Apiz (3.5e Race)

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Author: Eiji-kun (talk)
Date Created: 8-6-15
Status: Complete
Editing: Clarity edits only please
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Apiz[edit]

On the hostile death world of Dawnovuld, the creations of the gods were in a state of eternal war. Violent predatory monsters prayed upon toxic merciless beings which returned the favored in kind, and the battles were constant and never-ending. As the world drew closer and closer to destruction, a goddess of mercy attempted to step in. If the top races would not listen to peace, she would create a race worthy of inheriting the world after the inevitable apocalypse of the mortal's own making. Searching the land, she found the hardworking bees working in harmony together, and uplifted them into beings which would provide a shining example of what was good and right in the world.

The other species of the world immediately set upon them like ravenous wolves.

As the newly created apiz died in great number, a plan was hatched to escape their death world and live elsewhere. Their top scientists loaded great honeycomb ships full of young apiz and sent them into the depths of space to colonize the universe, with a promise to one day to return to their ravaged homeworld and inherent what was theirs. They can only hope that the other species have destroyed themselves before they too have learned the secrets of escaping the world.


Personality[edit]

Most apiz found do not recall their previous world or the terror from it, but they retain a strong sense of community, kindness, and togetherness. They work together, and often try to work with others too, though their appearance is often off-putting to non-insectile species. In worlds where the arane exist, the two species can often find a common bond in being generally kindly beings with terrifying appearances to most of the world.

Their willingness to help can also be a fault, in that they often are placed in situations where they will help, or be tricked into helping, even the most unethical and devious beings. Whenever an apiz is seen side by side the forces of evil, it is almost always certainly a case of an apiz trying to eek out the inner goodness of beings which are often devoid of kindness and mercy.

Physical Description[edit]

Apiz are giant bees, and like actual bees their biology is stratified across by function. There are worker bees, drones, warriors, and the queen bee to a hive, and save for the drones, the vast majority of them are female. For the purposes of PCs, the apiz race covers everything except the queen bee, who is generally immobile and subject to the duty of being the literal mother of a hive.

As bees, they have insectile bodies with wings and fuzzy yellow and black fur, large compound eyes, and stingers. The stinger is not used, due to its fatal results, except by the warrior class who can employ it without problem. They walk on all six feet, but are capable of standing on four legs to use their feet as manipulators. Otherwise, complicated mandibles double as hands. They have stingers, but they are purely vestigial, tiny and decorative with no real function or serious use as a natural weapon. It was the belief in their creator goddess that this would help show their peaceful intent. It was also a terrible idea.

Apiz have their larva young in great hives tended by the queen bee, who is the only fertile one within the hive. If the queen dies, worker bees begin to transform into queen bees and scatter until hives are re-established.

Apiz consume a diet of nectar, plants, and rarely insects, generally avoiding actual meat.

Relations[edit]

Apiz are always happy to help and get along with anyone, and often other beings abuse their friendliness to effectively, or actually, enslave them to their will. A few become wise to this, and usually fight back indirectly by helping those who would oppose their captors rather than fighting directly. As a result, others sometimes see the apiz as cowards. If they saw the fierce nature in which the warriors defend their hives, they would realize that this is not the case at all. In protection of the hive and the queen, the kindly apiz turn into psychotic suicidal death machines with no care for safety or ethics.

Alignment[edit]

Apiz are generally lawful good, enforced even more within the hives where pheromones help keep the peace. It is usually apiz who have spent a long time away from any other apiz who begin displaying variation to their basic behavior.

Lands[edit]

Apiz enjoy temperate forests and plains, building artificial organic hives as cities in trees, on hills, and underground.

Religion[edit]

The apiz do not follow religions per se, though some adopt lawful good deities local to the area to fit in. For the apiz, mother is god, and all work in service to the greater good.

Language[edit]

Apiz speak Common and Apiz, which is not really a spoken language at all, but a visual dance language intermixed with buzzing and chattering for emphasis and detail. It can be considered a form of sign language.

Names[edit]

Apiz names are actually spoke in Apiz dance, and as a result cannot be translated effectively. Thus, most adopt humanoid nicknames for the sake of communication.

Racial Traits[edit]

  • -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma: Not terribly strong, nor terribly good at individualism or getting along with others without them screaming "Run from the giant bees!", they are certainly very nimble and very tough for their size.
  • Magical Beast: Apiz are giant bees, that's pretty magical and pretty beastly. 
  • Small: As a Small creature, an apiz gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –4 size penalty on special attack (bull rushes, grapples, overruns, and trips) checks, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but it uses smaller weapons than humans use, and its lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
  • Apiz base land speed is 10 feet. hover 20 ft (perfect) 
  • Darkvision: An apiz can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and an apiz can function just fine with no light at all.
  • Low-Light Vision: An apiz 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. 
  • Endure Elements (Ex): The apiz like it warmer than most, and are always under endure elements (warm only). 
  • Flight (Ex): Apiz rarely ever walk, they have wings. At first they can only hover, this is rapidly progresses as they age. Their effective reach for hovering is 5 ft per HD they possess, until they reach 6 HD, in which case they gain a fly speed equal to their land speed (average). This increases to (good) maneuverability and +5 speed at 9 HD and (perfect) maneuverability and another +5 speed at 12 HD. 
  • Helping Hand (Ex): Apiz love to help and be helped. They give a +4 bonus on Aid Another checks, and take a +4 bonus from the first person to aid another themselves. They can also use Aid Another as a move action. For 1 round after making an aid another check, the apiz gains a +2 morale bonus to all attack rolls, damage rolls, saves, skill checks, and ability checks. This stacks with other morale bonuses, but not with itself. 
  • Inhuman Body: Apiz are not of humanoid form, and thus wear armor as a non-humanoid creature (twice the base cost). In addition, they lack the ring body slots (they have what passes for two hands, but no real digits), but instead gain three feet slots instead of one. If on the ground they count as Small (long) creatures, and thus have the reach of a creature one size smaller, or 0 ft. This restriction is lifted whenever they are hovering or otherwise airborne, due to their quick movements. Their hands are small compared to their body as well, and as a result they use weapons for a creature one size smaller as well. 
  • Scent (Ex): Apiz have scent. The scent of flora based objects such as flowers is particularly potent, and their scent goes twice as far for these plant based sources. 
  • Specialization (Ex): An apiz is born as either as a worker, warrior, or drone (with workers sometimes evolving into queens given the right circumstances). Choose one of the three benefits below.
Drone: Drones are always male. Drones are expected to travel long distances without fail and explore new and strange territory. They are immune to fatigue, and exhaustion becomes fatigue instead. They also apply endure elements to both hot and cold, and at 6 HD it becomes greater endure elements. They always know which direction is north, and possess a minotaur's immunity to becoming lost in a maze.
Warrior: Warriors come in both male and female forms. Warriors have stronger mandibles allowing them to wield weapons up to their size. They gain +2 hp/level, and +2 natural armor as well.
Worker: Workers are always female. They are able to build things out of beeswax and produce honey. They gain honey ambrosia as a spell-like ability 1/day. At 6 HD, they also gain hivecraft as a spell-like ability 1/day. Lastly they benefit from an improved carrying capacity of a creature one size larger than themselves, and can fly and move at normal speed in medium or heavy armor or encumbrance. 

Vital Statistics[edit]

Table: Apiz Random Starting Ages
Adulthood Simple Moderate Complex
5 years +1d3 +1d4 +2d4
Table: Apiz Aging Effects
Middle Age1 Old2 Venerable3 Maximum Age
30 years 50 years 60 years +1d10 years
  1. At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.
  2. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.
  3. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.
Table: Apiz Random Height and Weight
Gender Base Height Height Modifier Base Weight Weight Modifier
Male 2' 6" +1d8 20 lb. × (1) lb.
Female 2' 8" +1d8 25 lb. × (1) lb.



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Eiji-kun's Homebrew (5605 Articles)
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Facts about "Apiz (3.5e Race)"
AuthorEiji-kun +
Effective Character Level1 +
Favored ClassRanger (drone) +, Fighter (warriors) + and or Bard (worker) +
Identifier3.5e Race +
Level Adjustment0 +
Racial Ability Adjustments-2 Strength +, +2 Dexterity +, +2 Constitution + and -2 Charisma +
Rated ByQwertyu63 +
RatingRating Pending +
SizeSmall +
SummaryA race of giant sentient bees from another world, these community minded helpers are on the run from the dangerous predators of their world. +
TitleApiz +
TypeMagical Beast +