New Race: The Negus [Archive] - Wizards Community

New Race: The Negus [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Lawlicron
07-21-07, 10:54 PM Negus
The Negus are an ancient race resulting from the couplings of dark elves and giants. They have been isolated in their tribal societies for many years but have recently opened up to the outside world.

Personality: Negus are usually bound to their tribe and their tribe's interaction with other tribes. Negus delight in making deals and setting up pacts and usually don't break such agreements. They also tend to trust others a little too quickly but become fierce enemies when betrayed. Betrayal is the greatest sin to the Negus. Being hunter gatherers that live in small tribes the Negus can sometimes seem lazy but they meet the needs of the group quickly and have plenty of time to make family bonds very tight.

Physical Description: The Negus resemble their dark elf ancestors in some ways but have lost many ties to them besides their ebony skin. The Negus are incredibly tall and slender, standing at 9 and a half to 10 feet tall but weighing only 250 to 300 pounds with females weighing slightly less and lacking a few inches in height. Their eyes vary from bright yellows and greens to a more rare deep crimson red. Negus do not posses the capability to grow hair, this stems from a small portion of their elven ancestry but mainly the inbreeding that goes on in tribes. The Negus also sport white sharp teeth and jaws that fall naturally to a wide long grin. This feature makes the Negus look quite menacing. Negus mature at the age of 40 and usually live a little past 115 years of age.

Relations: To the Negus someones worth can only be determined by their actions and as such everyone starts off as a clean slate to a Negus. This tends to the Negus to be too trusting of strangers but when betrayed Negus often turn violent.

Alignment: Negus tend to be lawful or neutral. Their personalities usually lead them to a neutral alignment concerning good and evil as well.

Religion: The Negus usually pray to a nature god for a good return on their crops. They also sometimes pray to The God of Slaughter during war times but see active worship and sacrifice to him during peace as an act of war against other nearby tribes if not directly targeted anywhere.

Language: Negus speak giant and common. Negus also usually learn elven, goblin, or an odd dialect of undercommon. They do not have their own language but posture and eye contact are incredibly important tools for them during conversation. A slumped posture is considered shameful in formal conversation but is perfectly exceptable in casual conversation.

Names: Negus choose their own names upon reaching the age of 20 and are usually called by an abstract or joking nickname until that time. It is a right of passage for a Negus to choose his name and choose it wisely.

Adventures: Negus usually adventure out of a sense to discover what their people do not know about the world and to bring back items and stories to tell to their people. Most adventuring Negus are rangers, but many favor rogue or fighter.

Racial Traits
Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, -2 Con, -2 Int The Negus are intellectually hindered by their culture and are physically frail due to inbreeding within tribes, but very limber and swift.
Type: Humanoid
Size: Large
Speed: Negus have a base land speed of 30 feet. Although tall the Negus are slowed by their slender builds and weak frames.
Low-Light Vision: A Negus can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. The Negus are celebrated moonlight hunters.
Ineffective Reach: Negus can attack at normal reach for a creature their size but only threaten out to an area of a creature one size category smaller.
Weak Frame: The Negus are treated as a creature one size category smaller for the purposes of carrying capacity.
Skills: The Negus' giant toothy grin make them very intimidating giving them a +2 bonus to intimidate checks and a -4 penalty on diplomacy checks.
Weapon Familiarity: A Negus may treat Bolas as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons. The bola is a traditional hunting weapon of the Negus.
Automatic Languages: Giant and Common
Bonus Languages: Elven, Undercommon, Goblin, Orc
Favored Class: Ranger

Repost of the original I did awhile back with all the changes. I did some play testing with them and they turned out to be pretty balanced in the long run. At early levels they are beasts with grappling and huge weapons, but it begins to balance out when the wizards first start to pull ahead.
HalfMunchkin
07-21-07, 11:17 PM I like it. I would like to play one.
locustechpriest
07-22-07, 01:00 AM I would suggest either making this into a giant, or medium creature with powerful build. Also note that large creatures get a bonus to strength and penalty to dexterity in most cases. You are setting up this race, it would seem, to be an unnaturally spry hulk that cannot use its size to any form of advantage. The wording on the reach ability threw me for a loop, so I have no idea what is happening there.
Lawlicron
07-22-07, 01:15 AM I would suggest either making this into a giant, or medium creature with powerful build. Also note that large creatures get a bonus to strength and penalty to dexterity in most cases. You are setting up this race, it would seem, to be an unnaturally spry hulk that cannot use its size to any form of advantage. The wording on the reach ability threw me for a loop, so I have no idea what is happening there.

The things you pointed out there (I bolded them), thats the point.

The reach ability basically does this. They are large and have 10' reach. But when they aren't using it to attack they only threaten with their reach out to 5' which means wizards can 5' step out of their AoOs and similar stuff like that. So their reach becomes less of a benefit.
Shadowfax7
07-22-07, 01:50 AM What about Large creatures with the Slight Build ??
Omega_Grey
07-22-07, 02:00 AM Looks basically the same except for the loss of slight build and the addition of weak frame. Actually they look a little dull to me right now, not enough true bonuses, I still say that slight build would work great with them, but I still havent had a chance to play test one for you. Oh, and how about making it so weak frame only lets them carry one and a half as much instead of twice as much as a medium character? After all their gear does weigh more.
Lawlicron
07-22-07, 11:43 AM Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I had some people in play testing using the druid and pumping their strength up like crazy. This led to them being able to drag some ridiculous amounts of weight, and that really wasn't, flavor wise, what I wanted the race to be able to do.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lawlicron 07-21-07, 10:54 PM	Negus The Negus are an ancient race resulting from the couplings of dark elves and giants. They have been isolated in their tribal societies for many years but have recently opened up to the outside world. Personality: Negus are usually bound to their tribe and their tribe's interaction with other tribes. Negus delight in making deals and setting up pacts and usually don't break such agreements. They also tend to trust others a little too quickly but become fierce enemies when betrayed. Betrayal is the greatest sin to the Negus. Being hunter gatherers that live in small tribes the Negus can sometimes seem lazy but they meet the needs of the group quickly and have plenty of time to make family bonds very tight. Physical Description: The Negus resemble their dark elf ancestors in some ways but have lost many ties to them besides their ebony skin. The Negus are incredibly tall and slender, standing at 9 and a half to 10 feet tall but weighing only 250 to 300 pounds with females weighing slightly less and lacking a few inches in height. Their eyes vary from bright yellows and greens to a more rare deep crimson red. Negus do not posses the capability to grow hair, this stems from a small portion of their elven ancestry but mainly the inbreeding that goes on in tribes. The Negus also sport white sharp teeth and jaws that fall naturally to a wide long grin. This feature makes the Negus look quite menacing. Negus mature at the age of 40 and usually live a little past 115 years of age. Relations: To the Negus someones worth can only be determined by their actions and as such everyone starts off as a clean slate to a Negus. This tends to the Negus to be too trusting of strangers but when betrayed Negus often turn violent. Alignment: Negus tend to be lawful or neutral. Their personalities usually lead them to a neutral alignment concerning good and evil as well. Religion: The Negus usually pray to a nature god for a good return on their crops. They also sometimes pray to The God of Slaughter during war times but see active worship and sacrifice to him during peace as an act of war against other nearby tribes if not directly targeted anywhere. Language: Negus speak giant and common. Negus also usually learn elven, goblin, or an odd dialect of undercommon. They do not have their own language but posture and eye contact are incredibly important tools for them during conversation. A slumped posture is considered shameful in formal conversation but is perfectly exceptable in casual conversation. Names: Negus choose their own names upon reaching the age of 20 and are usually called by an abstract or joking nickname until that time. It is a right of passage for a Negus to choose his name and choose it wisely. Adventures: Negus usually adventure out of a sense to discover what their people do not know about the world and to bring back items and stories to tell to their people. Most adventuring Negus are rangers, but many favor rogue or fighter. Racial Traits Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, -2 Con, -2 Int The Negus are intellectually hindered by their culture and are physically frail due to inbreeding within tribes, but very limber and swift. Type: Humanoid Size: Large Speed: Negus have a base land speed of 30 feet. Although tall the Negus are slowed by their slender builds and weak frames. Low-Light Vision: A Negus can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. The Negus are celebrated moonlight hunters. Ineffective Reach: Negus can attack at normal reach for a creature their size but only threaten out to an area of a creature one size category smaller. Weak Frame: The Negus are treated as a creature one size category smaller for the purposes of carrying capacity. Skills: The Negus' giant toothy grin make them very intimidating giving them a +2 bonus to intimidate checks and a -4 penalty on diplomacy checks. Weapon Familiarity: A Negus may treat Bolas as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons. The bola is a traditional hunting weapon of the Negus. Automatic Languages: Giant and Common Bonus Languages: Elven, Undercommon, Goblin, Orc Favored Class: Ranger Repost of the original I did awhile back with all the changes. I did some play testing with them and they turned out to be pretty balanced in the long run. At early levels they are beasts with grappling and huge weapons, but it begins to balance out when the wizards first start to pull ahead.
HalfMunchkin 07-21-07, 11:17 PM	I like it. I would like to play one.
locustechpriest 07-22-07, 01:00 AM	I would suggest either making this into a giant, or medium creature with powerful build. Also note that large creatures get a bonus to strength and penalty to dexterity in most cases. You are setting up this race, it would seem, to be an unnaturally spry hulk that cannot use its size to any form of advantage. The wording on the reach ability threw me for a loop, so I have no idea what is happening there.
Lawlicron 07-22-07, 01:15 AM	I would suggest either making this into a giant, or medium creature with powerful build. Also note that large creatures get a bonus to strength and penalty to dexterity in most cases. You are setting up this race, it would seem, to be an unnaturally spry hulk that cannot use its size to any form of advantage. The wording on the reach ability threw me for a loop, so I have no idea what is happening there. The things you pointed out there (I bolded them), thats the point. The reach ability basically does this. They are large and have 10' reach. But when they aren't using it to attack they only threaten with their reach out to 5' which means wizards can 5' step out of their AoOs and similar stuff like that. So their reach becomes less of a benefit.
Shadowfax7 07-22-07, 01:50 AM	What about Large creatures with the Slight Build ??
Omega_Grey 07-22-07, 02:00 AM	Looks basically the same except for the loss of slight build and the addition of weak frame. Actually they look a little dull to me right now, not enough true bonuses, I still say that slight build would work great with them, but I still havent had a chance to play test one for you. Oh, and how about making it so weak frame only lets them carry one and a half as much instead of twice as much as a medium character? After all their gear does weigh more.
Lawlicron 07-22-07, 11:43 AM	Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I had some people in play testing using the druid and pumping their strength up like crazy. This led to them being able to drag some ridiculous amounts of weight, and that really wasn't, flavor wise, what I wanted the race to be able to do.