Aurellian

Most aurellians exist as spacefaring nomads, travelling between the stars in the void they have come to call home. They have a reputation for being fair and honest traders, and are known for dealing in strange wonders from the deepest void.

Their living ships, while disconcerting to those unfamiliar with them, are usually greeted with anticipation as it is never known what rarities they bring from the depths of the void. They are also famed for their great and passionate love of humanoid music.

The aurellian homeworld is an asteroid belt. Having just enough mass to retain an atmosphere it lies between the two planets of the Nyattara star system. The ecology of the belt is dominated by oozes and aberrations of all types, and some portions of it are dominated by air dwelling aboleths. There are few aurellian communities in the belt since most of them left for the void centuries ago. Of those which remain, Burnkdool is the only one of any size, boasting a population of close to 700 aurellians.

Ability Adjustments: Aurellians are agile and wise but have some degree of difficulty interacting with other races. They gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity but suffer –2 Charisma.

Hit Points: 4

Racial Traits

Size and Type: Aurellians are Small aberrations with the aurellian subtype. They eat, breathe and sleep although when they sleep they float just above the ground.

Darkvision: Aurellians can see up to 60 feet in the dark.

Eyestalk: An aurellian’s single compound eye is found at the end of a stalk growing from what some races might call its head. This eye can be turned in any direction, granting these aurellians the ability to see 360°. However, this stalk can only focus in one direction at a time, which means the aurellian must focus its attention similarly to other races. An aurellian therefore cannot be flanked, though they can still be caught flat-footed.

Grabbing Appendages: In addition to their two arm-like tentacles, most aurellians possess a single longer tentacle with 10 ft. reach. This tentacle can be used to make grapple attempts, and the aurellian is treated as having the Improved Combat Maneuver (Grapple) feat when using this tentacle to grapple. The aurellian can maintain a grapple with this special grabbing tentacle and still make attacks with their two main appendages as normal.

Limited Flight: Aurellians have a natural fly speed of 20 feet, but their incomprehensible antigravity ability forces them to remain above to a solid surface strong enough to bear their weight, even though they do not exert any pressure upon the surface. This ability is non-magical in nature, and therefore is not affected by antimagic fields. Aurellians can choose to suspend their flight ability, but cannot move on land.

Limited Telepathy: Aurellians do not speak verbally but are able to mentally communicate with any creature within 30 feet with whom it shares a language. Otherwise this ability is identical to the telepathy monster ability.

Mute: Aurellians have no vocal organs and with rare exceptions cannot utter any sounds.

Spellcasting Aurellians cannot cast spells or manifest powers that have a verbal component unless they make use of abilities such as the Silent Spell feat.

Strange Anatomy: Aurellians do not have chest or feet slots for cybernetic augmentations or magic items, since they have neither. Instead their unusual anatomy grants them an extra wrists slot (allowing two pairs of magical bracers to be worn) and two extra ring slots (for a total of four), these items being worn on some of their tentacle appendages.

Languages: Aurellians understand Common and Aurellian. Aurellians with high Intelligence scores can choose from Aboleth, Aklo, Auran, Ignan, Protean, Sylvan, Terran. Note: The Aurellian language is based on shifting colors and patterns displayed on their skin. It can be learned by humanoids, but not spoken without the use of illusion magic or other extraordinary means.

Physical Description

Aurellians are small, jellyfish-like aberrations that hover just above the ground and communicate through telepathy.

They have anywhere between 6 and 18 partially translucent tentacles used to absorb nutrients and gases from their surroundings. They use a pair of specially developed tentacles to wield weapons and tools, granting them similar dexterity to that of a humanoid’s arms and hands.

Many aurellians also have other prehensile tentacles that vary in form and function among subgroups of the species. Aurellians’ colorations can range wildly, anywhere from deep black to vibrant pink, though that color is almost always uniform across any given aurellian’s entire form.

Relations

Aurellians are generally tolerated by other space-faring races because of their reputations as fair traders of hard-to-find goods. Their love of music has made them a favorite of bards, as many an aspiring bardic nomad has traded nothing more than a mournful melody for a treasure from deep in the void.

Society

Aurellian society seems very strange to most humanoids, as their telepathy allows them to communicate with more than simple language. Aurellians can feel the emotions of others of their kind and can develop a connection so deep that physical touch means little to nothing. Aurellians are genderless and almost never monogamous, often forming groups of 6 or more adults into a family structure in which each individual is loved by all the others equally. Aurellian eggs are protected fiercely by their parent-groups, though once hatched the parent-groups have little interaction with their litter, who are raised from birth in schools where aurellian teachers who have been specially trained to remain emotionally severed from their students teach them how to live as an aurellian.

Alignment and Religion

The aurellian concept of deities would perplex many humanoids, as those that they worship are generally formless, incomprehensible swirls of emotion and psychic energy representing a specific emotion or feeling. These deities have no name other than the feeling they represent, which further confuses outsiders.

Adventurers

Aurellians who decide to see the universe on their own are rare but do exist. Their limited telepathic abilities can come in extremely handy, and so they are coveted as excellent additions to an adventuring party. Many aurellian adventurers explore the universe to try to find rare treasures that they might bring back to their people, and they gravitate toward academic disciplines such as wizardry or cybernetics.

Names

Since aurellians do not make sounds, aurellians recognize each other through specific feelings shared across their telepathic link.

Because of this, the concept of names is relatively foreign to them, resulting in confusion among languaged races. Most aurellians adopt some sort of moniker with which to refer to themselves when communicating with other races, and this often consists of a word or phrase relatively known to the species they are referring to.

So, a human meeting an aurellian for the first time may be introduced to it by a warm feeling of hot cocoa rolling across the tongue, and the phrase “potato flatulence” running through his mind. Because of this, humans often come up with their own nicknames for aurellians they meet, such as “jelly-brains”, “tentacle-boy”, and other juvenile monikers.

Racial Subtypes

Man O’ War

Man o’ war aurellians are larger and more agile than their smaller cousins, but are exceedingly rare and often find themselves cast out of their communities for the most minuscule slight, probably out of jealousy. They gain the following racial traits in place of the eyestalk and grabbing appendages traits.

Size and Type: Man O’ War aurellians are Medium aberrations with the aurellian subtype.

Stinger: The man o’ war aurellian has two stinging tentacles, granting it two natural sting attacks which have 10 ft. reach and deal 1d3 piercing damage each. In addition, the stinger has the injection weapon special quality, and may, as a swift action after a successful attack with a stinging tentacle, a number of times per day equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 1/day), deliver a poison to the target. As a move action, the aurellian can instead coat a held weapon with the same venom, which will persist a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 1) or until the weapon successfully hits a target. Each aurellian possesses one of the following types of venom, chosen at the time of character creation:

Life-Stealing Venom: Type: poison (injury); Save: Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the aurellian’s Hit Dice + the aurellian’s Constitution modifier; Track: Constitution; Onset: immediate; Frequency: 1/round for 6 rounds; Cure: 1 save.

Paralytic Venom: Type: poison (injury); Save: Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the aurellian’s Hit Dice + the aurellian’s Constitution modifier; Track: Dexterity; Onset: immediate; Frequency: 1/round for 6 rounds; Cure: 1 save.

Weakening Venom: Type: poison (injury); Save: Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the aurellian’s Hit Dice + the aurellian’s Constitution modifier; Track: Strength; Onset: immediate; Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; Cure: 1 save.

Scavenger: Man o’ war aurellians often find themselves on quests to find dangerous or well-hidden objects. They gain a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks to find hidden objects, to determine whether potential food is spoiled, or to identify a potion by taste.

Stalker: Perception and Stealth are always class skills for a man o’ war aurellian.

Inspired One

Inspired Ones are touched by their ancient pantheon of mysterious gods, gods with no clear form nor delineation of roles, but which have guided the aurellian race for eternity. They gain the following racial traits which replace the grabbing appendages racial trait.

Godtouched: An inspired one can use each of the following spell-like abilities: 1/day–keen sense, mystic cure (as a 2nd level mystic spell), and reflecting armor.

Forced Connection: An inspired one has learned to quickly form a strong connection with their enemies in order to bypass their mental defenses. Creatures suffer a -1 penalty to all Will saves against spells and effects you cast. Any unintelligent creatures are not affected by this ability.

Empath: An inspired one is able to empathize more easily with members of very different races than its own, allowing it to more easily influence them. It gains a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against non-aurellians, and never suffer a penalty on such skill checks for being a different race than or not sharing a language with the target.

Chaos Child

Chaos children are aurellians who have embraced the formless nature of their aberration heritage, shifting their forms and using abilities incomprehensible to humanoids.They gain the following racial traits which replace the grabbing appendages racial trait.

Toxin Immunity: Chaos childrens’ anatomies are constantly shifting, granting them immunity to all poisons and diseases.

Greater Change Shape: A chaos child may assume the appearance of a Small or Medium humanoid as disguise self once per day for up to a number of hours equal to its character level. This does not adjust the ability scores of the user.

Racial Archetypes

The following racial archetypes are only available to aurellians.

Floating Monastic (Operative Archetype)

Some aurellians choose the path of the close-quarters combatant, adapting martial arts techniques to their own unique physical form. This style of fighting capitalizes on attacks from appendages that humanoids can’t begin to comprehend.

Grappling Flurry: At 2nd-level, if the floating monastic hits with both attacks as part of a full attack, the aurellian may attempt a grapple combat maneuver as a swift action. The operative uses his operative level in place of his base attack bonus (in addition to any Base Attack Bonus gained from other classes) to determine his CMB for such grapple checks, though the check suffers a –2 penalty.

This ability replaces the operative exploit gained at level 2.

Grasping Tentacles: At 4th-level, as a swift action, if a floating monastic spends 1 point of Resolve, before attempting a grapple maneuver he can roll his combat maneuver check for that attack twice and use the better result.

This ability replaces the operative exploit gained at level 4.

Void Scholar (Mystic Archetype)

Aurelians who study magic have found ways to channel the void into their spells, and have even found the secret to ignoring their own muteness.

Silent Casting: At 1st level, a void scholar gains the ability to infuse their weapons with the power of the spells and the void, gaining the Mystic Strike feat.

This ability replaces the connection power gained at level 1.

Void Enhancement: At 6th level, a void scholar has discovered the secret to enhancing its spells using the infinite power of the void itself.

When casting any spell that deals damage, the void scholar may choose to convert half of the damage from that spell into damage caused by the cold vacuum of the void and is not subject to elemental resistance of any type. This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to the void scholar’s Intelligence bonus.

This ability replaces the connection power gained at level 6.

Greater Void Enhancement: At 15th level, when a void scholar uses void enhancement to enhance a spell, 3/4 of the damage is caused by the cold vacuum of the void. Additionally, when the void scholar casts any spell that requires a Will save from its target, it may expend a daily use of void enhancement to increase the DC of that save by 2.

This ability replaces the connection power gained at level 15.

Aurellian Feats

Many aurellians make use of the following feats.

Additional Toxin

Your body produces two types of poison for your sting.

Prerequisite: Aurellian, man o’ war subtype Benefit: Choose a second type of venom for your sting. You may still only deliver a single dose of one type of poison with a given sting attack. In addition, you may use your poisoned sting attack one additional time per day.

Normal: An aurellian normally has only one type of poison and may use it a number of times per day equal to its Constitution modifier.

Highswimmer

You are able to float higher than others of your species.

Prerequisite: Aurellian.

Benefit: You must remain within 10 feet of a surface when using your limited flight ability.

Normal: An aurellian occupies the space it is floating in and must be adjacent to a horizontal surface.

Pattern Weaver

The brilliant patterns of colors flashing on your skin can be very distracting.

Prerequisite: Aurellian.

Benefit: As a move action, you can flash various bright colors upon your skin. This light show is extremely distracting. All sighted creatures other than yourself within 30 feet must succeed on a Will save with a DC equal to 10+1/2 your level + your key ability score modifier or be dazed for 1 round.

New Equipment & Magic Items

Many aurellians make use of the following items.

Telepathy Dish

Aurellians long ago realized that their telepathic communication could be enhanced through technological means. These small dishes are attached to an aurellian’s outer skin using straps (or in some cases attached to an already existing cybertech apparatus) and enhance its innate telepathy. Each dish type increases the range of the user’s racial telepathy as follows: Mark I) x 2; Mark II) x3; Mark III) x4.

Name/Model	Level	Price	Hands	Bulk	Capacity	Usage	Craft DC
Telepathy Dish, Mark I	2	2,000	—	L	—	—	23
Telepathy Dish, Mark II	5	4,000	—	L	—	—	25
Telepathy Dish, Mark III	10	8,000	—	L	—	—	27
Telepathy Dish, Mark IV	14	16,000	—	L	—	—	29

 

Brooch of Elocution

The brooch of elocution was designed by aurellian spellcasters, to enable them to communicate with creatures that cannot see the spectrum in which the aurellian communicates and which they might be unable to communicate with telepathically. The brooch itself consists of a tiny lens to observe the color changes of the aurellian and translates this into the equivalent sounds for the language that the aurellian is speaking in. (Aurellians naturally change their coloration depending on the language in which they’re communicating, and the brooch merely translates this). The voice itself is a flat robotic monotone however, delivering any speech in an utterly deadpan manner.

Gem of Armor Adjustment

This glittering gem glows with an inner light and the back side of it is flat, as though it should be attached to another object. When this gem is attached to a set of Medium-sized armor of any type, a transformation begins. Over the next 24 hours the armor shrinks, losing half its weight, and transforming into aurellian segmented armor of the same type. The final form retains all bonuses, penalties, and qualities of the original including those of a magical or technological nature. Each gem can function 1d4 times before disintegrating.

 

Item	Level	Price	Bulk
Brooch of Elocution	3	1,800	L
Gem of Armor Adjustment	10	9,650	L