Necae: Born of Death [Building a race]

Xereq

First Post
Necrae Creation Myth Being from the record kept of secret prophecies, compiled one hundred years ago.
[sblock]" Deep within the chasm, the ancestors had disturbed something, something not meant for this world.

It had crashed long ago, a relic of a war between planes of existance older than our own, born of an aspect of the God of Death, severed, and bound into a device intended to turn a city into a hive, to kill and weaponize a population. A single glyph in the spell mispronounced, and it crashed here, before the races, before the current pantheon, before the world had fully formed. It should have ended there, it should have remained burried beneath layers and layers, farther than we could ever hope to dig in our age.

It did not. That thing, it thrummed, it moved. Ever so slightly, subtly, it moved. It was alive, yet it was death. It would not stay beneath the rock, would not stay hidden, could not abide eternity alone. It would wait for life, seperate from the forces of our world, unable to shape, or to corrept save for the physical plane, for a long time all it could to was to move subtly, ever resisting the efforts of the earth to seal it among the fossils and sediment layers.

Then, there was life. This was good, this was what it had been waiting for, and yet, still, it was not at the surface, and it sensed no souls within creation. No souls, no meaning for death. It was burried, for eons it slumbered till it could sense it. It could sense souls.

The gods had made their creation, breathed truelife upon a world barren of it, and this was good. The thing thrummed, resonated, called out to those had it within their hearts to hear it whispers. It promised power, it promised them its fell power, might beyond their dreams, weapons never before dreamed of on this world. It gave but one command, 'start digging.'

Dig they did, they dug and dug, but alas, their tools were not adequate for the excavation. The promise of power was so real, so tangible these beings could taste it in the air. They scraped stone with stone so desperate were they to posess such power. Some went mad and scraped at the stone with their bare hands, wearing their fingers to stumps. Some however saw their fellow beings with weakened minds, torn spirits, fractured wills, and in the clutch of despair and saw opportunity.

The excavation became a city ever burrowing downward, invading neighbors for slaves to labor, food to eat, and converts to their creed. Technology and innovation abounded, tools and techniques improved, and with every passing year they were closer and closer to their goal, this Empire.

When finally they had reached it, there was jubilation, a ritual celebration preformed in which they all joined in. Their chants and rythmic dancing could be felt and heard for miles, 'We've found it, we've found it, and now you all shall die.'

The thing had witnessed the birth of an empire, it had witnessed the triumphs of these lives as they grew, adapted, innovated, and created toward a single purpose. Now even as its goal was within reach, the corruption and reshaping of beings into undead weaponry to scour this world dry of life, it had...a change of heart, of sorts.

These souls, they would not rest while still they drew breath, till the thing did as it had promised, and then all would be lost. So it stopped their breathing. All the souls whom would use the power of this profane thing were drawn into it, their bodies falling to the floor of their city like so many snuffed out and discarded candles.

The soulstuff of this multitude taken in, it began the process of creation itself, preserving the corpses of the fallen, pallid and shiftless, yet not rotted. More than slumbering, less than dead it kept these vessels. For the thing saw a use for them.

None would enter the ruined city, not one sould dared, the reputation of the dwellers, and the story of their demise passed down from generation to generation. All the while the thing worked.

One day a man will brave the city, will venture deep within the pit, to the heart, and he shall meet the thing. The man shall feel its presence, and hail it. To this inquiry, the hearald shall rise, born of death, a soul crafted by that thing shall flow into a vessel host, bind to it, and twist the body, crafting it in its creator's image. The first of many. "
~Teilla Evervask, Prophet, Madwoman and Outcast

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Well, recently I got the itch to start creating races again. I've always wanted a level adjustment +0 playable undead race, since the warforged was released and before that, so I think I'll set about crafting one. Got inspired by the idea of a race whose genesis lie in the advent of an engine of undeath, changing corpses into new beings complete with bodies and souls, with an unknown purpose driving them.

I thought about modifying the living construct subtype and making living undead, but that just didn't feel right, so I never bothered posting it. Now I'm going to have a look over undead traits and create a subtype that can be aplied to humanoids to make them deathcrafted, being created of undeath in the image of true beings. They wont be designed for war, but will carry with them positive traits from their undead origins.

Necrae
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  • Medium Humanoid (Necrae): As Medium creatures, Necrae have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Necrae base land speed is 30 feet
  • Immunity to death effects and energy drain, +2 racial saving throw bonus against necromancy spells and effects -A Necrae's soul is so altered as to reject supernatural effects that would kill or drain of life energy other creatures, and resist harmful effects of necromany.
  • +3 racial saving throw bonus against disease and poison -A Necrae's necromantic origin fortifies its flesh, often preserving it against otherwise delibilitating effects.
  • -2 on saves vs fear effects: Crafted unwillingly from the stuff of maddened souls, the wills of Nacrae often betray them when confronted, giving them a reputation for craven behavior.
  • +1 racial natural bonus to AC. This stacks with natural bonuses to AC from other sources. Necrae's corrupted skelletal structure with its spurs protruding through the skin and thick, hardened scarlike tissue at points on their bodies contributes to their defense.
  • Undead Essence: For all spells and effects related to type, a Necrae is considered undead. -While humanoid in physiology, a Necae's origin tains its essence, causing it to react like an undead creature to spells and effects.
  • LA +0
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still need work:
  • Some type of bonus vs the following: paralysis, ability drain, fatigue/exaustion.
  • Unsure about: stunning, sleep/need to sleep
 
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this looks really interesting.

will they be considered udead for spells and whatnot, or will they merely have traits that are similar to the undead? i would cite the difference between a half-fiend and a tiefling, but it doesn't seem to work in the case of a "crafted undead."
 

Excelent point, Half orcs have a feature that counts them as an orc for all effects relating to race. Necae should have a similar effect...except then the character would be subject to turning, and would be damaged by cure spells and healed by inflict spells. I suppose its the tradeoff required to reap the benefits of necromancy spells that would affect them positively. This wording would cover the ability in the fewest words possible:
Undead Essence: For all spells and effects related to type, a Necrae is considered undead.-While humanoid in physiology, a Necae's origin tains its essence, causing it to react like an undead creature to spells and effects.
 

well, let's hope the cleric doesn't have a problem with channeling negative energy, or allowing them to live ^^.

First glance with that, worded correctly; problem potential: evil groups only unless they can avoid turns. BUT you're right, i suppose that may have to be a trade-off...
 

Well, the Necrae are technically fellow sentient living beings, so as long as the character's alignments matched perhaps the cleric could overcome the fact that the character's conception originates from an otherworldy abomination.
 

You know, i just thought of something...

Anyone know if a cleric can control which undead he/she wishes to turn, or if it is automatic and a set number of hd?
 

It's automatic. When the cleric tries to turn undead, it affects a radius around themselves, and automatically targets the nearest undead up to the total hit dice allowed.

The Necrae's type is problematic.....if they're treated as undead for purposes of all spells and effects, then their creature type should simply be Undead, since their other type doesn't matter. They would retain any subtypes already possessed, though, and I guess the Necrae subtype as an additional one. Say that creatures of the Necrae subtype do not receive the standard undead traits, such as darkvision and immunity to critical hits, etc. That should cover it alright.

As for the other modifiers....hm. I suppose applying their racial saving throw bonus against paralysis and stunning would make enough sense due to their altered physiology, but it would probably be a bit much to give them resistance to sleep, ability drain, and fatigue or exhaustion. They're still thinking, mostly-living creatures, right? So their bodies are probably still subject to fatigue, blood loss, muscle tearing, and such, and their minds probably still need some rest.
 

Perhaps an interested look at the "Deathless" template is in order.
(complete divine? i can't remember)
And that's unfortunate about the automatic turn undead. I figured as much though... Maybe if favored class is cleric it will be less likely that some other player in the party would be the cleric? still wouldnt be more than a superficial fix...
 

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