ZEITGEIST Githzerai in Zeitgeist

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

• Jan 6, 2012

• #1

I have a player who is considering a githzerai character. I already have one character (a genasi) who is the victim of a 'magical accident', and am loath to have another 'one-off' in the party.

Here are my ideas:

• The 'githzerai' are reskinned as an ascetic human subrace from beyond Lanjyr who for reasons of an ancient blood debt or oath owe allegiance to the Crown of Risur (a bit like the gurkhas).
• Rather than being a race, they are a sect or order within Risur itself, their racial traits reskinned as changes to their basic racial 'chassis' (human, elf, whatever) brought about by their devotion.

Any comments or additional ideas would be very welcome.

 

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Isklexi

First Post

• Jan 6, 2012

• #2

That seems pretty reasonable. I have a genasi in my campaign too. He came up with his own backstory though, so I didn't have to mess with it.

From what I understand, the entire known world in Zeitgeist is portrayed on the "world map". However, it wouldn't be too outlandish to have an undiscovered continent or archipelago for unusual races to call home. That explanation would make getting into the constabulary tricky though.

 

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

• Jan 6, 2012

• #3

Well, we have a Danoran in our party too, so... come one, come all.

As I mentioned, the plan would be to have the race or culture affiliated to Risur in some way. My quandary is whether to make them actual githzerai (and fit them into the campaign world in a minor way), or just a psionic-oriented human subrace.

If I knew more about the role of 'aliens' in adventure #3, the race/culture/order/sect could be dedicated to keeping this ancient threat at bay.

 

Isklexi

First Post

• Jan 6, 2012

• #4

The "keeping the alien threat at bay" actually meshes well with the theme for psionic heroes that WotC has laid out. Whether to make them a human subrace or straight up gith would probably depend on how many npcs you want to stare at him on the street. The biggest impact to gameplay it would have would be npc or other pc reactions.

The full on gith would make for some interesting conversations but it would probably make lying low a little more difficult.

 

RangerWickett

Legend

• Jan 6, 2012

• #5

The alien threat in adventure 3 is not intended to be something people know about, not even special sects with ancient lore. If anything, the creatures would be long-forgotten myths. We're talking older than recorded history.

Perhaps a few people might have some dimly recalled ancestral connection to these creatures.

As for the world map, there's definitely supposed to be more land to the east, beyond Drakr and Elfaivar. It just doesn't matter directly during this campaign.

 

Isklexi

First Post

• Jan 6, 2012

• #6

That's good to know, having more canon info is always helpful when you need to ad-lib something.

 

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

• Jan 6, 2012

• #7

RangerWickett said:

The alien threat in adventure 3 is not intended to be something people know about, not even special sects with ancient lore. If anything, the creatures would be long-forgotten myths. We're talking older than recorded history.

Click to expand...

I thought as much - which is why it's always best to double-check.

 

Siberys

Adventurer

• Jan 8, 2012

• #8

I have a player running with Githzerai stats, but story-wise he's just a human. Just have it represent his particular talents (whether derived from special training or not) and it should work out fine.

 

Last edited: Jan 8, 2012

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

• Jan 8, 2012

• #9

Siberys said:

I have a player running with Githzerai stats, but story-wise he's just a human. Just have it represent his particular talents (whether derived from special training or not) and it should work out fine.

Click to expand...

That's certainly the most obvious, easiest method. We did exactly the same in our 4E Ptolus campaign when an ostensibly 'elven' monk character used the racial features of a warforged to represent his dedication and training. It remains my default option.

However, I remain tempted by opportunity to aim for something a bit more challenging.

 

Siberys

Adventurer

• Jan 8, 2012

• #10

Well, now I feel dumb. :|

I actually really like the gurkha idea. As long as the player developed some cultural details and the typical reactions of a Risuri/Danoran/&c, I don't think it would matter if it were a full-on githzerai or just an exotic human culture.