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AmadeusWindfall
2007-09-23, 01:29 PM
In a campaign setting I'm working on, I'm changing the way planetouched work, meaning that there would be planetouched for most varieties of plane. Since statting out planetouched for each of these would be a lot of work, I decided to try and make a system for building planetouched that could provide the needed variety, based loosely off of the existing Tiefling and Aasimar but intended to replace them. Here's my shot at it, but I'm worried that it's badly balanced - what do you think?

Creating a Planetouched



Ability Modifiers: A planetouched receives +2 to one physical and one mental ability score and -2 to one physical and one mental ability score.
Outsider (Native): Planetouched are immune to effects that effect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
Size: A planetouched can be either Medium or Small size, gaining the appropriate modifiers.
A planetouched’s base land speed is 30 feet.
Racial Skills: Planetouched gain a +2 racial bonus on two particular skills, as chosen from the following list:

Hide and Bluff.
Spot and Listen.
Escape Artist and Tumble.
Balance and Survival.
Disguise and Forgery.

Special Attacks: A planetouched may have spell-like ability from the following list, useable once per day:

Darkness. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst evil planetouched (tieflings) and shadow planetouched.
Light. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst good planetouched (aasimar).
Shatter. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst chaos planetouched (chaonds) and metal planetouched.
True Strike. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst law planetouched (zenythri).
Magic Stone. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst earth planetouched.
Obscuring Mist. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst air and ethereal planetouched.
Gust of Wind. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst air planetouched.
Levitate. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst air planetouched.
Produce Flame. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst fire planetouched.
Create Water. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst water planetouched, though some good planetouched (aasimar) have the ability.
Identify. This spell-like ability is most often found amongst astral planetouched, though it occurs amongst most types of planetouched.
Calm Animals. This spell-like ability is most often found in good planetouched (aasimar) with connections to the outer plane of The Beastlands and some wood planetouched.
Sanctuary. This spell-like ability is most often found in neutral planetouched.
Darkvison. This spell-like ability is most often found in shadow planetouched.
Wood Shape. This spell-like ability is most often found in wood planetouched.

Special Qualities: Energy resistance 5 to three energy types (other than sonic).
Automatic Languages: Common, Any one other. Bonus Languages: Any (except secret languages like Druidic).
Level adjustment +1.

Mewtarthio
2007-09-23, 01:47 PM
Why the explicit SLAs? Why not simply state that a Planetouched has, once per day, a second-level-or-lower divine spell as an SLA?

EvilElitest
2007-09-23, 02:14 PM
1. Why the change
2. What makes planetouched in your world
3. Fluff please
from,
EE

Dryad
2007-09-23, 02:14 PM
Just one thing: According to this chart, small plane-touched also have a base land speed of 30ft.
Other than that: I love the idea! Love it very much. It's good on the bonusses on stats, and the penalties, it doesn't receive major skill bonusses, and gainst one nifty SLA per day, plus a few resistances. None of this has a major impact on the game mechanic, I think, so it would be a justified +1 LA.

And to answer above: Because of the flavor tied to it. Why on earth would a Fire planetouched have a cure-spell as SLA?

AmadeusWindfall
2007-09-23, 02:24 PM
That's exactly why they can't have any divine spell - almost everyone would go for healing or similar, which would almost always break flavour.

The basic idea is that planetouched are babies chosen by the gods whilst still in their mother's womb/their egg (can't leave out kobolds and lizardfolk, can we?), and changed using the same same substance that one of the other planes is made of, hence the need for lots of different types of planetouched - each of the gods has more power over certain planes than others, and so only they can create that plane's planetouched. I'm still kinda stuck as to what SLA an Outlands planetouched might have though. Also, I'm not sure what good spells could be used for Postive and Negative Energy, since I want to avoid the Cure/Inflict spells.

As for the speed issue, it's since planetouched with dwarven parents are able to move faster than their kin as they are medium creatures, as well as that goblins are a major race in my campaign setting and planetouched goblins have no real reason to be slower. I could make this into a template, removing everything about the base race except their land speed, but I think that that would be a bit pointless, so I'll say it's just due to the divine power or something.

Mewtarthio
2007-09-26, 07:12 PM
That's exactly why they can't have any divine spell - almost everyone would go for healing or similar, which would almost always break flavour.

Oh, my bad. I thought this was a template for the DM to design new planetouched. If the player gets to choose, then I'd have to agree that the explicit SLAs are better (easier to stretch a tight rule than to repair a broken one, right?).

Vadin
2007-09-26, 08:24 PM
The basic idea is that planetouched are babies chosen by the gods whilst still in their mother's womb/their egg (can't leave out kobolds and lizardfolk, can we?)

Or elves, dirty dwarf-child-eating egg-laying...but I digress. I approve of both this and modular races in general. Bonus points for adaptability, sir.

Altharis
2007-09-27, 10:50 PM
Very nice! I like the idea, and as my group's resident Planar freak, I shall voice what I first thought:

Why the walrus have you not included Gust of Wind and Levitate in the SLA list? They are air genasi staples!

Oh, and you spelt Zenythri wrong.

But other than that...very very nice!

Cheers,
Altharis

AmadeusWindfall
2007-09-28, 01:47 AM
Why the walrus have you not included Gust of Wind and Levitate in the SLA list? They are air genasi staples!


Because, simply enough, I don't own any books with the Genasi in them: my group might, but they're away now so I couldn't ask them. I'll edit them in, since they'd work far better than Obscuring Mist.