The Gaming Den

I'll be running a tweaked version of the Freeport trilogy, in which 'deep ones' will play a significant role. They'll be saughin or kuo toan, but they'll also have bred into the population a la Innsmouth. As a result, half-deep one will be a playable race.

Second draft:
Fish-blooded
Fish-tainted humans tend to have large protruding eyes, webbed fingers and toes, and wide mouths full of small sharp teeth. The obviousness of these features vary, and other features like patches of scales and small fins can be present as well. Most have gills inside of their ear canals, but a few have neck gills and atrophied or no ears. Fish-tainted humans also smell faintly of the sea.
Size & Type: Medium humanoid (aquatic, fishperson, human)
Attributes: Strength & Constitution + 2.
Movement: 30', swim 20'.
Amphibious: 'breath' air or water equally well.
Vision: low-light vision.

I think you might as well give them a swim speed. All the crap adventurers carry (and the swim rules) makes swimming practically impossible, so you might as well allow them to do it passably well, and let the bonuses involved mean something. Breathing water by itself is kind of... eh. You can go through large swathes of time where it isn't even vaguely relevant.

Voss wrote:I think you might as well give them a swim speed. All the crap adventurers carry (and the swim rules) makes swimming practically impossible, so you might as well allow them to do it passably well, and let the bonuses involved mean something. Breathing water by itself is kind of... eh. You can go through large swathes of time where it isn't even vaguely relevant.

It's very relevant in the adventure series I'm giving. But, yeah, a swim speed of 15' or 20' would be totally fine.

I agree. A swim bonus would make sense especially for the fish tainted that have fins or webbed fingers, which would come in handy when swimming.

shouldn't they get some sort of an encounter power?

josephbt wrote:shouldn't they get some sort of an encounter power?

I'm not really a fan of 1/encounter abilities. 'Encounter' is just too poorly defined. If it used some rule like 'mist take a full round action that provokes an AoO to refresh', or 'must spend a full minute resting to refresh', that would work. However, I still have no idea what kind of a 1/encounter ability would make sense for a fish-blooded, and I think they're powerful enough already.


I'll edit my original post to grant a swim speed.

[Edit] I'm an idiot: you mean 4e of course. This is actually for a 3e adventure; I guess I'm behind the times... [/Edit]

I've messed with kuo-toa and serpent people as well, to make them playable (as 2nd level characters), and to make them more in line with my concept of their Lovecraftian counterparts.


Serpent people ('Yuan-Ti')
Size & type: medium monstrous humanoid (reptillian)
HD: 2d8. BAB: 1. Saves: 0/0/2.
Attributes: Strength +2, Constitution +2, Dexterity +2, Charisma +2.
Speed: 30', climb 15', swim 15'.
Natural armor: 4.
Attack: bite 1d6 + Str.
Spawn of Yig: serpent people qualify for and can use feats, classes, spells, and magic items as though they originated in the lower planes.
Senses: 60' darkvision, scent.
Skills: racial +4 Escape Artist & Hide.


Fish people ('Kuo-Toa')
Size & type: medium monstrous humanoid (aquatic)
HD: 2d8. BAB: +1.
Attributes: Strength +4, Constitution +4, Dexterity -2, Wisdom +2.
Speed: 20', swim 50'.
Attack: bite 1d4 + Str.
Amphibious: breath air or water.
Keen sight: as see invisibility.
Light blindness: blinded for 1 round by exposure to daylight-level brightness, then dazzled.
Senses: low-light vision, 60' darkvision.
Skills: racial +8 to Escape Artist.


Do those look balanced for CR 1 monsters/level 2 PCs?