Name of Race: Rock Weird
Creator of Race: Mark Charke
E-mail: MCharke@AOL.Com
Language of Race: Rock Weird
Languages: Hook Horror, common, dwarf
Hit Dice: 10+1D12 at 1st level, 1D12 to 9th level, +4 above 9th
Alignment: Lawful Good
Natural Armor Class: 0
Native Environment: Earth
Locations: Elemental Plane of Earth, Prime Planes, Pel
Movement Rate: 4
Size: Small to Man Sized
TABLE 1 : Ability Score Adjustments
Strength +2
Dexterity -5
Constitution +2
Intelligence +1
Wisdom -
Charisma -
TABLE 2 : Ability Score Range
Ability Minimum Maximum
Strength 9 20
Dexterity 1 9
Constitution 9 20
Intelligence 3 19
Wisdom 2 17
Charisma 3 18
TABLE 3 : Class Restrictions
Class Maximum Level
Warrior
Fighter -
Ranger -
Palidin 10
Wizard
Mage 5
Specialist 9 Earth Elementalist Only
Priest
Cleric 20
Druid 18
Rogue
Thief -
Bard -
Psionicist
Clairsentient 10
Psychokinetic 10
Psychometabolist 20
Psychoporter 15
Telepath 10
Multiclass Options: Cleric/Psionicist, Druid/Psionicist, Ranger/Psionicist
Dual Class Options: None
TABLE 4 : Size and shape
Base Height: 1 foot
Modifier...: 1D6 feet
Base Weight: Height x 100 IBS
Modifier...: N/A
TABLE 5 : AGE
Base Age: 50
Variable: 1D10
Maximum Age Range (Base+Variable): 1000+1D10x10
TABLE 6 : Aging Effects
Middle Age (1/2 Base Max): -1 Str/Con, +1 Int/Wis
Old Age (2/3 Base Max): -2 Str/Dex, -1 Con; +1 Wis
Venerable (Base Max): -1 Str/Dex/Con; +1 Int/Wis
TABLE 7 : AGE
Middle Age (1/2 Base Max)..: 300
Old Age (2/3 Base Max).....: 600
Venerable (Base Max).......: 1000
Average Maximum Age........: 1100
TABLE 8 : Thieving Skills- No Bonuses
HISTORY OF THE ROCK WEIRD
This race originates from Pel where they rose from the rock of the land as a new race.
BIOLOGY OF THE ROCK WEIRD
There are several types of Rock Weirds. The most common kind is a brown or black humanoids variety which is primarially spoken of within this artical. There is a rarer Mantis Rock Weird which looks much like a giant praying mantis. Changes include hands on the four arms, and thicker legs then it's insectoid look alike.
Humanoid Rock Weirds are an ancient race made almost entirely of rock. They appear much like humans but their size varies from squat square forms as short as three feet to rarer tall, slim forms up to six feet tall. Generally five feet is average height and indicates the greatest constitution with the shorter folk being just slightly less and the taller folk being the weakest inconstitution.
Their faces are complicated with sharp, chiseled features. They have no hair. The males normally speak slowly with deep granite voices. The females speak slightly faster with a crystalline quality to their voices. There is a significant gender difference in the vocal chord design.
Most Rock Weirds are Lawful Good and lead peaceful lives. Like dwarves, Rock Weirds enjoy toil and achievement and they are particularialy fond of creating intricate gardens and rock structures. They have focuses like dwarves, however their focus is almost never violent in nature. Rock Weirds have a moment rate of 4, being one of the slowest races.
They live a very long time and reproduce rarely so their numbers are very low. They live far from human societies for fear of persecution.
Rock Weirds have a very slow metabolism and only eat, about once a week, a meal the size of an average human meal. W hen performing extended actions they will eat twice that. Their diet is primarily rock, minerals, gems, metals and similar materials. Waste is barely noticeable sandy materials. They drink several the equivilant of 4 cup of water, once a month but can go six months without water. Even then they only require the 4 cups to recover. Beyond that, they will loose 1 pt of constitution a week until. Desert heat will double this amount needed to water every three months. If they get plenty of water, they will form noticeable sweat in desert heat, otherwise they don't sweat.
Rock Weirds enjoy cool water at times and other times enjoy the baking sun. They will form a "tan" where their skin turns a slightly darker shade. They can endure extreme temperatures that would harm most other races, however heat that will melt stone will harm them and super cooled temperatures will also harm them. (SEE heat and cold resistance)
Rock Weirds are organic is nature despite their appearance. Their composition is primarially rock, about 90% with about 5% carbon and 5% liquid. They have tiny veins and arteries with a thin oily substance for blood. They do not bleed very much, a severed limb might ooze a little bit. Their "blood" clots in a similar fashion to normal blood but hardens into a rock like material. Old cut's have a sharp crystalized or flat appearance depending on how the blood dried but all old injuries can be clearly seen on a Rock Weird.
Biology: Senses
Rock Weirds have average sight, excellent hearing (better then human), average sense of smell and taste, average sense of feel but a very powerful feel for vibrations. They also have a special sense. They can "see" through 30 feet of rock. This sense is a combination of feeling vibrations and an actual limited ability to see through rock. They can see form and shape, even texture close up, but no colors.
While underground, Rock Weirds can use this power to "see" where they are. Moving Silently will render someone invisible to a Rock Weird in this setting. On the surface their sensitivity to earth helps them detect the slope of the land and vibrations (creatures moving) within 30 feet of them. Rock Weirds can easily learn the tapping language of the Hook Horrors and communicate with them.
Detect movement on stone 1-5 on 1D6
Detect sliding/shifting walls or rooms 1-4 on 1D6
Detect stonework traps, pits, and deadfalls 1-3 on 1D6
Rock Weirds have no resistance to poison but they take longer to effect them. Poisons that are instantaneous will make a Rock Weird sick but will not kill them for 12 hours. All other poisons, increase minutes to hours and hours to days for onset time. Symptoms of poisoning will begin to show up within half the onset time.
Biology: Healing
Rock Weirds do not heal. They are born with a fixed number of hit points. About every hundred years they loose 1 or 2 hit points due to erosion and natural wear and tear. Older Rock Weirds are chipped and cracked in many places. Once their hit points drop to zero they pass away. Rock Weirds start with 10 hit points plus 1D12. They gain 1D12 hit points per level regardless of class. They do not get regeneration for high constitution.
This is not to say they are not tough. Rock Weirds are extremely tough both mentally and physically. As a result all Rock Weirds have the trait similar to fast healing
Once a level a Rock Weird can be healed to full health. The healing must be done all at once and heal him completely or it has no effect at all. After that one healing, curing spells, Renegeration, Elemental Bonding, Heal and other spells do nothing for Rock Weirds. Wish can heal a Rock Weird once a month.
The Philosopher's stone with heal 8 hit points if a Rock Weird is coated by the quicksilver inside the stone. If mixed with a potion of extra healing, it will heal 2D8 Hit Points. Also any item that rejuevinates a humanoid instead heals 1 hit point per year of rejuevination it normally provides.
The reason behind the lack of healing has to do with the strong association the Rock Weirds have with stone. Stone does not heal. A rock it is created and then erodeds away. It is a cycle for the Rock Weirds that is important to them. Rock Weirds resist healing, just as dwarves resist magic.
Biology: REPRODUCTION
Reproduction involves a long, difficult process. The Rock Weird must find a special rock. This is difficult to do and Rock Weirds are always looking for a special rock. When they find the rock they know it instinctively. What makes a rock special is unknown but once found a Rock Weird will protect the rock with his life and even undergo a Greater Focus to protect/recover the rock.
Once the Rock Weird finds his or her special rock, they will seek out a mate. They only mate once and for life. The rock must be carved. The couple will carve the rock together, each taking turns and carving their uniqueness into the stone. The carving takes many years of careful work and although the stone may appear finished it may not be, fine details needing to be added yet to the sculpture. Average carving time is 2 years plus 2D4 years.
When finished the carving resembles a miniature Rock Weird with attributes of the parents. In a private and sacred ceremony the parents bring life to the stone and it becomes a young Rock Weird. Afterwords both parents make a save vs death or loose a point of constitution and 1 hit point each.
The young Rock Weird is "born" with limited skills and will mature in about two hundred years. On rare occasions both parents have found a rock and they have twins. After mating the parents may have more offspring in a similar fashion.
SOCIOLOGY OF THE ROCK WEIRD
Sociology: ROCK WEIRD CLERICS
Rock Weirds follow the greater powers from the Elemental Plane of Earth. Any deities who associate themselves with this plane may end up with Rock Weird followers. The system is very complicated but they follow no single great power or deity, praying instead to various powers.
Individual priests often choose a single great power as his or her favorite. As a result Clerics have widely varied granted powers and sometimes spells. Normal spheres include Elemental Earth, ALL, Combat, Protection, and sometimes Plant. Although healing spells do not benefit Rock Weirds they may use these powers on other races.
Their rock form has made this race very slow but incredibly tough and for their long lifespan they slowly gain great wisdom. Older Rock Weirds are powerful clerics.
They do no fear death because they have accepted that when they die they will pass on to the elemental plane of Earth where they become Earth Elementals.
Rock Weirds can not create undead, but may turn them.
Sociology: ROCK WEIRD PSIONICISTS
Many Rock Weird's have psionic powers of some sort. There is a base 25% chance they will have a wild talent (NPC's, not PCs). 50% of wild talents are psychometabolic powers (for the rest roll normally). The slow thinking nature of Rock Weirds has given them a great wisdom. They often sit and think about things. One day, long, long ago they one of their kind discovered psionics. Meditation was easy to learn for this race and they will meditate for days. (PC Rock Weirds have a base 10% chance of a Wild Talent.)
Psionics powers will not heal Rock Weirds. They can take Complete Healing which will cure poisons and similar ailments but not hit points Rock Weirds who Lend Health will gradually regain that health at the rate of 1 hp per hour while the recipient looses that health at the same rate. By spending 1 psp/hour the Rock Weird can prevent this transfer back.
Sociology: ROCK WEIRD RANGERS
This class often spends a great deal of it's time creating vast intricate gardens. Of course, these may be gardens of trees, tended for decades. Because of their non-violent nature, Ranger Rock Weirds use the Clerical Thac0 tables and do not gain Dual Weapons automatically.
Ranger Rock Weirds have been responsible for some of the most delicate stone carvings, rock gardens, sand gardens and other structures which they spend years working on slowly and carefully.
Not all their time is spent on rocks and plants though. Animals do not naturally fear Rock Weirds. Their chemical nature and scent is quite different from a normal humanoid, which animals instintively fear, and they move so slowly that flightly creatures will often not run from them.
Sociology: ROCK WEIRD WIZARDS
Rock Weirds are not poor wizards. In fact they are brilliant wizards. They just spend so very long studying and perfecting their techniques that none have ever become arch-mages. This class has high requirements. Rock Weird Wizards must have an intelligence of at least 16 and dexterity of at least 9 leaving many rock weirds simply too slow to perform the art.
Rock Weirds can not create undead. Rock Weirds can not be made into any form of undead and regular humanoids are too different. As a result there can not be Rock Weird Necromancers. As for the other classes or specialist, the few Rock Weird wizards haven't finished with earth elemental spells yet so no specialists in the other fields exist.
Rock Weird's exacting research and study increases their chances of learning any spell by 5% and decreases their chance of spell failure by 5%.
Rock Weirds store their spells in rock. This is one of the reasons they haven't advanced as quickly as other races in magic. The technique of storing spells within rock is so intricate it takes decades to learn and a lifetime to master.
The wizards crack rocks by carefully applying force on them for hours. These cracks, within the rock, is the foundation of written language among the Rock Weirds. Rock Weirds who take Reading and Writing have the basic skills of cracking rocks, or Fracture Writing. Wizards have to be masters of this. If a Rock Weird wizards looses any fingers (10 as per human) he can no longer write spells.
To date few wizards outside of the Rock Weird race have interpreted their Fracture Writing. It requires a comprehend languages, Clairvoyance and a means of seeing through solid rock and a Read Magic.
The interest in their magic is centered around it's effectiveness. All Rock Weird spells with non-instantaneous durations, last an additional 1 round per caster level. This is a result of careful study and understanding of the spell.
Sociology: ROCK WEIRD ROGUES
At the moment there are none. They are too slow to be any good at most thief skills and too big and bulky for the rest. While their hands can skillfully apply pressure to create their Fracture Writing, their fingers are thick and strong and slow.
Sociology: GENERAL CLASSES
Rock Weirds may become Earthen Clerics, druids, Rangers or Psionicists. They might make excellent fighters but the training would probably cost them half their starting hit points. They are too slow to become rogues. If they have an intelligence of 16 or greater and someone to teach them, they can become wizards.
Cleric-Psionicists who reach 20th level in both classes may begin the transformation into an Elemental. If they choose to become and Earth elemental then they gain an additional 10% experience between level 21 and 30.
POWERS OF THE ROCK WEIRD
Powers: GREATER FOCUS
Rock Weirds can form a Greater Focus. This is similar to a Focus, a goal is sought, however this goal is far more important then a simple focus, it is something the Rock Weird is prepared to give his life to achieve. Examples include rescuing a loved one or family member, ensuring the survival of a large town or the race in general and stopping an major threat of an evil nature such as a high level villain.
During the Greater Focus the Rock Weird will perform no actions that are not related to achieving the goal of his focus. There is some lee-way in terms of survival, the Rock Weird will stop to eat and rest but only what is nessesary. The Rock Weird can not be talked into leaving his focus until it is complete and charms and illusions less then 4th level will not deter him from his goal (he becomes immune to them).
Once initiated, only Death or Success will end the Greater Focus. If there is any chance of completing the focus, no matter how remote, the Rock Weird will explore this possibility before the goal is considered unreachable. If at any time the goal of the Focus becomes unreachable for the Rock Weird, he will die, turning to true stone. At that point he will become a banshee, trying to complete his focus in this form.
If the goal of the focus was achieved by someone else, ei rescue someone, stop a threat etc, the Rock Weird will make efforts to confirm that the action has been completed and this will satisfy the focus.
During a Greater Focus, Rock Weirds gain a +4 to all saving throws and ability checks, +2 to hit and damage, +2 bonus to proficiency checks, +2 bonus to psionic power rolls and -20% chance of spell failure. Also a Rock Weird can ignore the element of Earth for 5 rounds per level each day during his Greater Focus. This includes ignoring gravity, all weapons made of materials from the ground, including wood and bone, but not living creatures and their natural attacks.
Rock Weirds are very cautious about talking on a Greater Focus for it can mean death as easily as success. If there is a reasonable chance that a goal can be achieved normally, perhaps with help, or with a regular Focus, the Rock Weird will explore these avenues first.
Using a Greater Focus is considered a Neutral action by Rock Weirds. However achieving a Greater Focus earns respect. Only one Greater Focus can be held at a time and only per year can be initiated. The maximum number of Greater Focuses a Rock Weird may have during his life is equal to his initial constitution score.
Powers: Toughness
Rock Weirds have a natural armor class of 0. They take 1 point of damage per die of damage from all normal attacks and are likely to regenerate this damage within the next hour. As a result they fear weapons that inflict 2 dice damage or greater, such as broadswords.
Damage from strength bonuses are half, rounding up, but Magical bonuses are added normally. Rock Weirds are protected from heat and cold and electrical attacks and take only 1 point of damage per die from these attacks. Magical attacks of spell level 3 or less inflict only 1 point per die but higher level spells inflict 1D2 pts per die.
Adventuring Rock Weirds are often thought to be crazy or suicidal because of the likelihood of injury. Even with their tough nature they avoid combat because even one point of damage shortens their lifespan by up to a hundred years and they value life greatly.
GENERAL INFORMATION
General: Flesh and Stone
While Rock Weirds are not immune to Flesh to Stone spells, they have a +5 bonus to save. If petrified, Rock Weirds become true stone and like any other victim of this effect, stand motionless for a very long time (Until released). This same bonus also applies to Stone to Flesh, which when cast against a normal Rock Weird, reduces his hit points to zero. (Flesh to Stone will reverse the damage if the Rock Weird survives. IE Cast within 10 rounds.)
Medusa are instinctively afraid of Rock Weirds. They will flee the presence of any Rock Weird with more Hit Dice then they posses. Gazers and Basilisks also have some fear of Rock Weirds but do not run from them.
Rock Weirds often try to befriend these races in order to teach them good alignments. Those that have succeeded eventually build a resistance to that particular creature's paralyzing vision. Working together with this race, Rock Weirds have created rock gardens of unparalled beauty. Rock Weirds use rock goggles while building resistance to a paralyzing gaze. Although this limits vision to 30 feet with no color, it renders the petrifying gazes harmless to them. Eventually they wear thinner and thinner goggles.
