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<blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 3174862" data-attributes="member: 13966"><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Boura-Boura, the echidnoid nomads (By Arkhandus)</span></p><p></p><p>[sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Overview</span></p><p>[sblock]</p><p>The boura-boura, a race of echidna-like hunter-gatherer nomads, were raised up to sentience and humanoid stature by their mysterious demon-goddess, Bhikael. Though appearing at first to be nothing more than savage warriors and bloody ritualists, boura-boura have a passionate zest for life, celebration, and friendly competition, that often goes unnoticed by other races. Boura-boura are only violent when hunting or when their camps are intruded upon, but they often compete with one another while hunting, making it even more intense, and they perform blood rites afterward to honor Bhikael, their prey, and their fellow hunters. Boura-boura also hold many celebrations, with copious amounts of mead and debauchery. They can be reliable and fiercely-protective comrades even to folk of other races, but a boura-boura's friendship must be earned, not given. The only authority boura-boura have any regard for is that of their demon-goddess creator, Bhikael, and the Bhikaelite priests within boura-boura society. Despite this, boura-boura are not inherantly evil nor do they have any great tendency towards evil. They are more a rowdy and debauched people than a villainous one.</p><p></p><p>A rare and far-flung people, the boura-boura live in <em>har-adruun</em> bands of a few small families each, keeping their distance from other <em>har-adruun</em> bands to avoid intruding on one anothers' territory. Each band travels through its territory slowly, moving from one campsite to another before the local supply of insects and reptiles gets too severely depleted, allowing the creatures to repopulate before the boura-boura return some years later. Their diet consists mainly of insects both small and monstrous, and various snakes, lizards, and marsh- or pond-dwelling reptiles. However, boura-boura are known to eat dead humanoids on occasion, when they are enemies and not fellow boura-boura. Enemy boura-boura who blasphemed against Bhikael are instead chopped into pieces, burned to ash, and cast into the nearest river or sea.</p><p></p><p>A typical familiy of boura-boura consists of a few male and female adults, all married in a strange polygamous arrangement, along with their half-dozen or so children, and sometimes a few grandparents who have not yet died in the hunts or chosen themselves for sacrifice to Bhikael, while still strong enough to be of value in the afterlife. Boura-boura have no patriarchs or matriarchs, and only allow temporary leaders amongst each <em>har-adruun</em> band and its warriors; each family has one or two respected elders or parents who lead them, and in turn follow the one or two greatest leaders of the community.</p><p></p><p>Boura-boura live in tents or large pavillions of patched-together reptile hides, tree bark, and giant-insect carapaces. Lacking the skills of blacksmithing, boura-boura rely on non-metallic weapons, armor, and tools, favoring bone or obsidian. They use their own quills for arrows, darts, blowgun needles, and a unique sword called the <em>goma-bahardu</em>, or quill-blade. Often, the corpses of their comrades fallen in battle or Bhikaelite sacrifice are used as a source of these quills, seen as allowing the boura-boura to serve alongside their kin in battle even after death.</p><p></p><p><strong>Personality:</strong> Boura-boura are a proud, passionate, and temperamental race, prone to violence when others interfere with a hunt or enter their camps unbidden. However, they are also quite open and friendly, when not ensnared by the bloodlust of a hunt or the zeal of defending the <em>har-adruun</em>. They are given to fierce yet good-natured competitiveness, and other races should beware the boura-boura love for rough-housing in even friendly competitions. Boura-boura are wont to feast and party whenever there is anything worth celebrating, and are actually less violent and more amicable when drunk. Boura-boura are very defensive, but jovial when there is no immediate danger.</p><p></p><p>They keep to their word whenever possible, so long as their <em>har-adruun</em> is not endangered by it, but this and their fierce defensive of allies are their only real civilized, reliable qualities. Boura-boura are independant and free-minded folk, with no love for laws, restrictions, and stingy behavior. They have only a loose concept of ownership, so they consider most objects to be shared by everyone; they are generous with gifts and payments, but expect others to be perfectly willing to allow any possessions to be borrowed when needed. This is, understandably, a stumbling block for mechants dealing with boura-boura.</p><p></p><p><strong>Physical Description:</strong> The boura-boura people are similar in height to humans, but a little broader in frame and more hunched-over in form. They have red-brown skin with fur of tan, gray, or black, while boura-boura eyes are some shade of blue or green. Boura-boura have gray, grayish-tan, or yellowed plates over their chest and abdomen, formed from hardened hair-like material similar to that of fingernails. Their back is covered in spines of the same material, but darker, hollow, and connected to tiny poison sacs. Fur covers much of their body where plates and spines are absent, but some parts of their face, hands, feet, and joints are bare. Softer hair-like spines protrude and droop from a boura-boura's scalp, neither hollow nor connected to poison sacs, rather resembling the hair of other humanoid races. Boura-boura have protruding snouts like the echidnas they are descended from, and sharp teeth suited to shredding meat. Their tongue is long and flexible, used to snatch morsels from between the carapaces of giant insects the boura-boura slay. Their hands and feet are similar to a human's in shape, but have more pronounced fingernails and toenails. Boura-boura have a more flexible neck than that of a human, able to turn their head 180 degrees to the left or right, and they have a similarly greater degree of flexibility in their arm and leg joints.</p><p></p><p>The lifespan of boura-boura is approximately 70 years, barring premature death or sacrifice; they reach adulthood at 12 years, middle-age at 28 years, old age at 42 years, and venerable age at 55 years; they perish 4d4 years after reaching venerable age. They reproduce basically like mammals, except boura-boura are hatched from eggs, after a year of incubation outside the mother. It takes half a year for the eggs to grow within the mother boura-boura before she lays the eggs, in a batch of three to six eggs. Typically one or two eggs of each batch fail to mature and hatch, then being sacrificed in a bonfire to Bhikael out of grief. Boura-boura have a low fertility rate, and females are only able to birth eggs a few times in their lifetime at most. The dangerous lifestyle of boura-boura as hunters and warriors leads to their people often dying by middle-age or slightly later, so despite the number of offspring they do produce each generation, boura-boura remain a scarce people. Those who survive to middle-age often elect to be sacrificed to Bhikael for the good of the community and so as to be valued in the afterlife as still possessing a strong body; boura-boura believe their spirit-body to resemble their physical body at the time of death.</p><p></p><p><strong>Relations:</strong> Other races generally regard boura-boura as savage, nomadic hunters with a love for blood-spilling and demonic rituals. However, the boura-boura are somewhat more tame and innocent than others believe, though still savage. Boura-boura try to avoid the settlements of other races, and stay out of each others' territory most of the time, but conflict still arises between them and other races. They respect anyone who puts up a good fight or competes well, but boura-boura are ultimately a chaotic and temperamental people anyway. They have few peaceful interactions with other races, but <em>har-adruun</em> bands occasionally forge alliances with small communities of other races.</p><p></p><p><strong>Alignment:</strong> The boura-boura have a strong tendency towards chaotic alignment, and are rarely lawful-aligned. Though usually neutral with regards to good and evil, boura-boura have slightly greater inclinations towards evil than they have towards good. Thus, most are chaotic neutral, true neutral, chaotic evil, or neutral evil, but a few are chaotic good or neutral good, and boura-boura of lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil alignment are almost unheard of.</p><p></p><p><strong>Example Lands:</strong> Boura-boura prefer living near wetlands, as their favored prey of reptiles and monstrous insects are more abundant in such regions. However, like other nomads, boura-boura wander far and wide, though keeping a nominal claim to a certain vast territory in which their band wanders. This varies from one <em>har-adruun</em> band of boura-boura to another. Wherever insects and reptiles are less abundant, boura-boura may eat roots, tubers, berries, and nuts, but they are primarily a carnivorous race.</p><p></p><p><strong>Religion:</strong> As former echidnas gifted with sentience and humanoid form by Bhikael, the boura-boura are very devoted to their patron demon-goddess. As no one but boura-boura has any records of Bhikael, and boura-boura have only meager written records, none can say whether Bhikael is some new divine entity or just an aspect of some other divinity known to other races. Bhikael is mysterious even to the boura-boura, who portray her in idols as a beautiful (by their standards) boura-boura woman, though possessing twelve arms instead of two, garbed in armor of dragon-bones and beetle-shells, wielding obsidian swords, and wearing an elaborate golden headdress. Her breath is said to be poison, her merest touch deadly, and her voice terrible to behold, yet she is revered as the boura-boura's creator and protector, giving them knowledge of weapons, armor, hunting, herbs, salves, culture, mead, and stories.</p><p></p><p>Boura-boura perform frequent blood rites in Bhikael's honor, and offer daily sacrifices of food, drink, valuables, war trophies, or blood. They seem to be indifferent to other religions and are wise enough to avoid performing their rites near living people of other races, when possible. Boura-boura priests often keep a group of undead minions around, animated from the corpses of enemies whose flesh was not needed for food. Boura-boura clerics of Bhikael rebuke undead, cast spontaneous Inflict spells, must be chaotic neutral, chaotic evil, or neutral evil, and choose their domains from amongst Chaos, Protection, Travel, and War.</p><p></p><p><strong>Language:</strong> Boura-boura speak their own language, Boura, and adventurers amongst them speak Common as well. The religious language of their priests is Abyssal. The boura-boura's own language is rather odd and sounds like garbled gibberish to other races, though it is understandable to any foreigner who bothers to learn its unusual nuances. It often takes longer to say anything in Boura than it does in other languages, and Boura is a somewhat primitive language that covers a limited range of concepts.</p><p></p><p><strong>Names:</strong> Boura-boura use only a personal name and the name of their <em>har-adruun</em> band, placing the latter first when initially introducing themselves, but otherwise rarely mentioning the name of their <em>har-adruun</em>. There is no difference between male and female names in the Boura language, and they are generally unique in the language, not based on any particular words. Boura-boura are named at their hatching by whichever Bhikaelite priest is present. Individual names for boura-boura include Amrakaal, Terik-Nal, Bula, Gabir, Druun, Toriya, Larisae, Hess-Maleek, Faerok, Bajik, Ni-Raal, Elaar, and Soumak, amongst many others. <em>Har-adruun</em> names are just combinations of Boura words that describe the band's origin, favored armaments, main hunting ground, or other such things.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Boura-Boura Racial Traits</span></p><p>[sblock]</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dexterity -2, Constitution +2, Intelligence -2; boura-boura are slightly tougher than humans, but not nearly so smart or advanced in most regards, and they are slightly less nimble in most situations due to their posture, quills, and plates.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Base speed 30 ft</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Medium size: As Medium-sized creatures, boura-boura have no modifiers based on size.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Type: Boura-boura are Humanoids of the Boura-Boura subtype.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">+2 racial bonus on grapple checks and Climb checks: The extra flexibility of boura-boura arm and leg joints helps out in some situations.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Armor Restriction: Boura-boura cannot wear armor made for other races, due to the obstruction of the spines on their back, so they can only wear armor made for boura-boura. Such armor tends to be thicker in the front to make up for lacking back protection. Magic armor normally adjusts itself to fit the wearer, and thus ignores this restriction.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">+2 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks: Boura-boura are capable hunters, talented in the art of the hunt.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">+1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class: Boura-boura have plates and quills that are tougher than skin, and protect them somewhat from harm.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Swifter Recovery: After each day of rest or light activity, a boura-boura naturally heals additional hit points equal to 1 + his or her Constitution modifier; if the modifier is negative, the boura-boura instead heals no additional hit points in this manner.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Quills: A boura-boura may attack with its quills as a natural weapon, essentially turning around for a moment and body-slamming an opponent with the quills on his or her back. Boura-boura are proficient in using their quills as a natural weapon, and the attack deals 2d4 damage plus the boura-boura's Strength modifier if successful; not one-and-a-half-times, unlike most creatures with a single natural weapon. The quills threaten a critical hit on a natural roll of 18, 19, or 20, dealing double damage on a critical hit. Any successful hit with the quills dislodges 5 quills for each point of damage dealt (excluding any bonus damage, and excluding any extra damage from scoring a critical hit), which remain stuck in the opponent until removed. The quills do not cause additional harm while embedded, but each quill in the victim prevents its damage from being healed until removed (magical or psionic healing automatically expels the quills if it would heal the damage they dealt). A boura-boura only has approximately 100 effective quills at a time, and it takes a year for any lost quill to regrow. Quills dislodged from the boura-boura do not cause harm to him or her when dislodged. Boura-boura quills are often used by their kind to create items such as javelins, speartips, darts, quill-blades, arrows, inkpens, caltrops, and more, but normally these quills are not useable in the creation of masterwork items. They are, however, suitable substitutes for standard wooden and metal materials in the aforementioned types of item.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Poison: Any successful hit from a boura-boura's quills natural attack injects poison into the foe, but quills that have already been injected poison before will not be able to inject any more, except that quills remaining on the boura-boura (not dislodging in foes or objects) replenish their poison sacs after a month. The poison has a DC of 10 plus the boura-boura's Constitution modifier, and opponents injected with it must immediately attempt a Fortitude save, then attempt another 1 minute later. Each failed save causes 1 point of temporary Dexterity damage. Boura-boura are immune to the poison of their own quills and those of other boura-boura. This is only effective as an injury-type poison.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stigma: The boura-boura are poorly regarded by other races and often misjudged due to their appearance and reputation. In most situations they suffer a -4 circumstance penalty on Charisma checks and Charisma-based checks, for the purpose of determining initial reactions and changing the reactions of others to them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Poor Metabolism: Boura-boura burn through energy from food and drink faster than humans, so they must eat and drink twice as much to avoid starvation or dehydration.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Automatic Languages: Common and Boura. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, or Orc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Favored Class: A boura-boura's favored class is barbarian.</li> </ul><p>[/sblock]</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Racial Paragon Class</span></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 10px">Boura-Boura Paragon</span></strong></p><p>Alignment: Any.</p><p>Hit Dice: D8.</p><p></p><p>Class Skills: The boura-boura paragon's class skills, and the key ability for each, are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).</p><p></p><p>Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. Multiply this amount by 4 at 1st-level in the class if it is also the boura-boura's 1st character level.</p><p></p><p>Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Boura-boura paragons are proficient in simple weapons, martial weapons, light armor, shields, and tower shields. They are also proficient in the quill-blade, called <em>goma-bahardu</em> in the Boura language, a unique boura-boura weapon.</p><p></p><p>Extra Poison (Ex): While advancing as a boura-boura paragon, the individual's poison sacs grow slightly and become more efficient, producing a venom of greater purity. However, this only truly helps when the boura-boura uses their quills natural weapon, not when they remove the venom or the quills for external use; the venom quickly loses its extra potency when exposed to the open air, through a chemical reaction. When the boura-boura does attack with his or her quills natural weapon, the poison injected by those quills is more effective, increasing the poison's save DC by the boura-boura's level in this class.</p><p></p><p>Track: A boura-boura paragon receives the Track feat as a bonus feat at 1st-level in this class.</p><p></p><p>Bristleback (Ex): By 2nd-level in this class, you have dedicated extra time praying to Bhikael and sacrificing offerings, and she has blessed your quills to grow further, stronger, and tougher, making you more deadly in the hunt. Now it is a natural quality of your body, and it takes half the normal amount of time for your quills to regrow. The base damage for your quills natural weapon improves to 2d6, and you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls with that natural weapon. Your quills are now useable in the crafting of masterwork items, though they do not automatically bestow masterwork quality (a crafter must still complete the proper Craft checks to make their items masterwork).</p><p></p><p>Weapon Focus: A boura-boura paragon receives one copy of the Weapon Focus feat as a bonus feat upon reaching 2nd-level in this class. The normal restrictions of that feat apply, so the boura-boura must select a weapon for it that has not already been selected by him or her for a previous Weapon Focus feat, if any.</p><p></p><p>Blood Frenzy (Ex): Once a boura-boura paragon reaches 3rd-level, he or she has attained an even higher state of aggression when incited by bloodshed and violence. When the boura-boura paragon damages a living foe in combat with a slashing or piercing attack, except when that damage is fully prevented (such as by Damage Reduction), the boura-boura flies into a vicious blood frenzy. In this state of heightened aggression, the boura-boura gains +1 on attack rolls and damage with unarmed strikes, natural weapons, and manufactured weapons, as well as grapple checks, grapple damage, and melee touch attacks to initiate a grapple. This does not apply on disarm attempts or trip attempts. The boura-boura also adds +5 feet to his or her base movement speed in this state. However, as long as the blood frenzy lasts, the boura-boura paragon suffers a -1 penalty to Armor Class from recklessness (lost whenever a Dexterity penalty to AC would be lost). A blood frenzy lasts for 1 round, plus 1 round per point of positive Constitution modifier, and does not return for the remainder of the combat encounter. The round in which a blood frenzy is provoked does not count against the maximum duration of the blood frenzy.</p><p></p><p>Hunter (Ex): Boura-boura paragons learn to be even greater hunters and warriors than other boura-boura. At 3rd-level in this class and onward, the boura-boura paragon gains a +2 racial bonus on Survival checks and Initiative checks.</p><p></p><p>Class...Base......Fort....Ref.....Will.....Special</p><p>Level...Attack...Save...Save...Save...Class Features</p><p>1.........+1........+2......+0......+0......Extra Poison, Track</p><p>2.........+2........+3......+0......+0......Bristleback, Weapon Focus</p><p>3.........+3........+3......+1......+1......Blood Frenzy, Hunter</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Racial Feats</span></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Boura-Boura Ardor (Special)</span></p><p>Your love of revelry, primal music, and athletic activities is nearly as strong as your devotion to Bhikael. Drunken debauchery and frenzied gladiatorial competitions are your favored pasttimes, always with a prayer and offering to glorify Bhikael of course.</p><p><strong>Prerequisites:</strong> Boura-boura race, any chaotic alignment, Str 13+, Con 13+, Cha 13+.</p><p><strong>Benefit:</strong> You gain a +1 bonus on all Jump, Perform, and Tumble skill checks. Additionally, you gain an extra +1 bonus on melee attack rolls whenever you are under the effects of any Rage, Frenzy, Fury, Heroism, Inspire Courage, or Inspire Greatness effect, or when affected by a Good Hope spell (or an Emotion (Hate, Hope, or Rage) spell in 3.0 rules). This benefit does not stack with itself.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Boura-Boura Hardiness (Special)</span></p><p>You have toughened your body with exercise and painful, strenuous training. With Bhikael's blessings, your body has quickened its already-swift natural healing processes.</p><p><strong>Prerequisites:</strong> Boura-boura race, Toughness, base Fortitude +2 or higher, Con 19+.</p><p><strong>Benefit:</strong> Every four hours that you rest (being asleep, unconscious, or undertaking no more than light activity), your body naturally heals a number of hit points equal to your Constitution bonus. This is separate from any other natural healing, and will not increase your current hit points above your maximum. Similarly, after each minute of being unconscious, your body naturally heals an amount of nonlethal (subdual) damage equal to your Constitution bonus, separate from any other natural healing.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Design Notes</span></p><p>[sblock]</p><p>none as of yet</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Plot hooks</span></p><p>[sblock]</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">none as of yet</li> </ul><p>[/sblock]</p><p>[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Arkhandus, post: 3174862, member: 13966"] [SIZE=4]Boura-Boura, the echidnoid nomads (By Arkhandus)[/SIZE] [sblock] [SIZE=3]Overview[/SIZE] [sblock] The boura-boura, a race of echidna-like hunter-gatherer nomads, were raised up to sentience and humanoid stature by their mysterious demon-goddess, Bhikael. Though appearing at first to be nothing more than savage warriors and bloody ritualists, boura-boura have a passionate zest for life, celebration, and friendly competition, that often goes unnoticed by other races. Boura-boura are only violent when hunting or when their camps are intruded upon, but they often compete with one another while hunting, making it even more intense, and they perform blood rites afterward to honor Bhikael, their prey, and their fellow hunters. Boura-boura also hold many celebrations, with copious amounts of mead and debauchery. They can be reliable and fiercely-protective comrades even to folk of other races, but a boura-boura's friendship must be earned, not given. The only authority boura-boura have any regard for is that of their demon-goddess creator, Bhikael, and the Bhikaelite priests within boura-boura society. Despite this, boura-boura are not inherantly evil nor do they have any great tendency towards evil. They are more a rowdy and debauched people than a villainous one. A rare and far-flung people, the boura-boura live in [I]har-adruun[/I] bands of a few small families each, keeping their distance from other [I]har-adruun[/I] bands to avoid intruding on one anothers' territory. Each band travels through its territory slowly, moving from one campsite to another before the local supply of insects and reptiles gets too severely depleted, allowing the creatures to repopulate before the boura-boura return some years later. Their diet consists mainly of insects both small and monstrous, and various snakes, lizards, and marsh- or pond-dwelling reptiles. However, boura-boura are known to eat dead humanoids on occasion, when they are enemies and not fellow boura-boura. Enemy boura-boura who blasphemed against Bhikael are instead chopped into pieces, burned to ash, and cast into the nearest river or sea. A typical familiy of boura-boura consists of a few male and female adults, all married in a strange polygamous arrangement, along with their half-dozen or so children, and sometimes a few grandparents who have not yet died in the hunts or chosen themselves for sacrifice to Bhikael, while still strong enough to be of value in the afterlife. Boura-boura have no patriarchs or matriarchs, and only allow temporary leaders amongst each [I]har-adruun[/I] band and its warriors; each family has one or two respected elders or parents who lead them, and in turn follow the one or two greatest leaders of the community. Boura-boura live in tents or large pavillions of patched-together reptile hides, tree bark, and giant-insect carapaces. Lacking the skills of blacksmithing, boura-boura rely on non-metallic weapons, armor, and tools, favoring bone or obsidian. They use their own quills for arrows, darts, blowgun needles, and a unique sword called the [I]goma-bahardu[/I], or quill-blade. Often, the corpses of their comrades fallen in battle or Bhikaelite sacrifice are used as a source of these quills, seen as allowing the boura-boura to serve alongside their kin in battle even after death. [B]Personality:[/B] Boura-boura are a proud, passionate, and temperamental race, prone to violence when others interfere with a hunt or enter their camps unbidden. However, they are also quite open and friendly, when not ensnared by the bloodlust of a hunt or the zeal of defending the [I]har-adruun[/I]. They are given to fierce yet good-natured competitiveness, and other races should beware the boura-boura love for rough-housing in even friendly competitions. Boura-boura are wont to feast and party whenever there is anything worth celebrating, and are actually less violent and more amicable when drunk. Boura-boura are very defensive, but jovial when there is no immediate danger. They keep to their word whenever possible, so long as their [I]har-adruun[/I] is not endangered by it, but this and their fierce defensive of allies are their only real civilized, reliable qualities. Boura-boura are independant and free-minded folk, with no love for laws, restrictions, and stingy behavior. They have only a loose concept of ownership, so they consider most objects to be shared by everyone; they are generous with gifts and payments, but expect others to be perfectly willing to allow any possessions to be borrowed when needed. This is, understandably, a stumbling block for mechants dealing with boura-boura. [B]Physical Description:[/B] The boura-boura people are similar in height to humans, but a little broader in frame and more hunched-over in form. They have red-brown skin with fur of tan, gray, or black, while boura-boura eyes are some shade of blue or green. Boura-boura have gray, grayish-tan, or yellowed plates over their chest and abdomen, formed from hardened hair-like material similar to that of fingernails. Their back is covered in spines of the same material, but darker, hollow, and connected to tiny poison sacs. Fur covers much of their body where plates and spines are absent, but some parts of their face, hands, feet, and joints are bare. Softer hair-like spines protrude and droop from a boura-boura's scalp, neither hollow nor connected to poison sacs, rather resembling the hair of other humanoid races. Boura-boura have protruding snouts like the echidnas they are descended from, and sharp teeth suited to shredding meat. Their tongue is long and flexible, used to snatch morsels from between the carapaces of giant insects the boura-boura slay. Their hands and feet are similar to a human's in shape, but have more pronounced fingernails and toenails. Boura-boura have a more flexible neck than that of a human, able to turn their head 180 degrees to the left or right, and they have a similarly greater degree of flexibility in their arm and leg joints. The lifespan of boura-boura is approximately 70 years, barring premature death or sacrifice; they reach adulthood at 12 years, middle-age at 28 years, old age at 42 years, and venerable age at 55 years; they perish 4d4 years after reaching venerable age. They reproduce basically like mammals, except boura-boura are hatched from eggs, after a year of incubation outside the mother. It takes half a year for the eggs to grow within the mother boura-boura before she lays the eggs, in a batch of three to six eggs. Typically one or two eggs of each batch fail to mature and hatch, then being sacrificed in a bonfire to Bhikael out of grief. Boura-boura have a low fertility rate, and females are only able to birth eggs a few times in their lifetime at most. The dangerous lifestyle of boura-boura as hunters and warriors leads to their people often dying by middle-age or slightly later, so despite the number of offspring they do produce each generation, boura-boura remain a scarce people. Those who survive to middle-age often elect to be sacrificed to Bhikael for the good of the community and so as to be valued in the afterlife as still possessing a strong body; boura-boura believe their spirit-body to resemble their physical body at the time of death. [B]Relations:[/B] Other races generally regard boura-boura as savage, nomadic hunters with a love for blood-spilling and demonic rituals. However, the boura-boura are somewhat more tame and innocent than others believe, though still savage. Boura-boura try to avoid the settlements of other races, and stay out of each others' territory most of the time, but conflict still arises between them and other races. They respect anyone who puts up a good fight or competes well, but boura-boura are ultimately a chaotic and temperamental people anyway. They have few peaceful interactions with other races, but [I]har-adruun[/I] bands occasionally forge alliances with small communities of other races. [B]Alignment:[/B] The boura-boura have a strong tendency towards chaotic alignment, and are rarely lawful-aligned. Though usually neutral with regards to good and evil, boura-boura have slightly greater inclinations towards evil than they have towards good. Thus, most are chaotic neutral, true neutral, chaotic evil, or neutral evil, but a few are chaotic good or neutral good, and boura-boura of lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil alignment are almost unheard of. [B]Example Lands:[/B] Boura-boura prefer living near wetlands, as their favored prey of reptiles and monstrous insects are more abundant in such regions. However, like other nomads, boura-boura wander far and wide, though keeping a nominal claim to a certain vast territory in which their band wanders. This varies from one [I]har-adruun[/I] band of boura-boura to another. Wherever insects and reptiles are less abundant, boura-boura may eat roots, tubers, berries, and nuts, but they are primarily a carnivorous race. [B]Religion:[/B] As former echidnas gifted with sentience and humanoid form by Bhikael, the boura-boura are very devoted to their patron demon-goddess. As no one but boura-boura has any records of Bhikael, and boura-boura have only meager written records, none can say whether Bhikael is some new divine entity or just an aspect of some other divinity known to other races. Bhikael is mysterious even to the boura-boura, who portray her in idols as a beautiful (by their standards) boura-boura woman, though possessing twelve arms instead of two, garbed in armor of dragon-bones and beetle-shells, wielding obsidian swords, and wearing an elaborate golden headdress. Her breath is said to be poison, her merest touch deadly, and her voice terrible to behold, yet she is revered as the boura-boura's creator and protector, giving them knowledge of weapons, armor, hunting, herbs, salves, culture, mead, and stories. Boura-boura perform frequent blood rites in Bhikael's honor, and offer daily sacrifices of food, drink, valuables, war trophies, or blood. They seem to be indifferent to other religions and are wise enough to avoid performing their rites near living people of other races, when possible. Boura-boura priests often keep a group of undead minions around, animated from the corpses of enemies whose flesh was not needed for food. Boura-boura clerics of Bhikael rebuke undead, cast spontaneous Inflict spells, must be chaotic neutral, chaotic evil, or neutral evil, and choose their domains from amongst Chaos, Protection, Travel, and War. [B]Language:[/B] Boura-boura speak their own language, Boura, and adventurers amongst them speak Common as well. The religious language of their priests is Abyssal. The boura-boura's own language is rather odd and sounds like garbled gibberish to other races, though it is understandable to any foreigner who bothers to learn its unusual nuances. It often takes longer to say anything in Boura than it does in other languages, and Boura is a somewhat primitive language that covers a limited range of concepts. [B]Names:[/B] Boura-boura use only a personal name and the name of their [I]har-adruun[/I] band, placing the latter first when initially introducing themselves, but otherwise rarely mentioning the name of their [I]har-adruun[/I]. There is no difference between male and female names in the Boura language, and they are generally unique in the language, not based on any particular words. Boura-boura are named at their hatching by whichever Bhikaelite priest is present. Individual names for boura-boura include Amrakaal, Terik-Nal, Bula, Gabir, Druun, Toriya, Larisae, Hess-Maleek, Faerok, Bajik, Ni-Raal, Elaar, and Soumak, amongst many others. [I]Har-adruun[/I] names are just combinations of Boura words that describe the band's origin, favored armaments, main hunting ground, or other such things. [/sblock] [SIZE=3]Boura-Boura Racial Traits[/SIZE] [sblock] [list] [*]Dexterity -2, Constitution +2, Intelligence -2; boura-boura are slightly tougher than humans, but not nearly so smart or advanced in most regards, and they are slightly less nimble in most situations due to their posture, quills, and plates. [*]Base speed 30 ft [*]Medium size: As Medium-sized creatures, boura-boura have no modifiers based on size. [*]Type: Boura-boura are Humanoids of the Boura-Boura subtype. [*]+2 racial bonus on grapple checks and Climb checks: The extra flexibility of boura-boura arm and leg joints helps out in some situations. [*]Armor Restriction: Boura-boura cannot wear armor made for other races, due to the obstruction of the spines on their back, so they can only wear armor made for boura-boura. Such armor tends to be thicker in the front to make up for lacking back protection. Magic armor normally adjusts itself to fit the wearer, and thus ignores this restriction. [*]+2 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks: Boura-boura are capable hunters, talented in the art of the hunt. [*]+1 natural armor bonus to Armor Class: Boura-boura have plates and quills that are tougher than skin, and protect them somewhat from harm. [*]Swifter Recovery: After each day of rest or light activity, a boura-boura naturally heals additional hit points equal to 1 + his or her Constitution modifier; if the modifier is negative, the boura-boura instead heals no additional hit points in this manner. [*]Quills: A boura-boura may attack with its quills as a natural weapon, essentially turning around for a moment and body-slamming an opponent with the quills on his or her back. Boura-boura are proficient in using their quills as a natural weapon, and the attack deals 2d4 damage plus the boura-boura's Strength modifier if successful; not one-and-a-half-times, unlike most creatures with a single natural weapon. The quills threaten a critical hit on a natural roll of 18, 19, or 20, dealing double damage on a critical hit. Any successful hit with the quills dislodges 5 quills for each point of damage dealt (excluding any bonus damage, and excluding any extra damage from scoring a critical hit), which remain stuck in the opponent until removed. The quills do not cause additional harm while embedded, but each quill in the victim prevents its damage from being healed until removed (magical or psionic healing automatically expels the quills if it would heal the damage they dealt). A boura-boura only has approximately 100 effective quills at a time, and it takes a year for any lost quill to regrow. Quills dislodged from the boura-boura do not cause harm to him or her when dislodged. Boura-boura quills are often used by their kind to create items such as javelins, speartips, darts, quill-blades, arrows, inkpens, caltrops, and more, but normally these quills are not useable in the creation of masterwork items. They are, however, suitable substitutes for standard wooden and metal materials in the aforementioned types of item. [*]Poison: Any successful hit from a boura-boura's quills natural attack injects poison into the foe, but quills that have already been injected poison before will not be able to inject any more, except that quills remaining on the boura-boura (not dislodging in foes or objects) replenish their poison sacs after a month. The poison has a DC of 10 plus the boura-boura's Constitution modifier, and opponents injected with it must immediately attempt a Fortitude save, then attempt another 1 minute later. Each failed save causes 1 point of temporary Dexterity damage. Boura-boura are immune to the poison of their own quills and those of other boura-boura. This is only effective as an injury-type poison. [*]Stigma: The boura-boura are poorly regarded by other races and often misjudged due to their appearance and reputation. In most situations they suffer a -4 circumstance penalty on Charisma checks and Charisma-based checks, for the purpose of determining initial reactions and changing the reactions of others to them. [*]Poor Metabolism: Boura-boura burn through energy from food and drink faster than humans, so they must eat and drink twice as much to avoid starvation or dehydration. [*]Automatic Languages: Common and Boura. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, or Orc. [*]Favored Class: A boura-boura's favored class is barbarian. [/list] [/sblock] [SIZE=3]Racial Paragon Class[/SIZE] [sblock] [B][SIZE=2]Boura-Boura Paragon[/SIZE][/B] Alignment: Any. Hit Dice: D8. Class Skills: The boura-boura paragon's class skills, and the key ability for each, are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str). Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. Multiply this amount by 4 at 1st-level in the class if it is also the boura-boura's 1st character level. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Boura-boura paragons are proficient in simple weapons, martial weapons, light armor, shields, and tower shields. They are also proficient in the quill-blade, called [I]goma-bahardu[/I] in the Boura language, a unique boura-boura weapon. Extra Poison (Ex): While advancing as a boura-boura paragon, the individual's poison sacs grow slightly and become more efficient, producing a venom of greater purity. However, this only truly helps when the boura-boura uses their quills natural weapon, not when they remove the venom or the quills for external use; the venom quickly loses its extra potency when exposed to the open air, through a chemical reaction. When the boura-boura does attack with his or her quills natural weapon, the poison injected by those quills is more effective, increasing the poison's save DC by the boura-boura's level in this class. Track: A boura-boura paragon receives the Track feat as a bonus feat at 1st-level in this class. Bristleback (Ex): By 2nd-level in this class, you have dedicated extra time praying to Bhikael and sacrificing offerings, and she has blessed your quills to grow further, stronger, and tougher, making you more deadly in the hunt. Now it is a natural quality of your body, and it takes half the normal amount of time for your quills to regrow. The base damage for your quills natural weapon improves to 2d6, and you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls with that natural weapon. Your quills are now useable in the crafting of masterwork items, though they do not automatically bestow masterwork quality (a crafter must still complete the proper Craft checks to make their items masterwork). Weapon Focus: A boura-boura paragon receives one copy of the Weapon Focus feat as a bonus feat upon reaching 2nd-level in this class. The normal restrictions of that feat apply, so the boura-boura must select a weapon for it that has not already been selected by him or her for a previous Weapon Focus feat, if any. Blood Frenzy (Ex): Once a boura-boura paragon reaches 3rd-level, he or she has attained an even higher state of aggression when incited by bloodshed and violence. When the boura-boura paragon damages a living foe in combat with a slashing or piercing attack, except when that damage is fully prevented (such as by Damage Reduction), the boura-boura flies into a vicious blood frenzy. In this state of heightened aggression, the boura-boura gains +1 on attack rolls and damage with unarmed strikes, natural weapons, and manufactured weapons, as well as grapple checks, grapple damage, and melee touch attacks to initiate a grapple. This does not apply on disarm attempts or trip attempts. The boura-boura also adds +5 feet to his or her base movement speed in this state. However, as long as the blood frenzy lasts, the boura-boura paragon suffers a -1 penalty to Armor Class from recklessness (lost whenever a Dexterity penalty to AC would be lost). A blood frenzy lasts for 1 round, plus 1 round per point of positive Constitution modifier, and does not return for the remainder of the combat encounter. The round in which a blood frenzy is provoked does not count against the maximum duration of the blood frenzy. Hunter (Ex): Boura-boura paragons learn to be even greater hunters and warriors than other boura-boura. At 3rd-level in this class and onward, the boura-boura paragon gains a +2 racial bonus on Survival checks and Initiative checks. Class...Base......Fort....Ref.....Will.....Special Level...Attack...Save...Save...Save...Class Features 1.........+1........+2......+0......+0......Extra Poison, Track 2.........+2........+3......+0......+0......Bristleback, Weapon Focus 3.........+3........+3......+1......+1......Blood Frenzy, Hunter [/sblock] [SIZE=3]Racial Feats[/SIZE] [sblock] [SIZE=2]Boura-Boura Ardor (Special)[/SIZE] Your love of revelry, primal music, and athletic activities is nearly as strong as your devotion to Bhikael. Drunken debauchery and frenzied gladiatorial competitions are your favored pasttimes, always with a prayer and offering to glorify Bhikael of course. [B]Prerequisites:[/B] Boura-boura race, any chaotic alignment, Str 13+, Con 13+, Cha 13+. [B]Benefit:[/B] You gain a +1 bonus on all Jump, Perform, and Tumble skill checks. Additionally, you gain an extra +1 bonus on melee attack rolls whenever you are under the effects of any Rage, Frenzy, Fury, Heroism, Inspire Courage, or Inspire Greatness effect, or when affected by a Good Hope spell (or an Emotion (Hate, Hope, or Rage) spell in 3.0 rules). This benefit does not stack with itself. [SIZE=2]Boura-Boura Hardiness (Special)[/SIZE] You have toughened your body with exercise and painful, strenuous training. With Bhikael's blessings, your body has quickened its already-swift natural healing processes. [B]Prerequisites:[/B] Boura-boura race, Toughness, base Fortitude +2 or higher, Con 19+. [B]Benefit:[/B] Every four hours that you rest (being asleep, unconscious, or undertaking no more than light activity), your body naturally heals a number of hit points equal to your Constitution bonus. This is separate from any other natural healing, and will not increase your current hit points above your maximum. Similarly, after each minute of being unconscious, your body naturally heals an amount of nonlethal (subdual) damage equal to your Constitution bonus, separate from any other natural healing. [/sblock] [SIZE=3]Design Notes[/SIZE] [sblock] none as of yet [/sblock] [SIZE=3]Plot hooks[/SIZE] [sblock] [list] [*]none as of yet [/list] [/sblock] [/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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