#bestiary 5

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Roleplaying Races 15: Caligni

(art by BryanFRosadoArt on DeviantArt)

When Earthfall came and Azlant fell, the survivors of that devastation fled in a diaspora that reached not just other human societies, but underwater, underground, and even the plane of shadow.

The act of doing so left these humans in strange places, and often at the mercy of powerful beings. All of which caused these humans to change and adapt. Respectively, these humans became the azarketi (gillmen), the morlocks and munavri, as well as fetchlings and today’s subject, the caligni.

Like fetchlings, the caligni, originally named for the settlement of Calignos in the Mindspin Mountains, are marked by the Plane of Shadow, but in a much different way. Indeed, the Azlanti humans that would become Caligni were contacted by a group of shadowy demigods known as the Forsaken, who offer succor in the Plane of Shadow while Earthfall passed in return for worship, and used powerful artifacts called the Cradles of Night to transform them into the Caligni, also known as Dark Folk. Devoid of all color and fearing the light, they were very much creatures of shadow, but the more this relationship went on, the clearer it became how much the Forsaken had twisted them. Many consistent mutations began to appear which quickly separated the dark folk as a whole into several castes. Some were born shrunken and squat, others without eyes but possessing incredibly keen senses, and so on.

This of course was the plan all along, for the Forsaken wished to use the worship of the Caligni to help them escape the Plane of Shadow. However, an unknown calamity devastated the Forsaken, forcing them to abandon those plans and retreat deeper into darkness.

But they did not abandon the Caligni entirely, their messengers, the owbs, soon appeared afterwards to act as the mouthpieces of the Forsaken, though only a rare few actually establish divine contact with those demideities, and none actually fulfill their role as go-between, granting divine power to the worshipful dark folk, proving just as treacherous as their masters. However, the owbs did continue where the Forsaken left off, ruling a broken people that were utterly dependent upon them.

However, while most Dark Folk are twisted in body and mind, there are a rare few that are born looking almost entirely human. These are the caligni we are talking about today. These genetic throwbacks are a cause for great celebration among their kind, but they are also in great danger from day one as one of the dark stalker or owb masters might decide that they are a threat to the clan, leading many to die young. Those that do survive into adulthood are not shackled in mind or body by the influence of the owb or the Forsaken the way their kinsfolk are, and may yet be the best bet for the caligni people to one day return to being a free people.

Most that do realize the danger they are in from the power structure of their society, and therefore leave, often becoming adventurers or mercenaries and plying their natural abilities in the dark to get by, perhaps to come back and free their clans, or maybe just to be free of that society.

These “pure” caligni typically stand at about 6 ft tall and resemble humans with pale, ashen skin that darkens near the extremities. Most tend to wear dark hodge-podge rags to cover their whole bodies, but they don’t have the same aversion to being unclothed as other dark folk, and typically have the cleanliness to actually wash their clothing and themselves. As such, their fashion senses can actually be quite varied, picking up from the societies they interact with.

As a people that typically abandon their kin in order to survive, caligni don’t have a society of their own for the most part. Those that dare to remain may hold the same or even greater power as dark stalkers, which only puts them in danger. Those that leave likely remain insular, but pick up cultural norms from their adopted societies, though their aversion to light and appearance means they may feel estranged there as well. Perhaps the place where caligni find the most acceptance is among fellow misfits, ranging from adventuring parties to outcast drow to planar scion communes and the like.

Caligni are agile and tough, but growing up in an insular and stagnant society blunts their curiosity and makes them less inquisitive.

As creatures of true darkness, these dark folk go beyond mere night vision to be able to see perfectly in darkness, even that created by powerful magic.

That night-sight, however, makes them vulnerable to bright light, though they are not fully blinded by it.

Like their kin, caligni explode in a blaze of light upon death. However, unlike their other kin, they are not totally obliterated, leaving behind a shriveled and shrunken body that can be used for resurrection.

Sadly there has been no significant expansion to the caligni ancestry, but I think there’s some interesting potential there.

With the dex and con bonuses, not to mention their ability to see perfectly in all darkness, caligni make excellent rogues, ninjas and slayers, as well as more tanky combat classes and builds such as barbarian, fighter, and swashbuckler. Any build or archetype that attacks from stealth is a good option here, really. What’s more, their con bonus would make being a kineticist a neat option, particularly if you void as your element as a chaokineticist. Additionally, shadow-themed builds and archetypes are very thematic for them as well. Their penalty to intelligence weakens them as certain casters and skilled builds, but not enough to be a major problem.

That does it for today, but we’ve only gotten started on this pentultimate special on 1st edition ancestries! (that’s right, this is the second to last time we’ll be doing this!)

[nelc]

Three-headed Sharkraken or Lusca from Pathfinder Bestiary 5

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Roleplaying Races 15: Orang-Pendak

(art by young920 on DeviantArt)

And so we come to the final entry of the week, and it’s a First Edition ancestry that… well, I kinda thought was lame when I first saw it.

I don’t think I can be blamed though. After all, the orang-pendak are a species of sapient primates (already done with the vanara) that are based in part on folklore of ape-people living in the forest (also vanara) that are only really set apart by their small size with surprising strength and their unique aversion to riding on mounts or in vehicles. With only that bestiary entry to go off of, it’s easy to see why they’d be another bestiary-orphan ancestry.

But is there more to them? Certainly!

In the real world, orang-pendek (so glad to have validation that spelling it with an ‘e’ is ok) are beings from Indonesian folklore, specifically Sumatran, where the people have stories of the “short people of the forest”, which were similar to the orangutan, but different, more human-like. Certain accounts from islanders claim they are smart enough to use tools and could sometimes be territorial and violent.

Now, regardless of whether these tales are true or merely folklore based on misinterpreted sightings of orangutans or insular forest-dwelling societies, but the nature of the story has naturally attracted the attention of both legitimate biologists and cryptozoologists alike.

In any case, the Pathfinder version does not list a specific nation in the bestiary entry, but it can be assumed that they are from parts of Tian Xia. Additionally, they are described as a distant relation to sasquatches, and are just as shy and insular.

The orang-pendak are small humanoid apes covered in shaggy fur that ranges from brown to a rusty red-orange. As such, it’s easy to see how they could be mistaken for orangutans or gibbons from a distance. However, their proportions are more akin to a human’s or halflings, albeit with a hunched posture.

They are also semi-nomadic gatherers that only really hunt to round out their diet with protein, and spend most of the time subsisting on the world around them before moving on in order to minimize their impact on their surroundings. Beyond this, they are a close-knit people that are shy and distrustful of outsiders.

Surprisingly strong for their size, orang-pendaks are also empathetic and wise, but their lack of formal education hampers them somewhat.

Familiar as they are with forest terrain, they are adept at climbing and hiding within the foliage.

They also possess excellent night vision.

Orang-pendaks however, become easily unnerved and motion sick when being moved by forces other than their own autonomy, making riding mounts or in vehicles difficult and outright undesirable for them.

Their kinship with the other apes they share their territory with makes it easy for them to get along with other primates.

Their surprising upper body strength also makes them shockingly adept at destroying objects as well.

It’s nice to see a small ancestry that not only doesn’t have a strength penalty, but has a strength bonus, making those small barbarian or fighter builds much more viable. Their wisdom also lends itself well to rangers and druids, or even clerics. On the other hand, however, that intelligence penalty does make arcane magic builds somewhat limited, but the real kicker is their Own Two Feet weakness, which basically makes classes and archetypes with mounts, such as cavalier or samurai, difficult to play without using archetypes that remove and replace the mount with something more useful, to say nothing of the difficulties of overland travel in adventures where mounts or vehicles would be the superior way to travel. Like all weaknesses, however, they can be surmounted.

That does it for this week, and I hope you enjoyed it. This is the second to last time we’ll be able to do this for first edition ancestries, but fret not, I already have plans to continue into 2nd Edition, not to mention continuing to look at species from Starfinder!

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Roleplaying Races 14: Astomoi

(art by @xcrimsonalertx here on tumblr!)

We’re back with another special on playable ancestries, and this one’s a bit obscure.

Ahhh, yes, the Astomoi, one of the playable options that I mentioned before when talking about things that I wish First Edition had done (i.e., fleshing out some of the otherwise one-and-done playable ancestries that were introduced in a bestiary and never touched again).

But without further ado, I give you the faceless psychic enigmas, the astomoi!

Now, with their psychic abilities and featureless bodies, one might assume that the astomoi are a completely original creation by Paizo, or barring that, a reference to some surreal fantasy or sci-fi fiction, but this is actually not the case!

First mentioned by Megasthenes and later by Pliny the Elder in their naturalist bestiary works, the Astomi, or Astomoi as we would come to call them, were supposedly a species of human-like beings from the mouth of the Ganges River that were notable for their hairy bodies and complete lack of mouth. These beings supposedly subsided on the air they inhaled and the smells of fragrant fruit and vegetables.

This sort of “human-like but having a strange anatomy” is common trope of bestiaries at the time, whether Megasthenes made them up entirely or heard about them from some traveller’s stories, and perfectly illustrates how the human imagination filled in the edges of the known world long before exploration, scientific observation and accurate recordings of events did.

The astomoi as they appear in Pathfinder look a bit different, but keep the key elements of being mouthless and the sensitivity of their sense of smell, as we shall soon see.

Our Astomoi are humanoid in shape and mostly hairless, their bodies absorbing light while also projecting colorful patterns on the surface of their skin, looking by all accounts like humanoid blots of darkness in which stars or shapes are sometimes seen. Astomoi lack not just mouths, but eyes, noses and ears, their craniums being truly featureless. Instead, their whole body is scent-focused sensory organ, while their natural psychic ability provides for their sight and hearing.

While they can absorb some nutrients through the air, their primary method of sustenance is to psychically pull the nutrients of foodstuff out and absorb it through their skin, rendering the food tasteless and of no nutritional value to others. However, their skin is also their greatest weakness, as the permeability of the skin, which facilitates their ability to absorb scents, makes them vulnerable to inhaled toxins and air-transmissible disease.

Sadly, the fact that this ancestry was created for a bestiary and hasn’t received a single bit of lore support means that our only clues as to their disposition and society are literal scraps. What we do know is that they are predisposed to asceticism, making it likely that their culture and way of life are contemplative, minimalist, and lacking in extravagance. Indeed, Astomoi rarely see the need to wear any clothing at all save for protective materials for the weather, and even in their native temperate homelands, the most they ever where are a few small rags, and not even for modesty, not that their anatomy sports anything that other peoples would consider covering. (or maybe they do, if there is any sexual dimorphism with astomoi, we literally have only one piece of art to go off of. So feel free to fill in those gaps yourself.)

I also imagine with their sensitive olfactory organs, that scent must pay a strong role in their society, with faint perfumes being used for aesthetic purposes or even to convey meaning, though obviously they don’t wear anything too strong to avoid overwhelming themselves and others. Similarly, their food is likely prepared with aroma in mind, with spices and cooking being used to bring out mouth-watering scents. Imagine a group of astomoi gathered round a large, perfectly cooked and seasoned baked fruit buffet, just taking in the smell before absorbing the nutrients. Maybe even preparing an additional portion for mouth-bearing neighbors, which the astomoi enjoy with their senses even though they do not partake.

Astomoi are observant and insightful, capable of making sense of the world and their own thoughts, however, their bodies are somewhat delicate.

Without a mouth, astomoi must use their telepathy to communicate with other beings with language. Notably, they don’t seem to have their own tongue, perhaps learning languages mostly to facilitate communication with non-astomoi rather than for communication with each other.

Naturally, their whole body being an olfactory organ gives them a keen sense of smell.

Meanwhile, they use telepathy to simulate darkvision within a moderate range, but are blind beyond that. However, that telepathy allows them to substitute thought components common to psychic spellcasting for the verbal counterparts found in most other magic traditions in a telepathic shout that the threads of magic respond to.

However, having such receptive and sensitive skin means that astomoi are quite vulnerable to inhaled poisons and disease.

That being said, having no mouth does mean you can’t exactly feed them something poisonous. They can, however, absorb the magical effects of potions and other magical ingestables in the same way they do food, so there is that.

With their high intelligence and wisdom, astomoi make excellent casters regardless of class, though of course they are middling when it comes to charisma casters, though not bad per se. That weakness to constitution does not do them any favors, so if you plan any sort of tanky close-range combatant, you should probably focused on having a high AC over being able to eat hits. With than in mind, their ascetic ways makes monk a tempting class, but you should probably focus on being a rapid damage dealer and debuffer rather than absorbing hits. Sneaky classes like rogue and such are also decent, though if you’re a trap-breaker, be a very good trap breaker, because that suceptability to inhaled toxins, while situational, could be a major problem. Honestly, the only thing I would recommend steering them away from is ranged builds, as their sense of sight is limited to 60 ft, ok for skirmishes in a dungeon, not so much for making a sniper in the open field.

Overall the astomoi is a clever idea for creating a serviceable playable ancestry out of an obscure folklore reference, but it is hampered by a lack of lore. However, that is just more imperative for you and your players to come up with lore for them that fits your world!

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Roleplaying Races 10: Shabti

 To western civilization, the idea of “taking it with you” after death is a mark of hubris and arrogance, and yet it wasn’t viewed as such by the ancient Egyptians who believed that whatever one is buried with would have otherworldly copies of in the afterlife. (The idea that the dead might physically take their wealth with them after death was solidly dashed the moment the profession of grave robber was invented, so pretty much immediately, but it was still considered a grave crime, as stealing grave goods would in turn rob the deceased of their otherworldly copies)

In any case, one such funerary good among the wealthy pharaohs and nobility were the shabti, or ushabti or even shawabti: tiny figurine statues of humanoid figures, whom were believed to animate into servants for the wealthy upon entering the afterlife.

This practice arose as a replacement for what the ancient Egyptians did before: when such a wealthy figure died, in order to give them servants to go along with all their stuff, said servants and slaves would be sacrificed and entombed alongside their former master, giving them an entourage in the afterlife.

Needless to say, that practice was not very popular among the common folk, and presented a lot of problems in maintaining a healthy population. Hence why the practice of creating shabti came to be.

Now, Pathfinder’s core setting has its own Egypt-analogue, and in a fit of brilliance, came up with a race inspired y that ancient practice!

 In Pathfinder, a shabti is a sort of “artificial soul” created by a magical effigy called a sovereign shabti, which is made to be a near-exact copy of a mortal’s soul. Such beings were created to serve as a proxy for the soul in question, usually one of great wealth and power in life in order to be able to afford the process, and take the punishment of that soul instead.

In theory, the shabti was meant to be mistaken for the original soul, and sent on to final judgement, taking the brunt of their afterlife punishment, whereas the actual deceased is processed according to their alignment like any mortal soul.

Naturally, this process is used by the wicked elite to give themselves a headstart into integrating themselves into their afterlife without being immediately set upon by fiends, or else by reformed evil folk that wish to avoid any karmic backlash for their past and being judged based on who they were at the time of death.

However, all of this hinges upon the bureaucracy of death actually being fooled by the shabti, which doesn’t always happen.

If the psychopomps catch the deception, either during judgement or after the fact while patrolling the lower planes, shabti can be rehabilitated, and set free on the lawful neutral plane of Axis, where some migrate to the material plane.

For their part, shabti resemble golden replicas of the people they were made to be copies of, often with markings reflecting of ancient Egyptian/Osirian fashion, like eyeshadow and whatnot. Their composition of quintessence combined with their inherently mortal nature makes them native outsiders as well.

Mentally, shabti are very human-like, which makes sense as that is what they were designed to be. In fact, when created they earnestly believe that they are the person that they are a copy of, all the better to exploit them as scapegoats.

This set of false memories means that when shabti are informed of their true nature, they tend to struggle with their identity. Some may revel in the opportunity to forge their own path, but plenty of others struggle to find themselves.

Due to their extreme rarity, shabti don’t really have a culture or society of their own, though they do tend to have a fondness for the culture of the mortal they were templated off of.

 Shabti have durable bodies and the charm of a leader.

As beings of quintessence, shabti are immortal, being immune to age, though they can still be slain by other methods.

Thanks to a curiosity of their composition, shabti cannot rise as the undead, never fearing that horrible fate. What’s more, energy drain does not seem to affect their bodies, though enough can still kill them.

Having a whole lifetime that isn’t theirs in their minds, they can prove to be surprisingly knowledgible about a multitude of topics.

As artificial souls, shabti tend to be difficult to resurrect, their spirits either breaking down too easily, or perhaps a reluctance of deities to grant such a blessing to a creature that defies the natural order somewhat.

Supernaturally charming, many shabti can implant ideas into the minds of others.

 Additionally, there are a few minor variations on the shabti. This includes those that are more human-like, Lack inherited memories but are full of potential, able to inflict feedback upon those that drain their energy, and express extreme willfulness to resist magic that bends the mind.

 Charming and durable, shabti can be social and spellcasting masters, as well as front-line warriors as well. In fact, because they have no real weakness, they can excel at pretty much any class. Whether they embrace the nature of their past life, seeking to relive past glories that were never theirs, or seek to distance themselves with their actions, many might choose the path of adventure.

[kahran042]

Believe it or not, this critter is lawful good.

[haltraveler]

It turns out that Ceratosaurus is one of the deadlier low-level monsters in Pathfinder. Blood Rage + Ferocity + trip is a scary combination. 

So of course I’m working on a mythic version to terrorize my players. 

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Roleplaying Races 2: Deep One Hybrid

Not every hybrid race is wholesome in nature. Certainly we learned this with tieflings, but it’s even more abundantly clear with today’s entry.

Based directly on H.P. Lovecraft’s Shadow Over Innsmouth, I give you the Deep One Hybrid, a horrific amalgamation of fish person and human (or other humanoid race)!

In the original story, the deep ones made a pact with a ship captain named Obed Marsh after he made contact with them via the island-dwelling folk he met on his travels, offering to swell their numbers in exchange for their strange, oddly-colored gold and support. Eventually, his entire home town was reliant on the fish folk and their worship of Dagon.

What the deep ones got out of this exchange was the rights to a breeding program with the humans of Innsmouth, creating Deep One Hybrids, which superficially resemble humans, albeit with distinctive bulging eyes and wide mouths. As they age, their piscine qualities only grow, until they achieve a final change, turning them into true deep ones.

It’s important to note that the original source material is rife with Lovecraft’s racist views, the entire premise of the story basically equating interaction with non-white peoples with fornicating with fish monsters to create equally monstrous spawn.

That being said, we can still find good inspiration here for horror. The body horror aspect of slowly transforming into a fish creature is there, as well as shockers like realizing that the protagonist too, has been one of these beings, and so on.

Typically, before their final change, hybrids are treated as the minions of the Deep Ones, being their agents and cultists on land. However, while they all eventually become immortal fish people if they live long enough, it’s pretty clear that their devotion to dark gods and the elders of their kind is a socialized belief, and that they are not inherently evil or a threat to humanity, and may even fight against the more sinister organizations of their kind.

 Regardless of their morality, hybrids are hearty and devout, if clumsy folk. Indeed, though they resemble humans, they are quite sluggish save for in the water.

Their skin is also quite thick, protecting them from harm. However, their connection to an aquatic race also means they dislike being far from water, dry land eventually driving them mad if cut off from the sea.

Though not truly amphibious, they are quite capable of holding their breaths for extended periods, and are that much quicker in the water.

The biggest difference, however, occurs when they become about sixty years old, their bodies eventually painfully giving out, transforming into a deep one, shedding all illusions of humanity. Its not know if this overwrites the original disposition and personality of the individual, but needless to say they are not likely to be welcome in mortal society anymore.

Deep one hybrids have an aptitude for both mysticism and physical ability, so they make excellent divine casters and nonmagical beings. However, while the archetypical priest of the great old ones is pretty classic, don’t forget that they could easily be arcane or psychic mystics that study such beings. Of course you don’t even need to associate them with cosmic horrors if you do not wish to.

 Needless to say, there’s tons of potential with this race, adding a little horror element into your games. Is your hybrid an infiltrator for the old cults? Are they escaping that life? Are they just a fish person? As character creator, you have options.