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View Full Version : Yuan Ti variant..have the fluff need some crunch



ashism
2007-11-14, 10:05 AM
Well as the title implies I'm designing a Yuan Ti Variant for my campaign world, and I've got the fluff and story down, I just need a bit of help with the mechanics of the race. One important aspect of designing this race is that it can't have an LA and instead should be on a 20 lvl progression about on par with the races I've re-tooled in this thread (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=946073). Any help would be greatly appreciated because frankly I'm stumped on this. The thing thats making it harder is the caste system and trying to decide which yuan ti will actually be playable, right now I'm thinking I need stats for purebloods and half bloods only and then can branch off from there, beleieving that I'm going to limit players to the Emmisary and crusader castes.

Here is the fluff. If needed I'll add a backstory as well, thanks so much for taking the time to read this and help me out.

Yuan Ti
The Yuan Ti are known for their devotion to their fallen god, their great capabilities with holy energies, their keeping of ancient secrets and their hatred of the dead. Their vast kingdoms lie hidden deep in the great archipelago’s jungles and they are renowned for the gems and exotic herbs they export as well as for their order of paladins.
Personality: Yuan Ti are xenophobic and tend to be mistrust strangers to their lands. They have a positive hatred of the dead and brook little love for arcane magic users, and they can come of as overbearing and as fanatics. They are true believers in their god, and it is little wonder when they know their god to dwell close at hand. When traveling in human lands yuan ti emissaries can often blend in yet they carry with them their strong and rigid beliefs, and when paladins are seen in the lands of humanity they bring with them a certain level of fanaticism and it can be difficult for people to understand them.

Physical Description: The Yuan Ti vary greatly in appearance depending on which caste they belong to:
• The Holy Castes: This class includes the God Kings of the yuan ti empire, the Couatl with the Anathema serving as the high priests of the God that Coils Below.This caste runs the empire and all of the power of the thoecracy runs through them.
• The Caste of the Crusade: This caste contains the priests and paladins of the sacred order of the One who Coils Below. This caste is often charged with the day to day running of the kingdoms and the maintenance of the crusade against the never resting forces of the dead and arcane magiks. This caste contains holy guardians, mageslayers, some lesser anathema and abominations taking on the role of most priests.
• The Warrior Caste: This caste contains the warriors and soldiers of the yuan ti, including temple guards and the common armies of the yuan ti. The yuan ti which make up this caste are mostly half-bloods and broodguards and even some lesser holy guardians.
• The Emissary Caste: This caste contains the spies, diplomats and emissaries of the yuan ti. Purebloods and tainted ones make up this caste, and their duties most often take them away from the theocracy. They can easily blend into human society and when in yuan ti lands are often scorned and their caste falls below most others in society. However when outside of yuan ti lands the Emmisary Caste rises in stature to fall just beneath the Holy Caste.
• The Wretched Caste: This caste contains the lesser members of yuan ti society, the common laborers and workers of yuan ti society and includes examples of all type of yuan ti who have been found unworthy or unfit to become a greater caste, and although their services are highly valued they know their place in society.

Relations: The yaun ti don’t get along with many other races, their xenophobic nature tends to exclude anyone but believers from their inner circles. They have tolerate/hate relationship with the elves, having been exposed to the fey courts of the deep jungles. They don’t ever trust the elves and most definitely do not understand their alien ways but sometimes trade with them, and can be counted upon to keep the elves in check. The humans are seen as the most complex of races to them, and while they can come to respect and even admire certain humans or human cultures they realize that they can never really understand them. They don’t know much of halflings and concerning dwarves they do repect the dwarven ideals of stoicism and have great admiration for the endless war of the dwarves, sometimes even going so far as to sometimes lend aid to dwarven settlements under siege. The hobs hold an odd place in the minds of yuan ti, they cannot comprehend how a race without a god can survive and exist, but somehow the enigmatic hobs do, and the yuan ti must give them grudging respect with a nods towards their martial abilities and inner strength but still delight in the idea that in a race without a god they have the opportunity to convert a mass population to the One who Coils Below. The Gnolls are mostly unknown to the yuan ti, but they appreciate the fact that they keep the southern human barbarians at bay and thus free up one of the yuan ti borders. Orcs are seen as savages, and the yuan ti feel little remorse in destroying them, but oftenb save their energies to battle their true enemies, the dead. Half Orcs and half elves are often pitied, although even the yuan ti have been know to hire half orc mercenaries to bolster their ranks when off fighting a rising of a fell waste abroad. Goblins are seen as little brothers to the yuan ti and they offer them sactuary and protection from the elves, they value their abilities with exotic herbs and poisons and their ingenuity in escaping the notice of the elves.

Alignment: Yuan Ti are for the most part lawful, and tend towards neutral with equal representations of good and evil. They are devoted followers of their god and can sometimes come off as religious extremists and fanatics.

Lands: Deep within the jungles of the Great Archipelago the Yuan Ti have vast kingdoms ruled by God Kings and all connected to the central cathedral city of Xon, beneath which lies the One who Coils Below their great god to whom they have a direct connection. The Yuan Ti have immense pyramid cities which rise out from the jungle canopy and are each centered around a great cathedral wherein dwell the god kings of each city. They follow a strict Theocracy, led by their god and filtering down through the god kings and priests, although some from the outside world might wonder how much their God actually participates in the endeavors and lawmaking of day to day life. Yuan Ti which settle in human lands are usually on missions against the dead of the Fell wastes or missionaries-paladins of their true god.

Religion: The Yuan Ti worship the One who Coils Below, a true god which long ago fell much like all the other gods. The Yuan Ti have protected and built their empire around this fallen god, and their god kings and even some of the highest priests may converse directly with the god. Each pyramid city of the yuan ti is ruled by a god king, a direct representative of the One who Coils Below. And within each city lies one of the orders of paladins, fanatics and true beleievers who take their endless battle against the dead out into the wider world.

Language: The Yuan Ti tongue is a sibilant and lisping speech with many words having long strings of syllables. Their written language is a flowing and precise series of patterns, and some say it was the first written language in the world.

Names: Yuan Ti have two names, their god-name and their world name. God names are usually given to a yuan ti by priests in long and involved ceremony whenever a yuan ti is born, however some yuan ti born under auspicious signs are given their god name directly by the god kings of their city. It is said that the greatest of yuan ti heroes were given their god names by the One who Coils Below itself. A god name is private and only spoken within during the course of ceremonies and rituals to their god A yuan ti’s world name is given to them by the leaders of whichever castes they fall into. It is these names the yuan ti carry with them when they leave their own lands and travel in the wide world beyond.

Male World Names: Skale, Hrux, Fang, Coil, Striken, Traxe

Female World Names: Flicker, Shale, Sral, Lyse, Niet

Male God Names: Xasellius, Fulariss, Sethalin, Citaressae, Lyserik, Huslaxius, Phelossiuson

Female God Names: Thala, Felussa, Ghaxetria, Shilassiss, Haliasys, Vesuvarass

Adventurers: A yuan ti adventurer is usually motivated by a crusader’s zeal and passion, they rarely leave their home lands but when they do its most often in pursuit of clues of a new fell waste forming in the world and they carry their endless war against the dead with them. Many missionaries also turn to the life of adventure, seeking to elarn of the other fallen gods and bringing word of their true god to the world. Some yuan ti leave their lands in search of a little freedom from the often overwhelming and ever constant pressure of the theocracy and just life in general under the gaze of a god.

Racial Traits

ashism
2007-11-14, 01:46 PM
any thoughts so far? here is an idea of the format I've been doing my races so far... Gnolls (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3517764&postcount=27)

ashism
2007-11-15, 11:54 AM
here's the crunch I've come up with so far, just the purebloods right now and I'm still missing a few abilities. I still need to come up with halfbloods.

Racial Traits: Pureblood
• +2 Intelligence +2 Charisma -2 Constitution: The pureblooded are cunning and have a snakelike sensuality and charisma, but their bodies are not as sturdy in their transformations into more human-like creatures.
• Medium: As medium creatures purebloods have no special penalties or bonuses for their size.
• Pureblood base land speed is 30 feet.
• Low Light Vision: Pureblood can see twice as far as humans under conditions of limited visibility such as moonlight, starlight, torchlight and similar effects of poor illumination.
• Sly: Pureblood have a natural tendency to blend into whatever society they are sent into and they are indeed cunning and crafty individuals. They receive a +5 bonus to Disguise checks when trying to appear as humans.
• Studied Emissaries: Pureblood spend many years studying other cultures before leaving on the yuan ti homelands, they receive a +2 bonus on Decipher Script and Knowledge (choice of any two) checks.
• Flexibility: Pureblood have an odd bone structure therefore making them more flexible than a human, they gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC and a +2 racial bonus to Escape Artist and Tumble checks.
• Automatic Languages: Yuan Ti and Trade Common
• Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnoll, Orc, Goblin, Halfling, and Giant
• Favored Classes: Paladin and Favored Soul
• 4th level ability: Snake Skin: A pureblood's skin takes on a more scale like quality granting them a +1 Natural Armor bonus. They have excellent control over these very fine scales and can change their color in subtle ways in order to maintain their human like appearance, but they can also use them to blend into their surroundings granting them a +2 bonus to Hide and Disguise checks.
• 8th level ability: Snake Eyes: A yuan ti pureblood has a very seductive quality about them and many can hypnotize with just their eyes, gaining the spell like abilities: Hypnotism and Animal Trance. They can use these abilities a number of times per day equal to their Charisma modifier, and have a caster level equal to their character level
• 12th level ability: +2 Dexterity or +2 Charisma or +2 Intelligence: Purebloods at this point in their level of power can grow quicker or more cunning or charming.
• 16th level ability:
• 20th level ability: +2 Intelligence and +2 Charisma: A yuan ti pureblood grows in both cunning and charm as they grow in power.

Abjurer
2007-11-15, 03:42 PM
You should give them natural armor.

Nebo_
2007-11-15, 07:34 PM
That seems a little more powerful than a +0 LA. The dodge bonus to AC could be explained with a dexterity bonus, which it can get later anyway. With the uneven ability mods and the increases later in level (which is really cool, btw, more races should get that) I'd say that they are a weak +1 LA.

Reinboom
2007-11-15, 08:51 PM
In comparison to your other races, I would say this is just slightly good at first, then averages out (if it had an 8th and 16th level ability, that is).
As for fluff to crunch, you mentioned that they have little respect for arcane, and a very religious nature. Yet, their favored classes are sorcerer and bard. That doesn't make much sense to me.

For fourth level, a +1 to natural armor would make sense.

ashism
2007-11-15, 10:53 PM
As for fluff to crunch, you mentioned that they have little respect for arcane, and a very religious nature. Yet, their favored classes are sorcerer and bard. That doesn't make much sense to me.
wow! I'm glad you caught that :)...its a mistake the favored classes should be paladin and...I'm not sure on the second one. Perhaps favored soul.

so the NA bonus at 4th level? and move the spell like abilities up to 8th perhaps?

I've still gotta come up with a 16th level ability thats sufficiently cool. I really want these guys to be the snake tongued diplomats and investigators of the Yuan Ti, with the halfblood taking up more combat oriented roles, for example I want halfblood paladins to be the one who actually wage their wars against the dead.

edit: I went ahead and made the favored class changes and also moved spell like abilities to 8th level and gave them NA +1 and some minor disguise and hide check bonuses at 4th.