Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Cadwyn 04-21-07, 07:15 PM	Now that i'm reading through David Eddings Tamuli-series, I felt a urge to turn the Atan into D&D stats, and so i did...but since im awful at balancing races, i would want you to help me with that ;) If you have read the books, you shall see that I have made some adjustments to their history to more easily adapt to any campaign...or atleast that what i tried to do :D " Never kill Atan Never kill Yourself Obey your Owner Obey your Oath This is the Oath of Atan " Atan, The Golden Death When the last king of the Atan, Kiorlan the Wise, saw that his people was killing themselves he called a meeting with his race, and that wasn't that hard since they only where around three thousand left after a exeptionally terrible war, He talked to his people, telling them about the coming ending of their race if they didn't do something. He then came up with the idea that they would stop making their own desicions and become a slave race, selling their warriors to anyone who could command them to kill someone else than themselves. There was a surprisingly small resistance to his idea, since he was much known for his wisdom, but the resistance was easily taken care of by the rest. He then made the Oath, to never kill Atan again, and only kill others with the permission from the one who owns him. Then the atans changed their way of life and have grown considerably, they have also become a great source of slave mercenaries and bodyguards. Personality: The Atans are bred for battle, it is the meaning of their race. They are ferocious fighters that rarely show mercy in combat, and they have temper like a barbarian, and less control. And their temper is the main problem with atan, before the Oath they almost eradicated their own race with feuds and fighting. But since the Oath, they have become any merchants favourite bodyguard, and since they dont want to brake the Oath, they follow any order they are given from their owner. The Oath: The Oath is the basis of the Atan mind, it is sacred to them. To break the Oath is to become an enemy of the entire Atan race, and that never ends well. Physical Description: Atan are a rare race of large humans ranging from 6 to almost 8 feet in height,and weighing in around 250 pounds. Their size however, does not hinder their agility – they are just as agile as humans. Their facial features are human, although locked in a naturally dour expression, sometimes even appearing menacing. An Atan typically has thick hair worn long and braided, and ranges from browns to black. Their eyes are the full range of human colors. Atans speak with low-pitched voices, which sometimes can make them very hard to understand. A typical Atan lives for 200 years and comes to maturity at around 16. Their skin seems almost golden, and are known to be called The Golden Death The Life of Atan: They start training their bodys and skills from the age of four, and training is their life until they are considered ready, then they are tested to see their worth, some are sent to be sold as soldiers, caravan guards or even servants. But if they are good enough they are sent to special camps, where richer buyers are able to pick their choice of high-skilled bodyguard, elite soldier or even assasin. Some Atan are chosen to be mated with a female, they must make a child within a year or they are sold. On rare ocasions children with exeptional minds chosen to be sent to a camp full of mystics and druids, these children are given a chance to train their minds and become Magicians or Druids. Sometimes a Atan camp is raided by someones who want to take a few slaves without paying, and often sell these on the black markets. The Mark: Every Atan has a tatooed mark on his chest, 5x5 inches large, with his personal symbol, and the one who has payed for a medallion with that mark, owns him. Since the purchase must be done with the Atan present, he knows who owns him. So you CAN'T steal a Atan slave, anyone who tries often ends up dead. If the owner dies without making sure who inherits the Atan, he gets his medallion and returns to the camp where he grew up. Lands: The Atan has their main camps in deserts and other harsh regions since it is more of a trial, but they often have a few camps in every other land. Relations: The only relations the Atan has is with those that want to buy them, often Atans are pushed out of lands because they oppose slave trade. Alignment: The Alignment of an Atan is often chaotic before sold, and when sold they turn to neutral, and sometimes even lawful. All Atan think themself Neutral. Religion: The Atan are a godless race, they only follow their Oath Adventure: The adventures an Atan is often based as a protector for his owner, and they revel in any combat they are allowed to partake in. Some Atan are trained in magic or druidic arts. Age: Starting age: 16 Barbarian, Rogue, Sorc, Fighter = +1d4 Bard, Paladin, Ranger = +1d6 Cleric, Druid, Monk, Wizard = +2d6 Height and Weight: Male: Base Height = 6'4'' Height Mod = 2d12 Base Weight= 200 Weight Mod = x(2d6) Female: Base Height = 6'1'' Height Mod = 2d12 Base Weight= 190 Weight Mod = x(2d6) Atan (Female Atana) Medium(Humanoid) +2 Strenght, +2 Constitution, -2 Int, -2 Cha Large Stature: The Atan is larger than a normal human, and has a more innate strength, this gives them a +4 racial bonus to all grapple, trip, bull rush and overrun checks, it also gives a +2 to all strenght checks Blood of Battle: Since the Atan has trained in combat since birth he get the monks Unarmed Strike feature, and he does 1d6 with his unarmed strikes. If the Atan takes monk levels, this does not change anything from the class, a lvl1 Atan monk does 1d6 and it scales as by the class. Intimidating: The Atan is a large and very fit race, this can be a helpfull asset when trying to scare someone, with this they get a +2 bonus to intimidate checks Stamina: The Atan stamina is a wonder of the world, they can walk 12 hours before needing to rest, and if they hustle, they only take the nonlethal damage every 2 hours instead of after 1 Slave: The Atan need someone to tell him what to do,or he would kill all who even looks on him strangely. this is hard to make a rule about, but it would be something for the DM to think about, maybe another player bought himself a bodyguard Favourite Class(Fighter) +1LA My main concern is of course, is the LA enough? I would also appreciate any tips or pointers, both fluff or stat wise.
bobothechimp 04-21-07, 08:05 PM	I'm not the best at judging, but I would say this is pretty balanced. Edit: You should add how the Blood of Battle trait affects a monk's increased damage with unarmed strikes.
Cadwyn 04-21-07, 08:43 PM	done
adgramaine 04-21-07, 09:10 PM	Large Stature sits with me a bit weird.... The Strength vs Charisma doesn't seem to balance, esp. since if the main drawback is the "slave" bit. Maybe a -4 to Charisma and leave everything else as is? Keep in mind I am looking at this in a strictly mechanical way, as I never have gotten around to reading Edding's work. Yeah, Yeah, I know I should... :rolleyes:
Cadwyn 04-21-07, 09:34 PM	The Large Stature thing is a copy of the Jotunbrud feat from Races of Faerun, only added the +2 to strength check for flavour. The -4 Charisma would actually be a good change, since they are really bad at the diplomatic bit, and the Intimidating negates that penalty for intimidation and, yes, you should ;)
adgramaine 04-21-07, 11:31 PM	The -4 Charisma would actually be a good change, since they are really bad at the diplomatic bit, and the Intimidating negates that penalty for intimidation You can improve this by providing them with the racial feature of being able to use their Strength for purposes of Intimidation. I use that house rule all the time. ;) and, yes, you should ;) *sigh* I may never get to read everything I want, let alone afford what I want to read.... Oh well, at least I have my dice.... :D
jeffepp 04-23-07, 06:29 PM	The Atan have a god, but his name is none of the business of a non-atan. The god only reveals it's self (whether it is male or female is unknown) during ceremonies such as marages and coming of age. The god does not provide spells outside of this context, primarily because it Atans do not believe in asking for them. To them, asking for a spell from a god is demeaning to that god, and is of bad form. On the oath thing, er... I don't care for it. It tends to conflict with the original descriptions of the people. In fact, Atans are very likely to kill one another, and have to obey many social rules to reduce the slaughter. The point of being a slave race is to have a set of requirements to override these "atanacidel" tendencies. Also, consider the concept that atan are purchased by opposite sides of some conflict. When they met on the battlefield, they would be dealing with a conflict in there oaths (ie the command "kill the enemy" and not to kill another atan). I would rework the oath a bit to deal with this problem. As for there organization, I would say that they are along clan lines, with an elder counsel, chief, and war leader sharing the rule. Each clan would have it's own flavor, and have rivalries with other clans. These rivalries then could often break out into violence over territory. Each clan would send representatives to the homeland counsel, lead by a king and/or queen. There may be rouge clans, who may not follow the "rules". You might also consider the idea that a clan might "rent" it's self out as a mercenary unit. It is hard to make the specifics at this point, as they would have to be tuned to the campaign setting.
DragonicHeritage 04-24-07, 06:06 AM	Personally I'd give the Atans Endurance and Run as bonus feats instead of the fluff about running for 12 hours. For the blood of battle thing, I'd do something as follows -unarmed strike upgraded one step(1d4 for all save the monk, rather than 1d3) -Improved unarmed strike as a bonus feat -Never allowed to use a bow-EVER -Free weapon proficiencies with the longsword, short sword, battleaxe, mace, dagger, unarmed strike. I thought your 1d6 damage was a bit much... Also Mirtai was was onlt 8 or so when her village was attacked, and she still managed to get alot of combat training even though she was never instructed at all-she learned all through observing her parents. And she preferred to maim, rather than kill, and if she had proper training she would be more of a dnd fighter rather than a dnd barbarian. Atans aren't actually slaves. They are slaves only to the Tamul EMPIRE, rather than to any one employer. Some Arjuni do make raids stealing children, but these make poor slaves- they kill with anything, they grow so fast their age is difficult to determine, and they almost never work in brothels;)(well, at least until they actually come to maturity). I might even be inclined to give them a wisdom penalty in addition to your other penalties-more for the flavor because the crunch unfortunatly would probably be better represented as intelligence which you already have. The oath is a bit off too, as has been adressed. The god thing- The Atans never use magic except for ceremonies, because they feel asking for more would trivialize their god, and dignity and pride is held in high regard in their culture-exactly what causes war between them, which caused them to submit to the Empire to save themselves. Other than that, this is good. I was thinking of statting them out myself, and you saved me a bit of wok thanks! :D