My desire to create this race stems from two reasons:
1) There is no playable plant-based race in the primary rulebooks of Pathfinder
2) Elves in my game are visually and culturally more like a blend of Gaelic druids and Native American tribes, with different tribes devoted to different animal spirits. Clan O'Stag, the default elf race, was absorbed into the mainstream culture and became city elves, while other tribes like Clan O'Wolf and Clan O'Bear are racially more suited to being druids or barbarian. So a new tree-hugging, sorcerous race was called for.
Verdani
According to old manuscripts, sometime around the year 150 CE, Eae, an ancient tree folk monk, received a prophecy from the goddess Miera warning of society eclipsing the natural world. Following the goddess' instruction Eae travel across the country sowing divine seeds that would in time grow into the first of the Verdani race.
Pysical Description: Verdani have the stature and general form of half-elves, but their features are dominated by plant-like traits that vary depending on the region they are found in. The Verdani of the southern plains are lean, golden-skinned athletes with hair of wheat, while the Verdani of the northern forests are tall, green skinned folk with thick brown bark protecting their bodies.
Society: The Verdani emerged in the middle of a rising industrial society, and as such have no established history or culture as the other races of Aethan do. Most Verdani feel at home in those settlements closer to nature, such as the Elf Clans or the agricultural Halfling villages. However, some Verdani do enter into city life and quickly become the center of attention thanks to their exotic features.
Relations: Verdani get along well with most of the civilized cultures in Aethan, perhaps excepting dwarves, who have no love of growing things, but such enmity is very minor, rarely manifesting anything more serious than minor disagreements.
Alignment and Religion: As most Verdani look at civilized society from the outside in, they tend to take a very naturalistic, neutral perspective, with most leaning toward goodness, since all Verdani has a profound respect for life. Some less civilized Verdani lean toward chaos, but evil Verdani are very rare, though not entirely unheard of. Legends tell of a Verdani seed that fell amount the brambles of Greymoor, which developed into a sub race of Verdani that desire to choke and absorb whatever plant life they find.
Adventures: Verdani are a young race, and are generally very curious about the other races of Aethan. Many would be willing to go on an adventure simply as a chance to befriend other races and learn about their culture, as Verdani have no culture of their own.
Racial Traits:
+2 Con, +2 Cha, -2 Wis: Verdani possess a natural vitality and beauty, but are easily distracted.
Type: Verdani are Humanoids with the Verdani subtype
Size: Medium
Base Speed: 30
Languages: Standard (Common and Sylvan, bonus languages include Elvish, Terran, Halfling, Gnome, Auran, Aquan)
Low-light Vision (1RP)
Plant Immunities (2RP): Verdani are immune to magic sleep effects and receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.
Verdant Affinity (1RP): Members of this race that are sorcerers with the Verdant bloodline treat their Charisma score as if it were 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and abilities.
Fire Vulnerability (-2RP)
Bond to the Land (2 RP): Verdani receive a +2 dodge bonus to AC when in a specific terrain from the ranger's list of favored terrains. A Verdani cannot choose Urban, Water, or Plains.
Camoflague (1 RP): Verdani gain a +4 racial bonus on the favored terrain chosen by their Bond to the Land racial trait.
Hydrated Vitality (3 RP): Verdani gain fast healing 2 for 1 round anytime they submerge completely within a body of natural salt water, freshwater, or brackish water. Stagnant, poisoned, or trapped water does not trigger this ability. Member of this race can heal up to 2 hit points per level per day with this ability.
Treespeech (2 RP): Verdani have the ability to converse with plants as if subject to a continual speak with plants spell.
I also want to create some alternate traits that tie them to a specific type of plant, but I'm not totally sure how some of these things will be scored. I think they should replace Bond to the Land and Camoflague at least. Maybe Verdant Affinity in addition to those 2, but that might be too much.
-Trees: Never proficient in any armor, gain natural armor bonus equal to Con modifier. How much would this cost?
-Wheat: Weapon Familiarity with scythe and khopesh, needs more.
-Fungus: Gains darkvision, maybe a cloud of spores ability?
-Briar: Natural attacks, proficient with armor spikes and always considered as having armor spikes when light or no.
Actually, they have the Ghoran plant race in the newly published Inner Sea Bestiary. The only race with a racial trait Delicious :)
Looks good though
Please tell me what this racial trait does. With a trait like that, a Ghoran Witch might be the most deliberately comical character one could make.
They have two new abilities:
Delicious (-1 RP): Ghorans take a –2 penalty on Escape Artist and combat maneuver checks made to escape a grapple against any creature that has a bite attack with the grab ability.
Ghorus Seed (6 RP): As a full-round action, a ghoran can expel its ghorus seed from an orifice in its abdomen. If planted in fertile ground and left undisturbed for 2d6 days, the seed grows into a healthy duplicate of the original ghoran, save that the duplicate may reallocate all of its skill ranks upon sprouting. Once a ghoran expels its seed, it gains 1 negative level, and it died as soon as its duplicate sprouts. This duplicate replaces the previous ghoran character.
I coukd see myself playing a ranger that hunts down delicious Ghorans.
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-Trees: Never proficient in any armor, gain natural armor bonus equal to Con modifier. How much would this cost?
Just give them natural armor +1 for 2RP. It's simple and equally useful for pretty much any class. Otherwise you're really pushing the "sorcerer" line with the ability score bonus, bloodline benefit, and ability only useful without armor. Replace Bond to the Land (trees don't dodge so well), but you can keep camouflage.
-Wheat: Weapon Familiarity with scythe and khopesh, needs more.
Maybe Lightbringer (immune to light-based blindness and dazzle, light spells at +1 CL, and light at-will), since Wheat is particularly sunny? Or Gregarious and Gift of Tongues (I see wheat as being a bit of a gossip...)
-Fungus: Gains darkvision, maybe a cloud of spores ability?
Spores might be tricky. You could use the stench aura (4 RP) and just flavour it as toxic spores. But that doesn't turn off, which might be tricky for a PC. Turning it into a once a day burst could work - maybe worth 3RP in that case, and with Darkvision would replace Low-light vision, Verdant Affinity, and Hydrated Vitality or both Bond to the Land and Camouflage.
Alternatively you could give them Darkvision and Resistant (+2 vs poison and mind-affecting effects, which stacks with the general enchantment bonus), replacing low-light vision and either Bond to the Land and Camouflage or Hydrated Vitality.
-Briar: Natural attacks, proficient with armor spikes and always considered as having armor spikes when light or no.
Sounds good. Might I recommend specifically:
Briars: The verdani's skin is covered with sharp thorns. These thorns can be used as a slam attack dealing d4 point of piercing damage. If the verdani is wearing light or no armour, they can use these thorns as armor spikes when in a grapple. The verdani is also considered proficient in the use of manufactured armor spikes. Replaces Bond to the Land and Camouflage.
It's not quite Natural Attack + Weapon Familiarity, but it's similar and I think it's a balanced trade for the terrain-specific abilities.
-Trees: Never proficient in any armor, gain natural armor bonus equal to Con modifier. How much would this cost?Just give them natural armor +1 for 2RP. It's simple and equally useful for pretty much any class. Otherwise you're really pushing the "sorcerer" line with the ability score bonus, bloodline benefit, and ability only useful without armor. Replace Bond to the Land (trees don't dodge so well), but you can keep camouflage.
Well that's why I think I should also replace Verdant Affinity. The Con armor I think is more flavorful since it may vary from plant to plant plus I like the image of a creature wearing what looks like plate armor but is actually bark on the creature's skin. It can be really good, since the character can potentially get pretty high AC off the bat, but can never use magic armors.
How about this:
Trees: They get the bark armor ability to replace Verdant. Bond to the Land is replaced with a +2 to Fortitude saves in Forests (they draw strength from the trees. It's not as useful as Bond to the Land, but that offsets the potential power of the bark armor. Camoflague remains unchanged.
Wheat: Verdant Affinity is replace with weapon familiarity, 1-for-1. Bond to the Land can be replaced with fast movement, Camoflague remains the same,
Fungus: I'll take a closer look at Stench Aura and rework it slightly to fit. That and Darkvision replacing low-light vision, bond the the land, and camoflague seems like a good swap.
Briars: That wording sounds good.
Dot.
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Well that's why I think I should also replace Verdant Affinity. The Con armor I think is more flavorful since it may vary from plant to plant plus I like the image of a creature wearing what looks like plate armor but is actually bark on the creature's skin. It can be really good, since the character can potentially get pretty high AC off the bat, but can never use magic armors.
How about this:
Trees: They get the bark armor ability to replace Verdant. Bond to the Land is replaced with a +2 to Fortitude saves in Forests (they draw strength from the trees. It's not as useful as Bond to the Land, but that offsets the potential power of the bark armor. Camoflague remains unchanged.
I personally prefer the natural armor, but this should work, too.
Fast movement is a solid idea for wheat, too. Glad the stench aura is useful. I'm playing with a fey race right now and might use some of these ideas for a plant-bonded fey variant.
stench aura could be reactive to getting hit maybe?
That might be a step in the right direction, and maybe it causes blindness instead of sickness, since it's a bunch of spores that explode outward from the verdani?