Ganzi are nice - the (purly) chaotic equivalent to asimars and tieflings. Now I'm waiting for the last part, a native outsider from a purely lawful plane.
Caligni are nice, too. Dark Folk are kind of like human Drow. This makes them a playable race. They come out a bit short compared to Kayal ("Fetchlings"), though.
Astomoi are ridiculous. Even more ridiculous then Samsaran, which means a lot. I just can't take them seriously.
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About the Astomoi, I've got a quick and dirty screenshot out of the Beastiary for you: Here he is, in all his glory.
What I mostly don't get about them is how we're supposed to insert that into any campaign. I haven't found any smooth way to insert such an odd race, at the very least.
About the Astomoi, I've got a quick and dirty screenshot out of the Beastiary for you: Here he is, in all his glory.
What I mostly don't get about them is how we're supposed to insert that into any campaign. I haven't found any smooth way to insert such an odd race, at the very least.
They're from real world myth (sorta) where a greek explorer described them in india.... So they should fit any place that is like india in your setting.
I think the Astomoi are pretty bad... not only does their description (no ears, eyes, mouth or nose) not fit their abilities (scent? susceptible to inhaled poisons?), they apparently also needed a special snowflake type of vision despite blindsense being a thing.
And I agree, how would you insert them into a game? As a unique monster I can kinda see a spot for them, but as a race of intelligent beings? Err... no.
But I really like the Caligni, despite their short list of uninteresting racial features. Dark Folk is the best folk.
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Wait, that was a playable race?
*checks my copy* Holy crap, I didn't even notice they don't have HD ._. I just found my new favourite thing xD
I mean, sure, they can't use any ability that requires doing noises, but finally there is a race where I can say "Character looks like non descriptive black silhouette" :D I mean, I suck in describing what characters look like anyway so FINALLY a blank character!
Seriously though, yeah, Astomoi seems weiiiiiiird and hard to play(and so they are going to give headache to everyone who thinks about what it means to see things through telepathy), but I find whole blank thing cool even though it means every Astomoi will look the same :P
I think the Astomoi are pretty bad... not only does their description (no ears, eyes, mouth or nose) not fit their abilities (scent? susceptible to inhaled poisons?), they apparently also needed a special snowflake type of vision despite blindsense being a thing.
Just to note based on quick googling, they are based on mythical people without mouths who didn't need to eat or drink who survived just by smelling sweet things. And died from particularly strong nasty smells. So yeah, while whole "no nose no eyes" thing is added to bestiary, scent thing is apparently important xD
I guess they breathe through their skin like certain animals which I forgot name of
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But I really like the Caligni, despite their short list of uninteresting racial features. Dark Folk is the best folk.
Pity that the Caligni were not included in "Blood of Shadows".
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What I mostly don't get about them is how we're supposed to insert that into any campaign. I haven't found any smooth way to insert such an odd race, at the very least.
Off the cuff here, I'd say they were trapped in the Demiplane of Dream, or some sort of Astral demiplanar prison for terrible psychic things (of which they are the nicest), which has recently burst open and spilled its psychic terrors into the world.
..... I just used them as a normal race.
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yeah I don't really see Astomoi being any more difficult to include than any of the other more exotic races. Although I WOULD like to see more artwork for them (personally I was hoping the Astomoi would lean more towards the telepathic demons from Buffy appearance wise).
Pity that the Caligni were not included in "Blood of Shadows".
But that doesn't mean there won't be material that Caligni can use in the book.
For the Astomoi its says that they cant cast spells with and audible component but can cast ones with verbal. So what can and cant it cast?
Spells that have verbal components change to having thought components. But that doesn't alter the fact that some spells require audible components in their effects (not referring to Components). For example, they cannot cast shout.
Wouldn't they need a special archetype for bards to cast there spells?
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yeah I don't really see Astomoi being any more difficult to include than any of the other more exotic races. Although I WOULD like to see more artwork for them (personally I was hoping the Astomoi would lean more towards the telepathic demons from Buffy appearance wise).
With you sort of. It took me a minute to kind of figure out where they fit into my home game since their physiology isn't really like anything else we've seen in a 0 HD race but it can be made to fit. I took a page out of Paizo's book and went with a backstory like the Drow where they are pretty much unknown by most races and the sightings that do happen are usually misattributed to other creatures. It turns them into these pseudo-grey style race that most people can't even fathom, most scholars think are a bunch of different creatures in that area (faceless golems, robots, some sort of inevitable, etc.) and one lone nut who says they are all connected and everyone thinks is a tin foil hat type.
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Also if we are going to talk about B5 playable races in general I love the Reptoids, Caligni, and Orang-Pendak. Reptoids give a solid 0 HD reptile race to play that isn't kobolds,you could reskin them as chameleon like if you wanted to avoid their modern context, or make them a cool vassal race to the serpentfolk that's left over from their reign. Think people have hit on a lot of the cool factor for the Caligni but I agree I wish they had like 1 more ability to use to give them more distinction since their most unique ability currently is something you only see if they die. Finally though the Pendak might be my favorite. You get a sasquatch race that is a good small unarmed build, speaks Sasquatch, gives me a cheap reason to give someone a gigaprimatus, and lets me fiddle with some wookie ideas.
Caligni get See in Darkness. Considering the only other player race with access to that (Tieflings) needs 2 feats to do so, it's not too bad.
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Caligni get See in Darkness. Considering the only other player race with access to that (Tieflings) needs 2 feats to do so, it's not too bad.
Tiger blooded Skinwalkers get it too (along with all their other abilities) and if you use the special abilities table from BoF you could take it as a tiefling instead of darkness once a day.
Don't get me wrong, SiD is awesome but it's also a really passive ability so it can be difficult as a player to show off that skill as a mechanical distinguisher for the race you are playing, especially at low levels where it and darkvision will function almost identically. Even something like a really small weapon familiarity list (like say hand crossbow and something else) could help give them more stuff to flesh out the race through some distinct mechanics.
Also now that we have a few playable races with SiD we might want to figure out how it handles color since the ability doesn't specify.
Also now that we have a few playable races with SiD we might want to figure out how it handles color since the ability doesn't specify.
It handles colour like normal sight. It's not a modified darkvision.
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Also now that we have a few playable races with SiD we might want to figure out how it handles color since the ability doesn't specify.It handles colour like normal sight. It's not a modified darkvision.
Nice, but I will say it makes the idea of a race who's aesthetic is monochrome all the more tragic. Can see color in any instance but choose to only live in shades of black and white...
Nice, but I will say it makes the idea of a race who's aesthetic is monochrome all the more tragic. Can see color in any instance but choose to only live in shades of black and white...
Well who knows, naturally they might be as colourful as a rainbow.
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Nice, but I will say it makes the idea of a race who's aesthetic is monochrome all the more tragic. Can see color in any instance but choose to only live in shades of black and white...Well who knows, naturally they might be as colourful as a rainbow.
Ehh, but that's not nearly as poetic. I mean, the one race who always seeing color in the darkness living in a cold world of grey scale after giving themselves over to the Owb is a really awesome bit of tragic poetry.
And low, for all the color in the world they walk beneath the Owb's shadow, refusing to see what is taken from them...
That feels like all the right kinds of tragic for one of the last remnants of the Azlant.
Ehh, but that's not nearly as poetic. I mean, the one race who always seeing color in the darkness living in a cold world of grey scale after giving themselves over to the Owb is a really awesome bit of tragic poetry.
And low, for all the color in the world they walk beneath the Owb's shadow, refusing to see what is taken from them...
That feels like all the right kinds of tragic for one of the last remnants of the Azlant.
Azlant?
Azlant?Ehh, but that's not nearly as poetic. I mean, the one race who always seeing color in the darkness living in a cold world of grey scale after giving themselves over to the Owb is a really awesome bit of tragic poetry.
And low, for all the color in the world they walk beneath the Owb's shadow, refusing to see what is taken from them...
That feels like all the right kinds of tragic for one of the last remnants of the Azlant.
Yeah, Dark Folk are the descendants of Azlanti who fled into the Darklands and embraced magic to straddle the line between light and dark. It would make sense that they became the caligni, before the owbs meddled with them.
Yeah, Dark Folk are the descendants of Azlanti who fled into the Darklands and embraced magic to straddle the line between light and dark. It would make sense that they became the caligni, before the owbs meddled with them.
Oh, golarion fluff. Fair enough.
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Yeah, Dark Folk are the descendants of Azlanti who fled into the Darklands and embraced magic to straddle the line between light and dark. It would make sense that they became the caligni, before the owbs meddled with them.Oh, golarion fluff. Fair enough.
Yeah, part of why I keep getting annoyed that we both get so little world building focused on the Dark Folk yet we've got 7 different species of them or creatures directly associated with them (Owbs) and 3 books now about the darklands and yet we know SO LITTLE ABOUT THEM!
Still sad we didn't see them as one of the races in Darklands revisited or Blood of Shadows. Their blood is literally made with shadow magic
*grumbles off into the corner*
Anyways all the shadow references are reinforced by the stuff in Bestiary 4 with the Owb where they explain a lot of how Dark Folk are made. Very cool, very poetic now with this contrast between all this visual prowess wrapped in this race that literally gave up all color to save themselves. Some good story roots there. Ohh maybe that's where the light blindness and light sensitivity comes from, their eyes literally see in a spectrum so wide that light just overloads their corneas with more colors than their still human brains can process at once.
That feels like all the right kinds of tragic for one of the last remnants of the Azlant.
One of the many, many "last remnants".
Dark Folk were Azlanti that fled into the Darklands. Mongrelman were Azlanti that fled into the Darklands. Morlocks were *also* Azlanti that fled into the Darklands. Gillman were Azlanti that fled underwater. Fetchlings/Kayal were people who fled from an unnamed kingdom to the Plane of Shadow to avoid Earthfall, placing their origins in the same time period. And Cheliax (and who knows how many others) claims the Azlant legacy.Also, don't the Dark Folk still live in the *Darklands*? That means there are still colours down there. Mostly earth-brown and stuff, but ocasionally you get shiny gems. Dark Dancers are even mentioned to "have more color and decoration to their appearances." - so it's not complete absense of colour.
The Kayal/Fetchlings are those on the Plane of Shadow, are mentioned to only have access to dyes and stuff through trade with the Material Plane, and they only have Lowlight- and Darkvision...
(While they can also gain See in Darkness through a three-feat chain, said chain also gives them light sensitivity/blindness, and the first two feats are rendered completely obsolete by the Deepsight feat, which hands you the bonus of the first two Fetchling feats without their drawbacks, making that feat chain one of the worst instances of "feats that are entirely pointless and objectively bad"...)
Personally I think the Orang-Pendek, which I love, are just as hard to integrate in a game as the Astomoi, maybe even more so. They are monkey men related to the Sasquatch but they aren't as approachable as the Vanara.
Personally I'd love it if Paizo would throw out a blog with a tiny bit of info on where the B5 0HD races fit in Golarion. Just where they come from and whether they are known in the Inner Sea region.
For Caligni and Deep One Hybrids it's easy but the others could use some elaboration.
Personally I think the Orang-Pendek, which I love, are just as hard to integrate in a game as the Astomoi, maybe even more so. They are monkey men related to the Sasquatch but they aren't as approachable as the Vanara.
Personally I'd love it if Paizo would throw out a blog with a tiny bit of info on where the B5 0HD races fit in Golarion. Just where they come from and whether they are known in the Inner Sea region.
For Caligni and Deep One Hybrids it's easy but the others could use some elaboration.
"Blood of Bestiary 5"?
That would be slightly overkill.
More like a short blog post or adding some text on them in another product that they fit thematically. Doesn't have to be much, just something to work with.
For instance, saying Astomoi come from Vudra and they're rare even there is enough. Anything beyond that would be bonus.
I like the reptoids a lot, but they're a bit powerful for a PC race. I'm not sure they'll be allowed at most tables, unfortunately. Also, we don't know much about them and their society, beyond their abiliities and some vague goals of eventual world domination.
Androids, Ghorans, Shabtis and Skinwalkers all got presented in previous booklets and those got a lot of options and materials. Androids are great to complement robots, Ghorans are walking plants, which is great, Shabtis... are essentially perfect humans, which I think it's funny ;) and Skinwalkers are Lycanthrope descendants.
Astomoi, Calignis, Deep One Hybrids, Orang-pendaks and Reptoids are... hit or miss...
- What ARE Astomoi anyway? They are not related to something. Ok, they're telepathic, but they have no racial traits related to Psychic magic. Weird addition IMO.
- Calignis are related to Dark Folks, which is a decent addition to the race.
- Hybrids are weird-looking. Ok, I get it that it is an aquatic race, but... Yeah... a frog-human hybrid is just weird... Oh and the fact that you become a Deep One upon aging doesn't help too...
- Orang-pendaks could be used to fill the blank spot of "primitive humans", unless they wanted something akin to The Jungle Book :P Then again, no relation with the vanaras has been explained...
- I fail to see the connection between Psychic magic and Reptoids TBH If they were an offshoot of lizardfolks, that would have passed, but here, they're distant world aliens... without even LOOKING like aliens.
If I had to rate them, from best to worst:
- Calignis
- Orang-pendaks
- Reptoids
- Hybrids
- Astomoi
My personal opinion though.
Reptoids have an occult connection because of...well all the David Icke stuff and far out conspiracies depicting them as secretly manipulating world governments
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- What ARE Astomoi anyway? They are not related to something. Ok, they're telepathic, but they have no racial traits related to Psychic magic. Weird addition IMO.
A race that is blind and eats via smell. Why should they be related o anything?
Hybrids are weird-looking. Ok, I get it that it is an aquatic race, but... Yeah... a frog-human hybrid is just weird... Oh and the fact that you become a Deep One upon aging doesn't help too...
Hybrid is necessary if you have deep ones in the game.
- Orang-pendaks could be used to fill the blank spot of "primitive humans", unless they wanted something akin to The Jungle Book :P Then again, no relation with the vanaras has been explained...
Why would there be relation with vanaras.... Vanaras are indian and orang-pendak are indonesian.
I fail to see the connection between Psychic magic and Reptoids TBH If they were an offshoot of lizardfolks, that would have passed, but here, they're distant world aliens... without even LOOKING like aliens.
Because conspiracy theories say that polticians are actually psychic reptialian aliens who shapechange and eat babies. It Shouldn't have any relation to lizardfolk.
- Hybrids are weird-looking. Ok, I get it that it is an aquatic race, but... Yeah... a frog-human hybrid is just weird... Oh and the fact that you become a Deep One upon aging doesn't help too...
You mean like a Boggard? Or a Grippli?
Deep One Hybrids are more fish than frog...
They're not really intended as PCs, if the existing lore is anything to go on.
Does anyone else hear Jabba the Hutt when reading "orang-pendak?"