be&t=6m25s) :smalltongue:

VoodooPaladin
2015-06-01, 10:50 PM
Hollow body mentions "Prinny" in the third sentence. I think Vestigefriend is supposed to say "a Qi'e may ignore all Special Prerequisites from Vestiges they bind."

But none of that is actually important. This is wonderful, and also hilarious, and I applaud you. Over the internet. Does that still count? I think it should. :smallbiggrin:

From my first look, the most useful tool a mid-level Qi'e can possess is a set of penguin suits, so your allies will all look like penguins when you Mob Vomit. Intentional, or happy accident?

Xefas
2015-06-01, 11:03 PM
Master Etna's gone crazy, dood! She found out about her missin' stuff! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJeutsprk3I&feature=youtu.be&t=6m25s) :smalltongue:

While I wasn't a huge fan of Disgaea 2, I really like Disgaea 1 and Can I Really Be The Hero. If I ever get a PS3 or 4, I'll have to try some of the newer ones.

(And for anyone that's curious, the above video illustrates why the Qi'e speaking for prolonged periods of time might get on peoples' nerves.)


Hollow body mentions "Prinny" in the third sentence. I think Vestigefriend is supposed to say "a Qi'e may ignore all Special Prerequisites from Vestiges they bind."

Fixed. Thank you for the corrections! A few always slip through.


But none of that is actually important. This is wonderful, and also hilarious, and I applaud you. Over the internet. Does that still count? I think it should. :smallbiggrin:

From my first look, the most useful tool a mid-level Qi'e can possess is a set of penguin suits, so your allies will all look like penguins when you Mob Vomit. Intentional, or happy accident?

There were definitely reasons that I specified 'anything not penguin shaped', rather than just 'anyone but the user'. This might be one of them.

edit: Also, once I figure out how I want to do it, I'm planning on a mechanic for high level Qi'e to 'reincarnate' into a humanoid form, if they so choose. They're, of course, allowed to stay a rubber penguin, if they want.

dragonjek
2015-06-02, 12:08 AM
Qi'e have a tendency to find their way to the Abyss, forming disgusting fringes around its layers as they look within and squeak like rubber toys being rubbed together (except no toy ever needed a bath so desperately as the Qi'e).

This creeps the demons out more than discovering an angel was watching them in the privies, and they go out of their way to hunt down the penguin-shaped vestige-outhouses and kill them.

nikkoli
2015-06-02, 12:49 AM
Today you have given me a fantastic race to easily combine Mythos and binding without being a vestige, and for that I thank you. I'll tell you how being a Qi'e goes if that campaign kicks off quicky.
:smallcool: :smallbiggrin:

spwack
2015-06-03, 06:19 AM
For some reason they're penguins

If the Qi'e's player makes mock vomiting sounds while rolling this damage, they may add the Qi'e's character level to it.

It is perfectly acceptable for a Qi'e to run around their party after a combat, screaming and exploding over and over for seemingly no reason, in order to regain their fighting spirit.

I can't breath
My brother is looking at my strangely
I think I'm going to explode my lungs this is ridiculous

I have found my new signature.

CrossLead24
2015-06-03, 01:50 PM
edit: Also, once I figure out how I want to do it, I'm planning on a mechanic for high level Qi'e to 'reincarnate' into a humanoid form, if they so choose. They're, of course, allowed to stay a rubber penguin, if they want.
Not sure mechanics-wise, but maybe something like Teddy in Persona 4, where the Qi'e can "grow" a normal Humanoid body inside an appropriately sized chest cavity?

Anyway, this is utterly beautiful. My hat is off to you.

Xefas
2015-06-03, 02:49 PM
I'm glad you're all liking it. I was afraid it might be a bit too strange and silly.

Anyway, rules for Qi'e Reincarnation are up.

spwack
2015-06-03, 09:34 PM
I'm glad you're all liking it. I was afraid it might be a bit too strange and silly.

I was afraid it might be a bit too strange and silly.


it might be a bit too strange and silly.



too strange and silly.




No.

Such.

Thing.

commander panda
2015-06-08, 02:46 PM
this is extremely silly and i love it. if i had any problem with it, it would probably be the inclusion of a race from a considerably different feeling setting, but i guess its inclusion is up to the DM anyway.