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mantia
2015-06-19, 05:22 PM
It was requested that i move this information here so that you guys didn't have to go link diving.

Wisplings

Personality

The Wisplings, as a race created by powerful magiks, are a fairly young race. They attempt to keep peaceful ties with other races and are driven by a thirst for knowledge, doing their best to understand a world with a history of many thousands of years.

Physical Description

The spell that brought the Wisplings into being was originally an experiment to create new and more powerful elementals. However, after several days of channeling raw arcane energy, the Sorcerous Scholar Mateu began to see the true flow of the most pure magics and shaped the spell in the final stages of casting to a more natural form. The result was the Wisplings. They are far different from the elementals they were supposed to be, however their movements are those of a predator and their presence is unworldly. Physically they have faces like elven children and stand around 3 ft tall. The smile of a Wispling is unsettling as their small mouth contains sharp triangle shaped teeth. They have white, silver, or platinum hair and weigh on average 30 lbs. They have frail bodies but they move with grace and power despite their apparent weakness.

Relations

Most races are unsettled by the child-like Wisplings especially if they have ever seen their ferocity and grace in combat. However despite their predatory nature the Wisplings value sentient life above all else and will not permanently harm an intelligent being unless it has, and will continue to, caused sentient beings pain. This is mostly because even after a few generations of breeding under the protection of their creator, their numbers are less than five hundred. The Wisplings seek peace with the other races and though they are treated with suspicion at first the young race has shown that they are as naive as children in certain matters. They have strong allies with the elves and humans near their borders and blend with halflings fairly well. The dwarves have a deeper mistrust of them due to their social stigma against the arcane arts. While the more savage races refuse peace with The Wisplings, they have learned the threat of the Wisplings when backed into a corner during their many fights over territory.

Alignment

Any, often neutral.

Lands

The Wisplings prefer forests where they can build houses in the tree branches.

Religion

Most follow Mateu* as their creator though a few that knew him in life tend to worship Boccob feeling a little strange to be giving divine respects to the man they considered friend. Some worship Ehlonna as protector of their homes.

*home brewed to be uploaded soonish.

Language

All Wisplings speak Common and Draconic. Draconic was the language of magic that created their existence and is ingrained into the minds of every Wispling at birth. Bonus languages include: the elemental languages(auran, terran, ignan, and aquian), elven, halfling, and sylvan.

Names

Wisplings prefer human names but also borrow names from elves and halflings.

Racial Traits



+2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity −2 Constitution. The Wisplings child-like features and nature makes many races treat them kindly, however those that recognize the predatory nature of the creatures they were meant to be respect them as higher on the food chain. The Wisplings bodies are frail but they move with an unnatural grace.
Humanoid
Small. +1 size mod to AC, -4 grapple, +4 hide.
Wispling base land speed is 20 feet.
Energy Flux (Su): A Wispling starts the day with Flux Points equal to ((5 + CHA mod.)x Character Level)(does not include the +2 level adjustment for being a Wispling). These may be used on any Flux powers as the Wispling sees fit to use them. When a Wispling uses all of their Flux points for the day they become fatigued.
Glow (Su): The Wispling's skin glows as though under the effect of the Light spell. Activating this power is a standard action but can be canceled as a free action. Every minute of use costs one(1) Flux point.
Weightless (Su): The Wispling lessens the corporeality of their flesh making them nearly weightless (less than 1 pound). Weight activated traps have a very small chance to trigger when run across (5%). They gain +4 to jump, climb, and tumble checks. They fall as though under the effect of the Feather Fall spell. When making a high jump the maximum height is doubled. When making a long jump the maximum height is doubled and the maximum distance is quadrupled. The base movement speed of a weightless Wispling increases to 30 ft. Wearing any armor negates these effects and instead treats the armor as one class lighter. Reduce the armor check penalty by 2 and increase max DEX bonus by 2. Activating this power is a standard action but can be canceled as a free action. Every minute of use costs ten(10) Flux points. Since a minute is 10 rounds every round of use costs one(1) Flux point.
Incorporeality (Su): The Wispling temporarily reverts back into pure energy. They gain a flight speed of 30 ft. with perfect maneuverability and can pass through material objects as though under the effects of the Ethereal Jaunt spell with the exception that they are still in the Material Plane and do not move at half speed. Any object they pass through takes 1d8 Force damage. When activated any non-magical gear falls off of the Wispling and if it passes through the majority of their body takes the 1d8 Force damage. Activating this power is a standard action but can be canceled as a free action. Every minute of use costs one hundred(100) Flux points. Since a minute is 10 rounds every round of use costs ten(10) Flux points.
Energy Transfer (Su): When making an unarmed strike or melee touch attack, a Wispling may deal make a touch attack using the same roll(for when an unarmed strike connects but doesn't get past armor bonuses) to deal 1d8 points of Force damage. This must be declared before rolling and Flux points are expended even if the attempt fails. Costs ten (10) Flux points per attack.
Made of Magic (Ex): Wisplings are highly affected by positive and negative energy as well as magic that disrupts the flow of other magic. Positive energy heals a Wispling an extra amount equal to the effect's spell level. Negative energy instead deals extra damage equal to the effect's spell level to the Wispling. When a Wispling caught in the area of a positive or negative energy effect that targets an amount of HD of creatures other than the Wispling (such as a cleric's turning/rebuking ability) any leftover HD not applied to the targets is converted into one point of healing or damage. If a Wispling is healed beyond their maximum HP they gain the amount above their max health as Temporary HP for an hour. A Wispling targeted by or in the area of effect for Dispel Magic, Antimagic Field, Break Enchantment, Erase, or Mordenkainen's Disjunction, makes an a will save. The result becomes the spell resistance, will save, or DC for dispel checks. Any magic that beats the original will save affects the wispling for it's entire duration or until they leave it's area of effect. The Wispling takes a negative level for each spell level and each round they spend in the area of effect. These negative levels are never permanent and can be negated when acquired by spending ten (10) Flux points.
Automatic Languages: Common and Draconic. Bonus Languages: Elven, Halfling, Sylvan, Auran, Terran, Ignan, and Aquian.
Favored Class: Sorcerer.
Level Adjustment: 2


Wispweave
This fabric is made by Wisplings. When a Wispling wears clothing made from Wispweave the clothing duplicates the effects of a Wispling's Flux powers. It Glows when the Wispling does, it becomes weightless when the Wispling does, and when the Wispling becomes incorporeal it does too and does not fall off like most materials. All wisplings own at least one set of clothing made from Wispweave. Otherwise Wispweave costs 25 more gold than normal cloth.

Vital Statistics

Baby Wisplings feed off of other Wisplings' Flux energy requiring 100 flux points a day to grow at a normal rate. This brings new meaning to taking a village to raise a child. If there is not enough Flux energy to feed one, the Wispling will draw power from plants, animals, and other beings within 10ft causing a negative level spread equally among targets for every 10 Flux points needed. Alternatively, positive energy effects(including cleric turning) or arcane spells fed to the Wispling child count as 10 flux per spell level(caster level for turning)(twice as much for Force, electric, or fire energy spells). When feeding a Wispling child spells or positive energy it is possible to give more Flux than 100. This decreases the amount of time it takes for the child to reach adulthood. A child cannot absorb more than 500 Flux per day. Rumors of an elderly farmer adopting an orphaned Wispling and being found dead a few days later has caused most people who find an orphaned or abandoned Wispling to either ignore it or have it brought to a nearby Wispling village or a more powerful spellcaster. Because of the havoc an orphaned Wispling can cause to an ecosystem, Druids will always attempt to feed them cure spells or bring them to a Wispling village.

Table: Wispling Random Starting Ages


Adulthood
Simple
Moderate
Complex


5 years*
+1d2**
+1d4
+2d4


*This value is for Wisplings raised normally. Abandoned or orphaned Wisplings feeding off the energy of plants and non-intelligent animals may take upto 10 years to grow to maturity in terrains with little to feed on while Wisplings fed large amounts of positive energy or higher level arcane spells in addition to normal energy absorption can reach adulthood in as little time as a year. These changes affect age categories by an equal amount to the change in maturation.
**Wisplings' natural affinity for magic means that any wishing to be a sorcerer may do so as soon as they reach adulthood with no additional training time.

Wisplings are a short lived race, rarely out living even half orcs. As Wisplings age their body slowly reverts back to pure energy.

Table: Wispling Aging Effects


Middle Age1
Old2
Venerable3
Maximum Age


20 years
35 years
50 years
+1d20 years


1. At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. Using the Glow power costs half as many Flux points.
2. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. The Glow power is permanent and must be activated to suppress it. The Weightless and Energy Transfer powers costs half as many Flux points.
3. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. Suppressing the Glow power costs twice as many Flux points. The Energy Transfer power is permanent and costs one(1) flux point when first grabbing/equipping an item or everytime they touch something to prevent the damage. The Incorporeality power costs half as many Flux points.

Table: Wispling Random Height and Weight


Gender
Base Height
Height Modifier
Base Weight
Weight Modifier


Male
3' 2"
+2d4
25 lbs.
x1 lbs.


Female
3' 0"
+2d4
20 lbs.
x1 lbs.

mantia
2015-06-19, 05:26 PM
Hmm how do I make tables all colory and things?

Network
2015-06-19, 08:54 PM
Hmm how do I make tables all colory and things?
These tables are made in the same way as the others, except you use and for brown cases and and for white cases. Add in a little bit of bold and you'll be fine.

Out of curiosity, how does this race relate to the race in Fiend Folio? Aside from the name and size category they don't seem to have anything in common, and unless I'm mistaken there is no mythical creature of that name, so is there any reason to keep the same name?

mantia
2015-06-19, 10:50 PM
Out of curiosity, how does this race relate to the race in Fiend Folio? Aside from the name and size category they don't seem to have anything in common, and unless I'm mistaken there is no mythical creature of that name, so is there any reason to keep the same name?

*blinks* Wait there is a race already called this? My race got it's name from its earlier version. I wanted something that had a Cha bonus for sorcerers and I thought it would be cool if the looked like they were actually made from arcane energy. So I made them glowy and my friend said that they sounded like halfling-will o'wisps. So, Wisplings.

Thanks on the table stuff. Although i seem to be doing it wrong.
EDIT: after staring at someone else's code i found that the problem was the table class at the start of it all.

khadgar567
2015-06-20, 01:30 AM
well it looks good though I probably give them more cute smile and maybe +2 insight bonus to sorcerer spells( just sorcerer) and allow them to act as familiar to spell casters via ritual requaring quest chain

Network
2015-06-20, 01:55 AM
*blinks* Wait there is a race already called this? My race got it's name from its earlier version. I wanted something that had a Cha bonus for sorcerers and I thought it would be cool if the looked like they were actually made from arcane energy. So I made them glowy and my friend said that they sounded like halfling-will o'wisps. So, Wisplings.

Thanks on the table stuff. Although i seem to be doing it wrong.
EDIT: after staring at someone else's code i found that the problem was the table class at the start of it all.
There is indeed a race called wispling in the 3rd edition Fiend Folio. They are a planetouched race best described as halflings with demon blood. As I said, that race doesn't have much in common with yours except a name and small size, so that's what got me to ask. I dunno how the FF race got its name though, but I suspect it was for different reasons.

Edit : And it's not necessarily bad to have two races with the same name. It's not very different from the albino dragon trick in terms of realism and effectiveness, I'm sure.

mantia
2015-06-20, 01:56 AM
well it looks good though I probably give them more cute smile and maybe +2 insight bonus to sorcerer spells( just sorcerer) and allow them to act as familiar to spell casters via ritual requaring quest chain

I don't even know where to start. OK the smile is intentional they were built to be predators. +2 bonus to what exactly? Damage, Caster Level, DC? If you are thinking along the lines of how a Rakshasa acts as a 7th level sorcerer, then no or at least not without a bigger level adjustment. Sentient beings are not allowed to be familiars without certain feats and even then they are not humanoids. These guys have free will.

khadgar567
2015-06-20, 02:08 AM
I don't even know where to start. OK the smile is intentional they were built to be predators. +2 bonus to what exactly? Damage, Caster Level, DC? If you are thinking along the lines of how a Rakshasa acts as a 7th level sorcerer, then no or at least not without a bigger level adjustment. Sentient beings are not allowed to be familiars without certain feats and even then they are not humanoids. These guys have free will.
1 caster level since this guys are made of magic they know how to manipulate it
2 I didn't say make them familiar asap make a quest chain let them find the mage or his notes or gain reputation with wispling village aka make it harder and more sweeter for the effort

Debihuman
2015-06-20, 08:21 AM
I'm not a fan of this race and would ban it from my game as it is a bookkeeping nightmare. I dislike the idea of keeping track of fatigue and flux points as you'll see in my critique below. I get why you want to limit these abilities but I think it hamstrings the race too much.

You don't need the spoilers. It's a pain to have to open spoilers for stuff that doesn't need it.

You list their base speed as 20 feet but in weightless you list it as 30 feet. I'm guessing 20 feet is right because they are small but that needs fixing.

Glow has serious drawbacks. The creature has a neon "eat me" look if used in the dark. When would they activate it? Plus, it costs flux points to activate. It's not terribly useful and having to spend flux points on it, means having to choose between that and weightless. Weightless is so much better. Just buy a lantern since weightless doesn't affect the creature's Strength. Better yet, why not just give them darkvision?

How much weight is nearly weightless? Don't be vague. If it is 1/4 weight then say so. Don't make people guess what an ability actually does.

Also, a 5% chance is rolling a 1 on 1d20. Traps are usually triggered by touch rather than weight.This would not even affect a covered pit trap since a pit trap give you a Reflex save to avoid and isn't affected by weight unless you are using house rules for this. BTW, creatures get no save for running across a pit trap. Effectively, you are giving them a save. Why not use the proper game mechanics to make it clear? When running across a pit trap, a wispling gets a Reflex save to avoid falling in and only falls in if it rolls a 1.

One minute of incorporeality costs 100 flux points? Too expensive. Why do they cause force damage? Do they put holes in buildings? I hate that there is no save for the force damage. Also, this means having to look up hardness to see exactly how much damage structures take. Thanks for making DMing these so much harder. So effectively after it uses this ability it has to go back and pick up all its stuff and it is now NAKED because most clothing is non-magical (and it is probably fatigued too). Let's hope the wandering monsters don't loot the pile of stuff while the PC goes incorporeal.

Energy transfer isn't so bad until you have to deal with fatigue. Assuming this creature takes a level of monk, getting a boost for damage is nice but crikey, that fatigue is gonna be a big deterrent. Otherwise, using a weapon is alway gonna be better.

Made of magic makes em targets for a good cleric's turn ability. Not cool being slammed by your party members. This is not terribly heroic.

There is a reason that most Special Abilities are at will, once a day, or three times a day. It streamlines the game and lets it flow. This poor thing is gonna be fatigued most of the time because it hardly gets to use any of its abilities. One minute a day is not much time to be effective. For 10 round of movement, that is only 200 feet and then you are fatigued. Why would anyone want to play one? If this just an NPC race, maybe, but even then it has the draw backs of being fatigued (which can be a pain and all the flux bookkeeping).

Debby

mantia
2015-06-20, 10:33 AM
I'm not a fan of this race and would ban it from my game as it is a bookkeeping nightmare. I dislike the idea of keeping track of fatigue and flux points as you'll see in my critique below. I get why you want to limit these abilities but I think it hamstrings the race too much.

You don't need the spoilers. It's a pain to have to open spoilers for stuff that doesn't need it.

You list their base speed as 20 feet but in weightless you list it as 30 feet. I'm guessing 20 feet is right because they are small but that needs fixing.

Glow has serious drawbacks. The creature has a neon "eat me" look if used in the dark. When would they activate it? Plus, it costs flux points to activate. It's not terribly useful and having to spend flux points on it, means having to choose between that and weightless. Weightless is so much better. Just buy a lantern since weightless doesn't affect the creature's Strength. Better yet, why not just give them darkvision?

How much weight is nearly weightless? Don't be vague. If it is 1/4 weight then say so. Don't make people guess what an ability actually does.

Also, a 5% chance is rolling a 1 on 1d20. Traps are usually triggered by touch rather than weight.This would not even affect a covered pit trap since a pit trap give you a Reflex save to avoid and isn't affected by weight unless you are using house rules for this. BTW, creatures get no save for running across a pit trap. Effectively, you are giving them a save. Why not use the proper game mechanics to make it clear? When running across a pit trap, a wispling gets a Reflex save to avoid falling in and only falls in if it rolls a 1.

One minute of incorporeality costs 100 flux points? Too expensive. Why do they cause force damage? Do they put holes in buildings? I hate that there is no save for the force damage. Also, this means having to look up hardness to see exactly how much damage structures take. Thanks for making DMing these so much harder. So effectively after it uses this ability it has to go back and pick up all its stuff and it is now NAKED because most clothing is non-magical (and it is probably fatigued too). Let's hope the wandering monsters don't loot the pile of stuff while the PC goes incorporeal.

Energy transfer isn't so bad until you have to deal with fatigue. Assuming this creature takes a level of monk, getting a boost for damage is nice but crikey, that fatigue is gonna be a big deterrent. Otherwise, using a weapon is alway gonna be better.

Made of magic makes em targets for a good cleric's turn ability. Not cool being slammed by your party members. This is not terribly heroic.

There is a reason that most Special Abilities are at will, once a day, or three times a day. It streamlines the game and lets it flow. This poor thing is gonna be fatigued most of the time because it hardly gets to use any of its abilities. One minute a day is not much time to be effective. For 10 round of movement, that is only 200 feet and then you are fatigued. Why would anyone want to play one? If this just an NPC race, maybe, but even then it has the draw backs of being fatigued (which can be a pain and all the flux bookkeeping).

Debby

The increase in speed is intentional. They get faster.

Glow is extremely cheap and in the case of say the party just walked under a waterfall and their torches are out it can give the group the light it needs to lit more illumination. Besides no one is forcing you to use it at all times.

The intent of weightless is to be less than 1 lbs. so i will add that in for clarity. A pit trap with a covering wouldn't just trigger is say a twig fell on it would it? In which case they are not using Reflex to avoid falling, the trap acts as solid ground for them. There is also several pressure plate traps that active when stepped on so while this won't save you from everything it should reduce the chance of it happening. And yes I am using house rules...they are right there. You read them. Thats what a homebrew does.

Yes it is expensive...but who needs a full ten rounds. It does have the cost broken into rounds. I only put it in minutes first because Glow has only a per minute cost so i kept the formatting and added some. They cause Force damage because unlike Ethereal Jaunt they are not on the Ethereal plane. They are releasing the cohesiveness of their body and walking their pure energy through things. It doesn't punch holes in walls but it does weaken them. 1d8 is not that much when dealing with a walls health. Again if you are uncomfortable with object damage you don't have to use my race. I also feel bad for anyone in your group who wants to use Sunder or thinks out side the box and grabs an Adamantine pickaxe and wants to make their own doors instead of picking locks. It's fairly easy it +1 armor to prevent that but i have had that pointed out before and I have a solution. Also, since no one else on the party can follow you through walls I would assume that wandering monsters wouldn't get the stuff without a fight.

True a weapon might be better but when you are playing, lets say, a small sized sorcerer with 9 strength the best melee weapon you have available is a 1d6-1 after Str mod. Not to mention the fact that it is a touch attack so ignores armor and is Force damage so harms Incorporeal and Ethereal creatures normally when a normal weapon wouldn't.

Did you actually read that part of Made of Magic. A good clerics turning ability is positive energy and would therefore heal/give Temp HP.

Again none of these powers have to be active for a full minute. As long as you keep even 1 Flux point you are not fatigued, even if you started with 101 points. Also 200 ft? Didja notice the 30ft fly speed? And you can always run for more. For the last time unless you are irresponsible with the powers you shouldn't ever become fatigued. And if you need to push them hard enough to gain the fatigued you probably needed those powers to LIVE so fatigue is a good trade off. And i'm sorry it's not that much harder than keeping track of health. At least Flux points don't go up until they rest.

dragonjek
2015-06-20, 01:17 PM
Sentient beings are not allowed to be familiars without certain feats and even then they are not humanoids. These guys have free will.

Familiars have free will. A familiar has its own personality and is entirely capable of abandoning its master if they don't see eye to eye. Animals usually don't have a choice (unless they want to lose sapience), but any familiar with an Intelligence higher than 3 can quit at any time with the only repercussions being that they lose the benefits of being one. It is equivalent to magically-empowered contract; admittedly in the wizard's favor. but certainly nothing like slavery.

After all, you can take a dragon as a familiar and not get killed for it.

khadgar567
2015-06-20, 01:41 PM
Familiars have free will. A familiar has its own personality and is entirely capable of abandoning its master if they don't see eye to eye. Animals usually don't have a choice (unless they want to lose sapience), but any familiar with an Intelligence higher than 3 can quit at any time with the only repercussions being that they lose the benefits of being one. It is equivalent to magically-empowered contract; admittedly in the wizard's favor. but certainly nothing like slavery.

After all, you can take a dragon as a familiar and not get killed for it.
agreed and this little fella may be a decent trap in wizards tower as wizards familiar think about it just when you pass a trap she actives another one maybe that armor sitting in alcove or how about pressing the arrow trap laying in corner

mantia
2015-06-20, 01:53 PM
agreed and this little fella may be a decent trap in wizards tower as wizards familiar think about it just when you pass a trap she actives another one maybe that armor sitting in alcove or how about pressing the arrow trap laying in corner

Well I'm not going to stop you from using that in your campaign but as it stands it's a player race.

Debihuman
2015-06-22, 11:50 AM
Wispweave should cost at least 25 gp.

mantia
2015-06-22, 01:47 PM
Wispweave should cost at least 25 gp.

I thought about making it cost something but since you can't make armor out of it and all characters have at least 1 set of clothes at level one for free I decided that it shouldn't need to be any different cost than normal cloth. Perhaps it should cost more if you wanted more than one set but the first should always be free since there isn't much wealth at lvl 1.

Debihuman
2015-06-22, 02:40 PM
Nobody gets clothing with special properties for free.

mantia
2015-06-22, 05:40 PM
Nobody gets clothing with special properties for free.
But the only thing it does that isn't purely fluff is not get disintegrated (or at least not fall off) when the Wispling uses their Incorporeality power. I think culturally a race that winds up nekkid without these would mass produce and hand them out.

Debihuman
2015-06-22, 10:03 PM
LOL Magic Underwear.... sorry, laughing too hard now.

Debby