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Checkmate
2008-12-14, 01:08 PM
So I made this race for my homebrew setting, to replace the niche of the halfling. Hope you like it and I would like some critism and help etc.

First some cosmological information about my world so it all makes sense.

Cosmology: The earth, together with the sun, the moon and a few other planets resolve around a big central fire. This central fire is only viewable from the other side of the earth and many brave sailors have undergone voyages to the other side to see the great fire, yet not many have succeeded. (In this world the earth doesn't rotate.) Always at directly the other side of the great fire from the earth is the counter-earth, a world very unlike ours. The inhabitants of the counter-earth are barely human and are united in two large factions who are in a perpetual war since the creation of time for reasons unknown to us earthlings.

The countertouched: Amongst all humans some individuals are born with a strange psychological connection to individuals on the counter-earth. These individuals are called the “Countertouched” and share their soul with someone on the counter-earth, called the “counterself”. They dream of the counter-earth and of the life of their counterself, although all the images are vague they often know the names of certain counter-earthlings important to the counterself, including the counterself’s own name and sometimes even directly communicate with him or her.

Countertouched also sometimes experience sudden emotions such as hate, love or anger from the counterself and experienced countertouched often get to know the personality of their counterself quite well, sometimes trying to communicate with them in their dreams to ask for advice or guidance. Sometimes the counterself tries to communicate too, asking for advice in a way very similar to the countertouched. Other than this spiritual link the countertouched are just like regular human individuals, although they often look more charismatic and have quicker reflexes. Although they look human however they can’t not reproduce with them and are in fact a different race that sporadically seemingly randomly appear from human parents.

RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5´ 7˝–6´ 2˝
Average Weight: 130–225 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal

Languages: Common + Counter-common
Skill Bonuses: +2 Stealth, +2 History
Bold: +5 racial bonus on saving throws against fear
Group Deduction: You grant all, non-countertouched allies within 5 squares of you a +1 racial bonus on Insight checks.

Counterself’s intervention
The counterself manages to interact with this world in a favorable manner as you dodge the enemy’s attack.
Encounter
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Effect: When an attack hits you, force an enemy to roll the attack again. The enemy uses the second roll, even if it’s higher.

The countertouched are almost completely ignored by society and their existence is sometimes even denied. Human parents however are not ashamed of their countertouched children, merely confused and search in the direction of scientists and philosophers for help in raising these “special” children.

newbDM
2008-12-14, 09:28 PM
I like the fluff, and I really like the cosmology.

Just a few point of confusion.


What edition is this? (People really need to specify)
Are the "counterselves" of of the same race/subspecies?
What happens if the two ever meet?
Do the two look like twins?

Checkmate
2008-12-15, 01:27 AM
What edition is this? (People really need to specify)


Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition, I should have said so.



Are the "counterselves" of of the same race/subspecies?


Well no, counter-humans are much more magical in nature and thus are bigger, stronger and somewhat more intelligent than normal earthlings. So you could describe them as another race.



What happens if the two ever meet?


Well, that is somewhat impossible. I haven't gone into detail here, but in my campaign planer travel would only be possible "in a straight line", so if the "road" from point A to point B is blocked you can't travel there until it isn't blocked anymore. However, the counter-earth is ALWAYS at the other side of the big fire, so it is always blocked.



Do the two look like twins?


They don't.

Checkmate
2008-12-20, 03:58 PM
I'm going to bump this thread once, because I really want to know if this race is interesting enough for other people, not just for its creator.

JoeFredBob
2008-12-22, 02:48 AM
Mechanically, it's meh. I can see it being useful. I don't have my 4e books here to compare with other races, but I can definitely say it won't overpower them.

Fluff wise, it's incredible. My only concern might be that it's *too* interesting. Are you planning on being the counterself for each person who decides to be one of these things? Will they have interesting experiences in the dreams? There's a ton of potential there, but it's almost entirely DM adjudicated. I mean, heck, this is the stuff that entire plotlines can revolve around. You could spend a long campaign exploring the concept of what it means for two societies to be incapable of contact, but able to pass information back and forth.

You've woven a very interesting story. Be prepared to follow up with it, because, were I your player, I would be disappointed if you didn't. Unless, of course, there are myriad other things that you've come up with that are as interesting, which wouldn't surprise me all that much, given this.

Checkmate
2008-12-26, 02:47 AM
Mechanically, it's meh. I can see it being useful. I don't have my 4e books here to compare with other races, but I can definitely say it won't overpower them.

Yeah, I'm thinking of just making them mechanically identical to humans and making them a NPC-only race.


Fluff wise, it's incredible. My only concern might be that it's *too* interesting. Are you planning on being the counterself for each person who decides to be one of these things? Will they have interesting experiences in the dreams? There's a ton of potential there, but it's almost entirely DM adjudicated. I mean, heck, this is the stuff that entire plotlines can revolve around. You could spend a long campaign exploring the concept of what it means for two societies to be incapable of contact, but able to pass information back and forth.

Thank you. I agree with you that they might be too interesting, mainly because they are my only entirely original homebrew race. I fear that all of my players may want to play one, which makes them less unique (I want them to be rare in my campaign world) and it gives me a lot of work as a DM. I do however want to use the Countertouched as an important part of the plot, because it has a lot of potential, but it isn't the most important aspect of my campaign.


You've woven a very interesting story. Be prepared to follow up with it, because, were I your player, I would be disappointed if you didn't. Unless, of course, there are myriad other things that you've come up with that are as interesting, which wouldn't surprise me all that much, given this.

Well, I do want to explore the concept of the Countertouched and the counter-earth more in my campaigns, but they aren't the focus of the campaign, at least not yet because I have also some others things the players will have to deal with. Human societey will be torn apart in two factions, both loyal to another royal house. Each city will be loyal to one of the houses and hunt down the followers of the other house. At the same time human society is extremely xenophobic, which clashes with the arrival of elven and eladrin fugitives from the elven lands where they wage war against each other. The elves also have to deal with certain racist ideas within their community and some elven groups try to cleanse the community of unpure (half-elf) bloodlines. The dwarves at the other hand have to fight of spider-wasp-like parasites who silently destroy their society from within.