Psychlings Examples of psychlings
Of all the native outsider races, psychlings are perhaps the most rare, for psychlings are humans with a significant amount of psychopomp blood in their ancestry. The union between humans and the dispassionate stewards and guides to the afterlife doesn’t really seem possible, but can happen. Not all psychopomp forms are ugly and skeletal, and despite their work, psychopomps can form brief attachments.
Physical Description: Psychlings often dress within the style of the society of which they belong. Some psychlings prefers to wear black or white colors, or any shade in between. Although some psychlings possess the same skin tone and hair color as their parents, most psychlings have skin tone ranging from bone white to dark gray, with hair color somewhere along that spectrum, to the point some get confused with fetchlings.
Society: Psychlings generally conform to social norms based on their surroundings. There is no racial leaning toward municipal rule or savage abandon. Some psychlings embrace their connection to Pharasma and become adept morticians or respected midwives. Some families have strong psychling bonds, accounting for brothers, sisters, aunts and uncle, to have prominent psychpomp leanings; projecting a strange eclectic aesthetic.
Relations: Because of their shared ancestry, psychlings interact easiest with humans. Other races find the psychling too bizarre and macabre. Dhampirs find sympathetic ears within psychlings, due to their shared connection with the dead, but this association occasional transforms adversarial, as some psychlings have a racial desire to end all forms of undead, including their offspring.
Alignment and Religion: Psychling, like humans, can choose to follow whatever moral course they have in life, although the majority of psychling have at least some level of neutrality in their nature. While psychling can choose to follow any deity if they wish, most feel and connect to The Lady of Graves and seek to strengthen that connection. In the early church, Pharasmin were highly dubious about psychlings and their inclusion into the church, worried that their existence would anger Pharasma. Some evil clerics sought to destroy them as they did the dhampir. But soon Pharasmin scholars and philosophers deduced that if The Gray Lady wished psychlings not to exist, she would bar their arrival into the mortal world. A few more decades on, psychling were embraced by the church and sought to teach and instruct those who sought The Mother of Souls’s embrace.
Adventurers: Psychlings possess the agility and sturdiness of their psychopomp ancestors, allowing psychling to often excel in martial classes, both melee and ranged-based. Their innate ability to sense undead around them allows psychlings to have a clear advantage with classes that hunt the remnants of the living, such as rangers, inquisitors, and slayers.
Male Names: Gomez, Narcizo, Abroseph, Langliss, Hogarth, Vraxil, Pugsly.
Female Names: Wednesday, Lamentia, Quell, Mesery, Anifa, Morticia.
Psychlings Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution: Despite their appearances, psychlings are very agile and surprising durable.
Native Outsider: Psychlings are outsiders with the native subtype.
Medium: Psychlings are medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Psychlings have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Psychlings can see in the dark up to 60 feet
Skilled: Psychlings have a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Sense Motive checks.
Spell-like Ability: Psychlings can use detect undead at will as a spell-like ability (caster level equal to the psychling’s class level).
Psychopomp Resistance: Psychlings have cold resistance 5 and electricity resistance 5.
Languages: Psychlings begin play speaking Common and their choice of Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal. Psychlings with high Intelligence score can choose any language they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
Wednesday? There are psychlings named after Odin's (Wotan's) day - why?
There isn't a lot in the mechanics to distinguish psychlings. Just the detect undead SLA. In the dark you might think them hobgoblins. Perhaps they might have an ability to represent their racial desire to slay undead - something like the dedicated adversary feat, and maybe a penalty on social skills vs. undead & dhampirs.
The Duskwalker race from planar adventures is similiar to what you are doing here.
Wednesday? There are psychlings named after Odin's (Wotan's) day - why?
There isn't a lot in the mechanics to distinguish psychlings. Just the detect undead SLA. In the dark you might think them hobgoblins. Perhaps they might have an ability to represent their racial desire to slay undead - something like the dedicated adversary feat, and maybe a penalty on social skills vs. undead & dhampirs.
This Wednesday. Like the title suggests I made psychlings from the same mold of aasimars and tieflings. I wanted to stay within the 15RP limit. Perhaps when I expand on psychlings more, I can offer alternate racial traits like the feats and skill adjustments you suggest.
The Duskwalker race from planar adventures is similiar to what you are doing here.
Yeah, I need to grab that book.
FYI: Duskwalkers.