Custom Race Idea.... The Living Weapon

Garthanos · Mar 14, 2017

For inspiration look to Stormbringer and the anime Soul Eater ...

but also the[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif] Peri, from the invisible War.
[/FONT]http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/halloween-jack/immortal-the-invisible-war/

in Tropes this relates to

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LivingWeapon
and
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EquippableAlly

The mechanics start with ahem the pixie, yeh I said it, plus maybe a dash of built in symbiotic hit points...

MwaO · Mar 14, 2017

Pixie's one of those annoying races that they didn't actually balance out correctly. Mainly because they don't actually understand how altitude works.

Garthanos · Mar 14, 2017

MwaO said:
Pixie's one of those annoying races that they didn't actually balance out correctly. Mainly because they don't actually understand how altitude works.

in this case flight is not a very signature element ... and even hovering a few feat above the ground wouldnt mess with race concept

One effects for this race would involve being able to absorb magic items in to itself in some fashion.

Garthanos · Mar 19, 2017

Extracting a pivitol piece of fiction

Peri (The Children of War)

The Primals created the Peri as magical weapons. They escaped into the Underworld for a long time, and emerged during the Shouting War to become mercenaries. They had little loyalty to one another, so their death toll was high, and got even higher when they were trapped in Sheol without any allies. They joined up with the Banjax to aid their rebellion, and spent a long time trying to regrow their membership. The Children’s Crusade of 1212 was a pivotal event for them; they recruited many of the “casualties” into their pride, so most of them have himsatis of young humans. They rarely do mercenary work now, but will “bond” with those who impress them; Caliburn, Gungnir, and Mjolnir are examples of such Peri.

A Himsati, is their humanoid form.

Thinking out loud on the mechanics

Symbiotic Bond
Perhaps while wielded they both take damage when the wielder is targeted but area affects, are assigned independently (since generally a weapon is unlikely to be directly attacked) this could handle hit point damage (Stormbringer was often described as bleeding a black light...) similarly the weapon may suffer other effects like dazed and things some causing the weapon to be inert, instead of actively aiding and directing some of the attacks and maneuvers in the fight.... even inert the wielder would still have passive benefits (like they had a normal magic sword)

These Weapons absorb the power and often the abilities of magic items (sometimes the items are absorbed as raw karmic energy) its not exactly like a shapeshifter so the items do not "normally" appear in the humanoid form.

Many of the weapons contain and acquire ritual magic knowledge and can perform rituals usually in weapon form often hovering and cutting/drawing runes of energy and magic circles as it is one of the ways they use the Karmic energy they can absorb

The absorbtion in raw KE form is directly analogous the act of disenchanting an item into its essence

Garthanos · Mar 20, 2017

I am thinking the Living weapon needs reasons for wanting a bonded companion....
One might be for mobility, independently they might lack a decent move rate but be able in combination with a wielder to maybe urge them on...

i am definitely thinking just about any class might work for this race but a warlord would sing.

AbdulAlhazred · Mar 25, 2017

I'd call them Artifacts in 4e...

Garthanos · Mar 25, 2017

AbdulAlhazred said:
I'd call them Artifacts in 4e...

You mean in D&D

but yeah I hadn't thought of that.

Rolenet · Mar 25, 2017

Bloodlust was a '91 French RPG that had players play in pair, with one creating a mighty warrior, the other a sentient weapon the first wielded. The weapon had goals, wants, and could wrench control of the wielder from time to time...

Garthanos · Mar 25, 2017

Rolenet said:
The weapon had goals, wants, and could wrench control of the wielder from time to time...

I was considering some situations having the conscious weapon operate an unconscious bonded wielder for instance...

Garthanos · Mar 25, 2017

of course if situations occurred where a wielder and weapon disagreed over whether someone was enemy they could end up in struggle like Elric fighting stormbringer to prevent his weapon from attacking.