Half-Sidhe [note]This race (in its two varieties) is intended for my Cad Goleór setting, which uses Pathfinder system. I am looking for people's feelings and impressions. Crunchwise, is this balanced? Fluffwise, how does it feel? Would you play one of these, given the opportunity?
For the record, I made use of bits and pieces of the Seelie and Unseelie templates from
Dragon Magazine, #304 in designing these.[/note][ic]
'There's something not right about the boy. No matter how much he eats, he stays thin as a sprig and no color in his cheeks to speak of. He doesn't play with the other boys; he just sits in the woods talking to spiders!'
'Do you think the lad could be a changeling?'
'No!' Deirdre shook her head violently. 'I know my own offspring!'
'Well what does your husband think? Have you talked to the boy's father?'
An image flashed in Deirdre's mind, like a shadow of a half-remembered dream. There was a horse, a white mare emerging from the mist. Atop the horse was a rider in a dark cloak that glittered like the stars of the night sky. His eyes were sunken, but they pierced her soul. His dark hair fell over his shoulders in long braids. Her basket of laundry dropped to the ground. She felt the wind in her hair. She smelled the cold air and the grass, felt the dew against her bare skin. She looked up to the night sky and let out a moan.
'Deirdre? Can you hear me?'
'I'm sorry, what was the question?'
'Have you talked to the boy's father?'
'No.'[/ic]
Whether conceived in some Druidic ritual, or by an illicit tryst with a beautiful stranger passing through town, never to be heard from again, there are some people who are just plain different. Sometimes a character bears the blood of the fae. This imparts to them a certain grace and an otherworldly quality. These will always be people on the margins of society, either shunned or worshipped, but never truly a part of their society. But whether they are lifted among the stars or dragged into the mud is a matter of will, or perhaps fate.
Half-Sidhe come in two varieties: Seelie and Unseelie. The terms degenerated from words meaning 'Blessed' and 'Not blessed' but while Seelie Sidhe may have a greater tendency towards 'goodness' than Unseelie Sidhe, the terms in no way reflect the relative power of the two varieties.
Half-Sidhe Racial Traits All Half-Sidhe have the following Racial Traits:
Dex+2, Con-2*
Medium*
Normal Speed*
Fae blood: Treated as both humanoid and fae for determining effects type-dependent effects. This includes bonuses for finding entrances to Annwn.*
Low-light Vision*Half-Sidhe gain +2 to two of the following skills: Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perform*
Iron Vulnerability: Half-Sidhe bear some of their fae parent's weakness to iron. Half-Sidhe struck by iron weapons suffer an additional 1d4 points of damage.*[/list]
Half-Seelie Racial Traits In addition to all the Half-Sidhe racial traits, Half-Seelie also gain the following traits:
Cha +2*
Aura of Glory (Su): The grace of the Seelie court grants them, and their offspring a supernatural calm. Half-Seelie are immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Allies within 10 feet of her gain a morale bonus on saves vs. fear effects equal to her charisma modifier (max +4). This effect only functions while the Half-Seelie is conscious.*
Vernal Touch (Su): The Seelie court is bound to growing things. It is bounty personified, and full of life. Once per day Seelie Half-Sidhe can touch a creature with its vernal touch. This touch removes dazed, nauseated, fatigued, and exhausted conditions from living creatures. To undead creatures, a Half-Seelie's touch attack acts like a cleric's ability to turn undead, with a cleric level equal to the Half-Sidhe's total Hit Dice '" 2. This effects only the touched undead.*[/list]
Half-Unseelie Racial Traits In addition to all the Half-Sidhe racial traits, Half-Unseelie also gain the following traits:
Int +2*
Winter's Chill (Su): Unseelie Sidhe, including their mortal offspring, possess an aura about them that disquiets non-fae. Sometimes it is an intimidating beauty, other times a disheartening ugliness or aura of general unwholesomeness. Living Non-fae within 5 feet of her feel uneasy, suffering a morale penalty on saves equal to the Half-Sidhe's Charisma modifier (max -4). *
Autumn Harvest (Su): Unseelie Sidhe are associated with endings, and times of transition. Autumn is both. Once per day, a half-Unseelie can touch a creature with a special disarming touch, which acts like a targeted dispel magic.*[/list]
The half-Unseelie seem more powerful than the half-Seelie. Winter's chill is pretty darn powerful, but it might be balanced by the very short range.
I love the vignette.
I very much like what you've done here, but those effects seem pretty powerful. I assume that for the Autumn Harvest ability, they use their level as their caster level? Dispel magic is a very useful ability. Also, generally speaking, immunity to fear is a pretty big deal to have as a racial trait. PF races don't have class abilities as racial traits, or if they do, they're never as good as the real thing (unless you count Human's "Bonus Feat," which, if you want to call it that, is a class feature of the Fighter, among a few other classes).
Even the Cold Iron vulnerability, although pretty hefty at early levels, probably won't mean too much later on. But I wouldn't suggest you balance these races by giving them a bigger vulnerability so much as tuning down their other abilities.
Let me at least say that I think that even if you didn't change a thing and just let people play them, they probably wouldn't tilt the scales too far in one direction. I.E., they're probably okay, but compared to the traditional PF races, they're a little bit more powerful. I know PF doesn't have LAs, but even in 3.5 I'd be hesitant to mark them with a +1 LA, but I would peg them slightly above 0 LA.
I'll echo what SC said and say that the vignette is very good and the race itself is quite flavorful. I'd want to play one if I had the chance, I think.
Might Winter's Chill only affect fear saves as well?
Awesome vignette, reminds me of my character!
Speaking of which, would this change Wyrgan's stats at all, or would you strictly keep this for other campaigns?
I wasn't planning on retroactively changing Wyrgan's stats, although we could discuss it if you are interested. I want to iron out some kinks first, in any case.
What if Aura of Glory instead provided the character with a Cha-based bonus on saves vs fear, and gives allies +1, rather than immunity and up to +4 for allies?
Not sure of a way to tone down Autumn's Harvest and still have it do anything remotely similar to what it does now. All I can think of is to specify that it requires an attack (and if it misses, the use of dispel magic is wasted), and provokes attacks of opportunity.
I think, to a certain extent, that short range on Winter's chill offsets some of the benefit. You have to be adjacent to them for it to be effective. If you tried to cast a spell that required a save, you'd provoke an attack of opportunity. Granted, with teamwork this could be pretty powerful, but it does have limits.
Quote from: Seraphine_HarmoniumWhat if Aura of Glory instead provided the character with a Cha-based bonus on saves vs fear, and gives allies +1, rather than immunity and up to +4 for allies?
Not sure of a way to tone down Autumn's Harvest and still have it do anything remotely similar to what it does now. All I can think of is to specify that it requires an attack (and if it misses, the use of dispel magic is wasted), and provokes attacks of opportunity.
I think, to a certain extent, that short range on Winter's chill offsets some of the benefit. You have to be adjacent to them for it to be effective. If you tried to cast a spell that required a save, you'd provoke an attack of opportunity. Granted, with teamwork this could be pretty powerful, but it does have limits.
That change to Aura of Glory would be a great adjustment, I think. Autumn's Harvest is probably fine as is - just a little powerful even for a 1/day racial spell-like ability, but nothing game breaking by any stretch of the imagination.
Winter's Chill is also fine, I think. I don't recall having much issue with it. Like I said before, you don't need to change them that much, probably just tweak a few things, which you've done. I think they're looking pretty solid! Nice work :).