Saturday, May 14, 2011

Shallow Ones for the 1970s version of D&D.

In the distant past, a group of the frog-like Finfolk rose from the depths of the sea to corrupt and destroy the surface world. However after spending some time in Teleleli they found that the shopping was fantastic and some of the cafes were to die for, and decided to stay. The Shallow Ones are their descendents.

Shallow Ones are subject to the moon (specifically, to the tides: the 'breath of Numen Mari' as they sometimes poetically refer to it) in the same way as elves. Player-character Shallow Ones alternate adventuring as Fighters and Clerics, in the same way that elves alternate Fighters and Magic-Users. They must cast reversed spells, even if they're not Chaotic.

They cannot turn undead. Instead, when adventuring as Clerics, they can attempt to turn unintelligent water-dwelling creatures.

On slight acquaintance they seem to be just another type of talking animal, such as are common in the city. However after a while, a subtle 'wrongness' will be evident. Because of this, the number of hirelings they can engage is two less than it would be for other characters. They might be able to avoid this by engaging only other Shallow Ones (Shallow Ones will only be found in coastal cities, and in a very few coastal villages). However, these hirelings will have -3 Morale.

When they have 3 total levels they gain the same keen sight as elves. When they have 5 they have true dark-vision (remember that, in this edition, dwarves and elves don't).

When they reach level 2 in either Fighter or Cleric they develop the ability to hold their breath for up to an hour. When they reach level 4 in either Fighter or Cleric they become truly amphibious, able to breathe either air or water.

For Hit Points they roll Xd6, where X is their total levels, and discard the lowest. Thus a beginning Shallow One character, with 1 level each of Fighter and Cleric, would roll 2d6 and take the higher.

Their maximum levels are 4 as a Fighter and 8 as a Cleric.

This race is inspired by the Sea Blood racial class found in Goblinoid Games' Realms of Crawling Chaos. The original inspiration is the Deep One hybrids in HP Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

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