Saturday, January 12, 2019

Starfolk

From whence do the starfolk come? On some worlds, they are born under their planet or moon, their star sign tugging closely at their heart. On others, they are blessed by their deities, Saturn or Luna or the Outer Gods showing their favor to a chosen disciple. On yet more, they are races of their own, entire nations of martians going to war to conquer nomadic mercurial tribes while the venusians in their crystal cities watch helplessly in horror. And perhaps in a solar system not unlike our own, they evolved on the worlds we have named them after, building civilizations greater and older than any Man has wrought, and we met them in friendship as we took to the stars.

1. Mercurial
Reroll DEX. You have a 50% chance to act in surprise rounds and +1 initiative, but eat double rations.

Mercurials are covered in fine violet down instead of hair, which lengthens into long feathers further down the extremities. They can rotate their heads 180 degrees, and twitch like a much smaller mammal or bird; this hyperactivity burns calories like nobody's business.

2. Venusian
Reroll CHA. Make no sounds while moving, but step down HD one size.

Venusians are preternaturally slim and graceful, naturally sliding and pirouetting like dancers. Their antennae, green chitinous skin, and compound eyes put them just on the attractive side of the uncanny valley, but are fragile to match their insectile features. They tend to value stealthy, diplomatic solutions to problems, seeing violence as a dangerous waste of resources.

3. Lunai
Reroll INT. You have +2 to using any sort of technology or advanced arcana and can sense their energy fields, but you have disadvantage against spells and spell-like effects.

Lunai skin is covered with shifting silver patterns that wax and wane with their excitement. Their conductive nerves are both a boon and bane to their curiosity, as while they can intuit their way through complex machines and arcane devices, the feedback overloads their senses and minds.

4. Martian
Reroll STR. +1 AC, but you must save to show mercy to a foe even in matters outside of combat (like a negotiation or a friendly game).

Martians have mottled rust-red skin with protruding bone outcroppings from their elbows, knuckles, kneecaps, spine, and sternum. Many are naturally hairless, and all have fully silver eyes with no differentiation between whites, irises, and pupils. Competitive to a fault; a game against a martian will not end until they win a crushing victory or flip the table in defeat.

5. Belter
Reroll DEX. You can spend 2 HP to separate yourself into 6 small chunks (head/each limb/torso) which move independently, but have 6 in each physical stat and 1/6 of your HP (minimum 1). You break easily, wound on 5+ damage.

Belters are made of clumpy rocks instead of skin and flesh and bone. Bits of rock flake off and orbit them in clouds of debris. Their eyes and ears and mouth are crystals, flaring bright when in use. Their own personal gravity lets them break into clusters of stones that move under their own power; a belter community looks like an avalanche in miniature as pieces of belters roll around the streets.

6. Jovian
Reroll WIS. Your weight encumbers you like chainmail at all times. Pick or roll a subspecies:
1. Callistan: Your limbs are rubbery; you bounce and take only 1 fall damage.
2. EuropanYou can breathe underwater and ignore extremes of temperature.
3. Ganymedean: Can sacrifice 1 HP to pull a foot of steel wire out of your hair.
4. Ion: Can vent core [level] times per day to deal d8 damage in 10 foot radius.

Jovians are a manyfaceted lot; all squat and broad and jolly but with few commonalities besides. They live longer, speak louder, and love more passionately than any besides venusians. Callistans are pale and rubbery from their lack of bones. Europans are blue-skinned, hairless, gilled, and everything from their toes to their fingers to the skin under their arms is webbed together. Ganymedeans have dark grey, speckled skin, and their steel wool hair grows long, curly, and bushy. Ions are bright sulfur-yellow, with large holes through their torso and limbs that they don't seem to mind, despite constantly steaming.

7. Saturnine
Reroll CHA. You don't get saves vs. movement, and getting hit by an attack may push you 5 feet in a direction of the attacker's choice. Pick or roll a subspecies:
1. Titanian: You are always floating an inch above the ground.
2. RingwalkerYou can leave held objects floating in midair for d6 minutes.

Saturnine are intrepid adventurers, always pushing boundaries and stepping over the horizon. Some say their wanderlust stems from their floatiness; in any case, saturnine are rarely seen in one place for more than a month on end. Titanians are orange-skinned and vibrant-haired, with mouths overflowing with sharklike teeth. Ringwalkers have transparent skin, putting dusty alien organs pumping cyan blood on display.

8. Outworlder
Reroll CON. You don't need to sustain yourself with air, water, or food, and you blend into the sky at night, but you cannot restore HP outside of daily rests.

Outworlders' skin looks like a hole in space, the consuming darkness of the sky studded with twinkling stars. Their hair shimmers and blows like a comet's trail. To hear an outworlder speak is to hear the dissonant whispers of the stars themselves, cold and deep and fuzzy with static.
europan, wearing a wig
martians, playing a drinking game that's going to end exactly as you expect
Related image
a venusian thief wearing her familial armor, made from the molted chitin of her ancestors
Image result for humanoid alien art
left to right: half-mercurial half-outworlder, ???, ???, europan, lunai, mercurial, europan, titanian, ???, martian
(yes i know it's reboot fanart don't @ me)

1 comment:

Most Recent Post

GλOG: Item Templates

Lambda templates are associated with items rather than a character class. Gaining a λ template is simple: spend a downtime action   training...