Okay, so one of my players passed away recently and it killed our existing campaign. They were too integral to the story and no one feels like continuing without them. As a result I need to put something I had on the back burner into production without nearly as much time as I thought I had.
The idea behind the campaign is fairly simple, everyone is at least part Kineticist. The elemental Genie tribes are native outsiders to this world and the only way humans have access to magic is by being their descendants. This sets up four of the kineticists elements easily, ifrit and efreeti, etc etc….then I get to the remaining three elements.
I still want players to be able to select Wood, Void, or Aether as elements but I don’t really have a good idea of what outsider/Fey/monsterous humanoid would be appropriate as the progenitors for the relevant element and what their corresponding PC race would be. I don’t mind judging the details a bit, I’ve been thinking of using Astomoi as the Void defended PC race but then I need something that could theoretically birth Astomoi when I’m a union with a human. So I’m unsure.
I have some ideas for some of the third party elements from Kineticists of Polyphera but I’m not sure my players want to have the expanded content to choose from or not…so I may need ideas spitballed for that too.
I can provide more details if it would help folks, thanks in advance.
You might use one of the plant races for the player characters and have their Outsider progenitors be one of the Jyoti, the natural denizens of the Positive Energy plane. As for the Astomoi, you can have any of the Nightshades serve that particular role or, if you don't want to deal with the undead-bit, try a Sceaduinar.
For the Aether elemental source, I'd lean towards finding something from the Ethereal plane to base your progenitor on. Force is the only type of damage that passes that boundary without any real issue. Night Hags and Xill are natural denizens of that place, along with ghosts, some undead, and creatures born of the dreams of mortals.
As a side note: One of your PLAYERS passed away!? I am really sorry to hear that. Best wishes.
Yeah, they were like the groups mom too. Always bringing in treats and such, so dedicated to the game too. The whole next arc of the campaign was going to be their final challenge before achieving true Paladin hood. Her loss will hang over the table for some time, but she was also the type of person who would kick us about if we moped about and let her loss end our group. Anyway, thanks for the condolences.
I’m trying to keep the progenitors as human like as possible, but those are still decent suggestions. I need to have my session 0 before I need to know if I have to find one for Sound, Light, Time, Viscera, and Poison.
As said the outsiders are Native to this plane and so I need to be careful which ones I pick. The Nightshades are a touch too evil for the Void element (though I know their patron will be unsavory). The progenitors in this case are still very active and high caste members of society so I need things that tend towards human but X like how Efreeti are basically just human fire elementals. I know there won’t be clean answers for everything but the closer I can get the better.
Ah, I think I understand the scope of the issue now. I won't be able to help much with the 3rd party elements, as it is not something I am familiar with, but I'll try to familiarize myself with some of it. Two (or more) minds working together are better suited than just the one.
So, we need something that is (as close as possible) to a Native Outsider to be the progenitor of the race, and have that progenitor originating from the union of a humanoid and an actual Outsider. Hmm.
There is a collective type of creature called Kami that are all native Outsiders and they (mostly) have abilities that tie into the natural world and terrain. This might help you with the Wood type.
Yeah, its a caste based society with the progenitor races at the top and humans at the bottom (but a pretty cushy bottom in terms of caste societies, nicer than modern day to an extent but still a pretty immutable caste society, you're very much stuck where you are born). The half-breeds hold a special status near the second to top most caste because of the low birth rates of the Progenitor races and are trained as monastic imperial agents given their unique powers (sorta likea cross between the Dragon Blooded in Exalted and Jedi in Star Wars). Each of the progenitor races belongs to a House that serves as their faction within the Empire serving as Lords, Warriors, Priests (religion isn't all that important in this world as even divine magic is gated by having the correct parents and non-native outsiders have trouble reaching this world), and Clerks while the Humans serve as Merchants and Workers. A particularly prosperous human could be the mayor of a small village or the secretary to a minor progenitor official.
The Jyoti aren't a bad choice all things considered for nature (though they may be better off in Light if I use the 3rd Party Content, I'm already testing some homebrew materials like a fix to the VMC system and a new version of Gunslinger and it all comes down to how much my players want me to deviate from Archives of Nethys). I've also considered Norn for Time, Vampires for Viscera, and I'm not too sure about Poison or Sound.
The Toshigami might work if I make a male variant, so that's an excellent suggestion. I thought I might have to start looking through Fey to see if one worked particularly well.
Currently things look like:
Paizo Elements:
Fire: Efreeti + Human = Ifrit
Water: Marid + Human = Undine
Air: Djinni + Human = Sylph
Earth: Shaitan + Human = Oread
Aether: X + Human = Samsaran?
Wood: Toshigami? + Human = Leshy? Ghoran? Gathlain?
Void: X + Human = Dhampir? Shabti? Astomoi? Tiefling?
Then the 3rd party elements
Light: Jyoti + Human = Aasimar? Kitsune?
Time: X + Human = Aphorite? Samsaran? Yaddithian?
Sound: X + Human = ?????
Poison: Naga? + Human = Nagaji?
Viscera: Vampire? + Human = Dhampir? Shabti? Wyrwood?
Suli and Janni are not available as options for any of these for various plot reasons.
You might want to check out the Aeon subtype monsters. They have serious ties with order, time, and balance. I would definitely suggest the Aphorite as their human-like descendant.
For the Aether, I would definitely pick Samsaran as the race and find something that is either native to the Astral Plane or the Ethereal plan that is both living AND incorporeal by default.
Likewise, the Void element should draw off of the Shadow plane and negative energy. The Shabti sound like a good option, if you want to avoid the whole Undead theme and focus more on the gravity or entropy theme. Hmm, maybe Psychopomps?
For Wood, definitely go for Ghoran or Gathlain (or use both for some interesting dimorphism).
Thanks folks,
I'm considering making some elements half-breed access only. Maybe call them the Esoteric Elements or something that can only be accessed by the blooded humans like Time, Aether, Sound, and Viscera. That way I don't need a Genie/demi-human parent. Of course that would generally prevent people from selecting those as their first element, so I'm not sure how I feel about that all.
That would just leave me with Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Void, Wood, and Poison.