Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ivaylon 02-17-08, 05:04 AM	The Midken are the staunchest of fey allies if ever there was any. Ideas concerning this race have been in my mind for a while, merely a subordinate thought I put on the backburner and kept delaying. But now I managed to write my thoughts down on paper and there is still more to come, with the customs and languages section needing to be added and refined. So, here is the culmination of my work thus far. . . Midken Midken are a durable and dignified lot, a sturdy deer-folk who dwell deep in the most verdant of forests and at times amongst fey. And although not fey themselves the Midken are readily accepted by the fey, the Midken having ties so indistinguishably close to that of nature, and by thus receiving her blessings, that were it not for the noble nature and stalwart prospects of these Midken one would think them fey as well. When there forest demesnes are threatened these two races— that being the Midken and those of the fey—have been known to band together and with such might that only the rolling mountains and crushing trees themselves could afford bring a decisive if not final end to opposition. Of course, it takes a fey of exceptional mettle to side themselves and fight alongside the Midken and thusly most pixies and nixies, sprites and brownies will simply ignore the troubles and allow the ‘bulwark of grass and tree’ (a common epithet for the Midken whom so vigilantly ward against danger to their woody homes) to settle matters. Personality: The Midken are a race that holds dear to virtues and ethics. And among these ethics the most venerated are those of honor, courage, truth, will, and the knowledge that comes with age and for younger and more callow Midken, skill at arms. And although the Midken have a very set stricture about what is ‘ideal’ for others of their clan they are relatively acceptable to the faults and qualities of others, even those of the same race hailing from a different tribe. When the opportunity of relaxation presents itself the Midken do just that, preparing for the lives ahead of them by training, sparring, and holding tribal competitions followed by joining the revelries of other fey and exploring nature’s beauty. In wartime Midken are unrelenting in all endeavors, taking all precautions and using all means acceptable by their code, both personally and tribally, to achieve a higher chance of victory. War without a cause or war amongst tribes of the same race are looked down upon in disdain and repulsion by the Midken, any being to participate in such branding themselves as a hostile in all Midken-held territory. Physical Description: Midken are imposing indeed, the typical male standing 7’ 7” and the typical female 7’ 3”. Males, the warriors of Midken society, usually weigh somewhere between the range of 254-320 pounds, the majority of this bulk being both from height and a semi-composed yet fit, more oft than not acutely bulging, physique. Females, also know as the “White Daughters” in Midken society are far less bulky, weighing a mere 168-230 pounds. Regardless of gender the Midken resemble large deer, bodies adapted from centuries of survival and nature’s own experimentation, to create a bipedal being capable of any feats a human could attain through the advantages of opposable thumbs and two legs. The main distinction between the Midken and the humans however, insofar as build is concerned, are the cloven feet the Midken retain from their ancestry, despite their straight legs and benefit of knees in place of arced shanks. Crowning the head of male Midken are a rack of branching antlers, an indicator of both maturity and might to attract the females of this race. As the epithet “the White Daughters” suggests female Midken commonly have a coat of hair ranging from pale white to light beige, clean and pure of any other mark. The males of this race have a similarly clean and unmarked coat of fur, albeit the male’s fur is typically thicker and of either a swarthy brown, a matured red, a more lighter shade of brown, or of a russet hue. Relations: Midken have good relations with much any one, usually on an individual scale moreso than a societal scale as the Midken befriend all to come into their forests with good intent, or at least those to show similar good intent. Midken have no particular enemies except for those who would commit acts of genocide and among their allies are a long list of fey, chief of which include: satyrs, centaurs, elves and Wyldar. Alignment: Despite their discipline when it comes to wartime and their constant amelioration of skill the Midken are a race of tranquility, the maintenance of tranquility being the sole reason they would ever push themselves to such rigorous ends. Calm, happy, and caring. Firm, stout, and set. All describe the Midken in and of themselves and also the qualities they are commonly associated with. Midken are most always neutral good, valuing the benefits proper law provides but not holding to firm to such laws lest the undo the ways of nature, the ways they seek to preserve through any adversity to come. Midken Lands: Midken dwell deep in forested areas, preferring groves their druidess females have hallowed or, in a more retroactive view, the wide space an extensive meadow provides. Loving both the fruits and berries growing in these boscages and the herbs and edible plants supplied by meadows the Midken have no essential need to have one over the other, nor do they prefer one over the other, taking as what comes to them in natural cycles and not storing or otherwise hoarding food that nature herself so selfishly furnishes all with year-round. Midken find other lands uncomfortable to settle down in, all though merely passing by has no conspicuous effects on their mentalities. As creatures with close ties to nature the Midken cannot stand to see nature destroyed or otherwise such landscape as a badlands or desolation allows, raging or despairing as fits the situation under such circumstances. Religion: Midken religion is complex for such a simplistic race. It is a succession of one age on top another, the praise of all that are, are to be, and were in every single object, the potential, past, and present life energies that all possess, from the deepest of rock to the highest of tree. And all do in fact have a memory, a memory that the Midken druidess’ call upon, a memory the druidess’s recall and read with nature’s allowance and by doing so discovery yet another chapter to the book of existence, the book of nature, fitting each piece together one by one in hopes to create a depiction of wholeness—in order to reimage every state of the world and to hold fast by the beauties and laws she sets as ‘right’. Thusly the Midken praise no deity but instead the concept of nature itself, the word of which is (masculine) “Gweheir” or (feminine) “Ghaiy”. The masculine form of this word is also believed to be a nature god in other cultures. Perhaps he is and the Midken’s language coincidence with the god is merely that, a coincidence, but more than one wise Midken sage has there doubts about the outside world and their religions. Language: The Midken have a very formalized and complex form of language. Despite this language the only records they keep are graven into rocks, this being the language itself recorded, for the Midken desire to record nothing else. The core specifics of this language change from region to region as the spoken Midken word revolves around what area the particular tribe or grouping of Midken hail from combined with the lands they now frequent. This means that Midken language is always changing with the passing of years, in sync with the flow of nature herself in an incessant flux of history untold respoken in but a few sentences spoken in the Midken tongue. Aside from their own native tongue of ‘Midken’ these stags and does can speak sylvan and the more sagacious sages of older age usually know, in addition, both elven and at times common. Names: Just as their language Midken names are constantly evolving as well, changing to represent the various feats, accomplishments, successes, even faults or mistakes done by that particular Midken. And although the Midken language is intricate indeed they have a simple solution to creating names; by adding the base meaning of each accomplishment together in order of precedence and forming a name. For “Example A” we will use a young red stag who is, thus far, nameless. It is his naming day, the time when the Midken youths are deemed mature and are given names, the specifics of which they discuss with their elders who make sure the ‘stags’ title justifies himself and his deeds are true events that occurred to that particular ‘stag’. “Example A” has once killed a boar in a hunt. Among his tribe “Example A” is the most honorable of all his kin. Furthermore “Example A” is well-known amongst the females for his lustrous red coat of hair. The Midken word for boar and hunt are, as follows, Hyr and Rinv. The Midken word for honor is Jakan and the Midken word for red is Ryd. Now, amongst these options “Example A” discusses the attributes and feats he admires most about himself, which is as follows: 1) “Example A” feels most proud about his being the most honorable of his tribe, shortly follow by his 2) slaying of the boar and 3) red hair. Here is the formula then: Jakan+Rinv(The act comes first before what was acted upon, in this case the boar being slain)+Hyr+Ryd=Jakanrinv Hyyrrd As is this name doesn’t sound particularly right, no? If the last word of the first name is a consonant than that consonant is eliminated and the name is left as is. Also, whether in first or last name, if two letters appear side by side you get ride of the second letter or letter following in sequence. Combining these basic rules we now come up with this, may I add decent, name for our young “Example A”: Jakanrin Hyrd. Take this name for example, an incomplete variant that “Example A” could have chosen instead; Rydhyr Rinvjakan. When presented with a peculiar sound in the name, or a sound the named doesn’t otherwise desire, he may eliminate as many vowels and consonants as he likes, so long as one of that vowel or consonant remains in the given name, first and last names apart of course. And so, our variant “Example A” could by named this, a more desirable name to my ears: Rydhr Rinvjakn. Notice that boar doesn’t come before slay in this sentence. It isn’t a required rule, merely preferable among Midken society and only meaningful when one is in a position of power…who would want to be ruled by the king who can’t even construe his name properly I ask you? These rule works for males just as well as it works for females. The differentiation in female and male names is the fact that females are named after more delicate aspects of nature and ethics while males are named after more valiant or masculine names, and thus female names tends to have more vowels and flow much better while male names are more imposing to the tongue. Also, as another basic rule of Midken language, if one has the same consonant in the first part or last part of both his names he may delete one or both of them in order to achieve a desired sound. For example: Rhydr Rinvjakan can easily be changed to Hydr Invjakan, Hydr Rinvjakan, Rhyd Invjakan, etc. Note that the first letter of a name can also cancel out the last word of a separate name (last, first name) for desired effect as well, as seen in Rhyd Invjakan. Also note that a consonant cannot be used to get rid of a consonant in the same name. A vowel can never be the first component of any masculine name. If the vowel is the first part it can either be deleted until a consonant becomes the first vowel or it can be switched out in position with the nearest consonant, and thus Hydr Invjakan would instead be Hydr Nivjakan. The Example Male Names Meanings: Jakanrin Hyrd (honor, hunt, boar, red), Rydhr Rinvjakn (red, boar, slay, honor). Midken society has also been known to give abbreviations or bynames to members of their race and tribes. For example, Rhdhr Rinvjakn could have the nickname red slayer, which would be translated as Rydrinvar (in masculine names the suffix –er is made by adding ar to the end of the word in question. In female names this is done by adding a number of personal and verbal choices, which are: au, ra, rah, and ru. Another example of this would be slayer of honor, which would be translated as Rinver ur Janak. Notice that I used ur in place of the word ‘of’. You can do this in a similar way. For masculine you can use ur, ro, ri, and ir in order to replace the word ‘of’ and for feminine you can use the words ar, rem, or, and na to replace the word ‘of’. Confused yet? Don’t be, it’s simple and at first you should feel overwhelmed. Try some practice names along with the extra words I will provide soon and have fun developing your own distinct name! If you don’t like the sound of your name don’t forget the various variant name-making mechanics provided to further customize your name’s distinctive sound. And with all of these variant name-making mechanics even the oldest of elder Midken’s names could be shrunken down to size (all though elder Midken pride themselves on their long names, so that is unlikely to happen). List of Midken Words and Terms (rah-ul) Raul=blood (vall-pis) Valpis=flower, particularly the violet (rih-und) Riund=heavy;bulky (mell-ih-ur) Meliur=aroma;pleasing scent (vor-ix) Vorx=axe (gorn-en) Gornin=thorn;thorn-sword (flah-gee) Flaje=the color orange (neh-men/nez-mew) Nemin/Nesmue=masculine and feminine forms of fey (nall-deer) Naldeir= death;also refers to death taking shape as a material form, a force on this earth (whine-dot) Wyndaut=a gust of wind;one who rides the wind ( a word passed down from legend) (an-erd) Anrd= go (as in, “you must go” or “go, now!”) (kell-in) Celwin=the moon (hal-ah) Haila=the sun (riz-eh-en) Risein= liquid;a body of water, especially a large body of water such as a lake or river (jar) Jaur=death (yeah-zon) Yaezon=blazing;extremely bright (at-unn) Atuun=look (as in, “look, a bird”) (my-ith) Myieth= daring;bravado;guts (treh-ginn) Tregan= ambush;surround (tregan plus –er suffix=ambushed;surrounded) (men-doo-sa) Mendeuce=evil;ill-intentioned (skahn-sear) Skanrsir=black;dark;murky (keh-ten) Keten=run;flee;also used to mean coward or cowardice, obviously a hindrance to retreating allied troops even if commanded or otherwise willed to flee, an unlikely event (kaj-iss-fower) Kajisfuor=fire;flame;blaze;over-ambition;utter destruction or ruin (bleh-zhell) Blezshel= strike;hit;a blow (as with a weapon, hands, etc.) (rode-on) Rodon=the month of may (hrod-eer) Hrodier=hound (psey-keen) Pseykien=mental;of the mind or it’s energies;of mental facultie(s) (sree-on) Srcion=tree (lew-spah) Luspa=pretty;eloquent;dainty (bar-ih-zinn) Bargisen=spear (graw-jeer) Graajr=great;grand (you-aish) Uash=mighty Adventures: Young bucks of all colors and seasons always strive to achieve feats and accomplish hard-won tasks in order to gain renown, skill, and of course the echoes of such endeavors within the very individuals name when he is old and has nothing else to remember his once great prowess and character by. Females themselves can be found on excursions deep into the forests of her homelands or into other areas in order to understand its inhabitants. More oft than not these females are on pilgrimages of learning and observation just as their male counterparts are on missions of conquering of personal adversaries just as well as external adversaries. Midken’s shun metals of all types in combat and thus, by traveling far and wide and earning renown, they can be awarded metalwood weapons from the eldest of sages—a truly magnificent gift that, aside from wickerthorn wood (harder than steel) is the greatest of gifts that can be given to any Midken warrior. Such metalwood and wickerthorn can be crafted in the form and function of swords, a weapon Midken’s are very proficient with but only the best of warriors may wield, as the sword is a symbol of both might and taming of the land all ‘round. Any who wield a sword and aren’t worthy of bearing such will find themselves in a predicament when faced with a Midken of any gender. Midken Racial Traits --For Males: +4 Constitution,+2 Strength --For Females: +4 Wisdom, +2 Charisma --Medium Monstrous Humanoid --A Midken’s base land speed is 40ft. --Low-light Vision --Racial Hit Dice: A Midken begins with five levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 5d8 hit dice, a base attack bonus of +5, and base saving throws bonuses of fort +2, ref+4, and will +4. --Racial Skills: A Midken’s monstrous humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 6x (2+int modifier, minimum 1). Its class skills are Intimidate, Concentrate, Spot, Listen, Survival, and Knowledge (Nature), All Midken’s have a +4 racial bonus on all Knowledge (Nature) rolls. --Racial Feats: A Midken’s monstrous humanoid levels give it four feats. Weapon Proficiency: Midken’s are naturally proficient with all quarterstaffs and bows crafted of wood and with none others. This proficiency does not include crossbows or other such contrivances like crossbows. Also, Midken’s are treated as proficient with any sword or axe crafted of metalwood or wickerthorn. --+3 natural armor bonus --Special Qualities: Powerful Build or Nature’s Blessing Powerful Build: The physical stature of Midken’s lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a Midken’s is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the Midken is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A Midken also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A Midken can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category. This special quality is only available to males of the Midken race; females are given the Nature’s Blessing special quality instead. Nature’s Blessing: The fluency and peace with which female Midken’s possess seem to radiate out from their bodies in invisible aura’s that lighten the very atmosphere around them. Female Midken’s receive a +4 bonus to all charisma related abilities while they remain peaceful and maintain calm. Also, female Midken’s can cast the “calm emotions” and “calm animal” spell’s at will at a caster level equal to half of their total level in all classes. Furthermore, due to their soothing presence and placating attitudes female Midken’s receive the “Wild Empathy (EX)” ability as the ranger ability of the same name. This special quality is only available to females of the Midken race; males are given the Powerful Build special quality instead. --Automatic Languages: Midken and Sylvan. --Bonus Languages: Elven and Common. --Favored Class: Fighter for males and Druid for females. --Level Adjustment: +3 Feats that both were inspired by and fit well with the Midken Earth-touched You are unnaturally gifted with sturdy physical defense; your body is unto rock for hardness. Prerequisites: Con 18, endurance. Benefits: Every weapon making contact with your rough skin requires it’s wielder to make an opposed strength roll or have his weapon sundered. The opponent’s weapon still deals damage as normal although this unintentional sunder attack of your’s provokes no attack of opportunity. Furthermore, you may only add your constitution modifier for purposes of any sunder attempt made in this manner but you are not allowed to use your weapon to oppose your opponent’s opposed roll. On a successful sunder you deal no damage to your foe. Guided by Ancestral Spirits The spirits of your ancestors flow deep within your lineage, an ever-looming presence of comfort in the back of your mind. Prerequisites: Knowledge (nature) 10, BAB+5 Benefits: You may make a knowledge (nature) roll as a standard action, invoking ancestral spirits of old to come in your time of aid. Then, on your next turn, you may make a single attack as a standard action to gain the bonuses; for every 5 points this roll exceeds your level you may add +1 to both your next attack and damage rolls. Unquenchable Spirit In combat your competence is outmatched by a sole quality that you alone possess---a fighter’s spirit which cannot be quelled, a compassion for battle so terrible that the enemy will have more than a hard time putting the likes of you down for good. Prerequisites: Endurance, diehard. B]Benefits:[/B] When you reach -10 hp you no longer die, instead you gain extra hit points after the -10 threshold equal to your level. Also, you may make a standard action without being injured furthermore and you may make a full action at the cost of 1 point of damage every full action. Warrior’s Revelry You don’t necessarily delight in pain but when such is dealt to yourself you become aroused in mind, spirit, and body, an explosion of energy and action that inflicts just as much pain on the enemy as he did to you and then some. You’re truly a master of “an eye for an eye” tactics. Prerequisites: Str 18, BAB+7, Power Attack. Benefits: The damage dealt to you by a chosen foe, which there can only be one at a time, accumulates in a “cesspool of indemnification”, if you will. For every point of damage you take you may rid the “cesspool” of a point of damage also and, on your following attack (In which only one attack is applicable for this bonus damage. If your attack misses the points deducted from the cesspool are still subtracted from your overall amount of damage taken by a single foe) grant yourself a bonus to damage equal to the total amount of points spent. This ability progresses by multiples you choose, and so if you store nine points of damage you may deal nine points of damage on your next attack, if it hits, to your foe. When the total amount of points in this pool are equal to 20 you may either a) use those fifty points to deal an automatic critical threat, or B ) use those twenty points to confirm any one critical threat. At forty damage points or at any other multiple in your cesspool you may not both deal a critical and confirm one automatically. Vigorous Build You’re hale and hearty even in old age, a vigorous force with the constitution of a bear and a lifespan seemingly as long as an elves! Or so the neighbors say. Prerequisites: Con 17, endurance. Benefits: Against all fatiguing effects you gain a +4 bonus to your saves versus fatigue. When exhaustion arises as a threat you gain a +6 bonus to your saves versus exhaustion. Also, add +10 to your total age limit before dying. This feat does not stack and can only be taken once.
M-bark 02-17-08, 06:33 AM	The stat adjustments are somewhat unbalanced, IMHO. I find it fairly original to give either sex different stat adjustments, but physical stats are mostly regarded as being "more expensive". If Str or Dex is upped by 2, two mental stats or one physical stat must be lowered by 2 to balance it, whereas if a mental stat is upped by 2, a different mental stat must be lowered by 2 to balance it. That makes for quite some difference in power in this race. If they would be played, I'd think most would go for a male, unless their game would be roleplay-heavy. Also, what I find strange is that you introduce them as "fey allies", yet in the stat block they are suddenly monstrous humanoids. How come that?
Ivaylon 02-17-08, 07:24 AM	Alright, added the feat and langual updates. And you don't have to be fey to be an ally of the fey, especially when you're ties are so close to nature as are the Mikden's. And I agree on the racial stat thing, however I wanted a completely different flavor for each gender of this race, endows some uniqueness I think. As for the stats themselves, I know I should decrease mental faculties to compensate for their respectable other boosts, but this class is LA +3 for a reason ya' know. Right now I'm thinking about changing it to LA+4 though, not sure quite yet.
Captain_Kobold 02-17-08, 08:05 AM	Some interesting ideas, but a few questions/concerns: Racial feats: you say that they have four feats from their Hit dice, but 5 hit dice should only give two feats: one at 1st level and one at 3rd. The Males seem a little low-powered for their ECL. Unbalanced stats, and Powerful build are good, but at an ECL of 8, with only 5 racial hit dice, they don't really match up to females' ability to cast a couple of spells at will and use Wild Empathy. Might I suggest a Gore attack from their antlers? The females' ability to use Calm Animals and Calm Emotions at will as well as Wild Empathy seems a little redundant. Calm Emotions will work fine on animals remember. Also, you might want to allow their racial hit dice to count when determining Wild empathy checks, and to stack with any Wild Empathy class features (for example from Druid levels.) Just to clarify: Midken who gain weapon proficiencies through feats or class levels can use any metal weapons without problems? Racial feats: These seem a little too powerful for feats anyone with the prerequisites can take. Earth touched: Way too powerful. From the way it is phrased, anyone just hitting you has to beat your Str + Con mod with their Str mod, or their weapon just breaks. Not gets damaged, but is simply destroyed straight off, no matter what material it is made of or enchantment it possesses. Perhaps make it activate only on critical hits, and simply deal damage to the weapon equal to the damage it dealt. (Without precision-based damage.) Warrior's revelry: A little obscure in the explanation. If I understand it correctly, you gain a damage pool equal to the damage you recieve, and can remove points of damage from this in order to deal additional damage on attacks. You can also spend 20points to give either an auto-threat, or an auto-confirm. This is way too powerful. You should be looking at a ratio of 3:1 or 5:1 damage taken to bonus damage dealt from a feat.
Ivaylon 02-17-08, 01:31 PM	Oh wow..thanks, I'm surprised I didn't miss more small details though in my tiredness. Anyhow, I made the changes you suggested and it seems to look just fine, but I still have some things to do with this. And yes, those two feats in question were very over-powered, it's amazing what one can easily overlook. As for the Midken being able to use iron/metal weapons without a problem...I'm thinking on something to actually prevent that right now, as they are close allies of the fey and I need a way to make them more in jive with the rythms of nature. Not like they aren't as they are, but one step further won't hurt. Once again, thank you! And it is updated once more. Best Wishes, Khallhadras