Monthly Archives: September 2017

Gelatinous Cube Companion

Sep 29

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Yep, this was inspired by a conversation with my officemate, who wrote the original version. This is my take.

Gelatinous Cube Companion

You forged an alliance with an unusually aware gelatinous cube. Weird.
Prerequisite: Animal companion class feature (or ability that functions as animal companion class feature).
Benefit: You gain a gelatinous cube as an animal companion. It has base stats and an advancement at 4th level, and special feats it can take. Despite being an ooze, it’s fairly intelligent and can learn tricks normally. Any spell you cast that has the (harmless) tag that would affect an animal can instead affect your gelatinous cube companion (though not any other ooze).

GELATONOUS CUBE COMPANION STARTING STATISTICS
Size Large (reach 5 feet); Speed 20 ft.; AC +1 natural armor; Attack slam (1d6, +1 point acid); Ability Scores Str 12, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 1, Cha 1; Special Qualities ooze traits (not mindless), blindsight 30 feet, determines carrying capacity as a quadruped.

4TH-LEVEL ADVANCEMENT
Speed 30 ft.; Ability Scores Con +4; Attack slam (1d6 + 1d6 acid) ; Special Qualities blindsight 60 feet.

Gelatinous Cube Companion Feats
A gelatinous cube companion can take the following feats when it gains feat options.

Acidic
Prerequisite: Gelatinous cube companion.
Benefit: The bonus damage from the cube’s slam attack increases by +1d6, plus and additional 1d6 for every 4 full HD of the cube.

Engulf
Prerequisite: Gelatinous cube companion.
Benefit: Although it moves slowly, as a standard action a gelatinous cube can simply engulf creatures of its size or smaller that are in its path. It cannot make a slam attack during a round in which it engulfs. The gelatinous cube merely has to move over the opponents, affecting as many as it can cover. Opponents can make attacks of opportunity against the cube, but if they do so they are not entitled to a saving throw. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity can attempt a Reflex save (DC 10 +1/2 cube HD + cube Strength bonus) to avoid being engulfed—on a success, they are pushed back or aside (opponent’s choice) as the cube moves forward. Engulfed creatures are subject to the cube’s paralysis (if any) and acid, gain the pinned condition, are in danger of suffocating, and are trapped within its body until they are no longer pinned.

Paralysis
Prerequisite: Engulf, gelatinous cube companion, 5 HD.
Benefit: The gelatinous cube secretes an anesthetizing slime. A target hit by a cube’s engulf attack must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 +1/2 cube HD + cube Constitution bonus) or be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. The cube can automatically engulf a paralyzed opponent.

Transparent
Prerequisite: Gelatinous cube companion.
Benefit: Due to its lack of coloration, the gelatinous cube is difficult to discern. A successful Perception check (DC 10 + cube’s HD) is required to notice a motionless gelatinous cube. Any creature that fails to notice a gelatinous cube and walks into it is automatically engulfed (if it has the engulf feat).

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Resume Your Résumé

Sep 28

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There’s been some interest expressed recently in what my résumé looks like, inspired at least in part with the fact that Paizo has job positions open, and I have managed to get hired by Paizo. That’s a fair point, and goodness knows I got help when I was first trying to put together a game-industry facing résumé, but before we discuss the subject at hand, I want to point a few things out.

First, I am not an expert, or even a talented amateur, on the subject of résumés. My advice is of the hardscrabble trial-and-error type, and even if you find it interesting I strongly, STRONGLY advise you also get some professional help. There are guides online, books on the subject, centers that offer free help in some cases—look for them and use them. We’re talking about your first impression for an opportunity that could change your life. The offhand commentary from a free gamer blog should NOT be your primary source of guidance.

Second, my résumé objectively has a horrible track record. Don’t get me wrong, I am THRILLED to be working for Paizo, Green Ronin, and Rite Publishing. But I applied for jobs at Paizo three times before I was hired. I applied for jobs with other game industry positions seventeen (I counted) times between my first game industry job at Wizards of the Cost and my current full-time position. Now those results may be typical—but they don’t point to my résumé being the ur-model with which all game industry jobs become attainable.

For the most part, people who hired me already knew me and had worked with me. I can’t express how important that is. If you want a full-time game industry job, you need to be getting published. Write on your own free blog if no one else will pay you. Reach out to tiny game publishers. Work cheap (but NEVER for free—if anyone is making money on your work, you need to be making money on it).

Third, this is my general “résumé for the game industry” advice. It’s not Paizo specific, following my suggestions does not assure you any special treatment in any current hiring situation, and there isn’t a test over it. This is my personal, experienced-based opinion, and nothing more.

Fourth, this is advice for a game designer/developer/editor type of position. If you are applying for human resources director, or accounting, or marketing, or some other professional position in a game company that isn’t making and polishing text for games? Ignore my advice. Those are jobs that require you to prove you can do THOSE jobs. Don’t apply to be a game industry accountant with a huge list o game credits. It’s worth noting you understand and enjoy games… but what you need to focus on for that is accounting.

So, with those notes in place, what does my résumé look like?

It Doesn’t Look Like A Character Sheet

Some readers are shocked I feel the need to say this, and others are shocked I am going to speak out against it. Yes, there was maybe a time when making a “cute” or “creative” résumé would get more attention and give you a leg up in hiring. That time was the 1980s. Now everyone assumes you “love games,” are “uniquely creative,” and “can bring fun and great ideas to your company.”

What they DON’T assume is that you can be professional, work in an office environment, and take things like formats and deadlines seriously. This is your first change to show them you can.

No bright orange paper. No unicorn doodles in the margins. No formatting your résumé to look like a character sheet, a set of wargames rules, a wanted poster, or anything other than a professional resume. Don’t use weird fonts, custom graphics, or flowcharts. Those cute ideas look great on your blog, as proof you are creative. They don’t look great on the desk of a manager who has to find someone who can sit in a cube 40 hours a week and produce usable text and documentation.

Your résumé should be black ink on while paper (or background for electronic résumés), have headers for each section, and list things in concise, possibly bullet-pointed lists.

It Offers Simple Info, Not Complex Explanations

If you went to Clarion West in 2014, absolutely list that with education or experiences. DON’T go into great detail about who instructed you, who you sat next to, or what the name of the unsold manuscript you created is. Yes, the person hiring may want to know those things. And you want them to want to know those things. You also want them to have to call your for an interview to learn those things, and you want to have neat things to say in that interview.

For your résumé? Just the facts, man.

It Excludes Irrelevant Info

No one needs to know your worked for Burger Clown from 2003 to 2007. Really, unless it speaks to your ability to make games, no one needs to know anything about your jobs from 2003 to 2007. If you were working at a library, museum, book bindery, archaeological dig, computer lab, another publisher (of anything), or even a deadline-and-rules focused job, it’s worth mentioning.

Otherwise? Just skip it.

You can mark your employment history “Recent Employment” or “Key Job Experiences” or anything else you like that’s simple and factual if you want it to be clear you aren’t listing every job you’ve had your entire life. But useless info that doesn’t make you look like a better game industry employee is just more words they have to get through while looking for a reason to hire you.

This is ALSO true of education. If you have some college? Mention it. If not, and there’s nothing else there that you think will make a game industry manager want to hire you? Just skip the section entirely.

The game industry has everything from high school dropouts to M.I.T. graduates. Focus on the things that make you look good, no matter which end of that spectrum you’re on. And if at an interview stage someone asks you why you dropped out of school, “I was too busy playing games” isn’t a bad answer in THIS industry, despite sounding terrible for any other job.

It Includes Everything I Was Ever Paid to Write, Develop, Edit, or Consult On

Yep, everything. I have a Publication Credits section, after everything else, and it is pages and pages of credits. It’s arranged by type of credit (author, designer, developer, and so on), and then by year, and then by product. If I wasn’t the only person doing that job, I include a “with” note (“with JD Wiker and Jeff Grubb”). For series and magazine articles I sometimes compress them together with a note a full list is available. (Dragon magazine, various articles issues 251-355, full list available upon request).

Your credits are your REAL résumé for the game industry. If you have a blog? List it. Include the url, so a reader can go check out how brilliant you are. If you have 31 self-published credits each of which has sold 4 copies? List them. It’s proof you can finish something. If you have a wiki on game rules for DragonBurger, an obscure boardgame from 1993? List it. It shows you have passion and the ability to organize information.

I try to keep a running list of everything I have credits in, so I don’t have to take 12 hours to compile them later. That’s what I say “resume you résumé,” because if you want a job in this industry, you should be working on your resume nonstop, a little at a time, every time you get a credit.

It Has Everything Else the Job Posting Calls For

Cover letter. Writing Sample. Whatever the job posting says to include, I include. This is your first chance to prove you can do what the people hiring you tell you to do. And that is WHY they are hiring you—to do what they say. Game industry jobs can be fun, but they ARE jobs.

Your résumé is your first chance to prove you understand that.

If it’s a writing job and they don’t ask for a writing sample? Note one is available on request. And make sure you have one (which is specific to the type of writing you are applying to do) ready to go. Write a new one as soon as you send the résumé, if you have to.

It’s Spell Checked, and My Wife Reads It

A typo in your résumé may not be a dealbreaker… but why risk it?

It Doesn’t End With a Link to My Patreon

Though honestly? Maybe it should. But my blog DEFINITELY should, because my patron’s support is how I manage the time to write things like this. If you found this useful and want to support more content like this? Please consider offering some support.

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Return of the Druid/Magic-User!

Sep 27

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When I get on a “old-school multiclass concepts for Pathfinder” kick I generally do several in a row as ideas rattle around in my head. So far I’ve done the anruth (an old school druidic bard), cavalier-paladin, cleric/assassin, cleric/fighter/magic-user, cleric/fighter/thief, cleric/ranger, druid/fighter, fighter/magic-user/thief, illusionist/thief, thief-acrobat, as well as randomly acquired psionics, and even the fighter/illusionist at my patreon.

If we restrict ourselves to “legal” old-school multiclass combinations that means our list of options grows thin… but it DOES leave us the underrated druid/magic-user.

When looking at ways to do a dual spellcasting character in pathfinder official material gives us two broad routes. One is to create a prestige class, such as the mystic theurge, to try to make multiclass spellcasting less terrible and specifically combine arcane and divine classes. This route traditionally gives lots of spells-per-day, at the cost of little to no increase in class features. That works fairly well for a cleric-wizard combination, but not as well for anything wishing to build off the druid, which carries a great deal more of its class identity in class features.

The other option is to create a hybrid class, such as the arcanist or shaman. (Technically the hunter also combines two spellcasting classes, but the ranger’s spellcasting is so minor as to not have a major impact on the hunter’s DNA except to give it very early access to spells the ranger normally doesn’t get until the mid-game.) These methods generally give a more typical spellcasting power level, and can blend in class features, but don’t traditionally allow arcane and divine classes to combine.

However, given I think druid-based classes in particular need access to class features to feel druidic, I believe a hybrid class is the better route.

DRUID/MAGIC-USER

Alignment

Druid/magic-users have one foot in the natural world, and one foot in the arcane world, and both color their worldview. A druid/magic-user must have a neutral element to her alignment, but cannot be true neutral.

Hit Die: d8

Starting Wealth: 4d6 × 10 gp (average 140 gp.)

Class Skills: The druid/magic-user’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: Druid/Magic-User
Level  BAB                Fort     Ref      Will     Special
1st       +0                    +2        +0        +2        Spellcasting
2nd      +1                    +3        +0        +3
3rd       +2                    +3        +1        +3        Eldritch bond
4th       +3                    +4        +1        +4
5th       +3                    +4        +1        +4
6th       +4                    +5        +2        +5        Woodland Stride
7th       +5                    +5        +2        +5
8th       +6/+1              +6        +2        +6
9th       +6/+1              +6        +3        +6        Bonus Feat
10th     +7/+2              +7        +3        +7
11th     +8/+3              +7        +3        +7
12th     +9/+4              +8        +4        +8       Venom Immunity
13th     +9/+4              +8        +4        +8
14th     +10/+5            +9        +4        +9
15th     +11/+6/+1       +9        +5        +9        Timeless body
16th     +12/+7/+2       +10      +5        +10
17th     +12/+7/+2       +10      +5        +10
18th     +13/+8/+3       +11      +6        +11      Bonus Feat
19th     +14/+9/+4       +11      +6        +11
20th     +15/+10/+5     +12      +6        +12    Second Bond

Proficiency: The druid/magic-user is proficient the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, scythe, sickle, shortspear, sling, and spear. She is also proficient with all natural attacks (claw, bite, and so forth) of any form she assumes with wild shape (see below).

Druid/magic-users are proficient with light and medium armor but are prohibited from wearing metal armor; thus, they may wear only padded, leather, or hide armor. A druid/magic-user may also wear wooden armor that has been altered by the ironwood spell so that it functions as though it were steel. Druids/magic-users are not proficient with shields, but if they gain proficiency they must use only wooden ones.

A druid/magic-user who wears prohibited armor or uses a prohibited shield is unable to cast spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter. She can cast arcane druid/magic-user spells while wearing nonmetallic armor without suffering a risk of arcane spell failure. If she casts spells from other classes, she suffers normal ASF chances.

Prerequisites: The druid/magic-user treats her class level as her druid level and her wizard level for purposes of prerequisites.

Favored Class Bonus: If druid/magic-user is your favored class, you can take any favored class bonus that you would be allowed to take for the druid, shaman, or wizard classes, as long as it does not modify a class feature the druid/magic-user does not have.

Spells: The druid/magic-user casts spells drawn from the druid and wizard spell lists. When casting a spell from the druid spell list, it acts as a divine spell. When casting a spell from the wizard spell list, it acts as an arcane spell. If it is on both spell lists, the druid/magic-user selects whether it is arcane or divine each time it is cast. A wizard/magic-user’s bonus spells and maximum spell level cast are determined by her Wisdom score, while her spell DCs are determined by her Intelligence bonus. If using a feat or ability from a soruce other than this class that affects spells or spellcasting that has a calculation or check based on Intelligence or Wisdom (including any calculation that is part of a spell she casts, such as the ability check in detect poison), she may use the higher of the two scores.

A druid/magic-user keeps a spell fetish, which records all her spell knowledge. This follows the rules for a wizard’s spellbook, including weight and cost, but may take any of a number of forms. Many druid/magic-users carve their spell knowledge on sticks, or have long cords with informative knotwork, or store the information on fingerbones kept in a bag which can be arranged in many different ways. A druid/magic-user may learn spells from the spell fetish of other druid/magic-users, the spellbooks of wizards, or scrolls. Wizards cannot learn from the spell fetishes of druid/magic-users.

A druid/magic-user begins play with a spell fetish with all 0-level druid and magic-user spells, plus a number of 1st level spells drawn from the list equal to her Wisdom or Intelligence modifier (whichever is higher). At each new druid/magic-user level, she automatically adds one wizard spell, and a number of druid spells equal to her Wisdom bonus. These may be any spells of her choice of a level she can cast.

A druid/magic-user has spells per day equal to a wizard of her class level, and must prepare her spells in advance. Her spellcasting, spell recovery, and spell preparation otherwise follow the rules for a wizard.

Eldritch Bond: At 3rd level the druid/magic-user forms a special bond with the mystic forces of the universe. This bond takes one of three forms.

At 20th level, the druid/magic user selects a second bond.

Beast Bond: The druid/magic user gains an animal companion, as a druid 2 levels lower than her class level. The animal companion also gains the abilities of a familiar of a wizard 2 levels lower than her class level.

Change Bond: The druid/magic-user gains the transmutation arcane school, as the wizard class feature, treating her wizard level as 2 levels lower than her class level. Additionally, beginning at 6th level, the druid/magic-user can wild shape once per day (as the druid class feature) into a Small or Medium animal. This functions as beast shape I. At 8th level she can assume the form of a Large or Tiny animal, and the ability functions as beast shape II. At 10th level she can wild shape twice per day, and can assume the form of a Huge or Diminutive animal, and the ability functions as beast shape III. At 16th level, she can use this ability three times per day, and it functions as beast shape IV.

Elemental Bond: The druid/magic-user gains an elemental arcane school, as the wizard class feature, treating her wizard level as 2 levels lower than her class level. Additionally, beginning at 8th level, the druid/magic-user can wild shape once per day (as the druid class feature) into a Small elemental. The druid/magic-user can only take the form of an element matching her elemental arcane school. This functions as elemental body I. At 10th level she can assume the form of a Medium elemental, and the ability functions as elemental body II. At 12th level she can wild shape twice per day, and can assume the form of a Large elemental, and the ability functions as elemental body III. At 14th level she can assume the form of a Huge elemental, and the ability functions as elemental body IV. At 18th level, she can use this ability three times per day.

Woodland Stride, Venom Immunity, Timeless Body: These act as the druid class features.

Bonus Feat: At 9th and again at 18th level, the druid/magic-user gains a bonus feat. This must be a metamagic feat, and item creation feat, or a feat or ability a wizard may take in place of their bonus feat.

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Undead Agent

Sep 26

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A short description of a complex spell.

Undead Agent

School Necromancy (shadow); Level cleric/wizard 7

As project image, but targets one undead and lasts one hour per level. The undead is controlled as by control undead (without the need to speak to the undead), and gains the appearance and abilities of the illusion from project image, and you do not need to maintain line of sight to it. The spell ends when its duration is up or the undead is destroyed.

 

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Song of Doom Goom

Sep 17

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Inspired by a neural network’s effort to name rpg spells, I present:

Song of Doom Goom
School conjuration, enchantment* (compulsion) [fear, mind-affecting, sonic]; Level bard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets 1 creature/level (no two of which may be more than 30 feet apart)
Duration 1 minute/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes

This spell causes foes to form sticky, disgusting “goom” over their ears. All sounds the creature then hears for the duration of the spell are altered to sounds like signs the creature is doomed. Affected creatures are shaken, cannot benefit from competency, insight, or morale bonuses, cannot aid another or benefit from aid another, cannot flank or benefit from another creature’s flanking, and cannot use teamwork feats, or help other creatures benefit from teamwork feats (even if those creatures can benefit when using teamwork feats with a creature that lacks the feat).

If an affected creatures is adjacent to an affected foe of the caster, the adjacent creature must make a will save (at the same DC), or the goom leaps over to affect the new foe as well (for the rest of the spell’s duration).

*This spell counts as a conjuration spell or enchantment spell, whichever is more advantageous to the caster, or less advantageous to the target. In either case, it counts as a (compulsion) [fear, mind-affecting, sonic] spell.

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Tech of the Magi

Sep 15

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An (unofficial, third-party) Starfinder-compatible option for mechanics, which is taken in place of artificial intelligence (thus selected in place of the drone or exocortex).

Tech of the magi represents technological study into the use and manipulation of magic. While other mechanics were focusing on creating a unique technology to calculate and analyze and have conversations as if it was sentient and sapient, you turned to technomancy, integrating the understanding of magic into your understanding of technology.

Your mechanic level adds to your caster level. You can cast a limited number of spells drawn from the technomancer spell list. Your spells known and spells per day are determined by the tables below, and you also gain bonus spells for a high Intelligence score as determined by the Technomancer Bonus Spells table. You can cast your 0-level spells an unlimited number of times per day.

Tech of the Magi Spells Known

Class                Spells per Day
Level               (by Spell Level)
            1          2          3
1
2
3          1
4          1
5          2
6          2          1
7          3          1
8          3          2
9          3          2          1
10        3          3          1
11        3          3          2
12        3          3          2
13        3          3          3
14        3          3          3
15        3          3          3
16        3          3          3
17        3          3          3
18        3          3          3
19        3          3          3
20        3          3          3

Class                Spells Known
Level               (by Spell Level)
            O          1          2          3
1          2
2          2
3          3          2
4          3          2
5          3          3
6          3          3          2
7          3          3          2
8          3          3          3
9          3          3          3          2
10        3          3          3          2
11        3          3          3          3
12        4          3          3          3
13        4          3          3          3
14        4          3          3          3
15        4          4          3          3
16        4          4          3          3
17        4          4          3          3
18        4          4          4          3
19        4          4          4          3
20        4          4          4          4

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Fantasy Yatagan for Pathfinder

Sep 14

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Welcome to more things inspired by Forged in Fire, where I do fantasy Pathfinder version of weapons I was introduced to by the television show Forged in Fire. Given how cool many of the weapons they feature on that show are, I decided to do another one. And while doing so, I thought I would continue to explore the design space created by using odd-sided dice (d5s, d7s, and so on) such as those available from Impact Miniatures.

This is an effort at a fantasy pathfinder version of the Yatagan, a weapon from the Ottoman Empire often used by janissaries. This is a game option inspired by the real-world history of the weapon, and is designed to be no more accurate than the Pathfinder versions of the longsword or falchion.

A Yatagan is a single-edged, light long knife or short saber, with a pronounced forward curve and a handle with a two-lobed pommel of “ears” that make the grip easy to hold on to. Despite being a one-handed (rather than light) melee weapon, you can use a Yatagan with Weapon Finesse, and any feat or ability that allows you to use your Dexterity modifier, rather than Strength modifier, with melee weapons.

Yatagan

Cost 20 gp     Weight 1.5 lbs.

Light: Dmg (S) 1d3     DMG (M) 1d5     Crit 18-20, x2,  gripping

Gripping: Gripping weapons give you a +2 bonus to your CMD against disarm, steal, and sunder maneuvers directed at that weapon.

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Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask Before Aiding Others…

Sep 13

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I am bad at self-care. Mental and physical healthcare and even housekeeping tasks that serve to make my own life better are difficult for me. I’ve done a lot of therapy with a lot of professionals to try to figure out why. Some theorize it’s self-sabotage based in a fear of rejection so strong I want to make sure I am so unlovable I simply expect rejection. Others think life with an alcoholic father in a dysfunctional family taught me bad habits. It’s been suggested I have been in so much pain that self-medication was inevitable, and mine happens to include numerous things that aren’t good for my mental or physical health. And, of course, the few therapists I have opened up to about an incident of sexual abuse as a child often point to it as a a major cause of me not naturally taking care of myself.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. I am aware of what behaviors I fall into that harm me. I work to avoid them. When I can’t, I try to mitigate them. When I can’t, I try to forgive myself for the failure.
I’m much better at it that I used to be. I’m much worse at it than I need to be. I suspect I’ll struggle with it until the day I die.
Basically, that’s life. There are ups, and downs, and long lulls of necessary work.
But I’ve already done better, and come farther, than i ever would have believed 32 years ago. So I try to take that as a victory.

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SpellTweet: Entropic Block

Sep 12

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(Spelltweets originally got posted only to Twtitter, and the whole point is that they defined a spell in 140 characters or less, generally by modifying an existing spell. Now they’re more likely to appear here and be linked to Twitter, but sometimes I prefer to keep the character limit as a design challenge.)

Entropic Block (cl/inq 1) As entropic shield, but the miss chance is 15% and it only applies to melee attacks.

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Star-Crossed Races: The Vorruk

Sep 9

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Continuing the idea of (totally unofficial, third-party) Starfinder-compatible crossbreed races, we present the vorruk. You can go back and find our first twos crossbreed, the aeshun (here) and the lashirren (here).

Vorruk

Vorruk are a genetically engineered blend of the genes of orcs (specifically those than combine naturally with human genes in half-orcs), and vesk woved together and placed in in birthing matrices. While it might theoretically be possible for a vorruk zygote or embryo to be transferred to a mother for gestation and live birth, normally vorruk are engineered, machine-nourished, and watched over in large numbers in artificial wombs. Vorruk were originally bred by drow mercenary companies specifically to create hearty, quick-maturing, capable warriors during a long war that threatened the drow base planet. Those first few generations were the largest vorruk population, though many died during the fighting. When the war suddenly ended, those vorruk already implanted in birthing machines were brought to maturity, but since that time the creation of vorruk has largely been performed in small batches, as labs and weapon dealers seek to improve on the genetype and maturation and training process.

Because most vorruk are raised from birth being told they are living weapons (and nothing more), and the majority of other species only encounters vorruk in battlefield conditions, they have a reputation as simple-minded, amoral, brutal killers. It is certainly true than many vorruk who have known only a life as indentured soldiers often focus on their fighting skills and find anything not related to warfare to be a luxury they cannot afford. Vorruk raised in more nurturing environments are no more brutal or bloodthirsty than any other race, however, and even among those who have lived lives of endless conflict many develop more nuanced ethical and aesthetic perspectives.

Appearance: Vorruk have a basic appearance very similar to half-orcs, but with more pronounced brow ridges, and fine scales (visible only at fairly close range) over their whole bodies. Their coloration focused heavily and reds and greens or more rarely purple, generally in dark shades, and some show striping or spots of darker and lighter colors. They have strong, sharp canines and retractable claws.

Racial Traits

HP: 8

Ability Adjustments: Vorruk are strong and swift, faster than either genetic donor, but can have difficulty grasping deep theoretical concepts. A vorruk gains +2 Str, +2 Dex, and -2 Int.

Size and Type: Vorruk are medium humanoids with the orc and vesk subtypes, and a 40 foot speed.

Vision: Vorruk gain darkvision and low-light vision

Resilient: Once per day, a vorruk that is unconscious but stable can stay in the fight without spending Resolve to do so. (See the rules for death and dying.)

Natural Weapons: Vorruk are always considered armed. They can deal 1d3 lethal slashing or piercing damage with unarmed strikes and the attack doesn’t count as archaic. Vorruk gain a unique weapon specialization with their natural weapons at 3rd level, allowing them to add 1–1/2 × their character level to their damage rolls for their natural weapons (instead of just adding their character level, as usual).

Vital Statistics

Vorruk stand between six and seven-and-a-half feet tall and weight between 200 and 325 pounds, with no distinction in height or weight between male and female vorruk. They reach maturity at five years of age, with a maximum age of 40 + 2d10 years.

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I have a Patreon and one of the backers is also the owner of Starfidnersrd.com, and the sponsor of this post!

Speaking of my patreon, it has some (currently) patron-exclusive content vaguely linked to the vorruk, the war rig character theme!

Posted in Game Design, Starfinder Development

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