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So here's some context: I've been putting together a Campaign in a mostly oceanic / island chain setting. One of my players wanted to play, in his words, "a freaky fish guy". We looked over Gillmen, Undines, and Gripplis but none of them caught his attention for the concept he had in mind. So I created a new race for the world and had a lot of fun making it. They bring a unique flavor to the setting I have been developing and make the world feel deeper. So without further ado, I present for your critique and comment: The Fishmen. Fishmen
Fishmen tribes are very tightly knit communities that are capable of living both above and below water. Most Fishmen make livings as hunters, rangers, fighters, and enforcers given their physical prowess. Their personalities range widely, though most fishmen are known to be stoic, calm, and patient, yet ruthless and destructive in combat. The uninitiated often mistake Fishmen for Undines, which mistake often offends Fishmen. Undines are the result of the plane of water influencing the genetics of mortals; Fishmen are descendents of Psarithropes. While Undines often make their way in the world based on what their minds can do, Fishmen use their superior physical bodies. As a race, Fishmen hold no ill-will to their Undine cousins, but many consider being associated with Undines as an insult to their strength. Some Fishmen forms are quite grotesque while others strike an alluring mix between the aquatic and terrestrial worlds. Fishmen descended from sharks have gills on the base of the neck, while those based on crocodiles and whales seem to be able to breathe underwater via magical means as a result of their Psarithrope lineage. A Fishman’s exact appearance often depends on the creature they descended from and the nature of the ocean in that area. Shark fishmen are scaly, have webbed hands and feet, and have fins sprouting from their backs and upper arms. These fins will inflate and become rigid in water and become flaccid on land. Most are shades of blue or brown with accents of white and black. All are bald. They have jet black eyes with no discernible sclera or pupils. Their teeth resemble shark’s teeth as they come in two rows, are incredibly sharp, and are replaced indefinitely throughout their lives. Their heads and bodies otherwise appear human; most have very built, fit physiques. Crocodile fishmen retain scaly appearances with dark brown and green colorations accented by lighter browns and white, like their ancestors. Their most uncanny trait is their eyes. Crocodile fishmen have two sets of eyes, one in the human location and one on the backs of their heads. The set on the back of the head is positioned so the Fishman can lay still, face down on the water, and see outside the water. This feature doesn’t give these Fishmen any particular advantage as they can only use one set of eyes at a time; their brains never developed to the point to accept and interpret both sets of stimuli simultaneously. Transitioning the source of vision requires 6 seconds of concentration while one set opens and the other is effectively paralyzed. The back of the head eyes are pitch black with no discernable sclera or pupils. These fishmen also have black, claw like nails on the fingers, but they are not sturdy enough to use as natural weapons. Whale fishmen have smooth, mammalian skin but colored in oceanic tones; blue, grey, black, and white. Their eyes appear like most other humanoids’. Their bodies tend to be much larger than other Fishmen and they often stand a few heads above other medium humanoids. Their proportions often make them bullet-shaped in the water which they move through quite gracefully. Unlike the other variants of Fishmen, these grow short hair in standard humanoid regions. While Shark and Crocodile Fishmen can often outspeed Whale Fishmen at short distance, Whale Fishmen can outlast nearly any Shark or Croc Fishman in an endurance race. Fishmen Racial Traits - 12 RP
Shark Fishman
Crocodile Fishman
Whale Fishman
Monstrous Humanoid: Fishmen are humanoids with the monstrous subtype. Medium: Fishmen are medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties based on their size. Normal Speed: Fishmen have a base speed of 30 feet on land. They also have a swim speed of 30 feet. Fishmen also have a +8 racial bonus to Swim checks and always treat Swim as a class skill. Amphibious: Fishmen can breathe both air and water. Darkvision: Fishmen have Darkvision 60ft. Natural Armor: Fishmen have +2 Natural Armor. Eye of the Tiger(shark): Fishmen have a +2 bonus to Perception checks and always treat Perception as a class skill. Languages: Fishmen start play knowing Common & Aquan. Fishmen with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Celestial, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Infernal, and Sylvan. ============================================================
Monstrous Humanoids - 3 RP
Creating a High Seas Campaign world is a lot of fun. The politics, mercantile, military, and social implications of an ocean world dotted by islands are a lot of fun to design. The Age of Sail (16th - 19th centuries) and Age of Discovery (15th - 18th centuries) come as a large inspirations to such a setting. Mixing that era of history with the fantastic and magical universe of Pathfinder opens up a world of creativity and possibility. As I developed my campaign setting, I realized that Pathfinder’s built-in selection of Naval Artillery is incredibly limited. The Ultimate Combat book only includes two kinds of cannons, a standard 6d6 cannon and a Fiend’s Mouth Cannon that has slightly improved range and 9d6 damage at the cost of a size category increase. The Age of Sail boasted a variety of cannons and ammunition depending on technology levels and tactical scenarios. So why not translate that over to Pathfinder Mechanics? So I made this: Broadside: Expanding Pathfinder's Cannon Options on the High Seas. I'd love to get some feedback on this since my handle on the mathematics of Pathfinder is not the strongest. Thanks!
Moving Stationary Objects Underwater This is a simplification of Archimedes’ Principle applied to characters moving stationary objects underwater. I designed this for a High Seas Adventure Campaign where the party’s first mission together was to salvage some pirate treasure from a sunken ship. As I designed the map and challenges there, I realized that the two players who could breathe water at the beginning of the game did not have very high Strength scores (they were both playing caster classes). I wondered if they would be able to move some of the very heavy items I was going to put there. Then I remembered my high school physics; Archimedes’ Principle basically states that a fluid will exert a buoyant force on any submerged object equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. In practical terms this means solid objects underwater effectively weigh less and are more easily moved than normal. The variable to be considered is the density of the submerged object. The list below goes over common materials in Pathfinder and a multiplier for each of the materials. Use this list by taking the weight of the object in question and multiplying it by the most applicable modifier in the table. The result will be the effective underwater weight of the object. Each multiplier is based on the ratio of the density of the object (in parentheses) compared to the density of water (1). Technically seawater is 1.025, but I found the difference to be negligible for the game. The calculation can be represented as such: Let n equal the density of an object in grams per cubic centimeter. Multiplier = (n-1)/n. I pulled the densities from Google searches. The density for stone is an average density of Granite. Adamantine is based off of diamond, as my research indicates that the myth of the metal started from the discovery of diamond veins in coal deposits (a blackened, shiny, super-hard material). Mithral is based off of silver, as the Tolkien legend of Mithril basically describes the material as similar to silver, but magically enchanted to outperform steel. Feel free to correct my math on this; I’m a much better conceptual writer than mathematician, especially when it comes to Fluid Dynamics. Material Multiplier Stone(2.75) = .63 Iron(8.00) = .875 Steel(8.05) = .875 Gold(19.32) = .95 Silver(10.5) = .90 Diamond(3.51) = .72 Gems(2.50) = .60 Adamantine(3.51) = .72 Mithral(10.5) = .90 |