redwizard007
2016-03-15, 11:22 AM
I've been tinkering with a playable race for a 3.5 homebrew and was looking for a little feedback. For the record I was heavily inspired by pachycephalosaurus but don't want another reptilian humanoid so I borrowed a bit from mountain sheep and threw out most of what looked like watered-down-minotaur until I got this...
CARIX
Carix are tall, wiry humanoids with a crown of horns sprouting from their head and face. In their rocky homes, they bound across chasms and spring up nearly sheer cliff faces. These hardy hillfolk are famed raiders and thrive in adventuring parties.
Personality: Carix lean heavily on family for support in their early years but often grow rebellious in adolescence and strike out on their own. Carix family life is centered around a dominant male, and his word is law. As younger family members reach adulthood, it is not uncommon for them to marry into another family or journey in the wider world to escape a tyrannical head of household. Carix will go to great lengths to protect their own, but are rarely concerned with the well being of outsiders.
Description: A typical carix is a head taller than most men, but the difference is all in the leg. Most stand between 6 and a half and 7 feet tall and weigh between 180 and 250 pounds. Males tend to be at the larger end of the spectrum with females at the lower. Carix have light brown skin that has minor variations from tan to chestnut. They are can not grow facial hair and have bare heads, but have manes of mottled white and brown starting around the neck and shoulders and continuing to the small of their backs. Other body hair is sparse and is usually removed via grooming. By far the most dominating feature of the race is the crest of bony nobs around the head and face. In adults, these become full fledged horns, with racks of antlers seen as signs of masculinity and short, sharper horns close to the head seen as attractive on females.
Carix men are fond of small vests and baggy pants, while the women are usually dressed in strappy halter tops and long, flowing skirts. Scarves, piercings, and ribbons are favorite decorations for both genders, and both will wear heavy cloaks when the weather is bad. Carix never wear leather or other “dead animals,” but are fond of wools and plant materials.
Relations: In a carix village, strangers are rarely welcome. Humans, dwarves and halflings are generally tolerated so long as they benefit the clan in some obvious way. Gnomes, goliaths, elves and githzerai will rarely be turned away out of hand, but are usually shunned until they have proven useful.
Carix have a general mistrust of all flesh eaters, but absolutely despise any being that will consume another intelligent creature. Thri-kreen, manscorpions, wemics, gnolls, illithids, trolls, ogres, giants, kobolds, orcs, goblins and bugbears are never welcomed by a carix. Indeed, gnolls and ogres are usually attacked on site.
Alignment: Carix have a tendency toward lawful alignments. Even though they have flexible family arrangements and the small communities, carix crave companionship and would generally be happy following a strong leader. Carix have a slight preference for evil over good, since among the hill clans, watching out for your own is the safest path to survival, and because to lead, they must unseat their predecessor.
Society: In and around the village, affairs will be dominated by heads of extended families. These patriarchs govern the affairs of their brothers, sons, nephews, and on down to a degree that many races have a hard time understanding. The word of a patriarch is law for his clan, and so is the word of a father within his family. Status for a carix is based on influence, wealth, number of wives, past acomplishments and reputation of any mature offspring. It is not uncommon for a successful carix to have a dozen wives while a less accomplished male is usually unable to find more than a single mate, and sometimes none at all. Love matches do happen, but generally marriages are arranged by the fathers or patriarchs. Females lose all ties to their former family and are accepted entirely into the new one.
Carix live in family groupings with a male sarounded by several wives and many children. Most work, and all menial tasks, are performed by the women or delegated to the children. The pulling of plows and other field work, crafting of basic goods and tending of livestock all fall to the females. Males concern themselves mostly with trade, government, defense, and various leisure activities. This is not to say that the male carix are lazy, just that they are above such base tasks.
A typical carix village is built in the nexus of several fertile valleys. It is here that grains are milled, goods are brought to market and festivals are celebrated with neighbors, much like in human lands. What is different is the lack of animals and animal products. Carix society considers killing animals for food or skins a deplorable act, and it is the rare carix who uses goods of leather or other animal products. This is not to say carix will not use animal products. They maintain herds of sheep, llamas and goats from which they gain milk and wool, but never for meat. Indeed, most carix won't even trade their livestock to meat eating races except in the most dire of circumstances.
Lands: Because they require large-scale agriculture for their settlements, the hills and valleys where Carix live are often more developed than the territories of other races. Most clans of Carix settle in small villages or hamlets. Typically, they grow grains and vegetables, and often keep smaller herd animals such as sheep or alpacas. Their homes are generally of piled stones or sod with some woodwork. In larger towns and cities the carix are fond of two story buildings with stone for the lower floor and wood for the upper, often with a small cellar.
The Carix found in lands of other races are usually fleeing unfavorable family situations. These lone Carix are often quick to ally with a new group to replace the missing social structure.
Religion: The spirits of the hills are all familiar to the carix and are paid homage with numerous festivals and frequent offerings. When a carix clan goes to war the warriors prepare their own graves ahead of time with their own hands. These stone cairns can become quite extensive if the combatant survives a few campaigns and are often decorated with trophies of war as well as tokens from more peaceful times. Carix clerics are less common than shamans or even favored souls. The shamans venerate local or ancestor spirits while favored souls and clerics are more likely to worship one of the greater spirits.
Language: The carix have only a spoken tongue, but the learned are often able to write in the script of dwarves. It is not uncommon for carix to be familiar with the languages of their neighbors. Many speak dwarf or human languages and commonly get by with forms of pidgin.
Names: Every carix has a birth name assigned by the newborn's mother and father and a clan name. It is considered exceptionally familiar to call any carix by only their birth name. Indeed, it is one of their more common insults to address one another without clan names or to call one “of no clan,” or “of no family.” When introducing themselves carix always use the clan name/given name construction. If an honorific is used, they make every effort to translate it into the listener's language so as to ensure its recognition and use the honorific in place of their given name. Carix traveling among other races often address others by clan or family name rather than use given names.
Male Names:*Authoth, Burin, Dathor, Fral, Hrah, Keth, Movih, Nerath, Ordat, Pithal, Quin, Roth.
Female Names:*Baka, Dothira, Ecana, Gyona, Keoni, Lona, Mavei, Mivoi, Thotha, Vikala.
Clan Names:*Achi, Atyro, Dyti, Gyda, Khati, Minun, Neichos, Nugraf, Roas, Rovati, Tinuklai, Vrach.
Adventurers:*Traditionally, the most common carix to become adventurers are females fleeing the attention of an older male, but young males are not uncommon either. The males are more likely to return to carix lands when they get bored, while the females are far more likely to settle in other societies. Carix are often rangers, fighters, barbarians or bards, though they are capable of becoming any class.
CARIX RACIAL TRAITS
Humanoid: Carix are humanoids of the carix subtype.
Herbivore: Carix are true herbivores. They can not gain sustenance from animal matter and must eat only vegetation to survive. A carix is able to graze on common vegetation, and often does so in order to supplement his diet, but finds fruits, cooked vegetables and breads to be the most enjoyable.
Natural Attack: Because carix have horns on their heads they are able to make a natural attack to deal damage with a headbutt. Juveniles deal 1d2, adults deal 1d6 and old or venerable adults deal 1d10 damage of the bludgeoning and piercing variety, whichever is more advantageous.
Reckless Charge: The unique spinal structure of a carix lets him deliver a brutal natural attack when charging. When lowering his head and attacking only with his (or her) horns during a charge attack, a carix is able to deal double damage, including any static bonuses (such as from power attack, magic/strength bonuses, or smite,) but not including damage from other sources (such as sneak attack or elemental damage types.) A carix using this ability takes an additional -2 penalty to AC in addition to the traditional AC penalty for charging.
Rough Runner: Carix run and climb in the tough hills from an early age. Combined with their long, muscular legs, this give them an edge over other races when trying to move quickly, especially in rough terrain. A carix does not move at half speed in difficult terrain and is not prevented from charging in such terrain.
Wild Athletics:*Balance, climb, and jump are all second nature to those who grow up playing tag in the ravines and washouts of the bad country. Carix have a +2 racial bonus to all three of these skills.
Horned One:*The spikes, horns and antlers that carix are so proud of are generally intimidating to others. Carix learn to use this early in life. All carix treat intimidate as a class skill. These horns interfere with the wearing of helmets. They may wear hats, headbands and the like but minor alterations are sometimes required.
Favored Class:*Fighter. A multiclass carix's fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see the XP for Multiclass Characters section, page 60 of the Player's Handbook). The rough hill country of the carix produces many tough fighters.
Ability Modifiers: +2 Con, -2 Cha. Carix are tough but not particularly strong willed.
So, is it playable?
Is it competitive with the core races?
Does the flavor suck?
CARIX
Carix are tall, wiry humanoids with a crown of horns sprouting from their head and face. In their rocky homes, they bound across chasms and spring up nearly sheer cliff faces. These hardy hillfolk are famed raiders and thrive in adventuring parties.
Personality: Carix lean heavily on family for support in their early years but often grow rebellious in adolescence and strike out on their own. Carix family life is centered around a dominant male, and his word is law. As younger family members reach adulthood, it is not uncommon for them to marry into another family or journey in the wider world to escape a tyrannical head of household. Carix will go to great lengths to protect their own, but are rarely concerned with the well being of outsiders.
Description: A typical carix is a head taller than most men, but the difference is all in the leg. Most stand between 6 and a half and 7 feet tall and weigh between 180 and 250 pounds. Males tend to be at the larger end of the spectrum with females at the lower. Carix have light brown skin that has minor variations from tan to chestnut. They are can not grow facial hair and have bare heads, but have manes of mottled white and brown starting around the neck and shoulders and continuing to the small of their backs. Other body hair is sparse and is usually removed via grooming. By far the most dominating feature of the race is the crest of bony nobs around the head and face. In adults, these become full fledged horns, with racks of antlers seen as signs of masculinity and short, sharper horns close to the head seen as attractive on females.
Carix men are fond of small vests and baggy pants, while the women are usually dressed in strappy halter tops and long, flowing skirts. Scarves, piercings, and ribbons are favorite decorations for both genders, and both will wear heavy cloaks when the weather is bad. Carix never wear leather or other “dead animals,” but are fond of wools and plant materials.
Relations: In a carix village, strangers are rarely welcome. Humans, dwarves and halflings are generally tolerated so long as they benefit the clan in some obvious way. Gnomes, goliaths, elves and githzerai will rarely be turned away out of hand, but are usually shunned until they have proven useful.
Carix have a general mistrust of all flesh eaters, but absolutely despise any being that will consume another intelligent creature. Thri-kreen, manscorpions, wemics, gnolls, illithids, trolls, ogres, giants, kobolds, orcs, goblins and bugbears are never welcomed by a carix. Indeed, gnolls and ogres are usually attacked on site.
Alignment: Carix have a tendency toward lawful alignments. Even though they have flexible family arrangements and the small communities, carix crave companionship and would generally be happy following a strong leader. Carix have a slight preference for evil over good, since among the hill clans, watching out for your own is the safest path to survival, and because to lead, they must unseat their predecessor.
Society: In and around the village, affairs will be dominated by heads of extended families. These patriarchs govern the affairs of their brothers, sons, nephews, and on down to a degree that many races have a hard time understanding. The word of a patriarch is law for his clan, and so is the word of a father within his family. Status for a carix is based on influence, wealth, number of wives, past acomplishments and reputation of any mature offspring. It is not uncommon for a successful carix to have a dozen wives while a less accomplished male is usually unable to find more than a single mate, and sometimes none at all. Love matches do happen, but generally marriages are arranged by the fathers or patriarchs. Females lose all ties to their former family and are accepted entirely into the new one.
Carix live in family groupings with a male sarounded by several wives and many children. Most work, and all menial tasks, are performed by the women or delegated to the children. The pulling of plows and other field work, crafting of basic goods and tending of livestock all fall to the females. Males concern themselves mostly with trade, government, defense, and various leisure activities. This is not to say that the male carix are lazy, just that they are above such base tasks.
A typical carix village is built in the nexus of several fertile valleys. It is here that grains are milled, goods are brought to market and festivals are celebrated with neighbors, much like in human lands. What is different is the lack of animals and animal products. Carix society considers killing animals for food or skins a deplorable act, and it is the rare carix who uses goods of leather or other animal products. This is not to say carix will not use animal products. They maintain herds of sheep, llamas and goats from which they gain milk and wool, but never for meat. Indeed, most carix won't even trade their livestock to meat eating races except in the most dire of circumstances.
Lands: Because they require large-scale agriculture for their settlements, the hills and valleys where Carix live are often more developed than the territories of other races. Most clans of Carix settle in small villages or hamlets. Typically, they grow grains and vegetables, and often keep smaller herd animals such as sheep or alpacas. Their homes are generally of piled stones or sod with some woodwork. In larger towns and cities the carix are fond of two story buildings with stone for the lower floor and wood for the upper, often with a small cellar.
The Carix found in lands of other races are usually fleeing unfavorable family situations. These lone Carix are often quick to ally with a new group to replace the missing social structure.
Religion: The spirits of the hills are all familiar to the carix and are paid homage with numerous festivals and frequent offerings. When a carix clan goes to war the warriors prepare their own graves ahead of time with their own hands. These stone cairns can become quite extensive if the combatant survives a few campaigns and are often decorated with trophies of war as well as tokens from more peaceful times. Carix clerics are less common than shamans or even favored souls. The shamans venerate local or ancestor spirits while favored souls and clerics are more likely to worship one of the greater spirits.
Language: The carix have only a spoken tongue, but the learned are often able to write in the script of dwarves. It is not uncommon for carix to be familiar with the languages of their neighbors. Many speak dwarf or human languages and commonly get by with forms of pidgin.
Names: Every carix has a birth name assigned by the newborn's mother and father and a clan name. It is considered exceptionally familiar to call any carix by only their birth name. Indeed, it is one of their more common insults to address one another without clan names or to call one “of no clan,” or “of no family.” When introducing themselves carix always use the clan name/given name construction. If an honorific is used, they make every effort to translate it into the listener's language so as to ensure its recognition and use the honorific in place of their given name. Carix traveling among other races often address others by clan or family name rather than use given names.
Male Names:*Authoth, Burin, Dathor, Fral, Hrah, Keth, Movih, Nerath, Ordat, Pithal, Quin, Roth.
Female Names:*Baka, Dothira, Ecana, Gyona, Keoni, Lona, Mavei, Mivoi, Thotha, Vikala.
Clan Names:*Achi, Atyro, Dyti, Gyda, Khati, Minun, Neichos, Nugraf, Roas, Rovati, Tinuklai, Vrach.
Adventurers:*Traditionally, the most common carix to become adventurers are females fleeing the attention of an older male, but young males are not uncommon either. The males are more likely to return to carix lands when they get bored, while the females are far more likely to settle in other societies. Carix are often rangers, fighters, barbarians or bards, though they are capable of becoming any class.
CARIX RACIAL TRAITS
Humanoid: Carix are humanoids of the carix subtype.
Herbivore: Carix are true herbivores. They can not gain sustenance from animal matter and must eat only vegetation to survive. A carix is able to graze on common vegetation, and often does so in order to supplement his diet, but finds fruits, cooked vegetables and breads to be the most enjoyable.
Natural Attack: Because carix have horns on their heads they are able to make a natural attack to deal damage with a headbutt. Juveniles deal 1d2, adults deal 1d6 and old or venerable adults deal 1d10 damage of the bludgeoning and piercing variety, whichever is more advantageous.
Reckless Charge: The unique spinal structure of a carix lets him deliver a brutal natural attack when charging. When lowering his head and attacking only with his (or her) horns during a charge attack, a carix is able to deal double damage, including any static bonuses (such as from power attack, magic/strength bonuses, or smite,) but not including damage from other sources (such as sneak attack or elemental damage types.) A carix using this ability takes an additional -2 penalty to AC in addition to the traditional AC penalty for charging.
Rough Runner: Carix run and climb in the tough hills from an early age. Combined with their long, muscular legs, this give them an edge over other races when trying to move quickly, especially in rough terrain. A carix does not move at half speed in difficult terrain and is not prevented from charging in such terrain.
Wild Athletics:*Balance, climb, and jump are all second nature to those who grow up playing tag in the ravines and washouts of the bad country. Carix have a +2 racial bonus to all three of these skills.
Horned One:*The spikes, horns and antlers that carix are so proud of are generally intimidating to others. Carix learn to use this early in life. All carix treat intimidate as a class skill. These horns interfere with the wearing of helmets. They may wear hats, headbands and the like but minor alterations are sometimes required.
Favored Class:*Fighter. A multiclass carix's fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see the XP for Multiclass Characters section, page 60 of the Player's Handbook). The rough hill country of the carix produces many tough fighters.
Ability Modifiers: +2 Con, -2 Cha. Carix are tough but not particularly strong willed.
So, is it playable?
Is it competitive with the core races?
Does the flavor suck?