Races — Mythtome

When creating characters you can optionally choose to use different player races. There are multiple races and each race has a number of subraces based on diverging bloodlines, locales, societies or tradition. Each subrace has a list of specific traits, which are based on upbringing, natural talent and physical aptitude.

There are 2 types of races that have augmented rules for character creation and trait selection. Undead characters have augmented rules for abilities and death while shade characters have augmented character creation rules. Players seeking to play an undead or shade are reccomended to have a decent understanding of the game system to play them correctly.

Age

The age attribute denotes the typical lifespan and maturity rate for a member of a race. This should inform your decision when you choose how old your character is. Many races are long lived while many more remain short lived. How old and how long your character is expected to live should additionally come into effect in how they see the world and people in it. Some races may live to see 20 lifetimes of another race in their own life. Make sure to keep your character's age in mind when it comes to roleplaying.

Size

While most races fall into the medium category for size, the size attribute will make it explicity clear what size your character is. It will additionally denote the average height for a member of that race to be. You may choose to select a height around the average or simply select the height you wish your character to be.

Appearance

The appearance attribute will denote the general and average appearance of a member of a race. The skin and hair colors given are the most commonly seen ones however your character can look however you wish them to, except in the case of specific races.

Languages

Languages lists those a player's character should know from their upbringing. These will come in handy if needed to communicate with creatures who do not speak the common tongue. Most languages will be known fluently however some races may have a smaller degree of knowledge of more exotic tongues.

Fluency

Level	Fluency Ability
0	Illiterate: Your character cannot understand or read any of the language. This will be the normal level for all languages not known.
1	Elementary: You understand the basic structure of the language and know some common phrases and questions.
2	Limited: You are able to have limited social conversations and understand basic sentences.
3	Working Proficiency: You are capable of having conversations at an higher level and have a firm understanding of the language, though you may have some misunderstandings or occasional mistakes as well as a pronounced accent. You may struggle with local vernacular and advanced terminology.
4	Fluent: You are entirely fluent in the language. You were raised speaking the language or have spoken it long enough to become proficient in it. Your accent is either nonexistent or barely recognizable.

Languages


Common	Orphidian	Dverrik
Zhigheric	Shadaeic	Forest-Tongue
Imperial	Old Imperial	Aquarid
High Zhigheric	Petrific	Cryonnik
Saaraihi	Mysteris	Zhikh
Sage	Ruinic

Subraces

Each race has a list of subraces who while being of the same race, each come from a different ancestry or adapted differently to their environments. Subraces have their specialties and quirks which all come together in their traits. Each subrace has a list of abilities to choose from. Players may choose up to 2 of those traits for their character unless its a special race like undead.

Human

Among the youngest of the races in the world, humans spread farther than their elder kin despite their brief lifespans. Driven by the urgency of their mortality, humans became compelled to leave their mark upon the world in whatever time they had. The old empires and civilizations of humanity were built upon the tenets of conquest, dominance, and glory, expanding rapidly across vast territories until they grew too large to sustain themselves and began to fracture from within. Thus ended the silver era of humanity, a civilization divided by its own ambitions and ultimately finished off by the Orphidian warlords.

Split and disgraced, the survivors of the silver era scattered across the world, rebuilding where they could find refuge. Some would eventually return to prominence and establish new civilizations, while others would be lost to the world for generations, only to emerge into a reality they could no longer recognize. Most, however, would settle in remote areas or embrace nomadic lifestyles, carrying forward fragments of their once-great heritage in ways as diverse as the lands they now called home.

Isleseeker

When the silver era collapsed and humanity scattered, those who would become the Isleseekers fled to the coasts and islands, finding refuge where land meets sea. Born of necessity and shaped by the endless horizons, the Isleseekers developed an unbreakable bond with the maritime world that sustained them through their darkest hours. They typically populate coastal and tropical regions, establishing communities that range from bustling port cities to remote island settlements, with most becoming expert sailors and fishers by birthright. Their mastery of the seas has led them to innovations that land-dwellers can scarcely imagine - some construct entire floating cities and markets that drift across lakes and bays, following seasonal currents and favorable trade winds.

Unlike their landlocked cousins who cling to the remnants of the old empire, the Isleseekers have embraced a life of constant movement and adaptation. To them, the sea represents freedom from the rigid structures that once brought humanity low, and their communities are fluid and dynamic, bound together not by borders or bloodlines, but by shared knowledge of the waters and mutual dependence on the bounty of the deep. They carry forward the human drive for exploration and achievement by mastering the vast blue expanses that cover most of the world, channeling their ambitions into understanding currents, winds, and the ever-changing moods of the ocean.

Attributes

Age: Isleseekers typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 90
Size: Isleseekers are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'6" (168 cm).
Appearance: Isleseekers possess builds perfectly adapted to a life spent on and around water, with lean, weather-tested frames that speak to countless hours working ship rigging and diving beneath waves. Their skin ranges from deep bronze to warm olive tones, darkened and toughened by constant exposure to sun and salt spray. Their hair comes in rich shades of black and brown, often streaked lighter by the bleaching effects of sea air and sunlight. Their hands bear the distinctive calluses of rope work, while their eyes often hold the distant look of those who have spent years scanning endless horizons for favorable winds and safe harbors.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Aquarid (Limited)

Traits

Luck of the Sea: Once per rest if you roll a success you can choose to treat it as an overwhelming success.
Full Sails: Once per rest you may choose to either double your movement speed for an hour or double the party's travel speed for 1 day.
Seafarer: In any coastal or port area, you can always find someone you have a positive rapport with - an old shipmate, a fellow sailor, a harbor contact, or someone who remembers a favor you once did. You determine the specific relationship, but the GM determines the extent of help they can provide based on the location and circumstances. This person will provide basic assistance such as information, temporary shelter, minor supplies, or introductions to others.
Navigator: You have an innate ability to navigate using natural signs and never get lost when traveling. You can read currents, wind patterns, star positions, terrain features, and other natural signs to determine direction, weather changes, and safe passage routes. Even in unfamiliar territory, you can find the most efficient path to any destination.

Kelbrean

The heralds of the new golden age of humanity, the Kelbreans emerged from the harsh deserts where they forged themselves into something harder and more determined than their ancestors ever were. When the silver era collapsed, those who would become the Kelbreans fled into the most unforgiving wastelands, believing that only through surviving the worst could they build something better. The burning sands and merciless sun became their crucible, transforming refugees into survivors, survivors into fighters, and fighters into conquerors.

From these desert strongholds, the Kelbreans have methodically worked to rebuild the great cities of humanity, driven by memories of every slight and defeat - particularly the finishing blow dealt by the Orphidian warlords that ended their ancestors' golden age. They have been to war with the Orphidian kingdoms on many occasions, viewing each conflict as steps toward a greater reckoning. The Kelbreans see themselves as the rightful inheritors of humanity's imperial legacy, destined to restore their people to greatness through strength of arms and force of will.

Attributes

Age: Kelbreans typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 90.
Size: Kelbreans are medium sized. Their average height is around 6'2" (188 cm).
Appearance: Kelbreans possess tall, lean builds hardened by desert life. Their skin ranges from deep bronze to rich copper tones, weathered by constant exposure to sand and sun. Their hair is typically dark brown or black, while their eyes are usually brown or hazel, often appearing fierce and determined.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Imperial (Fluent)

Traits

Hardy Survivor: You have enhanced resilience from surviving harsh conditions. You require half the normal amount of food and water per day, have 1 degree of advantage on resistance checks against disease and poison, and can function normally in extreme environments without penalty.
Imperial Ambition: Once per rest, you can inspire and organize a group effort. When leading a project, construction, or group task, you reduce the time required by half and improve the quality of the result. All participants gain 1 degree of advantage on related skill checks while under your direction.
Warrior's Discipline: Once per rest, you can enter a disciplined combat stance for up to 3 turns in combat. While in this stance, you gain 1 degree of advantage on melee attack checks until you achieve a critical success or 3 turns elapse, whichever comes first.
Unyielding Will: You are immune to fear effects and have 2 degrees of advantage on resistance checks against mental effects. Once per rest, when you would be reduced to 0 hit points, you can choose to remain at 1 hit point instead, driven by sheer determination.

Ridge-Hunter

The Ridge-Hunters have carved out their existence in the harsh mountains, where they built their small settlements on precarious ledges and hidden valleys that others would consider uninhabitable. Life in these unforgiving peaks has forged them into people who value family bonds above all else, as survival in such terrain requires absolute trust and cooperation. They are typically close-knit within their families and clans, bound together by shared hardships and the knowledge that in the mountains, your kin are often the only thing standing between you and death.

Their culture revolves around the concept of clan honor and the proving of one's worth through deed rather than word. Young Ridge-Hunters often leave their villages seeking adventure and fame for their clan name, driven by a tradition that views such journeys as essential rites of passage. These expeditions serve multiple purposes - they bring back resources, knowledge, and stories to their mountain homes, while also ensuring that each generation learns to navigate the world beyond the peaks. Those who return with tales of great deeds elevate not only their own standing but that of their entire clan, creating a culture where individual achievement is inseparable from family pride.

Attributes

Age: Ridge-Hunters typically reach maturity around 16 and live to around 110.
Size: Ridge-Hunters are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'10" (177 cm).
Appearance: Ridge-Hunters display a diverse range of features reflecting their scattered mountain origins. Some possess fair skin, blonde or red hair, and blue or green eyes, while others have darker hair, bronze skin, and brown eyes. They share stocky builds adapted for climbing and endurance, weathered faces marked by high altitude winds, and wide cheekbones that help them withstand mountain cold. All Ridge-Hunters possess the lean muscle and sure-footed grace of those born to navigate treacherous peaks.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Old Imperial (Elementary), Imperial (Limited)

Traits

Sure Grip: You have exceptional climbing abilities and grip strength developed from a lifetime in the mountains. You gain 2 degrees of advantage on all climbing checks and can climb surfaces that would normally be impossible to grip. Your enhanced grip strength allows you to hold onto ledges, ropes, or weapons even when injured or under duress, and you can support additional weight while climbing without penalty.
Keeper of Tales: You are a repository of clan stories, mountain lore, and historical knowledge passed down through generations. You have extensive knowledge of local history, legends, and genealogies. Once per rest, you can recall a relevant story or piece of historical knowledge that provides crucial information about a person, place, or situation. Additionally, your storytelling abilities allow you to captivate audiences, improve morale during rest periods, and preserve important events for future generations.
Clan's Bond: Once per rest, if an ally fails a resistance check you may make the resistance check yourself with 2 degrees of advantage. If you succeed, your ally will be safe and not be affected by the original effect.
Mountain Spirits: Once per rest, you may channel the spirits of your ancestors and temporarily gain their knowledge. For 1 hour, you may temporarily increase 2 skills by 1 level or increase 1 skill by 2 levels.

Frost Strayed

The Frost Strayed are not merely the oldest of the surviving human subsets - they predate even the silver era of humanity itself. For thousands of years, they lived in complete isolation among the ice and storms of distant glacial floes, cut off from the world by an impenetrable barrier of frozen sea and perpetual winter. This isolation was so absolute that they remained untouched by the rise and fall of human empires, the wars with the Orphidians, and all the great events that shaped the modern world. They are living relics of a humanity that existed before cities, before conquest, before the ambitions that would eventually lead to both glory and ruin.

Only recently have the Frost Strayed begun to appear in the world again, not by choice but by necessity - the ice floes upon which they built their lives have finally drifted back to the mainland after millennia of wandering. They are an intensely insular people, and those who venture beyond their ice-bound communities do so only for the most compelling reasons - dire need, sacred duty, or exile. These few who interact with the outside world often struggle to communicate, as they speak an archaic variant of Imperial that predates the common tongue, and their understanding of modern customs and concepts remains fragmentary, based only on half-remembered stories passed down through countless generations.

Attributes

Lifespan: The Frost Strayed typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 160.
Size: Frost Strayed are medium sized. Their average height is around 6'2" (188 cm).
Appearance: The Frost Strayed possess tall, lean builds adapted to harsh glacial environments. Their skin is pale or grey-toned, taking on an almost translucent quality from generations under perpetual winter skies. Their hair ranges from pale blonde to stark white, while their eyes are typically light blue, grey, or pale green, reflecting the endless ice of their homeland. They move with deliberate, measured grace that speaks to their ancient heritage.
Languages: Old Imperial (Fluent), Common (Elementary)

Traits

Ancient Wisdom: You possess knowledge that predates the silver era of humanity. Once per rest, you can recall forgotten lore, ancient techniques, or historical events that others have lost to time. This knowledge can provide crucial insights about artifacts, locations, or customs from the distant past. Additionally, you can understand and interpret archaic texts, symbols, or languages that predate modern civilization.
Unbroken: Your people have endured millennia of hardship in isolation, granting you exceptional resilience. Once per rest, when you fail any resistance check, you may choose to succeed instead. Additionally, you have 1 degree of advantage on resistance checks against effects that would cause despair, madness, or breaking of will, as your ancient heritage has taught you to endure any adversity with stoic determination.
Primordial Heritage: You retain techniques and abilities that other humans have forgotten. Once per rest, you can perform a task using ancient methods that are more effective than modern approaches, gaining 2 degrees of advantage on the check. This might involve tracking using pre-civilized techniques, crafting tools with primitive but superior methods, or understanding natural phenomena through archaic wisdom. These ancient approaches often yield better results than contemporary methods.
Ancestral Communion: You can commune with the spirits of your ancient lineage. Once per rest, you can enter a trance for 10 minutes to seek guidance from ancestral spirits. They may provide warnings about danger, advice about difficult decisions, or knowledge about people and places. The spirits speak in cryptic terms and their guidance reflects the wisdom of a people who predate recorded history.lets re

Orphid

Known as the Orphid in their own tongue, they are among the oldest of the races to inhabit the world. Originally a nomadic people, the Orphid wandered the world to its extremes due to their extremely long lifespans. Some Orphid eventually settled into clans of warlords who eventually united into the First Great Orphidian Empire. Most Orphid however, remained nomadic or settled in remote or hidden villages.

Most Orphid live for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and due to their unnaturally long lifespans find themselves detached from many of the denizens and happenings of the world. This temporal distance has created a culture so fundamentally alien that other races often struggle to comprehend Orphidian thoughts, motivations, or customs. Their conversations may span decades, their art forms incomprehensible to mortal minds, and their social rituals bewildering to outsiders. An Orphid might spend a century pondering a single decision, or dismiss the death of entire kingdoms as inconsequential footnotes. Their mannerisms, speech patterns, and even their concept of relationships operate on timescales that render them nearly incomprehensible to shorter-lived beings. To most others, the Orphid appear as beautiful, terrible, and utterly foreign entities whose ancient wisdom comes at the cost of any meaningful connection to the immediate world around them.

Thenderian

The Thenderians are the direct descendants of the Orphidian Warlords of the First Orphidian Empire. Empires have since collapsed and risen and now the Thenderians rule the Thenderian Empire. The Thenderians are the most common of the Orphid to encounter in the world as they mainly populated the early permanent settlements unlike many of their other kin.

Despite their frequent presence in civilized lands, the Thenderians hardly acknowledge those around them, viewing shorter-lived races as barely worth their notice. When they do deign to engage in conversation, they approach it with glacial coldness and bluntness that can be deeply unsettling to others. Their words are measured and precise, delivered without warmth or consideration for the emotional impact on their listeners. To the Thenderians, efficiency of communication far outweighs any social niceties.

The Thenderians see themselves as the pinnacle of life and the one true Orphid, regarding their achievements in empire-building and magical mastery as proof of their superiority. They look down upon other Orphidian subraces with open disdain - viewing the Vyridians as primitive forest dwellers, the Nascent Shadow as abominations, and the Aquarideans as isolationist failures. In their minds, only the Thenderians have achieved the proper balance of civilization, power, and Orphidian heritage.

Attributes

Lifespan: Thenderians typically reach maturity around 120 and live to around 2400.
Size: Thenderians are medium sized. Their average height is around 6'5" (195 cm).
Appearance: Thenderians possess an imposing and regal bearing that reflects their imperial heritage. Their hair shines with a lustrous golden hue, while their eyes gleam like molten gold, radiating an inner arrogance and superiority. Their skin tones vary widely, but all Thenderians carry themselves with an unmistakable air of authority and disdain for those they consider beneath them.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Orphidian (Fluent)

Traits

Arcane Knowledge: You may select a simple leveled ability from any Aeromancer, Hydromancer, Terramancer or Pyromancer to learn. The ability will not count against your ability allowance. At Arcana level 4 you may swap the ability for an involved ability of the same discipline. At Arcana level 6 you may swap the ability for a complex ability of the same discipline. At Arcana level 8 you may swap the ability for an arcane level ability of the same discipline.
Empowered Ability: Twice per rest you may choose to empower an ability as you cast it. An empowered ability may have one of the following effects: The ability deals 2 extra damage dice, you gain 2 degrees of advantage on any checks the ability needs or any non-damage ability effects or duration are doubled.
Commanding Aura: Once per rest, you can exert supernatural control over creatures within 5 meters of you. You may force up to as many creatures as your Arcana stat to make resistance checks against your Arcana stat. Those who fail must obey a single command you give them for the next 3 turns, or you may subtly coerce their thoughts, implanting suggestions that feel like their own ideas. Affected creatures remain aware but find themselves compelled to act according to your will. This control extends to both physical actions and mental processes, allowing you to manipulate both behavior and thought patterns.
Natural Dominance: You are immune to fear, charm, and mental effects from creatures with lower Arcana stats than you. Additionally, once per rest you can attempt to break the will of an opponent within 10 meters by making eye contact and asserting your superiority. This costs 2 AP to use. The target must make a resistance check against your Arcana stat. If they fail, they gain 2 levels of the Unnerved condition for 2 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat as their confidence crumbles before your overwhelming presence.

Vyridian

The Vyridians are almost the entire opposite of their Thenderian cousins, embodying warmth where the Thenderians show coldness. While they live in isolated and small villages in often hostile forest terrains, they are extremely warm and welcoming in nature, delighting in visitors and the stories they bring. A Vyridian settlement will eagerly gather around any newcomer, hungry for tales from the outside world and ready to share their own in return. Their hospitality is legendary among those fortunate enough to experience it.

The Vyridians hold almost no regard for time, letting conversations, meals, and activities drag on for long periods without any sense of urgency. What other races might consider a brief visit can easily stretch into weeks or months, with the Vyridians seeing no reason to rush when there are stories to tell, songs to sing, and bonds to forge. This relaxed approach to time extends to all aspects of their culture, creating communities that operate at a pace entirely their own.

Despite their unhurried nature, the Vyridians are masterful hunters and crafters, able to build and improvise any manner of traps, weaponry, and structures from the surrounding terrain alone. Their deep connection to the forest and centuries of experience have made them incredibly resourceful, capable of creating sophisticated tools and shelters from nothing but what the wilderness provides. Their hunting skills are unmatched, and their craftsmanship, while appearing simple, displays an elegance and functionality that rivals any civilization's finest work.

Attributes

Lifespan: Vyridians reach maturity around 80 and live to around 1500.
Size: Vyridians are medium sized. Their average height is around 7'0" (213 cm).
Appearance: Vyridians possess tall, lean builds perfectly adapted for moving through dense forest terrain. Their hair comes in rich earth tones of brown and black, while their skin ranges from warm dark bronze to light olive, often bearing the subtle marks and calluses of their woodland lifestyle. Their eyes vary widely in color, reflecting the diverse beauty of the natural world they call home. Many Vyridians bear cryptic tattoos made of intersecting straight lines that seem to follow no recognizable pattern yet hold deep meaning within their culture. Despite their imposing height, they carry themselves with a natural grace and warmth that immediately puts others at ease.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Orphidian (Fluent), Forest-Tongue (Choice)

Traits

Predator's Instincts: You automatically sense when you're being watched or followed, can detect lies or deception through micro-expressions and body language, and can sense fear, aggression, or hostile intent in others. These predator instincts alert you to danger and allow you to read the emotional states and intentions of those around you with supernatural accuracy.
Hunter's Aura: In combat, all allies within 3 tiles of you gain 1 degree of advantage on attack checks. You gain 2 degrees of advantage on attack checks when you are within 3 tiles of at least 1 ally.
Nocturnal: You can see unimpeded in the darkness to the same degree you can see in light
Woodland Toolkit: You have 2 degrees of advantage on checks to create improvised traps, snares, tools, weapons, and structures from natural materials. You can craft anything from simple shelters to complex hunting devices using only what the wilderness provides. Traps you create deal a number of d8s damage equal to your Finesse stat and can target creatures up to Large size. You can improvise functional equivalents of most standard equipment, and your creations, while appearing simple, display sophisticated functionality that rivals civilized craftsmanship. The time required to create items is reduced by half when working with natural materials.

The Nascent Shadow

Once the firstborn of the world, now the firstborn of the shadenlands. The Nascent Shadow began as the predecessors to the modern Orphidian races. Those among them who left their original lands to explore and search for the knowledge of the world. Their travels took them far across the then unknown lands and the knowledge they accumulated came to be indispensible to the fledgling Orphidian civilisation. To this day, much of their writings and maps are treasures among the Thenderians.

Their search would come to an abrupt end when they convened to study the newly discovered Shadenlands. None truly know what happened in the years that followed after the congregation assembled and disappeared however in time they would return, forever bearing the mark of the Shadenlands. Their skin and muscle had all become transparent, revealing the organs and skeletons within. The sight of the newly formed Nascent Shadow horrified their then kin of the Orphidian civilisation. Spurned, the Nascent Shadow would wander and settle elsewhere, far from the eyes of the civilisations they once served and empowered.

Attributes

Lifespan: Nascent Shadow reach maturity around 150 and live to around 800.
Size: Nascent Shadow are medium sized. Their average height is around 6'0" (183 cm).
Appearance: The Nascent Shadow possess an otherworldly and unsettling appearance that bears the unmistakable mark of their transformation in the Shadenlands. Their skin and muscle tissue have become completely transparent, revealing the network of bones, organs, and circulatory systems within their bodies. Their blood and internal organs appear in ethereal shades of blue or green, giving them a ghostly luminescence. Their hair contrasts starkly with their translucent forms, appearing in either deep obsidian black or pristine stark white. Most disturbing of all are their eyes, which feature black scleras that seem to absorb light, while their irises shine in various colors that appear to glow against the darkness.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Shadaeic (Fluent), Orphidian (Limited)

Traits

Mesmer: hypnotize all creatures within a 3 tile radius for 1 turn. Twice per rest, 1 AP in combat.
Camouflage: You can perfectly mimic the color, pattern, and texture of any surface you are touching, rendering yourself nearly invisible against that backdrop. This effect lasts for up to one hour and can be used as many times per rest as your Vitality stat. The camouflage is broken if you attack or move away from the surface you are mimicking.
Shatterpoint: Select a target that you can see within 15 tiles and you find their vulnerable points. The next attack you land on this opponent will count as a critical hit. Can be done twice per rest.
Spellbond: Choose one active simple ability from any discipline. You may use it at a cost of 0 AP once per rest. At Arcana level 4 replace this ability with an involved ability from the same discipline. At Arcana level 6 replace the ability with a complex ability from the same discipline. This ability does not count against your maximum allowed abilities per discipline.

Aquaridean

While their brethren above the waves were building empires, the Aquarideans were building colossal kingdoms deep in the sea. While the Thenderian empires were waging war, the Aquaridean kingdoms thrived beneath the waves, advancing their technology and knowledge of the world in ways their surface-dwelling kin could never imagine.

The Aquarideans developed a sophisticated civilization entirely removed from terrestrial concerns, creating vast underwater cities of coral and living stone that pulse with bioluminescent light. Their mastery of aquatic magic and biotechnology allowed them to cultivate the very seas themselves, turning ocean trenches into gardens and taming leviathans as guardians of their realm. While other Orphidian subraces measured their achievements in conquered lands or accumulated wealth, the Aquarideans measured theirs in the harmony they achieved with the aquatic world.

This isolation beneath the waves has made the Aquarideans perhaps the most mysterious of all Orphidian subraces. They rarely venture to the surface world, and when they do, they bring with them technologies and perspectives so alien that even other Orphid struggle to comprehend them. Their long separation from terrestrial politics and conflicts has given them a unique detachment even by Orphidian standards, viewing the affairs of the surface world as distant and largely irrelevant to their deep-sea existence.

Attributes

Lifespan: Aquarideans reach maturity around 60 and live to around 1200.
Size: Aquarideans are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'7" (170 cm).
Appearance: Aquarideans possess forms perfectly adapted for their aquatic civilization, with skin that ranges from deep oceanic blue to pale seafoam green, giving them an otherworldly aquatic beauty. Their hair flows in shades of midnight black, deep blue, or kelp green, often with a subtle shimmer that catches light like water. Their eyes gleam in stark white or brilliant blue, reflecting the depths of their underwater kingdoms. Many Aquarideans display patches of iridescent scales or hardened shell-like sections of skin that serve as natural armor, marking their successful adaptation to life beneath the waves. Their ears often take on fin or feather-like shapes, further emphasizing their aquatic heritage.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Aquarid (Fluent), Orphidian (Limited)

Traits

Reefstrider: You are able to walk on and in water without any penalties to speed and gain +2 to your movement speed when swimming.
Riptide: Once per rest, if there is water within 10 tiles of you, you may use that water as a source to create a wave that will move a creature witin 10 tiles up to 10 tiles in a single direction. This costs 2 AP in combat.
Aquatic Adaption: You can see and breathe underwater unimpeded and can survive in the depths without specialized equipment or incantations.
Bioforge: You can cultivate living tools, weapons, and equipment from aquatic organisms and bio-matter. Once per rest, you can spend 10 minutes near any body of water to grow a bio-mechanical item that functions as well as its traditional counterpart but is actually a living organism. You can create items up to the level of half your character's level, up to a maximum of level 3 items. These creations adapt to your needs and bond with you symbiotically. Bio-forged weapons gain an additional damage die, tools provide 1 degree of advantage on relevant skill checks, and armor becomes self-repairing. Each bio-forged item lasts for 24 hours before naturally dissolving, and you can maintain up to as many items as your Arcana stat simultaneously.

Dver

A race who once stood side by side with the Orphid of old, the Dver were renowned for their skill as builders and smiths. As the first of their brethren, the Stone Bloods stood at the forefront of ancient history alongside the elder Orphid. Their craft was held in highest regard among the Orphidian kingdoms, and they built their cities throughout mountains with domains that spanned entire mountain ranges. From the deepest cavern to the highest peak, the Dver ruled and thrived, building ever higher and digging ever deeper.

Over time, clans and kingdoms would separate from each other, fracturing the once-united Dver civilization. Some would journey to harsh new lands in search of resources and opportunity, while others would face calamity and exile. Each group adapted to their new environments, becoming distinct peoples with their own traditions, languages, and ways of life. What began as a single proud civilization became four separate subraces, each bearing the mark of their unique struggles and triumphs.

Despite their differences and complicated relationships, all Dver share the fundamental drive to create, build, and shape the world around them. Whether working with traditional stone and metal, volcanic materials, ice and water, or channeling their despair into grim purpose, each subrace carries forward the ancient legacy of Dver craftsmanship in their own way.

Stone Blood

As the first of their brethren, the Stone Bloods stood at the forefront of ancient history alongside the elder Orphid. Their skill was unparalleled among the Orphidian kingdoms and their craft was held in highest regard. They built their cities throughout mountains and their domains would span the whole mountain range. From the deepest cavern to the highest peak, the Stone Bloods ruled and thrived, building ever higher and digging ever deeper.

Over time, clans and kingdoms would separate from each other until only one group could be called the true Stone Bloods. The rest would branch off but never meet the pinnacles that the Stone Bloods could and continued to reach. To this day, the Stone Bloods maintain their reputation as the greatest craftspeople among all Dver, their techniques and creations setting the standard by which all others are measured.

The Stone Bloods view themselves as the inheritors of the true Dver legacy, and they regard the Sullen-Heart with particular disdain. The rivalry runs deep, for the Stone Bloods believe the Sullen-Heart's endless wandering and perpetual malaise are a disgrace to the proud heritage they once shared.

Attributes

Lifespan: Stone Blood Dver typically reach maturity around 50 and live to around 400.
Size: Stone Blood are medium sized. Their average height is around 4'8" (142 cm).
Appearance: Stone Blood possess skin that ranges from the pale tones of polished marble to the darker shades of weathered granite. Their hair has a distinctive metallic luster and appears in silver, gold, or bronze hues. All Stone Blood share piercing grey eyes that seem to reflect the depths of mountain stone.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Dverrik (Fluent)

Traits

Master Builder: You can construct buildings, fortifications, and structures with exceptional speed and quality. Construction projects take 25% of the normal time when you're involved, and you can assess the structural integrity of any building or construction with a glance. You can also create temporary fortifications and defensive positions using available materials.
Forgemaster: You have mastery over the art of smithing and creation. You gain 2 degrees of advantage on all Smithing checks and smithing takes 50% the normal time and money. You can create Masterwork items with no extra cost. Additionally, you can identify the quality, origin, and methods used to create any forged metal item simply by examining it.
Unsteel: You can see and exploit weaknesses in metal items or objects you have directly interacted with. Any melee weapon you wield gains the Armor Fouling property against rigid or metallic armor, reducing the target's armor by the amount of damage dice your weapon inflicts. When attacking metal weapons, you reduce the weapon's damage die by 1 for each hit.
Stone Sense: You can detect structural weaknesses in stone and earth construction, navigate underground passages without getting lost, and sense vibrations through solid rock to detect movement or hollow spaces within 10 meters.

Ashborne

Born deep within the volcanic wastelands, far from the homeland of the original Dver, the Ashborne emerged from one of the most dramatic separations in Dver history. When the great fracturing occurred, this group ventured into the most inhospitable lands imaginable - regions of active volcanism, ash-choked skies, and molten stone. Here, far from any other civilization, they adapted to become something almost entirely new.

Said to be more rock than Dver and to have hearts made of burning coal, the Ashborne were once thought to be a mythical race. Their transformation was so complete, their environment so hostile, that for centuries other Dver believed them to be nothing more than legend. Even today, their extreme insularity means that few outsiders ever encounter them, and those who do often question whether what they've seen is real.

Attributes

Lifespan: Ashborne Dver typically reach maturity around 50 and live to around 350.
Size: Ashborne are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'1" (155 cm).
Appearance: Ashborne possess skin that resembles rough stone in both color and texture. Their hair comes in deep shades of red or black, while their eyes mirror the hues and patterns of precious gemstones. Their physiques are angular and asymmetrical, with harsh, chiseled features that give them the appearance of having been hewn directly from volcanic rock.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Dverrik (Fluent), Petrific (Fluent)

Traits

Igneous: Once per rest, you may transform your body into volcanic rock, becoming a literal stone for up to 3 hours. While in this petrified state, you are not fully conscious but are immune to most forms of damage and environmental effects. You cannot move, act, or perceive your surroundings while transformed, but you become virtually indestructible like the volcanic stone you embody.
Bellows: Once per rest, you can intensify fires within 10 meters of you. Existing fires double in size and heat, dealing an additional die of fire damage to anyone within them. Fire-based attacks in the area gain +2 damage dice. This effect lasts for 5 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat.
Ashform: Your body can take on the properties of volcanic ash and stone. Once per rest, you can partially disperse into ash, allowing you to slip through cracks and small openings that would normally be impossible to navigate. Additionally, you can harden your skin to become rough like volcanic rock, gaining 1 degree of advantage on grappling checks and making your unarmed strikes deal an additional die of damage for 2 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside of combat.
Inner Forge: You can use your natural body heat to rapidly work and shape metals and stone. You can create simple tools, weapons, or objects in half the normal time without needing a forge or external heat source. Items created this way function as well as professionally made equivalents.

Sullen-Heart

The Sullen-Heart Dver were once among the few Dver clans who could be said to come close to matching the craftmanship of the Stone Blood Dver. Long ago they lived deep within the heart of the mountains, mining deeper, building higher and crafting larger. Before long they would see their achievements as a God's gift to the world. Their pride and hubris would not remain long as calamity would soon follow.

The Great Cataclysm would see the Sullen-Hearts banished from their mountains, left to wander the lands forever aimlessly. No others would help, not since the Sullen-Hearts allowed their pride to overshadow their relationships. But their wandering is not merely exile - it has become a curse unto itself. The Sullen-Hearts find themselves unable to settle anywhere for long, driven by an inexplicable restlessness that gnaws at their souls.

Ages would pass and the Sullen-Hearts would continue to wander, never in a place for long, never finding a home to call their own. Not even the unrelenting forces of nature have put a stop to the endless diaspora of the Sullen-Heart Dver. Their relationship with the Stone Bloods has only grown more bitter over the centuries, as they see in their former rivals everything they once were and can never be again.

Attributes

Lifespan: Sullen-Heart Dver typically reach maturity around 50 and live to around 750.
Size: Sullen-Heart are medium sized. Their average height is around 4'6" (137 cm).
Appearance: Sullen-Heart possess lean, gaunt builds worn down by endless travel and hardship. Their skin ranges from pale grey to weathered brown, marked with fine lines like a map of all the places they've wandered. Their hair is typically dull shades of brown, black, or streaked with premature grey and white. Their eyes are muted colors - faded blue, grey, or brown - that seem to look through things rather than at them, always searching for something just beyond reach. Their features carry the weight of their eternal journey, giving them a hollow, haunted appearance.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Dverrik (Fluent), Orphidian (Limited)

Traits

Aura of Despair: Up to 3 times per rest, you may emit an aura of unnatural dread that covers an area within a 5 meter radius of you. All creatures within the aura must make a resistance check against their Vitality or be afflicted with overwhelming despair, giving them 2 degrees of disadvantage on all rolls while they remain in the area.
Darkwind's Howl: Once per rest, you can unleash a mournful howl that summons cursed winds targeting up to as many creatures as your level within a 15 meter radius. Targeted creatures must make a resistance check against their Vitality or be marked by the darkwind curse. Cursed creatures suffer from persistent nightmares and foreboding winds that follow them for 72 hours, giving them 1 degree of disadvantage on all rolls and preventing them from gaining the benefits of rest.
Foreboding Omen: Up to 3 times per protected rest, you may make a prediction of unluck on a creature or location of your choice. Roll 5 dice against the GM to see how true the prediction is, the GM will set the success threshold based on the prediction. An incorrect prediction will still have consequence or action.
Survivor's Vigour: You accumulate exhaustion at half the normal rate and cannot exceed 3 levels of exhaustion. You also require only half the normal amount of food and water per day to sustain yourself.

Frostkin

As the old Dver kingdoms fractured into disparate factions and attempted to outdo each other's accomplishments, those who would one day become known as the Frostkin journeyed away from their ancestral mountains. They travelled deep into the unknown North whereupon they would build their new home upon the vast expanse of glaciers. Built from only the ice they lived upon, the Frostkin would adapt and revolutionise their techniques to utilise the ice and water to create their signature Hydrosteel.

The journey to the glacial North was so perilous and the lands so remote that few believed any Dver could survive there, let alone thrive. Over the centuries, contact with the Frostkin became increasingly rare until they faded into legend. Their mastery of ice and development of Hydrosteel - a technique that allows them to forge tools and weapons from frozen water itself - became the stuff of myth among other Dver. The harsh glacial environment shaped them as much as they shaped it, transforming them into beings as crystalline and enduring as the ice they call home.

Today, the Frostkin are so rarely encountered that most Dver consider them little more than stories told around forge fires. Those few who claim to have met them speak of beings that seem more ice than flesh, wielding weapons and tools that gleam like frozen starlight. Whether the Frostkin have simply withdrawn completely from the world or have become something beyond the understanding of their southern kin, none can say for certain.

Attributes

Lifespan: Frostkin Dver typically reach maturity around 50 and live to around 300.
Size: Frostkin are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'0" (152 cm).
Appearance: Frostkin possess skin that resembles opaque crystal or ice, giving them an otherworldly, translucent quality. Their bodies are always cold to the touch, as if carved from living glacier. Their skin comes in shades ranging from pale blue to deep slate grey. Their eyes shine in brilliant blue or stark white, while their hair is invariably a pure, stark white that seems to shimmer with frost.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Cryonnik (Fluent), Dverrik (Limited)

Traits

Cryostasis: Once per rest, you may preserve an area up to 1 cubic meter in ice, all decay or other processes will be stopped for up to as many days as your Arcana stat.
The Cold Forge: Up to 3 times per rest, you may use water or ice to create an unrefined Hydrosteel which you may shape into any weapon, implement or object no larger than 2 meters in length in any dimension. You must have sufficient water or ice to create the object. The created object will remain for either 3 uses or 3 hours, whichever happens first.
Weather the Storm: You can negate the effects of weather on travel time and movement, and cannot get lost in low visibility conditions such as blizzards, fog, or snowstorms.
Frost Temper: Once per rest, you can use extreme cold to temporarily harden and strengthen metal objects or structures up to 3 meters in any dimension. You may touch a metal weapon, piece of armor, tool, or structure and infuse it with glacial cold for 1 hour. Weapons gain an additional damage die, armor increases its rating by your Vitality stat, tools grant 1 degree of advantage on relevant skill checks, and structures become significantly more durable and resistant to damage. The enhanced object becomes extremely cold to the touch for anyone other than you.

Halfling

Halflings are the cousins of humanity, sharing much of their drive and curiosity but standing at roughly half their height. These small folk have carved out a place in the world through their adaptability and natural charm, creating communities that value comfort, fellowship, and the simple pleasures of life. While many halflings are content to live as rural folk in pastoral villages and farming settlements, it is not uncommon to see them wandering the world as merchants, performers, or adventurers drawn by an irrepressible curiosity about what lies beyond the next hill.

Their natural talent for entertainment and their disarming presence make halflings welcome in larger settlements, where they often find work as storytellers, musicians, tavern keepers, or festival organizers. Despite their small stature, halflings possess a resilience and resourcefulness that allows them to thrive in environments both familiar and foreign. Whether tending gardens in quiet villages or performing for crowds in bustling cities, halflings bring a warmth and liveliness that endears them to other races, even as they maintain their own distinct communities and traditions.

Weald Warden

The Weald Wardens have made their homes in the deepest wooded regions, where ancient trees tower overhead and sunlight filters through layers of emerald canopy. Despite their small stature, these halflings possess a natural sturdiness and often display an uncanny level of strength that surprises those who underestimate them. Their compact frames hide dense muscle and sturdy bones, allowing them to move heavy logs, haul large harvests, and work tirelessly in their forest endeavors.

Living in such deeply wooded regions has taught the Weald Wardens how to exist in perfect symbiosis with the forest around them. They do not simply inhabit the woods - they partner with them, understanding which trees provide the best timber without harming the grove, how to cultivate forest gardens that complement rather than compete with wild growth, and where to build their homes so they become part of the woodland ecosystem rather than intrusions upon it. This symbiotic relationship provides both protection from the dangers that lurk in deep forests and a sustainable livelihood that has allowed their communities to thrive for generations among the trees.

Attributes

Lifespan: Weald Wardens typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 110.
Size: Weald Wardens are small sized. Their average height is around 3'6" (107 cm).
Appearance: Weald Wardens possess muscular builds that belie their small stature, with compact frames built for strength and endurance. They have dark hair and medium-toned skin, along with distinctly pointed ears. Most striking are the natural wooden spikes that grow from their shoulders, back, or upper arms, resembling small branches that sprout directly from their bodies. Many also display patches of bark-like skin on the backs of their hands or tops of their feet.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Forest-Tongue (Fluent)

Traits

Lucky: You may choose to succeed on any roll once per rest.
Surprising Strength: Despite your small size, you possess strength far beyond what your stature suggests. You can easily lift objects that weigh up to 3 times your weight without requiring a check and your carrying capacity is increased by 2 rows. Additionally, once per rest, you can perform a feat of extraordinary strength, gaining 3 degrees of advantage on a single Might-based check or dealing double damage with a melee attack.
Hardy Constitution: Your natural resilience allows you to shrug off effects that would fell others. You have 1 degree of advantage on resistance and conditioning checks. Once per rest, when you would take damage, you can reduce that damage by half as your sturdy frame absorbs the impact.
Forest Symbiosis: The forest provides for you as you provide for it. Once per rest, you can call upon the woodland to supply basic necessities - food, clean water, simple shelter materials, or medicinal herbs appear within your immediate area. Additionally, when resting in forested areas, you recover twice as much health and the forest alerts you to approaching dangers, preventing you from being surprised during rest.

Steppe Risen

The Steppe Risen are the most fun-loving of all halfling subraces, a people who have turned the pursuit of pleasure into an art form. They live for the simple joys of food, drink, and music, often dedicating their entire careers to these passions as farmers, brewers, vintners, chefs, or traveling musicians. Their culture is refreshingly laid back, built around the fundamental belief that life is meant to be enjoyed, and they have perfected the balance of working hard during the day so they can play even harder when the sun goes down.

Life among the endless plains has made agriculture extraordinarily easy for the Steppe Risen to pursue, with fertile soil and vast open spaces providing ideal conditions for growing everything from grains and vegetables to the finest grapes and hops. This agricultural abundance has freed them from the constant struggle for survival that plagues other peoples, allowing them to focus on what they consider the truly important things in life - creating the perfect meal, brewing the finest ale, or composing a song that will make an entire village dance until dawn. Their settlements are known throughout the land as places of warmth, hospitality, and celebration, where any traveler can expect to find a hearty meal, a strong drink, and entertainment that will lift their spirits.

Attributes

Lifespan: Steppe Risen typically reach maturity around 16 and live to around 130.
Size: Steppe Risen are small sized. Their average height is around 3'8" (112 cm).
Appearance: Steppe Risen possess average builds that are neither particularly fit nor rotund in their younger years, though they tend to develop more rounded figures as they age and enjoy life's pleasures. They have pointed ears and distinctive amber or burgundy eyes that seem to sparkle with mirth and good humor. Their hair comes in shades of blonde, brown, or black, often adorned with sun-bleached streaks from long days working under the open sky of the plains.
Languages: Common (Fluent)

Traits

Master Chef: You possess exceptional culinary skills honed through generations of food-focused culture. Once per rest, you can prepare a special meal that provides beneficial effects to those who consume it - healing minor wounds, boosting morale for several hours, providing resistance to disease, or granting temporary stamina. Additionally, you have 2 degrees of advantage on all cooking-related checks and can identify ingredients, detect spoilage, or recognize poison in food by taste or smell.
Inspiring Performance: Your musical talents can lift the spirits and enhance the abilities of others. Once per rest, you can perform a song, dance, or other entertainment that grants all allies within hearing range 1 degree of advantage on their next 3 skill checks or attack rolls. The performance takes 5 minutes outside of combat, or can be maintained during combat at the cost of 1 AP per turn for up to 5 turns.
Infectious Joy: Your natural cheerfulness and positive outlook can spread to others around you. Once per rest, you can spend 10 minutes interacting with a group to lift their spirits, removing effects like despair, fear, or demoralization. Additionally, you have 2 degrees of advantage on social checks involving hospitality, entertainment, or cheering up others, and people naturally feel more comfortable and happy in your presence.
Harvest Bounty: Your agricultural expertise allows you to maximize food production and find sustenance where others cannot. You can increase crop yields by 50% when farming, and once per rest you can forage in any natural environment to find enough food and safe water for your entire party for one day. You also have 2 degrees of advantage on checks related to farming, foraging, or identifying edible plants.

Tenbraeic

Named for anger and volatility, the Tenbraeic are perhaps the most misunderstood of all halfling subraces. Despite their fearsome reputation, the majority of the time they are calm and measured people, often displaying an unusual level of composure that can seem almost otherworldly. They live minimalist lives that stand in stark contrast to their Steppe Risen cousins, eschewing material pleasures and excess in favor of intellectual pursuits and spiritual discipline. Their sparse communities are built around function rather than comfort, with every possession serving a clear and necessary purpose.

The Tenbraeic value information and education above all else, and despite their austere lifestyle, they are renowned throughout the world for hosting vast libraries filled with knowledge from every corner of civilization. Scholars and sages travel great distances to access their collections, knowing that the Tenbraeic have preserved texts and wisdom that can be found nowhere else. It is extraordinarily rare for a calm Tenbraeic to lose their composure, but when they do, the results are catastrophic. In these moments, they enter a violent trance-like rampage while their skin glows a brilliant ruby red, becoming forces of destruction that can level buildings and scatter armies. This potential for explosive violence is precisely why they have cultivated such rigid self-control, understanding that their anger, once unleashed, can cause immeasurable damage.

Attributes

Lifespan: Tenbraeic typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 110.
Size: Tenbraeic are small sized. Their average height is around 3'6" (107 cm).
Appearance: Tenbraeic possess thin, lean builds that reflect their minimalist lifestyle and disciplined nature. They display no common skin tones, with individuals varying widely in complexion. Their hair comes in various shades of red, from deep auburn to bright copper, while their eyes are often striking green, purple, or blue. Many Tenbraeic tattoo valuable information, diagrams, mathematical formulas, or scholarly texts directly onto their bodies, turning themselves into living repositories of knowledge.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Sage (Fluent)

Traits

Ruby Rampage: Once per rest, when you take damage or witness an ally being seriously harmed, you may enter a violent trance for up to 5 turns in combat. Your skin glows a brilliant ruby red, you deal two additional damage dice with melee attacks, add your level to your Might stat to a maximum of 12, and become immune to fear and charm effects. However, you cannot distinguish between friend and foe while rampaging and must attack the nearest creature each turn.
Living Library: Your body serves as a repository of tattooed knowledge and your mind holds vast stores of information. Once per rest, you can recall specific details about any topic, historical event, or scholarly subject. Additionally, you can spend 10 minutes consulting your tattoos or memory to provide crucial information that aids in solving puzzles, understanding ancient texts, or identifying magical phenomena.
Centered Mind: Your disciplined mental state allows you to project tranquility to others. Once per rest, you can project an aura of tranquility in a 5-meter radius for 3 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat. All creatures within this aura (including enemies) have their aggressive impulses suppressed - they cannot initiate attacks but can defend themselves if attacked first. Additionally, allies in the aura gain 1 degree of advantage on skill checks.
Efficient Living: Your minimalist lifestyle has taught you to accomplish more with less. You require only half the normal amount of food, water, and sleep. Additionally, once per rest, you can perform any mundane task with exceptional efficiency, completing it in half the normal time while using minimal resources or tools.

Mistforged

The Mistforged are halflings who wandered into the Shadenlands and heeded the call of the mists, becoming consumed and reborn through its otherworldly influence. This transformation has left them as hardy survivors, but also cursed them with an unusual susceptibility to misfortune that seems to follow them wherever they go. They exist in a state that can only be described as barely corporeal, their forms flickering between solid flesh and wisps of shadow, as if they never fully returned from their journey into the mists.

Unlike their fun-loving cousins who pursue pleasure and joy, the Mistforged live lives stripped of such luxuries. They do not chase happiness or grand purposes, instead focusing entirely on the simple but challenging goal of survival. Each day brings new struggles as their cursed luck manifests in broken tools, spoiled food, and unfortunate accidents, yet their hardy nature and supernatural resilience allows them to endure what would break others. They have learned to expect the worst while maintaining the grim determination necessary to push through whatever misfortune the world throws at them.

Attributes

Lifespan: Mistforged reach maturity at around 30 and live to around 300.
Size: Mistforged are small sized. Their average height is around 3'5" (104 cm).
Appearance: Mistforged possess gaunt builds that give them a perpetually haunted appearance, as if they carry the weight of their cursed existence in their very bones. Their skin ranges from light grey to light purple shades, while their deep red eyes seem to burn with an inner intensity. They have no common hair color, with individuals displaying a wide variety of hues. Many Mistforged have bone spines that grow from their shoulders or elbows, adding to their unsettling appearance.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Shadaeic (Fluent)

Traits

Jinxed: Once per day, you may choose to catastrophically fail a check that has some degree of consequence. Once within 2 hours of failing the check, you can target 1 creature making a check and make them catastrophically fail it.
Mistform: Once per rest you may transform your corporeal form into a cloud of mist. While in mist form, you are immune to all damage but cannot attack or interact with physical objects. In combat this transformation costs 2 AP and lasts for 3 turns. Outside of combat this can last for up to 1 hour.
Selective Adaption: At the start of each session and after every rest, you may select a damage type to adapt to. You gain 2 levels of resistance to your chosen damage type until your next rest or the end of the session.
Fortitude from Misfortune: Your constant exposure to bad luck has taught you to endure what would break others. Each time you suffer a critical failure, mishap, or significant setback during a session, you gain a point of Fortitude (maximum 3 points). You can spend 1 point of Fortitude to gain 2 degrees of advantage on any single check, or spend all accumulated Fortitude points to automatically succeed on a resistance or defence check. All Fortitude points reset at the end of each session.

Zhighel

The Zhighel are among the most ancient races to walk the world, with some scholars suggesting they predate even the Orphid, though such claims remain unverified. What cannot be disputed is that the Zhighel have built a caste system so rigid and absolute that it has transcended social organization to become a force of biological evolution itself. For millennia, they have divided themselves into specialized castes locked into specific roles with such unwavering dedication that advancement became literally impossible, and the very concept of ambition withered among the lower castes.

This brutal specialization has driven actual biological divergence over thousands of years. The separation between castes, combined with selective breeding and isolation, has caused the Zhighel to evolve into what are effectively separate species. The ruling castes bear little resemblance to the laboring castes, creating a self-perpetuating cycle where physical differences justify social stratification. The highest castes maintain dominance through inherited authority, mystical knowledge, and the simple fact that most lower-caste Zhighel cannot conceive of any other existence.

Despite their internal rigidity, the Zhighel remain neutral in world affairs, engaging with other races only when it serves specific purposes within their hierarchy. However, on the rare occasions when a Zhighel breaks free from their caste constraints, the results can be extraordinary. These escapees pursue their goals with an intensity born of lifetimes of suppressed potential, often achieving far more than most other races would attempt, carrying within them the accumulated ambition of an entire people who never learned to dream.

Zhighel Pureblood

The Zhighel Purebloods occupy one of the highest tiers within the rigid Zhigheric nobility, though even they bow to higher authorities. They are said to bear the closest resemblance to the ancient Zhighel of old, their bloodlines carefully maintained over millennia to preserve what their society considers the most perfect expression of their original form. This preservation has become both their greatest source of pride and the foundation of their authority over other noble castes.

Purebloods are profoundly stoic beings, shaped by generations of emotional restraint and ceremonial distance from the world around them. Their primary function is to serve as administrators and governors of the noble castes, spending their days in council chambers managing the complex web of relationships between different noble houses. To them, governance is not about leadership or inspiration, but about maintaining the perfect order that has sustained their people since time immemorial.

Attributes

Lifespan: Zhighel Purebloods typically reach maturity around 25 and live to around 200.
Size: Zhighel Purebloods are medium sized. Their average height is around 6'6" (198 cm).
Appearance: Purebloods possess tall, imposing builds with distinctively elongated proportions - long arms, fingers, and necks that give them an otherworldly elegance. Their skin is a deep crimson red, while their piercing eyes come in vivid colors of red, blue, purple, or green. Four horns originate from their temples and forehead, two on each side, all sweeping backwards in graceful curves that frame their stoic features.
Languages: Common (Fluent), High Zhigheric (Fluent)

Traits

Stoic Resolve: Your emotional detachment allows you to remain calm in any situation. Once per rest, you can enter a state of perfect composure for 3 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat. While in this state, you gain 2 degrees of advantage on all checks and cannot be moved or knocked down by any means. Alternatively, you can forgo entering the state to automatically succeed on any single check that requires composure, negotiation, or mental fortitude.
Noble Authority: You have an innate understanding of hierarchical structures and can command respect from those of lower social standing. Once per rest, you can issue a command to creatures of lower nobility or social rank that they must obey for one turn, provided the command doesn't directly harm them or go against their core nature.
Ancient Bloodline: Your preserved lineage allows you to draw upon the accumulated knowledge of your ancestors. Three times per rest, when you cast any magical ability, you may invoke ancestral guidance to either: reduce the AP cost by 1 (minimum 1), extend the range by 50%, or allow the ability to affect one additional target.
Strategic Mind: Once per rest, you can spend 2 AP to analyze the battlefield and issue precise directives. Choose up to 3 allies within 15 tiles - each ally gains 1 degree of advantage on their next attack or skill check and can immediately move up to as many tiles as their Speed stat without spending AP. Additionally, you gain insight into enemy positioning and can identify the most tactically advantageous target for your allies.

Zhigheric Mystics

The Zhigheric Mystics occupy one of the highest positions within the spiritual and religious pillars of Zhigheric society, wielding oversight over all other mystical castes beneath them. Though technically positioned below the Purebloods in the rigid hierarchy, they serve as trusted advisors with authority that often rivals their noble counterparts. This unique relationship creates a delicate balance of power where spiritual wisdom meets administrative control, and both castes must work in concert to maintain the ancient order.

The Mystics are deeply magically inclined, dedicating their lives to the mastery of intricate mystical arts that lesser castes cannot comprehend. They conduct elaborate rituals for purposes ranging from divination and prophecy to the mysterious practice of biological alchemy - the art of using magic to influence and alter living forms. Their chambers are filled with arcane apparatus, sacred texts written in languages predating even High Zhigheric, and specimens preserved through methods that blur the line between magic and science.

Attributes

Lifespan: Zhigheric Mystics typically reach maturity around 20 and live to around 750.
Size: Zhigheric Mystics are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'10" (178 cm).
Appearance: Mystics possess builds adapted for their contemplative lifestyle, shorter than their Pureblood counterparts but carrying an otherworldly presence. Their skin ranges from pale red to deep crimson shades, while their hair comes in raven black or shimmering silver. Their most striking feature is their entirely monochromatic eyes - solid colors of pink, purple, or red with no visible pupils. Between 4-6 horns grow from their temples and forehead, sweeping backwards before flaring outward at the ends, giving them a distinctly mystical appearance.
Languages: Common (Fluent), High Zhigheric (Fluent), Mysteris (Fluent)

Traits

Divine Sight: Once per rest, you can peer through the veil of time to glimpse possible futures. You may ask the GM a single question about events that may occur within the next 24 hours. The GM will provide you with a vision showing one possible outcome, though the future remains changeable based on actions taken.
Ritual Mastery: You can conduct elaborate magical rituals that produce powerful effects beyond normal spellcasting. Once per rest, you can spend 1 hour performing a ritual to achieve one of the following: permanently enchant an object with minor magical properties, communicate with spirits or entities from other planes, create a magical ward that protects an area for 24 hours, or preserve a creature or object in stasis for up to one week.
Dual Casting: Once per rest, you may cast two simple abilities simultaneously, or one simple and one involved ability simultaneously, paying only the AP cost of the more expensive ability. Both abilities must target different creatures or areas, and you make separate checks for each ability if required.

Biological Alchemy: Once per rest, you can perform a 4-hour ritual requiring 200 gold worth of alchemical materials to permanently alter the biological properties of a willing or unconscious creature. A creature can tolerate a number of alchemical rituals equal to half their Vitality stat, rounded down. You may choose one of the following applications:

Replacement Limbs: Build and graft replacement limbs that function as well as the original but appear distinctly different in size, color, or texture from the creature's natural limbs.

Weapon Integration: Permanently fuse a weapon or tool with a body part. The limb becomes larger and different in appearance, but the weapon/tool can be retracted and hidden within the limb, granting constant access while appearing unarmed.

Enhanced Sensory Organs: Grant enhanced sensory capabilities such as additional eyes that provide enhanced vision, supernatural hearing that can detect sounds beyond normal range, or other heightened perceptual abilities.

Zighsaraii

The Zighsaraii are the elite brute soldier caste of Zhigheric society, bred and trained for warfare through raw physical power and devastating force. Unlike common soldiers who rely on formations and tactics, the Zighsaraii specialize in overwhelming strength and individual prowess that can shatter enemy lines through sheer brutality. Raised from birth to be living weapons, they undergo rigorous conditioning that transforms them into beings capable of feats of strength that border on the supernatural.

These elite soldiers serve multiple roles within the rigid hierarchy - as enforcers of the higher castes' will, as shock troops deployed in small but devastatingly effective units, and as the ultimate expression of Zhigheric military might. Stories tell of groups as small as twenty Zighsaraii holding entire fronts against overwhelming odds, their combined strength and ferocity turning the tide of battles that seemed lost. Their reputation for unstoppable force has made them both feared by enemies and respected by their own people as the unbreakable shield of Zhigheric civilization.

Attributes

Lifespan: Zighsaraii reach maturity at 25 and live to around 150.
Size: Zighsaraii are medium creatures. They stand at around 8'2" (250 cm).
Appearance: The Zighsaraii possess extremely muscular and broadly built frames that embody pure physical power. Their skin ranges from deep red to crimson, while their hair is typically black. Males have between 2 and 4 short non-prehensile tentacles on their chins, which complement their prominently squared jawlines. Their limbs are thick and powerful - fists likened to cannonballs and arms akin to pillars of stone. All their teeth are sharp and serrated, giving them a fearsome appearance. A crown of 6 to 8 sharp, upward-facing horns encircles the front and sides of their heads, with some individuals bearing additional horns in a line down the center and around to the back of their skulls.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Zhigheric (Limited), Saaraihi (Fluent)

Traits

Four-Armed: You possess four arms, allowing you to dual wield two-handed weapons. You can hold up to four single-handed weapons simultaneously.
Unstoppable Force: Once per rest, you can enter a state of overwhelming power for 3 turns in combat. During this time, your melee attacks ignore armor and you cannot be knocked down, grappled, or forcibly moved by any means.
Fortress Body: When not wearing armor, your conditioning creates a damage threshold that lesser attacks cannot penetrate. Any attack that deals less damage than your Might stat multiplied by your Vitality stat is reduced to 1 damage (maximum threshold of 40). Additionally, once per rest when you would take damage that exceeds this threshold, you can choose to reduce that damage by half as your body absorbs the impact.
Brutal Expertise: Once per rest, you can declare a devastating assault - your next attack is an automatic success and deals maximum damage on all dice rolled. Additionally, you have 1 degree of advantage on melee attack checks when wielding multiple weapons simultaneously.

Zhikh

The Zhikh are the foreign mercantile caste of Zhigheric society, specialized for operating in markets and trade networks far beyond their homeland. Unlike other castes who remain within the rigid confines of traditional Zhigheric territories, the Zhikh are bred and trained to venture into foreign lands, establishing trade relationships and commercial enterprises that serve the greater hierarchy's interests. Their unique position makes them by far the most commonly encountered Zhighel subrace in the outside world.

On the surface, the Zhikh present themselves as friendly and unassuming merchants, skilled at putting foreign customers at ease and building the trust necessary for profitable long-term business relationships. However, beneath this affable exterior lies a calculating nature that can turn ruthlessly cutthroat when circumstances demand it. Generations of operating in competitive foreign markets have taught them that success often requires the willingness to eliminate rivals through whatever means prove most effective, whether through undercutting prices, sabotaging competitors, or more direct methods when subtlety fails.

Attributes

Lifespan: Zhikh typically reach maturity around 16 and live to around 90.
Size: Zhikh are medium sized. Their average height is around 5'6" (168 cm).
Appearance: Zhikh possess compact, lean builds suited for travel and extended negotiations. Their skin ranges from pale red to brick tones - more subtle than other castes to help them blend into foreign markets. Their hair is typically black, often featuring streaks of one other color that may indicate family lineage or trade specialization. They have black or brown eyes and pointed ears. Between 2-4 short, upward-facing horns emerge from their foreheads, smaller and less prominent than those of higher castes.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Zhikh (Fluent), Zhigheric (Limited), Orphidian or Dverrik (Limited)

Traits

Silver Tongue: Your natural charisma and understanding of social dynamics make you exceptionally persuasive. Once per rest, you can attempt to convince someone to agree to a deal, request, or proposal that they would normally refuse. The target must succeed a resistance check against your Charisma or find your proposal reasonable and agree to it, provided it doesn't directly harm them or go against their core beliefs.
Market Savvy: Your expertise in trade and commerce allows you to maximize profit and minimize costs. You can buy goods for 25% less than their listed price and sell them for 25% more than their normal value. Additionally, once per rest, you can spend 10 minutes analyzing a market or settlement to identify the most profitable trade opportunities, discovering what goods are in high demand and what resources are readily available.
False Face: Your training in deception allows you to present yourself as something you're not. Once per rest, you can adopt a false identity for up to 4 hours, complete with mannerisms, accent, and background knowledge that make you believable as a member of a different profession, social class, or even race (within reasonable physical limits). During this time, you have 2 degrees of advantage on all deceptive checks related to maintaining your false identity.
Trade Network: Your connections span across multiple markets and territories. Once per rest, you can call upon your network to gather information about a specific person, location, or commodity within any major settlement or trade route. Your contacts will provide you with valuable intelligence within 24 hours, such as someone's whereabouts, local political situations, or market conditions.

Shade

Natives of the Shadenland, the Shade are deceptive beings who exist as living contradictions to the natural order. They can take the form of a person but can hardly be described as such, for their basic form is that of a living shadow, amorphous and made of darkness and smoke. Born from the void between worlds, Shades are creatures of pure entropy whose very essence is antithetical to creation, designed to twist and corrupt all they touch.

The Shade do not merely inhabit darkness - they are darkness given form and purpose. These beings feed not on sustenance but on the perversion of intent, finding satisfaction in watching a healer's potion become poison or a warrior's blade crumble to ash. They are drawn to fear and despair, able to peer into the deepest terrors of mortal minds and use them as weapons. Yet perhaps most unsettling of all is their ability to perfectly mimic any form they choose, making them the ultimate infiltrators and deceivers.

The Shadenlands from whence they come is a realm where nothing functions as it should, where the very concept of purpose has been turned inside out. Shades bring this chaotic nature with them into the material world, creating pockets of wrongness wherever they tread. They exist as reminders that beneath the veneer of civilization and order lies an endless void waiting to reclaim all things.

When creating a Shade character your base stats all begin at 0. At level 1 a Shade has 15 stat points to allocate, to a maximum of 5 levels in a stat. You will gain the normal amount of stat, skill and feat points as you level up to subsequent levels. As magical creatures born of shadow and void, Shades do not possess a Vitality stat. Instead, their health is calculated using their Arcana stat in place of Vitality for all health-related calculations. Additionally, any checks that may require one's Vitality stat should be done with their Arcana stat.

Attributes

Age: It is unknown what the lifespan or lifecycle of a Shade is as they do not appear to show any signs of age.
Size: The Shade are medium sized. They can be no taller than 7'0" (213 cm).
Appearance: A shade is a being made of pure shadow, they have no true form and can freely change their forms. All that remains constant is their black smokelike form.
Languages: Common (Fluent), Shadaeic (Fluent)

Traits

Shade Touch: Once per rest you may touch an object no larger than a person and corrupt it with shadow essence for 24 hours. The object's purpose becomes warped: healing potions cause harm, weapons become fragile and break easily, armor provides no protection, locks open when they should stay closed, lights extinguish instead of illuminate, or tools perform the opposite of their intended function. In essence, the object's fundamental function is reversed or perverted from its original design. Some objects may lose their material properties entirely, becoming insubstantial shadows of their former selves.
Voidcaller: Once per rest you may disrupt all magical effects within 5 tiles of you. Active spells are suppressed, magical items cease functioning, and no new spells can be cast in the area. This lasts for 3 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat.
Night Terror: If you touch a person or creature you may learn what their deepest fear is. Once per rest you may infect their mind and alter their perception and make them see you and your allies as what they fear most. The creature will be feared of the whole party for 2 turns and must make a resistance check against their Vitality or be turned mad for the rest of combat.
Mirror Echo: Once per rest, if you have a sample of a creature or person, you may perfectly take on their form and voice for 1 hour.

Playing a Shade

Social Encounters as a Shade

Shades are largely unknown to most inhabitants of the world, leading to immediate apprehension and fear when encountered in their true form. Most people have never seen a Shade before and react with suspicion, terror, or hostility. To communicate effectively with others, Shades often must take humanoid form using their shapeshifting abilities. Even then, their otherworldly nature may shine through in subtle ways - shadows that move wrong, a voice that echoes strangely, or eyes that reflect no light.

Death as a Shade

Shades exist as beings of pure shadow and essence from the Shadenlands. When a Shade reaches 0 hitpoints, they immediately dissolve back into shadow and die - there is no bleeding out, stabilization, or resuscitation possible. However, upon death, a Shade leaves behind a pool of Shadow Essence at the location where they fell.

Shadow Essence appears as a dark, shimmering pool of liquid shadow that slowly evaporates over time. The essence will remain for a number of days equal to the deceased Shade's Arcana stat before dissipating completely.

Ritual of Shadow Return: To restore a Shade from their Shadow Essence, allies must perform a complex ritual requiring:

At least one character with knowledge of Shadaeic language or experience with shadow magic
The ritual takes 1 hour to complete and requires uninterrupted concentration
The Shadow Essence must still be present (not evaporated)
Materials from the Shadenlands or items touched by shadow magic

Upon successful completion of the ritual, the Shade is restored to life with 1 hitpoint but suffers from Shadow Fragmentation - their form is unstable and locked into a simple shadow of a human form. They cannot use any of their racial traits or freely change their shape for the next 24 hours as their shadow essence slowly stabilizes and reintegrates.

If the Shadow Essence dissipates before the ritual can be completed, the Shade is permanently destroyed and cannot be restored by any means.

Undead

Death is not always the end. Some souls refuse to pass into the beyond, clinging to the mortal realm through dark magic, unfinished business, or terrible curses. These are the undead, beings who have crossed the threshold between life and death yet remain bound to the world of the living. Whether through necromantic rituals, tragic circumstances, or their own desperate will to persist, they exist in a state between worlds.

The undead are as varied as the circumstances of their creation. Some shamble forth as reanimated corpses, while others manifest as incorporeal spirits. Some bargain away their very souls for immortality, while others are cursed to walk the earth forever changed. What unites them all is their defiance of the natural order and the price they pay for their continued existence.

If you wish to play an undead character the rules are slightly changed from the base living races. Players who wish to play an undead character should identify which race their character was in their "past life". Players will choose one trait from their chosen race, one trait from their chosen undead variant, and one flaw from their chosen undead variant. Undeads also have augmented rules for social encounters and death.

Reanimated

The Reanimated are the most common and recognizable of the undead. Their bodies, once claimed by death, have been pulled back from decay through necromantic magic or sheer force of will. Some rise as shambling zombies with rotting flesh, others as skeletal warriors with bones bleached white, and the most powerful as wights whose malevolent intelligence burns cold in empty sockets. They are mockeries of life, animated corpses that move with unnatural purpose. Though their forms may be decayed and their movements sluggish, they possess an unnatural resilience that allows them to endure wounds that would fell the living.

Attributes

You gain the attributes of the race you were in your past life.

Traits

Reassemble: Once per rest, if an attack drops your health below 0, you may reassemble and regain health up to half your maximum health.
Play Dead: Once per rest you may temporarily disassemble yourself and fall to the ground as if you were dead. Enemy creatures will treat you as if you were a corpse and you may remain on the ground for up to 3 turns before reassembling. This ability can be used either during your turn or as a reaction to an action taken against you. Both uses cost 2 AP. You may reassemble as a reaction to a creature walking past you and make a single action.

Flaws

Shambling Form: Your Speed stat starts at 1 instead of 2.
Divine Weakness: You have 1 degree of disadvantage on resistance checks against divine and holy effects and are vulnerable to radiant damage.

Wraith

The Wraith are souls that refused to depart when their bodies perished, bound to the mortal realm by powerful emotions, unfinished business, or tragic circumstances. They exist as incorporeal beings of pure spirit and malice, able to phase through solid matter yet still interact with the world of the living. Most are tethered to specific locations, objects, or people that held significance in their mortal lives. Their forms shimmer between visibility and transparency, and their touch can drain the very life from their victims. They feed on the negative emotions of others, growing stronger from fear, despair, and anguish.

Attributes

You gain the attributes of the race you were in your past life.

Traits

Ethereal Form: Once per rest you may become incorporeal for up to 3 turns in combat or 10 minutes outside combat. While incorporeal you can pass through solid objects and are immune to physical damage but take double damage from magical sources.
Possession: Once per rest you may attempt to possess a creature or object. The target makes a resistance check against their Vitality. If they fail, you control their actions for up to 10 minutes.

Flaws

Anchored Soul: You are bound to a specific location, object, or person. If you move more than 1 mile from your anchor, you begin taking 1 damage per hour until you return.
Emotional Dependency: You must feed on negative emotions to sustain yourself. Each day you do not witness or cause fear, anger, despair, or similar negative emotions in others, you lose 1 point from a random stat until you feed.

Soulless

The Soulless are beings who have willingly traded away their very souls in pursuit of immortality and power. Through dark rituals and forbidden knowledge, they have severed their connection to their own essence, becoming hollow vessels animated by arcane energy rather than life force. The most powerful among them become liches, hiding their souls in phylacteries to achieve true immortality. They are creatures of pure intellect and magical might, but their lack of soul makes them cold, calculating beings incapable of genuine emotion. Their very presence radiates death, weakening the living and strengthening themselves through the suffering of others.

Attributes

You gain the attributes of the race you were in your past life.

Traits

Phylactery Bond: You have hidden your soul in a phylactery. If your body is destroyed, you reform at your phylactery's location after 7 days. Destroying the phylactery is the only way to truly kill you.
Deathly Aura: Living creatures within 5 tiles of you have all healing reduced by half. When a living creature within this aura takes damage, they take 1 additional point of necrotic damage and you heal for 1 point.

Flaws

Hollow Existence: You cannot benefit from inspiration, morale bonuses, or any effects that rely on emotion or soul. Your maximum Resistance level is capped at 3 instead of 5.
Arcane Dependency: You must consume magical energy to sustain yourself by draining magical items, absorbing energy from magical creatures, or feeding on magical phenomena. Each day you do not feed on magical energy, you lose 1 point from a random discipline until you feed.

Cursed

The Cursed are those who have been transformed into undeath through supernatural afflictions, ancient curses, or dark pacts. Unlike other undead, they often retain much of their living appearance and personality, making them the most insidious of their kind. Vampires are the most well-known among them, cursed with an eternal thirst for blood and an aversion to holy symbols. Others may be bound by different curses or diseases that grant them unnatural longevity at terrible costs. They possess supernatural charm and the ability to drain life force from their victims, but their curses make them vulnerable to specific weaknesses and drive them to commit acts that would horrify their former selves.

Attributes

You gain the attributes of the race you were in your past life.

Traits

Life Drain: Once per rest, when you deal damage with a melee weapon, you may drain life energy to heal yourself for half the damage dealt. This can be achieved through drinking blood, absorbing spiritual essence, or other methods of consuming life force.
Supernatural Charm: You have 2 degrees of advantage on persuasion and deception checks against living humanoids. Once per rest you may attempt to charm a humanoid for 1 hour (target makes a resistance check against a threshold equal to half your Vitality stat).

Flaws

Cursed Weakness: You have a specific weakness (holy symbols, running water, garlic, silver, etc.) chosen when you become cursed. Direct contact with your weakness causes you to gain the Vulnerable status to magical damage for 1 hour and gives you 2 degrees of disadvantage on all rolls while in contact. Being within 10 feet of your weakness causes 1 degree of disadvantage on all rolls.
Bloodthirst: You must feed on life force regularly. Each day you do not feed, you gain 1 level of exhaustion that cannot be removed until you feed. Additionally, after 4 days without feeding, you become increasingly violent and lose control. You must make a resistance check against your Vitality each time you encounter a living creature or enter combat. If you fail, you enter a rampage state where you must attack the nearest living creature until you successfully feed or are incapacitated.

Playing an Undead

Social Encounters as an Undead

Most people in the world are not used to the idea of the undead being anything but vicious monsters. You will have to conceal your undead nature when among the living. Reanimated and Soulless characters may use minor illusion magic to appear as they did in life for 1 hour at a time, requiring 2 hours to recharge. Wraith characters can manifest a semi-solid form resembling their living appearance. Cursed characters appear mostly normal but may have telling features (pale skin, fangs, etc.) that require careful concealment.

Death as an Undead

As an undead you are bound to remain in the physical plane by dark magic, unfinished business, or curse. The standard death rules apply to undead characters with the following modifications that make survival more difficult:

Bleeding Out

When an undead reaches 0 hitpoints they will begin dissolving instead of bleeding out. An undead will dissolve for 2 turns from when they were reduced to 0 hitpoints (instead of the standard 1 turn). If an undead is still dissolving by the end of the 2 turns, they will be destroyed.

Stabilization

Undead characters cannot be stabilized. They can only be resuscitated.

Resuscitation

Only players with at least 1 level in any magical discipline may attempt to resuscitate a dissolving undead. The player attempting resuscitation must expend 3 AP (instead of the standard 2 AP). The player rolls their Arcana stat against 6 GM dice. The player uses their threshold for Melasmagus (8 if they have 0 levels in Melasmagus).

Result	Outcome
Overwhelming Success	The target undead is resuscitated: they regain half their total hit points
Success	The target undead is resuscitated: they regain as many d10s of health as the resuscitator's arcana stat
Pass	The target undead is resuscitated: they regain as many d10s of health as half the resuscitator's arcana stat
Near Fail	The target undead is resuscitated: they regain as many d10s of health as half the resuscitator's arcana stat and must roll on the injury table
Failure	The target undead is not resuscitated.

Final Stand

Undead characters may still elect to make a final stand, but it is called a Final Manifestation. The undead gains only 1.5x their AP generation (instead of double) and makes their checks with only 2 degrees of advantage (instead of 3). At the end of this turn the undead will be destroyed, regardless of anything.

Additional Undead Death Penalties

Unstable Form: Each time an undead is resuscitated, they permanently lose 1 point from either their Vitality or Arcana stat (player's choice).
Fading Essence: Undead characters who reach 0 hitpoints take 1 degree of disadvantage on all rolls for the next 24 hours after being resuscitated.

Special Note for Soulless with Phylactery Bond: If a Soulless character with the Phylactery Bond trait is destroyed through dissolution, they will begin the process of reforming at their phylactery's location after 7 days, provided their phylactery remains intact. However, they still suffer the Unstable Form and Fading Essence penalties upon reformation.