Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
Homebrew Race - Unicorn; May God have mercy on my soul.
Topic Started: Jul 26 2015, 10:20 PM (2,051 Views)
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
Credit goes to Zed for statting out the original, and other users here and there for brainstorming the rest. I had a Pony version of this race, but I removed it. Go to the link above for Ponies.

Unicorns

Created by the Syrne as collectible pets, the Unicorns of the Equestrian Crystal Sphere have been isolated from the rest of the Great Wheel since the War in Heaven. Separated from their masters, the Holy Unicorn Diarchy (ruled by the immortal Lurue and Selene) took charge and founded a civilization of their own for Unicornkind. For over forty thousand years, the Unicorns had known a mostly uninterrupted era of peace. This peace was shattered when an Ork warship crashed into their Sphere, revealing the presence of the Unicorns to the Wheel at large. With the opportunity of a lifetime right outside their Sphere, many Unicorns left right away in search of adventure, companionship, and boatloads of money.

Your average Unicorn is both friendly and adorable, which means it takes a special kind of Unicorn to leave their homes and boldly face the horrors right outside their sheltered borders. It takes a really special kind of Unicorn to do this successfully, which means you won’t see many of them outside of their Crystal Sphere. A new and divisive player in the grand stage, the Council hasn’t had this much trouble on their hands since the Humans showed up.


Physical Characteristics

Average Height: 1.00-1.42 m
Average Weight: 100-150 kg
Languages: Trade, Equestrian
Common Personality Traits: Friendly, sweet, sheltered, easily startled, community-oriented.
Common Physical Traits: Hooved quadruped, large eyes, bright and varying coloration, expressive face.
Example Names: Chromatic Charger, Scarcity, Tendersky, Puce Pastry, Dazzling Solstice, Jack Daniels

Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 Fellowship or Intelligence
Skill Bonus: +1 Arcana and Charm
Power: My Little Quadruped: Unicorns have the Quadruped Trait. Their tactile telekinesis allows them to 'grip' things with their hooves, but they automatically fail any test that requires the use of fine manipulators. You can wield a melee weapon this way, but not fire a gun. Alternatively, you can hold a weapon in your mouth at a -1k1 penalty to hit.
Size: 3


Physical Qualities

Though Unicorns are strikingly similar to the domesticated ponies that inhabit humanity's homeworld, they exhibit much more expressive faces and a larger range of coat and mane colors. In fact, you can find a Unicorn in just about any color of the rainbow. While Unicorns are just as massive as many other inhabitants of The Wheel, their slight frames and quadrupedal structure gives them a lower profile.

Most adult Unicorns have a Talent Glyph, a magic icon on their flanks that represents their special talent. The exact nature of this phenomenon is unknown, but it is studied thoroughly by the scientific community. Most people throw their arms in the air and blame the Syrne. All that is really known about them is that they manifest when a Unicorn finds their purpose in life, and will aspire to become masters of their talent however they can. Unicorns that are unable to make their Talent Glyph work for them are known to slip into deep depressions or insanity.

Male Unicorns grow long beards, especially as they grow in age and power. Female Unicorns express their beauty with styled manes and tails. Unicorns of royal blood (such as the Diarchs) are easy to spot in a crowd, being notable taller and more majestic than their peers. There are other breeds of Unicorn, such as the Unicorn equivalent of a draft horse or Unicorns that explode into fire.


Playing a Unicorn

Unicorns are very restricted in what they can do, given that they lack hands. They can use their hooves for simple manipulation, but they are still left at a significant disadvantage. There are Unicorn specific tools available, but they are much rarer than their normal counterparts. You should think long and hard before choosing to play as a race that can't fire a gun under most circumstances.

Unicorns also make for very good specialists, doing what they are good at with the expectation that their teammates will cover their backs. Though Unicorns are naturally pacifistic, they can get violent like anything else in the Wheel when threatened. Being a naturally harmonious lot, Unicorns generally worship the Blessed Pantheon. Some do, however, prefer the freedom of Chaos to the security of Order. Due to the Diarchy's association with the sun and moon, worship of Pelor and Luna are incredibly popular.

Oh, and your group will probably hate you if you play as a Unicorn. You’ve been warned.


Unicorn Heroes

Long ago, a little Unicorn filly found herself lost in a magnificent garden, deep in the frightening forest right outside her family’s farm. There were hundreds of beautiful fruit, but only the golden apple caught her eye. There were dozens of signs warning her of the cost, but she took the risk and ate the apple to taste it’s temptation. The forbidden fruit granted the filly terrible power, branding her flank with a Golden Apple Talent Glyph. It’s been years since she broke the taboo and ate the apple, but the arrogance that came with Golden Apple’s sin has only made the sorcerous mare thirst for even more power.

The top of her class in the Equestrian Military Academy, the Unicorn Starlight had a bright future ahead of her. Her future seemed so bright, that nobody expected her life to be cut short by a reckless driver splattering her across a Sigil highway. With the medical talents of the enigmatic Dr. Madaraki, Starlight's crippled body was fitted into a horse shaped mechanical shell. The Unicorn was successfully revived, but not unchanged by the harrowing experience. Any ambitions or goals Starlight had before her death were wiped away by her harrowing accident, the robot Unicorn's new purpose only to forever move forward.

Valve Turner is your average, nondescript Unicorn plumber trying to make ends meet on the hellish hive he lives in. At least, Valve Turner was your average, nondescript Unicorn plumber. That all changed when he made contact with the abused machine spirits of his planet while snaking a drain, bonding with them so that he could better bring justice to his lawless home. By day, he is Valve Turner. By night, he is an engine of destruction. From his porcelain throne at the center of his Panzer, Valve Turner fights for what's right... with all of the grace and poise you would expect out of a machine made from shit and plasteel.


Racial Feats

Beast of Burden [Unicorn]
You're a lot bigger and stronger than a Unicorn has any right to be. Increase your Size by 1, and treat your Strength as 1 higher for the purposes of pulling, lifting, or carrying things. You can carry multiple allies on your back, as long as their combined Sizes do not exceed yours by 2.

Celestial Charger [Unicorn]
You have been blessed by the Goddess-Diarch Lurue, and her power flows through your blood. Your horn is long and sharp, granting you a natural attack with the following profile (2k1 R, Pen 4). You can also use your horn as a Torch.

Nyxian Courser [Unicorn]
You have been blessed by the Goddess-Diarch Selene, and her power flows through your blood. Gain the Dark Sight trait. You can envelop yourself or your friends in protective darkness. This functions as the Armouring Aura spell, using your Level + Composure instead of the normal magic test.

Psi-Pony [Unicorn, Paragon]
After countless horse-hours of practice and training, you have honed your natural telekinesis above and beyond its original parameters. You can now telekinetically manipulate objects at a range of (Wisdom*5) meters and use Willpower and Wisdom in the place of Strength and Dexterity. Along with lifting or moving objects, your telekinesis can be used to perform attack actions.

Rapidash [Unicorn]
Some Unicorns have a burning passion for running under an open sky. In some cases, literally. No Unicorn knows how or why the ability manifests, but some foals are born with a mane of flame and a need for speed. Your Run actions are x8 Speed instead of x6. In addition, you can burst into flames as part of a Run action, dealing (Willpower)k3 E Incendiary damage to everything within melee range of your path. This can be done once per level per scene.

Talent Glyph [Unicorn]
At some point in their lives, a Unicorn can develop a mark on their flanks that represents their special talent. Choose one skill. A Unicorn can go up to 6 dots in that particular skill and gains a free specialty. This Glyph is critically important to its owner, as it represents their purpose in life. If a Unicorn character fails a test using this skill by more than 15, they must succeed a TN 20 Willpower test or gain 1d10 Insanity Points.
Edited by weredrago2, Mar 29 2016, 10:39 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Replies:
Eisenritter
Member Avatar
Old Iron Knight
All the more reason to juxtapose it alongside Not MLP, I think. :P
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
I messed around with some of the fluff. I've been using this index for reference on different D&D Unicorns.

Things to do:
Sample Heroes - One I had in mind was a Unicorn Font, if only because I can't think of any Sample Heroes that are Fonts.
Asperii - That index mentioned that they can have a couple of neat tricks, such as flight, True Seeing, and immunity to cold. Not sure which one I should go with for a racial feat.
Rapidash - What speed multiplier does a Rapidash Unicorn get?
PSI Pony - How does it look so far? Anything I should change?
Other fluff - What else should I add in on the fluff end of things?

EDIT: One of the Sample Heroes is definitely going to be Robot Unicorn.
Edited by weredrago2, Jul 27 2015, 07:12 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ReptileViking
Member Avatar

weredrago2
Jul 27 2015, 07:12 PM
I messed around with some of the fluff. I've been using this index for reference on different D&D Unicorns.

Things to do:
Sample Heroes - One I had in mind was a Unicorn Font, if only because I can't think of any Sample Heroes that are Fonts.
Asperii - That index mentioned that they can have a couple of neat tricks, such as flight, True Seeing, and immunity to cold. Not sure which one I should go with for a racial feat.
Rapidash - What speed multiplier does a Rapidash Unicorn get?
PSI Pony - How does it look so far? Anything I should change?
Other fluff - What else should I add in on the fluff end of things?

EDIT: One of the Sample Heroes is definitely going to be Robot Unicorn.
That looks like a pretty complete list! It's a few editions old but that shouldn't matter much.

Asperii - immunity to cold seems like a tricky one to do in DtheD, since there are no cold based attacks! Eisenritter suggested they have "cool heads" that could be tied in with true seeing, with some kind of bonus against illusions. Personally I'd stay away from flight since Unisus are a thing.

Rapidash - This is what I'm thinking for the finished version
Rapidash (Unicorn)
Some Unicorns have a burning passion for running under an open sky. Literally. No Unicorn knows how or why the ability manifests but some foals are born with a flaming mane and a need for speed.
Your run actions are x8 speed instead of x6. In addition you may burst into flames as part of a run action, dealing (willpower)k3 E Incendiary damage to everything within melee range of your path. This can be done once per level per scene.
Note: I realize I've made Ripidash's ability quite a bit more powerful but keep in mind Run actions provoke and grant a bonus to be hit by melee. It's a risk vs. reward thing.

PSI Pony - looks great to me!

Other fluff - I gotta dig up my old notes (hopefully I didn't delete them!). I'll get back to you.

Edited by ReptileViking, Jul 27 2015, 07:29 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Neveron

Oh neat. Yeah, this beats the Kython as the base race for the olympic sprint. +4xSpeed on a Fleet of Foot-boosted Run action alone is awesome. Doubled ground speed from Quadruped is also great, although given that it doesn't seem to stack with Dragon Form it doesn't really help much for breaking the record.

You're one fast pony, though. Rapidashing around looks pretty fun.

Also, would I be correct in assuming that PSI Pony lets you shot gun and whatnot? Or will they still be limited to Charging around with their superior ground speed and blasting fools with Magic Missiles?


...One weird thing to note: you might want some of these feats to reference them being Quadrupeds or something. You know, just so that Humans can't steal them by having a horsefucker in their ancestry. As-is I think they might be able to grab everything through Mixed Heritage, which seems like it can get a bit weird to say the least.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Eisenritter
Member Avatar
Old Iron Knight
Human + Mixed Heritage (Unicorn) = Linyaari

There's a common sense clause in Mixed Heritage, though...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ReptileViking
Member Avatar

Unicorns actually have a special version of quadruped that only effects the higher of the two speed stats, so they aren't quite double. Maybe they should get the full benefit though? Sphinxes do, right?

Any Unicorn could shoot a gun with telekinesis, just at that -1k1 penalty. PSI ponies definitely have it easier though.

Yeah humans could pick up everything but Unisus (since Paragon) and Psi Pony (since they lack the racial ability). A human Rapidash wouldn't be as good either, since their puny bipedal bodies couldn't get as many targets with the fire-dash.
As far as I'm concerned the questionable origins of Human/any "weird" race hybrid is a feature, not a bug.
Edited by ReptileViking, Jul 28 2015, 11:22 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Eisenritter
Member Avatar
Old Iron Knight
Check your punctuation, that's two separate clauses. As written, they get the Quadruped trait. And they get to ignore either STR or DEX when calculating Speed.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ReptileViking
Member Avatar

Oh. Oh! Silly me.

Rapidash are pretty much the fastest thing around then, barring a hypothetical Hedgehog race!
Edit: For the love of Gozer, nobody do that!
Edited by ReptileViking, Jul 28 2015, 11:27 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Eisenritter
Member Avatar
Old Iron Knight
...+1 Dexterity or Willpower, +1 Athletics and Acrobatics. Power: Gotta Go Fast!: Triple your Speed, quadruple your running speed, but you instantly disintegrate on contact with water. :P
Edited by Eisenritter, Jul 28 2015, 11:28 AM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
weredrago2
Member Avatar
He Who Posts Too Much
Added two new Unicorn sample heroes.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Fully Featured & Customizable Free Forums
Learn More · Sign-up for Free
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Archive · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Theme created by "Josh Hall/Alpha.". Find more great designs at the ZetaBoards Theme Zone.