Illithane [4e Player Race] PEACH

[Alteran]

I made this race because I have a love for all things Mind Flayer, but I thought a full-out Mind Flayer wouldn't work out as well for a player race, especially with all of the crazy powers they get as monsters. My original idea was a Half-Illithid, but then I realized that Mind Flayers (Illithids) probably find humans repulsive in every way. That's what led me to this Tiefling-esque background. PEACH away, please!


Illithane

Illithane are a clever, plotting race whose psionic prowess makes them doubly dangerous. They are not a strange crossbreed of Illithid and Human, but rather they are the descendents of humans who bargained with the Elder Evils of the Far Realm for some semblance of the psionic powers of the Mind Flayers. They do not associate with true Illithids; they are a race of their own.

Illithane are taller than humans, and their general appearance is somewhat between that of a human and a Mind Flayer. Their skin ranges from pale lavender to full purple, and they have no hair. Their eyes are orbs of solid white with a small black or purple point in the middle. Illithane are slender, with thin arms and long digits ending in sharp claws. Their appearance is generally more like that of Mind Flayers than humans, with the notable exception of tentacles around their faces. Illithane also lack the ability to consume the brains of their foes.

Most Illithane reside in forgotten corners of the Underdark, driven from the surface by fearful humans, and shunned by full Illithids as thieves of power and secrets. Their numbers are small, and they never grow quickly. Illithane communities are lead by a high priest of the Elder Evils who maintains a steady mental connection with the Far Realm without the presence of an Elder Brain. This prolonged contact with such terrible aberrations causes most high priests to go mad, and Illithane societies have been torn apart more than once by an insane priest on a rampage, unleashing psionic devastation on the small communities. Most lesser Illithane study the arcane arts. They view magic as a way to increase their power, and those who show particular skill are drafted into the clergy of the Elder Evils. The few Illithane who escape the confines of the Underdark are most often shunned by surface dwellers, and they tend to seek out positions of power where personal appearances are not required. Like their Mind Flayer relatives, Illithane have an intense need to subjugate others. This causes problems among their small societies, and is the main reason that Illithane leave the Underdark.

Most Illithane have a lifespan between 250 and 300 years. Extraordinary members of this race have claimed to be as old as 700 years. Illithane usually age well. Most lose some of their physical strength in the last decades of their life, but their psionic powers tend to grow in intensity until they die.


Racial Traits

Average Height: 5’9”-6’5”
Average Weight: 150-230 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common, Deep Speech
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Insight
Illithid’s Will: You gain a +1 racial bonus to your Will defense.
In addition, you gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws to recover from being dazed or stunned.
Psionic Burst: Once per encounter, you can use the Psionic Burst power.

Psionic Burst - Illithane Racial Power
You reach out with your mind, giving your enemies a glimpse of the maddening secrets of the Far Realm.

Encounter
Minor Action Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Intelligence +2 vs. Will, Wisdom +2 vs. Will, or Charisma +2 vs. Will.
Increase to +4 bonus at 11th level and +6 bonus at 21st level.
Hit: The target is dazed until the end of your next turn, and takes a -1 penalty to Will defense (save ends).
Special: When you create your character, choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character’s life and does not change the power’s other effects.

Racial Feats

Heroic Tier Feats

Extended Psionics
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: Your Psionic Burst racial power now has a range of 25.

Mental Outreach
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: You gain telepathy 5. You can use telepathy to send mental messages to creatures within range, but you cannot receive telepathic replies unless the other creature also has telepathy.

Terrible Foresight
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to your Reflex defense. You also gain a +2 feat bonus to initiative checks.

Psionic Pressure
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: You add your intelligence modifier as a feat bonus to insight and intimidate checks.


Paragon Tier Feats

Agonizing Burst
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: When you hit a creature with your Psionic Burst Racial power, they also take 2d6 damage. Increase damage to 2d10 at level 21.

Sight In Darkness
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: You gain darkvision. You add half your intelligence modifier as a feat bonus to perception checks.

Stunning Burst
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: When your Psionic Burst racial power hits on a natural roll of 16 or higher, the target is stunned instead of dazed.

Epic Tier Feats

Psionic Backlash
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: When you are hit by an attack that targets Will defense, the attacker takes 2d6 psychic damage.

Psychic Thunder
Prerequisite: Illithane
Benefit: When you roll a natural 20 and hit with a power that targets Will defense, the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.

[Zocelot]

Sight in Darkness is very powerful, because invisibility no longer affects you. Thats even before getting your Int mod to perception checks, which are already benefitting from an above average Wis. The same problem also applies to Psionic Pressure.

Terrible Foresight would make more sense as an initiative bonus. It's also too powerful for a heroic feat to give bonuses to 2 defenses. A reflex boost only makes considerably more sense given the fluff of Foresight, and it's more balanced for heroic tier.

I really like the racial power, and the other feats.

[Shadow_Elf]

Here's my two $2.57:
Fluff:
Love the fluff. The Tieflings of the Far Realm eh? It is unfortunate that their stats don't lend themselves to Starlockery, which I find weird. Even Tieflings got an awkward CHA bonus, just so they'd fit the Infernolock bill (when was the last time you were inclined to talk to someone with horns and glowing red eyes?). But I like the High Priest idea too. Makes for a good plot hook.

Stats:
Looks good, as far as I can tell. The encounter power is very good, but the features are a bit sub-par, so I figure it evens out. As I mentioned above, their stat bonuses (INT and WIS) don't fully fit with their fluff. I would personally give them CON over WIS, as it still fits the fluff and lets them be something other than Orbizards :smalltongue:.

Heroic Feats:
For extended psionics, I'd make the new range 20, not 25. You'd be surprised how much the extra five can mean in extreme situations.

The telepathic feat is not overpowered. It would be if communication was two way, but it isn't, so it works.

Something is bothering me about Terrible Foresight. I think it is because you'd take it all the time in heroic tier, then probably retrain it into Lightning Reflexes and Iron Will in paragon. Which I think means its a bit overpowered. See what others think.

I would make psionic pressure a feat bonus. Otherwise it stacks with skill focus, and that makes it very broken.

Paragon Feats
Agonizing burst looks okay. You're adding damage after secondary effects, not vice versa, which is okie-kosher to me.

Sight in Darkness is simply not fair. Simply. Not. Fair. Normal people don't get access to Blind Fight until Epic levels. And Blindsight 5 essentially makes you immune to attacks that blind you, and allows you to make AoOs against invisible creatures. There's no way to make this balanced at paragon tier, and its redundant at epic, so my suggestion is toss it.

I'd argue to make the stunning burst trigger on 17 or higher, since 16 or higher is pretty big (1/4 of the time) and its likely that 16+ is going to hit their Will defense.

Epic Feats:
I think the first feat is fine. However, even a beast (that for some reason targets your Will?) with an Intel of 2 can figure out that assaulting your mind is dumb when you assault it back automatically. Which means you'll probably only get to use this feature on an enemy one per encounter, if they're RPed right.

This looks fine. There are a lot of Epic feats that give you bonuses on a crit. this is very similar.

There, that's it then.

Edit: Slight Ninja.
*Hunts down the receipt for the Ninja Repellant*

[Alteran]

When you think about it, sight in darkness is less powerful than it seems. Since bonuses to intelligence and wisdom would likely lead one to an arcane class, you are more likely to be attacking at range. I think it's the bonus to perception that could push it over the top. I'll consider revising it.

Scion of the Gods is a Tiefling heroic racial feat from the FRPG that gives a +1 bonus to fortitude and will. However, I like the idea of reflex and an initiative boost, so I'll change it.

[Shadow_Elf]

When you think about it, sight in darkness is less powerful than it seems. Since bonuses to intelligence and wisdom would likely lead one to an arcane class, you are more likely to be attacking at range. I think it's the bonus to perception that could push it over the top. I'll consider revising it.

Okay, let's assume you're the Orbizard, locking down the enemies. Then the Lurker comes along. What is the Lurker's RP? Kill off the squishy guy. Your squishy half-aberrant guts are an ideal target. Except that his invisibility doesn't work on you, allowing you to blast him into another dimension four times before he can land a hit on you. Which also, consequently, makes it very hard for certain enemies (mostly lurkers) to get advantage from their SA damage when their primary methods of getting CA (blinding and invisibility) dont work on you.

[Alteran]

@ Shadow_Elf

The Star Pact doesn't really have a focus on psionics, so I figure it's a different kind of Far Realm power.

I gave them int and wis partly because nothing had it, partly because it fits with the way I see them. Intelligence is obvious in a race with psychic powers. Wisdom is appropriate because they can't read minds, but they do use their power to be insightful and manipulative, so they can twist people to their will. Wisdom works with that.

Extended Psionics was intended to make it a very far-reaching power, so that it can hit when it really needs to. I'll see if more people agree that it's too much, but it only affects the range of a power you use once per encounter.

Terrible Foresight is changed. However, you were pretty much right about the way it would have been used as previously written. It may still be replaced at paragon, but it's more appropriate to the name, and not just defense bonuses.

I thought it was implied that it was a feat bonus, but that may not be true. I'll rephrase it.

I suppose sight in darkness may not be salvageable, so I think I'll drop it if I can't think of a replacement.

The idea is that it would happen quite often, but I'll consider a change as small as that. It just seems that odd numbers are frowned upon in 4e outside of feat qualifications.

Perhaps it will only be used once, but the idea is to discourage attacks on will, and if you can't do that, hurt them. This race has quite a strong focus on being well defended against will attacks, and not just by increasing the defense itself. (You may have noticed :smalltongue:)

It's not exactly a bonus on a crit, since it's only a natural 20. I figured that stunning was too good to happen very often, and there are several paragon paths and epic feats that can lower your crit range.

Thanks for the criticism, both of you!

[Shadow_Elf]

Looks good now. One last clarification though: You cannot imply that anything is a feat bonus. It must be explicitly stated. Not all bonuses granted by feats are feat bonuses, oddly enough. Just for future reference.

[Alteran]

I changed the wording, and also came up with a possible change to make sight in darkness work.

[Shadow_Elf]

I changed the wording, and also came up with a possible change to make sight in darkness work.

Ah. A more literal interpretation of "Sight in Darkness". This works, as far as I can tell.

[cliffiepizza]

do you think you could make a 3.5 version of this too?

[Alteran]

Sadly, I know extremely little about 3.5e mechanics. However, if you or someone else is interested in making a version of this for another edition, they're free to use the idea.

[Starsinger]

do you think you could make a 3.5 version of this too?

Your Avatar is adorable... I don't imagine it would be that difficult, if the OP doesn't want to, I'll give it a shot.

[chronoplasm]

Why doesn't Psionic Burst, well, burst? Maybe call it something like Psionic Sting.

[Alteran]

I guess it's a little misleading, but it was the best I could think of at the time. Psionic Sting is also nice, but it doesn't quite have the same mental ramming imagery that I intended to convey. Something called Psionic Sting is something I imagine giving ongoing psychic damage or something. It was really just a flavour decision.

[chronoplasm]

I guess it's a little misleading, but it was the best I could think of at the time. Psionic Sting is also nice, but it doesn't quite have the same Mental Ramming imagery that I intended to convey. Something called Psionic Sting is something I imagine giving ongoing psychic damage or something. It was really just a flavour decision.

How about that phrase I just bolded? If you don't use that name for this race's power, I think I might swipe it and use it for something. I think Mental Ramming could be a good name for an interesting psionic power.

[Alteran]

I'm not using it, you're free to.

[Athaniar]

I guess it's a little misleading, but it was the best I could think of at the time. Psionic Sting is also nice, but it doesn't quite have the same mental ramming imagery that I intended to convey. Something called Psionic Sting is something I imagine giving ongoing psychic damage or something. It was really just a flavour decision.

What about Psionic Thrust, then? Oh, and nice race.