Weird race idea [3.5] [PEACH]

[Fortuna]

Hi all! My friend, who appears on these forums as nolispe, recently wanted to play a character with multiple personality disorder. I decided to try to stat out a race with that as a racial feature, and this was the result. PEACH!

Ksisf
LA +0
Favoured Class: Special. A Ksisf may, at any given time, treat either Barbarian, Bard, or Wizard as their favoured class. They may change this at any time, having no retroactive effects.

Description
Ksisf appear similar to humans, but their eyes have two irises. One of these irises changes colour as the Ksisf changes personas, while the other remains constant. They also have a slight mauve tinge to their skin. A Ksisf may shield their second iris colour, changing it to either their first iris colour or any colour which it can otherwise take on. This may only be maintained by making a DC 15 Concentration check, or when the Ksisf is able to take 10. Any creature familiar with this ability may choose to make a Spot check opposed by the Ksisf's Concentration check to determine whether a Ksisf is using this, although this is a gross breach of ettiquete in Ksisf society and must be concealed, by means of a Bluff check opposed by the Ksisf's Sense Motive to avoid outcry. The observing creature may choose to take any penalty on the Spot check and gain a similar bonus to the Sense Motive check, and if not actively observing then this defaults to a +/-10. Any creature not familiar with this ability makes this check passively at a -15.



Age
Young Adult: 40
Mature: 60
Middle-Aged: 75
Old: 85
Venerable: 90
Ksisf mature slowly, but as they get older the aging process begins to rapidly accelerate.


Personas
Any member of this race has three personas. These personas gain access to different abilities in addition to those listed above. Note that the personalities listed are typical, and may vary, but the abilities will always be divided as noted. Each persona also has a special condition which will invariably activate it for 1d4 rounds. Whenever a Ksisf would normally be entitled to some sort of bonus due to their newly active persona, such as extra hit points bor bonus spells, these are acquired as if at the start of a new day. If a Ksisf had bonus spells from a persona and lost them, when that persona reactivates the bonus spells are regained (as long as the Ksisf has not yet slept.)

"Noble Savage" Persona
+4 Str
Utter Confidence (Ex): This persona gains +4 to all saves vs. fear effects.
Savage Fury (Ex): Whenever this persona takes damage, they gain a +4 to damage and a -2 to hit next round. If the character has the Shock Trooper feat, they may instead take a -2 penalty to AC. In addition, this persona is treated as having the Power Attack feat for all intents and purposes.
Activated by failing a save vs. a fear effect (the save is rerolled with the +4 from Utter Confidence).

"Ninja" Persona
+4 Dex
Catlike Grace (Ex): This persona may, once per round, substitute a Reflex save for any other saving throw that they would make (except to switch personas), with a DC of the original save +5.
Impossible Agility (Ex): Whenever this persona makes a Tumble, Open Lock, Escape Artist, Sleight of Hand or Use Rope check, the amount of time required to do so or to perform the action which forces the check is reduced to the next time unit (so minutes become rounds, rounds become standard actions, standard actions become move actions, move actions become swift actions, and swift actions become free actions.)
Activated by being challenged by someone else to perform any DC 20 or greater Dexterity-based check.

"Survivor" Persona
+4 Con
Hero With A Thousand Rapidly Retreating Backs (Ex): This persona gains a racial +60 to movement away from the creature within line of sight which has the highest CR. If multiple creatures within this range share the highest CR, then the bonus is gained by running from the nearest.
Dishonor Before Death (Ex): This persona gains a +2 to AC, to hit, and to damage when at less than 1/3 of its maximum health.
Activated by dropping to 0 hp.

"Scholar" Persona
+4 Int
Awesome by Analysis (Ex): This persona may spend one round preparing for a single roll with a key ability other than intelligence. They may add their intelligence modifier to this roll in place of the usual ability modifier.
Upon Consideration (Ex): Once per round when this persona fails any skill check, they may instantly make an intelligence check with the same DC. If they succeed, they may reroll. This ability only permits one reroll per check.
Activated by the prescence of at least two dozen books that this persona has never read.

"Philosopher" Persona
+4 Wis
Deep Meditation (Ex): If this persona is active when the character goes to sleep, all benefits are as if the character had slept for double the time, no penalties are taken to Listen checks for being asleep, and this persona is active on waking. if this persona has not slept since it was last inactive, it gains a +2 insight bonus to hit, AC and damage.
Clarity (Ex): Whenever this persona would be caught flat-footed, there is a 50% chance that it is not.
Activated by having line of sight to someone who this persona does not regard as an enemy, with whom this persona has not conversed in the last 24 hours and who has a Wisdom score of no less than 12.

"Talker" Persona
+4 Cha
Let's Talk About This (Ex): This persona may always take ten on diplomacy, bluff, and intimidate rolls.
Smooth Talker (Su): This persona may, once per hour, cast a Glibness spell on itself as a swift action. Any creature observing this swift action is immune to the effects of this Glibness if they beat the Ksisf's Bluff check with an opposed Sense Motive check.
Activated by succeeding on a Bluff, Intimidate or Diplomacy check.

Determining Active Personas
When a Ksisf wakes up in the morning, the active persona is randomly determined. Therafter a check must be made every hour to see whether a new persona takes over. Every persona rolls a d20 and adds the number of waking hours since they were last active, with the active persona getting +10 to the roll. The winner becomes the active persona. A persona may never give up their control willingly unless they succeed on a DC 20+character level Will save as a full-round action, or DC 15+character level if doing so would immediately increase survival chances drastically. Whenever a Ksisf switches personas except by the special activation condition they become dazed.

Names
Any given Ksisf body always has five names, one for each persona, one common name, and a family name. When introducing themselves, a Ksisf will give their common name, their persona name, and finally their family name. They will also state their other persona names, usually in something approaching the following format: "Greetings. I am <a> <b> <e>. I am also <a> <c> <e> and <a> <d> <e>. It is pleasant to meet you."
In non-Ksisf compoany, they will usally chose one set, or omit the persona names entirely. This set, if including a persona name, will usally belong to the diplomat persona, but exeptions are rife in modern Ksisf culture, and there have even been occasions of all three personas adopting a single name.

Normative Ksisf life/society
Ksisf socitey is divided into six primary groups, with each one coresponding to a single normative persona. These groups are usually physically segregated, about 60% of any given persona being with its own kind, although there is no taboo or law per se against mingling. Ksisf live in cities usually, with country Ksisf being extremely unusual and regarded as not being quite right in the head by normal Ksisf. A given city will have seven semi-distinct sections surrounding the central building, known as a hipai or senate. Every day elected senators gather in the hipai and debate and vote on any important issues. Every month the senators elect a peirjun or head, who is nothing more than a senator with control over the agenda. Finally, every year one-third of the senators are subject to reelection, with the same persona of each member of the populace having a vote every three years. This means that every senator is elected for three years by one persona type.
The first six sectors tend to be the "living areas" of one base persona, while the seventh is reserved for other races. The fourth area is unique in that it lacks either a connection to the gates or the hipai; it is reasonably large, but is barred on all sides by the "noble savage" persona area. Despite this, the Ksisf as a race tend to be reasonably courteous, and there is no law (except in a few isolated enclaves) preventing the free movement of and trading with foriegners.

New Items
Namit Leaf
Whenever a Ksisf consumes one of these leaves, the tenure of their current personality is extended to 3d10 hours. They must also make a save vs. poison (with a -2 for every Namit leaf consumed since the last persona shift) or take 1d10 Str and Con damage. This damage is permanent, and cannot be healed by any means short of Divine intervention, but it may only occur once in a Ksisf's lifetime.

New Flaw
Internal Discord
Prerequisites: Ksisf
Penalty: The character must check every ten minutes for persona change.
Normal: A character need only check every hour for persona change.

Frail Mind
Prerequisites: Ksisf
Penalty: The character does not automatically cease being dazed one round after shifting personas, instead needing to make a DC 15 Will save, with a +1 for every round beyond the first that the character has been dazed by this effect.
Normal: Ksisf are only dazed for one round after shifting personas.

New Feats
Settled Mind
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has not taken Frail Mind
Benefit: Whenever a character with this feat switches personas, they are not dazed by the switch.
Normal: A Ksisf is dazed for one round after switching personas.

Harmonious Coexistence
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has not taken Internal Discord
Benefit: The character may, once per day per persona, willingly submerge the persona in favour of another for one round per character level with only a DC 15+character level Will save.
Normal: Switching personas requires a DC 20+character level Will save.

Perfect Cooperation
Prerequisites: Ksisf, Harmonious Coexistence
Benefit: The character may switch between personas at will if they succeed on a DC 15+ Character level Will save. Once a save is failed, the character must wait for 2d4 minutes before attempting to switch again
Normal: Switching personas may only be done when other actions would result in unacceptable danger.

Furious Accuracy
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has the "Noble Savage" persona.
Benefit: Any character with this feat no longer takes a penalty to hit or to AC from using Savage Fury.
Normal: A Ksisf under the influence of Savage Fury takes a -2 to hit, or a -2 to AC if using the Shock Trooper feat.

Perfected Grace
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has the "Ninja" persona.
Benefit: The Catlike Grace ability of this persona no longer increases the DC of the save.
Normal: The DC of a save to which Catlike Grace has been applied increases by 5.

Never Always Bring a Sword to a Knife-Fight
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has the "Survivor" persona.
Benefit: While under the effects of Dishonor Before Death, the Survivor's weapon is treated as being one size category larger where it would be advantageous to them.

On Second (Or Third) Thoughts
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has the "Scholar" persona.
Benefit: A character with this feat may reroll one skill check per minute twice by means of Upon Consideration.
Normal: Upon Consideration only allows one reroll per check.

Perfect Clarity
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has the "Philosopher" persona.
Benefit: This character's Clarity ability applies to any means of denying them their Dexterity bonus to their Armour Class.
Normal: The Clarity ability applies only to flat-footedness.

If You'll Just Look Over Here
Prerequisites: Ksisf, has the "Talker" persona.
Benefit; A character with this feat gains a +5 to the Bluff roll to affect a creatre which observed their use of the Smooth Talker ability.
Normal: The check resulting from being observed using Smooth Talker gain no extra bonuses.

Ksisf Racial Paragon
Alignment
Any non-lawful

Hit Die
Special

Ksisf Paragon
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells

1st|

Special

|

Special

|

Special

|

Special

|Fractured Body|Special

2nd|

Special

|

Special

|

Special

|

Special

|Combined Might|Special

3rd|

Special

|

Special

|

Special

|

Special

|United We Stand, Ability Boost| Special[/table]

Class Skills
No idea, help please?

Skill Points at Each Level
Again, no idea.

Class Abilities
Fractured Body (Ex): A Ksisf paragon takes on the characteristics of their persona even more strongly than others of their race. A Ksisf paragon rolls a d4 for hit points at each level. While they have a "Philosopher" or "Ninja" persona active, they gain +2 hit points per class level. While they have a "Noble Savage" or "Survivor" persona active, this increases to +4. Likewise, a Ksisf paragon's saves and base attack bonus are determined by consulting the following table.

{table=head]Active Persona|Base Attack Bonus|Fort|Reflex|Will

Noble Savage|

+level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

Ninja|

+level

|

+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

Survivor|

+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

Scholar|

+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

Philosopher|

+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

Talker|

+1/2 level

|

+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

|

+2+1/2 level

[/table]

Combined Might (Ex): At second level, a Ksisf paragon may choose one of their personas other than the currently active one once per minute. They gain +2 to that persona's primary ability for the next round.

United We Stand At third level, a Ksisf paragon has unified themselves. They gain a +5 bonus to the save to switch personas, and may use this save to prevent unwanted persona switching.

Ability Boost: At third level, a Ksisf gains a +6 to the ability boosted by their active persona, instead of +4

Spells
If a Ksisf paragon has the ability to cast spells, then while they have an active persona which matches their spellcasting ability they may add their Ksisf paragon levels to their levels in the spellcasting class for the purposes of caster level and spells per day.


This is something of an ongoing project, but any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Rettu Skcollob]

Blur (Ps): This race can accelerate their body to an unimaginable speed, doubling their movement rate once per day. This lasts one round per character level.
Greater Blur (Ps): They can accelerate themselves to even greater speeds, triggering a multiplication of their movement speed by eight, a quadrupling of the number of attacks they would normally be allowed, dodge bonus to their AC by character level, and the same bonus to attack. For every round in which they remain in this state, they age 1d3 age categories.
Supreme Blur (Ps): This allows the character to, once per day, at a cost of 2.5% or 4000 xp (whichever is higher), perform a time stop without any casting time. This time stop is unique in that other entities become as hard as rock for the duration. Any inanimate object wighing less than 1 pound/character level may be incorporated into the time stop after activation. All personal gear is brought in at activation. This lasts one round/character level, but you may not travel more than 20' from your original location.
Quantity over Quality (Ex): This race gains an extra attack per round, but all attacks by this character take a -2 to damage.

Spoiler

Show

Damn. I'm no rules geek, but regardless, I'll tell you what I think. Firstly, as far as I can see the Greater Blur effect is not only extremely powerful, but the cost for that power is astronomical. Any player who uses it is going to regret it instantly. I've also never heard of a racial power thingy costing XP. It sounds like a cool idea, but wow. Also; why a Con penalty? I can't see anything about their description/personality, but having a Wis penalty would seem to me to fit more with the multiple personality thing. Lastly; I'm pretty sure having an extra attack per round is more than worthwhile for a -2 damage penalty.

Like I said; I'm no rules geek, but I thought I might as well tell you what I think.

[Temotei]

Nobody except for the never-dying people will use Greater Blur, unless they're a wizard or sorcerer, and they want quick casting stats, or something.

Also...how would that work? You're vibrating so quickly that time speeds up for you, but no one else, and then you're all of a sudden venerable? All your friends are like:

and you're like:

[Milskidasith]

It makes less sense because you can Time Stop with an EXP cost, which would logically age you a lot more than just moving really fast.

EDIT: Also, Necropolitan template plus this = lolwut?

[Fortuna]

yay! Everyone is criticizing the stuff that I didn't stat out personally!

Shall I just remove those abilities entirely? That would not hurt the concept directly, just the other concept that my friend tried to tack on top of it.

[nolispe]

just pointing out, greater blur is nigh-immpossible to use for a REASON. it is not designed to be used in pretty much any situation. it is mainly there for fluff. if anyone has a suggestion for how to make this playable, please post.
oh yeah, and your cells are moving so fast that they burn exess energy from their own structures, uber accelerating the aging process.

[Temotei]

Abilities are supposed to be playable. If you want fluff...write some.

[nolispe]

This is playable... once. please suggest improvements, it would be a godsend.

[Fako]

Greater Blur is rather insane... as is the drawback. I understand that's the entire point of it, but can I suggest a slightly more playable alternate?

Greater Blur: In times of dire need, a Ksisf may accelerate themselves to extreme speeds, albeit at a great cost. While under the effects of Greater Blur, a Ksisf gains the normal effects of their racial Blur ability, may take two round's worth of actions on their initiative count, and may increase or drop their initiative count by 5 at the end of each round of combat.
The damage caused to their body is extremely taxing, aging them 1dX years every round they remain in this form. Nothing short of Divine Intervention can reverse this damage.
Upon exiting this form, a Ksisf must make a Fortitude Save (DC 15 + 1 per round of use) or become exhausted. A successful save renders them fatigued.

* - The 1dX up there is included if/when you stat up the age categories and maximum age of the race. For a human, 1d4 would be a considerable cost (20-80 rounds in a lifetime), but an elf would have to pay 5d4 years for a comparable cost.

It's still quite powerful, but nowhere near as much as the original version. However, it also allows a Ksisf to use it without a chance of instant death the following round...

-----------------

Also, may I suggest changing the racial ability names? Some people might confuse Blur and Greater Blur with the spells of the same name. Not sure what to change it to though... maybe Acceleration, Heightened Acceleration, and Supreme Acceleration?

For Supreme Blur, I'd personally give it a limit of once per level... that seems like a high enough deterrent to prevent it from being used frivolously. Maybe justify it by saying that the Ksisf has to physically toughen up between each use?

On an unrelated note, is it possible to deactivate Quantity over Quality?

[Fortuna]

Thank you for the excellent advice. It has been incorporated into the race. I have clarified Quantity over Quality. Now, does anyone want to have a look at the personas? Please?

[Fako]

One more question about Quantity over Quality: At what bonus is the extra attack made? I would assume it's made at your full base attack (similar to the Haste spell or the Speed weapon property), but you might have another idea in mind...

As for the personas, to me they seem unbalanced against each other. From what I can tell, the Philosopher is strongest (allowing you to add Int to a skill, and possibly gaining a re-roll where one isn't allowed), followed by Noble Savage (bonus against fear is nice, but the extra round of attack penalty without anything to compensate isn't...), with the Diplomat as the weakest (however, I don't know what you mean by "morale scale"... probably in a book I don't have...). I also have questions:

Why does the noble savage get +4 to Dex? To me, a bonus to Str would seem in line, as their abilities seem to be adrenaline-fueled, but as before, you might have a reasoning behind it...

Also, the noble savage is activated on any failed fear save... does the fear effect still occur? Do they get a new save with the +4 bonus?

How many re-rolls may a Philosopher attempt for? Could they fail, make the int check, fail, make the int check, fail, etc... permanently?

What's the general concept behind "morale scale"? Do you possibly have a link I can look at to read about it? It would help with feedback on balancing the personas against each other...

[Fortuna]

Yay! People are interested!
Note that all of these explanations will be added to the OP

Qunatity over Quality: it is made at full BAB.

Noble Savage gets +4 to Dex because nolispe wanted it to be within the limitations of the body, but +4 Str would also be justifiable. When it takes over, it gets to reroll the fear save.

A Philosopher may only reroll once for any given check using this ability.

The morale scale is some homebrew that I thought nolispe had already posted here: I will ask him to do so at his earliest convenience.

Balancing the personas is not easy for me, so any help/ideas would be appreciated.

EDIT: I have added yet another unusual mechanic, this time for favoured class. Too strong? Too weird?

[Temotei]

It's weird...kind of cool...but weird. The only other race I can think of that has more than one favored class is drow, with two; one for males, and one for females. Of course, you can't change genders (unless you use the belt , or maybe a Wish), so you can't change favored classes. I don't think it's too strong. Barbarian, bard, and wizard are far enough apart as classes that the switching won't really make that much of a difference.

[Milskidasith]

Necropolitan still means that, for LA 0 (well, dying at 1000 EXP cost, but still no actual LA) this thing can constantly get twice as many (or more) actions than most creatures). It could get four rounds per round with the initiative bonus. It's the best race ever!

[Fako]

Necropolitan still means that, for LA 0 (well, dying at 1000 EXP cost, but still no actual LA) this thing can constantly get twice as many (or more) actions than most creatures). It could get four rounds per round with the initiative bonus. It's the best race ever!

Very true on the necropolitan... perhaps adding this clause:

Heightened Acceleration is achieved by accelerating a Ksisf's natural metabolic rate to unnatural levels. Ksisf that no longer have a metabolism (such as undead Ksisf) may no longer activate this ability.

Or possibly

Heightened Acceleration is achieved by accelerating a Ksisf's natural metabolism to unnatural levels. As such, a Ksisf whose body is animated by unnatural means (such as being undead) does not activate it normally. Instead, they overcharge their animating force (such as a link to the negative energy plane), risking their body in the process. Instead of aging 1d3 years after each round, the Ksisf must make a Fortitude Save (DC 15 + 1 for each round of use that day) or permanently lose 1 point of Charisma as their animating force degrades. This damage may not be healed by anything short of Divine Intervention.

* - Really wordy, but it puts a limiting factor on the use. I used Fort for the save for two reasons 1) Because they have no Con, meaning a low Fort save, and 2) To represent the strain on their physical form. It also means that higher level ones can, feasibly, use it for limited bursts each day with no penalty, but there's not much to do about that other than to force a "maximum age" of sorts onto an undead, which would be clunky...

--------------

I don't understand how you'd get 4 rounds worth of actions out of it though... the initiative adjustment happens at the end of the combat round, which occurs after everyone takes a turn...

--------------

For the Favored Class, is odd, but understandable. I don't see a problem with it, as most builds wouldn't mix those classes (except those using Rage Mage... which I never understood anyway...)

[Fortuna]

Thanks for the advice on undead-ness. I have added that clause in. I have also added other random material that i came up with today. Incidentally, my friend gave me a reasonably compelling argument to lower the LA to +2, so I have done that for now.

[Fortuna]

It only just occurred to me: is it usual to have racial flaws? Because I have never seen one.

[Cyanic]

Upon Consideration needs to limit iteself or at least mention that it doesn't undo the effects of the failed check. Since it specifies it occurs AFTER the failed check, and failing alot of checks has an immediate result.

Heightened Acceleration (Ps):

The damage caused to their body is extremely taxing, aging them 1d3 years every round they remain in this form. Nothing short of Divine Intervention can reverse this damage.

Is this to imply a Miracle spell would work ?

Also, 2/1 turns plus initiative modifications is crazy broken powerful , maybe just an additional standard action ? And perhaps only 1d3-1 aging, so there would be a chance of not getting the age hit ?

Quantity over Quality (Ex):

This alone seems worth a +1 LA, perhaps tie it to something else, like the Acceleration (Ps): to help mitigate it ?

"Diplomatic" Persona

Seems balanced but without seeing the morale charts I can't say for sure, but here is the scenario I kind of see happening. Long, big combat, and suddenly some dude busts into a "Grand Speech" ? During the roar and din of a combat ? And how grand can it be in 6 seconds ? I like the effect but it seems a little silly.


All in all its an interesting idea, although I think to ever play one I would end up making 3 char-sheets, which would throw me off, plus there is a good bit of book-keeping with tracking active persona hours and having to closely track age, etc... so I doubt I would ever want to use it just due to complexity. I learned that lesson trying to play as a tempest twin once.

[Toliudar]

Racial Abilities
Acceleration (Ps): This race can accelerate their body to an unimaginable speed, doubling their movement rate once per day. This lasts one round per character level.

Because doubling becomes an extra powerful tool once you start trying to optimize, may I recommend instead a +30 racial bonus to speed? Also, it might be useful to clarify whether this is a single use per day that lasts "Character Level" rounds, or a number of individual rounds in which you can either choose to or not to move at the accelerated rate? Is it a swift or free action to activate this ability?

Heightened Acceleration (Ps): In times of dire need, a Ksisf may accelerate themselves to extreme speeds, albeit at a great cost. While under the effects of Heightened Acceleration, a Ksisf gains the normal effects of their racial Acceleration ability, may take two round's worth of actions on their initiative count, and may increase or drop their initiative count by 5 at the end of each round of combat.
The damage caused to their body is extremely taxing, aging them 1d3 years every round they remain in this form. Nothing short of Divine Intervention can reverse this damage.
Upon exiting this form, a Ksisf must make a Fortitude Save (DC 15 + 1 per round of use) or become exhausted. A successful save renders them fatigued. This ability runs off of accelerating the metabolism, so Ksisf without a metabolism (such as undead) may not use it.

I rather like this - reminds me of 1e Haste. The ability to move themselves around in the initiative order is weird but workable.

Supreme Acceleration (Ps): This allows the character to, once per level, perform a time stop without any casting time. This time stop is unique in that other entities become as hard as rock for the duration, and spellcasting while in this time stop is not permitted (due to the fact that rather than altering time, the Ksisf is simply acting extremely quickly, and thus is unable to perform the movement or chants accurately). Any inanimate object weighing less than 1 pound/character level may be incorporated into the time stop after activation. All personal gear is brought in at activation. This lasts one round/character level, but you may not travel more than 20' from your original location.

Fluff-wise, having to stay within 20' of your activation point makes no sense - and I'm not sure why you'd put that restriction on anyway. It would be useful to replace the phrase "without any casting time" with a game term like "as a ______ action" Your options here would seem to be immediate, swift or standard, and I would recommend the latter. I'm assuming that it is possible to use spell completion or command-activated magic items like wands or scrolls?

Quantity over Quality (Ex): This race gains an extra attack per round at their ful base attack bonus, but all attacks by this character take a -2 to damage. This may not be deactivated.

Please please please specify that this doesn't stack with other effects that add attacks to a full attack. Also, saying "this may not be deactivated" makes it sound like they have to attack something once a round, all the time. I'm not sure why a character wouldn't be able to choose not to do this, but what the heck. May I suggest the following language for this:

Quantity over Quality (Ex): Ksisf make use of their great speed in battle, but the individual blows land with less force. When using the full attack action, they gain an additional attack at their full attack bonus, but all attacks that round then suffer a -2 to damage. Ksisf do not gain an additional attacks from effects such as Haste or Speed weapons.

Personas
Any member of this race has three personas. These personas gain access to different abilities in addition to those listed above. Note that the personalities listed are typical, and may vary, but the abilities will always be divided as noted. Each persona also has a special condition which will invariably activate it for 1d4 rounds.

"Noble Savage" Persona
+6 Dex, -2 Int
Utter Confidence (Ex): This persona gains +4 to all saves vs. fear effects.
Savage Fury (Ex): Whenever this persona takes damage, they gain a +4 to damage and a -2 to hit next round. If the character has the Shock Trooper feat, they may instead take a -2 penalty to AC.
Activated by failing a save vs. a fear effect (the save is rerolled with the +4 from Utter Confidence).

Wouldn't the first roll against fear also have gotten the +4 from Utter Confidence? So the only time this comes into play is when you fail a save vs fear, and then manage to succeed on a reroll. Not so good. If your intent is that the persona gets a free re-roll on all saves vs fear effects, I'd include that in the Utter Confidence ability.

"Philosopher" Persona
+6 Int, -2 Cha
Awesome by Analysis (Ex): This persona may spend one round preparing for a single roll with a key ability other than intelligence. They may add their intelligence modifier to this roll.
Upon Consideration (Ex): Once per round when this persona fails any skill check, they may instantly make an intelligence check with the same DC. If they succeed, they may reroll. This ability only permits one reroll per check.
Activated by the prescence of at least two dozen books that this persona has never read.

So, if I haul around a bunch of books but don't read them, and think really hard about it, I become a better climber. But NOT better at knowledge skills, or spellcraft, or other int-based skills?

Does the Awesome by Analysis ability intended to add the int bonus in place of the standard key ability, or in addition to it? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the Upon Consideration reroll keyed by proximity to books that you HAVE read?

"Diplomatic" Persona
+6 Cha, -2 Dex
Let's Talk About This (Ex): This persona may always take ten on diplomacy, bluff, and intimidate rolls.
We're Really Not That Different (Ex): This persona may spend a full round to make a grand speech once per encounter. If they do so, then all enemies move down three points on the morale scale.
Activated by unneccessary combat lasting at least three rounds or involving at least 10 other intelligent participants.

Except for the unknown morale scale and the extremely subjective determination of "unnecessary" (I'd cut the word entirely), this seems workable.

Determining Active Personas
When a Ksisf wakes up in the morning, the active persona is randomly determined. Therafter a check must be made every hour to see whether a new persona takes over. Every persona rolls a d20 and adds the number of waking hours since they were last active, with the active persona getting +10 to the roll. The winner becomes the active persona. A persona may never give up their control willingly unless failing to do so would have an unnacceptably high cahnce of (what is unnacceptable is determined by the persona) resulting in instant and certain death.

What a mass of paperwork! Rolls every hour to figure out who you are? I mean, the mechanic seems very well thought out and workable - kudos - but yeesh. I guess that, during long distance travel, you can just determine who's in control at any given crisis point.

All the last sentence does is say: you can't change personae unless you really really want to change personae. Make it easier on your DM and attach a mechanic to this - a will save DC=10+CL, something.

I really like the detail of the names, and the fluid nature of their society seems appropriate.

I'm struggling to figure out which classes would work well with this race. Factotum, obviously, and perhaps bard.

[Fortuna]

Upon Consideration needs to limit iteself or at least mention that it doesn't undo the effects of the failed check. Since it specifies it occurs AFTER the failed check, and failing alot of checks has an immediate result.

Sure, I will stick that in.

Heightened Acceleration (Ps):

The damage caused to their body is extremely taxing, aging them 1d3 years every round they remain in this form. Nothing short of Divine Intervention can reverse this damage.

Is this to imply a Miracle spell would work ?

Hell no. That should be direct divine intervention, by an actual god stepping in.

Also, 2/1 turns plus initiative modifications is crazy broken powerful , maybe just an additional standard action ? And perhaps only 1d3-1 aging, so there would be a chance of not getting the age hit ?

It is crazy powerful because the average Ksisf will only be able to use it for about 20-30 rounds across their lifetime.

Quantity over Quality (Ex):

This alone seems worth a +1 LA, perhaps tie it to something else, like the Acceleration (Ps): to help mitigate it ?

The thing is that it gives a -2 to damage THE WHOLE TIME. You will take -2 to every damage that you ever do, ever.

"Diplomatic" Persona

Seems balanced but without seeing the morale charts I can't say for sure, but here is the scenario I kind of see happening. Long, big combat, and suddenly some dude busts into a "Grand Speech" ? During the roar and din of a combat ? And how grand can it be in 6 seconds ? I like the effect but it seems a little silly.

Read my sig; I wasn't tired when I wrote this, ergo...

Because doubling becomes an extra powerful tool once you start trying to optimize, may I recommend instead a +30 racial bonus to speed? Also, it might be useful to clarify whether this is a single use per day that lasts "Character Level" rounds, or a number of individual rounds in which you can either choose to or not to move at the accelerated rate? Is it a swift or free action to activate this ability?

Sorry about the lack of clarification. This is meant to be a free action, and I will change it to a +30 bonus if you think it neccessary. It is also meant to be used all in one go i.e. a 1/day ability lasting for a number of rounds equal to charactrer level. I will edit when I get home (my current time on the internet is limited.)

Fluff-wise, having to stay within 20' of your activation point makes no sense - and I'm not sure why you'd put that restriction on anyway. It would be useful to replace the phrase "without any casting time" with a game term like "as a ______ action" Your options here would seem to be immediate, swift or standard, and I would recommend the latter. I'm assuming that it is possible to use spell completion or command-activated magic items like wands or scrolls?

OK, this was designed by nolispe so I will have to clarify design intentions before I fiddle with it extensively. I will try to get it fixed in the next few days.

Please please please specify that this doesn't stack with other effects that add attacks to a full attack. Also, saying "this may not be deactivated" makes it sound like they have to attack something once a round, all the time. I'm not sure why a character wouldn't be able to choose not to do this, but what the heck. May I suggest the following language for this:

Quantity over Quality (Ex): Ksisf make use of their great speed in battle, but the individual blows land with less force. When using the full attack action, they gain an additional attack at their full attack bonus, but all attacks that round then suffer a -2 to damage. Ksisf do not gain an additional attacks from effects such as Haste or Speed weapons.

Hmmm. OK, that looks quite good. However, the damage penalty is meant to apply constantly, so I'm not sure whether that will neccessitate rebalancing.

Wouldn't the first roll against fear also have gotten the +4 from Utter Confidence? So the only time this comes into play is when you fail a save vs fear, and then manage to succeed on a reroll. Not so good. If your intent is that the persona gets a free re-roll on all saves vs fear effects, I'd include that in the Utter Confidence ability.

Ah, we seem to have a misunderstanding here. That bonus only applies while that persona is active. If that persona is inactive, then when the Ksisf fails a save vs. a fear effect they will shift to this persona for 1d4 rounds, and gain a reroll of the fear effect. If it is active, then the last line does nothing, because it is active already.

So, if I haul around a bunch of books but don't read them, and think really hard about it, I become a better climber. But NOT better at knowledge skills, or spellcraft, or other int-based skills?

Does the Awesome by Analysis ability intended to add the int bonus in place of the standard key ability, or in addition to it? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the Upon Consideration reroll keyed by proximity to books that you HAVE read?

Again, a misunderstanding. That ability is active while this persona is active. This persona has an overwhelming desire to learn, and so will become active while unread books are nearby. I may add Awesome by Analysis to Int based skills though, that is a good point.

Except for the unknown morale scale and the extremely subjective determination of "unnecessary" (I'd cut the word entirely), this seems workable.

I don't want this persona taking over too often though. I could cut the word unnecesary, but that would seem to me to activate it far too often, and it doesn't offer much in combat.

What a mass of paperwork! Rolls every hour to figure out who you are? I mean, the mechanic seems very well thought out and workable - kudos - but yeesh. I guess that, during long distance travel, you can just determine who's in control at any given crisis point.

All the last sentence does is say: you can't change personae unless you really really want to change personae. Make it easier on your DM and attach a mechanic to this - a will save DC=10+CL, something.

Again, I will add a mechanic when I get back home. You are right, it definitely should have one.

I really like the detail of the names, and the fluid nature of their society seems appropriate.

Thanks! The names take about half a minute apiece, but it is nice to know that it is appreciated.

I'm struggling to figure out which classes would work well with this race. Factotum, obviously, and perhaps bard.

I wouldn't know, I've hardly played 3e. I figure there is enough out there that SOMETHING must work well with it.

[Fortuna]

After extensive discussion with nolispe, we agreed that the speed abilities should go. We also agreed that this race needed a bit of a rework. With that in mind, I have added extra personas and tried to get it into the LA 0 range. How well have I done?

[Averagedog]

What do these things even look like?

[Fortuna]

Normal humanoid, although their eyes tend to have two irises.

[Fortuna]

Correction, as described in the description entry.

[Fortuna]

Added yet more stuff. It turns out that "Work in progress" is the same as "Sisyphian labour."

[Fortuna]

Is anyone going to comment on the new abilities/personas? Please? I will be playing one in about a week, and want to avoid the need for extensive rebalancing on the fly.

[Krazddndfreek]

If you don't mind my saying, +4 to anything for an LA 0 race is pretty strong. Though I understand that the bonus is something that's chosen at random every day, it should still have some sort of drawback, like a -2 ability penalty to something else, or else just a +2 to that one instead of +4.

[Fortuna]

The thing is that it forces a very MAD build to avoid being useless 2/3 of the time. If you are basically forced to split your ability boosts three ways, then I think it should be fine.

EDIT: Argh! Tables are evil! I have put up a Ksisf paragon class. Is the mechanic stupid? Is the class over/under powered?

[DracoDei]

Why is it +2 to Wisdom and +4 to everything else?
What is the DC or opposed skill to avoid the Glibness effect of the talker persona? The opposed roll against the same for the Ksisf?

[Fortuna]

Why is it +2 to Wisdom and +4 to everything else?
What is the DC or opposed skill to avoid the Glibness effect of the talker persona? The opposed roll against the same for the Ksisf?

Because I am bad at typing . The opposed skill is now in the ever-expanding OP, Bluff vs. Sense Motive.