Races

Races

Dwarves
Elves
Gnomes
Men
Rahk
Half-Nohr
Children of the Moon

Dwarves
Dwarves are a subterranean race that live under the Karûl, or Silver, Mountains. They average about four-and-a-half feet in height and are quite stout. They have dark hair (dark brown, deep red, or black) and dark eyes (black, dark-brown, or grey). Their skin is a greyish-brown color. They hide themselves in their mines and seek for riches, caring nothing for the troubles of Men and Elves. They receive a racial +2 to Constitution and a +1 size modifier to their AC. Once per day, a dwarf can use fists of stone to turn his hands hard as rock. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to double the dwarf’s total character level. During this time, his Strength score for hit and damage considerations is boosted by 4. The Strength score increases even if he is wielding a weapon, because he is drawing strength from the earth upon which he stands. If the dwarf is in the air, on a boat, or on horseback, he cannot use this ability. His other racial ability is meld into stone, which may be employed once per day. It functions as the spell, and, for duration and other purposes, the dwarf's total character level is his caster level. Dwarves do not have a hereditary dislike of Elves. In fact, the Dwarves trade their manufactured goods and their ores and gems with Larenai in exchange for mostly foodstuff and pearls. Dwarves live to a maximum age of 400 years.

Elves
Elves live to a maximum age of 1000 years. Males tend to be on average six feet in height. All Elves are immune to natural diseases. The sight and hearing of an Elf is ten times that of a Man. Also, an Elf matures at the age of 20, but he does not begin adventuring until around 100. Therefore, upon character creation, an Elven character receives 10 additional skill points. Elves receive, in addition to their normal racial bonuses, a +1 racial bonus to initiative.

Arkastanai: These elves are known as the Ones Led Out, or, more commonly among Men, the Grey Elves. They live in the Molfethen, the Arkastanai Citadels, principally in two cities: Liratelvan and Ilaniëk. These two cities are built high in the mountains, over hot springs. The Arkastanai are a society of wizards, for the gift of mir, or magic, runs strong in their blood. They receive a +2 to Intelligence. They mostly have silver or blond hair, a grey cast to their skin, and eyes of silver, violet, or blue.

Dal-Kalen: Known as the Rose-Children, or the Firstborn, for they live still in the home of their ancestors' birth, in the Briën Amir, among the Lyvariën. They do not like leaving their forest home. They receive the following racial ability score adjustments: +1 Str, +1 Dex. A player must get his DM’s permission to play a Dal-Kalen. Since Dal-Kalen live in a kind of paradise and are xenophobic, a player would have to come up with a very compelling reason why his character is out adventuring. Dal-Kalen can be recognized by their body tattoos, dark hair and eyes, and their swarthy skin.

Jer’in: The Jer'in are the Shapeshifters. They live in the Torrid Lands, on the coastal plain nestled between the Sandstone Mountains and the Ralthel Nualihn. They can shapeshift into their own animal totem at will. This animal totem is determined genetically. They receive a +1 to Dexterity. They resemble Dal-Kalen but without the body tattoos.

Larenai: The White Elves, or the Fair Ones, are the dominant subrace of Elves on Chronikos. They live in the Silbrios. They are the sailors and the masters of shipbuilding. They receive the following racial ability score adjustments: +1 Dex, +2 Wis. They are fair-skinned, have hair ranging from black to blond, but no red, and have eyes of any color.

Nayani: Known as the Lost Ones, the Nayani live underground, but they are not an evil race. They have light-sensitive purple eyes which gives them 120-foot darkvision. They have black or white hair and pale skin with slight purple cast. They receive the following racial ability score adjustments: +2 Con, +1 Str. Like other subterranean races, the Nayani have inherent magical abilities. They can cast wall of ice and cone of cold each once a day. The caster level for these abilities is the Nayani's total character level. In addition, they have developed a racial spell resistance to magic. They receive spell resistance equal 11 plus their character level.

Tamari: The Tamari are the desert Elves known as the Savage Ones. They live in the Dylak Thana, and their capital city is Halchek. They are a warrior race, with golden skin and eyes of gold, brown, and hazel. They receive the following racial ability score adjustments: +2 Str, +1 Con. Every Tamari has a psionic wild talent. A very few Tamari (5% of PC Tamari) are born with the uncanny ability to control the sandworms which live in the Dylak Thana. Most of these use their talents to become wormriders.

Half-Elves: These offspring of unions between Elves and Men are so rare that a player must roll 10% or less on percentile dice at the time of character creation to play one. If he succeeds, his character receives a racial +2 to Dexterity and 3 cheat fate points.

Gnomes
Gnomes are another subterranean race on Chronikos. They average about three-and-a-half feet in height. They are thin creatures with wiry muscles, tough bones, and large noses. Their bodies are almost completely hairless. Their skin is rock-colored, and their eyes are always some shade of grey or black. Gnomes are excellent miners, and though they are not as strong or hardy as the Dwarves, they understand the rock better and therefore mine it more efficiently. They receive a racial +1 to Int, +2 to Dex, -1 to Wis, and a –2 to Cha. They also receive a +1 size modifier to their AC. Their darkvision extends to 120 feet. They have a base spell resistance of 11 plus their character level. All gnomes can cast blindness, blur, and disguise self once per day. The caster level for these abilities is the gnome's character level. In addition, if they are near stone (i.e., a cave or a castle), they can freeze in place, which means they cannot be detected by normal sight or darkvision. For this ability to succeed, the gnome and the person who may potentially see him roll opposing Intelligence checks, modified for level difference. Gnomes live to a maximum age of 250 years.

Men
All men, regardless of subrace, receive cheat fate points. Cheat fate points are points that can be added to any dice roll, save attack and damage, to ensure a favorable outcome. The use of these points do not need to be declared before the dice is rolled. For example, a character needs to make a Fortitude save of DC 15. He rolls an 10 but has an 18 Constitution score, giving him a +4, for a total of 14. He failed the saving throw by 1. He may use one of his cheat fate points to this roll to make the save. 10+4+1=15. He succeeds at the saving throw. These points replenish every day. All men, regardless of class, receive 3 cheat fate points a day.

Fihdal: The Men of Blitendale, who speak the tongue of Blitendale, known as Fihdal. Fihdal is also the name of the Men of Blitendale who are of the same ancestral stock. They have all colors of hair except red and any eye color except black. They are fair-skinned. They are mainly an agricultural people, but Blitendale is their capital, and a few cities exist in the kingdom. The Fihdal are the dominant tribe of Men, controlling the fertile lands surrounding the Grey River.

Ithacul: The Men of Noriveä, also known in the Elven tongue as the Lorsei, or the Reborn. They are closely allied with the Larenai. They are a peaceful people, the tallest of the races of Men, strong but not as broad-shouldered as the Fihdal. They are brown-haired, and curls are common, with eyes of grey, green, and brown. And their skin is fair.

Jarad: The Free Ones they call themselves, but other Men call them the Gypsies. They are smaller than other Men; they are lithe, agile (+1 Dex, –1 Str), hot-tempered, and passionate. They are dancers, singers, and tellers of tales. A bard is worthy of their highest respect and can always find a seat at their campfires. They are not as tall and broad-shouldered as the Men in the north. They are olive-skinned with black hair and brown-black eyes. Their tongue is also known as Jarad. They are known for breeding the finest horses in Chronikos, so they are known commonly as the Horselords. Both men and women most often wear loose clothing of bright colors and flashy jewelry. They are known for their skill in weaving and dyeing cloth. They each have one psionic wild talent. PC Jarad must have a Charisma score of at least 15.

Lefhanor: On the northwestern coast of Galadrin’s Sky, Aras Arlluvia as it is known to the Elves, there is a country whose major city is called Godswatch. The Men who live here are a mixture of Fihdal, Vadal, and Jarad bloodlines, and though they look more Jarad than Fihdal, they speak the tongue of Blitendale. The Lefhanor will trade with any people.

Nirrion: The Men of Nirrion; they are blond-haired, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned. They dwell in the far eastern lands and are little known to the Western Nations of Men and Elves. The speak the tongue of Nirrion, known as Nirrion. They tend to be city dwellers and often employ slaves, from whom the Jarad sprang, as farmers in the hinterlands. The Men of Nirrion are ruled by the Priest-King of Dweruth, an evil serpentine god who demands living sacrifices.

Rolador: These Men are the masters of the bow. They have red hair that tends to curls. Their eyes are green or hazel, and their skin is the fairest of all races of Men and tends to be freckled. They live in wandering tribes, but they are a close-knit people and their numbers are the fewest among Men. They live on the grassy plains to the north of the Magic Wastes. They are known for their bizarre tattoos done in blue and orange ink, which some say gives them their mystical powers over the bow. A PC Rolador gets a +2 racial bonus to attack with a bow. In addition, he gets a +1 to hit and 3rd, 6th, and 9th character level. A Rolador archer may fire an extra arrow a round but at the cost of accuracy (-2 to all attacks). Also, since the Rolador have been isolated for so long, their tongue is very unlike the other tongues of Men. To be a PC, the Rolador character must have an Intelligence score of 15 or higher in order to speak the Common tongue of Men. There is little formal government among these men. They are bound only by the bonds of kinship, and there is no stronger bond among them than that of blood. There is no internal strife among the Men of Rolador. They do not farm.

Tuhlen: The Men of the northern tundra. They are tall, broad-shouldered, with black hair and blue eyes. They are the most primitive of the tribes of Men, living in roaming tribal clans that follow the reindeer and elk herds. They lack even the cohesion of the wandering Jarad. They have no major cities, but occasionally a village can be found, particularly on a mountainside where goats and sheep are raised. Some Tuhlen have been known to mine in the mountains. They are excellent woodsmen and hunters but honor the occupations of shepherd and farmer. They trade the gems they mine for something they consider more precious: magic from the Arkastanai. They prize iron above all metals. They are a practical people who have little use for the arts, but they value tale-telling, for few of them can read.

Vadal: The Men of Kaleni, closely related to the Fihdal along ancestral bloodlines. They are the most warlike of the tribes of Men. They speak the Fihdal tongue, though they call it Vadal, and there are some idiomatic differences that have developed over time. They have all colors of hair except red and any eye color except black. They are fair-skinned. They are an agricultural people.

Xipathian: These mysterious men from the jungle land of Xipathia are dark-skinned with eyes like snakes (that is, there are no whites of their eyes; they are a solid field of green, red, or yellow with black slits running vertically along the eye). They have small, snakelike fangs. Xipathians claim to be descended from an ancestry which was blessed by the Snake God, Xalarûn. Their society is based around the worship of Xalarûn and the rule of his regent, the Snake Queen. Xipathians are a society of chronic drug-abusers, mainly the local huchash plant, an hallucinogen which is harvested from the specialized plants they cultivate. Huchash, they claim, aids in their clarity of thought and understanding of Xalarûn's will. Although huchash has hallucinatory effects, many believe it is much more than an hallucinogen, for Xipathians show terrible withdrawal symptoms if they do not regularly smoke this leaf. Each full day that passes without smoking this leaf, the Xipathian must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) at a cumulative -1 penalty per day. If at any time he fails the save, he takes 1d6 Con, Dex, and Wis damage each day until either a score hits 0, at which time he falls unconscious, or he acquires some huchash and smokes it. If after an ability score has fallen to 0 he is not revived by the drug within a week, he awakens from his feverish coma, and his Constitution, Dexterity, and Wisdom scores are all permanently reduced by two. But he is free of the addiction, unless he starts smoking the huchash plant again. All Xipathians have sacs in their mouth which produce a strong poison (Fortitude save DC 15). This poison does 2d6 damage if the save is failed. In combat, a Xipathian, if he has one hand free and is in melee, gets a free bite attack every round (but made at -2), no matter what style of combat is being employed. The bite does 1d4 damage and ignores armor bonuses to AC. Xipathians receive a +2 racial bonus to Listen. They smell with their tongues, and their monochromatic eyesight is extremely limited (e.g., they can only distinguish the presence of people at a distance of 100 meters).

Zenji: The zenji are the men of the desert, specifically the Salt Desert. They are dark-skinned, like the Jarad, but they do not possess the innate Jarad beauty, gracefulness, or affinity with horses. What they do is survive by trading. They are most commonly known as the Dune Traders. They travel together in merchant clans, transporting goods up and down the Sweetwater. They are the smallest subrace of humans, and they are usually quite mysterious. The zenji know the ways of the desert better than anyone, except perhaps the Tamari. The zenji have the ability to camouflage themselves, so that they seem to disappear right before your eyes. If you are distracted for but a moment, a zenji can use that moment to disappear. The base chance of success is 15%, and this is raised 5% per level gained. This ability is not magical. True seeing will not reveal a hidden zenji's location. The zenji also possess the secrets of the sandworms. Somehow, they know when sandworms are near and thus can easily avoid them. They cannot control them as those few gifted Tamari can, but their ability to sense the worms makes them invaluable guides across the desert. No one travels without a zenji guide, and the zenji have made quite a profit off their secret.

Rahk
The Rahk look like half-giants, standing 7 to 8 feet tall. Their racial origin is unknown. They have no established culture but are instead mostly lone wanderers with only a few scattered settlements across the Endless Plains. They hate magic in all forms and will attack any spellcaster on sight. In addition, if a Rahk comes across a magical item, he will attempt to destroy it, heedless of his own safety. They receive a racial +2 to Strength and Constitution, and a –2 to Wisdom and Charisma. They receive a -1 size penalty to AC. Rahk enjoy a +5 racial bonus to all saves. They receive spell resistance 15 plus character level. When a Rahk attempts to destroy a magical item, it must make an item saving throw (DC=10+half the Rahk's total level+his STR modifier). Although the Rahk do not have priests, they do not have anything against priestly magic, unless the priests are of Kresek or Myrich. A Rahk cannot willingly fail his spell resistance to receive the benefit of a spell, even priestly healing magic, nor will he willingly drink a healing potion. Indeed, he would destroy it. Rahk live to a maximum age of 250 years.

Half-Nohr
The half-Nohr are hated nearly everywhere they go. Elves and Men will attempt to slay them on sight, for the former will sense their Nohr blood, and the latter will mistake them for full Nohr. Half-Nohr stand around 8 feet tall and possess incredible strength. They receive a racial +4 bonus to Strength and +2 to Constitution, but they suffer a -2 to Wisdom and a -4 to Charisma, which is maxed at 12. They receive a -1 size penalty to AC. They enjoy a racial +5 to all saves. Whatever class they are, their HD is one category higher. A half-Nohr shaman can follow Jehiel, Alaxton, Nistaran, or Veirakai. No matter what class the half-Nohr is (save monk), he has the racial ability to fly into a berserker rage. This rage works the same as the barbarian rage: Temporary increase of +2 to Strength and Constitution. Immune to mind-affecting spells or spell-like abilities. Suffers a –2 to AC. Cannot retreat or stop to be healed. Hit points temporarily increase 3 per experience level. The rage lasts a number of rounds equal to 3+ (newly improved) Constitution score's modifier. This can be done once per day. If the half-Nohr is a barbarian, this becomes an additional rage per day. Half-Nohr barbarians are never fatigued after raging. Note: half-Nohr monks have forsaken their violent heritage in order to discipline themselves. Therefore, they lose their racial ability to rage.

Children of the Moon
Children of the Moon are those rare and special children born with eyes of either crystal blue or crystal red. These beings are always either Elves or Men. No one has been able to explain just what these people are, but it is clear that they are only those infants born under a lunar eclipse, either Kerolindos eclipsing Kerolebos or vice versa. There are two eclipses a month, so not everyone born on those days are Children of the Moon. No one knows why or how a person is selected; he is just born with the telltale eyes. If Kerolindos is in ascendance, the eyes will be blue. If Kerolebos is positioned before Kerolindos, the eyes will be red. These children are born with some kind of extraordinary ability varying from child to child. There are tales of one who could read the minds of others, while other stories speak of a man who could raise the dead with the touch of his hand. There is no predicting what ability a Child of the Moon would have. For a PC to be a Child of the Moon, the player must, at the time of character creation, roll 5% or lower on percentile dice. The power given is at the DM’s discretion.