Camelot
Adventurer
Before you all jump down my throats, no, merfolk do not have fins. They have feet like all other humanoids. Picture a blue, scaled humanoid with fins instead of ears, gills in addition to lungs, big black shiny eyes, and webbed hands and feet.
Merfolk have a long tradition of protective and healing magic. They create vast empires at the bottoms of oceans where they engage in just as much commerce, study, and politics as the empires of the land. You could even think of merfolk as the elves of the sea (specifically, the high elves, generally having a personality more like a typical eladrin). Unlike elves, they are universally tough and enduring. Their lives span hundreds of years, usually up to 300 years, sometimes up to 400. They are still linked to the water primordials who they escaped from eons ago.
The following is all the ideas I came up with for merfolk, not exactly balanced just yet.
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5' 0'' - 5' 6''
Average Weight: 100 - 150 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity or Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 7 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, Primordial
Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Arcana
Clear Eyelids: At the start of your turn, you can make a saving throw against each effect currently rendering you blinded. If you fail the saving throw, you do not make a saving throw against the effect at the end of your turn. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to saving throws against effects that blind.
Gills: You can breathe underwater.
Slippery: You gain a +2 bonus to checks made to escape. In addition, you don't grant combat advantage while you are squeezing, and the attack penalty for squeezing is -2, not -5.
Webbed Appendages: When you make an Athletics check to swim, roll twice and use either result.
Slip Away: You gain the slip away power.
Slip Away - Merfolk Racial Utility
You secrete moisture that lets you slide right past your enemies.
Encounter
Move Action - Personal
Effect: You shift half your speed. During this movement, you can move through spaces occupied by enemies, but must end your movement in an unoccupied square. You then gain combat advantage against each creature adjacent to you until the end of your next turn.
Play a merfolk if you want...
* to have a strong connection to great bodies of water.
* to slip around the battlefield and always be where you need to be.
* to be a member of a race that favors the artificer, assassin, monk, swordmage, warlock, and wizard classes.
Their racial paragon path will give them the ability to transform their feet into your typical mermaid tail whenever they want (like the dragonborn's Scion of Arkhosia flight abilities). Any suggestions for feats?
Merfolk have a long tradition of protective and healing magic. They create vast empires at the bottoms of oceans where they engage in just as much commerce, study, and politics as the empires of the land. You could even think of merfolk as the elves of the sea (specifically, the high elves, generally having a personality more like a typical eladrin). Unlike elves, they are universally tough and enduring. Their lives span hundreds of years, usually up to 300 years, sometimes up to 400. They are still linked to the water primordials who they escaped from eons ago.
The following is all the ideas I came up with for merfolk, not exactly balanced just yet.
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5' 0'' - 5' 6''
Average Weight: 100 - 150 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity or Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed: 7 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, Primordial
Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Arcana
Clear Eyelids: At the start of your turn, you can make a saving throw against each effect currently rendering you blinded. If you fail the saving throw, you do not make a saving throw against the effect at the end of your turn. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to saving throws against effects that blind.
Gills: You can breathe underwater.
Slippery: You gain a +2 bonus to checks made to escape. In addition, you don't grant combat advantage while you are squeezing, and the attack penalty for squeezing is -2, not -5.
Webbed Appendages: When you make an Athletics check to swim, roll twice and use either result.
Slip Away: You gain the slip away power.
Slip Away - Merfolk Racial Utility
You secrete moisture that lets you slide right past your enemies.
Encounter
Move Action - Personal
Effect: You shift half your speed. During this movement, you can move through spaces occupied by enemies, but must end your movement in an unoccupied square. You then gain combat advantage against each creature adjacent to you until the end of your next turn.
Play a merfolk if you want...
* to have a strong connection to great bodies of water.
* to slip around the battlefield and always be where you need to be.
* to be a member of a race that favors the artificer, assassin, monk, swordmage, warlock, and wizard classes.
Their racial paragon path will give them the ability to transform their feet into your typical mermaid tail whenever they want (like the dragonborn's Scion of Arkhosia flight abilities). Any suggestions for feats?
