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Illumians:
The illumians are a race created through sorcery. Through painstaking ritual, they've developed a mystical connection to the magic runes that make up their alphabet. Glowing sigils surround them, granting the power of an eldritch language made flesh.
Overview
Illumians are contemplative humanoids, driven and ambitious, taught from an early age to master every field of study.
Personality: Illumians tend to be somewhat cautious, choosing to study a situation and develop a plan before acting.
They're also proud of their heritage as illumians, extolling to anyone who'll hear the virtues of illumians in general and their cabal in particular for anyone who'll listen.
Physical Description:
Illumians look like the humans who first learned the Ritual of Words Made Flesh -- pale-skinned and somewhat taller than average. More than half of all illumians are completely bald, while the rest have blond or red hair. Facial hair is almost unheard of.
Illumians -- even poor ones -- favor the most expensive dress they can afford, with fine embroidery, long robes and capes, and multiple layers. In many cases, their bulky dress makes the illumians look bigger and more muscular than they actually are. Many illumians have a great distaste for dirt and will take pains to keep their clothes clean, even in a wilderness or dungeon setting.
Elaborate facial makeup is also common among the illumians, particularly older ones who've already mated for their cabal. While some humans wear makeup to make themselves appear more attractive, illumians wear it for the opposite reason: to keep others at a distance. The more garish and outlandish the makeup, the more likely it is that a particular illumian wishes to be left alone.
Relations:
Illumians regard humans as a brother race, but remain somewhat distant -- after all, humanity is what the illumians left behind when they undertook the Ritual of the Word Made Flesh. Elves are admired for their long lifespans, love of learning, and facility with magic, while dwarves are regarded as consummate craftsmen but little else. Illumians confronted with gnomes and halflings sometimes let a bit of paternalism seep through their efforts to be polite, unconsciously treating them like children.
Whenever they can the illumians seek common ground with other species that demonstrate a love of learning, such as dragons and many outsiders.
Alignment:
The cabals that form the backbone of illumian society have codes of honor they expect members to follow, so illumians have a tendency toward lawful alignments. These chaotic illumians count many barbarians among their number.
Illumian Lands:
A cabal of illumians usually forms a small community far away from civilization, where they are free to make their plans without outside interference. But some cabals (or clusters of allied cabals) take over buildings or neighborhoods in major human cities, where eventually their appearance arouses no particular curiosity. And many cabals have a magic portal that whisks illumians to the Shadow City of Elirhondas, a teeming metropolis where illumians are an overwhelming majority.
Religion:
Many illumian clerics worship Tarmuid, the First Speaker who invented the Ritual of the Word Made Flesh and uttered the words that created the illumians centuries ago. Since then, a few other illumians -- mostly those who participated in the very first Ritual of the Word Made Flesh -- have ascended to godhood by making a Final Utterance (described below).
Language:
The illumians speak the language that Tarmuid discovered (or invented, according to some cabals), the magic language that powered the ritual that created the first illumians. Even infants can speak Illumian -- slowly and poorly -- within a few days of birth. But nonillumians who don't have an instinctive, racial grasp of the language find it very hard to learn. Because they aren't magically infused with the language the way an illumian is, other speakers of Illumian receive no power from the hundreds of sigils that form the alphabet.
Names: Illumian personal names are almost always two or three syllables long, chosen from syllables that have a positive connotation (the Names section below has a list of good choices for an illumian PC). Illumians also take the name of their cabal as their own. Because the cabals help define an illumian's place in the world, most illumians give their cabal name first, followed by their personal name. When speaking in Common, illumians usually translate the cabal name but leave the personal name in Illumian because it probably doesn't have an exact match in Common.
Male Names: Vyurek, Iarmid, Abthek, Kyrish, Hautra, Kaulesh, Ooleg, Duensel, Ghautar, Byerek, Shelkau, Yeylea.
Female Names: Zhaolei, Fraona, Querik, Chalaum, Prekish, Woothal, Xiroth, Rhealoo, Andrin, Eallie, Sreiska, Nuele.
Cabal Names: Bloodwing, Rustdreamer, Blackpennant, Stormwind, Frostpeak, Duskwatcher, Driftcloud.
Adventurers:
Many illumians travel to learn more about the surrounding world on behalf of their cabals, and some undertake dangerous missions on behalf of their cabal leaders. A few illumians have been cast out of their cabals, but it's far more likely that an adventuring illumian left voluntarily, hoping to gain enough knowledge and power to attract illumians and so found a new cabal. Many illumians spend a number of their adolescent or young adult years wandering the world, dreaming of being a puppetmaster at the center of a powerful illumian cabal.
Illumian Racial Traits
• Illumian base land speed is 30 feet.
• Sigils: A 1st-level illumian has two glowing sigils that slowly orbit her head at slightly above eye level. She chooses a third sigil at 5th level, a fourth sigil at 10th level, a fifth sigil at 15th level, and a sixth sigil at 20th level. The sigils are entirely insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. But each sigil bestows magical properties on the illumian, and certain combinations of sigils offer greater power. The illumian retains the power of the sigils even when in another form, unless her type permanently changes as a result. An illumian wizard who casts the polymorph spell on herself retains her sigils, but an illumian who becomes a lich loses them.
Leph: This sigil, taken from the Illumian word for "fury," grants an extra round of rage per day for each sigil the il-lumian possesses.
Khur: This sigil, meaning "echo," grants an extra round of bardic music or Ragesong per day per each sigil the il-lumian possesses.
Mao: This sigil, which forms part of the word "channel," gives the illumian a bonus on Channgel energy equal to the number of sigils the illumian possesses. Thus a 3rd level Cleric, Tina, uses Channel energy to heal, heals 2d6 +2 due to having 2 sigils.
Shel: This sigil, part of the Illumian word for "growth," enables the illumian with access wild shape or polymorph subtype abilities or spell to gain a Enhancement bonus to hit/damage, equal to her number of sigils divided by two and rounded up, while transformed. For example a 5th-level illumian druid with the shel sigil could wild shape into bear with +2 enhancement bonus to hit/damage.
Uur: This sigil, taken from the Illumian word for "break," grants the illumian a bonus on melee damage when she wields a weapon she has the Weapon Focus feat for. The bonus is equal to the number of sigils she has, divided by two and rounded up.
Chea: Part of the Illumian word for "hand," this sigil grants the illumian a racial bonus on unarmed strike damage equal to her number of sigils divided by two and rounded up.
Dool: This sigil, part of the Illumian word for "brave," grants a number of extra smite attacks equal to her number of sigils divided by two and rounded up.
Aesh: This sigil, taken from the Illumian word for "hunt," improves the illumian's favored enemy bonuses by a number equal to the number of sigils she has.
Zill: This sigil, which forms the Illumian word for "death," grants extra dice of sneak attack damage equal to the number of sigils she has, divided by two and rounded up.
Hoon: This sigil, which means "blood" in Illumian, grants a spontaneous spellcaster an extra spell known for each sigil she has. The illumian can choose any spell she is high enough level to cast. Thus a 1st-level sorcerer with the hoon sigil knows two extra 1st-level spells, and at 5th level she knows an extra 2nd-level spell.
Krau: This sigil, taken from the Illumian word for "ink," grants the ability to prepare two spells without a spellbook (as the Spell Mastery feat) for each sigil the illumian possesses.
Naen: This sigil, part of the word "mind" in Illumian, grants a number of bonus psionic power points equal to the number of sigils the illumian possesses.
Vaul: This sigil, taken from the Illumian word for "shadow," grants a racial bonus on checks to overcome spell re-sistance equal to the number of sigils the illumian possesses.
Bley: This sigil, which indicates "fortunate" in Illumian, grants the illumian a racial bonus on saving throws equal to her number of sigils divided by two and rounded up.
• Illumian Words: Some combinations of sigils grant extra abilities when they spell Illumian words of great power. If an illumian has the sigils to form any of the following words, he or she gains the relevant benefit. Uurkrau: Illumians possessing both the uur and krau sigils have their arcane spell failure chance reduced by 10% for each sigil they possess. Many illumians with both uur and krau are fighter/wizards.
Khurleph: Illumians with both the khur and leph sigils can issue forth a piercing scream as a swift action whenever they're raging. The scream functions as a sound burst spell, except that the spread is always centered on you. You aren't affected by your own scream, but everyone else must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 10 + your HD + Con modifier). The scream deals 1d8 points of damage for every sigil the illumian has, and each scream expends 2 rounds use of the illumian's bardic music ability. For example, a 5th-level illumian bard with 13 Cha with the khur and leph sigils could scream 5 times per day while raging, with each scream dealing 3d8 points of damage. Barbarian/bards often have the khur and leph sigils.
Cheahoon: Illumians with both the chea sigil and the hoon sigil can instantaneously convert potential spell energy into ki power for extra damage. When striking unarmed or with a special monk weapon, the illumian can sacrifice a spell slot (as if she cast the spell) to deal an extra 1d6 points of damage per spell level sacrificed. For example, an illumian who's a 6th-level sorcerer could sacrifice a 3rd-level spell slot to deal an extra 3d6 points of damage.
Because the transfer of energy happens instantaneously, an illumian can wait until after he knows his attack hits before using this ability. An illumian can use this ability once per day for every sigil she has. Many illumians with the chea and hoon sigils are sorcerer/monks.
Zilldool: Illumians with both the zill and dool sigils can unleash a devastating strike against unprepared foes. When using her smite ability during a sneak attack, she deals an extra 2d6 points of damage per sigil, beyond the extra damage that the smite and sneak attack class features provide. Illumians with both the zill and dool sigils are often paladin/rogues, with many belonging to the Order of the Whisper Crusaders.
Naenmao: Illumians with both the naen and mao sigils have unlocked the secret of converting positive or negative elemental energy into psionic energy -- and back again. As a free action, the illumian can make an attempt channel energy, instead channeling the energy into her own mind. The illumian then rolls 1d6 thereafter spend power points as if she were a psionic character with a level with that number added. She can therefore spend more power points per round than she'd ordinarily be able to do so. The higher spending limit lasts for 1 round for each sigil the illumian has.
For example, an illumian 5th-level psion/5th-level cleric with the naen and mao sigils gets 1d6 and gets a 3. For the next 4 rounds, she can spend 8 power points per round, rather than her usual limit of 5 points per round.
Illumian cleric/psions often have both the naen and mao sigils.
Shelaesh: Illumians who possess both the shel and aesh sigils have a gift for companionship with animals and magical beasts. Illumians add the number of sigils they have to their character level to determine the capabilities of their animal companion.
Many illumians with the shel and aesh sigils are druid/rangers, so they add their druid levels, one-half their ranger levels, and their number of sigils together to determine the abilities and Hit Dice of their animal companion.
• Shadow Familiarity: Because illumians' magic heritage is tied to the Plane of Shadow, they gain a +2 racial bonus against spells with the Shadow descriptor.
• Glyphic Resonance: Illumians are the physical embodiment of magic language, so they interact strangely with other glyph- and word-based magic (such as glyphs of warding and the various symbol and power word spells). When an illumian encounters such magic, one of two things happen: either the illumian's resonance overpowers the glyph or symbol, or the foreign magic corrupts the mystic language that defines the illumian. Illumians suffer a -4 racial penalty on saving throws against glyph- or word-based magic if their Hit Dice is less than the caster level of the spell. If an illumian's Hit Dice is equal to or greater than the spell's caster level, they are completely immune to the effect.
• Illumination: The sigils that orbit an illumian's head glow softly, providing illumination equal to a candle (10 ft. shadowy illumination). Illumians can make their sigils disappear by concentrating for a moment (taking a standard action to do so), but they don't get the sigils' benefits while they're doused.
• Final Utterance: When an illumian dies, his or her body releases the stored Illumian language within it. For 1 round per Hit Dice of the illumian anyone within earshot hears several rounds of ululating Illumian syllables -- usually gibberish, but occasionally a prophetic phrase or final curse on the illumian's enemies. The illumian's body need not remain intact for the final utterance to occur. Even if an illumian succumbs to a disintegrate spell, his or her disembodied voice will still utter strange gibberish for several rounds.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Illumian. Bonus languages: Auran, Aquan, Terran, Ignan, Gith, Infernal, Celestial, Abyssal, Draconic. An illumians' love of language sends them to learn the complex languages of the Inner and Outer Planes.
• Never Illiterate: Even illumian barbarians can read and write, because the race is so intrinsically tied to language.
Changes: Mostly change Turn Undead to Channel, Bardic Music to rds, as well as Rage Rounds.
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My version:
(1) Play a human or elf.
(2) Under "description," write a lot of wordy crap about how magic symbols float in the air around you for no apparent reason.
(3) Pick traits and/or favored class bonuses that do what you wanted your sigils to do.
(4) If glowing sigils is a big deal, play a class that gets light as a 0-level spell.
The Creature Chronicle also did a conversion of Illumians here with this additional post for their common religions, if you're interested. I think they're pretty similar to what you've done, though.
In many ways, they went with 3.5 version.
I went with prior to release version. Before they released it, they showed a preview. I used the preview for my creation.They get 2 sigils like 3.5 version; while mine/preview gets 5 at 20th level.
But it is interesting that they went with the 3.5 version.
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The race has the same problem I have with almost all content that has to do with runes - the runes servce no purpose or meaning beyond just making the magic item, race, or whatever feel magical. It's a cliche. Runes aren't just cool-looking symbols -- it's language. What does it mean? Why does the race have a connection to them? How has this affected their culture, philosophies, and language? There's no explanation of this. They're just people with funny-looking symbols floating around their heads. A shame because that actually sounds kind of cool and makes me think of the dabus from Planescape.
Maybe look at my runari race for ideas? I wrote this race partially because I love runes, but hate how it's become a pointless cliche. For a runari, a rune represents elegance of language and transparency of information. They put runes on their magical items so those that study and use the items can learn how its magic works. Sharing information is a virtue.
Dot.