Sylph

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Sylph

As free as the wind

Origins

Sylphs are an unstable blend between airy native creatures of the Upper Air and the flesh creatures of the surface. Long ago, these airy spirits melded with humanoids, and from that union sprang the race of the Sylphs. Sylphs are fairly common, for an exotic race, and their habit of traveling widely means they seem even more common than they are.

Sylphs look like humans, with an alien tinge to their features, hair which is the colors of the sky (creamy white, stormy grey, sky blue, sunrise orange-gold and sunset orange-pink are the most common), and eyes most commonly either blue, grey, or white. Their skin can be of any shade of humanoids, but tends to be rich tan or occasionally, goblinoid green

Culture

Sylphs are often nomads, although this is by no means a rule for their culture. When they do settle down, they often build villages as high as they can, living on high mountains and in the tallest trees of the forest. Sylphs follow the usual humanoid patterns, with male and female couples bearing children in the usual way, marriages being common and long-lived. Sylphs tend to mate for life, and take family very seriously.

Sylphs that have settled down are cautious in their dealings with others, and will use their remote villages as a defense against more populous races. Many sylphs have powerful racial abilities which they will use to earn their way in neighboring cultures. Watching a Sylph with flight and a high Strength muscle a church bell straight from the ground all the way up to the very tip of a tall steeple is an amazing feat to witness. Sylphs tend to be stand-offish, and rarely if ever will they settle in with a larger culture and live among them. Sylphs much prefer their own company, and will go to considerable lengths to maintain their privacy and their isolation.

Growing Up Sylph

Sylph culture is an odd mixture of rabid freedom-loving dislike for authority combined with a fierce loyalty towards friends and family. Sylphs value their personal relations very highly, and tend to like other Sylphs a great deal more than other races. They are not exactly xenophobic, but they certainly have that tendency. Sylphs marry for life,, and they don't take that bond lightly. As a result, many Sylphs marry considerably later than other races. Luckily, Sylphs are well adapted for their females to bear pregnancies easily, as their children are formed almost entirely of air. A pregnant Sylph looks like she's always in the middle of a gusty windstorm, as her child forms slowly and carefully in the air around her. Pregnant Sylphs avoid bodies of water and bad weather, as water on the baby before it is born is very bad for the child and the mother both.

'Birth' for a Sylph involves the gusty nucleus of wind separating from the mothers aura, but for the first three or four years of their life, the child remains a creature of almost pure air. A Sylph child must attach itself to the aura of one or both parents for at least sixteen hours a day, although after 'birth' they are no longer vulnerable to water. After 36 to 48 months of gaining sustenance directly from their parent's aura, the child Sylph will one day manifest a flesh and blood body, usually in their sleep. From that time forward, their development parallels the usual humanoid model.

In Sylph culture, everything is centered in the family: All children are home-schooled, businesses are family owned and operated, and there is very little governance or structure, each clan doing as they wish.

Economy

Sylphs are tremendous artisans, explorers, trackers, and scouts. They have strange and powerful abilities that are rare among intelligent humanoids, and their skills are almost always in demand. Sylphs with flight are in tremendous demand as ship riggers, watchmen, couriers, and may other professions.

Sylph settlements are rarely in large cities, and when they are they usually involve homes in a few very tall towers with lots of locked doors. Many sylphs live close to other races though, and Sylphs are generally seen as clannish but sought-after neighbors. Sylphs, if you are able to earn their friendship, are good allies to have, but earning the trust of a Sylph is no small matter.

Starting Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	4 ft. 10 in.	+2d4 in. (5 ft - 5 ft. 8 in.)	60 lbs.	+(2d6×5 lbs.) (70 - 120 lbs.)
Female	4 ft. 7 in.	+2d4 in. (4 ft. 9 in. - 5 ft. 3 in.)	45 lbs.	+(2d6×5 lbs.) (55 - 105 lbs.)

0

Starting Ages

Adulthood	Intuitive	Self-Taught	Trained
40 years	+3d6 years (43 - 58 years)	+5d6 years (45 - 70 years)	+7d6 years (47 - 82 years)

PC's

Sylphs have no class or alignment restrictions.

Standard Racial Traits

All Sylphs have the following Standard Racial Advantages:

• Attributes: Sylphs may choose to gain one of the following ability score bonus sets when creating their character. No ability score may ever be modified above a 20 or below a 7.
  • +2 to two different stats, -2 to one stat
  • +2 to one stat, +1 to three different stats, -2 to one stat
  • +4 to one stat, -2 to two different stats

• Size: Sylphs are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

• Type: Sylphs have the Humanoid type, with the Sylph subtype.

• Base Speed: Sylphs have a base speed of 30 feet, but their speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.

• Languages: Sylphs begin play speaking Common and Auran. Sylphs with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Celestial, Cùirteil, Draconic, Issshh, or Jeen. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

• Air Sense(Ex): Sylphs do not 'see' any better or worse than any other races, but they have one remarkable sense. A Sylph can feel the presence of objects and creatures by the air they displace. This is a variant of tremor sense, except it requires air and not ground. Thus, Air Sense does not work underwater or any other places where there is no air. Otherwise, it serves as tremorsense. Air Sense has a range of five feet (the Sylph's space and all adjacent spaces). This range increases to ten feet at tenth level, twenty feet at twentieth level, and thirty feet at thirtieth level.

• Keen Hearing(Ex): Due to their affinity with air, sylphs gain a bonus on sound-based perception checks. This bonus is +1, and increases to +2 if they have ten ranks in Perception, +3 if they have twenty ranks, and +4 if they have thirty ranks

Major Racial Traits

Choose one of the following Major Racial Traits:

• Elemental Affinity (Su): The Sylph may add 1 point of damage per two Character levels, round up, to any effect they produce from any source (spells, items, class abilities, etc) which has the electricity keyword.

• Elemental Artistry (Ex): The Sylph may add +2 to any Craft, or Profession skill which is related to the air. Making sails, crafting wings, or placing artful decorations on any other item would be examples of this.

• Cyclone (Sp): Once per day, a Sylph may seize the air around him and whip it into a raging cyclone. Any and all creatures which are adjacent to the Sylph are moved, as forced movement, to any other legal square of the players choice that is also adjacent to the Sylph. Creatures that are affected also take 1 point of physical damage per Character level of the Sylph and are Prone in their new location. Creatures affected are allowed a reflex save against a DC of 10 + 1/2 the Sylph's Character Level + the modifier of his highest physical stat (Str, Dex, or Con). If this save is made, they take no damage from the Cyclone and remain standing, but are still moved.

• Shapeless(Su): The Sylph is flesh and blood, but he is not really solid. He may squeeze with no penalties, and adds 1/2 his Character level, minimum 1, to Escape Artist rolls and checks to tumble through enemy spaces without provoking attacks of opportunity

• Flight(Su): The Sylph has a Flight speed equal to two-thirds his base speed, rounded down to the next five foot increment. (30 and 35 =20 feet of flight, 40 ft = 25 ft, 45 and 50ft = 30 ft, etc.) Additions to his base speed from any permanent source (magic items, class bonuses, etc) do affect this Flight speed. Subtractions from any source at all subtract from this flight speed. Note that Sylph's do not have wings: They merely fly, as free as the wind.

Minor Racial Traits

Choose one of the following Minor Racial Traits:

• Windskin(Sp): Once per day, as a swift action, a Sylph may embrace their connection to the Air and with a sudden gust, turn their bodies transparent. This is not invisibility, and has no effect upon their clothing or equipment. Instead, as long as the Sylph is wearing medium armor or lighter, Windskin adds ten percent to their miss chance, as the uncertainty of their location combined with the rippling gusts that surround them make them more difficult to strike with both melee and ranged weapons. Windskin grants no concealment and adds no bonuses to Stealth, as the gusty skin around them easily offsets the advantage of their transparency. Once activated, Windskin lasts until the end of the combat, or one minute, whichever comes first.

• Run Like The Wind (Ex): A Sylph may add 10 feet to all of his movement modes once per encounter.

• Sense Disturbance (Su): A Sylph may add a +2 racial bonus to Perception rolls to notice creatures with physical forms in air. This bonus also applies to tracking creatures with physical forms through air, as long as the tracking attempt begins within one minute of the creature's presence within thirty feet of the Sylph's current square. If these conditions are met, the Sylph ignores all negative modifiers for terrain on their tracking rolls: If a Sylph can find a hot trail, they literally can track you across a lake.