Xanthian (3.5e Race)
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This is the race of Humans found in the series of [[1]] novels written by Piers Anthony.
Contents
Xanthians
Centuries ago, the first wave of Humans colonized the strange new world of Xanth. Those first humans didnt have magic talents, but settled in this strange, new, highly magical realm. So it went for several generations before the first Humans began to develop innate magical abilities that only they could cast. So it was with each following generation that every child born in the land of Xanth had an inherant magical talent. Some talents were more powerful than others, and those with the most powerful talents being granted the honorary title of Magician.
Personality
Most all Xanthians are very polite and friendly. Most are very unassuming people who are gracious and curteous to most anyone they meet. Like thier Human ancestors, there is room for variation, but even the worst among Xanthians usually still is only equal to or may even be better than most average Humans. Xanthians, having lived in the magical land of Xanth, have been cut off from the rest of normal society and have been spared exposure to the consistant wars of Humans, and as such are not as hardened and emotionally distant as some Humans can become from exposure to such circumstances.
Physical Description
Xanthians typically stand from 5 feet to a little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds, with males noticeably taller and heavier than women. Like their Human ancestors penchant for migration and conquest, and their short life spans, Xanthians are more physically diverse than other common races. Their skin ranges from nearly black to very pale, their hair from balck to blond (curly, kinky, or straight), and their facial hair (for men), from thin to thick. Xanthians have short life spans, reaching adulthood at about age 15 and rarely living even a single century.
Relations
Just as their Human anscestors, Xanthians mix just as readily with other races as they mix with each other. Xanthians are highly tolerant of other traditions and especially of other races as they have strong alliances with other species, such as Centaurs, Merfolk, Nagas, Nymphs, Ogres and Zombies which in Xanth are all more or less friendly races, with the exception of the Ogres which can still be dangerous if your not careful.
Alignment
Xantians are usually neutral on the law-chaos axis, and are most often good. Those that are not neutral on the law-chaos axis are most often lawful as a chaotic xanthian is not very common. Evil Xanthians are even more rare than a chaotic Xanthian, and a Chaotic Evil Xanthian would be one in a literal million, or more.
Lands
Xanthians hail from a small magical island called Xanth. Xanth is an island shaped like the real life state of Florida, but has a series of islands at the bottom, and off of the southwest coast has a large island just off the coast, this island actually rotates harmlessly into the water and a different island arises in its place, each with its own specific people or way of life. Xanth is cut off horizontally at the center by what the people of Xanth call "The Gap Chasm" which is a mile wide canyon that bisects the country. The Gap Chasm has a 'forget spell' on it, so that once people who cross it are out of sight of it, they must make a DC 25 will save or completely forget about its existance. The Gap Chams is guarded and patrolled by what people who have seen it refer to as "The Gap Dragon". In Xanth, many plants bear fruit or finished goods such as pies, pillows, shoes, etc. One of the most fearsome plants in Xanth is the Tangle Tree, a sentient, carnivorous tree that has dozens and dozens of prehensile tentacles for foliage.
Religion
Xanthians believe in a group of higher entities known as Demons. In the land of xanth there are minor "demons" which are more michevious than evil, which can be encountered by nearly anyone. Then there are the over-seeing and all powerful "Demons". Each of these "Demons" has a name associated with the realm which they control. These names happen to corispond to the names of the different planets in our solar system. There are the Demon Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Nemesis. Xanthians attribute the magic of their land, and their ability to use magic spells as the trace incidental leakage of magic from the body of the Demon Xanth. Lore has it that the Demon Xanth takes the form of a donkey headed dragon named NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) and goes around with his consort Chlorine, and does random favors for travelers.
Language
Xanthians language is a simple shift in the alphabet, a letter or two forwards or backwards (See Caesar cipher). For example, the word "What?" in common would be "Xibu?" in Xanthian.
Names
Xanthian names come in three equally common types. The first are names that were handed down and brought with them from the Human societies that they started in. Such names are any names that can be or that are commonly given to Humans. The second type is names that are based on puns, which have developed over the course of time being cut off from the world they started in. The third type are names not common to Humans, but also that are not based off puns, these names are as follows.
Male names: Anomy, Crombie, Bink, Dor, Dolph, Hugo, Humphrey, Trent
Female names: Becka, Dawn, Electra, Eve, Irene, Iris, Ivy, Wira
A male Xanthian with a "Magician Calibur" talent gains the honorary title "Magician" and female Xanthians gain the title "Sorceress". A Magician or Sorceress are called by others either Magician or Sorceress followed by their first name i.e. Magician Trent, Sorceress Ivy, Magician Bink, Sorceress Iris, Magician Murphy, etc. More formally, they can be described to someone else by themselves or others using what thier talent does; i.e. Grey, the Magician of Nullification, Ivy, the Sorceress of Enhancement, Bink, the Magician of Magical Immunity, Iris, the Sorceress of Illusion, and Trent, the Magician of Transformation, etc
Xanthian Racial Traits
- None
- Humanoid (Human)
- Xanthians are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Xanthian base land speed is 30 feet.
- Magic Talent: All Xanthians are born with a magic talent that is unique to them. Each Xanthians talent is rated in power from the weakest "Spot on the Wall" talents, to the most powerful "Magician Calibur" talents. All magic talents act as spell-like abilities, and each talent is either automatic and self activating, in which case the Xanthian has no control over it, or more commonly, the magic talent is like a spell-like ability at will. If a saving throw is ever needed in conjunction with a magic talent, the save is always charisma based.
- +4 skill points at first level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level. (The 4 skill points at first level are added on as a bonus, not multiplied in; see the Players Handbook).
- Human Blood: For all effects related to race, a Xanthian is considered a Human. Xanthians for example are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect Humans as their Human ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by Humans. (See the Player's Handbook for more information on Humans, and the Dungeon Master's Guide for more information on magic items).
- Automatic Languages: Xanthian and Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Xanthians have all of the versatility and broad (if shallow) experience that humans have.
- Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass Xanthian takes an experience point penalty, his highest-level class does not count.
- Level Adjustment: Spot on the wall and Weak - 0, Normal and Strong - +1, Magician - +2
- Effective Character Level: Spot on the wall and Weak - 1, Normal and Strong - +2, Magician - +3
Spot on the wall
- Creating a spot on a wall
- Having stupid ideas
- Changing the color of your own hair
- Change the color of others hair
- Changing your own eye color
- Changing the color of any body parts
- Heating meals
- Eye color changes with mood
- Hair changes color with emotion
- Change gender at will
- Glowing in the night
- Sex appeal (being sexy/physically attractive for ones whole life)
- Projecting boom sounds
- Conjuring sweet smelling flowers
- Create small 1 foot illusionary hole in the ground
Weak talent
- Directing winds direction but not strength
- Your kisses cause intoxication
- Projecting others most embarrasing moments as visible scenes above their heads
- Transform wood into reverse wood
- Turn any inanimate object into pure jade stone
- Making people feel guilty
- Conjuring print to appear on any surface
- Making rain in a very small vacinity
- Voice projection up to 15 feet
- Manifesting a normal shortsword
- Conjure fruit
- Manifest sensory organs (noses, mouths, eyes, ears) on objects
- Can feel but not manipulate things via an ethereal hand up to 15 feet away
- Turning water to wine
- Physically see completely through things, but not half way through like into a rock, or someones skeleton, only whats past the rock and person
- Creating somewhat small pictures on surfaces
- Massage can heal a broken heart
- Produce one type of music from anything touched
- Poisoning water, up to 1 gallon of water per attempt
- Conjuring a normal silver flute
- Change through out the month from beautiful and stupid, to average beauty and intelligence then to ugly and super intelligent
- Make bridges appear
- Darkvision 120 ft
- Hearing things at great distiances
- Causing figurative heartache in others
- Causing sore throats
- Animating rocks, but not fast enough to hurt anyone with
- Soothing burns of others
Normal talent
- Slow down time
- See the past (a number of rounds in the local vacinity back, equal to your hit dice)
- Making living things friendly
- Flight without wings
- Turn ordinary stones into gems and vice versa
- Rusting metal to any length with touch
- Animating objects (Create animated objects as found in the Monster Manual)
- Create physically manifested puns (i.e. a dandilion flower that can roar, a quater horse that can divide into 4 one legged creatures, etc)
- Restore zombies to good physical and mental condition so long as they stay within 30 feet, though they actually remain undead
- Draw a door on an object and it becomes openable to whatever exists on the other side of the object (as passdoor)
- Invisibility (self) at will
- Making the ground quake
- Create a small invisible wall of force
- Projecting maps of things previously seen
- Turn things transparent
- To change species every day
- Use your finger to write on stone
- Transform into a brick wall
- Changing the personalities of others
- Conjuring mundane items
- X-Ray Vision
- Changing one type of plant to another
- Killing plant life in the local vacinity
- Assume the essence of what you see
- Summoning and directing nicklepedes
- Summoning and directing equines (mules, horses, pegasi, unicorns and the such)
- To make others believe you if you speak something as a promise
- To know when folks are lying
- Create an extremely tiny spot on the wall that is actually a picture of the future
- A 'stun-gaze' that freezes a person in place
- Can touch someone and they immediately know what others around them truely think of them
- Spin in a circle and point to anything you want to know the direction of, but not the distance
- Looking briefly foward in time
- Rewind time 6 seconds in your local vacinity
Strong talent
- Duplicate inanimate objects
- Know the exact route to anything or place desired except the way home
- Talks to the winds and it obeys
- Create a small intangable barrier that hostile creatures cannot cross
- Reading minds
- Saying no to a creature causes it to choose to not do the action attempted or specified
- Summoning creatures described in any book held
- Producing and controlling small amounts of electricity
- Making a temporary and sentient duplicate of yourself
- Shattering objects
- Transform into any aquatic creature
- Transform into any creature that has wings
- Changing things from soft to hard or light to heavy
- Suggestion as a spell-like ability
- Absorbing one property of something you touch
- Produce a sticky resin that can trap dibris, insects, enemies, or whatever it comes into contact with and preserves it for later use
- Teleport other folks anywhere
- Can make tamgable imaginary friends with real talents (no stronger than normal strength), but no more than any 1 friend at a time, and can recall the same friends.
- Can communicate with any living creature (plants, animals, creatures, anything)
- Fast healing (10)
- Perfect memory
- To unexpectedly, but pleasantly find something that you werent looking for
- Erase any inanimate object out of existance with a wave of your hand
- To know if something is inimical (threatening or a threat to you or means you harm)
- To see exactly 24 hours into the future as its happening (requires concentraition)
- Borrowing the talents of others temporarily
- Deflecting all hostile attacks with an equal but opposite amount of force as what was used to strike at you
- Half wishes (get half of what you ask for, probably in an unexpected way)
- Transform into a dragon of your own hit dice
Magician / Socrceress talent
- To know the magical abilities of others (this includes any class ability that is Supernatural or spell-like, as well as any spells known to any spellcasting class or talents of other Xanthians.)
- Bring golems to life
- Having a circle of magic around you, where magic functions normally, even in an anti-magic field
- Cause plants to grow rapidly, completing full life cycles in minutes if you desire.
- Make any inanimate objects (rocks, clouds, water, bones, floor tiles, furniture, etc) within a 30 ft radius able to speak having a 7 intelligence, 10 wisdom and 8 charisma, They're often crass and rude, but know what has happened around them in the past
- Making pictures or paintings come to life
- Divining entire history of a touched object
- Change yourself into any animate creature (another race, species, a lion, griffon, roc, rat, dragon, cocatrice, unicorn, ogre, goldfish, etc) with all physical characteristics and abilities of the normal creature.
- Can know anything about anything inanimate (such as picking up a leaf and seeing the exact spot in the exact forest it came from, and that it was carried by a swarn of tiny creatures on its branch to its current location and on the way the swarm was attacked by a small dragon whos inanimate soot from its breath weapon still microscopicly covers the leave, the swarm fought off the dragon after losing many members of the swarm. Once at its current location, it was plucked off and the branch, which was thrown into a constructs fire chamber to create its energy, and here the leaf lay since, until you picked it up.)
- Can know anything about anything animate: Such as finding out the entire history of any animal, live plant, humanoid, or outsider, etc.
- Create any illusion desired. As simple as making it look like there is a hole in the ground, to as complex as making a plate of rice look, smell and taste like dragon steak. This includes making the semblance of invisibility or total silence, or even recreating an ancient city and all its detail. Any such illusion can be maintained with little to no effeort, even in your sleep.
- Making things go wrong (See Murphy's Law)
- Creating storms of any strength, size, or type, including rain storms, snow storms, hurricanes, tornados, etc
- Reanimate almost any dead body into a zombie, with the exact amount of decay on the body as when it was zombified.
- Transform any animate living thing, into any other animate living thing within a 10 ft radius, a human to a centaur, a tree to a fish, a blade of grass to a human, an orc to an ogre, a minotaur to a blade of grass, a racoon to a tree, etc. The subjects new form is now its natural form for all purposes including for spells, abilities of others as well as for breeding purposes
- Immortality (body may die, but your soul is capable of taking over others bodies forcfully)
- Know where to find the information that will answers any question
- If you both believe and agree with an idea or suggestion that comes from someone who doesnt know your talent, it immediately becomes reality
- Adapting by enhancing or partially transforming magical inanimate things to make them more useful
- Create any given magical effect once and its gone forever (for example could fly via using magic to grow feathered wings, but if you wanted to fly again, you couldnt manifest feathered wings, but could grow bat wings, or repel yourself from the ground, or remove the gravity in your local vacinity, etc). All effects are temporary and wear out within a certain limited time, so if you grew feathered wings, they would not be permenant.
- Unhappening: You can rewind time by slipping into a blurry limbo and backtracking your steps, and then coming back out in your own body whenever you choose, leaving only you with the memory of what transpired, this talent starts at adolecence, but at first you can go no further back than when your talent developed, and then after using the talent, you can go no further back in one unhappening, than to just after you came out of your last unhappening to prevent a time paradox.
- Reverse anything. make a substance from hard (such as wood) to pliable like putty, liquid (such as water) to solid (walkable surface), solid (such as stone) to powdered (sand), reverse others moods, reverse inanimate (statue) to animate (construct), your current location to another location (reverse here to there), reverse curses into blessings, etc
- Conjure any effect you can imagine into reality while singing, whistling, humming, playing an instrument or the like.
- Nullify magic: Supress magic like a targeted antimagic field on anything as small as a ring or a small coin to a person to even an entire 15 ft radius centered on you, except that the effect is permenant if you choose, and innately magical creatures such as constructs, elementals, undead or outsiders that require magic to animate them, cease animation.
- Selectively enhance the qualities you percieve in anything animate or inanimate. (While lost in the jungle, you percieve your new companions magic talent to be good, and then it is, you percieve your new companion seems to be smart, and then they are, and then when you come across a fearsome chaotic dragon, you percieve it to be a nice creature, and it is)
- Magical Invulnerability, which manifests itself via an intangible yet highly intelligent, sentient force that has some small ability to see short distances into the future so that it may foresee and prevent incoming attacks.. Your talent protects you from magical harm of any kind. If the exact nature of your talent were known, then you would be vulnerable to those who want to attack you through non-magic means - thus making (your own) magic the indirect cause of your injury.To prevent the exposure of its existence, the talent prefers to work in roundabout ways, one day it could drag you through a previously unknown whirlpool to avoid a field of magic that kills on contact, for example. So your talent is kept hidden by the select few who know it. This talent cleverly conceals itself by acting through coincidence, causing your to appear to be an amazingly lucky (if not somewhat clumsy at times) individual. Such as while running away from a dragon, you almost break your ankle after tripping on a rock which causes you to fall into a pit that just happens to be deep enough for you to hide in, and that the dragon cant fit its mouth into. This talent does not care about your reputation or humility or how you look, only that the quickest, easiest and most direct route of protecting you was taken.
Vital Statistics
| Adulthood | Simple | Moderate | Complex |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 years | +1d4 | +1d6 | +2d6 |
| Middle Age1 | Old2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 years | 53 years | 70 years | +2d20 years | |
| ||||
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4' 10" | +2d10 | 120 lb. | × (2d4) lb. |
| Female | 4' 5" | +2d10 | 85 lb. | × (2d4) lb. |
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