Tuesday February 14th—Valentine’s Day—sees the launch of the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium. This has been a work in progress for over two years. So what exactly is inside it?
Well each race has about 16 pages of material, describing the race, their culture, their view on the world, how others of their kind interact, their religions, and of course plenty of Pathfinder gaming stats. Like what? Well we start off with the Racial Traits, follow that up with alternate racial traits, character traits, a veritable horde of archetypes and other class options, mundane equipment specific to their race, and spells and magic item commonly created by members of that race. We finish off each individual section with ideas for you to integrate this race into your game and NPCs so you can us this race in your game right away. As a bonus we threw in favored class options for this race for over 40 different classes. Sure every class in the core rule book is covered here but so are the classes from the Advanced Player’s Guide to the Advanced Class Guide as well as Ultimate Psionics and the Time Thief thrown in for good measure.
You want more? Well how about some racial technology for those that want to play a Pathfinder in Spaaaaaace.
So what races are covered in this book? Glad you asked. We have:
Androids
Catfolk
Changelings
Elans
Gillmen
Lizardfolk
Merfolk
Samsarans
Skinwalkers
Tengus
Wyrwoods
Wyvarans
The Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1 is available now. So far we have shown off the catfolk, lizardfolk, and samsaran races. And now we are sharing with you the merfolk race.
Although initially cautious around members of other races (for land dwellers have long coveted the riches of the sea), merfolk are insatiably curious about the world that exists above the waves. They are rare compared to other races, but certainly not unheard of. Perhaps their perceived rarity is also due to merfolk adventurers disguising themselves as humans or elves, fearful that revealing their true identity might repel their newfound friends or draw undue attention to their aquatic cities. Bards, commanders, and sorcerers are highly prevalent among this race due to their natural charismatic bent.
Merfolk Racial Traits
+2 Con OR +2 Cha. Magical Amphibian: Merfolk can magically morph their fins and tail into legs, or vice versa back into half-fish form, with a full-round action. They can move and fight in water as well as a flying creature can in open air when they are in their half-fish form. Siren Song (Racial Power)
As a move action once per battle, you can sing a beautiful melody reminiscent of a gentle sea breeze, or a mournful dirge that carries the portent of tidal waves. Until the end of your next turn, all nearby allies add the escalation die to their defenses, OR all nearby enemies subtract the escalation die from their defenses (your choice). Champion Feat: Using your siren song is now a quick action.
Download Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1 for your 13th Age Compatible game at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow and the OpenGamingStore (formerly d20pfsrd.com).
All week long, we are sharing with you the races inside the Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1. Yesterday we shared with you the lizardfolk race. Today we are sharing with you the samsaran race.
Though they appear human save for their white and near-colorless eyes, a samsaran lives dozens or even hundreds of lifetimes, haunted by dreamlike memories of each incarnation. As they grow in power and experience, samsarans reconnect with these past lives, bolstering the abilities they have cultivated in this lifetime with those accrued over centuries of living and dying. Every samsaran believes that the crucible of reincarnation will eventually smelt their spirit into a state of enlightenment and drive them toward a new purpose, at which point their cycle of death and rebirth will end.
Samsaran Racial Traits
+2 Int OR +2 Wis.
Flashes Of Past Lives (Racial Power)
Choose one of the following talents: slayer (barbarian), storyteller (bard), separate existence (chaos mage), domain: healing (cleric), moment of glory (commander), power attack (fighter), flurry (monk), skeletal minion (necromancer), stance of necessity (occultist; assumes you never have focus), lay on hands (paladin), favored enemy (ranger), swashbuckle (rogue; assumes you always have momentum), counter-magic (wizard). Once per day as a full-round action, you can tap into memories of a past life, foregoing the use of one of your class talents for the duration of a single battle, encounter, or scene, and instead use the chosen talent. You use your total character level as your effective level for the purpose of determining any level-dependent variables related to these talents.
When you reach champion tier, you may choose a second talent from the above list; when you reach epic tier, you may choose a third. Champion Feat: Using this power takes a standard action, and you can swap out two talents for the battle’s duration.
Download Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1 for your 13th Age Compatible game at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow and the OpenGamingStore (formerly d20pfsrd.com).
Go beyond the standard fantasy races and play a new breed of hero! These intrepid adventurers forge their place in legends with claw, fin, spell, and sword. Now you can play one of these heroic races in your home game and battle monsters like never before.
Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1 introduces a number of playable races for your 13th Age Compatible game. This 15-page supplement gives you everything you need to include the following races at your table:
Catfolk, who can reroll an attack or save once per battle
Hagborn, who can reroll an attack or save once per battle
Lizardfolk, which bite and tear their enemies to shreds
Merfolk, who can sing a siren’s song to doom their enemies
Samsarans, that can draw on their past lives to aid them in battle
The Good News is that, even though we have been away for a while, we have not forgotten about you. The Even Better News is that we have some new races for your 13th Age Compatible game. Tomorrow we are releasing the Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1. Inside you have 5 new races, and all week long, we will be sharing what exactly those races are. Today, we are starting off with the lizardfolk race.
Lizardfolk are misunderstood by most races due to the common (and not untrue) conception that they are heartless cannibals. Most lizardfolk will certainly consume their own dead or that of other sentients who die near their tribal territories, but they do this out of an urge to survive rather than an innate tendency toward bloodthirst. They frequently ally themselves with dragons, and they believe the Three Dragons and the Great Gold Dragon to be gods incarnate (though some lizardfolk disagree as to whether or not these icons have maintained their divinity over the eons).
Lizardfolk Racial Traits
+2 Str OR +2 Con.
Claws And Jaws (Racial Power)
You can make an unarmed melee basic attack without the usual –2 penalty, and you choose whether to use Strength or Dexterity to modify the attack and damage rolls. If you hit, you deal 1d8 damage per level you possess, plus any modifier from Strength or Dexterity (which is doubled at champion tier and tripled at epic tier). If you miss, you deal damage equal to your level. Champion Feat: You can make an unarmed melee basic attack as above as a quick action in addition to your other actions on your turn. However, if you take another action during that turn to use an attack power or basic attack, this attack deals only half damage. (Any miss damage is not halved, however.)
Download Book of Heroic Races: Age of Races 1 for your 13th Age Compatible game at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow and the OpenGamingStore (formerly d20pfsrd.com).
All week long, we are showing off what is inside the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Merfolk. Yesterday we showed off the merfolk racial traits and two variants that you can play in your campaign. Today are sharing with you three spells common among the merfolk people. These spells help landwalkers adapt to life beneth the sea and help merfolk hear what is going on around them better.
Fish Breath
School conjuration; Level antipaladin 1, arcanist/ sorcerer/wizard 1, bard/skald 1, bloodrager 1, cleric/ oracle/warpriest 1, druid/hunter 1, inquisitor 1, magus 1, paladin 1, ranger 1, shaman 1, summoner 1, witch 1 Casting Time 1 standard action Components S, M (a small bladder filled with air) Range touch Target one creature Duration 1 minute/level (D) Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
A small pocket of breathable air surrounds the touched creature’s head. The air bubble allows the creature touched to breathe underwater or in similar airless environments.
Fish Fins
School transmutation (polymorph); Level arcanist/ sorcerer/wizard 2, druid/hunter 2, magus 2, ranger 2, shaman 2, summoner 2, witch 2 Casting Time 1 standard action Components S, M (fish scales) Range touch Target one creature Duration 1 minute/level Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
The creature’s legs merge together, forming a single tailfin, granting it a Swim speed of 30 feet. The creature also gains a +2 enhancement bonus to all Acrobatics and Stealth checks while in water. This spell ends if the creature attempts to walk on land.
Sonar
School divination; Level alchemist/investigator 2, arcanist/sorcerer/wizard 2, bard/skald 2, bloodrager 2, magus 2 Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S, M (a sliver of dolphin brains) Range personal Target you Duration 10 min/level
You can hear everything that moves in the water and pinpoint it with perfect accuracy. While underwater, you gain the blindsight ability out to a distance of 30 feet. This blindsight is suppressed when you are not underwater, but the effect persists and will resume if you enter the water again within the spell’s duration.
Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Merfolk is part of the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium. Order and download the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium now at the JBE Shop, DriveThruRPG, d20PFSRD, and Paizo.com.
With Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Merfolk coming out soon (probably Thursday), we wanted to share with you what you can expect in inside. Lets start with the basic racial stats and a pair of alternatives to the traditional merfolk itself.
First up we have the basic Merfolk Racial Traits.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma: Merfolk are graceful, hale, and beautiful. Medium: Merfolk are medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Slow Speed: Merfolk have a base speed of 5 feet. They have a swim speed of 50 feet. Aquatic: Merfolk are humanoids with the aquatic subtype. Amphibious: Merfolk are amphibious, but prefer not to spend long periods out of the water. Low-Light Vision: Merfolk have low-light vision. Armor: Merfolk have a +2 natural armor bonus. Legless: Merfolk have no legs, and cannot be tripped. Languages: Merfolk begin play speaking Common and Aquan. Merfolk with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aboleth, Aklo, Draconic, Elven, and Sylvan.
Next up, we have the angufolk, a variant of merfolk that live in the deepest sees, where sunlight dares not tread.
Except as noted below, the angufolk are treated as merfolk. +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma: Angufolk are heardy creatures that can withstand the pressures of the deep sea and perceive their prey in the great dark, but they lack a forceful personality. Type: Angufolk are aberrations with the aquatic subtype. Darkvision: Angufolk have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Bite: Angufolk have long sharp teeth, granting a bite attack. This is a primary natural attack that deals 1d4 points of piercing damage. Deep Dwellers: Angufolk do not take pressure damage from being in very deep water, nor do they take the nonlethal damage from hypothermia or exposure. Lighted Lure: Angufolk are immune to light-based blindness and dazzle effects and are treated as one level higher when determining the effects of any light based spells or effects they cast (including spell-like and supernatural abilities). Angufolk with a Wisdom score of 10 or higher gain the following spell-like ability: at will—light. Water Dependency: Since Angufolk are from deep waters, exploration on shore wears on them. They take 1 point of Constitution damage after every hour out of the water. Languages: Angufolk begin play speaking Aquan. Angufolk with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Aboleth, Aklo, Common, Draconic, and Undercommon. Replaced Traits: Angufolk merfolk lose the following racial traits: humanoid type, amphibious, armor, legless, low-light vision
Last up, we have the octopi merfolk. This variant merfolk have the top half of a humanoid and the bottom half with eight tentacles.
Octopi have the same racial traits as merfolk except as noted below. +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution: Octopi are graceful and hale like most merfolk but lack their enchanting beauty. Base Speed: Octopi merfolk have a base speed of 15 feet. They have a swim speed of 30 feet. Type: Octopi are monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype. Darkvision: Octopi have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Watersense: Octopi can sense vibrations in the water, granting them blindsight 30 feet against creatures that are touching the same body of water. Octopod: Octopi merfolk gain a +12 racial bonus to CMD against overrun and trip attempts. Ink Cloud (Ex): One per day, an octopi merfolk can release an ink cloud. Treat this as an underwater obscuring mist using the octopi merfolk’s character level as her caster level. Camouflage: Three times per day, an octopi merfolk can adjust the color of her body to blend in with her surroundings, granting a +4 racial bonus to Stealth checks. The octopi merfolk can make Stealth checks without cover or concealment when using this ability, but cannot move more than 5 feet per round Replaced Traits: Octopi merfolk lose the following racial traits: humanoid type, armor, legless, low-light vision
Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Merfolk is part of the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium. Order and download the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium now at the JBE Shop, DriveThruRPG, d20PFSRD, and Paizo.com.
