Sylvaroth
First Post
New Variant: Tharsúnian Dwarves
This thread is dedicated to the creation of a unique new dwarven PC race I plan to use in my homebrew CS: the Tharsúnian Dwarves. Feel free to post each and every idea this thread may inspire in you.
The Tharsûnian dwarves originate from a world immersed in eternal twilight circling beneath a sunless sky. It was a hostile place dominated by volcanos and seas of molten stone only dimly lit by the red glow of magma lakes and seas and the light of red dragons' fire. To fight their arch enemies the reds the Tharsûnian dwarves learned ways to imbue tools and weapons with magic to use them for grater efficiency against Barsarâth, (Bar-suh-rath) the red dragons.
THARSÛNIAN DDWARVEN RACIAL TRAITS
CLAN MEMBER
At 1st level a Tharsûnian Dwarf may choose a trade representing the profession of his Clan. Craft checks (eg blacksmithing, stonemasonry, or gemcutting) relating to the Clan's trade are made with a +2 racial bonus.
This racial trait represents the dwarf's training in her Clan's trade as well as the possession of inherited masterwork artisan tools*.
The bonus granted by this racial trait does stack with bonuses from corresponding skills taken as a class or cross-class skill as well with the bonuses from the Skill Focus feat and Orodîns gift.
THE SOULSTONE
The high priest of the Order of Orodîn is the keeper of an ancient artifact The Word of Orodîn, which is said to be a gift of the god given to Durin, the progenitor of all dwarves of Tharsûn and founder of the Order himself. The Word contains mighty spells and instructions for holy rituals and is passed on from high priest to high priest.One of the rituals described in The Word is the Rite of Suthurzurul .[Soo-toor-zoo-rule] the “Rite of the Soulstone”.
When a new dwarf is born to a Clan, all Clan members gather and celebrate. Each adult dwarf gives a present to the newborn […] The main event of the celebration is the Rite of Suthurzurul in the course of which the newborn dwarf’s soulstone, a semi corporeal manifestation of its life force materializes (see semi manifestation). As such it is not destructible by any physical means, its light going out only in the case of its owner’s death. Soulstones glow in a warm red light symbolizing the strength of their owner’s life force. The closest family members gather around the neonate and support the manifestation process with their own soulstones infusing it with small portions of their own life forces thus forming a deep connection of each family member. The role of the soulstones in everyday life, in religious as well as mundane ceremonies is multifarious. They are used on weddings (both mates touching their house insignia, their house stone or some other centre of the new founded house thus infusing it with a portion of their merged life forces to symbolize their bond?), […]The theft of a soulstone is regarded a dishonourable act. The delinquent, deprived of both his honour and soulstone is sentenced to lifelong banishment from the dwarven kingdoms which is considered a fate more terrible than execution.
SEMI MANIFESTATION
A semi manifested object is a manifestation of a bodiless energy effect which virtually has established a physical component. It cannot be damaged by neither corporeal nor incorporeal means, thus being immune to all magical an nonmagical attack forms, except for attack forms that affect the energy component of the object. A semi manifested object has no hit points or hardness scores, in spite of the fact that it feels solid to the touch. Therefore it cannot enter or pass through solid objects, as it is semi manifestedquality only implies that half of the object is not corporeal but an energy effect of some form, while the other half is counted as physically condensed energy.
In the case of the soulstone/soulfire gem this means the object is composed of the energy of the dwarf's soul and life force. Additionally it is not a semi manifestation of an energy effect of its own but a split off part of the dwarf's soul and life force which still is linked to its source. Therefore the soulstone/soulfire gem is only affected by attacks and effects which have an impact on the dwarf and its soul and life force. So an attack which somehow influences the soul and life force of the dwarf only has a rather indirect effect on the soulstone/soulfire gem. Since the Tharsûnian dwarves do not have the ability to cast fireballs their soulstones/ soulfire gems should not be able to do so, too.
Any ideas about dwarven clerics and religion concerning fire aso.?
SOULSTONES
I see many uses of the soulstone concept one of which are prestige classes.
This thread is dedicated to the creation of a unique new dwarven PC race I plan to use in my homebrew CS: the Tharsúnian Dwarves. Feel free to post each and every idea this thread may inspire in you.
Tharsûnian Dwarves
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- Personality: They are a very proud (and justifiably so), reputable and dignified race of masterly artisans, powerful warriors and dedicated clergymen. Occassionally they have tremendous celebrations with a LOT of drinking, much to eat, games (eg. axe throwing, exhibition bouts, arena fights, reenactments and recitals of popular passages (read volumes) from poetical and historic works and events) and lots of other hilarious activities, but most of the time they are serious and thoughtful.
- Physical Description: Very well muscled Dwarves with slightly pointed ears, stone colored skin (all shades of grey, brown, black, aso. sometimes like veined marble), and eyes the color of precious metals or amber and the like.
- Alignment: All Tharsûnian dwarves whether from the kingdom of Duriath (Do-ree-ut) or that of Khazâdgathul (Cu-zud-gut-ool) faithfully observe the biddings of their god, thus living orderly structured lifes woking for the welfare of the community, the clan, and the individual in exactly that order.
- Dwarven Lands: The Tharsûnian dwarves live in the mountain region called Nadûtharâs, the Path of Flames. The dwarves who settled down in the region of the Path of Flames which is now called the Kingdom of Duriath are strictly dedicated to the worship of their gods Orodîn (Oh-ro-deen), and his most revered avatar Ashtulûkh (Ush-too-look).
Those who founded the dwarven kingdom of Khazâdgathul are masterly creators of arms, armor, and jewellery renown for their wondrous enchantments and formidable designs.
Important Sites: Tharâzarûm (tar-uh-zar-oom), The Grand Temple of Ashtulûkh in the Path of Flames is one of the most important sanctuaries in this region of the Nadûtharâs. It is a vast natural dome of rock. What is special about this place is the huge lava lake on the dome's bottom, which is the reason for its name which translates Flamesea. This flamesea does actually lie inside of an inactive volcano. - Religion: The main deity is Orodîn, son of the recently deceased Tharsûn. Orodîn is a god of the crafts typically associated with dwarves (smithing, gemcutting, stone masonry). Besides the gods themselves praise his skill and from time to time visit his halls requesting him to create objects of wonder and might. Not long ago Orodîn saved the whole race of the Tharsûnian dwarves from being destroyed altogether with their homeworld.
His divine proxy on the refuge world is Ashtulûkh, the great old fire salamander (not the one from the MM).
- +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma: Tharsûnian dwarves are stout and tough, but tend to be quiet and thoughtful.
- Medium: As Medium creatures, Tharsûnian dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Tharsûnian Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, Tharsûnian dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
- Low-Light Vision: A Tharsûnian dwarf 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.
- Clan Member: (see below).
- Orodîn's Gift: +2 divine bonus to Craft checks that are related to ores or stone.
- Weapon Familiarity: Tharsûnian dwarves treat dwarven weapons as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
- Stability: As an adaption to the frequent earthquakes on their homeworld Tharsûnian dwarves are exceptionally stable on their feet. A Tharsûnian dwarf has a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmliy on the ground).
- +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison. Living in a place where volcanic activities are commonplace, this is simply another adaption to the Tharsûnian dwarves' inhospitable homeworld.
- +1 racial bonus to attack rolls and +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against red dragons and creatures descended from them (eg. creatures with the Half-Red Dragon template). This bonuses represent the centuries of experience in fighting the red dragons in order to be and stay one of the predominant races of their homeworld.
- Native Outsider: The god Tharsûn formed the dwarf from the bones of the world and breathed into his nostrils the fire of life, and the dwarf became a living being.
As they are created from the substance of a world of the prime material plane the Tharsûnian Dwarves possess the unusual characteristics of being outsiders native to the material plane, not humanoids.
This has the following effects:
First, spells or effects that affect only humanoids, such as charm person or a dominate person spell, do not affect them.
Second, spells and effects that target extraplanar creatures may affect Tharsûnian Dwarves. A spell that drives outsiders back to their home planes does not affect Tharsûnian Dwarves, but banishment - a spell that removes an outsider from the caster's plane without specifying a return to the outsider's native plane - would work just fine.
Finally, since they are formed from the substances of their homeworld, the prime material is considered their native plane. This means that Tharsûnian Dwarves can be raised or resurrected normally, whereas most outsiders cannot be brought back from the dead without the use of a miracle or wish spell. - Fire Subtype: A Tharsûnian dwarf has immunity to fire. He has vulnerability to cold, which means he takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from cold, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.
- Languages: Dwarven, Common. Bonus Languages: Terran,
Ignan, Draconic, Elven, Orc, and Goblin - Favored Class: Fighter (any), Cleric (Duriath)
NOTES
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CLAN MEMBER
At 1st level a Tharsûnian Dwarf may choose a trade representing the profession of his Clan. Craft checks (eg blacksmithing, stonemasonry, or gemcutting) relating to the Clan's trade are made with a +2 racial bonus.
This racial trait represents the dwarf's training in her Clan's trade as well as the possession of inherited masterwork artisan tools*.
The bonus granted by this racial trait does stack with bonuses from corresponding skills taken as a class or cross-class skill as well with the bonuses from the Skill Focus feat and Orodîns gift.
THE SOULSTONE
The high priest of the Order of Orodîn is the keeper of an ancient artifact The Word of Orodîn, which is said to be a gift of the god given to Durin, the progenitor of all dwarves of Tharsûn and founder of the Order himself. The Word contains mighty spells and instructions for holy rituals and is passed on from high priest to high priest.One of the rituals described in The Word is the Rite of Suthurzurul .[Soo-toor-zoo-rule] the “Rite of the Soulstone”.
When a new dwarf is born to a Clan, all Clan members gather and celebrate. Each adult dwarf gives a present to the newborn […] The main event of the celebration is the Rite of Suthurzurul in the course of which the newborn dwarf’s soulstone, a semi corporeal manifestation of its life force materializes (see semi manifestation). As such it is not destructible by any physical means, its light going out only in the case of its owner’s death. Soulstones glow in a warm red light symbolizing the strength of their owner’s life force. The closest family members gather around the neonate and support the manifestation process with their own soulstones infusing it with small portions of their own life forces thus forming a deep connection of each family member. The role of the soulstones in everyday life, in religious as well as mundane ceremonies is multifarious. They are used on weddings (both mates touching their house insignia, their house stone or some other centre of the new founded house thus infusing it with a portion of their merged life forces to symbolize their bond?), […]The theft of a soulstone is regarded a dishonourable act. The delinquent, deprived of both his honour and soulstone is sentenced to lifelong banishment from the dwarven kingdoms which is considered a fate more terrible than execution.
SEMI MANIFESTATION
A semi manifested object is a manifestation of a bodiless energy effect which virtually has established a physical component. It cannot be damaged by neither corporeal nor incorporeal means, thus being immune to all magical an nonmagical attack forms, except for attack forms that affect the energy component of the object. A semi manifested object has no hit points or hardness scores, in spite of the fact that it feels solid to the touch. Therefore it cannot enter or pass through solid objects, as it is semi manifestedquality only implies that half of the object is not corporeal but an energy effect of some form, while the other half is counted as physically condensed energy.
In the case of the soulstone/soulfire gem this means the object is composed of the energy of the dwarf's soul and life force. Additionally it is not a semi manifestation of an energy effect of its own but a split off part of the dwarf's soul and life force which still is linked to its source. Therefore the soulstone/soulfire gem is only affected by attacks and effects which have an impact on the dwarf and its soul and life force. So an attack which somehow influences the soul and life force of the dwarf only has a rather indirect effect on the soulstone/soulfire gem. Since the Tharsûnian dwarves do not have the ability to cast fireballs their soulstones/ soulfire gems should not be able to do so, too.
SOULSTONES
I see many uses of the soulstone concept one of which are prestige classes.
- I imagine these soulstones should grant some abilities similar to a scrying sensor with regard to the connection between it and its owner. It should be possible for the dwarf’s closest family members (eg parents, mate, children and the like) or a priest to learn some details about his current state of health (eg if he is injured, dying aso) and similar.
I would love to have the soulstones of the closest family as well as those members having some kind of connection to each other in the form of a weak empathic bond for example, symbolizing the shared life force of a familie’s respectively clan’s members.
Tharsûnian dwarves should have some empathic connection as they all are, more or less, connected to eachother through their merged life forces.
Maybe it could be possible to cast heal or cure spells, and even enchantment, transmutation, or divination spells through it thus directly affecting the dwarf. If this was possible I see the drawback of the soulstones in being a perfect target for necromancers an similar beings casting not helpful but harmful spells on the stones owner. - After the death of a Tharsûnian dwarf his soulstone should not simply cease to exist. It should be a noteworthy event. In fact it should play some important role in the funeral rites. I visualize the lately deceased dwarf lying on some kind of altar with his soulstone on his chest or forehead. The priests start a deep voiced, mourning chant and the soulstone starts to levitate above its dead owner. Its extinct light starts to glow again brightening more and more until both it and the deceased dwarf seem to burn in a clear white fire finally culminating into a burst of pure white light. As the light fades away the decedent’s body has turned to stone (all energy left the dwarf`s physical form, thus petrifying it), while his soul has been sent on his way to Orodîn’s Halls in the afterlife. The petrified body is is then taken to the temple of his faith and community to join his ancestors. Since Tharsûnian dwarves have a particular low rate of birth and are not that numerous in general, there should be be more than enough space in the vast realms of the dwarves, for dwarves both dead and alive.
- On special occassions deceased dwarves (especially great heroes of legends) have been known to return in the body of an Earth Elemental to execute Orodîn’s will as his divine delegates. Since those creatures carry the soulstone of the reincarnate a dwarf who encounters such a creature instantly realizes its true nature.
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