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Homebrew Race - Youma [Dead]
Topic Started: May 29 2016, 08:22 PM (226 Views)
Eisenritter
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Old Iron Knight
Deep within the Umbra, the laws of physics that mortals must obey are mere suggestions, nearly as useless here as in the Warp itself. Hard physical constraints become mere guidelines, subordinate to laws of narrative causality, the whimsy and capriccio of daemon and Fair Folk alike. Here, where no mortal creature could possibly have arose naturally, exists a race of mortals that narrative tropes dictate must therefore exist.

These beings, halfway between firmly-fixed mortal and inchoate shadow, are the Youma, story and archetype incarnate. They exist in kingdom and empire like no other, using the level of technology their favored genres demand, with appearances that vary wildly between them. Most remain humanoid, with flesh proudly displaying the traits of their stories.

Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.5-2.3m
Average Weight: 100-200kg
Languages: Trade; Sidhe OR Spirit-tongue
Common Personality Traits: Passionate, rigid, lustful, obsessive, nefarious
Common Physical Traits: Beautiful, ugly, bizarre, unusual coloration, strange appendages
Example Names: Babadook, Krampus, Hush, Dragonguildy, Salem

Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Strength or Fellowship
Skill Bonus: +1 to Arcana and Forbidden Lore
Power: Plot Armor: Every youma is the center of its own narrative, and as such enjoys certain... benefits. At character creation, choose either Armor Plating or Aura. You gain the chosen trait with a value equal to your level, but if you would ever have the other trait from any source, you reduce it by the same amount across all body locations.
Size: 4

Racial Feats

Changeling Fantasy [Youma]
Your story is one common to children across the Wheel, the fantasy of a special birth (to some noble or royalty, or maybe you were born Exalted!) come true in crystal clarity. Choose a race between Size 3 and Size 5 as the race you were mistakenly born to. You can use the Disguise skill to take the outward appearance (but not Size) of the chosen race; this is effectively magic, but can be seen through with Perception as normal. The transformation lasts until you dismiss it or lose consciousness.

Ham and Cheese [Youma]
As all actors know, the best way to make a bad role good is to be as LOUD and BOMBASTIC as possible! Gain a free Charisma specialty (EXTRA EMPHASIS!), and whenever you stunt successfully on a physical or social test, gain a free raise for each die of the stunt.

Villain Protagonist [Youma]
The bad guys always get the coolest stuff, but the hero can't be a bad guy... right? Attacks made against neutral or allied targets gain a bonus to damage equal to your level.

Physical Qualities

The physical form of the youma varies wildly, in the shallower parts of the Umbra, they reflect mortal beings but often have strange variations that wouldn't be possible for a natural-born member of any race, and in the deepest parts, the youma are as varied as daemons, with little sanity to their forms – only a few are properly humanoid, and many feature gratuitous tentacles. The youma have some control over their own form, though in the Umbra it is always a reflection of something and in the Materium, changing is difficult.

The bodies of the youma themselves are often anatomically reflective of mortal beings, but they can be as odd as daemons, and cutting open a youma from the deepest reaches of the Umbra is as likely to yield butterflies and birdsong as blood and guts. The physical form of a youma changes as easily as the races of the Great Wheel might change masks at a ball, and they are in some ways no more real.

Playing a Youma

TBD

Youma Heroes

TBD
Edited by Eisenritter, Jan 2 2017, 04:07 PM.
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Eisenritter
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Old Iron Knight
So, as one who liked Soulblazer's version of the Youma, I was... not well pleased with Cruxador's. But not because it was different; as you can see, Crux's formed the base here, and I've still got his physical description for this because yeah. My problem, as I'd decided, was that Crux didn't go far enough.

I took what Crux wrote, and added Yozi. These are creatures native to the Umbra. Not like Dusklings and Vizards, who've simply lived there for so long they may as well be native. Dusklings and Vizards, you see, developed according to limiting physical laws of the Materium. The Youma, however, must exist according to narrative law. Incarnate stories, fleeting bits of obsessive fan-fiction, each one a one-man show to be played out on the stage of the Umbra.

Feats need work, of course.
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Marr965

When you say "they exist because the story says they should", I read that as "they run on narrativium". These are the kinds of entities for which million-to-one chances come good nine times out of ten, because it wouldn't be dramatically appropriate otherwise. Maybe include something to that effect? A feat which gives a one-off Hero Point?
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weredrago2
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He Who Posts Too Much
I've always felt that creatures made out of imagination and fairy tales (like the Fair Folk) are better represented as Exalts. Don't let that stop you from trying to make a unique race out of them, though.
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Eisenritter
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Old Iron Knight
That is definitely a thought that had occurred to me at some point while writing this up, which is why it instantly went on hiatus...
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