[Pathfinder] Homebrew Races
Apr 16, 2015 11:41:26 GMT
Post by 13thSyndicate on Apr 16, 2015 11:41:26 GMT
Anyone got some? I'll be posting mine here for review; I'm using the Race Creation rules that came in the Pathfinder ARG, and I'm gearing them up for a campaign world where most sentient people are non-human. All of the races I'm making are in the 10-20RP range, making them Advanced Races, though I have used a Monstrous quality (Quadruped) for the Centaurs. I had to make up a few things as I went and so these may not entirely be 100% - for example, Centaurs as Monstrous Humanoids automatically get Darkvision, which doesn't make sense since they're diurnal plains creatures, so I gave them normal vision as a -2RP penalty weakness.
To start, Centaurs:
Centaurs (15RP)
Type: Monstrous Humanoid
Size: Large
Base Speed: 50ft. (Normal 30ft., plus 20 with racial traits)
Ability Scores: Standard Array (+2 Con, +2 Char, -2 Wis); Centaurs are hardy and tend to have social and magnetic personalities, but are not known for their self-preservation instincts or common sense.
Languages: Standard, Centaurs start with Common and Sylvan, and centaurs with high intelligence can take Celestial, Terran, or any human language
Racial Traits
Healthy: Centaurs are close to the earth, and their robust immune systems and natural lifestyle gives them a +4 racial bonus to all Fortitude saves against poisons and diseases, including magical diseases.
Sprinter: Built for speed and with four legs to carry them, centaurs get a +10 racial bonus to their speed when using a charge, run, or withdraw action.
Quadruped: Centaurs are quadrupedal, giving them a +10 racial bonus to their base speed (already calculated above) and a +4 racial bonus to their CMD vs. trip maneuvers. In addition, Centaurs use weapons and armor made for and as though they were Medium creatures.
Fast: Centaurs get a +10 racial bonus to their base speed, in addition to the +10 from being a quadrupedal race (already calculated above).
Natural Attack: Centaurs have a secondary Hoof natural attack that does 1d6 points of Bludgeoning damage.
Normal Vision: Despite being monstrous humanoids, Centaurs do not have the Darkvision trait.
Alternate Racial Traits
Hardy: Some centaurs train to resist sources of unnatural pain rather than natural diseases; these centaurs get a +4 racial bonus to fortitude saves vs. poisons, spells, and spell-like abilities. This trait replaces Healthy.
Stability: Some centaurs are solidly built and unusually steady on their four legs, granting an additional +4 racial bonus to CMD vs. trip and bull rush maneuvers. This trait replaces Sprinter.
Relentless: Some centaurs train themselves for powerful, all-out attacks in order to overpower their enemies. Centaurs with this trait gain a +2 racial bonus to CMB for bull rush and overrun maneuvers. This trait replaces Sprinter.
Fluff
Centaurs are a race with an incredibly long history, passed on through oral tradition over hundreds of years. Mostly, they live as nomads, galloping across the plains of the world with little permanent civilization. Their long history gives them a fierce pride as warriors and as storytellers.
Physical Description
Centaurs are strange creatures which mix the features of humans and horses. From the waist up, they have human torsos, arms, and heads, usually wiry and muscular, with long limbs and vaguely sylvan features; from the waist down, they have the lower bodies of horses, usually appearing as a leggy, fast breed, though a few are more heavyset and stolid. Centaurs' hair is usually shaggy and coarse, and most wear it long, plaited into braids, beaded, or simply left loose to fly in the wind; in addition to the hair on their heads, their hair also grows into a long mane in a line that travels most of their human back. Their skin is usually dusky, ranging from light to dark brown or black, and their horse bodies can have any coat color or pattern a normal horse could. Their tails are the same color as their hair and manes.
Society
Centaurs live in nomadic 'herds', usually consisting of between one and five families, and lead hunter-gatherer type tribal lifestyles, rarely settling in founded cities. Herds are usually friendly with each other and neighboring villages or cities, and tend to be hospitable to outsiders, as their culture values hard work, family, and community above all things. When one herd is in trouble or needs assistance, nearby herds will often travel long distances in order to assist the herd in need. Most centaurs will spend their whole lives with one herd; however, for purposes of marriage or breeding, adolescent centaurs will sometimes be sent to foster with another herd and encouraged to mate with members of their new herd. Couples formed this way then are free to decide which herd to live the rest of their lives with. If a herd gets too large, or a youngster too independent, an adolescent will sometimes leave the herd to find a mate and start their own herd.
Relations
As mentioned above, centaurs as a culture have a strong sense of neighborliness and hospitality, and therefore have a tendency to get along with most everyone. Their best relations are, by far, with humans, with whom they often share the plains they run. Humans in general make better farmers than centaurs, and centaurs make excellent messengers, and so many a nomadic herd has an agreement with two or more human villages within their lands to exchange favors for goods, especially weapons or fresh or preserved vegetables and other foodstuffs. There is the occasional spat between an enterprising farmer or builder and a headstrong herd leader over allocation of land, but most are resolved quickly with trade agreements. Other races and centaurs enjoy cooler, but still generally friendly, relations. Many a young centaur having a wander has hired himself as a guard, scout, or guide for the bipedal races, being naturally inclined to those professions. When centaurs are forced to fight for what they want, however, they prove formidable foes, another reason most races would rather parley with them than engage in hostilities.
Alignment and Religion
Centaur culture's focus on community, loyalty, and hospitality means that Lawful Good is the most common alignment for centaurs; even those who buck the traditions of their elders rarely fall below neutral on the moral axis, though there are, of course, exceptions. Though many centaurs practice animistic nature worship, those that are given to service of the gods tend to venerate deities of family, community, or travel.
Adventurers
Due to the centaurs' herd-based, community-focused mentality, leaving the herd and striking off on one's own for danger and excitement is a fairly anomalous thing, usually reserved for those young adults in the grip of ancestral wanderlust and chafing against their parents' traditions. These youngsters usually travel for the purposes of exploration as an end in and of itself, seeking to see the world beyond their tribal herdlands, though others venture for to seek fame or glory as a badge of honor for their herd or family, looking to become a part of their race's rich verbal tradition. This kind of journey is known as 'having a wander', and many an old warrior has a story or two to tell about their 'wander years' around a campfire at night. Alternatively, some centaurs will leave their herd when it grows to large or in order to find a partner; these centaurs usually search for a new, suitable patch of land on which to start their herd, and many become adventurers to seek the means to do so. Having little use for material wealth, most centaurs do not adventure for personal greed or gain. Centaurs in general make excellent Fighters and Barbarians, though their spellcasters are not to be trifled with. Their oral traditions and histories mean centaurs are also often drawn to the bardic profession. Centaurs tend to make poor rogues and clerics, though a few do pursue those professions. Centaurs cannot, for obvious reasons, be cavaliers (though I may make an archetype for a Centaur cavalier that treats his own body as a cavalier mount... hm.)
Naming Traditions
Centaurs usually have three-part names; the first name is their personal name, given at birth, which can be anything; usually, they sound like human names, but there are exceptions. The second is their family name, which usually is passed down for an act of bravery or notable feature of the family's patron or another memorable member, or simply a human surname that has some particular meaning to the family; occasionally, if a centaur proves especially brave or stunning, their herd will grant them a new family name, giving them the right to pass that name down as a new family. The third name is a portmanteau or shortening of the herd name. So for example, Aevis, belonging to the Gestalt family and member of the Heighton's Field herd, would have the name Aevis Gestalt Heightfeld. Her brother would be Jannon Gestalt Heightfeld, while her sister, who joined the Emerald Vale herd in search of a mate, might be named Levarra Gestalt Emvale. Most centaur herds are named after the common name or some prominent feature of their territory, though some name themselves after deeds, or the family name of their founder (if Aevis, for example, were to leave her herd to create another, she might name that herd the Gestalt herd, and her name would change to Aevis Gestalt Gestalt)
To start, Centaurs:
Centaurs (15RP)
Type: Monstrous Humanoid
Size: Large
Base Speed: 50ft. (Normal 30ft., plus 20 with racial traits)
Ability Scores: Standard Array (+2 Con, +2 Char, -2 Wis); Centaurs are hardy and tend to have social and magnetic personalities, but are not known for their self-preservation instincts or common sense.
Languages: Standard, Centaurs start with Common and Sylvan, and centaurs with high intelligence can take Celestial, Terran, or any human language
Racial Traits
Healthy: Centaurs are close to the earth, and their robust immune systems and natural lifestyle gives them a +4 racial bonus to all Fortitude saves against poisons and diseases, including magical diseases.
Sprinter: Built for speed and with four legs to carry them, centaurs get a +10 racial bonus to their speed when using a charge, run, or withdraw action.
Quadruped: Centaurs are quadrupedal, giving them a +10 racial bonus to their base speed (already calculated above) and a +4 racial bonus to their CMD vs. trip maneuvers. In addition, Centaurs use weapons and armor made for and as though they were Medium creatures.
Fast: Centaurs get a +10 racial bonus to their base speed, in addition to the +10 from being a quadrupedal race (already calculated above).
Natural Attack: Centaurs have a secondary Hoof natural attack that does 1d6 points of Bludgeoning damage.
Normal Vision: Despite being monstrous humanoids, Centaurs do not have the Darkvision trait.
Alternate Racial Traits
Hardy: Some centaurs train to resist sources of unnatural pain rather than natural diseases; these centaurs get a +4 racial bonus to fortitude saves vs. poisons, spells, and spell-like abilities. This trait replaces Healthy.
Stability: Some centaurs are solidly built and unusually steady on their four legs, granting an additional +4 racial bonus to CMD vs. trip and bull rush maneuvers. This trait replaces Sprinter.
Relentless: Some centaurs train themselves for powerful, all-out attacks in order to overpower their enemies. Centaurs with this trait gain a +2 racial bonus to CMB for bull rush and overrun maneuvers. This trait replaces Sprinter.
Fluff
Centaurs are a race with an incredibly long history, passed on through oral tradition over hundreds of years. Mostly, they live as nomads, galloping across the plains of the world with little permanent civilization. Their long history gives them a fierce pride as warriors and as storytellers.
Physical Description
Centaurs are strange creatures which mix the features of humans and horses. From the waist up, they have human torsos, arms, and heads, usually wiry and muscular, with long limbs and vaguely sylvan features; from the waist down, they have the lower bodies of horses, usually appearing as a leggy, fast breed, though a few are more heavyset and stolid. Centaurs' hair is usually shaggy and coarse, and most wear it long, plaited into braids, beaded, or simply left loose to fly in the wind; in addition to the hair on their heads, their hair also grows into a long mane in a line that travels most of their human back. Their skin is usually dusky, ranging from light to dark brown or black, and their horse bodies can have any coat color or pattern a normal horse could. Their tails are the same color as their hair and manes.
Society
Centaurs live in nomadic 'herds', usually consisting of between one and five families, and lead hunter-gatherer type tribal lifestyles, rarely settling in founded cities. Herds are usually friendly with each other and neighboring villages or cities, and tend to be hospitable to outsiders, as their culture values hard work, family, and community above all things. When one herd is in trouble or needs assistance, nearby herds will often travel long distances in order to assist the herd in need. Most centaurs will spend their whole lives with one herd; however, for purposes of marriage or breeding, adolescent centaurs will sometimes be sent to foster with another herd and encouraged to mate with members of their new herd. Couples formed this way then are free to decide which herd to live the rest of their lives with. If a herd gets too large, or a youngster too independent, an adolescent will sometimes leave the herd to find a mate and start their own herd.
Relations
As mentioned above, centaurs as a culture have a strong sense of neighborliness and hospitality, and therefore have a tendency to get along with most everyone. Their best relations are, by far, with humans, with whom they often share the plains they run. Humans in general make better farmers than centaurs, and centaurs make excellent messengers, and so many a nomadic herd has an agreement with two or more human villages within their lands to exchange favors for goods, especially weapons or fresh or preserved vegetables and other foodstuffs. There is the occasional spat between an enterprising farmer or builder and a headstrong herd leader over allocation of land, but most are resolved quickly with trade agreements. Other races and centaurs enjoy cooler, but still generally friendly, relations. Many a young centaur having a wander has hired himself as a guard, scout, or guide for the bipedal races, being naturally inclined to those professions. When centaurs are forced to fight for what they want, however, they prove formidable foes, another reason most races would rather parley with them than engage in hostilities.
Alignment and Religion
Centaur culture's focus on community, loyalty, and hospitality means that Lawful Good is the most common alignment for centaurs; even those who buck the traditions of their elders rarely fall below neutral on the moral axis, though there are, of course, exceptions. Though many centaurs practice animistic nature worship, those that are given to service of the gods tend to venerate deities of family, community, or travel.
Adventurers
Due to the centaurs' herd-based, community-focused mentality, leaving the herd and striking off on one's own for danger and excitement is a fairly anomalous thing, usually reserved for those young adults in the grip of ancestral wanderlust and chafing against their parents' traditions. These youngsters usually travel for the purposes of exploration as an end in and of itself, seeking to see the world beyond their tribal herdlands, though others venture for to seek fame or glory as a badge of honor for their herd or family, looking to become a part of their race's rich verbal tradition. This kind of journey is known as 'having a wander', and many an old warrior has a story or two to tell about their 'wander years' around a campfire at night. Alternatively, some centaurs will leave their herd when it grows to large or in order to find a partner; these centaurs usually search for a new, suitable patch of land on which to start their herd, and many become adventurers to seek the means to do so. Having little use for material wealth, most centaurs do not adventure for personal greed or gain. Centaurs in general make excellent Fighters and Barbarians, though their spellcasters are not to be trifled with. Their oral traditions and histories mean centaurs are also often drawn to the bardic profession. Centaurs tend to make poor rogues and clerics, though a few do pursue those professions. Centaurs cannot, for obvious reasons, be cavaliers (though I may make an archetype for a Centaur cavalier that treats his own body as a cavalier mount... hm.)
Naming Traditions
Centaurs usually have three-part names; the first name is their personal name, given at birth, which can be anything; usually, they sound like human names, but there are exceptions. The second is their family name, which usually is passed down for an act of bravery or notable feature of the family's patron or another memorable member, or simply a human surname that has some particular meaning to the family; occasionally, if a centaur proves especially brave or stunning, their herd will grant them a new family name, giving them the right to pass that name down as a new family. The third name is a portmanteau or shortening of the herd name. So for example, Aevis, belonging to the Gestalt family and member of the Heighton's Field herd, would have the name Aevis Gestalt Heightfeld. Her brother would be Jannon Gestalt Heightfeld, while her sister, who joined the Emerald Vale herd in search of a mate, might be named Levarra Gestalt Emvale. Most centaur herds are named after the common name or some prominent feature of their territory, though some name themselves after deeds, or the family name of their founder (if Aevis, for example, were to leave her herd to create another, she might name that herd the Gestalt herd, and her name would change to Aevis Gestalt Gestalt)