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View Full Version : Pathfinder Mechanimites, All new race!



Zhentarim
2015-11-11, 11:03 PM
WIP


Greater Weakness (-3 RP): +2 INT, -2 CHA, -4 WIS
Small (0 RP): Small races gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Small races have a space of 5 feet by 5 feet and a reach of 5 feet.
Half-Contruct Aberration (10 RP): Gain darkvision 60 feet, +2 on saves against disease, mind-affecting effects, poison, and effects that cause exhaustion and fatigue. Mechanimites do not need to eat, sleep, or breath. In addition, Mechanimites cannot be raised or resssurected.
Slow (-1 RP): Mechanimites have a base speed of 20 feet.
Xenophobic (0 RP): Mechanimites begin play speaking Mechanimite. Mechanimites with high intelligence scores can learn Common, Undercommon, Abyssal, and Infernal.
Light Blindness (–2 RP): Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds members of this race for 1 round; on subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area. This is because the planet these creatures come from circled a red dwarf star, and yellow stars are much brighter than they calculated they would be.
Negative Energy Affinity (–1 RP): A member of this race is alive, but reacts to positive and negative energy as if it were undead—positive energy harms it, while negative energy heals it. This is because positive energy disrupts their systems, which run on negative energy.
Flight (4 RP): Members of this race have a fly speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability. Mechanimites achieve this with powerful metal wings and intense air jets in their feet and palms. These air jets allow them to fly in outer space if they need to.
Spell-Like Ability, Lesser (1 RP): Mechanimites can use Shocking Grasp, as the spell, once per day. Character level is the Mechanimite's caster level for this spell.
Breath Weapon+ (2 RP): Once per day, as a standard action, members of this race can make a supernatural breath weapon attack that deals 1d6 electricity damage in a 15-foot cone. All creatures within the affected area must make a Reflex saving throw to avoid taking damage. The save DC against this breath weapon is 10 + 1/2 the user's character level + the user's Constitution modifier. Those who succeed at the save take half damage from the attack.


My race is not native to this world. Rather, they are from a distant world whose star is a very dim, very cool, very small, very deep red, and very distant red dwarf star known to Galorion's astronomers as Asmodeus's Ruby. My race, over many years, depleted their resources converting themselves into transhuman half-constructs, and began to spread throughout the cosmos to gather more resources so they can replicate and spread their influence. It all began when the Mechanimites's evolutionary ancestors learned to convert negative energy to electricity to power their cybernetic implants, and soon they were mostly electronic, the only biological part of them being a highly abberant and alien brain possessed with an inscrutable mindset. These creatures can even produce surges of electric power to damage their foes.

Zhentarim
2015-11-12, 01:13 AM
Fluff tomorrow

Ethereal Gears
2015-11-12, 01:43 PM
I think this looks tolerably balanced. I mean to say, the race does get a lot of nice perks, but it does also get some pretty crippling downsides to compensate for it. I can't say for sure if it all balances out in the end, but I do like wacky races with big strengths counterweighted by serious drawbacks, and I think this looks promising.

The only thing that struck me about the race traits is both gaining a shocking grasp SLA and an electricity-based breath weapon seems a bit gratuitous and inelegant, but there might be some fluff reason for this I am unaware of. It would be cool to see some unique racial trait replace one of these two, although I don't have any suggestions as I am unfamiliar with the race's lore.

Anyway, half-construct aberrations are right up my alley, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this develops. I just posted a class on these forums, the Nihilurge, which creates construct-aberration hybrids to fight for her (albeit very different in concept from your race). It must be Aberro-Construct Week or something! :)

Cheers,
- Gears

Zhentarim
2015-11-12, 08:02 PM
I think this looks tolerably balanced. I mean to say, the race does get a lot of nice perks, but it does also get some pretty crippling downsides to compensate for it. I can't say for sure if it all balances out in the end, but I do like wacky races with big strengths counterweighted by serious drawbacks, and I think this looks promising.

The only thing that struck me about the race traits is both gaining a shocking grasp SLA and an electricity-based breath weapon seems a bit gratuitous and inelegant, but there might be some fluff reason for this I am unaware of. It would be cool to see some unique racial trait replace one of these two, although I don't have any suggestions as I am unfamiliar with the race's lore.

Anyway, half-construct aberrations are right up my alley, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this develops. I just posted a class on these forums, the Nihilurge, which creates construct-aberration hybrids to fight for her (albeit very different in concept from your race). It must be Aberro-Construct Week or something! :)

Cheers,
- Gears

My race is not native to this world. Rather, they are from a distant world whose star is a very dim, very cool, very small, very deep red, and very distant red dwarf star known to Galorion's astronomers as Asmodeus's Ruby. My race, over many years, depleted their resources converting themselves into transhuman half-constructs, and began to spread throughout the cosmos to gather more resources so they can replicate and spread their influence. It all began when the Mechanimites's evolutionary ancestors learned to convert negative energy to electricity to power their cybernetic implants, and soon they were mostly electronic, the only biological part of them being a highly abberant and alien brain possessed with an inscrutable mindset. These creatures can even produce surges of electric power to damage their foes.

Ethereal Gears
2015-11-13, 08:31 AM
One thing that struck me as a cool idea would be to create some kind of feat chain or racial archetype for a spellcasting class that would allow mechanimites to create undead (via animate dead, etc.) that sort of resemble themselves, instead of traditional undead. They could basically create mechanimite "undead", losing some of their undead immunities but maybe gaining electricity immunity and weird electricity-themed powers. Just a random idea; it might take a bit of work to put together, but I think it could be really cool.

Another thing I was wondering about. Why don't these guys gain electricity resistance? It seems like it would be logical, ideally paired with some racial feats to increase it or improve it to immunity later on. They could even be able to gain the ability to be healed directly via electricity maybe, through feats or some archetype or similar.

Just some thoughts!

Cheers,
- Gears

Zhentarim
2015-11-13, 10:02 AM
One thing that struck me as a cool idea would be to create some kind of feat chain or racial archetype for a spellcasting class that would allow mechanimites to create undead (via animate dead, etc.) that sort of resemble themselves, instead of traditional undead. They could basically create mechanimite "undead", losing some of their undead immunities but maybe gaining electricity immunity and weird electricity-themed powers. Just a random idea; it might take a bit of work to put together, but I think it could be really cool.

Another thing I was wondering about. Why don't these guys gain electricity resistance? It seems like it would be logical, ideally paired with some racial feats to increase it or improve it to immunity later on. They could even be able to gain the ability to be healed directly via electricity maybe, through feats or some archetype or similar.

Just some thoughts!

Cheers,
- Gears
I may trade out the electric breath for some electric resistance. I may need to add another weakness if it goes over RP 10, though. Perhaps cold/water vulnerability, or sunlight vulnerability? Also, I would love to work with you piecing that class together. It would probably be a racial archetype of Wizard available only to Mechanimites. Meanwhile, I also had an idea for a racial rouge archetype called space pirate.

Ethereal Gears
2015-11-13, 10:14 AM
You had me at space pirate! :D

I am juggling quite a few homebrew projects of my own currently, but I wouldn't mind taking a stab at a "mechanimator" archetype for mechanimite wizards. I'll try to free up some time to do this in the near future (next week or so).

As for weaknesses, I think water vulnerability sounds really cool. I don't think that's a pre-existing thing in PF, right? If you came up with a cool and somewhat debilitating effect water has on mechanimites, I think that could justify just plain making them immune to electricity damage. Especially if they, say, lost that immunity while soaked with water or something. Anyway, I'd say go with some version of water vulnerability. It sounds flavorful and awesome!

Cheers,
- Gears

Zhentarim
2015-11-15, 10:53 AM
You had me at space pirate! :D

I am juggling quite a few homebrew projects of my own currently, but I wouldn't mind taking a stab at a "mechanimator" archetype for mechanimite wizards. I'll try to free up some time to do this in the near future (next week or so).

As for weaknesses, I think water vulnerability sounds really cool. I don't think that's a pre-existing thing in PF, right? If you came up with a cool and somewhat debilitating effect water has on mechanimites, I think that could justify just plain making them immune to electricity damage. Especially if they, say, lost that immunity while soaked with water or something. Anyway, I'd say go with some version of water vulnerability. It sounds flavorful and awesome!

Cheers,
- Gears
That will be coming right up.

Zhentarim
2015-11-28, 10:11 PM
That will be coming right up.

How many negative RP would that be, I wonder?