[Race] Curiouser and curiouser...

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Cheval

Chevals, also known as the mirror-touched, are descended from liaisons between humans and nerra, the peoples of the Plane of Mirrors. To keep up appearances in their role while usurping the position of whatever person they are imitating the Nerra must sometimes produce children. The result is offspring of great beauty with a strange connection to reflections and glimmerings.

Personality: The personalities and behavior of chevals are as much varied as other humans, sometimes even within the same individual. Chevals have a tendency to mimick those around them and have difficulty retaining their own personalities. They tend to be watchful and with a proclivity for secrecy. Chevals often split into one of two types; those who become subservient, mere shadows or copies of another they greatly admire or those who develope overbearing and conceited personalities in defense with a finely honed sense of self.

Physical Description: Strangely glimmering skin devoid of blemishes and of great smoothness, pupiless eyes like pools of still mercury, or shining silvery white hair are all common physical hints of a mirror-touched. Sometimes mirrors themselves are known to flicker or ripple at the Cheval's presence and their reflections appear ghostly and unreal.

Relations: Chevals are always heralds of woeful times to come for it reveals to the other parent that their true spouse has been disposed of, or that their lover is not who they thought. The child is a symbol of a great lie, one that most find trouble accepting. Thus the child of such a union is treated with the greatest suspicion. They usually must then prove themselves worthy of trust and not of the ways of their parent, or they slip into secrecy and a web of lies themselves where they will not be judged. Nerra are known to kill the infant however if its appearance is enough to throw suspicion on their current roll.

Alignment: Chevals vary as widely as humans, though many tend to lawful or chaotic neutral, divided by those who make use of laws and those who refuse to be bound by them. Whichever way they lean their ways are mostly secretive and layered with levels of deceit without a thought either way for morals.

Cheval Lands: Chevals are almost always abandoned with their human parent and so share their homes. They dislike squalor however, with a mind to beauty and glamor, so many make a strong attempt to rise up in society to positions of influence or, as often occurs, mere playthings or yes-men of the wealthy.

Religion: Chevals are as at least likely to 'worship' themselves as a deity. They don't tend to any specific one, though those of death they find particularly repugnant. Deities of beauty are the most frequent.

Language: Chevals know common, though are quick to pick up on other languages.

Names: Chevals use the same names as humans.


Cheval Racial Traits

* Native: Cheval's are Outsiders with the native subtype.
* +2 Charisma: Chevals are often very comely beings with an instinctive knowledge of body language that allows them to better associate with others.
* Medium: As medium creatures, chevals have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* A cheval's base land speed is 30 ft.
* Lowlight Vision: Chevals can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similiar conditions of pure illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
* Mirror Vision (Su): Three times per day a cheval may look into a mirror and see another location they have visited before and that also has a mirror. They may view for 1 round per HD. This does not allow one to see in the dark if the location is in shadow.
* Reflective Sight (Sp): A cheval is immune to gaze attacks.
* Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - Disguise Self. Caster level is equal to Hit Dice.
* +2 racial bonus on Disguise, Bluff, Search and Spot checks. A cheval is a natural mimic and notices the smallest details.
* Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal, Nerra.
* Favored Class: Sorcerer
* Level Adjustment: +1

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Mirror Bond [Cheval]
Your link to mirrors is especially strong.
Prerequisites: Cheval
Benefit: You no longer cast a reflection in mirrors and can use this to your advantage, gaining a +4 bonus to hide checks in a locale containing a mirror or other highly reflective surface.

Otherside Heritage [Cheval]
Your ancestor was not actually a Nerra but an oppositely aligned Othersider, a reversed imitation of the original that comes into being when one physically enters into the Plane of Mirrors.
Prerequisites: Cheval
Benefit: You innately possess the ability to temporarily reverse your alignment to all magical senses for 10 minutes per HD. Though you retain your true alignment at the deepest level, all spells, aligned weapons and their equivalent affect you as if you were the opposite alignment.
Special: This feat may only be taken at 1st level. If your alignment is True Neutral you do not gain the benefit of this feat.

Return the Gaze [Cheval]
You can look anyone in the eye.
Prerequisite: One other Cheval feat.
Benefit: Whenever you are targeted by a gaze attack you may deflect the attack back at its owner.

Shattered Luck [Cheval]
It is bad luck to damage a looking glass.
Prerequisite: Cheval, Through the Looking Glass
Benefit: If a mirror is broken in your presence, including one you are currently in, or a Shatter spell is used to break a reflective object, the culprit takes a -2 penalty on all checks for the duration of the encounter.

Through the Looking Glass [Cheval]
When you use your mirror vision you may also interact with those on the other side.
Prerequisites: Cheval, Cha 15
Benefit: When you use your Mirror Sight ability you seem to appear in the mirror itself and can speak and hear as if in the room.
Special: If the mirror you occupy is broken you are rendered temporarily blind for 1 round per round you occupied it.

[Lord Iames Osari]

COOL! 8)

I would make the Reflective Sight ability supernatural.

And could you change the color of the feat names? Gray-on-light-brown is hell on the eyes.

[The Demented One]

Damn, and I was just about to do something on the nerra. That's one less creature I can make, you know? Granted, you probably did it better than I ever could have, but that's not the point.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

And could you change the color of the feat names? Gray-on-light-brown is hell on the eyes.

Looks fine on my screen :P

Damn, and I was just about to do something on the nerra. That's one less creature I can make, you know? Granted, you probably did it better than I ever could have, but that's not the point.

Naw, feel free to do your own version. I'm not really satisfied with this one.

[Dragonmuncher]

How about a feat that lets you actually step through the mirror to wherever it is you're viewing?

Probably should have Through the Looking Glass and one other Cheval feat to be able to take.

[The Demented One]

One more thing. Am I wrong in thinking that Cheval means "horse", and if I'm not...then why are these mirror-planetouched named after ponies?

[The Vorpal Tribble]

A "Cheval" is also a slang for one of those tall, full-length mirrors that can swing around:




They probably got their name in mockery and made it their own.

[Fax Celestis]

A "Cheval" is also a slang for one of those tall, full-length mirrors that can swing around:




They probably got their name in mockery and made it their own.

"Cheval" is also a bastardization of the French word that means "horse," which is where mine came from. :P

[The Vorpal Tribble]

"Cheval" is also a bastardization of the French word that means "horse," which is where mine came from. :P

*shakes his head at the oddness of the world about him*















Btw, bet my cheval can beat up your cheval.

[The Glyphstone]

What are nerra?

Also, I'd suggest making the "do not appear in mirrors" thing give a penalty to Disguise checks when in the presence of a mirror. Might even make people think you're a vampire of some sort.

[Fax Celestis]

Btw, bet my cheval can beat up your cheval.

Oh yeah? Well, my cheval can't think on its own! So pbbth.

...wait.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

What are nerra?

The only inhabitants of the Plane of Mirrors statted to date. They're in the 3.5 Fiend Folio. Heres a link to a pic of them.

Oh yeah? Well, my cheval can't think on its own! So pbbth.

...wait.

And mine can't even make fire... ha!

[Jarl]

This is a cool character.

-Reminds me of the LoEG, volume two. Really horrid things happen to Alice, from Wonderland. ;D

[Maerok]

Would a Cheval vs a Cheval Medusa create a feedback loop? ;D

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Would a Cheval vs a Cheval Medusa create a feedback loop? ;D

*tries to find the pun in that but fails* :-/

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Return the Gaze seems a little powerful to me... He's unaffected by gaze attacks and reflects them at the gazer.
Perhaps you could link it to the gaze's saving throw DC? If the Cheval makes the save, he reflects it, if not, he's simply unaffected.

As usual, this is otherwise very cool.

[Thistle]

Shattered Luck [Cheval]
It is bad luck to damage a looking glass.
Prerequisite: Cheval, Through the Looking Glass
Benefit: If a mirror is broken in your presence, including one you are currently in, or a Shatter spell is used to break a reflective object, the culprit takes a -2 penalty on all checks for the duration of the encounter.

That's a little fuzzy. Does the encounter end when the fight does? When the creature dies? When it runs away? For seven years, so long as you remain in it's presence? You might want to give an exact duration

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Return the Gaze seems a little powerful to me... He's unaffected by gaze attacks and reflects them at the gazer.
Perhaps you could link it to the gaze's saving throw DC? If the Cheval makes the save, he reflects it, if not, he's simply unaffected.

Hrmmm, that'd make sense.

Then again, I realized today that there is a common +1 LA race from the Monster Manual that has the benefits that range from an advanced form of Endure Elements, spells, two increased stats, darkvision, etc. And this is without feats.

Is it really that powerful? I would never take the feat myself as it works soley on one uncommon attack type.

That's a little fuzzy. Does the encounter end when the fight does? When the creature dies? When it runs away? For seven years, so long as you remain in it's presence? You might want to give an exact duration

Except 'for the duration of the encounter' is used quite often in D&D for other creatures and the like. I'm not precisely sure where its specifics are, but you can probably find it somewhere.

[Fax Celestis]

Is it really that powerful? I would never take the feat myself as it works soley on one uncommon attack type.

It totally shuts down eyebite and similar spells, regardless of racial Su, Ex, Ps, or Sp abilities. I'd take it just so I could spit in a medusa's face, honestly.