Beastman (3.5e Race)

Author: the bluez in the dungeon (talk) Date Created: 3 June 2024 Status: Complete Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Beastman

A race of generic beastmen to fit any kind of world, with traits from the demihumans from Elden Ring. Can be used to replace goblins and/or orcs. The mysterious beastmen were present from the longest times, being recorded at the start of human history, with some, albeit debated, dwarven accounts even predating that era. They are a savage people of humanoid with various, unspecified beastial traits, both physical and mental. They live in wild areas, occupying the same ecological niche that ancient humans would, never having managed to raise above a primitive lifestyle, though it doesn't seem to bother them. Despite this condition, the beastmen's society is deeper and more culturally significant than other races think.

Personality

Beastmen are savages and brutes, with minimal social structures, though this doesn't mean they don't have complex and deep traditions. They are as varied as humans, being especially differentiated depending on their original tribe's culture, their experiences and where they live, but some common traits may be found: they value strength and raw power, as it gains honor and respect among them, which in turn means that a good portion of them, namely the weaker ones, live in deference and fear of stronger beastemen, making them appear frail and cowardly. Despite this, beastmen society have a use for everyone, and even the less brutish of them can help with stealth, craftiness, manual skill and similar abilities, which define their roles differently.

Despite being individually different, a part for their common cultural traits, they are collectively one of the most adventurous races, many of them taking a more vagrant lifestyle, or joining mercenaries companies.

Physical Description

They are humanoids, with a variety of body builds, different facial traits, color of skin and hair, height and weight. They look like humanoids with accentuated beastial traits, ranging from distored faces (assuming a human standard), or animalistic ones (feline, canine, rat-like, similar to bear snouts or other mammalian creatures), either coherent (like an all canine-looking beastman) or a mix of different creatures (like a boar snout and mouse-like ears). They have usually lanky limbs, also reminiscing of animal arms and legs (though sometimes they look and work like the real thing), muscular fit and they wear raggedy clothes and pelts, made from them or stolen, though they also have complex decorations, usually made from the bodies of preys or fallen foes, as a proof of strength, or with other objects of cultural or religious significance.

Relations

Most of the civilized races hate and despise the beastman, seeing them as no more than raiders and savages, sometimes persecuting them and considering them as animals.

Beastmen in return aren't very keen on them and frequently raid and pillage, or attack travellers, which only contributes to the stereotype (though it must be said that most beastmen tribes are only protecting their territories from those that seemingly invade them).

They are considered an abomination of nature, usually due to a curse, an unholy union of man and beast, the result of the experiments of a mad mage or the spawn of malevolent gods. Their true origin is still unknown, and many scholars have attempted to study them, usually by kidnapping them and exposing them to horribile experiments.

This has left the beastmen distrusting of other races, and only in recent times some scholars have attempted to contact them more peacefully and observe and understand their culture and social dynamics.

Beastmen from different tribes may hold grudges due to the two tribes' history with each other.

Alignment

By human standards, they are almost only chaotic, which is true for the most part, as true as an animal can be chaotic, and most often than not evil.

They are really mostly neutral, which implies the need of adaptability to survive an harsh world.

Lands

They can live almost anywhere humans live, though they occupy only wildlands, and don't build big settlements, contenting themselves to sleep under trees or in caves, though some have started using discarded wood and abandoned houses as shelters.

They live in tribes, which usually keep for themselves, sedentary or nomadic alike, and most of the times commanded by a queen, the maximum rank of the beastmen, which gives them a sort of matriarcal society matrix.

Religion

Not much is known of their religion, but they seem to have a shamanic cult of nature and ancestors, usually controlled by druids rather than clerics.

Language

They speak a form of Common, which scholars called Howling (a reminescence of racial connotation), which to Common-speaker may appear as a simplified version of the language, with bellows and animal sounds mixed in.

Names

They usually don't adopt names for themselves, and so it's mostly the other races to call them in some way, usually not flattering.

Some notable individual may choose or be bestowed a name, as a sign of power.

Racial Traits

• +2 Any: Selenite society allows individuals to grow their natural inclination and abilities.
• Humanoid (Spiritfolk): Being humanoids which have lived on the moon since time immemorial, they have developed strange properties. 
• Medium: As a Medium creature, a selenite has no special bonuses or penalties due to its size.
• Selenite base land speed is 30 feet.  
• Low-Light Vision: A selenite can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. 
• Touch of Selene (Ex): All of selenites' unarmed attacks and natural weapons are treated as being made of silver. They can gift this property as swift action to weapons they are wielding and the effects remain active until they no longer wield them. While under this effect, the weapons glow like a candle. 
• Lunacy: Selenites have an incredible bond with Selene, so much that they suffer when away from it. Whenever they aren't on the moon and the moon is new they suffer a -2 to all skill and ability checks. They also act erratically and don't seem their normal self. Their alignment shifts by one step in a random direction for the duration of the effect. This may prevent them from using certain abilities or items, but they don't permanently lose benefits, they are just suspended. If acting according to their shifted alignment would break an alignment restriction of theirs, they may try a Will save with DC 15 with a +2 to the save, and if they succeed they may avoid doing that action. 
• Refined Craft: Selenites are educated since their youth among all their social castes for the betterment of their society, and so they gain automatically half the maximum skill points per level in a Craft, Perform or Profession skill of their choice (additional points spent are added after this gain). When they gain a proficiency bonus on a skill check in their chosen skill they add another +2 racial bonus to the check. 
• Silver Body (Ex): They are immune to the curse of lycanthropy, and gain a +2 racial bonus to saves against transmutation effects. 
• Sense Shapeshifters (Ex): As a way to better contrast their natural enemies, by concentrating on all their senses, selenites may locate shapeshifters in ther proximity. They may replicate the effects of the detect magic spell, but it senses the presence of creatures with the Shapechanger subtype or that are currently transformed with a transmutation effect. They concentrate on it as a swift action, using a move action to activate this effect at first.
• Automatic Languages: Lunarian, Common
• Bonus Languages: Any, except for secret ones
• Favored Class: Any
• Level Adjustment: +0
• Effective Character Level: 1

Pathfinder Options

Alternate Racial Features

• Darkmoon Cultist: Some devoted selenites are part of the Darkmoon cult and develop different skills than most others. They gain a +2 racial bonus to Hide, Knowledge (religion) and Move Silently, aided as they are from the shadowy part of the moon. This alternate feature replaces the Refined Craft feature.

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