Sunday, December 18, 2011

Pokkle

The "queen bee" of a piklit colony:


Pokkle

Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice:
6d10+6 (39 hp)
Initiative:
+7
Speed:
30 ft. (6 squares), Climb 30 ft.
Armor Class:
17 (+2 size, +4 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple:
+6/+1
Attack:
Bite +7 melee (1d3-1) or Tail +8 ranged touch (1d6+4)
Full Attack:
Bite +10 melee (1d3-1) and 2 claws +5 (1d2-1) or Tail +11/+6 ranged touch (1d6+4)
Space/Reach:
5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Force fling, force aura, death throes
Special Qualities:
Low-light vision, scent, force immune
Saves:
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +5
Abilities:
Str 8, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 19
Skills:
Climb +11, Balance +11, Jump +11, Hide +7, Move Silently +3, Survival +10
Feats:
Weapon Finesse (B), Weapon Focus (Tail), Iron Will, Improved Initiative
Environment:
Temperate and cold forests
Organization:
Single and Pocket (2-8 piklits ) or Purse (9-36 piklits)
Challenge Rating:
3
Advancement:
6-10 (Small), 11-15 (Medium)
Level Adjustment:
-
Pokkles are the matriarchs of piklit society. Larger and more intelligent than piklits, pokkles protect piklit purses with their powerful force manipulation. Pokkles understand halfling, but do not speak.
Combat
Pokkles actively seek out and eliminate threats to their purses. They usually fight from range, making sure to protect any piklits being threatened first and foremost.
Force Fling (Su): A pokkle can fling a small ball of force up to sixty feet from the tip of its tail. This ball deals 1d6 points of damage, plus the pokkle's charisma bonus (1d6+4 for the typical pokkle).
Force Aura (Su): A pokkle is constantly surrounded by a small aura of force. This provides them with a deflection bonus to AC equal to their charisma modifier, minimum one. In addition, they may channel their force aura into any of the following effects, losing some of their deflection bonus to AC while the ability is in use and for some time thereafter. A pokkle may maintain multiple force effects at one time, but can never reduce its deflection bonus to AC below 0:
                Freedom of Movement: A pokkle may, as a free action, give up its deflection bonus to AC to benefit from an effect similar to the spell Freedom of Movement. This lasts up to one minute per point of the pokkle's charisma bonus (four for a typical pokkle), minimum one, but the pokkle loses its two points of its deflection bonus to AC for ten         minutes per round she was under the effect. She may also apply this affect to any other creature within five feet of           her instead of herself.
                Blur: A pokkle may, as a free action, give up one point of its deflection bonus to AC to benefit from an effect           similar to the spell Blur. This may last up to a minute per point of the pokkle's charisma bonus (four for a typical              pokkle), minimum one, but the pokkle loses one point of its deflection bonus to AC for a minute per round she was           under the effect. She may also apply this effect to any other creature within five feet of her instead of herself.
                Mage Armor: A pokkle may, as a free action, give up three points of its deflection bonus to AC to recreate the           effects of a mage armor spell on all friendly creatures within sixty feet of her, not including herself. This effect                 may last up to one hour per point of the pokkle's charisma bonus (four for the typical pokkle), minimum one, but       she loses the three points of her deflection bonus for an additional hour per hour she maintained the mage armor.
                Wall of Force: A pokkle may recreate the effects of a wall of force spell, except the effect is completely shapeable,                 and need not be in a plane. She can create up to three contiguous five by five foot sheets of force per point of   charisma bonus, that can be placed in any manner as long as all are touching and within sixty feet of her. This can       be maintained for one round per point of charisma bonus (4 four the typical pokkle), minimum one. Each round she          maintains them she can change their configuration by taking a move action. It consumes four points of her                 deflection bonus to AC, and she loses this for an additional hour per round she maintained the ability.
Force Immune (Su): Pokkles are immune to all force effects, unless they choose otherwise, and thus can walk through a wall of force, cannot be damaged by magic missiles, and ignore armor bonuses to AC from mage armor.
Death Throes (Su): A pokkle who is reduced to less than ¼ of her hit points may choose to activate this ability as a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. She may also activate this when knocked unconscious, asleep, paralyzed, or otherwise helpless, although she must somehow be aware of the danger to herself or her piklits, either from prior knowledge (such as an obvious threat immediately prior to being knocked unconscious or having fallen asleep, or because she retains sight when paralyzed or bound). This ability also activates automatically upon her death. All creatures not immune to force effects within sixty feet of her are immediately pushed back to the edge of a sixty foot radius surrounding her in the shortest distance possible, taking 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per 10 feet moved, and a spherical wall of force is erected in a sixty foot radius surrounding her body. This wall of force extends even into the ground and through objects, although the objects are unharmed. This wall of force lasts one month per point of charisma bonus (4 for a typical pokkle), minimum one, and as it is supernatural cannot be dispelled. The pokkle is killed by the use of this ability, and her body is completely destroyed, and so can only be resurrected via True Resurrection.
Skills: Pokkles have a +4 racial bonus Escape Artist checks and a +8 racial bonus on Jump and Balance checks. They use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Sown

I waffled back and forth on whether I should design this as a monster (probably as a template for undead creatures) or as a playable race. Eventually my love for playable monsters won over and I designed it as an LA 0 race, although it definitely pushes some boundaries. It can also serve as a parallel to the entlings, since it is another plant race, although I hope you don't think it is a "typical" or "cliche" one.


The Sown
“First you plant the seeds in the body. Then it grows, nourishing itself on the flesh, until a new baby is born.”
-Willow Johannsen, Sown Midwife
The terror inspired by the legions of undead has become a visceral thing for many humanoids, like that of snakes, spiders, or the like. Something inherently about them inspires fear and disgust in them, and causes them to shy away instinctually as every one of their senses screams danger. Although the sown are not technically a form of undead, few people who have met them make a distinction, and certainly the same sort of revulsion is hard to avoid when seeing one of these beings lurch into view.
The sown start their lives as tiny, barely sentient seedlings, capable of a small amount of independent motion and little else. If chance or, more often, their parents see fit to implant them near or in the dead body of a humanoid, however, the seedlings sprout on the dead flesh, consume it for nourishment, and quickly ensconce the skeletal system in a rigging of vines and tendrils, rising up as a verdant mockery of its former self. Dispassionate scholarly treatments of the sown have compared them to a sort of plant-like hermet crab, using the skeletons of former beings in the same way crabs use the shells of former mollusks, but few peasants feel the same way when their Aunt Myrtle comes back from the dead with green vines twisting through her bones.
The sown are at once very similar and very alien to humanoids. They live in communities, they feel emotions, and they are not inherently malicious, but their almost parasitic nature sets them apart from most other sentient creatures causing them to be isolated and reviled. As a result the sown are largely misunderstood, isolated, and suspicious creatures, despite the remarkable similarities between their lives and those of normal humanoids.

The Sown Racial Traits
At first glance the sown appear to be nothing more than undead skeletons. Their joints are connected not by necromantic energy, however, but by trailing vines and tendrils. Small, pointed leaves sprout from these vines, almost giving the impression of body hair, and extraordinarily long vines often sprout from the back of the sown’s skull, mimicking hair. In the springtime the sown also sprout blossoms along their foliage, the color of which varies from individual to individual. The sown typically avoid wearing clothing except that which is necessary for whatever task they are currently performing.

·         +2 Constitution, -4 Dexterity, -2 Charisma. The sown’s unique physiology makes them tough and resistant to things which might kill normal humanoids. However, their joints are stiff and woody and they have a difficult time relating to other races and expressing themselves as individuals due to their plant brain chemistry.

·         Plant: The sown are of the plant type, and have all plant traits save those mentioned below under Humanoid Host.
·         The sown base land speed is 20 feet.

·         Vile Appearance(ex): The sown gain a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks and a +2 racial bonus on bluff checks, since their face is unreadable.

·         Racial Skills: The sown receive a +2 racial bonus on Profession (Herbalism) and Profession (Chirurgeon) checks. They also receive a +4 racial bonus on climb checks due to their tendency to live in trees.

·         Humanoid Host (ex): Their adaptation to living as a form of mixture of plant and humanoid has given the Sown several weaknesses as compared to other plants. During the implantation of a seed into the humanoid body and the consumption of the flesh and brain, for instance, the viny tendrils which infest the skull follow typical humanoid pathways for neural tissue, resulting in an intelligence very similar to humanoid, and as a result, the Sown are not immune to mind affecting spells. The necessity for specialized tissues to control movement of limbs and joints as well as sensory organs and a centralized brain have also resulted in a loss of the immunity to critical hits that plants normally have. The sown are still immune to poison, sleep affects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning.

·         Consume (Su): An individual of the sown may take a full minute to incorporate the bones from the corpse of any creature into its own body to replace those it has lost, both by direct replacement and by consuming the calcium carbonate to fortify its existing frame. The body cannot have been dead longer than one month. This process destroys the corpse and prevents any attempts to use resurrect that require a body. The sown who consumes the body heals one point of damage per hit die of the creature consumed.

·         Diet Dependant (ex): Although the sown can photosynthesize and thus do not create traditional food, the sown do require repair to their frames from time to time. At least once per month the sown must consume using its Consume ability a number of hit dice equal to its own. If the sown fails to do so, it takes 1 point of constitution damage each month until it consumes enough bones for all the months it has fasted. This damage cannot be healed until the sown has consumed its fill. 

Automatic Languages: Common, Sylvan Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnomish, Draconic, Undercommon, Terran, Aquan, Auran.

·         Favored Class: Barbarian

 Society
The sown live surprisingly mundane lives, aside from their bizarre physiology.
                Lands: The sown typically live in forests close to humanoid settlements. Because they are almost universally reviled, they tend to live reclusive lives, hiding from their neighbors for their own safety. Their dependency on humanoids requires them to live on close proximity, but contact is usually minimal, and oftentimes the humanoids only clue to the presence of a settlement of the sown will be a series of exhumations and possibly a rare nighttime glimpse of a sowing in progress, a dead humanoid rising from the grave as a new child of the sown.
                Settlements: A settlement of the sown usually involves a small group of five to fifty individuals living in a forest, oftentimes up in the trees where they can easily hide from their humanoid population that they parasitize. Such a group is known as a grove. The sown photosynthesize, so they spend much of the day in the upper branches of trees so they can absorb the sun. Although the sown are intelligent as humanoids and use tools, they typically do not build shelters, as they find the sun and rain nourishing rather than hardships.
                Power Groups: Their alien nature and physiology forces most communities of the sown to live as raiders of sorts, and as such success is often a result of military prowess, and such is often honored amongst them. Most high level leaders as such are barbarians or rangers. Druids however also play an important place as advisors to leaders, and age is considered a status symbol as well amongst the sown, so even one who does not excel in breaking into humanoid settlements to sow the children and retrieve bones for consumption can gain prestige and power over time. The sown generally lack any overall organization beyond the level of individual communities.
                Beliefs: The sown often worship nature deities like Obad-Hai. However, worship of both Evening Glory and Nerull and other deities of death or undeath are not uncommon as well, since it is through death that they gain life. Typically such communities border on the more vicious and predatory of the sown, although it varies.
                Relations: The sown never get along with their humanoid neighbors, and their relations tend to vary depending on the strategy the local sown use for harvesting bodies and bones for sowing and consumption. Some groves live only by digging up recent burials; these tend to have no interaction with the humanoids whatsoever apart from tales of grave-robbing skeletal bogeymen being a part of local folklore. Other groups more towards the evil side actively prey on humanoids, capturing travelers and merchants and even occasionally raiding whole villages. In these instances, the humanoids generally treat them similarly to orcs or other savage humanoid menaces and actively attempt to exterminate them. Some communities of the sown have been known to take up a nomadic lifestyle, often following armies or even adventurers to reap the harvest from battlefields. Regardless of their interactions with humanoids, the sown typically get along well with other plant creatures, fey, magical beasts, and animals, all of whom are more sympathetic to the unique physiology of the sown.
               
The Sown Characters
Fundamentally the sown adventure for much the same reasons as any other race does. A sense of adventure, of curiosity, or a need to prove oneself can all drive one of the sown to seek out the adventuring lifestyle. However, their unusual needs and appearance may shock humanoids, and it is rare that one will find itself accepted in greater society. Still, this means that any of the sown who wish to interact with the world at large tend to become adventurers, because the adventuring career is often the most accepting of strange or bizarre practices.
                The Adventuring Sown: As noted, the same motives which drive other characters to adventure drive the sown. Almost all of the sown who leave their communities turn to adventuring, as no humanoid settlement would ever permit one of the sown to live unmolested within its walls. Their hardy nature and natural isolationism prove an asset to such a prospect as well, and uniquely the sown find it beneficial to take up a career in rampant mayhem and slaughter of evildoers for profit, since it provides a steady stream of bones to consume.
                Character Development: The sown do well as barbarians and rangers, both classes which complement their toughness and immunities. The sown pursue many different career paths, though, even ones which one might think they are unsuited such as rogues and even bards, as their society has much the same needs and pressures as any similarly fringe group, and is such patterned very similarly to most savage humanoids, and few classes are thus absent among them.
                Character Names: The sown tend to name themselves after local plants and trees. Their last names tend to be taken from the gravestone of the humanoid they were sown on, although oftentimes they take from the wrong grave, and the sown who were planted on a fresh kill or battlefield often are given last names to match the individual who sown them.

Roleplaying the Sown
The sown are fundamentally alien yet all the same incredibly similar to other humanoids. Playing up this dichotomy is perhaps the key to roleplaying one of the sown, marking the great differences and the eerie parallels between humanoids and this bizarre race.
                Personality:  The sown are typically very insular and suspicious of humanoids initially; this however stems merely from mutual distrust due to their prior antagonistic relationships. With those one of the sown trusts, they’ll open up and display their true nature, which can be just as varied and individual as any humanoid. It thus would help to conceive two modes of behavior for your character, one for his friends and one for strangers. It is unlikely one of the sown would ever let their guard down among strange humanoids, no matter how close his adventuring friends are, and one who did would likely regret it.
                Behaviors:  The sown do not eat and do not sleep. They must photosynthesize to stay vibrant and consume bones to stay sturdy. They have gender and mate, but their children are sown in the chest cavities of cadavers. While one of the sown may have the same hopes and dreams and fears as a normal humanoid, their day to day realities are colored by these odd behaviors. Consider what sorts of things one of the sown might consider normal behavior, and what behaviors of humanoids might mystify him.
                Language: The sown speak with a strange rasping tongue caused by the scraping of vines on one another. Do be careful in trying to mimic this – don’t strain your vocal cords.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Piklits

Here's a monster I designed for a campaign awhile ago, which is part of a set of races and monsters and prestige classes I'll post here when I haven't been designing anything new lately (like at the moment). The prestige class based on this monster definitely needs some tweaking, but for now, just the monster stats.


Piklit

Tiny Magical Beast
Hit Dice:
1d10 (2 hp)
Initiative:
+4
Speed:
30 ft. (6 squares), Climb 30 ft.
Armor Class:
17 (+2 size, +4 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple:
+1/-11
Attack:
Bite +7 melee (1d2-4) or Tail +8 ranged touch (1d4+1)
Full Attack:
Bite +7 melee (1d2-4) or Tail +8 ranged touch (1d4+1)
Space/Reach:
2-1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks:
Force fling, force aura
Special Qualities:
Low-light vision, scent, force immune
Saves:
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +0
Abilities:
Str 3, Dex 19, Con 8, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills:
Climb +12, Balance +12, Jump +12, Hide +12, Move Silently +4, Survival +4
Feats:
Weapon Finesse (B), Weapon Focus (Tail)
Environment:
Temperate and cold forests
Organization:
Pocket (2-8) or Purse (9-36)
Challenge Rating:
1
Advancement:
2-5 (Tiny)
Level Adjustment:
-
Piklits resemble large black squirrels, with white, socked paws, white tufts on their ears, and a white puff on the tip of their tails. These small creatures are immensely dangerous to casual travelers in the more wild forests of Oiden, as a small swarm of them can quickly disable even the most hardy of people with their ability to manipulate pure force.
Combat
Piklits are rarely aggressive for no reason, but they are fiercely protective of their winter stores and colonies. Any who trespass too closely to either may find themselves the victim of a volley of force balls.
Force Fling (Su): A piklit can fling a small ball of force up to sixty feet from the tip of its tail. This ball deals 1d4 points of damage, plus the piklit's charisma bonus (1d4+1 for the typical piklit).
Force Aura (Su): A piklit is constantly surrounded by a small aura of force. This provides them with a deflection bonus to AC equal to their charisma modifier, minimum one. In addition, they may channel their force aura into any of the following effects, losing their deflection bonus to AC and the ability to utilize another Force Aura ability for a certain amount of time, dependent on the ability used:
                Freedom of Movement: A piklit may, as a free action, give up its deflection bonus to AC to benefit from an effect     similar to the spell Freedom of Movement. This lasts up to one minute per point of the piklit's charisma bonus (one             for a typical piklit), minimum one, but the piklit loses its deflection bonus to AC and the ability to use other force            auras for ten  minutes per round he was under the effect.
                Blur: A piklit may, as a free action, give up its deflection bonus to AC to benefit from an effect similar to the spell    Blur. This may last up to a minute per point of the piklit's charisma bonus (one for a typical piklit), minum one, but    the piklit loses its deflection bonus to AC and the ability to use other force auras for a minute per round he was            under the effect.
Force Immune (Su): Piklits are immune to all force effects, unless they choose otherwise, and thus for example can walk through a wall of force, cannot be damaged by magic missiles, and ignore armor bonuses to AC from mage armor.
Skills: Piklits have a +4 racial bonus Escape Artist checks and a +8 racial bonus on Jump and Balance checks. They use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Another Race - Entlings

I've always felt there was a dearth of good natural themed or druid races. In particular there is pretty much no race I can recall that is an LA 0 plant race. Obviously plant immunities are a big issue here, but I feel Warforged provide a good template for allowing heavily immune races. My one concern with the following race is that Warforged are penalized by not being able to be healed easily. I considered giving them fire vulnerability, but I feel they might be fine as is due to the dexterity and intelligence penalties. Although fast healing is largely unheard of as an LA 0 ability, I feel the limitations are such it is at best free healing when not in combat and in a natural setting - basically the equivalent of a free wand of cure light on yourself only, which is hardly anything to fuss about to my mind. Here you go!

Entling
“Can you feel the wind rustling your leaves? The power of nature flows around us and through us.”
-Oak Squall, Entling Druid
The mighty protectors of trees and forests, treants roam the woodlands seeking despoilers to thrash and buildings to crumble. Partnered alongside them are the dryads, tied with an unbreakable spiritual bond with the trees they love and are sworn to guard. These two groups have been allies for millennia, and during that time it is perhaps only inevitable that the two would find companionship with one another. Although these unions between fairies and sentient plant life do not produce offspring in any sort of traditional way, dryads and treants who have fallen in love with one another have found over the eons a way to consummate their love with the help of druidic magic, and the result of such marriages are the entlings.
Entlings look much like the trees they live amongst, but there is a strong humanoid and fey aspect to them as well. Caught between two worlds, they embrace them both, living much like a typical humanoid race but relying upon the sun and earth directly for sustenance. They tend to be slow movers and slow thinkers, with a strong philosophical bent, always pondering endlessly before acting, slow both to rise in anger and to forgive and forget. Although a few entlings are born of dryads and treant unions on occasion, they also breed true amongst themselves and so have formed communities throughout the world’s forests.

Entling Racial Traits
Entlings stand tall and willowy, with skin and hair that change color with the season and resemble bark and leaves more than any humanoid analog.  Their features are elfin where they are not slightly deformed by their roughened skin. Despite its appearance, however, their skin is considerably softer to the touch and gives just like humanoid flesh – they are a mystical amalgam of plant and animal forms.  Their bones, teeth, and fingernails are made from living wood, and their blood runs thick and clear like sap. Instead of feet and calves, however, below the knees their legs begin to fork and spread into root systems, which dig deep into the ground at all times. They wade through the earth like fisherman through a river, always deeply entwined with the land they were born to serve. Different entlings often resemble different trees – some oak, some poplar, some maple, depending on dominant plant life in the forest they were born in.

·         +2 constitution, -2 dexterity, -2 intelligence. Entlings share the hearty sturdiness of the trees they resemble, but their woody frames can be rather stiff and their mental processes flow like sap – they are not stupid, but it takes them a long time to fully absorb things. (In Pathfinder, add a +2 to Strength or Wisdom)

·         Fey: Despite appearing to be plants, entlings are actually fey. They are immune to affects that would affect both only plants and only humanoids.

·         Plant Traits: Although entlings are not plants, they share a lot in common with them. Entlings are immune to poison, sleep affects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning.

·         A entling base land speed is 20 feet.

·         Low-light vision: An entling can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.

·         Racial Skills: Entling have a +2 racial bonus on Profession (Herbalism), Survival, and Knowledge (Nature) checks.

·         Roots (ex) and Entrench (ex): Entlings do not walk on the surface of the land, but rather wade through the ground on their root systems. This unique form of locomotion grants them several advantages. They gain a +4 racial bonus on checks to avoid being tripped, bull rushed, or otherwise stay on their feet or maintain their location as long as they are on packed earth, loose earth, sand, or a similarly penetrable natural surface. Also, at will as a standard action they can choose to entrench themselves in the ground, rooting themselves to a single spot. This causes them to automatically succeed on checks to avoid being tripped, bullrushed, and the like, as above. However, they suffer a -4 penalty to their armor class due to the difficulty of dodging while being so anchored. In addition, if the location they are in is suitable for temperate plant growth, they gain an additional bonus. Conditions suitable for temperate plant growth are defined as being between 40 degrees 90 degrees Fahrenheit, loose or packed earth ground (not sand or stone), generally moist environment (rained in the last month), and sufficient sunlight (not currently raining, snowing, or nighttime, and out of doors). While entrenched in such a location Entlings gain fast healing 1. An entling who has entrenched themselves for at least one full hour does not need to eat or drink for twenty four hours as well. Entlings can move over stone, metal, and other rigid artificial surfaces without penalty, but do not gain any benefits of the roots ability while doing so, and cannot entrench themselves. 

·         Automatic Languages: Common, Sylvan. Bonus Languages: Elven, Gnomish, Goblin, Draconic, Terran, Aquan.

·         Favored Class: Druid

Entling Society
Entlings live in small groups deep in ancient forests, in family groups known as groves.
                Lands: Entlings live in the oldest and more unsettled of forest, usually in close association with both treants and dryads. They usually do not claim any specified region or area, but try to peacefully coexist with those around them. Although they greatly love the forests in which they dwell, they tend not to be as ardent protectors of the forest as treants or dryads, rather leaving those jobs to their more powerful progenitors and seeking instead to nurture and cohabitate with nature.
                Settlements: Entling communities usually consist of a particular line of entlings formed from the union of a dryad and a treant. Although entlings will occasionally move from forest to forest, most stay within their home communities. Entlings usually do not build houses, although some communities will encourage plant growth to form into shelters, and use druidic magic to fashion other tools and items of technology from still living plants.
                Power Groups: Leadership in entling communities is usually held by the oldest and wisest of the entlings, typically a high level druid. Occasionally a treant or dryad will lead a community as well, although usually they live in parallel rather than ruling over the entlings. Entlings consider themselves all part of a larger community as well, and when decision for the whole of them must be made a council consisting of the oldest and wisest druids meets to determine what must be done.
                Beliefs: Most entlings follow druidic religious tradition, although worship of other natural gods is not unheard of. Obad-Hai is a particular favorite, but almost any natural deity is worshipped to some degree. Some entlings are also followers of the Seelie Court.
                Relations: Entlings tend to live peacefully with all their neighbours. It is rare for entlings to directly interact with anyone who is not a denizen of their own forest, however, and so humans, halflings, and other more urban races rarely interact with them. Orcs, goblins, and other savage races often take advantage of the peaceful nature of entling communities, but their treant and dryad protectors usually cause the savage races to regret their attacks.
               
Entling Characters
Entling characters are usually driven by curiosity about the world outside their forests, and an urge to see more of the natural world. Entlings often follow the druidic path, although there are some who pursue almost any imaginable path to adventure – although Entling wizards are rare as they do not display much aptitude. Entling NPCs are likely to be sedentary but welcoming to any travelers, eager to learn more about the outside world.
                Adventuring Hagblood: Entlings who adventure are unusual but not unheard of, and are typically interested in knowing what the world is like beyond the woodlands they call home. Entlings tend to be unselfconscious about their strange appearance and behaviors, seeing instead others as the odd ones. An entling who encounters a new practice or people will likely be slow to understand but quick to accept the odd behaviors, as they are an inherently amenable people.
                Character Development: Entlings are naturally inclined to druidic magic, but can excel at most tasks. While they do not generally have the intelligence to be wizards and lack the guile and manual dexterity necessary for the skills of a rogue, Entlings enjoy pursuing even those things for which they are not well suited and so even one who has begun their career in natural pathways may find themselves drawn to other skillsets in time. As all those in the natural world know, change is inevitable, but it comes slowly and in its own time.
                Character Names: Entling names consist of a surname and a cognomen. The surname is generally based on the grove they were born into, and typical surnames are tree species like Oak, Ash, or Elm. The cognomen, which comes second, is their given name, and is chosen themselves upon reaching the age of maturity. They are usually themed with nature in some way, but oftentimes an Entling will choose something else, depending on their personal preferences.

Roleplaying an Entling
A entlings brings a fresh perspective on everything they see. Sequestered deep in the forest for most of their lives, journeying out into the world of humanoids is exiciting and new for them, and everything should be a surprise and a fresh experience.
                Personality:  Entlings run on a slightly different timescale than the rest of us. They are slow in though, slow to react, and contemplative by nature. You are interested in all you see, but it takes you awhile to process. You are cautious by nature but also driven to new experiences. Consider always talking last, but favoring action over inaction once you decide to put your input in.
                Behaviors:  Entlings rarely need to eat unless they are in the most inhospitable of lands, but when they do they practice strict carnivory. This might come into conflict with other members of the party, even those with a naturalistic bent. Entlings see it as only natural – as a plant based life form, consuming other plants is an alien concept, but animals contain nutrients they cannot synthesize easily on their own without access to rich soil and strong sunlight, so why should they not consume them?
                Language: Entlings speak both sylvan and common slowly and deliberately. They never rush, they do not interrupt others, and nor do they take lightly to being interrupted themselves, typically continuing to speak without raising their voice. Consider adopting a monotone – it’ll help get you into practice.