Brave New World
Four: Additional Races
Wild elves and hobgoblins are native to the Deluge Jungle. Many eyepopper hobgoblins now live in Ironhame. Patorens and centaurs were created by the zern, evil lifesmiths that mutate creatures. These two races are often ranger/swordsages and some become bloodclaw masters. Aasimars and tieflings came to the Land of Nine Swords due to the planar disturbances found in the Deluge Jungle. With the exception of the patoren, all races are found in the SRD with modifications listed below. The patoren are detailed below as well.
Aasimar: Level adjustment +1 replaced by taking a level of warrior at 1st level. This warrior level does not count against multiclassing.
Centaurs: Centaurs refer to themselves as stallions and mares and their tribes as herds. Despite acknowledging their animal heritage, centaurs are not horses and will not allow themselves to be ridden. A centaur who violates this belief may be banished.
Centaurs dislike the zern but do not wage war on them actively as the patorens do. Centaurs are generally an easy going race who simply want to roam and be left alone.
Wild Elves: Wild elves are barbaric and tribal. Wild elves’ hair color ranges from black to light brown, lightening to silvery white with age. They dress in simple clothing of animal skins and basic plant weaves.
Hobgoblin: Level adjustment of +1 is replaced with taking a level of warrior at 1st level. This warrior level does not count against multiclassing.
Typical hobgoblins wear clothes that are blood red with black-tinted leather and usually keep their weaponry well polished and in good repair. Every hobgoblin either belongs to a tribe or is bloodmarked (tribeless and marked for death).
Eyepopper Hobgoblins. Eyepopper hobgoblins’ hair color is yellow. They have red skin. Large males have blue noses. Hobgoblins’ eyes are black, while their teeth are yellow.
Eyepopper hobgoblins are city born and are easily distinguishable from Shrunken Head hobgoblins in the following ways. 1. They don’t have the shrunken heads of their enemies hanging on them. 2. They don’t wear the blood of their enemies as war paint. 3. They have blue noses not red. 4. They have a bloody eye tattooed on their head. 5. They have the viscous remains of enemies’ eyeballs impaled on their shield spikes and occasionally wiped on their tattoo.
Eyepopper hobgoblins go for mind games and brute force more than stealth. Even rank and file warriors receive some training in the Sublime Way while many leaders are warblades. They like to start combat with a Duel of Wills.
When performing leg breaking duties, the Eyepoppers don’t simply bust an arm. They like to carefully remove one of a victim’s eyes, still attached, and impale it on a spike so the spike is the last thing the victim sees out of that eye. Needless to say, captured Eyepoppers rarely live long and are usually killed outright.
Shrunken Head Hobgoblins. Shrunken Head hobgoblins’ hair color is black. They have dark orange skin. Large males have red noses. Hobgoblins’ eyes are dark brown, while their teeth are yellow. Shrunken Head hobgoblins tie the shrunken heads of defeated enemies to their gear. They wear war paint made from the blood of fallen foes.
Patoren:
- +2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma.
- Base land speed is 40 feet.
- Low-Light Vision.
- Bonus maneuver: Wolf Fang Strike 1/encounter.
- Clawshield is considered a Martial Weapon.
- Automatic Languages: Common, Patoren. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Sylvan.
- Favored Class:
- Hunter: swordsage.
- Priest: ranger.
- Warrior: martial ranger (see Wizards website or replace with barbarian).
- Standard Alternative Class Abilities (Player’s Handbook II):
- Druid: shapeshift.
- Monk: decisive strike.
- Paladin: charging smite.
- Ranger: distracting attack.
- Sorcerer: metamagic specialist.
- Wizard: immediate magic (even if not a specialist).
Patorens, a blending of elf and panther, were created by the zern. Humanoid, they are covered completely in hair, have muzzles with sharp teeth, and pointed ears on top of their heads. The zern wanted centaurs to carry patorens into battle. Neither species turned out the way the zern wanted.
In the Land of Nine Swords, patorens control a vast realm called Thess inside the Deluge Jungle. They have left their animal origins behind them. They refuse to use any terms related to cats when referring to themselves. Calling them catfolk or saying they live in prides is a grave insult.
The patorens have evolved a caste based system. The castes are distinguished by the body hair patterns of each patoren. The three castes are hunter, priest, and warrior.
Hunter. Hunters have black body hair with small tan circles. They follow traditions of skill and stealth. All others, including aura users and martial adepts without BAB +1 are hunters.
Priest. Priests have black hair covering their bodies and pursue magic using professions. All casters, whether using invocations or arcane or divine spells, fall into the priest caste.
Warrior. Warriors have black hair with light orange bands and are the fighters of the patorens. All fighters without magic (BAB +1 a level) fall into the warrior caste.
Patorens who take have more levels in a class outside their caste then a class inside their caste are exiled from Thess. Many of these outcasts travel the Land of Nine Swords as sellswords and freespells.
Because the patorens have erased all connections to animals, their religion has evolved into a unique institution. They worship Bria as Thessana, goddess of the hunt. Calling her a harvest goddess is another grave insult. Druids, rangers, sorcerers, wizards and other classes with animal followers do not follow those traditions in patoren society. Having a companion that is meat is not an option for patorens.
In addition, patoren druids will not use wildshape to turn into an animal. A druid who does so is exiled. When using shapeshift they appear draconic in form.
Way of the Dragon. The patorens follow a draconic tradition called the Way of the Dragon. Patoren monks and swordsages train in a hard style of martial arts. They take their painkill emotion (see below) and channel it into energy or ki. Instead of flurry of blows, they usually train in decisive strike, which they call dragonstrike.
Patoren warblades are sent to the hobgoblin warblade school of Ur-Thaldaar for training. Rare crusaders of Thessana train alongside monks and swordsages.
Painkill. A human with mild sadistic tendencies is considered aberrant. A patoren with the same trait is considered normal and healthy.
Painkill is an emotion found in all patorens. It is the struggle between the instinct to play with an enemy before killing them and the civilized notion of putting an enemy down quickly to win a battle. All patorens have a cruel streak of some kind in them. Monks tend to control painkill the best, while many warriors embrace painkill with relish.
Dragonhearts are patorens who master painkill and channel it into ki. Their emotion does not master them; instead they master their emotion and use it in battle.
Painkillers are patorens who embrace painkill. Fighters may take Improved Disarm and Improved Trip to draw out combats. Other patorens simply become barbarians, rage, and revel in slaughter.
Paradoxically, controlling or embracing painkill are both considered honorable pursuits in patoren society. The patoren Dragonheart who struggles to master painkill and the Painkiller who sharpens its effect are both admired for their strength and spiritual prowess.
Painkill is not an acceptable emotion to feel toward other patorens however, only the enemy. A patoren who is caught experiencing painkill while fighting another patoren is put to death.
Race Relations. Patorens hate the zern. They respect the centaurs, but cannot understand how they can refer to themselves as stallions and mares that live in herds. The old adage is, "Patorens and centaurs can be powerful allies but never friends."
Patorens and the wild elves have an uneasy relationship. The elves are uncomfortable with what the zern did to their ancestors and the patorens don’t like to be reminded of the fact. Interactions between the races range from occasional joint raids against the zern to conflict resolved using the Sublime Way.
Patorens and hobgoblins get along well. Both races are martial and respect tradition and status. Patoren warblades train at Ur-Thaldaar and hobgoblin swordsages learn the Way of the Draconic Fist.
Patorens find most humans patronizing and annoying. Only the most adventuresome patorens travel to human cities and they must struggle constantly to keep their painkill in check. The fact that hobgoblins and patorens get along so well doesn’t help humans accept them either.
Tiefling. Level adjustment of +1 is replaced with one level of expert at 1st level.
Next Month
More chapters follow.
Drive On (The Remaining Steps of the Sublime Way),
Charlie
