Post/Author/DateTime	Post
FireAge 12-09-05, 04:04 AM	I'm building a NPC alienist of level 17. I need to find a race that would be fitting. Is there any (N)PC race that would fit the whole cthulhu theme? Any outsiders from a choatic evil plane or something like that? Preferably not too high a LA.
Nurgan_the_drunked 12-09-05, 07:05 AM	Gnomes! Seriously, I'd actually use something mundane, a human, gnome or elf (there aren't that many weird outsider races). If you're going for creepy far realms cultists, they acquire a lot more impact if they're not just monstrous creatures from other worlds, but fairly normal folk who, for some reason, turned towards lunacy. It gives it a real "But for the grace of god" feel, especially if you can link him to some normal people (the brother of the nearby baker, who went...odd). I don't think there are that many outsiders that fit the bill, most things have a very high LA. The closest you'll get to that would be a tiefling. Aberrations are good, though, and a skum might work (they might have int penalties, though), as might an Elan. By the time he's finished his Alienist progression, he might well be unrecognisable anyway, so it doesn't impact it. While it's not per the rules, you could have him look like a mad splodgy mass, then turn into a mundane human when they kill him, or vice versa: just as a side effect of alienistness, and weirding them out. But trust me: noone will suspect the gnome.
FireAge 12-09-05, 09:13 AM	Nice, I like it. I think I will go with a common race. Should create more sympathy that way. And your right, it doesn't matter what he used to look like until they kill him. Maybe I'll make it a cute little gnomish girl, that should upset them a bit ;)
BadCatMan 12-09-05, 09:30 AM	I had an answer, then Nurgan went ahead and said the exact same thing. A normal person going strange is much more creepy. And Gnomes. One of these days, I might play that Gnomish Alienist I've been pondering. :) If you want a different sort of Gnome, take a look at the Chaos Gnome from Races of Stone. They live amongst normal Gnomes, so there's no real change to their background. They have favoured class Sorcerer, +2 Cha and focus on Chaos spells instead of Illusion (LA+1). I think a Chaos Gnome Sorcerer/Alienist would make a really good totally-freaking-insane character. Another interesting choice might be an Illumian. They are arcane text made flesh - how about one based on some forbidden text of outer madness? Perhaps this Illumian delved too deep searching for hidden lore, and was driven mad by what he found. He could have strange symbols of madness floating around his head. If you still want some Chaos-borne creature, try the Chaond Planetouched, from Monster Manual 2. They originate from Slaadi. Else, some variety of Illithid or Aberration or something else out of Lords of Madness would be the closest bet. I don't think there is vaguely humanoid playable Far Realms race yet. I don't think Tieflings and other Demonic creatures would fit the bill - they tend to be apart from the Cthulhu theme in D&D, and would rather gain powers through their own kind. They're Demonic, rather than Cthulhoid. One think I'd like to try with the Alienist is a character who has dedicated themselves to fighting these creatures from the Outer Dark, has studied them, borrowed their powers to fight them, and has stared too long into the Abyss*, and the Abyss has stared also unto him. Contact with the Far Realms, the horrors he's witnessed and enacted, has driven the character mad, fractured his sanity and reason, corrupted his soul and body, and ultimately consumes him. * To borrow a line from Nietzche. I don't mean the D&D Abyss.
FireAge 12-09-05, 03:06 PM	Thanks a lot. Lots and lots of good stuff. I'm thinking along these lines: Conjurer 7 / Alienist 10. She'll have 4 familiars (extra familiar feat 3 times). Pseudonatural Rat, Weasle, Cat and Bat. You approach a small gnomish girl sitting on a tree stump. Her eyes look sad and somehow unconnected. (roll a spot check) As you look closer something seems to be wriggling under her shirt, she speaks to you in a fast unfocussed voice:"Can you hear them? Hear them calling? They sound soooo hungry? I'm scared. Are you scared? You should be scared. Very scared. Too late."? She turns around abruptly. (roll a spot check) You see small dark figures lurking in the bushes nearby (the familiars). The girl seems to be focussed on them. Suddenly she starts chanting in a strange tongue. -------- If they try and stop her from casting, a contingency: dimension door kicks in. She'll cast a Sudden Extended Time Stop giving me 4-10 rounds to summon pseudonatural monsters and cast mirage arcana, changing the surrounding area into a landscape of nightmares. Maybe a few programmed images of enormous tentacle masses laying waste to a village of innocent humanoids. -------- You hardly blink your eyes, but it seems something has gone awry. Instead of being in the lush countryside you find yourself surrounded by dead trees and dying crops. In the distance you see horrors of ancient times feasting on a small village. The images turn your stomach upside down, and were it not for the dozens of tentacle like creatures surrounding you; you would have surely lost your lunch. (summon monster IX, VIII and VII to summong lots of lower level psuedonatural monsters)
SwordOfJustUs 12-13-05, 01:27 PM	Here is another option, not a race exactly but could fit what your looking for. There is a Template in Lords of Madness, called Half Farspawn, its +LA is hard to swallow some times as it is +4LA, but if you like to use halfdragons or half fiends, this template is as good or better. Give solid stat bonuses (the highest of which is +6 to con), tentacle attacks (2tentacles damage and reach based on size), spell like abilities, some DR etc. Tag that on to your base race if you care. It will of course lower your casting abilities, with a feat you can still cast as a 17th caster but you still will loose the spell access and extra abilities of your prestige class.
Amaril 12-13-05, 10:40 PM	The Diabolus (presented in Paizo's Dragon Compendium) is a purple-skinned, devil-looking, race of Outsider (Native, Chaotic) that reside on the Demiplane of Nightmares, which shares borders with the Far Realm and is coterminus with the Region of Dreams and the Material Plane. While most fight against the chaotic taint of the Far Realm, some embrace it. They are LA +0 in the issue of Dragon Magazine in which it was first published, but Dragon Compendium bumped them up to +1 for good, ability-based reasons (natural attack with a tail, plus poison).
Gallameed 12-14-05, 06:55 AM	I'd go for plain old human.... But, how about using the rules for shifters from the ECS by giving them a quick fluff change into something more unwholesome and far realms touched? Call them "Aberrants" instead of shifters and explain the "shifting" as "aberrant morphing". So a shifter with the "cliffwalk" shifter trait would become an Aberrant human who has the power to morph his hands and feet into slimy suckers/long furry spider-like limbs/whatever, giving him a climb speed of 20 and +2 bonus to dex. There are a ton of other shifter traits out there giving different effects so you could make an "Aberrant" who could have any sort of gift from claws to armoured skin, best of all this is all for a +0 LA. Other far-realmsy races to use would be the Half-delkyr from MoE and changelings from ECS and MM3.
Gallameed 12-14-05, 07:13 AM	You could use other planetouched races like Air genasi, just think of a way to change the flavour into a far-realms-touched vision instead of the elemental planes. How about a poor little villiage in the sticks that was built near an old cairn that is linked to the far-realm, the taint of it saturating the villiage and surrounding farmland like an invisible corruption/radiation perhaps even with pupose..... The people in the town are sometimes born different, many are drowned in the stream as a baby because they are so disgustingly warped. While for others "gifts" are more about whats going on inside their body and they gain powers of insight/psionics. Maybe the taint dosent outwardly manifest until puberty and once it does they leave home for fear of being killed. Maybe a far-realms touched wizard or sorceror "grew" or "gave birth" to his familiar? Instead of having a raven familiar you could have a mis-shapen foetus with membrane like butterfly wings who speaks in a rasping voice and always refers to you as "mother", even though your male, you just use the raven stats of course. Maybe the towns folk know about the taint and often invite outsiders to stay longer at the town? Having some dark agenda? Asking adventurers to settle there, marry their daughters and sons etc...
Amaril 12-14-05, 07:45 AM	There's also the Tsochar for Lords of Madness. They're the sinewy part of these illustrations and they occupy host bodies. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/lom_gallery/88127.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/lom_gallery/88130.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/lom_gallery/88128.jpg
Gallameed 12-14-05, 07:53 AM	There's also the Tsochar for Lords of Madness. They're the sinewy part of these illustrations and they occupy host bodies. I love those guys, but they are a little hard to use as a PC race IMO, dont think many DM's would allow it, although I might if a player promised not to totally abuse it. ;) Oh, it's for an NPC....:D
FireAge 12-16-05, 05:08 PM	Thanx guys, great material. I'll check out those Tsochar, Diaboli and Farhalfspawn thingies :) Would you happen to know the issue of dragon containing the diaboli? Well I'm off to do some reading.
Amaril 12-16-05, 05:14 PM	Thanx guys, great material. I'll check out those Tsochar, Diaboli and Farhalfspawn thingies :) Would you happen to know the issue of dragon containing the diaboli? Well I'm off to do some reading. I think the Diaboli were in Dragon #327.
Cauthon 12-16-05, 08:21 PM	If there ever was a race that's supposed to worship Cthulhu, it's the Mind Flayers. They're like tiny mini-thulhus running around.
FireAge 12-17-05, 03:07 AM	I think the Diaboli were in Dragon #327. Found them, thanks. And they fit the theme perfectly :)