Noo (3.5e Race)

=Noos=

Summary::Noo are one, and there is only one Noo. Noo are hivemind, and stem from the planet Noosphere, where Noo waits.  Upon this unlikely world, a sentient half fungus half animal based ooze spread across its surface. Rather than split, it grew until it covered the entire planet in its bulk. Aware, alive, it found itself unable to grow any farther. The surface was dominated, it had seeped through the cracks, but found itself alone in the universe. And so, the being of Noo bud and sent its buds into the depths of outer space in the rare hope that the hibernating ooze fragments would land on other worlds, prosper, and grow over their entirety. And they have.

Noo's buds, the Noo race, may seem like individuals at first. In a sense they are, they are self-thinking extensions of what Noo is, a mere fragment of the whole. But they are also connected to Noo by psychic, spiritual links which transend all borders. When two Noo meet, they do not see themselves as two people, but as two personalities, two moods, of the single whole.

Personality
Noo is curious about the universe. Upon Noosphere, only plants and animals exist, no other sapient life. The idea that other thinking beings exist excites Noo to no end. Neither wholely good nor evil, Noo is true neutral. Noo's buds however may possess any alignment, though neutrality runs strong within them.

Noo tries to fit into the dominent culture of the world, learning more about them. As such, Noo will usually try to be on speaking terms of species when possible... a world where Noo is at war with sapients is a most regretable situation indeed.

Physical Description
Noo, in their most resting state, is a colored semi-transparent ooze of shapeless form with a single "dark spot" which serves as their core and their eye. They move around and operate like any ooze, speaking in bubbling voices. Able to contort their body very specifically, they usually take on humanoid forms, which prove useful in interacting with other similarly shaped sapients.

Relations
Noo desires not to be alone, and as such it usually results in Noo coming off as friendly. Occationally through more evil minded Noo grow focused on their other big concern, their desire to spread. It is said that when the population of Noo buds reaches a peek, they will collapse into each other, covering the planet and turning it into another Noosphere. While there is nothing wrong with that for Noo, it would seem it tends to upset other people with the idea of their homeworld turning into slime.

Because Noo are all one mind, you would think all Noo would be in agreement with each other, but because they have their own personalities, they can, and do, fight amongst themselves. Such violence is rare however, for even two noos on opposite sides of the fence have at least a common empathic bond. Fighting between themselves is usually a cause of discomfort and disappointment, as if they themselves have failed or are otherwise embarrised of the actions of the other self.

Alignment
Noo itself is true neutral, and while its buds can be any alignment, they tend to neutrality.

Lands
Noosphere is a world of many extremes and the Noo have adapted well to such a world, allowing Noos to be found nearly anywhere which can sustain life. They do have perference to wet places however, as they dry out rather easily otherwise.

Religion
Noos rarely follow gods, through they find them fascinating. Many of Noo's buds which become clerics actually follow Noosphere itself. They do not consider it worship, so much as drawing power from the whole of Noo. Though Noo is not a god, it does possess domains and should be considered a TN god which permits all alignments.

Language
Noo speak Nu, which is a chemical language mixed with bubbling noises. Unspeakable to others, they rarely communicate in it.

Names
Noo are all Noo, but because this confuses others who cannot understand that Noo is but one being, not many, Noos buds pick up names from their surrounding cultures. They can be considered to have a "chemical name" spoken in Nu, but they do not see it as a mark of individuality. It is more differing between a thumb and a ring finger.

Racial Traits

 * ,, : Tough and able to endure many challenges, they are also simple beings with simple nervous systems and brains.  Were it not for their one mind, they would likely be no more intelligent than a normal ooze.
 * : Noo are oozes, but are not mindless, not blind, and differ in some traits.
 * : As medium creatures, noo have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
 * Noo base land speed is 20 feet. They possess a climb speed of 10 feet and a swim speed of 40 ft.
 * Noo have a slam attack which deals 1d6 + Strength damage.
 * Noo come from a world where the tempature varies wildly. They come with the Varia Skin feat.
 * Darkvision (Ex): Noo can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and noo can function just fine with no light at all.
 * Hibernate (Su): Noo are capable of surviving even the void of space by going into hibernation.  In the course of a minute, a noo may collapse upon itself into a tight ball and harden, slipping into a coma.  They gain hardness 20 which is only bypassed by sonic, immunity to radiation and [Light] spells, immunity to fall damage, and are considered objects for the purposes of spells which can affect them.  However, they are largely unaware, blind, and immobile.  They are only aware of their general condition and not specific events around them, and it takes 1 minute for the hibernation to reverse and they remain dazed for 10 minutes after.  It is said they have some sort of subtle psychic force around them which allows them to make subtle long-term corrections in course when flying through the void of space, but it is a power too weak to use in anything less than interstellar travel.
 * Morphic Body (Ex): Noos have the extraordinary ability to alter their appearance as though using a alter self  spell that affects their bodies but not their possessions.  This ability is not an illusory effect, but a physical alteration of a noos shape, facial features, skin color and texture, and size, within the limits described for the spell (ooze and humanoid forms only), except that you cannot gain additional attacks, natural armor, or movement modes from this ability, as the shift is purely cosmetic.  A noo can use this ability at will, and the alteration lasts until it changes shape again.  A noo reverts to its natural form (a blob) when killed.  A true seeing spell reveals its natural form.  When using this ability to create a disguise, a noo receives a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks.  When shifting in blob form a noo can safely store its possessions inside of its own body, but they become useless until they shift back into a form which can use them.  Using this ability is a full-round action.
 * Morphic Touch (Ex): A noo is capable of manipulating organic matter and converting it into more ooze, which is how the noo feeds and reproduces.  A noo may make a touch attack as a standard action, in an attempt to try in destabilize and digest the organic matter into a slime form.  This touch will deal 1d6 points of damage for every 2 HD they possess, and does not function on non-organic beings like constructs and most elementals, or against those with the shapechanger subtype.  A noo may use a lesser non-destructive form of this ability to also alter the appearance of an ally by briefly morphing their appearance.  The noo may make a disguise check with a +4 bonus, and physically shift a willing target's appearance to a new one within the limits of a disguise self spell.  These alterations last up to 1 minute per character level of the noo, and are an extraordinary polymorph, not an illusory effect.
 * Nuclear Body (Ex): A noo does have a "center" in the form of its nucleus, a dark blob among the rest of it.  Since it is the closest example of vitals they have, they are not entirely immune, but are resistant, to critical hits and sneak attacks.  They are considered to have 50% fortification.  Because Noo see in all directions at once from their nucleus, noo cannot be flanked, although they can be rendered flatfooted.
 * One Mind (Ex): While they are seperate beings, all noo are fragments of the collective mind which is Noo, upon Noosphere.  As such they have access to its endless knowledge, through not instantly.  The process of recalling so many memories and experiences is an uncertain one akin to using a search engine, and the desired knowledge may be buried deep in the collective psyche.  They may make a special one-mind knowledge check with a bonus equal to his character level level + his Wisdom modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. (If the noo has 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (history), he gains a +2 bonus on this check, and an additional +2 if they possess the bardic knowledge class feature.)  For all purposes this ability is considered to be bardic knowledge.
 * Ooze and Xenotheric Traits: A noo is immune to poison, sleep effects, polymorph, petrification, and stunning. They possess telepathy out to 100 ft., have fire and cold resistance 10, +2 on saves against fire and cold, possesses a bio-energy pool, and may take xenotheric feats.  They do not breathe or sleep, but must eat.
 * Racial Hit Dice: A noo begins with three levels of ooze, which provide 3d10 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +1, and Will +1.
 * Racial Skills: A noo’s ooze levels give it skill points equal to 6 × (2 + Int modifier). They gain a +8 bonus on Climb and Swim checks and may take 10 on them, even in stressful situations.  Its class skills are Bluff, Climb, Disguise, Escape Artist, Listen, Knowledge (all skills taken seperately), Spot, Survival, and Swim.  They may choose to use either intelligence or wisdom for determining skill points gained.
 * Racial Feats: A noo’s ooze levels give it two feats.
 * Tremorsense (Ex): A noo's entire body is a sensory organ.  It grants them tremorsense out to 30 feet.
 * Variable Size (Ex): A noo can contort its size, enabling it to simulataneously have Slight Build and Powerful Build.  They may treat themselves as one size larger or one size smaller for all aspects except for reach, when beneficial.  For example a Noo can wield a large greatsword withough penalty, when squeeze down and hide like a small creature with a +4 bonus to hide from size.
 * Automatic Languages: Common, Nu.
 * Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages such as Druidic).
 * Favored Class: Favored Class::Any
 * Level Adjustment: +Level Adjustment::0
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::3