Phant (3.5e Race)

Phant
Summary::Humanoid elephant men with strong bodies and alcohol that would make a dwarf proud, for they need it to forget... So goes the stereotype anyway, which says the phant were once dwarves changed by some means, or a race all their own which did some terrible thing in distant past, which the race as a whole long regrets and has long forgotten. Whatever the cause, phants are legendary alcoholics and rarely sober.

Personality
A drunken phant is a content phant, prone to slurring, forgetfulness, and other symptoms of alcohol. In general they are benign, if slightly easy to make surly and annoyed. They come off as wise even in the throes of alcohol, prone to philosophy and deep thought. Sober, phants become surly and bitter, holding grudges easily and quick to anger. They seem self aware and possibly ashamed of this behavior and do at least try to discourage it.

Physical Description
Phants are built like dwarves, but larger than men, standing in anywhere between 6 to 8 feet tall, a solid mass of muscle, fat, and thick skin. They resemble bipedal elephants, with course gray, brown, or red skin, large ears, a mobile trunk, and tusks which are larger on males than females. Hair is sparse on their heads but does exist, and their legs are flat and stubby. As they age, their skin gets progressively more wrinkled and thicker. They possess booming voices well suited for opera singers and have a commanding presence.

A phant trunk is very mobile, nearly acting as a third arm to which they can manipulate with. It is not uncommon to see a phant with a beer in each hand, and still able to perform tasks with his trunk.

Relations
Phant are friends of dwarves anywhere, the two races having similar worldviews, long lives, and a love of beer. They are the dwarves of the surface, in the plains and along the riverbanks of the world. Rather than mining, they work at brewing, farming, and domestication efforts, often forming a stable trade of ores in exchange for food and clothing.

With other races, they are about as successful as dwarves... which is to say not well. The eternal drunkeness, even if comparatively sober with similar races, is often a put off. The wisdom of the phant are hampered by their tempers as well. The appearance of a phant is often met politely if only for the sole purpose of hurrying them out of town as quickly as possible.

Alignment
Phants have no issue towards good nor evil, chaos nor law. Perhaps it is the ale, but phant are as varied as humans, the majority ending as true neutral.

Lands
Phant inhabit open plains and near riverbanks, in places of prime farming land or areas where they can grow livestock. They enjoy being near the lands of dwarves be it caves or mountains, and are semi-nomadic, sometimes migrating between several small towns, leaving the other towns abandoned until their return on the change of seasons or the depletion of the land.

Religion
Phant in general are surprisingly religious, and open to many religious types so long as they are benign in nature. Dwarven gods, gods of alcohol, gods of harvest, and surprisingly gods of death are popular. Phants revere the dead, and build elaborate graves and places of memory for those who have past. Indeed to be purposefully forgotten is the worst fate of a phant, and so they build the memories they wish to keep and the people they love into stone.

Language
Phant speak Common and Giant.

Names
Phant names are often low and "grumbly". Male names include Barbar, Donfan, Oli, and Ulbandus. Female names include Erepato, Olbenta, Pach, and Roxo.

Racial Traits

 * ,, , : Strong as an ox, tough as nails, and wise beyond messure, phants are not quite the most graceful of creatures.
 * Type::Humanoid (Subtype::Anthro): Phant are humanoids as humans and dwarves, in spite of their animalistic appearance.
 * As medium creatures phant have no special size bonuses or penalties.
 * Phant base land speed is 20 feet. However, phant can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
 * Phant have a Gore attack with their tusks, dealing 1d8 + strength modifier in damage.
 * Articulated Trunk : A phant's truck functions as a third arm, capable of picking up and using most items.  As it is not capable of the finesse to effectively  employ skills which require fine manipulation by hand (such as disable device or using weapons), using the trunk to perform said task invokes a -2 penalty on the roll.
 * Eternally Drunk : A phant functions best when drunk.  When consuming at least 1 mug of alcohol, the phant may take a -2 penalty to two of his ability scores in exchange for +2 to one of his physical scores for the next 24 hours.  At 8 HD, the phant can take a -3 penalty to two mental ability scores and gain a +4 bonus on one of his physical scores.  At 16 HD, he may take a -4 penalty to two mental ability scores, and gain a +6 to one physical ability score.  These changes last for 24 hours or until the phant rests for 8 hours.
 * Improved Toughness : Phant gain Improved ToughnessCW as a bonus feat.
 * Musth : If the phant is sober (that is, he has not drunk alcohol within 24 hours), they can get very surly.  If an ally drops below 0 hp within 60 ft of the phant, they may enter a rage as an immediate action (as a barbarian of their level).  This does not consume any uses of rage they may possess.  The rage lasts as normal, and may only be triggered once per day.  A phant may not rage if he is drunk.
 * Natural Armor : Phant have a +2 bonus to natural armor.
 * Never Forgets : Phants have fantastic memories. All knowledge skills are class skills for phants, and they may use the memorize function of autohypnosis without being trained.
 * Powerful Build : The physical stature of a phant lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a phant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the phant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A phant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A phant has the unarmed damage and can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty.  However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
 * Racial Hit Dice: An phant begins with two levels of humanoid, which provide 2d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +1, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +0, and Will +3.
 * Racial Skills: An phant gains more skill than a typical humanoid racial hit die, gaining skill points equal to 5 x (4 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Autohypnosis, Concentration, Disable Device, Intimidate, Knowledge (any) and Psicraft.
 * Racial Feats: An phant's humanoid levels give it one feat.
 * Scent : Phant have the scent ability.
 * Stability : A phant gains a +8 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
 * Trample : Phant have the trample special ability, dealing 1d8 + 1-1/2 times it's str modifier in damage.
 * Phant have a +4 racial bonus against poison and disease.
 * Phant eyesight is poor. Phant have a -2 penalty to Spot checks.
 * Phant have a +2 racial bonus to Listen and Search checks.
 * Automatic Languages: Common and Giant.
 * Bonus Languages: Dwarven and Terran..
 * Favored Class: and
 * Level Adjustment: +Level Adjustment::0
 * Effective Character Level: Effective Character Level::3