11-17-2017, 03:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2017, 02:33 PM by MadGenius.
Edit Reason: Added a caster level to the Detect Undead ability.
)
I've seen some discussion elsewhere on the forum about the Guado race, so far, but none seem to have fully fleshed them out as a playable race. I find this a bit odd, as the other two primary Spiran races, the Ronso and the Al Bhed, are already present in the race lists. I have decided to create my own take on the Guado race, trying my best to keep in on par with the other races already made and listed, and post it here. Without further ado...
Guado
A people living in the land of Spira. Tall and thinly built, with long limbs, large hands with prominent fingernails, and narrow, angular faces. Their skin is pale and somewhat translucent, and their features are often framed by a collection of thin blue veins that pulse underneath their skin. They have soft, melodious voices and are disinclined to be harsh. They are known for their brightly coloured and wildly styled hair, often floral or tree-like. They are a sombre and astute people, inclined towards traditionalism. Guado are most known for their connections to the forces of death and their links to the afterlife, often tasking themselves with protecting places with strong ties to other realms and planes of existence, especially those where souls are confirmed to reside after their death. Guado take well to the life of the faithful, and are often found as priests in places where they are not known to commonly reside, performing embalming services, funeral rites, and other rituals associated with death. However, their association with death has a habit of making them a bit alien or unnerving to other races, and Guado, as a result, tend to form their own communities outside of the settlements of other races, rather than intermingle freely.
Guado Racial Traits:
-Ability Score Racial Traits: Guado are both preternaturally cunning and attuned to the world around them, but their slim figures are not known for their sturdiness. They gain +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Constitution.
-Size: Guado are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
-Type: Guado are Humanoids with the Guado subtype.
-Base Speed: Guado have a base speed of 30 feet.
-Languages: Guado begin play speaking Common and Guado. Guado with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following for their bonus languages: Al Bhed, Draconic, Elvaan, Lalafell, Numish, Ronsaur, or Vieran.
Defense Racial Traits:
-Deathless Spirit: Guado are creatures that are attuned to the bridges between life and death, being sensitive to their ebbs and flows, yet resistant to their negative effects. Being living creatures, the forces of death and undeath have less sway over them than other mortals. They gain Elemental Resistance 5 against Dark damage. In addition, they do not lose hit points when they gain a negative level, and they gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy or dark spell varieties.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits:
-Skill Bonuses (Bluff and Sense Motive): Being associated with the powers of life and death makes one hard to read, and by extension hard to fool. This is only further exacerbated by the sometimes lyrical, poetic, or unsettling ways Guado tend to speak. Guado gain a +2 racial bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive skills.
-Skill Training (Knowledge: The Planes, and Knowledge: Religion): Knowledge of the ways of life and death, bridges between the two, and the aspects of undeath are core to the beliefs and the traditions of the Guado. Guado always treat Knowledge (The Planes) and Knowledge (Religion) as class skills.
Magical Racial Traits:
-Spell-like Ability (Detect Undead): Guado have the uncanny ability to detect undead creatures, almost as if they can sniff them out. They are able to cast Detect Undead (as the Pathfinder spell) at-will, at no MP cost, using their character level as their caster level.
Movement Racial Traits:
-Moderate Fleetness: Guado’s long limbs allow them to walk and run faster than what others expect of them, but their slender frames only make these advantages go so far. So long as a Guado has no more than a medium load, and is not fatigued, exhausted, or suffering any ability damage to its Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution, their base land speed is increased by 5 feet. Guado who have attained a Swim speed may apply this bonus to it as well, but not to any Climb, Fly, or Burrow speeds.
Alternate Racial Traits
The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.
-Carrion Sense: Some Guado are more attuned to deathlike energies than others of their kind, having the disturbing ability to track creatures by the scent of their lifeblood. This functions like the scent ability, but only for corpses and badly wounded creatures (creatures with 25% or fewer hit points). This ability replaces Skill Training.
-Fast Movement: Some Guado, especially those of a more athletic bend, have refined their longer stride to boost their speed even further. Guado with this racial trait increase their base land speed by 10 feet. This ability replaces Moderate Fleetness, and one of either Skill Bonus: Bluff, or Skill Bonus: Sense Motive.
-Deep Magic: Guado tend to live underground when they can, as a means to remain undisturbed, and also as most gates to other planes of existence are found in underground locations, accessed through caves. Particularly rude or unscrupulous non-guado will often make the snide connection between this habit and the practice of burial. Guado with this ability gain a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance and a +2 racial bonus when dispelling magic. This ability replaces Deathless Spirit.
Favored Class Options
The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.
-Black Mage: The Black Mage gains +1/6th of a Mage Talent.
-White Mage: The White Mage inflicts +1 damage to undead creatures when using Lay on Hands.
-Astrologian: The Astrologian gains +1/6th of an Astrology Secret.
-Cleric: The Cleric inflicts or restores +1 damage/HP on undead targets when using Channel Energy.
-Dark Knight: The Dark Knight restores+1 HP on undead targets when using Harm Touch.
-Holy Knight: The Holy Knight inflicts+1 damage to undead creatures when using Lay on Hands.
-Illusionist: The Illusionist gains +1/6th of a Veil Power.
-Necromancer: The Necromancer restores +1 HP on undead targets when using Harm Touch.
-Summoner: Reduce damage dealt to summoner as a result of Life Link by 1. Maximum 6.
-Time Mage: The Time Mage gains +1/6th of a Temporal Talent.
-Scholar: The Scholar gains +1/6th of a Scholar Exploit.
I constructed the Guado using the rules for race creation from Pathfinder, choosing abilities that I thought would fit the "Planar Afterlife" theme as much as possible. The Movement traits come from the Guado's supposed speed compared to the other races within Spira, and the Detect Undead SLA comes from the Guado being able to detect "the Scent of the Farplane". Unsent as far as I can tell are essentially a form of undeath, so it seemed to fit the bill without much hassle, while still fitting in without problem into settings that have no Farplane and no Unsent. Guado ended up at 11 RP using said system (10 if Fast Movement racial trait is taken).
Thank you for reading! Any feedback or comments on what I've done would be much appreciated.
Guado
A people living in the land of Spira. Tall and thinly built, with long limbs, large hands with prominent fingernails, and narrow, angular faces. Their skin is pale and somewhat translucent, and their features are often framed by a collection of thin blue veins that pulse underneath their skin. They have soft, melodious voices and are disinclined to be harsh. They are known for their brightly coloured and wildly styled hair, often floral or tree-like. They are a sombre and astute people, inclined towards traditionalism. Guado are most known for their connections to the forces of death and their links to the afterlife, often tasking themselves with protecting places with strong ties to other realms and planes of existence, especially those where souls are confirmed to reside after their death. Guado take well to the life of the faithful, and are often found as priests in places where they are not known to commonly reside, performing embalming services, funeral rites, and other rituals associated with death. However, their association with death has a habit of making them a bit alien or unnerving to other races, and Guado, as a result, tend to form their own communities outside of the settlements of other races, rather than intermingle freely.
Guado Racial Traits:
-Ability Score Racial Traits: Guado are both preternaturally cunning and attuned to the world around them, but their slim figures are not known for their sturdiness. They gain +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Constitution.
-Size: Guado are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
-Type: Guado are Humanoids with the Guado subtype.
-Base Speed: Guado have a base speed of 30 feet.
-Languages: Guado begin play speaking Common and Guado. Guado with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following for their bonus languages: Al Bhed, Draconic, Elvaan, Lalafell, Numish, Ronsaur, or Vieran.
Defense Racial Traits:
-Deathless Spirit: Guado are creatures that are attuned to the bridges between life and death, being sensitive to their ebbs and flows, yet resistant to their negative effects. Being living creatures, the forces of death and undeath have less sway over them than other mortals. They gain Elemental Resistance 5 against Dark damage. In addition, they do not lose hit points when they gain a negative level, and they gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy or dark spell varieties.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits:
-Skill Bonuses (Bluff and Sense Motive): Being associated with the powers of life and death makes one hard to read, and by extension hard to fool. This is only further exacerbated by the sometimes lyrical, poetic, or unsettling ways Guado tend to speak. Guado gain a +2 racial bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive skills.
-Skill Training (Knowledge: The Planes, and Knowledge: Religion): Knowledge of the ways of life and death, bridges between the two, and the aspects of undeath are core to the beliefs and the traditions of the Guado. Guado always treat Knowledge (The Planes) and Knowledge (Religion) as class skills.
Magical Racial Traits:
-Spell-like Ability (Detect Undead): Guado have the uncanny ability to detect undead creatures, almost as if they can sniff them out. They are able to cast Detect Undead (as the Pathfinder spell) at-will, at no MP cost, using their character level as their caster level.
Movement Racial Traits:
-Moderate Fleetness: Guado’s long limbs allow them to walk and run faster than what others expect of them, but their slender frames only make these advantages go so far. So long as a Guado has no more than a medium load, and is not fatigued, exhausted, or suffering any ability damage to its Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution, their base land speed is increased by 5 feet. Guado who have attained a Swim speed may apply this bonus to it as well, but not to any Climb, Fly, or Burrow speeds.
Alternate Racial Traits
The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.
-Carrion Sense: Some Guado are more attuned to deathlike energies than others of their kind, having the disturbing ability to track creatures by the scent of their lifeblood. This functions like the scent ability, but only for corpses and badly wounded creatures (creatures with 25% or fewer hit points). This ability replaces Skill Training.
-Fast Movement: Some Guado, especially those of a more athletic bend, have refined their longer stride to boost their speed even further. Guado with this racial trait increase their base land speed by 10 feet. This ability replaces Moderate Fleetness, and one of either Skill Bonus: Bluff, or Skill Bonus: Sense Motive.
-Deep Magic: Guado tend to live underground when they can, as a means to remain undisturbed, and also as most gates to other planes of existence are found in underground locations, accessed through caves. Particularly rude or unscrupulous non-guado will often make the snide connection between this habit and the practice of burial. Guado with this ability gain a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance and a +2 racial bonus when dispelling magic. This ability replaces Deathless Spirit.
Favored Class Options
The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.
-Black Mage: The Black Mage gains +1/6th of a Mage Talent.
-White Mage: The White Mage inflicts +1 damage to undead creatures when using Lay on Hands.
-Astrologian: The Astrologian gains +1/6th of an Astrology Secret.
-Cleric: The Cleric inflicts or restores +1 damage/HP on undead targets when using Channel Energy.
-Dark Knight: The Dark Knight restores+1 HP on undead targets when using Harm Touch.
-Holy Knight: The Holy Knight inflicts+1 damage to undead creatures when using Lay on Hands.
-Illusionist: The Illusionist gains +1/6th of a Veil Power.
-Necromancer: The Necromancer restores +1 HP on undead targets when using Harm Touch.
-Summoner: Reduce damage dealt to summoner as a result of Life Link by 1. Maximum 6.
-Time Mage: The Time Mage gains +1/6th of a Temporal Talent.
-Scholar: The Scholar gains +1/6th of a Scholar Exploit.
I constructed the Guado using the rules for race creation from Pathfinder, choosing abilities that I thought would fit the "Planar Afterlife" theme as much as possible. The Movement traits come from the Guado's supposed speed compared to the other races within Spira, and the Detect Undead SLA comes from the Guado being able to detect "the Scent of the Farplane". Unsent as far as I can tell are essentially a form of undeath, so it seemed to fit the bill without much hassle, while still fitting in without problem into settings that have no Farplane and no Unsent. Guado ended up at 11 RP using said system (10 if Fast Movement racial trait is taken).
Thank you for reading! Any feedback or comments on what I've done would be much appreciated.