Enthrolescent (3.5e Race)
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Enthrolescents, the Chaos Children of Enthrotitus
Author: Darkbeetlebot
Lore
Long ago, in what is now a completely demolished and underground ancient civilization; the people of this kingdom lost to time worshiped a demi-god of their own making named Enthrotitus who claimed to be able to control the chaos of the world. Though what he meant by "Chaos" is unknown, he attempted to demonstrate his powers via the creation of a new humanoid species that he tenderly called the Children of the Chaos, or Enthrolescents. However, in his desperate attempt to maintain his influence over the people of the kingdom as their god, he made the foolish mistake of pouring too much effort and magic into creating his children, causing the instant and near-total disintegration of their cities. The entire population was transformed into these children who harbor no knowledge of their past lives and only live to carry on the legacy of Enthrotitus.
The ancient kingdom that shall remain unnamed for all time had little in the way of technology, almost eschewing it in favor of a magical equivalent or perhaps more clean and natural methods of performing their objectives. Because of dozens of many generations of heavy mystical influence, the population eventually attained lifespans only also seen in the likes of elves or other highly magical races. Their lives bordered on an astonishing 400 years at maximum in their final generations, but the lifespan of an Enthrolescent is much great than even that. These new beings, in fact, can live for thousands of years while retaining their youthful look. They actually have lifespans that outlived their own former civilization, so there are no recorded cases of death by old age in them. The oldest Enthrolescent alive is the first created by Enthrotitus named Gigamesh, who is easily in the 2000s by now.
The way the Chaos Children work is through, as Enthrotitus stated, "The stabilization and manipulation of Chaos through a tangible and physical yet ethereal form that is self-sufficient and easily sustainable through its own faculties." This is to say that they are possibly living, breathing embodiments of the harmony between chaos and stability -- order and disorder -- apartness and togetherness. These beings seem to be able to sustain themselves simply through the act of existing in a constantly flowing space. They do not sleep, and do not require sustenance despite being capable of eating and drinking. One could argue that these creatures are made of pure magic, but even this hypothesis falls short in explaining their features such as flesh and skin being perfectly organic and normal as only one instance. Surely, they are polar creatures that desire to be on varying extremes. This leads to them all having a common bipolar personality that varies between utterly chaotic, utterly orderly, and utterly balanced. They often find themselves keeping to themselves instead of socializing, given their unique circumstances. Whatever their personality may be, all Enthrolescents are not totally human and must be treated as such. Humans and human-like races should keep in mind that they will likely not be able to understand an Enthrolescent.
Every Enthrolescent comes into being with some form of structure attached to their body that resembles bone or metal, protruding from someplace on their body and often suspended in mid-air. These structures are to be known as "Stabilizers". They assist the Enthrolescent in forming their bodies in the proper shape to resemble what they used to be. Although they are a great help, they are not necessary. Luckily, they are also incredibly hard to destroy and will often withstand blows from even dragons without snapping. These structures usually come in the form of pseudo-wings, crowns, anklets, bracelets, and piercings. Very rarely an Enthrolescent be born with a Stabilizer portion shaped like a tool. They usually resemble long sticks or staffs with vaguely intricate and blocky/digital-shaped designs. These can act as durable weapons or catalysts for magic.
When an Enthrolescent dies, they do not lie on the ground in a bloody heap like most do. Instead, their Stabilizers will instantly disintegrate, followed by their entire body slowly turning into ether as their grip on reality, life, and the disparities of chaos fade into nothingness. All that is left of the Enthrolescent is a pile of basic dust, ashes, and light. Enthrolescents, however, are not easy to kill. While they are vulnerable to most conventional attacks, it would be unwise to attempt killing one with any normal weapon. However, magic will harm them just fine assuming it is not chaos-based magic, which cannot kill them. Curiously, this also makes it impossible for an Enthrolescent to kill one of its own, allowing an astonishing sense of camaraderie between them.
Physical Description
Enthrolescents are usually a sickly grey color for skin tone, but can shift between many numbers of grey to even pure black or white. Rarely are they colored, however. Their bodies are usually hunched over permanently as a result of their Stabilizers, or they could be outright stuck in fetal position. Altogether, they appear to have generally poor posture. Luckily, they hover and phase around, so their posture matters little. Their torsos are often disproportionate to their other limbs, of which their arms easily resemble that of a human's save for being longer than average and having slender fingers; their legs are much more rounded and curvier than most people's, but do not end in feet. Instead, their feet are replaced by ribbons, afterimages, floating blocks, and smoke from what would have been a foot if it materialized properly.
Their heads are generally fairly large, consisting mostly of space for their foreheads and eyes. They usually have very small mouths, noses, and ears. Hair varies greatly between individuals, but generally is blue or green -tinted and constantly shifting or blowing around. Sometimes the hair can destabilize and turn into various strings and dust that float around. They also do not tend to wear clothes unless it resembles what they wore in their previous lives, and even then it is usually forgotten or discarded. It's convenient, then, that they mostly lack sexual organs due to not have a need for reproduction. Besides this, Enthrolescents generally shape themselves to have the same appearance as humans, plus some very stunning grey eyes. This can change, especially with how much they disassemble and reassemble. There also isn't a ready binary of sexes in the Enthrolescents. The biggest indicator of a male and female is the way they act. Because of their freeform appearance made by their personalities themselves, they tend to represent their psychological gender rather than any set one. i.e. A previous male who became an Enthrolescent may portray himself as a female if that is how he really felt, though this can change with time.
Relations
Enthrolescents have had little exposure in the past, and still do. They are rare for even adventurers to spot despite the Enthrolescent nature to wander until they find an idol. When they and another race meet, however, the reaction from both heavily depends on the natural conflicts the two might have. Elves, Dragons, and Demons may recognize portions of Enthrotian and be interested in them, making those three types of races in particular friendly. Their magical affinity may make heavily magical races such as elves also more friendly to them, or they could take it as a challenge/offense. Humans tend to get along with everybody, but they are still subject to racism and may discriminate against an Enthrolescent for resembling the types of monsters that adventurers fight on a daily basis. Many may, in that regard, attack one as soon as they spot it. Their very appearance would be jarring to those not used to seeing them, so they may be regarded as beasts or enemies before friends or allies. Their odd personalities and abilities of the supernatural also tend to get them labeled as demonic beasts or monstrosities despite their obvious human backstory.
It is quite a polar reaction, to be honest. You either hate them, love them, or don't care about them. They bring that kind of atmosphere, and so anyone with a similar philosophy could become a friend of one. Some people of other races may particularly like Enthrolescents that they desire to become one. In this case, there is a way for most races to become a Child of Chaos by way of rite from a powerful Enthrolescent. Humans and Clerics who delve into the Chaos domain tend to be exceptional candidates for this since the art of turning beings into pure Chaos was perfected most on humans, and Clerics in the Chaos domain already have some control and interest in it. Regardless, the path to become one is hard and can only be done by another Enthrolescent that has become so powerful that they can manipulate not just their own chaos, but also change another person's manipulation of chaos. In gameplay terms, this would mean one of at least level 15. In lore terms, it would mean one that has lived at least a thousand years and can so freely change aspects of chaos that they could reform and change magic and matter itself into different states and types. Needless to say, such beings could easily be called gods in their own right. These Enthrolescents would make their father proud if he were still alive. These extremely powerful Enthrolescents are called "The Enthrodeus".
Alignment
Enthrolescents have a very peculiar tendency in alignment. They tend towards being extremes of Lawfulness, Chaos, and Neutrality on a regular basis and could be considered all three at once if one so wished. However, the sake of simplicity could rule that Chaotic is their natural alignment. Regardless, they can be either good or evil.
Lands
Because their land was destroyed and buried ages ago, these perplexing anomalies often roam the lands in search of whatever ails them. They may seek a new home, a group to belong in, a cause to pursue, a vengeance to seek, a figure to worship, or anything else of that manner. Because of these common missions, Enthrolescents are often found as either travelers or recluses if found at all. Though hundreds and thousands walk the planet, they somehow manage to stay hidden. Perhaps many still try to live in their ruined old kingdom.
Religion
The Enthrolescent themselves could be seen as religious figures; they certainly have the qualities for it. However, many are still disciples at heart and seek a new idol, a new father. They ache for something to follow, but will readily abandon anyone they see as unfit for a leader's role. These behaviors are the closest they have to religion. It is not unheard of for them to also follow the gods of other mortals and cultures, but it is unlikely unless they see some proof of that god's real existence.
Language
The Enthrolescents all speak common, like most, although it is unknown if they really began knowing it or if they were born under a different tongue. The latter seems the case since they are able to also speak in their ancient language named Enthrotian. Because of their father and creation, however, they tend to speak one or two supernatural languages such as Abyssian, Celestial, and sometimes Undercommon or Infernal. The Enthrotian alphabet could be called an odd mix between Elven, Draconic, Infernal, and Common. The grammar and spelling could be called the same. Words in Enthrotian tend to have many repeating letters, for some reason. It's also written vertically top-to-bottom instead of horizontally from left-to-right. Nouns are also not specific to the object, but are procedurally generated based on the subject and modifiers; they are sometimes context-sensitive.
Names
The names of Enthrolescents are a mixed bag, but are usually the same names they had before becoming one. In this case, they are likely to be human names, Common names, or ones in their native tongue of Enthrotian. Some male Enthrotian names include, but are not limited to: Aandreeus, Miitractuss, Enthrosamus, Ensiddian, and Baalsacorr. Some female Enthotian names include: Enestrius, Caarmelia, Viciuss, Ganentra, Madeetriuss, and Theedrius.
Racial Traits
- +2 Wisdom per 500 years of age, +2 Intelligence, +4 Spells per day, -1 Hit Points gained per level down to minimum, -2 Strength, +5 for saves against poisons and toxins, +2 Reflex Save, +2 AC: Due to nigh immortality, they can live even longer than elves; this time allows them to gain vast wisdom. They are purely magical being that sustain themselves self-sufficiently and bias towards Intelligence for more potent magic and supernatural abilities. They tend to deconstruct and suffer from frailty over longer periods. They don't pay much attention to their bodily strength, which goes neglected. They also lack any technically tangible body much of the time, letting them ignore most poisons.
- Outsider (Chaotic):
- Medium: Most Enthrolescents are medium-sized, save for those that are transformed from other races.
- Natural Flight: Enthrolescents move by hovering above the ground. They start off slow (5ft) and speed up as their level increases (+5ft per even level). Their default flight height is a mere 5ft from the ground, and they cannot increase that height without external spells. They can hover over any size of gap, but they cannot increase altitude when doing so and can only increase their altitude from sea level by traveling up solid surfaces. e.x. They would not be able to fly up to a ledge from below, they would have to travel up a slant or stairwell of some sort to reach another ledge of the same height or of at most a 5ft difference to traverse the gap. This also means that they are exempt from Balance skill checks.
- Ethereal Resistances: Damage dealt by mundane sources such as weapons of steel, sticks, or any other non-magical source is reduced by half. This includes skills that utilize a weapon (including fists) that does not deal elemental or magical damage. However, purely magical damage from sources such as spells or enchanted weapons deal 25% more damage, rounded down.
- Automatic Language: Enthrolescents automatically know Common, as do most races, but also know the little-used ancient Enthrotian. They may know Abyssian/Celestial if they were originally from the ancient civilization, but not if they were transformed from another race. Bonus languages that can be learned by surplus intelligence are Elven, Undercommon, Draconic, and any language using the Elven script. Other languages can be learned, but not from the bonus languages that Intelligence gives.
- Favored Class: Enthrolescents are always their own, natural class named after them, but they may all multiclass into whatever they want. They do not acquire an XP penalty for unfavored classes until the 2nd multiclass.
- Strange Eyesight: An Enthrolescent is, more often than not, monochromatic. They only see in black and white, but also have the benefit of being able to see in the dark adequately enough to navigate subterranean depths. They have Darkvision for 50ft in completely unlit environments and Low-light Vision for 100ft in poorly-lit environments. Some end up completely blind, however. It is sheer luck for them to be born blind, but they manage by using their hearing, smell, touch, and Chaos manipulation to see.
- Demi-phasing: Enthrolescents can deform and reform on the other side of obstructions as long as there is some form of opening that leads to the other end. Even something as small as a crack in a door can allow them to pass through. However, they cannot phase through physical objects. They treat liquids such as water as solids, so they also cannot phase through water, only around it. Due to this ability, they also can technically phase around attacks if they have enough time to, adding +2 to Reflex saves and AC regardless of the Dexterity modifier.
- Natural Equipment: Most Enthrolescents are not created with equipment. Lucky ones, however, are. If, during character creation, an Enthrolescent ends up with 15 or higher Intelligence; they acquire a staff of their liking with 1d4+Int Mod damage and they have proficiency with it. With an Intelligence of 17 or greater, they acquire clothes of their liking that give 1 additional Charisma. This equipment cannot be destroyed.
- Automatic Languages: Common, Enthrotian, Abyssian/Celestial. Bonus Languages: Any language with Elven script, Undercommon, Draconic.
- Favored Class: Enthrolescent
Vital Statistics
Adulthood | Simple | Moderate | Complex |
---|---|---|---|
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Middle Age1 | Old2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1000 years | 3000 years | 7000 years | ??? | |
|
Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
---|---|---|---|---|
Male | 5' 0" | +2d6 | 75 lb. | × (3d4) lb. |
Female | 5' 0" | +2d6 | 75 lb. | × (3d4) lb. |
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