Arbiter of Wyrms
First Post
There was a question not too long ago about whether they are any LA +0 races with racial Hit Dice. I'm not a big fan of Level Adjustment, but I do like powerful races.
Here are the Moggae, a subrace of gnomes warped by mind flayer enslavement ala the gith:
Moggae
The moggae (singular mog) were once gnomes. In fact, “moggae” is the undercommon word for “gnomes.” Not so long ago, the moggae were a clan of craftspeople in an enclave of rock gnomes. When the enclave was attacked by mind flayers and their human and grimlock thrall, most of the gnomes were slaughtered or captured to be devoured later. Mind flayers regard gnomish brains as a prized delicacy, though, and as the gnomes who would later come to be known as moggae watched as the other gnomes of their enclave were lead away to mind flayer performance-eating halls, the moggae plotted escape. Before long, the illithid discovered the moggae’s remarkable talent for craftsmanship of all kind. So began their enslavement. Through powerful psionics and selective breeding, the illithid modified their new thrall so that they could serve not only as craftsmen of fine worked goods, but so that they could also serve as the first line of detection and defense against the mindless undead, with new abilities to detect and combat this most dreaded threat to the mind flayer nation. Further modifications granted the moggae the ability to work in total darkness. The endless modifications ruined moggae’s health, rendering them incapable of the kind of armed revolt that liberated the gith from illithid enslavement so long ago. Eventually, though, the moggae mastered new magical and psionic talents, and thanks the brave intervention of heroes from the realms above, the moggae have escaped the yoke of enslavement to find a new place in the world that abandoned them to their fate.
Personality: Suspicion and distrust characterize the essential default attitude of most moggae, particularly when dealing with new people. This attitude is directed not only at people with whom they are unfamiliar, but often, with long time companions who have been recently exposed to strangers, or who have been away. This pattern of behavior helps moggae to discern when one of their fellows has been enchanted or replaced. As off-putting as this behavior can be, it disappears when a mog bonds with, and learns to trust, his companions. They are never as jovial or jocular as their rock gnome forbearers, tending towards morose solemnity, but moggae are fiercely loyal, generous to a fault, and genuinely warm to those with whom they have bonded.
Moggae are determined and resourceful. Presented with a problem, a mog will not relent until she has puzzled out a solution. As craftsmen and artisans, they are patient and meticulous, determined to work as hard as they need to to be sure that every detail is as it should be.
Physical Description: Shorter and frailer on average than the rock gnome stock from which they are derived, moggae stand from 2 ½ to 3 ½ feet and generally weigh anywhere from 30 to 40 lbs. Moggae take on the responsibilities of adulthood at age 30, which is, generally, before they have actually reached physical maturity. Though moggae enslaved by the illithids were always killed before they could reach old age, it is hoped that free moggae may live to be 300 years old or older, as old as their rock gnome kin, but their chronically poor health makes this doubtful.
Relations: Moggae relate well to others who are slow to trust and who take work seriously, especially craftsmanship. They fit in well with svirfneblin and deep dwarves, but have difficulty enjoying the company of rock gnomes, with whom they feel out-of-place, or the company of most other surface – or near-surface races – halflings being the sole exception, whom the moggae treat as long-lost cousins, standoffish and uncertain at first, but quickly growing to loving and peaceful relationships of mutual benefit. They can coexist peaceably with grimlocks and subterranean humans, but feel a peculiar ambivalence with both the githyanki and the githzerai, feeling both a kinship and a sort of jealous mistrust. Moggae distrust elves, orcs, kuo-toans, and goblin-kin. Unlike rock gnomes, moggae do not keep pets.
Alignment: In campaigns which use alignment, moggae tend towards both law and neutrality. Their seriousness – their solemnity – coupled with their highly insular, refugee race-wide mentality leads them to highly structured routines and firmly-set expectations as to others’ behavior. Their long-endured plight, though, leads many to the edges of sanity and beyond. Though moggae would like to be altruists and gracious hosts and joking pranksters, they have little more to offer than suspicion, their humors are spent and broken and their homes are long forgotten. In the end, the moggae live simply to survive day-to-day.
Mog Lands: The moggae have lived under the yoke of illithid tyranny for so long, they have forgotten where their lands once were. Some want to search out their ancestral homes while others feel that they must seek solace among other races before mounting a quest to find the lands they lost.
Religion: The moggae are well-versed in the study of various religions, particularly the illithid deities Ilsensine and Maanzecorian, and a variety of gods whose followers commonly animate the dead. Many have lost their faith in the gnomish gods, though, preferring to depend on their own intellects and determination to extricate them from misfortune. A secret, doomsday cult exists among the moggae, equating the illithid overlords with the dark gnomish power, Urdlen.
Language: Though a few moggae managed to secretly preserve a debased dialect of gnomish, the illithid forbade its use amongst the moggae thrall, allowing them to use only undercommon and the languages of the mind flayer’s trading partners.
Names: Many moggae, particularly the oldest of them, have come to be called by the name of the task they performed for the mind flayers, the goods they are known to craft, or by some honorific earned in their final revolt against their oppressors. No distinction is made between male and female names, and names are sometimes replaced or amended. A few are known by typical names of the rock-gnomish tradition.
Names: Washer, Refreshments, Gemcutter, Drow-Speaker, Lookout, Master-Killer, Valet, Trapper, Spellcaster, Gardner, Potter, Thrall-Cook, Lock, Bridge, Ironmind
Adventurers: Moggae often believe that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Some seek the find the ancestral home of the moggae; some seek to forge new bonds with the communities of gnomes and other races, or new, autonomous communities of moggae refugees. A significant number of moggae seek to forget their pasts and leave mog society behind to take up residence with other races, finding productive and profitable roles with in unfamiliar cities. A few proselytize about the illithid threat to those who do not know, providing vital magical and technical support to those who would hunt the mind flayers.
Racial Traits
• +2 Dexterity, +6 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +4 Charisma, -4 Strength, -2 Constitution: Generations of enslavement have ruined the bodies of the moggae, but their intellects have grown proportionally, and their wills have strengthened.
• Small: As a Small creature, a moggae gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
• Moggae base land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-light vision: A mog can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Darkvision: Moggae can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and moggae can function just fine with no light at all.
• +2 racial bonus against mind-affecting spells, powers, & spell-like abilities.
• Moggae gain a +1 morale bonus to attacks made against illithid and illithid-kin.
• Favored Enemy: Aberrations (Ex): A mog character gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against aberrations. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. This ability identical to the favored enemy ability of the ranger class, and a mog ranger may improve this ability as though it were gained as a class benefit.
• +2 bonus to Sense Motive checks: Moggae are masterful judges of character, and are practiced at uncovering deception, omission, enchantment, and domination.
• +2 bonus on Spot checks: Moggae have learned to depend on their keen eyes more than their ears during their enslavement with the non-vocal mind flayers.
• +2 bonus on all Craft checks: The moggae’s gift for craftsmanship was the chief reasons the illithid kept them alive, and has not waned over the years.
• Automatic Languages: Undercommon. Bonus Languages: Common, Draconic, Drow, Dwarven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
• Naturally Psionic: Moggae gain 1 bonus power point at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
• Psi-like Abilities (Sp): 1/day: force screen; 3/day: defensive precognition, empty mind, mind thrust: Despite clever controls and determined monitoring, the moggae eventually learned to use the mind flayer’s own psionic talents against them. Manifester level equals Hit Dice; save DC 10 + mog’s Cha modifier + spell level. Moggae characters who later take levels in one or more manifesting classes add their humanoid Hit Dice to their manifester level to determine all level-based limits, including maximum power points spent on a single manifestation, feat eligibility, etc..
• Spell-like abilities (Sp): 1/day: detect undead; 3/day: disrupt undead, touch of fatigue, message: Shortly after their initial enslavement, their illithid masters replaced the moggae’s natural gnomish talents with magic to allow the slaves to serve as the illithid’s defense against mindless undead. Caster level equals Hit Dice; save DC 10 + mog’s Cha modifier + spell level. Moggae characters who later take levels in one or more spellcasting classes add their humanoid Hit Dice to their caster level to determine all level-based effects, including damage dealt or healed, feat eligibility, etc.
• Racial Hit Dice: A mog character begins with four levels in humanoid, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +4. Additionally, a mog’s racial hit dice entitle him to three feats (1st, talent, and 3rd) and one ability score increase.
• Racial Skills: A mog’s humanoid levels give him skill points equal to 7x(2+Int modifier). His class skills (and the relevant ability scores) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Search (Int), Speak Language (none), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic or Psionic Device (Cha): In addition to serving the illithids as craftspeople and engineers, and watching out for mindless undead, the moggae also sometimes served as “voices” to their mute mind flayer masters, who would psionically dominate them and speak through them to large audiences of creatures with which the illithid chose not to use telepathy.
• Racial Feats: Like all gnomes, moggae are eligible to take the scent ability as a feat.
• Favored Class: Artificer. In campaigns which use racial favored classes, a multiclass mog’s levels in artificer do not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters, PHB page 60). Moggae communities generate higher level, and therefore more, experts, adepts, druids, & wizards, but correspondingly lower level, and fewer, fighters, paladins, and warriors. Moggae barbarians should never be randomly generated. (Treat randomly generated mog communities as though they were one size larger for the generation of adepts and wizards. Treat them as one size smaller for the random generation of fighters, paladins, and warriors. Treat all barbarians generated as additional experts. Finally, add 1d3 to the community modifier for the generation of all experts, druids, and wizards.
Level Adjustment: +0
Any feedback you can provide will be most appreciated.
Here are the Moggae, a subrace of gnomes warped by mind flayer enslavement ala the gith:
Moggae
The moggae (singular mog) were once gnomes. In fact, “moggae” is the undercommon word for “gnomes.” Not so long ago, the moggae were a clan of craftspeople in an enclave of rock gnomes. When the enclave was attacked by mind flayers and their human and grimlock thrall, most of the gnomes were slaughtered or captured to be devoured later. Mind flayers regard gnomish brains as a prized delicacy, though, and as the gnomes who would later come to be known as moggae watched as the other gnomes of their enclave were lead away to mind flayer performance-eating halls, the moggae plotted escape. Before long, the illithid discovered the moggae’s remarkable talent for craftsmanship of all kind. So began their enslavement. Through powerful psionics and selective breeding, the illithid modified their new thrall so that they could serve not only as craftsmen of fine worked goods, but so that they could also serve as the first line of detection and defense against the mindless undead, with new abilities to detect and combat this most dreaded threat to the mind flayer nation. Further modifications granted the moggae the ability to work in total darkness. The endless modifications ruined moggae’s health, rendering them incapable of the kind of armed revolt that liberated the gith from illithid enslavement so long ago. Eventually, though, the moggae mastered new magical and psionic talents, and thanks the brave intervention of heroes from the realms above, the moggae have escaped the yoke of enslavement to find a new place in the world that abandoned them to their fate.
Personality: Suspicion and distrust characterize the essential default attitude of most moggae, particularly when dealing with new people. This attitude is directed not only at people with whom they are unfamiliar, but often, with long time companions who have been recently exposed to strangers, or who have been away. This pattern of behavior helps moggae to discern when one of their fellows has been enchanted or replaced. As off-putting as this behavior can be, it disappears when a mog bonds with, and learns to trust, his companions. They are never as jovial or jocular as their rock gnome forbearers, tending towards morose solemnity, but moggae are fiercely loyal, generous to a fault, and genuinely warm to those with whom they have bonded.
Moggae are determined and resourceful. Presented with a problem, a mog will not relent until she has puzzled out a solution. As craftsmen and artisans, they are patient and meticulous, determined to work as hard as they need to to be sure that every detail is as it should be.
Physical Description: Shorter and frailer on average than the rock gnome stock from which they are derived, moggae stand from 2 ½ to 3 ½ feet and generally weigh anywhere from 30 to 40 lbs. Moggae take on the responsibilities of adulthood at age 30, which is, generally, before they have actually reached physical maturity. Though moggae enslaved by the illithids were always killed before they could reach old age, it is hoped that free moggae may live to be 300 years old or older, as old as their rock gnome kin, but their chronically poor health makes this doubtful.
Relations: Moggae relate well to others who are slow to trust and who take work seriously, especially craftsmanship. They fit in well with svirfneblin and deep dwarves, but have difficulty enjoying the company of rock gnomes, with whom they feel out-of-place, or the company of most other surface – or near-surface races – halflings being the sole exception, whom the moggae treat as long-lost cousins, standoffish and uncertain at first, but quickly growing to loving and peaceful relationships of mutual benefit. They can coexist peaceably with grimlocks and subterranean humans, but feel a peculiar ambivalence with both the githyanki and the githzerai, feeling both a kinship and a sort of jealous mistrust. Moggae distrust elves, orcs, kuo-toans, and goblin-kin. Unlike rock gnomes, moggae do not keep pets.
Alignment: In campaigns which use alignment, moggae tend towards both law and neutrality. Their seriousness – their solemnity – coupled with their highly insular, refugee race-wide mentality leads them to highly structured routines and firmly-set expectations as to others’ behavior. Their long-endured plight, though, leads many to the edges of sanity and beyond. Though moggae would like to be altruists and gracious hosts and joking pranksters, they have little more to offer than suspicion, their humors are spent and broken and their homes are long forgotten. In the end, the moggae live simply to survive day-to-day.
Mog Lands: The moggae have lived under the yoke of illithid tyranny for so long, they have forgotten where their lands once were. Some want to search out their ancestral homes while others feel that they must seek solace among other races before mounting a quest to find the lands they lost.
Religion: The moggae are well-versed in the study of various religions, particularly the illithid deities Ilsensine and Maanzecorian, and a variety of gods whose followers commonly animate the dead. Many have lost their faith in the gnomish gods, though, preferring to depend on their own intellects and determination to extricate them from misfortune. A secret, doomsday cult exists among the moggae, equating the illithid overlords with the dark gnomish power, Urdlen.
Language: Though a few moggae managed to secretly preserve a debased dialect of gnomish, the illithid forbade its use amongst the moggae thrall, allowing them to use only undercommon and the languages of the mind flayer’s trading partners.
Names: Many moggae, particularly the oldest of them, have come to be called by the name of the task they performed for the mind flayers, the goods they are known to craft, or by some honorific earned in their final revolt against their oppressors. No distinction is made between male and female names, and names are sometimes replaced or amended. A few are known by typical names of the rock-gnomish tradition.
Names: Washer, Refreshments, Gemcutter, Drow-Speaker, Lookout, Master-Killer, Valet, Trapper, Spellcaster, Gardner, Potter, Thrall-Cook, Lock, Bridge, Ironmind
Adventurers: Moggae often believe that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Some seek the find the ancestral home of the moggae; some seek to forge new bonds with the communities of gnomes and other races, or new, autonomous communities of moggae refugees. A significant number of moggae seek to forget their pasts and leave mog society behind to take up residence with other races, finding productive and profitable roles with in unfamiliar cities. A few proselytize about the illithid threat to those who do not know, providing vital magical and technical support to those who would hunt the mind flayers.
Racial Traits
• +2 Dexterity, +6 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +4 Charisma, -4 Strength, -2 Constitution: Generations of enslavement have ruined the bodies of the moggae, but their intellects have grown proportionally, and their wills have strengthened.
• Small: As a Small creature, a moggae gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
• Moggae base land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-light vision: A mog can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Darkvision: Moggae can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and moggae can function just fine with no light at all.
• +2 racial bonus against mind-affecting spells, powers, & spell-like abilities.
• Moggae gain a +1 morale bonus to attacks made against illithid and illithid-kin.
• Favored Enemy: Aberrations (Ex): A mog character gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against aberrations. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. This ability identical to the favored enemy ability of the ranger class, and a mog ranger may improve this ability as though it were gained as a class benefit.
• +2 bonus to Sense Motive checks: Moggae are masterful judges of character, and are practiced at uncovering deception, omission, enchantment, and domination.
• +2 bonus on Spot checks: Moggae have learned to depend on their keen eyes more than their ears during their enslavement with the non-vocal mind flayers.
• +2 bonus on all Craft checks: The moggae’s gift for craftsmanship was the chief reasons the illithid kept them alive, and has not waned over the years.
• Automatic Languages: Undercommon. Bonus Languages: Common, Draconic, Drow, Dwarven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
• Naturally Psionic: Moggae gain 1 bonus power point at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class.
• Psi-like Abilities (Sp): 1/day: force screen; 3/day: defensive precognition, empty mind, mind thrust: Despite clever controls and determined monitoring, the moggae eventually learned to use the mind flayer’s own psionic talents against them. Manifester level equals Hit Dice; save DC 10 + mog’s Cha modifier + spell level. Moggae characters who later take levels in one or more manifesting classes add their humanoid Hit Dice to their manifester level to determine all level-based limits, including maximum power points spent on a single manifestation, feat eligibility, etc..
• Spell-like abilities (Sp): 1/day: detect undead; 3/day: disrupt undead, touch of fatigue, message: Shortly after their initial enslavement, their illithid masters replaced the moggae’s natural gnomish talents with magic to allow the slaves to serve as the illithid’s defense against mindless undead. Caster level equals Hit Dice; save DC 10 + mog’s Cha modifier + spell level. Moggae characters who later take levels in one or more spellcasting classes add their humanoid Hit Dice to their caster level to determine all level-based effects, including damage dealt or healed, feat eligibility, etc.
• Racial Hit Dice: A mog character begins with four levels in humanoid, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +3, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +4. Additionally, a mog’s racial hit dice entitle him to three feats (1st, talent, and 3rd) and one ability score increase.
• Racial Skills: A mog’s humanoid levels give him skill points equal to 7x(2+Int modifier). His class skills (and the relevant ability scores) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Search (Int), Speak Language (none), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic or Psionic Device (Cha): In addition to serving the illithids as craftspeople and engineers, and watching out for mindless undead, the moggae also sometimes served as “voices” to their mute mind flayer masters, who would psionically dominate them and speak through them to large audiences of creatures with which the illithid chose not to use telepathy.
• Racial Feats: Like all gnomes, moggae are eligible to take the scent ability as a feat.
• Favored Class: Artificer. In campaigns which use racial favored classes, a multiclass mog’s levels in artificer do not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters, PHB page 60). Moggae communities generate higher level, and therefore more, experts, adepts, druids, & wizards, but correspondingly lower level, and fewer, fighters, paladins, and warriors. Moggae barbarians should never be randomly generated. (Treat randomly generated mog communities as though they were one size larger for the generation of adepts and wizards. Treat them as one size smaller for the random generation of fighters, paladins, and warriors. Treat all barbarians generated as additional experts. Finally, add 1d3 to the community modifier for the generation of all experts, druids, and wizards.
Level Adjustment: +0
Any feedback you can provide will be most appreciated.
