Races of the Zodiac


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I have got an idea to create a setting where each of the player character races is based off of one of the twelve signs of the Western Zodiac. I've been working on this idea on and off for a while now. I really like the idea, but I sometimes get caught up when I get to the actual races. Here's who I have in mind for some of the signs of the Western Zodiac:

Aquarius the Water Bringer: Aventi. I chose the Aventi from Stormwrack because of their Water Spell Power ability. My second and third choices for Aquarius are the Aquatic Elves (Stormwrack) and the Undine (Pathfinder Bestiary 2)

Libra the Balance: Humans. In the Dragonlance setting, humans were created by the Gods of Neutrality to help act as a balance between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

Gemini the Twins: this is one sign of the Zodiac that has proven troublesome for me as there aren't that many races in D&D and d20 (that I have seen so far) that epitomize twins or the nature of twins. I know of only two. The Tayfolk from the Dragonlance setting, and the Dvati from the Dragon Magazine Compendium, Volume one. Does anyone know of a D&D race or d20 race that are depicted as twins (either identical or fraternal)?

Virgo the Virgin: Volodni (Forgotten Realms). Other possible choices for Virgo- the Thorns (Oathbound Seven), Adu'jas (Dragon Magazine), Wood Genasi, or a templated human using the Woodling Template from Monster Manual 3.

Taurus the Bull: the Tauren from World of Warcraft. ;)

Capricorn the Goat: I have two choices for this particular sign. The Valco from Oathbound Seven and the Ibixians from Monster Manual 3.

Aries the Ram: Like Virgo, I got several possible choices to represent this sign. A watered down version of the Cervidal (Monster Manual 2),and the War Valco (Oathbound Seven).

Leo the Lion: The Litorians from Arcana Evolved.

Sagittarius the archer: I got three choices- a watered down version of the Equinals (Book of Exalted Deeds), Centaurs or Elves.

Cancer the Crab: For this particular sign, I looked at my copy of the Ultimate Alien Anthology from the Star Wars role-playing game and got the Sauvax.

Pisces: It will have to be a PC version of either the Sahuagin or the Locathah from the Monster Manual for this sign.

Scorpio the Scorpion: I am having trouble finding a really good candidate for this sign. The only race that comes close to embodying this sign are the Drow from the continent of Xendrick in the Eberron setting who have a thing for Scorpions and wearing Scorpion Chitin Armor.

And there you have what I have in mind for my Races of the Zodiac idea. Does anyone else know of good candidates for each sign of the Western Zodiac? *curious*


There are 13 zodiacs now.

;)

Clicky


Gemini: The Half-elf can represent it in the fact that they can get two favored classes (seems twin-ish to me). Also, in forgotten realms, there were a great many dwarves born with the "thunder blessing" which were always twins (there was a feat for it too).

Scorpio: There was a race in monster of faerun that had the lower body of a scorpion and the upper body of a humanoid. (like a messed up centaur).

P.S. I didn't recognize half of your references.

Grand Lodge

this is a really interesting idea. I like where you are going with it.

The only thing I have ever considered using the zodiac for is for character personalities. Figure out what sign they were born under and use that "personality stereotype" to build the character's personality.

I do like the half-elf as gemini though, as it represents two races... or half-orc as another (slightly less ideal?) option.

There is a brief mention in the Golarion setting book of a race of "twins". It was maybe a single sentence with not stats though.


For twins,
Just pick any race you want and change the fluff to say they always have twins (either fraternal or identical or both).


Courrain wrote:


Gemini the Twins: this is one sign of the Zodiac that has proven troublesome for me as there aren't that many races in D&D and d20 (that I have seen so far) that epitomize twins or the nature of twins. I know of only two. The Tayfolk from the Dragonlance setting, and the Dvati from the Dragon Magazine Compendium, Volume one. Does anyone know of a D&D race or d20 race that are depicted as twins (either identical or fraternal)?

Hector and Pollux, the Hunter and the Musician...

Personally I'd roll with Elves, as Mercury the ruling planet is 'swift and lithe' as per Mercury the Winged Messenger.

As a complete 'out there' I'd run with a Gemini having a twin 'shadow' similar to the Shadow Dancer ability, but that scaled with him/her.

It's oddball, sure, but adds to the good twin/bad twin split personality viewpoint.

Silver Crusade

On Scorpio, I like the idea of the Eberron drow. There's also the desert dwelling Asherati from Sandstorm(in the same series of books as Stormwrack). There's even a scorpion armor spell or somesuch that could be rolled into their culture(the art depicts an asherati in it, which is what really made them pop up in my mind).

On Sagitarrius, there's that Hoof and Horn pdf for PFRPG. Features PC-friendly variants on satyrs, centaurs, and minotaurs IIRC.

Courrain wrote:

Gemini the Twins: this is one sign of the Zodiac that has proven troublesome for me as there aren't that many races in D&D and d20 (that I have seen so far) that epitomize twins or the nature of twins. I know of only two. The Tayfolk from the Dragonlance setting, and the Dvati from the Dragon Magazine Compendium, Volume one. Does anyone know of a D&D race or d20 race that are depicted as twins (either identical or fraternal)?

While the dvati are really neat, have you considered rolling tieflings and aasimar into the same bag to act as a sort of yin-yang coupling?


My take on this:

Aquarius: Aventi
Libra: Human
Gemini: Half-Elf
Virgo: Elf
Taurus: Minotaur
Capricorn: Ibixian
Aries: Satyr
Leo: Catfolk
Sagittarius: Centaur
Cancer: Dwarf (what race is more crabby?)
Piscies: Locathah
Scorpio: Drider


Krome wrote:

I do like the half-elf as gemini though, as it represents two races... or half-orc as another (slightly less ideal?) option.

Do both. Make Gemini the sign for half-breeds of all races (which, in D&D, there are no shortage of).

Doug M.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

Courrain wrote:
I have got an idea to create a setting where each of the player character races is based off of one of the twelve signs of the Western Zodiac.

It is a neat idea.

Gemini should be some kind of doppleganger. Perhaps changlings from Eberron.

Cancer could be crab folk (tome of horrors).

You will need to include Ophiuchus, the serpent. Serpent folk could work for that one.


moon glum wrote:
Courrain wrote:

Gemini should be some kind of doppleganger. Perhaps changlings from Eberron.

I also thought of Dopplegangers - they are "eternal" twins - maybe change some of the fluff so that they are not evil and make up some other reason for why they copy people and what they gain from it.


For Gemini, you could always just homebrew an alternative PC version of the Ettin. Just don't let them get STWF!

Liberty's Edge

For Gemini, Kalashtar from Eberron. They are a race whose members all have a shard of the soul from an outsider race. (over-simplification but enough for these purposes)

Dark Archive

This reminds me of McFarlane's Warriors of the Zodiac series.. Very neat idea =)


Whenever I think of Crab People, I can't get that SouthPark episode out of my head.

Greg


Courrain wrote:


Gemini the Twins: this is one sign of the Zodiac that has proven troublesome for me as there aren't that many races in D&D and d20 (that I have seen so far) that epitomize twins or the nature of twins. I know of only two. The Tayfolk from the Dragonlance setting, and the Dvati from the Dragon Magazine Compendium, Volume one. Does anyone know of a D&D race or d20 race that are depicted as twins (either identical or fraternal)?

Faerun had the Dwarven Thunder Twin thing. Perhaps instead of a rare few it could be that all dwarves are born in pairs.


Try the Dvati from Dragon Compendium. One mind, two bodies, both twins.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

I don't collect a lot of splats so I don't know a lot of extra races beyond the very common ones, but general ideas

Aries: Folk with ram's horns and/or hooves, fiery temper (because they are a fire sign). Looks like you had some options.

Taurus: I'd homebrew a less powerful 0 HD race based on the minotaur.

Gemini: Lots of ways you can go with this as already mentioned; I like this being the sign of the halfbreeds.

Taking that idea a step further, you could make Gemini the sign of the Planetouched--both Tieflings and Aasimar. The duality therefore is double present--human yet outsider, light and dark.

In another direction, I also like the suggestion for Eberron changelings.

Cancer: Warforged? Protective creatures inside a big hard shell. :)

Leo: Tons of catfolk writeups out there. They should be proud and good at presenting themselves.

Virgo: An earth sign whose constellation represents a goddess of Justice, Astarea. Virgos are smart and practical. I'd go with dwarves here--just, orderly, earthy (in all the senses), practical, with a humanoid sign to represent them.

Libra: I like the suggestion for humans here.

Scorpio: Not sure. Someone suggested a scorpion-based race above. Maybe a desert dwelling race otherwise. A quick Internet search also shows the suggestion that that the constellation is sometimes depicted as an eagle or phoenix instead, so an avian race could be another option. OR as Scorpio is a water sign, maybe one of the watery races here.

Sagittarius: The most obvious would be a centaur since Sagittarius represents a centaur. However, I also do like the OP's alternative of Elves, for their archeryness.

Capricorn: I'd do a pared down version of a satyr as the easiest option. I am not familiar with the other options presented.

Aquarius: As Ganymede is just an androgynous lookin' dude with a jug of water, you could do the androgynous elves if you didn't in Sagittarius. I would NOT actually use a water race here, as Aquarius is an air sign. :) He carries water, he doesn't live in it.

Pisces: Merfolk or Undine. Sahuagin seems much too vicious.

Liberty's Edge

Gemini: Dvati race, from the Dragon Compendium. Discussed on these forums here.

They are, literally, linked twins. Rather odd and mechanically complex, but it's the best Gemini I can think of.


Does anyone know of a d20 race that you think will make a good Pisces or Scorpio? If so, please post me their traits on this thread. These are the last two signs of the Zodiac that I have yet to type up for my Races of the Zodiac idea.

Silver Crusade

On Scorpio: I'd still vote for the Asherati.

Desert dwelling elf-kin. Hairless, with rust-colored skin. They can survive on very little moisture, their bodies soak up all that they can from their desert environment. Being immersed in water is actually painful to them, as it causes their skin to swell.

They can swim with ease through sand, but not through hard-packed earth.

Culturally they have CG leanings.


For those interested, I have posted the traits for the 12 races of the Zodiac in the Suggestions/Homebrewed forum. You can copy and paste this link to get there:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/houseRules/racesOfTheZodiacRacialTraits&page=1&source=search#1


rather than going for obvious appearance sake; why not try for some of the aspects in the harder ones?

Gemini the Twins os also used to represent duality. So having a dual natured (such as half-races) would be a good theme

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / Races of the Zodiac All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.