The ultimate Wing-men

[Aniikinis]

Sky-borne human
Sky-borne human Rancher (1st level commoner)
Medium Humanoid
Hit Dice: 1d6 +2 (8)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 feet, 50 feet fly (good)
Armor Class: 11 (+1 Dex), touch 11, fl at-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+1
Attack: Club +1
Full Attack: Club +1
Damage: Club 1d6
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities: Claustrophobia.
Saves: Fort -1, Ref +1, Will +0
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 13, Con 8, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 11
Skills: Profession (Rancher) +4
Feats: Toughness
Environment: Plains
Organization: Solitary or family
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: 1/4 normal
Alignment: Usually Neutral
Level Adjustment: +0
Advancement: By character class

A ranch hand glides down from above his flock and asks in a gruff tone if you want trouble.

Sky-borne humans are so much like their land-bound counterparts, that if you couldn't see the wings upon their back you'd simply believe it was just another normal human. Sky-borne humans share the same kind of diversity as their land locked brethren and any colour combination found among humans is found among them, however the plumage on their wings is often the same colour as their hair or a complimenting colour if not.

Sky-borne humans speak common and auran.

Special Quality: Claustrophobia
Sky-borne humans are adapted to the wide open skies and feel so completely detached from their element when in enclosed spaces that they seem less jovial and more on edge than usual. When a sky-borne human is within an enclosed space of 10 feet in height and 15 feet at the narrowest width, they take a -1 morale penalty to all attack, damage, save, and skill rolls and an additional -2 penalty against fear effects. The additional penalty to fear effects is added in after all other modifiers. This penalty is further compounded by the following environmental features(each of the following stacks with the previous morale penalties and with each other):

-1 for each 5' less than 15' of the narrowest width of the room
-1 for each light level lower than normal
-1 for each level of depth within the dungeon (each descent increases the depth by one)
-1 for each surprise round against the party
-2 if the area is humid and/or damp


If the morale penalty (not including the additional -2 against fear effects) plus any bonuses accrued either through class levels, feats, spells, items, etc. reaches a negative number equal to double the level/HD of the sky-borne human, the character is treated as though shaken, but does not accrue any additional penalties from the condition. Once the modifier reaches three times the level/HD of the character, they are treated as though frightened, without accruing additional penalties from the condition, and will attempt to persuade their party members return to the open spaces outside. If they are forced to continue in this state and the penalty reaches a total of four times the level/HD of the character, they will be considered
panicked without the additional penalties associated with the condition, and will do whatever they can to escape the confines of the source of their claustrophobia. Should they be forced to continue to endure the strain until the penalty is equal to five times the level/HD of the character, they must make a will save with a DC of 1 every minute of exposure, with the DC rising by 1 after each successive save. Should the character fail the save they will begin hyperventilating and, if they fail another save, will be rendered unconscious by the strain. If they are awoken while still within the confines of the source of the claustrophobia, they must make the previous save again or take one point of constitution damage and fall unconscious again. Should the character suffer this a number of times (DM's discretion) the character may have a heart attack brought on by extreme stress and repeated trauma.

The only way to reduce the penalty is through the addition of morale bonuses, but these merely lessen the penalty, not remove it. The only way to remove the penalty completely is to exit the source of the claustrophobia and have the character take to the skies for five minutes per point of penalty(not counting the additional -2 penalty for fear effects).

SKY-BORNE HUMAN CHARACTERS

sky-borne human characters possess the following racial traits.
— +2 Dex and -2 Con (+2 App)
— Medium Humanoid
— 5 foot space and 5 foot reach
— Sky-borne humans have a base land speed of 30 feet and a fly speed of 50 feet (Good)
— Sky-borne humans have the Claustrophobia Special Quality
— Automatic Languages: Common and Auran . Bonus Languages: Any
— Favored Class: Any
—Level adjustment +0

[rferries]

Simple yet elegant. Should be LA+1 though - they're basically a straight upgrade from humans (flight at low levels is generally much more valuable than human bonus skill points).

[Aniikinis]

I'm very tempted to drop the extra feat and give a claustrophobia-based penalty for being within an enclosed space (such as a dungeon) for a semi-long period of time that stacks with various factors such as it being dark, cramped(within 3-5 feet across, dank, etc.

[rferries]

That would definitely be more balanced, and in a flavourful way to boot.

[Aniikinis]

Alright, the claustrophobia racial penalty is typed out, would you mind telling me what you think about it? If it's too harsh or anything else, please let me know.

[rferries]

Right this is tricky... LA+0 flight still rubs me the wrong way (someone suggested using Raptorans (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20050106b&page=1) as a guide for another race I was working on - start out gliding but get true flight as you level up). The Claustrophobia of your race quickly becomes absolutely crippling though, in even the first few levels of a dungeon, so maybe it's balanced. Let's see if a 3rd party chimes in about it.

Do you intend all your custom races to exist in the same setting? And will the standard races co-exist with them, or no?

[Aniikinis]

Right this is tricky... LA+0 flight still rubs me the wrong way (someone suggested using Raptorans (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20050106b&page=1) as a guide for another race I was working on - start out gliding but get true flight as you level up). The Claustrophobia of your race quickly becomes absolutely crippling though, in even the first few levels of a dungeon, so maybe it's balanced. Let's see if a 3rd party chimes in about it.

I'd completely forgotten about Raptorans, but yeah I can see why they'd be much preferable and the flight advancement is a good idea I probably should have implemented. The reason for the claustrophobia becoming so crippling is that I have known enough people with claustrophobia relatively near that level of extremity and so I have first-hand experience when dealing with them, plus I learned quite a lot about it when I was researching fears and medical conditions arising from stress and such for a project in senior year. If land-bound human beings that are regularly cooped up in tightly enclosed spaces can get near that level, imagine how one with flight capabilities that almost never needs to go within a small enclosed space would deal with it.



Do you intend all your custom races to exist in the same setting? And will the standard races co-exist with them, or no?
I hadn't thought about creating a setting for these but I might later on. I'm currently working on a little setting project called The Hexal and borrowed a bunch of races from the forums to put into it to see how things would work out between them and with the various insanities within the setting. I might replace the borrowed races with ones I homebrew myself or find others that I have been given explicit permission to use before I even dream of uploading the skeleton for the setting. But to answer your question: it depends on the setting, they can if the DM chooses to allow it or won't if they don't.